And so it begins….

SEATTLE — The Washington attorney general has filed a consumer protection action against an eastern Washington florist who refused to provide flowers for a same-sex wedding, telling a longtime customer that it was “because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.”

As a student of the game of Chess, I find it hard not to envision the enemy of our souls engaged in a cosmic chess match with the Church. Unfortunately, it seems that sometimes the followers of our king have forgotten the lessons He taught us.

I have just read the above article on Google News and no doubt literally thousands of bloggers, reporters, and news editors of all persuasions, are currently banging away at their keyboards anxious to jump into the fray.

I do not want to.

I have just opened RadicalFish.net to the search engines. I want to focus on the early Church and how she focused on following her king Jesus. To share how that resulted in the Principalities and Powers, which govern the world, raining down their wrath on the joint heirs of the legitimate king. I want to share how He has authorized us to reign with Him in this age.

In my selfishness, I want to build an audience, not scare it off before it is even aware of what I believe the Creator wants me to share. Doesn’t He realize that this kind of story generates more heat than light; that the enemy will use this to divide and conquer?

But I am forgetting that He is the one that thought Gideon’s ragtag band of misfit soldiers was too imposing to serve His ends. That it needed whittling down.

So be it – He’s the boss. I will do my best to be faithful and share what I see—despite the cacophony that I know will follow.

My dear brothers and sisters, our enemy delights in sowing discord. He understands that no spiritual battle is a power struggle – they are all legal battles. Victory in spiritual warfare is determined by jurisdiction.

Were they based on power, strength, and might, he knows he would be blown away by the slightest breath of the Creator. He knows that all legal battles are based on jurisdiction. He knows his only hope of victory lies in confusing his enemies as to their real standing and the real nature of the battle.

King Jesus provides us with our authority, and with an example. When confronted by our enemy, with the legal/moral issue of paying taxes to the agents enslaving His people – He did not hesitate. He addressed the issue of jurisdiction “…render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

In Seattle, “Caesar” has decreed what constitutes marriage. And for too long many in the Church have forgotten what it is. Many in the Church are falling for the same tactic that felled our first mother in the garden. “Hath God not said…” The answer was “No He did not! You have added to His word. Now get behind me!” But she missed it.

Since when was marriage ever an institution of the State? The fact that the followers of King Jesus have willingly surrendered this jurisdiction to the enemy of our souls, and allowed her leaders to become the agents of the State, is evidence of the depths to which she has sunk.

Can you imagine the Church submitting to a communion tax, and allowing the State to determine who was eligible for the supper of our Lord? Why has she betrayed her calling, and permitted it with the equally holy ordinance of marriage? Please don’t tell me it was for the favorable tax status the State granted the holders of its paper.

The followers of our king should not be quibbling with foreign princes over who they bless with their paper.  That is an internal affair of a foreign State.  We need to be concerned about the failure in our own camp to enforce the ordinance of marriage among our own people.

What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 1 Cor. 5:12.

What GOD has joined together let no one separate. In our day it is the STATE which both joins and separates with equal ease. But let us not yield OUR government’s jurisdiction in such holy matters, to the Principalities and Powers which oppose us.

We are called to love our enemies, and seek the deliverance of our enemy’s slaves. Let us pray for them. Let us give them the flowers they seek to extract what limited enjoyment they may, from the crumbs their owner allows them.

But let us not pretend that contracts poorly enforced by the enemy, to those in his jurisdiction, constitute the marriage covenant exercised in ours. To think that they are, will lead us to fight in the wrong battles. This will necessitate using unholy weapons, which will draw us into our enemies’ jurisdiction and sap the source of our true power.

In the Lamb’s war, we win by His blood, the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives to the point of death. We do not convert the Powers – we rescue their victims out of their clutches… knowing it incites their wrath.

How much better it would have been for Barronelle Stutzman to have said “I don’t feel it is right for me to profit from something I disagree with.  On the other hand I want you to know I love you – let me provide the flowers for free. Here – Let’s find the most beautiful ones we can.”

We win by laying down our lives. Our great enemy is not gay marriage – it is our own self love and pride.

For too long we have allowed the enemy to set the parameters of the game. We have wanted to be like the other nation and wanted an earthly king. We have forgotten the warning our true king delivered through Samuel “When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” 1 Samuel 8:18

I do not advocate a separatist mentality, or isolationism. The people of God must engage with the society they find themselves in – but ambassadors must not compromise their special status. Choose your jurisdiction – fight for an earthly domain and lose the power of prayer – or stand with your legitimate king and lose your life.

Chess is an interesting game – you can lose almost everything and still win – as long as you do not surrender your king.  We need to relearn this truth that the primitive Church understood so well.

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