Restoring America’s Heritage
Washington crossing the Delaware
RESTORING AMERICA’S HERITAGE
Song: Look Where You Are:
This is a condensed version of a teaching recently given in Thermopolis, Wyoming. To hear the entire message go to:
Restoring America’s Heritage
Looking at America today, who is blame for where we are? I personally believe we preachers, pastors, priests and Christians are to blame. I’m a part of that. Before you get mad at me hear me out. The ministers in the 1700′s were called the Black Robe Regiment by the British. The British saw the American pulpit largely responsible for the American independence and government. They were courageous and patriotic. They greatly influenced and made this nation so great. They trained soldiers for the military during the time of the revolutionary war. The British targeted these ministers more than any other person because of their great influence.
The clergy was responsible for the Declaration of Independence. The first amendment reads “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Please notice there are no words in the amendment such as separation, church or state. The reason for this amendment was so there would be no state religion like England had but on the contrary people were free to worship and believe in God as they desired. For 175 years America followed and embraced this amendment in our schools and throughout society. America bought into a lie in 1947 that said there is a separation of church and state. I will show you just how much damage this produced in America. I believe we, with true Christlike humility (and not what society thinks is humility) can take back this nation. Let me share with you why I make these statements. First we will look at humility then the separation of church state lie and how it has caused this nation to go down a dark slippery slope.
WHY HUMILITY?
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
This verse holds the key to America’s future. Which way will America go? First of all notice God says “if my people.” Notice he does not say if the Democrats, Republicans, president, progressives, atheists, Muslims, gays, Satanists or the ungodly repent. “If my people!“ The first thing He says to do is HUMBLE OURSELVES. I believe there is reason the humbling comes first. Without true humility the prayers, the seeking His face and healing of the land and other things do not fully take place. Though the LORD is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar (Psalms 138:6). Without humility lasting change does not come to the land. That is the reason the Lord had me writing for three years HUMILITY THE HIDDEN KEY TO WALKING IN SIGNS AND WONDERS and why I teach so much on humility Humility the Hidden Key to Walking in Signs and Wonders Once we posture ourselves in humility then comes the praying, seeking His face and turning from wicked ways. Notice the outcome, a direct line from heaven to earth is open. Heaven comes to invade earth. Our sins are forgiven and our land is healed. Not only is it healed but it becomes a place where miracles, healings, signs and wonders can take place on a regular basis like it did for the early founders of this country (i.e. George Washington was shot at many times, bullet holes all over his vest but not one bullet penetrated his body). We need another GREAT AWAKENING. Humility is how it will be ushered in.
Matthew 11:28-30 are the main verses I use in my book. In verse 29 Jesus said “I am meek and lowly of heart.” Of all the things Jesus could say He was, He says He is HUMBLE. Why humility? If you ask the average person, Christian or non-Christian what does it mean to be humble, here is what you will probably hear them say. “Someone who is poor. After all the more poor you are the more humble you will be.” They will also say someone who is weak, like a doormat, insecure, somebody not expected to accomplish much in life and whole lot of other negative qualities.
If this is truly what humility is why would anyone want to or seek to be humble? Especially men! If this is what society paints humility to be, you can see why men have not been attracted to Christianity. You can understand why pastors have not taught much on humility and not many books are written on the subject, as it does not seem relevant to society. Humility has been greatly distorted.
Let me ask you a question. Was Jesus any of those? Not even one! I do not have time to expound on this. One thing Jesus is, is HUMILITY IN IT’S PUREST FORM. The Gospel accounts show you what He was like. All the negative things mentioned above are by-products of arrogance and pride not Christ-like humility as I point out in my latest teaching CD Restoring America’s Heritage and Humility the Hidden Key to Walking in Signs and Wonders.
GREEK PHILOSOPHY AND WESTERN CHRISTIANITY
With this in mind let’s look at the negative influence Greek philosophy has had in Western Christianity in regards to TRUE HUMILITY and show you how it has brought America to where it is today, where we desperately need to see God heal our land.
Quoting from Chapter 4 of Humility The Hidden Key to Walking in Signs and Wonders: By humility and fear [Hebrew: reverence] of the Lord are riches, honor, and life (Proverbs 22:4). Notice humility brings riches not poverty (see also 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Deuteronomy 8:18).
How the Poverty Mindset Originated
Much of early Christianity was influenced by Greek philosophy, asceticism, and gnosticism. Some of it has been passed right down to present day Christianity and our western way of thinking. It is nothing more than human traditions making the Word of God of no effect (see Mark 7:13). It affects our Christian belief system and goes completely against biblical teaching. The belief that “the poorer you are, the humbler you are” has much deeper roots than many could ever imagine, and it has affected the Body of Christ and nations in such a detrimental way.
As followers of Christ, we need to impact areas of family, government, media, entertainment, education, business, and much more if we are to make disciples and impact nations.
The Greek philosopher Plato taught that there was a distinct separation between the spirit world and the physical world. I personally do not buy into this! (An early influential church leader, Augustine was a greatly influenced by Greek Philosophy).
During the Dark Ages, some Church leaders took oaths of poverty and chastity because they believed (as many do today) they had to separate the spiritual from the physical world. They believed in asceticism or a form of gnosticism that said if something felt good it could not be of God. That is the reason for oaths of poverty and chastity (abstinence from sex). Other gnostics (agnostics) focused on the physical world and, because they believed God was so far away and people could never get close to Him, they said, “Go ahead; eat, drink, and be merry. If it feels good do it!”
Neither way of thinking is biblical. In creation God made it all good: spirit, soul, and body. For the early Church Jews, there was no separation of the spirit and the physical realm. Work, worship, and even sexual relations between a husband and wife were both spiritual and physical, and they were good.
Governments need to be impacted for and by Christ or nations will fall. But we cannot impact governments with a poverty mindset that listens to the advice of the ungodly. The ungodly tell us, “There is a separation of church and state, so Christians should not be involved in politics.” Many Christians, especially ministers, buy into that lie. There is no separation of church and state in the constitution of the United States or with God. When we minister from our pulpits, saying that we should just keep everything spiritual, we keep the Body of Christ from impacting government and legislation. This is a poverty mindset at work. That mindset keeps the Church from impacting society with the various giftings that God has put in the Church.
Many Christians say that if something is not spiritual, then it really cannot be from God. There is no separation between the spiritual realm and physical realm. God wants the spiritual realm to be invading the physical realm. But if the Christians are running around trying to be super-spiritual and trying to avoid the physical, we will never partner with the Holy Spirit and enable Him to (through us) invade the physical realm. Christ needs vessels to impact the various realms of society. We have to get outside the church walls to do this. We really can walk in the spirit and still impact the physical, while relating to and working in the physical realm.
An excellent book we have available on our website on Greek Philosophy’s good and bad influence on Western Christianity, is Christianity Unshackled by Harold Eberle.
THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE LIE
How does Greek philosophy affect America today? David Barton in his book America’s Godly Heritage brings out how America has drifted from it’s Godly Heritage. For 175 years there was no separation of church and state. Since the early 1900′s there was a push starting with Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson in America towards a progressive movement with more dependence on government rather than our Creator. But it was not until 1947 that a court ruling was made where a part of President Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802 was completely twisted and taken out of context in a court of law to say the exact opposite of what he wrote and even worse the American public believed it. It ended up bringing in what we know of today as “the separation of church and state” lie. From there America starting going down a dark path believing a lie. Little by little getting God out of the equation and government more into being the answer. What a mess it has caused in our nation today. Government has become to big! Dr. William James (the father of Modern Psychology) said “There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough people will believe it.”
Today the modern day courts often quote the 1947 court ruling (separation of church and state) rather than the constitution. Many generations since have been brought up believing a lie because it has been repeated so often (see 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, 2 Timothy 4:3-4). From there a court ruling in 1962 took prayer out of the public schools based on the 1947 separation of church and state ruling. Crime, teen pregnancies, sexual disease and divorce immediately skyrocketed after the 1962 court ruling. Teen pregnancies by 700%! David Barton states in America’s Godly Heritage at that time “only three percent of Americans professed no belief in religion… Ninety seven percent did believe… yet the court ruled it unconstitutional for students even voluntarily to say what almost the entire nation believed… the three percent becomes the standard by which the rest of the nation (i.e.. the ninety seven percent) must conduct its public affairs.”
The church fell asleep in 1947. Now bring in the mindset of Greek Philosophy into Western Christianity with a distortion of what true humility is. Rather than take a stand against the 1947 & 1962 court ruling, ministers and Christians said we just need to be humble and focus on spiritual things. Over the years I have heard ministers say we should not get involved with politics because after all there is a separation of church and state. We should just focus on the spiritual and be humble rather than get involved politics. We need to quit separating the spiritual and physical realms as it is taking our nation down a very destructive path.
Somehow as America has progressed along believing the lie of separation of Church and State public schools started removing the 10 commandments. Anything Christian in the schools was removed to be politically correct and say we do not want to psychologically traumatize our kids. Look what is has led to!
Most of the liberal media along with the entertainment industry has begun portraying Christians and ministers as irrelevant, weak, cowards, insecure, poor and of course wacky when some so called Christian or group does something very strange that can paint Christians in a negative light. They will also mostly show a sect of Christianity that is bound by religious ceremonies and tradition rather than those who have a personal relationship with Christ to portray how irrelevant Christianity is to society.
It is time for believers to rise up with authority, boldness, miracles and humility like Jesus walked in and take back our society to the Christianity our nation was founded in. A nation of leaders who were not self serving, who were humble, full of integrity, courageous, not ashamed to admit their dependence on and relationship with Christ. We can turn this nation around for Christ if we rise up with humility and boldness! Statistics show in David Barton’s book Separation of Church and State it is already happening in our schools and other places of society as believers are rising up to take this nation back.
For more on this please download, ask for your free CD or listen to my latest teaching Restoring America’s Heritage.
