To begin with, as Christians have the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit leads us in truth. The Bible says:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5)
A Christian is not to be conformed to this world, but is to be transformed by the renewing of his mind (Romans 12:2). A Christian has a whole different way of thinking than the world does. Our understanding of things is different because of the Holy Spirit. We are told in the Bible that there are things in God’s Word that cannot be understood apart from the Holy Spirit. These things are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). The mysteries of God remain a mystery to the world because they don’t have the Holy Spirit.
When the world tries to deal with problems it approaches it from a different point of view. When they see someone murdered they only see that the person was shot with a gun. As a result of this view of things. The world thinks that the solution is to take away the weapon that caused the death and it will be a solution to murder. They think that removing guns from our nation will stop murder.
To see if this is true all we have to do is look at countries that have removed guns and see if they still have murder or if the murder rate dropped. When we do, we find that murder still exists. The only thing that changes is the device that is used to commit the crime.
Great Britain is a perfect example of this. They have slowly taken guns away from the citizens. They have banned all hand guns. You are allowed to have a shotgun, but you are required to account for the shells you shoot. In spite of this they still have a problem with murder so now they are trying to take away knives.
The world cannot see the answers to the problem. The world thinks that man is basically good and the murderer failed because he had a weak moment. They believe that if we take away the weapon there will be no temptation, and therefore no murder. This is how the natural man, the unsaved man thinks.
God tells us that this is not the way that it is. He says that we are, by nature, sinners. We are capable of all types of actions because we have a sin nature. This is why we need a Redeemer, someone to save and change us. A true Christian is a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Our founders understood this principle when they formed the laws of this nation because they were Christian men who had been taught God’s Word. At Fortress of Faith we have laid out the evidence that our founders were Christian men and that they founded our nation on Christian principles.
The government we have today is trying to pull the rug from under us. The whole notion of the separation of church and state is bogus. This is not what the First Amendment is about. Here is what it says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
It restricts the government, not the people. It prohibits the government from establishing a state religion. This was done because the other nations all had state religions used to control the people. Our founders made sure that our government could not establish a state religion which would persecute those who disagreed with it.
Secondly, it prohibits the government from restricting the citizens from the free exercise of their religion. It gives the citizens the right to practice their religion according to their own conscience.
The whole idea of the separation of church and state came from lawyers and judges in the 1960’s. The spin doctors started introducing the term “separation of church and state” and turned the First Amendment upside down. This is another story for another time.
Our founders understood that you cannot make a law that will make a man behave. You can make penalties when the break the law, but you can’t make a law that will stop people from doing bad things. Hopefully the penalties will be strong enough to put fear in them so they will not give in to their lusts and their sinful ways.
Let’s take a look at gun control. The liberals and those who don’t understand the precepts of God think that if we remove the weapons, the guns, we will fix the murder problem. Experience tells us that this is not a solution.
Any logical, thinking person can see that if a law abiding person is allowed to carry a weapon he can protect himself from a criminal who would attack him. If you take away the weapons from the law abiding people, you take away the ability of the law abiding people to defend themselves. All of the proposed laws take guns away from law abiding people, not from those who do not obey the law.
Let’s look at what some of our founders said. I want to start with Thomas Jefferson.
“the precepts of philosophy laid hold of action only… (but Jesus) pushed his scrutinizes into the heart of man, erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and he purified the waters at the fountainhead.”
He is saying that you must deal with what is on the inside if you expect to change the actions of a person. A Christian has something inside, the Holy Spirit, to help you overcome the temptation to do that which is wrong.
In Matthew 5 Jesus is giving what we call the Sermon on the Mount. He uses things that the Jews had been taught from the Old Testament. Listen to what He said to them:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:21-22)
You will notice that Jesus goes beyond the action to the attitude of the heart. The point is this, if you control the anger (attitude) you will control the action. The purification must begin at the fountainhead which is at the source of the problem. Murder and other evil actions start in the heart of man, and we need to deal with the source, not the action.
Listen to what Jesus said about adultery:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28)
Again we see that if you control the lust in the heart, you will control the act. There must be something internal to control the external acts.
Let’s listen to John Adams, the second President of the United States and one of the men involved in the framing of our Constitution.
”There is no government in the world able to make a person to do what is right or able to control those who do not wish to be controlled…..”
You can make laws saying you cannot do something, but the law itself will not prevent crime. You can make a law the prohibits murder, but it will not stop people form murdering others. You can put penalties in the laws, hoping that the fear of the penalty will cause the person to behave. Just having the law is not enough.
A perfect example of this is the speed laws. The law doesn’t stop people from speeding, does it? How many times have you been passed by someone who is driving well over the speed limit? A 55 mph speed limit does not keep people from going 56, 60, 70, or even 80 mph.
John Adams also said:
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.”
A person that does not have morality and religion cannot be controlled by the laws of any government. There has to be something internal, a moral code and religious beliefs, to control the passions of man. Of course the religion he was referring to was Christianity.
This next quote from John Adams is probably one of the best quotes from any of our founding fathers:
“Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Our founders knew that the laws they gave us would not make the citizens behave. Our Constitution was designed for a moral and religious people who had religious restraints, the Holy Spirit, to control their passions. Our Constitution is wholly inadequate to govern any other kind of people.
The reason we have so many problems with our government and our people is that we have gotten away from this principle. It looks like the Constitution is the problem, it is not. The problem is in the hearts of men. We need to bring God and the Bible back into our schools. This is the only way our citizens can be controlled. It is the only way to see a permanent decrease in crime in this nation. A real spiritual revival is necessary!
