With the recent Hobby Lobby decision by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), it is clear the conscience of the nation and the liberty of the individual are at odds. I believe the Green family, when they insisted they would have closed the doors and shutdown the Hobby Lobby, Mardel’s and Hemispheres stores, had the SCOTUS decided against them. This is not a defense of the Hobby Lobby corporation’s position; it is a deep and personal question concerning where the reader stands when Church and State collide.
I recently watched the movie “Persecuted” with my two teenage sons. Even they felt as if the movie hit too close to home. I encourage you to see the movie and decide for yourself how far fetched the proposition of extreme government interference is. If and when you feel your religious liberty is being infringed upon, what is your response? Who is responsible for protecting your religious liberty – your “rights”? The very government who would infringe upon you? We can debate the first amendment and the so called “separation of church and state”, but the truth is the founders of this nation were believers, worshipers and servants of the God in the Old and New Testament – The Bible.
We as a nation are not unlike the Valley of Dry Bones vision in the 37th Chapter of Ezekiel. If we are believers, our responsibility is to obey God and speak the Truth, even to a dead and dried up nation. It is God’s job to place the meat back on the bones, provide the living water and the breath of life. God even explains this separation of powers (pun intended), to Ezekiel during the vision. “Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD” (Ezk. 37:12-14).
Our hope is in Christ, not the state. The Church is the body of Christ, and He is the head. As a Christian it should be comforting and reassuring to know that when Church and State collide, Church wins every time. “If God is for us – who can be against us?” Do you know why you and God are an unbeatable combination? Because God can’t be defeated. God told Ezekiel He would breathe the breath of life into that dead and dried up nation so that they would know He is Lord. Oh that this nation of ours could be revived in a similar manner. As the praise chorus states – “People need the Lord”.
We need to keep in mind, Hobby Lobby was one SCOTUS vote away from closing their doors. Man has always tried to outmaneuver God, even thought they had killed Him once….. The truth is that as Christians, we need to worry less about reaching the good life and more about preaching the Good News. Our comfort is not God’s first concern. Our love for Him and His creation is (see the greatest commandment).
“They” can pass as many laws as they want. They can legalize sin and outlaw righteousness, but it won’t change my love for and faith in the saving grace of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Obviously when I blog about Church and State, I mean the church of our Jehovah God of Genesis and on through the New Testament of the Bible. The State does not hold that to be true, nor do they need to. Guess what? When Church and State collide, God wins every time. Wanna know how I know?? I skipped to the back of the book – God wins !!