Trump theology of history

my trump theology of history



First, Theology, as described to me, is search for the truth of what God has done, is doing, and would do in the earth.  The wise theologian, it is suggested, never knows “everything” about the study undertaken (they who so know are the most frightening).  My personal policy has always been to state clearly that I speak neither for God nor man, nor for any known doctrine of any known religion.  I can speak only for where I am in my study.  What follows is a take on one of the innumerable problems I’d suspect God is dealing with on the earth on any given day.

Second, as Mark Twain is quoted, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”.  That is, there is rarely an exact duplication of what has happened before. Rather, ignorance of history leads to each new generation into unknowingly doing what they would not have done if they knew the knowable consequences.

Third, my own somewhat cursory observation of history leads to this proposal:

God, as described in what Christians call the Bible, raises up a people who faithfully fulfill His purposes; then a new generation arises who “know not” what God wroth in bringing them into His land and “each man does that which is right in his own eyes”.  Sooner or later these unlearned generations reject God’s rulebook, and He gives them what they ask for.  In time the consequences of getting what is demanded most often leads to yet another generation crying out for God; and, as history rhymes, God’s people return back to Him.

One obvious example of this observation comes from I Samuel 8.7-9. Here the children of Israel have come to the man of God and demanded a king.  Sam knows that’s not what they really need, but God knows history rhymes and He says: 

… “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” New International Version (NIV)

 What follows is a long history of God’s people being defeated by both external and internal enemies, a new generation rediscovering Him, He responds, and the rhymes begins again.

Finally, it is this opinion that the current generation of America has rejected the rule of God Almighty over the life of our nation.  As Dr. Francis Schaeffer might have put it:  Broken free of the anchor which held tightly a spiritual-philosophical foundation.  If any readers disagree, I can only submit they watch American television.  If America has indeed rejected God and demanded a king, if history is any guide, if God truly is in control, the conclusion I draw is that He has given America a choice.  What ought most frighten both theologian and historian is that the choice appears on the surface to be solely among not-all-that-good options, none of which is the lesser evil.