Matthew 5:13-16 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” This is an excerpt from a sermon that Jesus preached. What would this mean to us today, given the spiritual and political climate of our times? Can we have an impact on the corruption of our day without saying anything about the corruption? Can we shine light in the darkness by remaining silent on the very issues that bring about darkness?
The commission the Lord gave to us at His departure is to engage the world around us with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many years ago I began hearing the phrase “lifestyle evangelism”. The implication was to encourage others to live a life before people so that they would see Jesus in them. I absolutely agree with living a life that magnifies Jesus in us. What I don't agree with is using this kind of mindset to get out of the responsibility to speak Jesus to the world. If you don't believe that Christians are being targeted in ways to stop us from speaking of Jesus to the world around us, then you are, at the very least, naive. The corruption and darkness of our government is working every angle to stop the preaching of God’s truth. It’s not a conspiracy theory to say the government has used a disease to stop people from going to church. Whether you believe it’s right or wrong, the government has told us to limit people from entering the church building. The world system would love nothing more than to destroy the Church from any public influence. Congregational meetings are just one step in the process. Next, the government will label the preaching of the Word as hate speech. To those who would say that this will never happen here, let me remind you, we said the same thing about government-sanctioned homo-sexual marriage.
So what are we to do? One thing I do know is that a word spoken out of season will be rendered ineffective. John the Baptist preached to the governor to repent of his adultery. He did that with great courage and engaged a political leader based on that leader’s sin. Maybe, just maybe it is now time for the Church to confront the world with the whole plan of redemption. Yes, salvation is wonderful but we need to preach just as hard concerning their need for salvation. We can no longer hide our light and expect people to come out of the darkness. We must find the courage to take a stand on the truth when the truth is being perverted by the world system. Now, is not the time to tell everyone everything is going to be just fine. In fact, our Nation is crumbling to moral decay and philosophical lies. Come out of hiding. Speak out for Jesus. Speak what Jesus taught. Say what Jesus said.
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