“Three Choices that Changed the World”
February 25, 2014
Genesis 3:1-6
“Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”
The world has changed a lot in my few years on the planet. I was privileged to be born and raised in an area that was probably twenty years behind times. The closest paved road was over ten miles away. The telephone system was still the old crank type. Our phone identification was like 3 longs and 2 short rinks or 2 longs, a short and another long. Everyone was able to listen in on the party line if they wanted to. Nothing was private.
We bought groceries at the General store on credit and paid the bill monthly. Dad used a horse and a dray to haul timber out of the woods and kids helped. it was hard physical labor. Most kids quit high school and went to work in the woods. I graduated because I was too lazy. I went to school instead of working in the woods and the next thing I know – I graduated!
In school we started each day with the pledge of allegiance to the flag and prayer. Teachers were able to administer corporal punishment (I speak from personal experience) and one teacher was able to handle the entire one room school house. The school had two outhouses for the students; one for the boys and one for the girls. It was a big day in the community when we got indoor plumbing!
It is unbelievable how the world has changed. I have skyped and I Facebook but I don’t twitter. I love the easy access of all the information in the world at your fingertips – but I hate it when my computer crashes. Sometimes I am amazed at how the world has changed. My 93 year old father-in-law has seen even greater changes. Most of the changes I have seen are for the good of the world. Some changes – not so much. Some changes are dramatic and obvious. Many are not even noticed. A few very important changes slip in almost in secret but have profound effects on us and our children. And we didn’t even notice.
This morning I want to take a look at three things that have changed the world I was born into. If I were looking at three major things that spiritually changed the world, it would have to do with a Garden, a Boat and a Cross. I will talk about that at another time. If I were talking a bout changes in my personal life they would be represented by a Badge, a Bride, and a Bible. I will save that for another time, too. This morning I want to talk about three changes to our government that has changed my world. They have slipped in unannounced and unheralded, but the effect has been devastating to our world. They have to do with The Court, the Constitution and the Church.
I want to talk about these three things because they profoundly affect our walk and work with the Lord. The first issue has to do with the Court. When our forefathers wrote, what I believe, to be a Spirit led and God blessed document or documents, the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence, God was in them. It was obvious. Everyone knew it. A couple of weeks ago I shared some quotes with you from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson declaring that we were a Christian nation. Jefferson wrote a Bill that created taxes to be used for evangelizing the Gospel. Church services were held in the Capitol for a hundred years. Every court in the land had a set of the Ten Commandments in them and the Capitol and White House was decorated with the Patriarchs praying and worshipping God. Schools had the Bible as their primary text book.
How have we fallen so far, so fast? The answer is that the law has been changed. The Court system has completely changed within a few decades. I won’t go into the case law but the change was accelerated after the civil war. An evolutionist took over as the President of the Yale Law School and appointed unqualified professors to teach what he believed. Evolution was applied to the court system. Common Law, which our country was based on, was God’s law. It was Bible law. Right and wrong was determined by God and His Word. Blackstone, the textbook for law students, was thrown out. Its foundation was the Bible. It taught that law and rights were God given. An atheist couldn’t have that! It had to go.
So what do we base law on? How do we decide what is right and wrong if we no longer have the moral code of the Bible? Just like in the evolution of the species – law evolved. We base our legal decisions on the decisions made in the cases before. So we went from common law to case law. We went from God’s law to man’s law. We went from Devine law to precedent law.
When our country was first founded - when the judge, jury or lawyer wanted to determine what was right or what was wrong - they went to God and the Bible. Now we go to cases that are similar and see how law has evolved and man determines what is right and what is wrong. What was once wrong can now be right. What was once considered right can now be wrong in the evolution of the law – as the courts and man decides. What was once an abomination to God and man and known to be wrong by nature, things like abortion and homosexuality, man has determined that these things are good and have passed laws to make it so. But does it make it so? I don’t think so. The Bible gives illustration of people who made wrong right and right wrong and tells how God’s blessing was lifted from them. When Peter was hauled before the court to face charges for preaching in Jesus’ name the Court ordered them to stop preaching in Jesus’ name. The consequence could have been a beating, incarceration, or even death. Peter said,
“Judge for yourself whether it is right in God’s sight to obey God or man.”
Acts 4:19
A little bit later they were hauled to the same court and the court said,
“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this Name!”
“Peter and the other Apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!”
We have come to a time in our life where that is a very real question. It is a decision we Christians have to make. Are we going to obey God or man? If we decide to obey God it could be incarceration or worse.The FEMA camps are ready!
Well, that’s how the Court has gone. Let’s take a look at the 2) Constitution.
When our country was founded, keep in mind that it was settled by a people who had no religious freedom, no representation and no property. The king of England was the head of the church. The king decided what was right and what was wrong. The king owned all property. The people just managed it for Him. He could, and did, come at any time and take it away to give to someone else.
When a bold group of men got together to declare their independence from England, they knew the penalty was death – or victory. But they felt that freedom was worth it. The straw that broke the camels back, so to speak, was the unjust tax on tea. You have all heard about the Boston Tea Party. I read recently that the tax on people was something like 9%. Today we pay that in sales tax alone. If you make enough money you may have to give over half of what you make in taxes to the government – who spends it on things you are morally opposed to.
Our Forefathers were so opposed to government without representation that they created a two sectioned congress. Because of their religious belief of the fallen nature of man they created the three branches of government – Legislative, Judicial, and Executive - but the Congress or Legislative branch was made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The house was made up by representatives elected by popular vote. The more populated areas had more representatives. But our forefathers were wise enough to realize that in that system the less populated areas would not be represented. So the Senate was elected by each county, regardless of population, having one Senator to represent them. That way those farmers in the rural areas could be represented in those decisions that affected them.
In a case called, Reynolds vs. Sims, the liberal Supreme Court struck down the system that had worked for 150 years. They made an unconstitutional law that caused the Senate to be elected by popular vote. The result was that the cities, who had the most voters, ruled and made laws to suit them. They had enough votes to vote water rights away, take property away from people, and close public land to the public. They had the votes to do whatever they wanted. The consequence was that many people once again had no representation. That was not only contrary to the Constitution, but the Bible as well. The Bible says,
“Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.” Deuteronomy 1:13
“Select capable men from all the people – men who fear God, trustworthy men who date dishonest gain – and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.” Exodus 18:21
Our forefathers patterned our country after God’s Word. Did you know that when our country was first founded that only God fearing men were qualified as elected officials? Our elected officials had to be Bible believing Christians to hold office. How far we have fallen! How different we are from that pattern of the Bible and the model the Constitution laid out for us.
One of the most disturbing decisions that affect us has to do with the 3) Church. The Church willingly put man over God. The Church and the Christians consented by their silence to give authority over the Church to the State. It happened in my lifetime.
Remember when our nation was created our forefathers had just come out of religious oppression. According to Foxes Book of Martyrs, hundreds of Christians were burned at the stake and killed in many horrible ways because they didn’t believe like the Church when it came to the Bible, Communion and many things we take for granted today. They literally choose death rather than denounce God or the Bible. I’m sure many of the first settlers in America had some of these martyrs as their ancestors. They were at least aware of them. They did not want a State Controlled Church like the Church of England. So one of the first things they did in the very first Amendment was to declare,
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishing of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” -The Bill of Rights, Article I
Those are the very first words our forefathers penned – it was that important. For almost 200 years our Congress made no law – pro or con – concerning religion. Religion was hands off. But in the late 1950’s a bitter L. B. Johnson, who was opposed in his race for the Senate by a couple of churches, made what is called the “Johnson Amendment” and what it in effect did was to place the government over the Church. It put man over God.
But it sounded so good. It gave the church tax exempt status. They only had to keep silent about political things. Sounded like a pretty good deal to most Christians, Churches and Denominations. But what it did in reality was place the government in control of the Church. And it was only a couple of years when they decided to ‘separate the State and Church’ and took the Bible out of the school. Then it was prayer. The results are startling. Test scores have fallen to such an extent that the schools have had to fudge the books by rewriting the SAT’s so the kids can pass them. Violence in school is up! Teen pregnancy is up! Theft is up! But learning is down. America is being ‘dumbed’ down!
Choices have consequences. Negative choices have negative consequences. These three things, the Court, the Constitution, and the Church have devastating consequences and will destroy our way of life; it will destroy our nation; it will destroy the Church – if we don’t do something.
So here is what we have to do. There is only one thing I want you to do. Start here. Come back to God. Quit ignoring Him. Stop playing religion. Jesus said,
“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33
“If my people, who are called by my Name, will 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 will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
It’s not too late. We aren’t dead yet. And even if it is – I would rather go down swinging – wouldn’t you?
Do you want God to heal our land? Do you want Him to hear from heaven and forgive our sin? Then we must humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. You can start right now. You can make three important personal choices. Pray, seek Jesus’ face and start down a new path in life; A path that leads to life – and not death. But it starts with prayer. Would you begin this process of change by praying for yourself? Only then will your prayers for our country be effective. May God bless America – through YOU!
SONG:
