THE CURRENT STRUGGLE -Liberty or Socialism?

Message by Rev. Bill Banuchi, Executive Director New York Christian Coalition

The struggle we're involved in today is the competition between two distinct ways of life. It's a competition between Socialism – a system where the government becomes the parent to the people, and power is concentrated in Washington, or Freedom, a system where power is diffused among the people, and we are directly responsible to help one another. Our children, and our grandchildren, will live in either Freedom or Socialism according to the choice we make as a nation.

“What is so bad about a little Socialism?” someone might mutter, “After all, there are some problems that the Federal Government has to fix.”What’s so bad about a little more socialism? That’s like saying,“What’s so bad about a little bit of cancer?”

In a Socialistic America the Government will place itself in the seat of Almighty God and claim to be the Supreme Power over all the people. This is already happening.

The Supreme Court, for example, is increasingly seeing its role as the ultimate authority over our nation. Never mind that the original intent of the Founding Fathers was to have men of wisdom to interpret the principles of Scripture as they apply to contemporary society. Never mind that the Ten Commandments hang over the bench of the justices.

Our modern Supreme Court sees itself as truly supreme. Separation of Church and State simply means, as far as they are concerned, that the Church can’t interfere with what the state wants to do. The State is supreme. The Supreme Court rules over the Church.

This was never the intent of the founders. When it comes to Church and State the only intended separation is to allow balance. Each has its own responsibility, function, and authority, and by our system of checks and balances, each one is to serve as a counterbalance to the other. No organized ecclesiastical body is to have authority over the government, though Biblical principles provide the framework for government and society. Likewise, the government is to have no authority over the church, while guaranteeing Americans the freedom to worship according to the dictates of ones’ conscience.

There was never intended to be an absolute wall of separation but rather a bridge of cooperation.

Today the courts interpret the first Amendment to mean that no Judeo-Christian tradition can be practiced in public. The Government will decide where, and even how one may worship.

This is a direct violation of the First Amendment that states clearly: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;…”

The Federal Government has dethroned God, and is increasingly assuming the role of supreme authority.

The reason why we must talk about this in Church is because this move toward Socialism is a direct attack on our freedom to worship. Socialism, to succeed, must expunge every shred of evidence of our Christian faith from the national landscape so that it can place its own god, human ego, on the throne.

To accept a little Socialism in exchange for a false sense of security is to buy into the same lie of Satan when he said to Eve. “Go on eat of it. You will not surely die.” I’m here to tell you that if America eats of it this November she will surely die. If you think I’m sounding like an alarmist, then you’re getting the message I hope to send. I want to sound a clear call today that you will prepare for the battle ahead.

“Then how are we supposed to provide for the needy if the government doesn’t do it?” the way God intended in the first place: through the Body of Christ; People filled with the Spirit of the Living Christ reaching out to others on every level to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and free the captives. It’s up to the Church to fulfill our responsibility to Christ, and to our neighbors to love them sacrificially, and work together to help meet their needs.  This is accomplished by leadership, not legislation.

Tell me, how long do you think it would take us to wipe out poverty –if that were possible- if we gave half our income to the poor, instead of giving it to the government as we have since the Great Society of President Johnson. We haven’t wiped out poverty. We’ve created more!

Worse than that, we’ve created a poverty mentality in an entire sector of society. Instead of promoting the virtues of hard work and diligent stewardship we’re promoting disincentives to work, on the one hand, and legalized gambling on the other. We’re not eliminating poverty. We’re creating it!

It’s not someone else’ fault. I have the lay the blame at the doorstep of the Church. I am an ordained minister who has pastored for over ten years, so I’m not pointing the finger at anyone but myself. Had we done the job Christ has called us to do, the Government would not have had a need to step in to do what the Church has failed to do.

If we’re going to see revival in the land we must first see it in the Church. It was God who said,

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven forgive their sin and heal their land."”(2 Chron 7:14).

True religion, James teaches us is to look after the orphans and widows and those in need. It’s the job of the Church. Not the Federal Government. Unless, of course you live in Cuba. See what a great job they’re doing.

If the liberal agenda wins out in America  you can look forward to losing more of your freedoms, particularly your freedom to worship and follow the tenants of your faith.

Our faith tells us that God is the supreme authority over all earthly government.

The liberal agenda tells us that government is the supreme authority, and the church must bow down to the government.

Our faith tells us that our rights are not given by the government, but are given to us by God, and it is the government’s function to interpret and facilitate the administration of those God given rights among the people.

The liberal agenda tells us that the government gives us our rights, therefore our rights are whatever the government says they are. There is no higher authority. The government will tell us what’s right, and what’s wrong. Government. will provide the moral compass.

Government says its right to kill a baby if he or she interferes with your right to choose, but it’s wrong to call homosexuality sinful. The liberal agenda is attempting to legislate a new morality based on human wisdom that is nothing more than national rebellion against a holy God.

Our faith teaches us that life is a sacred gift from God to be valued and guarded from the time of conception to the time of natural death regardless of the physical limitations.

Recently, I read an editorial where a writer was trying to make a case for partial birth abortion. She described a baby who was born so deformed she said “you can hardly call that a person.” Let me tell you honey, God calls that baby a person, precious in his sight, though it may be repulsive in yours. What will happen when Grandma becomes so debilitated that she needs continuous care. Are you going to call her “hardly a person too?” Will you give the doctor instructions to make her life easier by killing her? That’s where this movement is headed. Am I sounding like an alarmist? Good!

The liberal agenda is actively working to dethrone God wherever it can, with the ACLU and Americans for Separation of Church and State leading the way.

The ACLU is systematically removing every evidence of the Christian faith from the public square. In Adams county Ohio, the school board allowed local ministers to place a monument that included the Ten Commandments on the front lawn of each of the districts four area schools.

The ACLU is blocking that as well as many other areas where the public display of the Ten Commandments is being challenged. It’s good enough to hang over our Supreme Court Justices’ Bench, but not good enough for our schools?

Also in Ohio the ACLU has caused the courts to declare their motto, “With God all things are possible.” to be unconstitutional. What’s next, our national motto? If the liberal agenda wins out their will be a purging of all religious references from our public and eventually private square until inside the four walls of a church building will be the only place you’ll be able to talk or see or hear religion. Does that sound like the U.S. or the former Soviet Union? Don’t think for a minute that communism is dead. It just moved.

I want to take a minute to talk about the liberal agenda and minority rights. Those on the left claim to be the champions of minorities. They claim they want to give minorities everything they need. They do. But they don’t tell you the cost attached, namely, your freedom. Everything that the government gives you will require your surrender of additional freedoms. In every area they serve they will, by necessity,  have to control.

They understand the relationship between servanthood and authority. They understand that in any area in which you serve you will gain authority and control. That’s precisely why the liberal/socialist agenda wants to serve the people in every area of their lives so that they will have control over every area of their lives, hence, the loss of freedom.

I am from Hispanic background. Every struggle to accomplish something has made me stronger.

If you try to help a little bird hatch out of it’s shell, because you think you’re helping, you find that you don’t help at all, because the struggle of breaking through that eggshell on its own is what is necessary to build the strength it needs to survive. You may help it get out of the shell more quickly, but it’s then left weak and unable to survive on its own, so you must care for it forever. It becomes subject to, and dependent upon you for life.

African Americans have suffered much persecution and still suffer discrimination on some level, but the liberal agenda puts them back under economic slavery.

If the African Americans would refuse to follow their leaders blindly, and examine their agendas they would find out what men like Ambassador Alan Keyes, and J.C. Watts, a bright young African American Congressman has found out: That the liberal agenda will bring just another Master called the federal government. They reject the liberal agenda in order to be free to succeed even at the risk of failing. It’s up to the Church to help those who are failing to learn how to succeed. Not the master in Washington.

President George Bush Sr. said a government big enough to give you everything you need is also big enough to take everything you have.

Alan Keyes and J.C. Watts are two of the growing numbers of conservative African Americans and Hispanics who are seeing the betrayal of their own people by the liberal agenda, and who believe enough in their own people to be willing to compete on a level playing field. He refuses to answer to a new master for a few handouts. They need more to join them.

Woodrow Wilson taught us that “the history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it. When we resist therefore the concentration of power we are resisting the powers of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of our liberties.”

Enough for the problem. Let’s talk about the solution.

We need to turn things around. For over 200 years we’ve been singing God Bless America, and he has. We need to begin to turn it around and start singing “America Bless God” We need to start acknowledging the Lord in the land wherever we go

1. First is worship and prayer We must know Him.

For Jesus to be Lord he must first be Lord of your own heart.The battle to come is not for the faint hearted or those empowered with only natural abilities. The battle before us will require men and women who have accepted Christ personally as their very own Savior and Lord. Men and woman who will not simply join up in His Army, but who will leave their previous lifestyle for a lifetime of service to the King. Men and women filled with the Holy Spirit and power who will count the cost, and be willing to sacrifice even as our founding fathers were willing to sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy today. We must be willing to sacrifice to preserve this freedom for the next generation. This is no time for wimps!

Let me make it clear that our salvation does not rest in politics. It rests in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in the Church and in the hearts of men, as they come to know Christ in a real and personal way. Only a spiritual awakening will cure the ills of our nation. So we must pray like it all depends on God, because, ultimately, it does.

Nevertheless we must prove to be good stewards of our liberty if we are to keep it for the coming generations. We must be actively involved in this government “of the people.” Historically, the decline of every decent society has occurred when Christians hand over the reigns of government to the godless. That’s when nations fall.

Every Christian needs to be registered to vote, and he must vote. We’re commanded to give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and what is Caesar’s is our informed vote.Talk to your neighbors about voting. Encourage them to vote as well. Let’s hold one another accountable.

We’ve probably all heard it said, “There are two things you don’t talk about, politics and religion.” Well, let me ask you something. What are the two most important factors affecting your life: politics and religion. Upon our religions rests the condition of our eternal existence, and upon politics rests the condition of our temporal existence.Why would you not talk about the two most important subjects there are?Unless of course, it was ole beady eyes telling you not to talk about it so that he can have his way with it. That’s exactly what’s happening.

So today I want to charge you, perhaps in a way that’s different than what you’ve heard to date.

I want to charge you to talk about two things: politics and religion. Not, necessarily in that order.

Talk with your neighbors. Talk with your co-workers. Risk a little conflict, but do it with gentleness. If you can’t do it without getting all upset, don’t just quit. Get before God and ask Him to give you more grace, and compassion for those to whom he has sent you, and try again.

If we, who have the truth don’t talk about it, those who have the lie will run off with it.

You’ve been called to be the salt and the light. Your place of work, your school, and your neighborhood should taste differently because you’re there.Be bold. Talk about politics and religion, and if you need resources contact my office by phone or e-mail and we’ll help.

Secondly, we must acknowledge the Lord in the Land.

I’m calling on this nation to Bless God by acknowledging Him wherever we go.When you go through the checkout line at the supermarket, or through the tollbooth, say to the clerk “God Bless You.” In that you’ll be doing two things. First you’ll be acknowledging the Lord in the land, secondly you’ll be ministering His grace to a soul who may very well need Him that day.

God has blessed America. Now America must repent. America must turn it around. America must Bless God; with all that is within us we must bless His holy name.

Thirdly, get involved. Serve on your school board, on your PTA. Run for office yourself.

When we get righteous people in office we don’t have to worry about unrighteous law. Get involved. This is your government. Don’t hand it over to the godless.

John Adams said

“This Constitution was written for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the governing of any other.”

I’m calling you today to action! America, Bless God!