It Started Way before 9/11…

…a post from December, 2010…

The Kingdom of God, the Republic of America & You

In the days following September 11, 2001, I heard something like this from the Lord : that He took no pleasure in that horrendous, vicious wounding of our nation. While many who stood behind pulpits, or listened from pews in front of them, preached judgment on America for her sins, I heard something else. I heard that a silent poison had been spreading, and was far more advanced than we knew. Stopping its spread required perseverance and a ’never forget’ mentality, and these in turn required such a wounding as the catastrophic tragedy that took place in New York city that morning. A lesser event could fade from memory, and not elicit the sustained vigilance necessary to combat terrorism and preserve our land.

This was how I understood what I believed was shared with me that day.

Today, I understand more. I understand the poison that had been spreading was…

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Freedom Entangled…

Despite the fact that I have many times thought, how fortunate we who live in America are, I don’t think I actually really ‘get it’. When it comes to being free, I’ve always known that lifestyle. For me, it comes with the territory! I’m accustomed to freedom, and without realizing it, assume it is the norm. I expect it.

…and though the headlines scream otherwise, I still don’t think differently. Freedom, like air & sunshine, seems to be a condition that is & should be everywhere – a daily reality.

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Jesus spoke of being free.

Christians (and I am one) often quote His words: “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” It is important to remember that these words are settled within another truth: “If you continue in my Word…”

So it seems that steps must be taken, in a specific direction, to become & remain free. Forces are always at work to recapture. The flow of a free life can be halted, strangled, maybe stopped. There is a Divine remedy, though, to thwart & overcome the enemy who robs us of our freedom. There is a Way to turn back the tide.

The fact that there are these malevolent forces with evil designs upon our freedom, should tell us something about freedom itself – it is highly valuable, and a threat to those who seek to steal & destroy it. That we even HAVE it at all is miraculous, isn’t it? That we have it at all seems to say, You are favored. That it takes the Mighty God to give us freedom, and the way to keep – that we can’t have it simply by our own efforts – should teach us how precious it is.

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…and so I think that the spiritual battles fought to overcome a thieving enemy are played out in the real-world battles & wars that continually besiege the earth these days. The prize sought by this enemy isn’t really territory, or rulership & sovereignty. It is your freedom. Your life.

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Be aware of the preciousness of this prize. But also know that true, ultimate & lasting freedom has its roots in the Son of God, who said, “…If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth  shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Start your journey there. If you’ve wandered too far out of this Way, go back.

He’s still there, and He hasn’t changed.

Iraq, ISIS, and Obama…Is There an Answer?

I was one of those (probably few) Americans who never believed we should have pulled out of Iraq. Naïve though I (probably) am, I still do not fault then President George W. Bush for invading this Middle Eastern country. I am (again, probably) one of the only people left who still thinks that ‘weapons of mass destruction’ was not a ploy to get us over there, in order to facilitate oil acquisitions or the money-making war machine. Color me obtuse, but I think there very well may have been WMDs in Iraq, that were somehow successfully re-located or deeply buried. We had to go there, be there, and if we had stayed there, today James Foley, Jeff Sotloff, David Haines and Alan Henning might still be with us.

I am still unable to comprehend how any thinking person could see a future where a barely stable, newly-freed-from-Sadaam Iraq would NOT be re-invaded by other, more vicious & hostile elements, if left to its own defenses. And how those elements would NOT gain a foothold, find a haven, then spread out from that haven, if unobstructed. ( And when I say ‘spread’, I don’t mean just in the Middle East.)  To me, the math was simple. I know a minimal US presence was supposed to remain in Iraq, but more than minimal was needed. Commanders on the ground knew it. But the majority of Americans and the Obama administration, along with the Iraqis themselves, chose otherwise.

Understandably.  Americans were war-weary, and attention & resources were badly needed on the domestic front.  But a long-term, very probable consequence of US troop withdrawal was…ignored? Or not even realized? And then one day we heard the horrifying news that almost overnight, Iraq was being overrun by brutal extremists, quickly gaining & holding ground. And spreading.

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Writing this article will not change what happened, and I certainly am no one of military or political influence, to shape a future course. So I don’t know why I’m even writing it. I just know that it’s been on my mind, doesn’t fade away, and so I need to do it.

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I mention now & again, that I am not and have never been a supporter of Barack Obama. I never trusted him, though in the earlier stages I didn’t know why. I also at times mention that I believe the Scriptures show us that it is God who raises up & brings low kings and governments. For this reason, I’ve stopped overtly ‘bashing’ the President. I can’t afford to expend precious time, energy & health in such negative efforts. Instead, I have to find, if I can, positives in this man and his administration.  If I can.  I also pray. Beyond that, it is God’s call and on His shoulders.

When you have previously opposed someone almost absolutely, it takes effort to listen with an open mind. In matters as serious as stopping the spread of ISIS, I want to be able to support this President’s thoughts and strategies. Watching him on 60 Minutes this past Sunday, believe me, I listened. Without prejudice.

I think my first & strongest impression of Barack Obama, as he answered host Steve Kroft’s questions, was of a deep, implacable assurance.  Not arrogance, nor intractability. He was sure of his answers.  His knowledgeable assessments and explanations – as I perceived them, at least – reassured me to some extent.  But they did more than that.  Even though the entire interview may have been staged, I realized how little I knew about such overwhelming atrocities as extremist invasions, and how ill-equipped I am to even consider faulting the judgments of the experts. In anything. Way above my pay grade.

Which doesn’t necessarily mean that my initial (and ongoing) impressions of the President were/are wrong.  Maybe my beliefs & ideas are valid ones, trumping existing policy if ever implemented.  But…I’m not the one in the saddle. I’m not the one with the years of hard experience & the knowledge that comes with that. Others are, and maybe I need to let that trump my opinions & impressions in life-and-death matters of international import. Maybe many of us should now see such things this way. Sometimes, the wrong person is in the job, engaging in a subversive agenda…yet still, some good results.

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…this being said, I don’t advise throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And what I mean by that, in this case, is I can’t disregard my own six years of severe distrust of this President. Going back to Victor Davis Hanson’s article “Dr. Barack and Mr. Obama”   – the first such article like that that I’d ever seen – through to Andrew McCarthy’s recent piece  “The Khorosan Group Does Not Exist” (It’s a fictitious name the Obama administration invented to deceive us), Mark Levin’s declaring emphatically that Obama is in a full-blown cover up of ISIS, and everything else I’ve read, seen, or heard in between, I cannot pretend ignorance. I cannot blithely skip through the field of daisies, chasing butterflies & assuming everything is light-hearted and lovely. I know much better now.

…so while on the one hand, I am stepping out in faith, trusting God enough to trust President Obama in this instance and moment of global threat, on the other hand I’m saying, But I still don’t trust him, and probably never will.

I find my way out of this dichotomy in the words of King David: “LORD, my heart is not haughty…neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” (Psalm 131:1)   I remember that Proverbs 21:1 tells us that the LORD holds the king’s heart, and turns it “whithersoever He will.”  I, and all of us, must with one accord now have as much faith and hope in God’s hand on our leadership as we can, not only in prayer and fasting, but in our thinking and our words as well.

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…More than just a Government ?

Last 4th. of July I began what I intend to make a tradition: I read the Declaration of Independence aloud. (So far, I’m the only person present at the reading.) This year, while reading those hallowed words that explained & proclaimed the American Revolutionary cause, I also began to get unexpected glimpses of parallels with things not necessarily ‘political’. These glimpses will, I know, become full visions, if I am not just imagining them. If I am not just imagining them, surely others have been graced with such…insight.

My conviction that the hand & works of the Lord run through all of American history, for a strong & definite purpose, grows every day. There is not much about which I have no doubt, but I have no doubt about that. I think I am coming late to the party! as the almost tangibleness of His invisible things become more manifest to me. We read in 2 Corinthians 4:17 about affliction “…working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;” and are counseled to look at those things which are not seen. I suspect that the United States of America is a powerful representation of those unseen things.

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“That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

What impacted me especially, in this statement in the beginning sentences of the Declaration of Independence, was the idea of the consent of the governed. That some form of government among men is necessary cannot be disputed. The heavy-handed concept of government might be inherently assumed. Clearly, with tyrants & dictators, it is. There, the people fall prey. Perhaps they have never known any other way.

(But there is another Way.)

God is on the march, and He has plans for men.

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We begin our endeavors with high hopes & grandiose plans. Then, we usually start hitting roadblocks, right? Sometimes, roadblocks hit us! As the sparks fly upward, man is born for trouble, we read in the book of Job. (Job 5:7) I hate that this is written, but…it is. We can usually safely assume, at the very least, glitches along the way; but often serious difficulties, conflicts & divisions rise up.

So it is & has been in governments among men. The reason for that is that governments are composed of men. Our Founders knew this well, and did not expect perfection, or a problem-free republic. In the Federalist No.51, James Madison astutely wrote: “It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

‘Glitches’ began rearing their hostile heads early on in the young United States. Prior to the framing of the Constitution, under the Articles of Confederation, Congress had failed so miserably to govern that a return to monarchy was being considered as the only defense against chaos. George Washington doubted that the young nation could exist much longer without “…having lodged somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union…” (Athearn, Robert G., American Heritage series, Vol.4, ‘A New Nation’)  Such crises led to four months of constant, intense & sometimes bitter debate during the Constitutional Convention, where the Articles of Confederation were scrapped, and agreement was finally reached on the new Constitution of the United States of America.

Safeguards against the inclinations of man at his worst were implemented into our Constitution, to the best of our forefathers’ ability. In his closing speech at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, while acknowledging not entirely approving it, Benjamin Franklin also acknowledged astonishment that the finished Constitution of the United States of America approached “…so near to perfection as it does.” (Ravitch, Diane & Thernstrom, Abigail, eds., The Democracy Reader)

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So…men struggle to achieve the goal of a free nation. Such a nation requires government.  And perhaps we see in the heart, the form & the functioning of the government & citizens of the United States of America a parallel to the corporate body of Christ and the individuals within it. And thus, a glimpse into the heart & desire of God.

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Just as the American governing system is comprised of many persons who serve in a hierarchy of various offices & functions, so Christ operates His government on this earth through His people, who serve within a Divine structure, as many members of one Body. Yet “…all members have not the same office.” (Romans 12:4) The optimal functioning of the body of Christ on earth requires the willing participation of…His people. God want co-workers. (2 Cor.6:1, 5:19)  He wants us to agree with him, so that we can act in accord with His purposes. Although the Lord can do as He pleases, it is not in His heart to subvert us, or force us to work with Him. He wants our consent.

He wants the consent of those over whom He would be Lord.

Consent of the governed.

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Depending on your Point of View…

On this Memorial Day, 2013, I had occasion to re-read this post from May, 2009. Though a bit wordy and with a few mistakes, I decided to reblog it today.

May the mighty God continue to bless the United States of America, always imparting His mind and wisdom to our leaders.

The Kingdom of God, the Republic of America & You

In my reading and studies of our nation’s beginnings, I am frequently struck by an angle or viewpoint that may not be the one usually pursued.

It is said that there are two sides to every story, right? (Personally, I maintain there are at least three…!) Have you ever considered viewing the American rebellion years leading to the events of 1776 from the perspective of the English monarchy? Not, of course, that England was in the right – it just makes for, may I say, an interesting approach. From our viewpoint, perhaps ‘absurd’ would be a better word, in light of where America stands today… I just find it intriguing how a situation, or an individual, can be perceived so very differently by those involved, or by on-lookers, based on…based on what? Needs? Desires? Duty? How we can be so absolutely certain of a thing, but time may soon…

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