Here's a tough lesson to
explain to your kids. Mine are now mostly teenagers and while they can certainly
grasp more than they could a few years ago, in some ways it's getting more and
more complicated. I'm sure those of you who have adult children will smile and
nod your head. You've already been down this road.
We've been talking about the
Mexican-American War and I found this recent video from RT. I realize many
people hate RT (Russia Today) and consider it to be nothing less than Russian
propaganda.
This piece is an editorial. The
reporter is not trying to hide that fact. She gives a quick history lesson,
ties it in with what's happening today and offers an opinion.
Now, many will be offended by
her history lesson. It paints the United States in a bad light. Essentially because
of Manifest Destiny etc... the US provoked a war and gobbled up what is today
the American Southwest taking about half of Mexico's land. Mexico had opened up
Texas to American settlement and it ended up leading to a great humiliation.
The Texans made a lot of trouble and eventually the interests of the United
States compelled it to step in. To many people, even many Americans at the
time, the whole thing was a farce. The United States basically manipulated the
situation and stole the land. The Texan schemers weren't as grandiose in their
plans, but in the end they too got what they wanted... the state of Texas.
Many Americans would want to
interpret these events in a different way. Many Christo-Americans will put a
theological twist on the account and more or less embrace Manifest Destiny or
some variety of it as giving sanction to them from God.
I don't care about America or
Mexico.
I care about the truth.
And what's the truth of the
story? The RT reporter pretty much tells it as it happened. There's really not
much to dispute and in fact she summed it up both quickly and well.
And I think she's being more
than fair to the Heritage Foundation, an organization that has no interest
whatsoever in balance or truth.
But that makes America look
bad, it destroys the narrative...
Who cares? As a Christian I'm
interested in the truth, not a narrative or a man-made construct, especially
one built on lies.
Here's where it get tough.
As you watch the video it's
fairly obvious the woman is scornful and sneering when she mentions Manifest
Destiny and the belief that 'God' had sanctioned these actions. I've seen her
in plenty of news clips. She's a typical secular feminist type and like most people
would be pretty hostile if actually presented with the Gospel of Biblical
Christianity.
Of course much of her ire is
directed against false forms of Christianity and especially those that have
used God as an excuse to sanction coveting. Make no mistake, that's all
Manifest Destiny ever was. It was an ideological sanction to covet and steal...
and murder anyone who opposed the idea.
I realize at this point
secularists will point to Old Testament Israel and likewise condemn their
actions. Of course we can explain that. They won't like our explanation but
it's not a theological dilemma for us. We can say with confidence that the Old
Covenant Hebrews rightly conquered and annihilated Canaan and that no people in
the era of the New Testament Church can 'rightly' (in the sense of Divine
Sanction) wage wars of conquest. Then under those conditions and circumstances
it was right, moral and holy. Today any nation that attempted to replicate that
would be guilty of murder, theft and great evil.
It all goes back to the
blasphemer Constantine and the Shift that began to occur after his false
conversion and utilization of Christ for political gain.
So on the one hand the RT
reporter is rather anti-Christian... but she is to some extent interested in a
larger truth. She won't find it, but she wants to discover and tell it.
On the other hand we have
Christians like Peter Marshall who baptize covetousness and murder and use a
meta-narrative to gloss over historical truths. They literally have come up
with a theological justification for lying about the past. He escapes the
charge by insisting America was fulfilling its God given destiny.
I argue he is essentially the
theological equivalent of a false prophet and has baptized sinful and murderous
deeds. America's history isn't unique. All expansionist nations are guilty of
thievery and murder. That's just the nature of things in a fallen world. What's
strange is that Christians would celebrate it.
Which is more dangerous? The
secularist news commentator who's trying to tell a story that's true even if
her interpretations are not truth-seeking nor does she seek this truth to the
glory of God?
Or, the Christian who in order
to maintain a positive interpretation develops extra-Biblical ideas and
narratives that all but 'covenantalize' his nation and blesses its endeavours
no matter how deceitful, violent and wicked they may be?
I insist the latter is the
greater enemy. The RT reporter does not pose an existential threat to the
Church. She's easily identified as lost and no Christian is going to allow her
philosophical foundations to influence them. If she speaks truth and/or seeks
it, that's despite her worldview. It's a reflection of Common Grace. We can be
thankful for it, but it will condemn her in the end. She knows the world is
unjust and appeals to a universal standard of justice. She can't account for it
but she knows it's there. It makes her guilty too and she is without excuse.
The Peter Marshall group (if I can
label them thus) represents a great threat to the Church, an existential threat.
His ideas will fundamentally change the very nature of the Church, what it is,
what it does, how it thinks, believes and acts. When the Kingdom is wedded to
earthly power it changes how the Church thinks about power, money, violence...
everything.
True believers will of course
persevere to the end, but many will be led astray by the error and many will
fall. Many will think they do God service and will be in for a shock.
In the Spiritual Realm it's a
true battle between Good and Evil. The Body of Christ is robed in white and
wearing shining armour as it were. The forces of Hell are monstrous beasts and
malformed demons.
But in terms of This Age it is
far more confusing.
This is the part that I
repeatedly try and get my kids to understand. It's not easy.
On the one hand the RT reporter
is the enemy. She's hostile to the Gospel. To borrow from folklore, she's an
orc. I'm speaking spiritually of course. She sure doesn't look like an orc does
she? There's that aspect. Humanly speaking the enemy is often very attractive.
She's an enemy and yet... she's
speaking some truth. And it's truth that we can benefit from and learn
something about. She has no basis for it or moral ground on which to stand but
we can be thankful that in terms of Common Grace she is lost but not wholly
handed over.
In This Age we'll meet smiling
people with a Bible under their arm and cross lapel or necklace. They might
have nice families and seem like good and God-fearing people. And yet they may
be orcs. They may seem fair but in fact be foul.
The RT reporter is no different
but far less of a threat. Ironically despite the danger we can actually have a
positive interaction with her that we might benefit from.
While among the false believers
it's more complicated. There may be times when we hold to common ground and
there might seem to be fellowship centered on the Word. But on the other hand
their poison, their cancer tends to permeate all their thinking and there are
times when I wonder if in the end we might have more in common with someone
like the RT reporter!
I don't doubt there are many
genuine believers who have been blinded by the deceptive heresy of
Christo-American Constantinianism. But I fear many are little more than moral
Baal worshippers and spiritually quite dangerous to be around.
Many Christians I know would
lavish praise on someone like Jim DeMint who runs the Heritage Foundation. And
yet I view him as a heretical serpent in the midst of the Church running a
factory of lies. I would rather see Christians read books by people overtly hostile
to Christianity, than the smooth and deceiving words of someone like DeMint who
neither knows the Scripture, sees the Kingdom, nor has any interest in
understanding the real world.
DeMint's gospel is an
amalgamation of Scripture twisting and lies about history and how the world
works.
It's goal... earthly power.
It's result... Christians
labouring to build a counterfeit Zion.
The real world is far more
complicated the black and white depictions of many books and movies. The black
and white/good and evil narrative we're familiar with is an idealised symbol of
reality... in the spiritual world, but it doesn't play out that way in the
space and time of a fallen world.
The clear vision only comes
when Christ returns. We'll see the wolves and serpents for what they really
are. And yet I fear many Christians will appear far more hideous in That Day
than even a sneering unbeliever whose earthly beauty will be changed to shame.
And yet for all that, though
they are in a sense monsters and enemies... we must not treat them so. They are
people made in the image of God. We must gently and with humility try to steer
them from the dark paths. We have no right or prerogative to hate them or treat
them as monsters.
We must view all people as
potentially members of God's household. Whether they are or are not will only
be made manifest in that Day. In that day we will see all Truth and understand
the true nature of the world and of men's hearts.
We must oppose the enemies of
Christ, denounce their words and deeds but we must also demonstrate to them the
truth and love of the Gospel that opens the door to the Heavenly Zion.
It's not an easy task.
