Our Scripture lesson for this article is found in Esther 4:10.
Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.
When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
May God speak loudly to our hearts through this passage in such a time as today, 2016!
Why were you born? College students wrestle with this. Philosophers do. Perhaps you have, too. I have another even more important question: Why were you BORN AGAIN?? Have you ever thought about that?
This text which is the greatest text in all of Esther, clearly falls out into 3 major points:
If you remain silent at this time
We may fail God and our duty, by doing or saying nothing! Or as St. Ambrose put it: Not only for every idle word must man give an account … but also for every idle silence!
How has America come to this pivotal point of gross darkness and overwhelming immorality? Why are we losing the war against evil in the most “churched” nation on Earth? It’s because of what the other side says and does, and because of what we the church DON’T say and do! We have been commanded to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His last message partnered with the Rev 14--3 Angels - with every nation, kindred tongue and people. All we have to do to disobey that is to say and do NOTHING!
Say nothing, do nothing. And we are guilty. We are the ones that by silence and indifference and spiritual lethargy have brought upon our land a true tidal wave, a Tsunami of wickedness and defiance against the Creator God! How has this happened you ask? Well, it’s been going on a very long time, and only a few have been really paying any attention. But if you were listening on April 3, 1965 you would have heard the following on America’s radio waves: PAUL HARVEY’S ‘IF I WERE THE DEVIL’ TRANSCRIPT:
If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of its real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee. So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please.’
“To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and what’s good is ‘square.’ And the old, I would teach to pray, after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington…’
“And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d threaten TV with dirtier movies and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
“If I were the devil I’d soon have families that war with themselves, churches at war with themselves, and nations at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed. And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — just let those run wild, until before you knew it, you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
“Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — soon I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress. And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money. If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a bottle [of alcohol].
“If I were the devil I’d take from those, and who have, and give to those wanted until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious. And what do you bet? I could get whole states to promote gambling as thee way to get rich? I would caution against extremes and hard work, in Patriotism, in moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging is more fun, that what you see on the TV is the way to be. And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed with diseases for which there is no cure. In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing. Paul Harvey, good day.”
But we are not in “good days” now! Because as these prophetic words from 1965 warned, “if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing what he’s doing”.
What on earth should we be doing about this monumental slide into evil? Part 2 coming up . . . .