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Per Fidem Intrepidus means "Fearless Through Faith". My courage isn't my own, it comes from the Holy Spirit, it's my faith in God and my personal savior Christ Jesus that calms my fears and allows me to move forward in this fallen world. Personally I'm afraid of a lot of stuff, but having the faith that Jesus adopted me as his little, sin filled, brother keeps me going.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Deluded by a False Spirit

What does the bible say about ethnic harmony? 
34 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, 35 but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. (Acts 10:34-35)
People that think that their ethnicity is all that matters are deluded by a false spirit, they've been taken in by a lie. To God there's only two kinds of people, those that worship him, and those that do not.  There's no breakdown of black or white or brown or red or yellow. In fact the bible never even says "race". As Peter said in acts, there's only two kinds of people in God's eyes. Jesus said it too:
He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (Matthew 12:30)
To God there's no race but He does categorize humans into two groups, there's those that love and worship Him, and everyone else. He makes this distinction  regardless of skin color or country of origin. Racism is a human construct, with a little.help from Satan, of course. But what does the bible say about racial harmony? Nothing. Like I said, God doesn't care about race, for He is spirit and being created in His image, we are spiritual beings. Skin color has no bearing on a spirit, He calls for us to love each other regardless of skin color or country of origin;
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)
But race is mentioned quite often in this bible:
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance. (Psalm 33:12)
The Hebrew word we translate into  'nations' is גּוֹי (pronounced "gowy") doesn't mean 'country', that concept is translated to "kingdom", nation means a group of people with a lot in common and this commonality binds them together. (גּוֹי can also mean a of swarm of locusts, other animals) And in Greek the same thing applies:
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19)
The word that is translated to nation is ἔθνος which is pronounced ethnos, the root of the English word ethnic. Ethnos means a multitude (whether of men or of beasts) associated or living together, and a multitude of individuals of the same nature or genus, it doesn't mean country, that concept in Greek is βασιλεία pronounced basileia and translated to Kingdom. Keep that in mind when you read
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:7)
Jesus is telling us there will be no racial harmony, ethnic groups will clash in the final days, as will countries. More and more we see self absorbed hate filled people killing other people based solely on skin color or ethnic origin, proclaiming that only their skin color matters. What did Jesus say about those that want to kill us for such petty, ridiculous reasons?
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Matthew 5:44)
It's not a suggestion, it's His commandment.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Doug,

    Amen!

    Expositions like you've made here about the meaning of ἔθνος open up the prophetic nature of Scripture. God knows what's going to happen. He tells his people in his Word so they won't be taken by surprise. Blessed be his name.

    A brother took me to task some time back for speaking much as you have here. My point was that the disruption of the languages (and the resulting explosion of ethnic tribalism) was a curse which would be removed in the new heavens and the new earth, after Christ's return. We have a taste of it now in the invisible church:

    Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)

    He was adamant that we would always remain in our nations and speaking in our own languages based on Revelation 7:9:

    After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; (Revelation 7:9)

    Any thoughts?

    Alec

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    1. Personally I think Revelation 7:9 shows that the portion of mankind that worships God will be unified before the throne and speak in one voice as described in Revelation 7:10 but keep in mind, this chapter is describing a select few, these are the martyrs of the tribulation, these are the especially blessed.

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