I won’t say I wasn’t surprised, but I also suspected that Trump had the mojo and momentum; and when his opponent was as corrupt a politician as she was, it shouldn’t have been even as hard fought as it was. That said, IÂ still found my mouth gaping as the election returns came in on Tuesday evening. It very quickly became evident that the News networks hadn’t quite considered the fact that a statistical error in their all-holy polls would bring about the result it did, a decisive electoral victory for Trump.
The response from both sides has been disheartening, but not surprising. Millennials who have grown up getting a trophy even when they lose, should not be expected to cope well when they lose. And uncouth responses from folks who supported an uncouth candidate also should be expected. But remember, that MOST of Americans–regardless of who they voted for–woke up the next day, got the kids ready for school, went to work, chatted around the water-cooler, and are looking forward to the football game on Sunday. Not everyone is writing racist slurs on the windshields of cars in black neighborhoods, nor is everyone in Portland rioting in protest of Trump (by the way, Portland happened to vote for Clinton 76%, so not sure why they’re taking out their angst on their own). We shouldn’t let outliers (on either side) determine how we think about the whole.
Now, this response would be shocking and out of place if God was actually our God; but it has been a long time since we as a nation have worshipped and served the Lord God alone. We’re a nation of Baal worshippers, and our Baal is the Government itself.
For those on the left, he’s been a rather benevolent god the last several years and their every petition has been answered and he’s showered upon them, in his favor, an abundance of healthcare options. They implored him to permit them to defy nature and marry whoever and whatever they desired, and he complied and granted them their hearts’ desire: at the cost of fruitlessness.
The tribute he demanded they willingly gave, and offered up their unborn babies to appease him. He always heard their mantras of tolerance, acceptance, diversity, and he was very pleased at their worship, and blessed them with more debt, more enslavement, more taxes…and the people rejoiced. Their imprecatory prayers he heard and forced their enemies to take pictures of their wickedness, bake cakes for it, and provide flowers to appease the offense of dishonoring the great name of our Baal, may he live forever. He demanded that they sacrifice the prophets of the One True God and they gladly demanded restrictions on the Lord’s Church.
However, now he has not heard their prayers, their high priestess has been thrown down, and they are left to wonder if Baal is now angry with them. They are now left to cut themselves, cry the louder, tip over cars and light couches on fire to atone for their sins of their intolerant countrymen and make a ruckus until they’ve exhausted themselves. When your god is the Government, you will be thrown into confusion when the nature of your god suddenly changes. “Half the country decided to swap the heads of the gods, and now who do we pray to for our every need of free healthcare and free college and living wages?”
Christians, however, are also in grave danger at a time like this. Trump’s victory should hardly be viewed as a victory for the Church; could he be a good and peaceful President who leads with righteousness and loves truth? Maybe…we will just have to wait and see; from where I sit, he hasn’t proven that yet, but I will give him the chance to prove me wrong. I do not need to respect nor admire him in order to honor and pray for him, which is our Christian duty.
Further, we (meaning conservative Christians who are my primary readership) must guard ourselves from thinking that we are immune to the same idolatry as the left. The Baal of Government will not be the answer to our societal woes, and we are in danger of growing lax in the fight that is before us, and of turning a blind eye to the Baal worship, simply because the idol has the head of an elephant now, rather than a donkey. Some of Trump’s policies are just a continuation of the expansion of Government, and of this we should be wary. We should oppose Statism at every turn, and refuse to hand over to the priests of Baal the responsibility of leading our families, churches, businesses, and communities.
Remember in Lord of the Rings’ history, the evil of Sauron was once defeated; but Isildur took the ring, and evil was allowed to endure. We’ve been fighting a power-grabbing State for a while now, and the defeat of Clinton’s agenda might tempt Republicans (I won’t yet call them conservatives) to take the enemy’s weapon and use it against him. Power does weird things to people; or maybe I should put it the other way round: people do weird things to power. The only way out of our national mess is to repent of worshipping Baal. He won’t ever hear us. He’s in the bathroom, as Elijah once mocked.
Finally, the results of this election were most certainly ordained and brought to pass by God. He moves in mysterious ways, after all. Other’s have made salient points which are worth reading, that the fight over marriage is not over, and the liberals response to Trump’s crassness is rather hypocritical. The preservation of unborn babies is still an uphill battle. Our national debt is only growing deeper. We’ve allowed the government to catechize our children in the ways of Baal at the temple of Public Schools. Much is left to be done, and I’m eager to see it done. But it must be done in obedience and submission to the Lord Jesus and to His Word.
This means that our Bibles need to be open, and we must allow it to correct us all. The Gospel is the good news that the Kingdom of Man (which only, ever rebels against God) has been destroyed, and the Kingdom of Christ has come. Nations (not just the USA) must be discipled; this means we need to know what it means to “obey all that he’s commanded”.
It’s been messy…but these upheavals that come with God’s judgement upon a nation are themselves evidences of His mercy in awakening a people to seek the living God. Asaph once prayed: “Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish (Psalm 83:16-17).” And it is ok for us to pray that way, too. Our nation must be made to feel its shame in order that, as the text says, we might be driven to seek God.