Frank Carlson was a member of the Senate Breakfast Group, which met every Wednesday morning to pray together & ponder the issues of a spiritual heritage. About 20 Senators--of all denominations--usually were present.
For 27 years, a writer from the News and World Report had attended as the only regular member outside the Senate. What was said at those gatherings was generally not for publication, but the talk made by Carlson on June 19th so impressed his listeners that special permission was granted for this printing of excerpts from it. Senator Carlson has since retired after 18 years in the Senate. Prior to that he served 12 years in the House of Representatives, and 4 years as Governor of the State of Kansas.
“The subject of the text I am using is ‘Wanted a man--a man who will stand.’ We have had men in both ancient & modern history who have had the courage to take a stand & stand firm…
In Ezekiel 22:80, the Prophet says:
‘And I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall & stand in the breach before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it.’
God is searching for men who are unique, thoroughly saved, & filled to running over with His Spirit. God & the world need men who will stand in the gap…
Modern Americans have accepted & are tolerating conditions never before permitted by any generation of our ancestors.
Never have so many hated on such flimsy cause. Never have so many denounced so many with such little knowledge. Never has the dollar been as important as it is today. Never has wild pleasure or physical abandonment been considered fitting human behavior as it is today.
Never have public officials been so brazen & open in seeking the vote of the people through promises of things that are morally & spiritually wrong. Never have ministers of the Gospel turned their pulpits & their pastoral duties toward direction of the social order to the near exclusion of the salvation order as abounds in our time.
In that same 22nd chapter of Ezekiel, the Prophet speaks of Israel’s religious leaders in these words:
‘Her priests have done violence to My law & have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy & the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean & the clean, & they have disregarded My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.’
Israel's religious leaders of that earlier time would be appalled to observe what is transpiring in the churches of God today. Even the daily press--notoriously indifferent to religious news--reports a few lines on the inner & back pages that tell us clearly how growing numbers of Americans treat holy things with irreverence & sacred things with contempt.
Not only have vast numbers of Americans lost all sense of the sacred, the moral, & the ethical, but the spiritual leaders from both the laity & the priesthood are often found in the forefront of this irreligious pursuit of comfort rather than conviction--of accommodation rather than truth--of the pleasant life rather than the meaningful life.
If God is to have men who will stand in the gap & hold back the flood of destructive emotional & spiritual forces, we must first understand the nature of the problem & why things are the way they are.
There are 3 major forces that have brought about the chaos, frustration, & anti-Christian era in which we live. They touch both the philosophical & religious bases, were first voiced by few in number whose intensity deceived millions, & have been permitted to flourish by both the unwary & the fearful.
First, we live in this age of uncertainty because we have either accepted or endured a doctrine of universal conformity.
The forces that reduce the power of an influence of God & Christ in the lives of our people are seeking to become levelers of men. It is their conviction that only through lowering mankind to a dependency upon the ideas, ideals, & material judgments of superior people can we live together in harmony & peace.
Evidence is rampant that this kind of meddling & interference with God's natural law brings fearful conflict, death, destruction, riots, crime, & disregard of decency & principle among our people,
Today there is widespread devotion to the idea that nothing, absolutely nothing, can be allowed to remain the same. All things must change, & there is practically no consideration given as to whether the change is good or bad--right or wrong--easy or difficult--necessary or unnecessary.
The doctrine of change stands on just the precise idea that change is inevitable. That is absolutely true. Change of various kinds & sorts takes place every day everywhere. But irresponsible, erratic, violent change only for the sake of making things different, is as illogical & as unreasonable as it is unspiritual.
No intelligent person argues against the necessity of using question marks after many of our inherited ideas & practices of the past. But when the question mark is turned into a totem pole or a marble altar on which the people are supposed to lay their sacrificial offerings, such people have escaped the general limits of common sense & sound judgment, & have launched off into material idolatry & are rushing toward a degree of spiritual insanity.
If human reason has so totally lost its respectability & no-one is allowed to go from a major & minor premise to some sort of orderly conclusion, then the welfare of our people is entrusted to the care of strange & weird people.
Great changes had to take place during these recent years, & even greater changes will have to take place in the future. But no safe & proper change seen in recent times--& certainly none of the irrational changes that outnumber the sane ones--can justify the wholesale abandonment of the safe & sure principles of God & this country which have brought us safely this far. In the face of great changes, we Christians have to remember that we have a firm point of view, & that we operate from certain unchanging foundations.
We believe in a God Who does not change--in human nature which does not change except for its accommodation with & acceptance of God--in standards of right & wrong that do not change--in death & judgment which are inescapable--& we believe in a truth that is absolute, not relative, & which is forever settled in Heaven & can never pass away.
The Christian today--even in the midst of the erratic & erotic commitments of irreligious leaders--does not follow the failing steps of the priests of Israel. Christians make a clear distinction between the holy & the common. They teach the difference between the clean & the unclean. They observe & keep the Sabbath, & they do not profane either the Name, the Spirit, not the power of God.
The third cause of our uncertainties in this time is the doctrine of universal criticism. Today man is taught not to accept anything until he has first put it under strong & critical examination. Trust nobody--believe nobody--have faith in nothing--& accept no truth until it has been proved to you with mathematical exactness & material demonstration. That is the agony of the hour when the doctrine of criticism has taken over our people.
You cannot pick up a paper, magazine, or a book that is not in & of itself critical of something or somebody, even including among its victims almighty God Himself. In truth, the criticisms of God rank well above almost all other criticisms of the hour. More people--in more ways & on more occasions--cast doubt, hurl darts, & throw charges against God such as this country has never seen in all of its history.
To accept the doctrine of universal criticism leaves us with almost nothing that is sacred--almost nothing that is absolute--& nothing that is eternal. So real has our acceptance of the doctrine of criticism become that even the word “indoctrination” has been turned into an evil word that must be shunned, like “discipline,” “disciple,” or “patriotism.”
These 3 doctrines--universal conformity, universal change, & universal criticism--have left our nation without moorings or anchors. We are being tossed about in the sea of doubt & uncertainty that is about to sink the ship of God before our very eyes.
2 Chronicles 16:9 King James Version says For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
Are you on God’s short list?
The world today is looking for:
Men who are not for sale;
Men who are honest, sound from center to circumference, true to the heart's core;
Men with consciences as steady as the needle to the pole:
Men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter & the earth reels:
Men who can tell the truth & look the World right in the eye;
Men who neither brag nor run;
Men who neither flag nor flinch;
Men who can have courage without shouting it:
Men in whom the courage of everlasting life runs still, deep, & strong;
Men who know their message & tell it;
Men who know their place & fill it;
Men who know their business & attend to it;
Men who will not lie, shirk, or dodge;
Men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor;
Men who are willing to eat what they have earned & wear what they have paid for;
Men who are not ashamed to say ‘No’ with emphasis, & who are not ashamed to say ‘I can’t afford it.’
If we had men & women like this in abundance, our society would be dramatically improved. Our homes would be happier & healthier; our educational programs would be more effective; illegitimacy would drop dramatically; crime would be substantially reduced; the streets would be safe; opportunities would be greater; & everyone would benefit as a result.
God is looking for men. He wants those who can unite together around a common faith--who can join hands in a common task--& who have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. God give us men.”
The above speech was reprinted in the following book: Fourth Reich of the Rich by Des Griffin
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