Is Judgement Real? Does God Punish Disobedience?

Bumper stickers often reflect the quality of the theology that supports American Christianity. “God said it and I believe it” used to be popular. “Are You Saved?” was often seen and a whole variety of challenging, pithy phrases continue to appear: “I Love Jesus”, “Jesus Possess Me”, “Know Jesus, Know Peace”, “Love God Love People”, “One Nation Under God”, “Pray for America”, “Got Jesus”, “Victory In Jesus”, “Honk If You Know Jesus”, “Love God Love People”, etc. etc.

The flippant attitude that pervades American Christianity reflects the feeble impact it has on the culture and the progression of Divine Judgment that overshadows us.

Christians often challenge one another with regular sessions of reading “The Word”; for many Christians this means reading the New Testament with an occasional short selection from the Old. They believe the Old Testament was applicable to another era and consider this new era one of Grace and any reference to law to be “legalistic”.

It is quickly apparent in reading R. J. Rushdoony that his approach to Christian theology is different than the preaching we hear at our local church. He believes the entire Bible, every word, is the Word of God From Genesis to Revelation he ponders each word, phrase, and sentence to determine what action his Creator seeks. Instead of using his reason as a filter he sets it aside to be used as a guide to the actions God requires. He wants to obey God rather than understand Him. He does not pick and choose but glories in the entire Biblical narrative. He tarries with God’s Law since obedience is the foundational requirement of the Covenant God of the Bible.

He embraces the Charismatic Movement as a new and more vibrant recognition of the Holy Spirit but expresses disdain for tongues and the gibberish that that often results. Sinful men are unable to accurately hear the Holy Spirit without the yardstick of His Law. We are sinful beings and without the restraint of His written Commandments chaos and wickedness quickly overtake us. Antinomianism in Charismatic circles destroys the power of the Holy Spirit.

The power and glory of the God of the Bible must emanate from individual Christian men who live by God’s Commandments. When men abdicate their responsibility to lead their individual families in obedience to the Will of the Creator they open the door for the state to assume that role and to tighten the vise of tyranny.

When the rule of the Creator is torn from its Biblical base and maligned by sinful human minds the strength of the Gospel no longer beams forth. Instead we have the amoral, adaptable, pragmatic, competitive, social creatures that are popular today. Men are suspected of being unfaithful and sexually promiscuous. Those that stand for honesty, righteousness and faithfulness are often mocked by powerful triflers.

Men no longer understand the leadership position God requires of them. They are responsible for the safety, well-being and conduct of their family. They are to be the head of their home and to participate in the government of the community in which they live.

Rushdoony writes, ”A society cannot be vital and possessed of an ongoing vigor if the men therein are marked by a loss of faith, a retreat from responsibility, and an unwillingness to cope with personal problems. A culture loses its will to live and to conquer if its members manifest a spirit of retreat and surrender.”

Role playing has become a pandemic mendacity. Public forums are full of men who role-play. During his campaign President Obama promised scores of actions that were popular and needed. However, when he assumed the office of President he installed programs diametrical to those he promised. American politicians never produce what they promise; they are puppets playing roles demanded by an unseen power center.

Congresspersons maintain their office as a grant from the closely held press. They carefully avoid taking positions that defy politically correct media dictates. They all play a role and the role is inimical to the well-being of our nation.

Men play an unnatural role in their homes when wives often assume equal or superior authority in family life. Women were created to helpmates to men and when they assume roles for which they were not intended we lose the decisiveness that is a masculine trait. Men sin by abdicating their responsibilities and women sin by assuming them.

However, even if role-playing ceased and rational thought began we would still be in serious trouble. Mortal minds will never produce peace, order, and freedom.

Recently, someone sent me an article by Tom Mullen with the audacious title of “Jesus Christ, Libertarian”. Mullen quotes verbatim Scripture from John 8 about the woman taken in adultery that Jesus forgave with the admonition to go and sin no more.

Mullin tees off on this particular incident with a plethora of dangerous and erroneous conclusions. He writes: “However, no one has a right to use violence against those who engage in behavior that does not harm another person, regardless of whether or not that behavior violates the laws of God.” Mullin would have his insignificant opinion override the perfect Law of God. Such arrogance is the fuel for murder and strife.

Mullin has devised a non-violent system but his system is vulnerable to an opposite system devised by a tyrant who has no aversion to the use of violence to achieve his goals – both systems are products of the anarchic minds of men and sans God’s immutable law one is as valid as the other. Man was not created to govern himself. Without the overarching, righteous law of the Creator chaos and strife will continue to plague us.

On page 387 of his “Systematic Theology” Rushdoony lists the curses that are visited on disobedient individuals and nations. First, fallen man lives under the curse of physical death. Second, he lives under the fear of “sickness, plagues, and epidemics”. Third, the advent of drought and natural disasters produces fear. Fourth, poverty lurks in the economies of profligates. Fifth, nonbelievers are cursed with war, invasion, defeat, conquest, and ultimate captivity. Sixth, Frustration annoys the intentions of men and nations when they seek their own will instead of following the Will of the Creator. And seventh, Rushdoony laments the curse of blindness that causes millions of Evangelical Christians to ignore the obvious signs of God’s judgment.

It is the curse of blindness that causes us to ignore the obvious poverty and strife that plagues the world’s pagan nations and the bursting prosperity that marked Christian civilization. When the United States of America was making an effort to obey God’s Commandments she enjoyed unparalleled prosperity. We have now become a secular nation and not only poverty but all of the other curses are bursting forth.

We have an adequate supply of anti-war spokespersons in the United States but I have yet to find one who espouses the only viable solution. History is replete with constant warfare. Men and nations have been engaged in continuous war from the beginning of time. The Bible contains that legal structure that God gave us to bring lasting peace but sinful men ignore it. Paul Craig Roberts is a bright and well informed writer. He writes with commendable insight into the conduct of our nation but he never once mentions the fact the humanistic solutions to perennial war have never been effective and he fails to consider the legal platform God has given us for lasting peace. His latest article is here.

As America continues to fall into the devil’s abbess will Christians finally wake up and begin to heed the One True God? Mainline churches will not stem the fall. Patriotism will not reverse it. Politics and revolution will not save us. Guns will not help against the judgment of Almighty God. Our stubborn failure to repent, follow Him, and obey His commandments may seal our fate.

For several years I wrote about the tyrannical nature of our government. But government is a reflection of the people who are governed and we have voted for the government we are receiving. We, the people, are the problem. The prayer that is need it that the One True God would change our hearts bringing a resolute desire for obedience to God and a resulting righteous government.