Truth Has Fallen in the Streets, Part Four

Making Our Streets Safe for Democracy
Proverbs 26:11 ESV
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”
Revelation 5:5 ESV
And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Isaiah 58:12 NIV
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Streets
As ancient as any of the cultures of mankind is the defining importance of streets. When permanent dwellings were constructed, pathways were placed between them, creating an order of approach and departure. These local passages were connected to the even more ancient trails often the work of animals, through forests, over mountains, and traversing deep valleys. Since ancient times, in towns and cities, streets served to organize life from the days of the week to the seasons of the year. Commerce developed on each side of the streets creating wealth and poverty, privilege and powerlessness.

In view of the importance of streets, the words of Proverbs become clear. A slothful man, a bum, a loafer, to our minds, creates an excuse to stay home and hide from a productive life—“There’s a lion in the streets!” His lie creates a false fear and a deceptive narrative, an excuse to bow out of life and hide in his house. This disgraceful tactic is at work in our politics today as leaders create a false fear in the minds of their opponents so they will stay home, or if they should risk the lion in the streets, they will vote according to the lies they believe for fear of the imaginary lion.

These are the tactics of hate, not truth. Truth has fallen in the streets and a lion called Hate is in command of the passageways of our civilization.

Hate—the Lion in the Streets
It is time to examine the culture of hate. So many these days seem to be basing their lives on hate, not truth or justice. Hate is not at all constructive and its destructive force is readily observed. Here is my onservation.

Hate has no upside.
There are no true advantages to hate. Society does not advance through it for it is a downward spiral leading from tragedy to calamity and back again. It constructs no industries, builds no shelters, and creates no beauty. Hate deceives the heart. Masquerading as passion, hate corrupts the heart of the one who hates. Eventually hateful hearts die although sensitive medical machines may still detect a heartbeat. The music of the heart sounds bitter not sweet. The poetry of the heart is infected with sin. The blood pumped by this atrophied muscle is tainted with poison.

Hate clouds the mind.
The hateful mind races from evil to evil, ruminating on obscenities, half-truths, or outright untruths, until logic is lost in vitriol and the brain becomes a storehouse of the ridiculous. Hate dulls the mind and closes it, making the one who hates gullible. This clouded mind cannot see the facts through the fog. Any song sung by fellow haters is memorized if the notes sound in the key of our chosen hate. Generations are swayed by these siren songs.

Hate loses perspective.
Thus weakened by this creeping deception, the mind of the one who hates focuses on small things as if they were large and important things as if they didn’t matter. Perpetual confusion results from this distortion and smart people do dumb things.

Hate creates despair.
It feeds on hopelessness. When hope is lost, there is no confidence in the future, no trust in proven concepts, and no peaceful options to be considered. Violence must be the answer.

Hate runs in devastating circles.
True to the law of sowing and reaping, seeds of hate sown in the deceived heart and the hampered mind yield a harvest of devastation. Mobs rule through hate. Hateful men don robes and ride in the night. Computers become weapons. Cities burn and the blood of the innocent runs in the streets. Like an evil carousel, hate keeps spinning and spinning until there is no peace or progress to be found.

Hate springs from fear.
Moments of fear spawn panic. Seasons of fear breed devils. Fear is cold and unreasoning, like icy fingers clutching the heart. As the Bible says, “Fear has torment.” (1 John 4:18)

Hate devalues people.
The population is divided into only two races: those for us and those against us. Anyone who stands in our way is subject to removal by any means available. The unborn are not yet human. The elderly, or those hindered in some way, are expendable. Those who oppose us do so at their own peril. There are no rights or recourse for those who are against us.

Hate severs relationships.
Disagreement disengages family members. Discussion is not permitted. Words of love are no longer uttered. The sword of hate has done its work dividing parents, children, siblings, and those who were the best of friends. Committees go to war with each other. Companies waste their energies competing instead of collaborating. Teams lose the game they are playing because trust and respect have been lost.

Hate isolates the hater.
Because of eyes blinded by hate and ears that can no longer detect the voices of others, the one who feeds on hatred closes out the world around him/her. No one can be trusted or befriended for all are unfaithful. No voices except those we have chosen can be heard and we are not sure we can trust them. Doors close. Windows shut and minds rot.

I find it painful to realize so many intelligent, caring people in my acquaintance, representing millions of other good people, have surrendered their hearts and minds to propaganda. They have fallen prey to Hate, the lion in the streets of America.

Hate has a cure—Jesus, the Lion of Judah!
In the face of all these terrible realities, there is good news: The disease of hatred has a proven cure. It is found in a man, one Jesus of Nazareth, He is called by heavenly worshipers in the Revelation, the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” The lying lion cannot subsist with the Lion of Truth.

How has Jesus defeated hate? This heavenly Lion was hated with the full force of a fallen mankind and an evil empire in the unseen world of the spirit.

Hated, He did not return hate to those who despised Him. He was wounded for their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities.
Reviled, He did not answer back.
Stricken, He did not strike back. Even in death, He asked God to forgive his killers.
Buried, He defeated death and rose to victorious and everlasting life.

Learning this, the Apostle Paul gave us the cure: Follow Jesus! “Overcome evil with good.”

Did this tactic work?

Yes! Jesus defeated evil with His absolute goodness.

He broke the bonds of death.
He dismantled the powers of hell.
The Keys of Death, Hell, and the Grave are in His grasp.

When this Lion is patrolling our streets, hearts can change, dispelling hatred with love. One day, all of creation will experience and celebrate this victory. Until that day, each of us has the privilege of seeing the destructive deception of evil broken in our own lives, in our streets. The nightly roar of hate can be replaced by the powerful, peaceful purr of heaven’s victorious Lion. This is no theory; it is established fact, proven by 2000+ years of victorious, Christian living and repeatable in each generation and for each of us if we choose to participate.

A Time to Hate?
Doesn’t the Bible say that there is a time to hate? (Ecc. 3:8) Yes, but be careful here. If you read enough passages on hate it will become clear that our command to hate does not include people, even evil people. The True Believer hates sin, lies, unfaithfulness, deception, murder and all manner of evil. Jesus commands us to love our enemies and to pray for them. There is no ambiguity here. This cannot be misunderstood. There are no exceptions. The old saying is true, “You cannot do right by doing wrong.”

As God’s people in the world today, we are the ones who must overcome evil with good. We must wage spiritual warfare, praying for those who oppose us. We counter lies with truth as we withdraw from the games people play. We should never function as the echo chamber for the lies and half-truths of the world. Instead of posting pointless propaganda, let’s point people to the cure. We used to sing,

“Let’s talk about Jesus! He’s my Rock! He’s my Rock!”

He is still the Rock, the only Rock. The world has forgotten this, so they have no other hope of a sure foundation. It is our job to remind them. We must be a holy counterculture, standing for the right and rebuking the evil while loving the lost. This plague can be stopped at our door. Our prayers and obedience will defang the lion and quiet his roar of terror.

Streets Safe for Democracy
As Americans we are blessed beyond measure to have a constitution that guarantees our religious freedom. Our founders came to this continent in political flight from nations who had prescribed official religions for their citizens. While they treasured their various understandings of who God is and how He should be served, they refused to allow our constitution to prescribe a particular religion. Instead, each of us has the absolute right to choose how we will worship and live. Our constitutional “Freedom of Religion” is the result. As a Christian this is all I need! Armed with these two powerful provisions, the Cross of Christ and the Constitution of the United States, I am free to worship God and to tell His story in our streets. Through the righteousness demanded by the Cross and enabled by the Constitution, Truth regains its footing in our streets and the lying lion of deception is confronted and defeated by a stronger opponent, “The Lion of the Tribe of Judah!”