The scene being played out by followers of Hillary Clinton across the country has been a spectacle of fury and despair such that calm, reasoned folks can only shake their heads in wonder. You really can’t make this stuff up.

Rioters have taken to the streets to destroy vehicles and property, set fires, block freeways, burn President-elect Donald Trump in effigy, raise signs calling for Melania Trump to be raped, and in general behaved like thugs having a colossal, violent temper tantrum.

College students have had cry-ins, asked to be excused from classes and tests, been provided with therapy dogs, Play-doh, crayons and coloring books, warm beverages to calm and comfort them in their fear, and in general have behaved like crybabies who should be grounded and made to do menial labor until they can grow up.

But this paean of homage takes the cake:

We don’t have to wait until she dies to act. Hillary Clinton’s name belongs on ships, and airports, and tattoos. She deserves straight-up hagiographies and a sold-out Broadway show called RODHAM … Maybe she is more than a president. Maybe she is an idea, a world-historical heroine, light itself. The presidency is too small for her.

This is probably the single best (and most unbelievable) encapsulation I’ve seen of the idol worship of Hillary Clinton and by extension, the progressive Left. No ordinary mortal, Hillary, but a transcendent figure whose power and mission reaches beyond any political office; a female Messiah who is “light itself.”

You really can’t make this stuff up. (Ms. Heffernan would be wise to recall what happened to the last creature named “Light.”)

It’s all too easy to get swept up in the emotional current, and dance when our chosen hero wins the day, or wail and moan if he or she goes down in defeat.

This irrational, slobbering idol worship illustrates in vivid color what happens when people misplace their deepest desire for the love of God, and pursue instead the gods of their choosing. The result is despair, anger, incoherence and total collapse when those gods fail, as they always will.

Hillary the Great lost the election she was supposed to have been handed as her due, merely because she is Hillary. The mighty Queen failed to ascend to the throne as her loyal servants had been promised she would. The golden calf turned out to be mere metal after all, and people are coming unhinged.

Jesus Christ: The Only Light, the Only Hope

What’s the Christian response to this? Let’s start at the beginning. 

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5

Neither Hillary Clinton, nor Barack Obama, nor Donald Trump, nor any other politician or world leader, celebrity, pastor, Pope, nor any man on earth is “light itself.” That power belongs only to Jesus Christ.

“I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

It is Almighty, Omnipotent God who holds our every breath in His hands. He alone is worthy of our worship.

Woe to us if we make saviors of those fashioned in our image. It’s all too easy to get swept up in the emotional current, and dance when our chosen hero wins the day, or wail and moan if he or she goes down in defeat. As if omnipotent power were held in mortal hands, and the earth turns at our command.

We will always falter when we put our trust in princes. “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.” Psalm 146:3-4

“Some boast of chariots, and some of horses; but we boast of the name of the Lord our God. They will collapse and fall; but we shall rise and stand upright.” Psalm 20:7-8

If we rise as a nation or if we fall; if we know blessing or ruin, it will be for only one reason: we have either returned to the Lord with humble hearts, or we have forsaken Him and worshiped our idols. That is the message our culture needs to hear, whether it’s a welcome message or not.

True Peace is Found in The One True God

This is the Christian response: “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or as his counselor has instructed him? Whom did he consult for his enlightenment, and who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales … All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.” Isaiah 40: 13-15,17

It is Almighty, Omnipotent God who holds our every breath in His hands. He alone is worthy of our worship.

Woe to us if we make saviors of those fashioned in our image.

The Season of Giving’s first gift to us is Advent itself. Advent provides a timely respite from our political noise and discontent. We are dust before the Lord, and all the universe is a speck in His hand, and yet, we are beloved to Him. He wrapped His glory in our human flesh, and then spilled His own blood to pay our ransom. Dust was bought back at an incalculable price.

Take advantage of the silence and expectation of Advent, the hope we are called to dwell on. If we raise our minds for a moment to something— Someone — higher; if we will be quiet for once, then perhaps peace will come to us.