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College Professor Discusses Differences in Christianity

article by Kristin Yarbrough

Jesus said that He didn't come to bring peace to the earth, but division. And that has definitely happened.

Vertical Thought recently interviewed Ronald Wroblewski, who has been an instructor at Spoon River College in Canton, Illinois, for the past 12 years. He teaches such courses as World Religions, Introduction to Philosophy, Ethics, and Logic and Critical Thinking.
Mr. Wroblewski earned a bachelor's degree in political science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a master's degree in health care administration from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. He received a bachelor's degree in theology and a master's degree in religious studies from Ambassador College in Pasadena, California.
Mr. Wroblewski attends the Canton, Illinois, congregation of the United Church of God and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from Bernelli University.
Vertical Thought: At the beginning of your World Religions course, you mention that there are thousands of different Christian churches. If they all trace their beliefs to the Bible, are they really all that different?
Ron Wroblewski: Yes. There are major differences in governance, how rituals are carried out and many other things. It also seems there is a different church for each variation of doctrine that has occurred during the centuries.
There are major differences between Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches, of course. Then you have the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists and the Church of God groups. And then there are Pentecostal churches, which are very different from traditional mainline churches like Lutherans and Methodists.
Jesus said that He didn't come to bring peace to the earth, but division. And that has definitely happened.
VT: When did all the differences first start to appear, and why did these Christians—whose name indicates that they are followers of Christ—deviate from what He and His disciples taught?
RW: As we know, differences were referred to in the letters of the New Testament. By the middle of the second century, several major doctrinal divisions were developing. For example, debate began on what happens after death. The controversy over whether human beings have an immortal soul versus whether they are waiting to be resurrected is still with Christianity today.
My personal feelings are that since the early Church expected Christ to return quickly, hope of that was fading after two generations and people began to look for other explanations of what happens after death. When the hope of the early Church didn't come to pass, many people gave up on it.
VT: Where did the alternative ideas originate?
RW: It looks like the Gnostics were the first to attempt to combine portions of Christianity with Greek philosophy. They rejected the resurrection of the body and replaced it with Plato's doctrine of the immortality of the soul. They believed the spirit is everything, the body nothing, and fell into moral licentiousness. Much of their time was spent learning the "correct" magic passwords that would enable the delivered soul to pass back to its heavenly home.
In the second century, [the Catholic theologian] Origen taught that souls might be eternal—preexisting birth and surviving death through reincarnation. He was very sympathetic to the Platonic doctrine of the soul as being akin to God but obliged to live in a material world that is not its true home.
Another church father, Augustine, also attempted to combine Plato's ideas about the immortality of the soul with Christian teachings. Many of these doctrinal divisions came to a head in the fourth century when the Roman emperor Constantine forced them to be settled by the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325.
VT: How did the Roman emperor get involved in Christianity? Didn't the Romans persecute Christians?
RW: At first, many Christians were killed for refusing to worship the emperor. Later, Constantine saw Christianity as something that could bring unity to his far-flung empire. But to do so, the disputes that divided Christianity had to be resolved. He called for a meeting of all bishops at Nicaea [in what is now northwestern Turkey] in A.D. 325 to discuss these issues.
After heated debate at the Council of Nicaea, Constantine made several declarations, one of which established Sunday as the official day of worship. It is noteworthy that Constantine's stated motive for introducing this custom was respect for the sun. He was not aware of any mutual exclusiveness between Christianity and his faith in the sun. The transition from solar monotheism (the most popular form of contemporary paganism) to Christianity was not difficult.
Constantine also decreed that Christians would observe Easter, and it would be forbidden to keep Passover. In fact, he stated that Christians were to stay away from anything that was "Jewish."
VT: Is that why other observances listed in the Bible, like Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost, disappeared from modern Christianity?
RW: Yes. The Romans turned to persecuting all things Jewish, and Christians often had to decide whether to hold what appeared to be Jewish beliefs and likely suffer persecution or to worship on different dates and avoid that persecution.
Easter definitely replaced Passover. Wiccans claim Christians stole Easter from them. One text I use in class, Phyllis Curott's Book of Shadows , explains that the name Easter comes from the name of the German fertility goddess Eostre. Eggs and rabbits—commonly associated with the holiday—are symbols of fertility.
The Catholic Church timed Easter to coincide with the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, another remnant of the old (pagan) religion just below the surface of the new.
VT: Did this happen with other modern Christian holidays?
RW: Other holidays were adopted to add numbers to the church without requiring people to give up their cherished practices. There are letters between bishops that discuss ways to convert pagans. The answer was to attempt to eliminate the worst of the practices and put the others under the umbrella of Christianity. They simply changed the name of who was being worshipped. Christmas, originally the birthday of the sun god, became the day to worship the Son of God.
VT: So did the controversy stop after the Council of Nicaea?
RW: No. The [Catholic] church split in A.D. 1054 into the Roman Catholic Church in the West and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the East. Some of the issues that led to this split included the pope's authority, the use of statues in worship versus the use of icons and whether priests would be allowed to marry.
A second major split—known as the Protestant Reformation—happened in the 16th century. There had been growing dissatisfaction with some of the church's teachings and in 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to stimulate discussion on several of these issues, such as the belief in purgatory, the sale of indulgences [buying one's or another's way out of purgatory] and confession to priests. Ultimately, this led to the start of the Lutheran Church.
King Henry VIII of England also broke away from the Catholic Church to establish the Anglican Church. Still other issues led to further splits within the Christian community. Some of those include transubstantiation (whether the bread and wine become Christ's actual body and blood or whether they are just symbols) and whether works (good deeds) were necessary for salvation. Others debate what happens to people when they die, at what age one must be baptized and whether immersion in water is necessary for baptism or whether sprinkling is sufficient.
VT: Which doctrinal shift do you think changed Christianity most?
RW: The Council of Nicaea was definitely a major shifting point, with the settling of the controversial questions. The Protestant Reformation was another major turning point. But the Protestants, while eliminating several of the serious abuses of the Catholic Church, didn't go far enough in restoring the original faith of the first-century Church. VT
Editor's note: If you'd like to learn more about the original Christianity taught by Jesus and practiced by the first-century Church, request our free booklet The Church Jesus Built .

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Where Does America Go From Here?

3 comments

article by Scott Ashley

As the American president takes his oath of office with his hand on the Bible, proclaiming to faithfully fulfill his responsibilities "so help me God," should we not take into consideration how God views the "state of the union" of the United States?

Source: Photo illustration by Shaun Venish/123RF/iStockphoto

Warning signs come in many forms. Sometimes it's the piercing shriek of a fire alarm or the Emergency Alert System on the TV or radio. Maybe it's the wail of a loudspeaker indicating an oncoming tornado or hurricane. At times it might be the flashing lights and siren of an ambulance, fire truck or other emergency vehicle.
Regardless of their form, we're usually aware of what warning signs mean. They're intended to alert us to approaching danger, and we know that we must take action if we are to remain safe.
Sometimes the warning signs are not so obvious. Rather than screaming in our ears or shouting in our faces to get our attention like the examples above, the signs can be much more subtle. And if we're distracted by other things and not paying attention, we can easily miss them.
Could individuals—and sometimes even great nations—remain blind to dangers that otherwise should be obvious? Could Americans be ignoring warning signs that are shouting for our attention?

A look at the state of the union

Early each year the U.S. president gives his annual State of the Union address to Congress—and, by extension, the nation and world as a whole. It's typically a lofty speech filled with ideals and platitudes expressing the president's agenda.
But despite what it's called, the speech seldom addresses the actual state of the nation. If we were to examine the condition of the United States from the perspective of God's Word, what would we find?
On the rostrum above the head of the president as He gives this speech, seemingly avoided by TV cameras, is the motto "In God We Trust." The president is himself sworn into office with his hand on a Bible as he pledges to carry out his duties "so help me God."
So what would God think about the current state of the United States?

Growing acceptance of immoral behavior

The November 2012 U.S. elections were a revealing window into the prevailing mindset of voters. For the first time, voters legalized marriage between homosexuals in several states—Maine, Maryland and Washington.
Same-sex marriage had already been approved by state legislatures or courts in six other states, but this was the first time it was approved directly by voters—after it had previously been rejected 32 times in statewide votes dating back to 1998.
Homosexual behavior is repeatedly condemned in Scripture (Leviticus 18:22Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
See All...; Leviticus 20:13If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
See All...; Romans 1:26-27 [26] For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
[27] And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

See All...; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 [9] Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
[10] Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

See All...; 1 Timothy 1:10For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
See All...). Yet far from being ashamed of such behavior, many pride themselves on their acceptance of it.
With the country's many "gay pride" marches and parades, could Isaiah 3:9The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
See All... be a prophecy for America today? "The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves" (New International Version, emphasis added throughout).
Meanwhile, in two states—Colorado and Washington—voters approved possession and recreational use of marijuana, a hallucinogenic drug that remains illegal under federal law. Nineteen other states allow what is called "medicinal" use of the drug, though it's clearly abused by many who want to use it simply to get high.
Although marijuana isn't directly mentioned in Scripture, God's Word clearly condemns intoxication in any form—calling those seeking it "drunkards" who will have no place in the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 5:11But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
See All...; 1 Corinthians 6:10Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
See All...; Galatians 5:21Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
See All...). The reason so many use marijuana is for the intoxicated state it produces. Otherwise, why do it?
Any nation brings curses on itself when it turns its back on biblical values and accepts sin as normal and commonplace. Thinking themselves enlightened, people in reality only show how shortsighted and blind they are to the consequences of their choices.
They fail to take into account God's view, which He states in Isaiah 5:20-25 [20] Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
[21] Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
[22] Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
[23] Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
[24] Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
[25] Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

See All...: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! . . .
"Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them . . ."

Broken marriages + broken families = broken society

As we have often discussed in the pages of The Good News, marriage and family are the building blocks of society. When marriages and families break down, so do the bonds holding society together.
So what's the state of marriage and family in America today?
For years about half of all U.S. marriages have ended in divorce. Seeing this sad fact, growing numbers of couples choose to skip marriage altogether.
According to U.S. census figures, between 1960 and 2000 the number of unmarried couples living together increased tenfold. It doubled again from 2000 to 2010, to 7.5 million couples—though the actual number may be considerably higher since unmarried partners may describe themselves as just friends or roommates.
About 12 percent of U.S. households are now unmarried couples living together. In some cities a third of couples living together are not married to each other. Other recent studies have shown that almost 60 percent of women ages 19-44 have chosen to live with a partner of the opposite sex at some point in their lives.
However, rather than a formula for stability, living together before marriage only increases the odds that a couple will break up. About 40 percent of couples who move in together separate before marriage. And, of those who do marry, studies show the divorce rate ranges from 50 to 80 percent higher than those who chose not to live together before marriage.

The curses of promiscuity, abortion and illegitimacy

Sexual promiscuity begins early. Studies show that from 40 to 50 percent of U.S. teens are sexually active, with 20 percent having sexual intercourse by age 15.
And they are reaping the tragic fruits of breaking God's command against engaging in sex outside of marriage (Exodus 20:14Thou shalt not commit adultery.
See All...; Ephesians 5:3But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;
See All..., 5; Hebrews 13:4Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
See All...; Revelation 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
See All...). Young people ages 15-24 account for nearly half of the nation's 19 million new sexually transmitted infections each year. One in four females ages 15 to 19 is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease. And each year more than 750,000 15- to 19-year-old females become pregnant, the vast majority unintended.
With so many showing such disregard for God's instruction regarding sex and marriage, it's no surprise that the nation is suffering from twin curses of abortion and illegitimacy. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost one in five pregnancies (18 percent) in America end in the abortion of the unborn baby. The nation's estimated annual death toll from abortion ranges from about 750,000 to over 1 million.
To put this in perspective, Americans were rightfully horrified by the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, in which nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in the crash of an airliner in a Pennsylvania field. Yet almost the same number of innocent unborn children are murdered by abortion in America every single day. Where is the outrage? What does this tell us about the deplorable moral state of the nation?
Another sad fruit of the nation's promiscuity is that the percentage of births that are illegitimate—children born to unmarried parents—is also dramatically rising.
Of first births to mothers ages 15 to 44 today, almost half—46 percent— are illegitimate. For women ages 20-24, well over half—a staggering 61 percent —are to unmarried mothers.

A huge financial toll on society

As bad as these percentages are, they only hint at the terrible toll this takes on society—and on these children in particular. Numerous studies have shown that children born into fatherless homes are far more likely to die in infancy, to be poor, to show aggressive behavior, to abuse drugs, to have behavioral problems in school and to spend time in jail or prison.
Nearly 2 million children are born each year to unmarried parents, often to women with limited education and prospects for improving their lives. What is the cost to taxpayers?
In the 2011 fiscal year, federal and state governments spent a combined $450 billion on assistance to low-income families with children—with about three quarters of this, or some $330 billion, going to single-parent families. This averages out to about $30,000 in assistance to each single-parent household.
But this doesn't mean that this much is actually going to those who need it. Vast amounts go to the government bureaucracies and hundreds of thousands of federal and state employees tasked with overseeing assistance programs. The U.S. government currently operates more than 80 different means-tested federal programs that provide social services, medical care, food, housing, cash and other assistance to low-income families and individuals.

The curse of skyrocketing debt

It should be no surprise that the nation's growing social ills have contributed to an explosion in its financial problems.
Over the last year the debt problems of the European "PIIGS" countries—Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain—have regularly made headlines. Each of the five have enormous debt problems due to their inability to rein in government spending.
However, the per-person share of the government's outstanding debt in the United States is actually higher than in any of these deeply troubled countries!
Each American's share of federal government debt is about $45,000—15 percent higher than the per-capita debt of Greeks at almost $39,000. Even worse, American per-capita debt is expected to grow to almost $75,000 by 2020, only seven years away.
Why is government debt exploding? The simple answer is that the government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends.
To put this in perspective, the U.S. government is like a family with a $21,700 annual income spending $38,200 a year, with $16,500 of that put on credit cards—when the family already owes $142,710 on those credit cards!
For four consecutive years the federal government has amassed a trillion-dollar deficit. It took the United States 200 years to accumulate its first trillion dollars in debt. Now it takes about 10 months!
In September 2012 the total deficit passed $16 trillion— an amount exceeding the nation's entire GDP! How vast is that number? A stack of 16 trillion $1 bills would extend higher than Mt. Everest, past the space station, past the moon 239,000 miles away and back to Earth— twice.
Shocking as these figures are, they in fact vastly underestimate the scope of the problem. We need to factor in unfunded liabilities—the amount needed to fully fund government promises for Social Security, Medicare, military and government employee pensions and health care. The real debt load then jumps, depending on which set of economic and demographic assumptions one works from, to five to ten times the $16 trillion amount— far exceeding the GDP of the entire planet! And that doesn't even include similar unfunded liabilities for the 50 individual states and hundreds of American towns and cities.
The bottom line? America's cities are broke, its states are broke, and the nation is broke. And we're living in a fool's paradise.
God warned centuries ago that "the borrower is servant to the lender" (Proverbs 22:7The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
See All...). America currently spends more than $400 billion per year just to pay interest on its staggering debt!
God pronounced curses that would come from a nation disobeying Him and rejecting His instruction: "The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail" (Deuteronomy 28:43-44 [43] The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
[44] He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.

See All...).
The United States is experiencing a drastic turnaround unparalleled in history. Until about a generation ago, the United States was the world's leading lender nation. But now that has completely reversed, and America is the most indebted nation in world history—with more than half of U.S. debt held by rival nations such as China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela.

From blessings to curses

The United States is under a curse—as warned of centuries ago in the pages of your Bible. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 record the blessings God promised would come when a nation honored and obeyed Him—and the curses that would come when it dishonors and disobeys Him, such as becoming a debtor nation, as quoted above.
For its first two centuries America enjoyed the abundant blessings foretold.
Yet God had warned: "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you" (Deuteronomy 28:15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
See All...).
What curses did He foretell?
"Cursed shall you be in the city," He began (Deuteronomy 28:16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
See All...). What is the state of America's cities? Many are impressive on the outside, but they are rotten at the core. Growing numbers are bankrupt. Many are ridden with crime. Poverty, corruption, failing schools and thousands of unassimilated immigrants eat away at their stability. Millions of people flee them—with many millions more wishing they could do the same.
"Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl," God continues (Deuteronomy 28:17Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
See All...). These represent our food sources. Study after study shows that many of our food sources aren't healthy or good for us. For many, our diet and lifestyle may in fact be dangerous to our health.
"Cursed shall be the fruit of your body" (Deuteronomy 28:18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
See All...). Birthrates are declining. And with the legalization of abortion, we have viewed our own children as curses and slaughtered them by the millions.
For the American children who are born, one in six has some kind of developmental disability according to the CDC—and the number is growing.
Moreover, as noted above, millions of children are born into households where the mother or father or both are ill-equipped
to care for them financially, emotionally, mentally or spiritually.
"Cursed shall be . . . the produce of your land, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks" (Deuteronomy 28:18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
See All...). Only a few years ago the United States was among the world's largest exporters of food—primarily wheat, corn and meat. Now that too is reversed, and America actually imports more food than it exports.
"The Lord will make the plague cling to you . . . [He] will strike you with consumption, with fever, with inflammation, with severe burning fever . . . they shall pursue you until you perish" (Deuteronomy 28:21-22 [21] The LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee, until he have consumed thee from off the land, whither thou goest to possess it.
[22] The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

See All...). In comparison to much of the world, Americans as a whole enjoy good health and long life. But that comes at an increasingly steep price. From 1980 to today, health care expenses have exploded more than tenfold.
Health care costs are currently about $2.8 trillion, amounting to 18 percent of the nation's GDP. Yet in spite of such enormous expenditures, Americans' life expectancy ranks only 42nd in the world, well behind most advanced nations.

Drought and defeat

"The sky over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed" (Deuteronomy 28:23-24 [23] And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
[24] The LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed.

See All..., New Revised Standard Version).
Many Americans were rightfully worried about the widespread droughts and massive wildfires that plagued the country in 2012—as they did in several preceding years. With the nation having moved into winter, the situation remains serious. Lack of rainfall and snowfall has created the worst conditions for the winter wheat crop in almost 30 years.
Drought conditions have caused levels of two of the Great Lakes—Michigan and Huron—to fall to near-record lows, with the other three below historical averages. On the Mississippi River, water levels have dropped 15 to 20 feet below normal in some places, threatening to halt the barge traffic that carries millions of tons of crops and other goods through the American heartland.
"The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth," God continues (Deuteronomy 28:25The LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies: thou shalt go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them: and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
See All...).
At the end of World War II America emerged as a new world superpower. With the collapse of the Soviet Union several decades later, it stood as the world's lone superpower. Yet in spite of its might, in a struggle lasting eight years and costing more than 4,400 American lives and more than $1 trillion, the United States withdrew from Iraq, leaving behind a dangerous and unstable nation. A similar pattern was followed in Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are scheduled to be gone by the end of 2014.
Why is it that the most powerful military in the world was essentially fought to a draw by comparatively primitive forces—the enemies having no navy, air force or massive war machinery and fighting from caves and holes in the ground, armed with IEDs and AK-47s?
This makes no sense at all until we consider God's warning and curse for our sins: "The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies . . ."

Will we heed the warnings?

Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 also list other curses to fall on the nation that defies Him—many truly horrifying to contemplate. We don't have space to cover them all here, but you can and should read them. This is what lies ahead unless the nation changes its ways!
America likes to be viewed as a religious nation. But for many their religiosity is only skin deep. Most American households have not just one but several Bibles. The problem is that they don't read the Bible, much less do and live as it says.
If you don't believe these warnings from the Bible, consider these other warnings from two of the nation's greatest presidents:
Thomas Jefferson, to whom many wrongly attribute belief in complete separation of church and state, wrote: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just [and] that his justice cannot sleep for ever . . ."
Abraham Lincoln, who saw the nation through a horrifying civil war, said: "At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? . . . I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher."
God's justice is indeed awakening from a long sleep. The warning signs are all around. Our destruction, as Lincoln warned, is coming from ourselves as a once-great nation increasingly rots from the core.
It may be too late to turn the nation around, but it's not too late for you. "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near," the Bible urges us. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:6-7 [6] Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
[7] Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

See All...).
God's blessing, forgiveness and assurance of peace and safety await those who are willing to repent—who turn to seek Him with all of their heart.
Will you heed your Creator's plea?

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Reflecting on Turkey

A commentary by David Treybig

Posted November 16, 2006

With part of Turkey located in Europe and part of it located in Asia, this country has long been the site where civilizations, cultures, and ideas clash. It's where East meets West, where the Christian and Muslim religions collide, and where Turks today are trying to fashion successful lives in a world of competing ideas and philosophies.

Preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving—a national day of appreciation for the country's blessings—many U.S. citizens are anticipating bountiful turkey dinners. But it's the country of Turkey—not the fowl—that now warrants our attention.
With part of Turkey located in Europe (bordering Bulgaria and Greece) and part of it located in Asia (bordering Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, and Syria), this country has long been the site where civilizations, cultures, and ideas clash. It's where East meets West, where the Christian and Muslim religions collide, and where Turks today are trying to fashion successful lives in a world of competing ideas and philosophies.
In trying to find a middle ground between conflicting messages and passions, Turkey searches for what every nation wants: prosperity, respect, and a secure future. Yet due to its geographical position, Turkey, has struggled and continues to struggle in its quest for these elusive ideals. So does every other nation in the world.
Recognizing one of the major causes of tensions in the world today, leaders from various cultural and religious backgrounds met in Turkey's largest city—Istanbul—on November 13 and "announced a United Nations initiative to resolve the conflict between the West and the Muslim world" ( The New York Times ).
These leaders "issued a framework for their effort, prepared over the past year, that singled out the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a primary source of the deepening split.
"'No other conflict carries such a powerful symbolic and emotional charge among people far removed from the battlefield,' Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, said at a news conference. 'As long as the Palestinians live under occupation, exposed to daily frustration and humiliation, and as long as Israelis are blown up in buses and in dance halls, so long will passions everywhere be inflamed'" (ibid .).
Kofi Annan's observation of the significance of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict matches what Bible prophecy long ago predicted. As God said of the end time, "it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples " (Zechariah 12:3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
See All..., emphasis added). All nations and peoples are affected.
In the face of this troublesome conflict, the leaders of this most recent framework hope that their clear definition of the problem will lead to an equally clear solution. Reflecting this hope, "The host of the event, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, emphasized the symbolic importance of holding it in Istanbul, which bridges East and West and is the leading city in a predominantly Muslim country taking steps to join the European Union. Joining the European Union, he said, would 'prove that the polarization between cultures is actually artificial and contrived'" (ibid. ).
But as the Turks know, polarization isn't easily overcome. Turkey's effort to join the European Union (EU) has already been an up and down affair. Initial hopes for a speedy entrance into the Union have recently diminished with a snub from France over whether the deaths of Armenian Christians in Turkey during World War I amounted to genocide . France claims it was genocide while Turkey says it was simply war and that many Muslim Turks died as well.
This Armenian issue coupled with disagreement over the political division of Cyprus have given many Turks the perception that the EU isn't fair and that they are still being snubbed because they were on the wrong side during World War I. As a result, "Some [Turkish] polls show support for EU membership plummeting as low as 30%."
Diplomats from Europe and Turkey, however, know that each side needs the other. Turkey, as a stable, secular country in an unstable Muslim world, is critically important to the West and access to European markets is equally important to Turkey. Yet the question remains as to whether Turkey will be admitted to the EU.
Human beings and nations know instinctively that it's in our best interests to get along with each other. We just don't always know how to do it. Unfortunately, the Bible reveals that human efforts to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will not succeed. As the latter part of Zechariah 12:3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
See All... notes: "all who would heave it [Jerusalem] away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it." The good news, however, is that the Bible also reveals that with God's intervention, humanity will eventually find the world peace and prosperity it has sought all along.
For something to really be thankful for, read about this wonderful future by requesting, downloading or reading online our free booklets: The Gospel of the Kingdom and The Middle East in Bible Prophecy .

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Where did Valentine's Day come from? Is it wrong for a Christian to celebrate it?

Like many of the world's major holidays, St. Valentine's Day is an annual observance with its roots entrenched firmly in pagan beliefs and customs. What would God think about Valentine's Day?

Answer:

Source: Photos.com

The ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, an annual three-day ritual believed to ward off evil spirits and increase fertility, was held on February 13 to 15.
Lupercalia (also known as Februatio, which is where we get the name for our month of February) was popular among many of the new converts to the quick-rising Catholic Church, and as Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays notes, "Everywhere that [mainstream] Christians came into power they immediately adapted the holidays and customs of the people to their own creed” (Robert J. Myers and the editors of Hallmark Cards, 1972, pp. 50-51).
Such was their course of action with this festival of Lupercalia. While Pope Gelasius officially condemned the pagan Roman festival and banned its observance at the end of the fifth century, many of its accompanying practices quickly appeared in a newly established holiday added by him to the official church list of feast days in A.D. 496—St. Valentine's Day.
Soon, people were no longer looking to obtain fertility by being beaten with strips of animal skin called februa. Instead, they turned their focus to St. Valentine, the patron saint of "engaged couples and anyone wishing to marry" (Celebrations, pp. 48-49), whose actual identity is even murkier than what connection he bore to romance.
What amounted to a renamed, refurbished Lupercalia then picked up steam, gradually adapting itself into the Valentine's Day we know today, which included the added elements of Valentine cards and Cupid, the Roman god of erotic love.
Friendship and sending cards are wonderful things, and God is not opposed to romance at the right time in the right way. But does the pagan religious history of Valentine's Day taint the modern practices? What does God have to say about observing pagan traditions, renamed or not?
"When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess…do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods... Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:29-32 [29] When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
[30] Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
[31] Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
[32] What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

See All...).
Though the practices of Lupercalia have been repackaged and dressed up in the form of Valentine's Day, these verses indicate they remain just as detestable as they have always been in our Creator's eyes. Instead of pagan days and practices, our focus should be on the Holy Days God has given us in the Bible, which point us toward His amazing and incomparable plan for all of humanity.
For more information, please read the free Bible study guide  "Holidays or Holy Days: Does It Matter Which Days We Observe? "



 

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Roe v. Wade: A 41 Year Long Holocaust

Wednesday, January 22, 2014 (All day)

You can sanitize the language but its still murder. Abortion has desensitized us to the reality of what is happening when an unborn life is terminated. How long before the judgment of God comes upon a people who do this?


http://www.ucg.org/beyond-today-daily/christian-living/roe-v-wade-41-year-long-holocaust

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Current Events & Trends: The global war against Christians

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article by Jerold Aust, John Ross Schroeder

John Allen Jr. recently authored a book titled The Global War on Christians. Subsequently he wrote an article on the topic for The Spectator in which he began with scenarios of correspondents reporting on significant events without pointing out their significance.

He stated: "Most people would say that journalists [in such cases] had failed to provide the proper context to understand the news. Yet that's routinely what media outlets do when it comes to outbreaks of anti-Christian persecution around the world, which is why the global war on Christians remains the greatest story never told of the early 21st century" (Oct. 5, 2013).
During this relatively new century, appalling examples of persecution, murder and forced exile have happened in Egypt, Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea and even India. Yet even these terrible occurrences should be seen in a much wider context.
Allen continues in The Spectator: "According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular observatory based in Frankfurt, Germany, 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed at Christians. Statistically speaking, that makes Christians by far the most persecuted religious body on the planet."
Persecution against Christians in countries like Britain and America remains much less dramatic than murder, brutal deprivation and the voluntary or involuntary exile of refugees. But it is still there. For instance, a headline in Britain's Mail Online reads "Christians Lose Out to Atheists for Senior Jobs as Religious People [primarily Christians] Are 'Held Back From Top Positions'" (Aug. 3, 2013).
Further, a blurb beneath the headline of a Telegraph article stated that "Britain's most senior policeman has been urged to issue guidelines to his officers to protect Christians' rights to free speech, amid claims they are suffering intimidation and discrimination from police" ("Christians Demand Free Speech Guidance From Scotland Yard Chief," July 27, 2013).
And then there is the actual brutality and slaughter that Christians face in other parts of the world. Allen stated: "In effect, the world is witnessing the rise of an entire new generation of Christian martyrs. The carnage is occurring on such a vast scale that it represents not only the most dramatic Christian story of our time, but arguably the premier human rights challenge of this era as well."
Paul and the original apostles of Christ were brutally martyred except possibly John, who was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation. The Bible clearly indicates that persecution and martyrdom will increase and intensify at the time of the end. (Sources: The Spectator, The Telegraph, Mail Online.)

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Why This Death Didn't Count

article by Good News Editor

Hate crime legislation and politically-motivated reporting can have a staggering effect on what news is reported to the public.

Most Americans, and many in other countries, have heard of Matthew Shepard, the 21- year-old Wyoming college student who in October 1998 was robbed, beaten and left to die on a fence in an alleged antihomosexual "hate crime." Details of his death and the trials of his murderers were recounted endlessly in newspapers and television news programs. He became a cause célèbre for hate-crime legislation and the subject of several books and at least two made-for-TV movies.
Few, however, have ever heard of Jesse Dirkhising. That's not surprising, since the Arkansas seventh-grader's tragic death less than a year later, in September 1999, and the circumstances surrounding it were not considered newsworthy by those who shape the news we hear.
The difference, as some media watchers have pointed out, is that the two men who tied up and blindfolded 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising, gagged him with his own underwear and repeatedly sodomized him before he suffocated were homosexuals. When Mr. Shepard was murdered, a great outcry arose for more hate-crime legislation. When Jesse Dirkhising was murdered, not only was there no outcry for hate-crime legislation, there were extremely few news sources that even carried the story.
A writer for The New Republic , himself a homosexual, reported on the media double standard in the April 2, 2001, edition. ". . . You've probably never heard of this case," he wrote. " The New York Times has yet to run a single story about it. The Washington Post has run only a tiny Associated Press report-and an ombudsman's explanation of why no further coverage is merited . . .
"In the month after Shepard's murder, [the media reported] 3,007 stories about his death. In the month after Dirkhising's murder, [the media reported] 46 stories about his. In all of last year, only one article about Dirkhising appeared in a major mainstream newspaper, The Boston Globe. The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times ignored the incident completely. In the same period, The New York Times published 45 stories about Shepard and The Washington Post published 28. This discrepancy isn't just real. It's staggering . . .
"So why the obsession with Shepard and the indifference with regard to Dirkhising? The answer is politics. The Shepard case was hyped for political reasons: to build support for inclusion of homosexuals in a federal hate-crimes law. The Dirkhising case was ignored for political reasons: squeamishness about reporting a story that could feed anti-gay prejudice, and the lack of any pending interest-group legislation to hang a story on.
"The same politics lies behind the media's tendency to extensively cover white 'hate crimes' against blacks while ignoring black 'non-hate crimes' against whites. What we are seeing, I fear, is a logical consequence of the culture that hate-crimes rhetoric promotes. Some deaths-if they affect a politically protected class-are worth more than others. Other deaths, those that do not fit a politically correct profile, are left to oblivion. The leading gay rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign-which has raised oodles of cash exploiting the horror of Shepard's murder-has said nothing whatsoever about the Dirkhising case."
Examples like this-and many more that can be found through searches of alternative media sources on the Internet-demonstrate that most major media outlets often aren't reporting the full spectrum of the news, but only the news they want you to hear . GN

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Why Are Young Christians Divorcing?

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article by Mitchell Moss

Just a few short years ago she was dressed in a long white dress and he in a tuxedo, confetti was flying, and everyone was cheering and celebrating the wedding. Now they're living separately and may even divorce. No one thought this could happen - least of all them.

Source: Thinkstock

It's sad to see any marriage run into trouble and break up. But it's a particularly sad phenomenon that an increasing number of married young adults who have been born and raised with the teachings of the Bible have begun having serious marital problems. Anecdotally, I know of a few who have even divorced. You probably know of some yourself.
What's going on in such situations? When two lives commit to become one in marriage there will be big adjustments. But are those in today's Millennial generation—those in their teens and 20s—dealing with a particular mindset and set of expectations harmful to lasting marriages?

Great expectations and the big lie

Our modern Western culture teaches us that to have a good life, we must reach for the stars, pursue our dreams and be all that we can be. It says that for us to be happy at the end of our lives, we have to be able to look back and see that we've tried everything that seems good and pursued every dream and opportunity to its fullest. In other words, the ultimate goal of life is the self-fulfillment of our own desires, wants and dreams—to have checked off everything on our "bucket list."
My generation—those now in their 20s and getting married—has been bred with the lie that self-fulfillment is the ultimate and highest attainable goal in life, and therefore by extension that love—the kind you fall into—exists to give us what we need and want. Therefore a good marriage is one where both parties get what they need.
We may not even realize what has happened to our thinking and values. We've been taught to think in a self-centered way as we pursue the ideals of the well-lived life. We rationalize that "of course God wants me to be happy," while we kick the can of responsibility down the road just a little longer.
This belief in self-fulfillment pervades our generation so deeply that it's almost as if it were in our blood. But in that version of attaining happiness, marriage is downgraded to only a part of the fulfilled life—another contributing factor to one's own personal fulfillment.

Extended adolescence

Concurrent with the rise and acceptance of this pursuit of self-fulfillment is the increasing delay of maturity—the extended period of adolescence.
Today many people delay marrying until their 30s, using their 20s as the decade to check off as many things as possible on the list before reality sets in and responsibility drags them down. The attitude could be summed up as, "Getting married at 22 seems an awful lot like leaving the party at 9:00 p.m." The "party" is the pursuit of both self-fulfillment and romantic/sexual experience.
Taken together, the quest for self-fulfillment and the extended adolescence intertwine into an idea that one should experience as much as he can while he's single, so that he can get a sense of what he values and who he is and therefore have a better chance at finding "the one."
"The one" is the person who will make him happy and whom, theoretically, he will make happy. They will be highly compatible. Their chemistry will be undeniable. Their love will come easily and naturally— so easily that all that will be required is for them to fall into it.

Finding "the one"—or not

Regrettably, "the one" is a lie handed down by Plato and Greek mythology that makes individual choice only a bystander in the drama of dating in order to find the one with whom it all "just clicks."
In that drama, however, there is real danger that the moment trouble arises (their love doesn't come so easily or their points of view don't align perfectly or their respective bucket lists change or their personalities change or whatever it may be), both parties can't help but wonder, "If this is so hard, maybe I married someone other than the one for me."
Then perhaps one of them meets somebody else who seems to be more compatible —whom he or she identifies with more and "clicks with" better—and getting to know that person the sinking feeling sets in that "I married the wrong person."
The final stage is when you hear, "It didn't work out"—as if "it" was the problem. "It" is never the problem—the people involved caused the problem.

True love isn't focused on self

But true love is not the pursuit of fulfilling one's own needs, wants and desires. True love is a sacrificing of one's own life for another. It is putting one's own wants, needs and desires in second place (or third, or fourth, or farther down the line).
Marriage is a commitment each of us makes to our Creator and our spouse. Marriage partners are "to be heirs together of the grace of life" (1 Peter 3:7Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
See All...). In other words, we are to work together to help each other attain our ultimate goal of God's Kingdom (Matthew 6:33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
See All...).
We are to encourage and help each other to succeed in this life's endeavors, but with that to grow in grace and knowledge so that we can stand before Jesus Christ at His return (Luke 21:36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
See All...). To do this we set aside self-fulfillment in favor of what the other needs.
It involves making one's life the definition of service in living for the other. It entails setting aside childish shortcomings, avoidance of responsibility and foolish distractions and striving to emulate the perfect love and example of Jesus Christ.
To be clear, by no means do I recommend that we shouldn't experience life to its fullest, that we shouldn't pursue our dreams or that we shouldn't seek self-fulfillment. Nor do I mean that we shouldn't find out through dating what type of person will make a happy, fulfilling marriage the most likely for both parties. Or that we shouldn't have a list of goals to pursue and live to our fullest potential with the talents God has given us.
I don't mean to imply any of that. None of the things mentioned are bad or good in and by themselves. Knowing firmly who you are and finding a compatible person with whom to share your life makes the Christian walk much more enjoyable and fulfilling.

Finding a truly fulfilling life

To live a truly fulfilled life is to look back at the end of it and see that more of your time was spent serving God than not—that you sacrificed your needs and desires and dreams in deference to His will and the needs of His children, having made your life the definition of service.
We do not exist to check off the bucket list and to look back and think, "Wow, what a self-fulfilled life I've had!" It is not our destiny to live a personally satisfying life and then die. Nor is it to marry the person who makes us happy until he or she doesn't anymore and then find somebody else.
No, we exist to become like God the Father and Jesus Christ in their loving character. We exist to learn what true love is—an outgoing, service-minded devotion and care—and to exercise that love toward all of God's children. In marriage, it is to put personal needs, desires and dreams in third place behind those of God and one's spouse. It means making the hard decision not to do what feels good, but to instead do what's right.
We exist to look back and say, "Wow, I would've never dreamed of how much God used me to fulfill His purpose!" May this focus guide you in marriage and in all of life!

[Read the article: Love Is Something That We Do ]

From http://el-paso.ucg.org/  or call 1-888-886-8632.

Freedom and Free Enterprise - Great Biblical Blessings

article by Don Hooser

Few people understand how much the wonderful principles of civil liberty and free enterprise originated with God and are taught in the Bible!

Source: Photos.com

Freedom—Liberty—How sweet the sound! From the beginning of time, humanity has been "yearning to breathe free."
The greatest freedoms are spiritual, but physical, civil and economic freedoms are also important. They often overlap.
Freedom is a major theme in the Bible. In fact, the Bible has inspired people down through the ages to seek freedom for

themselves and others.
However, many people tend to take their freedoms for granted and undervalue them. They don't understand how much God wants us to cherish and protect them.
Many hold misunderstandings about the Bible. Wasn't the God of the Old Testament a severely controlling dictator? Weren't His laws a "yoke of bondage"? Weren't the Israelites poor nomads who had no personal property?
To those questions, the answer is no. God's way is that of liberty, including free exchange of goods and services, within law.

Are human beings born free?

"God created man in His own image" (Genesis 1:27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
See All...). This made man vastly superior to all the other creatures!
God said mankind was to "be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion [rule or stewardship]" over all the other creatures (verse 28). And God told Adam "to tend and keep" the Garden of Eden, implying that his descendants should tend and keep the planet (Genesis 2:15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
See All...).
Notice what God did not say: He did not specify innumerable details about how they should do it (although He clearly holds us accountable to obey His laws that are to govern our actions).
This immediately shows God's confidence in the abilities of human beings in general to learn—from their own experience and the experience of others—how to manage their occupations without rigid control by some central government.
Human beings are born free because we have been given amazing minds with which to think, learn, speak, imagine, make decisions, set goals, develop tools, invent, be entrepreneurs, be creative and artistic, develop personality, love and worship. (Other physical creatures, however, are not born free—they are ruled mainly by their instincts.)
Human government can restrict your freedom, but it can't give you freedoms because you already have them.
Freedom of choice is clearly taught in the Bible. God defines good and evil and announces rewards and punishments according to our behavior. But God leaves people free to choose between the options (Deuteronomy 30:19I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
See All...).

Do laws provide freedom or deprive people of freedom?

When man's laws are overly complex, overly restrictive and excessive in number, they largely deprive people of precious freedom. However, God's laws, which are perfect and few in number, provide for maximum liberty overall.
God, of course, does not grant absolute freedom, which would mean anarchy and license to do evil! Laws are needed to constrain people from intruding on the freedoms of others.
So the Ten Commandments are the opposite of a "yoke of bondage"! James calls them the perfect "law of liberty" (James 1:25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
See All...; 2:12, emphasis added throughout).
The Ten Commandments have been criticized for sounding negative—most saying, "You shall not . . ." But that kind of law is exactly what a nation needs—laws that restrain evil and harm to others but don't restrict free enterprise and honest business!
Free enterprise is also called private enterprise. Here's a brief dictionary definition: "Business activities unregulated by state ownership or control." It is the opposite of socialism. Today, many nations have "mixed" economies—partly free enterprise and partly socialistic.
Perhaps the most famous exponent in the 20th century of free-market economics was the Austrian-American genius Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973), author of a monumental work titled Human Action: A Treatise on Economics.
Probably the best recently published book about the science of economics is by Dr. Shawn Ritenour, an adjunct professor with the Ludwig von Mises Institute. In his 545-page book Foundations of Economics: A Christian View (2010), he explains how the many laws of economics are based on the teachings of the Bible. Two excellent shorter books are Biblical Economics by R.C. Sproul, Jr. (2008) and Money, Greed, and God by Jay Richards (2009).

Scripture teaches the importance of private property

God, of course, owns the world (Psalm 50:12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
See All...). But Psalm 115:16The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
See All... tells us, "The earth He has given to the children of men." This implies God's desire for each family to "own" a piece of property—essentially a long-term lease of God's property.
The protection of the Eighth Commandment—"You shall not steal"—shows the importance God places on private property. The Tenth Commandment—"You shall not covet"—tells us to not even think about stealing (Exodus 20:15Thou shalt not steal.
See All..., 17).
Stealing, of course, takes many forms. God's Word mandates that all measurements and standards remain accurate, consistent and unchanging to prevent the cheating of customers (Leviticus 19:35-36 [35] Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
[36] Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.

See All...). It forbids cheating or defrauding others (verse 13). It prohibits moving markers that define the boundaries of one's land and lying in any matter of law (Deuteronomy 19:14-20 [14] Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt inherit in the land that the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it.
[15] One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.
[16] If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
[17] Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
[18] And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother;
[19] Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.
[20] And those which remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you.

See All...).
All of these, and many other laws, were designed to protect the people and their property.
Just think: If a person has at least a small piece of land that is debt-free and tax-free, he can at least put up a tent, plant a garden and get by with relatively little income. It may also provide an opportunity for a profitable farm or cottage industry.
A beautiful prophecy about life on earth after Christ returns is that "everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid" (Micah 4:4But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
See All...). When it's "his vine" and "his fig tree," that means they are on his land!

Material wealth and Jesus' promotion of investment

The Bible does not say that "money is the root of all evil," as some assume. It says, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
See All...). We must love God and spiritual riches far more than physical riches.
The Bible warns against the two opposite evils of materialism and asceticism. The apostle Paul wrote that God "gives us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
See All...).
We are certainly to focus on helping others. But earning money and building wealth for ourselves puts us in a position to be of help to others—rather than burdening others with our need (though some must rely on others' generosity of course). A number of godly men in the Bible were wealthy (such as Abraham, Job and David), but they put God ahead of their wealth.
Many of Jesus' parables were stories about money and business transactions. Although His main point was always spiritual, He would not have been using financial transactions as illustrations if they were inherently evil.
For example, in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30 [14] For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
[15] And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
[16] Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
[17] And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
[18] But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.
[19] After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
[20] And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
[21] His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
[22] He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
[23] His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
[24] Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
[25] And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
[26] His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
[27] Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
[28] Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
[29] For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
[30] And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

See All...) and in the parable of the minas (Luke 19:12-27 [12] He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
[13] And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
[14] But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
[15] And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
[16] Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
[17] And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
[18] And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
[19] And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
[20] And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
[21] For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
[22] And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
[23] Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
[24] And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
[25] (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
[26] For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
[27] But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

See All...), the master expected his servants to use his money to generate a profit without telling them how or where to invest it (except that, at the end, he said that those who produced no profit should have at least deposited his money in the bank to earn interest). The servants who invested and produced a profit are praised and rewarded by the master.
The Bible praises initiative, diligence and the work ethic as wise efforts to "bear fruit" and prosper (Proverbs 10:4He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
See All...; 12:24; 13:4; 18:9; 21:5; 22:29; 24:27). And if our faith is in God rather than in ourselves, God will make sure our needs are provided (Matthew 6:33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
See All...).

A bum rap for capitalism

But haven't we heard bad things about "capitalism"? Capitalism, which is largely synonymous with free enterprise and free exchange, has been unfairly criticized. "Capital" refers to money, property, tools and other assets. And capitalism simply means the use of capital to produce goods or services that are "in demand," meaning things that are needed or desired by others. The scriptures cited above clearly support the idea of capitalism.
Many of the problems associated with so-called capitalist economies are not due to free enterprise but to criminal activity and government interference in markets (so that they are not truly free markets). Backroom dealing between certain corporations and government regulators is such an example.
Historically and generally, the fruit of free enterprise has been prosperity while the fruit of socialism (and communism) has been poverty and misery. Nevertheless, there continue to be dreamers (often with good intentions) who naively think their new variations of socialism will work wonderfully.
Yet socialism is based on the false premise that there is a fixed amount of wealth that must be redistributed for everyone to get an equitable share or "piece of the pie." This redistribution requires coerced taking from those with a bigger piece, which is in fact theft. Capitalism, on the other hand, provides a godly solution. Rather than redividing the pie, we can make more pies!
Indeed, free enterprise is the only system that allows more wealth to be generated rather than just moving around what people presently possess.
And free enterprise promotes liberty, being largely based on the principle of laissez-faire, French for "Let (people) do (as they choose)." Laizzez-faire, sometimes paraphrased as "hands off," was first clearly explained and advocated by the Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790) in his great work The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776.

He described how free societies run smoothly without government controls as if an "invisible hand" is guiding them. This is the most efficient economic model for meeting people's wants and needs. Smith is considered "the prophet of free enterprise," but the main principles he encouraged have been in the Bible all along. (Regarding a common misconception, see "The Early Church Was Not Communist—and Neither Was Jesus".)

What is the proper role for civil governments?

Paul wrote that God has ordained civil government to prevent and punish "evil" (Romans 13:1-4 [1] Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
[2] Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
[3] For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
[4] For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

See All...). Peter wrote that civil "governors . . . are sent by [God] for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good" (1 Peter 2:14Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
See All...).
The powers of federal, state and local governments should largely be limited to protecting the three great natural rights—life, liberty and property—from threats from within (crime) and from threats from without (invasion). In addition, it should protect the people from the government itself.
The word "republic" implies not only a representative form of government, but one that deals with public affairs as opposed to manipulating and micromanaging private affairs. It should not be the business of government to involve itself in private business unless that business is causing harm to others.

Consider the freedoms enjoyed in God's nation of Israel

For a long while after its establishment, the new nation of Israel was a theocracy with God as its King (compare 1 Samuel 12:12And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king.
See All...). In the Promised Land the people enjoyed the most personal liberties of any nation in the history of the world.
God gave His nation a marvelous start! Moses told them that God had promised "to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant" (Deuteronomy 6:10-11 [10] And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
[11] And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

See All...). Essentially, they received an inheritance that was all debt-free and tax-free!
As long as the people of Israel looked to God as their King, the laws didn't change. But when Samuel was the prophet and judge in Israel, the people began to insist on a human ruler "to judge us like the [other] nations" (1 Samuel 8:5And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
See All...).
Eventually God let them learn some lessons the hard way. He told Samuel to "heed their voice," but also to "solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:9Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
See All...). So Samuel forewarned them that they would see their young men and women drafted into military and government service and that they would see government confiscation of property, high taxes and other losses of their liberties (verses 10-18).
What God prophesied came to pass—over and over. As God warned, "You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day" (verse 18). What an appropriate description of our day as well!

A surprising key to the American success story

Henry Grady Weaver wrote a fascinating history and analysis of freedom and its benefits titled The Mainspring of Human Progress (1947).
Weaver described the greatest "revolution against pagan fatalism, the revolution for human freedom"—the birth of the United States. For nearly 6,000 years, progress in science and people's standard of living proceeded very slowly. Then once the American colonies became the "land of the free," there was an immediate outburst of human energy and innovation followed by prosperity.
The success of the American experiment has inspired many other nations to learn and apply valuable lessons.
What did the motley colonists have in common that unified and energized them?
It was not formal education. It was the fact that a large percentage of them were readers, and they mostly were reading the same books, including books about history and economics!
Some of the popular books were by English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), French scholar Baron Charles de Montesquieu (1689-1755), French writer Voltaire (1694-1778), Geneva-born writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), and English judge and professor Sir William Blackstone. Most of these Enlightenment thinkers were strong proponents of the Christian religion.
However, the most popular book by far was the Bible. In fact, the main reason they were highly motivated to learn to read and to teach their children to read was so they could read the Good Book!
The widespread self-education in noble books with great ideas, especially the Bible, explains why most of the colonists were people of principle and high moral character. They knew that, to a great extent, you become what you read.
The American colonists were in many respects a powerful illustration of Jesus' statement, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
See All...).
The Bible makes it clear that God deserves all the credit for making America "a great nation" (Genesis 12:2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
See All...). But some of the ideas and ideologies that God inspired in the American colonists contributed to the achievement of that greatness.

True economic freedom is yet to come

Of course, for all its greatness, the United States has periodically suffered economic woes—and matters have grown far worse as the government has grown in power. Much of what is represented as free enterprise really isn't.
Governments frequently offer financial favors, but with strings attached. With every government handout (money from taxes, or the cruel and hidden tax of monetary inflation) comes more regulations and restrictions of civil liberties.
Democracies usually eventually destroy themselves because voters are seduced by promises of short-range benefits paid for by someone else. They sacrifice liberties for perks and promises of security. They vote for the political candidates who promise them the most, with the result that government spending and taxes increase, sapping the productivity of the economy and weakening the nation until it falls to forces without or collapses from decay within.
Sadly, we read in the headlines of this erosion of economic vitality and liberty taking place now in the United States and other democratic nations.
As we've seen, the Bible indeed teaches free enterprise. But the fact is that the world has never seen free enterprise at its very best. That will happen only after Jesus Christ returns! He will give the world ideal economics combined with godly ethics. The results will be spectacular—liberty, peace and prosperity throughout the world!
The people and their children and all their descendants will enjoy every kind of wonderful blessing—as indicated in the following passage:
"They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree [many days!], so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth children for trouble; for they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them" (Isaiah 65:21-23 [21] And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
[22] They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
[23] They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

See All...).
The Bible makes it clear that free enterprise is the best economic system. When people combine free enterprise with faith in God and obedience to His spiritual laws, they not only survive, they thrive.