Below is an excerpted and slightly edited copy of a piece written by a friend named Doug Newman of Denver, Colorado – For his site and full text, the link below:

https://foodforthethinkers.com/?s=life+liberty+and+the+pursuit

The concept that we are created equal is found in Acts 10:34. The Law of Nature is found in Romans 2:14-16. The right to life can be found in Genesis 2:7. That liberty is a gift from God, and not a privilege to be granted or revoked by government is found in Leviticus 25:10, II Corinthians 3:17, and Galatians 5:1, I Corinthians 7:23. The pursuit of happiness is found in Ecclesiastes 3:13.

The separation of powers into three government branches is based on Isaiah 33:22.

The First Amendment has its roots in at least 5 places. (Daniel 3 and 6), Acts 4:19 and 5:29, and Proverbs 27:17

The immunity of churches from taxation has its roots in Ezra 7:24.

The Second Amendment has its roots in at least 4 places. I Samuel 13:19-21, Proverbs 25:26, Luke 11:21, 22, and Luke 22:35, 36

The Bill of Rights, which is actually a bill of prohibitions on Uncle Sam, is really the Golden Rule Matthew 7:12 applied to politics. Its protections apply to both citizens and non-citizens. Exodus 22:21, Leviticus 24:22 and Deuteronomy 1:16, 24:17, 27:19.

Consider the Fourth Amendment and its requirement for search warrants. Do you like people reading over your shoulder or asking you too many personal questions? Then don’t give your government license to barge into other people’s lives!

Consider the Fifth Amendment and self-incrimination. Would you like to be forced to testify against yourself? Then why should people be forced to testify against themselves? When Jesus was before the high priests, right before He was crucified, He even said, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.” John 18:23 See also Luke 23:9.

Consider the Sixth Amendment, which deals with jury trials and the rights of the accused. Have you ever been falsely accused? Did you enjoy it? Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 19:18-19, Proverbs 24:28 and 25:18 and Matthew 18:16, Deuteronomy 19:15 requires multiple witnesses to establish a fact and obtain a conviction. (See also Numbers 35:24; Job 31:35, Isaiah 50:8, and Acts 25:27) Your right to face your accuser is based on Acts 25:16.

The Sixth and Seventh Amendments guarantee the right to trial by jury. (See Numbers 35:24) When the Constitution was written juries had the power not only to judge the facts but also the laws relevant to the case. And if even one juror thought the law unbiblical, unconstitutional, unjust, or just plain stupid, he could vote to acquit, and the defendant would walk. This is the ultimate check on bad laws. It has a basis in the Bible. (Isaiah 10:1, Luke 11:46)

Consider the Eighth Amendment. What is Christian about cruel and unusual punishment?

Consider the Ninth Amendment, which protects your right to do all kinds of things as long as they do not harm another. Smoking marijuana – a plant that God gave us in Genesis 1:11 — and home-schooling your children – come to mind. You don’t have to like what another person is doing. However, Scripture tells us to leave them alone. (Proverbs 3:30)

Christians are some of the biggest control freaks and busybodies in today’s world. This is just not biblical. (I Thessalonians 4:11, II Thessalonians 3:11, I Timothy 5:13 and I Peter 4:15)

Colossians 2:20-23 is a wonderful passage on the folly of so much moral legislation we see nowadays. It may look like we are instilling morals, but such laws do not – and cannot – curb our carnal appetites.

Christian virtue cannot be instilled by force. Jesus will never force His way into a person’s life. (Revelation 3:20) A truly wholesome and godly life is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and nothing else. (Galatians 5:22, 23)

Consider the Tenth Amendment, which forbids Uncle Sam from engaging in any activity not especially authorized elsewhere in the Constitution. This is another way of saying “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17, and Luke 20:25

Proverbs 22:6 and Ephesians 6:4 direct parents and no one else to raise their kids.

Consider the power of Congress “To coin Money, regulate the value thereof … and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures.” Coinage Act of 1792 also specifies weight and contents and confirms the Biblical principles. There are at least six Scriptures relating to this issue. Leviticus 19:35, 36; Deuteronomy 25:13-16; Proverbs 11:1, 20:10, 23; Ezekiel 45:10-12; Amos 8:4-7 (what the bankers do with inflation) and Micah 6:11

Biblical money is always a specific fixed weight of a precious metal. Genesis 23:15-16; Exodus 30:13; Leviticus 25:27; Numbers 3:47 and 18:16; Deuteronomy 22:19; I Kings 10:14; II Kings 5:22-23, 6:25; Nehemiah 5:15; Jeremiah 32:9-10

At one time, $20 in paper currency would purchase 1 oz. of gold. Today, it takes over $2,700 of paper dollars to purchase 1 oz. of gold. The gold has not changed, but the value of the paper has. This is a violation of Proverbs 20:10. Do you know why we have the inflation we do and why so many other societies have so much more? Do you know why America has over $35 trillion in debt? The answer is simple: we have rejected biblical money. Since 1913, our dollar has lost 98 percent of its value.

Let’s talk about another economic issue: a market economy versus a socialist economy. With the Eighth and Tenth Commandments, God ordains private property and a market economy. Theft and covetousness are the very basis of socialism.

America became the mightiest economic machine the world has ever seen because – more than any country – we heeded the Eighth and Tenth Commandments. In fact, we did not have a personal income tax until 1913. An income tax gradually turns us into slaves – i.e. involuntarily laboring for someone else’s benefit. It violates I Corinthians 7:23.

And if you don’t believe we are socialist, ponder this: Social Security and Medicare have $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Those are monies promised to you and me that they do not have the resources to pay out. We are headed toward an economic wall for a lot of reasons. The main reason is that we have forsaken God’s teaching about economics.

What about the poor? Shouldn’t we be helping the poor? Yes, WE should be helping the poor voluntarily. As II Corinthians 9:7 tells us:

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

I can put a gun at your head and demand that you pay a tax, but this is not charity. It is extortion. True charity is voluntary. Like any Christian virtue, it cannot be forced.

At the end of Acts 2 and Acts 4, we see communities of Christians who lived together in a very communal fashion. This was not the result of a progressive income tax but of the Holy Spirit.

It’s important to note that King Solomon never had a flush toilet, Cornelius Vanderbilt never rode in a car, John D. Rockefeller was never on the internet, and no slave owner ever had a light bulb. And yet, in our time in America, people we classify as poor have all these things. This is because we have, even in our time, allowed markets rather than mandates to dictate our economic life.

One other thing about economics and let’s move on.

People often say that a free market leads to huge economic disparities that are incompatible with Jefferson’s statement that “all men are created equal.” The best answer I have ever heard to this comes from Malcolm Muggeridge, a British author who was a very outspoken Christian.

“Only as children of God are we equal; all other claims to equality — social, economic, racial, intellectual, sexual — only serve in practice to intensify inequality.”

Let me illustrate. One percent of the people in North Korea are equalizers and the other 99 percent were the equalizees. If you don’t like inequality under a market economy, try it under a Marxist economy.

The equalizer and his equalizees.

Time is short this morning, so I will now transition from Christian thinking to Christian living. What are we to do with what we now know? How shall we now live? How shall we influence our society for the better if not through politics?

We opened this morning with a passage from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus did not preach this to a group of politically and economically powerful people at some imperial prayer breakfast at some Taj Mahal of a megachurch in Rome. Rather, he preached it to common simple people in a forgotten backwater of the Roman Empire.

There was no doubt all kinds of sin and vice and debauchery in Jesus’ time. Moreover, Christianity was an outlaw religion for the first few centuries of its existence. Yet, we never hear Jesus or Paul or anyone else talking about “mobilizing” Christians to “take back Rome.”

Yes, I believe Christians should vote and that they should keep a vigilant and discerning eye on their worldly governments. However, all this talk about “mobilizing” Christian voters to “take back America” is worldly talk and not godly talk. That is not how you change society in a godly direction.

The first three words of the United States Constitution are “We the people.”

Just in case anyone is confused, that means US!

It also means everything that emanates from us.

Again, Jesus’ Kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36) As Christians, our citizenship is in Heaven. (Philippians 3:20)

The kingdoms of man operate from the top down and from the outside in. They compel behavior through brute force.

The Kingdom of God influences our lives through the Holy Spirit. It works through moral conviction. It changes our lives individually. (Hebrews 4:12-13) While it lacks the allure of the world’s kingdoms, it has a far more powerful influence on human behavior.

And it has had profound results in society.

In 1905, it was perfectly legal for a ten-year-old to walk into a corner drug store, plop cash down on the counter, and buy heroin. And we had almost no drug problem! Why? Because parents had a far stronger presence in the lives of their children and preachers had no inhibitions about preaching about sin and Hell!

Slavery was well on its way out in the 1850s. It was only a matter of time before it went away. Slavery ultimately ended not because of the Civil War, but because of the growing conviction in the hearts and minds of Americans that slavery was just plain wrong.

The real victory in the civil rights revolution of the 1960s was, again, the growing conviction in the hearts and minds of Americans that segregation, discrimination, and racism were just plain wrong.

The movement to end slavery as well as the civil rights movement a century later had profound Christian roots. These things did not happen top-down out of Washington, DC. Rather, they happened from the bottom up.

In Matthew 20:25-28, Jesus tells us not to exercise self-righteous power over people, but to be their servants. In John 13:5, Jesus, i.e. the King of the Universe, washes the disciples’ feet! Imagine calling your city councilperson and asking him or her to wash your feet!

The Christian life is not glamorous. The real dirty-fingernail work of Christianity is not going to make headlines. It is not about electing people to office and elevating them to totally undue levels of power and glory. In Hosea 8:4, God rebukes the nation of Israel saying:

“They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not….”

In the First Century, a Roman official said this to the Emperor Hadrian about the Christians he had encountered.

“They love one another; they never fail to help widows; they save orphans from those who would hurt them; if they have something they give it freely to those who have nothing; if they see a stranger, they take him home and are happy as though he were a real brother.”

Even though Christianity was an outlaw religion, this did not stop Christians from setting a noble example in their lives. To paraphrase this Roman official: “These Christians sure are cool. They are different in a good and positive way. They live their lives in a way that we should aspire to.”

What example are you setting with your life? Are you active in the pursuit of godliness? Does your life radiate the fruits of the Spirit, i.e. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? (Galatians 5:22-23) Do people see you as just a cut above others? Do people see you setting an example that they want to emulate? Do people even like you?

I am no better than anyone and I am not saying this to brag. I have set a pretty rotten Christian example many times in my life. However, I can tell you that I have a lot of secular friends who like being around me because they know I am a Christian and they just see something different. I am very convinced that someday some of these people will become Christians.

This is how we influence our world—from the bottom up! From the grassroots! It is not glamorous, but this is how God tells us to work. He tells us to live such godly lives that secular people cannot help but notice something profoundly different about us (I Peter 2:12). We will need to do much more of this in the days and years ahead.

Consider Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!”

As we used to say in the Navy, stand by for heavy rolls. The intensifying turmoil around us is just part of the storm I have seen gathering since the early 1990s. These events are part of what I call the Big Ramp-Up to the End Times prophesied so often throughout Scripture.

I once received an e-mail from a friend counseling me and others to do the following:

 “Shut off the TV and radio, turn off your computer (check e-mails only as absolutely necessary), throw away the worldly newspapers and mags, and sit down with the Holy Bible and read that for a while and let God speak to your heart.  Do that for a month and see how much clearer your thinking will be.”

Get back into your Bible and get a grip on things. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:7) Courage is not the absence of fear but rather stepping forward and doing what you are called to do in spite of your fear. You were made for a time such as this. (Esther 4:14) God put you here at this place, at this point in history, and in your current set of circumstances for a reason as part of His Divine Plan. Jesus promised that we would have tribulation, but told us to be of good cheer, as He has overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Revelation 13 prophesies a world economy, a world religion, and a world government. Do not be deceived! The Antichrist is going to look so good in the world’s eyes. And he will be a political figure. Do not fall for this. Do not take the chip or any other “mark”. Do not conform to the world. (Romans 12:2)

I know this might be scary. I know you want rest for your soul. But I am just trying to be a watchman on the wall. (Ezekiel 33:6)

I have been struggling with some issues lately and some friends have reminded me that our current circumstances might seem insurmountable, but they are microscopic against the backdrop of eternity. They are just a zit on a whale’s butt. How’s that for a profound theology?

Just remember that as a Christian, your King is radically different than any earthly king or prince or president or dictator. Jesus had no blueprint for society or plan for humanity. He had no program for making Israel great again, or for any sort of Great Society, Great Leap Forward, Five-Year Plan or Thousand-Year Reich.  

In a sense, though, He offers us a New Deal and a chance to build back better. This sense is not political. It means that if you simply place your faith in Him, you will have everlasting life.

He sends us out like sheep among wolves and instructs us to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. And if we just stand firm in our faith until the end, we will be saved. (Matthew 10:16, 22)

So, let’s be torchbearers for Jesus. Let us carry His light into a world of darkness. When you turn on a light in a dark room, the light instantaneously defeats the darkness. No matter what happens Tuesday night or what the headlines say on Wednesday morning, let us have that effect on the world. (John 1:5)

Our next president can tax us into the pavement, micromanage our lives with all manner of incomprehensible laws, imprison us for all manner of victimless offenses, mandate that we take certain medications, and bomb the crap out of countries around the world.

However, he cannot change your heart, and he can’t change mine. The only way that true change can occur is through an abiding, daily reliance upon the redemptive blood of Jesus Christ.

And instead of making America great, our priority as Christians needs to be influencing America to be godly. We do this by praying, humbling ourselves, seeking God, and turning from our wicked ways – II Chronicles 7:14.

Dear God, let this national healing start with me.

I used to get e-mails from someone who would sign off with his name and with the following recommendation: “Save a kid. Shoot your TV set.”

This might sound somewhat raw and probably not very tactful. But it is exactly the kind of personal responsibility and rigid self-honesty we so desperately need if we seriously want the kind of society that so many of us say we want.

Let’s pray.

Heavenly Father: Thank You again for this day and this fellowship. I pray that people understand that the real work of influencing our society for Christ happens not through voting, but by the examples we set in our daily lives. So, let’s just leave it where we found it in Matthew 5:16. I pray fervently that, as we go forth from here today, we let our light so shine before men that they see our good works and that one by one by one they too come to glorify You: our Father in Heaven.

In the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, all God’s people said Amen.

Credit to Doug Newman