sermonindex
Nov 3, 2020
from the article:
I will call this contingent the Church Regnant. The Church Regnant sees the kingdom of God, the end toward which we strive, as a world in which men and women are free to follow their faith, life is held sacred from conception to death, families can raise their children in biblical truth, churches take the lead in charity, and government provides a stable order for the flourishing of meaningful enterprise.Members of the Church Regnant are concerned with foreign and economic policy but feel especially compelled to support the present administration for its stances on life and family. Failing to vote for the Republican empowers the party that protects the appalling abortion regime and that advances a sexual ethic that leads to immense confusion and suffering.
There are, to be sure, more virulent strains of support for the incumbent president. But there are also loving and reasonable supporters, and charitable disagreement requires that we represent our brothers and sisters at their best. We do our faith no favors when we caricature our fellow faithful.
There is nothing essentially irrational or immoral in the position stated above. It leads the Church Regnant to place a higher value on the acquisition and use of political power. The Church Regnant views the election starkly as a battle between good and evil. The vices of the president seem small when the virtue of the world hangs in the balance. Winning political power means protecting the Christian way of life and sowing seeds of truth and goodness into culture, and thus bringing God’s blessing upon the land. Losing political power means the culture spirals into deepening immorality and untruth, eroding the foundations of society and leading to greater suffering for all. For these friends, then, to undercut the support of the president is to undermine the power of Christians to shape policy in a manner that protects the church and benefits the world.
I personally do not see it as a reigning church or remnant church but it is both. At times in history governments give the Church great favour and acceptance at other times governments oppress and persecute. Governments come and go but the Church is the constant, it is eternal.
The danger is in persecution to lose hope in the world itself (100% martyr mentality). The other side has a danger of seeking hope in world rulers to be christians. Both have their pitfall in my mind.
While reading this article the parallels to how the "church” responded to Jesus were unmistakable...
did they not make the same arguments about Him?
(in no way comparing the two persons)
The two situations have striking similarities in that Jesus did not cozy up to the preexisting power structure but instead His appeal was to the people, which just as in our current situation, resulted in Him being attacked by the religious rulers who controlled the narrative of their day with all all sorts of slanderous characterizations while being embraced by the people with whom He spoke and interacted with. They accused Him of a "lack of integrity” by how they saw His unwillingness to join them and because of His associations with "sinners”. With commentaries like "surely he is not...”
because He didn’t meet their standard of (external) holiness.... yet He was, in the end, shown to be of God and still they would not believe.
Another interesting parallel is the accusation of being a situation that is divisive... polarizing , offensive in word and deed,... garnering with love or hate-
Personally, I’ve never seen anything like it in my lifetime !
The phenomenon of President Trump is an undeniable anomalous occurrence.
It seems we have an opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past... what if the Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s has simply asked God if this was His man ?
God is not a man that He should lie...
maybe they did,... maybe they just couldn’t accept it because He came in a context they were unwilling to accept....
Perhaps we should simply ask the Lord ourselves, personally and let Him tell us from His own mouth rather than listen to the well intended Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s as they incessantly offer us their unsolicited opinions 🤷🽔♂ï¸
Above all else, pray for one another exactly what we would want them to pray for us and in this way maintain the bonds of unity ðŸ™ðŸ»ðŸ˜‡
Well said Fletcher.
What the author of the article neglected to say is that his self identification as a member of the "remnant” and not the "regnant” means he is voting for Biden/Harris and therefore shows complicity with those behind them (Pelosi, AOC, Omar, Sanders, Warren, Schumer etc etc etc). A real stellar bunch let me tell you.
Dear brother Greg,
Grace and peace to you! Love you so much brother!
I appreciate reading your comment of seeing the church as not either/or!
That said, since in the USA we cannot legitimately vote for "both” political parties, from your perspective, how would you counsel the saints who can vote in the USA?
Also, what’s your ethos on voting for earthly government leaders?
Praise God for His placement of each saint on this earth for such a time as this!
Dear brother Fletcher said:
"Perhaps we should simply ask the Lord ourselves, personally and let Him tell us from His own mouth rather than listen to the well intended Pharisee’s and Sadducee’s as they incessantly offer us their unsolicited opinions 🤷🽔♂ï¸"
Ultimately, this is absolutely how our choices ought to be governed! Amen and Amen!
Yet it is truly perplexing how when saints do just this, and still arrive at different conclusions, how it all fits together in the Spirit?
Surely He is not divided against Himself!
Thank God that His Kingdom endures forever!
Dear Brother Todd,
I don’t see how the writer of that article implies a vote for Biden at all. In fact, my perception is that it implies not voting. But neither is explicit.
Love you dear brother!
We can have the right perspective of the Kingdom of God, knowing that we are citizens of another Kingdom, and at the same time pray for leaders in the government, and vote. God has called the Church to be light and salt in this world.
It is the will of God that we pray and support good government for a number of reasons. I encourage you to listen to this teaching by Derek Prince.
1 Timothy 2::1-4
1I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
The writer of this article poses a series of characterizations that are simply false and without taking them one by one to parse out the inherent misinformation let’s just address our current situation with earnestness and honesty-
Do ANY who call the name of Christ believe that the boarded up businesses and buildings in NY, Chicago, LA, etc... including the White House fencing is to protect from Trump supporters rioting, looting and burning down said structures ??
Do ANY who call the name of Christ believe it is Trump supporters whom have called for defunding of police, advocating lawlessness and even executing police officers (wether by gun, car, etc.) in our streets ??
Do ANY who call the name of Christ believe it is Trump supporters threatening the populace if their candidate doesn’t win??
I could go on and on,... but the point is here for all to see 🤷🽔♂ï¸
God is not mocked, as a man soweth so shall he also reap ðŸ™ðŸ»
I believe those who do call the name of Christ are today taking a stand and speaking with one voice and it will be clear despite all the attempts to silence it, stop it, or change the effect of its resounding statement 😇
//I don’t see how the writer of that article implies a vote for Biden at all. In fact, my perception is that it implies not voting. But neither is explicit.//
Correct- technically he does not say explicitly he is voting for Biden. But we know he isn’t voting for Trump. If he doesn’t vote, then the oft used quote applies: "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
I am amazed that some Christians, like the author, are unable to understand that others are not voting for Trump as a religious or spiritual leader. We are voting for him because we see him as a man who is able to at least stem the onrush of evil that is sure to come and increase due to left wing anti God liberal politicians and the masses opiated by their nonsense.
In other words, I would rather have a jerk who is willing to stand up to the corrupt mass media and leftists than a nice guy (but Biden is not a nice guy) who is complicit with them.
Quite frankly, my faith has very little to do with it, other than I could never ever in good conscience vote for the policies of Biden/Harris. I could never justify such a thing to my only Judge. Nor could I justify not voting at all. What a terrible thought that is.
Well said TMK!
Thank you Todd and Fletcher for your comments. I am in total agreement. God didn’t soverignly put Trump in office because he is a godly man. He did it because Christian’s prayed, and like King Cyress, Trump would do God’s will Concerning the nation of Israel, appoint pro life judges, and for many decisions that he has made that were in line with God’s Kingdom purposes for America.
Hi dear brother Mike,
Thanks for your comments!
You said:
"He did it because Christian’s prayed”.....
I have zero problem with Christians praying for God’s will to be done with the elections of President of the USA, or any leader of any nation on earth for that matter. Praying for those in authority is absolutely in line with exhortations in the scriptures too.
That said, can we agree that voting and praying are two very different matters?
Prayer for whomever God chooses is crucial, as brother Derek Prince so eloquently spoke about (thanks for sharing that too by the way, brother!). A big AMEN to his message!
Voting, however, is divisive by nature.
Amen Brother Caleb!
We don’t entangle ourselves in politics,
we seek God’s Kingdom first, and His
will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
There are three kinds of people in a church.
1. Believers
2. Unbelievers
3. Make believers
Persecution often sorts them out.
Hi all,
Comments on Christianity today which is just become a rag in my opinion and Billy Graham would never have agreed with any of these comments.
I can honestly say that I got a revelation from God that the reason he kept Billy Graham alive is that he didnt have a President in office that would Honour Billy Graham and give him a fitting burial.
I wonder is the editor of Christianity today even Christian to be honest.
So as far as Im concerned although the article doesnt say too much but we know what the recent agenda is behind it.Christianity today is toilet roll to me and even at that not very effective,urs staff
nytimes 2019
The magazine said the president had abused his power and violated the Constitution. Mr. Trump responded by saying he had done more for
washingtonpost
Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior,” the magazine's editor in chief in an .
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Christianity Today, the magazine founded by the late Reverend Billy Graham, renewed its criticism of President Donald Trump in a new editorial that cited his "misuses of power” and asked fellow Christians to examine their loyalty to him, days after a controversial editorial that called for his impeachment.
Caleb asked,
Dear brother Greg,
Grace and peace to you! Love you so much brother!
I appreciate reading your comment of seeing the church as not either/or!
That said, since in the USA we cannot legitimately vote for "both” political parties, from your perspective, how would you counsel the saints who can vote in the USA?
Also, what’s your ethos on voting for earthly government leaders?
_______________________
I don't see that Greg answered. Did I miss it maybe!
Hi Bill, I would not commit on this but the Lord had me thinking on it my whole drive home today.
"There are three kinds of people in a church."
1. Believers
2. Unbelievers
3. Make believers
"Persecution often sorts them out."
Many of these in group 2 and 3 have never seen a genuine born again believer. They have only seen the counterfeit! Let's pray God would send true believers around them pointing them through the Spirit by deeds and words to Christ.
Hi
Well unbelievers are unbelievers so their is no way they can be born again.
Make believers is what exactly???Make believers could be believers who believe that you have to have persecution 24/7 or you wont get to heaven!
Alot of people on SI have a seriously bad infatuation with persecution.Their are times when their is massive persecution of Christians and times when their is not,you can have Corrie Ten Boon and you can have the opposite Billy Graham a man who wasnt overly persecuted for his faith.
Will their be persecution in the future yes,is their persecution now yes ,in certain places around the globe.
Has Bill points out persecution will have an effect ,yes but perhaps the make believers are Christians who wrongly believe that persecution is the be all and end all,urs staff
I interrupted 'Make Believers" as some that are playing Church, they show up every Sunday, just to be seen, and to tell folks they go to Church. You said "A lot of people on SI have a seriously bad infatuation with persecution." Brother, I'm definitely not in this camp. :-)
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