Now that we live in a post-Christian age, we are alarmed at what democracy is giving us.  Maybe the problem is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Maybe the problem is us!  We have fed the people milk from the pulpits.  We withheld meat. We failed to preach repentance along with faith.  We failed to preach the whole counsel of God.  We separated religion from law. We substituted entertainment for worship. We lived at ease in Zion. 

It appears that either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is on the way to the White House. Some evangelicals have expressed boldly their contempt for Donald Trump, breaking away from their traditional rule of silence on political matters.   Yet, a large majority of evangelicals are so furious with Washington, D.C. that Trump appears to be the last great hope for America, regardless of his moral character.

However, in a world of sanctions where God is still sovereign, we get what we deserve. We substituted the “god of nature and nature’s god” for the God of the Bible.  We were taught to believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God. We promoted a two-kingdom theology where the law of God is only relevant to the church.  We relegated the arena of politics to the devil. Our faith became a mere personal relationship with God. Then, too, many evangelical Christians are just waiting for the Rapture.

When there was a Christian consensus in America we were quite happy.  Things were going our way.  We owned the public square. We owned the hospitals.  We began the institutions of higher education.  We respected the Sunday Blue Laws. Sadly, we fell asleep while the devil sowed his seed, and we lost.

Now that we live in a post-Christian age, we are alarmed at what democracy is giving us.  Maybe the problem is not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Maybe the problem is us!  We have fed the people milk from the pulpits.  We withheld meat. We failed to preach repentance along with faith.  We failed to preach the whole counsel of God.  We separated religion from law. We substituted entertainment for worship. We lived at ease in Zion.

The so-called “we the people” of modern America are speaking clearly.  It is democracy in action.  Maybe it’s not just politics as usual, but rather it’s really all about religion.  Perhaps it’s God’s judgment upon his church?  The problem is not Donald Trump.  The problem is that the salt has lost it savor.

Larry E. Ball is a Honorably Retired Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee.