Mocking God

The Sunday School lesson this week on the story of David and Goliath got me thinking about parallels with todays culture. 

Just as Goliath mocked the Israelite army and their God, the "Goliaths" of our culture mock God today:

Our schools teach children that evolution created them, not God, mocking his role as Creator and Sustainer of life.

Our courts mock the institution He created and blessed - marriage - by ruling that those who practice the sin of homosexuality, which He called an abomination, can also be married.

Those same courts mock God by insisting that women have the right to choose whether or not their unborn child should live, usurping His role as the giver of life and mocking the sanctity of life.

The mainstream media mock God by portraying his followers as narrow-minded and intolerant for insisting that there is a standard of truth found in the Bible.

Our politicians mock God when they refuse to remain faithful to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, which were written by men who understood that God is sovereign not government.

The list could go on for a while. The difference is that while David felt outrage that Goliath would mock God, we throw up our hands and say "that's just the way things are".

In God's eyes that may be the worst insult of all.

Day of Prayer

For many years I have prayed and heard others pray, thanking God that we live in a country where we can worship freely. I am beginning to wonder how much longer that will be true. The erosion of our religious freedom is proceeding at a pace that none of us would have envisioned, even a few years ago. The latest example is the ruling by a US District Judge in Wisconsin that the declaration of a National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. This endangers a tradition begun by President George Washington in 1789. Once again the First Amendment, which was intended to keep Congress from imposing a religion on the states, is being misused as a tool to eliminate all religion from public life.

Maybe the worst example of religious repression is occurring right in our backyard with the approval of the Santa Rosa county school district, which encompasses Pensacola. The district has entered into an agreement with the ACLU to restrict all religious expression in their schools. Here is an idea of the scope of the agreement, excerpted from a news release from the Liberty Counsel.

"As a result of a Consent Decree drafted by the ACLU, agreed to by the school district, and entered by a federal court, legitimate religious expression, such as voluntary, student-initiated prayers or off-the-clock religious discussion among adults, has been criminalized and made extinct in the schools of Santa Rosa County. Students can no longer say "God Bless," teachers must hide in closets to pray, parents cannot communicate frankly with teachers, volunteers cannot answer any questions regarding religion, Christian groups cannot rent school facilities for private religious functions benefiting students, and pastors are dictated how they can and cannot seat their audiences at private, religious baccalaureate services held inside their own houses of worship."

Does this sound like the country we grew up in, or more like a decree issued by a communist government that had just taken over a country? Thank God for organizations like Liberty Counsel which battle the rising tide of atheism and secular humanism trying to eliminate all traces of religion, especially Christianity, from public display.

What can we do?   It always starts with prayer. We need to humble ourselves before God, and pray that He will light a new fire in this country.  I urge you to come to church this Thursday night for a Day of Prayer service and join with hundreds of others who want to show the ACLU and others that the majority of people in this country still believe in a sovereign God. I pray that its not too late.

" The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.  God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God."

(Ps 53:1-2)

America's Christian History

Always a lightning rod for criticism, Sara Palin was recently ridiculed by liberals for suggesting in a speech that America was a nation blessed by God because it was founded on Christian principles. Nothing makes a secular humanist more angry than the notion that we owe God anything. This is why the emphasis in our schools and from liberal commentators is that there is no American Christian history and our country was founded on principles of the Enlightenment. 

I've just finished moderating a 5 part course on America's Christian History which is based on lectures given by Gary DeMar, president of American Vision, who spoke at Westside last fall. DeMar refutes the attempt to re-write our history, point-by-point. Most of us who  grew up in the 40's and 50's know that this country was settled primarily by Christians seeking refuge from religious persecution in Europe. Even a casual glance at the early colonial charters, and state constitutions, as well as the original mission statements of our major colleges and universities, will show that the early residents of this country believed in a sovereign God and the teachings of the Bible. The sad fact, however, is that those who are in the public school system these days do not learn this and come to believe the lie instead of the truth.

Here are some of the major points of the course:

America's Christian History

What are the facts?

1.     America was founded by people who were predominantly Christian and almost without exception believed in God.

2.     Early charters and state constitutions exclusively recognize Christianity as the predominant religion in place at the time they were written.

3.     The basic underlying principle of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution is that man is subject to laws that come from our Creator  God and cannot be taken away by government.

4.     The First Amendment was not intended by the Founders to prohibit the public practice or display of religion, but to prevent Congress from imposing a religion on the states.

5.     Education was viewed as having a strong foundation in religious values. The Bible was used in many areas as a textbook and early primers mentioned God and used Biblical examples. Most of our leading private universities were founded as seminaries or had strong ties to Christian denominations.

6.     An extensively researched opinion of the US Supreme Court reached the conclusion in 1892 that "America is a Christian nation".  Many Presidents and Supreme Court judges have made the same statement publicly over the years.

 

Why does it matter?

1.     The guiding principles that have enabled America to become the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the history of the world are being eroded by those who claim that we are wiser today than those who founded our country. They are now attempting to re-write history to cover their tracks as they dismantle our foundations. Unless we know the facts we will not be able to stand against them.

2.     Our children are not being taught in school about the religious beliefs and values of those who started America. If they don't hear it from us, they won't hear it and in one generation our Christian History will be lost.

 

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Why Elections are Important

In the book "The 5000 Year Leap" author Ron Skousen outlines 28 principles that underly the US Constitution. Principles that led America to become the most prosperous and powerful country the world has ever known. Principle Number One is that good government is based on Natural Law - that is the eternal and universal laws given to us by our Creator God.  Not the laws devised by men for their own, often evil, purposes.  
Principles Two and Three are closely related. A Constitutional Republic can only survive if the people are of good moral character and if the leaders they elect are of good moral character. John Adams wrote "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

This why elections are important. Individually our fate is determined by our character. As a nation, our fate is determined by the character of the people we elect. One of the most insightful studies of early American political culture was written by the French jurist Alexis de Tocqueville, who summarized his finding this way:

 "America is great because America is good. If America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great"

The coming election for Mayor of Gainesville is a classic example of this. On one hand we have the man- Craig Lowe - who has used his position on the city commission to advocate for laws to advance "gay rights", and has voted for several fiscally irresponsible uses of taxpayer funds.  One the other we have Don Marsh, a conservative Christian businessman who has a long history of fairness and public service.

The problem is that low voter turnout in Gainesville, especially in runoff elections, has allowed the extreme liberal fringe to control the city politically. 

Gainesville voters, the future is in your hands. Don't just vote on April 13th. Make sure that everyone you know also votes. It's time that the will of the majority is heard in Gainesville.

A favorite scripture of the early colonialists was Proverbs 29:2 - 

When the righteous are in authority , the people rejoice : but when the wicked beareth rule , the people mourn 

Big Government

With the passage and signing of the Health Care Reform Act the idea of "states rights", and the doctrine of federalism are basically dead. The Founding Fathers and the vast majority of people in this country at that time were adamantly opposed to a strong central government. They had seen the abuses of people by monarchies in Europe and wanted no part of it in their republic. The main idea of the "establishment" clause in the first amendment is to prevent the Federal government from dictating religious preferences to the states. If the Federal government can dictate your health care, and whether you carry insurance, are there any limits to its power anymore?

Read the words of a George Washington University law professor in USA Today:

"With this legislation, Congress has effectively defined an uninsured 18-year-old man in Richmond as an interstate problem like a polluting factory. It is an assertion of federal power that is inherently at odds with the original vision of the Framers. If a citizen who fails to get health insurance is an interstate problem, it is difficult to see the limiting principle as Congress seeks to impose other requirements on citizens. The ultimate question may not be how Congress can prevail, but how much of states' rights would be left if it prevailed.

There's an old saying -  Government big enough to give us anything we want is a Government big enough to take everything we have.

It's time that we, as Americans, decide to serve a sovereign God, not a sovereign government. Otherwise we will soon find ourselves in the same condition that the people who built this nation were escaping when they came here. 

Tower of Babble

Lost in all the analysis and political babble coming from Washington over the passage of the Health Care Reform Act are two simple facts - it is unconstitutional and it is un-biblical. The Constitution defines and limits the role of the Federal government to impose its will on the states. Just as the 1st amendment denies the Federal government the power to impose a religion, or restrict a religion, so the 10th amendment denies the Federal government any power not granted in the Constitution. The imposition of federally-mandated health care violates that restriction and will be challenged by several states, including Florida.

The reason the Founding Fathers sought to restrict Federal government is that they understood that God is sovereign, not government. Listen to the words of Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional convention:

"If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice (Matt 10:29), is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it' (Ps 127:1). I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel (Gen 11).

The builders of the tower of Babel wanted to "make a name for themselves" and build a world without recognizing God. God confused their language and scattered them. America is on the same path, seeking to build a government that is sovereign in every area of life from cradle to grave. By turning our back on the Constitution we have also turned our back on the concept of a sovereign God and replaced it with a sovereign government. We have no reason to expect that God will judge us any differently than the builders of Babel. 

Democracy Inaction

One of the basic tenets of a democratic society is the individual's right to vote, and the importance of that vote in the political process. Now we must confront the fact that in Gainesville, and in our Congress, people just don't want to vote. What does it tell you about the courage of our legislators in Congress when they seek to impose an unpopular and potentially disastrous health care plan on America without voting on it? What does it tell you about the apathy of voters in Gainesville when fewer than 15% go to the polls on a beautiful spring day to vote for a new mayor, the highest elected office in the city? 

Compare this to the more than 60% of Iraqis who braved suicide bombers, death threats, and sporadic gunfire to vote in their national election last week. Maybe if Americans had to live in Iraq for a while they'd take more interest in their democracy and appreciate their freedom. Ultimately we will get the government we deserve. The current situation in Washington looks like our just reward.

On the local scene the good news is that Don Marsh is in the mayoral runoff. Conventional political wisdom is that anyone who didn't vote for Craig Lowe should vote for Marsh in the runoff. Hopefully that will happen, but the turnout for the runoff will be even smaller and small turnouts lead to skewed results. 

The larger issue for Gainesville is the cost, both politically and financially, of having city elections in the spring, separate from other elections. I think we can safely say that the argument that city elections will get lost on the state/national election ballot is trumped by the fact that city elections are being ignored anyway - at great expense to city government. Unless, of course, you don't really want to know what the majority of city residents think. 

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."    Edmund Burke