By: Dale Weckbacher
Acts 17:6b
"These who have
turned the world upside down have come here too.
NKJV
The above passage from the Bible
speaks of the tremendous impact the early church had on society. It all started with Peter’s message after
Pentecost where 3000 people were saved and the movement continued to grow from
there. Even when persecution came from
both the Roman government and the Jewish religious leaders of the time, the
church continued to grow. This
persecution only caused believers to scatter and spread the Gospel out from
Israel and into the rest of the world.
It is this spreading of the Gospel, in the midst of great persecution,
that the Bible speaks of in Acts 17:6.
These people many of whom had seen
Jesus after his resurrection and who were in the upper room at Pentecost, had a
passionate desire to share their faith.
Not only did these people suffer great persecution, many of them even
sacrificed their lives for their faith.
The passionate faith and desire to spread the message of truth these
early Christians had is an example to us as we face tremendous challenges in
our country.
Just as the early church faced
persecution from two fronts, the Tea Party and conservatives in our nation also
face persecution from two fronts.
1) Democrats,
Liberals, the Media, and Progressives – Persecution from here is similar to the
persecution the early church faced from their Roman occupiers. The threat here is very real and represents potentially
dangerous threats for these groups because they hold the seat of power in the
executive branch, the Senate, and much of the judiciary. We have witnessed how President Obama has
allowed the IRS to target Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status and
has even went so far as to essentially make their activities legal through
executive orders. (1)
2) The
Republican Establishment, and Moderates – This persecution is similar to what
the persecution the early church faced from the Jewish religious leaders of
their time. These religious leaders
should have been able to discern from scripture that Jesus was the Messiah but were
blinded from discovering this truth.
Likewise, the Tea Party was blindsided believing the Republican
establishment would embrace them after helping them regain control of the House
of Representatives in the 2010 election.
What conservatives and the Tea Party now know is that Republican establishment
views them as an enemy and takes every opportunity to lash out at them. (2)
(3)
The early church grew in the midst
of these great trials and I believe the Tea Party can also thrive in these difficult
times by
1) Developing
the passion we had in the 2010 elections – Unlike the early church that
continued to passionately declare the truth of the Gospel even when it cost
them everything they had and even, in some instances, their lives, the Tea
Party allowed itself to be silenced during the 2012 Presidential election due
to pressure from the IRS. Instead of
allowing this pressure to silence us we must press on with our passion for
seeing our country return to its roots as outlined in our founding
documents. Our founders had this passion
and the result was the founding of this country. Many of them lost everything they had but
their passion was developing the legacy of a great and prosperous country. We must revive this passion.
2) Standing
up to the Republican establishment – The current leadership of the Republican Party
is more interested in being liked by Democrats, liberals, and the mainstream
media than it is in working with its base.
However, this does not mean conservatives cannot win election in spite
of the efforts of the GOP establishment to stop them. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was able to secure the
GOP nomination for President and win election in a landslide twice.
It is time for the Tea Party to
become vocal and visible once again. On
Thursday January 30, 2014, the GOP establishment currently running the House
revealed their immigration/amnesty plan.
It appears the GOP leadership is attempting to trick conservatives into
believing that their plan calling for “enforcement first” but that also calls
for a way to “have an agreement that shows how people who are not lawfully here
can be able to be lawfully
here.” is somehow good for our country.
(4) This is what occurs when you try to please
both your large corporate donors while pleasing your conservative base. The fact that the GOP establishment believes we,
as conservatives are stupid enough to fall for this sham is a shame.
What the Tea Party must do is
select true conservative candidates for the House and Senate in the 2014
election and unite behind them through a grassroots effort just as early
Christians did. We then must begin
uniting behind one candidate for President that believes in the true
conservative principles of small, constitutional government and unite behind that
candidate, propelling them to the nomination and the Presidency through a
united passionate grassroots effort.
Early Christians demonstrated what
occurs when people passionately unite in a grassroots effort to declare the
truth. Join me and other tea party
conservatives in a grassroots effort, declaring the benefits of smaller more
responsive government. The United States
is a great nation and got there due to the greatness of its people but we must
act now to save our country before our government grows into a leviathan that
totally forgets about the people that made the nation great.
1. Campbell, Greg. Obama Attempting to Make IRS
Targeting Tea Party Legal. www.tpnn.com. [Online] Tea Party News
Network, December 13, 2013. [Cited: December 27, 2013.] http://www.tpnn.com/2013/12/13/obama-attempting-to-make-targeting-tea-party-legal/.
2. Pollak, Joel.
BOEHNER SHOWS TRUE COLORS TO TEA PARTY WITH RYAN-MURRAY BUDGET DEAL. www.breitbart.com.
[Online] Breitbart News, December 12, 2013. [Cited: January 30, 2014.]
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/12/12/Boehner-1-Tea-Party-0.
3. Strong, Matthew
Boyle & Jonathan. SHOWDOWN: BOEHNER TO REVEAL IMMIGRATION 'PRINCIPLES,'
CONSERVATIVES READY TO RUMBLE. www.breatbart.com. [Online] Breitbart
News, January 29, 2014. [Cited: January 30, 2014.]
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/29/Immigration-Showdown-At-Cambridge.
4. Kaus, Mickey.
This is the best scam they can come up with? dailycaller.com. [Online]
The Daily Caller, January 30, 2014. [Cited: January 30, 2014.]
http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/30/this-is-the-best-scam-they-can-come-up-with/.
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