Volume 12 Issue 9 - September 1997

LET MY PEOPLE GO!

"Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land." (Exodus 6:11)

Praise God! The "Let My People Go!" Conference is alive and doing quite well in the city of Waco. Out of the nearly four years of labor in Waco, this project is by far, the most favored of the Lord. We have over twenty churches who are participating with their prayers, finances, and attendance. The churches represented are made up of different denominations as well as races. Quite frankly, I’m literally pinching myself by the overwhelming response we have received by just simply sharing the vision of "Let My People Go!"

We are, as I write, diligently seeking the Lord’s blessing and revelation to rest on this conference. We press in with the hopes of setting a precedent that will not only impart God’s blessing to Waco, but to birth a ministry model of reformation for the rest of our nation. Our goal is to expose the "Angel of Light" that has come as a wolf in sheep’s clothing to kill, steal, and destroy God’s people. We are determined to unmask the Spirit of the Age that, under the guise of help, has killed our babies, hurt our families, and has made impotent the effectiveness of God’s Church in this generation. We are serving notice to the Powers That Be, "Your days are numbered. The sleeping giant is awakening and the gentle revolution is on."

I am convinced that one of the keys to restoring the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave is by reaching our minority brethren. There is no doubt, at least in my mind, that there is a connection between the liberal demonic stronghold that has polluted and defiled America and the exploitation of minorities. The enemies of the cross have, under the guise of mercy, kept our poor White, Black, and Hispanic brethren dependent on empty political promises that keep them addicted to a government nanny. This shrewd ploy ensures that those who are contrary to God and His Holy Word can remain in power with their base of support undisturbed. Unfortunately, it also perpetuates the cycle of enslavement that condemns millions to a life of sloth, drugs, immorality, poverty, and violence. We are praying that "Let My People Go!" will be a stone in God’s sling to not only disturb this Goliath that mocks God and enslaves mankind, but to put him down and take him out, thus, delivering God’s people from this terrible captivity that will return their hearts, lives, and families back to God and to the standards of His Word.

As we have prepared for "Let My People Go!" the Lord has opened many effectual doors to share the vision and the four key issues we plan to address at this conference. One of the most important revelations we seek to impart is the high-jacking of the legitimate civil rights struggle by baby-killers (pro-abortionists) and the Sodom and Gomorrah Agenda (homosexual activists). I pleaded with the minority pastors that it was high time they arose and put difference between that which is holy and that which is profane, between that which is legitimate civil rights and that which is not. In other words, if I were a black man that was continually being compared to homosexuals who are dying of AIDS and those who promote child-killing, I would have a serious problem. There would be no way that I would stand by and watch as that which is an abomination before God is compared to my skin color which is a benign act of God. You should have seen the lights turn on and the resounding "Amens" that came forth as this distinction was made.

BIBLICAL MANHOOD

"And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:17)

The first issue raised at "Let My People Go!" will concern the desperate need for the restoration of Biblical manhood, beginning first in the Church of Jesus Christ and then extending to the culture at-large. The importance of this cannot be underrated. As Malachi prophesied in chapter 4:5,6, either this takes place or society will suffer a devastating curse. Just a cursory look at America testifies to what happens to families, churches, and society when Biblical manhood is missing in action. Without it, men will just naturally gravitate toward irresponsibility, self-gratification, and pleasure-seeking which makes them an easy prey to be emasculated by the feminist spirit of Jezebel that is raging in America. This spirit not only desires to neuter Biblical manhood, but craves to inspire women with a man-hating spirit that seeks to control, dominate, and manipulate men. This, of course, is creating the breeding ground that places our children at risk to anger and gangs on the one hand, or vulnerable to indoctrination to the sugar-coated perversion of the homosexual movement on the other.

Therefore, it behooves us to cry out to our society that we are past the point of pretending or trivializing away the destruction that has come upon us, our families, and our nation. A destruction warranted by our foolish abandonment of the patriarchal system established by God as the only firm foundation for the home, church, and society. One wonders, how many more families will have to end in divorce, how many more children’s souls will needlessly be destroyed, and how many more women will be left in poverty, before we awaken to the fact that the government with all its many wonderful programs and good intentions makes a terrible substitute for a husband and a dad?

In Luke 1:17, it is clear that being a good dad that lives a holy life is vital to God’s purposes being fulfilled in the earth. That is why the enemy, through the feminist movement, rages against the mere mention of patriarchy. There is something profoundly important in Scripture concerning a fathers role, place, and influence as it relates to the progress of God’s saving grace and the advancement of His Kingdom in the earth. We see this so clearly as the critical role of Biblical manhood is highlighted at the very close of the Old Testament in Malachi and at the very dawn of the New in Luke 1:17.

The prophet Malachi speaks the last oracle of God in the Old Covenant as he looks forward to the "Day of the Lord." He reminds Israel that they are to maintain a life of holiness by remembering the Law of God given through Moses. This is followed by the last words God’s people would hear from Him for over four hundred years, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." What is so interesting is that this is exactly the same message that was preparatory for God to send His Messiah in the New Covenant. God promised to empower John the Baptist with the same measure of the Spirit as the most celebrated prophet in Israel. And how did God characterize John’s mission and assignment to prepare the way of the Lord? It would be marked by the same two distinctives, good fathers (turn the fathers hearts to their children) and holiness (turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just). These two conditions, holiness of life and fathers being good fathers, were absolutely essential in preparing God’s people for the Messiah. What we must understand and this is what we will present at "Let My People Go!", is that these are also vital for the Messiah’s work to continue in the earth.

Please pray for us as we give a clarion call for men to return to their God-ordained position in the family, the Church and our society. A distinct sound must go forth that will grip the hearts of men to return them home to rebuild the family altar. An altar where men can once again lead their families in worship, prayer, Bible reading, and devotion to our great God and King on a regular basis. Men must repent of being predators and turn back to being protectors. They must repent of being paupers and turn back to being providers. Our families need Daddy to come back home to become the "Gate keeper" in their lives. Men must "stand in the gap" for their wives and children, to ensure that they are not only protected and provided for physically, but spiritually as well. As men, we must know specifically, who are our children’s companions are, what they are watching on TV, what music they are listening to and so forth. Thus providing the love, godly restraint, instruction, and direction our children need to fulfill God’s plan for a godly seed to rise up to possess the gates of their enemies (Mal. 2:15 & Gen. 22:17).

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." (Ephesians 2:14)

Ever since Jesus came along with His theological wrecking ball that knocked down the walls of racism that has separated, divided, and conquered us, sinful men, with the help of our Adversary, has been working overtime to rebuild them. Thirty years or so have elapsed and the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. still ring out to indict us, "Sunday at 11 AM is the most segregated time in America." Therefore, the second issue to be discussed at "Let My People Go!"is racial reconciliation. Racial reconciliation that must first begin amongst God’s people in the Church and spread from there to bring healing to our fragmented communities. The bottom line we desire to communicate is, "The Church can’t export to others what is not working at home."

Recently, this was the point I drove home as I spoke at a social meeting made up of political, religious, and business leaders in our city. I used the ugliness and the brutality of racism to show once again our need for the love of Christ to burn in our hearts. I challenged them to consider that all our man-made solutions to racism are little more then broken cisterns that can’t hold water. The proverbial Putting a Band-Aid on Cancer Syndrome. Let’s face it, has all the Sensitivity Training, Affirmative Action, government programs, and education of this world solved the problems of racism , or has it compounded them? The truth is, there is not a government big enough, nor an educational approach enlightened enough to make a man love his neighbor, but there is a King, one called Jesus, who can extract the poison of racism from our darkened hearts and replace it with the love of God. Only then can we truly love one another and experience racial harmony in this poor fallen world. Though the challenge is indeed great, so are the opportunities for racial reconciliation, if we just have the courage to seize it.

"Let My People Go!" is being used of God to forthrightly deal with the suspicion, jealousy, and in some cases the blatant distrust and hatred that is entrenched in the Church in Waco. This may be the most concerted effort in decades to truly deal with the racial strongholds the enemy has exploited to destroy the witness of God’s people. Please pray that God will lay low our pride, prejudice, and biases to build the bridges and establish the relationships that will please Father’s heart and torment devils. Pray that the Lord’s prayer will be answered, "That they all may be one; as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 17:21) This prayer of Jesus unfolds a major key for mass evangelism., " Church, love one another as our Lord has given commandment." The simple act of keeping the bond of peace in the spirit of unity will go a long way in revealing to this world the saving grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Be It!

PLANNED PARENTHOOD

"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." (Matthew 7:15)

Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was thoroughly convinced that there were such things as "inferior races." In her twisted mind, there were "human weeds" that were a "menace to civilization." She yearned for the end of the Christian "reign of benevolence", so that the "choking undergrowth" of "morons and imbeciles" would be "segregated" and "sterilized." Her goal, like Adolph Hitler’s was to "create a race of thoroughbreds" by encouraging "more from the fit and less from the unfit." She was a leader in attacking those who cared for the handicapped, stating, "Let it be law that nothing mutilated shall be nurtured" and, "if we must have welfare, give it to the rich, not to the poor."

Margaret Sanger also had a project which she termed the "Negro Project." According to her, "The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through religious appeal. We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro Population and the minister is the man who can straighten out the idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." To this day, Planned Parenthood craves religious and minority support to mask their bloody, deceptive practices against the minority community. At the "Let My People Go!" Conference, we will expose her four-fold plan to exterminate those whom she called "human weeds." Her agenda for a purer race began with birth control, and then proceeded to sterilization, abortion on demand and finally to seduce black ministers with trinkets of power and prestige to implement this deadly agenda in the black community. Black genocide has continued unabated ever since. Out of the over thirty-six million abortions in America, twelve million have been black. That may not seem that high of figure, until you recognize that the black population only makes up 12% of America.

The revelation we are seeking to impart through "Let My People Go!" is, what good are safer playgrounds, access to education, equality in justice, business opportunity, and desegregation that the civil rights movement fought for to a dead black child? I remember being arrested in Birmingham, AL, in front of an abortion mill for preaching and praying on a public sidewalk. They charged us with the same charge that Martin Luther King Jr. received years prior. The charge was "parading without a permit." What was even more uncanny, is the fact, that we went to jail on the very same day as Mr. King as well. When we were released from jail, we went and visited the Civil Rights Museum that was right across the street from the church that was bombed many years ago that killed four little black girls in Sunday School. There were many exhibits, films, displays, and even the famous Birmingham Jail Letter penned by Dr. King, but the most profound to me was the dedication plaque to commemorate the civil rights struggle. I don’t remember the exact quote, but I’ll never forget the essence of the message. In essence, it stated, that all the blood, sweat, and tears of the civil rights struggle was dedicated to the unborn child that is to come. I thought, " My God, the struggle was in vain, if their posterity never lives to enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice."

Johnny Hunter, who is the head of L.E.A.R.N. , which facilitates a national network for African-American Pro-life/Pro-family groups and organizations, will be our key-note speaker for the "Let My People Go!" Conference. He has boldly and publicly declared to the black community and to our nation, "Planned Parenthood has killed more of our race than the KKK ever dreamed of lynching." The problem is, when you mention KKK, everybody gets up in arms, you mention Planned Parenthood and people go to sleep. Unfortunately, the reason for this is many in the civil rights movement are in bed with this enemy that is subtly committing black genocide with their cooperation. Brother Johnny has also confronted the NAACP with this brutal assessment of their leadership. "There was a time when you were the vanguard of the civil rights struggle. You were the watchmen upon the wall to ensure our people received justice. That was then and this is now. Under your watch over twelve million black babies are dead with your silent consent." Pray that God removes the blindness that has cast a spell over us and allows the carnage and the racist agenda of Planned Parenthood to continue unchallenged.

THE WELFARE STATE

"For I was hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not." (Matthew 25:42,43)

The last issue to address is, what should be the Biblical response to a failed welfare state that has enslaved millions to a life of sloth, drugs, poverty, crime, and violence? Especially now, since the civil government is finally dealing with the sober reality that they can no longer afford to masquerade as Jehovah Jireh, our provider. That idolatry has literally produced trillions and trillions of dollars of debt that is bankrupting our children’s future. As a result of this rude awakening, our government is now scrambling to cut back and reform this bureaucratic monster that has literally destroyed millions of peoples initiative, productivity, and the God-ordained purpose for their lives. The burning questions that remains unanswered is, "Where are these people going to go and is the Church of Jesus Christ ready? I submit to you that these folks are going to flock to the Church for some type of relief. Most will come solely to receive a hand out with no intention of changing their dependent thinking or their addiction to a life of sloth. Therefore, the Church must exercise incredible discernment and get ready for this great influx of souls that are seeking relief. In order for the Church to minister effectively in this situation though, there must not only be a major paradigm shift in the thinking and priorities of those coming off welfare, but this shift must take place in the the Church as well. Let’s face it, we have gotten very comfortable with the government usurping our responsibility to care for the poor, needy, disenfranchised, and the oppressed. The fall out of our neglect and this usurpation has produced the "New Plantation" that has condemned families to a cycle of generational slavery. The Church must rise up and take our place to see this vicious cycle come to a screeching halt to liberate these precious souls that Christ died to redeem from this dehumanizing bondage.

We must return to a Biblical understanding that God indeed does have a welfare program, but it has never, nor never will, include the civil government. God’s first line of defense against poverty is self-government, "If any would not work, neither should he eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10)." Hunger is a great motivator for living a productive life. The second line of defense is found in family government, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1 Timothy 5:8)

Family government is God’s social security program. Parents care, love, and provide for children when they are young and children are to care, love, and provide for their parents when they are old. The Social Security of the civil government has done much harm to the family function that God has established. It reduces family relationships to a number and transfers the responsibility of care to an impersonal bureaucratic system that may provide a small pension, but does little to replace the love, care, and nurturing of family. That is why it is so easy for Americans to give our children to be raised by government day cares and schools when children our young and why our young have no qualms of giving the elderly to government asylums when their parents are old. Then we wonder why our families are failing to stay together and truly loving one another as God gave commandment.

The last line of defense in God’s war on poverty is Church government. Psalm 82:3,4 declares, "Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked." Jesus commanded in Luke 14:13, "But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." The Church must make preparations prayerfully, spiritually, and financially to ensure people don’t fall through the cracks as they transition from government dependence to faith and trust in the God of the Bible. We must return to the Biblical use of the tithe as it relates to our culture. The tithe is not for building nice comfortable buildings and color coordinated carpet. It is not to support television evangelists. We can do those types of things with our alms and offerings. The tithe, Biblically, is to support local ministers and missionaries who are entrusted with the word of God and to set some apart to feed the poor and clothe the naked that are within our gates (Deuteronomy 26:12). The only question that remains is, will the Church have the compassion, courage, and the will to return to the Biblical standard as God weans the souls of men from the idol of competition, the civil government? This could be the greatest opportunity for the Church to return to relevance, leadership, and to see an explosion of souls pressing into the Kingdom, if we will just prepare and seize upon this powerful opportunity.

IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,

Rusty Lee Thomas