“change Has Come To America . . . God, Help Us!” Series

America’s Fork In The Road: Keeping or Cutting Covenant Series

(Based up Perry Stone & Bill Cloud’s book, America’s Controversy with God’s Covenant)

“Change Has Come To America . . . God, Help Us!”

March 22, 2015 Chester’s FBC, Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker

Introduction:

A www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBmbUkkIGc (28 second video of President Obama’s victory speech, “It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”)

1 2,500 years ago, the chosen people of God, Israel, embraced/pursued change as a nation.

a For some reason they lost touch with their history, heritage, culture, covenant, . . . God.

aa Their past was forgotten/ignored, and eventually redefined.

bb What happens to the favored nation/people who failed to honor the God who bestowed the favor?

cc Deuteronomy 28:37 (NKJV) 37 And you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a by word among all nations where the LORD will drive you.

dd They would be mocked, ridiculed by nations, taunted, jibed, no respect would be found.

b Ironically, the thing Israel wanted (to be like everyone else, liked by everyone else) would lead to them being despised by the nations.

aa They assumed they could do what was right in their own eyes and all would be well, evolving into something better.

bb The result was death, rejection, destruction, captivity, ruin.

2 Advocates/proponents of Change compel a nation to look forward, not backward; hope & light of the future, not the dismal recesses of the past.

a Change sounds noble, inspiration, good, better than what the past held.

aa Change is us supposedly evolving into something superior/improved than what we were.

bb From a biblical perspective, the popular message of “national change” is missing something.

b It ignores the established record of the past, rewrites history.

c If the facts/reality get in the way . . . redefine them; if established laws block the path of change then ignore, erase or replace the law with something that accommodates change.

3 For those nations in covenant with God, change is a problem.

a Malachi 3:6 6 For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

aa Hebrew 13:8 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

bb We serve a God who does not CHANGE.

cc IL. Ridge’s classmate used a swear word and he went to preaching to them about language, Jesus wouldn’t want him using those words. The boy replied “The world is different now. It has changed.”

b Isaiah 44:21-22, 21 Remember these things, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant, O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me. 22 I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

Jeremiah 3:12, "Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD; 'I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,' declares the LORD; 'I will not be angry forever.”

aa God doesn’t call His people to change, He always calls them to return . . . go back, rediscover the ancient paths that to God and His Word.

bb When His people come to realize their error and need for God they don’t say, “Let’s change.” They say, “Come let us return unto the LORD and He will heal us” (Hos. 6.1).

B I agree with the President, “Change has come to America.”

1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=78JBGID5LhQ

a It appears the “fundamentals” are the foundational principles upon which this nation was built & sustained.

aa “Change” suggests that things of past need to be replaced with something else/new.

bb “Change” & “fundamentally transform America” suggests that the America of the past needs to be replaced with something unintended by the founders of the nation/framers of the Constitution.

b Regardless of what politicians/pundits would have us believe, America is in crisis (major & multiple).

aa Moral, international, financial, agricultural, spiritual in nature.

bb Corrupt/inept leadership (both parties), natural disasters, terror alerts are no longer shocking.

cc We are now changing our focus, going after other “gods” and in the process making the same fatal error made by Israel so long ago.

c When all religions are considered equal; all relationships (biblical or not) are considered equal; when certain species of fish are protected by law, but unborn babies are not . . . it is a tell-tale sign that a nation has changed . . . abandoned the covenant made between us & God.

2 America’s transformation has not been intentional for no one would intentionally set out to embrace death.