P.O. Box 640109

El Paso, TX 79904

27 September (11 October), 1998

Dear Children,

Well first of all I want to thank the Lord for not only giving me the message but also allowing me to write it. Because there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that unless He gives me both the Scriptures and the ideas on how to make it all fit together, it just ain’t going to happen. And now, finally, after three weeks of searching the Scriptures and waiting on the Lord, here we go:

So what do you think we’re going to talk about today? Well after that last message on President Clinton I just couldn’t leave it alone at that. You see I had to know a few more of the details for myself. I mean the Lord made it pretty clear to me that He wanted Bill Clinton to remain as president, but He didn’t give me a whole lot of the nitty gritty details as to "why". And that’s why I went ahead and asked Him "why"... and that’s exactly why we’ve got this message for this week.

In fact it was only after that last message on President Clinton that I received two very hot letters in reply. One was from a new reader in Del City and the other was from an older El Paso reader who somehow got lost in the state of Maryland. And of course what they both had to say reflected very negatively on Mr. Bill Clinton’s resulting "fruits" thus far as President of the United States of America... and all I have to say to that is "I agree wholeheartedly".

But before we get too deep in the Word of God, please allow me to beg off on yet another one of my infamous misspelled words. You see it was only Saturday two weeks ago that the Lord had me take one more trip out to Del City, but this time He had me take the drive with a friend who just so happens to be my next door neighbor (remember him?). And as I understood it from the Lord, the purpose of this trip was not only to show my friend the ranch but also to lift up our prayers in agreement that it become The FMH Children’s Club Ranch of my dreams.

So the both of us headed out early Saturday morning on that very familiar long drive to my favorite little town out in the middle of nowhere (God’s Country). And when we finally got there we did exactly as planned: we drove around on the ranch’s "more friendly" dirt roads (my truck isn’t a four wheel drive) and visited a few easy going cows, long eared jack rabbits, and beep-beep road runners. We saw all the sights until somewhere around high noon... and it was right about then that the both of us got pretty hungry. So of course we did the only natural thing to do when you’re hungry in Del City... we headed right on down to Rosita’s Cafe for lunch.

And it was at Rosita’s Cafe that we once again made friends with some very nice folks from Del City. In fact these folks were a married couple who’ve been a very real part of Del City for some time now. You see they’ve actually lived in that little town since 1953. And it was somewhere along in our conversation, after having gotten their mailing address for their very own personalized copy of the weekly sermonet, that I confessed up to my newly discovered misspelled word. So for all you folks who live out in Dell City (which I’ve been spelling Del City for ever so long), please forgive me.

All right, now most of you have probably already figured it out that I haven’t mailed a message for two weeks. And the reason why I haven’t written it wasn’t because I didn’t want to write it but because of the fact that I couldn’t. You see it was Saturday night two weeks ago, as I began putting the sermonet on paper, that I just didn’t feel the Lord’s full involvement in what I was writing. And even though God the Father had already given me a specific Scripture in answer to my question "Why President Clinton?", it still just didn’t seem complete. I was writing on a subject that I didn’t feel overwhelmingly confident in writing about... and that was about the time I stopped, and prayed, and asked Him what he wanted me to do next. And without any hesitation at all my Father God told me to postpone the message one more week, because what He wanted me to do the following day (Sunday) was to fast, pray, and read from the book of Luke.

And so I did. And it was right about the time that I got to the part about John the Baptist that the Holy Spirit just flowed all over me. So was this what was missing? Was this what He wanted me to include along with the Scripture that He had already given me in order to finish up the message on President Clinton? Yup! So now after three weeks of preparation we are finally ready to present Part II of the message on President Clinton from the Word of God. And after having said all that, what are we waiting for?... let’s get it on with the program.

OK, but before we get into God’s specific Scriptures of the week, let’s first take a look at that very important story as found in Genesis chapter 3... just so you can get your minds headed in the right direction . And reading from verses 1-7, "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman... And the woman said unto the serpent... And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die... And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."

Now that’s definitely one of them Bible Stories you could call an oldie goldie! And likewise, wouldn’t you kinda think it’s a story everyone should know by heart? Well the question is: seeing how everybody knows it, does everybody really understand it? I mean exactly what was the final outcome of this confrontation between the snake and the man and the woman? Well it’s really quite simple if you just stop and think about it. You see the man and the woman both got snake bit!!! In fact the exact same thing that happened in this real life true story of so many years ago is still going on in our world of today. There’s not a single day that goes by without a whole bunch of men, women, and children getting snake bit. Without a doubt, that old snake in the Garden of Eden is still very much alive and kicking. And of course even though Bill Clinton is the president, he’s still a man who can get snake bit too... and it just so happens that he did.

Now before going any further let’s get a better understanding of the word "serpent". And seeing how what we have just read came from the very first book of the Holy Bible, why don’t we just skip on over to the very last book and see what it has to offer. So reading from Revelation 20:1-6, "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season."

Now what we have just read was John the apostle’s very own account of what he saw in a dream. And likewise, it was through this God given vision to John that we can also have a glimpse into the normally unseen world of the spirits. And of course one of the things that John saw in the spirit world was this Old Serpent (Satan) getting exactly what he has deserved for such a very long time now. Because in his dream Mr. Slimy Serpent is finally locked up in the bottomless pit for an unpardonable thousand year stretch. But... even though this glimpse into the future was seen by John almost two thousand years ago, it still ain’t happened yet. And even though that Old Slimy Serpent Satan has been biting people since the beginning of time (considering the billions of people he’s already chomped down on), he still hasn’t run out of poison yet. In other words his bite is just as deadly today as it was way back then (in the beginning of time).

And, with all that in mind let’s get on into the first set of Scriptures that the Lord has laid on my heart concerning President Clinton. So turning to and reading from Exodus 16:1-3, "And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

Ain’t it amazing how unbelievably narrow minded and shortsighted the human race can be? I mean take for instance this passage that we have just read. You see the nation of Israel had just been delivered from the hands of Satan (Egypt) after having been his slave for nearly 300 years. They had been abused and tortured for ever so long, but yet here they were after only two months of freedom ready to run right back into his arms of death... and all because of a good hot meal. It’s what you might call a classic case of the flesh controlling the spirit. But of course that’s exactly what God was trying to get out of them (the flesh). Because you see God is always more than willing to save anyone who wants to be saved... but it’s absolutely necessary that those wanting to be saved are willing to turn away from the things of Satan (flesh/Egypt), the things that made them lost in the first place, and turn back to the things of God. And as always, the best way for God to find out who’s serious and who’s not is to give them a test... and that’s exactly what He did with the nation of Israel.

Now if you will continue to read through chapter 16 on your own, you will see that God didn’t let them starve to death. In fact He not only took care of their physical hunger but He took care of their spiritual hunger too. But what we have just read was only "in the beginning" of their test, because as we read on into Exodus 17:1-7 we find: "And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?"

Are you starting to see a pattern in this story? It’s called a lack of faith. Because the truth of the matter is that there is only one right answer on God’s test and it’s called "faith in God". And just as God fed them when they were hungry, He was also going to water them when they were thirsty. But as far as Moses was concerned God’s miracle water couldn’t have come any too quick. Because as we read on we find, "And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?"

Now both of these events from the book of Exodus took place in the beginning of Israel’s journey [out of Satan’s promised land (Egypt) and into God’s promised land (Canaan)]. And it’s this journey that kinda like served two purposes: it was not only to get the nation of Israel from point A to point B, but it was also God’s required test in order for them to get into His promised land. You see passing this test was absolutely necessary... and they would not get where they were going until they passed the test with flying colors. In fact it is believed that if Israel would have learned the answer to God’s test rather quickly (in an expedient manner) then the trip and the test would have only lasted a year or two. But as you will see in the very next Scripture, we find the children of God (the nation of Israel) going through make-up test #99... and they are doing it 20 years later.

But continuing on with our reading in Numbers 20:1-29, "Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin... And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and Aaron. And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD! And why have ye brought us the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink."

And here we go again; same old story but 20 years later. And seeing how this journey has taken a lot longer than expected, it seems as though the temperament of a few (Moses and Aaron) has taken a turn for the worst. You see everyone has gotten just a wee bit sensitive, in fact they’ve all taken on what you might want to call a very short fuse. Because reading on into verses 7-11 we see both Moses and Aaron getting just a little bit heated over this hard headed bunch of children (God’s chosen children).

So God gives Moses the orders on what to do, but Moses looses his cool... and of course the rest is history: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also."

See what I mean? Both Mosses and Aaron let the rebellious nature of children of Israel rub off on them... and God the Father was not the least bit pleased. In fact because of the fact that they lost their cool and didn’t obey God’s command specifically, neither one of them would ever make it into the promised land of Canaan. Because the Scripture goes on to say, "And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them."

And do you think these children of Israel finally learned enough to pass the test and make it on into God’s promised land? Nope!!! Because it was only 18 years later (a total of 38 years from the start of this very short journey) that we once again find the children of Israel sitting at their desk with pencil and paper in hand. It’s what you call make up test #999 and it’s found in Numbers 21:4-9: "And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread."

Now this is the place where they really messed it up big time. Talk about blowing it! Not only did they flunk the test again, but many of them lost the chance (forever) to even take another make-up quiz. You see it wasn’t all that bad when the children of Israel rebelled against Moses... but their actions very quickly became the last straw when they did it against God Almighty. That was all it took because it was right about then that God the father took care of their problem real quick: "And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for all the people."

Ain’t it absolutely a disgrace that we (the human race) tempt God to prove that He is Who He says He is? Well the truth of the matter is that we do... and they did... and the results were that a whole lotta people died. But even though the children of Israel were so very bad for such a long time, God the Father still gave some of them (the ones who were still alive, that is) another chance at a make-up test. Because in verses 8 and 9 we read, "And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

OK, so what has this "snake on a pole" got to do with President Clinton? Well first of all, the one very important part of this Scripture that we all need to keep in mind is that God the Father didn’t take away the snakes that were biting His children... but He did give them a way to survive... even if they did get snake bitten. You see the only reason for the snakes in the first place was because of God’s chosen people’s lack of faith. In other words even though they were very special in the eyes of God, they had gotten to the place where they were not believing in God, they were not trusting in God, and most of all they were not obeying God. And it was because of all of these things in combination with "God’s testing" that the children of Israel went right on into a wide open rebellion against God... and that’s about the time God turned the snakes loose.

But that was then and this is now. So in order to bring the two together and help us see exactly how this story concerns not only President Clinton but also us (the people of the United States of America) let’s turn to and read from I Corinthians 10:1-14: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness."

You see our present day story (President Clinton and the USA) and Israel’s past is all very similar. We as a nation were also founded on a very strong belief in God Almighty... but likewise, over the years, something has gone terribly wrong with our faith in God. Without a doubt, we, just as the nation of Israel, have become a nation of unbelieving followers of God. And similarly, the results of our unbelief are no different than that of the nation of Israel so many years ago. Because continuing on with the Scripture we find: "Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters... Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry."

Now I know it’s sad to say, but what we have just read is exactly where we are as a nation today. You see those people in the nation of Israel who died in their sins also died lost without God. For them it was all over with but the crying. They had forever lost their relationship with God and there was absolutely no more opportunity for them to get their life everlasting (Heaven). And I guess that’s as good a reason as any why the Lord gave me Luke 3:1-9 as a follow up to His first Scripture: "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar... the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins... The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God."

You see this is what it’s gonna take for the nation of America to get to Heaven... and it’s called the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. You see even though we are one nation under God we are one nation that has also been seriously snakebit. We might talk Jesus but we sure don’t walk Jesus... and it’s really starting to show. You might even say it’s getting pretty serious. We as a nation have not prepared our way for the Lord’s coming and likewise you had better believe that all flesh will not see the salvation of God.

In fact as we continue on with the reading, it’s the ones being addressed in the rest of this Scripture who we all should be the most concerned about. Because as Luke goes on to say concerning John the Baptist, "Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire."

So who were the snakes that John the Baptist was referring to? They were men who belonged to the most holy religious organization of that time... and they were coming to be baptized for their salvation... but John told them it was no use until they truly repented of their sins, turned away from their sins, and lived their lives for Christ. In order for this "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins" to be real, it was absolutely necessary that those being baptized show it.

And after having said all that... that brings us right back to the subject of the snake on the pole. You see the snake that bit the nation of Israel was put on a pole for all to see. And of course this great big old snake was not only a constant reminder to Israel of the result of their sin, but it was also a method of their healing. Because for each and every rebellious person who did get bitten, they could be sparred an extremely painful and certain death by merely looking at the source of their pain and believing in God to heal them.

Now don’t get me wrong by thinking that President Clinton is the snake... because he’s not. He’s only a very fine example of someone who has been snakebitten. In fact he is the perfect example of the snakebitten people of the United States of America. You see when this nation elected him into office, they did so because they liked what they saw in Mr. Bill Clinton. He represented them to a "T"... and he’s still the way he was when he got elected. And that’s why we the people need to take a very serious look at who we are. We won’t get rid of the biting snakes by getting rid of President Clinton. We need to take a good hard look at the reason why we have the snakes biting us in the first place.

And that takes us right on into Revelation 21:7-8, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbeleaving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and socerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

It was a long time coming... but what a message it was. Let’s get ride of the snakes by getting back to where God wants us to be. Trust in Him, believe in Him, and Keep the Faith!!!

Love,

Dad (Bruce Hallman)