Worshipping Government

So many now put their faith in government rather than God, they should call it Godvernment rather than government.  They worship the power of men and believe that humankind is capable of solving all their own ills by their own abilities.  They have abandoned faith in God in favor of faith in man.

I find it interesting, and informative, that many people today have a view and understanding on the freedom of religion guaranteed in the First Amendment that is completely at odds with the understanding and intent that the Founding Fathers had when they wrote this up.

Bear with me  moment and I will show how this relates to Godvernment.

Most governments in the world in 1776 embraced a state-sanctioned religion/church.  Contrary the understanding of many today, the church did not control the government.  Actually, the government used the church as an arm of government to achieve its ends.  Karl Marx called religion the opiate of the masses because that is exactly how governments used religion/church.  

In 1776, if you rebelled against your government, just like today, the worst they could do was kill you (and everyone you care about).  However, in most countries government worked hand in glove with the church so the interests of clergy and the interests of kings were aligned.  So, when you rebelled against the government, instead of just risking death, you were also risking eternal damnation, and that was the sermon even if you might win.  So, god-fearing people also had to be government-fearing people, because if you crossed one, you crossed the other.

When the Founding Fathers debutted the US Constitution in 1787, they took great pains to decouple church and state - because they knew that allowing the state meddle with the church was always going to produce bad outcomes. That is why they said, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"   

When you look at the actual words (going to the source) instead of reading a wikipedia entry that supposedly tells you what it means, you can clearly see that the amendment was designed to keep the dirty paws of government from restraining the exercise of religion.  They were prohibited from both picking a favorite (to twist to their liking) and from interfering with those they didn't like.

Many refer to this as the "Estalishment Clause" and use it to erect a wall that prevents any religion from affecting the workings of government (instead of the original intent of keeping government from affecting the workings of religion).  What they selectively ignore, lately, is the next phrase which I choose to call the "Free Exercise Clause."

Regardless of the constitutionality of (or lack thereof) these actions, the effect has been to drive religion from the public square and attempt to confine its influence to a few hours of meaningless activity each week. 

I say "meaningless activity" becuase when our religion no longer shapes our daily conduct, when it is utterly satisfied through a few moments of ritual in a day or week, then it is meaningless.  It no longer has any real meaning or influence in our lives.

So the Establishment Clause has been used as a bludgeon to drive religion out of government, both communal and individual.  

They say that nature abhors a vacuum. I don't know if that is true.  But I do know that human nature abhors a power vacuum.  For those who feel unable, unwilling, or too uninformed to govern themselves according to firm and enduring principles, the absence of religion to govern their inner lives is an abhorrent vacuum which must be filled.  And once religion is driven from the public square the only institution left standing is government.

And government, without the spiritual guidance of religion is nothing more or less than one group of people making up rules (and changing them according to the latest whim of human desires or knowledge) and enforcing the obedience of everyone else.

If people actively and consciously recognized that this is the nature of government today, and they realized that our "rulers" are just as stupid, greedy, short-sighted, and self-serving as every other human being is, they would not long tolerate such a system.

In order to prevent having a massive revolt stemming from the inherently flawed nature of human government, especially one that has severed its connections to any divine guidance, it is necessary for pro-government forces to begin to replace the worship of god with the worship of government.

This may sound far-fetched, but please take a moment to consider this, faith is needed for the functioning of both government and religion.

God and Governments Both Need the Faith of the People to Operate:

Faith is belief is something that is unseen.  

Faith is essential for the worship of God, because with our eyes we cannot see the hand of god working in our lives we must exercise faith.  We put our trust in god that he will protect us, wipe away our sorrows, punish all wrongdoers, and eventually bring us to a state of paradise and unending happiness.  The fundamental requirement of faith is expressly acknowledged in all religions.

Government likewise needs our faith to operate.  

• If we don't have faith in the government currency, the economy will collapse, perhaps reverting to a barter economy and the governments powers of taxation to fund its operations will evaporate.
• If we don't have faith that our vote actually influences the outcome of elections, we stop voting.  When everyone stops voting, the legitimate electoral process collapses and all that is left is the illegitimate process where ballot boxes are stuffed and what we now call voter fraud becomes the norm.
• If we don't have faith that government programs can cure society ills, then we will pressure our elected officials to de-fund those programs.  And if they are unresponsive to our views, eventually, we will remove them from office by electing someone we believe (have faith in) will act according to our views.

Government social programs exist because people have become convinced that we can solve our own societal ills using only our own pooled resources, without the influence or support of God.  We are replacing God with Government and worshiping at the altar of the godlike power of the collective human animal i.e., Godvernment.

I believe that man is created in the image of God and that we are capable, individually and collectively, of many great and good things.  And God expects us to do much, all we can, with what He has given us.  But, there are two things we should never forget. First, whatever we accomplish is done with wit and intelligence that He gave us.  We should always acknowledge on whose shoulders we stand.  Second, there is nothing we can do by way of action or argument that has the ability to change the nature and heart of humankind.  It has remained unchanged for 6,000 years of recorded human history, with the only notable exceptions being societies which wholly embraced and individually lived the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The reward those societies reaped included intense persecution, where armies marched to destroy them.  Until ultimately they were so rejected by the world and perfected by their living, that they were caught up into heaven, or destroyed by the wicked.

I am speaking of the society of the City of Enoch, and after it the City of Salem.  Both of which reputedly became so righteous that God snatched them up off the face of the earth and brought them to where he dwells.  They achieved this end by individually embracing the influence and rule of God in their own lives and acting according to the principles which they knew to be correct.  As individuals and as a society they were rejected by the broader world, which preferred to pretend to be smarter and better than God at helping humanity to overcome its flaws.

Godvernment is the modern equivalent of the Tower of Babel.  

The Confusion of Tongues by Gustave Dore' (1865)

The book of Genesis in the Bible tells of how, when humanity had no barriers of language to separate them, they decided to pool their collective resources and demonstrate that they were better at helping humanity overcome its flaws than God was, and they would prove this by building a tower that was tall enough that:

1. God couldn't destroy it and 
2. it would reach into God's habitation and allow them to:

  a) invade and
  b) dethrone Him, so that
  c) humanity could rule itself.

Today, our Tower of Babel is government.  Too many people erroneously believe that we can pool our collective resources through the coercion of government and cure humanity's flaws through a government program or collection of government programs (or laws).  One very major step in this effort is to dethrone God so that a 100% human-led Government can stand supreme in the world.  Without the need to acknowledge or accede to any wisdom higher than that of the collective, or of the smartest member(s) of the collective, Godvernment can pretend to have the powers of God - the ability to fundamentally change human nature to make us better.

God wants us to be good people.  

Godvernment wants us to be good people.

God's definition of what "good" means does not vary over time and is not swayed by popular opinion.  He knows what we must do to succeed at become good, he reveals that, and he encourages us to obey, but does not force us.

Godvernment's definition of what "good" means changes with public opinion, scientific discovery, and whatever suits those in power to enable them to do what they want.  Godvernment does not actually "know" anything.  The individuals involved can guess, persuade, and experiment, but they only know what they can discover.  And they use the compelling power of government laws and law enforcement to force us to behave in the ways that they define (today) as good.

God allowed the people to build the Tower of Babel for a while.  He knew that they would not attain any of their objectives, regardless of what he did.  The tower would never reach to where He dwells.  If they were able to attempt to dethrone Him by force, His power and intelligence alone was more than all their collective power and intelligence.  He also knew that their desire to exile Him and rule themselves would only produce despotism and cruelty and would never cure the ills of humanity.

The reality is that each of us can exile God from ruling our lives.  We don't need a Tower of Babel or Godvernment to achieve that end.  There is no collective effort necessary.  We exile Him from our lives by choosing to ignore Him.  When we do that, we inevitably and unavoidably replace our worship of God with something else.  Either we worship something outside ourselves, such as nature, or smart people, or we worship ourselves and sit ourselves upon God's throne, imagining that we are the master of our own fate.

Just like those who built the Tower of Babel before us, Godvernment, humanity-worship, nature worship and self-worship will all come crashing down and end in utter failure and disillusionment.

God confounded the builders of the Tower of Babel by mixing up their languages and making it much harder for them to collaborate (like any good general, his first move was to sever their lines of communication).  This caused them to flee in confusion and cease trying to build their tower into heaven.  Later, he destroyed the actual tower itself with earthquakes.

At a stroke, he unmasked the folly and hubris of humanity and their leaders.  They thought they could outsmart and overpower God.  They had no realistic idea of the extent of the abilities of their avowed enemy.  They suffered humiliation and defeat, and later misery as warfare became rampant when people with different languages made war on each other.

Godvernment too will one day loom in the history books as a cautionary tale of the hubris of humanity.  It will end at a stroke from God, whom they have declared is their enemy.  They direction and form of that stroke will be utterly unforeseen by the lackeys and worshipers of Godvernment, because they have no realistic idea of the extent of the abilities of their sworn enemy.

Until the day when God acts to confound this modern Tower of Babel, those who put their faith in God instead of man need do what they can to resist this folly:

Defend the Throne of God against usurpers

1. Vote against government social programs, regardless of how humane they sound.  People will never change human nature.  Only God can do that.  And one way He does that is through VOLUNTARY programs to help the poor and needy, not through force (which is the Godvernment way).
2. Support (work on their campaigns, talk favorably to friends about them, give money to fund their campaigns, and vote for) people for public office (local, state and federal candidates) who seem to want to take us away from government run social programs.
3. Actively work in your church or synagogue.  Make sure that your religion is not meaningless.  Make it more that a meaningless ritual once a week.  Work to implement the principles of your religion in your daily life so that it transforms your personal conduct.
4. Strengthen others in their desires to let God direct their lives, but try to force them to believe the same as you.

Search Results Related to This Article:

• Babel - a Brad Pitt movie, rated "R".
• The Abolition of Man - a book by CS Lewis points out both the trend and the outcomes of replacing the worship of God with the worship of man.
• The Constitution of Religious Freedom: God, Politics, and the First Amendment - Dennis Goldford directs his readers to consider the First Amendment. The founding fathers' words, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
• The Reason Revolution: Atheism, Secular Humanism, and the Collapse of Religion - a free Kindle ebook, written by a secular humanist purporting to refute the foundations of religion.
• Lectures on Faith - an inexpensive book containing a collection of lectures explaining the origins, basis, and results of faith by the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Written circa 1830.
• Freedom from Religion - a book by Noel McGivern that bills itself as a guide for defending non-belief.

Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM). The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein. 

The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein.

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