If you haven’t noticed, a political spirit is a spirit that sows division, anger and even hatred among men.  It can be clearly seen on every network and at every political gathering in America at present.  Of course, Satan wants to divide the nation, foment violence, and create caricatures of each party that paint each of them as the spawn of Satan.  The division right now is pushing America toward more violence and even thoughts of civil war.

Worse than a divided nation, the church is being divided by the same spirit.  Christians now accept or reject other believers on the basis of their political affiliations rather than whether they have the Spirit of Christ.  We need to guard the church against such divisions and guard our own hearts as well.

I was reading through Romans this morning and Romans 14 really spoke to me about this issue.  Concerning fellow believers with whom we don’t agree, Paul says, “Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don’t see things the way you do. And don’t jump all over them every time they do or say something you don’t agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently” (Rom. 14:1, the Message). 

This whole section of Romans 14 is worth reading with our current political backdrop.  Paul clearly says there are going to be “disputable matters” of doctrine in the church. That is because even sincere Christians who study the word diligently can come to different conclusions about God’s will.  Paul addresses those who eat meat and those who do not.  He mentions some people that keep one day as sacred and holy while others consider every day to be the same.  Some people drink wine while others think believers should abstain. Remarkably, he says each group is acceptable to God if they are operating out of a sincere heart and believe it is God’s will. He goes on to say that we must not try to force our view of the scriptures on them and they are not to force their view on us.  We are not to judge one another as more or less acceptable to God. We are not to judge one another, but allow God be the judge.

Paul is not saying that anything goes as long as we are sincere.  In other places, Paul calls on the church to withdraw fellowship from some who are creating issues without repentance.  In 1 Corinthians, he instructs the church to have nothing to do with the man who was living an openly immoral life (1 Cor. 5:2). John tells us to not even eat with those who would bring false teachings about Jesus…his divinity, his incarnation, his resurrection and so forth (2 Jn. 7-10). Paul clearly leaves no place in the church for men who would teach that salvation is based on works (Gal. 1:8-9).  He even says to mark anyone who constantly creates division and have nothing to do with them (Titus 3:10).

However, we are all prisoners to some degree of our culture, upbringing, parental worldviews, and even God-given temperaments.  Because of that, we will unknowingly place those filters on our Bible study and will not be able to totally escape our biases, regardless of how objective we try to be. 

A Jew may intellectually accept that Sabbath keeping is no longer required under the New Covenant,  but Sabbath keeping has been part of his life from birth and  his conscience may still trouble him if he does not keep the Sabbath.  Paul says to him, keep the Sabbath but don’t make it a salvation issue and don’t require others to do the same.  Likewise, we who have no attachment to Sabbath keeping should not forbid others from doing so.  There is freedom in Christ about many things and how we understand some of those things may differ from other believers. What Paul does emphasize is that more mature believers who understand their freedom should not exercise it or insist on it when less mature believers would be condemned by their conscience if they participated. A young believer who grew up Hindu is not going to feel fully free to eat meet for years as a Christian.  If we have him over for dinner, keep the meat in the fridge. When he leaves, pull out the brisket.

But now we are thinking…yes, but the Democrat or Republican platform is offensive to God and I cannot tolerate or fellowship those sinners who support that platform. I agree that some platforms seem to violate biblical values and standards.  However, I am still commanded to love my brother.   If I feel a brother’s political stance violates scripture, I am still commanded to love him, speak well of him, bless him, and keep pointing point him to Jesus.  If he is biblically off base, but is still seeking Jesus above politics, the Holy Spirit will lead him into all truth.  It may well be that I too am “off base” about some things in scripture.  I welcome a brother who holds a different view and points me to some scriptures for my prayer and consideration.  If he deems me, however, to be a bad person because I don’t agree with him, we will move toward division rather than unity in the church.

We must insist that salvation is not based on our political affiliation but on our relationship with Christ, who says we must love one another as he loved us.  John says if we don’t love our brothers whom we can see, we can’t love God whom we cannot see.  We are also commanded to speak well of those who speak evil of us, love those who would harm us, pray for them, and do good to them.  Our political system is pushing us to do just the opposite.  It is clear, then, who is behind the political spirit in our country.  As believers, we cannot give into that spirit.  The next few years will test our discipleship in that area.  Our divide cannot be greater than the divide between Jew and Gentile in the first century, yet they came together as brothers and sisters in Christ, making that the reason for fellowship not cultural or even political agreement.

How would it change things if we simply said, “I have a different view on that but I still love you and value you.  You are my brother (or sister) in Christ, Let me encourage you to seek God and his word on your position on and I am open to hear your reasons from scripture why you believe that is God’s will for America.  In the meantime, lets both do good together and point people to Jesus.  Now, let me ask the Lord to bless you and your family.” 

Let me encourage you to examine your own heart in this area. As I examined my heart, I realizes this political spirit had made some inroads that I needed to renounce and repent of.  Satan loves to see America divided, but rejoices when the church divides. Let’s not give him a win in the church or the nation.  Perhaps, unity it the church can lead to unity in the nation.

When we talk about the spiritual realm, many believers still have a vague notion about heaven and the spiritual realm in general.  Many still think of it as ethereal, airy, or even ghostly.  They think of it as a place without real substance and, perhaps, still think of winged saints floating on clouds and playing harps. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The spiritual realm is very real and very substantive…both the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light.  In the same way people imagine heaven as some place without substance, they think of hell in the same way and tend to fictionalize Satan because we have a deficit in our overall view of the spiritual realm.

Let’s begin with the unseen realm, in general.  Paul declares, “For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).  If something is eternal, it has more substance, more power, and is a greater reality than those things that are temporary.  The bodies we will  receive at the resurrection will be eternal, immune to disease, and untouched by death.  They will not age, feel exhaustion, or break down.  They will be spiritual bodies with substance while living on a restored earth.  Like the glorified body of Jesus after the resurrection, there will be substance.  He ate.  He talked.  He let his disciples touch him, put their hands in his, and touch the place where the spear was thrust.  Yet, it was superior.  He could pass through walls, change appearance, and ascend into heaven or Paradise with that body. So the spiritual realm is far superior to the natural realm.

In the current heaven, the one Randy Alcorn calls an intermediate heaven in his book Heaven, he notes that there is already a heavenly Jerusalem revealed to John and described in the Book of Revelation.  The heavenly Jerusalem currently has streets of gold, the throne room of God, myriads of angels and saints who have already gone to be with Jesus.  There are gates made of pearl. There is a heavenly tabernacle after which the earthly tabernacle was fashioned (Heb. 8:1-2).   Alcorn calls it an intermediate heaven because, the Book of Revelation reveals that at the end, the Heavenly Jerusalem will come down and rest on a restored earth where we will be God’s people and live with him forever. The promise of Eden will be reclaimed.

So, the spiritual realm is not a ghostly, ethereal place with little to no substance.  It is real. It is solid. It is eternal.  It has buildings, a throne room, a sanctuary, court rooms, bowls of burning incense, powerful angels who do the bidding of God and saints who are waiting for all this to culminate in the return of Christ to the earth.

Likewise, the demonic or satanic realm is real and solid.  Paul tells us, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Eph. 6:12-13). Power, organization, and demonic forces exist in the spiritual realm that oppose the will of God and strategize against God’s people.  Paul also states, “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13). Dominion requires a domain, a territory, an area of authority.  There is a kingdom of darkness over which Satan is the prince.  He has territory, armies, and rulers under him that do his bidding.

Jesus called him the prince of this world and Paul states, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Eph. 2:1-20).  “Kingdom” implies territory, power, subjects, armies, etc.  Satan is no match for Jesus, but in his sovereignty, God still allows him to exercise power and the authority people and nations give him on this earth.

In these last days, the kingdom of darkness is pulling out all the stops.  Those humans who serve Satan – witches, warlocks, satanists, etc. actively and willingly serve him and oppose the people of God.  Many others are unwittingly used by the enemy to oppose righteousness in the earth so that entire cultures now call evil good and good evil. 

All this is to remind us that the spiritual realm is very real and more powerful and consequential than the natural realm.  Those who deny the reality of these things or who do not take them seriously will be easy targets for the enemy.  They will live unaware of Satan’s schemes and so will easily step into his traps. They will be ineffective soldiers who do not know how to wage war with divine weapons.  They will search out solutions for all their problems within the natural realm. When the source of their problem is demonic attacks and satanic strategies, they will not be able to touch the spiritual roots of their crisis and will never gain victory.  They will not be able to pray effectively and will not wield the authority and power of Christ against spiritual enemies. Churches, nations, and families will be ravaged by the enemy because they will not know how to recognize or stand against the attacks that scripture says are inevitable.

Let me encourage you to pay more attention to the spiritual realm.  Jesus has given us all we need to overcome the enemy, but we have to be aware of the enemy’s schemes, know what is in the arsenal of heaven, and know how to use the divine weapons he has provided.  Be blessed in the days ahead.

This past week, my wife Susan and I had the privilege of taking care of our 2 ½ year old granddaughter while her parents were out of the country.  I was reminded how often we respond to God as if we are 2 ½ years old.  What I saw play out over and over every day and night was the Eden Syndrome.  You remember the first temptation ever recorded in scripture was the account of the cunning serpent (Satan) and Eve.  His strategy was simple.  Get Eve to doubt the goodness of God and the goodness of his intentions for her.

The moment the serpent said, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden,” he began to plant a seed of doubt.  I’m sure his emphasis was on “really,” as if to say, “I know God and it doesn’t surprise me one bit that he would keep all these good things from you.” One of Satan’s primary strategies from the beginning has been to convince us that God keeps many good things from us, the best things, things that would make us happy.  We see the commands of God as restrictions that keep us from being all we could be or that keep is from the happiness we need or deserve.  The truth is that God’s commands are not restrictions, but protections.  They are guardrails are meant to keep us on the road and out of the ditch.  I don’t know about where you live, but in Midland, Texas the most constant road sign we see is “guardrail damage ahead.”  Lots of people apparently need guardrails to keep them from running off the road because they are always under repair.  We all need guardrails sooner or later.

Our granddaughter apparently believes we are withholding the best things life has to offer a two-year-old.  The great battle, of course, was sleep.  Every night we began to give her advance notice that bedtime was coming soon. She would begin to let us know that sleep was her great enemy…as if it were going to be eight hours of excruciating torture.  She would immediately declare “No!” to the whole idea.  When jammies were pulled out, she would begin to plead her case and offer all the reasons she could not go to bed. “I’m hungry!  I’m thirsty! I’m scared! I miss mommy and daddy! There might be a dog in my room! There are elephants in my room! etc.   All these objections were vocalized in a wailing tone that made them hard to decipher.

This battle occurred nightly.  She never won the battle, but still rolled it out night after night.  We knew she desperately needed sleep. We desperately needed her to sleep. She had to get up the next morning for daycare.  She is growing and her body needs rest.  The next day will be a long day. If she doesn’t sleep, she will be miserable for that entire day.  Sleeplessness will compromise her immune system, and so forth.  As we explained all the documented reasons she needed sleep, none of those had any effect on her.

Then there was breakfast. Cranky after a short night’s rest, she had to be coaxed to eat a good breakfast.  So, we offered sausage and eggs to be followed by a blueberry muffin.  She wanted the muffin first.  We insisted she eat the nutritious part first. She wanted to negotiate.  Muffin first!  We knew the muffin would dull her appetite, so we declined.  That battle would ensue.  Eventually, she ate her eggs and got her muffin.  But health was not her concern. Sugar was her morning key to happiness.

So why the nightly tantrums?  Did she think we were holding out on her and that we got out the really cool toys or rolled out the pie and ice cream while she slept, and she didn’t want to miss out?  Has she not lived long enough to project what her future would hold if she didn’t sleep?  Whatever she was thinking, she was clearly not thinking she could trust us to help her maximize her life as a two-year-old. She was not thinking that since we had decades more experience about what makes life good, she could trust our judgment for her. She believed she could simply live in the moment, pursuing what her flesh was demanding, and never experience a negative consequence for doing so. 

Sadly, we often respond to God in the same way.  We see the guardrails he has posted around us as his way of keeping our true source of happiness from us. Satan convinces us that God does not always act out of infinite love and point us to what is always absolutely in our best interest.  All we know is what we are wanting at the moment.  But James warns us about that mindset. He says, “But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (Ja.  1:14-15).

Our flesh is a two-year-old demanding its way.  It believes that happiness is found in immediate gratification and Satan whispers all the reasons we should ignore God and go for what we want.  We may know what God says, but something in us believes he is holding out on us…the thing right in front of us holds more blessing than the thing God wants us to wait on.  Satan convinces us that we can grab what we want now without consequence, even when God has told us there is calamity at the end of the road, especially, if you choose to crash through the guardrails.

Here is what I know.  Sometimes I act like a two-year-old as If I can go my own way without consequence. I need to convince myself that I often don’t really know what is in my best interest.  God does know.  He has all w\isdom and perspective. His commands are protections not restrictions.  The abundant life does not come by resisting rest or eating my muffin first.  It comes by trusting God and saying ‘No!” to the lies and temptations of the evil one, who only comes to kill, steal, and destroy.  From time to time, I need to take a lesson from my granddaughter who only knows what she wants in the moment and believes it is the absolute key to her happiness…but she is wrong.