Jim McCotter LIVE

Does the Bible support gun control?

Some Christians believe you should not even defend yourself based on the following verses:

Matt. 5:39: “Do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also.”   

Matt. 5:44: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Rom. 12:19-20: “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’”

There are 4 basic Scripture interpretation rules:

Rule #1: Consider the verse itself:

Matt. 5:39: Some have interpreted these verses as that you should not own a gun to defend yourself or even your family from a murderer. But is this what Jesus is suggesting?

To begin with, Jesus defines the kind of “evil person” He’s talking about – “if someone slaps you…”. This is certainly not describing a murderer for not having a gun for self-defense.

When Jesus said to turn the other cheek if slapped, I don’t think He was suggesting, if someone shoots you in the chest to then turn and let him shoot you in the back.  

But even if someone is slapped, Jesus did not say, then let him poke you in the eye. Nor did He even say, let him keep slapping you. Jesus actually limits how much someone should respond – just enough to expose their “evil” and demonstrate your righteous character.

Matt. 5:44: Here Jesus says to “pray” for your “enemy” who “persecutes” you. Jesus defined the “persecution” (v. 11) as being “lied” about or being “insulted". That’s not the same as defending yourself from a murderer.

Rom. 12:19-20: These verses say to never take your own revenge. “Revenge”, by definition, is reacting to someone. But this is impossible to do if you don’t defend yourself from someone who would otherwise kill. Moreover, it says how to “heap burning coals on his head.”

Rule #2: Consider the immediate context, before and after:  

How did Jesus define the word “evil” in the immediate context of His “Sermon on the Mount”:

Matt. 5:11 - “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me”. 

The context using the word “persecute” or “evil” was being insulted and speaking falsely, not where you would need a gun to protect yourself.

Matt. 5:37 - “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”

Again, the context for using the word “evil” is in reference to how you speak, not someone who is trying to kill you where you would need a gun for self-defense.

Matt. 7:11 - “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

Here also the word “evil” is even used for a good father.

Mat. 5:17: Jesus said, “I did not come to abolish the Law.”

And in God’s Law every person had the right and even responsibility to own a sword for self-defense, which was the most lethal killing weapon in that day. Today it would be a gun.

Mat. 7:6 – “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Jesus more than once, referred to the unsaved Gentiles as unclean “dogs” (Mat. 7:6 & 15:26) or as unclean “swine”. So still in the same sermon, Jesus even limits giving anything of material value to the unsaved.

Rule #3: Consider the extended context of the book itself: 

Mat. 12:29: “For who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods? Only someone even stronger.” And as Jesus also said (Luke 12:39) - “If the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.” Jesus is declaring how the head of a house protects their house – being stronger than a thief. Today that could be necessary to have a gun. But Jesus is not just talking about being stronger for self-defense but even for the purpose of protecting your own possessions.

Mat. 26:51-54 (AMP): “And one of those who were with Jesus reached out and drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back in its place; for all those who habitually draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will immediately provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?”

Jesus did not tell Peter to get rid of his sword but rather to keep his sword - “Put your sword back in its place.” This was not the time to defend Jesus as He came to this time to be crucified for our sin.

Regarding “all those who habitually draw the sword”, this is probably referring to soldiers, “habitually” being the correct Greek meaning. The renowned Matthew Henry wrote in his commentary:

“Grotius gives a probable sense of this, making those that take the sword to be, not Peter, but the officers and soldiers that come with swords to take Christ; they will die by the sword. ‘Peter, thou needest not draw they sword to punish them. God will certainly, shortly, and severely, reckon with them.' They took the Roman sword to seize Christ with, and by the Roman sword, not long after, they and their nation were destroyed.” 

Mat. 28:20: Jesus’ last command in the book of Matthew was to, “… teach them to obey all that I have commanded you”. And all that Jesus commanded certainly included the Sermon on the Mount “to obey and teach… God’s Law” (Mat. 5:17-19), which mandated to have a sword, equivalent to a gun today, to defend yourself, your family, and any others from dangerous persons.       

Rule #4: Consider the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).

The “whole counsel of God” is all the Bible - Old and New Testament.

Old Testament

In God’s Law everyone in the nation was to have a weapon to defend themselves and others from any wicked persons, foreign or domestic. God’s Law even gave liberty for others to hunt down anyone who killed someone else, unless that person fled to the City of Refuge to await their trial.    

New Testament

Jesus said, “To love your neighbor as yourself” (Mat. 22:39). The apostle Paul said, “Love… always protects” (1Cor. 13:7 NIV). If you love someone you would certainly protect them from harm, especially a murderer, which would require having a gun.

The apostle Paul said: “Those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers” (1Tim. 5:8). If you reject having a gun to defend the lives of your family or relatives, there’s no way you’re “caring” for them and “have denied the true faith.” 

Jesus ordered His disciples to carry a sword, equivalent today, Jesus ordering his disciples to carry a gun: In Luke 22:35-36, “Jesus asked His disciples, ‘When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything? ‘No,’ they replied. ‘But now,’ He said, ‘take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one!”

Jesus never said this earlier when He sent His disciples out to “only go to the lost sheep of Israel.” But now they would soon be going out to all the dangerous heathen nations in the world to spread the gospel.

Since that time many Christians have wisely needed to have a gun to protect themselves especially evangelizing in hostile places. The famous Scottish Reformer John Knox used to carry a giant seven-foot-long two-edged sward with him every where he went to stand next to his mentor George Wishart when he was preaching all over Scotland.

Unlike going to their own Jewish people when Jesus told His disciples to NOT take any money or a traveler’s bag, now Jesus was telling them to take money, extra cloths, and a sword.

Jesus said it was more important they have a sword i.e. a gun, than warm cloths. It’s also interesting to note in Luke 22:38, that Peter and the disciples had already been carrying two swords with them. Today in affect Jesus would say, “If you don’t have a gun, sell your coat and go buy one!”

We see through the Old Testament and all history until even today, only wicked government leaders try to keep you from owning a gun… but not Jesus.

Finally, a seldom reported fact - the Justice Department reported: “It is conservatively estimated that guns are used 1.5 million times per year to save lives.” So, if you don’t have a gun, maybe you should do what Jesus said to His disciple – go buy one!

(Check Jim’s other topics.)

* What really is capitalism?

* Where did the idea come from?

Is capitalism an American idea? Did the idea just originate from some greedy American businessmen? Or did it come from England in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution? Or did capitalism originate from Scotland when Adam Smith wrote his famous book, “Wealth of the Nations”? NO, to all the above.

Capitalism came from the Bible! It was part of God’s Biblical Law!

And despite the anti-capitalist propagandists today, capitalism has nothing to do whatsoever with being greedy. Greed relates only to the heart. Anybody can be greedy whether they believe in capitalism or hate capitalism, whether they are rich or poor.

Simply put, capitalism is nothing more than believing in private individual ownership. If you don't like capitalism, then you would like a government to force you to give up what you own - your house or car or computer or anything else you own - so the State, that did not work for it, can own it and use it however it wants. That’s called Communism, whose step-sister is Socialism.

Of course, there are varying degrees of Communism or Socialism. But they are all bad. And all such governments are oppressive, legalizing the government to steal from it citizens. This is against God’s civil Law. The Bible in James 1:25, and several other places, says that God’s Law is ”the perfect Law, and the Law of freedom!”

The God of the Bible wants you to be able to keep and own whatever you work for. Jesus said (John 10:10), “Satan comes to kill, and steal and destroy. But I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Those that alien with Satan - political Leftists, Socialists, or Communists - all want to steal from you through “heavy burden” regulations and taxes.

Jesus condemned this when He condemned the political civil ruling Pharisees in His day, those Pharisees who were seated in “the chair of Moses”. This was the highest Jewish political/civil ruling position in Judea. Jesus said (Mat. 23:2,4): “The Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses… And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders.” Man’s laws are always heavy burdens. But the Bible says (1John 5:3), “God’s Commandments are not burdensome.”

The topic of Capitalism is as much a Biblical topic as any other subject in the Bible, because Capitalism and Free Enterprise are taught and commanded in the Bible. Christ is Head of the Church (Col. 1:18), but Christ is also Head of the State (Col. 2:10). Capitalism is mandated by God in both the Old & the New Testament:

The Old Testament

There are many verses confirming Capitalism in the Old Testament. It was first established in the world by God, even twice in the Ten Commandments:

* The 8th Commandment (Deut. 5:19): "You must not steal."

* The 10th Commandment (Deut. 5:21): "You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land… ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor."

Both these two Commandments establish personal private ownership and make it clear that God condemns Leftist State Socialism and Communism. How and when does the Socialist Leftist government legalize stealing from you - whenever the State taxes you to give any kind of welfare to any others. God’s Law in the Bible does NOT authorize the State to tax for that purpose. Like Satan - Communism steals, Socialism steals and Leftism steals. Biblical tax Law is amazing and beautiful. (We’ll look at Biblical tax law in a future Christian History, and pray some nation will apply it today.)

On Mount Sinai, 3500 years ago, when God wrote out the Ten Commandments for Moses there was no nation on earth that knew anything about Capitalism or Free Enterprise, much less that practiced it… or even would have had the freedom to practice it. But in God’s civil Law every person in a nation is to have freedom to have personal ownership and be able to build their own individual wealth. This was truly revolutionary at that time in the world.

The New Testament

There are many verses where Capitalism is also confirmed in the New Testament, by the apostle Paul and even the Lord Jesus. But here are two very interesting verses that the Left, Socialists and Communists in some countries have tried to use the Bible to support their oppressive governments:

* Acts 4:32: “All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had."

* Acts 5:4: Ananias and Sapphira sold their property to give it all to the poor. But the Socialist’s priests/preachers don’t read the rest of the story where Ananias and Sapphira lied about the sale pledged price. And the apostle Peter said to them - “The property was yours to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but to God!”

The Leftists and some ignorant preacher socialists promote government unbiblical taxing to help the poor. But these verses do not promote any such thing. Actually, they promote the opposite, Capitalism.

To begin with, both of these verses confirm the property was their own. Second, they voluntarily contributed it. Third, they gave it to no government. Lastly, they did not give it to any unbelievers but to their needy fellow Believers. And had there been no Capitalism they would have owned nothing to be able to give away.

To accept any part of Leftism, Socialism, or Communism is to reject Free Enterprise and Capitalism, and therefore is to reject God and the Bible, regardless of the nice Socialists pretenses.

What is Communism:

The state owns everything and you’re like a slave working for them in their communist State-owned factories and farms. And the State pays you but only enough to survive to work another day. And what work you do and what town you live in is where the State assigns you, and to some tiny, assigned house, often not more than one or two rooms. But most of the world never sees this or knows anything about this because in Communist countries ALL media is totally State run.

Russia was still under the Soviet Union when I first went there. Moscow had an overlay facade, but many could feel a real spirit of oppression everywhere and could even see it on everyone’s face. They didn’t smile; they didn’t say hi to you. We were watched from inside our hotel and everywhere we went. We were not free to go wherever we wanted to. If anyone protested in any way against communism, you would lose your job, go hungry, die, or be shot. And that was no exaggeration.

While I was there, I had a God ordained encounter with one of the Christians from one of the small underground churches just outside of Moscow. I was told that week they had secretly baptized 7 young students who had received Christ as their Savior. They baptized them at a very secluded pond in the country forest area. When the pastor and students came out of the water, suddenly out from the woods came the Soviet KGB! They grabbed the pastor and all the students. They did not know where they took them but were typically sent to Siberia prison camps where millions starved or froze to death.

I was invited to go out and speak to the remaining group. I felt honored to be invited but thought it may also be my own death warrant. Also, while there, I will never forget seeing tears in the eyes of parents who recounted how one of their little grade school daughters, while in school accidently said the name Jesus. And when the public-school teacher heard this, she knew the family had to be Christian and immediately reported it. That night the KGB came to the Christian family’s home and separated the entire family and sent each to different prison camps across the nation. I know this because my partner and I talked with the parents years after this, while the parents still had not been able to get all their children back again.

Now I think of American Leftist college professors today who on campus are proclaiming the “virtues” of socialism and communism to thousands of young students every day. Words cannot express my righteous indignation against Satan’s agents, Marxist’s socialists. These university professors by comparison, truly make Nazi propagandist’s Joseph Goebbels look infantile.

What is Socialism:

With Socialism you may technically continue to “own” your own property. But with full-on socialism you’re so heavily regulated and taxed by the State that for all practical purposes the States owns you. Socialism is actually more deceptive in its State overreach than Communism. But Socialism is the last step to Communism.

Basically, you’re working to give to the State elites as much as they can confiscate from you, to keep as much as they can, while passing out as little as they can to their welfare freeloader voter bloc. For the freeloaders to survive they have to keep voting for their political Left slave masters. And for the political Left to survive they have to keep handing out free cake to their freeloaders voting bloc. It’s a mutual corrupt merry-go-round. Both groups are necessary for each other to survive.  

Moreover, getting millions of new poor illegal dependents walking into this country every year may virtually guarantee the political Left their perpetual power and money train. 

Where did the ideas of Socialism come from - the Communist Manifesto. It was written by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels in 1848, as revolutions were sweeping across Europe. They called it "scientific socialism". It was indeed socialism, but not so scientific.

The Russian Soviet Union communist leader Vladimir Lenin, called Socialism, "Marx's 'first phase' of communism.’" Communist Lenin went on to say, "The goal of socialism is communism." Indeed, Socialism is the foundation for Communism and the last step to Communism.

For years now the Democrats in power have been in lockstep voting for all things Socialism. Leading Democrats now openly and strongly promote Socialism - Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, the “Squad”, and virtually all other Democrats. Here are some of the nice “compassionate” but deceptive Socialistic catch phrases that the Democrats repeat, but how they work out practically are totally destructive to any society:

* “Equity for all”

* "Wealth equality"

* "Wealth redistribution"

* "Progressive or graduated income tax"

* "The rich pay their fair share"

They all sound good but in reality, are NOT FAIR and consequently are all anti-biblical. The government has no money and makes no money, only gets money from others to selective give it to who they want. In essence – steal from those who work hard to give to those who don’t.

Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” The solution to help people that are in genuine need is NOT the government according to God’s Law. What is God’s solution?

The Bible says God created families to stick together and be the first line of help for any family member in need. Extended families are God’s second safety net (1Tim. 5). Last but not least is God’s plan for the church to be the third safety net (1Tim. 5). Biblical government is designed and authorized by God virtually only to defend citizen families to be able to flourish apart from evil and the unrighteous (Rom. 13:3-4; 1Peter 2:14; 1Tim. 1:8-10).

But those who turn from Christianity may lose some if not all three of God’s safety nets. The government then becomes the “church” for the Left and all those who reject and replace God for government socialism. But government is an impersonal, uncompassionate, and cruel slave master for everyone who rejects God and His divine ordained government for true compassion and freedom.

People will reap what they sow. God says (Gal. 6:7-8), “Don’t be deceived — God will not be mocked. Whatever a person sows that will they also reap. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and destruction. But those who live to please the Spirit of the Lord will harvest life forever.”

In general, the Republicans are supportive of Free Enterprise and Capitalism. But to say all this is political and therefore Christians should not address it, especially from the Bible, is Satan and the Left’s way in trying to suppress God’s people from doing what Jesus commanded for the nations (Mat. 28:18-20) - “… teaching them (nations) to do all that I have commanded.” This may indeed be political, but all things that are political, the Bible addresses in God’s Law. And part of God’s Law in the Bible mandates Capitalism and Free Enterprise.

Many disguise their hatred for God and the Bible in trying to separate politics from God and the Bible, and then promote godless socialism as moral compassion. However, everything that’s political is either moral or immoral. If it’s not Biblical, it’s immoral. Those promoting Capitalism and Free Enterprise are promoting what is moral and compassionate, no less so then God’s 8th and 10th Commandments.

Choose which side you’re going to take today. Love does NOT stay neutral. God and the Bible NEVER stays neutral. I feel sorry for those who choose the wrong side, but maybe more so for those who remain silent… who choose no side. We are at war. Those who don’t know it will surely lose.

After passing the U.S. Bill of Rights, Congress requested President Washington issue a National Day of Thanksgiving to God, October 3, 1789, stating: “I do recommend… the 26th day of November… to be devoted by the People of these United States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be… to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue.“

Wow!! The U.S. Congress and George Washington – “be devoted… to promote… practice of true religion!” And what did they consider “true religion”? Unlike today, when the word “religion” was used by George Washington and all early Americans, it was understood then as only Christianity. Worship of any other god or gods in other parts of the world, were referred to as “ill-religions”.

That is why the American Founding Fathers wrote “freedom of religion” and not “freedom of religions”. They only considered Christianity as “true religion”, and freedom for only the different Christian denominations in the United States.

Furthermore, the U.S. Constitution restricted the Federal government from having anything to do with any of the State’s different Christian denominations or state civil officers required in vow to be a Christian and promote Christianity etc. Even AFTER the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights were signed – 8 of the 13 States still maintained their Christian Protestant Denomination as their State Religion and continued to have their State Tithe tax to support the churches and pastors.

Today in the U.S. Library of Congress, you can read a letter from George Washington chiding James Madison for NOT supporting Virginia’s State Tithe tax. George Washington believed in the state having a state-wide tithe to support the church. Also, different Christian denominations remained the law for some States throughout the 19th century. AFTER the Constitution and Bill of Rights were signed, Christian State Constitutions continued. Some read in part:

NEW JERSEY: “All persons, professing a belief in the faith of any PROTESTANT sect… shall be capable of being elected.“

MARYLAND: “No other test … ought to be required, on admission to any office … than such oath of support and fidelity to this State … and a declaration of a belief in the CHRISTIAN religion.”

NORTH CAROLINA: “No person, who shall deny the being of GOD or the truth of the PROTESTANT religion, or the Divine authority either of the Old or New Testaments … shall be capable of holding office.”

SOUTH CAROLINA: “No person shall be eligible to a seat … unless he be of the PROTESTANT religion … The CHRISTIAN PROTESTANT religion shall be deemed … the ESTABLISHED RELIGION of this State.”

NEW HAMPSHIRE: “No person shall be capable of being elected … who is not of the PROTESTANT religion.”

DELAWARE: “Every person … appointed to any office shall subscribe … ‘I profess faith in GOD THE FATHER, and in JESUS CHRIST His only Son, and in the HOLY GHOST, one God, blessed for evermore; and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration.'”

PENNSYLVANIA: “Each member, before he takes his seat, shall subscribe … ‘I do believe in one GOD, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the Rewarder of the good and the Punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine Inspiration.'”

RHODE ISLAND: “By the blessing of God… rightly grounded upon GOSPEL principles… in the true CHRISTIAN faith and worship of God … They may defend themselves, in their just rights and liberties against all the enemies of the CHRISTIAN faith.”

VIRGINIA: “It is the mutual duty of ALL to practice CHRISTIAN forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.”

MASSACHUSETTS: “Towns … to make suitable provision for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers… Every denomination of Christians… under the protection of the law.”

CONNECTICUT: “Oath of the Governor … swear by the great and dreadful name of the Ever-living God, to promote all wholesome laws … according to the rule of God’s Word; so help me God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The U.S. Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story wrote in 1833: “The purpose of the First Amendment was NOT to discredit the then existing State Establishments of Religion, but rather to exclude from the National Government all power to act on the subject.”

Justice Joseph Story wrote in 1840: “We are NOT to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment to an indifference especially to Christianity, which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution… the universal, sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the State… The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedism, or Judaism, or infidelity… but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects.”

So “freedom of religion” in the United States was never intended to be freedom for the world’s ill-religions, but only freedom for the Christian denominations which was called “true religion”, as George Washington wrote. As Christians began abdicating their Biblical mandated authority for being the civil leaders over government, non-Christians began to move in and take control, gradually replacing Christian laws to now even abominable immoral anti-biblical laws. This is the slow march to what we have today - family breakups, mass murders, mayhem, downfall.

God says in Ps. 9:17: “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

God says in Ps. 50:2: “Now consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you in pieces, and there will be no one to save you.”

This subject expanded on in Jim’s book Christian Manifesto

I’m always amazed how few Christians know about what God has ordained as seen in the Bible. Most don’t know how many institutions God has even ordained.

Ask your Christian friends. Some will say 1 or 2 and others may say 10 or 20 etc. How many do you think?

Well, there are 3 and only 3. That’s interesting to think about. That in the whole Bible for all the world and for all time, God has only ordained 3 institutions. They must be pretty important, and they are.

Two of them you will certainly know – marriage and church. God first ordained the marriage institution in Genesis 1 and the church was first ordained in Matthew 16.

In the Bible, the marriage institution, the family dynasty, was God’s only ruling institution in the world until the book of Exodus happened. The Church did not start until Pentecost in Acts 2 through Revelation.

Now the 3rd institution that most never think about in the Bible which God ordained, was civil government, the state institution.  

How important do you think the state institution is to God? God had most of the Bible (Exodus to Acts) written in the context of and about the state institution!

Israel as a nation was the primary example but many other nations God also showed as examples. There are multitudes of examples showing Israel and other nations always being blessed when they honored God and His Word or always being punished when they did not. And there are no exceptions to this.

Now stop and ask, is God the same today as He was then. Jesus is God, and the Bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

So what does that mean? God is involved with every nation today, even as He was in every nation in the Old Testament.

So how was God involved then and therefore today? God is either blessing or oppressing every nation today, depending on how much they honor Him and His Word or how much they dishonor Him and His Word.

 Specifically, “God blessed… or cursed” (Deut.28) every nation depending on how much they kept or did not keep His moral Law – His Ten Commandments, Statutes, and Judgments. If you did not know this, read in the Bible the books of the Kings, Chronicles, Psalms, and the Prophets, and look for this. You’ll see the multitude of consistent examples of how God always did exactly this with every nation in every generation.  

Virtually all Ten Commandments are repeated and amplified in the New Testament. And God commands every person and nation in the world to keep His Commands. Nations that don’t keep His Commandments are judged on earth here and now. People who don’t keep His Commands are in judgment now and for eternity.

God is loving but He is also just. And the only reason a person cannot be judged today and for all eternity, is if they now believe and receive God’s Son Jesus, for dying on the cross to pay for their just penalty in falling short in keeping God’s Law.

But that does not mean living by faith we can then neglect obeying God’s Law – “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? Far from it! On the contrary, we establish the Law” (Rom. 3:31).

Since no one can perfectly keep God’s commandments, we can only be saved by faith and God’s grace. But that doesn’t mean we are free to ignore or disobey Gods commandments:

o  “And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments” (1John 2:3).

o  “Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome” (1John 5:3).

o  “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments” (2John 1:6).

o  “Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus” (Rev. 14:12).

Don’t be misled, it cost God’s Son’s life to redeem people, but God does not redeem nations. They get God’s full and just penalty here and now on earth when they don’t obey God’s Law. Not only Bible history proves this but the history of every nation and every empire since the Bible has proved this. God is patient, but His national judgments always come in time.

Now what does this all mean to us here today? God is involved with every nation. For a nation to last it must not reject honoring God and His Law-Word. And who on earth can affect a nation to honor God and His Word? ONLY CHRISTIANS!  

Jesus said only to His disciple, Christians today, you are the “salt of the earth… and the light of the world.” The salt and light is not for the church but for the earth and world. The church, Christians, are to impact the earth and world, everything outside of the church. And that leaves only two others of God’s institutions in the world to impact - family and government.

This and this alone will determine whether we will be a nation as a tail or a head (Deut. 28:12-14):  

“The Lord will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them. If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.”

And here and here along is the only other alternative God gives us as a nation (Deut. 28:43-45):

“The foreigners living among you will become stronger and stronger, while you become weaker and weaker. They will lend money to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail!

“If you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and to obey the commands and decrees He has given you, all these curses will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed.”

The New Yorker reported on January 4, 2024: “Biden makes saving democracy the center of his campaign.”

The first so-called democracy was Athens, Greece. One of its top leaders in the 5th century was Pericles. His main political opponent was Cimon, who was a wealthy member of the aristocracy.

These two men in history seem to be an amazing parallel of Biden and Trump today.

During the Greco-Persian Wars, Cimon won famous battles. He wanted to make Athens great. He said, “I love enriching our nation, with the booty of our victories."

Cimon was good at business and organizing. He personally funded building and construction projects in the city of Athens, helping making Athens the great city of the world.

But with proud resentment Pericles began to weaponize the legal system against Cimon, his political opponent. In his lawfare he began to make public accusation against Cimon, saying that he had been colluding with their nation’s enemy, not Russia this time but Macedonia.

Pericles then proceeded to get Cimon ostracized by impeachment, which would end his political career.

Despite Pericles’ efforts, Cimon was actually acquitted.

However, Pericles did not stop there. He continued to give speeches and started proclaim his great devotion for democracy, while at the same time he was clandestinely getting rich politically and usurping more and more power for himself.

Pericles and his political party would outwardly express sympathy for the poor and condemn the influence of the wealthy, despite Pericles himself becoming rich through his political corruptions while being in office.

Pericles and his political party let large numbers of noncitizens into Athens and then extended voting rights to them to help keep them in political power.

Pericles also successfully used the media-entertainment of his days, which were the theater plays, to advance his agenda. And then he had the state subsidize the poor to go to the Greek theater. The politically charged plays were aimed at maligning his political opponent.

However, Cimon sought to keep Athens out of war with Sparta through negotiations. Nonetheless, in time Pericles was able to set up another second impeachment against Cimon. This time in 461 BC, Pericles won, and Cimon was permanently banished from political office.

Pericles carried on putting Athens into great debt with his government infrastructure policies.

But corruption began to finally surface implicating Pericles and he was accused of maladministration of public money. His associate, Phidias, was accused of impiety and embezzlement of money meant for building projects.

Finally, it was revealed that Pericles’s own family was caught in corruption.

Ultimately more people became aware of how abusive Pericles was in his political power.  

A grassroots movement spread for invoking ostracism to Pericles, what Pericles feared most. Pericles’ popularity dropped.

Plato described in his Republic, 380 BC:

“Last of all comes ... the tyrant ... In the early days of his power, he is full of smiles, and he salutes everyone whom he meets ...

How then does a protector begin to change into a tyrant? ... when he begins to grow unpopular …

The protector ... is ... the overthrower of many, standing up in the chariot of state with the reins in his hand, no longer protector, but tyrant absolute.”

Instead of Pericles stepping out of office, he became more defiant in staying in power. He gave a speech in support of the Megarian Decree, where many city-states agreed to cut off trade with Megara, an ally of Sparta. It was a NATO-style foreign entanglement treaty, where an attack on one is an attack on all.

But instead of the decree isolating Megara and punishing Sparta, it caused a realignment of Mediterranean alliances, with more city-states siding with Sparta.

This was not too dissimilar from Biden’s foreign policy with Russia, having pushed Russia and more nations now into the BRICS alliance, replacing the U.S. Dollar for international trade. This could forever destroy America as it did Athens.

Historians Plutarch and Karl Beloch explained that Pericles seems to have deliberately let Athens be pulled into a needless Peloponnesian War with Sparta to divert criticism away from himself.

This is familiar behavior for leaders unpopular at home, hoping they get pulled into a foreign war to save them politically. This was the story line of the movie Wag the Dog, starring Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman.

And once the war with Sparta was imminent, the voices that talked of ostracizing Pericles for usurping power, were suddenly replaced with voices declaring his strength for war time.

But to Athens’ surprise, Spartans war on land was superior on Athens' homeland. Sparta quickly conquered the Greek countryside, resulting in thousands of immigrant refugees flooding into Athens.

Overcrowded conditions caused a pandemic to break out with thousands dying. Pericles’ sons died, then in 429 BC, Pericles died, and with him the Athenian Golden Age.

In the end, the politics of Pericles, namely, professing devotion to democracy while consolidating personal power, led to Athens’ decline, from which it never regained its world influence and grandeur.

President William Harrison described this in his Inaugural Address in1841:

“This is the old trick of those who would usurp the government of their country. In the name of democracy they speak, warning the people against the influence of wealth and the danger of aristocracy.

History, ancient and modern, is full of such examples … Caesar became the master of the Roman people … under the pretense of supporting the democratic claims …”

But none of our founding Fathers were in favor of a “democracy”, they actually called it a “mobocracy”.

It’s only in recent years that the left has started always using the term “democracy” and glorifying it. Now many on the right have unwittingly started saying the same.

But our founding Fathers did not declare we have a democracy but rather a “constitutional republic”. A “democracy” is dramatically different.

Most people don’t realize, and even most Christians, that what God established in the Bible with His Mosaic civil Law, was in principle a “constitutional republic”. That being – God’s Law (Ten Commandments, Statutes, Judgments) and representative judges, righteous judges carrying out God’s Law.           

However, if a nation does not use God’s “perfect law of liberty”, as the Bible calls it, all other man-made laws will always be changing under “mobocracy”.  

The colonial and even the early statehood constitutions used God’s Mosaic civil law. However, the federal constitution veered from this. As a result, since 1789, there have been added to the federal law over 30,000 new statutes.

The colonial and even early state constitutions were far more biblical in their law and constitutions than the federal constitution, resulting in part for so much of our demise today. How, you may ask… we’ll have to look at that in a future Christian History.