Sunday Stirrings

    It is the affirmation of the Declaration of Independence that it is the Right of the People to abolish the corrupt government, and institute a new Government — which was directly referring to the government of the United States of America.[1] Those that believe there can be no earthly government better than that of the United States assume something its Founders never did. It is, without a doubt, the best system humanity has ever produced. Yet, it is the Christian duty not only to maintain American liberty as it was laid down to be protected in the Constitution, but to seek to raise, educate, and mature individuals capable of the fortitude and virtue to build a new one and defend it were the new world to step into the darkness of that same tyranny that has been so pervasive in every part of the old world throughout recorded time.

    This, indeed, is the focus of the Spirit of God. In His grace, He did not give us regulations on how to govern men, how political systems should be set up and run. Rather, He made clear down how He would transform individuals from their souls outward. It is a far better thing that the Architect of the universe has done in giving us the true church[2] than worldly thinkers give Him credit for.

    Moreover, it is a far more preserving and fulfilling act to give us the family than governmental institutions. Those minds that produced the best government in history saw this design, even if many of them did not know the Architect Himself — they saw the genius, and acknowledged that the only way to maintain a Constitutional Republic the likes of what they had founded was for ordinary people to refuse to consider themselves part of the “masses,” but see themselves as children of God, fathers of sons, mothers of daughters, children of a loving father and mother knit together in a trust no tyrannical government could break.

    They knew that the only sure defense against human sin, laid down so concretely in the nature of the human soul, was the Maker of the soul transforming human beings. They knew that the best human beings to stand against tyranny were the ones who were warring against sin in themselves, and had rejected tyrannizing others, choosing self-sacrificing love. In a word, those who were Christlike.

    And this is the critical position of the church. Not the church as institution but the church as those people in whom God lives and reigns on earth. The church does not exist on earth for society, but it is society’s only hope for remaining intact for more than a short period. Remove the church and in its place in society and you will birth a monster — a monster so hideous and groping that no human soul will be untouched, no mind unaltered, no heart unaffected.

    Remove the church from the face of the earth, mock them, flog them, throw them in prison, torture them, stone them, saw them in two, kill them with the sword, take their property, afflict them, mistreat them, call them unworthy to walk amongst you and you will find out that it was true — you were not worthy of them. You kings in your high towers, you sons of Gehazi[3] in your lowly, greedy empires — you were all unworthy. Their Founder and Perfecter did not leave them,[4] but took them to Himself, and one day He will return to deal with you in judgement with fire. Remove the church from the face of the earth and you remove your only hope, not only for the hereafter, but also for that which you in your pride prize most: your own lofty position.

    If the church removes herself from the society in which she lives, if she refuses to sacrifice for the world still weak and wicked,[5] if she turns her back on her neighbors, if she knees to the immoral cry from below of those who pitilessly cry to make all men destitute for their sakes, or bows to the tyrant’s call from above — if she does not have her communion with God, and goes to bed with the whore Jezebel, unless God in His grace intervenes, not only will America step into a thousand years of darkness and the judgement of fire and brimstone, but the whole world will be consumed by that horrible monster. That hideous strength. That Leviathan. Tyranny.

    If the church remains humble before the Lord. If she remembers, and has the fortitude enough to remember her high calling: to proclaim the Gospel — Jesus, and not herself, the riches of kings, or the dictate of human beings’ as humanity’s Savior. If she holds fast to Christ, setting aside sin, warring against sin within their own souls first. If she does not kneel to the cries of faithless gluttons, or bow to the dictate of a godless State as more moral than she. If she will despise the shame of their mocking, bear the floggings, persevere when they persecute and imprison her, stand up in the midst of threatening crowds, defend their families with courage, hold out the Gospel sons of wrath, lose their property for a better possession, walk amongst them while they disdain her as unworthy — she will discover that it is true: they are unworthy to have even walked with her while on this earth.

    And her King, when He returns, will shine on her, making her face glad, her heart sing, her mind understand, her soul full of joy. In a word, He will irradiate her with His own glory, and then all the world lost in sin will know that it was not her they called unworthy, but Him. Not her they imprisoned, but Him. Not her they rejected, but Him. Not her they tortured and killed, but Him — the only wise God who is blessed forever, amen.

    What is the role of the true church when facing a tyrannical government? To proclaim the Gospel. To pray up alone up on the mountains, and pray in the streets. To speak the truth in the workshop and on the street corner. To love their families at home and fight for their sakes. To love their enemies who persecute them and hold out the Gospel to them though they take their lives for it. To worship their King, and bow to no other. To use whatever earthly authority amongst the sons of Adam they have been entrusted with by God and the people who elected them — to use that power for the glory of God, and the good of those they represent, by upholding the good and punishing the evil according to the law of the land and the Word of God. To be the loveliest place on earth in a dying world. To live pleasant lives. To die in faith in the One who loved them and gave Himself up for them so that they might live and die in a hope beyond this world.

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[1] “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” – The Declaration of Independence – https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

[2] By “true church” I mean genuinely God indwelt individuals, being transformed into the likeness of Christ. I do not mean an earthly institution, for “To define the church is merely as an earthly institution is to completely miss who the church is in God’s eternal mind and heart” (Dustin Benge (March 2, 2022). “Dustin Benge | The Loveliest Place” https://youtu.be/MoHagEs0pkc?si=P4J8lRLyTuLn6dV0).

[3] 2 Kings 5.

[4] Hebrews 12:2.

[5] Romans 5.