Truth is, just ain’t no getting away from who we were and what we might have done—good, bad, or indifferent.”
–J. Lee Butts (Gun Works)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
–2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
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Ponder the following from Dave Roever:
“Yet, here we are with open arms embracing the religious and political radical ideas of the perpetrators of 9/11 as though they are the answers to the questions we are not willing to ask.
There is a story of a cold snake who promised a young boy that he would never bite him if he would pick him up and put him in his shirt. The boy did so and when the snake was warmed, he bit him. With his dying breath, the boy asked the snake, ‘Why did you bite me? You promised not to hurt me if I warmed you.’
The snake responded with a hiss, ‘You knew what I was when you picked me up!’
We are holding a snake in our hands and pretending to be safe and secure knowing that what we are embracing will destroy us.
In the last decade, worldwide, 900,000 Christians have been martyred for Christ. That’s 90,000 every year…nearly all at the hands of jihadists.”
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The past has helped make us who we are. Some of the things we cannot escape. Some of the consequences, good or bad, still follow us and some might even haunt us. The dreams of the past, those unfulfilled, are exactly that–unfulfilled. Perhaps that is for the better, but no matter, they still did not occur. Some may argue, “they still can happen,” but I would beg to differ because most of the dreams of the past were of a time when we were younger; age has a way on interfering.
However, the past does not necessarily have to dictate who we are. The Lord can make our past work for our good, if for no other reason than lessons learned. The past does not have to dictate our future. “I was once a sinner…” the old hymn begins, and then there is that powerful word, “BUT”. “But I came, pardon to receive from my Lord…” Then ponder the last phrase of the old chorus, “With my sins forgiven I am bound for heaven, nevermore to roam.” (C. Austin Miles)
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Ponder the following that was say of Ulysses S. Grant.
“We are in reality a Christian nation which owes much to the teaching of the Bible through the Churches and Sunday schools. There can be no question, in his opinion, as to the fact that the various humanitarian institutions in the several States owe their existence indirectly to the teaching of Christianity. He was glad to notice that there was so much religious activity in our country; and if the Churches and Sunday schools continue to do their duty, the danger of growing out of lawlessness, anarchy, and the secret machinations of a countryless enemy will be diminished and overcome.”
(Rev. M.J. Cramer)
Ask yourself, have the churches discontinued doing their duty? As Terry Tuley writes, “We can never vote our way back to God, but if we will proclaim God’s Word and teach the moral and ethical principles found in it, our nation could and would turn back to its spiritual roots.” This country can only be destroyed by moral deterioration and this can only happen when the Church forsakes God’s Word.