re-post (originally posted 3/22/16)
It is nearly twenty years since Jesus Christ emerged from the tomb alive to walk amongst us once again for a short time and to give His final instructions to those disciples that were still alive in the forty day window.
Now Christ’s last known hand chosen disciple, Paul, once Christ greatest enemy and now one of His greatest servants in the New Testament was in Athens. His teachings had caused a great stirring throughout the people of this city. He was taken to the council of the city and here he spoke to them of the teachings and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Within these words came a reaffirmation of a truth that many in today’s world wish to forget, deny or in many cases have really never even thought about, and here is that teaching:
Acts 17:22 – So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.
24 “He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”
Some laughed when He mentioned the resurrection of Jesus, but others did not and became saved, and so the great tree of Christianity grew that day and has continued to this day.
In March of 1944 the Second World War still continued, but within Washington D.C. someone listened to God and stood before the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. His sermon this late winter day was like all true messages; it is black and white and never grey (the full transcript will be included at this end of this article). His opening statement set the context of his message. A message that today few want to hear let alone listen to: “My text is taken from the first book of Kings, Chapter eighteen and Verse twenty-one. If the Lord be God, then follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him.”
Dr. Peter Marshall saw within this nation, caught up within a war against evil, the same corruption that had plagued Israel when Elijah was that nation’s prophet. At the end of his sermon the pastor of the church in this nation’s capital made a very clear pronouncement:
IF THE LORD BE GOD, THEN FOLLOW HIM!

BUT IF BAAL, FOLLOW HIM . . . AND GO TO HELL!

Now also in this message was the following statement:
“Now, I suggest to you that America needs a prophet today – a prophet that will set before the nation the essential choices. In the words of that great poet and essayist, J.D. Holland, ‘God give us men – men whom the lust of office does not kill – men whom the spoils of office cannot buy – men who have honor – men who will not lie – men who can stand before a demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking – tall men, sun-ground who live above the fog in public duty and in private thinking.’”
But why the need for a prophet? Dr. Marshall explains in the part of his sermon:
“Millions of people in America live in moral fogs. They move in a sort of spiritual twilight. Modified morality; modified dishonesty is the practice of millions more. Surely the time has come for us to be honest about it. If we have thrown away our national heritage. If we no longer believe that this nation was founded under God. If contrary to what is stamped upon our coins, our trust is not in God, but in Baal, LET US SAY SO!
Let us at least not be hypocrites. Yes, like the ancient Hebrew nation, America needs a prophet like an Elijah – a prophet who will have the ear of America and will say to her now:”
These are the word that led to the two sentences above in all capital letters. The thing is most never listened, and many more never knew these words were ever spoken. Living in blissful ignorance and their fates they were making for themselves.
Five years after this sermon though. The same year this man passed on to be with our Lord (January 26, 1949), a prophet did come into recognition upon September twenty-fifth upon the opposite side of the country in Los Angles. His name is Billy Graham, even though I feel he will not acknowledge this title.
Millions over the years listened. Yet, still, as was pointed out by Dr. Marshall many continued to live in a moral fog moving in a spiritual twilight lost within the grey, the lukewarm. In all honesty it can be stated that the moral decay within became self-evident to those with eyes just after the First World War. A time that came to be known as the roaring twenties. This resulted in the wrath of God that came to be known as the Great Depression.
It took another World War to awaken many and so this nation partly got back on the right track, but as we can see from Peter Marshall we did not full accept God. So a Prophet was sent to us and due to this prophet many listened and this nation started down the right path, for a while.
Most though did not listen to the prophet, and so God once again sent His wrath upon this nation which came to full awareness in an act that all knew, but few realized the full meaning of on September 9, 2011. This was the wakeup call sent by God, but still the nation did not listen. So more trials hit all within this nation.
Now it is here we must come to an important understanding from the talk that Paul gave to the council at Athens in the winter of 51-52 AD. That being this:
Acts 17:26 – From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
God, through His servant William Penn, granted this one nation, which is different than any other throughout history. Gave this nation, the second nation created for those that call God Lord; not for His bride, which is Israel, but for His Son’s bride, which are the Christians. Gave this nation, the one thing He gave no other nation. The true ability for each adult within this nation to pick it leaders. This did not happen at first and was not fully realized until August sixth in 1965.
It is a gift that most do not fully understand and many do not participate in due to this lack of knowledge and so as is all that come from the heart of humanity in their ignorance becomes corrupt and evil.
In 2008 God unleashed His judgement upon this nation to see if we would awaken from our materialist ways, but as a whole this nation still continued in its depravity. So His judgement was released upon the United States and we began to go into decline faster than what occurred during the great depression.
In 2012 God gave the people of this nation the ability to show their repentance, but this required that they show true humility and surrender the power of this nation over to someone that followed the teachings of a known false prophet. They had forgotten the words of Daniel though, that being:
Daniel 4:17 – For this has been decreed by the messengers; it is commanded by the holy ones, so that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world. He gives them to anyone he chooses— even to the lowliest of people.”
And so in pride and arrogance, as well as ignorance they left this nation in the power of the one that God has sent as His wrath upon it. So the wrath continued and became even more severe. So acute in fact that those that the nation itself was given to came under attack to the point that it was obvious that God was displeased with the bride of Christ.
In fact, so upset is God that the wrath left the boarders of this nation and spread throughout the entire world. It grew to the point that martyrdom and genocide of those that called Jesus Savior became more evident than it had ever been in centuries.
To a degree many have awaken to the truth, yet again God sends us a test to see if our awakening is real or is laced with ignorance.
As of the writing of this article the answer is it is still filled with ignorance. For we are again in the cycle given unto us by God to pick the top leader of this nation. It is again time to see if this Christian nation, yes CHRISTIAN NATION, has truly awaken to the fact that we that live in this nation are here by God’s design, not fate, but by and for His glory and His glory alone.
So our vote is to reflect the glory, and for the honor of God. It is to be given not for our materialistic gain, but to show that we are His children, His servants.
What many do not realize is that these temporal riches they seek after are nothing. For they are only here at this moment and tomorrow they will be gone. So why seek them at all? The answer is they should not, but they do.
They listen to someone that fully fits the description of a false prophet from 2 Peter 2, but they forget or do not know what else this chapter states, which is:
2 Peter 2:18 – They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”
“And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before.”
Our task as servants of God is not to follow after the lusts promised unto us by false prophets, or after the lies of those that love and prefer sin over their Creator.
Our task is to look and support that person that best reflects the Son of God. Will that person be perfect? No, but they will acknowledge and say in knowledge that God is first. They will know that materialism is a path to destruction. If any promise you things of the world then they love the world, and any that love the world hate God.
The time for willful ignorance is gone. It is time to live in full awareness of the facts that were stated in that sermon in 1949. It is time to remember those words spoken by Peter Marshall and the true black and white choices that are open to us and to accept our fate that we not only chose in our hearts but in the ballot box as well. It is:
IF THE LORD BE GOD, THEN FOLLOW HIM!

BUT IF BAAL, FOLLOW HIM . . . AND GO TO HELL!

“Trial By Fire” Sermon “America Needs A Prophet”
By Dr. Peter Marshall (1902- 1949)
Pastor of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church
Washington, D.C.
My text is taken from the first book of Kings, Chapter eighteen and Verse twenty-one. If the Lord be God, then follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him.
The leaders of ancient Israel (including the king) had come together to make a great decision. It was a national emergency. Elijah the prophet had summoned them to meet on Mt. Carmel to settle no less a question than whom they should worship.
William Penn has said that men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants. Here then was a Hebrew prophet facing the very same issue and making his people face it with him. They all knew the history of their nation. How God had led their fathers out of bondage into a new land as pioneers. How His Holy Law had been written into the nation’s Constitution. How The Ten Commandments had become a Bill of Rights and a Declaration of Dependence. But something in the nation’s life had begun to fade. Moral decay had set in. They had begun to love things more than principles. They had become materialists. And materialism had a god – a god of the flesh. And his name was Baal.
Now Elijah saw the danger. He saw what would happen to the nation when its moral fiber was weakened. So he summoned the 450 prophets of Baal, the king and the nation’s leaders. It HAD to be either/or. They had to get on one side or the other.
You remember the dramatic test – the trial by fire. How on the parched, sun-baked slopes of Carmel, Elijah announced his proposed test. Let sacrifices be laid upon the altar. Let him be god who would send down fire and consume the offerings. And let Baal and his priests have the first inning.
Then began the weird, pagan performance. With Elijah jibing at them with pointed sarcasm, “Cry louder why don’t you? Cry louder! He is a god you’re crying to isn’t he? Perhaps he’s gone for a walk. Perchance he’s asleep. Cry louder! Wake him up!”
All day long he taunted at them, until hoarse with their shouting, wearied with their paganistic dancing, they were exhausted. Yet no voice spoke. No voice answered.
Then Elijah went over to an abandoned Jehovah altar, set upon it a sacrifice, and offered his prayer to Jehovah – not ranting or foaming or shouting. And the answer came in fire, which consumed the offering. Then the people looking on cried as they fell on their faces, “The Lord! He is God! The LORD! HE is God!”
Now, I suggest to you that America needs a prophet today – a prophet that will set before the nation the essential choices. In the words of that great poet and essayist, J.D. Holland, God give us men – men whom the lust of office does not kill – men whom the spoils of office cannot buy – men who have honor – men who will not lie – men who can stand before a demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking – tall men, sun-ground who live above the fog in public duty and in private thinking.
Millions of people in America live in moral fogs. They move in a sort of spiritual twilight. Modified morality; modified dishonesty is the practice of millions more. Surely the time has come for us to be honest about it. If we have thrown away our national heritage. If we no longer believe that this nation was founded under God. If contrary to what is stamped upon our coins, our trust is not in God, but in Baal, LET US SAY SO!
Let us at least not be hypocrites. Yes, like the ancient Hebrew nation, America needs a prophet like an Elijah – a prophet who will have the ear of America and will say to her now:

IF THE LORD BE GOD, THEN FOLLOW HIM!

BUT IF BAAL, FOLLOW HIM . . . AND GO TO HELL!