I sometimes wonder how some Christian people who work for the government in any capacity can be given an award by Her Majesty the Queen, given the corruption that exists within government circles. I mean, to be a 'good servant' of the government necessitates 'keeping your nose clean' and not thinking for yourself in case it might disadvantage you at the next promotion board.
Over the years, I have worked with government employees, and I must confess they have not impressed me in the least. They are so "PC" in all they say and do that, for Christians to 'key in' to that way of operating, is a denial of the Christian faith.
What these Christians have to do and are prepared to do in order to get these awards is truly amazing. The boot licking that goes on within government/civil service circles is obscene. What can be said about Christians in politics can also be said about Christian holding any government job - it is corrupt and it is corrupting.
Northern Ireland is perhaps the best current example of this. The last twenty years has seen this happen with nauseating regularity. Christians politicians, some of whom are church elders, have drank from the fountain of compromise for personal gain, and have paid a heavy price for so doing. One politician I know very well, and a church elder, simply refused to object to immoral legislation concerning the victims of terrorism, because that would have jeopardised his future prospects as a politician; his inaction was a wise one for someone who has personal ambitions to get on and up within his party.
Other Christian politicians have supported, by their actions or inactions, the award of tens of thousands of public money for the organising of the Belfast Gay Pride. Christian police officers do not appear to have any difficulty in supporting and defending sodomy. If the law says sodomy is right, then unconscientious police officers will agree. There are promotion boards ahead, and the salaries paid to middle to senior officers of huge, so the enticement is there to subjugate conscience for greater personal good. I know of Christian police officers who were told to lie in order to get their way respecting evidence and witness statements. One Christian policeman's wife told me that those first lies were very difficult for him, but as time passed, lying became easier until it became a way of life for him.
The church is not much different. Think of the number of church ministers who had lucrative part-time jobs in education board, health boards, sport, etc, who were given these spurious awards from Her Majesty - for services to.... It is laughable.
The issue is not over who gets what and why. The issue is over the level of compromise, of violating conscience, that is involved just to be thought well of by superiors, and the possibility of enhancement at work. Compromise is only possible at immense personal cost. Compromise, some of which is honourable where no point of principle is involved, and, for the Christian, where there is no known disobedience to God's Word, is essentially evil.
Christians who get involved with any government agency is vulnerable to being 'bought.' They have ways of bringing employees into line. So great and attractive a thing it is to be a civil servant that they are prepared to sign the Official Secrets Act in order to get the job. This 'gagging order' allows government to do whatever it wishes, regardless of how immoral it is, and no one employed by government can squeal. Christians who take such 'oaths' that forbid the uncovering of certain wrongs are wrong to do so. They are knowingly compromising themselves.
Christian employees need to reassess their stand and their prior allegiance to Christ and His Gospel. For them to give an undertaking to accept whatever government decides is to give prior and total allegiance, not to God and His Christ, but to a divine institution. It is to relegate God Himself to a lower position than what he has ordained. It is to say, for example, that marriage is to come before God in the Christian's priorities. We know that the biblical priorities is Christ first, then the spouse, then others; never otherwise.
I commenced with discussing the Honours system in light of Christian integrity, and discovered that other applications are equally valid. Let us re-consider our position if any of this applies to you.
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