“Many Americans were shocked… when Attorney General Jeff Sessions turned to the Bible — specifically, Paul’s epistle to the Romans — to justify President Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents. This scriptural justification for a political decision should not have surprised anyone, because Mr. Trump’s administration has consistently treated the separation of church and state as a form of heresy rather than a cherished American value.”
Mr. Trump owes a disproportionate political debt to religious conservatives, some of them extreme, whose views on church-state issues are far removed from many liberal Americans.
“The very meaning of the phrases “religious liberty” and “religious freedom”— traditionally understood as referring to the right of Americans to practice whatever faith they wish or no faith at all — is being altered to mean that government should foster a closer relationship with those who want to mix their Christian faith with taxpayer dollars. This usage can be found in numerous executive orders and speeches by Mr. Trump and his cabinet members.
“Changes in language have consequences…” Religion-related issues are everywhere in government these days. While it is impossible to overstate the long-term importance of the next [Supreme Court] appointment, Mr. Sessions and many of his fellow cabinet members offer textbook examples of the everyday perils of entangling religion with politics. Mr. Sessions’ citation of the opening verse of Romans 13, which declares that every soul must be “subject to the governing authorities” and that there is “no authority except that which God has established,” inflamed an already bitter debate over immigration.”
By the way, Sessions is wrong about that. The true followers of Jesus obey Him, instead of human authorities if their requirements conflict. Evangelicals want to establish a Christian America. And while Christians are divided on as many issues as there are denominations, they will join together on the one point on which they can agree.
“The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, followed up [Sessions’ comment] with a reminder that it was ‘very biblical’ to enforce the law…
The “Trump administration officials have used fundamentalist biblical interpretations to support everything from environmental deregulation to tax cuts. Scott Pruitt, who resigned as head of the Environmental Protection Agency in disgrace… had asserted in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network that Americans who want stricter environmental standards are contradicting the Bible. He said, ‘The biblical worldview with respect to these issues is that we have a responsibility to manage and cultivate, harvest the natural resources that we’ve been blessed with to truly bless our fellow mankind.’ The trenchant headline recounting the interview in Baptist News read: “God Wants Humans to Use Natural Gas and Oil, Not “Keep It in the Ground,” say EPA chief.
President Trump’s appointees seem unconcerned about whether statements praising the godliness of mixing religion and politics will offend secular and many religious Americans.
Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development and a devout Seventh-day Adventist, has described commitment to the separation of church and state as “crap,” prompted by “political correctness.”
Mr. Sessions took on a larger mission last fall when he sent a 25-page memo on “protections for religious liberty” to every federal agency. It warned that government “may not exclude religious organizations as such from secular aid programs, at least when the aid is not being used for explicitly religious activities such as worship or proselytization.”
“Last but not least is Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Ms. DeVos, raised as a strict Calvinist, has devoted much of her life to promoting private and religious schools over public education. She is particularly proud that last year’s tax bill expanded the education savings accounts known as 529s so that they can now be used to pay for private schools, starting from kindergarten.”
When she visited New York City she only visited two private Jewish schools and in a speech called for federal tuition tax credits to support private schools. Her speech was introduced by Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
In order for Revelation 13 to be fulfilled, every principle of the U.S. Constitution must be repudiated, including separation of Church and State. This is in full swing under the Trump administration. See Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, page 451.
Source References
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The White House Is Tearing Down the Wall Between Church and State
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Sessions’s Use of Bible Passage to Defend Immigration Policy Draws Fire
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God wants humans to use natural gas and oil, not ‘keep it in the ground,’ says EPA chief
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Ben Carson blasts separation of church and state, announces break from campaign
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MEMORANDUM FOR ALL EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
Comments
Shawty
Tuesday July 10th, 2018 at 12:11 PMPastor Meyer. I believe if you read the article on Ben Carson you will see he is making comment on what others are saying. Not his own beliefs.
admin
Tuesday July 10th, 2018 at 09:56 PMYes, that is true, but he calls it what he calls it.
Remember, our briefings are not commentary on the news (true or false), other than to provide the prophetic link… in this case, that the White House is tearing down the Wall of Separation.
Owen Thomson
Tuesday July 10th, 2018 at 07:47 PMThis article is not entirely honest! Ben Carson did not say that “separation of church and state is crap!” He said the following…
“We Americans must be proud of who we are. We cannot give away our values and principles for the sake of political correctness,” he said as tallies began to come in from the crucial Iowa caucuses, the first contest in the presidential primary season.
“There are those who go around proclaiming separation of church and state. You can’t put anything up that has anything to do with God. … I’ll have a seizure if I see a cross and all of this kind of crap,” he continued. “The fact of the matter is — do they realize that our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, says we have certain unalienable rights given to us by our creator, AKA, God.”
Notice that he is saying that those who think separation of church and state means getting rid of references to God from public places is crap because the constitution is a Christian document and the founding principles of the country is Christian!
Getting rid of those references will give you a communist state or the other alternative is a Muslim Caliphate!
admin
Tuesday July 10th, 2018 at 09:57 PMIn the source article Ben Carson’s rather crude term could have been defending more of a balanced approach to church and state than just advocating tearing it down altogether. However, he has been one of the key players in getting Mr. Trump and evangelicals together, so it seems to the author that he is far more to the right of balance than he should be. The source article was suggesting that Ben Carson supports tearing down the wall of separation between church and state. That is a prophetic event or process, regardless of its merits or demerits. That is the reason for our report.
Dale Fuhrmeister
Wednesday July 11th, 2018 at 06:23 AMYou have probably never read what Ellen White, who grew up in the time of the founding of this nation said about national leadership. From Manuscript Releases #165, entitled “Church and State Relationships” she says;
“The man who does not know God as his Father, and Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of the infinite God, can not rule wisely. ”
And;
“Oh, that those who are rulers of nations would realize the responsibility resting upon them to be representatives of God, to set a right example, to shun the use of intoxicating liquor, that they may never be found off their guard. Judges, lawyers, senators, should give evidence to those who look to them for guidance that they acknowledge themselves to be under the control of a supreme Ruler, even Christ.”
This IS a Christian nation, as true Christianity is the ONLY philosophy that advocates freedom of conscience. I challenge you to find any other that does.
admin
Wednesday July 11th, 2018 at 01:55 PMWhile that is true to a large extent, the founders also wisely separated church and state for a very important reason. They saw where the mixing of church and state would lead based on what happened in the past. For Revelation 13 to be fulfilled, where there are sanctions against those who don’t go along with the religious authority and eventually the death penalty for disobedience, there has to be a mixture of church and state in America that becomes persecuting.
Dale Fuhrmeister
Thursday July 12th, 2018 at 06:57 AMHow did they see this separation? Not the way modern secular humanists want to see it, and sadly how many SDA’s now see it. They allowed church services to be held in the rotunda of the capital building. Something the FFRF would have a fit over today, and sadly many SDA’s would as well.