© 2026 Don Pinson / (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

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:

© 2026 Don Pinson (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

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,

© 2025 Don Pinson | (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

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,

© 2025 Don Pinson | (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

The Pilgrims landed in America over 400 years ago. But do you know why they came to America? Was it to start a new life? Well, yes; but what kind of life? Was it so they could be free? Well, yes; but what kind of freedom were they looking for? Because most of us don’t know the answer to these questions is why we continue to accept—or even vote for—more and more of the slavery from which they were fleeing.

Perhaps you would say, “They came here for religious freedom.” And you would be right—but, what kind of religious freedom? Did they come merely so they could sing songs to God and study the Bible in their own gatherings? No, they came with a much broader desire than that.

© 2025 Don Pinson | (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

Ever hear of Hadrian’s Wall?  It was a wall built across England in the 2nd century.  It was named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian because his Roman armies, while occupying England, could never defeat the people of Scotland in those days.  Though the strongest, best-equipped army on earth, the Romans simply could not overcome these ‘freedom-loving’ mountain people called Picts.  The Roman Commander, in trying to explain to the Emperor why Rome was not occupying Scotland, stated that these “red-headed Picts” would die in a ‘heartbeat’ rather than live in subjection to someone else.  They loved freedom so much they would rather die free than live enslaved.  So the Romans built this giant wall all the way across England for the purpose of keeping out of southern England these freedom-loving Picts; lest they invade the south and stir up the English to rebel against the Romans.

But that’s not the end of the story.  After the Romans left England, several centuries later it became the goal of English kings to conquer the Scots.  King Edward of England marched his armies against the Scots in the early 1300s.  And though he succeeded in executing their popular leader, William Wallace, better known to our generation as Braveheart, Edward’s forces were no match for Scotland’s fierce warriors of freedom.  Not long afterward Robert the Bruce conquered the English army and preserved Scotland’s precious liberty.

© 2025 Don Pinson (To download, right-click on the gray play bar and select “Save Audio As”)

On October 31st, a lot of people in this land will celebrate Halloween.  Though begun as a day to remember many Godly people and the truth they gave to the world, it has degenerated into becoming the high day of satanism throughout the world.  Hideous acts of worship to satan will be done on this night.  The occult will have its greatest celebration on this night.  But it was not always so in America.

Up until the mid-1800s, America celebrated a different day on October 31st.  It was known as Reformation Day; and it reminded Americans of the great price that was paid for the “liberty of conscience”.  It was a celebration of the liberty brought to the personal life and the life of the nation as a result of men laying down their lives to stand with the truth of the Bible.

That liberty had begun with John Wycliffe, an Englishman in the mid-1300s, who translated the Bible into the language of the common people.  Being able to read the Bible caused men to question the occultic superstitions of the back-slidden church of that day.  It also pointed the way to civil liberty.  Wycliffe actually wrote in the introduction to his translation these words, which would become the cornerstone of this American Republic, he stated: