2 Corinthians 3:12Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. 15But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. 16Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. 17Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Margo Abshier: The Freedom of the people of the nation is dependent on obeying God. If people don’t govern themselves by the 10 commandments, then slavery will come, as we see in 2 Corinthians 3:17 “…Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” If the Lord is not in the nation and its laws there will be tyranny and slavery.
Thomas Abshier This is true because, as it says in Acts 17:28, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being;” I believe this means that God feels us, knows us, sees, and is our every move. I take this literally; we live within God. But just as we can ignore/shut off/forget a part of our body that is painful, I believe God can do the same. God is perfect, loving, and hates evil. Even though evil is within His body (since all is within Him), if we are evil, He can turn off His attention/fellowship and love toward men.
God created man to have free will and the ability to manipulate the universe. He created men with the hope of experiencing love in fellowship with man, and I believe He feels our love when we follow His will and way. When we are obedient to His law and love our neighbor as much as ourselves, He is present with us, His attention is on us, and we are in fellowship with Him and satisfy His desire for love. But when men choose to follow other spirits and the ways of evil, He isolates Himself from them.
But when we worship other gods, which in practical terms means practicing any sin (e.g., unrighteously satisfying the hunger He gave us for sex, money, power, fame…), He takes His attention, guidance, and blessing from us. A nation that worships other gods by choosing the customs, habits, and vices of those gods loses its Godly order. The rulers of unGodly nations see the chaos emerging and attempt to maintain control of society with laws and enforcement. As laws increase, liberty decreases. God isolates himself from the evil of unGodliness and lets society suffer under the spirits they have chosen to follow.
Margo Abshier: If the people that don’t believe there is a God, and that they’re accountable after death, to that God, and they break the ten commandments, then leaders of the nation will rule them with an iron rod to keep chaos from destroying the society.
If the people believe there is a God and are accountable to God after death, then they will govern their lives by the ten commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. People who follow the ways of God can have a free country because everything is orderly when following the ways of the Lord. The government allows freedom and self-rule to people who follow the ways of God.
But if the country is populated by people who don’t believe in God, don’t believe they’re accountable after death, and won’t follow the ten commandments and the sermon on the mount, they’ll live chaotically and disrupt the social order. The tyrants must come in to stop society from destroying itself.
Thomas Abshier: The question is, why don’t people believe in God, fear Him, and follow his Law? I believe people have been convinced by science and its apologists that there is no God to which they are accountable. As a result, they don’t believe there are spiritual forces at work that will put them under bondage, slavery, and tyranny.
Margo Abshier: People do not believe that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. When people grieve the Holy Spirit, God turns His back on them. When people sin, the pain of their impurity is too great for God to look upon. God cannot open His heart and attention to the man committed to sin, evil, and evading punishment by the law. God is holy and pure. Sin grieves and repulses Him. God isolates himself from fellowship with sin and evil.
Thomas Abshier: If a nation accepts these precepts, and observes the laws of God, then that nation will be prosperous, healthy, and free. But throughout the ages, many believers have not taken sin and God’s law seriously enough to observe it. Unbelievers, by definition, think there is no God. This stand implies that only natural law, the physical laws of nature, provide consequences.
(Note: Even the unbeliever has unsubstantiated faith. He believes, without scientific proof, that the universe arose from nothing by an unknown cause.) Therefore, the unbeliever justifies his belief that there are no moral absolutes because the universe is impersonal. Thus, all moral laws are arbitrary and malleable, subject to definition by the will of men.
But if there is a God, and men wrongly define the moral laws, then men will unknowingly alienate His affection and fellowship. Men can proceed with great confidence in their moral purity but be wrong in their assessment of the morality of the universe. They can precipitate societal collapse through their well-intentioned/wrong embrace of crimes against truth, person, and property. We see evidence of such a violation of God’s laws governing sexuality. Many dismiss the Biblical sexual standards as myths arising from a primitive and superstitious age, believing that they can redefine the sexual mores to reflect their more “enlightened” and modern perspective.
Because the unbeliever appeals to the evidence and theories of Science, many Christians feel intimidated and do not speak with the force or logic necessary to convince the government to codify Biblical morality in legislation. This weak approach to advocacy for the gospel and Godly Law likewise limits the believer’s force in speaking directly to the conscience of sinners in declaring the significance of adhering to God’s laws. I think science and philosophy have neutered the passion and conviction of many believers to the point of feeling unjustified in speaking with conviction. The lack of reason/scientific evidence and theory justifying a belief in God and the veracity of the Bible as God’s revelation prevents many from feeling certain enough about their faith to speak in bold/unequivocal terms. As a result, their witness is weak, and the men of science appear to have the more defensible and credible position. Thus, the unbelievers become the leaders, who appear to hold greater authority because of their bold speech. Thus, society comes under the legislative direction of secular humanist morality.
The people of God need a new paradigm of science to embrace that gives them the conviction that faith in God is justified. Such a paradigm puts believers in God on an equal footing with those who have faith in the religion of science. Having conviction, the believer can invoke the paradigm of an immanent God whose Law must govern society. The believer, convinced by an equally scientific paradigm that God is present and acts within life, is empowered to speak boldly to those who declare that there is no God. God’s law is operative and important to implement in governing human affairs. Acting upon this knowledge gives men the courage to stand against Godlessness and enact Godly standards as societal policy.
With such a paradigm, the believer can easily put on the confidence to speak and act with enough force to demand that society and groups stop sinning, lest bad things happen. In the current paradigm of science vs. the Bible debate, believers don’t have enough conviction in their faith to do or say anything with unequivocal force. That’s my campaign, to give people reasons to justify being strong and speaking with force and conviction. This includes electing Godly candidates as representatives, legislators, judges, and administrators in the group context.
My campaign is about giving people the tools, reasons, and justification to stand boldly against evil. As this new paradigm becomes commonly spoken and embedded in society, some who stand against God may be persuaded by reason to confess and repent. Others will remain unrepentant, self-justified, or flee justice. As society becomes Godly, the unGodly will be forced to vacate from their positions of power by the conviction of righteous judges and juries.
I believe the message of the Bible is ineffective in moving society to political and social action because, in these modern days, many who call themselves Christians have no strong concept of evil, how to oppose it with specific actions, or what to replace it with. Many people realize there is a problem with the laws, culture, enforcement, and justice, but the solutions are elusive. Corruption, the buying of influence, results from losing the culture’s moral standards, and corruption is an important/key mechanism for implementing and institutionalizing societal decay.
We see evidence of the decay in the chronic and debilitating social problems such as drug addiction, mental illness, homelessness, the war in Ukraine, inflation, the pandemic, vaccination injuries, the corruption of science, the influence of Congress and media by pharma, government censorship, media canceling, surveillance of citizens, gun demonization, the normalization of divorce, homosexuality, transgenderism, adultery, fornication, government over-regulation, and government “entitlement” dependence. By applying the principles of Godliness to both the individual and corporate context, voters can rightly judge the character of their leaders. Corruption is policed and prevented by an informed, active, and morally sensitive electorate.
Every problem has a solution, but chronic problems embedded deeply into society develop compensatory systems that maintain survival. Thus, solving chronic problems requires multifaceted solutions. The first step in solving a problem is recognizing that there is a problem. And developing a solution depends upon comparing the problems with a standard of health and right function. When healing a society/nation and its government, the standard must be eternal, transcendent, and perfect. To heal a group dynamic, the personal and corporate standards of individuals and the group must match God’s absolute/non-negotiable standards. People are confused, non-committal, accommodating, and non-judgmental when they don’t know God’s eternal/absolute standards. Evil uses insults on the character of the immature believer with pejoratives like “racist,” “homophobe,” “misogynist,” or “bigot” to intimidate. Without a strong understanding of the standards of Godliness, the appearance of being unrighteous might sway the immature believer. When believers are mature in faith and understand God’s standards, the attempted defamation is shallow. In that maturity, a man can withstand the puerile attempts at character assassination as the righteous principles of the Word justify him.