A Prayer For President Trump And America...

Written by David DiCrescenzo on . Posted in FAITH

Surprisingly enough, I wasn’t asked to offer an invocation during the inauguration.  I gave it a lot of thought and decided to completely overlook the snub and share with my readers what my invocation might have looked and sounded like.  

Before I do, I have to say that I am very pleased to learn that Vice President Elect Mike Pence will have his Bible open to a passage that is exactly what I pray about today and discuss as often as possible.  His Bible will be turned to 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”  

On that wonderful note, I offer this simple prayer for President Trump, his family, his administration and America.

Father in Heaven, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we gather as a nation at a momentous crossroads in our history.  Over the past several decades, we have turned our backs on You; slowly at first, but very steadily and we have gotten to a point through various legislation and court rulings where we no longer even remotely resemble what our Founders put in place when they designed this country based upon the principles and blueprint found in Your Word. 

Dear God, We the People, Your children, have pleaded with You around the country; we have met in small and large groups, filled church buildings and synagogues, held vigils, and we have lifted our combined voices to You in prayer and supplication.  Father, our prayers had the common themes of asking for new leadership that would begin the process of turning us back around into a nation that honors and worships You; we’ve asked You to give us men and women who would begin to reverse our moral decline and reverse the decision which has allowed the unspeakable destruction of millions of Your children via the curse of abortion, and so much more.

As You have done so many times before for Your people, You have heard our earnest pleas, and You have answered by giving us a leader who shares many of our values.  Father, as this man, Mr. Donald Trump begins the enormous task ahead, we ask that You grant him good advisors, a supportive family, a legislative body that helps him, and grant him the discernment, wisdom, and courage to act in a way that honors You.

Father, he has powerful detractors and enemies within and without and they will do everything they can to thwart his restoring efforts; show Your Glory by making them ineffective against him and our allies.  

As he begins his Presidency, we ask that You cover him and his family with a cloak of protection, keep him strong and healthy.

Now that You have granted us this reprieve and opportunity to return to You, we ask that You soften the hearts of those who resist your beckoning, that Your Harvest of souls would begin in great numbers and this nation would witness its greatest revival and national repentance.

Dear God, You don’t need us, but You love us more than our simple minds can ever conceive, and You have shown that in so many ways; the greatest of which was sending Your only Son to take the penalty of our sin on that Cross.  Father we need You, and we ask that You bless us once again as You have in the past, as we must bless You again.

We thank You humbly for Your provision and we just ask again that You protect this man and these United States of America.

Father, I recognize that not everyone hearing these words shares faith in You and Your Son, however I ask that You would hear this prayer offered by Your humble servant and lifted up to You in the matchless and mighty name of Your Son, Jesus the Christ.  

And all of God’s children said…

And so this is Christmas...

Written by David DiCrescenzo on . Posted in FAITH

We see less and less of the things we used to see around Christmas these days.  When I was a kid growing up on the North Shore of Boston, we didn’t even much think about it until a while after Thanksgiving.  There was no such thing as 'Black Friday,’ and the shopping frenzy didn’t really kick in until about the last two weeks before; however, once the season did kick into gear, it was amazing.

Everywhere one looked, there was a Christmas theme.  Every town square had a 'Manger Scene.’ Some of them were 'live,’ some not, and no one complained about anyone being offended. The ACLU didn’t raise a stink about public funds being used for street decorations, and no one was complaining.  School kids made all sorts of Christmas stuff in public school classes across the country.  There was even a place, not far from where we lived, called the Lynn Fells Parkway; people came from many miles away just to drive around this affluent neighborhood to see the Christmas lights display.  Ask anyone you may know who lived anywhere near Boston at the time, and they’ll know about that.  I haven’t been near there in decades; however I would guess that neighborhood probably no longer does that anymore.

Then of course, there was Christmas Eve.  I imagine everyone has a different memories; some very happy, some very sad.  I think a lot of people were trying to grasp the temporary emotion and sentiment found in some of the old classic movies.  Everyone remembers the redemptive tales of Mr. Scrooge and Tiny Tim in “A Christmas Carol,” or the evening journey of George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  Speaking of those, I don’t know about “A Christmas Carol,” however you won’t be seeing “It’s a Wonderful Life” anymore, at least not 24/7 like we used to this time of year.  Copyrights y’know.

Anyway, putting all of that nostalgia aside, the season has been so commercialized and diluted with Santa Claus, flying reindeer, dancing elves, and Macy’s parades, we’ve lost focus along the way.  Not to mention the many that would have us do away with Christmas altogether.

Like most Christians, I understand that there is no real Biblical teaching which demands we celebrate the birth of our Savior; the reason He came and His death and resurrection are the most important.  I know of some groups and individuals that incessantly harp on the pagan roots of the celebration and consider it less than Christian.  They’re entitled to their opinion.

However, this is my take and that of most of my brothers and sisters in the faith for joyously celebrating His birth.  Just as most of us honor any other friend or loved one and commemorate their birth every year, we honor the day set aside to celebrate His earthly birth; that time when the Eternal Creator of the Heavens and Earth humbled Himself to dwell among His children and prepare Himself as the only sacrifice worthy to Him.  He didn’t have to, we didn’t and don’t deserve it; however, He loves us so much that He allowed Himself to take human form, to become one of us, and ultimately be sacrificed on that Roman Cross 2000 years ago.  He was sinless and that was the only acceptable sacrifice that could be offered once and for all to cover our sin nature.  We celebrate His death and resurrection during the time of Passover and what we now refer to as Easter.

There’s a small catch though.  While everyone is welcome to receive His free and undeserved gift of Grace, it is only bestowed upon those who recognize it for what it is and accept it on this side of Eternity.  His life and death on that Cross was His knock on the door to our hearts to deliver the simple message of His Salvation.

So as we begin this final week leading up to our celebration and gift giving, the question always remains, will you hear His gentle knocking…?  Will you open the door to your heart and welcome Him in and accept His free gift of everlasting life…?  The choice is yours; He is knocking on your door today and always.

My hope and prayer is that you will look deep inside, hear His voice, and welcome Him.  

In that hope, I bid you a joyous and very Merry Christmas.  Good night my friends, rest well in the knowledge that your Heavenly Father loves you and wants very much to have a relationship with you.   

 

America....the writing is on the wall

Written by David DiCrescenzo on . Posted in FAITH

I imagine that most people have heard this term, "I can read the writing on the wall" or a variation at one time or another and understand that in our modern culture it distills down to the ability to recognize and understand a given situation; as you’ll see; it certainly applies to the state of America and the West.  

What a lot of people probably don’t realize is the origin of it.  The term comes from the fifth chapter of the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament of the Bible.  Before I describe the scene that was taking place, I’ll offer a little background.

Daniel, a Jew, was a very well-known and well respected man in Babylon, and had been for decades since the time of King Nebuchadnezzar.  If you’re familiar with the Book of Daniel, you’ll remember that in chapter two, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and wanted it interpreted; he also wanted the interpreter to tell about the dream.  None of his wise men or mystics, and no one in his court had a clue; however Daniel did and was able to not only tell him exactly what he’d dreamed, he told him what it meant. Everything Daniel said about the dream was true, and everything he said would happen to the king did in fact come to pass.  To make a long story short, that is how Daniel earned his respect and position in Babylon. Daniel’s God given ability is also why King Nebuchadnezzar came to believe in God in a big way. 

Now that I’ve laid that brief ground work on Daniel, we can visit the scene in Chapter five that I mentioned above. Nebuchadnezzar had long since passed away, however the story of what had happened to him and the role Daniel played was the stuff of legend in Babylon; however the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, by the name of Belshazzar, like many of our leaders, was very full of himself and wasn’t real interested in any of that history and pretty much lived a lot like we in America do; and he threw a really big party to boast his and Babylon’s 'invincibility.’

In the meantime, similar to the current state of America and the West as a whole via our enemies, Babylon had been under a long term and growing siege from the Medes and Persians and the city was completely surrounded. Unlike us, Babylon had very high and wide walls so there was no chance for any invader to scale them; however there was an 'Achilles Heel’ to the city.  Back to that in a moment to tie it all together.

The only real difference between ancient Babylon and America and the West is our advanced technologies.  They had the same sort of corrupt politicians, bankers, rebellious children, and all the rest.  Just like America has turned away from our founding principles, they also, after the time of Nebuchadnezzar, had fallen away from the course he set them on; had returned to their wicked ways, and just like us, had begun worshipping false idols.  Many of their idols were the same as ours; money, possessions, pride, status, sexual immorality, however they also had some made of wood, stone, iron, gold, and the like.  The bottom line is, like us, they worshipped anything and everything except God.

Back to the big party; so the city is surrounded, the leaders are ineffective, and the people are worried…sound familiar?  In the middle of the party, Belshazzar decided to make a mockery of all the captured idols from conquered nations; however since the Jews didn’t have any idols, he decided that the gold and silver cups the Jews had used in ceremonies would suffice, and he decided to drink from them and have others do the same.

And that is when as we would say, everything hit the fan.  To the horror and amazement of everyone in attendance, something very other worldly happened for all eyes to see; some very 'creepy’ fingers appeared and started writing a brief message on the wall in a language that no one understood; that is except Daniel who was called upon to see if he could once again interpret something.  And he did in fact interpret the writing on the wall.  It told of the end of Belshazzar’s reign and that he would perish that very night, which he did.

Remember those Medes and Persians that were besieging the city and that "Achilles Heel?”  Well, they knew that the Euphrates River flowed right through the middle of the city under those “very high and wide” walls, so they dammed the river several miles upstream and waited for the water level to lower under the walls, and it just so happened that the level was low enough right about the time that Daniel read the writing on the wall, that they were able to simply march in and take the city.

By now, if you’ve read this far, you’re probably thinking "so what?”

Oprah and her "Belief" series; nothing but noise...!

Written by David DiCrescenzo on . Posted in FAITH

In case you haven’t heard, Oprah Winfrey is at it again; last month she produced and aired a new series called “Belief.”  Essentially, the premise of the series is that all belief systems and faiths are equally valid, spiritually fulfilling; pleasing and acceptable to God.

Many people rely upon the “do unto others” thinking, which BTW is straight out of the Bible, (Luke 6:21) or that they are somehow “living a good life,” or even the old cliché of “…I’m not religious, I’m spiritual.”  All of these things and thousands more sound good and make the individual feel better about themselves; the problem is that they are simply not true.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this for quite a while and on Sunday my pastor delivered a sermon which really nailed it down for me.  He was discussing the basic elements of communication and how it applies to God, Heaven, and Spiritual Fulfillment.

Everyone can agree that there are three main parts to any communication; the person, entity, or in this case God with the message; the actual subject or message of the communication; and finally the intended recipient(s) of that message.  In a perfect world, any message should be easy to hear and receive, and be understood. However, we don’t live in a perfect world and the message from God to mankind, like pretty much all messages has become clouded and masked with a lot of “noise” or distractions and deceptions.

That noise comes in a lot of forms; worries about that job or raise, the significant other in your face, feeding the kids, that new car or vacation, the daily news, the latest video game, is Jenner Bruce or Caitlin this week; fill in the blank.  The noise either keeps us awake at night or lulls us to sleep; either way, the enemy uses it to block the biggest message of all; and that is the message of Salvation from our Creator.

That original message was and is simple.  Way back when, right after creation, mankind, (Adam and the generations to follow) fell via deceit from our enemy.  In a nutshell, God’s message to mankind, gave free rein to do pretty much anything he and his wife chose with one exception; eating the forbidden fruit.  Mind you, the real crime was not so much the forbidden fruit as it was in simplest terms a breach of God’s rule, I.E., sin; and the price or wages of sin was and is death.  

Was there ‘noise’ in the beginning…?  You bet; not anything near what we experience today, however Adam and Eve, who were very aware of the rules, were also very busy finding and naming the things put here for their use and enjoyment, and I’m sure working on the “go forth and multiply part.”  

Along came some serious noise in the form of the enemy of mankind, (Lucifer) who fed them a ‘little’ lie; he convinced them that eating the forbidden fruit would not really cause their deaths and would instead allow them to be like God.  Well, they did eat it, and the rest as they say, is history.

Mind you, the original message is still there, albeit broken by mankind.  Over the course of history, God has been reminding us through His prophets who He had write His Word which contains that message and the additional message of how we can overcome that death sentence by the redeeming sacrifice of His one and only son Jesus.  The biggest difference since then and now really is the noise level, which the enemy has been employing and increasing in an attempt to completely drown out the message; because he knows how the story ultimately ends.

Getting back to Oprah for a minute; I really don’t know what her motive is in attempting to influence her millions of followers with such false information, however whether she and her minions like it or not, there is in fact only one very exclusive and inclusive, (that is to say, all are welcome) way to find favor in God’s sight.  As you will see, I am only discussing that one true path; not because there aren’t many other false ones, but simply because there isn’t enough room in a library full of books to delve into them all.  More importantly, just as how they only teach bank tellers about real money, I am discussing historical Biblical truth; counterfeits can be spotted a mile away once the real deal is known.

With the historically traceable and provable exception of the Bible; the inspired Word of God, Yahweh by name; aka I Am, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and other names; all world belief systems have been man made and bear the easily detected, concealed mark of the great deceiver; the same deceiver who continues to do everything within his limited scope to attempt the destruction of mankind.

While many have tried, no one has or can ever successfully dis-prove a word of it. The Bible has been around and unchanged, save for meticulous translations by countless scholars into modern languages since the days of Moses when he scribed the first five books of the Old Testament known as the Torah and the Pentateuch. Additionally, much to the chagrin of detractors, archeologists are constantly finding corroborating evidence to support it.

I know what you’re going to say; “that may be true for you, but not for me…;” that and a lot of that sort of nonsense is just exactly what the enemy of mankind wants you to believe; believe anything and everything, just not the truth.

Is the "End" near?

Written by David DiCrescenzo on . Posted in FAITH

I’ll bet a lot of people mocked and laughed at Noah during the entire 120 years it took him to build the Ark; and at Moses when he kept visiting Pharaoh and warning of plagues…until those plagues happened and took their toll.  No doubt Lot’s wife scoffed a bit before being “seasoned” as they were ushered out of Sodom.  I’ll bet that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were fodder for afternoon jokes right up to the moment that they walked out of Nebuchadnezzar’s blazing fire unharmed.

There are a lot more stories I could list of men and women who dared to answer the call of God and speak out against the culture of their days, many of whom wound up martyred.  For any that recall history, Christians and others who refused to acquiesce to and spoke out against the pagan culture of Rome were massacred in wholesale lots via the most gruesome methods.  

The point is that then and now, such men and women have been ostracized by those in their localized communities and in a broader sense by entire cultures, and we are seeing a resurgence of this in a big way today.  Not just here in the US, but globally.  

Since the beginning of time, the entire human race, believers and non-believers alike, are subject to the laws of our Creator.  However because of our free will, mankind has allowed itself to be deceived by the lie that we can ignore those laws and do as we please.  Time after time, it has been proven that we cannot!  

The simple truth is that while men think God and those that believe in Him should adapt to their (not so much changing as recurring) desires, He has consistently shown that we must follow His unwavering laws or suffer the consequences.  Those laws are not mean spirited; He put them in place for good reason…He created us and He knows what is best for us.

Mankind is at a critical time in history, when all of our past iniquities, all of the past judgements from above, all of the prophecies, and our current state of increasing depravity are coming to a head.  Look around; compare what is happening to what was foretold long ago; have a look at Matthew 24.  Even if you are a hard core atheist, recognize that what the Prophets of Old said would happen is unfolding exactly as it was revealed to them.

In a matter of days, the Supreme Court of the United States is going to rule on the issue of so-called “homo-sexual marriage,” which, while it is huge and one of the most egregious sins mentioned in God’s Word, it is only one of many issues that are combining to topple our culture.  More than forty years ago that same SCOTUS ruled in favor of the destruction of over 55 million of our unborn babies. Of course we won’t know for absolute certain until the SCOTUS ruling is made public, however it is a safe bet given the radical make-up of the court that they have already decided and the recent voting in Ireland will be used as some sort of “universal precedent,” and the talk is that Australia will cave in very soon as well.  This added to so many other issues leaves His children with eyes to see that His Day is at hand.  

I expect I will be mocked once again for these words, as will the many of those who see this as I do. What I have to say will be intentionally misconstrued by my detractors and others who simply don’t agree with me. They’ll label me with all the usual stuff; “hater,” “homophobe,” etc., because that’s the easy way out.