Introductory Question: How should the Christian view the intentional shattering of law and order?

Connection to Daily Events: Don’t worry; I’m not going to go on a political screed. I only want to ask the above question and take you to Scripture. First, I think it is incumbent upon all to tell the truth. The Christian and non-Christian alike should admit what is obvious—namely, that there is a civil war underway by certain elements on American soil.

Exhibit A: When I read the news this morning on my laptop, America’s flag was being covered in lighter fluid and set on fire in downtown Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Mexican flag was being held high on staffs and run through the streets. One of America’s largest cities where the American flag is desecrated? Regardless of our political affiliation, does anyone deny that this is serious? Some illegals demand the abolition of ICE and at the same time herald Mexico’s flag. If the flags of other nations represent your values, why not live there? Why destroy L.A. and harm law enforcement officers and destroy property in the city to which you have fled? If it’s so horrendous here, why come? Why stay?

My fellow soldiers are deployed to try and restore some semblance of law and order. This is a civil war. When you have (un)civilization that refuses to manage itself; when America’s flag is burned on the streets; when law enforcement officers are under attack; when public and private property are destroyed by thugs; when America’s military has to be activated to quell violent criminals from destroying the very nation to which they’ve come illegally, how should the Christian view this? Below are some initial thoughts from Scripture:

• All of us are fallen; all men are sinners (Rom 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”)
• All cultures have a “God of the system”; if and when cultures abandon the true God, God’s judgment falls (I’ve linked Deuteronomy 12:29-32 below for you.)
• When evil is not punished, ruthless power is the idol, the “God of the system.” (Hosea 4:2-3 reads, “there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. 3 Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and also the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.”
• God calls all men to repent and believe (Acts 17:30 says, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent …”)

Text:
29 “When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30 take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ 31 You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. (Dt 12:29-32, ESV)

Encouragement: Again, this is not a political cheer for any party; there’s more than enough culpability by every political identity. This is meant to go deeper—to the heart of the issue. How should the Christian respond? Prayerfully, winsomely, courageously, and with biblical conviction. Everyone surely knows the bromide about what happens when good men do nothing. Evil triumphs. May we not be a people like that. I hate it when I see my country ripped asunder by violence, by people who ostensibly have no sense of self-discipline or commitment to much of anything but the god of their appetites.

I don’t know what it will take for Christians and non-Christians to admit the reality of man’s depravity, man’s fallen condition. Most folks simply don’t grasp it until it comes to their doorstep. But that may be much closer than you think. There’s wisdom—always—in doing things God’s way. When we fail to address human fallenness properly, a democratic republic can be replaced by a thugocracy. I, for one, do not want that; we are a better people than that, sinfulness notwithstanding.