Before you read my post, I would like to direct your attention to a speech delivered at the 1964 Republican Convention that took place 60 years ago.
Please go to reaganlibrary.gov and read Reagan’s speech, A Time for Choosing Speech, October 27, 1964.
[Go to Menu, Archives, Speeches-Major Speeches, 1964-1989. Enter Search Terms- A Time for Choosing Speech, then scroll down and read the speech.]
Why do I ask you to do this?
Because, 60 years later, ask yourself, what has our nation become since he shared this speech?
UPON WHAT ARE YOU FOCUSED?
As I survey the political climate and breathe the atmosphere of our nation’s beating heart, I visualize clouds of darkness and despair.
Those are not very encouraging words when addressing an audience of readers.
But, if you are aware of the tension that is gripping our nation, then you know that these words are true.
Many see darkness and gloom, others see light and hope.
It is a matter of perspective.
What is your perspective?
What do you see?
Jesus said, in Matthew 6: 22-23, NKJV, “The lamp of the body is the eye, If, therefore, your eye is good (clear or healthy), your whole body is full of light. But if your eye is bad (evil or unhealthy), your whole body will be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (inserts, marginal notes) (emphasis mine)
Is the ‘eye’ of our nation, ‘good’ or ‘evil’ ?
Subsequent to these words Jesus said the following:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24 NKJV)
Q: What master are we serving as a nation?
Upon what is it focused?
Upon what am I focused?
Upon what are you focused?
The notes in my NKJV Spirit Filled Study Bible, make the following observations regarding Matthew 6:22-24.
“The person with the good (“healthy”) eye is one whose intent is to serve God and not mammon (the money-god, used here to indicate the whole system of materialism). The person with the bad eye is selfish, covetous, and miserly. The one’s life is full of light, meaning, and purpose; the other’s life is plunged into darkness, deprived of meaning.” (pg. 1300)
Is it ok to substitute the word ‘nation’ for the word ‘person’ in Jesus’ teaching?
I suggest that it is.
I suggest that our pursuit of ‘mammon’ (the ‘money-god’) is an idol that we, individually, and as a nation have treasured and that that pursuit has taken our focus (eye) off the One True God, and plummeted us into the darkness that we are groping with as a nation. (inserts, emphasis mine)
As we have walked about in our blindness, other philosophies, espousing their opposing ‘isms’, have ‘seen’ our condition and taken advantage of us the past 60 years.
I recommend that you read Deuteronomy 8:1-20.
Notice the progression of Israel taking their ‘eyes’ off the source of their wealth, their God; and transferring its source to their own prideful accomplishments that lifts up their hearts forgetting God.
What does God say will happen to them?
Deuteronomy 8:30-31, NKJV, “Then it shall be if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other God’s, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.” (emphasis mine)
What is the progression? forget, follow, serve, worship
What does this progression lead to? idol worship
The Apostle John, in I John 5:21 (NKJV) concludes his letter saying, “Little children (believers), keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” (insert, emphasis mine)
Our nation is beset with idolatry.
Does this mean that we, as a nation, have not been generous to other nations throughout our history?
Absolutely not !
We have been very generous throughout the life of this nation.
But, in spite of our generosity, we find ourselves using our resources in ways not for the sole of bringing help and assistance to others; but, for the purpose of selfish gain and supporting causes that are not in the best interest for us as a nation.
Our resources are being used to build up and support causes that are destructive to our founding principles, our Constitutional Republic, destroying the foundation of our government, enhancing the personal priorities of individuals, and enabling a political agenda that undermines us as a nation.
In short, the people of this nation, have been blinded by the darkness of the ‘god of mammon’; and we have fallen asleep as the darkness of evil influenced our lifestyle.
We have pridefully turned away from following the Lord and pursued our own personal idols both as individuals and as a nation.
We need to be awakened.
Please read I Timothy 6:6-21.
I want to draw your attention especially to I Timothy 6:10, NKJV.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
I believe these words tell us exactly where we are as a nation.
This is a root cause for the darkness in our nation
The pursuit of the ‘god of mammon’ is not just a non-christian pursuit.
Believers in Christ can also forget, follow, serve, and worship the ‘god of mammon’.
This is the teaching of Deuteronomy 8.
This pursuit of following the ‘god of mammon’ has affected the church.
Let me remind you again of the words, I quoted earlier found in Matthew 6:24, that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 5-7)
In context, the Lord is teaching His listeners about the lifestyle for those who choose to follow Him; and explaining to them what to expect as His disciple.
He is very poignant when He says, “you cannot serve God and mammon”.
So , is it correct to assume that ‘all’ of our issues are the result focusing on money and ignoring God?
Some agree with that conclusion and some do not agree with that conclusion; but when you have carefully read Deuteronomy 8, I believe, that you will be hard pressed not to see the parallel between what is said about the nation of Israel and the history of the United States in its relationship to the ‘god of mammon’.
The truth is ‘any idol‘ ‘will change your ‘clear’ eye to an ‘evil’ eye.
What are the first and second commandments ? See Exodus 20: 1-6
Are these commandments relative today in the life of a follower of Christ?
Absolutely.
They are the moral and ethical standards for the followers of Christ to understand and apply to their life ‘in Christ’.
Those standards were taught in principle by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, and outlined throughout the teaching of the New Testament.
Remember, I am NOT saying that America is the nation of Israel.
I am pointing out what I understand to be a parallelism between the nation of Israel and our nation.
As of February 2024, our national debt was $34.4 trillion.
What is the outcome of such indebtedness?
Time will tell.
So ponder this: a) is the lifestyle of the local church governed by its relationship to mammon? b) is the lifestyle of a nation governed by its relationship to mammon?
Re-read what Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-24.
Remember Jesus is outlining His Kingdom beatitudes for His followers to ‘see’ as they follow Him.
Again, you “cannot serve God and mammon”.
Application.
For some time now, I have been sharing about the ‘unprecedented unrest’ that is coming to this nation and to the nations of the world.
These two words, the Lord spoke to me, pointing out the state of affairs coming to our nation and to the nations of the world.
It is obvious that what was brought to my attention is true, has begun, and is escalating.
Like you, I have read and heard people in the media use both of these words.
They speak of things that are ‘unprecedented’ and also of the ‘unrest’ that is happening in our nation.
We, as a nation, are experiencing the fruit of the ‘evil’ seeds that have been sown in the lifestyle of the ‘soils’ of our nation and our individual lives.
We are harvesting the crops of our failures.
We are harvesting the crops of the evil seeds that have been implanted in the ‘soil’ of America throughout its history ,especially since 1900, and more extensively since the 1960’s.
(Please read, if you have not, Ronald Reagan’s speech from the 1964 Republican Convention.)
I do not need to rehearse for you the daily headlines; nor do I need to list the stories of ‘unrest’ that are daily posted on the media apps that we see and read.
What is tragic is the constant watering and fertilizing of those seeds that are producing the crops of ‘unrest’!
This watering and fertilizing takes place daily throughout the media, especially the cable news networks.
I am not picking sides.
I am commenting on the ‘watering and fertilizing with words’ that takes place 24/7.
The cable news networks functions like a farmer taking care of his crops.
What needs to happen is a change of ‘seeds’ that are being planted in the soil of America. We need good seeds to be planted. Those seeds need a healthy ‘watering with words’ that will cause those ‘good’ seeds to grow in our nation.
Unfortunately, we as a nation, have set aside God’s Word, which is the ‘good’ seed that needs to be sown in the soil of our hearts, individually and as a nation.
If we have chosen to forget, follow, serve and worship the One True God, then we are reaping what we have sown.
I want to use the words of a parable that Jesus shared to show you a principle for living as a nation.
In context, Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 13:24-28 NKJV, Jesus told this parable.
This parable follows the parable of the sower.
The parable is entitled, The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares. (New Spirit Filled Life Study Bible)
“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; “but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. “But when the grain sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir did you not so good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us to gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ‘Let them both grow until the harvest, and at that time I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘ “
Using the commentary in my Study Bible about this parable, it says:
“The central message of this parable is that the consummated Kingdom of God will be different from the present kingdom (reign) in that the consummated kingdom will be in a perfected environment of only the sons of the kingdom. Currently, sons of the kingdom and sons of the Evil One live together in human society,”
In light of this parable, it is clear that the ‘unprecedented unrest’ that we, as believers and a nation, are experiencing today in ‘human society’ should not be a surprise.
A former Pastor of mine, Dr. Robert Evans said, “The world is going to do what the world is going to do.”
The scripture tells us plainly that we will ‘reap what we sow’. (Galatians 5-6)
What is the Spirit of God saying to the Church, the Ekklesia, at this time?
This parable gives us an example of what has taken place in our nation’s history.
I am NOT saying that America is the Kingdom of God.
We as a nation were founded and established with the ‘good’ seed of Judeo-Christian principles. Since our founding, enemies of this nation have sown ‘evil’ seeds to undermine this nation; to destroy its Christian heritage;and to undo its Constitutional foundation.
Our nation blossomed in its founding; it grew ‘good’ crops that were healthy because of the ‘good’ seeds that were sown.
Unfortunately,seeds of ‘evil’ influence have also been sown in the soil of America and produced crops that appeared to be ‘good’ crops, but are ‘look alikes’.*
*[Note: Look up the difference between darnel and wheat]
These ‘look alikes’ sound correct, look correct, and behaved like ‘good’ crops; but down deep in their hearts their moral and ethical fruits are not like the crops of the original Judeo-Christian seeds sown.
Why?
Their hearts are ‘evil’.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes this statement in Matthew 7:15-20 about false prophets.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.”
My emphasis is focusing on the fruits of the seeds that have been sown.
The witnesses of the ‘look alikes’ to this nation and to other nations are deceptive.
They are a false testimony. They are liars and deceivers.
Who is the father of lies, and a deceiver?
Satan
Like the ‘man who sowed good seed’ in his field, while he and his workers slept, believing everything was ‘good’; his enemies came in during the night (darkness) and sowed their own ‘evil’ seeds of influence among the ‘good’ seeds.
Using this parable as an analogy, what is the result?
We as a nation, have ‘slept’ in our goodness and prosperity.
Our ‘pride of greatness’, as we have called it, has ‘blinded’ us from what has quietly been sown in our midst.
Those ‘evil’ seeds have grown into healthy crops and overtaken us to the point where our ‘good’ seeds have been choked out and our ‘good’ crops can hardly grow and have any ‘good’ positive influence in our nation.
Like the servants of the farmer who awoke and saw what had happened, we as a nation are awakening up to what has happened in our nation.
The ‘evil’ seeds of influence have overtaken much of our society and are flourishing abundantly and manifesting their fruits of ‘unprecedented unrest’.
Our society is being subjected to the philosophical crops of the evil- isms that have matured.
This ‘unrest’ is the result of the ‘evil’ seeds sown by our enemy in the soil of our nation just like into the soil of the farmer in Jesus’ parable.
The ‘evil’ seeds have produced the fruits of ‘unprecedented unrest’.
As a believer in Jesus Christ, one of the first questions, I would ask myself is whether or not I see this ‘unprecedented unrest’ or am I walking in blindness?
This ‘unrest’ is not new.
This ‘unrest’ is the fruit of Satan that he orchestrated in the Garden of Eden.
He deceived Eve; then Adam followed in willful disobedience to God’s instruction to him. (Romans 5)
This is the result of the original sin.
The source is not Adam. Adam is ‘flesh and blood’, a human being “created in the image and likeness of God”.
Satan is the source; but Adam’s response is the source of the ‘evil seed’.
We, the descendants of Adam, are responsible for our lifestyles , actions, behaviors, conducts, and words?
Selah.
Thank you Father, for the Incarnation of Christ, Who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, and knew no sin, that we might become the righteousness of God.
B.U.T. (Believers Understand This), “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (humanity) but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12 NKJV) (emphasis mine, insert mine)
Bluntly stated, the source of the ‘evil’ seed is the devil and his demons who deceive mankind to sow ‘evil’ seed because the heart of mankind is ‘evil’ because of Adam’s disobedience.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV, “For though we walk in the flesh (a human body), we do not war according to the flesh (using human strength, weaponry). For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the flesh-marginal note) but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (whose strongholds? Satan’s), casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (like the evil philosophical influences), bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.” (inserts mine)
We are witnessing and wrestling against the fruits of what is exalting itself against the knowledge of God as we watch and listen to the daily activities of the ‘unprecedented unrest’.
Paul exhorts us to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ. But note, he says that we must bring our thought process into obedience before we are can do battle with the ‘thoughts of the enemy’.
Did he really say that? Yes, go back and read it carefully.
The commentary in my Study Bible makes this true. It says, “Paul is ready to punish the rebels who continue to refuse to repent. First he must be assured of the obedience of the congregation as a whole.”
Paul is correcting the Church at Corinth, not unbelievers.
Is God saying the same thing to His Church today?
Yes!
The Church must repent, confess its sins, take its focus off the world, the nation and its politics, put God at its center, and then God will deal with the issues that our nation is wrestling with.
[Note: What does 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 instruct God’s people to do?]
(Verse 13 sounds like ‘unrest’; verse 14 is God’s instruction for the solution to that ‘unrest’.)
(vs 13) “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people.” (NKJV)
(vs 14) “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.” (NKJV)]
In context, Paul is encouraging the Church in Corinth to withstand the ‘evil’ influences they were facing by setting aside the false doctrines and the ‘evil’ influences, through obedience to Christ.
As a believer, are you ‘so’ focused on the politics of our day that you have been overtly influenced by the evil rhetoric that is rampant in our nation?
Is ‘politics’ an idol in your life? Are you consumed by it? Is it the ‘focus’ of your life?
I believe that before ‘Making America Great Again’, we first come to grips with this: We need to ‘Magnify Almighty God Again’; then the Lord will rid us of the sources of ‘evil’ that ravish this nation and restore to this nation the ‘good’ influence comes from being rightly related to Him, as we, as a nation experienced in our beginning..
There are many in this nation that are in agreement with this outcome.
I encourage you to turn away from the ‘political rhetoric’ that comes from both sides of the aisle.
I am not telling you to bury you head in the sand and ignore our election process.
I am beseeching you not to be governed by the political rhetoric.
If you understand what I just said, then know that the political rhetoric and the ‘unrest’ will get worse as we approach our national election on November 5th.
Don’t let the election rhetoric govern your mind. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
Let the peace of God govern your mind. (Isaiah 26:2-8, Philippians 4:4-7)
“Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always].” (Colossians 3:25 Amplified Bible)
Rest in the Lord….Jesus is our REST.
Remember, Christ is our ARK. He is our place of refuge during the tumultuous storm of ‘unprecedented unrest’.
He is always our Refuge.
We have no need to fear.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (safe-thinking, make right decisions, qualities of self-control and self-discipline) ( notes from Study Bible)2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Will those who have done unjustly be judged?
Yes
Is that our responsibility?
No
Why?
Romans 12:17-19 NKJV, “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
How do we live between now and November 5th?
1. We rest and wait on the Lord.
2.We watch, be alert, be ready, and we pray. (Matthew 24-25)
3. We take refuge in Christ.
I encourage you to read Psalms 34,35,36,37.
David understood ‘unrest’ and he understood that God was His refuge.
In my Study Bible, Isaiah 9 is entitled, “The Government of the Promised Son“.
Isaiah 9:2, the prophet writes, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.” (emphasis mine)
We as a nation are living a land of great darkness; but the Light of Christ is coming to dispel the darkness that has overtaken this nation.
“This is the message which we have heard from Him, and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (I John 1:5-7 NKJV)
The Apostle John wrote in I John 2:17-19 NKJV, “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. Little children (believers), it is the last hour, and you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come , by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.” (inserts mine)
The ‘unprecedented unrest’ will reveal who are the wheat and who are the darnel.
Let us return to the Lord, focus on Him, seek His face, walk in His Light, and dispel the darkness that surrounds us in this darkened world.
This is the call to the Ekklesia, NOW, in our nation’s history.
The Ekklesia is to fast and pray for our nation.
This election is not about political parties; it is not about presidential personalities; it’s about the ‘soul’ of our nation.
We, the people, are the ‘souls’ of this nation.
If our heart is right before God, then our eye will be clear to see what needs to be done when it’s time to vote.
If our heart is not right before God, then our eye will be evil and we will not know what is right when it comes time to vote.
Good or Evil, Light or Darkness, those are the options.
The future of our nation is dependent upon our hearts response to God so that we walk in the Light.
If we continue to ignore God (i.e. forget,follow, serve, worship other gods), then we will walk in darkness, as a blind man, and not know the way in which we should go.
Listen to the words of Joshua 24:19-25 NKJV.
“But Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive you transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign God’s, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No but, we will serve the LORD!” So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses!” “Now therefore”, he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.” And the people said to Joshua, The LORD our God we will serve and His voice we will obey!” So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.”
I encourage you to simply embrace these thoughts about the passage.
Jesus is our Joshua.
Jesus has made a covenant for us with God, His Father.
As believers in Christ, our sins and transgressions have been forgiven.
Let us faithfully declare that we will follow our Lord Jesus Christ, serve Him, obey His voice, and ‘put away’ any thing that takes our focus off of Him.
Be blessed in the Lord, a brother in Christ, deo
Living Words of Encouragement 