Billy Graham 'America Diseased by Sin'

[missmuffet]

http://www.christian...economic-95220/

The Rev. Billy Graham, one of the most famous evangelists in the world, recently reminded followers of a popular speech he made in 1973, titled "The National Crisis," and said that today America is diseased by sin and faces some of its biggest challenges.

"Our newspapers and our television screens are bringing news of a hundred and one dangerous problems that are rocking the world. Each day seems to add to our already impressive number of crises here at home – an accelerating crime rate, mass murders, soaring drug use, rampant inflation, pollution, the breakdown of families, a jittery stock market," Graham said in a message on The Billy Graham Evangelical Association website.

The 94-year-old evangelist last year lamented what he called a "deceived" America, saying that "if God doesn't punish America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."

Reflecting on his 1973 speech, which came after the Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion in the country, Graham said that during the past year, "American people have suffered an emotional trauma that has had few parallels in our history. "

[Little One]

Like Israel in the days of Elijah, America's troubles stem from uncertainty, from wavering between two opinions concerning "who" is God: God OR mammon? Mammon is anyone or anything else except God that one accredits with being the provider and sustainer of all life and provisions.

 

Where there is wavering between two (or more) opinions, there is no (zero) certainty, and God displays His uncontestable power for those who are certain that God alone is God and are undivided or uncertain about the matter -- as Elijah was, who saw with certainty, the true cause of all Israel's "trouble":

 

1 Kings 18

¹⁶ ... Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”

¹⁸ “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

²⁰ So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”

But the people said nothing.

 

This is certainly why Jesus said, in Luke 16:

¹³ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."

 

Unfortunately, those of us who've been born into, indoctrinated by and thoroughly socialized in The American Way (or any other so-called "way") have been led astray from The Creator's One Way -- which is by faith in Him and the One He sent to reveal Himself to us -- alone.

 

We've learned to exalt ourselves and our self-acquired knowledge and ingenuity as the reasons for our own and this nation's prosperity. We, as a nation, have proudly proclaimed and boasted ourselves to be the greatest, best, and most powerful nation on Earth -- all due to our own hard work and ingenuity. Yet we have been and still are blind to our own duplicity concerning which one of these two we will attribute our prosperity to and therefore love, serve and worship, and which we will hate and therefore want as little to do with as possible.

 

Any part of us who finds the words of God on such matters offensive is the enemy of God, which dwells secretly and quite safely within the psyche of each and every one of us -- that is until he is confronted head-on on this matter and he rises up in defense of himself and his use of and reliance upon money that he himself worked hard to earn -- rather than God -- as the provider of the very breath he breathes, not to mention all he needs, has and desires. Unfortunately, most people confuse this "liar" with themselves and remain blind to his influence within them, thereby increasing it.

 

But as a tree is recognized by its fruit, so the deceiver within and among us is recognizable by the vehemence, vileness and destructiveness of his attitude in such matters:

 

Matthew 7

¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."

 

Only that part of us who loves ourselves and money, rather than God, will become testy and downright brutal in defense of ourselves and our money. Yet Jesus has made it perfectly clear that those of who love and devote themselves to God will hate money, and those who do will not share the glory that belongs to God alone with anyone or anything else -- including ourselves and money.

 

Deuteronomy 8

¹⁷ You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. ²⁰ Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.

 

May The Lord God allow any who read this post and become offended by it to recognize the spirit that is resposible for this perceived offense -- and be delivered from it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

[Guest]

 

~

 

Sin

 

And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

 

Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Ephesians 2:1-3
 

Is The Mind Killer

 

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

 

Jesus

 

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) Ephesians 2:4-5

 

Is The Resurrection

 

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

 

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:6-9