When Satan Subverts Godly Government, the Church Cannot Be Silent

It’s August!

As children go back to school, will you help support our efforts to contend for their freedom to proclaim the faith too?

English Statesman George Savile quipped, “Men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses would not be stolen.” With all that is happening in the world, his words concentrate our thoughts. Justice is not merely about trials and verdicts leading to punishment. It’s also about deterrence.

Through current events, many are relearning a seemingly long-forgotten factor relative to justice. As I watched the evening news with my wife, a segment came on about Venezuelan gang members being ordered back into the country after deportation. Without prompting, she asked, “What does it say when a federal judge orders the immediate return of violent criminals who’ve already been deported?”

Exactly. The enforcement of laws does not merely punish the wicked. It communicates to observers what will be tolerated and what won’t. It warns. It deters. When a man can execute an insurance company executive in broad daylight only to be cheered on by influencers and media personalities, other potential villains are emboldened, and wickedness is fostered.

For believer and unbeliever alike, morality is written into the human heart (Rom. 2:15; Jer. 31:33), no matter how the narrative is framed, the facts are not complicated. So, why would anybody oppose what is written on every human heart? Are they unable to discern distinctions between right and wrong? Or are they willfully rejecting the distinction altogether through radical individualism?

Radically individualized people, while they may pay lip service to law and order, inherently do not view it as beneficial but as oppressive. Radical individualism does not understand personal responsibility as objectively good but as outdated. And because a radically individualized person believes he can be, say, or do anything he wants without consequence, any actual consequence, natural or imposed, is by default deemed unfair.

In a world where this is the rule, chaos reigns supremely. In such a world, people burn cars not because they have been wronged but because they can do so without fear of punishment. In that world, violent criminals are shielded from deportation while law-abiding citizens live in fear. In that world, dreadfulness leads to reward, and goodness is smothered. In that world, horses are stolen not because men are desperate but because they know that no one will stop them.

Christians, you know better.

A Christian’s responsibility in this world is not to remain silent when falsehood runs amok. Even beyond the “household of faith” (Gal. 6:10), Christ calls His believers to be “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:13–14). We preserve truth. We are bright-beaming beacons in falsehood’s darkness. Click here to continue reading.

Reprinted with permission of the LCMS.

Be Informed
Need help as a Lutheran talking about life issues? The Rev. Dr. Aric Fenske of Lutherans for Life is here to help.

Be Equipped
Last month, President Trump signed a bill, “partially defunding businesses that commit elective abortions, including America’s abortion giant, Planned Parenthood.” Click here to read more about how this impacts taxpayer funding for the organization.

Be Encouraged
“In 2024 we defeated the most pro-abortion presidential ticket America has ever seen. We halted the radical abortion agenda at the federal level, for now. And now the latest Gallup poll, the big survey that comes out every summer, had good news that goes against the entire corporate media narrative of the past few years about the Dobbs victory: Pro-life identification specifically among young adults ages 18 to 29 is up 11 points, while support for abortion being legal in all circumstances has dropped 19 points.” – Marjorie Dannenfelser, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America

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August Prayer Partner Thursday