Labor Unions And Egypt

 

 

“Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.”

Proverbs 19:10

Introduction:

1. Two current events (2/20/11) pressed me to preach God’s will about labor unions and civil rebellion.
   1. The teacher’s union, university students, Democrat congressmen, the President, the media, and others have reacted with strikes and vitriol against Governor Scott Walker seeking to balance Wisconsin’s budget by asking for minor contributions to employee benefits by teachers and reducing collective bargaining rights … teachers in Milwaukee make $100,005 for 180 work days for their underachieving schools and a graduation rate of 68% compared to 90% statewide.
   2. President Mubarak of Egypt was forced to resign his office and flee for his safety after students and other activists demonstrated for eighteen days in Cairo and other locations to overthrow the Egyptian government, which anarchy has now spread to about 10 neighboring countries.
2. By God’s providence, the system for choosing the daily proverb selected the one above out of 915!
3. While feelings run high about such events as these, our position must always and only be scripture.
4. We cannot do better than theme verses of our church found in Psalm 119 … 97-100,104,113,118,128.
5. There is no reason to be complicated or detailed in this study. God has spoken: the issues are settled.
6. While much more has been preached on these subjects, see the links at the bottom of this outline.
7. Psalm 75 and 82, when rightly grasped as pertaining to civil authority, are good preparatory reading.

What happened in Egypt?

1. You should know by living on earth and with a computer in your house what occurred, and what you witnessed in Egypt is happening in other places and will likely happen much more.
2. With agitation and direction from activists, now using the Internet, emails, and tweeting, students and other malcontents violently demonstrated in Cairo and other locations until President Mubarak resigned his office and fled the presidential palace with his family.
3. While much time could be wasted studying the recent political history of Egypt and corruption in President Mubarak’s government, it does not alter the outcome of our study.

What does God think of civil rebellion?

1. Civil authority is not an invention or idea of man or the outcome of a political science classroom, it is the ordinance of God, and civil rulers are to be treated as God’s ministers.
2. Romans 13:1-7 declares the axioms of civil government for Christians, and the pagan, persecuting, and occupying Roman Empire is the object of this kind of obedient submission.
3. I Peter 2:13-17 declares further principles of conduct and the reasons for such, and again the government in view is principally that of Rome for Jews with their own national constitution.
4. Titus 3:1 is ministerial instruction that civil obedience and submission is right for Christians and should be preached authoritatively and regularly (2:15; 3:8).
5. II Peter 2:10-12 and Jude 1:8-10 use some of the Bible’s harshest language for those who despise government and speak evil of dignities, declaring they are presumptuous, selfwilled, comparable to brute beasts, and should be destroyed, for they are clueless about government.
6. Proverbs 24:21-22 has God’s opinion of civil activists and those who follow them, for He includes both categories together, and He promises their severe and irremediable ruin.
7. Ecclesiastes 8:2-5 describe a godly man’s obligation to keep his oath to God about his rulers.
8. Matthew 22:15-22 is the ruling of Jesus Christ Himself, the high King of heaven and earth, that the Roman Caesar could tax the Jews based on a simple de facto issue, even though the Jews had their own constitutional rights from God, the Old Testament of Moses!
9. Deuteronomy 17:12-13 declares God’s rule for capital punishment for civil disobedience.
10. Ecclesiastes 10:4 says angry rulers are handled by yielding, not demonstrating or fighting.

What does God think of student demonstrators?

1. He likes what He saw on May 4, 1970 on the campus of Kent State University, when four of the rabble (President Nixon called them bums) were shot dead by the Ohio National Guard.
   1. Reject the sentimental hype of a 14-year-old female runaway crying beside a dead rebel, for this emotional picture has altered the facts for most mindless Americans.
   2. Research the burning of the campus ROTC building three days earlier and the town riot.
   3. If you think this point is too hard and harsh, you have never read the Bible about what happened to children in the Flood, capital punishment for children, what happened to Canaanite children, Elisha and 42 children, and what happened to children in AD 70, etc.
2. University students are the most ignorant, inflammable, and dangerous group in any society.
   1. Hormonally-crazed youth, without any experience or responsibilities, flattered by their professors, drunk on freedom from their parents, are far too simple to resist charismatic instigators and are big enough physically to be dangerous.
   2. The miniscule bit of knowledge they may have acquired is more dangerous than useful.
   3. They are flattered to think they can think, which makes them worse than fools (Pr 26:12).
   4. Children are not as dangerous, because they know they know nothing and can do nothing.
   5. Most university educations reject parental, religious, and civil traditions for the anarchic, evolutionary, revolutionary hallucinations of progressive (perverted) professors.
   6. Public universities always have the most liberal thinking – perverse thinking contrary to God and man – over any other place or institution in a society, for numerous reasons.

What is a labor union?

1. It is a group of employees in a company, industry, or government that has determined to force all employees to join them against management or ownership to demand what they want in the way of work conditions, work requirements, pay, benefits, policies, etc., etc.
2. These anarchic sluggards hate competition, so they conspire to get legal defense to avoid it.
3. They are as normal as sodomy, based on God’s opinion in II Peter 2:10-12 and Jude 1:8-10.
4. There is not one in a hundred smart enough to realize they will lose their jobs if they continue to demand work rules and compensation out of line with the market e.g. auto, steel, etc.
5. While much time could be wasted on the history of unions, it would not help us determine God’s will from the Bible, though the example of Ronald Reagan (firing air traffic controllers) is encouraging … and this year is his 30-year anniversary of doing so.
6. Our church has a little history corresponding with Frank Lorenzo and Eastern Airlines.
7. Labor unions are easy to show wrong, if men could think for a minute; but they prefer lies.
   1. They are the same as children uniting and refusing to allow parents entry to their home unless their demands are met and the parents will get child approval in the future.
   2. For teachers, it is the same as students uniting to resist the teacher until they get to choose class content, amount of recess, amount of homework, teacher compensation, etc.
8. Explanation of terminology might help the ignorant or weak to interpret the news better.
   1. Rank-and-file is a euphemism for rabble, mob, horde, gang, rebels, seditionists, etc.
   2. Collective bargaining is a euphemism for mob extortion, blackmail, threatening, etc.
   3. Right to organize is a euphemism for conspiracy, sedition, treason, mob rule, etc.
   4. Union organizer is a euphemism for rabble-rouser, anarchist, seditionist, conspirator, etc.
9. If an employee does not like his employer and terms of employment, he can quit; but a Christian has no right to go beyond that, unless the laws of the land or Bible are broken.
10. Have unions ever done any good? Of course, just like adultery and stealing have good sides!
    1. Adultery is more exciting than marriage for a while, but it cannot last, and God hates it.
    2. Stealing is more exciting than working for a while, but it cannot last, and God hates it.
    3. Only two questions matter. What does God think? What are the long-term consequences?
    4. God hates unions from top to bottom, and the long-run effect is negative in all respects.

What does God think of labor unions?

1. Ephesians 6:5-8 and Colossians 3:22-25 state philosophy and rules of Christian employees.
2. I Peter 2:18-22 requires submission by Christians, even to obnoxious bosses, for God’s sake.
3. I Timothy 6:1-2 is ministerial instruction for teaching Christians to obey their bosses.
4. Titus 2:9-10 plainly details obedience, submission, and fidelity to managers and owners.
5. Exodus 21:20-21 allows employers to severely beat employees, for He confirmed a labor principle that an employer will not hurt or destroy a good employee (Ex 21:20-21).
6. Galatians 5:19-21 condemns sedition, which is a union’s main goal, for sending men to hell.
7. I Corinthians 7:21 tells servants to accept it; but they do have the right to quit, if allowed.

What should we do?

1. We should contend against the wickedness around us by living righteous lives, especially in the matters of godly submission to authority and the godly exercise of authority (Prov 28:4).
2. We should pray for our government to be delivered from anarchists as we saw in Egypt, and we should pray for our government to use the sword God gave them to punish such rebels.
3. We should pray for God to protect Governor Scott Walker and to give him wisdom, courage, and boldness to lead that state to do what is right and essential, just as it voted him to do.
4. We should obey in all matters of faith and duty as taught in the Bible, and live like strangers and pilgrims here, so that God our Father will bless and protect us as obedient children.
5. We should pray for the peace of America (Babylon) and our own (Jer 29:4-7; I Tim 2:1-2).
6. We can vote as intelligently as possible, for God gave us wits and that political opportunity.

For Further Study:

1. A Sermon: Ordinance of Authority.
2. Sermon Outline: A Christian Work Ethic.
3. Sermon Outline: Christian and taxes.
4. Sermon Outline: God Bless the IRS.
5. Sermon Outline: Colossians 3:22-25.
6. Sermon Outline: II Peter 2:10-12.
7. Sermon Outline: Proverbs 19:10.
8. Proverb Commentary: Proverbs 24:21.
9. Proverb Commentary: Proverbs 24:22.
10. Proverb Commentary: Proverbs 26:1.
11. Proverb Commentary: Proverbs 16:22.
12. Proverb Commentary: Proverbs 1:31.
13. Document: Virgina Tech Mass Murderer.
14. Sermon Outline: Thus Saith the Lord.