Gems

Billy Graham’s daughter Ann was being interviewed on the American early show soon after 9/11 and children being shot and killed in schools.

Jane Clauson asked her, “How could God let something like this happen?”

Ann Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, “I believe that God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are. But for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government, and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman that He is, I believe that He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leaves us alone?

Let’s see, I think it started when Madeline Murray O’Hare complained she didn’t want any prayer in our schools, ………… and we said O.K.! 

Then somebody said, you had better not read the Bible in school .… ………….. and we said O.K.! even though the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and you should love your neighbour as yourself.

Then Dr Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t physically chastise our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped, and we might damage their self-esteem. We thought an expert should know what he’s talking about, …………… and we said, O.K.! (Dr Spock’s own son committed suicide.)

Even though the Bible says that if we spare the rod we’ll spoil the child, someone said …. teachers and principals had better not discipline our children when they misbehave. And the school administrators said, no faculty member in this school had better touch a student when they misbehave because we don’t want any bad publicity, and we surely don’t want to be sued ……………. and we said O.K.!

Then someone said, let’s let our boys and girls get together outside of marriage, they’re going to do it anyway …………… and we said O.K.!

Then someone said, let’s let our daughters have abortions if they want, and they won’t even have to tell their parents. ……………. and we said O.K.!

Then some of our top officials said, it doesn’t matter what we do in private as long as we do our jobs. And agreeing with them, we thought, it doesn’t matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private, as long as the economy is good and I have a job. ………….. and so we said O.K.!

And then someone said, let’s print magazines with inappropriate pictures of women and say it’s wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation of the female body. …………. and we said O.K.!

And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and published inappropriate pictures of children and then went even further still by making them available on the internet. ………… and we said, O.K.! they’re entitled to their free speech.

And then the entertainment industry said let’s make TV shows and movies that promote profanity, violence, and immorality. And let’s record music that encourages immorality, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes. ………… and we said, O.K.! it’s just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, and nobody takes it seriously anyway, so go right ahead.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.”

Ann Graham went on to say, …. Probably if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with, "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW!"

Friends, what we have decided is O.K., to vote God and the Bible out, is not O.K.! God is not to blame for what we have chosen to do.

“Dear God, why didn’t you save the little girl killed in her classroom?” Concerned Student.

AND THE REPLY: “Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. Sincerely, God.”

It’s funny how simple it is for people to trash God, and exclude Him from their lives, and then wonder why the world’s destroying itself.
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven provided they do not have to believe, think, or do anything the Bible says.
Funny how someone can say, ‘I believe in God’, but still follow satan, who, by the way, also ‘believes’ in God.
Funny how we can be quick to judge, but not to be judged.
Funny how you can send a thousand jokes by email and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. 
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar, and obscene pass freely through cyber space, but the public discussion of God is suppressed in the school, the workplace, and the world. 
Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us, than what God thinks of us. 

God has warned us that in the last days all these things will come to pass, that there will be scoffers and scorners (towards believers). Everything that was written there in the Bible is also happening in our own country right now. We have almost become a ‘Godless country’.

COULD IT BE THAT GOD IS WITHDRAWING HIS PROTECTION FROM THE WORLD?

Chronicles 7:14 says, “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land.”

Friends, we have sinned by not standing up and being counted on the side of God and the Bible. We need to humble ourselves, ask God for forgiveness, and turn from our destructive ways of saying ‘O.K.’, or being silent. If we do that, God will forgive us so that we can allow Him to heal our broken world.

Friends, if you have been blessed and challenged by this message, 
then please take time now to send it on to your friends.

Please feel free to also check out the half hour message titled ‘Is Normal Normal?'