This is what is known as selective memory. Yes we often do help out and then other times we separate families and place toddlers in detention facilities. We also choose what crises to avoid, such as the atrocities against Christians in the Sudan. This also ignores the times we are the agitator instead of the rescuer. This false narrative Godwin is spinning here is getting more and more out of control and reality.
"4. Allegiance with Israel:God still honors His covenant with Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you" (Gen. 12:3a). When the U.S. Embassy recently moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israel has no better friend than America, and America has no better friend than Israel." It is vital for us to remain a staunch ally with Israel. They are still God's chosen people who produced the Messiah. Our politicians and diplomats would do well to remember that a friend of Israel is a friend of God!"
Do not be so quick to pretend to understand geopolitical nuances as they relate to the bible. We are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, not the wars of men. In 2006 Israel invaded Lebanon, supposedly over some pilots who had been captured. During the 34 days that ensued Israel leveled Christian villages. I asked the question then to the Israel worshipping Christians -- when Israel destroys a Christian village, which side is God on? For three quarters of the Old Testament Israel is out of favor with the Lord! Do not be so quick to assume they must always be right. Their God is infallible, not them. The final reason from Godwin:
"5. The influence and prayers of a righteous remnant:America has already experienced some judgment from God due to our national sins of abortion, immorality, racism and materialism. We have sown to the wind and now we are reaping a whirlwind of consequences. But repentance and prayer can delay judgment. If God spared Sodom and Gomorrah for only 10 righteous people, then surely millions of believers who love and pray for this country can prevent divine destruction. God promised, "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 Chron. 7:14)." -- Ben Godwin
This is where NAR folks like Godwin go off the rails with their carnal theology. Everyone agrees we are in the age of grace, where God is withholding His wrath until the second coming of Christ. At that point the nations will be judged. The things of God, such as respecting life, morality and selflessness are utter foolishness to the lost. Yet somehow in the mind of Ben Godwin, God has already begun exercising judgment on some level to this nation because the people who are unsaved do not behave better. He would be far better served looking at the people who are called by His name - Christians. His citation of the Chronicles verse is clueless that God is speaking to the church repenting and humbling themselves, not praying for those pesky sinners in the world. It is the wicked ways of an apostate church that withholds the keys to heaven from the lost that God is willing to forgive if we would just turn.
"Independence Day (July Fourth) commemorates how we broke the chains of tyranny from our oppressive mother country England. In fact, the closing clause of the Declaration of Independence is actually a declaration of dependence upon God. It reads, "In support of this declaration, with a firm reliance upon the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and out sacred honor." The 56 men who signed it knew their autograph on that document was an act of treason and, without God's help, they were doomed. Thomas Jefferson said what they all knew, "We must hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately." Despite its flaws, America is still the melting pot of the world, a beacon of hope to those oppressed by dictatorships, a bastion of freedom for those longing for liberty, a shining city set on a hill the world admires and emulates. May we renew our dependence on God, and may His favor continue to flow on land of the free. As the inscription on the Liberty Bell reads, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants" (Lev. 25:10). Let freedom ring!" - Ben Godwin
Yes the declaration does reference divine providence but what God are they speaking about? A deist believes in God but that only places them with the agnostics of today. As noted, Jefferson removed all of Jesus' miracles and divinity from "his" version of the bible. I wholeheartedly agree that we should be a shining beacon for the lost and the oppressed in this world and not be in the business of turning them away for corrupt political talking points. That is a far cry however from turning this country into Israel. America has never been in covenant with God and never will be. It is by far the best pagan nations have offered up but it remains pagan. Our citizenship is in heaven and our business is the Gospel. We cannot be in the business of convincing the lost to behave differently when they really need to believe differently.
Reverend Anthony Wade - July 5, 2018
"4. Allegiance with Israel:God still honors His covenant with Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you and curse him who curses you" (Gen. 12:3a). When the U.S. Embassy recently moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Israel has no better friend than America, and America has no better friend than Israel." It is vital for us to remain a staunch ally with Israel. They are still God's chosen people who produced the Messiah. Our politicians and diplomats would do well to remember that a friend of Israel is a friend of God!"
Do not be so quick to pretend to understand geopolitical nuances as they relate to the bible. We are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, not the wars of men. In 2006 Israel invaded Lebanon, supposedly over some pilots who had been captured. During the 34 days that ensued Israel leveled Christian villages. I asked the question then to the Israel worshipping Christians -- when Israel destroys a Christian village, which side is God on? For three quarters of the Old Testament Israel is out of favor with the Lord! Do not be so quick to assume they must always be right. Their God is infallible, not them. The final reason from Godwin:
"5. The influence and prayers of a righteous remnant:America has already experienced some judgment from God due to our national sins of abortion, immorality, racism and materialism. We have sown to the wind and now we are reaping a whirlwind of consequences. But repentance and prayer can delay judgment. If God spared Sodom and Gomorrah for only 10 righteous people, then surely millions of believers who love and pray for this country can prevent divine destruction. God promised, "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 Chron. 7:14)." -- Ben Godwin
This is where NAR folks like Godwin go off the rails with their carnal theology. Everyone agrees we are in the age of grace, where God is withholding His wrath until the second coming of Christ. At that point the nations will be judged. The things of God, such as respecting life, morality and selflessness are utter foolishness to the lost. Yet somehow in the mind of Ben Godwin, God has already begun exercising judgment on some level to this nation because the people who are unsaved do not behave better. He would be far better served looking at the people who are called by His name - Christians. His citation of the Chronicles verse is clueless that God is speaking to the church repenting and humbling themselves, not praying for those pesky sinners in the world. It is the wicked ways of an apostate church that withholds the keys to heaven from the lost that God is willing to forgive if we would just turn.
"Independence Day (July Fourth) commemorates how we broke the chains of tyranny from our oppressive mother country England. In fact, the closing clause of the Declaration of Independence is actually a declaration of dependence upon God. It reads, "In support of this declaration, with a firm reliance upon the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and out sacred honor." The 56 men who signed it knew their autograph on that document was an act of treason and, without God's help, they were doomed. Thomas Jefferson said what they all knew, "We must hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately." Despite its flaws, America is still the melting pot of the world, a beacon of hope to those oppressed by dictatorships, a bastion of freedom for those longing for liberty, a shining city set on a hill the world admires and emulates. May we renew our dependence on God, and may His favor continue to flow on land of the free. As the inscription on the Liberty Bell reads, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants" (Lev. 25:10). Let freedom ring!" - Ben Godwin
Yes the declaration does reference divine providence but what God are they speaking about? A deist believes in God but that only places them with the agnostics of today. As noted, Jefferson removed all of Jesus' miracles and divinity from "his" version of the bible. I wholeheartedly agree that we should be a shining beacon for the lost and the oppressed in this world and not be in the business of turning them away for corrupt political talking points. That is a far cry however from turning this country into Israel. America has never been in covenant with God and never will be. It is by far the best pagan nations have offered up but it remains pagan. Our citizenship is in heaven and our business is the Gospel. We cannot be in the business of convincing the lost to behave differently when they really need to believe differently.
Reverend Anthony Wade - July 5, 2018
