As individuals, in obedience to Him, we can save our nation to be a blessing to the whole world

 I would like to feature today a speech given by Josh Hawley, a Senator for Missouri, to the National Conservative Conference on September 12, and provided to us by The Federalist. I have commented before that the Constitution of the United States was an inspired document, meaning inspired by God. Hawley makes this much more explicit, noting that Biblical history was one long continuing speech by the Almighty against the cultural elites of the ancient world and instead in favor of the individual.

Hawley, of course, as a politician is making a political point, and a valid one. But God doesn't just pick individuals out of the rabble, but he picks individuals who love Him and do their best to obey Him. Still, I will not quibble with Hawley's basic argument, because without the freedom as individuals to do His will, we are not free at all.  And what the Left proposes is the same thing as the ancients proposed:  that the few should rule over the deplorable serfs and peasants, and these deplorables should obey, or else...

You will find Hawley's speech at The Left's War On History Is Really A War On The God Of The Bible. I would urge gentle readers to get yourselfs a cup of coffee or tea, as you may be inclined, sit down in your most comfortable chair, and read all of Hawley's remarks.

I would like to point to something that is often used to say that we Chritians should meekly obey whatever the state tries to ram down our throats. This particularly is a problem at this time here in America, as Hawley points out. We are asked to say that men can get pregnant. We are asked to believe that aborting our children is good and right. The Left wants to separate children from their parents and turn boys into girls and vice versa.  The state intends to force us to repudiate our God, our faith in Christ, or else...Is that what Paul meant when in Romans 13 he says to obey civil authroities? At the Be Transfigured Ministries the poster threads the needle this way

Christians of every generation face the same dilemma. Should we submit to God or the State? In 20th Century Soviet Russia, thousands were martyred because the State attempted to crush the Church, but the people stood up to the State and practiced their faith anyway. Were they disobedient to Saint Paul? When the time came for Saint Paul to choose State or Christ, of course he chose Christ and paid the price for it. In being arrested and put on trial, he submitted to authorities.

I guess maybe that is the answer. We don’t stop believing in Christ. We don’t stop worshipping Him. We don’t stop living as Orthodox Christians. We maintain all our Orthodox way of life and submit to authorities at the same time. That might mean losing a business license if the State no longer endorses our way of life. That might mean being expected to quit a job if our employer no longer tolerates our Orthodox Christian way of life. Submitting to authorities doesn’t only mean obeying them. It means being willing to endure the penalties when following our Faith is no longer acceptable to the authorities. It is why we commemorate as many martyrs as we do. They submitted to torture, exile, and death, never giving up faith in Christ.

So it is that we as Christians must constantly tell the Truth, as required by our Christian faith, but we must also pay the price. Every time the state, or its propaganda arm tell us something untrue, we must speak out with the Truth.

In truth, their vision is bleak and their ideology is brittle. They do not understand the deep strength of the American people, because they do not understand the deep goodness of their character. They see only deplorables who must be re-educated.

They do not understand our history and our ideals because they do not appreciate the truths on which this nation is based. They do not realize these truths have made us good and made us strong. And truth is their problem. The woke ideology, this warmed-over cultural Marxism, is not true.

Race and class do not define all that we are. Society is not an unending struggle for power and domination. And America is not structurally defective. America is the best and freest nation in the history of the world. And it is so largely because of the biblical revolution that made us what we are.

As Hawley points out, as individuals, in obdience to Him, we can still save our nation to be a blessing to the whole world.