Save me, O God, by thy name,
And vindicate me by Thy power.
Hear my prayer, O God;
Give ear to the words of my mouth.
For strangers have risen up against me,
And violent men have sought my life:
They have not set God before them. Selah.
You and I may be unable to relate to David’s fears as he is pursued by violent men wanting to take his life. But there are many today who are gripped with this same fear, so much so that the spirit of David’s prayer resonates with their spirits. They cry out in prayer as if the ancient prayer of David inspires them, giving them the breath they need to cry out: “Save me, O God, for I trust in Your character, Your purposes, and Your power.”
There are some who have awakened this morning to the sound of gunshots or breaking glass, the shouts of vandals or the stench of smoke and fire. Where is this happening, we ask?
National Unity Is Hijacked by Violence
On May 25, one month ago, what began with a unified national response of grief and disgust by most Americans to the news of the murder of George Floyd has now been hijacked by lawless, violent men and women who seek to divide and destroy the foundations of America and the hard-fought progress of reconciliation among ethnic groups. What might have been an occasion of solemn national mourning and collective repudiation is being used instead as an occasion to stoke fires of ethnic division and hate.
Many in the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, by their violent, lawless rioting, have actually caused great destruction toward Black lives and under-served minority communities. This fact exposes the real goal of BLM leaders and their deceived followers. Rather than choosing to build on the foundations of American progress, their goal is to destroy those foundations. Beginning with Christopher Columbus and the first explorers of the Western Hemisphere, the radical rioters condemn all who were responsible for the establishment of the United States of America. They condemn America and reject the God who clearly acted providentially to bring her into being and sustain her for over two centuries.
Meanwhile, here in Wooster, Ohio, aside from the reported congregating of some in the downtown square who are noisy at times, it is basically quiet, for now. I can greet the day in peace and hope. I can also choose to ignore the daily news reports and video footage of riots and destruction in our nation’s capital and in other cities. Never mind that they are breaking the law when they destroy public property and private businesses. To the vandals, the laws are unjust and the police who enforce them ought to be defunded. Most disheartening of all, the mayors of these cities and many leaders in Congress and the U.S. Senate who were elected to represent their constituents and to uphold the law have been silent or are actually encouragers of lawless behavior. Many Americans even wonder if our president is uncertain what to do.
How Did It Come to This?
How did we arrive at this point in American history? Short answer: By forgetting our history--or never learning it in the first place. If history is still offered in school and college curricula, it is generally not taught as “His Story.” But the divinely inspired Scriptures of God in the Book of Genesis reveal that human history began with God’s creation, including His creation of humankind. Therefore, omitting God also omits the essential context for understanding His sovereign role in human history—His plan to redeem fallen mankind through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and to bring Christ-followers to maturity as they submit to the following spheres of authority which He has ordained:
1) HOME: marriage and family for the training up of children,
2) CHURCH: the assembling of God’s people for teaching,
communion, worship, fellowship, equipping for service
3) GOVERNMENT which protects us through due process of law.
Sadly, the last two centuries have seen a rise of human pride that rejects the objective truth of God and replaces it with faith in human reason alone. By denying the truth that we can come to know God from His created order and from the objective revelation of inspired Scripture, many have become what Paul predicted—Professing to be wise, they became fools instead (Romans 1: 22) …always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 3: 7). The result: many influential people in high places are puffed up with pride in the power of human reason. Their influence undermines each sphere of authority God has ordained. During the past two centuries, the rise of public and private educational institutions has led to an assault on the biblical worldview.
Fools Indoctrinate Impressionable Students
Many American colleges and universities were originally founded as centers to teach and pursue truth as objective reality as understood through a biblical worldview. But instead, most have become bastions that indoctrinate impressionable students that all truth is relative truth. There is only one absolute truth; namely, “Truth cannot be known.” Consider the following excerpt (emphasis mine) from the inaugural address of Drew Gilpin Faust, Harvard University president from 2007-2018 as quoted by Chuck Stetson in his essay, “Rethinking What Universities Teach” posted in the blog, Liberty Your Choice:
The “Veritas” in Harvard’s shield was originally intended to invoke the absolutes of divine revelation, the unassailable verities of Puritan religion. We understand it quite differently now. Truth is an aspiration, not a possession. Yet in this we—and all universities defined by the spirit of debate and free inquiry—challenge and even threaten those who would embrace unquestioned certainties. We must commit ourselves to the uncomfortable position of doubt, to the humility of always believing there is more to know, more to teach, more to understand.
Moral and intellectual relativism manifests itself not only in departments of religion and the natural sciences, but also in the disciplines of psychology, sociology, political science, history and literature. Denial of biblical absolutes erases the distinctions between humankind and other animal species. How tragic to see this devolution of higher education at Harvard which had been established by Christians who had a clear “blueprint” for how a God-centered culture should look and a curriculum designed to teach the integration of faith, morality, law, and education as an essential foundation for liberty. The historic Puritan statue, the Matrix of Liberty Monument, in Plymouth, MA personifies these essentials elements of a free society.
Denial that God’s providential involvement in the founding and preservation of American constitutional government has led to a denial of American exceptionalism. If God was not providentially involved in leading the Puritans to risk their lives to establish a colony in which to practice their faith in the New World, then there was no human justification for establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the land occupied by Native Americans. Many secular historians and progressives condemn the European colonization of Africa and the western hemisphere. In their view, it was unjust to enter native cultures because they brought disease, economic oppression, and enslavement of helpless native cultures. Hence, the United States is an illegitimate nation with no right to exist. Nor should we retain the statues and buildings that remind us of American history. And so, we hear the crash of falling statues and smell the smoke of burning American flags.
Fractured Families and Fallen Statues
Knowing the nature of fallen man, God wisely included specific provisions to encourage humility and submission to both human and divine authority. Like sheep that tend to go astray (Isaiah 53: 6), we all need a Shepherd who can guide, discipline, and protect us. In Psalm 23: 4, David, speaking as a sheep needing the LORD as his Shepherd, says Your rod and your staff, then comfort me, referring to the rod of protection from predators and the staff to gently lead those who stray back into the fold. God’s plan for protecting and guiding His lambs onto the right path in life begins with the family as perhaps the most important sphere of authority.
Marriage and family have faced a moral and spiritual attack throughout history. In America, many children, particularly Black Americans, are raised by single parents, and children often grow up without having the love and care of a father. Tragically, many children are not taught to respect authority by a father who models godly love and thus helps introduce them to God as their loving Heavenly Father. Without the nurture of the “rod and the staff” of loving parents, children often struggle in their school, do poorly in learning and developing social skills, and are inclined to form unhealthy friendships, often leading to associations with lawless gangs. Without a healthy respect for authority they naturally learn to disrespect all who are responsible for upholding the law and community order.
The Church in Danger
Moral and intellectual relativism have infiltrated college curricula and influenced multiple generations of students who now occupy influential roles in society. At the same time, the evangelical church is responding to calls for social justice from both within the church and from social activists outside the church. The latter are urging Christians to live up to the example of Christ who came to preach good news to the poor…proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed (Luke 4: 18). However, the Statement on Social Justice & the Gospel, affirmed by more than 7,000 signatories presents a biblical position on social justice and points out aspects of the social justice movement that are unbiblical.
Here, I will be brief for two reasons. First, I am not an evangelical leader equipped with the knowledge, experience, or perspective that is necessary to assess all of the various expressions and ramifications of social justice. Second, I have already written on the subject of social justice with full awareness of my inadequacy (See “Related articles” below.). My approach here is to offer the following points which are invitations for readers to elaborate, question, correct, or politely disagree. Each response will be helpful to me because I want to be both teachable and obedient to my calling as a disciple of Christ:
1. AUTHORITY – Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone is the final authority in determining what is true (i.e. where we rest our faith and reasoning) and what is right (in defining Christian character and conduct)( 2 Peter 1: 16-21; 1 John 2: 5-6). Because Scripture requires the hard work of correct interpretation, dedicated Christ-followers must discern who is spiritually competent to teach, reprove, rebuke, and exhort with great patience and instruction (2 Tim 3: 16-4: 5).
3. CHARITY -- If I do not have love, then I have no righteousness and justice to offer. Even if I could speak eloquently, I will sound like an irritating gong. Any great insight, knowledge, and faith; and, even if I give all my material possessions to the poor—none of these will mean anything if they do not flow from the wellspring of God’s love in my life (1 Corinthians 13: 1-3). By this shall everyone know if an individual or a group is inspired and empowered by the written Word and the Living Word, Jesus Christ; namely, if they love one another (John 13: 35).
4. VALUE – All people are of great value because all are created in God’s image. We are united as one human race, but we are highly diverse with respect to our ethnicity, religious persuasion, vocation, gender, age, wealth; or situation. Yet Jesus ministered physically and spiritually without regard for their status. The unnamed woman at Jacob’s well (John 4) marveled that Jesus, being a male and being a Jew, would even speak to her, a despised Samaritan who was ashamed of her immoral lifestyle. In contrast, our hateful, lying, enemy, Satan, will tempt us just as he does social activists to focus on any one of these diverse traits in order to distract and divide the Church, the body of Christ. But the Apostle John saw a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Revelation 7: 9). Like the Apostle Paul, can we say we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view (2 Corinthians 5: 16a)?
6. GRACE -- Looking for the speck in my brother’s eye, or judging a church, or “the Church,” before removing the plank in my own eye is not an act of Grace. I must remember that in the standard by which I judge, I will be judged (Matthew 7: 1-5). When Christians act carnally (1 Corinthians 3: 1-9) and squabble over differences rather than resolve them wisely (Matthew 18: 15-20) the Church which is the Bride of Christ is made to look ugly. Worst of all is public criticism aimed at shaming the Church into action by linking it to a political group or class (e.g. white supremacists). The Church and local churches are not perfect and knowing this full well, God Word gives us clear teaching on individual reproof and church discipline. Furthermore, it is difficult to know all of the many ways that individuals perform acts of mercy and justice (See #4). It is especially difficult if I have a big log in my own eye.
Conclusion
As a tribute to the progress in racial reconciliation in America, the tragic death of George Floyd was becoming an observance of national unity through mourning with the family. However, national reaction to this death was hijacked by hateful, violent people to cause division and destruction. In order to explain the ensuing disorder and destruction that followed, I listed three spheres of authority, each being an important institution in God’s redemptive plan—the home, church, and government. When each of these function in submission to instruction from God’s Word, the nation thrives. But moral and intellectual relativism has invaded many American families and the consequences are now evident in the church and government, too.
Relates Articles from Oikonomia:
Disintegration of the United States of America, August 17, 2012
Extremist Protests: A Monumental Opportunity, August 23, 2017
Extreme Protests 2: Racism as "Corporate Evil", August 31, 2017
Martin Luther King Jr. Knew God’s Synthesis of Love & Justice, Jan. 22, 2016
Social Gospel, Version 2.0 - Social Justice, January 14, 2019
Black History 2 Reparations or Reconciliation?, March 16, 2019
Pope Francis, the Christian Life, and Social Justice, February 26, 2016
There’s No Such Thing as Private Property, March 28, 2015
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