Vanity, All is Vanity

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

¹³ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
      Fear God and keep His commandments,
      For this is man's all.
       ¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment,
      Including every secret thing,
      Whether good or evil.
 I awoke this morning to see that our beloved congress passed their omnibus health care bill. This is a bill that includes laws that require me as a citizen to make purchases at my own expenses. The government is now not only taxing us more than ever before, it will now be putting its hands directly into our pockets and making us spend our money on the things that THEY choose and deem best for us. This is patently unconstitutional. As of today, 22 March, 2010, we no longer live in a representative Republic; we now live under tyrannical rule, forced to do the will of those who rule over us, rather than us ruling over ourselves as is Constitutionally mandated and gifted to us by God.

Last night I suffered severe back pain. Now I know why. It is the weight of the burden I now carry as a citizen forced upon me by a government that is supposed to represent me, not subjugate me. In my opinion (that admittedly carries little to no weight), our Constitution has been trashed and rendered useless to us as a nation of freemen when our congress votes to pass legislation that between 65%-75% of Americans do not want. Our representatives have failed us, and our President knowing that this bill would not pass on its merit alone, BRIBED and colluded this bill to passage by offering exemptions, pork-barrel kick-backs, and yes, he even went so far as to offer replacement jobs with major corporations that are Democrat owned, or government appointments should those representative that voted for the bill (and against their constituents) not get reelected into office this fall. It is scandalous and worthy of impeachment and imprisonment.
Our Congress and President are guilty of Treason and worthy of treason's just punishment. I cannot express in words my heartfelt loss for this nation that I love so much, and my utter disgust with those treasonous turncoats who thumbed their nose at the Americans who put them in office and turned their backs on those they have been elected to represent ~ and voted this bill into law. I am angry beyond description.

However…
 The most wise man to ever live once said these words:
"Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!"
 As much as my patriotic heart is breaking, I know that God is in charge. As much as I feel that we as citizens have been utterly betrayed and sold out to the most corrupt government this nation has ever seen, I wait on God. As much as the soldier in me, remembering that I once took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic yearns and pounds within my chest to now uphold that oath, I know that God is sovereign, and that as Romans 13 tells us, our government exists because He allows it. I fully realize that if my hope rested on a President, or a Congress, or a Representative - that I'd be sold down the river for a few pork-dollars that might help a personal cause, or get someone reelected. Instead, in times of trouble and times of need, we must rest in Him and Him alone.
As I sat writing this message and stewing inside over the betrayal of our citizenry this morning, I checked my email. In there I discovered that the wife of a fellow pastor committed suicide last night. My anger at our government immediately evaporated, and the words of Solomon rung in my ears, "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity" rang over and over in my ears. What is real and important suddenly came back into focus.

I strongly believe, now more than ever, that we are very close to the end. Jesus has promised His return, and the Rapture of the church is imminent. As my dear friend Lowell Burrier once reminded me, "As Christians, "we all know the end of the story, but none of us enjoy watching it happen!" meaning that as the end draws near, things will get harder and harder, persecution will increase, evil will increase, deception will increase, and the hearts of many men (even believers) will be hardened towards God. That makes none of us happy. We are seeing denominations leave Christian dogma behind in favor of relativism and seeker friendliness; and our brothers and sisters leaving solid bible teaching churches to go to those churches that are leaving solid theology, 'seeker friendly', or just make them 'feel better". We are seeing local churches closed because pastors fall or congregations can't agree on a carpet color. We are seeing friends and loves ones walk away from church and their faith because the combination of power of the world's vices and a lack of reliability on the Holy Spirit in their lives. These are hard time, and they will get harder, just as promised. Being a Christian in the US will become more difficult than you might have ever imagined, but God is still God, and we know that at the end of the race, He waits for us.

Be angry, but do not sin. Work hard to protect what God has given you under this government that we live in, but do not ever let that become a stumbling block in your faith. All that the world grasps for and seeks to achieve is vanity, and if we grasp, and pull and seek to retain worldly things instead of the things of God and righteousness, even when that thing is freedom itself, we are a worthless affront to God…and the most wise man in history knew it when Solomon said:
 ¹ Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth,
      Before the difficult days come,
      And the years draw near when you say,

      " I have no pleasure in them":
       ² While the sun and the light,
      The moon and the stars,
      Are not darkened,
      And the clouds do not return after the rain;
       ³ In the day when the keepers of the house tremble,
      And the strong men bow down;
      When the grinders cease because they are few,
      And those that look through the windows grow dim;
       ⁴ When the doors are shut in the streets,
      And the sound of grinding is low;
      When one rises up at the sound of a bird,
      And all the daughters of music are brought low.
       ⁵ Also they are afraid of height,
      And of terrors in the way;
      When the almond tree blossoms,
      The grasshopper is a burden,
      And desire fails.
      For man goes to his eternal home,
      And the mourners go about the streets.
       ⁶
Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed,
      Or the golden bowl is broken,
      Or the pitcher shattered at the fountain,
      Or the wheel broken at the well.
       ⁷ Then the dust will return to the earth as it was,
      And the spirit will return to God who gave it.
       ⁸ " Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher,

      " All is vanity."

But Solomon ended with this advice:
      Fear God and keep His commandments,
      For this is man's all.

In times like this we must be on our knees before God imploring Him for guidance and protection, supporting one another like never before. When we see our nation collapsing around us and we become angry, remember that there are people in such despair that they are taking their own lives, our own problems compare against the eternal love of God seem miniscule. We are humbled and embarrassed. When we forget that God comes first, and that as Christians the only thing we should have any fear of is the judgment of God himself, than we have quite running the race, and forgotten that God has already won it for us.