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America: A Country built on a foundation of rebellion, greed and disregard for the Bible Taxes: In 1765 the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This was a tax that was imposed on all colonial legal documents. This is comparable to our automobile license fees, real estate fees, building permit fees, garage sale permits, etc of today. George III, the king of England, was determined that the colonies should pay their share in the expenses of the empire and in the protection of the New World. England had supplied most of the men and the money in the struggle with France for the colonies protection, and indeed their survival. A question was raised by Jesus' countrymen (Matt 22:17) and asked for His decision: Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Roman emperor or not. Involved in the question lay the right of the Romans to rule Judea, and impose taxes at their will. The oppressions of the governor were before His eyes. The Caesar that swayed the sceptre was profligate, cruel, a murderer. Yet He bids the Jews to pay taxes even to an idolater, and even though the emperor might apply the money to the support of idolatry. Rebellion: The future Revolutionary leaders appeared from obscurity---Patrick Henry in Virginia, Samuel Adams in Massachusetts, and Christopher Gadsden in South Carolina. A small but well organized Radical element emerged. But although there was an outcry and protesting delegates convened a Stamp Act Congress, there was no unity of opinion in America. The stamp-distributors were attacked and their offices and houses wrecked, but all this was the work of a few merchants and young lawyers who were trying their hand at rousing the disenfranchised mobs. Samuel Adams, an organizer of resistance and an advocate of separation, feared after the duties were repealed, which they were in 1770 that the resistance of the colonies would crumble and the British would reassert their authority unless more trouble was stirred up. This he and other Radical leaders proceeded to do. Adams spread evil rumors about the British soldiers stationed in Boston. The "lobsters" in their scarlet coats were insulted and jeered wherever they appeared. In March 1770 a riot occurred. In 1772 rioters burned the British revenue ship H.M.S. Gaspee, off Rhode Island. After the Boston tea party where rioters, disguised as Red Indians boarded ships and destroyed the cargo, John Adams, later to be the President of the United States said in a letter ... "I consider this an epoch in history. This however is but an attack upon property. Another similar exertion of popular power may produce the destruction of lives. Many persons wish that as many dead carcasses were floating in the harbor as there are chests of tea. A much less number of lives however would remove the causes of all our calamities." Murder in their hearts!! What then is a scriptural attitude for a Christian toward the government of the world? To submit to them and pray for them. We are to pay taxes and submit "to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake" (1Peter 2:13) and we are to pray for "kings and all that are in authority" (1Tim 2:2) We are not to despise governments nor to speak evil of dignities; nor bring against them railing accusation. (2Peter 2:10, Jude 9) Besides the fact that most of these men were at the highest level of Freemasonry, a secretive cult that accepts all pagan religions and denies Christ, the preeminence, and many were deists, who although they acknowledged the existence of a God, they rejected a revelation and the supernatural doctrines of Christianity (i.e. virgin birth, resurrection, miracles, new birth, etc.) the foundation of America was built on pride, an independent spirit and a rejection of Biblical teaching which if heeded could have avoided a revolution and the bloodbath it precipitated. If it was 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, why did these men own slaves? Why did it take the death of 498,332 in the Civil War to settle this question? This was added to the 25,324 deaths of the Revolutionary War. A lot of misery, death and destruction could have been avoided if the Word of God had been heeded. In 1Peter 2:11 Christians are called "strangers and pilgrims." Do strangers take part in the government of the country in which they sojourn? Or do pilgrims make laws for the country through which they pass? Surely not. Likewise, in 2Corinthians 5:20, we are called "ambassadors for Christ." An ambassador has no part in the government of the land in which he serves, but rather represents his own country that sent him, seeking its best interests. Are we, then, any less truly foreigners here because it is heaven that is the land of our citizenship (Phil 3:20), and the saints are our fellow-citizens (Eph. 2:19)? We are told repeatedly (john 15:19, 17:14,16,etc.) that we are "not of this world," that is, that we are not part of its system. We are to be in this world, but not of it (John 17:16,18). We are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world (Jam.1:27), for "the friendship of the world is enmity with God" (James 4:4) We wish to be separate from it therefore, and to cast our lot with Him. We are drawn upward, above and beyond this scene, by union with Christ on high; willing to be despised, rather to suffer shame for His name, while we wait for Him to come and take us to that city from whence we shall go no more out. References: 1. The Holy Bible (KJV) 2. A History of the English Speaking Peoples, Winston S. Churchill, 1957 3. E.V.Wigram, Help and Food, 1912 |