Under Authority

Here is the scariest part of the Bible to me at the moment. (NIV)

Hebrews 13:1-7 Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.  The authorities that exist have been established by God.  Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgement on themselves.  For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong.  Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority?  Then do what is right, and you will be commended.  For the one in authority is God's servant for your good.  But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason.  They are God's servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.  Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing.  Give to everyone what you owe them:  If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.


So that everyone is clear, this was written in the First Century, by someone that in all likelihood was martyred for the faith.  None of the likely authors of this book lived to a comfortable old age, or lived outside the persecutions and dangers of being a member of the church described in the Book of Acts.  These people lived daily with the impending doom that the authorities were likely to come, imprison and then kill them.  And not with some "humane" sort of capital punishment, but in horrific and violent ways.

The next part of Hebrews is an expounding on part of the great commandment, love your neighbor as yourself.  Then it says:

And do this, understanding the present time.  The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.  The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.

So, these Acts 2 leaders and church founders were not unaware of the political and very real personal danger their faith put them in.  Yet, they wrote to respect those in authority, for their authority is ordained by God.  All things under heaven work to the will and good of the plans of God.

We usually talk about this and work through this when someone is sick or dying.  God has a plan, He will work all things to our good, there is hope in the Lord.  Well, it applies to our day to day lives as well.  When we are not faced with poor health and bleak options, God is still in authority.  There is nothing done that is not under the authority and allowance of the Lord.

While I feel very strongly that this is the worst Presidential candidate field that I have seen in my lifetime; and I feel strongly that this is the worst collection of Congressmen (and women) that has ever been assembled in the history of the nation; and I feel strongly that this is a inconsequential and incompetent Governor and legislature in North Carolina; one fact remains.  God is in control.  God has His hand on the tiller.  God did not put them in place for our suffering.  God did not ordain this time of persecution, but rather ordained this authority to the furtherance of His plan.

That scares me, because the uber-concentrated focus side of my analytic brain tells me the data points are all moving in a very unfavorable direction.  The quality and character of all the remaining candidates for President, for Congress, for Governor, for insert office here; is just about pegged on the crap meter.  There is nowhere to turn to find a spot that looks to me as if there is advantage coming to us, in this that God has ordained.

But, maybe that is what God wants for us.  Wake up from your slumber.  I never promised you a rose garden, there has to be a little rain sometime.  There is a time and a season for everything under the sun.  God is in control.  Why He wants these people at this time, is kind of beyond me to understand.  I wouldn't want them at any time for anything.  I think they have proven that.

The part of my brain that makes me a sinner and weakens my faith is in a near panic over the prospect of this election season.  But, there was a purpose to God's "madness" in the 1920's and 1930's in America.  Because of the Depression, there was an election of someone that would set the economy right, by employing large numbers of people at government projects and in direct concert and connection.  It removed the last vestige of the prevailing agrarian state, and gave us a populace, both men and women that were prepared for assembly line work, and the technologic step change that would be required for WWII.  These folks, that we now call the Greatest Generation, were prepared in the crucible.  The government was expanded and developed an understanding for how to organize and execute national initiatives.  Banks and economic concerns were decimated, and the federal government filled the economic authority vacuum, so that when entire industries were nationalized for the war effort, there was no decrease in function or efficiency.

There was a method and a plan to the horror that was the Great Depression in my opinion.  Without it, and those God placed in authority because of that event, there is very little likelihood that we could have forestalled the Axis powers, without fighting them on our soil, if then.  Germany was an economic and industrial juggernaut.  They, and the Japanese, were the technological leaders of the world in 1939.  Their equipment was better, their science was better, and their industry was better.  If we had not been prepared to nationalize over 70% of the economy, mostly overnight, and transition to full war time production in months not years, we would have been fighting delaying actions on both sides of the Missisippi, concentrated around protecting the oil in Texas and Louisiana that was vital to the war effort.

Instead, we were prepared, we turned on the machine that was the Greatest Generation.  We took on the world, with some help from our friends, and created a breathing space for democracy to take hold.  The war removed the last vestiges of feudal life in Europe.  There was a tremendous step change for the better in the lives of almost every human on the face of the planet.  Disease treatment, medical practices, industrial technology, manufacturing capacity, everything everywhere, benefited from what we learned in the war.

And, yes, we used that gift and dedication to develop the doomsday tools.  We are now armed with power previously only imagined in the hands of God.  We were able to win, but we have several times nearly snatched the complete defeat from the fruits of victory.

So, summary, there is much to be afraid of going on in this nation today.  But, at the end of that day, God puts these people where they are.  It ALL works to His plan and His design.  Maybe, just maybe, folks like me need to spend less time crying about the bad, and praying to the God of good.

For in Jeremiah, God says:

Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat when they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Increase in number there; do not decrease...
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart.

Maybe, folks like me should spend more time seeking and praying, and less time bemoaning and bellyaching.  We don't have it bad, nor are we in imminent danger.  Those who declare there is a war on Christianity, don't understand God.  The God that shepherded His church through the First Century, and insured that it grew in all parts of the world, that God is not afraid of any war we can declare.  We shouldn't be either.  We should be more focused on our duty as Christians.  That is the hard part, putting on our own armor of light, and standing in the fray.

So, maybe Trump and Clinton are not the doomsday scenario.  They are certainly not up to snuff.  But the God that molded His church and people and brought them through Caligula and Nero, that God is more than capable of handling these two.

Under authority.  We all are, and it is tough.  But, really, we are under authority of God, not things of this world, and that is what we should be praying for anyway.  Perhaps we should just live it for a while.

GLYASDI