Storm Warning

Text: Psalm 83

Introduction:

  1. Recent weather related incidents
    1. Mudslides and storms in California
    2. Tornadoes in Florida
    3. The flooding in Albany, Georgia
    4. Dam breaking in Elba, Alabama
    5. Snowstorms in the north
  1. Hurricane Andrew in 1992
    1. 1st landfall at 11:00 PM on 8/23 in Bahamas and 4 people killed
    2. Hit Florida 4 hours later. Hit S. Florida at 4:00 AM
    3. 164 MPH winds w/ gusts off the scale
    4. 33 killed
    5. 63,000 homes destroyed
    6. $30 billion in damage
    7. Hit Louisiana 19 hours later
  1. The Enemies Attack (v. 1-4)
    1. Background is possibly 2 Chron. 20: Moab, Ammon, Edom
      1. Satan has always mounted an assault on God’s people
      2. Methods
        1. Physical attack
        2. Infiltration
    2. Attack Today
      1. Re-writing our Christian heritage
        1. Sam Donaldson saying that there were some "few Christians" when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution
          1. 1776 98% professed to be Protestant
          2. 1.8% Roman Catholic
          3. .2% Jewish
        2. Constitution of State of Delaware
          1. "I do profess faith in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost…and I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration."
        3. Today 85% claim to be Christian

          4. Quotes from early documents

          %First Charter of Virginia: "We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which, may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of His Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God, and may in time bring the Infidels and Savages, living in those Parts, to human Civility, and to a settled and quiet Government."

          %New England Confederation: "Whereas we all came into these parts of America with one and the same end and aim, namely, to advance the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ and to enjoy the liberties of the Gospel in purity with peace."

          B. Quotes from early founders

          %John Adams 2nd President: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

          %Patrick Henry: "I would only wish that I could leave my family my faith in Jesus Christ; for without that nothing else is worthwhile."

          %Earl Warren Chief Justice, (a liberal judge) in 1954: "I believe no one can read the history of our country without realizing that the Good Book and the spirit of the Savior have from the beginning been our guiding geniuses.¼ Whether we look to the first Charter of Virginia¼ or to the Charter of New England¼ or to the Charter of Massachusetts Bay¼ or to the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut¼ the same objective is present¼ a Christian land governed by Christian principles. I believe the entire Bill of Rights came into being because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the Bible and their belief in it: freedom of belief, of expression, of assembly, of petition, the dignity of the individual, the sanctity of the home, equal justice under law, and the reservation of powers to the people¼ I like to believe we are living today in the spirit of the Christian religion. I like also to believe that as long as we do so, no great harm can come to our country."

          %Ben Franklin, after the delegates writing the Constitution were struggling, rose and said, "In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for 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 favor¼ And have we now forgotten this 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 man.’ 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. 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 interest; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.

          "I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessings on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."

          %Honorable John Jay, chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1816: "Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty¼ of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers."

          %Justice William O. Douglas in 1892: "We are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being."

          %Abraham Lincoln: "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."

          %Theodore Roosevelt: "In this actual world, a churchless community, a community where men have abandoned and scoffed at, or ignored their religious needs, is a community on the rapid down-grade."

          %Calvin Coolidge, 13th President: "They were intent upon establishing a Christian commonwealth in accordance with the principle of self-government. They were an inspired body of men. It has been said that God sifted the nations that he might send choice grain into the wilderness¼ Who can fail to see it in the hand of Destiny? Who can doubt that it has been guided by a Divine Providence?"

          %George Washington: "No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency."

          C. Inscriptions on buildings

          %Inside the Capitol building in the rotunda is a picture of the Pilgrims leaving Holland on board the Speedwell. The chaplain, Brewster, has the Bible open on his lap. On the sail of the ship is the motto "In God We Trust, God With Us."

          %Engraved on the metal cap of the Washington Monument "Praise be to God."

          %Lining the walls of the Washington monument are these words: "In God We Trust; May heaven to this union continue its beneficence; God in Our Native Land; Search the Scriptures; Holiness to the Lord; Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it; Suffer the children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God."

          %Above the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are the Ten Commandments (though they are not allowed in the public schools).

          %Across from the President of the Senate (Vice President) are the words "In God We Trust."

          %Above the American flag behind the Speaker of the House inscribed in marble are the words "In God We Trust."

          %Library of Congress: "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God" "That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom; that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork." "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding."

          D. Tocqueville quote: "America is Great because America is good, If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

        4. Writing God out of our history
          1. Reed vs. van Hoven in 1965 unconstitutional to pray over meal out loud at a public school
          2. DeSpain v. DeKalb County Community School District 1967 unconstitutional to pray: "We thank you for the flowers so sweet;/ We thank you for the food we eat;/ We thank you for the birds that sing;/ We thank you for everything."
          3. Cities fight the ACLU to have manger scenes at Christmas
          4. No longer Christmas break, but Winter holidays
          5. No longer Easter break, but spring break
      2. Redefining the 1st Amendment
        1. "Wall of separation" is not in the Constitution
          1. comes from a letter Jefferson wrote to a Baptist congregation in Connecticut in 1802.
          2. Incorporated in Supreme Court decision in 1947 in Everson v. Board of Education by Justice Hugo Black.
          3. Prior to then it was not even a thought entertained
        2. One way wall preventing government from intruding on people’s religious right.
          1. It is not a two way street where people cannot practice their religion in public or where religious ideas cannot flourish in public.
          2. Consider what comes after the 1st Amendment. It also guarantees freedom of speech and of the press. Now, do we apply the "wall of separation" on them also? Of course not!
      3. Reconstructing our moral foundation
        1. Getting rid of absolutes
          1. Mao Tse Tung is as good as George Washington
          2. Tribal laws of the bushmen of Kalahari as significant as the Mayflower Compact
          3. "everyone" does what is right in his own eyes
        2. Dumbing down of education
          1. 25 million illiterates
          2. 2.5 million graduates who are functionally illiterate
          3. 5% of 17 year olds can read well enough to understand technical documents, literary essays, or works of history
          4. 6% could solve math problems with more than one step
          5. Compared to students in all other industrialized 19 nations we came in last or next to last in every category
          6. Self-esteem is more important than getting it right
          7. This makes it so that our kids can’t read well enough to know that they are being fed a bunch of malarkey
          8. Dr. Paul Blanchard, humanist educator said "Our schools may not teach Johnny to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is sixteen tends to lead toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high-school education, and this militates against Adam & Eve and all other myths of alleged history."
          9. In other words, they are learning how to be sexually promiscuous, violent, rude, ungrateful, self-centered, and academically stupid, but at least they won’t believe in God, right and wrong, morality, or any other "out-dated" notion.
  2. The Enemies Conspire (v. 5-8)
    1. God’s enemies have a common thread that unites them: Anti-God
      1. Bertrand Russell said when God is dispensed it "frees me up to pursue my erotic desires."
      2. Arabs are united in their hatred of Israel
    2. Today’s Wicked Confederacy
      1. Homosexuals
      2. Hollywood
      3. Education
      4. Abortionists
      5. Evolutionists
    3. Satan is the Prince and the Power of the air!
      1. American Bar Association
        1. "Expanding Use of Tort Law Against Religions"
        2. "Liability of Clergy as Spiritual Counselors"
        3. "Tort Law as an ideological Weapon"
      2. ACLU
        1. "It is our position that the teaching that monogamous, heterosexual intercourse within marriage is a traditional American value is an unconstitutional establishment of a religious doctrine in public schools."
        2. Sued Judge Roy in Alabama for displaying the 10 Commandments
      3. Government
        1. Welfare is nothing more than a way to control and exert power over a portion of the population
          1. Rather than eliminating poverty, they have created it
          2. Rather than helping the family, they are destroying it
          3. Rather than promoting excellence they are breeding mediocrity and worse
        2. Government, by denying God, usurps His place
  3. The Enemies Defeated (v. 9-12)
    1. Background: Judges 4:15-24
      1. Defeated Sisera and his 1900 chariots (v. 13)
      2. God did it with a storm (v. 19-23)
      3. Odds were against Israel
    2. God will destroy the wicked
      1. Heb. 9:11 "It is appointed unto man once…"
      2. Ps. 9:17: "The wicked will be turned into hell…"
      3. Jesus will return in victory
    3. God is not willing that any should perish
      1. He is a God of longsuffering
      2. He gives us space to repent
      3. He gets out attention through
        1. Word
        2. Creation
  4. The Lord’s Purpose (v. 13-16)

    5. 2 Reasons God Permits Natural Disasters

    1. "That they may seek you" (v. 16)
      1. Trials are to make us look up, not give up
      2. Trials are God’s way of getting our attention
        1. Illus. Absolam burning Joab’s fields 2 Sam. 14:29
        2. God can speak through his Word or through His creation. I’d prefer to listen to the Word
        3. "Heavens declare the glory of God."
      3. Storms are God’s way of awakening us from our apathy
        1. We are "at ease in Zion" while the world goes to hell
        2. We are comfortable and complacent while living in the midst of a moral sewer
        3. We need some voices to shout on the housetops, to get dirty in the trenches before a storm hits.
    2. "Show that you are the Most High" (v. 18)
      1. When Jesus stilled the storm the disciples were amazed (Mt. 8:27; Mk. 4:35-41)
      2. Shows that we are not in control like we think.
      3. Ps. 107:24-25
      4. Jonah 1:4, 12
        1. Some of you running from the Lord’s will. A storm may be brewing on the horizon
        2. Jonah couldn’t run from God, neither can you

Conclusion:

  1. Illus. In Pass Christian, MS there was a "hurricane party" going on at the Richilieu Apts. Police Chief Jerry Peralta to the building which was less than 250 ft. from the surf. A man with a drink in his hand came out on the second floor balcony and waved. Peralta told then they needed to leave but the people just laughed at him. "This is my land. If you want me off, you’ll have to arrest me."
  2. Hurricane Camille hit at 10:15 PM with the strongest winds ever recorded¾ 205 mph. Raindrops hit with the force of bullets. Gulf coast waves reached heights of 22-28 ft.!
  3. Hardest hit area was Pass Christian section with motels, go-gos, and gambling houses. 20 people were killed at the hurricane party in the Richilieu Apts. The only survivor a five-year-old boy found clinging to a mattress the next day.
  4. Can’t defy God and get away with it. It’s a shame that there was an orphan who didn’t need to be an orphan. There were 20 dead who died needlessly.