Return to God

For many months I have been expressing deep concern for the spiritual condition of both the church and our nation. I believe with all my heart we are headed in the wrong direction. The only hope for a return to sanity, stability and security is for the church to awaken and truly pierce the darkness with God’s love and God’s truth. There is no other way to see the tide turned.

The appreciation and support for my message is very encouraging and the vast majority of friends and supporters of the outreaches of LIFE understand my deep concern and appreciate the truths I am sharing in these weekly commentaries. A few, however, have expressed what they call “great disappointment” and have misunderstood what I am saying and actually accuse me of forsaking God and His Word for political causes.

I have made it absolutely clear that I am not talking about the organization of a political power base, but rather the release of God’s power that affects every other base of power including the political. I am not talking about embracing or condemning some political party. We are talking about exposing worldviews and belief systems that are damaging and diametrically opposed to biblical truth and the principles our nation’s founders understood so well.

I believe elected representatives from all parties have misled the population and too many people have begun to depend upon the systems of men and an ever-increasing, all-consuming federal government that will weaken our ability to not only be blessed, but to be a blessing to others in need.

We have become a present-day demonstration of Israel’s journey in the Old Testament. From the time God delivered them from Egyptian bondage and moved them into the land of prosperity and blessing, they were determined to forsake God and return to Egypt. The prophet Jeremiah asked the people why they had forsaken God – “the fountain of living waters” – and made for themselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water.” He asked them what they were doing “on the road on to Egypt.” I am asking America why we have forsaken freedom’s blessings and a clear understanding of the importance of limited government and now are on our way to replacing it with a controlling power that makes imperialism and the monarchy our founders revolted against pale in comparison.

Jeremiah rebuked the prophets because they had superficially healed the people, “crying peace when there was no peace!” In the twelfth chapter, God said through Jeremiah that He had given His own inheritance into the hands of the enemy because of their disregard for His truth. He said, “The land is being devoured by the beasts of the field,” which is a clear picture of demonic assault on the potential fruitfulness of God’s people.

In the same passage, He said shepherds had ruined His vineyard, causing it to be desolate because the shepherds did not take it to heart. As a result, there was no real peace for anyone and although they had “sown wheat, and reaped thorns,” and God told them they should “be ashamed of their harvest.” Our nation needs to repent in so many different ways and repentance needs to begin with the people of God.

Betty and I have spent the greater part of our life assisting the poor and the needy, not only spiritually, but physically all over the world. We have found it extremely difficult to motivate people to assist the poor here in the United States because people have been convinced that social programs, supposedly funded by taxes on the “rich,” adequately provide for those in need.

Now we are in the process of creating animosity and hostility toward those who help create wealth and produce income. Programs are being put in place to take even more from them – the very people who provide many jobs, opportunities and consumerism. We are hearing continually the need to increase taxes and they will be passed on to everyone and the poor and the less fortunate will always suffer the most. This breaks my heart, but this is the direction we are going and I cannot remain silent because too many precious people are going to be hurt. This is one shepherd that refuses to sit back and hide the light and just be content with whatever comfort I may have. I care too much about those of you reading this commentary and the people who are suffering. I am deeply concerned about the catastrophic consequences that are being set in motion.

If you will simply study history, you will find that every time taxes have been decreased. Calvin Coolidge lowered taxes in the 1920’s and immediately America came out of a depression. JFK did the same thing in the early 1960’s and we got a boost. Ronald Reagan took taxes from 70% to below 30% and it helped create an economic boom that lasted through the tech explosion in the Clinton administration and beyond.

We are approaching our present-day problems the wrong way. The government cannot produce the necessary jobs. The free market must do that and they are presently encumbered. It breaks my heart Americans are violating the principles that enabled us to be great and secure.

I am doing my best to fulfill Isaiah 58 which God burned into my heart when I was so sick with staph infection I was too weak to resist. God said I was to put a trumpet to my lips and warn the people, calling the church and the nation to repentance. Calling the family of God, the family of faith, and people who love their families and love freedom to come together and restore the foundation and rebuild the walls.

I have been studying to share truths about our founding and the principles we must return to and that we must demand all parties, all politicians, all leaders, and all representatives to support. The prophet Hosea said that God’s people are “destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Much of our population lacks the knowledge of the truth – not only God’s truth, but the truth about the founding fathers and the principles upon which the nation was established. President John Adams said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any others.” Americans must now return to morality, honor, character, compassion, and take personal responsibility for their lives and families.

The worldview of many educators and the controlling forces in media and yes many who manipulate the money markets have a worldview that has not only left God out, but proves itself to be diametrically opposed to His truth. Hosea said that the people “speakwith mere words,  make covenants with worthless oaths, and therefore judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the field.” He called the people to repentance and said, “Sow with a view to righteousness, reap in accordance with kindness and break up your fallow ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes to rain righteousness on you.” He said you have “plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice,and you have eaten the fruit of lies because you trusted your way and in your numerous warriors.”

The restoration we are looking for in America will not come because of might or power on the part of man, but the power of God working in yielded people who will return to truth with their whole heart. We will fulfill the great commandments to “love God with all our heart…and love our neighbors as ourselves.” Far too many people have dismissed their responsibility of loving their neighbor and said it’s up to the government to take care of everybody and let’s get what wealthy people have and redistribute it. They have no view for righteousness because this is an unrighteous act that actually weakens the entire economy and the potential for recovery. We truly have blind leaders of the blind and we are in a ditch not only of debt but of despair, and I’m declaring, I know the hope and the hope is a return to God!

Hosea closed his book by saying to “take your words with you and return to God. Assyria (the world) will not save us. We will not ride on horses (the flesh). For in Thee the orphan finds mercy.” All of us must come to understand who our true Father is and we don’t have to live like orphans. We are adopted sons of the Almighty God!

Hosea continues saying, “Those who live in God’s shadow will again raise grain, and whoever is wise let him understand these things, and whoever is discerning let him know them for the ways of the Lord are right and the righteous will walk in them.”

I am calling for a return to the righteousness of God on the part of the church and the part of the nation. It breaks my heart that anyone would misunderstand me. I pray you not only understand what God has put in my heart, but will seek His will with all your heart and you will become a light piercing the darkness and illuminating the way to restore freedom’s foundation and return this nation to a sound biblical worldview our founders clearly understood.

 

All scriptural references come from the New American Standard Version Bible.