The Next Social Revolution Appears To Be Godless

There is a revolution brewing.

More than any other period in my lifetime, there seems to be an urgency in the air to fight dishonesty in government. In the last two months, we have seen gun sales reach unprecedented highs, consumer confidence is at new lows, the stock market has pulled back dramatically, and anti-government “tea parties” are being held in every major city. Will it all lead to some meaningful change?

I’ve seen mention of a great number of “revolutionary” books lately. We are reminded of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged or Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Both are excellent reads, and inspire some creative thought regarding libertarianism and social anarchy.

The idea of social anarchy, especially the push for individual freedoms over government-imposed regulations, can be fun to toy with. In both Rand’s and Heinlein’s books, we see a likable group of characters overthrowing their tyrannical and oppressive government in favor of a culture where rules are largely removed and where individuals start making well-informed decisions that seem to benefit all those around them. The chief character in Rand’s book – John Galt –is compared to Atlas, who is best known for holding the world on his shoulders. But instead of taking on the world’s troubles, Galt simply chooses to walk away, leaving the world behind.

Both books share the same fundamental problem – they create a society which does not recognize the sovereignty of God. And that is a big miss.

More than ever, I have grown to distrust almost all of our highly-placed government officials. I believe it is nearly impossible to reach such a lofty and powerful position without some act of bribery or unethical compromise. Our government taxes our income, and then taxes any gains we may make on the leftover money. They tax nearly every purchase that we make, assess standing yearly taxes on our property and then, as if all that wasn’t insult enough, they invoke a “death tax” to steal money from the inheritance that we try to leave to our children. And what do they do with a lot of this money? In addition to lining their own pockets with re-election funds, they spend it on reprehensible practices such as abortion and “free love”-style sex education. Until we choose to throw them out, or we make our own Mayflower-type departure from this land, we seem to have little choice.

The ideas of civil disobedience or creating a society without government intrusion are gaining popularity. I expect to see more of this in the coming months. But a system devoid of government regulations and one which refuses to acknowledge or honor God’s supremacy is a society which is ruled only by the whims of man’s desire. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us of the problem with such a system – “for the heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure”. Replacing one tyrannical system of government with another anarchical system governed only by man’s evil motivations can only lead to deceit, and then failure. As we ponder tea parties and government reform, let’s remember that God has an eternal plan already designed. He has left us with the blueprints contained within His Holy Word. He gives us His Spirit to help us through difficult times. And He gave us the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, to take away the curse of sin that exists today, and which will continue to exist in any human-derived system of government. Without God, we simply exchange one lie for another.