Note: Dr. Tom Snyder co-wrote this column.
As Christians, we’re called to love God and love our neighbor and even to love our enemy. We’re also called to pray for those in authority. Furthermore, only God knows the future. As the failed prophecies of President Donald Trump’s reelection show, it is very dangerous to claim prophetic knowledge of the future; and, when looking at the impoverishment of fortune tellers, the same is true of them.
That said, every worldview has consequences. In many areas, the Republicans and the Democrats have conflicting worldviews. The consequences of these worldviews have produced several issues in the past.
In terms of the entertainment industry, Republicans have most often relaxed government controls on the industry whereas Democrats have increased them. In spite of that, Republicans like Ronald Reagan, who relaxed some of the FCC requirements, was not appreciated by the heads of the entertainment industry, whereas Bill Clinton, who initiated more restrictions, was. Also, most Republicans pulled us back from international meddling, whereas most Democrats have increased international meddling. In fact, the major wars of the 20th century were started under Democratic presidents. Furthermore, most Republican governments have created more freedom for people to prosper, but, sadly, most Democratic governments have caused economic downturns, unemployment and recessions.
In this regard, many “woke” Christians seem to have bought the media lie that the biggest threat is conservatives who want freedom, individual responsibility, etc. They have a scale that goes from Nazi to Communist, with little room for the supposedly middle of the road people who want freedom. This phony scale was developed after World War II to excuse more and more government meddling.
As Plato and Aristotle wrote, however, the political scale actually goes from complete freedom, which is anarchy, to complete tyranny, which is either international socialism or national socialism. When you understand that, you will better understand the reign of terror started by Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933. When Hitler, who at one point had been communist, became national socialist, he dropped only one of the five abolishments demanded by Marx in “The Communist Manifesto.” As British historian Paul Johnson points out, Hitler was a Marxist heretic. He wasn’t striving for freedom at all. Neither was his communist friend then nemesis in Russia, Josef Stalin. Both Hitler and Stalin created complete tyranny in the two countries they led. They were not really opposites but were actually two sides of the same coin.
It is frankly disturbing, and more than a little terrifying, therefore, that more than a few Democrats and left-leaning pundits are calling for Republicans and conservatives, including Christian Republicans, conservatives and supporters of President Trump, to be deprived of their rights to free speech and freedom to assemble peaceably, as guaranteed by the First Amendment in the United States Constitution. In fact, some of them are even calling for the establishment of reeducation camps for those who reject the political and economic talking points put forth by the Democratic Party and its echo chambers, Big Tech, the mainstream media and the teachers unions. This is a real concern. Look at how many Democrat-appointed judges who are willing to go along with such totalitarian nonsense. If Democrat-appointed judges can force a Christian baker to bake a cake supporting same-sex marriage, or pay a big fine that destroys his business, why wouldn’t Democratic elected officials force people to publicly support a taxpayer-funded government program to burn books they don’t like, including a program to imprison the authors of those books? After all, we’ve already seen some elected Democrats refuse to stop or prosecute “protesters” trying to remove statues of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant from the public square.
Of course, when you realize that our local, state and federal governments, supported by the so-called teacher “unions” and the federal judiciary, have spent the last 60 years replacing God, the Bible and Jesus in the “public” schools with sex “education,” mood altering drugs for nonconforming children, atheist philosophies and Marxist, anti-capitalist political indoctrination, the idea that the federal government would create communist-style, totalitarian reeducation camps for Christians, Republicans and conservatives doesn’t seem so far-fetched at all. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, Lord Acton said.
Scripture tells us, however, that human beings have been created in the image of God. As image-bearers, we are not required to be slaves to anyone else, not even our elected representatives, but to be heirs to God and representatives and servants of God through Jesus Christ, “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God” (1 Peter 2:9). Therefore, “Live such good lives among the non-Christians that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).
The social, political and economic policies of our politicians and elected officials matter. Those policies are based on logic and facts, or they are based on irrationality and falsehood. They will give citizens more justice, opportunity, prosperity and security, or they will undermine justice, opportunity, prosperity and security. And, they will lead countries toward the bright future of Christian liberty, or they will lead them toward the dark disaster of demonic tyranny.
Quo vadis? Where are you marching?
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
