Is Our Problem Political? Is The Constitution The Solution?
By Al Cronkrite The Covenant News ~ May 24, 2010
Chuck Baldwin’s current column is entitled “Breakup of U.S. is inevitable”; as usual the column and the title are brimming with truth. Our beloved nation is being gutted, its image is being changed, its morals are being decimated, its wealth is being stolen, it is losing its freedom, and its culture is being destroyed.
My former wife, the mother of two of my children, was recently found to have a recurrence of lung cancer. Her doctor, a participant in her Medicare healthcare provider, told her she is too old to have a second operation. He put her on a vegetarian diet which will be evaluated in several months. If the diet is not successful they will treat the cancer with radiation. Another doctor told her he would operate and remove the malignancy but that doctor is not covered by her insurance plan and she cannot afford his fee. She is 81 years old.
In our deteriorated, humanistic society mothers and fathers are no longer honored. They have lost their image as sources of wisdom. Instead they are considered burdensome and too expensive to maintain. Former Senator Tom Daschle is quoted as believing senior citizens must be more accepting of diseases that come with old age. Daschle’s statement is shocking to many seniors but the major healthcare plans have been practicing that principle for a number of years; manslaughter by neglect. When medical care is rationed by cost the rich will live and the poor will die.
Pastor Baldwin is a champion at describing and challenging the sins of big government and big religion. In that regard he is a present day educational Elisha; a sort of solitary figure against the modern prophets of Baal. He is so unique and so precious it is hard to find fault. However, there are some serious problems.
His solution is political. He is attempting to garner support from ministers and laypersons for political actions that will change the course of our nation. Almost all efforts to redeem our nation among Christians, non-Christians, and other concerned citizens involve working under the existing political system. The primary goal is to secure obedience to the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, all the work and all the time has produced no fruit. Small amounts of progress are consistently trumped by large amounts of failure as the putrid forces of evil roll over the ill-equipped armies of righteousness.
The same Constitution that Baldwin and others present as a solution is being used as a weapon by our enemies and often their contentions seem as valid as ours. Ignoring speculation about the intentions of our Founders the enemies of righteousness are correct when they cite the lack of any reference to the Christian religion in our founding document. Pastor Baldwin seems to fall into the clutches of his foes when in his essay “Spiritual Wickedness in High Places” he writes: “And dare I say that I am proud of my Anabaptist forebears for helping to embed the principle of religious liberty into American law and jurisprudence? Indeed, I am! What many Americans do not know (and what many militant secularists refuse to acknowledge) is that it was the influence of the Colonial Baptists--most notably, the Baptist minister John Leland--that was most responsible for the First Amendment being added to the US Constitution.” He seems unable to understand the dire implications of his misplaced pride. Freedom of religion and the banning of a religious oath allow the passage of Satanic laws and the prosecution of Christians for failing to obey them. It forbids the inclusion of the Christian religion in the functioning of our government and thereby bans immutable moral standards. It is a direct affront to the God of the Bible.
Our freedom would be more secure and we would have a better nation if our government would obey the restrictions of our Constitution. However, that is not the primary problem. The primary problem is moral; we are living under a despotic immoral government elected by a puffed up, immoral people. Government is a reflection of the people it represents; we have become an unruly people and an unruly people require tyrannical restraint. The German people elected Hitler and our nation elected George W. Bush, twice. Hitler was a palpable dictator. Like his successor, Barak Obama, Bush was an agent for hidden tyrants.
Dispensational Christianity, Pastor Baldwin’s theology, is leading a weaponless army against a well armed and reasonable enemy. Without adequate weapons he cannot win.
Christians often affirm the fact that God is still on His Throne; by that they imply that He controls His creation. In spite of the humanistic pollution Dispensationalism has poured into Christian theology the Bible confirms the fact that God is sovereign and what happens in the world is His Will.
Writing about repentance is not popular. In the third chapter of Revelation the Spirit said to the church at Laodicea “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked“. Americans are a lot like the citizens of ancient Laodicea. We are rich, wealthy, and in need of nothing. Benefits we are unable to acquire through our wealth we attempt to acquire by exercising an imperial arrogance and asking our Creator. Instead of serving God we attempt to enlist His services on our behalf. The word repentance is alien to most of us; a Pharisaical self righteousness rejects it.
We are behaving as though we are in control, as though we are solely responsible for our salvation. We elect the individuals who control us and as quickly as we elect them we begin complaining about their behavior. We are attempting to act autonomously, as if God did not exist. Our frame of mind has become distorted we no long see ourselves as God sees us. We are unable to respond to our need for repentance because we have forsaken the criterion God uses to judge our behavior.
In the same essay quoted above Pastor Baldwin writes “With every would-be world tyrant, there is one constant: the unholy marriage between a supranational government and Big Religion. If Jehovah God made anything clear in the Mosaic model of government, it was the fact that--until Christ Himself comes to occupy both offices--the offices of Priest and King were to be eternally separate.” Now, gentle reader; where does that leave us? If God’s Law is no longer functional, and the melding of big government and big religion is the prevalent problem we are where Pastor Baldwin has left us; proffering a secular Constitution as a remedy for our alienation from God.
The problem is not obedience to the Constitution; the problem is obedience to God. We need to follow Josiah’s actions by resurrection the Law God gave to Moses and beginning to obey Him. If we were obedient to God’s Law the federal government would remain small, its responsibilities strictly limited. The primary center of human jurisdiction would be the male head of each family. The Church and the Government would be separate but the main responsibility of each would be to support the families that make up the nation; the Government to protect them from physical harm and the Church to protect them from spiritual harm. The family is God’s primary unit of government. Both the church and the government are de-centralized; neither is “Big”.
My former wife, whom I referred to early in this essay, is the mother of a daughter who with her husband and two of her five children entered a cult called the Twelve Tribes. Seven years ago when they told me of their religious intentions I warned them that it was a cult and if they continued with their plans they would be severing their relationship with our family. They readily accepted the estrangement and we have not seen or heard from any of them since.
The daughter has introduced her mother to the cult and during our conversation she said, “Some people refer to the Twelve Tribes as a cult, but it isn’t. They are a very loving group. The founder began the ministry as a result of a vision.” Since my call was to comfort her rather then confront her, I mentioned that the group is described as a cult in various internet postings and let the matter drop. What was particularly revealing was her description of the cult as a “loving group”. All cults provide acceptance and support and all cults contain elements of truth and doctrinal purity. We should seek a loving group but a loving group should not be the criterion for Christian behavior. The proper criterion is obedience. “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king (1 Samuel 15:22, 23).
Pastor Baldwin’s essays are full of truth and his willingness to confront the power centers of our world must be heartily commended. However, his solution seems to be centered on man rather than God. God is sovereign over His creation. He blesses those who obey Him and curses those who rebel against Him. Has anyone noticed, we are not being blest?
Jay Roger’s new video “War of the World Views” depicts our need of repentance in stark terms!
Al Cronkrite is a free-lance writer from Florida. He can be reached at fmsinfla@hotmail.com