"Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." ~ Isaiah 58:12
It was December, 1777. George Washington’s army filed silently into their winter camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Washington would tell of the amazing commitment of these men by reporting how you could trace their path by the bloody tracks they were leaving. A great many of the 11,000 were barefooted; many were nearly naked in this freezing cold. More than 2,000 would die that winter from lack of food and shelter. Yet the miracle was—they didn’t leave. Why?
While it won’t be revealed completely until we stand before the Lord at the Judgment, at least one reason is the praying that George Washington did that winter. There were different reports by people who said they came unexpectedly upon Washington kneeling in the snow in the woods, earnestly pleading with God for the cause of his nation. While Washington was a very private person, and not at all given to showy religion, people close to him reported of his consistent devotions to God. No doubt the last words his mother said to him before he left home to embark on his military career had greatly impacted him. Mary Washington had admonished him:
If you have a fenced in yard, and all the sudden you notice there are animals trampling your flowers and destroying your vegetable garden, you know there’s something wrong with your fence. So you look for where the fence is broken, where it has a gap, and you fix it. To stop the flow of intruders into your property, you must repair the gap in your fence.
God uses this very picture in the Bible to describe what happens when His people start to disobey Him. God evidently places a “hedge” of protection (Isaiah 5:1-7) around each individual at birth. As we grow in age and size we learn from parents, teachers and others about life. If what we learn is the truth as revealed in the Bible, and we choose to consistently obey that truth, the “hedge” stays up. But if what we learn either is not the truth, or if we choose to disobey the truth, then our “hedge” of protection starts to break down. The more disobedience there is to God’s Word, the more our fence comes down; and the more satan and his evil spirits, who come to “kill, steal, and destroy,” (John 10:10) break into our lives. Thus, the destruction in our lives will, generally speaking, be in direct proportion to how much of God’s truth we know and are walking in. Generally speaking—and let’s leave the exceptions to God—the Bible teaches that obedience brings blessing to the life; disobedience brings destruction. Life really is that simple—for both individuals and nations. The Bible says,
A few days ago the Lord awakened me very early in the morning. When that happens I know that it generally means He has something very specific He wants to talk with me about. So I began to read my Bible in the normal progression by which I read it through each year. I was in 1 Chronicles at this particular time, and as I read chapter 16 and verse 35, the words grabbed my attention. It was as if the Lord had encircled those words and was saying, “Don, here is the prayer I want you and others to pray in these days!” This passage is the record of King David, who himself was a great worshiper, telling the priests who ministered to the Lord before the Ark a prayer they could pray to God as they did their ministry of worship 24 hours a day. And I believe the Lord is saying to us in America today we should pray this same prayer. It is causing hope to rise in my own heart as I’ve been praying it often ever since.
The prayer is part of a group of verses which reveal how God is in control of all events on this earth. Verse 31 says,
The message of judgment for sins has always been unpopular with those who want to run their own lives. It still is. But the fact remains: No matter how much we try to put off or forget judgment, it will still occur, right on schedule—both in this world and the next. Judgment for rebellion is no pleasant thought when the Judge is a just God who keeps a very detailed, specific record of every thought and every action we’ve ever known. The prophet Amos warned the northern kingdom of Israel that impending doom was near. He had cried out,
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion…that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock…That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music…That drink wine in bowls, and…are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive…The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself…therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein…For, behold, the LORD …will smite the great house with breaches…for ye have turned judgment into gall…behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you…”
(Amos 6: 1-14)
But Israel scoffed at Amos’ words. In spite of increasing disease and frightful storms, the nation still didn’t really think these were “the beginning of sorrows”. They thought “somebody will get a handle on this economy…someone will come up with a cure for this rampant disease.” (Sounds like our sexually transmitted diseases, like AIDS, doesn’t it?) “After all,” they said, “this Amos-guy doesn’t even have a college degree! What could he know about judgment from God?”
But Amos faithfully kept trying to warn them. He cried against their refusal to consider their Godly heritage. He warned them that God was saying to them:
Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, gave us a measuring stick by which we could determine if our churches were healthy. He called it a “Grace-ometer.” Here’s what he said:
“The condition of the church may be very accurately gauged by its prayer meetings. So is the prayer meeting a grace-ometer, and from it we judge the amount of divine working among a people. If God be near a church, it must pray. And if He be not there, one of the first tokens of His absence will be a slothfulness in prayer.”
(The Metropolitan Tabernacle, 1873 edition)
According to Spurgeon’s “Grace-ometer”, I’m afraid 98% of our churches would have to admit the Lord is mostly absent! Any discerning believer will admit that the church in America is far from what Jesus died to make her. And likewise, the truth is: As the church goes, so goes the nation. A culture is always the mirror of the state of the church in a nation. And while there are some healthy churches—most of which are unknown to the national eye—we cannot deny the obvious. Our culture reflects the confusion we now see in the church. More and more churches are trying to redefine marriage so as to “broaden” the “narrow way” into the church. This confusion is the fruit of a deeper symptom of a diseased church: That is, the desertion of the Bible as absolute truth. Only 28% of the churches in America now believe that (Recent Barna-Wallbuilders Survey). And when you give up the Bible as the standard of truth, you give yourself to the whims of man’s shifting standards; and confusion, chaos, and death are the result. The Bible calls that way, the way of the fool. Proverbs 1:7 says,
It had been extremely hot and dry. There had hardly been any rain for twelve weeks. The corn and other crops had wilted and looked to be beyond reviving. This would mean starvation come winter. There was no hope in their own ability to fix this situation. But this group had learned to trust God, their Creator, as God, their Sustainer. Thus, they called for a day of fasting and prayer to seek God’s face as to why He had withheld the rain. After genuine repentance and worship that day in 1623, the rain began to fall that very night and to their astonishment, their corn revived and produced wonderfully that summer. The Pilgrims proved, once again, that prayer to God Almighty, the Father of Jesus Christ, is the way to move things in this world!
In the midst of our current crisis, we must remember that it is not up to us, but the Lord Himself, to change our hearts and forms of government. While our part is to work with Him in what He’s doing, our praying will be what ultimately wins this battle. God stirs us to prayer, reminding us,
“…you have not because you ask not. You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it on your own desires.” (James 4:2-3)
Others, beside the Pilgrims, have proven this throughout history….
Ladies and gentlemen, the following story is why we have Christmas:
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away [privately]. But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins.’ Now all this is come to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.’ And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took unto him his wife; and knew her not till she had brought forth a son: and he called his name JESUS.”
(Matthew 1:18-23)
“Now it came to pass in those days, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be [taxed]. This was the first census made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to [be taxed], every one to his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; to [be taxed] with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child. And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
“And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this [shall be] the sign unto you: Ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men in whom he is well pleased.’
“And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, ‘Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this child. And all that heard it wondered at the things which were spoken unto them by the shepherds.”
(Luke 2:1-17)
Wise men still seek Him! Parents, Grandparents: Shouldn’t you be teaching that to your children—and teaching them to teach it to their children?
Think about it! Because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you. I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.
In our last time together, we revealed the downfall of our nation as being rooted in the wrong kind of thinking we received in the 1900s. The lies we believed would surface in our local education systems and our national government by the 1930s. These were the first major fruit showing that destruction was on the horizon.
The administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be the first to implement large amounts of socialism into our national government. Elected in 1932, Roosevelt was handed wide-sweeping powers by the Congress in an attempt to come out of the Great Depression. In the name of being able to enact laws quickly instead of taking the slower (but safer) way of debate in the Congress, Roosevelt was given the ability to use executive orders to be able to quickly make changes to the economy. This amount of power was never before used by any President in our history. A very few voices were raised, warning us that this could lead to socialism in our nation; but they were quickly drowned out with the cry for a better economy. Roosevelt would quickly grow the national government to an unprecedented size. Though he promised in his first campaign that he would lower taxes, he did just the opposite. And he spent way beyond even the increased tax incomes: Even before WWII started, he had already grown the national debt 250% ! While many thought he saved the country, the reality is, he plunged us into a very socialistic path. There are no “free handouts.”
Any time government redistributes tax dollars into the hands of someone who didn’t earn that money; it steals that money from someone who did earn it. To violate, “Thou shalt not steal” is a recipe for destruction! The Bible warns us:
In the 1830s a Massachusetts educator, by the name of Horace Mann, convinced the Massachusetts Legislature that they should begin to fund their public schools with tax dollars. This opened the possibility for a few in government to control the minds of the next generation. Though, because of our strong Biblical thinking in those days, it would take many years to change us very much. But, with each generation being taught a little less Biblical thinking, by the early 1900s there would actually be a group of educators and a group of businessmen who believed they could control the world by controlling America. The educators intended to do it by controlling the way children thought. The businessmen intended to do it by controlling the flow of money in America. By the 1920s these two groups had gotten together and were working for a socialistic and atheistic America. We call it the “humanist” movement.
The businessmen were able to change our economic system in a major way by implementing high control in the economy. Amazingly, they were able to do three major things in one year, 1913. First they got Congress to approve the Federal Reserve Board that year. This Board, which would have only these wealthy “Merchant Bankers” to serve on it, could control the economy by controlling the interest rates at which banks loaned money. Then they got the 16th and 17th Amendments approved that year. The 16th established a national income tax, which meant the government could now own your property if you didn’t pay the tax. The 17th established the popular election of US Senators, which, by the original Constitution, had them elected by the State Legislatures. This finished off the power of the states to keep the national government within its thirty delegated powers of the Constitution. In effect, it assured the national government would control all government in America. The plan to change America to atheism and socialism was well under way.
The date was December 7th, 1941. The time was 7:55am. To the complete surprise of American forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Japanese planes began to sweep down and drop devastating bombs onto our fleet and also our planes on the ground. When the attack was done, eighteen of our ships were sunk or sinking and nearly all of our planes were destroyed. Over 3,500 of our servicemen were dead. We were shocked at such a bold and devastating attack on our U.S Navy. Many wondered if the Navy would ever recover. Even worse, we wondered if our liberty would shortly be ended and we would be required to worship the Emperor of Japan as god.
In the midst of this despair, President Franklin Roosevelt replaced the commander of our Pacific fleet with an Admiral named Chester Nimitz. Nimitz arrived at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. He immediately went for an inspection of the harbor. Sunken ships and twisted metal were everywhere. Once Nimitz had inspected the whole harbor, the young seaman at the helm of his boat asked him, “Well, Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?” Nimitz’ reply shocked everyone listening. He said,
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