WHO ARE THE TROUBLEMAKERS?
“And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel? And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.” I Kings 18:17, 18
We can certainly relate to this understanding gap, or the difference in opinion in Elijah’s day. Elijah had announced to King Ahab that due to the sin of the king and the disobedience of the people, God would be sending a drought upon the land. More than three years later, Elijah went to meet Ahab. At this meeting, Ahab suggested that Elijah was the source of Israel’s trouble, questioning, “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?” Elijah saw it in a completely different way. He said that Israel’s trouble was not caused by himself, but was due to the disobedience of Ahab and those like him.
This is very typical of what we see and hear in our world every day. To the unsaved, one of the greatest problems in society is the presence of conservative Bible believers. You can honestly hear more criticism from many liberal politicians against the conservative Christians than you will hear against the terrorists, abortionists, or those who produce and peddle pornography.
We would have to respectfully disagree. We do not think that calling for an end to abortion on demand is troubling America. Nor, do we see that clarifying our position on marriage, as being legal only between a man and a woman, is causing trouble for our country. We do not believe the posting of the Ten Commandments in public places will have a destructive effect on the United States. We do not believe that we are the troublemakers. We believe that the troublemakers are those who deny the moral absolutes and traditional family values that have been a part of the fabric of this nation. Those who are troubling our society are those who reject the absolute standard of truth in the Word of God. Our country has been troubled by those who have removed the Bible and prayer from the public schools.
This cultural war and moral disconnect have been growing in our beloved country for many years. None of us want to be troublemakers, and no one should be deliberately antagonistic. However, it is vitally important that we stand for truth, let our voices be heard, and not be intimidated by those who call us troublemakers.