N O T P O L I T I C A L : Just plain B I B L E !!!!!!!
*This apparently originated with a Baptist minister in
Virginia. I think it speaks volumes about where we are
today. Please read with an open mind*.
Gen 47: 13-27 - Good morning, brothers and sisters;
it's always a delight to see the pews crowded on Sunday
morning, and so eager to get into God's Word. Turn with
me in your Bibles, if you will, to the 47th chapter of
Genesis; we'll begin our reading at verse 13, and go
through verse 27. Brother Ray, would you stand and read
that great passage for us?
... Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray. So
we see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt, and the
people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with
this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain
harvest, and placed the grain in great storehouses that
he had built. So the people brought their money to
Pharaoh, like a great tax increase, and gave it all to
him willingly in return for grain. And this went on
until their money ran out, and they were hungry again.
So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought
their livestock - their cattle, their horses, their
sheep, and their donkey - to barter for grain, and verse
17 says that only took them through the end of that
year. But the famine wasn't over, was it?
So the next year, the people came before Pharaoh and
admitted they had nothing left, except their land and
their own lives. "There is nothing left in the sight of
my lord but our bodies and our land. Why should we die
before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our
land for food, and we with our land will be servants to
Pharaoh." So they surrendered their homes, their land,
and their real estate to Pharaoh's government, and then
sold themselves into slavery to him, in return for grain..
What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters?
**That turning to the government instead of to God to
be our provider in hard times only leads to slavery?
Yes. That the only reason government wants to be our
provider is to also become our master? Yes.***
*
But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters!
"Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land
of Goshen . And they gained possessions in it, and were
fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His
people, just as He always has! They didn't end up
giving all their possessions to the government, no, it
says they gained possessions!
But I also tell you a great truth today, and an
ominous one. We see the same thing happening today -
**the government today wants to "share the wealth" once
again, to take it from us and redistribute it back to us.***
*
It wants to take control of healthcare, just as it
has taken control of education, and ration it back to
us, and when government rations it, then government
decides who gets it, and how much, and what kind.
**And if we go along with it, and do it willingly,
then we will wind up no differently than the people of
Egypt did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the
government, and as slaves to our leaders.***
*
**What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no
different from what Pharaoh's government did then, and
it will end the same..***
*
And a lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a
"Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah, a savior?
Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made them his
slaves, "You have saved our lives; may it please my
lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"?
Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the
Messiah is a friend of mine; and
**Mr. Obama is no Messiah!** No, brothers and sisters,
if Mr. Obama is a character from the Bible, then **he is
Pharaoh.***
*
Bow with me in prayer, if you will.
** Lord, **You alone are worthy to be served, and we
rely on You, and You alone. We confess that the
government is not our deliverer, and never rightly will
be. We read in the eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when
Samuel warned the people of what a ruler would do, where
it says "And in that day you will cry out because of
your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the
LORD will not answer you in that day." And Lord, we
acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to you
because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves
as a nation..
** Lord,** we pray for this nation. We pray for
revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who
would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and
hands to serve You, and protect Your people from the
atrocities of Pharaoh's government.
In God we Trust
