[The following material is from O Timothy magazine, Volume 12, Issue 7, 1995. David W. Cloud, Editor. All rights are reserved. O Timothy is a monthly magazine. Annual subscription is US$20 FOR THE UNITED STATES. Send to Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, Michigan 48061, fbns@wayoflife.org. FOR CANADA the subscription is $20 Canadian. Send to Bethel Baptist Church, P.O. Box 9075, London, Ontario N6E 1V0. Way of Life web site is http://www.wayoflife.org/]
The following was written several years ago by Pastor Gary Freeman. We reprint it here in connection with the previous Digging in the Walls entry about Everett Sileven:
Many fundamentalists are being routinely recruited to become identified with a modern day movement to reconstruct America into a Christian Nation. The most recent recruiting effort appears to be headed by a recent sufferer of State licensure of Christian Schools, Dr. Everett Sileven, Pastor of Faith Baptist Church, Louisville, Nebraska.
We find nothing wrong with Christian citizens fighting for their rights as found in the Constitution. We also are concerned that our Constitutional rights are protected for the future. But does the Christian have a mandate from Scripture to work towards making the U.S.A. a Christian Nation on par with Israel under Moses leadership? We believe the Bible says nothing about Churches establishing Nations that can truthfully be said to be "One Nation Under God." If you just think about this you will see the utter impossibility of any Nation today being "Under God." There is only one Nation which the Bible says will be "Under God" and that Nation is Israel. Unless you are a follower of H.W. Armstrong, the United States is not Israel.
Why are fundamental leaders becoming involved in such a scheme to make a Christian Nation out of the United States? We believe it is primarily because many fundamentalists have become enamored with Covenant Theology-inspired conservative politics. The Covenant theologian primarily believes that God is finished with Israel and that all of God's promises, plans and prophetic pronouncements are for the Church. The Old Testament is becoming more and more the sole text of many Fundamental baptistic preachers' sermons. The danger of this is that Fundamentalists are expecting America to become more like Israel should have been under the law. Read these examples of the thinking behind "Reconstructionism:" Parentheses belong to Editor. Taken from [Sileven's] America Today, October, 1984.
"You cannot separate theology from economics, national defense, monetary policy, or education. Theology and liberty stand together."
[Find scripture for the saint in the Church age for this. Paul never wrote on themes such as this.]
"Theism and secular humanism cannot co-exist. One will rule, the other will serve or die."
[Do Christians really desire that Secular Humanists either serve our theology or die? Granted, the writer of this quote probably does not mean what we have inferred, but you see what happens when you bring what belongs only to Israel over to apply to America. If we really were Israel we would wipe out the enemy as they did under Joshua. But the Christian is a tolerant fellow. If anyone dies for his faith it usually is the Christian.]
"Righteousness is more powerful than unrighteousness. Power is on the side of those who stand with God, light, and righteousness. If we who have the truth, the light, and the theistic LAW-WORD stand up and live what we say we believe, our light will automatically dispel the darkness of humanism and oppression."
[This sounds like Catholic Amillenial teaching, which expects no return of Christ to judge and clean up this vile world, but looks to the Conquering church to overthrow governments and bring in a Golden Age.]
"We are drowning in our chemicals and our synthetic clothing serves to remind us that we do not even dress according to God's law." "The Grace of God has been lifted from American and we are now living the curses of the law as found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28."
[Do these fundamental, baptistic reconstructionists actually expect us to begin teaching the Church, which has not been placed under the Mosaic legal system, that if we don't keep the O.T. Law we will receive the curses of the Law?]
The desecrated Lord's Day (Sunday), with the many stores open, is mourned by reconstructionists as another blow to our country's strength.
[Since when did the Lord's Day, Sunday, become the O.T. Jewish Sabbath? Read this passage--Colossians 2:16,17.]
Our Christian friend, do not get side tracked into trying to reconstruct America into solely a Christian Nation. If or when these men gain control of America, what would they do? Observe Sabbath? Outlaw clothing made from synthetic material? Make every child whether Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or Atheist pray the Lord's prayer in school? Enforce reading from the Christian Bible in every school? You see, without Jesus Christ sitting on the throne in Jerusalem it is absolutely impossible to have a Christian nation. Someday this will happen, but we in the Church age have a commission, whether we live in Free America, Iron Curtain Russia, Catholic dominated South America or wherever, to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. We are disturbed to see many of God's people easily involved in letter-writing, demonstrations, political aspirations, political contributions, and similar actions, but when called upon to witness for Christ, become members of fundamental churches, live a consistent Christian testimony, pray, study the Bible and contribute to the Lord's work, you can hardly find them.
Beware, Christian, Covenant Theology is error. One of the supporters of this Reconstruction Movement is an ardent enemy of the doctrine of the Rapture of the Church. He is Dr. R.J. Rushdoony. He calls those who believe in the Rapture a Cult. We believe along with the Apostle Paul in 1 Thess. 4 in the imminent return of Christ to catch away, in the Rapture, the believing Church. This takes place before the tribulation. After this Christ will return the Second time to receive believing Israel as His servants and begin His 1,000 year reign over the world in Jerusalem.
America is not Israel, and the Church is not Israel. The Nations will get worse and worse every year until Jesus Christ comes to destroy them all and set up His own Kingdom right here on earth. We look for that Kingdom. What about you? "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" John 3:3 ("Beware of Reconstructionism," Pastor Gary Freeman).