The word "Lord" is very important here. It is made up of three words: it means, "The God who now is, The God who was, and the God who shall be." That's why when Moses went to call on old Pharoah, he said, "What am I going to tell him? I've been gone for forty years! What am I going to tell old Pharoah?" God said, "Here is My calling card. Tell him, I Am sent you." Why did He say, "I Am"? He's Jehovah God, the God, Who Am (used to be) the God Who Am (now) and the God, Am (Always Going To Be). That's who "I Am" is. "The Lord thy God Am, that's all you need to say. That's my calling card." God means, "The One all-powerful God." The Lord, the God Who was, the God who is, the God Who shall be, Thy God, the omnipotent, all-powerful God Who says, "There are no other gods. I am the only One."

You say, "Well, that makes sense." But there's got to be discernment. If a man comes to that discovery he's got to discern, because when God said, "Thou shalt have no other gods," He was saying, "You shall have Me."

Man is going to have a god. He may have many gods, but he is going to have a god. Man's heart was made to worship god. That's why there is no place in the Bible that says "Thou shalt not be an atheist." Why? Because until the time of David they didn't even know atheism. David said, "The fool said in his heart, there is no god." I don't care how intellectual a man is, the Bible doesn't say "Thou shalt not be an atheist." It takes for granted that most folks know that there is one God. "Thou shalt have no other god." That's what He said.

You say, "Well, I'm glad I live in the twentieth century!" I don't worry about worshipping Baal or Moloch or a frog, or a turkey, or whatever. I don't do that so I'm up-to-date." But do you know what happens to the modern, up-to-date man? He makes his own gods. And he worships them. Who are they? Listen to them, one of them may be yours.

It may be the God of possessions, the god, "What I Can Get." That's my god. That, unfortunately, has become the god of many Americans. Dr. Stanford Reed said America might have to lose her standard of living to understand that the most important values of life are not in what we have. I hope the President has the "stick-ability" to stay with his program, because any government that has a trillion dollar deficit and has no way of paying it off is stupid! How in the world did we ever let it happen? And it's going to take a bit out of all of us.

A group of guys were talking down at the spa the other day, and it was all right as long as it was taking a bite out of the farmers or taking a bite out of the union, or taking a bite of this or that. "But if he's gonna cut mine" he didn't like it. It was all right to cut everybody else but "Don't cut mine!" That is human nature.

We've all got to bite the bullet, or we're going to lose everything anyway, so we might as well learn that possessions are not our god, and there is plenty. The god of plenty, the all-mighty dollar is worshipped more than the All Mighty. The Wall Street Journal is more fervently read than the Bible. More time is spent looking at the stock exchange than thinking about God.