It Feels Like Helms Deep

It feels like Helms Deep. We look for good but see only Nazgul. In a different image I see a movie scene; dark black roiling clouds moving swiftly toward the city. They cast a shadow on the ground as they grow bigger and move to cover everything. If you understand purity and good, if you eschew evil then you sense it too. I think about the coming election and the current state of the Union. No matter the winner we are a country divided. As a nation we turn to relativism and we worship gods we have created in our image. My heart breaks.

This week the high school my daughter attends had a motivational speaker at the required assembly. At the end of his presentation he said, “To me Jesus isn’t a cussword He’s my Saviour.” A number of people got up in arms and today there were news crews at the school. I received a note from a friend telling me to show up at noon. I can’t comprehend the purpose.

I wonder if we will serve them water. Seriously it seems a better thing to show up and serve the news crews and anti-Christian protesters water and punch than to protest and stand up for our side. What does that gain us? A church pastor in Charlotte, North Carolina invited LGBT protesters into his house for dinner and discussion.

On Sunday morning, Aug. 26th, about 10 protesters showed up (we were disappointed there were so few) and some of our FIRE leaders met with them, offering them water and snacks, sharing God’s love and truth with them, and then inviting them to join us in the service. After a few minutes they left, explaining that we were too nice and loving to deserve a protest! Bear in mind that these protesters know the stands we have taken for biblical values and some of them have listened to my radio broadcasts or read my writings, so they recognize how strongly we differ with them on many key issues. Yet they also recognized our genuine love for them and saw that we were not full of hate. The love of Jesus, flowing out of Spirit-filled, godly hearts, makes an impact that cannot be denied.

The darkness encroaches. As it did for believers suffering under Nero and the Diaspora so the call is the same for us. Let us ‘prove to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.’