On a spring afternoon in 1967, I got off the school bus and hurriedly changed clothes. The Ford tractor with a 3-bottom breaking plow was parked and ready for me to take to the field. I enjoyed breaking ground in the springtime. The smell of freshly plowed ground, and the warming weather always had a calming effect to me. This particular afternoon I needed calming.
I drove to the field, put the right wheels of the tractor in the furrow, and began plowing. I always did a lot of thinking when I was plowing and that afternoon I needed to. I was a freshman at Fulton County High School, and they had handed out report cards. I had my first failing grade, ever. The subject was algebra I. I could not grasp the idea of letters, formulas and numbers, therefore I didn't like studying or getting the home work. I thought I would do enough just to pass. Well, this time the plan didn't work, and I failed that six weeks. As I was plowing, I was trying to figure out how to tell my dad. I came to the conclusion, you can't pass algebra with your book in the locker instead of bringing it home, studying and doing the home work. Dad had the same idea, but put a little more (alot more) emphasis to it.
You could tell by my grade on the report card that I seldom opened my algebra book. You also can tell by some one's life what books he reads and doesn't read. Let's talk about one now.
There was once a book lost in the Old Testament times. You can read about it in 2Kings chapter 22 and 23 and also the same account in 2 Chronicles chapter 34. Josiah was the king, and it was said of him, he did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father, David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. In the twelfth year of his reign he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of any type of idols and anything related to idol worship. After this cleansing, he returned to Jerusalem.
In the eighteenth year of his reign when he had purged the land and the temple, he sent Shaphan, Maaseiah, and Joah to repair the house of the Lord his God. When they brought the money for the repairs, they gave it to Hilkiah, the high priest. Then they put it in the hands of the foremen who had oversight of the house of the Lord; and they gave it to the workmen who worked in the house of the Lord, to repair and restore the house. In doing all of this work, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses. He gave it to Shaphan the scribe. When Shaphan went to report to the king the workers were doing all they were committed to do, he told him Hilkiah had given him a book. Shaphan then read it before king Josiah. When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes. He had them to go to inquire of the Lord for him concerning the words of the book that was found. He realized how great God's wrath was on them because their father's had not kept the word of the Lord according to all that was in the book.
Hilkiah and the men appointed went to the prophetess Huldah.She told them the Lord was going to bring calamity on this place and its inhabitants, and about all the curses written in the book because they had forsaken their Lord and turned to idols. The king later gathered all the people together. He made a promise to the Lord to follow all of His commandments with all his heart and soul. He made all who were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin take a stand. So they did according to the covenant of God, and Josiah removed all the abominations from all the country that belonged to the children of Israel and made all who was present diligently follow the Lord. All Josiah's days, they did not depart from following the Lord their God of their fathers.
Why did God's people not follow His Laws? They had put His book aside, nor was the book read to them. You could tell they had not read it because of the way they were living. I failed algebra that six weeks because I didn't pay attention to the book. I just pushed it aside every day. By my grades, you would have thought I had lost my book.
Now here comes the question. Do you think by the way people in our country are living today, the book, "God's word" is lost? I would say the majority of Americans have at least one copy of the Bible. We have several at our house. Do we read them? You can tell if Debbie and I read them by the lives we live. I will let you make that call. The king stood up and made a covenant with the Lord to follow all God's commandments with all his heart and soul. I call that commitment. He saw the importance of obeying God and leading the people to obey God. What a king!
Where do you not see a Bible laying today much less being read? From 1958 to 1963, the school I attended probably had a Bible on the majority of teachers' desk. Each morning it was read to the students. Once a year the Gideons would come and give out New Testaments. Did we have sin back then? Yep, but here is the difference. Sin was not glorified and there was no political correctness trying to condone it. You started seeing acceptance of sin and immoral living gradually increasing in the early mid 60's. Look what was going on starting in 1963; Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the hippie generation, later in the 70's Roe vs. Wade.
When the government takes God's word, the Bible, from schools and all government offices, what kind of message does this send our children? They see it as either a bad book or not needed. A minority slipped this in past a majority. Why do they need to eliminate God's word? They want to live any way they want, perform any type of sexual perversion, and have people respect them while they are doing it. Forty years ago did you think homosexuals would be protected by the law and allowed to parade their perversion in the streets of our cities? Give it another ten years and pedophiles will have protection and will be glorified by Hollywood. Does God love these people? Yes, He let his Son die for them and us too. Do I love them? Yes, I do and do not want them to die lost, and I do not want to mistreat them in anyway.
Is your copy of God's word lost? How often do you read it? Does your life reflect the way you read it? Do you think you need to read it? Do you believe what you read? The most important question I can ask you is, do you want to read it?
We let one woman take God's word, the Bible from public life. ONE WOMAN! When our grandchildren get old enough to start asking why we cannot mention God's name in school and government places, and we tell them one woman stopped it. They are probably going to ask us this question. Where were all the Christians? Why didn't someone do something?
Christianity is not a spectator religion. It is a religion of showing God's light, love, wrath and being the salt of the earth. It's doing all of this because you love God, not because you think you can work your way to heaven, because that's not possible. Christ died for us. He paid the price for us. We do these works because we love Him and are grateful for what He has done for us and the place He is now preparing for us.
Again, is God's word lost in your home? Will we do as Josiah and make a covenant before the Lord to follow the Lord and keep His commandments? When will we do this? We are running out of time for the sake of our grandchildren. Remember what was said in Rev. 21:8 "But the cowardly( or fearful).... .
Let us all read God's word, live it, stand up for it, and teach it, in love, to others.
Thanks for reading.
Rick Hepler
Send comments to rhepler52@gmail.com .
