President Trump declares an end to the I.R.S.'s unconstitutional gagging of churches who exercise their legitimate sacred mandate.

By far, one of the most far-reaching and culturally-devastating political ploys ever imposed upon the American people was the unconstitutional breach of the separation of Church and state known as the Johnson Amendment.  This month, President Trump began to reverse the sixty-one-year-old infringement of free speech on America’s pastors and church leaders.  By the grace of God and with the courage of President Trump, the Johnson amendment’s days are now numbered.

In 1956, as a Texas Democrat Senator, Lyndon Johnson wrote a regulation that gave the Internal Revenue Service the power to revoke the tax-exempt status of churches and other non-profit religious organizations that engage in political advocacy.  L.B.J.’s motivation was ignoble and apparent.  He’d been challenged in a prior election by a Republican opponent who questioned his moral character and Texas pastors added their voices to the public discussion.  Johnson was incensed that churches would use their First Amendment freedom of speech in an effort to defeat him. 

As with all such devious acts, Johnson carried out his dirty deed under cover of darkness.  Lyndon Johnson hid the I.R.S. provision in the defense appropriations bill where is remained undetected until the bill was adopted.  This same crooked tactic was used repeated over and over in subsequent years by Massachusetts Senator, Ted Kennedy and other Democrats. 

There is little room for serious argument that Johnson’s scheme has had a destructive effect on American culture.  It chilled the resolve and weakened biblical doctrine in Christian churches.  The evidence abounds.  Most of the once-great mainline Christian denominations are rotting from the inside out due to years of compromise with a craven and carnal secular culture.  Some have even embraced the world’s perversions with open hearts and empty minds.  But this month’s action may signal the beginning of the end of years of federal government interference in the jurisdiction of the Church--social morality. 

We live in an increasingly obscene and malicious environment in which every cultural issue is treated as exclusively political.  This has occurred in part, because we have permitted flawed humans to supplant morality with political appeal.  Since the left has jettisoned every last vestige of genuine righteousness for the purpose of political gain, it has had to resort to self-righteous political correctness as a counterfeit standard of what it loosely calls, “values.” 

For the past sixty years, segments of the Church have failed America by divesting themselves from controversial debates in order to avoid contention.  It’s a fool’s errand, because silence in the face of moral depravity is always equivalent to tacit approval.  President Trump’s action paves the way to reverse America’s freefall into moral oblivion, and thereby, social collapse.

Proclaiming moral truth and righteousness to the people of the United States is the purview of the Church alone.  That responsibility must never again be relegated to the state or any political party.  Scripture has no stake in any partisan debate or argument.  Biblical truth transcends time, cultures and the opinions of men.  Those who oppose it will always be destroyed in the effort.

There is no moral authority on the earth except that which has been provided by the omnipotent God who created all things.  Neither man nor nation has moral authority in itself.  It can only be gained by embracing what has been given.  We ignore this fact only to our peril. 

There is not a nation on earth that can possibly accommodate all of the desires of each individual, nor should any attempt to.  Conflicts will forever arise between the wants and wishes of individuals and groups.  For this reason, America’s founders wisely fashioned the Constitution to guarantee, “the pursuit of happiness” rather than its acquisition.  One person’s short-term happiness can easily cause long-term harm to himself, to others and to the nation as a whole. 

Whereas many on the left will characterize President Trump’s motion as a breach of the “separation of Church and state,” his order actually restores it.  It’s the role of the Church to provide righteous counsel and oversight to the state; not the reverse.