Foundations Forgotten, Abandoned, and Attacked*

There is a scripture in the Psalms that says, "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Ps. 11:3). This destruction of the foundations is what is happening today, and there are consequences to the people of God as a result. Moses set the commandments of God as the foundation for living upon the land, and prospering: "All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years...that he make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live...Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him...Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God...Lest when thou hast eaten and art full...Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God...and thou say in thine heart, My power, and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day...if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish... ". (Deut. 8:1-20, excerpt). This is a warning to us. We took prayer out of schools, and the Ten Commandments out of courthouses based on the lie that these things were unconstitutional, and based on lawsuits filed by offended atheists. The Gospel of Jesus is an offense to those who prefer to perish themselves, and to see others perishalso . Our national condition declined as we capitulated to those who advocated racial eugenics, including Margaret Sanger, who sought to establish abortion targeting minority communities. The people of God remained quiet and didn't do enough, and now we have not only forgotten the Godly foundations, but there is an active attack against those foundations. There are even groups like the 'The Christian Nationalists' that claim to be Christians, that speak against the Jewish people. They and other so-called Christians are adopting the doctrines of ungodly racial hatred. After Moses died, the LORD passed on the same commands to the new leader of the children of Israel, Joshua: "Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law...turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." (Josh. 1:7-9). Courage, strength and obedience are required to remain standing on the foundation of God. There are consequences to forgetting the Godly foundations: "Because my people hath forgotten me,...and they have caused them to stumble in their ways from the ancient paths...to make their land desolate, and a perpetual hissing...I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity." (Jer. 18:15-17). They even began devising ways to shut up the prophet Jeremiah from speaking the true Word of the LORD, preferring the ineffectual and compromising priesthood to continue to minister and advise them instead (v. 18). The religious leaders plotted against Jesus in the same manner when He taught truth. Later, Jeremiah revealed the Word of the LORD, describing the people as "lost sheep", coming and crying to the LORD, seeking the way to Zion, determining once again to join themselves to His perpetual covenant. They had become lost because their shepherds had caused them to go astray: "...they have forgotten their resting place." (Jer. 50:4-6). The foundations of God are the resting place of His people. Because they had forgotten God: "All that found them have devoured them: and their adversaries said, We offend not, because they have sinned against the LORD, the habitation of justice, even the LORD, the hope of their fathers." (v. 7). Those who came against these "lost sheep" felt justified in doing so, because, in their eyes, these lost sheep deserved the consequences for forgetting and sinning against God! There is an alarm to be sounded, and not silence to be kept, as we see the foundations being forgotten, abandoned and attacked. The prophet Hosea wrote: "Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law...Israel hath cast off the thing that is good: the enemy shall pursue him...I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing...now will he (the LORD) remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt. For Israel hath forgotten his Maker...but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof." (Hos. 8:1-4, 12-14). As the people of God forgot their foundation in God, the enemy pursued them. Hosea also spoke of how the people of God used their gold and silver to make idols. They created gods out of their wealth. Jesus also warned "Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth." (Lk. 12:15). Then Jesus told the parable of the rich man whose ground had brought forth plentifully. He abounded so much, that he planned to tear down his old barn as being too small, and build greater to store all of his bounty, saying, "...there I will bestow all my fruits and goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." (v. 16-19). However, he would not be enjoying all of his accumulations for years, as he had thought, because the God said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Jesus said, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God." (v. 20-21). The accumulation of wealth in covetousness will draw God's people away from His foundation. Churches have become businesses, and accumulators of wealth. However, it is the foundations of God that give life and prosperity, and save the soul, as Moses and Joshua were told, and not hoarded wealth. Before Stphen was martyred for his faith in Christ, he reminded the assembled crowd about to kill him of their rebellious history with God, and His foundations. He told them that even though Moses prophesied of One that would be sent by God, they ignored the prophecy and rejected Jesus, their Messiah. In the same way, even though Moses miraculously received "the lively oracles" from God on Mt. Sinai to give to their fathers, "...our fathers would not obey, but thrust him from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt..." (Act 7:37-39). Stephen reminded those around him how their fathers had demanded that Aaron make them a calf, and then offered sacrifices to it (v. 40-41). God then gave them up to worship all sorts of false and even demonic gods. They rejected the worship and the tabernacle patterned after heaven, and instead chose to worship the profane things of the world (v. 42-44). Because they were continuing in this same rebellious spirit against the foundations of God, Stephen told them, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye...who have received the law by the dispensation of angels, and have not kept it." (v. 51, 53). They showed this same spirit that persecuted the prophets when the Just One came "of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers." (v. 52). Before his death, Stephen, by the Holy Spirit, gave this indictment of the abandonment and attack against the foundation of God by their fathers, and now by themselves, the ones who rejected Jesus Christ. The apostle Peter wrote to the Church in order to stir up their remembrance of their pure minds of the words which had been spoken previously by the prophets, and now, by the commandments of the apostles of our Savior. (2 Pet. 3:1-2, see also 2 Peter 1). There will be those in the last days, Peter said, who will willingly forget that promise of God of His Son's return, and the judgment that awaits those who have rejected the knowledge of God. They do so because they prefer to walk in their own lusts. They scoff at the foundations of God, which is truth (v. 3-5). Peter then wrote that although God is patient with men, giving them time and every opportunity to repent so they may be saved rather than condemned, the judgment by melting fire, which is the day of the Lord, will surely come as promised. He asked then, "...what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" (v. 8-11). How can we say that the foundations have not been forgotten when each day brings a news report of another act of mindless violence and ungodliness? As His people, we are not tp forget the foundations that have been given to us by God through His Word and His Son so that we may live and prosper. God does not desire to see anyone got to Hell, but to be saved from destruction. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 10/16/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and END TIME SCHOOL, also on Facebook.