What is going on in this world? And how can I know how to respond?

1. How can we know what to believe in the news and on social media? 
2. How can we determine what is of the devil and what is of the Lord?
3. How should we respond to the politics that are taking place today? 
4. How should we respond to the current events in America?

I want to answer these 4 questions today in this blog post, but beware you may not like the answers. Also, fair warning that you may think my answers are too simple or miss the point, but if you listen carefully I believe you will hear the Lord speaking to you…

First of all I want to tell you two important things. 

First, thinking about the problem will not come up with the solution. Your wisdom, my wisdom and even the collective wisdom of all mankind is not sufficient to figure out how to address sin and pride in the hearts of humanity or how to correct the effects of that sin on all civilization and creation. Thinking about the problem and all of the possible ways to fix it will never independently come up with the right solution. Unless we have revelation and revival from the Holy Spirit and instruction and renewal from the One who is all Wise and all knowing we will continue to spiral downward.

Second, responding to the situation(s) according to what you feel about it will not suffice either. Whether you feel that a certain behavior or event or speech is good or bad that does not in fact mean that the behavior, event or speech you are assessing is indeed good or bad. God alone is able to determine and reveal whether something is in line with holiness and righteousness. Our feelings are a wonderful gift from God to help us fully experience life and love as well as to warn us when things are not healthy, but our feelings are often misled. Don’t look to your feelings to help you know what is going on or how to navigate current events.

So if we cannot trust our thoughts or our feelings to help us determine what is right or wrong in culture and if we cannot trust our thoughts or feelings to help us decide how to respond, then where can we turn? 

Remember the Bible says clearly that the “god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers” (2 Cor 4:4). As such people who are not born again and in an active relationship with the Lord, or those who disbelieve God and don’t take Him at His Word, will time and again be deceived and walk around in darkness, unable to see the light and truth. Even those who are born again do not have perfect vision, wisdom or understanding. Only God does.

So, how then can we know what to believe of what we read, see and hear? How can we know whether what we see and hear are from God or Satan? How can we know how to respond to what is taking place? 

1. We must ask the Lord to reveal the truth by His Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself said that by Himself He made no judgements but that He only judged according to what He heard the Father saying. Furthermore Jesus told us that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict us of sin, righteousness and judgment and that the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth. We cannot discover the truth simply by fact checking things online or going to our history books or finding a news source that is more “right” or “left” or “fair and balanced”. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and remind us of everything that Jesus has spoken.

2. We must read the Word of God. The Word of God is the authoritative written source of truth on earth. In it God reveals His gospel, His heart, His truth, His judgments. The Scriptures are God-breathed and are useful for teaching, rebuking, and training in righteousness. The Scriptures warn us, give us God’s commands, reveal His promises and invite us to come to Him for salvation and to come to Him for everything we need for life and godliness. The Word of God reveals the eternal depths of the love and holiness of God and it is the only written source on earth that is sealed by God to not return empty or void and to accomplish that for which it was sent forth. For God’s Word will finally and always be true though every man a liar. 

3. We must engage in conversation with Godly counsel. We are not individually able to determine all that is right and true without the collective wisdom that God gives to the body of Christ. If we isolate ourselves from Godly counsel from ages past or from those who are now living we will be isolating ourselves from some of the very sources that God intends to help bring clarity and understanding. Not all voices are to be considered equally. Indeed there are many voices in the world and even some in the institutional church that may either lead you astray or simply clutter your mind, but with the aid of the Holy Spirit you will be able to find Godly counsel in the ancient creeds, Christian doctrine, Christian forebears and living men and women who have the fruit and witness of the Holy Spirit in their lives. 

Finally, what I would like to say is that there are false prophets, false teachers, lies and half-truths everywhere right now in the world. If a person says that they speak for the Lord and they are advocating violence that is not a word from God. If you hear an ideology that seeks to equate America or Patriotism with Christianity, that is of the devil. If you read something that promotes fear, judgmentalism, shaming people, retribution, vengeance, or revenge, these are simply not in accordance with God’s holy ways. When you hear people saying we need to violently stand up for our rights or that we need to cancel, censure or purge our enemies that is not of Christ. Christians cannot serve two masters and if we choose to serve the systems of this world we are simultaneously rejecting Christ. If however we are serving Christ, we reject the broken, sinful and evil ways of this world. 

My heart hurts within me for what I see not only in the place I currently live but also all around the world. But perhaps the biggest threats I see are the constant lies being propagated by the world (as led and influenced by the Father of lies) and the false teaching that is taking place under the guise of Christianity. The false teaching that is taking place is promoting fear and violence, public shaming of those we disagree with and a pursuit of truth independent of God and His Holy Truth. I see Christians on the “right” and “left” politically buying into the lies of the enemy and even becoming parrots repeating those lies to others. Please, please, please, pray that we each individually seek peace with all men and sanctification as Scripture says (without which the Bible says we will not see the Lord). Please, please, please let us pray for our enemies and bless those who persecute us. Please, please, please let us go to God in prayer and the Word and seek godly counsel (in doctrines, creeds, Christian forebears and present day holy men and women of God) so that we can shine like lights in a dark world, escape the wrath that is to come and that we may fully come out and be separate from the evil ways of the world.