{"id":11203,"date":"2022-11-18T17:12:46","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T22:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/?p=11203"},"modified":"2022-11-18T17:14:53","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T22:14:53","slug":"democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/awarningministry.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/18\/democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Democracy – <\/strong> Cultural Factors in the Weakening of Churches by David Cloud – Earnestly Contend For The Faith Jude 3 (awarningministry.com)<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Difference Between a Democracy and a Republic | PragerU<\/a>
<\/strong>
Democracy is another factor that has weakened the discipline of churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The democratic political movement of modern times was birthed in America. The rule of kings was replaced with the rule of the people. Though America is not strictly a democracy; it is a democratic republic, which is a democracy under the rule of law, the emphasis is still on the rule of the people. The Declaration of Independence championed \u201cthe right of the people,\u201d while the United States Constitution begins with the words, \u201cWe the people.\u201d President Abraham Lincoln described the U.S. government as one \u201cof the people, by the people, and for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multitudes of people flocked to America in search of people\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a great many ways democracy has been a great blessing, primarily in the areas of liberty and economic prosperity. It liberated men from the dictates of autocratic kings and state churches. It created a climate in which churches multiplied and world evangelism prospered. It was the search for liberty and economic prosperity that brought the masses to America\u2019s shores and that spread American democracy to many nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A danger of this is in transferring the philosophy and attitude of \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d from the political realm into the church. The church is not a democracy. It is not \u201cof the people, by the people, and for the people.\u201d The believer in Christ is spiritually translated into Christ\u2019s kingdom (Col. 1:13<\/a>), and the church is an outpost of Christ\u2019s coming kingdom, and it is obligated to live under His Headship. The church is a theocracy ruled by Christ and His Word. Christ appoints governors, who are called pastors, elders, and bishops, and they have the rule over the church under Christ (Heb. 13:17<\/a>; 1 Pe. 5:1-2<\/a>). They don\u2019t have have legislative power, because the church\u2019s laws are already settled in the canon of Scripture. Rather they have executive and judicial powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the New Testament, we see the congregation participating in decisions, particularly in the selection of deacons (Acts 6:1-6<\/a>). But this is not \u201cpeople\u2019s power\u201d in that it was done under the direction of and in coordination with the leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has happened in American churches, in particular, and in churches influenced by them, is the intrusion of the attitude of people\u2019s power. Too often, an attitude of \u201cwe are the people, and we will decide what we do\u201d has replaced that of \u201cwe are the Lord\u2019s<\/em> people and we will live strictly by His<\/em> will.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can best be seen by comparing churches today with those of former times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider the following description of church discipline 150 years ago:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe oversight of the members was minute and persistent. Their general conduct, their domestic life, their business, their connections in civil society, their recreations, and even their dress, were all deemed legitimate subjects for the strictest supervision\u201d (J.J. Goadby, Discipline in Early Baptist Churches<\/em>, 1871).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a perfectly biblical position, and people in that day commonly submitted to such discipline. The level of democracy and the modern focus on self had not yet ruined church discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But today the attitude on the part of vast numbers of church members is that these things are not<\/em> the business of the church. The attitude is more alongs the line of, \u201cYou can\u2019t tell me what I can or cannot do, how I dress, what music I listen to, how I conduct my family life and business, whom I associate with. Who do the pastors think they are?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This thinking is evident in the way that so many churches \u201chire and fire\u201d preachers, not on the basis of biblical truth and righteousness, but on the basis of the whims of the people, as if pastors exist to do the bidding of the people and to please them. I think of a Baptist church in Tennessee that fired the preacher nearly every year and got a new one. Typically, it took a new preacher about a year to offend the main families in the church!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democracy – Cultural Factors in the Weakening of Churches by David Cloud – Earnestly Contend For The Faith Jude 3 (awarningministry.com) The Difference Between a Democracy and a Republic | PragerU Democracy is another factor that has weakened the discipline of churches. The democratic political movement of modern times was birthed in America. The rule…
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