One of the most telling signs of our vulgar and prideful animosity toward Christ the King is our comfort with the knowledge that He will not be addressed by our “leaders” in a formal, official context in anything but the most vague, superficial sense, if at all. He may be cited or used as an ornamental prop when deemed useful, but never anything more than that. And we all know it.
That said, knowing of this reality isn’t a problem.
Being comfortable with it is.
There is a comfortable expectation of dismissal of the King of creation shared by self-described Christians from Left to Right and everywhere in between on the political spectrum. This is where the problem is clearly visible, if we will only find the courage to take a solid, sober look. If there’s one thing that many “proud Americans” of all political stripes can enthusiastically agree upon, it’s that the Word of God is not binding here and now in any meaningful (or restraining) detail. That being the case, we’re all free to pick and choose which Scripture to exalt and which to ignore whenever and however it suits us.
With this being our present condition, it should come as no surprise that it is now the norm in America not only to accept, but to expect, the open dismissal and disrespect of Christ the King by our leaders.
Frankly, for many reading this, the thought of expecting anything else – of expecting that our leaders would explicitly exalt and seek the Nature of Christ in a formal, official context – is flat out bizarre.
It’s weird.
It’s unheard of.
It’s un-thought of…and that’s the point.
We have become so thoroughly conditioned through generations of indoctrination at the hands of State-controlled “education” systems and Corporate-controlled pop-culture (which includes talk radio), that we no longer even see the need for Christ as the clear core of our politics, government, law, education, or anything else. We are now a land of professing Christians who, more often than not, agree with and even happily defend the modern American tradition of dissing the King of creation.
This now quite comfortable and normative dismissal of Christ the King is both a sign of and reason for our presently unfolding plunge into cultural oblivion.
We were once again reminded (and once again graciously given the time and opportunity to repent) of our desperately proud and suicidally stupid condition through last night’s State of the Union Show, featuring President Barack Obama as the mouthpiece for the Left head of the two-headed Progressive dragon that is eating us alive, and Joni Ernst as the puppet for the Right head of the same.
As we covered Monday in How to Kill the Two-Headed Dragon (Before it Finishes Killing Us), we’ve heard it all before, and no matter how obviously, demonstrably, or verifiably wrong, deceitful, and evil the tripe that comes out of these “leaders'” mouths is, we just can’t help but go along. We can’t help but play the game…their game.
Oh sure, we’ll complain and pick sides and criticize the other team, but only within the confines of what the system and its proponents tell us is “within bounds”. We only allow ourselves to think and act within the limits prescribed by the system (and for the system).
We dare not think outside the box, and we double dare not act upon any such thoughts (which we shouldn’t be having anyway).
Oh no, we must acknowledge and embrace the thoroughly satanic notion that this is all that there is for us…that America is the gold standard for what is actually possible on earth…that Christ simply cannot be clearly exalted and His nature cannot be clearly applied here and now in the realms of politics, government, law, and the like.
So we end up with what we saw and heard last night: Insanely delusional denial and American pride on full, open display, greeted with cheers and ovations every few seconds or so by the assembled ruling elite class that we have been conditioned to perpetually enable and defend through our acceptance of the dismissal of Christ as the true standard in every realm of life right here and now.
We – the professing Christian church in America – are most responsible for this.
We are most responsible for the insane pride and destructive delusion of President Barack Obama when he says to us with a straight and serious face:
“America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.”
We are most responsible for creating a culture in which political speeches of the highest order can go on and on and on with ideas, proclamations, salutations, and culture-shaping strategies all without making a single solitary appeal to the Nature of Christ as revealed in His Word as their basis for legitimacy.
We are most responsible for encouraging the promotion of godless, Christ-dismissing “leadership” – apparently because that is exactly what we want in practice.
We who claim His name don’t seem to want Him as Lord in practice any more than any garden variety (or top tier) pagan. They have their passages of Scripture to ignore, and so do we. So what’s the difference?
We are most responsible for the relegation of God to a vague construct to be used when convenient as a prop. When our leaders do it, they are only mimicking our fidelity (or lack thereof) to Him in practice.
We are most responsible when the Right head of the dragon (aka Joni Ernst) finished off her Christ-dismissing speech with:
“May God bless this great country of ours, the brave Americans serving in uniform on our behalf, and you, the hardworking men and women who make the United States of America the greatest nation the world has ever known.”
And we are most responsible for President Barack Obama’s closing things out in similarly “ornamentally Christian” style with:
“My fellow Americans, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We, too, have made it through some hard times. Fifteen years into this new century, we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun again the work of remaking America. We’ve laid a new foundation. A brighter future is ours to write. Let’s begin this new chapter — together — and let’s start the work right now.
Thank you, God bless you, and God bless this country we love.”
Not surprisingly to anyone, earlier in the same speech we were treated to:
“I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long. I believe this because over and over in my six years in office, I have seen America at its best. . . . I’ve seen something like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our country, a civil right now legal in states that seven in ten Americans call home.”
So, yeah, President Obama’s God reference obviously was not to the God of Christianity in any true, coherent fashion.
But so what?
Are Republican references to “God” any more serious? Wasn’t Mitt Romney – a man who believes that he will one day be god and that there is right now an incalculable number of gods floating around the universe(s) – the most recent Republican nominee for President?
So what if President Obama wants to ignore Scripture?
He’s just following the example and lead of the good “conservative Christians” constantly enabling the Republican Party to do the same, isn’t he?
And these “conservative Christians” are the ones who are supposed to know better, aren’t they?
President Obama is supposed to the spiritually blind and dead unbeliever, right? And they – these “conservative Christians” on the Right, are supposed to have the Spirit of God within them, giving them sight, hearing, and life, right?
So if these so-called “conservative Christians” are free to ignore wave after wave of passages and crystal clear pronouncements that go against their cherished traditions and idols, then why shouldn’t we expect President Obama and Friends to do the same?
The biblical answer is that we shouldn’t.
The biblical answer is that true Christians – people who have actually been supernaturally saved by the grace and Gospel of Jesus Christ – are the only ones who have the ability to lead anyone – any individual and any culture – in repentance and restoration.
Which would seem to indicate that right now in America there are very few actual Christians.
Even so and whatever the actual number of true believers, there are more than enough to save even this culture…if only we will repent, believe, and take up the one thing that you will never hear from godless “leaders” as the true solution to the sin that is killing our culture before our eyes. Only the Gospel-fueled Great Commission can save this land and its people. Only Christ the King embraced as King in practice can make us truly strong….and truly joyful…and truly prosperous…and truly safe.
Until and unless His people are graced with the strength and desire to take that truth to this culture, it is (and should be) doomed to everything that wicked leaders would have us experience.
So what is our answer, Christian?
Who will we insist upon as the explicit core of our politics, law, and everything else?
The “state of our union” (and everything else) hangs on the answer to that question.
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Soli Deo Gloria!