April 20, 2024
President-elect Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters at a rally in West Des Moines, IA in January 2016. GAGE SKIDMORE/FlickrOne year ago today, I wrote two editorials, each reflecting the outcome of perhaps the most important presidential election in our lifetime. This is the editorial, obviously, that never ran. To see my reflections on the 2016 presidential election, click here.
We are living in perilous times. As a result of the recent election it is difficult to imagine what the future holds for America. While our hope is not in the government, the government has the ability to make life simpler or more difficult. I believe the election of Mrs. Clinton will make it more difficult for Christians.
In April of 2015 President-elect Hillary Clinton addressed the Women in the World Summit in New York City and stated, “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” to allow women access to “reproductive health care” which was widely seen as a call to change views on abortion.
Clinton added, “Rights have to exist in practice – not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs, and structural biases have to be changed.”
In essence, Mrs. Clinton has urged us to change our beliefs to accommodate her agenda. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal responded to Clinton’s remarks, saying, “That is crazy talk. This is why the fight for religious freedom is so important. Our religious beliefs are between us and God, not us and Hillary Clinton.”
I am not afraid to say that we must stand against President-elect Clinton if she seeks to exert the power of the presidency to try to change our Christian beliefs or our Christian convictions.
Thomas Jefferson said, “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
Are you familiar with America’s Great Seal? In 1776 Benjamin Franklin chose the dramatic historical scene described in Exodus where Moses and the children of Israel confronted Pharaoh, the tyrant, in order to gain their freedom.
The image on the reverse side of the seal portrays Moses standing on the eastern shore of the Red Sea and extending his hand over the sea, thereby causing the waters to overwhelm Pharaoh who is sitting in an open chariot, a crown on his head and a sword in his hand. The motto on that side of the seal reads: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
There are multiple examples of this kind of rebellion in the Bible. In Exodus 1 the king of Egypt instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill the baby boys born to the Hebrew women in captivity. Exodus 1:17 declares, “But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.”
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
When Moses went into the court of Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go.” He was prepared to rebel against the Egyptian ruler if his demand was denied.
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
In Daniel 3 an edict was issued by Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar for everyone to fall down and worship his golden image. Those who refused to do so were to be thrown into a fiery furnace. However Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the golden image.
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
The princes in Babylon conspired together to establish a royal statute that whoever petitions any god or man for 30 days except King Darius would be thrown into the lions’ den. Daniel knew the decree had been signed, but the Bible says, “He went home, and in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since his early days” (Daniel 6: 10).
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
In Acts 4 when the rulers in Jerusalem saw the boldness of Peter and John the Bible says, “Let us threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name (Jesus). So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”
Peter and John answered, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4: 19-20).
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
Charles Finney, the great revivalist of the 19th century, called for preachers to signal the call to righteousness. He cried, “We need more Boanerges or sons of thunder in the pulpit. We need men that will flash forth the law of God like livid lightning and arouse the consciences of men.
“Away with this milk-and-water preaching of a love of Christ that has no holiness or moral discrimination in it; away with preaching a love of God that is not angry with sinners every day. Away with preaching a Christ not crucified for sin.”
Finney added, “Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree. If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it.
“If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it. Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation.”
Donald J. Trump made a valiant bid for the presidency in his appeal to make America Great Again. Although I liked some of his stated plans for America, he never seemed to understand the secret to greatness.
Alex De Tocqueville, the nineteenth century French statesman, said, “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.”
Mrs. Clinton’s background, which seems to be clothed in dubious – if not dark – predispositions, is hardly the epitome of integrity and honesty. She certainly seems to be oblivious to the secret to America’s greatness.
Only when America’s pulpits become aflame with righteousness will we understand once again the secret of her genius and power.
