CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

  
 

 

 

Congressional Issues 2010
SOCIETY
The Politics of Salvation



On November 4, 2008, millions of Americans did not vote for "the President of the United States," that is, the Executive Officer created by Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
Instead, they voted for a Messiah.
This webpage is not about churches and preachers who sell "salvation" when you die.
It's about totalitarian dictators and tyrants who offer you their salvation -- and if you don't accept it, then you must die.

Who is America's Savior?

  • In the Bible, the Hebrew word for "salvation" means "health," "welfare," "victory over enemies," "prosperity," etc.
  • In the Bible, "salvation" usually does not mean "going to heaven when I die."
  • In our day it is the State, not the Church, that promises Biblical "salvation."
  • Instead of "salvation," churches promise escape, a religious narcotic.
  • It is The State that promises Biblical Salvation.
  • But The State uses the methods of violence -- extortion, slavery, confiscation, murder, imprisonment -- to bring salvation.
  • Those who worship the State as their Messiah are willing to initiate force or threaten violence against the innocent in order to obtain salvation for themselves.
  • The age of huge, centralized, messianic mega-states is the age of mega-death.
  • Only when we trust God for salvation will there be "peace on earth, goodwill toward men."
  • In every election our real choice is between the Iron Fist of Government or the Invisible Hand of Divine Providence.

Holistic Salvation

One of the greatest myths of the 20th century is that God intends only to snatch a few individuals from the global dictatorship of "The New World Order," taking them off to heaven while all of culture goes to hell. The modern "gospel" is that I get to go to heaven; ME, ME, ME, the big Numero Uno; I get to go to heaven while the nations around me collapse.

"Salvation" -- that is, "going to heaven when you die" -- is a major theme of the television preachers. There are over 1,000 chapters in the Bible; pick one of those chapters and you're likely to find more verses related to "governments" in that one chapter than there are verses in the entire Bible which expressly reveal what happens when you die. Most of the chapters in the Bible are about evil politicians. There are whole books of the Bible on this subject (1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings), and the Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah, Micah, etc.) are mostly denunciations of evil kings and the judgment they are bringing down on their nation. The opposite of "judgment" in this context is "salvation."

The "war on terror" and the October Bailout both promise what the Bible describes as "salvation": security, safety, and economic well-being.

There are more promises in the Bible about the salvation of entire nations than there is about the salvation of one single selfish individual. God is more concerned than we are about the Salvation of a culture, of an entire society (which is composed of many individuals, the sum of which is in some ways greater than the parts).

Salvation: A Definition

Strong's Dictionary has the following entry for the Hebrew word commonly translated "salvation":

3444. yeshuw'ah, yesh-oo'-aw; fem. pass. part. of H3467; something saved, i.e. (abstr.) deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity:--deliverance, health, help (-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare.

These words are physical and this-worldly. The Biblical word for "salvation" means much more than going to heaven when you die. It has to do with this present world.

The "Welfare State" and the "Warfare State" = a "Salvation State"

• Some pundits and commentators have said we live in a "welfare state."
A major part of government budgets consist of redistribution of wealth to the "needy" to aid them and ensure their welfare. You can see that this is a promise of "salvation" in the Biblical sense.
• Others have said we live in a "warfare state."
A huge part of our budget goes to the military so they can deliver us from our enemies, and give us victory. This too is part of the Biblical meaning of "salvation." "National Security" is part of "salvation."
• Both are correct. We live in a "welfare-warfare state."
And if Hillarycare (Hillary Clinton's proposal for nationalized health care) is passed as "Obamacare," some will say we live in a "healthcare state."
All are true. We don't just live in a "welfare state," or a "warfare state,"
We live in a "Salvation State."
We are under a State that promises everything that God promises in His Covenant. And we believe the promises of the State more than we believe God's promises. We look to the state for salvation in the Biblical sense of the word, relegating God to a completely neo-platonic sense of the word "salvation" (a spirit floating in heaven when I die). We think we're going to heaven after living a truly and comprehensively idolatrous life on earth.

Under the influence of "neo-platonism," modern Christians have reduced "salvation" to a completely other-worldly, non-physical status. All the blessings of Biblical salvation are ignored. This has had two disastrous effects.

  1. Christians are "so heavenly-minded they are of no earthly good."
    • We have industrial park rent-a-churches instead of cathedrals designed to last a millennium.
    • Missionaries "save souls" but do not transform culture. (Today's multiculturalists condemn missionaries of the past for their "colonialism": eliminating cannibalism, suttee, human sacrifice, thuggism, witch-doctor dictatorships and other "indigenous" religious practices.)
    • Our culture slides into the abyss. Sexually-transmitted diseases skyrocket among 13 year-olds. The "Bible belt" has higher rates of divorce than among atheists. Shattered lives, broken hearts, scandalized unbelievers. "Pie in the sky by and by" means hell on earth (compare Matthew 6:10).
  2. Secular Humanists attempt to create salvation through the State.

At the bottom of this page are a few examples of how the Bible speaks of "salvation."

Two Themes: Archism and Secularism

"Archism" Secularism
Jesus said the kings of the Gentiles love to be "archists," but Christ's disciples are to reject this in favor of being servants (Mark 10:42-45). Jesus said we are to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength -- the diametrical opposite of "secular."
The shift from a traditional family-centered society to a politically-centered society is a shift from service to archism. And in our day, the shift is from a society "under God" to a secular society, from a society that publicly and officially acknowledges its duty to God, to a secular society that refuses to acknowledge that duty publicly and officially, refuses to endorse the most fundamental "self-evident truths."

The political society in which we live is based on both archism and secularism.

  • Archism: It teaches us that when our goals are frustrated, and people don't do what we think they should do, we are allowed to "vote" for others to take vengeance against them, or use force and threats of violence to coerce them into doing what we think they should do. "Archism" is the biggest government lie in all of history.
  • Secularism: It also teaches us that God and religion are "private" matters, and God's Commandments should not be brought into any discussion about the "public" policies of the polis, including the basic question of whether our lives should be dominated by archism or by service.

When ancient Israel decided to emulate the pagan nations around them, making the shift from a family-centered society to a political society, God told them that this represented a rejection of God's government and law, and with all such violations, would come the curses of the covenant. The curses specifically detailed by Samuel to the people included taxation to the tune of 10% (1 Samuel 8).

America's Founding Fathers took up arms against a government that taxed only 3-5%. Today government takes fully half of everything we earn. Then when we try to spend the money that wasn't withheld from our paychecks, we find that the wealth that is left to us by all levels of government is then taxed again, as corporations and manufacturers pass on accumulated "anti-business" taxes to consumers.

  • As much as half of the price of gasoline at the pump is made up of taxes by various levels of government.
  • How would you like to purchase a new $23,000 Ford Taurus for only $12,650? That's the price you would pay if the government didn't tax every product you buy at every stage of its production, reports Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).
  • The amount of taxes you pay for every product you buy runs from 30% to 70%.

In other words, the government not only takes half "your" money before you spend it, it takes half again when you exchange "your" money for the goods and services you want.

But the Bible says to pay your taxes, so that's not the complaint of this essay, and joining the "tax protest" movement is not advocated. Taxes are a symptom, as 1 Samuel 8 makes plain. The important point to be made with regard to the fact that government takes 75% of everything we earn, is that the government then uses that money to regulate our lives and transform our culture, turning us from Christ to the principles of archism and secularism. It may be safe to say that 75% of our day is dictated by the government. Where we live, where we work, what we do for a living, what products we consume, and many other questions are determined directly and indirectly by government regulation. Whereas homeschoolers know that only 3-4 hours a day are needed for "schooling," most students in government-run schools have a much larger percentage of their waking hours governed by state schools. After-school hours are not dictated by family businesses, but by government's child-labor laws and minimum wage laws, which keep young men and women unemployed and lacking in entrepreneurial skills and experience. Fear of lawsuits also dictate actions by private citizens who are to one degree or another tied to public institutions. Mention of religion or even permitting the free exercise of religion can be deemed an "unconstitutional" "endorsement" of religion, and invite expensive litigation from the ACLU and other anti-Christian forces.

We can complain about MTV, but how much of our money does MTV take? Could MTV come into existence in a culture that was explicitly Christian and taught the Bible in all its schools? The real influence in our culture is the institution that gets our money. And that influence is of a decidedly secularizing force.

The influence is pervasive. Few people have ever given much thought about how our lives -- and thoughts -- have been shaped by the secular polis. Those who have attempted to change society, to inject an explicitly Christian message into the public square, have run into the obstacles. They've been told by the bureaucrats, "We can't do that. That would be a violation of the separation of church and state." Most people have never tried to make our society more Christian.  Most people have not directly tried to repel the forces of secularism in our society. Most people are completely unaware of who is calling the shots in their lives. Most people walk in line, following the person in front of them. We learn this lesson in the earliest years of government schooling.

We are where we are, who we are, and doing what we do largely because of

  • how the government has organized our society,
  • how we unconsciously go along with their agenda,
  • even how our parents went along with the government's agenda.

The Myth of Salvation

Christian theology has now at most a place in the margins of modern university. Control over research and education became crucial for the state. Many countries have university systems led and  monopolized by the state. Today both science and universities are legitimated by their role in this salvation story. The state theologians are economists and social and natural scientists. They produce the knowledge necessary for our salvation. What they do is thus of national importance.
Science as Salvation: George Lakoff and Steven Pinker as Secular Political Theologians | Arne Rasmusson - Academia.edu

"All this talk about politics is missing the point," some will say. "The REAL point of the Bible is our salvation, and you're distracting us from that central issue."

This concept of "salvation" is a dangerous myth, and is part of our idolatrous thinking.

We don't think self-consciously about what God wants us to do and compare and contrast that with what Caesar demands of us. We have been trained to narrow our field of vision to exclude Biblical choices and promises for the entire planet. We serve the State because we believe the State will provide us with health, comfort, victory over enemies -- in short, everything that is contained in the Biblical word for "salvation."

Jesus said we are to love and serve the Lord with all our being, heart, mind, soul, and strength. When He said we are to "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's," He was not justifying the existence of the secular Salvation-State, but indicting those who did not love and serve the Lord, but worshipped Caesar. The Bible says that being under "tribute" is a curse upon a faithless people (Proverbs 12:24). "Taxation" (tribute) is a curse. The act of taxing is evil. An obedient heart does not blithely accept being under tribute as though the situation were normal. A heart that is faithful will not act as the violent revolutionary to remove a symptom of faithlessness without dealing with the underlying idolatry that offends God, but the faithful heart will seek to discern God's will, motivated in part by the desire to avoid God's curse. The point is not just taxes. The point is that Israel accepted slavery. Slavery was comfortable. Slavery meant their salvation, their health, safety and welfare. They didn't want Jesus rocking the boat. "We have no king but Caesar," they said (John 19:15). They rejected the Messiah in favor of a messianic state.

     When the coin was handed to Jesus, He did not yet answer their question, "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?" Instead, He asked another question: "Whose is this image and superscription?" (Matt. 22:20; Mark 12:16; Luke 20:24). The answer was, of course, "Caesar's." According to Geldenhuys, in his commentary on Luke,

After their acknowledgment that it is Caesar's, the following two facts are vividly brought to light through Jesus' masterly handling of the situation:
(1) Coins with Caesar's image and superscription are in use among the Jews.
(2) The coins are evidently the property of Caesar, otherwise they would not have borne his image and superscription.
From these two facts it thus follows that the Jews had accepted the imperial rule as a practical reality, for it was the generally current view that a ruler's power extended as far as his coins were in use.

     The practical reality was thus made clear. These men used the coins of Tiberius which carried a "bust of Tiberius in Olympian nakedness, adorned with the laurel wreath, the sign of divinity." The inscription read, "Emperor Tiberius August Son of the August God," on the one side, and "Pontifex Maximus" or "High Priest" on the other. The symbols also included the emperor's mother, Julia Augusta (Livia) sitting on the throne of the gods, holding the Olympian sceptre in her right hand, and, in her left, the olive branch to signify that "she was the earthly incarnation of the heavenly Pax." The Coins thus had a religious significance. Israel was in a certain sense serving other gods by being subject to Rome and to Roman currency.

(From R.J. Rushdoony, "The Tribute Money," The Institutes of Biblical Law, The Craig Press, 1973, p. 718-23.)

Rushdoony quotes Prof. Stauffer who pointed out a well-known and oft-repeated imperial decree which stated, "There is no name under heaven by which men may be saved than that of Caesar Augustus." The Empire promised salvation, just as God promises salvation: health, welfare, prosperity, security. All nations had to be a part of the Roman Empire. All their gods were admitted to the Parthenon, because there was "freedom of religion."
But Christians had a different idea. The Apostle Peter said, There is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved than the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). And Christians were arrested, jailed, and martyred, while other religions were approved, licensed, and accredited by the State.

"we speak of civilization as a form of salvation"
Carroll: Steven Pinker’s Cheesecake For The Mind

Most Christians today would rather have salvation from Caesar than risk everything for Jesus. "If I speak out I might lose my job."

We have re-defined "salvation," giving Caesar lordship over everything in this life, and expecting God to let us go to heaven after a life of idolatry.

Samuel warned the people that if they imitated the nations around them, they would be subjected to a 10% tax. If Samuel could view our society, with 50% overt tax-rates, 50% covert tax rates, and voluntary submission without complaint or protest to a vast array of regulations which completely dominate our lives, he would conclude that we worshipped Caesar.

A Biblical Christian must examine himself to see who is truly lord of his life. The first question he should ask as he reads every verse of the Bible should be "Who is the lord of my life?" "Who am I serving?" "Why do I do the things I do?"

For this reason, a Godly Bible study will always have political implications and seek to answer political questions.

Political Saviors

David Chilton writes about the Book of Revelation (c. AD 66):

John addressed the Revelation to the seven important churches in Asia Minor, and from these it received a wide distribution. Asia Minor was significant because the cult of Caesar-worship is dealt with at length in the prophecy—and Asia Minor was a major center of Caesar-worship. "Inscription after inscription testifies to the loyalty of the cities towards the Empire. At Ephesus, at Smyrna, at Pergamum, and indeed throughout the province the Church was confronted by an imperialism which was popular and patriotic, and bore the character of a religion. Nowhere was the Caesar-cult more popular than in Asia" (H.B. Swete, Commentary on Revelation [Kregel, 1977], p. lxxxix).

After Julius Caesar died (29 B.C.), a temple honoring him as divus (god) was built in Ephesus. The Caesars who followed him didn't wait for death to provide such honors, and, beginning with Octavian, they asserted their own divinity, displaying their titles of deity in temples and on coins, particularly in the cities of Asia. Octavian changed his name to Augustus, a title of supreme majesty, dignity and reverence. He was called the Son of God, and as the divine-human mediator between heaven and earth he offered sacrifices to the gods. He was widely proclaimed as the Savior of the world, and the inscriptions on his coins were quite frankly messianic - their message declaring, as Ethelbert Stauffer has written, that "salvation is to be found in none other save Augustus, and there is no other name given to men in which they can be saved" (Christ and the Caesars [Westminster, 1955], p. 88).

This pose was common to all the Caesars. Caesar was God; Caesar was Savior; Caesar was the only Lord. And they claimed not only the titles but the rights of deity as well. They taxed and confiscated property at will, took citizens' wives (and husbands) for their own pleasure, caused food shortages, exercised the power of life and death over their subjects, and generally attempted to rule every aspect of reality throughout the Empire. The philosophy of the Caesars can be summed up in one phrase which was used increasingly as the age progressed: Caesar is Lord!

This was the main issue between Rome and the Christians: Who is Lord? Francis Schaeffer pointed out: "Let us not forget why the Christians were killed. They were not killed because they worshiped Jesus…nobody cared who worshiped whom so long as the worshiper did not disrupt the unity of the state, centered in the formal worship of Caesar. The reason the Christians were killed was because they were rebels…they worshiped Jesus as God and they worshiped the infinite-personal God only. The Caesars would not tolerate this worshiping of the one God only. It was counted as treason" (How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture [Revell, 1976], p. 24).

For Rome, the goal of any true morality and piety was the subordination of all things to the State; the religious, pious man was the one who recognized, at every point in life, the centrality of Rome. R. J. Rushdoony observes that "the framework for the religious and familial acts of piety was Rome itself, the central and most sacred community. Rome strictly controlled all rights of corporation, assembly, religious meetings, clubs, and street gatherings, and it brooked no possible rivalry to its centrality…. The state alone could organize; short of conspiracy, the citizens could not. On this ground alone, the highly organized Christian Church was an offense and an affront to the state, and an illegal organization readily suspected of conspiracy" (The One and the Many: Studies in the Philosophy of Order and Ultimacy [Thoburn Press, 1978], pp. 92f.).

The witness of the apostles and the early Church was nothing less than a declaration of war against the pretensions of the Roman State. John asserted that Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God (John 3:16); that He is, in fact, "the true God and eternal life" (1st John 5:20-21). The Apostle Peter declared, shortly after Pentecost: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). "The conflict of Christianity with Rome was thus political from the Roman perspective, although religious from the Christian perspective. The Christians were never asked to worship Rome's pagan gods; they were merely asked to recognize the religious primacy of the state…. The issue, then, was this: should the emperor's law, state law, govern both the state and the church, or were both state and church, emperor and bishop alike, under God's law? Who represented true and ultimate order, God or Rome, eternity or time? The Roman answer was Rome and time, and hence Christianity constituted a treasonable faith and a menace to political order" (Rushdoony, The One and the Many, p. 93).

The charge brought by the prosecution in one first-century trial of Christians was that "they are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus" (Acts 17:7). This was the fundamental accusation against all the Christians of the Empire. The captain of police pleaded with the aged Bishop Polycarp to renounce this extreme position: "What harm is there in saying Caesar is Lord?" Polycarp refused, and was burned at the stake. Thousands suffered martyrdom on just this issue. For them, Jesus was not "God" in some upper-story, irrelevant sense; He was the only God, complete sovereign in every area. No aspect of reality could be exempt from His demands. Nothing was neutral. The Church confronted Rome with the inflexible claim of Christ's imperial authority: Jesus is the only-begotten Son; Jesus is God; Jesus is King; Jesus is Savior; Jesus is Lord. Here were two Empires, both attempting absolute world domination; and they were implacably at war.

It was necessary for the churches of Asia to recognize this fully, with all its implications. Faith in Jesus Christ requires absolute submission to His Lordship, at every point, with no compromise. The confession of Christ meant conflict with statism, particularly in the provinces where official worship of Caesar was required for the transaction of everyday affairs. Failure to acknowledge the claims of the State would result in economic hardship and ruin, and often imprisonment, torture and death.

Some Christians compromised: "Sure, Jesus is God. I worship Him at church and in private devotions. But I can still keep my job and my union status, even though they require me to give technical homage to pagan deities. It's a mere detail: after all, I still believe in Jesus in my heart…." But Christ's Lordship is universal, and the Bible makes no distinction between heart and conduct. Jesus is Lord of all. To acknowledge Him truly as Lord, we must serve Him everywhere. This is the primary message of the Revelation, and that which the Christians in Asia desperately needed to hear. They lived in the very heart of Satan's throne, the seat of Emperor-worship; John wrote to remind them of their true King, of their position with Him as kings and priests, and of the necessity to persevere in terms of His sovereign Word.


National Socialism as Religion

Let's look at some of the occurrences of the word "salvation" and learn more about the mind of God. For best results, read these verses in their context. (If your favorite commentator has a helpful observation on any of the passages below, please email it to us.)


Genesis 49:18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD! The 1599 Geneva Bible notes, "Seeing the miseries that his posterity would fall into, he bursts out in prayer to God to remedy it." Cultural miseries require a cultural salvation.
Exodus 14:13 And Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

Exodus 15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father's God, and I will exalt Him.

The "Salvation" spoken of was for the nation of Israel, at the expense of Pharaoh and his entire army, who were drowned in the Red Sea. When God gives "salvation" (victory) to His people, He (by definition) gives reprobation ([military and cultural] defeat) to His enemies.
1 Samuel 2:1 And Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. Hannah's song (vv. 1-10) reflects the heart of someone who understands the meaning of "salvation."
1 Samuel 14:45 But the people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great salvation in Israel? Certainly not! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
1 Samuel 14:23 describes the "salvation":
So the LORD saved Israel that day: and the battle passed over unto Bethaven.
2 Samuel 22:51 He is the tower of salvation to His king, And shows mercy to His anointed, To David and his descendants forevermore." This verse is the culmination of the chapter, a long list of God's salvation-acts. The salvation David talks about is social, political, military, and eventually cultural (v.45).
1 Chronicles 16:23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day.
1 Chronicles 16:35 And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.
In the verses before v. 23 the Psalmist (Ps. 96) talks about God giving His people the Promised Land. The giving of the land involved repeated deliverances, which is what today's Department of Defense promises us. The salvation talked about in the Bible is now expected from the State. God has been relegated to the "spiritual" and the afterlife.
2 Chronicles 20:17 'You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you." We worry about "national security" because we do not understand the Biblical doctrine of "salvation."
Job 30:15 Terrors are turned upon me; They pursue my honor as the wind, And my prosperity has passed like a cloud. There is usually a Biblical pretext for heresies; here, the "prosperity gospel." Let us throw out the heresy without throwing away the pretext.
Psalm 3:2 Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God." Selah What kind of "help" was David hoping for? During the American Revolution, strategies for many of the decisive battles were mapped out in churches. Would David find "help" in most churches today?
Psalm 3:8 Salvation belongs to the LORD. Your blessing is upon Your people. Selah Those who do not understand "salvation" also do not understand "blessing."
Psalm 9:14 That I may tell of all Your praise In the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in Your salvation. The entire psalm is about holistic salvation.
Psalm 13:5 But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. Psalm 13:2-4   how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? {3} Consider and hear me, O LORD my God: {4} Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him;
Psalm 14:7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.  
Psalm 18:50 Great deliverance He gives to His king, And shows mercy to His anointed, To David and his descendants forevermore. Salvation is "granted to the king in whose wealth our happiness stands." (Geneva, 1599, at 20:5) When the king is saved, the nation is saved. 
Psalm 20:5 We will rejoice in your salvation, And in the name of our God we will set up our banners! May the LORD fulfill all your petitions. "Banners" are the military ensignia or flags set up by the conquerors.
Psalm 21:1 The king shall have joy in Your strength, O LORD; And in Your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Salvation = victory over enemies
Psalm 21:4-5 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in Your salvation; Honor and majesty You have placed upon him.
Psalm 91:16 With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."
Longevity is also part of God's salvation
Psalm 28:8 The LORD is their strength, And He is the saving refuge of His anointed. "The anointed" is the king.
Psalm 35 {1} Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. {2} Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. {3} Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. {8} Let destruction come upon him unexpectedly, And let his net that he has hidden catch himself; Into that very destruction let him fall. {9} And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; It shall rejoice in His salvation. Very common in the psalms.
Psalm 44:3-5 For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them. {4} You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. {5} Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. More than one victory; more than one salvation.
Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah Salvation comes daily.
Psalm 74:12 For God is my King of old, working salvation {h} in the midst of the earth. {13} Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the {i} dragons in the waters. {14} Thou brakest the heads of {k} leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be {l} meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.
(h) Meaning in the sight of all the world.
(i) That is, Pharaoh's army
(k) Which was a great monster of the sea, or whale, meaning Pharaoh.
(l) His destruction rejoiced them as meat refreshes the body.
Geneva Bible, 1599
Psalm 78:19-22 Yes, they spoke against God: They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? {20} Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, And the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?" {21} Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; So a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also came up against Israel, {22} Because they did not believe in God, And did not trust in His salvation. "Give us this day our daily bread" is a prayer for salvation.
Psalm 98:2-3 The LORD has made known His salvation; His righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations. {3} He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. The interpretive principle of Hebrew "parallelism" instructs us that "salvation" is the same as "righteousness" in verse 2. The concept is "justice," as when an evil, attacking nation goes down in defeat, meeting its just deserts. The "salvation" of Israel was witnessed by all the nations. It was not something seen only after death
Psalm 116:13 I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD. The Psalmist sings a psalm of praise for salvation received, possibly saving his life from sickness or military attack. It is not salvation received after death.
Psalm 118:14-15 The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. {15} The voice of rejoicing and salvation Is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the LORD does valiantly. God's "right hand" is most frequently seen in battle (vv. 10-13). Salvation here is military and political.
Psalm 118:21 I will praise You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. verse 9 is key:  
       
It is better to trust in the LORD
         Than to put confidence in princes.
Psalm 119:123 My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation And Your righteous word. Those who seek salvation seek God's Word.
Psalm 119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes. No one who ignores God's Word truly seeks His salvation.
Psalm 119:166 LORD, I hope for Your salvation, And I do Your commandments. God promises salvation to those who obey Him.
Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, O LORD, And Your law is my delight. God's Law is God's Grace
Psalm 140:7 O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.  
Psalm 149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. The humble are those who surrender to God's Word
Isaiah 12:2-3 Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.'" {3} Therefore with joy you will draw water From the wells of salvation. After predicting judgment, Isaiah predicts the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib.
Isaiah 25:9 And it will be said in that day: "Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."  
Isaiah 26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks.  
Isaiah 26:18 We have been with child, we have been in pain; We have, as it were, brought forth wind; We have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, Nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.  
Isaiah 33:2 O LORD, be gracious to us; We have waited for You. Be their arm every morning, Our salvation also in the time of trouble.  
Isaiah 33:6 Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, And the strength of salvation; The fear of the LORD is His treasure.  
Isaiah 49:6 Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'"  
Isaiah 49:8 Thus says the LORD: "In an acceptable time I have heard You, And in the day of salvation I have helped You; I will preserve You and give You As a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, To cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;  
Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look on the earth beneath. For the heavens will vanish away like smoke, The earth will grow old like a garment, And those who dwell in it will die in like manner; But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not be abolished.  
Isaiah 51:8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment, And the worm will eat them like wool; But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation from generation to generation."  
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"  
Isaiah 52:10 The LORD has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.  
Isaiah 56:1 Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.  
Isaiah 59:11 We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look for justice, but there is none; For salvation, but it is far from us.  
Isaiah 59:17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.  
Isaiah 60:18 Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, And your gates Praise. The government promises salvation. The bigger the government, the more violence in society.
Isaiah 62:1 For Zion's sake I will not hold My peace, And for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, And her salvation as a lamp that burns.  
Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD."  
Habakkuk 3:8 O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers, Was Your anger against the rivers, Was Your wrath against the sea, That You rode on Your horses, Your chariots of salvation?  


next: Campaign Finance, Corruption and the Oath of Office