Blog-reply-47-pp (TO READ IN BOOK FORMAT, OR TO PRINT THIS ARTICLE)
The following is a list of comments made by the author that have been sent to and have been posted on various blog sites. A few are ready to be sent as soon as that particular topic would come around again in the future.
These comments have been presented as examples which the American Christian could use either to inform the general public, or else to defend biblical teaching and its correct practice. Notice that these comments intentionally have avoided the taking of any political stand! They have addressed the introduction of any immoral or unbiblical position.
– More and more people are waking up . . . . . . 2
– When our country is faced with lawlessness . . . . . 2
– After citizens would have been endangered . . . . . 3
– After a tragedy would get nation-wide attention . . . . 4
– After a natural disaster . . . . . . . . 4
– A response to bad news in the headlines . . . . . 5
– What could we do to win? . . . . . . . 6
– After a Muslim attack on civilians . . . . . . 6
– “There are Cultural Differences between Islam and Western Civilization.” 9
– “Why does God not stop bad people?” . . . . . . 10
– God is in a punishing mode . . . . . . . 11
– Who could resist God? . . . . . . . . 12
– Unbelief is America’s greatest problem . . . . . 12
– What could our nation do to control our troubles? . . . . 13
– “How could God ever control events which would involve men?” 15
– The restoration of our constitutional republic could only be done morally 15
– “Separate religion from civil liberty!” . . . . . . 17
– Would America still be a Christian nation? . . . . . 18
– “What about all of the corruption in government?” . . . . 19
– “The elites in society are acting lawlessly.” . . . . . 21
– “The electorate is ignorant.” . . . . . . . 22
– The turning of a political matter into a moral issue . . . . 23
– Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty . . . . 25
– “Protestants interpret biblical passages differently.” . . . 26
– “The government is taking away our rights unconstitutionally.” . 27
– Obeying a governmental order regarding firearms . . . . 28
– Jesus says: “Sell your cloak for a sword” . . . . . 31
– America is bitterly divided . . . . . . . 32
– “America could not vote its way out of this current mess.” . . 33
– The future American Civil War . . . . . . 34
– “Christian nations fought against each other in the Civil War.” . . 35
– Would we need to name God and his Son in our Constitution? . 37
– Reoccurring themes in articles that complain of how bad things are 38
– The man of lawlessness is not a political phenomenon . . . 39
– The pope is the Antichrist . . . . . . . 40
– Muslim head coverings are not the same as those in 1st Corinthians 11 . 42
– “Why criticize homosexuals?” . . . . . . . 43
– The Abuse of the 1st and 2nd Amendments of the Bill of Rights . . 46
* * *
More and more people are waking up.
Gentlemen:
More and more people, who have been suffering more and more recently, are waking up finally more and more because of their pain, and are searching for solutions on how to stop this pain. Years ago, when they were not in severe pain, they did not protest those who were bringing on more pain step by step.
Why was this pain brought on in the first place? Because of selfishness.
How could this selfishness be decreased? By decreasing the number of selfish citizens.
How? By changing their hearts.
What would have the power to suppress and to control selfishness in the human heart? Only God’s gospel promise.
When our land used to be a Christian nation, it was far less selfish. We were “a moral and religious people,” as John Adams described it, showing the divine transformation which God’s mighty gospel had worked in us before taking us to heaven.
Would you like a return to those peaceful days? It could be done. It is called “mission work.” It is called “re-Christianizing” this nation by preaching the old, authentic, neglected gospel from sea to shining sea after calling for an admission of guilt and remorse over sins.
Address it! Work for it!
With kind regards,
Gene Urtel – The Rivertown Press
When our country is faced with lawlessness.
How could you get people to stop being criminal or lawless? For example, if you would have a muddy stream, how could you get it to be clear? For instance, would you just dip out its muddy water along the banks, or would you go to its muddy source, and clean it there? Likewise, in order to change muddy people, you will have to go to the source and change their muddy minds. How, especially when they are adamant not to change? This is something which only God has the power to do. Furthermore, he promises that he will do it through his powerful, life-transforming gospel announcement of deliverance from the guilt and from the Judgment Day punishment of our sins, if only we would believe that Christ on his bloody cross removed this guilt and punishment for the entire human race. See this! Believe this, and become transformed yourself!
The Bible assures that “God works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). “If anyone would be in Christ he will be a new creation” (2nd Corinthians 5:17).
The core problem is spiritual. At the close of the Second World War General MacArthur noted: “Military alliance, balances of power, League of Nations, all in turn, failed…. The problem basically is theological.” Some years before this, after the previous First World War Woodrow Wilson admitted, “Our civilization cannot survive materially unless it be redeemed spiritually. It can be saved only by becoming permeated with the spirit of Christ and being made free and happy by the practices which spring out [sic] the spirit. Only thus can discontent be driven out and all the shadows lifted from the road ahead.” Correct the spiritual first then the rest will be corrected!
After citizens would have been endangered or harmed by others; how to understand the world affairs in our time.
This is what any country is like after its society has thrown out God and his soul-saving gospel. When ours was a Christian nation and many citizens were transformed by God to believe in his gospel pledge, and to love their neighbors, even influencing the non-believers to do the same, outrageous crimes were rare and done simply by an incorrigible, tiny minority. Yet what recently happened is to be expected in whatever society rejects biblical repentance and saving faith in Christ, but which enthrones sin instead: Government, employers, merchants, schools, and neighbors will prey upon you and your children. Ever-increasing costs for everything will be far higher than they would need to be in a peaceful society. Peace and prosperity will be gone.
Nevertheless, if society would be asked, “Would you desire to turn to biblical repentance and gospel belief to end your misery; to bring down both God’s earthly peace and prosperity and his soul-peace and prosperity?” The answer could and should be a resounding “Yes!” So far America has answered with a resounding “No!”
Just the same, what could and should be done? Repent of your sins, and believe the gospel of sin-cleansing in Christ’s blood! Urge your neighbors to do the same! Urge your pastors to quit preaching a social gospel that strokes people’s egos, sidesteps sin, and drags us down into hell!
After a tragedy would get nation-wide attention.
After something like this has occurred, it only would be natural for Americans to ask Gideon’s question, “If the Lord would be with us, why then has all of this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13.)
Think about this for a moment! What should be the answer?
It would be that the Lord is no longer with us, but against us. Indeed, the Almighty himself replies, “You have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will deliver you no longer. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen! Let them deliver you in your time of distress!” (Judges 10:13-14.) To be sure, God not only will leave society to its own self-inflicted misery, but he himself actively will punish it (“I will punish”, Isaiah 13:11) as well, using all means at his disposal: natural disasters, viruses, recessions, even bad governments, bad police, bad immigrants, and bad neighbors: characteristically using lawless people to punish other lawless people, threatening, “The entire world is guilty before God” (Romans 3:19). “Unless you would repent, all of you likewise will perish” (Luke 13:3).
Thus realize that it is no minor matter to reject God’s core requirements of society! In other words, by not repenting of its sins, and by ignoring his gospel, society, in spirit, has spit in God’s face, stabbed him in the back, and defied him to bring on Judgment Day.
Would you think that God will sit still for this? “All nations that forget God will be turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17).
After a natural disaster.
God was behind the recent devastation. Since he is the ruler of the universe, nothing could happen on its own. He informs us, “I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all of these things” (Isaiah 45:7).
Why did God do it?
He gives us two reasons for creating calamity. First of all, he did it as a punishment on those who did not believe his gospel of salvation from sin (Isaiah 13:11; Mark 16:16). Secondly, he did it as a disciplining for the spiritual betterment of those involved who did believe his gospel pledge (Romans 8:28). Even if a gospel believer would have died as a result of this calamity, and gone to heaven, God would have counted it as a death by which that person “would glorify God” (John 21:19).
Why did the Almighty single out these people for this calamity? He does not tells us. For example, after Jesus was approached over a similar case (Luke 13:1-5) he simply gave his interviewers the deserved warning, “Unless you would repent, all of you likewise will perish” (Luke 13:3); for “the entire world is guilty before God. No man is righteous before him” (Romans 3:19).
So what would be the smart thing to do? It would be to put yourself under God’s protection? How? Repent and believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.) Then rely on his protection pledges!
A response to any bad news in the headlines.
There is a good side to this bad news, and it is that more and more people, who have been suffering more and more lately, finally are waking up, and are searching for solutions on how to stop this pain. This result actually is good.
Back in the 1970’s and even earlier, there were some citizens, mostly voters of political third parties, that did sound the alarm about creeping socialism. Yet the media, in response with a ruthless malice, absolutely demonized these citizens, calling them paranoid right-wing extremists, who “thought there was a communist under every bed.” As a result, the rest of the country, which still lived a daily routine without too much pain and oppression, with a pitying smile likened these citizens to a Chicken Little which claimed that the sky was falling.
This previous phenomenon lately has been termed: “While good men slept, evil marched on.” No; rather it could and should be stated more precisely of previous years: “In the past Americans willfully ignored clear cut warnings from fellow citizens in tandem with the obvious public evidence because they would not be wrenched from their worldliness by anything.” Now that severe pain is here, more and more citizens finally are waking up.
Just the same, a political awakening by itself will not be enough, for awakened people will be tempted merely to solve the symptom, and not look beyond it to the actual root cause. For example, people with a headache merely will take a powerful pain reliever for relief rather than address the root cause which relentlessly is triggering the headache. Thus “shooting the messenger” will not solve a problem, though this is, in fact, what some people today are set upon doing, not looking beyond the messenger, or symptom, to the core problem. Hence some believe that by “shooting the government” we will solve our current state of political problems.
Rather what would? Excellent question!
Ask any old person: “What was America like many years ago. Was it oppressive?” His answer will be, “No,” and he could give you a multitude of examples of peace and prosperity.
So what has happened since then? What has caused the change?
That brings us to the root of the whole matter: It is a spiritual problem, not a political matter. That is to say, when America still was living in a golden age of Christianity years ago, many citizens were transformed by God’s powerful gospel words into living a moral and a loving life on this earth (until they were brought to heaven), bringing justice, safety, and happiness to their communities, as God crowned this country with peace and prosperity despite its many weaknesses, faults, and failings.
Yet, as it so often happens in prosperity, people pridefully and thanklessly forget about God. As a result, they ignored the use of his mighty, transforming, gospel words, become untransformed, and reverted to being a lawless and an ungodly people again. Moreover, “as the people are, so will the government be.” That is, consequently, the government, being staffed from the pool of citizens, became lawless and ungodly, as well. Should this be surprising?
What you are seeing now in this country today, in an ever-increasing intensity, is what it would be like to live in a gospel-less, heathen society. What do you think of this? Which society would you prefer? It is either/or.
Would you like to revert back to the way things used to be? It could be done. Since this is a spiritual problem, not a political or a military one, spiritual steps must be taken.
What would they be? They will be quite simple. They will be what God has pointed out plainly in his Bible, namely: (1) To be sorry for your violations of Heaven’s holy laws, and then (2) to seek pardon for them in Heaven’s holy gospel pledge of sin-cleansing in the blood of Jesus Christ. For instance, the Ninevehites did this and, as a result, spared their land from intended destruction (see Jonah chapter 3). You could do it, too. You have God’s pledge (see 2nd Chronicles 7:14).
This is the point of the whole matter. So do this!
“What could we do to win?’
This is simple: Get on God’s side?
How? Do what God wants you to do.
What is it? Admit and regret that you have broken every moral law that God has given you to obey, and then go to him as an unworthy, guilty sinner, and trust his promised pardon (see Mark 1:15)!
After that, whatever may happen during his punishment of our gospel-rejecting nation, he will keep his biblical promises to you of his protection and care. However, the most important thing is that you must remain with him now and forever. Do so!
After a Muslim terrorist attack on civilians.
Was not this an appalling act?
So what is the lesson to be learned from this?
It is simple. This is how angry God currently is at Western Civilization.
Why? There is only one biblical reason ever for his anger: Western Civilization has rejected God and his gracious gospel promise of salvation for the whole ruined race of mankind.
As a result the Almighty is not waiting for Judgment Day, he is beginning to punish right now. In fact, he is using one group of despicable thugs to punish another group of despicable thugs.
Would you ever resent being called a despicable thug? Read the truth about how wicked and despicable your heart is by nature according to the description given by Jesus, your God! (Mark 7:21-23.) If you still would want to deny it, your argument is with God, not with me. Call him the liar, if you would dare!
For instance, once on this earth the Lord Jesus cursed the tri-cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. (See Matthew 11:20-24.) This means that he promised to destroy them. In time he did. Whom did the Almighty send to destroy them? Look it up in secular history! It was the Muslims. That is right. God sent the Muslims.
Again, six hundred years after Christ 40,000 Christian congregations once spread across North Africa. After they became what today Western Civilization and its worldly churches have become, what happened to them? They too were destroyed. Whom did God send to do it? Look it up! God sent the Muslims.
Will people wake up to this fact, and make use of God’s solution? The verdict of past history is “No,” the vast majority will not.
Nevertheless, be different!
* * *
In the first six centuries after Christ, his church spread over North Africa with remarkable rapidity. Forty thousand congregations once flourished there; millions were brought to the saving knowledge of their Redeemer; many Christian schools and charitable institutions were established; mighty religious leaders arose to proclaim the power of the Christian faith. In North Africa, it seemed, the kingdom of God had a secure stronghold. Yet as often happens, prosperity made the churches lazy, worldly, and disobedient to God’s Word. After the rise of a golden age of Christianity there, they fell away from the gospel faith. Then suddenly the Mohammedan conquest spread over North Africa. The crescent of the moon supplanted the cross of Christ; the Koran took the place of the Bible; the towers of the mosques rose over the Christian churches. Today, throughout certain North African areas, where faith once flourished, no followers of the Savior survive, no divine Deliverer is worshiped, and no hymns are sung to our Lord.
At the time of Christ three flourishing cities with a population of a million people: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, also had no time for Jesus nor for his gospel faith, like the current response in America and in western Europe today. The majority of its citizens likewise were too busy getting on with their lives to give any serious thought to repentance and gospel faith. As a result, God cursed these cities (Matthew 11:20-24). This meant that not only would the citizens be punished on Judgment Day, but also already in this life the inhabitants and their property would be destroyed. How was it done? Some six hundred years later, the Son of God sent the Muslims to level these cities.
Later, after Asia Minor, Greece, and the Balkans fell away from believing the gospel of Jesus Christ into mere formalism and worldliness, they, too, were punished by the invasion of an Islamic army. Still later, at the time of Martin Luther, an Islamic army had surrounded Vienna, and was threatening to overrun Europe.
You are never going to understand why the Muslims are successful again today until you accept the biblical truth that almighty God, who is in control of all human events, once again is blessing the Muslims with success because the Almighty is in a punishing mode against the United States, Western Europe, etc., over spiritual matters, not political matters; namely, for their nonchalant rejection of his soul-saving gospel promise. He is using the Muslims once again as his punishing tool during the New Testament times as he has threatened to do in his Bible.
Thus the rise of Islam and its punitive role in the history of the Christian church until the end of time should come as no surprise. It could and should be expected. That is to say, in reaction to the falls from gospel faith which the Christian nations would take from time to time in the New Testament times, after periods of spiritual golden ages, God prophesied in Revelation 9:14-19 about his curse called Islam, which he specifically would raise up in New Testament times, which he would send as a punishment upon those church members who had fallen away from the true gospel faith. By telling us about this, the Almighty is putting us on notice. To be sure, as long as it would remain faithful, the Almighty never would send a curse upon his church. Only after it would backslide treacherously into unfaithfulness will the Almighty carry out his threat: “The nation and kingdom that will not serve” God “shall perish” (Isaiah 60:12). In order to describe the fierce intent and the results of Islam in its punitive role, Scripture used picturesque language in Revelation to describe it. That is, in the Revelation passage the plan of the Lord Jesus is to picture one thing that is familiar to the reader, in order to get him to understand a future matter.
* * *
Gentlemen, in order to make any sense of the current Muslim problem, keep in mind the following:
Gentlemen, correct this matter in the biblical manner! Revolve to do it!
“There are cultural differences between Islam and Western Civilization.”
Briefly put: Western values would be superior morally to those of Islam because of any biblical morality that still will be remaining in them. It was the introduction of Christianity into Europe by missionaries that brought biblical morality into their everyday lives. Before this time, the Celts with their Druid superstitions, the Germanic tribes with their heathen worship, even the Romans and Grecians, were disgusting morally. To be sure, according to Revelation 9:13-19 Islam is in a category all by itself with its trait of viciousness. Yet without the elements of biblical morality introduced by Christian missionaries into Western Europe, when the powerful gospel words transformed these heathen into people headed for heaven, Western values not only would be useless and repugnant, but they actually would attack good morals.
For example, the Greek Plato, the study of whom is considered primary in a college course on Western Civilization, taught that like the animals, men should share their wives. Likewise the Greek Socrates, held up to our college-aged youth as an exalted thinker, preferred to talk with the town prostitute rather than his own wife. The description of ancient Roman society in the writings of Ovid and Horace is appalling. The Roman Seneca declared, “All things are full of vices and crimes. Innocence is not rare. It no longer exists.”
Yet I would invite you to look more recently to our own age. Look at pop music, for instance! In the 1960’s popular musical groups were singing the praises of prostitutes to our young people, glorifying promiscuous sex, exalting the use of hallucinating drugs to the sound of catchy tunes, and even extolling Satanism in the 1970’s, not to mention the gutter filth that has been hailed on the American screen as well as in English literature.
Thus, if there would be anything virtuous remaining in our own culture, it will be those remnants of biblical ethics and morality that are still being held by whatever degree by however few citizens for whatever reason which have not yet been driven out by the immorality which is being dinned into our ears and paraded ceaselessly before our eyes by the incessant merchandizers of decadent pop culture who recognize that the easiest way to separate us from our money is to appeal to the lust of our sinful flesh.
“Why are bad people successful at being bad? Why does God not stop them?”
First of all, we are not aware of, as God is, of all the cases worldwide in which bad people have been punished for their evil. Usually we hear of those outrageous cases in which bad people have been successful in causing evil.
Why would God allow this? Remember: If God were to wipe off the face of this earth at midnight everyone who ever had acted as a tyrant toward God or man: How many of us still would be alive at 1:00 a.m.? Thus the Almighty is giving them and us an opportunity to come to repentance and to faith (Mark 1:15).
Secondly, God is using bad people to punish other bad people; this punishment being reserved not exclusively for criminal cases, but definitely for all criminal spiritual activity; that is, for dethroning God in their hearts, and for rejecting his heaven-opening, gospel promise.
In this regard some people have made two mistakes. First of all, they have presumed that the punishment of bad people has to be done by someone on a white horse. Yet God routinely uses thieves to punish other thieves, or, to be more precise, he will use your enemies to punish you. Secondly, some people presume that since they themselves have not broken any civil laws, that they are immune from Heaven’s punishment. However, they do not consider the great religious crimes against their holy Maker and Savior which they have been committing willfully and stubbornly all along, namely, a vehement rejection of the repenting of their sins and of believing his gospel (Luke 24:47). Nevertheless, God will punish all those who refuse to repent and to believe, and will use bad people to do it. Therefore, it would not be the kind of sin that causes God to punish someone, but simply that person’s unbelief in the gospel of salvation, because the entire world’s guilt and subsequent punishment already have been removed and transferred to Christ’s person, who has paid for it all. All that would be needed for escape from God’s anger and entrance into heaven with him, is to believe his pledge that Christ has done this. Simple, is it not! Do so!
Furthermore, while the Lord has revealed in his Bible his commands and promises to us, still our thoughts will not always be his thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9), since his judgments are unsearchable by us (Romans 11:33). In other words, the Lord has plans, methods, and judgments that are hidden, so to speak, from our comprehension. Just the same, he pledges that he will get the job done of bringing people to repentance and faith and then into heaven, and of punishing those who would refuse to repent and to believe.
Currently, God is in a punishing mode against America, and against the rest of the unbelieving world as well.
God is punishing gospel-rejecting citizens by using his agent, the government, to take away their powers (liberties) one by one, especially the ones dearest to them, in order to make their punishment be felt all the more keenly, and to shut down their lawlessness. Thus it could and should be kept in mind that God may override any or every effort by citizens, whether Christian or not, to preserve their constitutional liberties, in order that his punishment on godless Americans may extend even to his revocation of every right enumerated by the Bill of Rights.
To be sure, the moral and the religious citizens will have to suffer under this also. The only control for this tyranny would be a genuine conversion of the populace through repentance and through saving faith in the gospel (Mark 1:15), after which the believers will discipline themselves morally, motivated and powered by God’s powerful gospel pledge to do so.
In addition, patriot Americans ignore the obvious fact that God is in a punishing mode today; that resistance to God will be futile. He will keep his threat to scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and to put down the mighty by using one tyrannical group: the government, to punish the other tyrannical group: the citizens. Neither does the thought ever enter their minds that they must put themselves on the Lord’s side, and then, patiently await the Lord’s providence, and bear willingly whatever event he might send in the meantime.
I do not know how much stronger I could point to this obvious fact: God is in a punishing mode. Moreover, he will not quit until there is no one left to punish. Realize this! Understand this! Accept this! Affirm it! Adjust your thinking according to it! Flex your future plans malleably around it, and determine your subsequent actions accordingly! It would be foolish to proceed with any man-made plans, and wishfully think that your plans will succeed. They will not. God is in a plans-dashing, might-smashing mode toward anything which would attempt to interfere with his punishment. Will you not see this? It is time to pray Ezra’s and Daniel’s prayers (Ezra 9:6-10, 13-15; Daniel 9:4-19).
“In light of the above, it could be asked, then, ‘What should we do, then, if we could not resist God’? That is, would it be senseless for a genuine Christian to rally with or to lobby with others for the restoration of his constitutional rights, for instance? What good would it do?”
The biblical answer will be: Do your duty, and trust in God’s providence! As with sickness, floods, fires, and other adversities for which the Almighty is responsible, he does not want you to succumb to them in helplessness, declaring, “Who could resist God?” but to do your duty according to his clear, biblical will, and to overcome these God-sent afflictions with the means which he has provided, which you have at hand, if it would be his will to bless your efforts with success.
“Sin is America’s greatest problem.”
To be more precise, it is not sin, but unbelief that is America’s great problem; that is, an unbelief in God’s gracious, soul-saving gospel – the only thing that will rescue the sinner from the Judgment Day to come, and from an eternity of punishment at the righteous hands of an insulted, betrayed, and rejected Creator by his creatures. Indeed, the Lord already has declared that he will be patient with mankind’s sins as long as men would repent of them (Jeremiah 3:12-13) and believe in his gospel pledge that Jesus’ saving blood has covered us with sin-removing pardon.
So then, what is going on currently in America? This country has joined just now the long list of nations throughout history that have gone through this terrible cycle: a rise and fall of a gospel, golden age. In other words, God will bring his merciful gospel pledge to a land, move the inhabitants to believe it, and also bless them materially with civil peace and prosperity. Yet, usually during the third generation, citizens will begin to detest the gospel, and reject it. Thus this is where we are now: this country has “fallen away” from the gospel. It has “backslid” and become “unfaithful,” as the Word of God puts it. Oh, yes, there still are some churches in it with a sense of spirituality about them, but not the kind which the Bible clearly outlines for genuine repentance and saving faith.
How has this gospel-rejection played out in this country? Just read about all of the dire news on this blog site alone! Do you really like living in all of this misery? Yet this is what life commonly is like in a typical heathen, gospel-void society.
Hence in the throes of all of this misery, America desperately could and should be asking Gideon’s question: “If the Lord would be with us, then why has all of this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13.) The answer is simple: The Lord is not with us. Since we have rejected him, he has rejected us. Namely, the Almighty, who is in control of men and of their events, as Gideon implied (1st Corinthians 12:6; Psalm 127:1; Amos 3:6; Isaiah 10:15), is punishing us as an irate father by sending us bad government, bad police, bad citizens, bad justice, bad economics, bad weather, for example, just as he biblically has threatened he would do, in order to get us to return to his good graces by repenting of our sins, and by believing his gospel promise.
Nevertheless, what more would it take? How long will America hold out?
Remember, “the Lord is a man of war” (Exodus 15:3)! His guiding policy is: “All nations that forget God shall be turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17). His last resort, after seeing that his previous minor punishments have not changed any minds, is to bring on a most severe, devastating war of punishment on a country.
Thus there will be, indeed, a military war on America’s soil in the future, one about which everyone could and should be divinely certain; not a nuclear blast in which everyone is annihilated quickly without any pain, but a typical one of divine punishment: a back and forth devastation that would go on for years, causing as much suffering as possible. Hence the underlying basis of this war will be not one of the white hats against the black hats, but once again of a furious God against his ungrateful, gospel-detesting creatures.
See this! Repent, and believe the gospel! (Mark 1:15.)
Pray Abraham’s prayer! (Genesis 18:23-32.)
Pray Daniel’s prayer! (Daniel 9:3-27.)
Pray Ezra’s prayer! (Ezra 9:6-10; 13-15.)
“What would we need to do as a nation to control our troubles?”
A commentator on this blog site has mentioned that “The first thing which we should do, as a people (truly a ‘nation’), is repent and serve the Lord of Hosts again.”
This is heartening to read. This is commendable of him to mention this.
To be sure, God himself in his holy Scriptures divinely assures us that it is of utmost importance to repent of our sins, and to believe in his gracious, soul-saving gospel promise in order to rescue the sinner from Judgment Day and from an eternity of punishment at the righteous hands of an insulted, betrayed, and rejected Creator by his creatures. See the Bible: Acts 17:30; Mark 1:15; Isaiah 55:7!
Indeed, our failure to be sorry for our sins and our rejection of God’s gospel pledge have been the core problem of all of our other troubles. That is to say, America, Western Europe, and the rest of the world must realize that the current social and political crises are only outward symptoms of a much greater spiritual problem: a failure to repent and to believe the gospel. Correct the spiritual first, then the political will be corrected! This is the only way that our political and civil problems will be corrected.
That is, in order to clean a muddy stream, it will do no good to dip out its water along the banks. You would have to go to its foul source and clean it there: just so with people.
In order to transform people to behave themselves while on this earth in preparation for heaven, people will have to be pointed to what the Bible assures them on repentance and gospel-faith so that they may come under the influence of God’s mighty power in his words to turn their hearts to behave righteously and unselfishly. This is called “mission work.”
For example, years ago, before America had fallen from its golden age of Christianity – away from repentance and gospel faith, in the year 1947, the community of Bremen, Kansas, had not witnessed a single arrest nor one court action in thirty years. Why? The community was made up almost entirely of Lutherans who believed in the gospel promise of Jesus Christ. In fact, their Christian day schools made public schools unnecessary. Just think how safe that community must have been! Think also of how low their taxes and their insurance rates must have been! In the same year Frankenmuth, Michigan, had never had a crime of violence in the 102 years of its existence. During the previous twenty-five years its jail had been entirely empty. Throughout the Great Depression in the 1930’s not one person was on the public relief rolls. What would be the cause of this remarkable record? Frankenmuth was 95 per cent Lutheran. Thus transform the people first, then the political and the civil will be corrected!
How has this gospel-rejection played out in this country and in Europe? You easily could see for yourself: all of this self-inflicted misery. This is what the thinking and also the behavior is like in a typical heathen, gospel-void society.
This only will sadden and grieve the Creator. For your sake he urges, “Seek first the kingdom of God and of his righteousness, and all these things [earthly well-being] will be added to you!” (Matthew 6:33.) Indeed, following up on this, he promises, “If my people who are called by my name would humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then, I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2nd Chronicles 7:14).
“How could God ever control events which would involve men?”
Some men, in theory at least, may acknowledge the existence of an almighty God, but in practice they will ignore this. To them, if God would exist, it would be merely to stand by and to watch. He would be impotent to affect the outcome. Yet if God would have the wonderful power in heaven to know and to hear about what is going on down on earth, without Wifi, satellite dish, etc., would he not have power to do other wonderful things as well?
The Bible emphatically contradicts this idea of helplessness and teaches that God is not impotent. “God works all” (1st Corinthians 12:6), that is, he is in control of all events (1st Chronicles 16:31; Isaiah 45:6-7; Colossians 1:17), not men. “Shall the axe boast itself against him who chops with it, or shall the saw magnify itself against him who saws with it?” (Isaiah 10:15.) “Unless the Lord would build the house, they who will build it will labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1). “If there would be calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6.) For example, governmental rulers will be tools in his hands (Proverbs 21:1; 2nd Chronicles 36:22; Isaiah 10:12-15). God will punish nations by defeating them through war (Psalm 136:15; Psalm 46:6-10; Exodus 15:3), for instance, by disabling their strongest military defenses, by making their great economic wealth worthless, by compelling their military alliances to become useless, and by paralyzing their intelligent decision-making, which will cause the bravest of their soldiers to lose courage (Obadiah 3-9). Indeed, the reason for bringing down the terrible scourge of war upon any country will be for its unbelief in God’s saving gospel. The synonymous expressions “not serving God” (Isaiah 60:12), “forgetting God” (Psalm 9:17), “not doing the Father’s will” (Matthew 7:21), “practicing lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23), and the “evil” of the world and the “iniquity” of the wicked (Isaiah 13:11) all refer to the wicked rejection of the gospel in unbelief (Mark 1:15; Mark 16:16), and to its supportive sins, which are the cause for God’s punishment in these passages.
In addition, human trust should never be placed in the might of man (Psalm 44:3; Isaiah 10:12-13), which would be idolatry, but in the divinely certain, powerful promises of God. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength! Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord!” (Jeremiah 17:5 & 7.) “Man will not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
The restoration of our constitutional republic could only be done morally.
There are some major problems in restoring our country to a constitutional republic.
For instance, (1) even if an armed band of constitutionally-minded, Three Per-centers would march on the nation’s and the states’ capitals, and would eject those governments, the next day the other 97% of the citizens simply will reelect a government just as unconstitutional and lawless as what was removed, for “as the people are, so will the government be.” As John Adams rightly observed, “Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people.” That wise observation will have serious practical implications, if you would think it through. Indeed, how many of the Three Per-centers themselves are “moral and religious”?
Just the same, (2) if tomorrow the Three Per-centers would be installed somehow in all of the offices in the three branches of the federal government, and in all of the offices of state and local governments, and then would repeal all of the unconstitutional legislation, such as, the taxable funding of welfare, abortion, and Social Security, and even would remove restrictions for oil drilling in the Arctic, for example, the patriots in government still will have to abandon the Constitution and to declare martial law for the numerous political left would riot violently because of these measures and bring war onto the streets until the Three Per-centers were out of office. The other more moderate portion of the 97% would want civil peace at any price, and would join the political left in voting the Three Per-centers out of office.
Either that, or (3) in order to have a constitutional government with at least a semblance of civil peace without regular violent disruption, the Three Per-centers would have to lock up all of the other 97% of Americans in camps and feed them everyday, or deport them all, or else murder them all. Would the Three Per-centers be up to accomplish such a gigantic task? Yet could any of these measures be considered constitutional? In fact, if you would think about it, how could one ever rule the implacable political left either without a politically left government, or else without being tyrannical?
Either that, or (4) if after a civil war in the near future which, according to their wishful thinking, the Three Per-centers would like to win, after the political left would have laid down their arms, would the left lay down their political beliefs as well, and in good faith pledge to agitate never again in a Fabian manner to put in place a socialistic government?
So with this mind, how could 3% of Americans ever accomplish the feat of subduing peacefully the other 97%, or even 50%, much less have the “consent of the governed,” for a constitutional rule? not without turning the majority of them into a “moral and religious people” first.
This is the key. Just the same, this would require bringing about the biblical moral transformation which is caused by hearing the Bible’s powerful gospel pledges.
In fact, let me bring in some help here. Let me introduce God into this picture! Would the Three Per-centers ever need God on their side to help them accomplish a restoration of a constitutional republic, or would they not need his help at all? Think about this!
Would you like to have God on your side – and be assured of it by him? Would you know how to get him to be on your side? What is more, will God be pleased with you if you would not know how to do this, or would not care to do this?
What if God has been opposing us all this time, replacing our civil peace with oppression, because we have not been on his side, according to his biblical criteria; and because we have used our God-given liberties only to promote our own purposes, not his?
Would God, like a father toward his wayward children, ever think along these lines? Yes, he will. What is more, would God ever have anything to say about this? Yes, he has a lot to say. Would you think that it would pay for you to research it?
What should be your answer?
“Everyone would need to separate civil liberty and rights from religion and religious liberty. One could be religious if one wants, but it is definitely not required. Keep religion to yourself and do not lump religion in with the Constitution!”
I kindly would invite you to consider the following:
Without the true genuine religion of the true God in heaven, there will be no civil liberty. The only reason why America has had liberty in the past is because it was under a golden age of Christianity, in which many Americans followed God’s will by repenting of their sins, and by believing his biblical gospel pledge of their salvation. Since the recent generations of Americans have forsaken God, he has forsaken us, and, consequently, has withdrawn his blessing of civil liberty, among other things.
From their own personal knowledge and experience, the following men have made these observations:
“Liberty has not existed outside of Christianity” (Lord Acton).
“The Reformation of Luther introduced the principle of civil liberty into the wilderness of North America” (Daniel Webster at Bunker Hill).
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Greed, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other” (John Adams).
“I believe the fate of a republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the Christian religion; and that a people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own evil passion and of arbitrary power” (Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, from 1857-1860, under President Buchanan).
Thank you for your kind consideration
Would America still be a Christian nation?
In his written decision on the case “The Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States,” which was decided by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1892, Justice David Brewster stated that America is a “Christian nation.”
In his book, “The United States a Christian Nation,” page 46, Justice Brewster summarized, after giving the historical evidence, “By these and other evidences I claim to have shown that the calling of this republic a Christian nation is not a mere pretence [sic] but a recognition of an historical, legal and social truth.”
Indeed: “I believe the fate of a republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the Christian religion; and that a people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own evil passion” (Lewis Cass, Secretary of State, from 1857-1860, under President Buchanan).
John Adams, one of our Founding Fathers, once stated truthfully: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Greed, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.” Read that last statement of his again: “Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” This statement had implications. That is, it contained certain conditions. Thus, for instance, when patriot Americans would want our government today to return to the constitutional republic which it once was, they must face the fact that it simply could not be done until the American people themselves would return to being a moral and a religious people.
Yet there is no spiritual will on the part of the vast majority of Americans to return to God, to return to being a Christian nation once more. Indeed, there is a marked revulsion to and a studied hatred of the whole idea. Hence our original constitutional republic “is wholly inadequate to the” governing of the current citizenry because they emphatically and willfully insist on being an immoral and an irreligious people.
Thus unbelief is America’s great problem; that is, an unbelief in God’s gracious, soul-saving gospel – the only thing that will rescue the sinner from the Judgment Day to come. To be sure, the Lord already has declared that he will be patient with mankind’s sins as long as men would repent of them (Jeremiah 3:12-13) and believe in his gospel pledge that Jesus’ saving blood has covered us with sin-removing pardon.
So then, what is going on currently in America? This country has joined just now the long list of nations throughout history that have gone through this terrible cycle: a rise and fall of a gospel golden age. In other words, God will bring his merciful gospel pledge to a land, move the inhabitants to believe it, and also bless them materially with civil peace and prosperity. Yet, usually by the third generation, citizens will begin to detest the gospel, and reject it. Thus this is where we are now: this country has “fallen away” from the gospel. It has “backslid” and become “unfaithful,” as the Word of God puts it. Oh, yes, there still are some churches in it with a sense of spirituality about them, but not the kind which the Bible clearly outlines for genuine repentance and saving faith.
How has this gospel-rejection played out in this country? Just read about all of the dire news on this blog site alone! In fact, do you really like living in all of this misery? Yet this is what life commonly is like in a typical heathen, gospel-void society.
Hence in the throes of all of this misery, America desperately could and should be asking Gideon’s question: “If the Lord would be with us, then why has all of this happened to us?” (Judges 6:13.) The answer is simple: The Lord is not with us. Since we have rejected him, he has rejected us. Namely, the Almighty, who is in control of men and of their events, as Gideon implied (1st Corinthians 12:6; Psalm 127:1; Amos 3:6; Isaiah 10:15), is punishing us as an irate father by sending us bad government, bad police, bad citizens, bad justice, bad economics, bad weather, for example, just as he biblically has threatened he would do, in order to get us to return to his good graces by repenting of our sins, and by believing his gospel promise.
Nevertheless, what more would it take? How long will America hold out?
Remember, “the Lord is a man of war” (Exodus 15:3)! His guiding policy is: “All nations that forget God shall be turned into hell” (Psalm 9:17). His last resort, after seeing that his previous minor punishments have not caused any nation-wide repentance, is to bring on a most severe, devastating war of punishment on that country.
Gentlemen, this spiritual issue must be addressed, for our underlying problem is spiritual. I did not deduce that, God has stated it. Our political problem is just a symptom.
Remember: God is in control of what is happening! We need to get on his side if we would want things to change. May we all do so!
“What about all of the corruption in government?”
First of all, realize a few things, such as this: “As the people are, so will the government be,” from the Latin maxim Ut rex, ita grex!
In other words, our government never again will get any better until our pool of citizens, from which the office holders come, would get better morally.
Nevertheless, if you would object, and advocate, “No, we simply will imprison or assassinate the current office holders, and then evil government will be put to an end,” you will be nearsighted and mistaken; for those who, subsequently, will be replaced by the voters will be just as bad, because they also will have come from the bad pool of citizens.
In other words, getting rid of every crop of bad governmental officials will be like trying to clean a muddy stream by dipping out water along its banks: It will be an exercise in futility. You would have to go to the source and to cleanse the stream there in order to correct the problem.
Thus to get better elected officials you will have to go straight to the pool of citizens, and to cleanse them first of all, that is to say, to make them moral.
How would a person ever get the pool of citizens to become moral? Realize that in the past America did have a pool of good citizens! As a result, our government in the past was about as benevolent as one ever will get. This happened when we were a “moral and religious people,” as John Adams put it. That is, this happened during the golden age of Christianity in America when many citizens had their sinful hearts changed by the divine, powerful gospel promises of our gracious God preached from his Bible.
How could America become a moral and religious people once again, so that our government could get better? by becoming a Christian nation once again.
How? by doing gospel mission work among our people. This would mean that we, first of all, would need to be given preachers like Elijah, Jonah, and John the Baptist who would insist that the American public repent of its sins, unlike the current crop of politically correct, public relations preachers.
There is no other way. Will you not see this? Otherwise America simply will keep on degenerating into a more heathen existence, and will become even more lawless and corrupt.
So would you want our government to become better? What gospel mission work have you done in the past, or are doing currently, to help our pool of citizens become moral and religious? If you would have to admit, “Nothing,” then you will be at fault. You will be part of the problem as to why we have gotten immoral and irreligious governmental officials.
In fact, to be frank, whenever you would express your contempt for our government on this blog site, it simply will be a case of the pot calling the kettle, “Black!”
If you would object, and respond, “I am not as bad as some elected officials are,” you had better take a look at Mark 7:21 and see just how evil the Almighty God of heaven views you!
So, gentlemen, what are you going to do about it?
* * *
Lewis Cass, the Secretary of State under President Buchanan (1857-1860), once observed, “I believe the fate of a republican government is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the Christian religion; and that a people who reject its holy faith will find themselves the slaves of their own evil passions and of arbitrary power.”
“Liberty has not existed outside of Christianity” (Lord Acton).
“If we would preserve our liberty as a nation, we must educate our youth religiously” (George Washington).
“Nobody knows how to teach morality effectually without religion. Exclude religion from education, and you have no foundation upon which to build moral character” (Charles Eliot of Harvard).
“The elites in society are acting lawlessly and unethically.”
Would the _____ be the only ones in American society that would be acting lawlessly and unethically? Or, to expand this more: Would only those in government, in the military, and in the police be acting lawlessly and unethically, so that if the _____ would be jailed, and all of these other corrupt governmental employees would be jailed, would that solve all of our problems? [put a stop to all of the corruption] No.
Ask yourself: From where did these people come? They came from the pool of citizens.
Thus the citizenry, the pool from which the _____, those in government, the military, and the police have come, is itself lawless and unethical. “As the people are, so will the government be,” the Latin maxim goes [Ut rex, ita, grex].
For instance, a vagabond could steal a ride on a boxcar, while a college graduate could steal the whole railroad. What would be the difference, since their intent would be the same? The difference would be this: their opportunity and their know-how. That is all. Hence what would be the difference between the _____ and the rest of the citizenry: The _____ have had more know-how and opportunity.
No? Notice the “Me first!” attitude among the citizenry! For example, see how many citizens willfully and persistently break the clearly posted speed limit! Why? It is because they have no will to be moral. They think that they are above the law. Yet what kind of a civics lesson would this teach the children passengers? Or, if a father would obey the speed limit only when a patrol car would be around, what kind of an object lesson in hypocrisy would this be?
All of America has a severe moral problem, not just the notorious citizens in the headlines. In fact, the chief moral problem is America’s willful and stubborn refusal to admit that it has a moral problem.
Who says so? God almighty says so when he “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30) while America refuses to do so.
Nevertheless, if you would resent hearing about this, your argument will be with God, not with me.
“I never cease to be amazed at the masses and their tolerance for deception, who then turn around and tell you how enlightened they are. What is wrong with people? They actually thrive on ignorance and brainwashing.”
To be sure, presently some citizens have no incentive to be well informed of certain facts and of certain events, until finally life would become too hard for them. Then they would be receptive to instruction.
Others currently are, indeed, doing research on their own, or are asking around for answers because life already has become too hard for them. They know that something is not right.
Then there are some people who never will be receptive to certain facts. That is, they will not want to admit to certain facts. Behavioral scientists would call such people “incorrigible.”
Just the same, with all of these three groups, the problem is neither a matter of ignorance, that is, a lack of a certain level of cognizance, nor even a lack of access to the facts.
It is simply a matter of self-imposed blindness, which is a moral problem. It is a self-preservation measure by which a person would not admit to reality in order to preserve his bias, that is, his selfish ideas which would benefit him personally in some way.
For example, if a drunk would be confronted with his vice, rather than admit that he would be doing something wrong and should change, typically he will respond in one of two manners: Either (1) he will deny it; or else (2) he will excuse his vice by blaming it on other people or on other things. Why? because it would pay for him to do so, not in the currency of money, but in the currency of selfish pride. This is why drunks will overrule the judgment of their own eyes, and will suppress the indictment of their own consciences.
Actually, this immoral response is common to everyone since everyone has a sinful heart. That is to say, your sinful heart is ever in a self-preservation mode: it wants to preserve itself from having to change and to perform the more “painful” moral action, instead of continuing on with the easy, self-benefitting, selfish action.
Thus it is not that those people who are in denial are ignorant of the facts. Rather, it is that they have grasped the implication of them. That is to say, they resent what the facts have to say since this would ruin their party and spoil their fun. As a result, they will impose self-blindness upon themselves, and will not admit to the truth.
To be sure, it would be a good idea to examine yourself, and to ask: “About what am I currently in denial? For what am I making excuses?”
So what could be done about this? How could you, in a teaching capacity, lift the scales from someone’s eyes?
It is simple. Since it would be a moral problem, it will require a moral solution.
Yet only God would have the power to bring about a moral transformation of their mind. Indeed, he pledges, “A new heart will I give you” (Ezekiel 36:26), and assures us of doing it when he would bring his salvation promises to our attention.
Therefore, we will need to do mission work, and to get God’s pure gospel pledges out there, if we would want a moral and religious people who would have the incentive and the means to think morally.
The intentional turning of a political matter into a moral issue.
In 1857 the Boston scholar, George Ticknor, wrote to an English friend that American politics is “completely inexplicable.”
Indeed, one reason for this is that some Americans at times will turn a purely political matter into a moral issue. That is to say, they will turn a matter of indifference into a matter of right or wrong: either an action that would be for or against one of God’s commandments, an unethical act for which legislation should be enacted if it would not have been already, or an illegal act that should be punished, even to the extent that citizens should take up arms to put an end to it. Furthermore, this transformation is not an honest mistake done out of zeal, but is a deliberate deception with fighting words to provoke a fight.
For instance, those on the political left will do it when they exclaim, “If it would save only one life, then the political legislation will be worth it.” In addition, they will refer to their political opponents pronouncements as “hate speech,” “microaggression,” and now “message crimes,” all of which they consider to be criminal acts.
In other words, people will turn a political matter into a moral issue because they would want to be justified in defending it to the death, and to be able to demonize those who would not agree with them, since they hate the opposition to the extent that they would want to retaliate: they would desire to see them severely punished. Thus there could be no amicable settling of such a matter, if neither side would back down in compromise to compose the matter.
As a result, each side, convinced wrongly of its moral position, will hate the other, and would want the other to be jailed or killed. Hence, under such circumstances, the machinery of society could not proceed smoothly and quietly, but will be grinding against each other with severe and noisy friction.
In fact, this is just how the War of Independence and the Civil War got started. For example, in the first war a minority of the American colonists turned certain matters of taxation/legislation by Parliament into a moral matter by declaring in the Declaration of Independence, for instance, that it was “their duty to throw off such government,” and to form another government “to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them.” Then they took up arms to defend it to the death.
Before the Civil War the Northern abolitionists turned the political matter of slavery into a moral issue of right or wrong, while the Southern planter aristocracy turned the political issue of freeing slaves by compensated emancipation (as England had done) into a legal issue: “You seek to outlaw $4,000,000,000 of property of our people… Is not that a cause of war?” (Robert Toombs, a Southerner). Likewise the banner “Resistance to Lincoln is Obedience to God” flared at an Alabama mass meeting after he was elected. As a result of such twisted thinking, “This war was got up drunk,” a Louisiana father in his earthy manner wrote to his son in 1863, and 750,000 Americans died senselessly, when it could have been settled calmly, as the English settled their slavery problem through political legislation.
Thus man’s way to solve society’s problems by turning a political matter into a moral issue, and of fighting it to the death, could and will lead to the whole country getting shot up.
Not long ago a book came out with the title, “Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable” (Eugene G. Windchy). How many of these, including the War for Independence, were started by men, willfully self-blinded by their zeal, who foolishly turned a political matter into a moral issue (“Give me liberty, or give me death”)?
In fact, because of the severe provocation which accompanies the intentional, deceptive invention of a moral matter, many commentators at this blog site will get what they want. They will get their next Civil War in the future, but not for the reason which they think. “War is not a calamity which men can bring upon a land and people without God’s will but at all times a great chastisement of the great angry God himself” (C.F.W. Walther).
Just the same, only the divine power that is contained in God’s biblical pledges ever could transform even the most evil-minded person to pursue a path of peace.
This is why this country desperately needs to have repentance preaching done, as Jonah did among the Ninevehites (See the biblical book of Jonah chapter 3) to lift God’s pending punishment of war upon a nation, and to put a halt to the tough talk, provocations, and fighting words of its citizens. Those who would play with matches will start a conflagration which will end up with widows, orphans, and dead fathers and sons.
Hence this is why also the current, regular church-going Jefferson Davises in our country need to keep their sinful, treacherous, revenge-filled hearts (Matthew 15:19) in check by a scolding from God’s commandments, and then to have their Christian minds motivated by God’s gospel to pursue the paths of peace, so that the dogs of war will not be unleashed, as it senselessly happened at the negotiations involving Fort Sumter; just as it will happen again in this country in the future if it consciously would not be stopped.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2nd Corinthians 3:17).
This does not refer to political liberty. The Bible does not spend its time on promoting political matters. It addresses spiritual things.
Above all it champions God’s great rescue plan for the wretched human race that lies in bondage because of its sins. Hence the Bible’s reference to liberty refers to that liberty from your sins that has been accomplished by Jesus Christ.
This is shown by the statement of the Son of God himself, who took on our human nature to be our sin-freeing substitute on this earth: “If you would continue in my Word, then will you be my disciples indeed; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Whoever would commit sin will be a slave of sin. Since the Son, therefore, will make you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:31, 34, & 36).
Realize, therefore, that “when a person sins, he loses his moral and spiritual freedom. He is no longer his own master, but a slave to his perverted appetites, desires, and passions. He is led by his false reasonings and his biased judgments into further wrongdoings…This bondage, Christ told them, would be broken if they would sincerely accept His teaching, continue in His Word, and practice what He preached to them. That is the liberty which” (W. H. T. Dau) is meant by the God’s pledge: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
Where is this “where”? It is wherever the gospel of Jesus Christ is announced. In other words, the Holy Spirit is present in the saving Word of Jesus – in his gospel – for whenever the apostles in the New Testament preached the gospel of Christ crucified, they did it “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1st Corinthians 2:4). This is why the apostle Paul identifies gospel preaching directly with the Holy Spirit when he thanks God for having made him a minister “of the new testament, not of the letter [God’s holy Law], but of the Spirit” (2nd Corinthians 3:6). This is why he calls all of his ministerial work “the ministration of the Spirit” (2nd Corinthians 3:8).
Hence “where the Spirit is, that means, where the Gospel is preached, men learn that their guilt is removed, because Christ lived, suffered and died for them. That makes their burdened conscience free. They learn that they will not be judged on the day of reckoning. That makes their minds easy: the curses of the [God’s] Law no longer terrify them. They learn that by practicing the teaching of Jesus they are kept from sinning. That releases them from fear of themselves. Full knowledge of the Gospel kindles in their hearts the affections of love and gratitude to their Liberator. A new motive for doing good in return for the love of Him who loved them first is implanted in them. They become free from the drudgery of the Law; the Commandments of God are no longer grievous to them. They serve God with a free will, joyfully, not like slaves” (W. H. T. Dau, Concordia Pulpit 1945, pages 390 top, 388 middle, & 390 middle).
I invite you to see this. Because most Americans today are blinded to their addiction to sin and to their rejection of God’s soul-saving gospel, this country is so plagued by lawlessness from top to bottom. The only answer to this lies not in the political, but in the gospel.
Nevertheless, realize that in order for the fullest political liberty ever to exist, it could occur only in a Christian nation, that is, where the Holy Spirit is active commonly. “Liberty has not existed outside of Christianity” (Lord Acton’s other axiom). Furthermore, John Adam’s axiom, “Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other” implies that wherever there would exist “a moral and religious people,” then such a wonderful governing implement as the American Constitution could be practical and workable.
“Protestants interpret biblical passages differently.”
It was good to hear you express yourself honestly and openly. I commend you for that. You have voiced a common concern which others have raised also. What they subsequently found is this: That there is only one true meaning of a word, and of a passage. Any other meaning will be wrong. Indeed, it will not make sense.
Furthermore, anyone who would advocate such a false meaning commonly will do it, not as an honest mistake out of zeal, or due merely to incompetence, but intentionally in bad faith. That is to say, he will do it in order to promote a selfish agenda.
Permit me to give an example. The simple word “bank,” for instance, has various meanings. With this in mind, let us say that a writer declares, “A passage from a book which I am quoting advises you to put your money in a bank. Therefore, you must bury your money in the ground, specifically, in a heaped elongated mound of dirt, for that is a bank. So get out your shovels, for this is what that passage said!”
Now you be the judge! First of all, what normally would be understood by the common expression, “Put your money in a bank”: Will it be a financial institution, or a long heaped up mound of dirt?
Just the same, even if the latter meaning of “bank” were actually meant, then that book, aware of the common usage of the word, and acting responsibly and in good faith in order not to be misunderstood, would have to qualify its statement with something like this: “Normally people put their money in a financial institution, but I am advising you to bury it; yet not just anywhere in the ground, but specifically in a long heaped up mound of dirt.” Nothing less than this explanation would do.
So why would anyone want to change the clear and the commonly understood meaning of a word for something different? It will be because he has an agenda, a premise, a point that he must uphold, even at the expense of the truth. This is why.
Is this unusual? not at all, unfortunately. This is why you must put up your guard, and do some research first. In fact, this is why the Bible repeatedly warns you against many false preachers who regularly would do this in order to serve their own ends, not God’s.
Just the same, any contradictory interpretation that would be proposed could not make a case that will stand. Indeed, this will become obvious to the reader.
Nevertheless, how could and should you be certain of which of the two meanings of a biblical passage were meant?
First of all, if you would read the Bible as much as you would read other material, the Bible will be the simpler of the two to understand.
Secondly, God promises that his Word is a lamp and light which will enlighten you (see Psalm 119:105); by which he will bring you to understand with divine assurance what his passages really are saying. That is, God has empowered his Word in such a wonderful manner with divine power that you are given a help to understand a biblical passage far above the mere deductive process of your intellect. You are given the almighty power of the passage itself to enlighten your mind with clear understand, and then, subsequently, to give you divine assurance as to its actual meaning, if only you would think about it in your heart. No word of man has such an unsurpassed ability: no encyclopedia, no editorial, and no sales pitch.
So take assurance in God’s unbreakable divine pledge that his words could be understood correctly!
“The government is taking away our rights unconstitutionally.”
In regards to this matter of the possession of rights, and of their removal by those in power: Many years ago the same thing happened to a man named Gideon and to his countrymen, irritating him to the point of asking: “If the Lord would be with us, why then has all of this happened to us?” (See the biblical book of Judges 6:13.)
The obvious answer to this is also the biblical one: “God no longer is for us, but against us. He is punishing us through the evil actions of men on earth whom he intentionally has moved to punish us by taking from us specifically our God-given privileges, since we no longer serve him with our hearts and minds, keeping his threat, ‘Because you have forsaken the Lord, he also has forsaken you’ “ (2nd Chronicles 24:20).
For instance, if a kindly father, in order to show his son respect and encouragement, would loan to his son a prized rifle that had a walnut stock with a high gloss finish, a gold bead front sight, and with delicate scroll work on a silver nitride receiver, yet his son would go out and simply use it as a pry bar: what would that father do? He will revoke his son’s privilege, and take back the rifle.
This is what the Almighty is doing today. He is revoking his privileges which he gave to our once gospel-loving nation in the past, because he no longer is for us, but against us.
So instead of focusing on and blaming the federal government, which is simply the messenger which God is using to carry out his wrath, and of trying to shoot the messenger to get rid of the problem, Americans need to look in the mirror at the real culprit. But so far their pride has prevented them from doing so.
In the past our Christian nation would appoint days of humiliation and repentance for such occasions. We citizens should do so today.
* * *
Gentlemen:
I kindly would ask each of you: Do you have God’s Ten Commandments as your “moral compass”, and his gospel promise as your motivator? If not, then realize that you will not be doing his will no matter what. For deliverance from our current national afflictions, we all need to get on the Lord’s side.
* * *
If many patriot Americans would be asked if they would trust that God will keep his pledge to protect his Christians even if they would obey a governmental order to turn in their firearms to the authorities, they will answer, “No.”
After many years as a constitutional republic, our original federal government unfortunately and, for a number of decades now, gradually has become what is known as a “government de jure,” that is to say, “a government of right; the true and lawful government; a government established according to the constitution of the nation, and lawfully entitled to recognition and supremacy and the administration of the nation, but which is actually cut off from power or control. A government deemed lawful, or deemed rightful or just, which, nevertheless, has been supplanted or displaced” (Henry Campbell Black, Black’s Law Dictionary, Fifth edition (Saint Paul: West Publishing Company, 1979), page 627B).
In its place the original federal government has been supplanted or displaced by a “government de facto,” that is, by “a government actually exercising power and control, as opposed to the true and lawful government; a government not established according to the constitution of the nation, or not lawfully entitled to recognition or supremacy, but which has nevertheless supplanted or displaced the government de jure.” That is to say, “a government deemed unlawful, or deemed wrongful or unjust, which, nevertheless, receives presently habitual obedience from the bulk of the community” (Black’s Law Dictionary, page 627A).
In other words, contemporary voters in America continue to elect and to reelect representatives to government who believe and carry out in practice unconstitutional policy; who, by their beliefs and practices have amended the Constitution, not formally, properly, and legally to be sure, but informally, improperly, and illegally, all with the consent of the majority of voters, who, by count, overwhelmingly have opposed and rejected for decades, for instance, the constitutional platforms of various third party candidates. Hence the current federal government in America is a de facto government, that is, it is one that must be accepted for all practical purposes, though it is illegal and illegitimate according to the original Constitution. Thus the voters in America themselves repeatedly have determined what should be “the lawful authority of the state”; that this authority will not be exclusively the authority of the Constitution, but whatever would be the ongoing interpretation of the Constitution held by the currently elected representatives.
Nevertheless, throughout biblical history God has recognized de facto governments as true governments in power. In fact, the case could be made that throughout history it has been a common occurrence that governments that were de jure tend to deteriorate overtime into de facto governments to a greater or to a lesser extent, as the case may be.
What is more, Romans 13 and 1st Peter 2 do not make a distinction between a government de jure or de facto in their commands to obey governments. To be sure, the government of the Roman Empire, at the time these New Testament Scriptures were written, was in fact a de facto government.
Indeed, from the time of the birth of Christ until his ascension into heaven, Pontius Pilate and the various kings named Herod engaged in impulsive acts as rulers in Palestine which were both illegal and bloody. Nevertheless, there were no divine calls or commands for human retaliation or for rebellion. John 19:11: “You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above.” God: “By me kings reign, and princes decree justice” (Proverbs 8:15).
Just the same, some patriot Americans would object to the contrary that the Founding Fathers in their personal writings spoke of and recognized the right to firearms in the Second Amendment in order that Americans could use these arms successfully to rebel against a tyrannical government. However, this purpose for firearms has not been spelled out clearly where it would count, namely, in the Second Amendment, despite what various judges since have ruled the “core principle” to be.
On the other hand, there would be nothing wrong if an American Christian, or a group of them, would advocate, with a sense of urgency, the desire to retain the right to bear firearms, as the Constitution recognizes and guarantees it, and, through the advocacy of new laws or by the repealing of old ones, would prevent that right from being infringed upon by government. However, all the while that such an attempt would be made it should be kept in mind that this would be a political matter, not a moral or a biblical one, in which case this qualification should be observed: the Lord will bless non-spiritual efforts with success only if it would be his will.
Thus it could and should be kept in mind that God may override any or every effort by citizens, whether Christian or not, to preserve their constitutional liberties, in order that his punishment on godless Americans may extend even to his revocation of every right enumerated by the Bill of Rights.
“Jesus taught self-defense: ‘When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed’ – Luke 11:21. In Luke 22:36, just before His arrest, Jesus admonished His disciples to sell their cloak and to buy a sword, the preferred weapon of the Roman Legion occupation army of that day, analogous to an ‘assault rifle’ now.”
I would invite you kindly to consider the following:
To put it briefly: In Luke 22:36 the Son of God did not mean a literal sword. He spoke figuratively, as when he instructed, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword…. [for] you will be hated by all for my name’s sake” (Matthew 10:34 & 22).
Indeed, God the Son commonly spoke figuratively, as when he taught, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone would eat of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51), even asking, “Does this offend you?” (John 6:61). To be sure, many of his own disciples in response were offended, objecting, “This is a hard saying; who could understand it?” and “went back and walked with him no more” (John 6:60 & 66).
Just so in Luke 22:38 the eleven disciples misunderstood him once again in regards to the sword and to other objects, to which the Lord responded with disappointment over their lack of understanding, declaring, “It is enough” (Luke 22:38), that is, there is no point in pursuing this matter with you any further.
So what did the Lord mean by his statement: “’When I sent you without purse, beggar’s bag, and sandals, did you lack anything’? So they said, ‘Nothing’. Then he said to them, ‘But now, he who would have a purse, let him take it, and likewise a beggar’s bag; and he who would have no sword, let him sell his outer garment and buy one; for I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in me: “And he was numbered with the transgressors;” for the things concerning me have an end’”(Luke 22:35-37)?
In other words, the Lord advised them, ahead of time, that after his salvation work on the cross between the two thieves had come to an end, after his ascension into heaven, as they would go about their hazardous missionary work of teaching the gospel (2nd Corinthians 11:23-27), they would have to learn to supply themselves with spiritual strength by turning to the strengthening power of the divine gospel itself, taking up “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17), for example, with a sense of urgency.
Look at his context! On their first missionary journey with the gospel (Luke 9:1-6), when they were on their own, away from the Lord, without a purse, beggar’s bag, or even sandals, the disciples were reminded by the Lord that he had protected them from want and harm (Luke 22:35). Just the same, after his ascension, they would be without his physical presence and his miraculous protection which they had had because they had been in a training period. Then, when their persecutors would hunt them down like wild animals (Acts 8:3; 9:1-2), they would wish even for just one day of his previous protection (Luke 17:22).
Thus, in Luke 22:35 & 36 God is preparing their minds for their future activity without his physical presence and without his unusual protection which they had had during their training period. He urges them to acquire those biblical spiritual supplies which are counterparts to an earthly purse, sandals, beggar’s bag, and sword, for instance.
Furthermore, on their missionary journeys the apostles did not strap on swords nor even employ bodyguards to protect them from bloodthirsty mobs (Acts 14:19; 16:19). To be sure, after the disciple Peter pulled out a sword in Gethsemane and used it in the cause of protecting his Lord, yet interfering with God’s plan of salvation (John 18:10-11), he was scolded for it: “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword!” (Matthew 26:53.)
Therefore, realize that the Bible has not been written so as to be a manual by which people may learn about self-defense, how best to build a house (Matthew 7:24), or how to keep their possessions safe (Matthew 12:29)! The Bible does not pursue these worldly matters. It concerns itself with spiritual things (Matthew 6:25-33). The Bible merely uses figurative language at times, parables, etc., solely for the purpose of making you understand something spiritual which you do not know yet, by comparing it to something in this world which you already do know. Would you see this?
Moreover, there are some additional points to remember: (1) The Son of God does not set out to bewilder you when he uses figurative speech; nor does he think that it would be asking too much of you to understand his speech. (2) Furthermore, God does not leave it up to you to understand his speech merely by the deductive process of your intellect. Rather he helps you. Indeed, Holy Writ presumes that you will be able to draw the right inference concerning the Lord’s speech, and will assure you of it when you have done so, because the Word of God is a lamp (Psalm 119:105), and the Holy Spirit will be enlightening your mind as to the meaning of those words (John 16:13). Be assured of this divine pledge! Then use God’s words as he intended!
“America is bitterly divided.”
I will not contradict what the author or the psychologist whom he quoted would wish to explain as to what people currently have as their political wills.
Nevertheless, what the author of this article, the psychologist, and, to be sure, others fail to address are these points:
Therefore, the answer to all of these troubles in our land; the only effective way to reverse all of this is by way of a spiritual solution, not a political, economic, or warfare solution. None of these will make our troubles go away. The spiritual solution is the only one which God pledges will work. As Christian missionaries went to the South Sea Islands and converted cannibals into peace-loving, industrious, morally transformed people, so the heart and mind transforming power of the gospel is the only thing today that has God’s guaranty to work, if only men would use it.
Yet no one would be advocating this today, would they? Even after such a nation-wide humbling and sobering event as 9/11/2001, there was no national repentance or turning to God. Consequently, things only keep on deteriorating further, do they not!
Moreover, there is no will on society’s part to change themselves morally in order to settle these matters, is there?
Furthermore, without resorting to God’s gospel, there never will be.
“America could not vote its way out of this current mess. Let us get this war started to settle these political differences while I am able to fight.”
Not long ago a book came out with the title, “Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable” (Eugene G. Windchy).
I contend that all twelve were avoidable.
For example, in 1863 a Louisiana father wrote to his son in the Confederate Army, “This war was got up drunk but they will have to settle it sober.” Indeed, how many wars have there been that were not “got up drunk”? Nevertheless, “War is not a calamity which men could bring upon a land and people without God’s will, but at all times a great chastisement of the great angry God himself” (C.F.W. Walther).
To be sure, following the folly of revenge, men have been quick to start death and destruction! For example, in the 1300’s war broke out between Modena and Bologna in Italy only later to sweep over large areas of Europe. What was the cause of the conflict? A dispute over a well bucket. In 1654 Sweden and Poland engaged in battle, some claim, because the printed list of the Polish king’s titles received more print than the king of Sweden’s. A Chinese emperor declared war, some historians say, because his teapot was broken. In France, a few hundred years ago, a boy threw a stone at the Duke of Guise; this led to a religious massacre which, in turn, paved the way for the Thirty Years’ War, one of the worst in Europe. In more recent times things still have not changed. The Crimean War began, in 1855, with a dispute over repairing the roof of a church in Jerusalem. In 1914 an Austrian archduke was assassinated at Sarajevo. This incident provoked World War I which cost 24 million people their lives. How foolish and self-destructive men could be when revenge is on their minds! To be sure, how many times have we not wanted to take out revenge over trivial things?
Therefore, rather than profess, “Let us get this next civil war started while I am still able to fight,” I would invite you to check your vengeance, for “it is better to suffer every ill than to consent to ill” (Black’s Law Dictionary [1979], page 887).
Nevertheless, to do this would be something that would be beyond human power. Thus the only solution will be this: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind through the powerful words of God in his gracious gospel pledges! It is God’s will that you should do so! Be assured of it!
In other words, when God works his mighty power through his gospel words in his Bible, he puts men’s hearts at peace. Hence the more hearts there would be at peace, the more outward civil peace there will be.
In the year 1900 a man predicted that if America would not send 1,000 missionaries to Japan immediately, we would have to fight a war with them in 40 years. He was off by one year. To be sure, in the 1930’s, Smedley D. Butler implied in his booklet, “War is a Racket,” that since this country foolishly had sent its navy out closer to Japan and not kept it at a base on our homeland shores for defensive purposes, Japan would acknowledge the threat. It did. In fact, that is the reason why it attacked Pearl Harbor.
The call of the hour, then, is not to get up another war drunk, but for us individuals to rechristianize this nation, including its worldly churches, by genuine biblical repentance and faith, not with the current sham of religiousness. In response to this, the Almighty will keep his pledge, “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2nd Chronicles 7:14).
“The future American Civil War.”
The Second Civil War, as some here have called it, or, to be more accurate, the “Third War of Secession,” coming after the first two: the War of Independence and the Civil War, also will not be entered into calmly or rationally by cool and wise heads after a long, thought out process of counting the cost, and of considering the duty of protecting the citizens, taking up arms only reluctantly.
This war, like so many others here and elsewhere typically, by a minority of men, will be “got up drunk,” as a Louisiana father during the Civil War once put it to his son in the army. This is why Eugene G. Windchy wrote a book a few years back titled: “Twelve American Wars: Nine of Them Avoidable,” though I contend that all of them were avoidable. That is, these wars could have been avoided if certain Americans had not “gotten them up drunk.”
Yet this is by far how men have started wars. For example, in the 1300’s war broke out between Modena and Bologna in Italy only later to sweep over large areas of Europe. What was the cause of the conflict? A dispute over a well bucket. In 1654 Sweden and Poland engaged in battle, some claim, because the printed list of the Polish king’s titles received more print than the king of Sweden’s. A Chinese emperor declared war, some historians say, because his teapot was broken. In France, a few hundred years ago, a boy threw a stone at the Duke of Guise; this led to a religious massacre which, in turn, paved the way for the Thirty Years’ War, one of the worst in Europe. In more recent times things still have not changed. In 1914 an Austrian archduke was assassinated at Sarajevo. This incident provoked World War I which cost 24 million people their lives.
Thus men will prefer to see, like in the Westerns, “the whole town get shot up” to settle a feud, rather than to subdue their pride and revenge. Hence some Americans today, including some on this blog site, are not thinking calmly, but are seething with anger, burning with revenge, and itching to retaliate, eagerly awaiting the least slight or slip up on the part of whom they hate to “get up a war drunk” that will ruin this whole land from sea to shining sea, and will create widows and orphans by the tens of millions, instead of praying to God to avert war, and to pursue his solution for preserving the peace. Such men are not patriotic Americans standing for right and principle, but are enemies and traitors, simply mouthing off with a lynch mob mentality, and actually joining the ranks of those munitions makers, arms dealers, and bankers who would seek profit from yet another war.
To be sure, though Jesus stated that his “kingdom is not of this world,” lately, once again, there are even Christian clergy and lay Christians, in name only, void of any divine regeneration and of the peace of Christ in their hearts, utilizing their Christian credentials to promote a political matter: to call for the political shedding of Muslim blood. This is how the Crusades and the inquisitions were started.
Rather, keep your mind under control when dealing with others who have offended you or have trespassed against you! To do this successfully, God first will have to transform your mind through his gospel power so that you will want to do the right thing as a religious duty to him, and not to respond with retaliation.
“Two Christian nations fought against each other during the American Civil War.”
I kindly would like you to consider the following.
You stated that Christian nations were involved in our own Civil War. Are you aware that Christianity has stopped wars? Would you in good faith admit that? For instance, read the biographies of Christian missionaries such as John Hunt in Figi, or Robert Muffat in South Africa, who went among cannibals and tribes who continually warred! After these people heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, the powerful words of God transformed their minds, and the cannibalism and the wars stopped. This is a historical fact. Based on this evidence it would have to be admitted that the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ could put men’s minds at peace. To be sure, the Son of God has urged, “Watch and pray, in order that you would not enter into temptation, for the spirit (the new holy intent that has been placed by God’s power in a converted sinner) indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). That is, though a person has been transformed through the powerful gospel pledge of God, he still has a sinful nature that ever wants to regain the supremacy of his mind’s intents. This is why the Bible shows us some of the sins to which transformed people in the past have succumbed, as a warning.
Furthermore, it is a biblical duty of the father to protect his family. An act of self-defense, then, when there would be no authorities around to protect, will not be murder. Likewise when government at the local (police), state (National Guard), and the federal (army/navy) levels protects to the extent of using lethal force, it may be killing, but biblically it will not be murder; for the more exact wording of the Fifth Commandment is, “You shall not murder.” Indeed, even if a man merely would hate his neighbor, he will be a murderer.
Nevertheless, wars will result from unchecked sin. After men would refuse to be transformed by the moral-changing power contained in the holy gospel pledges regarding Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, they will remain corrupt sinners, who will resort to brute force whenever they could in order to satisfy their sordid appetites for revenge and greedy gain. This is why this country desperately needs to have repentance preaching done, as Jonah did among the Ninevehites (See the biblical book of Jonah chapter 3).
Just the same, only the divine power that is contained in God’s biblical pledges ever could transform even the most evil-minded person to pursue a path of peace.
Thus, in regards to the American Civil War, no Christian ever set out to start it. Neither side ever said, ”Let us start a long and bloody war.” Yet, after called upon by their respective governments to defend their country, Christian citizens obeyed their respective governments.
To be sure, the North had not wanted a civil war. Even the abolitionist minority had said, “Let the South march off!” Though a Northern congressman, Benjamin Stanton of Ohio, on 3 March, proposed a bill which would give the President complete authority over all regular and militia troops of the nation should they be needed, the House adjourned the next day without passing it. Without a special session, the House would not meet again until 4 July, 1861, the earliest date on which Congress itself could declare war.
Yet the political leaders of the planter aristocracy did not intend to secede from the Union merely in order that they could be left alone by the North to live a peaceable life. When William Tecumseh Sherman, who had just come from Louisiana was asked by Lincoln about the South, he replied, “They are preparing for war.” In North Carolina, the Raleigh Banner spoke, “The big heart of the people is still in the Union. Less than a hundred politicians are endeavoring to destroy the liberties and usurp the rights of more than thirty millions of people.” Alexander H. Stephens, the desired candidate for the position of President of the Confederacy, when specifically asked if he would “fire the first shot,” replied, “No.” As a result, a hawk, Jefferson Davis, was nominated instead. Thus later, even though the commander of Fort Sumter had agreed to surrender at an appointed future day, Davis would not wait, but gave the order to fire on Fort Sumter. This military action, which caused the American flag to get shot up, incensed and provoked the North, bringing about this response: the dogs of war were unleashed.
Thus Davis, a church-going Episcopalian, did not guard his heart (Philippians 4:7) by suppressing the natural hatred and the revenge in his sinful heart, nor did he motivate his Christian mind by God’s gospel (Ephesians 4:22-24) to pursue the paths of peace as a morally transformed Christian daily could and should do. Neither was it the case that the new Confederacy, of whose people Davis was responsible for their defense, was being threatened by the North with war.
Hence this is why also the current, regular church-going Jefferson Davises in our country need to keep their sinful, treacherous, revenge-filled hearts (Matthew 15:19) in check by a scolding from God’s commandments, and then to have their Christian minds motivated by God’s gospel to pursue the paths of peace, so that the dogs of war will not be unleashed, as it senselessly happened at the negotiations involving Fort Sumter; just as it will happen again in this country in the future if it consciously would not be stopped.
Just the same, whenever nations would go to war, realize that “War is not a calamity which men can bring upon a land and people without God’s will but at all times a great chastisement of the great angry God himself” (C.F.W. Walther)!
“We need an addendum that puts God Almighty and His Son Jesus the Lord of all, in an updated U.S. Constitution.”
As a Christian, I kindly would point out that this proposal will not work, because it simply would not have God’s promised blessing.
Furthermore, the Lord Jesus Christ refused an earthly crown when it was offered to him by a crowd in Galilee (John 6:15). Why? Because the people simply wanted to make him their bread king. That is all. That is to say, they looked to Christ’s supernatural power merely to fulfill their flesh’s desire, not to use it for strength to bear their crosses, or to fortify their saving faith, for instance.
Secondly, he refused to get involved in man’s politics because his “kingdom,” that is, the nation over which he rules as head is not political: it “is not of this world” (John 18:36), but only consists of the hearts of his believers who have been bought and freed from their sins’ punishment by his holy blood.
To be sure, today tens, if not hundreds of millions in this country refuse to entrust their souls to him. Thus why would they acknowledge his authority in purely political matters?
In regards to reoccurring themes in articles on websites that complain of how bad things are.
Here is yet another article from the internet in an endless series of harangues telling us how bad things are, and that someone ought to do something about it.
This is like playing a broken, vinyl record. While the author may be sincere, such articles simply take us in an endless circle: they get us nowhere. Either an author of these predictable articles would offer no solution, but will just want to wring his hands, or else he will conclude that “they should do this” all the while “they,” that is, the lawless ones, have no intention, no motive, and no moral will to do “this.”
Realize also that such articles (1) simply preach to the choir; and (2) complain about problems of which currently there is not enough political will among enough electorate of this country to do anything about it! If there would be any newcomers to these articles, they will not need to be indoctrinated, for they already are convinced that some kind of serious reform is needed.
To be sure, there is a time and a place for informing and updating. Nevertheless, by and large such articles merely offer yet another opportunity for the commentators underneath the article simply to air their whining and griping before the public, and to add more fuel to the fire of revenge and hatred.
Typically, the only common solution that would span all of these articles will be merely: “Prepare for a civil war, the outcome of which no one could know! All that we could predict will be uncertainty and wishful thinking on our part.”
Would you see what is going on here?
So what could and should be stated in such articles? It is simple: propose something constructive: offer solutions and encouragement; that is, solutions with the encouragement to implement them.
Indeed, the commentators beneath such articles should be scolded to quit their griping and bravado, and either offer encouragement, or keep their mouths shut. Commentators also should be admonished to offer a peaceable solution instead of the common, anarchist one: “Let us kill these people, blow things up, wipe the slate clean, and then life will return to normal once again.” Yet it will not. This still would not change the evil in the hearts of the survivors.
Instead, what would be some peaceable solutions? This is simple.
First and foremost, address your spiritual duties which you owe to God regarding your country, and regarding your own soul! For instance, being assured from the Bible that God is in control of human events, pray to him for his peace and protection of you and of this land, as he has promised and commanded you to do!
Yet realize that he only will listen to those who truly are sorry for their sins, and who look to his gospel promise for the divine assurance that their guilt and punishment have been removed, and have been placed on their Savior, Jesus Christ, instead! Being lead to such repentance and gospel belief by God’s powerful words, pray for an ever increasing transformation of your evil mind to do God’s will so that you will not be part of the lawless problem in America!
Next pray for God to forgive the lawless sins of our citizens resulting from their gospel unbelief, and thus “stand in the gap” and “make a wall” (Ezekiel 22:30-31), that is to say, become a firewall between God’s punishing fury and our land in order to keep it from being destroyed!
Indeed, ask yourself: “Have I done any of these vital things?”
Secondly, you could contact your district representatives at your statehouse and your county sheriff. Tell them that while you owe them support, they owe you protection; that they have a duty to protect you bodily, financially, and according to the Bill of Rights from the lawless encroachments of the elected federal government and of its bureaucracy! If they would not shield you from this lawlessness, move to a state and county that would!
The man of lawlessness is not a reference to a political phenomenon.
Greetings!
It did not show up on the posting of your comment that you were referring to the biblical verses of 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2.
The prophecy which you referred to in verses 10-12 is speaking, as Scripture always does, of a spiritual matter, not of a political matter or person.
In 2nd Thessalonians 2, the Holy Spirit, using the apostle Paul as his writer, informs the congregation in Thessalonica that in the future there will be a great “falling away.” The subject would be the Christian church. The object would be the true Christian faith.
This “falling away” would occur before the public exposure of the Antichrist took place, who is described in this place as “the man of sin” and the “son of perdition,” because he is full of sin, and because he is destined for damnation. Indeed, the appropriateness of these names would be demonstrated by his behavior.
For example, he would “oppose and exalt himself above all” God-ordained authority, such as, the civil government, parental prerogative, the local congregation – the Supreme Court in the church, and the public ministry, even to the ambitious extent of putting himself on a plane with God, claiming authority, honor, and power which only Heaven claims. Hence he would be the ultimate in rebellion, pride, and power-seeking: installing himself as the master in the visible Christian church.
Though for a while this incredibly brazen usurpation by the “lawless one” would be checked by something and someone (“what…[and] he… restrains,” verses 6-7), namely, the Roman Empire and the Roman emperors, this person, nevertheless, still would come by the working of Satan, with all lying power, signs, and miracles, boasting that these miracles are divine and, hence, prove his legitimacy, using “unrighteous deception” on those who did not love the truth and were a part of that great falling away from the gospel. Thus a generation of Christians would arise that had no love for the old apostolic gospel, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
On account of this, God would punish them. He would do it by using evil to punish evil. He would send them a power that produces delusion for the ultimate purpose that they all might be damned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (verse 12).
While the names which Paul gave: “the man of sin” and the “son of perdition” did not stick in the minds of the church, the name “Antichrist” did.
Who is this “man of sin,” the “son of perdition,” or “the Antichrist?” It is none other than the Roman papacy. The “falling away” refers to the members of the Roman Catholic Church.
For further information, go to my website, click on the book tab, and go to my online book about the Antichrist!
Gene Urtel – The Rivertown Press
The pope is the Antichrist.
Not just a particular pope, but all of the popes, namely, the papal office which is filled by men, is the Antichrist.
While many men today, due to their wishful thinking, identify the Antichrist, not as a church office, but simply as this or that politician whom they currently hate, Scripture, which is the only place which teaches of the Antichrist, lists its identifying marks. For instance,
Martin Luther revealed the Roman Catholic papacy to be the Antichrist in a widespread manner in the Reformation. Other Protestants agreed with him.
Since then, most Protestant bodies, originally in a public relations move, and then later, because their liberal ideology could not tolerate it, no longer teach or believe it. Nevertheless, part of the timeless creed of the Lutherans known as the “Smalcald Articles” plainly confesses that the pope is “the very Antichrist.” All genuine Lutherans to this day will subscribe to this.
Furthermore, the Bible speaks to all Roman Catholics, and gives them an ongoing command good until the Last Day: “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues!” (Revelation 18:4.)
You may read more about the Antichrist at my website under my book tab.
Gene Urtel – The Rivertown Press
“Muslim head coverings for women would be the same as the ones mentioned in the biblical book of 1st Corinthians.”
I kindly would invite you to consider the following:
There is no parallel between the Muslim headgear and the veil which is mentioned in the biblical book of 1st Corinthians.
First of all, realize that in the early apostolic age, when commonly a number of Jews, along with a number of Gentile converts in a synagogue, were assured by the historical evidence that the Messiah had come, they formed a Christian congregation. Yet early on they still retained the customs which they had had in the synagogue. For example, the women still would wear veils; also the women would sit as a group apart from the men with a partition between them. This was the situation in the Corinthian congregation to which the Apostle Paul wrote.
In the biblical book of 1st Corinthians, chapter 11, verses 5 and 13, the divinely-inspired writer gives a rule of conduct for that Christian congregation. To be sure, it is not a divine commandment from God, but only a bit of instruction on the proper and consistent biblical conduct for women in the worship services according to the customs at that time.
At that time it was a common custom for women to wear veils in public. Moreover, “women in the synagogs [sic] were excluded by a partition from the sight of men in the audience, they were in full view of those that conducted the services…. The leaders of the services, unaccustomed to look upon the countenance of women beyond their own homes, would be in danger of embarrassment or diversion if a company of them sat unveiled in the assembly…
“In their conception of their new liberty some [women] at times wished to throw off the veil…. for unimpeded speech to an assembly of considerable size, and was probably prompted by the desire to speak…. All veiling was a hindrance to speech addressed to more than a few persons…. Veils were probably of so thick a material as to impede speech, except to those addressed near at hand….
“Among the early Hebrew Christians, therefore, in their state of society, the silence of women in the larger assemblies naturally followed. But the churches of Corinth and Ephesus, though composed, in part, of Hebrew members, were in Grecian society” (Paul Lindemann, “The Woman in the Church,” Theological Quarterly, Volume XXIV, Number 1 [January, 1920], pages 46-48).
Thus the inspired writer, Paul, in 1st Corinthians 11, simply made the point that if a Corinthian Christian woman would throw back her veil while praying or speaking in the congregational worship service, the intent of such behavior will be to act in a biblical capacity as a man, that is to say, it will be to deny the woman’s position under the headship of men. Indeed, such an act would bring her as much dishonor before God and the rest of the congregation, as if she would have gone to the extent of shaving her head. This is the point which the apostle is making.
To further back up his point the inspired writer added in verse 10, “For this cause ought the woman to have authority on her head, because of the angels.” That is to say: As the angels are to God in heaven, so the woman should be to man on earth. In other words, as the angels veil their faces before God in heaven out of sheer respect, so the female Corinthian Christian should do the same on earth out of respect for man.
Just the same, as a significant number of Gentile converts were added over the years to the various Christian congregations, that were unfamiliar with the customs of the old synagogue, eventually the partitions between the men and the women came down, and the custom of the veil also was dropped.
* * *
“If two homosexuals would marry, for instance, I would have no concern; it would be none of my business to criticize that, or to protest publicly to the government. Furthermore, since we would need them as allies in order to make our political efforts successful, we must not offend them, but publicly embrace them morally; namely, we must accept their sexual activity as moral, and must not believe it to be immoral.”
Sin could never pay for itself. That is to say, in order to get rid of one evil, it will never work to commit another. Thus, it will never do to act “as men-pleasers” (Ephesians 6:6) by approving of the sordid behavior of homosexuals so that they would become our political allies in a fight to end the evil in our government, for example, for God, who is in control of all events, will neither bless such an action, nor stand for it; for he has commanded us “not to keep company with sexually immoral people” (1st Corinthians 5:9), and “to mark those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them” (Romans 16:17) for your soul safety. Indeed, “Could a man take fire to his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27.) Furthermore, Phinehas had to remind the church that the Almighty’s “anger fell on the whole congregation of Israel” because one man among them had trespassed against a clear command of God (Joshua 22:20).
Thus while you may not be able to avoid civil, business, or political dealings or relationships with homosexuals as well as with the heathen (Genesis 21:22-32), you must not give your moral approval of their immoral behavior, beliefs, or practices.
This is a truth that needs to be kept in mind at all times these days, for whenever a common sin is discussed, men typically want to solve it by committing another sin.
When the Holy Spirit saw to it that that the biblical book of Romans was written, homosexuality and lesbianism were long-standing practices in the Roman Empire. Though back then the rest of society either gave these practices its blessing, simply accepted them, or else just refrained from criticizing them, God did not.
His Word states, “God gave them up to vile passions; for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
“Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving to themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to be these things which are not fitting….
“Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death” (Romans 1:26-28, 32).
Thus today God will not bless any political party, entity, or individual that would side with homosexuality, but will be decidedly against that person.
First of all, remember that our existence on this earth does not consist merely of living down here for this life only! The Almighty will scold those who would think so (Luke 12:15-21; 16:19-31). The Creator of the universe has made this planet and has put us on it for one goal: that we should live with him in heaven. In order to accomplish this, God first would have to transform us out of our sinful state of mind. To this end he “commands all men everywhere to repent” of their sins (Acts 17:30), urging us to use his powerful biblical words to accomplish this, for his mighty words have the power to move our minds to leave the slavery of sin (Romans 6:20), and to want to serve God with a holy life, now in time, and hereafter in eternity, all the while trusting his gospel pledge, since this gospel promise is our pardon. In fact, this pledge is the only thing that will intervene for us on Judgment Day, and will spare us from eternal punishment. So hold onto it at all costs!
The practice of homosexuality and lesbianism tears a person’s trust away from this gospel pledge. God’s unbreakable Word declares that “the unrighteous…. nor homosexuals… will inherit the kingdom of God” (1st Corinthians 6:9-10), entrance into God’s kingdom being only by faith in his gospel pledge, which trust always will go hand in hand with God’s divine transformation of the mind, unless that mind would relapse into a love for sinning (Hebrews 11:6; John 6:28-29; John 3:5-6; Romans 8:8-9). Thus homosexual behavior will rob the soul of salvation. Therefore, it should be discouraged, not encouraged.
Therefore, out of love, not only for the eternal well-being of the soul of my homosexual neighbor, but also, for that matter, for the grandmother next door, I would inform them that God “commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:30), “warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, in order that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28). This is called “mission work.” I am commanded by God to see that it gets done.
Furthermore, I have a moral obligation to keep society from being punished by the wrath and hatred of almighty God that “is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold back the truth” (Romans 1:18). The Almighty has threatened, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:11). Indeed, God rained down fire and sulfur on the city of Sodom (Genesis 19) in an exceptional display of his anger because of its sodomy. God calls this sin an “abomination” (Leviticus 20:13), and had commanded the civil government of the Old Testament theocracy of Israel to put to death homosexuals. In the New Testament sodomy is described as “vile passions,” changing “the natural use for what is against nature,” burning “in their lust for one another,” “committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error.” Thus “God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1:26-28). Thus, according to God’s revealed Word, sodomy is not some minor sin which I should ignore, much less sanction. Indeed, the God-given conscience within a homosexual himself will condemn him (Romans 2:15).
With this in mind I will be vocal publicly, urging society to promote good morals, and to discourage, yes, even to suppress immorality, keeping in mind that there are those out there who have no morals or scruples about seducing and preying upon others in order to tear down their morals and drag them down into hell; and who have no intent to promote God’s helpful morality or his soul-saving gospel.
The Abuse of the 1st and the 2nd Amendments of the Bill of Rights.
Over time the various governments in this world, after their citizenry had fallen away from being once a “moral and religious people,” as John Adams has put it, actually have had to enact restrictions on freedoms as a result, such as the one covered by our First Amendment, in order to protect their citizenry commonly from slander, defamation, and verbal abuse by others, since the new generation of immoral and irreligious citizens typically will abuse their freedoms to the detriment and to the harm of all.
That is to say, after a nation would reject God’s gospel and no longer would have that moral transformation of the heart which only God’s powerful gospel words could maintain, these citizens will return to their natural state of mind: a ”Me first!” attitude which would consist of a mental bondage to selfishness and to lawlessness. That is what has happened to third-world nations, as well as to first-world countries. That is what is now happening in the United States.
In fact, this is the matter to which John Adams referred when he observed: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Greed, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other” – including, which should be added, the Bill of Rights which is part of our Constitution.
Hence some commentators on this blog site actively will abuse their 1st Amendment freedom when they would violate the 8th Commandment from which the 1st Amendment has been taken. Yet there are moral bounds to free speech. God himself has set those bounds in his Eighth Commandment. You may read about them in his Bible.
In fact, do not blame the police state which we now have in these United States entirely on power-seekers in government! Such things as metal detectors at airports, something unheard of decades ago, have had to be put in place in order to protect our citizenry from fellow citizens who, by their clear selfishness and lawless attitude, knowingly or negligently would put their fellow citizens at risk.
Likewise in regards to the Second Amendment, as it concerns the matter of personal self-defense: an immoral and irreligious citizenry commonly will abuse it. For example, they will use it as a license to harm whomever they hate and whenever they may wish to take revenge. Yet the Fifth Commandment, from which the subject of self-defense is implied, puts restrictions on the exceptional matter of self-defense. In other words, there are moral bounds to the use of force. God himself has set those bounds.
For instance, self-defense is valid when no one in governmental authority would be around to protect a citizen. Only government has the God-given authority to kill in regards to protection or to punishment. The spirit of taking the law into your own hands by lynching, tar and feathering (torturing, punishing), or rebelling, for example, is forbidden by God. Thomas Jefferson’s teachings on rebellion, for instance, plainly contradict what the Bible clearly commands. Thus he was against God, not for him.
Hence the fact of the matter is that if you morally could not control yourself, but, out of a “Me first!” attitude only would abuse the freedoms which God has given you, not only will you drive our government “to infringe upon” your rights in order to control your abusive behavior, but God himself will move his earthly agents in his earthly governments (“By me kings rule, and rulers decree justice,” Proverbs 8:15) “to infringe upon” your rights as well, that is, to take them away from you. It is as simple as that. Yet, as a result of this, everyone else will have to suffer.
Only God is more powerful than your “Me first!” attitude. Only he could give you the moral power to control it by means of his powerful, heart-changing words in his Bible, the same mighty words which he used to create this universe.
See this!
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