As I was reading a commentary piece that
was reviewing a Breitbart radio segment by Alex Marlow about what Actions
Conservatives Should Take Instead of Complaining, do you know what I
discovered? The actions suggested by Breitbart’s
Alex Marlow, that conservatives should be taking to impact the culture in the
name of advancing conservative values are basically the same actions that the
Church should be taking to impact the culture for Christ. For those of you who may not understand how
this is, I invite you to read further so that afterward, you may understand why
I say this.
In the news item, the first thing that
Marlow is cited as stating is that:
Conservatives must avoid philosophical and
political self-censorship with family, friends, and peers because persuasion
begins at the personal level. [1]
In the same way, Christians must avoid
religious, philosophical, and political self-censorship with family, friends,
and peers because persuading them to embrace our faith begins at the personal
level.
The next thing he states is:
You have to try to persuade them at all
costs and find a way to get through to them the best way you can. It’s not
usually yelling at them or beating them over the head, and it doesn’t happen
overnight, but over time. [2]
Likewise, Christians have to try to
persuade those whom they desire to see won over to Christ of the reality of His
truth and of the Gospel of salvation and find a way to get through to the lost
as best they can, but it does not come by way of yelling at them or beating
them over the head and souls are not always convinced over night to embrace Christ
and turn away from their sins. That is a
process that can also take time because there are a lot of barriers that have
to be addressed that might be keeping them in unbelief such as intellectual
barriers, religious and philosophical barriers, emotional barriers, and the
attitude of the heart and we need to be prepared to address as best we can
every obstacle and barrier of the heart and mind and give as satisfying of an
answer that we can to their every objection in order to reach the soul but that
also means that in the process, you have to risk making them angry,
you have to risk facing ostracization,
you have to risk facing ridicule and
discrimination,
and you have to risk facing hostility.
In some cases, you must be prepared for
civic punishment.
You even have to be willing to risk facing
violence and even death itself.
And you must be mentally and emotionally
prepared that even the people whom you hold dear including close friends,
parents, spouses, and even your children could themselves face or be threatened
with any degree of harm which could include even death itself.
But remember this that when you face any
degree of persecution or the threat thereof, no matter how severe, you are not
being asked to make any greater of a sacrifice or take any higher of a risk
than what has been asked of anyone else and there is this promise: The greater
the sacrifice, the greater the reward to come which will surpass anything we
may be required to risk and endure on account of the name of Christ. (Mk. 10:30)
But one great reason evil prevails is due to
the cowardice of those who should be standing against and who are able to do
something about it but will not because they fear man who is only able to kill
the body at worst but cannot kill the soul more than they do a God who is able
to cast both body and soul into a place whose torment is far worse than death
or any kind of evil, suffering, or hardship that we might ever face (Mt. 10:28)
but who is also able to grant a compensation that will surpass any evil done to
us on account of His name.
The item went on to list the next action
he was reported as stating:
Voters must hold elected officials accountable.
[3]
Likewise, Christians must hold their
leadership accountable
(In some denominations, this may be
difficult to do as in sects such as the Catholic or Anglican churches, of which
the Episcopal in the US is also a part, an unelected religious leaderships appoints
a clergyperson to serve in each congregation, whereas in sects of a more
democratic nature and those congregations that are not affiliated with any established
denomination, are able to expel their leadership and replace them with a
leadership congregants see fit to serve in their respective place of worship
but as for congregations who affiliated with a sect whose leaders are appointed
over them instead of being elected, they may have to separate from the
denomination and form their own independent fellowship, if they deem the leadership
of that respective sect too corrupt, self-serving, and refuses to uphold the
dictates and doctrines of their professed faith, which can be a difficult and
hard fought process.)
It also needs to be noted, that the Church
governing system was created to be a semi-democratic system: (Acts 1:16-26,
6:1-6) The congregants elect elders, elders elect deacons and Pastors who may
eventually be promoted to the rank of Bishop (one who oversees more than one congregation)
(1 Tim. 4:14, 5:22)
As far as voters are concerned, in order
to hold their leadership accountable, they need to be well-versed in the
founding documents of our nation so that they can determine for themselves
whether proposed policy at any given level of government is in violation of those
founding documents rather than relying on a so-called Constitutional expert to
make that determination for them and furthermore, when they succeed at electing
officials and representatives whose platforms aligned with the most essential matters
of our day, they need to make sure that the officials and representatives
elected govern in accordance to the platform they ran on.
But in order for Christians to hold their
leadership accountable as well as each other accountable for both conduct and what
teachings they bring into their respective congregations, they need to become
well-versed in the doctrines and dictates of their respective faith; not in a
catechism or a denominational statement of faith but the divine statement of faith
which is the Bible for the scripture therein testifies of itself to be divinely
inspired of God (2 Tim. 3:16) which makes it infallible and inerrant which is
why all teachings and things introduced into the Church need to be examined by
the scriptures and judged accordingly and not the other way around.
But sadly, the average citizen has not
taken time to examine our founding civic documents for themselves, nor do they
take time to examine the performance record of their respective representatives
and elected officials and so blindly continue to retain in office corrupt and
wicked officials who have no interest in serving the public interest and constantly
violate the very principles they swore they would uphold because their
understanding of the Constitution and how our civic system was originally
designed to work is based on what they are taught in our academic institutions
and what is reported in the media and thus the understanding formed in their
minds of what our civic rights are supposed to be and how our civic system was
designed to work is warped, twisted, and misguided.
And likewise, tragically, most professing
Christians never take time to read and study their scriptures but instead fully
rely on their Pastor, a seminarian, theologian, a radio preacher, a TV evangelist,
or even a blogger for their doctrine instead of allowing the scriptures
themselves to provide them their doctrine and they render the scriptures in
accordance to how they have been taught to render them, the manner of which may
or may not be correct depending on how they are being taught, never thinking to
compare the manner in which they are told to understand the text to the context
of the text itself and therefore they are led into embracing teachings and
doctrines that violate the dictates of their faith and biblical teaching
without even knowing that they are embracing things contrary to the faith that
they claim to hold to and are led into tolerating, endorsing, and celebrating things
that they are supposed to be condemning and standing against and if they do not
know the scriptures that they are supposed to be studying, then how can they
ever hold each other accountable for what they say and do and ensure that their
leadership upholds the dictates and teachings of their faith as taught in
scripture?
And without the means for accountability,
the results for both a church and a Constitutionalist Republic end up being
basically the same in that complacency sets in members of both, both
institutions fall prey to mass infiltration and over time, both become further
and further removed from their intended purposes and become less and less recognizable
as they are led further and further away from the principles, doctrines,
virtues, and values upon which they were built until they can no longer be
called what they had once been because they can no longer be seen as being any
different from any other system in nature as they had once been before.
There is a reason why accountability is highly
critical in the body of Christ amongst its members (Mt. 18:15-17, 1 Cor. 5:1-8,
11, 13, Titus 2:10, 13) and a reason why we are warned repeatedly in scripture
against false prophets and false teachers. (Mt. 7:15-20, Acts 20:28-31, 2
Corinthians 11:3-4, 12-15, Gal. 1:6-9, 1 Tim. 1:19-20, 4:1-3, 7, 5:22, 6:3-5,
20-21, 2 Tim. 2:16-18, 23, Titus 1:10-16, 2:11, 2 Pet. 2, 3:15-16, 1 Jn. 4:1-3,
Jude) but unless Christians take time daily to study the very scriptures by
which their faith, doctrine, and creed are delivered, how will they ever be
able to detect the interlopers, infiltrators, saboteurs, rabble rousers,
charlatans, and heretics who come in among them?
But the better they know the scriptures by
which the faith they embrace has been delivered and the more well-versed they
are in the teachings thereof, the better able they will be to detect those
heretics and infiltrators who creep in among them and deal with them
accordingly and the better able they are able to do so, the better able they will
be to preserve and uphold a doctrine and faith unblemished as it was first
preached and delivered to the saints.
If the Constitutionalist Republic is to
retain its identity and kept set apart from the rest of the world, its people
must be diligent in holding fast to the principles upon which it was built,
ensure that they are applied to all of our institutions, that they are taught
and passed down to each and every generation, and that they are well-versed in
its history and in the instructions of the founding documents by which they can
hold current leadership accountable.
Likewise, if the Church is to be a light
to the world as it was created to be (Mt. 5:14), it must, to the best of its ability,
keep pure the doctrine upon which it was built, uphold the instruction and
teachings with which it was entrusted, and ensure that its members do the same
and to not allow anyone or anything to remove it from the mission and purpose for
which it was intended.
Marlow was then quoted as stating:
We need to get local and get people
grooming the next generation of talent, getting people civically engaged,
making it cool to be civically engaged at a local level, and try[ing] to start
identifying, spotting, and supporting talent over the next generation of
politicians. [4]
In the same way, discipleship begins with
local congregations and not just with once-a-week Sunday church services, but
also a Sunday school curriculum and not just for children, but also curriculum
geared for teens and adults, and youth group and Bible study meetings
throughout the week as well and not only that, encouraging those being
discipled to get actively involved with church activities.
It is when congregants not only attend
regularly, but are also given opportunity to serve as well, that the Church will
be better able to spot individuals with the gifts, talents, and passions suited
for the type of service and calling that God has placed on them which all men
are commanded to put to use for the glory of God (Mt. 25:14-28) and for the
expansion of His Kingdom through the winning of souls over to Christ Jesus our
Lord, Maker, Redeemer, and King for it is often in the Church that men discover
their calling and purpose in Christ and it is within the Church that every
generation of worship leaders, pastors, evangelists, and teachers of the faith
are raised up, trained, and prepared.
There is nothing to say that the Republic
as our founders intended it to be cannot be restored but Marlow states a cold
hard truth that impatient members among the MAGA crowd don’t necessarily like
to hear:
It cannot be done overnight, and we would
like for things to be done overnight. [5]
It may take years, even decades if not
generations, to restore America back to what it was originally intended to be
and that is assuming that this present world is destined to last that long. Not everything is going to be resolved in one
election cycle or in one Presidential term, or even two Presidential terms and not
everything can be resolved with elections or even with political policy, no
matter how godly and principled the political candidates we support, vote for,
and elect may be, and no matter how beneficial the policies that are passed may
be either.
And likewise, it is always possible for entire
neighborhoods, communities, counties, states, provinces, and even entire
nations at large to be converted over to a steadfast faith in Christ Jesus and
to adopt the scriptures that preach the Gospel as their final authority for
truth and instruction in godly and upright living, but again, that is not something
that can be expected to be done overnight.
That is something that will take time; generations even.
The next thing Marlow states is a task
much easier said than done for several reasons that I will not go into on this
post (it might turn into a multi-volume book if I try):
Of course, the most important thing of
all, whoever gets to Washington next, you’ve go to drain the swamp. [6]
While we can agree that those who we
succeed at electing must do everything they can on their part to “drain the
swamp,” from where they are at, it is going to take a lot more than just
bailing water.
You must also identify the breaches from
which that filthy water flows and repair them, you must dive down to the bottom
of that swamp to find and identify the plug that is holding that dirty water in
but even that is not enough. It must be
attacked at its source and that means uprooting the fountain from which that
filthy water is spewing forth and replacing it with a fountain that brings
forth clean water but the matter of draining the swamp goes beyond just mere
politics because the swamp is not merely a political problem, but a spiritual problem
which I cover more extensively in another blogpost [7] and will elaborate
more on later in this post but nevertheless, if the swamp is not attack at its
source, the filthy water is just going to keep flowing back into the halls of
the government we want to see purged of its evil and corruption because it is
not flowing from the top down. It is
rising from the bottom up.
It is the same way within the body of
Christ. The swamp does not just reside
within the halls of Washington D.C. or any other seat of civic power throughout
the world. The swamp has also invaded
and infested the Church as well and it did not just all of a sudden manifest
itself within the government of each respective denomination. It worked its way into the congregations and
from there made its way into our Sunday school classes, our pulpits, our youth
groups, our seminaries, and finally into the office of the bishop and into the
courts and halls of the bishop councils.
You can fire and oust from their positions
all the wicked, corrupt, heretical, and apostate leaders and persons of
influence you want, but again, if you don’t attack the swamp within the church
at its source, the filthy water is just going to keep flowing back in and we
have been given resources that enable us to deal with the swamp at its source,
but sadly we are not utilizing those resources like we should be.
And lastly, Marlow states:
We need to vote out everyone who is not a
fighter…You’ve got to find your way to do your part, and it’s beyond just
showing up and passively voting at this point. [8]
Likewise, Christians need to do more than
just show up to church every Sunday. They
need to be actively about the business of the King every day of their lives in
accordance to each of their respective callings. The person they are in within the church,
they need to be outside of the church and every day of the week and be a light
to everyone around them, letting it shine forth everywhere they go and not be
driven into hiding it nor hide the fact that they are a follower of Christ. They need to include and honor God, not just
with their Sunday worship, but in everything they do and the only thing that
should determine their course in life and the choices they make should be the
dictates of their professed faith.
And just like we need political leaders
who are courageous fighters in the civic arena, we also need leaders in the
Church who are fighters as well and who are not afraid to take on controversial
matters (we are a people called to controversy after all), and who are able to
serve as examples of steadfastness, faith, and courage but so that we may be
blessed with leadership that is steadfast in the faith, unwavering in their
commitment to Christ, unafraid any opposition they may face, dedicated to the
teaching and upholding of sound doctrine, willing to hold accountable unruly, heretical,
and sinful-living members, and committed to standing against and confronting
evil wherever it may be found, we need to rid ourselves of those who are
cowardly compromising appeasers who refuse to take action against unruly members,
who harbor bringers of heresies and false doctrines within our midst, who allow
sinful-living members to disgrace us and the name of our Lord, who flee
controversy, and who capitulate to the demands of the ungodly at the expense of
truth and godliness and we rid ourselves of cowardly, passive, groveling
appeasers by voting them out if we can, demanding their resignation, and if we
can’t vote them out, by separating ourselves from them by either joining
ourselves to another fellowship that has been blessed with faithful, steadfast,
courageous leadership or establishing a fellowships of our own in which we can
establish the leadership that we need.
The stated actions that both conservatives
and Christians must take to advance the respective causes to which they are
called are not going to begin with our leaders or even those members of
celebrity and influence. That must start
with each and every one of us. We, on an
individual basis, have to begin applying them in accordance to the ability
given to us be that small or large and with the resources we are given, be they
vast or little and from that point on, we can influence our households,
neighborhoods, and communities for the better, and from there, we can begin to
impact our respective states and even the entire nation.
But in order for us to apply the right
actions and the right principles for the betterment of our country, we have to be
sure that we ourselves have undergone a necessary change in not just our minds
and hearts, but even our very souls so as to be sure we are no longer a part of
the problem that we are seeking to see resolved because the one thing in common
that we have with our political leaders and religious leaders, is that a swamp
resides in each and every one of us and we will never be able to succeed in
draining the very thing of which we are a part (we’d have to flush our own selves
down the toilet as well) for the leadership established, be it political or
religious, did not all of a sudden become corrupt. They brought the corruption in with them
because the corruption that resides within them is that same corruption that
resides in each and every one of us because it is an inherent corruption traced
all the way back to the first man and the first woman God had created, but He
did not create mankind to be corrupt. He
did not even create man to even be inherently or inwardly corrupt for it is
written that when God created the heavens and the earth, created everything and
declared everything, including man, to be good. (Gen. 1) but He did also give
mankind a choice and a choice between life and death between in the form of two
trees, one being the tree of life, which would enable man to live forever, and
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2:9) The tree of the
knowledge of good and evil was the only thing withheld from the first man Adam,
and the first woman Eve, Adam’s wife, having been warned of God that in the day
that they ate thereof, they would surely die. (Gen. 2:16-17, 3:3)
But tragically, they chose death when they,
despite having been warned of the consequences, had eaten that forbidden fruit
that they were told not to eat and it was in that day, that the figurative
swamp was born; the swamp of sin and it was in that day that as a result of
that first act of disobedience, that sin entered into them and when sin entered
into them, then so did death (Gen. 3:19) for it is by sin that death receives
its power, but sin and death were not confined to just Adam and Eve, from whom
all of mankind descend, but was passed down to all of us, because we all descend
from them, (Rom. 5:12) for sin is not merely confined to an outward act or even
wrongly and evil spoken words, it begins from within because it is an inward
corruption that influences not only speech and actions, but also defiles our
thoughts, darkens our hearts, corrupts our motives, and poisons our attitudes
and because sin is the corrupted condition of our inward human nature that produces
within us things that are contrary to what God created us to be and because of
this corrupted condition, we all sin and as a consequence, we all die (Rom.
6:23) just as Adam and Eve did but the consequences of sin have not been kept
confined to just man alone, but have, by way of a curse, been extended to all
of creation which is why the creation groans and travails in pain to this day
(Rom. 8:19-22) which is why the earth is filled with famines, sickness,
disease, death, decay, misery, evil, suffering, hardship, cataclysms, grief, pain,
and sorrow of every sort and severity but worst of all, our sin has made us to
be estranged from our Creator for that which is sinless and incorruptible
cannot join itself to that which is filled with corruption and sin and when we
take time to examine ourselves before the Lord God Almighty and not just our
acts and even the words we speak, but also every thought, motive, and attitude
of our hearts, it is only then we begin to understand how we all fall short of
the glory of God which (Rom. 3:23) which is moral perfection and why we are all
in need of redemption by which also comes that inward transformation that makes
us no longer a part of the figurative swamp though we still be in it and in His
love and in His mercy, God has provided us redemption on our behalf in His only
begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth as a man to offer Himself up to
death on our behalf and did so by His death upon the cross on which His blood
was shed and by the death of Him in whom there is no sin (2 Cor. 5:21) was the
demanded penalty for sin satisfied and mercy granted and after having offered
Himself up as that needed perfect and unblemished sacrifice, (Heb. 7:26-27) He rose
from the grave so that we may be made justified in Him by our faith in Him for
the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of our souls (Rom. 4:25) from what
would otherwise be an unimaginably agonizing terrifying, fearful, judgment and
punishment filled with an unrelenting torment from which there is no relief day
or night for that is what must be done with all sin and with those who remain
in their sins, but those who call upon the name of Christ for the forgiveness
of sins are saved from that judgment (Rom. 10:13) and are assured a place in Heaven
and in the new and better world to come and with the forgiveness of sins comes
the inward transformation of our souls (2 Cor. 5:17) and reconciliation to God
from whom our sins had once separated us (2 Cor. 5:18) and it is that transformation
hat causes us to no longer desire to follow after selfish and worldly pursuits
but after those things that pertain to the Kingdom of Heaven,
to no longer take pleasure in those things
that are evil and displeasing in the sight of the Lord, but in that which is
good, right, and pleasing in His sight,
to no longer desire to walk in the lies of
this present world, but only in the truth that comes from Christ Almighty, no
longer placing our hopes in the things of this present world, but looking
forward to that new and better world to come, (Rev. 21-22)
to no longer rely on worldly resources,
men, or even our own power, abilities, skills, and wisdom for our needs and
provision but upon God who is able to meet all of our needs, recognizing that
the resources of this world and even the people He brings into our lives are
but instruments and vessels through which God meets our needs and that the
skills, power, knowledge, and wisdom by which we might acquire our provision
are provided and instilled in us by God,
to no longer fear what men can do to us,
but rather fearing the God before whom we will have to one day give an account
for how we lived our lives, (Mt. 10:28)
to no longer look to corruptible
institutions within our society for direction and order in our lives but to God
who, by His written Word has given us laws and precepts to be applied to our
lives and which serve to produce and maintain an ordered life, and who, by His
Holy Spirit which comes to dwell within us upon repentance, establishes in our
lives a course and direction in our lives to pursue for His glory,
to no longer seek our own glory but the
glory of God,
to no longer rally behind corruptible men,
but instead behind the incorruptible God in Heaven bearing in mind that those
men and women God raises up for our edification are but instruments and
servants of His for that respective purpose to which He has called them,
to no longer seek to align ourselves with
the things of darkness but only with the things of the light,
to no longer trust in the wisdom of the
world but only on the wisdom and knowledge that comes from above, nor depend on
corruptible earthly authorities to swiftly administer justice, but only in the
power of God to deliver us from evil.
Upon a sincere and heartfelt repentance that
causes us to call upon the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, we are
made no longer a part of the swamp of this present world, but we are now made a
part of the life giving water that are of Christ that we are commissioned to
share with any willing to receive it (Mt. 28:19-20, Mk 16:15-16) and in doing
so, we do our part to purify and decontaminate the filthy swamp waters thereby
turning them into clean profitable freshwaters.
And just as our souls are made clean from
sin, so one day also will we be liberated from bodily death when our bodies are
transformed from that which is corruptible into that which is incorruptible (1
Cor. 15:51-55, 1 Thess. 4:13-18) for in that which is incorruptible dwells no
sin and where no sin is, death is not.
And finally, creation itself will be delivered from the curse that came
upon it because of sin when it is made anew into a creation in which there is
no sin, no death, no curse, no decay, no evil, no pain, no grief, no misery, no
sorrow, no hardship, nor any suffering of any kind but only peace, joy, harmony,
and happiness before the Lord God Almighty. (Rev. 21-22)
If you want to be sure that you are not a
part of the swamp of this evil world, I urge you to call upon the name of the
Lord Jesus today for the forgiveness of sins so that you may be cleansed of the
swamp stain of sin and thus become a vessel through which the life-giving water
that comes from our Maker can be offered to any willing to receive it so that
they too can be redeemed in Christ and also be turned into faithful servants
and vessels of His as well. It is but a
simple sincere heartfelt prayer of repentance away:
"Lord Jesus I need you.
I realize that I am a sinner
who has fallen short of the glory of God
and that my goodness falls short
of your standard of Moral perfection.
Please forgive me of all of my sins.
Come into my heart and into my life
to be the Savior and Lord of my life.
Make me into the servant and follower
that you want me to be.
In your name Lord Jesus, I pray.
Amen."
Know that God is not concerned with the
words that you use to call upon Him forgiveness, but with the attitude of your
heart and if you have, with all sincerity, have asked Christ to forgive you of
your sins, placing your trust in Him only for your salvation and in nothing
else, then your sins are forgiven and your place in Heaven is certain.
End notes:
1. “Alex
Marlow: Actions Conservatives Should Take Instead of Complaining,” JoshWho News,
August 12, 2022
https://news.joshwho.net/alex-marlow-actions-conservatives-should-take-instead-of-complaining/
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5.
Ibid.
6.
Ibid.
7.
D.H. Manheim, “It Is Not Enough To Simply Drain The Swamp,” Contender’s
Edge, September 18, 2022
https://contendersedge.blogspot.com/2022/09/it-is-not-enough-to-simply-drain-swamp.html
8. JoshWho News, August 12, 2022
Scripture references:
1.
Mark10:30
2.
Matthew 10:28
3.
Acts 1:16-16
4.
Acts 6:1-6
5.
1 Timothy 4:14
6.
1 Timothy 5:22
7.
2 Timothy 3:16
8.
Matthew 18:15-18
9.
1 Corinthians 5:1-8, 11, 13
10.
Titus 2:10, 13
11.
Matthew 7:15-20
12.
Acts 20:28-31
13.
2 Corinthians 11:3-4
14. 2 Corinthians 11:12-15
15. Galatians 1:6-9
16. 1 Timothy 1:19-20
17.
1 Timothy 4:1-3, 7
18.
1 Timothy 5:22
19.
1 Timothy 6:3-5, 20-21
20.
2 Timothy 2:16-18, 23
21. Titus 1:10-16
22.
Titus 2:11
23.
2 Peter 2
24.
2 Peter 3:15-16
25.
1 John 4:1-3
26.
Jude
27.
Matthew 5:14
28.
Matthew 25:14-28
29.
Genesis 2:9
30.
Genesis 2:16-17
31.
Genesis 3:3
32.
Genesis 3:19
33.
Romans 5:12
34.
Romans 6:23
35.
Romans 8:19-22
36. Romans 3:23
37.
2 Corinthians 5:21
38.
Hebrews 7:26-27
39.
Romans 4:25
40.
Romans 10:13
41.
2 Corinthians 5:17
42.
2 Corinthians 5:18
43.
Revelation 21-22
44.
Matthew 28:19-20
45.
Mark 16:15-16
46.
1 Corinthians 15:51-55
47.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
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