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sure that energy use is cut back. One
letter to
Time
magazine even went so
far asto say that "what we need is a
Caesar" to deal with the energy
crisis!
Time
has also noted that
people are in a mood to sacrifice at
least sorne of their individual liberty
to "solve" the energy crisis.
Man's government has already
used the pretext of the energy crisis to
"allocate" energy to "priority" users.
In effect, man's government is saying
that
it
knows which are the most
deserving
users. The government has,
then, in effect set itself up as the
arbiter
of who is worthy. Ifthe human
government doesn't like a group--if it
wants
topersecuteit- all
it has todo is
deny it energy! When energy is traded
on theopen market,
anyonecan
buy it.
But when energy is controlled by
man's government under the sway of
Satan, then onlythosepeopleofwhom
the human government approves can
obtain it.
The threat to the great commission
should be obvious. Under the pretext
of the energy crisis, man's govern–
ment may seize control of all energy
supplies. But in a world where man's
government makes all the energy
decisions, the physical resources with
which God's apostle and Church
accomplish the great commission are
dependent
on the good graces of
human beings wielding worldly, po–
litical power.
Affects True Christians
The takeover of energy decisions by
man's government not only poses a
grave danger to the preaching of the
Gospel in this end time, it also poses
a threat to the edification of God's
true Church, and the way of life
which the Bíble prescribes.
A certain amount of travel is not
only necessary for the preaching of
the true Gospel, it is also part of
God's Law. Members of God's
Church must travel to various sites
around the world every autumn to
observe God's Feast of Tabernacles.
(Deuteronomy 14:23-25). Most do
so by car; sorne fly. Often the travel
is a considerable distance. (Perhaps
this is the reason why up to now
there have been no gas crunches in
the autumn-God 'has divinely en–
sured that energy was available
when it was needed by His people!)
Should the right to travel to God's
32
Feast rest in the hands of sorne
bureaucrat?
God's Church is also commanded to
hold a holy convocation each Sabbath
day (Lev. 23:3). Whilethedistancesare
shorter, this also involves travel. Cou–
pon rationing, "carless" days, "gasless
days," all pose at least a threat to ·the
physical ability ofGod's people to travel
to Church services. (The same, of
course, holds true for other religions as
well.)
When human government starts
making decisions which would nor–
mally be made by millions of prívate
individuals in the open market, the
danger of terrible intrusions into the
. free exercise of religion arises. One
former politician has suggested that
President Carter call on all mer–
chants to close down one day a week.
Most, of course, would probably
close on Sunday if they had the
choice. At the very least, this would
impose a burden on those who keep
God's Sabbath and work normal
weekdays, or Sunday.
And where does it all stop? If ·you
concede that man's government has
the moral right to ration energy, then
there's
nothing
which its power won't
be able to touch. It could stop people
from going to God's Feast, or stop
them from going to church, or even
enforce Sunday observance-a//
in
the name of conserving energy!
Moreover, God's ministers must
travel
in
the course of their duties.
They must visit and anoint the sick,
(James 5:14) for example, and coun–
sel members and prospective mem–
bers of God's Church. The average
minister of God travels 30,000 miles
a year in the course of bis duties!
Suppose the government ofman were
to tell him that he could only buy
enough . gasoline to travel 10,000
miles (which isjust a bit less than the
national average). Such a restriction
would gravely inhibit his ability to
carry out Christ's command to His
ministers to "feed my sheep" (John
21:15-17). To the degree that man's
government seeks to curtail such
travel, it is interfering with the
administration of God's own govern–
ment in His Church.
God, Gove rnment, and
Raw Materials
When man's government attempts to
"allocate" raw materials, God's
Work can be made physically
depen–
den!
on the good graces of human
government. The example of Nehe–
miah is right on point.
In Nehemiah's time, God's Work
was rebuilding the gates and walls of
Jerusalem (Nehemiah
2:3,
17-18).
Because the human government con–
trolled all the country's raw materi–
als, Nehemiah himself, personally
charged with the task of seeing to it
that God's Work got done, had to go
and ask
permission
of the govern–
ment (King Artaxerxes) not only to
do the work, but also to obtain the
necessary physical resources (Nehe–
miah 2:5, 8).
lf
the government had refused
Nehemiah permission to build, or
denied him access to the timber
which he needed, Nehemiah would
not have been physically able to do
the job God gave him.
And there were petty bureaucrats
who saw the chance to advance their
personal careers· by charging Nehe–
miah with rebellion against the state
(Nehemiah 2: 19) . Given the physical
helplessness which the governrrient
control over raw materials meant for
Nehemiah, it took the direct, divine
intervention of God Himself to bring
the conspiracy to nothing (Nehemiah
4:15).
In our time, of course, God can
also supernaturally assure that no
lack of physical resources prevents
the Work from being done-even to
the point of raising up stones to do
it (Matthew 3:9) . But God has
commissioned His Work to be done
the way it is being done now–
through the modern means of mass
media and personal ev.angelism to
world leaders.
In God's World: Energy Abundance
The very fact that control of energy
resources by man's government poses
a grave danger to religious freedom
ought to focus your mind on the
desperate need for God's government
to be restored to the earth. As with
every other aspect of human ij fe, the
restoration of the government of God
to the whole earth is exceeding good
news.
The Bible indicates that when
Christ returns and establishes His
rule on earth, mankind will have the
benefit of energy in abundance. I n
(Continued on page 38)
The
PLAIN TRUTH