This post was written by a good friend and fellow Abolitionist. May it be an encouragement and a good reminder as we enter into the fight. God has set the perfect and righteous standard. Let us be willing vessels.
‘For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.’
Deuteronomy 14:2
‘Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.’
James 4:4
We live in a rebellion saturated culture. America is a country founded on and won by the principles of rebellion and revolution. Americans worship rebellion, individuality, freedom of expression. Americans don’t like being pushed around. ‘Don’t tread on me.’ That is the watchword of our culture. That is the surface. Underneath we find that the truth is, our culture of rebellion is just regulated individuality.
Rebellion against standards and conscience? Yes. Freedom to immorality? Absolutely. But beyond that, the pursuit of individuality and expression is a carefully controlled and segregated. We are a culture that worship individuality in word, but conformity in action. The rebellion does not pass beyond the bounds of physical appearances in many cases.
Yet America is a ‘culture of rebels’. I am not here just to harp on the foolish conformity of our youth. I am here to talk about righteous rebellion. If I were to ask who was ready to be a rebel for Jesus, the answer would be a resounding, yes, from most. After all we are still a christian nation in census if not in deed.
Somewhere between seventy-five and eighty-three percent of our nation identify themselves as ‘christian’ (ABC News and Gallup Poll ). Rebellion is good, we like to say that we’re ready to be weirdos for God. It sounds good. It appeals to the American Spirit. Yet somehow there is a peace treaty between the world and the Christians. After all that makes sense, our nation is eighty-three percent christian, right? If that were true our nation would not look the way it does today. Does America look like a nation under God to you?
The fact is that we are not rebels, we are seldom even very different. What sets you apart from the people of the world? A slightly different dress-code? Sunday morning attendance? Those are both good things, but they are a mere fraction of Christianity! A few little things that can be overlooked since you seem nice besides your superstition.
If the friendship of the world is enmity with God, does it not follow that the friendship of God is enmity with the world?
We are not standing up! When you’re the only one standing in a room full of sitting people, they notice you. If we were standing up, we would be different. The Bible says ‘A peculiar people’. We do not need to seek to appear different, if we really follow what God say we will be different. Our nation is not Christian and if we act like Christians, really lived our faith according to God’s command and Jesus’ example, we will stand out.
We say we are willing to be rebels for Christ, yet our lives reflect little or nothing. The fact is, rebellion is hard, being the minority is hard. When the majority lauds and supports the minority, it isn’t hard being the minority, is it? But the fact is the world will hate us. They hate even the idea of a just God, the idea of consequences and accountability. Jesus is a rock of offense and they will despise Him and those who stand for Him, even if they do not realize why. For God to use us we must be empty vessels. But we have to accept God. Satan does not need the invitation, the empty are ready vessels waiting and open to be used by him. They will not remain empty, something will fill them, like the man in Matthew 12:43-45. I’m not saying that everyone is demon possessed, I believe Satan can use people without them being possessed. There are no noncombatants in this war, there are only allies and enemies.
It is hard when the rubber meets the road, when the hatred is not a vague impersonal concept of evil people out there somewhere who don’t like you. When it is acquaintances, neighbors, and friends that begin to cut a wide berth around you. If your nation is eighty-three percent ‘Christian’, than you are going to be hated by ‘Christians’!
I am not saying to seek hatred. The Bible says, ‘If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.’ We are not to try to alienate and anger people, but if you emulate Christ’s example, it will happen as a result.
Just remember, those that hate you for following God are the enemy. Did the allied forces in World War II worry that the Nazis would hate them? No, they stormed Normandy beach, they fought the Japanese tooth and nail for the hills of Iwo Jima! If the enemy loves you, then you’re on the wrong side of the battlefield! We do not need to fear to be hated by the enemy.
God has called us to righteous rebellion. True Christians have always been and always will be the rebels. Look at Peter and Paul and the apostles who ‘turned the world upside down’, ‘doomsday-ers’ like Noah and Jeremiah, John the Baptist ‘fanatic’, The world has never had true peace with Christians and never will.
I can almost guarantee that if you could go back to the inception of our nations independence, when we were newly founded, a nation under God; that the true Christians still would have challenged the status quo and still would have been hated. Even if the laws of the nation were right, they would be hated for standing for God. Maybe just to admonish people to live lives truly surrendered to Christ, for instance. They would still be hated.
As Christians, we are very fond of talking about being a ‘weirdo’ or ‘Jesus Freak’. It is easy to say and easy to rally around, but are we truly willing to be righteous rebels for God? Do we mean it? Are we willing to be hated for His name’s sake? I’m not saying that it might happen, the Bible says that it will happen. Jesus is a rock of offense to them. But to us He is the cleft in the rock, the hiding place, the shield and protector, and we can face the world with no fear.
Voices of Dissidence 