This is a day of apostacy that is as great as what Spurgeon faced. Those that will stand will face anger, arrogance, and ridicule for standing faithfully for the express truths of the Word of God.
Controversy isolated Spurgeon
October 28, 1887 – Charles Haddon Spurgeon withdrew from the Baptist Union. During the height of the dispute before he withdrew he wrote the following that gives insight as to the condition of the Union at the time. “No lover of the Gospel can conceal from himself the fact that the days are evil. A new religion has been initiated, which is no more Christianity than chalk is cheese, and this religion, being destitute of moral honesty, palms itself off as the old faith with slight improvements, and on this plea usurps pulpits which were erected for Gospel preaching. The Atonement is scouted, the inspiration of the Scripture is derided, the Holy Spirit is degraded into an influence, the punishment of sin is turned into fiction, and the Resurrection into a myth, and yet these enemies of our faith expect us to call them brethren, and maintain a confederacy with them!” At the back of doctrinal falsehood comes a natural decline of spiritual life, evidenced by a taste for questionable amusements, and a weariness of devotional meetings. Spurgeon’s early complaints centered upon three problems; the decline of prayer meetings among the Baptist churches, the worldliness of ministers relating to entertainment, and doctrinal problems which stemmed from the inroads of the “higher criticism” of that day. This controversy isolated Spurgeon from many who refused to stand with him for the defense of biblical truth. Many believe that the grief and conflict of this battle hastened his death after a period of illness at Mentone in Southern France. He died on Jan. 31, 1892 at 57 years of age. In our day when apostasy abounds, God grant us men of God like him.
Dr. Greg J. Dixon from: This Day in Baptist History Vol. I: Cummins Thompson /, pp. 447-48.
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TAXING THE SUNLIGHT
Dose of Reality 276, Taxing the Sunlight
Joseph Harris Fri, May 4, 2012 at 12:10 PM
May 3, 2012 A Dose of Reality by Joseph Harris Number 276
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Taxing the Sunlight
An ever growing government must by necessity grow in expanding its revenue (called taxing to the uninformed) and therefore can be very creative in methods for taxing and names for said taxes. Since the phrase “cut spending” is not found in any dictionary or book owned by politicians, the only recourse is to increase revenue. Government makes Robin Hood look like an amateur. Frederic Bastiat was correct when he called taxation legalized plunder.
Of the more than 50 different taxes that exist today on federal, state and local levels, here are a few more familiar and common taxes. Federal income tax, sales tax,bridge tolls, sales tax, commuter tax, dog license tax, gasoline tax, Social Security tax, seven different taxes on telephone usage, and the list continues.
We jokingly talk about how politicians would tax the air if they could. Water is already taxed. If only they could contrive a way to tax the sunlight. Wait…believe it or not…..it’s been done!In 1696, the window tax was enacted in England and it lived into the 1800’s. At the time, the people opposed an income tax because it would require the government knowing everyone’s income. This was considered an intrusive invasion of privacy and a personal attack on liberty (imagine that). Finally someone hit on the idea of taxing based on the number of windows in a house. The larger the house, the more windows the house would, which coincidentally meant the larger the house, the more income the person would have. And after all, the rich should pay more because they have more, right?
So was it a window tax or a sunlight tax? Windows let in the light and to close a window, was to not be able to enjoy the use of light. Even today, some buildings from this period have bricked up windows, a reminder of an early home owner who used the only loophole available at the time to avoid taxes.
Listen to a description from this unlikely source on this subject, the prince of preachers Charles Spurgeon. In reminiscing about his childhood in his autobiography, Spurgeon describes the manse of his Grandfather, James Spurgeon.
“Some of us can remember the window tax, which seemed to regard light as a Latin commodity-lux, and therefore a luxury, and as such to be taxed. So much was paid on each aperture for the admission of light, but the minister’s small income forced economy upon him and so room after room of the manse was left in darkness….What a queer mind his must have been who first invented taxing the light of the sun! It was, no doubt, meant to be a fair way of estimating the size of a house, and thus getting at the wealth of the inhabitant; but, incidentally, it led occupiers of large houses to shut out the light for which they were too poor to pay.” (C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, Volume I, 1897).
So there you have it. If it can possibly be taxed, politicians have no conscience when it comes to extracting. Water, air, sunlight, who would have thought it.Remember the words of Ronald Reagan concerning governments view of the economy: “If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.”
Joseph Harris has been a pastor and Bible college professor since 1986. (This article may be reprinted in whole, as long as the name Joseph Harris and
http://www.miniedition.net also appear). The writings of Joseph Harris are based on his beliefs and views and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs and views of Southeastern Baptist College. His writings have appeared on stupidpoliticians.com, the Sword of the Lord, WorldNet Daily, Conservative Daily News, Intellectual Conservative, Canada Free Press, Land of the Free, The Post Chronicle, and News America Daily.
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