I'll admit that I have had a much different view of this situation than what seems like most Christians. Let me say, I have concern and love in my heart for all people so please do not say I don't. The point here is that I have discussed concerns with others and they too have discussed theres. We both have scriptures to back us up...so who's right? Has one of us gone mad? Are we both still Christians? (God does mention that many come and preach in His name but He does not know them) We both (I do hope so) are taking our concerns to God and researching scriptures fervently to see how God or His people should react to such a matter and not just rely on smart people and facts but upon Jesus, the way the truth and the life and upon the gospel of Jesus Christ, our ultimate source.
God then showed me in a day dream (I was not sleeping but I was listening intently) what He thought about some of my concerns. First He mentioned that we all are created differently and for good reasons. I may be bold as brass does that make me anymore Christian than someone who is tentative and submissive? No. God designed us differently because we as brothers and sisters in Christ can work better when we come together. Each of us bringing our gifts and talents and our unique personal traits that God himself designed for each of us.
God then shared with me a scene. I won't forget it. I saw Satan and thousands of his demons prepare to battle against Jesus and His saints. This is an everyday occurrence. Satan and his demons threw fiery dart after fiery dart into the saints that stood for Jesus. Most of the time the saints came together and could fight off the Devil, but as I watched, I noticed that instead saints were firing upon saints!!! My brothers and sisters were throwing darts at each other!!! I couldn't believe it, Satan and his demons had somehow made us enemies to each other and now we were killing and wounding our own!! I heard Satan's evil laugh erupt when he told His demons to hold their fire. His smug evil expression as he said, "Hold your fiery darts, they are warring each other! We will save our arrows for the next battle!" In shock, I tried to warn my sisters and brothers that we can not stand if we don't stand up together!! But it was too late, division was rampant and wounds were inflicted. Now, instead of throwing darts at Satan, I too began throwing darts at my fellow warriors. I was throwing fiery darts at my fellow Christian warriors! Trying to persuade them to see like me, I threw dart after dart and they threw them back at me! As I was about to give a death blow to another saint, God then opened my eyes to see that this is not the warrior He wants me to be! The wounded saint which I had almost done in, instead I gathered up in my hands and embraced them. I cleaned up their wounds and we sat in silence. Dear God, where do I go from here? For I was afraid to talk for fear we would just fight each other again. Long silence. Quick prayers. God revealed to me, that love can still heal division and wounds and even anger and hate. I got up from the battle field, now quiet somehow and looked into the eyes of the other saint and said, "Remember who the enemy is!" (Many of you may remember this line in Hunger Games) And with that, I helped my wounded warrior back up and we turned our arrows once again on the Devil and his demons.
God helped remind me that we shouldn't be fighting each other but fighting against the Devil and all his demons and schemes and wickedness and etc! The Devil and wickedness is rampant today and we need each other more than we ever have before! Can you find it in your heart to be soft and tender towards each other...can you focus on the real enemy?
Can you forget that you are Baptist, Presbyterian, Apostolic, Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, Pentecostal, many etc and remember who you really are: A child of God. A saint. A warrior. Can you put down your accusations on all your brothers and sisters of every religion and can we come together and fight for Jesus? Can we do that? Can we look past differences and come together? Otherwise, I do fear the above battle scene is happening and will continue to happen. We need leaders of every church to get together with each other and maybe say...hey we need each other. I will stand against evil if you will stand against evil. Because churches you are basically dead when you have no believers gather. That's something Satan is loving right now. Believers aren't gathering. Maybe our church leaders of all denominations can mark a day where they will stand up for Jesus and against evil and say this is when we are going back to church. (technically we would be submitting to our constitution because religious freedom is in it) (also our Christian founding fathers knew the importance of separation of church and state) As I heard today, sometimes the people have to remind the leaders what's right. Can we do that, IL? And if we all stand together, we can conquer Satan. If we can't stand together, this hating, this hurt, this division will crush us and the Devil will win many victories. Let's not let him win so easily! Let's come together in Jesus's name and fight! Let's fight for each other and let's fight for our God. Because we are indeed in a fight. Just remember who the enemy is.
My prayer has been to have a soft heart towards my brothers and sisters, but to have a boldness in the areas I am suppose to for Jesus. That I can love Jesus fiercely through this and grow closer to Him! And I pray we can all heal from this. I pray this for myself first.
I encourage you to be soft hearted and be bold for Jesus! Yes! You can be both! Seek God! Stay strong in Him! I also apologize for my many ungodly traits as I'm sure many of you are well aware of. But I do love you all and pray that God can continue to guide me and mold me.
