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Post by Heritage Ministries on Mar 6, 2009 6:31:54 GMT -5
Man’s Economy Or God’s Economy? by: Don Pinson
The new national government is trying to stimulate the economy by creating government jobs. Socialists believe that the government should control the economy by government law (in other words, regulations). Their belief is that the flow of money is better controlled from the top down, rather than the bottom up. In other words, a few people at the top should be able to determine how the people at the bottom live. Consider: Who is there in Washington whom you trust enough to give the control of your income to them? Interesting thought isn’t it?
Sue Myrick, U.S. Representative from North Carolina, voted against the Stimulus package which the President signed into law today. She reveals some interesting facts: The $787 billion (with a “b”!) package was pushed as a way to create jobs by fixing our infrastructure, in other words, our bridges, roadways, and so forth. But the reality is only 3% is set aside for that purpose: While the package is touted as something to stimulate the economy right now, 62% of discretionary funds won’t even be spent until 2011! It will cost the government (which means you and me!) $210,000 to create one job with this package, though private business creates them each for $50,000. What’s wrong with this picture? She also exposes that $44 million is to be used to repair the buildings of the Agriculture Department in Washington. We’re gonna tax our citizens $44 million dollars to fix something that hinders the farmers in America from producing!
I think you get the picture. But remember, you and I have to pay for this with our taxes. So how are we helping ourselves with so-called government “stimulus?”
God warns us in the Bible that if we give up government control to a national government---instead of keeping it nearer to us in our state governments---we will live as slaves. The Jews made this mistake in asking for a king to rule over their nation, instead of leaving control with their local judges, which God had given them through Moses. God told Samuel to “…solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.” Samuel did this by saying,
“This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for his own chariots and to be his horsemen…He will appoint captains over his [army], [he] will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war... He will take your daughters to be…cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain…and give it to his officers and servants. And he will take…your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants (slaves!). And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.” 1 Samuel 8: 10-18
Woodrow Wilson, our 26th President warned us what would happen to us if we let the national government become our source, in other words our god, as we are now doing. He wisely stated,
"When we resist...the concentration of power (by the national government), we are resisting the powers of death, because concentration is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties."
The Bible says, “There’s a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Mar 11, 2009 16:46:18 GMT -5
What Can The Righteous Do? by: Don Pinson
There are three positions Christians are taking in the current pressure. Some are saying, “It’s so bad now. Persecution is growing. These are just the last moments of time, and I’m just looking for Jesus to come back any day.” Which translates into: “I don’t believe we can do anything about this time, so I’m just thinking about me and I’m going to hide my head in the sand. Don’t count on me to protect the liberty of my children.”
On the other hand, there are those who would love to see liberty preserved, they just think, with the new national government, that there’s no hope now. But then there’s a third group --- perhaps fewer in number --- but those who thrill the heart of God. They’re saying, “This is the hardest time the world has ever seen, and it may be the beginning of the end of history; but come what may, until “the trumpet sounds,” I’m going to do everything I can to preserve the liberty of my children to be able to hear and respond to the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!”
Which group are you in? “What can the righteous do…?" (Psalms 11: 3) in this pressurized time?
We can choose to believe that God tells the truth! Jesus said, “In the world you shall have tribulation (pressure); but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Jesus promised us that pressure would come, but He’s already faced it and He overcame it. Now, He lives inside those of us who are committed to Him; He will now live through us in this world of pressure. And because of His life in us, others will be led to find Him as their life also. Light shines brightest in the darkest night!
So “what can the righteous do?” We can move our individual lives into the order of God revealed in the Bible. When we are in God’s order, the life of Jesus automatically flows through us. If we will surrender every area of our life to His rule, and confess every known sin to Him---and to others if they know about it---we will move into His order. In His order there is His provision of the food, shelter, and clothing we need to sustain life.
Likewise, there is the protection we need from harm or death, unless He chooses to use those things to reveal Himself more to us or to others. So, in any circumstance, we get in on the peace that Jesus promises. Just before He said we would have tribulation in the world, He said, “My peace I leave with you…” (John 14:27) He promised us peace before He promised us pressure. And He tells the truth!
How were America’s Founding Fathers able to stand the pressure on them through the Revolutionary War? They had pledged “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” to seeing liberty restored in their land. Some of them died in British prison ships in the cold winters of Boston harbor. They died rather than break the pledge of their “sacred honor.” How did they have the strength to do that? The indwelling life of Christ saw them through their darkest hour. Others of them had the British burn their homes and businesses. Still others watched their sons die for liberty in the battles of the war. What sustained them in the horrendous pain of such losses? “My peace I leave with you,” they heard Jesus whisper to their hearts in those awful moments. They kept their pledge because, from way down inside them, Jesus was releasing His faith through them.
Have you pledged to your children to preserve their liberty to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ? Will you cry to the Christ Who lives inside you to enable you to keep that pledge!
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Mar 16, 2009 19:29:39 GMT -5
The Battle For Religious Public Expression by: Don Pinson
I noticed the young mother with 3 children under eight years of age. A lady in her seventies was pulling her oxygen tank and breathing with a nose-piece. There were teenagers, middle-age folks, and others. All had a common goal: Defend their right to publicly express their faith. This was their heart cry. This is why they braved the many miles of snowy roads and the bone-chilling wind here in Washington, DC. They had come to the Supreme Court Building to say to the Judges on that Court: "We want the right of our children to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ acknowledged and protected."
The Supreme Court was hearing two cases on March 2nd, 2005, which had to do with the Ten Commandments being displayed in public. These rulings would either stop the advance of anti-Christian forces or greatly encourage them to further strip America of open religious expressions.
Does the first Amendment protect us from exposure to the Bible? Well let me suggest we do an unusual thing: Let's let the Founder's speak for themselves! If you wrote a letter, would you want the person to whom you sent it to be the one to read it; or would you want someone else to read it for them and interpret to them what you were saying. I dare say many of our marriages would not have occurred had we let someone else interpret our love letters to our spouses! Why not let the Founder's speak for themselves?
Here is exactly what the Founders said in the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The phrase which has been used against religious expression in public is the phrase, "establishment of religion". Now it is being interpreted to say that no expression of a religious nature can be seen or heard in public. This is not correct! If we look at the original drafts of the Amendment we can easily see the meaning which the Founders intended.
James Madison, the man who wrote most of the Constitution, originally proposed the wording for the First Amendment. Instead of "establishment of religion", he wanted it to say, "...nor shall any national religion be established..." The second version discussed on that date of Sept. 3, 1789, said, "Congress shall make no law establishing any particular denomination." The third version discussed said, "Congress shall make no law establishing any particular denomination in preference to others." Fisher Ames, another of our Founders, proposed that the wording be, "Congress shall make no law establishing religion...." That's the version that the House finally passed that day to be sent to the Senate for their approval. Eventually the joint committee of Senators and Representatives agreed on the wording: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"1. The meaning is clear. They were obviously saying they didn't want the Federal Government establishing a particular denomination as the national church, like England had done with the Anglican Church. That is what the phrase "establishment of religion" meant!
Fisher Ames, whose wording was finally approved by the House, made clear his position on whether the Bible should be taught to children in school when he said, "Why then...should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a school book? Its morals are pure...; the reverence for the Sacred book that is (gained in childhood) lasts long..."2
The Bible says, "Blessed is the man...who greatly delights in His commandments." (Psalms 112:1)
Does it not seem that God, as well as our Founders, wanted the Bible in public places?
Think about it; because if you don't, someone else will do your thinking for you. And you won't like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Mar 31, 2009 15:28:51 GMT -5
Kentucky Politics As Usual by: Don Pinson
This year’s legislative session in Kentucky continues in the ‘politics as usual’ mode. Even the Ky. Senate, which has moved quickly on moral bills proposed in recent years, moved slower this year. While most Ky. Senators did vote for these bills on the floor of the Senate, in my opinion, the Senate leadership and committee chairmen, did a poor job of getting these bills out of the Senate as quickly as they might have.
Even worse was the action of the House Leadership on these bills. Though Speaker Greg Stumbo promised a fair hearing on SB 79, the pro-life bill, the House Leadership assigned it to the Health and Welfare committee, chaired by Tom Burch, arch-liberal from Louisville. Burch’s committee was the same one that, in the ’07 session, blocked the effort to stop the homosexual advance in Kentucky. They arranged for Ancel Smith, Representative from Knott, Magoffin, and Letcher counties, to be absent the day the vote was taken. Thus, homosexuals won their bid to keep advancing in Kentucky.
Burch had bragged early in this session that if they’d send this pro-life bill to his committee, he would kill it. In spite of that, the House Leadership sent it there anyway. The bill died on March 10th due to a tie vote in that committee. The Public Decency Act has had no hearing whatever in its committee and isn’t likely to. The Adoption bill’s fate looks the same. So much for politics as usual in Kentucky.
Jesus had words for politicians who refuse to be statesmen and stand for His truth against the evils of our time. He warned, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)
While it’s painful to loose these battles in the Legislature, what’s even more painful is the fact that our legislators reflect our own thinking as Kentucky citizens.
While I want to say a wonderful “Thank you” to the considerable number in the state who made phone calls to their legislators, or who made the extra effort to go to Frankfort for the recent Rally there, the sad fact is: Most Kentuckians still care more about their own plans than they do the liberty of their children. They may be ignorant that their neglect is causing the liberty of their children to be stolen; nonetheless, it is their fault. The lack of praying for government servants; the lack of voting by our citizens; the lack of knowing that we are the ones who must watch over our government, or it will fall into the hands of evil men, are the result of this ignorance. Thus the blame rests with those of us who refuse to be involved in government.
The good news is: We’re doing better than we were 20 years ago. The simple truth is, despite how few of us there are who are active now, the number is still more than it was 20 years ago. We just had so far to come when we started that we’re still a long way from where we have to get to. But the Lord will honor all you may have done in the effort to see morality return to our laws. He keeps the record. The Bible says, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing; bringing his sheaves with him.” (Psalms 126:6)
So let’s resolve in our hearts to be found scattering the “seed of truth” in this state no matter what kind of opposition there is. There’s a good harvest waiting, even in this evil day!
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Apr 5, 2009 6:59:12 GMT -5
Socialistic Or Biblical Education? by: Don Pinson
Finally, CATS is dead! The testing system for Kentucky’s state system of schools has finally been pierced through with the “sword of truth.” For years people who’ve known what socialism is have said this testing system has been destroying our children. Indeed, one generation and half of another have been robbed of the opportunity to discover the abilities God has put within them.
The basic wrong of the CATS testing system was the way it tested whole schools instead of individual students. Instead of letting individual test scores be the measure of success, the overall performance of the whole school was what determined success or failure. That’s socialism. That is, the emphasis being on the group instead of the individual. This testing system allowed lazy students to hide in the performance of the industrious student. Likewise it removed the incentive for industrious students to perform. They weren’t rewarded in direct proportion to their achievement. Students didn’t “sink or swim” alone; they “sank or swam” as a group. This is unjust! The Bible teaches God will judge us individually, not as a group. It states:
“So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:12[/b]
God created us as individuals, not as a group. He therefore holds us accountable as individuals, not groups of individuals. While this change is good, don’t expect too much. The people controlling the Kentucky Department of Education are, for the most part, people who do not believe that the Bible can be lived out in this present day. Thus, they will replace one secular form of education with another. So what can you do for your children and grandchildren?
Teach them yourselves, or at least get someone to teach them who understands the Bible’s form and method of education. God gave the responsibility for education to parents, not the state. You, as a parent, are the one who loves and knows your child best. You are also the one who stands to be most blessed---or most cursed---by the way that child lives. (Note how many grandparents are having to rear their grandchildren because of the failure of the children’s parents.) Therefore, your future on earth is wrapped up in the success or failure of your children to become what God created them to be. Only if we, as parents, walk with Jesus Christ, being obedient to Him, can we reap the peace and joy of having Godly children, which means those children will be respective, productive citizens.
America’s Founders understood this, which is why they insisted on Christian education, instead of Godless education, for their children. They understood that for the nation to continue in liberty they must teach their children to live according to the Bible. The great statesman, Daniel Webster said:
“Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.”
Sam Adams, the Father of the American Revolution summed up the relationship between Godly education and the home this way:
“Religion in a family is at once its brightest ornament and its best security.”
He also stated about the education of children and its affect on the culture:
“Let divines and philosophers, statesmen and patriots, unite their endeavors to renovate the age, by impressing the minds of men with the importance of educating their little boys and girls, of inculcating in the minds of youth the fear and love of the Deity and universal philanthropy, and, in subordination to these great principles, the love of their country; of instructing them in the art of self-government without which they never can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.”
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Apr 8, 2009 15:55:18 GMT -5
Overcoming The Current Fear by: Don Pinson
Is the economy going to get better---or will it continue to slide?
Will I loose my job?
Will I be able to provide for my family?
Will the nation survive the current downhill slide or will we loose our liberty and live under a dictator?
These are very real fears that many feel today. What can we do? The pattern I’m about to give you, you will not hear on the nightly news.
Number one, we have to settle the issue of physical death. That’s right; we have to come to peace with our individual moment of death. You may be wondering how this relates to the crisis in Washington: It has everything to do with it. Until we come face to face with the fact that we’re not going to live forever on this earth, but that we are going to live forever somewhere, we cannot possibly move into the destiny God has for us. We cannot protect national liberty until we have personal liberty!
We simply must come to a moment in our lives when we acknowledge that this life is not ours; that it belongs to our Creator who knit us together in our mother’s womb. When we face that fact, and say to Him, “Lord Jesus, I acknowledge this life to be Yours, not mine. You have the right to rule this life in me because You made me and because you died for me. I relinquish all claims to it. You can rule in me from this day forward. I believe You died and rose again from the dead so I could be forgiven, and become a fit dwelling place for You. Please come into me and set up your kingdom. Use me anyway You choose. From this moment on, I’m completely Yours!” When we express our belief in Him in this way, the Bible says, “…we have passed from death into life.” (John 5:24) Once this happens, the most amazing thing occurs inside us. We loose the fear of hell being our eternal home. We then---and only then--- are equipped to live life with abandonment to the will of God, for which He created us.
If, at one point in your life, you’ve received Christ in this way, I urge you to return to your “first love” for Him. If you haven’t yet received Him in this way, do it right now. Out of this total abandonment to Him we can settle the issue of our death. As the Apostle Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) Once we know that at the moment of death, we will go immediately into His Presence in heaven, we’re ready to live with reckless abandonment to His will. We can then experience complete peace with our life and our death.
This enables us to face the future with confidence, no matter what it may hold for us. We loose our fear of man, and become bold to speak the truth of God in any place it’s needed. We know we may have to die for Christ, but that’s okay. Even concern for our children is answered by knowing He who gave them to us, is better able to protect and provide for them than we would ever have been.
So you have to settle the issue of dying for the truth of God. If you’ll go ahead and accept that this may well happen in these days we’re living in, God will bring you through to complete confidence in Him. You’ll live in peace in the midst of the growing turmoil. You’ll become a growing light in the midst of this growing darkness. You’ll become increasingly bold in speaking the truth in the midst of this growing intimidation by an ungodly national government.
Will you ask God to bring you to the point you’re willing to die physically for Him, and His cause of liberty? It may never come for you. But if it does, you’ll be able to say with peace in your heart, as Jesus said, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42) And - you’ll be able to live with boldness in the midst of this increasing disorder.
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Apr 12, 2009 7:13:53 GMT -5
People Are Gathering by: Don Pinson
My friend and mentor, Dr. Paul Jehle, spoke to 800 people in Chicago a few days ago. They had gathered to say, “Enough is enough!” They called it a Tea Party because they feel they’ve been wronged by our national government just as the Patriots in the Colonies had been wronged by the King and Parliament in 1773. You may remember the Colonists dumped shiploads of tea into Boston harbor that year because the King was trying to force a tax on them without the approval of their legislatures here in the Colonies. Many Americans are getting fed up with the way the national government is shoving unconstitutional taxes and regulation down their throat. And with this current Administration proving to be the worst in history for this kind of thing, many are beginning to do more than talk about it. Dr. Jehle was invited there because of his excellent understanding of our original Constitution and how to restore it. He spoke for hours on the principle of “interposition.” This is the Biblical concept of how you correct a government that has stepped out of the boundaries God has set for government.
In correcting an out-of-control government, care must be taken to ‘remove the virus without crashing the hard drive,’ to put it in computer language. We must remove the rebellion without becoming rebels. So how do we do this? We use the Biblical principle of ‘interposition.’ When the Jews were about to be destroyed by a wicked government official in the days of Esther, the Jewish Queen of Persia, she appealed to the King to save her people. That is, she the Queen, the lesser authority, went to the King, who was the highest authority, and requested of him to save her people. (Esther 7: 1-6) That’s the principle of ‘interposition.’ A lesser authority appeals to the greater authority in government to correct the disordered use of authority. This is a “revolution” as opposed to a “rebellion.” In a revolution you restore what once was, in other words, Godly authority, using other Godly authority to accomplish this. In contrast, a rebellion is when people attempt to fix a disorder in government without going through established authority. They simply take the government into their own hands. This is trying to fix a disorder with more disorder.
So how do we fix this current disordered government in Washington? Number one, we pray for the people who are running it. This keeps us from operating out of anger only, and it lets reason prevail. Secondly, we appeal to elected servants with letters, phone calls, and the like. We’re asking them to change it. It they turn a deaf ear, we go to the polls and vote them out of office, being careful to replace them with someone who thinks Biblically. In the meantime, while we wait for an election, we appeal to our state governments to stand against the regulation and taxation coming from the national government. This is the state government stepping in, as Queen Esther did, between the people and the government authority that is out of order. This is interposition. If the national government listens to the states, all is well. If they don’t, then we must take measures to defend our persons and our property. But armed resistance must be the very last option in this resistance. And then, to be blessed by God, it must be led by a government, not by an individual. A state government would be the first choice, though a county or city government could do it, provided the state government had refused to.
Did you know about the principle of interposition? How can you protect your liberty if you didn’t know God’s method for doing it?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Apr 18, 2009 7:35:55 GMT -5
Why So Much Talk About Government? by: Don Pinson
The newscast is full of it. The newspapers’ main stories are about it. Bestseller books are often discussions of it. Why is there so much talk about government? What’s so important about government?
Well, like most things in today’s world, we generally talk around the topic instead of defining it. Why not go to the root of the issue and actually learn what we’re talking so much about. The word government comes from the word govern. The word govern is defined in Noah Webster’s original American dictionary as control. Thus, government is the exercising of control. The first form of government we must learn is self-government. The art of governing ourselves means we control our appetites of the mind and the body.
Self-government in the mind means we exercise control over our thoughts and think on what is “…noble…just…and pure…” as the Bible teaches us to (Philippians 4:8). This necessarily means we must control what goes into our minds; in other words, we control what we see, read, or listen to. Self-government in our body means we exercise control over our body appetites. Things like eating, resting, sleeping, and our desire for sex, are some examples of what we must learn to control.
Thus, if there is to be self-government, someone must say exactly what is to be controlled. This is where we generally start resisting the idea of self-government; because either we will accept someone else’s idea of what should be controlled in our minds and bodies, or we, ourselves, will determine what should be controlled. And since we all tend to act from selfishness, all of us start out wanting to be the one to “call the shots” about what we should or should not control. If we do accept someone else’s idea about self-control, then we have to decide: Is it going to be another man’s idea, or is it going to be God’s idea revealed in the Bible. If we’re going to accept a standard from outside ourselves, those are the only two choices we have. Jesus left no room for debate as to whether we should listen to God or listen to man. He stated,
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
Jesus, in no uncertain terms, is telling us to listen to God, not man! Thus, self-government can only be consistently achieved by surrendering these lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ; and trusting His Spirit to work His self-control inside us.
Concerning civil government: Only if we are self-governed by the Spirit of God can we have the proper understanding as to how to operate civil government. How to recognize the right form of civil government, as well as choosing the right candidates to work in civil government, is dependent on own walk of self-control. If we’re not controlling ourselves, how can we recognize self-control in someone else? And no person can be a good servant in civil government if his own desires are out of control.
America’s Founders understood this very well. Sam Adams, the Father of the American Revolution, said that to create the right kind of nation, we must teach,
“…little boys and girls…the art of self-government, without which they never can act a wise part in the government of societies, great or small; in short, of leading them in the study and practice of the exalted virtues of the Christian system.”
Are you teaching your children the self control of the “Christian system”? Are you surprised that there’s very little self-control among government servants?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Apr 21, 2009 4:25:42 GMT -5
Is Law Livable? by: Don Pinson
When I was a kid and I’d get a little rowdy, my Dad would often say, “Now son, I’m laying the law down to you.” And then he’d go on to explain what I could or could not do. I knew what he meant by “laying the law down.” He was making plain the boundaries for my behavior, and I understood I’d better not step outside those boundaries or I would suffer the consequences---not the least of which was his belt applied to my rear end. I learned through that discipline that I could live “by the law.”
I’m amazed at how many people think we can’t live by law anymore. They say by their actions, if not their words, “You don’t have to keep any law. I determine the law for myself.” In other words, there is nothing “set in,” which is what the word law means. The boundaries for behavior shift depending on what the individual wants in a given situation. But is this good?
The Bible says, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6) We are being destroyed today because we don’t know or don’t believe what the Bible says. God didn’t write the Ten Commandments and the words of Jesus because He wants us to have a hard life. He wrote them to let us know He has a plan for these lives we thought were our own; and if we’ll walk in those laws we’ll fulfill the purpose He has for us. And in doing His purpose, we find that we get spared the misery that most experience today.
The growing drug epidemic that steals the lives of so many young people is one notable result of this ‘life without law.’ How much heartbreak would have been prevented if parents had known the way of God and taught their children His boundaries expressed in His law. If those children had grown up loving Jesus and knowing He had a plan for their lives, they would not have turned to the drugs which snuffed out their lives by an overdose or a car wreck, or even worse---suicide.
Also, consider the devastating affect which living without law has caused us in the realm of sexual expression. Because we’ve often reared our children without teaching our sons that they are not to look at women who are dressed immodestly, or teaching our daughter that they are to dress modestly as little girls and not develop flirtatious ways, we have opened them up to destruction. By not teaching them the boundaries of God’s laws, we have given them over to destruction by satan. They now reap in their bodies the death of sexually transmitted disease. Indeed, one in four teenagers in America now carries a sexually transmitted disease. Millions have reaped the emotional pain of divorce because they grew up without the instruction of God’s boundaries concerning sexual activity.
These are the result of living without law. The Bible says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6: 23)
Trying to live without law only destroys us. It will destroy us, and through us, our families. Through disordered families, the nation itself is destroyed. America’s Founders understood and taught their children that you could not be ignorant of God’s law and remain politically free. License and liberty simply do not go together!
The Father of America’s original education method, Noah Webster, taught children:
“The virtue which is necessary to… render a government stable, is Christian [morality], which consists in the uniform practice of moral and religious duties, in conformity with the laws of both God and man.”
Are you teaching children to live by the laws of God?
Can you quote the Ten Commandments?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Apr 28, 2009 5:34:12 GMT -5
How Should We Then Live? by: Don Pinson
There’s never been a time like this in America. Never before have we seen such a rapid dismantling of our religious liberties as we are now seeing. And since religious liberty is the foundational liberty from which all other liberties flow, the current attack is the most serious crisis we’ve ever faced. What are we to do in the midst of such a vehement assault by our national government on our liberties? Is the situation really as bad as I’m making it out to be? Well, you be the judge; consider this.
On April 7th the Homeland Security office issued a report to all law-enforcement agencies throughout the nation. The report warned of the strong possibility of terrorist’s attacks from within the country by, as it said, “rightwing extremists.” But get this: here is the national government’s definition of “rightwing extremists,” I quote from the report:
“Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups…that are primarily hate-oriented (based on particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.”
In other words, if you believe abortion is murder, you are a “rightwing extremist” and a threat to the U.S. government. If you believe illegal immigration is a violation of citizenship rights, you are a “rightwing extremist” and a threat to the national government. If you believe, as America’s Founding Fathers did, that the national government should not be more powerful that the state governments except in the thirty specific powers which the states gave up to it in the original U.S. Constitution, you are a “rightwing extremist,” and a threat to the national government. It also listed returning soldiers from Iraq as being possible terrorists who might use what they had learned in combat to overthrow the U.S. government. This report even associated us with Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the government building in Oklahoma City in 1994, killing a number of innocent people.
What has happened to our beloved America that would cause those of us who are the Patriots of our original Constitution, and want to see innocent children protected from murder, to be classified as enemies of the state? This sounds alarmingly like the Nazi regime in Germany that killed six million Jews and even more Christians for the very same kinds of beliefs!
So what is to be our attitude toward this new government, and the President who appointed the woman who heads up the Homeland Security agency of the national government? God said through the Apostle Peter,
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. (1 Peter 3:14-15)
Are you praying for those who persecute you? Are you working to teach Biblical thinking to your children and others, so we’ll know how to restore our government to the Biblical structure our Founders gave us?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on May 3, 2009 7:31:09 GMT -5
The End Of Religious Liberty, And All Liberty by: Don Pinson
This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the controversial bill, HR 1913 – the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. This “Hate Crimes Bill” would create a new class of crimes based on the victim’s “actual perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.” To tell it straight: If a homosexual, or other sexually perverted person, thinks you’ve said or done something that offends them, they could sue you. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The reality is, that if a minister was to read from the Bible the passages about homosexuality or some other sexual perversion, he would be in danger of being fined and jailed. And if those in the homosexual movement who hate God want to later accuse the Bible of being a “hate” book against them, what’s to keep the same law from being applied to all teaching of the Bible in our nation. This is exactly the line of reasoning that’s been used by other oppressive governments in the past to stop the teaching of the Bible in their cultures. Perhaps you’re thinking, “That could never be!” Let me relate a story to you.
In one of our recent meetings a young Pastor related how a minister friend of his in Canada (which already has a national “Hate Crimes” law), was speaking in a public park in Canada. The minister did not add any comment to his reading of the Bible, he simply read from one of the Bible passages which mentions, among many other sins listed, the sin of homosexuality. He was reported to the authorities and arrested---for simply reading the Bible! This is exactly what will come to America if the “Hate Crimes” law is passed; and if our states choose to enforce the law instead of standing against this tyranny.
Many are just turning their heads in the midst of this growing persecution of the Bible and those who believe it. They act as if this will have no effect on them. They are greatly deceived! When a small group is allowed to disregard the Bible as the standard for law because the rest of us sit by and don’t want to be bothered with being involved in government, we are headed for a dictatorship---where “someone else will do our thinking for us.”
William Penn, the Founder of Pennsylvania said, “Men will be governed by God, or they will be ruled by tyrants.”
God is shouting to us to get our attention! “Wisdom cries out to us in the streets,” speaking on behalf of God! He says in Psalms 94:16, “Who will stand up for me against evildoers? Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?”
Don’t be as those who refused to do the courageous thing in Germany in the early 1930’s! Stand while there is opportunity to stand. One Pastor in Germany confessed his early failure to resist Hitler when he said, “In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time---no one was left to speak up.”
Are you earnestly asking God to deliver us from this tyrannical law? Are you calling your Congressman, urging him to vote against the “Hate Crimes Legislation?” Are you speaking up? Or are you “too busy?”
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
NOTE: This bill has passed the House. But let's pray that we can stop it by calling our Senators and urging them to work to kill it in the Senate. The Capitol Switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Just ask for your Senators. If you don't know their name, just tell the operator the State you're from. Then one Senator's office can switch you over to your other Senator's office (each state has only two Senators), and you can leave the same message: "Kill the 'Hate Crimes' bill; it will destroy our religious liberty!"
Pray for others to call. Please pass this on to as many as you can. God bless you and yours and may He deliver us from this present Administration's design to destroy our liberty!
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Post by Heritage Ministries on May 12, 2009 19:58:28 GMT -5
Prayer Is Increasing by: Don Pinson
May 7th has been designated as this year’s National Day of Prayer. It is expected that millions will attend the thousands of prayer meetings to be held all across this nation. Americans have again been observing these Days of Prayer ever since Ronald Reagan was President in the 1980’s. However, this was just a renewal of a long-standing tradition which began with the Pilgrims, and was continued frequently until the early 1900’s. Outside of the drift away from our roots in the mid 1900’s, America has been a nation which was founded in prayer, and lived by answers to those prayers.
Now we find ourselves in the most desperate need we’ve ever known in this land. With the national government becoming increasingly hostile toward Christianity, we are once again being driven to our knees. This is a good thing. Our complacency being fueled by the quest for pleasure, most of us were asleep until recent days. Even the move toward God following the Sept. 11th attacks in 2001 was short lived. We quickly went back to “business as usual,” notwithstanding the valiant effort by some to keep us praying for our troops in the middle-east. However, the current economic crisis, coupled with the huge mass of anti-Biblical regulation and legislation moving so rapidly through our national government, is awakening a large number of people to our great need of a move of God among us. Many sense that the end of our liberty to freely preach the Gospel may be close at hand. And while I would not have chosen this means to get us here, I’m grateful to God for the renewed stirring to prayer among His people. One great man of God said, “Whenever God gets ready to send revival, He first sets His people to praying.” The Bibles says,
“Call unto me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you know not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
I’m discovering prayer meetings all over this region. There’s a church in Corbin, Ky. which has been meeting on Thursday nights for better than four years just to pray for an awakening in this land. A group of ladies in Slade, Ky. have been praying for revival for many months now. A new prayer group has just begun in Maysville, Ky. recently: And they had a huge crowd at their very first meeting. One large denomination in the state is planning massive numbers of prayer meetings with their churches in the near future. I’m aware of a non-denominational prayer meeting that’s been going on a number of years. They travel to different parts of Kentucky each month and meet together to plead with God for an awakening across this state. I’m also aware of consistent prayer meetings in Harlan, Hazard, and Pikeville, just to name a few, space not permitting the naming of others.
Oh may God be pleased to grant us an awakening to see again Who He is, who we are, and what His plan for us is! Oh may He turn this region, state, and nation back to Himself! In 1623, when the Pilgrims found themselves in a twelve week drought, they set aside a day to fast and pray. As they confessed their sins to God, and to one another, God began to move. By the end of their meeting that day, the clouds had begun to gather and the gentle rain that started that night would last for two weeks. Their crops were completely revived---along with their hope! Let us earnestly seek God, that He may revive our commitment to Him and thus our hope.
Will you commit to pray: regularly, earnestly, with a repentant heart?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on May 26, 2009 17:04:58 GMT -5
Is Obama Against Religious Liberty? by: Don Pinson
“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3).
This is the first of the Ten Commandments as God gave them to Moses. Jesus said it’s the most important Commandment (Matthew 22:37). Thus, America’s Founding Fathers made it the first specifically mentioned right in the Bill of Rights of our original Constitution. They stated: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
All through the 1600’s, the 1700’s, and the 1800’s, government servants were careful to honor and protect this right of religious liberty; because it is the right out of which all other liberties flow. No President would have dared address the nation without giving honor to the Christian God because our very civil documents were based on the principles of Christianity. Yet the current White House is strangely silent on acknowledging the importance of this all-important right of religious liberty.
Indeed, for the first time in many years, the White House did not have a representative at the recent National Day of Prayer held on Capitol Hill. And neither was there any special service at the White House itself for the National Day of Prayer, when many Presidents before have had them. Why is Barack Obama so silent about Christianity? He’s certainly been open with his expressions of respect for the Moslem faith! Why would he not encourage the faith on which our liberty was founded and which created, through the 1800’s, the greatest nation in world history? Does he not acknowledge that fact? Or is he against Bible-believing Christianity?
Another issue revealing his attitude toward Christianity is his support of the so-called “hate-crimes” law, which recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives. Obama is whole-heartedly endorsing this law which would strip Christians of their right to state the Bible position on homosexuality. David Fowler of Family Action of Tenn., points out that, even though the bill has language that promises this won’t affect ministers right to speak out on issues, the reality is that.
“This law is a first step toward making vocal opposition to homosexuality and homosexual marriage (and other controversial issues) a crime. In particular, this bill will give [ministers] reason to think twice about speaking out on the issue because of an existing federal law, 42 U.S.C Section 2.
…current federal law states that whoever "aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures [the] commission [of a federal crime], is punishable as a principal."
In other words, if a person who breaks the hate crimes bill has heard a sermon on homosexuality, you better believe there will be homosexual advocates pushing to have that minister prosecuted for having "counseled" or "induced" the perpetrator to act. Why? Because the minister's sermon got the perpetrator riled up, "inducing" the hatefulness that caused the crime [will be their argument].
Why is this current Administration pushing this bill if Obama is for religious liberty? Why would he be for silencing those who speak from the Bible unless he’s against Christianity?
These are dangerous signals coming from our national government. In fact, it’s the very same type of things that happened in Nazi Germany when Adolf Hitler first became Chancellor in 1933.
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on May 30, 2009 7:47:48 GMT -5
Religious Liberty Must Be Maintained by: Don Pinson
It’s always been a struggle. Allowing individuals to have the freedom that is their God-given right, while, at the same time, maintaining the order necessary for a society to function, has always been the challenge to freedom-loving peoples. Maintaining the delicate balance between individual freedom and cultural order is what makes “eternal vigilance…the price of liberty”, as Thomas Jefferson said.
Our Founders managed to achieve this balance when they wrote our Declaration of Independence and our original Constitution. They believed liberty, as it was taught in the Bible, was what they were to secure with the writing of our Founding documents. From private ownership of property, to the limiting of governmental power, they got their ideas from the Bible. Indeed, in their writings, fully one-third of the time, when they quoted any other source, they quoted from the Bible. They believed the passages that spoke of liberty: Such as 2 Corinthians 3: 17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
They often quoted Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.”
On the Liberty Bell they actually inscribed a Bible verse about liberty, Leviticus 25: 10, “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants thereof.”
To them, liberty was the balance. Their concept of liberty was ‘freedom within boundaries’; like a river which flows within its banks and provides life-giving water for all. Our Founders obviously believed the Bible was the source of these concepts of liberty. This is why they wanted religious liberty protected. They wrote the First Amendment to the Constitution to specifically spell out that religious freedom must be protected. However, they were convinced that only genuine Christianity could maintain liberty. That was why the wording of the First Amendment said: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” They didn’t want a government interpretation of the Bible that would surely come, if the government was ever allowed to create a national church. Therefore, they forbid government interference into the church’s main activities of worship and evangelism.
The idea that Christianity has no place in the realm of government is a “Johnny-come-lately” idea. All through the 1800’s the Founders’ position was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court and by lower Courts. One example is the writing of Thomas Cooley, Chief Justice of Michigan’s Supreme Court and President of the American Bar Association. He stated in 1898:
"It was never intended by the Constitution that the government should be prohibited from recognizing religion, or that religious worship should never be provided for in cases where a proper recognition of Divine Providence in the working of government might seem to require it..... “The Christian religion was always recognized in the administration of the common law of the land, the fundamental principles of that religion must continue to be recognized in the same cases and to the same extent as formerly."
Are you teaching your children how to think about the relation of religious liberty to government? Do you, yourself, understand this concept? If you don’t, how can the liberty of your children be preserved?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you: And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jun 4, 2009 5:45:32 GMT -5
The Key to Preserving Liberty by: Don Pinson
It really amazes me how so many people continue to sleep in the midst of this crisis, which, without revival, will end in the loss of our liberty. Yet most Americans continue to pursue their ballgames, golf, and outings to the lake as if all was well and would continue on and on just as it is now. It is the fault of our education process that we continue to sleep, as we did on the morning when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941. This is not to place all the blame on school systems either; education is much more than just the classroom. The television programming, the internet viewing, the music we listen to, are all major contributors to the way we now think. Without careful study of the Bible, believing that its teachings are true and thereby should be lived by, we simply follow the inclinations of our own thinking---and that’s the root problem.
The Bible says, “There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10) It reveals that our “…heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; [but] who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) This is because there is a root of sin in us which releases in us the attitude of “I want what I want when I want it.” To get what you want, you have to be able to control your circumstances. That means you have to fight someone else for control. This desire for control is what has caused every hurt and every war in history. Thus, those who haven’t surrender their will to Jesus Christ, and had His life replace theirs in this world, cannot possibly preserve liberty. Unless Christ is our Lord, we will trample on other’s rights in order to get what we want. This is why America’s Founders taught us we could not keep our liberty unless we kept our virtue, meaning our moral goodness. An immoral life destroys liberty. You and I can’t “have it our way” and still have liberty; it’s that simple.
John Adams, our second President, said it like this: “Private, and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.”
John Withersthingy, President of Princeton College, who trained many of our Founders stated it plainly when he said, "A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty…he is the best friend to American liberty, who is most sincere…in promoting true and undefiled [Christianity], and who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down on profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God, I [hesitate] not to call him an enemy of his country."
William Seward was Secretary of State during Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency. Earlier in life, he had been the Vice-President of the American Bible Society. He once said concerning nations, like America, which are Republics: “I know not how long a republican government can flourish among a great people who have not the Bible; the experiment has never been tried; but this I do know: that the existing government of this country never could have had existence but for the Bible. And, further, I do, in my conscience, believe that if at every decade of years a copy of the Bible could be found in every family in the land, its republican institutions would be perpetuated.”
Have you surrendered your will to Jesus Christ, asking Him to take control of that life which is rightfully His anyway? Are you reading the Bible everyday? Are you teaching it to your children by reading it to them and discussing it with them?
If not, why would you want to destroy their liberty?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jun 12, 2009 14:40:42 GMT -5
Horse Industry Needs Money - Really Now! by: Don Pinson
Last week I received in the mail, just as many of you did, a full color brochure from KEEP, which is the leading lobby group for the horse industry. The whole magazine puts forth the supposed plight of the dying horse industry in Kentucky. It appeals to Kentuckian’s emotions by saying the poor horse industry will die in Kentucky unless we attached casino gambling to the horse tracks. Therefore we need a special session of the Legislature to pass a law to allow casinos at the horse tracks.
It gets more and more laughable the lengths to which politicians will go to manipulate the people to approve what is evidently designed to bring them gain. It can’t be for the good of the people. For gambling only destroys our society. It destroys individuals, families, business and government. So we can only assume that somehow the politicians pushing it stand to gain from it.
Plus, the idea that the horse industry needs the people’s money who will gamble at the horse track casinos is ridiculous! The horse industry in Kentucky has had near record years in the sale of horses in recent years. They, who are some of the wealthiest among us, need the help of lesser income families? This makes no sense whatever! Not to mention what a moral wrong it is for the wealthier to steal from those less fortunate than themselves. The Bible has a word to describe this kind of attitude: GREED!
Not only did God say, “Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15), which is what Governor Beshear and Speaker of the House, Greg Stumbo are promoting, the Bible teaches that there are only two legitimate ways to gain income. One is work; the other is through the gifts someone leaves to us such as an inheritance from deceased parents. God teaches so strongly that we should work to earn a living that He says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If any man shall not work, neither should he eat.” So to suggest that we should gain by any form of gambling is to directly contradict the Bible, which is God’s infallible Word to man. Those who promote gambling align themselves directly opposite to God’s revealed truth!
The Continental Congress, which was our national government from the time of our Declaration of Independence in 1776 until the approval of our national Constitution in 1789, revealed their belief in protecting good morals when they stated:
“Whereas true religion and good morals are the only solid foundations of public liberty and happiness: Resolved… it is hereby earnestly recommended to the several states, to take the most effectual measures for the encouragement of… suppressing theatrical entertainments, horse racing, [gambling], and such other diversions as are productive of idleness, dissipation, and a general depravity of principles and manners.”
So, as always, this whole issue boils down to: Do we believe what the Bible says, or are we going to do it man’s way because we think we know more than God. We’ve been doing it man’s way in America for almost a hundred years. It has brought us more drug and alcohol addiction, more crime, almost constant war for the last twenty years, and a failing economy. Do we not see the handwriting of God’s judgment on the wall?
Will you ask God to deliver us from this evil? Will you call your Legislators and work with God is protecting your children from casino gambling?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jun 18, 2009 23:03:37 GMT -5
How Many Lies Before You Distrust Someone? by: Don Pinson
How many times does a snake have to bite you before you realize it’s a snake?
The answer to that may seem so obvious that the question seems ridiculous. However, that’s exactly what we have with the Governor’s and Greg Stumbo’s proposal for casino gambling at the horse tracks in Kentucky. In 1988 Greg Stumbo, also then a member of the Legislature, pushed the Ky. Lottery bill. He, along with others, promised Kentucky people that the bill included no provision for “slot machines or anything like that.” Yet now, as Speaker of the House, he is saying that the Lottery Law allows for slot machines at the horse tracks. What’s wrong with this picture?!
Kentucky citizens were also told in the push for a Lottery that the money would go for education. Yet, not one dime went for education for ten years. It all went into the general fund---or perhaps someone’s pocket! At any rate, it would be ten years later before any money started going into education from the Lottery. And it wouldn’t have happened then except “watch-dog” groups in Frankfort were finally able to flush out enough evidence that “the powers that be” could no longer hide it and had to begin to shift some of the money to education.
How many times does a snake have to bite you for you to know it’s a snake?
Greg Stumbo is now saying that this bill he sponsors to bring slot machines to the horse tracks in this state will produce 1.2 billion dollars in revenue for the state. The Legislative research commission, which exists for the purpose of bringing integrity to the whole legislative process, says his plan will produce something like half that much, 676 million. Why would Stumbo promote this much larger number than the Research Commission?
How many times do we have to be bitten to recognize something around us is wrong?
Governor Steve Beshear promised in his campaign that the people of Kentucky should decide this on a ballot vote. While I’m not for that, since we send Legislators to Frankfort to do this very thing, Beshear’s integrity should be considered here. He is now trying to push a bill through the Legislature to bring casino-type gambling to the horse tracks without the people voting on a Constitutional Amendment to allow this. His exact words in the campaign were: “It is time to put this question on the ballot and let the people of Kentucky decide. As Governor of this state, I will make sure that the people have an opportunity to make that choice.”
How many times does a… You get the picture.
The Bible says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness…” (Exodus 20:16) When someone says one thing and does another, they have borne “false witness.” The Bible tells us “to put away all lying” (1 Peter 2:1). It says, “Thou shalt not raise a false report…” (Exodus 23:1) When you exaggerate numbers and make promises you don’t keep, you have spoken “a false report.”
America’s Founders taught us to never give our vote to those who have lied to us, much less believe them more than once. Noah Webster, the Father of America’s original education method wrote in his history book to young people these revealing words:
When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers "just men who will rule in the fear of God."
How many times do you have to be bitten to know there’s a snake in the grass?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jun 23, 2009 21:31:24 GMT -5
Greed Has No Morals by: Don Pinson
It’s amazing how politicians will say one thing and do another. Last winter in the regular Legislative Session, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Greg Stumbo, refused to hear the Ultra-Sound Bill, designed to save the lives of 4000 innocent babies in the womb, because he said it would break House rules to bring it up in the Veto session. However, now that it’s his bill to bring casino-type gambling to the horse tracks, he’s manipulating the rules to push it through the House. Can we trust his word about anything?
While the Ultra-Sound Bill was sent to a “death” committee, the leadership, headed by Stumbo, sends the gambling bill to a “fast-track” committee in order to get it out quickly. However, a further manipulation that I’ve never experienced in my years of working with the Legislature, is they are hearing testimony about the gambling bill in a different committee than the committee which will vote on the passage of the bill! The Committee on Licensing and Occupation is hearing debate about the bill, but the Appropriations and Revenue Committee will actually vote on the bill. What kind of nonsense (or manipulation is a better word) is that?
Also, Attorney General Jack Conway conveniently issues a decision saying basically that any form of gambling is allowable anywhere in the state under Kentucky’s present Constitution (by the way Conway is a candidate for the US Senate seat this coming year). Only the last two Attorney Generals (Stumbo having held this office before Conway) have ever said Kentucky’s Constitution allowed casinos in this state.
What does Kentucky’s Constitution actually say? Section 226, Article 3 says,
“Except as provided in this section, lotteries and gift enterprises are forbidden.”
Kentucky’s citizens forbid lotteries in this state in 1891, because they were, as the U.S. Supreme Court called them, a “widespread pestilence.” That’s why it took a Constitutional Amendment in 1988 to allow a Ky. Lottery. But that Amendment in no way allowed for casino-type gambling. The language and the spirit of the debates made that very clear! But, greed has no morals, so you get rulings which agree with selfish desires instead of truth. The Bible warns us in 1 Peter 5:8 that, “The devil walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
Only if we are absolutely committed to the Bible being absolutely true can we ever discern the difference between right and wrong. And the Bible teaches that there are only two legitimate ways to gain wealth. You can earn it “by the sweat of your brow,” or you can receive it as a gift from someone. All other means are wrong before God and we will give account to Him for ill-gotten gain, both now and later at the Judgment. Indeed if we hadn’t allowed the Lottery Amendment in 1988, we would not be fighting this battle against casinos now.
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children!
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jun 29, 2009 21:06:57 GMT -5
What Is Interposition? by: Don Pinson
Interposition; what on earth does that mean? Noah Webster, in his original American dictionary defined it as, “being, placing or coming between; intervention.” In geography it is illustrated by the way Kentucky lies between Tennessee and Ohio. In government it is one governmental power, such as Kentucky’s state government, intervening between the national government and the people, to keep the national government from forcing its will on Kentucky people. You might ask, “Is this the right thing to do?”
Actually the idea of interposition comes from the Bible. Jesus stepped in between God and man to pay our debt to God of one perfect life we had stolen in the Garden of Eden and used for ourselves. Jesus, by offering up His perfect life to pay the debt we owed, interposed His life between us and God. He stepped in between God and man to turn away the judgment of God on man. As the Bible says, For Christ has also once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)
Jesus did this because it’s a law with God that every debt must be paid. Jesus legally paid our debt so God could legally accept us just as if we had never sinned against Him. This is the principle of interposition. This is exactly what our Founding Fathers did in the governmental realm when they revolted against England and established our Republic in July of 1776. The document they wrote to explain their actions, The Declaration of Independence, sets forth this principle of interposition. In explaining how the King of England and Parliament had stepped out from under the flow of Godly authority, and therefore were taking the rights which come with the flow of God’s authority, the Declaration stated America’s intent to restore these rights by restoring Godly government to these states. The Declaration of Independence stated:
“…We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness… That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…”
The Continental Congress, which had been duly elected by the people (with whom lies all government authority), was their government stepping in between them and the King of England and appealing to him to return to his rightful position in God’s order of government. When the King repeatedly refused, our forefathers were finally forced to defend their rights with armed resistance. Armed resistance is always the last form of interposition.
Is interposition needed again in America? It most certainly is! With the national government, led by the current White House, more and more forcing its will on the citizens of the states, we must have our states interpose themselves between us and this tyrannical government in Washington. Indeed thirteen states have already passed resolutions this year declaring that Washington must not impose its will on their people. We’re beginning to wake up and realize that the socialism being pushed by this present national government is not Biblical, and thereby is in disagreement with America’s Founding principles.
Shouldn’t you learn about the principle of interposition and be teaching it to your children and grandchildren?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jul 8, 2009 21:25:08 GMT -5
OUR FREEDOM DOCUMENT by: Don Pinson
The Bible says, "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal. 5:1)
Ladies and Gentlemen: The following document is the reason you and I, in America, are free:
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world...
[They then list 27 violations of God's laws for government which the King had violated.]
...In every stage of these Suppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
WE, THEREFORE, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connections between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliance, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
The Declaration of Independence signed by our Founders, July 4th, 1776
Think About It. Because if you don't, someone else will do your thinking for you, And you won't like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jul 17, 2009 7:09:13 GMT -5
Pastors Must Lead This Fight by: Don Pinson
It was 1775. On April 19th the British army, which had been our army up until that time, attacked a group of farmers standing on Lexington Green to defend their homes. That group of some seventy-five farmers were members of the local church at Lexington. Their Pastor, Jonas Clark, had been preparing them for this moment by his preaching over the last twenty years. He had taught them the Biblical principles that support self-defense from an aggressive enemy. Captain Jonas Parker, head Deacon and leader of the group on the Green, called out to his men,
“Steady men, steady; don’t fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war, let it begin here.”
The British did fire, and eight Americans died. The rest of the Americans then returned the fire, and then they scattered to the woods to make their way to Concord, where they would join with a much larger force of Americans. At Concord they would repulse the British attack and win the day. The impossible had occurred: An army of farmers had defeated the British army of professional soldiers, the greatest army on earth in that day. Why? Colonial Pastors would give the credit to their God, Jesus Christ. As Jedediah Morse would reveal, the inspiration behind the fighting of our army of farmers was the Ministers of the Colonies. Morse stated,
“The prayers and public [sermons] of the [ministers]…who were friends to their country, (and there were few who were not) breathed the spirit of patriotism...”
At the end of that same year, Peter Muhlenberg, a Pastor in the Shenandoah Valley, preached a stirring sermon concerning the rights and responsibilities of God’s people in their present conflict with England. As he finished his sermon he stated,
“There is a time for all things---a time to preach and a time to pray…” But, he went on to say, those times had passed away; then he stated, “There is a time to fight, and that time has now come.”
He then removed his clerical robe and revealed the uniform underneath: That of an officer in Washington’s Continental Army. He marched off that day at the head of several hundred men who volunteered to go with him to fight for their liberty.
The time has come for Pastors to again take the lead in teaching the people of God Biblical governmental principles. We, as ministers of God, must relearn the Biblical principles of defending our persons and our property, since our persons are made in the image of God; and any attack against a person is an attack against the God who made that person in His own image. Likewise any confiscating of property, by an individual or by government, is a theft of what belongs to God, since God Himself has entrusted that property to the individual who is being robbed. Indeed He states in His Word:
"The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.” (Psalms 24:1)
Likewise, we who lead the Church of Jesus Christ must again learn the Biblical principles of government---both its spirit and its form. Most of us have recognized the need for a moral spirit in government. What we, as ministers, have known less about is the Biblical form of government. And since we can’t teach what we don’t know, God’s people do not know the difference between a democracy and a republic. And we’re losing our liberty to preach the Gospel in public because of it!
Will you commit, as a church leader, to relearn the principles of government from the Bible? Will you ask God to give you the courage to teach those principles, no matter what it may cost you?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Jul 21, 2009 4:58:58 GMT -5
Will Liberty In America Start To Die This Week? by: Don Pinson
The vote in the U.S. Senate on the “Hate-Crimes” legislation is scheduled for Thursday, July 16th. If the Senate passes this, all that remains will be for Mr. Obama to sign this bill and a law will be in place to stop the preaching of the Gospel of Christ right here in the United States of America. In this land, which has been the hope of the world for near 400 years, the nation which has given the greatest amount of liberty to the greatest number of people, will begin the downhill slide to join the nations which are ruled by a dictator. You say, “Don, how can this be?” Let me explain.
Number one, the “Hate-Crimes” bill would make it illegal to speak against homosexuality in public. That’s right. You will not be able to publicly express your opinion against homosexuality once Mr. Obama signs this legislation, which he has promised to do. He’s actually pushing for it to pass. The only hope we would then have would be for the Courts to rule that the law violates the First Amendment of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of “free speech.” With a court divided as equally as this U.S. Supreme court is, a court case would throw the whole decision into the lap of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy is completely unpredictable in his decisions. He seems to have no convictions whatever, and votes completely by the way he feels about something on a given day. That’s not much on which to rest the precious right of the freedom of speech!
Number two, this strikes at the heart of religious liberty, which is also guaranteed by the First Amendment. In fact, it’s the first liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment. If this “Hate-Crimes” law passes, Pastors and teachers in the church would not even be able to read the Bible passages about homosexuality in public---including church meetings--- without risking being fined and jailed. This has already happened in Canada because that nation has a national “Hate-Crimes” law on the books. A Canadian couple I know moved here about 10 years ago just to escape this religious persecution. The lady told me how the true church in Canada is now beginning to meet in secret so they can teach their children the truth about homosexuality, since Christians there are now threatened by the “Hate-Crimes” law if they teach the Bible passages about homosexuality in their churches.
Number three: What’s to keep the national government from saying you can’t teach the part of the Bible about being “born-again,” since that excludes people from the Kingdom of Christ who haven’t repented. What if they say that doctrine is too “exclusive”? Once the Washington government sets itself up as judge of what you can and can’t say from the Bible, who will guarantee your right to believe according to the “dictates of your conscience?”
Number four: All liberties flow out of religious liberty. It is only the Bible which teaches that you have the right to
“obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)[/b]
If we can’t identify the root of our freedoms as being in the unchangeable God Who created us, then it just becomes a battle of “What do you say, what do I say?” And whichever of us can muster the most votes is the one who is declared right. But rest assured, that does not mean we are right! The Bible declares,
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:6)
And that includes death to liberty!! Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Aug 2, 2009 21:57:06 GMT -5
“Only Self Government Supports A Republic” by: Don Pinson
In my lifetime, there’s never been so much talk among the people of this region about the way government is taking away our liberties, especially the national government. People who really understand, and there aren’t many of them at this point, are deeply grieved and praying earnestly for God to intervene. Many more people are just very afraid of the national government being out of the control of the people. They feel it’s becoming a dictatorial government that is intruding into their lives more and more. They fear for what life in America will be like for their children and grandchildren. The latter group has few answers, but they have a whole lot of questions!
Are there answers? There most certainly are answers to what government should be like, and they are found where the answers to all questions are found: In the Bible!
God ordained the first---and most important--- form of government when He told Adam he could eat of all the trees of the Garden of Eden except one. This was internal, self-government. Adam, by his internal will being filled with the will of God, was to choose to eat of the Tree of Life, but he was to choose not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This internal choosing is what we call self-government.
God’s intent was for Adam to “have dominion over all the earth.” (Genesis 1:26) If Adam had exercised internal, self-government, he would have been qualified to exercise external government over the creation. When he refused self-government by the power of God’s Spirit, he then lost much of his ability to rule over God’s creation in the earth.
God would later send Jesus to restore what we had lost in the Garden, and He would tell his followers to go tell the world what He had done. His message was the same to us as to Adam: “Let Christ enter you by repentance and faith in His work at the Cross, then you can become a vessel Christ can rule through in this world.” Men with Christ living in their soul would be men who would hear His voice, and think with him about life now and in eternity. Self government could now be a reality because Christ could do it through us.
Now man could be qualified to rule over the earth. He also, if chosen by his fellowmen, could qualify to be a ruler over those men who chose him: In other words, a civil government servant. He could make and administer laws that agreed with the law of God. He could also judge between men as to which was obeying that law. So the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch of government, could be operated by men; because they would have the life of God flowing through them to enable them to rule. This form of government is what is known as a republic. It’s the form of government God gave to Moses to give to His people recorded in Deuteronomy 1: 9-18.
But God’s people, by letting sin grow among them, would gradually give away their Biblical Republic and choose a king, one individual to rule over them. God told the prophet Samuel that they were rejecting the rule of God over them by wanting a man to be their king (1 Samuel 1:7). And He warned them that their king would make slaves of them and their children. They didn’t listen---and they became slaves.
Are you listening? Do you know the difference between a republic and a democracy? If you don’t, you’re already a slave! Thomas Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free… it expects what never was and never will be.”
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Aug 4, 2009 20:54:19 GMT -5
The Purpose of Wealth by: Don Pinson
In this time of economic depression, the general belief in Washington is that we can spend our way out of this. That is, we can just print more paper money and give it away and that will give people money to spend and all will be well. There’s only one thing wrong with that idea---It’s wrong! Every time you print more paper money, you decrease the value of money that’s in everyone’s pocket. In turn, that means fewer goods can be bought, not more! That means less profit is made, and thus, fewer businesses can continue to operate; fewer jobs are available. No, spending what we don’t have -- I’m referring to debt -- is what got us into this mess. It’s a law of God in nature that you can’t fix a disorder with the same disorder. It won’t work!
The Bible says in Psalms 94: 11, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.”
The real problem with the economy is a deeper one than the people in Washington. They are but the fruit of the thinking of a majority of people in this land. Our actual problem is that we no longer understand the purpose of wealth. We think wealth is for our own pleasure, prestige, or possessions. Most of us have no idea what is its real purpose.
So what is the real purpose of wealth?
The Bible is very plain on this issue, just as it speaks plainly to all issues in this world. The purpose of wealth is identified in Deuteronomy 8:18. There the Bible states, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant…”
The purpose of wealth is to “establish His covenant.” What is God’s covenant? The word covenant means “the meeting of minds.” God’s whole aim in this earth is to get mankind to think with Him about life, both now and in eternity. To do that, we must get into our minds the truth revealed in the Bible. Fathers and mothers are to first put it into their own children’s minds. Then we all are to put it into anyone else’s mind who will listen to it. Once we hear the Bible, we begin to realize we must receive Christ as our Master and Deliverer, in order to become what God created us to be.
All of this takes money. While putting the truth into our children’s minds, parents must pay for their food, shelter, and clothing. It also costs to print the Bibles with which to do that. We must likewise support financially those who are called to use all their time in teaching the Bible. I refer to Pastors, Evangelists, Missionaries, and others who do such ministry. So wealth is first, for the support of our own family, so we can get the truth of the Scripture into our own children. Then, it is be used to fund the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ going to the whole world. This is how God uses wealth to get people to think with Him.
America’s Founders believed that to let government redistribute the wealth through taxation or inflation would allow it to destroy the liberty to teach your children the truth. Noah Webster, who taught millions of Americans through his textbooks, said this was…
“…more dangerous to liberty and republican government than all the constitutions that can be written on paper, or even than a standing army. Let the people have property and they will have power--- a power that will forever… prevent a restriction of the press, and… the abridgement of any other privilege....”
Are you using your money to get the truth to your children, or are you living on credit to get pleasure, prestige, or possessions. Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Aug 18, 2009 17:47:13 GMT -5
Government Involvement is Godly by: Don Pinson
In churches today, I find many people who don’t want to be involved with government. They think that God and government don’t mix. Actually, this attitude only reveals their ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible tells us that God is, in reality, the Source of government.
It says in Romans 13: 1, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God…”
So all government authority originates with God Himself. He “rules over all,” as the Scripture says in 1 Chronicles 16:31.
So, since government comes from God, why wouldn’t we want to understand it as God understands it. God created heaven; and those same people who say they shouldn’t know about government or be involved with it, want to know everything they can know about heaven: And they most certainly want to be involved with heaven. They want to live there for eternity! God created both heaven and government. Why wouldn’t we want to know about government? Indeed, heaven has it’s own government. Paul wrote Romans 13 after he had been caught up to heaven and had seen the government there. That became the pattern for his teaching about government.
Likewise, the same God who created government created the church. Indeed, the church has government in it. Those same people who want nothing to do with government, want to be a part of the church. They generally never miss its meetings. Why would they want to know about and be part of one thing God made, but not another? Does that make sense?
The church has reached this state because we bought into the humanist lie that spiritual things and earthly things should be separated. This has left us with the idea that Christianity is about eternity, not about earth right now. This is why Christian ideas are considered so outdated with people in the world. They’ve seldom seen us put forth from the Bible wisdom to solve problems like abortion, homosexuality, or a depressed economy.
Yet the Bible is filled with stories of people who walked with God and were his servants in government. Ezra taught the Jews, returning to their land from captivity in Babylon, how to structure their civil government. The Bible says he taught “statutes and ordinances in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10) It continues that story revealing how Nehemiah structured their civil government, after their return to Jerusalem, according to the Law of Moses. Daniel was a government aid to the kings of Babylon and Persia and influenced them with the truth of the Scriptures.
America’s Founders believed that knowing God was not a reason to avoid involvement with government; indeed they believed that was the very reason to be involved! When they wrote our Declaration of Independence they were attempting to create a government according to the teaching of the Scripture. They asked Sam Adams, who had working persistently for the birthing of this new government, to give the address on the day it was signed by all the delegates. He stated this, “We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come.”
Christian, are you avoiding being involved in government? Doesn’t that say to your children that you don’t care if they have the liberty to hear the Gospel of Christ?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you---and for your children!
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Sept 3, 2009 4:21:32 GMT -5
Recent Victory Over Tyranny! by: Don Pinson
There is wonderful news for Pastors and others who desire to speak the truth of God into the governmental realm. A long standing unconstitutional practice appears to have been exposed enough to cancel its threat.
In 1954, U.S. Senator, Lyndon Baines Johnson, added one line to a Senate bill which took away the right of church leaders to speak freely from the pulpit about government issues. It did this by threatening to remove their “tax-exempt” status with the IRS. This threat has been used by liberals ever since as a weapon to keep Pastors and others from speaking the truth about candidates and issues in the governmental realm. Honest scholars of the U.S. Constitution have known all along this law was unconstitutional because it violated the right of free speech. The First Amendment of the Constitution, after guaranteeing that Congress could not establish a particular denomination as a state church, then says:
“Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.”
Thus, Johnson’s law was plainly a violation of the Constitution.
However, last year, The Alliance Defense Fund, the legal arm of Focus on the Family, asked Pastors all across America to boldly make statements about their positions on candidates who were running for office, in their September 28th church meetings. They were hoping to have someone file a suit to complain about the Pastors’ public analysis of candidates. ADF would then defend those Pastors, free of charge, in an effort to challenge the 1954 law in court, believing the law would be declared unconstitutional.
Many Pastors accepted the challenge and spoke out boldly against candidates who had un-Biblical positions on issues like abortion or homosexuality. One such Pastor was Gus Booth in Minnesota. Rev. Booth had told his congregation in the May primary, "If you are a Christian, you cannot support a candidate like Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for president....They both support abortion and homosexual marriage, and the Scripture vehemently opposes both." Some months later Rev. Booth preached a sermon concerning the 2008 elections and then--- turned himself into the IRS! He was hoping they would take him to court. Instead, after months of investigation, the IRS wrote him a letter telling him the investigation was now closed. Evidently, they didn’t want the law challenged, knowing they would lose their case! They’re admitting by their actions that the law is unconstitutional! A number of others who did what Rev. Booth did, have had the same response.
This is wonderfully liberating news for church leaders who’ve felt threatened about speaking into the governmental realm for fear of losing their church’s “tax-exempt” status. Once again we may---and must---speak what the Bible says concerning the ideas of government servants and political candidates.
Now is the time for us to obey the Biblical command that the prophet Micaiah said to the wicked king Ahab:
“As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that will I speak.” (1 Kings 22:14)
Charles Finney, probably the greatest revival preacher America ever knew, said it this way:
"The church must take right ground in regards to politics...The time has come for Christians to…take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them...God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics."
So, if now, we as church leaders don’t speak up about the actions of government servants, does that reveal we simply fear man more than God?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Sept 4, 2009 10:04:11 GMT -5
UK Is Reaping What It Has Sown by: Don Pinson
Nearly four years ago, the University of Kentucky violated Kentucky law by beginning to pay the health insurance of the partners of homosexuals who worked for the University. Before this time, no state agency had ever officially recognized homosexuality as being on the same plane as marriage. By paying the health insurance of homosexual’s partners, this elevated an immoral relationship to the level of Biblical marriage. By voting in the Marriage Protection Amendment in 2004, Kentuckians had spoken by a 75% margin that marriage consists only of one man and one woman. In Kentucky, homosexual relationships are not marriage, or equal to it!
Thus says Kentucky’s Constitution!
UK’s argument for violating Kentucky’s Constitution was that they had to have the best professors in order to become a top 20 school among America’s universities. They declared they had lost some homosexual professors because they did not pay partner benefits; thus implying that homosexual professors are the best professors. (The Bible has something to say about that!) In 2007, the Ky. House Leadership buried a bill that would have stopped this outrage, thus siding with homosexuality against the law of God.
Well, the results are in. Has UK gained in ranking among the nation’s universities? They’ve made UK one of the most “homosexual friendly” places in the nation. Has it helped them reach their goal of being one of the “top twenty universities” in America? Absolutely not!! It has done just the opposite! According to U.S. News and World Report, in 2007, the year after they started paying partner benefits, they slipped to number 112th among the nation’s universities. In 2008 they fell further to be ranked 122nd. This year they’ve fallen even more and are now ranked as the nation’s 128th university. That’s a long, long way from the top twenty in America!
This fall is exactly what is predicted by the Scripture. The Bible teaches that success comes when we think on and talk about the Scripture. Joshua 1:8 says,
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may… do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
God honors those persons and institutions who honor His Word. He warns us what will happen to our children if we ignore His law and do not teach it to them. He says,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge…Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6)
UK is simply reaping what it has sown, just as the Bible says. Daniel Webster, the great American statesman, has sobering words for those university administrators and professors among us who think they know more than God: And likewise for those of us who allow our tax dollars to support such an institution. He warned us:
“But if we and our posterity neglect religious instruction and authority; violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Sept 16, 2009 20:41:46 GMT -5
Why Work In Government Now? by: Don Pinson
I sometimes have the question asked to me: “If these are the last days and Jesus iscoming soon, why should we be involved in government? If things are just going to get worse and worse, why try to fight it?” I sense the sincerity of people when they ask this. It does seem logical that, if indeed Jesus is about to come, we should spend these last moments of our time on earth just working to get people saved and ready for heaven. I can relate to their thinking very well. I used to think just like that. But let’s look closely at the foundation of these ideas.
It assumes we know the time of Jesus’ return; and yet the Bible says that only the Father knows for certain when that time is. Even Jesus Himself does not know when He will return. The Bible says,
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels … in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father [only].” (Mark 13:32)
So we can’t be absolutely certain this is the day when Jesus will return. While He will certainly return to this earth in a visible, bodily form, He warned us not to major on trying to figure out the exact time of that return. Likewise, for Christians to stay out of government implies that government is only a necessary evil and not part of God’s plan. This is a great deception. God says in Romans 13: 1,
“There is no [government] power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God…”
God established government before he established the church and told it to preach the Gospel. Any idea that government is not important enough to have some of our time and attention is simply not a Biblical idea!
What then about the idea that we just can’t fight the growing evil because it is prophesied in Scripture to happen in the last days; and the Bible does teach that men will
“[grow] worse and worse.” (2 Timothy 3:13)
The problem with this idea is again, that it’s based on the assumption that we’re certain these are the last days, and we just can’t be absolutely certain of that. But it also has another false idea to it. It assumes that evil overcomes righteousness, and nowhere does the Bible teach this. It teaches just the opposite:
That “we are more than conquerors” (Romans 8: 37).
Genesis 1:26 teaches that we’re the ones who are to rule in this earth. When we lay down and let evil roll over us and our children through bad government, we are acting out of the height of selfishness. We’re saying that we’re gonna sit by and let government servants make slaves of our children while we just dump the whole mess into the lap of the next generation. We’re surrendering without even a fight for the precious liberty of our children. Are we so self-centered that we don’t care what kind of suffering we bring on our children so long as we don’t have to be inconvenienced? Think about it!
And besides, the greatest reason to work to make government righteous is because it’s the right thing to do! God gave us government to protect the right to get the truth to the next generation. To not vote and work to influence government with righteousness is to count liberty as a worthless thing---when Jesus died to bring us into liberty! So we’re to work in government, even if we lost every battle until Jesus does come back. We’re to fight for righteousness in government because God ordained government to be righteous: That’s reason enough!
Thomas Jefferson said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Are you fighting in government to make it protect your right to get the truth to your children?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Sept 17, 2009 21:49:36 GMT -5
Why Socialism Doesn’t Work by: Don Pinson
Mr. Obama is being accused of moving America into full-blown socialism. Are people right in accusing him of this? If he is moving us into socialism, is this a good thing?
One of the things I often observe when some issue is being debated, is that we talk about words or subjects we haven’t even defined. Yet, Jesus changed the course of world history because He carefully explained his ideas---if the person He was talking to had the willingness to be taught.
So what is socialism anyway? I think the best description I’ve ever heard of socialism is that; it’s an economic system where “everybody owns everbody’s everything.” Let me say that again: it’s an economic system where “everybody owns everbody’s everything.”
However, it doesn’t work out to be as great as it sounds. It sounds nice to the poorer person that he could drive his neighbor’s new car instead of that beat up “clunker” he has. It sounds nice that you would own his stuff without having to work to earn it. But it doesn’t work out in practice the way it sounds in the news.
In a socialistic state, since “everybody owns everybody’s everything,” and since both you and your neighbor have a selfish nature down in your soul, the two of you might disagree as to who can use that car on a given day. And since your selfishness and his selfishness could easily conflict, neither of you gets to make that call. So who does make the decision as to who will drive the car on that day? The friends of socialism say it must be someone in government who determines that. In socialized “healthcare” (or better said, medical care), it means you don’t get to choose, along with your doctor’s advice, what treatment you will have, or what you’ll pay for it, or where it will be performed. A government employee will decide all that. And the foundation for all socialism is the elitist idea that a few people in government know better than you how you should live.
So is it right for me to own my neighbor’s property without my earning it? The Bible makes that plain in the Ten Commandments. The last one says, “Thou shalt not covet.” (In other words desire what belongs to someone else.)
The eighth one says, “Thou shall not steal.”
Nowhere in the Bible is the teaching that you and I have a right to our neighbor’s property without our earning it by paying for it.
And socialism simply does not work. The fall of it in Russia after 75 years of effort by the Russian government gives us a glaring modern day example that it just doesn’t work. China, about twenty years ago, under the same type system, was barely managing to feed her people. That was when they began to put a lot more “free enterprise” into their economic system, which, while the Chinese government would never admit it, is the Biblical way of doing business. Their economy is now booming!
Early in America’s history, the Pilgrims tried socialism. They knew it wasn’t the Biblical way to earn a living, but the businessmen who financed their trip insisted they do it. For over two years they worked a socialistic system. And they nearly starved to death! Out of necessity, in 1623, they switched to a Biblical “free enterprise” system; and they were never hungry again! That system grew into the greatest economic system the world has ever seen.
Wouldn’t it be better to do business God’s way, instead of socialism?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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Post by Heritage Ministries on Sept 24, 2009 21:33:26 GMT -5
Right Statement - Wrong Time by: Don Pinson
Recently, an evidence of the frustration millions of Americans are feeling with the current quick ride into socialism was heard from a South Carolina Representative as Mr. Obama was making a speech to a joint session of the Congress. As Mr. Obama was making his case for his government takeover of medicine, Representative Joe Wilson from South Carolina erupted with, “You lie!” While voices from the floor of Congress during a speech from the podium is not too unusual, the bold accusation that “You lie” is unusual. I’m not sure this has ever happened before. Generally, there’s enough respect for the office of President to keep this from happening: Not so now.
Was Representative Wilson right? While the news media and the two political parties kicked the statement around from their usual “What do I think, what do you think” philosophy, they could draw no definitive right or wrong from it. This is what happens when one leaves off principled thinking. Let’s look at this from a different perspective. The Bible says plainly,
“Thou shalt not bear false witness.” (Exodus 20:16).
That Mr. Obama is trying to hide the coverage of illegal aliens, in his so-called “health care” program, is obvious from the fuzzy language in the 1000-page proposed law. This is what prompted Rep. Wilson’s outburst. When language of a law is not definite, you can make it say anything you want when it’s later being applied. Thomas Jefferson warned us about this when he said, “Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding, and should therefore be [written] by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in…subtleties which make anything mean everything---or nothing at [one’s] pleasure.”
When our Founders created our Republic, they created the greatest government in the history of the world; and they did so by writing a law the average person can read in an hour--- our U.S. Constitution. Think about that! Why would we ever write a law that has so many words it takes a thousand pages to contain them? What is being hidden in that smokescreen of wordiness? (!) It simply is a symptom of our national government being out of control! Thus, no honest-hearted person can say that Rep. Wilson’s statement is not the truth. He simply said what many have thought, but perhaps didn’t have the courage to say. On the other hand, the Bible also says,
“Speak the truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15)
This means both our reason and our timing for saying something must be right. We cannot judge Rep. Wilson’s deepest reasons for his statement, for only God knows his heart. However, we can judge the timing of a statement on the floor of our Congress. There are rules of debate that necessitate one speaker waiting for another to finish before questioning the first speaker’s position. Otherwise debate would turn into a shouting match, where absolutely nothing is accomplished (note many current TV discussions!). Thus, the Representatives’ timing of his remarks was wrong; and he should admit to the House of Representatives that the timing of his statement was wrong.
In this critical hour when our liberty is being given away at “breakneck” speed, shouldn’t we determine in our hearts to be courageous in speaking the truth? But also, that we submit to God in ‘why and when’ to speak that truth?
Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, and for your children! And you won’t like what that brings to you.
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