Heh heh, NOPE, this post is not about Elvis! Nor Michael Jackson! Golly gee, WHAT king could I be talking about?
“… the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses… For His dominion is an everlasting domainion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation.” Daniel 4:25, 34
“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His deep displeasure…” Psalm 2: 1-5
Patrick Henry once said, “Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.”
I don’t know where it entered into our culture that we Christians felt that the gospel truth must be watered down or silenced to become more palatable to the general public. But then again, the truth has never been very popular. Just think of Martin Luther and his accusations against the pope and the Catholic Church; of Galileo brought before the Inquisition because he taught that the earth revolves around the Sun; about Isaac Newton and his belief and search for codes in the Bible; about those who dispute the kooky populist fads such as the Theory of Evolution, or the Theory of the Flat Earth, or the Theory of Global Warming. Truth has never been terribly popular. There was a familiar Roman proverb that I often quote to my children: Mundus vult decipi: the world wants to be deceived.
I’m presenting many points, scattered it may seem if you do not yet understand my point, which is: we are accountable to the higher Authority and not the current status quo, not the current worldy consensus. Truth is truth and it does not waver. There are some who have made up their minds that truth does not exist… but neglect to see that if truth does not exist, how can this be true? And why are the words of truth-disclaimers so easily tolerated, but the voices of those who accept truth are silenced? Or are made to feel like they give offense?
There is the higher Authority to which we will all give account– that Majesty of Heaven, the King of kings, as Patrick Henry related. We can be like him, or Nebuchadnezzar and Darius from the Book of Daniel, and accept this fact; or we can be like the kings of the earth who “set themselves against the Lord” and who “suppress the truth in all unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:18) I may not know everything, and I certainly may be mixed up in some things, but this I know– I should not be afraid to speak the truth for fear of “offending” someone, and I should never suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Jesus said to him, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6
For more of The Word For Wednesday posts and participants, see Yeah, Right!