Friday, May 1, 2009

"In God I Have Put My Trust... What Can Man do to Me?"

"Jill looked at the king: his mouth was open and his face was full of horror. And then she understood the devilish cunning of the enemies' plan. By mixing a little truth with it they had made their lie far stronger." C.S. Lewis "The Last Battle"

This seems to be the truth in America today. Christians, Bible-believing Christians, and especially homeschoolers, are targeted by the world. Feminists claim that Homeschooling Christians leave women "barefoot, pregnant, and powerless". Politicians publish the 'fact' that Homeschooling Christians are bad for the economy. And by 'mixing a little truth' with their lies, they make them seem impossible to contradict by any sane individual.
But you know what? This isn't a new thing. It has been around for years. In fact, if you look back to Jesus, He warned his disciples about it. We see throughout the old testament that Israel or the church in the wilderness was always a target for unbelievers to attack, why should we, as the new Israel and the church of Christ, be surprised when we are attacked in the same ways?!

But whether we are facing the horrific lies and half-truths of a prominent feminist author, being looked down at by those who wish to 'stimulate' the economy by encouraging less children, or being actually attacked in the streets by the people who's minds are dark and infected with the lies of others, we don't have to be afraid. In fact, take a good look at Matthew 5:11-12.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
Because our King WILL win, even the persecution and 'reviling' of the children of darkness go to His glory and, in the end, our BLESSING! Now this is not to say that we should pray that we would be persecuted, in fact we should pray against it and for the conviction and salvation of those who 'revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely'. But when we ARE persecuted and lied about, we can be peaceful and joyful because we know that God will "Wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4b)
In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says this to his brothers who truly did persecute him.
"But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
We don't know what God's plan is, or how He is going to bring about good out of all of the evil, but we know that He IS going to.
I'm going to end with Psalm 56. I want you to read each verse, not just skim over it.

"Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up;
Fighting all day he oppresses me.
My enemies would hound me all day,
For there are many who fight against me, O Most High.

Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?

All day they twist my words;
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
They gather together,
They hide, they mark my steps,
When they lie in wait for my life.
Shall they escape by iniquity?
In anger cast down the peoples, O God!

You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?
When I cry out to You,
Then my enemies will turn back;
This I know, because God is for me.
In God (I will praise His word),
In the LORD (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God;
I will render praises to You,
For You have delivered my soul from death.
Have You not kept my feet from falling,
That I may walk before God
In the light of the living?"

8 comments:

Miss Amy said...

Nice post Joy! :-)
Love ya!
Amy :O)

Hannah L. said...

Dear Joy,
I appreciate this post very much--it did me good. I need to read the Chronicles of Narnia again! I love that quote.
The reason this post is so relevant for me is that for the past few months, I've been reading controversial fiction and reviewing it, then having debates in the comments. In Harry Potter especially, there is a huge mess of truth and lies, and sometimes it's hard to sort out. Your post helped me.

Thank you very very much--I'm always excited to see another article on your blog.

God bless,
Hannah

Hannah L. said...

Agh--I tried to comment a couple of weeks ago, but I guess it didn't go through. Anyways, I love it! That is an awesome Lewis quote.

Thanks,
Hannah

LaSara said...

here is my blog. : )



http://whiteangels12.blogspot.com/


I was the anonymous you kept asking my name for.

Jacque Dixon said...

Dear Joy~
I love what you have to say in your posts. I wanted to let you know I recognized you with the One Lovely Blog Award from Training Daughters Teaching Wives. :)
http://trainingdaughtersteachingwives.com/?p=429
blessings~

John said...

1. What feminists and politicians say that?

2. Do you really think that Christ meant homeschoolers when he predicted said his followers would be persecuted?

You may or may not be being perscuted, but is it really cause of your Christianity, or your homeschooling? And if it is because you choose to homeschool, it's not the persecution Jesus predicited.

Joy said...

Hey John!
There was an article in the Vision forum magazine that spoke about the 'feminist' that I was referring to. I'm sorry, but I can't remember her name. As for politicians, at the time I wrote this there was a prominent news story, supported by several men involved in politics, about how bad large families are for the economy and one claiming that homeschoolers are terrorists.

No, I don't think that Christ meant only 'homeschoolers' when He said that his followers would be persecuted, and I did not say that. However, one of the ways that we are following Him is to homeschool, so I would definitely say that homeschoolers are included in the 'persecuted' not because we homeschool, but because we are Christians.

My blog is geared toward Christian homeschooling young ladies, and that's who this post was written for. However, I was not speaking just of homeschoolers in this post but of anyone who is being persecuted. If you have ever been persecuted than I'm sure that you would agree that Scripture can be very comforting and that's what I was sharing here.

I hope that made sense. :-)
Have a good day!
Joy

Joy said...

edit: the feminist I was speaking of was Kathryn Joyce who wrote a book called "Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement" which is an attack not only on Homeschooling, but also on Christianity and is full of horrible lies. I was also speaking of Gloria Feldt who I was quoting directly when I said that they leave women "barefoot, pregnant, and powerless".