Most people know the biblical account of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being placed into the fiery furnace because they refused King Nebuchadnezzar’s national decree to worship the image of gold. Let me first say that I don’t like calling them by their Babylonian names. Their real names were Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

The king commanded that when the designated ‘national’ music played that everyone stopped what they were doing and worship the image. This was a ‘national’ decree, and everyone under his authority stopped and worshiped the image.

As you will read below, the three young men refused to do so.
Daniel 3:1-18 (NKJV)

3 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was ^[a]sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. ² And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ³ So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ⁴ Then a herald cried ^[b]aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, ⁵ that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; ⁶ and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

⁷ So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

Daniel’s Friends Disobey the King

⁸ Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and accused the Jews. ⁹ They spoke and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever! ¹⁰ You, O king, have made a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the gold image; ¹¹ and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ¹² There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”
¹³ Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? ¹⁵ Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who isthe god who will deliver you from my hands?”
¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Does this sound familiar? Many people in America today are considered unpatriotic if they don’t submit to the expected behavior. When the music plays (The National Anthem) you are expected to stop what you are doing, stand, place your hand on your heart or salute.

Some people feel, just as the three Hebrew young men did, that the designated behavior goes beyond showing respect, but is actually an act of worshiping an object.

There are plenty of examples in the bible of Jesus rebuking people for placing their expected traditions before what God has commanded.
Mark 7:9 (NKJV)
⁹ He said to them, “All too well you ^[a]reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

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So here’s my question. If that were today, would Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego be considered unpatriotic?

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If that were today, would they be criticized for their behavior?

Do you see the similarities?

Do you feel obligated to prove how these two situations are not the same?

Are you more committed to The Constitution, our laws, traditions and policies than you are to the word of God?

We must be very careful that we don’t place our dedication, devotion, commitment and passion to our country, our race or our traditions before God.

The bible tells us that the things it records were given for our example…

1 Corinthians 10:11 (NKJV)
¹¹ Now ^[a]all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our ^[b]admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Romans 15:4 (NKJV)
⁴ For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the ^[a]patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Just because someone feels they are disobeying God to respect a tradition or commandment of man does not mean they don’t love their country or respect its icons, symbols and traditions.

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If we are’t careful, we can even find ourselves worshiping the cross rather than respecting it.

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Some people are willing to kill to protect their traditions. GOD IS NOT IN THAT.

Many times we criticize the antagonists of God’s people in the bible, but when we’re honest with ourselves, our attitudes, what we do or don’t do in similar situations today proves how we would have behaved back then.

There is a thin line between respect and worship.

BE BLESSTIFIED!

Systemic racism is a contentious subject in the United States of America. Many people, especially among those who call themselves ‘Conservatives’, assert systemic racism is a myth and that it doesn’t exist. It’s the same people who will complain about ‘CANCEL CULTURE’ but enjoy the benefits of Jesus Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) removing the penalty of THE LAW..

Hebrews 8:10-13 (NKJV)

¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ¹¹ None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. ¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins ^[a]and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

¹³ In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

When you think about it, the Romans in the bible who were in power during the Roman Empire had a government and culture systematically set up to the advantage of Roman citizens, and a disadvantage to those whom they subjugated.

To assert that’s not true in America is quite silly. The systems, attitudes, paradigms and sub-cultures established through institutional racism that weren’t seriously addressed until the mid-twentieth century have a heritage that continues in many ways today. I had uncles who fought in WWII and came home to second-class citizenship. Even today, when my wife shops for nail polish, NUDE or FLESH color doesn’t look like the color of my skin – that’s systemic!

It’s interesting and quite humorous to me however, that some of the same people who claim that systemic racism is a myth actually prove it’s true through their own assertion that the so-called American liberal media gives certain groups an inherent advantage.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson made the following statements in reference to the Biden administration:

“Unequal application of justice, law by administration should ‘frighten every American’

and

‘Our FBI, our Department of Justice is equally biased and they are not administering justice equally in this country’

SOUNDS SYSTEMIC DOESN’T IT?

Even claims of election fraud are claims of a system that was set up to give an advantage to one political party over another…That’s systemic!

If it’s possible for the media or an administration to give systemic advantages to certain demographics, then it’s possible for the systems established and nurtured for hundreds of years to give an unfair advantage to certain groups of people.

If the media had the power to influence attitudes and actions to the point that it gives an unfair advantage to certain people, then it’s possible for two demographics to be born in poverty, but the established systems make it easier for one group to rise from that poverty than the other.

The very fact that some people assert that presenting another perspective of history is CHANGING history is another example of SYSTEMIC RACISM.

It’s extreme arrogance for some people to think they own the one and only correct perspective and narrative of history.

There’s more than ONE perspective and narrative!

1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Nehemiah, Ezra, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John prove that. God presents the SAME history from several different perspectives. People have twisted much of the bible to fit their preferred narratives — That’s systemic too!

Many people in America need to learn that admitting the ugly parts of our history rather than glorifying or hiding the wrongs we have done isn’t unpatriotic. The fact is that it’s biblical…

Leviticus 26:40-45  (NKJV)

⁴⁰ ‘But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, with their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, and that they also have walked contrary to Me,

⁴¹ and that I also have walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies;

if their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt—

⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham I will remember;

I will remember the land.

⁴³ The land also shall be left empty by them, and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them;

they will accept their guilt, because they despised My judgments and because their soul abhorred My statutes.

⁴⁴ Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, nor shall I abhor them, to utterly destroy them and break My covenant with them;

for I am the Lord their God.

⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God:

“I am the Lord.’ ”

BE BLESSTIFIED!