PLUS

Colossians 2:6-7 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”

San Diego, California has one of the world’s most spectacular 4^th of July Fireworks Shows.  Fireworks are launched from four locations, entertaining a crowd of over a half a million expectant fans for nearly 20 minutes … usually.  On July 4^th, 2012 things didn’t go as expected.  Due to a computer malfunction, all the fireworks from all the locations went off simultaneously.  In less than 30 spectacular seconds, the show was over.  It didn’t last as expected.

Our founders designed this nation to last.  They walked in Him.  They rooted this nation in Him and built it up in Him.  They stablished it in faith.  Even in our founding document, the Declaration of Independence, the fingerprints of our God and their faith are evident and abundant:

• We are entitled to our rights by Nature and Nature’s God – “to which the Laws of nature and Nature’s God entitle [us]” – Romans 13:1
• We are created and created equal – “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal”– Genesis 1:27
• We all share the same source of liberty – we are “endowed by [our] Creator with certain unalienable Rights” – Galatians 5:1
• Governments are to be designed to secure our God-given rights – “that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men” – II Corinthians 3:17
• God is the Supreme Judge – “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions” – II Samuel 2:10
• God is powerful and trustworthy – “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” – I Peter 5:6-7

This nation has lasted because of its roots, though in recent decades we have been furiously digging them up.  PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICA WOULD RETURN TO ITS ROOTS.  If we are to last as designed, then we must be rooted and built up in Him.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (by a Supreme Court that continues to advance a liberal agenda and support federal overreach), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Isaiah 40:22-23 “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:  That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.”

Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God:  the powers that be are ordained of God.”

Acts 5:27-29 “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council:  and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name?  and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than man.”

America’s Founders recognized that religious beliefs, notably Christianity, were a check on the sovereignty of government.  In this land, God was to remain sovereign.  Our government was to be subject to Him and to the will of the people.  As a result, America’s Founders clearly articulated the limits of government in the Bill of Rights and placed religious liberty as our “first freedom.”

Progressive forces are attempting to wrestle us into the arms of a sovereign government and away from a sovereign God.  They want us to trust and rely on them rather than on Him.  They want us to be subject unto the higher power of government while denying the higher power of God.  They want us to obey man rather than God.  They don’t recognize that all powers are ordained of God.  They fail to realize that God can bring our princes to nothing and make the judges of the earth as vanity.

The erosion of religious liberty in America stems from the same source as the denial of religious liberty in China (see previous post).  Recent progressive actions in America “reflect the government’s longstanding fear that Christianity could undermine [its] authority.”  That is exactly the Founder’s point in establishing our “first freedom.”  American governmental authority was designed to be undermined by God, lest it grow sovereign in place of Him.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIAN AMERICANS TO BOLDLY AND RESOLUTELY RETAIN GOD AS OUR SOVEREIGN KING.  By obeying God rather than man and uplifting Him as sovereign, we are actually being the types of citizens that our Founders intended us to be.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (at California’s attempt to destroy religious liberty in all faith-based colleges via SB1146), set your alarm (to pray for California)!

Psalm 20:7 “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses:  but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”

In mid-April, an American missionary couple in Beijing, China (names intentionally omitted) had their church raided in the middle of a Sunday service by local authorities and the service was broken up.  These same authorities ruled that all church services there were to be permanently cancelled.  A few weeks later, these same authorities dictated that the couple’s visas would not be renewed and they were to leave the country by mid-June.  Sure enough, a few weeks ago this couple who had been faithfully serving on the Chinese mission field since 2001 sadly left the land to which they had been called.

Stricter regulation of spiritual life is becoming the norm in all of China, not just in Beijing.  The root of these control measures is the government’s desire to retain its sovereignty over the affairs of its citizens. As the New York Times article ‘Decapitated Churches in China’s Christian Heartland’ suggests, these actions “reflect the government’s longstanding fear that Christianity could undermine the party’s authority.”  The Party wants the Chinese people to trust in them and them alone.  Yet we know that there is one thing that should be trusted above all else – not military might, economic influence, or political control.  Christians everywhere must remember the name of the LORD our God.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIANS WORLDWIDE TO TRUST IN GOD ALONE AS SOVEREIGN.  Controlling governments across the globe have a longstanding fear that we would do so.

See this link to read the entire New York Times Article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/world/asia/china-christians-zhejiang.html?_r=0

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (that progressive regimes throughout the world see God as a threat to their authority), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!

Hebrews 11:1-2 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  For by it the elders obtained a good report.”

The USMC corridor displays their hall of fame.  As described in my previous post, this hallway contains a portrait of each commandant.  Yet, the one of Anthony Gale is different from the rest:

Unlike every other portrait, Gale’s portrait doesn’t show his face, instead displaying an empty silhouette.  The Marine Corps maintains its integrity by acknowledging that he was once their Commandant, but denies him the honor of a proper portrait.  Though he was their 4^th Commandant, he was not worthy of the office.  In this way, the Marine Corps omits him from its hall of fame while making his disservice a cautionary tale.  What a tragedy!

The Bible lists its hall of fame in Hebrews 11, but maybe there could have been other names on this esteemed list.  Maybe there were many other believers who God intended to include through their faithful service, but these individuals instead failed to live up to their calling.  Their story is a cautionary tale; what a tragedy!

Maybe in the hall of fame in heaven, there are many 21^st Century Americans who God intends to be on that esteemed list.  What a tragedy it would be if we fail to live up to our calling and instead end up as a cautionary tale.  PLEASE PRAY FOR CHRISTIAN AMERCIANS TO RISE TO THE OCCASION THROUGH FAITHFULNESS.  The alternative would be tragic!

Esther 4:14 “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed:  and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

This past Friday I walked out of the Pentagon to end my assignment there.  Every day for the last two years I walked through the Marine Corps corridor on my way into work.  Along this corridor, there are murals of prominent Marine engagements (my favorite was that of America’s first post-Revolutionary engagement – the Barbary Wars) and displays of famous quotes (my favorite was from an Army General:  “The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines.”).  Along this corridor are also displayed portraits of each Marine commandant.  One portrait particularly interested me; the one of the 4^th Commandant Anthony Gale (see the next post to see the portrait).

Gale had come to office under scrutiny because of suspect business dealings, concern about his character, and questions about his fitness for duty.  Nevertheless, he was appointed Commandant.  Gale’s challenge was to define the role of the fledgling Commandant’s position, and he was unsatisfied with the guidance he received from the Secretary of the Navy.  Instead of rising to the challenge of the office to which he had been appointed, Gale “neglected his duties.”  This shortcoming caused President Monroe to ultimately replace Gale whose successor rose to the challenge.  The Marine Corps successfully moved on, and Gale left in disgrace.

Like Esther and Gale, American Christians face a substantial challenge for which we have been specifically called to this place at this time.  Like Esther, we could rise to the challenge in faithfulness to our calling, or like Gale, we could neglect our duties in faithlessness and folly.  God’s plan will successfully move on, with or without us.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERICAN CHRISTIANS WOULD NEVER NEGLECT OUR CALLING TO THIS PLACE AT THIS TIME.  We must never neglect our duties or we will leave in disgrace.

SET YOUR ALARM:  If you’re alarmed (that our lack of safety actually stems from our degraded spiritual condition), set your alarm (to pray for our nation)!