A POLITICAL SERMON- IN DEFIANCE OF THE GOVERNMENT

I have been called to be a watchman with the responsibility of proclaiming the Word of the Lord.

(The thoughts recorded here are not original with me but have been compiled to express the seriousness of the day and times in which we live.  This sermon is in protest to the Johnson Amendment of 1954.) 

Ezekiel 33

 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ² Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: ³ If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; ⁴ Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.  ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.  ⁶ But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.   

So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.  ⁸ When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.  ⁹ Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 

 “Preach the Word!” the Bible exhorts us. “Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2) The Bible is clear in its call to ministers to boldly preach the Gospel. And the United States Constitution is equally clear in its defense, through the First Amendment, of the God-given right of every minister and church leader to freely proclaim biblical Truth.  

During the Revolutionary War when ministers from across the colonies arose and lead their congregations into the battle for freedom America was able to secure freedom from the tyranny of Great Brittan. Unlike today, the church during the Revolution period stood as the center-point for political debate and discussion on the relevant news of the day. Today's church leaders have all but lost that concept of leading their congregations in a Godly manner in all aspects of their worldly existence and are afraid to speak out against the progressive agenda that has dominated our political system for the past century. Through this time the church and God himself has been under assault, marginalized, and diminished by the progressives and secularists. The false wall of separation of church and state has been constructed in such a manner that most are unaware of its limited boundaries. The church and the body of Christ has been attacked on all fronts and challenged by the progressive courts and groups that are anti-Christ all the while we have sat idle in consent. 

 

The time has come that we must now arise and awaken to the danger of the agenda of the progressives, neocon, and rhinos that so permeates every aspect of our political, legal, and educational systems. It is time now to educate ourselves and push back against the erosion of our freedoms and liberties and restore the constitutional authority back to all aspects of our governance. It will take the watchmen of our churches to  warn the people of the impending doom.  The future of religious freedom depends on a free pulpit to communicate fundamental, biblical principles to congregations across America. I have joined for the second year a growing movement of bold pastors preaching biblical Truth about candidates and elections from their pulpits on this day.  Many would rather Christians buy the lie that pastors and churches should only deal with “spiritual” things, i.e. theological discussions that never manage to touch or impact the “real world.” Many would have Christians believe that the church has nothing relevant to say in matters of public policy–in fact, to even attempt to say anything would be in violation of the Separation of Church and State. Christians and moral teachings, should stay within the four walls of the church and never intrude into political matters. However, freedom is at stake in America.  Such ideas are not only made up of lies, they are specifically intended to keep Christians ineffective while they advance a political agenda they know would otherwise be condemned as immoral: killing unborn children, celebrating sex outside of marriage, promoting homosexual behavior, undermining marriage, redistribution of wealth --taking property from some Americans to give to other Americans (otherwise known as stealing), feathering political nests, rewarding political allies and supporters with money and position, and more. Many Christians ignorantly play right into their hands, leaving our government and our freedoms to the wolves…along with our rich heritage of Christian involvement in the public square.  

Freedom in America is a combination of spiritual, political and ownership.  When the government infringes on any one of these freedom we are closer to tyranny.  The highest of these freedoms is spiritual freedom.  The Constitution guarantees the freedom of religion without the interference of the government.  This freedom is lost when the government fails to do the job of protecting this freedom.   It is the purpose of the government to protect each person’s spiritual, political and ownership freedoms.

Unfortunately, throughout the history of our country our government has used its power to begin to reduce the spiritual, political and ownership freedoms of the American citizens.  As one British Lord stated, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  

Since before our nation was a nation, American churches have been at the forefront of politics–and they have done so without being subject to taxation or silenced for political views. Our forefathers realized the immense service churches provide to any society (in providing moral teaching which encourages people to be honest, law abiding, treat each other with kindness, respect the sanctity of another’s person and property, etc.), and they also recognized that the power to tax is the power to control.  

In the past 50 years since our nation slapped a muzzle on pastors and turned its back on God, we have seen our crime rates explode, teen pregnancy rates skyrocket, the welfare state proliferate, and the American family disintegrate. America’s churches have been silenced and banished from their public-square role of being the voice of conscience for our society. It’s no wonder we have corruption in Washington and on Wall Street.  America has flirted with socialism and fascism for too long, committing political adultery against the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms hard-bought by our ancestors. It’s time we returned to the American standard of freedom.

It is difficult to realize how valuable something is until it is lost.  However, if you have never experienced the freedom of worship you will never know its value.  The majority of people in the world today cannot openly worship the religion of their choice.  If you lost this freedom how would you react?   

Throughout our history the church has been involved in political discussion from the pulpit. It was the church that brought about and end of dueling as a means to settle and argument.  It was ministers preaching from the pulpit the evils of slavery that stirred the country to abolish slavery.  It was ministers preaching from the pulpit that gave this country the civil rights that outlawed major forms of discrimination against racial, ethnic, national and religious minorities and women.  The history of this country is filled with examples of pastors preaching freely from the pulpit about the social and moral issues of the day—including the selection of our political leaders.  However, that all stopped with the passage of the Johnson Amendment through clearly illegitimate means. It is time to turn back the page of history to restore the constitutional rights of pastors and churches as active participants in our culture. 

Today, I wish to share with you some things that have taken place in the last three years by the leader of our country.  I cannot speak to what someone MIGHT do but I can share what HAS BEEN done by the present President. In a well-researched and annotated column published at the conservative website, WallBuilders.com, author David Barton, compiled a chronicle of the administration’s decisions and rulings against protestant Christians, Catholics and Jews in what amounts to a purging of attributes that have helped make this country what it is today.

In parting with the traditions of his most liberal predecessors, who at least respected traditional American values and include far-left leaning men such as Woodrow Wilson and FDR, our President has also attacked individual liberties and protection guarantees like no other. Some examples of actions taken by our President include:

Acts of hostility toward people of Biblical faith:

1.    April 2008 – The President speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren't like them.”

2.    February 2009 – The President announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011.

3.    April 2009 – When speaking at Georgetown University,  the President orders that a monogram symbolizing Jesus' name be covered when he is making his speech.

4.    May 2009 – The President declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day established by federal law) at the White House.

5.    April 2009 – In a deliberate act of disrespect, The President nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all three.

6.    October 19, 2010 – The President begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions.

7.    November 2010 – The President misquotes the National Motto, substituting “E pluribus unum” rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law.

8.    January 2011 – After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross in the memorial could continue to stand, but the   President administration refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court.

9.    February 2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two years the President did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an official that works against religious persecution across the world; he filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress.

10. April 2011 – For the first time in American history, the President urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring.

11. August 2011 – The President administration releases its new health care rules that override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas of abortion and contraception.

12. November 2011 – The President opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial.

13. November 2011 – Unlike previous presidents, the President studiously avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech.

14. December 2011 – The President’s administration denigrates other countries' religious beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights.

15. January 2012 – The President’s administration argues that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis.

16. February 2012 – The President’s administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion.

2. Acts of hostility from the President-led military toward people of Biblical faith:

1.    June 2011 – The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery.

2.    August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except America).

3.    September 2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of programs and services available to them from chaplains.

4.    September 2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.”

5.    November 2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity.

6.    November 2011 – The Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans.

7.    February 2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three star Army general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”) Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken Christian.

8.    February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei).

9.    February 2012 – The Army orders Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read.

3. Acts of hostility toward Biblical values:

1.    January 2009 –  The President lifts restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, forcing taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations.

2.    January 2009 –  The President  The President’s nominee for deputy secretary of state asserts that American taxpayers are required to pay for abortions and that limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional.

3.    March 2009 – The President’s administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit.

4.    March 2009 – The President orders taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research.

5.    March 2009 – The President gave $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that promotes abortion and works closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations.

6.    May 2009 – The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education, repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions.

He continues the deletion in subsequent budgets.

1.    May 2009 – The President officials assemble a terrorism dictionary calling pro-life advocates violent and charging that they use racism in their “criminal” activities.

2.    July 2009 – The President’s administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direction violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

3.    September 16, 2009 – The President’s administration appoints as EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who asserts that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, if they may negatively affect homosexual “equality.”

4.    July 2010 – The President’s administration uses federal funds in violation of federal law to get Kenya to change its constitution to include abortion.

5.    August 2010 – The President’s administration Cuts funding for 176 abstinence education programs.37
September 2010 – The President’s administration tells researchers to ignore a judge’s decision striking down federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

6.    February 2011 – The President directs the Justice Department to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

7.    March 2011 – The President’s administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized underage girls.

8.    July 2011 – The President, against advice from senior officers, allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, reversing a policy originally instituted by George Washington in March 1778.

9.    September 2011 – The Pentagon, against advice from senior officers, directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

10. October 2011 – The President’s administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion.

4. Acts of preferentialism for Islam:

1.    May 2009 – While the President does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honor of Ramadan ( a Islamic Holy Month).

2.    April 2010 – Christian leader Franklin Graham is disinvited from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim community.

3.    April 2010 – The President’s administration requires rewriting of government documents and a change in administration vocabulary to remove terms that are deemed offensive to Muslims, including jihad, jihadists, terrorists, radical Islamic, etc.

4.    August 2010 – The President speaks with great praise of Islam and condescendingly of Christianity.

5.    August 2010 – The President went to great lengths to speak out on multiple occasions on behalf of building an Islamic mosque at Ground Zero, while at the same time he was silent about a Christian church being denied permission to rebuild at that location.

6.    2010 – While every White House traditionally issues hundreds of official proclamations and statements on numerous occasions, this White House avoids traditional Biblical holidays and events but regularly recognizes major Muslim holidays, as evidenced by its 2010 statements on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha.

7.    October 2011 – The President’s Muslim advisers block Middle Eastern Christians’ access to the White House.

8.    February 2012 – The President’s administration makes effulgent apologies for Korans being burned by the U. S. military, but when Bibles were burned by the military, numerous reasons were offered why it was the right thing to do.

Many of these actions are unprecedented – this is the first time they have happened in four centuries of American history. The hostility of the President toward Biblical faith and values is without equal from any previous American the President. If he has penalized Christians this much in 3/4th of his first term, just imagine how much further he will be able to turn toward Islam if he is allowed another term.

I am not telling you to vote for or against a particular candidate but vote the principles of God’s Word.  Let the Word of God be the foundation of your decision who will lead our country.   It is important for you to exercise your freedom to choose the next leader of American—VOTE!