Civil War Repost

Today I had the honor of speaking to the men at my church's men's breakfast. This is the text of what I shared with them. It is my previous writing about the risk of unpleasantness, but this time followed with a little less depressing ending.

The Depressing Part

This is a serious message for a serious time. I wrote this message out long hand in order to be sure of my words and emphasize the importance of what I am saying. There is a strong spiritual point to this, but I need to set the stage to get there. So please bear with me.

After the election of Mr. Trump there was an immediate and strong emotional reaction from Hillary supporters. This is certainly understandable. No one likes it when the side they support loses. However, the reactions went way beyond partisan disappointment. There was not just crying, but weeping. I saw many people who were downright mourning. The reaction went so far as to devolve into rioting in places.

My heart goes out to those people. Their reactions were and are clearly genuine and I do not take joy in seeing people scared and in mourning. While I am not thrilled with president-elect Trump's election I am not despondent about it.

The thing that I am seeing is that the perspectives of Trump supporters and Hillary supports is fundamentally different. Not just politically and ideologically, but down to the very level of their view of how they interpret the world around them. The differences are deep, fundamental, and too numerous to list. I believe it is representative of how different leftist and conservative ideology is.

Ours is an increasingly divided country. We live in a very diverse country. There are differences in race, culture, socioeconomic standing, religion, philosophy, favorite sports teams, favorite sports, favorite TV shows, favorite media sources, perspectives on our country. There isn't a single universal unifying thing that even cuts across a super majority of Americans today. We are a fractured society.

This is a real problem. Regardless of who is "correct" or "moral" or "good" the disunity in our culture is a deep and existential problem for us. When rifts form as they are increasingly doing, relationships break down. Our level of social progress is being degraded. I heard from many people in the news and on social media who said they didn't know a single supporter for the other side in the election. The two sides are clearly not completely separate, but they are dangerously so.

If our nation continues along this path, towards increased fracturing we are headed to a really bad place. Here is what will happen:

1. The number and strength of relationships between groups (race, religion, party, socioeconomic status) will drop.
2. Trust and empathy between those groups will weaken.
3. Disagreements between those groups and individuals in those groups will begin to escalate in frequency and severity further pushing them apart.
4. Violence will begin to be seen with increasing frequency resulting in a sharp decline in dialogue even from previous levels.
5.  The United States will break up politically and geographically as different groups seek to insulate themselves from the violence and instability. This could lead to a civil war.

I am not overstating the risk posed by this social fracturing. I don't know how long it would take, and it can be prevented, but it is a real risk. There are two ways to prevent a civil war. The good way and the bad way. I’ll come back to that though.

The Slightly Less Depressing Part

2 Chronicles 36:22-23 records king Cyrus of Persia, declaring, under inspiration from G-d, that he would rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus was a gentile king ruling over the exiled people of Israel. Despite this, G-d used him to provide the Israelites with an opportunity to return and take back Israel and rebuild the temple. Cyrus did not do the work, he just created the environment where it was possible. The Israelites still had to work hard and do the work, but it enabled them to get there. They had to fight the nations surrounding them, they had to fight pagan Israelites who did not believe in their mission of restoration, they had to fight political backlash from Cyrus’ eventual replacement Artaxerxes, and they had to work against the neglect and destruction of their land.

I believe Trump is a modern recurrence of King Cyrus. He is not a pastor or a moral reformer. Trump is a foot in the door—a stay of execution. He is an act of God to buy the church time to repent and return to her rightful role in American. He will not save us, only G-d can do that. I’m not sure Trump will even help us, but I do not believe he will get in our way.

At least for the next four years the people who are fighting the most to make the divisions in our nation worse do not have front and center stage. That gives us four years. Not four years to sit back and enjoy things not getting worse, but four years to prepare and act.

Where That Puts Us

Back to the good way and bad way to prevent civil war. The bad way is authoritarianism. A super strong central government can provide the unifying force necessary to provide a somewhat peaceful existence by forcing homogeneity on us. That has obvious downsides.

The good way is revival. If the people of our nation turn to G-d in large numbers we will see a level of unity and oneness of purpose not seen since WWII.  G-d is the only one who can save us from ourselves and the threats of evil in our world.

There is a very important role for all of us to take in order to see the good way taken. We need to actively and passionately develop our relationships with G-d. We must make the time to spend with Him. We must stop letting our pride and fear get in the way of loving and serving Him. We must run away from the sins that keep us from being able to be close to Him. We must do the things He is asking us to do.

THAT is revival. It starts as a small thing. In your attitudes and actions. This thing requires all of us though. We need everyone to jump in on this. The alternatives are horrible for us and for our nation.

The Encouraging Part

If I just left it there it would be a pretty depressing finish. However, I am not only hopeful, but excited to see what G-d is going to do in this time. The men’s ministry leaders have been discussing and praying how we can help us all to have deeper and richer relationships with G-d. We are passionate about inspiring, training, and leading you into deeper spiritual maturity.

We are flawed, we are broken, and I very much include myself here, but that does not matter. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We are damaged, we are busy, we have a million reasons not to prioritize our relationship with the most powerful being in the universe, but we must not put Him in second place. 

We can’t change the world, our country, our state, our community, our families, or even ourselves on our own. But through our dedicated and passionate individual relationships with G-d we can change all of it. If we come together as a brotherhood, as fellow sons of G-d, we can achieve mighty things in Him. Unimaginable things.

John Wesley said "Give me 100 men who love God and nothing else, who hate sin and nothing else, and I will change the world." My challenge for you today is to be one of those 100 men. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18-19 about us, the church that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” later in Matthew 28:18-20 “¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Guys, it is simple. The world is broken. G-d loves the world. G-d loves us. G-d wants to change the world. He wants to use us. He has already given us the tools, the authority, even the fellow workers. We have EVERYTHING we need. Let us step into that authority together as men, change the world, and shake the gates of hell.