By: Dale Weckbacher
John 4:23
23 But the hour is
coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit
and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
NKJV
As we have seen in earlier postings, God the Father is
seeking people to worship Him in the spirit of love for God and each other
built on a solid foundation of truth, the Trinity and The Word of God. Worship in spirit only without a solid
foundation of truth becomes estranged from God and leads to the formation of
cults. People worshiping in spirit only
without a solid foundation of truth are also easily deceived. History is full of well-intentioned men and
women suckered into some cult that fleeces them of their wealth, happiness, and
most importantly a close relationship with God.
However, worship in truth only without any spirit is dry and
unattractive to people. Finding a
balance between spirit and truth in worship of God is what we must seek and
what pleases God.
Next year is another Presidential campaign year in the United States . The scriptural concept of worship in spirit
and truth is also applicable to political campaigns and I believe something we
must apply. As a nation, the United States
can no longer afford to elect a President that is all hype and an empty suit
when it comes to governing. However, a
candidate without some charisma or excitement can quickly bore voters causing
them to either stay home and not vote or vote for the exciting empty suit
candidate. In the 2016 election we must
find the balance between charisma and a solid Constitutional governing platform
if the United States
as we know it is to survive.
The spirit of the United States is found in the
Declaration of Independence and is summed up in the following statement,
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed.
(1)
The spirit of the United States is in the belief that
rights, that is the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, come
from God our creator. That governments
are not formed for the purpose of granting rights but to secure the God given
rights of citizens and that the power of government comes from the consent of
the governed.
After fighting the bloody Revolutionary War and gaining
independence from Great Britton, the newborn nation had the task of forming a
government to protect the citizen’s God given rights. However, they wanted to insure the new
government would have a solid foundation insuring the nation did not once again
fall under the oppression of tyranny.
After a failed brief experiment with the Articles of
Confederation, (2) the leaders of the new
nation assembled to write the U.S. Constitution. (3) The document they crafted formed a
representative republic form of government with power divided among three
co-equal branches of government and a system of checks and balances designed to
insure the nation did not fall under an oppressive tyranny once again. (4) (5)
Unfortunately, the authors of the Constitution did not
envision the combination of a President overstepping his constitutional power
coupled with a cowardly Legislature and Judicial branch. In addition, we now have an unelected fourth
branch, the Administrative Branch, that writes thousands of pages or onerous
regulations affecting the lives of citizens who are powerless for unelected
bureaucrats head these agencies. (6)
In the upcoming election, it is imperative for voters to
elect leaders that believe in both the spirit of liberty expressed in the
Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional foundation of government
they all swear to protect when sworn into office. For those running that currently hold office,
we must look at their voting records if they are legislators or the laws they
signed into law if they are governors.
We also must look at those supporting them financially in order to
determine if they will be obligated to grant any unconstitutional favors. We also must look at those they associate
with as a way to measure what the candidate highly values.
This was the error voters committed when electing Barack
Obama. Obama ran on a simple message of
hope and change and his supporters were so euphoric with the spirit of the
message that they failed to look at the platform of socialist associations
behind the spirit of the message. Let us
not make that mistake again.
Our nation faces many serious issues. We have a stagnant economy that is on the
brink of another collapse. We have out
of control illegal immigration threatening to reduce wages and take much-needed
jobs away from those chronically unemployed.
In addition to the economic threat posed by illegal immigrants, we also
have the criminal element crossing the border that threatens the security of us
all.
I therefore want to urge voters not to become caught up in
the spirit of euphoria of campaign slogans but to instead dig deep to determine
the values, beliefs, and governing philosophies of candidates. Doing this will help insure we learn from the
mistakes of 2008 and 2012 and begin the process of restoring the spirit of
liberty and the constitutional rule of law that made the United States a great
nation.
1. age-or-the-sage.org.
The Declaration of Independence .
www.age-of-the-sage.org. [Online] [Cited: July 2, 2013.]
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/declaration_of_independence.html.
2. Kelly, Martin.
Why did the Articles of Confederation fail? americanhistory.about.com. [Online]
About.com. [Cited: October 1, 2013.]
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/governmentandpolitics/f/articles_of_confederation_fails.htm.
3. The Constitutional
Convention of 1787. law2.umkc.edu. [Online] [Cited: November 23, 2013.]
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/convention1787.html.
4. Kelly, Martin.
Checks and Balances. americanhistory.about.com. [Online] About.com.
[Cited: October 1, 2013.]
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/usconstitution/a/checks_balances.htm.
5. —. Separation of
Powers. americanhistory.about.com. [Online] About.com. [Cited: October
1, 2013.]
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/usconstitution/g/sep_of_powers.htm.
6. Newman, Alex.
Obama Imposed 75,000 Pages of New Regulations in 2014. www.thenewamerican.com.
[Online] Thenewamerican, December 30, 2014. [Cited: August 18, 2015.] http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/19803-obama-imposed-75-000-pages-of-new-regulations-in-2014
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