HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?
Recently I ministered at an event in Lexington, MA. called “Someone Stole My Nation, and I want Her Back.” The following is the message I delivered there on April 20th, 2007. This is the day after the anniversary of the famous "shot heard around the world."
“For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.” (Proverbs 28:2)
This was the question asked by Francis Schaeffer, as he pondered the decline of our Christian, Western thought and culture. It became the basis of his best-selling book and video series. His analysis was thorough and his warnings should be heeded today.
For the last several decades, we have witnessed a systematic assault against America’s godly heritage, the Christian faith, and the Biblical principles that has created the most freest and blessed nation in the bloody history of mankind. In the name of law, however, the Supreme Court, has unleashed upon our nation a spirit of lawlessness. Under the color of law they have been destroying the substance of our freedoms.
At the same time, the citizens of America, in the name of freedom, have turned our liberty into licentiousness. Our Founding Fathers knew that these two enemies posed the greatest threat against America’s experiment with liberty. They understood that only a virtuous people who self-govern themselves under God can remain a free people. Only a citizenry that placed inward restraints upon mankind’s inherent lusts can enjoy the true blessings of freedom.
John Adams, the Second President of America, articulated these foundational premises by stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
America foolishly rejects this understanding today. Thus our Christian roots are being severed as we remove the knowledge of God from the public life of our nation. As a result, good has magically become evil and evil has become good. This sad reality has produced a citizenry that appears to have lost the moral fortitude to correctly handle our freedoms, which is the power to do as we ought, the power to do what is right. This wretched condition is responsible for creating a
bureaucratic nightmare that is suffocating the very life and freedom from our nation.
It was Robert Winthrop, U.S. representative, author and orator, who succinctly addressed this problem years ago. He warned, "All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."
G. K. Chesterton asserted, “If man rejects the Ten Commandments of God, he will be subjected to the ten thousand commandments of men.” One just has to go to Washington DC and review the law books that govern America today. The mere volume of regulations, licenses, and bureaucratic policies would tower our heads. If they physically fell upon us, the weight would crush us to powder. The lesson therefore is clear, rebellion against God, the breaking of His bonds and the severing of His cords does not make men free, it simply forges greater chains of bondage.
As it stands today, evil is being codified into law. America has lost the fear of God and thus we have redefined sin and crime. Abominations, such as abortion and homosexuality which Biblically and historically were made punishable by civil sanctions, are now being protected by the sword of civil government. This not only violates the state’s sacred trust, but it automatically places them in the awkward position of punishing righteousness. These evil practices cannot co-exist with Biblical Christianity. Thus, in their blind pursuit of defending the indefensible, our government is tempted to punish Christians (hate crimes) that uphold the Crown-rights of King Jesus and the authority of His word that is binding upon all men, at all times, and in every nation.
This begs the question, “HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE.” Thankfully, the same Bible that when honored and obeyed could prevent these horrific conditions, can also guide the Church through this tyranny. The word of God plainly states that Christians are obligated to submit themselves to the delegated authority of civil government. Both the Apostle Paul and Peter admonished the Church in our duties towards the state and yet they both died at the hands of civil authorities. What can we make of this apparent discrepancy? One thing for sure, they were not hypocrites that contradicted the will of God. They simply understood that civil government was to be a “minister of God” who punished evil doers as God defined evil and protected those who were good in God’s sight, as God defined good.
When civil government, however, devolves and reverses this divine calling, and punishes the righteous and pardons the wicked, Christians are duty bound to obey God rather than men. When the laws of men countermand the laws of God, we must for conscience sake trust God and continue to do good, even though we may suffer persecution for our faith. This is God’s directive to His people in times of tyranny and is also His living rebuke to a civil government that is in defiance against its divine calling.
Civil government is due our taxes, prayers, tribute, and submission to lawful authority. They are not due our faith, consciences, and thoughts. They have no divine rights to determine our beliefs, regulate our faith, nor punish our thoughts. With that being clarified, let me clearly state, “Abortion is murder, Homosexuality is sin, Islam is a lie from the pit of hell, Jesus Christ is Lord and no governmental decrees can make these truths otherwise.” This is where I stand, the Church should do no less!!!
IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE?
I’m sure the title of this message has been a phrase that has been uttered in many nations throughout mankind’s bloody history. I’m sure the Czar of Russia, the King of France, and the nation of Germany all were convinced that the Communist revolt, the French Revolution, and the Nazi holocaust would never happen, especially, under their watch. Their one common denominator, however, is they were all dreadfully mistaken. The unspeakable did happen and when it did, unprecedented bloodshed and injustice ran rampant.
As one looks at history, how can we account for a nation like Germany? They reached the heights of the Reformation and then descended into becoming the land of the holocaust? How did this civilized, sophisticated nation become reduced to brutal barbarism? What created the climate that allowed a demonic, madmen like Hitler convince the German people to cooperate with his “Final Solution?”
I believe we live in a time in America when we need to pull our collective heads out of the sand and answer these historical questions before we are condemned to repeat the same folly. For years, Hitler indoctrinated Germany and cultivated the culture to follow his vision from Hades. He captured the civil government, attacked the Bible, silenced the Church, captured the youth with Nazi propaganda, and dehumanized the Jewish people. Thus his dream of the “thousand year reign” of the Third Reich turned into a nightmare that catapulted the entire world into a bloody war.
Whether we want to face reality or not, America is in the process of following this same primrose path today. For decades, there has been a systematic assault against America’s godly heritage, the Christian faith, and the Biblical principles that has produced the freest, most blessed, and prosperous nation on the face of the earth.
Since the turbulent 1960s, the Supreme Court has used their considerable power to perpetrate a social experiment on America. They have repeatedly rendered one disastrous decision after another. Their judicial activism has paved the way to remove the knowledge of God from the public life of our nation. As a result, the Bible is attacked, the Church is threatened to keep silent in public affairs, American youth have been indoctrinated with humanistic propaganda, preborn children have been dehumanized in the womb, and the vilification of Christianity increases with each passing day. Sound familiar?
Consider this:
Today, there are more books from American authors warning our nation against the dangers of Christianity, than there are warnings against radical Islam.
General Pace mentions “Homosexuality is immoral” and the “powers that be” bear tooth and claw to suppress his free speech. Clearly, this censorship sends a distinct message that the Christian worldview will not be tolerated in public discourse. Thus it appears that if you desire an influential job, a greater position, or hope for advancement in America, you must sell your soul to the devil, deny the Christian faith, and dare not introduce moral absolutes that may offend America’s immoral sensibilities.
World Net Daily posts article after article demonstrating how evil is being codified into law and our culture is unraveling before our very eyes. One headline reads, “District gags 14-year-olds after 'gay' indoctrination 'Confidentiality' promise requires students 'not to tell their parents.'” In essence, the Deerfield High School coached the children to lie to their parents in order to avoid parents being upset by the school’s homosexual indoctrination.
In another article, WND reported, “In Massachusetts after a school repeatedly advocated for the homosexual lifestyle to students in elementary grades, several parents sued, only to have the federal judge order the ‘gay’ agenda taught to the Christians. The conclusion from U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf found that it is reasonable; indeed there is an obligation, for public schools to teach young children to accept and endorse homosexuality. Wolf essentially adopted the reasoning in a brief submitted by a number of homosexual-advocacy groups, who said 'the rights of religious freedom and parental control over the upbringing of children … would undermine teaching and learning…'"
You read this right. According to the inmate running the asylum (Judge Wolf, which is an appropriate name), homosexuals know better than parents what to teach and what is best for the learning of our young. In particular, Christians must submit their children to this indoctrination with no opportunity to opt out. Dare anyone say tyranny?
Another case in point is the Southern Poverty Law Center, headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama. Their stated goal is to monitor hate groups and extremist activity in the United States. In times past, they have been champions against racial discrimination. In recent days, however, there focus has dramatically changed. No longer do they seek to just prosecute the KKK. No! Their new enemy to prosecute is fundamental Christians. They send out reports to our civil government listing Christians who are actively engaged in our culture and label them as the new “hate groups” that promote “extremist activities.”
Just the other day, a New Jersey School held a mock drill and staged a “hostage situation.” Care to guess who the enemy was? Care to know the fanatical terrorists that attacked their school? If you guessed Muslims, you would not only be politically incorrect, you would be factually incorrect as well. No! The psychos were portrayed as, you guessed it, Christians.
The TV sitcoms and Hollywood movies continually spew out their vitriol hatred against God and the Christian faith. When confronted, they claim artistic freedom. Why doesn’t their artistic freedom extend to other religions and philosophical groups? What makes the Christian faith, the only acceptable faith that can be publicly maligned, mocked, and censored in the land where tolerance is the new idol before which America bows?
Our culture, government, schools, and media are being dominated by the faiths of humanism, evolution, and hedonism. They are following the same pernicious path that has diminished the glory of every nation that has been dominated by these idols fit for destruction. They instinctively know they cannot allow the Christian worldview to see the light of day in America again, lest their house of pagan cards collapse about them. This is what drives them to promote their godless worldviews at the expense of the Christian worldview. They have a huge problem, however. If they remain consistent with their godless worldviews, they will consume themselves, and every American will be forced to sludge through the fall out of their refuse.
Church in America, we must not remain silent anymore. It is time to break out of the Christian ghetto America has created. The religious apartheid must end. I don’t care if you lose your job, are passed over by a promotion, or go to jail. We must reclaim our prophetic voice and engage our culture, government, schools, and media with the claims of Christ and the truth of His Word. This is the faith and worldview that founded our great nation and it’s the only faith and worldview that can sustain our great nation. All else is sinking sand and broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
If we fail in this hour when the enemies of the cross are emboldened to the degree they are in our nation’s history, we will have no one to blame, except for ourselves, when they come for our children and our grandchildren. It can’t happen here? Tell that to Russia, France, and Germany. I’m sure they will understand your deception.
KINGDOM LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE
Sarting May 20th-26th, Elijah Ministries is going to conduct a Kingdom Leadership Institute camp. It will be held in Huntsville, Texas, at the Forest Glen Christian Camp and Retreat Center. The purpose is to identify, equip, and send forth the next generation of true, righteous leaders to restore the Biblical and Constitutional foundations of America. We are needing underwriters for future KLI camps. We desire to offer scholarships for potential KLI candidates. Perhaps you may know of Churches or Christian businesmen who would be interested in making an investment in the future of America's youth. If so, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!