Christian Living

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Last month I watched the funeral of our 40th President Ronald Reagan and the weeklong celebration of his life and accomplishments as our leader during the 1980s. I was moved when I saw some of the excerpts of speeches he made before the National Religious Broadcasters’ conventions. I can’t remember seeing any of those speeches during the time he was President and very little references made about Reagan’s belief in God during the time he was our President. During the week of traditions that culminated in the national day of mourning, it was difficult to view our Patriotism without including God. The harsh reality of our spiritual condition was revealed just a few days after President Reagan’s funeral when his son, Ron Reagan, made an inference that our current president, was among those politicians who “wears their faith on their sleeve”. Ron, who has been public in his non-belief in God, made me stop and think about this statement. Although President Bush has publicly professed to believe in God, what’s the big deal if he does wear “his faith on his sleeve”. In a time where everyone has a “cause” to speak out about and claim protection under free speech and expression, doesn’t God have the same rights? Apparently not. We tend to protect the free speech and expression of everyone else except those one who believe in Jesus Christ.

More and more our country continues to resemble the pattern of the Children of Israel. When God used Moses to lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage into the Promised Land, it took 40 years to do it because of their rebellion. When tragedy would strike against the Israelites, they would remember God and return to Him. They would cry out to Him and when God brought the victory and things were good again, they would wander back into sin. Does this pattern sound a bit too familiar? Think back to the events of 9/11. When the terrorists struck the World Trade Center towers, fear struck in the hearts of us all. At the moment of all the chaos that was going on for the next few days, I thought that this terrorist act might be the very thing that would bring our nation to its knees and ignite a revival that we have been looking for in America. That revival lasted one Sunday. Our church, like many others, had a higher attendance than normal the Sunday following the terrorist attacks. By the next Sunday, the churches were back to normal attendance figures. Why? At first, people were indeed afraid and ran to the place they realized could bring peace – the churches. The next week when we saw that things were back under control, we put our faith back in ourselves and proceeded with life as usual.

During the days that followed the events of 9/11, we even saw Congressman singing “God Bless America” together as if they were performing in a church choir. Weeks later we saw politics as usual. The debates on the display of the Ten Commandments and other issues regarding the separation of church and state returned stronger than before. Somehow we tend to think that by singing “God Bless America” that this pleases God and gets his favor. We can’t sing “God Bless America” and then continue to remove God from everything that associates Him with the foundation of our country. We are walking the same path that the Israelites walked. Make no mistake about it, God will not be mocked. Singing for Him to bless us doesn’t guarantee a blessing. What America needs is repentance.

ONE NATION UNDER GOD?
Are we really one nation under God or one nation under man? It appears that we regard ourselves more than we do God. (John 12:43) How else can you explain the attempts of those to remove the phrase “one nation under God” from the pledge of allegiance to our flag? One single man begins a law suit claiming that his daughter – who he doesn’t have custody of – is being harmed because she is being “forced” to recite a pledge with this phrase. So does this mean we are NOT one nation under God? If so, then who are we under? I suppose we are just going to have a blank line for those of other beliefs to insert their Gods in that place. If we cave in to being “politically correct” by including other “gods” then it doesn’t make us one nation. There is no unity without God. (John 15:5)

Just last month, the Supreme Court sidestepped the flag pledge issue by basically choosing not to make a ruling because the child was not in the custody of the man bringing the case before the court. However, it was reported that the judges were leaning toward keeping the pledge as it stands BUT only by one vote! Are we getting so politically correct that we would rather spare the feelings of all those serving other gods – or no gods – instead of offending God? It might be politically correct but it isn’t eternally correct.

SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
If you were to ask people where to find the wording about the “separation of Church and State” most would say it’s in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights or the Declaration of Independence. The truth is that reference to separation of Church and State do not appear in any of these official documents. In fact, the First Amendment states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. This does not limit a church or Christian citizen. This was added so that the government would not establish the religion. It was a freedom OF religion, not a freedom FROM religion.

The reference to the separation of church and state come from a private letter written in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut, thirteen years after the First Amendment was signed. Certainly not an official government document to be viewed as law.

In addition to removing the phrase “one nation under God” in our flag pledge, there are also efforts to remove our motto “In God We Trust” from anything related to the government. During the Christmas season, there is always a report of some local city or county government being sued for displaying a nativity scene. Some group or, many times, one person complains and an issue is made of it. Prayers before high school football games have been replaced by “moments of silence” or nothing at all. One local high school band in my area was boycotted by ONE parent because the band was playing Southern Gospel hymns as part of their halftime show. The newspaper reported that there were “complaints” when in actuality it was ONE parent that was offended. That is amazing when they will play the latest worldly songs with all of its reference to sex, drugs and violence while dance teams will dance and gyrate in ways that are inappropriate without a single complaint yet gospel songs are boycotted because they are offensive.

If America succeeds in the so-called separation of church and state, we are only asking for trouble. There is no way we could possibly pay enough taxes or pass enough laws to do the things that God could do for our country if we would repent and keep Him in our state rather than separate Him from it.

WHAT IS MARRIAGE?
The words “gay” and “marriage” used to have totally different meanings but now they have both been redefined by a small percentage of our American population. If you really want to stir up a debate in your workplace or school, just bring up this subject and see how difficult it is to keep your cool. No doubt this one has become quite a battleground. Unfortunately the mindset of the homosexual agenda began years ago and now it has become accepted as even being normal. Why is that? Have Christians just been asleep at the wheel while the enemy has used media and other influences to change the way we view sex and relations between a man and woman?

The scary thing to me is the fact that some religious organizations are now being open and accepting homosexual and lesbians in the pulpit. A few years ago in my office we had a student working as an intern. She was majoring in Theology at a local Baptist-affiliated college. She was very bright and intelligent regarding Christian history, theology and everything she learned out of the books she studied but she didn’t have a personal relationship with Christ herself. When we debated the issue of homosexuals and lesbians she made the comment that God didn’t care who you slept with. I was astounded and troubled by the fact that she would eventually graduate and teach others this slant on her beliefs.

The Bible clearly states that homosexuality is wrong. It is a sin. It is a sin just like lying, gossiping, murder and adultery. It isn’t any greater or any lesser sin. I suspect that there will come a time that true Bible-believing preachers will not be able to declare the truth about homosexuality from the pulpit. I sense that doing so will make a church guilty of a “hate crime” and the government will impose sanctions against a church or minister doing so. It may be in the form of revoking a church and their tax-exempt status. Believe me; it is headed in that direction.

The Bible tells us about the days of Noah (Genesis 6), Lot in Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) and how the last days will resemble what we will see before the Lord’s return. In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the men of the city gathered at Lot’s home and cried for him to send out the angels to them so they could have sex with them. (Genesis 19:4-10) Lot offered his daughters to them but they wanted nothing of it.

Today you see in the news how homosexual and lesbian couples are forcing us to accept their marriages as legal. Even in the face of laws forbidding it, they have been assaulting state and local municipalities and forcing the issue. When the foundation of the family is destroyed, the enemy will be leading our country down a path of destruction. It won’t stop at same-sex marriages but all various assortments of so-call “marriages” to include multiple partners, animals and what other vile things man can think of.

TEN COMMANDMENTS
The Ten Commandments are the foundation upon which America’s laws were established; however, there is a minority of Americans today who believe that the Ten Commandments are not relevant but offensive to their lifestyle choices. Many feel that there are no moral absolutes in today’s modern society. Sure, those were good for the “Bible times” but not so for today. Our world is much different now. Yes, and sin is more prevalent because of this disregard for the Ten Commandments.

The First Commandment states that “I am the Lord your God and thou shalt have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:2-3). This commandment claims that God is the supreme God. Hindus have 300 gods, Muslims have Allah and secularists have no god at all. For many, exclusiveness of one god becomes offensive in this “politically correct” world. Other commandments forbid adultery and sexual activity but for many Americans, this is offensive because it condemns the practices and lifestyle they are living. (from Christianity in the Cross Hairs by Loredana Vuoto, The Washington Times)

When the controversy first became public over the display of the Ten Commandments, it was said that the Ten Commandments were offensive. What? You mean someone might feel compelled to actually DO them?

It’s all about guilt. People do not want to be confronted about their sin.

AMERICA AND GOD
We as Americans do not have a monopoly on God. Just because we are America does not mean that God will always bless this country. I don’t think anyone can accurately tell us what America’s role is in prophecy or if America will survive through the last days before the return of the Lord. I hope we will and I hope we will remain true to the freedom we have to worship God. Instead of coming out of the closet, we should all be going into our closets of prayer and calling upon the Lord. We must have a foundation that will support liberty, for without it, we will surely fall. The great nineteenth century statesman and politician Daniel Webster declared:

“If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God and shall respect His Commandments….we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country….but if we and our posterity neglect religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”

Will America continue to exist or will decaying morality and rebellion against God sentence us to our obscurity? How can we continue in God’s blessing? We must keep the course of our Christian heritage. It should be the duty of every Christian to vote and oppose evil in high places. We may not be able to argue for this personally before the Supreme Court Justices but we can find a place to pray and we can support those who make the decision which will keep America in God’s favor.

God Bless America and America remember from whom all blessings flow!

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