Humanism Versus the Kingdom Part 2
This article is the sequel to the prior one dealing with the encroaching effect of “big government” on the Church of the living God. At the end of Part I, reference was made to Revelation 13 and the adversarial posture of the Roman Empire concerning the growing Church in the first century. Throughout history, many examples of resistance to God’s divine authority and rule are expressed through governmental human autonomy; in each case, collapse proved inevitable.
Essentially, a kingdom or nation behaves like a “beast” and comes under God’s judgment when it overreaches in violating divine authority in five areas outlined in scripture: individual accountability, family, business, civil government, and the Church. When governments focus on keeping civil order and punishing evil-doers, they are blessed by God (Romans 13:1-7). Still, they exceed their authority when individuals and businesses are mandated to embrace ungodly policies and laws.
How has “big government” in our country become adversarial to the Church?
- Thousands of Christian parents cannot afford to put their children in private schools with a Bible-based curriculum due to high taxes imposed to support public education. This taxation erodes funds that could be used for alternate private education and places their children in the hands of humanistic academic bureaucrats within the public school system.
- Public schools teach evolution and humanism, promote trans ideologies to children, and attempt to debunk the Scriptures; this practice continues in city and state-funded high schools and universities.
- Private Christian schools typically cannot afford to hire quality teachers or pay competitive salaries because parents cannot afford higher tuition due to high taxes. In turn, these schools usually lack high academic achievement scores.
- Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are in danger of insolvency and contribute significantly to our ever-increasing federal debt. Many retirees will face possible cutbacks in monies and services unless there is massive reform. (Our leaders need to reassess how the 15% FICA tax collected could be utilized to benefit retirees. This would entail innovative restructuring and also curtailing the government practice of funneling money away from these programs to fund other budget items. There needs to be more than the contribution of current workers to these programs to support them in the next decade due to the longevity of retirees and a smaller workforce today.
- State and federal government monies given to faith-based outreaches are meager, insufficient, and intended to pacify the Church; most funds are allocated to institutions promoting liberal values and social program agendas.
- Churches are tax-exempt but paid a high price for this privilege when in 1954, Congress approved an amendment prohibiting all 501(c)(3) organizations (including charities and churches) from engaging in any political campaign activity. According to this Johnson Amendment, churches can only remain tax-exempt if their political voice is muffled- what a tragedy!
- Those who attempt to justify the socialist tendencies of “big government” by using the nation of Israel as an example (since Israel collectively used the tithe to help the poor, fund health programs, and protect the environment) don’t understand two major things:
(a) The tithe, the poll tax, and other taxes Israel collected probably didn’t even come close to 20% of the average family’s income. So their tax burden doesn’t compare to the enormous amount middle-class families currently pay with the progressive tax structure imposed by the IRS. Jesus said: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The tithe and first fruits belong to God; any nation that extracts more than the tithe (10%) becomes a rival kingdom to the Kingdom of God, according to 1 Samuel 8:10-18. (Please note: I am not opposed to paying taxes to the state. What I am opposed to is the progressive tax structure that is nothing more than the Marxist policy of the redistribution of wealth! We must obey the scriptures and pay our taxes even if we disagree with the law. But we must work hard to gradually change the tax structure by training political leaders with a Christian worldview.)
(b) The collective economy and politics of the state of Israel were only blessed because they were a theocracy under Jehovah. They were judged the moment they turned to the worship of false gods. Therefore, using Israel as an example of a country with nationalized social programs misses the point. Even if their taxation rate was as high as the United States, they were not humanistic in the days of their prosperity–they were monotheistic! Adjusting the tax rate is a minor problem compared to the rival religious system our nation has set up.
In summary, if our nation was to align itself again to godly principles espoused by the first four of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 (using these same principles as the Founding Fathers did in protecting us from federal intrusion, exemplified by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution) and base our laws on the last six of the Ten Commandments, then this nation will enjoy the blessing of God and will secure our place as a superpower for generations to come!
In understanding the call of God for His covenant people, the Church, to influence the created order (Genesis 1:28), we must conclude that either the kingdom of men or the Kingdom of God will prevail to influence the culture of any nation. There is no such thing as political and ideological neutrality! Whereas Cain built a city after he fell away from God, the City of God, built and made by Him, comes progressively down from heaven. This occurs until the final consummation at Christ’s bodily return, having the glory of God from which Christ and His Bride will rule and reign over all. Presently the Church participates with Christ Jesus in the renewal of all things as a “prophetic witness” to propagate the Gospel and serve humanity for flourishing in every realm of life!
Choose today whom you will have allegiance to, Caesar or Christ. It cannot be both!
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