(More Bible Studies Available @ www.marktabata.com)
It is written:
Isaiah 1:17-Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
Let’s be candid: if Jesus Christ were here right now in our country with everything going on, He would be flipping tables and driving out folks with whips.
John 2:15-When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables.
The question I have is this: why aren’t more Christians speaking out against what our President is doing?
Not long ago, a bishop from a denominational church made the following appeal to newly elected President Trump:
“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now…There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives. They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues.” (Bishop Mariann Budde)
Now, I am not a fan of the Episcopal church, nor do I believe in homosexuality as an acceptable way of life in the sight of God. I also do not believe in female bishops of churches.
But you know what I am a believer in?
Exodus 22:21-You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:9-Also you shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Leviticus 19:18-You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:33-34-And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19-He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 24:14-You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.
Someone may object, “If the migrants are honest, they would all have come here legally!”
What about the migrants who could not afford to gain legal citizenship?
What about the migrants who fled persecution from dangerous regimes or drug cartels?
What about the migrants who wanted to come to America but were turned away because the immigration laws of our country were mostly written to reflect the world that existed seventy or eighty years ago?
What about the migrants who have come to America and were granted legal citizenship, but that is now being revoked because the current administration has decided that their path to citizenship did not count?
I am also pleading for mercy for the immigrants and others. I am also praying for mercy for our President, praying that his eyes will be opened.
1 Timothy 2:1-4-Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
But I am not going to be silent about the wickedness that reigns in the highest offices in this country while my fellow human beings-and especially CHILDREN-are being targeted, and neither should any professing Christian!
Years ago, Erwin Lutzer wrote about how the church in Nazi Germany was largely silent when Hitler’s protocols began to be implemented. Hitler’s actions were gradual and clothed in the message that it was for “the common good,” and many of the Christians chose nationalism over the Gospel.
Does any of that sound familiar?
Listen to Lutzer’s captivating words:
“The church simply failed to be the church. In a letter sent to Right to Life supporters, there is a story that I reproduce here in summary form. In a small church on the East Coast a pastor delivered a sermon on abortion, and after the service a German man who had lived in Nazi Germany told of his experience: I lived in Germany during the Nazi Holocaust. I considered myself a Christian. We heard stories of what was happening to the Jews, but we tried to distance ourselves from it, because, what could anyone do to stop it? A railroad track ran behind our small church and each Sunday morning we could hear the whistle in the distance and then the wheels coming over the tracks. We became disturbed when we heard the cries coming from the train as it passed by. We realized that it was carrying Jews like cattle in the cars! Week after week the whistle would blow. We dreaded to hear the sound of those wheels because we knew that we would hear the cries of the Jews en route to a death camp. Their screams tormented us. We knew the time the train was coming and when we heard the whistle blow we began singing hymns. By the time the train came past our church we were singing at the top of our voices. If we heard the screams, we sang more loudly and soon we heard them no more. Years have passed and no one talks about it anymore. But I still hear that train whistle in my sleep. God forgive me; forgive all of us who called ourselves Christians yet did nothing to intervene. That story, which speaks so pointedly to the weakness of the church in Germany, speaks also to us: Do we hear the train here in America—the cries of the pre-born children in our abortion clinics, the abused child across the street, or the minorities who are daily discriminated against in the normal course of their existence? Or does our busy service for Christ drown out these muffled cries? Unfortunately, only a few German Christians saw the Jews as their brothers and sisters; only a few saw them as Christ; only a few stood against the devils of hell that were unleashed by a satanic leader. A delegate to the 1950 Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany declared, “In every train which carried Jews to their death-camps in the East, at least one Christian should have been a voluntary passenger.” 17 Those who preserved their lives lost their honor.” (Erwin W. Lutzer, Hitler’s Cross: The Revealing Story of How the Cross of Christ Was Used As a Symbol of the Nazi Agenda, 99-100 (Kindle Edition): Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers)
Christian, are you going to be plugging your ears and singing at the top of your voices in praise to God while the innocent are targeted and suffer?
Are you going to be like the majority of Christians in Nazi Germany who held hands high in singing praises to God while their fellow neighbors were targeted and persecuted?
One lady told me recently on social media that Trump is always giving praise to God. I was reminded of the words of Paul:
Titus 1:16-They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
Indeed, notice these other Scriptures:
Ezekiel 33:31-So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.
Isaiah 58:2-12-Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in approaching God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ “In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, And an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.‘ “If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
Folks, you cannot say that you love God while you turn a blind eye to the abuse of human beings.
Let’s not be like the silent Christian majority in Nazi Germany while Hitler was largely unopposed.
Pray for the President to become a Christian, pray for him to rule in a godly and merciful way, and be willing to speak out against the wickedness that we are seeing increase in this country while our neighbors are being persecuted.
God, help me to stand for what is right.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.