Some people apparently think a government shutdown would be the end of the world.

The wrangling over the new federal budget nearly resulted in a shutdown last week, until this was narrowly averted when a budget deal was struck late Friday night. If the gridlock had continued, hundreds of thousands of federal workers would have been laid off and many public services halted.

Emotion was riding high in the blame game leading up to the deadline. One angry Democratic congresswoman told Fox News that the shutdown threat was “the functional equivalent of bombing innocent civilians,” accusing the Republicans of “invad[ing] our right to govern ourselves.”

What was the big deal about? In the end, it came down to $5.5 billion. As one commentator put forward, “Is the difference between Democrats and Republicans really just 5½ billion dollars? That’s what the Boehner-Reid-Obama-brokered deal to avert a government shutdown suggests. … The $5.5 billion gap that had separated Boehner and Obama represents a few hours of Washington’s unfunded spending.”

A comparatively paltry $38.5 billion spending cut for the remainder of the fiscal year was agreed—this for a government more than $14 trillion in debt (plus owing $50 trillion in unfunded retirement promises) and with a $1.6 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2011.

Republican hopes are up for greater success in the future. Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity,” a 10-year budget proposal that would reform Medicare and Medicaid and welfare, balance the budget and begin paying off America’s gargantuan debt, is being hailed by many as the answer to America’s budget problems.

Under this much-vaunted, radical plan, federal debt would be about 48 percent of gross domestic product by 2040. After three decades of revolutionary spending cuts and policy changes (can anyone imagine rival political parties agreeing to stick with anything for that long?), the national debt situation would be no better than it was during the Great Depression (45 percent). Still, with a debt-to-gdp ratio currently at 97 percent, it’s easy to see why the plan gives some hope.

Getting such a budget passed, however, is another thing entirely. It may take a Republican president to do it, they say. But looking at past Republican administrations, even that would seem to be a very long shot. Up until the current Democratic administration, every presidential term since World War ii that has seen an increase in debt-to-gdp ratio has been a Republican administration.

We can state with sober certainty that the “Path to Prosperity” will not be implemented, and that America simply will not stop digging itself deeper and deeper into debt—until the American ship of state has sunk.

It is the nature of government to expand. Government benefits are a highly addictive narcotic. This is particularly true in a representative system, where, for politicians who are accountable to voters and special interests, reducing entitlements is a good way to get kicked out of office. Thus, government becomes an ever-costlier operation, demanding increasingly more of the people’s wealth to sustain. Today it consumes over 40 percent of the income of the 300 million people in the wealthiest nation in the world—and still isn’t even close to staying within budget. Apparently no amount of money would be enough, because the growth of the government’s financial commitments continually outpaces the growth of its income.

The costs of these mushrooming entitlements include higher taxes, mounting inflation and deeper debt, all of which have horrible economic and even geopolitical ramifications of their own. Consider, for example, the loss of sovereignty America is experiencing because of its skyrocketing indebtedness to China. On top of that, however, are the poisonous personal effects of government dependency, which can include decreased sense of individual responsibility, degraded work ethic, the fragmentation of families, and a sense of entitlement that engenders selfishness, thanklessness and unhappiness. Nasty kickbacks.

Still, as evidence of governmental failure mounts—and it continues to prove in arena after arena to be the least efficient and most wasteful of institutions—and even as “conservatives” clamor for reduced spending and a balanced budget—the basic assumption that it is the government’s duty to provide entitlements like welfare, retirement benefits, health care and an endless list of other benefits remains completely unshaken. No matter how broken the system is—no matter how broke the state and federal governments are—Americans will continue to vociferously demand (and vote for politicians who promise to provide) the generous provision of the government.

In times of trial, people often cry for help from those more powerful than themselves. The pious look to God. The worldly look to government.

The trouble is, putting faith in something other than God always has nasty kickbacks.

The government gravy train simply will not keep rolling forever. Soon, despite political promises to the contrary, the entitlements will stop. And to a nation deeply addicted to them, you can count on there being some violent withdrawal symptoms.

The situation calls to mind a warning God gave to the ancient nation of Israel, recorded in 1 Samuel 8. He governed the people directly, with a comparatively light touch, through a small collection of human leaders. While the people obeyed God, He blessed them for it. But when they disobeyed, curses began to befall them, and they felt they would be better off with a human king and a system of government more like the nations around them had.

If that’s what you want—fine, God responded. But realize that that king’s government is bound to expand. He will introduce burdensome taxes. He will create bureaucratic bloat. His rulership will grow increasingly oppressive. This biblical passage provides extraordinary insight into the most common pitfall of man’s government: its tendency to amass power, property and wealth—wealth that should remain in the hands of the citizens.

The form of God’s government described in the Bible, particularly in the laws He gave for the governance of the physical nation of Israel, is far more generous, far less intrusive, and far more interested in building the prosperity of its people, than anything we see in the world today. Studying it highlights the deep flaws in America’s system.

Consider some things God’s government does not do. It does not manage people’s money—for health care or retirement. Remove those programs from America’s books, and you instantly solve the budget problems.

God’s government does not own and run businesses that compete with businesses run by the people. It facilitates wealth creation rather than interfering with it. It encourages assets to remain in families generation to generation, which increases general prosperity and family unity.

Further, God’s government operates nothing like a welfare system as we see today. With few exceptions, the poor are cared for—and encouraged to return to earning their daily bread—not federally, but locally, through laws requiring specific acts of charity from family and community. The idea that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that everyone is cared for regardless of their own effort directly contradicts biblical laws. Though most people would strongly criticize any government that didn’t have a robust welfare system, the laws that God gave His model nation encourage responsibility, hard work, strong character, and community and family cohesion—all while making government far more efficient. (Read our article “A New World Economy” for more on this subject.)

There are myriad other differences between God’s form of government and the socialistic one increasingly being employed in the U.S., many of which effectively reduce the reach of government into people’s financial affairs and keep the size of government small. As our editor in chief brought out in a 2009 article, America’s Founding Fathers demonstrated a fundamental respect for that model of government in creating a Constitution that limited the powers of the new government rather than detailing, as Barack Obama once said, “what the federal government or the state government must do on your behalf.”

This form of government comes with many benefits, but a very noticeable one, as alluded to in 1 Samuel 8, is the fact that it is so much less expensive. It doesn’t require the leeching of an enormous amount of wealth from the people in order to fund its perpetual expansion. God has always funded His government, and always will, with a general flat tax of 10 percent, called a tithe (e.g. Leviticus 27:30, 32). Two years out of every seven, there is an additional tithe meant to support specific individuals who don’t have the benefit of family support. Simple. Functional. Efficient. It is how God operates His Church even today. Soon, upon Jesus Christ’s Second Coming, He will establish that government worldwide.

Surely many would look at these laws and scoff. They can choose to put their faith in government—for a while longer, anyway. But the kickbacks will only get nastier and nastier.

Why not put faith in God instead?