Bret Piatt

Our government is run by a jealous and power hungry group of individuals.  They want to be worshiped for taking care of everyone.  They put their faces on money, they build temples and monuments in their honor.  They don’t like the fact that when people are in need they turn to something other than them.  For many in America, they turn to God, and God warns them:

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (RSV Exodus 20:3-6)

Does this mean if you believe in God you can’t look to our elected leaders to help?  As long as they’re helping out of duty and service, receive the help.  If they’re helping out of a desire to be worshiped then you may be punished along with them for taking their false gifts.

^“1For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.  ⁶Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. ⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” ⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.  ¹¹These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. ¹²So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! ¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.  ¹⁴Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵I speak to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say” (1 Corinthians 10:1-16)

When our country was founded giving 10% to the church was very easy.  We had few taxes to pay to the government and in times of need people looked to their family, their neighbors, their community, their church for assistance.  This didn’t give the elected officials the power and worship they desired so over time they’ve collected more and more taxes to solve more and more problems.  People are then be thankful for the government and the officials that take care of them.

Now here we are 200+ years later with over half of our income going to the government.  Giving 10% to the Lord is now much more difficult as you’ve already had so much taken from you.  And why should you give to the Lord now?  If you need something you don’t have to ask God or your church community for it.  The government is there to take care of you with “public assistance”.

The difference between being helped by your neighbor or your community and a government entity is if your neighbor helps you, you’re inclined to try and return the favor.  If you get help from a non-descript government entity there is nobody to return the favor to.

The government doesn’t make money on its own.  The help you recieve from it is really from your neighbor or somebody else’s neighbor and we need to treat that assistance with the same respect and gratitude.  Don’t take more than you need, greed is one of the seven deadly sins; and repay what you are given when you can.

Government should focus its energy on matters of the state — our national defense, our military, and laws to maintain order among society.  The social and entitlement programs that make up much of our debt should be sold to the private sector and they will run more efficently and take better care of the people looking for assistance.

A quick first step could be changing the charitable donation tax laws.  Instead of it being a deduction after 2% of your gross income it should be a tax credit up to 10% of your gross income starting from the first dollar you make.  Capital will find its way quickly into the hands of organizations looking to help their fellow man and they’ll spend it right away.  It won’t go into an entitlement trust fund to sit not contributing to the economy.