2021-02-21 Church and government

2021-02
ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
Monday, February 22, 2021

This is a letter to our friends –

Church and government

In the Bible I find only three human organizations that God created and through which He dealt: Family, Church, State. Nothing exists without a set of rules
to govern it. The family is the building block of every civilization. We call the “vertical” relationship between man (generic) and God, “Church”. We call the “horizontal” relationship between man and man, “State”.

Each of these three organizations must be governed. To be “governed” is to be: Directed, Regulated, Controlled, Restrained. There are two sets of laws to govern each of the three human organizations: “The laws of nature, and [the laws] of nature’s God”. Natural law is discovered by observation and reason; Revealed law (the Bible) is learned by study and prayer. Revealed law is infinitely more reliable than Natural law, because human observation and human reason are imperfect,. Natural law once said the world is flat. Man was misinterpreting the data. Because they come from the same source, Natural law, rightly discerned, and Revealed law will never be in conflict.

Consider the Bible’s “10 Commandments”. The first four are “vertical: No gods before Me; No graven images; Do not take My name in vain; Honor the sabbath. The last six are “Horizontal”: Honor your parents: Do not lie; Do not steal; Do not commit adultery; Do not give false witness; Do not covet. If everyone obeyed just these ten laws, things would go well!

Another name for “horizontal” laws between man and man is “Civil Government”. The Bible teaches that we should honor mam-made civil laws that do not violate Bible law.

Christ was asked for the most important of the laws. He replied, “Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength (i.e. love vertically) – and – love your neighbor as you love yourself (i.e. love horizontally),” America is the first nation in human history to have been created upon such Biblical principles by her own citizens.

The cross of Christ is both vertical and horizontal. I believe a church that is not teaching its members about Biblical principles of government is leaving them vulnerable to the enemies of liberty. Liberty is both evangelical and political. 1

1 Rosalie Slater

These columns are archived since 12/10/09
See www.ACHStudyGroups.com
“Ben’s Blog”

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Ben Gilmore 1929-2023

On March 30, 2023 Ben Gilmore, the co-founder of ACHStudyGroups (co-founded with his wife Fran), went to be with the Lord in Glory.

A Memorial: https://www.mykeeper.com/profile/BenGilmore/