Quote - “We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”― Winston S. Churchill
A Word from the pastor - A little boy wanted $100 very badly. He prayed for weeks, but nothing happened. So, he decided to write a letter to God requesting $100. When the postal authorities received the letter to “God, USA”, they decided to send it to the President. The President was so amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little boy a $5 bill. The President thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little boy. The little boy was delighted with the $5 bill, and sat down to write a thank-you note to God. The postal authorities forwarded this letter on to the President, too. It read: “Dear God, thank you very much for sending the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you sent it through Washington, D.C., and those guys deducted $95 in taxes!” (Source unknown)
We as Christians have a dual citizenship. Obviously, we have our first duty to God, and sometimes obeying God means that we must disobey human government authorities. “Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for the Savior.” (Philippians 3:20) However, human government has been set up by God Himself for the good of his creation. Human government provides the restraint against the sinful impulses of fallen, depraved humanity, which, if left to itself, would destroy both the life and property of others. Every civilized society needs the authority to restrain evil which government provides. Taxes provide the way to pay for the government. Therefore, Jesus’s brilliant answer to the hypocrites who questioned whether their religion allowed them to pay taxes to the oppressive Roman government was, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew 25:21)
