1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:08,300 Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a 2 00:00:08,300 --> 00:00:13,460 moment of truth where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. 3 00:00:13,599 --> 00:00:20,780 And today, dear Patriot, I exhort all of us, I include myself in this, in this election season 4 00:00:20,780 --> 00:00:26,920 with the words of the Apostle Paul, awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ 5 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:32,840 will shine on you. I love that scripture. I've always loved that scripture because I need to 6 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:40,399 hear it from time to time when I find myself slothful or self-pitying or discouraged with 7 00:00:40,399 --> 00:00:47,340 the state of the church or my nation or myself. Now, Paul says it to shake the lost man awake 8 00:00:47,340 --> 00:00:54,719 from his state of spiritual sleep and death to the daytime of Christ. And he does it to urge those 9 00:00:54,719 --> 00:01:02,579 already in Christ as well, to urge them to show that life they have in him by living in his spiritual 10 00:01:02,579 --> 00:01:08,060 light. And it's time for the church and each individual Christian to do this, myself included, 11 00:01:08,579 --> 00:01:15,159 awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. I have outlined for you 12 00:01:15,159 --> 00:01:21,439 before in the past, those of you that know me and have heard this broadcast before, the crucial component 13 00:01:21,439 --> 00:01:28,859 that Christ serves in the three things to which the United States of America must return, election or no 14 00:01:28,859 --> 00:01:36,480 election. We must return to Christ for our spiritual life together as a nation, to the constitution for 15 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:42,719 our political and self-governance together as a nation, and to capitalism for our economic life 16 00:01:42,719 --> 00:01:49,859 together as a nation. Together, for simplicity and ease of remembrance then, they composed what I 17 00:01:49,859 --> 00:01:56,599 call the three C's, Christ, constitution, and capitalism. But far transcending the other two 18 00:01:56,599 --> 00:02:04,659 in importance and significance is the first, that is Christ. Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, 19 00:02:04,819 --> 00:02:14,800 and Christ will shine on you. The three C's, of course, they have their contrast and their dark side 20 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:21,300 in diametric opposition to them. There are three other things. In opposition to Christ, 21 00:02:21,819 --> 00:02:26,439 our culture has lifted up secularism for our spiritual life together. There's going to be three 22 00:02:26,439 --> 00:02:33,080 S's here, if you're guessing here. And of course, in opposition to the constitution, our culture has 23 00:02:33,080 --> 00:02:39,039 pitted statism for our social and political life together. And in opposition to the genius of 24 00:02:39,039 --> 00:02:44,759 capitalism, our culture in the last century has substituted socialism for our economic life together. 25 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:53,539 In other words, three C's versus three S's for ease of remembrance. I need this as well as children 26 00:02:53,539 --> 00:02:59,319 and school children and adults. And what I want to continually put before you, however, is the 27 00:02:59,319 --> 00:03:03,539 absolute requisite of one of these components over the others, and that is the spiritual element, 28 00:03:03,719 --> 00:03:09,460 that of Christ. Nothing else means anything without him, including our way of governance, 29 00:03:09,599 --> 00:03:14,139 that is the constitution, and our mode of economic life together, that is capitalism. 30 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:20,819 Historically, Christ means everything to who and what we are as a nation. We were founded, formed, 31 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:26,900 and finished in Christ. Columbus sailed to the new world in his name. The pilgrims landed on Plymouth 32 00:03:26,900 --> 00:03:31,620 Rock in his name. The Puritans celebrated the first Thanksgiving in his name, and our founders 33 00:03:31,620 --> 00:03:38,800 established our constitution in his name. It is time that Americans stop cowering in fear at the 34 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:43,659 mention of Jesus Christ and our country. We are established as a Christian republic, and we should 35 00:03:43,659 --> 00:03:51,139 frankly admit this, openly espouse it, wear it as a badge, as something to become fully again. But it must 36 00:03:51,139 --> 00:03:57,120 also be admitted that this will only happen when Americans once again feel free and comfortable in 37 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:04,599 doing so. Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. This, in turn, can only 38 00:04:04,599 --> 00:04:10,219 happen when Americans feel ready to do it, when they do not care what the consequences might be, 39 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,300 when they're willing to go to the trains, when they're willing to go to the showers, if you will, 40 00:04:14,340 --> 00:04:19,160 when they're willing to defend themselves long before that ever happens, and when they know that 41 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,980 whether they're praised or punished for confessing Jesus Christ, they will do it. Nevertheless, 42 00:04:22,980 --> 00:04:30,819 what this demands is nothing less than a complete reformation of America's spiritual way of life, 43 00:04:30,959 --> 00:04:36,879 dear listener. Nothing less will do. American Christians are at present cowards. We are back 44 00:04:36,879 --> 00:04:44,000 on our heels. We are constantly apologizing for who and what we are. Why must this be? It is 45 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:50,899 historically demonstrable that all that we are and have can be traced to biblical cultural roots in the 46 00:04:50,899 --> 00:04:56,139 Christian faith. Dear listener, look around the world and tell me where there is more tolerance, 47 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:02,240 for example, more tolerance for divergent views on religion and culture than in the United States 48 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:08,060 of America. That is precisely because of the Christian view of tolerance. Without Christianity 49 00:05:08,060 --> 00:05:14,399 as the heartthrob of society, this will utterly disappear, and we see it already in an incipient 50 00:05:14,399 --> 00:05:21,120 form with modern liberalism and progressivism. And with it, there is a great irony. That is an 51 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:26,399 intolerance for the very faith that gave it birth. Christianity, progressivism has no tolerance for 52 00:05:26,399 --> 00:05:32,399 Christianity. Like a spoiled, self-indulgent child who has no appreciation for the parent that gave 53 00:05:32,399 --> 00:05:37,899 them life, the child, that is modern progressivism, hates and despises the very parent that gave it 54 00:05:37,899 --> 00:05:43,699 birth. Conservative biblical Christianity, that is. We in the United States are like Oedipus who 55 00:05:43,699 --> 00:05:49,899 unknowingly slew his father and married his mother in an incestuous patricidal frenzy. We attack the 56 00:05:49,899 --> 00:05:55,579 father who seated us, and we violate the mother who bore us as her children. Where else in the world is 57 00:05:55,579 --> 00:06:02,139 there tolerance as we know it here in the United States of America? For example, all Muslim countries 58 00:06:02,139 --> 00:06:10,240 persecute Christians to some extent, and Jews. There are no exceptions. Mali, Iran, Pakistan, 59 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:17,399 Egypt, all hate and murder our brothers and sisters in Christ. India is the world's largest Hindu nation 60 00:06:17,399 --> 00:06:23,379 and proves it by persecuting Christians in a fit of Hindu revival. China remains the world's largest 61 00:06:23,379 --> 00:06:30,160 official atheist nation. This it daily demonstrates too by jailing pastors and believers who dare to speak 62 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:36,480 out on behalf of their Lord. For our founding fathers, the religious wars of Europe in the 17th 63 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:42,860 century demonstrated that it was the individual conscience that should decide matters of faith. 64 00:06:43,339 --> 00:06:48,319 And this became a fundamental Christian principle regardless of the particular faith involved. But 65 00:06:48,319 --> 00:06:54,779 ironically, it depended upon the fertile ground of Christianity to flourish. Tolerance, that is. 66 00:06:55,420 --> 00:07:03,100 In the light of his faith and Christian history, the American could be tolerant, accepting that others 67 00:07:03,100 --> 00:07:09,560 could believe differently than him. And this is uniquely a Christian virtue, I submit to you. Uniquely 68 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:15,660 a Christian virtue. Muslims have not learned nor accepted that fundamental human principle. Hindus have 69 00:07:15,660 --> 00:07:20,759 not learned nor accepted this fundamental human principle. Atheists most emphatically have not 70 00:07:20,759 --> 00:07:27,180 accepted nor learned this fundamental human principle. They all continue to imprison believers in China, 71 00:07:27,180 --> 00:07:33,639 Russia, Russia, a thousand countries around the world like Korea, Burma, and Cuba yet, even though 72 00:07:33,639 --> 00:07:39,060 we're opening relations with them. The next time you hear a progressive self-righteously droning on and 73 00:07:39,060 --> 00:07:45,120 on about how tolerant he is and about how intolerant you are as a Christian, confront him with his parentage. 74 00:07:45,759 --> 00:07:51,620 Every progressive owes his existence to you, a Christian. If it had not been for generations of 75 00:07:51,620 --> 00:07:58,560 biblical Christians insisting upon tolerance for a fellow citizen's views, he would have no standing now, that 76 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:07,319 citizen today. This is the irony of our modern age. The modern progressive bases his philosophy upon a Christian 77 00:08:07,319 --> 00:08:14,680 view of tolerance and diversity, knowingly or unknowingly, but he scoffs and scorns and rejects the very basis upon 78 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:21,519 which that tolerance and diversity are founded. It is as if a conscientious mother taught her children to love one 79 00:08:21,519 --> 00:08:28,199 another and then finds herself hated by those very children. Dear listener, Christianity taught us 80 00:08:28,199 --> 00:08:34,799 how to love one another, but the student has officially turned on his teacher and now slain her, if you will, 81 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:42,580 figuratively speaking. So, dear listener, it is time that we Christians, it is time the church reclaimed its 82 00:08:42,580 --> 00:08:50,620 heritage. Wake up! Oh, if you are a believer in Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, then do not be ashamed of 83 00:08:50,620 --> 00:08:58,240 Christ. Declare him to friends, family, and co-workers, the entire nation. If you do not know him, but only hear about him 84 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:04,379 by the hearing of the ear, as the prophets used to put it, then come to faith and believe in Christ today. You will find a 85 00:09:04,379 --> 00:09:13,820 Savior not only for this age and time, but for eternity. Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 86 00:09:13,820 --> 00:09:21,779 And we can sum up America with the three C's. That is Christ, Constitution, and Capitalism. But we must 87 00:09:21,779 --> 00:09:27,919 heavily qualify the last two with the preeminence of the former. Christ must be a part of the 88 00:09:27,919 --> 00:09:36,580 Constitution, yes. Christ must be a part of Capitalism, yes, or all is lost. Why is that? Number one, the 89 00:09:36,580 --> 00:09:44,899 Constitution without Christ is but liberty to be lawless. The Constitution, think about this for a 90 00:09:44,899 --> 00:09:52,000 moment. The Constitution without Christ is but the liberty to be lawless. Our founders were clear on 91 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:57,480 their intentions for the Constitution. John Adams says, the only foundation of a free Constitution is 92 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:04,639 pure virtue. And if this cannot be inspired into our people in greater measure than they have it now, 93 00:10:04,639 --> 00:10:11,320 they may change their rulers and forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting 94 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:18,539 liberty. How profound that was. John Adams, he knew precisely what was required for the Constitution to 95 00:10:18,539 --> 00:10:26,120 succeed. The virtue of which Adams spoke, too, was not an amorphous virtue. It was not a Muslim virtue, 96 00:10:26,279 --> 00:10:33,580 or a Hindu virtue, or a Buddhist virtue, or an atheist virtue. The only virtue that Adams or any of the 97 00:10:33,580 --> 00:10:40,460 Founding Fathers had in mind was that of Christ. Man cannot be free without Christ. The Constitution 98 00:10:40,460 --> 00:10:47,500 was established in order to give men the maximum amount of freedom with a minimal amount of restraint. 99 00:10:48,279 --> 00:10:55,320 When men have their own internal moral government and compass that tells them no to theft, no to murder, 100 00:10:55,320 --> 00:11:02,159 but yes to honest work, and yes to benevolence to his fellow man, then the Constitution is the ideal 101 00:11:02,159 --> 00:11:11,019 document for a people like this. But if men have no internal moral government and cannot resist thievery 102 00:11:11,019 --> 00:11:18,539 or murder and no honest labor or benevolence to his fellow man can be found, then the Constitution is 103 00:11:18,539 --> 00:11:24,240 but a paper license for sin and corruption. Ask yourself, dear listener, what is the difference with 104 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:29,860 a man of Christian character who finds a dropped wallet in a locker, for example, and he goes to the 105 00:11:29,860 --> 00:11:34,960 trouble to find the owner and the man who keeps it for himself, using the cash and credit cards for his 106 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:39,679 own advantage? Is there a difference? What is the difference between the contractor who uses one 107 00:11:39,679 --> 00:11:44,460 by threes framing a house when he was contracted to use two by fours and when the contractor who 108 00:11:44,460 --> 00:11:49,740 fulfills his commitments to the letter? What is the difference between a magistrate elected to build 109 00:11:49,740 --> 00:11:54,740 an army to defend his country and one who instead builds a defense plant to give jobs to his 110 00:11:54,740 --> 00:12:00,259 constituents and charges the taxpayer exorbitant prices just because he can? Is there a difference 111 00:12:00,259 --> 00:12:06,159 in all these cases? With a Christian of moral character, you can leave your daughter, wallet, 112 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:12,259 and liberty knowing they are safe and complete in their integrity. With a non-Christian who has no 113 00:12:12,259 --> 00:12:17,679 incentive to behave honestly, you have, on the other hand, a bulging pregnant daughter, an empty, 114 00:12:17,879 --> 00:12:23,740 flattened wallet, and tyrannized liberties by the time he is finished. This is precisely what a 115 00:12:23,740 --> 00:12:30,659 constitution without Christ is like, dear listener. A government with very few restraints demands a 116 00:12:30,659 --> 00:12:37,580 citizenry who practice self-restraint. A minimal, limited government requires a wise populace who are 117 00:12:37,580 --> 00:12:43,679 capable of illimitable self-government, that is, governing their passions and emotions and desires. 118 00:12:44,600 --> 00:12:52,000 Hugo Grotius, the Dutch philosopher, puts it this way, a man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a 119 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:58,740 city. He cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family. He cannot govern a family unless he can 120 00:12:58,740 --> 00:13:05,220 govern himself, and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason, unquote. 121 00:13:06,279 --> 00:13:12,620 Oh, dear listener, dear American, how many shelves of contract law do you need for businesses 122 00:13:12,620 --> 00:13:18,500 when you have two parties who are honest and forthright and they honor a simple agreement with 123 00:13:18,500 --> 00:13:24,080 a handshake instead of pages of signatures and a battery of lawyers looking over your shoulder? 124 00:13:24,799 --> 00:13:31,000 The more we as a society are men of our word from our mouths, that is, men who simply do what they 125 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:37,120 promise, the fewer words we need on paper to sign, notarize, and have interpreted by a staff of lawyers. 126 00:13:37,919 --> 00:13:43,399 How many drug laws do you need on the books, dear listener? When citizens honor their God-given 127 00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:48,639 bodies and refuse to smoke, inject, snort, ingest drugs into them? How many police and border agents 128 00:13:48,639 --> 00:13:53,960 do you need to combat brutal, murderous drug wars if the people are not using drugs, and there's 129 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:59,220 consequently no market for them for the Mexican drug cartels? How many divorce lawyers do you need 130 00:13:59,220 --> 00:14:04,159 in a society where husbands and wives love one another and they honor the one-man, one-woman 131 00:14:04,159 --> 00:14:09,700 relationship so long as you both shall live? What need is there of expensive, complicated, 132 00:14:09,700 --> 00:14:14,320 prenuptial agreements when there is an implicit trust that all property in the marriage belongs 133 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:22,799 one to the other equally? A society composed of people who police themselves has need of very few 134 00:14:22,799 --> 00:14:30,720 officers to police that society. Conversely, as we're seeing in our own culture today, the less 135 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:38,460 moral restraint we see in people's lives, the more need we have of force being imposed from the 136 00:14:38,460 --> 00:14:45,059 outside on lawbreakers. We can't build prisons fast enough, can we, to house the offenders being 137 00:14:45,059 --> 00:14:51,580 arrested, tried, and convicted for all manner of crimes. Judges are forced to sentence drug offenders 138 00:14:51,580 --> 00:14:56,759 with mandatory sentences to prisons already bulging with other drug offenders. Many of these must be 139 00:14:56,759 --> 00:15:02,120 released long before their sentences are completed. Consequently, we have criminals walking our streets 140 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:07,820 today who would have been behind bars formerly as recently as five to eight years ago. Our streets are 141 00:15:07,820 --> 00:15:15,539 far more dangerous as a result simply because, A, our culture no longer cares to inculcate an honest, 142 00:15:15,919 --> 00:15:21,860 moral, self-governing way of life amidst our people, and B, that same culture is unwilling to 143 00:15:21,860 --> 00:15:26,500 build the number of jails and prisons requisite to house the disproportionate numbers of immoral 144 00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:33,600 and unethical and criminal persons who are bred daily in the petri dish of our culture. 145 00:15:33,600 --> 00:15:40,899 Dear listener, when will our jails and prisons simply be overwhelmed? Did you ever consider this? 146 00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:45,539 When might it be safer for us, the honest and law-abiding citizens, to clear out those jails 147 00:15:45,539 --> 00:15:50,759 and prisons and move into them ourselves simply because we're now more of them, that is the criminal 148 00:15:50,759 --> 00:15:57,259 class, on the outside than us? When might it be cheaper and more honest to admit that we are now a 149 00:15:57,259 --> 00:16:04,419 nation of criminals and stop playing incarceration games? This is the consequence for a nation that 150 00:16:04,419 --> 00:16:10,759 refuses to inculcate a Christian morality. When parents cannot afford to spend the time, effort, 151 00:16:10,759 --> 00:16:15,600 and energy to instruct and discipline their children in the basics of the Christian faith 152 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:21,120 and its moral code themselves, like the Ten Commandments, they will soon find that they're 153 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:27,220 taking the time, effort, and expense to hire police, judges, and build jails and prisons for their 154 00:16:27,220 --> 00:16:34,220 children. Contrary to soft-headed liberal social theory, men are not born to be moral creatures. 155 00:16:34,799 --> 00:16:41,679 They must be carefully taught and disciplined to be so. O Israel, the Bible says, the Lord our God, 156 00:16:41,740 --> 00:16:49,600 the Lord is one. You shall teach your children diligently the laws of the land and shall talk of 157 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:54,460 them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 158 00:16:55,080 --> 00:17:00,639 The sense of the Bible is that morality must be inculcated and taught in a disciplined, systematic 159 00:17:00,639 --> 00:17:07,700 fashion throughout a child's life. It should be so ever-present in his or her life that when they're in 160 00:17:07,700 --> 00:17:12,819 the house, they see and hear the law, and when they walk out over the threshold of the door, they see 161 00:17:12,819 --> 00:17:19,099 and hear the law. When they travel in the streets of the city, they see the law written, spoken, and kept. 162 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:26,359 So ever-present is the word of God in the lives of the children and the people in general, that God's 163 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:33,460 word will be on their hearts and in their minds so as to obey it. In such an atmosphere and in such 164 00:17:33,460 --> 00:17:40,380 a nation, a small, limited exterior government can thrive, as our constitution was intended to give 165 00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:46,400 us, because a great interior government rules the hearts and minds of the people. For such, 166 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:54,339 our constitution was made. John Adams puts it this way, our constitution was made only for a moral and 167 00:17:54,339 --> 00:18:00,660 religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other, unquote. Therefore, dear 168 00:18:00,660 --> 00:18:07,099 listener, it should come as no surprise that a society expands in its tyrannical control in proportion 169 00:18:07,099 --> 00:18:13,460 to its decline in moral self-government. We see that around us today. Lawlessness in the hearts of the 170 00:18:13,460 --> 00:18:19,279 people breeds tyrants in the hearts of our governments. John Adams puts it this way once 171 00:18:19,279 --> 00:18:27,720 again. He says, avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our 172 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:36,400 constitution as a whale goes through a net, unquote. When men have no self-government over their wills, 173 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:43,539 they will need others to govern them against their will. Let me say that again. When men have no 174 00:18:43,539 --> 00:18:49,059 self-government over their own wills, they will need others to govern them against their will. 175 00:18:49,740 --> 00:18:56,700 This is a simple historical law that is borne out over time and is being borne out in our own time. 176 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:04,500 Patrick Henry put it this way, bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals and a 177 00:19:04,500 --> 00:19:12,579 corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom, unquote. Dear listener, then pray for a 178 00:19:12,579 --> 00:19:18,940 reformation in America. Awake, O sleeper. Every American we need to say this to. Awake, O sleeper, 179 00:19:19,019 --> 00:19:26,299 and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Then and only then will we be fit citizens for 180 00:19:26,299 --> 00:19:33,299 our constitution. Right now, we do not deserve our constitution, and God will sovereignly take it 181 00:19:33,299 --> 00:19:38,759 away from us as he is gradually doing. It's there on paper, but it certainly is not being exercised 182 00:19:38,759 --> 00:19:45,759 by the people, either by the people or her representatives. We have a populace that is, in general, in sheer 183 00:19:45,759 --> 00:19:51,539 rebellion against the God who established this nation and who established this constitution. 184 00:19:52,700 --> 00:19:59,299 We live in a drug-addled culture, for example, where the stoned mind and body is the baseline for our 185 00:19:59,299 --> 00:20:03,980 national consciousness. It will not be enough to legalize drugs, to end the crime and death and 186 00:20:03,980 --> 00:20:11,220 corruption. It is a crime against God's law, and only when we reform our stoned souls to the rock of 187 00:20:11,220 --> 00:20:17,660 ages and turn from our drug-taking ways will we see it end. We live in a whore-ridden culture, 188 00:20:17,759 --> 00:20:22,140 where gay marriage, live-together couples, single-parent families, divorced couples, not collectively 189 00:20:22,140 --> 00:20:28,079 outnumber straight one-time married couples. Only when we return to a biblical model of marriage and 190 00:20:28,079 --> 00:20:34,200 family will we see a stable family life return. We live in a government dependency culture, 191 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:40,220 where the Christian work ethic, a good day's pay for a good day's work. If a man will not work, 192 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:47,460 as Paul says, he will not eat. This is replaced by the secular handout ethic. You deserve a break today. 193 00:20:48,140 --> 00:20:53,539 The food stamp program has burgeoned. Obama's proud of it under the present administration, 194 00:20:53,539 --> 00:21:00,619 as has the unemployment compensation program from 13 weeks to 99. Only when we reform our working 195 00:21:00,619 --> 00:21:07,420 souls and return to a Christian work ethic will we get our financial house in order too, dear listener. 196 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:16,180 The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports, for example, that 10% of Americans in 2015 now identify 197 00:21:16,180 --> 00:21:24,759 themselves as atheists or agnostics. That's up from 6% in 2012. This is part of an atheist trend that many 198 00:21:24,759 --> 00:21:31,119 are trumpeting as a great thing for America. And I beg to differ. I exhort you that only when we 199 00:21:31,119 --> 00:21:36,880 reform our spiritual souls and return to the Christian God of the Bible will we see our nation 200 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:42,660 turn around as well. Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 201 00:21:42,660 --> 00:21:51,880 So, dear listener, the libertarian answer to these things is not adequate either. God will judge us 202 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:58,380 for all of these things that I've enunciated above. The Constitution is not a morally neutral document 203 00:21:58,380 --> 00:22:04,880 that can be objectively applied no matter the state of a citizen's soul. As I've outlined for you above, 204 00:22:05,059 --> 00:22:10,720 our Constitution is made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any 205 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:18,759 other, as John Adams says. And that morality was not a Muslim morality, nor a Hindu morality, nor an 206 00:22:18,759 --> 00:22:26,680 atheistic morality, nor a secular morality. Our Founding Fathers had in mind only and exclusively a 207 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:34,720 Christian biblical morality. So, pray for a spiritual reformation during this election season. Awake, 208 00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:42,700 O sleeper, and arise from sleep, and Christ will shine on you. There are many dark spiritual forces 209 00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:50,279 that are arrayed against us that we Americans have allowed to flourish for that matter. The 210 00:22:50,279 --> 00:22:57,099 Republicans, for example, that is the Republican and Democrat establishment, represented by Hillary 211 00:22:57,099 --> 00:23:02,680 Clinton, herself a practicing witch, if you will, and a certifiable malignant narcissist, 212 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:10,980 on the order of Obama and Stalin and Mao and Hitler. The Republican Democrat establishment, the 213 00:23:10,980 --> 00:23:17,420 Republicans are evil parasites, sucking both the physical and spiritual lifeblood of the American 214 00:23:17,420 --> 00:23:24,680 people. Think of it, dear listener, government continues to grow like a fat tick on the body politic of the 215 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:31,859 people. Whether a Republican or Democrat is in office, it doesn't matter anymore, whether at the federal or the 216 00:23:31,859 --> 00:23:39,079 state or the local level. Republican ticks may suck our lifeblood at a little slower pace, but they're 217 00:23:39,079 --> 00:23:45,740 still sucking the lifeblood of our wealth and our liberties and our religious freedom, just as inevitably 218 00:23:45,740 --> 00:23:54,920 as the most progressive Democrat tick. Donald Trump is a well-meaning watchdog, if you will, or hound 219 00:23:54,920 --> 00:24:02,480 who will be swallowed up by the ravenous establishment ticks, precisely because he has no spiritual center. 220 00:24:03,799 --> 00:24:09,900 Trump's claims to be a good Presbyterian are too little and too late, I'm afraid. There's no record of faithful 221 00:24:09,900 --> 00:24:17,099 membership in any church, Mr. Trump. You have never articulated a clear expression of faith in the Savior, that is 222 00:24:17,099 --> 00:24:25,559 Jesus Christ. To this pastor and voter, Mr. Trump, your coddling up to the evangelicals is just that, an obsequious 223 00:24:25,559 --> 00:24:31,500 groveling for votes. Now, this doesn't mean you cannot make a good president. I think that you could make a good 224 00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:40,220 president. In spite of this, Jimmy Carter was an espoused evangelical Southern Baptist, but he was a lousy 225 00:24:40,220 --> 00:24:46,579 president. Yet there have been other many good presidents who have not been particularly religious. So I have high hopes that 226 00:24:46,579 --> 00:24:52,059 indeed, you might be able to follow through, but you will not be able to follow through eventually 227 00:24:52,059 --> 00:25:00,039 into eternity, that is, unless you find your spiritual center in Christ. To you, Mr. Trump, I exhort, 228 00:25:00,299 --> 00:25:08,039 awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. America, there is no hope for us 229 00:25:08,039 --> 00:25:15,900 at our present rate of decline, is there? We will not stop the coming collapse of the economy, for example, 230 00:25:15,900 --> 00:25:24,099 because the church is greedy and ignorant and lazy. There is a financial crash coming. And dear listener, 231 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:31,180 because of that greed and ignorance and laziness on the part of the American people, that economic 232 00:25:31,180 --> 00:25:38,539 collapse will fall upon us. America, you will not be able to resist the spiritual possession of your 233 00:25:38,539 --> 00:25:49,059 national soul by Islam and atheism and secularism, because the church retreats from its culture, society, and politics. 234 00:25:49,779 --> 00:25:56,180 And this is largely from a misunderstanding of Romans chapter 13, right? And many, many pastors across this nation 235 00:25:56,180 --> 00:26:03,500 inculcate this understanding of Romans 13, that we submit to the authorities without qualification, because God has 236 00:26:03,500 --> 00:26:09,420 ordained them. But this is not the only text that speaks to government. We are to resist the proud. We 237 00:26:09,420 --> 00:26:16,640 are to resist those who tyrannize and oppress as well. This is inculcated throughout the Old Testament 238 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:21,940 and New Testament as well. Romans 13, that says, submit to the authorities. They are, because they're 239 00:26:21,940 --> 00:26:27,579 ordained by God. This will drive us all to the trains, and your pastors will be exhorting you to go. 240 00:26:27,579 --> 00:26:34,839 Oh, that's okay. That's okay. Because the Bible says that we must submit to the authorities. They are ordained by 241 00:26:34,839 --> 00:26:41,400 God. Right into the showers, you will go, O church, because you have a misinterpretation of the scriptures. 242 00:26:42,539 --> 00:26:51,440 Indeed, you will not be able to resist the spiritual possession of the United States national soul, and it will be 243 00:26:51,440 --> 00:27:01,099 possessed in a vacuum by organizations and by movements like radical Islam or atheism or secularism, 244 00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:09,420 secularism, because the church retreats from culture, society, and politics. America, you will not secure 245 00:27:09,420 --> 00:27:15,599 your liberties either, precisely because the church does not understand the essence of liberty. Christ 246 00:27:15,599 --> 00:27:21,400 himself said, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and 247 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:26,799 the truth will set you free. Oh, how many times is that quoted and taken out of context? You will 248 00:27:26,799 --> 00:27:32,500 know the truth and the truth will set you free. Oftentimes, it's some person's petty point that he's 249 00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:38,000 trying to make or some secular truth or some philosophical truth, and they cite Christ when he 250 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:45,380 intended, if you abide in my word, that is, if we abide in Christ's word, if we obey him, if we follow 251 00:27:45,380 --> 00:27:52,559 him, then we are truly his disciples and we'll know the truth then, and the truth will then set us free. 252 00:27:53,460 --> 00:28:01,380 Dear listener, arise from the dead. Awake, oh sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon 253 00:28:01,380 --> 00:28:08,980 you. We need to follow this indeed in this election season. We need to follow closely this maxim, because 254 00:28:08,980 --> 00:28:16,000 otherwise, we will find ourselves, election or no election, whoever succeeds and whoever obtains 255 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:22,740 victory, it will matter, not one whit. The president is only the executive peak of the mountain of the 256 00:28:22,740 --> 00:28:28,799 people. He's a reflection of what that mountain is. He's only the peak of it. We get the government that 257 00:28:28,799 --> 00:28:34,359 we deserve, dear listener. That is why it is utterly requisite for that mountain, for the people that 258 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:43,240 indeed build up and summit the peak of the people, that is the constitution. Only then will we be able 259 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:49,279 to succeed as a nation, come back to Christ's constitution and capitalism by awaking, oh sleeper, 260 00:28:50,059 --> 00:28:55,700 arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva 261 00:28:55,700 --> 00:29:03,180 Orthodox Presbyterian Church. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner 262 00:29:03,180 --> 00:29:10,740 of 4th and Boulevard. You can call us for feedback and you can call us for more information too at 263 00:29:10,740 --> 00:29:20,319 523-0196. That's 523-0196. And check out our websites too. We have two websites now. That's 264 00:29:20,319 --> 00:29:28,400 newgenevaopc.org, newgenevaopc.org, and our catalog of radio messages. That is 265 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:40,859 omnisprotestas.org. O-M-N-I-S dash P-O-T-E-S-T-A-S dot org. Omnisprotestas.org.