restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Cleaning Up the Backyard

 David Alan Black

You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness.  – C. S. Lewis

When I lived in Europe I often rode the train, and I would frequently travel through the residential parts of small towns. The tracks would often run along the back side of a row of houses and I got a good view of the backyards and porches. Many yards were filled with junk—they obviously hadn’t been cleaned in years and had become catchalls for odds and ends. Had I been able to walk down the front street instead, I imagine I would have found these homes quite respectable. But because visitors don’t usually enter from the rear, the backyards tend to be neglected.

It’s easy to keep up a good front when you’re a Christian, but the backyard of our minds and hearts can become cluttered with much that no one should ever see. The Pharisees were good at decorating the frontyard in a profession of public piety, but the Lord condemned them for their hidden sins.

The Bible says that all things are open and naked before the eyes of God. You and I can only look on the outward appearance, but God sees our hearts in their deepest recesses, grunge and all. The Psalmist prayed, “Cleanse Thou me from secret faults” (Psalm 19:12), and I too must pray for cleansing. Moreover, I must be willing to get rid of all the “stuff” that displeases my heavenly Father.

One of the first passages my Greek students translate is 1 John 1:9: “If we make it our habit to confess our sins [rather than justifying them or rationalizing them away, see vv. 6, 8, and 10], He [God] is faithful and just to forgive us the [aforementioned] sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The verb confess means “to openly acknowledge,” and the verb tense suggests continuous or habitual action. I have found that one of the most important aspects of my Christian walk is ongoing confession of sin. When is the right time to confess a sin? The moment we become aware of it. This means that most of us will have to confess our sins on a daily basis. We know we are saved because we have Christ in our lives, but daily confession is fundamental.

God, in His grace and mercy, offers forgiveness and cleansing to confessing Christians. But practicing daily confession of sin is not easy or always pleasant. As Pastor Erwin Lutzer has said, “Forgiveness is always free. But that doesn’t mean that confession is always easy. Sometimes it is hard. Incredibly hard. It is painful (sometimes literally) to admit our sins and entrust ourselves to God’s care.”

God’s invitation to us today is clear. Why would anyone want to live with the guilt and despair of sin? Why would we wish to risk so much for so little? Why would we want to live like spiritual paupers and with such mediocre results in our lives and churches and in the propagation of the Gospel around the world?

We shall have revival in America when Christians begin a backyard cleanup.

July 1, 2003

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com.

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A Letter to Family and Friends: Why You Should Vote for Michael Peroutka

Stiles Watson

(A former student of mine wrote this letter to his loved ones about Election 2004. – Ed.)

America has embarked upon a path of socialism and every year she is gaining speed toward that mark. The people of America and her governmental institutions have forgotten “the Christian foundation upon which this nation is reared and the importance of its relation to the form of government established by the Constitution. We as a people, [are] allowing ourselves to become separated from the keystone of our national structure – our Christian heritage…. By omission, America [has] deflected into socialism.”[1] Our omission is that we have failed to acknowledge Jesus as Lord in all things. That includes government.

During the last six months, I had the joy and privileged to preach through a large portion of the Book of Philippians. One of the passages I was blessed with preaching included 2:9-11: “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (NASB). God has exalted Jesus as Lord above every other name – even above nations, presidents and political parties. The exaltation of Jesus by His Father was done at the resurrection. It is not a future event. More explicitly with regard to His Lordship over governments, God declares in Psalm 2:10-12, “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish {in} the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!” As you can see, God exacts an extremely serious punishment on those governments who do not exalt His Son – they will perish.

The facts are, even though “America’s Christian history has not been taught in Christian schools and colleges for over one hundred years,”[2] our nation was undeniably founded upon explicitly Christian principles. Please take the time to read the following excerpt from an Election Sermon delivered by Dr. Jedidiah Morse in Charlestown, April 25, 1799 from Psalm 11:3, “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

Our dangers are of two kinds, those which affect our religion, and those which affect our government. They are, however, so closely allied that they cannot, with propriety, be separated. The foundations which support the interests of Christianity, are also necessary to support a free and equal government like our own. In all those countries where there is little or no religion, or a very gross and corrupt one, as in Mohometan [Muslim] and Pagan countries, there you will find, with scarcely a single exception, arbitrary and tyrannical governments, gross ignorance and wickedness, and deplorable wretchedness among the people.

To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoy. In proportion as the genuine effects of Christianity are diminished in any nation, either through unbelief, of the corruption of its doctrines, or the neglect of its institutions; in the same proportion will the people of that nation recede from the blessings of genuine freedom, and approximate the miseries of complete despotism. I hold this to be truth confirmed by experience. If so, it follows, that all efforts made to destroy the foundations of our holy religion, ultimately tend to the subversion also of our political freedom and happiness. Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all the blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.[3]

Dr. Jedidiah Morse’s conclusions have been shown to be true. Everyday our freedoms are being deliberately and systematically removed from the shores of our once great nation by anti-God, anti-Christian Humanists who declare that each man is his own god, and by Statists who declare that government itself is god and has the right to determine Morality and the definitions of Liberty, Justice, and Freedom.

In the first century, the Roman Empire exercised a Statist Religion. The Empire did not care what form of personal worship its citizens exercised as long as their final allegiance was to the State. Christians were tolerated for a time until it was determined that they would only bow to King Jesus. I am afraid we are about to find ourselves, and currently are, in the same situation. It is time to demand that the name of Jesus be acknowledged as Lord of all, as God the Father has already done!

The first American Revolution had to be fought with guns and lives because they had no recourse before a tyrannical king. Our war is different. We have recourse, that is, our vote. We can affect the course of our future and regain our freedoms by participating in the system our forefathers secured with their blood.

So why vote for a new man, Michael Peroutka, running under a new party, the Constitution Party? Doesn’t a vote for George W. Bush accomplish the same thing?

That facts reveal that George W. Bush is NOT the Christian President that he is esteemed to be:

• In a recent New York Times interview with the President, President Bush admitted that even though he does read the Bible everyday, he does not necessarily believe every word he reads — He has forsaken the very foundations!

• President Bush has done more to publicly promote Islam than any other President in our history.

• President Bush continues to promote homosexuality and abortion by continuing to appoint both pro-homosexual and pro-abortionists to positions of authority. He has even made a statement recently that suggests he might support gay marriage.

• He has done more than any other President to support and encourage placing women on the front lines.

The list goes on –  please read Michael Harrison’s article entitled “No More Excuses! Why a vote for Michael Peroutka over George Bush Is Not a Wasted Vote” for an in-depth view into Bush’s record.

If there is any doubt that our nation and government has abandoned our Christian heritage, there should not be. I will not pretend that every one of our founding fathers was a Christian. However, Christianity was so ingrained in the culture that even the unbelievers thought like Christians. Unfortunately, the tables have now turned and Humanism is so ingrained in our culture that most Christians think like Humanists.

I will close by quoting an excerpt of a Massachusetts Proclamation for a Day of Prayer, Humiliation and Fasting issued by the Provincial Congress on April 15, 1775, four days before the battles of Lexington and Concord.

Whereas it has pleased the righteous Sovereign of the Universe, in just Indignation against the Sins of a People long blessed with inestimable Privileges, civil and religious, to suffer the Plots of wicked Men on both Sides of the Atlantick, who for many Years have incessantly laboured to sap the Foundation of our public Liberties, so far to succeed; that we see the New-England Colonies reduced to the ungreatful Alternative of a tame Submission to a State of absolute Vassalage to the Will of a despotic Minister—or of preparing themselves and Posterity, against the avowed Hostilities of the Parent State, who openly threatens to wrest them from their Hands by Fire and Sword.

In Circumstances dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that, whilst every prudent Measure should be taken to ward off the impending Judgments, or prepare to act a proper Part under them when they come; at the same Time, all Confidence must be with-held from the Means we use; and reposed only on the GOD who rules in the Armies of Heaven, and without whose Blessing the best human Counsels are but Foolishness—and all created Power Vanity. [4]

The above was not a sermon, mind you, but an official proclamation by the Massachusetts State government. This Proclamation was signed “By Order of the Provincial Congress, John Hancock, President.” Can you see how far we have fallen?

I love God, my family, and our Christian Republic (as our country was originally founded), and this is why I cannot sit back and passively watch another election go by without anything being said (as I have done up until now). My plea is that you will use this information to make an informed decision, a decision based on biblical principle and truth, not on misinformation and propaganda. Vote with me on Nov. 2nd for Michael Peroutka for President.

[1]Verna M. Hall, Preface to Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (hereby referred to as CHOC), p. II.

[2]Ibid., Preface to the American Revolution Bicentennial Edition CHOC, p. Ia.

[3]Ibid., Preface to CHOC, p. IV-V.

[4]Ibid., Preface to the American Revolution Bicentennial Edition CHOC, p. Id.

June 16, 2004

Stiles Watson is a layman who enjoys preaching God’s Word. He is a graduate of the University of Houston with a B.S. in Computer Science and has also taken courses at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife homeschool their children and attend Trinity Baptist Church in Wake Forest, NC. He may be reached for comment here.

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Every Member a Missionary

 David Alan Black 

I am not antichurch though I have written vigorously against institutionalism. I recognize the importance and the necessity for the church as an institution through which certain essential aspects of Christianity are carried on. I must confess, however, that I am disturbed by the striking similarity between the Pharisaism of Jesus’ day and the religious life of modern Protestantism.

Too often the church goes through the motions while the spiritual dynamic of the Gospel is missing. At one time, when I was growing up and part of the Jesus’ Movement in Hawaii, I thought it was best to leave the institutionalized church – I and many others who were fed up with the talk the church was doing, with no action. As much as I could, I wanted to find out what God had to say about His church and this led my back to the Scriptures themselves. And God, in His part, began to bring me back into a valid and vital relationship with the local church.

I discovered that God’s basic call was to mission – to engage in a redemptive task in the world. He was calling a people who would give their all – even their lives if necessary – to join with Him in this redemptive task. He said to His church, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests” – men and women who understood who God is and what God is about in the world.

I came to understand that this mission is both personal and social. The priesthood of all believers means that since every believer is a priest, every Christian is called to be a minister and has a ministry. Thus, the call to salvation and the call to ministry are one and the same. Young people who struggle with the question of whether God has “called” them into the “ministry” are asking, it seems to me, the wrong question. For if a person has been called by God to be a Christian, then he has also been called into the ministry.

This is, in fact, how God fulfills His mission in the world. He calls every Christian to mission and the Christian, in turn, fulfills his mission through his ministry. This means that the primary responsibility for carrying out God’s mission in the world is not that of the “clergy” but of the laos – the entire people of God. We cannot, therefore, slough off our “ministry” to others and just pay the salary of the “clergy” or the “missionary.” We all have a responsibility in addition to the giving of our money.

This leads us to a second important aspect of mission, namely its social dimension. If God’s mission in the world is to be accomplished, then his “ministers” – the laos – are to carry out their ministry in the world. To “believe” in Christ means to join Him in what He is seeking to do in the world. It is for this very reason that Christ gave pastor-teachers to the church (Eph. 4:11-12). He calls them to equip the saints – His basic ministers – for their ministry, and in this way the Body of Christ is built up both by the addition of new “cells” to the Body (evangelism) but also by the nourishing of existing “cells” (edification). This equipping ministry of pastor-teachers is of unique importance and must be undertaken with the utmost dedication. If the church is failing to advance the mission of God in the world, it may be because we have been relying upon the wrong people to be His ministers. God has called every believer to be a minister, and His people are to be equipped for this call.

If, then, the ministry of the laos is God’s means of fulfilling His mission in the world, it is necessary that we view what we do on Sunday as merely the beginning, not the climax, of our work. In other words, we need to change the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the ministry of our churches. The question is not “How many attended on Sunday?” but “What did those who attended on Sunday do during the week to advance God’s mission?” This is what it means to be the People of God. It is a people who understand that the mission of the church is to fulfill God’s redemptive mission. Our calling is to join God’s army and become aggressively involved in His mission in the world.

The point is that God’s call to salvation and His call to mission are one and the same. To follow Christ in this way is not optional for the one who is truly “born again.” It is to this life of mission that he must respond. Not only is this possible and practical in this day of over-professionalization; an emphasis on anything else is a perversion of the Gospel.

May 2, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. If you would like to know more about becoming a follower of King Jesus, please feel free to write Dave.

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   restoring our biblical and constitutional foundations

Dear Pat: About Those Neocons…

 David Alan Black 

In an essay entitled “A Bush-Neocon Parting of the Ways?” published today at Antiwar.com, Patrick Buchanan holds out hope that President Bush will see the light and separate himself from his neocon advisers in his second term.

Don’t hold your breath, Pat.

To say that there is a crisis of credibility in the Bush White House is to dangerously understate the problem. Whether the issue is sodomy, abortion, the war in Iraq, the Federal Marriage Amendment, Homeland Security, or the Bush record in general, weeping and repentance is the only faithful response to the scandalous, unconstitutional disobedience that characterizes the halls of our federal government.

While President Kennedy took personal responsibility for the Bay of Pigs disaster, even though he could have blamed the problem on the intelligence community, it seems unlikely that Bush will ever assume responsibility for the intelligence fiasco prior to invading Iraq. The growth of militarism during the Bush presidency is simply incredible. Our nation’s Founders refused to place war-making power in the hands of a single individual, yet today this all-important constitutional guarantee against militarism has been lost. The power to decide for war or peace has been moved from the Capitol to the White House. As I have written elsewhere:

It seems that the present leadership in the White House is guilty of militarism to a shocking degree, and unless Christians shake off their apathy, a creeping pro-militaristic spirit may soon become totalitarianism. Expanding the war in the Middle East is not beyond the president’s aspirations, and a huge and well-funded propaganda machine centered in Washington will undoubtedly continue to put pressure on the American people to support the administration’s military ambitions. Unless we guard against this unwarranted influence of the military-industrial complex – and an unwarranted “trust” in the president – the potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power will only persist and increase.

Big Brother will certainly do all in its power to keep committed believers from rocking the political boat, despite their constitutional protections. The neocons in power will continue to advise, “Give in on principle, but hold on to office.” The gatekeepers of society – the four networks, the wire services, and the major newspaper publishers – will strive to maintain their stranglehold on the news.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush should frighten us. His policies are no better than John Kerry’s. He will continue to exploit the pro-life movement for his own self-aggrandizement, and America will continue to “Slouch towards Gomorrah” (as Robert Bork recently put it).

The Lord whom we claim to love and serve stands at the door of the evangelical church and knocks. He longs to turn our weeping into joy. But He will not enter unless He is invited in. I urge all DBO readers to pray for the president. George Bush, like so many of our politicians, is caught up in the climate of compromise, the stupor of appeasement. But our Lord would have us either boiling hot or cold but not lukewarm.

It is time, not for a mere “parting of the ways,” but for a showdown between Baal and Jehovah.

January 12, 2005

David Alan Black is the editor of www.daveblackonline.com. He is the author of Why I Stopped Listening to Rush and numerous other books.

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