Freedom Apart From God

The leading opponent, Democratic Sen. Ruben Diaz, was given only a few minutes to state his case during the Senate debate.

"God, not Albany, settled the issue of marriage a long time ago," said Diaz, a Bronx minister. "I'm sorry you are trying to take away my right to speak," he said. "Why are you ashamed of what I have to say?"

After days of contentious negotiations and last-minute reversals by two Republican senators...

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Faith, Religion, and Politics

I would rather be ruled by a wise Turk than a foolish Christian.

Martin Luther

It seems that here in America we are now in a never-ending political campaign season.  The ads never stop,  the politicians are always politicking, and we are inundated with news flash after news flash.  Yahoo, Google, Bing, MSN, Fox, MediaMatters, and a vast array of others vie for our attention to keep us informed about our leaders sex lives, their choices of schools for their children, and what type of aftershave or perfume they wear.

We are not a theocracy, I am not a theonomist, and God has never commanded anyone presently living to establish His present and future Kingdom upon this Earth.
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Convienent Murder

"First, Moloch, horrid King, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice, and parents’ tears;
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children’s cries unheard that passed through fire
To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite
Worshiped in Rabba and her watery plain,
In Argob and in Basan, to the stream
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such
Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart
Of Solomon he led by fraud to build
His temple right against the temple of God
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence
And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell."
- Paradise Lost, i. 391-405


Our children sacrificed.  A whole generation wiped away because five unelected judges deemed it legal to take the life of the unborn.
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THE BLAME

George Washington: It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and Bible.



Who is to Blame? Just whose fault is it as to why this had to happen? Is this the America we want or the one envisioned by those who came before us?  Is this the place we want to raise our families, where they can and are being destroyed?  How can we live with ourselves if we sit idly by and do nothing to rectify what is transpiring?

Noah Webster: If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted.

Finger pointing, political grandstanding, self-righteous aggrandizement by our authorities, and the ever increasing vitriol and violent rhetoric by those in power are bombarding our senses daily but is this what we want?  Who are we as a people that we have allowed this to happen?  What is the nature of this once great melting pot of every creed and color?  Is this the same nation that once declared, " We find these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights...."".  Is this the same United States that threw off the shackles of tyranny by defying the British Empire and earning its freedom by standing upon these truths now to be enslaved by a lack of principles and a Godly Morality?

James Madison:  We've staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten commandments with all our heart.

We are not perfect, we never have been, and we never will be: but our founders had a vision of a free land for a free people governing themselves with a strong self-determination whose foundation was and is Sacred Scripture.  We have often failed in our quest to build such a society with these ideals; they have often slipped through our grasp like an early morning mist fleeing before the Sun, but there has always bee the ideal.  The mountaintop, the thing to be sought for, and through much labor and growing pains we have ever strove to attain to that ideal.  The vision of freedom and goodness; A people coming together to make America a better place and a land to be proud of.  How and where have we gone wrong?

Noah Webster:  In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, out to be instructed....No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.

This is not about Left or Right, Democrat or Republican, but rather of fanning the embers of what once made this country great: courage, sacrifice, freedom, and the unshakable knowledge that a Biblical morality was and is essential to the governance of this democracy.  This is about knowing that judgment begins at the House of God and that, " If My people who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, then I will forgive their sin and heal their land."  Evil men will do evil things and as C.S. Lewis said, "...educating them will only make them a more clever devil."  This is about knowing right is right and wrong is wrong and that it is God who determines both.

Charles Carroll: Without morals a republic cannot subsist and length of time; they therefore who are decrying the christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure,...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free government.

We need a revival, a renewal, another Great Awakening, and a move of God upon His people to stir us unto repentance and drive us towards holiness.  We need men and women of God to stand for what is right regardless the cost and reclaim their families, friends, and futures from the spiritual blindness that permeates this land.  WE need to stand together by the grace of God and proclaim His truths to a lost and dying world and to humble ourselves under the might hand of God and plead with our Creator for forgiveness and mercy.  There are no more excuses and the lines have been drawn; we cannot serve two masters and we are either for God or against Him.  There is no middle ground.  There is no lukewarm service.  There is no friendship with the world for it is enmity with God.

I asked who was to blame.  I have now come to a conclusion and it is a difficult one.  I could blame the perverseness of society or the decadence of western civilization but I honestly cannot.  I am to blame.  I and any one who has ever neglected our duty to elect principled men and women to office and let our government be ruled by the fringes of society.  I and anyone else who has ever relegated the commands of God to philosophical discussions or conducted the worship of the Almighty as a weekend social club.  I am to blame and it shames me to know that I am responsible, at least in part, for the the decline in the Christian morality of this country.  We as the people of God must stand up before the congregation of the saints and before the world and declare, " As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.."  Count the cost.  Look to the cross and remember upon what our lives as believers have been built; the sure foundation of Jesus Christ and recall that many of those who fashioned this country believed that was this country's  foundation also.

Living Stone: The Politics of Repentance

Living Stone: The Politics of Repentance: "　 We are a democracy, or as some would say a democratic republic, which allows us the privilege as citizens to be active participants in th..."

The Shadows and my Sustainer

The Shadows and my Sustainer

As I sit here I must admit; I am tired. The kind of tired that is bone deep and affects every aspect of life. Tired of the strain. The pressure. The emotional and physical turmoil of modern culture. When did life catch up to me? When was the weight of the world placed upon my shoulders?

The sun is shining outside, my family loves me, and I am breathing so what is the problem? Am I alone in feeling this way? Is it a lack of faith that draws the shadows round about me and crowds out the hope of tomorrow? Why does the drudgery continue in spite of prayer and praise?

To tell the truth I do not know and quite frankly I don’t have a clue. However, I do know this, my Redeemer lives and God is my Sustainer. I can place my weary head upon my pillow because I know who holds my tomorrow ( Ps 3:5). I can walk the straight and narrow way with confidence in my LORD that my feet will not slip ( Ps. 66:9 ). My God does not sleep ( Ps 121:4 ) and is ever vigilant when I need Him.

I know that my God is faithful and His loving-kindness is endless for those who love Him and follow Him ( Dt 7:9 ). He will keep me for eternity ( John 8:51 ) and has the power to do so because He holds everything in His mighty hand ( Col 1:16-17 ).

When we are down we can know it will not last forever because His joy is our strength ( Neh 8:10) and weeping is only temporary as His joy comes in the morning ( Ps 30:5 ).

It is a wonderful thing to have hope. Hope gives me a reason to look past the shadows of doubt with faith because one day we will see the Son in all His glory. He will finally wipe away every tear and be our joy and strength forever. Where is your faith? Is it in temporal strength that will wane or is it in the LORD of LORDS and KING of KINGS? As for me and my house we will follow the LORD and place our trust upon the solid Rock of Christ Jesus. Place your faith in Him today and the shadows will not disappear but there will be a new found hope in the promises of tomorrow.

By the way: Just as a reminder there can be no shadows unless there is light shining around your obstacles. Darkness is nothing in and of itself but is only the absence of light, so what has happened to your source of illumination?

God our Redeemer

God Our Redeemer and Salvation

God is our Creator and our Redeemer.   HE is Our Salvation and our Rock upon which we stand.  He alone is able to save us from the miry clay we find ourselves in and place us upon the solid rock, but why do we need a savior in the first place?  What condition has humanity found itself in that we are unable to save ourselves or anyone around us? 

It is called sin and we are born into it as sure as God reigns over all His creation.  David, the man after God’s own heart, describes it this way in Psalm 51:5, “ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. “  WE are all sinners and every aspect of our lives is blackened by its treacherous grasp. 

Romans 5:12 tell us that, “….as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. “  We are all guilty and unable to seek God on our own (Rom 3:10-18) because we are dead in our sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1).  We cannot even trust ourselves to know our condition or the truth about it since our hearts speak transgression (Ps 36:1), lies about the reality of God (Ps 53:1), and is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9).

Who then is this God who both tells us of our state and the cure for our wickedness?  He is the living Redeemer (Job 19:25), a Rock (Ps 19:14), and the Most High God (Ps 38:35).

He too is our salvation (Exodus 15:2) and our stronghold (Ps 18:2) but how do we approach or come to know this powerful deity?  He Himself came being  born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23-25), was given marvelous names such as Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace( Isaiah 9:6), and HE took the name Jesus to seek and save those that were lost( Luke 19:10).  His is the only name given under heaven whereby men must be saved (Acts 4:12) and through His gospel God has provided salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).

It is through the foolishness of this word preached, 1 Corinthians 1:21 and Romans 10:14 that those of us who were perishing came to believe.  This is wholly the gift of God and we can do nothing to earn, merit, or obtain so great a salvation about from Christ (Ephesians 2:1-9).  While we were dead God showed His love for us (Romans 5:8) and made it possible for us to confess and believe (Romans 10:9-10). 

An amazing thing has now occurred, we who were dead are now alive in Christ (Romans 6:11, Romans 8:10, Ephesians 2:5) and we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17).  We are members of the family of God (Ephesians 2:19) and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) to the promises made to Abraham (Galatians 3:29).

Repent and call upon the name of the LORD while HE may be found for HE has never turned away anyone He has called and His burden is light.  His name is Jesus and His substitutionary death upon the Cross of Calvary paid for your sins so won’t you come and taste and see that the Lord is good and His mercy endures forever.  What do you have to lose beside the guilt of your sins and an eternity in Hell?  Fall on your knees in humility and call out to the one who alone is able to save you.

God bless and save you.

Friday Night Lights

It was an unusual Friday night last night: I am not sure if it was a full moon, the planets aligned just right, or it was merely an enigma wrapped in a mystery but whatever it was we were all at the high school football game with friends and strangers alike cheering for young men we do not know and fellow shipping with people we may never see again. The reason we were there, family and youth night, brought all the families of the youth league football and their cheerleaders to this game to have their names announced at halftime. I guess that is what is so unusual, we normally would not have been there sitting where we were sitting or doing what we were doing or my stray thoughts would never have hit me.

Life is like a football game especially from my Christian perspective so let me tell you why.

1: We shouldn't have been here but we were. Now in my youth being somewhere where I shouldn't would have lead to trouble, but knowing God personally as the Sovereign of the universe I do not believe in coincidences. Consider these verses;

Romans 8:28, and we know that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose

Proverbs 16:9 in his heart man plans his course, but the Lord determines His steps

Ps 37:23-24 the steps of a man are established by the Lord, and he delights in His way. when He falls be will not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the One who holds his hand.

We are always where we are for a reason,  even if we can not at that time discern that reason. God knows us and leads us through this valley of the shadow of death while we witness to others; namely  to reveal the glory of the Lord to the sea of humanity surrounding us.

The game is a struggle for both the fans and  players as we both vie for position against our adversaries. We move through the throng trying to remain calm and composed as we strive to remain upright. It is the same in our Christian walk as shown in the following.

Luke 13:24 Strive to enter the narrow door; for many I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able.

1 Timothy 4:8b godliness is profitable fir all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life
To come....for it is for this we labor and strive

We strive in our walk for there are many who would hinder our testimony among others and our fellowship with the Lord. There are those who would attempt to " steal your seat ", slow your progress, and what brought this to mind, silence your voice.

As we were sitting there just one row above a group of 10 year old cheerleaders raising their voices in excitement at the game one little girl stood up cheering, her mouth moving, but I never heard her. She was screaming but her voice was apparently lost in the cacophony of noise. I say apparently simply because the roar of the crowd is a cumulative noise with each voice adding its own weight to the increasing decibel level. We as Christians must be wary that our voice, ie our witness, is added to the right crowd and that we can hear the right Voice above the world.

Deuteronomy 13:18 if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments, what I am commanding you today, and do what is right in the sight of the Lord your God

Mt 3:17 and behold, a voice, out of the heavens said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

Romans 15:6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

I want to join the crowd of witnesses throughout history ( Hebrews 12:1) that have run the race set before them with endurance by fixing their eyes on Jesus. Sometimes it may seem our voice is making little impact but when we are called by the Lord, striving for His kingdom and glory, and hearing the right Voice, ours will be added to the untold multitude that has passed before and that are beside us even now.