A House Divided Cannot Stand

“Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, ‘Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12: 25-28)

Our current day is filled with division. This division is apparent on every front but the most recent division that has engulfed our beliefs is the separation between the children of God. Christians today should have a common goal and a common front, but our belief system has become shattered with the rise of extreme ideology.

We have so many individual sects of Christianity that trying to understand all the different belief systems will make your head spin. We are constantly being told that this denomination has the correct interpretation or this one is dividing the word correctly, or this one is telling us the correct way to live and this conflict has caused many to alienate their fellow Christians. We are even being separated according political lines as one extreme view is trying to trump any other Christian views on how we should respect our fellow man.

This division is only going to cause the extreme views to rise within our Church. This is what history has shown us, that when extreme division occurs, the most radical views tend to gain strength while the less radical become engulfed within this change in society.

We are seeing this become stronger as the day grows long. We are seeing the political arena become the voice of the Christian Church. We are seeing this extreme view take over the Christian narrative and with it the rise of the radical belief system with it.

There is a reason that the era when the Church was also the political leader is called the Dark Ages. We must have this separation between Church and State as history has proven that when they merge, the moral wellbeing of many is compromised for those left in power. Many believe that they are completing God’s work but, in the end, death and pain always follows.

We as Christians must stand up for the example Jesus gave us, through his life. We must show compassion to all those around us and we must remain strong and unified against any force that may arise. We cannot allow political leaders to manipulate our moral being to justify their power and reelection campaigns. We must hold true to what we know is right, regardless as to who says they have our wellbeing in heart.

“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. ‘Do you understand what I have done for you?’ he asked them. ‘You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’, and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.’” (John 13: 13-17)

Clinton Kowach

12/27/2019