...nor are we a nation divided by innocent selective personal choices.

"...and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in, one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." ---Luke 12.


"For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." ---Matthew 10.

These are the words of Jesus.  

We just finished celebrating Christmas, and sharing the message: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all."

So, how do we reconcile promoting peace and having division?

God set up a land for a people set apart unto Him ...the Promised Land.

But, who do you think also sets claim to lands and kingdoms?

Who showed all the kingdoms of the world, and the glories of them; and said they could be had ...simply by falling down and worshiping him??

We have prisons to separate hostile incompatibilities ...such as one person wanting to use violence against another, and the other not wanting to be victimized.  We also have courts ...and appeals, because the 'law' doesn't always make the accurate decision.  But, without the 'law' and without police, courts, and prisons ...we would not have the peace that we have by virtue of having these organizations.

Sometimes division is the only peace, but not brought about by our means ...it is only true justice by God.  And God sets the standards that work towards that peace.

Why is it that we don't always accept that peace?

There was an episode of Bonanza, entitled, "The Pure Truth". There was this old lady who lived by herself in the woods.  

I couldn't find a picture of her, but she looked something like this:

Hoss stumbled upon her modest campsite and tent.  She called herself Miss Lulabelle Watkins. "People around here call me Looney."

Hoss said that it didn't sound much like Lulabelle.

She said, "It ain't ...it's short for lunatic."

Hoss didn't have to ask why ...because she was quite fluent with talking, and told him that one way to confound people is to tell the truth. "Did you ever notice how little attention people pay to the truth?"

Hoss agreed, "Oh yeah, now that you mention it."  He told her how he was accused of robbing a bank, and the townspeople did not believe him when he said he didn't do it. 

She said she believed Hoss, and he asked why she believed him.

Looney said, "With all the experience I have, you don't think I know the truth when I hear it?"

We are divided as the wheat and the tares at harvest time.

Jesus said to Peter: "Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail..."

So, if we really look to the truth ...Satan brought about the separation from God, and convinced a third to follow him.

There are things that Satan promotes, and there are other things ...things that God promotes.

If our nation is divided, it is not by race.  We fought a Civil War, and much was to be accomplished after that, which seemed to take way too long before results could be seen...yet, we have slowly improved in many areas as a nation.  Only Satan would have it that we would stir up old emotions that none of us were, nor few claim to be a part of.  

If our nation is divided, it is at the root of what God has created ...the people of our nation, and at the core of the family which He has created. If the marriage of the man and woman is cheapened ...and divorce is readily accepted; and if the union of man and woman, where children are conceived ...leads to commonplace acceptance of abortion ---that is what causes the destruction of a nation.  These are not innocent selective choices that cause no injury. And we see the harmful dissemination into all areas ---including education, entertainment, employment, economics, and politics.   

There is no peace with Satan doing the leading ...as he represents the most complete opposite of God, and peace on earth would never be with Satan.

So, the division already exists ...and if it is not really clear to us, we all still choose.

The choice has to be made ...because God promises us a peace, and the likes of Satan will not and cannot be there for peace to exist and be delivered.

Jesus delivers us to the peaceful side of that separation.

An old family discussion, before I was married and therefore deemed not qualified to speak on the subject, was that we should not put church ahead of family in importance.  I had said, that church attendance and activity should not equate with God, and that we should put God first ...because it does not lessen any family member by putting God first, but rather puts family in a higher, more loving position.  I was told I didn't know what I was talking about ...expressed to me in less kind words.  But, I think I understood that quote in Matthew 10. 

Love does not divide us, but in a way it does through truth, and it will when the loving promised peace comes ...yet, until then, the way we treat one another should continue to be in love, with differences put aside. 

Yet again, we are not to just want others to love us ...by our definition, of accepting all 'our' ways.  In truth, we must choose the way we are to go. And the pure truth does exist ...if we are compelled to embrace it, not dispute how to define it.  

God has already defined it ...in the Bible.  You can call me a lunatic too, if you feel validated by doing so.  But, I know the truth when I read it.