Category Archives: Government

Church / Body of Christ, Government, Help / Serve Others, Humility, Purposeful / Intentional

He Who Is Not Against You Is For You

There are many who acknowledge Christ and carry out deeds in His name that are consistent with His teaching and direction. Not all of them are coordinated by men and follow under one flag of a “church” or one group of disciples. Never the less, they may still serve Christ.

We do well not to try to force everyone to follow in one group, but to respect those who are also teaching and preaching and doing miracles in the name of Christ… so long as they are genuine and consistent with His teaching. This is not an excuse to accept false shepherds and people who teach the wrong gospel but do so in the name of Jesus.

In this context, we are reminded that the body of Christ is made up of many members. When we find them at work, doing the Lord’s work and teaching the full truth of scripture, we need not consider them enemies and try to shut them down. Instead let us support one another and get the word out.

Luke 9:49-50

      49John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.” 50But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”

Mark 9:38-42

      38John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.” 39But Jesus said, “Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. 40“For he who is not against us is for us. 41“For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

      42“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.

There are many doctrinal disagreements in the denominations of Christian churches today. Never the less, many genuinely are trying to teach the truth of the gospel as they understand it. They get the main things right and perhaps stumble on some others. (Disregard for the moment those churches that teach false doctrine such as the  “prosperity” gospel in the name of Christ to fill seats and raise money for selfish desires. For these please refer to Mark 9:42, above.) Imagine if we could all pull together and influence the direction of the culture toward Christ. What if we could all come together to vote for laws and leaders consistent with Christian values rather than constantly electing worldly people who accept every religion as equal… a concept which most religions, including the one these same people claim to follow,  completely reject.

What if we worked together across denominations to fight poverty? to end abortion? to help set free those deceived by the world about homosexuality or transgender issues?

Pray for unity in the body of Christ. Pray that God’s people would work together according to His plans to accomplish great revival in our nation.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Blessed, Faith / Trusting God, False Prophets / Teachers, Government, Wickedness / Evil

False Prophets and Teachers Deceive In Many Areas

Scripture warns us extensively about false teachers and false prophets, from Old Testament through to New Testament. I have not even tried to capture many of them here, but encourage you to take a few minutes and try an internet search for “bible warns about false teachers and prophets” and look for yourself. For the purposes of today’s article, I have selected one.

2 Peter 2:1-3

The Rise of False Prophets

     1But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; 3and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

We often consider these warnings in regards to those specifically teaching and prophesying falsely about God and God’s word, and we are right to do so. This is the intent of the scriptural warnings. We are to study God’s word, pray for the Spirit to guide us and test everything against God’s word. We are to hold to what is good and reject what is bad. We are to call out false teachers and prophets and not follow them. They are very destructive, teaching wrong doctrine about the Lord in the name of the Lord. They will be held accountable.

However, we should not think that this is the only area in which there will be false teachers. Many try to re-write history to erode the rich historical value and influence of Christianity on the world. They gain control of schools and curricula and have systematically worked over decades to remove God from the public schools and government jobs in our country. There is not end except the elimination or corruption of Christianity that will please them.

I have been amazed how much false information has been treated as “gospel truth” in regards to the founding of the USA and the intent of the founders in regards to practicing their Christian faith as an active part of their daily work, in government or otherwise.

I encourage you to invest some time in testing everything which you are told about how our country is intended to function in regards to “separation of church and state”. I recommend investing in The Silencing of God: The Dismantling of America’s Christian Heritage and its sequel, America’s Most Pressing Concern. I have them in DVD format. I am not sure if they come in another format. I find them very “eye opening” indeed. It is filled with explicit examples and facts that totally reveal the lies which have been taught broadly as fact over the past decades. There is much to study, and likely many other good resources, but I find these provide a great starting point as you test everything.

Understanding the truth of how God intended our country to function is vital to recovering and defending our Christian faith and the Christian foundation of our United States of America, which was indeed a gift and blessing from the Lord to those who were bold enough to put their lives at risk to pursue a life where they could worship Him freely and form a society based completely on the principles of His instruction.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

 

Government, Hebrew Roots / Commands / Law, Idols / False Gods, Obeying God

I Pledge Allegiance…To Whom or What?

Some recent events have brought forth a lot of discussion and passionate responses in regards to who “must” or “should” stand during the national anthem and pledge allegiance to the flag of the USA. One thing is for sure in the internet age… everyone has an opinion and wants to shout it out, or type it out.

I think having a cultural debate on the importance of individual liberty as it applies in this situation is fine and can be good. Discussing and understanding opposing viewpoints is healthy. Sadly many just “shout down” the opposing viewpoint rather than conducting a civil and respectful debate. Anyone who disagrees is automatically wrong and to be despised as hateful or ignorant. This is not effective in winning anyone over to whatever side you are on. The issue is actually more complex than it may appear, at least to some.

There is clearly a strong cultural norm and reinforced teaching for generations that trains / teaches / indoctrinates people to stand for the anthem, put their hand over their heart and recite the pledge. Most of us probably know it by heart. For many it is almost instinct and they can’t imaging not doing it, but they never really choose to do it in the first place. It was just expected and forced throughout our schooling growing up and is not to be questioned. Let us take care to carefully consider those things about which people demand there can be no question and no debate.

There are a great variety of opinions and considerations that really have nothing to do with the specifics of the protests that recently started this cultural discussion. What does the flag mean to different people? what about the anthem? What does it mean in reference to respect for veterans and military? What about individual liberty to decide to stand or not stand, rather than being compelled to stand. If someone is compelled to stand, does that make them have more or less love for the nation?

Personally, I greatly appreciate my country. The USA is the best country in the world to live in because of individual liberty. It was even better when it functioned in the past more in line with the actual constitutionally defined government which limited the role of the federal government and maximized individual liberty and the liberty of the states to govern themselves.

Today, Christians may be persecuted. Small business owners may be sued for standing up for their Biblical beliefs. One prominent example is the baker who was sued for refusing to bake wedding cakes for homosexuals… though he offered them any other product they would want from his business. Should he be forced to do so because it offends someone else? This same question can be applied to standing for the pledge or anthem. Should individuals be compelled to stand so as not to offend someone else?

If it is a private business, then the owner gets to decide as terms of employment. However, people should take care when they respond with such hostility to someone who disagrees with them. There will often be times when a Christian disagrees with what culture demands and we would appreciate and greatly value a society that allows us our individual liberty to live according to God’s word and not cultural demands.

Again, I have great respect for the USA. But let us think carefully before we demand blind allegiance at all costs to a flag or anthem.  Propaganda and brainwashing work on these same principles (e.g. Rome under the emperors who considered themselves divine, communist Russia, Hitler’s Germany, etc.) It usually works best when people put the nation in a high position of unquestioned allegiance. In truth, by their actions, they put the nation above God in importance. This is why dictatorships and communism often try to suppress or control religion… so there is nothing more important than allegiance to the nation.

A pledge or promise, if it is to be meaningful at all, is a serious thing. It is not to be taken lightly.  If you consider this just a polite tradition, then it really does not mean much anyway. We should not just make pledges out of habit or without understanding the full ramifications of fulfilling that pledge. Why should we pledge allegiance to a “flag” or “nation under God”? Why not pledge allegiance directly to God Himself and then run our country as if we mean it? This would keep the focus on God Himself, as was the intent at our country’s founding.

A simple question to consider… Whom do you serve? You can not have two masters or you will love one and hate the other.

Matthew 6:24

 24“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. To the extent our nation does the same we will be among the most ardent supporters. I will respect and appreciate my country even as it deviates from this norm, but I can not give blind allegiance to the nation if I am to submit fully to Christ. I must challenge our nation when it deviates from God’s instructions.

I hope you take time to prayerfully and thoughtfully reflect on the subject at hand, which in truth is not simply respect for nation or veterans, but also respect for the individual liberty for which they fought and died that help to keep our nation great and provides us the opportunity to freely worship our Lord according to our individual belief rather than what is popular or demanded by culture.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Family, Government

How Did Jehovah Organize His People?

I will start out by humbly admitting that I have never yet done a detailed study of the book of Numbers. I am positive there is a lot of symbolism to be found and appreciated for those who conduct such a detailed study. I anticipate I will do so at some point.

As the Lord arranged His people and their army, He did so with emphasis placed on keeping them in their family groups. He did not mix them all up into one batch and try to make them all homogeneous (without variation), though they all served Jehovah. There is a natural and God-intended structure within family. It helps to drive familiarity and to some degree a hierarchy of leadership. Of course this presupposes the whole family is serving the Lord. It has been observed and leveraged for military conflicts for many centuries that the parts of the army fight better and support one another better and maintain higher morale when the units have a lot in common. I can think of quite a few examples in the US Civil War, where military units were organized by city, region, or state.

The same is true as I think and apply it to leadership of nations. Many pursue one world government, or globalism, as if that is inherently good. It is not. When Jesus returns to rule the earth… that is going to be an awesome one world government. It will not, however, work well so long as man is trying to run it. More power to the individual nations to address the needs and desires of its people is better than more centralized power led by men.

I can drill down and apply the same principle again to the government within the United States. More power to the states and much less concentrated in a bloated, inefficient federal government would be good and consistent with the government which was first established upon the Christian faith of our founding fathers of the US. Let the government that rules over the people be of the people being governed and represent their common interests, even while serving a broader, often unified purpose with other states or nations.

Numbers 2

Arrangement of the Camps

     1Now the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 2“The sons of Israel shall camp, each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ households; they shall camp around the tent of meeting at a distance. 3“Now those who camp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be of the standard of the camp of Judah, by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab, 4and his army, even their numbered men, 74,600. 5“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar, and the leader of the sons of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar, 6and his army, even their numbered men, 54,400. 7“Then comes the tribe of Zebulun, and the leader of the sons of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon, 8and his army, even his numbered men, 57,400. 9“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Judah: 186,400, by their armies. They shall set out first.

      10“On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur, 11and his army, even their numbered men, 46,500. 12“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon, and the leader of the sons of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, 13and his army, even their numbered men, 59,300. 14“Then comes the tribe of Gad, and the leader of the sons of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel, 15and his army, even their numbered men, 45,650. 16“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Reuben: 151,450 by their armies. And they shall set out second.

      17“Then the tent of meeting shall set out with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps; just as they camp, so they shall set out, every man in his place by their standards.

      18“On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud, 19and his army, even their numbered men, 40,500. 20“Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh, and the leader of the sons of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, 21and his army, even their numbered men, 32,200. 22“Then comes the tribe of Benjamin, and the leader of the sons of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni, 23and his army, even their numbered men, 35,400. 24“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Ephraim: 108,100, by their armies. And they shall set out third.

      25“On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan by their armies, and the leader of the sons of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, 26and his army, even their numbered men, 62,700. 27“Those who camp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher, and the leader of the sons of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran, 28and his army, even their numbered men, 41,500. 29“Then comes the tribe of Naphtali, and the leader of the sons of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan, 30and his army, even their numbered men, 53,400. 31“The total of the numbered men of the camp of Dan was 157,600. They shall set out last by their standards.”

      32These are the numbered men of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ households; the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, 603,550. 33The Levites, however, were not numbered among the sons of Israel, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 34Thus the sons of Israel did; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so they camped by their standards, and so they set out, every one by his family according to his father’s household.

The concept of a ‘melting pot’ where people of all different beliefs are blended together is not a Christian concept and is sure to mix pagan beliefs with Christianity resulting in a flawed reflection of Christianity indeed. Blending different beliefs (ones that are distinctly non Christian) most certainly does not make us better or stronger in God’s eyes.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.