a truly religious stance towards government

I have been studying Isaiah lately, out of that study one thing has become very clear; Isaiah has something to say about politics. The first half of the book is directed to contrasting two kings, a classic good guy || bad guy portrait.
The interesting point is what the hinge is for Isaiah’s portrayal: faith. Who’s got it & who doesn’t.
Now this isn’t the faith of pop-evangelicalism, the say these words, believe & be saved variety. This is the put your money where your mouth is variety.
So back to the kings, you have Ahaz who is afraid of an invasion. A couple of wimps from down the street have come a knocking wanting a fight. Instead of rebuffing fears, relying on Isaiah’s prophecies of YHWH’s steadfastness & deliverance; Ahaz enlists the bigger threat, the big bully, as an ally & cohort. Isaiah points out the stupidity of it, but to no avail.
The other king, Hezekiah, is one who listens to Isaiah words of comfort. He repents of his sins & those of the nation; which is enough to draw the Lord back.
The moral of the story is that it is vital that you trust in the Lord, not alliances with other nations. Isaiah spends plenty of scroll spelling out how all the nations are controlled by Him.

But this is all to get ahead of the story.

Why would there even be a threat against Israel, against Jerusalem the city of God?
Because of their sin.

So what were those sins exactly? Well when you look at the leaders & what was expected of them, you see they failed larger than any other. They are the ones expected to hold to justice & righteousness. They are supposed to be the ones that are looking out for the poor, the widows, the ones most expected to have injustices done to them by the rich & powerful. Instead of holding to a system that keeps powers against the powerless held in check they have let themselves be seduced into being like everyone else seduced by greed.

Instead of marching into Washington to the drum of conservative agendas with a taste of morality, we need to fighting for the powerless. Instead of fearing the weak forces of terrorists, we need to fear the true ruler, YHWH. As believers in the one God above all, we have to get beyond the use of fear as a force to reckon with; unless that is the fear & trembling before a Holy & Righteous God.

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For a people so bent on claiming America as a Bible centered & originating from, we are very far from a nation constructed from biblical principles of a God-fearing nation. God decreed for the Israelites to forgive debts regularly, giving back land; so people could continue to be equals, so wealth wouldn’t accumulate into the hands of a few. Why aren’t issues like this brought up, in conversations of our Christian nation?
Probably because we don’t take the OT seriously, “it’s the law & we don’t have to worry ’bout that cuz of Christ saving me & all”. We like to play our John 3:16 ticket to a good-guy morality of suburbia.

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