I love it when God is in the news. He has been the subject of news stories a couple of times recently. Both instances are related to the current race for the White House.
After a disastrous showing in his debate against former President Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden faced calls to step down as his party’s nominee to serve as president for the next four years. He refused to give up. He insisted on staying in the race.
In an interview on ABC News just days after the debate, Biden was defiant, rejecting the notion that he should step aside and let someone else run against Trump. Pressed by his interviewer, Biden conceded that if the Lord Almighty told him to quit, he might quit. Might?
President Biden seemed to correct himself a moment later by saying that if the Lord Almighty came down and told him to quit, he would quit. But then he added that the Lord Almighty is not coming down. Hmmm. I took that to mean that he was not expecting God’s advice, nor was he seeking to get God’s advice.
Biden’s statements about the Lord may be confusing, but he introduced God into the public conversation. I always welcome that!
It didn’t take long for God to make the news again. Former President Donald Trump was speaking publicly about surviving an assassin’s bullet by the slimmest of margins. The attempt on his life happened while he was delivering a speech at an outdoor rally. At just the right instant, the former president turned his head and avoided death. The shot came so close to hitting its target that it bloodied Trump’s ear.
As the former president recalled this harrowing experience, he gave credit to God for saving his life. Others spoke about the providence of God or the hand of God’s protection in preserving Trump’s life. The circumstances certainly seemed to go far beyond mere coincidence.
Not everyone was comfortable with such talk. Some people seemed agitated by assertions that God acted on Trump’s behalf. Predictably, they invoked the separation of church and state as support for their criticisms. Their well-worn arguments always seek to silence those who dare to include God in the public dialogue. They imply that God talk is somehow a threat to democracy.
As Baptists, our heritage includes strong support for the separation of church and state. In the formulative stages of our nation, our Baptist forefathers insisted on religious freedom. They believed passionately in the distinctive realms of authority that distinguish religion and government. They worked hard for constitutional guarantees to protect the church from state control and to recognize the legitimate realm of authority granted to the state by God.
But a wise separation of powers does not require a foolish silencing of honest dialogue. Recognizing the legitimate realms of church and state does not force private citizens or government servants to edit their beliefs about the most important subject of all: our Maker and Savior. Separation of church and state should never be used as an excuse to silence the truth.
We live in an age that has been called the ‘cancel culture.’ Some believe that their political opponents should be canceled and excluded from public discourse. Sadly, it seems that a significant number of Americans are having second thoughts about our fundamental liberties: freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
One thing I know for certain: You cannot cancel God. Those who are hostile to God may be able to intimidate people into silence for a while, but God isn’t going away. God-talk isn’t going away. God is big enough to handle our dialogue about him, no matter how difficult the questions may be.
Let’s rejoice when God is in the news. Let’s keep God in the conversation.
May the Lord inspire and enable us to speak the truth with love,
Brother Richard
brotherrichardsblog.com 