A Key Reason Why Evildoers Reign

A significant reason that pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, pro-feminism, anti-family, anti-freedom, anti-Bible, and anti-Christian people are in power is this: we Christians have given up our heritage.  Mankind is inherently sinful and ungodly people will naturally fill the void left open by those who should have filled it.  The Bible reveals the heritage we have given up as a nation and culture in the following verse:

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. – Psalms 127:3

Of 28 translations I found that over half use heritage, around a third use gift, and the rest use inheritance to describe children.  In the second part of the verse most translations use reward and two use real blessing and generous legacy to describe offspring.  These words do not describe the attitude of Christians towards children and fruitfulness in our 21st century society.

This heritage from God is important beyond the mere pleasure of having children.  The following word picture illustrates how significant this heritage is:

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. – Psalms 127:4

Only a very foolish warrior would go into battle with only a few arrows!  An army with ranged weapons would decimate another without.  The next verse continues to connect plentiful progeny with power:

Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. – Psalms 127:5

I found nearly two-thirds of Bible translations use happy and the rest use blessed to describe the father of a large family.  Two translations skip the quiver full metaphor and straightforwardly say many children.  To our detriment we sinners often instinctively try to reinterpret what the scripture clearly says to fit what we want it to say.

It is probably not immediately obvious to present day readers how the second part of the verse connects large families with power.  Because our modern cities no longer have walls or gates it will take a little research to apply the wisdom and meaning of the text to our era.  Below is a list of possible correlations between Ancient City Gates and modern politics:

Without a doubt the dominant correlation from ancient city gates is to our modern-day judicial system:

You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. – Deut. 16:18

Often Bible translations will even use the word court instead of gate, such as:

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.  They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. – Psalms 127:5 TNIV

How different our culture would be if Christians were not being put to shame in court!

In the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery page 321 reads: “Legal activity was common in the gate area.  Already in the Mosaic law the city gate was designated as the place of legal tribunal (e.g., Deut 21:19; 22:15; 25:7).”  And so we understand that ‘elders sitting in the gate’ directly corresponds to ‘judges presiding in courtrooms’ in modern times.

Below are more examples which show that gates in the Bible are often interchangeable with modern-day courtrooms.  The connection is so strong that often a third or more of the translations will simply use the word court instead of gate to bring it into our modern-day language so we can more easily understand.

Is it wise to draw such a significant conclusion based on a single verse?  Is God really trying to tell us something?  The Bible even says that “By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established. – 2 Corinthians 13:1”  which is good advice for many situations. Thankfully God ever true to His word repeats this association between large families and gates in two other verses to reduce confusion or misunderstanding on our parts.  The first instance is during God’s blessing to Abraham:

blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. – Genesis 22:17

And the second instance is during the blessing to Rebekah:

And they blessed Rebekah and said to her: “Our sister, may you become The mother of thousands of ten thousands; And may your descendants possess The gates of those who hate them.” – Genesis 24:60

The two verses above speak in a context the size of nations, not just a single family.  Together these three verses are a clarion call for Christians to give up their love affair with birth control and start loving children, for the sake of both our families and our nation.

While there are hundreds of verses that affirm children are blessings I found it interesting to discover two more verses that passively connect gates with children, the first being:

For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your children within you. – Psalms 147:13

The second verse with a passive connection is inversely stated in a negative way:

And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways. – Jeremiah 15:7

What are “their ways” in the verse above?  I’m sure a long list could be made, but on the subject at hand, where are the hearts of married Christian couples in present-day society?  I hesitate even to call them fathers or parents since “Childfree” is becoming so popular.   Are their hearts given to fun, entertainment, sports, movies, vacations, or career?  Does the following verse tell us one place our hearts should be?

And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. – Malachi 4:6

In our culture are the hearts of fathers married Christian couples turned to children?  Or are there many other so-called “blessings” they are pursuing instead of children?  I am afraid it may already be too late to avoid the curse mentioned above.  Wherever we turn our gaze it seems that evil plagues our land and the ungodly rule over us.  Yet the Bible gives us hope, especially in the following verse:

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

This verse says that God is not so concerned with the actions of the ungodly. He does not fear them and could in a heartbeat easily remove them from power.  His concern is with the actions and attitudes of “my people, which are called by my name”.  Christians are obviously called by His name.  I wish it were obvious to Christians that profaning the blessing of children is among the list of wicked ways that His people need to turn from, but it seems our current church culture has been completely indoctrinated by the world and wants to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to what the inspired word of God clearly communicates.

For years I thought the first two verses in Psalms 127 did not belong with the rest of the chapter, but realizing how important offspring are to political power sheds light on the connection.   The first verse says:

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. – Psalms 127:1

Are we letting the Lord build the house when we do not let Him build our families?  Are we letting the Lord guard the city the way He wants to guard it?  Our labor is in vain and our watchmen stand guard in vain when we reject the heritage, the rewards, and the blessings from the Lord.

Cartoon from: http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/01/friday-funnies-you-can-keep-your-health