This short word from brother Butch will bring us back to the fundamentals.

Enjoy! ~ Flip

 

Dear fellow Champions for Truth,

It is my personal opinion, and conviction, that the controversy swirling around the “gay” issue may prove to be yet another distraction to a vastly more urgent crisis…..that being the continuing genocide of our unborn babies. (Over 50 million).

While I do rejoice that necessary conflict & controversy is creating a renewed platform for open, public, discourse, I fear this is yet another tactic by the deceiver to draw our attention from a much higher, Divine priority: Abortion.

Perhaps we are about to see a reawakening of the Sleeping Giant, the Church of Jesus? And, the “gay” issue could be the catalyst that draws the Soldiers of God back into the Righteous fray. Not a fight of choice, but of necessity.

Of course, I say we must stand against sin and raise God’s standard on all fronts of battle. But, in all that we are doing, let us simply remember not to leave weightier matters undone.  These battles are coming to every true Church of Jesus. The enemy will see to it. But, moreso, I think God Himself, for our sakes, will see to it as well!  God forbid that we expend more precious energy and resources on matters about those determined to revel in their choice of their alternate lifestyle, and yet ignore the silent cries of helpless babies who desperately want to live!

While it may be a tired illustration, I still think it is valid as an appeal:

If you find yourself rushing into a burning home, filled with adults, teenagers, children, and a sleeping baby, you are going to tell the adults to “get the kids outside to safety” and ask: “WHERE IS THE BABY!?”  That’s right, you are going to try to save the baby,because you know the baby is helpless to save itself!

And this is precisely the “undone” matter we have withdrawn from for 40 years.

Like they said…..we should not be picking fights. But neither can we run from the fights the enemy is picking. Whatever lies ahead, I count it an honor to stand with you, as we stand together! I’ll share a foxhole with you any day!

Maybe not my COFFEE! LOL!

yours for the least and most vulnerable,

Richard “Butch” Berget

We have known for a long time the utter heresy of the abominable clergy that reside in the “Washington National Cathedral.”  The Episcopal Church is no “Church” at all.  It has become a haven for all beliefs, gods, lifestyles and sins.  In its diversity and multicultural appeal, it has prostrated the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the level of every other religion.  In other words, it has become its own god.

Here’s the story via the NY Times.

Flip

My son David just wrote this critique of this article written by former NFL player, Ken Hutcherson.  The article is great and David’s insight even better. ~ Flip

I read an excellent article this morning by a former NFL player, Ken Hutcherson, on the political correctness of many evangelical organizations in America today.  I share his same sentiment when it comes to Christian organizations appeasing evil instead of resisting it.  In a desperate attempt to appear attractive and not “offensive”, an overwhelming number of Christian organizations in America have adopted a politically correct policy of appeasement in the face of evil instead of standing at the mid-point of biblical tension on the social issues of our day.

The article appears below, but first I wanted to share a couple of thoughts about Mr. Hutcherson, his recent political stand, and his willingness to fight God’s battles.

First of all, it’s interesting that Ken is a former NFL football player.  This is an aggressive sport.  He got paid to smack dudes in the mouth.  I played football, and I love watching it too.  The reason men in America love this sport is because it’s aggressive.  Aggression is in our DNA, God put it there.  When men get saved God doesn’t change our DNA, He redeems it.  The same aggression we once had for evil is now used for good.  This means standing against evil, even if it’s not easy.  We’re men, that’s what we do.

In terms of Ken’s take on Referendum 74 (same sex marriage vote), if evil is being accepted and appreciated at the national level, aggressive Christian men must lead the charge against it.  In the late 1940’s England realized this truth with Neville Chamberlain’s Policy of Appeasement and the Nazi regime.  Chamberlain thought he could somehow “appease” the fuehrer, yet Winston Churchill aggressively stood against this policy and proclaimed that they must kill Hitler and destroy the regime in its entirety.  It wasn’t long before Chamberlain’s “politically correct” policy fell flat on its face, and Churchill – the more aggressive man – took the reins and joined America in defeating the beast called, Naziism.

My dad always taught me to be aggressive for righteousness and to be a man willing to let the Lion roar when He needs to roar (remember the statement by C.S. Lewis – “Aslan is not a tame lion”).  He taught me seven biblical characteristics of King David’s fighting men – Ken is applying several of these:

1.  Disciplined to Fight:  1 Chronicles 12:2 – They were armed with bows and were able to shoot arrows or to sling stones right-handed or left-handed…”

2.  Run to the Roar:  1 Chronicles 12:14-15 –  These Gadites were army commanders; the least was a match for a hundred, and the greatest for a thousand.  It was they who crossed the Jordan in the first month…and they put to flight everyone living in the valleys, to the east and to the west.

3.  Ready to Fight at All Times:  1 Chronicles 12:23-25 –  These are the numbers of the men armed for battle who came to David…men of Judah, carrying shield and spear…men of Simeon, warriors ready for battle.

4.  Able to Stand:  1 Chronicles 12:30 –  Men of Ephraim, brave warriors, famous in their clans.

5.  The Biblical Worldview:  1 Chronicles 12:32 –  Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.

6.  Expert in War & Ready to Win:  1 Chronicles 12:33 –  Men of Zebulun, experienced soldiers prepared for battle with every type of weapon, to help David with undivided loyalty.

7.  Men of Vision – Ready to Fight for their King:  1 Chronicles 12:38 –  …They came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel.  All the rest of the Israelites were also of one mind to make David king…”

Now is the time, men.  Drop the appeasement and let the lion roar.  This is what Love looks like in the face of evil.  This is what Truth does when Lies rule the day.  We do this because Christ has asked us to love others more than ourselves, even when it hurts.

David Benham

Here Is a political cartoon done by Micah Thomas, Rusty’s son.  Awesome!

Enjoy!

Here is a little bit more information that may help you on your way to the polls…

Election 2012 – Some Answers to Difficult Questions

Rev. Flip Benham   October 30, 2012

This is not a new teaching – It is a truth found throughout Scripture.  God will use His enemies to discipline us and bring us to repentance.  He, Himself, will become our enemy to bring us to repentance (Isa 63:10).  LOVE!

To vote for the lesser of two evils is to vote for evil still.  This is absolutely true.  Nothing has changed.  The fact that we are presently under the judgment of God for the shedding of innocent blood, and that we have two people running for president who do not acknowledge the true God of Scripture is plain evidence of this.  We have been found guilty!  The salt has lost its saltiness!  We are being trampled under the feet of men.  So what do we do?  Who do we vote for?

First, we must recall that God is looking for the repentance of His church – not the repentance of the Republican Party.  After all, “…judgment begins in the house of God.” 1 Peter 4:17.

Those who are running in third parties that acknowledge the true God of Scripture; Tom Hoeffling, Virgil Goode, et al., have not done their “due diligence” to plead the case of the fatherless to win it.  They are simply pleading it to plead it.  Every four years the Constitution Party or America’s Party, do the easy thing to just run someone for president without doing the hard work of running and working for those down ballot candidates.  There is no way that they will ever have my vote again.

The Church of Jesus Christ is nowhere near repentance for the shedding of innocent blood in America.  We do not see it as our responsibility.  We have, by and large, left it up to the Republican Party to fight this battle for us.  We just give our vote and expect Republicans to fix it.  In the same way,Israel(the southernkingdomofJudah) was in no way ready to repent of sacrificing her children in the valley of Ben Hinnom, even though she was overcome by Nebuchadnezzar and taken into captivity in Babylon.  God made it very clear through His prophet Jeremiah that the people in captivity were to work for the peace of that pagan nation while they were in it for seventy years.  He was looking for their repentance.  It was going to take awhile.

We need to be working for the peace of our nation.  Our nation is worth saving.  We were once the most powerful, free, and prosperous nation on this planet.  We were, in John Winthrop’s words, “…A shining city set on a hill,” that the whole world might see the glory of Almighty God.  This was and is our mission.  But we have become the world’s sewer – pumping out drugs, porn, sexual slavery, violence, and every imaginable evil.  We are dragging God’s name through the mud, the blood, and the beer, of our own sin, and slaughtering His children along the way.

Spiritually, we find ourselves in a strange land (Babylon).  God’s judgment is upon us.  Our enemies are ruling over us.  But, just as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were true to their God, they were also called to work for the peace of that pagan nation –Babylon.

Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai worshipped the One True God, but they also worked for the peace of the pagan nation Babylon.  How could they reconcile working for the “lesser of two evils?”  Why didn’t they rebel and declare the God of the Torah the only true God?  Because God told them to work for the peace of that nation, for if that nation had peace they too would have peace and multiply.  God knew the plans He had for them (Jer 29:11-12), and He, Himself, would bring them back to Jerusalem.  Please read Jeremiah 29-31 again and then put it in context of the entire book (note that the book itself is not in chronological order).

Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Mordecai, Esther, and Ezra were all true to Almighty God, yet they worked for the peace of a pagan nation and rose (God lifts up one and brings down another) to power in that nation.  How about Joseph in Egypt?  All were a true light into the lives of pagan kings and rulers.  They were not rebels.  They were in the truest sense submitted to Almighty God first, and to pagan kings second.  They were lights in dark nations.  As that nation was blessed, God’s people were blessed and became a nation once again, that the whole world might know that there is another King – One called Jesus!

America’s history can be traced to this.  We are one link in the chain of the westward movement of the Gospel of Christ.  We must have eyes to see (John 5:19-20) what God is doing in our nation.  Remember, we will serve the kingdom we see, and we will become like the god we worship, Jeremiah 2:5.

Our latest writing, Election 2012: A Different Point of View, has spurred some very interesting questions and many “Amen’s!”  Here are a couple of attempts by one of our Pastors and Ante Pavkovic to further clarify and rightly divide, through the grid of Scripture, what God is doing in our nation today and what He would have us do. 

Remember, we will serve the Kingdom we see (John 5:19-20), and become like the god we worship (Jeremiah 2:5).  What is God doing in our nation today, and what is He asking us, as His children, to do? ~ Flip

Here is Ante Pavkovic’s write-up:

The Election – Is Voting for Romney a Sin?

After much contemplation about Mitt Romney, I have submitted my thoughts about this election to Flip.  I will try to be as brief and clear as possible.

Is it Biblical and proper to say that since Mitt Romney is a Mormon, we should not vote for him…no matter what?  Is it proper not to vote for a man who clearly loves this country, our Constitution, way of life, freedoms, and free enterprise system… because of his religious beliefs?

Saints, may I also ask you that say with morbidity that voting for Romney is wrong—why?  What is he going to do to us?  What evil is he going to do against the United States and our Constitution?

So far, I have not heard good answers from people I have asked.

But let me tell you what Obama intends to do:

Since he is a communist, since he follows the RULES FOR RADICALS written by that wicked man Saul Alinsky many years ago, a book dedicated to Lucifer, we can be sure that Obama and all those with him intend to conquer the United States and overthrow our form of government WITHOUT FIRING A SHOT.  How so?  Well the plan is; when they are in power, to deliberately do things to cause prolonged suffering and chaos so that the people will finally say they have had enough, and will go along with whoever promises them a better future.

For example, we are warned over and over that early next year, we are going to go over the fiscal cliff.  Why?  Well the Bush tax cuts will expire, thereby immediately significantly raising taxes on everyone.  A number of others serious cuts will take place because Congress hasn’t passed a budget AGAIN!  And Obamacare will begin to kick in, which is yet another massive tax hike and illegal overthrow of the Constitution.

This will create far more chaos and suffering than the last 4 years, if you can believe it.  What is coming is FAR WORSE.  This is all part of the plan.  So when we have suffered a good bit under this destruction that has come, Obama-the-Marxist-Traitor-Who-Belongs-in-Jail  will speak to the nation and say something like this:

He will say that our Constitution was a great document that has served us well for centuries.  And I’m sure he will wax eloquent about it and about our history as he reads from the teleprompter.  And then he will tell us that things have changed.  The world has changed.  The Constitution has served us well all this time, but it is time for a change.  It doesn’t work anymore.  In order to go “Forward”(his Marxist slogan), we need to “change” our government to better serve our people and the world.  And this con-job, this pack of lies, will work simply because economic suffering gets old, and people WILL SELL OUT IF THEY SUFFER LONG ENOUGH, especially dumbed-down, selfish, hedonistic and godless Americans that the Left has created via the Public School System, Hellavision, and now the internet, iPhones, IPads, videogames, etc.  All these idols have not only mesmerized the nation, but are often nothing but items with which people corrupt themselves with sinful entertainment and filth.  The plan is working.  They have debased this nation, brainwashed us, distracted us, made us ignorant, silly, selfish, and idolaters.

Such a nation is ripe for a communist overthrow without a shot being fired.  That is the plan.  They wrote of it decades ago and have implemented it.

So then, do we let Obama get re-elected when we know it will mean THE END OF THE UNITED STATES AS WE KNOW IT?  How moral and righteous is it to allow such an evil to take place?

You see, one thing I know is that Mitt Romney won’t do that, and wants the opposite to happen.

Did not God call Cyrus, a pagan King “Mine anointed” in Isaiah 45:1?  Was he not used by God to help the Jews back to their land and to rebuild the Temple?  Yes.  Has not God used pagans to further his purposes?  Is it not truly God’s wisdom to REBUKE THE CHURCH IN AMERICA by giving us a reprieve from Obama through a Mormon, and not a solid Christian man?  Should we not be grateful God would even grant us a reprieve from Obama, and be humbled that the reprieve comes in the form of a man and a religion whose image and good family lives in America have outdone our own?

Mitt may be the answer to our prayer to deliver us from evil, but it may also be a rebuke to us, because we, just like Israel should not be in a position of needing the help of a pagan king to do the right thing.  Israel was in bondage because of generations of sin and idolatry.  That was not God’s will or plan.  We are in the state we are in because of our sin and idolatry, and we ought not to have a devil like Obama in the White House, nor should we need the help of a Mormon to grant a reprieve.

If you are expecting a Christian leader, from whom we will have trickle-down-righteousness and a return to the Constitution, FORGET IT.    We don’t deserve that, and that is not how it will work anyway.  What we need are leaders who will ABIDE BY THE CONSTITUTION, LEAVE US ALONE so that we can live and do what we are supposed to do.  Paul said to pray for leaders so that WE could lead quiet and peaceable lives-1Tim 2:1-4.  It is for our benefit.

Our Founders envisioned that—men that would abide by the law and LEAVE PEOPLE ALONE.  Is Romney such a man?  If He is, then WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?  Some of you have voted, and would vote for Catholics, who are every bit the idolatrous, paganized, another-gospel-false religion that Mormonism is, except that Rome has murdered hundreds of thousands of our brethren over the centuries, whereas Mormons have not.  How do you justify such hypocrisy?

May I also ask, if our selections were Adolf Hitler and the Nazi power taking over, or Romney, would you still say you won’t vote for an America-loving, Constitution-loving Mormon and let Hitler take over?

My example is not extreme.  Obama thinks babies that survive abortions should be left for dead, or another doctor should come in and finish the job.  Three times as Senator this wicked man opposed legislation that would demand life-saving care to these little ones.  HOW IS HE NOT AS EVIL AS HITLER???  Hitler hated homosexuals and had a number of them murdered, but Obama promotes their sin and wants to OVERTHROW the institution of marriage as well!  Who is really more malignant?  Who defies God and His created order of things more?

Where I am with all of this is that Romney will win.  I have been telling people for many months that Obama will lose.  His arrogance is a stench in the nostrils of God.  Yes Obama is a judgment of God upon us.  The Assyrian, Sennacherib   was a judgment from God upon Israel, but he was so arrogant and merciless, that the Lord then judged him and removed him.  I believe Obama is an Isaiah 10 scenario, where he and all those with him are an affront to God.  I have reminded the Lord of this in my prayers over and over and plead for mercy upon us.

Romney will be a reprieve from heaven and an answer to our prayers, BUT HE IS A REBUKE TO THE CHURCH.  If the church won’t be the church in America, if we won’t be salt and light, then He might just give it to the Mormons!  If we don’t care about the unborn, and do what we must to end abortion, then how can we complain if God gives us mercy in a form that is also a rebuke???

I can promise you that God will be watching His people during Romney’s presidency.  Things will get better.  Will the church, with our freedoms sustained awhile longer, BE THE CHURCH AND GO AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT?  Or will we go right back to sleep, right back to sin, right back to all our technological idols and time-wasters, rather than prayer, fasting, self-denial, our daily cross, evangelism, discipleship and pro-life work?

My friends, Obama must lose and will lose.  Don’t be confused.  Romney loves our country, will try to do good, but THE CHURCH is the conscience of our nation, and we better BE the church during his presidency or someone worse than Obama may come.  Also, with the Tea party rising and the overthrow of not only many democrats, but moderate republicans from office in 2010, we must CONTINUE to see this as an opportunity to clean up the republican party and get our kind of people into office.  We can still do this, and there has been a groundswell of support for better candidates than what we have been forced to accept from the Republican Party.  Things are changing.  We have worthy men waiting in the wings for 2016 and 2020, should the Lord tarry and sustain us until then.

Lastly and ultimately, our kingdom is not of this world.  Righteousness will fully come when our Lord comes in glory and establishes His Kingdom in Jerusalem, as promised.  The grace of God teaches us to LOOK FOR, LONG FOR AND BE READY FOR CHRIST’S GLORIOUS APPEARING-Titus 2:11-13.  Don’t let your hearts be too settled here.  This world will pass away.  Our Lord’s return draws near.  That is what I truly long for, groan for, and pray for.  Until then let us occupy til He comes.  Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!

And here is a Kansas Pastor who has serve with us:

Re: Upcoming Election: A Different View – (Attempt at some clarification)

Hello Saints of the Lord,

Godspeed to you.  Recently Flip; with Rusty’s help sent the message: A Different Point of View.  This teaching is significantly new and different from what our views in these areas have been in recent years.  It has raised some questions for a number of us, in particular with respect to the teaching that to vote for the lesser of two evils is evil.

I am going to make an “attempt” at some clarification.  This clarification is not a suggestion that I or anyone else accepts this view.  The ideas are being put forth as an explanation on the “new” position.

Position: Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV) that we should – Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”

Current Position: most of us have been using – A vote for the lesser of two evils is still evil.

New Position: We vote for the candidate(s) that we believe will most likely contribute to the “peace and prosperity” ofAmerica. This would include voting for a candidate that has a reasonable chance to win, (even if they are evil, i.e., Islamist/Socialist or Cultist/Mormon).

_________________

In order for one to be able to understand the new position, there are a few foundational beliefs that would need to be understood.  Stated another way, these would need to be beliefs that one holds as currently relevant and true for us in America today.  Most of these have to do with our current situation in America and where we are spiritually right now.  I will not take time to establish those beliefs in this writing but if you would like to look into further explanation see Rusty Thomas’ writing, A Different Point of View.

          1.  America is currently under the judgment of the Lord

2. That neither America or the Church in America as a whole  are repentant for the sins of our nation: the shedding of innocent blood, abortion/homicide, idolatry, Islam, homosexuality, etc.

3.  America has already been carried away captive into Babylon

4.  That the timing of Jeremiah 29 is applicable to America today

The Lesser Of Two Evils (LOTE) – If one is to accept the new position then what does that mean with the “lesser of two evils” teaching most of us have been operating with of late?

1.      Is (LOTE) still true?  Is (LOTE) now wrong?

2.      Is this “new” teaching only true if in “Babylon?”

3.      Why the change now?

The belief that the (LOTE) is still evil would still be true, but with this caveat, things are handled differently in some cases (i.e. possibly voting) when you are living inBabylonthen when you are living in Jerusalem/Christian America.

Some of our best examples are Daniel, who helped the pagan king with visions; Mordeci, who foiled an assassination plot against the king; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Ezra, who were employees of the pagan state.  Yet all of them also had to stand up for justice or righteousness when the state was acting unjustly or unrighteously.  In other words they did both.  They could work towards the “peace and prosperity” of Babylon but they also fought injustice when necessary.  They did not attempt to start a revolution against the pagan state; they worked within it as much as they possibly could.

Likely, one would argue that voting for an Islamist or Mormon is itself an unrighteous act.  Maybe, or maybe since they are the only ones with a chance of winning, if we are in Babylon, then we should vote for the one most likely to allow the propagation of the Gospel so that the much needed repentance can come?  You decide.

As to when the change occurred, (if it has), I don’t know.  Was it 911, choice between an Islamist or Mormon for President, rise of Islam in America, Roe v. Wade, prayer and Bible forbidden in schools, or some other moment, or – are we not there yet?  I don’t know.  This is a decision that each of us will have to make on our own, particularly in relation to this new position.

In addition, I am sure all of us can relate that sometimes it takes certain truths time to “sink in.”  Of course most any idea that is a paradigm shift from what we previously held will take some time.

With respect to this “new” teaching, does it only apply while inBabylon?  Yes, that would be correct.

As a nation is blessed, the Lord’s people will be blessed, thus the opportunities for the Gospel to be preached are enhanced and the chance for repentance is heightened.

One final note: There is no doubt that if this teaching is true, that there would then be many other broader applications to the way we live and function as Christians.  Also, there would be many other questions in other areas that this would give rise to.  In order to keep this short I have made no attempt in this writing to address them, though they no doubt exist.

 

This article is hot off the press. It is longer than usual, but hopefully worth your while to study in light of the historic election coming soon. If you find any merit, please pass it on in your sphere of influence.

Upcoming Election: A Different View

Patrick Henry in his famous Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech commenced his impassioned plea with these august words:

“No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House.  But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve.  This is no time for ceremony.”

This article is written on the behalf of Rev. Flip Benham who has wrestled with the Scriptures to determine the mind of the Lord concerning the upcoming election.  It is an election that many consider to be the most important in American history.  It is an election that could very well determine whether or not America descends into a third world status or we begin the monumental task of reforming the church to restore America to her biblical roots.  Roots which produced the freest, most prosperous nation this poor fallen world has ever known.  A nation that was once considered “A city on a hill” and “A beacon of liberty to the nations of this world.”

As Patrick Henry pointed out when it comes to weighty matters, “very worthy gentlemen” have strong opinions and differing views.  When it comes to the choice of Romney and Obama this election, men and women of God we respect have adamantly made known some of their views.

Some say, “A vote for the lesser of two evils is to vote for evil still.”  We agree.  Some question, “Is it possible for a Christian in right standing with God to vote for a Muslim/Communist or a cultist who happens to be a Mormon?  Some believe no true Christian could ever vote for Obama and his God hating party, while others declare, “A vote for Romney is to sin against God.”  To those who truly fear God, this election has created great confusion.

Some have been convinced to simply stay at home and leave the ballot blank.  Not an option for the true Christian – your vote is the currency of your virtue.  Others are opting to vote for a third party candidate like Virgil Goode of the Constitution Party.  But the Constitution Party has not done its due diligence to run to win.  It has no plan down ballot.  It will not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, Jeremiah 5:28.  It simply runs a godly man every four years for president.  Still others, realizing their Christian duty to vote, yet not able to cast their vote for the scoundrels that are running, will “write in” the name of a godly person that would be qualified for office and represent our Lord well.  We need a Word from God.

Here is an attempt to put this election in a biblical perspective discovered in the book of Jeremiah.  It will prayerfully shine an angle of light from Scripture that provides an overarching biblical context to discern the nature of this historic election.  While this article will not dictate who people should vote for, it will prayerfully present another view from the Bible that may help guide their decision.

Personal Comments

Rev. Flip Benham preached this message during our States of Refuge Campaign this September in Little Rock,Arkansas.  He asked me to put it in writing.  Before initiating his message, however, I would like to add some personal commentary.   For years there has been a battle raging within the Republican Party.  It is the moderate Republican establishment versus the evangelical Christians or Tea Party.  It is a conflict between “fiscal conservatives” and “social conservatives.”

Fiscal conservatives tout limited government and responsible spending.  They seek to tame the avarice of the federal beast to protect their bottom line.  They are liberal, however, when it comes to the burning social issues of the day, such as abortion, homosexuality, Islam, etc.  Evangelical Christians, on the other hand, discern the connection betweenAmerica’s spiritual and moral decline with the litany of woe afflicting our nation.  The moderate Republican establishment seeks to suppress this view, while evangelical Christians seek to highlight it.

The Republican establishment desperately needs the votes of evangelical Christians to stay in power.  After all, evangelical Christians are its base, yet it refuses to implement the Christian vision for America.

Mitt Romney represents, in my mind, the last man standing in the moderate Republican establishment.  The establishment has for years foolishly offered candidates like Bob Dole, John McCain and now Mitt Romney.  Mr. Romney, whether or not he wins the election, represents the “death rattle” of the moderate Republican establishment’s control.  If our nation survives this upcoming election without imploding, there is a wave of leaders coming who have been prepared by God Himself to take over – Tea Party.

These folks refuse to sell their birthright for a mess of politically correct pottage being shoved upon them by the Republican establishment.  These are statesmen who are well aware that they cannot defeat the liberal, Marxist, ungodly, Democratic agenda until they first dethrone the Republican establishment.

R.L. Dabney exposed this controversy well by stating:

This is a party [Northern conservatives] which never conserves anything.  Its history has been that it demurs [shows reluctance] to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation.  What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is today one of the accepted principles of conservatism; it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will tomorrow be forced upon its timidity and will be succeeded by some third revolution; to be denounced and then adopted in its turn.  American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition.  It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader.  This pretended salt bath utterly lost its savor: wherewith shall it be salted?  Its impotency is not hard, indeed, to explain.  It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle.  It intends to risk nothing serious for the sake of the truth.

In other words, the Republican establishment may whine about the assaults of radical progressives against our nation, but inevitably it ends up defending the political ground the progressives gain.  Yesterday’s issue they opposed becomes today’s issue they defend.  Conservatism really is pretend salt.

God revealed this battle in the Republican Party most recently in the ordeal that Senate Republican candidate Todd Akin from Missouri has endured.  The establishment threw him under the political bus for his gaffe on rape and abortion.   Principally, however, Mr. Akin was right.  No innocent child should be put to death for the crime of his father.  He courageously took on the exception clauses of the Republican Party which provide a loophole for abortion so large that a Mack truck could drive through it.

The Republican Party bosses immediately demanded he withdraw from the race and withdrew all support from him.  They hate and fear the “Jesus” that resides in Mr. Aiken’s heart far more than they fear losing the possibility of a Republican majority in the United States Senate.  Congressman Akin has refused to give in to the establishment’s bullying tactics.  If he wins the senate seat, it will serve as a harbinger of what is to come for the Republican establishment.  The sooner the better as far as this author is concerned.

 

Jeremiah’s Commentary on Israel (America)

Providentially, right before this historic election, we happen to be reading in our Operation Save America Bible reading schedule the book of Jeremiah.  Though it has huge relevance as it pertains to the history of Israel, there are certain biblical truths gleaned from Jeremiah that can easily serve as a commentary to the pathetic spiritual and moral state of America.

After God called Jeremiah as a youth to serve as a prophet, He declared, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.  See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”  Jeremiah 1:9, 10. The Lord then challenged Jeremiah that he was going to need spiritual and moral grit to withstand the opposition he would surely face.  “They [speaking of the prophets, princes, priests, and people of the land] will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you.  For I am with you,” says the Lord, “to deliver you.”  Jeremiah 1:19

In Jeremiah chapter two, the Lord uses Jeremiah as His prosecuting attorney.  The prophet brings charges against the nation of Israel for her spiritual adulteries, idolatries, and sacrificing her children in the Valley of Ben Hinnom.  “Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods?  But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit.” Jeremiah 2:11.  Even the heathen do not change their gods.  They serve them with all the passion and fury of hell.  But God’s people discard Him like a piece of trash.  “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water”  Jeremiah 2:13.

Benham had this to say about this change that led Israel from the heights of God’s blessings to the depths of His judgments.  Does this same change have any impact upon America today?  Benham explains:

We are witnessing in America today a change of epic proportions.  Though this change began decades ago, God has given us a visible manifestation of a paradigm shift that has fully arrived.  Barack Obama is that sign.  He is a judgment from Almighty God shouting in our ears that we have chosen to cast the God of the Bible, the God of our Pilgrim Forefathers, and the God of our Founding Fathers, to the ground.  Yes, Barack Obama is a sign from God Himself that we have chosen to abandon Him and His laws for new gods and a new set of laws. Many call this change, liberation – God calls it rebellion.

We, in America, have become like a kite on a string that believes it can soar to the heavens if only it could break the chains of the confining string.  Little does it realize that once the string is cut, all possibility for flight ceases.  It is, after all, the string that enables the kite to fly…It was God, His Law, and His Son who enabled America to become great.  God was the string that enabled the little kite called America to soar.  It was His providential hand that made us free unlike any nation before us.  It was His design that America would be “a shining city set on a hill,” that the world might know that the Lord is God…But, as time passed; we forgot His many blessings and providences.  We forgot the unseen hand that lifted us to these heights.  We grew tired of Him.  We were wearied by His moral constrictions.  We desired to be free from Him, to do what we want.  In essence, we became our own gods.  Barack Obama said it best, “We are the people we have been waiting for. We are the change we have been looking for.”  We changed gods― we cut the string!

We forsook God, the spring of living water, and hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns that could not hold water. This represents change at its worst.  We became a law unto ourselves.  We rejected God and His law and replaced Him with ourselves, doing what was right in our own eyes.  The book of Judges puts it this way:

“After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel.  Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.  They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt…They provoked the Lord to anger…In His anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them.”  Judges 2:10-14.

Please note the italicized words.  Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  There was a standard that judged between good and evil.  God was the author of that standard.  When Israel strayed from Him, He judged them by sending raiders upon them … (the threat of Islam anyone?).  After suffering at the hands of these raiders, God’s people would become painfully aware of their sin, repent and cry out to God to save them.  As soon as they cried out, God rescued them from the hands of their enemies.  He immediately responded to the cry of repentance.

But there comes a dramatic change in the last five chapters of Judges.  In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.”  Judges 17:6.   God’s people had become totally debauched with no standard at all.  Everyone made up his own standard of what was good and evil.  Everyone did as he saw fit.  God could save His people from any enemy but He would not save them from themselves.  They became as God.  They cut the string.

This change represented the complete abandonment of Almighty God and His Law.  Though His name was continually on their lying lips, their hearts were far from Him.  It did not happen all at once, nor was anyone really aware that the change had taken place.  But now there was no standard.  Hosea calls this a “spirit of prostitution” that led them astray.  There was no way to distinguish between good and evil.  There was no king.  There was no judgment.  There was no judge.  There was only everyone doing as he saw fit.  Without judgment, God can dispense no mercy for no one knows to repentMercy triumphs over judgment indeed, but it cannot be dispensed apart from judgment.

Yes, universal change has come to America and it does not bode well.  The election of Barack Obama is simply the culmination of the movement (rebellion) from One God (Jesus) and standard of Law (the Bible) to other gods and standards of law.  It is a movement from content to form (having a form of godliness, but denying its power).  It is a movement from justice to fairness (fairness is the greatest enemy of justice for it has no standard).  It is a movement from creation of wealth to redistribution of wealth (from capitalism to socialism).  It is a movement from biblical love to tolerance (biblical love demands we get involved and make judgments while tolerance sits back and demands we say nothing).  It is a movement from character to performance (it doesn’t matter your character so long as you perform).  It is a movement from individuality to uniformity (the unique image of God shoehorned into the uniform mantra of the state).  It is a movement from liberty to bondage, from joy to despair, from life to death.

God used Jeremiah to confront Israel with her radical rebellion so that she would repent and return to Him. He called Jeremiah to go to the different gates of Jerusalem, but first to the gate of the Lord’s house (judgment begins in the House of God) and there proclaim this message:

“Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord!’” Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.  Do not trust in these lying words, saying, ‘The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these.’  “For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.  Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit.  Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered to do all these abominations’?  Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of thieves in your eyes?  Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” says the Lord.   Jeremiah 7:1-11.

Perhaps it was national pride that kept Israel in a state of delusion (a spirit of prostitution).  They trusted in their position as God’s people, rather than the God who made them a mighty nation.  If anyone spoke contrary to this, they were looked upon as false prophets to be stoned to death.  Jeremiah, in their minds, was one of those false prophets.  He was a traitor to be executed, not a true prophet to be heeded.

Note:  Israel kept this mindset even to the time of Christ.  John the Baptist confronted this same mentality as Israel leaned on being the physical seed of Abraham, rather than repenting and receiving God’s grace and mercy of salvation through the Messiah, Jesus the Christ.  John declared, “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

The American Church has found herself in this same spiritual state.  She has changed gods and knows it not.  A spirit of prostitution is leading her astray.  “This is the way of the adultress; she wipes her mouth and says I have done nothing wrong.”  Proverbs 30:20.  How can we expect the Republican Party or any Party, for that matter, to get things right when God’s church has lost her way?    This theological rationalizing away of her own sin has led America to cultural corruption.  The church in America has failed in her duty to be salt and light, Matthew 5:13.  Therefore our enemies rule over us.

Israel rejected all calls to “…return O backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings” Jeremiah 3:22), which leads to the crux of Rev. Benham’s message.  Because they refused to harken to Jeremiah’s message, they were taken into captivity and those who hated them ruled over them (Jeremiah 29:1 and Psalm 106:37-42).  They became subject to tyranny, captivity, pagan rule, and unjust laws.

Benham relates Israel to our current plight. He states:

We are now in Babylon, in captivity with enemies of God ruling over us.  The great paradigm shift has taken place.  We have changed gods.  We have moved from one standard (the Bible) and God (Jesus), to multiple standards (everyone did that which was right in their own eyes) where every man becomes a law (god) unto himself.  The manifold judgments of God are upon us.

This once great nation built upon the liberty that comes only from the Spirit of God in Christ, has become a laughing stock to the entire world.  Instead of being a shining city on a hill proclaiming the greatness of our God, we have become a sewer gushing our squalor and filth throughout the entire earth.  We have become slaves just as surely as those in Jeremiah’s time that were taken to Babylon for seventy years of captivity.  They would be kept there until true repentance was their cry – seeking God with all of their heart.  What was God’s message to them during this time in captivity serving under a vicious pagan king?

 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.  Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished.  And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.  For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.  For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them, says the Lord.  For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.  And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”   Jeremiah 29:4-13.

This is an amazing admonition from Almighty God.  It sounds treasonous to even entertain such a thought, yet it was God’s will.  He commanded His people to seek the peace of Babylon for “in its peace you will have peace.”  What?  Seek the peace and serve a pagan enemy with the most abominable of tyrants, Nebuchadnezzar?   He ripped the mother’s of Israel open and killed the children in their wombs.  He killed the sons of King Zedekiah before his very eyes and then plucked those eyes out of his head and let him live with the memory of the last thing his eyes ever saw.

Why would God do such a thing that seems so contrary to Who He is?  I’ll tell you why.  God’s people were nowhere near true repentance for the murder of their children at Tophet in the Valley of Ben Hinnom.  Oh, they wanted deliverance from the Babylonian hordes, but they had no desire whatever to stop the shedding of innocent blood.  They had been warned again and again by the prophet Jeremiah for twenty-three years that God’s judgment would not tarry forever.   It didn’t, and they were taken into captivity by a pagan king who thought he was God.  They would be there for 70 years.

Why 70 years?  The people of Israel would not repent.  Indeed, they could not, for a “spirit of prostitution” had blinded their eyes to their own sin.  Until they repented of that sin, there would be no deliverance for the nation Israel.  It took 70 years in Babylonian captivity for God’s severe mercy to overcome the hardness of Israel’s heart.  But when it did, His people cried out to Him in true repentance, and deliverance by God’s providential hand came through another pagan king named Cyrus.  For God knows the plans he has for us.  Plans to prosper and not to harm us.  Though his judgments fall, if we return to Him with all of our hearts in true repentance, He will be found by us.

The church in America has been blinded by this same spirit of prostitution.  We are having church every Sunday morning while the blood of innocent children is flowing in the sewers underneath our magnificent edifices.  Like Israel before the Babylonian captivity, we have rationalized that we can keep killing God’s children and enter God’s house and be safe.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

We fell asleep watching Leave it to Beaver and awoke in Babylon with Barack Obama as headmaster.  This is change we can really believe in, but only those who have eyes to see, see!  Both Obama and Romney represent God’s judgment upon America.  We are being ruled by those who do not know the Living Lord Jesus Christ.

We are living in a period of our own Babylonian Captivity – but we can vote.  Israel could not.  So how do we determine who to vote for in this Babylonian Captivity?  God commands us  in Jeremiah 29 to seek the peace of the city where I have carried you away to be captive; build houses, plant gardens, take wives, beget sons and daughters, give them in marriage that they too may beget children and increase in the land; “…for in its peace you will have peace.”  Work for the peace of a nation ruled by pagans, cultists, Marxists?  Yes!  Which candidate do you believe will give us the greatest prospect for peace and prosperity in this time of God’s judgment upon our nation?

Remember, Israel’s captivity in Babylon was brought about because of her shedding the blood of the innocent (child sacrifice) at Tophet in the valley of Ben Hinnom.  That is why Jeremiah was told three times not to pray for the well-being of these people (Jeremiah 7:16; 11:14; 14:11).  The people wanted God to save them from their enemies but had no intention of stopping the shedding of innocent blood.  God had to bring her face to face with her sin and He did it by bringing her into Babylon for 70 years.

It was in Babylon, that pagan city under pagan kings, that Israel’s hard heart was plowed up and she repented of her many sins and cried out to God for mercy.  He knew the plans He had for her, but He had to bring her to repentance before He could pour His mercy into her.  He desires mercy, not sacrifice.

Jeremiah chapters 30-31, explain more vividly the entire restoration process (His refining fire) used to bring the nation Israel to confession and repentance and ultimate healing.  It is also in chapter 31 that we have our first glimpse of the New Covenant that would be ushered into us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Right now in America our wound is incurable.  “This is what the Lord says: ‘Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing.  There is no one to plead your cause, no remedy for your sore, no healing for you…I have struck you as an enemy would and punished you as would the cruel, because your guilt is so great and your sins so many.’”  Jeremiah 30:12-14.  Neither Mitt Romney nor Barack Obama nor any other candidate can solve what is ailing us.  Blood is coursing down the corridors of our schools, workplaces, and streets.  God is draining all of our wealth.  Our enemies are ruling over us.  America has become a laughingstock before the whole world.  And we are dragging God’s name into the sewer of our own sins.  God seeks to make His name glorious – and look at what we have done to it.  Is there any hope?

“Is there no balm in Gilead?  Is there no physician there?  Why is there no healing for the wound of my people?”  Jeremiah 8:22.   The wound is incurable because we will not apply to the Great Physician nor use His remedy.  We believe that if we elect the right guy we will be fixed.  Not so!  God is fixing to get us into a bigger fix that can’t be fixed so that He can fix us.  Seventy years in Babylon seems like a mighty long time, but that is what it took for God’s people to finally realize that it was their sin (the shedding of innocent blood at Tophet) that needed to be repented of.

Do you believe the Church of Jesus Christ is ready to repent of the sin of child-killing in America today?  Not hardly.  She thinks everyone else should repent but she will go on her merry way allowing children to be slaughtered with nary a finger lifted to rescue those being led to the slaughter.  Until we, the Church of Jesus Christ, repent of our apathy and indolence toward these precious preborn children there is no remedy for our sin.  As Jeremiah was ordered by God not to pray for the well-being of this people, neither should we be praying for the well-being of the recalcitrant Church.  But we should be praying for the well-being of our nation, pagan and as sorry as it is, because in its peace, we will have peace.  We must do this for the sake of our children and our children’s children.

When God’s church finally stops looking for Republicans, conservatives, independents, and Constitutionalists, to bring an end to the abortion holocaust savaging our nation, and repents, and begins to love her neighbor as herself – God Himself will bring healing to our land.  He will loose from heaven His healing balm.

“Abortion will come to an end in America when the Church of Jesus Christ makes up her mind it will come to an end – and not one second sooner!”  It is at this point that we will see that there is a balm in Gilead and a Great Physician there.  He has been waiting for almost 40 years – January 22, 1973.

David and Jason Benham have put something together as a result of Charlotte714 (an event attended by over 9,000 Christians in the Verizon amphitheater in Charlotte to proclaim that Jesus is the God of this city) that I believe will move your heart, soul, and spirit.  It is called the “Decree for America.” 

~ Flip

Here is a great report from Mark and Lisa Metzger, a home school family of ten children – three of whom are adopted.  They came to proclaim the Gospel of Christ with us out in the streets of Charlotte during the Democratic National Convention (DNC), September 3-6, 2012.  What a blessing to Almighty God and what a witness to all who attended the DNC.  Robbie and Jeanette Wilson and their family of eight also joined us.  What a living rebuke these wonderful home school families were to a convention that believed it could redefine what marriage and family really is.

Enjoy! ~ Flip

Though this article is obviously very biased; it gives you a pretty good idea of what was happening outside the DNC. ~ Flip