Rare Jewel Insight: October 25, 2004
- "A Nation that Depends on God or Man?"
(by Tim Ewing, Publisher, Rare Jewel Magazine)
As the political-campaign season draws to a close, and especially as I reflect on the televised presidential debates, I have come to the realization that there is something terribly wrong about our nation. The original form of government of the United States of America has virtually dissolved, and as a people we are almost entirely disconnected from our unique heritage.
We were once a culture dependent on God, but are now a culture dependent on man and man's government.
It has been sickening to hear candidates (both Democrat and Republican) try to "top" each other with promises to shovel out taxpayer money: to out-do the opponent's pledges to launch new government programs and offer new means of holding our hands from cradle to grave. Incumbent candidates quote statistics about increases in government spending as if these were badges of honor!
Our nation has been degraded to the point where the President is faulted if he can't ensure enough doses of flu vaccine for all citizens! Did anyone wonder whether hurricanes would be blamed on the White House?
We've trained our candidates well?they know that most citizens in our nation base their vote on the following proposition: How will the next president solve my specific problems, relieve my personal pain, and eliminate all difficulties in my life?
And should a candidate propose that American citizens might have to endure a little personal sacrifice or pain in the name of a greater good, he or she is blown out of the water as "uncaring" and "insensitive" by their opposition and by the general media.
It's sad to say, but we have become a weak people. We have become a culture of selfishness instead of a culture of sacrifice. We have become a culture of victims instead of a culture of victors. We have become a culture of greed instead of a culture of greatness. In our selfish states we have become dependent on government instead of God.
Why? Ever since Adam and Eve, mankind has always desired to be its own god, to determine for itself by what rules societies will operate. So we, by nature, prefer to be guided by the institutions of man and his government instead of our Creator God. Our own selfishness drives us away from God's wisdom, and toward the "wisdom" of man.
The Bible tells us in James, Chapter 3, that there are two kinds of wisdom--one that is "earthly," rooted in envy and selfishness; and the better kind, which comes from heaven, is pure and marked by humility. Verse 16 reveals that "earthly wisdom" is the source of all chaos, confusion, disorder, and every evil practice.
Proverbs 14:12 reveals to us where our culture is headed when we reject God's wisdom, "There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death."
Our giant federal bureaucracy is a direct result of our desire to gather around us "teachers to say what our itching ears want to hear" (2 Timothy 4:3)--elected officeholders and appointed bureaucrats who promise the abolition of discomfort, who pander to the envious by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, and who under the guise of "freedom" promote a society void of individual responsibility and personal morality. The result: over the past few generations, a federal bureaucracy out of control and a government in disorder and chaos. All traced to our envious and selfish hearts.
The U.S. Constitution specifically limits our federal government to only a handful of responsibilities. As James Madison, author of the U.S. Constitution, wrote, "The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined."
Thomas Jefferson said, "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as government grows, liberty decreases."
Christian patriots, it is critical that we return our government to its limited form as established by the Founders, and as they foresaw as best for the health and survival of the Republic.
This will, no doubt, require sacrifice and cause us discomfort, because every one of benefits in some way from federal handouts. But we can't allow our overburdened and bankrupt government to continue in this manner--undoubtedly toward its destruction.
We have got to be willing to endure hard work, to risk our lives of comfort and our "fortunes," just as our American forefathers did, in order to save our nation. This is only possible through the work of Jesus Christ that enables us to pursue an unselfish lifestyle and Biblical worldview, according to God's wisdom, not man's. We should thus choose our candidates accordingly.
