The Heathen Are Come
Psalms 79:1 (KJV)
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
It seems to me that the Psalms speak daily about the trouble we are in today.
I note that the governor of our state presumes to give guidance[1] to churches. This is typical and even appropriate for Protestant churches. The Pilgrims and Puritans expected their government to take ownership and tell people when, where to worship and how much to give by way of taxes.
Early Baptists suffered heavily because they refused to marry their faith to the government. Through the crisis of the war for independence, they lobbied for liberty of conscience and, once receiving it, began the long road of courtship and dependence on government. Today it is obvious most Baptists are married to the government and therefore functionally Protestant. It seems like we’re witnessing an attempt to effect a divorce (or at least a legal separation). It would have been better had we never wed.
I believe we have just one hope; that is that God would judge those who have defiled His Holy Temple and render to us churches wholly separated from government.
I cannot say I know what that looks like.
[1] Psalms 79:1-6 (KJV)
O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.
To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word.
Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
For this and more than 4900 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.
If this blog has blessed you, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie
My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie
Psalms 79:1 (KJV) The Heathen Are Come
Photos from pexels.com
I don't believe the idea that Baptists are married to the government. That makes no sense to me. There were some evangelicals that were obsessed with making the world better by electing the right people into office but they forgot that their mission was to spread the gospel. But they weren't necessarily baptists. If we're Christians we need to be known as followers of Christ and not be defined by our political beliefs.
I think you misunderstand my position. The historic doctrine of Baptists is the separation of church and state. We do not believe there should be any marriage of the church and the government. This marriage is the practice of both Catholics, and her children, all Protestants. At first the catholic church was under the government of Rome. Then it was over the governments of Europe. Protestants were, until the US Constitution, always a "state church". Martin Luther did not believe people would attend church unless the government forced them too. It was the Baptists who influenced our Fathers to establish the free exercise of faith. I contend that over the years, many Baptists have morphed into Protestants, using the government for their ends. I think it has bit us at this point.