By Pastor Lloyd Johnston

First Baptist Church

Jesus entered the temple courts and while He was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him, “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23).

Nothing like getting things reversed! Jesus came to earth with all authority for He is God - He created and controls the whole universe. But the “religious leaders” of the day did not realize His authority because Jesus didn’t have their same pedigree.

It is still the same today in  America.  Many leaders and organizations do not recognize the authority of the Son of God. They try to deny God. When failing to do that, they reverse the Constitution, screaming “separation of church and state” when the Constitution never says it.

Some Baptist pastors wrote to our forefathers concerned America might turn out like England where the king dictated state religion. I believe it was Thomas Jefferson who wrote them back, stating that the State should never dictate to its people how to worship God but that, at the same time, the Church had the duty to speak out about the moral responsibilities of the State (my wording).

Today our government is trying to reverse that. They say that the Church can be told when and where they can be and what they can say. If the Church tries to speak God’s truth, there is great effort to silence the Church, including jail for preaching certain biblical passages.

Now the good news - Christians rejoice. God has opened great doors of opportunity for His people and His truth. With the economic problems in the world even former Church-squelching people are turning to the Church for help with physical needs, relational needs, emotional needs and even spiritual needs.

We have been created for such a time as this and we have been called to do it in the authority of Jesus Christ. Let’s do it in loving Christian authority.