I know that there are those, some of whom I had as professors in college, who say that the separation of church and state must be respected, and that for Christians to speak out or get involved in secular affairs is inappropriate. These folks are quick to quote,
“Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men-- 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” (1 Peter 2:13-17, NKJV)
And thereby beat our brethren into passivity despite the horrors that may be taking place right before their eyes.
Consider the following: Slavery in the United States of America. There were those who preached that this was the law of the land and therefore should and must be supported by every law abiding citizen, especially every faithful Christian. Yet with the luxury of twenty-twenty hindsight I seriously doubt that anyone would preach this message from the pulpit today. Slavery is virtually universally seen as an archaic and barbaric practice that was justifiably condemned to the ash heap of history. I would make the assertion that there could have been hundreds of thousands of lives spared had Christians in America universally condemned the practice before there was a civil war to decide the matter. It is to our great shame and an immortal wound that we didn’t have a William Wilberforce in our nation to guide us through the dangerous straights of such a morally charged issue. Christians then, as Christians now were members of the citizenry and subject to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship including their votes.
Consider the issue of Neo-fascism in Germany in the early 1930s, i.e. the Nazi Party. There were those German Christians who said that is not our business to be involved in politics. There must be a separation of church and state. The Nazis are not really all that dangerous, and in any case they can be controlled by the checks and balances in our secular political system. Yet with the luxury of twenty-twenty hindsight I seriously doubt that anyone who is not an extremist would adopt this attitude today. Nazism too is virtually universally seen as an archaic and barbaric philosophy (born from Darwinian evolution's "survival of the fittest" for society's benefit) which has been justifiably condemned to the ash heap of history. Could the Christian citizens of Germany in the 1930s have stood up with one voice to condemn Hitler and his cronies before they became so powerful that no one could stop them? Or is it justifiable for them to say that they were just being good citizens; they were just being good party members? Or were Christians then, as Christians now members of the citizenry and subject to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship including accountability for their votes, their voices or their silence?
On January 22, 1973 when the United States Supreme Court handed down its verdict on the landmark case of Roe vs. Wade the virtual silence from Christians in the churches of Christ was deafening. Were we too busy to be bothered so we remained ignorant of the debate occurring all around us? Or were we too busy trying to find the speck in our brother’s eyes? Whatever the case, abortion was generally seen as a personal issue and best left to the politicians to sort it out. Now, some 36 years and 47,691,288 abortions later (using the most conservative estimates) any Christian who knows what goes on inside the womb when a fetus is aborted (If you don’t know is it because you don’t want to know?) cannot possibly defend it. We as a nation are now guilty of more murders than Hitler and Stalin combined! If not for our local Moloch in the guise of the hospital incinerator our streets would run red with blood. I would remind you that God says: “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood,” (Prov 6:16-17, NKJV). Are Christians then, as Christians now members of the citizenry and subject to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship including accountability for our votes, our voices or our silence?
Consider the issue currently facing our nation in the form of governmental takeover and control of the Health Care System in this country. The current administration is driven by an ideology of death. The overriding philosophy is that of population control. They hold to the firm conviction that there are too many people on the planet, too many Americans and developed nations consuming too many resources making a huge a carbon footprint that must be shrunk at any cost, including the elimination of those deemed expendable. They are seeking the ultimate solution.
This began in earnest in the late 1960s and 1970s and is documented in the book, Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population, by Matthew Connelly. Connelly documents how the somewhat successful practices of non-coercive means of population control in the United States and Western Europe of making children more expensive of ending tax breaks for families with children, of encouraging women to work outside the home and promoting the widespread distribution and use of contraceptives were conceived and implemented. All the political jargon about “a women’s right to choose” was the means, not the ends. The end was fewer people on the planet.
In the Third World more vigorous methods were used after 1968 when it was deemed that voluntary methods were not getting the job done. In Bangladesh aid workers denied food to poor women who refused sterilization. In India during Indira Gandhi’s administration millions of women were forcibly sterilized. In Mexico and Peru hundreds of thousands of women were forced to choose between no treatment at medical clinics and forced sterilization. In Africa clinics, to this very day, lacked antibiotics but were full of contraceptives. And of course, everyone knows about China’s one child policy, a policy that has now led to a shortage of brides for all the young men coming of age. (Note: Historically, when nations have too many young men and not enough resources for them they go to war to acquire those resources.)
In the current administration Dr. Ezekiel J Emanuel, brother of President Obama's Chief of Staff, and "Special Advisor for Health Policy" continues to seek a means of implementing an ultimate solution for population control in his defense of the “Complete Lives System” philosophy. John Holdren is the administration’s “Science Czar.” Holdren co-wrote Ecoscience with Paul Ehrlich a book that advocates wholesale sterilization of unwitting populations and offers suggestions for means by which it may be accomplished. These are the thoughts and philosophies that dominate the current administration. These are the philosophies behind the current Health Care Bill and any other version of the Health Care Bill to come across the President’s desk. Is it really necessary for me to put the dots any closer together? Can you not see the writing on the wall? Are Christians now, as Christians then members of the citizenry and subject to all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship including accountability for our votes, our voices or our silence?
Edmund Burke once famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Which begs the question: If men witness the triumph of evil and do nothing, are they good men? Are they good Christians?
Soberly Yours,
John Myer
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