The thing that I remember most about Jerry Falwell was when he was interviewed on television....(it seemed to be Ted Koppel's Nightline where he would mostly appear)....was that his head was always held high....and he would defer to the gospel of Jesus Christ in his answers....always with this confident smile on his face.....not caring in the least what the reaction might be. His Moral Majority was the beginning of a Christian Nationalism which has culminated in wreaking havoc in the church over the past four years.....but it was not so at the first.
Pat Robertson's....(the 700 Club)....Christian Coalition....was the next political organization to come along....and I was right there with him on this in the late 80s....but this became less Pat Robertson....and more Ralph Reed as time went on in the 90s.
So we had gone from Jerry Falwell....to Pat Robertson....to Ralph Read....and the next in line in the march to a Christian Nationalism was Karl Rove....(I titled a post back then....Brother Rove's Traveling Salvation Show.)
Barack Obama slowed down Christian Nationalism for a while....as the Tea Party movement took center stage.....(and I was there also).....but then God's political army came back....led this time by a false prophet....in Donald Trump. We had pretty much abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ at this point.
Now the following is rather incredible....but it shouldn't be because this has been John MacArthur all along. He hasn't been in the news lately since his controversial stance on the coronavirus shutdown of churches in California....but he is back in the news again....saying essentially that you will not find him spending his time fighting for religious freedom. His reasoning is that the propagation of the gospel does not depend upon religious freedom....and he's right. I've posted many similar remarks....particularly on the topic of Facebook....in that God does not need Facebook....nor conservatism....nor even America.
MacArthur's position is that when we fight for religious freedom....we are also fighting for the rights of every false religion.....and every religious enemy of Christ....and whether we like it or not we are joined in with cults and the easy-believism of today that does not save.
I have never advocated preaching against Donald Trump from the pulpit....that would be just another slippery slope to slide down....but God's warnings must be preached....warnings on false prophets....on our rebellious nation....and on judgments that are sure to come.....on the coming 'delusion' and 'apostasy'....and greed....and pride....and reliance on princes and armies.....and on ourselves! I'm not even a fan of local ministeriums....where one has to compromise the gospel for unity....nor Washington prayer marches....nor a bunch of President/CEOs of various Christian ministries meeting in the White House to lay hands on a president....nor that absurd National Prayer Breakfast we have to read about every first Thursday in February.
We have a unity....even though we may never come together....nor even live in the same country. Charles Spurgeon was a baptist while J. C. Ryle was anglican. Both preached to London in the latter half of the 1800s....wonderfully and gloriously and joyously and soberly....and yet I cannot find evidence that they ever even met....although they thought so highly of each other.
As to John MacArthur's stance on this....nothing is ever to become preeminent above or even even tie itself to the gospel....so MacArthur is surely right on this. Would he need to explain himself a little bit more....probably....but he is making a point. He is obviously more concerned with the possibility of us letting anything obscure in any way the gospel.....and if that means being misinterpreted a little...and taking a little heat....so be it....but the gospel is to be defended at all times....and at all costs. We can have all the religious freedom possible....and out of that have a church that is but a slave to our own desires.
Personal reflection.....I don't know what you thought of the above post....but it took eight hours today to post it....and this is almost a daily thing. The times are increasing in frequency over the past few years when after finishing a post I pray....'Lord....maybe this is the last one?'....because I don't know if I'm helping anything....but another day comes....and another topic. I write this here to let you know that this is not a hobby....and if there is any pride here....it has totally slipped by my self-examination. If you have some space on your prayer list.....I could use it.
