The Danger of Forgetting

Hebrews 2:1 – “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.”


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everal years ago, the last message preached at a missions conference at Bible Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee was “Don’t Lose Your Bucket!” He described our bucket with a hole in it that gradually let all the blessings out. The preacher gave all sorts of examples of how we go to a great Bible conference, then before we get home, all the blessings we got from the Bible conference are gone.

  1. Fussing with one another over trivial matters.

  2. Getting mad at a driver around us.

  3. Yelling at the kids.

  4. Failing to trust God

It is important to understand Bible doctrines because it is very easy to leave the truth and not know we left it. We need to know what we believe and why we believe it. I want us to understand we are no different from any other person who slowly and gradually went away from God.


We are all apt to drift because:

  1. It is easy to drift away from the things of God.

  2. We drift when we fail to attend all of the church services.

  3. We naturally drift and lose spiritual power when we fail to pray as we should.

  4. We naturally drift and lose spiritual power when we fail to read our Bibles.

  5. Our nation has drifted from where it started, and people and churches have drifted away from where they started.

The following examples clearly show the slow progression away from Godliness and toward wickedness. It is important to understand that these laws were made starting in 1947. These laws were made by the courts (not by the legislative bodies of congress) in order to change that which was already there. From the founding of the United States of America, it was legal to do what these court created laws prohibited.

    1. In 1947, the Supreme Court in Everson vs. Board of Education deviated from every precedent for the first time and in a limited way affirmed a wall of separation between church and State in the public classroom.

    2. In 1962, 40 years ago, in Engle vs. Vitale, the Supreme Court removed prayer from public schools. We know that before 1962 it was legal to pray in public schools.

    3. On June 17, 1963, the Supreme Court ruled in Abington vs. Schemp that Bible reading was outlawed as unconstitutional in the public school system. Bible reading in public schools was legal before June 17, 1963.

    4. In 1965, the Courts removed the right of a student in the public school cafeteria to bow his head and pray audibly over his food. Before 1965 any student could pray audibly in any public school cafeteria.

    5. On January 22, 1973, in Roe vs. Wade, the courts decided that a woman’s right to an abortion fell under the right of privacy, protected under the 14th amendment. It is plain to see that the founding fathers had no intention of making abortion legal when they wrote the constitution.

    6. In 1980, in Stone vs. Graham the Ten Commandments were outlawed in our public school system. Before 1980, the Ten Commandments were displayed in many public schools. It is odd that the Ten Commandments are prohibited from public schools, yet to this day, above the seat of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; the Ten Commandments are listed with the American eagle standing symbolically protecting them. Yet those justices said, "Not for our children."

    7. Find that piece in the July Baptist Challenge that tells of the delivery of cheese to Thomas Jefferson the third president of the United States, _____________ and his subsequence letter to the Baptist explaining about the separation of church and state, and how on Sunday this American president attended church services in the House of Representatives and was preached to by the man (Leland) who the president had written the letter to.

Check out the list I put by the side of the bed.

  1. 60% of Florida citizens were not born in the U. S.

  2. 28% of California citizens were not born in the U. S.

  3. 10% of Texas citizens were not born in the U. S.

  4. This shows us the terrible consequences of politicians letting all kinds of people into this country for votes. How will the U. S. be in years to come?


Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, speaking to the American Constitution Society (liberals) noted the value of foreign jurisprudence in shaping the court’s rulings, argued that it was acceptable to be influenced in decisions by international law and the provisions of the constitutions of other countries. She said, “Our island or Lone Ranger mentality is beginning to change” as justices become “more open to comparative and international law and perspectives.”


Some might think we will stay true to God if we keep the doctrines correct. Keeping doctrines is correct, but we can have all the true doctrines, and still depart from the love of God.