Pastor-teacher Don Hargrove 

Faith Bible Church

Feb. 15, 2010  

http://fbcweb.org/Audio.html   

Salvation (Titus 3:5); Sanctification (2 Cor 7:1), Maturation (Rev 3:21).

 

 

Answer key to questions 1-40

The Church-State Relationship – Part 4

(Series: GOD’S COVENANTS – Part 38:  Fifty Questions for Christians

 

Answers in boldface.

 

1.  List and describe the 8 covenants of God.

 

            a.  Edenic Covenant, Gen 1:28-30; Hosea 6:7.

            b.  Adamic Covenant.  Gen 3:14-21.     

            c.  Noahic Covenant, Gen 9:1-9.

            d.  Abrahamic Covenant, Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-18  15:18-21;17:14;  Lev 26:45.

            e.  Palestinian or Real Estate Covenant, Dt 29-30.

            f.   Mosaic Covenant,  Ex 20-40.  

            g.  Davidic Covenant, 2 Sam 7:11-16; 1 Chron.  17:10-14; Psa 89:3-4, 20-37; Jer 23:5; 33:19-20.  

            h.   New Covenant to Israel, Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:24-28; 37:21-28; Rom 11:26-27.

2.  List and describe the 7 major dispensations.

 

            a.   The Age of the Gentiles – Adam to Abraham.

            b.   The Age of the Jews – Abraham to Jesus Christ.

            c.    Age of the Hypostatic Union – Jesus Christ to Pentecost

            d.    Church Age – Day of Pentecost to Rapture.

            e.    The Tribulation – 7 yrs., from signing of treaty to Second Advent.

            f.     The Millennium – 1,000 yrs. of Christ’s Kingdom on earth.

            g.    Eternal State. 

 

3.   Where and what does the Bible teach about mankind’s innate capacity for law, order, and government?

 

 

              Romans 2:14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them,

 

4.   According to Acts 20:27ff, the job of the PT is to teach the will of God that relates only to the spiritual life (priesthood) – thus avoiding all of those controversial issues such as economics, politics, government, cults, heresy, and paganism.  True or False?

 

 

False

 

 

5.   Does the source of the lack of Christian interest in what the Bible says about government, law, and economics, stem from their irrelevance or from hidden skeptical presupposition regarding the sufficiency of the Bible.

 

 

Hidden skeptical (and pagan) presuppositions regarding the sufficiency of the Bible.  

 

Government, law, and economics is very relevant.

 

 

6.  How does the PT protect the flock and combat the “savage wolves” that come into the flock teaching perverse things? Acts 20:28-30.

 

By dogmatically teaching the whole counsel of God’s Word and when necessary identifying the “savage wolves” within Christianity along with their false doctrines (i.e. legalism, religionism, Roman-State Church collectivistic anti-capitalistic system and their pagan-Christianity).

 

 

7.   It is possible to please both Jesus Christ and man simultaneously in the dogmatic uncompromising teaching of Bible doctrine?  Gal 1:10. 

 

No.

 

 

 

8.  Is it possible to love Bible doctrine (and the Lord, Jn 14:23-24) and not be bothered by heresy in contemporary Christianity? 

 

 

No.

 

 

9.   Christianity has a monopoly on Wisdom, Colossians 2:3.   True or False.

 

 

Yes.

 

 

 

10.  Should Christians should join with other Christians who believe in many of the same core doctrines for the purpose of creating common front in order to save and advance the "Christian" cultural mandate?

 

 

No.

 

 

11.   It is possible to save a Christian culture with the social gospel even if that culture rejects the Lord Jesus Christ .  

 

 

No.

 

 

12.   Did Christ give Christians a cultural mandate to Christianize government?   

 

 

No.

 

 

13.   List 10 ways the Roman State-Church destroys good government.  

           

            a.  Promotes governmental interventionism.

            b.  Promotes governmental central economic planning.

            c.  Promotes the welfare state.

            d.  Promotes a one-world order.

            e.  Condemns capitalism.

            f.   Teaches that private property not a natural right (only State/positive right/law). 

            g.  Goal in society is “common destination of all goods.”

            h.  Teaches that man has basic natural rights (entitlements) to food, clothing, etc. by govern.

            i.    Promotes graduated income tax to redistribute wealth in government.

            j.    By denying right of government for capital punishment.       

 

14.   List 10 ways the Roman State-Church is destroying the American economy.

 

            a. Continues to teach a Marxist’s collectivist ideology (of course without the atheism).

            b. Over 57% of democrats are Catholics with strong socialistic tendencies who in turn elect liberal progressive congressmen.  Catholics are the largest voting block in America.

            c.  Continues to push an anti-capitalistic agenda through the likes of labor unions.

            d.  Continues to push for more government control as per minimum wage controls, pensions, etc.

            e.  Continues to push for bigger government and more entitlements for man.

            f.   Continues to push for the transfer wealth from our country to third world countries.

            g.  Continues to demonize capitalism and the free market.    

            h.  Continues to teach that Government is a force for good, i.e. like a family.

            i.    Continues to try to put America under international authority.

            j.    Its totalitarian nature continues to move America toward more toward totalitarian government.

 

 

15.   Is it true that Government is a natural order of things - much like a large family?

 

 

No.    

 

Government is a necessary evil.  Only instituted after the Flood (Gen 9:6) and created only because of the failure of man to govern himself because of his evil criminal nature.    

 

 

16.    Bible teaches and history confirms that Big Government ends up really helping its citizenry (cf. 1 Sam 8).   True False

 

False.

 

            1 Sam 8:10-22  And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. 12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. 15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. 16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD. 22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

 

 

17.   God mandates conscription (universal military service), Dt 20:5-8.  True False

 

 

False

 

              Deuteronomy 20:5 "The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, 'Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 'And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man begin to use its fruit. 7 'And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.' 8 "Then the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, 'Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers' hearts melt like his heart.'

 

 

18.    Did Christianity reject Christian capitalism for the first 1,500 years of history?  If so what economics did it employ?  Results?

 

Yes.

 

Aristotle’s statism, fascism.

 

Results: Statism, feudalism, rejection of individualism, guild socialism, mercantilism, totalitarianism, ignorance, poverty, diseases, superstition. 

 

19.   What type economics currently rules the West and what type economics rules the East? 

 

 

West: Keynesian economics – anti-capitalistic, anti-individual, anti-freedom, anti-Christian, anti-providence, hedonistic government; government becomes the economic “engine” with big spending and high taxes

 

East:   Marxism economics – anti-capitalistic, anti-Christian, anti-providence, Big Government

 

 

20.   Contrast Christian economics with Keynesian economics.  

 

Christian economics is built on the freedom of the individual to accumulate and dispose of his property as he sees fit.  This is true on an individual basis as well as in business.  Christian economics is responsible economics which sees virtue in saving for the future, for children, and for investment.

 

Keynesian economics is all about the here-and-now and the government running the economy rather than leaving people alone to their own ingenuity.   Keynesian economics has little to no concern for the distant future and rejects any notion of the providence of God in economics.   Keynesian economics calls itself capitalism, but it is more government-capitalism system – a.k.a. crony capitalism – perfect for politicians! 

 

 

21.   Describe the various attacks on capitalism.

           

Liberation theology.  Doctrine of “universal redistribution of all goods based on universal entitlements of all men” enforced by armed revolutionaries overthrowing the capitalistic order. 

 

Neo-orthodoxy.   Language they use in their denunciation of capitalism: “social abuses…racism…exploitation…social injustice… pathology of war and violence…violence against the rights of the poor…materialism,” et al.

 

Marxism.   Teaches that capitalism is nothing less than the evil exploitation of the workers and as a system will eventually destroy itself when people get fed up with it.   

 

Roman State-Church.    Anti-capital encyclicals (i.e. Populorum Progressio, Rerum Novarum) have been endorsed with enthusiasm by the Communist press the world over.   Roman church-state’s attitude toward capitalism is nothing more than “envy exalted.”

 

Our own federal government.  Note the anti-capitalistic rhetoric – much of which is against crony capitalism that the government is already in bed, i.e. housing market, banking, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mack.   Becoming more and more of a nanny state.    Obama continues to push his anti-capitalist scheme.

 

Liberal churches.   Continue to rail against capitalism and the true “justice” of taking care of the people. 

 

Labor unions.  Marxist rhetoric continues to create tension between management and labor which only further instills in labor a greater love and dependence upon labor unions.

 

Fascism.   Teaches that the state controls the economics, not individuals free to make their own choices.  Much of the US policy is fascistic (cf. IBM and Bill Gates with Microsoft).

 

Communism.   Espouses elimination of property as it relates to production.

 

Public schools.   Capitalism is often put in a poor light if it is taught at all.

 

Europe.   Prefer statism to free enterprise.

 

Third world countries.   Are taught that the reason they are so poor is because capitalistic rich “pig” nations like the US are so rich.

 

United Nations.  Platform for nuts all around the world to rail against capitalism (i.e. Chavez, Ahmadinejah, Friends of the Earth (mother earth worshippers), etc. ad naseam).  

 

 

 

22.    Is it inherently evil for man to look out for his true self-interest? Mt 5:29-30; 6:19-21; Mark 8:36; Gal 6:6-9; Rom 9:13;  1 Cor 9:24-27; 13:3;  Col 3:23-25;  2 Tim 2:11-13; 4:8; Heb 12:2; 1 Jn 2:28; Rev 2:17; 3:21; 22:12

 

 

No!  Man seeks his true self interest not because he is selfish but because he is rational.  The problem lies in the fact that sin distorts his view on what his true self interest is.

 

 

 

23.   Churches which work to alleviate the suffering of the poor in the name of “justice” really understand do understand true justice from a divine viewpoint.    True False

 

 

False.  Biblical justice has nothing to do with equal distribution.   Alleviating the poor falls under the category of charity, mercy, or compassion – not justice!  Biblical justice condemns playing favorites to the poor or the rich.    

 

 

 

24.   Property rights are only part of positive law; human rights and entitlements are divine rights by God.  True False

 

 

False.  Property rights are God-given not man-given rights (positive law).

 

 

 

25.  Only in true capitalism is there a separation of business and state.  True False

 

 

True.

 

 

26.  Only in capitalism is there is sacredness or privacy, property, freedom, and life under the rule of law.  True False

 

 

True.

 

 

27.   Define and describe Statolatry.    

 

 

Statolatry is making the state an idol or God.  Statolatry is the pagan worship of the state.   Statolatry runs the gamut from being a super- patriot (chauvinism) to looking up to the state as a God for protection and provisions from the cradle to the grave.   Characteristics:    asserts that the glorification and aggrandizement of the State is the object of all legitimate human aspiration at the expense of all else, including personal welfare and independent thought; seeks the expansion of the power and influence of one’s State to be achieved, if necessary, through aggressive war and colonial adventures (i.e. imperialism, mercantilism); it far exceeds patriotism of those who recognize the rights of people other than themselves to self-determination.  In Statolatry the State is God and Right as per the German State under Hitler and Italy under Mussolin.     

 

 

28.    Describe the epistemologicals failure of secular economics, both empirical (Smith, Friedman) and rationalistic (Mises).

 

Empirical secular economics is based on discovering the metaphysical absolute truths (the volition of the soul and human action) through the five senses.  This cannot even pass the logic test as you cannot get deductive truths through induction.  Note today how everyone chooses their own inductive “facts” to prove their point.   Even union workers of Michigan, who have experienced several more recessions than the rest of us, say it was not because of unions but because Michigan built its economy just on automobiles.   Note the Marxists around the world who continue to hold to their “truths” even while their economies continue to stifle, strangle, and starve the people.   Thomas Carlyle called economics “pig science.”  He also cracked, Of all the quacks that ever quacked, political economists are the loudest.  Just with a scant reading of the empirical economists, it becomes very obvious that they have no clue as to what they are doing.

 

Rationalist secular economics.  Although the methodology is sound (rational, logical), they cannot prove their first principles.  Their first principle include the idea that man is free to choose; however, in a secular materialistic world there is no true freedom.  If materialism is true man is not free and in fact does not exist as a self-conscious entity, what he thinks he is in his ego/person is but an illusion created by and the result of all of the materialistic interactions in the brain.  

 

 

29.   List and describe the 3 axioms of Christian economics.

 

 

Axiom #1 = man chooses.

Axiom #2 – only individual choose

Axiom #3 = Men act in their own self-interest.

 

30.  When did Christian economics first emerge and what where the circumstances and results?

 

Christian economics, at least on a large order, first emerged in Germany as a result of the Reformation – which meant  getting back to the Bible, away from the Roman State-Church and discovering the wonderful doctrine justification by faith, sola fide, sola Scriptura, and sola gratia – and personal responsibility (instead of corporate salvation and economics). 

 

31.   List and describe the consequences of social gospel economics.

 

Envy exalted; more poverty; spiritual and economic stagnation; rejection, watering down/corruption of Bible doctrine; rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ; more people going to Hell because of attempts at salvation by works; Civil War; revolutions, rise of dictatorships.   

 

32.   List 5 pagan forms of worship that the Roman Church adopted with the merging of the Church-State in the 4th century?

 

            a.   Roman prayers to heroes = Roman State-Church (RSC) prayers to saints.

            b.   Roman pagan Queen of Heaven, Juno =  RSC’s Mary, Queen of Heaven.

            c.   Roman privileged class of priests  = privileged priesthood of the Roman-State Church.

            d.   Roman pilgrimages to shrines = RSC’s pilgrimages to holy places.            

            e.   Roman totalitarian Church-State – RSC’s totalitarians Church-State.

 

 

33.   What is Schriftprinzip and how does it relate to economics, politics, and BD.

 

Schriftprinzip is the principle of taking the first principles, the axioms, of God’s Word and building a doctrine or worldview on economics, politics, and Bible doctrine.  Schriftprinzip is the principle that we start with the divinely revealed axioms from God and proceed by rigorous deduction construct the thousands of theorems.  Schriftprinzip is the principle of starting with the propositional revelation of God.

 

 

34.    What are the 3 axioms of true biblical Christianity.

 

Sola Fide

 

Sola Scriptura

 

Sola Gratia

 

35.    Who is the Author of the doctrine of separation of Church and State? 

 

 

Jesus Christ

 

 

36.   Define and describe the relationship between the church and state. 

 

Church and state are to be kept separate and distinct.

 

 

37.   Describe the guidelines for civil disobedience.  What are the biblical examples?

 

 

We should obey, respect, and do our best to please those in authority over us in civil government

 

We should resist and disobey government only when that government ands us to do something the Word of God forbids, or forbids us to do something the Word of God commands – either directly or by clear implication.

 

38.  What are the guidelines for a Revolution?

 

 

Rebellion usually does not work as it brings more disorder and bloodshed.

 

Nevertheless, there may be circumstances in which revolution is the only alternative when a government becomes so totally corrupt, so totally repressive, and so totally unjust as to destroy rather than promote the legitimate ends of government, revolution may then be justifiable either as a necessary good or as the lesser evil.

 Revolution is only legitimate if there are concrete plans for a new government that will ensure a better government. This takes care of all the revolutionaries of the 60’s.

 

 

39.   How does divine institution #5 apply to our nation's Messianic foreign policy of nation building? 

 

 

Divine institution #5 is nationalism and we violate this principle with our “Messianic” foreign policy of nation building for the sake of brining freedom to other governments around the world.  Most if not all of these societies have rejected Christ who alone brings freedom to any civilization.  

 

 

40.   How does the believer fulfill his responsibility of being salt and light?

 

By continuing to grow spiritually – which will take care of those destructive ideas like socialism, welfarism, satism, entitlement mentality.  By growing spiritually you will understand the world and become an overcomer as you do your job as unto the Lord and live in the security of God rather than looking for government to take care of you or to blame.  By growing spiritually you will be able to handle any crisis and reflect the glory of Christ to others who so desperately need Truth.

 

 

41.   How have very well meaning devotional Christians contributed to enormous misery in economics, government, and society?

 

 

 

42.    Describe the effect of doctrineless Christianity on politics and economics in the world today.

 

 

43.   What are the only two functions of government? (1 Pet 2:14-15; Rom 13:1-7)

 

 

44.    List and describe eight evil characteristics in the last days of the Church, 2 Thess 2:3, 7; 1 Tim 4:1-3; 2 Pet 2:1-3; 2:15; 3:3-4; 2 Tim 3:1-5; 2 Tim 4:3-4; Rev 3:15-16.

 

45.    List and describe six scriptural mandates to protect oneself against the lawless/reversionistic influences of our day, 2 Tim 3:10; 1 Jn 3:2-3; 2 Tim 3:12; 2 Tim 3:14-17; Mt 4:4; 2 Tim 4:6-8; 2 Tim 4:10; 4:17-18.

 

46.    Describe the effects of George Bush’s dramatic increase in faith-based initiatives on churches as well as in government.   

 

47.    Explain the philosophy behind the ecology movement.

 

48.    Describe how human good continues to destroy the spiritual life of the American people as well as proper function of government.

 

49.    Describe how rejection of Christianity has led to the torture and death of hundreds of millions in the 20th century alone.

 

50.    How then shall we live as we witness the ruining and destruction of our nation?