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Thankful for America.

10/21/2022

As we get ready to begin the month of November, and approach that uniquely American holiday, Thanksgiving, I would like to share a few words about being thankful for America.

As we have eyes to see, we can see God's natural and spiritual graces bestowed upon America, in our history as well as now. These have come from God, and reflect back on His goodness. We don't deserve His gifts, but He has given them out of His generous heart. I give thanks for all of these. God has greatly blessed America.

There are people who burn with hatred for America, and they cite our country's many sins. Sometimes the accusations are one-sided, such as criticizing police violence but excusing abortion, or vice-versa. We know America's sins, measured against the Bible's commandments. But no country is irredeemably wicked. The Bible predicts that Egypt and Assyria will continue into the kingdom of Christ, after He returns. Isaiah 19:16-25. Instead of destroying Egypt and Assyria for their many sins, the gracious Lord will preserve and reform those two nations. In a similar sense, the Lord knows there is a "good America" that He can perfect.

God gave us an exceptional Constitution. It isn't faultless, because it was written by imperfect men who knew they were imperfect. But it is exceptional and wise, born out of the lessons of the classical past, the suffering of their time at the hand of King George, and good plain reasoning.

Some enthusiastically but unwisely call it "inspired by God." They probably mean that God's prayed-for providence was involved in its writing, which I believe was true. But it was not inspired like the Bible. The Bible is uniquely God's Word. Nevertheless, our Constitution lays out an exceptionally wise system of governance.

Knowledgeable Christians recognize that the Jews are still God's chosen people. God loves the Jewish people, and will keep His promises to them (read Romans 11:28-29). We also recognize that the Christian Church is His spiritual nation (read 1st Peter 2:9) and His Spirit-indwelt bride (Revelation 22:17). We recognize the unique, blessed status that Israel and the Church hold in God's eyes. By these truths we know that America hasn't replaced Israel in God's plan, which is a false doctrine taught by certain cults.

We ought to be thankful to God for America, because we know that everything truly good about America came down from God. As Paul said to the Corinthians in 1st Corinthians 4:7, what do we have that we were not given? Thankfulness to God for America reminds us to give the glory to God.

As Solomon once said, it is good to hold onto one thing without letting go of the other (Ecclesiastes 7:18). Good Christians recognize the sins of America, now and in the past. We also recognize the God-given virtues of America, now and in the past. We appreciate our country; we don't burn with hatred toward her, as some do. We also have a sober outlook on our country; we don't minimize America's great need for repentance and salvation through Christ. As Solomon said, we hold onto both sides of the truth.

The patriotic hymn America, America is a call to God. It asks God to shed His free grace on us, and bring about the brotherhood we don't have. It recognizes that we have flaws that only God can mend, that we lack self-control, and that our liberty needs to be law-abiding. America's gold definitely needs refining. So, we thank God for the grace He has shed, ask Him for more, and ask Him to mend us!

How Should Christians Regard Government?

8/5/2022

Government is a necessary good.

It's unscriptural to call government a necessary evil. God is the Author of government itself, so how can we hate government? That would be like hating marriage. God Himself is the greatest of Kings. He sits on His heavenly throne, and His government rules over the affairs of men. He is served by innumerable angels, who are organized in governmental rank under archangels like Michael and Gabriel. God created Adam and Eve to govern the world, and He proclaimed that arrangement good.

Government is embedded into the nature of mankind's relationship to the earth. So, in no way is government a necessary evil. According to Scripture, it is a necessary good.

But government is polluted by sin.

The Bible also says that the human race is polluted by sin. Every part of each one of us is polluted by sin -- mind, will, emotions, and bodies. The only human being untouched by the pollution of sin was Jesus of Nazareth, God's Son. This universal pollution by sin means that everything touched by human beings becomes tainted as well.

This is what ruins government. Our godless, prayerless foolishness causes us to create evil or foolish policies. Our greed causes us to take bribes, and use unfair weights and measures. Our bias causes us to pervert the course of justice in the courts. Our nationalistic rage causes us to declare war when war is not Biblically justified.

The problem is not government. Human beings are the problem. This is why the Gospel should produce a more just government.

The attitude of a Christian toward government ought to be respect and obedience, under normal circumstances.

The Holy Spirit commands us to obey the government, because God is the creator of government and He stands behind it (Romans 13:1, 6). Good, bad, or indifferent, the reason government authorities are in the positions they occupy is because God by His hand of providence put them there. Even the ones God dislikes morally are there because God put them there administratively.

God, not Satan, is in ultimate control of government. Even a depraved creature like Caesar Nero was king of Rome because God put him there.

Rebellion against the government is rebellion against God, and God will punish the rebellious Christian for it (Romans 13:2). This includes paying our taxes (Romans 13:6). Jesus said to pay Caesar his taxes, and so by giving that order Christ validated the legitimacy of non-Christian government (Mark 12:17). A chronic spirit of rebelliousness against government is a mark of worldliness and carnality; God is against it.

Christians don't rebel against government. We obey God, and that could bring us into conflict with the government.

There are times when government demands too much, or it demands evil things, and as a result we are forced into civil disobedience.

The Babylonian government tried to force Daniel into disobeying the Lord's food rules, and he resolved in his heart not to sin. But God enabled him to find a peaceful compromise. Later, the same government tried to force everyone to worship an idol of Nebuchadnezzar. Shadrach, Meschach, and Abed-Nego refused, and were thrown into the fiery furnace. That was godly civil disobedience, and God approved of their action. But they didn't set out to disobey. Unlike some Christians today, they weren't thirsty for defiance, and they didn't curse the king. Their higher obedience to God forced them into an unavoidable collision-course with their government.

The Jewish Sanhedrin forbade the apostles from preaching the Gospel. The apostles refused, not because they were itching for a fight, but because they loved Christ, feared God, and were committed to obeying Him.

The reason the American forefathers fought Great Britain was because King George was committing war-crimes against the colonies. It wasn't merely a matter of taxation without representation. George tried to kill the people of Boston, including non-combatants, the women, and the children, by blockading it. George gave his soldiers a blank check to commit any atrocity they wanted, by promising legal immunity from any crime they committed against a colonist in pursuit of their orders.

Paul's words in Romans 13 describe our normal responsibility to a normal government that is doing business in a relatively normal way. We help defuse official persecution against Christianity by being law-abiding citizens. However, God set limits on government. He says to show honor to whom honor is due (13:7); but not everyone is due any honor, or not the particular honor they demand.

A government that begins wantonly robbing the helpless and murdering the innocent must be stopped, by force if necessary, the same way we would stop a band of pirates marauding through our streets. But Christian citizens would take that step if it can be proved the government, or an entity of the government, is in fact really doing that, and after the normal, peaceful means of dissuasion have failed.

Christ came in peace, and yet at the same time He told His followers to own weapons, presumably for self-protection (Luke 22:35-38). It is Gods will that we respect government. We should not listen to war-mongers, and not be war-mongers ourselves.