TAXES

Yesterday, I wrote about one of the "two inevitable things": death. Today, I thought I would tell you what I think of taxes, but before I do, I need to make an addendum to my thoughts on death. Death is not inevitable. It is true that some of us will get out of this world alive. Unfortunately, the number will be small compared to the nearly seven billion souls on our planet. There is a coming event that will allow born-again believers to escape death. It is called the Rapture of the Church. I have written about it many times before, so I won't take the time to explain much about it except that genuine Christians will not all die. Jesus is coming to remove those who are alive at the appointed time from a world that is about to experience God's judgment (1 Thes. 4:13-18). In that sense, death is not inevitable. Praise the Lord; I hope that it is today!

Escaping the judgment of God destined for this world is one excellent reason to be hopeful; the other is that we will no longer have to pay taxes! While taxes are necessary to provide funds for desired services such as roads, schools, and a military, taxes are also a form of redistribution of wealth. I can't remember where I read it, but someone wrote that democracies work until the majority realizes that they can vote for people who will support them. While the numerous benefits available to the poor are necessary in a few cases, the vast majority of those on welfare are simply wanting a "free ride." One way to save money and reduce the unemployment numbers is to hire several thousand folks whose responsibility it would be to check up on the "needy." If they need to get a "free pass," then they should not object to the government verifying their claims. Only the A.C.L.U. and those committing fraud would fight it.

Jesus lived at a time when taxes were seldom used for the poor. Greed motivated tax collectors and the governments that employed them. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as God's Word had predicted, because of taxes (Lk. 2:1-6). Tax collectors are called "publicans" in the New Testament. (Ironic that it is usually the democrats that seem to provide us with a welfare state; re-publicans supposedly oppose taxes). The word "publicans" appears in sixteen verses, and it is no surprise that most of them have a negative connotation (Matt. 5:46-47; 9:10-11; 11:19; Mk. 2:15-16; Lk. 5:29-30; 7:34). What is a surprise is that Jesus not only dined with them, He praised those publicans that responded to His preaching (Matt. 21:32; Lk. 3:12; 7:29; 19:2-10). One of them, Matthew (also called Levi), not only became one of the twelve disciples, he wrote the Gospel of Matthew (Matt. 9:9; Mk. 2:14; Lk. 5:27-29; Acts 1:13).

While we are still alive and living on this planet, taxes are inevitable, that is true. Our attitude toward taxes should be as was our Lord's: we should "give unto Caesar" that which is due, and we should trust God to provide the means to pay taxes (Matt. 22:17-21; 17:24-27). We only have to be cheerful when giving to God; we can resent giving our money to a corrupt government; after all, what government is more corrupt than was the government of Jesus' day (2 Cor. 9:7)? For now, we just have to grin and bear it, but look up, our redemption draweth nigh (Lk. 21:28; Jam. 5:8)! Praise the Lord!