Today, in much of the world, the church is kept out of the charity business…
And it’s hard to get people motivated to develop church charity programs that will compete with big government welfare programs.
The governments have intruded with massive welfare programs. They have pushed the church out of the healing business except on the fringes.
What you never hear any politician discuss is cutting Social Security or Medicare. The voters want these programs. Any politician that tries to speak against them will either lose the next election, or else fail to win any election.
But the governments can’t afford these programs. In the old days when gold and silver were money, governments would debase the coinage to pay the bills. The citizenry would soon catch on, and the governments lost their legitimacy because they were defrauding the people.
This is what the prophet Isaiah is describing when he came before the leaders of Israel and said “Your silver has become dross, your best wine mixed with water” (Is. 1:22).
In the modern era, with currencies severed from the value of gold and silent central bank inflation, this kind of theft can take place on a massive scale never before possible in history. The inflation is not the cause. It is a symptom of sin, and the sin begins in the heart of the people who want their governments to provide for them in their old age using other people’s money.
The game can’t go on forever, though. In God’s universe, there are negative sanctions for those who continue to violate His law.
The Internet, because it has created publishing outlets from many different perspectives, has now begun to sufficiently convince a significant portion of the population that the government’s official version of “the story” has too many holes in it.
This has undermined government legitimacy. But it won’t be until the welfare promises are broken that faith will finally be shattered.
When will that be?
As a deacon, you should be studying this problem in your spare time. If the government will go bankrupt and destroy the faith of so many people in the process, the people will start turning to other sources of help and healing. They will turn to the church.
And you’ll need a plan. We will all need a plan.
But you need to be convinced this is what will happen.
I recommend reading the following article which explains the issue. It is long, but that makes it perfect for a Saturday:
Loss of Faith: The Coming Break-Up of the Nation State
If you are convinced by the article’s argument, then you will also be convinced that the deacons have much work to do to begin preparation. We need to develop new ministries and strengthen our existing ones. We need to prepare to scale up, big-time.
Our advantage is that the church has less competition at the local level. We can develop our skills and gain experience now, if we decide to act. Once one church figures out how to put a successful program together, it’s my hope that they will put together a manual and some videos to show other churches how to replicate their success. That’s why I started this website. Doing this will take time.
I’m just not sure how much time we have. Years, I hope. But the timeline is only for God to know for sure.