What If You Falter? - Exodus 32:1-4,30-34; 34:6b-9

I acknowledge the use of Life Way Literature and appreciate the great job they do in helping us understand God’s word. Sometimes I wonder how they come up with their topics for the lessons, and this is one of those occasions. I just want to tell you in the beginning of this lesson that you WILL FALTER, and there is no ‘WHAT IF’ ABOUT IT. Therefore I think the question is…WHEN YOU FALTER—WHAT SHOULD YOU DO ABOUT IT?

Even the most sincere Christian will falter occasionally; the bible assures us of this fact. “There is none perfect, no not one.” “He that says that he has no sin is a liar and there is no truth in him.” “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We also have strong promises that if we will repent of our sins and pray for forgiveness it [forgiveness] will be forthcoming. “When you repent of your sins and ask God to forgive you, He is faithful and just and will forgive you of your sins.” “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and though shalt be saved.”

Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage and, for some reason that only God knows, they seemed to remain faithful and dependent on God for about forty days—and then began to falter. They gave up, repented and prayed at the Red Sea and were saved. They were without water and faltered until God opened a hole in a rock and gave them pure water to drink. They became hungry and started complaining before they were fed manna and quail. They reached Mt. Sinai and demanded a word from God regarding their future.

God instructed Moses to climb the mountain, stand on sacred ground, and receive his commandments for his people. The people wanted an answer now! God and Moses took forty days. The people began to falter; fall away, go on their own, and demanded that Aaron create a new image that they could worship as God; one that they could see, feel, and trust. The wording here seems to indicate that they were gathered around Aaron as an angry mob, demanding that he do something that he may have resented doing. Anyway he relented to the pressure of the people and preceded by collecting the gold jewelry, even the ladies ear rings and processed it [the gold] into a golden idol; a male calf. It really seems to me that this action constitutes more than a falter. It was not the denial of God; it was an attempt to create a new one.

I hope you will bear with me as I try to draw the conclusion here that places the actions of many American people today in the same category with the actions of these disbelievers at Sinai. America was once our forefathers Promised Land. They were being persecuted in most of the European countries and were ready to follow strong leaders like Moses that would bring them to this New Country. The USA did not exist, but the American Continent did and it became their PROMISED LAND. Similarly to the original Promised Land; it was inhabited by several tribes of giant red men that would fight to hold their positions. Not just a narrow Red Sea, but the entire Atlantic Ocean lay in their way. It was by far their greatest enemy as they made their move to America.

I can assure you that during the first forty years they were in a wilderness here in America. I do not remember from my history lessons that God ever rained manna from heaven to feed them, and no quail came to the table unless the hunter did his job. It took two years for them to start raising enough food to prevent hunger. Some may have starved, but not all, and the nation grew and prospered. The English, Spanish and French all made war against us and the civil war tore us apart, but God has sustained this nation all these years. We have been known as a Christian Nation and have stood strong in the face of two world wars and several minor ones.

During the last fifty years we have watched our supreme court dismantle our constitution. Liberalism is now in control. There are more babies aborted [murdered] each year than there are soldiers who die in all the wars being fought. Hardly a year passes that we do not loose another right to pray, display godly images, or a copy of the Ten Commandments. God’s name has now been removed from the new gold dollar that was minted just recently, and the plan is clear that God’s Name must be removed from America. The only difference I see in this move and what the Israelites did is that they wanted a new god, and America is choosing to have no God at all…The move is on to even deny that a God exists—to remove his name completely.

Your President says we are not a Christian Nation. Is he right? Wait a minute. Don’t shut me out just yet. If we are a majority Christian Nation, then why are so many non-Christian laws being passed, and why is there not a national rebellion against it? The Israelites gave up on God and made a new one out of gold…but even so, they never did deny that there was a god.

America needs to study the flight of the people from Egypt—their sins cost them 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, until a complete generation died and never did see the Promised Land.
Unless America awakens soon, there is a good chance that we will be real lucky if we have forty more years to wander in this wilderness of sin. Our deadline may be less than forty years.

God made a law. The wages of sin is death. To deny God, is sin, and if you want his name removed from vision that is denial.

I realize that those of you who read this lesson are not in agreement with what is happening, surely a majority is not. However, we are making little or no effort to correct the errors that are being made.

Let me ask you a personal question. What will you do with, for, against the minting of the new Dollar Coin that does not contain the words “In God we Trust.” The designer should be fired and fined the cost of its production. The politician that ordered it done should be impeached and hung for treason against all God loving Americans. I can do neither of these, but would vote to have it done. And I will not honor the coin by using it as currency.