Musing 101

As time goes on, it becomes clearer to me that God’s judgement is on America. And what baffles me is the number of Christians who want to disagree with this. They see the material blessings we have, the lip service given to Christian morality, and the pushback against the furthering of anti-Christian morality of various sorts and think that those alone are signs of things turning around spiritually.

And yes, let’s celebrate that there are signs the younger generation is spiritually hungry. They have seen the utter futility of secularism and want something else.

But often times, I see politics and other ideology trying to fill that gap, not Christianity.

Think of the *pill movements. Think of the rise of political activism or the increasing isolation seen in the younger generation as they seek marriage less and often have fewer deep friendships.

But honestly, what has me the most concerned is that God is giving us a version of the apocalypse that I think was from Dr Riddlebarger (but I have not been able to find the exact citation from him or others in recent years) that goes along the lines of –

“Consider a different view of the apocalypse. Instead of destructive weather, chaos in the streets, imagine a nice suburban neighborhood where the streets are clean, the children are respectful, politicians are honest, and on Sundays, everyone goes to church where the cross is not preached.”

And as much as I enjoy seeing a resurgence of morality, this rings in my ears because I too often see men who’ve long been in the Church celebrate more at political power being used to get wins over liberals than they are to see people come to Christ.

I am also deeply concerned at the apparent acceleration of seeing pastors falling (across denominational lines) and lay people at large . . . being willing to overlook even horrific things. In my home state, we had a pastor be convicted of a crime, but even have the fellow leaders at the church affirm his innocence! And we wonder why people increasingly take our claims of knowing there’s an objective morality less and less seriously.

In my study of history, there’s been a fairly common pattern – man’s hubris and plans which gain his unwavering confidence are often the very means by which God enacts judgement on those nations. Probably the clearest example in the modern era is how the network of political alliances intended to prevent war in Europe actually forced Europe to start World War 1.

And I see that pattern going on in the Church. We have for decades allowed the Gospel to be tied to Republicanism. And under Trump, we see the accomplishment of many political goals, but hearts hardening toward the true gospel (instead going after false gospels like Romanism or any other number of things). I only pray that as we receive God’s chastening (for God’s just judgement on the world is instead a chastening meant to sanctify His children) we seek His will and the power of the Holy Spirit over political power.