"Toleration" & the
Imminent Demise of America
                                                                                          By Pastor F. M. Riley
                                                                                          December 16, 2016
                                                                                 Revised March 12, 2018
    "Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
    Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.  For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us;
    Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth," 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
                                                                                                
Introduction  
    As defined in Webster's New World Dictionary, the word "tolerate"  literally means, "to acknowledge the beliefs and practices of others without necessarily agreeing with them; to show tacit approval of those beliefs and practices by "tolerating" them; to put up with regardless of one's own belief's or feelings about a matter." [Much more with many variations].
    One form of this word is found six times in the New Testament.  See Strong's No. 414.  It is defined as "bearable; to make or cause to be more bearable."  In other words, "tolerant" or "tolerable" means putting up with the beliefs and practices of others, even though one may not agree with those beliefs and practices.     
    There is no question that "toleration" of the beliefs and practices of others is necessary up to a point!  Because men and women were created by God as individuals with a free will, therefore life itself is filled with beliefs and practices of others that must be "tolerated" in order to get along and live in peace and harmony with our friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens.  Every intelligent reader surely understands this truth.  
    However, there is a limit to "toleration," especially where obedience to God's Word is concerned.  This is true on both an invividual and  national level.  
      Every so-called "just" war in human history was fought because even nations reach a point where they simply cannot and will not "tolerate" the unjust actions and outright wickedness of other nations.  Remember Adolph Hitler's expansionist plans for Europe, which included the imprisonment and genocide of the European Jews?  Remember Pearl Harbor and the Japanese expansionist plans for Asia and the Far East?  The leaders of our nation back then, simply could not "tolerate" the plans of Hitler and the Japanese, so we went to war.  
    The inspired Word  of God makes it quite clear that there are some beliefs and practices which exceed the limits of what the Lord God expects decent humanity to "tolerate," and therefore cannot be "tolerated" in the lives of His true believing people.  And this is what this study is about.  Read on.....
America the Great
    For the past 240 years since the United States became an independent nation among the nations of the world, millions of people from all over the world have immigrated to America.  Why?  Because America was the moral example of righteousness, justice, freedom, and opportunity, for the whole world.  Those immigrants who came to America knew they were coming to a nation where they would have freedom, and an opportunity to use their talents and ingenuity to better themselves, and to provide a good life for their families.  
    I remind our readers that America was established as a "Christian" nation upon the moral principles and teachings of God's Word.  Before the first colonists fleeing to the "new world" in 1620, left the Mayflower to set foot on American soil, they had a prayer meeting and then drew up what is called "the Mayflower Compact."  This was a document signed by all of those on the Mayflower vowing to establish a "Christian" nation, where every man could seek and worship the God of the Bible freely as led by the Holy Spirit of Almighty God, and where they could live in a free and just society.  Folks, it was these Christian principles followed and lived out by our founding fathers which made America the greatest and most blessed nation on earth.  
    So in view of a history like this, what do we see in our country today?  
America's Apostasy
    Of course it happened gradually.  Apostasy always does, so that those caught up in it never notice that it is happening until it is TOO LATE!   
     Now 240 years later, my heart breaks and my eyes run with tears  as I consider what this once great nation has become.  Why?  Because the American people have "forgotten" the God of the Bible who brought this nation into existence [Daniel 2:20-22].  As a nation and a people we now "tolerate" within our borders every kind of wickedness; every pagan belief and practice, which God's Word sternly condemns, and which destroyed the mighty nations of the past.  And most Americans never even give it a thought!  Well, it is past time to think about it!  
The Great Apostasy  
    Those readers who will take a close, careful, look at our past history should easily recognize that America, as a people and nation, sought after and looked to the Lord God of the Bible for guidance and direction up until the end of the Second World War.  For approximately 170 years this nation sought after and followed God; 1776 - 1946.  During all that time, the Word of God was held in reverence by the people, their ears were open to its message, and the churches were full of worshippers.
    I am aware that most who will read this study are not as old as I am, but yes, I can remember when folks went to church early on Sunday morning in order to get a seat in the sanctuary.  I have literally seen churches packed with people, to the extent that every pew was filled and people were standing up around the walls in order to hear the pastor's message.  I can even remember when the windows were opened, so that people could gather outside the windows and listen to the pastor's message.
    And now look at the churches today; those which are still functioning as "Christian" churches.   Many churches have simply closed their doors and gone out of business for the Lord over the past 70 years.  Today, the church sanctuarys are half filled, or less, with people during the services, and many of them are not paying attention as the pastor speaks.   What has happened to once "Christian" America?
     Sadly, as a people and nation, we have "forgotten God!"  Oh yes!  America still "tolerates" Him, pretending that He is still America's God, but the works of the American people tell a different story, Titus 1:15-16.  Men [and women] may deceive themselves, but no one deceives the Lord God!  NO ONE!
The Works of America Today.....
    The "character" of a man, a woman, or a nation is glaringly revealed in what they are willing to "tolerate" in their lives.  And what is it that America as a people and nation is willing to "tolerate?"  I'm so glad you asked!  
    The Expunging of God's Word.....It was sometime in the late 1950's or early 1960's, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case brought before the court by a wicked, atheist, woman, literally removed the Bible and prayer from the schools and classrooms of America.  Their excuse for doing so was that allowing Bible reading and prayer in the schools amounted to "the establishment of a religion by the government, and this was "unconstitutional."  Sic!
      This ignorant ruling, in spite of the documented history that the first public schools in America were established by Christian churches for the stated purpose of "teaching our children to read God's Word."  The Bible had been an integral part of the educational system in America for well over a hundred years, and had not resulted in "the establishment of a religion." When I entered the first grade in public school, our teacher read the Bible to our whole class and had prayer with us every morning.     The thinly disguised hatred of the Supreme Court for God's Word is so glaringly obvious that it STINKS all the way to Hell!   
    And what was the reaction of the American people to this Supreme Court ruling?  There was a little stir, a few comments, and then the people of this country settled down to "tolerate" this insult to God and departure from His Word.  Hello!
    The Sanctity of Human Life.....Then in 1973, in the infamous Roe vs Wade case, the U.S. Supreme Court "legalized" the cold-blooded, pre-meditated, MURDER of the innocent unborn, choosing to call it "abortion," rather than simply the MURDER of innocent unborn babies.  
    Folks, that was the time when I became ashamed of my country.  I was born and grew up in America, where life for all had been considered sacred.  Over the years I actually knew of cases where a woman or man or both were sent to prison for having gone to a "baby killing" doctor to have a baby "aborted."  So what had changed?  If baby killing [abortion] was wrong before Roe vs Wade, what now made it right?  Hello!  
    I had been appalled by the doctors in the Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War, brutally killing Jewish women, their little children, and their unborn babies.  And now our government had "legalized" such MURDERS?   What is the difference between the Nazi baby killers in the Second World War, and the American baby killers today?  Well...??
    After Roe vs Wade, did the Supreme Court write letters of apology, and grant pardons, to those who had previously been convicted of MURDER for aborting babies?   Of course not, but I am sure they will get around to it, the first day donkeys fly!  Nine bloody handed HYPOCRITES "legally" dictating the moral values of the rest of the American people.  Sic!   
    Sadly, what began on that day in 1973 in once "moral" America, spread like wildfire to the rest of the nations of the world.  If "moral" America had decided it was okay to slaughter the innocent unborn, then why shouldn't other nations do the same thing?  And they quickly did!  Today, somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 innocent unborn babies are brutally slaughtered in America every single day.  Now multiply that figure by the nations of the world which have followed America's example and it will sicken any morally decent, God fearing American.
       And what has the American populace done about this wicked, unjust, hypocritical, ruling of the Supreme Court?  Yes, there was, and still is, from time to time, an effort to reverse this wicked ruling, but it is glaringly obvious that most of the American people have become willing to simply "tolerate" it.
     Marriage & Stable Families
     Move forward a few more years to 1978.  That was the year that the morally corrupt Supreme Court handed down their decision "legalizing" homosexuality.  Since then they have added to this insult to God and His Word by "legalizing" homosexual marriage.  And what does Almighty God think of this "work" of the depraved "nine without a moral spine" Supreme Court justices in Washington?  Read it for yourself.....
     In Leviticus 18:22, the inspired Word plainly and specifically says, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."  This command of the Lord is stated for a second time in Leviticus 20:13.  See also Deuteronomy 23:17 and Romans 1:27.  Notice the word "abomination."  This word in the Hebrew Old Testament, and likewise in the Greek New Testament literally means "stench; to stink."  In plain language, homosexuality [or lesbianism] STINKS in the nostrils of Almighty God.  But the nine so-called "justices" in Washington couldn't care less.  They "legalized" the practice anyway, and then followed it up by "legalizing" marriage between two men or two women.  
     This wickedness is certainly a contributing factor to the breakdown of solid American families.  Folks, whether some want to believe it or not, the American family is the foundation on which the whole nation is built.  When solid, moral, families cease to exist, the whole nation will  collapse and die, and we are at that point, or very near to it right now!  
     The proof of this truth is found by examining the great nations of the past.  Historians right today claim that the collapse of the Roman Empire was primarily due to rampant homosexuality among the rulers governing the empire.  Are our readers aware that Jude 7 is still in the Bible?  Well...??
The Morally Corrupt U.S. Supreme Court
    Sadly, like Israel of old, the people of America today have forsaken the Lord God, "the fountain of living water," and have chosen to drink from a morally corrupt water source, Jeremiah 2:11-13.  Instead of looking to the God of Heaven for spiritual insight and leadership, the American people now look to political leaders, "rock stars," movie stars, and other degenerates, and are dictated to and directed by  the Supreme Court of the United States of America.  Sic!  Did the reader notice that I left the "churches" out of this list.  The influence of the churches on America's moral values today, has almost ceased to exist.  
    The Supreme Court over the past 70 years has handed down one morally rotten decision after another, totally in violation of the Christian principles upon which this nation was founded,  and glaringly in violation of the Word of God, and the American people have meekly "tolerated" their decisions.   Of course the Supreme Court made their decisions, in most cases, using or misusing the Constitution of the United States as an excuse for perpetrating their wickedness.
    I can read as well as any of the nine so-called "justices" sitting on the Supreme Court, and I have been appalled at many of their "decisions" in which they claim to be upholding the Constitution.  Many, [I mean not a few] of the subjects they have ruled on are not even mentioned in the Constitution of the United States of America.  So they have either bald faced lied about a case being contrary to the Constitution, or just read their own opinions and theories into the decision they reached.  It doesn't require a great deal of intelligence to discern which it was!   
What America has come to "tolerate".....
    I do not recall the "dates" on which the Supreme Court handed down each of these wicked decisions, and I didn't bother to look them up.  Just the fact that America now "tolerates" these beliefs and practices ought to be enough to turn the stomach of any true American, and most certainly anyone claiming to be a true Bible believing follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.
    "Tolerating" a Usurper as our Leader.....
    I was born in 1934, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the President of the United States of America.  Therefore I have lived to see many different men occupy the office of President over this country.  Some have been bad, and some better than others, but they all had one thing in common.  They were all qualified to serve as President of this country, due to their being "natural born citizens," a requirement clearly stated in the Constitution of the United States of America.  
    I was then appalled, when in 2004, a foreign usurper, Barack Obama, was elected to the office of President of the United States.  There is no way that he was, "legally" [constitutionally] qualified to serve as President of this country.  I gullibly believed that the Supreme Court would rule that his election was not "legal."  But they didn't!  Instead the "blind nine" [willingly blind] on the Supreme Court decided to "tolerate" him as America's President because of his skin color.  If they refused to allow him to serve, they feared there would be an uprising among the black people in this country.   In this ruling, the Supreme Court showed their utter contempt for our Constitution and the rule of Law.  Hypocrites!  And yet they expect the American people to abide by their decisions regarding the laws of our country.  Hypocrites!  Stinking hypocrites!  
    But the American people meekly accepted the ruling of the Supreme Court, saying little and doing nothing.  The people of this country decided to "tolerate" this unqualified foreign usurper as their national  leader.   
    Then in 2008 this "legally" unqualified foreign usurper was elected as President of the U.S. for a second term, in spite of the fact that it had become well known that Obama was not "Constitutionally" [legally] qualified to serve in the office.  But the American people willfully chose to "tolerate" him as their President, electing him to office the second time.        
     "Tolerating" the slaughter of America's children.....
    I am an old man, born back in 1934, the year that historians now call the worst year of the Great Depression, so I have seen a lot of changes in America in my lifetime.
    I can well remember when men and women were tried for man slaughter in the courts of America, and then sent to prison for the practice of "abortion;" the aborting of an unborn baby.  But in Roe vs Wade in 1973, the Supreme Court "legalized" the cold blooded, pre-meditated, MURDER of the innocent unborn, and the American people have "tolerated" their decision ever since then.  Proverbs 14:34 is still in the Bible, but how many have read it lately?    
    Now, according to some readers, I'm not very intelligent, but I still have sense enough to know that both the inspired Word and human history define MURDER as the willful taking of another human life.  "Thou shalt not kill, [murder, Strong's No. 7523]" Exodus 20:13, is still in the Bible.  So is Genesis 42:22, ".....Do not sin against the child....."
       I wish I had a list of every decision handed down by the Supreme Court during the 20th century and up to the present time, to share with our readers, but I don't.  However, the decisions which have effected the morals of our "American way" of life in bad ways are glaringly obvious to any honest reader.  
     Reaping what America has sown.....
     Three Scriptures come to mind as I write on this subject.....
     First, the passage in Galatians 6:7, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."  
     While this scripture is warning individuals, past history makes it glaringly obvious that the principle stated here is also applicable to nations and peoples.  
     Second, the passage in Proverbs 14:34, "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people."  
     This statement is plain enough for any reader to understand.  
     Third, the passage in Psalm 9:17 places the cap on the whole subject,
"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."  
     Does this inspired Scripture sound like our righteous and just God is going to make an exception for America?  That our next Presidential leader is going "to turn America back to God?"  Sic!
     Folks, in spite of what some prominent preachers proclaim publicly on their national TV broadcasts, how can America be "turned back to God," when the blood of the innocent unborn being slaughtered daily in this country gives stark testimony to the extreme wickedness of this whole nation?  Well...??
     Folks, for now 43 years [1973 -2016] America has sown DEATH for the innocent unborn. It has been conservatively estimated that at least 65,000,000 [Yes, that is sixty-five million] unborn babies have been callously slaughtered in America since Roe vs Wade. Now it is time to harvest the crop, and what will that be?  Galatians 6:7....."for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  America has sown DEATH for the past 43 years, and now it is time for America to reap the harvest!  And America will reap DEATH!  
     I close this study by urging my readers to carefully read the warning given to ancient Israel in Amos 4:11-12, and apply the same principles of judgment to modern America!  
     Oh, America, you have sinned away your day of grace.  Now America, prepare to meet thy God!  

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     Permission is granted to any true believer or Bible believing Christian ministry to reproduce this study to share with others, or to quote from it in context as written.  
     I am again truly grateful to each reader who has prayed for this ministry, and for those who have sent gifts from time to time in support of this ministry.  Thank each of you so very much for your prayers and gifts.  May our gracious Lord bless you abundantly is my prayer.  
     Please address all comments, questions, and correspondence to:  Pastor F. M. Riley, 14275 County Road 8120, Rolla, Missouri 65401.  Those readers who prefer to call can reach me at 573-202-6493.  Due to my age and physical health, I am home most of the time, so feel free to call any hour of the day.
     My new email address is francismriley34@gmail.com.  I am always glad to hear from my readers, and especially those who are my brothers and sisters in Christ

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