One Nation Under God
From the Grand Rapids Press, August 17, 2002,
Op-ed page

`One Nation Under God must be proclaimed---freely
by Stephen Michmerhuizen

Declaring "under God"
In the Pledge of Allegiance Unconstitutional protects the rights of all Americans, including Christians.

You could classify me as a conservative Christian. I believe the Bible is God's literal word to humans, and Jesus is the only way to heaven.

I also believe the United States is one nation under God. And like many conservative Christians, I followed the decision by judges in California that the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance are unconstitutional.

However, contrary to most conservative Christians, I thought the judges' decision was good for our country and for Christianity. I fully realize that I am in the minority. There has been an amazing outcry from the public against this decision. And on many fronts, it is Christians who are leading the charge to get the judges' ruling overturned.

Yet, I perceive the motives behind some of these efforts to be reactionary, instead of reflective, as is so often the case when we think our basic convictions are being threatened. It seems as if many people understand the ruling as an attempt to stifle belief in God. While I applaud the religious devotion of these people, I understand the ruling differently. I see it as a move that protects the rights of all Americans, including Christians.

Americans are guaranteed freedom of religion, and the Constitution states that no laws that respect an establishment of religion may be passed. However, in 1954, a law was passed that added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. This law recognizes that a single divine being sustains our land. It is a law that respects a specific religious belief and does not deliver the best of liberty to our citizens who believe differently.

When the California judges declared the law unconstitutional, they showed a commitment to religious freedom. This should make religious people feel safe, not threatened. I support the judges' decision, not only as an American, but also as a Christian. As strange as this may sound, Christianity itself does not benefit from simply having the words "under God" in an official pledge.

As a Christian, I am passionate about evangelism. It is my prayer that people in our country will repent and turn to the Lord. But people will not come to a sincere faith in God simply because our government endorses Him.

A brief study of European history will illustrate this point. For hundreds of years, the governments of such countries as France, Spain and England officially sponsored Christianity. Today, church attendance in those countries has nearly died out, and there is much hostility toward formal religion.

God will be glorified, and our nation will be blessed, when people freely and sincerely confess that our nation's destiny is in his hands. It is the job of the Christian church to encourage this confession; it is not the government's task to mandate it.

Many Christians have relied on the U.S. government to do a task that was their responsibility--to proclaim that our country depends on almighty God. If our government ceases to formally align itself with a theistic viewpoint, religion in America is not doomed. On the contrary, the Christian Church will be roused into action. Christians clearly will realize that it is our task--and ours alone--to proclaim to our society that we are one nation under God. With God's help, we will proclaim this in a more powerful way than our government ever could.

Both freedom and Christianity will thrive in a land where the government does not sponsor a particular religious viewpoint. Although I desire the citizens of this country to recognize God's sovereignty, this must happen through the witness of Christians, not the words of law.

May God bless America!

Olympic Outreach
Christian Outreach Planned For 2004 Olympic Games
courtesy CNS Aug 19, 2003

ATHENS - World-class athletes will be going for the gold next summer when the Olympic Games return to Greece, but believers hope to win souls in Athens.

Thousands of Christians plan to use the event to evangelize a spiritually needy country, whose language God chose for communicating the gospel to non-Jews.

Twenty centuries after the apostle Paul made history-making mission trips to Thessaloniki (Thessalonica) and Korinthos (Corinth) and eternalized the ancient cities through his letters to the Christians there.

Though 98 percent of the population belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, evangelical, Pentecostal and charismatic churches comprise some 0.14 percent of the population, or a mere 15,000 people out of 10.5 million.

But as the birthplace of the Olympic Games, Greece is poised for a spiritual awakening, Christian leaders told "Charisma" magazine in a forthcoming report on evangelism plans for Athens in 2004.

"The international church will focus on Greece, and there will be a global wave of prayer for our country that will release a wave of revival," predicts Johnathan Macris, a high-profile Greek Protestant and director of Hellenic Ministries.

"I aim at mobilizing 100,000 committed intercessors," he adds. "It is time for the Western church [in Europe and North America] to return a measure of the blessing it has received by way of Greece and through the Greek language."

Macris claims the Olympics are critical not only to saturating Greece with the gospel -- in August thousands of believers will come to Greece for evangelistic outreaches -- but also to reaching the 1.2 billion Muslims in the Asian countries that lie between Athens and Beijing, the host city of the 2008 Olympics.

Macris believes the 2004 Games will be the largest event of idol worship in world history to date. But he says God's plan is to mobilize an army of intercessors to pull down the "[spiritual] stronghold over Greece" for the purpose of opening the door to evangelism in the country.

Macris and local church leaders, though, anticipate a spiritual battle. An anti-proselytism law is in place, but church leaders and missionaries say the government currently takes little action.

"The real problem is that the Greek are very skeptical toward non-Orthodox churches," Timotheos Antoniadis of Thessaloniki, who pastors a typically small Protestant church, explains. "The perception of Protestants as a threat is a [spiritual] wall that we need to breech."

Antoniadis' congregation attempts to break this stereotype by reaching out to the needy, the poor, the prostitutes and the immigrants. In the last four years, the average Sunday attendance at his church has doubled from 20 to 40. Most of the new attendees, including Russian-speaking converts, belong to socially marginalized groups.

Religion vs Jesus
" I thought my job really was to bring people to God. Maybe my job was to bring Christians to Jesus."
- Billy Graham

Isn't this the same as Jesus convicting the religious Pharisees of their ignorance of Him? Oh, how some things have remained the same! Something to contemplate if you're busy with religion.
-Milt Poulos

Who is in control?
Peace of mind is truly experienced when I am fully persuaded that God is in control of all things and at all time. Tension, fear is experienced when I try to be in conrol, by worrying how I will make it through the trial. The soul clearly recognizes that I can't make it on my own, so fear is generated. But, the deceitful heart is blinded by the pride of independence, ignoring the Helper Who is there to guide and quiet my heart.

Milt Poulos

A Prayer of Grace and Blessing

Father, I ask you to bless my friends reading this right
now.
I am asking You to minister to their spirit at this very
moment.

Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy.

Where there is self doubting, release a renewed confidence
in Your ability to work through them.

Where there is tiredness, or exhaustion, I ask You to give
them understanding, patience, and strength as they learn
submission to Your leading.

Where there is spiritual stagnation, I ask You to renew
them by revealing Your nearness, and by drawing
them into greater intimacy with You.

Where there is fear, reveal Your love, and release
to them Your courage.

Where there is a sin blocking them, reveal it, and
break its hold over my friend's life.

Bless their finances, give them greater vision, and raise
up leaders, and friends to support, and encourage them.

Give each of them discernment to recognize
the evil forces around them, and reveal to them the
power they have in You to defeat it.

I ask You to do these things in Jesus' name.

In love, Your Friend

Be not conformed
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God
Romans 12:2

"The great enemy to this renewal is, conformity to this world. Take heed of forming plans for happiness, as though it lay in the things of this world, which soon pass away. Do not fall in with the customs of those who walk in the lusts of the flesh, and mind earthly things. The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried on to the will, affections, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God. "

- Matthew Henry's Commentary on Romans

Behold, He is Coming
He knows that I am dust..His coming is soon.

"I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
"Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. Revelation 3:8,11"
Milt Poulos