With the loss of the Vietnam War, Watergate, stagflation, the mainstreaming of drug use, and the Jimmy Carter-led American malaise, the 1970s is not a prime candidate for nostalgic memories. Yet one thing stands out when looking back to that decade; liberals had a sense of humor. Gary Trudeau’s Doonesbury poked fun at everyone–liberals and…
Category: Kingdom of God
The Bible, Politics, and the Gospel
We have a fair amount of discussion in my church over what the Bible teaches when it comes to government and how to apply God’s Word to particular areas of public policy. During one of those discussions, a friend recently commented, “I reject the notion that someone needs to be a small government conservative to…
A World at War
Perhaps the greatest blindness of the modern church is its failure to understand that the world is at war–against the church. This war pits the church as a combatant against its opponent–or enemy–the unbelievers in the world. In fact, the war is an effort by the unbelieving world to usurp God’s rule; in other words,…
Cassidy and Peacock on Capitalism and Socialism
David Cassidy, my church’s former pastor and a godly man, and I had a brief conversation on Facebook a while back. I thought I’d re-post it here: Cassidy: Pastors are not on the job to ‘Save America’. We are here to announce its eventual demise, conquest, redemption, and replacement with something that is already here…
Are Unbiblical Government Activities Theft?
In 1 Samuel 8:10-18, Samuel warns the people of Israel. He is warning them because they sinfully want to replace God with a human king: God says “they have rejected me from being king over them.” One thing to keep in mind is this is really God’s warning to the people; Samuel is just passing…
A Brief Primer on Church and State–and Oppression
“The purpose of government is to justly uphold life, liberty, and truth in order to bring increase and peace to the Kingdom of God.” This shouldn’t be a surprise. Because every government official, every government worker, every voter, every citizen, and every subject was made for one very specific purpose: to glorify God and enjoy…
The Trinitarian Nature of Private Property
Genesis 1:1 clearly establishes God as the owner of creation. Genesis 1:28 tells man to fill and subdue the earth (His property) and have dominion over every living thing (also His property). God didn’t transfer ownership–He is still the original owner, but He did delegate ownership. We see man’s responsibilities in properly exercising this delegation…
The Hope of Biblical Compassion: Charity
In my last article, I made the case that the welfare state is unbiblical. I built my argument on three premises: that the welfare state 1) is a form of theft, 2) destroys charity, and 3) harms everyone associated with it–funder, deliverer, and recipient. Let’s take another quick look at this. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10,…
The Tragedy of Evangelical Compassion: The Welfare State
What do we do when we realize the welfare state isn’t working? Well, for a lot of Evangelicals, the trick is actually getting to that point. Many appear content with government welfare programs as a means of assisting the poor; some even seem to think that we are sinning by not spending enough money on…
Evangelical v. Biblical Compassion
The United States of America spends over $1.8 trillion each year on welfare programs and public education systems that consign millions of people to lifetimes of ignorance and poverty, provide substandard housing and medical care, separate fathers from their families, and lead many young black men to prison or an early death. The federal government…