Do You Believe in Magic...or in Jesus?
By Buddy Hanson
The Covenant News
December 23, 2009
If you believe in magic...
Ø You imagine that you can vote for the “lesser of two evil candidates” and God will bring about “good” consequences for our culture. (Romans 3.8)
Ø You imagine that you can substitute the “commandments of men for the doctrines of God,’ (Matthew 15.3-9) without becoming “ashamed and dismayed.” (Jeremiah 8.9)
Ø You imagine that you can serve “God and man” (Matthew 6.24) without having God consider your prayers to be “an abomination.” (Proverbs 15.8)
Ø You imagine that you can be “salt and light” (Matthew 5.13-14) to your non-Christian neighbors without living according to God’s laws. But if you disregard God’s ethics, and are basing your behaviors upon your wisdom instead of God’s because this is “the age of grace,” how can you keep from being “trampled under foot by men?”
If you believe in Jesus...
Ø You know that His Word means what He says it means, not what you say it means, and that He is “the way, the truth, and the life,” (John 14.6) and you should give your best efforts each day to live “by every word that proceeds from His mouth!” (Matthew 4.4)
Ø You know that those who call Jesus, Lord, Lord, but do not do what He says,” (Luke 6.46) will be like a house that is built upon the “sand” of man’s ethics, instead of upon the “rock” of God’s ethics. (Luke 6.48-49)
Ø You know that by “committing your ways to the LORD, your thoughts will be established.” (Proverbs 16.1-4)
Ø You know that “it is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.” (1 Peter 2.15)
Ø You know that being a Christian is a full time calling, in which you present to the ever-observing eyes of non-Christian neighbors a lifestyle that is 180-degrees different from theirs. (Luke 10.27) And the result will be that they will recognize your “wisdom” and want to know more about the triune God that your serve. (Deuteronomy 4.5-7)
Ø You know that learning God’s laws is the most effective safeguard against false presuppositions creeping into our worldview. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isaiah 8.20)
This is why the revealed law of God is the cornerstone of a culture, and should be at the forefront of every legislator’s and judge’s decision-making. The ONLY way to expect to turn America around from its moral decline is to use the Bible as our political textbook for evaluating our current and future legislators. To do anything less is to settle for man’s rules, and as long as we continue to govern ourselves according to man’s rules, we will continue to get man’s results. ONLY when we stop believing in magic and start believing in Jesus by returning to governing ourselves according to God’s rules will we get God’s results! As the apostle Paul warns, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Galatians 6.7)
The American church must lead this reformation. After all, what institution is more qualified to train current and prospective legislators in how to be statesmen, instead of politicians? What is more needed at this time than weekend seminars in your church (!) to provide this detailed training? If your church officers say they trust in the state more than in God and are afraid that if they forgo their 501 C3 status, they will lose members, because God won’t bless their efforts, tell them to keep worshiping the state, and shake the dust off your shoes from that moralistic social club and find, or begin, a real church!
Our triune God was very serious about saving you, and gave a very high price to accomplish it, and its time we were serious about serving God and giving Him our best efforts each day. Seriously consider the following familiar words from Paul, and evaluate what, if anything, you can do to conform your lifestyle to his urgent words. Also think about how much better our culture will be once fellow Christians do the same:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12.1-2
Buddy Hanson is President of the Christian Policy Network and Director of the Christian Worldview Resources Center and has written several books on the necessity of applying one's faith to everyday situations, circumstances and decision-making.
Contact:
Buddy Hanson
President
2 Windsor Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35404
205.454.1442
E-mail: bhanson@graceandlaw.com
Website: http://www.graceandlaw.com
Gill Rapoza
Veritas Vos Liberabit
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