COMMITMENT

When I owned a television set and watched it perpetually, there was a commercial sponsored by a leading hamburger chain that is embedded in my mind and in the minds of many.  The commercial depicted a rather strange looking older woman who, after ordering a hamburger, looked at it in disgust and asked the question: “Where’s the beef?”  Now here is a question from a rather strange looking older man looking at the milieu in this country and asking,  “Where’s the commitment?”

All through this article I will use the word commitment. Other synonyms could suffice, such as obedience, resolve, responsibility, decision, faith belief and love.   However, I will use the word commitment because I believe it’s a word that we are losing from not only our vocabulary but in practice as well. We must recapture the essence of commitment if we are going to be victorious in all that awaits us.

The United States is on the brink of some very chilling and appalling events.   The question is, are we committed to face such horrid things as a nation and as a Church? Are we really committed to face acts of terror, both from within and outside our borders, or will we hide with ashen faces and stand in the shadows and scream? If victory is to be ours, we must have the same determination, the same commitment, that those fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence had.

Nine of those men never lived to see the independence they fought for. Five of those men were severely tortured; three lost all their children, and twelve lost all they had: possessions, families, homes everything.

There were men like Abraham Clark who had two sons captured in the Revolutionary War by the British. More people died in British prisons than from bullets.  When England’s officials came to him and offered to release his two sons if he recanted his signing of the Declaration of Independence, he refused, saying that it would be a lie if he recanted, and that what he did was right.

Other men like John Hart lost everything including his twelve children.

Do we have this kind of commitment? Do we have this kind of commitment as a Church? Today we are facing a crisis that could be of greater magnitude than of that in the 1700,’s. The question is: Do we have the commitment to stand the test?

In the early 1630’s more than 20,000 English Puritans left England for New England. One of the men who led this venture to the New World was John Winthrop.  Many see Winthrop as the first great American and some depict him as the most significant of all the Americans of that era.  He was educated at Cambridge where he later managed his father’s estate in Suffolk, England. He was in his teens when he found his faith in God, but at the young age of twenty-four a deepening of his faith occurred. As a result of this experience he wrote the following: “I do resolve first to give my self, my life, my wits, my health, to the service of my God and my Savior who gave Himself for me and to me, deserves whatever I can be, to obey His commandments and for His glory.” Look at Winthrop’s commitment. He committed his life, his wits, his health and his wealth. Are we committed like Winthrop to really love God?

Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:4-5

There were other men like John Whitefield whose message helped charter the course for this country. He not only had a powerful voice in volume but in content. It was the pulpits in America that caused the American Revolution not the Boson Tea Party.

I have written articles on our website and other newsletters on the evils of radical Islam. Radical Islam will not be satisfied until Christians breathe their last or until they convert to Islam and Israel is gasping for breath as she drowns in the sea. These Muslims are hell-bent on destroying anything that does not reflect their own demented and draconian agenda. I deeply regret that our president referred to this sect as a “peaceful religion”. However, as demented and evil as they may be, they are committed  - committed to an evil and unjust cause, but committed just the same. As evil as this false religion is, many Muslims have more morals than average “churchgoers” who call themselves Christians. Many Muslims practice moral conduct on a daily basis in some aspects more than many who like to profess the Christian faith. Many in this country have lost their moral compos.  Perhaps we should take a lesson from our enemies, excluding the violence and senseless murders, and learn what commitment is all about. 

The late Richard Wurmbrand, the founder of Voice Of The Martyrs said, “A man really believes not what he recites in his creed but only the things he is ready to die for…” We must recapture that commanding and masterful word called commitment and put it into practice. Even in our narcissistic and jaded society a few have managed to see beyond themselves and begin to see that something is dreadfully wrong. Many are aware that something catastrophic, a deluge of violence, is about to sweep across our nation that will make the devastation of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon pale in comparison.

BE WARNED: We may find the enemy is from all directions. We may gasp in fear when China attacks Taiwan and   draws the

United States into a conflict of blood.  We may stand in horror when we witness   what radical Islam is really capable of, but we may fall on our faces in sheer sorrow and shock to find the real enemy is us. I have only lately come to be more in agreement with a few men like Jesse Helms who fear that some of the bills that have been passed are more than what they appear to be. Bills like the Patriot Act and the Home- Land Security Act in actuality may have nothing to do with maintaining our freedoms, but to the contrary; these measures may be a “Trojan Horse”; instead of holding a shield for our safety they may be holding a sword for our demise. It’s quite possible that some of the legislation that has been passed may erode the rights and freedoms that the terrorists are trying to destroy. To say the least, the proverbial Catch-22 is certainly in play in this situation. We need to look closely behind the throne and make sure there is nothing more there than the king.

Benjamin Franklin correctly said,   “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." I have stated in past articles and newsletters the following regarding Mr. Bush: “President Bush is swimming with sharks. He will either become a shark himself, or be devoured by them.”  Be aware: Mr. Bush may be developing dorsal fins and becoming an avid swimmer. I pray for President Bush and will continue to do so, not out of blind loyalty to him but out of obedience to the scriptures.

However, the “powers that be” reach well beyond the Oval Office of the White House to an elect group of deleterious  “Powersters” whose sole function is world government. These world chieftains are committed to global control and they are caught in the web of an evil and draconian agenda.

In order for us to be committed we must be informed.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”

Hosea 4:6

However real commitment is not only being informed, it is not only being wise and prudent, but it is about to whom you’re connected.  Unless the right connection is made, these virtues are in vain.

The only way we as Christians are going to be committed is for Yeshua to live and reign through us. If we are going to have the resolve to stand fast as this country goes through these horrific changes we must abide in Yeshua. If we are going to be committed to be men and women who are Christ–like, we must believe and live the following verse:

The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:6

The lesson in this verse is two- fold. We are to abide and we are to walk. We are to walk like Yeshua.  If we really abide in Him, we have the power to walk like Him, not in our strength, but in Yeshua’s who perfects His strength in our weakness.

Our Churches are full of spectators watching the latest sideshow, who love to brag about grace but with no responsibility. I have quoted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great German martyr, before.   “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipline, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” He went on to say,  “Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner.”

If we are really committed we will practice these two goals, which the verse commands. We are to abide and we are to walk like Yeshua. These two commands are inseparably connected just as whence we are told to love God with all our hearts, souls and minds, the connected verse is to love our neighbor as ourselves; they are inseparably connected.

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.

Mark 12:30-31

The committed Christian will abide in Yeshua no matter what the day dictates. We are saved by grace through faith, but faith without works is dead. We can boast about faith and grace all day long, but where are the results?

Yeshua said: If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.   John 15:10

Our commitment, our actions will broadcast just how much love we have for Yeshua and for one another.

Yeshua was committed. Although He did many magnificent things, His one main purpose was to die for our sins on a stake.  At Gethsemane the real battle was won. His commitment, His obedience won out over His own human-like desires. If we are going to be victorious, we must be committed and commitment only comes when testing is embraced. We must have our Gethsemane to be victorious.

I have grown weary of hearing the same old tired “name it, claim it, feel good, no testing will come to you” theology being wrapped up in different packages and sold as cheap merchandise for the highest donation. Their specious theology will become a snare for many, and it’s these lies that will be the millstone that will drag these “Christian” thespians to the bottom of the deepest sea.

If we are really committed we will abide. What does it mean to abide?  It means to give up your rights and take on His life. It is Yeshua who rules and reigns and not you. Every moment is a new commitment. We dare not think, we dare not move or make a minimal decision without His approval. As we abide we will walk as He walked and we will obey His commandments.

If we are not committed now how will we be committed when the real test of our faith comes? We must be committed in the day in and day out activities of life. We must meet the challenges today, and rest assured the real test of faith is at hand. We must be committed to go all the way to the cross if necessary.

If you are really committed you very well may travel all the way to the cross. Mark my words: It will be the committed Christian that will be hated by many.  Commitment may cost you your very life, but without commitment you will lose your eternal life.

Commitment may be the catalyst that will imprison you but it’s this commitment that will be the key to set you free.

We must commit to something. Everyone commits to something or someone. As an old song says, “You got to serve somebody”.  Why not commit to and serve totally and unequivocally Yeshua?

When we abide in Yeshua we will walk as He walked and that walk will always lead to the cross.

The chief element of being like Yeshua is when we have been crucified with Him.

When we have been to the cross, I mean really been to the cross, then commitment is a way of life even if it means giving up our lives for another and for whatever is righteous.

Below are a few scriptures I hope you will meditate on and commit to memory.

 Gal 2:20 6:14, Matt. 10:38, 16:24 Luke 14:27, Phillippians 3:10

Now may the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob bless you through His Son Yeshua.

In His Service

Jack Hunter

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem

Another Year Gone By

November marked the sixth year of this ministry.  It was actually conceived in the month of October of 1996. I believe today as I did on that last weekend in October that YHVH gave a charge to begin this ministry.  If you look at numbers it appears we have not met with much success and perhaps we haven’t.  We started off with around 56 people and today we mail out around 375. We have never asked for a cent from anyone and never plan to. However, from time to time some have helped us by their donations, and I am very thankful.

If you are receiving this newsletter and do not wish to remain on the mailing list please let us know, for we never want A Trumpet In The Wilderness to go into unwanted hands. However, if you know of someone whom you feel would like to receive our newsletter please send us their name and address and we will be happy to put them on the mailing list. We have had our website up for one year. On the website we have several features. One is entitled “Trumpet Blast From Other’s.” This is where other people have written articles and I am sure you will find these articles of great interest and will be blessed by reading them. I will be added some articles shortly.  We try to update the website every two weeks.

 Please let us know of any prayer requests you have. I try to personally correspond with everyone who corresponds with us. Sometimes I fail at this but I really try to accomplish this for I am blessed when this type of correspondence takes place.

Very Important Note:

In the amount of time it took you to read this article thousands were persecuted for their commitment and faith in Yeshua. It is estimated that 160,000 to 165,000 Christians are martyred for their commitment and faith each year in forty different countries. These brothers and sisters personify what commitment is all about.