HIS People

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
Psalm 33.12


Religion and politics don't mix, even ancient Israel couldn't get it straight. So, when I wrote the other day about whether or not it is time to fight to restore the United States, I may have caused some confusion as to the distinction between faith allegiance and political allegiance. Let me be clear, a Christian's faith is supremely placed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and loyalty to a nation, even the United States, is subordinate to our devotion to the Lord. Nonetheless, I am convinced that Christians are not supposed to be apolitical, much less to sit idly by while this country is dismantled and removed from the map.


Truly, the one and only theocracy God has established is the ancient kingdom of Israel. The LORD chose Jacob as his heritage. They were the people called by his name, the people of Yah (Judah, those who praise Yahweh). Psalm 147 opens with an injunction to “praise the LORD” (Praise Yahweh), declaring “It is good to sing praises to our God” (PS 147.1). The psalm goes on to note that the LORD only declared his word, his statutes and rules to Israel, “He has not dealt thus with any other nation...” (PS 147.19-20). Ancient Israel was unique, even to the point of making the necessary distinction between it and the modern secular state of Israel. God made an everlasting covenant with the ancient Israelites, with the descendants of Abraham, but he has also made a new covenant with those who are Abraham's spiritual descendants, specifically with the followers of Christ (People called by the name that is above all names!), who come from many different nations and peoples, including the Jews (not all Jews, but Messianic, that is, Christian, Jews). Graciously, God has enlarged his heritage so that it now includes all who believe that Jesus is his Son, and who receive Christ as their Savior and Lord.


It so happened that the people who founded this nation did so with a distinctly Christian world view. The keel of our ship of state, if you will, was Christian. Though the framers of the Constitution were careful not to establish a state religion—they understood religion and politics to be two distinct estates—they also accepted that for the idea of this nation to succeed its politics, its government, needed to be informed by faith,


“Our constitution was written for a moral and religious people, it can govern no other.”
John Adams


The point I attempted to make the other day was, if those Americans who are called by the name of Christ, and they are hardly a majority any more, don't humble themselves, pray, and seek God's face, we can hardly expect anything but destruction for our land. This is not to say the United States is, or ever was, or ever will be, a theocracy. But there was a time when it was a godly republic, when faith informed decisions of government. For that matter, there was a time when faith informed the decisions of many families, schools, and businesses in this country, and I believe we were the better for it. We don't need to preach the Gospel at every town meeting, every political debate, every sitting of every legislature on up to Washington. But, everything that we do say in any public forum should be informed, guided by, and reflect the influence of the Gospel in every aspect of our lives. The problem in America isn't our constitution, it's we, the people. And shame on us Christians most of all.


In truth, I don't think we can blame our politicians for the state of the nation. I think the blame rests more with the preachers of this land. So few politicians get to sit under godly preaching anymore. How can we expect them to be godly leaders? For that matter, since so few of the electorate sit under godly preaching, how can we expect them to elect godly statesmen and stateswomen? Worst of all, so few people who sit in pews week after week sit under godly preaching. I believe the problem, and remember I am a preacher, is in America's pulpits. Not all of them, certainly, but in the majority. I think, maybe, that if the folks who stand up to preach on Sunday mornings actually started to heed the words of 2Chronicles 7.14, God might just begin to heal this land. I am afraid there are perniciously wicked ways that a whole lot of us pastors, and a whole lot of our churches, need to turn from. I don't know if anything less than such a turning can ever turn the ship of this State around.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4