WHO OWNS GOD?
Well, the election is finally over and now the “fun” begins. After the crushing defeat (electoral college wise) I have decided to recapture more of my life by watching and reading less punditry and politics if only to avoid the daily stress and anger and ward off any cardiac events. I of course will stay abreast of events, but I cannot afford to invest as much time and nerves as I have in this last year.
Having said that, I am not oblivious to what is going on and what may be happening after the inauguration. Forces long suppressed will now feel enabled, and one such force that I am concerned about which I hope to show you is popping up across the board, is the contest for ownership of God.
I think that believing in God is a good thing, but why do so many believers feel it is their right to own the exclusive rights to God and all the rest of the people must accept their superiority in that relationship? Hence the title of this blog, who owns God?
Since Trump won it is “obvious” to the Christian Right that God is on their side. They have for 8 years continually sought to frame Trump in Biblical terms. The headline in the November 9th New York Times was, “To Trump Believers, Presidency Is a Divine Mandate”.
If additional proof was needed, the failed assassination attempt on Trump was visible proof of how God saved Trump. Trump himself told his followers in his victory speech, “Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason, and that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness”.
Leaders of Conservative American Christianity see this in a Biblical framework. One leader called it a Red Sea moment, when God brought the Jewish slaves to freedom. The presumed speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, has made evangelical Christianity a centerpiece of his political vision.
During the campaign many of Trump’s Christian allies chose to add a Biblical narrative to the campaign by “casting” Kamala Harris in the role of Queen Jezebel, and Trump as King Jehu.
I am willing to bet most readers of this blog are saying. “King Who?”
A quick back story. You all know about King David and his son, King Solomon. They ruled over the Jewish country of Israel. Solomon’s son King Rehoboam took over and exploited the people with harsh demands and taxes. A civil war took place, and the leader of the opposition was Jeroboam. In the end two Jewish countries emerged. One tribe, Judah, led by descendants of King David was called the kingdom of Judea and was centered around Jerusalem and all the rest of the tribes became the kingdom of Israel, with a Temple in Beth-El.
Sometimes the kings were loyal to God, sometimes they brought in Idolatry. Sometimes the two countries were allies, sometimes enemies.
There was a king of Israel named Ahab (no whales in this story). He not only practiced Idolatry, but he married a foreign woman, Jezebel, the daughter of the king of Phoenicia, who arrived with her idols and many pagan priests and brought idolatry to much of the country. She was despised by most of the population and for good reason. That is how the term. “Jezebel” came to mean a horrible temptress. In fact, the literal meaning of her Hebrew name means, An Island of Refuse” though substituting the “S” word for refuse would be a more accurate translation.
A man named Jehu was anointed by the Prophet Elisha to be a king and he pursued Jezebel and eventually had her tossed off the top of a building where the dogs ate her body.
Do you see the resonance of the story? Kamalah is Jezebel and King Jehu is Trump.
Pastor Rob McCoy of Godspeak Calvary Chapel on the eve of the election prayed, “Lord, please do a great and mighty thing we know not of”.
As the Times said, “when the results came in, many of Trump’s followers believe God did.
To be fair this question crosses a lot of different borders, and we Jews are not immune. When President Clinton was leaning heavily on Israel to not expand the settlements and many Orthodox Jews in the United States were in favor of more West Bank settlements, a crisis was developing and suddenly Monica Lewinsky happened. Clinton was so wrapped up in his crisis that the issue of settlements dropped off the screen. Many saw it as Divine intervention. They said she was the modern-day version of Queen Esther. Both Queen Esther and Monica had sexual relations with the head of the country and that allowed each of them to save the Jews.
Now let me update this approach.
This past shabbat I was enjoying my single malt at the kiddush during the haftorah when a MAJOR Trump supporter who believes Trump is the answer to saving Israel, said to me that this was clearly an act of God intervening to save Israel. Thank God the scotch had begun its calming work, and I could walk away.
Again, I ask, “Who Owns God?”
William Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice wrote, “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose”.
The prophet Amos was sent by God to Beth-El to warn that the king would be killed. The Priest Amaziah tells him to bugger off and go back to Judah and make your living prophesizing there. Amos replies, “I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet, I am a cattle breeder and tend a sycamore tree, but God called me to come here to preach so hear the word of God”.
This was during an earlier era when God was much more present in our life, but then the era of prophesy came to an end. God receded from overt involvement in History and man took over trying to follow the lessons that God had left us. We were no longer the infantile children learning how to function in this world. Now we were big boys and girls and had to make decisions and live with the consequences.
How did hubris spread so wide that in our time, Rabbis and fellow kiddush drinkers can see the hand of God?
What seminary trained Pastors to observe regular mundane secular acts like an election and testify with conviction that this was the hand of God?
Spiritual leaders should have humility and never hubris.
As I asked before, and I ask again about so many people,
Who Owns God?
The answer is simple……. God. Now go and lead the moral loving and caring life that God wanted from us. That is the closest in this world that you will ever get to God .
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My next book event is Dec 20th at noon. A book and Bagel program at the Boca Adolph and Rose Levis JCC campus. Please call for a reservation. It is a week before Hannukah and my book makes for a great gift for the readers and gardeners in your life.
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