Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. - Psalm 146: 3-5 (NIV)
The past few weeks have caused great turmoil and angst among peoples across this planet as we have all watched the country that is supposed to be the most powerful act like they could not turn on a flashlight without taking three polls and sending the idea to committee for discussion. The government was shut down by people who clearly do not understand how our system even works. Politicians using ninety year old veterans as photo-ops, making grandiose public declarations devoid of any real sense of the damage they do to the people of this country, and then patting themselves on the back for doing their job - which they could have done three weeks ago and avoided all of the recent drama.
Then there are the people. Christian and unbelievers alike; stamping their feet and screaming at the other side claiming a moral high road where none exists. I can understand the unbelievers because this is where their faith has been placed - in man. So when the illusion of man standing up for the greater good falls flat on its face, I can understand why this alarms so many on the outside of true salvation. It is the reactions of Christians that startles me. For them I have one question - what did you expect? What did you expect from fallen man operating within a fallen system? Where is our faith being placed? The key verses remind us to not put our trust in the princes of this world. In the politicians of this world. In the Democratic Party, The Republican Party or the Tea Party. The great leaders of this world become mere footnotes in God's history. Alexander the Great conquered the known world but was dead by the age of 32. Nebuchadnezzar had people bow down to his image while he was alive but now is merely an anecdote whose memory is only kept alive when we study the Book of Daniel. We serve the master of the entire universe and then get upset when John Boehner, Ted Cruz or Harry Reid doesn't do what we want them to? Really? On the very day that their spirit departs and they return to the ground - their plans will come to nothing. But we are concerned about the future for our kids preacher! Read the end of the key verses beloved. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob; whose hope is in the Lord their God! Raise your kids in the admonition of the Lord. This life is but a vapor compared to eternity beloved. The damage a Mike Lee or Barack Obama can do is minimal compared to the damage Satan can do. And what was the latest fight about? The debt ceiling. An artificial and manufactured problem designed to cause more and more division in this country. Let me tell you about the real debt ceiling. We are all running a sin debt to a holy God.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 6: 23 (NLT)
God is patient, not wanting any to perish. So He continues to raise our sin debt ceiling. Unlike the partisan antics in Washington, God wants to give us every opportunity to come to Him so he can erase our debt through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Eternal life is a free gift but we have to claim it. We cannot continue to raise the sin debt ceiling because eventually our time runs out. Eventually our life is required of us and then the debt is due. It is a debt that we cannot pay, far more exorbitant than the pittance we argue over in politics. We have a God who is willing to erase our debt and thus shatter the ceiling altogether.
"Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. He couldn't pay, so his master ordered that he be sold--along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned--to pay the debt. "But the man fell down before his master and begged him, "Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt. - Matthew 18: 23-27 (NLT)
If this writing finds you outside of salvation I pray you realize the risk you run in continually raising the sin debt ceiling with God is far more dangerous than the game they play in Congress. Eternity hangs in the balance.
The other point for today is to once again correct some false assumptions made by people who may seek to use these crises for their own purposes or maybe to sell books. When your entire premise is founded upon the comparing of America to Israel then you have no foundation. This country is not now, nor never has been under covenant with God. It was founded by a hodgepodge of beliefs, many of which were Deists. To claim a Christian heritage is to ignore what was done to the American Indians, the fact that we endorsed slavery for 100 years, the sweat shops employing children for 20 hours per day, or our imperialistic adventures in other countries. That is not to say that America has not been the best option in a world gone mad but to claim a moral or religious foundation is both historically and Biblically inaccurate. To thus compare how Israel fell away from God and was punished to America now falling away is likewise inaccurate. I tell you who is under covenant with God - the church. That is who needs to examine how they have fallen away and repent before it is too late:
Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. - 2Chronicles 7: 14 (NLT)
This verse is not for America - it is for the church! The people called by His name are Christians! We need to humble ourselves and stop pursuing greed and avarice. We need to pray instead of selling prosperity. We need to seek His face not hyper-grace! We need to turn from our wicked ways of distorting the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!
We need to stop misunderstanding America. This country is filled with unbelievers who have been sold a false bill of goods from the enemy. They are destined for an eternity separated from God unless someone stops trying to tell them this is their best life now and starts preaching the unfiltered Gospel. Drop the seeker friendly purpose driven lies and get back to the fact that they are sinners before a holy God. They have a debt ceiling of sin that God has raised countless times hoping they come back home to Him like the Prodigal son. The church needs to examine itself, expel what is not of God, and get back to the business of bringing the Gospel to the lost.
Rev. Anthony.
