God Is on His Throne. So What?

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I have a confession to make. I hate Christianese. If you are a Christian, you know what I am talking about: That set of stock phrases designed to make someone who is struggling with their faith shut up and go away since they are harshing the church vibe, bringing everyone down, and distracting people from the “mission” (whatever it is). For a perfect example of what I am talking about, if you can find it, check out Steven Furtick’s “Hey Haters” video, which is textbook celebrity pastor narcissism. 

It is no secret that the progressive movement has celebrated and promoted the death, mutilation, and perversion of children. It has promoted racial division. It has promoted crime, addiction, urban decay, theft, lies, wars, and all manner of violations of the human spirit. It is promoted by an elite class of people who crave money and power and supported by people who wish to join that elite class and think that by their hatred, anger, activism, and rhetoric, they will be invited to the Afterparty in Aspen. 

The joke is on them, but in the meantime, the progressives are very likely to win in November. And when they win, some will say, “God is still on His Throne.” 

Well, good for God. What about the rest of us still stuck here? It is a legitimate question. To be perfectly transparent with you, after a day of reading the headlines, it is not unusual for me to look at our home altar with icons of Jesus and say, “What the hell are you thinking? Do you have any idea what these people are going to do if they retain power?” I refuse to pretend that my faith has never been tested by the events of the day. It has, and I will admit to that. And to be frank, hearing God is on His throne, be patient and wait, or that He has a wonderful plan for my life sounds a little thin. Those phrases sound a little contrived and like stock responses from people who hope to weather the storm with their 401Ks intact, their backyards pristine, and their barbecues in good working order. They sound like excuses from people fleeing from reality and who want to keep their personal utopias in place for as long as possible. 

I’m not the only one who has detected a flaw in the logic of Christanese. The Christian Post notes that during a speech at the Christians Engaged Conference at Sojourn Church in Carrollton, Texas, Pastor Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), said:

Unfortunately, we have many pastors that are a bunch of wimps. The pastor has a responsibility to lead the sheep in every area of life. Most pastors are not doing that. Most pastors are afraid to say anything controversial. To say anything that may offend somebody. Because if they offend somebody and they leave, their money leaves with them. Jesus called them “hirelings.” They are no longer pastors. I want to tell you, “God is in control’ is a cop-out,” he said. “God is in control” is an excuse that Christians give to justify sitting on their rear ends doing nothing while the country is going to Hell in a handbasket.

And he is right. And may I hasten to add that the “Church Militant” does not equate to the “Church Violent.” “Militant” means to refuse to bow the knee to the New Caeaser or to burn incense at the altar of new gods. It means refusing to compromise when it comes to the murder, dismemberment, and corruption of the innocent. It means refusing to comply with restrictions on speech that protect the privileged few. It means refusing to accept economic and social policies that degrade everyone but are sold under the auspices of “equity.”

People sometimes wonder why members of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches venerate the saints. For one, the saints are considered part of the “great cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12. We ask them to join us in our supplications to God. Moreover, the saints are not venerated for any supernatural talents. Most of the saints did not have any such abilities. Rather, they are venerated because they placed God first and before everything else, often at significant personal cost, up to and including the loss of their lives.

In Mark 10, we read:

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

 “We can,” they answered.

 Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

While not canon, history tells us that, for the most part, the disciples came to violent and bloody ends. While John may have been spared death, he was sent to a penal colony on Patmos. 

Guess what? Sometimes, God’s wonderful plan for your life sucks. 

God is on His throne, but we are here. Why He doesn’t choose to intervene is a mystery to me. But every believer will have to answer for what they did with the time they were given. And “waiting for God to show up and show off” may not be the right response.