This is complementary information to the "Trapped by wickedness" epistle.
Psalms 82:1-4 (NIV)
'God stands in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods (divine beings).
How long will you judge unjustly And show partiality to the wicked? Selah.
Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
Do justice and maintain the rights of the afflicted and destitute.
Rescue the weak and needy;
Rescue them from the hand of the wicked. '
Within this passage, there are a few keys to holiness that we must look into as we recalibrate our hearts to be sensitive to the Fear of Ford and live according to His precepts.
First principle: if you do not help stop evil, if you do not defend justice, and if you overlook any kind of wickedness, the Lord considers you just as guilty as the person who posed the act of wickedness that you are showing partiality to.
Many of us see abominations being done to people and we turn a blind eye thinking that it's not our place to intervene, but the Lord disagrees.
Even in most legal systems here on earth - which have already been very much removed from the fundamental principles of God, there is something called "aiding and abetting" or being an "accessory" to a crime.
For example: if you know your son raped a girl and say nothing, in the eyes of the Just Judge, you are a rapist because the standard we are held to is doing justice and maintaining the rights of the afflicted and destitute.
Another example: if you know your mother is a witch or a sorceress but you act as if she is not and continue to show partiality to her and her wickedness, you too are guilty of the trapped souls and the bloodshed. In God’s Sight, you are a witch/sorceress because the standard we are held to is to do justice, not show partiality to the wicked, and rescue the weak from the hand of the wicked.
I can list a thousand more examples, but I think you’ve got the point.
It does not matter if it is your parent, your best friend, your sibling or your child, you have to stand up for justice and hold yourself to a different standard. That is the Fear of the Lord.
Do you know of the man who dropped dead because he touched the Lord’s ark with his bare hands without having undergone the proper cleansing, nor shown reverence and respect for where the presence of God dwelled? King David, who was already a man who feared the Lord and a man the Bible tells us was after God’s Heart, remained shook for three whole months.
'When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out [with his hand] to the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen [stumbled and] nearly overturned it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. David became angry and grieved and offended because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, and that place has been called Perez-uzzah (outburst against Uzzah) to this day.
So David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” David was unwilling to move the ark of the Lord into the City of David with him; instead he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. So the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household (family). ' 2 Samuel 6:6-11
I believe the Lord acted this way to send a message. So that when we, the generation of grace, may look back at this event and be reminded of the second principle.
Second principle: God’s Glory, Holiness, and His Name are not to be tempered with. In fact, this is the second commandment in the 10 commandments.
'“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the Lord will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power]. ' Exodus 20:7
I believe that this is another element of the Lord’s Word that “church” culture has not grasped well. That culture thinks of this as swearing or saying curse words using God or Jesus.
This commandment, however, pertains to the claim of God’s name by our tongues, but the lack of His Word and Will in our hearts. We are standing as children of God, we repost bible verses on our social media, share YouTube sermons to our group chats, and use His name in our lives, our sermons, our deliverance and miracle services, but we do not live the lives that the Lord, whom we are supposed to serve, requires for us to live to be able to call ourselves His sons.
We are using His name in vain, and infringing Its honour by our behaviour because if anyone was to look at the fruits we are bearing, it would not be His but the fruits of the kingdom of darkness and He was clear that…
'By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. ' Matthew 7:16-20
The fruits we bear are not casting out demons, or being eloquent preachers. The fruits are in our personal and intimate lives - the lives that the people who watch online do not see, the public cannot vote for, and the church congregation cannot discern with their eyes.
Third principle: Anything we put above God and His Word is an idol, including whether we actively took part in sin, or allowed the sin to go unseen and unpunished.
Many of us hear idolatry and think that it is the obvious: worship of foreign gods and entities that are not the God Almighty usually in things such as sorcery, witchcraft, divination, astrology, etc. This interpretation is correct and does apply to us, but it does not stop there.
Simply put, idolatry is also found in people who have put themselves and their desires above the word of God.
If you partake in and allow corruption, the telling of lies, the manipulation of others, discrimination, abuse, theft, the shedding of blood, the killing of destinies, etc… because you wanted something out of it (ex: keep your job), that thing is your idol (ex: your job is your idol).
Not only this, but idolatry is also disobedience to God’s command and explicit instruction. The reason why you disobey is your idol.
For example: if the Lord says “Go and give it to x, y, or z cause or ministry” or "Separate yourself from x, y, or z person or group", and you don’t, that money in your account is your idol and that person/people you chose to stay related with is your idol.
By the way, there is grave danger in your surroundings and if you faithfully follow God, there is a 100% chance that the enemy will do everything to strategically infiltrate your environment with evil to get to you and weaken and defile you. You need to watch your (physical and spiritual) gates and not be scared to be unfriendly if it becomes necessary to cut ties with people who are exposing you and making you vulnerable to demonic attacks and influence.
Actually, suppose Satan notices that he can't get you. In that case, he will infiltrate your environment and as soon as he does so successfully, the first thing he will do is blind you, and tarnish your spiritual sight, planting illusions in your environment (so that you do not realise that you have shifted spiritually in realms of darkness) and hinder your capacity to discern with charms, manipulations and enchantments cast (knowingly or unknowingly) by the people you trust the most. You won't know because your atmosphere is already comprised and defiled. The best course forward to avoid this is to pray what I mentioned in Trapped by Wickedness regularly:
'Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.' Psalms 139:23-24
You will be shocked by what the Lord exposes in yourself and the people around you.
That is why the Bible insists so much on the need to sanctify ourselves and set ourselves apart from the things of the world.
Food for thought...
With love,
Elvira
Read the complete "Captives"
Elvira