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Chuck Baldwin Says!
By Chuck Baldwin
The Writer's Shack
The Government Cannot Do The Church's Job
One thing that Christians should come to terms with is the truism that
government cannot do the church's job. Not in any shape, manner, or
form. Yet, by the way many Christians and pastors behave these days,
one gets the impression that they don't really understand this truth.
Instead, it seems that many Christians and ministers see the
government--especially the federal government--as an extension of the
church.
Now, if anyone thinks that I am about to go into a "separation of
church and state" tirade, think again. The modern definition of
"separation of church and state" is so far removed from the original
meaning of the First Amendment that it is downright preposterous. All
the First Amendment does is prohibit (the federal) Congress from
passing any law establishing a state church or from prohibiting the
free exercise of religion.
The idea that James Madison and the other authors of the U.S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights intended to prohibit children from
praying in school, or state and local governments from posting the Ten
Commandments and from erecting Nativity scenes is the invention of
modern-age humanists, whose real goal is to eviscerate America's
Christian heritage. Such reasoning is a complete inversion of the real
meaning of the First Amendment. All the First Amendment was designed
to do was recognize religious liberty, something Americans enjoyed
until the infamous Supreme Court decisions in 1962 and '63.
That said, it is equally apparent that many Christians and ministers
today have developed the attitude that somehow the federal government
is supposed to enforce by law what only the Spirit of God can enforce
through grace. Let's be plain: the federal government cannot do the
church's job.
The role of the federal government is to secure the rights that are
given to us by God. Namely, the rights of life, liberty, and property.
Properly understood, the role of the federal government has little to
do with providing "services," and everything to do with securing the
liberties of the people. It is just that simple.
However, a majority of Americans today believe that the federal
government (in essence) is supposed to be father, mother, provider,
teacher, doctor, and even preacher to people. Instead of looking to
God, the family, the church, and individual responsibility, we look to
Uncle Sam. And this sentiment is shared by a host of professing
Christians as well.
Therefore, instead of doing the hard work of teaching and disciplining
our children, we look to Uncle Sam to straighten out our rebellious
kids. Instead of preaching the hard messages of truth from our
pulpits, churches expect Uncle Sam to straighten out (through the
power of law) all those "bad" people out there. Instead of taking
personal responsibility for our own health and livelihood, we expect
Uncle Sam to be our provider and protector.
Take the issue of morality, for example. When, pray tell, did it
become the responsibility of the federal government to define,
inspect, and enforce morality? Is this not first, the responsibility
of the home, and second, the responsibility of the church? Do we
really desire a federal government with the power to define and
enforce morality? God forbid!
At this point, I should make it clear that state and local governments
have every right--and even the responsibility--to establish community
standards. State and local governments are legitimately within their
rights to prohibit those activities deemed harmful to the health and
well-being of their communities.
If states or municipalities want to prohibit "adult" book stores, they
certainly have the right to do so. If they want to make prostitution
and drug use illegal, they have every right to do so. If they want to
regulate nightclubs and honky-tonks, more power to them. I, for one,
have no desire to live in Pottersville. However, none of this is any
of Uncle Sam's business!
Here is the problem: our pastors have become spiritual pantywaists and
our churches have become spiritual playgrounds. Pastors and churches
have sold their souls to success-driven "ministry." We want big
attendances, big offerings, big family life centers, big youth
departments, big Sunday Schools, and big-name people on our membership
rolls. And we will do whatever it takes to achieve it.
And most of the time, in order to accommodate our overwhelming desire
to be a "big success," pastors and churches will soften the message to
the point that the average Sunday sermon is little more than a
glorified "how-to-get-rich," or "how-to-be-happy," or
"how-to-avoid-guilt," ad infinitum, ad nauseum, pep-talk. Words such
as "sinner," "Hell," "judgment," "retribution," and "repentance" have
been permanently removed from the vocabulary of the average pastor.
The plain, powerful, old-fashioned Gospel has been replaced with
sloppy, mushy, offend-no-one sermonettes that could not bring Holy
Spirit conviction if one even wanted it--which hardly anyone does.
Furthermore, the music program of the average church is nothing more
than a hard-rock concert, and our youth programs are little more than
dating services. There is no church discipline or accountability.
People can dress (or undress) any way they want, talk any way they
want, and act any way they want with little or no supervision or
oversight.
Then, when our families and communities go to Hell, instead of hitting
the prayer closet and asking God to send revival to our hearts, our
homes, and our churches, we demand that Uncle Sam fix it. We support
presidential candidates who say they will lead the federal government
in finding solutions to all of our ills.
Ladies and gentlemen, the federal government cannot do the church's
job. The church has an obligation to be the "light" and "salt" of
society. It should be setting the standard of righteousness through
its preaching and teaching. It should be willing to call a spade a
spade, even if it offends business leaders and politicians in the
process.
Likewise, the federal government cannot do the family's job. It is the
responsibility of each mother and father to teach morality and faith
to their children. Parents are given the task of disciplining and
correcting their children.
Let's tell it like it is: America is fast losing its moral compass
because our families and churches are not doing their respective jobs.
And the problem is, when families and churches fail, there is no Plan
B. That is, not without the loss of freedom and independence.
The federal government cannot do the job of the family and the church,
because everything it does is at the expense of something else. The
only wealth it has is what it confiscates from someone else. The only
power it has is what it steals from someone else. The only "services"
it provides are at the expense of someone else. This is why our
country's founding documents state that the federal government's role
was to be very limited and narrowly defined.
As someone rightly said, "A government that is big enough to give you
all you want, is big enough to take it all away." Amen.
Therefore, instead of looking to presidential candidates who will use
the federal government to accomplish everything we want done (even the
good things we want done), we should support only those candidates who
recognize the proper role of the federal government as being limited
and narrowly defined (by the Constitution). And then, it behooves us
to look to ourselves to be the parents we should be to our own
children at home, and to look for pastors and churches that are not
trying to be popular, but that are courageous and faithful custodians
of the truth.
More from Chuck Baldwin can be found at www.chuckbaldwinlive.com
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