Wisdom of Silver Eagle
About Me
- Name: Silver Eagle
- Location: Flat Creek, Alabama, United States
A dear friend of mine once said, "I've been around this rodeo enough, to enjoy life as it is dealt to me each day." It has given me an entirely new perspective on life. To describe myself, … I am an easygoing, very low maintenance, down to earth kind of person. Keywords are honesty, truth and integrity. What makes me tick? I guess you could say life. I am a spiritual, but not religious. I do not believe any one set of people, beliefs or teachings have the sole method of what is truth. I accept and respect all beliefs. I believe that is more important to walk your path, than it is to talk your path. Personally, I am more "aligned" with what can be called the "natural-way" or the Ancient and Olde Way.
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Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Need for National Unity
Sunday July 4, 1993
First Baptist Church of North Highlands, California
This morning I would like to focus on five verses
Romans 15:4
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written
for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might
have hope.
Proverbs 14:34
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to
any people.
Joshua 24:15
And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you
this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods that your fathers served that
were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land
ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou
has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest
to me; seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy
children.
II Chronicles 7:14
If my people who are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Let Us Pray.
This morning's message is titled: The Need for National
Unity
The United States of America is suffering from a sever lack
of national unity. If we review the foundation of our country, the words of
Patrick Henry’s 1775 "Give Me Liberty" speech provides the focus for
the unity that made us a nation.
"We have done everything that could be done to avert
the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we
have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the tyrannical hands of
the ministry and parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our
remonstrance’s have produced additional violence and insults; our supplications
have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot
of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of
peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to
be free...we must fight! I repeat it sir, we must fight! Why stand we here
idle? What is it that the gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear
or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid
it. Almighty God! I know not what course others may take -- but as for me, give
me liberty, or give me death.
The United States of America is now facing an approaching
storm. Our country is divided across many lines, from race to creed, from creed
to economics, from economics to civil rights, and from civil rights to
religious liberty. The approaching storm and how we as a nation weather the
storm will determine the future of the United States of America. From where has
the division come? The Bible in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 13, verses 24
through 30 and verses 36 through 43, gives us the answer in the Parable of the
Tares.
24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among
the wheat, and went his way.
26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth
fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto
him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it
tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants
said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye
root up also the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time
of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and
bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
and
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the
house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of
the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good
seed is the Son of man;
38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of
the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is
the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the
fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they
shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall
be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
This Scripture text refers to the church, the collective
body of believers, and Satan, the enemy; and the tares, false converts. The
application to today in our nation is very real. Throughout our land, the tares
of division have been sown, through the misapplication of the statement,
"All men are created equals." This matter of equality is not equality
in man's limited vision, but through God's unlimited vision. In the Book of
John, Chapter 3, verses 15 and 16 we read:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.
It is God's desire that none should perish, but that all
come to know his Son and receive everlasting life. To know or to believe is
more than an intellectual agreement, it means to put our trust and confidence
in him that He alone can save us. It is to put Him in charge of our present
plans and eternal destiny. Believing is trusting His words are reliable and
relying on Him for the power to change.
As our nation prospered, our freedoms and liberties
increased. The problem is that through our freedom we lost the focus. The
Apostle Paul in I Corinthians 6:12 and 10:23 speaks of liberties and freedoms:
12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not
expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the
power of any.
and
23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not
expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
In these texts the Apostle Paul indicates that while Christ
has taken away our sin, it does not give us the freedom to continue doing that
what we know is wrong. Further while some actions are not sinful in and of
themselves, they are not appropriate as they control our lives, leading us away
from God, or may hurt others.
The freedom we possess is a mark of the Christian faith --
freedom from sin and guilt, and the freedom to use and enjoy anything that
comes from God. We should not abuse this freedom and hurt ourselves and/or
others. We must be careful in what God has allowed us to enjoy, that it doesn't
grow into something that controls us. This freedom does not mean anything goes.
It is inseparably tied to our Christian responsibility. When we love others,
our freedom should be less important to us than strengthening the faith of a
brother or sister in Christ.
The tares of our American society in my opinion have come
through the liberal interpretation of the First Amendment to the Constitution
and its "separation of church and state" have defined the place of
religion in American public life. Prior to the First Amendment, the
Constitution as originally adopted mentioned religion only once, and its
command was very clear:
"No religious test shall ever be required as a
qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
In fewer words, the First Amendment added two far more
important and far less precise injunctions:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
on religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...”
The United States Congress and State Governments through the
Fourteenth Amendment cannot set an official or "established"
religion; cannot support one or all religions; and cannot interfere with or
prohibit religious worship. It can prohibit a sect from engaging in practices
contrary to the general public welfare. The United States Supreme Court has
held that this limitation pertains to state governments as well as Congress.
America as a civilization was founded upon religion. America
was set apart from the Old World by the freedom to worship. The constitutional
decision was that government should have no right to make inquiry into the
faith of its citizens. The First Amendment is in part a descendent of the 1776
State of Virginia's Bill of Rights, that dealt with the matter mentioned only
tangentially in the Declaration of Independence ... man's relation to God.
"...That religion, or the duty which we owe to our
Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can only be directed by reason and
conviction, not by force or violence; and there all men are equally entitled to
the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and
that is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love and
charity towards each other."
On New Years Day, 1802, President Thomas Jefferson wrote a
letter to the Committee of the Danbury Baptist Association in the State of
Connecticut which in part states:
"...Believing with you that religion is a matter which
lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his
faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions
only, and not opinions. I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the
whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law
respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state."
Jefferson's metaphor, "wall of separation" has
been heavily and substantially relied upon to support the liberal argument that
the amendment's ban on "an establishment of religion" has foreclosed
any sort of state assistance to, or cooperation with, religion. The essential
point is from the beginning to the end of the debate on the First Amendment,
the legislative intent was perfectly clear and unanimously agreed on: The
primary thing was there was to be no legal constraints on freedom of conscience
and on the free exercise of religion; secondly, there was to be no one national
religion endowed with legal privilege for its beliefs, a.k.a. England at the
time. Never was the intent that Biblical principles of living should be
disregarded or recorded. Rather it was to be left to the conscience of each
individual, between the individual and his God, how the exercise of faith
and/or worship would occur.
The early American settlers were a mixture of all of Europe,
and they stood boldly and courageously together bound in the unity of God. For
it was through their strong faith in God, those Americans came forth as a new
nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all. America became the melting
pot of all nations under one name; with vast differences in vocation or trade
bringing all specialties to one people.
So where have the tares come from? The enemy of man and God,
Satan. How did this happen? As America grew economically, politically and
militarily, it lost its religious fervor and became generally apostate and
apathetic. In America's apostasy, the Supreme Court made decisions that have
resulted in further separation of the people from God. Sorry to say the blame
is not solely on the Supreme Court, but the collective body of believers across
this land has slept while the enemy sowed the tares. False teachers within and
outside the church has distorted the Biblical truth of the Gospels. Some
diluted it with compromise to increase membership and others deleted it
entirely by teaching it no longer applies to our time. God's truth never
changes, is never shaken and will never fade.
Within the church, the form or appearance of godliness
includes going to church, knowing Christian doctrines, using Christian clichés
and following a community's Christian traditions. Such practices can make a
person look good, but if the inner attitudes of belief, love and worship are
lacking, the outward appearance is meaningless.
False teachers or prophets are not new, they were common in
the Old Testament times. They prophesied only what the king and the people
wanted to hear, claiming it was God's message. NOT! Jesus taught to beware of
those whose words sound religious but who are motivated by money, fame or
power. They minimize Jesus Christ and glorify themselves in their teachings.
Just as trees are consistent in the kind of fruit they produce, good teachers
consistently exhibit good behavior, high moral standards and teach Biblical
truth.
About AD 66 or 67, Paul penned his second letter to Timothy
from prison in Rome. In the third chapter he warns Timothy of the opposition
that he and other believers would face in the last days from self-centered
people who would use the church for their own gain and who teach new and false
doctrines. In the first six verses of Chapter 3 we read:
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and
lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts.
America will you wake up, the enemy has sown tares among us!
The seed of the church is being choked by the tares of the evil one. Have the
cares of this temporary world and the deceitfulness of riches caused the fruit
of the Spirit to be choked off?
In 1863, one hundred and thirty years ago (at the time of
the sermon), President Abraham Lincoln issued the following proclamation:
Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly
recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all
the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the
President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.
And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to
own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins
and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine
repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth,
announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations
only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations
like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world,
may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now
desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our
presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole
People? 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.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully
concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate
and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national
humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to
abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at
their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping
the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious
duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then
rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry
of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than
the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and
suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the
Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
The 1992 Presidential election, was portrayed by the media,
that the American people mandated a change in our nation and its policies. The
problem is that the only change that will benefit our nation is not earthly but
spiritual. The need for a spiritual change was spoken of on September 2, 1945,
from the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri, by General Douglas MacArthur:
"Men since the beginning of time have sought
peace," but "military alliances, balances of power, leagues of
nations, all in turn have failed, leaving the only path to be by the way of the
crucible of war." Now "we have had our last chance. If we do not now
devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door.
The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and
improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless
advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural developments
of the past two thousand years. It must be for the spirit if we are to save the
flesh."
The spiritual recrudescence spoken of by General MacArthur:
is the same spiritual renewal that King Solomon prayed for as recorded in 2
Chronicles 6:37-40. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God's response to Solomon's prayer is
recorded:
If my people who are called by my name, shall humble
themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then
will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
If the American people as a whole meet the above
requirements, then and only then will God heal our land. We must first achieve
the unity the founding fathers developed with the divers peoples that came to
America. That unity comes from the Spirit through Christ Jesus. Oneness in
Christ does not destroy our individuality. Through the gifts of the Holy
Spirit, each American must use their gift to strengthen and encourage one
another.
Jesus taught, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first
and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. On these two commandments hand all the law and the prophets."
If we truly love God and our neighbor as ourselves, we will naturally complete
the commandments. Further, if we all love our neighbor as ourselves, will not
the hate that exists in American society disappear?
During World War II, German Pastor Martin Niemoller was
imprisoned by the Nazis. Reflecting on his experience in those days he said:
"First the Nazis came for the Communists, and I did not
speak up, for I was not a Communist. Then the Nazis came for the Jews, and I
did not speak up, for I was not a Jew. Then the Nazis came for the Trade
Unionists, and I did not speak up, for I was not a Trade Unionist. And then the
Nazis came for the Catholics, and I did not speak up, for I was a Protestant.
And then the Nazis came for me. By that time there was no one left to speak up
for anyone.
Brothers and sisters, we stand today at the crossroads of
history and the future. Will we consider sacrificing our own convictions in
order to make the majority report unanimous?
Or do we follow the Lord our God fully?
For the Christian it is indeed "drawn Swords to the
very gates of heaven." Our Sword, the Spirit, the Word of God, is the only
offensive weapon in our armor of God. There are times when we need to take the
offensive against Satan, "against principalities, against powers, against
the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places."
# # #
Mitakuye Oyasin,
A Guardian and Servant of Spirit,
Silver Eagle
Monday, November 03, 2014
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Sunday, April 06, 2014
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Thursday, March 07, 2013
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Friday, November 16, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Saturday, August 04, 2012
Thursday, August 02, 2012
Monday, July 09, 2012
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Abraham's Royal Grant
Genesis 15:18 “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”
Ezekiel 48:1 “How these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; …”
Ezekiel 48:28- 29 “And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea. “