[Heritage Ministries]

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Think About It
by Don Pinson

“God Invades Human Flesh”
Part Two

s it possible to live in this present world the way God created us to live? Did God forgive our sin when we were born again just so we could “go to heaven when we die”? Did Jesus come to earth to live as God’s Son, or as the Son of Man? He most definitely was God’s Son—and yet He was unmistakably a man. He had to eat, rest, and sleep just like all other men. He laughed and wept just as all humans have since the dawn of creation. He had to manage money and relate to relatives.

Yet the peace and confidence with which He did it all was amazing. It was as if He wasn’t weighted down as others were. He talked about His Father and His Spirit in such a familiar way that They seemed close, not far off in an unreachable heaven. His followers would later come to recognize this uniqueness as the very fulfillment of what God intended man to be all along.

Click below to read or listen to the entire article:

heritageministriesky.com/2016/05/11/god-invades-human-flesh-part-2

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Jim Wilson on Facebook

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[Heritage Ministries]

Can Revival Happen Now?
by: Don Pinson

I often have people say to me, “Don, I just don’t believe we’re gonna have revival in America. These are the last days and I just don’t believe we’re gonna see revival.”

While I certainly agree that these are the last days, I believe we should consider some other things before we just write off the possibility of a national awakening to God right here in America.

We should consider the widespread movement among college age adults. Over the last several years there have been thousands in that age group who are making commitments to Christ as the Master of every area of their lives. This is evidenced by such ministries as Passion and the Justice House of Prayer. Passion is centered in Atlanta and in recent years they’ve see thousands and thousands come to their meetings. From Boston to L.A, young adults have come to do serious worship, Bible Study, and intercession; and the numbers continue to grow. This is no entertainment time. This is ‘lay your life on the line for Jesus’ kind of message that is being heard. I heard Billy Graham say in the sixties that, “Young people want a cause worth dying for; and they will respond to that message.” Instead of the false idea of a lot of church staff who think young people have to be entertained to stay with the church, what young adults really want is to know that their life is worth enough to God that He requires of them the ultimate sacrifice; death to their own desires in order to chase Him in His vision of getting the Gospel to the entire world, even if that means dying physically!

Likewise, J-HOP ministries is a unique ministry which tries to right injustice by praying over particular instances where someone is wronged. I first encountered them three years ago in Washington D.C., where they were meeting in a house right behind the U.S. Supreme Court building and praying 24 hours a day over the proceedings of that Court. Here are young people who’ve committed a segment of their young adult life to do serious intercession. I was very impressed with them! Praying with them let me know, these young people know God!

These are just some of the things that let me know God is at work in our land.

These evidences of an awakening agree with what the Bible says about revival. It says, “Ask and you shall receive.” (Matthew 7:7) The Bible declares, “Whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive.” (Matt. 21:22) We’ve experienced the truth of these verses in America’s past. It can happen again!

In the 1820’s, in answer to prayer and repentance in Rochester New York, revival came. It was described by an eye witness who stated:

“The whole community was stirred. Religion was the topic of conversation, in the house, in the shop, in the office and on the street…The only theater in the city was converted into a livery stable; the only circus into a… candle factory. [Bars] were closed; the Sabbath was honored; the sanctuaries were thronged with happy worshippers…the fountains of benevolence were opened, and men lived to do good…

“It is not too much to say that the whole character of the city was changed by that revival… in business, and in civil affairs, religion was enthroned as it has been in few places… There was a wonderful falling off in crime. The courts had little to do, and the jail was nearly empty for years afterward.”

Revival can come again to our desperate land!

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Is There Hope For America?
by: Don Pinson

Is there any hope for America to avoid destruction? Have we gone too far into sin to ever turn back? Many people have expressed to me their frustration with the Presidential race this year. They often have a look of anguish as they ask, “What are we going to do?”

While I certainly share their frustration with both major political parties who have completely refused to listen to the evangelical community in America, I don’t believe that our hopes as a nation hinge on the Presidential election. Number one, the Presidential race is not the most important race happening this fall. Our local elections are the most important. We will not fix America’s governmental mess by starting in Washington, or even Frankfort or Nashville. We will fix it by starting to run local candidates who believe the Bible is true, and have made it their sincere effort to live it out before they ran for office. While that is not the only qualification for office, it is the most foundational one. Until we fix local government we won’t have the know-how to ever fix state or national government. Thus, our involvement in local politics is far more important than our involvement in state or national politics.

And yes, there is hope for America! We know this is true both from the Bible and from our own history. The Bible says,

“But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; Psalms 103:17

Again the Bible urges us in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things which you know not.”

All through the Scripture God urges us, when the darkness is greatest in our lives, to come to Him in humility and repentance and He will hear our earnest cry.

Likewise, the history of our own region urges us cry to Him for revival. In June of 1800 God came to Logan County, Ky. in a way most powerful in spirit and body. The year before, a number of people had agreed to pray every Saturday night and Sunday morning until God sent revival to Logan Co. Though then a den of outlaws with only a few Christians in the community, that county was about to change in such a powerful way it would affect the entire region. The June meeting revealed an astounding 10,000 people who had come to camp until God was done (Remember, Lexington, the then largest city in Ky., had 1800 people). And how God did come! One preacher, Barton Stone, who was not favorable to loud, boisterous meetings in churches, described the scene. He stated:

“Many, very many, fell down as men slain in battle, and continued for hours…in an apparently…motionless state…sometimes, for a few minutes, reviving and exhibiting a prayer for mercy…[They]would then rise, shouting deliverance…and address the surrounding multitude in language truly eloquent and impressive.

And what was the effect of this ‘camp meeting’? The Evangelical Magazine reported:

“The power which this revival has…in moralizing the people, is difficult to conceive…I found Kentucky, to appearance, the most moral place I had ever seen. A profane expression was hardly heard…The revival has confounded infidelity, [and] awed vice to silence.”

Ladies and gentlemen, God can and wants to do this again! Will you commit to pray consistently for revival in our land?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Prescription For Revival
by: Don Pinson

The Bible says in Hosea 5:15, “Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate.”

Here, ladies and gentlemen is the prescription to cure every ill in America. Every moral disorder in the individual’s life, the family’s life, the church’s life, as well as the local, state, and national life, would be cured with a simple obedience to this word in the Scripture. Is your life a mess? This will fix it. Is your home a wreck? This will repair it. Is your church disordered? This will restore God’s order, and thus, His flow of power.

The first thing the Bible says here is, “Hate evil…”. Noah Webster defined evil as, “…any deviation of a moral agent from the rules of conduct prescribed to him by God…”. Anything we do outside the order of God is evil. All evil is rooted in the heart of man because of our sin in the Garden of Eden. It is passed from generation to generation in the human heart. The Bible says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). We are to hate evil. We are to hate pride; which is that attitude that makes us think we don’t need God. We are to hate the idea that material things will make us happy and fill the vacuum that’s down inside all of us. We are to hate the attitude that makes us feel we’re better than someone else. We are to “hate evil”. This is the first step in turning to God and His way of living. It’s what the Bible calls repentance.

Secondly, we are to “love good”. Webster defined good as: “… actions which are just and in conformity to the…divine precepts.” If we would choose to “love good” we would choose to admit that, without Jesus Christ living inside us, we can never be in this world what we were created to be. He told us that He was “…the way, the truth, and the life…” (John 14:6) Life without Him is meaningless: But with Him living inside us, life takes on the meaning we’ve always known it should have.

When He’s inside us, releasing His love through us, we look at others as His creations. That makes them just as valuable as we are. We stop trying to get ahead of others, and start trying to help them realize He has a good plan for their lives also. We get freed from having to prove we’re worthwhile. We just know we are. That freedom allows us to encourage others, instead of thinking we have to always stay ahead of others. This is the life of liberty!

Lastly, the Bible tells us here to: “Establish justice in the gate…” The word gate here is a reference to where the government servants met to make laws and judge complaints one person had against another; in other words “the gate” referred to here is a reference to government actions. Revival will bring about the establishing of “justice” in government; first at the local level, then at the state level, and then at the national level. What is justice? Webster defines it as “giving to everyone what is his due.” That means no matter what the crime, give the criminal the punishment the Bible teaches. No matter who the person is; rich, poor, known, unknown, whatever people group they belong to, give them what they deserve. Likewise, the same is true of those who are innocent. Give them the liberty they deserve! If government servants would enact and enforce these types of laws, order would return to our fragmented society; and with it---PEACE!

Reckon we could straighten out America’s mess if we just returned to living the simple life the Bible teaches?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Warnings and Hope
by: Don Pinson

In 2 Kings 17 the Bible has a very sobering warning for those of us in America. In describing the fall of Israel to the Assyrian nation, it states:

7”For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, 8and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel... 9Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities…. 10They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. 11There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, 12for they served idols (Americans worship sports ‘idols’, movie ‘idols’, we even have singers we call ‘American Idols’), of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

13”Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets… saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” 14Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15And they rejected His statutes (His civil laws) and His covenant (His agreement) that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them (Our American courts now often use so-called ‘international law’ as a basis for court decisions). 16So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven (in other words, ‘practiced astrology’), and served Baal. 17And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire (they burned their children to heathen gods; we do this by the torturous practice of abortion), practiced witchcraft and soothsaying (we teach our children to do this with Harry Potter books), and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 18Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.

22”For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, 23until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.”

Is there a warning here for America? Is there hope? YES!! Just this month over 50,000 people, mostly young adults, met on the ground in front of the U.S. Capitol crying out to God with repentance; pleading with Him to turn our nation back to Him. There is a remnant across this nation who are crying to God day and night. He hears. He will answer. Jesus said, “Ask and you shall receive.” (Matthew 7:7)

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Top-down Education
by: Don Pinson

Earlier this year, a court in California ordered parents who homeschool their children to gain certification just as public school teachers must have. This meant, in California, a parent could not homeschool their children unless they had a college degree with a teaching certificate. Though this ruling was later changed, it revealed ‘top-down’ government at its boldest.

This first ruling struck at the very heart of the command in the Bible for parents to teach their children. The Bible declares: “Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.” (Deuteronomy 4: 10) And because all parents must be allowed to choose what their children are being taught and who teaches them, this California ruling unveiled the great danger to our civil liberty, even in Kentucky.

While you may not choose to homeschool your children, the real issue here is: What will be taught to your children? Who is going to decide what’s in the textbooks and what method will be used to communicate it? This is of great concern to all good parents. It may sound good that all teachers must be approved by the state, but the reality is; that allows someone else to choose what goes into your children’s mind. And this always boils down to a handful of people at the top of the education hierarchy. Thus, a few people control the minds of the many. This is what produces ‘top-down’ control in a nation. Every dictator in history made it his first goal to get in control of the education system. This would insure his being able to control the minds of the next generation, and thus, the nation.

This simple truth is revealed to us in a statement that is attributed to Abraham Lincoln, in which he said:

“The philosophy of education in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”

What goes into the mind in the classroom shows up in the laws that are made in the following generation. Thus, government control is shaped by education. Parents must be left free to choose what their children are taught. If a parent is refused the right to teach his children just because he doesn’t have a college degree, great wisdom will be lost to the child. Does a degree insure wisdom? Hardly, especially in our day!

And what would have happened in America’s past if parents could not have taught their children at home? Over half our Founding Fathers were homeschooled, including George Washington! What if we had refused the great wisdom of Washington just because his father, Augustine, didn’t have a teaching degree from one of our universities? You see the ridiculousness of such thinking?

We have had many of our Forefathers warn us what would happen if we allow government to become concentrated in the hands of a few; in other words, ‘the few ruling the many.’ Woodrow Wilson, President during WWI, plainly told us:

“The history of Liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it. When we resist...the concentration of power, we are resisting the powers of death, because concentration is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties."

If liberty is to be preserved so our children can hear and live the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ, education must be kept under parental control. If we bow to the few “educrats” who think they have the right to rule us, we will live as slaves!

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Restoring Justice
by: Don Pinson

Recently, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear restored the right of a convicted sex offender to serve in the state government. This man was supposed to be barred from any public service after he was out of prison. It’s this kind of, quote, “justice” which sickens the heart of any righteous person and disgusts many who don’t even profess Christ as their Lord. I often hear people complaining about not being able to get justice in our court system. They point to the snail’s pace at which cases are tried, as well as mild sentences for serious crimes. They have a very valid complaint.

The Bible teaches that justice should be rendered by government to each citizen, no matter his people group, his income, his influence, or anything else. It teaches “liberty and justice for all.” When Solomon dedicated God’s temple, he had prayed for God to work justice, which means “giving to every man what is his due.” He had prayed:

“…then hear from heaven and act and judge Your servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.” 2 Chronicles 6:23

The justice system of the Jews worked well. They had no prisons! When you give to each man what he truly deserves, good or bad, people begin to fear the law, and they are much more careful not to do evil. This is exactly what God had taught them through Moses. He taught them to punish crime according to how bad it was, and then He gave them commands by which to judge each crime: The worse the crime, the more severe the punishment. ‘The punishment should fit the crime’ as our ancestors used to say. Deuteronomy 17:13 tells us the result of this true justice. It states:

“And the rest will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such an evil thing among you.”

America’s Founders believed that God had created all men equal under the Law. This what the Declaration of Independence means when it states:

“…All men are created equal…”

We are all equal before the law. All should be judged by the same standard. This and only this would preserve “liberty and justice for all.” Thomas Jefferson had confirmed in his first inaugural address that this would be what would preserve our nation. He said,

“You should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government....Equal and exact justice to all men…”

And there are now some people in Kentucky who are doing more than just complaining about the inequality in our judicial system. In a number of places within our borders people are rising up and forming ‘court-watch’ groups; in which private citizens volunteer to go to the courtroom and watch the cases tried. If a prosecutor or judge fails ‘to give an accused person what is their due,’ these ‘court-watchers’ report this to local newspapers, radio and TV stations, and Pastors, who have previously agreed to make it known to the community. By reporting on the actions of our judicial servants, they are raising the accountability level in our judicial system. This is the great good that can be worked by citizen involvement.

The Bible teaches us in Proverbs 29:2

“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.”

What are you doing to restore justice in your community? 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Freedom Lovers
by: Don Pinson

Ever hear of Hadrian’s Wall? It was a wall built across England in the 2nd century. It was named after the Roman Emperor Hadrian because his Roman armies, while occupying England, could never defeat the people of Scotland in those days. Though the strongest, best-equipped army on earth, the Romans simply could not overcome these ‘freedom-loving’ mountain people called Picts. The Roman Commander, in trying to explain to the Emperor why Rome was not occupying Scotland, stated that these “red-headed Picts” would die in a ‘heartbeat’ rather than live in subjection to someone else. They loved freedom so much they would rather die free than live enslaved. So the Romans built this giant wall all the way across England for the purpose of keeping out of southern England these freedom-loving Picts; lest they invade the south and stir up the English to rebel against the Romans.

But that’s not the end of the story. After the Romans left England, several centuries later it became the goal of English kings to conquer the Scots. King Edward of England marched his armies against the Scots in the early 1300’s. And though he succeeded in executing their popular leader, William Wallace, better known to our generation as Braveheart, Edward’s forces were no match for Scotland’s fierce warriors of freedom. Not long afterward Robert the Bruce conquered the English army and preserved Scotland’s precious liberty.

But America has a modern day link with the Scots. Due to English oppression, as well as economic woes caused by drought, many of the descendants of the freedom-loving Scots and Irish came to this country in the 1600’s and 1700’s. Because they had lived in mountainous terrain in their native land, many of them made their way from the eastern seaports where they landed, to the Appalachian Mountains. Here, in the isolation of these rugged mountains, they carved out a homestead. They raised their crops and their livestock on the sides of these hills. Here they gave birth to the next generation who heard by firelight the inspiring tales of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. And it was no wonder that when the movement for independence from England began, these Americans of Scots-Irish descent played a very important role. If fact, the speech that stirred the American colonies to action came from the very lips of a Scotch descendant by the name of Patrick Henry.

The reason for the love of liberty had been planted in the hearts of the Scotch and Irish as early as the 400’s, when Patrick of Ireland and his disciples went as missionaries to introduce Christ to the inhabitants of those nations. The reason to remain free became: To continue to be able to teach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ to the next generation. Jesus Himself had said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) Only the Gospel of Christ can make an individual and a nation truly free. This was the cause that was truly worth dying for: The cause of getting God’s truth to the next generation. So when the Scots and the Irish came to America, they, continued their fight for liberty, and actually turned the tide in the Revolutionary war with their bravery.

Are you willing to lay down your life to get the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ to the next generation?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Freedom Lovers - Part Two
by: Don Pinson

Between the years of 1730 and 1770 hundreds of thousands of immigrants poured into the United States. While all the nations of Europe were represented in this sea of people, by far the largest groups were from Scotland and Ireland and came to be called the “Scots-Irish”. Most came into America through Philadelphia and quickly made their way into the American wilderness. These were folks used to life in mountainous terrain, and they rapidly settled into the Allegheny and Appalachian mountains. With no love of the English crown, since they had been oppressed by the English in their native land, they quickly became Americans and identified with the growing movement toward independence.

Their long history of struggling for freedom made them excellent soldiers in Washington’s continental army. They would figure in key battles throughout the Revolutionary War, often being the group that would turn the tide in battle. For ages they had loved liberty more than life, fighting to the death for the right to local self- government rather than submitting to London’s bureaucrats. They would prove to be the moving force that began the British’ downward spiral toward ultimate defeat.

The setting was the border between North and South Carolina. A mountain ridge, 1700 feet high would be the stage. A very proficient British major under Cornwallis by the name of Ferguson was the British commander. The American command was spread among several local leaders, since the American force was not made up of regular soldiers, but volunteers out of the mountains of the Carolinas, Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. The date was October 7, 1780.

Two commanders among the mountain militia would later be Kentucky and Tennessee’s first governors, Isaac Shelby and John Sevier. Making the mistake of many British army leaders, Ferguson believed the backwoods militiamen to be no match for his 1200 well-trained and equipped British regulars. Perching atop King’s mountain he arrogantly boasted to his soldiers that, “…here is a place from which all the rebels outside of hell cannot drive us!”[1] But when the mountaineers arrived and hand-picked 1000 of their force to climb the mountain and attack him, he would find out he was wrong; so wrong it would cost him his life. Climbing slowly and methodically the Kentuckians and Virginians moved up directly toward the front line of the British, while the Carolina and Tennessee volunteers would cover the flanks and cut off any British escape. The aim of the frontiersmen proved deadly while the British were frustrated at having to fire at enemies whose whole bodies they seldom saw. Though falling back at the initial fire into their ranks, Shelby and James Williams’ men hid behind rocks and trees and forced the British to come at them with bayonets. From three sides the volunteers poured volley after volley into the British ranks. The battle didn’t last long as 389 British fell quickly, Ferguson being one of them. The rest of their force surrendered. The mountaineer force had lost only 60. With 1100 men gone from Cornwallis’ army, it was the beginning of the end for the British.

The Bible says, “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.” (Galatians 5:1)

Will the ‘freedom-loving’ mountain people rise up again to preserve the liberty so hard fought for by their ancestors of these Appalachian hills? Will they be the heroes of the moral battles of our day? Only you hold the answer to that question!

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Walking Socialism
by: Don Pinson

We’ve heard of “creeping socialism, but now we have “walking socialism”. The national government is considering the takeover of a number of large financial institutions. It seems their owners took bad risks with loans to consumers, and now those businesses are near bankruptcy. The President wants the government to take over these failing businesses and get them back on their feet. This is unabated socialism and it does not work! Ky. Senator Jim Bunning summed the situation up very accurately when he said, “This massive bailout is not the solution, it is financial socialism and it is un-American.”

It is being promised that if we let the taxpayer pay the debt of these businesses that it will save the economy from collapse. While I’ve had enough personal experience making bad business decisions to sympathize with anyone who makes that mistake; to let government---which is us, ‘Mr. Taxpayer’--- pay that debt is simply stealing. It violates the eighth Commandment of the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not steal.” If I buy things on credit and I can’t pay for them, should I expect every taxpayer in my county to each pay some and pay off my total debt? How ridiculous! But this is what is being proposed.

The Bible teaches we must live with the decisions we make. We will reap what we sow, be that good or bad. The Bible says, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7

This is true for business owners too. If we make the wrong decisions and ‘go broke’, should we expect the taxpayer to ‘bail us out’? The Bible teaches we should look to God, repent for wrong decisions, and seek counsel from Godly Pastors and business owners who can teach us what we need to know to succeed. We must look to God---not government---in times of financial crisis. This method turns us toward God instead of away from Him. If we try to insulate ourselves from ‘reaping what we sow’, we work against God in His effort to bring us to repentance and faith in Him.

In the first three centuries of America’s existence we turned to Jesus Christ in the midst of our crises. And oftentimes the crisis was the very thing God used to work revival in this land that was birthed for the purpose of getting the Gospel to the next generation.

The Pilgrims fasted, repented and prayed in the midst of a drought. Once they returned to the Lord, the rain came that very day. In the War Between the States, President Lincoln asked the nation to fast, repent, and pray. As a result, four months later the Battle of Gettysburg turned the War in favor of the North. Hundreds of thousands prayed before and during the Normandy invasion in World War II. June 6th, 1944 was the only night the German patrol boats did not check the Normandy coast. The allied forces landed, and you and I are still free today---instead of speaking German!

Let’s let the current financial crisis in America turn us to the God who made us. Let us repent of our desire for pleasure, possessions, and prestige, instead of Him. Let’s accept His chastening with this crisis, admit our sins, and ask Him to heal our land. He promises,

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

Will you start the repentance?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Continue To Stand Against Socialism
by: Don Pinson

Just before I sat down to do this program, we heard the wonderful news that the U. S. House of Representatives had voted down, by a narrow margin, the proposed government takeover of the several failing financial institutions. For now, we have won a major battle in this war to destroy America. I feel certain we’ve not seen the last of those elected servants who want to turn us to socialism, and the ‘Government is God’ philosophy that is the foundation of it. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives stated, with very revealing wording, what the real aim of this so-called “bailout” actually is. She said, “This isn’t about a bailout of Wall Street, it’s a buy-in, so that we can turn our economy around.” She said exactly what she means. The government would have been buying into the banking business and that would have turned our economy into socialism, which she obviously wants. And this is not just a Democrat idea. 66 Republicans in the House voted for it and President Bush has pushed it from the beginning.

Both McCain and Obama were for the plan. Does that tell us that the major party candidates for President are both economic socialists? (Remember, socialists believe that man is God, not Jesus Christ.) It’s hard to argue otherwise. So much for there being big differences between McCain and Obama like some conservatives are claiming.

So, perhaps you’re thinking, what’s so wrong about having socialism in the marketplace? Remember, socialism means the government owns business and a very few people control government. This always translates out to the few ruling the many. It means the loss of liberty. Do you like choosing who you’ll talk with on the phone? Do you like owning a phone? If socialism takes over, you can have a phone only if the government agent says you can. What if you happen to stand for the truth of the Bible and that agent is an atheist? What’s to keep him from “learning” that there are no other phones available? You say, “I’ll take him to court.” Who’s court? If the government that won’t give you a phone is the judicial system you’re appealing to (which it would be), would you receive justice? Forget it!

You see, socialism brings the automatic loss of personal liberty. You can’t have liberty and a socialistic government and economy. They are two different ideas that simply cannot exist in the same place at the same time. Woodrow Wilson warned us about this kind of concentration of power. He stated:

"When we resist...the concentration of power, we are resisting the powers of death, because concentration is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties."

If we stand by and allow government to take over business we have joined the ranks of dictators of the past, for this is the same thing that Hitler did in Germany in the early 1930’s. A few years before him it was what Lenin had done in Soviet Russia. If you’re not aware of the tremendous loss of liberty and life that came to millions because of their dictatorships, you need to study history---for the sake of your children’s liberty! Woodrow Wilson also told us we must be students of history if we expect to walk in liberty. He also stated:

"A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do…The history of Liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it."

Do you know the true history of America? 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

If the Lord Is God, Follow Him!
by: Don Pinson

The sky was blue as blue could be. The ground was cracked and dry. It hadn’t rained for three years. Elijah, the man of God, had been told by God to go meet the wicked King Ahab. God had withheld the rain because of the sin of Ahab and his evil queen, Jezebel. Now God was about to show up in a most powerful way.

As the two men met, Ahab lashed out at Elijah and blamed him as being the cause of the drought. Elijah refused to take the accusation and quickly put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the wicked king. Then Elijah offered to prove it in an open test on top of a mountain named Carmel. Ahab accepted the challenge and agreed to bring all the prophets of the heathen god, Baal, to the site Elijah had chosen.

As the crowd gathered, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to place a sacrificial bull on an altar and call on their god to bring down fire from heaven to consume it. But after hours of pleading with their god nothing had happened. Then Elijah built an altar, placed a bull on it and poured several barrels of water over the sacrifice. He then said to the people,

“How long will you [hesitate] between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” 1 Kings 18:21

He then, in a simple prayer, asked Jehovah to prove Himself to be God by letting the fire fall. All of a sudden fire fell out of the sky, consumed the sacrifice, the wood, and the stones from which the altar was built. The crowd fell on their face and cried,

The Lord, He is God; The Lord, he is God! 1 Kings 18: 39

This story has great significance for us today. The crisis we face at this hour is no less dramatic than that which Elijah faced. The nation of Israel had gone after the gods of pleasure, prestige, and possessions. Only a remnant had refused these new gods and were still true to Jehovah, their Creator. America has traveled this same path. Built on the faith in the Bible which our Founders knew, we have progressively grown less and less receptive to that faith. Today we are reaping the fruit of that unbelief. When Congressmen cannot identify socialism well enough to recognize its dangers; and they vote to approve the national government taking over ownership of business, that vote shows they don’t realize the dangers of giving away private ownership of business. The Bible warns us:

My people perish for lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6[/b]

Our Constitution has been trampled on. We have entered the ‘4th Quarter’; the beginning of the end of our national government. So is there any hope. Absolutely! But it’s not in trying to affect change with the present Congress we have. They obviously know too little of America’s original system to be able to restore it. We must replace them with people who think Biblically. And that can only be done as we vote into office people at the local level of government who do think Biblically. As they move to state offices and implement Biblical principles there, they can show that the Bible works in government. Thus, we must have an ‘overhaul’ from the ground up. So that makes this year’s local and state elections much more important than the national ones. Let’s begin to think local again and rebuild this nation one community at a time.

You think we’re too few? Don’t forget: The fire fell at the request of one man. Will you be that man?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Why The Pressure?
by: Don Pinson

The winter of 1623 had been especially hard for the Pilgrims. At one point they had been reduced to five kernels of corn per person, per day. That’s right; only five kernels of corn each day to live on! Somehow, they had survived. Spring finally came and they anxiously planted their crops. They now had great hopes of having a good harvest and storing it up to avoid hardship this coming winter.

But then, the rain stopped. Twelve weeks would go by with hardly any rain at all. They finally realized God was trying to get their attention. They called for a day of fasting and prayer to seek God’s face to find out the cause of the drought. They worshipped and prayed earnestly for God to show them their sin. As He did they began to confess their wrongs toward Him and toward one another. As they honestly opened their hearts and revealed selfish attitudes toward a neighbor and ask them to forgive them, the joy began to flow. They knew they were meeting with God and He was pleased with their confessions to Him - and to one another. It was then they simply asked Him to let the rain return.

When they left the meeting house that afternoon about 5 p.m., the clouds had already gathered on the horizon and by the next morning, were releasing a gentle rain that came off and on for the next two weeks. It completely revived their crops and saved their lives. It also began to save the Indians’ lives for eternity; because when they saw how the Pilgrim’s God answered prayer, they began to turn to Him and receive Jesus Christ as their Master and true God.

Today we find ourselves in a similar situation. While, on the surface, it may not seem as bad as the Pilgrim’s trial, in reality it is. God is trying to get our attention as Americans. According to Jeremiah 27:8, God uses “famine, sword, and pestilence” to judge His people in order to bring them to repentance. He’s doing all three with us right now.

“Famine” speaks to the financial means of a nation. We now have the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. “Sword” speaks of war coming on a people. We’re now embroiled in a conflict that has lasted 6 years, and there’s no end in sight. “Pestilence” refers to disease coming on a people. Because of our liberal teaching about sex, now, one in four Americans has a sexually transmitted disease. Wouldn’t you say God is trying to get our attention?

That’s the good news. God still wants our attention! Had He given up on us, another nation would be flying their flag in Washington, D.C. And while that looms on the horizon, there is still yet time for us to cry to Him in repentance. There is yet opportunity to fall on our face and admit that these lives we’ve called our own are not our own; they are His! Will you heed the Scriptures and join with thousands of us who are getting on our knees, and crying to Him in repentance for neglecting Him and the reading of His Word. Let us return to Him and commit to obey what we find in the Bible---whatever that is. Will we believe His Word, that:

If we confess our sins He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9[/i]

Will you commit to read His Word from beginning to end as a practice for the rest of your life, obeying it and teaching it to your children? We can do this - or we can live as slaves. The choice, for now, is ours. 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Believers Vote Biblically!
by: Don Pinson

Noah Webster, the Father of America's original education system, wrote to young people in his U.S. history book:

"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." The preservation of [the government of a republic] depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office... the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If [the government of a republic] 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."

The school teacher who made America great, taught us to look at a person's character before we give him our vote. And how are we to know what a person's character is really like? Noah Webster revealed that when he warned us not to neglect "the divine commands". In other words compare their actions to those the Bible commands us to have. It's the same thing Jesus said, when He taught us, "You will know them by their fruits". Does a person's actions show that they view things the way God views them?

Can this be done in the present election? Can we know how candidates think?

We certainly can. In fact, this is one of the easiest races we've ever had to determine this. It’s becoming clearer and clearer how candidates think. Let's examine their positions, not by their words, but by actions they've already done!

For example, where does God stand on abortion? God says, "He breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul." In other words, the moment God put the spirit into man's body he became a person. When does that happen now? God says, "I knew you in the womb." God attributes personhood to the child in the womb. Therefore life begins at conception. All scientific evidence supports this. Have you watched a video of some pregnant lady's child? You can easily see it has all the attributes of a person while still in the womb.

Thus, where a candidate stands on the murderous practice of abortion tells you more about him than anything else. If they don't respect the life of the innocent child in the womb, how could you ever trust them to respect your life enough to protect your God-given rights of "life, liberty, and property"? And that is why they are elected to be a government servant! So where do these candidates stand on abortion? Let's note it from their actions not their words!

And hear this: Those of us who’ve been born again and know God are going to have to take the liberty of our children a lot more seriously than we took it in the last election, when less than 10% of the adult population decided the course of the nation -- simply because the rest refused to vote. And, conservative Christians make up 35-40% of the voting populace. We could control any election if we loved our children enough to vote to protect their liberty!

So vote! And remember, a candidate’s actions, not their words, are the key to knowing what they will do as your government servant! Jesus didn’t say, “You’ll know them by their words.” He said, “You’ll know them by their fruits (in other words, their actions)!”

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you , and you won’t like what that brings to you.

[Heritage Ministries]

Vote: From The Bottom Up!
by: Don Pinson

Should you go to the polls on Nov. 4th and vote? Perhaps you’re so disappointed with the Presidential candidates of the Democrat and Republican parties you just can’t see any reason for voting. That shows there’s something you don’t know that every American must know if we are to preserve our liberty: That is: The most important offices to be decided on next Tuesday are the local ones---not the national ones. It’s a common mistake---but a deadly one!

The fact we think more of the presidential race than the local magistrate’s race shows we have taken into our mind the humanist idea that ‘the many are to be ruled by the few’. If we think more of national races than local ones, we’re a part of the problem instead of a part of the solution.

God teaches us in the Bible that government is to take place ‘from the inside, out’, and from ‘the bottom up---not the top down’. In the 2nd chapter of Genesis we learn that God placed the “Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil” in the Garden of Eden and told man not to eat of it. In other words Adam was to exercise “self-control”, or “internal self-government” and not eat of the forbidden tree. When mankind disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit, God established the first external government. He placed angels and a flaming sword around the Tree of Life (Gen. 3:24). He thereby taught us that if we don’t have ‘internal self-government’ we must have external government, thus establishing the principle that ‘external government’ is secondary to ‘internal self-government’.

From this America’s Founders reasoned that most government control should be at the local level, not the national level. That’s why, when they wrote our national Constitution in 1787, they added the 10th Amendment to clarify that all rights not specifically granted to the national government by the states, were still held either by the state government or by the people themselves. They never intended for the national government, or its elections, to be the most important; they intended the local government and its offices to be the most important. So the local elections on Nov. 4th are the most important reason you should vote.

Likewise, in the event of a collapse of the national government, which seems more likely everyday, the burden of protecting the God-given rights of “life, liberty, and property” will fall on local and state governments. They would be the governments which must maintain order, enabling family life, education, and business to continue to function. Thus, in the elections of coming years, electing local people who live by the Bible and know that its commands should be carried out in government, becomes the most important thing concerning our election process.

Yes, if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, you must go to the polls and vote next Tuesday. The great revivalist Charles Finney summed up why when he preached:

The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them. . . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has come when they must act differently. . . . Christians seem to act as if they thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it - and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course [Christians] take [in politics].

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Let His Kingdom Come
by: Don Pinson

Recently a young friend of mine sent me an article he was disturbed about. A man who, no doubt, is a sincere believer, was saying Christians should not be involved in government because, as he said, “God’s kingdom isn’t here on earth”. He went on to put forth the idea that our work as Christians is to share the Gospel with the lost, not to lobby in government. This is a common mistake I hear believers make. They divide life into the ‘spiritual’ and the ‘secular’ parts. In their thinking, neither is suppose to affect the other.

Is God’s kingdom only in heaven? If that were true, why did God say in Genesis 1:26 that the reason He made us was so we would be “in His image, after His likeness, and have dominion over…all the earth”? If we were made to look like God, live like God, and rule like God, as this verse teaches, whose kingdom did He desire to be on this earth?

Perhaps you’re thinking, but that was before man sinned in the Garden. Is it still the will of God for us to rule with His authority in this present world? Then also answer this: Why did Jesus teach us to pray, after the fall of man into sin, “Father…Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth as it’s being done in heaven”? (Matt. 6:10) Did Jesus not say, “The kingdom of God is within you?” (Luke 17:21)

It has always been the will of God to live inside believers and rule through them in this world. He desires first to rule through us over our own fleshly desires. This is internal self-government. It is achieved as we submit to His indwelling Holy Spirit and believe that Christ took to the Cross all that was against His will. Others see the ‘dominion of the King of heaven’ in us as we live this way. Literally, it is “Christ in us, the hope of glory,” ruling us internally and living His life through us in this present world. Christ’s kingdom is shown through us now, on this earth!

If Christ can live through an individual and rule that individuals’ life, why could He not live through two individual’s, a husband and a wife, and rule a family’s life. If He could live through one family’s life, why couldn’t He live through a group of families? Thus, the kingdom of God would be coming on this earth through those families. We’re not saying those individuals in those families would be perfect; but we are saying the general course of their lives would show the indwelling rule of Christ.

If Christ could live through a group of families, wouldn’t that be a community allowing Christ to express His life through them? What kind of education, economic, and governmental systems would that community have? Wouldn’t the kingdom of God be being expressed through those institutions of their culture? Would their education system teach the Gospel and it’s principles in all subjects of their schools? Wouldn’t that civil government protect that kind of education system?

Ladies and Gentlemen, that’s exactly what our Pilgrim forefathers did when they came to this country in 1620. Later, our Founding Fathers codified into law a national government which would protect that vision by civil law. That’s what makes this nation unique among all the nations of the world! Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution, stood up after the Declaration of Independence had just been signed and declared,

“We have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom all men ought to be obedient. And from the rising to the setting sun: ‘May His kingdom come!’”

Don’t be deceived into leaving God’s kingdom in heaven! Americans never thought that way until the 1920’s when liberalism began to steal from us the belief that God is Sovereign in this present world. Let Christ rule through you! He is Lord of All!

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you, And you won’t like what that brings to you.

[Heritage Ministries]

What The Pilgrims Did
by: Don Pinson

388 years ago this month, the Pilgrims landed on these shores. They established something never before accomplished. They created the seed of a nation and its institutions from the Bible. Their education system, their economic system, and their government were built from the principles of the Scripture. They unashamedly placed their hope in Jesus Christ and His written Word, the Bible, and believed that the best society that could be had would grow from it. They were right. The greatest nation in world history would grow from the tiny seeds planted in Plymouth in 1620.

What were their institutions like? What made them so unique?

Their educational system they took from the principles of the Bible, believing that the God Who had created man knew better how to teach him than anyone else. They used the Scripture to teach their children how to read, which was the foundation of their method of education. The first letters children learned to read taught them who God was, who they were, and what His plan for them was. The New England Primer, one of the earliest textbooks used in America, revealed this. The letter A was shown beside a picture of Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Then this statement followed: In Adam’s Fall, We sinned all. By the letter C was a picture of men coming to the Cross of Christ with the statement printed beside it: Christ crucified; for sinners died. This education system created a people who knew they were created by God for His purposes, and thus would one day give an account to Him for the way they used this life He had loaned them. This, in turn, created an honest, laboring people who didn’t waste time on pleasures, or gaining prestige, or possessions. While there were some exceptions, most used their time diligently to accomplish God’s purposes. This created a productive people which soon took the lead in the British Empire in economics.

And they could succeed financially because they put into practice a Biblical economy, known as “free-enterprise”. A man could keep the fruit of his labor like the Bible taught. It had stated, “Don’t muzzle the ox that treads out the corn.” (1 Timothy 5:18) Because a man could keep what he earned (without the government robbing him through unjust taxes), the American colonies became the wealthiest in the British Empire. God’s way of economy works: Nothing else does!

And they likewise created a Biblical government known as a Republic. It was a government in which the people chose their representatives, who then enacted civil laws based on the laws of the Bible. The original government document was called The Mayflower Compact. It created a simple government (which is the best kind) that gave the greatest amount of liberty to the greatest number of people of any government up until that time. Because the people were free from excessive government regulation, they became very creative in advancing the Kingdom of God in literature, arts, and the sciences. As a result of all this, America became the envy of freedom-loving people the world over. Immigrants came by the thousands to take part in the rising of the greatest nation the world had ever seen.

The Pilgrims created this kind of nation by living according to the principle in Matthew 6:33:

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.

Do you live by that principle?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

What We Can Expect
by: Don Pinson

What can we expect from the newly elected President and Congress of our national government? With the majority of voting Americans having clearly spoken their desires for a new administration in Washington, what does the future hold for this nation?

I’ll attempt to share with you in a moment what I foresee, and don’t forget: We are commanded by God to pray for all our government servants. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)

But first, let me correct a statement I made on a recent Think About It program. I stated that less than 10% of the adult population voted in the last election. I did that late one night as I was preparing, in a rush, to get the program recorded. My memory was wrong. It was actually about 55% of the adult population which voted. I just needed to set the record strait concerning that. So what can we expect this new national government to do?

In the education field we can expect more money to be appropriated to fund programs and curriculum that are very anti-Biblical and promotes a global government. The message will be that America should join this global government. We can also expect attacks on the home-school and Christian school movements, including Jewish schools. Also, the Muslim faith will be given more and more acceptance in the so-called “public” schools systems.

In the economic realm we can expect great regulation on business including the coal industry. This means higher prices which means fewer sales which means the loss of business income, which ultimately means job cuts. While this won’t happen immediately, I would expect by the end of four years we will be feeling this acutely. With a struggling economy, there will come greater and greater outcries from our national government to join the global economic system now developing in Europe.

In the governmental realm we can expect more and more animosity toward the churches which teach the Bible to be true. This will probably also include Jewish synagogues. It follows that moral issues like trying to stop abortion and homosexuality will be impossible, unless God Himself intervenes. In short, we can expect America to more and more loose her separate identity as a sovereign nation and to become a lot more identified as a member of a “world community”.

This is not a pretty picture. But there is something about it that is very encouraging. All this anti-Jesus, and anti-Bible sentiment will cause those who are not really the people of Jesus Christ to separate from those who are. With a separation to purity the power level always increases among God’s people. The result will be that believers will be seen by their desperate neighbors to be the ones who have the light by which one can walk in this darkening world. People around us will more and more, though often secretly, come to us for the answers as to why they are alive and how to rear their families. This will work the good end of “the church being the church” instead of it being just a social organization.

God gives us an encouraging word in Is. 3:10. God will Himself show up on behalf of His people, even though the national government will be more and more their enemy. He says

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their actions. Is. 3:10

Are you one of “the righteous ones” because you’ve surrendered your life to Christ as your Master and Deliverer?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

The Pilgrims & The Sovereignty Of God
by: Don Pinson

Though common men, the Pilgrims who came to America in 1620 were some of the wisest people who ever lived. They came together about 1605 in a covenant which meant they each believed that the Bible was completely true; and that it could be trusted to meet one's need in this world, just as it could be trusted concerning eternal things. They believed the God of the Bible to be sovereign, or "supreme in power", as Noah Webster would define the word in his first American dictionary.

They believed when church leaders disagreed with the Bible, those church leaders were always wrong, never the Bible. They believed when the King disagreed with the Bible, the King was always wrong, not the Bible. They believed when church writings disagreed with the Bible, those writings were always wrong, not the Bible. They lived this out in their daily lives and proved that the teachings of the Bible were far superior to any ideas of men about how to build a nation.

To put it simply, they believed the Bible was always right. They believed God's way of thinking, expressed in the Bible, to be far superior to man's way of thinking. William Bradford, their Governor and historian, had revealed their heart when he wrote,

...their desires were set on the ways of God and to enjoy His ordinances; but they rested on His Providence, and knew whom they had believed... Of Plymouth Plantation, W. Bradford, original manuscript

Because they believed God to be Sovereign, they trusted Him instead of their government to meet their needs and to protect them. Because they believed Him to be Sovereign, they lived lives that were disciplined. They believed He had placed them on this earth for His own purposes; and, because He was their Sovereign, that meant they were accountable to Him for their actions. This caused them to stay committed to a task even when it became very difficult. Men who lived by their own ideas gave up on the very difficult task of birthing Plymouth Colony. But those who were surrendered to God's will continued to persevere even though death continually stalked them. And their faith birthed the greatest nation in world history.

Because they believed God was "supreme in power", when a twelve week drought came in the summer of 1623, they didn't blame the government, asking, "Why doesn't the governor do something?" Instead they took the problem to their Head, Jesus Christ, their Sovereign Lord. They set aside a day of fasting and prayer. And they didn't just pray all day. They searched their own hearts to find out if they were outside God's order revealed in the Bible. And if they found sin in their heart, they admitted it to God; and, if it involved another person, they went to that person right there in the room and asked them to forgive them. This honesty caused God to move on their behalf.

Before nightfall, the clouds were beginning to gather. Rain started falling in such gentle showers that not only were their crops revived, but even the Indians admitted that the Pilgrims' God was more powerful than their medicine men: And they began to turn to Jesus Christ. The Pilgrims believed the Bible could be trusted to work in this present world. They took seriously the words of God:

If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Do you take those words seriously? 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

God’s Civil Law - or satan’s
by: Don Pinson

Did you know that if you started reading, the day you were born, all the laws passed by the national government you could not read them all in a lifetime! No one knows how many laws there are! Law has become so complicated that even the lawyers and judges don’t know what’s there. Why has this happened? Or perhaps you’re asking, “So what? How does that affect me?” Well I assure you, it affects you a great deal!

Once you have so many laws on the books that the average man doesn’t know what the law requires of him, he no longer can be sure of his natural, God-given rights. He lives in confusion as to what his rights and responsibilities are. Furthermore, a judge - who interprets the law to him - could tell him things that are not true and the individual would have no way to argue his rights with that judge. Thus, a people can move into tyranny, being ruled by a handful of judges who conspire to make the law say what they want it to.

This is why our Founders taught that law should be simple; and that the number of laws on the books should be few. Thomas Jefferson summed it up about as well as it can be. He stated:

“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding, and should therefore be [made] by the ordinary rules of common sense…”

So law must be kept simple so the average person can understand it; otherwise we lose our liberty: Which means we lose our God-given right to take the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ to the next generation. Yes, complicated law affects you and me a great deal!

So what can we do to change this vast number of complicated laws on our law books? First we must learn civil law the way God teaches it. We do this by reading completely through the Bible as our method of studying it. If we read it from Genesis to Revelation as our regular method, we will discover, along with all the other truth God has written for us to know, His reason for and method of doing civil government. Then we will recognize bad law when we see it printed and being debated. This will enable us to use our influence to make sure only good laws are passed. Secondly, we must return to teaching in our churches God’s view of law and civil government. This is a part of “declaring the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), as the Apostle Paul said. It’s a part of growing into the “mature man” (Ephesians 4:15) which the Bible teaches each believer should become. We simply must rediscover what God teaches in the Bible about law and government, or we will soon live as slaves to a dictator. It is that simple.

Again, it was Thomas Jefferson who warned us:

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”

The word govern means “to control”. Government will control us - that is unavoidable. This is why we must learn to recognize when civil law is from God and when it’s from satan - and there is no middle ground! It comes from either One or the other. God’s civil law will make us free; satan’s civil law will bring us into terrible bondage and keep the next generation from hearing the truth. The Bible says,

“Choose you this day whom you will serve…” (Joshua 24:15)

Whose control do you want to live under---that of Jesus Christ, or satan? 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

God’s Government
by: Don Pinson

This time of year we often hear the words:

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with… justice From that time forward, even forever…

These words, taken from Isaiah 9, express the longing of every thinking person on earth. Most everyone wants justice and order and peace: In other words, good government. Every conscientious person wants the kind of government which will produce these things in a society. Every good person wants good government. Then why is good government so hard to find?

Number one, good government is hard to find because, as William Penn, said, Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined also. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad... But if men be bad, let the government be ever so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.

So governments go bad because man has a sin principle at work within him, which causes everything he touches to go downhill - unless he knows Christ, and obeys Him by the power of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, we have bad government simply because we don’t know the form of government which God teaches in the Bible. The Bible warns us that;

My people perish for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

Thus, we don’t implement God’s form in government and so we wind up with satan’s form, and that always enslaves us. So what is God’s form of government?

The Bible teaches there are three forms of government. They are internal government, external government, and civil government. Internal government is often called self-government. This happens when we, as individuals, choose to do what God says is right and refuse to do what God says is wrong. It is His power within us choosing to do right.

External government occurs when we refuse to use self-government and must have government from outside of us control our passions. This is what God did in Genesis 3 when man refused to exercise internal self-government. He placed a flaming sword and angels around the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden to keep man from eating of that tree. God was controlling man with the outside force of His angels. He was governing man, for the word “govern” means “to control.”

The third form of government God established after the flood of Noah. He told Noah in Genesis 9: 6,

Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man will his blood be shed.

God was giving to Noah and the rest of mankind the responsibility to select men from among themselves who would govern them. So, if a person refused to control himself, there would be an outside force that would control him. This would insure order in society, without which nothing can function. America’s founders understood this. Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1854, stated it; he said:

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the Word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet.

Are you governing your desires, and teaching your children to do the same?

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

The Christmas Story
by: Don Pinson

Ladies and gentlemen, the following story is why we have Christmas:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25and did not know her till she had brought forth her£ firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-23 NKJV)

And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 6And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled.” (Luke 2:1-17 NKJV)

...Wise men still seek Him!

Parents, Grandparents, shouldn’t you be teaching that to your children - and teaching them to teach it to their 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Jesus Is The Internal And External Ruler
by: Don Pinson

It has always been the plan for Jesus to be the Ruler of this earth. The prophet, Micah 5:2 calls Him “the ruler of Israel”. In Luke 1:32 the angel who promised Mary she would have the baby who would be the Savior of the world, also told her, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

Over the last 100 years in America many have suggested that Jesus’ kingdom is only a spiritual kingdom. And, indeed, He does have a spiritual kingdom; for He rules the souls of those in whose spirit He resides: Those who have been born again and thus, are part of His kingdom. But He’s more than a spiritual King. He is the Creator and Sustainer of this whole universe, and He is the author of civil government. Civil government is His idea. He first instituted it with Noah and his sons. After the great flood, Noah was offering a sacrifice up to God, acknowledging God’s goodness and protection for the year that had just ended during which he and his family had floated on the massive waters covering the earth.

God then promised Noah He would never again destroy the earth with water and also said to him, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man will his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.” Genesis 9:6

Here God institutes civil government so man can live in order, out of which grows all peace in a society. God is the author of civil government. God knows that without civil government enforcing law that prevents one man from wronging another, life on this earth would be chaos. Thus, He gives to mankind, through Noah, civil government. The Apostle Paul would later confirm this when he wrote in Romans 13:1, “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

Thus, when Jesus comes to this earth He begins to restore the order of God that we had rejected in the Garden of Eden by choosing to make our own decisions in life. Jesus restores the internal order of government first. He lives by the internal direction of the Holy Spirit, and then, by His death and resurrection, makes it possible for all of us who will receive Him as Master to have internal government restored in us too.

But then He begins to restore external government as well. The greatest attempt at that in human history was the original civil government established here in America. And while it wasn’t perfect, the state and national governments here did provide the greatest amount of liberty for the greatest number of people ever known to man. This is why John Quincy Adams would say: “…the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior…”

And one day, perhaps sooner than most imagine, there will be a perfect government established on this earth: For Jesus will come back to this earth, placing His feet here and all will acknowledge Him as the rightful ruler of this earth. He will rule this earth as the King to Whom all will bow, and all will obey! Don’t despair in this present pressure: The best is yet to come!

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

2009?
by: Don Pinson

So what’s in store for 2009? Change is certain. Life is always changing because life is always flowing. But this year we’re certain to see change come to America, which will greatly alter our lives, perhaps forever. With America now having the first completely socialist President in all her history, what can we expect?

We can expect that government will be lifted up as god; in other words, it will be promoted as the answer to all our ills, as the supplier of all our needs. We will see secular education lifted up as the prophet of this new god of government. Which automatically means the suppression of Christian and certain other religious schools, including homeschools. This will be done by the increase of government regulation which will make it much more difficult for them to operate.

We can expect, with a Congress that agrees with the new President, the legalization of abortion for the first time. Likewise it’s likely that homosexuality will be legalized by vote for the first time. Many other evil changes can be expected in 2009 from our national government. So is there any hope?

Absolutely! Number one, God could by a miracle stop all this change. While He’s fully capable of that, I can’t say I expect Him to stop something He’s using to bring us to our knees and cause us to cry out to Him in repentance. So what are we to do in the midst of this unleashing of evil?

Number one, remember that God is Sovereign; He rules over all. 1 Chronicles 16:31 says, “The Lord reigns.” No matter what kind of wickedness is coming, He is using even that to accomplish His plan of revival in this land that was birthed to take the Gospel to the world.

Secondly, get to know Him well---not just casually. If you’ve been born again this is most certainly the time to begin to read the Bible through and ask God to reveal Himself to you; to teach you to think with Him about each event that you’ll face this year. Learn to think with Him about the institutions of education, government, and economy. Then when some politician starts promising the moon through some new government program, you’ll know he’s deceived. You’ll know what God’s plan is for that institution and you won’t be swept along by the floodtide of satanic thinking. Your “house (i.e., life) will be founded on the rock” (Matt. 7: 24-25) and the storms coming in this world will not be able to destroy it! If you haven’t yet received Christ as your Lord, this is your crying need in this pressurized time. Do it now or you and your children will be swept away with the floodtide of evil that’s coming. God wants to deliver you!

Thirdly, I’d encourage you to make the Biblical education of your children your main vocation, both spiritually and academically. This has always been God’s order. He gave Biblical instructions about every area of life, telling fathers to:

…Teach them to your children, that they may arise and declare them to their children. Ps. 78: 5-6

Likewise, urge your church leadership to make the teaching of children actual Bible verses and stories, your church’s number one ministry.

Fourthly, I urge you to get your family out of debt! No matter what kind of sacrifice materially you have to make. Get out of debt! Be reasonable --- but not too reasonable --- with this effort. Get it done! For your family’s sake --- do it now.
Remember Sam Adams’, the Father our American Revolution, statement to his future son-in-law:

“Religion in a family is at once its brightest ornament and its best security.”

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Restoring America From the Bottom Up
by: Don Pinson

Can we stop abortion in America? Can we stop the homosexuals from forcing their lifestyle on our children? Can we ever turn the divorce rate back? What about our economy? Can we get it going again? Is there any hope that we can see our education system once again teaching our children both academics and discipline?

I want to say a resounding YES! to these questions. But the method I want to put forth to accomplish this may surprise you. First, I urge you, as a citizen, in America, stop looking to Washington to fix things. Most people in our national government don’t have a clue as to what it will take to solve these overwhelming problems. Their answer generally is just to throw money at it; that fixes nothing and creates a whole new set of problems. So how do we go about restoring our nation to the greatness it once knew?

Are you ready for this? We fix ourselves!

We choose to come back to the Biblical foundation on which America’s Founders built this nation. This means I start - and you start, as an individual, to live according to the Bible. Now this can only begin by receiving Jesus Christ as the Master of this life He’s entrusted to us. We then begin to read the Bible through and make that our practice for the rest of our life. I commit to God that, by His enabling, I will obey whatever I find that the Bible commands me to do. This fixes me. It means that, for the rest of my life, I’m going to be becoming what God created me to be. That means I’ll be a part of the solution instead of a part of the problem.

Next, it means that I do the same thing in my home; I read the Bible and discuss it with my wife and children. We start teaching our children why God made them and how they can become what He created them to be; this includes teaching them to read and do math and science and the other subjects God wants them to learn. It means we do the economy of our home the way the Bible says. We work to gain income. We give at least a tenth of that income into the work of the Kingdom of God in this world: and we don’t borrow money for anything! We spend only what we’ve already earned! It means we teach respect for each other’s property and the property of our neighbors. We agree to abide by what the Bible teaches in our relationships to each other, even if it’s not what I want right at that time. We agree to live in accountability to God, and each other. And when children disobey and break that agreement (or covenant, as the Bible calls it), they are punished---if need be with a paddle. Parents agree to live accountable to each other and their church leaders. This establishes in the children’s thinking the respect for law and order. They learn from this government in the home that God established control in the home and that it is for the safety and well being of the children.

By living according to the Bible in the home, the next generation learns that the Bible works in this present world. They learn its methods are the only practical way to do education, economy and government. Thus, the order produced in the home gives light to them and others who see that home prospering in the good times and the bad. As the prophet Isaiah described it:

Arise shine for your light has come…And nations will come to your light.” (Is. 60:1 & 3)

This is how America’s Founders did it. While not perfect, they did build the greatest nation in world history. Is your home ordered according to the Bible? Are you reading it daily? If you’re not, how could you know if your home is ordered according to 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Education: Defined & Done
by: Don Pinson

Is education different now from what it was in the early days of our Republic? Consider the educational achievement of some of our Founding Fathers in America:

• Fisher Ames was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He entered Harvard when he was twelve.

• Benjamin Rush is known as the Father of America’s first public school system. He would hold the first chemistry professorship in America; he served as chief surgeon of Washington’s army; and Treasurer of the Mint under John Adams. Benjamin Rush graduated from Princeton---at age 14!

• John Quincy Adams was appointed an ambassador to the court of Catherine the Great, ruler of Russia, when only 14 years of age!

Perhaps you’re thinking, “Yes, but these were exceptional minds.” And there may be some truth to that. However, what can be explained only by a widespread knowledge of the basic academic subjects, is the fact that the common people discussed our Founding documents, like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, in taverns as well as fields and shops where they were working. How could they do this?

It is explained by the high standard they demanded of teachers and students in Colonial America. Listen to the definition of education as defined by Noah Webster when he published America’s first dictionary in 1828. He stated:

Education comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations...

They demanded academic achievement. Children had to learn before they were allowed to go on to higher courses in a subject. There was no such thing as passing a student just to look good on the state assessment tests. Teachers worked to “correct the temper” and if necessary, used the paddle to accomplish this task. Likewise, disciplined habits of grooming and good manners toward others were required of students. They received personal attention from teachers, as well as older students, in an effort to discover God-given gifts which would equip them to be productive in the economy. All were taught to work by the study habits and neatness required in the classroom.

Where did Americans get such a high standard for education? Why did they believe children must be so well educated? Dr. Lawrence Cremin studied over 15,000 of America’s Founding documents written from 1607 to 1789. He attributes their high quality to - the Bible, which he identifies as "the single most important cultural influence in the lives of Anglo-Americans."

The Bible had taught these Colonial parents to educate their children in this remarkable way. They believed God had a purpose for their children’s lives and this is why He had commanded His people to educate their children. God had said in Deuteronomy 6:6, “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your sons…” Education has been God’s idea all along: That is, education which teaches His reasons for living and how to go about that living.

Are you educating your children this way? Parent, it is your call from God to do this!

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Government’s Part In Stopping Abortion
by: Don Pinson

Thirty-six years ago this month, the U.S. Supreme Court said that the U.S. Constitution gave a woman a right to kill her unborn child. In so doing, the Court stepped out of God’s order for government. They disagreed with the Ten Commandments in saying a woman has the right to kill her child, for the sixth Commandment specifically says, “Thou shalt not kill.” And in breaking the sixth Commandment, they also broke the 1st and the 10th Commandments. Thus, they ruled outside the authority of God and their role as defined by the U.S. Constitution.

Is there ever a case when governing authorities should be disobeyed? Yes, there definitely is! Anytime government insists individuals violate the Ten Commandments, we as an individual, must stand in the face of a government servant and say, “I will not obey this law of man because it disagrees with the law of God.” It is what Peter and John did in Acts 5:29 when the rulers told them not to speak anymore in the Name of Jesus. They replied, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

As a citizenry under a National Constitution, if the National Government insists on its citizens violating one or more of the Ten Commandments, then that government (or ruler) has stepped out from under the flow of God’s authority to government. Thus, that government is in rebellion against God. When that happens, the people of a state should disobey that national government, provided two conditions are met: One, that all other means have been exhausted to get the National government to change its policy. And secondly, that the movement is led by a lesser magistrate (i.e. their particular state government), not just an angry group that wants to take the law into their own hands.

This is called the principle of interposition. It’s what the prophet Daniel did with Arioch the army Commander that King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered to kill all the “wise men” of Babylon. When Arioch came to kill Daniel and his friends, who also were advisors to the King, Daniel asked Arioch to give him a little time and he was sure God would tell him the dream and its interpretation, which did happen. So Daniel was asking Arioch, the lesser authority, to disobey the greater authority, the King, so that God’s order could operate. This is resisting disordered authority in a Biblical way.

This is the very reasoning our Founders used in the Declaration of Independence when they declared that the British King and Parliament had stepped out from under God’s order by canceling the Colonial governments of the Americans. Thomas Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence explained it this way:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government…”

Our Kentucky state government, and other state governments should rise up and request the Congress to rebuke the Supreme Court for overstepping their Constitutional authority in Roe v. Wade. Thus, the Congress would be acknowledging this to be something that only individual states can decide. If, after a number of such appeals, the national government turns a deaf ear to the states, the states should begin to enforce their own laws against abortion.

May God help us to “fear God instead of man!”

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.

[Heritage Ministries]

The World Or The Word
by: Don Pinson

Since the Garden of Eden there has been a war of ideas going on in this world. Today we see this war manifested in the battle over what methods will be used in our education systems, with the minds of our children being the prize that goes to the victor. It is likewise evident in the economic realm, as those who believe government should stay out of business debate with those who believe increased government interference will solve our economic woes. Government itself is a battleground of ideas. There are those who believe government is a tool of God to maintain order. On the other side there are those who believe government is god!

In this battle the stakes are high. Liberty, with all its priceless benefits, is what is at stake. So how do we determine who is right? Can we find the answer deep within us, as man-centered thinkers would have us believe? Or must we look beyond ourselves to find true wisdom? And - if we do look beyond ourselves - are there beings who would lie to us and attempt to keep us from finding the true Source of knowledge and wisdom about every event and institution? There is an answer to these questions, contrary to what man-centered philosophers would have us believe.

The God who created us has written a book through some 40 different men, in which He has revealed to us the truth about every idea that’s in this world. His thoughts are very different from the thoughts of these Godless philosophers. He said in that Book,

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Is. 55: 8-9)

And while there are those who dispute the reliability of the Bible, no honest-hearted individual who takes the time to research the historical and scientific evidence supporting it, doubts its authenticity. It has more support from history and science than any other book of ancient literature. So why don’t we read it and implement its principles in our world?

The simple truth is, the fallen angel, satan, has created a world network of thinking which constantly tells us that Jesus Christ and His Word cannot be trusted. It really is that simple. That world network is built on the lies of satan fed into the selfish soul of man. The result: we believe the lie that says we know better how to run our lives than the One Who created them. The Bible says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not.” (2 Cor. 4:4) Whether it’s the drug addict on the streets or the Supreme Court Judge seated in Washington; they who have refused to believe that the Bible is trustworthy operate on the lies of the enemy. Those lies destroy liberty both inside a man’s soul, and outside in civil government, the education system, and the economy. Lies destroy, because only the truth will let God’s liberating life flow inside a man---or outside in the culture of that man.

Abe Lincoln said of the Bible, “In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, I believe the Bible is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this Book. But for this Book we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it…”

Instead of starting more government programs to try to fix the economy, and adding more man-centered ideas to our education system, shouldn’t we look to the Bible, by which America’s Founders built the greatest nation in world 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Why The War Between The States?
by: Don Pinson

In recent years there’s been renewed interest in what is called The Civil War, or The War Between the States. However, I rarely hear that there were two reasons for the war. More often than not, slavery is what is identified as the cause of the war. And while that was one cause of the war, there is another, that to those who believed in it, was every bit as important as the slavery issue. And that was the issue of states’ rights. In other words, the rights the states did not give up to the national government when the Constitution was approved in 1789.

The original U.S. Constitution gave to the national government thirty specifically identified powers. That was it. All other powers of government were kept by the states, or the people, as the case demanded. These were known as the rights of the states, or simply, states’ rights. If the Constitution didn’t specifically say the national government could do something, it could not do it. Only the state governments could do that particular thing.

Article One and Section Nine gave the national government the right to stop the importation of slaves into this country twenty years from the day the Constitution was approved. The national government did this in 1808 and it was completely within their Constitutional power to do so. But that was all they could do with slavery. It remained to the states to individually outlaw it within their own borders.

While America’s Founders believed slavery would die on its own within twenty years of the signing of the Constitution, the invention of the cotton gin in 1793 changed all that. It made the raising of cotton with slave labor very profitable. But people with Biblical moral values wanted slavery stopped, and they lived in both the North and the South. But wealth continued to rule in the southern states, and blocked the freeing of the slaves by individual state governments.

It was then that those who wanted it stopped began to appeal to the national government to stop it. This was the age-old mistake of trying to do the right thing, but in the wrong way.

Thus, people like Robert E. Lee, who had freed his slaves a number of years before the war started, were caught in a difficult position. He was the most respected military man in the nation. Should he be a soldier in the national army that was going to free the slaves, but with power that was stolen from the states? Or should he fight with his state militia against that national army, which would mean he would be protecting slavery? It was a tough call; and because the convictions ran so deep on both sides, over 500,000 men would die in the War Between the States.

Who was right? It seems to me both were right and both were wrong. The North was right in believing the slaves should be freed. The South was right in believing that only the individual states had the right to free the slaves, not the national government. Thus, both were right on one point and both were wrong on one point.

So what can we learn from their convictions, right and wrong? As David learned when trying to move the Ark of the Covenant, “the Lord broke out against us, because we did not consult him about the proper order.” (1 Chronicles 15: 13) We must learn that while we must do the right thing, we must not do the right thing in the wrong way.

Indeed, it was right to stop slavery. But because we did it by the national government stealing the power of the states, we are now reaping the destruction of our nation by an ever-expanding national 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.

[Heritage Ministries]

Education’s Foundation: Morality
by: Don Pinson

Perhaps for the first time since it’s beginning in 1990, there is a serious examination being taken of Kentucky’s current education system. That education system was doomed from the beginning. The reason is simple: There was never any moral base for it. And when you take morality out of education, it’s only a matter of time until the mechanics in the classroom fail.

There has to be a reason for everything we do. Human beings simply cannot stay focused and achieve anything without knowing why they are doing what they are doing. For more than eighty years, the majority of those who have written our textbooks and planned our education curriculum have not known the reason we are alive. And if we don’t know why we’re alive, how could we ever possibly prepare children to live? If we don’t know why we’re alive, then who’s to say what is important in life? Who can define right from wrong? How can there possibly be any direction in the classroom when there’s no direction in the life of the author of the education system?

This was once clearly understood in America. William Holmes McGuffey was known as the “Schoolmaster of the Nation.” His McGuffey Readers sold over 120 million copies in the eighty years after he first published them in 1836. And remember, these were the years America rose to be the greatest nation in the world; which demands that we carefully consider his thoughts on education. Here is what he had to say to say about it,

“If you can induce a community to doubt the genuineness and authenticity of the Scriptures; to question the reality, and obligations of religion; to hesitate, undeciding, whether there be any thing as virtue and vice; whether there be an eternal state of [rewards and punishments] beyond the grave; or whether there exists any such being as God, you have broken down the barriers of moral virtue, and hoisted the flood-gates of immorality and crime.”

Your philosophy of life will determine your philosophy of education; and your philosophy of education will determine the next generation’s philosophy of government and economy. We teach what we believe. It’s that simple. And when you can’t answer the most basic question of life (that is: Why are we alive?) how can you tell a student he or she should learn literature, science, or math? If the school subjects can’t be related to our purpose as mankind, how can we convince children they should learn these subjects?

This is exactly where the Bible comes in. It is the only Book in history that tells us why we’re alive. It says,

“And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have dominion…over all the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26)

God created us to be an expression of His life in this world. When that is taken away from the school curriculum and methodology, you begin the destruction of any education system. Indeed, we once taught in America that the very reason to learn to read was to be able to read the Bible. Children knew why they were learning to read. In that purpose was the clear value of the Bible. To read it was the goal. For in that Book was the answers to life’s most important questions, which John Quincy Adams identified as being:

“Where did I come from, why am I here, and what is my duty?”

Noah Webster, known as the Father of America’s original education method, summed up this whole discussion about education when he stated,

“Education is useless without the Bible.”

Now does is become obvious why KERA is self-destructing?

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.