Patriotism

God’s Truth, and Preachers of Lies

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

“Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Send to all them of the captivity, saying, Thus saith the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite; Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him not, and he caused you to trust in a lie: therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed: he shall not have a man to dwell among this people; neither shall he behold the good that I will do for My people, saith the LORD; because he hath taught rebellion against the LORD.” Jeremiah 29:30-32 (KJV)

Through the prophet Jeremiah God had spoken to the false prophet Hananiah (chapter 28), and he had died just as Jeremiah had said. Now there is another; one named Shemaiah who was one of the captives in Babylon writing from Babylon telling the people not to listen to Jeremiah. In telling them that, he was telling them “Do not listen to the word of the LORD”.

Now, I can somewhat understand why some of these people did not want to believe Jeremiah as prophet of God. They were bound to the temple, they were patriotic toward their nation. They had a hard time believing that the temple was going to fall, and that the nation was going into captivity. I can get that. Yet, who are they to love, and adore? Who is the One to whom they owe allegiance, and obedience? There is only one answer to those questions; and that is the LORD God.

Shemaiah was probably one of those who were adulterers, and dreamers of lies. He was for sure one that would not accept the prophecy of the 70 years in Babylon. Probably like Hananiah said, it would only be two years.

How was an individual supposed to discern the truth between the two, the true and the false? Which ever prophecy came to pass just as it had been spoken; that was the word of God, and was the truth. Jeremiah’s words were proven true. Hananiah died that same year; as foretold. Shemaiah missed out on the blessings of God for His people.

O my friend do not deny the power of the word of God. Believe Him through His Living Word; the Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled all the word of God; and was obedient to the Father all the way to the cross, dying for our sins, being buried, and bodily arose from the grave. One day He is returning for His people, and will make things right in this world. Believe Him today, and live eternally with Him. Otherwise you are perishing.

The Angry Prophet

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.  And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, ‘I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.  Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”  Jonah 4:1-3 (KJV)

This prophet who despised the people to whom the LORD had sent him, did not want to see this people forgiven, but rather his desire was to see this mass of people destroyed.  The LORD was having mercy on Nineveh, when He saw their repentance.  Due to their sin Nineveh was destroyed about 100 years later.

Of all things for a preacher to become angry about.  People getting right with God, and changing their hearts and minds about the way they were living.  That is why preachers preach.  There are things worth getting angry about for the preacher.  The murder of the innocent unborn.  The slavery of women and children around the world.  The captivity of drugs, alcohol, gambling, and pornography; and its destruction to our society.  There are many other things for which the preacher to be angry.  Rejoice, however, when people repent of their sins and get right with God.

To give us little bit of background on Jonah; he was a patriot of Israel.  He loved his nation.  He loved his God; and Nineveh was the enemy to himself, his nation and his God.

Let me just end by asking this question:  Is patriotism; love for one’s country more important than following the call and will of God?  I leave the answer with the reader.

-T.A.

Moral Providence

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

The Lord willing this will be my final quotation from the Peter Marshall/David Manuel books. I pray you have found them inspiring, and uplifting as well as helping inspire a patriotic heart for God and our nation.

“The biggest difference between the self-styled prophets of the New Israel and those of the original chosen people was that the Old Testament prophets invariably included an if: If God’s people repent, humble themselves, and obey Him, then will He forgive them and bless their land. But if they do not obey His commandments, then will His judgment come upon them. Very few nineteenth-century visionaries speaking of America’s Manifest Destiny mentioned the negative alternative. Lyman Beecher, however, was one:’

‘If this nation is, in the providence of God, destined to lead the way in the moral and political emancipation of the world, it is time she understood her high calling, and were harnessed for the work. For mighty causes, like floods and distant mountains, are rushing with accumulating power to their consummation of good or evil, and soon our character and destiny will be stereotyped forever.” From “FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA” p. 371 paperback

There is great need for this realization today. If, it is not too late to turn around.

-Tim A. Blankenship

A Former President

/ Tim A. / 1 Comment

Here we are in the week of the year when we celebrate the beginning of our great Nation (USA).  I am blessed to have been born in such a nation.  I would not desire to live anywhere else in the world.  There are some people who speak words that makes me think they despise being an American, a citizen of the United States of America.  One of them is a former President of our nation.

This Friday let’s celebrate our freedom which we have, and remember that true freedom comes from God, and sometimes we must fight to keep some of the freedoms of humanity that we hold dear.  Thank God for our men and women who are sacrificing their time, and lives for us.

********************************************************************

 Many of the people who are patriots of our nation have no clue of the danger that is lurking at our doors. Terrorism is not the real threat to us, it is only a symptom. Illegal immigration is not the real threat to our nation. In writing this I certainly do not mean to sound so negative, or opposed to our nation, but I am really trying to defend us, and get us headed in the right direction.

The real threat to our nation is the idolatry pervading our land. The idolatry of technology, medicine, money/finance, recreation, comfort, convenience, even the idolizing of our children. Globalization is also an idol of many. The people involved in this seems to thing if we could just have one world peace, one world economy, one world religion, then all would be well. That is a farce.

When we have a former President of our Country saying that our nation is evil for its support of Israel then, we have problems, and I for one am glad to call him a “Former President”. The man no longer has a heart for our Country. It seems more that he has his heart set on being a world leader, than a man of God, I once thought him to be. I have never thought Jimmy Carter to have been a good President, but I did see him as a good Christian, he seemed to care for the poor, and our nation, but not any longer. He would give us all over to the hands of Satan.

The following is a quote printed from Baptist Press concerning Jimmy Carter’s comments at a human rights conference in Dublin, Ireland on June 19, 2007;

“The United States and European Union should recognize the terrorist organization Hamas as a legitimate component of the Palestinian government, former President Jimmy Carter said at a human rights conference in Dublin, Ireland, June 19.Hamas, he said, had won free and fair elections in 2006, making the United States’ refusal to aid the Palestinian faction and recognize its right to govern a “criminal” act.Carter said he believes both Western governments and Israel are favoring the rival Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, which now only governs the West Bank. Fatah also governed the Gaza Strip until Hamas fighters violently overthrew the party there earlier in June. Hamas, which executed members of the rival party in the street after its victory, had prevailed over the Fatah-controlled security forces in Gaza because of its fighters’ “superior skill and discipline,” Carter said.”

It is despicable, at least to myself, to hear a former leader of the United States of America say such traitorous things. It certainly shows he has no idea of God’s promises to the Nation of Israel. The trouble makers in the Middle East is not Israel, but the Palestinians. Their own proclaimed goal is the extinction of Israel. When will this former leader open his eyes and see the truth? Maybe he has a personal agenda in this. If he thinks he is a “Peacemaker” as in Jesus’s words, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9), he had better rethink that thought. It does not fit with the agenda.

People crying, “Peace, peace”, and there is no peace.

-Tim A. Blankenship