You Are Mistaken

Is this not the reason you are mistaken…?

Mark 12:24

By Dr Mike Spaulding

American political rhetoric has never been more vitriolic. There has never been a more clearly defined divide between political perspectives than there is right now. The Republican Party has become the party of compromise, acquiescence, and feigned allegiance to the rule of law, that is to say, the Constitution. The Democrat Party has become the mouthpiece for every form of debauchery, evil, violence, and anti-American sentiment.

The Church has elected to play the harlot in three ways. Some side with the Republican Party, choosing to believe that the Republicans represent the best hope for the survival of America. That is simply an illusion. One needs look no further than Republican Senators Flake, Collins, and Murkowski, to prove the point. The vision for America shared by many Republicans differs very little with that held by many Democrats.

Other Christians continue to support the Democrat Party. This is a most perplexing decision given the wanton hatred for and vile attack upon anything remotely approaching an orthodox biblical position on issues of morality and Christian teaching on holiness, righteousness, and the Great Commission mandate to preach the gospel.

The third path some Christians are choosing is to disengage completely from the political process and American social and cultural life entirely. The thinking among this group is that politics is a "dirty" and "evil" enterprise and it is better to remain above a fray that might result in the soiling of one's reputation among the other religious people of their community, their local church, and citizens of the community in which they live and meet. Being respected in the eyes of others is much more important to these Christians than nearly anything else. This choice is only slightly better than the deceived choice of those supporting the Democrat Party. Is there another option? Of course there is another option. That option is to choose the biblically informed path of cultural engagement. What does that look like?

The Church Has Lost Its Way Because It Has Succumbed To Self-Inflicted Ignorance in Two Contexts

The twelfth chapter of Mark's Gospel contains a parable (v. 1-12) that Jesus used to announce to the Jewish religious leaders that He knew their evil intention concerning Him, and that they were following the same path as their forefathers in persecuting or murdering every true prophet God sent to them. Most telling in this passage is verses 6-11 where Jesus prophesies the killing of the vineyard owner's son, while simultaneously announcing to them that He in fact was the Son whom they were rejecting and intending to murder. The religious leaders understood this clearly as Mark 12:12 states.

After that exchange the Sanhedrin began to formulate the "how" they would destroy Jesus (see Mark 11:18). Their strategy resulted in a multipronged course of attack aimed at making Jesus look like an insurrectionist (Mark 12:13-17), and if that failed, a theological fool (Mark 12:18-27). Jesus rebuffed their attempts with His powerful truths. First, in Mark 12:17, Jesus reminded His antagonists that paying taxes is not the greater issue the Jewish people faced. Instead, their greater issue was honoring God with their lives. Here's how Jesus put it: "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's" (Mark 12:17; emphasis mine).

Then in Mark 12:24 Jesus delivers a knockout punch to the schemes of God's enemies. There Jesus reprimanded the hypocrites with a scathing rebuke. He said: "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?"

Let me elaborate on that statement. Jesus calls them "mistaken." The Greek word for mistaken is planao and is defined "to roam" from truth or virtue. Jude 13 uses a closely related word to define false teachers: "wandering (Greek planetes) stars" that will end up in darkness forever.

Now, based on the above definitions and related words for mistaken, Jesus makes two summary conclusions. First, He says the Jewish religious leaders have wandered from truth (mistaken), as evidenced by their ignorance of the Scriptures. Second, because the Jewish religious leaders have wandered from the truth, they do not know the power of God.

The grammatical construction of this verse makes an additional point that is lost in translation. The implication is that the religious leaders were ignorant of the Scriptures and they were in that state of ignorance willfully. In other words, they did not know the truth because they did not want to know the truth. They were happy in their error. Consequently they were willfully ignorant of the power of God. The context of their ignorance concerned the resurrection. There is an application for us to consider.

A large portion of church, ministerial, educational, and parachurch leadership, has become just like the religious leaders of Jesus' day. They are willfully ignorant of the Scriptures and because of that they do not know the power of God. How are they willfully ignorant of the Scriptures? They demonstrate willful ignorance by the policies they support. The herd mentality among many religious leaders when it comes to so-called social justice and socialism is one glaring example today. The entire "woke" church movement is nothing more than a race bating, critical race theory fantasy of anti-God, anti-American, and anti-freedom individuals who see a demon of racism behind every tree. One day these church leaders and the Christians that support them are going to realize they were hustlers for the emperor's clothing line.

Abandoning the truth of Scripture also cuts you off from knowing the power of God. You cannot deny the Scripture that reveals God and expect Him to move in your virtue seeking misadventures. Too many Christians chase the almighty dollar, the next new and sparkling thing they can't live without, and falsely believe that God is in that pursuit of the good life. God casts down every vain thing that raises itself up against the knowledge of Him, and that includes the vain imaginings of people who claim the power of God working in their lives to accumulate treasures on this earth. When I speak of treasures on earth, I am not just speaking about material things. There are many prideful, arrogant, and egotistical pastors and ministry leaders who have long since become immune to criticism. They refuse to receive any form of correction and they are aided in this travesty by a cadre of boot lickers. I can tell you from personal experience that when you point out the error in the teaching and behavior of our modern day religious personalities, the mesmerized followers of these pied pipers will attack you with a vengeance.

A large segment of the Christian church is in a state of apostasy. They have accepted that whatever the culture holds as true and noble is worthy of their collaboration. How else do you explain the idiocy of transgenderism, same sex marriage, fornication, adultery, child sacrifice, drag queen normalization, and gender self-identity being

supported by churches? They are mistaken! They have become dislodged from truth and are wandering stars (Jude 13) that compound their error by proclaiming their inclusiveness, as if that is a get out of jail free card from their obligation to obey God's commands.

Why is it that many pastors encourage their congregants to call their elected representatives to voice their disapproval with a particular pending legislation, and believe they have done their duty? How has the church become blind such that they think that the politicians in Washington DC or in their own state capitals care what they think about anything?

Why do Christians expect politicians to do what they are unwilling to do? Listen to me Christian: your elected representative is not your proxy for what God has called you to be and to do. Your elected representative is not going to go out into the streets and protest the wonton destruction of life at the nearest abortion mill. Your elected representative is not going to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with your neighbors. Politicians are not going to restore any kind of Christian morality to our communities or our local schools. There is only one way these things will ever happen, and that is IF Christians decide that Satan has destroyed enough of our nation and rise up in mass and do something about it.

The church has made the same mistake the Sadducees made when they confronted Jesus about the resurrection. Jesus' final remark to them was about their ignorance of the God they said they knew and served. Jesus said: "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken."

Christians treat God like He is dead in space and time, like He is there but not really involved in their lives. Christians act like God will not move in our day to defeat the demonic hordes of mindless citizens and their political handlers who have become addicted to the US Federal Government's largess, to the satanic propaganda of the media, to the drug infested, Satan worshipping Hollywood pedophile elites, who constantly churn out anti-American subterfuge. Christians have become a castrated shell of what God intended.

Thankfully, God has kept for Himself a remnant that has not bowed the knee to Baal. Satan is ravaging America and Christians could not care less. You are mistaken if you think Washington DC will save us. The beast system that has conquered Washington DC and every federal agency therein is not the friend of the true Christian. We must

stop looking to them for any type of assistance and start standing against the Luciferians that control Washington DC. It is time to mount up and ride out into the war.

God will move when Christians move into the streets and begin an aggressive insurgency against the spiritual forces of darkness that has a choke hold on America. Will you rise up and join God's Warriors?

Pastor Mike Spaulding