This is a rare post where politics and biblical view collide. I try very hard to keep this blog about Christian topics, that can help everyone's walk with Christ, but sometimes, these things intersect with daily living, and this is one of those times.
"My governor's kind of a wimp," I told them, forcing the Arkansas accent I don't actually possess, but have been able to mimmic after living here a while, "but your governor is a tyrant!" I loved the way the word "tyrant" rolled off my tongue with the forced Southern accent.
I was under cover, in a sense. I was visiting my home state of California, after living out of it for some time. Over the last seven years, my husband and I have lived in South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas. We have been in Arkansas over three years, and have no plans of leaving.
We were in California in December of 2021. During that time in Arkansas, Covid restrictions had lessened quite a bit. Masks were not mandated (though many were choosing to wear them). In California, on the other hand, masks had just been re-mandated (though almost no one wore one--even less wore them than in Arkansas, where it was not required!), and some cities even required people to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants or stores (we avoided these cities, because we refuse to discuss our medical decisions and information with anyone besides our doctor). I wondered what my fellow Californians really thought of this. In grocery stores, and other places I went during our time in California, I would strike up friendly conversations with people around me. I told them the true story that I was visiting from Arkansas for the holidays. What I didn't tell them was that I was originally from California myself. I played the part of a shocked Southerner, completely affronted by their governor's requirements. This was the moment of truth. What would Californians tell me?
"I agree!" Would be the most common answer. "I'm a Republican. I didn't vote for him. I helped try to impeach him. He's just too slippery for us."
This is the last I'll say about California's governor. That isn't my point here. The results of my experiment on this trip told me a few things. The people I met in California were not on board with the leftist approaches. They were not complying with mask mandates, and practically everyone told me they disapproved of the governor and had hoped to impeach him. In other words, these people were average, normal Americans who felt their rights were infringed upon, just like people in Arkansas, and most other states I've lived in.
I grew up in California. Being gone so many years, I'm not sure if I still count as a Californian (I am an Arkansas driver, voter and tax payer), but California is where I'm from. My whole life, I was told by youth pastors and other Christian leaders how bad our state was. They would talk longingly about the Bible Belt (which they considered the other 49 states besides California). They told us that in these other states, people didn't cuss or do the middle finger, and people never slept together before marriage, and nobody had to lock their doors, because crime basically didn't exist. Everyone went to church and did the right thing. Nobody even drove above the posted speed limit. People were kind to their neighbors, and had them in for coffee and just passed the time chatting. They made it sound as if the rest of the country lived like Little House on the Prairie. I knew that we lived in a wonderful neighborhood, where we all helped each other and were friends, so I figured that in other states, they must be absolutely amazing. To a lesser degree, these same Christian leaders also put down our country, lamenting that we had strayed so far from our founding father's desires, and from God's. This inadvertently made me think the rest of the world was following God, and our country was the only one with really bad sins in it.
My first major trip outside of California, I was molested by a young man supposedly from the "Bible Belt" and this offense even happened in the Bible Belt (the real Bible Belt, not just what Californians thought was the Bible Belt). My first trip out of the United States was much the same, with being violated and humiliated by a lot of non-Californians and non-Americans I had been led to believe were practically perfect. My Christian leaders who made these statements had failed me and created an illusion about people from other states and countries.
It is easy for Conservative Christians in places like California (or New York or other more liberal states) to lament and long for the Bible Belt. They could look at a state like Arkansas. From the outside, Arkansas appears to be everything California is not. There is a Conservative supermajority politically here. And yet a closer look will reveal that all is not as it seems on the surface. Our Republican Party here is so corrupt. Part of the reason our party has a supermajority is because our state party refuses to limit our elections to only Republican running. A registered Democrat (or Green Party, Libertarian, etc) can run on the Republican ticket, and they often do. Many of our leaders are not true Conservatives, even though we are a Red State. We also have refused to close our primary elections, which means people of other parties can vote in our primaries and elect left-leaning candidates running as Republicans. My husband recently tried to address this with some state senators, and when he politicly asked them why they don't believe in closing our primaries, they cussed him out, without giving a real answer. There is a lot of corruption. It isn't what it looks like from the outside. There is a war going on in our party between these left-leaning Republicans and those of us who call ourselves true Patriots. Walter and I personally have battle scars from some of this (see my post Handling Master Manipulators, July 28, 2022). We are fighting the same battles Conservatives are fighting in California and New York. It goes by different names, but the battle is the same.
Here are some basic truths:
* The states considered to be included in the Bible Belt are pretty much limited to the states included in the Confederacy during the Civil War (see map below).
*According to Pew Research, Oregon has the lowest percentage of professing Christians, but the number is still overwhelmingly high, with 76% of Oregonians professing Christianity.
*Conversely, Oregon leads the country in non-religious residents, but that total only comes to 18% of the state's population.
*While Utah is often considered to be one of the most Christian states, these studies that find this include Mormonism with Christianity. Utah actually has the lowest percentage of Protestant Christians in the nation, with only 13% of Utah residents identifying as Protestants.
*It is very important to note that just because someone identifies as Christian does not mean he or she is a real born-again Child of God according to the Bible. By the Bible's definition, true Christians would be in the minority in all 50 states (while professing Christians are in the majority in all 50).
*Louisiana has the highest sales tax in the country.
* New Jersey has the highest property tax in the nation.
*Alaska has the highest violent crime rate in the nation, followed by New Mexico, Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Michigan (three of those are states I've lived in, and we got our home broken into in South Dakota).
*All 50 states have solid, Bible-believing Christians, churches, and ministry efforts. You would find likeminded people in any one of these states.
*All 50 states have hidden expenses that unfairly gouge residents (here in Arkansas, you have to pay property taxes on your car!).
Here are a few personal observations:
*The only place we've lived where we had our home broken into was South Dakota.
*Our auto insurances was highest in New Mexico than any other state we've lived in.
*Our living expenses were highest in Texas.
*Our taxes are the highest here in Arkansas.
*It is tremendously harder to do ministry in the Bible Belt than in other states. We run into people who believe they are Christians just because they were born in Arkansas, and are totally affronted when confronted with their need of salvation. We also have a much harder time getting churches here to partner with our ministry, because churches are a lot more autonomous here. They have their own programs already, and aren't interested in our ministry. We have even had some get offended with us, thinking we're trying to "steal the show" so to speak. I never ran into this in California or the Midwest doing evangelism.
Here are some spiritual truths:
*Nowhere on earth is perfect, because creation is under the curse brought on by the fall (Romans 8:19-22). It will one day be restored, though (Revelation 21:5).
*Human nature causes all the trouble, and anywhere you find people, you'll find the trouble you're trying to escape (Romans 3:10, 23).
*Sometimes, like Abram in Genesis 12, we are called to leave where we're at to a new place, but other times, we are right where we belong and need to bloom there (First Corinthians 12:18). Like Esther, you may be at the exact place you are For such a time as this (Esther 4:14).
*Rather than complain about evil, we should be winning the lost to Christ, wherever we find ourselves (Acts 1:8).
*Wherever you live (Red State, Blue State, communist regime, godless society, Islamic nation--whatever), if you are a Christian, You are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14).
*Your hope is in Jesus and your forever home in Heaven, not in finding a better place to live on earth (First Peter 1:3-5).
*Jesus has overcome the trials faced in this life (John 16:33).
*Jesus has chosen you out of this world, along with people from every state and nation (John 15:19, Revelation 7:9-10).
*Your real enemies are not the human officials governing where you live. They are the spiritual forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12).
*You live where and when you do by God's Sovereign design (Acts 17:26-27).
Everything I was told and believed about my home state was a lie, and set me up for failure and hurt. Don't believe the untruths being perpetuated that people are genetically superior in the Bible Belt (or anywhere else). There is sin everywhere. There is corruption everywhere. No border can keep it out, because it begins in the human heart, and this has been the case since Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought all of creation down with them.
If you think leaving your home state is the right answer for you, then do it, but don't leave expecting to find Little House on the Prairie in other states. Don't look for your utopia on earth. Follow God's will and leading for you. Recognize you can't take a break from being in the battle between Good and Evil. One thing I will say about less "Christian" areas is that believers often face the choice much sooner, and examine their faith, realizing it is worth believing and suffering for. In Bible Belt places, there is a false sense of security. Some of the finest Christians I have met are from less "Christian" areas.
Go with God. Go in his peace, strength and might. This world (every corner of it) needs what you have to offer! Go take a chance and share Jesus with people who need Him so desperately! You won't be sorry. When you are standing before God one day at the Judgment Seat of Christ, you won't lament that you weren't from the Bible Belt. You'll rejoice if you stood for Jesus, wherever you were.
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