My family arrived safely in North Carolina. We thank the Lord for His traveling mercies. In about two hours, I'll have the honor of preaching at Truth Temple, a vibrant church that has never once said no to any request Rev. Flip Benham or OSA has requested of them. In fact, they will be the host church for our national event. It takes a lot of courage in this spiritual climate for a church to open their doors to Operation Rescue/Operation Save America. Thus, I admire Pastor Faw very much and appreciate his commitment to Christ and not being ashamed of us, His servants.
The message will be recorded for their TV program that literally reaches millions with the Gospel of the Kingdom. By God's grace, the following message will go forth this evening. It is a brief message to fit the half hour timeslot for TV. Brethren, pray for us! Thanks!
The Necessity of One Nation under God
Jeremiah 18:7-9 states, "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them."
Our Founding Fathers were very much aware of the implications of this Scripture. They believed according to Scripture that God ruled and reigned in the affairs of men. He possessed and dispossessed nations according to the council of His good will. He set up kingdoms and knocked them down according to the spiritual and moral state of men and nations. He blessed and cursed nations according to their obedience or disobedience to His moral laws.
George Mason, Father of the Bill of Rights, declared, "Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven upon a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities."
John Adams, 2nd President of U.S., stated, "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."
Noah Webster, Father of American Education, taught, "The moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all of our civil constitutions and laws....All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery and war, proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible."
In recent times, President Ronald Reagan warned, "If we ever forget we are One Nation under God, we will become one nation gone under." Since then, America has begun to her downward slide into perdition. We have become One Nation apart from God or One Nation over God or One nation under many gods. As a result, good has become evil and evil has become good. Grave abominations, such as child-killing, abortion, the shedding of innocent blood and homosexuality have become codified into law. As our government defends these indefensible crimes, they must of necessity censor Christianity and punish the righteous.
Currently, we are suffering from moral rot from within and terroristic threats from without. Our federal government has turned from a servant of "We the people" to a dangerous tyrant that poses the greatest threats to our liberties and freedoms. How have we arrived at such a pathetic place? Turn with me to Proverbs 28:2, "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."
When a culture becomes lawless, it automatically enlarges the size and scope of civil government. Many rulers, more bureaucracy, increased regulations and a plethora of laws will grow like weeds to suffocate the true vine of freedom. Why, because lawless men lose the moral fortitude to correctly handle their freedoms. Thus, moral anarchy always leads to governmental tyranny.
Robert Winthrop articulated this premise in a speech to the Massachusetts Bible Society back in the 1800s. Winthrop stated, "All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or by 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."
Our Founding Fathers knew if America ever rejected God as the Sovereign of our nation and the supreme authority in the land, there were only two failed options left to adopt. First, the state is sovereign. Historically, when man believed civil government is the ultimate authority, the ultimate power, inevitably nations degenerate into "isms," Communism, Fascism, or Nazism to name a few. As humanity foolishly rebels and transfers sovereignty from God to government, it has paved the way for terrible atrocities. If earthly governments are the highest authority with no accountability to a Holy God, they can become emboldened to exploit and harm the very ones they claim to serve. This, in a nutshell, reveals much of the bloody history of mankind.
The other failed option is the individual is sovereign. This pride in man inevitably leads to chaos, confusion, and anarchy. Thus only One Nation under God can protect men from statism and tyranny on one hand and moral anarchy on the other hand. Only One nation under God can provide the delicate tension between authority and liberty.
Lastly, Alexis de Tocqueville, French Historian stated, "I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America...Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
Our Founding Fathers knew our goodness came from our faith in Jesus Christ and His blessed word. They knew that only One Nation under God can produce order in society and freedom to individuals. They knew freedom was the power to do as we ought, the power to do right and not to do what we want. They knew there were two enemies to liberty, licentiousness amongst the people and tyranny in civil government. They knew self-government was the key to liberty. Only a religious, moral, and virtuous people who put restraints upon their appetites, lusts, and greed can remain a free people. Both the Bible and our history attest to these truths. May we return to these truths before America sinks further into lawlessness, tyranny, destruction, and despair. Let us pray!
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