One of the American Founding Fathers said, “The government that is big enough to give you everything is also big enough to take everything from you.” From the beginning, governments were formed to control the people and use them for the purposes of the elite. They would often claim that what they did was for the sake of the people, but you must be extremely naïve not to see through that guise.
Even the best governments only serve the people’s interests to the degree they must in order to keep their allegiance. This has not changed and will not until the kingdom comes. The basic nature of government is that the more it grows, the more controlling it will be, and the more it will take from the people to serve its own interests.
The American Founders believed that a government could exist for the people and for the interests of the people instead of people existing for the interests of government. This was a radically new idea at the time. Such a thought had never even been expressed before, much less been attempted except in a marginal way by the ancient Greeks. This belief that government could be different was the result of Puritan and Moravian influences. These movements were devoted to the basic teaching of Christ that Christian authority existed in order to serve and give, not to dominate and take.
At that time, even sincere Christians did not think this was practical in the “real world,” but was a concept reserved for when the kingdom came. However, Puritan and Moravian colonists believed they were establishing the kingdom of God on earth in America. It was the very purpose of America to reflect the coming kingdom, and by this, to help bring it. The general and worldwide opinion of the American experiment was that it was naïve at best and potentially anarchist.
Even the Founders had their doubts too. They knew that such an experiment would be difficult to accomplish, if not impossible, without God’s help. They turned to God, and God helped them. God did not do it for them, because that is not His nature. He helped to the degree that they sought Him and asked for His help. It was not done perfectly, nor will it be done so until the kingdom comes, but the new form of government released a power in people that the world rarely glimpsed before—creativity and initiative that grew into a faith that virtually anything was possible.
This faith in possibility fueled bursts of prosperity that elevated a broader base of the population than any nation had ever experienced. At times, the exuberance outpaced the maturity of the young country and cycles of economic contractions in the form of recessions and even a depression brought needed corrections, but the overall trend was upward.
America has been extensively studied by many nations trying to find out what released such initiative, creativity, and productivity. China actually did one of the most extensive studies, and probably one of the honest ones. They took the lessons and applied them with extraordinary wisdom—they did it slowly. The result was that these few basic concepts fueled the economic miracle that China is today.
China still has problems, as do we. However, there is no question that, when applied, the basics that were discovered and applied by the Founding Fathers of America work for individuals, countries, and even whole cultures. They are basic kingdom principles that were brought to China by Christians, just as they were brought to America. The Chinese Government has acknowledged this, as we will elaborate on later in this study.
Even though these are basic Christian principles, they work for any who apply them. However, they will not last without Christ. As America has turned from Christ, we have also begun to depart from the core principles and values that are the source of our prosperity and strength. The upward trend has turned downward. Can we recover these?
Yes. If we do, America is poised for further great advances that could help elevate the entire world. If we lose what we first discovered, we will be left behind and eventually lost to a terrible tyranny. This is the choice we are making right now. Either way, the kingdom is coming. The nations that have become Christ’s disciples will be those that prepare the way for it.