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Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment

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of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today,

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history and the Bible clearly demonstrate that spiritual change always precedes genuine

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political and economic change, especially in the United States of America. This is my chief

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criticism of the modern Tea Party patriot movement in the United States, and it's also the 800-pound

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political gorilla in the room, if I can borrow a metaphor, the 800-pound political gorilla in the

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room in this presidential election cycle. There is a complete and arid void of substance on this

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factor for a return to the United States' founding values. Now, especially during this election season,

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there's a torrent of talk about the Constitution, but little consideration of what constitutes the

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character of the people who bring that Constitution to life. George Washington says,

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to the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to laud the more

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distinguished character of Christian, unquote. Part of the problem we have today is that our

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constitutional offices are taken by people who have no moral scruples about violating their

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constitutional oath of office, many of them. They have no character, in other words. Listen to

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this. I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United

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States and rule to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the

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United States, unquote. Well, what kind of cynical man swears this and then goes out and selectively

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enforces the border laws enacted by Congress? In fact, does all he can to do just the opposite of the

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intent of those laws? What kind of lawless president appoints cabinet officers without the advice and

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consent of Congress? What kind of president passively ignores the laws on the books already concerning

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drugs or the Defense of Marriage Act? What kind of moral character swears this oath and then plunges

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us into a war in the Middle East without obtaining a declaration of war from Congress? What kind of

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president swears this oath of office and then blatantly lies about legislation before Congress,

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and I think of the Affordable Health Care Act, that removes the ability to keep one's doctor, to obtain

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health coverage more cost-effectively, and to do so affordably? The kind of man who does these things is an

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immoral and characterless man. No Constitution on paper is able to check a tyrant in the flesh. That requires a

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check and balance is required of constitutional men with character in the other two branches to stop

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admonish and impeach the executive who violates his oath of office. We have obviously had no such

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men in those two branches recently, have we? There was also a torrent of talk about a return to

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capitalism as our founding economic system. That's one of candidate Trump's favorite themes, and I'm in

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hearty agreement with this. As men like John Locke and Adam Smith taught us, the fruit of a man's labor

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is his property, and it is sacred. No other man has the moral right to take another man's property

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through taxes or inflation or creating debt without his consent. The notion that property is sacred

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implies that God has sanctioned private property and the righteous way in which it is obtained. Yet no one

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thinks through the moral issues of capital and its use today. This is part of what we need in the

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reformation of America is the understanding of the sacredness of property. Not only is it immoral to

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tax away the fruit of a man's labor, but it is immoral to undervalue that labor by suppressing wages

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as happened during the Gilded Age, for example, when the captains of industry conspired together to fix

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wages while prices of the goods produced continue to rise. Not only is it immoral to devalue another

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man's labor through inflating his currency, as is happening wildly now in our own nation,

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monetizing our debt, while it is also immoral to artificially keep prices higher than wages such that

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the worker is chronically in debt. And that happened in the so-called company towns, like the coal mining

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towns of Kentucky and West Virginia, where the rents and prices were deliberately calculated to make the

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miner more in debt at the end of the year than when he began. And I tell you, not only is it immoral to

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borrow limitlessly in the name of those you govern, but it is immoral to loan it to borrowers whom you

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know can never pay back these loans that you offer. And they're also backed by the taxpayers. Happened in

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the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac collapse in 2008. On and on we could go. For example, many in the Tea Party

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movement are familiar with Adam Smith. You must be, if you're going to be a good patriot, a good

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conservative, you must be at least passingly familiar with Adam Smith and his grand magisterial work,

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The Wealth of Nations, that laid the groundwork for the conscious practice of capitalism.

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Yet sadly, very few are also familiar with his equally profound work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

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Yes, Adam Smith also wrote the book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, in which he put forth his

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understanding of precisely how men behave in society one with another. Despite the greater success of

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Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith always considered his other magnum opus, The Theory of Moral Sentiments,

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his more important work. He begins that work by saying,

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How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature which

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interest him in the fortunes of others and render happiness necessary to him, though he derives

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nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. Unquote. This natural capacity for compassion,

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which Smith articulates, or sympathy as Smith calls it, is God-given, and it's wired into man's nature.

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And this he accomplishes and expresses in the normal course of his everyday life.

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But the first and primary directive for the individual, in order that he might not have to

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be the object of some other man's compassion, is the care of himself. And Smith is very particular

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about this. I quote, once again, from The Moral Sentiments of the Universe, Smith says,

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The administration of the great system of the universe, the care of the universal happiness of

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all rational and sensible beings, is the business of God and not of man. To man is allotted a much

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humbler department, but one much more suitable to the weakness of his powers and to the narrowness of

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his comprehension. That is, the care of his own happiness and that of his family, his friends,

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his country. Unquote. Oh, note the crucial premise that Adam Smith establishes in his theory of moral

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sentiments. The administration of the great system of the universe, the care of the universal happiness

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of all rational and sensible beings, is the business of God and not of man. Are you listening to

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this, you so-called compassionate progressives? How unlike the modern progressive was Adam Smith?

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For him, for Smith, it, or I'm sorry, for the progressive, it is the business of man to ensure

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the care and universal happiness of all rational and sensible beings. And thus we have the bloated,

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burgeoning federal government. But Smith realized, as should every modern Tea Party advocate and every

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presidential candidate should realize that if man acted his moral part in the realm given him,

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that is, the care of his own happiness and that of his family, friends, and country,

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then the great God of Providence would so weave and intertwine those destinies that a greater sense of

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the universal happiness of all men would begin to take place. The modern Tea Party movement and

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patriot movement has forgotten this, and no presidential candidate has a policy position on it.

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Did you hear any question during the debates about self-reliance as a moral principle?

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At best, it has been relegated to a kind of embarrassing, oh, well, this too, status. Prayers

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are offered at rallies, speakers allude to God here and there, and a vigorous defense is given

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for him in the public square, for Ten Commandments at the courthouse, or in God we trust on our

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currency, prayer in the public schools, all of this. But the absolute necessity of Christ at the

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very core of the movement is absent. I am here to draw a clear, dark line to the contrary,

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and I would establish with you, without the Christ of the Bible, at the center of your passion and

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concern, all of your efforts to bring the United States of America back to the Constitution or

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capitalism will fail. Without the Christ of the Bible, at the center of your passion and concern,

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all of your efforts to bring the United States back to the Constitution or capitalism will fail.

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You will rally for limited government, but see it cynically metastasize even larger.

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You will clearly articulate constitutional principles for your kids and all who hear you,

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but see tyranny continue to grow unchecked. You will argue vigorously for individual self-reliance,

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but you will see government dependence and passivity go on and on. You will establish beyond doubt that

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a people should not spend more than it has, borrow more than it can repay, and print more money than

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it can back with true wealth, but you will nevertheless see your nation tumble over a financial cliff

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with its profligacy, unless there is indeed genuine spiritual reformation.

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This is precisely because neither the Constitution nor capitalism is capable

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without the spiritual and moral integrity of the Christian faith.

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When I say these things, I hear howls of protests from atheists and agnostics and practitioners of other

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religions, but I'm not alone in asserting this very strongly. Thomas Jefferson said this,

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the reason that Christianity is the best friend of the government is because Christianity is the only

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religion that changes the heart. Oh, that is so true. So valuable to understand today. Jefferson said

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this. It's a crucial insight on his part. I lecture elsewhere that no other religion on the face of

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the earth changes, transforms, and gives birth from heaven above, as does biblical Christianity.

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Jesus himself observes, you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and all of your soul

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and all of your strength and your neighbor as yourself. The biblical gospel of Jesus brings to life

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the human soul as no other religion can. It first saves the soul for eternity and secondly makes one

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capable of behaving in a true moral and ethical fashion here on earth. Traits that our founders

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recognized were requisite for a free people. Even the so-called morality of the atheist, I would submit to you,

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is a see-me-too morality that's entirely derivative of Christianity. Even the atheist faith is derived of

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biblical faith. True liberty, dear listener, true liberty gives space for a man to act according to his

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nature. True liberty gives space for a man to act according to his nature. And conversely, those choices

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made in liberty will reveal his true nature. If that nature is fallen and corrupt and dead to God, then that

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liberty will give him space to see what we see today. A nation laden with debt and lies and tyranny. A

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people dependent, lazy and debauched. A country teetering on the brink of extinction. True liberty gives

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space for a man to act according to his nature. And if that nature is reborn in Christ and it's virtuous

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and alive to God, then that liberty will give him space to see what we saw at our founding anyway.

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That is a nation spiritually alive and virtuous, living the principles of the Constitution, and prosperous in a

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capitalist economy. This cannot be emphasized too strongly, dear listener, especially in this presidential

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election year. Without the Christ of the Bible at the center of our passion and concern, all of our efforts to

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bring the United States back to the Constitution or capitalism will fail. Do you realize how unanimous this

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was amongst our founders? James Madison said, the future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the

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laws of God in which this Constitution is founded, unquote. How valuable an insight. This should be

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plastered on the forehead of every presidential candidate. The future and success of America is not

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in this Constitution, but in the laws of God in which the Constitution is founded, unquote. James Madison, the

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Constitution is but an empty vessel without the law of God. It is a hollow parchment without a virtuous

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people to execute it. The Constitution is an exercise in futility until Americans are brought alive

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in their Savior, Jesus Christ. You can rally at the courthouse till the Lord returns. You can elect Tea Party

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candidates until the Congress is choked with them. You can slash the size of our bloated federal budget

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until it goes from the carnival fat lady it is to a fashion model on the runway, so to speak. But you

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will still have tyranny, poverty, and despair because men's hearts have not been changed. When will the Tea Party

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and the Patriot movement recognize this and get their lives right with God first? Every other

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presidential candidate should do that as well. James Madison, the future and success of America is

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not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God in which this Constitution is founded.

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If the foundation of the Constitution is the law of God, as Madison says, what happens when you destroy

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that foundation as progressives are only too glad to do and Tea Party is casual or neglectful in repairing?

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Of course, the whole structure collapses as we see happening before our eyes.

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Jesus tells us that a wise man builds his house on rock so that when the tempest comes,

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it stands the forces that beat upon it. Our founding fathers recognized this and so built

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the foundation of the Constitution on the rock of God's Word and His law. Progressives have so

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effectively brainwashed and propagandized generations of Americans that they are euphemistically referred to

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now as low-information voters, such that we are now fools who have built upon the sand of secularism

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and statism and socialism. And what is the result? Oh, even as in Jesus' parable, the house fell

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and great was its fall. Am I a lone voice in this? Am I crying in the wilderness? America, repent?

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No, I'm only an echo of many in the past and I hope others in the future. As Daniel Webster said in a speech

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famously back in the 19th century, if we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will

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go on prospering and to prosper. But if we and our posterity, that's us, dear listener, Webster says,

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but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, that is the Bible, no man can tell how

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suddenly catastrophe will overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity, unquote.

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We are being buried in profound obscurity, dear listener. In the founding spirit of America,

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the posterity of Daniel Webster and the founders are frittering away the rich heritage bequeathed us

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like the prodigal son who spent all of his inheritance on whores and hors d'oeuvres in a far

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country. And we will come to as great a ruin as that prodigal son unless we too return to the father.

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All of America needs to have the prodigal son's eventual heart, Jesus said, but when he came to himself,

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he said, how many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here

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with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against

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heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired

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servants, unquote. Only such humility, dear listener, and repentance too. The kind of humility and

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repentance shown by the prodigal son will bring us back from the brink of ruin and the catastrophe,

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as Webster puts it, the catastrophe that will overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound

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obscurity. Good intentions are not enough. Hell is paid with such a pure spirit towards the

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constitution and great labors to restore it will not suffice. Inculcating conservative fiscal policy

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and electing patriot candidates is mere economic spitting in the wind. Trump is not our last best

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hope. Cruz is not a paragon of virtue and constitutional principle. Electing to burn will

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only burn down what's left of our republic. Choosing the demon Hillary Klingon will only sink us in evil

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and confirm the voters' stupidity and spiritual blindness. The spiritual renewal of all of America

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must first precede the constitutional and economic renewal of all of America. Without your own new

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spiritual birth in Jesus Christ, dear listener, Jesus himself said, unless one is born again, he cannot

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see the kingdom of God. Without this, you will not only perish eternally in hell in the life to come, but in

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this life you will live a life of death and be incapable of living the life of liberty under our constitution

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that our founders intended. And additionally, you will live one of two economic extremes. You will live the

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life of predator capitalism that we saw historically during the Gilded Age. I have an entire lecture on

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this period. Why? Or the other extreme, perhaps, of government socialist dependency that we see today.

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The spiritual revival of the late 19th century brought us back from the catastrophe that almost

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overwhelmed us then. There were men like Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday preaching that revival.

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Then and only then did we begin to return to constitutional principles and economic prosperity.

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Will God intervene to bring us another renewal, I ask of you? This is, always has been, and always

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will be the bellwether of constitutional and economic renewal. Has the people first and prior

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experienced a spiritual renewal in Christ? There will be no former without the latter, dear listener,

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dear fellow pilgrim on our mutual spiritual journey. Examine our history and you will see that this has

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always been the case in the United States. There would have been no declaration of independence,

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no war of independence, no constitution without the first great awakening. There would have been no

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continuing American union under the constitution, no war between the states, no liberty for slaves

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without the second great awakening. There would have been no child labor laws, no Spanish-American

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war, no prosperity for the American worker if there had not been the great revival of the 19th

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century happening first. So, as God is sovereign over the affairs of men, there will be no constitutional

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renewal today. There will be no economic recovery and prosperity in America today. There will be no

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consecrated presidential candidate until there is first a prior spiritual renewal in the Jesus Christ of

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the Bible amongst the people first. It's not enough to say, yeah, you tell them, pastor, and walk away.

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You, dear listener, must repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior.

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You must reform your life according to biblical principle. Live honestly in dealings with your

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fellow man. Live a life of sexual and moral purity before the Lord. Practice the religion of the Bible.

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You must apply those principles of the Bible to your daily life, politically, socially, and economically.

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And to this, I must warn you of several grave errors that will prevent true spiritual, political, and

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economic reform. Two grave errors. Number one, libertarianism is a grave error that will bring

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catastrophe. If you are considering yourself a libertarian today, you must reconsider because it

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is a path down which we've already traveled during the Gilded Age and it was a disaster.

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This moral and spiritual error of libertarianism is fashionable in many circles today. Now, while I

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recognize that the Libertarian Party does not speak for all libertarians, that be a contradiction in

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terms, the Libertarian platform does reflect many of the values of libertarians. And I quote from it now.

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The Libertarian Party platform says, we seek a world of liberty, a world in which all individuals are

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sovereign over their own lives. We defend each person's right to engage in any activity that is

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peaceful and honest and welcome the diversity that freedom brings. Unquote. Now, our founding fathers,

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on the other hand, recognized that God was sovereign over the affairs of men and that human activity was

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accountable to more than being peaceful and honest. And that activity must be in line as we have seen

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with God's law and righteousness. Libertarians have a hands-off approach to social issues like gay

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marriage or faithfulness in the bonds of marriage or drug use and abortion. For a host of reasons that I

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detail elsewhere, you must see my lecture on libertarianism in particular, all of these social

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issues will destroy us as swiftly as the issues we agree upon with libertarians. And we do agree with

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much with libertarians. That is limited government versus statism. We agree with them in fiscal austerity

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and government versus profligate spending, debt-ridden spending too. There's also an emphasis upon

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personal liberty versus the tyrannical nanny state. And the alliances amongst the nations of the world too,

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we agree with libertarians that we do this only when it serves our national interest.

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So, realize, dear fellow pilgrim, that the areas in which we agree are only half the bridge to salvation

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under libertarianism. God will not act to save the United States until the other half of the bridge is

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built. That is a spiritual rebirth in Christ that transforms the so-called neutral social issues

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into biblical issues. That is traditional, faithful, one-man-one-woman marriage, sobriety in the use of

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drugs, and an ethic of life instead of death on the abortion issue. You will end up in the river crossing

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half a bridge, as surely as if you drove up a bank with no bridge under libertarianism. So, the second

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grave error we can fall into is that of the Anabaptist tradition. The Anabaptist tradition. It has a

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tradition of withdrawal from the world, and it will bring catastrophe too. During the period of the

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Reformation, a sect appeared called the Anabaptist, who taught that Christians should only be concerned

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with issues of personal salvation, and they should not soil the gamut of the gospel with things of the

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world like politics and economics. They felt that all of their energies should be devoted to saving

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souls and nothing else. This is a current strain that you find all over the evangelical church today,

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and it will end in catastrophe. Their descendants are alive and well in the United States today.

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I get flack from them on a regular basis. Not only do I have to cope with the virulent enemies of the

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Constitution and the progressive movement, but also I see my own brothers in the faith nipping at my heels

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by saying I should restrict myself to preaching the gospel in church, calling people to get saved and

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nothing else. To those of you who espouse this view, I say you preach half a gospel. You preach half a

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gospel. The gospel saves and transforms the whole man. All that he is, does, and thinks, and this

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includes the realm of society, culture, and politics in which he moves. Paul says that government

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magistrates are God's ministers to do you good, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.

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As many before me have pointed out, how can the civil magistrate do this unless he knows the

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difference between good and evil and then practices it, practices it himself? As centuries of history

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have proven, it is only and exclusively the biblical Christian faith applied to society, culture, and

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politics that has culminated in the most just, prosperous, and freest nation the world has ever

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known, the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America. Dear listener, dear Anabaptist friend,

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the very fact that you can freely, openly express your anti-gospel view is because of what we integrated

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gospel believers have accomplished on your behalf. Make no mistake, Christ's salvation redeems the whole

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man, his soul for eternal salvation, and his life and place in culture, society, and politics, as well

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as a shining witness to that world to come. Withdrawal and rejection of involvement in the world of

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society, culture, and politics will only bring catastrophe to us. Dear patriot, you have been

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cowed, you have been propagandized, you have been tyrannized into hiding your lamp under a bushel.

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You have been cowed, you have been tyrannized into separating church and state such that the two are

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isolated in airtight compartments such that the twain shall never meet when they, that is church and

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state, were meant to be mutually dependent and interactive. Girt up your loins, as Gideon would

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exhort you, dear Christian, and make this known among the peoples. Proclaim it from the housetops,

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dear listener. Otherwise, you will never see the constitution practiced as you know it should be,

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and you will never see our economy put back on track as we know it can be.

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Dear listener, pray with me. Dear patriot, pray with me for true and genuine reformation in America,

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spiritual reformation, not just superficial religiosity.

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Do more than mouth religious cliches, as our two presumptive nominees do. Mouthing religious

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cliches, like in God we trust, or we're a Christian nation, or Christ is the God of this country,

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on and on it goes. Rather, first must come all candidates and voters and every American must first

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come to the God of grace who saves you for belief in him. And then bring your life in line with Christ's

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as you live out the remainder of your pilgrimage here on earth. That pilgrimage here on earth includes

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not only calling lost men and women to salvation in Christ, but then demonstrating that too and being a

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beacon and a light and a witness to the, to all of the earth, to Christ's gospel as we practice it in

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society, culture, and politics as well. Pray for this with me, especially during this presidential

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election season. Pray for revival, pray for renewal in America, spiritual renewal first, and then we will

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see constitutional and economic renewal follow as a consequence as day follows night. This has been

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Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on

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Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. You can call us at 523-0196

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or check out our brand new website, which is omnispotestas.org. That's O-M-N-I-S-P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S

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dot org, omnispotestas.org, where we have a catalog of past messages as well. Once again,

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Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 523-0196.