I Believe

I believe that a new day dawns upon the land of America, yet it's entrance is not in slowly blooming colors of brilliance, warmth and light. Every day in America had once been filled with hope, anticipation, opportunity, possibility, and freedom. This new sunrise is eclipsed by the passing shadows of cold and darkness - in the gloaming, we can see the blessings still, but darkly, in a distant past, and shrouded in uncertain mist.

I believe that the new America is a place where people no longer look back to the foundations and principles of freedom for they have been obscured by those who would deny their Source and insist that the hope of man is in himself and not his Creator. One so confused and disoriented can not look forward without feelings of foreboding and apprehension. How, after all, can one know where to go and what to do if one has no proper conception of his Maker and His purpose?

I believe that the new reality has not exploded upon us in a flash of moments; instead, it has slowly broken upon the edges of our national soul until it has flooded the very essence of freedom's heart. The secular humanist, progressive worldview has overwhelmed this land in ever increasing waves of strength and rapidity. It's waters have been warm and seductive, lulling the sleepy into a false sense of security and approbation for an ideology that seems so right.

I believe that the following questions are valid; yet disingenuous, not the true questions to ask. How could one be opposed to rescuing the drowning? How could one not be in favor of compassion and aid to those less fortunate? How could one deny that such charity is not the essence and spirit of the true American? Indeed, one would not deny that every man should seek to love his neighbor as himself and do unto others as one would have things done unto them. These principles of sacrificial love have come from holy writ, been demonstrated by Americans throughout their benevolent history, and, more importantly, by the Almighty Himself, most vividly at the cross of Christ.

I believe the true questions and answers revolve around the following: the new age wisdom would have us believe that there is no Almighty, there is no Creator, there is no cross, and there is no unique and eternal value in the individual human being. For this kind of philosopher, the power and the glory is not God's forever, but man's. Man is, to them, inherently good and mankind is able to rise in his own power and ability to a new plain, a new level of understanding, truth, and, self-righteousness.

I believe the new is wrong. The ancient, eternal truth is this: God is sovereign and rules absolutely and forever in the affairs of men. His truth is eternal and reveals to us that man is inherently sinful and in need of the Almighty's saving grace. God has, in His wisdom, chosen to give men freedom and free will that he might willingly, by faith, reach out loving arms to the God who made him and to his fellow man. For love to be love, it must always be freely offered; if forced or coerced, it is no love at all, but simply a cheap and ineffectual imitation, one whose source is tyrannical and slavish in nature.

I believe that it is not the role of human authority to grant eternal, natural rights and demand that the governed be coerced into largesse and forced into obedience. The role of government is to secure and protect divine blessings and encourage us, even in discipline, to love and support one another and to emulate the example and fulfill the purpose for which God has made us. To provide the most extensive level of individual freedom to it's citizens is to give them the greatest opportunity to do so, but for the government to increase in unchecked power and force upon the governed the will of the state is to enslave the free and deny the very Giver of freedom Himself.

I believe that America has been attacked from within for a century and it seems as if the darkness has prevailed. I refuse to believe it is permanently so. There are still millions who have not bowed the knee to the almighty State, who have not sold, to man, their spiritual blessings for material dependence from cradle to grave , and who comprise an army of Christian soldiers who will prevail not with man made weapons of war and violence, but with weapons of righteousness, peace, and truth. I believe that with God, all things are possible, and that one is a majority with God. I believe that God is calling us to wake up, as a church and as a nation, and to defend and advance His glorious freedom until our dying breath. I believe we must cut through the mist and see again the great cloud of witnesses and heroes that have gone before us and given their lives for the cause and be willing to do the same.

I believe that God takes great delight in revealing His power in our weakness and in overcoming evil with good. I believe that truth will triumph over falsehood and freedom over slavery. I believe that the wisdom and power of God is wiser than man's wisdom and stronger than man's strength. I believe that man's wisdom is foolishness juxtaposed against God's wisdom and that man's rejection of God reveals that wisdom as foolishness indeed.

I believe in His truth and stand today, peering into the future and humbly realize that it too has it's mists - we do not know what a day may bring forth and we struggle to know God's immediate will. But do not lose heart and do not turn away! We do know this and to this we must cling: for the believer in God, the promise of His word is that the future is filled with eternal hope, eternal truth, eternal freedom, and the eternal Light of a never ending day. That is our guaranteed destiny. For you see, my friend, in God, there is no old, and there is no new. It is always, and forever, the same to the absolute, eternal, infinite, immutable God of the universe:

"We poor human creatures are constantly being frustrated by limitations imposed upon us from without and within. The days of the years of our lives are few, and swifter than a weaver’s shuttle. Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. Just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down. There is simply not time enough to think, to become, to perform what the constitution of our natures indicates we are capable of."

"How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. Eternal years lie in His heart. For Him time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves. For those out of Christ, time is a devouring beast; before the sons of the new creation time crouches and purrs and licks their hands. The foe of the old human race becomes the friend of the new, and the stars in their courses fight for the man God delights to honor. This we may learn from the divine infinitude."

A.W. Tozer