“The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Proverbs 14:11-12 ESV
There’s a reason – a sinister one, we’re sad to report – why people in politics, media and academia continue to refer to America as a democracy. In truth, she’s a republic…a democratic republic. America was founded upon the rock solid foundation of God’s word-law by a people who were humble before the Lord and knew that man’s law was always the path to tyranny but God’s the path to peace. This explains a written Constitution. It explains the separation of powers and the Bill of Rights. It explains why government was restrained and limited by law and could not interfere with the church (the actual intent of the 1st Amendment). But today, due to our rejection of God, we hurtle down that precipitous cliff of rebellion. This isn’t happening by accident but because even the church has been hoodwinked by that great liar’s primordial con.
What is it? What’s the great con? It’s the old hiss and lie of the serpent in the Garden. “Did God really say?” Sure, it has many different bands covering the old tune – some play it fast, some like jazz, others like rock. Whatever. It’s all the same. The basic lie is the root of all that the Bible calls sin. It’s so pervasive, so baked into the cake of human reasoning and experience, that we’re generally oblivious to it. The true root of sin actually can’t be any simpler and yet any less recognized. It’s as much a part of who we are that it’s like being wet is to a fish; to be wet is to be a fish, and to be a sinner is to think autonomously. Or, more accurately, the foolish attempt to do so, for no one can actually think autonomously any more than a fish can live without all that wetness. Man, the created being – created by God and in His image – must think in God-ordained categories or else self-destruct (Psalm 1:1; Proverbs 1:7; 8:36; 1 Corinthians 1:20-22). Like a fish in a forest is man thinking autonomously.
The issue is really as simple as this. If man can think according to his own standard, then that means God isn’t God and doesn’t own the world He created. There’s no middle ground here. Seriously. All attempts to bridge the gap are what the Bible calls syncretism, which is to say, unbelief. It’s the motley mix of replacing the foundations of God’s word with man’s while claiming that you’re not openly attacking God. Syncretism is the coward’s way, the half-way, the false-friend’s way.
If we’re capable of thinking in terms of right and wrong, true and false, good and evil, without reference to God’s word-law, and then applying its principles to our particulars, then God is no God at all. The logical impossibility of syncretism, polytheism, relativism, and philosophical pluralism is seen easily in the obvious fact that if there’s no final authority then there’s no authority whatsoever. If all people on the earth are their own final standard – epistemically and ethically – then it’s logically impossible for there to be one true standard. And if there’s no final authority or standard, why argue about anything?
Indeed, the very fact that the categories of right and wrong, true and false, even occur to us is evidence that Jesus Christ is Lord. The reality of all our arguing and disagreement is, in fact, evidence of the Bible’s central message of sin. This is a point that the modern church doesn’t understand because, tragically, she has allowed herself to be infected by the syncretism of the time and its handmaiden, the myth of neutrality. If a group of people come together to test a subject according to the word-law of God, in humble prayer, submitting to the royal logic of Scripture, there’s unity. But if that same group of people come to a debate with the premise of Genesis 3:5, which is to say that God’s word-law can be questioned and isn’t applicable to literally all things, then the law of polytheism is on display. If each man’s mind is his own final standard, not God’s fixed word-law and royal logic, there’s never true peace and often never-ending conflict. Battle must follow from the premise that each man is his own final standard. The lack of transcendent personal moral law means that each man should and must arm himself to the teeth because the final word is superior force. What is pure democracy but the brute rule of a raw majority? In a raw democracy, law isn’t king[1], but man is. War is avoided only insofar as the losing side, the minority, is either incapable of mounting a defense – perhaps through lack of organization or resources – or has some hope of turning the tables in the next election.
The Garden of Eden was a place of peace because God’s word-law was trusted. East of Eden is a land where Cain bashes his brother’s brains in with a rock. The penalty of sin is death, yes, but just as well, the living reality of sin is murder. God’s grace alone keeps us from being completely true to the anarchic principle of sin. So, what should Christians do about the next election…or any election? We must repent! If Christians would put as much energy into worship and faithful obedience, praying for America and for revival, as we do politics, God may very well turn the tide of America’s demise. And make no mistake – America is under clear judgment right now. And Trump isn’t the answer, nor is any governor. We must repent of our syncretism and unbelief. We must live as though the royal logic of Scripture is supreme. We must bring about the obedience of faith in our hearts, minds, and lives. Only then will our votes matter. Until then, unless we turn back to His word-law as supreme and reject wholesale the putrid lie of the myth of neutrality, we’re merely rearranging the furniture of a burning house.
[1] Lex Rex, Latin for Law is King, is the Christian heritage based upon the illumination by the Holy Spirit that only God’s word-law is supreme. Absent this, incessant power struggles and strife ensue and various men, groups, and governments jockey and compete for dominance. A pure democracy is merely, therefore, a tyranny of the majority if not restrained by the transcendent moral law of Christ.
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