“Do Not Use God’s Name To Perpetuate Evil!”

“Do Not Use God’s Name To Perpetuate Evil!”(I Kgs 21:1-16).
“When the righteous thrives, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan”(Prv.29:2).
If you want to know the type of leader you have just look at the faces of the people and listen to their utterances.
If shouts of joy is constant, then you have a good leader. But when there is more of murmurings and grumblings, it means the people are dieing in silence. Silence is not always consent. Uprisings are accumulated discontent which reveal that there comes a time when people can no longer bear the groans in silence. Big Brother’s watchful eye that is everywhere cannot scare all the people all the time.(Cf. George Orwell’s novel, “Nineteen Eighty-four”).
Mosaic law provided parameters to limit the excesses of Israelite kings, unlike the kings of neighbouring countries(Dt.17:14-20).
An Israelite king could not just get up and seize the property of a commoner just because he was a king. That is why king Ahab sulked when Naboth refused to either sell his piece of family land or give it to him in exchange for another piece of land. In as much as it was so close to the palace, it was Naboth’s family inheritance.
It is difficult to state that King Ahab was a good man at heart. If he was a good man he wouldn’t have married Jezebel who has become the incarnation of any wicked, vicious and manipulative woman! If he was a good man, he wouldn’t have surrounded himself with officers who readily agreed to the plan of evil Jezebel to frame an innocent man and kill him on the pretext that he had cursed God! If Ahab was a good man he would not have readily gone to possess Naboth’s vineyard when Jezebel told him, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth…that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive…” If Ahab was man enough, it is at this point that he would have asked his wife, “How did he die? What happened to him?” Hell, no; rather, “…he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.” Ahab was king, but he was under a “petticoat government!”
How evil can a leader and his wife and his officers be, that they use God’s name to frame up and kill an innocent man for property that rightfully belonged to him! The worst of it is that the palace in question was just a holiday resort. The king’s main palace was in Samaria.
The high point of the evil is that they proclaimed a day of fasting and brought two scoundrels to testify falsely that Naboth had cursed both God and the king! The evil that men can do in God’s name!
And today both within the sacred and the secular, there are many Ahabs and their Jezebel wives and gullible officers using God’s name to frame and kill innocent people for no just cause!
Dear friend, none of us is going to inherit the earth, but we are going to inherit eternity if we have a closer walk with the Lord Jesus Christ through whom God has shown us mercy. While we are here in this world, live and let others live! There is enough space for all of us!
Prayer of the week: Holy Spirit help me to find contentment in what is mine and allow others with what is theirs. Amen!
Welcome to a new working day and week! Have a blessed day and week!
Prayer point: Pray for good leaderships in all sectors.
Rev Babila Fochang.