CLARITY
A Biblical Response to Current Events – 12-18-18
As Goes the King
What’s Happening: “Maybe some church splits are good – in any case it’s happening, and the departure of the Ukrainian arm of the Russian Orthodox Church of Kiev is a good thing in the eyes of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (https://www.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-church-picks-bishop-leader-050000393.html). ‘What kind of church is this? This is a church without Putin,’ said President of Ukraine Poroshenko.”
Knee-Jerk Response: “All splits are bad. What about appeals for unity?’
Biblical Response: “Yeah? And what about appeals to ‘come out from among them’ (2 Cor. 6:17)? Of course that’s a decision to break off…now they have to choose a leader – and they have: 39-year old ‘the Metropolitan of Kiev and Ukraine, Epifaniy,’ also known as Serhiy Dumenko. Of course, ‘as goes the king, so goes the kingdom.’ This may be alright for America, with the presumption of a Christian majority (I’m thinking of a founder’s quote: ‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’ John Adams) As soon as you have a leader named, he (or she) is leading somewhere…good or bad.”
“Christians? We are not exempt from this principle. However, we believe in ‘God-rule’ not ‘self-rule.’ Untransformed, Man’s heart is wicked. All the more reason for choosing God-ordained leadership (‘…If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. …’ Rom. 12:8 NLT).”
Here’s a Prayer You Can Pray: “Heavenly Father, help us to examine a man’s character and submissiveness to Your authority, as we must follow his lead; in Jesus’ Name, amen.”
Share as you like; just give credit appropriately. For buying any of Alan E. Sargent’s books or to subscribe or to comment on any of his CLARITY blogs, go to the following link: http://subdeo.com/. He also tweets on Twitter.com every day @alanesargent