Both Feet Firmly Planted
Joshua 24:15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
This morning I woke up to what the news is calling, “An historic day in America”. Today, within the USA, the Supreme Court misinterpreted our Constitution in what amounts to a judicial overreach provided within this core document of the United States.
Need I remind us as Americans that the whole reason our Country was founded was to evade a state-run tyrannical religion that imposed it’s interpretation of religious beliefs upon the people within it’s borders. Therefore, our founding fathers including William Bradford and those that followed, broke away from this tyranny to be able to worship God in the manner that He, not the state, describes.
Within this new Country, we developed documents and laws around the idea of protecting us from another such onslaught. William Blackstone, the man whom many claim to be the architect of many of America’s legal principles stated, “As man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should, in all points, conform to his Maker's will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature. This law of nature, dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority from this original. Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.” (William Blackstone “Commentaries On Law”, 1723-1780)
It appears that our elected and judicial leaders have forgotten, or ignored, or are just plain ignorant of where we have come from. To them, Abraham Lincoln issued a stern advanced warning, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (Abraham Lincoln, “Proclomation Appointing A National Fasting Day”, 1863)
God Himself is the Author and Architect of marriage, and therefore is the only One Who may define it’s terms. Biblical marriage is rooted in God Himself, and it is an act of worship, not a “right” given by some government that is intoxicated with a false sense of empowerment that is not interested in true love at all, but rather self-aggrandizement.
A feigned mantra of “love” surrounds this topic, yet only a truly loving Person would warn a sinner about the impending judgment that accompanies a lifestyle of unrepentant sin. In fact, over two thousand years ago, such a Person, Jesus the Christ, came to warn people to, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And then, in an act of unprecedented love, went to the cross to be crucified for for the sins of mankind. Jesus Himself then said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:13-14) Let there be no mistake about it, obedience to God is a condition of those who would consider themselves “friends of God.”
Therefore, in love and sincerity, me and my house, my heart, my church, my marriage will serve the Lord Jesus Christ! For I have One Authority, and One Savior to whom I will give account on that great and glorious day, and to Him only will I pledge my allegiance and obedience now and forevermore.
Sincerely and with both feet planted firmly on the foundation which Jesus Himself has laid,
Frank L. Figueroa Jr.
Pastor of Waipio Grace Brethren Church
This morning I woke up to what the news is calling, “An historic day in America”. Today, within the USA, the Supreme Court misinterpreted our Constitution in what amounts to a judicial overreach provided within this core document of the United States.
Need I remind us as Americans that the whole reason our Country was founded was to evade a state-run tyrannical religion that imposed it’s interpretation of religious beliefs upon the people within it’s borders. Therefore, our founding fathers including William Bradford and those that followed, broke away from this tyranny to be able to worship God in the manner that He, not the state, describes.
Within this new Country, we developed documents and laws around the idea of protecting us from another such onslaught. William Blackstone, the man whom many claim to be the architect of many of America’s legal principles stated, “As man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should, in all points, conform to his Maker's will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature. This law of nature, dictated by God Himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority from this original. Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.” (William Blackstone “Commentaries On Law”, 1723-1780)
It appears that our elected and judicial leaders have forgotten, or ignored, or are just plain ignorant of where we have come from. To them, Abraham Lincoln issued a stern advanced warning, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (Abraham Lincoln, “Proclomation Appointing A National Fasting Day”, 1863)
God Himself is the Author and Architect of marriage, and therefore is the only One Who may define it’s terms. Biblical marriage is rooted in God Himself, and it is an act of worship, not a “right” given by some government that is intoxicated with a false sense of empowerment that is not interested in true love at all, but rather self-aggrandizement.
A feigned mantra of “love” surrounds this topic, yet only a truly loving Person would warn a sinner about the impending judgment that accompanies a lifestyle of unrepentant sin. In fact, over two thousand years ago, such a Person, Jesus the Christ, came to warn people to, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And then, in an act of unprecedented love, went to the cross to be crucified for for the sins of mankind. Jesus Himself then said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:13-14) Let there be no mistake about it, obedience to God is a condition of those who would consider themselves “friends of God.”
Therefore, in love and sincerity, me and my house, my heart, my church, my marriage will serve the Lord Jesus Christ! For I have One Authority, and One Savior to whom I will give account on that great and glorious day, and to Him only will I pledge my allegiance and obedience now and forevermore.
Sincerely and with both feet planted firmly on the foundation which Jesus Himself has laid,
Frank L. Figueroa Jr.
Pastor of Waipio Grace Brethren Church
Recent
Archive
2018
November
ThudFor Such A Time As ThisA Tale Of Two CrownsFamily Is Worth Fighting ForBoth Feet Firmly PlantedAre We Amazed?What Are We Waiting For?Are You For Real?!Envy MeAre We In A Living Church?Worship At ChristmasDoug\'s FingerprintsEmbrace The TrialGoodbye WorldAn Honest QuestionActs Completed . . . Or Are We?That Which Is Truly ImportantHome AgainPlacing Blame
Categories
no categories
No Comments