CHRISTIAN HERITAGE
IS THREATENED
INTRODUCTION
Our Christian heritage is threatened by forces of evil that seek to overpower, weaken, or eliminate influence; with rulings and laws made to strip away Christian heritage established a long time ago!
The Prophet Isaiah cried out: Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight (Isaiah 5:21). Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him (Isaiah 5:23). Those words seemingly leap out identifying what is happening today by those who are allowing such to be cultivated and nourished!
Christian Heritage is Threatened
Waiver in Commitment
One reason why our Christian heritage is threatened: If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity (Daniel Webster).
There are nations that no longer possess the same standing as before; having waivered in their commitment to God, allowing ungodliness to flourish rather than continued allegiance to God! The Parable of the Vineyard, described by Isaiah, noted such a circumstance in which despite all of God's nourishment and provision it produced evil fruit instead of good.
God's response: What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth (good) grapes, brought it forth wild (evil) grapes ((Isaiah 5:4)? Instead of being a parable of abundant provision it became a parable of judgment.
Selling of One's
Birthright
Our Christian heritage is threatened by a generation who no longer hold fast to what has been passed from one generation to the next! The result is the church, and its heritage, is being challenged by a cultural revolution that seeks to change Biblical standards; allowing induction of unbiblical lifestyles as norm, rather than rejecting such based on the Word of God. In so doing it has sold its birthright as that of Esau.
Scripture reveals: Jacob (Esau's brother) said, sell me this day your birthright. And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright be to me (Genesis 26:31-32). Scripture reveals that Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.
It was noted that afterward, when Esau desired the blessing of his birthright (as the firstborn), he was rejected; that he repented in tears but the situation was irrevocable! The birthright was received through deception and treachery but was binding and became costly to Esau. Are we not selling our birthright with approval of laws and rulings made to facilitate a present day cultural and ungodly drift?
Cousins of Communism
Our Christian heritage is threatened when one allows the seeds of Marxism and Socialism (cousins of Communism) to be planted and nourished though deception as to their destructive nature. Under the guise of the betterment of mankind, its policies include a desire to overcome Christianity in order to triumph!
Established goals are: Capture the culture via infiltration of schools, universities, churches, and the media, by transforming the consciousness of society, discredit the family as an institution, break down moral anchors by promoting pornography and homosexuality as normal and healthy, infiltrate the press, gain control of key positions in the government, infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with social religion and discredit the Bible.
Deceptive titles are: The Great Reset, New World Order, Build Back Better, and Progressives who seek to dominate and control rather than improve! Our Christian heritage is threatened with an attempt to divert the emphasis from spiritual to material needs! The selling of one's birthright is surfacing as such policies become acceptable.
God's Anvil of
Justice
Preaching is the God-ordained means to present defection from the truth. There has been a deviation from such a responsibility; for had it continued sin would not be as rampant and openly flaunted! The pre-Flood days of Noah, that brought God's judgment on the world, is flourishing once again!
The Sodom and Gomorrah setting, condemned in God's Word, is flourishing once again! Apostle Peter revealed: God turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow (to destruction), making them an example to those that afterward should live ungodly (2 Peter 2:6). Our Christian heritage is threatened on a number of fronts, despite a warning in God's Word, ushering in God's anvil of justice, and His judgmental hammer striking down on those responsible!
Turning Away from
the Truth
The Apostle Paul warned Timothy, a young evangelist: The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine: but after their lusts (desires) shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; they shall turn away from the truth, and shall be turned into fables (that which is fictitious). But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry (2 Timothy 4:3-5).
Just prior to those words, the Apostle Paul told Timothy: Preach the word; be instant (ready) in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine (2 Timothy 4:2). Those words are no less instructive today; accept becoming more necessary when we see our Christian heritage threatened; not only by forces from without but within!
Church Walking with
the World
A poem entitled "The Church Walking with the World" (author unknown) identifies why our Christian heritage is being threatened: The World said your preachers are all too old and plain. They frighten my children with dreadful takes that I do not like to hear. They speak of judgments, fire, pain, and the doom of the darkest night.
They warn of a place that should not be thus spoken to ears polite! I will send you some of a better stamp, more brilliant and fast, who will show men how they may live as they please and go to heaven at last. So she called for pleasing, deemed gifted, and great, and learned; and the plain old men who had perched the cross were out of their pulpits turned.
Our Christian heritage is threatened by those who attempt to wipe out previous planted seeds of righteousness; being undermined by a generation who no longer adhere to the strict guidelines established in the instructive Word of God. There is condoning of ungodly lifestyles rather than exposing and rejecting them!
Fellowship of Others
Our Christian heritage is threatened when God's Word is ignored in regards to who one associates with. The Apostle Paul wrote: Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship (in common) has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light (righteousness) with darkness (sinfulness) (2 Corinthians 6:14)?
The church in many instances is rubbing elbows with a worldly (ungodly) environment that is becoming more acceptable! There are those who attend church regularly while (often times unknowingly) indulging in sin with no remorse or conviction. It is another instance where our Christian heritage is threatened when sin is not longer preached against!
Acceptance Rather than
Rejection
The Apostle Paul wrote: What agreement has the temple of God with idols (the ungodly)? For you (believers) are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you and will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:16-18).
Those words are clear; yet our Christian heritage is threatened by those who fail to receive the entirety of God's Word, while professing to be Christians and leading others astray. We are seeing an acceptance, rather than rejection of ungodliness, which can only lead to the judgmental side of God being unleashed; if repentance does not come to the forefront!
The solution to this downward trend; whether a nation or an individual, in revealed in God's Word: If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land (2 Corinthians 7:14). It was noted that while this promise was originally given to King Solomon regarding the people of Israel, it is applicable to all who will call on the Lord in repentance and faith!
Need for a Renewed
Commitment
Our Christian heritage was threatened, as noted: We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power but we have forgotten God.
We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these things were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us (Abraham Lincoln).
A prayer to maintain our Christian heritage is found in this prayer offered to God: Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Endow with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in Your name we entrust the authority of government. In time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and, in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in You to fail; all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord (George Washington). As a nation, or individual, our dependence should be upon God as our source of strength and preservation!
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