FIGHTING EVIL ON THE WRONG FIELD

 

 

 

Coach Dave Daubenmire
February 19, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

If you start out with the wrong premise, you are bound to come to the wrong conclusion. All wrong thinking leads to wrong action.

The guy in prison never thought he would get caught. The businessman who lost everything gambling never thought he would lose. The young girl who slept with her boyfriend thought he would marry her.

It is important that those who call ourselves Christians know the truth, speak the truth, and defend the truth. The Gospel of John 8:32 tells us �you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.�

Please don�t read what isn�t there. I have heard it repeated so many times that �the truth shall make you free.� Sounds good but, wrong premise, inevitably, wrong conclusion.

Truth doesn�t set one free. Only truth that you know intuitively does. Therein lays the battle. Most church goers and church leaders do not know the truth intuitively. They merely repeat someone else�s version of it.

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." --Joseph Goebbels

Truth is not relative, and it is not an opinion handed down by some judge. Truth stands alone against the weathering of time. Jesus said in John 17:17 �Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.�

Last weekend I was at a gathering of Christian leaders in Ohio. The room was filled with those who have dedicated themselves to Christ�s mandate in Matt. 28:20 to go �teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:� They understand what so many pastors and church leaders either do not, or choose not, to understand. Christ died to empower us to teach the truth to �all nations.� The last I checked, America was still one of the nations.

Sadly, as is usual, less than a handful of pastors were at this gathering. Teaching the nation �all that he commanded us� is not in their elder board�s job description. They, instead, are probably attending a conference on church growth, prosperity, your best life now, or, more likely, learning more about the latest marketing techniques. But that is another story.

At this meeting of �Christian activists� (how did activists become an oddity in Christianity) there was a great deal of information dispersed. Good stuff, important stuff, Biblically-based stuff. They even included a visit by a government official who was kind enough to clarify what it was churches were permitted to do without violating their tax-exempt status. The message was clear, and I don�t mean to denigrate the efforts of those who organized and presented the conference, the government is benevolent enough to allow the churches to be God�s mouthpiece as long as it is done within certain government-defined parameters. As I sat and listened to this government �official,� kind man that he was, I thought the top of my head was going to blow off.

Remember, wrong premise, wrong conclusion.

Even though I was not one of the speakers at the gathering, I had heard about all I could take when I stood to my feet and asked the moderator if I could make a statement. I was granted permission and I would like to paraphrase for you what I shared with those in attendance.

�I don�t mean to be rude, but I think it is important to point out that we are fighting on the wrong field. With all due respect, the church does not receive her rights from the benevolence of the government. The 1st Amendment of the Constitution says �Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of a religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.� The 501-c3 statute limits the free exercise of the church by curbing her free-speech rights. The law, which was passed by congress, is a clear violation of the free exercise clause of the Constitution and according to the US Supreme Court in Marbury v Madison �all laws repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.� The right of churches and church leaders to freely speak comes from God and not from the government. The Declaration of Independence states �that to secure these rights governments are instituted amongst men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.� The Church is above, not separate, from the government. We are fighting on the wrong field.

There is no separation of church and state in the US Constitution. It is a lie, and unfortunately the church has operated as if it were the truth, begging government to give to us what is already ours. Until we stand against that lie, we will continue to play the game on their field, with their rules, and with their referees. As any coach will tell you, that is a recipe for some home cookin��no way to win against those forces.

For hundreds of years, the church has been the guardian of truth in America. The forces of evil have spent a generation stripping from the church her God-mandated voice to the government. It is time that lie was exposed. There is no separation of church and state in America. That is the battle we must win. The church must stop bowing her knee to government. You shall know the truth, and the truth you know, will set you free."

I sat down and allowed the truth to sink in. The room erupted into wild applause.

The battle for truth is raging, and unfortunately the church, the one who should most know the truth, is being bamboozled.

�Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain� --the Wizard of Oz.

�If you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth." --Joseph Goebbels

Do you hear that, pastor?

I don�t care what the secularists think. It is time we stopped trying to appease them. As I heard a man recently say, �Most pastors preach Martin Niemoller sermons, but live Neville Chamberlain lives.�

Appeasement does not work. Never has, never will.

I'm told all the time: �Coach, you are fighting a losing battle. We are not of this world. This is Satan�s territory. The rapture is near.�

Appeasement. The gospel according to Neville Chamberlain. The church is into co-existing with evil. Jesus came to conquer it.

�Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. They kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven.� --The Lord�s Prayer.

Is His will being done in America?

"You can�t legislate morality" -- another lie they regurgitate. Ridiculous. That is all laws do! The question we must ask ourselves today is whose morality will be legislated? Well, if we are picking sides, I choose to be on God�s side.

For over 200 years it was legislated that in America:

In 1947, Judge Hugo Black introduced the doctrine of separation of church and state. In 1954, Lyndon Johnson muzzled the pastors with the un-constitutional 501-c3 gag-order. America has been careening down-hill ever since.

We are rapidly reaching the point where we'll either have to submit or die. Let�s face it: Christianity and its teachings are becoming illegal in America.

America is in need of reform, and only the church can save her. But the church needs to be reformed. In my previous commentary I explained how Christians must once again fear God.

In the Eastern world we see the impact of Muslims in the streets. It has produced fear of Allah's people in governments all around the world. Oh, that America�s Christians were likewise committed! Jesus preached non-violence, but he sure was a revolutionary. Isn�t it amazing that the leaders of his day tolerated him as long as he kept his thoughts to himself. But when he began to speak the truth publicly, the crowds grew. As the crowds grew, those in charge got nervous.

Where are our Church leaders today? The mega-preachers can fill stadiums. Some big-named evangelists can fill Madison Square Garden for week-long revivals. They have shown that they have a following. But where are they heading? What are they leading us to?

What if your local Catholic Bishop ordered all masses be held outside of the local abortion clinic? Declare the church closed until abortion ended.

What if Joel Osteen declared his 30,000 member church closed until the theory of Creation was restored to our school system?

What if Pat Robertson told the 700 Club audience that there would be no more broadcasts until porn was removed from the nation's airwaves?

What if Promise Keepers marched to Washington and determined not to leave until Christian values were restored to the schools? What if we they all had a sit-in in the halls of Congress?

See, America�s Christian leaders don�t lack the resources. They lack the vision and the will.

"The church must confess that she has desired security, peace and quiet, possessions and honors to which she has no right. She has not borne witness to the truth of God. By her silence, she has rendered herself guilty because of her unwillingness to suffer for what she knows to be right.� --Bonhoffer

Subscribe to the NewsWithViews Daily News Alerts! Enter Your E-Mail Address:

So, I guess I�m back where I started. Wrong premises lead to wrong conclusions. Ponder this: Does Christ want all men to come to Him? Does he want His will done in America? Does He believe in the separation of church and state? Does He want America�s school children taught about Him? Does He take His orders from the government?

There�s your answer. We are fighting the wrong fight on the wrong field.

� 2006 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved