As I am writing this, the results are near finalized for the Georgia Senate Runoff Races of 2020. It would look as if the United States Senate will be majority left for the next few years. Not only this, but weeks prior America voted in, a leftist president, President-Elect Joe Biden. So as 2021 starts, it looks as though the United States will be controlled by a liberal legislative branch, and a liberal executive branch. Now there are many reading this who will cry out that these elections weren’t fair, the results don’t bear truth. The point of this read is not to argue the validity of these elections, the point is to embolden Christians to rub some dirt on it and look at reality.
What is reality? The United States is about to see a very large push, no, rather a fight to ‘de-christianize’ (a word that I just made up), and demoralize the country. We have seen the divide heightening in the country, we have seen the exponential growth of Truth-hatred, we have felt the voice of secularists grow all the more intense. Reality is that the knowledge of God is vanishing in the country before our eyes. Reality is that a perfect storm is ahead; pent-up aggression from the culture, a slighted media, and a liberally controlled government. I would bet my government stimulus check that big changes are ahead.
A people who believe, agree with, and preach abortion, homosexuality, non-absolutes, the deconstruction of the family, defunding the police, race politics, atheism, non-genders, Marxism, it goes on, are those who have the powerplay for the conceivable future. Expect changes. Expect a continued exponential shift of America’s values.
Oh America, America, repent of your sins, repent of your hatred toward God, repent of your love for murder (yes, I mean abortion), repent of your disdain for elders, repent of your zeal for anarchy and disorder, repent of your idolatry toward man, repent of your constant lying, repent of your self-advancement. I repeat, repent!
I’m not here to debate if America was ever a Christian country, but I will be forward enough to say that America, at the least, did honor the Lord in the promotion of good and right morals in the fear and admonition of the Lord. No not every founding father was a true believer in Jesus Christ, however we can look through the history of America and see that the preaching of God’s Word was once appreciated and expected. Nevertheless, America has forgotten God. No, more than that, we have chosen to diminish God, that we may follow our selfish, sinful hearts.
Oh how Christ’s call to Jerusalem could similarly be made to America:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate.” (Matthew 23: 37-38)
God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4) and yes, desires America to repent in this sinful and adulterous age, however God is faithful to his word. What is his promise? That he will judge peoples and nations by letting them run toward their evil passions until its very end. He will let nations ruin themselves, simply by letting them abide by their sinful heart.
What does the apostle Paul say in reference to this kind of judgement on such a rebellious generation? Look at the following Cause and Effect:
Cause:
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:20-23)
Effect:
“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” (Romans 1:24-25)
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.” (Romans 1:26-27)
“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32)
Paul is ruthless here in truth. He holds nothing back. God gave them up, God gave them up, God gave them up. He does not seek to cushion the blow. Even though Paul is a Roman citizen, and even uses this fact for his advantage and safety (Romans 22: 22-29), he does not allow his citizenship to keep him from confronting the depravity of the culture and nations. He must be faithful to God even if it means preaching against the actions of his fellow citizens. Paul proclaimed a judgement from God against his generation. What was this judgement? God lifting his hand and allowing man to run further and further into the depravity already present in his or her heart. God lifts the protections of ordained institutions found in just and orderly governments, faithful families, and truth-proclaiming churches, and allows mankind to be fooled by its own mind.
Repent America, I implore and beg us all to see that we are our own worst enemy. America’s fall from its respect toward God ( I cannot say ‘love’), is not merely from racism, not merely from consumerism, not solely due to media, or secular schooling. It is due to the sovereign act of God to lift His hand and let man and woman do what they have always wanted to do since the Fall (Genesis 3), rebel against God and as Paul says “believe the lie”. The Lie that Satan has always weaponized, “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1)
Did God really say that the heart is evil? Did God really say that He will punish sin? Did God really say that there is absolute truth? Did God really say you will surely die? Did God really say that Jesus Christ is the only way, the truth, and the life? Did God really say that many will go to hell? Did God really say there was even such thing as hell? Did God really say there is only one God? Did God really say I must carry my cross and that I must die to myself? America has believed the lie that Man is great, and God is small. Oh America, America, repent. As Christ said:
“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)
America has gained the world, and many have forfeited their souls. America has found itself wanting and without a heartbeat of morality. America has forgotten to fear a higher judgement, and has left wisdom behind because of it.
So what is the reality for the Christian? Realty is, it is time to suck it up and rub some dirt on it. It is time to let go of the pride that we hold toward America. It is time to stop crying about the freedoms we are losing. It is time to stop weeping about the liberal gains made in government. It is time to remember that our hope is not in a country, but rather in a God who has, at every second, been sovereignly in control of our government since its founding, even hundreds of years before we were born.
I am not saying that we shall not be concerned about the happenings of our country, I believe it prudent to know our circumstances that we might wisely move and act in our day. But let us stop our moping that America has lost its respect toward God. Peter tells us to not be shocked by these events:
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4: 12)
Peter writes these words to Christians that are losing everything. They are dispersed, on the run, losing their belongings, belittled and persecuted in their society. Not only does Peter tell these Christians to not be shocked, or another way of saying it, that they not be moved; he knows that such a time will promote a higher hope, as he says:
“but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15)
Christian, it is time we hoped in our God and not in our country. It is time we believed God’s promise when he says, “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). Yes even the judgement from God on America is for the good of His believers. As Christians we should not be as concerned about America’s going from God, but rather our going to God. Peter makes clear that suffering makes a Christian hope all the more in Christ, focused all the more on His glory, and sincerely more vibrant in a dark generation.
I am not saying that we are to hold America in disdain, for there are still many blessings as of this point in time, in living here. There are still, at this time, many freedoms we are still given, many comforts and safeties surrounding us, and prosperity we are able to partake in… as long as it does not master us. Many around the world are envious of our current positions and blessings. Nonetheless, we do have to see reality. The fear of God is fading in our rearview, persecution is on the horizon, and sin is found trailing in our blind-spots. We must start learning how to not cling to our pendulum swinging government, and how to cling to the goodness of God in Christ. Again in Peter’s letter to suffering Christians he says:
“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2: 13-17)
Oh how this verse makes me uncomfortable, as someone who loves the freedoms offered in America. But the truth is that these freedoms are temporal at best. They don’t last. Either they are taken away while you are alive on this earth, or they are taken away when you die; especially so if you are headed to eternity in hell. Even in heaven there are no 1st amendment rights. We won’t need those protections, because all saints will only want to use their mouth to praise their king, but the point is that these freedoms we enjoy will soon vanish one way or the other. More than that, they fail in comparison to the freedom offered in Christ.
The freedom Jesus Christ offers is freedom from sin and death; rescued and brought to an intimate relationship with the God of the universe, given an eternal citizenship in heaven, away from all evil, all wrong doing, and surrounded by joy and delight in the true worship of the King. So Christian, if our freedoms start to fade here on earth, if liberal ideology becomes the norm of our country, it will be more than okay. For it is better to be chained by man and free from sin, than to be free from man, and chained by sin.
So American Christian, or should I say Christian who happens to be an exile in America, let us learn how to let go of our faith in man, and learn to solely hope on the goodness and sovereignty of God. If God has chosen to judge America by letting its citizens run rampant in its own sinful passions, bringing their own destruction, praise God! Our Lord does this for His glory and our good. That in so doing we would be more controlled by the love of Christ, and our gaze centered on the glory to come. The apostle James, half brother of Christ, killed for his faith, gives the following exhortation:
“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” (James 1:12)
If living in America becomes less comfortable for the Christian, we shall take our cue from James and focus on the crown of life that is to come. We shall stop holding on to the freedoms, materials, and ‘crowns’ of this world and learn to hope in the promises God has provided to the believer. As the apostle Paul says, even in his suffering:
“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 5: 1-5)
Paul gave an encouragement to the Corinthians who had to contemplate leaving all the freedoms and prosperity they enjoyed due to the place they lived in, which was a wealthy trade port. His encouragement was to cease hoping in any earthly home or tent, knowing it may be destroyed, but rather run towards Christ likeness, and grow in a mindset focused on the Kingdom of Christ to come. We would do well at this time, to prepare ourselves, learn from the Word, and become less attached to the securities and temporal blessings we have had up to this point living in America.
We would do well, to grow in our utter dependence on the one that every good gift comes from. We would do well, Christian, to learn to focus on the glory of Christ, that we would be less moved as America runs farther and farther from God. I preach this message to myself the foremost, knowing just how much I long for comfortability.
I pray that we would be a prepared people as we begin to learn more and more that the world is not our friend. Let us stop placing hope in the world, and learn to truly hope in Christ, even at the loss of sanity and freedoms in America.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.” (John 15: 18-20)
Thinking Rightly 