Common Sense Reborn

Happy 250th America.

¹“O (America),” says the LORD, “if you wanted to return to Me, you could. You could throw away your detestable idols and stray away no more. ²Then when you swear by My name, saying ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ you could do so with truth, justice, and righteousness. Then you would be a blessing to the nations of the world, and all people would come and praise My name.” (Jeremiah 4:1-2)

Welp, dear reader, today is the 4th of July. A historic year, marking the 250th birthday of America. I knew writing this post I would go to the Book of Jeremiah for scripture to share, due to the prophet’s warning to Israel about their treatment of foreigners, the poor, the orphan, and the widow. The Book of Jeremiah was written to the people of Judah (the southern kingdom) in a time when the nation of Israel had split, with Israel being the northern kingdom and Judah, the southern. Jeremiah is writing to warn God’s people of a coming judgement if they do not turn back to God and abandon their wicked ways. Jeremiah repeatedly warns Israel about the treatment of foreigners. In Chapter 7, beginning in verse three, Jeremiah writes:

³This is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel says: “Even now, if you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. ⁴But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the LORD’s Temple is here. They chant, “The LORD’s Temple is here! The LORD’s Temple is here!” ⁵But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; ⁶only if you stop exploiting FOREIGNERS, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. ⁷Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.”

Jeremiah’s warnings would not be heeded, and God would use the nation of Babylon to punish Israel and Judah just 41 years after Jeremiah began to prophesize. Babylon would destroy the Temple and lead a group of exiles away from the Promise Land, which would set the stage for prophets such as Daniel and Ezekiel. I really love the Book of Jeremiah. It was the book my original Bible Study group was studying as our current president returned to power and initiated his brutal attack on foreigners in our own land, one that continues to this day, just with less aggression and news attention. I had highlighted the verses within Jeremiah that reminded us Christians how we are to treat foreigners, and I will forever remember what one of the men in the Bible Study group said as I read verse after verse about the treatment of foreigners: “Well, I guess you are going to say something about our current treatment of illegal aliens” (or something to that effect). I told the group that I felt compelled to do so (we usually kept politics out of our Bible Study, but that night, I felt it important to point out the hypocrisy of our “Christian nation” and the way we were treating the foreigners in our land). That Bible Study group slowly drifted apart, a trend I keep seeing as I urge men to truly look at the words Jesus spoke and what He said, and what it means to carry your cross every day.

Today, as the country comes together to either celebrate America, or to lament on the current state of our country, I do want to remind America that we were once foreigners in this land. Our English settlers came over to a land that had no “borders”, invaded that land, took it over, slaughtered the Native Americans, fought wars over borders, and eventually drew up imaginary lines and called them America. Now, as hypocritical as we are, we want to say who can come to this country and who cannot. Today marks the celebration of America breaking away from the British empire and the authority of the King of England, as a large majority of the country continues to support our current tyrannical king.

Read the verses shared at the beginning of this post again, if Christians wanted to truly turn back to God, we need to throw away our detestable idols and live with “truth, justice, and righteousness”, three things strongly lacking in America right now. We have forgotten what idolatry actually is. We like to think that it is worshipping statues of foreign gods. But idolatry is putting the importance of anything over our worship and love of God. Our country continues to lift political idolatry over true discipleship. We put more clout on our national identity than our identity in Christ. Our king has inflicted more policies to benefit the rich and hurt the poor. And, of course, there is the horrific treatment of foreigners, who have crossed our borders illegally, but many who have fled here for safety and the promise of opportunity.

As you reflect on the birth of our nation, I urge you to honestly think about America’s true identity and purpose in the world. A country that was founded on the belief that all people were to be treated as equals and promised to create a government that would serve its people, to secure their “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. Those are the words our “Declaration of Independence” declare. But I declare to you today, that the goal of this country should be “truth, justice, and righteousness” over those other three ideals. Seeking truth and justice would ensure the protection of life for every American. Righteousness is living a life that is morally correct, virtuous, and justified in God’s eyes. Righteousness to God is lifting up the most vulnerable, protecting all of His creation, and loving all people as we love ourselves. I believe the pursuit of righteousness needs to be our most important “unalienable Right”. The pursuit of happiness is a sin when so many people in the world are suffering. Your happiness as an adult does not matter when children around the world are dying, exploited, enslaved, murdered and many children in this country are living in poverty and are barely getting by.

I will be spending today lamenting over America, a country that could truly be great, that could be a beacon of freedom and hope for the world, but I acknowledge that we have not been moving in that direction. I stand with true heroes like Air Force Major Jason Watson, who is the only member of the Active-Duty military to have the guts enough to stand up to the tyranny of our current king. Watson threw his entire career away to protest allowing a convicted felon and sexual abuser to continue to sit in the highest seat of government. Watson stood on the steps of the US Capitol holding a sign that said three simple words: “Impeach Convict Remove”. Watson also spoke words at the Capitol, voicing the very logical and reasonable truth of trump’s illegal activity that he has led America’s military into this year: from the kidnapping of Venezuela’s president, to launching a war with Iran, and a blockade of the island of Cuba. Each of these actions were acts of war against sovereign nations. All of which require authorization by Congress, which trump never did. Watson was protesting on the simple fact that trump has wielded the mighty American military to advance his personal gains, which is easily an impeachable action. Major Watson knew the risk of what he was doing when he took those steps to protest. It is strictly forbidden for current members in the military to participate in protests, or anything political, while in uniform. But Watson did so anyway, fulfilling his duty to defend the Constitution and protect this country. He is standing up for the Constitution over his career and the potential for serious UCMJ charges. And he did so, looking like a ‘G’ in his slick aviator sunglasses.

While the last 250 years has been far from perfect, and our country has made many mistakes in our past, I pray that America will soon wake up and stand up against the tyranny in this country. We will embrace true Christian values and treat all people as God’s children. We will all work for equality and the end of suffering for every person under the sun. We will love our enemies and not fear those who are different than us. We will worship only God and lift His name above the values of the world. We will seek to protect all of God’s creation, from the elimination of fossil fuels to the protection of our fresh waters. That is an America worth celebrating. That is a country worthy of our love. 250 years ago, freedom made a way in this country. Now, for the next 250 years (I really hope it’s more like seven and Jesus is coming back much sooner), I pray that love will make a way in this country. Love for God. Love for Jesus. Love for mercy. Love for justice. Love for the lowly. Love for the foreigner, the prisoner, the orphan, the widow. Love for peace. Love for the humble. Love for the Word of God above all else. Let love make a way and become the American way.