The View From 1776

What we need is a change of heart that is faithful, true, and enduring

By Marie Jon, Christian  analyst

 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” ? 2 Corinthians 5:17

At one point in my grandfather’s young life, he found himself to be a very unhappy man. He became angrier and angrier with every passing day. He knew he had a problem, but he wasn’t about to admit it to his wife and children. Grandpa would often say that he was misunderstood by others, including his own family. Instead of seeking guidance, he made them pay the price for his pent-up frustrations.

Too often he took his anger out on his family by becoming verbally abusive behind closed doors. And then, when it was over, he would leave the house in a huff, while hanging his head in shame over the fact that he had just treated his defenseless brood so badly. Within his heart, he knew he was wrong.

With tears stinging his eyes, he would walk down the street whispering to himself a promise to never do that again. He would assure my grandmother that he really meant it. But just a week later, after a tough long day at work, he would do it again. And at times he would break furniture into pieces while shouting at the top of his voice. He frightened his entire family, who cowered in their bedrooms.

These escalating acts were repeated just like a time-bomb ticking. He yelled at his wife and snapped at his kids without provocation, again and again. It was those outside forces that annoyed him. Unfortunately, this young father and husband had not learned not to bring destructive emotions through the door of his own home.

A changed heart

Thankfully, grandfather’s life changed and there was happiness after all. For you see, grandfather made a promise to God to follow Him. And by grace, he allowed Christ to have His way. He literally became the father that my dad longed for. And to God’s glory, grandfather became one of the major reasons why my own father gave his own life to the Lord. His father’s transformation was a tremendous witness to attest to what Christ can do when you’re willing to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit.

Because of my young age, I never experienced the out-of-control and angry side of “papa.” He was, to me, a happy, kind, smiling face who sang with the church choir. Those are the memories I’m privileged to have whenever I think of him. He died a little over two years ago with his loving family by his side.

The truth is that no matter what your personal circumstances are, when the human spirit yields itself to God, His love can bring about changes because He is faithful. It’s my personal opinion that folks can’t truly alter their lives without a commitment to a loving God. The Bible describes this as having a born-again experience:

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

Man is sinful and separated from God, yet He still loves us. Being apart from God makes it impossible for people to keep promises to themselves and put a stop to doing things they know are destructive behavior. But by the grace of God, they can overcome their sinful nature.

“When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” (Matt. 19:25-26).

Willpower not enough

To this very day, America is still fighting a war against terrorism. I can’t help but think of the tremendous increase in church attendance shortly after the World Trade Center collapsed in 2001. Stunned and very frightened, people suddenly became determined to be on good footing with the Almighty God.

Prominent pastors became enthusiastic because an act of terrorism promised to precipitate a major spiritual revival in America. Unfortunately, it took only two short months and it was over. Church attendance went right back down to where it was before the horrific attack took place.

It’s regrettable that this revival only lasted a couple of months. Didn’t the people who suddenly went back to church actually mean to return to matters of faith and take it seriously? They had the perfect opportunity to experience a renewal and make a positive impact on society, while bolstering morality which is floundering in our country today. I am convinced, for the most part, that they did, at least for the time being. It’s evident, however, that fear was not enough of a motivator to keep their religious faith intact, it was enough only to bring them to church temporarily. When the planes stopped crashing into buildings, life just simply went back to the mundane. People quickly forgot all their promises and went back to the way things were.

We can spend a lot of time deciphering the self-sufficient will of human beings who do a lot of talking about willpower and the strength of sheer determination. Apply those topics to arenas in the world of business, careers, or politics, and there is something to be said for that. We live in a country where we can become as successful as the next person. However, in the world of faith, sheer willpower simply isn’t enough, because most temptations are bigger than the willpower we can muster up all by ourselves.

Broken promises

While reading through my Bible, I’m reminded about the Israelites. In the Book of Exodus, they had just been delivered from Egyptian slavery. God’s “Promised People” had seen the hand of God part the Red Sea and drown the Egyptians. They witnessed the fiery presence of God come down on the top of Mount Sinai. As they were privileged to watch the spectacular wonder of the moment, they made a solemn promise to God. Moses spoke with God, and then gave a report to the Israelites:

“And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord had commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, ‘All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.’ And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord” (Exodus 19:7, 8).

The Israelites made a promise to God, and they believed it was an easy promise to make after following God’s presence out into the desert. They repeatedly made the same promise after Moses had received the Ten Commandments:

“And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words which the Lord hath said will we do’” (Exodus 24:3).

They repeated the same promise again a couple of verses later:

“And Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it before the people, and they said, ‘All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient’” (Exodus 24:7).

When the Israelites made these promises they were sincere. Unfortunately, the rest of the Book of Exodus and the Bible exposes the sad record of God’s people repeatedly breaking their promises to the Lord. They found themselves doing the very things they had promised God they would never do again.

The problem is not just sin, but ‘sinfulness’

I believe that God’s people today mean it when they promise to stop committing certain sins. They just don’t have what it takes to keep their promises. There has to be a real personal relationship with the Lord. When you love God, you want to please Him.

The Word describes sin as the transgression of God’s moral law: “And the problem of sin runs very deep. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).

But sin is not just something we do. It’s also something we allow to enter into our lives. God could have solved the whole problem by just removing the laws we were breaking. Yet, intuitively, we know there’s more to it than that. Our sins separate us from God. The Scriptures say that we are powerless to change our sinful ways by ourselves:

Isaiah wrote, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).

The prophet Jeremiah expounds on the subject plainly: “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23).

God says that you can no more change your sinful nature than you can change the color of your skin. If transgression were just a matter of breaking the rules, all you would have to do is stop breaking them. Can you do that?

But there is something about the human heart that has been changed by the nature of sin. Unless regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians will continually find themselves helpless to live the life they know they should live to glorify their Savior. They will not be able to witness to others and draw others close to them. The work of the Great Commission will be difficult to complete ?

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:16-20).

A faithful heart

It’s obvious that too many Christians suffer from a heart problem. So get out there and flex your spiritual muscle, and with God’s help begin to change your ways.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Breaking God’s law is sin. Acting out and being disobedient has trickled down into the very essence of our being. Everything we do is infected by it. Even the good things we do, according to the Bible are sullied:

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness is as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

Without a spiritual rebirth, even with all the good we do, our works are like filthy rags. Sin will have sway over us. Mankind’s thought processes have been perverted. Sin has altered our misguided priorities. Most importantly, it has taken our focus off “The Great I Am” and put it squarely on ourselves.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Our own weakness explains why we sometimes find ourselves unable to walk away from sinful habits. We know that smoking cigarettes can cause cancer. Yet we often refuse to take personal responsibility and break free from a psychological habit. We know that bad temper can ruin our family, but we can’t seem to close the lid on our fuse. We know that our lying, gossiping mouth is doing untold damage to others. Yet many will not have that conversation with the Lord and ask Him to help them change.

Not alone

Take solace in the fact that you are not alone and that everybody struggles with something. You have never experienced a temptation that somebody else hasn’t felt:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Whatever you’re going through, others have walked that same path. Let me share with you a little secret. The most recognized persons in the Bible have struggled with the same temptations you struggle with.

Most of the disciples proved to be faulty in one way or another because they were human, despite being saved by the blood of their Savor. Did you know that Moses had an extremely hot temper? David certainly struggled with a lust problem. And Abraham lied about his wife to save his own skin. Peter struggled with taking a stand in public acknowledging his discipleship. He denied his Lord three times. Noah had a problem with alcohol.

The Bible is full of people just like you and me. It’s amazing that throughout His Word, God refused to abandon suffering people. If you are willing to be used by God, and willing to let Him make the changes in your life, you’ll be astonished at how He can turn things around.

Real hope and change

As we strive to remove a Marxist progressive agenda that now plagues our country, we must understand the game plan: If “We the People” are not willing to return to the God of our forefathers, there will be little or no chance to do what we desire to accomplish.

America’s beginnings where ushered in by men of faith who embraced the fact that mankind received their inalienable rights from our Creator God.

Patriots, it’s time to dust off your Bibles and put your emphasis on the Word of God. Let us never forget that God established the greatest nation in the world. When we think of freedom, remember that it is The Almighty who has given us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What America needs is a change of heart that is faithful, true, and enduring.

Marie Jon is a political/religious-based writer and founder of http://www.DrawingClose.org , a sister website to RenewAmerica. Marie extends her hand of welcome; visit DrawingClose and receive your free gift of salvation by taking an online Bible study.

In Sunday’s sermon at the Cohocton Assembly of God church, Pastor Dan Gardner used a text from the Book of Malachi:

10 Have we not all one Father; Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?

11 Judah has broken faith. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves, by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. 12 As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the LORD cut him off from the tents of Jacob —even though he brings offerings to the LORD Almighty.

13 Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’s altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14 You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

15 Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring.  So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

16 “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. 
So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith. (Malachi 2:10-16)

In the Biblical sense, marriage covenants can be viewed on three levels.  First is the bond between individuals and God.  Second is the covenant between Israel and God; after Jesus’s crucifixion, the new covenant in His blood, joining all Christians in the church as children of God.  Finally, in the marriage bond between husband and wife and between parents and children.  These, obviously, are interrelated and can be seen as aspects of keeping faith with God.

All three levels of covenant require transformation of our lives and abandoning our old, immoral ways.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.  (Genesis 2:24)

Malachi focuses primarily upon Israel’s repeated failures to live up to its side of the covenant with God and identifies, as a primary source of deviation, Israelites marrying foreign women and beginning to worship their foreign gods.  But the encompassing focus is upon avoiding what today could be called the moral relativism of multi-culturalism propounded in our amoral and secular public educational system.

To maintain the integrity of our families and to pass along to our children the Word of God, husbands and wives must be true to each other and they must be true to God.  A society built upon that foundation will survive and prosper as a testimony to the faith of God.

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

6 “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Joshua 1:1-8)

For thousands of years the Jews worked to save their society and preserve their religion by avoiding marriage outside their faith.  But, since the advent of secular rationalism in mid-18th century, increasing numbers of them have slowly drifted away from worshipping God and become secular, nominal Jews.  Many Jewish leaders today fear that assimilation to secular culture will doom Judaism.

In the same way, Christians have drifted away from the Judeo-Christian morality upon which the United States was founded. We and Jews alike have worshipped foreign gods: money, power, sensual gratification, and our own intellects.

To preserve our society, at the most basic level, Christians must guide our children away from marriage to non-believers to avoid the ruination against which Malachi warned.

To preserve the United States from disintegration from within or destruction from without, we must return to having only one God, the God of our fathers.  We must love our brothers and sisters in God’s church on earth, and we must deal fairly and charitably with everyone else.

Pastor Dan Gardner’s sermon at the Cohocton Assembly of God church was based upon a principle enunciated by the Apostle Paul:

You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. (Titus 2:1)

Moreover, we must walk the walk, not just talk it, as the Old Testament prophet Malachi told the descendants of Levi, roughly 400 years before the advent of Jesus Christ:

“And now this admonition is for you, O priests. 2 If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name,” says the LORD Almighty, “I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me.

3 “Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from your festival sacrifices, and you will be carried off with it. 4 And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the LORD Almighty. 5 “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin.

7 “For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction—because he is the messenger of the LORD Almighty. 8 But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,” says the LORD Almighty. 9 “So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law.” (Malachi 2:1-9)

Today, as did the priests admonished by Malachi, too many preachers and others professing to impart God’s teachings are spreading false doctrine or ridiculing people who stand up for the Word of God. 

TV commentator Brit Hume, for example, was lambasted by the liberal-progressive media for suggesting that Tiger Woods would find more comfort and regain his moral path by accepting Jesus Christ as his savior than he evidently had found in Buddhism.  Liberal-progressive criticism, from putative Christian churches as well as from atheists and agnostics, was voiced in the name of toleration, which in the realm of secular materialism means that there can be no standards of morality. Religion is declared to be an unscientific “value judgment.” That is false doctrine amounting to worship of the political state and human reason as the sole route to truth.

Too many purportedly Christian ministers today have abandoned Christianity.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:6-9)

Those Christian-in-name-only ministers have reverted to the Social Gospel of the late 19th and early 20th century.  They intone the aims of Christianity, but invoke it in the name of servility to the socialistic political state.  Not the Bible, but an intellectual elite, is to be the source of morality.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. (1 Timothy 4:1)

The result is a lack of balance between platitudes about helping people in in the abstract and the difficult path of individual moral responsibility.  Worship in such churches is as likely to advocate abortion, under the rubric of women’s rights, as to preach the Gospel of life and individual brotherly love.  For some, God is a broad concept, as easily viewed as Gaia the Mother Earth goddess, as the God of the Bible.  Too many of these preachers have forgotten the commandment to have no other gods and to worship only God.

They find it socially inconvenient to proclaim Jesus crucified for our sins and resurrected to give us eternal life.  Their preaching becomes self-gratification or grasping for money or power.  They need to follow the lead of the Apostle Paul:

Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. (2 Corinthians 4:2)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Preaching the truth means preaching from the authority of the Bible, the inspired Word of God.  The great throngs who followed Jesus during his ministry loved him and were inspired by him, because, unlike the Pharisees, he taught as one with authority, one who was the Word of God incarnate.  Ministers of the gospel, and we as individuals, must rest our thoughts and utterances in the Bible.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. (Titus 1:9)

1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

Franklin Roosevelt in his 1930s New Deal forced everyone to pay taxes into the Social Security administration, deliberately drawing resources away from the many thousands of local charitable organization chapters to be found in every community around the nation.  With each ratcheting up since then of Federal “security,” what FDR call a Second Bill of Rights that he had imposed upon the nation, we have become less individuals with personal moral responsibility, and more passive members of bureaucratically defined social classes.

What FDR desired, and liberal-progressives still lust for, is Bismarck’s aim in creating the world’s first welfare system: the power to herd citizens like cattle.

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An American Charity Slump?
By Nathan Tabor

The Obama Administration and both houses of the U.S. Congress are fast-tracking a number of programs designed to increase the size of what’s commonly known as the “welfare state”.

These programs are having a devastating impact on American charitable giving. While the wealthy have been vilified, the census data shows that households earning $200,000-plus, which comprise only 2.6% of all households who submit tax returns, give nearly 50% of all individual charitable contributions.

One of the drawbacks of the Obama Administration’s and the liberal-left’s tax law revision is the decrease in the amount charity-givers may deduct from their annual federal income tax. Ideologues, such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others, believe the government should use the “cover” of charity as a means of redistributing wealth.

In other words, President Obama’s version of “charity” is more akin to Karl Marx than it is to Jesus Christ. Obama and his ilk are charitable, to be sure, but they’re charitable with other people’s money.

In the days before Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Great Society, it was the Christian church that provided food, clothing, and shelter for the poor and destitute members of society.

For example, during The Great Depression and thereafter, the majority of “soup kitchens” and “shelters” were run by local churches. The homeless were provided a warm meal, a place to rest, and a chance to hear the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ. Christians in those days understood that if you were to address the needs of the soul, it was best to first address the needs of the body.

While President Obama can’t wait to get his hands on this nation’s health care, many Americans have forgotten that it was the Christian church and Jewish temples that built most of the hospitals and clinics. Religious groups provided medical treatment to people who were given the bums’ rush out of hospitals because they were too poor to pay for treatment.

For example, in New York City, hospitals still bear the names given by religious groups who created them--Saint Vincent’s Hospital, Calvary Hospital, Christ Hospital, and many others. While the city government manages 10 non-profit hospitals, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies manages 15 health care centers.

But today, we run the grave risk of letting the government undermine support of these charitable institutions and thus eliminating crucial charitable services.

While President Obama and his minions will never tell citizens they should stop giving to faith-based organizations, their actions appear to be intentionally or unintentionally stifling such charitable giving. It’s a fact that many politicians in Washington believe the government is better able to distribute charitable services than people whom they view as simpleminded Bible-thumpers.

According to a survey conducted on behalf of Dunham+Company by Wilson Research Strategies, Americans reported that they are beginning to spend more of their disposable income on entertainment and other household expenses, while continuing to reduce or stop their charitable giving.

Compared to the 2009 study, Dunham+Company’s 2010 New Year’s Philanthropy Survey shows that in spite of a surprising 56% jump in the number of households indicating they have not reduced their household budget as a result of the economy, 37% of the respondents said they continue to reduce their charitable donations and nearly 1 in 4 reported in the survey that they have completely stopped charitable giving. The WRS survey reveals that statistically the 2010 rates are the same as last year’s rates.

However, Rick Dunham, the president and CEO of Dunham+Company, a firm that helps Christian ministries with marketing, fundraising, and media relations, said there are some exceptions.

“When you dig into the data, you find that more of those who frequent religious services indicate that in spite of the economy, they are continuing or increasing their support of charity in 2010 compared to 2009,” he said in a press statement. “Fewer of these households have reduced or stopped their giving. This is especially impressive as there is actually a 10% increase in the number of non-religious households who say they have stopped their giving as we enter 2010.”

Dunham+Company’s survey also indicates that households earning $35,000 or less are much more likely to have reduced or stopped charitable giving (33% more than the national average), whereas households earning $100,000 or more are less likely to have reduced or stopped their charitable giving (38% less than the national average). However, about one in six frequent churchgoers say they do intend to give more, which is 33% greater than those who do not attend church.

While the survey reveals a disturbing reduction in charitable giving, respondents are not enthusiastic about having the federal government come in to pick up the slack.

For example, when asked about their support for federal funding of health care necessitating increased taxes on the wealthy, a whopping 63% of those surveyed rejected such a policy.

“The data related to giving basically remains unchanged from 2009,” Dunham said. “Most charities should expect contributions to remain relatively flat this year, which is not good news for the many non-profits that are struggling. But religious charities should fare better than most as there are a greater number of these households indicating they are supporting charities as we begin this year compared to last year.”

Mr. Dunham points to one bright spot, however, for all charities. The findings do indicate that there should be a resurgence in giving by households making $75,000 or more a year. Among those making $75,000 but less than $100,000, this year’s survey showed an 80% jump in those who intend to increase their support of charity in 2010 (18% in 2010 compared to 10% in 2009) and for households making $100,000 or more there was a 31% jump compared to one year ago (21% in 2010 compared to 16% in 2009).

But now that Obama has unveiled his budget and the increase in taxes on households making $250,000 or more and decreasing the amount they can deduct for charitable giving, this intention to give more may be short-lived.

The economic crisis and now the policies of the Obama Administration may mean a prolonged American charity slump that will wreak havoc on charities for years to come.

Sunday’s sermon at the Cohocton Assembly of God Church was delivered by Elder Joel Martin.  His principal text was from the Book of Matthew:

1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

    5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them ‘Rabbi.’ (Matthew 23:1-7)

23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

    27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Matthew 23:23-28)

Like the Pharisees who too often told others what to do without doing it themselves, we too often mouth platitudes about the Christian way of life without following Jesus.  To succeed at anything, from sports to religion, requires sincere dedication and continued application.  We have to get serious about it.

First, we have to be saved by becoming believers in Christ Jesus.  That justifies us before God through Jesus’s willing sacrifice of His own life.  But to be truly saved we must travel the lifelong road of sanctification - becoming as nearly Christlike as our human condition allows. 

By their fruit you will recognize them. ( Matthew 7:16)

Traveling the path of sanctification necessitates motivation.  That is a function of what’s inside us, what’s in our hearts.  An outward show in the manner of the Pharisees criticized by Jesus won’t do it.

What helps us to stick to the path of sanctification?

First, prayer.  As the Apostle Paul advised the Thessalonians:

16Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Second, study the Word of God. 

12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Third, while faith, not works, is the path to salvation, we must work to be truly faithful and to purify ourselves.

1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2)

Fourth, seek fellowship in the body of the church, where mutual help can be found.

Finally, stick to it.

16 for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. (Proverbs 24:16)

Pastor Dan Gardner’s sermon at the Cohocton Assembly of God Church was taken from the Book of Malachi, chapter 1, verses 6 through 14.

6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty. “It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. 
"But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

7 “You place defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ 
"By saying that the LORD’s table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the LORD Almighty.

9 “Now implore God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?"-says the LORD Almighty.

10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the LORD Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty.

12 “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty.  "When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

We no longer give to God with burnt offerings of sacrificial animals or grain as the Israelites did.  Even then, however, the prophets repeatedly made clear that such material evidences of worship were meaningless without a Spirit-infused heart that attuned us to God’s Will, that softened our hearts to do the right thing for our fellows, Christian and non-Christian alike.

Malachi’s message is particularly apt for us today, because the United States is in much the same back-slidden condition as were the Israelites.  Too many of us have forgotten the Author of our blessings, too many of us pridefully exalt our own intellects and look to the secular political state for our salvation.

Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, was written approximately 400 years before the coming of Jesus Christ.  The prophet’s admonition to the Israelites came after their return from the Babylonian captivity and the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem’s protective walls.  The Israelites, regaining freedom and prosperity, once again had abandoned their obligations under the Mosaic covenant with God.  They made temple worship into a perfunctory, insincere ritual.  Even the priests demeaned their calling given by God to Levi at the time of the Exodus.

If we are to avoid a fate such as theirs under the Roman Empire in AD 70, we will have to repent and to open our hearts to God’s message through the Holy Spirit.  That means doing our true best, focusing our hearts fully upon His Will for us.

28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29"The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[31The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:28-31)

It means aligning our lives with the commandments of God.  An improper and insincere sacrifice in Malachi’s time amounted to breaking, in spirit, the Mosaic law.  Today our self-centered greed and go-with-the-flow worship of the atheistic, secular political state is an affront to God, who created the United States and gave us political liberty and prosperity.

A worthy offering to God must be made in spirit and in truth. 

23"Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)

TV news moderator Brit Hume has been pilloried for suggesting that Tiger Woods find personal peace in Jesus Christ.  Michael Gerson offers a rebuttal.

Quote:

In this controversy, we are presented with two models of discourse. Hume, in an angry sea of loss and tragedy—his son’s death in 1998—found a life preserver in faith. He offered that life preserver to another drowning man. Whatever your view of Hume’s beliefs, he could have no motive other than concern for Woods himself.

The other model has come from critics such as Shales, in a spittle-flinging rage at the mention of religion in public, comparing Hume to “Mary Poppins on the joys of a tidy room, or Ron Popeil on the glories of some amazing potato peeler.” Shales, of course, is engaged in proselytism of his own—for a secular fundamentalism that trivializes and banishes all other faiths. He distributes the sacrament of the sneer.

Who in this picture is the more intolerant?

What makes liberal-progressives’ angry and derisive attack ironic is that, since 1965 with the passage of President Johnson’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Federal government has been using taxpayers’ money to teach the secular religion of socialism.

For his sermon text at the Cohocton Assembly of God Church, Pastor Dan Gardner chose:

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.  And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.  For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

(Kabakkuk 2:1-3, King James Version)

The prophet Habakkuk wrote this short book near the end of the kingship in Judah.  In it he foresees the Babylonian Captivity that lay roughly 25 years in the future.  As did the long succession of prophets from King Saul onward, Habakkuk rebuked the Israelites for straying from the spirit of the Mosaic law.

In the first chapter of the book, he asks God two fundamental questions.  First, why does God allow wickedness such as that besetting Judah to continue?  God answers that He is sending the Babylonians to punish Judah.  Second, Habakkuk asks God why He is sending Babylon, a nation worse than Judah, as punishers?  God answers that they too, in time, will be punished.

In response, Habakkuk, in the verses quoted above, resolves to wait and watch for the Lord’s Word.  God tells him to record the vision of coming retribution and make it plain for messengers to read, understand, and spread the message.  Meanwhile, God tells him, wait for fulfillment of the vision with the coming of the Babylonians.

Though we no longer have Biblical prophets among us, our situation today is uncomfortably similar to that of the Kingdom of Judah in Habakkuk’s time.  Our nation, along with most of the Western world, has strayed far from the path intended by God for us.  We worship a false god, the secular political state, as the source of our salvation, while we wallow in every manner of degraded sensuality.  Instead of donating our time and money to helping people in our communities who are suffering ill health or financial setbacks, we profligately pile on personal debt to gain immediate gratification of our selfish desires.

Somewhere on the horizon an enemy, perhaps Islamic jihad, is coming to humble us and to remind us that our past good fortune was given in stewardship to us by God.  To remind us that neither we nor the secular political state is the author of whatever good fortune we experience.

In our homes and in our places of worship, Christians and religious Jews must rededicate ourselves to listen prayerfully for inspiration from the Holy Spirit.  We must metaphorically set ourselves again upon a tower to catch a vision of what God will say to us and how we shall respond to His reproof.

Isaiah 35:1-10

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
   
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly,
   
and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
   
the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
   
the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
   
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
   
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
   
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible recompense.
   
He will come and save you.’

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
   
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
   
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
   
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
   
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
the haunt of jackals shall become a swamp,
   
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

A highway shall be there,
   
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
   
but it shall be for God’s people;
  
no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray.
No lion shall be there,
   
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
   
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
   
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
   
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
   
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

James 5:7-10

 Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Psalm 146:4-9
   
4
Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! *
     whose hope is in the LORD their God;
5
Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *
     who keeps his promise for ever;
6
Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *
     and food to those who hunger.
7
The LORD sets the prisoners free;
     the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; *
     the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
8
The LORD loves the righteous;
the LORD cares for the stranger; *
     he sustains the orphan and widow,
     but frustrates the way of the wicked.
9
The LORD shall reign for ever, *
     your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.
     Hallelujah!

Matthew 11:2-11

 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way before you.”
Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.