Double hearts ∙

Double hearts ∙

All they do is lie to one another with flattering lips; they talk from a double heart. – Psalms 12:2

Isaiah 5:20-23

 20 What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light, and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.

 21 What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.

 22 What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold.

 23 They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.

“If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?” (Benjamin Franklin)

The Founding Fathers sought to create a nation founded essentially upon Biblical morality, but apart from truly a Christian government. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” (John Adams).

Part of the great American experiment was the vision of a government where the citizens had values and principles enshrined in their hearts derived from a Judeo-Christian base. The Founding Fathers envisioned America as a land where people of all faiths could worship God without fear of persecution. The freedom to worship would, in turn, cultivate the piety and virtue necessary for the success of self-government. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would be promoted in an environment of individual well-being under the umbrella of safety and security (Bennett).

In the 21st century, America is in freefall. The Judeo-Christian consensus is no more. Moral values are no longer derived from the absolute Truth of the Word of God. Truth is whatever people want it to be. Therefore, morality is derived from a kind of a pack mentality of the favored or, perhaps, loudest factions in society. In various sections of society, dissemblers in positions of authority dominate.

Prevaricators are so blinded in their moral judgment that their evaluations of good and evil are the exact opposite of the Father’s perspective. What was once evil is now called good, and what was once good is now called evil. Darkness is substituted for light and light for darkness.

People use the Father’s vocabulary but not His dictionary (Wiersbe).

Moral standards are altered by new definitions of sin that do not arouse or trouble the conscience. It is the newspeak and doublethink anticipated by George Orwell in his novel 1984. People lie to one another and speak from a double heart.

For the present generation, the memory of an accurate American history has faded into almost complete darkness. Lies become truth. Sadly, George Orwell, as an oracle of our times, wrote, “Who controls the past, controls the future, who controls the present controls the past.”

REFLECT & PRAY

The only thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history (Hegel).

Father encourage me to take my stand firmly upon the absolute Truth that You have revealed through Your Word and Your Son.

INSIGHT

Pontius Pilate asked the question, “What is truth?” As children of the King, the eternal Father, the Lord God omnipotent, we have a certain, enlightened, profound, and consummate answer. Truth with a capital “T” is absolute, uncompromising, and eternal. It does not change, and it does not synthesize with non-truth. The Word of God is Truth (John 17:17). The Lord Jesus Christ is the Truth (John 14:6).

Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

Psalms 135:6 The LORD does whatever pleases him throughout all heaven and earth, on the seas and in their depths.

Daniel 4:35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’

One day the Lord Jesus Christ will return in triumph. He will bring good news to the afflicted; He will bind up the brokenhearted, He will proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; He will proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:1-2).

The final chapter has already been written. In the end, the Lord Jesus Christ wins! But for the Father’s children, the Lord Jesus Christ has already won. The Lord Jesus Christ entered our lives triumphally to bind our wounded hearts. Grief and despair stood between us and the joyful celebration of life the Father intended. Peter called it “glorious, inexpressible joy” (1 Peter 1:8). We have been invited to the celebration.

It is up to us to choose to attend. To participate and celebrate our victory day by day, it is incumbent upon us to remove our personal impediments. When we accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, all of our sins, past, present, and future, were forgiven.

Colossians 2:13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.

However, as we go through life, all children of the King experience two disheartening realities. We continue to sin. And we become aware of our innate inner sinfulness. Our hearts are essentially wicked and deceitful.

Jeremiah 17:9 The human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Although we are His children, we sense distance from Him from time to time and experience temporary separation from the Father because of our sins.

Isaiah 59:1-2

 1 Listen! The LORD’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.

 2 It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

The Father, knowing everything, has already considered this practical issue and resolved it. We have been permanently reconciled to Him. All real and imaginary barriers have been removed.

Colossians 1:22 He has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

The joy of our fellowship with Him is restored and actualized by a simple prayer. We have only to recognize and confess our sins.

1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

The Father’s gifts far exceed the limitations of our present circumstances. He has provided His presence in our lives, overflowing acceptance, forgiveness, restoration, and practical righteousness.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 7-29-2

© Dr. H 2022