- And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; - Romans 1:21
The late Dr. W. A. Criswell, beloved pastor of FBC Dallas for many years, a pastor's pastor—my pastor, once told the following story of "an affluent atheist who decided to build a town in Montana."
Many years ago, an affluent atheist decided to build a town in Montana. When he built it, he said, "There is to be no church or no preacher in it." His city had a population of five thousand people.
He soon found that he had plenty of women, but not a decent one among them. They were harlots and prostitutes. The men who flocked to the town loved to gamble, drink, and fight. No family with children wanted to move into the city.
After five years of that experiment, the bottom fell out of his little city, and he delivered a manifesto through the newspapers and in handbills:
To Whom It May Concern: God knows that there is no such person as God and my motto has always been, "To hell with religion." But for some fool reason, which no man can fathom, I have found by experience we cannot do business in this country on any other basis than that silly bit of sentiment which we stamp on our coins, "In God We Trust." Therefore, infernal foolishness though it all is, I have sent out for a parson and we are going to build a church.
There has never been a more needed time for this message than today. Given the admitted ills of capitalism, history has taught us it is the only structure, as the Montana atheist discovered at his attempt to create a city, for a society to thrive and live free in a democracy or republic. We are witnessing just how true this is in our current political climate in America, or in the world for that matter. Never has the church in America been needed more than now! There isn't much time. Unfortunately, its shepherds have slumbered.
While they have slumbered, an evil element has emerged that is rapidly tearing our nation apart. Their intent is to overthrow it and build a new socialist/communist political government. This experiment has been tried and failed too many times for the intellectually honest critic of capitalism to deny. But that does not matter to this subversive element. Power is all that is important to them—power achieved by any means necessary. Watch them. When hate, fear and destruction is all they have to offer, ask yourself, what kind of society are they capable of building, one where families and children want to live, one where "parsons" are not only welcomed but wanted?
Unfortunately, for years, they have been allowed to create a climate where they no longer have to couch themselves in acceptable rhetoric among our competing political parties of government. They are forced out into the light of day. Make no mistake, like an alien child they have emerged from one host as a new dominate, yet illegal, political party to be reckoned with! They allow no voice outside their own, no vote for leadership and no vote as to any policies they adopt. Cross them and you will pay, quite possibly with your own life! This is their idea of the new "America."
Why have they emerged with such overwhelming force—like a violent wind blowing in overnight through an open door? Because a great vacuum of leadership exists in our two-party system of government that is not as it once was. The extreme elements of both parties, Democrat and Republican, have been in a race to the bottom, dragging our country and culture with it. We are there, folks! It has failed us! Neither serving as a check against the other from doing so. One seems to be aligned with those who are burning our cities to the ground while the other fiddles as they burn. Good people look on in horror, helpless, as dreams go up in flames.
Who will deliver us from such evil? Where is the God of Daniel? Why is He silent? Has He abandoned us? Are we witnessing our judgment for our many blasphemous sins as a nation and a people?
Are we so far gone that the atheist business man of Montana can't restore it? Is there a capable "parson" who will stand against such evil?
- Monday, June 20, 2020
See also: America.
