July 4
Psalms 42-46
Another monument and statue topples. Another city is being plundered by anarchists with no concept nor any appreciation of our true history as a nation. Slowly and methodically our nation is being transformed into something entirely different than it was founded upon. Blinded by the desire for our children to succeed, each parent places the "Proud parent of an honor roll student" on their car bumpers. But these children have excelled in the learning of the new propaganda. The educational curricula has been re-written. Our universities that we send our children to have taught our children a completely different history. All the while this has gone unnoticed by the majority who have kept their eyes focused on that which is so much more superficial. As George Washington's monuments continue to be vandalized and toppled in places like Baltimore and Portland, most of those doing so have no concept of God's hand on the life of George Washington nor any understanding of his relationship with God. For over 150 years, until 1934, the Indian account of George Washington's divine protection in the Battle of Monongahela in the French and Indian war was standard in our textbooks until it was removed by skeptics. Despite the ambush in which he was the only officer to have survived, he had four bullets that went through his coat, and two of his horses were shot from under him. Interestingly the Indian chief later stated and prophesied about George Washington who was only 23 at the time, "I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle and after all could not bring him to the ground! Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you...I am old and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers...there is something which bids me speak in the voice of prophecy: Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man and guides his destinies - he will become the chief of nations, and people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire." Later as General Washington led the overmatched and under-armed Continental Army he continued to lean on God to intervene on his behalf. There were times that thick fog covered his troop's escape. There were times, such in the crossing of the Delaware, where despite the elements of ice and hurricane like winds, the army almost sprinted undetected and overwhelmed the enemy. He is but one of the many of our founding fathers who relied upon God and who God divinely used in the founding of our nation. But do those stomping on his statues in the cities know or care about this? No! They were not taught it and regard him as nothing. Worse than that they regard the God whom he served as nothing. What is taking place on the streets of our cities is the result.
In Psalm 44:1-3, the writer reminds the people of their history under God's sovereign hand, "We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days of old: You drive out the nations with Your hand, But them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out. For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, Nor did their own arm save them; But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance, Because You favored them." Knowing what God had done for them in the past, gave them courage to seek Him in their present situation in 44:4-8, "You are my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword save me. But You have saved us from our enemies, And have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long, And praise Your name forever." But the writer notices that sovereign hand is now off of them as he writes in 44:9, 13, "But you cast us off and put us to shame, And You do not go out with our armies...You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scorn and a derision to those all around us." Now the writer makes a claim that would be difficult for our nation to make in 44:17-18, "All this has come upon us; But we have not forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, Nor have our steps departed from your way;".
Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution, coined the term "useful idiot" to describe Communist followers and sympathizers in the West. Our nation is being overrun by these followers as they trample upon our once blessed nation. Decades of rewriting history has produced a generation of people with no sense of our true history, but more importantly no zeal for the One True God. The family has been fractured in the process. The only hope for our nation is God. Not to reform or put bandaids on a damaged nation, but revival. We need to become a nation who serves and worships God as those in our nation did in the past. Like the writers of Scripture often did, we need to remember our true history, not the revisionist propaganda which is being spoon fed to our children. If they will not learn the truth in our schools then we, the past generations, must pour into our children and our grandchildren. We cannot relinquish this responsibility to others. We are reaping the consequences of decades of allowing the fringe to become the mainstream. The answer is now and has always been God. Our nation does not rise from the ashes by lifting up some new philosophy, but by returning to our God who does not change, who will never leave us nor forsake us, and who is always available to those who seek Him. The question is are we willing to seek Him?
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: