Hi Friend,
“And there was war in heaven….” (Rev. 12:7) Hard to believe isn’t it? We think war is limited to the human realm, but it isn’t. Spirit beings have actually fought wars. What’s shocking about this is the thought that powerful beings who once had their abode at the throne of God, who received life from Him, are so crazed they war against God?
But they exist! And if we’re paying attention, we have to admit that humans are sometimes influenced to follow suit and join these irrational beings. Just for the record, I don’t believe God is in danger of losing, but there is a concern that a lot of people don’t know who they’re fighting against. So Paul had to remind the church at Ephesus, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
As an example, the City of San Francisco proposed a ballot to ban the practice of circumcision. These are the same people who vote to kill a baby still in the womb—or even later if it survives. Go figure! It’s mutilation to circumcise a baby but an act of kindness to murder it.
It’s easy to understand why a person may choose not to be circumcised. It’s even understandable that parents may not want it for their children. But it is beyond rational thought that people would take up a cause to impose a one-year jail sentence and a $1,000 fine on parents who choose to circumcise their child. There is a health exemption, however. Only people who do this for religious or cultural reasons will be punished.
The most reliable estimates are that over 80 percent of males in America are circumcised. Having taken 7th grade gym class in which all males were required to share a common shower, I wouldn’t argue with that estimate. Why then, would any sane person seek to overrule the choice of the majority in a matter that is none of his business?
But then, there are many things that have no natural explanation.
Why did Hitler attempt to exterminate the Jews?
Why don’t Muslim countries recognize the right of Jews to exist?
Why is it legal to murder a fetus but against the law to sterilize the mother?
Why can Muslims deny equal rights to women, but feminists view the Bible as sexist? Wasn’t it the God of the Bible who brought Israel out from under the yoke of slavery, thus making the FIRST claim the world had witnessed to the right of individual freedom?
Why do some U.S. courts allow Muslims to practice Sharia Law but won’t allow a young child to bow his head and silently say a prayer over his school lunch?
John was right; there is a continuing war against God.
Okay, the world could live fine if no one was physically circumcised. And an argument could be made that mankind could continue to exist very well minus one ethnic group or another. But this really isn’t about whether men are free to be circumcised, or whether Jews have a right to life.
Don’t misunderstand. I believe parental rights and the right to life are fundamental to a just society. The mother and father that brought a child into the world ought to have the sovereign right to choose—without governmental intervention—whether they will remove the foreskin of their son’s male organ. After all, it’s been going on for several thousand years and the only real statistical evidence of its effect on mankind is that there is less disease of the penis and cervix in those cultures where it is practiced. So why do some people in San Francisco want to take it on themselves to forbid parents from helping diminish their children’s chance of getting cancer? Well, maybe it’s like asking why Arabs want to eliminate Jews from the earth.
The loss of the entire tribe of Judah would be a devastating crime against mankind. Even so, the problem here is much bigger; even bigger than freedom and genocide. The crime is the attack on God.
What the world will eventually come to see is that God can live without us. Really! Man depends on God to exist, not the other way around. We can live without intellectuals, politicians, international bankers and Hollywood celebrities. We might even be better off without them—not that I’m wishing. Some men may view the “idea” of God with contempt, but it doesn’t change the fact that He created life and maintains it. No college professor keeps the earth in exact orbit around the sun!
Maybe that’s the reason God uses a statement that’s almost lost in the enormity of the event, when the Ten Commandments were given to Israel. But it tells quite a lot about the world we live in. When God says He is God, and that Israel must never worship any other, He concludes by warning that He will punish the future generations of “those who hate me”. (Exodus 20:5)
It’s hard to believe that people would actually “hate” God. And it isn’t just intellectuals. The Bible is pretty blunt. James writes “…don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Maybe they don’t really hate the parents who want their children to be circumcised. Maybe the leaders of this movement have a hatred that is directed at someone else. They’ve chosen to be enemies with a much greater foe.
It’s easy to get caught up in a cause that seems to be right. No doubt the 7,200 people who signed the petition in San Francisco THINK their war is righteous. They just don’t know the source of their inspiration—or Who they’re fighting.
Until next time,
Jim O’Brien