Adversaries Oppose the Church in the USA in 2021

 

February 26, 2021

 

Ezra 4:1-6

 

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,  they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”   But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

 

Let me share a story told me by the late Carroll Ray Jr., a mighty man of God and His kingdom.  It is about Charles Tandy’s widow making a sizable offer to fund a building on the Fort Worth campus of  Baptist Theological Seminary It had one condition; Charles Tandy’s name had to be on it.  As the leadership kick, around the pros and cons, one of the reagents asks this question, would we also take the same offer from Hugh Hefner the owner of the Playboy magazine?  He shared with Carroll that at that point the conversation was ended on the subject with a letter rejecting the offer. 

This is not a knock-on Mr. Tandy, but he was not known for being part of the Church or a supporter of Christ's kingdom.  Maybe that was easy, but what about the many churches that took money from the government during the China Virus.  It was built into the economic relief legislation.  I ask my pastor if we were going to consider doing so and his short answer was no.  First, it is against the Constitution of the USA and when money is offered by a government it comes with strings attached.  

 

Now our government is doing the best it can to destroy your freedom with the Equality Act, which will criminalize your action if you give a Biblical opinion about homosexual activity.   In fact, it will make the Bible a criminal book in that its teaching is very much against such lifestyles.

 

What will the real Church and its leadership do, they will not bow to the evil of this bill, no matter the cost.  The people coming back out of  70 years of captivity understood when you allow the world to have a part of the mission God has given you, it always turns out bad.  This is one of the evilest bills coming out of the people's house and I joke when I call it the people's house, it has not been that for many years.

 

This is the question, will you be willing to go to jail, will you be willing to have the world call you any of its pet names, or will you stand for the Kingdom of our God?  It has never been the easy road God has called us to, for Jesus makes it clear, you will be hated by the world for standing for my Name, and God’s kingdom.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice