Weekly Opinion Editorial
IT IS PUBLIC PROPERTY!
by Steve Fair
The elections are
over! By the time you are reading this,
the midterms will be over and either the Democrats or Republicans will be
crowing about their victory, but really does it really matter which Party
won? It does matter because if
progressives (Democrats) won, they will attempt to move the country to the
left. If Republicans won, they will
attempt to continue to move the country to the middle. They can’t move it to the right because in
the past twenty plus years- under Republican and Democrat leadership- the
country has moved steadily to the left and past the middle. But does that
matter? Isn’t one form of government
just as good as another? Who says a
self-governed, democratic republic is the best form of government? Which form of government is more biblical?
According to the
scripture, the best type of government is one led by those who are righteous (Prov.
16:12). That means they are honest and
ethical. They don’t say one thing and do
another. They don’t lie, cheat and steal
to win elections. Far too many elected
officials- in both Parties) are not righteous people. They love power and will do anything to stay
in office. Let’s hope not many of those
were elected yesterday.
The best type of
government is one that promotes a vision based on the teachings of
Christ.(Prov. 29:18). The laws of the
land should not impede the spread of the gospel- they should enhance it. They should complement it. When man’s laws conflict with God’s law, man never
wins. May those who were elected yesterday
recognize that laws must be compatible with God’s Word. The
fact is the world- including America- is operated under a theocracy because God
is in charge, whether we like it or not.
The scripture
says the purpose of human government is to punish evil doers and reward those
that do good.(Rom. 13) Providing infrastructure(roads/bridges),
public education, health care, elderly care, social services, and charity are
not mentioned in scripture as the duty of secular government. Those are duties for individual believers.
There are many
examples in scripture where secular government grew to the point that it
oppressed God’s people. All the more
reason for Christians to be engaged in the political process to insure that
doesn’t happen in America. Government,
by nature, grows, even under conservative leadership. Eliminating a government program or reducing
funding affects people who work in the public sector’s lives. There are few elected leaders who have the
stomach to lay people off. The private
sector reduces their number of employees all the time, but government seldom
makes staff adjustments. The problem
with that is the taxpayers are struck with the bill- in good and bad times.
As John Calvin said, “rulers should remember that all they receive from people is public
property and not a means of satisfying private lust and luxury.” Let’s pray those elected yesterday understand
that.
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