God's Will for The United States of America?

I saw an interesting meme on Donald Trump today. It was about if a person had supported him from the beginning. I have friends who did and I've greatly valued the opinion and wisdom of one of them since I was in my late teens. I didn't support him from the beginning, but I wasn't against him either. I thought he might be a plant to pull a "Perot", but I decided to pray for God to raise up who he wanted. So I started praying every time I saw anything political. I prayed for God to magnify who he wanted to be president and to surround that person with advisers who honored God. Over and over, Trump came out magnified.

I had heard disturbing things about Lady MacClinton for many years and this election cycle did nothing to improve my perspective of her. I think she's danced with the devil one too many times. As my mama would say, "You can't dabble around the cesspool and not expect to get any sh*t on you!" Simply put, her activities lean strongly toward the criminal and only time will tell. I prayed over her too. I prayed for God to reveal her nature to the world and that if she was as evil as I believe her to be, for God to please cast her down in whatever way He sees fit. As I prayed, more and more awful things came out and her behavior became more and more erratic.

The thing I prayed for most during this election cycle was for God's will to be done for America. God raised our nation up for a purpose! The United States of America were founded on Judeo-Christian principles so that we could be a haven for freedom and a place in this world that could speak the truth about God. We were raised up to be a haven and strong ally to Israel! I support the current man created state of Israel. I also believe that God will supernaturally bring Jews from all around the world back to their promised land at a later time. Israel does not deserve to be pushed into the sea and to be destroyed from remembrance. That is what a number of her enemies want. The destiny of the US has been intimately tied to the protection of that tiny, fierce nation.

We saw a powerful voter turnout during this election. I decided to vote for Trump because I believed with all my heart that our nation was at a cross-roads, and no matter who won, the choices that Christians made would have a decisive impact on how God would deal with us as a nation. I personally don't believe that our nation is out of danger. I believe that God has given us what is sometimes called "space to repent." One man or one team can't do for us the things that God asks us to do for ourselves. The Christians of our nation cried out to God for mercy. Now, as God sometimes does when he has answered a foxhole prayer, God is waiting to see if his people will make good on their promises.

Parts of the following Bible verse were mentioned during the last days of the election. We can't apply only part of it and expect it to work. God outlined very specific things to help us (Christians) to restore relationship with God when we have caused a divide.

2 Chronicles 7:14 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. KJV

Christians (called by his name) are asked to:
Humility, (Humble themselves)
Prayer, (Pray... I believe God means for us to pray for/within his will)
Seeking God's face (Reading the Bible)
Turning from their wicked ways (God is describing Christian repentance)

These are the things that God outlined for Christians to do, in order. It's not a magic wand or formula that God is giving us. He's describing actions that create a change of heart and a genuine repentance. We as Christians will need to keep doing the above, standing up for what is right and doing what God said do, or we will be right back in the danger zone in a few short years.

The things that God said do: are proclaiming the gospel, regular church attendance, reading the Bible, and turning to God in our actions and prayer. If we pray for God to give us revival, he is faithful and will set hearts on fire for him all across this land!

FYI: This is a Christian Blog and this article is an opinion piece. Take what you like and leave the rest.

A History of the Baptists

The term which was a precursor of Baptist was once a term of derision. Those who held the beliefs which were considered to be Anabaptist were considered to be the lowest of the low. The Baptist denomination of Christianity did not arise from the Reformation, but rather, preexisted and in some cases played a role in the Protestant Reformation. Much of the history written about the groups that eventually led to the modern Baptist denomination was written by those who desperately wished to obliterate them from memory. Yet, they persisted and in this digital age, we are fortunate to have available the works of modern theologians, historians, and pastors who researched these early Anabaptist groups as thoroughly as possible before the records could be lost in the mists of history. One of those dedicated researchers was John Tyler Christian. He was born in Kentucky and served as pastor of a number of Baptist churches in the south during his lifetime. He also was the first librarian of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. The library there is now named after him and contains his personal library of some 18,000 books and archives of his writing on Baptist History. He authored the book titled, A History of the Baptists in answer to the many questions of the true origins and practices of Baptists. This week marks the beginning of a serial project on his book. We submit today the Prelude and Chapter on of his exhaustive book on the groups which shared a number of the beliefs which are central to the Baptist identity. They differed from modern Baptists in many regards and some, certainly, promoted great doctrinal error, but as we will see as the book unfolds, the provide a rich legacy to the Baptist Denomination and to the history of a perspective of Christianity which was at grave risk of being lost and even erased from history.

This is the first recording and is, frankly, a little choppy. In future recordings, many of the in-text references will be omitted to make the reading flow better for the listener, however, links will be provided with each new installment to the actual book so listeners can check the research for themselves. This book is in the Public Domain. The audio recording may be freely shared as long as it is credited to Passing Through the Valley of Baca and Nadina Medlin and as long as links to the book are included.

Going forward, a number of the chapters are quite long. These may be broken up into segments of about 30 minutes.

http://www.reformedreader.org/history/christian/ahob1/ahobp.htm