Freedom is at stake and all true believers to stand for truth against the flood of evil.

Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God?

The question today is not “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?”[i] The correct question is, “Where are the Elijahs of the Lord God?” We must have pastors and priests who will stand as true shepherds with a message that is prophetic and not pathetic in its effect. Freedom is at stake – freedom to worship, to preach biblical truth and witness boldly for Christ. While so many others are coming out of the closet in defense of their non-biblical practices, it is time for pastors, priests and all true believers to come out of the closet and stand for truth against the flood of evil.

In the guise of helping those in need, elected representatives are forcing dependency on the individual and dismissing the personal responsibility to truly love our neighbors. This will only be corrected by a proper response to truth, not by imposing more regulations. The freedom we have been blessed to enjoy and share has never been as fully experienced by any other nation. We are about to lose our independence to dependence on an all-powerful, all-consuming nanny state. Where are the prophets and pastors who will point us to the Good Shepherd, who will lead our nation back to still waters and green pasture?

The prophet Isaiah opens his book referencing the nation of Israel as weighed down with iniquity—an offspring of evildoers who have abandoned the Lord and turned away from Him. The verses revealed the “head is sick” (a reference to leadership) and the “heart is faint” (a reference to relationship, especially with God).The productive fields have been devoured, and devastation is prevailing, which is an indication of economic decline. The only hope remains for a remnant to lead the necessary return to God.

God says to His people, when they multiply their prayers, “He will not listen because your hands are covered with blood.” In verses that follow He promises forgiveness and grace so mighty that even “scarlet sins become white as snow and those that are red like crimson become like wool.” There is reassurance that God will bless His people and even indicates what every Old Testament prophet promised: If we will return to God, He will forgive us and restore the years of productivity. As Joel said, He will make up for the years the devouring locusts have eaten. Isaiah said, “If you return, you will eat the good fruit of the land.” God is anxious to bless us. This is the reason He led Israel from Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land that was flowing with milk and honey, along with bountiful fruitfulness.

God has always wanted a family of faith to bless in order that through them, He could bless the nations of the world. He also made it clear in the Old and New Testament, and confirmed by Jesus Christ, that we would witness kingdoms in conflict. We are to represent the kingdom of light, love and truth, and we are to do so faithfully and fearlessly, continuing the emphasis of Isaiah and the theme carried by all the prophets. Isaiah, beholding the Lord, began the spiritual renewal and awakening by saying, “Woe is me!” (not “Woe are all the others!”). He dealt with his own need and then answered with a clear commitment, “Here am I, send me.”

God told him that the journey would be tough and the majority of people would not listen. This was reaffirmed when Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it.” The fact that people clench their fists in the face of a holy God or turn from God to trust in another source like Pharaoh, Caesar, or our own federal government does not lessen our responsibility to lift up a standard.

I find myself asking often, “Where are the prophets and shepherds who will stand and proclaim God’s uncompromising truth with unconditional love? Where are the shepherds who will gladly lay down their lives for the sheep?” As the Old Testament prophets said, the shepherds have been replaced by hirelings. Isaiah even made the statement that they are “dumb dogs unable to bark.”1 Jeremiah rebuked the shepherds for offering false peace and healing brokenness superficially so there is no repentance and real peace. Isaiah again re-emphasized why prayers are not answered. In the 59th chapter, he said our iniquities have separated us from our God and hidden His face from us. Our hands are defiled with blood—fingers with iniquity and lips speaking falsehood. He went on to say the people’s feet run to evil—they hasten to shed innocent blood.

In our nation over 50 million babies have been aborted in the wombs of their mothers. Even now, national laws are being passed not only to condone same-sex marriage, but to penalize you if you don’t make abortion and early-abortion pills available. It will be funded by the American people through the new healthcare laws forced on Americans in the guise of assistance.

I admire every pastor and priest who is standing up and speaking out. Our close friend Dr. Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, has joined other courageous pastors and leaders—along with many in the black community—to protest same-sex marriage, which our nation’s leader said he endorses because of the Golden Rule passage found in Matthew 19: “Treat others the way you’d want to be treated.”

Evans responded on National Public Radio after the president made his public statement, “The Bible is clear…Sexual relationships are to be between men and women within the context of marriage. That’s not only related to the issue of homosexuality, but adultery, or fornication or bestiality. All of that is proscribed in the Bible.”

Tony Evans boldly holds up the kingdom of God as the present-day agenda for the church. We are not to compromise that commission for any political party, candidate, or person. This compassionate pastor is a bridge-builder, and at the same time, he’s raising up the dikes necessary to stop the furious flood of evil threatening to destroy our nation.

One church leader commented, “It’s as if political parties and most representatives are either evil or stupid.”The fact is, it’s not merely liberal or conservative; Democrat or Republican; left or right. It has now often boiled down to right or wrong. May God forgive us and raise up prophets, preachers and shepherds today who will take a stand. I am praying for the day when people of faith, along with concerned Americans, will again declare our independence and stand together, united by the principles we all know in our hearts are right and true: “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

 


[i] 2 Kings 2:14

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