"Nowhere in the Bible is there any suggestion made that man should simply sit still and let God handle all the problems of the world. Prayer and the acknowledgement of dependence upon the Divine Creator is obviously the necessary starting point for all of man's actions. But prayer without works is dead and all of the great advances and strides made by mankind in the direction of good and away from evil have been accomplished through the sweat, toil, and plain hard work of human beings who labored mightily to bring them about. When Communism is destroyed (and it is only a question of when) it will happen only as a result of Divine Will. But who is to say what form this will take? I firmly believe that God will destroy Communism through the efforts of men and women like you and me, working tirelessly to bring it about."
-------- Major Coordinator of the John Birch Society, 1963
And we agree with this Major Coordinator that the whole point is well illustrated by the story of an atheist who stood on a soapbox in Central Square one day, shouting defiance of all religion at the top of his lungs. "There is no God!" he thundered. "I can prove that there is no God! If there is, let Him strike me from this box!" At this point a little man, among the group of people who had been silently watching this spectacle, walked up to the atheist, doubled up his fist, and let go. The atheist went sprawling to the ground, completely surprised at this unexpected reaction. As he staggered to his feet he sputtered:"But God didn't do that . . . you did!"
With a faint smile the little man replied:
"Well, now, maybe He did, and maybe He didn't. That might be a question of agency. But along time ago my father taught me never to ask God to do anything that I could do for myself!"
-----------The Neutralizers, by Robert Welch, 1963
And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.Luke 12.47 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.James 4.17
