When she arrived, she saw the newly crowned king standing in his place of authority by the pillar, as was the custom at times of coronation. The commanders and trumpeters were surrounding him, and people from all over the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. When Athaliah saw all this, she tore her clothes in despair and shouted, “Treason! Treason!” (2 Kings 11:14)
Read: 2 Kings 10:32-12:21, Acts 18:1-22, Psalm 145:1-21, Proverbs 18:1
Relate: The king is dead. Long live the king. This idea of the immediate transfer of power was still centuries away. At the time of King Ahaziah, the throne would normally pass to the oldest son, but he actually did have to be crowned first. There was a ceremony that would take place at the Temple. He would be anointed by the High Priest, given a copy of the Torah, and a covenant would be made between him and the people. At least, this was the ideal. We don’t actually know how closely this was carried out in practice.
What we do know is that the Queen Mother, Athaliah, wanted to make very sure this could not happen. As soon as word came down that Ahaziah had been caught up and killed in Israel’s coup, she decided to pull off her own coup. She immediately set about killing all of her grandbabies so that she, not one of them, would ascend to the throne. Unfortunately for her, one of the former king’s sisters stole away the king’s baby son Joash and hid him, with the priest’s help, in the Temple. For the next six years, Athaliah ruled in Judah but she was not truly queen.
Apparently, six years was long enough for her to buy into the lie that she truly was the legitimate ruler. Once Joash was old enough, and once circumstances had changed enough that her usurpation could be challenged, the rightful heir was reinstated. The king is dead… Long live the king. We just had a six-year ellipsis, that’s all. Athaliah’s cries of “treason” have absolutely no legitimacy outside of her own mind.
React: Right is right no matter what society says. Even when the cultural or political powerbrokers might say otherwise, God is still on the throne and what He has decreed is still the only authority by which we should live our lives. When we stand up for truth and justice, the world might cry out, “treason” or even declaim us as evil. So what? Their authority to determine what is good and what is right is no more legitimate than Athaliah’s.
had it been written at the time, that false queen might have tried to quote just as some politicians have lately to defend their evil by misquoting Paul and saying, “Obey the laws of the government because has ordained the government for His purposes.” After all, she had been “governing” the land for the past six years, right? But doesn’t Paul immediately after this say, “If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law… Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.” Where is the love in murdering children to maintain your own power? Where is the love in forcibly separating families to maintain your own borders? When the law of the land is acting in direct opposition to the laws of God, it is not treason to oppose them.
Respond:
Dear God,
Help me to look to You for what is right and true, not to what my culture or society says is right. Help me to be guided by Your Word not by any political party platform or loyalty. Even as I continue to pray for those in power, help me to have the decency to uphold them when they are right and the courage to oppose them when they are wrong. Even when the world might cry out “treason” help me to be about doing Your will and bringing Your Kingdom here on earth, as it is in heaven.
Amen
THE RIVER WALK 
Reblogged this on ChristianBlessings and commented:
Let Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Mr Trump has stopped the law begun by Bush, continued by Clinton, Bush and Obama requiring the separation of families to determine whether, in fact, the “parents” were the true parents and not traffickers or smugglers, and if they entered illegally to protect the children while the adults were processed. Oddly, NO ONE screamed about this law when those men held the office of President. Families have been/ are being reunited where possible (those adults given a hearing date who were not true parents have abandoned the child/ren they used to gain access to the country).
https://kingdomscollide.org/2018/06/18/1190/
Most of the childrens “parents” at the border aren’t the parents, they’re traffickers posing as parents…. I said MOST…. in the US ten to one american children are separated from families because of criminal behavior of custodians, thousands are lost every year in the foster system…. where is the moral outrage and cries about upholding Gods Word there?
Don’t let the secular media or world drive the narrative for your faith. If it does you’ll stumble and fall.
GOD is love, HE is also righteous, and HIS throne and majesty is based on righteousness and justice.
Just tread carefully when trying to relate scripture to the medias cry about moral justice, their cries are lies.
“Don’t let the secular media or world drive the narrative for your faith. If it does you’ll stumble and fall.”
Good advice. Comparing criminal activity and the separation it causes families and treating families who are coming to this country seeking assylum is disingenuous at best. Don’t let secular media outlets like fox, the Federalist, or National Review drive the narrative for your faith.
Assylum was redefined by BHO and the UN, & disingenuous???? Most aren’t families, they’re traffickers.
What exactly do you mean by “most”? 60%? 90? How many children do you believe are “trafficked” into the US each year? What sources are you pulling from to get this information?
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://freeholdarea-nj.aauw.net/files/2014/01/z-Human%2BTrafficking%2BStatistics.pdf&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjL_vCbqIfcAhXkmuAKHeQyCTkQFggZMAQ&usg=AOvVaw0E8r3C-ESsFZxoF6l2-7c6 One source
I am quite familiar with the Polaris project. It is a great source for global trafficking statistics. But it states that only 212 total minors were trafficked into the US as slaves in the decade from 2000 to 2010. How does this support your statement that most of the families being separated at the borders are actually criminals illegally trafficking minors?
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/child-migrants-surge-unaccompanied-central-america/ Do your own research, liberalism perverts whatever it touches.
Im done.
This article is about unaccompanied children escaping from a horrible life into the US through illegal means. Note the word “unaccompanied.” The article itself had absolutely nothing to do with your still unsupported claim that “Most of the families being separated at the borders are actually criminals illegally trafficking minors.”
The article did have 17 source links of its own. Of those 8 of them were dead links. To be fair, it was written more than four years ago so that is to be expected.
Of those that remain, one is an excellent article on how the Obama administration is doing everything it can to help unaccompanied children who have arrived at America’s doorstep, a few are on the geo-political situations in Central America that are causing the upswing in immigrants seeking asylum, two are excellent stat pages from the US BP. The only one that has anything at all to do with children and families being separated at the border seems to take the exact opposite view you are suggesting. I would recommend you read it if you haven’t already done so:
https://supportkind.org/media/ending-critical-protection-children-central-america-leaves-thousands-danger/
As for your continued false claim that I am a liberal, the repetition of a lie, no matter how many times it is stated, does not make something true. I am not on the side of liberals or conservatives but rather on the side of truth. But don’t take my current word for it. See for yourself a couple things I have written in the past that might establish “conservative” bonafides for you.
https://theriverwalk.org/2013/11/08/november-8-abortion/
https://theriverwalk.org/2014/10/14/john-1526-27-truth/
If you want to see more recent articles relating specifically to immigration, here was a knee jerk post from when this separating families issue first broke:
https://kingdomscollide.org/2018/06/18/1190/
And here is something just written yesterday in which I take a liberal journalist to task for misrepresenting the facts regarding Muslim immigration:
https://kingdomscollide.org/2018/07/05/debating-with-the-myth-of-the-muslim-tide/
Now, like I was asking, do you have anything… anything at all that can even come close to the claim you have made that most of the families being separated at the borders are actually criminals illegally trafficking minors?
You said in your first post, “God is love.” I cannot agree more. This is why I cannot leave this issue alone. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. (1 Corinthians 13:6) I am not on the “liberal” side or the “conservative” side of any debate. As much as I am able, I am on the side of truth. I am on the side of love.
Thanks for being courageous enough to speak truth even when there are those who claim to be Christians won’t hear God for themselves and know truth from Him. Sometimes, when we’re confronted with truth that appears to be conflict with our faith, we err on the side of the popular opinion rather than the truth Holy Spirit reveals. So, I guess my question would be to all those who “are conflicted,” Do you really know Jesus?” He is the truth, and His message has always been about love and caring for those less fortunate. There is no conflict here–just political bias.
Although the University of Illinois is 25 miles away, with liberal students & professors, I live in a rural, farming area with mostly conservative, Trump loving people. I should probably post on Facebook about what is wrong with Trump’s policies, but I don’t want to spend my day being attacked by I don’t know how many people who won’t even acknowledge there could be another side to all this, or are convinced that the other side is just stupid & wanting to bring down America. I feel so horrible about how this nation is treating people looking for a better life. I feel ashamed for when I compare the immigrants lack of knowledge of english to my great-grandfather who immigrated from Germany & learned english right away. I feel horrible when Christians believe that the current policies are correct. Thank you for this post. I am sharing this on Facebook & Twitter. Dear Father, please give me the right words to use in the inevitable arguments that will come. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.
Reblogged this on Lee Duigon.
It’s not treason to speak about the things we believe, but, as Ambassadors for Christ in this world, citizens of another “country,” it isn’t our place to verbally or physically ridicule or try to bring down the rulers of this world. We’re not citizens of the Old Testament kingdom of Israel.
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then would my servants fight…” The USA is NOT the new Kingdom of Israel — something Evangelical Christians in the US tend to be seriously confused about. The USA is a country just like any other in the Western world and every country has laws and the average Joe, or Jose, has no legal right to ignore. The Bible teaches us, and Jesus showed by his own example, that public sentiment doesn’t negate the necessity of obeying the law.
In this case, much as I sympathize with the children, and deplore the separation, I still recognize that those parents did attempt to cross the border illegally. They took that risk. It’s not all the fault of US authorities, as the media is trying to make it appear.
Paul did write “Honor the king.” No matter how wretchedly the Caesars behaved you never hear one word from the Apostles about opposing the government. Not even criticism for persecution of Christians. Rather, “Obey those that have the rule over you,” except when it’s a matter of conscience.
As awful as it might have been, the law said blacks and whites were not do eat at the same counters… As awful as it is the law said you are to turn over any Jews you knew to the authorities… As one pastor has said, after citing two other famous theologians, “An unjust law is no law at all.”