The Powers That Flee

By Audrey Stallsmith

My worried nephew notes that, on social media lately, some Christians haven’t just been blindly defending a man as obviously morally bankrupt as Trump. They also have been posting images of him beside Jesus, with both of them glowing.    

All of this makes me glad that I seldom indulge in social media! But, when my own pastor made some reference in Sunday School to the impeachment trail being like the crucifixion, I snapped that “Trump is no Christ.” 

Although I come from a family of Republicans myself, most of us have been baffled by the idealization of a man as obviously crass, narcissistic, and materialistic as our current president is. Because his effect on us is like fingernails on chalkboard, I actually was hoping he would get impeached. But I realized there wasn’t much chance of that, when only Romney had the courage to vote according to his conscience rather than his party.

I must admit that my pastor is right when he says that God sometimes uses unrighteous men such as Trump to fulfill His purposes. But, if we Christians defend or idealize those men, we imply to the world that we, too, think that money and power are the be all and end all.

What reassures me through all this is the Bible’s assertion that all administrations except God’s will eventually crumble. You may recall that the statue which stood for the kingdoms of the world in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had feet of clay. And what Daniel told the narcissist of his day, though not in those exact words, was that “all of you are going to come tumbling down.”

Speaking of such tottery kingdoms, I’ve just been reading a book about missionaries who acted as spies during World War II to help defeat the Axis powers. One of those was John Birch, a missionary to China. He joined U. S. army intelligence during the war, in hopes of speeding up the expulsion of the Japanese invaders so that he could get back to preaching. He would be killed just after the secession of hostilities—ironically enough—not by the Japanese against whom he had been fighting but by Chinese communist guerillas.

An extremist society would be named for Birch, since he often was considered the first casualty of the Cold War. However, his friends pointed out that the missionary probably wouldn’t have approved, since he believed that Christ was coming soon, so that all the kingdoms of this world were doomed anyhow.

He was right, since the kingdoms of Hitler and Hirohito had already been defeated, with Japan surrendering on the day that Birch himself died. And those of us who once were so scared of communism could never have predicted how soon it would show its feet of clay with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. 

Meanwhile, in still oppressive countries such as China, the underground Church continues to flourish. As Revelation 11:15 declares, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever!” In other words, Christ’s kingdom is the only one with staying power.   

I also remind myself that, even though three of Daniel’s friends got pitched into a fiery furnace for refusing to worship the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel still was concerned about that king’s soul. Concerned enough that he begged the monarch to repent before God decided to teach him a lesson. 

The Daniel who preceded Christ apparently had a more Christian attitude than I do about his leader! Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, too, seem to have taken a polite but firm tone when dealing with that raging king.

Bible scholars can't be sure whether the image the three Hebrews refused to worship was of Nebuchadnezzar himself or of the god or gods he thought had given him the power to conquer. But the king's intent apparently was to prove that his subjects ultimate loyalty was to himself. However, that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego obviously went to Someone Else. 

Like them, we can say, “We have no intention of worshipping your gods. Our God will walk with us through the fire, after all, while your gods simply will burn up or burn out.”