Can you see it coming? Have you ever heard about the ‘Democracy Countdown?’ How long do you think the church and our nation has to stop the landslide away from God and righteousness? Consider the following:
About the time our original thirteen states adopted the constitution of the new Republic in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish History professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic back in the 1500’s.
“A democracy is always temporary in nature: it simply cannot exist as a permanent form, of government. A democracy will exist until the time the voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations for the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.
During those 200 years those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith
From spiritual faith to great courage
From great courage to liberty
From liberty to abundance
From abundance to complacency
From, complacency to apathy
* From apathy to dependence
From dependence back into bondage.
For an up-to-date example of dependence, consider a report that more than 40% of the population of the U.S.A. is now dependent upon our government for subsidy of some kind.
Compare this information to your knowledge of “the end times.” The overwhelming baseline understanding is that the increasing decline in believing in God as the Lord of all men, is clear evidence that God is setting the stage of human history for His return and the end of time as we know it.
Christians, this is our time!
It’s time to aggressively address the issues of unrighteousness in our own lives, our homes, our schools, and our towns/cities… “And do not fear their intimation, and do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. ALWAYS BEING READY TO MAKE A DEFENSE TO EVERYONE WHO ASKS YOU TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT FOR THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU.” (I Peter 3:14,15)
*Indicates the place the “experts” believe most identifies where the U.S.A. is in this sequence.
Paul Bersche
Filed under: Cultural Mandate
Jesus always engaged the culture. We must do the same. No arena is more important than government and politics. We are commanded to “…obey government, for God is the one who put it there…so, those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow…so you must obey the government for two reasons: to keep from being punished and to keep a clear conscience.” (Romans 13: 1-5)
Our cultural mandate is the same as Jesus’. We must play an important role in the political structure of government – working tirelessly for justice, calling leadership to accountability and responsibility, and being the conscience of our communities as the circumstances dictate. That is why you will occasionally be informed of certain community and national issues about which we believe you should express your voice.
Since we are “ citizens of another kingdom” our concerns are His concerns.
As Christians, we interpret life through the scriptures as being the source of “life and godliness.” Therefore, we believe in the Person, Principles, and Purpose of God as stated in the Bible. Our politics is a system of values and beliefs established by God, for God and the common good of all people. These we espouse and wholeheartedly support.
Augustine said, “ Christians are to be the best citizens: what others do only because the law demands it, we do out of love for God.”
On the other hand, politics as defined and practiced in our 21st century culture is a system of values and beliefs established by man for the self-interests of man and the political party they represent. While Christians, like the Christ we follow, espouse and support a system designed for the advancement of all the people, others espouse and support a system designed for gaining and maintaining power over the people they say they care so much about.
Therefore, the people of God must approach the political arena with sensitivity and integrity!
We must at all costs, stand apart from any “party” publicly. We stand, first and foremost, with and for God and His Principles and Purpose. Our own political party preference can and should be expressed every time we have opportunity to vote.” But we must never fear “to speak the truth in love” about the moral issues that break the heart of God. Our best source for initiating conversations for change in our culture is the Bible, the word of the living God. Our ability to translate and interpret the scriptures for application to the crucial issues facing our culture is essential. We must learn to see the world through God’s perspective and become adept at giving answers for the issues.. Our peace, grace under fire, and love of all people for Jesus,’ sake will ultimately cause people to follow us to Him.
Paul Bersche
In America, we are challenged to obey a strict separation of church and state. That is, the state should not establish and/or espouse a state church, or restrict the free exercise of religion.
However, that does not mean a separation of religion from public life.
The public square, the marketplace of commerce, education, entertainment, government, and media desperately needs religious influence.
The principle is freedom Of
religion in all areas of life,
not freedom FROM religion
in all those same areas.
History confirms that Christianity has played a critical role in shaping the very institutions the experts now declare are essential to the health and well-being of a successful community.
Without knowing it, the governmental groups assigned to choose America’s Top One Hundred Cities to live in, use the same seven criteria that God uses in Isaiah 65; Religion, Family, Education, Business, Government, Media and Arts/Entertainment.
In addition, there is recognition of how each selected community respects the ordained sphere of influence of each area, assuring the community that the self government that makes them exemplary, will be maintained.
That is because there is still a strong consensus, though fading more rapidly than they may acknowledge, that a moral code established upon religious truth and faith, under girds American society.
It can be historically confirmed that in no case in history has a nation ever survived without a moral code, and furthermore, that moral code was established upon religious truth and faith.
Nevertheless, the church must be “wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove” in our approach toward a public role in government and politics.
We must never be cast in a role that can be construed to politicize our Christianity. On the other hand, we must never fear to speak boldly from the pulpit, in the public square, or the press about our moral concerns. Christians individually, and through organizations must engage in the political process, especially as it calls political leadership, local and federal, to accountability and responsibility to the moral standards established in the Scriptures. In addition, we welcome the opportunity to be exemplary Authentic Christians within our sphere of influence.
Paul Bersche
The Bible is clear. God is the sovereign Lord of the universe, the earth, the people, and everything else in it! That includes all governments, governing policies, and those elected or appointed to govern.
Our present three Presidential candidates, on the other hand, demonstrate by their speeches and voting records in Congress and the Senate, that they believe government is God, and therefore is sovereign over man. Socialistic Dictators and Monarchies believe that also.
For the first time in American History all of the acknowledged candidates adhere to governing philosophies, and policies that appear to be in sync with the idea of expanding governmental control, and therefore, assuming the role of a God, who chooses to restrict the personal responsibility, accountability, and freedoms of the people they desire to lead.
Remember that the fundamental difference between this socialistic way of thinking, and what God revealed to our very mortal forefathers, is the simple truth that God is the only sovereign over all the affairs of man. It is this system, devised after the plan of God for governing the universe, that requires responsibility and accountability that, in turn releases the increase of freedom to the people.
In 1964, Ronald Reagan made the following prediction about the future of the United States of America .
He said, “You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.
We will preserve for our children this, the last and best hope of man on the earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.”
I agree! But, how did we get to this point? The following true story is a profound example of how that has happened, and will continue, until the saints of the living God rise up in fervent prayer and Holy Spirit directed activity.
A Chemistry professor in a large university had some exchange students in his class. One day the professor noticed one of the male exchange students trying to rub his back and stretch to apparently relieve the pain. When asked about it, the student replied that he had a bullet in his back from being shot during a “fire-fight” with the communists in his country. The communists were trying to take control of the country. Just then the student stopped and asked the professor a strange question. “Do you know how to catch wild pigs”?
The young man continued. “You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods to put a lot of corn on the ground. The wild pigs come to eat the free corn. Once they are used to eating the free corn, you put a fence down one side of the space where they are eating. They get used to it and go on eating.
The pattern continues until you put up the fourth side of the fence with a gate in it. The wild pigs go in to eat again, and you close the gate. And…you have caught the whole herd. Suddenly the pigs realize they can’t get out.
Initially, they run around and around frantically, but soon settle down and return to eating the free corn. They have now accepted their captivity!
“Here is the point” he said. “That is exactly what is happening here in America . The government keeps pushing us toward socialism by continuing to spread-out the free corn: supplemental incomes, tax credits for unearned income, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments to farmers to not plant crops, welfare, universal health care, drugs, etc, while we keep losing our freedoms-just a little bit at a time. And we get used to our captivity.”
What a profound story. Can you see it? Will you accept the challenge to pray? Will you ask God where you fit in to help change it? I believe we are on the verge of our destiny as a nation, as a community, and as a Church. We can choose a powerful move of God that will bring thousands to Christ, accentuated with miracles of healing, or… the years of darkness Reagan spoke of.
Take up the challenge. Pray! Ask God for guidance about YOUR role in resisting the philosophical “capture” of our nation. What will He have you to do to resist being a victim and a captive. Though we may not change the world, we CAN bring change to The Crossing and our Community. Let’s lead the way for many people to follow us in Crossing into Hope and…Living Forward .
Paul Bersche
Can you see it coming? Have you ever heard about the ‘Democracy Countdown?’ How long do you think the church and our nation has to stop the landslide away from God and righteousness? Consider the following:
About the time our original thirteen states adopted the constitution of the new Republic in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish History professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic back in the 1500’s.
“A democracy is always temporary in nature: it simply cannot exist as a permanent form, of government. A democracy will exist until the time the voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”
The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations for the beginning of history, has been about 200 years.
During those 200 years those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith
From spiritual faith to great courage
From great courage to liberty
From liberty to abundance
From abundance to complacency
From, complacency to apathy
* From apathy to dependence
From dependence back into bondage.
For an up-to-date example of dependence, consider a report that more than 40% of the population of the U.S.A. is now dependent upon our government for subsidy of some kind.
Compare this information to your knowledge of “the end times.” The overwhelming baseline understanding is that the increasing decline in believing in God as the Lord of all men, is clear evidence that God is setting the stage of human history for His return and the end of time as we know it.
Christians, this is our time!
It’s time to aggressively address the issues of unrighteousness in our own lives, our homes, our schools, and our towns/cities… “And do not fear their intimation, and do not be troubled. But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. ALWAYS BEING READY TO MAKE A DEFENSE TO EVERYONE WHO ASKS YOU TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT FOR THE HOPE THAT IS IN YOU.” (I Peter 3:14,15)
*Indicates the place the “experts” believe most identifies where the U.S.A. is in this sequence.
Paul Bersche
UNDERSTANDING GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
“United We Stand. Divided We Fall.” This often quoted expression is used to rally the troops in the military, sports, families, and even politics. The saying has its roots in something Jesus said while discussing the success of marriage with his disciples, “A house, or a city, divided against itself is doomed to fall.”
It appears that as individuals, families, cities, and even as a nation, we are rapidly moving toward that compromised position of such serious division among us, that we are showing obvious signs of falling.
We seem to exemplify something more akin to “out of one – many individuals,” rather than “out of many – one.” The “every man for himself” attitude seems to fit the mindset of the present culture which is increasingly more dependent upon the government for the answers to all our life needs.
The more dependent we are on government programs to care for our life needs, the less we will depend upon God, our Church, and ourselves for all those needs.
This will inevitably lead to total dependence upon the government as our supply and care giver, which will ALMOST UNNOTICABLY LEAD US INTO socialism and ULTIMATELY dictatorship.
The people of God, Christians, must cooperate together in family, neighborhood, and Church gatherings, to understand these issues and become “the salt of the earth.”
It doesn’t have to be spectacular nor offensive, but graciously expressing His Word and ways as the originally intended way to govern the world.
It is Influence through Genuine Friendship and Impact through Reasonable Righteous thinking and sharing, that will lead to opportunities to Impart the Truth of God that will bring people one by one into the kingdom of God’s righteousness.
This is the way to stop Satan in his tracks.
His desire is to kill, steal and destroy the power and influence of the Word of God and the people of God in the world. It is time to take responsibility for each person the Holy Spirit brings into your life, to find ways to offer God’s alternative to what THE INTELLECTUALS AND “EXPERTS” ARE THINKING AND SAYING.
God has vested His Life, Love and Truth in each Christian, and all of us are His Church, His divinely appointed source and force for change in our world. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5,6
Paul Bersche