TTWW-22 Managing the Minneapolis Madness

The Mayhem in Minnesota is not Donald Trump’s fault, but it is something he has to deal with. Immigration is not the issue, and deportation is not the evil. The key to understanding the problems of the city on Interstate-94 is found in Psalm 144. That’s a long leap of 2500 years but it ends up right here where we live.

Psalm 144 is a strange place from which to approach the issue of what’s happening in Minneapolis. The Psalm is the prayer a king like David would make to God for his people, praying for their peace and prosperity, and closing with the words, “Happy are the people with such blessings. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.” Here is the clue to the problems in Minnesota and elsewhere…. the people are not happy because their god is not Yahweh. A mob that invades a church meeting and prevents worshipers from directing their prayers and praise to God is not a gathering of happy people.

The king in Psalm 144 is wise. He knows it is God who has placed him over the people.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon learned that lesson after God caused him to lose his mind and eat grass like the cattle for 7 years. The prophet Daniel told him this would be his fate

“ so the living will know that the Most High is ruler over the kingdom of men. He gives it to anyone He wants and sets the lowliest of men over it.”

In Psalm 144:2, the king says, “(He is) my lovingkindness and my fortress, My stronghold and my deliverer, My shield and He in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.” KJV

In the NIV, we read: “God subdues peoples under me”. Why are there two different translations? 

The word is translated “peoples” in some versions and “my people” in others.  The plural of the Hebrew word for “people” ( ‘am’ - pronounced AHM),  is “ammim”, but without the final “m”, the word is “ammi”: “my people”. Some ancient manuscripts have “ammim” [God subdues peoples under me], and others have “ammi” [God subdues my people under me].

Translators consider the immediate context and how the word is used in other places in the Bible and other literature. The meaning that makes the most sense in normal use is obviously preferred, but it must always be in line with the general teachings of the whole Word of God. In this verse, the major Hebrew manuscript has “ammi” [my people], the option favored by most versions in English and other languages. The plural “ammim” [peoples], found in a few Hebrew manuscripts, was chosen by the NIV and a few other English translations.

I confess I found it strange to read “ammi” [my people] in that verse, “He subdues my people under me.” The Hebrew word for “subdue” has the root meaning “tread in pieces, beat down like metal as an overlay”. That makes the king sound like a despot, a cruel-hearted tyrant. “God subdues my people under me.” Could a copyist of one manuscript have added an “-m” to soften the force of the word? The king would naturally praise God for subduing the enemy peoples around him, a true statement that makes sense, so there is no issue here about the translation being doctrinally questionable or not, but there is an important point to make in this regard.

We don’t know that a copyist edited the word to sound better, but it’s never up to us to make God make sense to us. Our first task is to take God at His Word, and if it doesn’t make sense to us, we must trust Him to reveal it to us in His time. The final words of the final book of the Bible include this warning: “If anyone adds to the words of this book, God will add to him the plagues that are written in the prophecy of this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this prophetic book, God will take away his share of the tree of life and the holy city, written in this book.” Rev. 22:18-19

This would seem to apply specifically to the book of Revelation, but the lesson is a general warning against corrupting the Word God has spoken. That, after all, was the original ploy of Satan in tempting Eve in the Garden, Genesis 3:1-4,

“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’? ”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said,

‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”

“No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman.” 

Satan told a blatant lie, intentionally misquoting God. Eve herself, still in her innocence, added to what God had actually said, and in her own reasoning concluded that “not eating” included “not touching.”

We see every day how Satan’s promise turned out, “you will never die”. Read the news, drive by a cemetery. And Eve was the first, but she was certainly not the last of us mortals to reinterpret God’s words to mean what we want to hear. Even when we know what God said, we prefer to think we know what He really meant.

The overwhelming evidence is that David said, “God subdues my people under me.” Does that sound too harsh? Too tyrannical? Does the thought “God subdues peoples under the king’s rule” sound more palatable than saying God subdued the king’s own people under his rule. The relationship between God and civil authority explains a lot about the state of affairs in our nation at the moment, and it opens a window into what we can expect in the last days.

1. God commands submission to authority.

This obligation begins in the cradle at home and extends throughout all civil society. Ephesians 5 and 6 lay out the divine chain of command: children are to obey their parents, wives are to be subject to their husbands, husbands are to be subject to Christ. Young people are to show respect to those who are older, or even their peers.

In the same way, you younger men, be subject to the elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. 1 Peter 5.5

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls...  Hebrews 13.17

This principle is for civil society, as well. Ephesians 6 applies the order to the workplace, and Romans 13 extends it to the governing authorities: “Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God.”

Humility and submission to authority is an overarching principle God expects at every level.

2. We only submit to authority enabled by God’s grace

God’s command to be humble goes against our human nature, but He provides the grace to live as He tells us.

“For everything that belongs to the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's lifestyle--is not from the Father, but is from the world.” 1 John 2.16

…be filled by the Spirit, submitting (being subject to, subdued under) to one another in the fear of Christ.

The sign of a life in tune with God is seen by

“the fruit of the Spirit (which is) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

Who is wise and has understanding among you? He should show his works by good conduct with wisdom’s gentleness. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t brag and deny the truth. Such wisdom does not come from above but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where envy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every kind of evil. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who cultivate peace. James 3:13-18

Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them.” Not only in Minneapolis, but in homes, schools, churches, and government, wherever demonic seed is sown, the harvest is disorder and confusion. When God is absent from people’s lives, the result is pride and lawlessness.

3. Lawlessness is against the very nature of God, and He hates it.

“anomos” is the Greek word used in the NT and it means “without law, lawless”.  Sometimes it is translated “iniquity”. Disobedience to God’s command to submit to authority is iniquity, the fruit is lawlessness.

Hebrews 1:9 says about Jesus, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;…”

The assembly of God’s people is marked by the absence of confusion and conflict: “God is not a God of disorder but of peace,” 1 Corinthians 14.33.

Idolatry and true worship are as incompatible as light and darkness….

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? 2 Corinthians 6.14

Lawlessness is abhorrent to a redeemed soul because… “(Jesus) gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness”  Titus 2.14  You will not find one true child of God participating in such mayhem, in Minnesota or anywhere else.

4. Lawlessness is the epitome of sin

Jesus said that before He returns, “Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.” Matthew 24.12

Lawlessness. The shouting of profanity and obscene behavior is more prevalent, more open than ever. It comes not only from the rabble in the streets, but from elected officials and public personalities. Such people are traitors and irreconcilable. They are truce-breakers and untrustworthy. In their pride, they refuse to negotiate.

They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful. Romans 1:29-31

Paul says that the times will come when

“people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…” 2 Timothy 3:2-4

How fitting it is that the epitome of evil, the Antichrist, Satan himself incarnate if that were possible, is called the man of lawlessness.

For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship,  so that he sits in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God.(3-4)  

The invasion of the church service in Minneapolis was a sample of the Prince of Lawlessness demanding the attention of worshipers. We are shocked it happened in our country, but it is happening all around the world.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, (7) and then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of His mouth (8) The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with all kinds of false miracles, signs, and wonders (9) They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth in order to be saved(10) 2 Thessalonians 2.

The evidence of scripture is clear: the basic nature of man is to be rebellious and proud, untamed, opposed to authority, and the events in Minneapolis are only the latest expression of that. In Psalm 144, the king acknowledges that his power over his people is due to God’s rule in their hearts.

God has put Trump over our nation, and He has put us under that authority. In recent history, that authority was vested in equally fallible men named Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Biden. We didn’t agree with all they did, but we respected the office they held by God’s will and purpose. We only disobey authorities that force us to act in direct disobedience to God. The demonstrators in the news today openly deny any notion of God; their disruption of a church meeting is a manifestation of their godless disregard for fellow citizens who believe in a divine power. “Civil disobedience” disagrees with the authorities, but it respects authority;  “lawlessness” has no respect for authorities or authority itself. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3.18

How then does one rule over a people who are unruly, those who refuse to be ruled? Psalm 2.9 describes the Son of God breaking the rebellious nations with a rod of iron, words repeated in Revelation 19:15 describing Jesus’s rule on earth. A rod of iron is the only option for governing a lawless people.

What about pastoring a church? Advice I got from an older pastor

We were still in the early years of our work on Madeira Island, and since I was a foreigner (and the church was just getting started), the experienced pastor of one of the few local evangelical churches gave me advice on how to pastor a congregation of Madeiran believers. He was from mainland Portugal, and his denomination had sent him on a two-year “tour of duty” to care for their small flock on the island.

His advice: “The only way to pastor a church here in Madeira is with a rod of iron.” In the 7 or 8 years I had been in Madeira, I became aware of the bad feelings that existed between the islanders and the mainland Portuguese. 40 years under the fascist regime of the dictator Salazar in Lisbon left their mark on Madeirans. The dictatorship was overthrown in April 1974, but even 10 years later the wounds were still fresh, and prejudice existed on both sides of the ocean. To me, his advice was evidence of a strained relationship between him and his local flock. Because we are Americans, Madeirans accepted us more readily than they accepted Portuguese from the mainland.

I told that pastor I would never resort to a rod of iron, and I never did.  For one thing, there is no place for a rod of iron among God’s people. Why? Because  a Spirit-filled group of believers is led by the voice of the Good Shepherd and sheep are not driven with a rod of iron like cattle. The rod of iron is for the lawless, and resorting to a rod-of-iron leadership in a church is a sign that the pastor or the flock, possibly both, are not submitted to the Chief Shepherd. The absence of lawlessness is found where God’s grace is bestowed in people’s hearts by the Spirit of Christ. 19.12 

What about our nation?

At the risk of sounding negative, I hold out no hope for our country. No hope, but Christ, of course. Many people believe we are living in the last days, and if we are, lawlessness will multiply. We are drawing closer to the ultimate manifestation of lawlessness – the Man of Sin…the Antichrist. The only bright side to that is the knowledge that the Antichrist must be revealed first, before the Prince of Peace returns to rule the nations for 1000 years with a rod of iron. Why must Jesus rule with a rod of iron? Because, mankind will continue to harbor its lawless attitude towards God. Even after 1000 years of peace and perfect justice under Jesus’s rule when Satan is bound, upon his release, he will find a world of mankind ready to rebel against the rule of Christ.

You may have heard the story about the mother who became so frustrated at her daughter’s repeated refusal to behave that she forcefully sat the girl down in a chair and ordered her to stay there. After a few minutes the little girl was heard to say, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside.”

The solution for lawlessness is not to make more laws, but to create new hearts. Governments can make new laws, but they can’t make new hearts. Prophetically, I see no hope for our country or our world.

The madness we see in Minneapolis will continue to grow and spread, but there is hope on the individual level. It will take more than a cursory, passing acquaintance with God and His Word. We will need a determined purpose to honor God and follow Him, come what may, grounded on an unshakeable trust in His Word.

One day every knee, including yours, will bow before Jesus. Beware lest you be like the little girl, “I may be kneeling on the outside, but I’m still standing on the inside.”