When God Judges gods!

God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”: “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?  Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.“The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.”Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance. Psalm 82 NIV

Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces. Exodus 23:24 NIV

Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods. Exodus 23:32 NIV

If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Deuteronomy 8:19 NIV

When the bible talks about gods (lower-case g and plural), the reference is actually to those things or people who are influenced by Satan. In the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 4:4–The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The King James Version states–“the god of this world” has blinded.

So who are the gods of this world? Anyone or anything that keeps people distracted and not focused on living according to God’s Word. This is especially true of those who think they are a “god” and believe they are the only ones who can “fix” things.

In June, we heard Trump declare, “America was in a terrible mess and he was the only one who could fix it.” Last week, he declared at a National Prayer breakfast that, “the world was in a mess and he was the only one who could fix it, because that’s what I do–I fix things.” He holds himself in very high esteem about everything.

Sounds like he “fixed” his way into the White House by encouraging the hacking by the Russians and helping to rig the election with the false propaganda promoted and lies spread about his opponent. It’s too bad he could not have won on his own merits because he has none. He has no integrity or honor–no sense of right and wrong–he simply does what he wants to do–without thinking about the consequences–blinded by the god of this world who has convinced him–he’s a god.

Now, people can argue or disagree with anything I say or anyone else says, but if they love truth and are guided by truth, they can ignore the blatant lies consistently being told by Trump and all of his spokespersons. He even posted a lie (fake news) deliberately on his FaceBook page about problems with refugees in Kuwait--simply to persuade his supporters that he’s right and everyone else is wrong. The lie was quickly exposed and debunked by officials in Kuwait--but he didn’t remove the post.

There are so many lies that he has posted on FaceBook and Twitter that I can’t keep up, but when I see them, I refute them and dare him or his mouthpieces to provide facts for their lies. The media is finally catching on–and fact-checking them at every turn–except for Fox News or Faux News because they don’t care about truth either–just sensationalism. They have demonstrated their lack of journalistic integrity time after time–but then–they are not a “real” news network; they are licensed as an “entertainment network.”So they entertain the gullible with sensationalized lies and people accept it as truth.

His need to be “better” than others is driving the insanity we see in the White House. I recently read that he was quite irritated about the Executive Orders being drafted and not being told what was in them before he signed them. Anyone with an ounce of sense could see–if paying attention--that his signing of the EO’s was for show and he had no idea what he was signing-–that was evident with his difficulty in attempting to read some portions of them.

An interesting caveat to his need to be “better” than others–he’s number one–with the most lawsuits filed against a sitting president than anyone else (over 50), which by itself should not surprise anyone since he went into the White House with 75 lawsuits pending against him. If that wasn’t a red flag to people–well–to those who worship him–nothing matters.

And now–this obsession with maligning judges–is going to affect his nominee for the Supreme Court–since many in the Senate seem to have finally found their backbone.

At any rate–we see from the bible what happens to people when they worship gods, above the God of Heaven. Their gods will let them down and they will fail and be utterly destroyed. This is God’s judgment for the gods and those who worship them.

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“If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth! For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.” Proverbs 30:32,33 NIV

How is it that so much of what we do in a public forum, we forget that people are watching and paying attention? Perhaps, if we think what we do behind closed doors of a public event, those outside the doors won’t discover what we’ve said or done. In today’s world of “instant” video and transmitted images, thinking what we do won’t become public is a pipe dream.

Teachers and students in conflict in a classroom–someone whips out a phone and video tapes it or live streams and the conflict–not the facts–are aired in the media for all the world to see. On more than one occasion, the facts differed greatly from what was seen, but the facts were only discovered after teachers have lost jobs and the students appear to win the upper-hand, to live another day, to create other conflicts.

Even in the privacy of a person’s home--conflicts are blown out of proportion when someone captures it and distributes it--making it seem like something is happening that is not.

There have been situations in which the immediate access of a conflict through video images have actually helped to find criminals or determine other wrong doing by police and other figures of authority.

No matter what the situation is or was–we know from all the images displayed on social media which get air time on television–people are watching and drawing conclusions about what they see and hear.

Now, with the knowledge that people are watching everything that’s said and done–especially in a political arena–is there an excuse for people being foolish–saying whatever comes to mind–without thinking about the potential fall-out and then having to back-pedal it? A wise person is always mindful of their surroundings and knows that they should listen attentively, and think before speaking. If wisdom is exercised in all we do in all situations, the public would soon lose interest in the sensationalism generated by the foolish.

Speaking of sensationalism, we must also question the journalistic integrity of many of the print and broadcast media. It would appear they deliberately distribute incendiary information, with the only goal in mind–higher ratings for them. Considering the fact that many of the people who read a newspaper or even watch biased newscasts are swayed by the misinformation–it is no wonder they support people based on their biases, and not actual facts. 

Let’s face it–do any of us know the truth about anyone? People have opinions about celebrities with no “knowledge” of them--but based on what is disseminated through the media. We stoke hatred and bigotry, presume favor and hope in people without facts–just biased journalism. We see it all the time when people attack or worship celebrities–based upon information broadcast in the media. The general public tends to take sides of celebrity divorces–which are none of our business–and other prominent public figures–which are also none of our business–and think we have a right to chastise them or judge them. It’s none of our business!

But what is our business is knowing we will put the right person in the White House in November. And the only way we can vote with wisdom is in seeking guidance from Holy Spirit and obeying–regardless of our biases based on misleading and flawed media. Not only is it our business to select the right President, but it is our responsibility to vote for a Congress that will work and not obstruct–serving the will of the people–not their private or bought-and-paid-for agendas.