A Nation Divided Against Itself Can Not Stand

                                   A Nation Divided Against Itself Can Not Stand

                                  

I saw an article online and it got me to thinking. We are a nation sorely divided. Plenty of  Republican conservatives can get so caught up in  their own beliefs, they see not what the left says or thinks.....or they see and hear and are utterly repulsed by it. And seive (bolt like a lightening flash) with hot anger toward them. Same results with left leaning liberals...protesting and screaming against the president. Complaining about what they call the  King Complex. Forcing his own edicts to accomplish his own end result. That He and all conservatives are vehemently  suppressing liberals freedom to choose; what gender a person feels they are, how they feel about it. Whether one can choose their own gender--male or female because though they are one gender and not the other physically, that it all has to do with what a person thinks or feels they are as the determinative factor foremost,  to what gender they are.                                                                     

                                   

As for infanticde, liberals insist that it is a mothers choice whether that fetus, so called by them, isn't  a human being while gestating in the womb attaining to personhood. Not offically human until after it's birth.  So that makes it okay to rob said fetus of a life they haven't attained to yet. . Even though abortion is  what many feel is the taking of a life. Yet to the left the most important aspect of this issue is a woman's right to choose. That takes precedence over everything else.  Whether or not she keeps the unborn fetus or snuffs out its existence is totally determinative on the womans decision.  Whether that baby in the womb has the right to live or die.    Many conservatives adhereing to a biblical view that the festus is a life before birth. (Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 49:1; Galatians 1:5; Ephesians 1:4)                                                             

                 

When it comes to liberals and conservatives we are a sorely divided nation. Angry to the point of action and violence toward another. ( I just  realized  the attempt on Donald Trumps life (3rd time in fact)   and the lives of other republican leaders in attendance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner  occurred just 3 days after I wrote this piece. On april 25th....saturday....I wrote this on wednesday morning april 22nd)   

                                         

                                                                         

To quote Abraham Lincoln " a house divided against itself can not stand."                                                                                                                                                                      

The phrase closely associated with abraham Lincoln's "House Divided"  speech, delivered on June 16, 1858, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate.  His speech "A house divided against itself cannot stand," drawing from biblical references to  iIlustrate  the peril of a nation torn apart by conflicting ideologies, particularly regarding slavery. He argued that the United States could not endure permanently half slave and half free, predicting that it would ultimately become all one thing or all the other. 

                                                         

This nation today is treading on some  very dangerous grounds. We are substantially divided as to what is right and what is wrong.  If this severe problem is not solved. We will be one or the other. Or we will be a nation at war with itself?  Opinions seem etched in stone for each side on this issue.  Depending on one's idea of what is right and wrong. Liberals see conservatives as crude, backward, religious zealots nurturing a belief based in a system of repressive and out of date ideology. The right, by and large trust in the God of scripture whom tells us that murder is a grevious  act perpetrated on a human being whether in or out of the womb. It is the taking of a life and against the will of almighty God. 

                                                   

The left on the other hand see it as an intrusion by the right into a persons private affairs. If a male feels like a female and thus wants to transgender to such, that's perfectly OK with them. For a person is something or the other  which is perfectly acceptable because its how they feel about it. The same way they feel about a woman who feels about aborting  a baby in her womb. That that decision  should be left up to woman involved. It is her own personal choice to keep or abort that one in the womb.  They forget the fact that that baby in the womb is a different human being with its own personal DNA awaiting birth into this world. It not just a blob of mindless tissue inhabiting her being. But with the left it's always about feelings. Not common sense or logic. As for that baby in the womb before being born: 

                                                     

                                                                                                                                   

It is a zygote forming a morula and then a blastocyst which reaches in uterus in 4 or 5 days..then comes the germinal stage, then embryonic with a heart beat in 5 weeks, facial features, eyes ears nose, hands and feet develop then in 7 weeks. Most organs and systems in place at the end of the 8th week. Sex is assigned at 9-12 weeks....and continues with rapid growth, movement, and sensory development at 13 through 26 weeks. The womb is a busy place. As life takes its shape.  

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you; (Jeremiah 1:5)

For You formed my inward parts;

You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Marvelous are Your works,

And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,

When I was made in secret,

And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them. (Psalm 139:13-16)

                                                         

Christians believe life is a very special gift from God. It is God who created this world to be inhabited by all sorts of life. Land animals, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles, insects, all life capable of surviving in a very special world made for the life that inhabits this earth. Yet there is something drastically wrong. Life lives yet life dies. It is a never ending process. Scripture, the Bible tells us mankinds first created human beings were told by their creator, God, not to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If they did they would die. The serpent, satan, the devil  contradicted what God had said telling them they would not die but be like God, knowing good and evil. They disobeyed God, and believed the lie of the evil one, rather than God. Who then subjected all of creation to futility ( hopelessness, deficiency, pointlessness, vanity) and the state of the world we inhabit today. Fallen, estranged from God and lost  from the glory humanity was meant to be. For "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." ( 2 Cor. 4:4) The world is at enmity with the God of the Bible. Human beings are dead in their trespasses and sins, following the course of this world. The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience and are by nature, children of God's wrath. (Eph. 2:1-5) 

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. And in sin my mother conceived me. (Ps 51:5)                                       We are not sinners because we sin.                                                                                                              We sin because we are sinners.                                                                                                                            We're born that way.  

 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus  had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”   (Words of Jesus Matthew  22:34-39)   

                                                           

                                                                                                                   

Owe no one anything except to love one another, Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8;10)

It appears to me (and was proven just 5 days ago, and before the attempt of the assassination of the president in Washington DC when I wrote the this blog),.... Hate fosters more Hate. It boils in a caulderon of searing loathing, as tempers flair and violence erupts in rabid hatred.  If that doesn't change, we shall destroy ourselves in a hellish array of violent torrential savagery. It seems both sides are evenly divided.  Half our nation or more despises absolute truth that Christians ponticate. Stressing what they believe God tells them what to do and not to do in the Holy Bible. What is right and what is wrong.       

                                                             

                                                                               

 Yet even some Christians, lean to what various churches spew forth from their more liberal leaning church pews. That the woman should have the final say in the case of abortion. Its a womens right to chose whether to keep or eliminate that life within her womb. Some liberal churches even approve of other sins mentioned in Scripture:  "If you are guided by the Spirit, you won't obey your selfish desires. The Spirit and your desires are enemies of each other. They are always fighting each other and keeping you from doing what you feel you should.  People's desires make them give in to immoral ways, filthy thoughts, and shameful deeds.  They worship idols, practice witchcraft, hate others, and are hard to get along with. People become jealous, angry, and selfish. They not only argue and cause trouble, but they are  envious. They get drunk, carry on at wild parties, and do other evil things as well. I told you before, and I am telling you again: those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal. 5:16-21 CEV) 

And no wonder...as many Christian churches spew forth an  ooey gooey, lovey dovey, it doesn't matter what you do  god. Who loves you no matter what scripture says. Just say a prayer, you're in the kingdom. No change required. Regeneration need not take place. I have personally meant and talked with so called Christians in the church like this. They said the so called sinners prayer, which then automatically gave them,  to quote their words, "Fire Insurance." In other words they believed saying that prayer saved them from the torments of eternal hell fire.                                                                 

But no change has occured in their lives. They didn't seem to be born again. They continued on the life they were living. Which included various sins that God has forbidden. They had not been what scripture calls, "regenerated"; To be convicted of their sin before a holy and righteous God.  Given a new heart to believe by the Holy Spirit of God. Repented of their sins. Born again by God into new life. They said a prayer but no change occurred in their lifestyles. They said a prayer just in case. To keep them out of Hell. If there is one, according to their thinking.  They were just trying to cover their tracks. They had a said faith rather than a faith that saves. A gift from God by grace.  They've covered, so they think. Sin on, it doesn't matter. God will forgive no matter what you do. No guilt for sin allowed. 

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? God Forbid! Certainly not!   When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.  What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!  But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6)

                                                           

                                                          

That is not what the God of scripture intended. In fact, that is proved by what His Son had to endure while he spent time in a human body walking on the earth. God's One and Only Son had to be scorned, mocked, tortured, nailed to the cross, and bear the wrath of God on that cross saying , "My God, My God why have you forsaken me;" God the Son lived a perfect sinless life,  went to the cross for our sins and shed His precious human blood,  then proclaimed "It is finished"  Then Jesus  died on that tree. 

                                                           

                                                                                                                                               

He proved whom He said He was; "The Way, the Truth and the Life" when on the third day  He rose from the dead. As the Apostle Paul proclamied to the church in Corinth: For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that He was seen by Cephas (Peter), then by the twelve.  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep (died).  After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.  Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. (1 Cor. 15:3-8)

Salvation is found in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven by which anyone is saved. (Acts 4:12)

                                                             

Jesus told an inquiring Pharisee Named Nicodemus, who himself believed Jesus was a teacher sent by God and that God was with him, "“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (born from above, regenerated), he cannot see the kingdom of God....That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” The wind does as it pleases. So does the Spirit. Its operation is sovereign, incomprehensible and mysterious. Nicodemus was brought up and believed that a person could and should save himself by perfect obedience to the law of Moses and to a host of manmade human regulations. Truth is no one can obey God's laws perfectly. Yet good works matter after one is born again from above (regenerated)

As the Apostle Paul tells us, " by grace (unmerited favor of God)  you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."  Good works do not save anyone. Good works come as the result of ones salvation. 

                                       

                                  

In The Apostle Paul's letter to Titus, He told the people "when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,  not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (John 3:3-8; Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 3:4-7 ) Note:washing of regeneration is the act of God by which the principle of  the new life is implanted in a person, the governing disposition (nature, character) of the soul is made holy, and the first holy exercise of this new disposition is secured. (L. Berkhof) It is the sovereign choice of God by His divine will. As Jesus Himself proclaimed," 

In the Bible, regeneration refers to the sovereign, supernatural act of God’s Holy Spirit in giving spiritual life to a spiritually dead sinner;  transforming them from spiritual death into a living, new creation in Christ....The term "born again" signifies a profound transformation that occurs when an individual accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.  This spiritual renewal is not merely an improvement of the old self but a complete rebirth into a new life in Christ. It underscores the importance of faith and the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life, marking the beginning of a new relationship with God. This passage is foundational in Christian theology, illustrating the transformative power of faith and the necessity of regeneration for anyone seeking to follow Christ and enter His kingdom.

                                                         

This is why Jesus can and does say, "I am the Way, True and  Life, no one comes to the Father except by me." (John 14:6) The Savior of those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord, repent of their sins, believe that the Lord Jesus  rose from the dead. Conquering salvation for all those who  know His commands and obey them. We are told to walk worthy of the call we have recieved. That regenerating call is by God’s sovereign choice, by His grace to individuals to enter into a personal relationship with Him, to live according to His will, and to participate in His redemptive work in the world. God the Father through his One and Only Son, the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God, delivers  us from the darkness of this present evil age into His marvelous light of truth; and from spiritual death and enmity with God unto everlasting life with a citizenship in heaven. It is God's precious gift to His elect. 

 You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)..... But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,  not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,  whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7)  Where once we had no hope, hope has blossomed. Where once dead in trespasses and sins, awakened from spiritual death to life. 

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

The wrath of God is very real.  If our churches get it wrong, we have it wrong. Then that wrong will become a nations right. Drowning in its own vomit of immorality and disobedience to a Holy and Righteous God.  There comes a time when God says enough is enough. You don't want me, then you won't have me.  Then God gives a people over to their own evil desires. Then all Hell breaks loose.....

                                       

                                                                                                                                                                         And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate (depraved; condemned) mind, to do those things which are not fitting. Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, (any sexual activity outside the marriage bond of a man and women) wickedness, covetousness (a cravinmg for possessions or anothers possessions), maliciousness;(desire to harm someone)  full of envy (of others), murder (to kill a person unlawfully and unjustifiably with premediated malice) strife, deceit, (the action o practice of cpncealing or misrepresenting the truth),  evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, (gossips)  backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning (of what is truth),  untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;  (Romans 1:28-31) Yet "as many as received Him, (who has called us from darkness to light) to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:  who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13) 

You must be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect, said Jesus the Christ. The only way to have such perfection is through the saving knowledge of God's One and Only Son. Only He can save us  from our sins. And bestow upon one a saving faith to trust andf obey.    

The God of the Bible tells us unless we are born again, born from above, regenerated unto faith we can not see the kingdom of God. How then should God's Chosen and elect people live?  

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.  As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” ( 1Peter 1:13-16)                                           

                                          God's people are to be set apart from the world                                                                                          

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, (craving of sinful man) the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (boasting of what we have and do) --comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. ... (1 John 2:15-17)

How does one know the will of God?  " Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Renewing your mind is the ongoing process of transforming your thoughts and perspectives to align with God’s truth, leading to spiritual growth and a Christ-centered life. Renewing your mind involves replacing old, harmful thought patterns with new perspectives rooted in Scripture.

                                                               

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving..... (Col. 2:6-7)          As God's children we are to be Holy, set apart, sacred, and morally pure, reflecting God’s distinct and perfect nature.... for obedience to God's commands, (though how imperfect that may be)....

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1)   Real, true, and essential freedom is a freedom from sin.         

 The apostle James identifies the root cause of fights and quarrels among believers: the passions and desires that are at war within: "Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?  You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:1-4) 

 The apostle Paul tells us today "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators,(sexual immorality)  nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,  nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,(someone who speaks abusively or contemptuously to or of another person or thing), nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10)  But then adds. "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified,(set apart)  but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:9-11) 

God's Chosen People are New Creations in  Christ: 

Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, Peter urges the people to arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,  that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.  For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles (pagans) —when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (1 Peter 4:1-5)

Judgement Day--a day when God will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)

 For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.  For it is written:“As I live, says the Lord,  Every knee shall bow to Me,  And every tongue shall confess to God.” So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10-12)

 “Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth… in his faithfulness”  (Ps. 96:13)

 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved....those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)

The wicked hate the righteousness of those who believe. They practice a raucous loathing, laced with  insulting and demeaning language, hateful and murderous feelings that pour forth in overflowing diatribes (bitter verbal attacks), oozing  fourth in superfluous (unnecessary) vitriolic (bitter) vernaculars  as poison from the bite of asps.   

Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)

The wages of sin is death. 

It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you,  and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,  when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed. (2 Thess. 1:6-10)

                                                                   

                                                        

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead....Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.....Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (1 Peter 1:3; Heb. 10:23; Matt. 24:44)

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2) 

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12) 

Jesus is the Word who was in the beginning with God and was God. The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. That Word is living and powerful in Scripture, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit (it strikes through to the place where soul and spirit meet), and of joints and marrow, (the deepest parts of our nature) and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Heb. 4:12)