HOPE AND CHANGE
I have been told that what we need most to hear this Christmas is a message of hope. Because Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, who is the author of the Bible, any letter of hope given at Christmas time should be written from a Biblical perspective. I will try my best to do just that.
When I sat down to write this letter there was one problem in particular that occurred to me. It is the fact that, because we all hope for different things, God cannot give everyone what they desire. Wait a minute, did I just say that God couldn’t do something? Did I say there was something beyond the ability of “El Shaddai”, (God Almighty)? Yes, I did.
Every year I hope for a Cubs/Yankees World Series, but it never happens. The Yankees do a good job of getting there, but with the Cubs it always seems to be, wait till next year. But if God should, sometime before I die, decide to grant my wish, he would disappoint the many fans of the teams that I don’t particularly care about. I especially don’t care about the Cardinals and the Red Sox. Oh, and don’t let me forget to mention the Dodgers who left Brooklyn and broke the heart of more than one loyal twelve year old fan.
When it comes to the question of what God can and can’t do, atheists must stay up nights thinking of questions like, if your god is all powerful, can he make something so heavy that he can’t pick it up? And, they always seem to follow up with that god-awful Beavis and Butt-Head laugh, heh heh heh heh… heh heh heh heh. I hate that laugh.
Let me preface the answer to their question with a question of my own. Do you think God would create someone smart enough to ask a question that he couldn’t answer? The problem is not with God, the problem is with the question. God cannot do anything that goes against his nature. God is logical and he created a logical and orderly universe. The question is illogical. So, no, he can’t make something so heavy that he can’t pick it up. He can’t tell you what color music is either… heh heh yourself.
Now that we have (hopefully) established that God cannot logically give everyone what they hope and pray for, let’s take a look at the subjects of hope and change as they relate to America today.
I guess it is safe to say that we would like to have our 401ks back where they were before the crash, to bring our military back from fighting two wars, to restore the economy, and get the many people who have lost their jobs back to work. Of course there’s more, but I think these are our primary concerns.
America has been blessed from its beginning, but it appears that God has taken his protective hand away in recent times. And if that is so, which I believe is obvious, then we should be asking why. Our president has told the world that we are no longer a Christian nation. This raises two questions that need to be addressed. Is he correct when he says that we are not a Christian nation, and were we ever a Christian nation? Let’s look at some evidence, and so you don’t get the wrong impression, let me state that I am not defending or endorsing any political party. I am opposed to all politicians who place allegiance to their party and themselves above the interests of the American people. These career politicians have used the two party system to turn us against each other while both parties have abandoned us and are out of touch with the people who support them.
In case you are wondering what politics have to do with religion, let me point out that, contrary to revisionist history, our Constitution was written by Christians, based on principles found in the Bible, and intended for a nation that was predominantly Christian.
Our three branches of government are modeled after Isaiah 33: 22…
“…For the Lord is our judge (The Judiciary)
The Lord is our lawgiver (The Legislative)
The Lord is our king.” (The Executive)
“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
John Adams
“In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”
John Quincy Adams
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
John Jay
“The only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government is the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by means of the Bible.”
Benjamin Rush
Barrack Obama has told the world that we, “Do not consider ourselves a Christian nation.” Let our president say what he will, but our history and most Americans don’t agree with him. Consider the following:
“We classify nations in various ways: as, for instance, by their form of government. One is a kingdom, another an empire, and still another a republic. Also by race. Great Britain is an Anglo-Saxon nation, France a Gallio, Germany a Teutonic, Russia a Slav. And still again by religion. One is a Mohammedan nation, others are heathen, and still others are Christian nations. This republic is classified among the Christian nations of the world. It was so formally declared by the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the case of Holy Trinity Church vs. United States, 143 U.S. 471, that Court, after mentioning various circumstances, added, ‘these and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation.”
Justice David Brewer
In the 1947 case, Everson vs. Board of Education, a personal letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut was used out of context to create the “wall of separation of church and state” that exists today. The letter was written to reassure them that the Government’s hands were tied from interfering with the affairs or decisions of the churches in America. In it he stated that the Founding Fathers had created a wall of separation between church and state. These words “a wall of separation of church and state” are not in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The First Amendment forbids the federal government from restricting religion in any manner. The establishment clause was intended to stop the formation of a national church. Since 1947 and the introduction of the “wall of separation,” we have moved to a time of government restricting religion. It is time we stopped allowing organizations such as the ACLU to use this lie to deprive Christians of their First Amendment rights.
John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” Our Constitution was intended to serve a people who would and could govern themselves because they would live by the moral values that God has revealed through the Bible and the life of Jesus.
America, like Europe before us, is being taken over by political correctness which denies the absolute truth of the Bible. Postmodern relativism has attempted to erase the line between relative and absolute truth and declare that there are no moral absolutes.
Unfortunately, the fact that our Constitution is fit only for a moral people is quickly becoming a moot point. Since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, our Constitution has been under attack by liberal activist judges who, instead of interpreting the Constitution’s clear meaning, have turned it into a “living document” to be molded to agree with whoever appointed them to office. To make matters worse, some of these judges are now quoting international law in preference to our own Constitution.
If we are to have any hope that God will bring the changes we desire, then I believe we must change first. Take a look at what Jesus had to say when asked how we should pray:
“This, then, is how you should pray:
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6: 9-10
This, I believe, is the root cause of America’s problems today. How many Christians are praying that, “God’s will be done?” Where is our desire to put God’s will first? How many Christians take God’s will into account before voting? How can any Christian, in good conscience, vote for someone that supports abortion on demand?
I have to admit that in this last election we didn’t have a great selection to choose from. But one thing was certain. Every thinking person must have known that voting Republican would have dealt a lethal blow to the abortion industry and, in time, put an end to the murder of 1,300,000 innocent lives each year that has been going on since 1973 and the Roe vs. Wade decision. Already one Supreme Court Justice has been replaced by Sonia Sotomayor who is pro-abortion. I think the following statement regarding the results from a recent “Gallup Poll” is very telling:
“Never before in the history of the United States has the gospel made such inroads, while at the same time, made such little difference as to how people live.”
I would like to share a couple of quotes. One is from the Bible and one is from Bill Federer’s “American Minute.” I think that you will see in them an uncanny resemblance to America today. First, Bill Federer:
“Rome fell September 4, 476AD. In the centuries preceding, Rome was overrun with illegal immigrants: Visigoths, Franks, Anglos, Saxons, Ostrogoths, Burgundians, Lombards and Vandals. They first assimilated, many working as servants, but soon came so fast they did not learn the Latin language.
Militarily superior Roman Legions marched rapidly on advanced roads but were strained fighting conflicts worldwide. Rome had a trade deficit, having outsourced its grain production to North Africa, and when the Vandals captured that area, Rome did not have the resources to retaliate. Attila the Hun committed terrorist attacks.
Rome was on welfare with citizens given free bread. One Roman commented: ‘Those who live at the expense of the public funds are more numerous than those who provide them.’ Tax collectors were ‘more terrible than the enemy.’ Rome was in debt with huge government bureaucracies.
A history of court favoritism, infidelity, exposure of unwanted infants, perverted bathhouses, sexual immorality, as seen in Pompei’s ruins, and violent entertainment by gladiators in the Coliseum, led 5th-Century historian Salvian to write: ‘O Roman people be ashamed… Let nobody think otherwise, the vices of our bad lives have alone conquered us.
And the following from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 3:
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
‘These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
There is one more sign of the times that troubles me more than any other. Our new administration has turned it’s back on Israel. Anyone who has studied the Bible and its prophecies knows what a perilous position this puts our country in. Someone should be reminding our president daily of the words God spoke regarding Israel:
“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”
Genesis 12:3
We are still a Christian nation, although, we have certainly gone astray. We, as individuals and as a nation need to return to our roots. If we are to have any hope that God will again bless this land, we must first change our priorities. We need to pray as Jesus taught, “your will be done.”
We must also heed the words of Founding Father John Jay, “it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” How can we expect God to heal our land when we continue to elect ungodly men to lead us?
All Scripture from the New International Version (NIV) 1984 Edition.
GOD BLESS
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Bob Rani Mike & Sheri Rani