There is a lot of talk going around, these days, about patriots, and maybe especially Christian patriots ( religious ones, anyway ) being anti-government! It is true, that in many, if not all cases, these 'patriots' have spoken out against, and maybe even actively opposed the present 'government' that has set itself up in the hallowed halls of Washington, D.C. ( District of Criminals? ), and not only that, but have sought to, and have sometimes succeeded in 'infiltrating' ( 'reasserting' might be a better term ) their local governments. I just read a long article in which one such 'standing' office-holder stated that he was 'very disturbed' by these attempts and instance! I say 'Glory, hallelujah'! If more of these office-holders were disturbed by these instance, and I believe we are seeing a very progressive trend in that respect, maybe we would see more government like our fore-fathers established, not only through the Declaration of Independence, and then the Constitution, but based firmly upon the biblical principles of self-government, of love for God, and your neighbor as yourself!
If more Americans were better at religiously, according to the above-mentioned principles, at governing themselves, there would be no need for any other government! The federal government exists ONLY, according to the Constitution, to protect the rights of those who hired them! Since we hired them, according to common sense, we can fire them as well! When anyone who has been called to such a position of power ( remember what this power is granted for! ), authority, and responsibility begins to abuse his granted rights, these 'rights' may be removed and given to someone who will exercise them more fairly, and administer them more justly. He, or she, still has rights, don't get me wrong, to exercise governance over his own property, but no man has the right to tyrannize the rights of others. If a person chooses to exercise in his own personal governance, the principle which he sought to exercise over the rights and property of others, that person has a right to do so, as long as he does no harm to another, although this would not be showing love for God, and your neighbor as yourself!
This, as I see it, is the biggest problem that we face today, as Americans, and especially as citizens of the Kingdom of God! The issue of self-government ( not anti--government, but pro-government ). I remarked to a friend recently, that we have abdicated our God-given rights, our duty, actually, to govern ourselves, and to properly administer the government of our realm, or sphere of influence. Why have we done this? How have we done this, and what motivated us to do this, you ask?! The cold comfort of the prison cell! The leeks and melons of slavery! We are ( I speak for myself, more than for anybody else ) LAZY! If someone else is willing to do something for us that we would rather not do ourselves, we are, by our very nature, more than willing to let them. Now again; please don't get me wrong: I am not saying that everyone out there reading this is lazy to the core, because there ARE many who have always exercised self-government, and justly administered their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or personal property, but it would seem that they are the exception, rather than the rule!
Our elected federal government is a reflection, like it or not, of society as a whole. If our representatives in Washington have instituted regulations that we do not like, and this is not to excuse their wicked tyrannical actions, it is because, in reality, it is what society warrants, it is what we have asked for.
Self-governance is the key, and not just any type of self-government; it must be a good, moral and ethical government, based firmly upon the principles outlined earlier, as found in Jesus' summation of God's royal law, in Matthew 22:34-40. The people of this nation have been slumbering the sleep of death, having become apathetic in their comfortable graves, but things set in motion long ago are 'happening' at last, are coming to pass, and are beginning to shake our comfortable little life behind bars! Some may feel like screaming out, 'put the prison bars back!' ( initially ), and it's not going to be an easy or smooth road back to freedom, because like we have seen, things have been percolating for many years, and it will take some time to return this nation to our founding father's blazing aspirations for it, and back to a God-honoring, God-fearing society!
Let the new reformation begin with us, let us govern ourselves in such a way that others, all around the country will see our government, and the accompanying blessings, and say, 'I want that!'
Charles Haddon Shank
2 comments:
Pro-government (self-governing). Not to say that I was never lazy in any sense. Self-governing means that you go against the majority. We ask for the government to step in each time we feel our personal rights are not gaining us anything from a worldly sense, e.g., insurance for gay-marriages is a prime example. I have no problem staying out of their business and then they go and ask the government to defend their rights. It is history repeating itself. 1 Samuel 7 And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. In reality if we as a people feel oppressed by our government because they do not listen to us it is our own undoing. It is going to take time as you say to undo what has been done and get back to a country that was idealized by our fore-fathers. We can do it. The irony is that it will require change. As you say, the change has to be first accomplished with self-governing. Only God and His commandments, found only in the WORD of God can guide us. By Reesa Mercer Walsh
In the day and age that we live in, Reesa, it is unfortunately true;if we try to ( rightly ) govern ourselves, we do go against the flow!:(
I believe we are seeing ca growing trend in this nation, especially among God's true people, even though it may seem like the end is near, and the wicked just keep getting more wicked, and 'evil' seems to rampage freely, many are seeing the 'evil' ( caused by our laziness and apathy ) and are realizing that we must govern ourselves like God has told us to, or someone else will govern us to our hurt!
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