Political Musings

“The powers that be are ordained of God.”

In light of the election coming up and the direction our country may head, what does that mean?

If it’s taken at face value and applied universally it means the status quo in government should never be challenged by God’s people. I heard a preacher say once that our Founding Fathers were sinning by breaking away from dictatorship (and consequently establishing religious liberty) because they challenged “the powers that be.” That’s one way to look at it.

But then Ehud was sinning also when he assassinated Eglon. And Joshua when he overthrew the Canaanites. And Esther when she tried to stop the genocide ordered by Haman. So it can’t mean God disapproves of us challenging evil governments.

We tend to think “ordained” means “authorized and approved.” It really means “arranged”—at least in this instance.

God has a plan and that plan involves not only His people, but His enemies as well. He is writing (actually has written) a great novel, and like any novel it would not be great if it didn’t have villains and tragedy as well as heroes and triumph. God arranged for Nebuchadnezzar to come to power—and He also arranged his downfall. He arranged for Hitler to come to power—and also arranged his downfall.

If He arranges for a socialist raised in Muslim schools to become the nominal leader of America, that doesn’t mean He approves of Obama’s actions--or that we must all passively consent to every anti-American, anti-Christian proposal that comes out of his administration. It means it is part of the plot, part of God’s temporary arrangement.

We still have to play our own role in the story, regardless. Part of my role as a Christian will be to vote against Obama in two weeks. But I won’t be depressed about a negative outcome because God is writing a story for His people and it doesn’t always rely on politicians and nation-states.

In any event, we shouldn’t complain too much about media bias or crooked community organizing or leftist textbooks unless we’re willing to do something about it. The truth is, the anti-Christian leftists had a sense of dominion the last one hundred years and Christians did not. I’m not saying that Christians should focus exclusively on influencing civil institutions; but if we aren’t going to be the salt of world, we can't complain that the world has lost its savor. And it’s difficult to function as salt unless you put yourself in a saltshaker.

Do you think the early apostles, if they were alive today, would utilize the internet? Would try to get on radio or cable TV? Would go into schools and universities? Would publish? Would hold forth in front of a microphone on the steps of the U.S. Capitol? Not to advocate for political change; but to spread the gospel of the kingdom and change the hearts of men. Political change is secondary or even tertiary and won’t come about anyway unless the hearts of men are changed. That’s what happened in the American Revolution, which followed many years of spiritual revival in the colonies.

Anyway, I’m not sure I’ve done anything but muddy the waters further on this topic, but I’ll leave you with this anecdote:

“And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, saying, ‘Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? And, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us’. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5: 27-29).

In this instance, who were “the powers that be”? The council or the apostles?

Who controls this world?

I heard a pastor recently say that Satan is in charge of this world. This is a topic I’m continuing to study, but at this point I’d have to say I disagree with him. Of course, if you disagree with me feel free to say so.

Believing Satan is king of earth is a key com-ponent of dispen-sational theology, and it’s a good example of how dispensationalism can infect your entire worldview. In dispen-sational theology Satan is destined to gradually overtake the entire world and God’s kingdom can’t be inaugurated until after that happens.

Those who claim this is Satan’s world rely on verses like Ephesians 2: 2 which refers to him as “the prince of the power of the air”; or 1 Peter 5: 8 which says, “the devil, like a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” But they miss the bigger narrative.

Satan did have relatively unchecked power over the nations of this world…up until Christ came. In the ancient world, only a small enclave called Israel was even exposed to the redemptive promise of the Messiah. The rest of the nations had no choice but to follow Satan because that’s all they knew. At that time Satan was effectively the prince of this world.

But when Christ came everything changed. The kingdom was inaugurated and Satan’s power was significantly diminished. John the Baptist announced, “the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1: 15), and Jesus proclaimed, “now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (John 12: 31).

Remember when the Pharisees accused Christ of using the power of Satan to cast out demons? “And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils,” He said, “by whom do your children cast them out?...But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? And then he will spoil his house” (Matt. 12: 27-29). So Christ’s first advent signaled not just the inauguration of the kingdom, but the binding of the “strong men” (Satan and his demons).

How could this be? We know that “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalms 24: 1). Prior to Christ coming, Satan was a temporary usurper. But God gave His Son the authority to reclaim His creation: “All power is given unto me in heaven and earth” (Matt 28: 18). “He that cometh from above is above all…The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand” (John 3: 31, 35).

By dying for the sins of all, Christ “…blott[ed] out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us…nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col. 2: 14, 15). The principalities and powers he spoiled were Satan’s.

It is an ongoing conquest. The kingdom grows gradually (Matthew 13: 31-33), consuming all earthly kingdoms (Daniel 2: 34-44); it does not appear suddenly and full-blown on day one. Satan still has power, but he is not in control. He no longer owns entire nations. He is reduced to prowling at night, picking off individuals. With each passing century his dominion is decreased, even as his tactics become more desperate and blatant.

Since Christ’s resurrection, God has set Him “at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet” (Eph 1: 20-22). God the Father has told Christ “sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool” (Psalm 110: 1).

In the “fullness of times” God will “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Ephesian 1: 10).

First Corinthians 15 tells us that when Christ returns to resurrect the dead, “then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.”

When Christ comes back He is not going to start His kingdom; it’s already started. He’s going to deliver His kingdom up to His Father and the kingdom will continue for eternity in Heaven. Until that time, I believe, He has given His followers authority to reclaim the earth—not by force, but by spreading "the gospel of the kingdom" and the promise of spiritual regeneration. The meek "shall inherit the earth”—not be raptured out of it while Satan expands his empire.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace,” Christ said. “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Lean on me

I’m an advocate of Christians making their voices heard in society.

Yesterday we were treated to this news: “After an outpouring of protest from homeschooling advocates and politicians, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles reversed its Feb. 28 ruling that could have reclassified most homeschooled children as truants.” The same court that had basically outlawed homeschooling came to the “realization” that it had made a mistake. If no one had leaned on them, the decision would’ve stood.

Many Christians are too timid about taking a positive role in society. The world seems so big, and so many struggles feel “wordly” and, frankly, insurmountable.

I remember reading once an interview with a TV network executive who said that every time he gets a letter from a viewer he assumes that 1,000 other people feel the same way but just didn’t bother to write letters. So in his case, one Christian writing a letter decrying an anti-Christian show would equal one thousand and one voices of concern.

In our small community last year the president of the local college decided to remove the cross from the campus chapel. He said it was an intolerant symbol. I had never cared about the icon itself, but here was a government official labeling Christianity offensive and setting a dangerous precedent that all visual reminders of Christ should be purged.

My instinct was to make my family’s voice heard, since this was our “backyard”: so I wrote letters to the newspaper and the Board of Visitors; we took the kids to a candle-light vigil on campus in the freezing rain; my wife and oldest son signed petitions; I was even interviewed by the local TV station and the daily newspaper. If it had just been us speaking out, we might not have made any difference. But thousands of other Christians did the same thing, and the combined effect sent an unmistakable message. The president put the cross back…and even lost his job over the matter.

Around that time a sweet and humble woman in my church named Raquel wrote a letter to the editor. She was troubled that no local pastors had a word to say about the controversy. This was happening in their own community and getting national attention, yet they were silent. They were focused inward, living their monastic lives, quietly complaining that the world around them was getting worse. This wasn’t even a political issue where pastors might have endangered their beloved tax exemption by speaking out. Her point seemed to be that the people in the pews had more gumption than the “professional” Christians.

I understand some Christians are uncomfortable about getting involved in messy things like the media, politics, education issues, etc. But thankfully many Christians aren’t. Without William Wilberforce the slave trade would not have been abolished in early nineteenth-century England. Without Roger Williams the concept of separating civil government from religious coercion would not have taken root in colonial America. Without John Leland there would probably be no Bill of Rights securing our freedom of religion, assembly and speech. And without thousands of ordinary Christian parents leaning on the leadership of California, homeschooling would be effectively illegal in that state.

This is God’s world, not Satan’s. And “with God all things are possible.”

(Sorry for the long post).

Anyone want to start a Christian homeschool in Malibu?

Welcome to the waters

The title of this blog is a metaphor for the ever-expanding kingdom of God. The passage in Ezekiel 47 from which it is taken describes a small stream flowing from the house of God toward the desert. The stream becomes gradually deeper--first to the ankles, then to the knees, then to the waist--until eventually it is deep enough to swim in. Everywhere it flows new vegetation sprouts up and the desert becomes a garden.

Jesus used the same idea of gradual fulfillment when He preached "the gospel of the kingdom." "Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God?" He asked. "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: but when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it" (Mark 4: 30-32).

Elsewhere we read that the kingdom is a small stone that broke apart the ancient empires and will grow into a great mountain that fills the whole earth (Daniel 2). Or that the kingdom is like yeast that eventually permeates the whole loaf of bread (Matthew 13). Isaiah tells us that one day "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (11: 9).

These are not speculations or wishes. They are promises from God. The kingdom will gradually grow. The kingdom will be preeminent on earth. The whole world will be blessed by the kingdom.

We realize this is a different perspective than many well-meaning, Bible-believing churches are teaching today. But we hope we can do our part to encourage others to study the promises of Scripture, renew their optimism, and help advance the kingdom.

So what is the kingdom? Is it, as many teach, a literal earthly dicatorship? No. "My kingdom is not of this world," Jesus said (John 18: 36). "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17: 20, 21). The kingdom is spiritual.

Is it something in the distant future, or is it already here? "The time is fulfilled," Jesus announced, "and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1: 15). "If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God," He explained, "then the kingdom of God is come unto you" (Matt. 12: 28). The kingdom is now.

Who is in the kingdom, and what are they supposed to do? "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). "But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized" (Acts 8: 12). "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 16: 18, 19). "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations" (Matt. 24: 14). "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28: 19). The kingdom is the fulfillment of God's redemptive plan. Its citizens are the redeemed.

The kingdom is growing today. There are more citizens of the kingdom now than there were a hundred years ago, and more a hundred years ago than there were 1,000 years ago. It will continue to grow--with or without us. Sadly, many churches are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the world to deteriorate: waiting--like many of the Jews in Christ's day--for a physical kingdom; waiting for "the church" to fizzle out and fade away. They miss the promises. They miss the point. The desert sands don't bury God's house. The waters flowing from the house of God flood the desert and transform it.

If Christ said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," and, "lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28: 18, 20), then Christians should boldly advance the kingdom in their lives, in their families, in their communities, and throughout the entire world.