A Bible Study of The Scripture

Conclusion (April 25)

I want to thank everyone for giving me the honor of presenting this bible study. We have covered a lot of Scripture and history of our country in the preceeding 12 weeks. This week will present my conclusions. As stated in the first week: I have no seminary training and am not ordained. I am not an authority and this study is the result of being called to study this aspect of the Scripture. The test for validity is the Scripture. I invite everyone to raise questions or objections as appropriate.

Conclusion 1:  We are facing perilous times.

We are facing perilous times. A major factor contributing to these perilous times is that we live in an era of Biblical and historical illiteracy. As demonstrated by the Barna study only 14% of Baptists (included all denominations) hold a Biblical worldview. Study and knowledge of God’s Word is at one of the lowest levels in our country’s history as is knowledge of our Christian heritage.

This is especially true in the area of civil government.

False and incomplete doctrine, as warned in the Scripture, has surfaced in an increasing number of churches and possibly even seminaries. As a result Christians have turned in large numbers to looking for man’s (or worldly) solutions to departures from God’s Plan for civil government.

From Lesson 1:

The numbers were better for Baptists than for the whole sample, but not by much. Of the Baptists surveyed, 57 percent believed works play a part in salvation, and 45 percent believed Jesus was not sinless. Only 34 percent of Baptists thought Satan was a real being, while 51 percent believed Christians have the responsibility to witness to others. Sixty-six percent of Baptists considered the Bible to be totally accurate, 81 percent considered their religious faith to be important and 85 percent believed God is the all-powerful creator of the universe.

Barna defines "evangelicals" as a subset of "born again" believers - those who say their faith is very important in their lives, believe they have a responsibility to witness to non-Christians, acknowledge the existence of Satan, contend that eternal salvation is possible only through God's grace and not good deeds, believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth, and describe God as the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect deity who created the universe and still rules it today.

Those who fit in such a category include only 8 percent of adults. Fourteen percent of Baptists qualified as evangelicals

Conclusion 2: The church must labor to raise up men who will meet the biblical standards for magistrates.

Predominately Christians use man’s criteria to evaluate candidates. In our form of government, the people elect our magistrates, and our deterioritating government is a reflection of worldly election success as opposed to Godly election success.

The primary fault again lies with the church. Possibly a law passed in the 1950’s (Internal Revenue Service restrictions on churches) has influenced the.

Due to Biblical illiteracy, Christians have not moved the church to return to the Scripture.

From Lesson 6, Part 2

• The church must labor to raise up men who will meet the biblical standards for magistrates. Where will men come from who are qualified for civil office if not from the covenant people? If there are no men qualified for a particular office, it is because the church has failed; it is not because the biblical standards are unworkable in the present context. The goal of the church should be to have a biblically qualified man running for every civil office in the land. We are a long way from reaching this goal. But the church must begin by equipping men to serve as magistrates and challenging them to glorify God as His minister in the civil sphere. Race by race, office by office, the church needs to take dominion over politics by raising up biblically qualified men.

Conclusion 3: Christians do not have a duty to obey ungodly government and to the contrary have a duty to resist ungodly government within Biblical limitations.

The most frequent passage referenced on civil government is Romans 13:1-7. As shown in this study the common teaching of this passage is in contradiction with the Scripture or incomplete. Christians do not have a duty to obey ungodly government and to the contrary have a duty to resist ungodly government within Biblical limitations.

The methods of resistance are poorly understood and the number of Christians even trying to understand and follow is very low.

From Lesson 9:

Summary:

Romans 13:1-7 does command everyone, including rulers to be subject to God’s authority. It does not grant an exception to civil government to do whatever they please and expect our obedience. The Apostle Paul was very well versed in the Hebrew law and his message in Romans 13:1-6 is simply an explanation of the same plan as we studied.

 

Conclusion 4: lower magistrates are not following their duty to lead resistance to ungodly government.

Bowing to man’s solutions and worldly influenced interpretation of Scripture lower magistrates are not following their duty to lead resistance to ungodly government. When all magistrates in civil government fail in their duty - spiritual magistrates (our pastors) must assume the duty.

If the President will not do his duty, then the Vice-President should lead the way. If he fails then the Speaker of the House and the Congress. If they fail then the Governors of the several States and if he fails then the State Legislatures. If they fail then the local municipal and county magistrates. When they fail the Judges from the Supreme Court to the local magistrate.

When all civil government magistrates fail our pastors and church leaders should say, “Follow me, this is the way, Walk ye in it!”

Sadly most Christians seem to be more concerned with tax deductions and political parties than urging pastors to preach, teach and follow God’s Word concerning civil government.

Summary and what to do: If a solution is going to occur it is my understanding of the Scripture it will because God will protect his people, the righteous.

The summary is the same as the beginning of this study. We are living in perilous times. Looking to solutions from man is what got us here and will only continue to move us down the slope that is obviously not working.

We need to look to God’s Word and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Without a revival led by the Holy Spirit there does not seem to be anything that can restore Godly government in our land. I do not have a specific list of actions or a proposed plan of what we should not do. But I do know Who has the answer if it is in His Will and where to look for an answer.

It seems obvious to me that the first place to start is within the church. If a solution is going to occur it is my understanding of the Scripture it will because God will protect his people, the righteous.

The time has come to conclude this bible study even though we have only scratched the surface. If one other person wants to continue by prayer and study on what we can do to fulfill our Christian duty we will do so in another venue. In Matthew 18:19-20 we are told:

19. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

20. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

In closing, one last piece of Scripture: Ephesians 4:14

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;