Living As Exiles…At Home : Kevin H
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.” – Jeremiah 29:4-9
The Jewish people were living in a foreign land that was not their home. They were living in a land that had no respect for the Lord God and had no power to make the Babylonians respect Him or live by His laws and precepts. In many ways, the Jewish people were likely bullied and mistreated during this time of captivity.
Yet God’s instruction to His people during this prolonged circumstance was not that they should fight for their rights. It was not that they should scheme and manipulate their way into positions of cultural and political power so that they could then turn the Babylonian Empire towards the ways of God and protect themselves. Furthermore, God’s instruction was not that His People should cut themselves off from the culture at large, worrying only about themselves and doing the best they could to ignore the Babylonians.
Rather, God instructed the Israelites to go on living and thriving and multiplying within the city, leading productive lives. All the more, God instructed them to seek the welfare of the city, praying to the Lord on its behalf. There were no instructions to subvert and revolt, but rather instructions to be good, and to be good to those around them, all the while petitioning the Lord not for the demise of the city or its leadership, but rather for its welfare.
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” – I Peter 2:11-12
We see in the New Testament, Peter speaking to believers who had been dispersed among different lands and seemingly were subject to difficulties and persecution. Subsequently, we see Peter exhorting these Christians to carry themselves in a very similar manner of word, deed, and perspective as God had instructed the Israelites through Jeremiah during their captivity in Babylon.
Today, many of us live in a country that long has been respectful of, if not even compliant to many Christian principles and ideals. Although we recognize that in our country’s history there were some horrible ways in which it failed to follow the ways of Christ, such as slavery, segregation, and the cruel and violent dispersion of Native Americans from their lands, the holding of Christianity in high regards by the culture was still long there. We also know that over the past 60 years or so, that regard and respect for Christianity and its traditional ideals has been degrading. Nevertheless, our circumstances today are nowhere close in severity to the circumstances of the Jews living in captivity in pagan Babylon or the New Testament believers living under an evil and oppressive Roman empire.
So how has the response of Christians living in America in these times compare to how God instructed His People to live in Babylon or the Roman Empire? Some have faithfully gone about living their lives, looking to serve Christ and those around them, keeping their conduct honorable, and praying for their governmental leaders and the welfare of their community and country. However, unless we are living under a rock, we also know that Christians, especially theologically and politically conservative ones, have gained a significantly negative reputation. Is some of this reputation due to Christians standing for traditionally orthodox positions of the faith, especially in manners of sexuality? Yes, surely so, this is reason for part of that reputation as our culture has more and more come to look at these traditional Christian beliefs and positions with disdain.
However, I would submit that a much larger portion of the negative reputation we have gained is because an increasingly numerous and increasingly actively loud Christian population has turned their back on the instructions given by God in Jeremiah and I Peter and have instead forged their own path, seeking earthly power, control, and desires through means that look nothing like the ways of God. The main problem here is not necessarily the formation of a bad reputation, but rather that the “bad” reputation has been rightfully gained by “bad” behavior.
All the more, when we reflect back on the instructions given in Jeremiah, we see God telling His People to not listen to prophets and diviners among them who are dreaming and telling dreams that are lies. We do not know exactly what those dreams and lies were, but we do know that they were not from God, even as these prophets and diviners posed as being from God.
Today, we have many Christian pastors, leaders, and prophets who are preaching political actions and dreams which are counter to the ways of God, even as they proclaim to be speaking God’s Word. They place an emphasis on the importance of earthly kingdoms that is counter to the teachings of God, they place an emphasis on the need of Christians to gain power within and control these kingdoms that is counter to the teachings of God, and they place an emphasis on using means to achieve these ends that are counter to the teachings of God. Thus, we are told that America is supposed to be a “Christian” nation and that Christians need to take it upon themselves to do whatever it takes to achieve that end, even if we have to enthusiastically support and justify a morally bankrupt man, despise the very “least of these” people that God calls us to show special care for, and demean and slander all those we have deemed to be the “enemy”. Oh, and all the more that these “enemies” can be connected into conspiracy theories that supposedly show just how incredibly evil they are, the better.
I have no “word from the Lord” telling me that these pastors, leaders, and prophets are essentially the same prophets and diviners that He addressed through Jeremiah. Nevertheless, the parallels are striking and we ought to take great caution in giving any credence to those who spew political rhetoric, philosophies, and emphases which appear counter to the Word of God, even as they claim to be representing God. They very well could be telling us lies.
Even as we are not in exactly the same kind of exile situation as the Jews in Babylon or the Christians in the Roman Empire, we are still exiles, nonetheless, as our ultimate allegiance and ultimate home and citizenship is not with America or any other earthly kingdom, nor are any of those kingdoms a theocracy ruled by God. Surely, those of us believers living in America have far more opportunity to be involved in the political process than these examples we see in Scripture, and to partake in that process is not wrong. However, are we approaching it with an exile mindset, knowing that this world is not our home and that much of the world is not going to necessarily follow or even respect the ways of God. and that it’s not our job to force them to? Do we strive to keep our conduct honorable, working for and praying for the peace and welfare of our community and country (which would include praying for the welfare of our leaders and even showing them honor), or do we seek to impose a Christian way of life on a body of people who increasingly do not confess to be Christian, employing and justifying whatever means necessary to reach that end?
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” – Jesus
Discerning this call the live as exiles, has had relatively few takers since Constantine. The radical reformers attempted it with varying degrees of separation and similar outcomes of vile persecution by the state churches. The English separatists seemed to want something like this but America rejected state churches very early on.
This recent iteration of eager influencers found some footing with the Moral Majority but the much ballyhooed NAR is as hard to nail down as Antifa. Everyone denies party with it.
How can anyone seriously fear some form of theocracy when the power structures are all in the hands of rather left leaning eager anti christian powers. Who all seem to want their own form of dominion. Whether limiting free speech, or imposing doctrinaire definitions. Controlling education and medicine, science, counseling, entertainment and a great deal of political power. Imposing all kinds of initiatives. And having hegemony in a great many religious institutions and denominations.
The totalitarian impulse is powerful and is very dangerous but it is not from christians.
“How can anyone seriously fear some form of theocracy when the power structures are all in the hands of rather left leaning eager anti christian powers.”
Because they want to replace those left leaning folks with far right folks who want to take away freedom…just from a different direction. They want to control the same spheres…most of which do not and will not prosper under the thumb of ideology.
Supporting a man who tried to overthrow the Constitution to stay in power is supporting totalitarianism.
Theocracy demands covenant…so that ends that discussion.
As usual I’ve made no mention of the former POTUS. I am stressing overwrought fear of a theocracy. One that is irrational beyond imagining. The silly efforts to refuse to certify the election offering alternative electors had been tried before.
He was foiled by a principled Christian. No Who lived within his circle ridiculed and reviled but influencing and finally hedging POTUS from folly.
I came to know a good bit about Mike Pence. Yes I know the mob called for his neck. We are supposed to offer our necks to the mob. I was in a small group of men and one of ours was the father of a Pence speechwriter. So Pence came up often. My admiration for him rose. So there he was and is an uncelebrated but heroic figure.
The real essence of the seven mountain strategy is just that. To have a Joseph, and Esther, a Daniel at the right place at the right time. One to prevent tyranny and save others at the cost of themselves. That is the ironic hinge of the matter. Much is owed to Mike Pence.
Mobs are the rabble of history and people can find themselves in a mob or compromised by the mob. Good Friday is a reminder of just that.
* @7:41 not No but “One who lived …”
Alan,
As for me, I am not concerned so much with an actual theocracy coming to bear, but I am far more concerned by the actions of Christians and the manners they are taking to bring about some supposed form of theocracy, or at least privileged status or power of Christianity. I am concerned by their words, actions, and attitudes, and the resultant misrepresentation of Christ, if not even sometimes harm that it brings to others.
I am also concerned by the corrupt powers of the Left, as they are bringing and can bring even more damage, too. However, you well know my ethos that I am far more concerned with the representation of Christ and how my Christian brethren act, especially those within my own camp of conservative evangelicalism, than I am with the actions of “outsiders”. By no means do I dismiss the harm brought by “outsiders”, yet the concentration of my writing and address will remain with my own.
When my own start making significant progress in addressing and fixing their own issues, then maybe the regular address of my concerns would become broader. But I don’t think that is happening anytime soon as the issues of my own have only been growing in severity the last several years, rather than getting better. Thus, this is why I continue to speak to them, trying to point them to God and Jesus and Scripture, and away from the ways of this world.
Kevin,
For clarity, who exactly is your own. I want to know who has you so upset. Likely I will simply dissolve away and quit bothering you when I know. Then again…
Who exactly are you speaking to?
Alan,
When I refer to my “own” here, I am mainly meaning the broad camp of theologically conservative evangelicals or Christians. In my personal life, “my own” would have a bit tighter circle.