God's
Core Values
Elder
Roger D. Reed
Pastor
- Walnut Creek Baptist Church
Centerburg,
Ohio
A Visitor From The
Past
I had
a dream the other night, I didn't understand.
A figure walking through the mist, with flintlock in his hand.
His clothes were torn and dirty, as he stood there by my bed.
He took off his three cornered hat, and speaking low he said:
We fought a revolution, to secure our liberty.
We wrote the Constitution, as a shield from tyranny,
For future generations, this legacy we gave,
In this, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The freedom we secured for you, we hoped you’d always keep.
But tyrants labored endlessly, while your parents were asleep.
Your freedom gone, your courage lost, you're no more than a slave,
In this, the land of the free and the home of the brave.
You buy permits to travel, and permits to own a gun,
Permits to start a business, or to build a place for one.
On land that you believe you own, you pay a yearly rent,
Although you have no voice, in choosing how the money's spent.
You children must attend a school that doesn't educate.
Your Christian values can't be taught, according to the state.
You read about current news, in a regulated press.
You pay a tax you do not owe, to please the IRS.
Your money is no longer made of silver and of gold.
You trade your wealth for paper, so your life can be controlled.
You pay for crimes that make our nation turn from God in shame.
You've taken Satan's number, as you've traded in your name.
You've given government control to those who do you harm,
So they can padlock the churches, and steal the family farm,
And keep the country deep in debt, put men of God in jail,
Harass your fellow countrymen, while corrupt courts prevail.
Your public servants don't uphold the solemn oath they've sworn.
Your daughters visit doctors so their children won't be born.
Your leaders ship artillery and guns to foreign shores,
And send your sons to slaughter, fighting other people's wars.
Can you regain freedom for which we fought and died?
Or don't you have the courage or the faith to stand with pride.
Are there no more values for which you'll fight to save?
Or do wish your children to live in fear and be a slave?
"Sons of the Republic, arise and take a stand!
Defend the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land!
Preserve our great republic and each God-given right,
And pray to God to keep the torch of freedom burning bright!"
As I awoke he vanished, in the mist from which he came.
His words were true, and we are not free. We have ourselves to blame.
For even now as tyrants trample each God-given right,
We only watch and tremble, too afraid to stand and fight.
If he stood by your bedside, in a dream while you're asleep,
And wondered what remains of our rights he fought to keep,
What would be your answer, if he called out from the grave?
Is this still the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?
Something to think about!
Credit Given to
Author, Unknown 1999?
Before
I continue this article I want you first to know, I love America, and I
love our Flag, and
for those of you who
do not, I would ask you to leave, yes that's right, leave America. We are
not
keeping you here.
If you believe in burning, and urinating on the American Flag, you must
hate
America. Please, LEAVE!
My son is a Sergeant in the United States Army, and his mother and I are
very proud of him and
all men and women
that are in all branches of the Military. I remember when we went to Fort
Sill, Oklahoma to
see him graduate from basic training, it was the proudest day of my life.
But it
was also the scariest,
for you see all those men and women who pledged themselves to the
President of the United
States, whatever he said, were bound by an oath to obey. I asked my son
if he realized what
he had just done, and shared my concern of what I heard them say. He knew
what I meant, and
he assured me not to worry, and I knew what he meant, and we walked away
understanding each
other. I hope you the reader also understand.
I never was in the Military but I came very close. I was only 19 years
old and just five months
earlier had married
my high school sweetheart. In April 1971, I received a letter from Uncle
Sam
requesting my presence
at the Fort in Columbus, Ohio to take my physical for the Military. I
went, was scared to
death, passed the physical, and cried all the way home, for I was on my
way
to Vietnam. I was
in that Lottery deal and my number was up. But the Lord intervened and
the
draft was stopped,
and I was spared the whole ordeal. But I was proud of those who did go
and
those who died. I
would have gone if they had drafted me; I never ran away from my duty as
an
American. I wished
I could have had the experience in the Military, I just wasn't crazy about
going to Vietnam,
and I'm sure neither was anyone else. I believe every young man and woman
should experience
Military life when they get out of high school and before they go to college.
I
believe it molds character
and maturity; it has done wonders for our son. Let me make this statement: During the Vietnam War it took 10 years to
kill 59, 000 Americans,
and during those ten
years people rioted in the streets and burnt and urinated on the American
flag, and called our
loyal GIs baby killers. Listen, drunk drivers kill over 50,000 Americans
every
24 months and I don't
see people burning their cars or urinating on them and calling them baby
killers. Drunk drivers
have killed more babies than all our wars put together; it is time we draw
the line and say,
"enough is enough." Let me say it again, I LOVE AMERICA, and I'm proud
to be
an American. May God
continue to bless the U.S.A. and keep America free!!!
(Deuteronomy
6:1-15) Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and
the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye
might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: {2} That thou mightest
fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which
I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy
life; and that thy days may be prolonged. {3} Hear therefore, O Israel,
and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase
mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land
that floweth with milk and honey. {4} Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God
is one LORD: {5} And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. {6} And these words, which
I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: {7} And thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest
in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up. {8} And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. {9} And thou shalt
write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. {10} And it shall
be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he
sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee
great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, {11} And houses full
of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou
diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when
thou shalt have eaten and be full; {12} Then beware lest thou forget the
LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house
of bondage. {13} Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt
swear by his name. {14} Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of
the people which are round about you; {15} (For the LORD thy God is a jealous
God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee,
and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
I have
read where a successful advertising agency has inscribed these following
words on the floor of a
rotunda in its headquarters:
Community, Integrity, Restlessness, Freedom and Responsibility, Curiosity
and Winning.
As employees pass by, they are reminded of the company's core values.
It has become common for businesses to display their central beliefs in
prominent places. I work
in a graphics department
and my main job is to make posters and signs to be put up all over the
plant. Our Plant Manager
is a believer in visual aids to make us aware of our goals and values.
One of the major issues
is safety. The plant is very strict about our safety practices. One of
the
signs I have made
is "Take Two For Safety", meaning take two extra minutes to evaluate the
job
to be done, so it
will be done safely. Everywhere in our world we see signs, billboards,
and TV
commercials. But this
is not a new idea.
At a critical time when God's people moved from the desert wandering into
the Promised Land,
the Lord charged them
to take His core values and demonstrate them in a variety of ways: "You
shall teach them
diligently to your children, and shall talk of them … You shall bind them
as a
sign on your hand
… Write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates"(Deuteronomy
6:7-9).
Do
you see what it says parents? Teach them to your children. Oh, how much
neglect has been
done to our children
over the past 50 to 60 years. We have left the teaching of our children
to
the unsaved educators
of this world and look at the problems our youth are facing today. I
remember when my son
was in the first or second grade, he came home from school one day
and told me what his
teacher had said. I can't remember exactly what the conversation was
about but "his teacher
said", and I remember being in disagreement with what "she said". But it
didn't matter to my
son what "I said", all he would keep saying was "but Dad, my teacher said".
So God had a reason
to tell us to teach His values to our children.
Do you realize as a parent how far things have gone? You can't even discipline
your child
anymore without someone
calling the law on you. To give you an example of this my wife and I
went to visit our
son and grandsons at Fort Drum, NY. While we were there we all went to
the PX
to buy a few things.
My son turned to me and said, "Dad, whatever you do, do not lay a hand
on
these boys". When
I asked why, he said "Because it is forbidden to lay a hand on any child
on
base; they will put
me in jail." Needless to say I wasn't too happy. I have always been a strong
disciplinarian, I
take God's Core Values to heart. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:15
"Foolishness
is bound in the
heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
Now,
you tell me what that
means? I don't have to read anything into that to understand it; it means
what it says. It doesn't
mean to give a child a time out, maybe a knock out. Now don't
misunderstand me;
I believe that a parent should never discipline their child out of anger.
Go
run around the block
if you're angry; you should never be angry when you're about to apply the
rod of correction
to a child's backside. God says foolishness is in the heart of a child
and He said
the rod will get it
out. Parents, listen to God, and not to Dr. Spock or any other worldly
child
educator or psychologist.
Listen, when I went to spank my children they would always say
"wait … wait Dad,
lets talk about this." So I would give them the opportunity to speak their
peace
and present their
side of the story. But most of the time it came down to "What are the Rules?"
They knew them, and
they knew the punishment for breaking those rules. Let me ask the
reader this, if whipping
my children was so wrong, please explain why, when I was done they
would throw their
arms around me, and tell me, "I love you Daddy"! Can you explain that?
I can,
it is called being
obedient to God's Core Values. If only all parents would follow them. I'll
be the
first to admit, it
doesn't make them perfect children. But now that they are older, they thank
me
for caring enough
to teach them right from wrong, even though I sometimes feel as though
I've
failed in many ways.
Maybe it was because it was my first time being a parent? But trust me,
I
don't want a second
try.
I would love to go in front of a Judge with this issue. 1) It is my God
given right as a parent, 2) it
is my Biblical and
Christian principle, and 3) it is my freedom as an American. To tell me
I can't
discipline my children
is discriminating against my religious beliefs.
"And shall talk of them" Where? Everywhere, at home, on our jobs,
to your children, to your
wife, to those you
work with, to everyone you meet. "And thou shalt bind them for a sign
upon
thine hand, and
they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." The Jews had a wooden
box
that had a metal cylinder
in it, and in that metal cylinder they would literally enclose written
portions of the law
called phylacteries, and bound them on their hands and foreheads (Matthew
23:5). "And
thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."
The Jews
also took this very
literally. Today, the lost world wants to remove God's word from the posts,
houses, and gates.
Our own government no longer wants it on public display. Stop and think
for
a minute. Our forefathers
started this country on godly principles and the faith that God was for
and with them. Many
were God fearing men. They wrote His word on public buildings for all to
see. What would they
think of our government today, or if we told them we could no longer pray
at public gatherings,
or say the pledge of allegiance in our schools to the flag that they fought
and died so bravely
under? What would they think of us today, sad … so sad that we have fallen
so far away from God
and His Core Values?
How would it revolutionize your life, for example, if you viewed the Ten
Commandments (Exodus
20:1-17) as
God's Core Values? Show the character traits of loyalty to God (v.3), faithfulness
in
marriage (v. 14),
and honesty (vv. 15-16). What would happen if they became the principles
that
guide your thinking
and actions? Let me ask you, just what are your duties? "Let us hear
the
conclusion of the
whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the
whole duty of man."
(Ecclesiastes 12:13). In your heart, home, and workplace, put God's
Core
Values on public display.
You might ask why we should. Here is why I believe we should; in
Psalm 119:11 the Psalmist
writes: "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin
against thee."
God has commanded us this day to put his words in our hearts (Deuteronomy
6:6). Pretty
good reasons, don't you think? Not only in our hearts but everywhere!
God's core values are so plain,
We should ever teach and train
Others to obey His law,
Bow and worship Him in awe. -Hess
CORE VALUES ARE OF KNOW VALUE
UNLESS THEY REFLECT GOD'S VALUES.
In closing I wish to share this prayer that was written by a teen in Bagdad,
Arizona. This is quit
incredible and stirring
to the heart!!!
Now I sit me down in school
Where praying is against the rule
For this great nation under God
Finds mention of Him very odd.
If Scripture now the class recites,
It violates the Bill of Rights.
And any time my head I bow
Becomes a Federal matter now.
Our hair can be purple, orange, or green,
That's no offense; it's the freedom scene.
The law is specific, the law is precise.
Prayers spoken aloud are a serious vice.
For praying in a public hall
Might offend someone with no faith at all.
In silence alone we must meditate,
God's name is prohibited against the state.
We're aloud to curse and dress like freaks,
And pierce our noses, tongues and checks.
They've outlawed guns, but FIRST the Bible.
To quote the Good Book makes me liable.
We can elect a pregnant Senior Queen,
And the ‘unwed daddy’, our Senior King.
It's "inappropriate" to teach right from wrong,
We're taught that such "judgments" do not belong.
We can get our condoms and birth controls,
Study witchcraft, vampires and totem poles,
But the Ten Commandments are not allowed,
No word of God must reach this crowd.
It's scary here I must confess,
When chaos reigns the school's a mess.
So, Lord, this silent plea I make:
Should I be shot; My soul please take!
Amen
This poem was posted on the Bagdad Public Bulletin Board on 1/28/2000.
I can only say, God help
our children, and
God give us the courage to stand and fight for our God given rights and
to
protect our children
from the lawlessness that is in our land today. God Bless America!
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