Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Huckabee: "From Hope To Higher Ground"

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The man who was actually born in Hope, Arkansas, not "near" Hope, Arkansas, formally told America yesterday that he is a candidate for the presidency of the United States.

He told the country that he believes he can bring "the kind of change that truly can get America from hope to higher ground."

Huckabee, as with several other GOP candidates, understands the moral depth to which our nation has fallen, and that until the moral issues are addressed, we will merely continue to chase the hollow, ever elusive "hope and change" promised by those who lack spiritual understanding.

What Associated Press is not reporting is that Huckabee is warning Christians and Christian pastors that if the Supreme Court rules in June that so-called gay "marriage" is a "civil right" protected by the US Constitution, "pastors who refuse to perform same-sex weddings will be breaking the law" just as florists, bakers, photographers and other biblical Christians are now being charged with doing.

Huckabee is suggesting a better way, one in which we press on the upward way, gaining new heights every day.


The Associated Press characterized Huckabee's message as "anti-Clinton"---"pitching himself," they wrote, "as the best Republican to take on Bill's wife..."

That statement may be true, but it more clearly reveals the ignorance or bias of Bill Barrow who wrote the piece for AP than the actual message of Huckabee.

What AP is not reporting is that Huckabee's concept of leading America from "hope to higher ground" suggests to 100 million or more evangelicals and conservative Christians, whom AP says he must have to win the nomination, has more to do with restoring America than merely "beating Bill's wife," although that will be a necessary step.

In a recent conversation with Tony Perkins, head of Family Research Council, Huckabee responded to Perkins, noting that "in the wake of this redefinition of marriage is a direct assault on religious freedom--- the very ability to preach the gospel is at stake."

In response, Huckabee said, "It very much is. And let me be very practical in how it plays out if something doesn't change. If the courts rule that people have a civil right---not only to be a homosexual but a civil right to have a homosexual marriage---then a homosexual couple coming to a pastor who believes in Biblical marriage and says, 'I can't perform that wedding,' will now be breaking the law."

"That is more than a direct assault just on religious liberty," Huckabee said. "It doesn't just say you can't do something," he noted. "It says that if you do practice Biblical convictions and you carry them out, and you do what the Spirit of God has led you to do, your behavior will be criminal."

Huckabee said he is concerned when he hears pastors say they don't want to get involved in "politics."

He said, "My response is 'Brother you're already involved. You just don't realize it yet. You're involved'."

Regardless of how the Court rules in June, this and other similar issues will not evaporate because they are inherently rooted in sin and rebellion toward God Himself.

The only hope America has is in pressing on to higher ground.

While Huckabee has likely articulated it best, there are other candidates who also understand the solution to America's problems.

Ted Cruze, Dr. Ben Carson, perhaps Rand Paul, perhaps Marco Rubio, although he is now claiming "gays are born that way," certainly Mike Huckabee---and should they run, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal all understand that America needs a spiritual restoration to bring about a political restoration.

Johnson Oatman, Jr. wrote the lyrics to what we know as the hymn "Higher Ground."

Johnson, Jr. grew up in a Christian home---in church every Sunday. As a kid he would stand on the pew so he could read from his father's hymn book while singing the hymns.

Johnson always had a desire to serve God and was actually ordained, but found his ministry, not in the pulpit, but as a Christian songwriter, while a successful business man working with his father in the family law firm Johnson Oatman & Son.

He wrote hundreds of hymns, many still sung---or at least remembered by Christians across America.

In 1898 he wrote perhaps the most well known of all his hymns. "Higher Ground."

Remember these words?

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m onward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

Refrain:
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s tableland,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.
My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
I want to live above the world,
Though Satan’s darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

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