By the way… America is “Not a Christian Nation”

I subscribe to a free feed in my PrayerMate app called Living Out Your Faith. It’s a 14-day devotional published by Ligonier Ministries. This morning’s devotional served as a good perspective check for me as I ponder the state of the nation in which I live, the USA.

As you read it, I hope you’ll be encouraged by it and not insulted or outraged. I imagine both reactions are possible depending on your view of this great nation. I, personally, agree with the assessment that’s given in the devotional. Our focus must be on the coming Kingdom, not on the here and now. America will go the way of every nation on earth: it will fall. We have no promise from God to the contrary. In the meantime, we must use the political freedoms we have to the Kingdom’s advantage; we must seek to follow Christ’s two-fold mandate to Worship God at all times and to Make Disciples of all nations.

Awaiting the City of God

Evangelical Christians love America. Some see in her the last hope of creating a Christian nation. But it is not a Christian nation. It is pagan to the core. It is in danger of becoming, if it is not already, the new “Evil Empire.” The Mayflower Compact is a museum piece, a relic of a forgotten era. “In God We Trust” is now a lie.

Yes, we must always work for social reform. Yes, we must be “profane” in Martin Luther’s sense of going out of the temple and into the world. We do not despise the country of our birth. But in what do we invest our hope? The state is not God. The nation is not the Promised Land. The president is not our King. The Congress is not our Savior. Our welfare can never be found in the city of man. The federal government is not sovereign. We live—in every age and in every generation—by the rivers of Babylon. We need to understand that clearly. We must learn how to sing the Lord’s song in a strange and foreign land.

America will fall. The United States will inevitably disintegrate. The Stars and Stripes will bleed. The White House will turn to rubble. That is certain. We stand like Augustine before the sea. We pray that God will spare our nation. If He chooses not to, we ask for the grace to accept its demise. In either case, we look to Him who is our King and to heaven, which is our home. We await the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, whose builder and maker is God.

Coram Deo: Living before the face of God

Are you looking to your King and to your eternal destiny, despite the circumstances around you? Keep your focus on the heavenly Jerusalem, whose builder and maker is God.

Passages for Further Study:

1 Corinthians 15:50
John 3:5
2 Peter 1:11

Copyright © Ligonier Ministries.

Source: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/awaiting-city-god/

A Hastily-Written Recantation of the Rare Political Post

Well, here I am writing a recantation of an earlier post regarding how I think American Christians should vote in the upcoming presidential election. I mentioned in that post how I very rarely write about politics. Now, the one time I do write about it, I end up just a few months later writing this recantation. The truth is I never in my most vivid nightmares thought we’d end up where we are, with Trump and Clinton, most likely, as the two candidates for the US presidency. Wow!

So, the question I have to ask myself is, “OK, Jono, how do you apply what you wrote to this horrible mess?”

If you recall, I mentioned that I think we should vote for the candidate who will provide the least hindrance to Christians practicing what our Lord commanded, worship and evangelism. I also said that it would be useless to vote for a candidate who has no chance of winning, like any third-party candidate. I basically advocated for the lesser of two evils.

So, how would I apply that to this election cycle?

Um…I, uh… don’t really know. You see, we’re most likely looking at Trump or Clinton, though Sanders still has a chance. How would you rank those three from best for our country to worst? Allow me to ask an equally difficult question that I believe illustrates the situation in which we find ourselves. How would you rank the following items in terms of which would be best to mold into a sculpture with your bare hands: a titanium wedding ring, the Hope Diamond, or my mother’s generations-old cast-iron frying pan. That’s seems to be the options we’re given. It would take a miracle of God to mold any of those items into a sculpture with our bare hands. It would take a miracle of God for any of the possible candidates from the two primary parties to be effective at benefiting America or the Kingdom.

So, where does that leave me and my embarrassing post? Well, it leaves me a little red-faced. It leaves me with this recantation of that previous post, which is always embarrassing for a blogger.

Fortunately, fixing my mess here is a lot easier than fixing the mess in which America finds herself, and even easier yet than fixing the mess in which America will be after November. I have to appeal to conscience at this point. I still believe that the Christians of America should be concerned with the Kingdom of God more than with America, but we also must be concerned with conscience. It’s a horrible situation in which we find ourselves. If nothing else, I want to be able to say that I kept my conscience clear in my voting; I would feel very sullied if I cast my vote for Trump, Clinton, or Sanders.

Regardless of the outcome or how little initial impact it may make on the elections this year, I have decided that I can do no better than to vote my conscience, which means voting third party. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for any of the three remaining possible candidates running for the two major parties.

Here I stand, embarrassed but resolved.

By the way… Which Nation’s Well-being Will Guide Your US Presidential Vote?

That seems like a silly question, doesn’t it? Of course, as a US citizen in a US presidential vote, my concern should be the well-being of the United States of America, right? I mean, what else?

Well…

We’re deep in what has been called the “Silly Season,” the campaigning time leading up to a presidential election. I very rarely post about politics, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts about what should be guiding your vote (if you’re a Christian and a US citizen) in the US presidential election in November, and in any votes leading up to it, if you participate in those.

First, let me say that I think Christians need to stop believing that there is the possibility that a godly person will be in the US presidency. If that ever happens again, it will be only by the grace of God and I will welcome it, but it seems so incredibly unlikely. Take a look at the elections over the last several decades. It’s been a long time since we’ve had someone decent to vote for in a presidential election. It always seems to be the choice, on a scale of 1 to 10, between a 2 and a 2½ at best—a choice between the lesser of two evils, as the saying goes.

Also, I believe it’s useless to vote for a candidate in a party that has no possible chance of winning, so that almost always leaves only the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate. As sad as that reality is, it’s reality in this country nonetheless.

I believe, for the Christian, the focus should be on the well-being of God’s Kingdom rather than on the well-being of America. I believe Christians should vote for the candidate that will allow the Kingdom of God to grow and expand the most. Of course, the new president will know nothing of these things—he won’t be a Christian after all—but we should vote for the candidate that will ignore us the most in terms of governmental restriction on Christian practice and activity.

In my opinion, it’s the healthiest strategy to vote for whichever candidate you think will provide the longest lasting freedom for Christians to continue to worship, preach, and evangelize. We are under the mandate of God to worship, preach truth, and share the Gospel message everywhere. I want a president that will hinder that the least, and that’s who I’ll be voting for.

Update & Recantation (May 5, 2016)
When I originally wrote this post, I never actually thought we’d end up with Trump and Clinton (maybe Sanders) as the choices for US president. In that light, a recantation, while embarrassing, was necessary.