In my time in the Word (Judges) I read how the king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s question to him: “What do you have against me that you have attacked my country?” Jephthah asked. (Judges 11:12)
For 18 years the Israelites were oppressed by the Philistines and the Ammonites because ‘once again’ the Lord’s people served other gods. So God “sold them” into the hands of their enemies. And ‘once again’ the Israelites cried out to the Lord saying, “We have sinned against You, forsaking You to serve the Baals. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now.” Then they did right in God’s eyes, getting rid of the foreign gods among them and served the Lord. And God could not bear Israel’s misery no longer. (Judges 10:6-16)
God raised up Jephthah, son of Gilead and whose mother was a prostitute. (Shame on Gilead.) Gilead’s wife had bore him sons, but they all rallied together to drive Jephthah away, saying, “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family because you are the son of another woman!” (11:2-3)
So Jephthah fled from his half-brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him. Later, when the Ammonites were coming against Israel for the land of Gilead, the sons (elders) of Gilead went to get Jephthah (hearing about his little army of scoundrels) in hope he’d be their commander and chief against the Ammonites. Jephthah asked, “Why do you come to me now when you are in trouble, after driving me from my father’s house?” They promised Jephthah, with the Lord as their witness, that if he fought with them they would make him the head over all Gilead. Jephthah brought it before the Lord. Then he sent messengers to the Ammonite king with his question as noted above.
I find it interesting how the king answered Jephthah about the land of Israel, which was fake history he was reporting. Jephthah knew the truth about Israel’s history of the land that God gave over to them and he recited it to the king. (read Judges 11:15-26) Then Jephthah said, “I have not wronged you, but you are doing me wrong by waging war against us. Let the Lord, the Judge, decide the dispute this day between the Israelites and the Ammonites.” (11:27) The king ignored him, and then Spirit of the Lord came upon Jephthah. And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, which he later kept with deep regret and pain.
Two things come out to me in this account. One: that we don’t need to make a deal with God; we simply need to be faithful to what God has given us to do, raised us up to do for His people whether Israel or the church of Jesus Christ; those who are being saved whether now or later.
The other thing that comes out to me is this matter of “fake history” being used by our enemy/enemies to overtake the land, whether we are talking about Israel or America. Those who are out burning our flag, kneeling when our national song is sung, tearing down statues, standing up for ‘illegals,’ etc. are simply ignorant and misinformed. They are being used to fight for that which is not true and not right; self-deceived and headed down a road that leads to their own destruction.
I bring America into my point about “fake history” because this is exactly what is being taught to children in our public schools and what is being propagandized by America’s enemies to both legal and illegal citizens who do not know true American history, nor the true meaning of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence. There are all kinds of lies being broadcasted about America’s beginnings and founders who were true worshippers of the living God. God led those people to this land ‘for His purpose.’ Not only did God show them where to go so they could worship Him freely, but He saw a “people” that needed to know the Name of the God they worshipped, and what God requires of them as worshippers because Indian tribes savagely attacked and killed each other to take from each other.
The real enemy behind this is the devil of course, who uses lies, envy, slander, threat and killing to get what he wants. But when God’s people KNOW what they SHOULD know, the truth about history and the truth about the enemy, and they look to their Creator and depend on the Lord of hosts to help them fight their enemies who are working to overtake them (their land and possessions) – God will fight for His people who earnestly seek Him, so that they conquer and prevail, and give HIM THE GLORY. When man trusts in the Lord and gives God the glory – the glory of God begins to fill the earth.
Jephthah trusted in God and gave God the glory!
“Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites and the Lord gave them into his hands….Thus Israel subdued Ammon.” Judges 11:32-33
Jephthah led Israel six years when he died and was buried in Gilead, the city of his father. Not any of Gilead’s sons by his wife took on this fight against the king of Ammon until their half-brother Jephthah agreed to lead them. They saw something in Jephthah they did not have, but should’ve had being God’s people.
What comes out to me is how we can be so quick to judge a man the Lord chooses to use because of his past and his ways about him. God looks for skill and courage when He uses a man to get something done for His people. We are foolish to choose a man, vote a man in as our commander and chief, based on what WE think a man needs to be; what a man’s past and ways should be. We don’t know why a man becomes the way he is, but God does. God knew Jephthah’s past and how his brothers treated him. God knew his heart. God knows Donald Trump’s past and heart; and I believe that God raised Trump up for a time as this to defend God’s people, for one thing, and be like a dam holding back the onslaught of Christian persecution.
Besides, who among us is perfect and without guilt before God? Who among us doesn’t need the blood of Jesus to cover our guilt and sin so that our Father God can accept us as His own?
So then it is very wise of God’s people to trust God with the man HE CHOOSES to lead us in a battle of any kind, and to continually pray for and support that man and his administration. Remember what was said of Jephthah and the men with him after he fled from his brothers? “Jephthah settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.” (Judges 11:3) God used them to defend Israel.
With all the fake news about President Trump and fake American history being taught and propagandized – we need to WISE UP and unite in prayer and support our Commander and Chief, the president of our nation. God has put him into office for HIS PURPOSE.
As Spirit-filled believers in Jesus Christ – we should know what is fake and what is real, truth and lie, right and wrong, and we should ALL be in agreement instead of so divided.