BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Like the fearful servant, for years many Christians have chosen not to get involved in what is going on in the world politically. We have let fear, confusion and apathy keep us from taking our proper place in this country. The interesting thing about the servants in this parable is that not one of them asked to be stewards over the talents they were given. Still, the master held them accountable. In the same way, as Americans we didn’t ask to be born here. We didn’t ask for this government. Nevertheless, I believe God is going to hold us accountable for what we do with what we’ve been given. Being involved in the civil arena is not an option…especially in America. We’re Responsible to Choose I have always believed the Word of God applies equally to people everywhere at all times—that God will bless any nation that will do what He says. But our Founding Fathers said Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn,” has a different meaning in America than in other nations. Why is that? Because more than 200 years ago in America, we were the first nation in 2,000 years where the people were able to choose whether the righteous would rule or the wicked would rule. The Founders considered our government a “stewardship government.” Other countries were ruled by a king who was born into that leadership position. If he was righteous, the people were blessed. If he was wicked, the people suffered. They didn’t get to choose their leaders. But God gave Americans this government with the opportunity and the responsibility to choose godly leaders. And we will have to answer for what we do with that responsibility. "The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of government under which they should live. "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." —John Jay, first chief justice of the Supreme Court A Bible-Based Government Many people have become convinced that God is not involved with nor interested in the civil arena. They think politics is separate from their spiritual life because they have heard about separation of church and state. There is a misconception that the First Amendment to the Constitution talks about this separation, but it doesn’t. In fact, there is no such thing as “separation of church and state” in any of our official government documents. Since the Founders didn’t address this in the Constitution or the First Amendment, it clearly was not their intent for American society. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…." —The First Amendment America is the most successful nation in the history of the world. We are the longest ongoing constitutional republic, and it’s not because we were founded on secular or worldly principles. In fact, if you research our Constitution, it’s amazing to see how many biblical principles it contains. America has been blessed because the Founding Fathers took godly principles and put them into our founding documents, choosing many of their ideas from Two Treatises of Civil Government by John Locke. It cites the Bible more than 1500 times to show the proper operation of civil government. America’s first civil government was based on a covenant with God. Those who came over on the Mayflower wrote the Mayflower Compact before they stepped onto American soil. Paraphrased, they basically said, “We have come to this nation to propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ and to establish good government, based on His principles, and we covenant with God to do that.” Twenty-three years later, the colonies made a joint covenant saying basically the same thing. It was the first time in history for there to be anything like a United States where the various colonies cooperated together. Our government was set up on biblical principles such as that in Exodus 18:21, which said to choose rulers of tens, fifties, hundreds and thousands (in other words, local, county, state and federal). These were to be “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.” Our elections are based on this principle and these qualities are what we should be looking for in candidates. It’s not important whether they are Republican, Democrat or any other party. We should seek to elect God-fearing people who will honor God and advance His principles. 26 : BVOV

• Cover