That Little Voice

by Dan Jones

As I lay in bed Sunday night, praying my usual prayers, I felt a little nudge– a small tug at my soul to pray a little extra for my daughter. So I prayed for her safety a little more fervently than usual.

When I awoke Monday morning, my wife told me that we had gotten a text from my daughter saying she was safe. “That’s good,” I said, not having any clue what had transpired overnight.

Our daughter was on a business trip, staying at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas just one block from where almost 600 people had been shot. From her bedroom window, she could see the police cars and ambulances gathering. But she was safely in her hotel room when all this took place and I have been thanking and praising the LORD ever since for His protection over her. She likes country music and could have easily been in that crowd that night.

But she wasn’t.

The fact is, though, almost 600 people are not safe. Almost 600 families are affected. 

And even as I am about to post this on Wednesday night, we still don’t know why this man did this terrible thing, but we as a nation are once again dividing ourselves into political factions because of it. We are already pointing fingers and finding ways to chop ourselves up into little bits so that we can more easily bite and devour one another.

As I was checking various news feeds on this story, I stumbled across another story buried in a dark corner of the internet that has been forgotten about because another, hotter story has emerged. It seems that, between late 2015 and early 2016, an organization called the Internet Research Agency bought ads on Facebook in the Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri area under the guise of supporting Black Lives Matter which were specifically designed “to amplify political discord and fuel an atmosphere of incivility and chaos” according to a report by CNN. 

“The Internet Research Agency,” says CNN, “is a shadowy agency that U.S. military intelligence has described as a state-funded organization that blogs and tweets on behalf of the Kremlin.” 

Of course, Russia denies this. 

And, of course, it could be “fake news.” 

True, but I also found Breitbart News, The Washington Post, The New York Post, The New York Times, the UK Independent, and scores of other news agencies running the same story.

We also know that the Russians, posing as legitimate “political activists,”have taken out ads in newspapers and other media designed to divide us since the Cold War. This is not a new phenomenon. It’s called “propaganda.”

In fact, we told our enemies how to conquer us long ago. “United we stand, divided we fall” is not just an encouragement to the people of the United States, it’s a blueprint for toppling us. 

But we have let the enemy divide us. It is we who have allowed it, because we have believed the lies.

At this moment, there’s still a lot of conjecture as to why Stephen Paddock shot all those people, but no matter what all the investigations eventually dig up on his motives, we know he could have never squeezed off a single shot had it not been for the hate in his heart.

That hate came to reside in his heart because he believed the lies of the sneering little voice.

“They’re not like you. They hate you. They are stupid and evil. They’re not really human. They don’t deserve to live. They are taking away what you should have.”

They are the very same lies the Kremlin was posting on Facebook. They are the very same lies that have spilled blood since the voice of Abel’s blood cried out from the ground to the LORD.

And we know who is the father of all lies.

If we stop and truly think about it, we know who the real enemy is.

And we can defeat the real enemy. We can send him screaming and trembling into the darkness by the power of the name of Jesus. We can be reconciled one to another if we remember that the truth is that we are all loved by God.

The truth is we were designed and built to love God and to love one another.

Now is the time to be true to what we say we are:

One Nation under God. 

Today’s Praise

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. Ephesians 2:13 – 18 (NIV)