Henry Clay, the son of a Baptist minister, served in the United States Congress for over forty years, was elected Speaker of the House on six different occasions and is considered to be one of the five greatest senators of all time.. He, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun were known as the “Great Triumvirate” in terms of their effectiveness in affairs of government. His statue stands today in Statuary Hall in the nation’s capitol building in Washington D. C.

Henry Clay fought courageously and tirelessly to keep the Union from splitting apart. But this wasn’t a popular position in his home state of Kentucky, and cost him dearly in his bid for president; Clay’s response to this was: "I would rather be right than President," a statement that fairly well summarizes the character of Henry Clay.

One of the most powerful men who ever served in government, Clay was known for his unbending integrity, and as a man who made no secret of his convictions, either politically or where His religious beliefs were concerned. While speaking to In the Kentucky Colonization Society in 1829, he said: "Eighteen hundred years have rolled away since the Son of God offered Himself for the salvation of our species.” In 1852, Congressman John C. Breckinridge recalled at Clay’s funeral how he had once heard him say:

   "The vanity of the world, and its insufficiency to satisfy the soul of man, has been long a settled conviction of my mind. Man's inability to secure by his own merits the approbation of God, I feel to be true . . . I trust in the atonement of the Saviour of mercy, as the ground of my acceptance and of my hope of salvation."

The testimony of a man’s faith in Christ for salvation couldn’t be much clearer than this. And up until fifty or sixty years ago, an unapologetic testimony of belief in Christ and the Bible was commonplace among our nation’s leaders. A small sampling of how our founding fathers felt about God, the Bible and Christianity follows: (Note: For those who will take exception to the perceived insinuation that Jefferson, for example, was a born again believer, please note that no such assertion is being made here. We are asserting I his own words however that he had a much higher regard for, and positive feelings towards Christ and Christianity than the spiritual lowlife who so commonly hold public office today.

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.”—George Washington (1732-1799)

I have a tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty, through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.—Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804)

Christianity is the only true and perfect religion.—Benjamin Rush (1746-1813), Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?”.—Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) Signer of the Declaration of Independence

 I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus..—Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Author of Declaration of Independence

It is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.—James Madison (1751-1836), Father of the Constitution

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ.”—Patrick Henry (1736-1799)

 “In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that . . . all confidence must be withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on that God who rules in the armies of Heaven, and without His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but foolishness.—John Hancock (1737-1793), Signer of the Declaration of Independence

The American population is entirely Christian, and with us Christianity and Religion are identified.—John Marshall (1755-1835), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.—Charles Carroll (1737-1832),  signer of the Declaration of Independence

These continued to be the sentiments of our leaders until perhaps a half century ago.  Characteristic of the prevailing thought and feeling then was the testimony of men like Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), our 30th President who said, “The foundation of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in this country.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower, five star general and 34th President, stated: “Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first, the most basic, expression of Americanism.  Without God, there could be no American way of life.”

For many decades, forces have infiltrated and steadily gained the ascendancy in our nation’s educational and governmental institutions as well as in the press and all other forms of public media.  They have worked tirelessly to revise and pervert our heritage and have chipped away at all of our historic foundations, especially where Christianity, Christian morality, and the Constitution of the United States is concerned.  Their goal has been, and is, to transform America from a Constitutional Republic whose people remember the rightful place God has in our heritage and our lives, into a godless, atheistic society whose people have forgotten God and must therefore live  under the heel of a totalitarian government.

This Fourth of July, as we celebrate our independence, let’s also consider how close we are to losing our status as a sovereign nation, and all of the individual freedoms that we have taken for granted for so long.  The attitude of our political leaders today towards Christianity and our Constitution is not the attitude held by our leaders in the past.  Reverence for God, the rule of law and the freedom of individuals is now mocked, resented and under attack.

There is a remedy. God has given us a principle to follow that will rescue our nation from the imminent danger that it is in: “If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven , and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). The God who cannot lie (Titus 1:2) has given us a formula for the healing and deliverance of America.

Sir Isaac Newton, considered by scholars to be one of the most brilliant and influential people in human history, was raised by his grandmother. Graduating from Cambridge University. Among his early achievements, he  discovered calculus,  the laws of gravity and built the first reflecting telescope.  Using a prism, he was the first to demonstrate that a beam of light contained all the colors of the rainbow. A physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher and theologian he made outstanding contributions to, and had a profound impact on, all of these disciplines. In 1703 he became President of the Royal Society and remained in that distinguished position until his death.

In 1687 Newton wrote Principia, one of the most famous of his many scholarly works. In it he said: "This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent Being...All variety of created objects which represent order and life in the universe could happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, whom I call the Lord God." In his book, Optics, written in 1704, Newton wrote: "God in the beginning formed matter."

This world-renowned scientist and philosopher was also very much impressed with Bible Prophecy. In 1733 he published a book entitled, Observations on the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John.  He made his sentiments towards the Bible public and very clear throughout his life, as when he wrote: "The system of revealed truth which this Book contains is like that of the universe, concealed from common observation yet the labors of the centuries have established its Divine origin."

A comparison between the intelligence, credentials and testimony of Sir Isaac Newton with that of modern-day atheistic scientists and philosophers such as Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens would be comparable to comparing the expertise of Albert Einstein in physics with that of any one or all of the three stooges.

Isaac Newton was a scientific and philosophic genius whereas atheists and evolutionists such as Hawking, Dawkins, Hitchens (clinging like rebellious brats to their self-will rather than recognize any absolute authority) are intellectual and philosophic gutter snipes (Definition: “A person who picks at and gathers refuse from gutters).

Newton used his powers of observation, honestly examining the evidence available in  creation to reach his conclusions about God, the Bible, etc.  Militant atheists like the stoo… I mean, scientists mentioned above pick through the atheistic writings and ranting of others, mix them up with their own wishful thinking (No God, no authoritative Word of God, no judgment for sin, etc., etc.) and hope that if they believe it hard enough, no matter how fantastical their premises are, it will some how become true in the end. In the meantime they try to convince as many people as they can to believe like they do. Misery loves company.

What a dishonest, disingenuous, wicked and truly pathetic lot these celebrity atheists are; “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22).  And, much the same could be said of the groupies who follow after them and parrot their nonsense.

Wanna-be atheists are obsessed with the desire to be convinced that there is no absolute truth and that they won’t be held accountable by a sovereign God for how they have lived.  They want to escape reality so badly that there is nothing too ridiculous for them to try to believe as a substitute for truth; even if it means their embracing the totally unsupportable, unproven, cartoonish-like theory of evolution—Charles Darwin’s unconscious venture, driven by a proud and unregenerate heart, into the realm of science fiction.  Evolution continues to represent nothing but a silly and vicious fiction—even, the truth be known, in the dark recesses of the minds of those who espouse it most.

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “Wanting to be an atheist does not make you one.” Wishes and words, sticking ones head in the mud of evolutionary theory won’t make God, the need of men for salvation, or the Great White Throne Judgment or heaven or hell go away. 

Heywood Broun said, “No one talks so consistently about God as those who insist there is no God.”  An old man once listened to a professed atheist present his points relative to his disbelief in God and the Bible and then said, “Mister, dogs have been barking at the moon for thousands of years, but it just keeps on shining.” So it is with truth.

Early in life the bitter atheist Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “God is dead.  God remains dead.  And we have killed Him” (More wishful thinking).  Towards the end of his life Nietzche wrote, “But what if God lives, and I have doomed myself to destruction because I have separated myself from Him?”   How this man personified the truth that, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 53:1). Nietzsche and all the atheists and evolutionists before and after him have had the same fundamental and fatal problem: “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge” (Rom. 1:28).

Another one of Newton’s numerous writings is a paper entitled,  A Short Scheme of the True Religion. Here  he wrote: "Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors."  This has certainly been the case throughout history. The infidels and atheists have always been a little crowd—especially "little" where integrity and intellect is concerned. It is nothing but a testimony to the insanity of sin that  people would let themselves be influenced, where God and His Word are concerned, by moral nincompoops (Definition: “A silly, foolish or stupid person”) rather than by men like Isaac Newton.

“Ye have heard that it hath been said , Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?”--Matt. 5:43-47

 How do you deal with people whom you think have wronged you?  Do you forgive them? Have you ever let someone’s treatment of you make you bitter. Bitterness is always hazardous to one’s spiritual health. It can take a toll on you physically as well. Someone said, ““Bitterness is a poison you feed yourself, hoping it will kill your enemy.” Another has said, Bitterness imprisons life, but love releases it.”  You will either get the best of bitterness by not letting in get hold of you, or bitterness will bring you into bondage.

Do you think about and deal with people who wrong you just like unsaved think about and deal with those who wrong them? If you do, Jesus asks in verse 47 “What do ye more than others?” In other words, what’s the difference between you and everybody else? What good is your Christianity doing you?

Our having a forgiving spirit is important to Jesus, and it’s important to us.  Think about it, the best thing that ever happens to a person is for them to have God’s forgiveness, and therefore, the best thing we can ever do for another person, is forgive them. And again, remember what a dangerous thing bitterness is. It hurts us more than the person we’re bitterness against, and it has awful side effects; Hebrews 12:15 warns us about this: “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

Jesus gave us a formula for the prevention of bitterness, and in cases where a person is already in bondage to it, He tells us how that bondage can be broken and the bitterness purged. His three steps for dealing with bondage are, (1) approach it from the right perspective, (2) Understand and implement God’s plan for dealing with it, and (3) remember that there is a reward promised to those who will deal scripturally with those who have wronged them.

THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE

There are different ways of thinking about an issue. There’s God’s way, and there’s man’s way. Jesus first mentions the heavenly reasoning that has been revealed about how to deal with those who’ve wronged us. He says “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor,” referring to what God has already said on the subject.  His hearers had heard” the teaching of Leviticus 1:18, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” Secondly, Jesus referred to the human reasoning that can be brought into play when he deferred to what the Jews had added to God’s Word. The people had also heard their teachers say, “hate thine enemy” (v. 43b). The ”enemy” in their minds was anyone who would wrong you.

But it’s not God’s will that we consider those who wrong us as our enemies or that we even think about avenging ourselves on them. When we do this, we usurp that which is the prerogative of God alone: “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste” (Deut. 32:35).  The Bible says, “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men” (1 Thes. 5:15), and “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph. 4:31).

GOD’S PLAN FOR PREVENTING AND PURGING BITTERNESS

Some people suffer bitterness for years because of the way someone treated them when they were a child, or because of some mistreatment shown to them after they became adults. It keeps them restless, it robs them of joy and hinders their service to the Lord and to others. God has a plan for getting, and/or keeping it out of our lives.

First, Jesus mentions a debt that has to be paid. He said, “Love your enemies” (v. 44a). “Owe no man anything,” the Apostle Paul said, “but to love one another” (Rom. 13:8). You’ve got to make up your mind to love those who have wronged you.

Secondly Jesus has provided us with three directives that must be followed relative to those who’ve wronged us. Following these will keep bitterness out of our lives.

Directive number one is for us to be careful how we talk about those who have hurt us. He said, “bless them that curse you” (v. 44b). The word for “bless here is the same word from which we get the word, eulogy. When we eulogize someone, we say nothing but nice things about them. It’s tempting to speak evil of those who have hurt us, but we can’t do it and have victory over bitterness.

Directive number two is for us return nothing but food to those who have used and abused us:  “Do good to them that hate you” (v. 44c). It isn’t easy, but it’s God’s way to break the bonds of bitterness. Deliberately do good to those who’ve wronged you.

Directive three is, “pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” This is the most difficult of the three because people hear what we say, and watch how we treat others, but only God knows if we are praying for them. The hardest thingof all is to pray for those who’ve wronged us.

Do these three things, and any spirit of bitterness will itself be bound, and unable to effect you. “A threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecc. 4:12).

RELEASED AND REWARDED TOO

Jesus promised a double reward to those who do “more than others” (v. 47a) in the area of forgiveness. He promised a closer comparison to our heavenly Father: “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” And he said we’d have a greater consistency in our testimony. Pointing out the consistency with which God deals in mercy with people, He said, “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust” (v. 45b).

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”—Rom. 12:1, 2

THE PASSION IN VIEW HERE

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God …. “

In Romans 12:1, 2, we find the Apostle Paul, inspired by thee Holy Spirit of God, pleading passionately with believers to live sanctified lives.  He bases his plea on what the Lord Jesus, in His mercy towards sinners was willing to suffer so that we could be saved; the word “therefore,” is intended to refer the reader back to all that Paul had previously written in this letter.  The word “beseech” is very strong. Paul is literally begging believers to give heed to the admonition that follows in the second part of verse one.

THE PRESENTATION IN VIEW HERE

“… Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”

The admonition here is clear. As believers, we are told that it is the duty of every Christian to consciously and deliberately present their body as a living sacrifice to God; to consider their body as “holy,” that is, separated unto God.  Furthermore, we are told that this it is nothing more or less than “reasonable” for us to do this.

It is reasonable for us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, because God has told us plainly in His word that our bodies actually belong to Him and therefore, it is our duty is to use them in ways that acknowledge his ownership of us: “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's” (1 Cor. 6:20). In the verse preceding this one, Paul expressed amazement that there were people in the Corinthian church who apparently didn’t understand this: “What?,” he wrote, “know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (v. 19).

We might well wonder the same thing concerning the seeming majority of Christians today! Where is the disconnect? Why can’t Christians (or why won’t they) acknowledge the fact that their bodies are not their own and it is therefore a “reasonable” thing to expect that they would want to make sure that they are doing nothing in or with their bodies that would be inconsistent with God’s Word and therefore keeping Him from receiving the glory, through them, that He demands and deserves? (See Rom. 6:13)

THE PROHIBITION IN VIEW HERE

            “And be not conformed to this world… “           

The word “conformed” is translated from a word meaning, “Do not assume an outward expression in your life that is inconsistent with and falsely misrepresents the life that is within you.” In other words, we as believers are prohibited from displaying the mannerisms, expressions of speech, styles and habits that are common to the world. The “world” referred to here is that world system spoken of in 1 John 2:15-17: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away , and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17). 

The “world” which the Bible forbids Christians to conform to is, “All that floating mass of thoughts, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations, at any time current in the world, which it may be impossible to seize and accurately  define, but which constitute a most real and effective power, being moral, or immoral atmosphere which at every moment of our lives we inhale, again inevitably to exhale” (K. E. Wuest). See James 4:4;

THE PRESCRIPTION IN VIEW HERE
 
"be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind … “

There are professed believers who “mind earthly things” (Phil. 1:19); preoccupied with, and fixated on, and fascinated by, the things of this world, they give little if any serious thought to spiritual matters. Their conformity to this world in their thinking, is manifested in their lives (Prov. 23:7). Believers prevent their being conformed to this world when they practice good stewardship of their minds, allowing themselves to be  steadily, daily, transformed through the development of a godly thought life.  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” is a challenge and a command that we all should take seriously. See Eph 4:23; 1 Pet. 1:13.

THE PROMISE IN VIEW HERE

“ … that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

How important is it to you as a Christian that you have the ability to discern what the will of God is for your life? Understanding God’s will for you relative to marriage, parenting, Christian service, handling of finances – virtually anything and everything, is vital. But we can know God’s “good, and acceptable, and perfect, will” only to the degree that we are presenting our bodies to Christ as a living sacrifice, and avoiding our conformity to the world by being transformed through the renewal of our minds. There’s no other way to understand and follow through on that, which constitutes God’s will for us.

Discerning the will of God begins with your understanding that “this is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3). Sanctification means setting ourselves apart to God, which requires setting ourselves apart from the world in terms of attitude, conduct, lifestyle, etc.  God promises us that we will be able to discern His perfect will as we (1) present our bodies a living sacrifice, (2) do not let ourselves conform to this world and (3) become transformed by the renewing of our minds.

“And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:  Where they crucified him, and two other with him . . . “—John 19:17, 18


Jesus Christ entered into the way that would lead Him at last to Calvary where He would be crucified.  I want to say two things about the path that He trod to the cross.

First, the path Jesus trod to the cross was necessary; necessary because there was a debt that needed to be paid for man and a deliverance that needed to be made for man—a debt impossible for him to pay and a deliverance that he could never bring about for himself.  See Rom. 6:23 and Heb. 2:14, 15. And, Jesus’ entry onto the way that would lead Him to the cross was voluntary. It was a matter of His own choice .  There was no coercion of any kind.  He didn’t have to do it, but He did.  He said, “I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:17, 18).

THE WORK ON THE CROSS THAT WAS DONE

Jesus not only started on the way to the cross, He stayed on it until He had accomplished His work there.  At one point He explained tthis resolve to His disciples: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed” (Matt. 16:21).

This work was exclusively His to do.  Only Jesus could shoulder the burden that needed to be borne there—the sins of the whole world.  “He hath borne our guilt and carried our sorrows/” “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him;” The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:4-6). The Bible says, “without shedding of blood is no remission for sin” (Heb. 9:11), and the fact is that only Jesus could shed the blood that needed to be shed for us. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things … But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18, 19).

Furthermore, the work on the cross was extremely hard for Jesus to do.  God’s salvation is free to all who will go to Him in prayer with “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).  It isn’t hard for people to be saved (Eph. 2:8, 9; Rom. 10:13). But Jesus purchased our salvation at great cost to Himself paid a great price. Neither the way to the cross or His work on it was easy for Him.

It was hard on Jesus to be humiliated the way that He was.  Isaiah prophesied that when Christ would be “despised and rejected of men,” and that He would suffer “shame and spitting” (Isa. 3:3; 50:6). This happened to Him.  To save us from sin and hell Christ suffered humiliation by Pilate, Herod, and the mocking mob at the foot of His cross.  See Luke 23:11, Matt. 27:27-31 and Luke 23:35, 36.

It was also hard for Jesus to be hurt the way that He was in order to provide us with a pardon for our sins and a place in heaven.  The statement of fact about this is simple, yet profound in Hebrews 5:7 which says: “In the days of His flesh … He suffered.” See John 19:1-3;16-18.

In heaven, Jesus still bears the marks of His suffering.  John says in the Book of Revelation that as he looked into heaven he saw Jesus, and He “stood a Lamb as it had been slain.”  As He looked upon Him, John says he heard “the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Rev. 5:6, 11, 12).

Have you come to Christ for salvation? And found peace for your soul “through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20)?  If not, won’t you do so today? 

One of the most fascinating and sorry phenomenons to sweep the country over the last several years has been the popularity of all things occult and filthy. The most popular movies, TV. series and books today are all demons, vampires, werewolves and witches, etc. This is what young and not-so-young Americans by the millions are obsessing with. It is s characteristic of humanity at its most godless (Rom. 1:24-32). And it is characteristic of the depravity and degeneracy of a nation morally rotted away within, that is about to implode on itself

One example of what we are talking about is the “Twilight” saga, where the main characters are first and foremost vampires—some heroes and heroines, and others villains. Along with the vampires that are featured in the Twilight productions are an array of werewolves and other dark and evil spirits, fallen angels, etc. The most dedicated views, readers, followers Twilight are teenage girls, homosexuals and a growing audience made up of women in their thirties and forties.

The Twilight series, authored by Stephanie Myers, is incredibly evil in its content. The Wall Street Journal, which certainly has anything but a Christian bias, has warned that, “Twilight has targeted the collective soul of teenage America, and will surely have its way.” This material, the movies, films, etc. glorifies the lowest levels of erotic lust, bloodletting and blood-drinking, all things pornographic and perverted and introduces its followers to the “depths of Satan” (Rev. 2:24). This is Satanic and sick stuff!

But the sickest thing about all of this is that the obsession with Twilight and books, films and music of the same nature isn’t limited to nonbelievers. Apparently vast numbers of people who profess to be born-again, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and Bible believers have an appetite every bit as voracious for this evil filth as unsaved people do. There are numerous reports of instances where the majority of the girls in Christian schools are reading the Twilight books, watching the movies, etc. One Christian leader recently commented, “If my goal was to undermine Christianity, incite rebellion against parents, eradicate Biblical values, and spread moral chaos, I would urge teens to read the Twilight series. I would prompt them to immerse their minds and emotions in the dark, emotional whirlpool of sensual occultism. And I wouldn't warn them of the consequences.”

Think about it: Here are people who attend church and Sunday School, teach classes, sing in the choir and present special music, who when not in church are absorbing materials like Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight series, Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and introducing their own kids to the world of the occult through the Harry Potter books and videos. God knows that the nature of this type of material is evil, is addictive in its nature, causes people to crave the forbidden side of that which is supernatural and that its tendency is to draw young people together to share the fears, passion and other emotions these stories stirs up within them. This is exactly the kind of thing that God is talking about when he warns us to, “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret” (Eph. 5:11, 12).

Can Christian people be interested in and involved with the subjects we are talking about here; enjoying this kind of thing, and at the same time have a prayer life of any kind, be growing in grace, getting much from the Word of God, be being a blessing to others? The answer is an unequivocal NO. Furthermore, they are under the influence of a spirit that is not of God if they are drawn to the things represented by Twilight. That this can happen to a child of God is made clear in Luke 9:55 where Jesus rebuked the hatefulness of some of His apostles: “He turned, and rebuked them saying, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”  Second Corinthians 6:14-17 says, "For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?... Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate,' says the Lord."

A Christian under the influence of a spirit that would degrade them spiritually and mentally to the point that they would enjoy reading about or watching the activities of demons, werewolves, witches and vampires, should have enough of the fear of God, enough respect for His house and His worship and enough love for their brothers and sisters in Christ left in them to keep them from to preaching, teaching, singing special music or in any way taking part in public ministry while they are privately entertaining this sort of wickedness. They need to forsake these evil things entirely while asking God to forgive them for having let themselves be led astray by Satan into such a notorious transgression against Him and others.

The following constitutes a very recent interview conducted by Newsmax with Congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul wherein he explained his position relative to America’s support of Israel. Those who read this and still have problems with his position, have problem with the Founding Fathers and The Constitution of the United States.

   Dr. Paul is the only presidential candidate who consistently upholds the principles of our Constitution, and the principles of the Word of God upon which our Constitution is based. Hopefully, people will stop buying into the disinformation the political and media establishment is desperately spoon-feeding the voting public regarding Ron Paul. Hopefully too, people will become aware of and angry over, the corruption of the political machine and its partner in crime, the establishment media, in time to turn our country around from the path upon which we are rapidly moving towards a police state

Newsmax: What should our relationship be with Israel?

Ron Paul: We should be their friend and their trading partner. They are a democracy and we share many values with them. But we should not be their master. We should not dictate where their borders will be nor should we have veto power over their foreign policy.

This is not just about Israel, by the way, this is about how we should conduct ourselves with other countries around the world.

Newsmax: But Israel is not like other countries. We have a large Jewish population in America. What do you say to those who criticize your policy toward Israel?

Ron Paul: I think that some not only misunderstand the American Constitution and the role we should have in the world, they also misunderstand Zionism. Part of the original idea of Zionism, as I understand it, was that there should be Jewish independence and Jewish self-reliance. Today, America doesn’t want anyone to be self-reliant. We want to rule the world and be the saviors of the world and we are going broke in the process.

Newsmax: Some object to your policy of cutting foreign aid to Israel.

Ron Paul: I have objected to all foreign aid. I define foreign aid as taking money from poor people in rich countries and giving it to rich people in poor countries. We just can’t keep doing this. We don’t have the money anymore.

Stop and consider America’s policy: We give $3 billion a year to Israel in loans; and we give $12 billion or more in assistance to Israel’s self-declared enemies. Some of these are countries that say they will drive Israel into the sea.

Newsmax: What do you say to evangelical Christians who want that aid to continue?

Ron Paul: I say to them that our aid in the region is out of balance and it is wrong. Foreign aid does not help Israel. It is a net disadvantage. I say to them that “the borrower is servant to the lender” and America should never be the master of Israel and its fate. We should be her friend.

In October, 1981, most of the world and most of the Congress voiced outrage over Israel’s attack on Iraq and their nuclear development. I was one of the few who defended her right to make her own decisions on foreign policy and to act in her own self-interest.

Newsmax: What then, if anything, should we do for Israel?

Ron Paul: We should share intelligence for mutually agreed-upon goals. We should honor our pledge to refuse any arms sales that would undermine Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region.

But we should stop interfering with them. We should not announce bargaining positions even before she begins her negotiations. We should not dictate what she can and cannot do. We should stop trying to buy her allegiance. And Israel should stop sacrificing their sovereignty as an independent state to us or anybody else, no matter how well-intentioned.

Ron Paul has publicly stated that in the event Israel is attacked, he will support immediate defense of Israel when and if the Congress declares war on Israel's attackers. Under the Constitution, such a response is the sole prerogative of Congress and not that of the President. For the President to engage us in any war that has not been officially declared by Congress is, by definition, an unconstitutional and therefore a criminal act. Past presidents have violated the Constitution and unlawfully gotten us into war. People need to make up their minds whether they want to be in a Constitutional Republic or under a presidential dictatorship. Yes Ron Paul would "do something" he would do what the Constitution to which he has sworn an oath to uphold and defend allows him to do. Is this what we want in our President or not?"

I want to address the accusation that has been made that presidential candidate Ron Paul has his “head in the sand” where American foreign policy is concerned, particularly relative to his positions concerning Iran and Israel. This is a favorite charge of the liberal establishment that is now sadly becoming a popular mantra among some who consider themselves patriots, tea partiers and conservatives of one sort or another. I think a little closer examination will reveal that it isn’t Dr. Paul’s, but his detractors heads that are solidly in the sand where these issues are concerned, and that this is right where the enemies of freedom want  their heads to be.

Ron Paul’s positions are not the result of his having his head in the sand. They are the result of his having his head in The Constitution of the United States--and, I strongly suspect, in the Bible—a position I would highly recommend to every American who wants to maintain our Constitutional Republic and individual freedom.

Ron Paul, consistent with our Constitution and the sentiments of our founding fathers is not an isolationist, but he is a noninterventionist. There is a huge difference.  He understands that any entry into war by our country requires an act of Congress, and that the Congress does not have the authority to delegate this responsibility anywhere else. James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, wrote, “The executive has no right, in any case, to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.”  Dr. Paul knows, therefore, as we all should know, that without an act of Congress our military involvement in a war is an unconstitutional, therefore unlawful (one might add, even treasonous), criminal act. 

“In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the Executive Magistrate. Constant apprehension of War, has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.”—James Madison

Ron Paul also understands, as every American should, that our Constitution isn’t a “living” document; it isn’t, as Socialist progressives like Franklin Roosevelt called it, an “elastic” document that can be stretched, reinterpreted and revised to suit whatever political agenda a current administration might want to pursue. He also understands, as did our founders that government is never to be trusted. This is why George Washington warned, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence – it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and fearful master,” and, as Thomas Jefferson wrote, “In questions of power...let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.”  Americans today need to learn to fear and fight oversized, out of control government as much as our ancestors feared it and fought it.

It is the person who hasn’t read or accepted Article II, Section 8 of the Constitution which explicitly enumerates what the legitimate powers of the federal government are and relegates all other powers to the states, who has his head in the sand, not the man who has read, understands, appreciates and is jealous for what is the supreme law of our land. Our revolutionary ancestors fought for and won our independence, and then framed a Constitution that would protect us from the arbitrary rule of man, and thereby assure that we remain a free people.

The unprecedented peace, prosperity and freedom that our people have enjoyed for the first two thirds of our history came about because Americans and their leaders were people who upheld and followed Constitutional law. Peace, prosperity and freedom such as we have enjoyed in the past hasn’t been the product of people whose heads were in the sand. It was the product of people with the wisdom and integrity to follow the rule of law. In contrast, today we are witnessing a rapid loss of the prosperity, peace, individual freedom and morality that has always characterized America.

Our present government that violates, on a daily basis, the law of our land that it has taken an oath to uphold and protect, has brought about the collapse of our manufactures, and the monetary, military and moral meltdown that is now a reality for our nation. And this government has purposefully done this it with the full support of the mainstream media that has become little more than a house organ, a ministry of propaganda, for the present administration in Washington. Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda for Hitler’s Third Reich said, “Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.” Wise Americans will “think of the press,” and other media outlets in the same way today. What naïveté it is for any thinking American, any one with any long-term memory at all, to trust anything that the government, and its media says. It doesn’t constitute having ones head in the sand to mistrust the government and the media. The opposite has been proven true time and time again.

The people with their heads in the sand today are those who, for instance, slavishly listen to Ron Paul’s detractors—liberals, neoconservatives and their favorite “conservative” talk show hosts—and then Polly-parrot what these people say as though it were unvarnished, incontestable truth. This constitutes intellectual laziness and dishonesty, and should be of concern to any Christian who cares whether or not he breaks the ninth commandment.

Wouldn’t it be better to get on the internet and find out what Ron Paul himself says about any issue rather than to accept what Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Mitt Romney, CNN or Fox News says? It is disconcerting and something that should give us all pause for reflection to see so many self-proclaimed champions of conservatism on radio, television and elsewhere say everything they can to dismiss and discredit Ron Paul since he is the only man in the presidential race who actually stands for everything they claim to stand for as Constitutionalists.  They misrepresent his positions and declare him unelectable, which is precisely what the liberals and other enemies of freedom are doing. Is there a connection here? It makes no sense whatsoever.

Why should Americans be afraid of a presidential candidate, or think him unelectable who (1) has won election to Congress twelve times, (2) is a thorough Constitutionalist, (3) is a physician, (4) served as an officer and surgeon in the Vietnamese War, (5) is recognized as an expert in the field of economics, (6) is a husband, father and grandfather with an irreproachable moral history, (7) has been a practicing Christian nearly all of his life and is unashamed of his faith in Christ and (8) is recognized as a gentleman by his friends and enemies alike?  Again, this makes no sense; especially for those who consider themselves Christians, Constitutionalists and conservatives. The only thing that makes Ron Paul unelectable is if people allow themselves to be misinformed about him, and if they buy into the lie that he is unelectable.

Don’t be a person who says, “My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with facts.” Get the facts. Go to www.ronpaul.com, and click on “issues,” and then click, “foreign policies.” You can also go to You Tube and listen to him explain his positions. Another suggestion for those with the integrity and energy to do more than regurgitate what they’ve heard Ron Paul’s enemies say is to go to the blog section of www.americanbrushfire.com and read a Missouri congressman’s article, “I like the Founding Fathers—Except for their Foreign Policy.” This is a plain, powerful, explanation of Ron Paul’s foreign policy.

Other than his position on foreign policy, Israel and Iran, etc., many people are confused as to Ron Paul’s position on the legalization of narcotics, Social security and welfare. Again, his positions here are based on the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and State sovereignty. He is not, for instance, in favor of legalizing drugs, but does believe these and other issues are—under the Constitution—matters for the individual states, not the federal government, to deal with. Do the research yourself.

This is not a time for Constitutionally-minded Americans, who love and want to preserve freedom, to let others do their thinking for them. It is not a time to become a groupie for any talk show host who is really more concerned with his or her ratings, book sales, speaking engagements or comedy tours than they are with having their facts right and using their positions of influence to save America from the impending dictatorship we are faced with. Too much is at stake now for any of us to have our head in the sand as we decide who will be the next president of the United States of America

Ron Paul is for reversing America’s breakneck race down what F. A. Hayek called, “The Road to Serfdom.”  We are well on our way to becoming, not just a socialist state, but an out and out totalitarianism-police state. Ron Paul is presently the only presidential candidate who has consistently stood uncompromisingly for constitutional government, and who has given every indication throughout his political life that he will take the courage of his convictions into the oval office. He is currently gaining more and more support, to the point that his electability can no longer be ignored. We need to support a candidate like this whether it is Ron Paul or someone else.

Recently a young couple was in our church introducing themselves and the work they feel God has called them to do as missionaries to Russia. He is a native of Russia who came here as an exchange student several years ago, heard the Gospel for the first time, and after returning home, in God’s gracious providence, experienced the new birth. During his presentation, it was mentioned that under the present conditions in Russia, Christians there enjoy far more freedom to witness now than is afforded to believers in the United States. This is astounding! But it’s true.

People from communist countries, who are now American citizens invariably express their dismay to anyone who will listen, that they see the same things happening here that they saw happen in their own countries as their governments were taken over by communists and transformed into totalitarian police states. They are alarmed, and we should be alarmed, for as Founding Father John Adams once warned, “A Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.

Right now we are on the very verge of losing the freedom that we have so long taken for granted, and in sometimes abused. Senate Bill S1867, the National Defense Authorization Act, an incredibly unconstitutional piece of legislation, which is being called the most traitorous act ever committed by the United States Senate, has been passed. This bill effectively erases the Bill of Rights for every American.  Passed in the Senate by a vote of 93 -7, it declares the entirety of America as a battleground in the war on terrorism and gives the President the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity. Any American anywhere, at any time under this new law can be arrested without charges and be detained for an indefinite period of time.

Some are hoping that the President will veto this bill, but this is a pipe dream. Senate leaders have now made public that the President himself instructed them to take out original language in the bill that would have exempted American citizens from such arrest and detention, and replace it with specific language making it apply to all Americans. Any American, at the President’s discretion, can now be picked up without any charges being made, and without benefit of legal counsel. They can be locked up indefinitely in military prisons including such places as Guantanamo Bay. The President of the United States, under this bill, has been invested with dictatorial powers, and all compliments of  Senators, Republican John McCain and Democrat Carl Levin who drafted the bill and an overwhelming majority of our Senators and Representatives who voted for it.

The National Defense Authorization Act means that, in the near future, a controversial Facebook or Twitter post, or attending a peaceful protest could land you in "indefinite detention" for life, with no access to a lawyer or opportunity for a trial. A third world dictatorship is now being imposed on America. Actor and ardent constitutionalist,

Jon Voight, recently expressed his concern for America on national television: “We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can't see this is probably hoping it isn't true. If we permit Mr. Obama to take over all our industries, if we permit him to raise our taxes to support unconstitutional causes, then we will be in default. This great America will become a paralyzed nation.”

Mr. Obama has taken over some of our industries out rightly and has demonstrated that, practically speaking, through the use of regulations, taxation, executive order or whatever, he has, in essence, taken them all over. As will be noted later in this article, he has not only taken over control of private industry and business, but he has also taken over the micromanagement of our lives in terms of health care, whther or not we can plant a backyard vegetable garden, what we can say and write, etc.

American have been the victims of what Alexis de Tocqueville called “soft despotism.”

Soft despotism is defined as a state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. It is different from hard despotism in the sense that it isn’t obvious to the people. Soft despotism gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government. It breeds fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the general populace. Our soft despotism has become harder and harder in recent years. People are beginning to feel for the first time what despotism really feels like, and the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act will be our introduction into how hard despotism can feel.

With the passage of this hateful, unconstitutional, un-American legislation, Our government, with the passage of this legislation have shown us how diabolically ruthless and hard hearted they are, and what they are capable of inflicting on us in terms arbitrary governmental control and abuse. Perhaps good can come out of this if it dispossess American of any disillusionment about the faith they can have in government to do the right thing.

It has been said “People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people.” How true. This is the way our founders intended it to be, and this is why they crafted such a marvelous document as the Constitution, so we would have a rule of law and not be under the arbitrary rule of fickle, fallen men—a rule of law that would apply to those who serve in government the same as everybody else.  But our elected officials are not afraid of the people any more. They have placed themselves outside and above the law.  American will never be a nation of free people under law again until our elected officials are themselves held accountable for breaking the law of the land and punished accordingly.

Perhaps the last of the nails needed to bury our free way of life have already been hammered into the coffin of American freedom with the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act. On January 4th of this year the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act that gives the government complete control over all production, distribution and consumption of food, was passed by the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Obama. Obamacare, more formally known as "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," was passed by Congress on March 21, 2010, and signed into federal law by the President on March 23rd. will socialize the United States health care system, and Americans will no longer have any say in the who, what and when of medical treatment for themselves. The government will make these decisions.

Like the Food Safety Modernization Act that is already law, though it s provisions are now law, there will not be rigid government enforcement of all of the provisions in Obamacare, and the National Defense Authorization Act, until the American public has been sufficiently softened up.  But the reality is that Americans are already subject to these laws and regulations. The only thing that can change this is the unlikely event that the Supreme Court will overturn Obamacare and that the President will veto the NDAA.

When our food (where we get it and whether or not we can eat it), the light bulbs we ‘re allowed to use, our health care and whether or not we live or die, and when our speech and mobility is also under government contro, what other freedoms are left for us to lose?  The only thing impeding the full implementation of these tyrannical laws is the confiscation of individual firearms.  Historically, Tyrannical governments have understood and demonstrated Lenin’s counsel to the Bolsheviks that, “One man with a gun can control 100 without one.” It was this same Lenin, by the way, who counseled, “A system of licensing and registration is the perfect device to deny gun ownership.” No wonder that all of our founding fathers shared the sentiments of James Madison, who wrote, “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”

It's interesting and somewhat disconcerting to those with a sense of history and a healthy distrust of government that the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act coincides with the President’s directive to have nearly 39,000 of our troops out of Iraq and back home by December 31st. This legislation overrides the Posse Comitatus Act, that since 1878 has limited the use of military personnel as a means of enforcing the law where civilians are concerned. Perhaps this recall of the troops has something to do with the fact that the NDAA, in effect, transfers core prosecutorial, investigative, law enforcement, penal, and custodial authority and responsibility, now held by the Department of Justice, to the Department of Defense. If a military state is in the making, as appears to be the case, nothing could be more important than for our armed forces personnel to be reminded that their oath of enlistment was not to blindly follow the orders of the Commander in Chief, but to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

The case is being made now that these troops are needed at home to deal with domestics disruptions that will likely take place In American cities following a global economic collapse that now appears imminent. In fact, U. S. soldiers have been being trained for some time now to deal with “civilian control,” and facilities for incarceration of civilians, including entire families, are being put in a state of preparedness. Service providers and other personnel are being recruited to service these detention centers. A great deal of governmental activity is taking place now that is more than a little disturbing, not the least of which is legislation such as the National Defense Authorization Act which has been supported overwhelmingly by both sides of the isle in Congress, by liberals and conservatives alike. Perhaps the caution of our founding fathers relative to government is something especially relevant now.

“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence – it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and fearful master”.—George Washington

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”—Thomas Jefferson

“T]he powers of the federal government are enumerated; it can only operate in certain cases; it has legislative powers on defined and limited objects, beyond which it cannot extend its jurisdiction.”—James Madison

Scottish Philosopher, economist and historian David Hume 1711-1776) said, “It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once.” Edmund Burke concurred: “The true danger,” he said, “is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedients, and by parts.”  The nibbling away of our freedom has accelerated to a slash and burn policy being carried out, not by enemies from without, but from within—the most dangerous enemies any nation has. Over two thousand years ago, Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote the following:

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague.”

Austrian economist, Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992) knew from firsthand observation how governments go about enslaving their own people; he said, “The greatest danger to liberty today comes from the men who are most needed and most powerful in modern government, namely, the efficient expert administrators exclusively concerned with what they regard as the public good.” In the mid nineteenth century, British historian and statesman Thomas Babbington Macauley had this warning for the American people: “Either some Caesar or Napoleon,” he said, “will seize the reins of government with a strong hand, and your republic will be as fearfully plundered and laid to waste by the barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman Empire was in the fifth, with the difference that the Huns and Vandals who ravaged the Roman empire came from without; and that your Huns and Vandals will have been engendered within your own country by your own institutions.”

Permit me another quote, this time from modern political author, James Brovard who has said, “The first step in saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose it unless fundamental political changes occur.” We are where we are because of those in public office who have broken their oath to uphold the Constitution, and because of those who give aid and comfort to the enemies of freedom—misinformed and misguided people, serving their political puppet masters, who Karl Marx, Lenin and Stalin referred to as “useful idiots.” 

Be assured that, as America is being dragged over the threshold from being a Constitutional Republic where people are free to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, into the abyss of a totalitarian state, fundamental change will not occur unless pastors and churches become educated and engaged relative to their proper role in the stewardship of our nation and begin to use their influence to educate and engage others in the cause of freedom.

Make no mistake about it, nothing can save America now but divine intervention. But God does not and He will not, show Himself mighty on behalf of His people until His people, through action, demonstrate their obedience to Him. As surely as it was God’s plan to roll back the flood waters of the Jordan River so is people could cross over to the other side, it was in His plan that first His people had to move! They had to first step into the waters as God had told them to do—and the first ones told to step in were Israel’s spiritual leaders. It was only after People did what they were told to do and were able to do that God did what He was able to do, and parted the waters.