Interests:Loving my Lord, the one and only true God, with all my heart, soul, and mind because He has provided a way for my salvation. Preserving Awana. To help America remain the best country in the world by promoting Christian and conservative values. Helping defeat evil as defined as Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism in our country. Expertise:Political thought and discussing politics. Occupation:Currently, pharmacy technician Industry:AIM: natefish1986
The United States of America is a nation of glory, a nation of honor, a nation of patriotic pride, and a nation of misery.I look back this July 4th on how our country was founded, through what our country has come, and where our country is today, and I am overcome by sorrowfulness in what I find.First, though, let us look back on our country with gratefulness to God for His aid in making the United States such a great nation.John Adams, writing to His wife, Abigail, the day after the Declaration was agreed upon, described my sentiments: “The Second [the celebration ended up being held on the date that the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved, July 4th] Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”[1]
Looking at this statement by Adams, something very striking comes to the forefront—the first way we should celebrate the 4th of July is “by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.”The parades, bonfires, and fireworks are secondary to the real reason for the celebration—remembering that we are a Christian nation and praising God for His merciful provisions.
When the French social philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote about America in the early to mid 1900th century, he clearly demonstrated the impact of Christianity that was present in the United States: “The sects that exist in the United States are innumerable. They all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the Creator; but they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all sects preach the same moral law in the name of God… Moreover, all the sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is everywhere the same… there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America.”[2]
I have such great pride in what America was, but great sadness accompanies thoughts of what America is becoming.We have lost our moral equilibrium that was provided by our Christian heritage.It is impossible to describe how this came about in a brief manner, and blame certainly can’t be placed on a single event or person.Yet, it does boil down to the sinfulness of man and his lust for self-preservation driving the destructive force of humanism into nearly every corner of this land.
The Founders based their understanding of Government on the idea that there is discernable truth, dictated by the Bible and finding expression in the natural law, that should be followed, and they did their best to organize government around a foundation of truth.The rebellious nature of mankind, however, has slowly eroded the foundation to the point where major structures are starting to crumble and fall.
There has been a vicious assault on truth that has accumulated into this mess we know today as post-modernism.Truth terrorists will find ways to undermine reality in any setting.Today, these truth terrorists often place great emphases on such terms as multiculturalism or diversity for the sole purpose of smuggling in aberrational moral standards in hopes of destroying the impact of Christianity.The problem with this is that it leads to a type of polytheism where all gods are equal.For example, last week at the camp where I work a chapel leader was told he can’t tell campers it’s important to have faith in God because that might be offensive.Instead, he was instructed to use the term “higher being.”Stemming from this form of polytheistic teaching comes the relativistic teaching that all moral codes are equal.We no longer can say that Christianity is the best religion because they are all acceptable.This even includes Islam which, when properly followed, calls for the murder of everyone who refuses to convert or, at least, support Islamic teaching.It is interesting that we are forced to have “tolerance” toward a type of thinking that has none!Moving on, relativism naturally leads to the humanistic teaching that every person is a form of deity.This is because if everything is relative then there is no truth outside of ourselves which means there is no authority higher than the individual.
From the dreary state of humanism comes the final stage which America is now running toward with open arms, statism.Since it is obvious that man cannot rule himself in a state of nature (because of a thing called sin) the state becomes the representative of mankind as the pinnacle of power.[3]In reality, this is the opposite of the way America was founded—as a democratic republic where each citizen shared in the responsibility of controlling government.Now, government is pulling in all power and quickly seeking every way possible to control the people.Statism is very dangerous and, if carried through to completion, ends in such tragedies as occurred in Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany.Pray that things will turn around before it’s too late!
What we need is a solid dose of the Truth.“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me.”[4]Jesus Christ is the very essence of Truth and He is the only Way!If that is offensive to you, then, my friend, you are living in a state of misery and will never escape until you come to agreement with God that you are a sinner, until you place your faith in the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrections of Jesus Christ as the payment for your sins, and until you turn away from your past worldly lifestyle and make Jesus Christ the new master of your life.
A nation comprised of sinful people who refuse to come to repentance is a nation destined for destruction.Please realize that this isn’t simply a message for the un-churched community; it is also a plea to the churches of America to defend truth.There is no purpose in existing outside of truth!Stop adopting worldly measures simply to bring in crowds and stop teaching that certainty is not possible.For, in the words of Jude:“Woe unto them! [those who pervert the absolute TRUTH of the Gospel] For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”[5]
I take comfort in the fact that we serve a God of absolute truth who does not change.[6]I am also thankful for a country that was founded on the unchanging principles of the Bible, and for our Godly heritage.This Fourth of July, don’t just celebrate, take John Adams’ advise—figure out if you are solemnly devoted to God.Is He your everything?He should be!After that, change your behavior by putting a cap on your postmodern education and earnestly devoting yourself to being a truth-warrior equipped and ready to fend off the truth-terrorists who are everywhere trying to undermine the authority of God.Place your life completely in the control of your Creator and remember, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”[7]
Here is the link to my second sermon. It is on Christian responsibility in a decaying nation. The main texts are Rom. 13:1-6 and II Chronicles 7:13-14. Please listen!
Watching this nation continue towards total rejection of Jehovah God is incredibly troubling to me. I cannot help but mourn for this country which so desires liberty and equality, yet treads all over the principles that must coincide with liberty.That is, without Christianity, true liberty cannot exist and quickly fades into a mere memory of the past.I am not talking about a national religion or even discussing the debate over separation of church and state; I am, though, talking about the necessity for statesmen to support and follow sound morality as outlined in the Bible.Following the moral code of the Bible, however, is very difficult when a true relationship with God, made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is lacking.Sadly, today we find that a growing majority of Americans, though often claiming to be Christian, are found wanting in terms of any form of morality at all.
The immorality of the masses, then, is easily transferred to government officials and institutions through progressive programs like direct primaries, ballot initiatives, non-partisan ballots, and many more.Today, we have a government that nicely reflects the morality of its citizens by readily removing the importance of Christianity.Many may give Christianity lip service for political purposes, but have no application of Christian principles and no understanding of true morality.
This is an incredibly dangerous occurrence because Christianity is central to liberty.In fact, without Christianity liberty ceases to exist altogether.Our brilliant founders understood the importance of the Christian religion and took great pains to inculcate Christian morality into government.Gouverneur Morris, for example, a New Yorker and statesman during the American Revolution who was very influential in the formation of our republican institutions, argued that liberty demands a coexistence with the Christian religion in order to function properly.Upon being elected president of the New York Historical Society, Morris laid out this brilliant argument in his inaugural address:
The reflection and experience of many years have led me to consider the holy writings not only as most authentic and instructive in themselves, but as the clue to all other history, They tell us what man is, and they alone tell us what he is. All of private and of public life is there displayed. From the same pure fountain of wisdom we learn that vice destroys freedom, that arbitrary power is founded on public immorality, and that misconduct in those who rule a republic, the necessary consequence of general licentiousness, so disgusts and degrades that, dead to generous sentiment, they become willing slaves.
There must be religion. When that ligament is torn, society is disjointed, and its members perish. The nation is exposed to foreign violence and domestic convulsion.Vicious rulers, chosen by a vicious people, turn back the current of corruption to its source, Placed in a situation where they can exercise authority for their own emolument, they betray their trust. They take bribes. They sell statutes and decrees. They sell honor and office. They sell conscience. They sell their country. By this vile practice they become odious and contemptible.
The most important of all lessons from the Scriptures is the denunciation of the rulers of every state that rejects the precepts of religion.Those nations are doomed to death who bury in the corruption of criminal desire the awful sense of an existing God, cast off the consoling hope of immortality, and seek refuge from despair in the dreariness of annihilation. Terrible, irrevocable doom—loudly pronounced, repeatedly, strongly exemplified in the sacred writings, and fully confirmed by the long record of time! It is the clue which leads through the intricacies of universal history. It is the principle of all sound political science.
Did any one think of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his efforts to sell Obama’s senate seat while reading this?Gouverneur Morris gave a bleak forecast for any nation that desires liberty without Christianity.That forecast describes 2009 America with chilling clarity.Liberty cannot exist without Christianity because freedom cannot be found in anything but Christianity.Every other religion and lack thereof neglects the only solution to overcoming the licentious depravity of mankind—the solution is Jesus Christ’s atonement in that it offers the only possible remedy for original sin.In other words, without Christ, there cannot be liberty because, without Christ, man is still shackled to sin and death and will simply use liberty to increase his selfish immorality.
John Quincy Adams wrote on the topic as well in letters to his young son:
Let us, then, search the Scriptures. The Bible contains the revelation of the will of God; it contains the history of the creation of the world and of mankind. It contains a system of religion and morality which we may examine upon its own merits, independent of the sanction it receives from being the word of God. In what light soever we regard it, whether with reference to revelation, to history, to morality, or to literature, it is an inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue.
The first words of the Bible are, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ This blessed and sublime idea of God, the Creator of the universe—this source of all human virtue and all human happiness, for which all the sages and philosophers of Greece and Rome groped in darkness and never found—is revealed in the first verse of the book of Genesis. I call this the source of all human virtue and happiness.
Here, then, is the foundation of all morality—the source of all our obligations as accountable creatures. This idea of the transcendent power of the Supreme Being is essentially connected with that by which the whole duty of man is summed up in obedience to his will.
I am afraid that this nation is joining with the ancient Greeks and Romans, groping for truth where none can be found.We see this through governmental leaders who argue for change, change we can believe in, and hope for a better future.They are, it seems, groping for a change alright, but this change is the rejection of God.Christianity, on the other hand, does not need to grope for change because the final solution to every problem is found in the revealed Word of God.Rejecting Christianity threatens liberty because sound judgment, based on sound morality, stemming from the very dictates of God no longer is present in the minds and hearts of citizens and leaders.May we fall to our knees and pray for revival and stop conforming to the lie of change or we may soon face the persecution that we read about in other societies that reject Christianity.All this, furthermore, in the name of liberty, but a false liberty rooted in sin rather than Jesus Christ.
So what then must we do?We must ascribe to the wisdom found in our founding fathers, and boldly proclaim to all that liberty cannot long exist in any nation if its morality is not rooted in Christianity.Most of all, we must allow God to use us to impress upon the hearts and souls of the lost that they need liberated from the bondage of sin and death.The vast majority of our founding fathers understood this.Indeed, later in his letters, Adams clearly explained to his son that the only meaning in life comes through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ:
By admitting the Bible as a divine revelation, we have hopes of future felicity inspired, together with a conviction of our present wretchedness. The blood of the Redeemer has washed out the pollution of our original sin; and the certainty of eternal happiness in a future life is again secured to us in the primitive condition of obedience to the will of God.
Jesus Christ came into the world to preach repentance and remission of sins, to proclaim glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to man, and, finally, to bring life and immortality to light in the gospel; and all this is clear if we consider the Bible as a divine revelation.
Without Jesus Christ, liberty in this country will quickly fade.
Well here is my first sermon. Studying for it and giving it was a real blessing for me. I misspoke majorly four or five times and I accidentally skipped over about five minutes of material, but hopefully the truth of the Bible still shines through. I encourage you to consider Jesus in everything you do!
