After the tragedies of September 11th, President Bush very solemnly began the task of retaliation against those accused of hijacking the airplanes and flying them into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentegon. It was quite interesting, in my opinion, that he termed what he was doing as "Operation Infinite Justice." By doing so, he professed, at least, that his goal was to punish those guilty of committing this heinous crime and in doing so, he would free mankind from human rights violations and thereby make the world a better and safer place to live.

Now, right in the midst of all that has been done, comes the allegations that in fact our government is guilty of human rights violations in the way we have dealt with our prisoners as they are brought to Cuba. The news has been full of allegations and denials of those allegations. Suddenly, those who went out to establish infinite justice are accused of violating the very principles they professed to be enforcing. Now I will tell you right now that I am not about to either agree with the allegations or with the defenses against the allegations. First of all, all I know is what I have read and heard on the news, which means I don't have any idea what really went on. A long time ago I realized that when you read the newspaper or listen to the news on TV or radio, what you generally know is what didn't happen. Most of the time, we still don't know what really happened.

Do I believe that as Americans we are incapable of being overly zealous in our carrying out our responsibilities? No, I am not that naïve. I have talked to too many veterans of such things as to think that they don't happen. At the same time, do I believe that those making the allegations are being absolutely fair and just in their assessments? Again, I am not that naïve. Certainly they have an agenda and that agenda is often more wicked that they crimes they allege.

The reason I bring up this matter this morning is that the whole things points up the principle that I want to deal with on the broadcast this morning. And that is, when men try to do anything without the God of the Bible, all they do is make a mess. The worst thing one can do is to try to do good without God.

The Psalmist dealt with this very issue in two different places. In Psalms 14:1 we find, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." And then in Psalms 53:1 "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good."

Here we have an axiom. Where people rebel against God, no good ever comes. Even when they are trying to do good and benevolent things. Even when they are copying what the man of God has done.

In Exodus 7 we have the fascinating account of Moses being order of God to go before Pharoah to demand that Pharoah allow the people of God to be set free. There is a question of authority, Pharoah wants to know by what authority they would dare come into his presence and make such a demand, and in order to show that they are from God, Moses throws down his rod and it becomes a snake. Well, in an effort to not be outdone, the magicians and soothsayers of the palace throw their rods down and they become serpents as well. And this is my point precisely. If you have one poisonous snake loose in a room, what is the last thing that you need? That's right. You don't need any more snakes. These men, instead of relieving that tension by resolving the problem, simply compounded the problem, making the danger exponentially worse.

They would no doubt answer by saying that if the man of God, Moses showed that he was from God by making his rod turn into a snake, surely they were within reason to do the same. But for those who were motivated by rebellion against God, the best they could do was to make the problem worse. The Lord only knows what would have happened if the serpent that had been Moses' rod had not swallowed up the other serpents. Not only was that an establishment of God's authority thru Moses, but it was also an act of God's mercy as well. There may very well have been a disaster if those snakes had been allowed to run loose in that room.

And then, as if they hadn't learned their lesson, in Exodus 8 we are told that God, working through Moses, sent a plague of frogs upon the land. There were frogs everywhere. A person in bed was likely to have a frog going "ribet" in his ear. He go to put on his shoes and there would be a frog in his shoe going ribet, ribet. He get ready to eat his oatmeal and a frog would be looking up at him and going "ribet, ribit." He try to walk across the room and it would be "ribet, ribit, ribit, squish." There were frogs everywhere and the Bible tells us in Exodus 8:7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. Instead of getting rid of the frogs, they brought more frogs on the land.

Men always make messes when they try to do good without God. And we still see the same thing today and we see it everywhere we look. For example:

Poverty in America and in the world, is an awful problem. There is nothing that brings tears to the eyes of caring people quicker than to see the pictures of children going to bed hungry. Where the picture comes from some third world country or from a ghetto right here in our own country, we cringe when faced with the fact that thousands of children will go to bed hungry tonight. However, in our nations history there is an interesting fact that is overlooked and ignored when we begin to think about the awful blight of poverty and the attending hunger that goes with it.

Prior to the War between the States, the economic landscape of our nation was one of a very broad middle class. We had no really wealthy people, and very little poverty. That is not to say that we there were not some people richer than others, but there was not inordinate wealth or debilitating poverty in this country. However, after the War Between the States, we underwent some tremendous changes in the economic system by which the nation would be governed and the result was that by the beginning of the 20th century, 90% of the wealth of the nation had fallen into the very greedy hands of less than 5% of the people. People began to spring up who were know just for their wealth. Names like Vanderbilt, Morgan, Rockefeller, Carneige and so on, began to crop up, each in control of vast amounts of wealth. We are not talking about affluence, but we are talking about people who had more money than they knew what to do with. Each of these men had more money than several hundred of the richest of antebellum men. These guys didn't just live in the largest house in town, they were a new breed of noblemen. Common folks like us can't even begin to fathom their wealth. They were rich beyond imagination.

Now some would grouse about their wealth and some would go so far as to complain about the crooked way some of these men amassed their wealth, but there is really little outcry against these men because they were almost all philanthropists who gave away more money than most people would spend in a lifetime and since the benefits of their gifts impacted many, there is little complaint. To be sure colleges, universitites, hospitals, and even churches benefited from their benevolence. If there was a down side to this phenomena, it was quickly overlooked and ignored. Now the question is, was there a down side?

Well, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to realize that there is a down side. Where the rub comes is when you begin think at the other end of the spectrum. If 5% or less of the people are controlling 90% of the wealth of the nation, how far does the 10% that is left, go? When 95 % of the people are trying to make a living out of 10% of the pie, somebody is going to get hungry. And that is exactly what happened. For the first time in our history we had real poverty and it was not poverty from lack of labor or sloth, it was poverty caused by there simply not being enough pie to go around. In order for these mega wealthy people to continue in their wealth, some people have to hurt. Economists will tell you that our economy is set up to where there has to be 4% unemployment in the country for our economy to run smoothly. If that number gets higher, we are in a recession, if it gets lower, we have runaway inflation. The 4% of the people who fall into this situation are literally the "grease" that makes the economic engine run.

From that time to now, we have been trying to fix the problem, but we have tried to fix it without repenting of our wickedness in the past, and turning back to God. The result has been that every time we try to fix the problem it gets a little worse and we are a little more hypocritical. The welfare state that has been created by this mess has been festering for several generations now. We pay farmers not to farm, and workers not to work. Then when people get used to having their needs met without labor, and even worse, their wickedness rewarded when they openly live in sin, we curse the victims without ever raising a voice against the wicked system that cultivates the sloth and encourages the immorality.

Now it would be one thing if the 5% who were in control of 90% of the wealth were good enough to take care of the 4%, but that is not the case. They have set up a system, where they contribute little or nothing to the victims instead forcing the 91% to take care of them out of their 10%. That is not to say that the 5% is not still involved in philanthropy. Indeed, they given millions to fund pet projects and institutions. However, again, little if any of that money ever gets to those in need, it instead goes to fund projects that further causes and philosophies that ultimately benefit themselves.

Now I am probably speaking mostly to the 90% who find themselves working to not only try to take care of themselves and their own, but are forced to take care of the 4% who don't have to take care of anything or anyone and we are caught on the horns of a real dilemma. Since there is only so much money to go around and 5% of the people are controlling 90% of it, there is going to be a lot of suffering unless we do something creative, which is exactly what we have done. In order to have enough money to go around, we have been borrowing ourselves into a debt that can never be paid off.

Arizona Governor Evan Mecham used to say, "The Federal government spends a few million here and a few billion over there pretty soon you talking about some real money."

Well, when you begin to talk about our national debt, you are talking about some real money. For several generations, one generation after another has been building on a debt that some generation is going to have to pay. For shock value, I should try to say what the national debt of the United States is, but frankly I cannot even comprehend numbers like that.

There is a massive debt, and it will have to be paid some day and we are likely to find out that the smiling banker who was so eager to loan us the money in the first place, is now the menacing and merciless tyrant ready to take our children into bondage because we cannot pay up.

The best that most of us can do is to try to keep up with inflation. You cannot save money because while you have it stashed away the value is gradually eroding and the longer you save, the less you can buy with it. The answer is to get involved in investment schemes that are steeped in usury, a practice that God condemns meaning we will have to answer to Him for that. And then there is the matter of the investments going belly up. Everywhere you look good safe investments fall through. Only a short time ago, Enron was a good investment and now, Sorry! Prosperity preachers promise that if you give them all of you money wealth will come. What they don't tell you is that it comes to them and not you but some people are stupid to package up their life savings and send it in, in the hopes that prosperity will be just around the corner. And the greedier a man gets the more likely he is to fulfill the old proverb, "A fool and his money are soon parted." We are aptly described in James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not.

Man tries to do good without God, and he makes an absolute mess! He fights his way up the ladder of success only to find that it is leaning against the wrong building. Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Well, we have been discussing the effects of what happens when man tries to do good without God and we have seen the awful mess that man has made in the area of economics. However, before you contemplate doing a swan dive from a high rise, I have some good news.

Jesus told us in Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The good news is that the Blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. My friend, if you have made the mistake of living only for what this old world has to offer, you will eventually find, if you haven't figured it out already, that it is a useless struggle. You will never reach the point where you find the success you are looking for. They tell the story that someone once asked John D. Rockefeller how much money it would take to satisfy him and his answer was, "Just a little bit more."

And friend, if he never made enough to satisfy himself, believe me, you won't ever get there either. However, in the words of the old song, "If you are tired of the load of your sin, Let Jesus come into your heart. If you desire a new life to begin. Let Jesus come into your heart.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Right now, right where you are, you can make your decision for Christ. Why not bow your head and your heart to God and tell him you are a worthless, vile sinner, and ask Him to come into your heart and to save you from your sins. Remember His promise, John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.