History Repeats Itself.....

Haven't heard it interpreted this way!

A MUST READ

Interesting how history repeats itself.

RECENT VIRGINIA CHURCH
SERVICE-STIMULUS SERMON

Genesis 47:13-27
---------------------------------------------------
Good morning, brothers and sisters; it's always a delight
to see the pews crowded on Sunday morning, and so eager to
get into God's Word. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you
will to the 47th chapter of Genesis, we'll begin our
reading at verse 13, and go through verse 27.




Brother Ray, would you stand and read that great passage
for us? ....(reading)...




Thank you for that fine reading, Brother Ray... So we
see that economic hard times fell upon Egypt , and the
people turned to the government of Pharaoh to deal with
this for them. And Pharaoh nationalized the grain harvest,
and placed the grain in great storehouses that he had
built. So the people brought their money to Pharaoh,
like a great tax increase, and gave it all to him willingly
in return for grain.



And this went on until their money ran out, and they
were hungry again.
So when they went to Pharaoh after that, they brought
their livestock -their cattle, their horses, their sheep,
and their donkey - to barter for grain, and verse 17 says
that only took them through the end of that year..




But the famine wasn't over, was it? So the next year,
the people came before Pharaoh and admitted they had
nothing left, except their land and their own lives.
"There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our
bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes,
both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food,
and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh." So they
surrendered their homes, their land, and their real estate
to Pharaoh's government, and then sold themselves into
slavery to him, in return for grain.



What can we learn from this, brothers and sisters?




That turning to the government instead of to God to be our
provider in hard times only leads to slavery? Yes. That the
only reason government wants to be our provider is to also
become our master? Yes.




But look how that passage ends, brothers and sisters!
Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt , in the land
of Goshen .. And they gained possessions in it, and were
fruitful and multiplied greatly." God provided for His
people, just as He always has! They didn't end up giving
all their possessions to government, no, it says they
gained possessions! But I also tell you a great truth today,
and an ominous one. We see the same thing happening today -
the government today wants to "share the wealth "once again,
to take it from us and redistribute it back to us. It wants
to take control of healthcare, just as it has taken control
of education, and ration it back to us, and when government
rations it, then government decides who gets it, and how much,
and what kind. And if we go along with it, and do it willingly,
then we will wind up no differently than the people of Egypt
did four thousand years ago - as slaves to the government,
and as slaves to our leaders.




What Mr. Obama's government is doing now is no different
from what Pharaoh's government did then, and it will end
the same. And a lot of people like to call Mr. Obama a
"Messiah," don't they? Is he a Messiah?
A savior? Didn't the Egyptians say, after Pharaoh made
them his slaves, "You have saved our lives; may it please
my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh"?




Well, I tell you this - I know the Messiah; the Messiah
is a friend of mine; and Mr. Obama is no Messiah! No,
brothers and sisters, if Mr. Obama is a character from
the Bible, then he is Pharaoh.
Bow with me in prayer, if you will.




Lord, You alone are worthy to be served, and we rely on
You, and You alone. We confess that the government is not
our deliverer, and never rightly will be. We read in the
eighth chapter of 1 Samuel, when Samuel warned the people
of what a ruler would do, where it says "And in that day you
will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for
yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day."
And Lord, we acknowledge that day has come. We cry out to
you because of the ruler that we have chosen for ourselves
as a nation. Lord, we pray for this nation. We pray
for revival, and we pray for deliverance from those who
would be our masters. Give us hearts to seek You and hands
to serve You, and protect Your people from the atrocities
of Pharaoh's government.
In God We Trust...