Separation of Church and State

Separation of church and state....what a concept! What a privilege to live in the land of the free!

Only one week until we gather at the voting booths, and I can hardly wait! I have always had a special interest in politics and government. I have VERY strong affiliations, and I CANNOT WAIT to exercise my right to vote next Tuesday. Probably 90% of the voters I know will cast the ballot the same way I do, but that is not good enough for me. Something bigger than the next elected haunts my thoughts on this Halloween Eve. I smell danger.

In the beginning, our nation's fathers laid the foundation of our great country implementing separation of Church and State. It's great to have government out of church business, but I believe the bigger revelation is the importance of keeping the church out of the government. Don't misunderstand me please.  I just know that God is more concerned with freedom than right and wrong.

Unfortunately the church has indulged in the tree of the knowledge of good and evil except we call it, “being right.” There is life here we are missing. Some are inappropriately using the pulpit to promote a political agenda “in the name of God.” Ummm...There is a big difference between being led by the Spirit and being led by the pulpit. Even if the pulpit is Spirit led and traveling the same river you are, no man is EVER to take the place of the inner voice inside you. Putting any man between us and God denies God of the oneness and relationship that he paid such a great price for.

Some of my most favorite people in the world have ministry titles, and if I'm honest I have to admit I am one too.   I'm for ALL people getting into politics. What I am opposed to are preachers manipulating people in the name of God from their pulpit to vote the “right” way.   I personally cannot listen to someone who trades their Sunday opportunity to share life for a political platform. It's dangerous! It's death! It's a return to bondage! 

We place people in authority and allow them to make decisions for us, speak into our lives, and tell us what to think instead of listening to that voice within us who teaches us and guides us into all Truth. Are ministers or political figures really any different than we are? Do we really put a man above us because of a title? The same God who loves them, loves us. If God himself became a man and made us coheirs with Him, why would we think it is right to place a man above us to the point we grow numb to his witness in our heart?

At the beginning of this year when the candidates blazed the campaign trail, I decided that this election year I would listen past their words and hear what they were really saying. Oh. My. Goodness. What I “heard” literally changed my life. God showed me what it means to listen with the ears of my heart. It is the same reason why Jesus heard what Simon was THINKING as the lady washed him with her alabaster and tears. I realized I had been trained to use fleshly ears to operate in this world, when really it's the senses of our heart that are the most sensitive. When you know something from the Spirit, there is no doubting. I don't need a man telling me what to think. I have ears to hear. And because I know that, I also don't feel like I have to help you think either. We all have the same God. Even if someone makes a mistake, is the freedom to err not more important than the right choice? After all, we are only free when we are free to fail.

It is a dangerous, DANGEROUS thing to allow a man to tell us what to think and how to act. It is the most seductive of temptations that inevitably has us marching around like brainwashed little puppets.   It is this way of thinking that allows the 10% to control the 90. Handing over our responsibility to another man to “hear” for us makes us question and doubt ourselves. When we doubt ourselves, we are easier to control. We become dependent on a man-made system instead of living in the Kingdom of God. We behave like we are told to behave. Say what we are told to say. Vote like we are told to vote. It makes us apathetic. It is a breeding ground for wicked rule-benders to rise and lead. We stick our heads in the sand as the few squeaky wheels take control of the masses.

Our nation was founded by a cool group of free-thinking radicals who dared to question authority and perceive that all men are created equally. Generations later we are drowning in a lake of apathy because we have been trained to let others think for us. I firmly believe more trouble comes for our nation because we the people have been desensitized by our dependency on a man to think for us and less with the political party in power. When people have confidence in their inner voice, no man, no nation, no world can rule him. We rule ourselves...A DEMOCRACY. Separation of church and state was put in place because our forefathers had a revelation of freedom...freedom in every sense...Freedom in church and Freedom in State.  TRUE FREEDOM! Ministers who use the pulpit as a political forum rather than simply sharing the love that is shed abroad in their hearts is misusing their calling/career. Bringing State matters into the church even for the “right” leads to the death of the very freedoms our nations was founded on and preached about. 

I have good news for ministers!!! Ministers are not responsible for the outcome of this election. We are not even responsible for people. Leave all that stuff up to God. We can trust Him and love them.  Encourage your listeners to listen to their inner voice. Be responsible for your message of life....not the message of right verses wrong, a.k.a the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If it was up to God we would not even know what that tastes like. Free people in church to keep our nation full of free people. A people confident in their inner man will become the strong voice in our nation, and God's kingdom will be established on the earth. It's time to regain our freedom. God's kingdom is opposite of man's kingdom. He is establishing HIS government....one that is governed by relationship and love. Yes, he really is THAT good!

I am conservative times a billion, but I didn't go eat at Chick Fillet ON PURPOSE. Why? Because my heart grieved for the people who claim homosexulaity as their identity and who Christians declare guilty. Congratulations to us church! We just built a bigger divide between God and some real people whom he loves. No wonder the world sees us like judgmental ass holes. We took a big stand against someone's behavior. Wow. We placed our “rightness” above something so clearly “wrong.” Do we really think taking a big stand at their behavior is going to change them? Do we really think our BEHAVIOR was anything more? I believe Jesus would have been hanging with the other side not to fix them, but because he loves them.  Please don't miss understand me. Maybe you ate at Chic Fillet on August 1^st just because you had a hankering for a chicken sandwich and some of those plaid potatoes. I didn't go because I didn't want to. To me a better stand would have been to proclaim the innocence of the homosexuals and buy their lunch. I didn't need a committee telling me to go or not to go. I didn't have to call up people I “submit to” to ask if I should or shouldn't go. Rejection never has or ever will introduce anyone to Jesus. The Kingdom of God is not governed like we think. Jesus made friends with the biggest sinner and traitor in town. He royally angered the people who “loved” him by being kind to someone who offended them. But when Zaccheus felt accepted and loved by Love himself, he didn't need a committee or a pulpit telling him how to behave. He woke up to Truth and said, “Whatever I have taken I will pay back four fold.” ...I'm glad Jesus didn't take a stand for what everybody else thought was “right.” He stood up for the person. That is the God I know. That is the government of the Kingdom.

November 6^th is just seven exciting sleeps away. Let's all go out and vote. What matters more than who we vote for is that we vote because we are lead from the inside out. ...Vote your instincts. We the people can do this without a man telling us what to think. This is the only way for liberty and justice for all.