Remember, look for Unknown divine Appointments, maybe yours! UNDER CIVIL LAW: America is a democracy that guarantees the freedom of religion. Americans are free to worship or to not worship as they see fit. Americans are free to do exactly as they please under the rules of civil law.
When America was first founded as a colony of the British Empire the Puritan Church and its dictates became the rule of law; each citizen had to dress according to church law, each citizen was required to attend church a certain number of times each week, there were church laws governing public conduct, laws that forbade using certain unapproved words and etc.
The punishments for infractions of church law ranged from being publicly placed, hands and feet, in the stocks, to floggings, to confinement, to starvation, even to death; remember the Salem witch trials? Now just imagine for a minute, in DEMOCRATIC America, how Christians would feel if Muslim rules were the authority, OR: how Muslims would feel if Hindu rules were the authority, OR: how Hindus would feel if Jewish law was the authority, OR: how Jews would feel if they had to live under Christian rules.
Take it one step further. Suppose the Church of Christ was forced to live under Pentecostal rules, or Catholics were forced to live under Baptist rules and etc. Again, do you see that the Founding Fathers made the correct choice when they established religious freedom protected by civil law?
BUT:
In early Colonial America the Reformed Church (Calvinist) was the predominant religion and the English Sovereign civil Law were what ruled the day and, in a sense, the American Revolution was against both. The Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution were the main documents that came out of the successful revolution against England.
The founding fathers were Christians to one degree or another and those documents were based on their expectation that honest men, preferably Christians, would administer the government in the future.
They knew civil law and church law could not mix in a democratic government so they protected the right to have a Church. Their reasoning was; “If we designate a denomination or sect as the national, government sanctioned and funded Church it will turn into what the Catholic Church was before the Reformation.
As immigrants from other nations came to America in search of freedom they brought their religions with them in a process that is still going on today. These religions were accepted and protected under the same rules that apply to the separation of church and state.
Under civil law groups are allowed to assemble, protest and petition the government. All qualified citizens are allowed to vote. The Supreme Court has been and is in the process of defining the meaning and intent of Civil Constitutional Law that controls the civil liberties of American citizens and that is the source of the title “Liberal”.
Under this civil law permitting freedom of religion any religion and any sect or denomination is allowed to formulate their own constitution, treatise, set of rules, or whatever they wish to call it that dictates the belief and actions of their particular “religious group”.
Any individual is allowed to join with or depart from any “religious group” as dictated by their own conscience without fear, threat, harm, or retaliation. In this democracy, under civil law, no person shall be compelled to join any “religious group” AND: each individual person in America is entitled to write or not write, read or not read and believe or disbelieve whatever they please.
Satan and man found this “freedom of religion” and “freedom from tyranny” to be fertile ground in which to disintegrate God’s Church into little self-defensive groups of believers in local churches grouping themselves into denominations who believe their own organization has the “key” to salvation and their guiding philosophy is “serve God our way or get out”.
REMEMBER THIS: (Matt.16:18-19 & Acts 2:16-47 esp. V.47) JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, FOUNDED A CHURCH. (must read: 1Cor. 1:9-15 & 3:1-5 esp. V.3 keywords: “ye are yet carnal”—which means pertaining to the flesh, unregenerate); YES, ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE, CARNAL (unregenerate) MEN FOUNDED DENOMINATIONS WITHIN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH!
There is more information concerning denominations in the article; “Christian War with the World” located in the “Holy Spirit and You” commentary.
THE CHURCH: Individual Christians in the visible Church are the people who sacrificed and paid for the missionaries who are actively evangelizing salvation throughout the world. The civil government did not and is not sending missionaries. Yes, the Christian Church operates under the protection of the civil laws of the U.S. government. Yes, it is wonderful that we live in America the democracy but each Christian must realize that can change as you will see in a few paragraphs!
NATIONAL DESTRUCTION THROUGH CIVIL LAW: This is not a diatribe or an attack against any individual. It is an explanation of how the civil law producing American government is establishing a type of bondage, a subjugation of the individual by financial means through entitlements.
“You vote my way and I’ll give you a check/benefits.” The human will is subverted to the point the individual is uneducated, unqualified and helpless to survive. Eventually the all-powerful government, run by a dictator, gets rid of the useless, non-producers. Read your history, it has happened over and over throughout the world under the banner of socialism.
A government does not have to kill like the Nazis did the Jews, just remove benefits until the old, weak, sick, non-producers and helpless simply give up and die! You don’t believe it? 12-30-12: Oregon, Washington and Montana have PAD (physician assisted death) laws. It’s a very fine hair they split between PAD and euthanasia, the doctor sets everything up and the patient presses the button. Assisted suicide. Doctor Kevorkian was before his time.
The destruction of America the democracy (government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives) will be destroyed by five (highlighted numbers) things.
#1) (Mark 4:19, 1Tim. 6:10 & James 5:1-6) IGNORANT GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Politicians have the fatal tendency to want to look good (pride in their position as a mover and shaker) by delivering services and wealth to the people they represent. SO:
Representatives of the people have discovered they can devise ways to give citizens money or goods out of the public treasury without those citizens having to work for their living or paying back into the public treasury and the representatives will be re-elected to their “public service” jobs by the citizens of their electoral district; “You vote for me and I’ll reward you with taxpayer money”. In other words “vote buying” through the redistribution of wealth!
EXAMPLE: #1) Earmarks are placed by politicians in legislation concerning spending out of the national treasury and those earmarks award pork barrel spending in their district for the benefit of the few instead of the many.
#2) Huge government funds are spent to provide health care and financial “entitlements” to people who are able to work and will not. I have known several people in my tiny part of America who are receiving disability benefits but are working for contractors for “cash under the table” or contracting themselves for “cash only” such as mowing, concrete work, painting, plumbing, electrical and too many more jobs and work to mention. AND:
#3) To provide health care and financial support for the offspring of Biblically non-sanctioned fornication and adultery (unrestrained, non-accountable breeding). Several families I know have said; “We don’t have to get married, just keep having babies, the check and benefits get bigger.”
#4) Another government burden is the benchmark care and support of criminals who are incarcerated. That is one job that should be outsourced to China at $2,000.00 per criminal per year which would save the American taxpayer approximately 25K to 35K per year per convict. That would really put the brakes on rampant crime!
#5) Then there is ridiculous and stupid “foreign aid” to countries who are our enemies and that foreign aid is thinly disguised “blackmail money” to prevent them from starting international trouble against America. ALSO:
#6) Creating laws that benefit financially powerful lobby groups that have their own “personal gain” agenda instead of what is good for the citizenry of America as a whole.
EXAMPLE: Laws to protect and aid Wall Street banking, insurance companies and powerbrokers in their scams to fleece the public, financial subsidies for oil and farming companies and other financial intrigue as government officials and big business march resolutely, hand-in-hand to the trough. RESULT:
#7) When government spends more money than the public treasury contains the government must borrow money in the form of savings bonds, T-bills and etc. and that results in “National Debt” that is impossible to pay which leads to national bankruptcy (impoverishment, destitution), $16 trillion in debt to date!
Yes, America has a “table of plenty” to help those who honestly need help and they should never be turned away but (2Thess. 3:10) the deadbeats, phonies, deadbeat Dads and shirkers need to be sent to work camps and make small gravel out of big rocks with sledge hammers to earn their “benefits”. Remember what John Adams said Oct. 2, 1780 about two political parties?
#2) (Prov. 8:13, 11:2, 13:10, 16:18, 1Tim. 6:3-7 & James 4:6 keywords: pride & proud) IGNORANT BORROWING: Individual citizens have the fatal tendency to want to “look good” (pride) by having a higher standard of living (ownership of goods and services) than they can afford. EXAMPLE: Citizens accumulate personal debt to the magnitude it is impossible for them to repay which leads to personal bankruptcy (impoverishment, destitution).
#3) (Psa. 43:1 & 1Pet. 2:6-9) NEGATED VOTING: Activist Judges bypass the citizens constitutional right to vote when they set aside the results of an election by the majority of the voters and declare those results invalid. EXAMPLE: The voters in California voted (Proposition 8) to define marriage as between a man and a woman thereby banning same sex (homosexual) marriage which THEN: was disputed by a civil lawsuit AND:
On Aug. 4, 2010 gay (homosexual) Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker overturned California’s same sex marriage ban law by declaring it unconstitutional. SO: Activist judges, appointed to their office for life without benefit of an election, restraint, or oversight can bypass the legislative process by creating new law on their own authority therefore subverting citizen’s right to vote. Remember what John Adams wrote on 21 June, 1776 about religion and morality establishing the principals of freedom?
#4) (Prov. 6:16-19 esp. V. 17 keywords: shed innocent blood, think abortion, Prov. 11:1, 16:5, 29:10-16 then Lev. 18:1-27 esp. V. 22, Rom. 1:16-32 esp. V.27, 1Cor. 6:9-10 & Gal. 5:19-21) LEGALIZATION OF WHAT GOD CALLS SIN: The refining of the meaning of the Constitution of the United States by the Supreme Court results in the liberalization of civil law.
Some of the liberal slogans are; “If it feels good, do it”; “Do your own thing”; “Don’t fence me in (don’t tell me I can’t)”; and etc. and through these liberal laws the influence of the visible Church on society is weakened. That is why America now accepts legalized homosexual unions/marriages, prostitution, abortion, government paid support of drug abusers to kick their habit with suboxone (the opioid analgesic) on a seven-year treatment plan, and etc. Why do you think there is such a scramble and struggle to put either liberal or conservative judges on the Supreme Court? Remember what Thomas Jefferson said about the judiciary?
Please, please look up and read about suboxone on the internet. People have told me it is for sale “on the street” where I live. When you read about suboxone please read the warnings at the end; “Suboxone can slow or stop your breathing, and may be habit forming. MISUSE OF THIS MEDICINE CAN CAUSE ADDICTION, OVERDOSE, OR DEATH, especially in a child or other person using the medicine without a prescription. Taking suboxone during pregnancy may cause life-threatening withdrawal symptoms in the newborn.” is the exact quote!
#5) (Matt. 7:21-23, 13:18-23 & Rev. 3:16) AN APOSTSATE CHURCH! A deadbeat, spiritually deaf, Holy Bible ignoring, greedy, unconcerned, mute, non-voting, spiritually bankrupt church: The devil, Satan, is no dummy. He knows after a few years liberal laws will creep and are creeping into church doctrine.
Example of denominations, or congregations in denominations, in the process of accepting liberal, alternative lifestyles (homosexual) instead of God’s Holy Word: United Presbyterian Church, United Church of Christ, Southern Baptist, United Methodist Church, National Council of Churches and Episcopal Church! Check out the church of pot!
Check out Unitarian Universalist Church and www.gaychurch.org on the internet. Go to www.theblaze.com website and explore around for some exciting reading. NOTE: Woven throughout this whole website, Jesus Me And Why.com is the theme of a hidden Church of true believers within the visible apostate church, the visible Church that is becoming just like the Catholic Church was in part 2! Remember what Jesus said in (Matt. 7:21-23)?
When the impoverishment and destitution become great enough a leader will be called for to “show us” (dictate) how to get out of the “mess” America the democracy is in. You guessed it! He is a dictator. He will need people to help him and they will form a dictatorship.
When many nations fall into this trap of “something for nothing” to “look good” (pride) an international leader will be called for to “show us” (dictate) how to get out of the “mess” the world is in. You guessed it! God calls him a beast. The church presently calls him antichrist! The whole of it, history included, is in (Rev. CH. 12 and 13).
I’m sure you are thinking; “Wow, this is heavy stuff to try to think about.” It’s heavy stuff to me too so let’s lighten up and take a flight of imagination into the impossibility of human nature that contrasts all that is being said in this introduction. The following examples should cause you to think of other scenarios. THIS APPLIES TO EVERY INDIVIDUAL IN AMERICA.
Suppose the only “payday” available is the satisfaction you obtain by laboring through love. You do what you do because you love people. You go do your job and earn nothing but the satisfaction of serving people because you love the nameless, faceless consumers of your product.
You go to stores and obtain all you need and it costs you nothing because everybody else is also working because they love you and everybody else. You automatically take only what you need because you love those providing for you and you won’t let yourself be greedy.
From the president, the corporate CEO, the hospital chief of staff and right on down through the power structure to you and then on past you everybody is working because they love and their satisfaction comes from serving each other. Students try to excel so they can serve people better.
RESULT: Crime because of greed is gone, status because of pride is gone, do you understand what I am saying? There are no more high profile, gated, secluded, guarded communities. You might very well live between a corporate CEO and a Senator. Your house will be of equal value to theirs and you will visit each other just like you are “family”.
You might say; “Well, the writer has taken leave of his senses! Where did all this come from?” (Rev. 11:17-18 keywords: shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.) (Prov. 15:27 & Eph. 4:17-22) Greed and (Psa. 59:12-13; Prov. 6:16-19, 16:18, 29:23; Mark 7:21-23 & James 4:4-6) pride cause people to desire to live in more affluent sensualism than they need until they are like a rodent on a treadmill endlessly chasing the god of accumulation and they miss the purpose of life. THINK ABOUT IT!
The disintegration of the Christian Church started at Corinth. (1Cor. 1:12-13) The church had obviously split into three groups that patterned themselves after three dynamic preachers. A fourth group had formed because they thought they were the only ones who possessed Christ but the preacher or leader is not named.
Paul was a highly educated former Pharisee who had enthusiastically embraced Christianity and (2Tim. 4:13) used the Old Testament writings as the basis for his Holy Spirit inspired preaching, teaching and writing.
(Acts 18:24) Apollos was a highly educated Greek Jew born in Alexandria, Egypt who obviously brought an international aspect to Christianity. (John 1:42 & 1Cor. 15:4-5) Cephas, Simon Peter, was an emotional, bold, unlettered Jewish fisherman who had been with Jesus from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, (Acts 1:13 through 2:14) to the initial giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost at Jerusalem.
Obviously Simon Peter had learned to read and write somewhere in his life because he wrote two books of the New Testament OR: maybe he dictated them while an assistant copied his words as was the custom of the time.
(1Cor. 1:10-13 & 3:1-8) From this beginning the fragmentation of the church progressed into the denominationalism you see today. As you can see, (1Cor. 1:13-23) the concept sickened Paul because (Luke 20:17-18; Eph. 2:13-22 esp. V.20; & 1Pet. 2:1-8 esp. V.6) Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Church and He cannot be divided.
The cornerstone (Jesus) establishes the level and the square of the building and is the anchor of the foundation. (1Cor. 3:9-23 esp. V.9 & 11) The building is a metaphor for the Christians in the church to illustrate how God is constructing (growing) (Eph. 2:17-22) His Church, “the called out ones,” through the Holy Spirit and God’s Holy Word.
(Info. in the commentary The Breath of Life on this website) Achieving salvation is the result of a process and (Info. in this commentary) growing (maturing) as a Christian is also a process. God does not operate a democracy within His church. Neither Christians nor non-believers have the power of the vote that tells God what to do.
But, under civil law, any person is allowed to believe, discuss, reason about, or write about what he or she believes is in God’s word. In America today no person can be forced to listen to, read about, or be coerced into believing anything that is contrary to their will.
Becoming a part of God’s Church and operating as a Christian within God’s Church will be done God’s way according to His Holy Word. God knew there would be a hidden, true church within a visible, apostate, heretical church and Jesus voiced this before there was a church when He said; (Matt. 7:21-23) “Not every one that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess (acknowledge) unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (wickedness).” The iniquity definition relates to wickedness that violates the various doctrine, orders, instructions and commands written in the New Testament that pertain to the Grace Covenant Church Christians. In the light of this scripture the members of the Catholic Church in Part 2 do not fare very well do they?
What do you think about the modern Protestant and Catholic Churches? Do you understand that your selection of a church determines your eternal destination? (1Tim. 6:2 keywords: teach and exhort & 2Tim. 4:2 keyword: Preach) Paul told Timothy what to teach and preach and he told Timothy to teach and preach this: (2Tim. 2:15) “Study to show thyself approved (acceptable) unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing (to dissect) the word of truth”. What happens if God does not accept YOU?!!
PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS: Germany was broke, its citizens were hungry and scared. Hitler the dictator came with all the answers. More than six years into the Hitler era, May 1939, a census of the German people was taken and that data showed the German population was 54% Protestant, 40% Catholic, 3.5% neo-pagan believers in God (believed in God but not Jesus) and 1.5% did not believe in God.
The Jews did not count because by that time they were non-citizens of the Third Reich. Look at what that Christian nation accomplished; more than 60 million people from all walks of life, religions, nationalities and races were killed in WW2. All that from a Christian Nation! So, do not tell me a dictatorship cannot happen in America!
While the Nazi slaughter was going on the diary of Nazi General Gerhart Engle stated that Hitler said; “I am now, as before, a Catholic and will always remain so.” No, this is not an attack on the Catholic Church. If the Catholics, one, any, or all, have experienced the salvation event as set forth in the Holy Scriptures, (see the commentary; Breath of Life), they, one, any, or all, are the Protestant’s brothers and sisters in Christ and vice versa.
But Adolph Hitler was a member of the reformed Catholic Church and records show that Pope Pius XII supported Hitler’s actions. See Pope Pius XII & the Holocaust | Jewish Virtual Library https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html
FIRST: Think about the process that led to the slaughter of the Jews in Nazi Germany. The Nazis did not simply build concentration camps and start killing. The Jews were first vilified as a group, then identified individually, separated from society, stripped of property, herded together, forced to work as slave labor and the slaughter generally began with the “useless ones” the old, the sick, children, the weak, a lot of the women and then the Nazis worked the strong ones to death because there was a “fresh supply” of slave labor Jews coming in from all over Europe.
The Nazi government needed money and was greatly enriched by confiscating Jewish property. Check your history; the Nazis even took their Jewish victim’s hair and the gold from their teeth before they killed them and burned their bodies. Some sources claim that at the start of WW2 as much as 30% of Germany’s war machine was financed by stolen Jewish wealth. When Hitler came to power Germany was considered a “Christian Nation” with its magnificent Church Houses, missionaries and etc.
SECOND: Just for a minute think of the natural world. Think of a squid. The squid lashes out with its tentacles, captures its prey, draws the prey in and destroys it; AND THE SQUID NEEDS TIME TO ACCOMPLISH IT’S PURPOSE.
THIRD: PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH: (Rev. Ch. 13 esp. V.17) The long tentacles of persecution are just now grasping the church in America. Jesus is a forbidden subject in school. Prayer is not allowed in school. The Ten Commandments are forbidden in government buildings. The eminent domain laws have been amended to include church property; (Victorville, Calif. V. The First Assembly of God Church).
The symbol of the cross is under attack. The word Christmas (Christ Mass from the Catholic/Anglican church) is in the process of being changed to holiday season. (John 5:27) The name Jesus Christ is offensive to the wicked because He demanded holy living and His name strikes fear and loathing because it foretells the coming judgment of sins. AND: “My goodness, don’t you dare offend anyone’s sensibilities by displaying or expressing your Christian beliefs. It deprives us of our civil rights.” and etc.
Many people are starting to vilify true Christians as a group just like persecution of the Jews started in Nazi Germany and the persecution of Dissenter Christians in Catholic Rome.
Just like ancient Israel America is descending into a state of sin where God will remove His hedge of protection because America is breaking covenant with Him and America as we know it will eventually be destroyed by one, or a combination of, financial collapse, breakdown of constitutional civil law, military defeat or natural calamities if America the nation does not repent and return to God.
What if you awakened one morning and everything in America had changed. Your Church was like the apostate Roman Catholic Church in part 2. Would you go along with the new program? Would you find other protesters/reformers and join in their secret worship? Would you be willing to die for your belief concerning Jesus? What?
Please read (Rev. 6:9-11 esp. V.9 keywords: slain for the word of God) that “talks” about the past, present, and future and think about what (V.11) “killed as they were (those under the altar in V.9), should be fulfilled” means at some future time, from when that scripture was written. LIKE NOW! Imagine this:
The dictator’s official car pulls into your driveway. The fussy bureaucrat is flanked by four armed guards. His eyes are like ice when he informs you; “We have discovered you are a Christian. (Rev. 13:11-18) You have a choice; take this mark, or computer chip, in your right hand or in your forehead and we will go our way”; just like the Caesar worship salt covenant!
“If you do not we are confiscating all your property, you will be forbidden to conduct any business and we are taking all your identification. I am feeling rather generous today so I will let you go with the clothes on your back. Hurry up now and choose because I have many stops to make today!”
What if the command was different? “Take this mark or we will execute you right here, right now.” What if they started by killing your children or other loved ones? Would you renounce Jesus to save your child’s life? What would you do?
(Matt. 2:16; Acts 7:17-19 & 8:1) Read history; the above scenario has happened lots of times to Christians and Jews! You owe it to yourself and your loved ones to read about other religions and their attitude toward Christians especially if America is defeated in a war or goes into national bankruptcy and has no army to defend you or if American civil law changes and becomes more anti-Christian.
(Matt. 24:3-27 esp. V.9 & 12; Rom. 8:31-39 esp. V.36 keywords: For thy sake we are killed all the day long & 2Tim. 3:12-14 esp. V.13 keywords: “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse”: key thought: the Apostle Paul was killed in Rome because he was a Christian)
Please check these sources of information because you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to know and understand what might be coming BECAUSE AMERICA THE NATION WILL NOT REPENT AND TURN BACK TO GOD; just like ancient Israel!
Flip to the History Channel, the Military Channel and, less frequently, programs on the Discovery Channel on your TV and watch the programming about the Jews Holocaust, Adolph Hitler’s rise to power and how WW2 was fought and you will be astonished if you have the (1Cor. 12:10 keywords: gift of——discerning of spirits & 31 keywords: But covet earnestly the best gifts: covet is defined: Strong’s # 2206: to have warmth of feeling for, desire, be zealous) spiritual discerning to see and understand (2Cor. 4:4 and 11:13-15) the Devil’s work in all of it. (Eph. 6:11-12) How can you defeat the devil if you do not understand him? See The Holy Spirit & You commentary menu/table of contents and read the three article series Satan: A study Guide and Teaching Manual.
Go to www.theblaze.com and read some of their articles; you will be shocked to the roots of your hair. What would you do? Remember what James Madison said about every citizen’s right to enjoy his religion?
People say the Church in America will not have to go through any persecution or even a part of the final tribulation but ARE YOU SURE? What makes the Church in America any “better” than the early Church in which so many Christians were killed by Rome and other governments because of their belief?
The disciples, except for John, were killed and the church was laid waste under Nero, the Roman Emperor. Think about it! Do you think there are any people in America who would murder and/or rob you if it were legal? Isn’t that what identity thieves, robbers, murderers, drug addicts, crooked businessmen and etc. do all the time?
Take time away from your ‘electronic fix’ and study the underground church in countries where Christianity is not allowed or the ‘allowed church’ preaches only what the government dictates they preach and teach. Look up the article where the Texas mayor told the church she required church pastors to submit their sermons for her approval before they were preached in her city! I read it and I know; of course it did not come to fruition but she tried!
How does a common drug addict rob you? The working taxpayer pays their huge medical bills when they overdose (OD) or use drug counseling, pays for their housing, utilities, cell phone, groceries, entertainment, spending money and support of their children! “The government pays my bills!” Sure it does; out of tax money paid to the government by people who work for their living.
What about just plain old greedy people who don’t care how they get their wealth? Do you now understand the “mechanism” is already in place for a great tribulation to take place in America when God finally, completely removes His “HEDGE” of protection due to the sin broken covenant; JUST LIKE OLD TESTAMENT, ANCIENT ISRAEL!
The right person or persons in power could find many willing accomplices if he would make all this legal and give them a cut of the proceeds just like Adolph Hitler did for his storm troopers and later the citizenry in Christian Nazi Germany when he plundered Europe.
Think about it and don’t kid yourself! What would your answer be? Would you give it all up for Jesus and walk away with nothing; not even an identity? Would you die for Jesus? WHAT WOULD YOU DO? Perhaps you need to read some history about how Christians have been persecuted all over the world in nice “vacation spot” countries like Britain, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Russia and etc.
IS TODAY’S CHURCH IN AMERICA ANY MORE EXEMPT FROM PERSECUTION THAN THE CHURCH HAS BEEN AT ANY OTHER TIME IN HISTORY? WHY DO YOU THINK SO?
Now consider the fact the greatest army and the most powerful man on earth, Caesar and his legions, could not destroy Christianity BUT: Christianity can be destroyed out of nations except for a very few people and their lives are forfeit if they are caught; Saudi Arabia, Iran and etc. are examples and the “church” in those places has no effect on their society.
God lives in man’s heart and He cannot be killed and Christians were willing to die before they would renounce our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God; that’s why we have a Church today. Remember how easy it is to change America’s civil law?
(John 15:1-6 esp. V.6 keywords: cast them into the fire and they are burned) So many times Christians get disgusted and leave church because of the way some “sanctimonious” Christians act the other six days of the week. Every Christian is faced with this terrible conflict and trial of faith. Many lost people simply shake their head in disgust and turn away from God and His salvation because of it. Every congregation, at one time or another, has its sinful Christian and its hypocrite; sometimes the sinful Christian, the hypocrite, or both are a permanent fixture in some congregations.
(2Tim. 3:1-5 & 4:3) That’s just the way it is and there is nothing anybody can do about it! (1Cor. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:19-21; & Rev. 21:7-8) We have all, saint and sinner, seen, heard about, read about, OR: viewed on the news about famous church leaders who have committed the sins given in these three scriptures.
(Matt. 13:24-30) We have all seen ordinary church members on a local level commit just about every sin mentioned in these scriptures. SO WHAT DO WE DO? Where do we go? (Matt. 13:24-30 esp. V.30 keywords: let both grow together until the harvest) According to this scripture the blunt, brutal and very real truth is that many times (Heb. 10:24-26 esp. V.25) Christians have to go to church with these people if they expect to inherit the kingdom (heavenly) of God.
In other words; “GO TO CHURCH WITH THEM OR GO TO HELL WITH THEM!” It’s a trial of faith just like Job’s! READ THESE->(John 1:1-4, 12:48 keywords: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day, 1John 1:1-4 then 2Tim. 3:16) God WILL sort things out!
Israel was founded by Abraham’s progeny through a covenant with God in Old Testament times. America was founded through a covenant with God in New Testament times. There is no documentation to prove or disprove God’s acceptance of the Mayflower Covenant but why would God refuse?
Every God-true local Church is consecrated (covenant) to God! The second president, John Adams, stated; “The United States Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.”
Unknown Divine Appointment explained: Unknown Divine Appointments always leave God’s people with a choice of whether to obey or to not obey and it is based on one’s values. EXAMPLES: The Disciples had an Unknown Divine Appointment with Jesus when they first met Him. (Luke 24:49) Jesus made an appointment with the disciples (Acts 2:1-4) and when they kept that one they didn’t really know what to expect until it happened in the Upper Room.
David had an appointment to bring his brothers some food while Israel was fighting the Philistines. David didn’t know he also had an Unknown Divine Appointment to fight a giant. Israel was overrun by the Babylonians, (Dan. 1:8) Daniel was taken prisoner and his captors were going to force him to accept the Babylonian diet of forbidden food.
Daniel and his three Jewish friends decided they would obey God instead of man. Daniel never had a clue that his three friends had (Dan. 3:19 & 25) an Unknown Divine Appointment with Jesus in a furnace, OR: (Dan. 6:7-27) that Daniel had an Unknown Divine Appointment with God and a group of lions, OR: that he had an Unknown Divine Appointment to become a prophet.
(Acts 9:1-31 esp. V.17 then 15) (V.17) Unknown Divine Appointments: Paul made a choice to hear An-a-ni’as, the Christian, who he hated and he received a healing. (V.15) God prophesied to Ananias that Paul was a chosen vessel because God had foreknowledge of Paul’s decision. (Acts 9:13-14 & 17) Ananias had also made some decisions. (Acts 6:8 thru 7:60 esp. 7:2) Stephen had a choice to speak or to not speak. (Acts 8:26-31 esp. V. 26 & 29) Ditto Philip. It all depended on their values.
Example of me: My wife had business in Kingsport, Tenn. She wanted me to go for companionship and moral support. I wanted to go witness in parking lots for the several hours I would be waiting, SO: I prayed, made 200 copies of my witnessing pamphlets, Breath of Life for lost people and Part 2: Old Walter: A CHOSEN VESSEL for Christians.
We passed a large Kroger parking lot 3 or 4 blocks from our destination, there it was! I came back there. I started walking and talking. I had made my way to the upper end and a car pulled into the row right in front of me. Split second timing, 30 seconds either way and we would have missed each other.
I approached and she rolled her window down. “Excuse me, are you a Christian?” She looked startled which is common. “Yes, yes I am.” “I’ve got a paper here that is a true story, an inspiring story of the great wonder God did in the lives of an old drunkard and eight little boys.”
She got a very strange look on her face. “This other one is a witnessing, seed sowing paper. I have seen it work many times because God anointed the words and He will anoint the heart that reads it. I’d like to give them to you.” She burst into tears! She sobbed out; “I don’t believe this! You won’t believe this!”
With tears flowing she explained; “My only brother has been a drunkard for years. He’s wore me out with worry. My Church Ladies Auxiliary meets every Thursday morning for a special discussion and prayer meeting. I’ve prayed for so long and so much, years of it, with no results I had just given up.”
“I missed two sessions but this morning I decided to try one more time. I left the meeting less than 15 minutes ago! I had other places to go and was going to get groceries on the way home but, for some reason, I turned in here first and here you are with my answer!”
She was astonished when I told her we’d driven 180 miles to get there. She and I spent several minutes rejoicing, crying and praising God. Exact time. Exact place. Exactly the right words. It happened with several people I met that day. Exact place. Exact time. Exactly the right words. Unknown Divine Appointments? You decide, I already know. Think about it! Have you ever had an Unknown Divine Appointment, exact time, exact place, exact words? You are reading this right now aren’t you? Did you need it?
Was the Protestant Church founded and was America founded by men with Unknown Divine Appointments? Men who were willing to die for their values. You decide.
Summary: The Mayflower Compact: The Plymouth colony was founded through a written covenant by the first colonists “for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith“. That covenant was not broken when the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights made America into a political nation JUST LIKE (1Sam. 8:5-7) when ancient Israel demanded a king be placed over them to be like the other nations around them did not immediately break God’s covenant but the stage was set for it to happen!
The breaking of America’s covenant with God will happen because of the activities (sin) of people within #1) the Church, #2) the government #3) and the general population just like it did when God gradually removed His blessing from ancient Israel because of their national descent into sin and as a result Israel disappeared as a nation for nearly 2,000 years. (Ezek. 36:17-28) Only Israel was prophesied to return as a nation. America is not mentioned in Biblical prophesy.
The activities (sin) of people that will break America’s Plymouth covenant with God ARE:
#1) A Morally complacent society brought about A) by constitutionally legalizing sin, B) racially and socially motivated political correctness that forbids moral criticism C) and individual pursuit of power, social status and individual riches.
#2) A spiritually confused Church brought about by a rebellious to God’s word, spiritually disobedient, worldly, divided Church expressed in denominationalism that cannot come together to present a united political front to politically influence the moral direction America takes.
#3) A poorly administered government in which lazy, proud, jealous, uncompromising, selfish, greedy personal characteristics cause lackluster, accomplish nothing, political gridlock. AND:
#4) Merging the visible Church, God’s Holy Word and Christian practices (Matt. 22:21) with civil law, (2Tim. 3:1-5 esp. V.4 keywords: lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God) with sinful worldly pursuits (1John 2:18-24 & 4:3) and with the antichrist spirit. Do you think America and its visible Church are going the way ancient Rome went with the pre-reformation Catholic Church?
The 1st true Church Principal: It is obvious God arranges situations, places and events but, when you study every situation, man always had a choice. Prophesy is the future foretold because God foreknows all things and He uses prophesy to give warnings, predict rewards, foretell events and give proof of His existence. If He foretells it and it comes true what is there to doubt?
Does your Church teach the truth? (John 6:44 & 12:32 keyword: draw) God/Jesus must draw a person before that person can be saved. That is how Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is in your there. That fact is made very obvious by Jesus’ physical ministry, Jesus had to be there, wherever there was at the time, before anyone could come to Him!
Only one Person was predestinated with no choice. (John 14:6-9 esp. V.9) God had to come in the person of Jesus (1John 4:8) because God loves mankind (Acts 4:10-12) and Jesus is the only name given whereby men must be saved (born again) because (1John 1:7) Jesus’ blood is the only thing that will cleanse man from all sin.
(John 14:15-18, 21 & 23-26 esp. V.23) The Holy Spirit (Comforter, Spirit of truth, Holy Ghost, Spirit, Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ) will dwell within blood washed, (John 3:3 & 1Pet. 1:23) born again Christians (Rom. 8:6-9) and that indwelling Spirit of Christ is the only way a person can know they are saved. (Eph. 2:7-9) You cannot simply do good works and make God owe you heaven because the faith to be saved is a gift of God.
That is the basics of the beginning of any Christian life. If your Church does not teach these truths, run from it like its a snake because it is one, and find a Church that does!<<< (Rom. 8:29-30) God predestinated Jesus to come and He predestinated there would be a Church but not the individuals in it. Check (Rom. 8:29 keyword: foreknow); that word foreknow tells us the two words, predestinated, are a prophesy fulfilled.
(Eph. 1:4-5 & 11-14 esp. V.13) The word predestinated in these scriptures reinforce what was written in Romans with the addition of the information about the Holy Spirit, that (V.13) Christians are sealed (stamped with a private mark for security and preservation) with the Holy spirit just like Jesus promised in (Luke 24:49 and John 14:17-18, 20 & 22-23) and the Holy Spirit (V.14) is the earnest (a pledge, the down payment, part of the purchase price) of our inheritance until we get to go be with God/Jesus in heaven. What could be more plain?
If today’s Calvinists still say some men are predestinated to be Christians without a choice AND all the rest are condemned to hell without a choice how can they explain (1Tim. 2:3-4) “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour (two that are one); Who will have ***all men*** to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” If you don’t know God’s identity and how mankind, male and female, is made in His image please see the article Who is the Holy Spirit on the commentary The Holy Spirit & You.
The emphasis is added to make the point. People accept or refuse God’s salvation all the time. (John 5:28-29 then Rev. 20:11-15). How could God judge fairly if He didn’t give all people a chance? Example: The ancient tribal people all over the world who lived and died before Jesus came or before the church got to their place. Is God so heedless and uncaring He just let these precious, one of a kind, (Gen. 1:26) made in His image people just “fall through the cracks” because they were born at the wrong time? (1John 4:8 & 16 keyword: love and Psa. 145:8-9 & 17-21) Or is God love itself? See the 1 article commentary Is God Fair.
SO: Here you are, saint or sinner or somewhere in between, standing right in the middle of your right now and you must be wondering; “What chance have I got?” A married preacher gets caught having an affair with a woman who is not his wife! Two deacons get in a quarrel and one leaves and takes up membership in another congregation!
The church treasurer steals the church funds! A disagreement arises, the congregation splits and one faction leaves and builds their own church! A “Christian” businessman who cheats his customers yet attends Church and pays tithes! An unmarried church member gets pregnant! Somebody else gets caught drunk! Liars! Thieves! Troublemakers! On, and on, and on.
Aren’t church people supposed to be the benchmark of God’s love? Aren’t they supposed to be pillars of the community? Aren’t they supposed to be sterling examples of God’s love to a lost and dying humanity? Aren’t they supposed to show us and tell us how to get to Heaven? A sinner thinks and even says: “If that brawling, quarreling, screaming, sinning, hypocrite bunch is all right with God; I don’t have a worry in the world.” “Sure some of them live right, but I do too, so why should I go to hell?” WRONG!
Please click on the commentary The Holy Spirit & You and scroll the menu to the 2 articles The Holy Spirit is Truth and read Part 2: Jesus My Daddy and Me. THEN read the article About the Writer listed between the Home page and the titles of the 9 commentaries.
If you wish to read Part 1 of The Holy Spirit is Truth about two-thirds down the text starting with the words PERSONAL EXPERIENCE is the story about Daddy’s best friend who was closer to me than my blood uncles and his experience with God. They are 3 real life experiences that I know surely happened.
The other true Church Principals. (1Cor. 5:1 thru 6:20) Any sin a person can imagine can be found in various congregations at one time or another. Your concerns are legitimate. Your QUESTIONS are reasonable; you have the right to ask them and you deserve an answer because your eternal destiny hinges on the decisions you will make. The Biblical principles of the true Church, hidden within the visible Church, are explained in the rest of this commentary.