Lie Number 5: Separation of Church and State
Lie Number 5. The Constitution Of The United States Demands Separation Of Church And State
Nothing could be further from the truth. It is the Devil’s ploy. It has been successfully used by Satan to rot the spiritual and moral fiber of America. Which is exactly why President George Washington warned the generations to come when he said, “Don’t let anyone claim to be an American, if they ever attempt to remove religion from politics.” Wow! The ACLU has not only attempted it, they are tragically succeeding. The ACLU and its atheistic ilk want to confine God to the restricting walls of religion, so that they will not have to deal with or confront God in anything. The separation of church and state is nothing more than a cover for the anti-God forces in America, who want to separate God from society. Satan is a devil, but you have to give it to him, he is a master strategist. His goal is to make Almighty God not the ruler but a mere spectator of the world
What does the First Amendment of the United States Constitution actually state? It says: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” As you can readily see, the First Amendment has absolutely nothing to do with the separation of the church and state, and everything to do with the protection of the church from the interference of the state. That is exactly why the founding fathers left Great Britain for the new world, namely, to free themselves from a state-enforced religion that was being shoved down their throats. The First Amendment is about the freedom of religion, and not about freedom from religion. Here, the government does not limit the church, it limits itself. The government is the protector of and not from religion. Critical! The U.S. Government has this totally turned around, and has become the protector of the state from religion. That has now manifested itself in a thousand ways.
The truth be known, God has ordained the U.S. Government and the Christian Church to be very close partners, not combatants. Did you hear that? Their mythical constitutional separation has falsely portrayed them as enemies and not as friends. However, we read in Romans 13:3, “For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil….” The purpose of government is to protect its citizens from evil-doers by the establishment and enforcement of laws. If you will, the Divine call of government is to secure obedience, and to retard disobedience. It does so by rewards and punishments. If we obey, civil government rewards us with protection and freedom. If we disobey, civil government punishes us with penalties and imprisonment.
We are not talking about a “Heil Hitler” dictatorship in which its citizens lose all self-determination and self-initiative. Thank God for a free democracy in which we do not stop thinking for ourselves, and instead become a dumb mob of yes-men. As Winston Churchill said about a democracy, “It is the most insufficient, cumbersome, creaking form of government ever devised, and the best!” It embodies the things that we cherish the most in this broad and free land. Delegation of responsibility in free elections! The decentralization of authority! The right of the individual to pursue his own progress and destiny! The freedom of religion! That and much more is the real charter of democracy.
Romans 13:4 goes on to say about government, “For it is a minister of God to you for good….” The government is a minister of God. Imagine that! The church is also a minister of God. They are both in the Divinely ordained ministry. The church could not have the freedom of religion and the freedom from persecution without Godly government. That is why the Apostle Paul commands us in I Timothy 2:1-2 to pray for kings and all those in authority in order that we might lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. The church needs to honor the American flag in her midst as she obediently prays for Godly government. The church needs Godly rulers!
Of course, by the same token, the government would be impotent to fulfill its God-ordained mission if it were not for the church. Given the sinful and corrupt nature of man, government by itself would not be able to govern or stand, for its citizens would not be motivated by honesty but by self-advantage; their priority would not be righteous duty but sinful pleasure; and they would obey their own wills and not the laws of the land. Hearts and wills are the most important things, and the government cannot ultimately command them. Command the human heart and you command the nation.
Because of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, men, women, teenagers and children are brought to new life in Jesus, so that they walk in righteousness and obedience to God and to the God-ordained powers over them. They now have new submitted hearts and wills. It is a much easier thing to rule when there are less hearts to resist. Christians become the salt of the earth to hold back decay. They are the government’s best friend. The government needs the Christian flag in its midst. When the state opposes and persecutes the Christian Church, it is cutting its own throat and weakening its authority and power! By opposing the laws of God it is weakening its own. America has become a tragic example of this very reality!
Oh how we must personally and daily pray for Godly rulers! Do we? God has all power. The ACLU may try to separate the state from God, but they cannot ultimately separate God from the state. He rules and overrules the rulers of men. We read the powerful words of Proverbs 21:1, “The King’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord, He turns it wherever He wishes.” He can turn not only the hearts of rulers, but also the hearts of a entire nation suddenly and irresistibly too. He has done that throughout history as in the case of Jonah and Nineveh, and He can do it again.
What men have done in separating God from His world is not only to embrace and enforce the separation of church and state, but to invent another false dichotomy of the secular and the sacred. This too has played a major role in what C.S. Lewis called, “The Unchristianing of the West,” where less and less of life is looked upon as sacred and more and more is viewed as secular and off limits to God and His people – government, education, the military, the courts, the public square and the list grows. Lies, all lies!
The Earth Is The Lord’s, And All It Contains, The World, And Those Who Dwell In It – Psalm 24:1
Quoting from Is God With America?, “All of life is therefore spiritual. Nothing and no one is outside of His domain. Can you imagine anything more blasphemous, than for a man, whom God made out of dust – man, an animated piece of walking clay, telling God that vast areas of His creation are off limits to Him, and have been posted as non-spiritual and totally secular domains? It may come as quite a shock to the secularist mentality to discover that the pulse of the entire world is a spiritual pulse. The heart of God beats in science, technology, art, music, and in man. The Divine pulse is not just in the rhythm of church music. What a shocking and earth-shaking revelation that is to Americans who have long ago adopted the false secular-spiritual dichotomy.”
So then, the ruling powers that be have been ordained by God, and what God ordains He commands. Government belongs to God, and it must be government of God, by God, and for God. We may call it government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That is true but only secondarily! Government solely of, by and for the people is a recipe for absolute chaos unless it is indeed one nation under God. Does that shock you? Government is first of all a Divine institution, not a human one. It belongs to God, not to man. The Bible teaches a theistic world and life view, and not a humanistic world and life view. We live in a democracy, but whether Americans want to admit it or not, it is a democracy under the power and authority of a Theocracy. The ACLU is attempting to stop all Americans from thinking like that. That is what the great American debate is now about!
