Replies, in tidbits

Sorry to have been such a bad poster recently. I've been sick for over a week now, and haven't been much for thinking. Being loopy on cold meds or trying to catch up on the messes, but not thinking. So... just from what's still on the page today, here's the paragraphs of yours I need to respond to, which I'm going to do paragraph by paragraph. I am SURE I am missing some stuff you wanted to go over... so just throw 'em at me.

I also don't think that the verse means that we are not to be critical of Israeli policies. It is like being a friend - sometimes a good friend is the one who has the nerve to tell you what you don't want to hear but need to hear. Israel as an earthly land is as subject to corruption and injustice as any of us. You can be a friend and be critical of Israeli policies and still absolutely want Israel to exist and believe that Israel is a holy people, set apart by God, the gravitational centre of the world, the thing to which all other things turn, whether they know it or not.
I agree you can be a good friend, but I think specifically what we're supposed to do as a "friend" of Israel is to support their claim to the land and holy areas. I don't think it calls on any other nation to be an advisor or conscience to Israel at all, just an ally.

I only mention America as having gone wrong there because the Theses is so geared towards America specifically, and also because Americans, even in politics are so vocal about their faith and there are those who believe that what is right in the Bible should be imposed on the state. Other nations are just as wrong - only I can't think of any but Islamic republics that are as vocal politically on that as Americans.
Politics is politics. They're vocal about whatever they think will get them votes... I don't think they really mean it. Far too many of our politicians use the Bible against innocent Christian voters (or voters who want to think themselves righteous). Hypocrisy? Massive.

What I think is wrong though, and where I do think that America has gone wrong - is in thinking that it is possible to serve both masters - to do what the state requires, and which that old idol of personal freedom requires, even if I personally believe it is wrong.
I believe we are specifically instructed to do what the state requires unless it goes against what our Lord requires, it's part of our legitimate chain of command. 1 Peter 3: 13a Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; So unless our government requires something that goes against God, we are to obey - even the speed limit, which is always hard for us CaliGirls.

That Christians are never part of the state. God does not see separation of church and state. It is something that He allows. But I see no indication that He sees that as a good thing anywhere in the Bible, the live and let live attitude. Since I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God and not of the state, I have no problem praying for the state, and maranatha, Lord Jesus, even so, come quickly.
But I am subject to the state. I *do* see us as citizens of the state, even if that is not our primary citizenship. (See above citation) I find often in the Word that we are spoken of as belonging to one state or another, one church or another. It's just a way of grouping us - but those groupings do imply some level of responsibility in membership.

Why say "Yahweh" when the way common people express it is as "God?" Even the Jews do that, although they might spell G-d. I'm not disputing that Yahweh/Jehovah is used in the Bible but calling him "God" is also not wrong. We're not calling him "George" for instance. But in using "Yahweh" it is as though they want to make a distinction where none exists, hair-splitting. It is as though they are looking to seem educated but they seem as dumb in that unnecessary distinction as those people who think that Muslims worship Mohammad/that "Mohammad" is the name of the Muslim God. Or "Allah." "Allah" means "God" in Arabic. It's not some new and unknown god. It's no different than if I pray in German, mein Gott.
"Yahweh" doesn't do much one way or the other for me, but I believe this is to separate God the Father, a member of the Holy Trinity, from the God of the Muslims or Jehovah's Witnesses etc -those who do not acknowledge the deity of our Lord Jesus. Of course those folks say that they're all the same...

It is very easy to think that the Germans were somehow stupid or flawed in some moral sense - more flawed than the rest of us, but that is not true. That is the real lesson of the second world war and one, I fear, we are doomed to repeat.
Stupid or flawed? No. Poor and hungry and defeated and ready to find something to have pride in, someone to blame, something to fight for? YES. And ... if our Lord doesn't come for us, how dreadfully more dangerous America would be than Germany. I shudder to think how we could be turned. "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it". Do you remember what I said about our school system? Ugh.

I have heard that a lot of churches in the US display the American flag along with the cross in churches. That floors me. Can Baal and Christ share the same space? Any national flag and the cross of Christ are completely at odds with each other.
Really? I don't think of a national flag as much of "Ba'al" but then again, the Christian flag has never done much for me as a symbol. FWIW most of the churches that I have been in display both flags if they display the Christian flag at all. I'm not sure that it's not a part of our flag display law in the US. Would you care to elaborate?

I also therefore totally agree with the 20th Theses, that the kingdom of Heaven needs no violence to defend it. Which, I think the writers of the Theses are tying into the point of the next Theses, which is that the US is not the Kingdom of God. It trusts in its own power, not God's. But it acts and talks like it is behaving on behalf of God.
Oh yes, we talk! Big talk... bleh. I agree that the Kingdom of Heaven needs no man to defend it - but um... the archangels carry swords for SOMETHING, and I don't think it's dusting the ceiling. I figure God, being omnipotent and the creator of the universe, can handle His battles - but if He calls me to fight, fight I will. (I don't see this pre-millenially anyway so I still think we agree in conclusion if not how we get there).