“Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” –2 Samuel 11:15 (NIV)

As king, David was supposed to have been somewhere else. Instead, he was watching another man’s wife while her husband was dutifully off to war. David then took Bathsheba, got her pregnant, and tried to hide it by calling Uriah home. But in his loyalty to king and country, Uriah would not take advantage of his leave by laying with his wife, thereby foiling David’s plan to cover up his adultery. When he realized that he could not manipulate Uriah, David sent him back to front, where the fighting was fiercest… with orders to leave Uriah standing alone—a clear target for a decisive kill.

Since the spark of George Floyd’s death that ignited a firestorm of protests, riots, anarchy and wanton destruction in major cities across the United States, the political/social Left in American society has made a forceful—and successful—push for obedience, demanding both our compliance with their rhetoric and our submission to their will. Such incredible peer pressure—in the name of anti-racism—spares no one from retribution for even questioning, much less resisting, either their means or their message. The Progressive Left, with the collaboration of a sympathetic media and a subversive Black Lives Matters movement, has both literally and figuratively brought all manner of men and women, businesses and leaders, corporations and sports franchises to their knees.

The gargantuan wave of kneeling we are seeing today—especially among athletes during the pre-game playing of the National Anthem—has become a bright line for the choosing of sides. Only a paltry few have, for whatever reason, refused to bend the knee. Make what you will of the kneeling itself—whether as a symbol, a show of solidarity, a silent protest, or an acquiescence to mob rule—but for those people of conviction, its conspicuous juxtaposition to the honoring of the flag, and unforgiving insistence upon universal conformity, is just a bridge too far.

Jonathan Isaac—a black member of the Orlando Magic basketball team—believes that “kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter T-shirt [doesn’t] go hand-in-hand with supporting black lives.” Since American sports teams have started almost universally taking a knee, Isaac recently became the first NBA player not to kneel at the altar of BLM. “I felt like I wanted to just take a stand on [it],” he said. “I feel like for me, black lives are supported through the Gospel [of Jesus Christ]. All lives are supported through the Gospel.”

Likewise, last month, Georgia state trooper O’Neal Saddler, who is also black, refused requests to kneel during a BLM protest, stating that “I only kneel for one person… God.”

San Francisco Giants pitcher Sam Coonrod also recently chose not to kneel with his teammates, explaining similarly, “I’m a Christian, so I just believe that I can’t kneel before anything besides God…. I don’t think I’m better than anybody. I’m just a Christian…. I feel if I did kneel I’d be a hypocrite. I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”

And that’s what the Left is counting on.

Whether by crafty design or through an opportunistic confluence of circumstances, the Left has discovered the reliable means by which they can identify—and eliminate—the object of their disdain and devastation. Moved by spiritual forces beyond most of their conscious understanding…

…their goal is not to destroy the United States.

Or the political or social Right.

Or the traditional family structure.

Or Judeo-Christian values.

For sure, these will all be casualties of war, as each one is a hill the Left intends to take. But the true aim of the progressive, socialist, communist, Marxist, anarchist, godless left…

… is true believers in Jesus Christ—real followers of Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel.

Like the withdrawal of Uriah’s compatriots—singling him out for the enemy, and marking him for certain death—every time a child of God stands while others kneel—both literally and figuratively—he makes himself a naked, vulnerable target for all the forces poised against him.

The ultimate, spiritual aim of the political/social Left—and all the enemies of God—is to identify and eliminate it’s only real, long-term threat: those who will bend the knee to no one but God. The Left cares nothing for the throngs of church-goers who fear defying government ordinances against gathering during a pandemic, or the myriad of name-only Christians who will feebly parrot the social position du jour, or the believers who tout biblical values on Facebook but stay quiet and compliant in the public square. No, their goal is to demolish all resistance, and their hatred and fear are for those who would rather suffer for God’s Name than comply.

Like those godly men of old, who chose to face the fiery furnace rather than bow to the idols of Babylon, we must each decide what kind of Messiah-followers we are going to be. For as long as we stand, we will be vulnerable, but not defenseless. “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (De. 20:4, NAS). Among the fear and chaos of pandemics and riots, do not lose sight of the Left’s final objective. There is a strategy, and they are fighting on multiple fronts, but make no mistake: if you are a true believer in the Messiah of Israel, the end game of this war is you.

Get right with God. Grow strong in His word. And if you truly bear His Name, resist intimidation in all gentleness and humility. You are not alone. Do not fear becoming a target by contending for what is right. Refuse to bow to the pressure… and stay standing.

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