I listened to Rick's testimony of how God saved him after a friend in the US government pulled him aside, witnessed to him, brought him to a bible study and began to build into his life. It reminded me a bit of how at ANVIL we are pretty much trying to do the same things in fulfilling the Great Commision, and each time we attempt this, we are accomplishing great things for His kingdom. Rick went on to champion the cause against partial-birth abortion, one of the most unpopular positions a career politician could take in this humanistic society. Essentially and in a nutshell, the baby's head is violently removed during birth by a doctor. Santorum was labelled and in some ways ostracized because of his christian position, but he was faithful to God in this fight almost nobody had taken on and he stuck to his fighting anti-abortion position. He was branded an "ultra-conservative" by the media. Because of the notoriety of his stance, one thing led to another and almost before he knew it, he began to campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America. He told us of some of his studies about the founding fathers of the USA.
The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Congress on July 1976, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they formed a union that would become a new nation - the United States of America. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and asserted certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution.
Since then, the document has become a major statement on human rights, particularly its second sentence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness".
One of the most inspiring things Santorum related, was that although many countries have taken pages out of the US Constitution to frame and whereby build their own country's constitution from, none have ever taken copies of the Declaration of Independence that John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and the other founding fathers of the USA put together in 1776. You see, once those founding fathers affixed their signature to the Declaration of Independence, they were basically dead men if they didn't win their fight in the war against the British king. From that point onward, they "had-to" win this war or face summarily being executed for an act against the English king.
They were fighting for their freedom from taxation from England. They were fighting for a right to their faith expression, and amongst their cause was their desire to be independent from England in their new homeland. It wasn't like the early American colonialists had any military advantage over the British. Both sides in the American Revolutionary War had great generals. Both sides had similar equipment. The British in many ways were better trained and equipped. By many counts the Colonialists had less going for them than the British. They also had to contend with those in their society who were not in on their cause for freedom and independance. But, the thing that they had going for them that the British soldiers didn't was that they were "ALL IN!"
If the British didn't win, they went back home, but if the early colonialist fighters didn't win.....they would be put to death.
They were "ALL IN" in their battle for freedom because it meant life or death to them, once they had affixed their name to the document!
What about you? In your fight for spiritual ground in your life....are you "all in"? What does Jesus mean to you? These are my thoughts for you today.....if you're not "ALL IN" for Jesus, you will probably not accomplish very much for his kingdom, as the losing side found. You have to be "ALL IN", you have to WIN by giving your best to Christ and His kingdom....the stakes are just that high! Remember that the King is Coming!
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