The last three days have convince me more and more that we have less chance of seeing America experience a Third Great Awakening, however I must remind myself that God is always in control. He is still seated on His throne. But I cannot think of a time in my nearly 53 years on earth that we needed revival more than we need it now. If ever we’ve needed the truth of Romans 12:1-2 it is now:
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“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.†(Romans 12:1-2)
Here’s where I lose more of you today, but hey if it this devotional ends up just God and me then I’ll be back where He first had me and that is a good thing.
In the last three days in many of the emails I have received regarding the Massachusetts Senate race and why we must support pro-choice GOP candidate Scott Brown, I’ve never seen such stinkin’ thinkin’!
I’ve been told Scott Brown is more pro-life than Martha Coakley. If I am to understand this way of thinking then there are different levels of being pro-life. I hope someone will explain that one to me because I thought being pro-life was like being pregnant; you either are or you are not. It might just be me. But apparently you can be pro-life and still support killing babies with government funding if it is not elective surgery. If a doctor recommends an abortion because the mother’s life is in danger or because the father is a criminal, that mother has no choice but to chose an abortion (more on that on Salt and Light Blog later this week).
I’ve asked many a Christian who has emailed me this weekend how are they going to explain their support for a pro-choice candidate to Jesus before the Bema Seat. Those emails were more disconcerting than the reasons for supporting Brown. I’ll visit the subject of the Bema Seat later this week because we clearly need a better understanding of what that is.
Casting Crowns has a new CD out and there is a song on it that clearly displays its leader Mark Hall’s heart and his cry for our nation. The first two verses say:
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Hear our cry, LORD, we pray
Our faces down, our hands are raised
YOU called us out; we turned away
We’ve turned away
With shipwrecked faith the idols rise
We do what is right in our own eyes
Our children now will pay the price
We need Your light, LORD, shine Your light
Mmm, with shipwrecked faith the idols rise…man does that just nail it. How has the church got to the point of doing “what is right in our own eyes� It’s happened before; it’s not new, just improved in an evil sense.
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“Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger. They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed…In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.†(Judges 2:11-15; 21:25)
How has the Church got to the point where its leaders, including many conservative pundits, have come to the point that they would try to convince the flock that it is okay to vote for a pro-choice candidate and that Jesus would sanction it? How is it that Christian leaders and laypeople alike believe that voting for the lesser of two evils is not only biblical but okay with God?
Simple; they have become “conformed to this world.†We look to Washington D.C. and the Republican Party to save our nation instead of looking to the Benevolent One, the Providential Hand as George Washington described God. And never were more truer words sung than those of Mark Hall’s in the chorus of his song:
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If we’ve ever needed YOU
LORD, it’s now
LORD, it’s now
We are desperate for Your hand
We’re reaching out
We’re reaching out
I don’t know Bro Mark; I don’t know if we are reaching out; I pray we are reaching out, then we can do what your third verse says:
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All our hearts, all our strength
With all our minds, we’re at Your feet
May Your kingdom come in our hearts and lives
Let Your church arise, let Your church arise
We will not begin reaching out with all our hearts, all our strength, with all our minds until those minds are “transformed by the renewing of your mind†because we certainly are not able to test “what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God†with our way of thinking today.
I was speaking with a dear brother in Christ on the phone last night who called in need of some encouragement. He was discouraged that so many people who he admires have given into the stinkin’ thinkin’ of political pragmatism in place of personal piety. I explained to him that the biblical principles he is defending and trying to convince others of is the core of the issue; the core of the onion if you will. And to get to the core we have to “peel back the onionâ€; in other words we have to remove the stinkin’ thinkin’ to get to the core.
And that is what I intend to do this week. The Prophet Isaiah warned us centuries ago about stinkin’ thinkin’:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!†(Isaiah 5:20)
God has pierced my heart with His aletheia truth and while cutting out the cancer of evil thought is painful, it is no less good for us and much needed. We need to allow our spiritual surgeon the Holy Spirit to do a work on us this week.
I pray you are all prepared for it.
If not, then prepare ye your hearts…
In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4
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