Stan Moody
As we witness a minority of angry citizens build to a majority victory in 2024; as we witness the futile plea of the opposition to return to a “normal” past, we should be reminded of a failed coup in Munich, Germany – the infamous Beer Hall Putsch. 16 Nazis and 4 police officers were killed. 10 defendants, including leader Adolph Hitler, were tried for the crime of high treason
The international press predicted that Hitler would either be executed, sentenced to life imprisonment, or deported (he was not a German citizen). He was, in fact, convicted but sentenced only to 5 ½ years, of which he served 8 ½ months. He bragged at trial that even if he were found guilty, the “eternal court of history” would acquit him.
Revenge of the “Fly-over States”:
In his article, “America is on the brink of another civil war…”, historian Jason Opal lays the fault of our present political divide on the 20th Century collapse of Thomas Jefferson’s vision for America – a land grasp for the benefit of emerging farmers. With the onset of a rising culture of diversity and equality, Opal suggests, millions of white, straight, Christian citizens intent on self-governance have fallen into public ridicule as living in “fly-over states” commonly stereotyped as “rustic, racist backwaters”. Needless to say, the pushback is mounting.
Opal’s thesis is one of enraged Christian disciples of a utopian America ready to follow the lead of charismatic leaders calling for overturning our constitutional order of government.
“We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us!”
True to form, but sadly distant from the transformative power of New Testament covenantal grace, we Evangelicals seem at last to have found a righteous cause and a home. We find ourselves lurching backward into a more manageable abyss than under the uncertainty of the timing of God’s providence. Adam’s legacy of rebellion against God has been reduced to mistakes correctable through the force of law. We seem to have tired of waiting for God.
Adam sees himself as a victim: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate!” (Gen 3:12). Eve’s victimhood was unmasked in the words, “The serpent (whom you created, BTW) deceived me, and I ate!” (v. 13).
Wait a minute! Unlike many leaders who stand by and watch from a safe distance while their comrades carry out their evil deeds, was Adam not standing right beside Eve when the serpent talked her into picking and eating the forbidden fruit? (v. 6 – “…she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate”). It’s looking a lot like a conspiracy against the Rule of God!
Lesson:
So, what’s it gonna be for us professing Christians – reaching backward to some fictional past led by descendants of the First Adam shrouded in a patina of self-righteousness, or forward pursuit of a restorative Kingdom inaugurated by the Second Adam, Jesus? Will it be back to Egypt for a square meal or on to the Promised Land in a public spirit of peace, justice and the pursuit of Truth?