Enough Is Enough

Enough is enough.

Just today I read the Apple is pulling Civil War video games from their app store because the Confederate soldiers have Confederate flags.

Yes, you read that right.  Apple is pulling Civil War video games because soldiers have authentic, time period, historical flags on their uniforms.  We have become so obsessed with not offending others that we are removing historical images from historical games.

No matter what side of this debate you are on, we must agree that historical placement of images and symbols are not related to any argument on race or race relations.  It is a historical fact that southern soldiers had Confederate flags because they fought for the Confederate States of America.  When we erase these type of images, all we do is erase our history and that is never a good thing.  We must not forget the past and the lessons we learn from it.

In Malachi 1:1-5, the Israelites accuse God of not loving them.  The past was not as good as the present and the future isn't what it was promised to be.  God, in a sense, said "enough is enough." He challenged the Jewish people to show him their proof of this claim, then he detailed the love he had for them.  He loved them so much, it looked like he hated other countries.  He used his past relationship with Israel to prove he loved them.

God chose the Jewish people.  He made a covenant with them to be their God. Through them, all humanity would be blessed by the Messiah, who came to reconcile the relationship between God and man.  But after enough questions, God had had enough.  He wanted to share with them the truth of his love and he wanted them to know it before he quiet.

You see, after the book of Malachi, God was silent for 400 years.  He didn't speak through a prophet again until the John the Baptist came on the scene.  Then he revealed his new message: "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand."

Now, the kingdom of God is at hand.  We have Jesus Christ to lead us in a new relationship.  He chose us by coming to the world and we must serve him.  If not, we will be erased from his presence in a place called Hell.

And here's the truth.  We know about Jesus because of the past. The Old Testament pointed to his coming and the New Testament tells us of his teachings and the growth of the early church.  That history is important because it shows us God's love, God's provision and God's healing.

So does the Civil War. It was a bloody, dark stain on our country.  Americans fought one another and yes slavery was a central issue in the conflict.  As a result of that time, we learned much as a nation. We learned a civil war won't solve our problems. When I look at the deep divide in our country, you can see some of the roots of it back in the Civil War era.  We learned that slavery is evil and wrong and must be abolished.  We learned that we could heal as a nation.

We must not erase our history.  It provides too many valuable lessons.