Sermon: Is America a Christian Nation? (Part Five)

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Given 06-May-17; 65 minutes

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Bob Dylan's 1964 war protest song, "With God on Our Side," proposes some conundrums. If God is on our side, is He as murderous as we are? If God is really on our side, what does that do with our perception of God's character? The clear majority of professing Christians who claim they know God really do not because they have no relationship with Him—and most have rejected the Sabbath. As God's called-out ones, we are required to be doers as well as hearers, walking in His steps. Historically, the Israelitish nations have been talkers, but not doers. When ancient Israel wanted a king to be like the gentile nations, they virtually stripped God of His power, in doing so receiving the curse of a darkened, reprobate, animalistic mind. Humanists are foolish ignoramuses about what really matters in life. The framers of our Constitution were sincere educated men, but they were unconverted. Having experienced the turmoil of the Catholic—Protestant clash in Europe, they did not want any sect dictating religious doctrines or practices. A follower of Christ is mandated to: (1) follow Christ; (2) walk with Christ; (3) imitate Christ; and (4) walk in Christ's steps—doing exactly what Christ does. Consequently, as physical Israel is still reeling from the curse of I Samuel 8 (rejecting God's rule to replace it with a tyrannical Gentile-like government), we need to guard against the multitudinous distractions, realizing that God is sovereign, totally regulating the political and cultural upheaval, shaping it to accomplish His ultimate purpose.


transcript:

Please turn to Genesis 6.

Genesis 6:5-7 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Just one little question here: have we reached this point yet?

It is interesting that Clyde should begin by mentioning a song by Bob Seger. I am also going to call upon a Bob, that is Bob Dylan. I will read a poem of his I feel fits this series because it somewhat fits into the historical mystique of this nation.

Interestingly, Dylan was born as Robert Allen Zimmerman, near International Falls Minnesota, in May of 1941. He was Jewish by birth but went through a born-again experience, and a conversion in the 1970’s, becoming a Christian and then recanted a number of years later. Today he claims to have his own religion that is expressed in his music. This poem was written eight years before his counterfeit conversion. It is somewhat controversial, because it appears some measure of plagiarism may have been involved on Dylan’s part.

It is similar to a theme that was of an already-published poem. That poem was published in Ireland and became a song. This poem was recorded as a song sung by Joan Baez, and titled, “God On Our Side. Now Dylan is not noted as a poetic protester. He has protested some, but protesting is not deeply involved as a central object of his work. Neither is he noted as a poet who just accepts things as they are. In this poem he seems to be saying that regardless of even the evil things the United States of America does, like going to war and killing a lot of people, it wins.

The unasked question is that, if there is a God, why does America win? Added to that is what really seems to me to be his real protest. It is as I see it, that the committing gross evils, like going to war and all of the vicious killings, is justified by American citizens, and thus overlooked by them, because to them God really is on our side, and therefore, the evil is justified as a necessity in this world.

Another question that might have been in Dylan’s mind is, if God is on our side, is He personally as murderous as America seems to be, as measured against this national attitude that America appears to have? Is this nation’s spectacular rise to power, especially in this past one hundred years, because God is on our side?

Is Dylan reflecting and protesting by making statements, that if God really is on our side, where does that leave us with our understanding of God, and His purpose for human life?

Here is the poem:

Oh, my name it is nothing, my age it means less,

the country that I come from is called the Midwest.

I’s taught, and brought up there, the laws to abide,

and the land that I live in has God on its side.

Oh, the history books tell it, they tell it so well,

the cavalries charged and the Indians fell.

The cavalries charged and the Indians died,

all the country was young with God on its side.

The Spanish-American war had its day, and the Civil War too,

soon laid away, and the names of the heroes

I’s made to memorize with guns in their hands,

and God on their side.

The First World War boys, it came and went,

the reason for fighting I never did get,

but I learned to accept it and accept it with pride,

for you don’t count the dead when God’s on your side.

When the Second World War came to an end,

we forgave the Germans, and then we were friends,

though they murdered six million in the ovens they fried,

the Germans now also have God on their side.

I have learned to hate Russians all through my whole life,

if another war comes its them we must fight,

to hate them and fear them, to run and to hide,

and accept it all bravely with God on my side.

But now we’ve got weapons of the chemical dust,

if fire them we’re forced to, then fire them we must.

One push of the button and shot the world-wide,

you never ask questions when God is on your side.

In many a dark hour I’ve been thinking about this:

that Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss.

But I can’t think for you and you’ll have to decide

whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side.

So now as I’m leaving, I’m weary as hell,

the confusion I’m feeling ain’t no tongue can tell.

The words fill my head and fall to the floor,

if God is on our side, He’ll stop the next war.

There is no doubt that each and every nation exudes a spirit, that is, each nation has pretty much its own personality. What does this poem say about us as individuals when we seemingly separate ourselves from the horrors of the personality that America projects? Has an attitude been gradually created within Americans, as an influence exuded by false Christianity, that since God is on our side all this violent liberalism roars on, and nothing seems to be done to stop it?

The conclusion must be then, that Americans, though not finding it acceptable, individually feel no sense of responsibility for its existence, and are not shamed that it is a reality, so they continue on with no changes made in their lives. That too is a reality.

Has it hardened us to the point where we can watch videos of a savage beating administered to a mentally disabled man by a group of young men in Chicago, and then follow it up with a filming of a rape of a teenager, deliberately enacted for the shock value? We might dare to ask: will the perpetrators ever actually face a penalty that meets anywhere near to the crime that they committed?

What does this say regarding whether America is, or ever has been, a Christian nation. What if God really is on our side and He just twiddles His spiritual thumbs up there in heaven? What does that do to our perception of God’s character? We live in a nation that prides itself, calling itself “God’s country.” If we really believe that title, why do we not conduct our lives the way God says in His Book?

Why do we murder? Why do we lie? Why do we steal? Why do we commit adultery and fornication and become homosexuals? Why do we grow up hating our parents? During the sermon in Elise Grainger’s funeral, which quite a number from this congregation attended, the Baptist preacher said that Christians in this nation say that they know God. No, they do not! They know isolated characteristics about Him, but they do not know Him from within a warm and loving relationship that they are experiencing with Him. Americans know God in much the same way that they know a movie star. They see and then admire the movie star due to a false image of a real person playing a make-believe role, in a make believe story. What they know of God is not reality any more than what they see in the movie star.

That minister also said in that sermon that, what God wants from all of us is faith, He wants us to believe Him. But the preacher did not say what God really wants from us is that faith demonstrated by the very works that God Himself has ordained, that we, Americans, live our lives by.

Let me show you briefly what is really happening in this so-called Christian nation.

James 1:19-25 Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. [That describes America to a T, in this so called Christian nation, that believes in God.] But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

James 2:14-19 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? [America believes God but does not do what He says to do. We have to be doers of what He says.] If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

You can see where I am headed here. The faith of Americans is dead. They believe but they do not do. They cannot even keep the Sabbath, even though the Sabbath is the only day of the week which God personally identifies Himself with. And when the God who did the creating came to earth, He obeyed and He kept that Sabbath. Americans refuse to walk in His steps, yet they claim to believe God.

James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

Regarding spirituality, the United States of America is a nation of talkers, but not doers. We are a nation of line drawers in the sand—we talk the walk, but do not make the sacrifices in order to walk the walk. We draw lines in the sand, and we tell ourselves we will go this far and no further, and that is why they do not keep the Sabbath. Because they know very well that it is probably going to be costly for them to keep the Sabbath, even if they believe that it should be kept. So we talk the walk, but we do refuse to make the sacrifices in order to walk the walk.

I will give you the essence of what is happening in America, and in the rest of Israel, and God is deliberately allowing it to build as He shows He did in Genesis 6, and it thus produced the Flood.

This is a series of verses that we have turned to frequently in the last month or two, but we will go there again because it needs to be repeated. The lesson that is here is vivid.

Romans 1:18-23 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them [or to them], for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Consider this. God, who is perfect in judgment, says mankind is without excuse for twisting the true personality and character of our Creator. Completely out of shape from its reality and into a form that has vicious animalistic traits that bear no resemblance to truth.

What God is saying here is that mankind knows better. That is why they are not going to be excused. They know better, they know there is a Creator God, but there is no fear of God in mankind’s minds, because he has completely forced it out, so that He can hide himself from his own terrible character which is driven by pride, as was Satan. Israelitish people have stripped God of His power within their own minds.

Proverbs 14:3 In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them.

Think of this in relation to the things I have just said about man, the foolishness that they know that there is a God, but they deny it to themselves to give themselves a comfortable feeling about why they do what they do. Yet God says in His own words that these people know, because God has judged that He has given them all that they need to prove that He exists.

"In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride." Biblically, what is a rod used for? It is used to beat somebody. What God is saying here is that the words of a proud, God-rejecting fool are going to painfully return on himself, and he is going to be beaten, as it were, with his own words.

Right now, what happened in Genesis 6 is going to happen to these people who are rejecting God, the very God who tells them that they know very well that He exists. The proud are being preserved right now for destruction in God’s good time.

The mouth of a fool is a rod of pride. The words that he says are going to come back and punish him. "But the lips of the wise, will preserve them."

Proverbs 16:18-19 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.

So, just as happened before the Flood, those people had one hundred twenty years to straighten themselves out. I do not think one hundred twenty years exists between now and when Jesus Christ is going to return, so time is closing in on them at a much faster rate than it was in Genesis 6.

Taken together, these two proverbs are telling us that we Americans are our own worst enemy, because by pride, the humanists destroying this nation think they know so much, but in reality they are foolish ignoramuses about what really matters in life. They are willingly ignoring God.

Nebuchadnezzar was an interesting personality. I think he was probably among the greater, maybe the greatest of the Gentile rulers that the Bible mentions. He had an interesting dream that we are going to look at that we need to remember for our own good.

Daniel had an interesting experience regarding what really matters in life. There is no doubt that he was a pretty great, strong, leader. He was intelligent but he was also a very proud man, proud of what he accomplished, and he was always, I am sure, making plans of what more he was going to do, what more he was going to rule over, what more he was going to conquer, what more honors he was going to receive, both from his own people and those that he conquered.

God gave him instruction that may be helpful to us. He had much to learn, and so do we. One of the truths he had to learn fits into the theme of this series of sermons. We must learn to be patient in this disturbing environment we live in, with the certainty in mind that God, even though He is invisible, even though He seems to be hidden, even though He seems to act so slowly, is nonetheless working out His purpose regardless of how things look on earth.

Our responsibility is to faithfully obey Him, regardless of the intensity of the times, and in spite of the sacrifices required to meet the responsibilities that He gives us, even in living through this time. Sometimes the requirements might be very difficult to bear, but bearing them is how we glorify Him. He knows what we are going through, He knows the difficulties of the times. He is either creating them Himself, or He is allowing them to be created. He is not unaware of what is going on.

Daniel 4:1-4 Nebuchadnezzar the king, To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied to you. I thought it good to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked for me. How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation. I. Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourished in my palace.

This was a lesson that Nebuchadnezzar very greatly needed. I believe that Nebuchadnezzar was getting pretty puffed up, that even though he acknowledged that God was involved in his life, and he gave God credit for the things that came to him, but he was nonetheless still a puffed up person.

Verses 1-4 establishes the setting. The dream was the trigger that began Nebuchadnezzar’s learning this valuable lesson. He inquired of his wise men for help in understanding the dream’s purpose. We will begin there in verse 10.

Daniel 4:10-16 “These were the visions of my head while on my bed: I was looking, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong; its height reached to the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. [this is the picture that God gave him representing Babylon and of course its king Nebuchadnezzar] The beasts of the field found shade under it, the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh fed from it.

I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed, and there was a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts get out from under it, and the birds from its branches. Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, in the tender grass of the field. Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him.’

In the larger picture the tree represented Babylon, but in a more focused view it represented the king, Nebuchadnezzar. The most important information for us, as far as this sermon is concerned, is verses 17 and 18.

Daniel 10:17-18 ‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men.’ “This dream I, king Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you.”

This is the lesson for you and for me. The wise men could not help, so he called upon Daniel whose reputation preceded him. In verses 10-16, Nebuchadnezzar is telling the details of the dream to Daniel. The important details were given to Nebuchadnezzar in the dream by an angel, that Nebuchadnezzar calls a watcher. The most important information for us is in verses 17 and 18.

The dream’s purpose was to teach Nebuchadnezzar that God is sovereign ruler of His creation, and He does with it as He pleases, at the time He pleases, using whom ever He pleases to use.

We are living in the very wealthy nation that is going broke, living over its head. As spendthrifts, we are losing our power, the nation is going downhill in terms of its conduct. And we know that the persecutions of the godly within the nation is intensifying and it is going to continue to intensify. Even now, the times that we are living in are distracting. But do not forget, they have been distracting at other times, and all the while God continues to produce what it is that He is working on, and that is, children, sons and daughters, in His image.

Let Us make man in Our image. That is going on all the time, regardless of what conditions are like within this nation. And for those who are the children of God, they have to keep this in mind, and know that despite the way things look, God is still on His throne, and He is working out His purpose, and He expects you and me to live by faith regardless of what is going on.

That is the standard that He has set for us. God is sovereign ruler of His creation. He does with it as He pleases, at the time He pleases, using whomever He pleases to use. Everything is under control as long as God is on His throne. Do not allow yourself to get distracted by what is going on in this nation. We are not part of this nation, we live in it, but we are not part of it.

It would be wonderful if all Israel, scattered in the Western world, were righteously following God, but that is not the reality. Because God is working out His purpose, in His way, and He is allowing the world to be as it is. Do not lose your faith or you will slip behind.

God is hard to keep up with. He may not move fast in terms of as fast as He could go, but He moves steadily to the goal that He is accomplishing, and He expects us to keep up with Him, and not get pulled down by the nation around us.

America has always had elements of Christian beliefs as a part of its moral standards, and so do the other Israelitish nations. That is a reality, and that is beyond question. But that does not make any of them a Christian nation, including the United States of America.

Simply believing some elements of Christianity does not make a person Christian. For example, does believing in the law of gravity, or of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, make one a physicist? Of course not. It takes more than that.

As we have advanced in this series of sermons, I will give you three summary conclusions regarding America’s so-called Christianity.

1. Our Constitution’s framers were undoubtedly sincere men, and they also undoubtedly had Christian beliefs in mind when framing the Constitution. Those beliefs framed their spiritual thinking. However, they themselves were unconverted, carnally sincere men. That makes all the difference in the world. It was Thoreau who said, “Every institution is but the length and shadow of one man,” or one group of men. The length and shadow of the founders is the United States of America. They did not found a Christian nation even though they themselves were reasonably moral people, carnal and moral.

2. The Constitution’s framers were well-educated, in terms of history, and of the clashes between the Catholic Church and the civil governments in Europe. Learning this lesson therefore, they did not set out from the beginning to allow any religion to be the government’s dictated religion by law even though they were fairly religious men. They withheld that right as they were framing the Constitution.

The effect of that decision is that citizens are constitutionally free to make their choice of religion, individually. Of course, we have a lot of humanists in this country and their religion is what they have devised. Completely and totally, they in essence worship their own mind.

3. However, the combined package of what the framers believed and thus formed their concepts for life’s purpose, was not the Christianity of the Bible. They were honestly blind to the spiritual truths God did not reveal to them. Thus, the diverse group that framed the Constitution followed many different varieties of doctrines, and each and every one of those versions was a counterfeit of Christ’s teachings.

They were all wrong. They were individually right on some doctrines but not collectively so. Thus, they never had the correct doctrinal base from which they were to pattern their lives, because God did not reveal it. This major flaw leads right into the major effect, that is, that neither they nor their fellow countrymen ever conducted their lives as a true follower of Jesus Christ. Like I said, they could not even keep the Sabbath, which is obvious.

Thus, in personal as well as national conduct, they did not follow the steps of Jesus Christ. I did not get the opportunity because I ran out of time to fully develop that part of my fourth sermon in this series, but I will rehearse just enough so that you know what I am talking about here. How can one be a Christian if we do not do that, follow in His steps? The statement that I just made is where the rubber hits the road, regarding whether one is a Christian or not.

In that sermon I used four common biblical descriptors in order to show a Christian’s responsibility to Jesus Christ. They are actually simple statements.

1. A Christian is to follow Christ, not follow the world, not follow Satan, not follow the king. Follow Jesus Christ.

2. A Christian is to walk with Christ. Hand in hand, coupled together, brothers on the same path.

(You will see a pattern here in just a little bit.)

3. A Christian is to imitate Christ. As a kid we played a game called Follow the Leader. The leader set the pattern that everybody running after him, in a line of boys, was to do what he did.

4. A Christian is to walk in Christ steps.

There is an increasing intensity to this pattern. A Christian is to follow Christ, a Christian is to walk with Christ. That makes a relationship closer, and less excuse to not do what Christ did. A Christian is to imitate Christ, do exactly what Christ does, and a Christian is to walk in Christ steps—and that is the most difficult and the most intense of any of those four.

Merely following intensifies to walking with, to actually imitating, then the most difficult of all is to walk in the very steps, experiencing life with the same intensity that Jesus Christ did.

I am not in any way attempting to demean the founders of this nation. They were truly men of broad governmental vision, of generally fine carnal character, and they especially seemed to have a fine well-honed sense of justice. They sacrificed a great deal to serve, and live carnally upright lives, using the spiritual knowledge that they did have.

With this package of three major shortcomings that I gave you earlier, easily seen is the founders well meaning intent, but seriously deficient spiritual leadership. The question remains as to what effect these spiritual deficiencies had on the United States of America as it became a nation here, especially now in the end time. It had a major effect.

John 18:35-36 [Jesus is on trial] Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Jesus’ response to Pilate’s question, in this context, is primarily aimed at clarifying His kingship is not of this world’s system of governance. His kingship is part and parcel of an entirely different order, and this reality is important to what we do with our calling. We are not of this world. That becomes very clear.

II Corinthians 6:11-18 [it is exceedingly clear what our responsibility is] O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. [this happens to all of us] Now in return for the same (I speak to you as children), you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

This command clearly states what a Christian is to do with his spiritual knowledge and his understanding. He too, like Jesus Christ, is no longer part of this world. He must abandon this world’s way of doing things in order to be loyal to God’s way of life and governance.

This our founders did not do! They did not set the example for us, that they should have set before the people that they were governing.

Ephesians 1:22-23 And He [the Father] put all things under His [Jesus Christ] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

What this verse does in what it says is it greatly intensifies the responsibility of loyalty to Christ, by making us understand that the closeness of our relationship to Christ, and the Kingdom He is establishing, in order to take over rulership of the earth. We cannot afford to be a part of this world, and when this nation was founded, it stayed a part of this world. It has never, ever been Christian, even though Christians were in it.

These three realities add emphasis for us to obey the command to come out of the world. Therefore this is, to me, motivation to not be of the world, lest I defile Him, and this the founders never did. The United States of America began and has remained just another nation of this world.

Israel has a biblical history of doing what they did. They wanted a governmental change.

I Samuel 8:4-5 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

They wanted to be like the rest of the world. That is directly what they asked for, and that is what they got. And when this nation was being founded there was no appeal even as clear as this, but that is what they got. Make us like other nations, but if we can let us avoid some of the major mistakes that they have made in their past.

It took a great while for things to really build up, but here is what was accomplished. I want you to notice what is happening.

I Samuel 8:6-9 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day—with which thy have forsaken Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you also. Now therefore, heed their voice. However, you shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of the king who will reign over them.”

Look at this listing, and you see if this has not happened, or is in the process of happening right here in the United States of America.

I Samuel 8:11 And he said, “This will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for their own chariots and to be his horsemen, and some will run before his chariots.”

Who is really in charge of the military? It is the government.

I Samuel 8:12-14 “He will appoint captains over his thousands and captains over his fifties, will set some to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and some to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.”

I am asking you, what does the government of the United States of America do to its own citizens? It is taking control of everything. Everything is rapidly in the last twenty-five or thirty years going into the hands of the government, and it is controlling all.

I Samuel 8:15-16 “He will take a tenth of your grain [taxation] and your vintage, and give it his officers and servants [corruption left and right]. And he will take your menservants and your maidservants and your finest young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work.”

How many people work for the government? In the United States of America almost fifty percent of the people are tied in some way for their income to the government. How many people are on the dole? The government uses that dole to buy their votes to remain in power. That is money that people would have if we did not have a government of this world. The people would earn the money and they would spend the money that they earned the way they want to spend it.

I Samuel 8:17-18 “He will take a tenth of your sheep. And you will be his servants. And you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, and the Lord will not hear you in that day.”

So, it is happening, Samuel’s word is coming to pass in our time and this generation, and the generation that preceded you, my generation, we have watched this happening left and right. I do not know if you realize it or not, but what the Evangelicals are all upset about is finally they got it through their brain what was happening. The government is stealing their lives, and their well being away from them.

They finally did enough to elect Trump as president. I am not sure he is going to be any kind of a savior at all, but they at least did something to change the picture a little bit, and give themselves a bit of hope, that the swamp might be drained. The quicksand in the swamp is sucking him and those around him, it seems, right into the swamp with everybody else.

Do not forget. The point in this whole series of sermons is do not let yourself get distracted by what is happening on the outside. We should be watching what is going on and analyzing it so that we make the best choices in our life. Our God is working out His purpose. He is involved in your life, and He wants you and me to obey Him so that we are prepared for what is going to come next.

JWR/cdm/drm





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