The Executive Branch sent a chilling message to traditional churches and believers last week with its firing of GM’s CEO. Did you hear it?
…the man who supplies the [financial] means exercises authority in the realm to which his [financial] means are devoted…and he dare not receive money from anyone who would use his [financial] gift to interfere with the Lord’s will… (Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Church Life, pp.147)
If the federal government can fire a private corporation’s leader, what will stop the same federal government from actively and aggressively interjecting its beliefs onto traditional churches via its Gestapo arm, the IRS? Nothing. Nothing at all.
In fact, the U. S. Legislative Branch let the cat out of the bag when it it voted a 90% tax on legitimate – though unwise – AIG bonuses. There was no compunction in their use of the IRS. None at all.
Now, maybe tax write-offs are no big deal to you or your church. After all, it’s only a small amount for most believers.
But what if in the interest of obeying new hate laws, you are required to sign a pledge avowing you will not attack abortion or homosexuality or Islam or any politician. Why? So you can receive your Social Security, Medicare, Health Insurance, Tax Refunds, Welfare, Food Stamps, etc.
Then what?
The floodgates are open; and this is the road America is heading down. Can we stop our nation’s suicidal free-fall? I have my doubts. Big ones. What are these doubts based on?
If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation. (Luke 19: 42-44)
More and more, I’m thinking that America missed its time of visitation on November 4, 2008.
Swimming Upstream appears at this blog site on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It’s a little of this and a little of that, all written to encourage and exhort believers in their Christian jouneys.
Larry Who 
The Greek word “episkope” in Luke 19:44 is translated into the English word “visitation” in most versions of the Bible. But actually, the Greek word most nearly means “inspection”.
Only the Young’s Version and the New Living Translation picks up on this.
So, what the verse is really saying is ” because you did not know the time of your inspection.”
I could never and still can’t understand how people don’t want to talk about things that affect their futures just because it might be unpleasant. All they want to do is turn the channel to American Idol or The Biggest Loser.
Pioneers sent out a scout so the wagon train wouldn’t fall into an ambush. Doctors test you to see if proper treatment can ward off a stroke or heart attack. On the simplest terms, you buy car insurance assuming someone could smash into you. But the vast majority of happy dappy clappy Christians, particularly the younger set (under 45) think they’ll be going about fattening their nest egg for retirement and carting their teens around to every conceivable sporting event or practice when Jesus just snatches them up in the middle of a praise chorus. No problems, no wars, no obstacles, no freedoms taken away, no hardships, nothing bad is going to happen.
There needs to be a balance between the habits of the ant and those of the grasshopper.
jane,
I agree.
Sadly, the biggest sins in the Body of Christ are not homosexuality and abortion, but rather apathy, lethargy and compromise. These three sins have blinded us to what is happening around us so that we no longer look down the road to our futures.
At the same time…I am not a doom and gloom pessimist. What happens to our nation will happen and it may not be pretty, but I am excited about what the Lord is about to do. It will be awesome!
Larry, this message is a real truth!. The enemy is gaining on the church and the door is held open by complacent “Christians” who do not feel the need or desire to make waves! We have allowed America to be turned from a Christian nation to a hedonistic society searching solely for whatever feels good. Where are the prayer warriors? Is anyone watching the gate?
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