Descending Dove

This is the word from the LORD: "Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message: "'Hear the word of the LORD, all you
people who come through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and
your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the Church of the LORD, the House of the
LORD, the House of the LORD!" If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the
alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I
will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.' Jer 7

He has showed you, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? But to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself
from being polluted by the world.

But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. "'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to
things of this world and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and
say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things?'

Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD. "'Go now to the place
Israel where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. While you were doing
all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore,
what I did to Israel I will now do to the Church that bears my Name, the House you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers. I will
thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Israel.'

A strong admonition, which is in real need of being heeded. Israel wrote of its time when there was no physical nation Israel, 'You have made us
a source of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.' Brothers and Children of the House of God in America, do not be deceived:
God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. Think,
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others (this is the Church) and
now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but
the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Granted. But they were broken off because of
unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his
kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.'

Why is this admonition is need of being heeded? Look at yourselves, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless. "'Will you continue
to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to things of this world and follow other gods you have not known, and then come
and stand before God, in His house, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable things? Where? When do we Steal, murder, commit
adultery and perjury, when do we burn incense to another god? Every single day that we do not carry His required obedience, which is 'to act
justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.' 'The only religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after
orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.' Can you even remember a time that you gave of
yourself to visit the widows and orphans? Or are you so busy ignoring the signs of His wrath being stored up against us for our being the
Churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea?

What gods do we have before us that we burn incense to? Where do you stand when it comes to abortion, political correctness, or homosexuality?
When you consider anything more highly than God's will! 'Seek first His kingdom (the Kingdom of God) and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.' By placing other things before God in our lives, they become the worship of our lives, we can't do without
them, they give us freedom to do the things we WILL for ourselves, because we have no God to convict us of the gravity of our circumstance
(surely we don't convict ourselves, do we?). By being our own god, we can allow ourselves a lot of latitude in our behavior, in what we think, and
in what we do. A friend notes, we go to church on Sundays, acting so holy and pure, and then live like the devil the rest of the week (thinking
we're safe, safe to do all these detestable things). Look at yourselves, are you trusting in deceptive words that are worthless, do you think that you
can make a mockery of God? "'Will you continue to steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to things of this world and
follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before God, in His house, and say, "We are safe"--safe to do all these detestable
things?' 'Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature
will reap destruction.'

I was also told that I could not preach this message, for it wouldn't fall on the ears of the congregation well, it wouldn't be received, and the
congregation would stop coming or look for another pastor who would tickle their ears. What does this tell you about commitment? Or even to
think the congregation would be so shallow to think that they can hold the pastor, the shepherd of that flock, the leader of this group, hostage!
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings
come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Fact is, Jesus even told us this when He said, "This is
the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates
the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." What I preach, teach, or prophesy is NOT up to me, for
"Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and
heard." Whether you come back or not is not up to me either, for it is God who draws the congregation to the pastor, IT IS HIS House! This is a
tough message, but we're in tough times, and it's only going to get worse.

I am not really saying anything new, when you look back through history, and look into the reasons for this or that civilization to fall. When
you consider our morals and justice, and see exactly where we stand in reference to God's Word, the comparison between the Roman civilization
of 400AD and our civilization are incredibly close, especially in licentiousness, state of decay and commutable diseases. When a society stops
caring for it's fellow citizens, has no need of family or family issues, when a society turns and allows its own rights to self govern, and the rights
of its families are relegated to anyone other than the family proper, when common decency doesn't matter, and decisions are based more on the
'political correctness' of an issue; We have failed! We have taken our eyes OFF of the author and finisher of our faith (whether you can say
FAITH even exist anymore because of the climate of the people of this nation), and are becoming dangerously close to being thrust from His
presence, just as our brothers, the people of Israel. I have even heard our own people saying, "We don't need that book (the Bible) anymore, it's
just a collection of 'good' stories." "You Christians, you're just a minority in today's society!"

That may or may not be the case, but if you will allow me to point out some pertinent notations; IF we are a Christian nation (last poll I saw
was 86%), why then do we even question abortion issues, why do we have so many homeless, why do we have a problem with marriage (as to
being between a man and a woman), why is the Church without the POWER God gave it, why it is so hard to decide which candidate we vote
for, why is sexual exploitation and pornographic exhibitions so rampant, why are the most popular television sitcoms crass, crude and vulgar,
why is there any debate on removing 'In God We Trust' and 'One Nation Under God' from our money or Pledge of Allegiance, why then is there
any debate in any matter of removing God from the basis of this nation?

God did show me a cause and effect, but to show you what He showed me, I have to take you to His Word, the Bible. He showed me Solomon,
King of Israel, King David's son, touted as the 'wisest man' in the whole world. 1 Kings 11:1-4 'King Solomon, however, loved many foreign
women besides Pharaoh's daughter--Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD
had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods." Nevertheless, Solomon
held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. As Solomon
grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father
had been.'

How does that apply to us living in the United States, which is a melting pot of nationalities in the first place. I want you to go out into your
community and ask this simple question, "Are you an American?" More than likely, the answer that you'll receive is, "I'm a ____ -American",
denoting some other ethnic group (ie, Afro-American, Mexican-American, Japanese-American and so on), thinking it 'politically correct' to
label themselves after another country from which their ancestry may have come from. I don't have nothing against anyone from a foreign
country, but I guess if you are going to use the standard of 'Political Correctness' in its full and immutable manner, their reply would then be
saying that they are some form of 'Naturalized' citizen. A NATURALIZED CITIZEN - is One who, being born an alien, has lawfully become a
citizen of the United States Under the constitution and laws. Likewise, A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN - is One who was born in the United
States of America, or its territories or of citizens of the US abroad. Thus, I guess the correct answer to the question, "Are you an American?"
when asked of a person born here would "Yes, I am an American", not "Yes I'm a ___ -American", unless of course, the person is a naturalized
citizen.

I beleaguered the point or pointlessness of the question to point out the inevitable; 'they will surely turn your hearts after their gods', and 'As
Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God.' If we, who are born in
this nation, cannot decide in our hearts whether WE ARE CITIZENS of this nation, but instead want to claim some allegiance to some other
foreign country, as a naturalized citizens would, WE MUST BE CONFUSED! I guess that would also solve our question as to marriage also,
OUR SEXUAL ORIGIN MUST BE IN A REAL STATE OF CONFUSION. Actually, because of our confusion, or lack of understanding who
we are, or multitudes of 'foreign brides' born here, the American manifest destiny has been conceded, diluted, and compromised to a point that
it is no longer recognizable. We as Americans no longer have the rights associated with our manifest destiny, which are:

In our attempt of being 'Politically correct' when dealing with the influx of foreign nationalities and their beliefs within our communities, our
gracious attempt at making their transformation from whence they came to the radical changes of America, WE lost our first love! and our
hearts are not fully devoted to the LORD our God, or the Union for which we stand! We lost our first love because they have surely turned our
hearts because of their gods. With our bending over backwards to please the foreigners, we have forgotten our own people and selves.
Instructions are written in four different languages, telephone services answer 'Press 1 to listen in English', our holidays are no longer Holy
days (nor respected for what they stand for - because we're too confused to know what they're all about any more), and our Holy Days are listed
as seasonal breaks so that we won't insult, embarrass, or injure any of the foreigners in their beliefs. Our voting booths have several different
dialects of foreign languages posted in them, Our 'Elected' officials consider themselves as professionals, even to the point of gods over their
puny subjects, rather than being representatives of voters. Their ears are attuned to the paid lobbyist's agenda moreover, than to what is really
beneficial, essential, and necessary.

We can no longer continue on this same course of action and remain the same as we were. What must we do? REPENT! If my people, who are
called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land. He has showed you, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? But to act justly and to
love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and
widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. We must pick up that silly old book called the Bible, read it daily,
apply it to our lives daily, and live it daily, in ALL of our interactions with all we cone into contact with.