We find ourselves occupied as watchmen – turns out, it’s what we do. If we were completely honest, I’m pretty sure none of us, or at least very few of us set out to be watchmen, but as we trudge down this ever-darkening path we call life, there are those of us to whom God has given the grace to be able to see things that maybe other well-meaning folks can’t discern. Think about the old days before electronic communication, before satellites, before all the hi-tech methods of trying to stay on top of an enemy’s movements when watchmen were posted high on the ramparts of an ancient fortress. Most of the folks would be going about their business of stonework and tending the gardens and the watchmen were responsible to call everyone’s attention to whatever the enemy was about to do. By design, they were the ones who would be in a position to determine what the bad guys were doing and what the townsfolk needed to know.

The enemy of mankind is very cunning, and all of us don’t always catch on to what he’s up to, but God has always posted watchmen to help folks to avoid the pitfalls that enemy has set for us. When we find ourselves looking at the trap and see that our fellow travelers are unaware when they come near to taking the bait, we find that there are those of us who bear the responsibility to pick up our horns and get some attention to what’s going on. Since God gave us the ability to discern what the enemy is up to, He expects us to speak up, and we don’t have to be a pastor of a big church – look at guys like John the Baptist who foreknew that Jesus was coming and warned people to turn away from their sins. Now John did apparently eventually amass a following, but for most of his life he was a loner in the wilderness. There are many examples throughout the scriptures of nobodies, fishermen, carpenters, tentmakers, and others who were appointed by Jesus to be His watchmen.

In return for this ability, for this station in life, God has expectations for those to whom He has entrusted with it. There is a huge responsibility accompanying this gift, and He fully intends us to perform our duties. [Ezekiel 33:6]: “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.” What a lot of us don’t realize is that every follower of Christ has in their own way, been assigned some iteration of a watchman’s duties. When we chose to follow Christ, a few things happened to our life’s obligations as part and parcel of our covenant, and helping our fellow Christians walk by assisting them in times when the enemy is deceiving them and they are unaware, is one of our obligations. We must warn them so that if they continue and fall into the enemy’s trap, we are absolved of their blood. But even more importantly we warn them because we love the Son of God and we love those neighbors who trust us.

I can think of no better example of what happens to us as the enemy sets up a trap for everyone, believers included than the recent episode that has gone totally viral (exactly what Satan intended) in which there is a video of a guy throwing a rock at a monk seal in Hawaii. We were astounded at the cruelty of the act, and rightfully so, because there is absolutely no justification for such an act. This is one of those places in our lives where we have to remember several of Jesus’ admonitions, the first of which is that while it’s okay to hate an evil act by a person, we as Christians, can never hate the person who committed the act. Another equally important aspect of this is that if vengeance is to be meted out, God has told us that’s His job. [Romans 12:19]: “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.” Believe me, Satan is using his media to squeeze every last drop of animosity from his audience because of this event.

There was a follow-up video where someone filmed some fellow who had gotten wind of the act and beat the perpetrator up, and I think this is where the watchmen among us need to speak up loudly. On one level there is the temptation for a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the guy getting wailed on, but that should not be the reaction of a believer! As Christians, any such act of violence should not evoke satisfaction nor sense of justice, because the guy doing the beating is committing a gross sin, every bit as, if not more, egregious to the covenant of Christ than the original act and we have to remember that, no matter how much we might feel that he deserved it. If we allow ourselves to indulge in some sort of smug satisfaction at this violence, then the same enemy who caused the act of throwing the rock at an innocent animal, ends up getting a twofer when those who claim to be followers of Christ fall into the hatred and animosity caused by his trap.

This is a common deception by Satan – he uses varying iterations of it all the time. Creating a situation in which believers become angered and/or repulsed at an action by sinful person/people and allow hatred and bitterness into our hearts toward the perpetrators. Hating the IDF soldiers for their treatment of the Palestinians is playing right into Satan’s hands – it’s just as important to him as the persecutions of the innocent people if not moreso. Look at all the sin this hatred foments. There are Christians who are so full of rage at those IDF soldiers that they want to celebrate when they hear of a Hezbollah drone killing them. While I thoroughly agree that slaughtering and starving those poor people are among the most despicable acts I’ve known of in my lifetime, if I allow hatred (of the perpetrators) into my heart, the same enemy who initiates the evil genocide wins again, but this time over me too. Hearts carrying hatred of other human beings will not be allowed into the Kingdom we seek. While it’s ok – even expected – to hate sinful acts, we can by no means hate other human beings, no matter how much we are tempted to do so. If we stay on the ball therefore, Satan can be denied victories using this trap – maybe because of warnings by Christian watchmen!

Before I finish this post, I’ll confess, this watchman is far from immune to this same temptation. I have to stay on my toes to avoid it too, so don’t take me to be preaching down to anyone. Nevertheless, we must not allow revulsion of the evil we witness to cause us to allow hatred into our hearts – that’s a huge part of Satan’s game – God knows it; He’s repeatedly told this watchman to warn folks of it; and now you know it. This is such a huge threat to our fellow travelers who inadvertently and impulsively allow anger and hatred – even and especially anger fomented by evil acts – to overcome them. Righteous anger at sinful behavior is normal, just don’t allow it to morph into hatred nor a desire for vengeance. We can’t allow ourselves to hate other human beings who were also created in the image of God. It’s happening to a lot of people so please pass this on.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

MK