God Bless (Though Permeated With Leaven) America
Mark 8:15
“And he {Yeshua} charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.”
Of what two kinds of leaven do we need to beware? Religious leaven and political leaven. Seems obvious enough.
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Galatians 5
7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
How much leaven does it take to leaven the whole lump? A little. Seems obvious enough.
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Proverbs 29:2
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”
For a people to rejoice what kind of character must their leaders posses? Righteousness. Seems obvious enough.
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II Kings 17:26
“Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou hast removed, and placed in the cities of Samaria, know not the manner of the God of the land: therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.”
Why did God send lions among the people? They did not “know the manner of the God of the land”. Seems obvious enough that a people/nation should expect blessing if they live in accordance with “the manner of the God of the land” and judgment when they don’t.
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So …
How much leaven can a people allow and tolerate before God sends lions among them to slay them? And therefore, how much leaven do you think can be allowed and tolerated in a “Christian” nation’s people and leadership before the corroding, corrupting, break-down process begins?
And …
When do you think would be the best time to take action so things won’t get out of hand?
You must ferret these things out for yourself.
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As I write this blog we all await the 2020 presidential election results. To my own personal chagrin, out of all the presidential elections I’ve voted in since 1972, this is the most ambivalent I’ve ever been regarding the outcome.
Please don’t tar-and-feather me yet.
Somehow those of us living in America have convinced ourselves that because we sing “God Bless America,” believe that God has specifically and uniquely blessed America, and have “In God We Trust” on our money that we have carte blanche permission to live in discordance to God and His Law.
And after decades of thinking like this, our God Blessed America marches on killing millions of unborn babies while also dismantling the God-ordained and God-designed structure of the family and His sexual and biological mandates.
Did God give us His Word as an option to obey or disobey howsoever we choose? No matter what country God’s people live in, they are obligated as citizens of heaven to live in accordance to the dictates and mandates of His Word. We are subject to God and His Law, period.
If we want God, expect God, believe God to bless America, then it only seems obvious that we need to do things His way. I don’t know any way around that. At least not in a way the makes sense according to God’s Word.
As a father, how much was I willing to let my kids disobey me before I decided to intervene for their own good? Any parent knows that a little disobedience leads to more increased disobedience. While that happens, am I to just stand by and give them my blessings anyway? To do so would be both STUPID and UNLOVING.
But yet that’s what we expect God to do. After all, we’re just a little bit disobedient here and a little bit disobedient there. That should be good enough, right? No! It’s not good enough for an earthly father nor is it good enough for our Heavenly Father.
Query …
Could it be we tolerate and excuse the leaven permeating our country because we’ve grown accustomed to tolerating and excusing the leaven permeating our own lives?
And yes … you have leaven. I have leaven. We all have leaven. So it begs the question: How much leaven are we willing to navigate in our own lives?
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I’ve always found it intriguing and instructive that during the dark days of the prophet Joel, God calls upon those in positions of spiritual leadership to get right with Him, first. That seems to set off a chain reaction which enables the reintegrating of correct thoughts and actions that can then bring healing to the land and people.
Joel 1:13-15 —
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God. 14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord, 15 Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Joel 2:12-17 (A call to repentance) —
12 Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
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We might not find it comforting to acknowledge that … The Day Of The LORD is approaching. And it might be sooner than we’re prepared for.
My spiritual mentor and hero of the faith, Omar Adams, told me shortly after I was saved in 1973 that when America goes … it’s over. I thought that made sense. However, I didn’t imagine I’d watch it happen in my lifetime.
My other spiritual mentor and hero of the faith, Lester Roloff, said back in 1976 (I was at the meeting he preached this) that homosexuality would be the end-time sin that would bring down America. I thought he was crazy at the time. Little did I know ….
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So where’s my hope? In the next Governor? In the next President? In the next President after the next President? In the next mega-church? In the next messianic teacher? In the next translation of the Bible?
No.
My hope lies in the Sovereignty of God. No matter what, God is always Sovereign. But with that hope I’ve needed to shift my perspective just slightly. Meaning?
Meaning, the ride might just get a good bit bumpier before it all gets derailed. And folks, it’s all going to get derailed in the end before Yeshua comes back. And the American good times just might not be so good for too much longer.
But …
Praise God, we rest in the assurance that our risen Saviour is coming back for us.
And …
We’ll never, ever have to wrestle again with our conscience over which is the better of two not so good choices: A Trump or a Biden.
May God have mercy on our dearly blessed American souls.
“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” Revelation 22:20