America

America has traditionally been an amazing country that rose to be probably the most powerful and admired (also envied) nation in world History. (Of course, when it comes to a Multi National Empire, Britain was gigantic also)

   I read somewhere that a French sociologist came to America in 1831 on a quest to discover the secret of US greatness, (even then) He is reputed to have written that he researched her wondrous universities, hospitals, agricultural and industrial achievements and work ethic. He also spent time considering the beauty and richness of her lands and natural endowments. This sociologist was impressed by all of America’s attitudes, ethics, educational institutions and creative energies.

  

   He came to the conclusion that the thing that showed the secret of her increases and blessings most intensively, was the thundering power and impact of her preachers and the flaming righteousness of her churches. He is believed to have said that his ultimate finding was this: He realized that the key to her vast success and achievements in world shaking prominence was not in her educational opportunities, commerce, agriculture, creativity, energy, work ethic or brilliance.

   He is claimed to have said, "America is great is because America is good, if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great!"

 

   Fast forward now---Here we are, midway through the second decade of the 21st Century and most thinking, questioning scholars have reached the conclusion that America’s world image is somewhat tarnished at best. Her colossal moral impact and greatness and exceptional economic power have been eroded and compromised.

 

   Even more significantly, America has lost lots of her moral clarity and foundational Biblical values to a large degree. The USA always represented (particularly since Britain’s decline after WW2) a nation that strongly stood for Judeo/Christian morals and values. This furnished her with a deep bedrock foundation that has guided her through many storms, economic, military and otherwise. Many believe it was her Christian (and Judeo) foundations that caused her exaltation to amazing world dominance in the 20th century.

   There was a point in the late 1950s and early 1960s that America had less than 5% of the world population yet had over 95% of the world’s wealth. In those days America was largely self sufficient and did not really need imports or exports, to thrive as a gigantic economic and military colossus.

   Everything was made here, and sold here and there was a mega economy, independent of what the rest of the world did.

The economy boomed, the middle class flourished and thrived, as in no other nation in history.

 

   Sadly, times have changed; there has been a seismic shift in American values, morals and foundational Spiritual compass. America once stood tall as showing True North Spiritual morality to the rest of the world. It is no accident that she and her President have been called the leader of the Free World. America stood for political freedom, economic freedom, Spiritual freedom and Moral freedom. (Amazing that the world’s favorite comic book superhero was Superman, who stood for Truth, Justice and the American Way)

   Today, many are saying that America is not the America it once was and consequently she is not as blessed as she once was.  Poor national decisions at every level have been made, also millions of individuals are doing their own thing and getting bogged in swamp lands far from the mainstream of time honored Truth. Multitudes believe she needs to embrace her former Rock Solid Spiritual Values and Ethics so she can again rise to greatness. It is interesting that over 10% of the Chinese population are now passionate evangelical Christians and many business and professional leaders are Christian. It is said that even the communist hierarchy, recognize the economic and social positives that Christians bring to China.

   Yes, America still loves her flag, the Stars and Stripes, or Old Glory. But we must realize it is not the flag that makes the people great, it is the people that made the flag great. I saw one man with at least 4 or 5 flags flying from his car, as if this was what made him a patriot. If we want the flag to mean what it once meant, we must return and become the people again that made that flag, the amazing symbol of freedom that it is.

   Remember though, the symbol of freedom is not what brings true freedom, it is through the substance, spirit, belief system and lifestyle of people that Freedom prevails, not the flag. You could put a 2015 BMW emblem on a 1962 Volkswagen beetle and it would not change what the car is. The emblems of a luxury car mean nothing. It is the cars true manufacturing and engineering standards and track record that matter; Emblems don’t make the car, the car must dictate the emblems symbolic quality and performance.

   Somebody once said you could probably do plastic surgery on a mules ears and deck him out in racing colors and he may look like a race horse but when he races against true racing thoroughbreds, his performance will expose he is a mule.

   How true, we must become the kind of people that will make our nation great, wherever we live on the globe.

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

America

America has traditionally been an amazing country that rose to be probably the most powerful nation in world History. (Of course when it comes to a multi national Empire Britain was gigantic also)

   I read somewhere that a French sociologist came to America in 1831 on a quest to discover the secret of US greatness. (even back then) He is reputed to have written that he researched her wondrous universities, hospitals, agricultural and industrial achievements and work ethic. He also spent time considering the beauty and richness of her lands and natural endowments. This sociologist was impressed by all of America’s attitudes, ethics, educational institutions and creative energies.

  

   He came to the conclusion that the thing that showed the secret of her blessings most intensively was the thundering power of her preachers and the flaming righteousness of her churches. He is believed by many to have said that his ultimate finding was this: He realized that the key to her vast success and achievements in world shaking prominence was not in her educational opportunities, commerce, agriculture, creativity, energy and brilliance.

   He is claimed to have said, "America is great is because America is good, if America ever ceases to be good she will cease to be great!"

 

   Fast forward now---Here we are midway through the second decade of the 21st Century and most thinking, questioning scholars have reached the conclusion that America’s world image is tarnished at best and her colossal greatness and exceptional economic power have been eroded and compromised.

 

   Even more significantly, America has lost lots of her moral clarity and foundational Biblical values to a large degree. The USA always represented (particularly since Britain’s decline after WW2) a nation that strongly stood for Judeo/Christian morals and values. This furnished her with a deep bedrock foundation and guided her through many storms economic, military and otherwise. Many believe it was her Christian (and Judeo) foundations that caused her exaltation to amazing world dominance in the 20th century.

   There was a point in the late 1950s and early 1960s that America had less that 5% of world population yet had over 95% of the world’s wealth. In those days America was largely self sufficient and did not really need imports or exports to thrive as a gigantic economic and military colossus.

   Everything was made here and sold here and there was a mega economy independent of what the rest of the world did.

The economy boomed, the middle class flourished and thrived as in no other nation in history.

 

   Sadly, times have changed; there has been a seismic shift in American values, morals and foundational spiritual compass. The USA stood tall as showing True North Spiritual morality to the rest of the world. It is no accident that she and her President have been called the leader of the Free World. America stood for political freedom, economic freedom, Spiritual freedom and Moral freedom. (Amazing that the worlds favorite comic superhero was Superman, who stood for Truth, Justice and the American Way)

   Today, many are saying that America is not the America it once was, so consequently she is not as blessed as she once was. Many poor national decisions, at every level have been made, also millions of individuals are doing their own thing and getting bogged in swamp lands far from the mainstream of time honored Truth. America needs to embrace her former glorious Spiritual values and Beliefs and she will again rise to greatness. It is interesting that over 10% of Chinese are now passionate evangelical Christians and many business leaders are Christian. It is said that even the communist hierarchy recognize the economic and social positives that Christians bring to China.

   Yes, America still loves her flag, the Stars and Stripes, or Old Glory. But we must realize it is not the flag that makes the people great, it is the people that made the flag great. I saw one man with at least 4 or 5 flags flying from his car, as if this was what made him a patriot. If we want the flag to mean what it once meant, we must became the people again that made that flag the amazing symbol of freedom that it is. Remember though, the symbol of freedom is not what brings true freedom, it is the substance, spirit, belief system and lifestyle of freedom that prevails, not the flag. You could put a 2015 Cadillac emblem on a 1962 Volkswagen beetle and it would not change what the car is. The emblems of a luxury car mean nothing, if the cars true manufacturing and engineering standards  don’t match the emblems symbolic power, the emblem loses credibility.

   Somebody once said you could probably do plastic surgery on a mules ears and deck him out in racing colors and he may look like a race horse but when he races against true racing thoroughbreds, his performance will expose him as a mule.

   How true, we must become the kind of people that will make our nations great, wherever we live on the globe.

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

The Joy Of the Lord is our Strength

Just today I received an amazing letter from a minister I have loved and respected for almost 40 years.
In it he was reiterating the importance of the Word of God and how it must enter our ears our eyes and hearts. He was stressing that we must allow the Word absolute priority in our lives if we ever want to experience the Victory over all the negative impacts that the world, the flesh and the devil have incurred in this life.

Of course this is no new fangled, fancy revelation that has just come down the track. This is as old as God Himself and it is still the only reality that produces faith and joy that empowers us to overcome fear, sorrow and hopelessness.

The wonderful thing about the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is that they have never changed throughout the endless aeons of Eternity. Jesus is more constant than the Sun or stars that shine in the heavens, After all, He created them as demonstrations of His constant Artistic Glory. This why He is often called the Rock of Ages.
God never changes, He will always be Pure Endless Love that became a man called Jesus in order to personally demonstrate His Grace, Love, Joy and Character to us.

John 1: 10-13 (Phillips NT))He came into the world—the world he had created—and the world failed to recognise him. He came into his own creation, and his own people would not accept him. Yet wherever men did accept him he gave them the power to become sons of God. These were the men who truly believed in him, and their birth depended not on the course of nature nor on any impulse or plan of man, but on God.

14-18 So the word of God became a human being and lived among us. We saw his splendour (the splendour as of a father’s only son), full of grace and truth.

Whenever we feel weak, joyless, defeated, old or useless, we must check the word level in our hearts and lives. In a car, it is customary to check the oil level on the dipstick, to make sure there is sufficient lubrication to allow the engine and pistons to operate in smooth ease.
The same is true for a man or woman. We must ensure that The Word of God is producing the correct Faith that produces the Oil Of Joy that lubricates the spiritual system of our inner beings. This is not meant to be a cute little analogy, rather it is absolutely true.

Many people sadly try to substitute the Word of God (which is the only Manufacturers endorsed Fuel for Life) with so called recreational drugs or alcohol, or even overuse of food or other good things which can be used as desperate fuel alternatives to try to receive strength to cope with lifes sufferings.
Of course there are many addictions that can develop in the wrongly directed search for Joy to Live.
One man talking about heroin, which most people recognize as absolutely a terrible fuel to use, said "It wasnt the answer but it made me forget what the question was".

The Good News is that God has given us the most awesome clean burning Word Fuel of Faith, Strength and Joy. This Fuel will cause us to fly to undreamed of Altitudes into the "Secret Place of the Most High" where we can "Abide under the Shadow of the Almighty" and "Dwell in His Pavilion". Of course the best Worship songs are Word based which allow us to: "Make melody in our Hearts" and:

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Many of the young people (now older) who became believers during the Jesus Movement (late 60s- 70s) were often from the alternative, spiritual, hippy background of marijuana/psychedelic experimentation. Many of the people who were searching back then and had amazing encounters with Jesus (The Word made Flesh) sometimes said "We get the Most High with the Most High".

In fact a great friend of mine who is also a powerful man of God and brilliant prophetic songwriter/guitarist (not to mention a wonderful dentist) wrote a powerful song entitled "Most High with the Most High"

Of course the Jesus people who had this deep scintillating encounter with the Lord, discontinued their drug experimentation and found the Joy Fuel they were always thirsting for in the "Word made Flesh--Jesus"

The thing is, you dont just come to Jesus and you are fueled forever. Its takes being a true disciple of Jesus to live in His Daily Joy and Presence. This means hearing, reading and speaking The Word of God which produces world overcoming Joy or Strength!

When I was a young Christian in late 1977, I was standing on Bondi Beach in Australia one day and complaining to Him that I was in a bad trial of my faith. I felt depressed, empty, lonely and tempted to go back and refuel with my old habits.

The Lord reminded me that in order to experience being intoxicated on alcohol or other things, one has to actually purchase the product and drink or smoke it. He said a reasonable person would not expect to experience intoxication on a regular basis without making it a regular habit.

In the same way He impressed me it would be foolish to expect to experience His Grace, Love and Joy without receiving or imbibing His Word and Presence into the eyes, ears and spiritual system. The analogy of getting a suntan came to mind also, it would be dumb to expect to get a suntan lying on your living room floor. (I knew a drummer who tried this, it didnt work)

It takes getting into the sunshine with your clothes off to get a tan. Getting a daily impartation from God means getting daily exposure of His Sonshine into your mind and heart. This doesnt happen by spacing out trying to think about Him. It takes reading, hearing, speaking the Word in Song and Meditation. Then you can "think" about Him and receive his thoughts and Joy!

Nehemiah 8:10 Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Philippians 4 (Message Bible)
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

True Grace from Heaven

There has been much ministry and discussion in recent years concerning the Biblical reality of the Grace of God!
Many voices of derision have arisen on this subject. Many today both in and outside of the church have a distorted concept concerning the New Covenant of Gods Mercy and Grace!
We have great difficulty accepting the fact that Gods awesome provision of His Son Jesus allowed us to have all our accounts settled forever in Heaven. (Independent of our feeble attempts at righteous goodness)

Jesus Christ forever satisfied the demands of the Eternal Court of Justice when He willingly became obedient to death and allowed Himself to become a sacrifice to secure our eternal release from hell and death. Jesus was not just nicely and neatly crucified as many religious artworks suggest. He did not just receive some small surgical nail prints in His hands and feet. The spear wound in his side was not a G rated artistic wound as we often imagine.

The cruel Crown of Thorns caused massive defacing laceration to his scalp and lovely head. Of course the cat o nine tails used by the Romans was an instrument of Draconian flagellation. The leather cords contained pieces of attached bone and metal pieces that stripped large tracts of flesh from the bone as the beating progressed.

Of course the suffering to remit our sins was not just a bodily physical suffering, it extended to all realms of His Being in order to satisfy what justice demanded to legally bring remission from sin and death to our sin natures. Jesus was tortured spiritually to bring us a New Spiritual Birth to secure our eternal home in Heaven. He was excruciatingly ravaged both mentally and emotionally to secure our soundness of mind and soul.
We must realize that our salvation cost Father God His very best. God didn’t just send a great angel or prophet to die for our sins. Our sin was so massive and profound that it actually extended to the Heavenly Utensils of Worship described in Hebrews.
As we see in the Scriptures below Jesus actually shed His Blood to bring cleansing to the vessels of the ministry in Heaven. So even though sin did not get into Heaven proper, the vessels of worship there were affected. In the old testament the repetitive blood of animals atoned temporarily for the sin of the people, now in the New Testament God Almighty has shed His Own Blood in Jesus Crucifixion to obtain once and forever remission and forgiveness for us all if we believe and receive. Remember under the Old there was only an atonement or covering of sin. Today in the New Testament we have a total absolute removal or remission for our sins for ever, we didn’t achieve this by being goody goodies either. It was all His Work and none of ours.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (CJB)
2 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”

HEBREWS 9:21-22 AMPLIFIED
Moses also sprinkled with blood the tent itself and all the sacred vessels. And you will find that in the Law almost all cleansing is made by means of blood—as 22 [In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.
23 By such means, therefore, it was necessary for the [earthly] copies of the heavenly things to be purified, but the actual heavenly things themselves [required far] better and nobler sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ (the Messiah) has not entered into a sanctuary made with [human] hands, only a copy and pattern and type of the true one, but [He has entered] into heaven itself, now to appear in the [very] presence of God on our behalf.
25 Nor did He [enter into the heavenly sanctuary to] offer Himself regularly again and again, as the high priest enters the [Holy of] Holies every year with blood not his own.
26 For then would He often have had to suffer [over and over again] since the foundation of the world. But as it now is, He has once for all at the consummation and close of the ages appeared to put away and abolish sin by His sacrifice [of Himself].
27 And just as it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment,
28 Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and [d]once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are [eagerly, constantly, and patiently] waiting for and expecting Him.

The common saying has it: “No shedding of blood, no remission of sin.”

Christ has achieved the real appearance before God for us

HEBREWS 9:23-28 PHILLIPS
It was necessary for the earthly reproductions of heavenly realities to be purified by such methods, but the actual heavenly things could only be made pure in God’s sight by higher sacrifices than these. Christ did not therefore enter into any holy places made by human hands (however truly these may represent heavenly realities), but he entered Heaven itself to make his appearance before God as High Priest on our behalf. There is no intention that he should offer himself regularly, like the High Priest entering the holy of holies every year with the blood of another creature. For that would mean that he would have to suffer death every time he entered Heaven from the beginning of the world! No, the fact is that now, at this point in time, the end of the present age, he has appeared once and for all to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as surely as it is appointed for all men to die and after that pass to their judgment, so it is certain that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many and after that, to those who look for him, he will appear a second time, not this time to deal with sin, but to bring them to full salvation.

J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

So in light of the magnitude of our sin and the astronomical and unfathomable sacrifice of God on our behalf, let us truly and completely accept the sacrifice of His Son Jesus on our behalf. Let us receive His unmerited favor to us in endless waves of Glory and Grace.
It’s all God from start to finish and nothing to do with us. All we can do is believe and receive. God said "Go up to 100th Floor in 3 minutes time and then, knowing it is totally impossible, He then provided a 200 mph elevator and said "Get on board"!
Another analogy would be for God to tell the human race to jump or fly over Everest in 15 minutes time. Of course even the greatest pole vault athlete in history could never vault over Everest but God provided the Death, Burial and then RESURRECTION of Christ and gave us the same Spirit Jesus had when he Conquered death and ultimately ascended to Heaven bodily. We can never conquer death sin and carnal temptations on our own strength but in Christ all we have to do is Believe and Receive. This gives us imputed Righteousness, We didn’t earn it, we don’t deserve it but Hey, chill out, Jesus Loves us and made the way where there is no way. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is Gods Divine elevator for us to appear Boldly before His Throne to obtain Help and Mercy in the Day of Need.

Shine on Beloved Ones, we have all been dirt bags in our faulty actions in one way or another, but He has made us Righteous by His Faith, Love and Grace!
What a deal, it’s better than realizing Warren Buffet made you the sole beneficiary of his fortune. All of the trillions of dollars of earth could not buy you a cheap seat in Heavens back stalls. But Jesus Precious Blood has purchased a guaranteed awesome tailor made position in the Eternal Heaven of Gods Kindness and Love!

Ephesians 1: 19 MESSAGE BIBLE
I ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!

20-23 All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.