"In God We Trust" and "under God"

One of the perennial lies that goes around in "Christian" e-mails, and appears on "Christian" blogs, is that THEY (the federal government, the American Atheists association, liberals, President Obama, the A.C.L.U., etc.) are trying to rob America of its "Christian nation" standing, by doing away with our national motto, "In God We Trust." In 2010, this took the form of a letter from the Congressional Prayer Caucus correcting President Obama when he referred to "E Pluribus Unum" as America's national motto. It's worth sifting through this controversy to find out what truth it contains.

I've independently researched the "national motto" question over several years. Snopes.com's research on the 2010 incident summarizes the facts well:

"In 1782, the U.S. Continental Congress proposed the use of the Latin phrase E pluribus unum (commonly translated as "out of many, one" or "one from many") on the Great Seal of the United States as a reference to the original thirteen American colonies' having joined together as a single united entity. The phrase is still a component of the Seal of the United States and has appeared on U.S. coinage since 1795.

"However, although E pluribus unum was long considered the de facto national motto of the United States, it was never officially established as such by legislation. The only legislatively established national motto the United States has ever had is "In God We Trust," a phrase which first appeared on U.S. coinage in 1864 (and is now a part of all U.S. currency and coinage) and which was adopted as the official U.S. national motto through a law passed by Congress in 1956." (http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/mottoletter.asp#hRDuUHaYoRJFjkJj.99)

Those are the simple facts. But the controversy is (of course) political: and that always involves shaping facts to a partisan purpose. The Congressmen's 2010 letter is an example. Suffice it to say that the "Congressional Prayer Caucus" is an almost-exclusively Republican "conservative" outfit. Some might consider this proof that Republican "conservatives" are the only Christians in Congress. I find rather that the "Prayer Caucus" mostly functions to manipulate "Christian issues" to "conservative" purposes.

The signators of the 2010 letter (one of whom I know personally, having been part of the same congregation in the 1980s) had the obvious purpose of dinging President Obama...dinging him especially as "anti-Christian" for failing to cite "In God We Trust" as the national motto. Interestingly, Snopes' research mentions that other presidents: including the "conservative" demi-god, Ronald Reagan: have referred publicly to "E Pluribus Unum" as our "national motto."

But in point of one fact, "conservatives" are correct: "In God We Trust" is America's official "national motto," so designated by Congress in 1956.

"In God We Trust" has a long association with American government. It's first appearance was in the fourth stanza of "The Star Spangled Banner" in 1814: "And this be our motto, in God is our trust." The phrase was first added to American coins during the Civil War when a Pennsylvania minister wrote Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase, that in that crisis our coinage should acknowledge God. The minister suggested the mottoes "PERPETUAL UNION" and "GOD, LIBERTY, LAW." At Chase' order, the Director of the Mint proposed "OUR COUNTRY, OUR GOD" or "GOD, OUR TRUST." Chase re-worked the latter to "IN GOD WE TRUST," which first appeared on the two-cent coin of 1864. (http://www.treasury.gov/about/education/Pages/in-god-we-trust.aspx) In all these permutations, the motto was a not-so-subtle claim that God favored the Union side in the war.

The motto did not appear continuously on all coins and bills until 1938, by act of Congress. In 1956 it became our official national motto. The first of several constitutional challenges to the motto, all unsuccessful, was Aronow v. United States in 1970. In that case a federal Court of Appeals held that "It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency 'In God We Trust' has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise." In 2004, the Supreme Court decision in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow cited the Aronow ruling in finding the pledge of allegiance' phrase "under God" and other such governmental and patriotic references to God are not unconstitutional, "... hav[ing] lost through rote repetition any significant religious content...", and are only expressions of "...ceremonial deism."

More salient to these phrases' use as "Christian" shibboleths was the public protest after "In God We Trust" was omitted from the $10 and $20 gold coins of 1907. President Theodore Roosevelt publicly opposed restoring the motto to coins, writing that "To put such a motto on coins or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege.” (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9406E2D8103EE033A25757C1A9679D946697D6CF). In 1908 Congress nonetheless legislated that the motto should thereafter appear on all gold and silver coins: in 1938, that it should appear on all U.S. coins and bills. And in 1956, that "In God We Trust" was the official national motto of the United States.

Just two years earlier, Congress had added the words "under God" to the pledge of allegiance. I'm old enough that my life spans the before and after of that official piety. The summer of 1953 was my first year in Vacation Bible School at Kensington Avenue Baptist Church in Kansas City, where my folks were members. My mother saved my certificate of attendance that year. The certificate (printed by the official Southern Baptist publishing house) was imprinted with the pledges to the Bible, to the Christian flag, and "to the United States Flag." The latter (see the image below) lacks the words "under God"...which only became part of the pledge of allegiance the next year.

Granted I'm a bit on the old side now: I can't help viewing any event that took place during my lifetime as "recent." By that criteria, America's official "godliness" is neither actually "Christian" (according to a "conservative" Supreme Court's decision), nor long-established: yet those are the operative assumptions on which "conservatives" vaunt themselves as defenders of "America's Godly Heritage" (as the false "historian" David Barton formulates the "Christian conservative" Big Lie).

God has certainly blessed America with some men after His Own Heart in our national history: even a few in our political history. We have had times when the Spirit fired the people of our nation to levels of fervent worship much greater than today; and times of disbelief much greater than today's. But always God has kept for Himself a remnant for His Own possession, as He promises. He does so even now among us, and does always, in all nations where His Name is worshipped. And He upholds His Own always, by His sovereign mercy over all who love Him ! Praise HIM !!

But those spiritual realities have no real bearing on America's official national "godliness." That shibboleth has always been what it is now, a creature of political pretense, in the spirit of proud hypocrisy.

Wikipedia notes, for example, that "The 1956 [national motto] law was one of several legislative actions Congress took to differentiate the United States from atheistic Communism." As in the Civil War's coinage, we still want to believe, and assert, that God is on our side. (Lincoln aptly skewered that prideful attitude, when he told a delegation of clergymen that he thought it more important to be sure we were on God's side.)

The 1954 legislation adding "under God" to the pledge of allegiance was another such case. The author of the legislation, Michigan Congressman Louis C. Rabaut, argued for its passage in Congress, that "... the unbridgeable gap between America and Communist Russia is a belief in Almighty God. From the root of atheism stems the evil weed of communism and its branches of materialism and political dictatorship." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_C._Rabaut)

Interestingly, Rabaut was a Catholic, and a Democrat. On either count, today's "Christian conservatives" would doubtless find him persona non grata.

Even more interesting, the original pledge of allegiance, containing no reference to God, was written by a Baptist minister, Francis Bellamy, in 1892. The absence of God in his formulation may seem surprising, but Bellamy's account of the pledge's origin (entered in The Congressional Record in 1945) emphasizes that its purpose was entirely patriotic:

"At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was at a low ebb. The patriotic ardor of the Civil War was an old story ... The time was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public schools."
(A Brief Synopsis of the Story of the Origin of the Pledge taken from the Detailed Narrative by Francis Bellamy, Author of the Pledge. Congressional Record 91 Cong. Rec. (1945) House. pp. 5510–5511.)

The "new movement" of which Bellamy was a leader was "Christian socialism." Given those origins, I'm surprised our current "conservatives" so vehemently embrace the pledge (George Bush Sr. campaigned for president on little else than being "for" the pledge of allegiance !). But ignorance of facts is a great shield against reality. Even were they aware of those facts, I'm sure "conservatives" would be able to deny it was true. Like all factionalists, they love truth only so far as it corresponds to their own worldview: in which "socialists" are America's greatest enemy, not "patriots."

But the only question that matters a whit in it all: what says God, Whom "conservatives" make the adjunct of their political posturing ?

God hates hypocrites. He hates most fiercely those who practice hypocrisy in HIS Name.

May God uphold His Name in power ! May He glorify Himself in the righteous judgement Jesus pronounced repeatedly, "Woe to you,...hypocrites !" (Matthew 23)

All praise to You, our King, for YOUR righteous rule and YOUR righteous judgement on evil-doers !!

Amen !!

Play-acting

"Middle voice from hupo and krino; to decide (speak or act) under a false part, i.e. (figuratively) dissemble (pretend) -- feign." -- Strong's Exhaustive Concordance


"ὑποκρίνομαι;

1. to take up another's statements in reference to what one has decided for oneself (middle κρίνομαι), i. e. to reply, answer (Homer, Herodotus, others).

2. to make answer (speak) on the stage, i. e. to personate anyone, play a part (often so from Demosthenes down). Hence,

3. to simulate, feign, pretend (from Demosthenes and Polybius down)..." -- Thayer's Greek Lexicon



"HUPOKRISIS...primarily denotes a reply, and answer...; then, play-acting as the actors spoke in dialogue; hence pretence, hypocrisy..." -- Vine's Expository Dictionary


It's a word Jesus used a lot, calling-out the social/political/religious fakers of His time. How are "religious" pretenders of our time, false in their hearts toward God, any less false in their "spin" towards man (His creation) and government (His rule) ?

And not those only who deliberately set their hearts to deceive. Every one of us who practices the scriptural discipline of monitoring our words, thoughts, and deeds to measure them against and keep them in line with Jesus' teachings, learns to keep a keen eye out for hints of hypocrisy. The beloved teacher Bob Mumford said one time he was convinced that any of us could turn hypocrite in an hour...or a minute.

I think of this every time I handle money. Every American bill and coin I pass proudly boasts, "In God We Trust." And every time I see that "national motto," I know in my heart, "No, we don't." Hypocrisy.

Of all Jesus' unchanging and unrelenting words to men, maybe the most relevant to America are those He addressed to social/political/religious fakers: "Woe to you !!"

If no one else hears Him, may the Spirit at least awaken the CHRISTIANS of America to repent !

Do You Hate the Government ? Link

It is such refreshment to hear God's voice ! Not only on the page of scripture, in the counsel and comfort of the Spirit, in worship, in meditation: but even from the fleshly lips of wo/men whom He (literally) in-Spirits to speak...as He promised in Power He would. I testify, what He promises, He DOES.

I've mentioned and/or linked to sites of these beloved servants: beloved by me for the refreshing and renewing of my own spirit by their speaking God's word: and beloved even more by God, Who fills them with His Own Spirit to speak !

In the sewer of American "Christian" blather, His true witnesses seem few, a remnant: and so each is all-the-more precious, to Him, to me. I love brother Tim, Onesimus of Australia; sister Susan in New Brunswick (despite my sometimes-sharp disagreements with her); brother Rick, Judah's Lion in Florida.

Through Susan's site, I today had the joy of "meeting" another who speaks God's refreshing word boldly: brother Frank, a Scot now living in the States. I am pleased to link to and recommend one of his powerful and thoughtful posts:

acalltotheremnant.com/2014/04/19/do-you-hate-the-government/


May God be glorified in the words and lives of all these His faithful servants !

God's Pleasure

About 5 years ago, God impressed me that if I wanted to draw closer to Him, I needed to set aside a time to be with Him and listen to Him. Since then I've followed that discipline, spending time with Him, usually in our church' sanctuary on Saturday afternoon.

I've learned in that experience mindfulness of Who He IS: to not rush into the King's Presence, but to approach Him in all reverence, and wait to be called into His Presence. Waiting hopefully, it's joy each time He receives me in Jesus' Name. Received in His love for The Son, I know and rejoice in Him as my own Father, when He joyfully bids me approach.

In His Presence, I try to open my heart to listen for whatever He wants to speak to my spirit. Sometimes it's that I pray for fellow-Christians; specific people, or our poor congregation, or the back-slidden American Church. Sometimes it's worship, praising Him to His Face for His great power, for His mercy extending eternally. Sometimes it's to sit in wordless reverence before His all-encompassing Majesty. But sometimes I spend most of the hour frustrated, trying to bring my own intruding thoughts under control so I can hear Him.

This week, He chose to impress on me His pleasure. It's not that He never has before: but this time it was His entire purpose toward me, and surprised me. I seldom think of God being pleased with me.

I know the theological theory: that pleasing God is the absolute HIGHEST purpose anyone can ever aspire to, or achieve. And perhaps because I know it is the ultimate, I tend to think of it happening only extremely rarely...and then only to the spiritual giants of the past: Moses, Isaiah, Paul, John. I know that's false; but still operate often in that attitude.

So it caught me completely by surprise to hear He is pleased with me.

The only thought that came in my surprise was, "Why, Father ?"

He impressed on my mind, "That you obey Me."

But for my wrong mindset, it should have been no surprise: it's the only way any human being ever has or ever can please God. It was everything that Jesus claimed for Himself; that He came "...to do...the will of Him Who sent Me" (John 6:38).

Meditating since, Praise Him !! The Only integral sovereign BE-ING, I AM THAT I AM from everlasting to everlasting perfect and complete, sovereignly deigns to receive even our least tentative faltering attempt to obey Him as worthy of HIS pleasure !

Again I say, PRAISE HIM !! PRAISE HIM !!

Murder as Political Gain

Sunday of this week, 3 people were murdered in broad daylight in a nearby city. The victims were killed entering a local Jewish community-center, and a Jewish nursing-home. They were murdered by a lifelong anti-Semite and white-power activist.

The grandfather and grandson shot at the Jewish Community Center were going to a singing contest in which the grandson was competing. The woman shot at the nursing-home, a wife and mother, was there to visit her own elderly mother. None of the victims were Jewish.

For the past few weeks, our church has suspended Sunday School classes to watch a video series by Adam Hamilton about Jesus' last days. Hamilton is a pastor in a local city, whose solidly-biblical teachings have made his congregation the largest in our Methodist district. He is much-admired in our congregation. (Hamilton was the speaker at a Presidential prayer-breakfast a couple years ago: the same year a video of a violently anti-Obama sermon was filmed in front of a Presidential seal, and circulated by "conservatives" who falsely claimed it was given at that year's prayer-breakfast.)

The grandfather and grandson murdered on Sunday were members of Adam Hamilton's congregation.

The murderer was well-known to state and federal law-enforcement. He'd been discharged from the U.S. Army Special Forces for distributing racist propaganda. He founded The White Patriot Party in North Carolina soon after. He'd run for state and national elective offices, in North Carolina and in Missouri, on anti-Semitic and white-power platforms. His political party was put under court-injunction when it was found to be plotting the assassination of an anti-hate group leader. He'd done time in federal prison when he and 3 like-minded men were subsequently arrested in possession of large quantities of military-level weaponry. He's said to be an Odinist.

On our church' e-mail list, we regularly receive prayer requests: for upcoming church activities, members of the congregation who are ill, the families of local folks who have passed away, etc. There are also prayer requests for victims of various natural disasters and violence, national and international.

We received a request in December 2012, for example, that we pray for the families of the 28 people killed at Sandy Hook, Connecticut. I remember that time vividly, because of the great evil done to children; and because one of our church-members responded to the prayer-request with a forwarded defence of gun-rights by the father of a Columbine High School shooting-victim. He argued that mass-murders happen because of evil in human hearts; so "...you who would point your finger at the NRA...examine your own heart before casting the first stone !"

I was aghast, and rather angry, that the friend who sent that politically-inspired response could be so warped by the N.R.A.'s relentless propaganda that she thought it important for Christians, in the face of Sandy Hook's horror, to not lose sight of the inviolability of gun-rights. I wrote that friend, and cc:ed the mailing-list:

"What spiritual problem of a fallen
society is remedied by having more guns,
and more unrestricted access to guns ?

Romans 13 is clear. One of human
government's mandates from God is to
restrain evil. Murder is evil."


This week so far, the church' e-mail list had had no prayer-request for the families of the folks killed on Sunday: even though two of them were part of a local congregation known to, and admired by, our church' people. I trust there's not a political motive behind that omission: for example, that mention of those murders might seem to favor gun-control.

I sent a prayer-request to the church' list this morning: for the victims' families, and for the murderer and his family. No mention of "gun-rights" one way or the other. There is NO place in our spiritual warfare for grinding any political ax.

Amen.

David Barton

I think I became aware of David Barton when a local pastor I knew slightly wrote a piece for our newspaper's 4th of July edition, about the founding fathers' fervent Christianity. His piece was full of factual errors, much less erroneous interpretation, so I wrote him privately. After all, his piece had been presented to this university town as representing the local Christian community: and there were academic historians reading it, knowing even better than I do that most of his assertions about American history were false.

He was kind enough to write me back, defending what he'd said as true, and citing his source: David Barton's "Wallbuilders" website. I'm a longtime student of American history, so I looked at "Wallbuilders" to see if it had some worthwhile information I'd missed. Quite the contrary: the site's "information" was simply untrue, to an obviously-dishonest purpose. Such stuff has to offend anyone who values accurate history: but there's little that can be done to counter it. There are always people who will buy into fringe beliefs like the Atlantean age, or British Israelites. Honest history never seems to dissuade people who want to believe lies.

I just wrote off David Barton's crack-pot history as undeserving of serious attention. Others didn't take that view. The Republican Party of Texas elected Barton its Chairman eight times. The Republican National Committee named Barton its "liaison to social conservatives" during the 2004 Bush presidential campaign. In 2005, Time magazine profiled Barton as one of "The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America." (Barton frequently refers to this honor on his "Wallbuilders" website and in his Who's Who entry, but without quoting Time's biography: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1993235_1993243_1993261,00.html. More on that below.)

But unlike some of Time's "Influential Evangelicals," whom I respect as spiritual leaders (Billy Graham, Joyce Meyer, J. I. Packer, Chuck Colson, Rick Warren), Barton was singled out for his political influence on American Christians (see above). Barton's influence grows from his role as the founder of (in Time's words) "what might be called Christian counter-history," and its power to sway Christian voters. That influence continues: I understand that in 2012 Barton was chosen to help write the Republican platform...on which a Mormon priest ran for President.

But though his influence on Christians (and the country) is political, Barton studiously avoids mentioning politics. His high political achievements are the kinds of things anyone would ordinarily cite proudly in their Who's Who biography, or on their own website. Barton doesn't. Even his "Wallbuilder's" mention of Time's honor as an "influential Evangelical" links to that issue's cover: not to its biographical sketch detailing his work as a professional Republican operative. That reticence seems very curious, unless Barton wants to appear non-political...which he's emphatically not.

Barton's also been deceptive in claiming to be a "historian," and has only recently stopped referring to himself that way on his website. If his (self-written) Who's Who biography can be believed, he has a bachelor's degree in Christian Education. That in itself is not damning. Many amateur historians have done excellent and important work, despite having no formal training in history: Barbara Tuchman (with a degree in journalism) and David McCullough (English) come readily to mind. But Barton's version of America's "Christian heritage" fails AS history on that discipline's most basic standard, applicable to amateur and professional alike: factual accuracy, and honest interpretive methods.

More importantly, Barton's politically-skewed "history" doesn't meet Christians' most basic standard: love of the Truth/Jesus. Barton cites events which never happened, or didn't happen the way he portrays them, and quotes people as saying things they never said or wrote (his own website has a large section of "Disputed Quotations" where he attempts to defend the latter); and interprets it all in manifestly-biased ways that amount to "conservative" propaganda.

I used to pray that God would convict David Barton of his lies and his deceptive practices. But when a person's worldly success is based on untruth (Glenn Beck, for example, or Rush Limbaugh), it's particularly hard for them to repent: even if they are still able to recognize Truth. (And if I understand scripture correctly, men can so obstinately refuse to "receive the love of the Truth" that God sends on them "strong delusions," so that they can no longer recognize saving Truth. II Thessalonians 2:7-12)

All I know is that David Barton has taught, and continues to teach, lies. His lies are specifically intended to deceive Christians, for base political purposes. That much is manifest to any honest examination of the man and his teachings. But God examines the heart: He Alone is the sovereign Judge of David Barton's heart.

I can testify, however, that I no longer feel God leads me to pray for Barton to repent. Toward him, I feel led instead to pray that God will glorify Himself in destroying the enemies of Truth. That in His mercy, He will protect His people's hearts from the lies by which the enemy tries to lead us away from His Beloved Son ! That He will stir His people's love of Truth to intense flame ! I pray (as right now) that God will exalt His Name, putting to shame the father of lies and his evil-workers !

It's a prayer every Christian should pray. It's a prayer of protection for every one who loves our God and His Chosen; and of destruction on every enemy of Christ. It's a prayer pleasing to God. And He alone, the only righteous Judge of mens' hearts, determines who He is pleased to protect, and who He wills to destroy.

Whatever God determines toward David Barton, His judgements are righteous altogether, and are Glory to our King ! Praise Him !!

Amen !!

Drawing the Line II

Ted Williams was the last man in major-league baseball to bat over .400. He credited his hitting ability to his visual acuity, which tested at 20/10 when he entered the Navy in 1942. Williams claimed that he could see the spin of the ball's stitches from the moment it left the pitcher's hand, which told him the ball's future motion and placement when it reached home-plate.

An interviewer asked Williams about his legendary batting skills. It was simple, Williams said: he didn't swing at any ball except those which touched the strike-zone.

"But with your eyesight," said the interviewer, "surely you could have hit pitches that were only a sixteenth of an inch outside, or an eighth of an inch. Couldn't you have gotten even more hits that way ?"

"NO !" Williams said. "If I did that, where would I draw the line ?"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I cited this anecdote in a previous blog-post, that American Christians also need to draw the line: in our case, against the creeping worldliness that has led us far astray. It came back to mind today in a different connection: who draws the line ?

Ted Williams understood the strike-zone was built into the rules of the game. He simply determined to observe those rules.

So who draws the line ?

When I started work for the Post Office in the late '70s, they were still talking about a recent employee who'd been convicted of murdering her boyfriend. The testimony was that she'd shot and killed him after an argument one hot afternoon. Her defense ?: "I told him not to move that fan."

If "every man does what is right in his own eyes," who can say I'm wrong to kill anyone who displeases me ? I draw my own line, for my own reasons: and don't you dare move that fan.

Or if the armed anarchistic autonomy some clamor for today is not to our taste, are the brawling tribes of the earth better able to draw the line ? Don't we have the example of all history, that they will do as they have always done in their national moral autonomy, and find it laudable to murder in defence of "national interests" ?

We who believe that God Alone Fathers life, Creates "the game" and its rules: is He not Alone the Only righteous Judge fit to rule when the life He has given should be forfeit ?

No Light in America

My wife and I got a chance to actually talk this morning. It doesn't happen often. We're both on the verge of formal "retirement," with all that entails: and raising a 3-year old and 2 teenagers. We seldom get a chance to really talk to each other.

We have some different ways of viewing things, but mostly the same way as regards the faith. And we have many of the same disappointments regards our nation, and state, and church. The welcome opportunity to talk clarified again the simple outlines of that disappointment.

In broadest terms, disappointment that so many in our country are looking to politics for their truth: for the personal attitudes, deeply-held beliefs, and talking-points they choose to embrace ! Politics can be many things, and not all of them are evil: but looking to politics for truth is so profoundly foolish it must qualify as true insanity.

More grievous is that Christians look to politics for truth !! And infinitely more grievous, that Christians trust in politics...the world's method...to put the world's evils right.

If seeking truth from politics is insanity, trusting politics for spiritual and moral wellbeing is the most profound deception and unbelief. And both are the operative ways of most "evangelical" American Christians !

May God send His Spirit of DEEP REPENTANCE on His deluded people !! Amen !!

Reality Check

I've looked at the Church' danger in hundreds of different ways God reveals. He's awakened me to hundreds of deceits the enemy works to destroy Christ' Body and Christ' witness in us.

It still all comes down to this: Jesus IS the Truth. If we follow lies, we are not following Jesus.

Amen.

Cursing your ruler

"You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people." (Exodus 22:28)

Just another of the miscellaneous laws Moses laid out for the Israelites in the wilderness. How seriously are we supposed to take that ? Isn't cursing our rulers just par for the human course ?

But God obviously considers cursing a ruler a very great sin: He links it with cursing Himself. He doesn't specify the punishment: but we know He ordered a half-Egyptian Israelite stoned to death for cursing His Name. (Leviticus 24:10-16) Job's wife also understood death to be God's judgement for cursing Him, advising her husband to "Curse God and die." (Job 2:9)

Paul obviously took the law against cursing a ruler seriously. When he was brought before the Jews' ruling council in Jerusalem, Ananias, the High Priest, ordered someone to punch Paul in the mouth. Paul "reviled" his persecutor as a "whitewashed wall," until he was told Ananias was "God's High Priest." He backed down immediately, pleading ignorance of Ananias' office, "...for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.' " (Acts 23:5)

We know at least part of how Paul understood God's command to not curse (or, per Acts, "revile," or "speak evil of") a ruler. Romans 13 makes clear the Church' understanding that Christians should "be subject to" human rulers (even, in the book of Romans' time, the legendarily evil ruler Nero), because they rule by God's sovereign choice, and in His authority. And those who "resist authority" (no doubt including cursing the ruler) opposes God's law, and will suffer the consequences.

Whether or not Paul wrote the book of Romans, he was a Christian, and a leader of the Church: it's inconceivable that he would have rejected that teaching. Indeed, his actions before the Jerusalem council show him practicing that teaching. Upon learning that Ananias...who had personally played a key role in condemning Jesus to death...was "God's High Priest," Paul immediately, publicly, repented of his "reviling" words against him.

God puts His command to "...not...curse a ruler of your people" on some kind of equality with not cursing Himself. The writer of Romans gives us further insight into why God views that as sin. The Church taught that this was God's commandment, and that Christians should obey it even when the ruler de jour was Nero. Paul acted in obedience to that commandment.

And what do you say about the ruler of your people, American Christian ? That America's President in any regard tries to obey God's mandate that human rulers be "a minister of God to you for good" ? Or does mention of the name "Obama" raise in your spirit a stream of the vilest hatred and slander ?

Do the words that flow from Christians' mouths, e-mails, facebook posts, and blogs show what spirit is in them ?

If so, may America's Church learn what God means when He commands "You shall not...curse a ruler of your people;" and deeply repent.