It there is one thing that the Lord God requires from His people that they may see the fulfillment of His promised Word, it is what He told Joshua just before Moses’ successor was to enter and possess the land God promised him and his people:

“Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous” Joshua 1:6-7a.

How tragic that it is precisely this attribute that seems to be so lacking in the lives and behavior of many Believers today – a readiness to dare speak and live out the truth no matter what. In a way we could learn from the aggressive conduct of those who despise any interference by God or man in relation to their lives and the liberties they believe to be their fundamental right. These men and women are unafraid to openly come out for these rights and opinions, while true Believers are increasingly intimidated, driven into the corner of universal accepted political correctness so that they are barely able to defend their own beliefs and Biblically-based views.

This is why it is important that we see instilled in those who today lead the flock of Believers the exact approach the Lord God told Joshua to have in order that he could inherit the land and overcome the giants who stood so fearsomely and aggressively in the way of him and his People: ‘Only be strong and very courageous.’

When the Apostles, as related in the Book of Acts, faced strong opposition from those “who were being greatly disturbed by what they taught – laying hands on them and even putting them in custody,” they neither feared nor did they back down, but boldly continued speaking under the power of the Holy Spirit. The result was that the very ones who tried to bar them from speaking – as indeed happens so much today – were taken aback by their boldness.

“Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand” Acts 4:1-4.

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus” Acts 4:13.

When I see on my television screen the words advertising the proclaimed honest sense of balance by a well-known American News outlet that trumpets her its programming as FAIR AND BALANCED, I would rather see the words “truthful and courageous.” For what is ‘fair and balanced’ meant to convey? That liars and those who continually undermine what is good and healthy are to be given the same space and time to express their destructive, often poisonous, opinions? Would the BBC have considered it ‘fair and balanced,’ during World War Two, to give the lying Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels equal time on its talk shows? Do many of the utterly reprehensible leftist news channels feel the need to proclaim how balanced and fair they are? And do we, therefore – out of fear of offending those who vehemently disagree with us – grant equal time and opportunity to lies and destructive forces as to those who still have the honesty and courage to speak the truth?

In other words, are we to consider it fair and balanced to give the agents of the Evil One equal time to propagate their poison as we give to those who want to present the truth?

If we will not be unafraid to use the daytime that is still left to us to speak up, then the night, which is rapidly encroaching upon us, will SOON make it impossible for us to speak out at all. Today already there are countries in which speaking up for the truth on moral issues, or on the inherent evils in ISLAM and other non-politically correct matters, will lead to imprisonment, as Jesus already foresaw:

“I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; THE NIGHT IS COMING WHEN NO ONE CAN WORK” John 9:4.

With all our heart and fervor, therefore, we need to use and exploit the very few years we still have to strongly and courageously speak up before the darkness envelops us all.

 

Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director
International Christian Zionist Center

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Republished with the kind permission of Author Jan Willem van der Hoeven, Director of International Christian Zionist Center.

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