If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Build Boundaries

One of the hardest boundaries for Christians to even consider is at what point they would be willing to break the law. Christianity from its beginning has taught and practiced submission to governing authorities. Jesus and the apostles teach us that taxes are to be paid even to an immoral government (Matthew 22:16-21, Romans 13:6-7), respect is to be given to those in authority even if they are abusing their authority (Acts 23:1-5, 2 Peter 2:9-10), that we should pray for those in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-2), that the government is serving God even though some of them persecute Christians (Romans 13:1-7), that we are to obey them even though their laws are manmade (1 Peter 2:13-17, Titus 3:1-2), and that the only time we should refuse to obey is when we are commanded to violate God’s commands (Acts 5:27-29). It is determining the point at which disobedience becomes the appropriate response that would please God that often causes us difficulty. 

I sat with some young men in a high school/college age class and tried to get them to ponder that line in their lives. Some of them were in the military at the time, so as we talked about the wars in the Old Testament and the soldiers who crucified Christ, arrested the apostles, etc. I asked them where they would draw the line to disobey a command from a superior officer. They were totally stumped. The thought had not occurred to them before. We talked about the Nazis in Germany and how they were expected to arrest and execute people who had been their friends, neighbors, and even family. With some of the problems that have come out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan I believe there were some young people who should have considered those limits before they went. Some things that were done were more peer pressure than commands (and that topic deserves a book of its own), but how far is to far. Were the soldiers who crucified Jesus excused from guilt because they were just following orders? What about police working under a corrupt system, does that excuse them? What about employees who are asked to lie, cheat, steal, etc., do they have to do as they are told?

The problem that can arise from teaching respect for authority is that sometimes people are not taught the limits of that authority. People will say things like: “I didn’t have a choice.” or “They made me do it.” or “You would have done the same thing.” to try to justify what they have done. The fact is there is always at least one other choice, it just may be unpleasant. You may lose a friend if you don’t go drinking with them. You may lose a job if you refuse to be dishonest for them. But do you really want to work for someone who cheats others? Do you think they won’t cheat you, too? You may even lose your life if you refuse certain people at certain times, but isn’t it better to die with a clear conscience than to live knowing that what the devil said falsely about Job could be said truthfully about you. Remember Job 2:4 “And Satan answered the LORD, and said, ‘Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.’”

Government has authority in our lives, but it does not have unlimited authority. We need to understand the limits that God has placed on other authorities in this world. Parents, husbands, elders, masters(employers), and, yes, even governments have been limited by God’s spiritual law. The thing is that while God’s physical or natural law cannot be broken without immediate consequences(Disregarding the law of gravity and walking off the roof will bring pain and possibly death depending on the height of the roof.), His spiritual laws can seemingly be broken with impunity. The fact is many of the authorities mentioned above routinely disregard God’s limits and overstep the boundaries of their authority, but not with impunity as it seems. God is keeping score and He will hold them accountable for what they have done and how they have abused the power they have been given. He also expects us to do what is right even when others are not even if those others are in positions of authority. He even expects us to do what is right when those in authority over us allow, encourage, expect, endorse, promote, or even command disobedience to God. He expects us to obey and not try to find loopholes, make excuses, or compromise.

So, where would you draw the line? If tomorrow they passed a law that said we had to stop worshiping God and start worshiping the presidents on Mount Rushmore, we quickly say, “Of course not, we will worship God!” But it doesn’t usually work like that. The fact is our government is continually taking more authority for itself and pushing churches and Christians farther away from their God ordained position and authority. The Jewish leaders were not telling Peter and John to bow down to an idol, or not to have church services, or that they couldn’t worship God in private; they told them not to be telling others about him in public. The military is doing exactly that with new regulations that are being prepared for military personnel. There are already rules in most government organizations that forbid ‘proselytizing’. In talking with government employees that I have known I found that they had been told that they can’t talk about God on the premises, even on breaks, at lunch, or before or after work hours. Starts to sound quite a bit like what the rulers in Jerusalem told the apostles. So what has our response to that typically been? Compromise, kowtow, submit! I am not talking about hounding someone who is not interested in listening and following them around trying to tell them one more verse while they are trying to get us to leave them alone. Schools also have these kinds of strict policies in place. One substitute got in trouble because he gave a student his own Bible after the student asked him questions about it.

What if a church that provides shelter for someone in need is told that they can’t discriminate against people living in sin. Do they have to let the unmarried couple or the homosexual couple have a room? How long before a church is sued because of something ‘offensive’ that is on the church sign. What about in states where homosexual ‘marriage’ is allowed, and a church refuses to let one of these couples use their facilities? There will be lawsuits. There already have been against private businesses that refused to participate in providing service for either cakes, flowers, photos or venues for homosexual weddings or providing accommodations in your house because of the business owners religious convictions.(these links are to news sites that document the events and we are not responsible for the content of those ) What will we do when a preacher is arrested for hate speech because he said that something, anything, was a sin, or spoke out against a false religion? What about a church that loses its nonprofit status for preaching against abortion or homosexuality or some other hot button moral issue. 

You see the first step is not ‘bow to the idol’, the first step is eat the king’s food and enjoy his favor. Long before Daniel and his friends were cast in lions’ dens and fiery furnaces they enjoyed the favor of the king and were trained at his expense and fed on his dime. They were seduced by the benefits first, but they didn’t fall for it. The problem in America is that too often we have fallen for the government favors. It is hard to bite the hand that feeds you, and with the special tax benefits, exemption from certain regulations, etc. churches have been lulled to complacency and many may not wake up before it is too late. Daniel and his friends refused the king’s meat and that gave them the courage later because they had won that battle with Satan. If they had compromised on the meat, chances are they would have compromised on the prayer and the idol as well.
-jp

What is the difference between hurting someone and harming them? Would you rather hurt your children or harm them? Do you allow your own pain avoidance to cause you to harm those you love.

We recently took our 11 month old twins for a minor surgery. It hurt them. I know it did. I sometimes spank my children for their disobedience and the whole point is for it to hurt, or it won’t do any good. My son has chores to do including mowing which sometimes causes him sore muscles and even the occasional blister that hurt him. The problem is that our society has equated hurt with harm and they are not the same. The saying used to be “no pain, no gain”, but now we try to avoid pain at all costs. The fact is that all of the things above are beneficial to our children. Even though those things did hurt they are not harmed by those things.

Think about it this: Have you ever had a cavity so bad that it gave you a toothache and you had to go to the dentist to get it pulled, filled, or a root canal? Most of us have. When you went to the dentist did it hurt? Sure it did. There was a shot and the drilling or prying, the tingling and sore jar, the place where you bit your tongue or cheek while everything was numb, etc. Did the dentist do something that hurt you? Yes! Did the dentist do anything that harmed you? No! The dentist tried to help you.

Let’s go back about 6 months to a year before the visit to the dentist’s office. You ate 12 little candy bars, a half cheesecake, a bag of jelly beans, a bucket of ice cream, etc. and then forgot to brush and floss. Maybe you did something like that once a week or once a month. Did it hurt? No! It tasted good and you felt that sugar rush. Life was going good, right? Wrong! That was what harmed you. Those were the things that caused the cavity that wound up hurting so badly.

Now let’s conclude. In the process of the whole “I can’t stand to make the kids cry”, I just can’t bring myself to spank them because I will hurt them”, “I don’t want to make them work, they have to be kids”, “If I make them go to church they will hate it”, etc. kind of mindset, we are metaphorically feeding the kids sugar and sending them to bed without brushing their teeth. There are different kinds of abuse. One is the physical abuse of beating and other harm done to children, but the other is much more subtle. It is a spiritual abuse where children are not disciplined and do not learn respect for authority, do not mature, and do not learn self-control. We are trying to avoid hurting them, but wind up harming them in the long run. We blame it on love, but true love is willing to discipline now even though it causes pain to avoid the harm of the future. That is the example God gave fathers and we need to follow His example. 

Proverbs 13:24  He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Deuteronomy 8:5-6  Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.  (6)  Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.

Hebrews 12:6-7  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  (7)  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
-jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Build Boundaries

I can’t draw boundary lines for your family and you can’t draw them for mine. That is hard for us because we wouldn’t believe what we do if we didn’t think it was right, but there must be room for the authority God has given fathers and mothers to decide what is best for their children. We need to support each other’s right to draw lines for our own families and defend those who are persecuted for drawing lines in their lives even if we do not draw the same line. There are some things that are a matter of conscience and for someone to violate his conscience the Bible calls sin (1 Corinthians 8:10-12; 1 Peter 2:19). We must study Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 and realize that God has given certain authority to the father of the family and not the church to decide some things. For example: I have decided with my wife that our children will not be allowed to spend the night with friends where we are not present. Based on our own experiences and other dangers that we know exist we are not willing to allow that. You may not agree or even understand why we have made that decision, but that doesn’t matter, you should respect the right of our family to decide that. There are other things that do not always make sense to others looking in from outside, but that are an important part of one families rules. When I was young I would go to a friend’s house and when we came in the door his mother would tell us to take off our shoes. My family never did that, but at their house I did because it was their rule. It never made much sense to me at the time, but looking back I realize that since they lived on a farm there were probably some pretty nasty things on those shoes that they did not want tracked all through the house.

God never gives a responsibility to someone and makes them accountable to Him unless He has also given that person the authority and power to fulfill the responsibility. When God tells husbands and fathers that they are the head of the house they have the power, authority, and information necessary to fulfill that responsibility and will be held accountable with what has been entrusted to them. If fathers (or mothers for that matter) shirk their responsibility they will have to answer to God for that. What are you doing to lead your family in the right direction?

So where will your family draw the lines? Only you can answer that, but let me give you some questions to consider. 

1. Has your family drawn lines regarding use of language (Cursing, lying, using God’s name in vain, etc.) that are not to be crossed?
2. Has your family made boundaries in the sexual arena (dating, premarital sex, flirting, sexting, etc.) for your self, spouse, children maturing into adulthood?
3. Has your family set guidelines for time usage (things that are a waste of time and shouldn’t be done, things that must be done before others, activities with time limits, etc.) that help everyone in the family be productive?
4. Has your family determined out of bounds markers on money matters (amounts to save, give and spend, discussion between husband and wife before spending, budgeting, kids’ spending, what kinds of things should never be bought, etc.) to avoid materialism, affluenza, poverty, greed, government dependence, etc?
5. Has your family fenced off negative entertainment and fenced in positive entertainment to keep minds pure and attitudes positive?
6. Has your family defined proper and improper behaviors in your home and in public?
7. Has your family determined what is a sufficient reason to miss worship or other spiritually beneficial activities?
8. Has your family decided what teachings or practices would cause you to leave one church for another?
9. Has your family outlined priorities based on principles you believe are most important?
10. Has your family clearly marked the limit of government interference, intrusion, coercion, etc. that you will allow before saying we must obey God rather than man? 
11. Has your family drawn a line in education (safety, things taught, private school cost, home schooling, etc.) about what you will or won’t allow for your children?

There may be other areas that you need to consider, and if so, consider them and make a decision. As in many other areas of life, so in the area of drawing boundary lines: not deciding is deciding not to. If you don’t build the walls and draw the lines someone else will do it for you and you may not like the results. Remember that there may be new information that could change some things for your family, so the things you have put down need to be reviewed an a regular basis to make sure they are still in line with your family culture and values as well as your knowledge and understanding of the Bible. For example: as you learn and grow as a Christian some things that you once allowed you may realize should not have been allowed, but other things that you were dogmatic about you may realize were family traditions and not Biblical principles and you may want to go a different direction from the way your parents or grandparents or siblings went. - jp

This is a hard one. I have to face my own failures and see how they are being magnified in my children. For as long as I can remember I have had a sarcastic streak. I tend to mock things and not take things seriously. Since before we were married I have made a habit of interrupting my wife when she was trying to share something with me, and it was usually a rude or disparaging comment. She has tried to tell me that it is a character flaw that needs work for years and I just laughed it off. “That’s who I am, you knew it when you married me.” Sometimes I would say “yeah, yeah no big deal, I’ll stop” (for 5 minutes). I just thought it was a personality quirk, my sense of humor and something she should get used to and laugh at too. Our son has learned the lessons that I have lived quite well, and I now see what my wife saw in me that I never could. It is always easier to se faults in others, but it is tough when the faults you see are your own reflected in the mirror of your children’s actions. What have you seen in your children that reminded you of a negative trait in yourself?

I felt it so strongly when my son responded in a rude and interrupting way when we were trying to have a serious time. He had been silly and when I corrected him his flippant response kindled my anger. I literally felt a strong desire to smack him right in the mouth and told him that was how I felt. It was not until the next day when I was being my normal annoying self that my wife’s anger finally exploded at me and I finally put two and two together. I can be a bit slow sometimes. I apologized for years of misbehavior and failing to love my wife as Christ loved the church. I had thought that because I did all sorts of little kindnesses, like washing some dishes, that this little thing didn’t matter, but this one unloving behavior was more than all the other good things put together. While all those little things whispered ‘I love you’, this one was constantly screaming “I love belittling you”. Now I was seeing clearly and seeing my son doing the same things. He was being rude and interrupting his mother and me, and he had been doing these things for a while.

I have a long road ahead and so does my son, but we are helping each other. We had a long talk about respect and how God wants us to behave toward those we love. I explained that the reason I had gotten so angry at him was because he had been acting like me. The fact that he is a young Christian also gives some extra weight to the discussion. We are not just a father and son working to get rid of bad habits that have been allowed to flourish too long, but also Christian brothers trying to encourage the best in one another.

I was reading about the idea of making your ceiling your children’s floor. I don’t want my son to be 40 before he learns to treat his wife with the proper respect, I want him to start right from the beginning. Now if I say something rude he helps remind me and I help him remember, too. When we work as a team we have a better chance of succeeding. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” More good news is that we are not both weak at the same time, Romans 15:1 tells us, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” We have identified the problem and know how to solve it. Now all that is left is to do it. - jp

    Obama is going to be sworn in with two Bibles. There is all kinds of symbolism with Abraham Lincoln's and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Bibles. Biden is using a Bible that has been in his family for 120 years. I have to say that if a Bible were being used it would never last 120 years, and God intended the Bible to be believed and respected, opened and read, and studied and lived, not collected to be used symbolically. What is the point of having people swear on the Bible when they don't even believe it? How much better would we be in this nation if instead of having public officials lay their hands on a Bible before taking office we expected them to read it, believe it, and live by it or we wouldn't vote them into office in the first place. It always amazes me that we think this means something. If a person believes the Bible there is no need to have them swear with a hand on it, and if they don't it is useless. People could swear on a stack of Bibles, or the original manuscripts (if we had them) and it won't matter at all.
jp

If our children are going to remain faithful to God in a time of trials and persecution there are some things we have to do to prepare them for something we have never faced before. One of those things is . . .
Get that Government is not God

It seems like we as a people are becoming more and more dependent on the government to be there for us, especially the Federal government. I suppose that I honestly lean increasingly toward the libertarian view of things even though there are moral issues involved that I disagree with strongly. The fact is that our government has been growing at an alarming rate and has become truly unsustainable at this point. If something is not done soon the weight of it will fall on the American people and crush them, but this is not even about fiscal problems or bloated programs, or bureaucracy, or the things that people generally talk about when they discuss the problems of government. We are following a path that has led to problems for others in the past. Read one woman’s account of what happened in Austria during WWII.

The fact is that there are many people, including some Christians, who have been duped into believing that the government has the right to make laws that it actually does not have the right to make either constitutionally, or according to God’s law. When I asked once, in a Bible class, what we would do if they passed a law that said we couldn’t get together to study the Bible or worship one woman actually said she guessed we would have to quit doing it. Let’s make this clear, no government, not the United States government, not any state or local government, not the United Nations, not a husband, not an eldership, nor any other government is God. Government has no authority except what is given from above, Jesus said as much while on trial with Pilate - John 19:11. In Romans 13:1 Paul reminds us that the government is ordained and authorized by God, not the other way around. Peter and John made it clear that we are to obey God rather than man - Acts 5:29. When discussing Obamacare and the mandate to provide funding for the abortion pill, at least one Christian said since it didn’t affect churches it didn’t matter to us and that businesses had to do what the government said, even non-profit religious charities and Christian colleges. That is not true, and I for one am glad that there are some companies like Hobby Lobby that are fighting it and refusing to obey it.  Understand that just because they didn’t try to force it on churches this time does not mean they won’t soon, speak up while you can. I am often reminded of the quote that is attributed in various forms to Martin Niemoeller. 

There is also a growing percentage of our population that depends on government for day to day existence rather than on God. Money is a tool the government has used effectively in only one way – to get people addicted to the next handout. What if the government completely shut down tomorrow? There would be chaos, theft, murder, and rioting in the streets next week when half the people in the U.S. who get a monthly check and/or other benefits didn’t receive them. What about you? Are you depending on the government or God? Even those in private business might have some serious cutbacks if those on welfare and social security did not get their money to spend. There would be a massive ripple, a tsunami, throughout the economy. Someone took the 23rd Psalm and changed it to reflect the thinking of many who believe “The Government Is My Shepherd”. It has been around for years and there are several variations, this is a recently updated version of it.

There is an increasing ignorance about the role of government and the history of our government. People today have completely perverted the founders’ intentions with their talk of the separation of church and state. Originally, the idea was to protect the church, religion, and Christians from the federal government. Read the amendment in the Bill of Rights and you will see that it clearly says that congress(federal government) shall make no law establishing a religion or prohibiting the free practice of religion. There was actually nothing about local laws regarding religion, in fact several of the states had recognized churches. The point was not to allow the entire nation to have only one church as had been done in England. 

Consider the way that worked in the past, the Mormons were not welcome in many of the established states, so they went west and established their own in what is today Utah. That state is still strongly Mormon, but their laws have changed as others moved into the area, voted, ran for office, etc. There was a time when in Missouri a city was established for atheists. It was named Liberal and the goal was that no church building would be built there. Eventually the founder of the city became a Christian himself according to Wikipedia. Now there are at least 7 religious groups there. You can read more about this failed experiment in an article by Apologetics Press. That is what freedom is about and to some degree what was intended (although the founders had no use for atheism or any religion other than Christianity - for more on these views consider the videos The Silencing of God and America’s Most Pressing Concern available from World Video Bible School). Those kind of things could not happen today. If a group of religious people of one stripe or another decided to have a town of their own and not allow others, it would be attacked in the courts as soon as it was known. It has gotten to the point that if one person doesn’t like it he can scream about it and get any religious thing thrown out of town. You see, the truth is not afraid to stand toe to toe with a lie because it can win, but the lie can’t win in honest debate so it must resort to other means to silence truth and win the day. Today the founders' original plan has been twisted and perverted to protect government and society from religion. 

As Bible believers, we know that God does not call us to go live in isolation with only other believers, we are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Both light and salt are more clearly evident in circumstances where there is not much. Turn on a spotlight out in the sunshine and it would barely be noticed 10 feet away, but light a match in the darkness of a cave and everyone there can see it. Put some salt in a salt shaker and you may not notice, but put some on bland vegetables and it makes them edible. Because our country has been one that taught morality and had many religious people of various denominations who were living basically good lives but were confused on certain doctrinal issues, the contrast has often not been that great. We are used to agreeing with our neighbors on 90-95% and debating issues of worship, a doctrine about the second coming, etc. That is not the case anymore. If we will truly live for Christ, not just worship Him on Sunday but truly live as He would live, we will stand out from the crowd, we will shine as stars in a crooked and perverse generation - Philippians 2:15.

Think about how different the Amish seem to us. Will we as Christians ever seem that different to our neighbors or will we keep doing what the media and government tell us is normal. Normal is being on the road toward Hell, I don’t want to be normal. I want people to think I am strange, the Christians in the New Testament had people thinking they were strange, not because of hair styles or not having electricity, but because they did not get involved in sinful things. Just because it is legal doesn’t mean it is moral. Government approval is not God’s approval.

There can be no doubt in our minds or our children's minds that tempts us to believe that government is benevolent, our provider, all-powerful, or our friend. The government that is at odds with and enemies with God and His Law is an enemy to His people as well. We need to know that wherever we live in this world we are living behind enemy lines and in hostile territory among citizens of the kingdom of our greatest enemy, Satan.

So what do we do with a hostile government that looks on us as a danger and that we have finally recognized as a danger? How do we react? We’ll consider that further in the next installment.

jp