I don’t know if you ever used the phrase “Olly olly oxen free” or not. We used to do it when we were kids. It was what we called out when we were playing hide and go seek and realized that one of our friends had hidden himself so well that we couldn’t find him…
“Olly olly oxen free” meant “I surrender. You win. Come out from hiding.”
That is essentially what President Trump did when he issued an Executive Order in regards to the Johnson Amendment and the 501c3 designation that had muzzled the pulpits since the 60’s. Someone in “authority” has let America’s pastors know that it is finally OK for them to come out of hiding.
“Come out come out wherever you are!! Olly olly oxen free. You have hidden yourselves so well that we admit that we do not know where to find you.”
Come out of hiding, Pastors!! Donald Trump has set you free.
I say that tongue-in-cheek because I am convinced that there is nothing the President or anyone else can do to conquer cowardice. Most of the men standing in America’s pulpits are fearful men. It is not the IRS that has shut their mouths…that is just the excuse they have used.
Jesus told us that no man can serve two masters. It is impossible to serve both God and money. Fear and faith cannot abide in the same heart. No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
You also cannot serve both God and the government. In fact, we are warned about that one as well when the Apostle Paul declared that we should serve God and not man.
For too long America’s pastors have served in the fear of man. They have obeyed the edicts of the government in fear of losing their money. They have turned a deaf ear to the cry of the pre-born because of fear…fear that people would leave their church…fear that abortion would be exposed in the pews…fear that the government would close them down because they “interfered in politics”.
Any way you slice it, the pulpits have been muzzled by choice, not by force. I find it somewhat ironic that they now turn to President Trump to free them from the strong arm of the government.
Help me here…but isn’t the Law of God above the law of man? Isn’t remaining silent on the great issues of the day denying the faith? Don’t the Scriptures teach that “to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin? ” Isn’t rescuing the pre-born a good thing? Don’t the pastors know it is a good thing? If they don’t know ending abortion is a good thing what are they doing standing in the pulpit?
Olly olly oxen free. It is time to find out which pastors have guts and which pastors hide behind their skirts. God specifically states that He hates hands that shed innocent blood? Why don’t our pastors hate it as well? Why don’t you hate it?
I have been reading a lot of criticism of Donald Trump because folks are saying that he has not lived up to his campaign promises. Some of my friends are upset because he has failed to defund Planned Parenthood. Others are upset that he hasn’t done more about the homosexual agenda that is steamrolling across America.
To be honest, their protestations ring hollow in my ears. Can someone explain to me why Christians would be complaining about President Trump’s concern for social issues when the pulpits from which they hear “preaching” every Sunday have failed to show much concern about the same social issues they are hoping Trump will take on?
Why would anyone expect Donald Trump to care more about the pre-born than the average pastor does? I know hundreds of pastors who haven’t lifted a finger to stop the funding of Planned Parenthood yet they continue to criticize the President for his failures to “protect” THEIR religious liberty.
Well, now he has. Olly olly oxen free, boys and girls. It is time for the pastors to stop camouflaging what they really believe. Donald Trump will not end abortion until he realizes that it matters to the church…and right now our silence is deafening. Actions speak so much more loudly than words.
A couple of months ago Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin ordered the last remaining abortion clinic in the state to be closed for violating health standards. Of course, as we have come to expect, a Federal Judge overstepped his authority and issued an order that permits the abortion mill to continue killing little people made in the image of God.
Governor Bevin is probably waiting to see what the reaction of “the church” is before he makes his next move. Just like President Trump, he is waiting to see what the reaction of “people of faith” is going to be. Why would we expect elected officials to do what God’s anointed ministers will not?
We know the God haters take their faith to the streets and that it always gets the attention of the politicians. I wonder what the reaction of Governor Bevin would be if thousands of Christians filled the streets in front of the killing center in Louisville and demanded the law be enforced.
What is the excuse of the pastors? The Left is defying the government everywhere that you look. If there can be sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants why can’t Louisville’s Christians declare that Kentucky is a sanctuary city for the pre-born?
What if pastors cared enough about abortion to end it? What if they cared enough about it to take their people to the streets? What if God is simply waiting for His people to come out of hiding? What if “with God all things were still possible”?
Olly olly oxen free! Babies are being murdered. It is time to stop hiding behind the pulpit. Only THE CHURCH can Make America Great Again!!
Image: Excerpted from: By signed “Meyerheim”, probably by Friedrich Eduard Meyerheim (1808-1879) – http://www.auktion-wendl.de/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=494143
