Come Out of Her, My People

[Christsfreeservant]

An Open Letter to All Believers in Jesus Christ

To all believers in Jesus Christ on the internet – on social media or in the blogging world or on Christian discussion sites, etc.

Why is it that so many of you (perhaps primarily in America) will promote politicians and political parties and try to get others to come to your way of thinking about governmental and social issues, but few of you talk about Jesus Christ and the Scriptures, and few of you share the gospel of salvation with your friends, followers, and family members on the internet, such as on (or primarily on) social media (et al)?

This (above) was a question I posed on Twitter and on Facebook yesterday, and on Facebook I added: “God did not put us here to promote men and worldly platforms and worldly thinking, but he put us here to follow him with our lives and to share Jesus Christ and his gospel (the whole counsel of God) with the world around us.”

I have had a few responders disagreeing with me about not promoting humans and their human solutions to our problems. Those who responded feel that we have a responsibility as Christians in this society to engage in the political scene in order to make a difference, believing that we can defeat the evils of this world through the political and voting system.

One of my responses was this: “Many Christians are trying to fight the evils of this world on a political front. That is not God's design. We fight evil with prayer, with obedience, with submission to God, and by spreading the truth of the gospel which has the only power to change people's hearts.”

Then this morning the Lord Jesus gave me a much larger response to this notion that, as Christians, we are responsible to put our trust in humans and in politicians to save us from the evils of this world, and that we are to promote them and their system as the answer to how to resolve the evils of our society. And here is the larger response I gave on Facebook:

2 Timothy 2:3-4: “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (In the context of us teaching one another the Word.)

2 Corinthians 6:14: “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” (This could include us partnering with the political system.)

Revelation 18:4-5: “Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.” (In reference to Babylon which is the world’s system, which includes politics and politicians.)​

And then there are a bunch of Scriptures teaching us not to put our trust in humans who cannot save, which is what we are doing when we put our trust in our political and voting system to render righteous and just results (see: Ps 146:3; Ps 147:10-11; Ps 118:9; Is 40:23; Hosea 8:4; Hosea 13:10; 1 Co 2:1-5; 1 Co 3:1-9, 18-23; 1 Co 7:23; Gal 1:10; Col 3:23-24).

Lastly, our call is to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, to make disciples of Christ of people of all nations, to teach them to obey Christ, to be the Lord’s witnesses, to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light, to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and to turn people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God so that they can receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ (1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14).

And we, in America, have been given a golden opportunity to do that on the internet on social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and on blogs and on Christian discussion sites, etc. And if we, the church, would actually do all that this teaches us we must do, I believe abortion would be overthrown and our nation would not be in the state of affairs it is in right now. I think the church largely has things upside down because they are following the world more than they are following Jesus and the teachings of his word.

Trust in the Lord
Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.”​

Those who have responded to me so far have not backed up their responses with the teachings of Scripture, but primarily they have spoken of what they think is the right thing to do. And the Scriptures are real clear on this subject that we are not to lean on our own understanding. We are not to be wise in our own eyes. It is not about what we think but it is about what God says we must do or not do. We must obey the Lord over man.

Granted, we have had politics and politicians, and political solutions to what ails us as a nation, and the worship of government drilled into us from birth on up in the church and in our schools and in the news, etc. We were brainwashed in America to worship our government and our military, and to put our trust in them to save us and to keep us safe and free. But that is contrary to God’s word and to his design for his people.

Yet, when you are indoctrinated in something like this from birth, especially within the church, it is hard to break free from it, I know. We are taught that the political system is sanctioned by God and that our nation is one nation under God, and so we grow up with this notion that there is some connection between the political system and godliness and the worship of God, but that is not true. And we need to break free from that.

There is a beast that is rising and is conquering people and nations and followers of Jesus and that is bringing all of us into a one world totalitarian regime. And this beast is part of that political and economic system. And it is partnered with the institutional church, too, which is why the institutional church promotes government worship, and which is why the church is on a massive moral and spiritual decline.

So, we are being called to “come out of Babylon,” and to not be unequally yoked together with the ungodly, and to not put our trust and hope in men and their systems, but to put our hope and trust only in the Lord and in his word. For God is the only hope for what ails this world because what ails this world is sin. So Jesus Christ is the only solution. So, instead of promoting politicians we need to be promoting Jesus and his salvation.

We need to be talking with people about sin and about what Jesus did for us in dying for our sins so that we can be delivered out of our slavery to sin and so we can walk righteously before the Lord the rest of our days. And we need to be telling them that they must repent of (forsake) their sins, and that they must follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways, and then they will find hope and healing and eternal life with God.

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Matt 7:21-23; Heb 10:26-27; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10]

I Will Wait for You (Psalm 130)

By Jordan Kauflin, Keith Getty, Matt Merker, & Stuart Townend

Out of the depths I cry to You
In darkest places I will call
Incline Your ear to me anew
And hear my cry for mercy, Lord

Were You to count my sinful ways
How could I come before Your throne
Yet full forgiveness meets my gaze
I stand redeemed by grace alone

I will wait for You
I will wait for You
On Your word, I will rely
I will wait for You
Surely wait for You
Till my soul is satisfied

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[GDL]

An Open Letter to All Believers in Jesus Christ

A big topic. One that many books have been written to cover and to answer the questions about the Christian's involvement in politics.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is the answer to everything, as you and many others know. And, by your writings, it can easily be seen that you understand the vital importance of the full scope of the Good News - how our relationship with God in Christ takes us in a Salvation process to overcoming sin to ever greater degrees / living righteous & godly lives that honor and glorify Him. We are commanded by Him to grow from infancy to maturity as His Children and become more and more like our First-Born Brother and Lord Jesus Christ.

In Paul's writings he explains that the Lord has given His Ekklesia - His Body - evangelists and teachers. In Hebrews 5 while rebuking about continued infancy and the need for maturity, the writer rebukes that "you all should be teachers by now."

The [full scope of the] Good News is not just preaching, proclaiming, but is also teaching. In line with the Great Commission, Paul identified His ministry as bringing the nations to Obedience of Faith, which is terminology for Faith-Obedience - Faithful Obedience - which is really just Biblical Faith and Biblical Love for God, and thus Biblical Love for neighbor and one-another.

Biblical Love for neighbor from Lev19 is based in the context of rebuking a neighbor who is in sin. This is a teaching moment to bring about repentance and to keep community under God. It's a teaching moment not only for the neighbor, but for the rebuker in not exercising personal vengeance.

The mature in Christ have grown to have their faculties well-exercised/trained to judge between both the good and the bad - in Christ they have been raised and trained to overcome ignorance and lack of skill in the Righteous Word. Paul rebuked Christians for treating lightly the Ecclesiastical Judiciary of a local congregation by putting unlearned congregants in judicial positions.

One of the reasons I give attention and discussion on political issues is based in the above. It's both a learning and a teaching opportunity - a seemingly endless one. The [supposed] voting rights we have in the USA is a potential opportunity to opine for righteousness - to see if there is something to be said about God's Law - and to try to maintain some level of right. I see this as being in line with being salt and light. If anything, from what I've said above, the failure of Christians is not necessarily paying attention to such things, but the inability, based in what I think is a very widespread immaturity including false believers in the so-called church. This is in line with what you write about related to the widespread false gospel.

I personally do not focus on anything or anyone in politics as fulfilling a savior role. But there is an ideology that can maintain to some degree a state of peace that makes it easier for us to live godly lives, which is one of the purposes of our prayers for leaders. Since the Lord has seen fit for us to live in a nation that provided a voice to its citizens via the political process and vote, I think it's part of our witness to maintain some level of involvement. If there were more mature Children of God who weren't ignoring unrighteousness vs. righteousness looking instead for the rapture, and who were continually growing in knowledge of and respect for His righteousness, becoming the best judges and leaders on the planet, maybe we would not be where we are now in the USA. One of the things the Trump administration brought to the surface IMO, is just how evil and tyrannical most of the leadership and systems had become - it surfaced to attack his threat - while the church argues about being involved or not in keeping evil at bay. The tragic state the USA is in now did not come about overnight, but over time while the church became more worldly and spread mostly immaturity at best.

We're all just playing in the sandbox He has decreed for us with its boundaries. We will all ultimately be forced to come to the conclusion that we cannot rule ourselves apart from Him, and that no one, angelic or human, can take His place. Until my end, it's all a learning and, as I am able, a teaching process.

Speaking again personally, the problem is that the more time moves forward, the more I know how little I and others truly know. We cannot rule this place without Him. We can barely rule our individual selves - our own little pieces of dirt as I heard a teacher once say. I thus appreciate even more how much of a difference an omniscient mind with omnipotence and omnipresence will make to the condition of His creation when He decides to end this kids-in-the-sandbox state of things, when He's done dealing with evil opposition.