September 22, 2008 by Stacy McDonald
The Apotheosis of Washington
In case you don’t already receive Kingdom Notes from the Highland Study Center, I encourage you to sign up now (instructions at the end). Here is a really good article by R.C. Sproul Jr. from their most recent newsletter…
The Apotheosis of Washington
By R.C. Sproul Jr.
Rhetoric is a funny thing. We can fall off one of two sides of the horse. We can let our language get away from us, as passion trumps precision and words become weapons rather than tools. Or, we can lull ourselves to sleep with safe, sensible language that covers wickedness with politeness. Of course, when our rhetoric gets away from us and we are warned, we think we’re being encouraged to cover wickedness. When, on the other hand, we are challenged for being overly polite, we think we’re being pushed to be boorish.
If I’m honest I would have to confess that I am more often accused of being over the top rhetorically speaking. I call homosexuals sodomites, rather than gays. I call public schools government schools when I’m feeling gracious, Houses of Molech when I’m being more open. What drives the push for politeness may well be not the Chicken Little Syndrome, but the Ostrich Little Syndrome. Here the Ostrich, having been pummeled a few times on the head by pieces of falling sky sticks her head in the sand and repeats over and over, “It’s not that bad.” To let her know the sky is actually falling is considered poor form. To each his own, and all that.
This month, Tabletalk magazine features a column by my father about the dangers of statism. Therein he recounts a conversation he had while sharing a cab with Francis Schaeffer. My father asked Dr. Schaeffer what was the greatest danger we face in our future. Without a moment’s hesitation he replied, “Statism.”
Too often statism is used as a scare word. When we don’t like this program or that, this tax rate or that, the shrill cry goes out that we have succumbed to statism, wherein the term is used a rough equivalent for government tyranny. Rightly understood, however, the word is far more broad. High tax rates and intrusive regulation are but symptoms of a far more damning problem. They take our money, and they tell us what to do not because they are for big government, but because they think they are God. Worse still, they think they are God, because we keep telling them they are God.
We tell them they are God when we demand that they rebuild every city that God destroys. We tell them they are God when we demand that they keep the housing market strong, banks secure, gas prices low and the stock market bullish. We tell them they are God when we tell them to change the very laws of nature, allowing mothers and doctors to murder babies. We tell them they are God when we demand that they eradicate evil in the middle east. We tell them they are God when we demand that they find a cure for cancer, for AIDS, for poverty.
Though I mourn for those who bow before such a pathetic god, I do not want to outlaw the worship of the state. Fools such as we were will always find a stupid god to bow to. No, my concern is this. When they come to believe that they are God, then they begin to believe that my guns are theirs. They come to believe that my land is theirs. They come to believe that my life is theirs. They come to believe that my money is theirs. All of which I’m willing to give them. The real trouble is this; they come to believe that my children are theirs.
Switzerland is fast on its way to joining Germany in outlawing home education. According to Rudolf Schmidheiny of the Swiss Parents Forum, the Swiss state now believes that education is the exclusive province of the state. Germany ’s law is rather older, dating back to, not coincidentally, 1933. In both cases Christian parents are seeking liberty of conscience. In both cases Christian parents are trying to render unto God the things that are God’s. Remember, our children bear His image, not Caesar’s.
Our fathers in the faith went to their deaths by the thousands. The crucified bodies of the saints lined the Appian Way for mile after mile. They went not because they opposed Rome ’s empire building wars. They went not because they were unhappy with the tax and spend policies of the Caesars. They went because they refused to worship Caesar, the embodiment of the Roman state.
The inside of the rotunda of the Capitol building has painted George Washington being welcomed to the pantheon of the gods. The painting is titled The Apotheosis of Washington. In the rest of the building, and in the White House and the Supreme Court we are witnessing the apotheosis of Washington D.C. If we refuse to bend our knees, they may in the end come for us and take our lives. If we are willing to bend our knees, all they will take in the end is our children. Pray for the saints in Germany and in Switzerland . Then pray for the saints in these United States , that we would be found faithful.
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5 Responses to “The Apotheosis of Washington”
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Thank you so much for sharing this. I already see myself growing numb to the distant situation in Germany, often deleting the emails before even reading them. I daresay I won’t do that the next time.
Thank you for this powerful reminder to be on the alert, ever vigilant. Reminds me of the quote that I love on the outside of the National Archives, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
The powerful quote I carry with me from your post is, “If we are willing to bend our knees, all they will take in the end is our children.”
That’s all, eh? Better keep standing . . .
Thank you!
~Erin
R.C. has spoken some wise words about government. However, I grow tired of people intimating that what has happened in country “_______” (insert any name) could happen in our own countries soon. Some people seem to have almost a persecution complex, where they’re looking for persecution that is not happening. What has happened in country x would be a result of a whole lot of social, religious, and political factors in country x. Those factors would need to be either replicated or there would need to be a new set of clear factors if the same things was to happen in country y or z or a. I don’t think the USA is in any immediate danger – in fact, haven’t things improved greatly in the past 20 years?
My husband receives the Kingdom Notes and I read them, too.
All I really wanted to say tonight was that I think the new look of your blog is quite lovely!
Erin – “Better keep standing.” Amen!
Sherrin – God has blessed the U.S. with unique freedoms that are not shared in most countries of the world. We need to be careful of getting an invinsibility complex – beleiving that persecution will never come our way. “That only happens in places far away.” All we need to do is look at the world in history outside of our 200 year box of American time. God has indeed been merciful and gracious to our country, but we mustn’t presume upon Him. When we reject God’s ways, we reject His blessing – and, as a country, we inherit the consequences.
Cheryl – Thank you! My daughters did it for me!
Stacy, thank you for sharing “The Apotheosis of Washington” on your blog. I am wondering if there is permission to publish it?(Meaning, is it legal for me to print and share with those around me? Or is it copyrighted?)
I have some friends I would love to share this with who do not have a computer, and hence, why my inquiry as to the legality of printing it out for them.
This was such a great reminder to me. Amidst our “busy lives” as wives and mothers- I can see how easily I have slipped into complacency on so many issues, losing the bold witness I ought to have for His Kingdom! I have been challenged to stand up tall again, and to bend my knees only in petitions to the Lord for this nation of ours, and for the faithfulness of the saints within these United States.
Thank you again, for sharing this on your blog.