Articles
Who’s Stealing our Freedom and Who Assures it?
The Declaration of Independence says the truth, “that we are endowed with
certain inalienable rights by our Creator and that amongst these is the
right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Psalms 144:15 says,
“Happy is the people whose God is the Lord,” therefore we should be
permitted to pursue the Lord with all our heart because this brings
happiness to mankind. If we cannot take a bible into school or say a prayer
in Jesus name in the military, we are being denied “religious freedom.”
If our government can kill its own citizens and deny any such actions by
lying, we already live on the outskirts of hell. Where is the right to
life under our government today in its new found tyranny or where do we find
the pursuit of happiness under such tyrants?
A world respected prophet of God recently went viral after saying that
Russia and China have far more civil liberties than we do in America. I must
add to that that poor politically confused Haiti has more religious freedom
than the US. I stayed with a black Haitian pastor and was awakened by a mass
of people marching through the streets at 5am singing praises to God. When I
asked the pastor at breakfast, “Who were those people?” He proudly stated,
“That is my church class.” They do this every morning so that when people
wake up, God will be the first thing on their minds. I told him in my
country you would get arrested for disturbing the peace. Why is it more
important to teach children about the theory of evolution or about how much
forethought must go into deciding what sex they prefer to be, than reading
the Bible that was once the only textbook in school and declares that all we
do will come under the brilliant light of inspection of the Eternal God?
Every Christian at one time was a sinner whose activities were disgraceful
to God, but they were converted. If people desire to convert because of what
they learn from God and the testimony of His followers, that is their
religious and supposedly freedom of choice. The government shall make no law
regarding religion or the free exercise thereof. The first and second
amendments of the Constitution guarantee us this right.
According to an article published last week by Fox News, members of the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) including its president, who
has a history of attacking the religious rights of Christians in the
military, met privately with the Department of Defense (DOD) officials,
advising the Air Force to enforce a new regulation that would call for “the
court martial of any service member caught proselytizing.” (Proselytizing
means to convert.) The president of the MRFF said to DOD officials to court
martial any service member – “someone needs to be punished for this.”
As someone who served his country in the military, I must protest. In my
particular branch even while on duty, we could talk about using girls as sex
objects, of cursing our work companions or talk about how to convince a
girlfriend to get an abortion. But now it has come to this. We cannot talk
to our friends about the only Man on earth who never committed one sin. If
we can talk trash in the military or boast about our favorite sports teams,
why can’t we testify to the goodness of the Lord?
The father of our country, George Washington, told his military men that
they should continue their meditation in the scriptures, their practice of
attending church and making sure their speech was free of cursing and using
foul language. Washington added, “These acts are all very becoming to a man
in military service.” Bill Lederer is a most remarkable writer and historian
who documents these facts and has a show five days a week on television. He
is one of the most profound educators with enormous talent in America today!
Do we give up freedom of speech and freedom of religion when we enlist? The
speech I had to listen to half a century ago was full of vile talk. I would
never have been allowed to associate with such men of the “baser sort” by my
parents. Two of the most memorable days of my service consisted of a film by
Jack Webb on how to wear a condom and watching a toddler in the orient being
suddenly consumed by napalm near her grass hut. That depiction was enough to
make me thoroughly enjoy Isaiah 2:4 which says, “And he shall judge among
the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords
into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not life
up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
The President of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation told Fox News,
“Until the Air Force, Army, Navy or Marines punish a member of the military
for unconstitutional religious proselytizing and oppression; we will never
have the ability to stop this horrible, horrendous, dehumanizing behavior.”
This gentleman should be saying such things about the number of rapes that
took place in the military in a recent year. The Pentagon estimates that
19,000 offenses take place each year. The fact that so many of these rapes
occurred to males indicates something very perverse is happening and can
only bring damnation on our nation.
God’s prophets warn us of His instructions to live a holy life. 2Chronicles
20:20c says, “Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established;
believe his prophets, so shall you prosper.” (To prosper means to increase
in all ways: mentally, physically and spiritually.) In Psalms 105:15, God
commands, “Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” Revelation
11:3 speaks of God’s two witnesses who will prophesy during the latter part
of this time period. “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth.” Verse 5 says, “And if any man will hurt them, fire proceeds out
of their mouth, and devours their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he
must in this manner be killed.” Verse 6 says, “These have power to shut
heaven that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over
waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as
often as they will.” (The smiting of the earth does not have the objective
of punishing the planet, but correcting its very wicked inhabitants. Every
one that God loves, He corrects.)
Ephesians tells us that a prophet’s job is to fortify the church. The
message you just read, if you haven’t understood it, is: don’t mess with the
faithful prophets of God or God will mess with you. If people in the DOD or
Pentagon have decided that their fight is with the saints of the most high,
God will raise up prophets to show them who wins in such a stupid battle,
for the battle is the Lord’s. Christians have never done anything as a
sanctioned effort against the United States Military but the military
recently classified Christians in a category with terrorists. A lot of
devout Christians are pacifists, as indeed they should be. This does not
mean that it is not our responsibility to speak truth to power. Most
theologians, ministers, and followers of Christ have nothing in common with
terrorists. There is a new organization called Chrislam and that is like
saying this is a dry, wet towel or this is a hot cup of cold water. The word
itself is an oxymoron. And so are those who mix good and evil.
Christians such as Desmond Doss who lowered 75 wounded American soldiers,
one at a time, down a steep hillside to the safety of US troops. He rescued
these soldiers while being fired upon and returning time after time to
accomplish this brave task. Serving God does not make us more cowardly but
empowers us to do the will of God. He believed what was prophesied in God’s
Word and his faith sustained him.
There is one more prophet that you might want to learn about. His name is
the Lord Jesus Christ and scripture says of Him the following things in Acts
3:22-23, “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord
your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him shall you
hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to
pass that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed
from among the people.”
When the communists took over China, the Christians became much stronger
because God was their strength. We do not fight with governments and armies.
We fight using the Word of God because it abides forever, like it or not and
it never fails. The gospel is about God’s love. Tyranny has never worked.
Those taking power that God has not bestowed are sure to lose it and their
souls in the process. There is no success from tyranny, deception and
repression of the people. Christ Himself is the Prince of Peace.
Shalom, the peace of Christ be with you.
Minister David Prather