2012 Election: Christians Have Grand Hope

My readers may wonder where I see any Grand Hope to sing about. Certainly, the current humanistic systems under which we live cannot function as a continuing basis for our lives. They have used up all their fuel (and anybody else’s they can get a hold of). That does not overstate reality. Their failing (un)reality is contradicted by the True Reality of Christ and Christian civilization. It does require faith however, if we are to allow our God to crush our natural fears and raise us up as those who trust in His name and favor. It is our faith that is tested in these times.

As this election cycle rushes to its’ maddening conclusion many of us are feeling pretty tiny as we weigh against the unstoppable forces of election politics, the moral turpitude of the candidates, and the unquantifiable headiness of the electorate over the projected results. Conservative Christians understand, as from the Spirit residing within, that they cannot in good conscience vote for an idolater, a heretic, to rule over them. On the other hand, the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has proven himself an enemy of both the American people, and the American system. His disdain for all things Christian is sufficiently palpable it could be boxed and sold.

Prior to either of these two anti-Christ figures rising to seek our approval, their mentors and progenitors defied God’s law and man’s moral sense, by spending the nation into bankruptcy. For decades they implemented their socialistic visions while at the same time squandering the “lock boxed funds” supposedly being set in reserve for future security. Now we find ourselves over 16 trillion dollars in debt carried on the books, with another 100-200 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. Even at this fateful stage both parties seem to have no serious intent to change direction or save the republic. Their feckless and transparently wicked behavior has become so expected we barely question the veracity of the entire game. Although, it seems, in increasing numbers, we are beginning to be suspicious of our humanistic shepherds. The façade of financial security continually thrown up to hide their deceptions of the public are pulling apart. Underneath, something is rolling and roiling that will make the current financial storm seem as little more than a puff on a lazy day.

When a tsunami rises it necessarily displaces before it a rushing column of swirling atmosphere. The light things, the fragile, are carried tumbling and twisting in the thickening gale. We, the small business men, the families, children, and what they used to call working stiffs, are feeling now the mauling roar of the developing storm. If you watch newly fallen leaves as a thunderhead moves in, you see some are whooshed immediately away from the high pressure gusts. Others cling, as nearly alive, with tiny crooks and knurling ends binding them to their chosen last stand. Finally, in a relaxation of hidden strength they also swirl and dance before the hammering of the stiffening currents. Now, it is we, the little people, guys trying to figure out how to sell a little something, make our payments, and stay out of trouble, that are sensing our grip on stability is weakening. We are becoming more and more like those leaves before the tsunami. The economic corruptions from the past are rising against us.

I read one time that during the final decades of the Roman Empire, dislocated citizens roamed rootless, some by force and some by choice. The currency of the nation had become corrupted, inflated, as the government debased the coins with cheap metals. At the same time the people were taxed into poverty being little more than ready victims if they remained in one place for very long. It made more sense to move often. As soon as the local tax collector discovered that you were available for his ransom demands the smart thing to do was to pack up your stuff and move to a different place—leaves before the tsunami, as it were. Some fair number of Romans crossed to the barbarian lands, believing it was better to live under barbarian caprice than under Roman law.

The comparison between old Rome and the not-so-old America, is disturbingly valid .It is that validity however, that may give us cause to be encouraged. At the time, many people in that empire wondered what would become of them if the Romans no longer ruled. They could hardly imagine what their future would look like without the 1000 year old central government in control of everything. The immeasurable St. Augustine, as he lay dying, had runners arriving at his bed side with reports of the Legions being defeated in the field. Though the government was wicked, it seemed to him difficult to understand how civilization might continue with the Romans gone.

We now know that it was by God’s good grace that He had prepared a people, the church, to bring morality and law into that lawless era. All of the humanist answers of blood, bread, and circuses had crumbled from their own inner rot. The empire could no longer be propped upright. The door had opened for a new and stronger, more just society to lead what became the western world. It was Biblical understanding, law, financial wisdom, charity, families, a reverence for life, and more that transformed their crumbling world. Life may have seemed impossible, but the God of the Bible did not abandon His people; rather, He gifted them with new liberty. It was the beginning of something grand and good, the establishing of Christian civilization and nations. It was from these beginnings that Christendom developed and succeeded for over 1000 years.

It seems to me that this is a wonderful time to look to our God and our faith. We likely are on the cusp of a vast renewal. We are troubled by our circumstances but Jesus still says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.” God’s chosen saints are not leaves driven before the tsunami. Rather, we are the sheep of His pasture. As I read Hebrews 11, I find that the register of faithful saints is marked not by belief but by faith. There is a difference. The Apostle James wrote that even the demons believe and shudder. If this is all we do, to believe and shudder, then our home will be with the demons who went before us. To believe alone is not to be redeemed. Rather, we are given a testimony of those who lived by faith. Hebrews again and again gives examples of saints who had faith marked by obedience and action. By faith, “ Abel offered to God a better sacrifice.”  By faith, “Isaac blessed Jacob.” By faith, “Abraham…obeyed.”

Real, living faith is not fretting. Rather, it is looking with firm reliance on the Savior who steadies us through every storm according to His perfect will. Do not give up on the living God. He will carry us through every trial and bring every one of His chosen race to their eternal rest in His time. Scripture says that the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away. We are not the chaff. We are not the wicked. We are the sons of God. We are the just, and the just shall live by faith. That is our grand hope.

For Christian Culture,

Don Schanzenbach

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