NO JESUS - NO PEACE

 

 

 

Coach Dave Daubenmire
April 13, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Everything is great, they tell us.

The economy is booming, unemployment is down, home ownership is up, and the Dow is sky-rocketing. Everywhere you look building projects are flourishing, and, of course, we are winning the war on terror.

If everything is so peachy, why do so few people seem to be really happy?

I compare it to the time our team lost a game we should have won. No matter how many people told us �great game boys,� or �you did your best,� or �get �em next time,� or �the refs killed us,� nothing could change the feeling in my stomach. I knew we had let one get away. Nothing gnaws away like an opportunity lost and the realization that we will never get it back.

That is where I see America, looking in the rear-view mirror, at what we used to be.

Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children:

I believe that the latter part of the 20th century will be seen as the greatest squandering of an inheritance in the history of the world.

Today, as I reflect on my rapid 53 years on this earth my stomach churns the same way it did when I let that sure-victory slip away. The baby-boom generation, of which I fall in the latter part, was lucky enough to be born at the zenith of the American ascendancy. Freshly victorious in WWII, and optimistic about the future, our parents popped the clutch on the great American opportunity, and enjoyed the most prosperous existence of any people ever to grace the face of the earth. Our parents inherited from their fore-fathers the greatest experiment in self-government ever devised, and it was based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tom Brokaw labeled the baby boom parents "The Greatest Generation.� They turned back Nazi Germany, Hirohito�s Japan, conquered polio, tuberculosis, and split the atom. Their labors built the most powerful economic machine the world has ever seen, constructing interstate highways, skyscrapers, color televisions, the space program, and the Mustang. The freedoms enjoyed in this nation were the catalyst for un-imagined prosperity.

�And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.� �Declaration of Independence

Nothing seemed beyond the reach of American ingenuity. By all appearances God�s blessings were abundantly visible. The Greatest Generation lived in a nation where Christ was honored. He was at the center of schools, the foundation in our homes, and the pillar of our government. But in their desire to do bigger things, they forgot to do better things. They traded their spiritual inheritance for a pot of stew.

They didn�t mind the store.

Somewhere, in the desire to conquer outer-space, the Greatest Generation lost control of America�s inner-space. Working to increase their wealth, they lost their values. They cleaned up the environment but polluted America�s soul. They transferred their prosperity to their children, but not their Faith. They stood silently by as Christ was removed from this nation.

Yes, my friends, they spent the inheritance.

Let�s be gut honest here, folks. There is no liberty in America anymore. Government has become the over-reaching tyrant that our Founders warned us about. Christ, the only firm foundation, was strip-mined from America. Outwardly the ground looked the same, but underneath, out of sight, a new support system was in place, and America was slowly sinking into the swamp.

The spirit of the world replaced the Spirit of the Lord. When the authority of government overthrew the authority of Christ, America lost her way.

We are a shadow of our old self; we're a debt ridden, morally confused, decadent society now struggling to hold up the arms of Lady Liberty. We have traded liberty for security, Truth for tolerance, right for wrong and now lament an age long gone.

Our only hope is for America to return to Christ.

All of the talk about spreading democracy to the world is a pipe dream. As I have watched Iraq institute a government based on the laws of Islam, I can�t help but chuckle at the folly, even though it is not a laughing matter. There will never be peace in Iraq, unless they welcome the Prince of Peace.

Charles Spurgeon said: �Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (2 Corinthians 3:17). Liberty is the heirloom of all the sons and daughters of Adam. But where do you find liberty unaccompanied by religion? True it is that all men have a right to liberty, but it is equally true that you do not meet it in any country save where you find the Spirit of the Lord�In no other land, save where the Bible is unclasped�in no other realm, save where the gospel is preached, can you find liberty�It is where the Spirit of the Lord is that there is liberty, and nowhere else. Men talk about being free: they describe model governments, Platonic republics, or Owenite paradises; but they are dreamy theorists; for there can be no freedom in the world, save, "where the spirit of the Lord is."

American�s speak about liberty and freedom, but we really don�t understand what that means anymore. Because we have allowed the government to reign supreme over the church, we are seeing an increase of violence and unrest in the most �free� nation of the world. How can that be?

The Spirit of the Lord no longer reigns in American. No Spirit, no liberty.

If our nation is to survive, we must return to Christ.

I am reminded of Pat Tillman, the late pro football player who walked away from the NFL only to die from friendly-fire in Afghanistan. When asked why he walked away from the NFL to fight for his nation, Tillman responded, "My great-grandfather fought in Pearl Harbor, my family has fought in five wars, and I haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that."

He speaks for a lot of us who haven�t done a damn thing. Pat Tillman understood heritage and duty. He understood what made America great.

Freedom of religion is a Christian idea! If American soldiers will fight and die to establish Islam as the national religion of Iraq, is it too much to ask for those of us who carry the name of Christ, to do all we can to see Him returned to His rightful place as Lord over this nation?

The battle lines are drawn, the war for America rages, and the Churches are the new MIA�s. Is there peace in America today? No Jesus, No Peace.

I Kings 18:21 �And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered not a word.�

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It is time to welcome Him back.

Robert Winthrop said, "All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or a power without them; either by the word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."

Join us in Danbury on April 18th! Let the reclamation begin!

� 2006 Dave Daubenmire - All Rights Reserved