WHEN THE WHOLE WORLD IS RUNNING

(Post by: Lilly Hobbs)

I feel as if a world war is waging about me and everyone is in a panic. Our “leader” is yet to be chosen, while we live on the edge in fear and cover our faces in order to show that we “love” one another. Meanwhile, stores are being burnt down and innocent people are beaten with boards because of a saying they may have on their shirt, or perhaps it was because they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whether I am sick or not, if I test positive for the v i r u s and I have a baby, the hospital can take my baby away from me without my permission. If I do not comply to wearing a  m a s k  while giving birth, then I may be left to give birth alone with no medical help.

I live in a state where I am mandated to be in my house by 10:00pm and if I do not comply, I risk being fined or even arrested. To me, these things are not funny, but nonetheless American Christians choose to make a joke of it on social media.

If I do not comply and allow something to be injected into my arm, then I might not be able to go to the store and get food or go to church to worship.

Please tell me I do not have to go on!

People constantly ask me why I do not have my drivers license yet, and when I tell them that I will not comply and wear gloves and a  m A s K for 12 hours they look at me as if I am crazy. My mom was even given grief from another Christian in a church building about why I wouldn’t just comply.

C.S. Lewis once said, “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.”

I do not think that there could be a more perfect quote for this post. The Few (aka the people who should not be running towards the end of the cliff) should not comply to these things. I know that that is a very bold statement, but I firmly believe it.

I’ve always felt like my family has been “the black sheep” wherever we are. It is rare for us to think or do as the majority does. Is it because we’re anything special? Absolutely not.

It’s because the majority is usually persuaded to do whatever the world may tell them. I choose to be different because I have the ability, through my Savior, to do so. Jesus has overcome the world, and because of Him I can do the same. John 16:33.

The verse I keep coming back to and the one I wish the American Church would take heed to is James 4:17, which I mentioned in a previous post. It says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

For me, I know that it is NOT right to comply to the tyrannical kind of leadership we are seeing within government today. It is evil to force someone to do something against their will or take their baby away because you think you have that authority.

When those in leadership start to trample on our God-given rights it is evil; and for me to obey is sin because I’m going against the freedom God has given me. I cannot write this post and neglect to share one of my favorite pieces of poetry. This poem is exactly what believers need to be made of today.

“IF” by Rudyard Kipling (1895)

“If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch and toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!”

When all the world is running, we must be the ones who walk steadily. When those around us are heading towards the end of the cliff in fear, we must be willing to climb the mountain that is towering in front of our eyes. We must also be willing to do it alone and appear to have lost our minds if those running happen to look back at us.

SO WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

= Are you willing to be the one who goes against the crowd for the right thing?

= Do you have the will to “hold on”?

= What are you going to do differently?