“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn–and I would heal them” (John 12:40).

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Barriers are erected around the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, which depicts a freed slave kneeling at the feet of President Abraham Lincoln, Thursday, June 25, 2020. Calls are intensifying for the removal of the statue as the nation confronts racial injustice. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

I ran across the article DC protesters condemn Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park online this morning, and of course, it initially stirred up my emotions, and not the kinder ones, but I’m happy to say that after several minutes, grace prevailed.

Lincoln Park saw an uneasy standoff Thursday night after left-wing protesters said they planned to rally against a statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C., that had been paid for by freed slaves and dedicated by the African-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Remember, they’re protesting racism… let the reality soak in!! Sure, it makes me angry, but it makes me sad for them more than anything else. God help them. I say this not to dismiss the existence of the evils they protest, because the evils anger and sadden me too, in addition to all the other injustices that aren’t in the spotlight right now. Satan used the very same tactics to deceive Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The enemy distorts truth, stokes passions, and brings death, and we’ve been falling for it over and over again, ever sense. So now that I think about it, there is no “them” here. God help us all, and that was my ah ha moment; there is no “them” here, at least not in the context of brokenness and a desperate need for a Savior that I am speaking.

“‘You will not certainly die,’ the serpent said to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 3:4-5). According to my bible commentary, someone has said, “The wreckage of earth and a million billion graves attest that God is true and Satan is the liar.” I agree.

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn–and I would heal them” (John 12:40). Here Jesus was speaking from Isaiah. God blinded the eyes of the people of Israel and hardened their hearts, but He did so only after they had closed their eyes and hardened their own hearts. Are we all that different church? Yes, I’m talking to you too, “believer”!

Not much is as it seems, or is as being reported. Spiritual blindness is optional. God is merciful and waiting to remove the scales from our eyes and to soften our hearts. Jesus still awaits to forgive our transgressions and transform our hearts and lives.

Click/press the link here to visit DC protesters condemn Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park.

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