Both God and Satan are working in the individual and the society in which we live. All of us live under the influence of the world, God and Satan. Satan attempts to control us through many means. He would motivate us to dominate, negatively manipulate, be critical, violent and self-centered. At times, he may and does do violence against others. These things are the marks and evidence of Satan as he works through the flesh and our sinful nature.
For those who are believers, Christ has raised us upon and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:1-10). By His indwelling Spirit, He transforms us all so that we no longer are conformed to the pattern of this world, but are transformed and renewed in our minds. We realize that, while we are many and are different in race and destiny, we are one in Christ. Our behavior is to be marked by respect and love for each other (Romans 12:1-21; John 15:9-17).
Perhaps the best way to understand this is to see ourselves as a part of the environment in which we live in which we find acceptance and/or rejection. If our individual reference groups enjoy broadband acceptance, prestige, authority, and power, this allows us to experience the necessary access to work, wealth, friendships, recognition, and success. We experience the basic elements to live a full and relatively happy life.
If, however, our reference group experiences limited acceptance, opportunities, work, and wealth, we may feel profoundly deprived of the social elements that allow us to feel good about ourselves and deprive us of success. Our evaluation of self and our reference group may be negative. In this context, it is not uncommon to see ourselves as somehow inferior, less than, not as good as others. Often the “negatives” are reinforced in the broader culture by pejorative attitudes, racism, and broadly held caricatures that are accepted as true but are not. When this occurs, no matter how personally intelligent, hard-working, gifted, educated and accomplished one is, it does not change the social equation. The result is that the individual of this group does not achieve the social success and recognition that they deserve. To summarize this, some groups, individuals and values are elevated in the cultural hierarchy in value. Others are devalued. This happens in every society; ours is no exception.
Many seek to establish themselves as worthy, valuable, trustworthy people. This is perfectly valid. However, it comes with a price. The cultural access demanded by these force the culture to adapt and change. All cultures and peoples change overtime, so change is valid. The difficulty comes when too much change is demanded too quickly. Resistance develops. Resistance can occur in the individual, small groups, and even in a nation. In a society like ours where the population is a mix of many races, languages, religions, social and personal values, great tolerance to change and acceptance is required for us to function well as a whole. The stress of change never goes away. The U.S.A. has never been easy because of the constant influx of new people and the stress they cause and experience.
Social stress is not only caused by new immigrants. It can also be caused when groups who have been long term residents within our society push to change their status, level of wealth and social influence. This, too, is a normal American trait. Social lift has been constant even through it has been powerfully resisted by some. None of us like to be treated as if we are inferior. Stress also occurs when certain moral values are forced on the greater population. Some of these moral issues are: the new paganism, called the new morality; abortion on demand and Rowe vs. Wade; and, now, late-term abortion and infanticide after birth. These and some of the LGBTQ+ issues stress large groups of the U.S.A. population at both the moral and religious practice of many. This has caused a cultural war that has not been resolved. The ongoing confrontations have worn on some on the political left and some on the right. At times, they become violent, uncivil and intolerant of each other as the cultural divide between us grows and intensifies.
As a people, some are advocating doing away with the historical values on which this nation was built. As a consequence, the attack on God in society, broadbased acceptance of values based on the Bible, and the denigration of those of us who practice such has been relentless. It has become offensive to many. Being offended is not a helpful response.
If certain groups advocate tearing the old down, razing it to the ground, they should have something better to replace it with. Otherwise, the demolition will leave us as a people in a quandary, not knowing how to proceed. The vacuum caused may lead to anarchy. I am not impressed with what is being offered to replace what we already have.
America was the recipient of many good things and some not so good. We grew out of the tenants of the Reformation and British Common Law. We inherited slavery from the British who founded Jamestown as a slave colony. We were also the dumping ground for many violent and varied social misfits that Great Britain did not want to deal with. We, also, received the religious stigma put on the Jews by the Western church. No one in America has experienced legal and social inferiority longer and more profoundly than the Afro-American. Even the Supreme Court designated them as inferior with little or no social rights by the Dred Scott Case decision. James A. Michener, in his book TEXAS, described the inferior status of certain groups succinctly. I paraphrase: All people should be free and have the right to fight for it. All except Negroes, Mexicans, and Indians. This was reinforced economically on all these and many were killed. For the Negroes, lynching was a common practice well into the Thirties. The right to vote was denied the Blacks until President Johnson put it into law and enforced it nationally. Legally, then, they could not be denied their right to vote.
Many immigrants were psychologically designated “the stranger”. The stranger is dishonest, immoral, fearful, and cannot be trusted. The Irish, Arabs/Muslims, Germans, Hispanics, Afro-Americans, to name a few, were all designated “the stranger” at some time in our history.
This all sounds like sociology; and, to a degree, it is. How is this spiritual? Simply stated, the way we treated each other in the past and the way we treat others now has often been contrary to the teachings of the Bible. The Bible teaches that we are all created in the image of God. God created us all (Genesis1:27). Through Yeshua Messiah, Jesus the Christ, God in Christ redeemed us all by His shed blood, His death, burial and resurrection from the dead. He died for all of us, all human beings. We are all saved in the same way. The Word states that we are saved by Jesus by grace through faith.
The Apostle Paul writes: You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ then you are all Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to Christ (Galatians 3:26-29).
To deny that we all came from the same mother and father, Adam and Eve, is to deny the clear teaching of God’s Word. To deny that all the believers are saved into the family of the redeemed is to deny the power and authority of God to make us one in Him. That would be disobedience and rebellion against God’s will, work and word. Disobedience and rebellion against God and His word is sin. That is being like Satan. He is a liar and murderer from the beginning. He would and has perpetrated his lies and murders on all who refuse to be submissive to God’s will and word.
