This could be the best year of our lives. It will also likely be the most challenging. It’s not either/or, but both. Many ultimate issues will be determined this year. They can be determined in a way that gets us back on the path of greater peace, stability, and prosperity. They could also be determined in a way that leads to the worst economic and political meltdown in history. Even if this is the case, if we’re prepared to resist the tyranny that always seeks to gain entrance in such times, this could be a reset, a kind of jubilee that enables us to return to the foundations of our greatness and strength.
One thing is for sure: We may die of a lot of things, but boredom will not be one of them! The Mayans saw 2012 as the end of the world. In a way they may be right—it could be the end of the world as we know it. Key civilization markers are pointing to this year being one of the great demarcation points in history. Major changes are inevitable—for good or bad. This is no doubt a time fraught with dangers but also opportunities. Are we ready?
The prepared prosper in any situation. Studies have shown that even the most profound civilization-wide changes can be wrought by just the square root of one percent of the population. This means that just a few hundred people can radically change the culture of millions. In times of profound change, the prepared will dictate the direction. If we are prepared and take decisive action, we can see every crisis turned into good.
Christian love is always preeminent in what we should be growing in, but this year there are two other fruits of the Spirit that we will need an abundance of—faith and kindness. If you read the above paragraphs with dread, then you are in need of faith. Faith is not just optimism, but true faith is seeing Jesus, who He is, and where He sits above all rule and authority and dominion.
Faith is also the conviction that as much of a mess as we have been, the price that He paid for our sins was enough, we have full acceptance with the Father, and we can come boldly before His throne at any time, whether we’ve had a good day or bad one because we’re family. We come on the basis of what He did, not what we have done. This year we must grow in the faith that gives us access to the authority of His throne.
Such times as these also give us a great opportunity to learn about the power of kindness. Many Christians become addicted to kindness when they see the fruit of it. This is a good addiction, which gets our attention off of ourselves and onto helping others—the most basic antidote to fear and depression. This is one of the main ways that the witness of Christ through His church to the community begins.
Jesus is the answer to every human problem. It is not just that He has the answers, but He is the answer. He is the Way. All human problems are basically the result of us trying to run the world and our lives without God. The remedy is to return to God, and Jesus is the only means for doing that. He is the only Way.
The world assaults Christianity for the arrogance of claiming that our way is the only way. However, if God sent His Son to suffer in order to reconcile us to Him, and we declare to Him that we don’t need His sacrifice but we can get there on our own, how arrogant is that? Would that not be the ultimate pride? We need to settle in our hearts and minds that Christ is the only Way for everyone. There are no other options. The good thing is that we have been given this option—God Almighty will come to us if we come to Him through His Son, and God can fix anything.
There is no problem or crisis too big for God. We are facing some of the biggest problems and crises in human history, and several of the biggest could come to a head in 2012. If we turn to the Lord, we will see some of the biggest breakthrough victories in 2012.
Every crisis is also an opportunity for the prepared. This could be the year when we resolutely make the turn and get on the road to restore the American Republic, or continue down the road where it will soon be lost forever. This is not just about the election—there is far more at stake than that. The most powerful culture changers are not in government. Not in any way to belittle the importance of this year’s elections in the U.S., but we have entered into a “Valley of Decision” where we will have to decide many crucial factors this year.
Even so, as I said years ago that every election would be more important than the last one, including the mid-terms, this has proven true. The coming elections will be the most important of our lifetime yet. This is at every level from the Presidential elections to the school boards. However, the most important person is not running for any office and never will.
We need God.
Behold Your King
The King of kings is the ultimate leader. The closer we are to Him, the greater our leadership will be. The further we drift from Him, the worse the leadership will be. Basic to every crisis we’re now facing in the world is either incompetent or evil leadership. This is a reflection of how far from Him we’ve drifted and how desperately we need to turn back to Him.
The vacuum of leadership in our country now goes from top to bottom. We have a void like we may have never had in our history, and yet we are in need of the most extraordinary leadership possibly in our history. This is not just in government, but in business, education, science, and almost every other center of influence there is, including the church. Immature and capricious leaders are a judgment from God for nations that turn from Him. America has been turning from Him in virtually every way we can with hardly a whimper from God’s own people here.
Tyranny of the Minority
One of the great injustices of our times is how a tiny minority of people can claim to be offended by something and take the rights away from millions. This culture-choking perversion is the fruit of one of the great deceptions of our times—political correctness. May this be the year when we reclaim our lost rights and restore the Constitution that enabled the United States to become the greatest nation in history.
No decent person should want to purposely offend others, but the political correctness perversion has gone to such an extreme that it is time to get offended at the offended. One of the great symbols of how perverse and cowardly our leaders have become in the face of political correctness is how church bells have been silenced over whole nations in Europe because Muslims claimed they were offensive, while their call to prayer is now heard almost everywhere at a volume that exceeds the law for db limits.
I’m personally fine with hearing the call to prayer, and I do respect those who are so devoted to their beliefs that they pray five times a day even if I disagree with them, but don’t tell me the church bells are offensive and then do this. Where are our leaders?
I was watching Fox News one day when the anchor was interviewing someone about a stand they were taking. The anchor asked with seeming astonishment if they weren’t afraid that they would offend someone, as if such a thing would be a horrible crime! It is time that we got offended by the whole nation losing its basic constitutional rights because a handful of people claim to be offended by something. This has gone too far, and if we do not stand up now and determine that we will not let the tyranny of the minority take our rights, we will certainly lose them all very soon.
Fast and Furious
If anything reveals the unfathomable vacuum of leadership, this program has to be it. Never in our history, and maybe never in the history of the world, has there been a more bizarre, outrageous, and dumb program as the one our Justice Department oversaw called “Fast and Furious.” This was a program to sell weapons to drug cartels in Mexico! They supposedly did this to track the weapons but had no means for tracking them! They actually sold thousands of very dangerous weapons to the drug cartels that have the nation of Mexico on the verge of political collapse. These also have been crossing our borders and creating mayhem in our own country. This sounds too crazy to be true, but it is true.
If anything could be more insane it would be the fact that not a single person has been fired over such a stupid and dangerous program that has put so many of our citizens in danger and has already resulted in the death of at least one border agent. Think about it. Nearly a year after this madness was revealed, not a single person yet has been held responsible for it.
If the President was not personally involved in this, why in the world is he not over at the Justice Department with unrelenting resolve to find out how something this stupid happened on his watch? Why isn’t everyone else in Washington who we elected and who are supposed to be there watching out for our interests, not all over the Justice Department determined to hold those responsible who let something this crazy happen? Instead, not only has no one even been fired, there has not even been anyone suspended for this outrage. This may be the most revealing example of how incompetent, or worse, our leadership has become.
No one yet has been able to explain why, how, or whoever proposed something this dumb. However, to have something of this magnitude implemented, it had to come from someone with very high authority. The persistent rumor coming from inside the Justice Department was that this program was intended to give the Administration a pretext for imposing stricter gun control on America. The only way this could have worked would have been for so many Americans to be victimized by these weapons that there would have been an outcry for greater gun control. This is a rumor, and until proven, it is too terrible to believe because those responsible would be guilty of both treason and murder.
Whatever the motive, we need answers to this. With a government like this, we don’t need enemies. At best, we are being destroyed by incompetence. At worst, our most deadly enemies are some of our own leaders. Let’s pray that it is just incompetence. Without clear, unquestionable proof, we should consider it this, but either way, the greatest threat to our Republic is coming from within.
I do hear continually from a multitude of sources that what is being done to America now is being done intentionally. I realize there is a growing mountain of evidence that seems to support this. Just reading what is in the Healthcare Bill is pretty convincing that we are being done in on purpose. Even so, right now the motives behind this are not nearly as important as saving the nation from the precipice we are hanging over. Once we get back to a place of safety and stability, we can then examine what got us to where we are.
The Answer
Again, in Scripture, wise, righteous leaders are the favor of God, and immature, capricious leaders are a judgment from God for those who turn from Him. We must return to God. Without another Great Awakening in America, we are not going to make it. With another Great Awakening in America and turning back to Him as a nation, we will not only survive but have our best days yet in our future.
We cannot keep putting our trust in man. No doubt the elections this year are critical, but they alone are not going to save us. We have plenty of history getting the one we thought was the right man elected, only see the moral, spiritual, and economical corruption continue. We, the people, are the sovereign in America, and we are the ones who need to change and demand change in our government, which has become so dysfunctional.
It is our time to stand up and determine that we will not allow our nation to be lost on our watch. For years, I’ve heard many say they’re looking for another place to live because they have lost faith in America, but we need those who are resolved that they will go down with the ship if it sinks and will never abandon their country.
The Oak Initiative was born out of a meeting of several hundred Christian leaders from different denominations and movements coming together out of concern for the great and growing crises of our times. The Oak has grown, and individual members and chapters have accomplished remarkable things by taking initiative. Our goal was to mobilize high-impact Christians to be the salt and light we’re called to be. We can be encouraged by what has been accomplished.
Of course, we would like to have accomplished much more, but we simply did not have the resources to do any more. That’s okay—we’re resolved to just do the best that we can with what we have. George Washington had to forego paying his army for two years and often could not even give them food or boots, but he did not quit—he became even more resourceful. That’s our resolve too. Thank you for standing with us. We’re not going to quit until we see the victory and the great crises we came together to address end in victory.
The greater the odds that we are facing, the greater the glory of God we can see in the resolution and victory. Even if we perish, it is better to perish seeking to be the salt and light we are called to be than to stand before our King on that great Judgment Day and be guilty of being a watchman who failed to sound the alarm, or be a shepherd who failed to protect those given into our charge. We may find ourselves in the greatest conflict between light and darkness ever, and if so, we should thank the Lord for considering us worthy to be here for such a worthy cause.
We have an Oak Summit coming up February 9 – 11, 2012. Previous summits have produced initiatives and momentum, but this one needs to go to another level organizationally. We’re seeking leadership for task forces that have clear objectives for 2012. If there is something burning on your heart that you feel is to be a part of The Oak Initiative, please email us at office@theoakiniative.org with a brief list of bullet points as soon as possible so we can consider it for the agenda.
Also, February 11 is our Winter Ball. It is a formal affair with dinner, music, and dance, which almost always becomes the favorite night of the year for those who attend. Just a suit will be fine, and some just come with a tie or jacket, but if you have a tux or gown, many will be wearing those too. You don’t have to be able to dance to have a great time. Trust me—there will be many dancing who don’t know how so watching can be just as entertaining as participating. The price is great for all you receive at just $55 per person or $75 per couple. If you want to stay at H.I.M. for this, we would love to have you. Information is included with this Bulletin.