“So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” James 4:17 (ESV)
King Solomon once wrote that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7). Yes, there is a time when we are to be silent. A wise man once wrote that even a fool looks wise when he keeps silent (Proverbs 17:28). Jesus was silent before His accusers and in doing so fulfilled Isaiah 53:7 – as a lamb is silent before its shearers…. But silence does not shake the gates of hell! And silence is so easily misinterpreted.
Unless the Lord is calling you to be silent and march around your walls in this hour (Joshua 6:10) your silence is not pleasing to God. Our silence could be more of a symptom of cowardice, compromise, or assimilation into the world, even lukewarmness. Our nation is going down fast, and our silence only greases the slippery slope.
Jesus cried with a loud voice for Lazarus to come out (John 11:43). That required boldness, faith and a confidence in God, His Father. Btw, He wasn’t shouting to get His Father’s attention. No, He was attacking the enemy, called death and the grave! A whisper just wouldn’t do! He desired everyone to hear and take note of the miracle that was happening right before their eyes.
While Paul and Silas were in a Thessalonian jail, they sang, and apparently quite loudly so that everyone else could hear. Then the earthquake came and set them free. It wasn’t their quiet meditations that broke their chains. It wasn’t their praying in tongues under their breath. No, it was their loud declarations of praise that set off the ground shaking prison release (Acts 16:25)!
Likewise, Jesus shouted with a loud voice from the cross, crying out “Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani” (Matthew 27:46). The crazy thing was He had remained quiet throughout the scourging and most of the crucifixion. The physical pain as unbearable as it was, wasn’t what merited His final cry. As He raised Himself on the cross, exerting the last of His strength to push off His nail pierced feet, He shouted out in agony that for the first time in all eternity His Father had withdrawn from Him. The weight of our sin and the cost of His carrying it is what prompted this final cry! He then cried out with a loud voice again surrendering His spirit to the Father (Matthew 27:50). It was a declaration to the very gates of hell that He had won! The Bible is clear, had the devil known that the cross was their defeat, the kingdom of darkness would have never crucified Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:8)!
There are times to be silent and times to speak loudly. This is such a time to speak, and to speak loudly! We cannot be like the church in Germany in the 1930’s that quietly went along with the Nazi agenda. Yet today so much of the Church is silent, trying to be politically correct, afraid of offending someone. We’re silent about the borders, and we’re silent about sex trafficking. We’re silent about the globalist taking over our nation, or the traitors in our government cooperating with them. We’re silent about gender. We’re silence about transgender. We’re silent about homosexuality. We’re silent about abortion and the babies being murdered in the womb. We’re silent about Covid and the vax. We’re silent about election fraud and theft! We are afraid to even mention the name Trump in our churches so we don’t! The Church as a corporate body, as well as individuals, cannot remain silent anymore. Our silence is complicity! James tells us to not do what we know we are to do is sin (James 4:17). Silence fits that verse!!! I believe those who choose to remain silent will be held accountable for their sin!
Ask God for a fresh boldness to speak and to speak loudly whatever He has for you in this hour. Ask Him to show you how to be a champion for His causes. Ask Him to forgive you for every place where you have chosen to be silent when you should have spoken up! Ask for grace upon your pastor to speak loudly and clearly on these topics. Ask God for the weight of the fear of the Lord to fall upon your pastor and that he would be more concerned about what God says than what people might say. Pray for your church to become a voice of truth and love to the community, that your church could love the sinner but hate the very sin that keeps our city in bondage.
