Sheep to the Right, Goats to the Left
“And He shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” ~ Matthew 25:33
My wife and I were listening to a Bible reading a few days ago and the above Mathew 25:33 verse was read. As I heard that passage, it just hit me like a brick upside the head, “left versus right”, “sheep versus goat”. This post just flooded into my brain, and I actually stopped listening (Sorry God but I think you plugged this in for a reason) and I began making notes. It was all so perfectly clear!
When Christ told His disciples that on Judgment Day the sheep would be gathered to the right and the goats to the left (Matthew 25:31–33), He was not simply describing farm animals. He was delivering a picture of eternal truth: humanity will be divided. There is no gray, no compromise, no comfortable middle. The faithful are gathered to His right hand, the place of blessing. The rebellious are cast to His left, the place of rejection.
This is not just a prophecy of the Last Day. It is a reflection of what is happening in America right now. We are being sifted, divided not only by politics, but by morality, by faith, and by allegiance, to God or against Him.
Sheep Who Still Hear the Shepherd
The sheep, in Christ’s imagery, are those who hear and follow the Shepherd’s voice. They are not sinless, but they are submissive to God’s will. They love their neighbor, guard their families, and humbly acknowledge a higher authority. In America today, these are men and women who still believe in self-government under God, who resist tyranny not necessarily because it offends them personally but because it violates divine law.
John Adams saw this necessity: “Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all governments and in all combinations of human society.”
Without a moral people, Adams knew liberty would collapse. Sheep-like citizens are those who preserve this moral foundation. They are mocked by elites, smeared by media, and often punished by law, yet they continue to follow the Shepherd’s voice in season and out.
Goats Who Demand Their Own Way
The goats, by contrast, are stubborn, unruly, and determined to go their own way. In the biblical imagination, they represent rebellion and independence from God. In today’s America, the goats are everywhere:
In our courts, where judges invent “rights” to destroy the unborn while stripping away the natural rights of parents to guide their children.
In our universities, where young people are taught that truth is relative, America is evil, and faith is a relic to be mocked.
In our government, where Congress spends with reckless abandon, burying future generations under the chains of debt, a sum now over $37 trillion.
In our schools, where children are told they can mutilate their bodies in the name of “identity,” while prayer, Scripture, and the very name of God are banished.
In our corporations, where boardrooms bend the knee to woke ideology, pushing propaganda into every advertisement while silencing those who dissent.
In our cities, where crime is excused, justice is twisted, and law-abiding citizens are punished while criminals are released.
Thomas Jefferson, though himself imperfect in faith, warned: “Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?”
The goats believe liberty comes from government, that rights can be granted or stripped away at will. In doing so, they trample the very principles that birthed this Republic.
Right vs. Left: A Symbol Now Made Flesh
Christ placed the sheep on the right, the goats on the left. It shouldn’t be lost on us that in our political life today, the terms Right and Left carry a strikingly similar weight. The Right, for all its flaws, still clings to remnants of faith, order, and limited government. The Left, by its own open confession, rejects those very things. It seeks to erase God from public life, to dissolve the family, to replace virtue with ideology, and to exchange self-government for state control.
George Washington, in his Farewell Address, spoke plainly: “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars.”
What then are we to say of a political movement that not only labors to subvert religion and morality, but celebrates its destruction? By GW’s measure, such men cannot claim to be patriots at all. They are goats leading the herd to ruin.
The Great Separation Has Begun
Make no mistake: Christ spoke of a final judgment where every nation will be gathered and separated. But hasn’t the separation already begun? We see it in our laws, in our schools, in our homes. Sheep are mocked for believing marriage is sacred, that life begins at conception, that truth is not negotiable. Goats are praised (by other goats) for rejecting these very truths and calling their rejection “progress.”
Samuel Adams warned of this rot centuries ago: “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy.”
Our liberties are dissolving before our eyes, not because China invades, not because Russia schemes, but because some Americans themselves are dissolving the principles that once sustained us.
What Side Will We Stand On?
Christ’s words are not metaphor to be toyed with; they are reality to come. America today is already, and very obviously, dividing itself into sheep and goats. The Founders understood that no Republic could stand without virtue and faith. We are proving them right by destroying both.
John Adams’ warning rings louder with every passing year: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
The Constitution is not failing us; We the People are failing it. The goats despise morality, reject religion, and demand a government “adequate” to their rebellion, one strong enough to control the chaos they themselves create. That is the tyranny the Founders warned us against.
But the sheep still stand. They still hear the Shepherd’s voice. They resist. They speak truth. They pass faith to their children. They endure the scorn of a society gone mad. And in the end, they will stand on the right, not because they are mighty, but because they belong to the Mighty One.
We are living in the age of separation. The Shepherd is watching. The lines are clear. Sheep to the right. Goats to the left. America’s destiny — and ours — depends on which side we choose to stand on. Or perhaps better described as which side God lets us stand on based on who and what we are today.
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You paint truth in your stories, Ken. Thank you.
I read these verses a couple of days ago and agree, this is where we are today. The sheep will win because the Lord is with us. Thanks you for sharing your gifts of writing:)