Is America all about the freedom to worship any god?
Of course!
Does America – including the vast majority of its self-identified “conservative Christians” – hold up this “right” as a great and civilization-defining virtue worthy of emulation by all other people in all other lands?
Of course!
Then what’s the matter with an Islamic Imam formally and officially leading our nation’s leadership in prayer to and worship of a false god?
The answer is: Nothing…if we simply take an honest, sober, consistent look at what America actually stands for when it comes to God, false gods, and worship.
The one true God of Christianity could not be more clear, simple, and plain in His disdain for that which we champion globally as our greatest virtue: the “right” to worship any god. (See: The Ten Commandments.)
And what is the American response to God’s crystal clear command on this vital subject of the worship of false gods?
What has it been since the founding of our (once) Republic?
God has spoken. He has given great clarity on this subject and forbids that we allow such evil to be openly pursued in public out of a love for us and a desire to protect us from the inevitable (and most serious) consequences of rebellion against Him. The first of the Ten Commandments – the commandment upon which all the rest are founded – could not be more plain.
Which makes America’s rejection of God just as plain…however much our American idolatry may prevent us from acknowledging, much less repenting of, our great and glaring sin.
The latest in a long line of increasingly stark (yet likely to be ignored or deflected) examples this ongoing American rebellion was reported today in a post titled Islamic Imam Leads U.S. House of Representatives in Prayer ‘in the Name of Allah’, published at ChristianNews.net, which informed us that, “An Islamic imam led the U.S. House of Representatives in prayer ‘in the name of Allah’ this week, as those representing the people from states across America stood with their heads bowed and eyes closed.” The article continued:
Imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey in Monmouth opened the day on Thursday, being introduced by Speaker John Boehner.
“In the name of Allah, the most gracious, the most merciful,” he began. “Praise be to Allah, the cherisher, the sustainer of the world, the most gracious, the most merciful master of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we worship and thine do we seek.”
With the larger historic context clearly understood, we can see that this week’s formal, official worship by our government of a false god as led by an Islamic Imam was a destination charted long before anyone like Barack Obama hit the scene in Hawaii or Kenya or wherever. This should help to keep our eyes on the ball and prevent us from being manipulated by the distractions so frequently and effectively deployed by anti-Christian media from all points on the political spectrum. All of those anti-Christian sources – from MSNBC and CNN to FOX and Rush Limbaugh – take and present) it as a given that the freedom to worship any false god is a great American virtue, and everything that they say on this or any related subject will be thoroughly rooted in and defined by that completely anti-Christian perspective. Never forget that.
And never forget that the seed for this particular “grand demonstration of the beautiful freedom to worship false gods” – this flagrant display of disdain for the one true God – was planted in the earliest years of US history, and it was planted by none other than the iconic untouchables of modern American “conservative-first Christianity”: The Founding Fathers.
In our flight from God as Lord in practice and His Word as our standard for all things in practice, The Founding Fathers have become the gold standard for law-givers in America, and the Constitution has become the gold standard for law, even in the minds and worldviews of most professing Christians. Rather than testing and reforming everything – including politics and economics – by biblical standards, we have become a proud nation of, by, and for man-centeredness. We have become unified in proud rebellion against the inescapable, unbreakable lordship of Christ.
This is why we worship false gods openly, officially and proudly…all while daring to pretend aloud at the same time that we are doing so using a “right” that has been given us by the very God who has explicitly condemned the very thing that we are doing.
Put another way, we have been “given over” to insanity. (See: Romans 1)
In our idolatry of ourselves – our nation, our flag, our patriotism, and our Founding Fathers – we have separated the object of our affection (again: ourselves) from the one and only true source of life, liberty, prosperity and happiness.
May God break us of this insanity. May He break us of our pride. May He do whatever is required to bring us to happily, truthfully, and completely submit to Him as the one and only true source of every good thing anywhere in His creation. May His people be graced with the desire and opportunity to stand completely for His Gospel and Great Commission in this dark hour.
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© 2014 Scott Alan Buss – All Rights Reserved.