[0:00] When Marv told me what the scripture was this morning, I was just a little bit excited.
[0:14] Because it contains a memory verse that I learned a long time ago. So if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.
[0:30] I would like you to please turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 8. And if you will take a look in John chapter 8, verses 31 through 36.
[0:57] So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine.
[1:17] And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. They answered him, We are Abraham's descendants, and have never yet been enslaved to anyone.
[1:37] How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
[1:58] The slave does not remain in the house forever. The Son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
[2:20] Thank you, Gary. That's a wonderful passage, but every time I read that, I cannot help but wonder if the Jews to whom Jesus was speaking at the time were not historical revisionists.
[2:32] Historical revisionists are people who rewrite history. They change the facts to suit their particular belief system, whatever that might be.
[2:43] And apparently it is no problem at all for them to finagle the truth of history by just changing around a few things. And as you read this passage, We are Abraham's offspring and have never been enslaved to anyone.
[3:04] How is it that you say you shall become free? Wasn't there this little thing about the Egyptians? And what about the Babylonians who held you captive and prisoners for 70 years?
[3:25] And what about the Romans? And what about the Greeks? Isn't it amazing how sometimes a lapse of memory can set in? We've never been enslaved to anyone.
[3:36] Truth of the matter is, the Israelites had been enslaved at one time or another to just about everyone. And then they make a statement like that. We've never been enslaved to anyone.
[3:47] It boggles your mind, doesn't it? So the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. And this is our last part in the series of God, Christian, and politics.
[4:01] And as I thought about that, it is a statement that one of our founding fathers made. The cost or the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
[4:15] That means the time never comes when you can drop your guard. You have to constantly keep your eyes open and stay alert.
[4:30] Why is that? The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. Why? And the answer is simple.
[4:42] If you understand the nature of humanity, and it is this. Man in his fallenness has a quest for wealth and power.
[4:55] And they will try to attain it however they may. Sometimes it is at the expense of others. You must take other people's freedom away from them if you are going to control them and dominate them.
[5:13] Then they will have only the freedom that you choose to give them. The world has from time immemorial been comprised of those of a tyrannical mindset.
[5:27] There are those who want to dominate, control the agenda, have their own way. And the only way you can do that is by disarming people who would have their own way so that you can have ascendancy over them.
[5:44] There have always been those who were desirous of taking away the freedom and liberty of others so that they can pursue their own agenda.
[5:55] And if they don't take your freedom and liberty away, then you will be an obstacle. You will be in their way. This has been demonstrated and repeated from the beginning of time.
[6:12] And nothing has changed. And the reason nothing has changed is simply because man hasn't changed and his nature has not changed. And in keeping with that, I want to reiterate a premise that we made at the outset of these sessions on God, Christians, and politics.
[6:30] And here it is. And I realize this sounds somewhat depressing. But it's true. And we have to deal with it. Our flawed humanity prevents us from governing ourselves with justice, equity, and consistency.
[6:51] No matter the form of government in place. Man cannot have the government he should because man is not what he should be.
[7:05] So we simply are incapable of doing that. Now, make no mistake about it. There are governments that are highly preferable over other type governments.
[7:16] But there is no such thing as an unflawed government because we have no such thing as unflawed people. It is people who administer the affairs of government.
[7:28] It is people who legislate, people who execute, and people who determine the constitutionality of their laws, etc.
[7:39] All of whom are human and all of whom are flawed. And that is why the very best we can do is provide a flawed kind of government. But the citizenry is flawed too, isn't it?
[7:54] Indeed it is. This is painfully true. All dispensers of government and its laws are themselves the problem.
[8:05] And they are us, you and me. And we are all part of our own problems. Yet, according to Romans chapter 13, which we examined in the previous session, governments of whatever kind there may be are preferable to no government, which is rampant anarchy.
[8:26] And anarchy is a word which simply means there are no first ones. That means no one is out in front. That means no one is leading.
[8:39] Then who are the leaders? Every person is their own leader. That's anarchy. And, of course, it results in complete chaos everywhere it has broken out.
[8:51] A government, the U.S. government in particular, will fare far better if men and women who have a biblical worldview are in positions of authority.
[9:06] This is because they alone have a realistic position about the way humanity and the world actually are. They, therefore, can craft legislation and policies that are designed to address reality far better than those with no grasp of the real world.
[9:28] Those with no biblical worldview must be relegated to the mere rank of politician. As opposed to those with a biblical worldview who at least have the potential of becoming a genuine statesman.
[9:46] A Christian who occupies any office goes into it with his biblical worldview in mind. He operates from it.
[9:58] He bases his decisions and positions on it. And it often is not appreciated. It may be seen as too restrictive or inflexible. But it is not his.
[10:11] It is God's. And he simply speaks to implement it. And he seeks to implement it because he knows it is the best way he is obligated to put it forth.
[10:23] He may be outnumbered and outvoted. But that isn't his concern. The biblical worldview is in reality the best plan to implement for everyone whether they recognize it or not.
[10:38] And it is not because it is religion based but because it is reality based. The biblical worldview about everything is that which comports with truth and reality.
[10:52] Solutions that are proposed about anything are always better. If they correspond to reality. Now, I want to briefly detour from philosophy of government to the historicity of government.
[11:11] The early 1800s, shortly after our nation was birthed. I'm talking like 1804 to 1812, somewhere in that area.
[11:21] A gentleman by the name of Alexander de Tocqueville, who was an influential French aristocrat, extensively toured this fledgling new nation of the United States of America.
[11:35] And he wrote about his several observations, what he had seen and heard while visiting. And one of de Tocqueville's most frequently quoted statements is thus, quote, America is great because America is good.
[11:57] And if she ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great. Goodness and greatness complement one another.
[12:09] Undeniably, America has enjoyed a 233-year ride of goodness and greatness.
[12:21] Yet, these are relative terms. We talk about the United States of America being a good country. Good compared to what?
[12:33] We talk about our country being a great country. Great compared to what? I think the echo, the chorus would come back resoundingly compared to all the others.
[12:49] It isn't that we have nothing left to be desired. We have a lot left to be desired. We are far from a perfect nation and a perfect people. We are as deeply flawed as many other nations.
[13:01] Nonetheless, God has seen fit to bless what we have put forth over these last several generations. Goodness and greatness are relative terms.
[13:17] But as has often been said, our government and our way of life is far from perfect. But it certainly is preferable to anything anybody else has going anywhere in the world.
[13:32] Much has been made of the fact that with the demise of the Soviet Union and the breakup of the USSR, the United States has emerged as the only world superpower and economic power.
[13:46] But honesty compels us to admit that these are appellations that may be in jeopardy because we do not know what this current economic crisis is going to unfold.
[13:59] We do not know what the global implications of this are going to be. It's too soon to tell. But we may know very shortly. Very shortly.
[14:10] What are the engines that have driven this nation to the level of goodness and greatness that it is?
[14:24] What are those things that are more responsible for our being the nation that we are, perhaps more than anything else? Well, I'm sure there are several.
[14:35] I'm sure that some of them are simple and some of them are complex. And I'm sure that there are probably many of them that I don't even know about. And neither do you. But number one, far and away, our perpetual striving for an insistence upon the freedom of the individual.
[15:00] And it all began with those immortal words of Thomas Jefferson. We hold these truths to be self-evident.
[15:15] You don't have to think a lot about it. You don't have to research it. These truths are apparent. They are obvious. They are as plain as the nose on your face.
[15:28] All men are created equal. That means all men are of equal worth and value.
[15:41] It means the price to be put upon the soul of one man is not greater than the price to be put upon another. We do not share equality in talents and ability and intelligence and things like that.
[15:59] But we do share an equality in the worth of the individual. And that begins, I might add, the worth of the unborn.
[16:13] Freedom of the individual. Freedom of the individual. Our founding document was all about a declaration of independence from those who were unjustly subjugating us as a people.
[16:27] All men are created equal. That they are endowed. That they have bestowed upon them.
[16:38] By their creator. Not by the government. By their creator. Certain unalienable rights.
[16:49] Rights. That means rights that are rights from which you cannot be alienated or separated. And that among these are life.
[17:04] Because if you don't have that one, none of the others matter. Life. Liberty. And the pursuit of happiness. This individual liberty thing that we so enjoy here is something that I think is just automatic to take for granted.
[17:24] I'm as guilty of it as anybody else. You ever heard anybody say, well, it's a free country. You know what that means? That means a lot.
[17:35] That means a lot. It's a free country. And it is. And there are many, many nations throughout the world where you cannot go and say that.
[17:46] Because it isn't true. It isn't a free country there. Now, of course, some have interpreted it's a free country. With a modern mindset.
[17:57] Which to them means everything in the country is free. It doesn't mean that. I'm sure that our founding fathers did not have that in mind.
[18:08] And that is a crass, extreme kind of, I deserve it. I've got it coming. It's entitlementism that is slowly strangling us.
[18:23] We are endowed by the Creator. And because freedom and liberty for the individual is a gift from God, no man has the right to take that freedom that God has given from another human being.
[18:37] We enjoy the freedom of speech. I am able, as your pastor, to stand here in this pulpit and speak with freedom and liberty about whatever issues we are discussing today.
[18:57] We do not know whether this is going to continue or whether there will be qualifications placed upon our speech, such as are already in force for which some pastors have already been jailed in Canada.
[19:21] So freedom of speech does not exist north of the border. Not on Sunday morning, at least.
[19:33] There are those who would place the same restriction south of that border. We enjoy freedom of religion.
[19:46] We also enjoy freedom from religion, if you would rather have it that way. No one is coerced to believe anything. No one is imprisoned for believing or not believing anything.
[20:01] We have freedom of press. The newspapers can print whatever they want without fear of government intervention, without fear of being brought to trial by government or editors imprisoned by government.
[20:19] They can write articles that are intensely critical of the government. Articles for which in many other countries throughout the world, you would go to jail.
[20:31] Literally. We enjoy that kind of freedom here. It's the freedom of the press. And we enjoy the freedom of assembly.
[20:42] Yesterday was a throng of people met in downtown Springfield for the tea party. And there was music and there were inspiring speeches and there were sentiments that were expressed.
[20:58] And it was just a time of good old-fashioned Americanism, the kind of thing that birthed this nation and seeks to perpetuate it. And no one was looking over their shoulder.
[21:12] No one was trying to see or find out if some of the people who were dressed like us were actually security spies, taking down names and license plates, taking down names and license plates numbers and all of that so that they could report us to the government for some kind of future action.
[21:33] And I don't think there was a person there who even entertained that thought. Only because we have freedom of assembly.
[21:45] We don't have to worry about coming to meetings like this and then there being a knock on your door at two o'clock in the morning and you're hauled off into the middle of the night for interrogation someplace.
[21:58] We've never had that to be concerned about. We have treasured and benefited from these freedoms so much that we have become a magnet to people from all over the world, yearning to be free, as Emma Lazarus so well put it in her famous inscription, place at the base of the Statue of Liberty, yearning to be free.
[22:27] There is something within the heart and soul of every human being that cherishes an ability to pursue their own interests, to engage in employment of their liking, to live where they want to live, to move where they want to move, to have the freedom of moving about and the freedom of assembly.
[22:47] We cherish that and we've always had that and we can't imagine what it would be like living without it. I've often wondered if it wouldn't be a wonderful thing here in the U.S. of A.
[23:00] if we were forced to live under a rigid police state where you cannot go from one state to another or even one county to another without an armed guard there asking you, Papers, please! Papers!
[23:23] Papers, Papers! Papers, p��URU, papers, papers Host, PhD, Papers, Papers, Papers, Papers, Papers, Kap så qu latest Papers, Papers, Papers, Papers, Papers, Papers, a copy of rope, papers, papers, papers, papers, prophecy, papers, papers, papers, papers, papers, papers.
[23:41] kind of domination for 30 days, then we would appreciate what we've got that many other nations only dream about.
[23:53] And I ask you, how many other nations are there that have waiting lists for people to immigrate into their country? How many people are standing in line to get into the Soviet Union, to immigrate to Russia?
[24:11] Not many. Anybody here want to move to Red China? By the way, the official name of it is the People's Republic of China and the People's Republic of Korea.
[24:28] And it is anything but of, by, and for the people. It is the society. Do you understand that what we have here in this country is individualism and not socialism, but the individualism is rapidly giving way to socialism right before our very eyes?
[24:53] In individualism, as the word implies, the emphasis is upon the individual.
[25:05] Individual responsibility, individual liberty and freedom, individual productivity, individual accountability. And it is the individuals, strong individuals, resourceful, self-reliant individuals build a strong society.
[25:25] But it doesn't work the other way around. It is not a strong society that builds strong individuals. It doesn't work that way. It is strong individuals and strong families that build a strong society.
[25:42] The emphasis in socialism is on the society. In a way, it sounds good. It sounds good.
[25:53] Because individualism has a tinge of me only to it. Selfishness. Individualism.
[26:05] Me, myself, and I. Whereas when you talk about society, you're talking about the good of the whole.
[26:17] And ought we not be more concerned about that? What's good for everybody as opposed to just an individual? Does sound good.
[26:33] Sounds compassionate. Sounds generous. But it's all wrong because it doesn't work that way. And the reason it doesn't work that way is because of the flawed nature of humanity that we've been talking about from the beginning.
[26:53] It was said for years in the Soviet Union under the heel of communism. Communism is where everyone is equal. Except some are more equal than others.
[27:10] That's the dirty truth of it. You cannot have that kind of society properly administered simply because communism and socialism really sound logical.
[27:25] That's the danger of them. They sound so logical. They sound so right. If you just don't have to take into consideration human nature, they'd be okay.
[27:37] But when you come up against the rubric of humanity being what it is, they are utterly unworkable systems. And what was recently dismantled in the Soviet Union under communism is hailed as one of the most expensive, tragic, 70-year political experiments in the history of humanity.
[28:00] Do you realize, do you realize that under Joseph Stalin, 50 million, 50 million Russians were exterminated, eliminated, many of them by starvation, because they did not fit into the plan of the glorious communist state that they had hoped to achieve.
[28:39] These people were expendable. They were their own countrymen. This isn't my opinion. Just dig out the Americana or the Britannica and get the numbers from them.
[28:53] They are there for all to behold. They are matters of history. And they may not have been during your lifetime, but they were during my lifetime that these people were done away.
[29:06] Incredible. Mao Zedong, under the communist purge in China. Millions more. The Pol Pot regime in Cambodia.
[29:17] Millions more in the killing field. Why? Because these people were simply seeking to implement an unworkable system and make it work.
[29:28] And no one has ever succeeded and no one ever will, because you cannot work those systems with flawed humanity as it is. This brings you right back to individualism, and individualism is capitalism all the way through.
[29:43] It means the freedom to fail, the freedom to succeed. It means the freedom to risk and take a risk. It means the freedom to enjoy the fruit of your labor and to return on your investment.
[29:58] All of these things. And they're all flawed. There is nothing perfect about capitalism. Someone says capitalism breeds greed.
[30:08] It does. It does. It also breeds generosity. It also breeds hard work. It also breeds reward.
[30:21] Return for your investment. Profit is not a dirty word. There's nothing wrong with it. Of course, people can be motivated by greed.
[30:33] There's no question about it. But you don't need capitalism to do that. You do that under any system. Capitalism is flawed. Seriously flawed. For the same reason that communism is flawed, and socialism is flawed, because what you've got to deal with at the root of it all is human nature.
[30:56] We've got a system of government and a system of economics that has propelled this nation to the forefront of all other nations of all times. No equals and no contest.
[31:09] And what is responsible for it? More than anything else, it is our freedom. Our ability to make choices. Our opportunities.
[31:20] Why do you think this land has been called from its inception a nation of opportunity?
[31:35] You can make it here. You can do things here that you can't do anywhere else in the world just by sheer hard work. Gutting it out.
[31:47] Capitalism. The promise of profit. Incites incentive. It incites creativity. It incites competition.
[32:00] And competition incites inventiveness. All of these things are part of the mix that goes into making this country what it has been.
[32:11] And there is no nation on the face of the earth that can equal it. Will we sustain it? I do not know. There are ominous, ominous things on the horizon that seriously make us wonder if the America that we know may not merely be an America of the past.
[32:36] It is premature. But if it comes to pass, it will be because we have violated that first axiom.
[32:49] The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. Maybe we have dropped our guard.
[33:05] Too soon to tell. But we will know before long. Individualism cannot survive without freedom.
[33:22] Socialism cannot survive with freedom. Am I proud to be an American?
[33:37] Well, in a way I am, but I've often thought that pride is a thing unbecoming of a Christian.
[33:47] So, I must admit I've got my tinges of pride in America when I see a when I see the jet planes and a flyby and I hear the national anthem sung with the Statue of Liberty in the background and I get that lump in my throat and I stand and see the flag walk by and walking by with the flags in a parade.
[34:20] There is something in me, I guess you could call it pride, but there's something that I feel that is far more profound than pride and that is gratitude. Gratitude.
[34:32] We need to be more grateful to God for this nation than we are proud of this nation. Because you know what happens when pride visits the scene, don't you?
[34:45] You know what always follows pride? My lifetime, even though I was just a young man, I remember the United States of America and how how proud, I guess, would be the word I was as a 10 or 11 year old boy when I heard about the problems in Europe.
[35:13] The war was over. Germany was defeated and Germany was divided into an American and a Russian and a French and an English sector.
[35:33] And Berlin was in the Russian sector. and the Russians blockaded Berlin. You have to understand some of the hatred that existed between the Russians and the Germans.
[35:48] It was really considerable during World War II. Nothing like the hatred between the Americans and the Germans. The Russians and the Germans much greater because Germany, Hitler had been there with his panzers and his troops penetrating Russia and the Russian winter was as unmerciful with Hitler's troops as it was with Napoleon's troops.
[36:15] But the German army exacted a terrible, terrible price of human lives of the Russian people and they were determined to get even any way they could.
[36:27] And when they occupied Berlin, they blockaded the city so that nothing could get in. And General George C.
[36:39] Marshall, George Catlett Marshall, one of our few five-star generals, had been active in the military during the war and then had moved to the position of Secretary of State and he implemented what was to be known as the Marshall Plan and United States flew over the German blockade and the Berlin airlift was underway and hundreds of thousands of tons of food and supplies and medicine and everything else was flown over the Russian blockade to relieve the city of Berlin and literally save those people from starvation.
[37:28] And do you know what? they were our enemies too. But we fed them and we contributed to their survival.
[37:40] It was the United States of America, not the other allies, not the French and not the English. It was the United States of America Canada that rebuilt post-war Germany.
[37:57] And we did it with American dollars after spending American blood to defeat them.
[38:09] We did the same thing with Japan. World War II soundly defeated Japan. Japan, you all know the story about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, obliterated those cities.
[38:28] Tremendous price in blood and treasure. We have got the blood of tens of thousands of young men absorbed into the European soil and the Asian soil for those five long years.
[38:51] And yet we go in there with American money and rebuild those countries. We rebuilt Japan into an economic powerhouse that it is.
[39:05] We did that after defeating them. Do you know of other nations in the annals of human history that have so treated a vanquished enemy as we have?
[39:22] Where is that coming from? I'll tell you where it's coming from. It's coming from a Judeo-Christian concept. From a Judeo-Christian ethic that says you don't have to hold grudges.
[39:37] You don't have to go on hating. Sure, he was your enemy. But the best thing you can do for your enemy is to make him your friend. Germany is now a trading partner of ours.
[39:50] So is Japan. And some of our boys went over there and married their girls and brought them home. And they were our enemies.
[40:02] Where else but in America does this happen? Nowhere I know of. we have forgiven debts totaling hundreds of millions of dollars in money and material that we loaned to Europe in World War I.
[40:24] never got a dime in interest even. Wrote them off. Forgave them. World War II was even greater.
[40:38] Hundreds of millions of dollars of American taxpayer money went into the salvaging of Europe without a dime in repayment.
[40:49] Nor was it even expected. We just gave out of the generosity of this nation. So, how can a nation like this with this kind of track record for generosity be hated?
[41:11] Well, some hate us for our prosperity. Some hate us for what we have because they don't have it. it's a pretty shallow hatred, but after all, most hatred is shallow.
[41:26] Most hatred is born out of ignorance and arrogance. Not everybody hates us. Uncle Sam does have many grateful admirers around the world.
[41:37] Truth be told, probably more admirers than haters. But there are those who do hate us. And some even resent us because we are able to be generous. Some feel that our international foreign aid programs are just designed to buy friendship.
[41:55] Sometimes you wonder if that's what the State Department thinks because it never works. They manage to come back and kick us in the teeth sometimes. But Uncle Sam always seems to be there.
[42:07] Who is always first with men, materials, medicine, and supplies? anywhere there's a natural disaster in the world.
[42:20] Anywhere there's a tsunami, a hurricane, an earthquake. Who is always the first one there with relief? Uncle Sam.
[42:33] And they aren't asking for return or for payment or for promise or anything. It is just out of a humanitarian ethic that is supported by our historic Judeo-Christian concept.
[42:48] It has served us well. We have not served it without flaw, but that's part and parcel of humanity. This country that we have come to love and appreciate survival as we know it.
[43:14] A country as we know it is on the brink. I don't want to be a pessimist, but I do want to be a realist.
[43:26] The wolf is at the door. Things are bleak. more and more, mark my word, more and more you are going to be hearing about global this and global that.
[43:45] Globalism will be the only way to go. And if you're going to be in tune with globalism, you're going to have to put your national sovereignty aside and go along with the crowd.
[44:07] That is going to be the next big push. And I expect it sooner rather than later. You're going to be hearing about it little by little, and it will build to a crescendo.
[44:24] And do you know what? The majority of Americans are going to buy it. And we who refuse to go along with it are going to be looked upon as obstructionists and troublemakers and people who selfishly want to hang on to this thing called your national sovereignty country.
[44:56] When you ought to be willing to hand it over for the good of the whole globe. Don't you care about the rest of the world?
[45:09] And you're going to be made to be looked like a selfish piker if you will not joyfully hand over the control of government to a world order.
[45:27] I do not know if this is going to happen in my lifetime because I'm in the twilight of my years. In case you're wondering, it's 74 tomorrow.
[45:41] But it could very well happen within my lifetime. What is the remedy? There's only one. I just don't know whether there are enough people to provide enough of it or not.
[45:55] I pray to God there is. But the remedy is eternal vigilance. Eternal vigilance. You cannot drop your guard.
[46:08] You cannot turn your back. You cannot take your eye off the ball. That's all the longer it takes. Since January, of this year, who in their right mind would ever have dreamed that we would be where we are now?
[46:31] Economically, with corporate business being in the throes that they are in, bankruptcies, the big three automakers ready to go down the tubes, the government takeovers for this, the bailouts for that, all of these things, all of these things, whether there is an orchestrated movement, whether it is conspiratorial or not, one cannot deny, I do not think you can deny that all of these things seem to be moving in the direction where there is more and more control by the government and less and less freedom of the individual and of individual corporations.
[47:20] I don't care what your politics are, you can't deny that. It is just too obvious. so. Does God know what he's doing?
[47:33] Absolutely. I do not know, but what this may be part of that whole picture that he is himself orchestrating and bringing to pass because these things are going to come about as a result of consequences and actions from the part of governments, etc.
[47:49] And this may be part of that. And if it is, so be it, even so, come Lord Jesus. Meanwhile, we are called upon to stay alert, stay vigilant, be involved, run for office, vote intelligently, and let your positions be known.
[48:11] We've got seven or eight minutes and I want to open it for Q&A and this will be our last in this particular series. I see hands Terry and then Lynette. Do we have a roving mic back there so we can get this on?
[48:28] every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.
[48:41] There is no authority except from God and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.
[48:55] Romans 13, 1, 2, verses 1 and 2. So, if we disagree with the way our government is currently proceeding and if we're going to be called obstructionists, how do we fit within this passage of the scripture?
[49:17] Well, fortunately, under the blessings of our constitution and the foresight of our forefathers, we have in place legitimate means for resisting the government.
[49:32] We have constitutional rights and privileges that are given to us to provide an orderly resistance to the government.
[49:45] Now, you can take resistance to the government in two ways. You can arm yourself with weapons and march on Washington or something like that, which is resisting in one form, but the laws provide a way for us to resist the government and to change the laws.
[50:10] There is legal provision for doing that, and you do that through the ballot box. You do that through an informed citizenry, and that's a recourse that we have.
[50:22] That's the principal recourse that we have, and Christians all too often do not make use of that. So, provision is made for us to oppose government positions and government policies, and we can do that legally through freedom of speech and through the ballot box, and we ought to do that.
[50:44] You don't like the way somebody runs an office or carries out their office? Run against them. you can do that. It's a free country. Lynette, you had a comment or question.
[50:57] I agree with everything you've said, but don't you feel too like this shouldn't surprise us?
[51:08] I mean, this is all in revelation that we're going to have a one world government. I'm not saying lay down and let it all happen, but it's going to happen. It's not, it shouldn't be any surprise to us that we will eventually go that way.
[51:27] If there's going to be a one world government, whether it's in our lifetime or the next lifetime, and I want to be free as long as we can and our children are our grandchildren, but we know it's going to happen.
[51:37] That's true. So does this surprise you at all? No, in a way it doesn't surprise me because it is predictable. It is predictable. We just don't know when that one world government is going to surface or exactly what pathway it's going to take or exactly how it's going to come about.
[51:56] But you're right, the scriptures do prophesy that a one world government is coming. And you read Revelation 17 and 18 and the commercial Babylon and the religious Babylon and economic Babylon, and there's no question but what it is coming.
[52:11] But that does not absolve us of responsibility to contend for the right and to contend for our freedoms and to maintain that eternal vigilance. You see, we are not responsible for heading off a one world government.
[52:28] We are responsible for contending for truth. We are not responsible to win this battle. We are responsible to fight the good fight.
[52:41] We are not responsible for victory, but we are responsible for getting in there and mixing it up. We are responsible for doing what we can do. That's what we're responsible for.
[52:52] Sounding the alarm, being involved, doing what we can. Other comments or questions? Anyone?
[53:05] Up here, Loretta has a comment or question. Okay. Okay. Okay. this world that hates us as Americans, don't you think that, and even in our country, don't you think with every generation the memory of the past is lost?
[53:34] Oh, absolutely. And so those young people in those countries that hate us don't know what we have done. And every generation, even here, gets a little less because there's no memory and nobody standing up telling them.
[53:55] Yeah. And that's an excellent point, excellent point, Loretta. And this is why, hear me now, this is why the older generation, people of my generation, this is why we feel about these things the way we do.
[54:15] We've got a memory. We've got a history. We've lived there. You 20 and 30 year old pups look at us and say, what's the big deal?
[54:27] Because you don't have the basis of comparison that we do. And it's not your fault. We're not saying you're to blame. You just haven't lived the things that we have lived and you haven't been able to see the contrast and the appreciation.
[54:41] So we don't expect you to have that. But I'll tell you something. Where we have really, really, really fumbled the ball.
[54:53] We have not demanded that our public schools educate our children regarding history. history. They have not done it. They have not even come close.
[55:06] And our kids are suffering because they don't even have a historical perspective. If you didn't live it, you can't, you can't live it and you can't have it, but you can read about it and you can learn it.
[55:20] And I know you can because I did when I was in school and I was a lousy student, but I had good teachers and that compensated.
[55:32] If you've got good teachers, you can teach lousy students. But if you've got bad teachers, even if you've got good students, you're sunk. And we've got a batch of bad teachers today.
[55:44] The few good ones we've got can't hold the whole thing together. They just can't. They do the best they can, but the teachers unions have got the nation in a stranglehold and they're not about to let it go.
[56:00] Anyone else before we dismiss? Marietta has a comment. This will have to be our last and we will conclude the service.
[56:10] Well, you still could. I need to make three points. First, I'm old enough.
[56:23] I participated in sacrifice during that Second World War. I was a Rosie the Riveter. And I am extremely angry that our current president goes about to foreign countries apologizing for America when we have done so much for the world, the rest of the world.
[56:52] My second point is that everybody, all of us Christians, as believers in the God who gave us America, have the greatest responsibility to hang on to what he gave us.
[57:13] He gave us the freedom, the opportunities, but the responsibility and duty that goes along with that. Right. And to rephrase something that you've said up there, of course, as Christians, we understand that all this is going to come about, this one world government, but God says we are to occupy until he comes.
[57:42] We're supposed to preserve what he blessed us with as long as we have life to do so. Thank you.
[57:53] Thank you. Occupy until he comes. That doesn't mean find a cushy chair and sit down and relax. That's not what occupy means. Occupy means to be diligently involved.
[58:05] Okay, may we stand, please. Father, we are grateful for an opportunity to freely assemble ourselves together this morning and to look at these issues, some of which are painful and difficult, and yet all are needful because we are admonished to be on the alert.
[58:29] We are admonished to never take our freedom and liberty for granted. to recognize that there are always those elements that would take it from us in order that they could pursue their own agenda and their own plans of power, and we are to be vigilant and be diligent in protecting those constitutional principles that you allowed our forefathers to put in place that have served us so well.
[58:57] Thank you for these people this morning. Thank you for their involvement, their interest, for their response, and we pray now that as we go forth from this place, we will do so as a better informed, more motivated citizenry than when we came in.
[59:14] Thank you for whatever you're pleased to do. In Christ's name, amen. for then. Amen.