Strategos

2Co 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds…

There cannot be any doubt that the Christian is in a war. It is a war of ideas and of philosophies, and at its very root it is a war of religion. Theological differences are always at the root of every societal conflict. All life is religious.

Christendom has been beaten to a pulp in the last 150 years, and as a result it has lost all sense of the Kingdom’s earthly destiny. No longer is there any real talk of long term strategy for righteousness to cover the land. Too many are waiting for the rapture. Too many base the deliverance of the societal structure on the second coming, as if the first coming was insufficient and therefore unsuccessful.

This mindset is reproachful and it is entirely un-biblically sinful.

So what should be the strategy of Christians?

Strategist Robert Greene rightly identifies the problem by stating that too many of us are “tunnel visioned” (my term) tacticians, and not long term strategists.

By becoming enmeshed in daily conflicts and the “urgent” events that threaten our Biblical Heritage, Christians miss the big picture and fail to plan long term. The focus on the Covenant promise of victory through, and for, future generations has been lost.

While most Christians shun the realm of the culture in favor of a monastic, non-involvement approach to life, those that are engaged are usually dealing particularly with what issues are at hand. They are too concerned with how to win a single battle and have forgotten that there is an entire war to win. In the confusion of the battle they miss the long term objective, and therefore fail to craft an entire campaign for victory.

So what is strategy?

Strategy comes from the Greek word, strategos, which means literally, “leader of the army.” It is the art of generalship. Without strong leadership there can be no victory. However, without a vision of long-term victory, no matter how strong the leadership is, without that vision, sustained conquest is unattainable.

The Scripture gives various official titles to each member of Christ’s body. Some of these are ecclesiastic while others are magisterial. Of the list we have: Ambassadors, Priests, Kings, Prophets, Ministers, Shepherds, and Soldiers.

Each and every title infers some kind of leadership character. And yet, Christianity seems void of that leadership character which is essential for the establishment of the Crown Rights of King Jesus.

What the saints must do is to aim for measurable results. Once you look for results you are in the realm of strategy. Our results must look beyond the daily conflicts to the overall conquest.

Little by little the saint must position himself (or herself) in the public eye, to be an influential individual in the realm of the citizenry. We must establish ourselves as reputable, honest people of virtuous sobriety. We must gain an audience. We already have the tools of God’s Word, and thus have something crucial to say. We now must say it, and provide real solutions to real problems.

So here is the first step toward an overall plan:

1. Identify the enemy and secretly declare war.
It will be a war of ideas and philosophies, but it is a war nevertheless.
2. Become familiar with those anti Christian ideas and policies.
3. Then, mark those leaders in your community that hold to those un-Biblical and dangerous ideas.
4. Next, address them in both private and public settings. Ask probing questions and then offer some alternative insight to the problem(s) at hand. Strike up conversations among the people you meet on a daily basis; your local store owner, mailman, UPS driver, gas station attendant, insurance rep, dry cleaner, auto parts manager, CVS cashier, local city councilmen, sheriff, your dentists, doctor, pharmacist. All these have an active interest in their future, and they see problems on the horizon. If you can offer a solution people will listen – at least some will. Perhaps that will be the beginning of a ground shaking event.

We must remain active in the eye of the public while remaining very crafty. By taking the moral high ground, we will show ourselves honorable with Biblical insight for the problems of our day.

These are just some beginning steps. More to follow. Watch for it.

For more information on strategy and leadership contact us at www.newgeneva.us.

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Liberal Threats Against Conservatives

The recent events in Arizona, while shocking, are not surprising considering the heart of man being fallen and desperately wicked.

What is an added insult to a horrible series of events against innocent people is how politicians are capitalizing on this tragedy for political ends. This is sinful and it is wicked.

The story below sheds some light upon the hypocrisy, and double standard which the liberals adhere to.

(CNSNews.com) – The Media Research Center released today a list of comments made by members of the media in recent years that call for the death or suffering of conservative leaders. These quotes are evidence of the double standard that certain media exercise in blaming conservatives for the shooting in Tucson, Ariz., while ignoring liberals’ death-wish-like rhetoric against conservatives, said the organization in a press release.

“The so-called ‘news’ media have zero currency in this debate because we have documented the Left using hateful, vicious language far worse than any conservative,” said Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center (MRC), a conservative watchdog group. “Their attacks on conservatives are untrue and utterly hypocritical.”

“If they really cared about the effects of political rhetoric, they would have gone after any number of those left-wingers who have directly incited violence — starting with the man with the world’s biggest audience: President Obama,” said Bozell. “After all, he did say, ‘If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.’”

For the conclusion of this piece click here:

The National Inflation Association announces its 10 top predictions for 2011.

Until now I didn’t know of the NIA. Nevertheless, number 2 on their list concerns education, which is why you should at least consider New Geneva now for your child’s (or your own) college education.

2. Colleges will begin to go bankrupt and close their doors.

We have a college education bubble in America that was made possible by the U.S. government’s willingness to give out cheap and easy student loans. With all of the technological advances that have been taking place worldwide, the cost for a college education in America should be getting cheaper. Instead, private four-year colleges have averaged 5.6% tuition inflation over the past six years.

College tuitions are the one thing in America that never declined in price during the panic of 2008. Despite collapsing stock market and Real Estate prices, college tuition costs surged to new highs as Americans instinctively sought to become better educated in order to better ride out and survive the economic crisis. Unfortunately, American students who overpaid for college educations are graduating and finding out that their degrees are worthless and no jobs are available for them. They would have been better off going straight into the work force and investing their money into gold and silver. That way, they would have real wealth today instead of debt and would already have valuable work place experience, which is much more important than any piece of paper.

Colleges and universities took on ambitious construction projects and built new libraries, gyms, and sporting venues, that added no value to the education of students. These projects were intended for the sole purpose of impressing students and their families. The administrators of these colleges knew that no matter how high tuitions rose, students would be able to simply borrow more from the government in order to pay them.

Americans today can purchase just about any type of good on Amazon.com, cheaper than they can find it in retail stores. This is because Amazon.com is a lot more efficient and doesn’t have the overhead costs of brick and mortar retailers. NIA expects to see a new trend of Americans seeking to become educated cheaply over the Internet. There will be a huge drop off in demand for traditional college degrees. NIA expects to see many colleges default on their debts in 2011. These colleges will be forced to either downsize and educate students more cost effectively or close their doors for good.

Here are the others:

1. The Dow/Gold and Gold/Silver ratios will continue to decline.
3. U.S. retailers will report declines in profit margins and their stocks will decline.
4. The mainstream public will begin to buy gold
5. We will see a huge surge in municipal debt defaults.
6. We will see a large decline in the crude oil/natural gas ratio.
7. The median U.S. home will decline sharply priced in silver.
8. Food inflation will become America’s top crisis.
9. QE2 will disappoint and the Federal Reserve will prepare QE3.
10. Sarah Palin will announce she is running for President as a Republican.

Explicitly Christian Politics is the Only Answer

So now what?
What are we to expect from our new Congress? Well, for one one thing if God’s principles of government are ignored things will continue to unravel. They may unravel at a slower pace, but rest assured they will unravel nevertheless. While the Tea Party activists and the lucid Republicans are seeking a change for the ‘better’, without the implementation of an explicitly Christian, Theonomic approach to government, things will not improve.

So what should be the principle approach to government? What solution should be adopted so as to insure individual liberty, justice, peace and economic prosperity?

Consider the Christian Liberty Party’s Platform. Being originally founded upon many of these principles, America not only needs to return to them, but refine them, so as to be all the more explicitly Christian.

Preamble

We affirm the belief in the Triune God of the Holy Bible and acknowledges the Bible (God’s written Word) to be the highest and final authority to which all other authorities and ideas must ultimately yield. God’s Word is Truth[1]. Biblical principles are simply truths drawn from Scripture, which must be applied to all of life, and it is upon these principles that this party exists and acts.

Because Jesus was given absolute authority in heaven and on earth[2], there can be no such thing as intellectual, religious or ethical neutrality. No civil government can be neutral toward the present dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, we must look to the Bible (rather than humanistic political philosophy) to discover God’s revealed will for the state as well as for the family, and the Church.

Further, we affirm that the Bible expressly teaches that God operates covenantally with men and institutions and that Scripture reveals a covenantal model by which men, institutions and nations are historically and judicially bound. It is because of this that we seek to call our nation to obedience to God’s sovereignty and rule, so that in turn, our nation may enjoy the fruits of living according to God’s perfect law of liberty[3].

First Principles

First Principles represent God’s revealed will (God’s Word, the Bible) by which all men, covenant institutions, and nations are held accountable. There is no area of life in which they do not govern.

1. Sovereignty of God.

Scripture declares the Triune God to be sovereign over all of life[4], and that all men, nations, and rulers must fear God[5] and unreservedly submit to Him as their Sovereign and only Potentate[6].

2. Human Authority

Since God’s authority alone is absolute[7], all human authority must be delegated[8], limited[9], specified[10], and accountable to God[11].

3. Law and Ethics

God’s Lordship[12] over politics and human affairs is expressed in His unchanging, holy, just, and perfect law[13], which reveals and defines true justice[14], continues to have abiding authority[15], and is sufficient to equip men and rulers for every good work[16].

4. Providence and Sanctions

God governs in the affairs of men and nations and very tangibly blesses and/or curses men and nations to the degree that they love, honor and obey His laws, or rebel against them[17].

5. Progress and Inheritance

God guarantees that our labors in the Lord will never be in vain[18], that Christ’s kingdom will keep advancing[19], and that eventually the meek shall inherit the earth[20] as a prelude and “hastening” of the final inheriting of a new heavens and a new earth[21].

Governmental Principles

Governmental or Political Principles represent a Biblical philosophy of government, and reveal the fundamental pattern for the manner in which institutions and nations should be governed.

1. Self-Government under God

Whereas rebellion to God leads to slavery[22], individual submission to God in thought, word, and deed[23] leads to liberty[24] and qualifies men to govern under the perfect law of liberty[25] in a way that brings God’s blessing[26].

2. Covenantal Institutions

God has ordained three separate, distinct covenantal institutions for the advancement of His kingdom: family[27], church[28], and civil government[29], with each deriving its definition, legitimacy, authority, purpose and jurisdiction[30] from the Word of God[31], and each expressly commanded to not usurp the other’s responsibilities[32].

3. Limited Government

The limitations in jurisdiction and authority placed upon governmental institutions by God’s Laws, and made necessary by depravity and human nature, are recognized in Biblically-grounded constitutional checks and balances such as separation of powers horizontally[33], separation of powers vertically[34] and checks to power by way of interposition[35].

4. Oaths and Public Office

All public officers should affirm their covenantal responsibilities and their loyalty to Christ’s absolute Kingship[36] by an oath of office, i.e. affirmation, pledging faithfulness to His infallible, revealed, covenantal Word.

5. Covenant Faithfulness and Continuity

Good government, whether family, church or state, is perpetuated from generation to generation only as the leaders of all forms of government cling to God’s grace, diligently study and obey His laws, depend upon His Spirit, and insist that rulers govern in the fear of God[37]

[1] John 17:17

[2] Matthew 28:18

[3] James 1:25

[4] Psalm 2; 22:28; 59:13; Proverbs 21:1; Daniel 4:34-37; 5:21; Matthew 28:18; Acts 17:26; 1 Corinthians 15:27-28; Hebrews 2:8; Philippians 2.10

[5] Exodus 18:21; Leviticus 25:43; 2 Samuel 23:3; Nehemiah 5:15; Psalm 2:11

[6] Psalm 2:1-12; Psalm 110:1-2; 1 Timothy 6:15

[7] Psalm 22:28; Daniel 4:34-35; Matthew 28:18; 1 Corinthians 15:27-28; Hebrews 2:8

[8] 2 Chronicles 13:5; Daniel 2:37,38; 7:6,12; Romans 13:1; John 19:11

[9] John 19:11; 2 Corinthians 10:13; Romans 13:1 [lit. “there is no authority if not from God”]

[10] Deuteronomy 5:32; 17:20

[11] Romans 13:1-6

[12] Micah 4:1-2; Psalm 2

[13] Romans 7:12,16; Psalm 19:7-8; Deuteronomy 17:19; 28:58

[14] Nehemiah 9:13; Proverbs 31:5; Isaiah 51:4; Ezekiel 18:5,9; Romans 7:12

[15] Deuteronomy 11:20-32; Psalm 111:7,8; 119:89-92, 152, 160; Matthew 5:17-19

[16] 2 Timothy 3:16-17

[17] Deuteronomy 27:11-28:68; 1 Samuel 2:30; Proverbs 14:34; Jeremiah 18:7-10; Jonah 1:1-2; 3:5-9

[18] 1 Corinthians 15:58

[19] Psalm 72:11,17; 82:8; 86:9; Isaiah 9:7; 11:9; 42:4; Matthew 16:18

[20] Psalm 37:11,22; Isaiah 11:4; Matthew 5:5

[21] 2 Peter 3:11-13

[22] John 8:34

[23] 1 Corinthians 10:31; 2 Corinthians 10:5; James 1:26; 3:2; Philippians 3:15; Ephesians 4:17-32

[24] Psalm 119:45; James 1.25

[25] James 1:25; 2:12

[26] James 1:25

[27] Genesis 2:24; Acts 3:25

[28] Acts 14:23; Philippians 1:1

[29] Genesis 9:6; Romans 13:1-7

[30] E.g. 2 Chronicles 26:18-19; 2 Corinthians 10:13; 1 Corinthians 9:18; 1 Kings 21; Numbers 1; Matthew 8:9

[31] Family: Genesis 2:21-25; Church: Matthew 16:18; Civil Government: Romans 13:1-7

[32] 2 Chronicles 26:18-19

[33] Legislative, Executive, Judicial – Isaiah 33:22

[34] In America: Federal, State and Local; Exodus 18:21-26; Deuteronomy 1:15

[35] Joshua 2:1-16; 2 Samuel 24:3; 1 Kings 12:16-24; 18:3-4; 2 Chronicles 21:10; 26:20

[36] Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20; 29:14 in context of chapters 29-31; 2 Kings 11:4; 2 Kings 25:24; Ecclesiastes 5.4-5: Jeremiah 12:16; Ezekiel 17:13,16-19

[37] 2 Samuel 23:3; Psalm 22:27-31; 72:1-20; 78:1-72; Isaiah 9:6-7; I Peter 2:14

Explicitly Christian Politics

The Christian Liberty Party

Belief That Religion Is Losing Its Influence on American Life Hit 50-Year Peak After Inauguration of Obama, Says Gallup Data

(CNSNews.com) – Since 1957—more than half a century ago–Gallup has been asking Americans whether they think religion is increasing or losing its influence on American life.

In all that time, the largest percentage of Americans who said they thought religion was increasing its influence on American life came in the first polling Gallup conducted on the question following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the largest percentage who said they thought religion was losing its influence came–less than eight years later–in the first polling Gallup conducted on the question after the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama.

In polling done Dec. 14-16, 2001 (the first Gallup survey on the question after the 9/11 attacks), 71 percent of Americans said they thought religion was increasing its influence on American life, and 24 percent said they thought religion was losing its influence on American life. (Two percent said they thought the influence of religion was staying the “same” and 3 percent said they had no opinion.)

That was the only time in 53 years of polling on the question that more than 70 percent of Americans had told Gallup they thought religion was increasing its influence on American life.

In polling done, May 7-10, 2009 (the first Gallup survey on the question after the inauguration of President Barack Obama), 76 percent said they thought religion was losing its influence on American life and 18 percent said they thought religion was increasing its influence on American life. (Two percent said they thought the influence of religion was staying the “same” and 3 percent said they had no opinion.)

Before Obama’s January 20, 2009 inauguration, only two Gallup surveys had ever shown as many as 70 percent of Americans saying they thought religion was losing its influence on American life. Both of these polls came in the Vietnam-War era in the early days of the Nixon Administration.

In a May 1969 poll, 71 percent of Americans told Gallup they thought religion was losing its influence on American life and only 14 percent said they thought it was increasing its influence. The next time Gallup asked the question—in January 1970—75 percent said they thought religion was losing its influence on American life and 14 percent said they thought it was increasing its influence.

The perceived influence of religion on the nation’s life rebounded sharply following the 9/11 attacks. In a poll Gallup conducted in February 2001, only 39 percent said they thought religion was increasing its influence on American life. That had jumped by 32 percentage points by the time Gallup did its next survey on the question in December of that year.

Since the early days of the Obama administration, peoples’ perception of the influence of religion on American life has rebounded slightly. In a survey conducted Dec. 10-12 of this year, 69 percent said they thought religion was losing influence and 27 percent said they thought it was increasing its influence.

The Dec. 101-12 poll surveyed 1,019 adults and its margin of error was +/-4 points.

The specific question Gallup asked is: “At the present time, do you think religion as a whole is increasing its influence on American life or losing its influence?”

When Gallup first asked the question in March 1957, 69 percent said they thought religion was increasing its influence and only 14 percent said they thought it was losing its influence. (Ten percent said then they thought religion’s influence was staying the “same” and 6 percent said they had no opinion.)