Hi Friend,

I always wondered how ancient people could ever view their king or Pharaoh as a god.  How could any man, however primitive, ever have viewed another human being as being descended from God?

Yet, that is precisely what I believe about Jesus Christ!

God knew the dilemma man would face when He sent His Son to the earth.  So He gave Him power no other human has ever possessed.   Apparently, God knew that the “truth” Jesus would teach would not be sufficient of itself to convince man that Jesus was from God.  Free men come with a healthy amount of skepticism.  And there are enough false prophets on earth to justify a little cynicism in all of us.

To satisfy the honest skeptic Jesus was given power.  He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind and even raised the dead.  And He healed them with only His words.  No medicine, crutches, or splints.  Just His word.  And there were sufficient observers, even skeptical ones, to bear “witness” to the authenticity of Jesus’ claims.

No man had ever done what he did!  No Pharaoh or King ever performed such miracles.  So Jesus responded to his critics, “…what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?  Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”  (John 10:36-38 NIV)

Even with all of this, the greatest evidence was yet to come.  Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  Over 500 witnesses testified to what they had seen with their own eyes.  And the unanimous testimony of the 11 remaining disciples is, as our courts require, “reasonable proof” to the validity of that truth.

What was different about Jesus’ claim to be God?  From the beginning of man’s existence man had claimed authority by virtue of power.  “Might makes right!” according to Machiavelli.  And Stalin and Hitler agreed.  Worldly leaders claim righteousness through political power.   Jesus had power because of righteousness.

It is nothing short of miraculous that the founders of our country recognized two of the most profound truths of the universe.   God is righteous.  Man is corrupt.  They combined to form a foundational principle of our nation in the concept, “Our Rights Come From God.”

It means that the rights of every citizen reach beyond the government of any man!  They reach to God.  Thus, any government of man must have limitations.  We are thereby equal under the Law of God.

Of all the troubling aspects of our day, the most frightening is the rejection of the God of the Bible.  God cannot be removed without also removing the limits on man’s rapacity.

Ultimately the only limitations placed on a national government are those God places on all men and those limits can be circumvented only by overruling God.   It inevitably leads to a “God vacuum” where the most powerful available force will rush in like a river breaking through a broken dam.  Government thus becomes god.

The Founding Fathers had the humility to know that THEY could not grant rights.  They came to that conclusion by knowing the Bible and the history of every powerful nation that has so easily absorbed the false idea that “government” itself grants rights.

I don’t apologize for believing that America was established by God.  For all of their faults and foibles the Founding Fathers displayed wisdom that could have only come from God when they created the constitution on which this country is built.

Maybe America is headed back to Egypt.  Stranger things have happened. Rome gave up a Republic in favor of an Emperor.  Many fear that America is willing to give up the concept of “limited government” in favor of a dictator, in which case the title President is obsolete.  Since the title of Czar is taken, maybe the successor to President could be called Pharaoh.

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien