Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom in America

Is it ok for Christians to disobey laws or mandates that go against our own convictions along with the Word of God? What did the early Christians in America base their conviction of being anti-slavery on?

Let’s look at a couple things first…

The year is 1774. A full two years before a declaration of Independence is announced. America’s first anti-slavery society is founded by Benjamin Franklin and Dr. Benjamin Rush, both would go on to become signers of the official Declaration of Independence. This was an act of civil disobedience against King George III as he said that America could not end slavery.

Dr. Benjamin Rush and Benjamin Franklin knew that America and slavery could not co-exist. Many who claim that our Constitution is outdated and racist either lack the knowhow to simply read the document or just refuse accept truth. The truth is that the Constitution paved the way to end slavery here in America. These two original founders decided to ignore the decree laid out by King George and worked to end slavery anyway. Benjamin Rush would continue the fight to end slavery for the next 4 decades while even heading a national abolition movement.

For several Founders, they were highly motivated to end slavery as we see in the actions of John Quincy Adams who despised the idea of slavery so much so that as he was actively fighting against it, he was given the nick name “the hell-hound of abolition”. He was relentless in his efforts to abolish this evil as were several of our founders.

John Adams, statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, Founding Father, 2^nd President of the United States, “church-going animal” instilled in his son. Quincy Adams, a hatred of slavery and desire to end it. Quincy would go on to become the 6^th President of the United States years later. John Adams passed on the same desire to his son to fight for what is right and that is freedom for all. Quincy would then instill that same passion and zeal to a little known, young Congressman from Illinois who would eventually go on to become our 16^th President that would implement Quincy’s 3- step plan for the abolition of slavery.

Without the Adams Family, there might not be a Declaration of Independence or an Emancipation Proclamation.

As fathers we will never fully understand the impact that we will have on our sons and daughters until we are gone. Our impact and legacy will be felt long after we have departed from this life whether it be good or bad. Fathers take the time to pray with your sons, teach them right from wrong, tell them about the grace, love, and mercy of Jesus Christ.

Adams said in a famous speech as he quoted Scripture from the book of Luke chapter 4 where Jesus declared that He had come to “proclaim liberty to the captives”; he then went on to note that “if this was the goal of Christ our Savior then this should also be the goal of all Christians as they too should work to end slavery”.  

Luke 4:18-19 says “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

Jesus said “to proclaim liberty to the captives” …. Sin ultimately makes people captive and enslaves them. Christ has come to set them free.

The number one priority of a Christian should be to minister the Gospel so that Christ can have an opportunity to work in the heart of an unbeliever and set them free from their bondage of sin.

Paul, in his writings, has been criticized for not denouncing slavery in its entirety but when we read the Scriptures we never read where he condoned it either. Paul’s goal was not to overthrow the Roman government but to preach the Gospel. The issue of slavery during Paul’s day is for another time but Paul’s mission to proclaim the Gospel trumped anything else in life as that should be a believer’s number one goal. He knew his mission, to proclaim liberty to the captives.

Does that mean we take a back seat to the things that are going in in our land? Do we remain silent when evil is having its stay? Do we obey mandates that have rulers of darkness working behind them? I believe that there are times to silent and there are times to act. We must let the Holy Spirit lead in our lives and use proper discernment or we risk losing our integrity. Our Founders used this discernment and did it right.

You see, Satan is all about control and he wants nothing more than to isolate you from those who care about you and control your life. That is what has been going on in this nation and around the world for much of the last two years. Divide and conquer. We know deep down that something isn’t right.

If we simply sit down and be quiet then we are saying that our Founders were wrong in declaring their Independence from Great Britain and that the Revolution never should have happened. Our Founders should obeyed the words of Paul written in Romans 13:1-7 which I will expand on those passages later down the road. At the same time I’m not meaning to take away or demean these words either but just rather look at them in proper context.

Who was Paul talking to? Who was his audience?

What if men like Franklin, Rush, and Adams kept quiet? What would our world look like today?

Do we obey laws that have correctly gone through the process that makes them a law? Yes. I think many of our politicians needs to rewatch or watch School House Rock on how a bill becomes a law because we seem to have a bunch of King George III’s running around drunk with power handing out mandates. Mandates are not laws. Mandates are enacted by the executive branch rather than through a legislative process. If gone through the correct process it then creates a new law as it ends with a signature by a Governor or leader. This is very dangerous territory we are entering into here in America. It sets a precedent that we can just hand out mandates to get what we want.

The fact is our Founders tried everything humanly possible to avoid a war with England.

When you look at the list of 27 grievances that our Founders had with King George, listed at number 17 was “imposing taxes on us without our consent”. If this was the main grievance like we were taught in grade school, why is it then listed all the way down at 17?

Their first and foremost complaint….” He has refused his Assent to Laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good”. Basically, the King refused to let the colonists pass basic laws.

What is the 1^st Amendment in the Bill of Rights?

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

When Congress met on July 4^th, 1776 these were words spoken:

“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, when in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

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.

If all men are created equal, then slavery does not line up with this declaration. The Constitution laid the foundation for the abolition of slavery in America. There has been no document like it before or since. If our rights come from God, man cannot take them away.

Issues much like religious liberties, the desire to end slavery, the removal of trial by jury, the placing of military power above civilian power and many others were critical reasons why the Founder’s said we have no other choice but to separate from Great Britain.

As there were many in early America that used the Bible to promote slavery it was Scripture that was used to ultimately abolish it by men who were brave enough to stand where few would dare to go.

I have really been studying about what the role of a Christian is supposed to be within our civil government. Should we stay out of the political arena altogether? Should we be involved in the decision-making process within our government at all levels? There are some Pastors/Christians who believe that God’s people have no business getting into politics.

Now keep in mind that the audience that I am generally speaking to are those here in America but the Gospel transcends any nation. God does not sit on His throne wrapped up in an American flag.

Do I believe that a Pastor should spend his Sunday mornings standing behind a pulpit campaigning for who is running for office? No. Do I believe that a Pastor, a Christian should be involved in the decision-making process that effects our communities, our families, our churches, our kids? Yes. Christians all over the world should be actively standing up for what is right.

We should be aware of what is happening on all levels of our government at the local, state, and national level. I will go as far as to say that the reason that our nation is in the shape that it is in is because we decided a long time ago that Christians had no business getting involved the day-to-day decisions that our politicians make on our behalf.

Why do I say Christians should be involved? Well, look at the words and actions of our founders. Look at what they wrote. Look at our Declaration of Independence. Look at our first 10 amendments and then tell me that the Word of God has not shaped the foundation of America. If you can honestly tell me no, then I will be quiet.

George Washington was sworn in as our first President as he placed his hand upon the Scriptures swearing to defend and protect the newly drafted Constitution of the United States of America.

I want to talk about a topic that has caused much division within our nation since her founding.

Slavery. This has always been a hot button issue in our nation no matter what generation we are talking about. It is important that we know how many of our founders felt regarding the issue of slavery and not take their actions and words out of context because they don’t fit the narrative of today. It was a different time back then. That doesn’t make slavery any more right but let us take a look at how our founders laid the groundwork when they began the process of drafting of the Constitution for the abolition of slavery.

The year is 1773. Pennsylvania has just passed a law to help bring slavery to an end. Yes, 1773. Several other colonies were also striving at other attempts to bring about the end of slavery. The Colonies began putting measures in place before our Constitution was even though of. However, King George III had vetoed these new “American” laws. King George was very much pro-slavery as the British Empire had been practicing slavery for many years. The Colonists soon realized that if there was any hope of abolishing slavery, they would have to sever the ties of America with the British Empire.

Many prominent founders were very discontented in their hearts by the position that King George had taken on slavery. Henry Laurens, a President of Congress during the American Revolution had strong convictions about the position of the British:

“I abhor slavery. But I was born in a country where slavery had been established by British kings and parliaments ages before my existence.”

There was only one way to set America on the path to end slavery…. a complete and total separation from Great Britain. Several of our founders believed that that was the only course of action. This was very radical and would be met with much hostility, from those within the Colonies.

During the drafting of the Declaration of Independence this was Thomas Jefferson’s original clause as strongly denounced slavery as he declared:

“King George III has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither…Determined to keep an open market where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce.”

King George III, as he engaged in the slave trade, opposed every effort at every turn to put an end to slavery. Ending slavery was a very important issue to many of our Founders so much so that when we finally did separate from England in 1776, many states began the process of abolishing slavery right away including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York.

Not every state put in measure the steps to get rid of slavery as quick as these states did nor did every state take any measures at all to abolish it but the overwhelming majority of our Founders were anti-slavery.

In Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration, he was very blunt about his denunciation of the slave trade but his strong denunciation was complained about so strenuously by the delegates from Georgia and South Carolina coupled with the indifference of some Northern Delegates that his clause was removed from the Declaration and a much milder condemnation was put in place.

And just like Sanballat and Tobiah, just like the indifference of some within the Church today, South Carolina and Georgia were trying to be a stumbling block to what our Founders were trying to build.

Nevertheless, the desire to put an end to slavery was very much a major factor in our Founders words and actions.

Now imagine if our Christian Founders had never got involved in the forming of America? Where would we be and would America even be a nation at all?

The Revolution was a result of the Second Great Awakening. America’s revolution was sparked by a revival that spread across the land. Our laws were inspired by the Scriptures. The idea of America was made possible because the Church decided to wake up. That generation that ushered in the spirit of ’76 was powered by the hope of the Gospel.

Will the Church wake up today and spark a similar great awakening that our Founders experienced? Revival starts within the heart of just one individual.

St. Patrick was so much more than shamrocks, corned beef and cabbage, green beer, or a guy who many know as someone chased some snakes out of Ireland. He was so much more than that. He was an amazing man of courage of faith.

We introduced Patrick the slave in part 1 now I would like to talk to you about Patrick, the liberator who served God and if it wasn’t for the conviction, the faith of St. Patrick then you and I would not have an America, a constitution.

Here is a quick recap of what we know so far:

Patrick wasn’t an Irishman but he was from Britain. He was actually a citizen of the Roman Empire in the northern parts of the Empire in Britain. He was kidnapped at 16 years old by child traffickers (evil druid warlord/Irish pirates), and took him off to this god forsaken piece of land that even the Romans were afraid to go into.

So, the first time he went into Ireland he went in as a slave as he was brutally kidnapped and enslaved. He then escaped but we see the second timed he went back to Ireland willingly he did not go back as a slave but rather a liberator to set the people there free. He went back in as a missionary to Ireland because of the revival that God had produced within own his heart. When God placed the call to go back to the land where he was held captive upon Patrick’s heart it changed the face of Ireland and overall, the entire world. In fact, Patrick returning to Ireland was a world changing event.

When Patrick first escaped slavery in Ireland, he could not stop hearing the voices of the people that he left behind. These voices that were still enslaved were calling out to him to please come back. He kept hearing these voices in his sleep. A strong conviction swept over Patrick as he could not forget how God had delivered him and set him free. Something miraculous happened inside of Patrick’s heart that set him free from the bondage of sin.

He felt the call of God upon his heart. He heard the Lord speak to him, “He that laid down his life for you Patrick, it is He that speaks in you.”

God can certainly speak to us through dreams. The Lord was speaking to Patrick in a dream as Patrick wrote:

“And so, I awoke from my dream full of joy.”

His heart was full of joy that he had a purpose in his life as he to prepare to go back to Ireland. History tells us that he prepared himself by studying the scriptures day and night. Patrick would meditate on the Word of God as the supreme authority in his life and the foundation for his Celtic Christian faith.

He actually sold his own inheritance to pay for his own missionary journey. He didn’t have an army to defend him. When he went back to this savage land, they didn’t have a national church to support him, in fact he said that his call as a missionary back to the Irish people came from Jesus Christ himself in his dreams.

This is a man who is relying fully on God. This is a man who hears the voice of God and obeys the commands that he hears.

Ireland was still filled with these Druid priests as Patrick went back to a land filled with pagan altars and human sacrifice.

For example, the Irish sacrificed prisoners to their war gods and newborn babies to the harvest gods. Even the Romans in their encounters with these people were shocked and frightened by them. They seemed possessed by demons and so outrageous was their strength featuring all the terrors of hell itself.

These are the Roman Legion we are talking about. These men had seen some pretty awful things but even these Roman soldiers were frightened and terrified by these crazy, painted warriors who howled and shrieked like wolves and animals.

Now having lived in Ireland as a slave Patrick knew the language and understood their customs. A preacher needs to know his audience. He needs to know the people he is ministering to if he is going to really reach them. He knew that if he was going to reach the people, he was going to have to first reach the kings, the leaders.

So, he set out a plan to reach the most powerful kings in Ireland so that he might reach the people. This would be one of the most dangerous missions he would ever carry out because he was going to be marching directly into the fortresses of the kings themselves who were not going to take his message peacefully. In fact, he knew that he would be risking his own life to carry out this mission.

There is a legendary story about a confrontation with one of the most powerful and influential kings and his name was Leary which required a good amount of courage on the part of Patrick and missionaries to confront this king.

So, the story goes that this King Leary had sent out an edict, a law, as they approached the spring festival that said no one could light a fire until the king first lit a bonfire to signal or mark the beginning of the spring festival and in defiance of the king’s edict, Patrick went on top of a hill and he lit the fire before the king. The king was enraged over Patrick’s defiance so he sent out his soldiers to capture him and to bring him back within the confines of his kingdom but he didn’t have to do that because Patrick walked calmly, right into the king’s court surrounded by the king, the queen along with the king’s inner circle and his soldiers. King Leary had thought that Patrick and his friends would be so overwhelmed that they would just crumble and fall down at their feet under the pressure but what happened was very much the opposite.

It was discovered that in fact those that were overwhelmed were those within in the king’s court as they were overwhelmed with the power of God working in the heart of Patrick and his missionaries.

 1 John 4:4 says…Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

What was in Patrick was greater than all the military might and power in all of Ireland.

He preached Christ to the people and won over to God, the queen. The king’s wife was converted to Christianity. She was converted from her pagan faith along with several prominent members of the court. The King however was unshaken in his pagan faith but…..he was won over by Patrick’s actions, and his wife was now a Christian so I am sure his wife had some influence on his actions toward Patrick as all wives do have that influence on their husbands, that he gave him the freedom to preach the Gospel wherever and to whom ever he wished. Everywhere he went he had permission from the King to preach the Gospel.

The King was so inspired by Patrick’s courage, his confidence, his demeanor, along with the message that he preached that won the heart of his queen along respected members of his council that he allowed him to preach about this man they called Jesus.

The King saw the effect it was having on the people. Patrick went from King to King fulfilling the great commission as leaders all over Ireland were being converted from their pagan faith to Christianity.

The Irish had survived the attacks of the Scottish Picts, the Vikings, but yet they were no match for the power and peaceful method of the delivery of the Gospel that came from Patrick and his missionaries.  

Patrick was armed only with his scriptures, his love for Christ and the Irish people. He amazed the people with his bravery that no one else could compare to that they had seen. Patrick was able to see tens of thousands of Irish men, women, and children converted to become members of the family of faith just as he had many years before. He brought to the Irish people, the one true and living God, Jesus Christ.

This message radically revolutionized their entire culture and way of life.

Patrick spoke in many open-air audiences as he spoke about His King and of God’s Kingdom telling them of the infinite love of Christ for all of the Irish people. He spoke of his desire to have them know and to enter into and enjoy God’s Kingdom. He preached on the riches of Heaven’s Kingdom that infinitely exceeded all of the Kingdom’s of man. Men, women, children, the vile, the wicked were impressed, moved, inspired and humbled by the Gospel message. We call this a revival.

By the words of Patrick as he communicated the words of God, the message of forgiveness and eternal life, revival broke out across Ireland. Patrick’s message is our message for today. It is a message of hope, it’s a message of love, its lay down your weapons and your pride and turn to the One true King. God has a kingdom that has been prepared for you and He will lovingly welcome you into His Kingdom when you come to Him in REPENTANCE and faith.

Listen to these words of the Irish people:

“The Irish would have said here is a story from Patrick that answers our deepest needs and answers them in a way so good that we could never even dare dream of.”

“We can put away our knives and abandon our pagan altars. These are no longer required to appease angry gods. God does not hate us. God loves us.”

This message of the Gospel is so beautiful, so sufficient, so satisfying that it meets the deepest needs of the human condition.

God is a God of love and He changed them. Patrick knew that only God could transform a pagan Irish culture trapped in false religion. Only God could bring them out of a Kingdom of Darkness into a Kingdom of Light. God brough them personal revival which then turned into a national revival.

That is where the transformation of America is going to start. Revival must begin with the individual. Personal revival must begin within our own hearts, leaving the kingdom of darkness and turning to the Kingdom of Light, doing what Jesus commanded and that is to love one another, to love our neighbor as ourself. We can defeat our enemies by turning them into our friends.

We cannot do this on our own. By faith God will throw open the prison gates and give us new desires and new motivations. These new desires and convictions come with a new mission and purpose.

Once we have personal revival, we are then empowered to take the next step and that is family and government revival. America is divided and the only way to stabilize the ship is to take the Message of the Cross to the four corners of our land and let God transform the men, women, children, the vile, the wicked as well as the good. We need revival now or America will sink.

Who was St. Patrick? Was this his real name? Was he just the patron saint of green eggs and ham, green beer and just all things green in general?

What we have here is one of the greatest examples in history of a man who won a nation without the force of arms, without a military and helped transform a society of chaos into a society of order and peace.

These are the types of men and women that we so desperately need in our nation today. Men of character, men of faith, so my goal with this message is to teach you a little bit about St. Patrick, the man, who he was, what he stood for. I think there are many misconceptions about who this man was and what he represented.

My hope with this is that you will never be able to look at St. Patrick’s Day the same again and maybe it will inspire you to look at your own faith and character.

Patrick was born in a small village along the coast in England named Maewyn Succat. So, who knew that Patrick was not Irish? He was a Brit, an Englishman. He was also part of the Celtic Christians. His family were members of the family of faith within the Celtic Christians.

Ireland was just outside of the Roman Empire, who ruled the world at that time and during this time Rome was being sacked by the Barbarians. While the Barbarians were taking over these regions, outside and around the Roman Empire, the northern regions of Great Britain, were also very dangerous. You had the Scottish Picts and the Irish slave traders or they would be called Irish pirates roaming around terrorizing the citizens.

These Irish pirates specialized in human trafficking. These Irish pirates were considered monsters among the people, the worst of the worst. 16-year-old Patrick was a prime target for these Irish slave traders.

One evening they came into England and they raided Patrick’s Hamlet (small town). They killed many people and they captured the young, the strong, the beautiful and they dragged them off to sea. They loaded them into their boats, threw them into the belly of their ships like minnows in a bait tank. They took young Patrick all the way back to Ireland. This is what Patrick wrote in his diary:

“At 16 years of age I did not know the true God, I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people.”

He was beaten, he was bloodied as he was taken back to Ireland while being sold into the slave trade. A Druid Warlord named Miluke was his master. At 16 years of age, we can imagine how terrified he must have been. They had these wicked and evil traditions there and as we read through history and we find out that these Druid Warlords, these priests did horrible things as they had the heads of their enemies posted on poles around their camp as trophies of their conquest. These priests would have shrunken heads tied to their belts; they would use the decapitated heads of their enemies as drinking bowls.

The Irish were kept in constant fear by their priests who would perform human sacrifices. They had a very particularly disgusting one to the god of Beltane, the god of the sun. They worshipped Beltane because they believed by sacrificing humans, he would increase their fertility and make them pure. This was a ritual of sacrifice that they knew as the Wickerman ceremony where they had these immense figures in the shape of giant men with limbs made out of twigs, and inside these enormous limbs were human beings in which the druids would fill the limbs with criminals and when they ran out of criminals, they would use innocent people and light this entire wickerman on fire filled with men and women as a sacrifice in this ritual ceremony.

Patrick worked in the fields of this tyrant’s sheep fighting off packs of wolves and bores. Patrick said this of his condition…

“I did not believe in the living God, nor did I so from my childhood, but I lived in death and unbelief until I was severely chastised by God by hunger and wickedness and that daily.”

Imagine being out in the cold in Ireland tending to sheep, fighting off wolves and bores surrounded by a culture of death, witchcraft, without clothes, freezing without food, being starved. This was Patrick’s life every single day.

As Patrick was enduring these terrible conditions, he began to remember the faith of his family, especially that of his father and his grandfather. This is amazing because here is a young man who didn’t have faith in God by his own admission but at his darkest hour he is reminded of the faith of his parents and grandparents. That should be an encouragement to all of us.

Paul when he was writing to Timothy spoke of the faith of his mother and grandmother. He saw this same faith in Timothy as a young man. We never know what kind of impact we are going to have on those around us.

If you are someone who has lived your faith in front of your kids or grandkids, there is hope that in their darkest moments that they will be reminded of your faith in God. Your witness is never in vain.

Patrick said these words:

“After I came to Ireland, I had to tend sheep and many times a day I prayed. The love of God and his fear came to me day after day and my faith was strengthened and my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as 100 prayers and almost as many in the night.”

This godless young man started talking to God, day and night all because he remembered the faith of his mother, his father, his grandfather, his grandmother.  

“And this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountain, I used to get up for prayer before daylight through snow, through the frost, through the rain and I felt no harm.”

We are talking about a 16-year-old young man. Look at his discipline and dedication in having alone time with God. What happened next was nothing short of miraculous and transformative not only for him but for his nation and the entire world.

He became a visionary and Patrick describes the revival and transformation that occurred within his own heart. As Patrick’s heart was converted so too was his name. He changed it after God saved him.

“And it was there that the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all of my heart to the Lord my God.”

God sent personal revival into that young man’s heart and converted him and made him a child of God. A member of the family of faith.

After years as a slave, Patrick had a dream and God spoke to him in this dream to travel 200 miles to the seashore where he would find a ship and within that ship would be a man who would take him to safety. Patrick escaped his slave master in Ireland and made it all the way back to England and was reunited with his family.

There in England he was surrounded by his mom and his dad, his family, his friends, as he found himself in a great financial situation. He was able to get married, have a home of his own, have a job, have children…if he desired to do so.

If Patrick had settled down, got a job, and basically decided to live an ordinary life, we probably never would have heard of him. Rather than settle down and live in comfort he decided to answer the uncomfortable call upon his life as a result of this revival that he had in his heart.

Patrick’s words here are as written:

“In the depth of the night I saw a man named Victorious coming as if from Ireland (remember he is back in England now, rescued out of Ireland) coming from Ireland with innumerable letters and I read the heading of one of the letters which read “the cry of the Irish” and while I was reading, I heard the voice of those who were beside the woods of Fochluth”. These were the woods near where Patrick had been enslaved and he heard the voice of this man and the cry of the Irish near the western sea and they called out “please holy youth come and walk among us again.” Their cry pierced me to my very heart and I could read no more and so I awoke. “

He woke up from this dream from the cry of the Irish people calling him back to Ireland, come back walk with us again. And inexplicably, Patrick’s heart was filled with a love for the Irish people. We see here his character and his faith starting to show. He was filled with a love for these people and he spent a decade or more preparing to go back to Ireland, by studying God’s Word, training his heart and mind to go back to the land that had enslaved him, the dangerous place that he had fought so hard to escape. He went back with a mission to spread the good news of Jesus and the whole counsel of God’s word in the Bible.

Over the next 40 years Patrick’s influence would shape the fate of not only Ireland, but all of Europe, all of the western world and America.

Much of what you and I enjoy today in terms of God’s word, in terms of liberty, the form of government that we have today can be traced back to the courage and character of St. Patrick.

We need more men and women with that kind of courage and that kind of character.

I want to discuss more about what Patrick did while he went back to Ireland, the most dangerous, the most frightful and fearful place to face his enemies.

Did he go back with a master plan of causing riots in the streets? Was his plan to cancel out the druid culture because he disagreed with what they stood for?

So how did he do it? How did he face his fears and go back to the place that enslaved him to preach the Gospel message?

So we are banning imports on Russian oil without tapping into our own resources like lifting restrictions on fracking, opening up drilling on public lands, while floating the strong possibility of importing oil from Iran?

Sounds like a great plan.

“In other words, eliminating Russian oil will likely drive sky-high gas prices in America even higher. “We think that a complete ban on Russian energy imports would cause the prices of Brent crude oil and European natural gas to surge to $160 [per barrel],” -economists at Capital Economics said in a research report

Price per barrel hit its highest in July 2008 with Brent at $147.50 a barrel and WTI at $147.27.

Back then, gasoline rose to a record $4.11 a gallon, which equates to about $5.20 a gallon today adjusted for inflation, he said.

At a $147 a barrel – $5.20 w/inflation
At a $160 a barrel – ??????

And to think just a couple years ago we were basically energy independent. But there is a bigger agenda at play here. Hop on the UN’s website and see for yourself what the global agenda is pushing towards 2030 and you will see just about every nations policies align with the build back better plan implemented by these nations nearly two years ago. Covid kick started all of it.

We like to say that the Biden administration is incompetent but nobody is this ignorant. This is the same game these politicians have always played just a different year. Wherever the money is that is where they flock to no matter how unrighteous it may be. The love of money is the root of ALL evil. There is a reason why all of this is taking place.

I pray for my leaders, I really do. Because with every decision made America is put last. The idea of America, the Bill of Rights, our Constitution, does not line up with the global agenda plastered all over the UN’s website but that is what we are gearing towards. The elites so terribly want to rip our constitution to shreds and like they say, build back better.

They may say the right words, it may feel great, it may sound good, but when they use words like tolerance, equality, fair, they really mean the other thing. They may even give passionate speeches about how “tyranny will not prevail over freedom” but we have seen what has happened in our own nation over the last two years as they shut down a robust economy, closed down schools and small businesses, reopened it all and then claimed to be the heroes who created more jobs in history than any previous administration. Government doesn’t create jobs. The people do. And by the way shutting down a business and reopening it doesn’t count as creating a job.

They have become the arbiters of truth which is in direct conflict with our constitution which says that our “inalienable rights” come from God not man.

It’s coming folks. Know your history. Know your Bible. Know your constitution. Know where you are at in your heart most of all. Because there is a storm coming.

As I reflect on my own walk with God I am always striving to grow in the areas where growth is needed. God is constantly working on us every day to help us grow into the Christian that He desires us to be so that we may further His kingdom which then allows to be a blessing to those around us. In a digital world that seems to be moving at the speed of light every single day we often stop and think as Christians how can we make an impact to those around us as well as those thousands of miles away through the use of online platforms? As we have been discussing ecologies of the faith in the digital age we are currently living in I wonder how we can grow together as a strong community bound by Christ through the use of these ecological communities.

“Most ecologists understand that normal, healthy growth results from being in the right environment.” When we look at all that God has created we see that His creation thrives because it is in the right environment surrounded by contributing factors that gives it life. When we consider our own walk with God, we have to look at our surroundings. What and who we surround ourselves with will make all the difference between whether or not we grow or dry up and rot out. The same can be said about our online communities and how we interact with each other through various platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and online schooling. We develop relationships through these platforms just as we would through a physical community. These relationships may not be as intimate as we might like but we are still building relationships nonetheless. Our personal ecosystem that we help bring to the online learning experience can either help stimulate that specific community or bring it down.

When I am having discussions with other students in an online classroom forum I am representing and bringing with me my family, my church, my friends, my neighborhood, and my community. I am bringing my worldview into the discussion trying to build relationships, learn more about my peers through a digital lense all while growing in my own walk with Christ. When we are branching out and reaching new people through these digital ecosystems we are growing together and growing up in the Lord.

After exploring the many different online platforms and how they can help stimulate our spiritual growth as a community we now know that in order to have a more vast understanding of spiritual formation it requires us a Christians to take consideration of the multiple ecological dimensions of Christian spirituality and how they affect our own walk with God. Let us look at what a social network is and how we can have that Christian influence on that platform. “A social network is an organized set of people that consists of two kinds of elements: human beings and the connections between them.” [1]

“Our purpose throughout this presentation of what the Bible teaches regarding how we grow as Christians was to help God’s people recognize and appreciate the complexity and beauty of the intricate patterns of growth God has established that govern natural, social, and spiritual ecologies.”[1] We can see how natural growth is accompanied by spiritual growth when we look out into all that God has created. The Word of God then manifests itself by and through various testimonials in the flowers, the trees, the seeds, the plants, the vineyards, the forests, and the fields. Parables are often used as illustrations to get a point across and Jesus used parables to teach the disciples as well as any and all who might hear His teachings. As we progress into the future we will continue to see the manifestation of God’s Word intertwined into the digital ecosystem and we will use this capability to help further enhance our biblical knowledge while furthering the Gospel message.

The question remains on how can I grow in what I have learned and implement the things of the digital world into my own ministry? I believe that God has given us all a platform both physically and spiritually to be witness for His kingdom. The online world can and always will be a great place to make a case for Christ and what He did on the Cross all those years ago for the sins of the world past, present, and future. There are always areas of improvement in our own lives as well as our own ministries. Digital platforms can be a great way to further enhance the ministry in which I am a part of such as Youth ministry at the church and inside the classroom at the school in which I teach. Jesus always used parables to teach his students by using an illustration of this world to get His message across. We can do the same thing with what God has given to us digitally. The digital ecosystem can help further enhance my ministry in getting the Word of God to my own community through platforms like social media, podcasts, blogs, and so many more avenues.

How can I pass on the information that I have learned and grown up in over the last so many weeks to a new and up and coming seminary student? Part of my advice would be plain and simple by telling this young individual never to stop exploring all of the different ways that God has given us to grow through including all of the digital platforms that we have out our disposal. Never think that you have it all figured because there is always something new to learn no matter what age. As important as this is I believe the biggest piece of advice I could give from Surviving and Thriving in Seminary would be from chapter four taken from the time management piece discussing the most vital need for one in the ministry aside from having the anointing of God and feeding your spiritual self would is taking care of your body.

            If one does not have his or her health then it will be really difficult to accomplish what God has called this person to do. Now I am not saying that God doesn’t work through our infirmities and He absolutely does use our weaknesses and turns them around as our strengths. The thorn in the flesh in which Paul described, God did not take it away but rather gave him grace to get through his trials but what I am speaking of is eating well because we must remember that our bodies are a temple of the Lord and what we put into our bodies directly effects our spiritual well-being. “Our bodies, minds, and spirits are connected. While in seminary we may be tempted to neglect our bodies in favor of spending more time studying; that would be a mistake. We are whole people, and healthiness in one area of life produces fruit in the other domains of life.” [2]

I would tell this student to not only eat well but exercise daily to keep the body and mind fresh. Daily exercise also helps us to recharge our battery along with nourishing food coupled with the right amount of sleep. Get plenty of rest and take breaks when you need to. It is ok to say to appointments and meetings if it means preserving your mental well-being. Sometimes we need to step back and take a break so we can take care of our physical self or if we don’t slow down then it will directly affect our spiritual self. You must learn to discipline yourself in these practices if you wish to endure in the ministry because it is a battle and these practices will need to be applied and reapplied time and time again over the years.

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[1] Ecologies of Faith in a Digital Age: Spiritual Growth through Online Education

[2] Danny Zacharias. Surviving and Thriving in Seminary: An Academic and Spiritual Handbook. Lexham Press, 2017.

 

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[1] Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Network and How They Shape Our Lives (New York: Little, Brown, 2009), 13.

“Gen Z—today’s teenagers and young adults—are the most atheistic generation yet in America, according to George Barna.”

“Given that, it’s not surprising that a new study found that “moral relativism” (“morally right and wrong changes over time, based on society”) is the belief of a whopping 74% of young adults in the US. A majority (65%) also believe “many religions can lead to eternal life.” -AIG

Pilate asked Jesus the question over 2,000 years ago…What is truth? John 18:38

Webster’s dictionary defines truth as being in Accord with fact or reality.

It seems today that truth doesn’t matter because facts don’t matter. People want to live in their own realities.

What is Moral Relativism?

If it feels good do it….
That’s your opinion, and this is mine…
I don’t want to impose my beliefs on others…
What’s true for one person may not be true for another….

Relativism says there is no absolute truth..
Relativism says there is no accountability …
Relativism says there is no right or wrong…

Relativism is what is being widely accepted not only in our nation but globally. Do what you want, live how you want, without any accountability or consequences.

It’s being taught to our kids that truth is just a point of view and that if it feels good , well, just do it as Nike likes to say.

The reality is that there is absolute truth and certainty in Jesus Christ.

Pilate rejected this truth by washing his hands of the situation and ignored who Jesus was.

You can ignore truth, run from it, hide from it, avoid it but at the end of this life we will all stand before an Almighty God and give an account for the things we have done in this life both good and bad

The only that will matter when you stand before God after you have taken your last breath is how you answered the question that Pilate asked…

What is truth and what did you do with it?

Jesus Christ is absolute truth….So the question is. ..

What did you do in your life with Jesus Christ?

The devil only gives you half of the lie up front and does not tell you the consequences of that lie.

The reality is that God gives us the free will to live however we choose but remember there are consequences that we must face for ” doing what feels good.”

Bible says if we sow in the flesh we shall reap corruption, if we sow in the spirit we shall reap life everlasting.

Romans 6:23

Corruption = For the wages of sin is death;
Life Everlasting = But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord

This generation of young people are looking for truth. Discipleship has never been more important than it is now. We must train up our children or the world will.

AW Tozer said that his main ambition in life was to be on the devils most wanted list.

When you set out to teach kids the Word of God I believe you have just guaranteed yourself a spot in the top 10 on Satans most wanted because that’s the demographic he likes to target more than any other age range it seems like.

Expect battles at every turn. Expect the devil to never let up. Expect the devil to attack you spiritually, mentally, physically using those around us to complete strangers.

What makes matters even tougher is that when teaching kids we don’t see results right away. Maybe not even for years. But what we have to understand is that we are cultivating a generation of young people in which we may never see the fruit that they produce but the generations that will come after them will.

The devil knows this. This is why he is patient. This is why he waits. For the very moment we give up because we don’t see the results that we wish to see. He pounces like a roaring lion seeking whom he just might devour.

We must keep the torch lit because our kids are worth it. The message of the gospel is worth it! Future generations depend upon us not giving up!

Don’t get me wrong it’s not about us but it always has been and always will be about the Cross because Christ thought that we were worth it while He was hanging there a bloody mess ready to die for you and me!

But understand this when the devil does attack…we have a God that will fight for us!

Look at what is going on in our schools, with children’s programs on tv, to marketing certain products that kids will see in a grocery store, there is no doubt that Satan wants our kids and he’s working overtime.

It’s important now more than ever to invest time in our children’s lives from the Sunday School room to the home, our prayer life, we must teach our kids what it means to know God. To love Him. To serve Him. To teach them about His love. His mercy and His grace.

We must invest in our children with the gospel message because the devil is ready and patiently waiting.

Tozer also said this:

“The Bible is a book of controversy.

The Old Testament prophets were men of contention.

Our Lord Jesus while on earth was in deadly conflict with the devil.

The Apostles, the Church Fathers and the Reformers were men of controversy.

They fought the devil to the death and kept the torch of truth burning for all succeeding generations.

Is our contribution to history to be the ignoble one of letting the torch go out?”

I ask this question: Are we going to keep the torch burning?

Why do our professional athletes of today think they have so much power and that we have to worship the very ground that they walk on?

We have shown this to be true time and time again wity our wallets by giving these people our hard earned money and with our time.

We have given them this power because of our own worship of sports. We have put the athlete up on a pedestal as the standard to strive for. Sports in America have become an idol.

Now with nearly all of professional sports going culturally woke and identity politics infiltrating our beloved pastimes along with the shutdowns over the past year we have to ask ourselves this question….

Is God trying to get us to shift our focus and attention towards Him?

This is all coming from someone who loves sports. I love the game of football and everything about it. It’s a great game. I love basketball. I love the game of baseball but I have seen over the last so many years the impact of pointing our kids towards the false god of ball rather than the true worship of Christ has had on our culture.

Many of our professional athletes here in America act like royalty and expect to be treated as so because we have given them this status. It starts at a young age. Many of our young people have been groomed from a young age that sports trumps all else.

When we have our kids in 5 different sports with no time for almost anything else we have shown our kids what is most important.

The devil would love nothing more than to keep us so busy with no time for Sunday School, Church, time with your kids, spouse etc.

God is a God of balance and as a nation we have been out of balance for a long time because our homes have been out of balance.

Am I saying that we can’t worship God and have our kids in sports at the same time? Absolutely not. It’s just important that we make sure that no matter what we encourage our children to pursue that we make pointing them towards Christ top priority.

When we lose this focus, that’s when our kids drift and the world fills the void.

We are seeing the ramifications of a “ball first” everything else second culture that has gripped our nation for the last so many decades.

Even though we have many of our young people caught up in this social justice woke movement, I have worked with young people for a lot of years and if we are going to have revival it will come from our younger generation.

These young men and women are looking for something real. So, parents, let’s give them something real to believe in and point them toward Christ. He is as real as it gets.

Parents we have a job to do. If don’t teach our kids what is truly important Satan will surely send someone to do the job for us.

Where is your focus?

As Critical Race Theory spreads across the schools in our nation K-12 and the Equality Act working its way through Congress, it’s more important now than ever for us parents to not only be teaching but investing in our children’s lives.

The America as we have known it, a beacon of freedom and hope, that shining city on a hill, may be on borrowed time but if we are going to see revival it is going to come from the generation of my children. Sure our nation has its flaws but it’s because of those scars that make us who we are as a people.

If….and I mean if…our nation is going to repent, the church must first repent. If our nation is going to experience revival, the church must first experience revival. If the church is going to experience revival then the home must experience revival.

The home is being attacked like it has never attacked before. The church will follow suit. Mark my words. Take hope and courage in the fact that whenever we read about the church having its back up against the wall in Gods Word, it flourished and experienced great revival.

Revival comes at a cost. I guess we have to ask ourselves this question? Is the cost worth it?

The social justice woke cancel crowd says submit to our way of thinking and affirm our believes or else. That is not nor has it ever been the American way.

I’m afraid that if we don’t stop fighting each other, like the politicians want, and come together not in spite of our differences but because of them, this house that we all live in called America will collapse.

Remember we can come together and agree to disagree. That’s one of the qualities that has set our Country apart from every other nation. We will never agree on everything and that’s ok. Let’s not destroy each other over the things we disagree on but rather come together over the things we can come together on.

The thing is, we are so divided on every single issue I’m not sure that there is much left we can come together on. We used to be able to come together on the notion that….”When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation….”

We’ve lost our foundation and we must go back to the beginning. If we are going to heal as a nation and come together we must go back to the founding of what brought us together as a people in the first place in that…

“….. 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.”

Lord help us find our way back to you as a people.