Volume 15 Issue 7 - July 2000 A MESSAGE TO THEPASTORS IN ST. LOUIS
The sons of Issachar were men, who understood the times and knew what Israel ought to do. (1 Chronicles 12:32) God, give us men! A time like this demands. Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor; men who will not lie. Men who can stand before a demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking! Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog In public life and in private thinking. With 1 Chronicles 12:32 as my opening text and with Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall’s favorite poem by Josiah Gilbert Holland, the plea and challenge to the local pastors of St. Louis commenced. The Lord was gracious and those present were attentive as the vision for Operation Save America went forth with prophetic clarity. A Pastor’s Dream of America 40 Years Ago With a request to utilize their imaginations, the message pressed forth. We explored the possibility of what if a pastor had a disturbing dream concerning the future of America forty years ago? I encouraged them to picture this pastor arriving at his church on a Sunday morning to apologize to his congregation for changing his prepared message and with tears streaming down his face express the horror of what he saw in the night season. I I implored them
I implored them to see his trembling lips and feel his broken heart, as the pastor lamented to his congregation the long litany of woes facing America in the near future. The following is a blow by blow description of the fictitious pastor’s dream concerning America. I saw the Bible removed as the cornerstone of American education. As a result, our form of government changed from a Republic to a Socialistic Democracy. There was a definite connection between our godless schools and the burgeoning prison systems. We were literally raising home-grown terrorists at tax-payers expense. I saw the Ten Commandments stripped from the walls of our schools and government buildings as our nation officially rejected God’s Law as the blueprint and foundation for our national, moral life. Lawlessness broke out like a plague and the civil government was forced to crush the freedoms of Americans because we lost the inner moral restraints of God’s Law to correctly handle our freedoms. I saw a renegade Supreme Court who feared not God nor man then silence the prayers of our children through raw judicial activism and foolishly replaced the knowledge of God with metal detectors, condoms in school colors, and police officers. I saw our nation brutally murder 40 million unborn children with the silent consent of the Church and the blessing of the State. I saw our nation become what we fought against in World War II, an America who chose death to solve her economic and moral problems, the very definition of Fascism and Nazism. I saw America’s cities filled with "Gay Pride" parades that were led by mayors and governors. I saw homosexuals committing unspeakable perverse acts on the public sidewalks while police officers stood by and did nothing. I saw our tax dollars being used to fund art that blasphemed our Lord and Savior. I saw pornography that once was hidden in America become main stream through our TV and computers. I saw our once mighty military become demoralized, a social experiment for feminism and the homosexual agenda. I saw civil leaders who claimed to be Christian promote the heinous act of child killing and the perverse death style of homosexuality. Worst of all, I saw for the most part that the majority of pulpits in America were strangely silent while America went the way of every other nation who shook their fist in the face of a Holy God. Yes, the worst part of the dream in which I could not bear was the apathy, lethargy, and indifference that gripped the heart of those who named the name of Christ. For you see, all the while America was spiraling down the primrose path to destruction, the church was busy singing songs in their church buildings, completely oblivious to the decayed state of moral corruption that was forging their own chains of bondage, slavery, and immoral darkness. What do you think would have been the response of that congregation forty years ago? Perhaps they would have dismissed the pastor’s dream as food the pastor didn’t properly digest the night before. Or perhaps cries of "false prophet" and threats of stoning him ensued. Regardless of what their response might have been, no one in their right mind could have imagined the veracity of such a tragic vision of America’s future. My question to the pastors and now to you is, if we have descended this far into the bowels of hell in America in the last forty years, what does the next 5 to 10 years hold for us and our dear children? Even as I write, the nation is already floating the test balloon that seeks to compare the preaching of the Gospel to Hate Crimes. God only knows where that will lead. My second question is, what should be our response in light of the times in which we live and what should we do? The OptionsI submitted three options available to the Church in America to the pastors in St. Louis. Number one, we can do nothing. We can just sit down and shut up and continue the "business as usual" mentality and maintain the "status quo" that will practically ensure America’s demise. The problem, of course, with that posture is the same problem we see in both the Old and New Testaments as God warned His people never to coexist with evil, idolatry, and wickedness. In Numbers 33:50-55, God instructed Israel to drive out the inhabitants of the land and destroy their idols lest they became a snare to them, a prick to their eyes and thorns to their sides. He warned them if they didn’t deal with them according to His instructions, then God would do to Israel what He thought to do to the pagan nations He wanted to drive out. Jesus reiterated a similar warning to the church by stating that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, but if we lose our flavor, we could look forward to three very unpleasant realities. The church would become good for nothing, cast out, and trodden under the foot of men. The hard lessons of the Bible and history is whatever God’s people tolerate that God deems intolerable, we get turned over to. Number two, we can play the role of appeasers. An appeaser is one who recognizes the danger, injustice, and tyranny, but lacks the moral courage to change it, thus becomes an enabler of perdition. Winston Churchill defined an appeaser as one who continues to feed the alligator others in the hopes he will be the last one eaten. The history of this approach is the enemies of the cross always exploit the Church to sanitize and legitimize their atrocities and perversions. We end up being evil’s propaganda machine that props up tyranny and injustice. The hard lesson of being an appeaser is the enemy uses our misguided allegiances and loyalties to pave the way for the oppression of the very ones we claim to serve and love. The final option is we can become men like this time demands. Men who stand up and speak out. Men who are not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Men like the one articulated in the opening poem. Men like Jeremiah who knew first hand the price to pay to stay faithful in declaring God’s message to a nation steeped in idolatry. Where did Jeremiah find the courage to stay faithful? God promised him, "Surely it will be well with your remnant: Surely I will cause the enemy to entreat you well in the day of affliction." (Jeremiah 15:11) In other words, if we will be faithful men now to warn and cry out against the sins of our nation, the day will come when the enemies of the cross will entreat us well as God confirms our warnings with terrible signs and wonders. The key is we must not shrink back in the day of adversity. We must do and say that which is unpopular now, so we can lead America out of the brutal darkness back to the marvelous light of God’s Kingdom. LET THE RIGHTEOUS COME FORWARD1999 Graduation Speech By Rebekah Zes, St Louis, MO "I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth." These prophetic words are taken from the 16th century writings of Martin Luther. This humble monk recognized over 400 years ago what many today do not. When God and His Word (including the Ten Commandments—our moral standard), are removed from our schools, the consequence is great corruption and immorality. Sadly, Martin Luther’s words have not been heeded but have become a reality, for the Word of God has been taken out of today’s public schools and we are reaping the results. Although it may seem like my generation is a lost generation, I do not think it is a hopeless one. Among my generation, there are young people who know God and His ways and are living with a purpose: to serve Jesus Christ. We as homeschoolers are among those who are choosing to be different. May God be praised for our parents’ sacrifice and dedication in order to raise godly children. Our parents have chosen to raise their children deliberately and not accidentally. Not only have we obtained an excellent education, we have something more. Our parents have made sure that we know right from wrong, good from evil. They have given us a firm foundation to stand and live on: the Truth of God’s Word. We have such a wealth of knowledge. Our parents have done their part. Now it is time for us to do ours. It is time we put into practice what we know. For it is not enough just to know about something, we must act according to our knowledge, or our knowledge is useless. As each of us goes our separate ways, into different fields, different arenas, let us not settle for being comfortable followers, but let us each become a leader in that area we choose to pursue. Why do we need to be the leaders? Because many of the problems in this country are a result of the lack of righteous leaders! We need righteous men and women to become leaders! To be righteous means to act "in a morally correct manner; correct by divine declaration." Only God can determine what is right and what is wrong. That is why we must search and know the Scriptures—to see what God says about things. We must train ourselves to always think and act Biblically! So it is Biblical to have the righteous as leaders? In Genesis 22:17, God tells Abraham that his "descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies." And over and over again we see in the Bible how God chooses the righteous to be leaders—men and women like Joseph, David, Daniel, Esther, and Deborah, to name a few. Never does He choose the wicked to lead the people. (Editor’s note: That is when God is pleased with His people, if not, He does place the wicked in positions of authority to chastise His people.) God does want the righteous to rule! Politics, the judiciary, economics, education, medicine, the media, and the press all have leaders. Even though all of these areas were founded and developed by Christians, they have also been abandoned by Christians. Yes, I said abandoned, for darkness cannot overcome the light. Darkness by definition is the absence of light. The absence of light?? Wait a second, didn’t Jesus tell us that we are the "light of the world"? We’re called to be ambassadors for Christ not only to, but in those areas! But I say the Christians in America have been retreating for too long. It is time for Christians to rock the boat—and not only that but take it over, for the boat is swiftly sinking! God asks in Psalm 94:16, "Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?" We need to rise up and come forward, showing the world what a righteous leader is! As leaders, we must have a vision. We need to know our history, what it was that drove our forefathers to establish this country. Know the sacrifices made, know what it cost them—in order to know what it is worth. We must understand what is going on today, and what God says about it. And we should be able to use this knowledge to see where it is taking us. Let us pray to God for courage to stand unashamedly for His Truth. To be at the place where we should even be willing to die if necessary for Christ and His cause. I have heard it said that if there is nothing that you are willing to die for than what do we have to live for? We will all leave a legacy to future generations that will be determined in part by what our character is. We must decide now what we want to be remembered for when we are dead and gone. Do we want to be remembered as cowards who had no effect on the course of our nation or society, or do we want to be remembered as righteous men and women of God who were not afraid to stand for His Truth and justice, even in the face of opposition, and change our world for Christ. We all have a choice. I hope that we will choose to echo the prayer of John Wesley when he said, "O Lord, let me not live to be useless." I pray that we will always be ready to be used by God to make a difference and to live lives of righteousness boldly and courageously. KINGDOM LEADERSHIP INSTITUTEPRAISE REPORT Written by Steve Mashburn, Wichita, KS "For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud. That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:10,11) The following is Steve Mashburn’s observation and summary of the KLI and the fruit that it bore in Wichita. Please continue to stand with us in your prayers and financial support as God is using this ministry to identify, equip, and send forth the next generation of leaders in Jesus’ holy name! Praise the Lord for raising up faithful men of God like Rusty Thomas and Flip Benham who sacrifice time with their families in order to travel to other cites to impart the vision of passing on the cross to the next generation to the Church. Rusty drove to Wichita to spend the first week of June teaching youth in the Kingdom Leadership Institute. On Sunday morning, June 4th, Rusty preached at Christian Family Ministries Church & Academy under a powerful anointing. Though pro-life activists at CFM had passed out information on the KLI training, none in its youth group planned to attend-that is until they heard the message the Holy Spirit breathed through Rusty’s yielded lips. Half the youth group attended the KLI. Rusty, you’re going to have to send tapes or pray for a way to make the calling of Elijah Ministries heard in churches before future KLI sessions. Anyone seeking info should visit Elijah Ministries web site at http://www.mttu.com/elijahmin The many weeks before the KLI were tough here in Wichita with almost every church in the area having a missionary speak and other events. At a pastor’s luncheon, Ray Pyle shared with me how he was going to Mexico the week of June 3-10 with their whole youth group (Praise God). A number of faithful pro-life activists continued to work, making and sending out flyers. June 5-9 came and it looked like a small group indeed (Editors note: KLI is not interested in quantity as much as quality). One can imagine how the Apostles felt when the crowds left and it was just them and the Lord. There was on-site activity that Friday (June 9th) at the Central Mill with a new worship leader. On Saturday, June 10th, Tiller closed his gates (a notorious abortion mill) opening the door to reach out to God’s Church trying to hold a Reconciliation Rally. The message we had was until the Church is reconciled with God over the shedding of innocent blood, there will be no large scale reconciliation with others through human efforts. This message proved true as only 1000 showed up at Reconciliation 2000. They had seating for 35,000. The last rally with Rusty and Flip (June 9th) was attended by around 60 Christians-which was twice that of any other night. Looking through natural eyes, it looked weak. Yet we know that when Jesus said, "Where two or three of you are gathered in My name," it was not to apologize for a small turnout. He said, "There I Am in the midst of you." Rusty and Flip sowed their best of treasures entrusted to them by God into these youth and the rest of us. Last week, I reported that there was one baby saved on Wednesday. On Friday, Donna Lippoldt, our Sidewalk Counselor Coordinator, was out of town and unable to oversee the youth outreach at the Central abortion mill. This was the follow up time after the KLI teaching. Friday, it poured down rain all day. Would the youth be faithful to the vision? That question was answered when 16 young people showed up on-site after deciding saving children and sharing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was worth getting wet over. These youth are emboldened with the vision of taking on the Central abortion mill till it closes as their youth group’s focus. I know some of these youth and they are praying hard. They will succeed in Jesus’ Name! The 16 youth on-site was more than at the KLI sessions. It should be noted that a group of teens were what God used in a big way back in ‘92 to close the Crypt mill at Pine and Market through the preaching of the Gospel at the gates.
The book of Acts describes the growth of the Church this way, "The word of God grew and multiplied." Rusty Thomas and Flip Benham’s labors along with all who worked on the KLI week bore much fruit. On the first day youth from two churches took Jesus to the gates, there was a baby saved. There were two other babies saved adding up to 4 last week. I’m waiting confirmation, but there may have been two additional babies saved on Friday. Hallelujah! "But God has chosen the things which the world regards as foolish, in order to put its wise men to shame; and God has chosen the things which the world regards as destitute of influence, in order to put its powerful things to shame."(1 Corinthians 1:27) Go young disciples! God speaks through Zechariah to us, "For who has despised the day of small things?" Shine Jesus shine! Shine through a young generation of survivors, living out the cross! "The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn that grows brighter and brighter until the full day! (Proverbs 4:18) Don’t Forget To Get Ready For The... Waco For Jesus Celebration The Light of Christ...Come Let it Shine! Saturday, July 29, 2000 at Indian Spring Park on University Parks DriveTwelve hours of prayer, led by area churches in one hour intervals from 7am-7pm. Salt and Light Rally at 7pm. Featuring a city-wide mass praise choir. Procession of Light march at 8pm.
IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE, Rusty Lee Thomas E-mail: elijahmin@ifriendly.com Website: http://mttu.com/elijahmin |
