Why Christians Can't Simply Say 'God Is in Control' and Move on After 2020 Election: Dr. Jeff Myers
On Thursday’s episode of “WJ Live,” Dr. Jeff Myers shared some keen insights as to how Christians should respond to the 2020 presidential election.
Dr. Jeff Myers is the president of Summit Ministries, a Christian leadership training organization designed to educate high school- and college-age Christians about the Christian worldview and equip them with the apologetic tools needed to champion their beliefs.
One point Myers emphasized is that Christians can’t simply say “God is in control” as an excuse for not taking action.
Apathy, in Myers’ view, poses one of the greatest threats to the modern-day church.
“I cannot believe how many people after the election posted things like, ‘Well, I voted and now God is in control.’ It’s bad citizenship and it’s bad theology. And it really bugs me to say that all we have to do is vote is to forget the fact that in a republic, your vote doesn’t get you across the finish line, it gets you to the starting line. I think it’s going to be a real problem among young adults especially,” Myers said on “WJ Live.”
“Sixty-nine percent of young adults in church say they do not believe there is such a thing as truth. Young Christians are five times as likely to to embrace Marxism as older generations. And you can go right down the line.
“It’s pretty troubling to see what apathy has done to the church.”
When it comes to the phrase “God is in control,” Myers takes issue specifically with the use of the word “control,” which he called an “accounting term” that doesn’t accurately describe God’s sovereign nature.
While Myers said “there’s no question God is sovereign,” he also noted that “the word ‘control’ is not one that God applies to himself in scripture.”
“I think it’s probably not a good term for us because control is an accounting term, which means you’ve accounted for every single cent, double-entry accounting. And that’s just not the way God operates.
“He’s given us his image. He’s given us eyes so that we can see, ears so that we can hear,” Myers said, “and hands to do what he would do. And as a Christian, I’m convicted that God is here in the power of the Holy Spirit, but I don’t ever want to forget that ‘control’ is not a good way to describe it.
“So, yes, definitely God is in charge. Part of his in-chargeness has caused him to give us his image so that we can jump in there and get busy.”
Apathy isn’t the only danger to the church, however, he said.
Myers believes another threat to Christianity is the rise of Marxism and postmodernism, two left-wing philosophies that, though they’re in total opposition to the core tenets of Christianity, are actually being adopted by many individuals within the church.
The Summit Ministries president elaborated on how exactly the believes that process occurs.
“I think it happens, first of all, because people in churches are fairly convinced, like everybody else in the culture, that they are the source of their own truth, there are no absolute truths,” Myers said. “So, they see things happening they know are wrong, things that are unjust. And they say, ‘Well, somebody’s got to do something about this,’ but you can’t hold a position that somebody’s got to do something about it because there is no truth to begin with.
“So what do you do? You just let your feelings rule the day.”
“You never get around to asking, what does God say about this?”
Myers comments on the issue were reminiscent of 2 Timothy 4 which discusses a similar distortion of the biblical texts.
“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry,” 2 Timothy 4:3-5 read.
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