Can We Build On a Cracked Foundation?

Can We Build On a Cracked Foundation?

by Lonnie Lane

This message came from a word I believe I received from the Lord. Like any word of a prophetic nature it should be judged. Please read this with your spiritual ears open to what the Spirit of God would say to you about its validity. Take into your heart what you feel is from Him, and disregard what you feel is not. I humbly submit it to you, our Messianic Vision mishpochah, for your consideration.

If ever we could use the anointing of the sons of Issachar it’s today. “The sons of Issachar (were) men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, (1 Chron 12:32). There is certainly a need for wisdom to know what we should do today. There is no greater way to wisdom than seeking the Lord for His wisdom. King David was a national leader and a man after God’s own heart who sought the Lord at every turn, with very few exceptions he later repented of. When leaders look to God for His ways and adhere to His Word, success and prosperity, peace and righteousness flow in the land. God told one leader, Joshua, that adhering to His Word “will make your way prosperous and then you will have success” (Josh 1:8). But, as we know, His Word is not always considered in making decisions and His will is not always sought.

Even the first apostles made some decisions that were likely not God’s will. Peter was sure that they needed to make up for Judas no longer being with them by choosing some one to take his place. They choose two men and then prayed, “Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, show which of these two Thou has chosen to occupy this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside….” (Acts 1:24, 25). So they drew lots “and the lot fell to Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles” (1:26). But we never hear about Matthias again in the New Testament. I wonder what ever became of good ole’ Matthias. This took place before they were filled with the Holy Spirit and learned to live according to His leading. Do you think that “choosing” would have even taken place after Pentecost? I’m kind of doubting it. It would seem that Paul was the chosen twelfth apostle to be a leader in the church.

Similarly, we may have leaders today at any level of leadership whom God may not have anointed to lead. We can assume therefore that those leaders may be inclined to introduce directions that God may not have chosen. Some believe that whoever is elected to office is God’s choice. Not so. Those who are elected in our democratic society are those whom we choose. God has given us free will and He will not violate our choices. He always works with us within the context of our choices. Once our leaders are elected, however, it is the responsibility of the Believers to uphold them in prayer. It certainly won’t be the non-believers who would do that, would they?

Of all the gifts that God has given us, the amazing power of prayer to work with Him to change lives and situations is to me one of the most awesome privileges. We get to be co-workers with God in what He’s doing. “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (1 John 5:13, 14). So in whatever I’m saying here, I have complete confidence that as we pray God can turn things around to put us in the place of receiving His goodness, protection, wisdom and provision.

So what are we praying for? We can pray that our President would have such an encounter with the love and holiness of God that he would not make a move without Him. We can pray for an anointing to lead under God’s headship, for wisdom and discernment to know what long range consequences would come from the choices he is considering. We can pray for insight into the Word of God to guide and direct him, and for him to be free from deception or the lies of the devil that would seek to derail his administration and our nation. We can pray for unity for godliness at all levels of government, for Mr. Obama and for each of our senators, congressman and judges to come to a fear of the Lord that would put them on a quest for righteousness and justice in our country. We can pray that God would be with the President’s advisors and cabinet to make them people of integrity and godly character, who are free from pride or their own agendas. We can pray for the supernatural intervention of God in the lives of all our leaders, for repentance for those in the financial and other industries whose greed, lies and misappropriation of funds has caused calamity in our financial system. We can pray for laws that are just to be enacted and for those that are not to be rescinded. We can pray for our nation to once again be “one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.” If you’ve not been praying for our government, these are some suggestions on where to begin.

And we can pray that God would go to the root of the problems to “heal” our economy. Have you noticed it is toppling? What will men do to steady it? Putting our hands to it to try and keep it from falling will not accomplish what we intend if the way we’re doing things is ungodly. David had a great idea to bring the ark back to Jerusalem after it had not been there throughout Saul’s entire forty year reign. Good idea, right? What could seem better? However, the way they were going about it was the problem. God had ordained for godly men that is, the priests to carry the Ark on their shoulders using the poles that protruded from the Ark itself for that purpose. But they put it on a cart. When the cart began to topple, Uzzah, who’s name incidentally means strength, put out his hand to steady it. “But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God” (2 Sam 6:6,7). The “strength” of men or their ideas of how to keep things from toppling can bring about bigger problems when we don’t do things God’s way.

Granted, putting together economic plans isn’t the same as bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, but trying to stabilize something when we’re in opposition to God’s ways isn’t likely to be something He’s blessing either. So what are we doing that could reap bigger problems? After all, governments make decisions all the time that aren’t in God’s will. Why is it so critical now for us? Well, for one thing, America has been a nation that has been dedicated to God’s ways from the beginning. We were founded on Judeo-Christian Biblical principles and have maintained them for the duration of our nationhood. Until the last few decades and increasingly so in more recent years. When as a nation we turn away from God’s ways, we are sowing toward destruction unless we turn back to God. I believe there are three faults or cracks in the foundation upon which we are attempting to erect an economic fix-all which must be “healed” if the fixes are going to work. They follow what God told Israel as we find then in the Bible.

1. God told Israel not to make covenants or alliances with her enemies. Any time they did there was destruction. For America to seek an alliance or to establish a friendship with any people group that is firmly against Israel is to feed the dog that will bite us. To invest millions of American (tax) dollars in those who war against Israel is not good investment policies, not ones God will bless. What about discussions with Iran who is determined to destroy Israel? Can a discussion with a man, Ahmadinejad, who is sure he is right and has his god on his side in his intention to entirely destroy Israel be assuaged by reason? It’s not like we haven’t heard this song before. Haman sang it; Hitler sang it. It’s certainly not the voice of God we hear from him. He openly states his intention to execute demise of Israel while also stating that the holocaust didn’t really happen as Israel says it did. He claims not to be anti-Semitic, only anti-Zionist. I ask you, isn’t that a distinction without a difference?  That’s not rational but if you say it enough times, people begin to believe it. That’s called a “factoid,” an invented piece of information that has no basis in reality but comes to be accepted as truth because it’s been said repeatedly. God still sees them as lies.

For America to attempt to effect some kind of alliance with a nation so determined to bring about Israel’s destruction (which they cannot by God’s word), is to stand against Israel and therefore to take a stand against God. As we have quoted many times, and you probably know by heart, God said to Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and the one who curses (reviles) you, I will (bind in a) curse” (Gen 12:3 including the marginal alternative translations.) You cannot befriend the sworn enemy of Israel and expect God to bless the alliance or however your nation is instrumental in carrying out that alliance.

2. Torah is clear about God’s stand regarding homosexuality: “If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them” (Lev 20:13). Homosexuality violates the very fiber of what society is based upon which is the family. It rebels against the intrinsic commandment to all creation which is to multiply: “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth”(Gen 1:28). What does not contribute to life contributes to death. I have someone I care about who is gay; I continue to pray for him. I can love the sinner, but still not condone the sin.

Having said that, consider this: Whenever there was sin within Israel’s army, they not only lost the victory in their battles, but thousands of their soldiers died. I’m not prophesying any such thing for our troops by any means. We wish to protect the precious lives of our soldiers overseas. They are our collective sons and daughters. For this very reason we must pray for a reversal of the ruling that condones homosexuality in our armed forces, because the sin isn’t just among the soldiers but is sanctioned by our highest leadership. If we believe that God blesses what is righteous and withholds His blessings when there is unrighteousness, then we know that this is a time to pray. This ruling is thought of as a move forward toward human rights. I see it as a “woe” issue:  “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness…!” (Is 5:20).

3. God has said, “You shall not murder” (Ex 20:13)? Abortion is murder of the unborn. We need not go into a discussion here about a fetus being a living baby. There’s enough evidence to prove that. David said, “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb” (Ps 139:13. Also see Judges 16:17; Ps 22:10). Would anyone say that Yeshua was only a fetus and not a living baby when God put Him in Mary’s womb? Further, partial birth abortions are the most violent form of murder I can think of. God is provoked by violence (Ez 8:17); His judgments are manifold because of violence. How much more when violence comes against those who cannot defend themselves? His word declares, “Do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood…” (Jer 22:3). How orphaned is the innocent unborn child whose parents would violently destroy him or her even while still in the womb? Will God not defend those who cannot defend themselves?

An executive order was signed to provide American funding for abortion programs overseas. What if God wanted to stop our exporting of murder of the unborn? Might He not dry up the funding available in order to keep that from happening? Is it possible that some of our economic problems have to do with America funding or exporting our sin throughout the world? I remember being in Israel in 1973 and then again just a few years later and seeing how it had become more “modern” and well, American. But it also became more immoral with our American ways. It was obvious they went together, modernity and immorality and it came from us. We can see clearly today that God is dealing with the greed that has exploited people through the mortgage industry and others. Let’s not underestimate that immorality and especially the violence in this nation has great affect upon our economics, including what we are able to fund. If we find ourselves in severer lack, “seek ye first His righteousness and all these things (that we need for life and godliness) will be given to you.”  (Mat 6:33; 2 Peter 1:3). Righteousness may go further for economic stability than a Stimulus package. Righteousness has a way of bringing about self-correction naturally.

The goals of our present administration may be altruistic but if they are built upon an eroding foundation, they will not stand; they will topple. As was said, the foundation of this nation has been its Judeo-Christian ethic. As that has waned so have God’s blessings waned. Cracks in the foundation will not support what is built upon it for long. Sooner or later it will fall. We can be praying for God to rectify things in our nation but at the same time acting in ways that provide for keeping us in the meantime.

There are ministries and voices that are encouraging people to begin to store food in case of a food shortage. This can be done in families, groups of friends, or churches. I was told to share this with leaders. If you feel this is from God, perhaps God is asking you to share this idea of a congregational project with your leaders.

Leaders: God may be literally saying to “bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there might be food for My house” meaning for His people (Mal 3:10). God has been telling some to create storehouses of food and water. Is He saying this to you? Should this supersede some other project that will have less import should the need really arise? This is not fear motivated, but wisdom motivated. Some congregations may feel led by the Lord to start storing food which can be bought in bulk, rather than the can-by-can contributions. God will lead and show you what to do. His Word promises, “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging bread” (Ps 37:25). But that could mean taking the initiative to store it rather than just expecting it to prayerfully materialize when needed, not that I don’t believe God can do that too. Use the inflow of funds available now with wisdom and with an eye toward riding out a time in which food may be scarce and water may not flow as before. Each of us must know what God is telling us to do and do it. If He’s not telling you to store food, by all means, don’t. I believe those who dwell in God’s sanctuary (in a spiritual sense) will have food to eat and will be sheltered from the storm that may be brewing. It could be on the horizon even now. The economic statistics certainly give us enough incentive to pray, pray, pray. Be sure to pray believing and with thanksgiving for answered prayer.

God may be saying to store up food and water but not to noise it about so the food is not stolen by those who would not share it with others in need. God will bring to us or show us who He wants us to help take care of. If we never need it, there are enough homeless folks already needing food with whom we can share it. I’d like nothing more than to find that there is no need for these words because we prayed and God answered and restored us to righteousness and stability in our families and our society on the whole, including economically.

This is a time for wisdom and understanding like the sons of Issachar who knew what to do. Yes, we are going to pray and yes, we are believing God to change things for good and to firmly establish righteousness in our country. But we must heed the signs of the times and act wisely. We who are Yeshua’s live by a Kingdom mindset with Kingdom expectations. All we have to do is obey what we believe He is saying. So find out what He wants for you. Do not wait to see what will happen. If He would have you store food, then the time for storing up is before a famine, or there will be nothing to store. This is the wisdom God gave to Joseph before the need arose. There is not 7 years as he had to prepare a people. We need only prepare for our people and for those whom God will send to us. Each one must do their part. As for the nation, our prayers will avail much. Pray for people everywhere to be protected and to remain strong and of good courage.

God will bring strength and hope and words of insight and discernment and those with ears to hear will hear His voice. As we head closer to the end times, we must seek to recognize the language of the Kingdom of God in the midst of the cacophony of many words that will have no lasting substance. Listen for His voice. Listen for God’s word. Where His word is there is truth. Cling to it, for it will bring you through to the other side in victory. There is a future and a hope for you. Rightly divide what you hear on the streets and on the air from what you hear by the Holy Spirit. He will give to you His peace even when there is no peace elsewhere.

God says, “My strength I will give to you and My light to show others the way to Me in the darkness. Stay in My light and you will be light. The darkness is not the truth nor the way for those who are mine. Refuse it. Keep your eyes upon Me and the hope that is set before you. No one can pluck you out of My hand.”

Reprint of this article is permitted as long as you use the following; Use by permission by Messianic Vision, www.sidroth.org, 2009.

Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible Copyright ©1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.  All rights reserved. Used by permission.