"Passionately Seeking & Speaking the Love of Jesus Christ" Dateline: Phillips West My good friend Dr. Mike Bizzell (AKA "Dr. B with the PHD" to his youth group in Weatherford, TX) is teaching a class on religious movements in America at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary this Spring. This is a brand new class for the seminary so Dr. B has been doing research in order to assemble material for the class. As he was working, he came across the PBS miniseries/documentary "God in America." Dr. B watched the series and ordered a DVD copy from PBS for use in his class. He also suggested the series to me. I found it is available at pbs.org and Netflix. Folks, the show is fantastic. It should be viewed by anyone in our churches today as it is informative and encourages any of us to press on for the Lord in our country. Although I have learned many things by watching this series, a few stand out to me. First off, people have continually lamented the decline of morality and Christian values in America. The fear that our country is slipping out of control is not a sentiment developed in recent years. Does this mean that we should sit back and accept this reality as status quo? By no means. Instead we should be encouraged that our God has carried our country through these seemingly apocalyptic trials... time and time again. And He will time and time again. Amen! Also, it seems that the country has one big "test" each century. In the 1800's it was slavery and in the 1900's it was the theory of evolution. What will the test be in the 2K's? It is probably too early to tell but I am sure each of us already has some ideas as to what it could be. Sometimes we may wonder why there is so much history in the Old Testament. We may also wonder why we have to study church history at Bible college and seminary. The bottom line is that by studying our history, we can be encouraged not only by what our heroes of faith have done but more importantly what God has done. Folks, God has a history in our country. He continues to be active with us despite all the setbacks we can through at Him. Be of good courage and strong faith- there is nothing that our government, citizens, or culture can through at God that He can't handle. You can watch God in America: How Religious Liberty Shaped America on Netflix (if you have an account) or here @ the PBS website http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/ |
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
News Hope Weekly 1/9/13
