The Church in American Captivity

The Church in American Captivity

 

  If you still believe there are morals, then you will not deny that America has been in departure from Biblical morality for the past few decades.  Fornication, family disintegration, Homosexual rights, legalization of drugs, legalization of abortion, media and personal obscenity, God censored public arenas, able people on the dole, and the habit of spending money that hasn’t been earned.   During this time, I have heard 2 Chron 7:14 (If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.) advocated as the panacea, the magic bullet.  I have preached and taught it myself.  It seems that I may be trying to start a left handed nut by turning it to the right;  so I am stepping back and rethinking.

 

  We believe 2 Chron. was recorded by Ezra in the 400s bc., after the Assyrian and Babylonian/ Medo-Persian captivities.  It reiterates a promise given to the nation of Israel at the zenith of their power under Solomon, circa 950 bc.  After Solomon finished the building of the temple, God spoke this promise to him.  The nation of Israel must not have heeded in sufficient numbers because they began a decline.  Shortly after Solomon’s reign, they became divided.  The Northern nation went into Assyrian captivity in the 700s bc, and the Southern nation called Judah went into Babylonian and Medo-Persian captivity in the 500s bc.  I have not been specific about the dates because Israelis were taken captive over a long period in small groups at a time until the nation was decimated.  They were returned from captivity, again in small groups at a time, but they continued to suffer during the inter testamental period under the Greek dynasties and Roman empire until the New Covenant was in effect (33 ad).  They were finally vanquished and scattered in 70 ad by the Romans. 

  The Israeli state founded in the late 1940s is not a revival of that old theocracy.  It was not established to renew and protect religious zeal.  It is a secular parliamentary democracy under a Prime Minister and a 120 member legislature called “Knesset”.  A Mosque sits on the site of the old temple. The altar and animal sacrifices have never been reestablished.   The Palestinians and their allies will ensure that those things never return, and if Israel tries to bring them back they will do so without U.S. help.   The Jews may yet be heirs of Biblical promise, but only those who come under the lordship of Christ.  Today’s Israel was understandably reconstituted to secure protection against anti Semitism and to avert another holocaust. 

  Was 2 Chron 7:14 a maxim (general truth) for God’s people for all time?  I don’t know.  I do know that God’s people of today (the Church) have prayed and sought God’s favor for a long time in mass numbers;  but  I cannot know how many have turned from their wicked ways.  I would have to be omniscient to determine that.  One thing is for sure:  America’s cancer continues to spread!  I sense that many Christians are growing weary and their faith is being sorely tested because the promise of a healing has not been fulfilled. 

 

  It could be that we are practicing questionable hermeneutics (methods of Biblical interpretation) in claiming this promise for America.  Good hermeneutics require that a scripture be interpreted in it’s original context, and not applied outside that context unless it is obviously intended as a maxim or a type.  “Typology” is the study of “types and antitypes”.  A “type” can be represented by an old typewriter;  the type being the letter on the end of the steel arm, the antitype being the letter that it prints on a piece of paper.  There are probably hundreds of types in the Old Testament.  They were intended to illustrate a reality (antitype) under the New covenant.  The Bible usually leaves no doubt, because the New Testament usually refers to an event or person and says plainly that it is the fulfillment (antitype) of this or that “type” in the Old Testament.  For example:  the blood sacrifices were types that found their antitype at Calvary.  Hebrews 9:12-14.  There are some factors that lead me to believe that the promised benefits of  2 Chron. may not be a typological promise that can find it’s antitype in a spiritual revival of secular America.  Judah (Israel) was a theocracy.  They were governed by the Mosaic Law that came from God and was administered by the priests, judges, kings, etc.  America is not a theocracy;  therefore, America may not fall under the terms of God’s promise to Solomon. 

 

  If any “nation” qualifies today to be beneficiaries of this covenantal promise, it is today’s theocracy;  the church.  I believe the “type” of the literal nation of Israel finds it’s antitype in today’s church.  If the prayer of Chronicles is to be properly directed today, perhaps it should be a prayer for the church.  A strong and healthy church can be vibrant with the soul saving message no matter what culture she finds herself in. 

 

  America has been a great vehicle for the church for many years.  She has been a springboard from which the church has been able to fulfill the Great Commission more thoroughly than from any previous nation;  but vehicles don’t last forever.  After a few hundred thousand miles, a vehicle ceases to become an instrument of freedom.  It’s owner is captured by the burden of all the things that are breaking down.  Repair costs and lack of dependability outweigh the cost of a newer one.

  I think it may be appropriate now for true Christians to develop a “captive” mentality.  In times when Israel did go into captivity, God always preserved a remnant of the faithful even within that captivity.  Just because the vehicle may be ready to blow does not mean that the church is, for even after God’s people go into captivity, He gives them success under the captor.  Captives held sway with the king.  They held high political positions.  Christians can still do likewise in America and should if so gifted.  If you are faithful, you will follow the examples of the captive Jews.   A heathen king will call for a Daniel’s advice when all else fails, and Daniel will never quit going to his West window for prayer, yet he shall prevail over the Lions.  Those like Shadrach and his friends will not bow before an idol, yet they will survive the king’s wrath.  An Esther will cast her fate on the mercy of God and successfully plead with Ahasuerus for her people.  A Mordecai will rise to prominence above his enemies and save his people from Haman’s hatred.  An Ezekiel will continue his prophecy on the banks of the Chebar.  A Nehemiah will serve Artaxerxes faithfully and boldly ask to go help with the reestablishment of Israel. 

  The captor nations have been buried by the sands of time, while the legacy of Israel (which we are part of) continues to shape the World.  Only the steadfast captives and those who joined them will shine as stars forever, and we need to revisit them and learn of their wisdom and deeds.  We have not been dragged off our soil into captivity.  The nation around us has simply been dragged into a secular ideology, and we find ourselves captives within;  but we still have a grand purpose to fulfill.

 

  There was a certain stance that God wanted His people to take with regard to their captors, and perhaps this is what we should do and pray for America:

 

(Jer 29:4-7  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon;  Build ye houses , and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them;  Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.)

 

  Ensconse ourselves, proliferate, and pray for peace.  Peace for the nation that holds us captive, so that we also may have peace to carry on with our mission.  The empire within which Christianity was founded and flourished was about as wicked as they come;  but they provided one thing…..peace.  Christianity did not have to fight it’s way through one territorial warlord after another.  It seems God used Rome to facilitate the rise and spread of the church.  The seeds of this fledgling movement were flung over the known world for 30 years before the persecution began, and after that, God wadded Rome up and threw her away.  The church continued it’s conquests from other venues.  America is paralleling Rome’s demise with alarming precision.  The democratic process is falling prey to a horde with an entitlement mentality.  One day the bread wagons will not come.

 

  The true church will survive in this world and beyond.  The gates of Hades (power of death) shall not prevail against it.  It is eternal.  America once claimed to be a Christian nation and there is much evidence to show that the framers of our constitution and our early forefathers were favorable toward Christianity.   That was before evolutionists precluded God and tore the credibility out of the Bible (at least in the minds of those who didn’t want to believe it anyway).  It was before those who believe themselves wise would not accept anything outside the bounds of present scientifically defined parameters.  It was before the Bible became a book only for the backward and superstitious.  It was before we became a melting pot of many religions.   

  Despite the fact that 75% of Americans claim to be Christians, our President says we are not a Christian nation.  It is true that we are constitutionally prohibited from endorsing or inhibiting any religion, and perhaps that is what he was referring to.  Regardless of the semantics or statistics, it appears he may be correct in ways he did not intend, considering the height from which we have fallen morally.

  Some political pundits with proven credibility are saying that America is done.  I wouldn’t be quite that dramatic.  I have seen God turn things around overnight.  World events may force America back to her roots as a matter of survival.   Perhaps our progeny in whom we have instilled Christianity can conscientiously rally to that reborn nation’s cause. 

  Am I worried for them?  No.  Absolutely not.  If their faith can survive in this present day Secular Humanist and increasingly Socialist state, it can survive anywhere.  Christians have had a vital role to play as captives in many cultures. 

  The church was built with an amazing capacity to adapt to different cultures without losing it’s crucial message and it’s attractive power.  This has been proven by our foreign missions which have successfully gone to every corner of the world.  In our recent conflict with Iraq, I was amazed to learn that there are approx. 800,000 Christians there!  I had previously thought that only Muslims could survive there.  There are probably more professing Christians in the clandestine Chinese church than in the U.S.

 

  In any case, Christians have a larger identity as citizens of a culture without end.  Heb 11:8-10 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:  For he looked for a city which hath foundations , whose builder and maker is God.

 

  World history has proven that no empire here has ever had “foundations”.  They rise and crumble.  For 2000 years now, the eternal kingdom has been the only solid place to stand.