The meat of this sermon begins about 11 minutes into it.
Most evangelicals agree that elected officials should ideally be Christians, read their Bible, pray about decisions and do what they think is the Lord's will.
And when that's all they think the Lord wants, we get presidents like Jimmy Carter.
Compare that to Rev. Samuel Wylie's book, 'The Two Sons of Oil': “The magistrate is (Rev. 13) called 'the minister of god for good to men.' The ultimate end to be attained is the advancement of the glory of God, as King of nations, and a concern to promote the prosperity of the church.”
This is one of the teachings of the Bible that sends people into orbit. It's because it has to do with the sovereignty of God, which our flesh hates above all. It is obvious, yet few want to see it, because to believe it they would have to change their entire worldview, and that would mean they might lose their Christian friends who are more interested in being politically correct than Biblically correct.
To acknowledge that the Bible teaches that civil government officials not only should read the Bible and pray about decisions, but they should promote the prosperity of the church, including prohibiting non-Christian religions to worship openly -- this is beyond what most Americans, even most Christians, can handle.
How un-American! What about toleration? Pluralism? The First Amendment? The separation of church and state? Surely the Bible does not teach a state religion? Didn't our founding fathers flee from Europe to get away from that?
You may be surprised at what the Bible says about this.
Also see www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1011121356250
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Great Sermon! Excellent. I've learned something here I'd not really seen before so clearly. Thank you.
PuritanDownloads.com (10/22/2012)
Biblical Reformation Politics & Civil Government! A much needed sermon in our day, when few know or understand what the Bible actually teaches on these important matters. For more free Reformation resources on POLITICS AND BIBLICAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT please see http://ow.ly/eEKWl. "Yet civil government has as its appointed end, so long as we live among men, to cherish and protect the outward worship of God, to defend sound doctrine of piety and the position of the church, to adjust our life to the society of men, to form our social behavior to civil righteousness, to reconcile us with one another, and to promote general peace and tranquility." - John Calvin, Institutes, IV, XX, Volume 2, p. 1,487, Westminster Press, 1960. "And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers..." - Isaiah 49:23 (KJV).