Every Knee Shall Bow...

In Romans 14, we read these sobering and challenging words:
(10b) For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written: "As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God."
12 So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

I want to think together about living a life of submission to Jesus Christ - He is our Lord and we place ourselves under His authority.  We seek to allow His desires to become our own.  We recognize that His Word provides the blueprint for our lives.  And, we also see that we are called to be accountable to Him for how we appropriate His Word in our lives.  It is so important that we operate in this life in this world with a keen sense of God's Spirit, as He brings direction - and conviction and correction for us...He will teach us and empower us to follow God's ways.

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In Philippians 2, referring to Jesus, the apostle Paul wrote:
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

There is good and evil in this world, and if you want to see the actions of people motivated by evil, even covered with a religious cloak, look no further than the brutal group of Islamic State.  Franklin Graham has been forthright throughout the years to point out the threat of radical Islam.  Last week, according to a Christian Today article,  Graham posted on Facebook, "The evil of ISIS really shouldn't shock us – it is fully in keeping with their ultimate agenda of hastening a final apocalypse. God's Word tells us that there will be a final battle one day, but it will result in the defeat of Satan and all those allied with him." He added, "One thing is for sure – one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The day before, he had posted:

As we mourn with the families of those 21 martyrs, we'd better take this warning seriously as these acts of terror will only spread throughout Europe and the United States. If this concerns you like it does me, share this. The storm is coming.

Another example of Graham's courage to speak truth came in a Fox News panel discussion that is mentioned in the Christian Today story. He is quoted as saying: "I want to say something to all the Muslims that may be watching this that are confused and are afraid themselves. I want them to know that God loves them and that Jesus Christ died for their sins – and Christ will forgive them and heal their hearts."  He added, "And they don't have to die in a jihad, they don't have to kill somebody else to please God. God loves them and he will accept them through faith and through his son, Jesus Christ."

He had also mentioned that he was perplexed as to why President Obama will not "acknowledge the truth and call Islamic extremism what it is."

USA Today, in reporting on the recent White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, stated that, President Obama said Thursday he doesn't use terms like Islamic extremism because doing so would promote the false idea of a Western war with Islam, which would help extremists recruit more terrorists." The President is quoted as saying, "Of course, the terrorists do not speak for a billion Muslims who reject their ideology," adding, "They no more represent Islam than any madman who kills innocents in the name of God, represents Christianity or Judaism or Buddhism or Hinduism."

That does hearken back to the comments the President made at the National Prayer Breakfast, about which Dr. John Zmirak, a recent guest on The Meeting House, wrote on TheStream.org:

What was disturbing in Obama’s speech was his recycling of the happy-clappy falsehood that religious violence aimed at unbelievers is a “perversion” of Islam, rather than the literal application of the text of the Q’uran, of the relevant hadiths, and of the official interpretation given those sacred texts by the highest religious authorities in every important Islamic institution around the world.

He added,

Happily, many Muslims actually have opted for a more peaceful and tolerant mode of Islam, but it doesn’t follow from this that all Holy Books are equally oriented toward tolerance and peace. Even a cursory reading of the Christian Gospels and the core texts of Islam will demonstrate the unequivocal opposite.

Zmirak referred to the "teachings of the Christian Scriptures about treatment of neighbors and loving one’s enemies."

Franklin Graham said very much the same thing in an interview with Christian Today in December, in which Graham said Islam is "a religion of war".

Extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram have not "hijacked" the religion, he added. "This is Islam. It has not been hijacked by radicals. This is the faith, this is the religion. It is what it is. It speaks for itself."

The CNSNews.com website reminds us that following the Prayer Breakfast, Graham remarked that while some Christians did bad things in the name of Jesus Christ, He Himself never killed anyone. He added, "Mohammed, on the contrary, was a warrior and killed many innocent people...True followers of Christ emulate Christ – true followers of Mohammed emulate Mohammed."

The site reports that he posted on Facebook, "Mohammed is dead and buried in Medinah," adding, “Jesus Christ is alive and He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven. Who do you want to follow, the dead or the living?"

How, does this apply to us?  Whether it is the barbaric murder carried out in the name of Islam or holding resentment toward a neighbor, or practicing sexual immorality, we are all sinners in need of a Savior.   Yes, it does seem that there is a hierarchy of sin, but Jesus was very clear as He said hate in the heart was the same as murder or that lust was as bad as adultery.  It's all sin, and thank God, He has provided an antidote.

For the professing Muslim, the Orthodox Jew, or the follower of no religion at all, Jesus came to die for everyone.  And, we are the chosen vessels through which He has chosen to communicate His truth.  It's important to recognize that and seek to be equipped to proclaim truth.

If we know Christ and have bowed our knees and our hearts before Him, then we have a responsibility - to present ourselves to Him and allow Him to remake us in His image and transform our lives, and to allow His light to shine through us to a world that needs Him.