I love my country. For those in the back, I LOVE MY COUNTRY!
Until the Lord returns, I want the United States of America always to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, and one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Because I am a Christian with a worldview formed by the inspired and infallible Word of God, my heart aches at the coming administration of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Mr. Biden will become the 46th president of these United States, a date, I fear, which will live in infamy.
Mr. Biden, who braggartly declared, “I am the Democrat Party,” possesses the authority to enact the most leftist, Marxist, sexually abhorrent, anti-God ideology our country has ever known. The political party he leads confirmed without shame or subtlety its intent to move forward a godless and sin-promoting agenda. Have you read the party’s platform? Have you listened to the rhetoric of those who soon will be in power?
About people like me who have an opposing view to intersectionality, identity politics, critical race theory, LGBTQ+ dogma, and white privilege, the soon to be in charge write, “Their hate overrides their common sense. It will take reprogramming of their brains to reverse the effects of their cult.” There remains no political check to counter the system barreling at us. By us, I mean any like me who have a worldview formed by the inspired and infallible Word of God.
Christians find themselves in constant tension with the culture because this is not where we identify, and frankly, this is where we are not wanted. Shining light into darkness and exposing wickedness and lies by the declaration of the Word of God is unwelcome. Living and speaking as preserving salt to a decaying infrastructure has no value to the culture. As we continue to preach the exclusivity of Jesus Christ and as we identify humanity’s open rebellion against God, we will be marked for “reprogramming” which is to say, elimination.
Your human resources department is not clamoring for more Christians. Our local public schools are not wishing that more Christians would become classroom teachers, school administrators, or high school basketball coaches. Our state and national governments are not seeking the input of Christians to set public policy. Christians need not apply. But that is not the worst of it. The worst of it is what is coming, the persecution of the church of our Lord Jesus Christ by those who hate Jesus.
Persecution is coming; it’s only a matter of when and to what extent.
I am a Christian pastor who leads a small group of Christians, 50-60 families in total. I preach weekly what Jesus said, “no one comes to the Father except through me.” I preach without apology Genesis 1-3 beginning with God’s creation of all that is and his authority over his creation including his expression of two and only two genders and the roles assigned by him to each. And I preach man’s rebellion against God recorded in chapter 3, a rebellion that remains as pervasive today among all human beings as it was in the beginning. I am leading all under my care to believe the same, to teach this to their children, and to run to the grace of God for aid.
How will we live in the coming days? We are not the first to experience such hostilities. From Daniel and his friends in Babylon or the apostles in the Roman Empire, we learn how believers live in a culture opposed to their allegiance to heaven.
Daniel 3:18 “Let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods.”
Acts 5:29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
I am committed to live in strict adherence to the instructions and commands of our Lord and His apostles despite any opposition that might occur. Without the protection of the first amendment, the apostles’ position toward the ruling powers was faithfulness to Christ without regard to personal loss or shame. This must be ours too. I am no prophet, but I suspect the members of our church and all faithful Christians in America will face increasing opposition in their workplaces, their children’s schools, from the government, and in their families for faithfulness to Jesus.
But remember the words of our Lord as the time draws near, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
As the opposition to our Lord and his followers increases, we will need our Bibles and the community of believers that is the local church. We cannot anticipate every event of every day, so we study Job, Esther, Daniel, the gospels, Philippians, 1 Peter and the rest of the apostles’ letters. Only the Scriptures can prepare us for the lives we will live as exiles.
Peter warned his readers about those who will mock and abuse the faithful Christians who will not join the culture in the flood of wicked living. To deflect their attacks, he advises the Christians to find help from each other (4:8-10). If I am to make a prediction about the future, it is the necessity of the local church to Christians. Small, uninfluential, and faithful congregations will be the means God uses to care for his own. Therefore, our lives must be connected tightly to the church and why we must revolve our families around the community that is the local church.
Peter concludes this way, “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator” (4:19). By God’s grace, this I will do, and this is how I will lead the church I serve, so help me God.
But maybe God will intervene in these United States of America. Maybe God will extend his omnipotent hand and restrain the evil that appears on the horizon as he did in the days of Esther and Mordecai.
Because I love my country, I pray…
O Lord,
Our once honorable nation faces an uncertain and frightening future. We have sown to the wind and deserve to reap the whirlwind. But we ask for mercy remembering that you love mercy. For the glory of your name, would you spare our nation from its ruin? Would you heal our self-inflicted injuries? Would you extend your grace to an undeserving nation? Would you grant for your faithful people to live in peace?
Whatever is your will for our land, we know what your will is for us. Should we suffer because we identify with Christ, we will, by your grace, commit ourselves to do good as you have created us to do. We will not bow to their gods, and we will not abandon our loyalty to your son, our savior, Jesus. We affirm again to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
As always, I welcome your feedback and any suggestions you might have for an upcoming Lunchtime Musing.
To read past Lunchtime Musings, follow me at medium.com/@mikeverway
Mike VerWay
Pastor for Preaching & Vision