Does a religiously pluralistic civil government weaken prayer?

Confidence in prayer requires three beliefs. One, God has the
authority to grant a request. Two, God agrees that the request
is something He too desires. Three, God actually has heard the
prayer. All three of these ideas are worth investigating. But
let's assume the Bible-believer agrees God has given Christ power
to do anything and everything (Matthew 28:18). Let's also assume
the Bible believer daily confesses any known sin and lives with
the intent to please God and believes God hears him. Thus, the
only question left is this: is the prayer within God's will.

The Old Testament has much to say about the destiny of civil
authority in opposition to God's law. When Israel was suffering
under Pharaoh of Egypt, God responded to their prayers by giving
them self-government under God with Moses as the human leader.
They only asked for relief. They didn't specifically ask for a
civil government change (Exodus 3:7-10). In spite of the ungodly
civil government of Pharaoh their prayers were effective; God
rescued them. Pharaoh and his army were destroyed in the Red
Sea. Abraham prayed for his nephew's city, Sodom. He asked God
to spare it for the sake of the righteous living there. God told
Abraham there were less than 10 righteous people living in the
city of Sodom. Abraham's prayer was outside of God's will and
God consumed the city with fire and brimstone.

What does the New Testament have to say? In 1 Timothy 2:1&2 Paul
tells us to pray for kings and those in authority. Paul unafraid
calls the civil ruler God's servant in Romans 13. Paul as well
as other New Testament believers resorted to only prayer and
teaching because they had no legal role in the pagan Roman
government. However, they understood the Old Testament. For
their own peace the civil government needed to be under God's
Law. However, following Jesus' example these believers wrote
about a soon-coming wrath of God upon the earth. Using the Roman
army God layed waste Jerusalem and totally destroyed the Jewish
temple in 70 AD.

It appears the presence of a non-Christian civil government is
unrelated to prayer being within God's will. However, if the
person praying held to the world-view that God wants civil
government without Christ at its head; this will influence what
the person will pray for. Why waste time praying for a change in
our civil government placing it under God's authority if you
don't believe God desires it? Instead, prayer for God's wrath to
come swiftly would be in order. Indeed, those who believe in a
pre-tribulation rapture and pray for the saint's rapture to take
place are praying for this very thing!

Hal Lindsey believes the prophecy in Scripture about God's
soon-coming wrath isn't fulfilled yet. He puts it this way in
his "Vanished into Thin Air" book. "We live in a world
essentially devoid of hope. Visions of the future as portrayed by
popular books and films include catastrophic events like asteroid
strikes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and plagues. Images of
the future are more often than not eerie, post-apocalyptic scenes
complete with darkened skies over ruined cities presided over by
chaos. Those images are completely in harmony with the
prophecies of the Book of the Revelation for the last days."

I wonder what world-view Hal's grandchildren have? Do they even
plan to have children if they believe their grandfather?

Do you believe the 'world' is doomed? Do you believe the ungodly
civil governments of today are going to take the ship called
'planet earth' down with them? Then you also probably believe
that God wants the United States to maintain a religiously
pluralistic civil government. Effective prayer to change our
nation placing authority back under God (Christ) Himself is
simply - absent. Instead, unanswered prayer asking for Christ's
coming for his own and swift judgment on the rest of the world
fills the void. Thus, prayer is weakened because unanswered
prayer erodes faith in God. Who's prayers are the opposite of
the powerful effective righteous man [James 5:16b]? "He who
doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;
he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." [James
1:6-8]

As Dr. Gary North would say, eschatology matters.

Fundamentalist Christians place evangelism as a high priority.
But, does a religiously pluralistic civil government hinder
evangelism?

From my previous blog, we already saw that the need for a
savior is diluted by ethical civil law condoning all kinds of
evil behavior. As Jesus told his Pharisee dinner host, tongue
in cheek, "the well are not in need of a physician but only the
sick", so too our society doesn't even know it is "sin sick".

By grace through faith is how God saves. We have already seen
that the true import of 'grace' is also weakened by the huge
welfare programs provided by the state which only cause the
recipient to expect the free lunch.

It is perhaps ironic that God himself may be the one to allow
so many to perish without salvation. Most of the 300,000 souls
lost in the tsunami were not Christian. Many of the hurricane
victims were not Christians. God even permits wars to punish
cultures for their disobedience toward Him. The great Israel
civil war recorded in the last chapters of Judges was a result
of the corporate ethical sin of the nation. The description
of the Benjamite town of Gibeah in Judges 19:12-30 mirrors the
description of Sodom in Genesis 19:1-11.

When was the last time you had a conversation about politics,
law, or a state institution? Did the conversation naturally turn
to presenting the gospel? Probably not for most Christians.
Why? Politics, law, and the state institutions are considered
secular topics where religious conversation is unwelcome. Just
two quick examples: 1) the current flap concerning the Air Force
Academy is all about sharing the gospel; and 2) when a lawyer
quoted from Scripture to a jury the judge threw out the case. Is
it any surprise that God's law is forbidden to be used as well as
displayed in our civil courtrooms?

In my city of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the city council asked for
clergy to open their meetings with prayer. The city's attorney
placed restrictions on the prayer however. It could not
proselytize nor could it discriminate against any religion. This
ruling was so far removed from biblical Christianity I replied
with a letter to the editor. I didn't notice any other letter
printed in the paper on the subject.

We have the same situation in America that Peter and John faced
with the Jewish civil authorities: "Don't preach or teach in the
name of Jesus". Unlike Peter and John, who replied "we must obey
God rather than men" the fundamentalist Christians have obeyed
(secular humanistic) men rather than God.

Does religious pluralistic civil government give God the glory?
In a sense *everything* ultimately gives God the glory. Evil
itself when punished is a form of glory given back to God but
this is not what I am talking about; but rather, does it give God
the credit for anything good that comes out of it.

Is God glorified by our military? Some good acts which borrow
from the Christian world-view may give a faint 'yes', but when
this question is asked in the light of the Bible the answer is a
resounding 'no'. For example, Psalm 44:3-8 says

It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did
their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your
arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. You are
my King and my God, who decrees victories for Jacob. Through
you we push back our enemies; through your name we trample
our foes. I do not trust in my bow, my sword does not bring
me victory; but you give us victory over our enemies, you put
our adversaries to shame. In God we make our boast all day
long, and we will praise your name forever.

Much of this could apply to the American French and Indian and
Revolutionary Wars. But it is far cry from describing the
current Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

What about the benevolence of our government? Does it glorify
God? When the Tsunami struck last December 26th were any
government funds used in a way that thanked God or gave Him
credit? No. In fact, because much of the devastation was in
Muslim areas U.S. government relief efforts were consciously
sterilized of any negative-Islam voice. Also the idea of grace
was totally washed away by the pressure of worldwide public
opinion that the U.S. government needed to do more. This same
mental attitude was also evident in our own Katrina and Rita
hurricane victims/survivors. Welfare is owed to the
underprivileged. Grace is the great unknown.

Let's take one more example: ethics. In sociology Sola-Scriptura
is applied to both family and church by fundamentalist Christians
but not to our civil government (state). Human relationships and
interaction within the family and church are judged either good
or evil based on the Bible, but not the state. Adultery is
considered sin within the church and family, but fundamentalists
have stopped requiring or even expecting the state to punish this
evil. Why? Most U. S. citizens, who are not fundamentalists,
don't believe adultery is evil. The larger cultural ethic, which
is upheld by the state, has brainwashed even the children of the
fundamentalists. The public school is perhaps one of the more
well known tools in doing this. As a result, there is no need of
a savior because there is no ethical sin to be saved from. The
state and it's institutions do not give God glory.

Is a religious pluralistic civil government of faith?

Why bother asking such a question? In most fundamental
Bible-believing circles it is believed that any activity done
without faith is displeasing to God. Without faith [in God] it
is impossible to please God. [Hebrews 11:6a]. Does this include
only what man decides to label as 'spiritual' or does it include
the so-called 'secular' things as well? Romans 14:23 says
whatsoever is not of faith is sin. A closer examination of the
apostle Paul's argument in Romans 14 does reveal a primary work:
building the Kingdom of God as well as secondary work in support
of the primary. Let's assume for the moment that civil
government is put in the same category as eating and drinking.
We may paraphrase Romans 14:17 as "for the kingdom of God is not
a matter of [political philosophy] but of righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit." Paul's teaching here is that even
the secondary work, such as eating and drinking which are
necessary to keep the body alive, must be holy. The Bible says
it must be of faith or else it is sin.

God will not grant success to a Christian who attempts to
accomplish the primary goals of the Kingdom of God [Romans 14:17]
by using unholy (without faith) works. In agreement with this
idea, James says that faith without works is dead [James 2:20],
i.e., where their is no faith God is not present. He does not
bless kingdom growth.

A minority of voting citizens within this country have lobbied
for law in support of such unpopular ideas as legalized human
fetus murder and sexual orientation anti-discrimination. This
minority is continuing to push in this area for a complete
cultural acceptance of homosexual "rights". How come this small
minority, has overcome the vast majority who permit themselves to
be called Christian?

God will not be mocked. If we put these two ideas together when
considering the American Christian's influence on politics and
civil law then we have a correlation. Because religious
pluralistic civil government is not of faith, relative to
democratic numbers of Christians, we have been unsuccessful in
the civil realm. For the most part Christians are inactive
politically. Indeed some vote, but very few go beyond that. How
many dialog with elected officials? How many give money to good
candidates? This is why citizens with the self-consistent
opposing political world-view are winning.

Instead of faith in Christ we have placed faith in democracy.
Instead of faith in the Holy Spirit we have placed faith in the
conscience of the voters. Instead of faith in God we have placed
faith in 'We the People'. This is sin.