It truly is a battle about words. If you define something with a particular word, then you create an outcome. For example when I was young, a Christian would never call a baby in the womb a fetus. It was a child. But then it morphed into fetus. And then when abortion became more in the mainstream media, abortion became about “choice” or a “woman’s choice.” If you oppose it, then it implies you oppose women (which is false).
Then there was the revolution of same gender marriage and the new phrase is, “love is love.” If you say that same gender marriage is a Biblical wrong, then you are “not loving.”
Or the phrase Black Lives Matter. This phrase is associated with an organization that has openly, publicly and has even published that it is against family and that it is Marxist. They have taken millions, made luxurious lives for themselves, and yet a single true benefit to the black community is absent. But if you are not willing to say this phrase, which again, is associated with this organization, then you are hating blacks.
This is word trapping. And it is powerful. If you simply want someone to believe something, you simply change the words and set the trap. Most people who do not think on the trap fall into it, while accusing others that they are the hateful ones.
Words. Are. Powerful.
Naming something is powerful.
It is nothing new under the sun. Which is why when Daniel and friends were drafted into public service to the king, their Hebrew names were the first thing he changed.
- The name Daniel which meant “God is my Judge” —
- Nebuchadnezzar changed it to Belteshazzar
Belteshazzar means “Bel’s Prince – Bel meaning “Lord.” This is also the same as the god Marduk, THE key god of the Babylonians
- The name Hananiah meant “Beloved by the LORD” –
- It was changed to Shadrach which name meant “Illumined by Sun-god
- It was changed to Shadrach which name meant “Illumined by Sun-god
- The name Mishael means “Who is as God” –It was changed to Meshach
- This may mean” Who is like Shach”
- Some believe Shach was a Chaldean goddess corresponding to Ishtar or Venus
- The name Azariah means “The LORD is my help”
- It was changed to Abed-Nego
- This meant Servant of Nego/Nabu, a Babylonian god of writing and vegetation
It wasn’t convenience to change the name, it was an attempt to indoctrinate and redefine them. The same was true in giving them a Babylonian education. Make them live, breathe and think like the Babylonians.
But Daniel wasn’t stupid. Nor was his friends. They looked to God for the wisdom and understanding and it says God was was the one who gave them that understanding. Not just a little but 10x more than any of the others.
Add to that, Daniel did something very interesting. Throughout the book, we never see him refer to himself with his Babylonian name. He refused. So much so that when Belshazzar was king, the queen remembered Daniel and she too called him by that name and not his Babylonian name. He never compromised.
We live in a world that is almost daily trying to redefine everything.
- A supreme court justice can’t even define what a “woman” is? And yet there’s a protest against “women’s” rights?
- Gender people who are born with their gender are not male, female, or normal, they are “cisgender.”
- Illegal immigrants are called “dreamers.”
There is a war against righteousness and there are traps being set everywhere in every country. It may look different for each country but the traps are there.
And the traps are effective. People generally don’t wanted to be called haters, phobics, etc… and so they fall into the trap instead of holding their ground with common sense.
Be careful.
Be warned.
Be wise.
And don’t fall for the trap. It’s Ok to be falsely labeled. Yes, there will be persecution.
But in Christ, we ultimately win. Whether we live or whether we die.
