“What Will We Do with This Moment?”
In the days just before our recent election, all the internal polls of the Trump campaign indicated he would win. So, in one of his final campaign ads, President Trump anticipated the outcome with this question: “What will we do with this moment?” This is a good question for anyone to ask about their life and the opportunities they have been given. It is an especially good question for Christian people to ask about their lives, because we believe God has placed us here “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). God, in His mercy, has given this nation a moment in history with special opportunities that now lie before us to correct course. As we think about those opportunities, two major categories emerge. First, there will be opportunities to reform American government in such a way that it will once again be responsive to its citizens and be a government FOR the people. Second, there will be opportunities to establish righteous government in the land.
Government For the People
When Abraham Lincoln famously closed his Gettysburg address on November 19, 1863 by referencing government “of”, “by”, and “for the people,” it had a nice ring to it. But that kind of government began to “perish from the earth” in the 20th century after WWII1. Today, government in the United States gladly serves the global interests of elite corporations, but there is little help for toxic spill victims in East Palestine, Ohio, or New Jersey residents frightened by unidentified drones in the night sky that may have come from an Iranian “mothership”.2 Our government’s attitude toward its average citizens has become, “Keep sending us a lot of your hard-earned money so we can look out for everyone in the world but you.” Angry voter reaction to this very thing paved the way for Trump to return to power.
In the recent October edition of Imprimis3, a publication of Hillsdale College, you can read an excerpt of an excellent talk given by Kevin D. Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation. The title of his talk was, “Populist Conservatism and Constitutional Order,” some of which was taken from his recent book, “Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.” In his remarks, Roberts convincingly described our decline into an unresponsive and unconcerned government, saying, for example: “Not only in America but across the West, not-so-silent majorities today consist of citizens that the elites, by nature and ideology, look down on and treat as deplorables – those who believe in the rights of the individual, the virtue of local communities, the centrality of the family, and the sovereignty of the nation-state.” Roberts said these average citizens “… want a secure border, safe streets, economic autonomy and opportunity, a family-friendly culture, and a government that works for them instead of the other way around.” He then went on to point out that we do not have to adopt an unconstitutional methodology in order to get back to where we need to be: “… the solution to our problem,” Roberts urged, “is not to scrap or transcend the Constitution, but to start obeying and applying it again. Under the document, ‘We the People’ already possess every power we need to reestablish majority rule, minority rights, democratic accountability, equal justice under law, and national sovereignty.” You should read the entire excerpt of his remarks in Imprimis, and you should also subscribe to Imprimis and read it each month. It’s a great little publication, and it’s free!
Righteous Government
This “moment” also presents an opportunity to establish righteous government. What does that mean? It means, very simply, a government that does what’s right, and owns up to anything that is not right. It means a government that stops covering up evil, corruption, and atrocities and brings such things out into the light for all to see. It is only then that those responsible, living or dead, can be held accountable and justice can be served. And it is only then that the American people can openly and honestly face the truth and learn the lessons that will better prepare us to move into the future with restored confidence in our government. If the CIA was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy, a righteous government will stop covering it up and declassify the remaining documents. Admitting what really happened doesn’t mean we are saying that America is an inherently evil nation. It simply means that while we failed to keep watch, one of our agencies went rogue and departed far from its intended purpose and mission. It doesn’t mean there is no future for that agency, or one like it. It does mean reforms and guardrails must be put in place so it will be much more difficult for that kind of evil to ever happen again. Righteousness always begins by first confessing all known sins.
If an atrocity occurred during the Six Day War in 1967 and Israel intentionally attacked the USS Liberty, and our leaders knowingly allowed it to happen as part of a “false flag” operation to publicly justify U.S. entry into that war, a righteous government would make it known. Acknowledging the past sins of some of the leaders in our nation, and the past sins of some of the leaders in Israel, certainly does not mean that Israel should no longer be our ally, or that both nations were irredeemably ruined in 1967. It simply means we want to make things right now, because, as Jesus said: “… there is nothing secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light” (Luke 8:17).
Next week in our final Prayer Report of 2024: A look back at a most consequential year!
1 During this time, the ignorance and apathy of American citizens also grew, enabling the government to become what it became. So, the people were/are very much to blame for the betrayal they have experienced at the hands of those they elect.
2 This may not be true, but we should still pray: “Lord, by Your mercy and grace, help us and hasten us to January 20th!”
3 “Imprimis” is a Latin word which means: “in the first place”, or “things that matter most”. Hillsdale College is a Conservative Christian College located in Michigan.
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