Editor's Note: I've written 5,141 essays here at The End Time, daily since 2009. Please enjoy some of the previous writings you may have missed.
This essay first appeared on The End Time in May 2009
THE LION
"Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
The Lord inspired Peter to use the analogy of a roaring, prowling lion as our adversary. What does it mean when a lion roars? How does a lion prowl?
PROWLING
Prowling means to "rove furtively or with predatory intent." Satan as the prince of this world and the Prince of the powers of the air around the earth has been given this domain as his territory. A lion protects his territory and he prowls it ceaselessly. Lions hunt in cooperative groups. Synonyms for prowl are: lurk, roam, rove, scavenge, skulk, slink, sneak, stalk, steal. These are not activities one conducts in the light of day and indeed, the lion prowls at night. When it is said that someone is 'on the prowl' it is always with bad intent.
ROARING
One of the male lion's pride duties are to patrol and mark their territory by roaring. The roar carries up to 5 miles! The roar is an indication to all who hear him that he is lord and master to all he surveys. They most often roar at night; again, indicating the lion does his work under cover of darkness and roars to put fear into the hearts of all who hear.
THE CHRISTIAN
Knowing all this, one would think that the Christian would be even more vigilant in his duties than the lion is in his. Are we equally or more vigorous in protecting our territory? Do we prowl the hedges and highways, seeking the lost, bringing them in? Do we hunt the lost in cooperative groups? Roar and shout the name of Jesus to all who would hear it for miles around?
No.
When we find doctrinal error and falsity, do we roar like Paul did in Acts 13:10? "and said, "You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?" When we see hypocrites and false teachers do we roar like John the Baptist in Matthew 3:7? "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
No. We have sunk into the morass of political correctness and now we are too timid to roar. We have accepted a mish-mash of doctrine instead of pure food.
There is a time to be gentle and fatherly, to sweetly share the Good News. But this is a war, and there are times we must fight, claim territory, and not shirk from the adversary. Too many of us have become lukewarm, simply through apathy or temerity, giving territory to the lion. Do you not believe this? Weren't Harvard, Princeton, Yale originally Christian universities? Didn't our schools once begin daily with prayer? Only a few years ago wasn't the homosexual lifestyle condemned? But now is it not celebrated, openly lived, and even taught in schools?
Lukewarm, comfy, giving ground daily ... yet the lion continues to prowl. And roar. In the arena of homosexual rights we find this:
Lesbian Melissa Etheridge wrote: in response to the failure of gay marriage vote in California:
"We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, ..."
Alan down in Florida wrote as Obama appointed gays to head his transition team:
"Never be complacent. Never be patient. There are people a thousand times more powerful working to destroy all the rights of the gay community. Push, push, push. Speak out. Be heard. Never ever stop fighting and never expect that someone else is actually ever going to fight for your rights."
Jim wrote:
"Hear me - you self righteous liers [sic] and idiots - we have overcome the slanders, name calling, loss of jobs, beatings, imprisonments, and murders of our people at the hands of the likes of you and we will NEVER ever stop fighting for our Civil Rights. The right to live in peace and love - we will never stop... I am 1 of the 18,000... who is in a legal same sex marriage and I will never ever relinquish my marriage to you or anyone else - ever -"
The battle is won. We need not fear this lion, for he is a defeated adversary. Too many Christians have forgotten that and in their forgetting they have turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to those dragged away by the jaws of the enemy. Jesus knew that we would be lukewarm at the time of the end, neither cold nor hot. He says, "For when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith upon the earth?" He knows that at the time of the end there will be few who have the kind of faith that persists despite physical evidence. (Luke 18:8)
What we need to be saying is: "we will never ever stop fighting for the Lord! We have overcome the slanders, name calling, loss of jobs, beatings, imprisonments, and murders of our people at the hands of the likes of the lion, we have a right to share His peace and love."
What we need to be saying is "Never be complacent. Never be patient. There are enemies a thousand times more powerful working to destroy all the rights of the Christian community. Push, push, push. Speak out. Be heard. Never ever stop fighting and never expect that someone else is actually ever going to fight for the Gospel."
What we need to be saying is "We will not rest until we have fully shared the Gospel to the ends of the earth. It is that simple, no fearful enemy will ever stop us, ..."
The story of the Lion and the Christian is coming to its final chapters. Jesus Himself will write the epilogue. You are a Christian. Do you roar?