“What in the world is going on?” This is a question that I
have heard asked as well as a question I have asked myself. If you are like me,
you have probably listened to as many news and talk show commentators as you
can stomach, and afterwards continue to feel a little nauseated because you
realize they don’t know what’s going on either. That’s not to say they don’t
have loads of information and a reasonable grasp of the information, but there
still seems to be a lingering sense they don’t understand the underlying causes
or the overall effect. This is why I am writing. I want to offer a perspective
concerning the developments of our present national situations, and possible
effects, as well as offer a fundamental solution.
Understanding that this may seem to be an over-simplistic
explanation for the cause of the events of the last few months, I will proceed,
realizing that many factors make up the specifics of all that has happened.
First of all, my discussion begins with the foundation of our nation. The seed
that became the United States of America
was planted in North America over 400 years
ago. Both the Virginia Charter of 1606 and the Mayflower Compact of 1620 give
us insight into the motivation of the settlers that moved here. In both of
those documents, it is explained that one of the main purposes of their
settlement was for the advancement of Christianity. Both settlements covenanted
to do what they were doing for the Glory
of God. This is the beginning of America’s story.
I used a word that many people have possibly forgotten or else
may not be aware of its meaning. It is the word “covenant”. Covenant according
to Merriam-Webster is: 1: a usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement: compact(emphasis mine). Herein lies a problem. If we have
made a covenant with God, have we kept our part of the binding agreement? Are
we as a nation giving glory to God? If we have not, then there are consequences
for the nation that has broken such a covenant. Natural disasters, economic
disasters, and geo-political disasters (elevation of enemies or wars) can be
consequences of national covenant-breaking. It is interesting that when
situations begin to touch our purses, bank accounts, or retirement plans they
get our attention; but there have been many circumstantial “coincidences” since
the beginning of the third millennium that should have captured our attention. Were/are
we listening? The person that believes God doesn’t deal in the affairs of
nations has not been able to accurately discern the Bible or historical events.
As time passes by, we are coming to
the time in which God will ultimately destroy the system which has enticed and
enslaved the nations. That system is called Babylon in Revelation 17:5. Is it no wonder
that we are stuck in the mire of a conflict that we cannot seem to free
ourselves from in Iraq,
which is the home of the ancient city of Babylon?We are caught up in Babylon on every level. Scripture says that Babylon is the Mother of
all Abominations in the earth. The United States is not exempt. We
embrace sexual immorality as normal and export it via media throughout the
earth. As a result of our own debauchery, we have shed innocent blood through
abortion (50 million since 1973) and have taught many nations to do the same.
We have oppressed the poor and strangers among us. We have practiced hate
through racism. We have been driven by greed. Presently, we are now shaking our
fists towards heaven by denying Creator God’s natural order in relationships
where the union of a man and a woman constitute marriage. We don’t know how to
blush anymore. Yet, we stand before the nations of the earth and before heaven
and say “we have done nothing wrong” and “if you want to be powerful,
industrious, and influential, then be like us!”
It is far past time for us to recognize
our true condition, humble ourselves, and ask God for His forgiveness. How can
this happen? Individually we need to take an inventory of our lives before the
God who loves us and died for us and governmentally we need to abandon
abominable practices. This may sound impossible, but listen to what President Abraham
Lincoln said when the Senate of the United States Government asked him to
appoint a national fasting and humiliation day.
“Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly
recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all
the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the
President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.
And whereas it is the duty of
nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of
God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with
assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to
recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all
history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know
that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments
and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity
of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted
upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national
reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest
bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and
prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has
ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand
which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us;
and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these
blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel
the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God
that made us!
It behooves us then, to
humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and
to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” Proclamation Appointing a National Fast
Day- March 30, 1863
We must change! God in your judgment remember mercy.
(Granted this is the Continental Congress the precursor to the Congress of the United States of America based on the Constitution) I thought it was interesting to see how far we have strayed from the Founding Fathers' ideology concerning government and the establishment of justice in the land in relation to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. What would Congress do today?
1777 National Thanksgiving Day Proclamation
This is the text of the Continental Congress November 1, 1777 national Thanksgiving Day Proclamation; as printed in the Journals of Congress.
Saturday, November 1, 1777
The committee appointed to prepare a recommendation to the several states, to set apart a day of public thanksgiving, brought in a report; which was taken into consideration, and agreed to as follows:
Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received, and to implore such farther blessings as they stand in need of; and it having pleased him in his abundant mercy not only to continue to us the innumerable bounties of his common providence, but also smile upon us in the prosecution of a just and necessary war, for the defense and establishment of our unalienable rights and liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased in so great a measure to prosper the means used for the support of our troops and to crown our arms with most signal success:
It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise; that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor; and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please him graciously to afford his blessings on the governments of these states respectively, and prosper the public council of the whole; to inspire our commanders both by land and sea, and all under them, with that wisdom and fortitude which may render them fit instruments, under the providence of Almighty God, to secure for these United States the greatest of all blessings, independence and peace; that it may please him to prosper the trade and manufactures of the people and the labor of the husbandman, that our land may yield its increase; to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under his nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
And it is further recommended, that servile labor, and such recreation as, though at other times innocent, may be unbecoming the purpose of this appointment, be omitted on so solemn an occasion.
When my president, George W. Bush, was recorded saying on October 7, 2007 to a reporter from Al Arabiya, a middle-eastern news agency, we all (Jews, Christians, and Muslims) pray to the same God, I grimaced. I knew I had to say something. For many years, I have been sharing with people from all walks of life as well as different religious backgrounds the differences between belief systems. As a Christian and pastor in Johnson City, Tennessee, I need to say for clarity’s and truth’s sake there is a difference between the God of Abraham and Allah of Muhammad. Granted, many would say that there is no difference. Allah is simply the Arabic word for God and their language does not differentiate or designate any other word for such a Supreme Being. Therefore, even Arabic Christians refer to God, the Father of Jesus, as Allah since there is no other word for God in their language. Yet even in our nation just a few decades ago, everyone knew that the word God implied the God of those from a Judeo-Christian background. Now in our country, people want you to define which God you are talking about. Therefore, I feel it is important to be clear and draw the distinction that really exists between these two Beings.
First of all, the word LORD found in the King James Bible was given to the Hebrew four-letter inexpressible name of God (YHWH) called the tetragrammaton. Adding vowels that technically do not exist we get the name in Hebrew YAHWEH or in English JEHOVAH. Simply put, the word means the Self-Existent One or the Eternal. Realizing there is an etymological difference between Jehovah and Allah is not the point of my discourse. Nor am I attempting a full apologetic thesis between Christianity and Islam. It has more to do with a logical point taken from the characteristics recorded and revealed in their respective texts (Bible and Qur’an) that to me illuminate the difference between these two Beings.
We discover the messages from Jehovah in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Jews have been the depository and preserve for the books of the Old Testament and accept them as the inspired Words of God. Most people do not realize, all but two of the books of the New Testament (St Luke’s Gospel and Acts of the Apostles) were written by Jews as well. Christians accept both sets of Testaments inspired as the Word of God. Within their texts one can find the characteristics of Jehovah revealed. Both in the Old and New Testaments the nature of Jehovah as Father can be clearly seen. In addition, both the Old and New Testaments declare that God not only is a Father, but that he will have a Son. Messianic Jews and non- Jewish Christians believe and affirm that Jesus is that Son which is declared by God from heaven in the Gospels of the New Testament.
On-the-other-hand, Muslims deem the Qur’an as the Words of Allah given to Muhammad. Clearly in the Qur’an, Allah is noted for not having a Son. Therefore we must infer that though the texts refer to the same characters found in the Bible (Muhammad was familiar with Jews, Christians, and the Bible) they draw very different conclusions about them. There is no agreement between the two texts. With one text declaring Jesus to be the Son of God and the other declaring God has no Son, it’s impossible to reconcile the statements found in them. The God of the Bible is fundamentally different and therefore cannot be the same as Allah of the Qur’an.
Here is the addendum that causes great concern for me. Martyrdom is valued in both Christianity and Islam. The word martyr is from a Greek word meaning “witness”. In other words, martyrdom is the record, witness, or testimony of the followers of someone, in this case God. Biblical, Qur’anic and modern understanding generally agree that a martyr is someone who gives up their life in witnessing for the one they follow. In Islam, a martyr is someone who willing lays down his life while taking the lives of other unbelievers so that the martyr will have favor with Allah. In Christianity, a martyr is someone who willingly lays down his life so that other unbelievers might come to believe God and receive the favor He has provided for them through Jesus the Son.
You decide. Is the God of the Bible the same as Allah of the Qur’an?
They missed the message again! There are no transitional evolutionary forms! Because In the Beginning God... Created!
'Living fossil' found in Coral Sea French scientists who explored the Coral Sea say they have discovered a new species of crustacean that was thought to have become extinct 60 million years ago.
Well, we welcomed Miss Sharoni back this evening! It was good to see her and we look forward to hearing all the stories she has to tell. Tomorrow the Turners will be returning. PTL!
