SATURDAY EDITORIAL

THE BELIEVER'S RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES

No other country on earth offers its citizens the rights that we Americans take for granted every day. The first ten amendments to the Constituion list our Bill of Rights. Among them are the right to free speech, the right against unlawful search and seizure, and the right to trial by jury. We have the right to vote and the right to worship. Those rights were purchased by the blood of men who fought and died for them. Most Americans not only claim those rights, but we demand them.

Yet, so often the same people who claim their American rights haven't even bothered to find out what rights accompany citizenship in the Kindom of God. If you're one of those people, let me give you a newsflash. God will not be outdone by the United States government!

Everything our earthly government offers us, God provides and more. The Bible says that the government is on Jesus' shoulders. As Christians, we should never be caught wallowing in our circumstances because our scriptural rights have been purchased by His blood.

You won't benefit from rights, you don't even know you have. But once you search the scriptures and discover your rights, you've still got to claim them. I've never searched for gold, but I've heard how it's done. Finding the gold isn't enough. Once you search it out, you've got to go to the right office and file a claim. If someone challenges that claim, you've got to stand on your legal rights and fight.

Like wise, before you will ever live a victorious Christian life, you've got to stake your claim to your rights and fight for them. A Jesuit priest told me the most amazing thing. He said that he didn't take theWord of God literally. The man gave his whole life to the preiesthood! That's pretty literal isn't it? Can you imagine giving your life for a concept you don't believe is the literal truth?

It's sad, but that kind of thing happens all the time. That's why you see graveyards with more life than some churches. I know, because I've been there. And there is only one thing to do for them---resurrect them.

The Bible says, "My people are destoyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowlede, I will also reject thee." (Hosea 4:6)

Lack of knowledge about what?

Lack of knowledge about your rights and privileges.

You will never grasp your rights if you don't understand why they are yours.

Voice of the Covenant by Jesse Duplantis