OPINION:
“Without God, there is no virtue, because there’s no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we’re mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” — President Ronald Reagan
August 23, 1984
America was created “under God,” a statement as solidified in this country as the expression of freedom. From the beginning of “under God” it was always a covering that allowed for all freedom of religion and even the freedom to not believe in God. And yet, even for the atheist, the adopted sense of morality and human rights that came from God was generally embraced without ever devoting their life to God.
The continued debate over separation of church and state often refers to church as an organization, denomination, or set of rules, seeking to overtake legislature to push religious agenda. The truth about church and churches as a whole is that Christians can’t even begin to agree across all denominations and fringe beliefs let alone be able to agree on how to legislate an entire country.
What has become a great reality recently, is that it is not a debate over separation of church and state, but a separation of America and God. Once you remove God from a country, you no longer have freedom of religion, and you make it very clear to God that you want none of His blessings over your land.
The church is not a building or a specific denomination. Jesus told Peter in Matthew 16:18, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not over come it.” (NIV). The word for church here is ecclesia, first used by the Greeks as their word for a kind of people’s parliament. When the Romans conquered the Greeks, they
adopted this word as a military word.
Okay, so the church today means that we are a military government? Not like it sounds, but spiritually, yes! Jesus wasn’t calling Peter to build a building or to take over Rome, quite the opposite. The early church had very little interest in politics, met in homes, and gave their life up for the love of Jesus Christ. They took ground for the kingdom by loving the unlovely, establishing care, assistance, ministering to the sick, sharing resources, saving the unwanted children that were abandoned outside the city walls, and more.
The love of God permeated every aspect of the early Christian’s life. It wasn’t about a new set of laws that Rome could institute. Christians stayed humble enough to know that they had authority from heaven that didn’t need to be given by the current governance, they were given it by Jesus Christ and the work He did on the cross. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go…” (Matthew 28:18-19a
NIV).
President Reagan’s quote is a stark reminder of the weight of rejecting God. We must learn from history, or we will repeat it. Israel continually rejected God during their time of kings, leading to rampant sin and eventually exile and loss of lives. God is supernaturally patient with people, but there is a point where His justice will see vindication for sin. As humans, we want justice immediately. Remember when the disciples wanted to call down fire on those that were rejecting them followed by a rebuke from Jesus (Luke 9:54)?
Yes, we must champion laws and support politicians who uphold godly principles. However, it will not be a law that will overcome the increased depravity we are seeing in this nation. It will be the church, the body of believers, standing up unashamedly for truth. It will be the ecclesia infiltrating their spheres of influences in their family and places of work to display love and values that align with the kingdom of heaven.
It will be temperance and love shown online and in person to those that disagree with you, loving them in spite of rejection and verbal assault. Revival is talked about more now than I can remember in my lifetime. However, Christians should not pray for revival without being willing to be a part of revival. Those who reject God are watching Christians who give lip service to God on Sunday and live the rest of the week with their own agendas and coddling sin. The greatest witness we can give is a life radically
committed to the one true God.
We need God in our life, in our family, in our school, and most desperately in our nation. Do you see the “coarsening of society” that President Reagan talked about? Do not despair, do not give in to fear. God is not finished with America. It’s time for those who believe in God to rally behind love and truth together. Do not underestimate the power of prayer. God’s kingdom will endure forever.
Tim Ferrara is a Pastor of LifePoint Church in San Tan Valley, Arizona. He is the founder of Discerning Dad (www.discerning-dad.com) and author of several books.
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