THY KINGDOM COME: There Is a Shaking Going On | Mac Hammond
Recap
Pastor Mac began his new series, “Thy Kingdom Come,” by addressing the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. Calling the event one of the saddest days in our nation’s history, Pastor Mac went on to say the event, interestingly enough, fit into the subject of his message subtitled, “There’s a Shaking Going On.” He said, “A lot of us were truly shaken by what happened. But we must keep the perspective of the Bible in mind; He is not shaking things by having someone take a shot at President Trump that killed someone else.” He cautioned, “We’re going to see more and more of these things in the immediate future because we are living at the end of an age.” He continued to address the coming shaking of the world.
Dive Deeper
Pastor Mac attributed the fact that the assassination attempt failed was due to a miracle. God was with President Trump.
He stated the enemy has used our political arena to create schism and division in America to the point where it can no longer be healed. This will lead to the changing of what we are: a constitutional republic. That’s why it’s important we understand what happened.
We can avoid enhancing the division and begin the healing process and the bringing together of Americans by refusing to point fingers at those on the other side of the aisle that we think are responsible for this.
Pastor Mac shared how it grieved him to hear a pundit from one of the networks say, “They tried to get Trump this way, then they tried to get him in the courts, and now they’re doing this.” That kind of rhetoric is dangerous and it’s something in which we shouldn’t want our leadership to participate.
President Trump set a good example for correct speech when he was asked about getting revenge. He said, “The only revenge I want is to win the election.”
If we allow the enemy to use this attempted assassination to make greater enemies of our political opponents, then the increased schism that would develop as a result of it would take our nation beyond healing.
We need every American to join in the condemnation of not only political violence but all violence in our nation. Violence has to be condemned by everyone. Unfortunately, violence has become tolerated in many arenas of American life under the guise of our right to protest… the protests of Antifa and other Marxist based organizations, including Hamas, always produce violence.
Jesus said, “You will know by the fruit.” Current protests are not peaceful. It’s time we become serious about the divisions occurring in America. We must take steps to heal the nation.
One step toward healing the nation is the refusal to entertain conspiracy theories about who is behind the assassination attempt. They do nothing but create greater animosity within the person or persons that entertain them. They do not contribute to the healing of division.
About conspiracy theories, Pastor Mac said, “Even if you are right, what difference does it make where your covenant with God is concerned? You have all the protection you need for your family and your loved ones. So why entertain these kinds of things?”
There have been previous assassinations and attempted assassinations in our nation’s past, but because of the time in which we live, it has greater potential to divide the nation.
Our response should be to join together with all other Americans in condemning this sort of violence. We need to take a moment to think about why it came. From this, we can promote a solution to the problem.
Some want to know why this happened. “How did we get here?” When people in an effort to win political office, spend more time slamming and demeaning their opponents than they do promoting their own political policy, it is evidence of something being very wrong. Unfortunately, both sides of the aisle participate in this sort of rhetoric.
This sort of anger and vitriol from the candidates will inevitably reach those in our population who are vulnerable to a certain kind of mentality. Perhaps they lack emotional control or are not fully mature, and so this negative rhetoric poisons their thinking to the point where they are motivated to respond in a deadly way.
How do we make an informed decision about who to vote for? Jesus answered that question when He said, “You’ll know them by their fruit.” You won’t know them by their personalities. The only way to know them is by the fruit of their lives.
You can measure a candidate by what actions they take on their own policy in past administrations. In this election, both candidates have an administrative history. That is the fruit you can look at to determine what kind of leader they will be.
Because of that, there is no need to try to decipher who’s telling the truth or not… or build a conspiracy theory about the opponent to your candidate. By doing that, you’re creating division.
Participating in that sort of thinking will divide you off from the common good of America by taking sides in something that is an unresolvable debate.
Everybody has differences of opinion. The unique part of America’s constitutional republic is that we settle debates at the polling place—not with loud rhetoric that demeans the other candidate. And certainly not with guns. We settle the difference of opinion at the polling place.
Read About It
Eph. 4:29, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Discussion Questions
Have you ever participated in a conversation that contributed to the division of America? If yes, what did you say and how did it affect the other person listening?
Are there people you associate with that have contributed to this kind of divisive communication? If yes, what effect did it have on you and what is the answer to ending such divisive communication?
How can you fulfill Ephesians 4:29 of letting no corrupt communication proceed from your mouth that has to do with the political arena?