God and Government

by Brian Thetford

Romans 13: 11
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Where do you place your trust? God or the Government? Maybe it is both? We are at a very delicate moment in our countries history, and where you place your faith, your hope, and your trust is a question that is being demanded by every politician out there almost daily. So what is the answer? For me it is a clear choice, I will place all of my hope, faith, and trust in the Lord. There is no doubt that just as Paul points out in the scripture, God establishes earthly authority, and I do not doubt for one moment that the path that we are on as a country we are on for a purpose. I find myself often thinking about Saul the First King of Israel. To say he was not the best King would be an understatement, yet he was appointed by God, and what people learned by having Saul as a king was invaluable. Sometimes the Lord will give us exactly what we think we want, even when he knows it is not something we need……. Experience is the best teacher!

Still we are left with the vital question, where do we place our trust? Even our Government knows the answer. The answer is printed on every piece of currency this country produces. You can find the answer etched into our government buildings, and our monuments. IN GOD WE TRUST. To place our faith in anything else sells God out. Yet this is exactly what we are being asked to do. Every day the government is asking you to quit trusting in yourself, and God, and to start relying on them for all of your needs; income, housing, healthcare, food. The government would have you believe that they are the way the truth and the life. We know that is not the case. Here is the kicker, why would you trust in the government to provide what fellow Christians already provide for each other? I cannot think of a time when a family that was in need was not taken care of by their congregations. Be it food, money, housing, even healthcare bills have been paid by Christians taking care of those in need. How could we not? Did Christ not instruct us to do just that?

So do we submit to the government? Yes, but we bow only to the Lord. We don’t need more government in our lives, we need more God! Now more than ever we should be working to carry out the great commission. We should be making every effort to show the world that while government backed programs typically only produce half measures, God backed programs provide more than full measure. As Paul also points out in Romans we are more than conquerors, not because we have trusted the government, but because we have put our unshakeable faith in the Lord. When we place our faith and our trust in God, our lives play out in perfect harmony with God’s plan. We have a choice to make. Will we go the way of the world, and lock God away, only bringing Him out on Sunday, and holidays, or will we work to once again place The Lord where he belongs, at the top of our priorities. Will each of us make the commitment to take all of our faith, all of our trust, and place it squarely at the cross of Christ? If we will do that; if we will depend on the Lord to provide for us and to show the way, we will find that we are always victorious. Yes, this government is established by God, but we might want to pay attention to the message that is being sent. Saul just might be back in power.

May God bless and keep you,

Brian Thetford

What Foundation Are You Laying for Christ?

by Hank Hanegraaff

One of the resources that we have available for those that make a donation to the Christian Research Institute is a booklet on rewards. Rewards are not commonly talked about in contemporary sermons but they were common fare in the sermons of Jesus Christ. We see this in the Olivet Discourse, in the Book of Revelation, and the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus Christ is not alone, the apostles spoke about rewards. Whether we’re talking about the apostles Peter, James, or Paul, rewards are a common theme in the Bible. Therefore, we should be familiar with the concept of rewards.

I love what the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

This illustrates the sober reality that some Christians will be resurrected with precious little to show for the time they spent on earth. They “will be saved, but only as one escaping the flames.” This conjures up images of people escaping burning buildings with little more than the charred clothes upon their backs. Christ whose eyes are “like blazing fire” (Rev. 1:14) will incinerate the work of those whose built monuments to themselves, monuments build of “wood, hay or straw.” That will be the lot of even the most visible Christian leaders whose motives were selfish rather than selfless. They were there not for the love of the Master but for the love of what was on the Master’s table.

On the other hand, those who build selflessly upon the foundation of Christ using, “gold, silver, and costly stones” will receive enduring rewards.