Sermon Central
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The Separation Of Church And State
Contributed by Stephen Belokur on Jul 9, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: How does all of this "Separation of Church and State" fit in with what the Bible teaches? Should we as Christians lay aside our beliefs if and when the Lord calls us to serve in the government of our nation? God forbid!
Suppose your nation was fighting a war. And … there were great and talented leaders in charge. Your nation had never lost a war and was a dominant power in the world. However, in this nation public opinion was turning against the war and the elected officials who were worried about their re-election started giving into public opinion. The elected officials started making military decisions. Many of these elected officials had no military experience but that did not stop them from getting involved.
The elected officials started telling the military that they could only bomb here or there. Even though the military knew where much of the ordinance was being kept by the enemy the elected officials instructed the military not to bomb or attack in any way those supply depots.
Consequently, things did not go well in that military campaign and that is often the case when people attempt to control something for which they are not qualified.
You don’t want your plumber to perform open heart surgery on you
You don’t want the government balancing your checkbook
You don’t want a Vegas commedian to be your pastor
Why? Some things just naturally do not fit! Plumbers should not perform surgery and most surgeons don’t do their own plumbing or welding or electrical work.
Now, as important as it is for someone to be skilled in a job it is even more important in the spiritual world for someone to be listening to God as to whether they should do something or not.
God had a plan for the leadership of Israel. He would lead!
Israel had a different plan … they wanted a King like the other nations!
God said, OK. You’re rejecting Me and I will give you a King but you won’t like it!
In spite of their rejection of Him, He gave them instructions as to how a king could rule over them in a righteous manner.
“When [the King of Israel] takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.
“It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees
“and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”
And, since Friday was July 4, Independence Day, I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at the so-called separation of Church and State.
Now, if we’ve read anything in the Bible we know that we as Christians are to be wholly devoted to the Lord and that we should take that devotion with us everywhere we go and that it should influence everything we do and that includes Christians who are politicians.
John Adams stated:
The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.
Without religion, this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company: I mean hell.
The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity and humanity.
Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited. . . . What a Eutopia – what a Paradise would this region be.
I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.
Congress 1854
The great, vital, and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and the divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants.
John Jay
PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS; DIPLOMAT; AUTHOR OF THE FEDERALIST PAPERS; ORIGINAL CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE U. S. SUPREME COURT; GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK
I recommend a general and public return of praise and thanksgiving to Him from whose goodness these blessings descend. The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the source from which they flow.
