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"...The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
I Timothy 3:15
Recipe for Disaster
E. L. Bynum
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Note from E. L. Bynum: The terrible event in Littleton, Colorado happened on Tuesday, April 20, 1999. Two high school boys killed 15 people including themselves. I preached the following message in Tabernacle Baptist Church on Wednesday April 21, in order to help our people know what is really happening in America.
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he bath chosen for his own inheritance. (Ps. 33:12)
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." (Ps. 9:17)
"Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand." (II Chronicles 36:14-17)
Who were the messengers of verse 15? We do not know who all of them were, but we can name at least 13 that God sent in a space of about 250 years. The messengers were, Elijah, Elisha, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Jeremiah.
The wicked people mocked these faithful messengers of God. They rejected the truth of God over and over again. They worshiped false gods, and lived on in their immoral sins. They did this "until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy." While I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, we must be very close, if we have not passed the time, where there will be no remedy.
My wife has many recipes that she is always trying on me, and most of them are really delicious. These tasty dishes result from knowing how to take the ingredients that are called for, and blending them carefully together. I can almost taste some of them as I deliver this message.
There are also recipes or formulas to make rat poison, roach poison, and rodent poison. When any one of them is ingested by human beings, it can often be fatal. Our society has for many years been mixing up a recipe for national disaster. The news media does not seem to have a clue as to what is going on in our nation. Those of us who have a knowledge of the Bible certainly know that God's Word casts a lot of light on the situation.
The terrible tragedies in Littleton, as well as other disasters in our country, need to be analyzed to find out the identity of the ingredients used to produce such a deadly recipe. Here is the recipe which should not have been followed.
I. FORSAKE THE GOD WHO MADE THIS NATION GREAT.
Our nation as a whole has concluded that one God is as good as another. That is the reason for the frantic attempt to take God out of our political life. Our founding Fathers recognized the God of the Bible, and said so in the great documents of our nation. Today our nation is afraid to do this, because to do this might offend the Muslims, the Hindus, the practitioners of Witchcraft, or the Atheists. Besides if you recognize the God of the Bible, you must face the fact that there is such a thing as the judgment of God, and that is unthinkable to many in our nation.
That is the reason why a judge in the State of Alabama is fighting for his life. The ACLU and other assorted organizations have millions of dollars, and hundreds of lawyers ready to prosecute the judge in court. What awful sin has he committed? He posted a copy of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. Just read those terrible commandments in Exodus 20 that would be so harmful to criminals and all others that come into the court room. Why those poor criminals might get the idea that they should not kill, steal, and lie. Wouldn't that be a terrible tragedy?
The Governor of Alabama fully supported the judge and vowed that he would call out the Alabama National Guard to protect the judge and his courtroom. In the last election, the Governor was voted out of office by the good people of Alabama. The present Governor wants the Ten Commandments removed from the wall. I am not surprised that is the way our nation is going. The ACLU should look at the building of the U. S. Supreme Court, for there they could find the Scriptures engraved on the walls, long ago before we turned our back upon God.
Little by little, and sometimes in giant strides, we are removing God from our government and public life. We are embracing new philosophies and rejecting old truths. Freedom of speech is almost absolute, except for Christians. All kind of filthy talk is permitted in our society, but gradually Christians are being denied from expressing their faith in God. Godless humanism, atheism, and other false ways are rising up to take the place that Christianity once held in this nation.
Our nation now supports and protects immorality, adultery, fornication and homosexuality. If you own rental property, you cannot refuse to rent to them. If you own a business, you cannot refuse to hire them. Homosexuals were once prosecuted in this nation, now they are protected and promoted. They are even elected to the Congress, and appointed to high places in our government, by the president and others. Attempts are being made in some States to make it a crime to say anything against their evil practice. I have heard that at least one State would even forbid this condemnation from the pulpit.
Abortion has been legalized in this country and more than 30 million abortions have been performed since the Roe vs. Wade decision was made by the Supreme Court. Partial birth abortion is permitted in the third trimester. This procedure allows the doctor to remove part of the infant until he can get to the head, then long scissors or some sharp instrument is placed at the base of the skull and inserted into the brain. They open the incision large enough to insert a vacuum hose and suck out the brain. Yet, the president refused to sign a bill which would have outlawed this procedure. Now we are bombing Serbia at a cost of billions of dollars, for their ethnic cleansing. What insanity, when we are practicing something that may be worse! If our nation had any moral fibre left, we as a nation would rise up and stop the abortion racket, in a legal manner. The most dangerous place for a baby in America is in its mother's womb.
A baby is a living human being before it leaves its mother's womb. Common sense should tell you that. Many Scriptures teach that the baby in the womb is a person, and not a fetus or some tissue. "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou earnest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. " (Jer. 1:5)
“For thou halt possessed my reins: thou host covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalm. 139:13-16)
When Mary visited Elisabeth, the babe leaped in her womb. It was already a baby in the womb, and not just a fetus or a lump of tissue. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." (Luke 1:41, 44)
II. DESTROY OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
This is a second ingredient that you can add to the mixture for "The Recipe for Disaster." Teach evolution and atheism in the schools. Remember that is the recipe that the Soviets used for the destruction of Soviet Russia. If you teach evolution, you are teaching children that there is no God. Atheism is the result, so there is no judgment of God to fear, and no hell to suffer in. So why should anyone fear to do whatever they want to do.
Of course, we must get the Bible out of the schools if we are going to complete this recipe. If the little darlings would read the Bible they might learn that killing, stealing, and fornication would be wrong. Now that would be a tragedy would it not? Having the Ten Commandments posted in the classroom might offend some atheist, Hindu, or Muslim. Now wouldn't that be a tragedy. Never mind that the Bible was once a textbook in our schools, and children learned how to read, by using it. Never mind that teachers used to keep a copy on their desk. Now children have been punished for bringing a Bible to school, even if they read it on their own time. We are really making progress in adding the ingredients for producing disaster in our country.
This is not an attack on godly teachers in our classroom. They are doing the best they can under the restrictions that they are burdened with. There are many other decent teachers who are sincere, but their heads have been filled with mush while getting their education. They have been victimized by a godless system of teacher education.
To succeed they have also taken prayer out of the schools. Thanks to O'Hare and the liberal Supreme Court that was done years ago. Of course if O'Hare is dead, she knows better by now, but this awful curse continues year after year. Since they are teaching that there is no God to pray to, why bother to pray. Not many people seem to care, and therein lies the problem. We are far more interested in treating the symptoms of the problem, than dealing with the real cause of the disaster.
Take discipline out of the schools. No longer can children be spanked or seriously punished for their conduct in the classroom. The teacher, who does spank a child, may be attacked by an irate parent, or sued in court. The teacher will lose his/her job. When I was going to school, disobedient children were spanked. If they had not been, it is doubtful if there would have been much learning in class.
Frankly, I am ashamed to admit it; I received a spanking at school a number of times. I never ever thought of going home and telling my parents. I was always hoping that I could keep if from them, because if they knew, they would give me another one when I got home. Usually there was some blabber mouthed kid that would tell it, so I was in for it then.
Take the three R's out of school. Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmetic, used to be at the heart of our teaching in the schools. Now we have substituted social studies, and many other almost meaningless studies. Children finish school, and they know very little of history, reading, writing or arithmetic. Many read poorly, cannot write a legible sentence, and cannot handle numbers without a calculator. Don't blame the kids; put the blame where it belongs. Now the president wants to put a computer in every classroom, so they can hook up to the Internet. This is insanity! Unproven philosophies are being substituted for time proven truths. Be sure and teach a lot of self-love, self-esteem, and self-gratification if you want to help produce the recipe for disaster.
III. UNDERMINE THE HOME.
Before World War II, there were very few mothers in the work place. The ones that worked outside the home were single girls, widows, and some who had to work to feed their children, because of a husband who was disabled or had abandoned them. World War H brought the mothers into the factories and they never have returned home. Now both parents have been put in the work place. Baby sitters and nursery schools can raise the little ones, and when they are a little older they can become latch-key kids. That way they can come home and do whatever they want to do, watch anything they want to, or go anywhere they want to go.
Now most couples cannot get by on one income. The advertising media has led them to want more things than they can afford. Credit card companies have passed out cards like they were just scraps of plastic. Never mind what happens to the kids, just get all those wonderful things that the world has to offer.
Another part of the recipe is, raise your children without taking them to a Bible teaching church or Sunday school. After all, the kids can make up their own minds whether they want to go to church or not. Don't push your kids into Bible Christianity; the devil will give them all the religion they will need.
Make sure you make the TV the entertainment center of the home. The children can watch all the violence, sex and immorality they want to, and it will keep them entertained for 17,000 to 25,000 hours before they are 18-years of age. The youths in Littleton watched Natural Born Killers over and over again. Why deny such pleasures to your children? They can learn that homosexuality is just an alternative lifestyle, and that everybody should try it someday. Make sure you eat all of your meals in front of the TV. It will keep you from having to carry on a family conversation around the table. Be sure and not turn it off, after all you might miss something.
Give the children all the violent games that can be played on the TV. Make sure they have some of the designer death games, so they can enter into the game. Never mind that some of their targets are innocent and virtuous. The good part is that they will be able to watch the animated body parts explode and disintegrate like a firecracker. Don't be too surprised if they try it someday with real guns and explosives. It really helped the two young men that killed fifteen in Littleton, Colorado, as they played these kind of games over and over again.
Get your computer hooked up to the Internet, so your children can learn how to make pipe bombs, and do a lot more cool things, they can't learn in schools. They can view pornography, child porn, homosexual acts, and even bestiality. They can learn how to get high on drugs, and how to make them, on the Internet. Don't pay any attention to the preacher's advice when he says that children should never be allowed to hook up to the Internet when a parent is not in the room.
Leave prayer and Bible study out of the home. Besides it takes up too much time. You don't have time for that, because there is a new movie down at the theater, or there is a good movie coming on HBO. You should never deprive your children of the opportunity of watching all of the 63 channels you get with your cable service. Of course you don't have time to sit down and talk to your children and learn what they think, what they are doing, and who their friends are. You can find out all that after they get in trouble. After all you must stick to the recipe for disaster. If you don't get all the ingredients in there, the disaster may not happen.
IV. HELP HOLLYWOOD AND THE TV TO BE UNGODLY.
Hollywood and TV are as wicked as hell. They produced Natural Born Killers, which the boys from Littleton watched over and over again. Hollywood and TV are not there just to entertain, but their purpose is to destroy Christianity, morals, and everything that is decent. They are there to dethrone God in our lives. They tantalize and create lustful desires in the viewer. Fornication, adultery, and homosexual scenes are being produced to seduce, degrade, and to destroy decency in your children. Sam Morris used to say that when the angels flew over Hollywood, they traveled a thousand miles in the air, so they would not get their wings dirty. Of course he said that to show people how wicked this industry is.
Give the children a handful of money and send them off to Movie 16. This will get them out of your hair for most of the day. They can watch all kinds of violence, cars blowing up, buildings being bombed, and people being destroyed by many methods. Beside all this they can get their sex education from homosexuals and adulterers. Anyone in Hollywood that has not been married several times, and who does not cheat on his mate is freak and an outcast in Hollywood.
When a person wrote Disney and protested the homosexual lifestyle promoted in their films, and quoting Scripture against it, he was strongly rebuffed. According to the American Family Association, a Disney executive wrote and told the person, "How about getting your nose out of the Bible (which is ONLY a book of stories compiled by MANY different writers hundreds of years ago) and read the Declaration of Independence (what our nation is built on) where it says 'All Men are Created Equal' — and try treating them that way for a change? Or better yet, try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as your crutch for your existence."
Walt Disney would turn over in his grave, if he knew the company he founded was doing such things.
Be sure and get all of the news and opinions from the major TV networks. That way, you can think like the robot they will program you to be. The major networks will twist the news, emphasize the wrong parts of the news, and promote twisted ungodly thinking. If you think they won't, then they have already have gotten you. They do almost everything in a manner to support liberalism and ungodliness. Their "in depth" reports usually have about as much substance and depth as a saucer full of Kool-Aid.
V. HELP THE CHURCHES TO DEPART FROM THE FAITH.
Here is where I lay most of the blame for the debacle we are in. Years ago most preachers stopped preaching the Bible and standing for righteousness. Liberalism long ago captured the denominational colleges, seminaries and publishing houses. The preachers in the main come out as liberals. The publishing houses produce the brain washing books and Sunday school literature. The fundamentalists, who are not the modernists, are busy promoting themselves, and producing unsaved church members who will end up in hell. Even the Bible believing Baptists among them have quit teaching the distinctive doctrines of Baptist.
Churches are now in the entertainment business. Rock music, plays, skits, jokes and visual aids have replaced the preaching of the Word of God. Most churches have no dress standard, nor do they stress the practice of personal separation of the members. Now it is popular to watch the Super Bowl in the church, rather than to have a worship service. Where is the stressing of holy living, and consecration to God?
The few Bible believers in the churches have become cold, indifferent and worldly. Conformity to the world is the order of the day, and no attention is given to Romans 12:1-2. Most people are not interested in how much Bible is preached in a church, and how closely it adheres to the Word of God. No, they are interested in the social life, and a program that will make them feel good. Most are not interested in what their children will be taught in Sunday school and church, but they are interested in how many worldly activities the church can furnish their children. That way the church can take responsibility for their children, and that will get them out of their hair.
The Supper Room has been substituted for the Upper Room. There is not much emphasis on prayer, worship, and the learning of the things of God. The church has become a glorified country club, a place to be entertained, appeased, and to make people to feel good about themselves. Thank the Lord all churches are not like that. There are still seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to Baal, but they are getting smaller in number every day. I am sorry that many are defecting to the church growth movement, and the Charismatic movement. One by one they are falling by the wayside. A few sound churches are being started, but not nearly as many as are needed.
The recipe for revival is the key to survival. We need to see revival in the churches that still believe the truth. We cannot sit at ease in Zion, while a world around us is damned. The Bible has the answer to the disaster of the day. If my people, which 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. (II Chron. 7:14) If we do not take God's recipe, we are doomed to complete our recipe for disaster. Then it can be said of us, as it was with Israel long ago, "the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy." (II Chron. 36:16)
CONCLUSION
What about the role of the government in the recipe for disaster? Unfortunately our government is immoral, ungodly, and is dominated by some of the most wicked men. Some of them are liars, adulterers, crooks and homosexuals. When most of them get elected they are far more interested in getting re-elected, than doing what is best for our country. It is helping to bring about the disaster.
Many people think the government ought to pass more laws to suppress crime and violence. The truth of the matter is, we cannot expect them to have the solution. They are a part of the problem, but more of a symptom than the actual cause of our disaster. Expecting the solution to come out of Washington is just as foolish as thinking that you can get a cool drink of clean water from a mud puddle in the street. Gun control laws will not stop the events like happened in the school shootings and bombings in Littleton, Colorado. The solution is far more complex, and it is unattractive to the average American.
Long ago President John Adams said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
If President Adams was correct, and he was, where does that leave our country today? We are following the recipe for disaster. Does anybody care? Thank God some do, but they are very much in the minority. As long as the economy is good, the stock market is high, employment is easy to find, and money is plentiful, most Americans are satisfied to follow this dangerous recipe for disaster.