大使命50

建造火牆的時候到了

美國建國父老相信專制可能來自政府或是人民；因此，他們建立一個英明的政府制度，用火牆保護抵擋來自雙方的專制。他們警告若這些火牆被拆毀，共和政體便無法維持。在上一個世紀，我們拆毀了雙方的火牆，制度從那時開始瓦解。倘若我們不採取一些非常積極的行動，改變我們前進的方向並重建火牆，美國共和政體不會維持太久。

就一些基本面來看，現在的俄國和中國比我們美國擁有更多的自由，他們正走向更大的個人自由，儘管他們時而撞上路面上的凸塊，時而衝入壕溝。即便如此，他們再次出發，朝著個人自由的方向前進。就像許多人對他們緩慢前進不耐煩一樣，我們應該記得我們有多長時間的掙扎。甚至在美國民主近百年之後，我們仍有奴隸，並發明用來隔離甚至殺害美國原住民的集中營。任何地方或任何人的文明進展並非一帆風順或始終如一，因此讓我們也賜下恩典給那些正在掙扎的人。

然而，在成就如此多之後，現在的西方國家卻朝向專制，漸漸失去個人的自由。雖然在進入此綑綁的速度有時會慢下來，但接著就會變得更快。東方和西方將再次走向相反的方向。

還好有第三項選項，就是神的國度。每一個人所擁有的好恩賜，包括更好的政府，皆來自神。即便如此，地上沒有任何政府是神的國，就算他們有神國度的一些元素。神的國還沒有來到地上，但它一定會來。許多建造在天國原則的地上政府將『成為我主的國』。

主說在祂回來後會做一件事，就是分開『綿羊』和『山羊』的國家，祂解釋成為綿羊或山羊的資格。對那些在這裡協助為主預備道路的人，我們如此做的一個方式就是協助我們國家成為綿羊國家。我們被呼召協助為主預備道路的方式之一，就是協助我們國家採用天國原則，幫助他們成為『綿羊』國家而不是『山羊』國家。要幫助一個國家到達他們應當去的地方，我們必須先知道它目前的位置。

這世界除了馬克斯主義和資本主義外還有其他主要勢力，但這兩個勢力是近代最有力的秤錘，其餘在他們下面的只有細微差別。舉例來說，自由企業不同於資本主義，卻只有在資本主義下才能存在。就純粹的資本主義而言，你必須有資本才有機會，但就自由貿易而言，你只需要首創精神就會有機會。然而，倘若你擁有自由企業，而且成功了，你將會擁有想要投資的資本，你因此成為一位資本家。越多資本家和越多資本投資，就會有越多人在此制度裡成功。

你一定要有資本主義才能有自由企業，但資本主義若不受管束的成長，就可能抑制自由企業，藉由切斷其命脈而摧毀自己。若對政府的指導和需要做的調整置之不理，貪婪可能會以如此的方式掌管資本主義，使它開始虐待並傷害人們。這會帶來革命，沒有人希望此發生，除了馬克斯主義信奉者。馬克斯主義的命脈根源在於提倡對成功的嫉妒，他們稱之為『社會公平』。

並不是所有要求社會公平的人都是馬克斯主義的信奉者，我們必須委身社會公平以保有共和政體。即便如此，馬克斯跟隨者非常聰明，他們利用此受歡迎並崇高的名稱來調動與利用他們所謂『有用的傻瓜』。這些『有用的傻瓜』是理想主義者，馬克斯見他們容易操縱，他們卻是他所鄙視的人。當馬克斯信奉者拿到控制權時，他們總是最先感到憤怒的人。

有人這麼說，聖經仍是真實社會公平最大的提倡者，要求人人公平之餘，特別為軟弱者提供公平。它要求讓受壓制者得自由，並要求豐盛者對貧窮者慷慨。然而，基督教和馬克斯的社會公平，或和今日許多人所提倡的自由社會公平，主要的區別在於聖經沒有一處要求政府做慈善事業，而是要求個人這麼做。

一當慈惠工作機構化，就失去向上的基本能力，它變得貶低人、失去人性，總引致綑綁。下週我們會更深入來談。

(摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 50, 2013)



Time to Rebuild Firewalls, The Great Commission, Week 50
Time to Rebuild Firewalls, Week 50 
Rick Joyner

The American Founding Fathers believed that tyranny could come from either the government or from the people. Because of this, they built a brilliant system of government that had firewalls to protect against the tyranny from either direction. They warned that if these firewalls were torn down, the Republic could not last. In the last century, we tore both firewalls down, and the system has been crumbling since. The American Republic will not last much longer if we do not implement some very radical action to turn from the direction in which we’re headed and rebuild the firewalls. 

In some basic ways both Russia and China now have more liberty than we have in America. They are trending toward more individual liberty, even if they are hitting bumps on the road to this and occasionally may even run into a ditch. Even so, they get going again and are trending in the direction toward personal liberty. As impatient as many have been with their slowness in this, we should remember how long we struggled. Even after nearly a century of American democracy, we still had slavery, and America invented the concentration camps that we used for displacing and even killing Native Americans. The march of civilization has not been smooth or consistent anywhere or with anyone. So let us too give grace to those who are struggling.

However, after accomplishing so much, Western nations are now trending toward tyranny and the loss of individual freedom. There have been occasional slowdowns in this march to bondage, but then the pace gets even faster. The East and West are going in opposite directions again. 

Thankfully, there is a third column. It is the kingdom of God. Every good gift that has come down to man, including better governments, has come from above. Even so, no government on earth is the kingdom of God even if they have some of the elements of the kingdom. The kingdom is yet to come to the earth, but it surely will. Many governments on the earth that have been built on at least some kingdom principles will “become the kingdom of our Lord.” 

One of the things the Lord said that He would do after His return is to separate the nations as “sheep” or “goats.” He explained the qualifications for being a sheep or goat nation. For those who are here to help prepare the way for the Lord, one way that we do this is by helping our nation become a sheep nation. One of the ways that we are called to help prepare the way for the Lord is to help our nations adopt kingdom principles that would help them become “sheep” nations rather than “goat” nations. To help a nation get to where it is supposed to go, we must first know where it is. 

There are other major forces in the world than Marxism and capitalism, but these have been the two most powerful counterweights in recent times. Under each of these there are nuances. For example, free enterprise is different than capitalism, but can only exist under capitalism. With pure capitalism you must have capital to have opportunity, but with free enterprise you only need initiative to have opportunity. However, if you have free enterprise and you become successful, you will have capital that you will want to invest, so you become a capitalist. The more capitalists and the more capital there is to invest, the more people have been successful in the system.

You must have capitalism to have free enterprise. But if capitalism grows unchecked, it can choke out free enterprise and destroy itself by cutting itself off from its lifeblood. Left to itself without any steering and the needed corrections from government, greed can take over capitalism in such a way that it starts to abuse and hurt people. This leads to revolution and is not in anyone’s interest to allow this to happen—except the Marxists. The lifeblood of Marxism is promoting the envy of the successful, which they call “social justice.” 

Not all who call for social justice are Marxists, and there is a devotion to social justice that we must have to remain a Republic. Even so, Marx, and subsequent Marxists, have been brilliant in the way they have seized popular and even noble terms to mobilize and exploit those whom Marx called the “useful idiots.” The “useful idiots” were the idealists that Marx saw as being so easily manipulated, but which he also despised. They were always the first to feel the wrath when Marxists gained control. That being said, The Bible is still the biggest proponent of true social justice, and requires justice for all with a special devotion to providing justice for those who are weak. It requires freedom for the oppressed, and then it requires generosity from the prosperous to the poor. However, the key distinction between Christianity and the Marxist social justice, or the liberal social justice promoted by many today, is that nowhere does The Bible demand charity from the government, but from individuals. 

When charity becomes institutional it loses its basic power to uplift. It becomes demeaning, dehumanizing, and always leads to bondage. We will develop this further next week.