BOLDNESS!
“When they saw the BOLDNESS of Peter and John, and saw that they were untrained men, they marveled! And they realized these men had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13, NKJV, shortened).
While studying the Book of Acts for a home fellowship, the word “BOLDNESS” caught my attention. I have been feeling for a long time that I need to be bold and spend more time out on the streets spreading the Gospel. And I would like to be bold by speaking about the current trends in many school districts that are alarming to many parents. Many of the trends raise moral issues such as sharing of bathrooms and athletic locker rooms and extending sex education down to kindergarten. Parents are attending School Board meetings across the country. They have the confidence that is mentioned in Ephesians 3:12—“Jesus…in whom we have BOLDNESS and access (to Him) with confidence through faith in Him.”
But many believers are silenced by the belief that government and politics should be excluded. After studying these issues extensively, I feel the need to be bold and discuss what the Bible says about these issues.
What Does the Bible Say about Government?
As part of his online prayer series, “Give Him 15[i] (minutes of prayer), Dutch Sheets has just finished a four-day discussion of the Bible passages on government and politics. I strongly recommend your reading this insightful series. Here are some highlights:
- When God said to Dutch, “I am going to teach you about government, because I AM government,” it was quite a shock. Like many people, he had a great distaste for politics and government. But the Lord then quoted Isaiah 33:22 to Dutch, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.”
- He goes on to note that the scripture says that God IS the law, judge, and king, not just thinking about them. How can these government branches (as in our Congress, Supreme Court, and Presidency) be bad when God helped designed these three branches for us? (See “The American Story: The Beginnings” by David and Tim Barton who explain the design of the Constitution based on Biblical principles). Of course, the problem is that these branches get defiled, twisted, and disliked many times! So, God is more concerned about the morality basis of government actions, not all the politics that are disliked.
- Dutch points out that Proverbs has something to say about this–“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked rule, the people mourn,” (Proverbs 29:2; KJV). The Passion Translation of this verse says, “Everyone rejoices when the lovers of God flourish, but the people groan when the wicked rise to power.” So, if we are going to be bold, it should be against evil when it emerges in our government.
More to Say
There is a lot more to say about these issues, so we suggest, if you are interested, to read more of Dutch’s four blogs on the subject (see www.dutchsheets.org). Also, we suggest the books by David Barton (e.g., “Separation of church and state: What the founders meant”). See www.wallbuildeers.com or access his books on Amazon or other book sellers.
Pastor G. Harold
[i] See Dutch Sheets’ website at “www.dutchsheets.org” for details of his prayers and blogs.
Copyright (c) 2022 The Roid Family Trust