Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast exploring God's hand in history
Stephen McDowell Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell.
Understanding our Civil Duties and God's People in Old Testament Politics and Government
Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Last week, we began to look at how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. And we explored, how that we do have civil duties and that, in fact, we must get involved in civil duties, politics, government, and these type of things in order to fulfill the mission God has given to us in the Great Commission, the Creation Commission, and enabling us to effectively fulfill the evangelistic mandate as well as the cultural mandate. And so we explored we have civil duties. We talked about how all the, God's people in the Old Testament were involved in fulfilling civil duties. They were involved in politics, in government. We mentioned how Jesus had many civil teachings, and we looked at one of those sovereign jurisdictions and separation of institutions, the idea of limited, government. So it's important that we understand what the Bible teaches about civil duties and that it's part of our responsibility. So today I want to begin to look at, well, what can I do to fulfill my civil duties?
How Christians Fulfill Civil Duties by Selecting Godly Officials Based on Biblical Qualifications
What duties do I have according to the Scripture? How do I fulfill them? Well, one number, one thing that we can do, one thing is to be involved in selecting godly officials. You know, the whole concept of electing, choosing those who govern us comes from the Bible. You can read in Exodus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 1:13. After God led the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and before leading them into the promised land, that Moses was the, you know, civil authority. He was the chief civil authority. And as such, he was really the chief judge. And he was handling all matters, all disputes between people, and people were lining up, and it was taking him all day to do that very taxing. So his father in law came and gave him some good advice, Jethro, and said, look, you need to go and tell the people to go and choose for themselves rulers. and he gives qualifications for those rulers. This is something that I'll look at in future podcasts in more detail. Biblical qualifications for godly officials. But he gives qualifications for those that we choose. Proverbs 29:2 tells us, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked man rules, people groan. Now, we know this to be the case just from our experience, just from our knowledge of history. When you have righteous, godly people who understand the limited role of civil government to protect Our life, liberty and property, when they are in authority, we rejoice, it is good, it goes well with us. There is flourishing, there is prosperity, there is liberty. But when the wicked man rules people, that's been the history of the government of man, since his fall. And so in Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 1, when, Moses took the advice and said, okay, this is a good idea, and he went to the people and he told them, look, I want you to choose from, among yourselves. And then he gives qualifications and he talks about able, wise, understanding, knowledgeable men, men of truth, men, men hating covetous men such as fear God. So these are the sum of things that he listed when he told the people, go, I want you to choose rulers of tens, rulers of fifties, rulers of hundred, rulers of thousands. And choose men who are going to help, handle matters of disputes, civil matters, judicial judging between them, matters of governance.
The Historical Roots of Electing Representatives and the Importance of a Biblical Worldview
I want you to choose them. So here is the foundation of electing representative, choosing those who govern, way back then, thousands of years ago. Now in more modern history, the concept of electing representatives, is rooted in particular in the history of Britain. And the founders of America. Carried with them the idea that we are going to choose our own rulers. Because throughout most of history men have lived under ruler's law, king Caesar, whatever title that they assume, those in authority, in essence thought I am the ultimate authority and that what I say goes. but we briefly trace this history in America's providential history book and other writings and the Bible, America's source of law and liberty, a book that I wrote and others. We look at how this top down monochial form of government gradually began to be changed as people applied biblical principles. like these principles, we're reading Deuteronomy 1 and Exodus 18 where he says, look, you need to choose those who are going to govern, you. And he gives really three general qualifications for godly officials. The scripture gives this in Deuteronomy 1, Exodus 18, three basic qualities that they should fear God. Such as fear God. We said they should have Christian character, men of truth, men hating covetousness. And they should have a biblical worldview. They should be able, wise, understanding, knowledgeable men. Now, the best leaders are going to have all three of these. They're going to fear God, have godly character, be honest, truthful, and think biblically. Now perhaps the most important one of these qualifications is that last one, biblical worldview. Because as a man thinks, that's how he acts. And you can have A godly man who has a pagan worldview and he's going to vote in such a way that can take money out of my pocket, unjust taxes, restrict my liberties and other things if he doesn't think biblically and understand, you know, what is the limited role of government regarding taxation, regulations and everything else.
Key Biblical Qualifications for Leaders: Fear God, Christian Character, and Biblical Worldview
So obviously we'd want leaders who display all three of these. But it's very important that we judge because rarely are we going to have some with all three. But we have to recognize, you know, do you understand, you know, to whom God has given authority to do what, as we talked about last week and in the podcast. And so as we're going to select godly officials, then we need to make sure that those godly officials meet godly qualifications, which presupposes we understand what those qualifications are. And in some of my writings I explore more detail, aspects of each of these. And so biblical worldview is extremely important. Now there's a lot of different issues that are important and we face today. And some issues. The Bible is very clear. It's not like we can debate about it. It's not like it's a gray area. For example, the pro life view, life is valuable. And we, and the Bible teaches we need to protect the unborn. The Bible teaches against abortion. So this is certainly a top priority for those who govern. They need to be pro life. Another Bible is very clear is regarding the biblical family. Leaders should have an understanding. We want to preserve the biblical family, male and female, and the product, the children that come, out of that, the children that are related by marriage, blood or adoption are part of that biblical family. Therefore, we oppose the homosexual agenda. We oppose the agenda that would undermine the biblical family made up of one male, one female, joint covenanting together, for life to fulfill their mission of being fruitful, multiply filling the earth. So that's a very important issue that the Bible is very clear. The Bible is also very clear about religious liberty. We're to freely have the ability to freely worship God, number one commandment, love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. So we need to make sure that those people that we work to become our government leaders, they're pro life, they preserve the biblical family.
Upholding Public Morality and Protecting Family Property Rights with Limited Government Leaders
They recognize the value of religious liberty. Also the Bible's clear about public morality and the moral standard of how we're to act and live is clear in Scripture. And so we need leaders who will enact legislation that upholds public morality. we also need to have Leaders who will protect family property rights. In past podcasts we've talked about the importance of private property. We have a God given right to own material property. This is primarily the role of the family to own and govern property, not civil government. So we want leaders who understand that and aren't going to take away our property that they're going to protect it. The Bible also teaches, Jesus taught the idea of limited government so that we don't want to elect people who are for big government, big spending, big regulation, doing everything for us. No, we need to let people understand the important but limited function of civil government is to protect our life, liberty and property.
Appointing Judges Who Uphold Biblical Issues and Implementing a Biblical Economic System
Basically. Then we also need to have those who will make judicial appointments that uphold biblical issues. And so the judges, our federal judges are appointed by our elected officials. In some states they're appointed, some states they're elected. But we need to have judicial appointments. We need to have leaders who understand that anybody that we might place in a position of being a judge, they need to uphold these biblical issues that we've mention of pro life, the biblical family, religious liberty, public morality, family property rights, limited government. And we also need leaders who understand and have a biblical view of economics that they'll implement a biblical economic system including having honest money, honest banking and other things. in our writings we explore each of these in more detail. I've got a book stewarding the A biblical view of Economics. We go into more detail especially about biblical economic system and other things.
The Plainness of Key Biblical Issues and America's Framework for Choosing Leaders
So these issues are pretty plain. Now there may be some issues that we face today that some might argue the Bible says this, the Bible says that, and there are areas like that, but some these primary areas, it's very clear. So we need to choose godly officials who uphold these issues. So we need to be involved in selecting godly officials. So ah, how are we involved in doing that? Well, thankfully, because Christians came and gave birth to America, they encoded within our framework of government the opportunity we have to choose our own leaders. Remember throughout most of history most people have lived under ruler's law. The rulers made the law, impose them on the people and the people have had no say so. But one unique thing about the United States, and these ideas were developing in the centuries before the birth of the United States in seed form, is that we're going to put off ruler's law and we're going to put off the rule and we're going to embrace the rule of law that everybody is subject to the law, the ruler as well as the people. The ruler is not above the law.
God as the Source of Law and the Duty of Christians to Elect Godly Officials
God is the source of law, of what's right and wrong, moral and immoral, just or unjust. And we need to implement that. and we need to elect officials. We, ah, need to be involved in every one of us choosing officials. So because of the freedom that we have, because we are birthed by biblical thinking men, we can vote. We can choose those who represent us in the seat of government. So to choose godly officials, one thing we need to do is vote. That's really the. There's many other things as we'll see we can do besides just voting. But voting is the very least way that we're going to fulfill our duty to select godly officials. Unfortunately, many Christians do not vote. Jon Jay was the first Supreme Court Chief justice appointed by George Washington. He had a biblical view of law and government and life. He said, this providence, has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. Whoa, just imagine if a judge said this today. So providence is given to our people the choice of their rulers. He understood that we in the United States of America have the ability to choose our own rulers, which is something unique in all of history, because that chooses rarely taken place at all, because you've had succession of kings by family, heredity, or, warlords fighting one another and setting up a dictatorship, whatever it may be. But here in the United States, God has given us the choice, ability to choose our rulers, and it is the duty. So how can I fulfill my civil duties? We have a duty as well as a privilege and interest. It's the duty as well as in privilege and interest of our Christian nation. So he acknowledged. He said, look, we're a Christian nation. And what he meant by that.
Foundations of America on Christian Principles and Selecting Christians with a Biblical Worldview
And as we've explored in previous podcasts, we are founded upon Christian principles. We're founded upon biblical principles. Not that we have a national church where we dictate everybody has to go to church. No, we are founded upon, our law is based upon God's higher law. The moral law of God is summarized in the Ten Commandments. Our institutions reflect the biblical understanding of what institutions of family, church and state ought to be, as well as economic institutions, educational institutions, and everything else. So it's the duty as well as privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. Now, hope you know, we want to select and prefer Christians who have a biblical worldview. Christian character and fear of God. Unfortunately, they're Christians who are serving in government or have tried to run for government that are lacking in some of these, lacking a biblical worldview. And they're voting like the pagans vote. So it's not enough just to select someone who says they're a Christian or even select someone who's had a born again experience, but someone who truly is Christian in his thinking and his action and his character and his worship. So we need Christian because our Constitution was made only for immoral and religious people. As Jon Adams said, it's wholly inadequate for the government of any other. So only Christians can truly cause or execute our form of government properly so that it works well to protect our life, liberty and property and bring flourishing.
Beyond Voting: Researching Candidates and Supporting Godly Individuals in Politics
So vote, vote is a very minimal thing that we can do. We need to do research. We need to understand those candidates that we are voting for. Do they represent these qualifications of godly officials and go and vote. But it's not enough just to vote. In fact, if all we do is vote, what we found, you know, in my lifetime is we might have to vote, hold our nose and vote for some, secularist because his opponent is a socialist or big statist or something like that. what we need to do is to get involved in choosing the candidates. Now certainly we need to support candidates. If we have good candidates, then we need to do everything we can to give them money to go out and knock on doors to let our friends and neighbors know about them. Reverend Charles Finney was a leader in the Second Great Awakening. He got saved while he was studying law. He was a lawyer and studying Blackstone's Commentaries of the Laws of England. And when he was reading through that, he got saved because Blackstone had a biblical view of law and God called him to the pulpit ministry. But he wrote a book where, he talks about the revival that was going on because he was a spark in the Second Great Awakening, a later phase of the Second Great Awakening. And in his writing he lists, I think, 10 things.
The Church's Vital Role in Politics for Maintaining Revival and National Blessing
Here's 10 things the church must do in order to facilitate and maintain the revival that's going on in our nation. And one of those things that he said, this is necessary for revival to be maintained. He said the church must take right ground in regard to politics. The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics. The church must act rightly or, the country will be ruined. God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for, unless the Church will take right ground. Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this. And Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. He will bless or curse this nation according to the course that Christians take in politics. That's what he said in his lectures on revival.
Avoiding Political Apathy: Politics as Part of Religion and Christian Duty to Country
He said, this is what we need to do to maintain sustain a revival. The church must take right ground in regard to politics. Unfortunately, much of the church in America today says we got to avoid politics and get out of it and don't have anything to do with it at all. Charles Finney, a leader in the second Great Awakening. And of course, this same thinking would have been true of those who were involved in the First Great Awakening, 1740s, 50s and 60s in the United States, and, well, it was in the colonies at that time, before we became the United States. They would have had the same understanding because it was the church that gave birth to the colonies. They formed civil governments, they wrote our laws and constitutions as we've explored in previous podcasts. So Finney is saying it's time for Christians. We got to vote for honest men. We got to get involved in politics. We must act rightly or our country will be ruined. God can't sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for, unless the church take right ground and in politics. So politics are part of religion in such a country as this. And this is true today. You know, a survey was done and it, of, a hundred, I think it was over a thousand evangelical pastors. And they were asked, how many of you believe the Bible speaks to all of life? Well, 90% of these evangelical pastors, Bible believing pastors, says the Bible speaks to all of life. Well, that's good. It should have been 100%, but it's good. But then they ask, well, how many of you teach things regarding all of life? And it was only 10%. While they believe the Bible speaks to all life, including politics and government and economics and everything else, only 10% of them ever taught on things like this. No wonder we've got a problem. Charles Finney, who's rebuking these people, said politics are a part of a religion in such a country, of this. It's part of the Christian faith.
Fulfilling Civil Duties: Supporting and Electing Godly Leaders for National Blessing
And Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. Remember, we're talking about, how can I fulfill my civil duties? Well, we have a duty to support candidates, elect candidates, get godly candidates to get involved in government, because as Finney said, God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics. Of course part of that blessing and cursing is when the righteous rule, there's blessing. So if we're involved and we get righteous men in office, they're going to govern righteously, it's going to be a blessing. If we get wicked men in office, then they're going to govern badly. And the fruit of bad governance is agony and lack and no freedom and higher taxes and everything else. And so to select godly officials, we need to vote. We need to do more than vote though. We need to support candidates in every way possible.
Involvement in Local Party Politics: The Key to Determining Candidates on the Ballot
And so that really leads us we need to be involved in choosing the people who are on the ballot when we vote for them in November. Of course now with early voting it starts way before November and September and others, that's another matter we might deal with in the future. But we need to be involved in local party politics. So how is it determined those people that get on the ballot that we vote for? Well they're chosen by political parties. Now by the nature of our are the way the founders set up choosing leaders, it really boils down to that. We're going to have two main political parties and so we need to get involved in those parties in order to determine what candidate is selected by the party to be on the ballot when we vote in November. And only a very small percentage of people are involved in local party politics. That's really where the power is because that's where you choose the candidates that you're going to vote for in November. Now in future podcasts we might explore this in more detail.
Navigating Political Parties to Find Candidates Who Reflect Biblical Qualifications
How do we get involved in party politics, how do they work and other things. We're not going to do that now, but it's very important that you find out. And in particular right now there's a great that in the Democratic Party today there's not welcoming to biblical minded individuals. If you espouse biblical family, if you espouse pro life, if you uphold biblical morality, certainly on the national level the Democratic Party is not going to embrace you. They'll probably run you out. Now the Republican Party is much more embracive of people like that and it varies depending upon state and locality how biblically minded the Republican Party is. But so you need to discern, well, what party can I most effectively express my views and get people and find people who would reflect these biblical qualifications for godly officials, fear God, Christian character, biblical worldview. Where can I most Effectively get men and women who are pro life, preserve the biblical family, understand religious liberty, public morality, those other things that I mentioned. But if you get involved in local party politics, and it doesn't take a whole lot of work that you're going to, your vote is going to have much greater impact because it's a small number of people who choose the candidates are going to be on the ballot when we vote in November. So get involved in local party politics.
Running for Office or Starting New Parties to Promote Biblical Values in Government
And then another thing we can do is if there are no body, no person that's running for office that meets anywhere near these biblical qualifications, then run for office yourself, or go find someone who will be an excellent leader, will then embrace biblical worldview, Christian character and fearing God. And if you can't find anybody else, then you run for office yourself. Get involved in local party politics, begin to run for office on the local level and regional level, state level, national level. Usually you work your way up as you learn how to govern more effectively. And people find out who you are and when they know what you stand for, they want to come alongside you and support you in this effort. So if none exists, then run for office yourself. Now I've been able to travel to many other nations, 45 nations or so, and work with a lot of Christians, in regarding, getting involved in transforming their society, including political affairs. And so in many number of countries there was no opportunity, there's many political parties, but they were run like the mafia. And so the new Christian getting involved had really no ability at all to influence any of the party parties. So in a number of different places I've helped with those that started new parties in South Africa and Colombia and Ukraine and other places, starting new political parties so that they can have ideas and values and candidates that reflect these biblical ideas where many others can come and run alongside them.
Effective Strategies for Fulfilling Civil Duties: Party Involvement, Voting, and Running for Office
So here in the United States, for various reasons today, that's really not, I don't believe, the most effective way. In some decades past I have worked with people who tried to start new parties, but because of the nature of our form of government, it's very difficult to start a new party, because kind of winner takes all, at least on the national level. But it's a lot more effective to get involved in the parties that exist, work your way up, influence those parties. And so one thing that we can do in order to fulfill our civil duties is be involved in selecting godly officials, vote on the bare minimum, support candidates in many different ways, be involved in local party politics. And if you can't find anybody there that's good, run for office yourself, as well.
Continuing the Discussion on Christian Civil Duties and Resources for Further Study
So that's one thing. Now we have a number of other things we can do to fulfill our civil duties. And I will, look at some others next week in, part three of this podcast of how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. So I hope you'll join us next week. I want to point you to our website, providencefoundation.com you can pick up some books that look more in detail at what these ideas of civil duties steward in the earth. The biblical view of civil government is a good one. America's Providential History, providencefoundation.com and you can order these on at Amazon as well. Well, join us next week as we continue to look, at specific things we can do to fulfill our civil duties. Hope to have you with us then. God bless.
Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast exploring God's hand in history
Stephen McDowell Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell.
Understanding our Civil Duties and God's People in Old Testament Politics and Government
Hello. Glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Last week, we began to look at how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. And we explored, how that we do have civil duties and that, in fact, we must get involved in civil duties, politics, government, and these type of things in order to fulfill the mission God has given to us in the Great Commission, the Creation Commission, and enabling us to effectively fulfill the evangelistic mandate as well as the cultural mandate. And so we explored we have civil duties. We talked about how all the, God's people in the Old Testament were involved in fulfilling civil duties. They were involved in politics, in government. We mentioned how Jesus had many civil teachings, and we looked at one of those sovereign jurisdictions and separation of institutions, the idea of limited, government. So it's important that we understand what the Bible teaches about civil duties and that it's part of our responsibility. So today I want to begin to look at, well, what can I do to fulfill my civil duties?
How Christians Fulfill Civil Duties by Selecting Godly Officials Based on Biblical Qualifications
What duties do I have according to the Scripture? How do I fulfill them? Well, one number, one thing that we can do, one thing is to be involved in selecting godly officials. You know, the whole concept of electing, choosing those who govern us comes from the Bible. You can read in Exodus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 1:13. After God led the children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt and before leading them into the promised land, that Moses was the, you know, civil authority. He was the chief civil authority. And as such, he was really the chief judge. And he was handling all matters, all disputes between people, and people were lining up, and it was taking him all day to do that very taxing. So his father in law came and gave him some good advice, Jethro, and said, look, you need to go and tell the people to go and choose for themselves rulers. and he gives qualifications for those rulers. This is something that I'll look at in future podcasts in more detail. Biblical qualifications for godly officials. But he gives qualifications for those that we choose. Proverbs 29:2 tells us, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked man rules, people groan. Now, we know this to be the case just from our experience, just from our knowledge of history. When you have righteous, godly people who understand the limited role of civil government to protect Our life, liberty and property, when they are in authority, we rejoice, it is good, it goes well with us. There is flourishing, there is prosperity, there is liberty. But when the wicked man rules people, that's been the history of the government of man, since his fall. And so in Exodus 18, Deuteronomy 1, when, Moses took the advice and said, okay, this is a good idea, and he went to the people and he told them, look, I want you to choose from, among yourselves. And then he gives qualifications and he talks about able, wise, understanding, knowledgeable men, men of truth, men, men hating covetous men such as fear God. So these are the sum of things that he listed when he told the people, go, I want you to choose rulers of tens, rulers of fifties, rulers of hundred, rulers of thousands. And choose men who are going to help, handle matters of disputes, civil matters, judicial judging between them, matters of governance.
The Historical Roots of Electing Representatives and the Importance of a Biblical Worldview
I want you to choose them. So here is the foundation of electing representative, choosing those who govern, way back then, thousands of years ago. Now in more modern history, the concept of electing representatives, is rooted in particular in the history of Britain. And the founders of America. Carried with them the idea that we are going to choose our own rulers. Because throughout most of history men have lived under ruler's law, king Caesar, whatever title that they assume, those in authority, in essence thought I am the ultimate authority and that what I say goes. but we briefly trace this history in America's providential history book and other writings and the Bible, America's source of law and liberty, a book that I wrote and others. We look at how this top down monochial form of government gradually began to be changed as people applied biblical principles. like these principles, we're reading Deuteronomy 1 and Exodus 18 where he says, look, you need to choose those who are going to govern, you. And he gives really three general qualifications for godly officials. The scripture gives this in Deuteronomy 1, Exodus 18, three basic qualities that they should fear God. Such as fear God. We said they should have Christian character, men of truth, men hating covetousness. And they should have a biblical worldview. They should be able, wise, understanding, knowledgeable men. Now, the best leaders are going to have all three of these. They're going to fear God, have godly character, be honest, truthful, and think biblically. Now perhaps the most important one of these qualifications is that last one, biblical worldview. Because as a man thinks, that's how he acts. And you can have A godly man who has a pagan worldview and he's going to vote in such a way that can take money out of my pocket, unjust taxes, restrict my liberties and other things if he doesn't think biblically and understand, you know, what is the limited role of government regarding taxation, regulations and everything else.
Key Biblical Qualifications for Leaders: Fear God, Christian Character, and Biblical Worldview
So obviously we'd want leaders who display all three of these. But it's very important that we judge because rarely are we going to have some with all three. But we have to recognize, you know, do you understand, you know, to whom God has given authority to do what, as we talked about last week and in the podcast. And so as we're going to select godly officials, then we need to make sure that those godly officials meet godly qualifications, which presupposes we understand what those qualifications are. And in some of my writings I explore more detail, aspects of each of these. And so biblical worldview is extremely important. Now there's a lot of different issues that are important and we face today. And some issues. The Bible is very clear. It's not like we can debate about it. It's not like it's a gray area. For example, the pro life view, life is valuable. And we, and the Bible teaches we need to protect the unborn. The Bible teaches against abortion. So this is certainly a top priority for those who govern. They need to be pro life. Another Bible is very clear is regarding the biblical family. Leaders should have an understanding. We want to preserve the biblical family, male and female, and the product, the children that come, out of that, the children that are related by marriage, blood or adoption are part of that biblical family. Therefore, we oppose the homosexual agenda. We oppose the agenda that would undermine the biblical family made up of one male, one female, joint covenanting together, for life to fulfill their mission of being fruitful, multiply filling the earth. So that's a very important issue that the Bible is very clear. The Bible is also very clear about religious liberty. We're to freely have the ability to freely worship God, number one commandment, love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. So we need to make sure that those people that we work to become our government leaders, they're pro life, they preserve the biblical family.
Upholding Public Morality and Protecting Family Property Rights with Limited Government Leaders
They recognize the value of religious liberty. Also the Bible's clear about public morality and the moral standard of how we're to act and live is clear in Scripture. And so we need leaders who will enact legislation that upholds public morality. we also need to have Leaders who will protect family property rights. In past podcasts we've talked about the importance of private property. We have a God given right to own material property. This is primarily the role of the family to own and govern property, not civil government. So we want leaders who understand that and aren't going to take away our property that they're going to protect it. The Bible also teaches, Jesus taught the idea of limited government so that we don't want to elect people who are for big government, big spending, big regulation, doing everything for us. No, we need to let people understand the important but limited function of civil government is to protect our life, liberty and property.
Appointing Judges Who Uphold Biblical Issues and Implementing a Biblical Economic System
Basically. Then we also need to have those who will make judicial appointments that uphold biblical issues. And so the judges, our federal judges are appointed by our elected officials. In some states they're appointed, some states they're elected. But we need to have judicial appointments. We need to have leaders who understand that anybody that we might place in a position of being a judge, they need to uphold these biblical issues that we've mention of pro life, the biblical family, religious liberty, public morality, family property rights, limited government. And we also need leaders who understand and have a biblical view of economics that they'll implement a biblical economic system including having honest money, honest banking and other things. in our writings we explore each of these in more detail. I've got a book stewarding the A biblical view of Economics. We go into more detail especially about biblical economic system and other things.
The Plainness of Key Biblical Issues and America's Framework for Choosing Leaders
So these issues are pretty plain. Now there may be some issues that we face today that some might argue the Bible says this, the Bible says that, and there are areas like that, but some these primary areas, it's very clear. So we need to choose godly officials who uphold these issues. So we need to be involved in selecting godly officials. So ah, how are we involved in doing that? Well, thankfully, because Christians came and gave birth to America, they encoded within our framework of government the opportunity we have to choose our own leaders. Remember throughout most of history most people have lived under ruler's law. The rulers made the law, impose them on the people and the people have had no say so. But one unique thing about the United States, and these ideas were developing in the centuries before the birth of the United States in seed form, is that we're going to put off ruler's law and we're going to put off the rule and we're going to embrace the rule of law that everybody is subject to the law, the ruler as well as the people. The ruler is not above the law.
God as the Source of Law and the Duty of Christians to Elect Godly Officials
God is the source of law, of what's right and wrong, moral and immoral, just or unjust. And we need to implement that. and we need to elect officials. We, ah, need to be involved in every one of us choosing officials. So because of the freedom that we have, because we are birthed by biblical thinking men, we can vote. We can choose those who represent us in the seat of government. So to choose godly officials, one thing we need to do is vote. That's really the. There's many other things as we'll see we can do besides just voting. But voting is the very least way that we're going to fulfill our duty to select godly officials. Unfortunately, many Christians do not vote. Jon Jay was the first Supreme Court Chief justice appointed by George Washington. He had a biblical view of law and government and life. He said, this providence, has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. Whoa, just imagine if a judge said this today. So providence is given to our people the choice of their rulers. He understood that we in the United States of America have the ability to choose our own rulers, which is something unique in all of history, because that chooses rarely taken place at all, because you've had succession of kings by family, heredity, or, warlords fighting one another and setting up a dictatorship, whatever it may be. But here in the United States, God has given us the choice, ability to choose our rulers, and it is the duty. So how can I fulfill my civil duties? We have a duty as well as a privilege and interest. It's the duty as well as in privilege and interest of our Christian nation. So he acknowledged. He said, look, we're a Christian nation. And what he meant by that.
Foundations of America on Christian Principles and Selecting Christians with a Biblical Worldview
And as we've explored in previous podcasts, we are founded upon Christian principles. We're founded upon biblical principles. Not that we have a national church where we dictate everybody has to go to church. No, we are founded upon, our law is based upon God's higher law. The moral law of God is summarized in the Ten Commandments. Our institutions reflect the biblical understanding of what institutions of family, church and state ought to be, as well as economic institutions, educational institutions, and everything else. So it's the duty as well as privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. Now, hope you know, we want to select and prefer Christians who have a biblical worldview. Christian character and fear of God. Unfortunately, they're Christians who are serving in government or have tried to run for government that are lacking in some of these, lacking a biblical worldview. And they're voting like the pagans vote. So it's not enough just to select someone who says they're a Christian or even select someone who's had a born again experience, but someone who truly is Christian in his thinking and his action and his character and his worship. So we need Christian because our Constitution was made only for immoral and religious people. As Jon Adams said, it's wholly inadequate for the government of any other. So only Christians can truly cause or execute our form of government properly so that it works well to protect our life, liberty and property and bring flourishing.
Beyond Voting: Researching Candidates and Supporting Godly Individuals in Politics
So vote, vote is a very minimal thing that we can do. We need to do research. We need to understand those candidates that we are voting for. Do they represent these qualifications of godly officials and go and vote. But it's not enough just to vote. In fact, if all we do is vote, what we found, you know, in my lifetime is we might have to vote, hold our nose and vote for some, secularist because his opponent is a socialist or big statist or something like that. what we need to do is to get involved in choosing the candidates. Now certainly we need to support candidates. If we have good candidates, then we need to do everything we can to give them money to go out and knock on doors to let our friends and neighbors know about them. Reverend Charles Finney was a leader in the Second Great Awakening. He got saved while he was studying law. He was a lawyer and studying Blackstone's Commentaries of the Laws of England. And when he was reading through that, he got saved because Blackstone had a biblical view of law and God called him to the pulpit ministry. But he wrote a book where, he talks about the revival that was going on because he was a spark in the Second Great Awakening, a later phase of the Second Great Awakening. And in his writing he lists, I think, 10 things.
The Church's Vital Role in Politics for Maintaining Revival and National Blessing
Here's 10 things the church must do in order to facilitate and maintain the revival that's going on in our nation. And one of those things that he said, this is necessary for revival to be maintained. He said the church must take right ground in regard to politics. The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics. The church must act rightly or, the country will be ruined. God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for, unless the Church will take right ground. Politics are a part of a religion in such a country as this. And Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. He will bless or curse this nation according to the course that Christians take in politics. That's what he said in his lectures on revival.
Avoiding Political Apathy: Politics as Part of Religion and Christian Duty to Country
He said, this is what we need to do to maintain sustain a revival. The church must take right ground in regard to politics. Unfortunately, much of the church in America today says we got to avoid politics and get out of it and don't have anything to do with it at all. Charles Finney, a leader in the second Great Awakening. And of course, this same thinking would have been true of those who were involved in the First Great Awakening, 1740s, 50s and 60s in the United States, and, well, it was in the colonies at that time, before we became the United States. They would have had the same understanding because it was the church that gave birth to the colonies. They formed civil governments, they wrote our laws and constitutions as we've explored in previous podcasts. So Finney is saying it's time for Christians. We got to vote for honest men. We got to get involved in politics. We must act rightly or our country will be ruined. God can't sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for, unless the church take right ground and in politics. So politics are part of religion in such a country as this. And this is true today. You know, a survey was done and it, of, a hundred, I think it was over a thousand evangelical pastors. And they were asked, how many of you believe the Bible speaks to all of life? Well, 90% of these evangelical pastors, Bible believing pastors, says the Bible speaks to all of life. Well, that's good. It should have been 100%, but it's good. But then they ask, well, how many of you teach things regarding all of life? And it was only 10%. While they believe the Bible speaks to all life, including politics and government and economics and everything else, only 10% of them ever taught on things like this. No wonder we've got a problem. Charles Finney, who's rebuking these people, said politics are a part of a religion in such a country, of this. It's part of the Christian faith.
Fulfilling Civil Duties: Supporting and Electing Godly Leaders for National Blessing
And Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. Remember, we're talking about, how can I fulfill my civil duties? Well, we have a duty to support candidates, elect candidates, get godly candidates to get involved in government, because as Finney said, God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics. Of course part of that blessing and cursing is when the righteous rule, there's blessing. So if we're involved and we get righteous men in office, they're going to govern righteously, it's going to be a blessing. If we get wicked men in office, then they're going to govern badly. And the fruit of bad governance is agony and lack and no freedom and higher taxes and everything else. And so to select godly officials, we need to vote. We need to do more than vote though. We need to support candidates in every way possible.
Involvement in Local Party Politics: The Key to Determining Candidates on the Ballot
And so that really leads us we need to be involved in choosing the people who are on the ballot when we vote for them in November. Of course now with early voting it starts way before November and September and others, that's another matter we might deal with in the future. But we need to be involved in local party politics. So how is it determined those people that get on the ballot that we vote for? Well they're chosen by political parties. Now by the nature of our are the way the founders set up choosing leaders, it really boils down to that. We're going to have two main political parties and so we need to get involved in those parties in order to determine what candidate is selected by the party to be on the ballot when we vote in November. And only a very small percentage of people are involved in local party politics. That's really where the power is because that's where you choose the candidates that you're going to vote for in November. Now in future podcasts we might explore this in more detail.
Navigating Political Parties to Find Candidates Who Reflect Biblical Qualifications
How do we get involved in party politics, how do they work and other things. We're not going to do that now, but it's very important that you find out. And in particular right now there's a great that in the Democratic Party today there's not welcoming to biblical minded individuals. If you espouse biblical family, if you espouse pro life, if you uphold biblical morality, certainly on the national level the Democratic Party is not going to embrace you. They'll probably run you out. Now the Republican Party is much more embracive of people like that and it varies depending upon state and locality how biblically minded the Republican Party is. But so you need to discern, well, what party can I most effectively express my views and get people and find people who would reflect these biblical qualifications for godly officials, fear God, Christian character, biblical worldview. Where can I most Effectively get men and women who are pro life, preserve the biblical family, understand religious liberty, public morality, those other things that I mentioned. But if you get involved in local party politics, and it doesn't take a whole lot of work that you're going to, your vote is going to have much greater impact because it's a small number of people who choose the candidates are going to be on the ballot when we vote in November. So get involved in local party politics.
Running for Office or Starting New Parties to Promote Biblical Values in Government
And then another thing we can do is if there are no body, no person that's running for office that meets anywhere near these biblical qualifications, then run for office yourself, or go find someone who will be an excellent leader, will then embrace biblical worldview, Christian character and fearing God. And if you can't find anybody else, then you run for office yourself. Get involved in local party politics, begin to run for office on the local level and regional level, state level, national level. Usually you work your way up as you learn how to govern more effectively. And people find out who you are and when they know what you stand for, they want to come alongside you and support you in this effort. So if none exists, then run for office yourself. Now I've been able to travel to many other nations, 45 nations or so, and work with a lot of Christians, in regarding, getting involved in transforming their society, including political affairs. And so in many number of countries there was no opportunity, there's many political parties, but they were run like the mafia. And so the new Christian getting involved had really no ability at all to influence any of the party parties. So in a number of different places I've helped with those that started new parties in South Africa and Colombia and Ukraine and other places, starting new political parties so that they can have ideas and values and candidates that reflect these biblical ideas where many others can come and run alongside them.
Effective Strategies for Fulfilling Civil Duties: Party Involvement, Voting, and Running for Office
So here in the United States, for various reasons today, that's really not, I don't believe, the most effective way. In some decades past I have worked with people who tried to start new parties, but because of the nature of our form of government, it's very difficult to start a new party, because kind of winner takes all, at least on the national level. But it's a lot more effective to get involved in the parties that exist, work your way up, influence those parties. And so one thing that we can do in order to fulfill our civil duties is be involved in selecting godly officials, vote on the bare minimum, support candidates in many different ways, be involved in local party politics. And if you can't find anybody there that's good, run for office yourself, as well.
Continuing the Discussion on Christian Civil Duties and Resources for Further Study
So that's one thing. Now we have a number of other things we can do to fulfill our civil duties. And I will, look at some others next week in, part three of this podcast of how Christians can fulfill their civil duties. So I hope you'll join us next week. I want to point you to our website, providencefoundation.com you can pick up some books that look more in detail at what these ideas of civil duties steward in the earth. The biblical view of civil government is a good one. America's Providential History, providencefoundation.com and you can order these on at Amazon as well. Well, join us next week as we continue to look, at specific things we can do to fulfill our civil duties. Hope to have you with us then. God bless.
How Christians Can Fulfill Their Civil Duties, Part 2
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