(Tim, w/thanks to David L.) On the occasion of another thematic Bible, this one titled The American Patriot's Bible...
Recently, I've been explaining to younger believers that we must beware the idolatry of the state--particularly now when so many are crying out for Washington D.C. to heal them. We're well on our way to granting the civil magistrate unlimited authority and the consequences for followers of Jesus Christ will be catastrophic.
Thunderheads are gathering on the horizon and those who don't see them must not want to.
Here's a sampling of current cases where religious liberty is under attack. And note, these stories are all from this past week.
First, the Roman Catholic church is threatening to pull out of diaconal work in the District of Columbia rather than submit to the District of Columbia requiring them...
to hire and provide marriage benefits for sodomites. Second, Bert Chapman, a Library Science professor at Purdue University, has many calling for him to be fired after he wrote an online piece laying out the economic case against homosexuality. And third, last week nationalized health care passed the House vote, causing the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to gush:
For generations, the American people have called for affordable, quality healthcare for their families. Today, the call will be answered.
Inevitably, this will lead to the civil magistrate taking over medical decisions of life and death from physicians and family members. So, from birth to grave... Or rather, from conception (abortion) to brain cessation (organ harvesting), we will belong, not to ourselves, but to Caesar.
In other words, this is not a good time to be linking God and America. Persecution is coming and the order of the day for the People of God is preparation for the Washington shock and awe about to hit us.
You say you're a postmillenialist and you think nothing of the sort's going to happen?
Well, I may be a postmillenialist too, for all you know, and I'm telling you...
May I recommend two works I consider indispensable for those who want to consider the believer's proper relationship to the state? First, my friend Herb Schlossberg's Idols for Destruction: The Conflict of Christian Faith and American Culture; and second, Jacque Ellul's False Presence of the Kingdom
