Death
Sentence
5/1/14
It
is hard for anyone to imagine having a guaranteed death sentence placed upon
their heads. And it is almost impossible for us to understand our
actions even warranting such a penalty, yet the majority of humanity has this bull’s
eye on our lives in which we readily ignore. Both our physical and
spiritual lives have this target on our hearts with one being a guarantee and
the other being a choice. It seems ironic that one usually adheres
to the other but I guess this is why the enemy works so diligently in
maintaining our ignorance when it comes to this realization, in which knowledge
of both sides is so important.
Not
many people would argue the fact that when this country was in the initial
stages of its creation and development it faced some very difficult
choices. The men and women who lived during this time frame came
into contact with their governors on a daily basis. Their lives were
continually monitored and their movements, speeches and meetings carefully
documented for the leaders to be to read. For many people during
that time almost every movement was noticed and then immediately reported to
the enemy, just to ensure that all activity was noted and recorded for future
purposes.
During
the American Revolution the leaders of our country actually met in several
different locations in order to preserve their secrecy and general well
being. This required very little
knowledge concerning their whereabouts simply because they had a price tag on
their heads and if anyone of them would have been caught, deportation back to
England, trial, and a guaranteed death sentence awaited them. The actions by these men and women took a
great deal of guts in order to maintain their wits enough to establish basic
guidelines in order for a country to be born.
Beginning
in 1776 with the signing of the Declaration of Independence, our founding
fathers were forced to continually move around due to the choice that they had
made to break away from British rule.
Adjournments followed by reconvening sessions dotted the landscape from
Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Trenton, New Jersey with a stop in New York City
towards the end of 1785. Yes, for almost
9 years the people involved in our country’s freedom were literally on the run,
all the while trying their best to forge a new nation and to hold together a flimsy
confederation of states that could fall apart at any moment. What courage it took for these brave people to
stand up for what they believed in and would even give their lives for nothing
less than liberty.
In
colonial America, many people who were living under this type of secretive
societal conditions they were becoming distorted with and wanted to
cease. Animosity began to rise and steadily formed an opinion of
subversion that took to the hearts of almost every citizen. Yet, the
question of how to resolve these questions grew weary upon many and some even
waned away after a few months had past. Others decided to stick with
living under those limiting conditions and support the government that was at
hand, but some still decided to stick it out with their convictions and adhere
to the new way of thinking and believing.
It was not until the creation of the Continental Congress that the
people of this land had a voice to those who wanted to maintain their complete
control over them, which led to many people being detained and even imprisoned
because they stood up for their independence.
A literal death sentence was placed upon these people due to the
“rebellious” nature of their activities.
The future of this great nation was being drawn up by those who wished
to serve life in such a manner like no other had ever before and were willing
to give up everything to achieve this truth.
On
the other side of the block we have the ruling party and they had a completely
different view of how things would be run. They saw these issues as
rebellious and seditious and called for its immediate halting, and were not
aghast when their subjects refused. The ruling party took further
steps to reign in these troublemakers by sending in the army and navy in order
to “instill” peace back into the ranks of the colonists. One step
led to another step and it was not too much longer that violence erupted between
the two sides which demanded further steps and more tensions across both lands.
The
men that were in charge of the ruling party are not in question here since they
define the established authority and set the stage for the events that occur on
their home field. It is the men and women who are doing their best
to break away from this authority who are going to take center stage and be
counted for, by the ruling authority, through their actions. The
King of England reveled in adversity towards the colonists for these actions
and he saw them as a direct threat to his realm and image. It is the
people in this country’s colonial times that we compare ourselves, or should
compare ourselves in order for us to understand who actually has the true
dominion of our land and our lives and make the choice to serve the king of
this world or the one who created us.
These people were determined to keep what they believed were theirs and
had no intentions of abandoning their investments quite readily. The battle lines were now drawn and war would
be the final say.
After
the colonists had made their intentions known to the King of England, the king
in response issued his own proclamation to the rebellious people of the
colonies. His proclamation effectively guaranteed a conflict that
could not and would not be settled until every rebel was
destroyed. The King of England believed that he had total control
over every portion of the colonists’ lives and which guaranteed him absolute
power over them which was not to be argued against. It was through the
acts of the newly formed Continental Congress and through this Proclamation of
Rebellion by the King of England that set into motion the events of the next
few years. As did the physical king of England made this statement
of war the king of this world has made the exact same proclamation against us.
It
is through the statement that God makes in Genesis that initiates this
rebellion against the king of the world, even though it was not in practice
when God made it. God was giving us dominion over this land that
initiates this command and the choice so that His laws, through us would be
magnified forever. It is our presence on this earth and the
authority we have that disturbs our true enemy and it is important that we
understand how vital it is for us to recognize what this word dominion means to
our lives. In other words, each life represents an authority to do
God’s will throughout the earth and from this authority drives our enemy to rid
us of life by all means possible.
When
the founding fathers of this country came over to start a new life they had a
purpose and plan in mind. It may not have been the perfect plan of
all time and many of their planning proved naught but most stuck with their
decision and made a life for them whatever storms came their way. As
time continued their single colony struggled but grew proportionally and with
this painful stint in place welcomed new faces into the crowd so that life may
continue. Britain still had full control over these people yet they
were an ocean apart and had more freedom to live out their
lives. After a while longer the colonists began to realize that more
and more of their freedoms were being subjugated and threatened which made them
stick out like a sore thumb to England; with anger soon to set in.
The
biblical story of David comes to mind when illustrating the spiritual side of
our existence. This example is not about
his reign but about the time before he took the throne, when another king sat
on Israel’s throne. Saul was in power
and knew that he was basically in dire straits since he had continually
disobeyed God’s wishes. Yet while Saul
was being told that his actions were no longer being blessed by God, he began a
campaign against David instead of trying to make things right in God’s eyes. Saul placed a death sentence on David’s head and
through the death of David his guaranteed placement upon the throne would be
secure.
For
quite some time David lived on the run, living in horrendous conditions while
people were out looking for him so that they could end his life. David never had a physical moment of peace
yet he understood that there was a calling upon his life and that God would
ultimately protect him if death ever stared directly at him. Both participants knew what the stakes were
and what could become of the other and while one heart was pure and running the
other was wrought with anger because of the embarrassment that had accompanied
his reign.
Let
us look at both of these examples and take some notes about how each story
concluded. Saul continued his rage
against God and David and eventually it consumed him so completely that it was
obvious that his decision making was not of sound mind. Saul and his sons died in battle, with Saul
taking his own life even when the enemy would not. The American Revolution ended in similar
fashion with a bunch of hand-picked soldiers taking down the world’s most powerful
leader. In both cases, God’s will was
ordained and the human dignity and selfish desire was defeated.
It
is through this same selfish desires and human dignity that we are blindly allowing
our enemy to overtake our lives. We have
placed our selfish desires and our human rights first in our lives and have
left the One who gave us these privileges to rot for Himself. We have lost the decency to fight for what we
have and to understand what it took to achieve our current status in life. When we allow this type of behavior to rule
our hearts we have no alternative but to follow a blind course of existence. We intentionally wrap ourselves in our lusts
and forge ahead in the name of love, all the while believing that we have
justly managed our lives into a god-like status. What we have failed to realize is that our
enemy has encircled us through our own enticements and is ready to deal a fatal
blow to our worldly perseverance.
We
also cordially accept that we have all the answers for our lives and once again
ignore the obvious fault lines that we are walking over. We do not see that our enemy is just that,
our enemy. He does not care what our
standards may be, for if they are high enough that only means that we will fall
further and harder when the moment of truth becomes reality. We do not see the bull’s-eye that is located
on our hearts nor do we understand what this target means. It represents a death sentence, just as our
founding fathers had and as David had. Our
intentions have become so obscure that we do not even recognize the truth or
the impending disasters that we are voluntarily motioning towards.
The
way that we direct ourselves can only be attributed to one thing and that everything
that we do and represent is made from a choice.
It is our choice to be led by the world and to ignore the warning signs
that we passively look at as we whiz by them.
It is our choice not to understand human history and to grasp the
concept that if we do not learn from our past we are doomed to repeat it sometime
down the road. The same laws hold true
in our spiritual lives as well and the death sentence on this level is far
greater than the physical for our physical will eventually give out but our
spiritual life will live for eternity, but the question of where he / she shall
live is strictly your choice.
It
is through the principles of this divine law that drives our enemy to destroy
our presence on this earth. Through this law we have the authority
to work the miracles of God each and every second of our life and it is the
duty of our enemy to make sure that we doubt this ability or take it away from
as many of our fellow men and women as possible. Through this law
the life that we know is a testament to God’s authority over His enemy so it is
of the utmost priority that our enemy wipe out what has already been
established as the truth; which means your specific life.
So,
in reality we do have a death sentence on each one of our heads and it is
important that we understand that our enemy does not care how he completes this
task, he just needs to get it done. The
enemy uses the world to accomplish his deathly goal. The British placed a death sentence on every
one of the people that participated in the American Revolution and it was clear
that they had no chance of a pardon if ever caught. David found himself in the same predicament
and even though the territory that he and Saul shared was small, Saul never
accomplished his goal of destroying David.
In both examples God miraculously came through and His will was
completed. Just it is with your life for
as Saul, David, everyone who participated in the American Revolution passed away
so will you one day. When that day
comes, what will your choice have been for your future?
DLB
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