2016 a year of decision – dear Pastor/Leader POSTSCRIPT [9].
And it may be that, in the spirit of the charges to the seven churches in Asia, this voice is heard:
“I have this against you, that you should have recognised this evil for what it is, that you have supported by your absence in the conversation those determined to deceive and lead astray, and that this neglect has led to generations of evil upon your children and grandchildren.”
What needs to be done? from https://www.chooselifeaustralia.au/life/2016-a-year-of-decision-that-will-shape-our-future-7-dear-pastorleader/ [1]
- We need to share this burden – personally and for the body of Christ to share it with us. We need to weep (Ezekiel 9:4).
- To do that we need to be informed. How? Through you as leaders. Through this series of papers.
- We need to pray. As never before. Together, in special gatherings, for this purpose, for our nation. For God to be honoured in this nation.
- We need to discern what is truly evil and what is a deliberate shaking of our fist against God. And this needs to be taught – by you as leaders.
- We need to be taught that voting in an election – when there is the opportunity of making a difference – is a matter of Christian responsibility and not to be done in ignorance.
- And, I’m sorry, back on my hobby-horse of 14 years, we need to be taught how to not waste our vote and to put the Christian party as [1], not [2]. Who is going to teach the people of God? You, as leader. Even Christians who understand the issues fail on this latter point. (And as you probably know I would have been in upper house of WA parliament in 2005 if just 91 Liberal voting Christians in an electorate of 90,000 had put me [1] instead of [2].)
- And we need to pray. As never before.
And if you choose not to be informed, and choose not to inform, and you did not call special times of prayer against this great evil, and our children are led into sin, then you have failed as a leader and a watchman. You have failed not only your own generation but also generations to come.
AWTozer The Price of Neglect:
Plato has somewhere said that in a democratic society the price wise men pay for neglecting politics is to be ruled by unwise men… The price good and sober Christians pay for doing nothing is to be led by those highly vocal minorities whose only qualification for leadership are an overweening ambition and a loud voice. And there have been and always will be such persons in the congregation of the saints…
Abraham Kuyper
When principles that run against your deepest convictions begin to win the day,
then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin.
You must, at the price of dearest peace,
lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy
with all the fire of your faith.
Martin Luther
If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God
except precisely that little point which the world
and the devil are at that moment attacking,
I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.
We have a prime example unfortunately in Nigeria at this time of the fruit of neglect.
Excerpt from RLPB 361. Nigeria: Legislation will further Islamise Nigeria [2]
“Most shocking of all is how this bill, which has been shrouded in secrecy, has been quietly and willingly waved through by weak-willed, apathetic and corrupted Christian lawmakers. The job of protesting has been left to students., Nigerian journalist and commentator Nnamdi Okosieme warns, [3] ‘Woe to those who are at ease in Zion …’ (Amos 6:1 ESV). ‘Christians,’ he said, ‘must speak up, they must shout and they must go down on their knees and pray away the looming danger.’
Remember, Jesus said (Luke 17:2): It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.
https://www.chooselifeaustralia.au/life/reflections-and-a-call-to-shepherds/ [4]
https://www.chooselifeaustralia.au/life/where-was-the-christian-vote-in-the-federal-election/ [5]