Update from the President
The Beyond Today Live personal appearance campaign in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, dominated our attention this past week. They were attended by about 240 people, including 55 brand new people.
It was heartening to see and interact with the new people, especially seeing our own brethren talking to and getting acquainted with our guests. I felt that the three presenters delivered exceptionally with God's motivating power. The technical work was flawless and I want to thank them, as well as pastors Rick Shabi in Orlando and Stan Martin in Tampa, for a job well done in preparing the local congregations. In Orlando we tried Facebook Boost, in which more than 13,000 curious users clicked on our ad.
Our trip to Florida gave us an opportunity to visit a number of elders and brethren as well. Very special to me was visiting with retired pastor Bob Jones and his wife, Mary, in Jacksonville. From 1971 to 1974 I worked with and for Bob Jones in my early years in the ministry. I learned a lot from him. He was a great mentor in not only what he taught, but his example in how he managed the various pastoral challenges of the job. We visited brethren together for many hours, as well as traveled together to speak to outlying churches in Minnesota on the Sabbath. To this day I reflect on his measured and wise manner of working with people that has been a model to me.
Last Sabbath, I spoke to the Jacksonville, Florida, congregation. We stayed also one night at Rick and Debbie Shabi's home in Palm Coast, and another night with long-time friends Wayne and Nancy Stephens north of Orlando in Eustis.
Right now, Bev and I are in Arizona. I'm visiting with the elders in the Phoenix and Tucson areas and will be seeing Ellis and Gwen La Ravia today, Thursday, and Steve and Terri Buchanan tonight.
Can You be a Christian in a Super-heated Political Environment?
What's your opinion of this prominent psychiatrist's view of the President? "Make no mistake, he is a force...perfectly ruthless, a highly versatile mind which you cannot foresee."
Is this a 21st century analysis of the current President of the United States?
No, this statement was actually made in 1933 by Dr. Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and colleague of Sigmund Freud. The President he was writing about was the then-newly inaugurated Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt was then setting in motion a vast array of legislative proposals and executive decisions in his first 100 days as president. These proposals rocked the world, alternatively evoking calm, relief, fear, and excitement. Roosevelt did several things that would have been deeply frowned upon today.
We need to understand that when looking at current events and their seeming ferocity, a common error of perception can occur. We can think that current events represent the worst that has ever happened. Or, we can embrace them as a trusted divine God-send and blessing. With these mindsets, it is easy to get caught up in the rashness of the throng. We can become unnecessarily agitated and worried.
The apostle Peter knew what that meant. He wrote his first epistle in early 60s A.D., a few years before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. As reflected in his opening verses, Peter and his brother, Andrew, had previously carried the Gospel of the Kingdom to what is modern day Turkey, Ukraine, and other points north and east.
The political environment that Peter worked in--both in the Empire and on the fringes of the eastern Roman frontier--was heavily influenced by one of the most evil men ever to exist: Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. After a reasonably good initial reign, the last five years of Nero's rule were nothing short of vicious, particularly for the early Christians. After murdering his mother, Agrippina, Nero denied himself nothing, embracing countless debaucheries. He let no one get in his way. Josephus records that Nero's second wife, Poppaea Sabina, was an influential theosebes, a God-fearer, who possibly kept the Sabbath. Pregnant with Nero's second child, various accounts note that she died after the evil Emperor savagely kicked her.
But there's more to Peter's time during the reign of Nero: after a devastating fire destroyed much of the Roman capital in July of A.D. 64, the cruel emperor openly blamed the small Christian community. Prominent Romans were carrying rumors that Nero himself had set the city ablaze. As the Roman historian Tacitus states: "To stop the rumor, he [Nero] falsely charged with guilt and punished with the most fearful tortures, the persons commonly called Christians." In addition to what's implied by those three noxious words, "most fearful tortures," Nero set innocent Christians themselves on fire as living candles and made deathly brutal sport of them in the Circus Maximus for the amusement of Romans.
It is during this time that the apostle Paul was executed in Rome, and the early church also lost the leadership of James, the brother of Jesus, when he was murdered in Jerusalem shortly before the destruction of the Temple. Peter himself also was executed. It was a very dark time for the early church.
These were all our spiritual brothers and sisters from ancient times. So if anyone had occasion to criticize or bash the top government official of the day, Peter had more than enough cause.
So what did Peter advise?
He warned Christians living back then that because of the political chaos and mayhem fostered within the Empire that they would have their faith "refined by fire" and that they would likely have to "suffer grief in all kinds of trials" (1 Peter 1:6-7, New International Version, 1984 edition).
Peter did not advise those in the church to get involved in the political turmoil of the day. He directed them to make certain that they had critical spiritual basics in place, including a powerful personal vision: "prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed" (1 Peter 1:13).
What standard did Peter hold them up to? "Just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do" (1 Peter 1:15).
What is the expected outcome for us today? We can, like our spiritual brothers and sisters in ancient times, still live as Christians in super-heated political turmoil.
And yes, we must recognize that things are grievous when it comes to declining values and changing culture for the worst. But let us not be fixed upon that. We must cast off wrong perceptions. We must be rightly motivated. As Peter directs, let us be holy--set apart as servants and children of the most high God--in all that we do.
Let's consider this important fact: the world's governments have never really been a friend of those who truly follow the truth of the scriptures. Jesus Christ made it very clear at the end of His earthly life that He represented a superior government to that of the world's. He was brought before Pilate, who represented the Roman government, then the most powerful on the earth. As He stood before Pilate, Jesus Christ represented the Kingdom of God, which is infinitely more powerful.
Here is their exchange:
"Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.' Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'" (John 18:36-37 NKJV).
When Pilate tried to claim that he had power over Jesus, here was Jesus' reply: "Then Pilate said to Him, 'Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?'" Jesus answered, 'You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above'" (John 19:10-11 NKJV).
That set the record straight about Who's really in charge of this world's governments. While God may permit various events to happen, these events all ultimately serve His will and His ultimate purpose, which is to "bring many sons to glory" (Hebrews 2:10).
When Jesus gave us the basic outline for prayer, He put "Thy Kingdom Come" near the top. As we near that Kingdom coming, we should be making that prayer an even more notable priority, and not be listening to the political voices of this world. The power of God is where we place our ultimate trust--which will result in the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the earth. As Christ said, HIS is the voice that everyone who is of the Truth hears (John 10:27). Let us make certain we are indeed personally hearing and following that Voice!
