(Proverbs 14:34)

 

This week Sandra Farley and I attended a Texas Restoration meeting in Austin, Texas.  It was excellent.  I am taking my message tonight from David Barton’s sermon on the captioned subject.

 

At one point during the service, the choir was singing, “God Bless America” and someone was marching the flag across the stadium.  I felt a prophetic utterance rise up in my Spirit.  I am a seasoned minister and know the “gift is subject to the prophet”.  This was not the time or place for me to release a prophetic utterance.  So, I listened to the Holy Spirit and the words I heard were the same words I heard two years ago during another time of national crisis.  At that time, I saw a vision of the United States Flag in clouds of glory surrounded by two angels, Unity and Love.

 

I heard the Holy Spirit say, “The angels, Unity and Love” still surround the flag.

 

This comforted me greatly as we all feel the present stress on our nation in both “Unity” and “Love”.

 

I hope all of you are in prayer as the financial princes from the G7 nations meet to resolve the present financial crisis.  Satan’s agenda is a one world currency in preparation for the anti-christ.  This whole financial debacle is a satanic ploy to this end.

Carolyn Sissom

 

“The Bible, Voters, and the 2008 Presidential Election: by David Barton, Published by WallBuilders.  www.wallbuilders.com  The following are excerpts, quote and paraphrasing from said book.

 

“The Bible is sound counsel to people of faith to determine our selection of a President and all government officials.  For those of us who hold the Holy Bible as the one absolute authority of our Faith, our choices are clear.

 

“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.  Proverbs 14:34

 

Patrick Henry:  “Righteousness alone can exalt (America) a nation.  Reader!  Whoever thy are, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself and encourage it in others.”

 

Frederick Douglass, Black Gospel Minister; Civil Rights Leader:  “I have on great political idea…It is in substance, “Righteousness exalts a nation; sin is a reproach to any people.”…This constitutes my politics—the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics.”

 

Francis Grimke, Black Gospel Minister; Civil Rights Leader:  “If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces, it will…be from losing sight of the fact that Righteousness exalts a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people…Unless we hold firmly to the great principles of righteousness (enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden rule, in the Ten Commandments, in the Sermon on the Mount, (America) if it continues to exist, will be a curse and not a blessing.”

 

Deut. 17:1, 1 Chron. 21, 1 Kings 18 affirm that a nation’s righteousness is determined by its public policies and how well they conform to God’s standards; only God-honoring policies that lead to God-honoring actions can exalt a nation.

 

How can a nation achieve God-honoring policies?  William Paterson, a signer of the Constitution and a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, answered that question by citing Proverbs 29:2:

 

“When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”

 

God-honoring public policies in a nation are the result of God-honoring public officials enacting those policies.  If righteousness is to exalt a nation, then a nation must have leaders like Daniel, Nehemiah, David, or Moses that than Ahab, Jezebel, Manasseh or Jeroboam.

 

In the U.S.A., the only way there will be God-honoring public officials is if God-honoring citizens elect them.  As Founding Father Noah Webster reminded citizens in his day:

 

“The Scriptures teach…that rulers should be men who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness (Ex. 18:21)…It is to the neglect of this rule of conduct in our citizens that we must ascribe the multiplied frauds, breaches of trust, peculations (white-collar larceny), and embezzlements of public property which astonish even ourselves.”

 

Therefore, the first and foremost consideration in choosing a President is whether that individual will advance policies upholding Biblical standards of righteousness and oppose policies that encourage what the bible defines as sin or unrighteous behavior.  For this and wrongs---must always take precedence over economic, environmental, health care, energy, and other issues.  These other issues are important, but recall from Matthew 6 that Jesus told His disciples that if they would make the pursuit of righteousness their primary emphasis, then everything else would be provided. (v.33). However, if economic (or other) issues become the primary focus for voters, the nation usually ends up attaining neither the economic prosperity voters desired nor the national righteousness that should have been their primary concern in the first place.”

 

David Barton points out in recent elections, the millions of Bible voters who sought to advance issues of righteousness through their voter were dubbed “value voters.”  Those whose agenda did not benefit from (or was even impeded by) these voters are now trying to win their support by redefining others topics as a “traditional value” or a so-called moral issue.

 

A brief summary of those are health care, homosexual marriage, abortion when a child is unwanted, transportation choices, helping the poor, global warming.  Those trumpeting “agenda” expansion” want desperately to shift the focus away from the centuries-old traditional issues of biblical righteousness.  The Bible has much to say about helping the poor, war and peace, the environment, and health care.  The bible also speaks about numerous additional issues such as immigration, taxation, property rights, and national sovereignty.

 

Every one of these issues is addressed in the comprehensive system of 613 laws delivered in the first five books of the Holy Bible. Yet God made it abundantly clear that some issues had priority over others.  God select His “Top Ten” commands in the O.T. then Jesus prioritized two of those, but validated that we were not to neglect the others.  These were affirmed and re-affirmed by Paul in the Epistles.

 

Protecting innocent life did make God’s Top Ten (#6) as did protecting the sanctity of marriage (#7), but the issues of poverty, environment, health care, immigration, taxation, etc., did not make the Top Ten.  Those come under love your neighbor as yourself.

 

Brother Barton establishes four Bible priorities in national righteousness.  As Christians, these should be in the forefront of our decision as to which candidates to support.

 

Issue #1 – Judicial Appointments:

 

“I will restore your judges as at the first and your attorneys as at the beginning; then you will be called the city of righteousness –the faithful city. Isaiah 1:26

 

“Take warning, O judges of the earth! Worship the Lord and do homage to the Son so that He not become angry and His wrath be kindled.  Psalm 2: 10-12

 

“Appoint judges who know the laws of God.  Ezra 7:25

 

“Judges, be careful what you do, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord, Who is with you in judgment?  Therefore let the fear of the Lord be upon you.”  2 Chronicles 19: 6-7

 

Select judges who will “rule in the fear of God.” (Exodus 18:21)

 

Issue #2 – Abortion & inalienable Rights

 

“You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in secret.  Your eyes saw my substance when I was yet unformed, and in Your book the days fashioned for me all were written when as yet there were none of them”. Psalm 139: 13-16

 

“The Lord made you and formed you from the womb.  The Lord your Redeemer formed you from the womb” Isaiah 44:2, 24

 

The Declaration of Independence…will tell you that its authors held for self-evident truth that the right to life is the first of the inalienable rights of man—and to secure and not to destroy that right, governments are instituted among men.”  John Quincy Adams, President, Diplomat, Legislator.

 

“With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life from its commencement to its close is protected by the common law.  In the contemplations of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb.  By the law, (that) life is protected.  James Wilson, signer of the declaration and constitution, Original U.S. Supreme Court Justice.  Today, with modern technology, we are able to determine life within days of conception.  It is the belief of this church that life begins at conception.

 

Defending the life of an unborn child must continue to remain a priority for Biblical voters. (If individuals want to add issues such as the environment, poverty, health care, et. al., to their voting considerations, they must do so after the abortion issue and not instead of it.)

 

The right to life is an inalienable right. 

 

Issue #3 – Homosexuality & the Moral Law.

 

1 Timothy 1: 8-10: “But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.

 

Leviticus 20:13:  “if a man lie with a man as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination:”

 

1 Kings 14:24:  “There were sodomites in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out.

 

Jeremiah 6:15:  “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?  They were not ashamed at all.

 

Romans 1: 26-27:  God gave them up to vile passions.  The men, leaving the natural use of women, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

 

Today, however, some have begun to reject the Judeo-Christian moral absolutes of the bible in favor of their own personal preference—a situation thrice denounced in the Scriptures as “every man doing that which is right in his own eyes” (Duet. 12:8)

 

 

Where a candidate stands on the issue of homosexuality is one of the best indicators of whether that candidate embraces the moral absolutes established by God, and consideration of this issue should therefore be a priority when examining a presidential candidate.

 

Issue #4 – Public Religious Acknowledgments

 

“In all your ways acknowledge Him.  Proverbs 3:6

 

“As they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper.” Romans 1:28

 

“Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord.”  Psalm 33:12.

 

John Jay, Original Chief Justice U.S. Supreme Court; Author of the Federalist Papers:  “I…recommend a general and public return of praise and thanksgiving to Him from whose goodness these blessings descend.  The most effectual means of securing the continuance of our civil and religious liberties is always to remember with reverence and gratitude the Source from which they flow.

 

The Ten Commandments begin with the pronouncement, “I am the Lord your God.”  Christians attach this definitive proclamation as the prologue to the Ten Commandments, Jews consider that forceful declaration to be the First Commandment.  They properly believe that acknowledging god is the highest priority—that the commands listed after that affirmation have force only because God is recognized for Who He is and is acknowledged as the Authority behind those commands.  Therefore, acknowledging and honoring god is a priority in His Top Ten.

 

Proverbs 3: 5-6 reemphasizes that pivotal message, reminding us that in all our ways we are to acknowledge Him; and Psalm 79:6 and Jeremiah 10:25 call for God’s wrath upon all nations which do not call upon His name, while Matthew 10:32 and Luke 12:8 affirm the blessing of acknowledging Him in public. 

 

The warranty of 2 Samuel 2:30 “those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be disdained”, applies to a nation as well as individuals.

 

God Himself separated the two institutions of Church and State.  He placed Moses (a Prophet and Deliverer) over the civil affairs and Aaron over the spiritual ones.  The nations was but one jurisdiction, but the jurisdictions were two; and both acknowledged and honored God.  that model was maintained throughout the Scriptures.

 

Helping The Poor:  “You shall open your hand wide to your brothers, to the poor, and to the needy in your land.  Deuteronomy 15:11

 

“Remember the poor.”  Galatians 2:10

 

Helping the poor in scores of passages is the responsibility of individuals and the congregation, not of government.

 

Deut. 15: 7-8; 10, 11 When you happen on someone who’s in trouble or needs help among your people with whom you live in this land that God gave you, don’t look the other way pretending you don’t see him—don’t keep a tight grip on your purse.  No, Look at him; open your purse; lend whatever and as much as he needs…Give freely and spontaneously.  Don’t have a stingy heart.  The way you handle matters like this triggers God’s blessing in everything you do—all your work and ventures.  There are always going to be poor and needy people among you.  So I command you:  Always be generous; open your purse and hands; give to your neighbors in trouble—your poor and hurting neighbors. (The Message)

 

Also Matthew 25: 34-40

 

John Hancock:  “While we are using the means in our power, let us humbly commit our righteous cause to the great Lord of the universe, Who loves righteousness and hates iniquity.  And having secured the approbation of our hearts by a faithful and unwearied discharge of our duty to our country, let us joyfully leave our concerns in the hands of Him who raises up and pulls down the empires and kingdoms of the world as He pleases.”

 

Preached by:  Carolyn Sissom, Pastor

Eastgate Ministries, Inc.

 

Excerpts and paraphrases from, The Bible Voters & the 2008 Election by David Barton, WallBuilder, Aledo, Texas www.wallbuilders.com

This is a short review of this book for the purpose of a sermon.