On Tuesday, January 21, the first full day in office for President Trump, he attended what was described as a prayer service at the National Cathedral led by Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde. In her remarks, she said, “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families — some who fear for their lives.” She went on to defend illegal immigration using God’s name and twisting His Word out of context in order to support her remarks. To my knowledge, there was no prayer of blessing, no word of encouragement, nothing that would draw the President or those gathered closer to God. If anything, she would drive people away by her spiritual arrogance, divisive condescension, and mean spiritedness.
“Rev. Budde” is a poster-child for what’s wrong with many American churches—there are false prophets in the pulpit. And what’s wrong in the churches permeates those who sit in the pews until the church has a form of godliness, but deny its power. (2 Timothy 3:5).
The basic problem in our nation is not our politics, or health care, or racial prejudice, or inflation, or polarization, or immigration, or enemy threats, or whatever else you can name. It’s not China or Iran or North Korea. While each of those areas are problems, the fundamental problem is spiritual and moral.
My beloved friend, Priscilla Shirer, tells a wonderful story from when her third son was young. She had taken him to the Fall Festival at their church which was held in the parking lot. A variety of games were offered for the children at various booths, but the favorite one was in the back of a pick-up truck. It was a version of “whack-a-mole” that can be found at almost every state fair. This one was homemade with a blanket stretched across the bed of the truck with holes cut into it, and various puppets popping up through the holes. A plastic bat was given to the child to “play” the game by hitting the puppets to make them stay down. But as soon as one puppet was hit, another popped up. And so the game went on. The line to the game was very long, and Priscilla’s son became restless and impatient. He suddenly let go of his mother’s hand and before she could grab him, ran up to the truck, jerked off the blanket, and exposed several startled adults lying on their backs with puppet covered hands raised up in the air! In other words, the children had been whacking at what they could see but the real problem was underneath the blanket.
Priscilla’s story illustrates that America’s basic problem is not one that we can see in the visible world. It is “underneath” in the invisible world. We are in a cosmic battle between good and evil, light and darkness, truth and deception. The apostle Paul makes it clear… “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
How are we to respond? While we may need to address in practical terms the “pop-ups”, we should not be distracted from what’s really going on “underneath.” At this moment, there are two imperatives:
- Pray. Pray for God’s Kingdom to come, His will to be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Matthew 6:10 Ask God to use you to help reap the spiritual harvest as you share the Gospel. Matthew 9:36-38 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18 Pray for a spiritual awakening in the church.
- Pick up “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17 Read your Bible every day, apply it to your life, then live it out in obedient faith. Ask God to speak to you through it, giving you insight and understanding. Daniel 9:22
As President Trump is selecting and naming his cabinet and staff, I’m reminded that Jesus is also calling you and me to follow and serve Him during these incredibly significant days. We are nearing the end of all things. Will you answer His call? Because make no mistake about it…in the end, Jesus wins! Until that day, may He find us faithful.
