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Is the Separation of Church and State Satan’s Idea?

I encourage you to read this article. In it, Rick Perry claims that the idea of the separation of the church and state is from Satan, and he and others will next week embark on a 40 days to save America campaign, which (as far as I can tell) means “40 days to save America from Obama” campaign.

Seems to me Perry got it exactly wrong. Satan is the one who tried to get Jesus to identify his kingdom with the kingdoms of this world, and even offered to let him run the whole thing. Thankfully, Jesus had the wisdom to refuse the offer (LK 4:5-7). He knew that his kingdom “was not of this world” (Jn 18:36).

There are a few things Perry and his folks get right. For example, we should pray for our country. Just remember to pray for all others as well. And we should want to see faith in Christ spread throughout the land. Just remember that faith in Christ has nothing to do with who is president or with any other political issue.

The kingdom we belong to as followers of Jesus is the alternative to the ugly, venomous, hostile, power-over kingdoms of this world, not a slightly superior version of them. Lets put that kingdom on display by how we live our lives. And a good starting point is by following our Lord’s example and never letting our King and his kingdom get wrapped up in whatever version of the kingdoms of the world we happen to think is best.

Keep his kingdom holy, which means “consecrated” and “set apart”!

And pray for Rick Perry!

Greg

Image by Ian Sane. Sourced via Flickr.

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