Recently I ministered at an event in Lexington, MA. called “Someone Stole My Nation, and I want Her Back.” The following is the message I delivered there on April 20th, 2007. This is the day after the anniversary of the famous "shot heard around the world."

“For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.” (Proverbs 28:2)

This was the question asked by Francis Schaeffer, as he pondered the decline of our Christian, Western thought and culture. It became the basis of his best-selling book and video series. His analysis was thorough and his warnings should be heeded today.

For the last several decades, we have witnessed a systematic assault against America’s godly heritage, the Christian faith, and the Biblical principles that has created the most freest and blessed nation in the bloody history of mankind. In the name of law, however, the Supreme Court, has unleashed upon our nation a spirit of lawlessness. Under the color of law they have been destroying the substance of our freedoms.

At the same time, the citizens of America, in the name of freedom, have turned our liberty into licentiousness. Our Founding Fathers knew that these two enemies posed the greatest threat against America’s experiment with liberty. They understood that only a virtuous people who self-govern themselves under God can remain a free people. Only a citizenry that placed inward restraints upon mankind’s inherent lusts can enjoy the true blessings of freedom.

John Adams, the Second President of America, articulated these foundational premises by stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

America foolishly rejects this understanding today. Thus our Christian roots are being severed as we remove the knowledge of God from the public life of our nation. As a result, good has magically become evil and evil has become good. This sad reality has produced a citizenry that appears to have lost the moral fortitude to correctly handle our freedoms, which is the power to do as we ought, the power to do what is right. This wretched condition is responsible for creating a bureaucratic nightmare that is suffocating the very life and freedom from our nation.

It was Robert Winthrop, U.S. representative, author and orator, who succinctly addressed this problem years ago. He warned, "All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."

G. K. Chesterton asserted, “If man rejects the Ten Commandments of God, he will be subjected to the ten thousand commandments of men.” One just has to go to Washington DC and review the law books that govern America today. The mere volume of regulations, licenses, and bureaucratic policies would tower our heads. If they physically fell upon us, the weight would crush us to powder. The lesson therefore is clear, rebellion against God, the breaking of His bonds and the severing of His cords does not make men free, it simply forges greater chains of bondage.

As it stands today, evil is being codified into law. America has lost the fear of God and thus we have redefined sin and crime. Abominations, such as abortion and homosexuality which Biblically and historically were made punishable by civil sanctions, are now being protected by the sword of civil government. This not only violates the state’s sacred trust, but it automatically places them in the awkward position of punishing righteousness. These evil practices cannot co-exist with Biblical Christianity. Thus, in their blind pursuit of defending the indefensible, our government is tempted to punish Christians (hate crimes) that uphold the Crown-rights of King Jesus and the authority of His word that is binding upon all men, at all times, and in every nation.

This begs the question, “HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE.” Thankfully, the same Bible that when honored and obeyed could prevent these horrific conditions, can also guide the Church through this tyranny. The word of God plainly states that Christians are obligated to submit themselves to the delegated authority of civil government. Both the Apostle Paul and Peter admonished the Church in our duties towards the state and yet they both died at the hands of civil authorities. What can we make of this apparent discrepancy? One thing for sure, they were not hypocrites that contradicted the will of God. They simply understood that civil government was to be a “minister of God” who punished evil doers as God defined evil and protected those who were good in God’s sight, as God defined good.

When civil government, however, devolves and reverses this divine calling, and punishes the righteous and pardons the wicked, Christians are duty bound to obey God rather than men. When the laws of men countermand the laws of God, we must for conscience sake trust God and continue to do good, even though we may suffer persecution for our faith. This is God’s directive to His people in times of tyranny and is also His living rebuke to a civil government that is in defiance against its divine calling.

Civil government is due our taxes, prayers, tribute, and submission to lawful authority. They are not due our faith, consciences, and thoughts. They have no divine rights to determine our beliefs, regulate our faith, nor punish our thoughts. With that being clarified, let me clearly state, “Abortion is murder, Homosexuality is sin, Islam is a lie from the pit of hell, Jesus Christ is Lord and no governmental decrees can make these truths otherwise.” This is where I stand, the Church should do no less!!!

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