Nehemiah – Lee Duigon

When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, he found it pretty much the mess the Babylonians had left it seventy years before.

Before anything else could be done, the first need was to build. The walls, the gates, the homes built into the thick walls. Build it.

https://chalcedon.edu/blog/our-first-duty-to-build

This short message by Mark Rushdoony is a reminder that our first duty, too, is to “arise and build.” Look at all that’s been trashed! The Church–and that means all of us–needs to build families, neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and voluntary associations: all have been weakened in my own lifetime. Government by people who don’t much like us has sought to replace all these institutions.

We need to clean up the mess and rebuild.

Image result for images of congregation singing

For those of us who missed this, first time out: research by Harvard University and Indiana University at Bloomington finds “religion”–mostly meaning Christianity–in America, contrary to claims by noozies and other motormouths, is not fading away, but getting stronger (https://thefederalist.com/2018/01/22/new-harvard-research-says-u-s-christianity-not-shrinking-growing-stronger/?fbclid=IwAR2XkMLvWJzF3P4lTkrhMg-wSVxzmAdiCKhMoGsjhpNuM9s8U-Tu5n2YX9U#.XH7kV-iIzB6.facebook).

Meanwhile, the latest Pew poll shows some 50% of Americans would like to see “religion” (again, they mostly mean Christianity but for some reason are afraid to say so) play “a greater role” in U.S. society–with 18% opposed. I would like to hear them explain how it would hurt us to live by Christian principles.

Anyway, read the article in The Federalist, it’s really quite heartening and certainly worth another look if you’ve read it already. The research finds “persistent and exceptional intensity” in America’s Christianity, holding steady over the past 50 years.

I think we need to see that as something to build on. Consider how few people actually believe in Far Left Crazy ideas–and how many of those ideas have become public policy, like “gay marriage” and late-term abortion, simply because fanatics pushed them night and day for many years? What might Christians achieve in America, building upon an already broad foundation?

We just have to be careful, before we start building anywhere, that that foundation is Jesus Christ. We all know this, don’t we?–“Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it” (Psalm 127:1).

A Christian conscience, Christian families, Christian schools, Christian charities, a Christian popular culture–these are what we must build on that one foundation. Some have already built their share of this, and continue building as we speak.

If we would all join in–! I find inspiration in Haggai, Ezra, and Nehemiah: how the remnant of the Jews, released from captivity by King Cyrus, returned to the ruins of Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple and the walls. What they did, with the Lord’s help, we can do, if God is our strength.

We can do it, if we hear His voice.