An American Celebration

20Daniel said,

         “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever,

         For wisdom and power belong to Him.

21“It is He who changes the times and the epochs;

         He removes kings and establishes kings;

         He gives wisdom to wise men

         And knowledge to men of understanding.

22“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;

         He knows what is in the darkness,

         And the light dwells with Him.

Daniel 2:20-22

I don't know what you have planned today, but I plan to spend part of this God-given day of life to watch the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States.  It will be the first one I have ever had the privilege of watching live.  Why?  I was working full-time during the preceding presidents' inaugural events.

I won't be watching because I am a huge fan of our new president.  He was not my first, second or even third choice in the Republican presidential primary.  Mr. Trump won't be a "perfect president", nor do I expect him to be. The best I can say about today's change of power is that I am "cautiously optimistic".

Instead, I will be watching and celebrating because I am a huge fan of The American Experiment1, as some (most notably Alexis de Toqueville) have called our country.  I believe that the founding principles which made this nation the foremost nation of the world are timeless and God-given. Indeed, if you closely examine the major components of our American legal system you will find parallel after parallel to the Hebrew Law in the Old Testament, even though over the last 75 years "Progressives" have governed us away from that bedrock foundation.

I'm also a huge fan of God, whom I believe to have ordained the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency.  This sovereign act on God's part does not guarantee approval of the man or even that Trump was the best candidate running.  It merely affirms that God works His sovereign will among us and that He answers prayer.

While writing this post (true confession!) I have the TV on.  Rev. Franklin Graham just walked down the steps to the viewing area where he will be sitting during the swearing in ceremony.  In 2016, this man held non-partisan prayer rallies on the steps of the Capitol buildings of every, single one of the 50 United States.  He advocated a return to the Judeo-Christian principles on which this country was founded.

I was one among many millions of Christians praying fervently regarding the outcome of this election and, even though Mr. Trump was not my candidate of choice, I do believe that God heard those many millions of prayers and answered.  Certainly, Mr. Trump was not the answer all of us Americans wanted, but this was His answer nonetheless.

It is imperative that, as Christians, we avoid the temptation to put our trust in a man (or woman), whomever is elected.  It is our civic responsibility and our Christian duty to plunge in and get involved in local, state and national politics.  Yes, it is a nasty business much of the time; but, to do otherwise is to shirk our responsibility and to revile this magnificent gift of American government our God has given to us.  No, this pursuit, this passionate involvement, should never eclipse or take the place of spreading the gospel.  Never!  Likewise, we should not "fall for" the specious argument that "God and politics don't mix".  VP Pence said it well when he declared (and I paraphrase) "God first. Family Second. Country third."

Our trust is in God, who gave us eternal life through Jesus Christ the one and only Savior. (Acts 4:12) Our confidence is in Him, the only wise God, who left Heaven to live among us and who died to redeem us from the slavery of our sin.  Our trust is in the Lord of Angel Armies (El Shabbaot) who ordained the founding of America and who will continue to use her in the progression of His divine plan for this fallen world.

We must continue to pray and work, for the spread of the gospel "from sea to shining sea" and around the world.  We must pray for a Holy Ghost revival in our country which, at present, appears to be drifting more and more into an ungodly mess. (May righteousness fall down like rain!)  We must continue to engage our often godless worldly culture with a love that is grounded in truth and in timeless principles - - - principles of faith, holy living and sound government.  We must do this in the face of unpopularity, even as we find ourselves increasingly in the minority in America. Finally, today, we must celebrate this peaceful transition of governmental power as a good thing - - - as the outgoing leader of the free world affirms and blesses by his presence the incoming leader of the free world.

Here's a bit of patriotic musical inspiration!
https://youtu.be/ruojMCl_DKg

God bless America!

Sources:

1     https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101018151322AARUkzf

How Great a Debtor

Frankly, it is hilarious to me that today's text appears in my march through Romans now, as April 15th is on the horizon.  Romans 13:1-7 has to do with paying taxes, among other things.  There's no doubt that, two days from now, I'll be doing that very thing.  Do I want to write that check?  No.  Am I commanded to?  Yes.

1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. 2So the person who resists such authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will incur judgment 3(for rulers cause no fear for good conduct but for bad). Do you desire not to fear authority? Do good and you will receive its commendation, 4for it is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be in fear, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God’s servant to administer retribution on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of the wrath of the authorities but also because of your conscience. 6For this reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants devoted to governing. 7Pay everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

The apostle Paul tells us that we should be obedient to our government "rulers", insofar as we are able, without denying or abrogating our faith in Jesus Christ.  Obviously (due to the weight of other scriptures), our first loyalty is to Christ's heavenly kingdom, when the earthly "kingdom" stands in direct conflict.  But, otherwise, we are to pay our taxes, obey the civil and criminal laws, work to create a country that reflects our Christian values and generally not bring dishonor on the name of Christ.

Paul not only makes the point that "authority" is a godly concept, given by God Himself to bring order to our world, but that He places "rulers" into positions of authority.  Right now, we are in the midst of a highly contentious presidential election season.  As citizens, we are required to, as Paul mentions, adhere to and protect our rights of citizenship.  This means exercising our right to campaign for a candidate and then to vote for him or her.  If you are a Christian but you don't vote, you are violating scripture by committing a sin of omission.  This refusal to fight for the liberties you have been given goes against Romans 13.  If you are a Christian and you break the law, you are guilty of a sin of "commission".

I have been reading Erick Erickson's book, You Will Be Made to Care.1  It's a pretty horrifying and damning book, if you are a Christian.  His basic point, from what I've read so far, is that we as Christians have not followed Romans 13:1-7.  Oh, we have probably obeyed the speed limit and the seatbelt laws, most of the time.  The traffic laws are ones we generally obey, since ignoring them can be deadly.  Most of us citizens pay our taxes, because to not do so will land us in jail.  But, the American Church has sat back and let a godless minority, "a small and arrogant oligarchy" as Erick puts it, take over our country.  We've done this in the name of "live and let live", forgetting that a representative republic (which is our American government type) not firmly anchored in a biblical morality cannot survive.  John Adams, our nation's 2nd president, wisely recognized this and said the following:  "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."2

Now, we are seeing the disastrous results of our collective Christian complacency over the last 60 years.  If God-fearing people do not begin to wake up and speak out, our freedoms will continue to disappear until the country we older citizens inherited will be unrecognizable.  It is already happening.  The question is whether or not God's people will stem the tide.

Christians who interpret Romans 13 with a sniveling, hand-wringing "Oh, well, there's nothing I can do" type of response or a "Someone else will take care of that" response disgust me.  Hundreds of thousands of men and women have given their lives so that we could enjoy the liberties accorded to us citizens in the greatest nation of the past 240 years. What great debtors we are to their sacrifices! Despite that, many pampered, cocooned Christians today will further disengage from the culture, will do nothing to stem the tide of godlessness, in the name of "being subject to the governing authorities".  What a gross misinterpretation of this scripture!

American government was designed from its very birth to be steered by "We the People" (Preamble to the U.S. Constitution).  Abraham Lincoln famously referred to this government "of the people, by the people, for the people" in his Gettysburg Address.  It might have been better phrased as "for those people who care enough to not lose it".  As Benjamin Franklin said upon leaving the Constitutional Convention of 1787 - - - {We have} "a republic...if you can keep it."2

If you adhere to a Christian worldview and the belief that this country's best hope is to return to the God-given principles on which it was founded, then the question is: "What are you going to do about the current abysmal "state of affairs"?  The remedy is going to require more from God's people than merely paying taxes.

Father, You guided our founding fathers to establish this country on the moral foundations of the Bible.  Your Church in America has failed to fight for those same freedoms to be maintained, in the name of a false "liberty", a pseudo-compassion.  Only in godliness is there true liberty and the most compassionate thing we can do at this point is to stand up for what Your Word says is right.  I pray that You will start a great spiritual revival out of which will flow a great revival of civil conscience in America, so that we can once again be known as a Christian nation, a beacon of godly liberty.  In Jesus' name, amen.


Sources:

1   Erickson, Erick, and Bill Blankschaen. You Will Be Made to Care: The War on Faith, Family, and Your Freedom to Believe. Washington, DC: Regnery, 2016. Print.

 

2   http://www.free2pray.info/5founderquotes.html