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Choices

Part 10

CHOOSING DARKNESS

By Rayola Kelley

      Right now, I am writing this article in the middle of November. We should be entering a season of celebration, but instead we are wrestling with a great darkness that has laid seige to this nation. I am not talking about celebration in light of commercialism and presents; rather, I am talking about set times where families and friends can gather together to celebrate blessings, share memories, and establish greater bonds. Granted, some celebrations prove to be anything but celebrations for some families, but without a doubt there is one practice that can somewhat bind families and people together. They are called traditions.

      We can argue the merit of traditions, and even though they are often are established for the right reasons, they are often hijacked by that which is radical, profane, and useless. Oftentimes people don’t even know why they celebrate what they do because there is no background or foundation established.

      The question is what will we do in this time of darkness? Will we allow it to define our mood and practices or will we realize that we must maintain a bit of tradition as we keep in mind that it is in great darkness that true lights can shine the brightest?

      For the Christian, darkness should be the greatest opportunity to let their light shine. However, our lamps (lives) must be full of the oil (Holy Spirit), and our wick (devotion) must be trimmed of all corruption if our light is going to shine in this darkness.

      It is also in darkness that our light can become more defined. One of the greatest threats to our light is quasi environments where nothing is reality. There is no light or darkness, right or wrong, and no absolutes in which to rightly judge a matter. Such an environment can dull you down, make you complacent, and render you ineffective. Sadly, these environments happen because of choices that involve compromise at some level. Such choices lack clarity, sobriety, and discretion.  

      I have been talking about choices for the last nine newsletters. For the most part we make choices without thinking about them because they are based on that which has been conditioned or indoctrinated in us. These choices are naturally made according to habits and preferences. It is only when we find ourselves shipwrecked in some way that we might even consider that the failure rests not in circumstances, but in personal character that points to the “carnal disposition” that always sets us up for a fall.

      We are living in exciting times. Granted, our minds are astonished at the insanity taking place, our emotions frayed because of the unabated injustice, hypocrisy, lies, and corruption that is clearly raising its tyrannical head, and our spirits vexed with great heaviness, while fighting utter dispair at the blindness of the wicked as they scheme, threaten, flaunt, tout, and brag about bringing forth their wicked plans of destruction. These deluded individuals feel the path is clear and that they are going to execute their wickedness without any opposition.

      Meanwhile, as Psalms 2 declares, God laughs at them. If the pattern remains true to God’s ways, they will hear some rumblings on the horizon, but they are too deluded to realize it is a warning to them. They may have some on the outside fringes try to warn them of the possible repercussions, but the momentum behind them will be too great for them to stop. There may be a few that will try to speak reason with them, but the hook of judgment is in their mouth and they are being compelled to run as fast as they can towards the abyss.

      This republic is teetering on the precipice of total destruction because various frauds have been leveled against it, but I believe people are finally seeing the wicked face of Communism (progressiveness) that has been at work behind closed doors and in dark rooms as people sell their wretched soul while making a deal with the devil. I am beginning to see people fall on their face in prayer, while others stand up with a determination that it is time for them to fight for this country. I see a certain righteous indignation taking hold that will not be silenced. In fact, the light has been turned on to expose this great darkness, revealing the extent and inroads this godless ideology has gained by capturing the minds of the foolish “ignorant” and “elite”.

      It is not that those who point to Socialism are truly Communists, but they see this wicked ideology as a means to secure greed and power for themselves to carry out their evil agendas of globalism. The truth is, America was never meant to be Communist, but a sovereign country that believes capitalism is what would prevent aristocratic societies where only a few prosper and the rest are treated as mere serfs. It was founded by people seeking religious freedom and it has operated for over the last two centuries within the safe boundaries of an inspired Constitution. These foolish, wicked infidels have greatly benefitted from the freedoms and capitalism of this country, but they are unthankful, indoctrinated, vain, and greedy people that only see what will benefit their dynasties and their kingdoms to gain complete control. In fact, there is proof that they are utterly corrupt through and through and many have been behind a coup to overthrow this presidency. Two words that are linked to a political coup are sedition and treason.

      What these people fail to realize is if they have their way, they will not end up in control. In fact, all they will manage to do is create vacuum that will be filled by those who are more corrupt and powerful then they. They will open the door for real Communism to come in. At first, a few of these leaders may be used as a puppet government, but they are slated for destruction. Even the Communists know you can’t trust a traitor. If they will sell their own country out for greed and power, they likewise will turn on them if given the means to do so. The Communists will take all the wealth from every one of us including the “useful idiots” that supported the wicked coup, and render them peons that will have to work a whole day for a loaf of bread, live under the constant threat of being put in a gulag or indoctrination camp, or they will simply come up missing.

      This is the nightmare that some of our leaders and radical voices are trying to put on us. They do not realize that if this nation falls, they will fall with it. Granted, they only want to bring it to the brink of destruction in order to gain control while stealing from the people, silencing any opposition, and completely controlling the narrative, but ultimately their judgment on others will cause them to end up tasting the bitterness of their own wicked gall.

      For years I have watched the various attempts of these people to take over America. They have played according to certain popular playbooks such as Saul Alinsky without realizing that the other side was reading it as well, while watching them play according to the rules and preparing for the time they would make an all-out, frontal attempt to gain control. In order to gain control, they must do away with history and traditions. These wicked individuals even had a timeline to take complete control, and the same year came up each time, 2020. If you haven’t notice they are sticking to their time-line.

      Meanwhile God laughs at them because the wicked will never inherit the earth. God is a great chess player and He already has in place the tools to cause them to fall into their own pits, get caught in their own traps, and taste the bitterness of their own wicked judgments. The struggle that many believers have is believing that God would actually spare this country from utter judgment, because as a nation, righteous people know it deserves to be harshly judged for aborting generations of children, trashing the sanctity of marriage and the family, and turning a blind eye to the wickedness being touted in the media and entertainment industries and by godless government officials.

      I believe God will show this nation mercy for the sake of those who have done His bidding, cried before His throne, carried out His will, and stood for righteousness, but I also believe it will never go back to what was. The face that is being revealed is that of pure evil, and Christians must choose to stand for what is right if they are going to endure to the end.

      The question is what can we learn from those who choose darkness? We already know their greatest point of darkness is their delusion. Delusion keeps this type of person from seeing the consequences. Jesus mentioned this in different ways, but one of my favorites, is, “The blind leading the blind and they both fall into the ditch”. (My paraphrase.) He stated that the same judgment they measure out to others is the same judgment that would eventually come back on them. Clearly, these deluded individuals established their own case and indictment against themselves, while eventually ending up blindly falling into their own ditch of destruction (Matthew 7:1-4; 15:14).

      These people will use darkness to create a smokescreen as to their activities. Obviously, if a person must hide any activities under cloaks and ploys, then they are aware that they are wrong. Jesus also said in John 15:22, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”  We know that God’s holy Law was given to show the sinner he was a transgressor of the Law and strip away any cloak of religious pretense that is adorned with man’s best to reveal man’s true spiritual state of darkness (John 3:19,20; Romans 3:19-21). These individuals believe no one can see them, and therefore; they will either deny these activities, claim ignorance about them, or blame others, but Jesus is clear that they love and prefer this darkness because their deeds are evil.  

      To think that sin is hidden from the light of heaven is ludicrous. God sees all things and one day these people will face the day of reckoning. For some, they might miss paying the consequences in this life, but they will not miss it when they stand before the great Judge of the universe at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15).

      Delusion clearly serves as a light to these people. They believe that whatever lie they proclaim or evil method they use, will prove okay, justifiable, and beneficial to everyone, especially them. However, this delusion is blinding them to the reality that one day everything done in darkness will be declared in the light and that in the end they will stand in the transparent light of God’s holiness and everything will be laid bare and consumed in the judgment of His wrath.

      An important part of any delusion is ignorance. There are different types of ignorance. There is the ignorance of immaturity, the ignorance of innocence, and the ignorance of preference. We all begin in a state of ignorance. As babies we are ignorant about everything, as children we are ignorant about life, as teenagers we are ignorant about limitations, and as adults we are brought to places where we choose wisdom or ignorance towards a matter. 

      This brings me to the ignorance of innocence. Ignorance in this sense serves as a cloak to hide the real truth. These are the individuals who play innocent when it comes to matters where they want to control the narrative. They will act surprised when it is pointed out to them that they should have known about the matter at hand, giving the impression that in their innocent state they would never have imagined such a thing happening when all the while they knew what was happening. This is a shrewd ploy on their part to avoid being called to accountability.

      And, finally these are the individuals that prefer ignorance, and will resist the truth of the matter with a willful obstinance that insists their ignorance is truth. These individuals are blinded by their preferred ignorance that is often backed up by fear that will not be moved from its position.    

      Fear is also another type of darkness that plagues the people who belong to wicked-generations. Regardless, of how people might make a matter right in their own eyes, fear will eventually torment them. Since they live according to wishful thinking or in a state of denial, they have no assurance that they are standing on sturdy ground. In order to remedy this uncertainty, they will do one of three things. 1) they will go into delusion that will cause their reality to become very fragile, and when reality nips at their heels, this fragile state will cause them to lose all reason and sanity. 2) They will live is a small insipid world where they are doing all they can to control their personal reality to avoid colliding with what they perceive to be overwhelming and defeating failures. They are often paralyzed by a wall of fear that is made up of scary possibilities that are reinforced by lies that makes them cower in some corner, while life passes them by. And, 3) fear will often turn into anger. If this anger is not directed inwardly, ending in depression, it is aggressively directed outwardly to anyone who might stand in the way of it.     

      The other aspect of darkness for these people is that they do not have the means to see where they are heading. In John 12:35, Jesus said this, “Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you; for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be children of light.” People of darkness will naturally choose the darkness of unbelief towards God.

      Unbelief is a state. When man chooses this state, he must make two decisive decisions. The first one is he must resist truth, and then reject it. The first time he does this it might prove a bit difficult because his conscience should bother him, but if he continues to reject the truth instead of repenting, he will begin to sear his conscience as his heart becomes hard towards the essence of truth: God. In fact, he will become hardened towards truth so that truth can’t penetrate his understanding and his mind will become darkened.

      Secondly, in the state of unbelief, a person will erect a god to his or her own liking. The more that these individuals reject the true knowledge of God, the more the mind will become reprobate where all truth is cast off. This mind will be made obvious by the wicked actions and lifestyle this individual adopts (Romans 1:21-32).

      The choice of darkness becomes obvious because of the fruits it produces. You might ask what are these fruits. The first one is isolation. Darkness separates a person from the light with lies and isolates him or her into a spiritual vacuum that will eventually consume the individual in some way.

      The next thing it produces is spiritual decay that begins to develop an unclean stench in the nostrils of the person. These children of darkness often accredit the unbecoming stench as coming from their outward environment, but it comes from within. Without the light of God, there is no fresh air to dissipate the stench, no water to cleanse the soul, and no real hope to give direction.

      This brings us to the next fruit of darkness. It is death. Darkness creates the environment of death. It causes any semblance of life to become dormant in such an environment and without the light it will rot away. As death takes hold, the darkness of the soul will entomb the person until the light of God’s wrath parts it to bring forth judgment.

      As believers we are told to walk in the light of Jesus and abide in it. This requires us to walk circumspectly, in line with God’s Word (Ephesians 5:8-17). Granted, we will encounter darkness along the way, but such darkness is a tool of God to enlarge our faith through testing, establish our character through pressure, and bring forth a greater testimony of His abiding care in our lives. It is important to note that when we encounter the darkness, we need to remember we are still in the light and one day the light will part the darkness and illuminate the way we need to walk in.

      As a Christian our choice is clear, our preference sure, and our way prepared, and what is our choice: To walk in the light. What is our preference: To seek the light and the way we are to walk: The way will always lead us to the truth of Jesus to experience His resurrected life in greater measure.