In The Name of Jesus?

Hello My Chickadees,

My message this month is not a feel good message, because, to be honest, I am not feeling very good about where we are as a country. January 6, 2021 will not only go down as a day in infamy, but also as a day of revelation. The whole world had an opportunity to see the destructive, devastating effects of hate and evil, and the power it has to poison the minds of those who are susceptible to its’ lies and the rhetoric it propagates. Seventy million people drank the poison from the mouth of a demagogue who seduced his followers with lies and innuendos, and replaced the truth of putting on God’s love as the way to “Make America Great,” with lies motivated by racist ideologies from his philosophical premise of white supremacy.

Wasn’t there something in us that caused us to pause when he abused his power to clear out peaceful protesters marching for the calls of justice in front of a house of God? He proclaimed his twisted version of justice as he held the word of God upside down, and in the words of the Bible he held, “masqueraded himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14), while BLM peaceful protesters choked on tear gas and feared for their lives in their cause for justice and human dignity. That very same Bible predicted what would be the consequence of following “an angel of light” when it says, “It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve” (2 Corinthians 11:15). 

The whole world had an opportunity to see the truth of God revealed on January 6th when his servants stormed the US Capitol. As sad and horrified as I felt by this miscarriage of justice, My Chickadees, there was another part of me that felt a righteous indignation as some of his followers desecrated the Capitol in the name of Jesus with flags that read “Jesus Saves.” It left me wondering… what Jesus are they following? Certainly it’s not the Jesus who is the God of love, because there was NOTHING loving about what we saw unfolding before our eyes. What Jesus were they representing? 

Maybe it was that same Jesus they misrepresented who motivated the minds of those appearing as “angels of light” to bless the slave ships as they went on their journey to capture and enslave African people in the name of God and country. I have often wondered what Jesus would justify and condone the raping and mutilating of black bodies while they sang “Nearer My God to Thee” on Sunday in their houses of worship, or withhold those inalienable rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: from people who don’t look like them. 

Maybe it was their Jesus who motivated them to separate children from their parents when families were fleeing from the evils in their own country and were seeking to find asylum in the place that purports to stand for liberty and justice for all, but instead found themselves separated from their families and their children were housed in cages. Certainly not the Jesus who came to proclaim liberty, and to set the captives free (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:1). 

What Jesus are they serving? Maybe their Jesus is that angel of light who makes the truth of God a lie as he holds God’s word upside down as he profanes His name with his heinous actions. Maybe it is in the name of that Jesus that they are emboldened to commit such violent, despicable acts and crimes against others, but it is not the Jesus I know.

Those that carried flags and signs with the name of Jesus displayed on them while they spewed hate and violence really don’t know the real Jesus, and I felt a righteous indignation as they misrepresented Him with the very acts He hates.

My Dear Chickadees, the Bible tells us, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:7 –8).

Let us awaken to see that the god of this system is the great deceiver, and adhere to the words of Edmund Burke who said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good do nothing.” You are that light that shines in the midst of a dark and dying world. Now is the time to take a stand and choose which Jesus you will serve.

 Peace and Blessing as you reflect the light of the TRUE Jesus.

 Gail