The Real Kingdom Remains: KevinH

I do not know who is going to win this election.  The polls keep indicating that it is a very tight race and I have no particular insight or expertise that would lead me to one conclusion or another.

I do not know what will play out once all the votes are counted.  I think it is safe to say that there will be turmoil, likely even violence, but what in particular may happen and how severe it may be, I do not know.

I do not know what potentially traumatic or paradigm-changing events or matters may or may not play out over the next four years of our country, regardless of who the next president is.

What I do know, however, is that the Kingdom of God will still be, and someday it will still come in its fullness.  History has taught us that earthly kingdoms are fleeting, and this country will ultimately suffer the same fate, maybe even quicker so than many of us would have ever anticipated, as current powerful leaders, culture wars, and other influences have divided us and taught us to treat each other as the enemy.  Yet God’s Kingdom will still stand, and will so forever be.

Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God is already here.  God tells us in His Word that someday He will bring His Kingdom to completion when He renders final judgment, makes all things new, and death and pain and tears will no longer be.  Jesus tells us to seek first this Kingdom.

What I also know is that large portions of the American Church appear to have forgotten these truths, and have forsaken the pursuit of God’s Kingdom for a carnal, earthly kingdom that they try to legitimize and redeem with a veneer of righteousness and “Christianese”.  The United States of America has done many wonderful things and has had many Christian influences within it that have brought about much good.  But it is also a fallen, earthly kingdom that has done some terrible things, including things influenced, if not even driven by Christians.  Our allegiance to our country, any political parties or politicians within it, or our supposed ideals for it, as Christians, should never cause us to forsake God’s commands and precepts and our central pursuit of the Kingdom of God.

Sadly, over these past eight or nine years, we have seen many Christians, particularly Evangelical Christians (and primarily white ones, at that) place their pursuit of an earthly kingdom in hyperdrive and run roughshod over their primary calling and responsibility to follow after God and His ways.  They have embraced and placed their trust in a man, Donald Trump, who in a plethora of ways exhibits and promotes character and behavior that is the polar opposite of what God calls us to be and do.  Accordingly, they have come to excuse, justify, cheer on, and even replicate these reprobate attitudes and behaviors.

I believe one day history will look back on this era and say, “What the heck were those people thinking and doing?”  It will be viewed as a dark era of the Church, not unlike the Church’s past embrace and support of chattel slavery, and, yes, I will say it, like the German Church’s acceptance and embrace of Adolf Hitler and Naziism.  History will chide this substantial segment of the Church, along with the likes of its biggest activists and proponents – Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, James Dobson, Eric Metaxas, Jack Hibbs, Greg Laurie, Paula White, etc., for having failed humanity in these ways, and church history will chide it/them for having actively worked against the ways of God.

Saying such things now will induce many eye rolls, if not even outright outrage by those accused.  However, there comes a point where attitudes become so abominable, circumstances become potentially so dire, and sin so deeply rooted, that speaking the truth cannot be sugar coated.  It is far past time for large segments of the American Church to come to grips with the reality that they have forsaken God and His Kingdom and His ways in exchange for chasing after power, influence, and control in a carnal, earthly, fallen kingdom.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Jesus