We Have Gone Over That Line

               The Christian is a citizen of heaven but also of this world....essentially Babylon as theologian Michael Horton once described it....or Vanity Fair as Bunyan allegorized....or two cities or two kingdoms as others would put it. How is a Chinese Christian to act concerning their government compared to how an American Christian is to act would be a question worth meditating upon.
               As for us in a designed constitutional republic....where politics by the very nature of voting plays a big part....how much involvement can we have....and where should we draw the line? Obviously we can be involved....potentially all the way up to becoming president. Where we have gone over the line is where we are right now....where a vivid and tangible hate begins to dominate us....and that hate producing lies and deception in order to win....which is what happened to us over the past five years thanks to the most vile of pied pipers in Donald Trump.....but there is more.
               The hate and the lies take away all discernment. Issues where we once were solidly on the high ground....such as defense of human life....remain in name only....this proven through the pandemic where our own now sacred personal liberty drowned out compassion....and mitigated God's command to love our neighbor. There was a time....decades ago....when all decisions that our government made were placed on a grid of potential world war. Yes we could huff and puff but saner heads would prevail. Today....where hate and lies dominate....there is little to no wisdom.
                From the person in the pew....to the registered voter....to the officials they all vote for....to the media that stirs us up....we no longer can think even two steps ahead. Whatever the next decision made....it only must satisfy self-love....love for others being a losing proposition....or at least a politically inadvisable notion....while possible repercussions from those decisions made do not seem to be considered....in this dominating and exclusively politically charged climate. Truth....once our foundation....has become relative.
                The first step back is....as I have encouraged time and time again....to flee the mind control that talk radio and podcasts and this now unconsionable Trump influenced Republican Party has on us....and to return to God's Word for our daily bread....citizens yes....but pilgrim's even moreso....trusting alone in Christ....for trust anywhere else is vanity....and fruitless....and even idolatry.