We Are The Watchman

We are the Watchmen

By now I’m sure most of you have heard about the tragedy in Orlando where 53 homosexuals, lesbians and transgender individuals were killed. And, as you also know, some of the responses were pretty typical of what you would expect to hear. When it comes to this one issue – the gay and lesbian community – there is a divide in the body of Christ.

You have Christians who say and believe that everyone has a right to choose how he or she will live – even if how they live is not in agreement with the will of God. Then you have Christians who say and believe that if the Bible says something is wrong, then you don't have the right to live that way and will condemn you to hell unless you repent.

Neither one of these positions work for God.

After hearing about the shooting, I sent out a tweet from my twitter account, which is also linked to my Facebook page. I said “Orlando was not God's punishment” with the hashtag “heart aching for Orlando”.

Later that day I tweeted “Orlando did not make God's day. It broke his heart.” Again my hashtag was “heart aching for Orlando.”

My last tweet of the day was “You need to understand there was no joy in heaven early Sunday morning.” My hashtags were “heart aching for Orlando” and “Don't blame God”.

After my first tweet, my cousin from Tennessee posted on my Facebook feed “You will not believe the ridicule that I'm seeing on my page.” By the tone I knew he was referring to the things Christians were saying.

I also received a post from a young lady in Texas and what she said really broke my heart. Her Facebook feed disturbed her so much that she said “I'm almost finished with being a Christian. Shaking my head.”

My response: “one of the things I've said repeatedly over the past three or four years is that you can't judge Christianity by looking at Christians today. Jesus did not like the behavior of most of the people he dealt with but he dealt with them with love and compassion. Sadly missing in most of the body of Christ today.”

I added that instead of calling myself a Christian, I'm thinking about referring to myself as a “disciple of my master, Jesus”. She replied “anything is better. I'm ashamed to be named among many. So much hate. Christianity seems to be no different than any of any other religion. I’m out.”

Christianity is supposed to be a family.

It really bothered me to hear her say that because our father sees us as a family. He doesn't see a group of people who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. She’s not seeing what our Father sees and, in a way, I can understand her feelings. Truly I can. Sometimes our emotions can really get the best of us.

So I said “Sweetie, I understand but let us be the ones to show the world what it really means to be Christ-like. Let us be the ones who respond to the hatred and the judging by opening our arms wide to those who need to experience His love from people they thought didn't care.”

Ladies and gentlemen, if we don't reach out to those who are not part of the family they will never have an opportunity to be part of the family. That’s what we're supposed to do as sons and daughters.

Her last post: “I will not from this day forward be labeled as a Christian. I’m filled with love of God and I refuse to be named among those who hate.” I continue to pray for her because I know she's hurting.

Satan is dividing Christians.

Remember in Matthew where Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand? Right now, we are witnessing how Satan is causing schism in the body of Christ. One of the primary ways he's doing that is through politics. We, the body of Christ, have allowed ourselves to be given political labels in this country. You are either a liberal Democrat or a conservative Christian. Neither one of these labels are in the Bible.

Jesus never says He wants “Christians”.

Jesus says He wants “disciples”. He does not want Christians. He wants disciples. Anyone can attach to themselves the label of Christian. If you are a disciple people are going to know it. A disciple is one who tells the world that I am not above my master. What my master says is what I do. And people are not going to like it.

My prayer is that you are neither "far left" nor "far right" but that you are trying to walk the Word the way Jesus desires it to be walked. If you are, then we will have an opportunity to show the world who Jesus really is and His heart’s desire.