The Christian Patriot
A
Sermon
Delivered at the
South Congregational Church,
Boston, July 5, 1840
Note: This sermon was originally posted on the WallBuilders website.
By M. I. Motte
Psalm 144:15
Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord
One of the most common of mistaken and false forms, into which religion is apt to run, is an isolated piety, and abstract and independent devotion; religion separated from the business of life, instead of being woven up, conscientiously, with all its concerns. For convenience’ sake, we have a particular day, and place, and order of men, and class of exercises, especially devoted to the consideration of the great topic; but it is that its influence may be made to run through all days and places, all intercourse, every subject and employment. Yet the church has every been prone, even more than it conscious of, to sever itself from the world, instead of leavening it to its own spirit; and the same man, in his church relations, is a Christian, or would grieve not to be considered and to consider himself so, who, in some of his worldly interests and pursuits, is absolutely an atheist, living without God in his thoughts.
On no subject us thus more obvious, than on the one, from which it is most unfortunate in our country religion should be driven off, seeing it is that which agitates more people here than any other, viz. the whole business of politics. Religion and politics are spoken of as opposite poles, the positive and the negative as the acknowledgment of God is concerned. We hear it said, politics are of no particular religion; and it is too often true, in a more absolute sense than is intended. It would seem, at first, as if both subject were so important, so exciting, that the human hear is hardly large enough for both. (3) When we speak of a man as a politician preeminently, one enthusiastically absorbed in the affairs of the nation, or more probably of a party, we do not expect to find him in a church. And when a zealot for churches is invited to the polls, he seems to answer to the purpose, when he replies, “My Master’s kingdom is not of this world.” If he is a clergyman, the professional response expected from him is, “I have nothing to do with politics;” and only those object to this, who suppose, if he voted at all, he would vote with them; to all others he seems to have made the natural and legitimate reply. Both of these men are wrong, but they both point the direction in which public prejudice blows.
Our festivals, again, are either political or religious; not both together. There would seem to be something incompatible and profane, or absurd, in making them both. Such an anniversary as yesterday is not strikingly a religious day; as tomorrow’s published list of its outrages and truculent mishaps in all our cities will attest. Early in the morning, trains may be seen leaving the city by every outlet, anxious to escape the celebration of the National Independence. And, when the day of the month falls upon the first day of the week, its celebration is postponed till Monday; as if confessedly impossible to bring its spirit to into harmony with the Christian Sabbath.
All this shows, not the politics and religion are necessarily inconsistent, – for the former, I suppose, is a duty as really as the latter, and all duties should be performed in the fear of God, – but it shows, that the spirit of politics which prevails is not the right one. The good of our country should be provided for, as in the sight of God, and in sacred love to our fellow-men; and then it is a holy service, and need not be dissevered from the solemnest ministrations of devotions. It is one of the modes of worship with which the Universal Father is well pleased; one of the forms of his appointed ceremonial of religion pure and undefiled, which consists in going about doing good for his sake. But, if it is only a selfish, headlong, intemperate scramble for preeminence, if it is mercenary, not moral, in its spirit, a question of interest, not of right, the Sabbath is too good a day for it, and so is every other day.
Interest is to be regarded as well as right; but do not all political parties appeal too exclusively to the former? A reverence for right is not held high enough, as the guiding polar star for the opinions of the people. The people think, morality is a matter of home and neighborly intercourse, not involved in the vote they cast, and the opinions they express, on the acts of government, encouraging or condemning. How seldom is the guilt of upholding iniquitous public measures reflected on, as good men reflect on private violations of the ten Commandments. They may do infinitely more mischief than an individual’s misdemeanor, and yet many deem it a little thing. Men seem to think they may hold what opinions, and belong to what parties they please, without regard to their truth or effects, except as affecting themselves; as if politics were a lawless region, always out of Christendom, and from which even conscious was excluded by general consent. Look through the community and the world, and see how, on almost every question, you may draw a line between parties, accurately coinciding with the line between their interests. You need not ask, on which side a man’s convictions lie, if you only know on which side his wishes lie. The coincidence is certainly remarkable; and melancholy it is to reflect on the wide heartlessness it indicates. Here we see men fair-minded in every other concern, men of severe religious sanctity, of nice honor, of scrupulous integrity in their personal transactions, where the welfare of a few immediate connections or acquaintances is at stake; but, when millions lose though the prevalence of an opinion, the first and only thought that seems to occur to them is, How will it affect us, and I our lowest interests? And, if it promise to be lucrative, forthwith they adopt that opinion, and if their soul’s salvation hung upon it.
They adopt that opinion, I said; But can it be possible, that men always do really believe as if for their interests? Can they be conscientious, in such innumerable cases, arriving, through the careful and dispassionate examination, at precisely the result that happens to favor the views and wishes? I allow a great deal for the blinding power of self-interest; but this uniform concurrence of hope and belief is astonishing still. These same people will reason as clearly as daylight on any argument which comes within the tenth of an inch of their own concerns without touching it; but, the moment it touches, their light is darkened, their logical acumen is blunted, their perceptions evince a certain unfortunate obliquity, which is sure to twist their notions in one invariable direction. Can this be right? Can it be honest? We know, or we might know, if we chose, that truth and justice cannot always, and on every accidental question and measure, be in our favor. We are bound, at any rate, not to take it for granted. Let us inquire. Let us make up our minds to lose so many dollars, relinquish a few prejudices, and partialities, and expectations, rather than lose probity, the approbation that speaks within, all generosity of soul, and the smiles of God. Let us not be satisfied to be guilty, because the guilt is shared with a multitude. Away with injustice and ungenerosity, though only in thought, however popular, however fashionable. So shall we do our part to bring into currency a more elevated and uncompromising tone of political honor and conscience; and the whole regions of politics be no longer but as the Barbary States of moral geography, outlawed lands and piratical seas, from which are excluded all faith and virtue, all laws of God and man.
Politics should be but one form of that charity which is the end of the divine law. One more of benevolence, one of the ministrations of philanthropy; and “Holiness to the Lord” be inscribed over the portals of its halls of state and the chambers of its social festivals, as over the church door. Especially with us should this be aimed at on triple grounds. For, if political parties with us cannot be Christian parties, then are we a godless nation; there can be few Christians throughout the length and breadth of the land; since he, who is no politician under our institutions, is a solitary rarity.
Then, if they believe their own declamations, puffing up so unweariedly the national vanity, we are the most favored people on which the sun shines, at least, as regards all that God has done for us; and the Giver of all good should, least of all, be ungratefully overlooked by us. All the flights of rhetoric, that yesterday glittered over this continent, all the floods of panegyric that were sounded forth upon ourselves and our institutions and advantages, should they not all reecho, at least in and undertone whisper in reason’s ear, as if saying, To whom much is given, of them much will be required?
And, then, to make all that is given to us safe for us, and to expect a blessing continuance, we must remember God, and insist on a religious morality as the very first manifestation of a true patriotism. Ay, patriotism, that most abused words. Alas! That it is every vaunted and bravadoed by the scoffer and the profligate, not knowing, that blessed is that people, and that alone, whose God is the Lord. Without him they may speak great swelling words of vanity; but bombastic professions and oratorical displays are not the disinterested self-denial and sober toils of a virtuous citizen, who fears God and honors government, and serves and saves the state without boasting. He alone is a patriot. By such alone the country stands.
The Ruler of nations hath uttered the decree. From beginning of time his world has illustrating it. As surely as he is just and the King of nations as of individuals; as surely as there is truth taught by experience, and the unvarying certainty of the same effects from the same causes, according to the natural constitution he has impressed on his universe, the past, in all quarters of the globe, bids us look well to it. You may be the traitor within the garrison, though treason to the country be furthest from your thoughts. You may invoke ruin upon it when you are shouting, louder than any, the glory of its institutions. You may be the deadly enemy, though you shed your blood for it. Look into the nature of things. When hath a righteous nation perished? Where is there one doing justice and judgment, and it is not well with it? Public virtue is the strongest spirit of national vitality; and private virtue is the life-blood, coursing through every artery and vein, large and small, of the public institutions.
On the other hand, is it not undeniable from reason, scripture, and experience, that predominance of selfish principles and corrupt morals is the unfailing cause of calamities, perplexities, and ruin in a country? Reason tells us, that the character of the Judge of all the earth is the pledged to have it so. Vice, in the individual, may not always meet its retribution, nor virtue its reward, in this world, because there is to be another, of more perfect retribution for individuals. But nations exist here alone. Unlike the soul, they are annihilated at their temporal dissolution. Therefore, if their fortunes and fate be subject of the Divine Providence, to their present existence, which is the only one, must be applied the principle of its moral rule.
The scriptures confirm this rule, and do not restrict it to the theocracy of Israel. They say; “O Israel, thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; your iniquities have turned away good things and withheld them from you.” But it is not of Israel alone, (of whom it might be said, God was, in a peculiar way, a Governor by temporal sanctions,) that he announces this principle of legislation. His declarations are general. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build up and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. In the hand of the Lord, there is a cup, and the wine is red. It is full mixed, and he poureth out of the same. As for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of the earth shall drink them.”
And the experience of mankind puts the impressive truth beyond dispute. What is history but, on this account, like the Prophet’s, a scroll written, within and without, with lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Pity weeps as she unrolls its venerable annals. Its oldest records present the Cities of the Plain set forth for an example of the national ruin, that full surely awaits national unrighteousness. “Ten righteous men could not be found in them,” and they perished. Even to an earlier page the genius of history points, and sighs over the ravages of the flood. “All flesh had corrupted their ways before the Flood.” And we stand aghast at the sweeping catastrophe. Turn over a few pages onward, and direct your attention to the chosen people. See them, at one time, visited with pestilence, famine, conflagration, tempest; at another, falling under the sword, or languishing in captivity, feeling before the scourge of war, or terrified with awful phenomena of nature, and all these proclaimed the retributory angels of the Lord, the ministers of his justice for their sins. The wisdom of their wise men was taken away, and the understanding of their prudent men hid; and it was moral debasement that did it. Their cities, the places of their fathers’ sepulchers, were laid waste, and the gates thereof consumed with fire; and, in all the seasons of their affliction, mark the moral shade running though the history in proportioned intenseness; mark idolatry and its bitter fruit, general profligacy, tempting them to forget their God.
Read of a later day, travel among the scenes of profane chronicles, if you would see, that national vice is national suicide. Stand upon the moldering ruins of a thousand cities, once great and fair, and seek, – you will seek in vain, – for trace or even site of many others; and ask where are they, and why have they vanished from the earth? Roam through the desolated territories of empires, once splendid and mighty, and, as you brood over the gloomy vestiges of their decay, cannot find an inhabitant for many a mile, where throngs were loud and busy once, ask yourself, if integrity, industry, humanity, temperance, piety, and purity were rife there, when the besom of destruction came to sweep a tomb under those wide-spread ruins.
Thus history or travel will conduct you over the globe, and everywhere teach the same salutary lesson. They will point to empire after empire, and dynasty after dynasty, shriveling and shrinking with the imbecility of moral corruption; and it is not more sure, that the palaces of their pride, and the monuments of their perverted might, are crumbling into dust, than that other empires and other dynasties, now treading in their steps, will follow them to decay and desolation. O that our beloved land may be wise from the lesson! And the lesson is more pertinent under our republican polity, than under any other. If righteousness exalteth a nation, and sin is a reproach and ruin to any people, most speedily of all must it prove so to a people without the restraints of a strong government. Liberty and licentiousness roll trippingly off the tongue together; they flow, unseparated, from the lips of many, with easy alliteration and commonplace proverbialness, as if they were almost the same thing, or one inevitably followed the other. But, if it does, it is as commonplace a maxim of history, that it will follow it speedily to ruin. Liberty licentiousness, – it is the tritest of proverbs, – cannot coexist lastingly. The free people is the last that can afford to be vicious. The slave may throw off the restraints of virtue, and yet be kept in order by the restraints of despotism. But, when a freeman does not govern himself, he is ungoverned, so to speak, and careering to perdition; like the uncurbed wild ass of the desert, rushing to the precipice he tosses his head too high to see.
Therefore, every immoral republican is a traitor and conspirator against his government, as much as if, being the subject of a king, he pointed a dagger against his life. He is spreading stratagems and snares for the feet of his sovereign; for public virtue is his sovereign. He is seeking to blind, and deafen, and lame, and cripple, and make wholly inefficient, and worse than inefficient, he is seeking to corrupt, into tyrannical wantonness and cruelty, the most beneficent monarch that ever sat upon a throne.
So that you see, my brethren, in addition to every other motive for being good Christians, patriotism should be one. After we have turned away from the voice of God; after we have steeled our hearts to the claims of him who died upon Calvary, the just for the unjust, the he might bring us to God; after we have besotted our minds to act the fool’s part of blindness to our own interest; there is yet one appeal which may not be lost upon our generosity, one consideration that should be sufficient; public spirit, the love of our country. Its welfare is resting on our individual virtue. For as drops of water make up the ocean, and grains of sand constitute vast continents, so the personal character of the humblest individual among us adds something, for weal or for woe, to that national character, by which the land of our love, the government which has cherished us, will stand or fall. Our native soil, the scene of our happy childhood, the land of our fathers, the land where we have enjoyed so much, where we expect so much, and from which the world expects so much, shall it realize these expectations? Shall it become, as has been so fondly anticipated, the glory of the nations, has the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth, showing what man can do with unshackled energies and faculties ripely developed in the wholesome air of liberty? Or shall it be one more byword and mockery of the aspirations and pretensions of freedom.
Think of this, when tempted to any wicked or base act. Above all, think of it when tempted to into any of the peculiar and besetting snares, and betraying exaggerations and caricatures of liberty; to vicious license, to lawlessness and recklessness of restraint, to inebriate zeal, party prejudice, bigoted factiousness, mob-rioting, passionate reviling of the powers that be, or the powers that are to be, and all bitter or mercenary partisanship. Remember, when tempted to any of these, you are tempted then to disappoint so many noble souls, the lovers of their kind, in every quarter of the globe, the enthusiasts for the advancement of the human race to a pitch of excellence and enjoyment yet unrealized, but the guaranty for which they look for in the great experience of self-government now trying on these shores.
The old world may be said to be leaning, with feverish anxiety, over the ocean to catch every symptom of the success or failure of his experiment. Have pity on the last hopes on man. Let is not be said again, as it was by the dying Brutus, after he had sacrificed all to realize a patriot’s dream; “O virtue, I have worshipped thee as a reality, and found thee but a shadow.” Let it not be said, again, as it was by the noble-hearted Madame Roland, as, on her way to the guillotine to lose her head for continuing a virtuous enthusiast for freedom amidst the herd of vicious, she passed under the statue of Liberty; “O Liberty, how they have played thee! What crimes have been committed in the name!” Ay, how it has been played in the world, historionized, juggled! What crimes have been committed, what crimes have not been committed, in its sacred name? It is assuredly the cloak of boundless evil, when not guarded with most scrupulous probity; for the best things, corrupted, always become the worst. The precious diamond may be blackened into a worthless coal. The sweet name of liberty has become a sound of ill omen and nauseous associations to many of the readers of history, from want of virtue in its votaries. Patriotism has been characterized as the last resource of a villain. Revolutions, said Napoleon, are not made with rosewater; but it were well if blood, and seas of it, were the dearest price paid. Moral corruption is what renders revolutions worse than vain.
Our fathers have made one more trial, knowing that past failures were from want of Christian principle, and that they had settled these shores expressly in obedience to Christian principle, and therefore they might hope. In faith and prayer they struggled; for they felt, that with God all things are possible in the cause of righteousness, and they hoped their children would feel this too. From the first, they set out with the idea of making this community that happy people, whose God is the Lord, – a Christian nation, – what the world had never yet seen, but what all its experience concurred in testifying it must seem or it would never see the amount of prosperity man is capable of attaining on earth. A Christian people! Not merely a sober, industrious people, without religion, if such could be expected, but distinctively a Christian people. Bright and glorious idea, far-seeing wisdom, true friends, and see its kingdoms prospering at this time just in proportion as they come near realizing this idea, other elements of their greatness being the same. Begin from the effete East, and come to the infant West. The nominally Christian are more thriving than the Pagan Mahometan; the Protestant than the Catholic; the praying and Bible-reading, than the ceremonial and formalist; and, so long hypocrisy could be kept out, that people would prosper most, who should require, as the settlers of these New England colonies did, that none but members of the church should be rulers in the state. Such a regulation is a bait for hypocrites, a trap for the consciences of the ambitious, and, therefore, it is not to be enforced after the primitive virtues of the settlement have been corrupted. But, is there were not fear of hypocrisy, verily and indeed happy would be that people, with whom God was effectively their Lord through the strict observances of such a rule. Then might we see such a phenomenon as a Christian people.
As it is, let us, – and it seems more incumbent on us than on any nation that lives in the sun’s more expressive, than as a mere geographical term. When we are called a Christian nation, let us allow more the meant, than that we are not savages or barbarians, or only semi-civilized, as all those nations are in which Christianity is unknown. Christian should be more than European or American, as distinguished from Asiatic or African. It should be more than latitude and longitude; more than eastern or western, northern or southern; more than tropics and zones, equator and ecliptic, arctic or antarctic.
And how can we make a Christian nation? To become so, must be an individual, not a collective act. Legislation cannot do it, if legislation would. Resolves of majorities, in caucus or in Congress, in towns or by states, or even unanimous votes, is not the way to affect it. The simple and sole process is for each person privately to resolve, for his single part, no influence in legislative deliberations, no political name or fame whatever, – nay, the shrinking woman and child, whose deliberations look not beyond the homestead, or who can legislate only over their own hearts, – these can add a stone, as truly as the mightiest statesman or the loudest demagogue, to build up the national temple to the Lord. Public opinion is the life-breath of our own government, and therefore to Christianize that, we have but to Christianize ourselves. O what it is ye may achieve! No such power as this is possessed by the subjects of any government but yours. They cannot regenerate their sovereign. They cannot even pray for his conversion with hope, the assurance, of the prayer being granted if sincere, which may warm your breasts.
And is there a consideration of earth or heaven, that is not present and potent to move us to this prayer? Pour it out to God, if righteousness would have but the promise of the life that now is. If a majority of the citizens were sincere followers of Jesus Christ, is it not evident, the councils of this nation would be wiser and mightier, its progress more glorious, its dominion even more potent than any the world has ever seen? The day when it shall be resolved, that the same evangelical principles shall govern states that govern churches and gospel professors in their private relations, would be the true jubilee of freedom. That will be the mind’s and the soul’s declaration of independence. That will be breaking every yoke at length from body, and heart, and spirit. Thenceforth slavery, in any form, would be but a tradition and a name; whereas now it is the commonest of conditions, and to the mass liberty is but a name; for he that serveth any sin is the slave of sin. That day will come, when the people choose.
Choose it, resolve it, O my brethren, as the first of civil duties. Whatever your party predilections, sacrifice them all for the party of righteous men. Support no administration, and oppose none, but one the ground of moral principle. Go with them as far as Jesus Christ would go, and no further. Read the constitution by the light of the Gospel. The Savior be your paramount leader.
And now I see his communion table before me this day, and I fear all that has been said will seem out of keeping with its solemn associations; so desecrating, as I began with intimating, seems any allusion to the politician’s trade. But let me hope I have not spoken all in vain. Follow it in the spirit in which you come here to the house of the Lord himself. You are performing a solemn act of worship then, if you feel it aright. You should enter upon office, you should deposit your vote for office, with a religious sense of accountableness, like that which makes you so serious when you handle the emblems of the Savior’s body and blood.
Approach his table because you would be good citizens, among the other reasons of the act; because you love, and you serve and save, your country; because you would have it long free; because you would be truly free yourselves. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If his Son shall make your free, ye shall be free indeed. Where he is not the deliverer, men may clamor, and boast, and carouse, and with bacchanalian revelry call themselves free but they are the bondmen of corruption, the thralls of Satan. O be ye, unlike them, the freedmen of the Lord, whose service is perfect freedom.
WallBuilders: The Christian Patriot-A Sermon from 1840
/0 Comments/in Blog /by News RoomThe Christian Patriot
A
Sermon
Delivered at the
South Congregational Church,
Boston, July 5, 1840
Note: This sermon was originally posted on the WallBuilders website.
By M. I. Motte
Psalm 144:15
Happy is that people, whose God is the Lord
One of the most common of mistaken and false forms, into which religion is apt to run, is an isolated piety, and abstract and independent devotion; religion separated from the business of life, instead of being woven up, conscientiously, with all its concerns. For convenience’ sake, we have a particular day, and place, and order of men, and class of exercises, especially devoted to the consideration of the great topic; but it is that its influence may be made to run through all days and places, all intercourse, every subject and employment. Yet the church has every been prone, even more than it conscious of, to sever itself from the world, instead of leavening it to its own spirit; and the same man, in his church relations, is a Christian, or would grieve not to be considered and to consider himself so, who, in some of his worldly interests and pursuits, is absolutely an atheist, living without God in his thoughts.
On no subject us thus more obvious, than on the one, from which it is most unfortunate in our country religion should be driven off, seeing it is that which agitates more people here than any other, viz. the whole business of politics. Religion and politics are spoken of as opposite poles, the positive and the negative as the acknowledgment of God is concerned. We hear it said, politics are of no particular religion; and it is too often true, in a more absolute sense than is intended. It would seem, at first, as if both subject were so important, so exciting, that the human hear is hardly large enough for both. (3) When we speak of a man as a politician preeminently, one enthusiastically absorbed in the affairs of the nation, or more probably of a party, we do not expect to find him in a church. And when a zealot for churches is invited to the polls, he seems to answer to the purpose, when he replies, “My Master’s kingdom is not of this world.” If he is a clergyman, the professional response expected from him is, “I have nothing to do with politics;” and only those object to this, who suppose, if he voted at all, he would vote with them; to all others he seems to have made the natural and legitimate reply. Both of these men are wrong, but they both point the direction in which public prejudice blows.
Our festivals, again, are either political or religious; not both together. There would seem to be something incompatible and profane, or absurd, in making them both. Such an anniversary as yesterday is not strikingly a religious day; as tomorrow’s published list of its outrages and truculent mishaps in all our cities will attest. Early in the morning, trains may be seen leaving the city by every outlet, anxious to escape the celebration of the National Independence. And, when the day of the month falls upon the first day of the week, its celebration is postponed till Monday; as if confessedly impossible to bring its spirit to into harmony with the Christian Sabbath.
All this shows, not the politics and religion are necessarily inconsistent, – for the former, I suppose, is a duty as really as the latter, and all duties should be performed in the fear of God, – but it shows, that the spirit of politics which prevails is not the right one. The good of our country should be provided for, as in the sight of God, and in sacred love to our fellow-men; and then it is a holy service, and need not be dissevered from the solemnest ministrations of devotions. It is one of the modes of worship with which the Universal Father is well pleased; one of the forms of his appointed ceremonial of religion pure and undefiled, which consists in going about doing good for his sake. But, if it is only a selfish, headlong, intemperate scramble for preeminence, if it is mercenary, not moral, in its spirit, a question of interest, not of right, the Sabbath is too good a day for it, and so is every other day.
Interest is to be regarded as well as right; but do not all political parties appeal too exclusively to the former? A reverence for right is not held high enough, as the guiding polar star for the opinions of the people. The people think, morality is a matter of home and neighborly intercourse, not involved in the vote they cast, and the opinions they express, on the acts of government, encouraging or condemning. How seldom is the guilt of upholding iniquitous public measures reflected on, as good men reflect on private violations of the ten Commandments. They may do infinitely more mischief than an individual’s misdemeanor, and yet many deem it a little thing. Men seem to think they may hold what opinions, and belong to what parties they please, without regard to their truth or effects, except as affecting themselves; as if politics were a lawless region, always out of Christendom, and from which even conscious was excluded by general consent. Look through the community and the world, and see how, on almost every question, you may draw a line between parties, accurately coinciding with the line between their interests. You need not ask, on which side a man’s convictions lie, if you only know on which side his wishes lie. The coincidence is certainly remarkable; and melancholy it is to reflect on the wide heartlessness it indicates. Here we see men fair-minded in every other concern, men of severe religious sanctity, of nice honor, of scrupulous integrity in their personal transactions, where the welfare of a few immediate connections or acquaintances is at stake; but, when millions lose though the prevalence of an opinion, the first and only thought that seems to occur to them is, How will it affect us, and I our lowest interests? And, if it promise to be lucrative, forthwith they adopt that opinion, and if their soul’s salvation hung upon it.
They adopt that opinion, I said; But can it be possible, that men always do really believe as if for their interests? Can they be conscientious, in such innumerable cases, arriving, through the careful and dispassionate examination, at precisely the result that happens to favor the views and wishes? I allow a great deal for the blinding power of self-interest; but this uniform concurrence of hope and belief is astonishing still. These same people will reason as clearly as daylight on any argument which comes within the tenth of an inch of their own concerns without touching it; but, the moment it touches, their light is darkened, their logical acumen is blunted, their perceptions evince a certain unfortunate obliquity, which is sure to twist their notions in one invariable direction. Can this be right? Can it be honest? We know, or we might know, if we chose, that truth and justice cannot always, and on every accidental question and measure, be in our favor. We are bound, at any rate, not to take it for granted. Let us inquire. Let us make up our minds to lose so many dollars, relinquish a few prejudices, and partialities, and expectations, rather than lose probity, the approbation that speaks within, all generosity of soul, and the smiles of God. Let us not be satisfied to be guilty, because the guilt is shared with a multitude. Away with injustice and ungenerosity, though only in thought, however popular, however fashionable. So shall we do our part to bring into currency a more elevated and uncompromising tone of political honor and conscience; and the whole regions of politics be no longer but as the Barbary States of moral geography, outlawed lands and piratical seas, from which are excluded all faith and virtue, all laws of God and man.
Politics should be but one form of that charity which is the end of the divine law. One more of benevolence, one of the ministrations of philanthropy; and “Holiness to the Lord” be inscribed over the portals of its halls of state and the chambers of its social festivals, as over the church door. Especially with us should this be aimed at on triple grounds. For, if political parties with us cannot be Christian parties, then are we a godless nation; there can be few Christians throughout the length and breadth of the land; since he, who is no politician under our institutions, is a solitary rarity.
Then, if they believe their own declamations, puffing up so unweariedly the national vanity, we are the most favored people on which the sun shines, at least, as regards all that God has done for us; and the Giver of all good should, least of all, be ungratefully overlooked by us. All the flights of rhetoric, that yesterday glittered over this continent, all the floods of panegyric that were sounded forth upon ourselves and our institutions and advantages, should they not all reecho, at least in and undertone whisper in reason’s ear, as if saying, To whom much is given, of them much will be required?
And, then, to make all that is given to us safe for us, and to expect a blessing continuance, we must remember God, and insist on a religious morality as the very first manifestation of a true patriotism. Ay, patriotism, that most abused words. Alas! That it is every vaunted and bravadoed by the scoffer and the profligate, not knowing, that blessed is that people, and that alone, whose God is the Lord. Without him they may speak great swelling words of vanity; but bombastic professions and oratorical displays are not the disinterested self-denial and sober toils of a virtuous citizen, who fears God and honors government, and serves and saves the state without boasting. He alone is a patriot. By such alone the country stands.
The Ruler of nations hath uttered the decree. From beginning of time his world has illustrating it. As surely as he is just and the King of nations as of individuals; as surely as there is truth taught by experience, and the unvarying certainty of the same effects from the same causes, according to the natural constitution he has impressed on his universe, the past, in all quarters of the globe, bids us look well to it. You may be the traitor within the garrison, though treason to the country be furthest from your thoughts. You may invoke ruin upon it when you are shouting, louder than any, the glory of its institutions. You may be the deadly enemy, though you shed your blood for it. Look into the nature of things. When hath a righteous nation perished? Where is there one doing justice and judgment, and it is not well with it? Public virtue is the strongest spirit of national vitality; and private virtue is the life-blood, coursing through every artery and vein, large and small, of the public institutions.
On the other hand, is it not undeniable from reason, scripture, and experience, that predominance of selfish principles and corrupt morals is the unfailing cause of calamities, perplexities, and ruin in a country? Reason tells us, that the character of the Judge of all the earth is the pledged to have it so. Vice, in the individual, may not always meet its retribution, nor virtue its reward, in this world, because there is to be another, of more perfect retribution for individuals. But nations exist here alone. Unlike the soul, they are annihilated at their temporal dissolution. Therefore, if their fortunes and fate be subject of the Divine Providence, to their present existence, which is the only one, must be applied the principle of its moral rule.
The scriptures confirm this rule, and do not restrict it to the theocracy of Israel. They say; “O Israel, thou hast fallen by thine iniquity; your iniquities have turned away good things and withheld them from you.” But it is not of Israel alone, (of whom it might be said, God was, in a peculiar way, a Governor by temporal sanctions,) that he announces this principle of legislation. His declarations are general. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build up and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them. In the hand of the Lord, there is a cup, and the wine is red. It is full mixed, and he poureth out of the same. As for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of the earth shall drink them.”
And the experience of mankind puts the impressive truth beyond dispute. What is history but, on this account, like the Prophet’s, a scroll written, within and without, with lamentation, and mourning, and woe. Pity weeps as she unrolls its venerable annals. Its oldest records present the Cities of the Plain set forth for an example of the national ruin, that full surely awaits national unrighteousness. “Ten righteous men could not be found in them,” and they perished. Even to an earlier page the genius of history points, and sighs over the ravages of the flood. “All flesh had corrupted their ways before the Flood.” And we stand aghast at the sweeping catastrophe. Turn over a few pages onward, and direct your attention to the chosen people. See them, at one time, visited with pestilence, famine, conflagration, tempest; at another, falling under the sword, or languishing in captivity, feeling before the scourge of war, or terrified with awful phenomena of nature, and all these proclaimed the retributory angels of the Lord, the ministers of his justice for their sins. The wisdom of their wise men was taken away, and the understanding of their prudent men hid; and it was moral debasement that did it. Their cities, the places of their fathers’ sepulchers, were laid waste, and the gates thereof consumed with fire; and, in all the seasons of their affliction, mark the moral shade running though the history in proportioned intenseness; mark idolatry and its bitter fruit, general profligacy, tempting them to forget their God.
Read of a later day, travel among the scenes of profane chronicles, if you would see, that national vice is national suicide. Stand upon the moldering ruins of a thousand cities, once great and fair, and seek, – you will seek in vain, – for trace or even site of many others; and ask where are they, and why have they vanished from the earth? Roam through the desolated territories of empires, once splendid and mighty, and, as you brood over the gloomy vestiges of their decay, cannot find an inhabitant for many a mile, where throngs were loud and busy once, ask yourself, if integrity, industry, humanity, temperance, piety, and purity were rife there, when the besom of destruction came to sweep a tomb under those wide-spread ruins.
Thus history or travel will conduct you over the globe, and everywhere teach the same salutary lesson. They will point to empire after empire, and dynasty after dynasty, shriveling and shrinking with the imbecility of moral corruption; and it is not more sure, that the palaces of their pride, and the monuments of their perverted might, are crumbling into dust, than that other empires and other dynasties, now treading in their steps, will follow them to decay and desolation. O that our beloved land may be wise from the lesson! And the lesson is more pertinent under our republican polity, than under any other. If righteousness exalteth a nation, and sin is a reproach and ruin to any people, most speedily of all must it prove so to a people without the restraints of a strong government. Liberty and licentiousness roll trippingly off the tongue together; they flow, unseparated, from the lips of many, with easy alliteration and commonplace proverbialness, as if they were almost the same thing, or one inevitably followed the other. But, if it does, it is as commonplace a maxim of history, that it will follow it speedily to ruin. Liberty licentiousness, – it is the tritest of proverbs, – cannot coexist lastingly. The free people is the last that can afford to be vicious. The slave may throw off the restraints of virtue, and yet be kept in order by the restraints of despotism. But, when a freeman does not govern himself, he is ungoverned, so to speak, and careering to perdition; like the uncurbed wild ass of the desert, rushing to the precipice he tosses his head too high to see.
Therefore, every immoral republican is a traitor and conspirator against his government, as much as if, being the subject of a king, he pointed a dagger against his life. He is spreading stratagems and snares for the feet of his sovereign; for public virtue is his sovereign. He is seeking to blind, and deafen, and lame, and cripple, and make wholly inefficient, and worse than inefficient, he is seeking to corrupt, into tyrannical wantonness and cruelty, the most beneficent monarch that ever sat upon a throne.
So that you see, my brethren, in addition to every other motive for being good Christians, patriotism should be one. After we have turned away from the voice of God; after we have steeled our hearts to the claims of him who died upon Calvary, the just for the unjust, the he might bring us to God; after we have besotted our minds to act the fool’s part of blindness to our own interest; there is yet one appeal which may not be lost upon our generosity, one consideration that should be sufficient; public spirit, the love of our country. Its welfare is resting on our individual virtue. For as drops of water make up the ocean, and grains of sand constitute vast continents, so the personal character of the humblest individual among us adds something, for weal or for woe, to that national character, by which the land of our love, the government which has cherished us, will stand or fall. Our native soil, the scene of our happy childhood, the land of our fathers, the land where we have enjoyed so much, where we expect so much, and from which the world expects so much, shall it realize these expectations? Shall it become, as has been so fondly anticipated, the glory of the nations, has the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth, showing what man can do with unshackled energies and faculties ripely developed in the wholesome air of liberty? Or shall it be one more byword and mockery of the aspirations and pretensions of freedom.
Think of this, when tempted to any wicked or base act. Above all, think of it when tempted to into any of the peculiar and besetting snares, and betraying exaggerations and caricatures of liberty; to vicious license, to lawlessness and recklessness of restraint, to inebriate zeal, party prejudice, bigoted factiousness, mob-rioting, passionate reviling of the powers that be, or the powers that are to be, and all bitter or mercenary partisanship. Remember, when tempted to any of these, you are tempted then to disappoint so many noble souls, the lovers of their kind, in every quarter of the globe, the enthusiasts for the advancement of the human race to a pitch of excellence and enjoyment yet unrealized, but the guaranty for which they look for in the great experience of self-government now trying on these shores.
The old world may be said to be leaning, with feverish anxiety, over the ocean to catch every symptom of the success or failure of his experiment. Have pity on the last hopes on man. Let is not be said again, as it was by the dying Brutus, after he had sacrificed all to realize a patriot’s dream; “O virtue, I have worshipped thee as a reality, and found thee but a shadow.” Let it not be said, again, as it was by the noble-hearted Madame Roland, as, on her way to the guillotine to lose her head for continuing a virtuous enthusiast for freedom amidst the herd of vicious, she passed under the statue of Liberty; “O Liberty, how they have played thee! What crimes have been committed in the name!” Ay, how it has been played in the world, historionized, juggled! What crimes have been committed, what crimes have not been committed, in its sacred name? It is assuredly the cloak of boundless evil, when not guarded with most scrupulous probity; for the best things, corrupted, always become the worst. The precious diamond may be blackened into a worthless coal. The sweet name of liberty has become a sound of ill omen and nauseous associations to many of the readers of history, from want of virtue in its votaries. Patriotism has been characterized as the last resource of a villain. Revolutions, said Napoleon, are not made with rosewater; but it were well if blood, and seas of it, were the dearest price paid. Moral corruption is what renders revolutions worse than vain.
Our fathers have made one more trial, knowing that past failures were from want of Christian principle, and that they had settled these shores expressly in obedience to Christian principle, and therefore they might hope. In faith and prayer they struggled; for they felt, that with God all things are possible in the cause of righteousness, and they hoped their children would feel this too. From the first, they set out with the idea of making this community that happy people, whose God is the Lord, – a Christian nation, – what the world had never yet seen, but what all its experience concurred in testifying it must seem or it would never see the amount of prosperity man is capable of attaining on earth. A Christian people! Not merely a sober, industrious people, without religion, if such could be expected, but distinctively a Christian people. Bright and glorious idea, far-seeing wisdom, true friends, and see its kingdoms prospering at this time just in proportion as they come near realizing this idea, other elements of their greatness being the same. Begin from the effete East, and come to the infant West. The nominally Christian are more thriving than the Pagan Mahometan; the Protestant than the Catholic; the praying and Bible-reading, than the ceremonial and formalist; and, so long hypocrisy could be kept out, that people would prosper most, who should require, as the settlers of these New England colonies did, that none but members of the church should be rulers in the state. Such a regulation is a bait for hypocrites, a trap for the consciences of the ambitious, and, therefore, it is not to be enforced after the primitive virtues of the settlement have been corrupted. But, is there were not fear of hypocrisy, verily and indeed happy would be that people, with whom God was effectively their Lord through the strict observances of such a rule. Then might we see such a phenomenon as a Christian people.
As it is, let us, – and it seems more incumbent on us than on any nation that lives in the sun’s more expressive, than as a mere geographical term. When we are called a Christian nation, let us allow more the meant, than that we are not savages or barbarians, or only semi-civilized, as all those nations are in which Christianity is unknown. Christian should be more than European or American, as distinguished from Asiatic or African. It should be more than latitude and longitude; more than eastern or western, northern or southern; more than tropics and zones, equator and ecliptic, arctic or antarctic.
And how can we make a Christian nation? To become so, must be an individual, not a collective act. Legislation cannot do it, if legislation would. Resolves of majorities, in caucus or in Congress, in towns or by states, or even unanimous votes, is not the way to affect it. The simple and sole process is for each person privately to resolve, for his single part, no influence in legislative deliberations, no political name or fame whatever, – nay, the shrinking woman and child, whose deliberations look not beyond the homestead, or who can legislate only over their own hearts, – these can add a stone, as truly as the mightiest statesman or the loudest demagogue, to build up the national temple to the Lord. Public opinion is the life-breath of our own government, and therefore to Christianize that, we have but to Christianize ourselves. O what it is ye may achieve! No such power as this is possessed by the subjects of any government but yours. They cannot regenerate their sovereign. They cannot even pray for his conversion with hope, the assurance, of the prayer being granted if sincere, which may warm your breasts.
And is there a consideration of earth or heaven, that is not present and potent to move us to this prayer? Pour it out to God, if righteousness would have but the promise of the life that now is. If a majority of the citizens were sincere followers of Jesus Christ, is it not evident, the councils of this nation would be wiser and mightier, its progress more glorious, its dominion even more potent than any the world has ever seen? The day when it shall be resolved, that the same evangelical principles shall govern states that govern churches and gospel professors in their private relations, would be the true jubilee of freedom. That will be the mind’s and the soul’s declaration of independence. That will be breaking every yoke at length from body, and heart, and spirit. Thenceforth slavery, in any form, would be but a tradition and a name; whereas now it is the commonest of conditions, and to the mass liberty is but a name; for he that serveth any sin is the slave of sin. That day will come, when the people choose.
Choose it, resolve it, O my brethren, as the first of civil duties. Whatever your party predilections, sacrifice them all for the party of righteous men. Support no administration, and oppose none, but one the ground of moral principle. Go with them as far as Jesus Christ would go, and no further. Read the constitution by the light of the Gospel. The Savior be your paramount leader.
And now I see his communion table before me this day, and I fear all that has been said will seem out of keeping with its solemn associations; so desecrating, as I began with intimating, seems any allusion to the politician’s trade. But let me hope I have not spoken all in vain. Follow it in the spirit in which you come here to the house of the Lord himself. You are performing a solemn act of worship then, if you feel it aright. You should enter upon office, you should deposit your vote for office, with a religious sense of accountableness, like that which makes you so serious when you handle the emblems of the Savior’s body and blood.
Approach his table because you would be good citizens, among the other reasons of the act; because you love, and you serve and save, your country; because you would have it long free; because you would be truly free yourselves. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. If his Son shall make your free, ye shall be free indeed. Where he is not the deliverer, men may clamor, and boast, and carouse, and with bacchanalian revelry call themselves free but they are the bondmen of corruption, the thralls of Satan. O be ye, unlike them, the freedmen of the Lord, whose service is perfect freedom.
Travel Ban Renews Biblical and Constitutional Conversations About Immigration
/0 Comments/in Release /by News RoomAfter a back-and-forth battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban went into effect Thursday evening.
The executive order requires that those traveling from six foreign countries—Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan—must have a credible claim of a “bona fide relationship” with either an entity, such as a school or workplace, or a person who is living in the U.S., CNN reported.
The American Pastors Network frequently discusses immigration issues, as well as news of the day from a biblical and constitutional perspective, on its daily, popular “Stand in the Gap Today” radio program. APN President Sam Rohrer has also written and spoken extensively on this topic and says that many Christians are torn between keeping the country safe and being “Good Samaritans” who welcome others.
“One question that every American must ask is if our country’s current immigration policies are in agreement with or in opposition to the historical ideology set in motion by our founding fathers,” Rohrer said. “While the founders did set about to fashion ideals that would be freeing to many people groups from various backgrounds and faiths, they also strived to keep the nation safe from those who were not in line with those ideals. The truth is that many ideologies today are in direct opposition to all that America stands for, and such ideologies are one of the greatest threats to our freedom. Taking a step back, pushing pause and properly vetting those who wish to come into the United States is wise and in line with protecting the nation and all who live here.”
Rohrer added that many, including some Christians, are in denial that Islam, for example, is a threat to the U.S. Earlier this year, Rohrer spoke to The Christian Post about the belief by some that Islam is not a violent religion.
“The view for a long time has been that jihadists, wherever they are, are not at all reflective of Islam, and these are only a small number who don’t speak for Islam,” Rohrer told The Christian Post. “The unfortunate thing about that is that those involved in jihad are the only ones who are really practicing what the Quran says. It’s violent all the way around, the total opposite of Christianity, the opposite of what the Bible speaks about. Yet, because there are many who either don’t want to know or don’t do their own homework, (they come to believe that) ‘everybody is equal,’ when the reality is these various systems of belief are totally different.”
CNN also reported that those who can’t establish the “bona fide relationship” in the U.S., and live in one of the six listed countries, will be banned from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days. Refugees from any country will be banned for 120 days, according to the reinstated travel ban.
Lifezette: We’ve Got to Return to Biblical Foundations in This Country
/0 Comments/in Blog /by News RoomThere’s a life-and-death cultural conflict going on in our society that must be repaired through God
by Sam Rohrer
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14, KJV).
As I drove up to the stoplight, the Christian radio program I was listening to started to mix with large amounts of “digital hash” interference. It reminded me that two different technologies were converging at the intersection: The AC electrical signal (lights) and the digital computer signal (controls) were in conflict until one was made to serve the other.
At any time, we have five generations present in our country. Each of those generations has a different worldview, which may be distinct from generation to generation. The generations that exist right now are: the G.I. Generation (1905-1924); the WWII Generation and the Silent Generation who didn’t go to war (1925-1944); the baby boomers (1945-1964); Generation X (1965-1977); Generation Y (1977-1994); and Generation Z, also called the millennial generation (1995-2012).
The past three generations will be considered as we look ahead.
What we are experiencing in our country right now is the result of philosophical changes and changes in beliefs about God, which started in Europe in the 1800s. With the passing of each generation, our country’s foundational biblical beliefs are eroding.
Though our founders established a Christian nation, regardless of presidential pronouncements, the understanding of who God is and how we should relate to Him as the source of all truth and the provider of principles for a good government is disappearing.
Another problem facing our society is the change in the meaning of words, as children have been educated in progressive schools and media exposure up to eight hours per day.
For example:
This material is adapted from “The Last Christian Generation” by Josh McDowell and David H. Bellis (© 2006, Green Key Books, Holiday, Florida).
The principles of Christ’s Lordship in the founding of America. Historian George Bancroft once stated that while we consider Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison the founders of America and the Puritans as America’s grandfathers, it was Theodore Beza who was most instrumental in influencing the Puritans to engage the culture in order to build a social construct that glorified God. They believed the construct of civil government could never be neutral, especially when it comes to theological and religious ideas.
Everyone holds to some belief system. People will think, act and live according to their own particular religious presuppositions. They will either be mindful of the Supreme God, or be depraved and rebellious before Him.
Autonomous man desires to be like God and to be as god. His battle cry is, “I will not have any man or God rule over me, I will be my own god” — an anarchist position. If the societal order was to be properly maintained, the sphere of civil government must function according to a set standard of principles, which when applied, launches the actual execution of policy.
Ideas have consequences and are based upon a network of religious presuppositions commonly called worldviews.
This network of ideas is ultimately concerned with principles of right and wrong, good and evil, God and man — and it directly guides the political theory of government, which when applied, formulates political policy. Political policy, because it is directly based upon a certain political theory — which itself is directly based upon philosophical presuppositions that make up a particular worldview — is fundamentally religious in nature.
So then, all political policy is, at its root, religious.
Simply put: Law and public policy are born out of religion. They are either Christocentric or anthropocentric — Christ-centered or man-centered. They cannot be both. Let’s recap:
When political theory becomes policy, the policy is enforced by the power of the government, either for good or evil, depending upon its notion of good and evil. Therefore, political policies are made efficacious by the threat of physical force.
This is what the Puritans knew, and it’s why they sought to enforce a structure of godly government and laws, which would ensure liberty under God and against the tyranny of man. Unfortunately for us, those of previous and current generations have drifted from a godly position.
“Any conception of the role of civil government that claims to be distinctively Christian must be explicitly justified by the teaching of God’s revealed Word. Anything else reflects what the unbelieving world in rebellions against God may imagine on its own. If we are to be Christian disciples, even in the political realm, it is prerequisite that we abide in His liberating Word.” So said Dr. Greg Bahnsen, as quoted in “God and Politics” by Gary Scott Smith (P&R Publishers, 1989).
LifeWay: Americans Value ‘Personal Freedom,’ Want to Avoid Shame
/0 Comments/in Blog /by News RoomNote: This article written by Brandon Showalter was originally published on the Christian Post website HERE.
New research from LifeWay about what Americans value reveals they prize “personal freedom” most, a finding one leading pastor and radio host believes reflects a “me-centered” culture.
The survey, which was published in May, measured the responses of 1,000 adults polled last fall, asking them several questions about which emotions they most want to avoid and which desires are the strongest in their lives.
Forty percent of respondents said that “personal freedom” was what they most desired, 31 percent desired “respect,” and 28 percent expressed the desire “to overcome.” Shame constituted the emotion that 38 percent wanted to avoid most, while “guilt” and “fear” received 31 and 30 percent, respectively.
Interestingly, respondents who attended church more often valued personal freedom less than others. Of those who identified as having evangelical beliefs, 32 percent valued personal freedom most compared to 42 percent of those without evangelical beliefs who said the same.
Among respondents who attend services less than once each month, 44 percent value personal freedom most. That number falls to 36 percent for those who attend more than once a month. Among the “nones,” those who identify as religiously unaffiliated, more of them said they want to avoid guilt (35 percent) than those who are religious (30 percent). By contrast, 39 percent of religious respondents say they want to avoid shame compared to 33 percent of “nones.”
Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors network, said in a statement Monday in response to the survey that the findings highlight the “me-centered culture” of the United States and shows how Americans confuse personal and constitutional freedoms with freedom in Christ.
“As terrorism permeates society, freedom is under attack, especially from those who wish to eradicate anything to do with Christianity. Likewise, laws in our own country compromise religious freedom, and Americans are becoming more focused on their wants, needs, entitlements and how they think they deserve to live their own life, sometimes with no regard for others around them,” Rohrer said.
“Personal freedom and civic freedom can only exist in a culture where sufficient people have experienced freedom from sin through Jesus Christ and, as our founders did, established a basis in law that reflected that spiritual freedom in civil freedom,” he said.
“Where there is a rejection of the concept of freedom in Jesus Christ there will only be totalitarian government.”
LifeWay’s findings also indicate that people’s perceptions about these negative emotions have influenced how churches present the Christian faith to the public. The research was born out of questions LifeWay researchers had about whether guilt remains a significant issue for Americans and if guilt, fear and shame affects how Christians speak about what they believe.
Another question the survey asked was: Which of these directions do you value the most? The three possible choices were “Reaching my potential,” “Bringing honor to my friends and family” and “Having friends in high places.” Only 3 percent chose “having friends in high places.”
New Survey Finds Americans Value Personal Freedom and Reputation Over Conscience
/0 Comments/in Release /by News RoomA new study from LifeWay Research has discovered that many Americans worry more about their reputation than their conscience, and that personal freedom is a value that trumps others.
The study found that shame has become particularly powerful in American society—a culture dominated by the internet age and social media—with a significant number of respondents stating they are more concerned with avoiding shame than fretting about guilt and fear. LifeWay also found that Americans still prize independence, with 40 percent naming personal freedom as the top desire from a list of options.
As the nation reflects on freedom during Independence Day, Sam Rohrer, president of the American Pastors Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net), says the survey findings are indicative of a me-centered culture, where Americans confuse personal freedom, constitutional freedom and freedom in Christ.
“The concept of freedom is one the American Pastors Network explores frequently with churches, pastors and Christians,” Rohrer said. “As terrorism permeates society, freedom is under attack, especially from those who wish to eradicate anything to do with Christianity. Likewise, laws in our own country compromise religious freedom, and Americans are becoming more focused on their wants, needs, entitlements and how they think they deserve to live their own life, sometimes with no regard for others around them. Freedom is important and an American necessity, but we must view freedom as God-given rather than a humanistic or government trait that is taken for granted.
“Personal freedom and civic freedom can only exist in a culture where sufficient people have experienced freedom from sin through Jesus Christ and, as our founders did, established a basis in law that reflected that spiritual freedom in civil freedom” Rohrer continued. “Where there is a rejection of the concept of freedom in Jesus Christ there will only be totalitarian government.”
According to the survey, the more Americans attend religious services, the less they value personal freedom. Among those who attend services less than once a month, 44 percent value personal freedom most. That drops to 36 percent for those who attend more than once a month. And Americans without evangelical beliefs (42 percent) are also more likely to value personal freedom than those with evangelical beliefs (32 percent).
LifeWay also reports that people’s perceptions about guilt, shame and fear have shaped how churches have presented faith to the public. The survey was born when LifeWay researchers wondered if guilt is still a major issue for Americans and if guilt, shame and fear affects how Christians talk about their beliefs.
Of the three feelings—guilt, shame and fear—38 percent of the 1,000 respondents said they avoid shame the most, followed by 31 percent stating guilt and 30 percent reporting fear. Interestingly, “nones,” those who claim no religious identity, avoid guilt (35 percent) more than those who are religious (30 percent), while those who are religious avoid shame (39 percent) more than “nones” (33 percent).
Why We’re at a Breaking Point for Truth in America
/0 Comments/in Blog /by News RoomTo turn away from fake news and cheap shots, we must believe in God again and focus on that foundation.
by Sam Rohrer
This article was originally published on the Lifezette website.
As our society becomes more secular and crass — and as headlines become more and more disturbing, such as the frightening shooting that targeted lawmakers and their aides on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia — one of the places it shows up most and surprises us is in the media.
The Media Research Council recently published a survey declaring the majority of network television and cable outlets present negative material about President Donald Trump as much as 90 percent of the time.
Media reporters without a basis for judging truth make up their own stories that may have nothing to do with the truth. In fact, they may be completely crafted for the sake of advocacy journalism that is anti-God, or may fulfill a desire to tell stories that fit their worldview and desire for humanistic change.
Occasionally, “artists” will present something to shock us and get publicity for their “cause.” It is necessary we realize such ideas as coming from a mind so depraved that some would diagnose it as crazy.
While the liberal comic destroyed her own career because of her hatred and had all of her booked performances and TV shows cancelled, she blamed President Trump and his family for her self-inflicted wounds.
That’s not the way life works.
Even though she apologized because the reaction to her stunt was quick and vociferous even from left-leaning Hollywood types, her actions were like driving a nail into a board. If you pull it out, you still have to deal with the ugly hole left in it.
The 1987 immersion of a crucifix in urine by Andres Serrano showed contempt for organized religion. The piece made headlines two years later when it was shown to the public during a National Endowment for the Arts tour. When then-Sens. Al D’Amato and Jesse Helms saw the depraved piece, they helped pass a law requiring the NEA to consider “general standards of decency” in awarding grants. The uproar turned the picture, entitled “Piss Christ,” into one of the key fighting fronts in the culture wars of the 1980s and 1990s.
Serrano’s fellow NEA recipient Robert Mapplethorpe divided a nation over the question of whether the government had the right to censor art.
Conservatives will strongly defend the First Amendment. There’s no doubt. But when the shock experienced by the public is so strong as to offend adults and not take into account the tender consciences of children, common sense suggests it should be eliminated from public view. It contributes nothing to the positive momentum of society.
Denying the existence of God, making fun of God-appointed authorities, offending the beliefs of millions of people and making any source other than the Bible the fountain of truth helps us understand that all are born into sin and sin is in us from the start.
What we’re simply seeing now in our society is the working out of depravity in the heart and mind as people decide to not recognize the jurisdiction and authority of God’s law and human law givers. It reveals itself as coming from the hearts, minds and hands of those who hate God enough to wish the death of any (or all) authority figures prescribed by our Constitution. It also reveals people who have become their own god and who, by their works, dismiss the possibility of eternal punishment in hell that awaits them, according to the Bible.
In an 1803 election sermon to the Connecticut legislature, the Rev. Mathias Burnet affirmed that without a sense of accountability to God and His eternal judgment, government would indeed become corrupt: “Feeble … would be the best form of government, and ineffectual the most wise and salutary laws … without a sense of religion and the terrors of the world to come … In a word, banish a sense of religion and the terrors of the world to come from society and you at once dissolve the sacred obligation of conscience and leave every man to that which is right in his eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:6; 21:25).
Each person believing and obeying God is a recipe for a successful society.
Each person becoming his or her own god is a recipe for destruction and death. We all must make this binary choice.
Sam Rohrer Weighs in on ‘Mass Assassination Attempt’
/0 Comments/in Blog, Release /by News RoomAs the nation is still reeling from a frightening shooting in Alexandria, Va., where lawmakers and their aides were targeted on a baseball field, the American Pastors Network explored the news on the “Stand in the Gap Today” radio program, which is heard on 425 stations around the country.
APN President Sam Rohrer and his co-hosts discussed the shooting, the shooter’s connection to the Bernie Sanders camp, as well as Sanders’ recent attack on the Christian beliefs of a presidential nominee.
One question on the show addressed the following pressing question: Why did the shooting happen?
“Tragedies like these”, Rohrer said, “often involve a rejection of God and moral law, as well as a rejection of a society that has pushed aside God and absolute truth.
The world can choose two options:
1) More freedom in Christ, in the acceptance of Jesus and an embracing of God’s moral law that respects life and honors the King, as well as self-governance according to the Ten Commandments
2) More draconian government that leads to totalitarianism, restricted freedom and further rejection of God and moral truth.
Under attack in America is Christianity, human rights and truth, evidenced by the fact that a citizen attacked authority and that some lawmakers and celebrities are attacking God and citizen.”
To listen to the Stand in the Gap Today program on this topic, please click HERE.
The Consummate Example of Hate!
/0 Comments/in Blog /by News RoomYou’d have to be living in a cave somewhere, not to know about the totally insane action of Kathy Griffin–holding up what appeared to be
the severed head of our President. Her actions, subsequent “apology” and the public’s response beg for a couple comments.
First, Kathy’s apology was anything BUT sincere. How do I know that? Well, for starters, if you’ve seen said “apology” you will note the
rolling of her eyes and insincere attitude.
But, above and beyond all of that is the fact that Kathy primarily “apologized” to the wrong person (s). Has she offended many Americans,
including me? Absolutely! Has she traumatized some young children, including Barron Trump? Certainly! Has she disgraced her profession and herself? Without doubt! But, the FIRST AND FOREMOST individual to whom she should have issued her “apology” is President Donald Trump.
In her approximately 30 second “apology” she said nothing to the 45th President, against whom she committed an illegality. In fact, if there
is such a thing as a hate crime (and there certainly is), then SHE COMMITTED ONE! But, to the very one against whom she perpetrated this
heinous act, she said nothing!
So, Kathy, how about issuing a genuine, directed, sincere apology to the one against whom you broke the law and because of whom you should be in jail!
Second, the silence of many on the left is just as stunning as Kathy’s egregious stupidity. The very ones who accuse preachers of being hateful
for speaking the truth about the most evil ideology of our time, refuse to say anything about Kathy’s venomously hate-filled stunt. Does anyone see the hypocrisy and insincerity here, for it is certainly on vivid display!
No, instead of calling for Kathy to apologize, the purveyors of political correctness continue their fake outrage, or perhaps sincere
outrage, directed at truth speakers–those who love innocent victims and their country enough to actually “tell it like it is!”
One last point. To the many who incessantly accuse God’s genuine preachers of “fear mongering” when they speak the truth, may I ask this
probing question? What about true “fear mongering”–things like Kathy has done that traumatizes young children, including the President’s son? Are you going to speak as definitively with respect to that? Are you going to use your limited vocabulary to call her out on her lunacy? Of
course not! Because, objective truth is not now, and probably never has been, your pursuit.
At least CNN has ended it’s relationship with the now disgraced comic. If the legal system were to choose to pursue a prosecution of Griffin,
she’d deserve every bit of it! This kind of illegality, open hostility, and abject stupidity simply cannot be excused any longer.
It’s time for someone to “tell it like it is!” And, if that means suffering accusations of being “un-Christian,” then so be it! In actuality, the most Christian thing one can do is speak truthfully. And, those who do are in GREAT company–with the One who is THE TRUTH!
-Dave Kistler, President
North Carolina Pastors Network
www.ncpastors.net
New Gallup Poll Shows Churchgoers Value Relevant, Scriptural Sermons, Notes American Pastors Network
/1 Comment/in Release /by News RoomWhat appeals most to churchgoers in 2017? A booming bass in the music? Colorful lights? Trendy references to pop culture?
Actually, it’s none of the above. A new Gallup poll recently found that sermon content is a major factor for today’s worshippers. The survey measured seven different reasons why those who attend a place of worship at least monthly do so, and about 75 percent responded that “sermons or talks that either teach about scripture or help people connect religion to their own lives as major factors spurring their attendance.”
The American Pastors Network says the poll is telling, as some churches try to entice particularly millennials with style over substance.
“It’s encouraging, especially to those of us who are pastors, that the people in the pews still long for sermons that are based in scripture and help them apply their faith to daily life,” said APN President Sam Rohrer. “Oftentimes, pastors and churches get caught up in marketing to the masses, when really getting back to the basics is what churchgoers want. It is our duty to first preach the whole counsel of God, one of APN’s founding principles, and this poll shows that people want that biblical counsel, first and foremost.”
Over the past several months, APN has continued with the strong initiative to connect older biblically faithful pastors with millennial-aged biblically faithful pastors, realizing that each has something to offer the other.
“APN hopes to accomplish this new goal, which has received overwhelming support from pastors of all of ages, through mentoring, conferences, events and resources,” Rohrer added. “While the idea is still in its early stages, there is much passion and momentum behind it, and we feel God’s hand is upon this undertaking as well.”
The Gallup poll found that important factors to respondents include: sermons or talks that teach more about scripture (76%), sermons or lectures that help connect religion to everyday life (75%), spiritual programs geared toward children and teenagers (64%), community outreach and volunteer opportunities (59%), and dynamic religious leaders who are interesting and inspiring (54%). Two reasons garnered less than 50 percent from those surveyed: social activities that help get to know people in the community (49%) and a good choir, praise band, cantors or other spiritual music (38%).
Bringing Millennial Pastors Back to Core Biblical Christianity: A VCY Crosstalk interview with Sam Rohrer
/0 Comments/in Blog /by News RoomProgram Notes taken from: www.vcyamerica.org
Date: May 17, 2017
Host: Jim Schneider
Guest: Sam Rohrer
Sam Rohrer is the president of the American Pastors Network and the Pennsylvania Pastors Network. This network has been identifying, equipping, educating and networking pastors and church members to stand in the gap for truth.
Sam began by describing the state of the church today as weak with silent pulpits. It’s marked far more by apostasy and a leaving of the truth as opposed to a return to it. In other words, we are living in perilous days.
It’s his sense that from a trajectory perspective, we are not peaking. There are remnant pastors and churches but the remnant is a minority. The great percentage of those in the pews and the pulpits today are not primarily concerned about obedience to the Word of God, preaching the truth and living it. It’s more like ‘going along to get along’ and ‘tickling ears’.
When Sam talks about a biblical worldview he uses 4 terms. First of all it’s the understanding and belief that (1) there is God (not a god). (2) There was a creation. (3) There was a fall, precipitated by the devil where sin entered the world. (4) There is redemption secured by Jesus Christ. Sam believes these are the four basic tenets of a biblical worldview.
The shocking news from George Barna looks like this: Only 4% of Millennials hold to the worldview that Sam described above. Sam believes God would describe our nation as having departed from the truth. When God looks down at that nation, like he did at Israel; when he’d given them everything and they walked away from God saying they didn’t need God anymore, that’s a nation in crisis. That’s where we are.
We’re also reminded of this in the history of our own nation. The founders said that our nation, based upon self-government, would not survive if people did not submit themselves to the 10 Commandments of God. So when we throw out God’s law, prayer and our dependence upon God, our founders knew we could not continue. They knew that no one circumvents God’s judgment and standard.
The proof comes by noticing how God dealt with Israel. When God blesses us and we live in security and we start to think we’ve done that by ourselves, at that point God will reject us like he rejected the inhabitants of the land he drove out before the Israelites.
Sam noted that when God turns a nation over, there’s a steady decline into the depths of depravity and sin. This is often lead and marked by sexual immorality. This is where we are in America. We had knowledge of God, we’ve rejected it and God is saying that if we think we have a better way, we have to figure out how to make a go of it.
So why aren’t shepherds speaking out and saying, ‘Thus saith the Lord!’? Sam believes it’s because of controversy and the concern that if they speak the truth, some will be offended. In that case they withhold the truth, the only thing that has the ability to change and heal lives.
In the midst of all this, Sam described how God still preserves his remnant. He sees God quickening that remnant. It’s in the form of a common attitude between the older faithful and the younger faithful. They have a commitment to honoring God first, a great seriousness about fulfilling their duty as an ordained authority and they are wanting to assist each other. The older pastors aren’t physically connecting with younger pastors because they don’t operate in those circles but in their heads they have a concern. In their heart they see the need in that younger generation.
On the other side of the ledger are the younger pastors that Sam feels don’t see themselves as needing the advice of older pastors. Yet a number of millennial pastors long and hunger for mentoring involvement by an older pastor who they can call to determine what to do in certain circumstances. This is biblical and God’s model.
To solve this issue, the American Pastors Network has begun an initiative called, ‘Bridging the Gap’. It’s covers two primary areas: Generational and Racial. Get the details when you review this Crosstalk broadcast.