The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
Psalm 33:10-12
As the USA celebrates another “Independence Day”, this scripture takes on increased significance to me. While we should honor and appreciate our country and its history as the first (and maybe last) experiment of human democracy in this world, it is quite obvious that the blessings of God have turned a majority of people into proud secular humanists as they forget the source of their many blessings. Whether you believe America was founded as a “Christian” nation or not, it is quite obvious a majority have fallen far from the Biblical foundations God laid out for a righteous nation. Our empire is teetering on the brink of collapse and failure because the people have become dependent on government more than God which is truly a recipe for disaster.
Our sermon at church yesterday was on the theme of obedience to government or rulers above us. It is a difficult subject because it is so hard to yield or fall under the yoke of unGodly leadership…which is most governments of the world today. Still, it is scriptural that as much as we can we submit to authorities at least up to the point where they demand us to go against the commandments of God. There also comes a point at which “the people” are to unite against tyranny and the Bible is full of stories of God delivering His people from tyrant rulers. Obviously, our founding fathers in the USA came to the point of resisting the powers over this land which led to a bloody revolution that many would assume God allowed for.
While I agree that our fundamental direction from God is to live humbly and meekly in this world as we wait for the true kingdom to come, it is quite clear to me we should not live dependent on governments or rulers. We live for God and under His precepts first. We might live subservient to tyranny for a time, but we are always to speak truth to power when the opportunity affords.
Politics is not a real answer to the ills that have taken over our nation. I don’t think Christians are to be a political party as we know them. Yes, we are to participate in the governing process, but if you are counting on politicos to bring truth and righteousness to our nation…good luck. “The heart of man is deceitfully wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9) and I will trust no man in government to carry out God’s truth and will. The Bible has outlined a pretty clear picture of how powers will be in the end times, and I think it is clear that we are in those times. So, what is the Biblical role of a true Christian in these times of global governance?
Outside of perhaps the Jewish people, I see no evidence that God calls nations to Himself. Under the new covenant, Christ has called all individuals to repentance and faith regardless of their nationality, race, or creed. Christ died for people, not nations. We have been spiritually grafted into the same tree of God’s chosen people and that is primarily because the Jewish people have historically squandered the blessings and miracles of God. It seems part of the human sin condition for nations to become proud and totalitarian over other people and this has never worked for very long. When a nation gets imperialistic, God always seems to have a way of bringing them down and we see that happening now in our nation.
So what is the role of a Christian in America today? It is clear that the American “church” has lost much of its influence in the governance of our nation. We are in the middle of a cultural civil war over right and wrong, truth and falsehood. It is hard to believe anyone these days, especially those in supposed leadership over us as politicos. I don’t think our mandate is to blindly follow the edicts of government…at least those that are in direct opposition to the Holy Scripture. As in the days of Joshua, we are back at the crossroads of faith where we have to determine “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). When government attempts to limit our freedoms to do right, it is the right of God’s people to speak and act against that which is evil and stand for good.
In many ways, we are at war with “this world”. We are to be IN it but not OF it. We are called to come out and stand apart. Sure, we obey all the natural laws of God that governments sometimes back and enforce…but surely we are not to remain silent or in agreement with evil. Evil wins when good people do nothing or say nothing about it. God’s people will never bow to “Baal” or the almighty dollar.
While it is natural for us to pursue and desire peace, it is quite obvious Christians have been called in scripture to come out and be different from darkness and evil. How can we be “salt and light” to the world if we don’t do that? We are supposed to pray for our government and leaders, but what are we to pray for? Blessings? Cursings? I would say “neither”. Yes, we are to bless those who curse us…but that doesn’t mean we are to agree with or support those who curse us or God. We pray for their salvation and we pray for God’s righteousness to come and rule and reign. Yet, we are not dependent on governments or other people to be righteous. WE are to be righteous. WE are to be the conscience of the world as we gain our instruction and ways from the Word of God. WE pray for God’s will…and we are promised that it will be done, “on earth as it is in heaven”.
I am so grateful today that God restored my spiritual independence two years ago. I am thankful that He took away my spiritual blindness, most of my anger and resentment towards authorities at all levels, and has replaced those things with new independence I never thought I could know. While I live in this world, I am not bound to it. I get along peacefully with all men as much as possible, but I will not trade truth or righteousness for false independence nor for any nationality. This world is bound by pressures to conform to nationhood. Our passports are our freedom to travel throughout most of the world, yet we do not own our passports. Our government does. We may think we own our money and resources, but history has shown us, and prophesies have revealed that governments and secular powers are always seeking to control your assets and freedoms to accumulate them. The new social order that is coming will demonstrate that in a huge way.
So, whether we live in the USA, Russia, China, Cuba, or Europe…our freedom and independence come from a spiritual relationship with God Almighty. We have access to that independence ONLY through the sacrifice and shed blood of Jesus the Son of God on the cross. No government or third party can “separate us from the love of God”. No one can force us to do evil unless we submit to it. That is the line I draw in “obeying government”. Also, our method to combat evil is to be “doing good”…not replacing evil with evil. Even in battle, we can have peace in knowing we fight on the side of truth and righteousness. Yes, it is a fight, but it is not fought under the normal terms we humans always fall back on. This is a spiritual fight and we are to fight using the “whole armor of God”…not weapons made of men (Ephesians 6:11-18).
So yes, let us celebrate independence today. Let us be thankful for the blessings of our country and the heritage in which Christianity was allowed for a time to help us prosper and show the world a better way. But more importantly, may the Christian today rejoice in true independence from the world and a renewed dependence on Almighty God. We are not slaves to sin or a sinful nation. We are free in Christ to live as we ought under his Spirit and ordinances. We don’t need any government permission to do so.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (Matthew 8:34-36)