When
California’s governor and legislature attempted to gut open meeting and freedom
of information laws there was an immediate uprising on left and right. The government backed down. One can only wonder what would happen if left
and right were equally horrified by the lawlessness of the state’s secular
authorities and the Ninth Circuit Court in pushing forward gay marriages when
they have neither the authority nor the jurisdiction to do so. As things stand the issue is no longer
homosexual marriage, but rather elected and unelected officials acting contrary
to law because they can. That should
send chills of both fear and outrage up the spines of freedom loving people
regardless of their opinions on gay marriage.
What government can do to gore the ox of one faction it can do to the ox
of another on another day.
That
fear and outrage is not manifesting at this moment. It is left for people of faith and common
sense to stand or fall because – as Jackson Senyonga famously said in
California – The condition of society is the report card of the Church. The implication of the biblical story of the
paralyzed man healed after his friends lower him through the roof to lie at
Jesus’ feet stands. Until he stands and
walks – testing the new muscles he has received – he is not really and fully
healed.
My last post
mentioned how prophets of Bible times confronted kings with their wrongdoing
from David to Ahab and Herod. Daniel
confronted the emperor of Babylon. They
risked their lives each time they confronted rulers; yet they were convinced
that life was not worth living outside of service to the God who had given them
real freedom and real life. In fact, as
three of Daniel’s friends prepared to be thrown into a super-heated furnace
they declared that – although they expected God’s rescue – they would not
change their decision to serve Him in truth even if he did not deliver them
from evil. When the disciples are
hopelessly confused by Jesus’ hard statements and some begin to walk away the
Lord asks Peter if he too will go. Peter
asks, “Where would I go? You have the
words of life.” What have such stories
to do with ordinary Christians in California in the face of governors and
attorneys general who refuse their duty to defend state law – and defy the
courts when they don’t get what they want?
We can excuse
ourselves all day long by saying we are not Elijah and we are not John the
Baptist. Or we can repent – re-focus on
God as our life source and life model – and reflect that since the first
Pentecost we of the Body are a prophetic community. We need not make the Nathans in our midst the
surrogates for what we ought to do – and are enabled to do. The good news of the Supreme Court decisions
and the lawless response to them is that we can finally know – I hope – that
putting our trust in men and institutions to do the right thing is a fool’s
bargain. Trusting in and following God
wherever He leads is the only game in tow.
But what ought we do?
We ought as the
Body of Christ to enter into a serious season of repentance – re-focus on God –
with practical consequences as direct and visible as that man walking in a
village in Judea two thousand years ago. That means we respond to Jesus’
statement in Matthew 10 that He will acknowledge us before His Father only if
we acknowledge Him before men. It means
we call, e-mail and speak – throughout the state – demanding that government
officials obey the law and perform only their lawful duties while we obey only
their lawful orders. This is an act of
supreme repentance for those of us who have remained silent and imagined our
faith a private matter.
Even more we
ought to pray as never before for government leaders, for leadership in our
churches, and for those with whom we disagree on the values and shaping of
marriage. We pray a Damascus Road
experience for all leaders – beginning with ourselves – in which we like Paul
are confronted with the overwhelming love of God on Whom we have turned our
backs even while imagining we served Him.
We ought to pray every day that leaders would fall in love with the
limitations placed on their power in the Constitution and in the Word of God
which inspired it. I can guarantee our grades will rise on our next report card
– for all concerned – if we do as we ought.
James A. Wilson is the author of Living
As Ambassadors of Relationships and The
Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by
e-mailing him at
praynorthstate@charter.net
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