A whirlwind of post-election thoughts

Facebook lit up tonight with fires of celebration and flames of damnation. Followers of Jesus ought not to be warming themselves at either blaze. The results of this election are not a cause to celebrate; the President’s re-election does not establish justice and will not ring in the Kingdom of God. By the same token, anyone who placed his hope for America’s future in the challenger was either deceiving himself or allowing others to do it for him.

So many thoughts are swirling in my head, I know there will be no sleep any time soon. Better to get them out of my head and onto “paper.”

— Followers of Jesus who opposed the President’s re-election must accept that God has his reasons for allowing him another term in office. Many conservative, church-going Americans have been so comfortable in life and so accustomed to getting what they want that they have a hard time processing setbacks. We need a better understanding of God’s sovereignty in evil times. Meditate on the possibility that God’s will in this election was the opposite of what you wanted.

— Followers of Jesus who supported the President’s re-election need to understand that God Almighty did not give him another four years in office because he is pleased with the man or this country. While the man claims the Name, his words and deeds make a lie of that profession. The President, like much of mainline Christianity, needs to go back to the Word, listen to what the Lord actually says, and conform their minds and hearts to the truth. This country needs to realize it has been sowing the wind and will reap the whirlwind if it does not turn back. Our people — liberal and conservative, rich and poor, Christian and not — are living for themselves, when they should be honoring God and walking in his righteous path.

— The churches, at long last, need to accept that their approach to mission has been failing. The problem is not that most people reject the Gospel (though some indeed do), but that too many churches are not proclaiming the good news that the Kingdom of God is among us and proving it by the way they live among God’s lost children. Lost people will not believe you when you say God is love but demonstrate no love for your neighbor, your enemies, or even each other. Lost people don’t want a god whose only interest is their afterlife, whose “saved” people are as broken and hurting as they are, and whose churches are preoccupied with themselves.

— Ahab’s desire for Jezebel was his undoing, and Israel suffered. Our President wants America to repent of its arrogance and be humbled so the world’s Muslims will forgive us and become our strong friends, yet he aligns himself with everything abhorrent to earnest Muslims. When you celebrate your associations with Hollywood and campaign on a platform of casual abortion and homosexual marriage, you must not be surprised when sincere Muslims throw their shoes at you — and Islamists train their weapons on your people instead of laying them down.

— Republican Christians, you followed a Saul when you needed a David. The elite powerbrokers of the GOP care nothing for you, your values, or your Lord. They continue to select candidates from the pool of rich white men who think it’s their turn to run for President. They pay lip service to the issues that matter to you, with no intention of actually implementing the policies you want. And you continue to attend their parties, homely girls who stand to one side, sipping punch and hoping a cute boy will ask them to dance. How many more of their dates will you put on your calendar? You need to either take charge of their party planning or organize your own events. You aren’t going to meet your David this way.

— The most serious bankruptcy facing this country is not financial. This government’s social and fiscal policies are indeed going to drive the country into bankruptcy. Liberals in this country have not learned the lesson of socialism’s foolishness: A dead goose doesn’t keep laying golden eggs. But far worse than financial ruin is the moral and spiritual bankruptcy that has engulfed our people. We think we have a right to prosperity without hard work. We expect selfish rich people to just hand over their money and keep making more. We think the government can solve our problems by expanding its programs. The truth is, we are a selfish people bent on satisfying our appetites. We want to enjoy our fleshly pleasures, and we expect medical science to rescue us from the deadly consequences. We want all the amenities and gadgets 21st century technology can invent, and we don’t want to pay the credit card bills. We want to be amused with porn and silly entertainers, and we demand the prophets either tell us what we want to hear or be silenced. We want truth to be whatever we imagine it to be, and we want God to smile and bless us anyway. Guess what?

— Earnest Christians in the United States need to agree that our country is deadheading into oblivion. We need to step away from the culture — on both sides of the country’s liberal/conservative divide. We need to cry out about the danger ahead and speak truth to the powers driving us toward it. We need to find the common ground where all authentic followers of Jesus can stand together. We need to proclaim liberty for the captives, sight for the blind, and freedom for the oppressed. We need to love each other, love our enemies, and love our neighbors the way we love ourselves. We need to quit kidding ourselves that any candidate these parties offer us actually understands our needs and how to lead us into the Promised Land. We need to get focused on Jesus and seek his Kingdom first and foremost. We need to get serious about making disciples.

And one last thought: When you know you are headed into a dark place, take Light with you.