Mon, Jun 25th - 12:00AM

Without God’s Intervention America’s Foundation Continues To Erode

John Adams, in 1776, spoke to his wife Abigail on the passage and signing of the Declaration of Independence, "I am aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states; yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means". Of the fifty-six men signing this declaration, only twenty-seven survived its aftermath.

We read in The Rebirth of America, a 1986 Authur S. DeMoss Foundation publication, that "five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes, from Rhode Island to Charleston, sacked, looted, occupied by the enemy, or burned. Two lost their sons in the army. One had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six died in the war, from hardships or from its bullets" [p. 15].

That declaration’s closing statement affirms the signer’s spirit: "With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor". And Divine Providence of God has brought to these shores a republic of freedom and liberty never known by other countries in history. You and I are privileged we celebrate its two hundred and thirty first year of blessing to the world.

America has long been a base for world missions. She has seen multiplied thousands leave the nation’s boundaries, armed with the Word of God, to tell the story of God and His love through Christ Jesus.

The nation’s of the world have watched in wonder as their citizens have traveled the oceans to become nationalized citizens of America, the land of promise. Thousands of stories have been told, with perhaps many more never printed for the world to read, of the success stories enjoyed by people who have made America their chosen home.

America has been a land of churches where the gospel has been and is still being preached to sinner and saint alike. Preacher, and for that matter, lay people also, have been free to stand on street corners and call for the masses passing by to come to Jesus and receive Him as their Savior. Politicians, even though many didn’t personally adhere to the gospel message, have understood the power and influence the Bible has in the affairs of the citizens of the nation.

Although there are many short comings found on the pages of our history, America has been and is still a great nation. But the foundation is crumbling before our very eyes. Liberties once thought unbreakable are now becoming unlawful acts decreed by the nation’s courts. Our spiritual foundation is sinking into the slime of violence, greed, lawlessness, hatred, backbiting, sexual perversion, and a one world government mentality. The roots of the nation’s beginning are being rotted as we celebrate her beginning.

R. J. Rushdoony, in The Nature of the American System, is quoted in The Rebirth of America, when writing on the sense of the Constitution of the United States: "The concept of a secular state was virtually non-existent in 1776 as well as in 1787, when the Constitution was written, and no less so when the Bill of Right was adopted. To read the Constitution as the charter for a secular state is to misread history, and to misread it radically. The Constitution was designed to perpetuate a Christian order". And in part, the Supreme Court wrote in 1892 in a decision, "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian . . .".

When non-citizens are protected by law to stand in the streets of our cities, demonstrating their rights and changes in our laws for their benefit while waving the flag of a foreign nation, the hand writing of destruction is on the wall! Unless God intervenes, the invasion of illegal aliens will do what no other nation has been able to do — defeat the America we have always cherished and loved.

Sun, Jun 17th - 8:30PM

Mon, Jun 11th - 1:47AM

The ground was wet from recent rains. Down around the pond, toward the water’s edge, the bank was very slippery. I was trying to be extra careful not to get too near the water’s edge when mowing the grass in that area. With each pass around the yard, I kept thinking I could mow at least one more strip. So, I got closer. Their certainly wasn’t any desire on my part to allow the mower to slip into the water.

But, on one of the rounds, the back left wheel slipped toward the water’s edge. When I turned the gearing to release from the pond’s murky water, the mower slipped around and then both back wheels were in the water. I made one round too many, came too close and then had to call upon my brother-in-law across the street. He brought his small mower tractor over and pulled me to safety.

That should have taught me a lesson. But it didn’t. That incident happened last year, in 2006. This spring, I did the same thing. I thought I could get away with mowing that close this go around. But there I sat! In trouble again! My brother-in-law had to again rescue me.

People can get too close to a dangerous situation and get burned. This reminds me of a passage of scripture in Mark’s gospel. It is found in chapter 9, verses 43 and 45. The author quotes Jesus when He said, "And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire." In verse 45, the reference is to a foot giving grief.

Jesus isn’t suggesting that humans begin cutting off parts of the body by which personal sinfulness is carried out in real life. Does a hand or a foot cause an individual to fall into sinful actions? Or is it something else which pushes the hand or the foot to commit sin? It is something else. One doesn’t sin with the hand or the foot, they are just instruments used when we sin enters into the mind.

In his letter, James wrote that "each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death" (1:14-15). Lust comes from the heart, introduced there by the mind which craves what the eyes have seen, what the tongue has tasted, and what the body has enjoyed. It is with the heart that man sins against God.

So, what does the sighted passes mean? Didn’t Jesus say them? Yes, but you will remember that He also taught in parables or stories as well as with direct real life events. David wrote a song in which he asks a question with a quick answer. He wrote about a real life scenario in Psalm 44:20-21: "If we had forgotten the name of our God, or extended our hands to a strange god; Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart."

To me, these passages are warnings against seeing how close one can come to sin without sinning. Perhaps it’s the secret viewing of porn on T. V. or the personal computer! Perhaps its that secret bottle of liquor pushed to the back of the frig! Could it be those flirtations going on at the work place? Or that temptation to cheat on taxes or to even steal a few extra dollars from the boss when he or she isn’t looking? What about that hatred hidden away which no one knows about?

It’s best to be rid of them, repent and remove them from your life. For, remember David’s line? "He knows the secrets of the heart." It is better to tear away those opportunities to sin rather than to she how far you can go before that lust becomes sin and that sin destroys all that you have worked for in this life.

Mon, Jun 4th - 1:37AM

Marriage, Cornerstone of Human Society

The Book of Genesis describes the birth of the family. Adam, the first human, who was created by God from the dust of the earth, was lonely. He had named the animals as they were brought before him. The scripture records that for "the man no helper was found who was like him" (Gen. 2:20). Then God caused Adam to sleep, removed a rib, and then formed Eve from the rib.

When Adam awoke, he looked upon the most beautiful thing his eyes had ever seen. He saw the woman God specifically designed for him. "And the man said, ‘this one, at last, is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken from man" (v. 23).

Moses, writing under Holy Spirit inspiration, then gave the foundational structure for building a marriage. "This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh" (v. 24). Note the foundation is about a man (male) taking a woman (female) to begin a family. The family structure of a man and a woman is birthed by God.

That family structure which has survived throughout America’s history is under attack in our modern society. It seems that for too many folk are more impressed with the wedding than they are about making a marriage. In general, the wedding costs several dollars, but the marriage a lifetime of commitment. The wedding is certainly the easiest part of the family structure.

There is absolutely no evidence found in the Bible for God’s support of same sex marriage. On the other hand, it speaks clearly of the traditional marriage. Trouble is, our nation’s courts aren’t allowed to utilize Holy Scripture as a basis for their decisions on settling cases before their bench. The Marriage Amendment, becoming law, would certainly help our nation keep in touch with God’s law instead of inviting His wrath.

One of the admonitions given for this relationship was to "be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth . . .(Gen.1:28). With Bill and Jack, that is impossible to accomplish. God simply didn’t make Bill and Jack with the capacity to give birth to a child. Neither can Jan and Jane produce a child. To fulfill the multiplication of the human race through marriage requires a man and a woman united.

This month, June 13^th, Peggy and I will celebrate fifty years of marriage. Our simple wedding ceremony, July 13, 1957, doesn’t seem so long ago. But these years didn’t just happen. Our marriage, like all others, required some important factors which I believe are important to any marriage.

There are five things which I count as important ingredients in keeping our marriage for all these years. Space won’t allow much explanation but I think they speak for themselves.

First, the commitments we made before our pastor, Roy Brigance, weren’t shallow words to just be repeated. They had to be guarded at all costs.

Second, there must be give and take. We came from two different backgrounds. We had to mesh into one single focus for life. We couldn’t be two different people going in two different directions.

Number three and four are separate but speak to the same issue. When we said "I do", we became husband and wife, not the wife’s father, nor the husband’s mother. I’ve seen husbands and wives become agitated because that happened in their marriage.

Fifth, I’ve believed for a long time that wearing that wedding ring announces to all that the husband or wife is already taken.

Marriage is still the corner stone of an honorable human society. I pray that the family, with mother and father, isn’t going to become a relic of the past. If it does, that will invite the wrath of God upon our nation!

We count it a real joy to be able to say we’ve joined the fifty club!

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