Judgment

Unless we Americans earnestly and sincerely repent from the worship of self, and return humbly to God, seeking His forgiveness and mercy, Political Correctness will no longer be a voluntary thing, but a requirement delivered by the hammer of the state. Churches will have to abide by the government's guidelines, or go underground.

God is slow to anger. But the murder of over 40 million unborn children in their mother's wombs since our Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, has, I believe, finally worn thin with our Creator.

The American Church has failed miserably. We have allowed the secular culture to enculturate us. We are barely distinguishable from the world. The recent, rapid unleashing of the power of the state is the beginning of God's hand of judgment upon our nation. Things will get worse before they get better.

Yet true Christians will never stop living their faith. I still believe very strongly in American DNA, but the more I read and research the more I see that that DNA is rooted in the Christian faith, and until that faith is reawakened in America, no Tea Party, no state's declaration of its sovereignty, can save us.

I recently heard a woman say, "I want my country back."

I don't think that God is ready to give it back to us. We are being disciplined by a loving God.

For generations, Americans were a "good" people. Alexis deToqueville wrote that "America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great." Within our lifetimes, America ceased being good. Thus the troubles on our horizon.

Our fight is not with Congress or the President. Our fight is with our selfish selves, and with God's arch-enemy, the devil, who wars against us.

I believe that God will achieve several things through the difficulties that await us.

• First and foremost, He will judge His church and set it right again.
• He will judge all of us Americans, rich and poor, for our worship of self.
• He will judge our political leaders, and their fall will be public and spectacular.
• He will judge the greedy business magnates who are the true barbarians of our day.
• He will judge the abortionists and those who promote their bloody craft.
• He will judge those who flaunt their homosexuality along with their vocal supporters.
• He will judge the hedonists who prey upon our children.
• He will judge Hollywood for their peddling of hedonism and violence.
• He will judge the media who prefer the lie over the truth.
• He will judge the educators who teach falsehoods and enslave young minds.

Jesus taught us that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bring forth fruit. I do not know how long this purging will take. I cannot say how long the seed will remain until its shoots begin to break through the soil afresh. Israel was held captive in Babylon for 70 years. Perhaps we will be long gone before God's work with America is done. Perhaps this truly is the time of history when God begins to wrap things up and bring His final judgment to bear upon all of mankind.

We must be faithful to God. And we must depend utterly upon Him for the power to remain faithful.

One thing I know. He IS faithful.

The Manhattan Declaration

I signed The Manhattan Declaration.

Here's what it's about:

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.
   

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

John MacArthur didn't sign it. He said, "...the gospel itself is nowhere presented (much less explained) in the document or any of the accompanying literature. Indeed, that would be a practical impossibility because of the contradictory views held by the broad range of signatories regarding what the gospel teaches and what it means to be a Christian."

In The Manhattan Declaration, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians have come together to defend the unborn, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. As I see it, the sole purpose of this document is for Christians to go on record, not about specific doctrines of their respective Christian faiths, but about the specific, historic Christian values that are mentioned in the document. It is a line in the sand, an affirmation of long held beliefs, an oath to defend Christian civilization against the ravages of secular humanism and the tyranny that is showing its ugly head in America in the form of political correctness.

Now is not the time to pick nits over doctrine. All three groups named in the declaration adhere to the Nicene and Apostles Creeds. We agree on the basics: Christ's virgin birth and divinity, His sinless life, His literal death, His literal resurrection, the Holy Trinity, etc. Read the creeds for crying out loud! Our very survival is at stake here. Christianity is seriously under attack in our land today. And for those who cannot see that, I suggest you begin paying attention a bit more closely and take your proverbial head out of the sand.

We will not emerge victorious in this struggle if we stand alone. We all serve the same Lord and Savior. Now is the time to rally around our common faith and defend ourselves, our children, and all of those who haven't a clue about what is happening to this country.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, ""We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Success and Failure Redefined

Things aren't always as they seem.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

• Adam's rebellion was failure disguised as success.
• Christ's crucifixion was success disguised as failure.

• The serpent's wiles were failure disguised as success.
• Abel's sacrifice was success disguised as failure.

• Esau's apathy was failure disguised as success.
• Jacob's scheming was success disguised as failure.
  

• Pharaoh's hardness was failure disguised as success.
• Moses' flight was success disguised as failure.
  

• Saul's kingship was failure disguised as success.
• David's brokenness was success disguised as failure.
  

• Rome's persecutions were failure disguised as success.
• Martyrs' deaths were success disguised as failure.
  

• The Pope's power was failure disguised as success.
• Luther's trial was success disguised as failure.
  

• Chamberlain's negotiations were failure disguised as success.
• Churchill ignored was success disguised as failure.
  

• Obama's ascension is failure disguised as success.
• Palin's resignation is success disguised as failure.

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Matthew 20:16 (NIV)

911: While We Sleep

I just uploaded a new post to my new blog, A Digital Pamphleteer. Titled Thuggery and Thievery, the post links to a substantive article in Rolling Stone Magazine about how movers and shakers in the finance industry, the Federal Reserve, and the US government are literally stealing America's wealth.

I am posting a link to it here because this blog, Kingdom>>>Church>>>Culture is focused more on the spiritual aspects of life in our once Judeo-Christian culture.

Many Christians, and many pastors too, believe that Christians should not become involved in politics or engage in activity focused on civil government related issues.

Of course I disagree. And I have made what I consider to be a very strong, Biblically-supported case for involvement and engagement. In fact, much of this blog, since 2004, has addressed this question.

I write today to point the reader, particularly the Christian reader, to my other blog and specifically to the post listed above.

While we sleep friends, we and our American countrymen are being mugged and robbed. Our homes are being pillaged. Our government, and its accomplices, are raping the hard-working, tax-paying American.

A heinous crime is being perpetrated right under our noses, every minute of every day. And what do we do? We go to church. We attend our weekly home group meetings and discuss our marriage relationships. We attend our Bible studies and pray for the needs of our friends and families.

All of this is, of course, good.

But all the while, we are looking the other way, burying our heads in the proverbial sand, behaving as if things aren't really all that bad. And right now, on the surface, life is relatively calm. But don't be fooled. A nasty, deadly, multi-year storm is coming.

What would you do if you saw a person on the street being mugged and robbed by a thug? Well, first you would call 911 on your cell phone, and then, depending on who you are and how you react at that moment, you may intervene and try to stop the crime.

Well whats going on in America's halls of government and Wall Street offices is no different. The only thing separating one mugger from the other is a suit and tie.

Please read.

Coming Out of the Fog

I am posting this information for those of you who did not catch Rush Limbaugh on Friday afternoon (6/26/09). On his program he read from an article by L. E. Ikenga, an African woman who has lived in the U.S. since the 1970's. The article, titled Obama, the African Colonial, explains the cultural mindset motivating our president, and who he really is.

Ikenga's article is moderately substantial in length, but once the reader is engaged they will have no problem finishing. She posits that Obama is what she calls an "African Colonial." I had not heard the term before but her description provides what I think is clear insight into the soul of the man in the White House. She writes:

"The African colonial (AC) is a person who by means of their birth or lineage has a direct connection with Africa. However, unlike Africans like me, their worldviews have been largely shaped not by the indigenous beliefs of a specific African tribe but by the ideals of the European imperialism that overwhelmed and dominated Africa during the colonial period. AC's have no real regard for their specific African traditions or histories. AC's use aspects of their African culture as one would use pieces of costume jewelry: things of little or no value that can be thoughtlessly discarded when they become a negative distraction, or used on a whim to decorate oneself in order to seem exotic. (Hint: Obama's Muslim heritage)."

Using Obama's Dreams From My Father as a springboard, the author concludes that our president sees himself not as a "black American" but as an "African." She writes:

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father -- an eloquent piece of political propaganda -- Obama styles himself as a misunderstood intellectual who is deeply affected by the sufferings of black people, especially in America and Africa. In the book, Obama clearly sees himself as an African, not as a black American. And to prove this, he goes on a quest to understand his Kenyan roots. He is extremely thoughtful of his deceased father's legacy; this provides the main clue for understanding Barack Obama.

For more on the senior Obama, go here.

She then goes on to lay out a fairly bleak picture of the future, concluding her article with these words:

"... understand this: the African colonial who is given too much political power can only become one thing: a despot.

Prior to the November election, much noise was made in the conservative media about Obama's connections to men like the American terrorist, Bill Ayers and to the radical pastor Jeremiah Wright. He also sidled up to other like-minded America haters and cut his teeth as a "community organizer" in Chicago in the "school" of the radical Marxist Saul Alinsky. To date, Obama has yet to provide indisputable evidence of an American birth and many of his college records remain under lock and key.

While conservative pundits sounded the alarm in the summer and fall of 2008, the mainstream media buried their heads in the sand, so wildly enamored with this charismatic, yet enigmatic figure. Today, nearly eight months following that fateful November election, millions of Americans remain in denial about what we have done to ourselves.

I am confident that an unpleasant awakening is around the corner, a day or a season when Americans begin to realize the truth. Signs of this coming watershed moment are already beginning to appear. America committed a grave error in judgment last fall. Let us hope and pray it is not fatal to our republic.

I strongly suggest that you read the entire article. It cleared up a whole lot of my mental fog surrounding this mysterious man that we have elected as our president.

But beware, it is not pretty.

JOIN NOVA 912.

For a Pot of Stew

One of my favorite Bible characters is Jacob. He was the second born son of Isaac, and completes the three part triad of ancient Israel's great patriarchy of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have read and studied Jacob a fair amount. I've even written a song about him.

Jacob, Israel, my heart beats close to yours, I know
Jacob, Israel, I'm a striver like you
A striver like you
A striver like you

And I am.

Jacob's older twin brother, born just a few moments before him, was named Esau. Prior to their births, the Lord spoke to their mother, Rebekah, and declared that "the older shall serve the younger." (Genesis 25:23).

In those days, being the first born son meant everything. All that the family name represented came to the first born male. But contrary to cultural traditions, God had his eye on Jacob, not Esau. God had promised to do something unheard of, something unprecedented in those days. God was conferring the power and wealth of the family name upon Isaac and Rebeka's second-born.

But though God had promised it, Jacob tried to make it happen under his own power, with his own efforts. This is why he is considered a "striver."

Jacob knew his call even before his birth. When the twins came out of Rebeka's womb, second born Jacob was clinging to his brother's heel as if to say, "wait a minute, brother, I'm supposed to be first."

Now, Esau, though the first, did not seem to take his "natural born" inheritance all that seriously. But Jacob thought about it all the time.

One day, Esau came home from an exhausting hunting expedition. Famished, he asked his twin brother if there was anything in the frig. Seizing on the opportunity, the crafty Jacob struck a deal.

"I'll give you this pot of stew if you'll give me your birthright."

The hungry Esau agreed.

My focus has always been upon Jacob, the one with the promise, the one with the call, the one with the hope of a future. He stumbled and bumbled and literally limped his way to his inheritance, and I often feel like I do the same.

I have never given a great deal of thought to Esau. But recently he has begun to intrigue me.

I tell this story of Esau's sellout because it speaks to me of our own American countrymen. We, too, have a birthright, an automatic inheritance the moment we are born. Our birthright is liberty. Prosperity comes from liberty. In the chain of things American, liberty comes first. Liberty creates opportunity and if opportunity is capitalized upon effectively, wealth often follows.

Today, we hungry, short-sighted, self-focused Americans are, like Esau, selling our birthright, our liberty, for a lousy pot of stew, the empty promise of security.

We have said, "I'll give you my liberty, if you'll take care of me."

What a rotten deal!

JOIN NOVA 912.

Talk to the Hand

I awoke early this morning following a frightening dream. In my dream, God left America to its own devices. He departed, removing His hand of blessing. And many Americans didn't even know He had gone.

Much is being made of the image that has hit the Internet, the photo of our president sitting with his feet propped up on his desk in the Oval Office while talking on the phone. There are two important things to know about the image: 1. when the photo was snapped he was speaking to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, 2. in Arab countries, showing the sole of one's shoe is meant as an insult.

An unfortunate, unintended incident? Think again. Our president spent a number of years out of our country, and under the sway of the Muslim world and its worldview. He spent the last twenty years of Sundays sitting in the church pew of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. You remember him, don't you? He's the man who preaches hate from his pulpit, casting insults at America. "Not God bless America, God d*** America!" Just a few days ago, Rev. Wright said in an interview that he had not spoken to his former parishioner since Obama became the president. Referring to the president's advisers, Wright told Virginia's Daily Press, "Them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me ..."

Israeli newscasters and many others in Israel read this odd photo as a direct insult to their Prime Minister and to their nation. If this publicity shot was staged and released intentionally, our nation's immediate future looks grim. If it's a case of simple insensitivity (he's had others), it still demonstrates a genuine lack of class and character.

Last summer, during the primary campaign, Obama appeared to be giving "the finger" to someone (above). The apparent target? His primary opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Later that year, during the election itself, our future president is caught again, making an obscene gesture (below). Who was his target this time? Republican candidate, John McCain.

For a man as politically savvy as Barak Obama, a man raised in Chicago style "thug" politics, surely these three seemingly separate symbolic gestures cannot be mere coincidences. In fact, for this man, who trumpeted his many Muslim connections to the Arab world on his recent trip to the Middle East, allowing the world to see the soles of his shoes while speaking on the phone with Israel's leader is the Muslim-world equivalent of the middle finger.

Raising one's middle finger to a political opponent is childish, sophomoric and crude. It does not speak well at all of our president. But deliberately insulting the leader of one of our nation's staunchest allies represents a tragic, radical shift in American diplomacy.

"Talk to the hand" became a popular phrase in the mid 1990's. The saying is a shortened version of "Talk to the hand because the ear's not listening." The words, usually accompanied by the gesture of putting up one's hand in the face of the one who's speaking, represent a "brush off" or an intentional ignoring of the other party's thoughts. Like the middle finger and the shoe's sole in the Muslim world, a hand in the face is rude, crude, and deliberate.

But upon reflection, our nation has been telling God to "talk to the hand" now for quite a good number of years. Could it be that our classless president is but a mere reflection of the rude, crude, classless culture we have become?

It's one thing for a segment of society to be crude and classless. It's another for our president to behave in this manner. Many things shifted in November. We expect that policies and the ideologies behind them will change with a new administration. But we do not expect the man at the top, the one individual who represents our nation to the world, to behave like the basest among us. We expect better.

A switch was flipped this week. A cosmic shift occurred. A signal was sent to heaven's throne. It is now official. Our nation has just told God to "talk to the hand because the ear's not listening."

Snubbing Israel is a very bad idea. Add this offense to the forty million murdered unborn, and the growing cultural acceptance of homosexuality (remember Sodom and Gomorrah), and our Creator cannot be pleased.

This can't be good.