Now What??

Obama won another four years. Now what? Well, for one thing gun sales will spike. Again.

For another thing, between the election results and the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, we can expect soft-core preppers to get more serious about their prepping, and maybe even more will enter into the preparedness movement.

And, of course, evangelicaldom and evangelicaldumber have already begun the recriminations against believers who did not vote for their Republican idol. That's to be expected.

Last night I even saw a conservative Presbyterian seminary graduate calling for secession. But what should actully be first on the agenda of those who really want to turn America around?

I am confident the answer lies in the following scripture passage:


If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)


I can hear the reply from some: "But, brother, we have humbled ourselves; we have prayed; we have sought God's face, but still He has not turned us back from the precipice."

Right you are. He has not answered. That's because you've left something out:

. . . and turn from their wicked ways . . . . 

"What wicked ways? I voted for Romney." Precisely. That is a symptom of undealt-with wickedness close to the heart of evangelical churches in America.

Let me list some wicked practices of which the Church at large should repent:

1. A major violation of the First Commandment,"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3). I have sat in conservative, evangelical churches that served communion to men who had knelt down at a common altar to take a common oath with Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. I refer to members of the Masonic Lodge. God takes it very seriously when His people try to make a common spiritual bond with those who worship false gods. See Numbers 25.
2. A major violation of the Second Commandment, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:4-6) Bowing to and serving any created entity amounts to idolatry. Every day, millions of professing evangelical Christians bow to the will of the state and send their children to godless indoctrination in the public school system. Many claim they cannot afford to give their children a Christian education . . . . That is, they can't if they want to maintain their present standard of living. Shame! We lived in rat-and-roach-infested apartments to put our youngsters in a Christian school. I fed my family out of a dumpster. We started home educating our children at a time when I could only find a part-time job for minimum wage. I accept no excuses here. Putting your lifestyle above God's command (Deuteronomy 6:4-7) is wicked idolatry.
3. A couple of major violations of the Third Commandment, "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." (Exodus 20:7) This involves keeping vows made before God. I have observed in more than one denomination a willingness to ordain men to the ministry who do not believe Scripture as long as they will affirm that denomination's pet doctrines. In my own church, as long as a man graduates from seminary and affirms TULIP, they will ordain him in spite of his rejection of the Genesis account of creation. I believe in TULIP; I believe TULIP expresses Biblical teaching. But a minister of God's Word needs an implicit loyalty to ALL of Scripture, and if he cannot get it right on the first page, he does not belong in the pulpit. It's not a matter of interpretation, it's a matter of unbelief which will, sooner or later, affect other doctrines, as well. Putting such men in the ministry is a wickedness of which many in the Church need to repent. You see another violation of this commandment when professing evangelicals run for political office. They tend to want to distance themselves -- just a little -- from their faith. They like to say that they "stand for Judaeo-Christian values" rather than confess that they will use their office to disciple this nation and teach it to obey whatever Christ has commanded (Matthew 28:19-20). This violates the vows implicit in their baptism and participation in the Lord's Supper. It also puts getting elected ahead of following their Lord -- see 2nd Commandment, above. At this point, I will not even touch on the matter of whether a Christian can or should take the oath of office in good conscience.

There's a lot more, but maybe if we begin our repentance with these violations of the first three commandments, God will hear and have mercy.

If we, as the Church took seriously our obligation to turn from our wicked ways, we would not need to even think about choosing a "lesser of evils" for civil leadership. We could begin fulfilling the Great Commission and transform society and culture from the inside out, from the ground up. 

But first . . . .