America at Risk

Kopp Disclosure

(John 3:19-21)

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America at Risk

“The battle we are in is a spiritual one, and we are to use spiritual weapons…The call

that every person who believes in God has at this time is to obey the Word of God,

rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, and use the spiritual weapons God has given

us such as prayer, repentance, worship, and evangelism…God knew all about it

long ago and laid out the story from beginning to end in the Bible.”

Troy Anderson and Paul McGuire, The Babylon Code, 2015

            A favorite story is about a professor who asked seminarians, “The Bible says we are predestined yet free to choose.  How is that possible?”

            Noticing a student asleep, the professor walked over to him, slammed his hand on his desk, and demanded, “What do you think?”

            The startled fellah blurted out, “Sorry, Sir, I knew yesterday; but I forgot.”

            Whereupon the professor lamented, “Such a pity.  The only man who knew and he forgot.”

            I’m reminded of a mentor who often said, “I’d like to tell you everything I know; but I don’t have ten minutes.”

            Like most clergy and other politicians, I used to pretend more knowledge than I had; but, now, I admit I’m just scratching the surface of my relationship with God as informed by Holy Scripture and enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

            Seriously, except for the unique place of Jesus as Lord and Savior, there’s not too much that I know for certain; and whatever I claim to know for certain, I will admit error if corrected by Jesus as the perfect pattern for life and ministry, the Bible as containing the perfect prescriptions for holiness, and common sense.

            That’s an important preface because I think November 8, 2016 will be pivotal to the revival or continuing decline of America.

            I wrote about that in a little thing called “November 8, 2016” back in January that appeared in The Belvidere Daily Republican, www.churchandworld.com, and www.koppdisclosure.com.  We talked about it on www.bnnsradio.com.  I looked at the candidates, the issues, and made a prediction about who will succeed the incumbent.  You can go to the archives of those sources if you’re interested; noting you may want to save your time for more rewarding pursuits because I have been wrong in predicting the last several elections.

            While my comments on the candidates and prediction of who will take the oath in January 2017 may be more indigested than inspired, I’m stubbornly insistent about the issues: the economy, national security, imperiled 1^st and 2^nd Amendments, and warning that America better get back to God before its too late: “Return to Me and I will restore you.  If not, not.”

            I expect the economy to turn around and Americans to come to their senses about national security; but I’m very concerned about a dark conspiracy determined to destroy America by increasingly distancing our nation from God and emasculating the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments.

            I see the emasculating of the amendments as symptomatic of increasing national decline.

            While I may be wrong, I believe preserving and promoting the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments are integral to the fabric of freedom in America and fidelity to Godliness as exemplified in Jesus, explained in Holy Scripture, and enlightened by the Holy Spirit.

            Because the amendments are at risk, America is at risk.

            The amendments are at risk because Christians and other Godly relatives in America are an increasingly decreasing minority.

            The amendments are at risk because America’s values have moved from theocentric to egocentric to darkly demonic enabled by the author of lies; or as the Rolling Stones sang about it, “Confusing is my game!  Can you guess my name?”

            Isaiah prophesied this day: “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter.  What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever.”

            America is at risk because - with increasing intensity and frequency -it is removing God from courtroom, classroom, commerce, media, government, entertainment, and even churches with the mantra, “We know that’s what Jesus and the Bible say, but we think…”

            The imperiled 1^st and 2^nd Amendments are the obvious symptoms of an ill nation.

            A little history.

            Ratified on December 15, 1791, The Bill of Rights is the collective name given to the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. 

            They were added to prevent tyranny over citizens by a central government.

            The first ten amendments or Bill of Rights were established as integral to the fabric of freedom in America; and the first two insure the preservation and promotion of the others.

            The 1^st Amendment is about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom from state-sponsored religion, freedom to assemble, and freedom to disagree with government as long as those freedoms are exercised peacefully and redemptively with no intention of inhibiting the freedoms of others to the same.  It’s a kind of “live and let live” way of doing things; expressing beliefs and opinions without demanding everyone conform to them.  Knowing the temptation to power and control over citizens by civil and ecclesiastical governments, the 1^st Amendment prohibits “my way or the highway” tyrannies.  Again, the 1^st Amendment allows for a big umbrella of beliefs and opinions while not granting authority to anyone to impose their beliefs and opinions over everyone at the expense of anyone’s entitlement to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

            The 2^nd Amendment protects the right to own firearms for personal, family, and corporate protection from miscreants who would use lethal force to deny the freedoms guaranteed in the Bill of Rights for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These rights to individual freedom from state tyranny are under assault like never before by a dark conspiracy dedicated to destroying America by destroying its Godly heritage; and as bikers and women and men of faith who still believe in Jesus by the book like to say, “If I have to explain that to you, you wouldn’t understand anyway.”

Yet let me try clearly, concisely, and, I pray, convincingly.

History is polluted by evil people who have often succeeded in denying the freedoms guaranteed for Americans in the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments to our Constitution such as Pharaoh, countless Godless empires, Hitler and the Nazis, Stalinists, Soviets, Maoists, Islamofascistnutballs, and the like; recalling how every evil tyrant and government limited/eliminated freedoms like ours in the Bill of Rights to seize control and enslave.

Make no mistake about it!

Anyone advocating the abolition of the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments to the Constitution of the United States is a potential tyrant who knows limiting speech and disarming citizenry are the first steps to seizing control that will enable enslavement and the end of our constitutional and representative democracy in which authority rests not in individuals but in ordered groups for an inclusive entitlement to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Knowing our Godly relatives in America share this critical concern, I speak as a Christian because I believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior according to the book.

Christians want freedom of speech and press to spread the good news that God wants everyone to be free to love Him by loving like Him with grace, mercy, forgiveness, and agape; praying and laboring for the highest good for everyone no matter who, what, where, or when without the need or expectation for response, regard, or reward.

Christians want freedom to warn governments that safety, security, health, and welfare are inextricably woven into the fabric of faith; or as Samuel declared, “God honors those who honor Him.”

Christians want freedom to arm themselves against everyone who would use force to take away anyone’s freedom for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Christians want freedom to arm themselves against demonic oppression and possession with the echo of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a gentle and scholarly Lutheran pastor and professor who conspired to assassinate Hitler for reasons obvious to everyone except those who missed the courses on original sin and spiritual warfare, explaining why Christians must use force as required for Christocentric peacemaking: “It is not only my responsibility to care for the victims of a madman who has gotten behind the wheel of a motorcar; but to do all in my power to remove him from the wheel of a motorcar.”

Christians know undershepherding includes picking up the rod and staff to protect, guide, and comfort.  Yes, Jesus gave up His life voluntarily for others.  He was sacrificial.  And, yes, He exorcised the demonic and used His armament as the Son of God to drown them before they devoured and destroyed.

Christians know they are called to bandage the wounded and pick up their rods, staffs, and armament to prevent people from being wounded by accomplices of the evil one.

Christians know they need freedoms guaranteed in the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments because this is a fallen world with many dangers because of the oppressed and possessed of Satanos who are dedicated to destroying souls along with everything and everyone in the process.

Christians would like to tip-toe through the tulips while singing with Ray Stevens, “Everything is beautiful in its own way…”  Sadly, everything is not beautiful in our world; and as Luther warned, “This world is filled with devils who threaten to undo us.  They are armed with cruel hate.”

           

Christians would like to pretend there is no evil encouraged and enabled by the evil one lurking to ravage and rape and steal and kill.

Christians, instead, follow Jesus who said, “There are wolves out there.  They are ready to pounce and pound and plunder and pummel and maul and murder.  You must protect the children.  You must protect the

defenseless.  You, like Me, must give your lives for them.  So be wise as serpents.  There are predators in this world.  Be tough-minded.  Be gentle as doves.  There are people who are praying and trying to love each other like I have loved them.  Be gentle as appropriate.  Be tough as necessary.”

            O.K., there are restrictions to the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments.

            In a packed movie theater, we can’t yell, “Fire!”

            We can’t exercise our freedom of expression to endanger anyone’s constitutional right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

            We don’t give firearms to people who shouldn’t have them – like criminals, Islamofascistnutballs, and those who are known not to be able to handle them with caution, care, and competence.

            Duh!

            There are exceptions to the rules; and exceptions to the rules are called exceptions to the rules because they occur so infrequently that they remain exceptions to the rules not the rules.

            Be very, very, very wary of anyone trying to extrapolate exceptions to these rules – constitutional rights of Americans – into rules that limit/eliminate the Bill of Rights.

            God knows they are putting America at risk.

            They are on the wrong side of history – His story!

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Blessings and Love!

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