Awake Out of Sleep

This poignant admonition to the church at Rome was written during the Apostle Paul’s third visit to Corinth, which was undoubtedly one of the most wicked cities of the Roman Empire. When visiting Corinth a number of years ago, we were taken to a courtyard which was overlooked by the city Bema (or judgment) seat where the Apostle Paul was taken to be judged. Acts 18:12-17. I was astonished when the guide told us that some ruined houses not 100 feet from this courtyard were houses of prostitution. Obviously, the leaders of the city were totally oblivious to the wickedness around them, and things in Rome itself were little better.

As I pondered the history of the Roman Empire, and the long list of tyrants that bore rule over the people in an arbitrary and despotic manner, I was reminded of an article written by David Kupelian in the WND forum. He writes;

“For those of who lived through the Regan Revolution—when it was ‘Morning in America’
and a genuinely great president peacefully forced our greatest enemy to ‘Tear down this
wall’ – it’s hard to believe our nation is now ruled by corrupt, sociopathic leaders who
hate America and have utter contempt for its people, values, Constitution, history, Judeo-
Christian culture, and tradition of liberty.”

“Today’s ruling class openly claims it wants to completely transform the freest and most
successful nation in history into some—super-‘woke’ utopia where wealth, power, and
privilege are radically redistributed based on past racial and gender ‘inequalities.’ It’s all
insane, of course. But in truth, that’s not what they want anyway. It’s all an act.”

“What they really covet, above all else, is power, glory, worship, wealth and privilege for
themselves—and revenge on their enemies. In a word, they want to be gods.”

We who know and love the Word of God are painfully aware that human nature never changes. The Roman Empire was a classic example of the old axiom, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” when we remember Tarquin the Proud, Julius Caesar, Nero, and Caligula among others.

Friends, the Bible makes very clear the legitimate mandate and level of the authority of government that Almighty God has delegated to men in Romans 13:3&4. Verse 3a. states that “rulers (government) are not a terror to good works, but TO THE EVIL.” Verse 4a. tells us that “he (the government official) is the MINISTER OF GOD to thee FOR GOOD.” Furthermore, the last part of the verse tells us that the government official should be an “Avenger to execute wrath upon him THAT DOETH EVIL.”

When divinely ordained government ignores their God ordained mandate, and degenerates into promoting the evil in society and punishing the good, it’s time to awake out of sleep. When government demands the teaching of Critical Race Theory to all school children and every branch of the military, which is designed to further separate the American people into victimized minority groups who can be easily manipulated with lies and propaganda, (Remember Joseph Goebbels) it’s time to awake out of sleep. When government promotes the insane notion that there are scores of different genders that can be chosen to be embraced by children as young as six, and prohibiting their parents to hinder them in any way, it’s time to awake out of sleep.

But by far, the most heinous perversion of the role of government is the sanction of killing over 65 million helpless, defenseless children, yet to be born. What possible perversion of logic could cause anyone to embrace the notion that tearing a child from its mother’s womb is not the destruction of another human being who bears the image of God? Today, the Roe-V-Wade decision of the Supreme Court of the United States is considered “established law.” Is it not far past time to awake out of sleep?

Please remember friends, this nation is a Constitutional Republic, not a dictatorial oligarchy posing as a democracy. Sadly, our present situation is what our Founders feared most; home grown tyrants robbing the people of their liberty and destroying the nation they risked their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to establish. They erected a government unlike any other in history, where the people are sovereign, not the noble elite. The present leadership, like the noble elite of the past, is demanding us to embrace their evil philosophies, and finance the furtherance of their wicked agenda. Is it not time for the Church of the Living God to awake out of sleep and demand that the leaders of this great nation step back into their God ordained role?

When the Apostle penned the Roman epistle, only Caesar, members of the Senate, their colonial satraps, and the Empire’s wealthiest families enjoyed special privileges unavailable to regular citizens. Our Founders fought a revolution to free our people from this never-ending cycle of arbitrary, tyrannical rule. I would heartily agree with those who declare that the most important thing we can do is spread the gospel far and wide throughout the land. But how less important is it to prevent our beloved nation from being destroyed before our eyes by elected officials that took a sacred oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States that strictly limits their power and prerogatives?

It is high time to awake out of sleep and face an ugly truth. Those of our leaders who embrace the killing of the unborn, promote wicked philosophies that divide rather than unite the people, who enrich themselves by perverting justice, and cast a blind eye at the basic principles that the Founders established to prevent such corruption, are traitors to this nation and should be removed from office and punished. How long can God’s people sit silently by and watch the foundations of the nation being torn to pieces by those who hate God, despise His Word, and our Beloved Savior?

I realize that these words will either engender an AMEN or an OH ME from those who read them. I have only two further questions to ask.

1. Will those who say AMEN care enough to stand with us in the fight to protect the unborn and spread the gospel to unsaved women in our Pregnancy Care Centers? We long to increase our outreach to women who need the gospel and godly council. We are hindered only by lack of funds and Spirit filled ladies to volunteer to minister in our five centers across the state. Are God’s people willing to give of their wealth to protect the unborn and their time to advance the cause of Christ? 

2. Will those who say AMEN care enough about halting the advance of our beloved nation into the depths of godless Marxist Socialism to take action now, before it is too late? Every one of our elected officials has taken a sacred oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Our Constitution makes provision for citizens to contact the Congress to address grievances. What hinders the churches of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Baptist Churches to band together, and as a unified organization petition the Congress of the United States to cease and desist these insane policies, and encourage likeminded organizations to do likewise?

I do not hesitate to suggest that if the Churches of the Living God across the land would awake out of sleep and rise up with one accord to demand return to constitutional limited government, the effect upon the denizens of Foggy Bottom would be earthshaking. A great many of our elected officials are out of control, and filled with zeal to reconstruct our great nation into something they know not what. Do we care enough to awake out of sleep and take action to attempt to halt our nation’s destruction?

Philip W. Croom
Charter Member of the Executive Board, BFLW
Member of the Board of Directors, Access Women’s Center
Member and Deacon, Waunakee Baptist Church