Abraham bargained with God to save Sodom. God agreed that if He could find 10 righteous men in Sodom, Gomorrah and three other cities, God would not destroy these cities. 10 righteous men could not be found and God destroyed those cities. Who will bargain with God to save America today?

Liberty needs a righteous government

In his first inaugural speech, Abraham Lincoln said:

While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short space of four years.

Lincoln’s statement was conditional. People need to retain their virtue and vigilance in order to fend off extreme wickedness, and if they do, no administration can do them great harm.

Robert Houghwout Jackson, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge at the War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg also understood the concept of people holding government accountable. He said:

It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.

Liberty of conscience has always been a hallmark of government here in America. However, liberty of conscience cannot survive in a country where citizens will not self-govern. When this happens, the government has to step in and write laws to govern those who will not govern themselves. This results in government, not God, adjudicating right and wrong and it results in a culture where Daddy Government usurps God’s role and is no longer accountable to its citizens.

Additionally, morality in government can only exist when the righteous stand firm, but when the righteous do not stand they are not righteous at all. They are cowards and they are guilty of a passive form of sedition that subjects our liberties to the whims of elected and unelected officials. It is interesting that in the Book of Revelation that the cowards are the first to be thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 21:8. Note that cowards are those who know right from wrong but do not take a stand. They are worse than those who do not know better.

But what happens when the righteous do stand?

Lot and his daughters flee Sodom. Painting: Paolo Veronese, 1585

Three righteous men in Illinois fought to preserve traditional marriage in the State of Lincoln. They stood for righteousness against what were thought to be great odds in favor of traditional marriage. They stood against the liberal super majority in both houses of the State, liberal Governor Pat Quinn, über liberal Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, and none other than Illinois’ favorite son, Barack Hussein Obama, who personally lobbied the legislature for same-sex marriage. The African American Clergy Coalition, which includes Rev. James Meeks, Bishop Lance David and Bishop Larry Trotter, stood for righteousness and were not dissuaded by the polls or the media hype. You would think that this godly coalition didn’t have a chance against their formidable opponents. You would be wrong. They lobbied, and I’m sure they prayed, and they prevailed against very formidable opponents – to the shock of the entire state and the entire nation. They understood what so many of us know but don’t embrace, that one with God is a super majority. Their tenacity to stand and defend what is right should be a model for the rest of us who are content to shake our heads and yell at the television.

So, how do the righteous stand in a fallen world? The same way they have throughout history. They proclaim what is right – not only to those who will listen but especially to those who do not want to listen. Here in the USA in 2013, the conservative patriot movement has been standing by sharing information. While they have done a good job in educating those who are like-minded, in many areas of the country they have done little to allay our decay into a state of lawlessness – not legal lawlessness but biblical lawlessness that obeys the laws of man but disregards the laws of God. It is unlikely that a republican form of government that relies on representatives doing the “right thing” can survive in such an environment.

In the Great State of Illinois we have a good example of righteous men who stood against the tidal wave of lawlessness and prevailed. They didn’t preach to the choir; they went and knocked on the doors of those who were drinking the liberal’s Kool Aid. These righteous men in Illinois stood by lobbying the legislators of their State and proclaiming what is right. Romans 10:14 expresses how important it is to spread the Word by speaking to those who do know understand or know the Gospel. This is a principle we should consider politically. We expect our leaders to do the right thing. It is the whole premises of a republican form of government. When they don’t seem to know what the right thing is, the burden falls upon us to tell them – as our brethren in Illinois did.

The African American Clergy Coalition in Illinois showed us how to prevail against all odds. They are a good example of what happens when the righteous stand. In short, the black robes occupying the seats of our Supreme Court may try to legislate morality but the black robes of the clergy are the real deal. This country has seen many wars since its inception, but the war between the black robes may be the one that can preserve our freedom and our liberties – but that is only if the righteous will stand.

Reminder: next week I will be starting a study on The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall, Jr. and David Manuel. I will be using the second edition but if you have the first edition, you will still be able to follow along. I will also be encouraging all to participate by leaving comments and I am looking forward to what we can learn from each other.

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