ISIS apparently chose the tallest butchers for the photo-op, to project intense fear and horror to their targeted audience: America, The Great Satan.
The Philistines were the ISIS of the Gaza Strip in 1000 B.C. Their champion, 9-foot-6 Goliath of Gath, daily summoned, “‘Why are you all coming out to fight? … I am the Philistine champion, but you are only the servants of Saul.
“‘Choose one man to come down here and fight me! If he kills me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, you will be our slaves! I defy the armies of Israel today! Send me a man who will fight me!’ When Saul and the Israelites heard this, they were terrified and deeply shaken.”1
Terror and fear are the largest denominations in the adversary’s currency.
Most interesting, “Goliath’s armor is given unusually detailed attention. We never learn anything about David’s armor after he became king. 1 Samuel 17:5 says that the Philistine giant was wearing ‘scale armor’, and the Hebrew word simply means ‘scales.’ This sort of armor is attested throughout the ancient Near East, but the fact that he is described as wearing ‘scales’ indicates that Goliath was a serpent.”2 Once again, a serpent is using fear in the Middle East, history repeats itself.
Although green, David, the son of Jesse, had discovered the secret to battling 9-foot-6 giants, “For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”3
The predicament in America, we lack those handy with the Sword, therefore, no punitive angles are being dispatched to punish the rebels by the living God. Proverbs 17:11, “A rebel truly seeks evil, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.”
The denial of the existence of evil, that God actually has enemies, is part of the fallout of a biblically illiterate nation.
Our previous president was conned, “Mr. President, when you talk about peace in the Middle East, you’ve often said that freedom is granted by the Almighty. Some people who share your beliefs don’t believe that Muslims worship the same Almighty. I wonder about your views on that.”
President George W. Bush said, “I do say that freedom is the Almighty’s gift to every person. I also condition it by saying freedom is not America’s gift to the world. It’s much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same God [Islam and Christianity].” (11/20/03)
“Syncretism”—combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs, while melding practices of various schools of thought—is well-behaved against serpents, for there is no fear of God. “[B]ut did not God’s smile make Belshazzar to tremble at the handwriting on the wall? Oh, what are His frowns, if His smiles be so terrible?”4
Americans want God’s help, but not His holiness. We cry out to God in crisis, but not in our daily lives. We have acclimated to the false religion of secularism, “There are many people who think it’s useful to have God on their side. In a way they want to honor God.
They will go to church. They will say prayers. They will ask a pastor to bless a marriage or their new house. The kind of God they want is simply a God who will help them get their own way and win their own battles. They want God to be a servant to help them get things done, but at the same time they want to have their own views and live their own lives.”5
“What work, think you, was Daniel doing in the lion’s den? Or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace? Their work was glorious, ‘laudable, and honourable,’ they were glorifying God in suffering.”6
“Christian capitulation to secular politics—more the rule than the exception in the modern church—is nothing less than apostasy, a denial of the gospel that announces Jesus as Lord.”7
We need a Gideon or Rahab the Harlot to stand.
1 1 Samuel 17:8-11
2 Peter J. Leithart, A Son To Me, An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
3 1 Samuel 17: 26; 45
4 Thomas Adams, 17th Century theologian
5 Keith Krell, 1 Samuel Chapter 5
6 Sickness, its Trials and Blessings, 1868
7 Peter J. Leithart, 1 & 2 Kings
David Lane is the founder of the American Renewal Project.
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