BEWARE – LEST WE FORGET GOD
By: Rev. James H. Stone
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Issac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, (11) And houses full of all good (things), which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full; (12) (then) beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Deuteronomy 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of (mine) hand hath gotten me this wealth.
(The following article was shared with me by Rev. Jeff Snyder, National Director of The Apostolic Coalition, of Washington, D.C. and St. Louis, MO. Please take a few minutes to read it and think about it.)
“Every coin minted in the United States bears, along with the bust of a past hero, these words: “IN GOD WE TRUST”. It was not lightly that our forefathers chose these inseparable words, for they knew the tremendous sacrifice that had been paid to secure our freedom. In gratitude, they continually acknowledged that God had made and preserved our nation. They warned our generations that the day God was not earnestly revered in America, we would become a byworld among other nations.
Several times in the history of our nation, widespread revival has put God’s people back on course. However, like the children of Israel, Americans have been prone to forget their spiritual heritage. In Israel’s case, God sent prophets to foretell judgment. God has showered upon America over 200 years of blessing. As we acknowledged and obeyed our creator, God elevated us from infancy to a place of world leadership. While other nations build barbed wire fences to keep people from getting out, America greets long lines of people waiting to get in. With grateful and humble hearts, Americans have honored the God who granted her blessings and freedoms. But slowly – almost imperceptibly – she began to attribute her blessings not so much to God, but to man. The God of Secular Humanism began to infiltrate all our institutions. Wallowing in materialism, self-centeredness, and pride, many Americans decided they really do not need God after all. They began to tamper with God’s absolute standards and to tolerate what they would never have allowed before – in their own lives and in the society around them. That which God declares to be ‘never’ right
could be ‘sometimes’ right, depending on the situation. Courts that once legislated against immorality have begun to grant freedom to every man to “do that which is right in his own eyes.” Lines of right and wrong have suddenly become blurred. In time, all sorts of ungodly behavior has become acceptable – and even admired. Americans are no longer shocked at things which once caused them to ‘blush.’ When God fades from a nation’s conscience, one can justify almost anything.
We have tried to camouflage almost every sin God would not tolerate with a new terminology.
God says “Thou shalt not kill” but we have given murder a new name – “abortion”
God calls it “drunkenness” – we call it “alcoholism” a social disease.
God calls it “sodomy” – we call it “homosexuality” – “gay rights” – or an “alternate lifestyle”
God calls it “perversion” – we call it “pornography” or “adult entertainment”
God calls it “immorality” – we call it “new morality”
God calls it “cheating” – we call it “abnormal social development”
With the dissolving of these Christian absolutes, crime rates have spiraled, drug addiction, suicides, teenage pregnancies, incest, and sexual child abuse are all now flaunted before the eyes of a nation that was conceived in the fear of God. It has happened little by little – right before our eyes – not from someone forcing it on us, but seemingly because we do not care.
Woodrow Wilson once said, “A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday, does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.”
Let us as Pentecostals beware of these occurrences, and not be caught in a web of spiritual lapse or backsliding from our great heritage. This is our church. We can no longer hand it to our enemy. What we do with it, will be what we have to live with. We have been taught the absolutes of God’s Laws. We know where to draw the line with right and wrong. We are constantly made aware of the onslaught of Satan’s games, and we know our only hope today is in God in whom we MUST trust.”
(The above material appeared in the August 1992 issue of The Mississippi Torch.)
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