Читать книгу Massa's Back but Now He's Black? - J. Calvin Tibbs - Страница 4

America declared its independence from British rule on July 4^th, 1776. We are a unique country in that its Founding Fathers left their birthplace in pursuit of a new land where God could be worshipped without government oppression. The purpose of their departure centered on a people’s deep desire to have relationship with God. This too marked the purposeful departure of God’s chosen people, the Children of Israel. Few nations have their origin in such a powerful dynamic.

  Exodus 3:10 KJV Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

A significant number of the Founding Fathers were members of the clergy who both preached in pulpits and shared their views about God in harmony with their service in public office.¹ The nation was so immersed in Christian ethic that the first elementary textbook, the New England Primer, became the first textbook printed in America. Introduced in Boston, Massachusetts in 1690, students were taught how to read and count for nearly 200 years using this book. From 1690-1900 this country’s first (1^st) graders would learn to read using quotes from the Bible. Students were instructed to memorize the phrases while learning the alphabet. For example, letters A thru Z were linked with a Bible verse which students were expected to memorize. The letter “A” is taken from Proverbs (Pro.) 10:1 “A wise son makes a glad Father, but a foolish son is a heaviness of his Mother”. “B” Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble therewith, as found in (Pro.) 15:16. “C” Come unto Christ all ye that labor and are heavy laden and He will give you rest. The reference is found in Matthew (Matt) 11:28. In a similar manner, all remaining alphabets were linked to Bible verses.² This 1^st Grade book also contained questions like, “What is the 5^th Commandment and what is forbidden in the 6^th Commandment?” The students of yesterday all received a Bible-Based, Christ-Centered education.³ Today our schools forbid or discourage any such discussion about the God of the Bible, claiming the marriage between churches and state as unthinkable.

What happened to this level of reverence and fear of the Lord? Who thought removing the Word of God in public places was a good idea? Since then, has anyone noticed the severe declines in morality now that God is on the sidelines? A once robust nation now sputters to produce the quality of goods and services it was once know for. The fallout can be seen in every sector of American life. From housing to industry, “For Sale” and “Out of Business” signs have become far too abundant. Meanwhile, the portrait of the nation’s migration away from Christ is virtually absent from school textbooks, in the media and in churches. Yet, the sharp declines in SAT scores, a skyrocketing increase of sexually transmitted diseases, a heart breaking number of pregnancies among girls age 15 and under, and similar disturbing facts, get reported as a normal way of American life.⁴

Is there a connection between Godlessness and moral decay? Sure there is. This compelling data should bring the nation’s brightest minds together for in depth trend analysis. However, since God is involved, the intellectual won’t even touch it. Strange that there is no study tying the relationship between prayer being taken out of schools in 1962 with the breathtaking increase in divorces. The year prayer was removed, between 1962 and 1981, the number of divorces tripled each year.⁵ What’s the connection? The simple answer is obvious. Remove prayer, and the covers of protection are removed. Ignore God, and something else will occupy that space.

In July 2007, presidential candidate Barack Obama told CBN news that “America is no longer just a Christian nation” but a nation of several religions.⁶ In fact, the nation’s earliest text books, constitution, and inscriptions all reference the Christian God, not all others. ⁷ Inclusion may be America’s new flag, but selective denial is becoming her most reliable description.

The nation’s 6^th President John Quincy Adams had this to say about God and America. The top two (2) holidays during his presidency were Christmas and the 4^th of July. Regarding this he said, “Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birth-day of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birth-day of the Saviour? That it formes a leading event in the progress of the gospel dispensation? It is not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compart on the foundation of the Redeemer’s mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity?”⁸ More than 60 pages of President Adams’ speech emphasized the importance of structuring Christian principals and civil government. Consideration must be given as to why this information is excluded from school history and is not a part of mainstream thought.

From George Washington our nation’s 1^st President, to John Jay the nation’s 1^st Supreme Court Justice, these and scores of other Founding Father’s agree that Christianity was preferred as the nation’s method of rule.⁹ In what many would call the most significant farewell speech in American history, George Washington who served 45 years in public service, clearly knew the intent of the documents he helped structure. The man who oversaw the formation of the Bill of Rights, and the 1^st Amendment, notwithstanding, a storied military career, would surely be quoted often. ¹⁰ Success leaves clues, but reformers seek to expand the ignorance of the unread by excluding the words of the nation’s most influential leader. Still today, many remain without the wisdom of this great commander as if some greater insights had become more consistent and tested.

God and the Plague

Presently, many leaders are frightened of any God reference, choosing instead to defer to the party line for political correctness. Washington’s speech contained God references and warnings to the young nation about its future. He noted how the nation would suffer the loss of its political prosperity if morality and religion were separated from the political process. ¹¹ WOW! George Washington must have heard from God. Then, like a storm that comes out of nowhere, a foul wind began to blow. This wind is a persistent one, and has drastically changed the landscape of American politics. Most of today’s lawmakers are affected by the gale and systematically discuss issues without including God in the discussion. It seems divine leadership is frowned upon. Both parties appear to run from God like He has the plague and those who run, they prove why the plague actually remains with them. This plague of Godlessness can be remedied by returning to Him.

 Mark 4:15 NASB “These are the ones (seeds) who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

We’ve been told for years not to mix God with politics. That’s not what our Founding Father said. Maybe politics has become the new age god of America. Washington’s farewell address contains the following, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain, would that man claim the tribute of patriotism.”¹² In other words, George Washington described a patriot as one who embraced the country’s ideal of religion, morality and political prosperity as tied to one another.

Washington’s words are given very little press in today’s news commentaries. The headlines we read now promote political preachers whose sermons methodically undermine God’s intention for the nation. This does not apply to all elected officials, however, compelling evidence suggests a concerted effort persists to dismiss God, while promoting man as the center of relevant and viable thought. Preachers who join this cloud of witnesses, will have to answer to God for their role in rescuing Him from pertinent discourse.

  1 Peter 4:17 KJV For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

George Washington had a relationship with God before being elected President and did not hold the position as the nation’s leader exclusive from his personal walk as a Believer on the Lord Jesus.¹³ The correlation between Washington’s faith and his effectiveness in leadership is compelling and worth studying.

Names Were Changed and Hurt the Innocent

All nations have a religious courtyard upon which their respective country was founded. America however, is one of few nations whose founders sought to establish God as their Lord from its inception. Therefore, to hold a contemptible view of America’s past is to also nullify the work of her founding principles. What’s so shameful about a nation having a relationship with God? To strip this land of such truths is to blindly move in a false direction. So committed was the nation’s framers, they even put God’s name on the money. How long however, will it be before some “progressive” proposes legislation that removes the very name that blesses us all?

Decade by decade men have methodically minimized the rich God heritage of this great land. In many places, Merry Christmas has become Merry Xmas. School systems around the nation call the Christmas holiday the Holiday Season. What’s wrong with that some may say? Well, how would you like it if when your birthday was celebrated your friends decided to give gifts to each other and put an “X” in place of your name? Anything but Christ, is the common theme. In another example, colored eggs and bunnies are called upon by marketing executives to symbolize Easter. Please help everyone make the connection between a bloody Savior and a “bunny rabbit.” The art of wrongful substitution shamelessly reduces the original power of everything associated with Jesus. There is therefore no wonder how our country has strayed so far from its God centered origins.

No single group can be held responsible for the demise of America’s society. All levels and forms of leadership have a hand in the nation’s condition. Sadly, however, few admit their contribution to the problem. Too many prefer to look good while living shamefully. There is no coincidence that the #1 killer in America is heart disease. Think about that, failure of the heart is the nation’s most fatal disease. The heart of the people and the condition of the country are one.

We have become a people of hardened arteries, and hardened souls. The heart of this people is under attack. Hearts that formerly beat for God now beat for profit, for fame and even for shame. This telling diagnosis of our collective spiritual condition can only be remedied by turning back to the God who birthed this nation in the first place.

We Rise Again

A nation can only rise to the level of its input source. The Bible is America’s historic source of power, blessing families both foreign and domestic. God’s word lasts, but when it is ignored, a lesser but presumed greater word will prevail. Then, once a substandard way of life has matured, it pushes for more tolerance; and once achieved, liberty is targeted.

This slug-like tactic is well researched and unmistakably shapes the minds of the unsuspecting who have yet to understand the price of freedom. We must become more spiritually alert, and resist taking the lazy way out. Our hearts should grow beyond wholesale acceptance of subordinate, man-motivated words. Our worldview should be God centered. Through relationship with Him, we find our purpose and develop the skills required to accomplish our assignment. When we permit lesser standards to predominate, our collective success will be penalized. How many football or basketball games have you seen where an inferior team hangs in there long enough until it believes it can actually win the game? In many cases, the inferior team ends up beating the better team.

Collectively, America is a better team than we have recently demonstrated. We’re better than race wars, low-test scores and lying politicians. We’re better than comparing ourselves to lesser nations, adolescent bickering in Congress and class warfare. We’re better than preachers who have sex with their choir members and the back-bitting that goes on among deacons and trustees.

Where states are united under God, rather than under government, the greatness of a diverse people emerges. Let’s make no mistake about it, God made us great. He extended an opportunity to come into relationship with Israel and our historic commitments to each other have caused both nations to prosper.

 Genesis 12 NJKV 1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Until the people of this nation return to their most vital relationship, our restoration will be delayed. Today, right now, we must awaken, be revived and pursue God with all our strength. The Lord should again become the source of our input. The success of our nation depends on it; when we fail as a nation, check the input source.

Victory is predicated upon the actions taken after good advice is shared. Bad information almost always leads to poor results, conversely wise instruction produces excellence. Solid input and success are inseparable. America and its citizens should again make God its input source and stop allowing today’s media to bully our thinking into submission via the gutter of mediocrity.

It is said that broken clocks are right twice a day, just like a faulty system of governance; every now and then a good policy will get squeezed out. Hay-makers in the game of boxing will get the occasional knockout, but it is a faulty strategy. Consistency is what we need, not the constant neck turning to observe what other nations are doing. Just look at the toll it’s taking. Our nation’s families should turn back to THE God who got us here, and away from the gods from all other nations.

Political science professors at the University of Houston conducted a 10-year study to find the source of the Founding Father’s ideas. 15,000 writings from the Founding Father’s era were collected. The study produced 3,154 direct quotes and identified the source of each quote. It may come as a surprise that the founders unanimously quoted the Bible more than any other writings. The Founding Fathers was the political and social leaders of their day.¹⁴ Huh? Looks like we’ve again been deceived into thinking politics, religion, church and state should stay separated. It worked just fine for our nation’s founders. Maybe that’s our problem today, the two don’t mix but should.

Amazingly, these 2 join just fine when there is trouble. Could it be that tragedy would be avoided if the 2 sides mixed more often? The government needs God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, not a universal god, nor a secular god; but the God of the Bible. Let’s make it plain whom we serve for without proper identification, our God becomes just another consideration among other options.

How did this thinking become so widely accepted? Why would such a storied past now get the cold sholder, be rarely embraced and seldom celebrated? Has anyone made the correlation between our current education system and why it continues to fall behind the world we once led? God wants in, a deranged few want Him out, and look where that has gotten us. Too few have gone too far in advancing the agenda of removing God from the American Dream. When Godlessness stops progressing, the nation’s decay will recede. Meanwhile, our prayer is that His-Story will again become Our-Story.

Too Big to Miss

America’s three (3) Branches of Government originate from Isaiah 33:22 (NKJV).

 “For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save us.”

Judges, Congress and the President… look strangely similar to the Bible. If only our leaders first read, and then understood the beginning of each phrase… ”The Lord”. The Lord must lead our Judges, our Lawmakers and our President; He is the one who appointed their individual and collective functions long before they took office. But since we have asked God to step aside, our predicament should serve as a preview of a God-lite America.

The Separation of Powers is another founding principle rooted in scripture.

 Jeremiah 17:9 NJKV “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked, who can know it?”

Knowing that men would fail through deceit, the Founding Father’s separated the powers of government and made them equal so as to provide balance. How brilliant of God to give such wisdom to a government made of noble people. Oh that this wisdom would be received today.

The logic of the Tax Exemption for Churches comes from Ezra 7:24 (NKJV). ¹⁵

 “Also we inform you that it shall not be lawful to impose tax, tribute, or custom on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gate keepers, Nethinim or servants of this house of God.” Let’s pray that the Lord blesses us to return to our founding virtues.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in 1892 in the Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States. “No purpose of action against religion can be imputed to any legislation, state or national because this is a religious people… This is a Christian nation.” The court provided 87 precedents upon which the decision was made. The court quoted the Founding Fathers, the acts of the Founding Fathers, the acts of States and Congress, and only concluded their evidence of America the Christian Nation after deciding that no more need be said. ¹⁶

In another case heard by the Supreme Court Vidal v. Girard (1844) A Philadelphia School thought its students could learn morality without the Bible. This was the court’s ruling. “Why may not the Bible, and especially the New Testament… be read and taught as a divine revelation in the (school) – its general precepts expounded… and its glorious principals of morality inculcated? Where can the purest principals of morality be learned so clearly or so perfectly as from the New Testament? ¹⁷

Our nation has God in its DNA. America was not founded to snugly fit into the mold of the world’s community, rather to lead the communities of the world into Christ-likeness. Where other countries rule with an iron fist, those who live here get to freely exercise God given freedom as a way of life. How refreshing! Therefore, as we embrace and not malign our country’s unique origin, we will reemerge to prominence. The Spirit of Christ will again be summoned to fulfill this earthly mission, for it was He who once unified these United States under God.

On a level playing field, without the smoke and mirrors, people of reasonable intelligence will chose right and good, over error and covert schemes, any day. God draws people to Himself and (John 6:44) wants the country back. As we return to Him, and lose the incessant desire to control others, truth will triumph over rhetoric and popular opinion.

History reverberates the benefits of following God. His leadership simply works. God has no equal and until recently, neither did America. The further we have departed from God, the greater the decline of our worldwide influence. Now, we are being trained to be just like every other nation. A compelling direction since much of the world does not regard the Christian belief. It is unhealthy to hug our enemies, shun our friends then blatantly disregard God. This combination of errors invites both peril and stress. Companionship with the Spirit of God helps us accept truth a lot easier. God, who established truth, requires it from those who follow Him. Without truth, freedom cannot be sustained.

Unfortunately however, many American’s find it is easier to lie than face the challenges associated with personal responsibility. To make the dosage a little easier to swallow, lies in their essence are often referred to as merely broken promises. For years lies have been assigned a color designation to quantify their impact… ‘little white lies’. When a citizen lies to congress it’s a felony, but when a congressmen lies to you it’s called politics. How strange. The fact is, lies don’t challenge us to change, which makes it difficult for a nation spiraling out of control to gather its footing. As long as political and spiritual leaders use marginal deception as the method of communicating, positive change will not be possible. Without truth, deception will reign. God is currently training a volunteer army of focused Believers who will usher in change via the prayer war room. In these times, those who pray a lot, will have sustained peace.

Our nation is changing, but in the wrong direction and in an abnormal way. Fortunately for us, God runs deep in the fabric of this nation, and change against His standards will not go without His notice. America is waking up, and God will hear our pray. Therefore, before the gap widens too deeply, our intercession and commitment to the nation must be ramped up. Let’s again embrace our Godly heritage and preserve the upcoming generation. We have a responsibility to build upon the Founding Father’s work. Let’s go to work on this and rebuild. God will help us. God will lead us.