SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #25c ---- 7/7/98
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Encouraging One Another as we "Fight the Good Fight"
TITLE: Independence Day ---- A Day For Rejoicing or For Repentance?
Part Three, A special issue continuing from 7/5/98.
Dear Friend:
This is my third letter to you in as many days ---- something I do not
intend to do regularly, but something I feel compelled to do on this
occasion. There will probably be one or two more letters at most. I do
thank you who have written and encouraged me in this on-the-spot
mini-series. My purpose is not to cast gloom and doom, but rather, to
encourage each other to take a good look around us ---- and "get on the
stick".
DAYS OF INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE:
What an exciting time to be alive! God is so very good! I am reminded
of one of my favorite verses of scripture, set to music as a praise song:
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to
an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is Thy
faithfulness, O Lord! Great is Thy faithfulness!"
Why do I say that?
First, because you and I can see, if we will but look, at blessing after
blessing God graciously pours out on us day by day. We see first hand
His unabated commitment to love, cherish, and meet the needs of His
children.
Second, because we can also see, again if we but look, the fruit of our
labors. There is always fruit. God has also set in motion a principle
that guarantees fruit ---- as long as seed is faithfully planted.
Third, because of the confidence He has built in our hearts toward Him.
As the songwriter says in the final verse of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness",
---- "Strength for today!" ---- AND ---- "Bright hope for tomorrow!"
What a thought! Strength! ---- for today! All the strength we need ----
when we need it ---- today! We don't need strength for tomorrow until it
becomes today; then we need it.
However, we DO need Hope for tomorrow ---- and all the tomorrows to come.
Strength for today gives us energy for the present. Hope for tomorrow
gives us endurance for the future.
Thank you, Lord!
DAYS OF MONUMENTAL CRISES:
Were it not for the strength and hope we receive from the Lord Jesus
Christ, we would not be able to endure the present or face the future.
For we are indeed at the point of a national crisis. More and more
people are recognizing it.
When you face a crisis, you react in one of three ways: First, there are
those who ignore it, hoping it will go away, and anxiously praying it
can be ridden out. My friend, this one is not going to go away ---- and
if you think you can ride it out, be prepared to be thrown from the
saddle onto your backside.
Second, there are those who "scramble" ---- those who take radical
poorly-thought-out measures to try to fix the crisis. This has become an
art form in Washington to many; they spend most of their time poking
their fingers in the holes in the dike, hoping that will make the dike
hold. They are deceived, not realizing that what they really need is not
more fingers for the holes, but they need a new dike!
Before we become too critical, though, let's admit that many of us do the
same thing in our ministries and even in our own families.
Finally, there are those who acknowledge the reality of the crisis, face
the truth, and take whatever measures are necessary to face the
consequences through proper preparation.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING:
The Body of Christ has been filled with thousands of unknown "prophets"
who have been faithfully preaching for years that we are headed down a
precarious pathway en route to catastrophe. Few have responded.
Most have chosen to ignore the warnings, accusing these men and women of
God of being alarmists or eschatological extremists.
Others have kept silent, even though in agreement, because they did not
want to be labeled in the same way themselves.
Still others have become people of fatalism rather than of faith,
concluding that "this is what the Bible predicted, so let it happen ----
let the chips fall where they may, since I can do nothing to change
things. We live in a sinful and perverse world that cannot be changed.
So, I'll just go about my business, and hope God sustains me until Christ
returns, and then He'll get me out fast ---- at the beginning, or even
before it gets really bad."
My friend, it's really bad!
And, to a large extent, the Church is not responding!
While most have remained silent, some have risked reputation to speak
out. Listen to what they are saying:
BILL BRIGHT - Campus Crusade for Christ -
April 1998 Article - "Signs of the Times" (Excerpts)
"In 1994 during my first (40-day) fast, God impressed upon me that He was
going to send a great spiritual harvest
unlike anything ever experienced in the history of the world. But first
there must be a time of repentance
on the part of believers. I know of no better way to do this than through
fasting and prayer.
"We are no longer a nation where right is right and wrong is wrong.
Compromise exists in the boardrooms, work place, on the campus, in the
halls of the government, and from the precinct to the White House. Our
nation has become corrupt. The nation blessed of God as no other nation
exports more pornographic filth
than all the rest of the nations put together, and imports more drugs
than all the rest of the nations put together.
"The wrath of God is being poured out upon our nation, and I am more
fearful of what God is going to do to America than what all the angry,
hate filled people of the world would do to see us destroyed.
"In light of the impressions that God has been putting on my heart, what
I am hearing from others who walk closely with God, like Adrian Rogers,
Chuck Colson, Jim Dobson and many others, and in reading the signs of the
times and all kinds of social indicators, I believe very strongly that we
as a nation are going to face tragedy upon tragedy upon tragedy until we
truly repent.
"Only God can help us, and He wants to help us - but only through genuine
repentance of millions of believers will we once again experience the
blessings of heaven."
+ + + + +
BILL BRIGHT - Campus Crusade for Christ -
Worldwide Challenge, July/August, 1998 (Excerpts)
(After concluding his fifth 40-day fast)
"God is trying to get our attention through floods, earthquakes and
droughts, and the plagues of all kinds of venereal disease because of
sexual impurity.
"From a human perspective, there is no hope for our country The warnings
which God gave to ancient Israel in Deuteronomy chapters 8 and 28 are
becoming a reality in America. We can expect an acceleration of
terrorism like we have seen in the New York City and Oklahoma City
bombings, from within and outside the United States ---- plus biological
terrorism.
"So to each of you, my beloved, beloved friends, I pray that you will not
be satisfied with just being a 'good Christian,' but instead long after
Him with all your heart, soul and mind. Maintain your first love above
everything else. Don't tolerate sin of any kind in your personal life.
Don't allow Satan to steal one moment of your time and godly influence.
"There is hope! My heart leaps within me as I consider how you and I and
millions of other believers in America are seeking to meet God's
conditions for blessing. Through seeking after God persistently, we can
see our country redeemed, made whole and healed. We must call believers
to revival, to holiness of life, to irrevocable surrender to the lordship
of our risen Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."
+++++
DAVID WILKERSON - Pastor of Times Square Church -
Author of the "Cross and the Switchblade"
Pulpit Series - March 30, 1998
"God promised the prophet Zechariah that in the last days, He would be a
protective wall of fire around his people: 'For I, saith the Lord, will
be unto her a wall of fire round about' (Zechariah 2:5).
"Likewise, Isaiah testifies: 'For thou hast been a.shadow from the heat,
when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall'
(Isaiah 25:4).
"'There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat,
and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain'
(4:6).
"These promises are meant to comfort us beforehand - because all the
prophets warn of a great storm coming in the final days, which will beat
against God's wall of protection with ferocity!
"Indeed, Jesus says this coming storm will be so frightful and
overwhelming, people's hearts will fail them as they see it developing
(see Luke 21:26). Now, if Jesus says this storm is going to be
ferocious, we know it will be an awesome moment in history.
"Yet, the Bible assures God never sends judgement on any society without
first revealing to His prophets what he plans to do. 'Surely the Lord
will do nothing, but revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets'
(Amos 3:7).
"Moreover, God is faithful to speak in times of Prosperity, just before
the fury of His judgement strikes. While the storm clouds are still
gathering, He raises up prophetic voices all over the land. And,
according to scripture, whenever a sinful nation was prosperous and at
peace, God told His prophets to warn the good times soon would end: 'the
Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited in
prosperity'.
"Beloved, God has judged every past society for Lesser sins than
America's.
"Consider this:
" No other nation has killed more babies than the United States has
through abortion. Souls cries out with the blood of these children! We'd
rather save the life of a whale then one of our own babies.
" America has the world's highest rate of illegitimate pregnancies.
" Teenage crime in this country is the highest in the free world.
" American's now spend more money on dog food than on foreign missions.
" We have begun to glorify homosexuality and lesbianism. Our media
applauds the 'bravery' of gays who declare their sexual orientation - but
we ought to weep over it! TV's 'Ellen' was hailed as a heroine when she
came out of the closet on national television. Yet at one time,
Christians across the country would have been on their faces
crying out to God for mercy over such immorality.
" Network newscasts showed images of half-naked gay woman in Florida
celebrating 'Lesbian Pride Week.' An
estimated 30,000 woman gathered to indulge in drunken orgies all night
long for a whole week. And local officials applauded it saying 'It's
wonderful that they're all together here.' But it must have been
breaking God's heart! Radical homosexuals cry out to society, 'In your
face!' Yet what they're really saying is, 'In Your face, God!'
" America has brazenly kicked God out of its schools and courts. Now
there's even a movement to remove His
name from the Pledge of Allegiance and from all U.S. Coins. People no
longer want to hear even the mention of His name.
" Fifty million Americans now smoke pot,and millions more are hooked on
heroin, crack and other drugs.
" Our schools have become bastions of blasphemy and agnosticism. Our
children have been robbed of all moral standards, denied all access to
God - and they're reacting by becoming more violent and rebellious.
"Beloved, God destroyed Noah's generation, as well as Sodom's, all for
lesser sins than ours. What arrogance to think that while these societies
were judged severely, we might be spared.
"Very soon, America is going to wake up to a sudden news report of
calamity - and the storm will be upon us suddenly!"
+++++
GARY BAUER - Family Research Council
JAMES DOBSON - Focus on the Family
Monthly "Family News" letter, May, 1998 (Excerpts)
"Values and standards that have stood for centuries are rapidly
crumbling, and yet many people still seem oblivious to what is happening.
"The sounds of gunshots in a small Arkansas town continue to ring like a
bell ---- a bell that tolls for four little girls and a dedicated teacher
who put herself in mortal danger to shield a fifth child from a hail of
bullets, unleashed, God help us, by a 13-year-old boy and his 11-year-old
pal.
"But the bell sounds not only for the innocent dead in Jonesboro. It
also tolls for a nation that is turning its back on the moral law it once
cherished ---- a law written on every human heart, yet unrecognized by
many members of the younger generation who have never heard about it from
their elders.
"Are we surprised at the spectacle of children killing children? Are we
shocked to open our newspapers, turn on our TVs and look into the faces
of a couple of Opie and Beaver look-alikes charged with five counts of
capital murder? Didn't we see it coming?
"We Should have known . . . Should have anticipated . . . that children
who have watched thousands of murders on prime-time television, followed
the deadly exploits of Dr. Kevorkian, and been taught that there are no
moral absolutes, might come to see little harm in gunning down their
classmates.
"Jonesboro marks a point of crisis, but one that is hardly new or unique.
What happened in this small town in Arkansas symbolizes America in moral
free fall, America on a rapidly descending spiral, America without God
---- an America that has forgotten what her founding fathers meant when
they warned that only a virtuous people could remain free. If that
statement is accurate, and history has consistently validated it, then we
are living in the twilight of our liberty.
"Where did we go wrong? At least some of the answers can be found in the
radical notions that have emerged in the last 30 years.
Judges, with the acquiescence of our legislators, have made it illegal
for our schools to post the Ten Commandments.
It is becoming increasingly difficult ---- and dangerous ---- for
students to pray together on campuses; meanwhile, it's easier for a man
or woman to obtain a divorce than to escape from an automobile lease
agreement.
"The President of the United States embraces the radical homosexual
movement which opposes the legal basis of marriage as a lifelong
commitment between one man and one woman.
"States are prohibited from protecting innocent children, in the process
of being born, from those who would puncture their skulls and suck out
their brains. Those who oppose this infanticide are called 'extremists'
by our political leaders.
"Federal authorities decline to prosecute hard-core pornographers.
"The government spends billions to promote 'safe sex' idealogy in our
schools, and officials hand out condoms and pills to kids who assume
they're expected to use them.
"Laws protecting children from indecent material on the Internet are
struck down by justices to protect the right of adults to market
pornography.
"Video poker machines dot the landscape of a nation that was built on the
principles of thrift and deferred gratification.
"The 'entertainment' industry glorifies violence and sexual exploitation,
while pop music pays tribute to the killing of police and the raping of
women.
"And the list goes on. How much carnage must we witness at our feet
before we will raise our eyes to Heaven?
"The American people know we are in a moral crisis. According to a poll
conducted by Luntz Research, 80% believe immorality is our greatest
problem as a nation. But our leaders don't seem to comprehend what is
happening.
"It's time we all pulled together ---- Americans of Every political party
and religious faith ---- to recover a sense of what God wants us to do
for our nation.
+++++
JAMES DOBSON -- Focus on the Family
Address to SBC in Salt Lake City, UT
June 11, 1998
"American culture is divided into two warring camps: those who believe
'God is' and those who believe 'God isn't'.
"The first is those who say God is. And because He is, there's a whole
litany of transcendent truths you don't have to re-examine with every
generation that comes along. You accept them because they come from the
Creator. That's why we believe in the sanctity of life, the dangers of
premarital sex, the Ten Commandments, in honesty, integrity.
"On the other side are those who have concluded that God isn't. If God
does not exist, everything changes. You set your national policy on the
basis of public-opinion polls. When life is inconvenient, you get rid of
it. If God isn't, then homosexuality is the moral equivalent of
heterosexuality, and the family is defined any way you want to define it.
"Christians have hidden for far too long behind the phrase, 'We don't
deal with those issues because we're not political'. Folks, it is not
political to kill babies, it is immoral to kill babies.
"Christians must not be intimidated into thinking they cannot make a
difference . . . Our critics have been very effective in intimidating us,
in paralyzing us at this point and keeping us from using our influence in
the culture. They have called us names: far right, extreme right,
fundamentalists, and worse.
"But that shouldn't stop the Christian voice. This is not a dictatorship.
This is a representative form of government. We have every right to be
heard, every right to influence, every right to participate. It is a
crime that half of evangelical Christians don't register and vote.
(Dobson continued by identifying three examples of "post modern
perspective" "that has turned our value system upside down." ----
abortion, sexuality, and a lack of moral leadership by the president.)
"America is a sick nation. Woodstock and nudity and all these things
that came in the late '60's are destroying our kids. We're not only
suffering from sexually transmitted diseases, we're suffering from the
disease of sin.
"The groundwork for restoring righteousness must be laid through
evangelism. If people don't know Jesus, what good does it do for me to
build strong families if they don't know the Creator of families.
"I hope we don't become so interested in producing consumers that we fail
to produce disciples."
+++++
HENRY BLACKABY - Author of "Experiencing God"
- Executive with North American Missions Board, SBC.
Excerpt from his sermon titled "When God speaks, it is so" - First
Baptist, Dallas - December 7, 1997
"These are the most urgent days. If you are spending time in God's Word
and never getting a "word of warning" about these days you are out of
fellowship with Him.
"People will be crying peace, peace when there is no peace. We want
someone to preach but not someone who will disturb our comfort zone.
God's people have such 'hardened hearts' so their comfort zone won't be
affected. They
have shut their eyes.
"We are nearing the greatest tribulation since the beginning of time. We
will experience tribulation and persecution as seen in no other time in
history. This will be a time of great judgement.
"If there are no changes, your life will be in great danger. People
didn't respond to the warnings in Noah's days or at Sodom or Gomorrah.
They paid the price with their lives.
"How are your bank accounts? They won't matter when He comes back.
" What about your long range plans? They won't matter when He comes back.
The Lord's return is so near. Long range plans are foolish when there
is so little time left.
"You don't need a new pastor [speaking to First Baptist -Dallas about
their search for a new pastor] who is concerned with a new building and
programs; you need a pastor who is able to prepare you for the times we
are about to enter."
+++++
.
SUMMARILY:
I will never forget a statement I heard Dennis Peacocke make several
years ago. I had never heard him or even heard Of him before, and I have
never heard him speak since. However, he made one statement that was
worth all the expense of going to that conference.
"Most Christians today are trying to get Christ to come back and take
them out of here, while God in heaven is working feverishly through
Spirit-directed affairs of life trying to prepare them to stay!"
Friend, when it comes to the Second Coming of Christ, I think we've
placed the focus on the wrong thing ---- getting out of here. When you
really think about it, that is a very selfish attitude ---- "Lord Jesus,
please come back and take me out of this wicked world!"
If that had been Jesus' attitude, He would not have come in the first
place, He would have taken you out and up at the moment of your
salvation, He would not have devoted so much of His teachings to
evangelism, missions, and discipleship, and He certainly would not have
promised to come back a second time.
What God wants from us, dear friend, is to be prepared to take advantage
of the opportunities that accompany crisis situations. Time and again He
tells us we must "work while it is yet day,for the night cometh when no
one can work." Friend, it is, in my opinion, not only the end of the
day, but it is past dusk and well into twilight ---- there is not much
time left!
Look! Look around you! People are searching everywhere for answers!
Even in the middle of the downward spiral there are greater opportunities
today than ever in our history! It is time to work! It is time to pray!
It is time to fast! It is time to call solemn assemblies! It is time
to repent!
Quit wasting time oiling the machinery ---- the world is dying! Quit
studying it in a committee ---- the world is dying! Quit trying to come
up with eloquent and well articulated sermons that tickle the ears ----
the world is dying!
Frankly, I know I cannot move anybody's heart ---- I can't even move my
own. Only God can do that. My only question is, why are so many of us
who claim Christ as Savior and Lord so unresponsive to the conditions
around us?
May God reveal the answers to us.
In Christ's Bond,
Bob Tolliver
Copyright July, 1998. All rights reserved.
Life Unlimited Ministries
[email protected]
Ph: 417-275-4854.
Fax: 417-275-4855