Chapter V

THE PIOUS PUPPETS

From the "Born Again Republic" by M.J. "Red" Beckman

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral, religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams

We were to be 'One Nation under God! That was part of our great heritage. This aspect of our past is overlooked, ignored and rejected by most of our society today and we are paying a terrible price for that failure.

It was ministers in the pulpits of many churches who spoke out for freedom and justice in the years prior to the American Revolution. Many men of the cloth were speaking out as early as the year seventeen fifty which was twenty-five years before the Revolution began. One such minister was Jonathan Mayhew of New England. Robert Treat Paine, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and one-time attorney general of the United States, called Jonathan Mayhew, "the father of Civil andReligious liberty in Massachusetts and America" This great religious leader preached the principles of the Declaration of Independence from his pulpit more than twenty-five years before that great document was signed July 4th, 1776.

Do we have any ministers who will stand tall and straight in our pulpits of today? Men who will address the problems of taxation, inflation, high interest rates, welfare and corruption in government? What has happened to the effectiveness of the religious community in our day? Most ministers seem to be insisting we have a Caesar and we must bow down to him in submission.

It is time we take another look at the Bible teachings and principles that apply to our nation's well being. If we are to be 'One Nation under God' we should be guided by the Holy Scriptures as we conduct national affairs.

First of all, we must recognize God made man in His likeness. We sense that God is always true and just. He is a very powerful and creative Being. If we were made in His likeness, then surely we must also stand for truth and justice and also be a powerful and creative individual. God made mankind in His likeness and gave man a commission on Planet Earth. That commission was to subdue and take dominion of Planet Earth. God told man to subdue the Earth because there was an evil force present on the Planet. Satan, a being created by God, had rebelled against God claiming he was going to dethrone God. Satan's claim to Planet Earth is a false claim and Satan is the false god ofPlanet Earth.

God's plan for man was that through man the planet could be redeemed from the false claim Satan had to Planet Earth. If man had functioned in the likeness of God, the evil forces of Satan would have been driven from the Planet. Man, however, through the failure of Adam in the garden of Eden, lost his position with God and found himself confronted with good and evil.

Adam's failure was not recognizing a lie and being deceived by a lie. Adam was not an evil man, but he believed a lie. When men believe a lie, they pay a terrible price for the failure to define and reject that which is not true. Man now lives onPlanet Earth, confronted daily with a choice between good and evil. Will man serve the true God and function in His likeness or will man choose to function in the image of the false God, Satan?

If man will live in God's likeness, he will form and administer an orderly society because he will demand truth and justice. If man performs in the image of Satan, the false god, you will have chaos, contention and terror. Show me an orderly society and you will find moral standards of a very high order. A society in turmoil will be characterized by a lack of honesty, integrity and decency.

Another truth which we must be aware of is that God's gift to man is always LIFE and the false god's gift to man is death. The True God wants mankind to live and the false god wants all of mankind dead. The failure of Adam to discern the lie of Satan allowed the false god to redeem the elements the true God used to form Adam. The true God had formed Adam of the dust of Planet Earth and then breathed the breath of life into him. Satan, the false god, claims the dust of Planet Earth as his own and when the true God breathed the breath of life into that clay, Satan immediately conspired to destroy that life and redeem the earth which he claims.

Planet Earth. The scripture tells us the true God created heaven and earth. The true God is very creative; the false god is very destructive. These principles have a bearing on whether government is good and proper or if government becomes a force for chaos and death. Wicked and evil governments have caused the deaths of untold millions of people and Satan was able to reclaim the clay of which people are made. Governments are protectors of life when ordained by God. But governments, controlled by men functioning in the image of Satan, have no respect for life and millions die. We will keep these thoughts in mind as we go on from here.

Most of the religious community of our day become very upset if politics and religion are mixed. Satan is still very busy deceiving people and one of his most successful tricks is to deceive people into believing they are right. Adam thought he was doing right and did not discern the lie. We have literally thousands of religious philosophies on Planet Earth. Satan is the god of confusion and with all of the confusion in the religious world, must we not discern that Satan is the god of the religious world? Now that will come as a jolt perhaps, but each one of these religious orders or cults are convinced they are right and everyone else is wrong. We should have learned how Satan operates from the story of how he deceived Eve. Satan will convince you that what you are doing or believing is right. He has deceived most of the religious world into believing that political affairs are separate from the church.

This is one of Satan's biggest lies and people have bought the lie lock, stock and barrel. What area of our society should be more sensitive to evil and wicked government than the religious world? Has the church failed the people by not demanding that government be subject to divine law? Does the church recognize that when government makes law, that is man-made law? The Bible tells us of many man-made laws that were in violation of God's law. There are a great many accounts in the scripture of godly men who violated man-made law which was contrary to God's law.

Let's look at some specific cases where man-made law violated divine law. In the book of Exodus, the story is told of a law which said themidwives were to murder the male child of the mothers of Israel. The midwives disobeyed the man-made law and it tells us God dealt well with the midwives. Also in the book of Daniel, chapter three, we read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who refused to obey a man-made law. The three men were thrown into the fiery furnace for breaking the man-made law. They were miraculously rescued by the power of God. How many would burn today rather than bow to an evil and wicked government? We also read in the book of Daniel, chapter six, how the prophet Daniel violated a man-made law and was thrown to the lions.

Have you ever heard a minister or priest tell his congregation or parish to judge man-made law in the light of divine law? Have you ever heard a Sunday School teacher explain to the class that we must violate man-made law which violates God's law? Does not the scriptures clearly indicate God's law is over man's law and we must judge man-made law as to whether it is compatiblewith God's law? If we are to be 'One Nation under God', should not the church be very much involved in the process of keeping government honest and good? These are questions that should have been asked but the deceiver has been very successful. The political and governmental arena has been avoided by the religious community in the nation.

There are those who will be very upset' with this book and particularly with what is said in this chapter, but let the challenge be heard across this land. Show me in the scripture where we have God's permission to violate God's law if it does not agree with man-made law. The theologians with their many degrees and credits have been deceived. They have believed a lie and mankind always suffers when he is deceived by Satan. Satan told Adam the big lie that he would become as a God if he disobeyed God's law. The bloody pages of history record many times that man has set himself up as a God and caused men to worship and serve a man rather than God. Satan has deceived many to believe they are a God and Satan has used these men to snuff out the God-given life of millions. Satan rejoices when mankind is oppressed, abused, terrorized, victimized and destroyed. How many theologians have recognized the real reason for the death of millions in Russia and China in this century? When will the church speak out against evil and wicked government or is the church afraid it might lose its tax exemption?

What has the church been teaching its people? Perhaps the most misinterpreted scripture in the Bible is Mark 12:14-17. This is where we have the Christ saying, "Render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's." This passage is usually taken out of context and taught as a sermon on taxation by civil government. This is gross error on the part of any who do so. The context clearly indicates that Christ had a confrontation with his enemies, the chief priests, the Pharisees and Herodians. His enemies tried to trap the Christ with a very clever and diabolical question, "Should tribute be paid to Caesar?" The Christ gave an answer which trapped the trappers. "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's."

Now let us ask the question of our religiousleaders of today. Should we pay taxes to the government of the United States of America? Christ did not say to pay what Caesar demanded, nor did He say that God demanded anything. The individual must decide who he wishes to serve. If Caesar has a return due him for services rendered, then that which is Caesar's should be paid. But what about your God and His just dues? Did Caesar bring the sun and rain and the growth of crops and livestock?

What does your government do with the tax money which you pay? Are they not paying for the murder of the unborn in abortion clinics? Are they not teaching the diabolical, satanic lie called humanism in the schools with your taxes paying the bills? Have you been taking that which is God's and paying for evil and wicked government? Did not our government lie to us about Pearl Harbor, Korea, Viet Nam, Watergate, energy shortage and social security? Your government is a liar and Satan is the father of lies and our churches are teaching that you must render unto our wicked government whatever they demand.

Another badly abused passage of scripture is Romans 13:1-7. In the very first verse it says, "Let every soul be subject to the higher powers." Most ministers, theologians, and Sunday school teachers will tell you that the higher power is our government. This is inexcusable ignorance and demonstrates how people accept the lie rather than the truth. The scripture clearly shows, in 1st Samuel 8, that God was not pleased when the people asked to be ruled by a King. The people were warned what would happen if they accepted a King, but the people believed the lie rather than the truth. We, too, were warned by our founding fathers about a Democracy but we believed a lie and the spiritual leaders did not recognize or discern the problem. They told us to pay what Caesar demanded rather than what was due. What do we have that belongs to Caesar? Did Caesar operate the bulldozer that built our roads? No, 'we the people' paid for our roads when we bought gas, oil and tires. 'We the people' built our roads and we paid for our roads. God was here first. He created man and man created government. Man was not a product of a government plan or program. 'We the people' created our government by law. That law is the Constitution of the United States of America.

Now you can see the chain of command. First we have God, then man, then the Constitution and last of all, we have government. The lowest power is government, but too many religious leaders do not understand these basic principles of our system. God is the higher power over man and man is the higher power over the law which created and governs our government. The public servant is at the bottom of the totem pole. That is why he is called a public servant. He must obey the Constitution, the individual and God.

To say that God ordains corrupt or wicked government would surely be blasphemy. The false God, Satan, ordains bad and evil governments. The kind of government we have is determined by the character of the people. Bad government will be the product of a corrupt and evil people.

Now if this is all true then surely the church should be very much involved in the political process. If the government becomes wicked, the church should discern its failure to maintain proper values. We have a real problem in our nation today because most of our churches are teaching that our government is the higher power. They have believed what they were told and were not guided by logic and fact. The church is teaching that what government demands must be paid even if it is not due. Are we supposed to pay the income tax demanded by our servants even if the servants use the tribute for wicked and evil purposes?

Our government rewards the unproductive and penalizes the producer. The scripture teaches that God rewards the industrious and penalizes the lazy. The parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30, makes this truth very clear. It is also quite clear that those who don't work should not eat (11 Thess. 3:10). Is not our welfare system contrary to the principles of scriptures? Are we letting government rob us of the joy and pleasure that is ours when we help our fellow man? Our government wants the people to depend upon government rather than on God and their neighbor. Most of today's churches will send the needy to the local welfare office and avoid this area of stewardship.

Our religious leaders need to be historians to be an effective force in our society. We have been told by our courts what separation of Church and State is to mean. We should be guided by the historical fact and we should be demanding that our Supreme Court be guided by the truth. The original comment by Thomas Jefferson about separation of Church and State has been misunderstood for too long. The phrase 'separation of Church and State' is not part of the Constitution. It was a comment by Thomas Jefferson in a personal letter to the Danbury Baptists about fifteen years after the Constitution was ratified. The church was also the school and welfare department as well as the spiritual center of the community. We were to have separation of school and State and welfare and State. The word 'Church' was inclusive of all these community responsibilities.

Does the church have any impact on the society we live in today? Is the church taking an active role in the creation of an orderly environment? For the most part the church has become a closed and exclusive social gathering for members only. More time is spent defending the particular dogma than actually being a positive force for good.

Many who read this will be offended by what is said, but this has been written to makes us think and question areas we have not questioned. We were to be one nation under God and 'we the people' were created by God. Government was created by 'we the people'and if we do not control our creation, it will become a monster. We have accepted what we were taught about separation of Church and State and never questioned that teaching. If we had checked out the facts for ourselves, we would have discovered we were told a lie.

Will our religious leaders in our churches be big enough to admit their failures and mistakes? If they are, we can change thecourse of our nation and restore our lawful government. Every church in the United States should become a school that would teach the people the law and how the people must enforce it. Our government desperately needs the church to function as a check in our system of checks and balances.

The church is a sleeping giant in our day and our government is very quietly binding the giant with many small strings of rules and regulations. Will the giant wake up before it is bound so tight that it has become a State Church? Has the church become a tool of evil government by teaching we have a Caesar and must satisfy the demands of government, even if it is a violation of God's law? Has the church failed to recognize that law upon law, rule upon rule, will not create an orderly society? It is the church which should sense that the moral fiber of the nation is breaking down and our civil government is trying to write law to compensate for those who will not be governed from within themselves. The church must inform people of the difference between a society of men governed by civil law and men governed from within themselves.

Will the church awaken enough to sensetheir peril? Or will it continue to sleep as the pious puppets in our pulpits play out the role of "blind leaders of the blind"? The rebirth of our Republic should have been conceived in our churches, but it has come through the tax revolt. Church members have been called for jury duty in tax cases and have given our evil and wicked government guilty verdicts in tax cases. They have been taught by the church that we have a Caesar and they sent patriotic neighbors to jail for tax evasion. They believed what they were told. They failed as Adam failed in the beginning. They gave their power to an evil force and thought they were right.