But WHY did Jesus die for our sins?

Jesus's sacrifice on the cross was just the beginning of a spiritual journey

It's been far too long for me since my last post. Many distractions including business travel and life have interfered.

Not an excuse, just reality for me.  In the time since my last post I have had many words given me from God, but one that hit me square between the eyes a few months ago while I was in service at Gateway Church in Southlake, TX.

Over the years, I have spoken to many people on faith and have had many discussions about salvation, even taught a few Sunday School classes about the cleansing and salvation of Christ's sacrifice for us to wash us of our sins so we can enter Heaven.

One's salvation is of utmost importance in the long-run of course, but I feel it is a bit myopic, particularly when you consider the gravity of our society's degradation and moral collapse.

Everywhere we look we see "intellectuals" lean on their own understanding and worldly wisdom as they conjure up policies and legislation concerning Americans. 10 years ago if you were to ask the average American we would have a need for transgender bathrooms and most would not have known what was being asked. What are we to do in the mean time as a world hell-bent on running from the Bible rather than to-it?

A few months ago it became crystal clear to me what our faith in Jesus was all about:

 A RELATIONSHIP!    

Pastor Robert Morris was talking about having a personal relationship with God and the importance of it in his life and how important it is for each of us. expecting God to come looking for him. God communed with them each and every day since their creation. Now we don't know how long that period was, and it doesn't matter. Once man ate of the fruit we could no longer be in God's presence so we were banished from the garden to the fallen world.

Suddenly I recalled Genesis 3:10 when God came looking for Adam & Eve in the cool of the evening. God revealed to me this was a recurring event since Adam went to hide, he was obviously expecting the visit. He gave us but ONE law and we failed that.

God then gave us the law which we tried to live under for centuries but failed miserably with only 10 simple commandments. True to our nature of worrying about EVERYONE else and seeking greater restrictions, we inundated society with overly-pious rules. You know, the ones the Pharisees created to justify their positions in ancient Judea?

In those days, only a high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies to commune with God one on one, which is not what God wanted for us. We all seek to replace Him, but sadly many turn to materials to do so and are never satiated.

In the Gospels we see Jesus explain this to Satan who is tempting Him with material things and comfort (food, perhaps most notably), His response is succinct and clear to us today:
 "it is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.  - Matthew 4:4

What this simply means is wordly sustenance is not enough for us. It sustains the physical body, which is important of course, but this body is only temporary. A popular secular thought seems to have some sage insight: Where the mind goes, the body will follow." In other words, if we think low, we act low. Expect the most from your subordinates at work or your family and they will grow. Think poorly of them and they will prove you right. That's the self-fulfilling prophecy.

Knowing this, we can easily understand what was being said at our creation.  Genesis 1:26 reads "Let us make man in our image" which, when you read it in perspective, means we are actually spiritual beings in an earthly body. 

God is triune, our families are supposed to be triune, and to take it a step further, even Jesus had 2-3 people He relied upon during His ministries, but that is a topic for another article. So important is the relationship with the Father in fact, I believe it was this impending separation from the Father which caused Jesus to suffer from hematohidrosis, or sweating blood, on the night of his betrayal. THAT is how profound and vital to Jesus a direct and daily communion with our Father was to him.

We are social creatures and need to be poured into as we pour into others. Whom better to pour into you than your heavenly Father?  He is waiting. Talk to Him right now!  You won't be sorry.

Ben Franklin Rebukes the Constitutional Convention

As an historian and a Christian, I am dumbfounded when I hear the founding fathers were NOT Christians, men of faith or that the United States were not founded on Judaeo-Christian values. People will go to any length to hide from the truth.  As Winston Churchill once quipped "Truth is so powerful, it is surrounded by a bodyguard of lies."  How prescient and wise that comment was in his time and still is today.

However, I wanted to write today, June 28, as it was on this day in 1787 when Ben Franklin delivered the longest speech he gave to the Constitutional Convention.

Since 1754 when he was the first person to utter "United States" he had a dream of UNITING the colonies into a single, harmonious nation. No small feat at the time when we were but fledgling colonies and still had a royal yoke upon us and a revolutionary war to fight against the mightiest Army and Navy at the time.

Fast forward to June 28, 1787. The Constitutional Convention was starting to fall apart as each colony had their own vision of what we should be and how to effect those ends (none felt uniting was the smart plan). After days of bickering, the common thread started to unravel and the hopes of a United States of America began to dim in the eyes of a seasoned and very mature Ben Franklin. At 81, he was easily the oldest, and you might argue the wisest, among a crowd of very smart and focused leaders. Which may explain why the his "long" speech was so concise yet so compelling and rooted in the Word.

Mr Franklin rose from his chair and and delivered the following speech to his colleagues:

"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were, in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Lights, to illuminate our understanding?

"In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers were heard, and they were graciously answered.

"All of us engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending power Providence in our favor. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend?  Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God governs the affairs of men. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured in the Sacred Writings that 'except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it'. I firmly believe this; and I also believe without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel, and we shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages.

Franklin is seen here in grey seated center, with a cane.

"I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."

14 sentences quoting 14 Biblical verses.

Considering Franklin was not one of the most spiritual of the founding fathers, I find it rather amazing that HE would invoke the Almighty to call the delegates to stop acting like idiots, remind them WHO got them to where they were in the first place, and seek His guidance in following the advice given in the Bible to have a republican form of government. (Exodus 18:21)

The Constitutional Convention suspended deliberation for 3 days of prayer and reflection. When they reconvened, egos and myopic agenda were left in the street and what was previously hailed as preposterous was now greeted with eager embracement by all delegates. Thus, the birth of our Constitutional Republic as we know it today.

The danger we as a nation face today, is as we allow egg-head academicians and people wise only in the world tell us how history "really" was when they have been educated with revisionist history, we move further and further from truth.  Our children are inheriting a nation of liberty we are not able to adequately explain to them without the Bible and consequently have to apologize for.

As we permit this to happen, we fail to grasp the rarity and how unique our nation's foundation and the longevity of our Constitution is as we have celebrated 200+ years of a Constitutional Republic. We forget how this nation grew from a rag-tag group of farmers and business people to a super-power defeating foe in two consecutive world wars in only 150 years. Today, there are many people, even many proclaiming to be Christians, who decry the moniker of the U.S. being an exceptional nation for their understanding of the term has been grotesquely misconstrued and history taught to them with half-truths in the hopes of establishing social justice.

Ironically the Bible itself tells us about being servants to others, having social justice and how to run a nation all in the same pages.

*This article was inspired by David Barton, Founder of Wallbuilders, an organization dedicated to presenting America's forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was built