“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” James 4:7-8 (NIV)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a German pastor during WWII, an anti-Nazi dissident and author of The Cost of Discipleship boldly stated, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak, is to speak. Not to act, is to act.” Did you get that? To do nothing in the face of evil is to be guilty, and complicit in it! This is as true today as it was 70 some years ago! And it has been true for longer than that. The Apostle Paul told us to expose evil and work intensely against it (Ephesians 5:11-13). The church needs to get over worrying about what people think about us. We need to stop being “nice” and/or afraid to stand and speak up against evil, even if people are offended.
The church is not the voice of our culture, but for our King and His kingdom. And Jesus has not changed His stance. Whether it is the violence of Antifa and the riots that continue to impact cities across our nation, or the godless agenda of BLM, or the slaughter of innocent unborn through the abortion mills, or the deceptive lies of the “woke” crowd, or the fraud of the 2020 election, we cannot remain quiet! Standing and speaking may, and most likely will, come with a cost. But as the “Star Spangled Banner” declares… “the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there!” Our flag still flies over our nation, and it still proclaims freedom, yet that freedom is not free! The battle rages. Evil will not prevail if we stand up and resist it!
Repent on behalf of yourself, your church and the Church as a whole for our silence! Please pray for boldness in proclaiming the truth and resisting the evil in our nation, starting with yourself, your church/pastor and the Church across Athens. James says draw near to God, then resist the devil. Pray that the church in our city would press in to intimacy with and obedience to God and then become aggressively resistant against the evil in our land. Thank the Lord that He will be victorious and His church will be awakened!
