The history of America reflects the struggle of religious men to live free of the king’s tyranny. First, the pilgrims came to these shores fleeing persecution. Then, the patriots bled and died on these shores fighting persecution. The result was a land of liberty in whose founding documents are enshrined the eternal principles of liberty. Chief among those principles was the divine principle that the throne must stay out of the pulpit.
But there is more than one way to silence a man. If coercion and intimidation won’t work, bribery is always an option. Back in the 1950s, then Texas US Senator Lyndon Johnson cleverly employed both tactics when he introduced and helped pass what we now know as the 501c3 non-profit, tax-exempt corporation status for churches. Suddenly, free and independent church bodies became creatures of the state. Pastors, elders, deacons, etc., were no longer offices of the church; they were now corporate officers, authorized and sanctioned by the state.
Brothers and sisters, that’s why your pastor will not “Cry aloud, spare not, and lift up his voice like a trumpet.” (Isaiah 58:1). That’s why he will not talk about “politics.” That’s why he will not preach the hard sermons. That’s why he refuses to read the books or watch the videos you give him. That’s why he tells the church family to stay away from you. He is bought and paid for by the government’s 501c3 tax-exempt bribe.
Everyone now seems concerned about the way the IRS sought to intimidate and punish “conservative” non-profits groups. But why should this surprise us? The IRS has been the chief instrument of coercion against America’s churches for over a half-century. And where is the outrage among America’s Christians for the way their pastors have been intimidated and bribed into silence by this monstrous agency? If America’s churches had any guts, they would stand up now and demand that the IRS, along with its infernal 501c3 code, be forever abolished.
There was a time in America when we had pastors were men who helped forge a land of freedom. Furthermore, they helped insure that in the United States there was “No king but Jesus.” They feared no one but God, and they loved liberty from the depths of their souls. And they made sure that in this country no civil magistrate could ever tell the pulpit to “shut up.” What ever happened to those men?