A Gideon also stands in North Carolina:
We reported in January that the American Renewal Project hosted 13 North Carolina pastors’ luncheons across the state featuring NC Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, in 2021. Two thousand seven hundred NC pastors and spiritual leaders participated in those luncheons, resulting in 40-50 NC pastors and spiritual leaders running for local office across North Carolina this year, 2022. NC Pastor Neal Jackson is one of them; he was interviewed by Just The News John Solomon last week:
Political advisor Chuck Colson [1931-2012] once said that the Kingdom of God is not going to arrive on Air Force One. Even so, Solomon presupposes activity in the political arena: “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.” [Proverbs 22:29] And: “When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you; and put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.” [Proverbs 23:1-3]
Dr. Bruce K. Waltke observes that dining with a ruler “assumes a close enough social relationship to a ruler to invite [one] to dine with him. [Proverbs] does not concern itself with the reason [for] the meal. The ruler’s dainties [vs. 3] test one’s mettle, not merely feed someone. Proverbs is concerned with moral character, not with gastronomy.”
Oklahoma Senator James Lankford once invited pastors at one of the American Renewal Project events to “name one book in the Old Testament that is not written by, to or about political leaders.” He then offered, “I think there are three in total. I’ll make you figure out the three … Job is one.”
We close with a story told in Ronald Greer’s excellent book If You Know Who You Are, You Will Know What to Do: Living with Integrity. In the dark days of the Nazi invasion of Holland in May 1940, with Gestapo in every direction, Jews vanishing, the Dutch people forced from their homes, starved, and approximately 500,000 Dutchmen between the ages of 18 and 45 transported to Germany and forced to work in German factories4, Dutch Reformed theologian, linguist, and missiologist Hendrik Kraemer [1888-1965] was asked by Dutch Christians, “What should we do?” “I cannot tell you what to do but I can tell you who you are,” Kraemer replied. “If you know who you are, then you will know what to do.”
He then read to those shaken Christians the words first spoken to the early fearful Christians in 1 Peter 2:9: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people claimed by God as his own, to proclaim the triumphs of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The people thanked him, left, and launched the Dutch underground resistance.
Every solution to every social and political crisis is found in God.
Thankfully, Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to enter the public square.
David Lane
American Renewal Project
1. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10666065/Disney-prez-says-mom-transgender-pansexual-children-wants-diverse-characters.html
2. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqPwkzp_36E&t=1s
3. www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10705123/Hillsdale-College-plans-open-charter-schools-fight-against-lessons-gender-race.html
4. www.holland.com/global/tourism/holland-stories/liberation-route/hollands-occupation-during-wwii.htm