“Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet
And declare to My people their transgression…”
Isaiah 58:1 (NASB)
Like the prophets of old, the modern preacher must put “the trumpet” (Hosea 8:1) to his lips!
There is no mistaking that we live in an amazing place. Right now, many are relocating to Twin Falls and the Magic Valley with the intention of a modern day migration to the west in search of gold. The gold that is being sought after today is not so much a shiny nugget in the otherwise earth tone desert floor or a dark cave. This modern migration is in search of a place of liberty, with citizens who have a vertebra.
We are in the midst of a great day.
Days like this are rarely given to nations and communities, Idaho has seen a few. During her early days, Idaho was established by men and women with a backbone who gave thanks to the “Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare,” as they established our Idaho Constitution.
Then there were days when risk takers entered the Magic Valley and decided to fund the greatest canal undertakings known to man. They brought water from the river to the desert floor, awakening one of the richest agricultural regions in the United States.
They were mindful of what they had and they risked all to preserve it.
This is the kind of great day we are in today. It will require a movement of God to motivate people to rise up and build upon the spiritual foundation of our founders who were grateful to Almighty God.
To be genuinely grateful to Almighty God means more than just thinking we can use Him for our own personal good while doing whatever we want to do. We must realize that this Almighty God, as described in the Bible, acts and speaks for His glory and our good. He gives commandments for our joy. He disciplines those who call upon Him for their good.
This will mean that we will have to speak in our day with a peculiar voice that some may not like. This means we may have to resist doing things and celebrating what most in the nation embrace.
The month of June is now celebrated by most as “gay pride” month. It is really a celebration of lifestyles that are spoken against by the same Almighty God we say we are thankful to. I am thankful to live in a city with a great library and thankful for the attention they give to the many readers in our city and region. It is not lost on me that the library has an important responsibility to all residents who frequent the library. I understand that the library serves a diverse population, and I can appreciate that. However, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more (LGBTQ+) display is not the same as a patriotic display, a black history display, women’s suffrage display, or seasonal holiday displays. This issue, different from the others, is a moral issue.
If we desire the blessing of God upon our community, we must acknowledge that only God can give that blessing or remove His protection and provisions as He pleases. When society celebrates sinful activity and churches support that abomination by promoting it as approved by God, then the reader should understand that as a community we will either display our gratitude for the Almighty God by obeying Him or disclose our devotion to another god altogether. If sin and immoral issues are celebrated and promoted today, what immorality will be considered appropriate next month?
To be clear, I am convinced we live in a great day. We are right now deciding what kind of city we want to be. What kind of community will our grandchildren live in if we behave without a backbone today? The joy of any community is not found in the sins we can get away with, it is found in the same Providential hand of the Almighty that has directed past generations.
The great men of God of days past were used mightily of God. They did so with fewer things, with lesser comforts and greater hardships. They were a people resolved to honor God. Will we do the same, or will we bend with the prevailing wind?
__________________________
This post is scheduled for publication in the Twin Falls Times News on Saturday, May 22, 2021
Paul Thompson is the preaching pastor at Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls, ID. Eastside Baptist Church gathers at 204 Eastland Drive in Twin Falls on Sundays at 10:30 am and 5:30 pm. And gathers for prayer on Wednesdays at 5:30 pm. More information here: www.esbcTwinFalls.com
David C Chojnacky
May 25, 2021 at 11:00 AMHi Pastor Thompson–
Your blog also was published in the Saturday Times-News and we felt compelled to respond.
We weren’t sure why you noted Isaiah 58 and Hosea 8; was it because they both urge God’s messenger to “cry out?” The problem is, both passages speak to God’s people, not secular society, and neither has anything to do with sexual immorality. Isaiah 58 rebukes God’s people for hypocrisy in religious practices while living out oppression, injustice, and indifference to the needy. Hosea 8 condemns God’s people for choosing ungodly leaders and idolatry. We feel that using God’s Word out of context just adds to our society’s confusion.
We also think you have a naïve view of Idaho/Magic Valley history. As a Jerome native, David agrees that Magic Valley is “magic” in terms of its wonderful volcanic soil. In all the places we lived in U.S. and abroad, nothing matches our wonderful Jerome garden on the family farm. But you infer that godly grateful pioneers “with backbone” created this agricultural miracle using God’s good earth. The European settlers pretty much kicked out, killed off and penned up the original inhabitants (with help of the federal government) and trashed their nomadic civilizations dependent on large land areas. Stolen land was then given to settlers in 40-acre homesteads; the 1894 Carey Act facilitated complex government/private dam building-irrigation that transformed sagebrush desert into the irrigated Magic Valley. So, some of the risk to these hard-working freedom-loving Idahoans was greatly mitigated by federal largesse.
You apparently see Idaho’s status as fastest-growing state in the U.S. as a “Great Day” of modern pioneers seeking liberty. But we see an area in considerable decline from David’s youth. Independent small family farms with summer work for kids have been replaced by large farms, factories, and mega-dairies (many from California attracted by cheap land prices and minimal zoning laws and environmental protection). Is this the “liberty” you meant? We think Idaho’s business-friendly, education-hostile Republican ethos has diminished small towns, polluted the environment, and maybe spurred “out-migration” of Idahoans seeking better education and job opportunities. David’s farm relatives are captive to dairy monopoly markets, and several who remained in Jerome died younger than their parents; very few of the next generation are even seeking higher education. Perhaps Idaho’s Great Days were 30-40 years ago when Frank Church and Cecil Andrus offered centrist balance to a conservative state.
You indicate you are obeying God in offering an unpopular message against liberal institutions celebrating “gay pride” or making displays featuring the LGBTQ+ community. So, you feel that this liberalism is threatening the utopia you see in the Magic Valley? We agree that rampant immorality in the U.S, initially embraced in the 1960s, has led to more and more sexually confused people. And it is a characteristic of declining nations as Romans 1 points out: (turning from God to idols-immorality-then confused sexuality). But this passage indicates the last worst stage is a society of wicked, greedy, envious, deceitful, malicious, and rebellious people. We see these traits in leaders supported by the Christian right and their self-centered rebellion throughout the pandemic. What happened to respect for government, servant to all, Jesus’ disciples known by charity, forgiveness, truth, or other Bible principles? If judgment starts first with the house of God, why are you so concerned about judgment of others?
James 3 says God holds you to high standards as a teacher of His Word and warns how easily the tongue can be used for disorder and evil. Instead of trying to control the world (which Jesus never did), perhaps you should preach repentance to professing Christians living out rebellion and power politics. Whenever Christians in history have tried to establish God’s kingdom on earth, they destroyed societies. We fear the Christian right is destroying what is good about the U.S. democracy in trying to force fit its cherry-picked “Christian values” on the country. The Bible clearly says God alone will establish His kingdom.
We are not sure what you mean by Great Days and lesser things but in our view the Magic Valley has already lost much greatness by trashing the great desert landscapes given to us by God and embracing lesser things of big business and quick profits. We doubt that condemning liberal institutions will save the Magic Valley with its dairy smells, flies, and polluted Snake River. But preaching God’s truth (you could start with the whole text of Isaiah 58) to God’s people could curb the evangelical GOP agenda that is fueling division, decline and destruction. If more pastors took God’s Word more seriously and preached to His people, (instead of cherry-picking it for political agendas), perhaps the hearts of Christians could be changed in this state.
And then we would truly see Great Days.
We are talking about some pretty complex matters (historic and theological), so if we’ve been unclear in any area, we’d be happy to talk further.
David and Cindy Chojnacky
Hailey Idaho
Paul
May 25, 2021 at 3:07 PMDavid and Cindy,
Thanks for reading and entering reasonable questions for clarification. I respect this greatly.
A column in the Times News always poses complexity to enter a thought, complete a thought, and be as clear as I can be. Admittedly, I do not always accomplish this within 500-800 words. I appreciate your questions. I’ll attempt to address them in the following paragraphs, hopefully in the order you raise them, and with clarity.
You state: “The problem is, both passages speak to God’s people, not secular society, and neither has anything to do with sexual immorality. Isaiah 58 rebukes God’s people for hypocrisy in religious practices while living out oppression, injustice, and indifference to the needy. Hosea 8 condemns God’s people for choosing ungodly leaders and idolatry.”
My response: I appreciate context always. I don’t think I’m out of bounds contextually with Isaiah 58 or Hosea 8 for this reason… My column is written to believers. Times News has changed the column title from Pastor Corner to Faith Corner. I write about things as a pastor to people of faith. As a pastor, I also find my responsibility to my community is to be a “pillar and buttress of Truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). My “crying out” is to the people of God. I believe the modern church is in a similar situation as saints of old. “Hypocrisy in religious practices”, many churches are indifferent to the holy things of God, and many churches have placed ungodly leaders in their pulpits who serve their own gods, idolaters.
You state: “We also think you have a naïve view of Idaho/Magic Valley history.”
My response: Thank you, I do enjoy learning as much as I can about our history. My mentioning of Idaho’s early days was first to mention the founders of the Idaho Constitution. “Idaho was established by men and women with a backbone who gave thanks to the “Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare.” With respect, I agree that unfair things were done to natives, motivation of some was greed and selfish ambition. I don’t disagree. I was trying to acknowledge a disposition of the founders of the state as giving thanks to Almighty God. My use of the word “then” was to indicate a separation of time from the founding of the state to the time of building the canal system. I would suggest that this epic canal system as a blessing from God to move men (Christians and non-Christians) to the people of Idaho, the nation, and the world.
My use of the word “Great” is not “great that people are moving here”. I mean the word great as significant. It is no small thing that Idaho is on the radar of many liberty loving people. We have a great responsibility to navigate through this great (significant) day to preserve this constitutional liberty.
You mention liberal and conservative issues. I hold that liberal and conservative issues war against each other. When I think of my community, state and nation, I prefer to think in lines of an agreed upon (written) constitution. In regard to respect of the government, I see our government as a Constitutional Republic. A government, such as ours, a government of the people – by the people – for the people I can best respect my government by respecting the rule of law and in the USA the rule of law is established in the legislature, not a person. I agree that we are to desire in ourselves to have respect, honor, grace, mercy, kindness as a type of dressing upon us. I want to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. This is what I want to govern my thoughts, words, and actions. (I likely can articulate more and better if you have other questions about what I’m saying.) I hear people express to Christians to “stop trying to legislate your morality.” I agree that no law can force someone to be a morally good person. We now live in a day however that is purposefully legislating immorality. This while Christians mostly sit on the side afraid to speak into the culture anymore. Sure, there are times when Christians go too far, I don’t deny that. But we do not get a United States and I don’t think we get an Idaho unless God fearing, moral people rise up and seek the favor of God upon our nation and state. We also cannot assume God will show favor to us while we purposely disobey Him. If we have the favor of God or the judgment of God, I will pursue His favor.
I can appreciate your thoughts on James 3 and your previous statement of judgment in the house of God. I am mostly speaking to the redeemed. I also bring along the great commission (Matthew 28) where Christ commanded His disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” There is no way for me to obey this command of Christ but to go to those who are not presently worshippers of God and instruct them to observe all that Christ commanded. This is why I’m pleased to contribute thinking in the Times News that is first to the believers to “rise up” and also address cultural issues such as LGBTQ+ matters (and others).
You state: “If more pastors took God’s Word more seriously and preached to His people, (instead of cherry-picking it for political agendas), perhaps the hearts of Christians could be changed in this state. And then we would truly see Great Days.”
My response: I don’t disagree that more pastors should take God’s word more seriously and preached to His people. I get that it may look like I have “cherry picked” a political issue. I assure you I have not. If anything my community introduced this issue, I’m responding to my community. Many simply want pastors and churches to keep to their own business. Sure, a major responsibility of ours is to ourselves and how we walk, it is also ours to cry out who God is, to declare that humanity is sinful, and Christ is our only hope. Many want the church to just live different and that is sufficient to preach Christ, in other words; “preach Christ always, when necessary use words.” According to the Bible we must use words.
This is were I can respect and appreciate what you’ve done here. I am thankful you engaged me in this conversation. I respect your questions. It was kind of you to ask for clarification where my words were not clear. I desire and strive to be clearly bold.
You conclude: “We are talking about some pretty complex matters (historic and theological), so if we’ve been unclear in any area, we’d be happy to talk further.”
My response: I welcome further dialog. I appreciate your effort to articulate and clarify. I hope my response has helped, where it hasn’t, I too am happy to talk further.
Cindy
June 2, 2021 at 7:29 AMHi Pastor Thompson. Thank you for thorough and non-defensive response. Sorry we didn’t get back earlier, only saw your response last night. David & I will discuss your thoughts and respond as well. It’s a sober and important subject, the role of the church in the ever declining world (1 John 2:17) I am leaving my (Cindy)’s email because I am better about checking it than David is with his!
twinfallspaul
June 2, 2021 at 2:54 PMThanks, I’ll look forward to ongoing dialog.
Cindy C. Chojnacky
June 4, 2021 at 3:53 PMHI Paul. I tried to post our response today but it won’t seem to go. I am going to try again one more time. I hope you don’t get multiple copies! I never have quite figured out Word Press although we use it for our own website. Anyway. I will paste in another long “comment” shortly
Cindy C. Chojnacky
June 4, 2021 at 3:56 PMHi Pastor Thompson.
We appreciated your non-defensive and humble response. Yes, writing for newspaper space limits can really impact context. You tried to respond to each of our statements. We will not repeat everything but try to continue the dialogue on your main points that concern us.
You mention you are writing to believers. “I write about things as a pastor to people of faith.” We certainly agree that the church is the “household of God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). But that is why the prophets you cite are preaching repentance to GOD’s PEOPLE—not the hapless societies around them. There is no basis for bashing the secular community’s support of LGBTQ+ people. Isaiah 58:1 and Hosea 8 are aimed at the hypocrisy of God’s people for pretending religious piety while practicing oppression and disregard of the poor. There is nothing about immorality at all nor is the “cry” against the world. A Times-News reader letter published 6/3 mentioned your column and noted that people offended by LGBTQ+ material at the library do not have to visit and be offended. According to Isaiah 58:1, your calling is to “declare to my people their rebellion and the descendants of Jacob their sin.” We have some thoughts on contemporary “Christian sins”—which we will discuss below.
Thank you for your “willingness to learn more” about Idaho history and agreeing that much evil was done to original inhabitants of Idaho. You clarified that you were referring to the preamble of the Idaho State Constitution which states: “We, the people of the state of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare do establish this Constitution.” Yes, gratitude to God is a good place to start. It seems that the land and canals given so generously to early Idaho settlers were indeed a blessing for them and us, their descendants. However instead of gratitude for the federal largesse, water and land have become a “right” (legally) and entitlement. The farmers in the Magic Valley should be a humble and grateful people, supportive of the federal government that has given them so much. Instead, a common attitude is “get the government off our backs” and many complaints about “creeping socialism” when the very system that sustains this agricultural miracle is highly socialist and federally subsidized (and ironically from our experience, the periodic bashing and dismantling of government by conservative agendas just makes problems worse for years to come).
You clarified your use of the word “great” as a significant time. “It is not small thing that Idaho is on the radar for many liberty loving people.” Here we need your help understanding what you mean. What are “liberty loving people?” Are you referring to conservatives fleeing Oregon and California for a “red” state? Or the overall mass exodus of urban people to smaller communities (which seemed to be spurred by professionals who discovered during the pandemic that they could work anywhere they wanted)?
You also say, “we have a great responsibility to navigate through this great day to preserve this constitutional liberty.” What freedoms are you concerned about? A Gay Pride month might be sad and offensive to some Christians, but not sure how it is hampering our liberty?
We agree about the unfortunate “war” of conservative and liberal issues and the need for rule of law and government by a constitution. However, although we respect our government (Romans 13), a constitution is the work of human thinking not of God. Constitutions start with “we the people.” In the U.S., a small group of leaders (nationally our Founding Fathers and in Idaho a few settlers) created constitutions based on their judgments of their times and situations. They were not prophets, and they were probably not guided by the Holy Spirit. So, we would not equate any constitution with the Word of God. It should be respected in the same way all branches of our government should be respected; God allowed government authority to keep order, restrain evil and protect us.
We agree with you that Christians, of all people, should be clothed in “respect, honor, grace, mercy and kindness.” You go on to say that “we do not get a United States and I don’t think we get an Idaho unless God fearing, moral people rise up and seek the favor of God upon our nation and state. We also cannot assume God will show favor to us while we purposely disobey Him. If we have the favor of God or the judgment of God, I will pursue His favor.” We appreciate your fear of and love for God, very rare in our day. Like you we are concerned about God’s judgment on this nation.
So, your congregation thinks that a few misguided gay people are going to bring judgment on Idaho and the U.S? We had said we agree that sexual immorality and “degrading passions” are noted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 as evidence of a society in decline—which starts with abandoning belief in God and believing in the works of our hands. Since our society doesn’t worship carved idols, perhaps these are the systems our society trusts in instead of God: money/capitalism, technology, military, social programs etc. Next step is immorality, but the final decline is: “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice…slanderers…insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil.” Unfortunately, we see some of those traits in rebellious and rather hateful leaders strongly supported by many evangelicals; leaders who fit Biblical descriptions of antichrist and exhibit traits that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).
What if the pandemic and climate extremes are a “wakeup call” from God? How have Christians responded? So-called Christian leaders in Idaho have been at the forefront of angry rebellion against the medical and scientific community responding as best they can to the pandemic. About 75 percent of evangelicals (from a Pew Trusts survey) deny that climate disruption is related to human activities. Why are God’s people fighting some of God’s best gifts—science and medicine—that are simply ways of seeking out and applying truth and learning about God’s creation? Why is southern Idaho facing prospect of another dry summer with smokey wildfire skies? (As natural resources professionals, we have some hypotheses about extreme fires being linked to past abuse of the land by early settlers; perhaps an interesting side topic on how judgment works out in the creation.) At any rate, we don’t see God’s word calling pastors to point out the sins of society. Jesus did not rail at the barbarous and immoral Romans; he railed at the highly moralistic Pharisees. We understood your concern about the need for Christians to speak truth and not stand passively by if evil is done. But political involvement is a slippery slope; and God’s people can easily be coopted by evil. We believe that Christians are likely Satan’s main target for deception.
As you probably know from studying Church history, Christians got involved with many national governments from 2nd century onward and many imperial policies have been carried out in the name of God. But it seems (from our summary view of Church history) that every time Christians have tried to “make God’s kingdom come on earth” (rather than realizing only God knows the time and the way), the Christians and the nations got caught up in money, power, and spats over who is “in” or “out”; and result was the fall of the nation (while Christianity survived in some form—often in Christians flocking to monasteries or making some modest reforms until Christianity regained power and repeated the cycle).
Therefore, we are sad and fearful that some Christians today might be at the forefront of aiding destruction of U.S. democracy. From a historic perspective, we are the last cultural bastion of Western European Christianity. The church will continue, as Jesus promised, until the end. But there is no such promise about nations continuing.
Thanks for being willing to dialogue. This is not a light matter.
PS I notice you are preaching through Isaiah. My favorite book in the Bible; I found the Lord through an Intervarsity Bible dig-in on Isaiah 40. David & I are also rereading Isaiah as our summer project. Small world!
Paul
June 7, 2021 at 2:05 PMThanks for sharing your thoughts with growing clarity. I think we have many things in common even while we may not agree upon all.
in short: Where the LGBTQ+ community in the Magic Valley is small and somewhat unknown, its primary growth has been with supporters and allies. This may not seem like much of an issue, but my experience as a pastor is that most of the acceptance that is taking place is from those who profess to be Christians. At alarming rates, children being raised in “Christian homes” are increasingly at risk of believing the lie that “love is love”. I don’t deny that there are real feelings that a man might have for another man are like that of a man for a woman. I’m not denying that a confused woman may think she is really a man. Just as the bible instructs mankind (not just Christians) what the institution of the family is and that sexual feelings are to be disciplined to a marriage relationship. It is not just wrong for Christians to participate in perverse sexual actions, it is wrong for God’s creation to act against what He has made and calls good. If the local pastor of a Bible-believing church does not speak out who will inform the community what is truth? Just as the apostle Paul told Timothy that he is the pillar and buttress of truth, so too is the local pastor of a local church in a local community. This truth is not just for Christians. Our entire society is held in this balance. Feelings are not always true feelings. Just as a male must delay his sexual activity with a woman, denying it unless in a relationship that pleases God (marriage), so too must a man deny his passion for another man unless in a relationship that pleases God (and this cannot ever be so, so he must deny it.)
David and Cindy Chojnacky
June 9, 2021 at 5:26 PMDear Pastor Thompson:
Thanks for your response. In our last post we raised a rhetorical question I will paraphrase: “so…a few…gay people are going to bring judgment on Idaho and the U.S.?” I see you have answered that. As mentioned before, we question your use of Isaiah 58 and Hosea 8 to “inform the community” about problems with the LBGTQ+ movement. As we said before, these prophets directly addressed God’s people, not the world around them, said nothing about immorality, and raised larger issues that could apply to the collusion of many Christians today with greed, selfishness, rebellion, and untruth. We fear the U.S. and Idaho are storing up judgment for our unrepentant exploitive history, and that many Christians are making it worse by godless unrepentant actions and attitudes. This is what the scriptures say to us.
You have not addressed our other questions and points on the passages but continue to focus on one political issue that we see as a distraction from what the Word might be saying to Christians directly from the Old Testament prophets. We were concerned that addressing LBGTQ+ in a public forum (particularly without any direct Bible quotes about it) would confuse people; at least two letters to the editor on your column have supported our suspicion. Your column seems to have aligned Christianity with prejudice, hatred, and persecution. No, we can’t join you in this.
We do have in common a respect for God’s Word. We already agreed on the reality of a declining society. We think further discussion is probably pointless.
Cindy C. Chojnacky
June 4, 2021 at 1:01 PMHi Pastor Thompson.
We appreciated your non-defensive and humble response. Yes, writing for newspaper space limits can really impact context. You tried to respond to each of our statements. We will not repeat everything but try to continue the dialogue on your main points that concern us.
You mention you are writing to believers. “I write about things as a pastor to people of faith.” We certainly agree that the church is the “household of God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15). But that is why the prophets you cite are preaching repentance to GOD’s PEOPLE—not the hapless societies around them. There is no basis for bashing the secular community’s support of LGBTQ+ people. Isaiah 58:1 and Hosea 8 are aimed at the hypocrisy of God’s people for pretending religious piety while practicing oppression and disregard of the poor. There is nothing about immorality at all nor is the “cry” against the world. A Times-News reader letter published 6/3 mentioned your column and noted that people offended by LGBTQ+ material at the library do not have to visit and be offended. According to Isaiah 58:1, your calling is to “declare to my people their rebellion and the descendants of Jacob their sin.” We have some thoughts on contemporary “Christian sins”—which we will discuss below.
Thank you for your “willingness to learn more” about Idaho history and agreeing that much evil was done to original inhabitants of Idaho. You clarified that you were referring to the preamble of the Idaho State Constitution which states: “We, the people of the state of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and promote our common welfare do establish this Constitution.” Yes, gratitude to God is a good place to start. It seems that the land and canals given so generously to early Idaho settlers were indeed a blessing for them and us, their descendants. However instead of gratitude for the federal largesse, water and land have become a “right” (legally) and entitlement. The farmers in the Magic Valley should be a humble and grateful people, supportive of the federal government that has given them so much. Instead, a common attitude is “get the government off our backs” and many complaints about “creeping socialism” when the very system that sustains this agricultural miracle is highly socialist and federally subsidized (and ironically from our experience, the periodic bashing and dismantling of government by conservative agendas just makes problems worse for years to come).
You clarified your use of the word “great” as a significant time. “It is not small thing that Idaho is on the radar for many liberty loving people.” Here we need your help understanding what you mean. What are “liberty loving people?” Are you referring to conservatives fleeing Oregon and California for a “red” state? Or the overall mass exodus of urban people to smaller communities (which seemed to be spurred by professionals who discovered during the pandemic that they could work anywhere they wanted)?
You also say, “we have a great responsibility to navigate through this great day to preserve this constitutional liberty.” What freedoms are you concerned about? A Gay Pride month might be sad and offensive to some Christians, but not sure how it is hampering our liberty?
We agree about the unfortunate “war” of conservative and liberal issues and the need for rule of law and government by a constitution. However, although we respect our government (Romans 13), a constitution is the work of human thinking not of God. Constitutions start with “we the people.” In the U.S., a small group of leaders (nationally our Founding Fathers and in Idaho a few settlers) created constitutions based on their judgments of their times and situations. They were not prophets, and they were probably not guided by the Holy Spirit. So, we would not equate any constitution with the Word of God. It should be respected in the same way all branches of our government should be respected; God allowed government authority to keep order, restrain evil and protect us.
We agree with you that Christians, of all people, should be clothed in “respect, honor, grace, mercy and kindness.” You go on to say that “we do not get a United States and I don’t think we get an Idaho unless God fearing, moral people rise up and seek the favor of God upon our nation and state. We also cannot assume God will show favor to us while we purposely disobey Him. If we have the favor of God or the judgment of God, I will pursue His favor.” We appreciate your fear of and love for God, very rare in our day. Like you we are concerned about God’s judgment on this nation.
So, your congregation thinks that a few misguided gay people are going to bring judgment on Idaho and the U.S? We had said we agree that sexual immorality and “degrading passions” are noted by the Apostle Paul in Romans 1 as evidence of a society in decline—which starts with abandoning belief in God and believing in the works of our hands. Since our society doesn’t worship carved idols, perhaps these are the systems our society trusts in instead of God: money/capitalism, technology, military, social programs etc. Next step is immorality, but the final decline is: “being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice…slanderers…insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil.” Unfortunately, we see some of those traits in rebellious and rather hateful leaders strongly supported by many evangelicals; leaders who fit Biblical descriptions of antichrist and exhibit traits that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19).
What if the pandemic and climate extremes are a “wakeup call” from God? How have Christians responded? So-called Christian leaders in Idaho have been at the forefront of angry rebellion against the medical and scientific community responding as best they can to the pandemic. About 75 percent of evangelicals (from a Pew Trusts survey) deny that climate disruption is related to human activities. Why are God’s people fighting some of God’s best gifts—science and medicine—that are simply ways of seeking out and applying truth and learning about God’s creation? Why is southern Idaho facing prospect of another dry summer with smoky wildfire skies? (As natural resources professionals, we have some hypotheses about extreme fires being linked to past abuse of the land by early settlers; perhaps an interesting side topic on how judgment works out in the creation.) At any rate, we don’t see God’s word calling pastors to point out the sins of society. Jesus did not rail at the barbarous and immoral Romans; he railed at the highly moralistic Pharisees. We understood your concern about the need for Christians to speak truth and not stand passively by if evil is done. But political involvement is a slippery slope; and God’s people can easily be coopted by evil. We believe that Christians are likely Satan’s main target for deception.
As you probably know from studying Church history, Christians got involved with many national governments from 2nd century onward and many imperial policies have been carried out in the name of God. But it seems (from our summary view of Church history) that every time Christians have tried to “make God’s kingdom come on earth” (rather than realizing only God knows the time and the way), the Christians and the nations got caught up in money, power, and spats over who is “in” or “out”; and result was the fall of the nation (while Christianity survived in some form—often in Christians flocking to monasteries or making some modest reforms until Christianity regained power and repeated the cycle).
Therefore, we are sad and fearful that some Christians today might be at the forefront of aiding destruction of U.S. democracy. From a historic perspective, we are the last cultural bastion of Western European Christianity. The church will continue, as Jesus promised, until the end. But there is no such promise about nations continuing.
Thanks for being willing to dialogue. This is not a light matter.