Untitled Document

The Wall of Separation

Most are aware of the current struggle over the political doctrine “separation of church and state. The fact there is a contentious debate over this issue is somewhat perplexing since there is no mention of this doctrine in our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, or our Bill of Rights. So, where does the current understanding of this controversial public policy stem from?

Its inauspicious beginning was started with a private letter sent by President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut in 1802. The Danbury Baptists feared the Congregationalist Church would become the new state sponsored religion. After being contacted by the potentially offended party, President Jefferson graciously responded to alleviate their dread. It was in this letter that reference to a “wall of separation” is mentioned. Jefferson's citation, however, concerning the “wall of separation” of church and state was a one way wall— a wall in which the government would have no say in the affairs of the church. His statement, mischaracterized today, was never intended to keep the God of the Bible out of our government, schools, or culture. The wall was to protect the Church from the intrusion of government, not to protect the government from the principles of God’s word, especially as it relates to their sphere of delegated authority.

In 1947, however, something happened to dramatically alter the placement of the wall. The Hugo Black Court divorced the phrase from Jefferson's explanation and used it to create a new and completely arbitrary interpretation of the First Amendment. Whereas the historical understanding viewed the “wall of separation” as it relates to our First Amendment as no one Christian denomination established as our national religion, the new version views it as removing the knowledge of God from the public life of our nation.

In his commentary on the First Amendment's original meaning, Joseph Story, named to the Supreme Court in 1811, clarified the proper interpretation. He stated, “The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects [denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government.”

On the heels of the 1947 Everson v. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision, came one disastrous Supreme Court Decision after another. As a result, evil is now good and good is now made evil. The Bible has been removed as the cornerstone of America’s education, the prayers of our children have been silenced, and the Ten Commandments have been stripped from our walls. Our schools, culture, and government have become veritable war zones. By judicial fiat and without precedent, our nation foolishly replaced the knowledge of God with condoms, police officers, metal detectors, and unprecedented violence and perversion.

Beyond this historical outlook that concerns the “wall of separation,” there is also a deep and rich theological view which the Church in America must grapple. It stems from Roger Sherman, Rhode Island’s champion of religious freedom. Thomas Jefferson borrowed the phrase “wall of separation” from him. Roger Sherman’s use of this phrase was a metaphor to describe the relationship and conflict between the world and God’s Church. He stated that there is “a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world.”

Sherman’s “gap in the hedge or wall of separation” brings to mind Isaiah 5:1-7. The prophet of God describes God’s wall and hedge about his people. He states, “Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.”

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, preached this theme in His generation as well. He warned Israel of impending doom for rejecting His claims of being the Promised Messiah. Jesus stated, “Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matthew 21:33-43).”

These two Biblical passages provide the root system for the correct interpretation of the “wall of separation” doctrine America struggles with today. First, there is a legitimate “wall of separation” between church and state. Buddy Hanson, in his excellent book, The Christian Prince, reveals the Biblical distinctions. In the Old Testament, Moses was Israel’s civil ruler, while Aaron was the High Priest. There was a palace established for the king and a temple for the priests to further mark the separations.

To help clarify these differences created by God Himself, the following example should suffice. 1 Kings 12:32-13:1-6 states, “And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made. So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burn incense and, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee. And he gave a sign the same day, saying, this is the sign which the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him and his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not pull it in again to him. The altar also was rent, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Intreat now the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored me again. And the man of God besought the Lord, and the king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before.”

In this case, the prophet of God representing the Church rebuked the king representing civil authority for crossing the “wall of separation.” This particular king set up a false altar and a counterfeit priesthood to keep his people from going to Jerusalem and participating in the ordained religious activities established there by God Himself. Besides this blatant usurpation, it was not the duty of the king to burn incense or offer sacrifices. These sacred acts were reserved for the true priesthood. The king was not allowed to mettle in the affairs of the Church. He stretched forth his hand to touch the sacred and he drew back a nub. He crossed the line of his jurisdiction and he paid the price.

On the other hand, there are numerous examples in Scripture where the Church confronted civil authority in their disobedience, tyranny, and idolatry. Moses confronted Pharaoh, Elijah confronted King Ahab, Nathan confronted King David, and John the Baptist confronted King Herod. There are other examples as well, but this should suffice to reveal the one way “wall of separation” established in the Bible. It was established to protect the Church from the intrusion of civil government, not to protect civil government from the principles of God nor His rebuke when they err and devolve into tyranny, despotism, and oppression.

Notice as well from the previous Scriptures that it is God that establishes for His people a wall or hedge to protect His garden from the wilderness of the world. This was the revelation that sparked Roger Sherman’s quote. This truth is paramount in many ways. First, we must deal with the divine reality that God has the power to transform gardens into wilderness and vice-a-versa. Psalm 107:33-35 states, “He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings.”

These major geographical shifts are not based upon faults expanding or contracting beneath the earth’s surface. What ultimately inspires God to transform the landscape of the earth is the morality of the people who live there. The land can be flowing with milk and honey in one age, but if the people become idolatrous, the land could end up scorched. The Psalmist declared, “The rebellious shall dwell in a dry land (Psalm 68:6).” On the other hand, if the people of the land repent, God could relent and change the land into a watered garden once again.

This process is extremely important as it relates to the “wall of separation” controversy. When God’s people obey the voice of the Lord our God and keep His commandments, the high and impregnable wall remains to protect the Lord’s garden. It stands to keep the hordes of darkness at bay. It allows the Church to live “a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty (1Timothy 2:2b).” Interestingly enough,this passage by the Apostle Paul is in context with the Church properly relating to civil government through prayers and intercession for all who are in authority.

However, if God’s people betray the covenant, disobey His voice, and violate His commandments, the Bible and history prove God will remove His hedge of protection and knock down the Wall of Separation to allow His enemies to chastise His people. The hordes of darkness that were once at bay will be released to trodden under foot the garden of the Lord.

Today, we would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to recognize the true condition of this “wall” as it relates to the church, civil government, and the world. Year after year the government has intruded into the affairs of God’s people. The abortion industry and the homosexual agenda have capitalized upon this invasion and found the most favored business status at the expense of the church. Our freedoms of speech and religion stand in great peril as ENDA, Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the "Hate Crimes" bill promote a two prong attack. The first, ENDA, is aimed at Christian laity and business owners to censor them and silence dissent against the homosexual juggernaut. The second, "Hate Crimes" legislation is to silence the few preachers and pastors left that have not been feminized to remain quiet as well. These are just two examples out of many that can be cited.

What does this reveal? Clearly, once again, God’s people in America have sinned a great sin. As a result, God, Himself, is turning us over to wicked leaders, unjust laws we can’t live with, and an increasingly hostile culture that despises the Church in America. Is this not the reality we are dealing with today? Are not the hordes of darkness on the march as conquerors and conquering? Is not the Wall that separated the garden of the Lord from the wilderness of the world crumbling about us? Your honest answers are important to our future.

The question then arises, if these things be so, what can the Church in America do? It starts with a little word, yet profound in its affect. REPENT!!! When Nehemiah, the cup-bearer heard the news of the terrible state of his nation, he wept, prayed, and fasted over the broken walls and the burned gates. Nehemiah 1:4-11 states, “And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.”

After we repent with prayers and fasting, our next task is to take godly action. Nehemiah called for the people regardless of their calling, vocation, or profession to rebuild the walls and restore the gates. He commanded them to go to the exposed areas with their weapons. The call was to rebuild and fight. Nehemiah 4:13,14 states, “Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.” Though the battle raged from within and from without, Nehemiah and the remnant persevered and rebuilt the wall that protected God’s people once again.

In the current political climate a great debate is intensifying over our borders. Many desire to see a fence to be built to protect our land from illegal aliens and terrorists. As important as that may be, the Wall of Separation that protects the garden of the Lord from the wilderness of the world needs to be rebuilt first.

LETTER OF SUPPORT

October 2, 2007

Dear Friends and Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The following is a letter of reference for Rusty Thomas, founder of Elijah Ministries. Rusty and his family are members of Church on the Rock, in Waco, Texas and have been for twelve years. In that time I have known Rusty Thomas as a friend, as a minister and maybe most important as prophetic voice to our nation. His challenge has sparked the hearts of many in our nation to turn back to God. He truly does have the mantle of Elijah the prophet to turn individuals, cities, and even nations to repentance. In Rusty’s core you find a passion for advancing the Kingdom of our Lord and Savior. I have seen Rusty work effectively with fellow believers from every part of the Christian spectrum to influence our culture. What may set Rusty apart from many traveling ministers is his love for the local church and his respect for pastors and local church leadership. Yet, he has a tremendous ability to stir up a pastor’s heart to understand the issues impacting our culture.

As Rusty’s pastor, I can tell you that he has been a blessing to me and to our church. Without qualification, Rusty has demonstrated a heart of a servant toward the local church. Even at great cost to himself, he has traveled and ministered with little or no compensation. He does this not because he has no needs, but because he trusts God to be the provider. We at Church on the Rock gladly support Rusty and his family, but simply do not have the resources to meet his needs alone. Please consider adding Rusty Thomas and Elijah Ministries to your giving. No matter how great or small, you can be sure that you are sowing good seed into good soil that will reap a harvest for the glory of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ. Join with me to help ease the financial burden of the Thomas Family, and at the same time empower Rusty to continue going forth to speak into America and into the cities of our nation.

If you would care to contact me concerning Rusty Thomas and/or the work of Elijah Ministries, please email me at pjohnw@gmail.com or phone me at 254-715-8068 (cell). Thanks for your consideration.

In the service of our King,

John Wachsmann
Church on the Rock, Waco
Senior Pastor

IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,

Rusty, Kendra, and the Thomas Nation

P.O. Box 3126
Waco, TX 76707

Voice: (254) 836-1037
Cell: (254) 715-3134

E-mail: elijahmin@ifriendly.com

Websites: www.elijahmin.com www.operationsaveamerica.org