Galatians 5: Resist the Devil
5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
“Death is the last station on the road to freedom” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Christ has made us free by His death. To stand fast in “that liberty” is to stand fast in His death. A “yoke of bondage” is very specific, it is the kind of bondage we give to oxen. They are in bondage to us to plow our fields. This is the goal of every false prophet, to entangle you in a yoke of bondage. For example, a governor of the state needs to stand fast and not be entangled. It is expensive to run for office, every large donor is trying to entangle the politician in a yoke of bondage. This has become quite obvious during this pandemic. Why the mixed messages? In Florida the governor pressured the person posting data on the State to manipulate the data, they refused and were fired. “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. Jeremiah 2:26 The governor of Florida is disgraced. His denial of the dangers of this virus, his refusal to heed the warnings, his arrogance in thinking this wouldn't come there, and now his declaration that the schools need to be opened next month. He needs to be held accountable for all of his actions. Is he representing the people, or the business interests?
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
Circumcision is only an example of how that would work. It signifies that you have “cut off your flesh” and it marks you as belonging to a “gang” or “clique” or “sect”. But it does not in any way indicate that you belong to Christ. It is also what we refer to as “party politics”. During this pandemic the mixed messages are a result of party politics. But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” Jeremiah 14:13. This is getting ridiculous. The number of people infected in Florida is 3xs higher than it was when they were first warned and rejected the warning. These public officials keep making claims that they don't need to shut down, don't need masks, don't need social distancing, and these same states are now responsible for half of all the cases in the US.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
If you get a gang sign tattooed to your body then you belong to that gang. You become a debtor to do everything the gang does. Just like circumcision meant you belonged to the Jewish sect and now needed to keep every single law. Keeping the law does not make you righteous, rather it is when you don’t keep the law that you are unrighteous. So then, circumcision is a pledge to keep the entire law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
“He who honors Me I will honor”. If you attempt to be justified apart from Christ you are not honoring Christ. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. Jeremiah 23:16 They said it would go away in July just like the flu. That was a false hope. They said this only hits the elderly, that was a false hope. They said that children didn't get sick, that was a false hope. They said they had it under control. They said we would get a vaccine, now we know that a vaccine won't work because the immunity disappears quickly. One false hope after the next. Clearly those who are speaking this are estranged from the truth, they are estranged from the word of God, and they are estranged from Christ. It would have required faith to take the necessary steps to contain this in January. Shutting down the borders, monitoring temperatures, quarantining, tracing the contacts of people. It would have taken courage to listen to the Lord at that time. Likewise to impose nationwide standards for everyone to abide by would have been very unpopular. But, six to nine months later it would have been apparent that you were walking by faith and one with the Lord.