It is a conundrum; you may say it’s a tempest in a teapot, but it produces quite a lot of angst, for this reporter. You see, ultimately, it is our goal, yours and mine, to set our beloved country to rights. And how best to do that. We believe the promise and belief in the person promising is the only true solution, the tenets of sacred Scripture, specifically, the promise made to Solomon made 3,000 years ago. We happen to think that God Almighty is good for His promises, and His great Communication, the Bible, is true and sure.
If you disagree, then there isn’t really any point in your staying on the site, perhaps for a good laugh and a pathetic joke; so be it. Really, this place isn’t for you. Enjoy the day.
OK, the rest of us need to make a decision: is America worth returning to her Judeo-Christian roots? Yes, no, maybe so. All right, that’s a starting point. If you count yourself a Christian, may I ask another uncomfortable question? Ready? Do you take the Bible seriously?
“Of course I do, what kind of idiot question is that!?”
An honest one. Really, it isn’t meant to get your hackles up. Let me rephrase the question. Do you think God is good on His promises to YOU? Really. There’s some pretty big ones in there.
Can God give you unreasonable peace? Philippians says so.
Can God free you from want? David says so.
Can God give you rest from your burdens? Jesus says so.
Can God provide for and fulfill way beyond your wildest dreams? Paul says so.
John Morris of ICR once quipped, “If you can believe the first sentence of the Bible, the rest is pretty easy to believe.” If then believe that the Bible is true, and God is able to make and keep great promises, do we then labor to restore America to her great spiritual heritage (more on that later) by activism, political process and persuasion, or do we abandon the political zealotry and turn solely to God by the promises He made to Solomon and others (more on that too later).
When Jesus came, He presented Himself not as the triumphant Messiah of first century Jewish thinking. We can more clearly see His role as the Lamb of God; and on His return, as righting all wrongs, wiping away every tear, and bringing in the glorious millenial rule on the throne of David. At His first advent, there was no conquering, no admonition to overthrow injustice and ungodliness, save the power of the Gospel to do these noble things as a by-product of the transformed sinner.
So how does the Gospel reconcile itself with the affairs of humanity? How does this “transformation by the renewing of the mind” meet citizen Sam? In his landmark book, The Book That Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization, author xyz quotes Speaker of the House (1847-1849) Robert C. Winthrop:
All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet.
– Mangalwadi, Vishal (2011-05-10). The Book that Made Your World: How the Bible Created the Soul of Western Civilization (p. 353). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Winthrop answers our question, albeit indirectly. It is then, the transformed mind by the renewing power of the Gospel engaged in the practice of godly self-government that renews and revitalizes society. It is neither monastic retreat to the “holy huddle” of self-absorbed ecclesiology, nor the moral conquer of an unwilling society of religious zealotry.
Therefore, we pray, we seek Him, we confess to God our sins, to others our witness, make disciples, and participate as citizens, die to self, and fully rely on His promise.
