The
Harvester
JULY 2004 No.
223
A DEFICIT OF DECENCY
[Washington: U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) today (Feb. 12, 2004) delivered the following statement on the floor of the United States Senate addressing several social issues facing the country.]
Old Testament prophet Amos was a sheep herder who
lived back in the Judean hills, away from the larger cities of Bethlehem and
Jerusalem. Compared to the intellectual urbanites like Isaiah and Jeremiah, he
was just an unsophisticated country hick. But Amos had a unique grasp of
political and social issues and his poetic literary skill was among the best of
all the prophets. That familiar quote of Martin Luther King, Jr. about ‘Justice
will rush down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream’ are Amos’s
words.
Amos was the first (sic) to propose the
concept of a universal God and not just some tribal deity. He also wrote that
God demanded moral purity, not rituals and sacrifices. This blunt speaking
moral conscience of his time warns in Chapter 8, verse 11 of The Book of Amos,
as if he were speaking to us today: That “the days will come, saith the Lord
God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst
for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea
to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek
the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” “A famine in the land”. Has
anyone more accurately described the situation we face in America today? “A
famine of hearing the words of the Lord.”
But some will say, Amos was just an Old Testament
prophet – a minor one at that – who lived 700 years before Christ. That is
true, so how about one of the most influential historians of modern times?
Arnold Toynbee who the acclaimed 12 volume A Study of History, once
declared, “Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them
collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today.”
Toynbee died in 1975, before seeing the worst that
was yet to come. Yes, Arnold Toynbee saw the famine. The “famine of hearing the
words of the Lord.” Whether it is removing a display of the Ten Commandments
from a Courthouse or the Nativity Scene from a city square. Whether it is
eliminating prayer in schools or eliminating “under God” in the Pledge of
Allegiance. Whether it is making a mockery of the sacred institution of
marriage between a man and woman or, yes, telecasting around the world
made-in-the-USA filth masquerading as entertainment. The Culture of Far Left
America was displayed in a startling way during the Super Bowl’s now infamous
half-time show. A show brought to us courtesy of Value-Les Moonves and the
pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon.
I asked the question yesterday, how many of you have
ever run over a skunk with your car? I have many times and I can tell you, the
stink stays around for a long time. You can take the car through a car wash and
it’s still there. So the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils
of America. I’m not talking just about an exposed mammary gland with a pull-tab
attached to it. Really no one should have been too surprised at that. Wouldn’t
one expect a bumping, humping, trashy routine entitled ‘I’m going to get you
naked’ to end that way?
Does any responsible adult ever listen to the words
of this rap-crap? I’d quote you some of it, but the Sergeant of Arms would
throw me out of here, as well he should. And then there was that prancing,
dancing, strutting, rutting guy evidently suffering from jock itch because he
kept yelling and grabbing his crotch. But then, maybe there’s a crotch grabbing
culture I’m unaware of. But as bad as all this was, the thing that yanked my
chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through
a hole he had cut in the flag of the United States of America, screaming about
having ‘a bottle of scotch and watching lots of crotch.’ Think about that.
This is the same flag that we pledge allegiance to.
This is the flag that is draped over coffins of dead young uniformed warriors
killed while protecting Kid Crock’s bony butt. He should be tarred and
feathered, and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality
show, there’s one for you.
The desire and will of this Congress to meaningfully
do anything about any of these so-called social issues is non existent and
embarrassingly disgraceful. The American people are waiting and growing
impatient with us. They want something done.
I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of S.J. Res. 26 along
with Senator Allard and others, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of
the United States relating to marriage. And S.1558, the Liberties Restoration
Act, which declares religious liberty rights in several ways, including the
Pledge of Allegiance and the display of the Ten Commandments. And today I join
Senator Shelby and others with the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 that
limits the jurisdiction of federal courts in certain ways. In doing so, I stand
shoulder to shoulder not only with my Senate co-sponsors and Chief Justice Roy
Moore of Alabama but, more importantly, with our Founding Fathers in the
conception of religious liberty and the terrible wrong direction our modern
judiciary has taken us in.
Everyone today seems to think that the U.S.
Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten
people if that’s not so. And I’ll bet you most of them will say, “Well, sure.”
And some will point out, “It’s in the First Amendment.” Wrong! Read it! It
says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Where is the word ‘separate’? Where are
the words ‘church’ or ‘state’? They are not there. Never have been. Never
intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in
1789 when the amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly their intent was
to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was
Anglican or Catholic or some other.
I highly recommend a great book entitled Original
Intent by David Barton. It really gets into how the actual members of
Congress, who drafted the First Amendment, expected basic Biblical principles
and values to be present throughout public life and society, not separate from
it. It was Alexander Hamilton who pointed out that “judges should be bound down
by strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their
duty.” Bound down! That is exactly what is needed to be done. There was not a
single precedent cited when school prayer was struck down in 1962.
These judges who legislate instead of adjudicate, do
it without being responsible to one single solitary voter for their actions.
Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence was a brilliant young
physician from Pennsylvania named Benjamin Rush. When Rush was elected to that
First Continental Congress, his close friend Benjamin Franklin told him “We
need you … we have a great task before us, assigned to us by Providence.”
Today, 228 years later there is still a great task before us assigned to us by
Providence. Our Founding Fathers did not shirk their duty and we can do no
less.
By the way, Benjamin Rush was once asked a question
that has long interested this Senator from Georgia in particular. Dr. Rush was
asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, “I am
neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man
is qualified to govern him.” That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today
in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776.
So, if I am asked why – with all the pressing
problems this nation faces today – why am I pushing these social issues and
taking the Senate’s valuable time? I will answer: Because, it is of the highest
importance. Yes, there’s a deficit to be concerned about in this country, a
deficit of decency. So, as the sand empties through my hourglass at warp
speed – and with my time running out in this Senate and on this earth, I feel
compelled to speak out. For I truly believe that at times like this, silence is
not golden. It is yellow.
-COPIED -
Submitted
by L. Benefield
The
scriptures speak of the Lord “opening doors” for servants who are ready to
serve Him. Paul said in 1 Cor. 16:8-9, “But I will tarry at Ephesus until
Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many
adversaries.”
The
church at Philadelphia received these words in Rev. 3:8 -- “I know thy
works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for
thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my
name.”
2 Cor.
2:12-13. Here Paul speaks of a door he was unable to take advantage of – “Furthermore,
when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me
of the Lord, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother:
but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.”
Are we
ready for the Lord to open a door of opportunity for us? If we desire to be
used by the Lord to reach others who are seeking the truth, then we must
prepare ourselves to be useful! Let’s notice 2 Tim. 2:20-21. “But in a great
house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of
earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for
the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”
Are we
prepared as individuals? Are we prepared as congregations? Let’s make it our
goal to be a “vessel unto honour”, and prepared for any door the Lord
would open for us!
CHAD PRINCE
919 Pine Cliff
Oxford, AL 36203
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES
1. How many kings did Joshua conquer in the promised
land?
2. Christ likened Satan’s fall to what?
3. Paul says he buffets his body, for what reason?
4. Which structure was greater in height: the ark
Noah built or the golden image Nebuchadnezzar built?
5. What was the first thing Joseph’s brothers did
when he found them in Dothan?
ANSWERS
NEXT MONTH . . .
and remember last month’s questions?
1. Which of the following helped David by killing
the Philistine giant Ishbi-benob: Benaiah, Absalom, or Abishai? ABISHAI (2 Sam. 21:17)
2. On the day of the Lord, what mountain does
Zechariah say will split in two, forming a great valley? MOUNT OF OLIVES (Zech. 14:4)
3. According to Psalm 69, who does God hear? THE POOR (Psa. 69:33)
4. What happened while we were yet sinners? CHRIST DIED FOR US (Rom. 5:8)
5. What happened to the earth when the sixth seal in
Revelation was broken? THERE WAS A
GREAT EARTHQUAKE (Rev. 6:12)
GOSPEL MEETINGS
DATES PLACE & TIME SPEAKER
July Chapel Hill
Church Sam Dick
2 – 4 Pell City, AL (Cave City, KY)
July Mt. Carmel
Road Church Wilbur Bass
4 – 9 near Alvaton,
GA (Auburn, AL)
July Becton Church James
McDonald
12 – 16 near Glasgow, KY
(Woodbury, TN)
July Antioch Church Ronnie
Scott
16 – 18 Douglasville, GA
(Bloomington, IN)
July Oak Grove Church Carley
Conner (TN)
18 – 23 Woodland, AL
& Richard Covington (AL)
July Napoleon Church James
McDonald
25 – 30 Woodland, AL
(Woodbury, TN)
August New Bethel Church James
McDonald
6 – 8 Cullman,
AL (Woodbury,
TN
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THE HARVESTER is a monthly publication intended to encourage all men everywhere to become laborers into God’s harvest (Luke 10:2). This paper is mailed free of charge to anyone who wishes to receive it. Please submit name, address, and all correspondence to:
Ray McManus
141 County Road 474
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Phone: (256) 449-9221
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