Monday, February 23, 2015

Pastor's Ponderings, February 23, 2015

Let Us Go On The Offense Against Injustice

On Saturday, February 28th, Zimbabwe's president for 27 years, Robert Mugabe, will celebrate his 91st birthday. Although this would call for celebration, according to the LA Times, his country agonizes under the highest inflation and lowest life-expectancy rates in the world and his army killed between 10,000 and 30,000 people in the eighties.  Clearly something is wrong.

Every week we hear of more and more atrocities by ISIS as they seemingly try to outdo their last horror while attracting the naïve to join their ranks and torturing those opposing them.  The scripture says that the citizens groan when wicked people rule (Proverbs 29:2).

Sadly, we live in a world where many countries are subjected to the whims of rulers who crush their subjects while siphoning off the wealth for personal use.  But what should the Christian do when their or other country’s leaders practice evil? Should we obey them without question, resist their authority and fight them, or pretend it is not our concern?

Some may agree with Al Capone, the Mafia leader from Chicago, who said, “You can get much farther with a kind word and a gun than you can with a kind word alone.” I believe the Bible gives a much better answer.  We must and can effectively fight in the spirit realm (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). 

It is time for the Christians to pray to change the heart of leadership (Proverbs 21:1).  It does not matter what popular media outlets say, God is still in charge and whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven (Matthew 16:19).  We have to begin to call on God and He will hear us when we cry out to Him (2 Samuel 22:7).  We cannot just say this is not my problem.  Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

In the 1976 movie Network, the deranged former anchor encourages people to go their windows and yell out their frustrations.  To paraphrase his call, we can say, “We're mad against hellish powers, and we're not going to take this anymore." Let us get in the battle against injustice!

Proverbs 29:2
King James Version (KJV)
2 When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5
New International Version (NIV)
3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ

Proverbs 21:1
Amplified Bible (AMP)
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as are the watercourses; He turns it whichever way He wills.

Matthew 16:19
The Message (MSG)
19 “And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A yes on earth is yes in heaven. A no on earth is no in heaven.”

2 Samuel 22:7
New International Version (NIV)
“In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears.



No comments: