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Satan’s
Assault via the Government (Part 2) By
Bob Myhan Convinced
by Satan that God did not have her best interests at heart, Eve not only ate of
the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but "also
gave to her husband with her, and he ate” (Gen. 3:1-6). The
eating clearly was not the ideal will of God, but it was the incidental will of
God. That is, it was incidental to His ideal will. He allowed it [by giving man
the ability to choose wrong over right, to begin with], though He certainly did
not approve of it. Cain
murdered his brother, Abel (Gen. 4:1-8). "And
why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil and his brother's
righteous" (1 John 3:12). God certainly did not approve of
Cain's crime, but He “permitted” it, in that He did not intervene to prevent
it. The vast majority of the human race later became so wicked that "the
Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His
heart. So the Lord said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am
sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord"
(Gen. 6:5,9). Obviously, except for the family of faithful Noah, the whole world
had rejected God. God had “permitted” it, though He certainly did not
approve of it! Those
who still have trouble accepting the concept that God permits acts without
authorizing them should consider the case of Satan as he tried to induce Job to
denounce God. Satan was permitted by God to use Job's three "friends,”
but that does not mean God authorized them to act as Satan's ministers. God
ordained that Job be tested, but it was Satan who initiated the test and
actually tested him. God's
purpose in allowing Job to be tested was good, while Satan's purpose in testing
Job was evil. "You
have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by
the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful"
(James 5:11). Obviously, "the end
intended by the Lord" was not "the end intended" by
the devil. God permitted, but did not initiate the tests; nor did He choose the
means thereof. They
should, also, consider the fact that "all
things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose" (Rom. 8:28). Though God certainly does
not cause "all things," He has ordained that "all things"
will ultimately benefit those who sustain a proper attitude and relationship
toward Him. He neither caused nor authorized Joseph's older brothers to sell him
to the slave merchants. But He overruled their evil intentions and used their
evil actions to bring about a positive result—the preservation of the family
of Jacob. God
neither caused nor approved the actions of those who nailed Jesus to the cross,
but it was in keeping with His "determined
counsel and foreknowledge" (Acts 2:22,23). And He ordained it
for the salvation of mankind. Thus,
God commands obedience, but does not prevent disobedience. Therefore, as
important as it is to obey civil authorities, obeying God is essential. When
submission to man's laws would cause us to violate God's laws, "we
ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). If we meet the
demands of men and, as a result, fail to meet the demands of God, we will have
sinned against God. Jesus
said, "And I say, to you, My friends,
do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that
they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He
has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!"
(Luke 12:4,5). Knowing
this, the devil will use our relationship and responsibility to civil government
in his attempts to devour us. Paul wrote, "But
I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your
minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2
Cor. 11:3). The word translated “craftiness" is literally "all
working,” and means that Satan will stoop to anything and stop at nothing to
corrupt our minds. But
how does Satan take advantage of our relationship and responsibility to civil
government in his attempts to devour us? There are three branches of government:
legislative (lawmaking), executive (law enforcing) and judicial (law
interpreting). Satan influences those in each branch of government, in seeking
to accomplish his evil purposes. He sways legislators to pass ungodly laws
(those that are not in the best spiritual interests of the people), He
influences executives to enforce these ungodly laws, and He influences jurists
to interpret ungodly laws as constitutional and godly laws as unconstitutional. But
aren't these attacks on individuals? Yes, but they affect everyone who lives
within the area that is being governed by the laws in question. By means of
these laws, and the prospect of being punished—or at least penalized—for
noncompliance, citizens are under pressure to obey man rather than God. Some are
even penalized for complying with God's laws. For example, take the so-called
"marriage penalty." Married couples are taxed more heavily than
unmarried couples who cohabit. Consider, also, the difficulty, in some states,
of obtaining a divorce for fornication, not to mention the ease of obtaining a
“no-fault” divorce. Also,
those who work for government agencies are pressured into compromising Biblical
principles. Those who work in licensing bureaus, for example, may be required to
issue marriage licenses to people who are not eligible for marriage, due to an
unscriptural divorce on the part of one or both of the two parties applying for
the license. Judges are under pressure to grant a divorce in cases where there
has been no fornication, or where fornication is not the reason for which the
divorce is being sought. One judge, in During
the first century, Satan used civil government to persecute Christians. While
"persecution" is probably too strong a word to describe our present
treatment by the government, it is all too obvious that our deep-seated
convictions are certainly being less and less tolerated by law makers, law
enforcers and law interpreters, thanks to the adverse influence of Satan. But "we
must obey God, rather than man" (Acts 5:29).
&
Unity The
Holy Spirit has seen to it that we have a clear understanding of how the church
is to function in unity. Paul penned the word "body" more than 30
times to illustrate the functioning church. In
his letters to different congregations, he uses a Greek word translated
"one another" 40 times. "One another" appears 38 times in
the New Testament There are at least 12 actions that Christians
are to practice included in the concept of “one
another” in order to help build up the body of Christ. Romans
12, mentions the word for "one another" four times. In Romans 12:5, "So
we, though many, are one body in Christ,
and individually members one of
another". Romans 12:10.
"Love one another with brotherly affection.
Outdo one another in showing honor." Romans
12:16, "Be in harmony with one
another." I encourage each one of you to think about your
"one another" treatment of others. First, an individual Christian
cannot function effectively by himself. We
are indeed "members of one another". No member should say, "I
don't need You." We
all need each other. Second,
no member of Christ's body should feel
he is more important than another member. "For
in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves
or free, and all were made to drink of one
Spirit" 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Third,
we should all work hard at [maintaining] unity
in the body of Christ. "For just as the
body is
one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one
body, so it
is with Christ" 1
Corinthians 12:12. & BULLETIN
DIGEST
Carrol
Duncan 844
Pine St
Clarendon
church of Christ Behold,
how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! It is
like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of
Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of |