Two Objects Before US

  1. Share
7 10

William Wilberforce is in my Hall of Faith. He isn’t listed in Hebrews 11, but I’m sure if it were written today, he would have made it. Before his conversion, he was living as an independently wealthy socialite. His wit and popularity and money got him elected as a Member of Parliament at the age of 21, but he was unfocused, disorganized and enjoying the life of a hedonist. All that changed when the Lord got a hold of him.

And that is when he began to smell the stench of the slave ships.

England was the center of the slave trade in the 1700 and 1800’s and a large part of their economy rested upon it. But a new heart brought a new nose and a new set of ears. The clinking of the chains on the slaves broke his heart. If you’ve seen the movie Amazing Grace, then you know the initial part of Wilberforce’s story. He labored for over 25 years, amid jeers and taunts, to end the slave trade. When Parliament finally voted to do so, the ones that had sneered him years before now rose to their feet in applause to honor him. He simply bowed his head upon his desk and wept.

But he wasn’t through. He then began the fight to free the slaves. That brought caustic opposition, scorn and death threats, but he persevered and labored for it the rest of his life. Three days before his death, the British Empire voted to free its slaves...all because of the dedicated service of a small, sickly man.

And all of this really began a few years after his conversion to Christ, when Wilberforce wrote the following,

“God has put before me two great objects: the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of [morals].”

It became clear to him that his fight to end the slave trade would not succeed if it were not accompanied by a moral reformation within the English people.

I believe it was the Lord that gave him those two great objects and I also believe He is giving us the same…for our situation is similar and God’s principles don’t change. He desires righteousness in the people and righteousness in their rulers and in their laws.

Therefore, I sense that we, also, have two great objects before US:

  • Reformation of public policy
  • Reformation of the people

This is also why so many of the articles I have written of late seem to be so “political”. Contrary to some views within Neo-Christianity, just because unrighteousness happens to fall under the “political” label does not make it off limits to the believer’s voice and heart. It is the smooth talk of the enemy that has beguiled us into thinking otherwise.

I’ve heard all of the arguments that Christians are not to be engaged in political affairs.

Nonsense.

Two of the biggest political activists of the Old Testament, Moses and Elijah, were the guys that Jesus brought back from the dead to stand with Him on the mount of Transfiguration. Moses was the great political activist that got into the face of Pharaoh and said, “You do wrong!” He then became the first and one of the most prominent political leaders of Israel. Elijah was the great political activist whose primary activity was to get into the face of Ahab and say, “You do wrong!” Jesus declared that the greatest man ever born of woman was John the Baptist…the guy who just happened to have gotten his head cut off because he dared to stand before the political leader of his day and say, “You do wrong!” Now we have Christians who think and teach that it is unbiblical to stand in the political arena and declare the same thing that virtually every prophet of the Old Testament declared in the face of their king, in their day.

It isn’t unbiblical...it is inconvenient.

It is uncomfortable and it is unpopular. It puts one at the pointy end of jeers and taunts and name-calling and even death threats.

Wilberforce, even though he had every physical and social reason to pass on the task, did not.

Neither can we.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” Matthew 5:6

This is what I am committed to and this is why I have this site and why I post what I do.

I will pursue these two great objects:

  • I will fight for righteousness in public policy and
  • I will fight for righteousness among the people…seeking revival and reformation.

All of our public policy efforts will be in vain if we don't see a revival within the people. Don't think that electing your guy into office is going to really change much. It may help, but it won't turn the nation around. As long as the public continues toward selfishness and immorality, laws and constitutions, as Daniel Webster said, are waste paper. It must be, and has to be, a restoring of the foundations, the return of the people to God and their repentance and moral walk. It is these things alone, that will pull this nation back from the sheer cliff before which she now stands. 

All of this has to begin with the Remnant. And it will be only through the Remnant that we will see righteousness return to our nation. And, prayerfully and hopefully, an awakening in those who need Christ…an awakening and a new heart like the one that radically changed an English playboy 250 years ago.

 

 

 

Community tags

This content has 0 tags that match your profile.

Comments

To view comments or leave a comment, login or sign up.

Related Content

1
When Crosses Cross the Government
Our brothers and sisters in China are weeping, yet singing hymns as the government there cracks down on what it sees as a challenge to its authority. Crosses all over Zhejiang Providence are systematically being cut down, with blowtorches and saws. Christians have made appeals and some have even put up a courageous resistance, but in the face of such overwhelming governmental power, the demolition simply marches on to the next church. You can read more about it in this article, but here is an interview with a Chinese brother in Christ: "It was a surprise attack. We did not let them in, but they broke in by cutting off the lock. We demanded paperwork, but they showed us none. They cordoned us away from the church," Tu said. "They had 60-70 people. We had just about a dozen or so. Everyone was crying. Our hearts ached. We felt powerless to resist, and only prayed and sang hymns." The lust for power is insatiable and jealous. It does not give it up and it does not allow rivals. The larger governments grow, the more inclined they are to trample on the people and to ignore or rescind whatever rights had previously been thought to be firm. China has a religious freedom policy. But policies made by the State can be violated by the State. This is minor, of course, to the horrible tragedy that befalls other brothers and sisters around the world, some of whom have lost their lives today because of their faith in Christ. Remember them in your prayers and ask God if He may be calling you to help in some way. Join the Persecuted Church social issue or start a Group on the site and begin to gather with others who share that passion and find a way to make a difference.
11
What is a Worldview?
The classic definitions of “worldview” take some form of “the lens through which one sees the world around them”. I think it is much deeper than this and much more complicated. In fact, I think there are two, yea three, different categories that we should keep in mind when we try to define “worldview” or attempt to understand what it is. For sure, we need to understand it not as a mere linguistic term or academic study, but as a critically deep and profound aspect of our own life. Formal vs. Personal When we speak of a “worldview” there are two fundamentally different ways this can be used. The first is to refer to a “formal” worldview and the second is to refer to one’s “personal” worldview. These are vastly different from each other and should be defined separately. A formal worldview is a set of truth claims that purport to paint a picture of reality. Formal worldviews are often titled, such as Marxism or Islam or Christianity. One can find a good number of publications that lay out the truth claims for each of these formal “worldviews”. This just simply means that the “book” for each of these worldviews makes the strong assertion that its truth claims are really real. A personal worldview is also a set of truth claims, but these truth claims aren’t written in a book, they are written on the heart. They are truth claims that are embraced so deeply that we “believe” they really do match reality. But the critical factor here is that once we believe that a truth claim is really real, it will drive our behavior: how we act, how we think, and how we feel. If you believe that you are unlovable unless you weigh less than you do now, that belief will drive how you act. If you believe that your happiness and significance is based upon circumstances working out the way you have planned them and it appears that the chances of that happening are growing less probable, then you will find yourself worried. Jesus dealt with the issue of worry and He clearly jabbed His finger upon the source: our beliefs. This is the power of the personal worldview and the impotence of a formal worldview. No one acts on the ideas in a book. They act on the ideas in their heart. You can make up your own new formal worldview. You can write a book about it or maybe even a hundred books about it. You can give it a snazzy name, like Avatarism. But if no one embraces your truth claims as being really real, then you will have nothing but a dusty old book. But if hundreds, or thousands, or even millions of people begin to read that book and believe your truth claims to be really real, even if they are totally false, then you will rule them with your ideas. This is why Dave Breese wrote a book entitled “Seven Men Who Rule the World from the Grave”. How do they continue to rule? Because they each wrote a “book” with their own ideas in them, mostly false ideas, and people began to believe those ideas and in so doing, even long after the authors of those books were dead, their ideas continue to drive how people think, how they act, and how they feel. They are ruled by those ideas. Why? Because they are written in their hearts. They believe they are real. They became a part of their personal worldview. This is the power of ideas and the power of a worldview. But until it becomes part of one’s personal worldview, it is powerless. This is why the Scripture warns us to “guard our heart” (Proverbs 4:23). That is not to guard ourselves against being emotionally hurt by someone, it is to guard what it is we end up believing to be really real. And if you were to write your book and only one person began to believe your ideas were real, you would be ruling that one person. This should be enough for us to take seriously another warning from Scripture: “Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1) If you are going to teach or write, you better make sure that the “truth claims” that you assert are really real. And the only way that I know to insure that, is to make very, very sure that your words are consistent with the Truth of God. If not, woe to you if some “little child should stumble” (Mark 9:42) because of your false teaching. There are more differences in these two: - A formal worldview is usually quite comprehensive, dealing with most areas of life, if not all. - A personal worldview, can be quite spotty or incomplete. * Studying a formal worldview is fairly easy. * Trying to understand one’s personal worldview is not. + A formal worldview can be crafted to appear quite logical (although a false worldview will always be filled with contradictions if you are willing to examine them). + A personal worldview can be quite illogical. It can embrace ideas or truth claims that are very contradictory. It can be driven by selfish motives and desires, rather than reality. In fact, one’s personal worldview can be quite “unreal” and in certain areas it could be said that we are living in a “dream” world because our beliefs are so contrary to reality. When this is the case, it is usually because of our selfish motives: we believe what we want to believe. Source of Truth What is common to both, however, is that each relies upon a source of truth. For the formal worldview, this is fairly easy to determine. A Christian worldview believes that truth has been revealed in both the creation of God and in His written Word. Islam believes it has been revealed in the Koran. Latter Day Saints believe it has been revealed in the Book of Mormon and other revelations to their prophets, such as The Pearl of Great Price. Naturalism believes that the source of truth is found in science alone. Marxism and Leninism rests upon the writings of Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, who also happened to stand upon a worldview of Naturalism. For the personal worldview, consistent with its inconsistency, we could find multiple sources of truth. However, in the truly selfish worldview, it is sometimes expressed that the individual’s heart is the source of truth. So, “My heart tells me that…” is one’s source of truth. Sometimes a person begins to believe that a formal worldview is right in its understanding of the source of truth and adherents will attempt to mold their personal worldview to the doctrines of the formal worldview. However, it is quite unusual for an individual to have a personal worldview that perfectly matches a formal worldview. When selfishness or other motives drive our beliefs, then we can declare that we believe in a formal worldview’s source of truth and its truth claims, but act in a different way. And why do we act in a different way? Because we have other truth claims that have captured our heart that are deeper than the truth claims of the formal worldview. All of this leads us to the third type of worldview: the “professed” worldview. This is a complicated thing, but not too much so. It is the thing that happens when we believe that it is in our best interest to “profess” a particular belief when we don’t really believe it is real. And why do we believe that it is in our “best interest”? Because we have believed another truth claim that says so. For example, if I believe the truth claim “I will be happy if people accept me and think well of me” then I might act in a way that would make people accept me and think well of me. If I were in a Christian group and I wanted to be happy, then I would say “Jesus is Lord” when I don’t really believe it. I might even memorize Scripture passages or go to church or raise my hands in worship to show that I am really worthy of the honor and praise of those who see me do such things. This becomes my “professed” worldview and it is often difficult to separate the “professed” from the “personal”. Often times, the “professed” is the open profession of things consistent with the formal worldview, but it may be miles away from the personal worldview. I believe God is speaking to this when He declares “These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13) This is a “professed” worldview in action. But the omniscient God is not fooled by the “professions” we make for He “looks at the heart”. (1 Samuel 16:7) This doesn’t mean that He simply knows how you “feel”. It means He knows what you really believe despite what you “profess”. This is why we must not fool ourselves in thinking that our “professed” worldview is equal to our “personal” worldview; nor that our “personal” worldview is equal to the “formal” worldview that I am associated with…just because I am a member of a church or synagogue or mosque or Free-Thinkers Society. Mark records that Jesus knew what people were thinking in their hearts. (Mark 2:8) We can become quite good at crafting beautiful masks…the kind of mask that people love to see…and we can become masters of which mask to wear in the presence of certain people. We do this because we believe, in our hearts, that our significance and pleasure and happiness is bound up in what people think of us. So we wear a mask and fool everyone. Everyone, of course, but God. He knows our heart.   Going Deeper In the Truth Project, we examined eight areas of a biblical worldview:    - Veritology (What is Truth?)    - Theology (Who is God?)    - Anthropology (Who is man?)    - Philosophy    - Ethics    - History    - Science    - Social Order Social Order was examined in the light of the six social "spheres" that God has designed:    - Family    - Church    - State    - Labor    - God & Man    - Community As a sub-topic of the State, we examined The American Experiment as well. Most Worldview authors examine a biblical worldview through the various "epochs" in the Meta-Narrative of God:    - Creation    - Fall    - Redemption    - Restoration In the Engagement Project, we added another "epoch" to this Worldview study:    - Engagement If you want to go deeper in a study of the heart and the mind, go here:     - Heart and Mind