Covenant Presbyterian Church

Unbelieving men are held in the grip of an ineradicable fear. This fear has one source: the anticipation of divine judgment of which Paul speaks in Romans 1. God, the true God, has inescapably revealed himself to all men, in nature and in each man’s heart. When men refuse to worship and serve him, when they worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, guilty fear gnaws away at the soul. Man cannot live with this fear, and he tirelessly attempts to insulate himself from the specter of approaching doom. He does this personally through self-deception, convincing himself that he does not believe and know the God he in fact knows. Interpersonally, he separates men into classes, castes, and parties, hoping to avoid the loss of wealth, power, and perceived superiority. He does this religiously by forming various gods that can be manipulated through ritual or works. He also seeks to insulate himself culturally, with economics and politics being the focal point, through the erection of various towers of Babel, last bastions of protection and survival, of greater or lesser height and hubris depending upon the strength of his fear at any given moment in history.

Throughout the past two centuries, we have seen various towers of Babel attempted. There was first the social contract theory of Locke, which greatly influenced our own Constitution, by which men sought to insulate themselves from the tyranny of absolute kings and monolithic governments. This was the tower of individual rights, the sovereign, self-determining individual. That many Christians signed on to this document is explained by its resemblance to Rutherford’s Lex Rex and the Reformation’s strong commitment to the rule of God’s law as opposed to the rule of man. However, as Patrick Henry said, if the underlying Christian base ever eroded, which it had already begun to do in his day, this document would become an instrument of the very tyranny it sought to avoid. Henry was prophetic. Our Constitution has proven incapable of preserving us against tyranny and statism for the simple reason that its view of man, liberty, and rights was not self-consciously Christian and therefore unrealistic in theory and unworkable in practice. And we have lost the old faith, apart from which its undergirding structure is fatally weakened. The citadel against tyranny that our founders intended was finally demolished as a result of the War Between the States, and another tower began to be erected: national, federal supremacy.

This tower was more than a different view of government and a different primary locus of authority. It was significantly economic in its interest and commitments. The Southern War for Independence was not begun over slavery; that came later when Lincoln found it necessary to rekindle lagging Northern support for his war. It had significant economic roots, especially the desire to destroy Southern economic independence and consolidate the North as the center of industry and power. In the sixty years spanning the Civil War and the Depression, these roots spread and choked life out of the empire forged by Lincoln. Though migration to the cities had begun in earnest, America was still largely rural, unwilling to give up the traditional focus of life in the family, farms, and townships. Increasing market speculation, commercialism, monopolization of the means of production, and the resulting grinding poverty, however, drove the masses to abandon any lingering hope in local authority and increased dependence upon the federal government to control and limit and secure. The Great Depression finally and fully entrenched dependence upon government programs and completed the great American migration to the cities to participate in these programs, away from self-dependence and local autonomy. The sovereign, monolithic state, in Europe but equally here, was the result - an economic statism to centralize power under the guise of a good standard of living. We were only too happy to give up local control and the right of self-determination if only we could have security.

But we ran out of money, which was fatally debased in order to give the false impression of individual prosperity. We have now run out of credit. The 20th century Tower of Babel is now unable to fund itself, control the speculators, generate enough people, cash flow, and credit to sustain its promise of a chicken in every pot. Where shall we now turn? We are told that nations cannot survive alone. The collapse of the local tower of Babel (constitutionalism) and the centralized tower (federalism) will give rise to the last bastion of fearful men: globalism. There are constant rumblings of the need for a global bank, global currency, global control over lending and credit. Now that most western governments have effectively taken control of the banks, it is but a short step to global consolidation. And fear will drive us there. Covetousness will drive us there. Already desensitized masses will accept this drive for fear of losing their worthless paper and of having their prosperity delusion shattered. They will succumb to what later historians may well describe as the third great American revolution, the greatest seizure of power effected in our nation’s history, without the firing of a single shot, with the masses blissfully ignorant and mindlessly repeating the manta, "Our government will save us."

Self-consciously Christian men are quite aware of these developments. They seem to sense that we are on the cusp of great change, perhaps even the end of one era and the beginning of a new one. While it is always difficult to read the history one is living and easy to be dramatic about one’s own time, some generations actually live in the epoch-making moments. And since we know that our Savior is ruling over all things for the sake of the church, we must attempt critical self-understanding of our times. I mean, we can critique unbelieving men, but at one level, what is the point? We know that the city of man is doomed to destruction, that unbelieving nations and their rulers conspire against the Lord and his Anointed, and that fear of his judgment leads them to undertake unbelievably ridiculous schemes to escape from his providence. We can either act as passive sheep - watch the wolves, huddle in anticipation of their attack, try to make friends with the wolves - or, we can "act like men" and consider the things the Lord is teaching us and the way we may serve him best and most faithfully in challenging times. Choose the latter. After all, every tower of Babel crashes; it is only a matter of time. God’s work in history is to build the church of his Son, expose counterfeits, and demolish her enemies.

There are two spiritual battles going in the world, battles that only those with Spirit-given sight can see: fear and covetousness. Statism thrives on fear; it expands its power in times of fear. For the individual believer, Christian family, and broader church, there is only one fear - of the Lord God Almighty, of displeasing him, of living in any other way than in obedience to his law. We cannot make wise decisions at any level if we are fearful of men, of losing a certain way of life, of proclaiming the whole counsel of God regardless of reprisals and personal loss. Fear says, "Bail me out." Fear says, "I don’t want to face the consequences of my high-cost, low-satisfaction, constant greed lifestyle." Fear says, "I would rather depend upon man rather than upon the faithful God who promises to provide the things I need, though not necessarily the things I want." Fear makes slaves of men because it does not fear God and trust his providence. Thus, perhaps the most fundamental sifting the Lord Jesus is doing to us during this time is to expose our vain confidence in the promises, power, and protection of men. Men are dust and ashes. Men are worms. Men are grasshoppers. Man at his best is altogether vanity. To make matters worse, we continually try to convince ourselves that we are none of these things but demigods parading the earth, controlling resources, securing our future, solving problems. Biblical metaphors for man’s weakness and frailty are especially important in these times. Embrace them - they alone will replace your fear with steadfast confidence in the mercy and faithfulness of the living God who promises to provide for us if we seek first his kingdom and righteousness. Remember our Savior’s condition for provision - seeking his rule and his law. Seekers of these are the only ones who have any legitimate expectation of divine provision; and they have every expectation of them. Builders of towers of Babel forget one important factor in their scheming - the living God is laughing at their puny efforts to dethrone him. He is also angry at their blasphemous denial of the crown rights of his Son, Jesus Christ. When his wrath is kindled but a little, their towers will fall. They are falling. Globalism is secularism’s last bastion of fear, its final attempt to evade the claims of God. The next historical period may be altogether glorious, for when the enemy rushes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord always lifts up a standard against him.

Recovering our faith and courageous proclamation of the fearsome God is most certainly the foundational battle we must fight to avoid being engulfed in the machinations of tower builders. There is another, more personal, and far more local battle we must fight - against covetousness, discontent, and envy. Had we heeded the Bible’s constant warning against unnecessary debt and our Savior’s call to contentment, had we rejected consumerism and government dependence, we might well have ridden out this storm, able to give a more prophetic call to this nation and all nations. Instead, we, you and I, are part of the problem, contributors to the current catastrophe. There is still time, however, if we will immediately repent of covetousness - if we will learn contentment with what we have, if we will opt out of consumerism, if we will learn to give rather than to hoard, to share rather than to consume. Whatever happens in the possible new order of globalism, the Lord Jesus is calling his church away from covetousness, to seek his heavenly kingdom before temporal convenience. If we have, he wants us to give and share. It we do not have, he does not want us to have but to be content with his providence. And he is calling us to get out of debt so that we can stand as free men, simple men, contented men, men not enslaved to a teetering system that is passing away before our very eyes. Do not run to the hills; practice biblical religion where you are, in your daily priorities, spending and saving patterns, ultimate allegiances, willingness to spend and be spent for one another, not simply with, "Be warmed and filled," but with, "Here, take this, I have more than I need." He who gives to the poor lends to the Lord, and he always repays.

The Lord is calling us to recognize something about our own nation. It is not what we think it is. Those who obtain their knowledge of American history from reliable sources rather than movies recognize that the United States as we would like to think of it ceased to exist well over a century ago. Yes, the politicians and pundits would like for us to think in terms of the "American way of life," but exactly which American way of life: consumerism, pornography, abortion, deficit living, Monday night football, or faith, family, self-government under God’s law, and independence from tyranny? The latter way of life exists now only in small pockets. The United States is an institution of economic control, dominated by professional politicians, whom Thomas Jefferson once said would be the death of freedom, statist control of virtually every area of life, and narcissistic, effeminate cowards, who gladly accept Social Security even if it means accepting political slavery. Those who would "take us back" to better days, including many professing Christians, act as if we are only a generation or two removed from our glorious past. We are not. We are several versions and almost two centuries of the United States removed from liberty, self-government, and moral integrity. We will never go back, at least to that era of liberty, no matter what dress, living, or conversational conventions we adopt. I find many live in the past, hoping it will return through surface mimicry. Future liberty, moral goodness, and personal integrity will emerge only through sacrifice, interacting with the present, and suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ. I say this because the real battle is not political, economic, or national; it is spiritual and kingdom-oriented. Release yourself from the Stars and Stripes Forever. Cling to the cross of Jesus Christ, your heavenly citizenship, and your membership in the church of Jesus Christ. These eventually generate liberty; it comes from no other source.

In the meantime, we need to prepare to help each other more tangibly. Jobs and homes may be lost. You should begin setting your affections more concretely and passionately on things above, so that you will have cheerfulness in giving of yourself and goods for others. This is not the time for each family to hunker down into own bunker but to recognize more than ever our dependence upon on another and duty to one another. Love can wonderfully flourish during such times, and I pray that it does. More of our resources will need to go to needs of others. Get your home ready. Your finances. Your attitude. We may need to reevaluate our church spending priorities. Even our building program. Our greatest resources are not buildings but the church itself, the people of God, the living stones of God’s grace. God is wresting our attention from preference and convenience to charity and sacrifice, a monumental opportunity to demonstrate the power and reality of the gospel we profess.

Short of an amazing revival of Reformation proportions, and I am by no means ruling this out, the new tower of global control will at least be attempted if not erected. Let them build. The United States has been a corporation more than a political entity for well over a century. The United States of our founding and colonial fathers much less of our founding fathers has not existed for a long time. You and I must get our heads out of the proverbial sand, deluding ourselves that the age of comfort will return. It will not. I pray it does not. It breeds fear and covetousness. It makes wimps of preachers and cowards of men who have the invincible word and Spirit of Almighty God. Preachers cannot truly preach unless they have no thought of losing their comfortable income. Believers cannot really live as God commands unless we have one hand open in thankfulness to our Father and the other hand open in mercy to men. The only ones who will survive and thrive under the dark shadow of the new tower are those who are not afraid to lose everything for the glory of the reigning Christ, the support of his church, and the resurgence of the only citadel that will last - the beautiful city of God.