Reason is important! Today there is a very significant lack of Biblical knowledge. No doubt this is in part due to the fact that the Bible is no longer read in our public schools; prayer is no longer made in our public schools; there is a widespread attack on the Word of God in public places in this nation; the Supreme Court of the United States has for more than 60 years seemingly struck down every godly law that has been challenged, and upheld every ungodly law that has been challenged; crosses have been removed from public places, and the public acknowledgment of God is actively opposed, if not prohibited in many places; the display of the Ten Commandments in public places has been prohibited; in short, public officials in our nation have either participated in or permitted the casting away of the law of the Lord of Host and the despising of the Word of the Holy One of Israel.

This lack of Biblical knowledge, and thus reason, has reached epic proportions in our nation. Indeed, the Prophet Amos seems to be speaking of America, when in the 8th Chapter of God's Holy Word, it is historically reported that Amos wrote, "And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into the lamentation; and I will bring up sack cloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." (Amos 8:10–11)

We have people in authority over us celebrating – actually celebrating – the approval of the despicable sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. We have people in authority over us who have displayed a pagan God in neon lights at the top of the Empire State building in New York City. Truly, "they have cast away the law of the Lord of Host, and despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel." Reason – sound Biblical reason – is disappearing. There seems to be in fact, a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord!

Wake up! Wake up everyone who names the name of Jesus! Wake up, you who are watchmen on the wall! The darkness is settling over the land, for there is a famine of the Word of God and it is the Word of God that is the light of the world. Rise and shine! Let your light so shine among men that others might see your good works and glorify our Father who is in Heaven. We must not sleep at this time in our nation's history. Let God's people, who are called by His name, humble ourselves and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, and ask that He would hear our prayer and forgive our sin and heal our land! (2 Chronicles 7:14) Not only do we need to pray, we need to speak plainly. Let there be no pretense with any of God's people! Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity and let us all realize the absolute urgency of the times in which we live. These are perilous times. Jesus commanded His disciples to take heed, lest any man deceived them. We must take heed. We must realize what is going on and our only hope is for God to grant repentance toward Him and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to many throughout this nation. Are you praying that? Are you seeking God's face for Him to send a Holy revival and a great awakening? If not, why not?

Even the president of the United States, who seems to be as Biblically ignorant as anyone, has said, “whatever we once were, we are no longer". He said this in the context of saying, we are no longer a Christian nation. Remember that “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every vain thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”! (2 Corinthians 10: 4ff)

If the leaders and pastors will not preach and teach God's Word, please pray that God would raise up men who will! As we ponder and consider these questions, what follows is a brief look at some of the weapons of our warfare that are available to us.

1. The Weapons of Our Warfare

In Paul's letter to the Church of Ephesus in the 6th chapter, he tells us in God's Holy Word that we need to prepare ourselves for battle! This is a call to battle, and he tells us first that we need to be prepared.

The first command is "to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10) In doing that, we begin to recognize the weapons of our warfare. Thus, we see the truth of the fact that our weapons are not carnal, because our first command is to be “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might".

Second, he tells us “to put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”. (Ephesians 6:11) Again it is plain that we are not using carnal weaponry, but that which is identified as the whole armor of God, so that we can stand against our eternal enemy. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12)

Therefore, we are to take to our use and put on “the whole armor of God, that we may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." (Ephesians 6:13) Note that we take not just SOME of the armor of God, but ALL of the armor of God. This armor, which is described in verses 14 through 18, is plainly not carnal armor. This is the armor of God. What follows is not an exhaustive exposition, but plain talk on the call to battle. Put on the whole armor God! We see that the whole armor of God consists of the following:

1. Stand therefore having your loins girded about with TRUTH. God's people must not lie! We must tell the truth and be sealed with truth, walking in truth, and having our loins girded about with truth. This terminology speaks of being able to move about in truth.

1. We must have on the breast plate of RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is the righteousness of God which comes by the faith of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. We can read about being "found in him not having mine own righteousness, but the righteousness which comes from God" in the third Chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Church at Philippi. It is that righteousness that we need in order to escape the wrath of God which the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans Chapter 1 verses 18 through 32.

1. Next, we are to have our “feet shod with the preparation of the GOSPEL OF PEACE." That means that we are able to preach and teach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. We read in the Holy Scriptures “how beautiful are the feet upon the mountain of those who proclaim the gospel of Christ."(Isaiah 52:7)

d).    We are “above all to take the shield of FAITH wherewith we will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." We see in Romans Chapter one verse 17 that the just shall live by faith. Faith is a sheer gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. We receive it as a sheer gift. We cannot conjure it up. We are, however, to walk in faith and in truth and to take the Shield of Faith. We are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus. The reformers called this needed faith Sola Fide – by faith alone. We place no confidence in the flesh. This is by God's sheer gift of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

1. Next, we're to take “the helmet of SALVATION". This helmet of salvation comes from hearing the word of God. It protects our ability to reason. We receive the helmet of salvation also as a sheer gift. The Lord God caused the reformers to write down what was called the Ordo Solutis, or, the order of salvation. In it everything flows from God's eternal decree and eternal plan. Conversion consists of receiving the gift of “repentance toward God" and “saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ". This results in receiving the helmet of salvation.

1. Next is the weapon that is both offensive and defensive, “the sword of the SPIRIT which is the Word of God". The sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God, is, obviously, the whole subject about which Amos is speaking in God's Holy Word in the 8th Chapter. This lack of knowledge of the Word of God is clearly indicative of the fact that we are in a famine in the land – not of bread, nor of water – but of hearing the Word of the Lord! This is our sword. Clearly all of these weapons are not carnal, but are in fact mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. We must speak the Word of God plainly. The Gospel of Christ is God's power unto salvation, to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. It is God's Word that is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of sole and spirit and bone and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of our heart. It is God's Word that does not return unto Him void! It is God's Word that ALWAYS accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it forth, that it may prosper in the thing where unto He sends it.

1. And finally, in this section of Paul's letter to the Church of Ephesus he calls upon Christians to be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all Saints”. He also says to pray for him that utterance may be given unto him, that he would open his mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel of Christ. We all are ambassadors for Christ, prayer is what we are told to do. Jesus said ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. God says, “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)The weapon of all prayer!

1. A Contemporary Witness

This nation, which was founded on the Word of God, is now in the process of rapidly “casting away the Word of the Lord" and many in authority over us despise the Word of the Lord of Host. It is almost a year since the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), declared that same-sex marriages are approved in the United States of America. This is a shameful and disgraceful subversion of the sacred act of marriage. Marriage was created and ordained by God for the establishment of godly offspring. Now some of those in authority over us have struck down the Biblical and historic definition of marriage.

On April 29, 2015, Rabbi Jonathan Kahn, a Christian minister, was invited to speak on Capitol Hill to members of the Congress of the United States of America and to their families. Although many in this nation who are in positions of authority over us disagree, Rabbi Jonathan Kahn said almost a year ago, that which is very obvious." No man can overrule the laws of God, no order can annul the order of God, and no judgment can stand against the judgment of God."

Rabbi Kahn concluded his address by stating the following:

And" tonight America stands at the crossroads and if Elijah came to the summit of Mount Carmel to make a declaration, we come this night to Capitol Hill to declare that our God is not Baal, our God is not Moloch, our God is not government, our God is not money, our God is not power, not pleasure, our God is not political correctness or any other man-made thing! We come to this hill to declare that there is only one God and He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of Israel and of all nations. He alone is the rock upon which this nation has come into existence and from this high place we make this declaration, we will not bow down our knees to Baal, we will not bow down our knees to political correctness, we will not bow down our knees to a morality that is as shifting as sand in the wind. We will not bow down our knees to the law and precepts of rebellion or the sacred cows of moral apostasy, we will not bow down our knees to the idols of man, we will not bow down to Baal! We will bow down our knees only to the Lord our God come what may, and we will have no other gods before Him, for some trust in chariots and some trust in presidents, some trust in Supreme Courts, some trust in White Houses, some trust in governments, some trust in Wall Street, some trust in powers, and some trust in titles, but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God, the name above all names, above all kings, above all powers. We will trust in the only name given among men by which we must be saved. We will trust in the name of Yeshua, Hamashiach, Jesus the Messiah, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, the Judge of all judges, the Light of the world, the Glory of Israel, the Foundation Stone upon which this nation came into existence, and the only answer, the only chance, and the only hope that America has that it might once again shine with the light of the fire of the presence of the glory of the living God and not go to hell, so help us God, thank you!”

We have become a civilization in spiritual schizophrenia, even as Rabbi Jonathan Kahn stated, we are a nation at war against its own foundation.

1. Conclusion

Let us resolve now, as many as name the name of Christ, to depart from iniquity, and to proclaim the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us further resolve that we will speak the Word of God! That we will pray diligently that God would prevent there being a famine in the land, not of food, nor water, but of the hearing of the Word of God, and let us resolve now by God's grace and by His help to preach and teach and proclaim His holy Word. We began above by saying the words from Isaiah Chapter One “Come now let us reason together sayeth the Lord”. This nation was founded by God, for God's purposes, to proclaim the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. His purposes will stand! It is the Lord God who has made us for Himself. It is the Lord God, who has established and ordained this nation, just as He has established and ordained His Holy Law. Not only did He make us, but He has purchased us and redeemed us with the precious blood of Jesus. The words of the old hymn “Jesus Paid it All" are as follows:

“I hear the Saviour say, ‘Thy strength indeed is small, child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all’. Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.”

We have come full circle. From the profit Isaiah writing over 2700 years ago, “though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white is snow, though they be red like Crimson they shall be as wool”, to “Jesus paid at all, all to him I owe; sind had left a Crimson stain, He washed it white as snow." If Jesus paid at all, and He did, reason dictates that I rejoice in the Lord always. I should be rejoicing always. Reason dictates that I cast all my care upon Him for He cares for me and He has paid it all, all to Him I owe.

“Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen! (Ephesians 3:20 – 21)

Your Friend and Brother in Christ,

Bill Gray