BOOK(LET) REVIEW - "GODLY CITIZENS UNDER GODLESS KINGS" BY JOHN MACARTHUR

 

Election day is just a week away, and we get to choose between a candidate some consider evil and an opponent belonging to a party that promotes what many (myself included) consider evil. How are we to live in days of an ungodly government?

If the lines for voting are long, "Godly Citizens Under Godless Kings" by Rev. John MacArthur might be good and appropriate reading, especially since it is only 34 pages long. But if you've already voted early, this still is an insightful and thought provoking book.

MacArthur starts off in Romans 13 stating what the role of government is, and then deals with Satan's influence on the state. He points out, "No matter where persecution breaks out, the arch-persecutor of the church is always going to be the government. We know this because the government alone can fine, jail, and even execute people with impunity." He speaks about civil disobedience in Scripture and today, and closes with a guideline on "How to live under a pagan government."

I have three comments I'd like to add in closing.

1. While I am convinced that neither the Democrat, the Republican, or the Libertarian Party are committed to a Biblical leadership, I do think MacArthur is overreaching when he says the government will always be part of the persecution - some of today's persecution is from other sources like the Columbian drug lords and the terrorist group Boka Haran. This is technical - I can see the U.S. government persecuting Christians.
2. MacArthur mentions being fined during the COVID lockdowns by the California government. He doesn't mention the church's standing firm and eventually getting the fines erased. I think that should have been included, even if this was a pamphlet.
3. I read this shortly after listing to the Reformed Libertarian podcast, where both hosts are anarchist (meaning they don't believe we need government). I've read some that say Christians are obligated to stand against ungodly nations to the point of taking up arms, as in the Revolutionary War. MacArthur doesn't deal with the Revolution, but he definitely believes government is necessary and placed by God. Am I sure which side I take on that issue?

SUNDAY PSALMS PART 22 OF 48 - PSALM 94:20

 

Burns Development, Lawrence, IN, near Fort Benjamin State Park

 Shall the throne of iniquity, which devises evil by law,
Have fellowship with You?
                    Psalm 94:20, New King James Version

 How many of you are familiar with this passage? What do you think of the concept of evil being devised by law? 

I know many who would say that Democrats are good at devising evil by law, such as the increase of ground gained by the LGBTQ lobby and the efforts to keep abortion legal. And those who disagree with my friends, remember that your disagreement with them doesn't mean my friends are wrong.

But before you put the black hat on the donkey and look for a white hat big enough to put on an elephant, can you make an argument that the GOP sometimes does the same thing in different ways? Do we allow for tax loopholes that make the rich richer? Is it moral to send our young people to a foreign country for the purpose of killing them? Is it just wishful thinking to think our party is really any more godly than the other?

You don't have to go far back to see examples of this both on the right side and on the left side. The former are the Nazis, the latter are the Communists. Millions of Christians have been persecuted and even killed because of the godly edicts of these two terrorist ideologies.

Of course, there are some that believe the greatest villain in Church History is Constantine, allowing the formerly persecuted Christians to become corrupted by being a favored lobby of the government. And that hasn't changed - there are believers of both parties who put trust in that anointed party to usher in their ideas of morality.

What's the point of today's post? Be watchful. Discern what is good of any view and what isn't. Realize that God can use the party you oppose, and also that the party you support is capable of rebelliously opposing the true Sovereign of the world.

Another point, which is harder to answer. Is it better to be a law abiding citizen of an evil government or a law breaker in a country that has breaking God's law part of its constitution? And are we called to stand up against a godless nation?