Implosion (33 page)

How about you? How would you answer these two simple questions?

• Who is investing in you?

• Whom are you investing in?

Let us not get to heaven and be stunned and saddened—mortified, even—when Christ welcomes us with open, loving arms and then asks us to show him our disciples, and we have no one to show him and nothing to say. Making disciples was a big deal to Jesus. If we really love him, making disciples should be a big deal to us, too.

Bottom Line

If you and I are faithful in these nine areas, are we guaranteed that God will give America a Third Great Awakening? Honestly, the answer is no.

But let’s ask the question another way: If you and I are too lazy or too proud or too busy or too self-absorbed to obey the Lord in these nine areas, why should God give America a Third Great Awakening?

America is on the brink of collapse. We desperately need God’s mercy. Without his grace, we will implode. It’s not a matter of
i
f
but
when
. Thus, now is the time we must urgently ask the Lord to give us a sweeping series of spiritual revivals in every part of our nation that will culminate in a Third Great Awakening. Whether God decides to say yes is up to him. But let us not compound our many national sins by failing to get on our faces before him and implore him to pour out his Holy Spirit and save us from disaster.

Let us get serious once again as individuals, families, and church congregations about turning our hearts fully back to the Lord so that on the day we stand before Jesus Christ, we will hear him say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:21, NLT).

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CAN AMERICA AGAIN BE A SHINING CITY ON A HILL?

For John Winthrop (1588–1649), one of our nation’s Founding Fathers, though he died more than a century before the Revolution, America had a special place in the world and a special mission from God. One of the key figures in helping to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Winthrop served as governor of the settlement for twelve of its first twenty years. In his famous address in 1630 to passengers aboard the ship
Arbella
, bound for the New World, Winthrop called on his Christian brothers and sisters to aim high and think big.

For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
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Winthrop was referencing the New Testament, quoting from the words of Jesus to his disciples. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus told them. “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house” (Matthew 5:14-15). Winthrop believed that followers of Christ were to radiate the light that Christ himself put in their hearts. We are to reflect his holiness, his love, his kindness and compassion for others, his justice, and his mercy. Christ did not expect his disciples to be perfect, and he doesn’t expect perfection of us, either. He knows our perfection cannot and will not come until the Resurrection and the Rapture. But he does expect us to be different from the dark and fallen world. He does expect us to stand out, to be distinct and thus attractive to the lost. When people look to Christ’s followers, they should find Christ, his Word, and his life-changing Holy Spirit. Winthrop thus challenged the believers on the
Arbella
to set their feet on the fresh soil of the New World with the intention of building a society that radiated, reflected, and represented Jesus Christ. And overwhelmingly, those on the
Arbella
agreed.

They were not alone. Many Americans from the days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and beyond saw America as not just another country, not just some new nation-state among many. To them, America was something special both for those who lived here and for others around the world. To them, America was a new Garden of Eden or a new Jerusalem, at least metaphorically speaking. They agreed with Governor Winthrop. They saw America as a shining city on a hill, and they committed their lives to making that dream come true for themselves, their children, their grandchildren, and the world.

Winthrop, Kennedy, and Reagan

Over time, the concept of America as a shining city on a hill became less about Christ’s calling for his followers and the unique and powerful role of the church in this world and more a generalized expression of American political, cultural, and economic exceptionalism.

John F. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat, for example, referenced Winthrop’s famous line in an address to the Massachusetts General Court on January 9, 1961, as president-elect of the United States.

I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship
Arbella
three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. “We must always consider,” he [Winthrop] said, “that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us.” Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us, and our governments, in every branch, at every level—national, state, and local—must be as a city upon a hill, constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the
Arbella
in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within. History will not judge our endeavors . . . merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these. For of those to whom much is given, much is required.
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Likewise, Ronald Reagan, the California Republican, loved to reference Winthrop’s line and did so repeatedly throughout his political career and particularly during his presidency. In fact, in his farewell address to the nation, broadcast from the Oval Office on January 11, 1989, President Reagan said:

The past few days when I’ve been at that window upstairs, I’ve thought a bit of the “shining city upon a hill.” The phrase comes from John Winthrop, who wrote it to describe the America he imagined. What he imagined was important because he was an early Pilgrim, an early freedom man. He journeyed here on what today we’d call a little wooden boat; and like the other Pilgrims, he was looking for a home that would be free. I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still. And how stands the city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it was eight years ago. But more than that: after two hundred years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no matter what storm. And she’s still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.
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Reagan offered a powerful and beautiful image of America’s role in the world. Sadly, that was a different era. Today America no longer seems to be standing “strong and true.” Her light is dimming, her impact fading, her magnetism weakening amid so many storms and self-inflicted wounds. America’s enemies sense opportunities in our vulnerabilities. They are convinced we are doomed. But many Americans also fear we are on the road to decline and that this decline could be permanent. Others fear our situation is worse than a matter of mere decline. They believe they can hear the ice cracking beneath us. They fear that if major and fundamental economic, spiritual, and moral changes are not made immediately, America is heading for implosion. Some Americans go even further. They believe the implosion of America is not merely a possibility but an outright certainty.

How about you? Do you believe America can still be a shining city on a hill? If so, how have you chosen to be engaged in the battle to save this country? Or have you decided it’s too late and no longer worth the fight? If that’s the case, are you just planning to watch from the sidelines and do nothing to help?

I admit that in my darker moments I worry we have crossed the Rubicon and there is no way back. But I refuse to succumb to the pessimism in my DNA. As I write this, America is not finished—not yet. America has not imploded—not yet. So I refuse to give up. I choose to believe there is hope. I choose to pray that God will save this country. So long as there is still time, I choose to press on and do everything I can possibly do—or more precisely, everything the Lord directs me to do and gives me permission to do—to preserve this great nation and to mobilize people to work together and pray together to turn this ship around before it really is too late. I’m not blind to the enormity and gravity of the challenges we face. But neither am I blind to the power and might of our God. The Bible says “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). I believe that, and that is what gives me hope.

In the previous chapter, we examined what we should expect from the church and from ourselves in a prayerful, principled, passionate pursuit of a Third Great Awakening. Now let us consider what we should expect from government and what role—if any—we should play in pushing our government to help the nation get back on the right track. After all, while our local, state, and national political leaders cannot save us or solve all our problems, they can be either a great help or a terrible hindrance.

What Should We Expect from Government?

First and foremost, we should consider the role of government through the third lens of Scripture. The Bible is clear that God created government as a legitimate earthly institution with certain limited functions. These functions are to protect innocent human life and liberty, establish and enforce justice, and defend a nation from foreign and domestic threats. Scripture also makes clear that government leaders are subordinate to God. They are not authorized to give people rights or to arbitrarily take them away. Rather, they are supposed to protect people’s God-given rights from all those who would seek to threaten those rights. Clearly, not every government on earth has played this role throughout history, but this is the role government is supposed to play.

While the Old Testament laid out a theocratic system of government for the nation of Israel during a certain period of her history, never in the New Testament do we see God telling Christians to seek to build a theocracy or impose one on any other country. What’s more, nowhere does Scripture indicate that government can save us or solve all our problems or take care of all our needs, and we shouldn’t expect it to. Other divinely ordained institutions—including marriage, the family, the church, and even business—have specific roles to play in society. The government isn’t supposed to do their jobs; nor should it make their jobs more difficult. Instead, government is supposed to protect these other essential institutions and create a climate of safety and liberty where these institutions can flourish and thrive.

The apostle Paul summarized God’s perspective on the healthy, responsible role of government this way:

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’s sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.

ROMANS 13:1-7

Many of the American Founding Fathers were devout Christians who sought to apply biblical principles in the formation of our federal government. “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible,” said George Washington, our first president and a strong follower of Christ.
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John Adams, our second president and also a Christian, put it this way: “The general principles, on which the fathers achieved independence, were the only principles in which that beautiful assembly of young gentlemen could unite. . . . And what were these general principles? I answer, the general principles of Christianity.”
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Even those founders who weren’t Christians were nevertheless steeped in—and deeply influenced by—the teachings of Scripture and highly respectful of Christianity and its critical role in fashioning American life. As Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and a deist, once wrote to a friend, “The Christian religion, when divested of the rags in which they [some corrupt clergy members] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind.”
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Jefferson also famously wrote, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath?”
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The founders purposefully designed our system of government with such biblical principles in mind. They weren’t trying to impose a theocracy; they were notably trying to prevent one. They understood that mankind is sinful by nature and that therefore government must set and enforce rules to limit people’s abuses of others’ rights and property. As James Madison, the father of our Constitution, explained, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
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