Could Oppression Be God's Wonderful Plan for Your Life?

The truth about Jeremiah 29:11 and how we can have hope in persecution and oppression knowing God has a reason for it.

Hey guys, it's Lee. Thanks for stopping by The Not So Political Protestant, a publication dedicated to correcting the course of the American church in regard to politics and its place in the lives of Christians. The Not So Political Protestant is here to call God's people back to sanity and repentance because, as citizens of another world, we should live kingdom first, country second.

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It has become commonplace in today’s Christianity to cherry-pick scriptures that seem to support our wants and desires, claiming them as a promise God is going to give us what we want or think we need, that He is going to make our life easy. Philippians 4:13 turns into “I can be a successful basketball star through Christ”, Philippians 4:19 becomes a promise God will make us rich. Then there is Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” which is often portrayed as a promise God only has a life of ease for his children.

The thing is, Jeremiah 29:11 is not a verse saying God will make our lives easy and comfortable, and it certainly doesn’t mean we will never have difficult times. Quite the opposite, it is a declaration that even persecution and oppression are part of God’s “wonderful plan for your life,” and it may even include seventy years of oppression.

Sorry Mister Osteen.

This letter was written by the prophet Jeremiah during the occupation of the nation of Israel, under the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem by fire, desecrated and burned the Temple, killed thousands, and carried thousands more away in captivity to Babylon. The nation had suffered military violence, famine, and pestilence and was at the lowest point in that generation’s lifetime. The letter which we now know as Jeremiah chapter twenty-nine was written to those exiles, who were filled with, disillusionment, and frustration, and longed for deliverance from the tyranny

Many who live by the political Christian ideology so prevalent in today’s church would expect Jeremiah’s letter to be a prophecy from God calling the nation to arms, to stand and fight against their oppressors and stand up for their rights. Instead, Jeremiah’s letter was a call to submission and acceptance of the oppression because it was God’s plan for their life.

You see, Israel’s military loss and subsequent captivity was not a random act brought about by Nebuchadnezzar’s whims and lust for power. It was God’s plan. He takes credit for it and even says He raised up the nation of Babylon for the purpose of oppressing Israel.

The God Who Raises Up Tyrants

“For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs” (Habakkuk 1:6)

Throughout the Bible, we are shown a God who is in control of everything, even what our finite minds would consider evil, in the lives of His children. While God does not create or perform evil (James 1:13) and all His ways are just (Psalm 18:30) he does, use evil men to carry out his purposes.

We are told in Romans God appoints all governing authorities and in Proverbs “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water, He turns it wherever He wishes.”. By default, this includes the evil rulers as well as the good and means Nebuchadnezzar was simply God’s pawn in this story. So much so, that God calls Him “my servant” (Jeremiah 25:9).

I am about to blow the minds of political Christians who may read this article so get ready. The truth of the matter is the Children of Israel were being defeated by God Himself; a truth God states clearly.

“I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger and fury and great wrath”. (Jeremiah 21:5)

This means the death, destruction, and captivity which occurred, was God’s doing. It is difficult for our finite minds to grasp or accept this and it causes a serious crisis in the minds of those who believe we should stand up and fight for our rights. If God is the one who raised up Babylon for the purpose of decimating the nation of Israel, His chosen nation, then it means even the wickedest tyrants are either allowed to perform their atrocities by God or they are ordained by God for a purpose.

It is inconceivable, and honestly offensive, to the worldly mind of men that Genghis Kahn, Nero, Hitler, and every other tyrant throughout human history were allowed by God to exist and perform the horrors they did. But if this is not true then we are left two alternatives; either He is not an all-powerful God but a weak and powerless God who depends on mere men to overthrow tyrants or He does not care about the suffering of the world.

I am sure some at this point would say, ‘How can God be good if He allows evil?'. After all, in the holocaust millions of Jews, handicapped, and mentally ill individuals lost their lives; how could a good god allow that? I’m not going to lie to you, that is a difficult pill to swallow, and I do not even claim to comprehend it myself, but it is a biblical truth that cannot be ignored simply because it does not fit our idea of what is acceptable.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The Christian life is one of faith, and to have faith you must have things not seen or understood (Hebrews 11:1). We do not serve a god who is like a natural man, but one who is supernatural, and it is impossible for us to grasp his wisdom and ways.

Contrary to what human logic would suggest, the captivity of the exiles was actually God’s protective grace upon the children of Israel, a good thing, not evil. You see, in previous prophecies, God spoke of the impending captivity and said this was going to happen because He was sending them “out of this place for their own good” (Jeremiah 24:5). He even said, “He who goes out and defects to the Chaldeans (Babylonians) who besiege you, he shall live” (Jeremiah 21:9). Do you see that? Surrendering to the oppressor is “for their own good” and those who do will live.

So, what happens to those who fight? Well, they die. The opening phrase of Jeremiah 21:9 says, “He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence”. Those who remained to fight against the oppression would be judged by God and would die. I don’t know about you, but this seems to be in direct opposition to the political Christian doctrine of stand and fight.

As if this was not tough enough to swallow, God also told the exiles to build houses, plant gardens, take wives, have children, and “seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it. For in its peace, you will have peace” (Jeremiah 29:7). Imagine how that had to feel to the Israelites. A brutal nation comes and kills your warriors, tears down the Temple of God, burns your city, and takes thousands of people away in shackles and God tells you to not only surrender but to pray for the peace of that nation.

Despite God telling Jeremiah the nation would be in captivity for seventy years, many prophets rejected Jeremiah’s prophesy, and instead prophesied God was going to deliver the nation and restore peace quickly. As you can imagine, the people loved their message and despised Jeremiah’s. One such prophet was Hananiah who early on in the captivity said God told him 'The yoke of Babylon has been broken”, and prophesied the nation of Israel will be restored in two years (Jeremiah 28:1-10). While the people loved this, God declared him to be a liar and later killed him.

It could be argued the Israelites had an excuse for falling for the lies of the false prophets because the common person had no access to read the scriptures. They had to depend on teachers and prophets to know the Words of God. But Christians today are without excuse because by the blood of men like John Wycliffe, every man, woman, and child has access to the bible. Unfortunately, the majority of American Christians are biblically illiterate.

We live in a day when very few people sit down and study their Bible on their own. According to Pew Research, only 45% of Christians read their Bible at least once a week, and 33% seldom or never read it. Of those who do read it, many only read a devotional for their bible intake. The danger of this is, if a person only gets their biblical knowledge from a preacher, a devotional, or a podcast that tells them what to believe, they are not equipped with the knowledge needed to spot incorrect context or outright heretical teachings. This makes it very easy for heretics and false prophets to mislead millions of professing Christians into believing lies and Satan always has his children working to that end.

With this in mind, I can understand why so many Christians have fallen for the political Christian worldview. After all, they have been fed a constant diet of Christian programming since the early fifties teaching it is a moral obligation for a Christian to be involved in and fight political battles. With little or no biblical knowledge or the ability to understand scripture without being told what it means, they follow what sounds and feels right to their worldly minds. And the idea of a persecution-free life; having the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness sounds godly. After all, as they often point to, Jesus is the ‘Lion of Judah’ and told us “The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force” so we aren’t meant to pacifists and let ourselves be walked over, right?

Wrong.

The way of the Cross is not one of self-preservation but instead we are told we must

• Deny ourselves (Luke 9:23)

• Not return evil for evil (1 Peter 3:9)

• Rejoice in persecution (Matthew 5:10-12)

• Not resist the evil person who does us wrong but instead turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-40)

• Love and pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44)

• Rejoice in suffering (Matthew 5:12).

  No, the way of the cross is not one of fighting for our rights but dying to our selfish desires (Luke 9:23) and sometimes that includes physical death.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” (Matthew 16:24)

Until Christians begin having a passionate hunger for the truth of the Bible which leads them to abandon their idols of self-protection; egotistical beliefs that the Bible revolves around our happiness and comfort and instead devote themselves to learning how to live like Christ, we will continue to have the false gospel of political Christianity.

But God will not suffer our sins forever. Just as God reached the end of His longsuffering with the Children of Israel and sent them into captivity, there will come a day of reckoning, and when that day comes, those who call themselves Christian will be met with a choice; surrender to His will, even if that means a life of oppression and persecution, or be a good American and fight against Him in the name of our rights.

As for me, with His help, I will lay down my rights and accept whatever comes my way because God requires us to live KINGDOM FIRST - COUNTRY SECOND.

Thanks for reading!

Lee Lumley

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this episode of The Not So Political Protestant Podcast. I would love to hear your thoughts whether you agree or disagree. Just keep it civil and know that you will be pressed to give scriptural proofs for your stance so search the scriptures because without those, we have no footing to take a stand.