By: Dale Weckbacher
Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness
in the heavenly places.
NKJV
When we make a decision to believe in Jesus Christ and what
He did for us by dying on the cross, we change sides in the spiritual battle
for this world. Ephesians 6:12 serves to
remind us that the battle is not against flesh and blood, or other people, but
against spiritual powers. However, when
Jesus died and rose from the dead, He made a path of victory for us. All one has to do to get on this path to
victory in the spiritual battle is believe in God’s only son Jesus (John 3:16).
However, even though we have total victory in Christ our
lives are not going to be without struggle
1 Peter 5:8-10
8 Be sober, be
vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion,
seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that
the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10 But
may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle
you.
NKJV
God’s Word teaches us how to discern which side of every
battle is God’s side and as we remain steadfast in the study and application of
God’s Word in our lives we can be victorious in any struggle.
Our nation currently finds itself in a political battle that
threatens our liberties. On the left, we
have individuals that believe the source of relief from the struggles in life
lies in some new government program that promises to solve their
struggles. However, history has shown us
that such dependence is flawed and does not solve the problem but actually
serves to make it worse.
In his first State of the Union address on January 8, 1964,
President Johnson declared war on poverty promising that the government would
develop programs ending poverty, joblessness, and hunger in the U.S. (1) However, fifty years into the war, we still
have poverty, joblessness, and hunger.
50 years of history has proven that the government is unable to
successfully win a war on poverty for in the process of fighting this war, we
find our nation on the verge of bankruptcy, budget deficits, and out of control
debt that future generations will have to deal with.
On the right, we have individuals that believe in the power
of the individual and believe the role of government is to protect the God given
freedoms of individuals so they can pursue their individual dreams. Understand that some individuals will succeed
in the pursuit of their dreams and some will not but those that do succeed will
become wealthy and create jobs. Those
that fail in the pursuit of their dream also have the liberty to change
direction and find success in some other pursuit or work for someone that has
succeeded in the pursuit of their dream.
In this election cycle, we once again face the battle
between right and left. Will we elect
leaders promising more government programs that, like their predecessors, are
destined to fail or will we elect leaders vowing to protect the liberties of
individuals established by our Constitution empowering individuals to pursue
their individual dreams.
Jesus came to earth and established a new covenant giving
men and women a choice. The fact that
God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world (John 3:17) but to
give us a choice reflects Gods interest in preserving our freedom to
choose. This is why in the political
battle between left and right many Christians lean towards the right believing
that the proper role of government is the preservation of each individual’s
right to choose. This does not mean that
Christians have no compassion for the poor, unemployed, or hungry but that they
believe it is the role of believers, who have been blessed by God to support
these individuals.
In Jesus teaching found in Matthew 25:31:46, Jesus speaks of
gathering the nations together and instructs us of the importance to help the
poor. The translation nation comes from
the Greek word ethnos, which means “a race
(as of the same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially, a foreign (non-Jewish) one
(usually, by implication, pagan):--Gentile, heathen, nation, people.” (2) Jesus is not talking about judging a
government for its failure to help the poor but each individual.
Over the next three
Wednesdays, we will look at what I believe are the issues where the battle this
election will be. We will look at the
issues of immigration, health care, and our national security. We will demonstrate how the solution to these
issues lies in less, not more government empowering us as individuals to elect
leaders that will allow us to bring real solutions to these issues.
Let me close with this
quote from the late author Stephen Ambrose writhing about the men returning
from World War II,
But in fact these were the
men who built modern America. They had
learned to work hard together in the armed services in World War II. They had seen enough destruction; they wanted
to construct. They built the interstate
highway system, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the suburbs (so scorned by the
sociologists, so successful with the people), and more. They had seen enough killing; they wanted to
save lives. They licked polio and made
other revolutionary advances in medicine.
They had learned in the armed forces the virtues of solid organization
and teamwork, and the value of individual initiative, inventiveness, and
responsibility. They developed the
modern corporation while inaugurating revolutionary advances in science and
technology, education and public policy.
(3)
Our nation needs more
individuals like this in order to save our nation.
1. Intenational, International Committee of the
Fourth. Fifty years since Johnson’s declaration of the “War on Poverty”. www.wsws.org.
[Online] World Socialist Web Site, January 8, 2014. [Cited: April 29,
2014.] Fifty years since Johnson’s declaration of the “War on Poverty”.
2. Bible Tools.
Strong's #1484: ethnos (pronounced eth'-nos. www.bibletools.org. [Online]
Bible Tools. [Cited: April 29, 2014.]
http://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Lexicon.show/ID/G1484/ethnos.htm.
3. Jeremiah, Dr.
David. Living With Confidence in a Chaotic World. Nashville, Dallas,
Mexico City, Rio De Janeiro : Thomas Nelson, 2009.
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