Orthodox Christians Must Now Learn To Live as Exiles in Our Own Country
Voting Republican and other failed culture war strategies are not going to save us now
Over at Time.com the above article chronicles the the demise of the Conservative American way of life, but is this some kind of surprise? Not to anyone who reads and understands the New Testament. Witnessing the failure of Christianity in America trying to infiltrate the infrastructure of Satan’s kingdom without any spiritual backup was an impossible task from the get-go.
Christians have been living in disobedience for a very, very long time. The very founding of this Nation was the rejection of the commands of God. But, since there appeared to be success and blessing attached to their throwing off the yoke and injunction to “Be ye subject unto the higher powers,” (that higher power being Britain) the rebellious affections of the Founding Fathers took precedence over obedience and faith in the un-seen God. With a little success under their belt the consensus was that they could accomplish anything so long as they prefixed their efforts with In God We Trust; although that trust was nowhere evident, only the collective power of positive thinking.
Are we now to believe that God has failed us? Isn’t the profusion of Churches up and down Main Street proof of our adherence to God’s ways? Could it be that God forgot to “count the cost” and that He is now made to look like a fool and mocked because He failed to complete what He started? There is no question that the United States of America is crumbling before our eyes and that there is no apparent way out of the mess and debauchery we now witness. Where might we look to identify the problem? The problem is obviously not with God; the problem is with the Church, if we dare call it that. The problem lays squarely at the feet of those who profess to follow Christ, who are Christian is words only, who are very punctual with days and times, who even pray with regularity “as in Heaven so on earth,” who play the saint while every eye is watching, but whose life differs not a bit from any common heathen.
Is it reasonable to inquire why we see the failure of the Christian spirit in The United States? This too is obvious. It is because the avowed lives of Christians are thus strangely contrary to the principles of Christianity. It is because of a sincere lack of intention that we see men, who profess religion, living in foul language and sensuality, and that even the “clergy” are given to pride, worldly desires, profane enjoyment and entertainment. It is for this same lack of intention that we see women who profess devotion to Christ living in all the folly of vanity with the way they dress and the waste of their time in idleness and pleasures.
It was this intention to follow Christ that gained the primitive Church such praise as eminent examples of devotion, that established renowned fellowships, and created such stalwart confessions in the face of martyrdom. If we will stop here and take inventory of our own lives and ask why we are not so devoted, we will discover through our heart’s witness, that it is neither through ignorance or inability, but rather through lack of intention.
The Church has involved itself in the world: all of its vanities of politics, power, and popularity and has now shut itself off from the Lord. The failure of our Nation is witness against us that we have fallen from grace.
Let the life of King Saul instruct us . . . .
Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.
Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”
When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
“Tell me,” Saul replied.
Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”
“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”
But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”
But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”
1 Samuel 15: 10-26