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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment

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of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today,

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I want to ask you, has God declared the American church absent without leave in the war for the

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gospel as it's applied to society, culture, and government? Where is the church to be found

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regarding the issue of life and death? Those things that matter to the gospel and her Lord,

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those which formed and shaped the American Republic at her founding. All around us,

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America is descending into chaos, decay, and tyranny, isn't she? And her churches are silent.

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Our hard-won liberties are disappearing. Our heritage of personal freedom is being stolen,

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and the opportunities for rugged individualism are undermined by federal dependence,

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and the church is deaf and dumb. Those who rule over us disregard the Constitution daily. They

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govern lawlessly, and they have one standard of law for themselves and another for us. The churches

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are silent. International banks and federal governments steal from us, egregiously violating

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the Eighth Commandment as they tax burdensomely, borrow against the future, and inflate our currency.

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The church says nothing. The American flag is figuratively blood-soaked from her wars,

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her abortions, and her cynical grasping after power in bloody plot after bloody false flag incident.

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And the church is absent without leave. Example after example can be given to show that the American

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church is absent without leave. When it counts the most, Christians are to be the opposite of what

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they are today in their culture. I emphasize, in our culture. For example, we are to be salt and

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light in our world. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exhorts us to have a profound impact upon our world

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around us on behalf of the gospel. He says, you are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its

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taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out

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and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden,

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nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all

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in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works

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and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Well, this witness of salt and light, salt as a

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preservative against corruption, and light as the illuminator of the right way, this witness of salt

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and light is not constricted to the confines of church and family either, dear listener, but rather

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the whole world, including culture, society, and politics. The church does not live in a hermetically

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sealed container from government and society. No, the light of the gospel will shine upon both

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institutions. In fact, she has now done that for over 2,000 years. In fact, our founders were fond of

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using this metaphor of light to describe America exactly. John Winthrop, for example, who was the leader

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of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century, he declared,

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we shall be as a city set upon a hill, the eyes of all people upon us, unquote. And that metaphor has

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characterized us ever since, until recently. Oh, and as well, dear listener, we are to submit to

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authorities as they exercise justice amongst us, distinguishing between right and wrong. Yes,

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we are to submit to authorities as they exercise justice amongst us, distinguishing between right

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and wrong. The apostle Paul is very clear as to what our attitude towards human government should

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be. He says in Romans chapter 13, let every person be subject to the governing authorities,

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for there is no authority except from God. And those that exist have been instituted by God,

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right? All through this passage, and that includes seven verses, there is an implicit understanding

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that magistrates distinguish between good and bad conduct, right? Rulers are not a terror to good

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conduct, but to bad, Paul says. Do what is good, and you will receive his approval, that is the magistrates,

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for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword

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in vain. Oh, what is the Christian to do, though, when the magistrate demands bad conduct, and he

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demands unjust behavior of his subjects? Further, what do you suppose Paul had in mind as a standard

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for good and bad? The just and the unjust. What standard do you think? Well, I suggest to you it was

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indeed the Bible and God's standard of justice. Yes, in subsequent lessons, we'll expand our interpretation

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of this passage. What's been so much abused and misinterpreted by the contemporary American

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church, but for now know that it has been employed by pastors and churches as a counsel of weakness,

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Romans 13. In fact, this is one of the prime reasons for the loss of America, as we have known

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her. For example, number one, the American church has counseled a passive non-involvement

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or uncritical submission to government. Oh, the American church, of which we are a part,

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the American church has counseled a passive non-involvement or uncritical submission to

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government. Owing to a misinterpretation of Romans 13, and it's being made the one and only absolute

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text that deals with the Christian and his relationship to government, American Christians

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have adopted a kind of, oh, well, what can we do about it, attitude in the face of tyranny and

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injustice. According to this mode of thinking, we are to be content to preach the gospel and not soil

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the garments of the gospel with politics and society and wait for the deliverance brought by the

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pre-tribulational rapture of the church, right? Oh, these attitudes have been effectively popularized

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and articulated by men like radio preacher J. Vernon McGee, a beloved commentator. I love him

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myself, but he's wrong here. But this was not the intent of Paul in this scripture. Nowhere was there

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an unconditional submission to authority required to government any more than to masters or parents or

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husbands in the following verses, all of which deal with authority, a being under authority. Whenever those

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in authority require those under authority to do evil, it is the responsibility of those under authority

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to resist that authority. That indeed is implicit through all of this chapter. Joseph resisted

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Potiphar's wife, for example. Nathan resisted David in the matter of Bathsheba. Shadrach, Meshach,

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and Abednego resisted Nebuchadnezzar and his demands for idolatry. Daniel resisted Darius in his worship,

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and Peter resisted the ruling body of the Sanhedrin with the words, we must obey God rather than men.

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Oh, but the American church, the American church has effectively turned off its conscience in this

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area. Those under authority are to be obedient to God first in their marriages, families, and churches,

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but not under government, right? When it comes to civil government, God has ceded his authority

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wholesale to government, according to these teachers. We obey authority in the home and church.

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We do this conditionally, that is, as long as it does not violate the will and the law of God.

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But when it does, we resist that authority. Like, for example, just using the example of wives and

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daughters being forced to have an abortion by their husband, for example. But we are expected to obey

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civil authority unconditionally. We are expected to passively turn a blind eye to tyranny or bloodshed

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or corruption. And when asked why, the American Christian mouths unthinkingly, let every person

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be subject to the governing authorities, right? From Romans 13. Oh, dear Christian, it's not always been

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so. No, the English pastor Samuel Rutherford, from whom the founders drank deeply too, by the way,

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he noted in his classic book, Lex Rex, that is, the law is king, right? He says, and I quote him

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extensively, he says, God has given no absolute and unlimited power to a king above the law. When a

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magistrate does anything by violence and outside of law, insofar doing against his office, he is not

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a magistrate. Then that power by which he does these things is not of God. None do resist the ordinance

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of God who resists the king in tyrannous acts. Therefore, an unjust king as unjust is not that genuine

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ordinance of God. And so we may resist the injustice of the king and not resist the king. If any cast off

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the nature of a king and become habitually a tyrant, he is not from God. If the office of a tyrant be

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contrary to a king's office, it is not from God. And so neither is the power from God, unquote. Well,

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this was the understanding of King George III by our founding fathers. Without it, without that

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understanding, the modern evangelical church would have none of the liberties they now have to worship

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and to evangelize and express their non-biblical views. With the modern understanding of Romans 13,

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now extant in the evangelical church, why George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison

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would have had to conclude the Declaration of Independence with something like this,

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and there's nothing we can do about the tyranny of Parliament and King George,

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as the Apostle Paul says, let every person be subject to the governing authorities,

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and we would have no America. So, therefore, to me, this is the chief reason that the American church

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is absent without leave in the current disintegration of our republic. But there are other reasons, too.

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For example, reason number two, oh, church in America, you are the church of silence. Yes,

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this is another reason that freedom and liberty and Christianity are disintegrating in this country.

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We are the church of silence. The wisest of all men, King Solomon says eloquently,

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for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven, a time to keep silence,

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a time to speak. Oh, church of America, you who speaks with the voice and the authority of the

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gospel of your master, Jesus Christ, it is time to shout from the rooftops, in every street and alley,

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from every pulpit and media microphone. Stop serving the beast, the antichrist of the federal

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Leviathan. Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

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We will have no king but Christ. Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

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Call these things from the rooftops. Awaken people. If, as Edmund Burke observed,

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the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for the good men to do nothing well,

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then it's no wonder that evil triumphs in America, because her churches do nothing against the

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aggressive encroachments of evil in our day. For example, the church's eschatology deceives and

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distracts and hypnotizes her. The idea that the beast and the antichrist won't appear until after the

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rapture. Our government is good, ordained by God. I must be subject to it. Or the American church's

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Anabaptist pacifist theology effectively neutralizes the church. That is, we're not to

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soil the gamut of the gospel with culture, politics, and society. No, we're above this. Oh, just preach

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the gospel and wait for the rapture. That line of thinking has brought us to our knees. Or the American

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church's inability and incompetence and cowardice in applying the law, the ethic, and morality of the

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Bible to culture, politics, and society. This ineffectiveness has rendered the American church

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impotent and blind in the continuous rise of evil in America. All of these have contributed to

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silencing the prophetic voice of the American church. And then also, number three, old church of

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America, you are the church of blood. The church of blood. One of the first reasons that God brings

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judgment on a nation is for taking of innocent life and the concomitant sin of sparing the guilty.

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The Old Testament metaphor for this situation is the shedding of innocent blood. Judgment came upon

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Israel because she would acquit the guilty for a bribe, as Isaiah says, and deprive the innocent of

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his right. Oh, it was in Israel, as it is in America today, when justice is required. Ecclesiastes 8.11

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says, because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children

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of man is fully set to do evil. Make no mistake, American Christian, God hates and judges nations

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with blood on their hands. Jeremiah 22.17 says, but you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain,

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for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence, unquote. Surely this

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came upon Judah at the command of the Lord to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh,

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second King says, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed,

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for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon, unquote. Second Kings 24.

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Dear Church of America, you have been complicit in the shedding of innocent blood with your lukewarm

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response to abortion, or the needless wars of conquest, or the inability to hold murdering magistrates

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accountable in the halls of justice. Church of America, if there were a true church here,

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abortion would be a bloody blot upon our collective memory, full of shame and regret, not an ever-present

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reality yet today. The recent Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade is an important step

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towards ending this bloody chapter in our history, but it must be followed up by an aggressive campaign

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by the church to extend mercy and help to pregnant women, for example, who need support, as well as

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then doing legal and cultural steps to counter the evil advocates of abortion all over America.

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How many more millions of rivers of innocent blood must be shed, dear listener, like the child

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sacrifices of Israel before we say enough, or before God then finally requites every drop of blood shed

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by us, and he requites it in judgment upon us? And as well, O Church of America, how many more wars of

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conquest with no national interest at stake must we engage in before the church says enough? There is a time

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for war, as Ecclesiastes says, but also a time for peace. O Church of America, if there were a true church

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here, when will we demand the exacting of justice upon our murdering magistrates for their shedding of

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innocent blood? When will the Clintons be held accountable for their murders? When will the federal

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government be held accountable for the deaths of our veterans at the VA? The deliberate cynical death

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panel debacle of Obamacare? Or the CDC's cynical experimentation upon the American people?

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When will this and those responsible for the death of Ashley Babbitt, for example, at the Capitol,

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remember on January 6th, when will they be brought to justice? And when will the alphabet agencies of the

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federal government be held accountable for the poisoning of our food, our air, and our water? On and on we

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could go. Justice must be done. With a clear understanding of biblical law and morality and

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ethics, the church should be shouting with the prophets, purge the guilt of innocent blood from

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Israel so that it may be well with you, right? And then as well, O Church of America, you are the

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church of pluralism too. You have lost your way in world religions. America was not founded as a

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pluralistic nation in which all religions were held to be equally good and beneficial to the republic.

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As Thomas Jefferson says, he says, we owe our liberty not to the Constitution, but to the commandments

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of the Bible upon which it, that is the Constitution, is based, unquote. Many other citations could be

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mustered to demonstrate that our founding fathers, at least they understood that, as John Adams says,

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our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is entirely unsuited to any

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other, unquote. Well, that moral and ethic was understood to be a Christian moral and ethic,

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dear listener. Other religions were to be tolerated and practiced by their practitioners as long as they

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were consistent with the principles of liberty given in the Bible. This encompassed the wide spectrum of

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Christian denominations, then extant in America, but it did not include the virulent, evil atheism of

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today, or the wicked secularism that wars against Christianity today, or the utterly incompatible

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jihadist Islam that is quickly supplanting Christianity as the religion that dictates culture, society,

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and politics. Oh, dear listener, tolerance and pluralism have been severed from their Christian

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roots and twisted to elevate anything that destroys Christianity, but which, excuse me, simultaneously

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gags and silences the Christian. Church of America, when will you find your right mind and your clear

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voice to re-articulate biblical law, morality, and ethic on behalf of the nation? If we continue

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to move our national culture, society, and politics away from its Christian mooring,

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then we will make of America what we are seeing today, a politically correct, brainwashed nation

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in which true tolerance and pluralism is transformed into the Maoist, Stalinist groupthink we see

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materializing before us. And then finally, number five, the church in destroying America, the church

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counsels cowardice in resisting the state. Yes, once again, I cannot help but return to this theme,

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the church counsels cowardice in resisting the state. Oh, I cannot emphasize enough this abiding failure of

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the contemporary church to take a prophetic stance against the state when necessary. Nowhere was this more

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evident than in the monumental failure on all levels of American society to resist the COVID lockdowns.

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Regardless of how you see the motives for the lockdowns, and I have my own suspicions concerning

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the whys and wherefores of the draconian measures taken by the state to lock us down, regardless of how

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you see these motives, it must now be admitted by all that the lockdowns have had a disastrous effect

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upon our economy, our national psyche, suicides, insanity, craziness, right? Or our children's

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growth and development by being locked out of schools, or the health and well-being of our

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people, which ironically, it was supposed to be for our benefit, right? The lockdowns. Or the final

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degradation of our rights and liberties, which have disappeared so that we might be safe, right?

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And rather than stand against this madness, the church compliantly went along with it,

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went along with everything the state required. Let every person be subject to the governing

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authorities was the mindless mantra I heard, whether it meant shutting down the unnecessary services of

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the church, or wearing the useless counterproductive face diaper called a mask, or locking down everyone in

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their homes, destroying small businesses across the country to the advantage of big box stores, or as a capstone

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counseling the sheep to take a deadly gene therapy experiment into their bodies that was sold as a vaccine,

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right? Presently, the church is a coward. She will be shown more and more to be a coward, too, as tyranny advances in

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America. She will refuse to speak out against our involvement in a useless, bloody civil war in

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Ukraine. She will refuse to speak out against the deliberate destruction of our Constitution by those

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magistrates sworn, ironically, to uphold and defend it against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The

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American church will refuse to take a prophetic stance against the transgression of the principles of

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justice in America, principles that God holds dear in human society. He says in Deuteronomy,

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justice and only justice you shall follow, that you may live and inherit this land that the Lord

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your God is giving you, unquote. And presently, we live under tyrants who have one system of justice for

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themselves and another for you and for me. And the church is expected to speak out against injustice

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wherever it appears in government. Nathan took a prophetic stance against the injustice of King

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David towards Uriah and his wife Bathsheba. Amos took a prophetic stance against injustice and King

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Jeroboam for his corruption of Israel with blood and idolatry. John the Baptist took a prophetic stance

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against Herod for his unjust marriage to his brother's wife. The church has a long history of using its

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prophetic voice against injustice, to which most are ignorant because they're poorly taught in history.

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Oliver Cromwell, for example, and his roundheads, resisted tyranny in England, and they established

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the English Republic after the English Civil War. And of course, famously, our founding fathers resisted

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the tyranny of Parliament and King George III, and they established what we now know as the American

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Constitutional Republic. In each of these instances, dear listener, the church used its prophetic voice

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to call for justice on behalf of the people. Will this be us? Will this be us tomorrow, dear listener?

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I hope it is. But it might also well be more like the church in Germany under the Nazis. The German

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Lutheran church in the 20s, 30s, and 40s was largely silent during the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.

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That church counseled precisely what American pastors and churches are counseling today. That is, let every

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person be subject to the governing authorities, right? And of course, chapter 13 of Romans, the minister

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of propaganda in Germany, Joseph Goebbels, saw to it that every Lutheran minister in Germany preached

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on that text from Romans 13 at least once per year. Will we be like them in the coming madness and

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nightmare that is overtaking America, the tyranny of the deep state? Oh, pastor, will you be a Holocaust

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pastor, counseling your congregation? Just get on the trains. You're going to a better place.

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Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, right? Like the German pastors counseled their

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people and then they went to the camps, right? Or will you be like those pastors? Just go to the

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showers. Cleanliness is next to godliness, right? Cyclone B came out of those shower heads. Let

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every person be subject to the governing authorities and they perished in the showers. Will you be a

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Holocaust pastor, counseling your people to be compliant to the state? Or will you be more like

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pastors Richard Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer who resisted? The Nazis preached against their tyranny

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and they were thrown into concentration camps and executed as a result. The choice is ours. It is a

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historical truism that as goes the church, so goes the nation. If that's the case, what will come of

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the United States of America as civil tyranny grows? It's up to us, the church, to awaken to our labor and our

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destiny when it comes to calling the magistrate to account. Paul calls the church the pillar and

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ground of the truth. And as such, we must hold our magistrates to that which is true, commending them

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for faithfulness, rebuking them for unfaithfulness to God's standards of justice. Yes, do your part,

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dear listener. Let us both do our parts to awaken America to its standard of righteousness. Righteousness

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exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people, Proverbs tells us. Let us call first and

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foremost for a renewal, for a reformation, a revival in America, and then proceed to call our magistrates

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to account. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva

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meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call us for

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more information or feedback at area code 208-523-0196. 208-523-0196.