The News #6

I want to spend a little more time establishing the point that there were times in the past when the moral rot was worse than it is now and that God was able and willing to turn things completely around in a very short time.

The moral decline in America was greatly influenced by the ideas of the French revolution, which happened just after the America Revolutionary War. The French Revolution was based on atheism and a violent rejection of Christianity. Books by atheist intellectuals became very popular in America. The moral conditions at the colleges became extremely dark. It was estimated that there were only two believers among the entire student body at Princeton. Many colleges, all of them founded by Christians and intended to be religious institutions fell under the control of atheists. Some of the prominent leaders from the American Revolution were encouraging these trends. Clubs were formed to promote the “new” ideas. Sexual orgies were frequent events at these clubs. This was the condition of America in 1796.

And then a wave of revivals began. God began to pour out his Spirit and people began to be converted in large numbers. The entire nation was transformed. This is what God has done and can do. We must make prayer for a Great Awakening to be one of the most important priorities in our lives. The temporary trend toward moral degradation in our society is not based on science or new ideas. It’s triumph is not inevitable. The real power is all on our side; the power of the Lord God Almighty. It is spiritual, not political. It is released in answer to prayer. When God pours out His Spirit in revival the enemy flees in confusion and righteousness is reestablished.

The News #5

Most of us have no idea what God has done in past revivals, so we don’t know what to ask Him to do right now. It’s hard for us to exercise faith because we haven’t studied our history to see what God has done. What He’s done before He can do again. Most of you are probably aware that the 1800’s were a very spiritual time in England. Christianity had great influence. The country supported missionaries all over the globe. There were a variety of wide reaching reform movements the most prominent of which was the abolition of slavery.

Most people think that England was probably always like this even before the 1800’s and the Devil likes that just fine. One of the enemy’s favorite tricks is to try and convince us that everything he is trying to do is an inevitable result of progress. The lie goes something like this. “Way back in history, before there was science, everyone was superstitious and believed in religion. But now enlightenment has come. Science has proved that there is no need for a god because everything that exists is the result of natural processes. If people in past ages had known all the science we know now they wouldn’t have been so religious. The church can’t win because it is up against something it’s never been up against before. So society will become less and less religious. This is inevitable.” It is also a pack of lies.

To understand the lie, all you have to do is read enough history. The England of the late 1600’s through the mid 1700’s was a dark and desperate place. “Modern” ideas were widely circulated and many believed in the “new” teaching. They thought they were men of reason and they simply didn’t believe in the Bible any more. The results were catastrophic. The moral condition in England during this time was almost certainly worse than the moral condition of America today.

Alcoholism was pervasive. People got hooked on the stuff in their childhood. Crime was rampant. Skepticism and atheism ruled higher education. A nation that had once outlawed cruelty to animals became obsessed with spectacles in which animals would tear each other to pieces. Virtually everyone came to watch. They would throw a bull and a bear into a pit and watch them fight to the death. People actually enjoyed watching this stuff. People were advocating for the acceptance of polygamy. Things were in an awful condition.

Then in 1738 a voice rocked the nation. A recently ordained clergyman, only 22 years old, began to preach the gospel with amazing power. No building of the time could contain the crowds that came to hear him. His name was George Whitefield and if you had a proper education you would be very familiar with that name. George Washington is the political father of America. George Whitefield is the spiritual father.

Whitefield’s voice heralded what we now call the first great awakening. God moved in such power that within a very few years the very culture of the English speaking people’s was transformed. God has rescued His people from worse situations than the one we are in today. We must begin to believe that He can do it again and dedicate ourselves to pray in faith until He does.

The News #4

I wonder how many of you are familiar with the theology of revival? During a revival (sometimes called a awakening) God pours out His Spirit in a special way. Christians are transformed and sinners are saved. You can see cycles of revival and times of special blessing as you read through the Old Testament. You can see the same thing throughout church history.

I know I’ll sound like a old fogy to some of you when I use this illustration, but I think a good way to think about revival is to think about an old fashioned, wind up watch. They didn’t always come with batteries, you know. You used to have to wind the up. What you were doing was adding tension to a spring inside the watch. The spring moved the parts inside the watch so that it could function properly. You had to wind your watch every day. The best you could hope to get was about 32 hours out of a good winding, so it was best to wind the thing up every morning before you put it on. If you failed to wind the watch the watch wouldn’t come to a sudden stop. It would slowly loose power. The time between the sound of the ticking would increase. The watch would no longer keep proper time. Eventually it would come to a stop.

You could also illustrate this principle with a balloon. Balloons only hold their air for a limited amount of time. You have to blow them back up again because all balloons have slow leaks. You can’t see or hear the leaks, but you know they’re there because the balloon goes flat over time.

Basically the church in North America is like a watch that hasn’t been wound up recently. It’s slowing down. It’s loosing life and power. It’s like a balloon that needs to be re-inflated. When God adds power to the church, when He winds up the watch or blows up the balloon, we call that a revival. Revival is our only hope.

There is no political solution. There never has been and never will be. I’m not saying that the politics don’t matter, they do. But the politics can’t work right unless enough of the people get right so that they know what to vote for. We could have another Ronald Regan in the White House and all it would do is slow down the pace of the decline. The decline will continue until we have a revival. Every Christian should be praying for revival. You should end every newscast with a prayer for revival.

The News #3

If you find yourself worried, anxious, or tense when you watch the news, there are two simple ways to get out of this trap. The first is to reduce your exposure to the news. Way back in the day all we had was 30 minutes on the evening news. There was no cable TV or 24 hour news stations. There wasn’t anything like talk radio. If you wanted more than that 30 minutes a day you had to read newspapers or magazines. There was no internet. Somehow democracy managed to function on 30 minutes of news a day.

Let me ask you a pointed question. Do you spend more time with the news than you spend seeking God? This is a sure sign of a life out of balance (unless you are a professional news person). Give God more time than you give the news. This is vitally important.

The second secret is very simple. Every exposure to the news must include prayer. Pray over everything that makes your anxious. Say a prayer before the broadcast begins, pray during the broadcast, and say a prayer afterward. This will be good for your soul and will also do great good for your country.

The News #2

There is an evil I have observed under the sun and I feel that I must address it at this time. The demons have manipulated us into doing something absolutely crazy. Most of us are doing it over and over again, day after day. We are hard at work doing damage to our own souls and know it not. We are committing a sin and not even recognizing that it is a sinful thing to do. It’s hard to repent when you don’t even know you’ve sinned. This is another sign of moral insanity.

This is what the demons have taught us to do. Can you hear them laughing in the background? They have taught us to spend too much time absorbed with current events as opposed to eternal things. And they have taught us that the proper response to a news broadcast is worry when it should be prayer.

“Do not be anxious about anything.” NIV

“Don’t worry about anything.” NLT

“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray.” The Message (Phil. 4:6)

I don’t want to overwhelm you with my very limited memory of my decades ago study of New Testament Greek, but in the original language the verb tense in the imperative. That means this is a command, not simply good advice. And to fail to obey a command is to sin. We’ve got to stop being anxious and fretting about current events.

The News #1

Have you ever wondered why most (but not all) Bible believing people are politically conservative and most theologically liberal/atheist types (but not all) are politically liberal? I would suggest three reasons why this might be so.

The Bible teaches personal responsibility. I can’t blame anyone else for my sins. I may have come from a very bad background but it doesn’t excuse me. And if I am held responsible for my moral life it just seems natural to assume that I am also responsible for the practical affairs of life. The Bible instructs us to be charitable, but if a brother is able to work and refuses, we are instructed not to feed him.

The Bible also teaches personal morality. While no political movement is a pure expression of the will of God it’s pretty clear that conservatives are more in tune with abstinence before marriage and sexual fidelity thereafter (even if all of the conservative politicians don’t manage to live up to that standard).

The Bible also teaches that all humanity is tainted by sin. This means that we must never allow the accumulation of too much power in any one place. No one can be trusted with too much power. A government that can do anything for you can also take anything from you. At the end of the age we will be facing a government who tells us who and what we have to worship and if we do not worship as they decree we shall be unable to buy or sell.

Last but not least, to a Bible believing Christian, while the universe can seem to be a scary place, there is a God in heaven who listens and cares. I had a dear friend, a long time, faithful member of a liberal church once share with me his conviction that there was absolutely no chance that God would overrule the natural laws of the universe in answer to prayer. Such people are feel totally unprotected in a universe that is cold, unfeeling ,and vastly bigger than they are. Human beings are naturally religious. If we don’t know the true God, then we must have an idol. We must have a higher power that we can appeal to in times of crises and disaster. And if we are too sophisticated to worship trees and rocks, then we will be more than happy to give more and more power to the state. The government will be there. The government will help us.

Please don’t misunderstand me. You don’t have to be a political conservative to be saved. If you have a genuine faith in Christ you are on the road to heaven. But because of the before mentioned reasons, most Bible believing people are more conservative then liberal. And that is why we are filled with anxiety when we listen to the news. The liberals are winning, and what they take they keep. All conservatives can do is to slow the growth of government, they can never actually roll it back. And so we worry. And this is sin.

Meanwhile the demons are perfectly happy with either political alignment. The liberals want to deify the state. The conservatives are filled with worry. Either way the powers of darkness are winning. But this need not be so.

3 X 5's Carried for frequent mediation

Freedom is when we embrace the God who is embracing us. Clinging tightly to each other we rise and begin to soar through the stratosphere of life. It all begins when we are entranced by the beauty of God’s perfect mind. How could we not trust Him? How could we fail to flow in perfect harmony with Him? His genius is unfathomable. His decisions are always exactly, perfectly right. We begin by loving and embracing. We progress as we soar into the ecstasy of perfect love – the perfect balance between pure, infinite reason and indescribable bliss.