This weekend my church held a joint service with another local church to allow both churches to hear a wonderful pastor from Ghana share about God's work there. But we also heard about America's influence on the world from a perspective we don't often get; we learned about how America influences the world, for good and bad, from the point of view of one who is affected. I wish every American could have heard what Pastor Ben Kotey had to say.
This weekend the church where I am one of the pastors, Good News Fellowship, held a joint service with another local church, Fullness Christian Fellowship. The purpose was to allow both churches to hear a wonderful pastor from Ghana share about God's work there, which he did. But we also heard about America's influence on the world from a perspective we don't often get; we learned about how America influences the world, for good and bad, from the point of view of one who is affected. I wish every American could have heard what Pastor Ben Kotey had to say.
At first I was a little confused when he informed us that American boys didn't know the difference between their waist and their buttocks! Then I realized he was talking about the fact that so any of our young men wear their pants with their waistline placed far lower than they were designed. I have often wondered why these boys' precariously worn pants don't simply fall down! Pastor Kotey told us that most young men in Ghana now follow the lead of Americans, and wear their pants or shorts in the same dangerous manner.
He then went on to talk about the fact that the McDonalds hamburger chain has invaded Ghana as it has most countries in the world. "There is no one named McDonald in Ghana." For better or for worse, American culture, products, music and movies are purchased or imitated in most of the world.
Is this a bad thing? I suppose it depends on just what we are exporting. It sickens me to know that much of what many people know about America comes from the perverted filth that Hollywood calls entertainment. Much of what is called music and art that we export is equally shameful. And having traveled abroad extensively, I know that in many parts of the world the only source of American-produced news available is CNN. Since CNN leans so far to the left that many call it the Communist News Network, it doesn't represent America well, either.
On the other hand, we are doing a great job of exporting freedom and democracy. We have given hope to many people who would have had no hope of living in freedom were it not for the United States. And there is no question that we are the most generous nation that has ever existed on earth. Our food and humanitarian aid has saved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of live.
But Pastor Kotey focused mainly on the fact that we are exporting less of the most important thing that America can share with the world - the Gospel. Europe once took the lead in sending missionaries throughout the world to share the Gospel - the good news that Jesus came into the world to reconcile us with the Father. Now Europe has become the Dark Continent; the light of the Gospel is being extinguished there as Moslems are taking over Europe by immigration and high birth rates.
America took Europe's place as the beacon of hope for the world. For many years we sent out more missionaries than all the other nations combined, and God has blessed America immeasurably because of that. Now that legacy is in danger, not from without but from within.
As Pastor Kotey said, if we don't allow the Gospel to be preached here in America, how long will it be before it is illegal to send missionaries to other countries? It is a sobering thought.
In the United States today, homosexuals are allowed to brainwash children as young as kindergarteners in our schools into believing that perversion is normal. But Bible clubs are not allowed on many campuses. And many of the same schools that forbid any kind of Christian student organization on their campuses allow such things as witchcraft and homosexual and lesbian clubs to use school facilities.
Abortionists are given special rights that violate the Constitution. Free speech is very expensive in front of abortion clinics - it can cost you your freedom. Christians have been arrested for standing on public sidewalks and speaking up for the innocent babies being murdered in the abortion mills.
All over the country Godless legislators are trying to limit the size of churches. Here in Palm Beach County, where I live, the County Commission, a bunch of spineless God-haters, tried to pass an ordinance that would have limited the number of square feet that a church or Christian school could build on their own property! When the County attorney warned them that would be unconstitutional, they decided to try to do the same thing using a sneakier method; they are attempting to stop church growth by using traffic studies and ordinances requiring unreasonable numbers of parking spaces.
The worst thing is that it is all our own fault! God brought Godly men and women to America to found a Christian nation. They did their part. Our Founding Fathers left us with a Christian heritage and a Constitution that was designed to protect our religious liberties. We have squandered all of that.
Whether because of cowardice, inattention or ignorance, it doesn't matter - we have allowed pagans, atheists and humanists to take over our nation. And very few of us have spoken up. And we really shouldn't speak up. Instead, we should be shouting from the rooftops! We should be calling our politicians and telling them that if they expect to be re-elected, they had better stop fighting against God and His church. We should work hard to put Christian men and women in office, Godly people who will speak the Word of God prophetically to their fellow legislators. We have to take our nation back!
Before we lose any more ground, before preachers start getting arrested for "hate crimes" when they speak the truth of the Word of God, before it becomes illegal to send missionaries to a lost and dying world - we need to get serious about speaking up and standing up for what we know is right. It's getting late, but it's not too late!
Notes: Pastor Ben and Beatrice Kotey minister in Ghana, to the poorest of the poor - the handicapped, the homeless and the orphaned children of that impoverished nation. For the last nineteen years they have worked night and day to help those who very few care about, the castaways. They live with the people they minister to, in very meager circumstances. They have a new building under construction, but work has stopped until they can raise $6,000 for the roof. They are also in dire need of a 15 passenger van to transport the handicapped and the homeless back and forth to their Beautiful Gate Center. If you would like to help with these needs, you can either donate online at www.Fulness.org, or send a check to:
Fulness Ministries International 957 SW 71st Avenue Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33068
Biography - Dr. Tom Barrett
Dr. Tom Barrett has been an ordained minister for 30 years. He has written for local and national publications for most of his life, and has authored several non-fiction books. He has been interviewed on many TV and radio programs, and speaks at seminars nationwide. Tom is the editor and publisher of Conservative Truth, an email newsletter read by over fifty thousand weekly which focuses on moral and political issues from a Biblical viewpoint.
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