"I WILL MAKE YOU A GREAT NATION"
“I WILL MAKE YOU A GREAT NATION”
(with the right to bear the sword)
Sunday, July 3, 2016, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
The Images of Our Life Reflect The Beauty of Our Soul
Genesis 12:2-3: “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
This covenant promise was to Abraham. God promises to:
- Give His people a great land.
- Make a great nation
- Pour out a great blessing over them.
Gal. 3:7: “Know that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.”
The restored church together with redeemed Israel are the heirs of the promise that he will make you a great nation.
When the Founding Fathers set about to establish the foundation that would define America as a nation, they went straight to the source, declaring that all human beings are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”
Genesis contains this foundational truth that God is the source and beginning of all things. Our only hope for peace, happiness and true liberty is in the “book of beginnings.” We witness the creation of heaven and earth through His Word, the creation of male and female in His image, the sanctity of the family, and the beginnings of man’s rebellion and sin. Then God calling forth a covenant people through whom He brought salvation to all the peoples of the earth who will receive His one and only Son, Jesus Christ.
Romans 4:13-17: “The promise that he should be the heir of the world (kosmos) was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. If they who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect…Therefore, it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to those only which are of the law, but to those also who are of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all. (As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations,)…”
Our upcoming conference is titled, The Victory of Faith. 1 John 5:4: “Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world (kosmos); and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.”
The “kosmos”, the world system which is presently ruled by the spirit of anti-Christ is in chaos. Every week there is either a terrorist attack or as we saw in Great Britain the beginning of thrones being overthrown.
The restored Church, i.e. the Kingdom of God, i.e. the seed of Abraham is that great nation to whom by Faith the promise is given. It is to the Church that we are to apprehend this faith to overthrow the “kosmos.”
Hag. 2:22: “I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down every one by the sword of his brother.”
Ezekiel 21:27: “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until He comes whose right it is; and I will give it to him.”
All ungodly authority will be dealt with---“overthrown” and removed. Messiah bears rule in the earth, the exalted One to whom it rightfully belongs. To His Church he has given this Kingdom authority.
“Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his 318 trained servants…(Gen. 14:14)
Today I want to address our God given authority to bear the sword or “bear arms” as written in our Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
“The Puritans had laws requiring every family to own a gun, to carry it in public places, and to train children in the use of firearms. In 1619, the colony of Virginia had statues that required everyone to bear arms. Connecticut law in 1650 required every man above the age of sixteen to possess “a good musket or other gun, fit for service.”
As I read this last night, I remembered when I was growing up that my brother got a rifle for his twelfth birthday. Then I remembered that it was customary that every boy in our culture would receive a rifle around that age. That tradition carried down through the generations. Did they know about the Connecticut law, or did it become an American tradition? Then I was wondering if that tradition is as strong in the year 2016 as it was in the 1950’s. I know Don still had his rifle he received as a boy. I gave it to Chris.
The early laws of America are very clear about this. The people were responsible for their own defense and freedoms. They must be prepared to fight. Thomas Jefferson said, “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” At that time, there was no concept of a professional army, created and paid to defend the colonies. George Mason, called the father of the Bill of Rights said, “What is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.”
With the approach of the American Revolution, the philosophy of the foundation for self-defense was again established on our God given liberties. Every man’s life belongs to God, and to allow one’s life to be taken because one failed to defend it was wrong. This natural law to the right of self-defense was also applied to the duty to protect one’s family, community, and national liberties. For the colonists, at the heart of their religion was liberty, a sacred gift from God.
For the most part, the colonial churches, particularly New England’s Congregations believed to revolt against tyrants was to obey God. This belief has its roots in the Old Testament accounts of Israel’s wars for freedom. This conviction became a powerful fire that impassioned the citizenry. It remains a belief that continues to influence Americans’ views about the right to bear arms today.
Our national heritage of bearing the sword against tyranny and abuse is part of who we are. The Barbary pirates were Muslim pirates who operated from modern day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Like the Muslin terrorists of today, they would capture and kill Christians. It is estimated that from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, Muslim pirates captured 1 million to 1.25 million Europeans as slaves.
In 1783, the United States won its freedom from the British monarchy, which had been paying tribute money to the pirates. It is my belief that tribute money is still being paid to Islamic terrorists’ nations by the United States and Europe. In 1784, the first American merchant ship was seized by pirates from Morocco. Two more ships were seized in 1785 by Algeria. In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, then the ambassadors to France and Britain met with the Libyan ambassador to Britain, asking why his government was hostile to American ships. The ambassador’s response as reported by the Continental Congress stated that “it was their right to plunder and enslave.”
Genesis: 16:12: “He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him…”
This ideology is still part of the Muslim world view unless they have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior with a new heart, new mind, and redeemed soul.
The United States chose to fight the pirates of Barbary rather than pay tribute, as did all the other nations who traded in the Mediterranean Sea. The decision was bold. The United States navy was born in March 1794. Six frigates were authorized. This new military presence helped lead to the two Barbary Wars along the North African coast. The First Barbary War was from 1801 to 1805. The Second Barbary War was in 1815. Naval victories in 1815 ended tribute payments by the U.S.
Again these Islamic Terrorists attack and threaten the world. The rulers and leaders of the “kosmos” have not yet stood up and declared war on Islamic Terrorists.
We have a President whose administration refuses to identify them by name. Loretta Lynch announced at the United Nations that her office would be working in several American cities to form what she called the Strong Cities Network, a law enforcement initiative that would encompass the globe. This is the overriding of American laws, in favor of United Nation laws. The U.N. is a Sharia-compliant world body.
“After all, with Obama knowingly aiding al-Qaeda forces in Syria, how likely is it that he will use his “global police force” against actual Islamic jihadists? I suspect that instead, this global police force will be used to impose the blasphemy laws under the sharia (Islamic law), and to silence all criticism of Islam for the President who proclaimed that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” (Breitbart – by: Pamela Giller, 10/2/15).
In 1815, the United States navy broke a pattern of international black-mail and terrorism dating back more than 150 years. The actions of the United States Marine Corps in these wars led to the line “to the shores of Tripoli” in the opening of the Marine Hymn. Due to the hazards of boarding hostile ships, marine uniforms had a leather high collar to protect against cutlass slashes. This led to the nickname Leatherneck for U.S. Marines.
Hag. 2:22: “I will overthrow the throne of Kingdoms.”
Haggai prophesies the first “overthrow”. This word means “to turn about or over; to change; overturn, return, pervert”. This word describes the “overthrow” of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Midianites and Nineveh.
The same spirit of antichrist sits in the seat or throne of every counterfeit kingdom (2 Thess. 2:3-4). The beast nature---sinful man---rules in each and every one of them. He is at war with the Lamb whose throne is above every other.
This week I was watching as Obama and his entourage coming out of Air Force One. I heard the Holy Spirit call the plane, “the belly of the beast.”
The beast is the Spirit of Anti-Christ is any world ruler or mind set that is in opposition to Jesus Christ.
Jesus defeated the devil and dismantled his kingdom. Church those who have gone before us fought the good fight of Faith to overcome the “kosmos” in their day. I pray the Church arise in that same fight of Faith and take back the soul of our nation.
A free nation came out of the souls of these brave men and women who are the founders of the United States of America.
2 Cor. 10: 4-5: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to pulling down of strong holds…”
We have been given our “key” to overcoming the “kosmos”. It is the Faith that overcomes the world.
This faith demolishes arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and His Kingdom purposes. He will overthrow and remove every offense.
1 Peter 1:9: “Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
The Church must arise and apprehend that faith whereby our souls will not accept defeat and the Church of the 21st century will again release the beauty and liberty of redeemed souls.
On December 17, 1620, a small group of Pilgrims who had left England in search of greater freedom to worship God dropped anchor of the Mayflower at Plymouth Harbor in what is now Massachusetts. These were the very first individuals and families in whose soul beat the heart of what we now call the “American spirit.” I believe it was the Holy Spirit. I believe it was the Faith that overcomes the world.
Their flight from oppression mirrored a much earlier Exodus when God led the children of Israel out of the bondage and oppression of Egypt into a land that he promised Abraham. Through his mercy and the “blood of the Lamb”, God delivered his people, placed them at the door of liberty and promised them great success through obedience to His Word and will.
On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was written. The Declaration stated that the Americans were set to defend the laws of nature and nature’s God. The laws of nature were understood to mean the will of God for man.
The church leaders were well schooled in the fact that the Bible placed great emphasis on due submission to civil authorities, they also knew the many passages that approve resistance to ungodly authority.
We must never submit to Satan under any authority.
Peter boldly asserted: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from N.K.J.B. I entered into the labors of the American Patriot’s Bible. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of Dr. Richard G. Lee, General Editor.