Who pulling the Strings?

Matthew 21:23-27

Have you noticed the challenges of late, too many things we as Americans value; the right to bear arms, given to us in the second Amendment, or the right of privacy, and in question is the right to speak against evil, on what the Bible calls evil.  It seems to this writer that more than anytime in my life, even the sixty’s, we have a society that is challenging authority, and what is the end game for such actions?  If government, as it seems in the United States were attacking our right given by the Second Amendment what and why would they do such a thing?  “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” (Thomas Jefferson)  Could it be that we have arrived at the place and time that Jefferson warned us about?  Should we not be on guard against a government that makes nothing, but takes not only from the living but also from the dead, and tries to tell its citizens that it will provide for them?  Jefferson has words of wisdom for us in 2013 about such a government; “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of asking for help.”  “Has our President been given the title of “Food Stamp President?”  But it is not just government that is attacking authority, it is also happening in the Church, the workplace, and especially in our culture.  And one must ask who is behind the curtain pulling the strings, and some will be quick to answer Liberals or progressives, others would put a name to it, George Soros, but those answers do not go to the root source.  Jesus gave us the identity in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  The thief is best known as the devil or Satan, and when we stand firm and do as our Lord did, tell the thief, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,  “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (Matthew 4:10b)

With that background, it should be clear that the battle is not with Liberals, or any person, but as the apostle Paul told the church at Ephesus, it is against the schemes of the devil, that old thief.  He hates the family, the church, and he hates our Lord, so once more behind the curtain he is pulling the strings of the chief priests and the elders of the people to challenge the authority of Jesus.  But his puppets do not stand a chance against our Lord and Savior, when they came to him asking who gave Him the authority for doing the things He was doing.  “Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Matthew 21:24-27)  Now is that not cool?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice