It is our job as believers
strive to become more Christ-like. However, I’ll admit there are times when I
can’t resist the temptation to publicly get on my soapbox and fight for
justice, speak out against misuse of tax dollars and confront elected officials
who fail to uphold their sworn oath of office. Jesus did not stand on a
soapbox, but rather fulfilled the what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, “Here
is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put
my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He
will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.” (Matt
12:18-20 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Christian ministers played such a key role in the American Revolution that they became called “the black regiment”. Jonathan Mayhew, pastor of the West Church in Boston, was a staunch advocate for civil and religious liberty. He proposed that resistance to a tyrant was Christian duty. Many other preachers contended that the war was approved by God. Jonathan Witherspoon answered the objection that the country was not ready for revolution by proclaiming it was not only ripe for it, but that it was rotting for the want of it. Without the preachers of that time stirring the religious sentiments of the people for liberty, there may not have been a United States.
-----Great Britain was sinking in Adolf Hitler’s onslaught; the European mainland was gone to murderous Nazis; Japan was spreading its empire deep into China. Had America never been, the entire world today would be suffering the fascistic totalitarianism that now only some must endure. God made America too heavy for Hitler and Hirohito. But more importantly, He made America strong and Christian enough to lend the support His fledgling Israel needed to achieve nationhood, a process towards the fulfillment of God‘s promise to Abraham, the testimony to God‘s faithfulness in the midst of man‘s faithlessness (Rom 3:4.)
-----As this world trundles down an uncomfortably short road to the Tribulation, it is becoming apparent that America is fading in its support for truth and the resistance to evil. In fact, God’s tool of the Twentieth Century is itself deceptively falling into evil. It is my personal belief from scripture, the trajectory of history, and the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, that America’s role for good in the world is drawing very near to its end.
-----I do not believe we can change this. But as we live within it, we yet live moment by moment from one situation to the next. We are yet bound to the duty of speaking the truth in love regarding the conditions and aspects of each and every situation we live through. I believe we all have that watchman’s duty to proclaim the truth we each know, and that if we all did this faithfully, following up our talk with a commensurate walk, we would begin experiencing a better history forming a better trajectory. I don’t disbelieve that can happen; I just don’t believe we will all do it, basically from observing myself, mostly.
-----Politics and governmental actions are just other aspects of many situations. They are not somehow disqualified from exposure to God’s light of truth just because we are commanded to obey the governing authorities or because Jesus never delivered a political speech. Within the truth which we are meant to express is God’s expectation of the governing authorities to act justly with neither bribery nor partisanship. Without a Christian voice addressing the social, cultural, and political evils of the community, who will raise that backpressure against what is today shaming the America God formed two centuries ago?
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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