If the events of the last
two months have done nothing else for American Christians, we can hope they
have finally and forever disabused us of thinking of the USA as a “Christian
nation.” We’re not, never have been, and never will be. Contrary to the
extravagant claims of some dispensational speculatists (and Mormon pundits like
Glenn Beck), America is not a covenant nation, we are not God’s chosen people,
and the survival of this world does not depend on our existence. Stop it
already. We are a nation founded, thank God, on principles of religious
freedom. Some, by no means all, of our founders were Christians or, at least,
Christian-ish. Our founding documents identify God as Creator and source of
personal liberty. All of that is great, but let’s put it in modern perspective.
Since 1973 America has
destroyed and dismembered between 53-57 million unborn infants with the government’s
blessing and support, then we sell their organs. We make the Third Reich look
like a kindergarten schoolyard bully. We license the marriage of same sex
couples. We pay people who won’t work (not just those who can’t) and give them
more money if they are sexually irresponsible as well as lazy. Does this sound
like a godly nation?
What can we do about it?
What we really need is a God-fearing, conservative President. Nope, we tried
that. It didn’t change much. But if a moral majority controlled the Congress… no,
we tried that too. It didn’t help much either. Maybe if the judiciary or the
media or…. Friends, at what point will we recognize there are no political
solutions to moral and spiritual problems? I believe in being politically and
socially active. If you are connected to me on social media, you know how much
energy I have devoted to Planned Parenthood in recent days. But the earliest
Christians did not expect or even attempt to turn Rome into Israel. They knew
they were “sojourners and exiles” living in a hostile land (1Pet. 2:11-12). Jesus
calls us to live out the ethics of the kingdom of heaven among those who do not
recognize its claims (Matt. 5:13-16). This is not to suggest we be
morally, socially, or politically passive. The OT prophets provide extensive
precedents for engaging corrupt cultures from a spiritual and prophetic
paradigm. However, they also show us how believers in the one true God are to
live among pagans (Jer. 29:1-23; e.g. Dan. 1; 3; 6).
While we hope and pray and
plead (and vote) for national repentance, we should have realistic and biblical
expectations. We hope for a return to basic morality. We desire leaders to once
again acknowledge and fear God. But this nation will not be spared the wrath of
God by political transformation. Jesus has always been and still is our only
hope of salvation. “This world is not my home; I’m just a passing through”
(Php. 3:20-21). –JME
