Restore

How to Restore our Nation

Please consider a rather practical Christian approach to our neighbors and to politics. As the church, our primary goal is to 'go and tell', disciple others and to glorify God in our lives. We often tend to concentrate on our responses to specific issues and similarities and differences among evangelicals and others. This is of some importance. Yet, our greater goal is to evangelize and disciple others.

We have seen the demise of Christianity within our nation as a consequence of the church's failure. There is a way to do such a thing in a colorblind fashion, seasoning the people by being the 'salt and light' that the church has forgotten in recent past. This cuts through any racial barriers and strikes the heart of man, whatever ethnic background the person is from. This is not only allowed in the scriptures but fully sanctioned in the scriptures.

As we watch ourselves appealing to our neighbors with Biblical law and natural law, we correctly realize that many just will not get it. As we watch the polls for the presidential election, we find many 'Christians' who support individuals who have willingly and thoughtfully compromised God's values. How could one possibly act in this fashion and at the same time believe they are serving God? What in the world are the churches doing wrong?

As unintellectual as this appears, we must hear ringing from the pulpits the 'Fear of God'. We have pretended to be wiser than in need of such a lesson. We would never appeal to the base emotions. We have ignored the scriptural command to do such that. We have Biblical answers that are exceedingly simple.

Exodus 20:20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning ."

Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

Deuteronomy 21: 12 Assemble the people--men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns--so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law.

Psalms 34:11 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.

Psalms 103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;

Psalms 29:25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is kept safe.

The fear of God instead of man is universal when it occurs. It transcends bias and racism. It does not matter what race one is or one preaching happens to be. It is an appeal to God Himself. All are made in the image of Him. In fact, there will be no confusion between those things that are considered 'ours' or 'their' 'issues' if those who hear the message realize that it has nothing to do with pleasing a group of individuals but has everything to do with more importantly avoiding offending Almighty God! Then you change the hearts of men. President Bush got at least one thing right, to get rid of Roe v Wade, we need a change in the hearts of Americans.

In history we find God’s judgment poured out on a nation because even though the prophets warned they must repent, they didn’t. The example of Nineveh, though, when Jonah reluctantly warned that they would be destroyed in 40 days, stands as a people who repented at the warning of God’s pending destruction. Distilled, we find that the form of the message spoken by Jonah was the FEAR of God. The Bible gives us great instruction to teach the fear of God to keep us from sinning.

This fear of God is not just 'respect' as some today would have it. Do we tremble when we show respect? Hardly. Do we fall down as if dead or as like a stone if we have the fear of God? Yes, scripture indicates this is what has happened when we are faced with God. Sooner or later we all will face it.

‘Respect’, as we use it now, hardly comes close to the real meaning of the scriptures. Ancient "respect", as if entering into an audience with the king, is a closer understanding of "respect" as the king has absolute authority and could destroy a subject even if the only offense is minor displeasure. The fear of God is an overwhelming fear of His righteousness and ability to destroy us as we deserve. Of course, love takes away all fear, but the lack of fear leads one to cheap grace and incomplete love of God.

In fact, the Great Awakening preachers (Whitefield, Edwards, etc.) were teaching the fear of God to a great degree. The people cared not to offend God by conducting employment on the Sabbath, etc. Our fledgling nation, above all, wanted not to offend God.

The answer is found by studying the Bible and history. We have Biblical answers that are exceedingly simple. Yet

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1781:
God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just that His justice cannot sleep forever.

George Washington wrote in his 1789 Inaugural address: The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.

James Madison wrote in 1788: I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom. Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea. If there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

Are we not in a wretched state? Have we chosen to leave morality and virtue.

John Adams in 1776 wrote: Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue; and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies.

Do we see a problem here? In fact, you virtually never hear such preaching today. You hear almost anything except the biblical fear of God. We have outsmarted ourselves. Fear is a base emotion that should never be elicited, according to current mantra. Our pride and arrogance has led us away from the direct, unpopular message of teaching the true fear of God to choosing man’s reasoning above God's direction in a spiritual matter! In fact, we are not following the biblical mandate when we neglect such preaching.

We have largely lost being the ‘salt and light’ because we have incorrect preaching of the fear of God and the fear that God will judge our nation for our innumerable offenses to Him. If He really loves us, He will chastise us. This chastisement (such as pain, suffering and death) will be necessary because since He loves us, He will (as He has in the past) turn up the heat so that some will finally repent and be saved, obviating an eternity condemned to a worse condition.

Early on, when our nation was preached the fear of God, the people were flavored with such reasoning, and they formed a government based on Christian principles that has lasted and been blessed over time. Lives were simpler, blessed and with greater joy even though their material goods were much less.

Instead of concentrating on winning an election, we should, in principle, like Daniel and others, bow down to no other gods and firmly witness to all around us that we will not vote for anyone who steps outside the bounds of God’s direction. Our vote is our grass roots currency in the political economy.

The real question is: who's side are we on? As a corollary, How shall Christians deal with politics (as with other realms) to avoid offending Almighty God and His wrath? What line is drawn in the sand by us and we authoritatively tell a politician not to cross over this line and stick to it?

The Republican candidate has already violated the Great Commandment of putting no other gods ahead of Jehovah in violation of the greatest commandment.

For a moment, consider how you would feel if you were Almighty God watching from Heaven? In this day of great peril at war with our young soldiers dying, losing lives through terrorism, economic uncertainty, the horrific slaughter of our pre-born children, taking an in-your-face attitude with the homosexual agenda, greed at the highest corporate levels and above all, the Republicans dare open their Convention praying to another god! How can we possibly ask for His blessings?

Again, our real dilemma is how do we return to our Christian roots? Yes, we were a Christian nation when you read the founder’s own writings and look at their moral stands at the time and realize their constituents were coming from the Great Awakening era with their votes only going to individuals they deemed worthy. Post-Christian today? Yes.

George Washington ordered his troops (and never changed his stand) on July 4, 1775:"The General most earnestly requires and expects a due observance of these articles of war established for the government of the army which forbid profane cursing, swearing and drunkenness; and in like manner requires and expects of all officers and soldiers not engaged on actual duty, a punctual attendance on Divine Service to implore the blessings of Heaven upon the means used for our safety and defense."

God's values, blessings and pleasure are most associated with a faithful choice not to compromise, despite the possible desperate temporal consequences.

God is engaged in the political realm throughout the examples of individuals as kings, as those who are dealing with other kings, as those who point out the king’s errors and those dealing with the Roman empire. Yet, those who did well, in God’s eyes as seen in scripture, were like John the Baptist and Daniel, etc. Their approach was not to try to get a seat at the table but to avoid things that would offend God. They were clearly outsiders but feared God more than man, including rulers.

George Washington (above) and many other founders were reflecting this ideology in their writings and political choices. They recognized it then, and it has never been truer than today, our greatest concern for our nation should be what should we do to avoid God’s wrath and chastisement?

Abraham Lincoln wrote (calling for a National Day of Prayer and Fasting in 1863):

...We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as not other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30^th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer...

Jeremiah 15:6 You have rejected me," declares the LORD. "You keep on backsliding. So I will lay hands on you and destroy you; I can no longer show compassion. 7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways. 8 I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At midday I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men; suddenly I will bring down on them anguish and terror. 9 The mother of seven will grow faint and breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies," declares the LORD. 10 Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me. 11 The LORD said, "Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of distress. 12 "Can a man break iron-- iron from the north--or bronze? 13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without charge, because of all your sins throughout your country. 14 I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for my anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you."

We claim to be His people. We offend God. We are witnesses to the other nations regarding the One true God. Yet we kill millions of babies, we choose to support embryonic stem cell research, we have interest in comfort aside from caring for our elderly, adultery is considered normal, we export pornography, we would rather offend God rather than risk offending homosexuals and worse of all, we equate Christianity to other Satanic religions, such as Islam.

The church, instead of pointing out that these things will bring on God’s wrath, teaches politicians that we will still accept their policies since the other candidates are worse. We unwittingly teach others that Christianity is no better than other religions. These actions contribute to condemning many to Hell, as our choices are saying that these fatefully erroneous decisions are valid.

Christian politicians, such as President Bush, are given the leeway by the Christian leaders to make policy decisions that are wrong but we will still support them. President Bush, as all of us, needs to hear the unwavering, committed lack of approval of such decisions that dishonor God, endangering our nation to God's chastisement.

It is much more expedient for him to pander to the homosexual activists (such as having recently approving of homosexual civil unions if the Christians say they will support him anyhow. Why should we want to ‘win’ after giving up those things that God teaches us never to compromise and we claim to be most important?

As we have limited President Bush in his own walk with Christ, this will affect his place in the afterlife (assuming eternal rewards), the most important thing (aside from salvation) we must deal with in our lives. We have become a stumbling block in his personal life and in the lives of those we were to “go and tell”.

Having said that, what should we do in this election? There is a ‘third’ party, the Constitution Party, that is exceedingly correct on the major Christian values standpoint. Although they are truly conservative (generally a 'plus'), this is overridden by their lack of unwavering compromise on the Christian values. The candidate, Michael Anthony Peroutka, will be on 39-41 states ballots and theoretically could win the presidential election. This reflects an enormous amount of grass roots work in order to gain that much ballot access when the cards are stacked against anyone outside the Republican and Democratic parties. It is not like voting for your pastor. The vote will be counted as what you stand for. The 'major' parties will see why votes are going elsewhere and will care to entice them back next election, seasoning all other parties.

Yet, we choose to compromise in the name of ‘winning’ to keep the other, theoretically worse fellow out of the White House when we know that God appoints our leaders and deposes them. Our mandate is to warn others of impending danger due to our many sins and perhaps, once again, Christianity will mean something of value to those we were called to witness to. As it is, our willing compromise has blocked our efforts to reach the perishing and has been a great contributor to the continued downslide of the church and our nation.

If, in addition to teaching the fear of God, we indicate that we will not compromise on God’s values with our vote, consider the consequences? Things may well ‘get worse’ for the short term as someone less likely to care for God’s values would have an opportunity to appoint bad judges, etc. At the same time, they may not. (This may not happen as well).

Arguably, the people of the US were better off with Bill Clinton in the White House who was opposed by the Republican House and Senate so he could not perpetrate as much evil as he would like. On the other hand, President Bush has never vetoed a bill, many of which have horrible implications to our lives. Gridlock is the friend of the people, as our Christian founders knew.

With the approach of unwavering compromise, teaching and displaying the fear of God in our own lives, our neighbors begin to hear and/or feel the fear of God (judgment will instill a true fear of God if the pulpits continue to fail to teach it). That we should fear.

If we refuse to give the Republicans our votes because of the moral failures, they will feel the pain of losing power. At the same time, they will be nudged harder to entreat our votes next time and we then have become the ‘salt and light’ to the political process. If they choose not to, then we are giving a worthy candidate some more publicity, adding to our witness to the world, without hypocrisy and then we will see some promise for our children. If nothing else, like all of the great men of the Bible, we have been faithful to God. We should only expect His blessing, if not now, then in the rest of eternity. As it is, we have no reason to expect to hear ‘well done good and faithful servant’.

Let us develop the fear of God on our own and not ask God to instill it in us through judgment.

mailto:diojqa@dutyisours.com