Elections Have Consequences

November 3rd is fast approaching. It is now less than 90 days until we decide who will lead our Country for the next four years. Just as important is every seat in the House of Representatives is up for election as well. A number of Senators are also up for reelection. We hear the same thing every four years, but it is true this year. This is the most crucial election in the history of the USA. If the Democrats win, our way of life will be unrecognizable from what it has been for more than 244 years. Everything will change. Fortunately, the Democrats are giving us a preview of what will happen.

The Democrats are organized and ready for war. Antifa is the paramilitary arm of the party. Black Lives Matter is the backbone. Mainstream media is the propaganda engine. They have all come together and have declared war on the United States from within. They are willing to commit any evil and injustice to gain the power they need to remake America.

Meanwhile, people can only look on with disbelief as Democrats blatantly strive to keep Democrat-controlled state economies on lockdown. Along with the help of teachers’ unions, they are trying to keep most schools closed in an attempt to deliberately punish Americans and their families in the hopes their suffering can be used against Trump. Combined with the lockdowns, this will only help ensure a hobbled economy with which they can blame and batter President Trump to deny him a second term as president. After failing to impeach President Trump, they are willing to do whatever it takes to win in November.

I believe the riots and civil unrest of the past couple of months are only a prelude of what’s to come leading up to the election. What we’ve seen is a wargame of sorts. Now they are tweaking and preparing for the next phase. The propaganda division of the Democrat Party is only going to ramp up the fake news and false narratives in order to demonize President Trump for every wrong imaginable. They will also promote the communist, socialist, racist, and destructive manifesto of BLM. As the election draws nearer, Antifa will ramp up the arson, looting, riots, threats, vandalism, and violence in hopes of intimidating Republicans from voting. These thugs will gather at many polling places in their battle gear, holding their rifles without any interference because of the Democrat governors and mayors will prevent law enforcement from intervening.

You can also expect Antifa to play a prominent part in the aftermath of the election. If Trump wins, the violence will escalate exponentially. With a Biden Victory, we will be forced to acquiesce to a “fundamental transformation of the United States of America.” In either situation, a civil war is quite possible.

At this point, an apocalypse is probably unavoidable. The Democrats want it that way. Are you ready?

Guilty!

The African American Museum in Washington, D.C., recently posted a chart inside a paper on “Whiteness and White Culture,” clarifying certain signs of whiteness that include “individualism and hard work.” The article goes on and wants to “make you aware of certain signs of whiteness: Individualism, hard work, objectivity, the nuclear family, progress, respect for authority, and delayed gratification,” to name a few. Well, I confess. I’m white and guilty of all those things.

Anyone who has known my family and me for any length of time knows full well that we are all guilty of being “white,” according to the museum and its paper. My father was a hard-working man. He always worked six to seven days a week while I was growing up. Many days he would start before dawn and not get home until after dark. Fortunately for me, I was able to work with him from the time I was in the third grade until I joined the Navy. My mother also worked full-time until she retired. Sadly, my daddy died before he reached retirement. They both instilled in me a strong work ethic. I was taught to treat others fairly. I was taught to wait until I had saved enough money before I could get many things I wanted. I was taught not only to respect my elders but to respect authority as well. We attended church together, where we were active members. I was also fortunate in that my parents stayed together until my father’s death. I was reared in a good Christian home. Again, I’m guilty.

Within two weeks of receiving my Honorable Discharge from the Navy, I started my law enforcement career. I retired from law enforcement after 25 years of service. I was never unemployed for more than a couple of weeks between agencies where I worked. During my career, I took advantage of opportunities that came my way and was promoted through the ranks. I received the highest certification a law enforcement officer can achieve and even graduated from the prestigious FBI National Academy. Again, I’m guilty.

To me, these things were normal. Of course, I wanted to do my best. That is what was expected of me and by me. As a Christian, God tells us that we are His representatives. We are expected to love God, our spouse, our family, and others as we love ourselves. We are expected to give our best effort and treat others with fairness and respect in our work and business dealings. We are expected to submit to authority as long as it doesn’t conflict with God’s Word. I have never read in the Bible where it says these things are reserved for only the “white” people. On the contrary. The Bible says these are things expected of a Christian.

What members of BLM, Antifa, and all the other groups need is Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Instead of playing the victim, they need to claim the blessings and glory that comes from the knowledge that only Jesus Christ can save them. They need to understand that we are all sinners, and we sin against a Holy God. Therefore, we need a Holy sacrifice to pay that sin debt. Jesus Christ left Heaven, was born of a virgin and lived a perfect, sinless life. He bore the sins of all mankind, was crucified for those sins, was buried in a tomb, was resurrected from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God The Father interceding for those that believe in Him. Then, and only then, will their eyes be opened and we can live in peace and harmony.

To Save America, Defund the Schools

August 5, 2020

By Jeremy Egerer

I’ve just been informed by a friend that school’s closed this year, but you can send your kid to daycare — in the closed school. For money.

There are online classes, of course — but why?  They’re terrible for children, and we know now that the disease itself isn’t the issue.  Matt Walsh reports that kids are three times more likely to die of the flu than COVID-19.  So we know that schools aren’t being closed for their safety.  We heard that childcare costs hundreds a month, per kid, which we know parents can’t pay, since many of them are too poor.  We heard that teachers are essential and then were told, by the teachers, that they’re inessential.  L.A. County told us they’d take the children back — if we could stop all “police brutality” and adopt universal health care and mail-in voting.

The solution to this whole fraud is simple.  Truth is, our teachers are overpaid and incompetent.  Why send your kid back to school when, according to The Root, 75% of all black boys in California, where state spending on students is enormous, can’t read or write proficiently?  Why put your kids in a classroom where there are 30 students to one teacher?  Or where you’re a white God-fearing conservative, and the teacher hates America?  Or where teachers can’t discipline children because doing so is “racist”?  Or where you don’t have the time to meet and assess all the teachers?  Or where grades are curved to pass dunces?  Or where your voice gets drowned out, as a parent, because the other parents won’t stand up with you or won’t even show up?

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2019, a year when tax revenue was steady and teachers showed up for work, Americans spent, on average, $12,000 a year per kid.  In truth, we spent it, but we didn’t have the money.  State, national, and personal debt continues to dig us into a grave.  Every year, we dump money into this abyss, and the education largely gets worse.  The teachers get more radical.  We don’t get the classes we really want.  There are too many students per teacher.  We don’t like the kids in the school.  But what if we took this money that we don’t have?  What if we cut it in half, put the money in the state fund, and redistributed it to each and every kid in the state?

What this would mean is revolutionary.  First off, note what it would do for teachers.  No longer paid a measly salary to be overrun and underequipped, the rate of pay would skyrocket as the job itself would get easier.  You recruit 15 kids, and now you’ve got 90,000 bucks.  In a poor state, this is a gold mine — less students and more capital.  You spend $10,000 on materials (if that) and $15,000 on rent, and you’re still left with $65,000.  This is at an easy $6,000 per kid, $747 less than the rock-bottom cost in the cheapest state in the union (hello from us in Idaho).  New York State already spends $23,000 per student according to the Census Bureau.  What have we got to lose but our chains?

But note what it would do for parents and students.   First off, there’s the choice.  Teachers all over the union could be personally interviewed and selected by cautious and interested parents.  They could be regulated, on some basic level, by the state.  They could be fired at will, and if not fired, then unhappy parents could transfer schools — to another little red schoolhouse with somebody more competent, or patriotic, or godly, or manly.  Curricula, instead of being left to every parent, in homeschool conventions, to pick through — an overwhelming process — could be advertised by the teachers themselves.  Not only teaching, but what’s learned will become a matter of marketing.  Organizations will spring up endorsing candidates who fit their standards and values.  Students will no longer receive “an education” that’s half vanilla, half poison, but something more fine-tuned, more robust, more catered to the intelligence, the virtues, the fine-breeding of the families themselves.

Racial disparities will be immediately erased.  Worried that black children are underfunded and underserved?  They will receive the same money as white children, according to the state they live in, and poor whites will receive the same money as rich whites.  People looking to teach their children Plutarch will win, and so will people teaching children mechanics.  There will be national standards on math and science and English.  The states will set their standards beyond this, according to their cultures and their average level of intelligence.  

There remains an important and troublesome question.  How will this be put into action?  I’m not here to give you a complete plan.  But there are teachers all over the nation who recognize this opportunity.  Principals who’ve run large schools and will know how to establish little ones.  The fact that each teacher can own his own business — the way God intended it, and the way things were run when America and England were on the upswing — will mean that extremely talented teachers will suddenly become big business.  Parents can put in more money as they choose.  So can the states.  Regulatory agencies will find ways to ensure that the money goes to schools and isn’t squandered, and parents, whose money and children are directly involved, will probably beat the regulators to it.  Churches and civic organizations will put their stamps on great teachers.  Masses of money, spent on janitors, security guards, principals, and other such necessaries, will become unnecessary.  Sports, so important to keeping schools funded, will no longer be the top priority.  The education of our children will become paramount.  The people most interested in education — the parents — will have supreme power.  And a chokehold on the American people, held for so long by communists, incompetents, and radicals of all sorts, will be absolutely broken. 

Idaho, where this writer lives, is ranked 35th in education and is also the least regulated state in the union.  It’s filled with free people who don’t like the left wing, don’t like being told what to do, and hate an imbalanced budget.  I propose we start the experiment here, and when it succeeds — Lord willing — we’ll take it to the rest of the nation.

[https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/08/to_save_america_defund_the_schools.html]

Has God Had Enough?

It seems as if most Christians today have little regard for the Old Testament. We seldom hear sermons from it and seldom study an entire book. I believe we (Americans) are missing so much. The OT is in the Bible so that we can learn about the history of Israel and, hopefully, learn from their mistakes. I believe that Israel in the OT is representative of the USA today. There are so many similarities that it is no doubt that this the case.

The Israelites were given the promised land. It was a land rich with everything. They had to take it away from those that were already inhabiting it. Those inhabitants did not worship the true God. They worshipped idols and gods of the earth. These people had to be displaced.

The Puritans were looking for a place rich with everything and where they could worship according to their beliefs without persecution. They found that land in America. However, America was also inhabited by people that did not worship the true God. They worshipped idols and earthly gods. These people, too, had to be displaced.

The Israelites were blessed people. As long as they obeyed God, they didn’t have to worry about anything. They were protected from other peoples and destruction from other sources. Unfortunately, by reading the OT, we learn that they continually turned their backs on God. He would send plagues and prophets to get their attention. Finally, when He had enough, the Israelites were defeated and subjected to oppression. I encourage you to read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Hosea, Malachi, and other books in the OT and see what happened to the Israelites.

Now, compare the Israelites to us. There is no doubt the USA was a blessed country. It was founded on Christian principles. George Washington and the first Congress dedicated our Country to God. They all, every one of them, got on their knees and prayed immediately after his inauguration at St Paul’s Chapel in NYC.

Look at the history of our Country. We most certainly mirror the ancient Israelites. Has God finally had enough of our rebellion? Has He finally had enough of the slaughter of millions and millions of unborn and newborn babies? Has He finally had enough of the mockery of His Word? Is He tired of the morally bankrupt ruling our Country? The answer is, I don’t know. However, what I do know is that the only chance we have is told to us in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 CSB:

If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people, [14] and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

The time is now or never for the USA. The Democrat Party is entirely morally bankrupt and corrupt in every aspect. They are the ones that supported slavery, racial discrimination, racial segregation, and welfare that has destroyed personal responsibility, and the pursuit of happiness for a new dependant class of people who rely on the government for support. If they are elected to the majority of Congress and also the presidency, our Country is doomed. God will allow the USA to fall into ruins, just like Israel did.

My God have mercy on us all.

Who Will You Follow?

The original Ten Commandments were given to us by God Himself so that we might live a full and prosperous life. One that will provide us with peace, harmony, and holy life. Throughout history, those countries where the majority of people practiced these commandments have prospered. Those that have not have perished. Nobody can keep all these rules all of the time, but when a society tries to keep them, it makes a much happier and peaceful existence: 

Exodus 20:3-4, 7-8, 12-17 CSB:

[3] Do not have other gods besides me. 

[4] Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. [7] Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name. 

[8] Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…

[12] Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 

[13] Do not murder. 

[14] Do not commit adultery. 

[15] Do not steal. 

[16] Do not give false testimony against your neighbor. 

[17] Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

As I wrote in a previous post, there is an order if things set forth by God so that we may live properly. Angelic beings are subject to Christ (1 Pet. 3:22); believers are subject to one another (1 Pet. 5:5); the church is subject to Christ (Eph. 5:24); the Son shall be subject to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28); servants are subject to their masters (1 Pet. 2:18); children are under their parents (1 Tim. 3:4); wives are subject to their husbands (Col. 3:18); young people are to be subject to their elders (1 Pet. 5:5); church members are to be governed by their leaders (Heb. 13:7, 17); and believers are to be subject to their government. It is part of a total doctrine of obedience. This works great until a group decides that it no longer wants to live righteously. 

However, a society that rejects God and prefers making up its own rules often finds itself in a state of confusing flux. This is happening now in the USA. The Black Lives Matter and Antifa thugs have a new set of commandments that they live by and expect others to do the same. Those that don’t comply are a target of their wrath. 

1. Thou shalt wear a mask. Wearing a mask is now the epitome of social awareness and virtue. “There is no greater love than this, that thou apply one’s mask before going out.” It is going to save us all from this terrible virus. It shows concern for one’s fellow man, whether one has that concern or not. It is also convenient as riot-wear so no one can identify you breaking into a store or destroying other people’s property. 

2. Thou shalt stay home unless there’s a riot going on nearby. Attendance at those events is mandatory for guilt-ridden millennials and will earn an earnest rioter merit badge to wear on his/her Che Guevara T-shirt. Bricks will be provided, but bring a personal shopping bag. Babies and young children are welcome. White people are welcome as well as long as they hate being white and still live with their parents. 

3. Thou shalt hate President Trump. Thou shalt hate all those who support him. Thou shalt abhor any action he takes and shall claim that he lies and is a racist. Thou shalt also hate white men, all police, capitalism, guns, the Constitution, and freedom, in short — the USA. 

4. Thou shalt kill (or at least advocate for such killing) all unborn (or newly born) unwanted babies–Especially black babies. Black lives matter that much.

5. Thou shalt have any kind of sex one desires, when and where one desires it, with whom or with what one desires. Grooming of potential partners will be done by the local school, with help from the Boy Scouts and the public libraries.

6. Thou shalt not think logically, make an effort to become informed or knowledgeable, or develop a vocabulary beyond words like “oppressed” or “racist” or “f—k.” 

7. Thou shalt destroy. Anything will do, but the more valuable, the better. Statues and monuments are prime targets, private or public property works as well, especially if there’s lots of glass to break; police stations and federal courthouses are real prizes. 

8. Thou shalt steal in bulk — on a wholesale basis –- shoes, smart TVs, jewelry, designer clothing and accessories, exotic cars, whatever is expensive and can be fenced easily. This will have the effect of righting all the wrongs in the universe.

9. Thou shalt strip the rich of whatever they have because if they have it, you don’t. When you see the world without God, you take whatever you want because you deserve it.

10. Thou shalt speak ill of –- or physically attack — anyone who gets in the way, be they police, the elderly, mothers and children, clergy, parents, or grandparents. Don’t let them get away with being normal, kind, or Christian. That’s some kind of privilege, but no one has identified exactly what kind.

If we carefully follow those rules, we can be in with the in-crowd. As a whole, the in-crowd seems pretty nasty, but if murder and mayhem appeal to a person, then this is the way to go. Note that there are no rules against judging one’s neighbor, because we are encouraged to do so — anyone not participating in demonstrations, not following the social distancing rules, deserves to be outed. We are also allowed to go naked, to shoot lasers, guns, mortar rounds, and throw Molotov cocktails, There are no rules against being rude because rudeness is one of the talents we’ll need in this Brave New World. 

In this new world, love and justice have no place. “Social justice” is an interesting term because the word “social” cancels the meaning of “justice.”

This new society sees no point in truth, in duty, in individual rights and responsibilities. It places no value on self-control, on objectivity, on gentleness, on righteousness. We’ve been educated to think that the world offers us an unlimited selection of belief systems, but that’s not true. There are only two options –- you either follow Jesus or you don’t. 

“Therefore, fear the LORD and worship him in sincerity and truth… [15] But if it doesn’t please you to worship the LORD, choose for yourselves today: Which will you worship… As for me and my family, we will worship the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14-15 CSB)

TIM KELLER JOINS LEFTIST & CAMPAIGN — thirtypiecesofsilverdotorg

AFTER HELPING DESTROY HIS PCA DENOMINATION, TIM KELLER SHOWS HIS POLITICAL COLORS BY JOINING DEMOCRATIC PARTY, OBAMA FOUNDATION, AND BILLIONAIRE PAUL SINGER BACKED & CAMPAIGN “ELDER BOARD”. By Rev Thomas Littleton […]

TIM KELLER JOINS LEFTIST & CAMPAIGN — thirtypiecesofsilverdotorg

Black Lies Matter

I recently heard a white pastor say during his sermon that he talked with a couple of black pastors about the troubles our Country is going through. He wanted to get their perspective. According to the White Pastor, the Black Pastors were concerned that what happened to George Floyd could happen to one of their children or themselves. By sharing this information during his sermon, he told his white audience that they need to be upset about police brutality toward black folks as well as discrimination against them. He succeeded in making many of his congregation upset.

Full disclosure: I am a male, White American Christian, veteran, and a retired police officer. I do not owe anyone anything because I was born white. For some people, that is enough to make them stop reading right here because they think that I am inherently racist or bigoted. However, I am not. You will have to take my word on that.

The pastor in question is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention as am I. Over the past few years, the SBC has been infiltrated by a number of radical liberals who espouse the Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. Basically, these two things teach that being born white automatically makes you a racist and White Supremacist. They are nothing short of Satan’s heretical views in an attempt to destroy the church and cause civil unrest. They are also the foundation of the heretical movement known as Black Liberation Theology.

The white pastor should have said to the black pastors, “As long as you are not committing a criminal act or not complying with the police officer’s directions, neither of you or your children will have any problem with the police.” The same goes for any black, white, red, yellow, or any other color of a person’s skin. What happened to George Floyd was wrong. There is no doubt about it. However, the common denominator with every case involving brutality or death by a police officer is caused by the victim doing something to create an interaction with the police. In Mr. Floyd’s case, he was a convicted violent felon under the influence of illegal drugs, acting erratically and causing a disturbance inside the police vehicle.

The Black Lives Matter movement would have you believe that all police departments and all officers are racists and that they go out of their way to look for and harass black people and homosexuals. They spew their hatred and violence in an attempt to destroy the family unit and cause upheaval in society. They base these ideas on lies. The statistics do not back up their claims of police brutality against black people. The whole organization was founded on lies, and it continues to grow and fester based on perpetuating those as well as other lies. In truth, their name should be Black Lies Matter.

The church needs to understand that its purpose is to evangelize the sinners, edify the saints, and exalt the Savior. Here, in the USA, the church has forgotten its purpose. There is no difference in the color of your skin, language you speak or male and female in God’s eyes. He only sees sinners and saints. Instead, it has allowed every idea, program, and political view to influence its message. May God have mercy on us all.

May God Have Mercy

The whole world seems upside down these days. Up is down and down is up, right is wrong and wrong is right, right is left and left is right, and God is bad and Satan is good. It appears everything is circling the drain, and the end is in sight. Gabriel is just waiting for the order to sound the trumpet.

Black Lives Matter is an anti-Christian, racist, perverted, communist group destroying the family unit and is determined to divide our Country in hopes of a revolution. They spew poisonous venom every time one of them opens their mouth. Antifa, which calls itself “anti-fascist,” is nothing but a domestic terrorist group supporting the same ideals as BLM. The Democrat Party has lost all of its morals and has sold its soul to the Devil in hopes of getting rid of President Trump. They openly support the BLM and Antifa groups. All of these are just different schemes from the Devil to destroy us. How much more can the USA stand before it falls?

As I watch the violence erupt from these anti-American groups, I wonder how long it will be until we are nothing but a war-torn, fouth-world Country. It is no longer safe for a White Christian Patriot to venture into the city without concerns about being attacked. I don’t even allow my wife to go into the town after 3 PM by herself anymore. It’s just too dangerous.

So, what are we to do? We can and should use common sense to avoid being in a situation that may turn violent. Those that know how to use them should arm themselves for protection. This is some good practical advice. However, even with the best preparations, there is no guarantee of safety. We must not only prepare ourselves physically for whatever may come, but we also need to be spiritually prepared.

The Bible tells who our enemy is and how to deal with him:
Ephesians 6:10-13 CSB

Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. [11] Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. [12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens. [13] For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. Regardless of what may happen in the world, I know without a doubt that I’m going to be okay. I know that I will spend eternity in Heaven with God where there will be no sickness and no trouble. There will only be rejoicing. It’s not too late for you to make plans to join me. All you have to do is accept The Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You must believe that He was punished and died for your sins, buried, and rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God The Father interceding on your behalf. And, you must confess that Jesus of Lord of your life. Then, you, too, will spend eternity in Heaven with God.

May God have mercy on the United States of America.

Surviving the Madness

2 Timothy 3:1-5 CSB

But know this: Hard times will come in the last days. [2] For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3] unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, [4] traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5] holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.

The doctrine of civil obedience is but part of the broader teaching of Scripture on subjection to constituted authority. Angelic beings are subject to Christ (1 Pet. 3:22); believers are subject to one another (1 Pet. 5:5); the church is subject to Christ (Eph. 5:24); the Son shall be subject to the Father (1 Cor. 15:28); servants are subject to their masters (1 Pet. 2:18); children are under their parents (1 Tim. 3:4); wives are subject to their husbands (Col. 3:18); young people are to be subject to their elders (1 Pet. 5:5); church members are to be governed by their leaders (Heb. 13:7, 17); and believers are to be subject to their government. It is part of a total doctrine of obedience.

One cannot deny the fact that the various areas in which authority is established are interrelated in the Scriptures. Therefore, a breakdown in one area will mean failures in others, and this is precisely what is happening in our contemporary society. Civil disobedience, ecclesiastical disobedience, and disobedience in the home are interrelated. Since this is true, the Christian should demonstrate orderliness within the various spheres to which he is related. When he is under authority, he should submit obediently; when he is in power, he should lead with justice. It is nothing short of hypocrisy for Christians to decry public acts of disobedience while perpetuating private ones.

The world seems to be plunging rapidly down the path of increasing lawlessness in many areas. Where will it all end? The Bible answers that question plainly and vividly in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Eighteen characteristics of the hard times of the last days are listed, and many reflect lawlessness. Blasphemy is lawlessness against God; disobedience to parents is lawlessness in the family; without natural affection is lawlessness against one’s own body; truce-breaking is lawlessness with others; fierceness means being untamed, which speaks for itself; despisers of those that are good refers to lawlessness in respect to the established order; heady means reckless, and so it goes. No city, no country, no class, no institution is exempt from this rampant lawlessness.

I can think of no situation into which a dictator could more easily move than this state of lawlessness. Perhaps you read the book or saw the telecast of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. The pieces of that picture should never have fit together. There was the unknown fanatic who was disliked and distrusted by almost everyone except his small band of followers; there were intelligent, civilized, and cultured people who should have seen what was happening; and a democratic government should have prevented a takeover. The pieces would not have fit together except for one ingredient present in the situation, and that was lawlessness. In the wake of lawlessness, Hitler was swept to power. The impossible happened, and the law of a lawless dictator replaced the lawless situation. And this is precisely what will happen on a worldwide scale before long. Our day’s lawlessness is ripening the world for a takeover by some who will promise to bring order, even by the use of force, out of this chaos. Such a one will arise, and, paradoxically, he is called the lawless one (2 Thess. 2:8). History will repeat itself, only the next time on a much larger scale. Christians today must be certain that they do not contribute to this climate of lawlessness in any sphere of life.

Is not the Christian to take leadership in trying to correct society’s ills, and will not this responsibility sometimes involve and justify acts of civil disobedience? Indeed, the believer has a social duty; in a word, that responsibility is to do good to all men and especially to other believers. But he also has a civic responsibility, which is to be an obedient citizen. If the government under which he lives allows for means of legitimate protest and change, he surely may use them. But taking the law into one’s own hands finds no support in the Scriptures. The only exception seems to be if the government forbids his worshiping God. To serve Caesar and even fight for him, the Christian must do; to worship Caesar, he must not do. It is instructive to remember that the New Testament writers did not crusade against one of the worst social ills of their day—slavery. Paul advised Christians slaves not to let it matter to them (1 Cor. 7:22). He did not encourage them to become martyrs in the cause of liberation. Indeed, even when writing to a Christian master about a runaway slave who had become a believer, he only suggests that he be taken back and not be punished. He never hints that the master should free his slaves because it was the Christian thing to do (Philem. 17).

The Christian’s primary responsibilities are evangelism and godly living. Through witnessing, he changes men; through righteous living, he affects society; through private and public obedience, he honors God.