Op-Ed by Dr. Eric Herfert, D.C.
Choosing Destruction or Choosing Freedom
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17
“…Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” 1 Samuel 8:6)
Most of us would be very disturbed by images of an individual, setting him or herself on fire, regardless what the motivation is. When someone who calls themselves a “freedom fighter,” a “patriot,” etc. decides to set themselves on fire in an act of desperation, in order to call attention to their cause, we are just as repulsed by their actions as by the actions of a crazy person. We instinctually know that life is precious and everything always should be done to preserve it, even in the direst circumstances. Sacrificing ones self for crazy or self centered reasons appalls most of us. Yet, most of us would be surprised to learn that step-by-step many of us have been enticed into decisions that eventually lead to even more horrific ends for our very own lives… bondage, destruction, and possibly even eternal separation from Our Creator.
In 2nd Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 to 17 it says… “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Also, in Psalms 119:11 it says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Later, in Psalms 119, verse 105, it says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
These scriptures and others reveal to us that God has given us His Word… His Commands, to “instruct us,” “to protect us,” “to train us,” etc. in order that, we His creation can live fruitful, productive, joyful lives. But the world, our nation, and even the church to a large extent, have thrown aside God’s commands that were given to protect and help us, and have pursued “a life apart from God, His protection, and His blessing.” How have we done this? One of the ways most Americans have done this is that we have accepted as “truth” the American Dream. Yes, even most American Christians have accepted this ideal. What many people don’t realize is that the present ideal of the American Dream flies in the face of numerous warnings from scripture. Let’s see why…
The Forgotten Commandment and the American Dream
One of the commandments that God had given us to help us live as free as possible is the 10th and forgotten commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” At the heart of every command is a reflection of the character and person of Our Creator. By following God’s Commands we prevent sin from separating us from fellowship with God, and we prevent the destruction that always follows with rebellion from God and His Commands. Yes, as the scripture says, “The pleasures of sin” are enjoyable for a short time (Hebrews 11:25) and “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12) Fools, otherwise know as morally corrupt individuals, always rebel from the protections that God sets in place for all of us, due to their desire for self rule and lack of trust that God knows what is best for us. Our Creator wants to protect us from the destruction that sin and rebellion always lead to. Fools fail to realize that they can only be free and safe within the boundaries that Our Creator has given us.
In view of God’s boundaries, let’s take a look at the American Dream and see what lies behind this ideal. The American, Declaration of Independence says the following: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” These words have shaped the character of the American people from the foundations of our country right up to the present day. All around the world people still dream of moving to America. Once here, they believe that through “sweat and hard work” they and their children can have a better life. America’s spiritual foundations recognized that we are all created beings and Our Creator has given all of us certain rights as His children. Most Americans still believe this. It is when we go a little deeper into the American Dream and the ideals of, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” that the problems begin to emerge. Sadly, these ideals have become more and more distorted over the years from their origins, as our country has drifted more and more from the great moral underpinnings that once held our society together.
A Society Adrift
Author David Barton in his book Original Intent reveals how much our society has changed from the original, Christian, moral fabric that was present during colonials days and the following first century of our Republic. Barton shows how different our ancestor’s ideas of freedom were from our present thoughts on the subject, especially their idea of “religious freedom.” Barton goes through United States Supreme Court cases and State Supreme Court cases, and shows over and over again how “Christian morality” underpinned the legal and moral fabric of our country. For example, individuals that didn’t believe in “God and a judgment in the hereafter” were prohibited from holding public office because they believed such individuals were not trust worthy to hold the reigns of power that came with government office. Also, in the past individuals were fined and thrown in jail for “blaspheming” the name of God and Jesus Christ. Today, we would say, “What about our freedom to worship publicly and live our lives how we want based on our convictions?” The federal and state courts repeatedly said during the first century of our republic that our country was founded on Christian morals and ideals, and they (the courts) were not going to let individuals destroy the fabric of society in the name of “religious freedom.” The courts even prosecuted individuals for private acts of immorality, like viewing pornography, in order to protect the foundations of our nation!
Ungodly people have tired to erase from our history that fact that Our Founding Fathers had been nurtured in the mist of a very religious and moral culture. Our Founding Fathers and the generation that lived with them understood the relationship that “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” had to a people and to those that governed that people. When they used the expression “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” they were expressing a progressive hierarchy of ideals. First of all, “Life” was sacred to these people and was to be protected; therefore they created the new Federal Government under our Federal Constitution to do just that… protect life. They realized that they needed a stronger central government to protect against real threats to their lives, their liberty, and their happiness (property). But they also had been raised and trained in a society that had seen rulers abuse their power. They had lived through these struggles that date back to the tradition of law they inherited from England. This tradition was epitomized in the “common law” and the “Magna Charta.” Common law is simply the law that is common to all men… “God’s Law.” God’s Law is first described in scripture starting with the Ten Commandments. Other laws were later given to Moses that further described what God required of Israel. This common law, or God’s Law, was used and advocated by the church over the centuries to bring about the most peace and happiness. The common law eventually gave rise to the Magna Charta, which governed the king’s conduct over his people and eventually led to the present system of the English representative government called Parliament.
Our Founding Fathers grew up with the biblical idea of “Rex Lex” — the law was ultimately king. This system of laws, given by Our Creator in the Old Testament, governed the people’s behavior toward each other, even the king, so that there could be peace and prosperity. Our Founding Fathers took these ideas and then set up a system of government that protected life, liberty, and property (the meaning of the phase… the pursuit of happiness) and in doing so tried to give their fellow countrymen the greatest degree of freedom possible. Yes, the document and system were imperfect and allowed horrible things like slavery of African Americans, and the near extermination of the American Indians. But as imperfect as this document is, at its heart was the ideal of protecting life, giving as much freedom as possible to everyone, and allowing people to benefit from the fruits of their labor (property). Under this system property was to protected, but not at the expense of someone else’s liberty. Liberty was to be protected, but not at the expense of someone else’s Life.
Scripture reveals to us the deceitfulness of the human heart and how under the right circumstances even godly men could do the most evil things. For example, Israel’s King David, a man described as having “a heart after God’s own heart,” ended up committing adultery with Bathsheba, and in order to cover up his crime, he had Bathsheba’s husband killed. Our Founding Fathers knew far too well that if godly men could do such things, even greater horrors awaited us if ungodly men were to “gain unrestrained power.” They fear the accumulation of power in one or a few individuals and did everything they could to set up a system to prevent the accumulation of power from happening. Our system of government had many “checks and balances” on the power of government and those who wielded power. Sadly, the American people have been progressively deceived over the last 150 years and have slowly dismantled these checks and balances without knowing it. Let’s look at a similar example of history recorded in God’s Word.
A King To Lead Us
When Israel rejected God’s rule of them and said to the prophet Samuel, “…Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Samuel 8:6), Israel was setting in motion a chain of events that eventually led to their own destruction. God had Samuel warn the people of Israel of all the things that the king would do to them, but the people wouldn’t listen. God warned them that the king would steal their land, their wives, their livestock, the produce of their land, etc. Power corrupts and God wanted to spare them from this danger. Sadly, Israel, because of their hardness of heart, still demanded a king. To protect the people from their own evil desires and actions, God told Samuel to tell the people that when they chose a king, the king had to be godly and had to abide by God’s Law. In spite of this, after King David’s rein the monarchy slowly descended into increasing immorality with ever expanding oppressive policies that eventually destroyed both the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The oppression increased to the degree with King Solomon that when his son King Rehoboam took the throne, the people rebelled and the kingdom was forever split. Later, the immorality increased to the point that King Manasseh of Judah even “worshiped the starry hosts” and committed other detestable acts, like “sacrificing his children in the fire,” (chapter 33 of 2 Chronicles). Due to the king’s actions, the Lord finally promised to “wipe out Jerusalem” (chapter 21 of 2 Kings). Under the time of King Manasseh’s great grandchildren, God did exactly what He promised. The Kingdom of Judah was sent into captivity in Babylon, and the Temple and the city were destroyed. Little did the people of Israel know that their rejecting God and asking for a king would lead to this end! Thoughts and actions always have consequences!
This sad story of the history of Israel has been repeated over and over again down through time with many of nations. This is why God’s enemies work so hard to wipe out the warnings recorded in history (1st Corinthians 10:11). As it has been said, “If you don’t know the past, you are condemned to repeat it.” God gives a people freedom, and later they reject Him and His ways, and then slowly their society declines and ends in disaster. Nations fall from within! History proves this many times over. Unfortunately, the United States of America is following this same path of destruction just like so many other countries have done. No one has listened to God’s warning and the warnings of history! Anyone with “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” should be able to perceive what has been happening recently to our once great country. Our country has rapidly become a hollow shell of what it once was. We were once a beacon of freedom, and a place where the name of God and Jesus Christ were publicly exalted, but now we have become a terror to much of the world through our endless wars, and the name of God and Christ have been largely driven from the public square. How did this all happen, how could we all have been so blind? How did we dismantle all the protections that we once had inspired by scripture?
Enticements Of An Enemy
One of the biggest problems in warfare is not understanding your enemy. Satan is not an original guy. He is a copycat, a created being. Remember, scripture says that the devil “masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan usually comes at us sideways, not directly. He doesn’t attack the structure that God has built front on. He undermines what appear as small or minor things, and then he progressively goes for the bigger kill later. The serpent said to Eve in the garden “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’” (Genesis 3:1) He didn’t say to Eve directly, “Eat the forbidden fruit.” No, the devil expanded and twisted God’s prohibition first to the words “any fruit,” and he then tempted Adam and Eve to try to be like God… his sin! In attacking the freedom that God had given us with our country under God’s Law and our Federal Constitution, Satan attacks the structure slowly at a seemingly insignificant point. One of the ways Satan has been undermining our God given freedom has been how he entices the citizens of the United States to COVET WHAT DOES NOT BELONG TO THEM. He has been using our lust and greed to bring the whole structure down that was protecting our freedoms.
Sadly, today we have let “the pursuit of happiness” run reign over everyone’s liberty and life. Please take note that the Declaration of Independence says “the pursuit of happiness.” It does not guarantee us happiness, or what we today would call property. How sad it is that we have allowed our system of government, our society, and our culture to be perverted in such devastating ways. We have slowly bought into a corrupt system that progressively steals our property, takes away our liberty, and slowly destroys our very lives. How? Satan has got us to covet what does not belong to us, and then he has gotten us to listen to men and women who tell us pleasant “little lies” of how the government should do all these different things for all of us. Satan’s messengers never bothered to tell us that governments must take (steal) from someone, usually everybody, in order to give to somebody else. Since most of us don’t trust God for our provision, we end up as a result looking to people and institutions to fulfill our desires and needs. We buy the lie that we can have the government steal from someone else on our behalf or someone else’s without any consequence to ourselves. For years we the American people have bought into this lie, Hook, line and sinker.
What Our Founding Fathers Feared
Our Founding Fathers feared the day when Americans would no longer be a moral people who trusted their Creator and when they would vote themselves “benefits” on a progressively greater and greater basis. They knew how destructive the lure of money and gifts from the public coffers could be, and how these gifts would undermine the moral fabric and freedom of our nation. In Proverbs chapter 23, verses 1 and 2, it says, “When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.” God warns us that a ruler’s food, gifts, and handouts come with a price… THEY ARE A DECEPTION! Kings, presidents, governors, and other individuals in power use the wealth at their disposal (taken from the people) to bribe the foolish and to set a trap that puts the people into bondage. Rulers regularly steal from their subjects and then turn around and call their giving away other people’s possessions charity. Our Creator has called taking what doesn’t belong to you… STEALING, and has forbidden it regardless the purpose.
Every time Americans vote for representatives, senators, presidents, governors, etc. who promise to “give to the poor and the helpless,” or institute a new program that does the same, Americans are actually voting for their own future bondage. Presently, many Americans are beginning to see this truth, at least in small ways. Due to all the “freebies” given away by our government, our national debt now stands at over 14 trillion dollars. This number only includes the public debt that they tell us about, not the “off the books debt” that government officials craftily hide from us on a regular basis. Sooner than later these debts must be paid, and there will be a consequence of our actions of continually stealing from future generations. Bondage always accompanies debt. Proverbs 22:7 says, “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” Under who are we going into bondage? THE RICH, THE BANKERS, CORPORATIONS, ETC… THE ARCHETECTS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER! These individuals and groups are playing upon the American people’s lusts and are manipulating our population in order to take away our freedom and bring about their demonic plans. When you make a choice that God prohibits, you are always taking a step away from the Lord’s freedom and going into bondage, destruction, and eventual death. Remember, at the heart of every political problem that our country faces there is an even greater spiritual problem.
America, and the Christian ideals that she was founded upon, has always been an obstacle to bringing about “the One World Utopia/Government” that so many people, who reject God and Jesus Christ, have believed in and dreamed of for ages. Satan has been inspiring and then using these individuals for hundreds of years to slowly, piece by piece, bring about his system of control. The main bait that he has been using to get the masses to follow along with his plan has been “the love of money… materialism.” Satan tempts us with things, pleasure, and pride to get us to follow his schemes and rebel against God. For example, history has shown us that people will sell their souls if they are hunger enough when they don’t have the love of God in their hearts. Jacob’s brother Esau sold his birthright of the rights of being the firstborn for a “pot of stew.” (Genesis 25:24-34) This story is recorded as a warning to us, as are all scriptures. The Roman people gave away their freedom for “food and circuses,” and people during the Middle Ages sold themselves and their own children as indentured servants… “slaves”… in order to eat and have a roof over their heads. It is for this very reason that we are instructed in scripture to trust in the Lord as Our Provider and we are to avoid the snare that “the love of money” and material things bring.
The Implications Of The Sin Of Coveting
At the heart of so many problems that we are facing socially and politically is “the sin of coveting.” The American Dream, in its present distorted form, has largely been based on violating God’s prohibition of coveting. Of all the commandments, it is the only one that doesn’t have an outward act of commission. It is a sin that is initially hidden. Madison Avenue and all their slick advertising campaigns play on this desire to have things that don’t belong to us. Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Eddie Bernays, took his uncle’s ideas from psychology and taught companies how to use them to manipulate the masses in order to get them to buy things they didn’t need. Bernays showed Corporate America how to play on the desires that are hidden in all of us. Corporate America’s campaigns make us feel guilty, inferior, and inadequate if we don’t have what Corporate America is peddling. They get us to go into debt and bondage for things that have no eternal significance, things that fall apart and rust away into oblivion. Corporate America gets rich while we go into greater levels of debt and bondage. As a nation, we also have been enticed to do the same thing.
The USA has been spending away its future for a few pleasures for the present time. We are told that we can do all these various things, many of them noble, and that life will be better for it. All we have to do is sign on the dotted line and give away our nation’s future. Sadly, we are borrowing from banks (including the private Federal Reserve Bank and foreign banks) at an astronomical rate. Frankly put, there isn’t enough money to be borrowed from banks to pay back the debt we have accumulated. So our government along with the Federal Reserve has been creating the money out of thin air, and in the process is destroying the purchasing power of our money. Food and other basic necessities are becoming more and more expensive and are taking a bigger piece out of the average person’s paycheck. The consequences of individuals and countries going into excessive debt have always been historically proven to be CATASTROPHIC. Many senior citizens would be ashamed of their actions and desires if they could see the connection between their desire for an easier life assisted by government programs and the subsequent declining economic and political future of their children and grandchildren. We must constantly remind ourselves that GOING INTO DEBT ALWAYS LEADS TO SOME FORM OF BONDAGE AND LOSS OF FREEDOM, regardless if it is done as individuals or as a nation and regardless of what the motive may be.
The Antidote To Coveting
The consequences of coveting, and the many sins it leads to, including stealing, are very sobering. Many individuals may ask then “What should we do about the poor and those in need?” In announcing The Kingdom of God, and Jesus Christ’s coming, John the Baptist warned the people of the coming judgment and told the people to repent… to change their ways. He told the crowds, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” What should we do then?” the crowd asked. John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?” “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely–be content with your pay.”
John the Baptist with his preaching connected The Kingdom of God with individuals not coveting what doesn’t belong to them and individuals showing compassion to one another through giving to those in need. In The Kingdom of God we are to stop coveting and be satisfied with our pay and we are to show compassion to our neighbor by sharing with him what we have. The early church took John the Baptist and Jesus teachings fully to heart, and therefore, they were noted for their love and compassion for one another. In the Book of Acts, chapter 2, verses 44 and 45, it says, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” Many times in the Apostle Paul’s letters to the various churches he noted their giving, and he also asked for offerings to help those in need. The early Christians expressed their love for God and one another in practical ways by showing compassion for each other and meeting one another needs as they could. The Books of Acts records believers actually selling property periodically in order to help their brothers and sisters who were in need. John the Baptist’s preaching and Jesus’ teaching on this matter were not a theoretical ideas for early believers… they had practical implications!
Serving God Or Money
It is amazing when you actually examine the Gospels and see how much Jesus talked about money and material processions and what we should do with them. He said in Mathew chapter 6, verses 19 to 21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” A few verses later Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” If we are coveting and lusting after material processions we will not be able to serve God. In practicality we will be a hindrance to His kingdom. God’s kingdom runs on a heavenly economy. There is never a shortage of the things we really need in God’s kingdom. Our Creator owns everything that we see, since He created it, and we are given the privilege of being stewards of what belongs to Him until He comes (Matthew 21:33-46). As His stewards we are to liberally give to those in need.
I have heard it argued over the years that the reason why socialism arose in our country and elsewhere, and individuals began to embrace it, was largely due to a failure on the part of Christ’s church to follow His command to show the love of God in practical ways, like giving to those in need. It has been said that if the church had been more faithful in meeting the needs of the poor, then the government would have never saw a need to take from one group in order to implement socialist programs for the benefit of another group. Until the 20th century the idea of “government charity” was foreign to our country. American Christians in the 1700 and 1800’s founded numerous charitable associations and missionary organizations to meet the needs of the poor and lost.
Real Compassion
Marvin Olasky in his book, The Tragedy of American Compassion, researched historically what was actually being done in the past in our country to meet the needs of the poor. Through examining historical sources, like newspapers of the time, Olasky discovered that our ancestors were much more motivated to give out of a sense of compassion and duty than recent generations of Americans. It was expected by society that if God had blessed you materially, that you would share with those in need the blessings God had given you. Everyone that had at least some means was expected to give. American society at this time believed that hoarding was an offense to God and to their fellow man. They believed that charity was the church’s role… not the government’s. The America of their time was much more merciful in many ways than our own, and at the same time their society would also be perceived as being very harsh at times because they believed in and promoted the idea of self sufficiency… not dependence. The American people of the 1800’s still recognize that they had no right to another man’s property, true charity was never forced but always prompted by mercy and compassion. America at this time still believed in the prohibitions that God has instituted to protect society.
In our time we have been plagued by “the prosperity gospel,” and other self-serving perversions of Christ’s Good News. We have bought into the lie that we all can be rich, and that somehow riches are an indicator of our spirit well being. We have also believed in a “do nothing Christianity” that involves personal piety but ignores the well being of our neighbor. The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) was commended because he displayed practical applications of God’s desire for us to show love and mercy to one another. He took his own money and paid for the injured man (verse 35). The Samaritan took God’s admonition to live out the Good News by “binding up the brokenhearted” and “to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion” (Isaiah 61:1-3) in real physical ways. In James 1:27 it says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” The Samaritan practiced a form of religion that God approves of. The question we should be asking ourselves in view of all the needs around us is, “Am I looking after widows, orphans, those in need, and am I keeping myself from being polluted by the world, including its coveting ways or am I expecting someone else, like our government, to show mercy and compassion?” Real faith always has works… FRUIT!
Times Just Like That Of Ancient Israel
During the time of the Judges, the scripture records that the people would come under oppression and in their desperation they would cry out to God. God would hear Israel’s cry and would raise up deliverers like Deborah, Gideon, or Samson to set the people free. After a time the Israelites would forget God and would turn back to their old ways, and would begin to worship idols that they had made from gold and silver. We are currently in a time similar to that of the time of the Judges. In the Book of Judges, chapter 21, verse 25, it says, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” Americans today are largely out for themselves and have become very lawless and won’t be ruled by anyone, just as the Israelites had become. We have rejected God’s Law and are largely out to get materially everything we can from this life. We have fallen into the sin of idolatry due to our not heeding God’s command regarding coveting.
It is interesting to note that the idols that the people worshiped were made from valuable metals just like the “golden calf” (Exodus chapter 32). Placing undue value on material things always leads to idolatry… the worshiping of false gods. This always leads to bondage. Our Creator wants us to be free in order that we serve Him only. Because of this, God will not allow us, His children, to worship false gods without Him doing something about it. In Isaiah 42:8 it says, “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols.” Because of Our Creator’s fierce love for us, Our Creator is presently shaking America and the world to their very foundations. He has allowed us to go into bondage and oppression in order that we will change our ways and cry out to Him. Our Lord is disciplining us in order that we come back to our senses and once again put our trust totally in Him. When we change our ways and stop trusting in people, institutions, and government, and stop coveting what doesn’t belong to us, and start trusting in Christ alone, then He will hear our cries for mercy and will come to our rescue. Repentance means we must change our ways, and follow God and His commands. So I ask you, If we don’t stop coveting, and we don’t start showing one another compassion and mercy… have we really changed our ways?
Godly Self Examination
Every few months to years we have elections. Satan would try to tell us that our vote doesn’t matter, or that for expediency sake we should compromise and vote for the lesser of evils. Our vote along with every other decision that we make in life matters, but our decisions can only help bring about goodness and positive change if we make our decisions and vote according to God’s Law. In view of this, I ask you to sit down before the Lord and examine what you believe and your actions in light of scripture. Ask yourself for example, Who am I trusting in? Am I being disobedient in my decisions and am I voting according to God’s Law? How might I be violating the Ten Commandments and other commands of God? Have I rationalized my decisions and my voting and nullified God’s commands just as Jesus accused the Pharisees of doing? When I vote, who am I trusting in God or men? Am I voting out of obedience and love, or am I voting out of hatred and fear? These are just a few of the questions that we need to ask ourselves before our Creator. When enough of God’s people do this, and we truly examine our hearts and our ways, and then align ourselves with what God’s Word says, then we will have evidence that real repentance has happened with God’s people and that true revival is already on its way.
I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ gives us the grace to do just that! I pray that God gives us the grace to choose freedom and to show compassion to those around us in need! I pray that Our Lord is patient with us and shows us much mercy until we do so and that He keeps us from pressing His patience to its limits!
About Tom and Ann Gendich