On April 4 of this year, former President Donald Trump was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for his role in paying hush money to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election, the first time in US history a former president has faced criminal charges.

On June 8, he became the first former president charged with federal crimes when he was indicted on thirty-seven felony counts related to “willful retention” of national security information after leaving the White House. Three additional charges were filed in late July.

On August 1, he was indicted for alleged efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 election.

This morning we are learning that he is facing a fourth indictment. A grand jury in Atlanta has charged Mr. Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and other allies with operating a criminal enterprise that attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory in Georgia.

Has our government been weaponized?

CNN reports, “There is a deep and sincere belief among many Republicans that the multiple indictments against Trump are proof of his claims that the US government has been weaponized to persecute him by Democrats who fear his return to the White House.” As evidence, the article adds, “The country has never seen federal prosecutions of a potential major party nominee effectively under the auspices of the administration of his possible general election opponent.”

Mr. Trump’s supporters also point to the now-disproven allegations of collusion in the Russian investigation and the recently collapsed plea deal for the president’s son, Hunter Biden. Many also oppose the naming of David Weiss, the US Attorney for the District of Delaware, as special counsel in the Hunter Biden administration, viewing it as further evidence of political collusion.

I remember when the shoe was on the other foot. After five justices who had been nominated by Republicans to the US Supreme Court stopped the recount in the 2000 presidential election, resulting in victory for George W. Bush, many Democrats complained of political bias in the “stolen” election. Many opponents refused to consider Mr. Bush the US president.

Is America “too far gone”?

The viability of any democracy depends on the degree to which the people trust the processes and institutions by which they are governed.

When sizable parts of the nation become convinced that instruments of government can be weaponized for political purposes, some give up on the process, choosing not to run for office, vote for candidates, or otherwise participate in their democracy. I often hear from people who have stopped watching the news or paying attention to “anything coming out of Washington,” convinced that America’s governance is “too far gone” to be redeemed.

By contrast, some view their political opponents as the enemies of democracy, convinced that they must do whatever it takes to defeat them so as to preserve America for future generations. The ends justify the means in this regard: if the “other side” has weaponized its political and financial resources, we must do the same.

And some are not convinced that things are so bad that we should abandon hope in our democracy or vilify and attack our political opponents. But they concede that the unprecedented indictments of Donald Trump mean that our democracy is on unprecedented political ground with an uncertain future.

There’s a fourth way to view the current state of American democracy, one I invite you to embrace with me today.

“Man becomes his own measure”

Any government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln so eloquently described us, is only as viable as the people. And yet Scripture says of the human race: “They have all fallen away; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:3).

As a result, we should not be surprised when our leaders act like the people who elected them. Whether you believe Mr. Trump is guilty of the crimes with which he is charged or the victim of a political conspiracy, you are accusing either a former US president or some of America’s highest governmental officials of significant moral failings.

The current character of our governance reflects the current character of our nation. Our post-Christian culture has abandoned belief in objective truth and morality, biblical authority, and the relevance of the Christian worldview. Many consider basic, orthodox biblical beliefs to be dangerous to our society.

Christians should not be surprised that we are where we are as a result. Consequently, rather than abandon hope in our democracy, this is time to redouble our efforts as Christians to redeem it.

This means that we pray fervently for a fifth great awakening that would transform our nation morally and spiritually. We pray for our leaders as Scripture commands us (1 Timothy 2:1–2), asking God to help them know and follow his will in serving our nation. We participate in our governance as godly citizens (cf. Romans 13:1–7). And we model the Christian civility we want others to exhibit (cf. Galatians 5:22–23).

Evangelist Myles Munroe was right: “Democracy without God is man’s worship and elevation of himself and his own intelligence or humanism, where man becomes his own measure of morality, judgment, and justice.”

Let’s pray and work for a democracy where God’s word becomes our measure of morality, judgment, and justice. If you believe this is impossible, you’re right in human terms. But remember Jesus’ words: “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26).

It is always too soon to give up on God.

Denison Forum

As I and others have reported, nearly ten thousand babies have been saved in Texas since the state enacted its abortion ban in September 2021. This article on the subject caught my eye, however, when it described those who gave birth as “pregnant individuals” and “birthing people.”

In other news, a lifestyle influencer who makes money by talking with people about their anxieties has created an AI clone. Now, for a dollar a minute, people can chat with her digital double. If they want to talk with her, they will pay more. The article is right: this “move toward self-automation [seems] to perfectly encapsulate an increasingly bizarre present.”

Some scientists are claiming that the world has entered a new epoch called the Anthropocene, a phase in which humans rather than natural phenomena are rapidly transforming our planet. While they are focusing on changes to the natural world from industrialization, globalization, pollution, and other human factors, a similar argument could be made for the moral world.

Longtime pastor Paul Powell wrote these words in the 1970s: “Scientifically we are in graduate school; morally we are in kindergarten.” What would he say of us today?

Is this America’s future?

Ecclesiasticus (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes) is part of the Apocrypha, fifteen books that Catholics include in the Old Testament but Jews and most Protestants do not. While I do not consider the book to be authoritative, I do find it informative.

For example, I was reading recently in Ecclesiasticus 47 and discovered this illuminating (and frightening) discourse regarding Solomon:

A wise son succeeded David, who lived spaciously, thanks to him. Solomon reigned in a time of peace, and God gave him peace all round so that he could raise a house to his name and prepare an everlasting sanctuary.

How wise you were in your youth, brimming over with understanding like a river! Your mind ranged the earth, you filled it with mysterious sayings. Your name reached the distant islands, and you were loved for your peace. Your songs, your proverbs, your sayings and your retorts made you the wonder of the world. In the name of the Lord God, of him who is called the God of Israel, you amassed gold like so much tin, and made silver as common as lead.

[But] you abandoned your body to women, you became the slave of your appetites. You stained your honor, you profaned your stock, so bringing wrath on your children and grief on your posterity.

When I read these words, they instantly struck me as a description of our post-World War II nation.

In defeating Hitler and Japan, the “greatest generation” gave us “peace all around” so that we were “loved for [our] peace” by the world. Our scientists birthed a technological revolution that “made [us] the wonder of the world.” We became the world’s greatest superpower such that we “amassed gold like so much tin, and made silver as common as lead.”

But then came the postmodern revolution of the fifties and sixties that redefined truth as personal, individual, and subjective. It birthed the sexual revolution that continues today and makes us “the slave of [our] appetites.” Its result: “You stained your honor, you profaned your stock, so bringing wrath on your children and grief on your posterity.”

Solomon’s sin and that of his successors led to the division and eventual destruction of the nation. Ecclesiasticus continues: “From then on their sins multiplied so excessively as to drive them out of their country; for they tried out every kind of wickedness, until vengeance overtook them.”

When Solomon presided over the wealthiest and most powerful nation in his part of the world, none of this seemed possible. Someone who warned his people that this could be their future would have been dismissed and even considered dangerous to society.

Will Israel’s story be ours?

“The further from a viper the better”

The Scottish theologian Sinclair Ferguson is right: “We cannot reach our destination if we are traveling in the wrong direction.” But the post-Christian, even anti-Christian trajectory of our culture does not have to be ours. Speaking in a very decadent age, Jesus nonetheless promised us: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).

Commenting on this beatitude, St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–c. 394) observed: “If your thought is kept pure from evil habits, free from passion and weakness, separated from all stain, you are blessed because your vision is sharp and clear. You are able to see what is invisible to those who have not been purified. The eyes of your soul have been cleansed of material filth and through the purity of your heart you have a clear sight of the vision of blessedness.”

What is this “vision of blessedness”? According to Gregory, “It is purity, sanctity, simplicity, and other reflections of the brightness of the divine nature. It is the sight of God.”

How can we attain it? “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16, my emphasis). Choose the first to reject the second.

Charles Spurgeon warned: “When the town is on fire, our house cannot be too far from the flames. When the plague is abroad, a man cannot be too far from its haunts. The further from a viper the better, and the further from worldly conformity the better. To all true believers let the trumpet call be sounded, ‘Come ye out from among them, be ye separate.’”

“Spiritual growth depends on two things”

According to Sinclair Ferguson, “Spiritual growth depends on two things: first a willingness to live according to the word of God; second, a willingness to take whatever consequences emerge as a result.”

Will you grow spiritually today?

Denison Forum