I recently had the opportunity to travel with Historian / Pastor David Barton on a pastoral tour of Florida. I personally believe that David is the greatest living, early American historian in the world. His personal collection of early American artifacts numbers over 160,000 items. That is remarkable by any historical standard. Every time I have opportunity to listen to him speak, I walk away learning something new. This tour was no exception.
As I listened to his presentation a few times over the week, I was fascinated by his references to Revolutionary War era sermons by the clergy. He shared PowerPoints of original documents outlining the topics of relevancy during this time period. He mentioned a sermon series on “Earthquakes”, as there had been a recent earthquake in the Boston area and people wanted to know what the Bible might have to say about that. Another sermon series was on property taxes and the biblical view of taxation. There was another one on “Comets” as people were interested in understanding God’s view on astronomy. These sermons might seem strange or irrelevant to us today, but in the mid-eighteenth century, people yearned to know what God had to say about occurrences that were taking place all around them.
The point to be made was that relevancy has to do with what the people are facing and seeking to understand in their lives and culture at the present moment. The Bible speaks to every arena and activity of life in both the individual and the universe. It was Martin Luther who rightly said,
“If you preach the Gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time, you are not preaching the Gospel at all”.
The greatest revelation of the Reformation, in my humble opinion, was not the biblical doctrine of Justification by Faith or the Priesthood of all Believers. These concepts had been taught and debated for some time before Luther’s Wittenberg Theses. The greatest revelation was that Luther was the first to suggest in over a millennia, that there was an authority that stood over the authority of Kings and Popes. That authority was the Scripture. This simple, yet profound understanding caused no small upheaval in Europe and was the foundation of the American Revolution. It causes upheavals to this very day.
There is an authority over our constitution, congress, supreme court, presidents, governors, political parties, and the like. If we lose that revelation and foundation, we will ultimately lose our freedoms. The past two years have tested not only our American concepts of Liberty, but the Church’s place of necessity and authority. (If you believe the Church to be a non-essential entity as many governors suggested, then that church probably is.) For most of us, we knew better, but to articulate some of these beliefs has been lacking or missing from many of the pulpits in our era.
I have personally fielded scores of calls and contacts at the Florida Pastors Alliance, as pastors navigate these waters. And while I proudly embrace the fact that I am a pro-life, constitutional conservative, who believes in limited government, fiscal restraint, and a strong national defense, as well as a strong 2A home defense; I base my convictions (like Luther) on the Scripture as the final authority. My political philosophy is subject to the Word of God. Words like conservative and liberal change through history, but the Scripture does not. And while I may feel a slight affinity to a political party, my ultimate and prioritized allegiance is to God, Christ, and the Bible.
And while we can argue government mandates, coercion, and overreach constitutionally, (and I thank the recent federal court decisions from halting most of them); we, as Christians, need to start addressing these challenges biblically rather than constitutionally. We cannot base our arguments out of a “You can’t make me” libertarianism. (Because government, rightly defined, in its proper jurisdiction, and biblically understood, can make us do some things…just not EVERYTHING.)
Which leads me to the next series of blog posts dealing with our current era’s use of government “mandates”. Whether the mandates be directed at the service industry (as it was some years ago concerning bakers and florists), or masks and vaccinations which we are currently wrestling through as a nation, it cannot be disputed that there are questions people are asking and Christians are wondering if God has anything He might say about it.
So, allow me to give you my blog series proposition and purpose as we get started today.
PROPOSITION: The state cannot mandate (force) you to put something in your body that your conscience bears witness against.
PURPOSE: To scripturally challenge these mandates and develop a theology of medical freedom and restriction of government mandates.
We have been accustomed in our day to accept the idea that the civil government will be involved in health, education, and welfare. Our civil government has so escaped it’s biblically prescribed boundaries and limitations that certain activities it provides are accepted and expected with no questions. That familiarity with a government out of bounds, makes it difficult for us to identify the proper limits of civil authority. The good news is, that there is something that still stands over earthly government’s authority.
We must shake ourselves free from that familiarity and again ask ourselves, “What does God have to say about all of this”.
Stay tuned…
There is upheaval again on the horizon…
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