Do you have set-in-concrete opinions about what you believe, those anger-inducing issues that you deem non-negotiable?
What we believe, what we hold dear determines our behavior, our lifestyle. And admittedly, we are emotional creatures, who assign an emotion to what we believe. And this too is fine. However, when what we believe drives our emotions to a level of explosive temper and we set out to “level the city” to make our opinions known, we usually do more damage than good.
Some of the topics that I insist on congregants leaving outside the church I pastor, or better yet, not discussing them at all include:
Conspiracy theories
Partisan politics
Church doctrines, especially healing, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the second coming of Jesus, prophetic words, the Trinity (these are best left to balanced pulpits or proven teachers)
When people leave the local church (reasons need not be discussed)
Anger, disagreements, gossip or discord
The storm on the Capitol Building in January, 2021, demonstrated an obvious flaw in conflict resolution. Right wingers, many of them professing Christians, were willing to destroy a national landmark and even justify the taking of human life to prove their point. Prophets and other Christian leaders by the boatload supported the anger and hate of that onslaught.
Sadly, Christians have been duped by false prophets, ego-centric preachers and gross carnality to believe that positive results come out of anger-driven, hate filled expressions and behaviors. I heard a Christian man say with my own ears, “Nancy Pelosi and the whole bunch of them should be taken out and shot.” This, I believe, came from a man who by his own admission struggles with alcohol and never reads his Bible. Plus, he looks for offenses and other reasons not to attend the services of the church, and then bashes what he doesn’t like or disagrees with. I heard a YouTube prophet stop in the middle of his supposed word from the Lord and say, “And Mr. Biden, if you don’t like this, you can go to hell.” What arrogance! Christians who love souls, hate evil and devour the Word, weep over this kind of ungodly error. This, my friend, is the opposite of what Jesus taught and modeled. I wonder. How many Christ followers weep over sin instead of employing anger toward those with whom they disagree? What has happened to intercessory prayer closets, where the Lord is allowed to overhaul our bad attitudes and empower us to live and respond righteously? Where the power of God is activated to overthrow existing undesirable circumstances? Who’s left standing in the gap?
What emotions surface when you think about LGBTQ? Abortion? Conspiracy theories? Partisan politics? More specifically, the election of 2024? Economic troubles? Cancer? Alzheimer’s Disease? The second coming of Jesus? The gifts of the Holy Spirit? Healing? Prophetic words, “Once saved, always saved?” My guess is that your emotions in some cases move to high alert! You stand on “ready” to make known your opinions. You hold non-negotiable opinions that you will fight for. After all, it’s your right, and supposedly a mandate from the Throne to make your strong opinions known.
You live in a country that gives you the right of free speech. And you are willing to take on every demon in hell, if need be, to ensure and protect that right! Really? We at Hope Community disdain anything that threatens church unity and unconditional love.
I’m literally dreading the next 24 months in America! If the last presidential election is any indication of what’s to come, we’re in serious trouble. Why do I make such a statement? Because most people cannot separate their emotions from their opinions. And if the past is an accurate indicator, many of God’s people will allow their anger to rise to at least a 9 on the Richter Scale of emotional response. The national tides of mutual respect and honor likely will be washed away in a sea of anger, hate and indecency.
Those who propose to fight their political battles with guns and hate will live to experience for themselves this true saying of Jesus: “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52).
My friend, the only hope for America is a soul-saving revival that begins at your house and travels to the White House. Fighting fire with fire, anger with anger, insults with insults, hate with hate will only fuel the fires of human bias, racism and indignity, and the end result will always lead to destruction. Does the American Civil War ring a bell?
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