8-29-16<\/p>\n
Nations almost always have traitors in their midst, and their motives are myriad \u2013 money, revenge, alien doctrines, contrary loyalties. Benedict Arnold probably is America\u2019s most prominent traitor. He escaped to England, for whom he betrayed the Revolution and his supporter George Washington, to an appropriate life of loneliness and opprobrium. His go-between, British Major John Andr\u00e9, was hanged as a spy. (In Tappan, NY, a bicycle ride from my high school in Old Tappan NJ; near old stomping grounds of Palisades, where I briefly ran an antiques shop; and Blauvelt, where some cousins lived.) <\/p>\n
The spot of Maj. Andr\u00e9\u2019s hanging still has a marker, outside the Old \u201976 House, a tavern where Andr\u00e9 was jailed awaiting the gallows. When I was a boy, the proximity, if not the reality, of historical events was almost romantic.<\/p>\n
But I mean to address traitors and false prophets, not recount the peregrinations of a young teen, or old, na\u00efve views of history. Treason is a serious thing. It is no longer fashionable, if I might use the word, or considered righteous to execute traitors these days. Many spies and traitors since Julius and Ethel Rosenberg have committed espionage \u2013 caused commensurate harm \u2013 to the United States, but I believe the Atom Bomb thieves were the last to receive the justice of every society\u2019s severest penalty.<\/p>\n
To lack the will to ultimately punish traitors is to condone treason; and is to encourage disloyalty. A hallmark of our times.<\/p>\n
What traitors are to nations, false prophets are to believers.<\/p>\n
We know that the Bible warns of false prophets \u2013 signs of the End of the Age \u2013 as well as the Anti-Christ and other dark figures. But looking back, so to speak, and not forward in prophecy, the Bible\u2019s history is replete with false prophets. The most prominent (indeed, living now in subsequent general parlance) is Jezebel.<\/p>\n
According to the book of I Kings she lived around 900 BC, a queen married to King Ahab of Israel. She persuaded the king and much of the kingdom to abandon Yahweh and worship Baal instead; she conspired, framed, and persecuted Hebrews for their faith. Ultimately she was rejected and was literally overthrown: pushed to her death from a palace window, her flesh devoured by dogs, as the account goes.<\/p>\n
Readers of my essays, or casual visitors, might wonder in this election season, and by the title of this essay, whether I am going to identify Jezebels in our midst. False prophets? A woman?<\/p>\n
That is not a Hill I will climb here. My use of the term \u201cPresident\u201d here is metaphorical: our virtual and generic leaders can be considered as \u201cpresidents\u201d in their realms. But I want to look at the array of persuasive, influential, prominent, consequential figures in our culture. Our bosses. In biblical days, and through feudal times, \u201clords.\u201d Trend-setters; role models. All virtual \u201cpresidents\u201d \u2013 presiding over areas of our lives.<\/p>\n
How many are Jezebels, male or female? How many are false prophets? These days, most of them. Remembering my distinction between traitors and false prophets, we can truthfully say that almost all of our modern leaders are false prophets.<\/p>\n
Many of them \u201cpreach\u201d such \u201ctruths\u201d as:<\/p>\n
There is no God;
\nThere is no such things as sin;
\nThere is no heaven or hell;
\nWe may eat, drink, and be merry with no consequences;
\nDrug use need not be discouraged;
\nAdultery is fine;
\nAbortion is not murder;
\nTruth is relative, everyone\u2019s personal choice;
\nBlack is white;
\nUp is down.<\/p>\n
I added a couple\u2026 not really stretches, though. These Contemporary Ten Commandments come at us rat-a-tat from government, media, journalism, the educational establishment, entertainment, and, sadly, much of the church. What do false prophets do? Using a biblically historical paradigm, they induce us to worship false idols. Mammon, of course. \u201cInstant gratification\u201d is a sacrifice to the god of Self. Abortion \u2013 infanticide, little different except for labels and settings of clinics instead of volcanoes \u2013 is child-sacrifice to the gods of convenience and a new morality. <\/p>\n
As I said above, what traitors are to nations, false prophets are to believers. And to innocent folks trying to make their ways in this world. They are glitzy celebrities and influential politicians, and bling-bling entertainers and heroes, so-called. But remember the words of Jesus:<\/p>\n
\u201cBeware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits\u201d (Matt. 7:15-16b). He also said that in the end times, \u201cMany false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many\u201d (Mt 24:11).<\/p>\n
We can make lists, long lists, of ways to recognize false prophets. These times are upon us. I would ask you to remember two important things that can sum up the (broken) law and the (false) prophets:<\/p>\n
1. When Jesus said that false prophets will deceive many, He did not mean \u201cmany of the unbelievers\u201d! Unbelievers are already out in the spiritual \u201ccold.\u201d No. Many believers, members of the Church, faithful followers of Christ, devout and pious folk, even the Elect\u2026 shall be deceived. Be. on. your. watch.<\/p>\n
2. All the warnings and checklists and litmus-tests and watchwords are worthless against the only dispositive standard: do the people, and their policies, glorify Christ? Is the Bible the bedrock? Are you directed to Jesus? <\/p>\n
Is there a \u201cshadow of turning\u201d? Any compromise that is \u201choped\u201d will make people amenable to the Gospel? Reject it! The World System hates us, and lies to us.<\/p>\n
Remember what Paul wrote in his second letter to the church at Corinth (2:1-2): \u201cWhen I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I decided to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.\u201d<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n