If I look happy. . .

It's because I am
Though joyful and blessed might be more accurate.

If you have not seen the movie Amazing Grace, I highly recommend it; from a historical and cinematic perspective, it is very well done.  From a worldview perspective, it defines and illustrates a view of God that has almost entirely escaped the Christian Church today.  This post is not about the movie though.  It is about the Truth the movie portrays, because we are missing it.

For those of you who do not know the story, William Wilberforce is a young, brilliant politician who is quickly rising to greatness.  At the time he is “offered a place in the world”, he also feels the call of God on his life, and begins considering a life of full-time ministry, rather than politics, thinking he cannot serve God as well if he is a politician.  At the crucial point of his decision, Wilberforce is visited by a group of men and women who share his growing concern for the slave trade.  Many of them are pastors.  Remember that most of them are pastors; it’s important.  It is here that Hollywood captures what the Church is missing.  These men and women portray the evils of slavery to Wilberforce, and say one thing:  “You are having difficulty deciding, sir, whether to do the work of God, or of a political activist.  We humbly suggest, you can do both.” 

Both.  The work of God can also be the work of a political activist.  Not because laws change hearts, or because God “needs” us to do it, but because a true Christian has such a love for God that his faith cannot but help touch every area of life.  Because a true Christian believes so firmly in the sovereignty of God that he cannot help but realize God must, by definition of His sovereignty, have overriding principles for law and government.  Because a true Christian feels so deeply the importance of following all Christ’s commands that he cannot but help obey in government and law.  Because a true Christian realizes that failure to follow God’s commands is sin, and desires to flee sin so strongly that he seeks to follow all of God’s commands, even in government and law.  Because love characterizes a true Christian, and love for God necessarily equals joy at seeing His truth in every area, and love for others necessitates not ignoring the very real consequences that falsehood in our legal and governmental systems create. 

Yet do we realize this?  Certainly, we acknowledge God is sovereign.  Certainly, we say we are to follow everything He commanded.  Surely, we acknowledge the role of the local church is to equip believers to do just that.  Surely, we know each person in the body fulfills a different role, and should be supported in that work.  But do we act like it?

I have a good friend of mine who recently left the protestant churches and began attending Catholic services, but not for reasons of doctrine.  It was because he was a Christian attorney, fighting to uphold Biblical principles in our legal and governmental systems, and received no support from the Church.  After years of battling alone, trying to sound the warning cry to believers, he switched to a body that is active in social issues like abortion and marriage.  When asked his reasoning, he said “If Christians cannot stand for Christ in law and politics, in issues of life and marriage, how can I believe their faith really matters to them?  If they cannot stand for life and marriage, what else will they compromise?”  Regardless of how much I disagree with the switch, that grieves me, because he is right.  If our faith does not affect our views on life, and family, and marriage, and we care so little that we never act, how much can we really be said to hold those views?  If you do not care enough to do something about it, you do not care enough.  In Wilberforce’s day, the pastors, including great men of faith like John Newton, encouraged involvement in the political and legal processes, because they realized that Christ’s truth is not confined to the walls of the church, or home, and extends far beyond the gospel, and personal morality.  Today, Christian attorneys and Statesman are fortunate if they are not shunned by the church, much less receiving active support. 

In Wilberforce’s day, pastors were instrumental in teaching Christians how the Bible applies to the legal and political issues they were facing; the result was a comprehensive view of Christianity.  Today??  How are we doing equipping our children to face the worldview issues of today?

I recently substitute taught a Christian civics class of about 30 students, and taught several more at a Christian worldview camp over the summer.  Before I lectured I asked this question:  “How many of you feel you have been prepared by your local church to follow God’s commands in the legal or political arena?”  Not one hand went up.  Out of all those students, God forgive us, not one hand went up.  I then went through the 10 major areas that compromise a worldview, all areas students will face in every day life: theology, ethics, philosophy, psychology, sociology, biology (science), law, government, history, and economics, and I asked them two more questions: 

1.  In your church, would this area be viewed as “sacred”, meaning God’s commands apply and you should learn what He says, or “secular”, meaning it has less importance for a Christian, and God’s commands really don’t apply? 

Other than categorizing theology as sacred, every student, without exception, gave me the same answer.  Secular.  “In my church, this would be, in practicality, treated as secular.” 

Then I asked one more question:

2.  Have you ever heard any teaching from your church about God’s commands in this area, or been taught how to stand for truth, and recognize deception in this area?

Without exception, they said “no.”  God forgive us.  Each student told me they had never been taught any Biblical principles for 80-90 percent of what they will deal with every single day, and never given instruction on recognizing, or confronting, deception.

Please understand I am not minimizing the importance of witnessing, or personal morality, at all.  They are Biblical commands, and true love for God requires them.  But does not love for God require faithfulness in each of these areas as well?  Are some of God’s commands “less” important than others?  Is it “less” a sin to fail in one of these areas than in another?  No, we will not all be called to work in politics, or law, or economics, but as Christians living in the world, we will confront them, and deal with them on a daily basis, whether it is discussions with co-workers, personal choices on how to vote, or endeavoring not to be swept away by cunning statements in the university.  And we are entirely unprepared.  And we pay the price daily.  I know a lot of Christian students going into counseling.  I hope to God their church prepared them to understand and defend a Biblical worldview of psychology and counseling, because if they didn’t, not only will those students be taken captive by vain and deceptive philosophy, they will apply and counsel from that same philosophy.  Each person they touch they will influence either with truth, or with humanistic reasoning.

I know several others going into law, and government, and I hope to God their church taught them the Biblical view of law and government, so that when they fight cases, counsel clients, vote on legislation, and make legislative or judicial decisions, the next generation reaps the benefits, not the consequences.

Certainly, churches will often tell their congregation to vote.  But have they given them Biblical principles for how to vote?  Surely, pastors encourage students in areas like purity, and righteousness, but have they taught them how to stand against philosophical concepts like relativism?  If not, should we be surprised that students are entirely unprepared to stand by, or explain, any type of moral absolute?  Certainly, many pastors acknowledge that God cares about politics, but do they then encourage others to get involved, give them opportunities to do so, or support those that do?  Based on personal experience, no.  When major legislative efforts were underway to make headway on abortion and marriage in MI, which required a massive number of signatures in order to put it to a vote, personal calls were made to every pastor in the surrounding area to meet to explain how they could help gather the necessary signature from their congregation.  Out of the dozens and dozens of conservative churches in our area and its surrounding, I can count on one hand the number of pastors who were even interested in discussing it.  Many wouldn’t even take 60 seconds to sign it, much less give their congregation a chance to.  It didn’t fit in “church” ministry.  So much for helping the body of Christ work in the different areas to which they are called.  So much for the practical outworking of the Biblical truth of man made in God’s image, and the sacredness of life.  If “Christians” sin by paying lip service to a beggar, instead of giving him food and clothing, how much more do we sin by paying lip service to life, and never standing to defend it?

The director of Amazing Grace said something very interesting about William Wilberforce.  He said “Even though he was a devout Christian, he was involved in politics, able to make alliances and change things for the better.”  Catch anything interesting in that quote?  The first two words made me want to cry.  Even though he was a Christian, he was capable of using the political process to change things for the better.  As someone testified about him “I never saw anyone who touched life at so many points”.  How is it that the world recognizes being a Christian, and changing things for the better through law and government are generally mutually exclusive ideas???  For shame Christians!!  For shame!  And as for touching life at many points, how are we really doing?  Oh, we can go on and on about church government, and personal morality, and family structure, and even friendships, but do we touch any of the areas of life that affect society as a whole?  When we make daily decisions in them, or form views on them, are they in accordance with, or in opposition to, Christ?  And if they are not in accordance with Him, do we really realize what a sin that is?  Do we even come close to comprehending what a price is paid when God is pushed out?  There are only two options; our choices must be one or the other, and whichever way we go, there will be consequences. 

So what do we do?  First, personal responsibility.  In whatever area you are studying, are you making a serious effort to understand Biblical principles?  Are you equipping yourself to think through current issues and form Biblical opinions?  Are you able to represent those principles to others in discussions?  Are there opportunities to help in those areas?  Godly leaders don’t get elected on accident folks, we need help getting them there.  And truth doesn't just "appear" in whatever field God has called you to, people have to shine it.

If you are a parent, are you ready to teach your child ALL of God’s truth?  Are you ready to help them face current events with Biblical truth firmly grounded in them? 

And if you are in a position to be a spiritual leader, are you remembering, “A platonic concept of spirituality which does not include all of life is not true Biblical spirituality. True spirituality touches all of life, including things of government and law, and not just "religious" things.”

And then act on it.  Christians don’t get equipped by accident either.  If you really believe Christians are to follow God's commands in every area of life, and you really believe the local church is to equip believers, you don't have a choice.

Remember

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. . . when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. . .

. . . for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Perhaps it would wise for us to not only remember what we have been given, but why for, as the Psalmist correctly reminded us “if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”.  These words penned in our Declaration were not abstract thoughts or nice-sounding ideas.  They were principles worth dying for.  When our Founders pledged their “lives, liberty, and sacred honor” for these principles, they meant it.  Should we hope to retain the blessing we have been given, we must understand and be willing to fight for not just the ideas, but their foundation.  Perhaps on the 4^th we should read not just our rights, but what underpinned them.

In 1950, the Florida Supreme Court declared:

A people unschooled about the sovereignty of God, the Ten Commandments, and the ethics of Jesus, could never have evolved the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution. There is not one solitary fundamental principle of our democratic policy that did not stem directly from the basic moral concepts as embodied in the Decalogue......

President Truman admonished:

The fundamental basis of this nation's laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don't think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don't have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State.

“The Decalogue [Ten Commandments] are addressed to each and every person. This is the origin of our common humanity and of the sanctity of the individual. Each one has a duty to try to carry out those commandments...If you accept freedom, you've got to have principles about the responsibility. You can't do this without a biblical foundation. Your Founding Fathers came over with that. They came over with the doctrines of the New Testament as well as the Old. They looked after one another, not only as a matter of necessity, but as a matter of duty to their God. There is no other country in the world which started that way.”

- Margaret Thatcher, February 5, 1996

Did you know that the Bible, especially the book of Deuteronomy, contributed 34% of all quotations used by our 55 Founding Fathers.

" ‘Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty,’ in matters spiritual and temporal, is a thing that all men are clearly entitled to by the eternal and immutable laws of God and nature, as well as by the law of nations and all well-grounded municipal laws, which must have their foundation in the former.”

- Samuel Adams, “The Rights of the Colonists as Men,” November 20, 1772

“The right to freedom being the gift of God Almighty. . .may best be understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of The Great Law Giver and the Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.”

- Samuel Adams, “The Rights of the Colonists as Men,” November 20, 1772

George Washington

“Almighty God, and most merciful Father, who didst command the children of Israel. . .I beseech Thee, my sins, remove them from Thy presence as far as the east is from the west, and accept of me for the merits of Thy Son, Jesus Christ. . .”

“O most Glorious God, in Jesus Christ my merciful and loving Father, I acknowledge and confess my guilt. . .I have called on Thee for pardon and forgiveness. . .Let me live according to those holy rules which Thou has this day prescribed in Thy holy word; make me know what it acceptable in Thy sight, and therein to delight, open the eyes of my understanding, and help me thoroughly to examine myself concerning my knowledge, faith and repentance, increase my faith, and direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life. .”

“O Lord our God. . .Bless the people of this land, be a Father to the fatherless, a Comforter to the comfortless, a Deliverer to the captives, and a Physician to the sick. . .Be our Guide this day and forever through Jesus Christ. . .”

“bless, O Lord, all the people of this land, from the highest to the lowest, particularly those whom Thou hast appointed to rule over us in church and state.”

- All the above excerpts from Washington’s personal prayer diary, found among his papers in 1891, written in his own hand and questioned by no historian.

Benjamin Franklin

“That I may be preserved from atheism. . .and in my addressed to Thee carefully avoid irreverence and ostentation, formality and odious hypocrisy, help me O Father.” 

“Doctrines to be preached:

That there is one God Father of the Universe.

That He [is] infinitely good.

That He is omnipresent.

That He ought to be worshipped, by adoration prayer and thanksgiving, both in publick sic and private.”

All the above written by Benjamin Franklin in his paper Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion.

“I have lived sirs, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men.  And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that “except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.”  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.”

-Benjamin Franklin, Constitutional Convention, Thursday, June 28, 1787

Aug 11, 1776 Philadelphia State House, one week after signing our Declaration

We have explored the temple of royalty, and found that the idol that we have bowed down to has eyes which see not, ears that hear not our prayers, and a heart like the nether millstone.  But we have this day restored the Sovereign, to whom alone all men ought to be obedient.  He reigns in the heaven, and with the propitious eye beholds His subjects, assuming that freedom of thought and dignity of self direction which He bestowed upon them.  From the rising to the setting sun, may His kingdom come.

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free

And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me

And I gladly stand up, next to you, and defend her still today

For their ain't no doubt I love this land, no doubt I love this land

God bless the U.S.A!!!!

63 years ago today,