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Post by Heritage Ministries on Oct 3, 2009 23:25:31 GMT -5
The Wrong Kind of Change by: Don Pinson
Washington has been rocked the last few weeks with the ACORN scandal. Here we have a tax supported social agency telling a supposed ‘pimp’ and ‘prostitute’ how to break the law and, at the same time, get a government loan with which to buy the house out of which they can operate. By the way, ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now.
The ‘pimp’ and ‘prostitute’ actually turn out to be James O'Keefe, 25, and Hannah Giles, 20. This pair of young adults are really private citizens who were suspicious of ACORN’s activity, and set out to find what kind of activity this social agency, trying to reshape communities, was really doing. Their work reveals that ACORN’s “change” agents obviously have no respect for God’s moral law, or human beings. This is the kind of “change” we get when we don’t use Biblical discernment to see through what politicians are saying when they use the word “change.”
O’Keefe and Giles posed as a ‘pimp’ and ‘prostitute’ and went to ask for a loan from ACORN, which has received multiplied millions in the recent stimulus package; however, they got much more information that just how to secure their loan. In several different ACORN offices around the country they were repeatedly told how to avoid paying taxes on their ‘income.’ They were also told how to operate an unlawful prostitution ring using under-aged girls who were illegal immigrants. (Isn’t it interesting what our tax dollars support?) The most amazing thing to me in all this is that they were able to get these interviews with ACORN workers on film! They’ve been gradually releasing these films to the public via a website:
biggovernment.com
and more recently, on Fox News. It’s become so blatantly obvious to the public that there is gross misuse of government power in ACORN, that even the liberals in Congress joined with a majority of others in voting to stop ACORN’s funding. But looking deeper, what does this show us about ourselves? It reveals to us the glaring truth that a majority of us in this nation do not understand what is necessary to preserve our God-given liberties. Let me explain.
Liberty is based on Biblical morality. Without the discipline, which only the indwelling Christ can produce, we will not live a life of obedience to moral principle. Without moral principle, a republic will turn to a democracy; then shortly to anarchy, where “every man does what’s right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) The resulting selfishness creates chaos, and then violence so great that nothing can function; not family life, not education, not business, not government. This is how nations die.
George Washington taught us in his Farewell Address, which students used to have to memorize parts of, these words about the relationship of a Republic and morality: “Of all the habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
Likewise, Sam Adams, the Father of the American Revolution, warned us: "A general [dissolving] of principles...will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of a common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when they lose their virtue they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader...”
Shouldn’t we be seeking God’s morality by reading the Bible and asking Him to help us live as He created us to live? Shouldn’t we expect this same morality of our 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 Oct 10, 2009 8:38:51 GMT -5
The Growing Threat of Islam by: Don Pinson
This past week, thousands of Muslims gathered on the “mall” in front of the U.S. Capitol to pray to allah. There was much talk of peace surrounding this gathering, but on their official website there was the theme stated constantly, “Our time has come.” The leader of the gathering said that the idea was inspired by Mr. Obama’s inauguration speech; then greatly encouraged by his speeches in Egypt in June. Is this evidence of a peaceful religious gathering which wishes well for people of all faiths? Or is it the beginning of an organized presence to stamp out all other religions? How do Moslems think?
Though Islamic leaders talk peace (and some probably mean it), the reality is that their sourcebook for truth, the Koran, teaches the destruction of the peoples of other religions. It says, in Sura 9:29, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah…until they are in a state of subjection.” The ultimate goal of Islam is the subjection of all people to their god, allah; either by that peoples’ choice or by military force! There is no such thing as peace for Christians, or other faiths, in a Muslim society. Go anywhere where civil law is based on the Koran and you will see the oppression of any idea that disagrees with that book. There is no religious liberty there.
The move toward Islam has found a great ally in Barak Obama. Though he has, himself, refused to participate in the National Day of Prayer to God through Jesus Christ, he has welcomed Muslim celebrations of prayer at the White House and now, on the Capitol Building lawn. A New York Times reporter tells of his interview with Obama in which Obama stated that the Muslim call to prayer at the end of the day was “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset." Times reporter, Nicholas Kristof said that Obama then began to recite it with a “first class” Arabic accent, declaring:
“Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme…! I witness that there is no god but Allah I witness that there is no god but Allah!”
You see why the Muslims were chanting in Washington, “Our time has come?”
Likewise they believe they can take over America in the next one or two generations. And they have good grounds for believing this. Their families produce 3-4 times as many children as American families of European descent. Do the numbers. It won’t take many years before Muslims voting at the poles will outnumber all others.
So what is to be our attitude, as Christians, toward all this? Number one, we must see Muslims as the deceived people that they are---and love them by the power of Christ! allah is not God, he is a demon. His aim is to “kill, steal, and destroy” those he enslaves. We must view them as deceived. As such, our call from God is to treat them as we would any other lost person; with kindness and pray for God to grant them the grace to repent and believe in Jesus. However, that in no way means we are to sit idly by and let them put their ideas into our schools, economy, and government. We must steadfastly refuse their beliefs any opportunity to be forced on our children or our institutions. And the best way we can do this is to read the Bible through, over and over, so our mind is shaped to think with God. Then we’ll know lies when we see them. We’ll know Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life! (John 14:6)
The only safeguard of your children’s liberty is for you and me to know God well through Jesus Christ; and to think Biblically about every issue of our day. Do you read the Bible consistently? Do you obey it?
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 Oct 23, 2009 9:00:45 GMT -5
God’s People Are the Key by: Don Pinson
Because the great disorder of the national government threatens to destroy our liberty and reduce us to slavery, many of God’s people are in despair. They carry a great burden of concern for their children as to what kind of America they may have to live in. They fear the liberty their parents and grandparents fought and died for is now lost.
While these concerns are all valid in the light of our national government moving into more and more socialism, despair is not the proper response. When we give into despair it means we’re not viewing all this from God’s perspective. He is not shaken by some politician’s latest move. It didn’t take Him by surprise. He’s not wringing His hands on the throne, saying, “Look what they just did, what are we going to do?” No friend, the Bible tells us what He’s doing. He is actually laughing at those who are trying to throw off the yoke of His law. Listen to what He says in Psalms 2:
“Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves… against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the Lord shall hold them in derision. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: “Yet I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion.” (Ps. 2: 1-6)
Barak Obama, or some other world leader, is not in control in this earth. The Bible tells us that, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.” (Psalms 24:1) God Almighty, the father of Jesus Christ, is in control. He is the owner of all on this earth, including you and me. You may wonder, “If that’s true, why is He allowing all this threat to our liberty?” I’m glad you asked that!
God allows us the fruit of our own thinking. He lets our own deceptions correct us. It’s a part of the “sowing and reaping” principle of which the Bible has so much to say. If we allow our thoughts to be shaped by some professor just because he has a degree after his name, or some movie star or rock star just because they’re on stage, or some news commentator just because lots of people listen to him, then we deserve what we’re getting. We are not reasoning (which Webster indicated means to think with God) through what’s being said; we are just regurgitating it. We must learn to think with God again. His Word has the answers we need. It actually teaches God has put into the hands of His people the key that determines the direction of a nation. That’s right! If you personally know Jesus Christ, you are the key! God promises us,
“If my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
If you’re hoping God will do something to fix this mess, I tell you, He’s waiting for us to do something. He’s waiting for us, who are Christians, to acknowledge that we’ve been wrong; that our idea of what it meant to be a Christian has been bad wrong. He’s waiting for us to admit that He has the right to rule all of these lives, which we thought were our own. He’s waiting for us to stop thinking with the world and think with Him; thus returning to His order: To do as Abraham Lincoln called the nation to do in 1863:
“…to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for… forgiveness.”
Will 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 Nov 14, 2009 12:47:38 GMT -5
The Beginning of the End for Religious Liberty by: Don Pinson
October 28, 2009 may be the saddest day in American history. It was on this day that Mr. Obama signed the “hate-crimes” bill. It is now accepted as law. It basically states that any violence done to an individual because of his sexual preference, is now a federal crime. In other countries, “hate-crimes” laws have been used to try to stop the teaching of the Bible about homosexuality and other sexual perversions. In effect, this could signal the end of religious liberty and eventually force Bible believing people to speak only what is “politically correct.” If we refuse, we could be fined or jailed. Thus, the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech that has been guaranteed by our national Constitution for 220 years, may soon be gone: And without religious liberty, all other liberties are quickly lost.
We are in a war for the truth in this land. This is not a new war. It’s been raging ever since Lucifer rebelled against God and God cast him out of heaven. Since Jesus, after His resurrection, told his followers to, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” (Mark 16:15) there has been this battle between the forces of God and the forces of satan over whether the Gospel of Christ will be taught to the next generation!
However, because America was formed for the purpose of getting the Gospel to the next generation; and because our education, economic, and governmental systems had been operated for 300 years for the purpose of getting the Gospel to the next generation, the forces of evil had been kept at bay in this land until the early 1900’s. Even after that, the fruit of our Biblical roots had brought us great blessing for many years. But in the 1960’s it began to be obvious to the honest heart that we were in trouble, and that trouble has only increased since.
So what can we do now? Is there any hope? Yes, there’s always hope in Christ; and there are things we can do. We can make certain that we don’t stop teaching the Bible---all of it; including the parts about homosexuality. Let’s make up our minds now: If we have to die because we speak the truth, we are willing. That settled, we can do other things. With that unsettled, we will be paralyzed by fear and do nothing----just like most Christians in Germany did---which allowed Hitler to take over as dictator.
We can continue to teach the truth, and pray to God that if He allows us to be arrested for it, our court case could be used to overturn this anti-Biblical, unconstitutional law. If the courts didn’t rule against it, we would be suffering no more than other followers of Jesus have done through the years. Jesus said, “For whoever shall save his life shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel’s, the same shall save it.” (Luke 9:24)
Then, next year, we can go vote out of office this anti-God group (Democrats and Republicans!) of Congressmen in Washington, and insist that the new bunch completely overturn with new laws everything this liberal Congress has done for the last year!
Perhaps you’re thinking, “That would take a lot of time, effort, and money.” You’re right! Thomas Jefferson said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
God says, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.” (Galatians 5:1)
What means the most to you: Your children’s liberty to hear the truth, or your comfort and pleasure? Depending on how you answer that, just might identify why we’re in this mess.
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 Nov 20, 2009 18:27:56 GMT -5
The Government of the Pilgrims by: Don Pinson
It was November 11, 1620. After 66 days at sea, with over half that time in violent storms, they were more than ready to get off the ship. The Mayflower had just dropped anchor inside Cape Cod Bay. They had been blown off course by the storm, and deposited here, much farther north than they had intended. But they came to believe that the storm was the Lord’s way to get them to settle in this place.
These Pilgrims, as they called themselves, had come to America to have the freedom to teach their children the Bible; and to them that meant much more than teaching them how to be born again. It included teaching to their children reading, writing, and all the other academic subjects. Their Pastor, John Robinson, had taught them how to establish from the Bible the institutions of education, government, and economy. These Pilgrims were Christians who believed the Bible was true and that its teachings could be lived out in this present world. Thus, they were intent on creating a community which agreed that their children would be taught the Bible, and all the academic subjects from the principles of the Bible; and that agreed on establishing a Biblical economy to fund that teaching; as well as a Biblical government to protect that education system and that economic system so they could accomplish the Pilgrim vision.
And now that they were settling outside the territory of England, there would be no government authority by which to control any person who might do evil against that vision. So they knew they would have to establish their own government. Thus it was that, as eager as they were to get off the ship, they took time that first night to write a document that would unite them in a Biblical government. All the men signed that document which bound them all under the same governmental system. This simple document, written by common men, would come to be called The Mayflower Compact. It read as follows:
“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten …having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia, do by these present solemnly & mutually in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of the ends aforesaid… to enact, constitute, and frame such just & equal laws… as shall be thought most [necessary] for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.
“In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11 of November… [The Year of our Lord] 1620.”
This simple document would govern them for years to come. They had established a Biblical Republic, not a democracy. It worked well because these Pilgrims were self-governed by the power of Christ’s Spirit Who indwelt them; and the community they established would grow into the greatest nation in world history.
The record speaks for itself. Shouldn’t we return to Biblical government like they established? The Bible says, “The entrance of [God’s] words brings light.” (Psalms 119:130)
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 Nov 26, 2009 8:39:49 GMT -5
The School of the Pilgrims by: Don Pinson
The group had made great sacrifices to be able to teach their children the truth of why God made them, and of His plan for them. First, they had sold their farms in England - that had been in their families for generations - in order to be able to move to Holland, where they hoped to have the liberty to teach their children God’s truth. And while there was liberty to do it, there wasn’t the means to do it.
The parents in this group (known later as the Pilgrims) were shut out by the Dutch economy to the point there wasn’t enough money to allow them to teach their children. So many hours were spent just scraping out a living that there was no time left to educate their families.
So then, they made the second sacrifice: They got on a boat, the Mayflower, and crossed the Atlantic to come to America in order to be in a place where they could have the means and the liberty to teach their children God’s truth; and be able to teach all the academic subjects from the principles of God’s truth revealed in the Bible. The Pilgrims were taught well the truth recorded in the Bible which states,
“as a man thinks, so is he…” (Proverbs 23:7)
They knew that whatever they allowed to go into their child’s mind was going to determine the direction of that child in life. They likewise knew that, without a Biblical education in history, government, and logic, their children would not know how to defend this new civil liberty they had established. Thus, they implemented Biblical methods of education, and developed textbooks that agreed with those Biblical methods.
One such textbook was The New England Primer. This was an amazing little book that taught thousands of children how to read and think. It’s Biblical approach to reading fixed in the minds of children God’s purpose for them. For example, they taught the letter A by showing how it was used in the Bible; it read: “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.” The letter C was taught by using it in the sentence: “Christ crucified, for sinners died.” The letter R was used in the rhyme, “Young, pious Ruth, left all for Truth.” Beside these statements were pictures which illustrated the experience being used to teach the letter.
On over in the The New England Primer were questions that children learned to answer by memorizing the written answers given, thus fixing Biblical truths in their mind. For example the first question asked was:
“What has God done for you?”
The answer the children then gave was:
“God has made me, He keeps me, and He can save me”.
Later in the Primer, the concept of covenant was taught, since it is the most basic concept that must be understood to maintain relationships, both to God and man. This concept would be the basis of church membership, marriage, and of civil government. The question was asked to the children:
“What does the Lord bind His people to in His covenant?”
The children were then to answer:
“To give up themselves and their [children] first to the Lord, then to the elders and [brothers] of the church…”
Then the question was asked:
“How do they give up themselves and their children to the Lord?”
The children would then answer:
“By receiving through faith the Lord and His covenant to themselves, and to their [children], and accordingly walking themselves and training up their children in the ways of the covenant.”
Does this reveal how far we’ve slid from America’s original education system?
What would this region be like if our schools taught this way to our children?
Perhaps you should start one that does!
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 Dec 4, 2009 16:24:58 GMT -5
The Economy of the Pilgrims by: Don Pinson
It wasn’t working. The spring of 1623 saw the Pilgrims into their third year in America. But there was a serious problem. They were hungry: And because of it they had no energy with which to plow their fields and plant their crops. They knew winter would come again and with it death by starvation if they didn’t go to the fields. Yet many of them just seemed unable to get themselves moving.
Recognizing the seriousness of their situation, their Governor, William Bradford, called for a meeting of the leaders of the colony. They didn’t have to discuss their problem very long until they pinpointed what was wrong. It was the socialistic economy they were trying to labor under. They had long known this. The businessmen who had financed their trip had insisted they live by a common storehouse. In other words, they were to put all their produce into one storehouse, no matter which family had raised that produce. Then, they were to take out as little as they could get by with for their own needs, and send the rest of it back to England to their financiers as payment for their debt. The Pilgrims knew this would not work, but the businessmen insisted this is how they must do it. The Pilgrims knew the Scripture taught that, “If any would not work, neither should he eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) And they knew that even Christian people, like themselves, had to know they could “reap what they sowed,” if they were to produce well. However, they felt they had no choice. They had to pay for their voyage, and they certainly did not have that kind of money themselves. Thus, they submitted to an anti-Biblical economic system.
They had tried diligently to make it work for 2 1/2 years. But an economic system outside the order of God revealed in the Bible, simply was not going to work well. They knew they had to change this. The leaders agreed that each family should have their own private property; that they should stake a plot of land and be able to keep most everything they raised on that spot for their own families. However, they did owe a debt to the businessmen in England who had paid for their trip. So they agreed to take 20% of the crops of each family as a means of paying their debt. The tax would cease once the debt was paid. It worked wonderfully! Governor Bradford would report,
“It made all hands industrious…” (Of Plymouth Plantation, Bradford)
They were soon collecting more from the 20% than they had before when the government was keeping most all of the produce. The Biblical principle that a man should be able to do with his own what he chose (Matthew 20:15), was proving to be true. Families worked harder and produced more when they could keep the proceeds from their labor.
Our national government should take a lesson. Government ownership of business, including the medical insurance industry through a so-called “health care system,” is a recipe for disaster! The Pilgrims already tried socialism in this land and it didn’t work. Let’s not buy this lie again!
The Pilgrims were never hungry again after instituting a Biblical Free Enterprise system. The greatest economic engine in world history grew out of that simple change to private ownership that took place in the spring of 1623. It made the American economy the most prosperous in all of history.
Why would we want to change back to a poverty economy? Do we want to give a dead economy to our 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 Dec 24, 2009 14:05:48 GMT -5
Obama and King George III
We live in a desperate time. It is not unlike the day our forefathers faced in 1776 when they first wrote our Declaration of Independence. They listed in that Declaration 27 violations which King George the III of England had committed in stealing their God-given rights. Our current national government is committing many of those same violations today. Consider the words of the Declaration of Independence, which identifies those violations.
Our national government has “attempted to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us” in the following ways:
1. It has, as the Declaration of Independence says, “Refused…assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.” The national government ignored Public Law, Section 108, which requires a three-day waiting period before a law, that has been read once, can be considered for a vote. The current Congress ignored this law when they passed the so-called “stimulus package” earlier this year.
2. This current national government has, in the language of the Declaration, “Erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” The huge growth of this current administration is going to mean a huge growth in taxes; and through the Internal Revenue Service, “eat out our substance!”
3. Mr. Obama and the current Congress have “combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws.” If Obama has his way he will commit us to the Copenhagen treaty, which, in the name of a clean environment, will move us toward being under the complete control of the United Nations. This would completely nullify our National Constitution.
4. The Declaration said of King George III, “He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.” It could truthfully be said of Mr. Obama that “He has abdicated Government here by declaring [innocent human life] out of his protection and waging war against [the unborn]” of our land: Note how one of his first acts upon taking office was to restore government funds for various international groups that promote abortions.
5. Likewise Obama is like King George III in that he has, in the words of the Declaration, “altered fundamentally the forms of our government.” His so-called “stimulus” bill will, in effect, transform us from an economic system of free enterprise, which values the individual and his ingenuity, to a socialistic one that values the state. An individual will be worth only so much as he can contribute to the good of the state.
6. Obama has, as the Declaration says, “Abolished our most valuable laws…”, that is, our state constitutions. He did this by pushing into law the “hate-crimes” law, which removed the right of our individual states to define what marriage is. He has forced on us the acceptance of homosexuality as being normal. He has attempted to overturn our God-given right to call homosexuality what the Bible calls it---perversion.
Our Founders said in the Declaration of Independence that King George III was, quote, “…unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” You decide if Mr. Obama is such!
The Bible says, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet!” (Isaiah 5:20)
For the sake of your children, so they can have the liberty to hear the 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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Post by Heritage Ministries on Dec 28, 2009 10:52:33 GMT -5
Characteristics of a Dictator by: Don Pinson
Stephen McDowell is one of the best analysts of what’s happening in government that I know. He recently wrote concerning ways Mr. Obama has lied to the American people (Providential Perspective, Nov. ’09). I quote him as he says Obama promised, “he would not rush legislation…but rushed through the stimulus bill.” Obama promised “he would not interfere in the internal affairs of other nations” but then told “Hondurans whom they should choose for their president (siding with the communist friend of Chavez)” McDowell says Obama has also lied by saying “that the government can provide health care for millions of uninsured without increasing the deficit nor diminishing quality” which contradicts even “the impartial Congressional Budget Office.”
Having leaders like Obama, America is in her worst crisis in all her long history. The very system our Founding Fathers enacted, and for which many gave their lives, is now being trashed by this present administration in Washington. But, America has seen threatening times before. In the War for Independence, by September of 1777 the American cause looked hopeless. The American army had won few battles. We had been driven out of New York; and then our Congress was forced to flee Philadelphia. Twenty members of that scattered Congress managed to get together in York, Pa. to discuss if they should continue this fight. After dejected statements by some there, Samuel Adams, the man who had fought the longest for this Revolution, rose and said some of the most inspiring words I’ve ever read. He stated,
“Gentlemen, your spirits appear oppressed with the weight of the public calamities. Your sadness…reveals your disquietude. A patriot may grieve at the distress of his country. But he will never despair of the commonwealth…We have proclaimed to the world our determination ‘to die freemen, rather than to live slaves.’ If we despond…the people will no longer yield their support to a hopeless contest, and American liberty is no more…Our losses, though great, can be retrieved. We have been reduced to distress, [but] the arm of Omnipotence has raised us up. Let us still rely…on Him who is mighty to save. Good tidings will soon arrive. We shall never be abandoned by Heaven while we act worthy of its aid and protection.”
Indeed, Adams was right. Just a month later, by two miracles, our forces were able to capture the British-held fort of Saratoga in New York. This may well have been the turning point of the War. It so lifted the American spirits (as well as greatly adding to our arsenal) that the National government called for a special “Day of Thanksgiving to God… through the merits of Jesus Christ.”
Yes, we are in a desperate time in America. But God is still God! He says in His Word,
“Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is the rock of ages. Thou wilt keep him in peace, peace, whose imagination is stayed on thee.” Isaiah 26: 4, 3; the literal Hebrew reading.
Let us resolve in our hearts that we will pray for our national leaders; and that we will fight this battle to take away the liberty of our children to hear the purpose of God for them through Jesus Christ. Let us commit to send our emails and letters; and make our phone calls to our government servants and insist that they do what the Bible teaches concerning religious liberty, health insurance, and how to do business. Let us repent for electing leaders who are so against God and His Word. Then we can trust His Word that says,
“He who covers his sin shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes it shall have mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)
Will you repent?
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 Jan 5, 2010 15:11:06 GMT -5
Triumph Will Come Out of Tragedy by: Don Pinson
While this has been the worst year in American history, because our national Congress and Mr. Obama have literally changed the very form of government which our Founding Fathers gave us, God is yet at work. The story He is writing through the course of time is filled with triumphs that came out of tragedies. One of these was when the Jews were carried away to Babylon for 70 years. Their temple was torn down and the palaces of their kings destroyed. Nothing was left of their previous civilization. And yet, in that darkest of all days in their history, God was still writing His-Story. He promised them that this tragedy would be used to work their repentance, which would bring them back to His order---and, in His order, there is always the flow of His blessing.
At this, the lowest moment in all their long history, God gave them an encouraging word through the prophet Jeremiah. He boldly declared to the nation that, out of this tragedy, He would,
“…give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7)
He said, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.” They had gone into captivity because they had forgotten He was “the Lord;” that is, He was the Owner and Master of everything---including them! He owned their possessions; and those should have been used for bringing their children and others into agreement with God’s way of thinking. Instead, they had used them for their own pleasure. He was the rightful ruler of their time and abilities. Yet they had treated both time and abilities as if they had created these themselves; as if these existed for their selfish pleasure. Does this sound familiar, as if it was America’s nightly newscast? They had gone into captivity to a foreign nation because they had forgotten He was sovereign, meaning supreme in power. Through their captivity they would again acknowledge that God was the rightful ruler of their personal, family, and national life.
God promised that, because of oppression from government, they would “return to Him with their whole heart.” In other words, God would no longer be just a part of their life. He would be their life! They would no longer control what they did with their time, and only “pull God off the shelf” when they had a crisis. Now they would start their day trying to hear His voice from the Scripture, and then listen for Him all through the day. Their aim would be to join God in what He was doing; not to try to get God to join them in what they were doing---you know, by asking Him for His blessing on their projects! Sound familiar?
And because they would “return to [God] with their whole heart,” God would again claim them as “[His] people.” He would also commit to them to “be their God.”
The lesson for us is plain. While we are under God’s judgment for giving our nation, over the last one hundred years, to the control of those who hate Him and His Word, He yet promises that we can again be a nation He will use---if we will repent of our selfishness and return to Him with our whole heart: returning to live, once again, by the standard revealed in the Bible.
The Pilgrims came to know God out of their great sufferings for His cause. Knowing Him well gave them the ability to create the greatest nation in world history. Should not we return to the faith of our Fathers - and teach it to our 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 Jan 29, 2010 8:40:43 GMT -5
Repairing the Hedge by: Don Pinson
If you have a fenced in yard, and all the sudden you notice there are animals trampling your flowers and destroying your vegetable garden, you know there’s something wrong with your fence. So you look for where the fence is broken, where it has a gap, and you fix it. To stop the flow of intruders into your property, you must repair the gap in your fence.
God uses this very picture in the Bible to describe what happens when His people start to disobey Him. God evidently places a “hedge” of protection (Isaiah 5: 1-7) around each individual at birth. As we grow in age and size we learn from parents, teachers and others about life. If what we learn is the truth as revealed in the Bible, and we choose to consistently obey that truth, the “hedge” stays up. But if what we learn either is not the truth, or if we choose to disobey the truth, then our “hedge” of protection starts to break down. The more disobedience there is to God’s Word, the more our fence comes down; and the more satan and his evil spirits, who come to “kill, steal, and destroy,” (John 10:10) break into our lives. Thus, the destruction in our lives will, generally speaking, be in direct proportion to how much of God’s truth we know and are walking in. Generally speaking---and let’s leave the exceptions to God---the Bible teaches that obedience brings blessing to the life; disobedience brings destruction. Life really is that simple---for both individuals and nations. The Bible says,
1“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments… the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. 2And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: 3“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. 4“Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. 7“The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face;” (Deuteronomy 28)
So let’s not kid ourselves: With drugs destroying so many of our children, our nation’s economy in shambles, and as small a military force as Ben Laden’s resisting us for 8 years, something is desperately wrong with most of our nation. Our hedge is broken down in a number of places. Let’s admit it. So can it be fixed? Yes! God’s Word to the Jews through the prophet Ezekiel tells us how. Ezekiel writes:
23And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24“Son of man, say to her‘ You are a land that is not cleansed…in the day of indignation.’ 25The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people; 28Her prophets…[told] lies for them.” (Ezekiel 22)
God called His ministers to stop telling people that things were okay when they weren’t! He called them to speak the truth to the education, governmental, and economic systems as well as to individual families. Then he called His people to admit that they had believed lies. They were described by God to Ezekiel;
“30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)
We “stand in the gap” when we speak the truth, and pray the truth for ourselves and others around us, including our nation as a whole. Will you speak the truth and fast and pray like our Founders in America did in times of crisis? Latter on, how will your children evaluate the way you live? How will God evaluate 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 Jan 30, 2010 14:15:44 GMT -5
Raising the Standard for Children by: Don Pinson
The conversation of a Ugandan boy of 11 with an 11-year-old from the West puts childhood into proper perspective. The Ugandan boy, an orphan, has been touched by the powerful revival which has been happening in his country for several years now. After meeting the young boy from a Western country, the Ugandan child asked him, “What are you going to do in life?” This was not a question of childhood play. He was completely serious. The other child was amazed and asked how was he supposed to know what he would do in life---he was only a child! The boy from Uganda replied, “You’re eleven years old and you don’t yet know what you’re supposed to be in life!” He really was amazed. You see the Ugandan child has been under the influence of a move of God’s Spirit in his nation that has had a profound impact on his country. Unlike the boy from the West, he has been taught that life is not about him and his pleasure; but rather it’s about the plan of God for him. He’s planning and is now taking steps to become what God has created him to be. Before you dismiss this as just a child’s aspirations; or perhaps as the result of over-zealous parents and teachers who have “crammed” the Bible down his throat, you better consider history. It is a fact of history recorded in the Bible that God has used children, and has a plan for each child to whom He’s given breath.
God used the child Samuel to minister to the priest Eli in the Tabernacle of worship. His mother had left him with Eli as soon as he was weaned. He grew up knowing he was to minister to the nation of Israel as a prophet and a priest. He even, while still a child, delivered a strong prophetic warning to Eli about sin that was in his life and the life of his sons. (1 Samuel 3)
David was but a boy, perhaps only ten years of age or so, when he went into the fields to watch his father’s sheep. He would face both a lion and a bear during that time, and would kill them both! David learned to trust God by his extended times alone with Him in the wilderness. (1 Samuel 17: 32-37)
Daniel and his friends were probably young teenagers when they were carried off to Babylon and then picked to be trained for the king’s service. They would courageously refuse the king’s commands that disagreed with the Scripture, and would change the course of a nation because of their boldness when young. (Daniel Chapters 1 & 3)
Because of the Biblical understanding of early Americans, their children accepted responsibility much earlier in life that our children now. John Quincy Adams, at age 14, was ambassador to Catherine the Great, the queen of Russia in the late 1700’s.
Fisher Ames, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, entered Harvard when he was twelve. And that was when you had to be able to read Latin, Hebrew, and Greek to get into Harvard! (Education and the Founding Fathers, David Barton, Wallbuilder Press, Aledo, Tx., 1993, p.21)
Another Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush, would later be the Surgeon General for George Washington’s Continental Army. He graduated from Princeton at age 14!
Likewise, Daniel Boone, as a 10-year-old boy in the 1740’s, went 10 miles from home and stayed with his father’s cattle on an additional farm his father owned. He would be mostly alone during this time, but God used it to prepare him to be the primary woodsman that would open the way to America’s western frontier.
Are we preparing our children to be used by God, depending on Him alone to be their Source? Or are we preparing them to live for themselves, which will lead them to depend on government to be their source.
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 Feb 6, 2010 9:46:38 GMT -5
Why and How You Should Vote by: Don Pinson
Recently a student at one of the High Schools in our region invited me to come and speak to a group of Junior and Senior students he had assembled. He wanted me to speak on the importance of voting; urging the students to participate in their governmental system. The following is basically what I said to them - George Washington said, in his Farwell Address to the nation, in 1796:
“I have already [indicated] to you the danger of Parties in the State....Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of Party…Domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention…is itself a frightful despotism.” (That is, life under a dictator.)
Keeping in mind Washington’s warning about ‘party spirit’, let’s ask some clear questions about “why” we should vote, and “who” we should vote for.
But before we ask, “Who should I vote for,” or even “Why should I vote?” we should ask, “What is the purpose of government?” Because it is government we will be operating---through the people we vote for. So let’s first answer: What is government?
The word govern means to control. Therefore, government exists for the purpose of controlling the “I want what I want when I want it” in me, from taking your God-given rights of life, liberty and property, as the Declaration of Independence teaches. Likewise, government is to protect my God-given rights of life, liberty, and property, from your selfishness. This is the purpose of government. It is the only legitimate purpose of government.
So then, why should you participate in government by voting? Because you are choosing what kind of control you are going to have over the destiny of your life and the lives of your children. The privilege and responsibility of voting is a sacred gift from God secured by our Founders in America. America’s first dictionary defined the Latin word, from which we take our word vote, as “a solemn promise to God.” So voting has a spiritual dimension to it. Our Founders in America acknowledged this spiritual dimension in the concept of voting. Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution said:
“Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.”
Noah Webster, the Father of our original education system (not the current educational system:
“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.” If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.”
What root idea will determine how you vote? Will you buy into man’s ideas expressed in great wordiness about the issues facing you? Or will you go to the source out of which America’s Founders built the greatest nation in world history, THE BIBLE? It says,
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom…” (Proverbs 9:10)
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 Feb 11, 2010 9:56:29 GMT -5
Children’s Heroesby: Don PinsonI sometimes walk through the toy aisles in stores just to see what children and young people are playing with. It was an eye-opening truth to me 30 years ago when I realized that what children play with is what they will become. Heroes, whether real or imaginary, will shape your child’s thinking. And the Bible says, “…as thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)So what kind of heroes are you giving to your child? Are they sports heroes, who are on the scene only a brief time, and who’s character, like Tiger Woods, might not at all be what you would want them to be. Or are you giving them rock stars like Miley Cyrus. I noticed her full-length picture in the Wal-Mart clothing section the other day. Her skirt was super short, her breasts were plainly showing; and I thought, how could any caring parent want their little girl to look to Miss Cyrus as an example to follow. Certainly not anyone who understands God’s plan for their child! Who should be the heroes in a child’s life? First, their parents should be their heroes. A son should see such an example of Godly manhood in his father so as to want to be like him. Likewise a daughter should see such an example of a Godly wife and mother in her mother so as to want to be like her. Children will form their first ideas of the roles of a husband and wife, as well as the roles of a father and mother through the example of their parents. What kind of model do they see in you: A Biblical model - or a worldly model? Even such a Godly child as Samuel, the prophet, was influenced by the backslidden Priest, Eli, because Eli was the example of a father Samuel saw the most. Eli didn’t rear his sons according to the Scripture, thus Samuel didn’t rear his sons according to the Scripture; and the failure of Samuel’s sons is what caused the nation of Israel to give away the liberty of their Biblical Republic in exchange for a monarchy. So I ask you, “Why not prepare children of the next generation to rule by their holy walk in government halls? Why not teach them to reason from the Scripture about governmental issues while they are children?” In the early 1900’s humanists committed to work through the education system so they could shape the minds of children to believe in atheism and socialism. They’ve been very successful throughout the last four generations: Why can’t we use the same principle and start really working to teach children how to think Biblically about every area of life, including government? Why can’t we use the stories of great people in the past, including America’s Founding Fathers, to fix in our children’s minds that they have a destiny from God; and that He is willing to live His life through them to achieve that destiny? Let’s give them heroes they can be inspired by! The Jewish king, Josiah, was inspired while only eight years old by the life of his ancestor, King David. Josiah, when he was king, would be used by God to restore to His nation true worship, which, in turn, produced true peace and prosperity. Young Jeremiah would be inspired by Josiah’s life, and he would answer the call of God to be God’s spokesman to his generation. Then Daniel would be inspired by Jeremiah’s life. Daniel would shape the life of two heathen kings by his ability to reason from God’s truth; and he would prosper even in a land of captivity. If we take away Godly heroes from children, how can we expect them to be more than selfish beings who will work their own destruction? Will you give your children Godly role models in your example and in the education you give them. It may mean you’ll have to homeschool your children, or put them into a Christian school. Will you do it - whatever the cost? 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 Feb 28, 2010 6:16:06 GMT -5
Education Determines the Nation’s Thinking by: Don Pinson
One of America’s most important Founding Fathers made the following statement about education:
“We have a dangerous trend beginning to take place in our education... We've become accustomed of late of putting little books into the hands of children containing fables and moral lessons... We are spending less time in the classroom on the Bible, which should be the principal text in our schools... The Bible states these great moral lessons better than any other manmade book."
Thus spoke Fisher Ames, the Founding Father who authored the wording of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Could this Founder have possibly wanted the “separation of church and state” that liberals now say that Amendment supports? But to continue with our thoughts on education: Since education teaches children how to think; and since those thought processes become the ideas which operate our economy, government, and education system in the next generation, education is the most important cultural institution of the three. Nothing is more important in the life of a Republic that what is taught to its children!
So, if America became the greatest nation in world history, what type of education made it that? Listen again to the words of Fisher Ames, he asked:
“Should not the Bible regain the place it once held as a schoolbook? Its morals are pure, its examples are captivating and noble.... The reverence for the sacred book that is thus early impressed lasts long; and, probably, if not impressed in infancy, never takes firm hold of the mind.... By teaching all the same... the Bible will justlyremain the standard of language as well as of faith.”
George Washington agreed with Fisher Ames on the Bible being taught to school children. When three Delaware Indian Chiefs sent their sons to Washington, asking that they be educated in our schools, Washington replied,
“You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are. Congress will do everything they can to assist you in this wise intention…”
George Washington understood the importance of children being taught the way of Jesus Christ if they were to be a help to this new nation which he and many others were sacrificing so much to establish. Likewise, Dr. Benjamin Rush, the Father of our original public schools in America, believed the very same way. Dr Rush stated:
“I…[ask] what mode of education we shall adopt so as to secure to the state all of the advantages that are to be derived from the proper instruction of youth; and here I…remark that the only foundation for a useful education in are public is to be laid on the foundation of Christianity. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments.”
So what’s different in our schools of today? Dr. Rush answers with these words:
“The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effective means of [removing] Christianity from the world, than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools.”
Shouldn’t you be insisting your children be taught the Bible in school?
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 14, 2010 6:04:21 GMT -5
“When God Comes” by: Don Pinson
Forty years ago this month, God came to Kentucky. In a small community at a small Methodist College, named Asbury, God came. A veteran news commentator reported this extraordinary experience by saying, “This could be the start of something big.” Then he asked viewers to put down their newspapers, stop what they were doing, and watch what he had filmed earlier that day. They then watched as hundreds of students gathered in Hughes auditorium were telling, one at a time, how God had just changed their lives in the past several hours. It had started earlier that day as students had gathered for an ordinary Chapel service. But instead of the usual format, students were invited to speak from their hearts. Some did, telling of the change God was working in their lives.
But there was a Power present which made their words arrows that stuck in the mind. It caused fellow students and faculty members to consider their own relationship with God. As students confessed their sin and surrendered to God, they were invited to the platform to share. Many of them, in tears, told of how God had forgiven them and changed them. There was now peace where confusion had reigned.
They now had direction because they were following the footsteps of the One who had already planned every day of their lives. This meeting would last, nonstop, for 8 continuous days. Thousands of lives were changed to become what God had created them to be---all through the power of Jesus Christ; Who had come in His manifested Presence to Wilmore Kentucky. The news reporter ended his report by saying to his audience, “I’ve never seen anything like this, I still can’t believe it.”
However, many others did believe it. As students began to call home and tell what was happening, often asking parents and others to forgive them for specific wrongs they had done, the revival fire began to spread. Local people came to the meeting and were touched by the Holy Spirit. One Pastor stood in the meeting asking different people in his church to forgive him for wrong attitudes toward them. His wife joined him confessing her dislike for their community and resistance to God’s call there. On the weekends following, witness teams would carry the message of confession and surrender to many other states, and wherever the story was told, God showed up in that place.
Two years later a group from Asbury came to an E. Tennessee college where I was a student. As I listened intently, trying to discern how they had entered this relationship with God that made Him so personal to them, I, too, was touched by His conviction of specific, personal, unconfessed sin in my life. With God’s help, that day I got honest with God and 80 other students about my sin. That confession brought the cleansing that God promises in His Word when He says,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
I, too, had peace replace guilt; love replaced fear; and power replaced weakness. I’ve never been the same since.
This is the crying need of this day in America. A genuine revival brought on by honest confession of sin in our lives as God’s people would fix more social ills in a few months than government sponsored programs could fix in three centuries.
The question is: Will we confess our sin to God - and to others who know about 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 Mar 19, 2010 15:50:12 GMT -5
“Biblical View of Crime Punishment” by: Don Pinson
Recently, in my travels across the region, I passed a new prison. I wondered how many men or women were behind those razor-wired fences. It was sad to think how many families were suffering just because of the selfishness of one of the persons in that prison - their own family most of all. It was even sadder to think of how we can’t build prisons fast enough to keep up with the growing crime rate. Since 1976 the number of inmates has increased by 500%; that’s 2,300,000 behind bars. And, in time, over 90% of those will be released; but over half of those released will commit another crime and be back in prison within three years!
What’s wrong with this picture? Why does the crime rate keep going up? Why do so many released criminals go right back to prison in such a short time? There has to be something fundamentally wrong with our justice system for it to produce these numbers. There is! We’ve left the Biblical method of dealing with criminals! Number one, our justice system moves too slowly, punishes crime too lightly, and administers that punishment in the wrong way: All because we’ve rejected the Biblical method of dealing with criminals.
The Bible gives plain instruction as to how to deal with criminals. God told Moses to teach the Jewish nation to deal with crime by a fixed standard. Moses wrote,
“If there be a controversy between men, and they come…that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked.” (Deuteronomy 25:1)
To be able to “justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked” implies that there must be a standard that doesn’t change. If the judge in the case is the standard, then what’s to keep a new judge from judging by a different standard? When the Bible, which plainly states what is right and wrong, was used in our courts to judge crime, criminals knew what to expect. If you murdered someone you could expect to be killed by execution because the Bible standard was “a life for a life.” How much crime would this deter if we did it this way now? The Bible tells us when justice is administered “…all the people shall hear, and fear, and do [this wrong] no more...” (Deuteronomy 17:13)
Likewise trials, by a person’s peers, were to be done locally. (Deuteronomy 25:1-2) Thus, the people on the jury were more likely to know the person wronged and the person accused of doing the wrong. Technicalities, which are so often used to get wrong-doers off the hook now, were ignored and the spirit of the law was carried out so that justice was done for all concerned. Also, punishment was to be administered immediately. The Bible said,
“And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault…” (Deuteronomy 25:2)
The judge who tried the case was to watch the punishment given to the convicted criminal right then---at the end of the trial. This eliminated the need for prisons! Think of the impact on the youth in that community! As they watched punishment being administered, they decided right then and there they didn’t want that happening to them. So they chose to treat their neighbors and their neighbors’ property with respect.
By using the Bible as the basis for administering justice, and by using Biblical truth as our counseling philosophy, we would basically eliminate the need for prisons. If you think this is not practical, I ask you: “Is what we’re doing now practical? Is it working?”
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 27, 2010 5:29:00 GMT -5
“Not Just Entry---but Walkway” by: Don Pinson
Many church leaders are confused. In the last twenty years there’s been a growing animosity expressed toward Christianity through the media. And once the present national government was installed, for the first time in our history, a majority of the Congress and a chief executive agreed that the message of the Bible should be suppressed. Pastor’s belief that their call from God was just to preach the Gospel is now being questioned. As they are seeing their right to preach the Gospel in public being more and more suppressed by government, they’re wondering if they should not have spent at least some time in government working to preserve the liberty to preach that Gospel.
Could it be that the root mistake we’re making is in defining what the Gospel message is? I’m not referring to the teaching that Christ shedding His blood is the only means of our being made right with God. For the honest heart that is the obvious teaching of the whole Bible. However, when we reduce Christ’s command to take the Gospel to the whole world to say it means, if I receive Christ as my Savior I’ll go to heaven when I die, we’re understanding only the first part of the Gospel. To be sure, we all must enter at that “narrow gate,” of the new birth. But Jesus didn’t say to just enter the “narrow gate,” He said to walk on the “narrow way.” (Matthew 7:14; Colossians 2:6) A “walk” implies that we must move in the direction Jesus is moving. It’s not just an initial experience---it is a lifestyle. To be sure, this “walk” begins with an experience of repentance toward God and we’re born again as we invite Christ to come inside us and take up residence in these bodies we live in. But that is just the beginning! From that moment on we’re to be discipled (in other words to learn) to live each moment concerning each thing by the wisdom and the power of His Holy Spirit inside us; each moment and each event in this world as well as in heaven to come. Jesus said, in Matthew 28: 19,
“Go ye therefore and teach all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
He purposely included “teaching them to observe all things…I have commanded you.”
In other words Jesus didn’t tell us to teach people just “to enter the gate:” But rather to teach them to “walk on the way.” Every area of life must be touched by the Gospel. This walk in the truth will include education, economy, and government as well as who you’re going to marry and what house you’ll live in.
America’s Founders believed the reign of God must touch every area of life now, as well as in eternity to come. Matthew Henry was a great preacher of the late 1600’s who wrote a commentary on the whole Bible. His commentary was the main one America’s Founders looked to in order to understand the Scriptures. Thus, he did much to shape the Founder’s thinking about life. Here is what Matthew Henry said when commenting on this command of Jesus to take the Gospel to the world: He comments about individuals, saying;
"Secondly, that salvation by Christ should be offered to all," none excluded…
His next comment is about governments: “Thirdly, that Christianity should be twisted in with national constitutions, that the kingdoms of the world should become Christ's kingdoms..."
America was founded on the Biblical understanding that government must be shaped and operated by the principles of the Bible.
So Pastor, church leader, shouldn’t you be involved---and get your people involved---in government?
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 4, 2010 7:00:16 GMT -5
“Helping the Poor” by: Don Pinson
The other day I noticed a line of poor people waiting to receive food stamps. The line was long and the parking lot full. Why is it we have so many people on some type of government assistance?
Ever since the 1930’s we have, more and more, looked to government to solve our economic problems---both personal and national. But has it worked? Do we have more people who are making their own way, or fewer? Where will it end? How much longer can those who work in private business sustain this growing group of welfare recipients?
Where are there answers as to how individuals are to get enough money to live on?
As always the answers are in the Bible. God tells us both how to earn a living (even in tough economic times), and how to help those who are genuinely poor. But to actually understand this issue, we must first define what poor is. Noah Webster, in his original American Dictionary, defined the word poor as meaning:
“Wholly destitute of property, or not having property sufficient for a comfortable subsistence…”
So how do we help them? First of all let’s recognize that there are a very few people who are genuinely unable to take care of themselves. In the Scripture, this group is represented by widows. Paul wrote to the young Pastor, Timothy, to let him know how to take care of these women. First of all, they had to be part of the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. If they had repented of their rebellion against God and had received Christ as their Lord and Savior, then they were part of the church. For this group there were basically three divisions: those widows who were younger and still able to work and earn a living; those widows who were older, but who had living families who could take them into their homes and care for them; and those who were elderly with no family to care for them. This latter group was to be cared for by a fund to which the whole church contributed. It was administered by the deacons of the church so that their needs were met as fairly as possible. (1 Tim. 5: 3-16)
We learn how to help the poor who are able to help themselves by the younger widows. Because they were strong enough to work and earn their sustenance, they were to do so. Paul later wrote to the church at Thessalonica and addressed this issue again. He stated,
“For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11For we hear that there are some who walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.” (I Thessalonians 3:10-12)
God’s solution is simple: Go to work.
So what if there aren’t enough jobs to go around? Then create one. Do what Ben Franklin said would solve a person’s economic woes: Think up a service or product that people need, but don’t know that they need it. Then convince them to let you provide it for them. That is how every business that ever started came into being. Perhaps you’re thinking: That might be hard. It could be in some instances. But God promises,
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33)
When you seek God instead of government, He shows up on your behalf!
The Jamestown Colony was saved from starvation in the winter of 1608 because their new Christian Governor, John Smith implemented the Biblical principle of “if any man will not work, neither should he eat.”
Shouldn’t we do this again to solve our economic woes?
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, 2010 6:10:34 GMT -5
Civil Law By Biblical Covenant by: Don Pinson
Only a century had passed after Jesus arose from the dead when His story reached England. The Celts, who lived in England then, began to turn from their occultic practices to the living Christ as Lord. Then Celtic Pastors began to teach their children and others Biblical truths about every area of life, including why and how civil government should operate. In the 400’s one of these Pastors, Patrick, was led of God to go to Ireland and share the Gospel with the Irish people. They, too, began to receive Christ as Lord and started living by the Bible. The Irish Chieftains then wanted to know how to rule their clans according to the Bible. So Patrick lifted out of the first five books of the Bible the civil laws which God had given the Jews through Moses. He placed these in a book that he entitled The Book of the Law of Moses. From this book civil law in Ireland, and later in Scotland, began to take on the form and spirit of the Bible. Biblical moral law became the standard by which were judged the intents in the hearts of citizens; while Biblical governmental structure became the form of government for Ireland and Scotland. This form emphasized local self government, embodying the principle that Christ could live inside the individual, thus enabling the individual to be the governor over his own passions; and as a result, capable of electing like individuals to rule in his civil government.
Though the spiritual fire would at times wane, throughout the history of Ireland and Scotland the influence of Patrick’s Book of the Law of Moses would still impact those peoples’ civil government. It would manifest in a resolute commitment to keep local government more powerful than any national government. This would cause many wars with English kings who would attempt to bring the Scots and the Irish under their dictatorial rule.
In the 1500’s, the great Reformer, John Knox, would give written expression to this Biblical idea of civil government in the form of a four-fold covenant made between the Scotch people, their rulers, and God. First the ruler, after being elected by the people, made an agreement (known as a covenant) with God that he would personally walk in the ways of God. Secondly, that ruler made a covenant with the people who had elected him that he would govern them according to the form and spirit of government revealed in the Bible. Thirdly, the people made a covenant with God that they would personally walk in the ways of God revealed in the Bible. Fourthly, the people made a covenant with their elected ruler that they would obey and submit to him---as long as he kept his covenant with God to rule them in the fear of God. If he didn’t, they promised that ruler they would replace him.
The people known as the Scots-Irish came to this land in great numbers in the late 1600’s, and the mid 1700’s. They quickly made their way to the Appalachian mountains because it was so much like their native Ireland and Scotland. Many of them would settle in Kentucky. But through the generations, while the fierce independence often remained, the understanding that civil government is a Biblical Covenant between the people and God has been all but lost. This is the reason so very few vote in elections and why many who call themselves ‘Christian’ refuse to get involved with civil government.
Shouldn’t we rediscover and teach to our children the four-fold Covenant our ancestors made with God, and their civil rulers? Shouldn’t we implement it again?
Remember, Jesus said about the Bible: “Thy Word is truth.” (John 17:17)
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 9, 2010 13:26:31 GMT -5
. “Christian Influence In America” by: Don Pinson
Last year, Mr. Obama made the statement that America “never has been a Christian nation.” A statement like that from someone in his position means that, either he doesn’t know our true history, or he has an agenda that is diametrically opposed to the ideas of America’s Founding Fathers. It is very plain from their writings that they based both our state and national governments squarely on Biblical thinking. Let’s consider their writings. James Madison, the man who wrote almost all our national Constitution would later reveal that he was certain the Hand of God was in the proceedings of the Convention which drew up that document. He stated:
“It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it a finger of that Almighty hand which has so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.” (Federalist # 37, quoted in, Our Ageless Constitution, David Steadman Associates, 1987, p. 160)
James Madison believed firmly he and the others at the Constitution Convention were being led by God to establish that Constitution as the highest civil law in the land. He likewise obviously believed that God had shown up many times in the “critical stages” of our American Revolution in order to enable us to gain our independence and establish us as a nation.
In the very first Congress there was an effort by some Representatives to channel national tax dollars to the fishing industry. They said the Constitution allowed this under the “general welfare” phrase used in the preamble of the Constitution. Madison, a Representative from Virginia, jumped to his feet! The man who wrote the Constitution (and therefore should know what he meant by it) was about to speak, and everybody was listening! He stated in no uncertain terms:
“If Congress can apply money indefinitely to the ‘general welfare’, and are the sole and supreme judges of the ‘general welfare’, they might take the care of religion into their own hands. (a gasp was heard!) They may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner school throughout the union.” (Jonathan Elliott, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
Mr. Madison, the Constitution’s author, wanted it plainly understood that the “general welfare” referred to the good of all the states collectively, not individuals or individual states. He likewise pointed out that both Christianity and education were completely outside the realm of governmental jurisdiction---and, therefore, tax support.
That America was established by Christian principles is also plainly seen in the way our Founders respected the Christian Sabbath, in other words, Sunday. They refused to allow government to do its business on Sunday. This was implied in Article 1 Section 7 where the Constitution states the government would not be allowed to count Sunday as one of their workdays in the process of a Presidential “pocket veto.” This is further revealed by James Madison’s action in the Virginia Legislature when he presented a bill which would fine any person who, (quote);
“…on Sunday shall himself be found laboring at his own or any other trade or… business, except it be in the ordinary household offices of daily necessity, or other work of necessity or charity…”, (Madison, James. October 31, 1785, "Bill for Punishing Disturbers of Religious Worship and Sabbath Breakers.")
So Ladies and Gentlemen, America was, in the beginning, a Christian nation!
The Apostle Paul said, “speak forth the words of truth and soberness…”
Shouldn’t we be doing the same with our children and others we know. Shouldn’t we require our government servants to speak the truth about our history?
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 12, 2010 4:58:49 GMT -5
“What Can the Righteous Do?” by: Don Pinson
Given the current move of the national government into socialism, I’m often asked by people. What can we do? It reminds me of the verse in the Bible, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Psalms 11:3) The answer to that is quite simple: The righteous can (and must) rebuild the foundations that have been destroyed! We must take heart from the prophecy of Isaiah 58:12 which states that we will:
“…build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach; the restorer of paths (streets) to dwell in.”
God is calling us to work with Him in rebuilding our nation!
But make no mistake about it: This means more than sending different people to the Congress in Washington, or to fill places in a state capitol. This means that each of us must learn to think with God again (as He reveals in the Bible) about our individual lives, our families, our churches, our local communities, our state, and our nation. The means we must learn to work, in each of these areas, God’s way of education, His way of doing business, His way of doing government. In short, we first must have revival, then that revival must grow into reformation. And this must occur from the bottom up---not the top down!
In 1948 there was desperate need in the New Hebrides Islands. Their background in heathenism had left many without purpose and thus their lives were being destroyed. A group of Christians who recognized this need, made an agreement (covenant) with God that they would pray for revival among the people until He sent it. They prayed for months, but nothing happened. Then one night a young man arose from his knees and said to the rest of the group. The Bible says, “Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, but he that has clean hands and a pure heart? (Psalms 24: 3-5) He said, “This meeting and praying night after night is just so much humbug, if we ourselves are not right with God! I must ask myself, ‘Is my heart pure, are my hands clean?’ ” As the men let God search their hearts and they began to confess their sin to God and to one another, revival fire fell that night! In just the next few weeks thousands were swept into the kingdom of God in that community. God came in His manifested Power and those lives were changed by that Power.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we must have in America today. We’ve had these times of sweeping revival before; in 1734, in 1800, and in 1858. We simply must have another move of God if this nation is to have the liberty preserved by which we can take the Gospel of Christ to our children and grandchildren. But it all starts with prayer and repentance.
I am encouraged by the number of prayer meetings I’m encountering across the region that are just for the purpose of praying for revival: A church in Corbin, Ky., a group of ladies at Natural Bridge, Ky: A group of Pastors and others have been praying at different locations across Kentucky for a number of years. There’s a group meeting in Barbourville, Ky. on Sunday evenings asking God to grant us a revival in this nation. In Manchester, Ky. a group meets, at the request of the Mayor, to pray over their city government, and for revival, each Monday morning. Let’s be encouraged by these gatherings and either join one or start one where we live; earnestly seeking God for an outpouring of His Spirit in revival for us and our nation.
And remember: Each of us must ask ourselves under the searching of the Spirit of God, “Is my heart pure, are my hands clean?”
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 14, 2010 20:46:27 GMT -5
“Are We Listening?” by: Don Pinson
This past weekend a number of severe rainstorms swept the South. The damage to property has been immense; and worse still, a number of people were drowned in the floods. I recently had someone ask me why these disasters occur. That’s a worthy question. The Bible tells us that, in the beginning, God created a perfect world. No such things as floods or earthquakes were part of that paradise. God created man with that earth, intending that He, God Himself, would take up residence in man and live life through him on this planet. God would have been man’s intimate friend, as well as his ability to do all the tasks required for life in this world. But we chose to refuse God the right to reside inside us. We illegally took the life God had entrusted to us and used it for our own selfish purposes. This new disorder between man and His Creator caused great disorder in the natural realm. Nothing would now function as perfectly as God had created it to. Thus, we have the natural disasters even to this day. And because man’s disorder, called sin, would progressively get worse through the years, the natural realm would work less and less in the way God intended it to work. Thus, we have the increasing intensity in natural disasters that we’ve experienced in recent years.
The good news in all of this is that God, being the Supreme ruler over the natural world, uses even these disorders to speak to us, His creation. He sent great rain and hail on Pharoah in Exodus Chapter 9 in order to move Pharoah to let God’s people go out of bondage. He withheld the rain for three years in Elijah’s day in order to bring Israel to repentance from their idolatry to sexual lust. In Noah’s day, early in human history, God sent a worldwide flood to stop all the violence and sexual sin man was doing to his fellow man. Jesus taught us that God is in control of the elements, including the rain. He declared that God… “…sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:5)
The Lord desires that we should know Him and experience His best life in this present world, as well as in eternity. But because we’re deceived in our thinking we don’t believe His way is best, and we go on in our selfishness. Often God sends natural disasters to get our attention. Does that mean the people who were directly affected by the floods this past weekend are worse that the rest of us Americans in their rebellion against God? Certainly not! We’ve had a number of national disasters in recent years, including the attacks on Sept. 11th, 2001, the hurricane Katrina, several droughts and ice storms. These are natural disasters through which God is trying to bring us as Americans to repentance. Will you listen to Him? Will I listen to Him? That is the real question!
In the spring and summer of 1623 the Pilgrims experienced a twelve-week drought. It spelled certain disaster and death for them since their crops were apparently destroyed. In response to this crisis, they called for all the people to assemble at the church and seek the face of God as to why He had withheld the rain. As He revealed their individual and corporate sins to them, they admitted those sins to Him and to each other. This repentance before God brought an immediate change! That night rain began to fall and came in such gentle proportions for the next two weeks that their crops were completely revived!
What would happen in America if we called days of repentance in the churches after natural disasters? What if we actually repented?
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 17, 2010 4:36:00 GMT -5
“The Hope of Real Change” by: Don Pinson
A growing number of people are placing great hope in this year’s elections. The horrendous move into socialism by the current national administration has provoked a large reaction among people who think more conservatively. What will this reaction produce? Will great change occur? And if great change does occur, will it be change that is right?
The great problem with reactionary movements is that they oftentimes are based in non-principled thinking. Since all human beings have rooted in them a selfish attitude of “I want what I want when I want it,” thinking that demands more conservative economic policies could just be based in greed; or in fear of not having enough to live on.
Those are not good enough reasons to work for change. Those who embrace those ideas, like those who embrace socialism, would still be working for change out of selfishness. In order to fix the mess in which our nation now wallows, we must look to a higher Source for our ideas As always, the Bible has the answers. God told Joshua,
“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do all that is written therein. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)
Prosperity comes from obeying the Scriptures: Obeying both the moral law of God, and the method by which God says we should do business, and government.
America’s Founders understood this. This is why they consistently read the Bible. I’ve found that a number of them made it their practice to read it through from Genesis to Revelation. Dr. Benjamin Rush did it this way. He was a Signer of the Declaration of Independence and founder of America’s original public schools. Likewise, Fischer Aimes, another Signer of the Declaration of Independence, read the Bible through over and over. This also was John Quincy Adams method of reading it; and we know that he, our sixth President, read it through at least 55 times in his lifetime!
George Washington, each day, read the Bible morning and evening on his knees! Is it any wonder these men were so wise? It’s not hard to see how they could put together the greatest national government in the history of the world - the government that gave the greatest amount of liberty to the greatest number of people in all of world history.
Will Godly change be worked in the coming elections just because we change the party in power? Absolutely not! No matter what a person’s political party, the right kind of change — Godly changed - will only be worked if the people we send to government are submitted in their personal lives to Biblical law and understanding. Only if they are committed to learning how to do government from the Scripture will they be actual Godly “change agents.”
The questions we should be asking candidates at the local, state, and national levels, I simply am not hearing them being asked. We should be asking them first: “Do you believe the Bible is truth without any mixture of error?” The second question we ask them should be: “Do you believe the Bible can be lived out in this present world?” The third question should be: “Why does government exist?” If they can’t answer a solid “yes” to the first two, and answer that government exists only to protect the God-given rights of “life, liberty, and property,” they have no business in office! - No matter what party they belong to!
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 29, 2010 7:04:38 GMT -5
“The Massacre of Our Constitution” by: Don Pinson
We have watched the “massacre” of our U.S. Constitution. The word “massacre” refers to the killing of humans without authority. While the Constitution is not a human, it was written by humans for the purpose of governing humans. It was supposed to establish a national government that would rule by proper authority, which is given only by God and expressed through the people’s approval of that Constitution in 1789. The approval of Obama’s so-called “health care” plan was neither. Number one, the Congress met on Sunday to do this, which is forbidden by the Constitution. Secondly, a huge majority of Americans believe the so-called “health-care” plan is bad for America. Yet, with arm-twisting tactics Nancy Pelosi and Obama managed to squeak out a 2-vote majority from the 435 members of the House of Representatives. This is supposed to make it law. Technically it does. But who wants to fight in an army of 435 soldiers where 216 of them are against this war? A lot of heads can roll when you engage an enemy with nearly half your army not wanting to fight.
Obama even issued an executive order stopping all federal funding for abortions in order to gain the support of certain “pro-life Democrats.” Why would he cut off funding to abortions when he has repeatedly done things to support abortion? It’s simple, opponents say: The so-called “health care” plan provides for abortions; forcing even Christian doctors, nurses, and church supported hospitals to perform them. As soon as he signs the “health-care” bill, the murdering of children with federal money is authorized to start again according to this medical law’s provisions.
So by “hook and crook” he got his so-called “health care” bill through Congress.
This is no longer “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Rather, it government takeover “of the people.” In a little while you and I will have no choice but to be under this medical system which eliminates all medical ideas that disagree with the New World Order that Obama, and other socialists worldwide, are seeking to enact.
But there is opposition! Already at least 12 states are saying they will sue the national government for ignoring the Constitution; which was an agreement between the states to create a national government in1789 by which the states gave to that national government only thirty specific powers. Forcing citizens to have a government controlled medical plan was not one of those powers. If the national courts do what’s right by the Bible and the Constitution, they’ll say that the law is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced. But if that happens will Obama, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the nation, enforce the court’s ruling? He has no respect for Constitutional government. Can we trust him to stop his own law?
Another hope is indicated by the very low approval ratings of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. Lots of Congressmen could be beaten in the elections this fall by more conservative candidates. We can only hope this happens and that they will have the courage to actually completely overturn what this socialist leadership in Congress and the White House has done.
But our greatest hope is that the revival of praying that is now happening could be God’s way of beginning a revival which would birth a reformation of the institutions of our land. Will you commit yourself and your means to seeing revival happen now. Will you and I:
“Repent and be converted (that is, change our way of thinking) that the… times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” (Acts 3:19)
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 9, 2010 5:52:26 GMT -5
“The Cultural War Continues” by: Don Pinson
A Wisconsin judge in the national court system has said that a 1952 law establishing a National Day of Prayer violates the “Establishment clause” of the First Amendment. Here is what the reference to religion in the First Amendment actually says:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”
The debate in Congress the day the First Amendment was approved makes it crystal clear that they were making sure the National Government could not establish a national church. But since 1947 it has been interpreted just the opposite from its original intent; declaring that the church cannot get the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ into the public realm.
Thus, those who have an agenda to change America from its original Biblical worldview to atheism and socialism roll on.
It was not always this way in America. Up until 1947 America had openly acknowledged God’s work in our land. But a very well thought out plan had been laid in the early 1900’s to change the Christian worldview of America to atheism and socialism. The first overt act aimed at blocking the flow of that Christian foundation to the next generation, came in a Supreme Court case in 1947 known as Everson v. Board of Education. In that case the U.S. Supreme Court claimed that the U.S. Constitution “erected a wall of separation between church and state.” This ruling became the basis for case after case which has ‘interpreted their interpretation’ to mean the church cannot influence the government. The Courts constantly imply this was the intent of our Founders in their writing of the Constitution.
However, a careful study of the Founder’s writings and acts reveal that the Supreme Court had no basis whatever for ruling that the church has no right to influence the government. The Founders believed God Himself caused this nation to be born. George Washington, who was the President of the Constitutional Convention, looking back on it said,
“… we may, with a kind of pious and grateful exultation, trace the Finger of Providence through those dark and mysterious events which first induced the States to appoint a general Convention, and then led them one after another…into an adoption of the system recommended by that general Convention…”
In fact, just 55 years before the 1947 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court had stated in no uncertain terms just the opposite. In 1892 in the case, Church of the Holy Trinity v. the United States, after reviewing hundreds of our government documents from the past, the High Court would state, “We are a Christian people.” They listed many of the statements they had researched, but perhaps the most direct one they quoted was from the New York State Supreme Court. Chief Justice Kent, renowned commentator on the law, had stated in The Peoples v. Ruggle case,
“The people of this State, in common with the people of this country, profess the general doctrines of Christianity, as the rule of their faith and practice.... We are a Christian people, and the morality of the country is deeply engrafted upon Christianity…we find everywhere a clear recognition of [this] same truth.”
The Bible says, “Remember those who led you…” (Hebrews 13:7)
Shouldn’t we listen more to those who created this nation, than a group of atheistic socialists who are trying to destroy what our Founders created?
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 24, 2010 6:31:02 GMT -5
“A Desert Victory for Religious Liberty” by: Don Pinson
In 1934 a cross was erected in the Mojave Desert by veterans of WWI who wanted to honor their fallen comrades. It had stood for 70 years as a marker for those who had made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives to preserve the God-given liberty established by our Founding Fathers. Though it had been erected on land owned by the national government, it had never been a problem until recent years. Then, in the next move of those who want to remove God and His word from before us, it was challenged in court. The District Court and the Circuit Court of the national court system for that region had ruled it had to be removed. The Liberty Institute took the case free of charge and began to fight for our religious liberty in these courts. Just a few days ago the U.S. Supreme Court, reversing the lower court decisions, ruled in favor of the cross standing. In the narrow 5-4 decision the majority stated, "the Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society."
This is a distinct victory in the forty years’ onslaught by socialist lawyers who have worked to remove from the public eye every possible government acknowledgement of God. While it falls short of government acknowledging God, as our Founders intended and as Judge Roy Moore argued several years ago, it does state in the negative that same truth. The Court has admitted that government does not have to “avoid” “public acknowledgement of religion’s role in society.” This represents a major victory in the wording of Court decisions regarding religious liberty. If honored, this could set in motion the steps back toward government acknowledging God like we once did in America. And while I wouldn’t want to make it sound like all religious liberty will now be restored, it does say that five of the current nine judges on the court favor religious expression in public---which squarely pits them against the Obama administration’s stand on religious liberty. This is a good thing.
It cannot be honestly argued that the Founders of America wrote a Constitution, which is supposed to be the supreme law of the law, that wanted the expression of Christianity removed from public. The actions of the very same Congress which approved the First Amendment shows this: And it is the First Amendment that is constantly used by those who hate God and the Bible to justify their attack on Christian symbols in public. That same Congress which wrote the First Amendment, approved the Northwest Ordinance by which new states would be carved out of the Northwest Territory. Article III of that Ordinance required that, in order for a new state to be admitted to the union, they had to teach Christianity in their schools. It stated,
“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.”
Likewise, if our Founders wanted God and the Bible removed from the public eye, why did they use surplus government money to fund short-term missionaries to the Indian tribes? Thomas Jefferson’s administration did this in 1803 and again in 1806-07. America’s Founders believed that liberty came from God. As the Bible states,
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
Do you believe liberty comes from God? Are you teaching it 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 Jul 1, 2010 20:24:35 GMT -5
“Parents Are God’s Educators” by: Don Pinson
Today, when “the school” is spoken of, most people think of the building down the road called the “public school.” But this was not always true in America. Did you know we didn’t have tax-supported schools until the 1830’s. America had been here over 200 years before we had even one state that had tax-funded public schools. There were public schools, but they were supported financially by local individuals, local churches and local businesses. Thus, what went into the child’s mind was controlled locally. And the truth is, most American children were educated by their parents until way up in the 1800’s. In fact, over half of America’s Founding Fathers were educated at home -- and they were the wisest generation in world history!
Where did America’s Founders get the idea that parents were to be the teachers of their children? Like all their basic ideas about life, they got it from the Bible. God had said very plainly in Ps. 78: 5-7,
“5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: 6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: 7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:”
Parents are called by God to teach their children about all of life. All education falls under one of two subjects: Theology, which means “the study of God:” or history, which can be described as “the events orchestrated by God down through the ages.” All of those events are made up of the combined affect of academic subjects like math and science. So all that mankind has ever done has come out of his view of God and history.
God has always intended parents to be the primary teachers of their children. It’s logical if you think about it: Did God have parents give birth to children, or did He have the state give birth to children? Obviously, He gave children to parents, not the state. Therefore, parents are to be the primary teachers of their children. Parents can delegate this task to someone else in certain academic subjects. But that teacher must be “in covenant” with the parents. In other words, the parents and the teacher must agree on the basics of life; that is, Who God is, who they and their children are, and what is God’s plan for them all. Without this covenantal thinking, there will be conflict between the school and the home, which will result in the child developing what the Bible calls “double-mindedness.” And double-mindedness always leads to unbelief concerning God and His Word. And unbelief always leads to rebellion against God. Now does it make sense why 85% of conservative Christian young people leave the church in their late teenage years?
The great Reformer, Martin Luther, gave a fervent warning to parents concerning the education of their children. He stated,
“I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which men are not increasingly occupied with the Word of God must become corrupt.”
Shouldn’t you be learning how America’s Founders taught their children so you can teach yours the same way?
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 7, 2010 14:27:48 GMT -5
“Actions Speak Loudest” by: Don Pinson
Mr. Obama has picked Elena Kagan to be his U.S. Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Stevens who has retired. Kagan may well be a homosexual. She at least is pro-homosexual in her ideas, and would appear to want to push their agenda to force all to recognize homosexuality as normal behavior. This, of course pits her completely against the Biblical position on homosexuality. If the U.S. Senate approves her nomination, what’s to keep her from demanding that the Bible’s stand on other subjects be outlawed? While judges have no right to make law, in America they’re decisions have been recognized as such for over 60 years. This is a tremendous threat to religious liberty in America; and her nomination sends an ominous warning about the future of spreading the Gospel of the kingdom of Christ in this country.
Likewise, this further confirms the hidden hatred which Mr. Obama has for the Bible and the God who wrote it. The fact that he would nominate someone to the Supreme Court who stands directly opposite to the Scripture reveals how he really believes. Actions always are the main way we can tell how a person thinks. No matter what they may say, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:20) The true character of an individual will always be revealed by what they do, not what they say. Words are cheap. As someone said, “We do what we really believe, all else is just religious talk.”
I would urge you to call or write to your U.S. Senators and firmly insist that they use every effort to resist the confirmation of Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court. Then, let’s pray that God would deliver us from such an individual. It could be devastating for liberty if a case came up on which Justice Kennedy voted with her and the other three liberals on the court. And this could easily happen. We just cannot predict what Kennedy will do!
The hardest thing for many Americans to face about all this is that they, who call themselves Christians, voted for Obama in the last election. The fact that they were deceived by him shows that most of us do not know how to reason Biblically and therefore, we can be easily swayed. It’s a tough pill to swallow when we have to look in the mirror and say, “I’ve met the enemy---and he is ME!” But let’s be honest. Anything we do that disagrees with the Scripture is sin, and we only do sin because we’re deceived about it.
So what can we do to change our government? To state it simply: We can repent. We can admit to God that we don’t know how to think Biblically and ask Him to teach us how to think with Him. Let’s heed what the Bible says in Acts 3:19:
“Repent ye therefore and be converted that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…”
Let’s be honest with Him, confess our lack of knowledge concerning how He thinks about government, and ask Him to teach us to think with Him about government. He’s “faithful and just to forgive us our sins” if we will but admit them.
Let’s not be as the German people were when Hitler rose to power and they were so deceived by him. One of their young Pastors, Martin Neimoeller later admitted their mistake. He confessed:
“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.”
We have two choices: Speak up! or Bow down!
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 23, 2010 7:43:09 GMT -5
When ‘The Daughter Devours the Mother’ by: Don Pinson
The vision was probably the purest for any nation that had ever been known. John Winthrop, the leader of the Puritans who came to America in 1630, said it this way:
“For we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us…”
Indeed they, and the Pilgrims before them, combined to create the greatest nation in world history. Because of their Christian character, resulting from their understanding of the Bible, they developed the greatest education system in all of time. They likewise established a Biblical economic system, known as “free enterprise,” which gave to their children the greatest economic opportunity ever known to mankind. And their Biblical Republic protected, by law, that education system and that economic system so that America grew rapidly to be the greatest nation on earth.
But there are always ditches on either side of the road of prosperity. John Adams would identify these in a letter to Thomas Jefferson. He wrote, “And without virtue, there can be no political liberty.... [But]Will you tell me how to prevent riches from becoming the effects of temperance and industry? Will you tell me how to prevent luxury from producing effeminacy, intoxication, extravagance, vice and folly?...I believe no effort in favour of virtue is lost.”
John Adams understood that there can be a great danger resulting from operating an economy in the Biblical way. That is, honest, diligent labor produces prosperity. But financial prosperity frees up our time. Money allows us choices as to what we do with our time. Prosperity means we no longer have to work from daylight till dark just to make a living. If, because of the selfishness in us, we choose to live for pleasure or prestige, we will destroy the very liberty that brought our prosperity.
This is exactly what would happen to us. By the early 1700’s the Puritan’s grandchildren were moving away from the teaching of the Bible and were beginning to live for pleasure, prestige, and possessions. Their experience was summed up well by Cotton Mather, the great Puritan preacher. He complained, “Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”
And while revivals in the mid-1700’s and early 1800’s would bring us back to our Biblical roots, we now have not had a national revival since 1858. Thus, the last 7 to 8 generations have been steadily moving away from the Biblical understanding which made America the greatest nation in all of history. Does it now make sense why most of us live for pleasure, prestige, and possessions?
God warned us what would happen if we went the route we have gone. In Deut. 30 God would admonish us through Moses to be diligent to obey what the Bible teaches about nation-building. He stated:
"For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off… See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply… But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear… I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither you…go to possess it.”
Remember, American, “Religion begat prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother.”
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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