Prayer For Our Nation

 In 1794 the British pastor and author of the well-known hymn, "Amazing Grace," John Newton, called a special prayer time for their nation, which he saw as losing its way. This was on the heels of the Wesleyan and Whitefield revivals (Wesley died just three years before Newton called this meeting) and it was in the midst of Wilberforce's battle against slavery and in the midst of ministry of the well-known pastor, Charles Simeon. As part of that occasion Newton (a former slave owner prior to his conversion) not only preached a powerful sermon, "The Imminent Danger And Only Sure Resource Of Our Nation," but he also penned this poetic prayer, titled "Prayer For Our Nation." I offer this fitting prayer to you as a prayer guide for our nation in 2016, the United States Of America.

Lord, while Thy judgments shake the land,

Thy people’s eyes are fixed on thee;

We own Thy just uplifted hand,

Which thousands cannot, will not, see.

How long hast Thou bestowed Thy care

On this indulged, ungrateful spot!

While other nations, far and near,

Have envied and admired our lot.

Here peace and liberty have dwelt,

The glorious Gospel brightly shone;

And oft our enemies have felt

That God has made our cause His own.

But ah!  Both heaven and earth have heard

Our vile requital of His love;

We, whom like children He has reared,

Rebels against His goodness prove.

His grace despised, His power defied,

And legions of the blackest crimes,

Profaneness, riot, lust, and pride,

Are signs that mark the present times.

The Lord, displease, has raised His rod;

Ah! Where are now the faithful few

Who tremble for the Ark of God,

And know what Israel ought to do?

Lord, hear Thy people everywhere,

Who meet to mourn, confess, and pray;

The nation and Thy churches spare,

And let Thy wrath be turned away.

We Need Some Heroes

Fifteen years ago last Sunday we were not only reminded that there is great evil in this world as we lost almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens to a heinous terrorist attack, but at the same time, as police and fire fighters rushed into the burning Twin Towers and as fellow employees came to the rescue of the injured at the Pentagon, and as passengers rushed hijackers on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania, we also learned that there are heroes among us.

And every hero that puts their life on the line or gives up their life that others have life ultimately point us to the foremost hero, the divine one who took on flesh, lived, suffered, and died in the place of sinners that we might live.

Now, one and a half decades later we are in need of heroes once again. It seems as if we live in a country that has come to believe, “Let’s just pretend things are going well, that we can all just get along, and that there really is no enemy we fight.” Our unwillingness to go against the current flow has not only led us to substitute the idea of acceptance (“You must accept my beliefs”) for that of genuine tolerance (I will bear your view and stand for your right to express it, even though I disagree with it), it also has brought us to a place where expressed disagreement is taken as hatred.

Yet, this is not consistent with truly Christian thinking. After all, “love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth” (1 Cor. 13:6, GNT). And so, people who love speak “the truth in a spirit of love” (Ephesians 4:15). They understand, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Prov. 27:6, ESV) and “better is a rebuke that is revealed than love that is concealed” (Prov. 27:4, author’s own translation). In other words, there is nothing loving about remaining quiet and “out of the fray,” when our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers need to hear the truth!

Now, given our current climate in which people have a hard time hearing that with which they might disagree, there may be some or even many who react negatively to our truth telling. But, we should not be surprised. After all, Jesus said (John 15:18-21, NLT): “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first…. Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you…. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me.”  And he is not calling us to do anything that he himself was not willing to do. In Mark 6:34 (ESV) we read of Jesus, after a large crowd of people came to him: “…and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” Jesus’ compassion for the masses led him to teach them, so they could have direction to the true Shepherd.

So it should be with us, as we seek to impact the public square. There are several areas in our country in which we must speak truth, motivated by love, going forth in love, and yet also courageously.[1] In other words, we must advocate for the following:

·         *The sanctity of human life, which means we will oppose abortion, euthanasia, and the commodification of humans (e.g. the harvesting and selling of baby body parts).

·         *That marriage is between a man and a woman only, that such marriage is best for children and for society, and that marriage should not be taken lightly.

·         *That one’s biological sex with which they are born is their gender, and to be confused about this and/or to seek to live like the opposite sex is not healthy, nor should it be condoned. To do so is ultimately detrimental to  individuals and to society.

·         *That the poor are not ultimately helped when we only throw money and programs at them—treating them as a cause to be upheld and a problem to be solved, rather than as humans created in the image of God who, through the dignity of employment, hard work, and creativity can be part of the solution to their own poverty.

·         *That a country is not ultimately helped by the redistribution of wealth and/or the devaluation of responsibility that comes through socialism.

·         *That religious liberty is not to be subordinated to the supposed civil rights that include same sex marriage and the causes behind the LGBT movement.

·         *That the constitution is to be approached by justices who seek its original intent, rather than treating it as a living and breathing document that can support just about any view or law.

·         *That Islamic terrorism, involved in such groups as ISIS, is at war with the rest of the world in general and the United Stated in particular and must be stopped through a strong and decisive military. Such a just war theory has a long tradition in the Church and eventually will lead to more peace than avoidance will.

 

This is only a start, but it does state some of the key truths we must advocate out of love for those around us. May God give us the courage and strength to be heroic in our word, our actions, our policies, and in our love! And may he give us heroes who will ignore those who make fun of and denigrate us for advocating these positions or voting for candidates who will support them.

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[1] There is a strong thread of truth emphasized throughout the Bible that reminds us, if we are to “man up,” we must be strong, courageous, and do the hard things (Joshua 1:9 [in the Greek version]; 1 Kings 2:2; Isaiah 46:8; 1 Corinthians 16:13), which includes doing all things in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).

Character Matters For Leaders

It was Alexander Hamilton, chief staff aid to General George Washington and one of the key interpreters and promoters of the U. S. Constitution, who famously said:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

 In that last clause we are not only reminded of the importance of limited government (for human government has a tendency to draw in for itself more and more power), but also of the importance of moral character among leaders. When enough leaders are in power who are lacking in this area, the result will eventually be the overcoming of any controls on government and the exercise of raw, evil power upon civilians. Because of its natural tendency, this is the direction governments usually go.

This reminds us of an answer to a debate that raged in the nineties within the United States: “Does character matter?” Certainly those who were fans of a president who proved to be a womanizer and liar, even though they thought he had done great good otherwise, sought to argue that character doesn’t matter all that much. “After all,” it was reasoned, “if he is doing a good job otherwise, what’s the big deal?” Opponents (and I was among this group) argued that character does matter—at least for this reason, namely that leaders have great ability to change the direction of a nation, either inspiring better and moral living, or to influence a spiraling down (“If leaders can get away with it, why not us?”).

Now, two decades later, as we have seen the further degradation of our culture, our leaders, and the political process in this country, it is hard to argue against those who stood on the side that affirmed, “character matters.”

It is also no difficult task to prove this point from the Bible. Not only can a reader comb the pages of Kings and Chronicles to see that the moral character of leaders shapes for good or bad the direction of a nation (compare, for example 2 Chronicles 12-13 with 2 Chronicles 14:1-5), but the pages of Proverbs can also be consulted. In the latter case, this collection of pithy, memorable sayings about how a person can live a skillful and godly life was most likely put together primarily to prepare young people for a life in the court—in other words, for leadership. Consider some of the wisdom for leaders found there:

·         Proverbs 3:5-7: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
⁷ Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

·         Proverbs 9:10 (GNT): “To be wise you must first have reverence for the Lord. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding.”

·         Proverbs 15:1 (GNT): “A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.”

·         Proverbs 16:32 (GNT): “t is better to be patient than powerful. It is better to win control over yourself than over whole cities.”

·         Proverbs 28:3-5: “A poor man who oppresses the poor is a beating rain that leaves no food. ⁴ Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them. ⁵ Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.”

·         Proverbs 28:15: “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.”

·         Proverbs 28:16: “A ruler who lacks understanding is a cruel oppressor, but he who hates unjust gain will prolong his days.”

If moral character matters, this raises some questions. To start, if we have a choice of candidates before us and they all seem to be lacking to some degree in moral character (the situation that most people in the United States believe we now have with the top two presidential candidates), then how do we vote, or do we vote? To move toward an answer, we can paraphrase columnist Marvin Olasky, who recently opined that since both major presidential candidates are lacking in this area, we can expect problems to arise from whichever one is elected. This is where we start in our answer. We admit what Olasky wrote. But I believe we can go farther in our response.

Christians especially should have strong convictions that moral character matters for leaders, but also should remember that all leaders are imperfect. There is only one man who walked the earth who was sinless (cf. Heb. 4:15; 7:26) and so there is only one sinless and perfect leader and what a leader he is (cf. Isaiah 9:6-7; 11:1-5)!  Every other leader will be fallible. This understanding should not make us shoddy in our choice of candidates. It should move us to seek, to the best of our knowledge, to pick candidates with the best character we can and whose positions come the closest to agreeing with the sound public policies that emerge from biblical reflection.

So, in the case of this election, if you believe, as I do, that one of the two major candidates will be the next president (and that neither of the second tier candidates is a viable option),[1] we must apply this approach to our choice and vote for the one who would have the most positions that are closest to a Christian worldview and the most sound public policies.

Now, that choice for me is Donald Trump, even though I opposed him strongly in the primary. Yet some Christians have asked the question, “If we vote for someone like Donald Trump, how can the church in any reasonable way still be a voice of conscience for our culture?” I answer that question this way:  “In the same way we could still be the voice of conscience when voting for anyone else.” What we must understand is that a vote for a candidate does not condone all they are or all for which they stand. My vote for Mitt Romney in 2012 did not at all condone his Mormon theology. It did say he was head and shoulders above Obama on policies and was significantly closer to a Christian worldview. Likewise, my vote for Trump in this election does not condone his womanizing in the past or any outlandish comments he has made recently. What my vote does mean—and all it means—is that he will be far better for the country; for our religious liberties; for our protection as a nation; for the nomination of originalist supreme court, federal, and appellate court judges; for the preservation of our constitutional republic; for the economic health of our country; and for the well-being of our fellow citizens than Hillary Clinton. I (and any other outspoken evangelical Christian) will continue to be a voice of conscience as we critique and stand against all that Trump does that is unsound, unwise, and not in keeping with a Christian worldview. In no way should we come to his defense just because we voted for him!

As we think through this matter, we need to ask ourselves these questions: “Even though we know that each candidate has significant character flaws, with which one will we be better off, if we get only ½ of what each promises and with which one will we be better off given the people they are putting around them as advisors:  Clinton or Trump?” I have no doubt on how I answer those questions!

Moral character matters for leaders. Wisdom also matters for an electorate. May we not make the same mistake we did four years ago, stay home because we don’t have the perfect candidate, and guarantee what is certain to be a disastrous Clinton presidency!

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[1] Let’s say for the sake of argument that we would vote for Gary Johnson rather than Clinton or Trump. Some have advocated this. However, as his own web site words it, we would also be voting for his “socially tolerant positions.” Even if there could be a ground swell of people—enough to elect Johnson—it does not sound promising that he would advocate policies that would be close enough to a Christian worldview that we should be motivated to vote for him, especially when most likely to do so would mean we are contributing to the election of Clinton (whose stances are about as anti-Christian as one can get) as the next president.