Introduction:
Once again, using our youth as political footballs. This time it is through the AHSAA rule sidelining school-choice- students from playing sports. As a kid, I often heard my mother use this phrase, “like a bad penny, they just keep showing up.” So, it is with political leftists. They often seem to have no problem using children as leverage to bully folks to get it their way.
The Latest Example
Student athletes’ eligibility shouldn’t be abused to discourage parents from taking advantage of school choice on behalf of their children’s academic future. Apparently in this case, it is leftist educators, the very people who should pour all their efforts into encouraging growth and achievement, are the culprits. From what I’ve seen so far, the only person standing on the house tops shouting UNFAIR is Joey Clark writing in 1819 news. It would be great to see the legislators who got the legislation passed put on their helmets and shoulder pads and go on the offensive to give these kids the opportunity to exercise the intent of the law they passed.
Why the Fuss?
In the big picture, such leftist leveraging may seem like an insignificant matter, but that is exactly how freedom, whether religious or civil, is slowly eroded. It reminds me of some arguments I’ve read regarding religious liberty where leftists have propounded, “That is freedom to worship” implying what you may do it within the walls of the church building. That small word nuance is a step towards silencing religious speech in the public square. We cannot tolerate such for as we do we facilitate the agenda of the devil. Peter tells his congregation, “Be of sober spirit (minded), be alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devout (I Peter 5:8). James (4:7) adds, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
So, What Do We Do?
In this case, Alabama, let’s support good legislation and resist those prowling around to devour our freedom, religious and civil. Encourage our legislators to quickly untwist this twisted interpretation of the law that was intentionally written, it would appear, anticipating this move by the leftists, but needs to be tightened a bit more.
On the individual front, keep an eye pealed for these shenanigans both in religious and civil life from the local church to the denomination, from the borough to the city to the county. If we can do no more, we can call it out in letters, phone calls, editorials, and challenges at the school board and other local venues.
I ask Gemini this question: How many times are we challenged to be alert in the New Testament? Here is the answer, “The New Testament contains numerous calls for believers to be alert, though the exact number varies by interpretation of “alert” and the specific wording used in different translations. The core concept is present through commands to “keep watch” and “be sober,” encouraging vigilance for Jesus’s return, against deception, and for the spiritual well-being of the soul.”
So, I decided to ask Gemini a second question: How many times are we challenged to resist in the New Testament. Here is the answer: “The New Testament contains numerous calls for believers to be alert, though the exact number varies by interpretation of “alert” and the specific wording used in different translations. The core concept is present through commands to “keep watch” and “be sober,” encouraging vigilance for Jesus’s return, against deception, and for the spiritual well-being of the soul. “
Conclusion
I suspect that a fair percentage of my readers are surprised at those answers. So, my curiosity pushed me to ask her another question: How man time are we challenged to practice peace in the New Testament? Her is her answer: “The New Testament contains numerous challenges to practice peace, including being a “peacemaker” (Matthew 5:9), living at peace with everyone (Romans 12:18), and pursuing what promotes peace (Romans 14:19), but there is no specific number of times Christians are challenged to practice peace, rather it is a consistent theme throughout the text.
Unfortunately, that last answer tends to override the other answers for many believers. But that leaves us picking and choosing what commands we consider important. The fact is that righteousness and justice are important to God (read your Old Testament). They are also important to Jesus, Paul, and the Apostles. Peace was not foreign to the Old Testament and righteousness, and justice are not foreign to the New Testament.
The very preaching of the Good News of the gospel screams righteousness, justice and peace. So, my friends, preach the gospel declaring how the individual gains peace and righteousness through justice. Now, be on the alert, be sober minded, resist the devil every day in every way. You have become a soldier of the cross.
Implementation
You are one, but you are one! Ones plus ones eventually swell to a multiply Field Armies. Hence, be one who is alert, sober minded, and resisting. Begin by preaching the gospel, attack by discipling and together lets fulfill Matthew 28:18-20.