A Divided Kingdom

When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven. But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? 

For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons. If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own people drive them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. 

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. “When an unclean spirit goes out of someone, it roams through arid regions searching for rest but, finding none, it says, ‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’ But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and brings back seven other spirits more wicked than itself who move in and dwell there, and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.” (Luke 11:15-26)

“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.”   Jesus has warned us about demons and division.   His warning is quite scary because our nation is deeply divided caused by moral, spiritual, and political schism.  Our people shout at each other and don’t work for the common good – only partisan positions.   This may be my exaggeration, but I suspect I’m correct, and if so, we are in danger of falling to the delight of enemies of the United States, especially leaders of the Russian dictatorship (not its people).   

Consider, “When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils.” Russian propaganda to further divide us in advance of our 2020 elections is an attack to overcome us and take away our armor – our democracy that we hold so dear. Will we listen to the Lord and “drive out” our demonization of political opponents meaning will we apply the finger of God to ourselves to promote the Kingdom of God and not that of Beelzebul?  

Will we subscribe to Jesus’ philosophy of: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”  How will we interpret that “line in the sand?” Jesus tells us we must be with him, but if not, we are his opponent.  We oppose the Kingdom of God.  We must gather and not scatter.  

However, for us today a scattering attitude is a “killer.”  It allows no leeway for legitimate disagreements and differing points of view.  These can lead to accommodations and compromises – even reconciliations we suspect something Jesus would fully support.  Perhaps it is best to restate Jesus’ remark attributed to him by Luke as: “Whoever is not with me, let’s talk; and whoever does not gather with me, at the very least, do not scatter.  Scattering divides and prevents a meeting of our minds.”  Godly mind-melds [as with Star Trek’s Spock] are far better than Satan-caused blown and dysfunctional minds. 

Deacon David Pierce