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Ok ... I think (hope) that we all here, can see that the Untied States is going through a major shift. It is already a country that most of us cannot recognize as the country we grew up in. I won't make an endless list of why this is so because much of this board is already about that. What we see in the past couple years and especially in the past couple months, is so far beyond what I thought was a worse case scenerio for this point in time. I am tempted to drop the "imho" from the front of this next statement, but for now I won't ... imho, something in the spiritual realm has gotten a literal death grip on the throat of the Untied States.
Now, I often hear in person and on various discussion boards, that this is all mostly the church's fault. The thinking is that if we prayed more, took a stronger stand, etc., that all this hideous activity/inactivity could have been prevented. I disagree with that on many points but the single biggest reason is that since we know how the world will be at the end ... or at least, have a clue ... that in order for all that to be fulfilled ... in other words, in order for prophecy to be fulfilled, the church would have to be ineffective, lazy, disobedient ....
The fact is, the church, the body of Christ, comprised of those that are born again and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are led by the Spirit (Rom.8:14 is VERY important in regards to this.), have started ministries and/or support ministries that are on the forefront of resisting evil; i.e. Focus on the Family, Jay Sekulow ACLJ, and countless others ... the church has resisted abortion, pornography, countless forms of abuse; it has sent out countless missionaries throughout the Untied States and just about every other country in the world. The church has launched campaigns to get elected, Christian members of school boards, city governments, state and federal governments, MASSIVE amounts of prayer have gone up on the candidate's behalf ... all the way up to attempts at the Whitehouse. I know something about the Christian lobbyists in Washington that are opposing hate crime legislation and other legislation that will directly impact broadcast ministry as well as what is actually said inside of a church building. There is a lot of cost involved in this lobbying. That is covered by ... you guessed it; the church.
Now, I am among the first to admit that in many ways, the church can be more effective. But I am hoping to have set aside at least a little bit, the notion that the evil that is washing over this nation; indeed, the whole earth, is not the fault of the church. It was, is and always will be, the result of sin; not something the church did or did not do.
I often hear the cry from a more general group called conservatives (which includes non-Christians as well ...) that "we need to TAKE A STAND! Ok .. so I ask: What does "taking a stand" look like? Call/write/email Senators? Like when a full 93% of Americans told them to NOT vote for the first "stimulus package"? Maybe vote? Like when Hawaii and Colorado voted a overwhelming NO to gay rights but then a federal judge said nope; unconstitutional? A large majority of Americans are opposed to abortion, but it remains ... even the no-words-to-describe partial birth abortion. That one is supposedly stopped now but that bill that President Bush signed is a lie. It DID NOT stop partial birth abortion as Dr. Dobson and others touted. All it did was change how it is done which is even harder on the poor baby. (See this) The greatest effort I have ever seen (I'm 57 and have been very politically 'aware' since about 10 or 11 years old) to get people to vote a certain way went into the last presidential campaign. Yet, we got what we have.
Matthew 7:
13 *Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 *Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Imvho, the above passage has a lot to do with all this.
So, if government, especially elected representatives, no longer represent their constituents, how can we have a say in national policy? There are only two alternatives when that nonrepresentation is complete. 1.) Revolution. Armed revolution. Some folks did that a long time ago and we now count them affectionately as the "founding fathers". And 2.) Only Christians can do this ... hmmm ... having sat here thinking how to word this, I decided to make "2.)" be another post. I'll close this post though with saying that I won't partake in the armed revolution concept.
Issachar
Now, I often hear in person and on various discussion boards, that this is all mostly the church's fault. The thinking is that if we prayed more, took a stronger stand, etc., that all this hideous activity/inactivity could have been prevented. I disagree with that on many points but the single biggest reason is that since we know how the world will be at the end ... or at least, have a clue ... that in order for all that to be fulfilled ... in other words, in order for prophecy to be fulfilled, the church would have to be ineffective, lazy, disobedient ....
The fact is, the church, the body of Christ, comprised of those that are born again and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are led by the Spirit (Rom.8:14 is VERY important in regards to this.), have started ministries and/or support ministries that are on the forefront of resisting evil; i.e. Focus on the Family, Jay Sekulow ACLJ, and countless others ... the church has resisted abortion, pornography, countless forms of abuse; it has sent out countless missionaries throughout the Untied States and just about every other country in the world. The church has launched campaigns to get elected, Christian members of school boards, city governments, state and federal governments, MASSIVE amounts of prayer have gone up on the candidate's behalf ... all the way up to attempts at the Whitehouse. I know something about the Christian lobbyists in Washington that are opposing hate crime legislation and other legislation that will directly impact broadcast ministry as well as what is actually said inside of a church building. There is a lot of cost involved in this lobbying. That is covered by ... you guessed it; the church.
Now, I am among the first to admit that in many ways, the church can be more effective. But I am hoping to have set aside at least a little bit, the notion that the evil that is washing over this nation; indeed, the whole earth, is not the fault of the church. It was, is and always will be, the result of sin; not something the church did or did not do.
I often hear the cry from a more general group called conservatives (which includes non-Christians as well ...) that "we need to TAKE A STAND! Ok .. so I ask: What does "taking a stand" look like? Call/write/email Senators? Like when a full 93% of Americans told them to NOT vote for the first "stimulus package"? Maybe vote? Like when Hawaii and Colorado voted a overwhelming NO to gay rights but then a federal judge said nope; unconstitutional? A large majority of Americans are opposed to abortion, but it remains ... even the no-words-to-describe partial birth abortion. That one is supposedly stopped now but that bill that President Bush signed is a lie. It DID NOT stop partial birth abortion as Dr. Dobson and others touted. All it did was change how it is done which is even harder on the poor baby. (See this) The greatest effort I have ever seen (I'm 57 and have been very politically 'aware' since about 10 or 11 years old) to get people to vote a certain way went into the last presidential campaign. Yet, we got what we have.
Matthew 7:
13 *Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 *Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Imvho, the above passage has a lot to do with all this.
So, if government, especially elected representatives, no longer represent their constituents, how can we have a say in national policy? There are only two alternatives when that nonrepresentation is complete. 1.) Revolution. Armed revolution. Some folks did that a long time ago and we now count them affectionately as the "founding fathers". And 2.) Only Christians can do this ... hmmm ... having sat here thinking how to word this, I decided to make "2.)" be another post. I'll close this post though with saying that I won't partake in the armed revolution concept.
Issachar
) God told every creature he made to reproduce after it's own kind. A squirrel had a squirrel had a squirrel and a cow had a cow had a cow and a bird had a bird had a bird ... everything, after it's own kind ... on down to today ... with variations that God built into the gene pool of each kind. Each offspring of each creature had the nature of each of the original creatures (barring what man's sin did to the creation since it affected all of creation in one way or another). A squirrel does not have to decide to find and store nuts in various locations for the upcoming Winter. It just does. What's more ... while it is doing it, it is incapable of even wondering why it is doing it. It just does because that is it's nature that God gave the original pair. (There are lot's of "what if's" and "what about's" in this concept ... but please just bear with the gist of what I am saying. This isn't meant to be a discourse on the Creation) Just as all else inherited the nature of it's parents, so too did humans. The problem is that the inherited nature is a sin nature. It "naturally" is rebellious; especially towards God.
) What I believe to be true is that when we "die" in Christ, we are cut off from the family tree of the first man, Adam. and when we are raised to life in Christ, we are grafted into a new family tree, at the head of which is God, which is why He can now call us His children.
head:
ping:
What a shame on them.
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