THE LABOR OF LOVE WE OUR OBLIGATED TO DO: Fighting for Justice. (20 SEPT 2016)

What can one person do in such a messed up World??? This article will discuss some ordinary people (in modern history) who got motivated and, like the disciples in apostolic times, “turned the world upside down” (ACTS 17:6)…or more accurately right side up. Some of us may need to revise our thinking…for all God’s people should want justice, truth & righteousness. And some may not yet have discovered that much of evil’s power is a bluff, an illusion, that the power of light cuts through like light in darkness. “Arise, shine, for your light has come & the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”(A)

UNDERSTANDING JUSTICE BETTER. We live in a World that says “me first’, and “kill or be killed”. The World is going to be the World. But we are not of the world. Biblical justice is 2 things: 1. a fair & godly distribution of goods & services, 2. and retributive justice where as in ROM 13 the authorities deal with restraining evil. Let’s imagine you are involved with Pee Wee sports. Sure the Pee Wees may want you out on the field, but as an adult, it is their game. Now imagine you are a Pee Wee coach, & you want to send your little sportsters onto the field, and they have all disappeared. It seems to me both these situations typify God’s situation. He has told us that bringing justice to the world now is our job;(B) it’s our Pee Wee challenge of love & caring for us to engage in. (He’ll do the final judgment.)–When someone needs a simple glass of water, it is our job to distribute it (C)–we shouldn’t be expecting God to intervene with a miracle for such things. God, in His Word, tells us He has called us to stand up & accomplish justice, but at times when He has looked for just one good person to do it, He discovered He was alone…all the Pee Wees had deserted Him…there was no one to “stand in the gap”.(D)

GOD WAS APPALLED. ISA 59:15B: “The Lord looked & was displeased that there was no justice [in Heb. “tsedaqah”, a word related to the word righteousness–which occurs in v. 16]. He saw that there was no one, He was appalled that there was no one to intervene.” (Most translations of v.15b read almost identical.) Here is the Restoration of the Sacred Name Bible on ISA 59:15: “And the truth hath been found missing, and he that hath turned away from wrong is liable to be despoiled. And when YAHVAH looked, then it was grievous in His eyes that there was no justice;” Note that these verses link the concepts truth, justice & righteousness together. It should not be hard for God to find someone who would refuse to go along with & cooperate with injustice, because He says: “You that love the LORD hate evil.”(E)

MEN OF FAITH. Do you remember the ancient godly patriarch who helped the handicapped?? When righteous Job remembered his life before his wealth & health were attacked, he said, “I put on righteousness…I was eyes to the blind, and feet…to the lame. I was a father to the poor…”(F) He cared, and so did Yahshua, who said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, & had anointed him to release the oppressed.(G) After seeking people to stand in the gap for justice, God finally had to intervene, as His patience gave out on all the apathy for justice.(H)

Stories of ORDINARY PEOPLE, W/ EXTRAORDINARY FAITH who fought for & achieved justice for the oppressed. Now, there are a number of my facebook friends who have fought to put elite pedophiles away, who have fought corporations who want to come in and poison the land & water, and others who have fought for courtroom justice. These are the kind of people God was looking for during Ezekiel’s day, whom He sadly couldn’t find. I decided to tell the story of 3 historical figures,(I) all of whom were Christians who were motivated by God’s call to love their fellowman, and who fought what seemed impossible battles for justice (for others) and remarkably made a big difference!!! I provided these success stories as historic proof one person can (with the moral highground) fight injustice and make a big difference! Like I say, I could have also written up the stories of some of my friends. You may have your own good examples.

FROM APATHY & TIMIDITY TO COMMITMENT & COURAGE. Child labor was the norm in the 1800’s in America. These children toiled in factories & mines in dangerous jobs, and were paid pennies. In many cases, they were functionally slaves, and never experienced the kind of childhood we think is “normal”. In 1901, there was a Christian minister Edgar Murphy, who watched all the inhumane abuse to children doing child labor, and then wrote articles & tracts against it. Amazingly, it was the first time anyone in the South had really written anything of significance against child labor. It was an uphill battle, but person by person he raised awareness until finally in 1907, his state of Alabama put restrictions on child labor.

THE IMPOSSIBLE. I recently watched a movie with the title “The Impossible” which was the true story of a family caught in the tsunami from the 9.0 Indonesian earthquake–whose fault line matches the one off Oregon that will hit one day. I have been researching how to mitigate the coming disaster. There were a few individuals who stopped nuclear plants from being built on dangerous fault lines, one in the Humboldt, CA area, and I could have also written about them…but I chose 3 Christians motivated by their faith. Now the British family in the movie never quits loving & caring for each other. We are called to love others as ourselves. When we have that kind of love, then what seems impossible can be accomplished. All 3 of my good examples involved persons who deeply loved & cared about their fellow man.

DR. KATHARINE (KATE) BUSHNELL. She was a devout follower of Christ & an evangelist for WCTU. In northern Wisconsin & Michigan in the 1880’s, the economy was logging, and the area was covered with brothels, whose owners & patrons had political power. Now it is one thing for brothels like NV has, but these were of the worst nature because they involved widespread white slavery incl. girls as young as 13 & 14 who were forced into sexual slavery. As an example, one white slave girl was soaked in oil and burned alive. The cruel murder was public knowledge, yet the police did nothing. The sexual slaves were regularly beaten…and due to the political power of the people involved the govt & police would do nothing. Dr. Kate Bushnell managed to slip into the brothels and collect solid evidence. When she went public with it, the State of Wisconsin denied her evidence, but the court of public opinion in the USA did not. The disclosures got the entire country upset. Finally, the state of Wisconsin was forced to outlaw forced prostitution with a bill they called “the Kate Bushnell Bill.”

Having succeeded in America, Dr. Bushnell took the same crusade for justice overseas to China & India, where the governments were turning a blind eye to sexual slavery. She was a medical missionary to China, and later got the British govt. to recognize their part in India’s sexual slavery. Her crowning achievement was her book “God’s Word to Women”–which I have not read, but think a quote from it is worthwhile: “If women must suffer domestic, legislative and ecclesiastical disabilities because Eve sinned, then must the Church harbor the appalling doctrine that Christ did not atone for all sin, because so long as the Church maintains these disabilities, the inevitable conclusion in the average mind will be the same as Tertullian’s—God’s verdict on the (female) sex still holds good and the sex’s guilt must still hold also.” Half of humanity should not be down trodden. (In Moslem countries the women are still treated on the level of goats & objects. It seems many PC Americans are totally oblivious to this.)

FINAL POSITIVE STORY. A white Christian woman was shocked that men who called themselves “Christians” would lynch black Americans. What she did, was what those who want justice should do also–get others involved. From a small start, she got thousands of other women involved, and they began to work on the police. Slowly over time, police officers were won over. By 1941, 1,355 police officers had signed a pledge opposed to vigilante lynchings. Due to the corrupt political power in the South, they could not get lynchings formally outlawed, but they did get it effectively halted with the police on their side.

FINAL THOUGHTS. Brothers & sisters, write, talk, stand up, boycott but don’t condone injustice. I have been following the trials & tribulations of the people involved in the Bundy standoff, which is happening here in Portland. It seems to me that Americans all over this nation are tired of the injustices and the corruption…and this is all wanting to come to a head. My last post on the banksters is an example of a long time problem that people are sick and tired of, incl. the way the govt. protects elite & other white collar criminals. My friend, your thoughts & comments are welcome on the thread. May God bless us & take this scourge of injustice from our land. May we be worthy of the opportunities YHWH has given us.

(A) ISA 60:1 (B) An example is ISA 5:1 (C) MT 10:42 (D) God says He was unable to find someone to stand in the gap several times, incl. EZK 13:5, & 22:25-30 (E) PS 97:10 (F) JOB 29:14a, 15-16 (G) LK 4:18 (H) ZECH 14:1,2 cf. ISA 59:16 (I) these 3 people’s stories come from Haugen, Gary A. Good News About Injustice.