Who are God’s Anointed?
While listening to the radio in the car this morning, I heard a lyric that really hit home. The Eagles, in their new song, “Hole in the World”, speak of “God’s anointed.” I immediately thought of the conflict in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Here are two peoples who are genetically and religiously descended from the same patriarch, Abraham, who each claim the distinction of being God’s anointed, the chosen people. These two groups of people have fought for more than two thousand years over the same ancient piece of ground. Add to this the Christians who believe that anyone believing that Jesus is the only son of God is given grace and special rights, i.e. anointed, and you can see the basis for the conflict and turmoil that exists in the Holy Land today.
To tell you the truth, I feel that the area has lost the right to be called the Holy Land. How can a place bathed in the blood of innocent children be called holy? It seems blasphemous to me to call that place holy, despite its history and heritage. I keep remembering the line from the movie “Forest Gump” in which his mother says, “Pretty is as pretty does.” Well, maybe holy is as holy does, and I defy anyone to show where anything holy has transpired there recently.
So, if the Holy Land isn’t particularly holy due to the all out war and all the parties involved insist that they alone are God’s anointed, then who really are the true anointed of God? And what does being anointed entail?
In ancient civilizations and in the most ancient and revered of the religious texts back to the dawn of time, the king in power anointed the heir apparent as a sign of his special place in the succession of power in the kingdom. The prophets of the Hebrews anointed the future king, as Samuel anointed both Saul and David, as Saul had no son to take his place. Anointed was a sign that the person had found favor with God and was to be appointed to a high office of much responsibility.
Because of the covenant that God established with Abraham, the Hebrews have long held that they alone are the chosen people, picked by God to be the inheritors of the lands which are now the country of Israel. They hold that right through the line of Isaac, Abraham’s son by his wife Sarah. The Hebrew nation, and the entire Jewish race, are descended from Abraham and Isaac and that bloodline is clearly shown in the genealogies of the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible.
Muslims, those of the Islam faith and those people living in the Middle East who are not of Jewish descent, are also descended from Abraham through his son Ishmael, born of Hagar, his servant whom Sarah begged him to take in order to have a son since she appeared to be barren. Islam heritage has also been carefully traced back to Abraham and honors the teachings of both the Old and New Testaments to a certain degree. They revere Moses and Jesus as great prophets who taught the word of God from their unique perspectives. The basic tenets of Islam come from the teachings of the prophet Mohammed who was visited and taught by the angel Gabriel. In essence, the Israelis and the Palestinians are cousins having been born of the same patriarch. It seems ludicrous to someone not personally involved that they are still denying their commonality and still trying to kill as many of the other as is humanly possible. Though they share a common ancestry and very similar beliefs and supposedly the same religious teachings as sacred, they seem to have forgotten all about the basis of both, the Ten Commandments, which clearly states: Thou shall not kill!
There is no discussion following any of the commandments, simply the demand to adhere to the basic principle. The commandment does not state that it is all right to kill someone if he insults you. It does not condone killing another person because he or she is homosexual, or a different color, or speaks with a funny accent, or has injured or killed a relative. And there is certainly no permission given to kill another person for revenge or because they are living on ground that another person feels should, or does, belong to him or her. No, the declaration is quite clear: Thou shall not kill!
Also involved in the argument about God’s anointed are the Christians, who even argue among themselves as to which Christians are the true anointed of God. The Catholics claim their church was founded by Peter upon direction of Jesus and therefore is the only true church. The Protestants clearly disagree with that. Their heritage as Protestants began with a Catholic priest, Martin Luther, who believed that the Roman church had stepped far afield of the original direction and had the audacity to point out its failings to those in the hierarchy. Though his aim was to help Mother Church redirect her steps, his followers eventually broke away all together and established their own dogmas. All the other sects of Protestantism evolved in similar ways.
So, the question begs, which are the true anointed? Are Catholics chosen over the Baptists? Do the Baptists have an in over the Mormons or Episcopalians? Which of those who claim to be following the words of God are correct? Buddhists, Hindus, Christian, Jews, Islam, Wiccan, pagan, New Age? Who has God chosen?
The answer is very simple: God has chosen each and every one of us and anoints us daily with his unconditional love. He has given us free will and the choice to share his unconditional love with the rest of those on the planet, or to continue the bloodbaths, the executions, torture, and degradation of our fellow human beings. And a word for those who smugly sit and say they have no part of what is going on in the world.
If you see it and recognize it and fail to speak out against it, you are as good as condoning it. I am not suggesting another American attack to rid the world of conflict. On the contrary, I feel that we have done too much in the name of fixing the situations in other parts of the world when our help was not wanted. Then we are puzzled and hurt because those for whom we have attempted to fix things do not hail us as their saviors and welcome us with open arms. In many cases, it was not our business to begin with.
I feel we do have a moral obligation to help those in need as long as they are open to the help and are prepared to be part of the solution to their own problems. We should continue to help feed the hungry and help the needy, educate the children and share new ways to grow and preserve food, and assist others in building shelter and digging wells for life-sustaining water. I do not feel that providing this type of assistance gives us the right to dictate political policy. God gave us free will. No person has the right to deprive another of that basic human right.
Who is God’s anointed? You are, and so is every other person residing on the planet regardless of race, age, gender, lifestyle, sexual preference, religion, or physical appearance. All of the previously mentioned attributes refer to physical things, and we are merely temporarily inhabiting a physical body for learning purposes. We are spiritual beings having a human experience, not the other way around. It is that fact which tells us that we are all God’s anointed ones. The soul has no color, no religion, and no gender. We are all a part of the Creator, equal and shining in the glory of God’s radiant love for us. All the perceived differences between us as individuals are merely perceptions in the three dimensional world that have no lasting basis in spirituality.
We are all anointed by God and given the privilege of incarnating on the planet to learn and grow and help one another. We are all connected to one another. When one of us is in pain, we all hurt. When one is hungry, we are all hungry. It is time that we put the petty differences behind us and focus on our similarities and commonalities. It is time that we recognize and celebrate one race, the human race, of which we all are a part. It is time to realize that we are all the anointed ones of God/Goddess/Spirit/Universe. Only when we can live in peace and cooperation with one another will we begin to know life on this planet as it was meant to be, filled with peace and joy and love and prosperity for all. I pray that day comes soon.
May love and light fill your hearts and souls and may you see without a doubt that we are all brothers and sisters and truly God’s anointed ones.
