With the removal of the Bible from public education

 

David Lane of the American Renewal Project shares the following this week . . .

With the removal of the Bible from public education by the radicalized secular Warren Court in 1963 - labelled “the most liberal court in U.S. history” - contemporary America is devoid of any spiritual discernment, along with its piddling understanding of the things of God.

Spiritually, we find an emasculated Church, a dejected nation, a desecrated heritage and history, and a morally defunct Sanhedrin [i.e., U.S. Supreme Court], having been beguiled by Satan’s “deceitful workers.”³

Would the NEA want to learn that boys and girls in public education are “dead in trespasses and sins”? Or that man should live and be instructed by Christ? Or how men and women are made alive spiritually? Or how a man can’t live before he is born; nor can a dead man regulate his behavior?⁴

With God removed from it in the 20^th century, public education is caught up in an absolute death spiral and beyond the possibility of rehabilitation. Early American education, which launched the meteoric rise of America, fully understood that no man can live Godward until he has been born again. Or as Charles Spurgeon put it: “Ever is it the nature of the disease of sin to proceed from bad to worse; men never weary of sinning but rather increase their speed in the race of iniquity.”

Lulled to sleep by Satan, American Christendom can recover or come to life again by returning prayer to America’s churches, prioritizing disciples of Christ over converts, and relocating Jesus’ ekklesia Kingdom assignment of Matthew 16:18 from inside the church building to the public square outside.

If we are to make it through, every church all across America should nominate a pastor, elder, deacon, or congregant to run for local office - city council, school board, county commissioner, parks and recreation, etc. - in 2022, 2024, 2026, and thereafter.

Gideons and Rahabs are invited to please stand.

Read Lane's entire column here.

Pictures used by permission from Pexels.

The "Billy Graham of Russia" Warns Americans

 

“Everything that’s happening today [in America] is almost like a movie I have already watched.³

“I see a lot of parallels between the Soviet regime and things happening now because there was a time in history where they [the communists] closed churches completely, then they would reopen a little bit, and if the church was open there were certain ‘guidelines’ given to pastors.

“Don’t they realize what is happening now in America is exactly what happened to us in communist Russia? It started with ‘Don’t gather. Don’t sing. Spread apart. Listen to the government.’ Then it quickly turned into full-on persecution and the church did not wake up in time. I am here to beg you to call the church to wake up, stand firm, conquer!”⁴

“The system was more merciful towards murderers, pedophiles, and criminals than to Christians.

“First they took away freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, and [imposed] a very strict censorship and control of all media.”

See the entire article here by David Lane at the American Renewal Project.

Picture used by permission from Pixabay.

Christians - Engage Politics and the Public Square

I love playing board games, leading devotions, and eating meals with my family. However, if the house is on fire, I'm not gonna keep playing a game and later email my insurance adjuster. I'm gonna shout and get help. I'll do what is necessary to protect the house. No, the house is not the most important thing. The house holds that which is important - my family and friends. But it is important.

In America, the house is on fire. The political-social structure of our nation has burned for years, while the church often stayed silent.

In recent years, the Rev. Franklin Graham serves as a great model. He throws himself into evangelistic and humanitarian causes through the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse. Yet he also regularly speaks boldly into the nation's social-political atmosphere. His Decision American Tour seeks to get Bible-believing Christians engaged once again in politics and the public square.

The great preacher Adrian Rogers said, “It’s better to speak truth that hurts and then helps than falsehood that comforts and then kills.”

A misconception persists among Christians that we are ever to be the “nice guy” in the room.  The Mr. Rogers of the group.  The super-positive person who wants everyone to hold hands like Barnie the purple dinosaur and sing “I Love You.”

Or, some Christians warn we should not speak about politics because it will bring division and somehow hurt our gospel witness. Had such advice been followed in the past, the world may have missed the American Revolution and the end of slavery.

No doubt, the Lord calls His children to exemplify godly behavior, most often characterized by traits such as gentleness, kindness, joy, and patience.  However, it is also true that at times believers are to confront, challenge, and rebuke wrong patterns of thinking and behaving.

Politics and the Public Square

David Lane of the American Renewal Project aptly writes, "Prophetic leaders who display “a close relationship with God and a thorough knowledge of His word” (Cole, Numbers Commentary) and show equal skill in the business of politics in the public square are quite rare. Modern leadership appears to be more obscure and bookish. 

Over the last 50 years Christians have adopted, to all appearances, a different mode of engagement in the culture than the American Founders, which calls for remaining quietly behind the four walls of the church building. 

Having run roughshod over the once Biblically-based culture, secularism and secularists should be challenged where competition is fiercest: in the public square. It is painful and agonizing to realize WHO has been so fully and plainly rejected over the last two or three generations.

Fear of the ‘world’ and its seemingly insurmountable power has no real influence on those with vision and discernment regarding God’s promises and workings. Real power does not lie in military might or in Gross Domestic Product; ultimate power and authority belong to God.

The Church’s passive response to Secularism over the last century has given rise to a Christian subculture whose sole function has become the mitigation of obscenity, sexual perversity, video game violence, broadcasted pornography, and every other imaginable anomaly advanced and lionized by secularists."

Priest vs. Prophet

Pastor Charles Swindoll discusses the tension of God's people, explaining the difference between the Old Testament functions of priest vs.prophet.  The priest was the nice guy, the peacemaker, the routine person.  The prophet, however, shook things up.  

“He was not wanted.  He was seldom respected by the sinful people and often hated, resented, and martyred.”

Warren Wiersbe explains, “Most people don’t want a prophet around, because he makes them uncomfortable. While the popular leaders bend with the wind, the prophet stands firm as a wall, so he can lead the nation forward.  He is a physician who exposes the ugly sores before he applies the medicine.  He is in short a person who creates problems by revealing problems so he can solve problems.”

Today our nation wants the church to be priests but not prophets.  And, many times, Christians want Christians to assume the role of priests but not that of prophets.  

And many Christians want to embrace the priestly side without the prophetic edge. We want to narrow the focus to only embracing the salvation side of the gospel. But the gospel speaks to the totality of life. The apostle Paul declared, "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God" (Acts 20:27) - not just the part about salvation.

The church has even sometimes wrongly thought it was not their place to speak into the political arena.   Such an attitude weakened Christianity's engagement and influence with our culture.

We don’t want to rock the boat.  We don’t want to offend.  We don’t want to sound rude, arrogant, or “not nice.”

Interestingly, the actions of many of God’s servants through the pages of the Bible would not get them inducted into the “nice guy” hall of fame.  They might, instead, be called trouble-makers or rabble-rousers.

Biblical Examples

Consider just a few examples.

Noah preaches to his generation for more than a century, calling them to repent of their wickedness.

Elijah directly confronts the king and queen, calling out their poor character, deception, manipulation, and self-absorbed natures.

    

Nathan confronts the king, rebuking him for his adultery, murder, and deceit.  

Jehu is appointed to round up and destroy the remaining house of Ahab for their wickedness.

John the Baptizer appears on the scene with scathing rebukes for the pompous religious leaders as well as the king.

Jesus Christ preaches, often giving the unjust religious leaders scourging and scorching tongue-lashings. On two different occasions, offended by their unrighteousness, Jesus displays physical violence in turning over tables in the Temple courts.  He even used whips.

When sin is confronted, and challenged directly, it often comes as bolts of lightning. We never saw that on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

Through the Bible, God called his servants to speak directly to the culture, the national and political leaders, and the religious groups of the day.  Much of the message of the major and minor prophets as well as the New Testament messengers contain biting indictments.  I will only list a few:

Elijah: Elijah tells Ahab that he is a troubler of Israel because of his family’s many sins (1 Kings 18:18).  

Isaiah: “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption.  Your hands are full of blood.  Take your evil deeds out of my sight!  Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!  See how the faithful city has become a harlot!  She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her – but now murderers! . . .  Your ruler are rebels, companions of thieves; they all love bribes.  They do not defend the cause of the fatherless.”  (parts of Isaiah chapter one)

Jeremiah: Jeremiah rebukes the people: “My people are fools . . . senseless children; they have no understanding.  They are skilled in doing evil; they do not know how to do good.” (4:22)  He chastises them for their dishonesty, refusal to believe God’s Word, and their listening to wind-bags who claim to be prophets.

Amos: Amos prophecies against the people, who have rejected God’s law, turned aside to false gods, took bribes, and neglected the poor.  They turn justice into bitterness, cast righteousness on the ground, hate the one who reproves in court, and despises him who tells the truth (5:7-10).   The prophet laments, “I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins” (5:12).

Micah: Micah rebukes Israel and Judah.  The leaders stole from others, took advantage of women, and lived in their own luxury: “Hear this . . . you leaders . . . who despise justice and distort all that is right . . . .  Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money (3:10-11).

John the Baptizer: But when he [John the Baptizer] saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?  Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.  (Matt. 3:7-8)

Summarizing the ministry of John the Baptizer, Christ said that “the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Matt. 11:12).  God’s kingdom moves forward in part through the lips of servants willing to speak truth even when it costs them.  John confronted the king with his personal sin, and they cut off his head.

Jesus Christ: In the entire twenty-third chapter of Matthew, Jesus gives scathing, blistering rebukes of the Pharisees.  He points out their lack of integrity, selfishness, and hypocrisy.  Such a sermon today would certainly not meet the “nice guy” criteria!

Sin Abounds

Our national news today continues to abound with sin and wickedness.  

Our generation has witnessed a model of corruption in the lives of Bill and Hillary Clinton.  Newt Gingrich says, "Hillary Clinton is the most corrupt person to ever run for the Presidency."  

Evidence continues to surface of the deep state corruption that marked the Obama Presidency - noted by many people as the most corrupt Presidential Administration in American history. 

Respect for law and order, for policemen, for the Constitution, for God, for the Bible, for people of different races, for the sanctity of human life, and for the people of America is constantly challenged.

This country became great because of its Judeo-Christian values, and it will become great again as we protect the freedom to nurture those values. The progressive Left showed the country in the Kavanaugh hearings what to expect if they rule - mob law, gross deception, massive character assassination, no regard for the rule of law, and as Hillary authenticated - no civility. My mother said the way the Left acted during those weeks was the most disgusting thing she has ever seen in American politics. 

We live in a day where the church must speak truth into the culture.  Christians must communicate into the national and political processes.  Believers must not be silent.  We must speak.

Where are the prophets today speaking into our current political structure?

The prophet Isaiah wrote, "Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed.Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.  The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice."   (Isaiah 59:14-15   New Living)

In every day, including our day, the church must be concerned about truth and justice. 

Christ-followers certainly must balance truth with love.  Albert Mohler says that the challenge of the church in our day is to learn to speak the truth with love and to love the world with truth.  There can be no love without truth, and there should be no truth without love.

That truth, however, will sometimes sting.

Adrian Rogers had another good saying about truth: “It’s better to be hated for telling the truth than loved for telling a lie.”

God may require the church in our day to be hated for telling the truth.  Let’s choose truth, even if it costs us.  

Rafael Cruz rightly tells pastors, "If preaching the gospel is the most important thing, then protecting the right to preach the gospel is the second most important thing."

As the prophets remind us, biblical Christianity is not mainly about our comforts but our cause.


Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.

Remembering Mom-ee at 101

I wrote the following post in honor of my grandmother's 100th birthday in 2017 . . .

People look forward to heaven for various reasons.  No pain.  No more crying.  No more traffic jams.  No more wasps.  

One of the biggest reasons I look forward to heaven is the fact that I will once again get to spend time with Virginia Hendrix!  She was my grandmother, and we affectionately called her "Mom-ee."  To this day, she is one of the grand characters in my life, one of  my favorite people I have ever known.

She exuded grace, characterized by many of the best qualities of a charming Southern lady during her era.  

When my grandparents celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1988, I remember my mother praising her mother.  Mom told Mom-ee the quality that stood out from her life was her "joy of life."  A happy, joyous person, she brought love and joy to many people. 

Born on August 10, 1917, Virginia Gullatt lived in Columbus, Georgia.  Virginia had two sisters, Martha and Dorothy "Dot."  At age twelve, their birth mother died.  Their father eventually remarried, and they gave Virginia a half-brother named Edward.

"Ginny" fell in love with and eventually married her sweetheart, Marion Howard Hendrix, also known as "Monk."  I never heard my grandmother call him anything but "Monk."  My grandparents married in 1938, enjoying a 59-year marriage.

A devout Christian and faithful Baptist, Mom-ee had a simple but strong faith.  She believed the Bible as God's Word, she believed Jesus Christ was God and that He provided a way for her sins to be forgiven. She believed we should love, obey, and follow Jesus Christ.  She served in their churches, sang in the choir, and taught adult Sunday School classes into her eighties. Cedar Spring Baptist Church in Spartanburg, South Carolina, eventually named the class after her.  She read the Bible every day, prayed for missionaries, and sang praises to God.

She loved her husband, she loved her family, and I think she probably loved every person she met.  When she was a young senior adult, she went to the nursing home every week. Stopping by the dollar store, she loaded her trunk with trinkets and small prizes, so that she could reward the seniors who played Bingo with her.

What a great cook was Mom-ee!  We still miss her fried chicken, potato salad, Christmas divinity and coconut cake.  One of my cousins dubbed her house a "snack bar."  She always had a stash of Coca-Cola, gum, and ice cream.  She often said, "Shu-gah [the south Georgia way of saying "sugar"], do you want a Co-Cola or a snack?"

She exhibited true Southern charm.  She showed hospitality.  She respected authority. Patriotic, she believed in American exceptionalism.  She gave kindness and grace.  She laughed and loved.  She loved her BBQ (sliced from Sugar and Spice drive-in), sweet tea, and banana pudding.  

She believed in traditional family values and the difference between right and wrong. She believed in a biblical worldview.  Though she lived during the turbulent time of the sexual revolution in America, she believed in a traditional view of marriage.

The Bible says that when society embraces sin and forgets truth, "they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush" (Jeremiah 6:15).  She, however, knew the fear of God, understood the reproach of sin, and practiced the need for submitting to God's Word in the paths of life.  Many times I have thought that she would blush to see in our day the loss of respect and civility, the unfiltered world of social media, and the disorientation of gender confusion when wrong is often heralded as right and what was considered shameful for millennia is now trumpeted as normative. 

The prophet Jeremiah issued a warning during a similar time:  "This is what the Lord says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.' But you said, ‘We will not walk in it’ " (6:16).  Mom-ee walked in good ways and the ancient words of the Lord, and she found rest.

As a child, I sat next to her on her couch and listened to her read and tell stories like "Goldilocks and The Three Bears" and "The Three Little Pigs."  When my head itched, she would take those strong fingernails and scratch my scalp.  

I watched her snap beans in the summer. And I vividly remember her taking me and my cousins Mark, Cary, and Ryan to Hardee's to play on the old metal playground and then to K-Mart to buy some fun surprise like a Match Box car and get some Icees.  I recall the smell of her lotion on her hands and the smell of her hairspray.  She religiously kept her Friday morning appointment at "the beauty parlor."  She liked to have The Price is Right on while she began to get ready for lunch.  And she knew that the meal you have after church on Sunday about 12:30 was called Sunday dinner. 


A woman of her times, she cooked three meals a day - no microwave or instant food. One time she laughed and said, "My husband was a wonderful man in so many ways.  But he was no help at all in the kitchen!"  And I remember how she cried and grieved the months after he died.  After his death, for several months I called her weekly.  One day she said, "Thank you so much for calling and checking on me.  It makes me feel good."

I still have postcards in my files she mailed to me from the Golden Gate Bridge, the Amish Country, and Walt Disney World.  I could always count on birthday cards, and in adulthood, I always received a gift certificate or gift card from Red Lobster for Christmas or our wedding anniversary.

My wife remembers her bragging to my mother about our infant son.  Mom-ee exclaimed, "Oh, Marian, isn't he just dah-lin'!"  On his birth date, she came to the hospital, spending much of the day with us telling stories and laughing.

I pulled out my file folder titled "Mom-ee and Pa-Pa" today.  Wiping back tears falling down my face, I read old post cards and notes written in the 1980's and 1990's.  In one mailed on January 16, 1990 she wrote . . .


Will write you a note so I can get it out for the postman.  I am thinking about you and praying for you this morning - I know you are in exams and will do real good.  Also wanted to send you a little money to take on your ski trip this week. Maybe it will get you a good hamburger, fries, and a coke!

I thought about you Sunday night and know you did a great job with your solo.  Wish we could have heard it but maybe we will get to hear you another time soon.  

I went to see my blind friend a little while yesterday and took her some beans, cornbread, baked sweet potato, salmon croquettes, and fruit.  She gets so hungry for vegetables and is afraid to do any cooking much  because the smoke alarm goes off so easy in that little trailer.  I just took her some of what I had fixed for our dinner - also a bowl of chili.

 Love you, Mom-ee

I found a long one written to me when I moved back to seminary in January of 1997.  In it she wrote, 

Your mother came over to see us last Friday and brought us a good BBQ sandwich for lunch.  She's so good to call us every day and sometimes twice.  She is a precious person! Dave called us Saturday night - said it had been so cold there [Cincinnati, Ohio] too but not much snow.  I think it has been cold everywhere!

Take good care of yourself and know we are very proud of you and love you very much.

Mom-ee and Pa-Pa

Her four children and seven grandchildren were blessed because she was a part of our lives.  My wife and I gave our daughter the name "Virginia" as a middle name in honor of Mom-ee.

Her life spanned an incredible time of change.  World War I raged the year of her birth as President Woodrow Wilson led the United States.  In 1917, Albert Einstein published his first paper on cosmology.  T. S. Eliot's first collection of poems came to print. William "Buffalo Bill" Cody died.  Best-selling books of that year included Anne's House of Dreams by L. M. Montgomery, The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum, The Sovereignty of God by Arthur Pink, and His Last Bow: Some Reminiscences of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle.


Mom-ee experienced a massive stroke in the fall of 2010.  I vividly remember hurrying to Mary Black Hospital and walking into her room that evening.  She struggled to talk to me but could not get any words out.  I wrapped my arms around her and we both just had a big cry together.

She believed in heaven.  She knew God personally through His Son.  She trusted Him for her salvation, she repented of her sins, and she invited Him personally to live in her life and be the Lord, Master, and Shepherd.

We love and miss you, Ginny.  I look forward to laughing with you again!


On my grandfather's 100th birthday, I wrote a tribute to him as well.  Click here to read My Grandfather: 100 Years Old Today.

Also, when my grandfather's sister Frances died in 2014, I wrote a tribute to her called God Will Take Care of You.  Click here to read it.


Would you like to know God personally?  Click here.