WHAT YOU SIT UNDER GETS ON YOU!

 In Our Personal Lives

Did you ever park your car under a tree for shade and return to find it spotted with tree sap? In the mountains of Colorado where I live, pine trees shed a yellow dust every spring. I can remember my car being completely covered with yellow dust many times.

At my house in a small mountain town several years ago I was visited regularly by a bunch of crows. I learned quickly to not walk under the electrical lines on which they perched. My car was often a target for their great white splotches of you-know-what! Having had enough one day, I began to yell at them to leave, even tossing a few pine cones their way. The next day, I awoke to find the white splotches on my the front windows and door of my house! 

I just received an email telling me a version of software I use will no longer be updated. This software has mandated the use of several related products in the past and now is attempting to force me to purchase a newer version. 

If we don't make our mortgage or credit card payments we end up in collection. If we break the law, we are fined. If we don't do what a boss says we can be fired. If we exercise free speech, we can now get arrested! I could go on but I'm sure you get the idea, the "gravity" of the world we live in. What we sit under gets on us, literally!

In Society

What about our work place, the government, politics or religion? There is no trickle-down in these places, right? Or is there? From my viewpoint, it appears lies are replacing the truth and this is becoming normal. Let's explore.

WORK--When we fill positions other than management, or even when we are management, there always seems to be direction from the top about how to do our work, how to produce more or even how to behave.  Sometimes known as codes of conduct, failure to adhere to them can mean no paycheck! So, we dream of being self-employed, our own boss in other words. The only problem is then we will have hundreds of bosses, otherwise known as customers, telling us what to do! Where is our place?

GOVERNMENT--What can I say? Freedoms and rights we thought were embedded in the Constitution are either being removed or ignored by elected and appointed leaders. With no regard for qualifications or merit, friends of officials are placed in positions that threaten our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. When backlash occurs producing collateral damage, sympathy blinds the common sense of citizens when trying to understand the consequences. To my astonishment, government in this nation is no longer by the people or for the people. Truth has become what a political party or leader says it is! Who do we believe?

POLITICS--Before the last election, I asked a friend why he was supporting a certain political candidate. This person is a brilliant scientist, known for sound, objective thinking. His response to my question was that a woman had written a book and made a movie showing that an opposing political party was involved in child trafficking. When I asked if there was any hard evidence to support this allegation, my friend said he was sure there was some in the book and movie, but he hadn't read the book or seen the movie! He had accepted a conspiracy theory as truth without investigation. Is this God or is it the enemy?

This obviously begs the question, "How can educated people be so deceived? For certain, it doesn't happen naturally. Remember Hitler's press secretary? He was infamous for this statement (I paraphrase), "If you tell a lie long enough, it will become truth." When we support a politician or his/her party, the rules are that we have to believe, think and act as they do. Failure to eat the whole enchilada is akin to treason! Supporting a political party or faction quickly becomes our identity, which we must defend with our lives! It becomes the gospel of politics!

RELIGION--I know a pastor that introduced me to what he calls, "the residual anointing." It basically meant that members of a religious organization will demonstrate the qualities of their leader, either by choice or as the result of spiritual submission. A pastor of a large Christian denomination fell into adultery with his associate pastor's wife. Several years after, it was learned that some of the leadership of almost every church in this denomination was in adultery. 

A large church had commercial real estate investments in a major city that were leased to a book store selling occultist materials, a pornographic movie theater and a bar. They had received offers to purchase the property several times for full market value. Each time leadership declined the offers. Why? The wages of sin were good! They are good on the earth, but they are death in eternity! Members of this and other churches that follow their leaders blindly as sheep could experience the same! What we sit under gets on us!

This "trickle down" should be obvious to church members, but somehow it's not. The pastor that says, "this is what we believe" or suggests that you should submit to the doctrine or policies of the church (or the pastor in many cases), or says "God told me..,"is using their position to control the thinking of constituents. So, guess what? When a person stops rational thinking and "drinks the lemonade," the snare has been activated. Often, there is no turning back! 

A Deeper Dive

Hang with me as I go a little deeper. The Holy Bible is very clear. There are only two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. It's not like the old Duke of York chant we practiced in grade school (you might need to Google that), we can't be halfway in or halfway out. From God's viewpoint, we are either in one or in the other. The kingdom of darkness contains spiritual death as the destination. The kingdom of light contains eternal life, on the earth and ultimately in heaven. In the society in which we live, there is only one way to life, that is the kingdom of light in all of life's components that I discussed above. Following and trying to live as Jesus Christ did when he walked on the earth is our only way to eternal life. His Word , Jesus, must live in us!

When we submit blindly to leaders in any aspect of our lives, we can block God's plan for our lives. In fact, both politics and religion can bring spiritual deception that may convince us we are doing the right things. Because we are supporting a government, church denomination or political leader that favors some important Biblical principles, God will surely overlook our behavior or policies that are contrary to what Jesus would do. Think so? This is the reasoning of the leader of the kingdom of darkness that began in the Garden of Eden! Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the light." He is the only way to the Father God! 1 Cor 1:30: "But of Him (Father God) your are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--." Here is the solution to our dilemmas! Today, look closely! It is never too late to be free!