{"id":2624,"date":"2012-09-24T00:24:21","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T00:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=2624"},"modified":"2012-09-24T00:24:21","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T00:24:21","slug":"i-was-surprised-but-i-shouldnt-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/2624\/i-was-surprised-but-i-shouldnt-be\/","title":{"rendered":"I was surprised, but I shouldn’t be"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello there, pastor John.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interesting little moment with Jesus yesterday…..\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have, admittedly, been swept up a little too often by the political issues being bandied about on FB and in the newspaper everyday. America is dissolving right before our eyes at an alarming rate, both morally and socially and politically. It’s way too much for anybody to make sense of…. the controversy, the snide rhetorical spins on everything, the unsettling similarities between both parties and the starkly polarized opinions as well. I can’t imagine anybody voting with a clear conscience when so much evil is accompanied by so little good. It’s a farce. A pathetic farce.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, my mind ought not to be fretful of such things, but stayed on the One who shows us the eternal perspective. And I received some gentle correction yesterday, straight from the Lord, when my flesh began to drift into a fantasy scenario. . .<\/span><\/p>\n

I saw a bumper sticker that was simply an = (equal) sign. I knew instantly what it meant: Marriage Equality.<\/span>
\nI cringed. Feelings of repulsion. Anger. No. . . Indignation.<\/span>
\nIn my mind I began to imagine myself taking a big fat black marker and crossing out that equal sign on their car. As if that would be the righteous<\/em> thing to do!<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, I think the Spirit spoke to me and said, “What if someone did that to your “Say Yes to Jesus<\/strong>” bumper sticker, because it provoked anger in them?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, I felt\/realized that my impulse would be a crime<\/em>; defacing someone else’s property; it wold be a hate crime, not a righteous one; a sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, instantly, the Spirit spoke again:<\/span>
\n“You cannot control this world. You are not a part of it. It is none of your business… Be about your Father’s business, and retreat from this world’s strife.<\/span>
\nRest in me.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Thanks. I needed that.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Brad<\/span>
\n==========<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, Brad. The temptation is to do something about the symptoms of the disease, such as placards and bumper stickers. But faith will wait for Jesus to come, and pray for our enemies and those “who oppose themselves”.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello there, pastor John. Interesting little moment with Jesus yesterday…..\u00a0 I have, admittedly, been swept up a little too often by the political issues being bandied about on FB and in the newspaper everyday. America is dissolving right before our eyes at an alarming rate, both morally and socially and politically. It’s way too much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}