The Source of True Authority

 

Instead of Christians waiting for the Lord to return, God is waiting for the church to step into its role of taking the authority of Jesus and doing damage to Satan’s kingdom. Not by political or human energy and power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus went on to reveal the source of our authority. It lies in His authority over all of God's enemies. He exercised this authority in His most humble and glorious work on Calvary's cross. There He disarmed and humiliated all of His enemies...

"And when he had disarmed the rulers and the authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross" (Colossians 2:15).

Jesus has revealed the pathway to true authority and power over our every opposing person and circumstance, natural or spiritual. It comes to us when we follow His example,  refocus our attention from the imposing enemy, and humbly set our hearts and minds on the reality of our position in Him...

"However, stop rejoicing because the spirits are submitting to you. Instead, rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).

Rejoice today, despite your trials, that you are a child of God, seated with Christ in Heavenly places, far above the temporal affairs of this day and of this world. Surrender to your Father's overwhelming love, never ending mercy, and always working grace, and begin experiencing the authority and power of your victorious, resurrected life in Christ!

Outright Rebellion

What’s it like living with no God-centered hope or truth? It often leads to foolish, incoherent, and outright rebellion against God. Here’s an example…

In the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly’s newest commercial, one of the most heartbreaking and confusing parts of the ad is this statement: 

"Because the body you are randomly assigned at birth shouldn't determine how well you are cared for." 

This voice-over is heard while showing a woman with double mastectomy scars wearing an open robe and identifying as a man.

In using the term “randomly assigned” Lilly is  inadvertently, foolishly, or rebelliously conceding that we have a Creator, or at least an Assigner. But at the same time they are encouraging rejection of the Assigner’s body choice. This is not atheism. It is outright rebellion against God.

The truth is we are lovingly and purposefully created in the image of our loving and purposeful Creator and given a full, loving, and purposeful life in Him…

“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it” (Ps 139:14).

“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (Eph 2:10).

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11).

Seek and believe the truth. It will help you recognize and set you free from the foolish, incoherent, and outright rebellion of this fallen world. 

No Better Foundation

 

While it's true that America was not founded as or intended to be a Christian nation, there is overwhelming and confirming evidence that she was founded on and created to function according to Biblical truth. This fact was echoed as recently as the 1950's in a prophetic warning from a recent president.

President Harry Truman laid out the case for America’s Biblical foundations in a speech in 1950. He stood against the redacted, anecdotal, revisionist histories sweeping into America’s schools from John Dewey and the progressive, socialist academics of the time. He foresaw what could happen if we forgot our covenant with the Almighty. He said, 

The fundamental basis of this nation’s laws was given to Moses on the Mount. The fundamental basis of our Bill of Rights comes from the teachings we get from Exodus and St. Matthew, from Isaiah and St. Paul. I don’t think we emphasize that enough these days. If we don’t have a proper fundamental moral background, we will finally end up with a totalitarian government which does not believe in rights for anybody except the State.

There is no better foundation for a nation or an individual than the Word of God...

"The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever" (Psalm 119:160).

Revival in America will follow revival in the hearts of Christ followers. A national return to God will follow our return to a holy reverence and obedience to His enduring Word.

Recognizing and Rejecting Racism

 

Patrick Henry's famous give me liberty or give me death speech was not the only profound, future-shaping declaration to come from the oldest assembly of elected representatives in the American colonies. On June 12, 1776, the Virginia House of Burgesses approved George Mason’s great declaration, which states in Section 1: 

"That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity, namely the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."

It was subsequently used by many of the colonies as the basis of their declarations and it was undoubtedly one of the documents that influenced Thomas Jefferson as he wrote the Declaration of Independence. 

Listening to it today, in the light of the many issues that are dividing and turning us against ourselves, I am moved to consider a fresh, personal definition of racism:

For me, racism is the refusal to listen to and compassionately try to understand the expression of anyone that is feeling deprived of the God-given right of life, liberty, means of acquiring and possessing property, happiness, and safety just because they are different from me.

Whenever we who call ourselves Christians commit this sin, we are scandalizing the name and reputation of Jesus Christ who left Heaven and came to Earth in order to listen to, understand, and restore to us the blessings of life, liberty, happiness, and safety that come with a justified and intimate relationship with the One that created us and endowed us with such blessings:

"Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called "uncircumcised heathens" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:11-13).

As we pray the popular revival prayer of 2 Chronicles 7:14, perhaps God will show those of us who are called by His name where He's calling us to turn from our wicked way of racism. As we respond, not only will He fulfill His promise to hear from Heaven and heal our land, our friends and enemies alike, will notice!

The True Power of Freedom

 

When Connecticut's colonial Governor Jonathan Trumbull proclaimed April 19, 1775, as a day of prayer, fasting, and repentance, he did not anticipate the momentous events that would be taking place at Lexington, just north of Connecticut that very morning! His proclamation asked...

"That God would graciously pour out His Holy Spirit on us to bring us to a thorough Repentance and effectual Reformation that our iniquities may not be our ruin: that He would restore, preserve, and secure the Liberties of this and all the other British American colonies, and make the Land a mountain of Holiness, and Habitation of Righteousness forever."

On April 19, 1775, the British detachment of soldiers arrived at Lexington Green to find the town’s militia assembled and ready to defend their community. The Battle of Lexington, brief as it was, gave the patriots at Concord the time they needed to collect their arms and ammunition and hide them carefully, as well as to muster their militia. The Minute Men defended themselves well. They forced the British into a disorderly retreat. By the time the British reached Charlestown, they were on the run and only narrowly missed being defeated by seven hundred militia bearing down on them just as they reached the shelter of the British fleet.

On that day, the British lost 273 men, the American militiamen ninety-three. But if the Lexington farmers had not made their stand, thus buying time for Concord— if Revere had not reached Hancock and Adams in time to warn them— in short, if Providence had not intervened several times, the day would have been a total disaster for the Americans.

We note that Governor Trumbull's proclamation does not identify the British as America's primary enemy. Rather it points to the need for repentance and reformation here in the colonies, "that our iniquities may not be our ruin".

A close, honest examination of the whole story behind the shot heard around the world reveals a timeless and certainly timely scriptural truth. The real enemy today is not liberal or conservative, socialist or capitalist, Russia or China, pro choice or pro life, black or white, or any other political, social, economic, emotional agenda or conviction that seems to be the source of anger, discrimination, division, hatred, and violence. The real enemy is still our iniquity, our sin, but sin has already been conquered...

"And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death" (Romans 8:2).

Notice, the "power" that gives freedom from the "power of sin" belongs to those who "belong to him", that is Jesus Christ. The colonial patriots firmly believed an important Biblical truth that we must remember and loudly proclaim to our suffering nation today, that the true power to defeat our real enemy is available to anyone who is born of God through faith in Jesus Christ... 

"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him" (1 John 5:1).

The first step toward the revival of peace and justice in America is a repentant step toward Jesus Christ, and through faith in Jesus Christ, the personal appropriation of the true power of freedom.

Who Presides over America?

 

In his famous 1775 speech before the Virginia Convention assembled at St. George's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry was very accurate in his assessment of the unjust treatment of American colonists by Great Britain. He was also correct in his prophetic prediction that only armed resistance would stop the increasingly aggressive and unjust actions of King George and Parliament. 

The most famous quote from his speech comes from his emotional concluding appeal,

"I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death"

But in this speech, he issued a more foundational and timely declaration of truth with the words...

"A just God presides over the destinies of nation's"

If we, the inheritors of the faithful and courageous actions of men and women like this, believe the same truth, we must repent and experience the same blessings of obedience to God's beneficent rule or we will experience the consequences of rebellion and rejection of the sovereignty of our just God. 

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Wanna make America great (in HIS eyes) again? Join the echo of the voices of more than four hundred years of believers by praying for our return to the just and merciful sovereignty of God. And with His mercy and grace, do your best to live that way yourself.

One Big Contradiction

 

No one can truly live with an atheistic worldview; it would be intolerable. Consider well known and often quoted contemporary atheist Richard Dawkins. Several years ago, he was in Washington, D.C., promoting one of his books. After making a presentation, he took questions from the audience. A young man asked him: 

“If humans are machines, and it is inappropriate to blame or praise them for their actions, then should we be giving you credit for the book you are promoting?” 

Dawkins clearly was taken aback and responded: “I can’t bring myself to do that—I actually do respond in an emotional way and I blame people; I give people credit.” 

The young man responded: “But don’t you see that as an inconsistency in your views?” 

Dawkins’ response was stunning: “I sort of do, yes. But it is an inconsistency that we sort of have to live with—otherwise life would be intolerable.”

On another occasion, back when Bill Clinton was in trouble for various sexual escapades, people were offering evolutionary explanations for his behavior. At the time, Dawkins agreed by explaining that our ancestors (the animal kingdom) were clearly not monogamous but instead harem builders. Our male ancestors, according to Dawkins, monopolized power and wealth and would sexually monopolize females in order to ensure the survival of their genes. So, in Dawkins’ view, President Clinton should get a pass because his behavior is simply a reflection of his genetic past.

However, Dawkins began to get nervous for offering a genetic excuse for immorality, and he obviously did not want to give men an excuse for being philanderers. It was also at a time when he was married. So, he confided to several people that he’d made an “un-Darwinian personal decision to be deliberately monogamous.” 

However, Dawkins believes that we are programmed by our genes through natural selection. So, how in the world does someone make an “un-Darwinian decision?”

How does an atheist make any kind of a moral decision?

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,

"He traps the wise

in the snare of their own cleverness" (1 Cor. 3:19).