How We View the U.S. Government

by somadijinn) at www.sxc.hu

How do you view the government?

For most of my years I viewed the government of the U.S.A. as founded upon and supporting biblical principles and morals generally.  In many ways within the church we have blended patriotism with our spirituality.  Often this may even be to the point of ethnocentrism.  If we are not careful, we can become modern day Jonah’s in our attitudes.  But that is for another post!

I now see the American government much differently.  Over the past decade we have seen so many radical changes with the morality of our nation, that we cannot suppose it is supporting or upholding general Biblical truth.  

I am doing some study of restoration church leaders for an article I am writing involving Alexander Campbell.  I have observed that these restoration leaders of the 1800s viewed the government much differently than Christians today.  

David Lipscomb and James Harding had some very interesting views toward the national government.  Here are some quotes from them and comments about their work from the book Kingdom Come.

“Harding responded bluntly, “Christians are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and their king is the Lord Jesus Christ; and as their king tersely puts it, ‘No man can serve two masters.’ For Harding the civil government was not a necessary prop to help support the Christian’s faith but was actually a Satanic seduction away from utter dependence upon God.” (p. 26).  

“The trouble, as Lipscomb saw it, was that many Christians have come to believe that human effort and government were ‘more essential to the worlds’ well-being, than the Divine.’  If Christians pursued the reign of God with half the vigor many follow politics and self-advancement, then there would be no need for civil government since there would be no rule on earth but God’s.  There would be no law but Christ’s.  There would be no courts but the churches of Christ.  ‘This is the ideal state for which every Christians should look, and for which he should work and pray” (p. 30).  

These leaders emphasized the Christian’s sojourning and exile status within the kingdoms of the world.  “They understood the life of the kingdom as a call out of a pagan world into an entirely different way of life.” (p. 31). 

Personally this has helped me over the last couple of weeks, as I have reflected upon the governments legislation and approval of same-sex marriage.  

Should I not expect the government to make decisions as a kingdom of the world or Satan?  They are of the world.  They are a part of the kingdom of darkness (Col. 1:13).  One of the great problems of modern American society, and this infiltrates the church, is our dependence upon the government.  We look to the government to solve our problems and deal with our ills.  Maybe Harding was right regarding civil government being a “Satanic seduction away from utter dependence upon God.”

Christians can lament and bemoan what our nation has become, but we must not be seduced into loosing hope.  It should remind us of our status as sojourners and pilgrims who serve King Jesus!  We should be motivated to place our dependence upon God, rather than government.  We should be inspired to work for Jesus making a difference one soul at a time doing kingdom work through humility, love, and service to others.  

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Kingdom Come, by John Mark Hicks and Bobby Valentine was printed in 2006 by Leafwood publishers.

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