Excerpt from R.L. Dabney's "The Duty of the Hour"

I am not from the South, but Robert Lewis Dabney's stirring words in this excerpt from his speech "The Duty of the Hour" are applicable and helpful for any Christian individual or Christian people enduring, yet striving to overcome (conquer), tyranny and institutional evil.

"Divine Providence often makes the furnace of persecution the place of cleansing for individual saints. Why may it not be so for a Christian people? Why may not a race of men come forth from their trials, like the gold seven times refined in the fire, with their pride chastened, and yet their virtues purified? This can be from the only cause which sanctifies the sufferings of the Christian, the inworkings of the grace of God. Nothing is more true than that the natural effect of mere pain is not to purify, but to harden the sinful heart of man, exasperating at once its evils and its miseries. The cleansing Word and Spirit of God alone interpret its sufferings to it and convert them into healthful medicines of its faults. So it is the power of true Christianity, and that alone, which can minister to us as a people the wholesome uses of adversity. The salvation of the life of the Southern society must be found by taking the Word of God as our constant guide. But it may be asked: To what course of action should this spirit of unyielding integrity prompt us? The answer from those infallible oracles is easy. While you refrain from the suggestion of revenge and despair, and give place as of necessity to inexorable force, resolve to abate nothing, to concede nothing of righteous conviction. Truckle to no falsehood and conceal no true principle; but ever assert the right with such means of endurance, self-sacrifice and passive fortitude as the dispensation of Providence has left you. If wholesale wrongs must be perpetrated, if wholesale rights must be trampled on, let our assailants do the whole work and incur the whole guilt. Resolve that no losses, nor threats, nor penalties, shall ever make you yield one jot or tittle of the true or just in principle, or submit to personal dishonor."
 

The Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness Without Works Proved and Asserted by John Gill

The Works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein

.—PSALM 111:2

Even as David also describeth the Blessedness of the Man unto whom God imputeth Righteousness without Works

.—ROMANS 4:6

---

This Epistle is written on purpose to state, explain, and vindicate, the doctrine of a sinner's justification before God, by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. In order to which, the Apostle takes up his two first chapters, and part of the third, in proving, that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin, that they have by sinning broke the law of God, and so are become liable to its curses and condemnation, and therefore cannot be justified in the sight of God, by their obedience to it; and then strongly and justly concludes, that a man is justified by faith, in the imputed righteousness of Christ, without the deeds of the law. This doctrine he confirms in the beginning of this chapter, by instances of two of the greatest men, for religion and godliness, that ever were in the Jewish nation. The one is Abraham, who was the friend of God, and the father of the faithful, and yet he was not justified before God by his works; for what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness, in verse 3. The other is David, a man after God's own heart, raised up by the Lord to fulfill all his will. Who yet was so far from trusting to, or depending upon his own righteousness, for justification, that he wholly places the happiness of men, and so unquestionably his own, in a righteousness imputed to him by God, without works, as in the words I have read unto you. In speaking to which, I shall,

I. Inquire what that righteousness is, which God imputes to his people for justification.

II. What is meant by an imputation of it.

III. The manner in which it is imputed to them without works.

IV. The blessedness of those persons, who have it thus imputed to them.

 

READ MORE...

 

The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men by John Witherspoon

For those of my brethren who are longing to hear a pastor give a political sermon from his pulpit, but find none to be heard--only treatises on the heart's piety (though nothing at all of the issues of life which spring from it)--I present this link to a political sermon given by John Witherspoon in 19976, entitled, The Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men. John Witherspoon's Biblical text is:

Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Psalm 76:10

There is not a greater evidence either of the reality or the power of religion, than a firm belief of God's universal presence, and a constant attention to the influence and operation of his providence. It is by this means that the Christian may be said, in the emphatical scripture language, "to walk with God, and to endure as seeing him who is invisible."

The doctrine of divine providence is very full and complete in the sacred oracles. It extends not only to things which we may think of great moment, and therefore worthy of notice, but to things the most indifferent and inconsiderable; "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing," says our Lord, "and one of them falleth not to the ground without your heavenly Father"; nay, "the very hairs of your head are all numbered.["] It extends not only to things beneficial and salutary, or to the direction and assistance of those who are the servants of the living God; but to things seemingly most hurtful and destructive, and to persons the most refractory and disobedient. He overrules all his creatures, and all their actions. Thus we are told, that "fire, hail, snow, vapour, and stormy wind, fulfil his word," in the course of nature; and even so the most impetuous and disorderly passions of men, that are under no restraint from themselves, are yet perfectly subject to the dominion of Jehovah. They carry his commission, they obey his orders, they are limited and restrained by his authority, and they conspire with every thing else in promoting his glory. There is the greater need to take notice of this, that men are not generally sufficiently aware of the distinction between the law of God and his purpose; they are apt to suppose, that as the temper of the sinner is contrary to the one, so the outrages of the sinner are able to defeat the other; than which nothing can be more false. The truth is plainly asserted, and nobly expressed by the psalmist in the text, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." READ MORE

Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? by Greg Bahnsen on YouTube

Dr. Greg Bahnsen warns against evangelical compromise with Roman Catholicism. He preached this message (uploaded in 6 parts) in Jackson, Mississippi, just across the Mississippi river from Monroe, Louisiana, where the Auburn Avenue / Federal Vision march back to Rome publicly took place less than seven years after Dr. Bahnsen's death. Perhaps Dr. Bahnsen knew where some of his friends were heading and sought to warn them in this message.

As you can hear on these audios, Dr. Bahnsen passionately defended the true Biblical gospel and found the Roman perversion of that precious gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ abhorrent. I am firmly convinced that Dr. Bahnsen would have repudiated this Federal Vision heresy (departure from Biblical orthodoxy) had he been alive to witness it.

I am glad he did not witness it, as many friends and even his own son have followed this path to apostasy. May these men repent and return to the pure Biblical gospel of life.


Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? Part 1
http://youtu.be/avgAgyweSOM

Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? Part 2
http://youtu.be/1d2zqr794HY

Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? Part 3
http://youtu.be/zyQSRMz7u6k

Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? Part 4
http://youtu.be/fwo19N2Xsns

Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? Part 5
http://youtu.be/KlhhXw9kNO4

Road to Rome: Was the Reformation Justified? Part 6
http://youtu.be/g8jVZrW788o

"A Warning to Professing Christians" by Albert N. Martin

Not all who profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ have been regenerated and saved.

This nation (the USA) is professedly 76% to 80% Christian (Source). This is patently false, or else we would have a Christian society, in that 76% to 80% of the people in the United States would be repenting of our sin and serving Christ and doing His will according to His law, not ashamed of His words (Mark 8:38).

MANY alive today in the United States who profess to be Christian will hear the Lord Jesus Christ say to them, "Depart from Me. I never knew you." (Matt. 7:23)

A faith so-called that is anti-nomian and does not produce godly works (as defined by God in His Bible) is not a saving, living faith, but rather a dead devil's faith (James Chapter 2).

A moving--and convicting--sermon via SermonAudio from Albert N. Martin:

An evangelistic warning to all professing Christians from Matthew 7:21.

A profession of attachment to Jesus Christ is a necessary part of true and saving religion but the mere profession of attachment to Christ is no proof of true and saving religion.

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
 

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=101803153426

For the Lord God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. (Isa. 50:7)

Wise as Serpents, Harmless as Doves in the Political Sphere?

William O. Einwechter offers some Biblical guidance for Christians to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves as applied to the civil and political sphere:

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16).

The current climate for the participation of faithful Christians in politics is anything but congenial. It seems as though all overt attempts to express or implement biblical standards in the civil sphere, whether by citizens or by elected officials, are met with scorn, hostility, and outlandish charges of fomenting intolerance and hate. This has not always been the case here in America where a strong Christian heritage and influence made Christianity and the Bible central, respected aspects of the political sphere. But as the nation has slid increasingly into the abyss of secularism and humanism, those who confess Christ and seek to promote Christian principles of civil government are considered a public nuisance, fit only for ridicule and extirpation.

Where in the Bible can Christians find guidance for effective political participation in such an atmosphere as this? One place is found in Jesus’ counsel to his disciples in Matthew 10:16.

READ MORE

Do We Live in a Communist Nation?

These are the 10 planks of the communist agenda (taken from Chapter 2 of Marx and Engels' "Communist Manifesto": http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/c... ):

1.  Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2.  A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3.  Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4.  Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5.  Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6.  Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7.  Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8.  Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9.  Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c. [Marx and Engels also called for "Abolition of the family."]

Marx and Engels also explicity rejected "eternal truths" and "bourgeois" Christianity in their "Communist Manifesto."

Which of these 10 planks of Commuism do the Republicans or the Democrats disagree with? The answer is none.

In fact, both parties specifically torpedo candidates who oppose these points of Communism.

We currently live in a Communist country. Both the Republicans and Democrats like Communism and seek to defend it. They simply disagree on how to implement the statist socialism. After all, the National Socialists (fascist Nazis) and the Marxist Communists hated each other; but, the bottom line is that both are statist socialists.

In this country, we currently have, respective to the 10 points of Communism above:

1.  Zoning ordinances, National Park System (http://www.nps.gov/index.htm); rented socialistically ("publicly") owned lands for rent to private individuals. Property and sales taxes of all kinds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Property_tax_in_the_United_States).

2.  A progressive or graduated income tax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States.

3.  Inheritance and estate taxes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_tax_in_the_United_States); 55 % in 2013 (http://atr.org/dont-die-confiscatory-percent-death-tax-a7051). Also, Medicaid recipients' property is confiscated upon death (http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/estaterec.htm).

4.  Eminent domain and seizure of property by the state, to become property of the state, especially if deemed by the state as owned by "extremist," "domestic terrorists," or anti-statist groups, (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cssn/expansion/infosheets/eminentdomain.pdf ; http://www.seizedpropertyauctions.com/ ; (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege) ;or even just pro-life groups(http://www.christianliferesources.com/news/vaapcon-troversy-fbi-database-of-pro-lifers-exposed-766 ; http://start.umd.edu/start/publications/research_briefs/LaFree_Bersani_HotSpotsOfUSTerrorism.pdf).

5.  An exclusive monopoly on legal tender and central control of the money supply and all banks by the nationalistic Federal Reserve (http://www.federalreserve.gov/).

6.  FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/) and FAA (http://www.faa.gov/), exclusive domain and control of transportion infrastructure under the federal Department of Transportation (http://www.dot.gov/). Virtually all commerical airports in the United States are owned by state and federal governments.

7.  Through pervasive laws, rules, acts, regulations and regulatory agencies, means of production (including families' homes) are strictly controlled by the state. USDA (http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome). Another way of doing this is via tyrannical environmental regulations. http://www.epa.gov/

8.  Department of Labor (http://www.dol.gov/) and Labor unions (industrial armies), including United Farm Workers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Farm_Workers); various federally mandated Labor Acts

9.  USDA Rural Development (http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/Home.html); USDA Farm Service http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=landing&topic=landing; Growth Management Acts and Land Conservation Acts (generally by state. internet search: [your state] "growth management"; this amusing site reviews GMAs from 8 states and concludes they didn't work very well. Their solution? more statism: http://www.vapreservation.org/growth/state.htm); farm subsidies (http://farm.ewg.org/)

10. Department of Education (http://www.ed.gov/) and the premier national Communist schooling union: http://www.nea.org/


I believe that the question before us is not: Do we vote for the Republican statist socialist or the Democrat statist socialist?

But rather, how may we reject statist socialism and rebuild our country after a Biblical, anti-Communist, civil government model?


See also:
http://www.criminalgovernment.com/docs/planks.html

and

http://laissez-fairerepublic.com/tenplanks.html

___
This post is adapted from my comments on this news article on American Vision News:
http://americanvisionnews.com/4478/brietbart-gop-is-ignoring-the-tea-party




Detroit, MI, USA