A STERN WARNINGS FROM THE MASTER (VERSE 42). [ MARK 9: 38-50]

                        '                            "The Virgin"
                                 Mother, whose virgin Bosom was uncrost
                                 With the least shade of thought to sin
                                          allied;
                                  Women,  above all women glorified.
                                  Our tainted nature's solitary boast;
                                  Purer than foam on central ocean tost,
                                  Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak
                                           strewn
                                  With fancied roses, than the unblemished
                                             Moon
                                    Before her wane begins on heaven's blue
                                              coast,
                                    Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,
                                     Not unforgiven the suppliant knee might bend
                                      All that was mixed and reconciled in
                                               Thee
                                      Of mother's love with maiden purity
                                       Of High with low, celestial with terrene                                 
                                                                                            William Wordsworth.
                                             "Leaves of God."

                                      "When men cease to wonder, God's secrets  remain unrevealed.  This passage we read from Mark finds the Lord's disciples sailing some very treacherous seas.
       Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die on the cross and these men are a long way from being ready for his death. and departure back to Heaven. Earlier in this passage they were actually fighting among themselves over who was the greatest.
  Jesus used their argument to teach them a very important truth. He taught them greatness is obtained through service., v. 35-37.  The way to become great in the kingdom of God is by serving the least, who cannot give back v.41. That was a lesson the disciples needed to learn, which also applies to us today. Far to many want to occupy the chief seat and far too few have a servant's heart. On the heels of this event, Jesus issues a series of stern warnings to his disciples. These verses He uses are harsh, straight to the point language that cautions us to be careful how we live our lives. The messages from Mark's gospel is meant to move us out of our "comfort zone."  Like the disciples, the modern church has become far too comfortable in this world. Jesus knew that His men needed to be shocked into becoming the men He had saved them to be. Left  to ourselves, we will amount to nothing.  A Warning about Saints, and a warning about service.
 Jesus used a child to illustrate the kind of people we are to serve in this world, v.36-37. We are to serve those who are neglected and rejected. We are tor serve those who can not serve us in return.
Jesus uses the same child to teach us another important principle , we must not only serve, the least willingly, but also protect them from sin. The warning in verse 42, where Jesus says that it would be better off having a millstone" tied around your neck and being cast into the sea. The word "millstone" literally means "a donkey stone " used to grind grain that was so heavy, that a donkey was tied to it to turn it. If a stone were tied around the neck of an individual and that person was thrown into the sea, that person would be pulled to the bottom and they would drown. When Jesus would use this image, His listeners were very familiar with what He said. On more then one occasion the Romans had carried out executions by tying heavy stones around the necks of their victims and throwing them into the river. The mage is very graphic!  Yet He says it would be better  for a person who harms children  making them to stumble is sticking their finger in God's eye!
 How do believers cause others to stumble. Matt 5:32; Rev 2:14;  Rev2:20; 1Thess. 5:22; 1Tim. 4:12;
     A WARNING ABOUT SERVICE!
 The two verses that close us out are among the most difficult in the New Testament to interpret. But, I think we can understand what they are saying to us. If we take them in their natural context. In all of these verses Jesus is talking to His people. He is talking to the people of God. First, in verse 42, Jesus warns His people against offending weaker believers. Second, in verses 43-48, Jesus warns His people to avoid the terrible and tragic consequences of sin. He is not saying that a believer can lose or his or her salvation; He is saying that sin is a destroyer and that it must be handled ruthlessly In these verses, Jesus warns His people that serving him will require sacrifice  and purity. In verse 49, Jesus says, For everyone " shall be salted with fire."  As you know fire is a purifier, a cleansing agent. Jesus is telling those who would be His servants they can expect to be cleansed through fire. In other words, God will allow us to go through persecution and trials in an effort to make us more like Jesus. 2 Tim 3:12; 1Peter 4:12-13. In verse 50 Jesus says "Salt is good.!" Salt was a valuable commodity in that day. The ancient Jews had a saying that went , " THE WORLD CANNOT SURVIVE WITHOUT SALT." The word "salary" comes from the "Latin word " Salarium."  It referred to the fact that often Roman soldiers were paid their wages in salt, which could be traded ounce for ounce for gold. Salt was also necessary for life in the days before refrigeration . Meat would quickly spoil. Salt is good, but when it loses its saltiness what good is it. Jesus then says 'Have salt in yourselves." To have salt, is the best witness for Jesus Christ who lives like Jesus.  Remember at the beginning the disciples were arguing who was the greatest among  them v.34. And they had rebuked a man who was working in Jesus name, just because he was not one of their number, v.38     Be at peace with one another.

Leaves of Gold: For Ruth.

 Poor indeed is the man whose mind is not enriched by some phrase of lasting truth and beauty which serves to restore his soul in the exigencies of life.  Each of us needs in his or her heart's treasury the memory of a lovely line to renew fellowship with the great and noble of this earth-and, indeed, almost as a great as the ability to write a line of strength is the ability to use that line to higher levels of emotion and achievement. To discover afresh in truth expressed with elemental force our eternal kingship with God is a universal urge. " Leaves of Gold" had its origin in the recognition of this impulse. From those who spoke with authority have been chosen words in which the word became flesh to dwell among us. Here are maxims, phrases, anecdotes, passages, proverbs and essays from the best minds among men; here are words of wisdom and thoughts of comfort for all mankind.  Consolation is the objective of "Leaves of Gold."; to provide a key to things of the spirit as inspiration for daily living.                                                                                               
                                                                         Thank you Ruth:" Rest in peace."
 "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,  whatsoever things of good report ...Think on these things."---Philippians: 4-8.



 There is the explanation of what the home has always meant: for the home is the  center of life
   No mere residence of the body but the axis of the heart; the place where affections develop themselves, where children love and learn,  where two toil together to make life a blessing.

                                                    "SERMONS WE SEE."
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day.
I'd rather one should walk with me
     Than merely show me the way.
The eye's  a better pupil and
 more willing than the ear;

Fine counsel is confusing, but example's always clear:
 And the best of all the preachers are the ones who live their creeds.

And the lectures you deliver may be very wise and true.
                                                                                     Edgar a. Guest

                                      "Christianity."
  Is not a voice in the wilderness, but a life in the world.  it is not an idea in the air, but feet  on the ground going God's way. it is not exotic to be kept under glass, but a hardy plant to bear twelve months of fruits in all kinds of weather.  Fidelity to duty is its root and branch. Nothing we can say to the Lord. no calling him great or dear names, can take the place of the plain doing his will. We may cry out about the beauty of eating bread with him in the kingdom, but it is wasted breath and root less hope, unless we plow and plant in His kingdom here and now. To remember him at his table and to forget him at ours, is to have invested in bad securities. There is no substitute for plain, everyday goodness.  Babcock.

         "Persian Proverb"                                                
             He who knows not                               
         And knows that he knows not
            is a fool-shun him.
          He who knows not
         And knows that he knows not,
         is a child teach him.
         He who knows
         And knows not that he knows
         Is asleep-wake him.
           He who knows
         And knows that he knows,
         is wise- follow him.

                                         "



"Joy cometh in the morning"
They are not long, the weeping, and the laughter
  Love desire and hate:
I think they have no portion in us after we pass the gate. They are not long, the days of wine and roses:
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes within a dream.  .. E. Dowson.
      
                 "
 "Broken hopes-"
As the tree is fertilized , by its own broken branches. and fallen leaves, and grows out of its own decay, so men and nations are bettered and improved by trial, and refined out of broken hopes and blighted expectations. F.W. ROBERSON.

                  "The Rosary of My Tears."
 Some RECKON THEIR AGE BY YEARS, 
 Some measure their life by art;
  But some tell their days by the flow of their tears,
 And their lives by the moans of their heart.

The dials of earth may show
  The length, not the depth of years.
Few or many they come, few or many they Go.
                         But time is best measured by tears.

 For the young are oft-times old,
    Though their brows be bright and fair;
While their blood beats warm, their hearts are cold.
O'er them the spring-but winter is there.

And the old are of times young,
    When their hair is thin and white;
And they sing in age, as in youth they
        sung,
  And they laugh for their cross was light.

 But, bead by bead, I tell
      The rosary of my years,
From a cross to a cross they lead;' tis well
    And they blest with a blessing of tears.

Better a day of strife
    Than a century of sleep.;
Give me instead of a long stream of life.
      The tempests and tears of the deep.

 A thousand joys may foam
    On the billows of all the years;
But never the foam brings the lone back
     Home; 
It reaches the haven through tears.    Abram  J. Ryan
              
 O world, thou choosest not the better part!
 It is not wisdom to be only wise,
  And on the inward vision close the eyes.
  But it is wisdom to believe the heart
Columbus found a world and had no chart.
save one that faith deciphered in the
skies.
 To trust the soul's invincible surmise.
Was all the science and his only art
Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine
That lights the pathway but one step ahead
Across a void of mystery and dread.
Bid, then, the tender light of faith to shine.
By which the mortal heart is led
Unto the thinking of the thought divine.   George Santayana


              'QUIETNESS'
"Be still and know that I am God"
  That I who made and gave thee life
  Will lead thy faltering steps aright;
  That I who see each sparrow's fall
 Will hear and heed thy earnest call.
        I Am God.
"Be still and know that I am God
  When aching burdens crush thy heart,
  Then know I form thee for thy part And purpose in the plan I hold.
        Trust in God.
 .
 Be still and know that I am God.
 Who made the atom's tiny span
 And set it moving to my plan.
 That I who guide the stars above
 Will guide and keep thee in my love.
               Be thou still.                         Doran

 In spite of Dungeon, fire or Sword
I have loved justice; therefore have I borne
 conflict and labor, plot and biting scorn.
Guardian of Faith, for Christ dear sake
              would I
Suffer with gladness and in prison die.   Pope Leo XIII.
                                 


       .

Luke 7: 11-17 Jesus stops a Funeral

 There is a statement in Mark 4:11-12 seems to suggest that Jesus told  parables with the deliberate intention of making his teaching obscure to those who were not already his disciples, so that echoing the word's of Isaiah, " they may indeed see but not perceive and may indeed hear but not understand; less they should turn again, and be forgiven'.  such an idea is so contrary to all we know of Jesus that some explanation seems to be required. Many suggestions have been put forward, of which I mention two: According to C.H. Dodd (and a number of others who follow his views), this is not a genuine  saying of Jesus. It was inserted by the early church to explain why the Jews had rejected Jesus. It was they said, a part of a providential wisdom of God himself, who had always intended this to happen. There are, however, two arguments against this view.
 First, it was probably only the Kingdom is here, that describes the coming blessings of the Messianic age. But Jesus pictures of it make it clear that not everyone will gain admission. Indeed, the parable of the great supper suggests that the over religious will have no place in it at all. Those who share in its blessings will come in from the streets rather than from the sanctuaries. In Matthew's Gospel  great emphasis is laid on the responsibilities that all this places on those who profess to be God's people.
 Since no one knows the hour or day when this will take place, we must be in a state of-constant readiness, like the bridesmaids who waited for the bridegroom to arrive at the weddings.
 This element in Jesus teaching transcends the sharp distinction we like to draw between what will happen in the future and what is already present. Because Jesus has come. God's new society has already arrived. Those who are willing to accept God's authority are even now a part of the kingdom.
 What ever else may be revealed in the future will be, not so much a new beginning, as the final working out of all the implications of something that, in essence, is already here. Though God's new society  had small and insignificant beginnings. It is the kind of beginning that must inevitably produce spectacular growth. But, development is like that of a mustard tree, " The smallest seed in the world' which grows up into one of the biggest plants of all. As I read the Gospels, I see this same truth lived out time and again. There is passage after passage showing  Jesus as he goes to people trapped in desperate situations. Whether it is a sinful women at Jacob's well; a blind man at the Temple; a poor beggar in Jericho; or a rich man in a tree. We are given the privilege of watching as Jesus moves in power for people who are trapped in hopeless and helpless situations. Lets look at one of those situations in a scene from a tiny hamlet called Nain. We look in to watch Jesus do the impossible and the incredible one more time.
 We look at this passage, thinking on the simple thought. "He came to me." I want to show you what Jesus can do, when  he comes into your impossible situation. Let see what He can do for every soul that will trust him by faith. When Jesus came to Nain, it was a time of death. He did not arrive at a joyous moment. He arrived during a time of great mourning. The name "Nain" literally means "Beauty."
   But, there was no beauty in Nain that day. Death had invaded the little town of Nain.
We are told the victim is a young man. That he is "the only son of his mother, and we are told he is dead! A great crowd of mourners are making their way through the gates of the city, to a little cemetery, where he is to buried.
As was the custom in that day, the people of the city had stopped what they were doing and had joined the funeral procession as it made its way through town. The Mother  would have been in front of the open coffin, which contained the body of her son. Behind them would have been those who were mourning the boy's death. These people would be wailing, crying and chanting phrases of grief and mourning. some may have been friends and relatives; others may have been paid to come and help mourn the death of the boy. Those bringing up the rear would have been the town's folk who followed out of respect for the dead.
 Here is a young man whose life had been filled with great potential. He might have had hopes of marriage, and of fathering children, but now he is dead.  But, death has been part of the human experience ever since man sinned against "God in the Garden of Eden" Ever since Adam chose to go his way instead of  "God's way,"  death has stalked and claimed life after life. This was the warning of God to Adam, Gen 2:17. and, this was the experience of Adam, Gen 5:5. It has been, and it continues to be the experience of every human that has ever lived, with the exception of Elijah and Enoch. Death and its pain, is part and parcel of the human experience Heb.9:27). What had happen at Nain is what has been happening to the human species since the dawn time. Death has come. And just as death has come for others, one day it will come for you and me. I think there is more than just physical death. I think this boy, in his physical death, is a picture of what spiritual death is all about. I call your attention back to Gen. 2;17. In that verse, God told Adam that the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, would be the day he died. Well he didn't die that day physically, For he lived hundreds of more years. But, spiritually, he died the day he ate the fruit  Is that what you read in this verse?  You see the Bible tells us in Roman Romans 6:23 that" the wages of sin is death."  The verse speaks of the body, but it refers to the eternal destiny of the lost soul in .Hell! Death of the body is one thing, but separated from the presence of God, Spiritually, is more tragic  That is the end of the person who lives their life without God dies lost. Psa. 9:17; 2 Thes. 1: 8-9-. There is a sense of  a person being dead  (spiritually) and alive physically.
  The young man was there physically,  he could not hear the cries of his mother, or the mourning and grieving did not effect him. They were going to place his body in the earth and he neither knew or cared. He was dead to the things of the earth. He was oblivious to life, and was beyond the touch of those who loved him.  What a picture of the lost man or women, alive and well (physically).
They go about their lives, but they are dead (spiritually). They cannot see, hear, think, move, speak or feel God.  They are dead to God, his word, and oblivious to the life available in God. You will note the wording of the text: There was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. This widow felt the hand of death long ago as it took her husband away. Now, her precious  son has been taken away by death as well. She has no one to care for her in her old age. she has nothing to look forward except poverty and despair. She is at the mercy of other peoples kindness. She is trapped in a helpless condition. Just as this dead son is a picture of a lost person . If Jesus is not your Savior, you are in the same condition as the boy. You are trapped in a set of circumstances, that  forces you to be powerless to change. Your life is a life in bondage to sin and the whims of the world.

We are not told what the boy said when he was raised from the dead. He sat up and began to speak.

Confronting the Ancient world!

 After the resurrection of Jesus, his followers were faced with some hard choices. The previous two or three years had been the most exciting time of their lives. They had listened with wonder to his teaching, and watched with growing expectancy as Jesus actions made it plain that God's long- awaited new society had really and truly arrived. The kingdom was here, because Jesus was the king!
 Then came the crucifixion, and with it all they had hope for seemed doomed to certain failure. Even the resurrection left them disillusioned, and when they realize that Jesus would no longer be physically present with them they must have been under intense pressure simply to forget him.
 Not to forget him entirely, perhaps-but to write off those three years. as an experience which had taught them a lot, but which was no longer of immediate concern, to their continuing life style.
 It must have been a great temptation for them to drift back home and pick up the threads of their working lives where they had left off before they joined Jesus. There, they could still share their memories of him-perhaps even try to put some of his teaching into practice in the local synagogue of rural Palestine. Yet, the more they thought about Jesus, the more they knew how impossible such a reaction would be.  Jesus had demanded their radical and wholehearted obedience when they first met him. And his final message to them was just challenging and uncompromising :' Go, then,  to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples... you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Matt.28:19, Acts 1:8).
 BACK TO JESUS: Jesus had never really been an establishment figure. People who had met him often recognized him as 'rabbi', and gave him that title (Luke 9:25; 19:18,39). Right from the very beginning, they all knew that he was different and that his message was distinctive. In His very first report of Jesus public teaching, Mark comments: The people who heard him were amazed at the way He taught, for He wasn't like the  teachers of the law; instead He taught with authority. (Mark 1:22).  That does not mean to say that his teaching was completely new and unique. Many Jewish writers have rightly pointed out that disciples to be faithful 'shepherds' of the church. It is of course not conceivable that Jesus may have told the same story more than once. and drawn different lessons.
"Remember Grace!" on each occasion. Many preachers re-use a good illustration. But the fact is that these parables are exceptional in having any background information at all attached to them.
  We know nothing about the circumstances in which Jesus told most of the parables. This is emphasized by the way they are collected together in blocks in the various Gospels. Matthew has a complete section devoted entirely to parables (Matt. 13). Mark contains a similar ( though not identical collection, Mark 4).  While Luke also has a long section predominantly composed of parables. ( Luke 13:18-16:31).
 To make his message clear to the people Jesus used many illustrations from everyday life,  nor is it really profitable to try to discover the use to which the parables were put in the early church. Students of what is called 'redaction  criticism'  have examined the ways in which different  parables are used in different Gospels. For example, we can see that Matthew has a number of parables that refer to the coming of God's kingdom in the future-and we may surmise that this subject was of some importance
in the churches for which Matthew was writing. Luke on the other hand, preserves a number of parables, not found in other Gospels, concerned with the place of non-Jewish people (Gentiles) in God's new society. Observations of this kind can tell us valuable things about Matthew and Luke.
and their respective readerships. But ultimately they tell us very little about either the origins or the  The real meaning of the parables themselves. The real meaning of the parables must be inextricably bound up with the challenge they bring to those who read or hear them. They give us a picture of God and of his new society, and they challenge us to commit ourselves unconditionally  to accept his will.
  It is only as we identify ourselves with the lost sheep, the wicked tenants, or the man who discovers a field of hidden treasure, that that their full impact is felt. In the last analysis, the parables are nothing less than God's claim on the lives of men and women. They require both the disposition to understand and the will to obey.

"THE fIVE MYSTERIES OF lIGHT" [ Recited on Thursadays] Franciscans Holy land.

1. Baptism of Jesus.
  When John Baptizes Jesus in the Jordan river, the heavens opened and God
  said: " this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." Matt. 3-17.
2. The first Miracle at Cana.
   At his mother Mary's prompting, Jesus changes water into wine for a wedding couple
   At Cana in Galilee. He is revealed in all his glory with his first miracle. John 2:11.
3. Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God is at hand.
  After 40 days in the desert, Jesus comes forth and proclaims, " This is the time of fulfillment.
  The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." Mark 1:15
 4. Jesus is transfigured
     While Jesus is praying on Mount Tabor his face begins to shine and his clothes become dazzling
      White. The voice of God tells the astonished Apostles; " listen to him." Luke 9:35
 5. Jesus gives us the Eucharist
    Jesus offers his body and blood as food under the signs of bread and wine. He willing offers himself in sacrifice for our salvation.   Luke 22:19.
   

" The Our Father" "Rooted in our Baptism in Christ."

 We should not take it for granted, that we have been given the privilege of coming to God in prayer. Nor should we take it lightly, that He has given us the very words with which to approach Him. Certainly, we should not presume that such prayer is our own prerogative or a matter of personal choice. Rather, it is a gift of divine grace, that God is our dear Father, that we are His dear children, and that He has given us both the invitation and the means to come boldly before him. All of this in and through Christ, and given to us in the waters of Baptism.
From the earliest days of the Church, "THE OUR FATHER" along with the "APOSTLES CREED."
has had a special relationship to the sacrament of "HOLY BAPTISM". CATECHUMENS in the early church would receive and learn these two chief parts of the Christian faith during Lent; then at heir baptism during the great vigil of Easter, they would confess the creed as they were immersed in the water, and afterwards ( on the basis of their baptism) they would pray the "Our Father" for the first time... together with the Church. To be sure, it is only by our Baptism into Christ, " the Son of God",
that we, too, are given the blessed privilege of approaching the "Lord God Almighty" as 'Our Father."
 Just as dear children ask their dear fathers here on earth ( but thankfully, with even more confidence than we have in our human fathers).
 Because we pray to our Father in virtue of ur Baptism into Christ, the Lord's  prayer ( like all Christian prayer, properly understood) is never a "private prayer" or private Christianity." Even when we take it to the Lord in prayer in the solitude of our own homes, we do so as members of the Body of Christ, as members of His Church of all times and Places. It is always our Father, never simply my father. The use of the "Our Father," in particular, along with other standard prayers ( such as Luther's (Morning and evening prayers.) is important confession of this catholicity and of our connection to it. Because the "Our Father" is part of our common language as Christians, this is the special language we all speak as fellow citizens of our Father's kingdom. For the words we use-even before we begin to "understand" them ( in part intellectually-the words God has spoken and given for us to repeat are words every Christian has received and speaks, a confession of the one Lord, one faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all. (Eph. 4:4-5). The catholicity of the "Our Father"  is demonstrated in the special importance attached to the Fifth Petition (" Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."), which Jesus reiterates in His teaching of the Our Father (Matt.6:14-15). since we pray in communion with the entire Church-in the unity of Christ Jesus- our relationship with others ( especially our fellow Christians) is an integral part of our prayer.  and as Christians that relationship is defined by forgiveness. We come before the Lord in prayer with repentance and humble recognition of our own sins; for we know that of ourselves we are unworthy to stand in His presence, and that we do so only by His tender grace and mercy towards us. Each and every prayer that we bring to him, therefore, presupposes and depends upon His forgiveness. and in this confession of our own sin, in our reliance upon the mercy and free forgiveness of our gracious Lord, we for our part must "heartily forgive and gladly do good  to those who sin against us. In the same way, we pray the "Our Father" as a matter of discipline, because it lifts our hearts and minds above and beyond  our own selfish cares and concerns to pray for the whole "Church."
Accordingly, the Lutheran Church has always included the "Our Father" in every single one of her liturgies great and small alike. Dr. Luther recommends in his small catechism that we include the "Our Father" in our daily prayers. ( Rom 8:26) we find our recourse and take refuge in this prayer taught by the lord himself. Even though our hearts and minds are never as pious or as focused  as they should be, we can know for a certainty that our lips are here guided by the words God himself; and that the "Holy Spirit" is thus praying with us...in our sinful weakness. The "Lord's prayer is always most appropriate, a prayer for all seasons. Certainly, we should never feel that we have nothing to say nor worry that we aren't being "creative" or "clever" enough, do so in this manner ( St.Matt. 6: 7-14).

"A call to Holiness in the present"

 Of all the books, Perhaps Revelation is the one where it is most crucial to understand the life setting of the author. Because Revelation is poetry and metaphor, it is inappropriate to "nail down" a precise meaning for every image. It is possible, though, to discern overall contours of what the book meant to the first readers. Then we listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church today through the same images. How would John of Patmos view the huge profits made on wall street while most of the world lives in poverty? What does Revelation say to a society that slaughters a quarter of its babies in the womb?  Evangelicals have been distracted long enough with debates about the sequence of Christ's return, tribulation, the millennium, and the New Jerusalem. Jesus warned against such speculation and instructed his followers to get on with the mission work (Acts 1:7-8). he main intent of Christian teaching about the future is to call God's people to holiness and bold allegiance to Jesus in our present life and witness (see 1 John 3:2-3). Fortunately,  Revelation is not the only biblical guide for how we deal with government and society. Paul was cautiously optimistic about the validity of Rome, perhaps before Nero went off the rails. P" (Rom. 13;4) Paul said the ruler is " God's servant to do you good.  Christians are not anarchists. Nor do we categorically declare most governments entirely good or entirely evil.  Parts of almost any political, economic or social structure. will be serving God.  Other parts will be fallen. We need Holy Spirit guidance, deep roots in scripture and counsel of the faith community to discern the difference. It a jungle out there.