There’s a passage in Scripture that mentions the refining of silver as a parable to purification of a believer in Christ. The dross is discarded to leave a silver more pure. I recall a brilliant writing about this, where a silver refiner is asked how he knows when the silver is pure? His answer was something like, “when I can see my reflection in it”. What an amazing thing that is happening when our Lord God, Christ Almighty refines us.
It could be that our country, these United States of America, is being refined. Our founders witnessed a good refining, evidenced by the Declaration of Independence, and the ratification of the federal Constitution. But it would seem that the collective sin nature of man quickly began packing on the dross, in the form of progressive increase in centralized power – demanding more and more sacrificing of individual rights “for the greater good” – they will always say.
For whatever reason(s) we gave them an inch, here and there. Every ‘ratcheting up’ of centralized power has some crisis that resulted in a fearful populace demanding government “do something” about it. A fearful populace that failed at Lord God’s command to “be anxious about nothing” (Philippians 4:6-7) and instead directed its worship to the idol commonly known as ‘the state’.
Each ‘ratcheting up’ required a certain level of deprivation of rights, and there was rarely a ‘ratcheting down’ to restore rights to the previous level of enjoyment. But can you blame them? Imagine going from a muzzle-loader to a fully loaded F-16 to protect your neighborhood – and then handing over the keys when you obliterated the immediate threat. Actually, it sounds like an easy thing to do. Maybe that’s because it would be the right thing to do, and Christ offers discernment as part of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
But having a ‘religious test’ to hold office would usher in an entirely different kind of tyranny. The kind known all too well in nations under the chains of Islamic authority. Theocracy is what the Pilgrims so desperately escaped, so best not reinstate that breed of Leviathan.
My fellow Americans seem to have collectively forgotten what ‘rights’ are. We have collectively forgotten what ‘law’ is. A basic recognition that Liberty, Justice, Law, and Order are intertwined, and crucial to prosperity; and all fall within the domain of Grace offered by our Lord God, Christ Almighty. Grace that we men are to share among one another as well. And like God’s Grace has boundaries, so does ours.
Liberty is a blessing, to be earned, won, fought for, and taken… When liberty is abused, justice is introduced. When justice is required for common offenses, law is introduced – headlights and guardrails to keep us from stepping on our neighbor’s dick in the first place. With a proper balance of liberty, justice, and law, we can enjoy liberty in good order.
We now live in a country where the state has long ago been captured by the captains of industry, to the detriment of the common man. This breed of Leviathan we could name ‘corporatism’ and acts like an unholy love-child of fascism and communism. It’s time we look at each bill being debated in legislative branches at the state and federal level. Thinking specifically about eminent domain abuse for private gain… Look closely for verbiage that would suggest a corporation-driven conspiracy (18 U.S.C. Sec 241 – Conspiracy Against Rights) to deprive the common man of more God-given rights, under color of law.
The judicial branch working for the common man shall be the refinery to purge the dross from the state. A felony act is a quick piercing of the corporate veil.
