Is the IRS a Terrorist?
"FOR GOD HATH NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF FEAR; BUT OF POWER, AND OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND" (2 TIMOTHY 1:7They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
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According to the 2nd College Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, a terrorist is a person who employs "the systematic use of terror, violence, and intimidation to achieve an end." The first four "Middle-Eastern terrorists" that I know of were King Sennacherib (Isaiah 36-37 and 2 Chronicles 32) and Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem (Nehemiah 6). These early terrorists didn't resort to suicide bombs to try to intimidate their enemies; rather, they used the written and spoken word.
The largest terrorist organization in the world today is not the Taliban or the Irish Republican Army or the Palestinian Liberation Organization or the Shining Path; it's the news media and its allies in the world of politics. Daily they do their best to intimidate their enemies and put them in a state of constant fear.
Such tactics are not limited to the "liberal media." So-called "conservative media" are often just as guilty of fear-mongering as are the national news agencies. Some "fundamentalist preachers" are guilty as well, constantly trying to intimidate believers by threats and by over-emphasis on how bad the world system is.
Recently I received a flyer inviting me to a church that was hosting a "Seminar on Religious Liberty." The flyer listed 20 topics that would be addressed at the seminar, one of which was "the secret White House meeting in Oct. 1998 to eliminate all uncooperative churches in the US." (If I'd gone, I probably could have learned how the seminar speaker knows what happened in a "secret White House meeting.") Other subjects on the flyer included these:
- "preachers now have to be ordained by the IRS"
I'm a preacher, but I'm not ordained by the IRS - neither are any of the preachers whom I know.
- "the IRS now controls every aspect of the churches in the US"
If they're the Lord's churches, then He controls every aspect of them. (He is, after all, their head.)
- "it is now against the law in the US to preach against pornography, legalized gambling, and other sins according to new IRS procedures"
Not true; and so what if it was? If God be for us and has commanded us to do so, who can be against us? Are you terrorized yet? If not, the flyer lists many more topics designed to make you fret:
- "the IRS [has] outlawed teaching on the second coming of Jesus Christ"
The last time I checked, Congress makes laws, not the IRS. And so what? I have brethren in countries like Saudi Arabia, Cambodia, Sudan, and Cuba who have been jailed, tortured, and murdered for preaching the gospel despite national laws against it.
- "the Supreme Court outlawed the New Testament Church"
Not so - and if it were, federal law enforcement must be pretty incompetent if it allows so many outlaws to operate unhindered every Sunday.
- "most fundamentalist pulpits in the US [are] preaching the gospel of Karl Marx"
Not having visited "most fundamental" churches in the U.S., I can't prove that their pulpits aren't "preaching the gospel of Karl Marx - but that's mainly because it's impossible to prove a negative. (An atheist can't prove that there is no God - just like an evolutionist can't prove that God didn't create everything.) Conformity to the world is a bigger danger to churches than ignorance of the U.S. Constitution.
These topics and the others on the flyer are intended only to terrorize believers. Yes, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge," but don't forget that "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe" (Proverbs 1:7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
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See All...). Why fear the IRS and "the government" when you can trust the Lord?