A Voice in the Wilderness

Photo by Carol Moore

 A Christian thought to ponder ...

If you see evil at work, do you remain silent, or do you take action and point out the evilness?

It is something I have been pondering for quite some time now. Today, if you raise your voice to point out that what someone, some organization, or some government is doing is evil and wrong, you are canceled, thrown in prison, or even killed.  

Almost 89 years ago, in 1933, many people sat idly by while an evil, tyrannical dictator began his attack on the Jews, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and anyone else the Third Reich deemed as an enemy or not superior. The Nazis established a boycott against the Jews, set up Nuremberg laws, and anti-Jewish policy to ostracize and ban the Jews. They confiscated all Jewish property and gradually removed the Jews from all economic life. In 1938, it became legal to take all property from the Jews. Homes, apartments, businesses, cultural and artistic treasures were all seized from the Jews. The Third Reich set up concentration camps, and then they began their satanic scheme of the persecution and genocide of the Jews.  An evil dictator whose people believed he was the savior of Germany and could do no wrong.

Does any of this sound familiar to what is happening in the world today with unvaccinated people or people who have different political or religious beliefs? Canada? Australia? China? Russia? United States? Primo Levi once stated, "Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act with out asking questions." There are evil monsters spewing propaganda worldwide, and the lost sheep believe every word.

Evil will grow if we allow it to, and people will continue to cancel, ostracize, condemn, and hate anyone who may have different beliefs, ideas, or agendas.  Will Christians do nothing and let the darkness descend and see history repeat itself once again? Will Christians not point out that people will face the wrath of God's judgment if they do not repent of their evil ways? When did the church become so soft and so silent? Was John the Baptist silent when he saw people who were sinning? No, he was not. In fact, he pointed out to Herod that he committed a great sin by marrying his brother's wife in Luke 3:19 "John also publicly criticized Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, for marrying Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for many other wrongs he had done." John was a great preacher. In Matthew 3:1-3 it states he was a voice crying out in the wilderness, and he was not silent. He warned people of their un-repenting sin, and he prepared people for the coming of the Christ. John preached with great power and spirit. 

Matthew 3:1-3 

"In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”"

Just as John prepared the people for Christ's first coming. It is our job to prepare the world for Christ's second coming. It is our job to be the voice in the wilderness. God has placed us in this world, during this generation, at this moment for a reason. God called us to be His children, to take up the cross, and preach and share the Truth. God calls us to be loving, kind, patient, merciful, good, and to be of good moral character. We are called to scatter the seeds of Truth and let God do the rest. 

Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to tolerate sin, to be silent about sin, or allow sin to continue unopposed. The world will say we are racist, hateful, evil, Nazis, communists when we point out the sin or expose the evil. But the world is wrong, for we love everyone, just as Jesus loved everyone. It is our task assigned by the One who called us to point out the evil and wrong's in the world because we do not wish for anyone to face the second death and go into the lake of fire for all eternity. Jesus repeatedly called out the hypocrites and pointed out their sin and evil ways. As a result, they grew to hate him and conspired to have Jesus killed. Jesus was not silent. He pronounced seven woes upon them in Matthew 23:13-36. 

Matthew 23:13-36

13 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either. 14 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! You shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, you will be severely punished. 15 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you cross land and sea to make one convert, and then you turn that person into twice the child of hell you yourselves are! 16 Blind guides! What sorrow awaits you! For you say that it means nothing to swear ‘by God’s Temple,’ but that it is binding to swear ‘by the gold in the Temple.’ 17 Blind fools! Which is more important—the gold or the Temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 And you say that to swear ‘by the altar’ is not binding, but to swear ‘by the gifts on the altar’ is binding. 19 How blind! For which is more important—the gift on the altar or the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 When you swear ‘by the altar,’ you are swearing by it and by everything on it. 21 And when you swear ‘by the Temple,’ you are swearing by it and by God, who lives in it. 22 And when you swear ‘by heaven,’ you are swearing by the throne of God and by God, who sits on the throne. 23 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things. 24 Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel! 25 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! 26 You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. 27 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28 Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you build tombs for the prophets your ancestors killed, and you decorate the monuments of the godly people your ancestors destroyed.  30 Then you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would never have joined them in killing the prophets.’ 31 But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.  32 Go ahead and finish what your ancestors started.  33 Snakes! Sons of vipers! How will you escape the judgment of hell? 34 Therefore, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of religious law. But you will kill some by crucifixion, and you will flog others with whips in your synagogues, chasing them from city to city.  35 As a result, you will be held responsible for the murder of all godly people of all time—from the murder of righteous Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you killed in the Temple between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, this judgment will fall on this very generation."

Pointing out sin and evil offends and stirs up hatred. If we do not speak out against sin and evil, who will? Who will be the voice in the wilderness in this generation, in this day, and in this time? Will we let evil silence us from speaking the Truth? Will we be complacent? Simon Wiesentnal once said, "For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing." Will we do nothing as evil flourishes, or will we be a voice in the wilderness?