Government Control

2 Chronicles 11:15 ESV

And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat idols and for the calves that he had made.

The religious temper of a society is a volatile and powerful force for good or evil in a society. Many nations have found that to be a reality that must be addressed head on. Many others have chosen to quietly manipulate and pressure religious institutions until they capitulate to being puppets of the government.

Recently the Orthodox church in Ukraine is trying to separate its self from the Russian Orthodox Church that it might no longer be tied spiritually to Russia, seeing it as a persistent threat from Russia against its sovereignty. The Chinese have recently gained the power to appoint the Catholic bishops inside its boarders so that they may control the people more affectively. The Chinese governments lagging opposition to unregulated churches has recently been renewed in an effort to better monitor and control the people of China and maintain its own position, as the communist party continues to become a greater minority in its own country.

Such efforts and directions from government leaders are not new to the people of God. Jeroboam feared the continued influence of the Davidic line and therefor chose to abandon the right worship of God modifying it to become something under his control. He expanded worship then to include not just his own calves, that he gave the name of the Lord to, but also the “goat idols”. Then began the exodus of priests to the southern Kingdom. Jeroboam then simply chose priests more inline with his own beliefs and moved on, this should serve as a quick note about finding those people that tickle our itching ears. It worked. Jeroboam solidified his kingdom in his hands, the Northern Kingdom would never reunite with the southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom would go on to be the wealthier of the two nations, more cosmopolitan and economically sound, until God removed it.

It is a joy and a pleasure to part of a people so feared and fought against that every nation on earth seeks to hinder us in some way. The United States Government is not a lot different. Using tax codes and the Johnson Amendment to manipulate and push pastors to speak only so far in a political direction lest they manipulate their congregations to actually vote giving preference to those rich individuals able to buy add space and sway the electors, as the more American form of spurring a populace to vote. Christians are not to be bought or coerced. The Christian worldview is one that requires an educated individual praying through the issues and working through the arguments. This done in context of other brothers and sisters in Christ. Addressing issues with our neighbors not with anger or malice but with the weapons God has given us, his very words. A Facebook post to be seen by our “friends” who haven’t blocked us is not such a thing. The church has the capacity and ability to change nations, to tear down strong holds, to break down the very gates of hell, yet we exercise this ability through prayer and the word of God.

The anemic nature of our prayer services has led us to the place of greatest vulnerability and divisiveness hear in these United States. It is no coincident that as churches have stopped gathering for Wednesday and Sunday prayer services our nation has fallen further into idolatry and division. As we have left our neighbors to hid behind doors with screens as their “friends” let us as a church gather once again to pray for our neighbors as we talk with them over fences. Find the name of your actual neighbor and ask your church to pray for you as you actually talk with them about Christ. And then do it again and again. The power of God unleashed in the prayers of his saints gathered together is something that makes every nation on earth quake. Let the gates of Hell quake as the army of God gathers. Or will you O Man try to rush the gates alone? Know this Uriah found himself alone in front of the enemy’s gates, and then he found himself dead!

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO