The above quote was spoken by a cowardly French pea Israeli soldier in the classic Veggietales episode titled Dave And the Giant Pickle. He thought little French pea Dave was crazy to take on the giant briny cucumber. For his part, the courageous biblical David was simply doing “what came naturally” in his trusting relationship with his God. It was he who correctly assessed the spiritual reality of the situation: “God is GOOD. Goliath is BAD. I should do something.”
Most folks inherently recognize a contrast between GOOD and BAD, if only in the sense that they know what they don’t want others to do to them. Someone returns your lost dog: GOOD. Then he steals your cat: BAD. In His Word, God offers us a number of such vivid distinctions: God/Devil, truth/lies, life/death, goodness/evil, light/darkness, righteousness/sin, et al. And our Father gives us His written standard by which to determine His Truth.
As always, the question is whether the Word of God is what it claims to be. Does it contain linguistic and hermeneutical principles by which we can ascertain the Author’s originally intended meaning? We assert that it is, that it does, and that in regard to the subject of this letter, God makes Himself very clear. Our heart is to glorify Him and to stand approved before Him rather than before men.
In our English slang, the word “nuts” means out of touch with reality, ultimately begging the question, “What is reality?” As you may know, the biblical Greek word for truth means “the revealed essence of something,” i.e., REALITY. God has chosen WORDS with which to express His reality to us, and He urges us to hide them in our hearts and “Get Real.” For our own benefit, He wants us to align our minds with what He says about “all things,” including who we are and how we should relate to Him, and to people.
Likewise, the Devil cleverly uses words to distort God’s Truth with his lies. As a contemporary example, the word “progressive” means “favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, especially in political matters; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas.” To be clear, “liberal” means “of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating the FREEDOM of the individual and governmental guarantees of individual rights and liberties.
In contrast, the word “regressive” means to go backward; to revert to a less advanced state.” The “less advanced state” of humanity was foisted upon us all by Mr. Adam choosing disobedience, and much of mankind has been going backward ever since. JESUS CHRIST is the most “progressive” person who ever lived. How so? He went from “death unto life,” and thus made it possible for anyone who so chooses to follow that pattern of progress.
God is definitely in favor of “government,” but primarily SELF-government, whereby one governs his choices from the inside out according to the Creator’s standard of Truth. As per Genesis 9, Civil Government was also God’s idea—to guarantee our rights and freedom. But both His Word and history show that there will be no godly government until the Lord Jesus Christ sets up his Millennial Kingdom on earth. Only then will there be “liberty and justice for all.”
I recently read an article titled, “The Seething Dis-United States,” a description that could be applied to most of the world today. Seething means “agitated,” which means “to move or force into violent, irregular action.” Given the state of our culture—and the world, wouldn’t you say that is putting it mildly?
Scripture makes it clear that underlying the turmoil engulfing our world is the spiritual battle raging between God and His enemy, Satan, whose goal is to eradicate Christianity. It is imperative that we followers of Jesus Christ keep that in mind as we enter the arena of discourse with those who do not hold the Word of God as their basis of life. Rather than getting lost in the confetti of today’s labels like Left/Right, Liberal (Progressive)/Conservative, Gay/Straight, we must simply hold fast to, and speak, what God says.
Thankfully, standing alongside us are many godly people with profitable insight about our cultural climate. Besides the following three examples, at the end of this letter you will find links to other relevant information. First, here’s an excerpt from a recent Colson Report regarding the worldwide persecution of Christians, which receives virtually no appropriate media attention. At best, any coverage is most always slanted against Christianity.
Reading and listening to reports about the attacks [in Sri Lanka], it is apparent that…many people, especially politicians and media outlets, seem to be having trouble deciding how to identify the victims…They were Christians…but the default identifier by left-leaning politicians on Twitter was “Easter worshippers.” [They were] “Christians like…the jailed pastors in China, or the Coptic martyrs of North Africa, or any of the millions of non-Western Christians who live under constant threat of persecution.”
The reluctance to call them “Christians” trivializes their suffering; obviously, not in God’s sight or in ours, but in the eyes of the non-Christian world. It’s as if they died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, like someone who gets run over by a bus while crossing the street.
Dennis Prager, is a nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host and writer with his online Prager University. In one of his five-minute talks, he says:
In today’s culture, freedom, beauty, reason, the family, economic wellbeing, and basic goodness are all in jeopardy. Why? Because of a powerful, insidious ideology known by the deceptive label of “Progressivism.” Also called “Leftism” (which is not the same as Liberalism), it destroys everything it touches. Across the board, Progressivism has regressively replaced the pursuit of excellence with the pursuit of diversity.
Prager lists nine things in that category, and briefly articulates exactly how they have been corrupted: Universities, the Arts, literature, late night TV, religion, the Boy Scouts. It is well worth your five minutes to click the above link and hear his cogent observations.
Franklin Graham recently wrote a pertinent article titled We Must Not Remain Silent. Here are some excerpts:
As the progressive, secular left movement continues its toxic spread across our nation, there is little doubt that its primary objective is not only to suppress Christians and the Biblical worldview, but to harshly punish and completely silence our moral voice and values…An article in The Federalist warned of the tyrannical agenda of secular progressives who make no attempt to hide their disdain for Biblical values.
“[Progressives] want to penalize Christians for their faith…They are quite clear about their goals for orthodox Christians. They believe we are bigots, and that bigots should not be allowed to run schools, work in government or hold good jobs. If we will not recant and bend the knee to the sexual revolution, they want to close our schools, hospitals and charities, drive us out of our professions, shutter our businesses and get us fired for any job they believe above our station. … A culture that considers sexual desire the essence of a person will not tolerate a rival Biblical viewpoint, but stigmatize and punish it.”
We must be like the prophet Daniel, who continued to pray to Jehovah God even though he knew he was violating the orders of the Babylonian king to worship him alone.
Such adulteration of truth is not only relevant to our secular culture, but also to the state of Christianity, which has been infiltrated by many “Progressive” perversions of the faith. In the context of God lambasting the unbelieving Israelites for their wicked ways, the following verses apply to many people in positions of both secular and spiritual influence today.
Isaiah 5:20-21
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
In today’s political circles, there’s much talk about “Conspiracy Theories,” with those who pooh-pooh that idea labeling those who believe it as “conspiracy nuts.” Of course there is a conspiracy—against all mankind—and that’s because there is a Devil—the Father of lies—who is remarkably skilled in spreading wickedness and deceit to decimate humanity. As evident from the state of the world, he is plying his trade in every aspect of our culture.
2 Peter 2:7 speaks of Abraham’s son Lot being “vexed” by the unspeakable moral atrocities rampant in Sodom and Gomorrah. Vexed basically means “really tired of having to stomach so much evil,” and today most committed Christians feel the same kind of righteous indignation. What do you see around you that is breaking your heart, like it does God’s? What can you do about it, even if only person by person? You can speak the truth in love.
In the past 60 years here in the USA, where Christianity has historically been the root of so much cultural good, we have seen increasing attacks on our freedom of speech. The loaded biblical Greek word parrhesia, often translated “boldness,” basically means “to say all one thinks.” In light of each Christian’s God-given directive to boldly proclaim His Truth in the face of all the enemy’s lies, a sub-title to this FRUIT OF D’VINE could be If Not I, Whom? If Not Now, When?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the brave German Christian leader who stood against the Nazis until they executed him in 1945, once said: “Not to speak is to speak; not to stand is to stand.” How very true.
As Peter said in Acts 4:20, “We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard.” If those of us who have been graced with God’s Word do not share it with others, no matter the cost, who will? Each day brings us closer to the coming of our Lord Jesus for us, his Ekklesia, and today might well be our last opportunity to speak God’s life-giving Truth in love.
I love you.
LINKS TO OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATION
- What Does the Bible Say About Homosexuality?
- A Biblical Thesis Statement from TLTF
- The Decline of Man
- Gay Is Not the New Black
“Rather than dividing the world between good and evil, the Left divided the world in terms of economics. Economic classes, not moral values, explained human behavior. Therefore, to cite a common example, poverty, not one’s moral value system, or lack of it, caused crime.” – Dennis Prager
