Straining on gnats while swallowing camels!
We are not broad brushing all Americans here. But the state of a union is a macrocosm of its family unit. The family too is a microcosm of state.
There are the obvious evils by individuals and then there are marco-evils by corporates/nations that are often times very subtle and go unnoticed. Because it is assumed that might is right. That is why the Lord has ordained the Communion/Table in order that we introspect at all levels–as an individual, as a family, as a city, as a state, as a nation, and as a humanity–and only then partake of it. We explore more on this in Engineering Divinity.
It is not just a case of corporate evil that America as whole is guilty of, i do blame Americans in general, beginning with some of the big names in the church itself, for being frogs in the well, overly concerned only about their own families, own country, at the expense of the rest of the world–a kind of selfishness expected only of heathen people. America is not an isolated country or some new world; it is the melting-pot of the whole world. This means that all the nations of the world have invested their ALL in it.
The doer, not the hearer is justified. India stands out better than America, having got independence through Christian nonviolence.
We are applying Romans 2:12-16
12 For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; 13 for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus.
Whether you are a Christian or a “Gentile”, the yardstick is the Law, which we all need to surpass in the final analysis (Matt5:20). No doubt, at conversion, you got all your sin debt paid in full; you had the unclean spirit in you exorcised/cleansed. But having swept it and put in order, have you taken the second step of filling your life with love and obedience? Or have you allowed it to be filled by seven more evil spirits, more wicked than the former? It is not how much of the Holy Spirit we have. Rather, how much the Holy Spirit has of us!
I am not here discounting the difference between the wheat and the tares. I do recognize that they both look alike even though there is a big difference. One has had his sin debt (even if it is a trillion dollars) paid in full. The other, none. But as we have explained in Just Punishment: abused mercy/grace deserves treble punishment (Luke12:47-48; Heb10:26-32; James3:1 on teachers, who will incur stricter judgment).
As we have studied elsewhere, Rom3:25 along with 2Pet1:9 and Matt12:43-45 is basis for my case that only sins prior to conversion have been paid for. So there remains not only the sin of commission but also sin of omission (James4:17). The old adage that you can now get drunk and sleep it off, for, you do not sin in your sleep, does not hold water. How many do you know in Church (which is currently dominated by Americans) who DO NOT regard their salvation as a fire-insurance? In other words, how many DO NOT think, once-saved-is-always-saved? When they are singing this sub-conscious lullaby to themselves and others, where will the motivation for love, obedience & fruit come from? Any guilt the Holy Spirit brings to their attention every now and then is hushed. So much so that finally, the Spirit is put out.
Is the Lord’s yoke too much of a burden to bear? Is it an impossible goal to ask those who have derived immortal power, simply by inserting their plug in the socket, to now merely TELL others to do likewise?