by

COS pro or CON!

Used to support Meckler’s COS work. Then did my homework. Americans MUST NOT support COS because it is EMOTIONALLY satisfying to do so!  Our Constitution is far too valuable a document in the history of the world to be trashed by emotion driven lemmings at the behest of those who will stop at nothing to gain power!  Sad to say, useful idiots VOTE!  Take the red pill and educate yourself and all who will listen.  Those who will not obey the rule of law we have, most certainly will not obey any law that is NOT TO THEIR benefit! If you want to support Meckler’s work, fine.  BUT, do it because it is PROVABLY the RIGHT thing to do, NOT because it feels like it MIGHT be a cure for what ails this nation! Doing something is NOT always better than doing nothing! Especially when the future well being of our children hangs in the balance. PLEASE, read the previous post all the way through. Educate yourself, then choose! We will ALL have to live with the consequences.

by

Defeat “COVID” Mandates by restoring the Genuine Meaning of the “privileges and immunities” and “due process” clauses

Publius-Huldah’s Blog

Defeat “COVID” Mandates by restoring the Genuine Meaning of the “privileges and immunities” and “due process” clauses

By Publius Huldah

Our Constitution of 1787 is a glorious Document. But we didn’t read it, we didn’t adhere to its genuine meaning, and we permitted judges to redefine its terms. We must put a stop to that. The following draft 1 Resolution for State and local governments shows how, by restoring the genuine meanings of the “privileges and immunities” and “due process” clauses, we can defeat “COVID” tyranny.

Right to Freedom from “COVID” mandates – Model Resolution for State and local governments

I. The Law

WHEREAS, our Declaration of Independence is the Fundamental Act of our Founding and part of the Organic Law of our Land, and recognizes that our Rights come from the Creator God; that among these Rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; and further, that the purpose of government is to secure the Rights God gave us; and

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the United States is one of enumerated powers only; and We The People did not grant to the federal government power over the Country at Large to interfere in medical or health matters; to dictate that injections be administered to The People; to impose quarantines or “lock-downs” for real or pretended diseases; to establish internment (concentration) camps for the purpose of confining whomsoever the federal government wishes to confine; to require that The People wear devices such as face masks, or to obtain and carry internal passports; or to exercise any other such control over the sanctity of our persons; and

WHEREAS, the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States provides,

“Congress shall make no law … abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble…”; and

WHEREAS, the privileges and immunities clauses of the Constitution of the United States provide:

“The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” (Article IV, § 2)

“…No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States…” (§1 of the Fourteenth Amendment); and

WHEREAS, the due process clauses of the Constitution of the United States provide:

At the Fifth Amendment, that “No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…”; and

At §1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, that “…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law…”; and

WHEREAS, Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England set forth at Book I, Chapter I, pp 128-140 (J.B. Lippincott) [link] the common law definitions of “privileges” and “immunities”; and shows that “immunities” refers to those areas of personal liberty which are free from regulation and control by civil governments, to-wit:

  • The God-given Right of Personal Security consists in a person’s legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his reputation – and specifically that a person has the Right to preserve his health from such practices as may prejudice or annoy it [p. 132 at 4.];
  • The God-given right of Personal Liberty consists of an individual’s right of locomotion, of changing situation, or moving his person to whatsoever place his own inclination may direct; that no person may be imprisoned or confined except pursuant to the lawful judgment of his equals; the right of habeas corpus; andthe prohibition against excessive bail; and
  • The God-given Right of Property consists of the absolute and inherent Right of an individual to the free use, enjoyment, and disposal of his acquisitions; and that no person may be divested of his property, but by the judgment of his peers; and

WHEREAS, “due process of law” is a term with a precise technical import going back to the Magna Charta; and means that a person’s Life, Liberty or Property cannot be taken away from him except by the judgment of his peers pursuant to a fair trial! [See Raoul Berger’s masterful work, “Government by Judiciary: The Transformation of the Fourteenth Amendment”, at Part I, Chapter 11 “Due Process of Law” link]; and

WHEREAS, it is a fundamental Principle of Anglo/American Jurisprudence that when Framers of a Constitution or Statute use a term which has been defined at the Common Law, that is the meaning to be assigned to the term in the Constitution or Statute (United States v. Smith (1820) link) & Raoul Berger’s chapter on “Due Process” at p. 222]; and

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of Ohio declares at Article I: Bill of Rights that

“Section 1: Inalienable rights. All men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inalienable rights, among which are those of enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and seeking and obtaining happiness and safety.”

“Section 3: Right to assemble. The people have the right to assemble together, in a peaceable manner, to consult for the common good; to instruct their Representatives; and to petition the General Assembly for the redress of grievances.”

“Section 20: Powers reserved to the people. This enumeration of rights shall not be construed to impair or deny others retained by the people; and all powers, not herein delegated, remain with the people.”

II. Violations by the federal government of The Law

WHEREAS, under the pretext of protecting the public from the allegedly dangerous “COVID” disease, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the federal government has been involved in the development and administration of a so-called “vaccine”; but that there is considerable evidence that such are not “vaccines” in the traditional sense of the word – but are injections designed to alter human DNA and replace it with a man-made DNA, and to destroy our God-given immune systems; and further that “COVID vaccines” have resulted in many deaths and disabilities among injected persons and are expected to result in a great many more deaths among injected persons in the coming years; and

WHEREAS, also under the pretext of protecting the public from the allegedly dangerous “COVID” disease, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has made plans [here & here] to relocate selected Persons against their wills to internment (concentration) camps which are now, with the connivance of certain State governments, being set up throughout the Country; and

WHEREAS, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is an unconstitutional federal agency which is not authorized by our Constitution to exist; accordingly all of its actions are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; and

WHEREAS, by these above-described acts, the federal government has usurped powers not delegated, and hence its acts are not law, but are altogether unauthoritative, void, and of no force; and

WHEREAS, such acts are also unconstitutional as in violation of the right of free assembly within the meaning of the First Amendment to the US Constitution; and

WHEREAS, such acts also deprive Citizens of their God-given Immunities from civil government’s regulation of their Persons and Personal Liberty, and deprive them of their God-given Right to the free use and enjoyment of their Property – all in violation of Article IV, §2, US Constitution; and

WHEREAS, such acts also deprive Citizens of life, liberty and property without due process of law in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.

III. State and local governments

WHEREAS, certain “private” businesses have been seeking to bring about the forced injections of Citizens with the so-called “COVID vaccine” by threatening to fire such Citizens unless they submit to the injection; and further, that for State and local governments to permit such tyranny violates that Principle, set forth in our Declaration of Independence, that the purpose of government is to secure the rights God gave us (which governments are to do by protecting us from those who seek to take our rights away from us); and that just as civil governments may not lawfully deprive The People of their God-given Rights and Liberties, neither may private persons or businesses; and

WHEREAS, for the State or any local government to impose lock-downs, mandate social distancing, order the closures of churches and selected businesses, and impose limitations on crowd sizes, would unlawfully restrict the Rights of The People to freely assemble; and that in the State of Ohio, such would violate Article I, Sections 1 and 3 of the Declarations of Rights set forth in the State Constitution; and

WHEREAS, for the state or local governments to cooperate with the unconstitutional federal agency known as the “Center for Disease Control and Prevention”, in its unlawful and tyrannical plan to incarcerate in internment (concentration) camps, Citizens against their wills, would unlawfully deprive the Citizens of Ohio of their Rights of free association and free assembly; and would also trespass on their Immunities against civil government’s control of their persons within the meaning of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment; and would also deprive Ohio Citizens of life, liberty and property without due process of law, also in violation of § 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment; and

For the state or local government to mandate the wearing of face masks also violates the God-given Right of Personal Liberty.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

1. That all acts of the federal government described hereinabove in Part II are unconstitutional and are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.

2. That all acts of State and local governments described hereinabove in Part III would also be unconstitutional and unauthoritative, void, and of no force; and that this body [identify whether it’s the State legislature or a County or municipal governmental body] will vigorously oppose all such unlawful acts.

3. That this body intends to vigorously uphold the Right of the Citizens to be free from the requirement of forced injections, mask wearing, social distancing, lock-downs; and will not permit Ohio Citizens to be relocated against their wills to the internment (concentration) camps now being planned by the unconstitutional federal agency known as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is so RESOLVED, this ________ day of _____________, 2021.

Signatures, etc.

Endnote:

1 This is a draft Resolution suggested by me for consideration by State and local governments – I used Ohio to illustrate that States must consult their own State Constitutions in addition to our federal Constitution.

Share this:

https://widgets.wp.com/likes/index.html?ver=20210818#blog_id=8238361&post_id=2509&origin=publiushuldah.wordpress.com&obj_id=8238361-2509-6126431612994

Related

Searching for “Marriage” in the Fourteenth AmendmentMay 11, 2015In “14th Amendment”

Judicial Abuse of the Fourteenth Amendment: Abortion, Sexual Orientation & Gay MarriageJanuary 10, 2011In “14th Amendment”

Mail-in voting? A “political question” which only State Legislatures and Congress may decideSeptember 20, 2020In “12th Amendment”

August 24, 2021 – Posted by Publius Huldah | Blackstone’s commentaries on the Laws of England, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, covid, covid virus, COVID-19 scam, due process clause, privileges and immunities | Blackstone’s commentaries on the Laws of England, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, covid, covid virus, COVID-19 scam, due process clause, privileges and immunities

5 Comments »

  1. Reblogged this on Starvin Larry.Like Comment by gamegetterII | August 24, 2021 | Reply
  2. You have performed another great service for the country. This was very important. You have my gratitude. My latest effort to inform and motivate, attached, pales in comparison.Andrew WallaceLike Comment by Andrew C Wallace | August 24, 2021 | Reply
    • No need to compare. Our job is to do what we have been called to do. I sent this in to News with Views on August 17 (and again a few days later), but it still hasn’t been published there!Like Comment by Publius Huldah | August 24, 2021 | Reply
  3. I would construct it along the lines of the Declaration of Independence such that it would be signatures of Sovereign Citizens that call it into effect. Many of the States’ legislatures and administriations are every bit as tyrannical as the federal government. This needs to be an instrument of the People, signed by such and inundating the offices of every level of government from the local to the federal.Like Comment by Amuzed_Traveler | August 24, 2021 | Reply
    • We The People have a choice: Do we bend our heads and hope that if we submit, they will let us live? Or do we man-up and say, “I will not submit to tyranny!”There are still more of us than there are of them. We can still defeat them. But we will have to stand up and resist them.Like Comment by Publius Huldah | August 24, 2021 | Reply
by

The Seared Conscience

Good Morning. Thanks for having us back today! We truly enjoy our time with you all. Before we begin I would like to share a question my wife asked a couple of days ago. She was reading an article in the newspaper about states giving lottery prizes to unvaxxed people for getting vaxxed and businesses threatening the jobs of unvaxxed employees. Her question was: If Covid vaccines are so great why do they think they have to bribe and blackmail people to get them? I REALLY did not like my immediate answer, but I do tend to be pretty cynical! I’ll leave it to your consideration, what do you think? Okay, moving on, it seems the moral code in place for millennia has been abandoned. The cultural conscience has been SEARED! If you like to follow along in Scripture please turn in your Bibles to 1st Timothy 3:14. We will read on through 4:16. What IS a seared conscience? Can it be fixed? Can it be healed? Will God’s mercy extend to its repair? First lets see what Paul has to say about it. For those who can do so comfortably, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. Reading from the New American Standard Bible. Paul has already given Timothy a lot to think about and here he is sort of summarizing for a while.

1st Timothy 3:14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness:

He who was revealed in the flesh,
Was vindicated in the Spirit,
Seen by angels,
Proclaimed among the nations,
Believed on in the world,
Taken up in glory.

4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

A Good Minister’s Discipline

6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. 9 It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. 10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

11 Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

May God bless the reading of His Word. Please be seated.

Okay, I’m sure you are all used to exegetical preaching. You know, I stand up here and read a scripture and tell you what it means. And I know from experience that only rarely has real, PRACTICAL APPLICATION been tied to it. As if just knowing what it says is the goal! Well the DEMONS know what it SAYS and they tremble! Knowing it isn’t the purpose, LIVING IT IS! Granted its tough to LIVE something in this world you know NOTHING about. But as the demons can attest, knowing TRUTH and rejecting it has ETERNAL consequences. I really hate using demons as an example for anything given today’s fascination with the paranormal. Suffice to say that CHRISTIANS should REJECT spirits good, bad, or otherwise, and everything associated with the possibility that they might be a THING in THIS world! Their use and purpose in Scripture should be deeply studied before ANY dogmatic statement is made about them. Okay back to exegesis with some APPLICATION.

Paul is writing to a young Timothy on his first mission, advising him of the duties of a minister of the Gospel and what he is likely to encounter. He hopes to visit soon but just in case, he is writing some things Timothy has certainly seen and heard but wants to reiterate them to him.

So why do the people sitting in the pews need to know anything about the duties of a minister or what he might run into? Let me ask: Do you have the love of Jesus in your heart? Do you have parents, children or grandchildren, brothers or sisters, dear friends or relatives who need to know about YOUR love for Jesus? Do you know about the Great Commission, whether you can quote it or NOT? EVERY true believer is an ambassador for Christ. For preachers like me it is just not as up close and personal. Remember last time when I said it is your job to hold my feet to the fire to present God’s TRUTH? Not just me, but whoever stands in this spot! Well here in chapter 3 verse 15 it says, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. So the household of God, the church, ALL the people who name the Name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, NOT just the PREACHER, pastor, or deacons, should be educated to BE the pillar and support of God’s truth. It is the job of the preachers, teachers, pastors, and deacons, to try to make SURE of that. And its YOUR job to make sure I’m not trying to spread FALSE doctrine to the younger or less knowledgeable members of the congregation! He reminds Timothy of the great mystery that Jesus Christ presents to man in THESE TRUTHS as the Son of the Living GOD:

He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.

These are truths that are more important than my life! If proclaiming them costs my life, rejection from friends and family, shunning and rejection by strangers, so be it. Does that sound extreme? Oh, I know, its easy for me to say that here in Smalltown, America, where there is little danger, although it seems to be getting closer all the time. And you won’t see me getting on a plane to preach the Gospel in Tehran anytime soon, unless God gives me the same clear marching orders he gave JONAH! There are plenty HERE who need to hear it! The church is dying in America because it no longer accepts the ABSOLUTENESS of those truths! The people, the ekklesia, the household of God charged with being the pillar and support of God’s truth has very nearly given up. Our comfort and peace have become more important than God’s TRUTH. The Colson Center for Christian Worldview published an article last week saying that by 2040 we will no longer even celebrate EASTER in the west, because the last generation wanting to do that will have died off. Christmas has long been way more about the MERCHANDISE WE GET than about THANKFULNESS for the MIRACULOUS, ETERNAL, GIFT we GOT! Easter is already more about Easter egg hunts than the truth of Christ’s defeat of death and the grave! The leadership of the church thought that by co-opting an existing pagan holiday to Christian purposes the church would GROW! Easter’s certainly not the only time it was done and if you pay close attention, the pagan roots are shining through, again!

Chapter 4 verses 1-2:But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,

These ARE later times. People are falling away in DROVES. Many, who still attend church regularly, support doctrines of demons such as pro-choice and same sex marriage. They support the deceitful spirits of tolerance and acceptance for all that which God has deemed abomination. Please don’t get me wrong here. I’m a sinner, all of us are sinners. The wages of SIN is death! Sin, SINGULAR! It only takes ONE to fall short of the Glory of God and BE a transgressor. Christ was only COUNTED as one by sinful men bent on maintaining their position in life! The evangelical and mainline church has been deceived by the hypocrisy of liars with seared consciences. They have elected those people to positions of authority to set DOCTRINE; to teach tolerance instead of holiness, acceptance instead of righteousness. We’re told that we are all sinners anyway so we must never tell others THEY are wrong! I am not saying I’m better than ANY of them. To claim so is evil and hypocrisy in the church has driven away millions! Righteousness does not make me superior and holiness does not make me BETTER! The world and conscience-seared preachers put us on that pedestal and it has a greased seat! Failure is assured and with that failure comes finger pointing and BLAME.

Other issues are brought to light as we pick up at verse 3: men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.

Marriage was the first social construct put in place by God to be between one man and one woman. Religious doctrine that forbids Godly marriage for whatever reason is pushed by deceitful spirits just as is calling some foods unfit for believers! Those who believe AND KNOW THE TRUTH, that everything created by God is GOOD, know that it is good to SERVE the purpose for which it was CREATED!

Verse 6 in the NASB begins a section titled ‘The Good Minister’s Discipline’. As I’ve already pointed out, we are ALL ministers, so we should ALL pay close attention because Paul is speaking to ALL of us! He says, when we point out these things to the brethren, we will be good servants of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which we have been following.

We are not speaking as someone holier than thou, but in humility as a fellow soldier engaged in the battle right by their side. What battle? Oh, didn’t I mention the battle we are ALL fighting? The battle that is NOT against flesh and blood? The battle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We are to shun, have nothing to do with worldly fables, emotional arguments of tolerance and acceptance that feel good but deceive the heart! We are supposed to discipline ourselves for godliness but he says BODILY discipline is of little profit! He says, This is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance: godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. Then he gives the reason it is worthy of acceptance: because it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

Godliness, the result of renewing our mind and developing a heart for righteousness. These are not BODILY disciplines!

In verse 11 Paul goes on to tell Timothy: Prescribe and teach these things. 12 Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. 13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

Yes this was written to Timothy but EVERY father and mother is charged with raising up a child in the way they should GO! Forming this habit early on is one large step in that direction. Grandparents should not feel themselves left out of this exhortation. Read Scripture to your grandchildren. There are MANY great stories in there! David, Samson, Moses, Joseph and his coat of many colors, Rahab, Ruth, Esther, the list goes ON! Help the young develop a thirst for the Word. Let them see yours! Will they roll their eyes and object and want their phones or TV? Almost certainly! But who is in charge here? What is more important to their eternal SOUL? THEY certainly don’t know! Its your job, the ADULT’S job to teach them! Resistance is GUARANTEED! Love them through it! Paul goes on in verse 14, Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

I would interject here: do not neglect God’s gift of YOUR children, grandchildren, other family and friends! Raise the level of CONVERSATION above TV and weather and gossip about the neighbors or the latest video game! Eternity is COMING! Paul goes on: 15 Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

Isn’t this assurance worth the effort? Do you believe that God REALLY pays attention to what is going on in YOUR life? Or Not? Is His PROVIDENCE really something you depend on? I don’t mean do you just sit back and wait for Him to take care of it. I mean do you pray like its all on Him but WORK like its all on YOU? I know, it says Timothy’s spiritual gift was bestowed when the hands of the presbyters were laid on him. Question: Is that how PAUL received HIS gift? Is that how MOST of the Prophets received their Spiritual Gifts? NO! God can and DOES use whosoever He chooses, for HIS purposes in HIS GOOD TIME. HE IS GOD! That absolutely does not work to ANYONE’S ETERNAL DETRIMENT! And if you think it does maybe you should think again! Maybe you should get to know the God of Creation BETTER! Revisionist historians have been trying to convince us that the Founders were NOT devout, righteous, patriotic, civic minded men with minds and eyes firmly fixed on their LEGACY! NO! They were hypocritical land and slave owners who wanted to keep everyone else under their thumb! As I said there are many who will LIE to promote themselves, their ideas, and their power. People who refuse to educate themselves with TRUTH are fertile ground for their ruinous, evil, aspirations!

The Founders had a FIRM belief in the PROVIDENCE of Almighty God; a firm belief BASED ON REASON! Ben Franklin was about 81 years old when the Constitution was being debated. When it began to look like the whole thing was going to fail because of arguments over different ideas, he called for a resolution that prayer be offered before the opening of each day’s business and he gave this reason: The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: ‘that God governs in the affairs of men.’ And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? With GOD’S help our Constitution was completed and ratified. What they gave us, the greatest document for the governance of a free people in the history of the world, has been under increasingly virulent attack for decades. The agenda to destroy our way of life keeps gaining momentum. We, ladies and gentlemen, are the only brake that can hope to slow down this destruction. We can only do it with God’s help. I say with God’s help because just like He helped Israel take the Promised Land, they still HAD TO SHOW UP! They still had to fight! They still had to show their COMMITTMENT to HIM and His Righteousness. AS DO WE!

I know, this is Smalltown! We are FEW! What can we do to stand against the multitude that wants us MUTE! Do you all remember the Alamo? Just a hundred and eighty six men stood against Santa Ana’s army? He offered them the chance to LEAVE! He offered them their LIVES! All they had to do was quit, give up! His army was THOUSANDS strong! Staying was certain death! Their goal was worth more than their lives. It was BIGGER than them! It was worth the sacrifice! It was THEIR Legacy! NOT ONE MAN quit. Isn’t Christ and ALL the providence of God this nation has enjoyed a TRUTH worth standing up and proclaiming? That kind of truth is certainly worth taking pains to be ABSORBED IN, don’t you think? Allowing ourselves to be muzzled, to bow the knee, to be neutered by peace with, tolerance of, and acceptance of the UNHOLY and PROFANE, is NOT what a Christian’s LEGACY is supposed to BE! We are not called to allow our children, whether biological or those of our COMMUNITIES, to be indoctrinated into the unholy and profane we see being forced into day care, public schools, drag queen reading hour in our libraries, CRT in our colleges and perversion in the ads on TV as if it WERE NORMAL!

Twelve men who followed Christ without blinking, changed the world. They didn’t do it ALL AT ONCE! They made a small impact wherever they went. We can do that here! We can share Christ’s legacy here. Just make a small impact wherever you go. Leave the ripple effect to GOD! Let us do our part and He is MORE than prepared to do HIS! It starts with knowing HIM, becoming His disciple. Jesus had fishermen, tax collectors, shepherds, plain, ordinary people who were willing to KNOW HIM. They didn’t worry about what was in God’s hands. They just tried their best to take care of what God had placed in theirs without fear and without doubt. There has been a schism in the church over the method of baptism for centuries if not millennia! Some sprinkle, some immerse, but water is the THING. I don’t want to burst any bubbles here but if you are willing to really READ what the Scripture says about baptism in the NAME of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit you should very quickly come to the realization that WATER is only a SYMBOL. Immersing yourself in the NAME is the KEY to understanding. It is the NAME that carries the knowable essence of GOD! That is why the Jews would not write His Name out in full in the Scriptures! The very WORD of His Name was considered too HOLY to put on paper! To be baptized in the NAME is to be immersed in all we can know of the living God we SERVE!

In the beginning was the Word and the Word WAS GOD! The Word was the NAME! It is in THAT we are to immerse ourselves! BELIEVER’S Baptism is Discipleship of the highest order not just a one time symbolic act! Just like a wedding ring is only the SYMBOL of marriage, NOT the marriage itself. You can believe anything you want. Belief doesn’t validate truth, TRUTH validates belief. Discipleship is how you put on the WHOLE armor of God. Its what makes you able to share the TRUTH of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pick up your cross of TRUTH today and follow Paul’s direction to Timothy. We only looked at a small piece of it today. There is much more. This isn’t about glorious missions to foreign lands or great stories of close calls or even martyrdom. Its about making a small impact wherever you are. Its about OUR legacy! You never know what God has in store! Jesus promised us that if we profess Him before men, He will profess us before the Father. This is the promise of the Son of God and can NEVER be undone! Next Sunday might be a good time to renew that profession. If you have never made that profession, TODAY is none too soon! We’ll have a hymn of invitation and then a closing prayer. If you have questions or comments, I’ll be glad to hear them.

Before ending today here are a few thoughts about our culture and our time:

  1. For a country that killed an entire generation in the womb but tells adults to wear masks to “save lives”, your words are a joke and an embarrassment!
  2. Covid is a true killer. So far its killed the flu, cancer, heart disease—its killed the ability to think, logic & common sense. It killed the economy, the working class, & millions of jobs. It killed millions of businesses, human connection, love and compassion. This on top of the victims of flawed and big-pharma controlled treatment options and censorship. It is a true killer, but, I think, not the only one.

And last but certainly not least:

  1. I seriously don’t get it. I was born in Kansas City, raised in South East Nebraska, and a U.S. Citizen my whole life, served in the US Air Force during Viet Nam, No serious criminal record, no warrants. But when I travel by plane within my own country, I have to get in a whole body scanner or face an invasive pat down. I have to present an official government approved ID. So does the 5 year old kid with his parents, the elderly gentleman who served in WW2, and the nuns. But somehow its no problem that millions of people are tearing across the border illegally with satchels of God knows what – Drugs? Weapons? Soup? Who knows? And some bringing children – are they theirs? Are they trafficking? Kidnapping? “Borrowing” so in case they get caught they’re immediately released? Who knows? Something is very, very, wrong with this picture. Model US citizens are forced to “Virtually” strip(that’s what the scanners do) yet people who are showing an open defiance of our laws are being treated like victims and above the law, above interrogation and given a free pass. And there are CHRISTIAN organizations Transporting them around the COUNTRY! It ain’t right folks, and we ALL know it.

With every head bowed and every eye closed let us pray. We beg You, most Gracious Heavenly Father, to give us strength and courage to fulfill the call You have given us. We beg you to use us to REDEEM this land in which we have been blessed beyond measure to be born. We beg you to USE us to not just share Your Word but to show its power within US. May we be diligent in obedience. May we be merciful without being tolerant of sin; loving without being accepting of perversion; meek without being weak; Lord may we learn to live as Pilgrims, being IN the world but not OF the world. Fill our hearts with the TRUTH of Jesus Christ. THAT is the most valuable legacy we have to pass on in this world, no matter the risk, no matter the cost. This we ask in the precious and holy Name of Your Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Thanks again for having us back today. God bless and have a great week.

by

What We Believe

Good Morning! We’re glad to be back and hope you are all doing well! Patricia and I were talking the other night about some of what is in this message and she told me not to put you to sleep! Not to just read what I wrote. And not to bore you with a lot of history you really aren’t interested in. I told her that I tried to put information in my sermons that people can use like bricks in building their wall of faith. She told me in no uncertain terms that the mortar holding those bricks together has to be the love I have for Christ and my brothers and sisters in His Church! She has lots of good advise, even on those rare occasions when I am reluctant to listen to it! I live by this axiom: the more you KNOW, the less you can be SNOWED! And I believe that knowing my Lord and Savior and His expectations, should be top of the list of things I do NOT want to be WRONG ABOUT! So, Please forgive me if I share details of some of the bricks in my own wall of faith that at this moment in time may seem irrelevant to you. NOW here we go! The last time I asked if you would try to stop a bus that you knew was bound for disaster. Now that you’ve had time to consider what you might do, let’s go a little deeper. That question sort of assumed a group of people you didn’t know. People to whom you had no PERSONAL connection. What if that bus only had a driver? Would that make a difference in the amount of effort you would exert or risk you might take? But what if that driver was your child or grandchild? What then? And what if that bus was full of all their family, children and grandchildren? How hard would you try then to get the driver to stop or change direction, to warn them of certain disaster ahead? Would it be worth making them mad for having to stop and listen? Would it be worth the RISK of making them so angry they never wanted to see you again? Would it be worth sounding like Peanuts school teacher to them? You know-bla babla babla bla bla? What if God heard your words and your prayers for them and at some point in His own good time, in spite of their reaction to YOU, extended His Grace and Mercy to them; Brought them to Christ and gave them ears to hear HIS TRUTH? Would it be worth it then? Remember Saint Augustine’s mother? She prayed for 40 years and never saw his conversion. But God ANSWERED her prayers in His own perfect timing. Is seeing your prayer answered more important than the prayer itself? Is temporary peace more important than bringing the TRUTH to those you care about or maybe even someone you don’t know at all? Is your faith ONLY in what you can or WILL SEE?

Today lets think about that PERSONAL connection. Last time I brought up the idea that we Christians are called to have a PERSONAL relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. What might that look like? I didn’t grow up in a family that went to church. Not that they didn’t have Christian VALUES, they did. But going to church was not high on the TO DO list. Dad’s parents didn’t go and mom’s parents were pretty devout Roman Catholic. So if we went to church it was to Mass and my religious education was one summer of Catholic Catechism classes. The Nuns had rulers and did not hesitate to USE them on the unruly 7-8 year olds who would rather be somewhere else!

Now this isn’t catechism class and I don’t have a ruler to get your attention. Last time we talked about MTD and the effect that doctrine has had on Christians and Christianity. We considered trying to heal our consciences and return to a truly responsible use of our FREEDOM. Freedom is the UNFETTERED ability to do THAT WHICH WE OUGHT to do! That which we OUGHT to DO! When I say unfettered ability, I mean Christians are free to do anything and everything AGAINST WHICH there is no LAW! We are 100% free to exercise the FRUIT of the Spirit! Galatians 5:22-23 says: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

You know its a lot easier to stand up here and bemoan the sorry state of the church and lack of Biblical knowledge in it, than it is to try to explain how and why Jesus, Who perfectly manifested the fruit of the Spirit, made a WHIP of cords and DROVE the money changers OUT of the Temple, turned over their tables, scattered their stuff, without shame or sin He drove them out! His house, He said, was to be a house of PRAYER but they had made it a den of THIEVES! Now, Meekness is not weakness, it is POWER under CONTROL! You do know that where this took place was in the outer court of the Temple which was supposed to be a place for the Gentiles to come, pray, seek the LORD, but those in charge of the Temple turned it over to merchants who sold sacrificial animals to Jewish pilgrims who were coming from all across the Middle East to do their sacrifice. The money changers exchanged their money for TEMPLE COINS at whatever exchange rate they saw fit to buy those animals. They left no room for Gentile proselytes at all. SHOULD we Christians, who are to exemplify a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus Christ, hold ourselves and our leadership accountable to preserve, protect, and DEFEND the TRUTH of GOD in how we conduct ourselves and our WORSHIP? Now we invite EVERYONE in. We don’t sell access. Quite the opposite! We seem to be under the impression that God’s Grace and Mercy are available at NO COST! Meaning it requires no change! Come as you are, stay as you are. Religion and life are separate realms! How settled is your faith? How certain are you that what you believe, is what God says we OUGHT to believe? Well let’s look at Southern Baptist history and see just how certain the SBC leadership has been over time. You are probably aware that the Southern Baptists became a denomination in 1845. That’s about 12 years after the American Baptists decided that the London Confession of 1689 needed to be abandoned and produced the New Hampshire Confession of 1833. When the Southern Baptist split came, they opened their own seminary and its statement of faith was the Abstract of Principles published by James Boyce, the first president of Southern Seminary, and was adequate, although ignored by the SECOND president of Southern Seminary. Ignored, beginning about 1899 with E.Y. Mullins, and the rest of SBC leadership until 1925 when, Mullins, then president of the SBC, decided it was time for a NEW statement of faith and the BFM, the Baptist Faith and Message was put forth as the Southern Baptist’s statement of faith. Bare in mind Boyce’s Abstract of Principles was NOT based on the New Hampshire Confession. It was based on the 1689 London Confession. The 1925 BFM was updated in 1963, 1998 and again in 2000. But all those updates retained the preamble that the 1925 committee wrote when they produced the original BFM, basically a return to the 1833. Some of you may have read bits and pieces of the BFM if you thought it necessary. Few have really looked at it closely. I was ordained an Southern Baptist minister at Central Baptist Church of Coffeyville, Kansas, about 16 years ago. So I am not an outsider looking to undermine anything. What today’s message is about is to affirm some of what that Barna study said and hopefully help you see that this is NOT some new trend. MTD has its roots clear back in the cooling off of the Second Great Awakening, after the War of 1812! As I have said before, Christian history and theological ‘rediscovery’ is NOT just found in the last 50 or 100 years. We have 2000 years of history. Two thousand years of church leadership sometimes taking us down the WRONG path and sometimes taking us back toward righteousness and correct belief. That said, I’d like you to hear part of the introduction to the 1689 London Confession.

  ‘I have thought it right to reprint in a cheap form this excellent list of doctrines, which were subscribed to by the Baptist Ministers in the year 1689.  We need a banner because of the truth; it may be that this small volume may aid the cause of the glorious gospel by testifying plainly what are its leading doctrines . . . May the Lord soon restore unto His Zion a pure language, and may her watchmen see eye to eye.’  So wrote the young C.H. Spurgeon, then in the second year of his ministry at New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, in a preface addressed to All the Household of Faith, who rejoice in the glorious doctrines of Free Grace with which he prefixed this Confession when he published it in October, 1855. … ‘This little volume,’ he wrote, ‘is not issued as an authoritative rule, or code of faith, whereby you are to be fettered, but as an assistance to you in controversy, a confirmation in faith, and a means of edification in righteousness.  Here the younger members of our church will have a body of divinity in small compass, and by means of the scriptural proofs, will be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in them. … This is something that, according to Barna, very few Christians today seem willing or able to do! To continue: Be not ashamed of your faith; remember it is the ancient gospel of the martyrs, confessors, reformers, and saints.  Above all, it is the truth of God, against which all the gates of Hell cannot prevail.  Let your lives adorn your faith, let your example adorn your creed. Here is the closing statement of this forward.

A preface to the original publication of 1677 says in part: “. . . It is now many years since diverse of us . . . did conceive ourselves under a necessity of publishing a Confession of our Faith, for the information and satisfaction of those that did not thoroughly understand what our principles were, or had entertained prejudices against our profession . . . This was first put forth about the year 1643, in the  name of seven congregations then gathered in London . . .”  (These early Baptists were conscious that the 1644 Calvinistic Baptist Confession predated the 1646 Presbyterian Confession and the 1658 Congregationalist Confession).      “Forasmuch as this confession is not now commonly to be had; and also that many others have since embraced the same truth which is owned therein; it was judged necessary by us to join together in giving a testimony to the world of our firm adhering to those wholesome principles . . .”

I say again ‘giving a testimony to the world of our firm adhering to those wholesome principles.’ This was written by a young CH Spurgeon when he REPUBLISHED the 1689 Confession in 1855! Over 2 CENTURIES after the initial publication of the articles of faith listed in that Confession.

Remember the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation was in 2017! Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses to the Whittenberg Chapel door in 1517 launching the Protestant Reformation. He was not trying to split the church, he was trying to bring them back to BIBLICAL reality! The pope did not see it that way and the rest is history! So little more than a century after Luther’s Protest, the Protestant movement was in full swing and Confessions of Faith were a THING! They posted for the world to see, those principles of the Christian faith which were MOST ASSUREDLY believed among us. Principles by which most lived and MANY DIED!

Fast forward to 2000 and the Preamble to the third iteration of the BFM since 1925: Throughout our history we have been a confessional people, adopting statements of faith as a witness to our beliefs and a pledge of our faithfulness to the doctrines revealed in Holy Scripture. Our confessions of faith are rooted in historical precedent, as the church in every age has been called upon to define and defend its beliefs. Each generation of Christians bears the responsibility of guarding the treasury of truth that has been entrusted to us [2 Timothy 1:14]. Facing a new century, Southern Baptists must meet the demands and duties of the present hour. New challenges to faith appear in every age. A pervasive anti-supernaturalism in the culture was answered by Southern Baptists in 1925, when the Baptist Faith and Message was first adopted by this Convention. In 1963, Southern Baptists responded to assaults upon the authority and truthfulness of the Bible by adopting revisions to the Baptist Faith and Message. The Convention added an article on “The Family” in 1998, thus answering cultural confusion with the clear teachings of Scripture. Now, faced with a culture hostile to the very notion of truth, this generation of Baptists must claim anew the eternal truths of the Christian faith. With the 1963 committee, we have been guided in our work by the 1925 “statement of the historic Baptist conception of the nature and function of confessions of faith in our religious and denominational life . . . .” It is, therefore, quoted in full as a part of this report to the Convention:

There are 18 chapters in the current BFM. There were 32 chapters in the 1689. If each generation is faced with new challenges to our faith why is the confession shrinking topically? If the BFM is so historically oriented why would the authors base the BFM on the New Hampshire Confession instead of on the Abstract of Principles or the 1689 Confession, NONE of which is even mentioned as historical reference? If you take the time to look at them, you will quickly realize that the 1833 looks more like a High School term paper effort when compared to the 1689. Of course that’s my opinion, you are free to check for yourselves. Its all online free to anyone, just google them. Now the real problem I have here is that even though I believe the 1833 and BFM are simplistic and not very comprehensive, the 5 statements quoted from the 1925, really need examination. Remember the authors of the original BFM made these five statements about the NATURE and FUNCTION of confessions of faith, and the subsequent updates made very sure that these statements, while NOT items of the confession itself, directly indicate the VALUE the committee placed on confessions of faith in our RELIGIOUS and denominational life. Statement One says:

  1. That they constitute a consensus of opinion of some Baptist body, large or small, for the general instruction and guidance of our own people. Notice there is no reference to TRUTHFULNESS or TRUTH? They constitute a consensus of opinion on what the Bible says about a particular topic. They site proof texts to support their opinion. Consensus of opinion is an important way to leave room for doubt to anyone trying to wiggle out from under the TRUTH of an assertion. If I say ‘I am staking my life on the truth that Jesus Christ died for my sins!’ Does me saying the consensus of opinion is that Jesus Christ died for sinners really carry the same sense of commitment? Statement Two says:
  2. That we do not regard them as having any quality of finality or infallibility. As in the past so in the future Baptists should hold themselves free to revise their statements of faith as may seem to them wise and expedient at any time.

Hence the lack of any sense of COMMITTMENT! Oh, I get maybe not being complete BUT, Having no quality of finality or infallibility? Isn’t this supposed to be a group of statements about Who we worship and how we are supposed to carry out that worship, what He expects of us, what He has DONE FOR us, and WHY we believe them to be TRUE? How can a statement of FAITH NOT have SOME quality of AT LEAST finality if NOT infallibility. AND if the source of these beliefs IS the Holy Scripture and theologians for 2000 years have agreed on what the INFALLIBLE Word of God is saying, how much closer to infallible can we hope to GET? This statement goes on to say we should hold ourselves FREE to revise our statements of faith whenever it seems wise AND EXPEDIENT to do so! Just for reference, when would it SEEM wise and expedient to change your declaration of things you MOST SURELY BELIEVE? Would it be when a gun is to your head? NO? How about when a family member utterly denies God’s TRUTH about SIN? How about when a loved one is in agony and God seems nowhere to be found? Would it seem at very least expedient then? Confessional shoes are just too tight! Confessions get rewritten or just pitched and churches are a LONG way from full now-a-days! Statement Three says:

  1. That any group of Baptists, large or small, have the inherent right to draw up for themselves and publish to the world a confession of their faith whenever they may think it advisable to do so. My question here is, if a congregation decides to publish their own confession, would they still be Baptists? What are the distinctives of the Baptist faith if they are not contained in the Baptist Confession, the BFM? Or is it that they don’t care what you say you believe as long as you keep contributing to the Cooperative Program? I guess that’s a pretty cynical thought on my part. How have they shown me to be wrong? Statement four says: (4) That the sole authority for faith and practice among Baptists is the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Confessions are only guides in interpretation, having no authority over the conscience.

Question: IF This Confession has no AUTHORITY over the CONSCIENCE, is only the result of a consensus opinion, is only a guide in interpretation, having no quality of finality or infallibility, which we not only can, but SHOULD feel free to change anytime it seems wise and expedient to do so, what kind of faith in the AUTHORITY of the holy scriptures is the leadership demonstrating? Or maybe its their lack of any confidence at all in God’s clarity in revealing exactly what He wants us to be certain OF! And finally statement five says:

  1. That they are statements of religious convictions, drawn from the Scriptures, and are not to be used to hamper freedom of thought or investigation in other realms of life.

Are religious convictions, drawn from the Scriptures somehow different from any other convictions we might have ? They are telling me that religious convictions are NOT to hamper freedom of thought or INVESTIGATION in OTHER REALMS OF LIFE? Just WHAT Religious CONVICTION should FAIL to hamper openly SINFUL thinking OR ACTIVITY? And MOST mind numbing in statement five is that convictions DRAWN FROM SCRIPTURE are NOT to hamper our investigation into OTHER REALMS OF LIFE! NOW, remember what Spurgeon said the purpose of the Confession was? And now that you have heard these statements, do you believe they REALLY reflect the the historic Baptist conception of the nature and function of confessions of faith? Leadership sure seems to! Last time I talked about MTD, moralistic, therapeutic, deism and how moralism is supposed to make us better people, and therapy teaches us to be happy, and how deism teaches that God is hands off. He created us but now we’re pretty much on our own! Talked about how you don’t look for MTD churches, you find MTD doctrine being spoon fed from the Pulpits of all KINDS of churches because over three quarters of seminary graduates are UNBELIEVERS no matter what kind of church they claim to SERVE! Renewing OUR minds REQUIRES that we THINK both deeply AND OBJECTIVELY. The TRUTH is that Paul said we are to hold EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE! If that’s not a Christian attempting to HAMPER their freedom of thought I don’t know what is! And WHY would we want to do that? Because there ARE only two realms of life in this world to be investigated: ONE is the world, the flesh, and the devil, where we contemplate SIN and TEMPORARY life, and the other is in the fruit of the SPIRIT where we contemplate ETERNAL LIFE and act upon what GOD expects of us IN THIS ONE! We are to WALK in the Spirit! How do we do that? Where do we find out HOW? Well, How did Jesus, our perfect example of walking in the Spirit do it when he was in the wilderness and tempted of the Devil? To EACH AND EVERY temptation He answered it with IT IS WRITTEN! If we hold ourselves free of the SPIRIT so we can investigate the realm of SIN, just exactly how is that walking in the SPIRIT? When we meet JESUS and tell Him all the great works we have done, will He say ‘well done’? Or will He say ‘I never knew you!’? Well, if I have to tell the Lord Jesus Christ just what I have done in His NAME? He obviously NEVER KNEW me! Otherwise He would be thanking me before I could even open my mouth! TWO realms! Which will YOU pursue? SBC leadership has written down a bunch of high sounding principles with scriptural proof texts, but they PREFACED these principles with a complete dismissal of their worth! Will you be led down the wide road of MTD, fake-Christian doctrine? Or will you become a disciple, a disciplined learner so that EVERY time the world the flesh and the devil in the person of unbelieving church leadership, OR ANYONE ELSE, tries to deceive you or you are tempted by wanting peace with the WORLD or even an unbelieving loved one, you can answer with God’s Word and ask which realm will this peace lead into! If you have come forward in church and professed Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you’ve done well. Have you asked friends and family to do the same? Can you give REASON for the HOPE that lies within you? Is your confession a hill worth dying on? Or is it something to be abandoned when it seems wise and expedient to do so? We are SOJOURNERS in this world. Pilgrims, NOT CITIZENS. We must NOT hold our FAITH captive to the world! Hear, oh heavens, and give ear, for the Lord has spoken. Challenges to our faith are guaranteed! Claiming Jesus is one thing. OBEYING Him is quite another! Presenting ourselves to be used of Him IS our REASONABLE SERVICE! That is true worship. Knowing the difference between being used of Jesus and being a PAWN OF THIS WORLD used by IT is the CROSS we must pick up and carry if we are to follow HIM! Is that cross made of moralism or Truth?  Which is ultimately more painful to fallen man?  And wasn’t that the purpose of the Roman cross in Christ’s example? God’s power and great glory shine all around us but His wisdom can ONLY be found in the pages of His special revelation to us: The Bible, where IT IS WRITTEN! If you have not done it before, now is the time to make YOUR public profession of faith in Jesus Christ. His promise to us is that if we do, He will profess us before the Father. This is the promise of the Son of GOD, and His promise will never be undone. Begin your walk with Him today. We’ll have a Hymn of Invitation and then a closing prayer. Most Gracious Lord we thank you for this opportunity to consider Your mercy and the love you so generously show to us even when we fail you even when we are lazy and weak. We ask again for your aid in putting on YOUR whole armor so we may STAND against the wiles and deception of the world. Please keep us on the NARROW path to YOUR Glory. Lord I pray that I have not brought bricks today without the mortar of Christian Love to bind them. Its in Your Name for your glory we pray AMEN! Thank you for having me back and have a blessed week. Hope to see you again soon.

by

The Moral Compass

Good Morning! I hope you are all doing well! I would start today with a question for you to consider: If you saw a bus load of people heading for certain disaster, and the only way you MIGHT stop them is to step out on the road so they MUST at least pause to hear of the danger, or run over you, would you step out? Okay. Recently, Patricia and I were discussing a work trip we took to Wyoming. Its been over 20 years ago now. I was to work at the power plant in Wheatland on a major overhaul. The millwrights were about the last of the trades to be called in. We only had a few days to pack stuff and get out there. Patricia got on the phone to find us a place to stay for the 6 weeks of work. But all the other trades were already there and far from finished so there just wasn’t anyplace to stay. The few hotels were full up, fewer people had rooms or houses to let to construction workers for the short term and were full up, so she started looking elsewhere. Now as you know, Wyoming is not densely populated. Its cattle country not farm land. There is not a town every 7 to 10 miles along the highway. But her efforts really paid off. She found a newly remodeled apartment, above the Post Office, in a town of 78 people, Hartville, Wyoming. Only thirty-five miles from Wheatland! We packed the car and took off. The owners were also the mayor and his wife. They wouldn’t even take our rent money until they were sure WE thought the place was suitable! Next morning I went to work!

No one locked their doors. They left their keys in their cars. The 4 year old of a neighbor, whose mother was working just up the street, came over to meet “the new lady!” No fear, and no worries. She told her mom where she was going and came over and introduced herself. Now Patricia didn’t have the car, I was driving it to work and I was working 7 days a week. So the landlord told Patricia that if she needed to go to town, even Cheyenne, (a hundred miles away) she could just use her car—the keys were in it. There is a LOT more to the story of our time there. Very pleasant memories. In Hartville, no one was a stranger, there was no fear no mistrust. They were NOT naive, they were just neighborly, in the BIBLICAL sense.

As we reminisced, we remembered how it was when we were children. No one locked their doors. Car keys were left in the ignition. Pickups had gun racks with guns in the back window and the doors weren’t locked! School boys carried pocket knives and did NOT threaten anyone with them. It was a time we MISS! It had nothing to do with music or hot cars or dating. It was about the MORAL COMPASS of the VAST majority of AMERICANS. It was about FREEDOM and the responsible use of it! We came of age in the sixties. Things changed. The Revolution took hold. It was no longer our parents and grandparents America. Now everything has to be insured, locked, secured, watched, protected. Its no longer boys and girls and men and women, I’m okay, you’re okay, its gender dysphoria, LGBTQ+, Critical Race Theory, the rainbow has been appropriated from being the sign of God’s promise to never again flood the earth with water, to being an insignia of the lifestyle God has said is an abomination to HIM! As we reminisced the question became: How could we get that moral compass back? How can we repair a conscience that seems like it has been seared with a hot iron? We see our nation in the grip of the Destroyer and feel HELPLESS to do ANYTHING to make it right again! We are wandering in the wilderness and just cannot seem to find our way! Well there IS GOOD NEWS; a light at the end of the tunnel. If you know your Old Testament History, Joseph, Jacob’s son, was sold into slavery by his brothers. By God’s providence, through trial and tribulation, He became the second most powerful man in Egypt. His father and brothers came to him during a famine. They were given the land of Goshen and over time became politically powerful and evidently a bothersome group. There came a time, after about 3 centuries, when the current Pharaoh no longer remembered Joseph and what he had done. The Israelites were enslaved and over time treated as the enemy. God sent Moses to lead His people OUT of Egypt. Egypt does not represent just a geographical location. It represents all the ungodly ways of man! It represents the works of the flesh! During the Exodus, Moses didn’t just receive the Ten Commandments. He wrote the first five books of our Holy Bible. Could these books of the Law be our road map BACK? I know, I know, it is shouted from the roof tops WE DON’T LIVE UNDER THE LAW ANYMORE! That’s LEGALISM! We live under GRACE! This is the NEW Testament church! Yes! BY GRACE we are saved, through FAITH, and THAT not of ourselves lest any man boast! But that has ALWAYS BEEN TRUE! Animal Sacrifice didn’t PAY the debt! Just the interest, so to speak. Chapter 11, Book of Hebrews, the faithful hall of fame! The thing about that is we are called to REPENTANCE. Repentance is turning AWAY from our SIN! If we do not accept something as sin, how will we ever repent of it? If something does not FEEL sinful to you, will you FEEL the need to REPENT? How do we come to a knowledge of what sin is? Paul tells us in Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Far from it! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Galatians 3:24 says, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we MIGHT be justified by faith.

If we refuse to consider the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ, how can our faith justify us? What will our faith be founded upon? Remember the LAW Paul refers to here is NOT just rules, dos and don’ts! The LAW and the PROPHETS were the Word of God. Jesus said that there were 2 rules: Love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself UPON THESE ALL the LAW and the PROPHETS hang. By doing the works of the law shall NO FLESH be justified. We’re not saved by works. Our FAITH should call us to repentance and the SCHOOLMASTER teaches us just WHAT we need to REPENT OF!! In Matthew 5:18, Jesus says, For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle, not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! When He said that the New Testament had not even been written. And heaven and earth ARE still here! So much for dismissing the wisdom of the OLD Testament!

Thanks to cultural corrosion and an almost TOTAL lack of biblical literacy, American Christianity has fallen. WND recently published an article citing a Barna survey https://www.wnd.com/2021/05/barna-america-infected-moralistic-therapeutic-deism/. The article is titled: Shock: Americans ditch biblical worldview for ‘fake Christianity’ https://dailyangle.com/articles/shock-americans-ditch-biblical-worldview-for-fake-christianity. The article says, “ a new “fake Christianity” has raked the dry ground of the American church.” He calls this counterfeit religion MTD, moralistic therapeutic deism. He says its a worldview. Which, in point of fact, religion of whatever stripe, IS a worldview. But this one is particularly venal! It is one that Screwtape himself wishes he had thought of, or maybe he did!! MTD is a “watered-down, feel-good, fake Christianity”. Moralistic, therapeutic, deism! Sounds like something a truly unbelieving seminary graduate with a PhD in religious studies would come up with. Don’t be shocked that seminaries turn out unbelieving preachers and theologians! Just a few years ago Barna released another study that showed more than 75% of seminary graduates did NOT believe in the VIRGIN BIRTH or MOST of the OTHER miracles attributed to the Son of God our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! That’s more than 3 out of every 4 SEMINARY GRADUATES, let that sink in for a moment!

This counterfeit religion, this moralistic therapeutic deism, MTD, as a worldview, has given many Americans, church-goers, a theology that looks nothing like historic Christianity, despite what they claim.

Again from the article: Barna, director of research at Arizona Christian University, said MTD — or “watered-down, feel-good, fake Christianity” — is “the most popular worldview in the United States today,” according to Christianity Daily. A recent poll conducted by ACU found that 38 percent of adults hold this view. What’s more, three out of four people who hold to MTD still consider themselves Christians. “The fact that a greater percentage of people who call themselves Christian draw from [MTD] than from the Bible says a lot about the state of the Christian church in America, in all of its manifestations,” Barna said. “Simply and objectively stated, Christianity in this nation is rotting from the inside out.” “MTD is fake Christianity. It has some Christian elements but it’s not REALLY biblical, it’s not REALLY Christian!” Think long and hard about the path the leaderships of many denominational as WELL as independent churches are leading their congregations DOWN! Don’t look for MTD churches, look for MTD DOCTRINE being spoon fed from the pulpits of churches filled with naive Christians!

The moralistic part of it says that we’re here to be good people and to TRY to do good. That doing good is really what life is all about! That is a lie. We are sinners! And if we are saved, we are saved by grace UNTO GOOD WORKS; works that God Himself provides for sanctification during our Christian life. We cannot WORK our way to salvation and the road to HELL is PAVED with WHAT? Good Intentions! Good MORALS EARN nothing! Faith in the FINISHED work of Jesus Christ will help us with works toward SANCTIFICATION but makes us NO BETTER than the worst of sinners! What did Paul say? 1st Timothy 1:15 says, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. This is a FAITHFUL SAYING! It is wisdom not self-deprecation! He did NOT say ‘of whom I WAS chief’. He said AM chief. MORALISM does NOT make any of us a better Christian, merely a less reprehensible human being! He said its a ‘faithful saying’. That means we should apply it to OURSELVES just as he applied it to HIMSELF! It might help us to be a bit more HUMBLE!

This is where the therapeutic aspect takes up residence. Therapy is supposed to help us be content, accepting of the world and our place in it. If I believe moralism makes me a better person, I can feel better about myself. I can believe God just really wants me to be HAPPY! Where in Scripture does it say ANYTHING about the ultimate purpose of this life is to be HAPPY in it? ESPECIALLY as CHRISTIANS! We live in a world where every time something bad happens, a swarm of counselors descend so people can talk to them about their confusion and pain. The idea being that talking about it can bring ‘closure’ and ‘acceptance’ and eventually you can get on with your life, or not, you might have to have counseling forever! Just depends on how traumatized you are! Therapy is NOT the answer. Faith in the FACT that GOD will NOT give us more than we can handle, IS! The Example is JOB! He just had to admit that GOD’S plan trumped HIS comfort AND his understanding. He just had to suck it up, put his hand over his mouth, and move on, and as it turned out, back into the blessed life of the RIGHTEOUS man that he WAS. The last few chapters in the book of Job explains that to us in great detail. God is IN CHARGE! We. Are. NOT! Therapy is NOT God’s plan for us! Our reliance upon HIM is! Knowing HIM is the foundation stone for that reliance.

Back to the article: Deism is the idea that God created the world but has no direct involvement in it. Basically, according to MTD, there is a distant God who just wants everyone to be nice, and the purpose of life is to be happy.

American “Christians” who have adopted this philosophy have borrowed heavily from the modern secular world, which elevates personal definitions of right and wrong above ANY objective standard of truth — like the Bible. MTD distorts the God of the Bible in an attempt to make him bless all the dissipations and vanities of the modern world.

It makes sense that “Christians” who embrace MTD won’t criticize the culture. How can anyone pass judgment if everyone’s just trying to be happy? The only sin is failing to ACCEPT someone else’s personal “truth.”

Without a firm foundation in GOD’S Truth, Christians are NOT prepared to fight the moral battles being waged in our country OR WITHIN THEMSELVES. That’s why so many are siding with groups like BLM and the LGBT movement and planned parenthood. They’ll listen to anyone who happens to be the loudest or offers the easiest way out of a dilemma! Or soothes their itching ears! They are like a wave driven of the wind and tossed, they are unstable in ALL their ways! They can expect NOTHING in answer to their prayers. They have not and will not accept the Truth of GOD! Until they do things will just get worse. The woke mob fills the void where TRUTH should be.

Some of these so called “Christians” have tried to argue for secular trends using biblical language. And while it is true that the Bible condemns racism and hatred, secular humanist, progressive agendas DO NOT accept Christian values. They promote sin under the guise of “loving everyone.” We are loving people to HELL by helping them ignore HIS TRUTH!

Followers of Christ have forgotten that Jesus didn’t come to tell people to be nice. He came to testify to the TRUTH! His message has always been a stumbling block, and it’s especially hard for 21st-century Americans to accept. We have bought into the lie that people have their OWN ‘truths’ and yours are just as good as mine! We’ve forgotten that neither my truth NOR YOUR truth is GOD’S Truth unless we faithfully and humbly order our understanding and discernment according to IT! The FACT is that There is no such thing as “your truth” or “my truth”. There are your circumstances and my circumstances, to which we are called to apply GOD’S Truth. There truly is only His Truth and deception.

The church has largely FAILED to train up believers in the Truth, so most are floundering in a culture that desperately needs Christ. Christians need to return to a competent state of biblical literacy. Church leadership should focus on DISCIPLING their sheep instead of making it all about numbers and FUN for the children. And PROFESSING believers MUST take the initiative to read the Scriptures and learn WHO the Lord Jesus Christ IS, and THEN apply it to OUR daily lives. Barna said that conservative Christians were the least likely to talk to others about candidates and issues during the last election cycle. This was because they did not know what they believed or how to put it into words. We’ve bought the LIE that your truth might or might not be my truth! And PEACE is paramount! “Christians have to be clear about why they believe the Bible is trustworthy, why they would say it’s reliable for their own life, and then to be able to speak that CLEARLY to other people,” he said. Maybe that’s expecting too much. But if we do NOT set the bar UP, what do we gain? You do NOT have to be a public speaker! Just a TRUE friend!

Men and women who call themselves Christian, MUST BE willing to bring the Bible into the real world. To their FAMILIES, to their friends, into THEIR REAL WORLD. Two-thirds of conservative Christians are dying for their pastors NOT to tell them who to vote for, but how to THINK BIBLICALLY about the issues so that they could make up their own minds based on BIBLICAL principles. Two Thirds of conservative Christians are as morally lost as everyone else! These are folks who regularly attend church, know the preacher, take part in VBS, claim to Love the LORD! QUESTION: How can ANY professing Christian, in the EYES OF GOD, Love the LORD and at the same time and in the same mind be incapable of applying BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES in deciding who to vote for? Or in deciding which way to vote on ANY particular ballot measure that if adopted will become a LAW to which all must yield? Have they failed to pay any attention at ALL to what they have heard from the pulpit? OR, is what they hear from the pulpit in many cases, so watered-down and un-biblical that it is USELESS in fostering a GODLY discernment in how we make decisions in our daily LIVES? Is the wider church concept of LOVE even BIBLICAL? You must realize that those who would keep YOU, the congregation, ignorant of God’s Truth cannot, in the eyes of God, have your best eternal interests at heart! They can get away with it because YOUR hunger for TRUTH is NOT strong enough or LOUD enough demanding it to put OUR backs against the wall. Preachers who are friends of the world are enemies of God and God’s PEOPLE! Does that sound harsh?

Prior to the War for Independence, MANY preachers were preaching a BIBLICAL TRUTH that the Declaration of Independence plainly laid out. I would strongly encourage you to read the Declaration again as if for the FIRST TIME. In it are these words: But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. This applies to the church and its leadership today every bit as much as it did to the colonies and the king 245 years ago!

We, AMERICANS, we, Christians, have largely failed to respect what the Bible teaches. Christians CANNOT make ANY MEANINGFUL change in the ungodly direction the culture is going until we DO. We need to be prepared to give a defense of what God says WE are SUPPOSED to believe, because challenges to our faith are GUARANTEED! Our nation is PEOPLE. People give our nation its MEANING! That MEANING is defined by what people’s most deeply held beliefs are FOUNDED upon, beliefs that AFFECT OUR ACTIONS! When a people loses its way, the family, the community, the nation ALL lose their way! The Truth of God is the only foundation that will not be moved by the pounding and screaming of our sinful natures NOR by the culture that sin nature wants to make the NORM. America was founded upon an unwavering faith and trust in the TRUTH of our Lord Jesus Christ. BUT, for generations now, we have allowed ourselves to be deceived, our seminaries send wolves out to shepherd the flock because the flock has failed to demand REAL knowledge of our LORD and settled for feel-good ideas. We’ve let OTHERS define what a PERSONAL relationship with HIM IS and tell us obedience is irrelevant because of NEW TESTAMENT GRACE! We have ignored this counterfeit because its SO much easier and soothing to our itching ears! Atheists and satanists and OTHERS have no fear of GOD! In the name of peace we have refused to confront their LIES! Can’t talk about politics or religion! Your truth, my truth, must have peace, remember? That, friends, is the peace of the GRAVE! We have elected politicians who promise us prosperity ignoring that what they promise to us must be stolen from OTHERS! Believing the lies of TYRANTS who only want power over us and will promise anything to get it IS the DEATH of not just our nation, but our communities and our FAMILIES. The unelected bureaucrats have found out they have power without accountability. All they have to do is cover for the misdeeds of the tyrants and they’re good! Our goodness is in question! Our moral compass is spinning so fast our heads are spinning with it. WE, you and I, MUST take responsibility to govern OURSELVES, OBEY CHRIST! Do you think He was kidding when He said those who love Him WILL obey His commands? Believing the lies of those who claim to love the Lord but deny or weaken or make irrelevant His commands instead of OBEYING them, AND TEACHING OTHERS TO DO THE SAME?, is the repudiation of HIS Spirit IN US!

I will ask this question: If true Christians refuse to confront this unbelief, especially in those closest to us, who will? If not now, when? The journey starts with the first step. Read your Bible. Get to KNOW your LORD!

With eyes closed and heads bowed, If anyone here has not made a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ, I urge you, Come forward and PROFESS HIM before men and HE will profess YOU before the Father. None of us is guaranteed tomorrow. Hymn of Invitation.

Please bow your heads for closing prayer.

Our most Gracious and Merciful Lord, our nation has become what Canaan was like before Joshua. YOU brought Israel as judgment upon them. Please strengthen OUR hearts to stand for the Lion of Judah. It does not start somewhere else or with someone else. It starts here and now with US. America is an uncommon nation. We pray You will NOT allow this nation, founded in covenant to YOU, to be swept into the dustbin of history. Please furnish us with YOUR armor, the WHOLE armor of God that we may Stand as a witness for YOU Lord. This, ONLY with YOUR help, can we do! May Your blessing be on ALL here today who commit to seeking the NARROW gate, returning to Your sheepfold as Prodigals. May we REPENT and cast OFF the sin and deception that so easily and often has led us astray. Give us ears to hear that we WILL hear Your call. It is in Your Name and for Your glory we pray. Sola Deo Gloria; For Your Glory ALONE. Amen

Folks, If you or someone you know might like to get into a more in-depth, more self-directed Bible Study get with me afterwards. God has NO fear of questions and LOVES HIS children! Thanks again for having me here today and we hope to see you again soon.

Sermon references: Hebrews Chapter 11, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 7:7, Galatians 3:24, Matthew 22:40, Galatians 2:16, Matthew 5:18, 1st Timothy 1:15, Book of Job (Sunday school reference), 2nd Timothy 4:3, James 1:6, James 4:4, Matthew 7:25-27, Matthew 10:32, Ephesians 6:10-19

by

Give Up? Or Take Back!

Today is the 245th anniversary of the United States of America. Our history as a Christian Nation began in 1620. From the first governing document instituted among free men in this nation, I would like you to hear a very lightly edited version of The Mayflower Compact:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN. We, whose names are underwritten… Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern Parts of Virginia; Do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually, in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politic, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid: And by Virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions, and Officers, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general Good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due Submission and Obedience. IN WITNESS whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape-Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James, Anno Domini; 1620. … Signed by 41 men of whom Mr. William Bradford, Myles Standish, John Alden, are undoubtedly the most well known. Half of these men were dead by the following spring. They took their covenant seriously. The Mayflower Captain begged them to give up and return to England. They. Would. Not. Disavow their covenant before God.

By 1636 many more colonies had been founded under very similar covenants. All to the glory of God. All for the Advancement of the Christian faith.

Step forward 156 years and change scene from Cape Cod to Philadelphia. July 4, 1776.

WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.  …

Our Declaration of Independence goes on to list many of these injuries and usurpations in defense of their decision to throw off the chains of a tyrannical government.

The history of the founding era of this nation is a history of the CHURCH in America! Those most instrumental in the formulation of civil government in America indeed in America becoming a Nation at all, were the leaders of the churches in America! You would do well to read some of the history of the early colonies and how they were led by their FAITH and their understanding of God’s authority and Man’s responsibility! The King himself was so put out with the influence of the leaders of the Church in America leading up the Revolution, he put a bounty on their heads! They were called the Black Robed Regiment! And they spoke loudly and often against the ruinous and ungodly rule of the British.

Many were itinerant, traveling throughout the colonies. Their sermons might go on for an hour or more! They were published in the local newspapers! They were discussed, measured against the Scriptures, questioned as to whether they were faithful to God’s Word and if they were useful in the living of a righteous life! If loyalty to the King of England was more virtuous than loyalty to Jesus Christ. They said in no uncertain terms that ‘render unto Caesar’ really DID NOT mean obeying immoral law and acting against your neighbor?

Things have changed. When was the last time you saw a sermon printed in a newspaper? A streaming video is NOT the same thing! Printed sermons pretty much ended when the consensus became that religion was no longer welcome in the public square. Remember? Two things we don’t discuss—Politics and Religion! Why? Because they start arguments! Did you ever wonder WHY they are so divisive that people can’t talk about them in “Polite Society”? Why do those subjects always seem to raise hate and dissension between people of otherwise quote ‘peaceable natures’? Well, one, people with truly peaceable natures are rare as hens teeth and two, people are generally proud of their considered opinion even when truth is not part of their consideration in FORMING that opinion!!!

Opinions concerning politics and religion, unless scrutinized in the light of absolute truth, are based on nothing more than feelings and disagreeing with those opinions hurts feelings! And when you disagree with what I believe you are attacking ME! The fight or flight kicks in and the battle is ON! Reason is out the window in direct opposition to the guidance of the Holy Spirit! Now you can say that argument is ALWAYS pointless and that everybody is entitled to believe whatever they want. That mindset and worldview is UNCHRISTIAN! Yes, OTHER people CAN believe whatever they want BUT we are duty-bound before God to PRESENT the GOSPEL. If they reject it THEN we can, with a clear conscience, shake their dust from our sandals and move on.

What is the Great Commission? Go ye therefore into ALL the world MAKING DISCIPLES, teaching them WHATSOEVER I have Commanded! If you never open your mouth to anyone about YOUR FAITH(which begins with Jesus Christ, with why He HAD to DIE so that WE might have LIFE and ends with being a good neighbor) you can NEVER fulfill His Commission! And Politics in this country, how the laws under which we live and interact with each other, originally, were measured against the Word of GOD for their validity and Necessity! In America our religious views and beliefs, our FAITH, MUST eventually, if not PRIMARILY affect our POLITICS!

Both politics and religion were measured against the Word of God for their TRUTH! That is no longer the case!! John Adams once famously said that “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

I am spending a lot of time today speaking about our nation and where we find ourselves in the spheres of both politics and religion. The reason for that is that since 1859 when Darwin published ‘Origin of the Species’, evolution has become the secular religion of unbelievers, the fundamental science taught in schools for more than a century, and the erasure of Genesis as the TRUTH concerning the ORIGINS of BOTH God and Man. A religion that recognizes no Supreme Being, no Creator God, and a moral structure that rests on survival of the fittest, is exactly the opposite of what Adams was talking about. This kind of a ‘moral and religious people’, secular humanists, are UNGOVERNABLE because they are a law unto themselves! This is what the last 4 generations have been drowning in and we are to blame because we have failed to keep God and HIS Word front and Center.

I know! Elmer is a town of about what, 77 people? What can WE do? That first spring on Cape Cod there were only about 50 left. Half of those who signed the Compact were dead! But those who remained built a NATION to the glory of GOD! What CAN we do? First: READ YOUR BIBLE! It is the most owned, least read book in America! Blow the dust of of it and get introduced to the Creator of the Universe! Find out who YOU are in HIS eyes! Second SHARE what you read! Discuss it with friends, neighbors and FAMILY! FAMILY FIRST AND FOREMOST! Join a Bible study or START ONE! We have no problem talking about TV shows or the latest gossip! Its time we REPENTED of THAT and began spreading the Word of God with those we hold dear and even some we don’t if they are willing to take part! The Bible is NOT a hammer to beat people over the head with! It is the revelation of God to His children in need of His Grace, His Mercy, and Repentance! That’s the Gospel—the GOOD NEWS! It is a book of instruction written to a stiff-necked people by our Creator, The God Who loves US! Even when we are yet sinners.

I have a poster on the wall in my office. It says, “In the Age of Information, Ignorance IS A CHOICE!” We have more resources at our fingertips today than at any other time in recorded history! If we do not understand something or need to know something we can just GOOGLE IT! Is what we find on the internet always accurate or fair and balanced? NO!!! But there are many sources available and like my dad used to say “Use you head for something besides a HAT RACK!” Christians have the promise of God that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all TRUTH but to GET there we have to GO there! We must take the trip, make the journey, seek HIS wisdom as gold and silver and precious jewels!

Second Timothy 2:15 says, Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Study as a WORKMAN studies not as a STUDENT studies. For a student its just a grade. For the workman its our livelihood! Food on the table. Paying the rent! The workman studies as if their LIFE and the lives of their children depend on it!

If you have friends in the surrounding area encourage them to get involved in KNOWING our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

If you need wisdom in how to deal with what is going on in your life and relationships, heed what James says here in Chapter 1:2-4, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Are you worried that you can’t understand God’s Word? His assurance to you is in James chapter 1 beginning in verse 5. He says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The history of the book of James is one of controversy! Luther thought the book of James was, in his words, a book of straw! Luther was famous for the doctrine of Justification by Faith ALONE! I believe Luther misunderstood the point James was trying to make when he said, What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? (this must be all that Luther saw, but James goes on) If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

True faith, SAVING Faith, cannot exist apart from the works that EXPRESS IT! Faith Saves – WORKS are PROOF!

Roman’s 12:1-2 says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

What IS a living sacrifice? Taking time to be with the Lord! Read His Word, Pray for Wisdom and Understanding! Give of your TIME and TALENTS without expecting great reward!

Our nation is in desperate need of a return to TRUTH! Who will bring it if CHRISTIANS do not? If not now, when?

Pilate faced a Man Who had done nothing wrong and yet was hated by everyone who politically counted! He asked Jesus, “What IS truth?” in a dismissive tone. Truth is that which expresses to us, reality in the eyes of GOD! Not what my flawed and fallen senses might perceive but that which God has revealed through His Creation and through His Word! His Creation reveals His Power, His Majesty, His depth of Wisdom and knowledge. His Word reveals His Grace, His Holiness, His Love and His Mercy, His Justice and His Patience. His Word also reveals the condition of our heart, our rebellion and our need for repentance and a Savior.

We are used to hearing about the Lamb of God and all He has done for us: the suffering servant, the sacrifice once for all, the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. It is time we heard a lot more about the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! He is the One found worthy to open the 7 seals on the Scroll of Judgment in the book of Revelation. He is the One Who will pour out the bowls of the Wrath of God upon an evil and adulterous generation! He is the One Who came NOT to send Peace but a SWORD: The Sword of Truth!

Christians are to be a peculiar people! America was not built by people who had to wear helmets to ride horses and bicycles and seat belts to drive carts or cars and knee and elbow pads to wear roller skates! America was built by people who could and would govern THEMSELVES according to the moral and religious principles revealed in the Holy Bible. The axiom of governmental authority our Founders envisioned was: the government that governs best governs LEAST!

If we cannot govern ourselves, how can we be trusted to govern others OR SELECT OTHERS TO GOVERN US?

We are to work out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling because we anticipate the day the Lion of Judah WILL RETURN and call us to account. Our Faith that He IS coming AGAIN is to the Jew a stumbling block and to the unbelievers it is FOOLISHNESS. In their eyes believing that makes us really peculiar. The FOOL says in his heart there is no God. So are we to be swayed or feel cowed because they refuse to know the TRUTH? America was founded by men who covenanted together in the sight of God to build a nation to HIS Glory and for the Advancement of His Kingdom. In their view religion MUST affect politics because honesty, morality, and conscience are the outworking of one’s religion and those given power over others must exercise those qualities in GREAT measure!

I have another poster on my wall. It is The American’s Creed. It says:

I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek opportunity to develop whatever talents God gave me – NOT SECURITY! I do not wish to be a kept citizen humbled and dulled by having the state look after me I want to take the calculated risk: to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence: the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before an earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say – “This, with God’s help, I have done.”

All this is what it means to BE an American.

We have allowed our nation to become what Canaan was like before Joshua. God brought Israel as judgment upon them. If we do not take a stand for the Lion of Judah we will suffer the same fate as Canaan. It does not start somewhere else or with someone else. It starts here and now with you and yours. America is an uncommon nation. We MUST NOT allow it to be swept into the dustbin of history on OUR WATCH! Stand up and witness for our Lord. This, with God’s help, you CAN DO!

Let us pray. Most Gracious Lord, We have allowed ourselves to turn from you and be deceived by the bounty and riches this land has given. We beg You to let each and every one of us Repent that we may be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Help us to Put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places.Therefore help us take up the whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, having girded our loins with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;above all, taking the shield of faith that we may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; guide us to pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, I pray, that utterance may be given to each of us, that we may open our mouths boldly to share the Gospel and BE disciples ourselves so that we may make disciples as your Great Commission calls us to do. Lord give us the courage of the Lion of Judah to speak with unshakable faith for Your Glory. Amen

Jesus said that if you confess Him before man He will stand with you before the Father.

If anyone here today has not made a public profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, now is the time. If anyone here today has questions and feels the need to know more of the Lord’s work in our lives see me afterward there is nothing to fear unless you turn away.