Part Three of A Call to Christian Patriotism

The Democrats took references to God  out of the convention. See here.  Then it was scripted to vote Him back in. Oh my! Gene Veith wrote about this in this blog post.

Dr. Eyrich reminds us in his book,  A Call to Christian Patriotism, of  some more reflective Scripture that I am listing here in Part Three just as I have listed his Scripture in the previous two posts.

•  Job 40:1-42:6 Our help comes from God who says everything under heaven in Mine. (41:11). The Republican and Democratic Conventions are His!
• We need to be training the next generation according to Deuteronomy 6:1-14. Eyrich gives nine steps from this passage.

1) Lay a theological foundation by teaching our children the character of God.

2) Build a relationship with God.

3) Practice biblical meditation.

4) Conduct formal instruction.

5) Practice casual application.

6) Practice intentional appreciation for God and the Bible.

7) Use the Bible and do God's work.

8) Display the reality of God through art.

9) Guard you heart.

• I am not sure one can separate church and state. Christianity Today has an article asking is there anything wrong with voting for a Mormon for President here. Fox put up a video supporting that our current President has Muslin leanings here if it hasn't been pulled yet, and one of my friends wrote on Facebook that Obama is not a Muslin. I do not think that the issue is where a candidate goes to church, but who can lead our country in the way we feel it should go.

Eyrich cites Numbers 21:1-18 and discusses the flag and the sanctuary. I think that a flag is controversial in some Reformed congregations because this symbol is interpreted as an idol. Yet when the Israelites complained in Numbers 21, God sent snakes to teach them a lesson. The people confessed their sin of complaining and a symbol of a bronze serpent was used after that. Anyone who was bitten by a snake, could be healed by looking at that bronze snake. To me there are more important issues, like not complaining, rather than whether a church has the idol of flags in the church. Christianity Today has an article on having a flag in the sanctuary--here.

• Eyrich writes: The American flag is the symbol of God's blessing on this nation. It reminds us that God gave us this country at the cost of much shed blood. It reminds us of how our forefathers struggled and sought God's intervention as they hammered out the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It reminds us that the preaching of the Word of God touched innumerable lives with the Gospel and the Christian world view. The Christian flag is also a symbol. It, too, is a manmade symbol, but nonetheless a spiritual symbol. It reminds us that we are Christians first. It reminds us that our relationship to Christ demands both our loyal submission and our obligation to impact our world with the message of the Gospel. It reminds us to worship. And it reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes from God--including our national existence and our freedom. (pp. 37, 38)

• The desire for peace is part of the Christian patriot's calling; we need leaders who will pursue peace in our world. The author highlights John 14 to develop the peace of hope (vv. 1-3), the peace of faith (vv. 10-15), the peace of promise (vv. 16-26) and the peace of knowledge (vv. 27-31).
• Eyrich does not shy away from discussing taxes as he brings up 1 Samuel 8:10-17.

The war cry "Raise my taxes!" is the preemptive strike of union leadership who convinced their members that it is better to raise taxes to temporarily sustain a failed system than to cut social service budgets to correct the failing system and preserve a state. . . . Study history and learn from the mistakes of others, or you will repeat history. It seems to me that the history of Israel teaches that if we exchange freedom under God with its accompanying personal responsibility for the assurance of government to provide cradle-to-grave care, we sacrifice freedom to gain servitude (p. 43). . . . In our democratic republic, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are to us what the God-given law was to Israel in a theocratic kingdom. To dismantle these historical documents either by neglect or by activist courts is to replace them with a "king" that will rule for the benefit of power. Our very existence, as America is dependent on two things. The first is the proclamation of the Gospel, which seeds our population with God fearing citizens. The second is the guarding and enforcement of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as they were given in their historical context (p. 44) .

In this current election, there are conditions beyond the faith of the candidates and maybe even beyond whether God is mentioned in the convention platform in a very cursory way. The very history and unique character of these United States of American are what is at stake.

To be continued next Monday.