"Three Choices That Have Changed Our World"

“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.