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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 05:57 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Is God threatened by the impeachment investigation against President Trump? To the thinking, God-knowing mind, that question is ludicrous on its face, but many people act as if they don't really believe in the sovereignty of God. Or maybe even more to the point, as if God really cares (like it could upset His plans or interfere with His power) who our president is. Now, granted, many of us believers have been rightfully excited by the presidency of Donald Trump, as he has done many wonderful things while serving in the Oval Office that no other president before has ever done. But while that is good, we ought not to hang our hats entirely upon the personal supremacy of this likeable and excellent president.

Was God not in control when Trump's predecessor sat where he sits now?

Was God not in control on 9/11 (and other monstrous events in American history – WW2, WW1, the War Between the States, the War of 1812, the presidency of Jimmy Carter, etc.)?

Of course, He was! And yet often we act as if God needs the instrumentality of men, particularly “good leaders,” in order to accomplish His purposes here on Earth. We act as if God will be defeated if we do not do certain things.

For many years this writer became either excited or disillusioned over political things. Then lesser-known facts came to light about the history of money and banking, law, medicine and healthcare, religion (churchianity) and, certainly, education and family issues. A long process of discovery led to new understandings about realities in each one of those realms, and it was both frightening and motivating to come to comprehend things that were not commonly known. One can spend a lot of time both educating others about those “red pill” realities, and then chasing after possible solutions for whole new sets of problems that are much, much bigger than who will win the next election.

But ultimately it still comes down to this question: Who is in control? And did He not give us the tools to overcome enemies of all sorts, both those who appear aggressive and evil and those who come in like a fifth column, and did He not also give us the wisdom to adapt to and utilize the rules of those in dominance there? Again, the answer to this is obvious. God is on his throne, and He will be glorified.

Psalm 2 talks about His laughter at men who dare to raise their fist to Him as if they can dethrone God. And yet sometimes it is easy for us who are believers to believe that God will be dethroned if we don't act in certain ways or learn certain things, and, essentially, we do the same thing. We act as if God needs us, which is another way of dethroning God.

Does God not intend for us to be fruitful and to multiply and to replenish the Earth? Did He not give us a command to take dominion over all of the Earth? Does this not mean to exercise authority over all areas of life, not just that which is political or that which is religious on the surface? Did He not give tools which are discoverable, which tools bear God’s guarantee of success (like equity, and reaping what you sow) no matter who uses them, whether for good or for evil? Is scripture not clear, for example, that the lender is wiser than the borrower, and can we not at least infer that wiser is closer to God? So why do we not act as lenders rather than as borrowers nor see it as fulfillment of a biblical imperative when we do?

Solomon has been called the wisest man who ever lived, and yet look at his life. What a mess! Solomon was wise in terms of man's wisdom, but often not in terms of the wisdom of God. That does not make Solomon's wisdom foolishness; it rather gives us tools that will work successfully, and even more so for those who also know and strive first for the wisdom of God.

So, can we not utilize the best wisdom on Earth, especially that which is given to us in scripture, and become, for example, masters of finance? Or masters of law, or masters of health, or masters in our own home in the education of our own children? Yes, we can! in fact, if we do not do all that we can to maximize our use of the resources God has given to us, we are in that sense at least failing God and failing in our mission purpose for which He put us here. If God has given us the ability to earn money in vast quantities, and we are wise enough to not worship the resource and tool that is money and, instead, use it to serve God, why would we not wisely pursue all that we could get? Does scripture not tell us to covet earnestly the best gifts?

We are enjoying the presidency of Donald Trump (and, I dare say, we will enjoy seeing him overcome the phony challenges of his political enemies) because he first became a wealthy-enough man to be consequential in the lives of many. Whether or not Trump is a believer, he has certainly benefited from using principles of wealth-building, the author of which was God Himself. And, as God is not threatened by the use of those principles by some who do not love Him (i.e., He does not make those plans unworkable in the hands of the unworthy), perhaps we should not consider ourselves wise to disassociate from those principles when we happen to see them used successfully (and dominantly) by those who do not use them first to serve God. In fact, Jesus told us (in Luke 16:8) that the children of the world are sometimes wiser than the children of light.

So, no matter what field in life you feel called to – no matter which one of the “7 mountains” you climb – find the eternal principles that govern there. Discern between the principle and the pragmatic that applies it in any given situation, and when the authority of the pragmatic seems to come from some who have in their hearts no love of or fear for the Creator of the principle, do not overreact and throw out the God-intended benefit of the principle.

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