Who Do We Trust? - James McManus

There are times where I find myself explaining to people that I am a child of the 1980s (having been born in 1976, which also makes me a Bicentennial child!). This usually happens when I am waxing lyrical about something related to 80’s pop culture - music, movies, movies, toys, etc. And, by waxing lyrical, I mean explaining how superior 80’s pop culture is to most other decades and their culture! 

Another part of being a child of the 80s relates to my being raised in an evangelical church, in particular the Southern Baptist church. Part of that time and culture revolves around the Moral Majority. If you are too young to know, the Moral Majority was a political movement supported by many American evangelical Christians. The goal of this group was to mobilize American evangelical Christians to vote for conservative politicians. In turn, these conservative politicians would be sensitive to issues that were important to evangelical Christians, namely abortion. To be an evangelical Christian in the 1980s more than likely meant that, at the least, you knew about the Moral Majority, or, at the most, really supported it.

 

It seems that this movement began to dissolve in the late 80s’/early 90s, but the remnant of the ideas still continued on. I believe you can still it in effect in the late 1990s in the response to the scandal of President Bill Clinton with his affair with Monica Lewinsky, an intern in the White House. Part of the cry to remove President Clinton from office for this affair centered on the morality of it. It’s one thing to have an adulterous affair (clearly breaking the 7th commandment); it’s another thing for the President of the United States to have this affair that, at times, took place in the Oval Office; and it’s another thing for him to have this affair with an intern, which could be seen as an abuse of power as a leader (shades of David & Bathsheba?). There was a moral outrage from evangelical Christians over all of this, and, I believe, rightly so. I believe we want political leaders who are morally decent people - people who can set examples of good morality as they lead our country, state, town.

 

Fast forward to 2012 and Senator Mitt Romney. He was running to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States. He had experience as a Senator in Utah and in helping with the Winter Olympics when it was held in Utah. Senator Romney seemed to check off many of the boxes of being a politically conservative Republican, as well as seeming to be a morally good person. However, there was one glaring issue for evangelical Christians - Senator Romney was a committed member of the Mormon Church. And, in the evangelical Christian mindset, the Mormon Church is not Christian, with some believing that it is a cult. So, the chatter began that Christians could not vote for Romney because he was a Mormon. He checked off many boxes for evangelical Christians, but the biggest box - Christian faith - wasn’t, so we couldn’t support him … until he was the Republican nominee. Once that was finalized, then evangelical Christians were encouraged to throw their support behind him so that he could defeat the Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama (who had some interesting faith details to deal with). The idea was the nation needed someone like Romney as President, so he could appoint conservative federal judges and Supreme Court justices. Overall, he was a morally decent man, albeit not Christian, who would help further the conservative cause, even in areas such as abortion. 

 

That brings us to 2016, and the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Here was the Republican nominee who had some serious skeletons in the closet. Numerous marriages and divorces, noted and rumored affairs, crass and crude comments … and who can forget the infamous picture of Mr. Trump with Jerry Falwell, Jr., (whose father was one of the founders and leaders of the Moral Majority (( don’t you love it when these sort of things twistedly circle back around?)) ), where, in the background, was a framed cover of an issue of Playboy that Trump was interviewed in? I believe it is safe to say that Donald Trump was nowhere near the moral leader the Moral Majority envisioned - or evangelical Christians would want … yet, he was the nominee and the one many evangelical Christians voted for against Mrs. Hillary Clinton. One of the rallying cries for us to vote for Trump was that he would nominate and appoint conservative federal judges and Supreme Court justices, who would help dismantle Roe v. Wade and take down the abortion industry. 

That brings us on this timeline to this summer, the summer of 2020. One of the big stories that came out this summer were some of the decisions that the Supreme Court handed out - such as the ruling that struck down a Louisiana law that required doctors who performed abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. The swing vote on this case was Chief Justice John Roberts, who was appointed by President George Bush in 2005. Justice Roberts was touted as having a conservative judicial philosophy, one who would help protect conservatism in America, and maybe even help battle abortion laws. There was also the ruling on LGBTQ folks are like everyone else and should be treated that way, i.e. not fired from their jobs because of their sexual identity. One of those who voted in favor for that was Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was appointed by President Trump, in part because of his conservative approach to the law. 

Now, admittedly, this is a big picture view of history that doesn’t delve into some of the nuances and complexities of some of these issues. My point in this history lesson is a lesson that I, as an evangelical Christian and pastor, need to learn, and I hope others do too … and that lesson is found in Psalm 146:3, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.” It is my opinion that for so long, evangelical Christians have looked to politicians, judges, justices, institutions and promises to fight battles such as abortion and Biblical family and sexuality - and, in that looking, we haven’t done the work that we, as Christians and the church, need to do. We have put our trust in princes … we have handed over trust and the lions share of the work to others, and, in the end, what has happened? It only takes a quick glance around at society - and our churches - to see the result of this. We have put our trust in princes, and, in the end, I think it can be argued that we haven’t gotten back much at all. These issues are still there, and may be even more prevalent than before. 

That is the problem, so what is the solution? As an ordinary means of grace believer and adherent, I believe that is the answer to many of our issues. Word, prayer and sacrament - that is the answer. 

Reading the word. Preaching the word. Teaching the word. Building ourselves up in the word, and building our people up in the word - so that they can understand all things through that perspective of God’s word as the inerrant and infallible truth. 

Praying for our leaders and these issues. Praying this ourselves and with our people. Having prayer meetings where these issues are prayed about. Praying for these things from the pulpit. Let God hear our voice and the voice of our people bringing our leaders and problems and issues to the throne of grace so that His sovereign will be done. 

Teaching how baptism is a sign and seal that we now belong to Christ and are His ambassadors here on earth. Encourage them to come to the Lord’s Table to spiritually feast on Christ and grow in grace so that we can continue on being examples of faithfulness to the glory of God alone. 

I believe that through a means of grace approach our trust is taken from princes of men and is put on the Prince of Princes. When we follow that old path of being a people of the word, a people on our knees in prayer, a people who are faithful to their baptism and the taking of the Lord’s Supper, that is where change is effected. 

Does that mean we become anti-political or apolitical? Not at all - we should still want leaders who will rule well. We should still want leaders who are morally good people. But, are they our only hope? No, our hope is built on the rock of Christ, in who He is, what He has done for His people, and for how He has called His people to live for Him. 

Let us vote as ones who have been so immersed in God’s word that when you cut us, we bleed the Bible.

 

Let us vote as ones who get off their knees in prayer to go and vote. 

Let us vote as ones who have been baptized in the Triune name of God as a sign and seal of His covenantal love. 

Let us vote as ones who are faithful to taking the Lord’s Supper so that we are spiritually feasting upon the goodness of Christ as we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. 

That is where I believe change will come from in us, in our families, in our churches, in our nation and in the world. It is a change that puts our trust in the Lord and not in man. It puts our trust where it should always be. 

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to watch MTV while I eat a big bowl of sugary cereal, to finish it all off with some “Super Mario Brothers” and “Tecmo Bowl”on the Nintendo while listening to some 80s greatest hits CD.