In God (Not the Government) We Trust

Governor Tim Pawlenty from Minnesota followed up Senator Rick Santorum on Saturday morning at CPAC. He, too, spoke of our need for God to be the Lord of our nation. When he spoke of being a Party moving forward, he charged us in this manner: "It all starts with acknowledging God as our Creator and that our rights come from God. God didn't give the rights to the government to give to us. He gave them to us!" That, of course, is something most know but somehow forget. The Declaration of Independence asserted that we have inalienable rights endowed by our Creator. They are not the government's to bestow or confer upon people. They are already ours. No power can give them because God already beat him to it! They exist simply because God exists.

Governor Pawlenty highlighted something that Santorum had already stressed in his speech, and that is the desire of some to remove God, to eliminate God, from the picture of America, to replace the church with the state. Pawlenty said, "Our founders didn't want to protect government from church; they wanted to protect the church from the government!" That's the truth, and yet so many are walking around reciting, "separation of church and state" like a bunch of robots, as if the church is the threat. Nevermind the fact that those words are nowhere to be found in our Constitution!

I submit to you that the true threat is a government hell-bent (literally) on destroying the church and anyone who worships God. Our founders wanted the government to stay in its place. Never did they intend for our society to become what it has become: Christian values are attacked, prayer is a dirty word in school, and the Bible is hate speech--here in America of all places! God help us. This is where we end up when government gets too big and declares itself Savior and Lord.

Half-devil and half-beast is more accurate. Why not just let God be God? He's pretty good at it! How is it that speaking the name of Christ is taboo in a nation founded on Christian principles? How did we get to this point? Without a doubt, the devil is busy, as we in the church like to say. But isn't that a cop-out sometimes? What role have we played in allowing this day in which we live to be born? What leaders have you supported with your freedom to vote? What issues have you swept under the carpet in order to cast that vote and still sleep at night? Where do you stand on God and Godliness in America. Does it matter? True, the devil is busy, but can't we determine to be busier? God help us to stand for righteousness in our nation, our states, our cities, and our homes--and God help us to depend on Him.

With President Obama in office, the government might send you a check, bail out your company, and promise to take care of all Americans' education "from birth to their first job" (unbelieveable!), but what government gives, it can also take away. If government is doing all that, supplying your every need at the expense of future generations, if government is your "baby daddy", no wonder God has been lost in it all. Don't be deceived. All this comes at a terrible price. The woman who said, the night Obama was elected, that she would never have to pay her mortgage again, is all messed up. Big government = big let-downs and a welfare-mentality.

Governor Pawlenty got it right: It all starts with God. And you know...it all ends with Him as well. He'll be the first, the last, and everything in between--if we just let Him.

May God arise in our hearts, and may He arise in this nation as He brings us to a place where we cry out to Him. As Ronald Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem". But God is faithful.