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Tom Hoefling
The fear of God is the missing ingredient in our politics today - on the part of the people themselves, and on the part of those they elect to public office who are required to take the oath. Our system presupposes a just and perfect judgment on our words and actions in the hereafter, as the mainstay against abuses and usurpations in the civic here and now. Without that healthy dread in our hearts and minds, and in the hearts and minds of our chosen representatives, the whole edifice of constitutional republicanism falls apart. "Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths?" -- George Washington "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." -- Proverbs 9:10 Tom Hoefling: Will the city set on a hill be brought down to the agonies of a hell on earth?6/16/2016 Tom Hoefling You cannot plumb the depths, or scale the heights, of the glory and power and knowledge and wisdom contained in God's Word. But in diligently seeking to do so, you will be transformed, from glory to glory, into the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself over to the tormentors out of love for His Father and for you, and rose from the grave to show heaven and earth that you, in His sight, stand justified. I do politics every day, and some criticize me for posting things like I just posted above. They think I'm foolish for doing so. It's just not "politic," you know? But, as Jim Elliott famously said: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain that which he cannot lose!” The Gospel comes first. If we obey God's Word, and follow Christ in truth, our politics will be straightened out, quite naturally. But if we as a people, and as a church, continue to thumb our nose at God, the moral foundations of the American Republic will be, finally and completely, gone. And the spiritual, moral, and physical wreck of America that follows will be one of the most frightful tragedies in human history. The city set on a hill will have finally been brought down to the agonies of a hell on earth. And the whole world will suffer greatly for that fall as well. "Had the people, during the Revolution, had a suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity, that Revolution would have been strangled in its cradle... In this age, there can be no substitute for Christianity... That was the religion of the founders of the republic and they expected it to remain the religion of their descendants." "It becomes a people publicly to acknowledge the over-ruling hand of Divine Providence and their dependence upon the Supreme Being as their Creator and Merciful Preserver . . . and with becoming humility and sincere repentance to supplicate the pardon that we may obtain forgiveness through the merits and mediation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." "Condescend, merciful Father! to grant as far as proper these imperfect petitions, to accept these inadequate thanksgivings, and to pardon whatever of sin hath mingled in them for the sake of Jesus Christ, our blessed Lord and Savior; unto Whom, with Thee, and the blessed Spirit, ever one God, be rendered all honor and glory, now and forever. "I know that my Redeemer liveth."
-- George Frederick Handel, "Messiah," 1742 "It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. Let me tell you something, friend, it is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than to be loved for telling a lie. It is impossible to find anyone in the Bible who was a power for God who did not have enemies and was not hated. It’s better to stand alone with the truth, than to be wrong with a multitude. It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than to temporarily succeed with a lie. There is only one Gospel and Paul said, ‘If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
– Adrian Rogers (cited in The Berean Call, December 1996)  "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
-- Romans 6:4-11 "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by 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."
-- Robert Winthrop, early Speaker of the U.S. House Think of the greatest joys and pleasures you have ever experienced in life. They all pale in comparison to the joys and pleasures of eternity with God our Father, in Christ.
Think of the greatest pain and loneliness you have ever experienced. No matter how excruciating, that is as nothing compared to hell, an eternity separated from God. Seek Him now, while He may be found. Isaiah 55:6-13 6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 12 “For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” Psalm 136
1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever. 3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever. 4 To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever. 5 To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever. 6 To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever. 7 To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever: 8 The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever: 9 The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever. 10 To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever: 11 And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever: 12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever. 13 To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever: 14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever: 15 But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever. 16 To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever. 17 To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 18 And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever: 19 Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever: 20 And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever: 21 And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever: 22 Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever. 23 Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever: 24 And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever. 25 Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever. 26 O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever. “Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the Word of God, or the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or the bayonet.”
-- Robert C. Winthrop, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1847-49 |
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