Silence Is Not Golden

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Running with Horses, a podcast devoted to inspire you, concerning a relationship with Almighty God that empowers you to accomplish things you never thought possible.

Shirley Weaver wants to take you there. And now, here's today's episode. Hey everyone and welcome.

I'm really glad you're here. You may have heard an expression, actually a song title too, Silence is Golden. Well, silence isn't golden.

Not necessarily. I just read Eric Matax's book, Letter to the American Church. A quote from his book, speaking of William Wilberforce in his day, working feverishly to end the Atlantic slave trade, that he, Wilberforce, had no doubt that it was the duty of everyone who dared identify as a member of the Church of England to join him in this, in this working to end the Atlantic slave trade. And he continues, and to that extent, Eric Mataxas is writing, and to that extent was the prophetic voice to the church of his time.

But where are those voices in the American church today regarding human cruelties? That's the quote I just want to open with today and sort of fine tune our attention, draw our focus in Wilberforce becoming a prophetic voice. We've looked at, in some earlier episodes, what is a true prophetic voice? What does a accurate word look and sound like?

How do we discern it? And I agree with what Eric Mataxas is saying here, what the author is saying about the life of William Wilberforce and his mission working feverishly to end the Atlantic slave trade. That is true prophetic operation. And the author makes that observation right here.

So first of all, I just want to put that example out for us and then connect in to the focus here on this podcast, Running with Horses. You know, we include in God's intervention in our lives that he uses inspired voices from other people to speak to us. Sometimes we wouldn't hear otherwise.

I'm sure you can agree. And those voices announce, well, they announce things like God's supernatural event intervention in our lives. Definitely God was intervening in the people that were enslaved in Wilberforce Day at that time. And you know, there's a lot of faith in operation for sure. In examples like that, Jesus said, if you can believe, all things are possible. If you can believe, all things are possible. So the qualifier is believing. And the all things being possible is really up to God. Our part to believe, his part, the part we cannot do, make the impossible possible. So from a position of believing God that way for the impossible, in the days ahead, you and I have every reason to engage more. Engage in a way that demonstrates the kingdom more, not less, more.

And probably should throw in a note right here as a qualifier for today's message and any previous episodes. There are many places in the world where believers live under such threat, serious threat, obviously the threat against their freedom to engage their culture. That freedom doesn't exist for them.

And clearly, they're one important reason why you and I, who have that liberty and that freedom, we must engage on their behalf at the very least. So why not? Why wouldn't we? Why would we be silent? Why wouldn't we be the voices speaking up, the prophetic voices of our day? You know, I suspect that there is an anti-God, anti-Godly, just plain and simple here, an anti-Christ spirit behind it all. Because you know, any time restraint is cast off, except maybe like in a token way, that spirit is behind all cruelty, all lawlessness, any kind, any level. And see, that's the critical part.

That's the critical problem. This is a spirit war. Only those who have the Spirit of God living and alive on the inside of them can engage in this contest. Because our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers. And if we're honest, you know, we just got to admit, we have got to push back against this force.

It's just ever so critical. I read something recently that I really agree with. Let me scroll down here.

Here it is. Principalities and powers are the real administrators of the kingdom of darkness. And they do it through deception. Principalities and powers are the real administrators of the kingdom of darkness. And they do that administration.

They administrate through or using deception. So, to our point today to our title, Silence Isn't Golden. Where did the expression come from?

As I said, there's, you know, a recent song by that title, but here's the whole, the entire quote. Speech is silver. Silence is golden. And it comes from a proverb that extols the value of silence over speech. I'm reading this, the definition. It's a proverb extolling the value of silence over speech. The Bible says, be still and know that I'm God. So, you know, we understand there are times to be still, but in contrast, this is not one of them.

The modern form, the definition goes on to say, most likely originated as early as the ninth century. So, there you have it. Speech is silver. Silence is golden. But to our point, silence about things that are wrong is not golden. Silence in the face of things that are upside down is not gold, is not good.

It's tragic. And such a squandering of the power of God. And with that perspective wouldn't you say that the believer's silence is especially dangerous? So, you see, the voices that we listen to that sort of codify our silence, kind of soothe us, make us be encouraged everything is okay, everything is all right. Those are misleading, not accurate.

The deceptive, anything deceptive is dangerous. Also, to our point, we are actively, sincerely, and with determination, believing for God's divine intervention in so many ways in our own lives. We talk about it, we pray about it, we write about it, we want God's intervention for our lives, but did you ever think that your silence about the things that are important on His heart is not an apples and apples connection?

You know, you're talking divine intervention for you and sort of to heck with the rest of the world. I don't think that's an exaggeration. The disconnect is becoming more and more pronounced.

Thankfully, there are some clear voices, even in the West. I just read this, it was a tweet from a well-known American pastor, his name is Jensen Franklin. His congregation that he pastors is in the state of Georgia on the southeast coast of the United States, and the date here is February 20 of the year 2020, so about three years ago. This was at the time of that, you know, great sports event that Americans really lean into every year about this time, the Super Bowl, the football Super Bowl. This is the tweet he posted following that event. I quote, I don't expect the world to act like the church, but our country has had a sense of moral decency on primetime TV in order to protect children. We see that disappearing before our eyes. It was demonstrated in tonight's at pep at Pepsi hashtag Super Bowl halftime show with millions of kids watching. And you know, I didn't see that halftime show.

I did hear about it. So add the comments there from Pastor Franklin and the portion that we read from Letter to the American Church, Eric Mataxas' book. There's one more that's also from that letter, from that book, and it's a familiar phrase. We're reminded of this associated with Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Remember, he's the Lutheran pastor who was executed by the Nazis just right before the liberation came, and it was because of his voice speaking out against evil. This phrase is associated with him as a result. Remember, Bonhoeffer is associated with so much of what we read about being vocal and speaking up, particularly his book, The Cost of Discipleship, the book about him, The Cost of Discipleship.

Here's the phrase. Silence in the face of evil is evil itself. Not to speak is to speak.

Not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless. So you see, when we stand before the Lord believing Him for the supernatural working of His Spirit in our lives for rescue, deliverance, the things we care about, if I'm guilty, if the scales are not balanced and I'm really guilty over here of putting my head in the sand, it's disconnecting me from the full flow, full supernatural flow of God's power. So about this Antichrist spirit, I want to circle back here just a minute. There's a lot to be said, but envision what any enemy would do to paralyze the opposition.

In this case, what the Antichrist would do to paralyze God's people, the body of Christ, individuals in the church, the corporate church, and consider this Antichrist spirit is the enemy, the church is the opposition to that spirit, and keep in mind that lawlessness of every kind on every level is associated completely directly with the spirit. Breaking laws without any requirement of accountability, and I just have to say for my generation from the time that I was young and grew into adulthood, that would be something that could never be imagined. One thing you could be sure of, if a law was broken, you would be held accountable. That was true with mama and daddy. It was true in the neighborhood. It was true in our local youth group. It was true at school. It was just true.

You could bank on it. So this new thing, well, to be perfectly honest, it's one reason why it directly connects to the founding of Israel in May of 1948. We are living in a time when everything is sped up and speeding up, including the evil being caused by this spirit. But let me go on. Included besides breaking laws without the requirement of accountability, you've got to put in here too the destruction of the nuclear family. That's in there too. Also, all things sexually perverse. And let me be bold and upfront right here to say, including, and this is a new expression to me, but including the queering of our children. Including the queering of our children. I said, the queering of our children.

Talk about upside down. And most sadly, in face of all of this, the obvious absence of true Bible power in our lives as individual believers, collectively known as, quote, the church. But especially important, you've heard me say this before, I hope it's so clear to you, especially on an individual level, that's you, that's me. And to that point, right now, the loudest message coming from the church is its silence across the board with a few notable exceptions like those I've mentioned earlier. But you know, be honest, considering that silence, shouldn't you ask two questions?

Why is that? Why, why the silence? Seeing that we have born again voices that are anointed for the purpose of speaking out against unrighteousness.

If righteousness and justice are the foundations of God's throne and you want to identify and be associated with the throne of God, you would need to lean into righteousness and justice and you would need to be vocal and a voice regarding both. And secondly, why the silence? Why would an individual remain silent? And more importantly, why would a born again believer embrace even chase after something that clearly, clearly contradicts God's word? I would say the short answer, I'll answer those two questions, the short answer is, because they can.

Because they can. There's no consequence, nothing holding them responsible, nothing stopping them, voices around them are silent. But in truth, right here is our point. Silence is not golden, it is not good, it is tragic.

So we could do a self-eval right now. How do we measure up to the standard, for example, of our Lord Jesus Christ? Compared to Him, He said we would do the things He had done, but greater.

So how are we, what's our, how are we doing there? Let's say another example, how about the Apostle Paul? And if you think that's a reach, how about Dietrich Bonhoeffer? That's more modern, more in the same century.

I can think of others. You know, what Wilberforce did is an example of the strength of conviction the believer should have. So consider what's at stake here and any shifting or changes that need to be made, not for the people around you, not for, yeah, not for the people around you, for you, just for you.

Take a look at that. And so we just pray over that, Father, we are sobered by what is at stake and the potential here because of the work of the Antichrist spirit to deceive us that we would squander your power, your calling, your plan. Lord, we pray in the Lord's prayer, kingdom of God come, will of God be done.

And we want to turn into that possibility with all of our heart, soul, and strength. Help us we pray by your spirit. Lord, we ask you to forgive us, forgive us for our error. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen and amen. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support this podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. Don't forget to check out the show notes or visit acleartrumpet.org where you can subscribe to Shirley's email list. Download the ministry app and purchase your very own copy of Shirley's 365-day devotional Running With Horses. Thanks again and we'll see you next time.