Christians believe that the God of scripture is the maker, sustainer, and ruler over all things. He has commanded that we not steal what doesn’t belong to us, or even covet what doesn’t belong to us. These rules apply to everyone everyone and not just church attenders, as they were shared with the first people that He chose to develop into a thriving nation. These same rules are carved into the foundation of our legal system and have served to guide our nation’s growth and prosperity since its founding. Yet today, we steal from our fellow countrymen with zero guilt and give away tidbits of his hard-earned resources to lawbreakers, while pulling down sizable incomes for the bureaucracies that “manage” the handouts. Do we imagine God doesn’t see this?
With stolen resources from law-abiding, hard-working neighbors, our city has been sued, the citizenry has been publicly insulted, and now our state and local leaders have adopted and embraced the insult despite the ruling of our national high court. Their answer is that we approve stealing more of what others have earned and worked hard for in order to give it to the lawless, oh yeah and they’ll manage it… at a cost to the taxpayer. They have the audacity to do this while insisting on imposing a new sales tax because they can’t afford to manage their current budget. The Bible’s answer, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.” – Ephesians 4:28
We need leaders that don’t see Christianity as something to distance themselves from, but ones who are at least educated enough to recognize and submit to genuine Christian virtues. Civil governments are ordained by God to uphold basic civil justice but how can someone with governmental authority who has developed an appetite for stealing from the citizenry ever be expected to stop thieves among them? If they don’t recognize state and federal “grant” money as having come from an enormous pool of funds forcibly taken from the only wealth producing source in existence, the citizens, then they will continue with zero restraints. This may be why religion in general and Christianity in particular is an influence they would like to keep a distance from. Don’t want to have “thou shall not steal” forced on anyone after all.
Throughout the Bible there are stories of where God judges His people, not by forcing His will upon them, but by simply giving them loads of what they were asking for in their rebellion to Him. In other words, He honors their rebellious desires. “You want to live in a world ruled by the gods of the Egyptians that require child sacrifice? Ok, have at it.” And they become so miserable that their own misery eventually brings them to repent. Maybe God has said to us, “You want to live in a secular world without mention of my name and authority in your public spaces? Ok, have at it.” Well, how is that working out for us?
Yet we still have been given the grace of having two examples to consider. You can look at the outcomes of our current leadership, city and statewide, who is largely either Godless or sympathetic to the notion of silencing the voice of God in public spaces. You can watch and see how it has resulted in sanctioned lawlessness at the very real expense of the citizen and the public good, and whose only answer is to do more of the same. Or you can look at the results of organizations who govern themselves according to the Bible. Yes, Christian organizations like the Gospel Rescue Mission force people to listen to the reading of such statements as “Thou Shall Not Steal” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” but look at the results. They are the kind of results that everyone claims to be aiming at and they are being accomplished without stealing from our neighbors or adding to the cost of public safety.
We have acquired an appetite for stealing from our neighbor through the tax system and we make silly excuses for it. We should accept the responsibility for what we have done and ask for forgiveness. Repentance simply means to stop doing something and go the opposite direction. We have also accepted the idea that there is a public space in which God has no authority and we have worked hard to keep Him out. When the God of the Bible left, other gods moved right in, and they are far more interested in forcing you to say what they want you to say and think what they demand you think then you ever bargained for. The way out of this is for us to repent and invite Jesus back in.
This has happened under the watch of our church rich community where the Word of God is preached a mile wide but the application to civic life is an inch deep. This is why repentance must come first with us and why I keep saying “we” need to repent. We have helped create the vacuum that other gods and the godless have come to fill. We teach that there is a secular space that is somehow better or even nominally good without the Lordship of Jesus over it. It is us, the Church, that needs to confess our sin and repent, and ask Jesus to help us bring the authority of His words back into our public spaces.
Brian Bouteller – Executive Director
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14