In this sermon, the speaker discusses the ongoing impeachment process against the president and the phrase "high crimes and misdemeanors" mentioned in the Constitution. The speaker suggests that the country may be facing God's judgment and emphasizes the importance of voting and praying. They also quote the prophet Solomon, who states that when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people mourn. The speaker urges listeners to seek wisdom in distinguishing between righteousness and unrighteousness and to vote for leaders who align with biblical principles.

Well, we welcome you again to On Eagle's Wings. The Prophet Solomon, if we could call him a prophet, he said, When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. Heavenly Father, give us wisdom to know the difference between righteousness and unrighteousness, and as we are given the freedom in our country to vote, Father, I pray that you'd also give us the wisdom and the ability to know how to vote and who to vote for. We pray for any that do not know Jesus as their Savior, that you draw them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that they might be saved. Father, you've laid out the law of faith, that if we would believe that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, and place our confidence and faith in the shed blood of Christ, in the words of the Lord Jesus, when He said, It is finished, then we could be saved. Thank you for this program. I ask you to guide us and lead us. Give us ears to hear. In Jesus' name. Amen. We'd like to welcome you again to On Eagle's Wings. And also, I'd like to say a word of appreciation again to Maranatha Baptist Church, who has supported us in the month of October and also carrying us through November. And I've got something in the mail today. And since the elections are coming up in a couple of days, I'd like to share a little bit from this publication that I got in the mail. It's from Wall Builders. And many of you are familiar with Wall Builders and the ministry. I don't know of any place in the area that sells the materials, except Spring River Food Company out north of La Russell, a mile north of La Russell. They sell these materials. But the materials that are offered by this organization are just excellent in relation to our nation, our founding fathers, and materials in this area. And I'd like to share a little bit from an article in this publication and just share mostly quotes from our founding fathers in relation to the principles or the type of character of the men and women that we vote for that we should consider. In listening to or reading some of these things, especially in subject of current events and current news about political leaders, maybe our president and others that have exhibited actions and attitudes that are not right, our founding fathers laid down principles that we need to be careful that we follow. I believe these things are important. One of the things that is given out, as everybody else is doing it, that makes no excuse for the fact that a leader in high public office should do it. I was looking at something that was explained by John Witherspoon. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He said this. He is the best friend to American liberty who sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. Under this standard, if those that would support a president really cared about the country, then they would recognize that a president that didn't hold moral standards according to the word of God and according to our constitutional guidelines, then that man should not be in the office. Witherspoon put forth these ideas about American liberty and the one that sets himself with the greatest firmness to bear down profanity and immorality of every kind. He's the one that really cares about American liberty. And we wonder about our greed and our country if this isn't the thing that's going to sink our country. And I'd like to take this program today just to share some of these founding fathers' concepts with you in relation to voting. I talked to a man the other day and we were talking about voting in the last election and he said he just didn't vote. And I know sometimes it looks like it doesn't matter, but it does matter. What really probably makes it the hardest is if the very best candidate you consider doesn't even have a chance and so you don't vote at all. I think it was Dobson this week or last week that was talking about voting, talking about how about only 50% of Christians are registered to vote and then out of that only about 50% of them, those that are registered, vote. And this is probably a serious problem. No probably about it. It is a serious problem because it was the leaders of our land that were Christians that held the moral beliefs of the Bible and believed in the Word of God that God used. And they drew along other moral unsaved men also because of the flavor of the Christians. There was a predominant attitude and an atmosphere of a God-fearing, Christ-fearing society. There was a poll put out by Family Circle magazine that illustrated probably the seriousness of our moral collapse. They said the results of that survey questioning respondents on the Ten Commandments confirmed an interesting image of misperceptions. For example, while only 14% of the respondents had actually engaged in extramarital relations, amazingly 45% reported their belief that extramarital relations were common. Why would respondents believe that extramarital relations among that group occurred at a rate nearly three times higher than it actually did? Because they have been consistently pummeled as a defense by those who engage in extramarital affairs with the charge that such affairs are commonplace. And so, if we have leaders living like that, they're saying, well, it's okay. The article says, not only do the efforts of the President's supporters weaken the moral standards, they actually perpetuate historical revisionism. That is, in an attempt to excuse the President's immoral behavior, his defenders are asserting that President George Washington and President Thomas Jefferson also engaged in immoral and illicit sexual relations, charges that are historically false. A further point of defense that was raised by those that are supporting the President is that it's a private matter. And if it's a private matter, then our Founding Fathers, we need to listen to them. Our Founding Fathers understood this need for a high moral standard in those that went into office. And that's why they specifically advocated investigating the private moral life of leaders. And this is also biblically supported by the Scriptures. Let me share with you something from one of the Founding Fathers, Elias Boudinot. I don't know if I said his name right. He was a President of the Continental Congress. He said, Be religiously careful in our choice of all public officers, and judge of the tree by its fruit. And, of course, this comes back from the Scriptures, back in, I think it was Luke 6, 43, 44, and Matthew 7, 16, and 20, if I have that reference right, about judging a tree by its fruit. But he said, He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be void of all regard of his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections. Private and public vices are in reality connected. Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a state than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of unexceptional characters. The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men. Samuel Adams. So when you go out to vote this week, and if we get another chance at an election for President next year, be very careful of the character of that man. Very careful is what Samuel Adams is saying. Patrick Hendry said this, Righteousness alone can exalt as a nation. Remember this, and in thy spear practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others. The great pillars of all government are virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. Patrick Hendry. William Penn said this, As governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too. Let men be good, and the government cannot be bad. But if men be bad, the government be never good. Quote by William Penn. Another quote by Daniel Webster. And this is to encourage us to pray that godly men will be elected in office, and maybe we need to be praying that God would be raising up godly men to run for office, and maybe we need to be praying that God would be training and raising up some of the younger generation to have character and morals. But here's what Daniel Webster said, If we trifle with the injunctions of morality, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us. No government can be secure which is not supported by moral habits. Daniel Webster. In other words, if we don't follow the moral guidelines of the scriptures, we are sunk. No matter how good our intentions, or no matter how sincere our faith will be that somehow we'll make it through, this is the law of life that God says the moral will survive and thrive and achieve and succeed, but the immoral is a path of death and destruction. In selecting men, Noah Webster said this, In selecting men for office, look to his character. If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted. Laws will be made not for the public good, so much as for selfish or local purposes. Striking a note, is it? He goes on. Corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws. The public revenues will be squandered. Sound familiar again? On unworthy men and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. Let me say that again. The public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. And I'd say we're right there. He goes on. Noah Webster goes on. When a citizen gives his vote to a man of known immorality, he betrays the interest of his country. And so what we're looking for, if we don't repent as a nation, we're looking for a vote for ungodly men. We're looking for a vote of men of low moral character. And so actually then we are gathering momentum to have a rebellion against our whole constitutional form of government. And that, by the way, is going along pretty good, the rebellion against our constitutional form of government. Our justices bear that out. John Witherspoon also said this. Those who wish well to the state ought to choose to places of trust, men of inward principle, justified by exemplary lifestyle. Is it reasonable to expect wisdom from the ignorant, fidelity from the prolificate, assiduity and application to public business from men of a dissipated life? Those, therefore, who pay no regard to religion and sobriety in the persons whom they elect are guilty of the greatest absurdity and will soon pay dear for their folly. John Witherspoon. And then one last paragraph of this article from Wall Builders by David Barton. He said, while it is too late for us as voters to apply these lessons to our current president, it is not too late for us to apply these lessons to the present election. Remember to vote, and to vote for God-fearing and moral individuals. As the Bible reminds us in Proverbs 29 to, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. And that was an article from Wall Builders by David Barton. And let me encourage you to get materials from Wall Builders. They have many, many different articles offered that are good. It is America a Christian nation, keys to good government, America's godly heritage, keys to education in the founding fathers, spirit of the American Revolution, foundations of American government, and just on and on and on. It makes wonderful material for reading, teaching kids. Maybe in the last part of this program today, we might have some comments on this subject of the impeachment process that's going against our president, which is a serious, serious thing. There's a debate in the surrounding of this presidential impeachment, and the phrase high crimes and misdemeanors has been a focal point on this. And this is found in Article 2 and Section 4 of the Constitution. I think that's in Paragraph 1. But here's what the Constitution says. The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. And in this article on high crimes and misdemeanors by David Barton, he says, Or like treason and bribery. While they admit the President's actions to be disgusting and reprehensible, they claim that nevertheless they are not sufficiently serious felonies as to constitute impeachable offenses. Those who offer this argument are guilty of two errors. And he says, 1. They are ignorant of or ignore the clear declarations both of our founding fathers who authored this clause and of those who for a century and a half afterwards enforced this clause. And 2. They group words together in the clause which should be kept separate. That is, they talk of high crimes and misdemeanors as if they are the same thing, and they are not. The clause should be read high crimes and misdemeanors. Two separate categories. No one can logically argue that a high crime is the same as a misdemeanor. What the founding fathers did in this clause was to offer a broad scope of impeachable offenses ranging from serious felonies, which would be high crimes, to much lesser categories of misbehavior, which would be misdemeanors. This is further confirmed by the two specific examples the founders included in the Constitution, treason and bribery. Treason was a serious capital offense resulting in execution, while bribery, even though it was considered a moral wrong, was not yet a statutory crime when the Constitution was adopted. Clearly then, what the Constitution specifies is a wide range of impeachable offenses from high crimes, such as treason, to misdemeanors, such as bribery, not then illegal. The definitions of misdemeanor confirm this. For example, Alexander Hamilton and Justice Joseph's story placed on the Supreme Court by President James Madison defined a misdemeanor as political malconduct. Noah Webster, who was responsible for the Copyright and Patent Protection Clause of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, he defined a misdemeanor as ill behavior, evil conduct, fault or mismanagement. Professor John Randolph Tucker, a U.S. Congressman, constitutional law professor and early president of the American Bar Association, explained in his 1891 commentaries on the Constitution that misdemeanor was a synonym for misbehavior and that he, or that the words, high crimes and misdemeanors cannot be confined to crimes created and defined by a statute of the United States. Realizing then that the constitutional scope of impeachable offenses range from serious felonies down to misbehavior and evil conduct, Joseph's story in his classic 1833 commentaries on the Constitution declared, quote, and listen to this, "...the offenses to which the power of impeachment has been and is ordinarily applied as a remedy are what are aptly termed political offenses growing out of personal misconduct or gross neglect or habitual disregard of the public interest." And also Professor John Randolph Tucker, in the 1891 commentaries mentioned earlier, he said, "...the process of impeachment is a political proceeding against the accused as an officer of the government to protect the government," listen, he says, "...to protect the government from the present or future incumbency of a man whose conduct has proved him unworthy to fill it. The impeachment power was intended to cleanse the government from the presence of worthless and faithless individuals." That this has been the intent of the Founding Fathers was irrefutable. For example, James Iredale, who was an original Supreme Court Justice appointed by President George Washington, he said, "...every government requires impeachment. Every man ought to be amenable for his conduct. It will be not only the means of punishing misconduct, but it will prevent misconduct. A man in public office who knows that there is no tribunal to punish him may be ready to deviate from his duty, but if he knows there is a tribunal for that purpose, although he may be a man of no principle, the very terror of punishment will perhaps deter him. Therefore..." David Barton closes up in this article. He says, "...therefore, in the current raging debate over what constitutes an impeachable offense, do not be misled by those who would define high crimes and misdemeanors as being the same, and then who raise the bar for impeachment so high that it protects an individual from being accountable for his conduct." So what it boils down to, we as a nation, we have voted in. We have voted in people that do not have morals that go along with our Constitution, much less with the Bible. And what we have to do is vote back in those that hold high moral standards and have high moral characters. In other words, we need a revival in our voting. And since only 50% of those vote that are registered that are Christians, which makes about only 25%, the voting of Christians is crucial. We voted ourselves into trouble. I don't know if we can vote ourselves out of trouble, because we're in a process now, I believe, of God judging us. But we can vote, show a vote to God that we care. And also, you better pray. You better put some prayer with your voting. Well, until next time, I'm just trusting the Lord to continue to bless you, that He'll guide you and He'll keep you, and that He will bless you in Jesus' name. Trust Christ as your Savior, if you haven't done so. This may be your last day, your last chance. Until next time, then, the Lord bless you.