Aug
29
Written by:
Bob Flynn
8/29/2009 4:59 AM
In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? (Dr. Benjamin Franklin, LL. D.)
Prayer is the weapon of warfare given to the church so that we might prevail against the enemies unseen! Prayer may bring victory, healing, encouragement, or a change of heart. However, as practiced in our nation, prayer has become the weapon of last resort. When all else fails, pray. How sad an epitaph for a nation that was born on the heels of a great awakening. Yet by the time of the Constitutional Convention, the awakening had long since been dead. The embers of the fire that burned so brightly were kindled afresh briefly by Dr. Benjamin Franklin when he rose as said:
“Mr. President—The slow progress we have made, after four or five weeks’ close attendance and continual reasoning with each other—our different sentiments on almost every question, several of the last producing as many nays as yeas—is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of human understanding. We indeed seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient history for models of government, and examined the different forms of those republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their own dissolution, now no longer exist. And we have viewed modern states all round Europe, but find none of their constitutions suitable to our circumstances.
In this situation of this assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding? In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?
I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘Except the Lord build the house they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves become a reproach and byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate circumstance, despair of establishing governments by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” (The Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States; Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. and http://www.house.gov/forbes/prayer/prayerincongress.htm)
Dr. Benjamin Franklin, LL.D. is known to have held many unorthodox religious views throughout his life. However, his quotation of Psalm 127 and overt statement that “God governs in the affairs of men,” and his paraphrase of the Savior’s words from Matthew 10:29, leads me to believe that his faith journey had arrived and his beliefs had matured to the point where he believed in more that some impersonal, far-away God. Rather, his assertions were to the contrary that the Lord Jesus Christ intervenes in the affairs of men. If you consider the fact that he was a financial supporter of George Whitfield who was one of the men God used to preach during the awakening, one might conclude that the message of Christ’s Gospel may have traveled from George’s lips to Benjamin’s heart.
Now let us consider the strategic plan of the enemy:
“I am convinced that the battle for humankind’s future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as the proselytizers of a new faith; a religion of humanity that recognizes and respects the spark of what theologians call divinity in every human being. These teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level—preschool day care or large state university. The classroom must and will become an arena of conflict between the old and the new—the rotting corpse of Christianity, together with all its adjacent evils and misery, and the new faith of humanism, resplendent in its promise of a world in which the never-realized Christian ideal of ‘love thy neighbor’ will be finally achieved.” (John J. Dunphy, “A Religion for a New Age,” The Humanist (January/February 1983), 26)
Deception has overtaken our nation as it has with the countless souls since the beginning when our first parents fell from their paradisiacal estate and now in this present age we are viewed, by those who remain lost in their sin, as a “rotting corpse” and justifiably so. Jesus warned us of a day when the church would be deceived and reminded us to “Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness” (Luke 11:35 NLT) or “And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” (Matthew 6:23b NLT) . It is my humble opinion that we, like Lot, have been deeply affected by the world (Satanic system) around us. I think we have reached the place where the desperation cry of our heart ought to be for our deliverance from this bondage wherein we find ourselves. On every front we see the failings of our human nature appearing. Whether it is the “melancholy proof of the imperfection of human understanding” or the “want of political wisdom, we find our institutions crumbling and our families failing. Are we not also “groping as it were in the dark” for the truth only to be “scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us?” Should we not then consider “how has it happened, sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understanding?” Or will we continue to wage this eternal war in the power of the flesh while crouching in the ditch of arrogance and lobbing grenades over the “Highway of Holiness” toward our brothers and sisters crouching in the ditch of passivity thus declaring that none of us walk in a way worthy of our calling and continually being “divided by our little, partial, local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves become a reproach and byword down to future ages.”
Because September 12th has already been set aside as the AMCF Day of Prayer, and because representatives of the North American Region of the AMCF while joined together, after the recent “Helping Military Families Conference,” in petitions at the Throne Room of Grace felt led to encourage our brother and sisters to dedicate themselves to prayer and fasting for our militaries, for our nations, both here in North America and around the world, I urge you therefore by the mercies of Christ to let Saturday, September 12th find you gathered together with the saints in all humility confessing the sins of our nations and beseeching the Father of Lights for His forgiveness and mercy for the sake of Christ by the virtue of the sufficiency of His sacrifice.
Yours in Christ,
Bob
Robert W. Flynn
President/CEO
Christian Military Fellowship
Copyright ©2009 Robert Flynn