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Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

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Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

By / 10 June 2015 /

 There are tens of millions of evangelical Christians in the United States, and millions do not participate in politics even though the Bible says that the civil magistrate is a “minister of God” (Rom. 13:4). Millions of these Christians don’t participate in the political process because their pastors are either afraid to address political issues or they believe that Christians would not get mixed up in politics.

Either reason is contrary to the Bible and the history of this once-great nation. “To the pulpit, the PURITAN PULPIT, we owe the moral force which won our Independence,”John Wingate Thornton wrote in The Pulpit of the American Revolution. Too many Christians don’t believe or know this history.

Many Christians believe they can be neutral. But there is no neutrality. By not engaging culture at the political level, another worldview dominates and impacts all of us. We must then live under their standard, as we are doing today.

Founding American ministers of the gospel confronted the issues of their day by appealing to the people in terms of the Bible. The annual “Election Sermon” still “bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws.”In addition, the clergy were often consulted by the civil authorities in the colonies, “and not infrequently the suggestions from the pulpit, on election days and other special occasions, were enacted into laws. The statute-book, the reflex of the age, shows this influence. The State was developed out of the Church.”

The diminishing light of civil liberty in this land is linked directly to the lack of preaching on it in today’s pulpits…

Read more at http://eaglerising.com/19467/pastors-now-is-the-time-to-stand-against-tyranny/#U7bD2r3TsM4cGgOI.99

A Great Awakening is Needed

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last days

Our situation is not yet hopeless, but it is quickly approaching that point.

Oh?   I’m supposed to be preaching “Positive Mental Attitude”?

Funny…That is NOT what God told me to preach.  I was instructed, as was every other preacher who was actually commissioned by God, to preach His Scriptural truths, not what man wants to hear. (Unless that man actually desires to hear from God.)

If you do not like it, then you may call “1-800- TELL GOD” and see what that gets you.

(Be forewarned: you might not like His response, but He is God; you ain’t.)

J.C. Ryle listed seven characteristics of the messengers during the Great Awakening of the eighteenth century:

  1. They taught the supremacy of Holy Scripture.
  2. They preached the total corruption of human nature.
  3. They taught that Christ’s death upon the cross was the only satisfaction for man’s sin.
  4. They preached the doctrine of justification by faith.
  5. They taught the universal necessity of heart conversion and new creation by the Holy Spirit.
  6. They spoke of God’s eternal hatred against sin and of God’s love for sinners.
  7. They preached that there was an inseparable connection between true faith and personal holiness.  They never allowed for a moment that any church membership or religious profession was the least bit of proof of a man being a Christian if he lived an ungodly life.

These awakeners continually cried, “No fruit, no grace.”

We must learn that God is holy.  If we are to experience the manifest presence of God’s glory; we must repent.  When Isaiah saw the glory of God in the Temple, he was driven to brokenness, confession, and repentance.  Too many in the West desire to know the manifest love of God without the manifest holiness of God.  We have lost the message of true repentance.  Now the church in the West is the sleeping Giant.  Alarms have been sounded but there seems to be no great or even general awakening; if it doesn’t begin soon the giant may die in its sleep.

Let us pray

Satanic weapon

—Pastor Ward Clinton

Those who are hostile to God will not be allowed into His Heaven

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Although God invites everyone to be part of His forever family, those who are hostile to God and His ways will not be allowed to enter in to His heaven.  Ladies and gentlemen that includes militant homosexuals and antagonistic atheists as well as many who call themselves Christian.

It is actually somewhat understandable why many people mistrust certain Christians; however, there are other Christians whom it is quite dangerous to despise.  Those Christians and their way of living may make you feel a bit uncomfortable regarding life-choices you may have made or may currently be making but if they are actually embarking upon the spirit-walk we are all called to travel in then it is wise to take note and, perhaps, move in the same direction and along the pathway and in the same manner they are.

There is a Christian doctrine which holds that the soul of the fully committed Christian may attain a high degree of virtue and holiness and become Entirely Sanctified with the help of the divine grace of Jesus.  That term is not to be confused with Dr. Charles Stanley’s erroneous accusations that those who believe Entire Sanctification is a present possibility in this life are actually claiming to have attained “Ultimate Sanctification.”  The Reverend Doctor may have merely misunderstood and not been guilty of maliciously maligning that grace of Jesus which he couldn’t quite comprehend.  In some of his sermons I heard him come so close to teaching and embracing Entire Sanctification, often while using slightly different terminology that means the same thing, and then, just as it seemed like he was about to have his “eureka” moment, suddenly he was running back away from it.  Why is he afraid of it?

I can remember at least a couple of times, sitting in front of the television saying, “C’mon Doc, you’re only a hair’s breadth away from your breakthrough.”  Unfortunately, every time I heard Charles Stanley speak of Entire Sanctification correctly and get really close to actually comprehending the command from God for us to be holy in this life I would hear him turn around and run back toward hyper-Calvinism much like Gollum seeking out his “Precious.”  Please understand, I do not lump together all those who hold John Calvin in high regard.  I tend to see it as something along the line of:  Hyper-Calvinist … Calvinist … Wesleyan-Calvinist.  An example of the latter might be Charles H. Spurgeon who said, “There is a point of grace as much above the ordinary Christian as the ordinary Christian is above the world.”  He also said of them, who are enjoying that grace, “They are rejoicing Christians, holy and devout men doing service for their Master all over the world, and everywhere conquerors through Him that loved them.”

Now the concept of Entire Sanctification may initially come from the Roman Catholic Church’s doctrine of theosis.  The critic may pounce at this point and loudly proclaim, “Aha!  It’s not a biblical thing!”  My response is, “Sorry, charlie; go back and reread the paragraph above which starts with ‘There is a Christian doctrine…Jesus.’ because the foundation of that doctrine is God’s command to be holy.”

Thomas Aquinas defined a perfect thing as one that “possesses that of which, by its nature, it is capable.”

“Perfection is that which it is better to have than not to have.” – Duns Scotus

Christian Perfection is another term used to speak of Entire Sanctification.  It is a doctrine that is chiefly associated with the followers and adherents of John Wesley’s theological understanding.  Sometimes the concept is referred to as “sinless perfection,” although a better and more accurate phrase would be “blamelessness before God.”

John Wesley, in his book, “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,” wrote “…sinless perfection is a phrase I never use, lest I should seem to contradict myself.”  He also explained that he viewed it as “purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God” with “the mind which was in Christ, enabling us to walk as Christ walked.”  This assists in “loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor as ourselves.”

Wesley did not use the term “Christian perfection” to claim sinlessness nor did he advocate it as a state of being unable to sin but rather it is the being more readily capable of choosing not to sin through finding empowerment from the Spirit of God to abide in holiness of heart and life in accordance with our high calling.

Thereby we may experience a freedom from willful rebellion against God, as well as impure intentions and pride.  As we followers of Jesus function at that level of Christian living the world then sees the type of Christian that assures them that God still works in His followers in our day.

Entirely Sanctified Christians remain subject to temptations, and have a continued need to maintain a prayer life that keeps them connected to the One who empowers them to fulfill His command to “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”  Charles Stanley correctly understood we cannot attain Entire Sanctification in our own power, and as long as we try to do it that way we’ll never get it; when we understand that the Spirit of God empowers us to live that way then and only then we may be empowered to receive that point of grace.

Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. — Jesus

Now is the Time for all Christ-followers to Wake Up

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One of the sad realities within the local church today centers on the fact that numerous born-again Christians have little or no knowledge of the spiritual warfare that takes place all around us. The Bible is crystal clear in proclaiming that there is a battle raging in the heavenlies as the forces of evil continue to wage war against not only the Creator, but also against all who trust in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord. Islam is just one of the examples of that warfare.

As believers, we may often wonder if there is anything we can do to counter the attacks our spiritual enemy hurls at us. We might even ask, “Can we, as Christian couples and parents, stand in the gap for our marriages, our children, and our homes?” Let me say a resounding, “Yes, we can, and we must stand united in the victory Jesus has secured for us.”

As Genesis 3 shows us, Satan’s desire is not only to destroy our lives, but also to weaken and sever the relationships we hold dear. We might all agree that Adam and Eve were both at fault for their disobedience and rebellion against God’s commandments. But a careful reading of Genesis 3:12 shows that Adam blamed his sin not only on his wife, but also on his Creator by saying to the Lord, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

Without question, Satan is still using the same tactics against our marriages and homes today. He seeks to divide us from our spouses and our children as he plans his strategies to destroy the unity God has designed for us. Just as he was successful in breaking the unity Adam and Eve shared with their Creator, he is still achieving an alarming number of victories in the modern-day Christian home, as the sins of pride and selfishness are often all too prevalent.

I have often talked with numerous people who have had serious questions about the origins of evil and sin in the world. Many may wonder, “How and when, did sin begin?” As the Bible teaches, Satan sinned when he exercised his free will to rebel against his Creator.

Over my years in pastoral ministry, I have encountered far too many believers who lack the knowledge about who they are in Christ. I am completely convinced that unless we acquire a solid biblical understanding of our “in Christ” position, we will be unable to fully counter the attacks of our enemy as he tempts us to exercise our free will and rebel against the commandments of God. As believers, we have a tremendous responsibility to study God’s Word so we can be better able to stand firm with the knowledge and power our Lord has provided for us as we face the devil and his forces of evil.

Without a doubt, it is time that we, as the children of God, woke up and begin living as strong advocates of the cause of Christ Jesus.  May our awareness be so quickened that we will begin recognizing the attacks of the devil when they come our way but not be distracted or deterred by the superfluous stuff.

Would you agree that Satan has been achieving his victories for far too long?  Will you join with me as we literally claim the power of God Holy Spirit against the one who seeks to divide and destroy our marriages, our homes, our churches, and our country?  As the people of God, we can praise our Creator for all His abundant promises as we literally stand in the strength He provides.

2nd Chronicles 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

  • Pastor Ward Clinton

Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

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Pastors, Now is the Time to Stand Against Tyranny!

By / 10 June 2015 /

 There are tens of millions of evangelical Christians in the United States, and millions do not participate in politics even though the Bible says that the civil magistrate is a “minister of God” (Rom. 13:4). Millions of these Christians don’t participate in the political process because their pastors are either afraid to address political issues or they believe that Christians would not get mixed up in politics.

Either reason is contrary to the Bible and the history of this once-great nation. “To the pulpit, the PURITAN PULPIT, we owe the moral force which won our Independence,”John Wingate Thornton wrote in The Pulpit of the American Revolution. Too many Christians don’t believe or know this history.

Many Christians believe they can be neutral. But there is no neutrality. By not engaging culture at the political level, another worldview dominates and impacts all of us. We must then live under their standard, as we are doing today.

Founding American ministers of the gospel confronted the issues of their day by appealing to the people in terms of the Bible. The annual “Election Sermon” still “bears witness that our fathers ever began their civil year and its responsibilities with an appeal to Heaven, and recognized Christian morality as the only basis of good laws.”In addition, the clergy were often consulted by the civil authorities in the colonies, “and not infrequently the suggestions from the pulpit, on election days and other special occasions, were enacted into laws. The statute-book, the reflex of the age, shows this influence. The State was developed out of the Church.”

The diminishing light of civil liberty in this land is linked directly to the lack of preaching on it in today’s pulpits…

Read more at http://eaglerising.com/19467/pastors-now-is-the-time-to-stand-against-tyranny/#U7bD2r3TsM4cGgOI.99

WHoly Christian, Wake up Call part two

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Excerpt from my book “WHoly Christian”:

Pray for wisdom.  We are once again living in a time when it is not particularly popular for people to speak up for their faith in Christ Jesus or be so audacious as to say the Bible is true and it is God’s message to humanity.  Openly mock Jesus and His followers? No problem.  Dare to proclaim Jesus as the one who has changed you life and can positively change the lives of others?  “Houston, we have a problem.”

In his day, G. K. Chesterton commented on the prevailing attitude of that day regarding Christianity.  Middle aged and older Americans can remember when the pendulum had swung in favor of Christianity and the prevailing attitude had changed from Chesterton’s day because folks recognized they were reaping what they had sown by pushing God from the public square.  But the lesson has been forgotten and the old attitudes have returned, the pendulum is in the far left’s arena once again and they are trying to keep it there in spite of the consequences of their policies which we are already experiencing.  One may say: Ozzie and Harriett have moved out and Ozzie Osborn has moved in.  Most of us are longing for the return of Ozzie and Harriett even as some on the left are trying to erase the proof that those days ever existed.  “Houston, we have a problem;” of course, this metaphorical “Houston” is the command center of Heaven and we have been given permission fro God Himself to request wisdom at any time.  Actually, not only do we have permission but God is waiting for and encouraging us to look to Him because He alone has the knowledge, ability, and power to set at naught the Adversaries’ schemes.

  He who refuses to learn from history is forced to repeat its mistakes – George Santayana

All new news is old news happening to new people – Malcom Muggeridge

You are free in our time to say that God does not exist; you are free to say that He exists and is evil; you are free to say (like poor old Renan) that He would like to exist if He could.  You may talk of God as a metaphor or a mystification; you may water Him down with gallons of long words … and it is not merely that nobody punishes, but nobody protests.  But if you speak of God as a fact … as a reason for changing one’s conduct, then the modern world will stop you somehow if it can.  …it is now thought to be irreverent to be a believer. – G. K. Chesterton

The heights of Christian attainment are available to every person.  It’s a shame to live a life short of what God intended your life to be.  Despite appearances, everyone lives forever; the and the bad, the difference is the quality which is directly linked to the presence or absence of God.  Despite whatever protestations may be offered to the contrary; you do not believe what you do not live.

It is quite possible that improper activity and beliefs regarding the arena of politics may potentially have a profound effect on your forever as well as your now.  If a man’s religion and his politics don’t mix there is something wrong with his spiritual condition and his politics, to say the least.  Therefore, if a person chooses to support or refuses to condemn something God condemns then that one may count on enduring the consequences of that choice.  If that person is fortunate the consequences will be experienced in this life, thereby affording an opportunity to repent and begin making reparations.

There are “monsters” in our near future if we do not wake up soon and start taking action to stop evil in its tracks.

    Pray for wisdom

–Pastor Ward Clinton

Excerpt from “WHoly Christian”

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It was intended from the very foundation that the US of A would be a Christian nation.  Our laws, from the outset, were based on the Holy Bible and perusals of the founders’ writings prove that to be a fact, much to the ACLU’s dismay, not to mention Freedom From Religion and other antichristian organizations.  Furthermore, it is only persons of high moral fiber who are supposed ot be permitted to be in positions of “public service” according to the founders.  It is not the (Anthony) Wieners and (Barney) Franks and the citizens are supposed to be watching and dictating to the government what its limits are while holding the politicians accountable for their actions.  Unfortunately, too many citizens have abdicated their watchdog responsibility and allowed amoral, even immoral, hotdogs to sneak in to those positions of power.  It is time to get busy and clean out all the slime from Washington, D.C.  We have the internet, for now, where we can bypass the biased media to get the word out and mobilizing.

“There has been a systematic attempt to mislead Christians by disinformation generated by anti-Christian writers who have obscured or denied the Christian nature of our heritage and civil government and law.” (Archie P. Jones, Ph.D., Foreword to Benjamin F. Morris’ The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, 1864, reprint 2007 by American Vision, Inc)  Back at the foundation of this nation, America, the people understood the lessons from the Holy Bible that civil government is used by God to work out His holy will in the lives of men and nations.

“Our forefathers in the faith did not retreat from involvement in society and politics.  They did not turn civil government, the making and enforcement, and adjudication of laws, over to Satan and those who serve him.” (Jones)  It was Christianity, not paganism or secularism which produced freedom and justice in the west and in America, it certainly wasn’t Islam.  “’There is nothing,’ says Webster, ‘we look for with more certainty than this principle, that Christianity is a part of the law of the land.  Everything declares this.  The generations which have gone before speak to it, and pronounce it from the tomb.’” (Morris, p 245)  “The statesmen of the Continental Congress, in their deliberations, officially recognized the Christian religion, and incorporated its principles into their legislative acts.” (Morris, p 245)

John Adams, in a letter to his wife describes the scene of the 1st Continental Congress “When the Congress first met, Mr. Cushing first made a motion that it should be opened with prayer.” (Morris, p246)  It was a non-sectarian, yet decidedly Christian, prayer which ended with “we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Savior. Amen!” (Morris, pp 249-250)  “The state papers of the Continental Congress were also full of the spirit and sentiments of the Christian system,” (Morris, p 46).  We have a great and Godly heritage in spite of what the ACLU and others of an anti-Christian mindset wish to profess and the documents are once again being brought out to the light of day for our studious perusal at this crucial point in time.  Crucial, because we most definitely need a new awakening similar to that which brought the United States into existence.

We desperately need a Great Awakening in this country and 2nd Chronicles 7:14 provides the recipe for it.

–Pastor Ward Clinton

Sibylline Oracles

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There is the story of the Cumaean Sibyl who came to King Tarquin offering for sale nine books which she declared would be of great value to him in the government of Rome in that they held the destiny of the world.  She requested 300 pieces of gold which seemed an exorbitant price, and he would not buy them.  He did not recognize that she was a sibyl.  She left and in time she returned and offered him six books for the same price; 300 pieces of gold and again he refused.  She had also informed him at that time that she had burned three of the original nine.  After a time she returned, informed him that she had burned three more of them and 300 pieces of gold were required for the remaining three.  King Tarquin, the last of the Roman Kings was of a mind to forcefully expel her from his presence but his most trusted advisors prevailed upon him to purchase them lest she burn the remainder and in the off-chance that they were legit and contained that which she claimed.

Now, for us Christians, there is a moral to this story: The longer we refuse God’s overtures, the less these overtures contain, while the demand on us is still the same for the remainder.  Perhaps you are thinking, “C’mon, Pastor Ward, why are you bothering me with this old fable?”

Well, my reasoning goes a bit like this; have you ever stopped to wonder why the Romans treated the Jews a bit differently than most conquered people groups?  Well, it is a matter of record that after the King’s counselors studied the books and reported back to King Tarquin he offered the Cumaean Sibyl a very large sum of money if she would reproduce the other books, but she refused.  Those three books were venerated and studied carefully and kept in the Temple of Jove until its destruction by fire in 83 bc.  Those books had in them, among other things, a prophecy regarding the birth of Jesus The Christ.  Most of us Christians fail to realize that the Romans were expecting the arrival of The Messiah at about the time He did arrive.  Yes, I am trying to tell you the whole world was actually anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Holy one of God and yet the majority missed Him because He came God’s way, with God’s agenda, not ours.

It is not always easy to distinguish the truly pious from those who are destitute at the very core of the matter.  Then there is the illustration Jesus used regarding five who were wise and five who were foolish.  They all had lamps.  Outward form is one thing, inward life is quite another.

Every hour of the day and night there are souls going into eternity improperly prepared.  One lies at death’s door, he cannot get his light burning.  He comes up to the gate of heaven; he knocks, he cries:  “Let me in!”  He is not admitted.   He screams: “I want to see the bridegroom.”  The voices within say, “You cannot see the bridegroom, he is busy with His guests now.”  Pleads the man, “I must come in; my children are in there, my beloved mother is there.  I must come in.”  A voice from within says, “You refused the grace that would have brought you in where they are and now it is too late.”  The voice from within says to one outside, “You are twenty years too late;” to another, “You are a month too late;” to another, “You are a minute too late.”  As the outer darkness engulfs them, the mob outside takes up the anguished lament, “Too late, too late.”

pc vs morals

    The wise went wholly prepared.  The unwise probably didn’t want to seem to be too fanatical.  He who has the most religion has none to spare.  God calls everyone of us to be fully prepared by being completely consecrated Christians in this life.

The person who truly understands that he is an eternal being living a temporary human existence is the one who most understands his need to be fully prepared for when the transition from this world to the next is to take place.

— Pastor Ward Clinton

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