Some call it Treason: But God calls it Opportunity!

        Some may call it treason, but I call it high treason!  According to the oxford dictionary treason is described as the crime of betraying your country, for example, by helping its enemies or by trying to remove its government using violence.[i]  High treason is described as an act of treason directly affecting a sovereign or state.[ii]

        In the USA it is said that the greatest act of treason was that that was committed by ‘Benedict Arnold.’ He fought with the colonists in the American Revolutionary War until towards the end he switched sides and fought with the British.  

        The Battle of Marathon (490 BC ) was a pivotal moment in Greek history and one of Europe’s most significant battles. In this battle, the Greeks faced the invading Persians. Had the Greeks lost this battle the nation would have fallen to Persia and European history may have been quite different with Greece becoming part of the Persian empire. Hippias, an Athenian, conspired to work with the Persians to lead them ashore at Marathon.  His name became synonymous with “treachery, fundamentally aimed at the destruction of the state.”

        In recent news, the Trudeau government of Canada is accused of allowing China to influence the recent elections that brought him to power.[iii]  Also in the US, the internet is filled with Chinese interference in the US elections.[iv]  If any of these claims is true, then these government figures would be involved in high treason crimes punishable by death.

        Taking our gaze away from planet Earth and focusing on the cosmos, is there room for the accusation of high treason there?  And how would treason in the cosmos affect life in God’s universe?  Is, or, would there be, a remedy?  We know that God created this world perfect, Gen. 2:1-3. How then did sin come into the world, or the universe for that matter?  Here’s what we read: “It certainly was not God’s purpose that man should be sinful. He made Adam pure and noble, with no tendency to evil. He placed him in Eden, where he had every inducement to remain loyal and obedient. The law was placed around him as a safeguard. Evil originated with the rebellion of Lucifer. It was brought into heaven when he refused allegiance to God’s law. Satan was the first lawbreaker.” (RH June 4, 1901, par.3, 4; Ms 96, 1898, par. 26).

        Did satan commit treason?  Yes, and it was high treason. Read this quote: “The Saviour of the world had no controversy with Satan, who was expelled from heaven because he was no longer worthy of a place there. He who could influence the angels of God against their Supreme Ruler, and against His Son, their loved Commander, and enlist their sympathy for himself, was capable of any deception. Four thousand years he had been warring against the government of God and had lost none of his skill or power to tempt and deceive.” 1SM. 279.1

        When a Christian person uses his Christianity as a cloak to entice a fellow Christian or even a non-godly person into any act of evil that Christian has committed treason and high treason against the government of God to which he has pledged allegiance.  Treason usually is punishable by death.  Apart from satan and his followers, Jesus personally, together with the triune God of course, took up the case of treasonous humanity at the Divine personal level. The results of this meeting stunned the entire universe.  It was made clear at this unannounced meeting that even treason will not prohibit the creator God from reclaiming and restoring treasonous humanity.  Why? Isn’t treason the most devastating crime in the universe?  Does it not sell the kingdom to unscrupulous citizens bent on destruction and possession?

        Yes, but fortunately Jesus is not dealing with laws human beings have made. Jesus is dealing with Divine law that supersedes all other laws, but upon which all laws, human and divine, are built.  The incarnated God put it succinctly when answering a question posed by the treasonous leaders of the Jewish leadership, the lawyers, concerning the heart, or great commandment, of the law. The question was, ‘Which is the great commandment of the law?’ (Mat. 22:36) Jesus’ answer was simple and deep. He said, ‘Love’ was the greatest commandment, and that love was comprehended in two parts, love to God and love to one’s neighbour.

        The Jewish leaders, although they knew of this ‘agape’ love, they did not seem to understand the totality of this agape love. Their love was self-love, self-praise or self-gratification. Remember what Jesus said about ‘’corban?’ God’s word taught that we should honour our parents by caring for them and using our means to care for them.  The Pharisees, on the other hand, taught that parents could be deprived of the care children had for their parents if the means used in caring for parents were redesignated as a gift which would then be diverted to the temple and as such the gifts now fall into the hands of the leaders and not towards the deserving parents. In this situation, the commandment of God which was provided for the care of the elderly became a mockery and the Word of God was stripped of its divine potential and purpose.  This action of the leaders struck at the very roots of the law of God which was ‘love’ or ‘agape love’, and this love was the very principle of all law and hence the very character of God himself.  Working against the principles of God’s laws is high treason promulgated, in this case, by the very guardians of society, the very Keepers of the Flame of God.

        In righting things, Jesus showed the accuracy of what Paul would later write to the Romans, Rom. 5:8 “But God showed His love towards us in that while we were yet in our sins, Christ died for us.”  And Jesus Himself said, (John 10:15) “As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.”  And again in Philippians 2:5-8, we read, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

When Lucifer committed high treason in heaven God sought to counsel him; when he was removed as the covering Cherub God sought to reason with him and reinstate him.  Lucifer, however, steeled his heart against the good counsel of God to the point where it was impossible for him to repent and listen to God’s counsel. Read this passage from “Love Under Fire” p. 204.1 (White, EG): “Coveting the honour that the Father had given His Son, this prince of angels wanted the power that was Christ’s alone to use. A note of discord now marred heaven’s harmonies. Seeing someone exalt himself gave the other angels, who hold God’s glory as supreme, a strange dread of something evil. The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God showed him the goodness and justice of the Creator and the sacred nature of His law. In rejecting it, Lucifer would dishonour his Maker and bring ruin on himself. But the warning only stirred his resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ to control him.”

        The Word of God puts it very clearly when it writes of Lucifer: “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you…. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour.’” “You have set your heart as the heart of a god.” “You have said …, ‘I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation …; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” (Ezekiel 28:12-15, 17; 28:6; Isaiah 14:13, 14.)”

        My appeal to each one of us is that we remain faithful to our Saviour till the end.  Blessings.

[i] Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers.

[ii] Ibid.

[iii] trudeau china election interference – Search (bing.com)

[iv] President Biden and China interference in the US elections of 2020 – Search (bing.com)

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.

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