A Perilous Path

A Perilous Path

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. — Judges 21:25 (NKJV)

As the nation of Israel begin to spiral downward both spiritually and morally speaking, anarchy and violence became the norm. When a nation’s moral compass is removed, there is no gauge to keep the citizens of that nation from self-destructing. Tony Evans, in his book Kingdom Politics writes, “Scripture is clear that when legitimate, responsible political leadership is absent, a society and its citizens descend into chaos. In God’s kingdom, having the right person with the right policies, packaged together, is how a culture and a country progress well.”

When you contemplate how closely our Founding Fathers were to the concept of scriptural supremacy, especially when developing policies that would direct our nation's political make-up, you see how the make-up of government was created to reflect, as Evans states, “the image of God for the well-being of society.”

Now that we have, in my opinion, officially moved from a constitutional form of government to a centralized form of government, the future is anything but bright for our nation. James Madison, for instance, desired that the United States be the first purely representative form of government. The people would elect competent leaders to enact laws while allowing the citizens to elect those who would represent them. This would prevent lawmakers from becoming sovereign. In other words, as Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College put it, “The sovereign would be located outside the government.”

Unfortunately, there is a new philosophy emerging in the United States—a dangerous philosophy supporting a centralized form of government, which makes such bold assertions as the denial of objective truth and propelled by the idea that government itself motivated, not by its citizens but rather by government officials, can run the country. As Dr. Arnn put it, “The central question in the older philosophic tradition is, ‘What is the good?’ The central question in modern philosophy is ‘How do you get it done?’ If you are asking, ‘Get what done?’ The answer is, ‘Whatever you want’” (emphasis in original).

When government power is removed from the people, then the Constitution becomes irrelevant. Laws now give way to those who wield enough power to keep the citizenry in check. There is a word for this: totalitarianism. As one writer put it, “The rule of law cannot survive unless there is an unchanging and transcendent standard which we can measure human laws. Otherwise, the law is whatever lawmakers or judges say it is—which can only result eventually in the collapse of free government. Christian truth is still the only real objective standard we have at our disposal to maintain order and civility in our nation and world.”

That is why we see taking place in our country basic civil rights that were once protected under the Constitution stripped away. President Arnn asks the question, “Have you noticed how the FBI has taken to arresting people who are not dangerous and have no criminal record in the middle of the night and with the same force as if its agents were assaulting a heavily armed compound?” We are still waiting for answers as to how so many election violations could have existed in the 2020 election and still no adequate response from our government.

Cal Thomas speaks to the grand behemoth known as the federal government when he wrote in a recent article:

Government is no longer limited, as the Founders intended. It is everywhere, including and increasingly in decisions we used to make for ourselves. If you are old enough to remember drinking out of garden hoses and riding bikes without helmets you know what I mean.

A centralized government feeds on over-regulating and over-taxing its citizens. That is what fuels the fire. Citizens become solely dependent on the “nanny state” to care for them from the time of birth to the time of death.

Ronald Reagan said it best, “Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.” The bigger government gets, the more liberties and freedom the citizens either give up or are taken from them. When Rehoboam assumed power in Israel from his father Solomon, he felt the need to impose more restrictions, more regulations, and greater taxes on the people then even his father. More work hours were put on the people while government projects continued to grow. Rehoboam was given counsel not to continue this autocratic, heavy-handed approach. What did he do? He became more aggressive and asserted his authority in a greater way. Eventually the nation of Israel rebelled and divided into two kingdoms.

The path our nation is on is perilous indeed. The more centralized our government becomes, the more our beloved freedoms and liberties will begin to erode. The adage is true: “If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it.” Now, more than ever, we need to be bold in our efforts to take the gospel message to all.

James C. Book ministers with the Kissimmee Christian Church of Kissimmee, FL. Contact him at jamescbook@gmail.com.