Golden Years?

 ^“Jeroboam thought to himself, ‘Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.’

^” So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”

^“ He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.”

One of the oldest tricks in the book is the consolidation of political power by manipulation of religious systems. And strangely enough, God’s people have fallen for it time and time again. I believe we are witnessing this same deception play out in American politics, and Christians are eating it up. We as followers of Jesus need to realize that while God most definitely works in and through the nations of this world, there is a danger that like ancient Israel, we too will find ourselves drawn away from following Jesus, going instead after “idols.”

I believe that the most dangerous form of politics is that which appears to shape its ideology around biblical theology. Christians have swallowed conservatism without even chewing it to see what it tastes like. And I wonder if many of us are not being deceived by those who hold to a form of godliness, but deny its power. We hate those accursed liberals, the baby killers, the gay rights activists, etc…, and we fear that they are destroying our nation. But I believe that it is the appearance of piety without true intimacy with Jesus which poses the more lethal threat. We must never forget that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against evil spiritual forces that disguise themselves as angels of light.

My dear brothers and sisters let us hold fast to our Lord Jesus. May we come to know that the answer we seek does not lie in any political ideology, but in the grace, mercy, and love of our God. We must be being continuously filled with his Spirit, asking for wisdom and discernment that we may rightly interpret national and global events. For the kingdom of this world (even America) will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. The Spirit and the Bride say come!