Post Tenebras Lux

How does one go about getting the attention of the average American on issues such as appear in this blog? Well, let's start to answer that by identifying those issues. On July the 4th, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed and so began the Great American Experiment. Two-hundred and thirty five years later a new declaration is being signed onto, one that voids the first. American military superiority has peaked as we are told that only small regional wars might lie ahead. Our American education system is no longer what it was and is too often merely a battleground for an ideological paradigm shift on the lower end and breeding grounds for the globalist and transnationalist on the higher end. The majority of the American church is inflicted with one of three illnesses: total liberal heresy in denial of the gospel, off on tangents and doctrinal fads that at the very least make the true proclamation of the gospel ineffective, or so watered-down in identity and doctrine as to make it a place where almost anyone in this nation can saunter in and have no objections, feel no guilt or have no compulsion to respond to anything coming out of the pulpit. Homosexuality directly challenges God on television, philosophy in film, and greed in business. Should a child survive the pre-born sacrifice of abortion, he or she must navigate a world increasingly at enmity with God. The coup de' gras of the socialist/Marxist/globalist assault on America has been in the concept of "law." That which has kept us from chaos is too often in the hands of those who do not revere it. The Robert Borks are being replaced by the Elena Kagans. These are some of the issues, now how does one go about getting people's attention? Well, there's good and bad news here. Let me start with the bad news; one cannot get their attention. In fairness to them, they would have to sneeze while changing radio stations, and sneeze just as the dial was positioned on talk radio, inadvertently giving them the opportunity to hear some morsel of legitimate news, information and warning; and even then, would they listen? The original condition of every man, women and child on this earth is that of autonomy and self-exaltation, and no one was once more cemented into it than I. The good news? Nations rise and nations fall according to God's will! We are in darkness today in the United States of America but surely the Reformation mottos of Post Tenebras Lux (after darkness, light) and Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone be glory) offer us hope in remembrance of those who have gone before us. If this blog informs anyone in a way which causes them to inquire into their fallen condition and then seek God's mercy it will be entirely His doing, according to His will and to His glory alone. If it wouldn't, then I consider it a hidden blessing not to have been taken seriously.

Over these past three years I have occasionally copied, word for word, prayers out of a book of Puritan prayers called Valley Of Vision which was edited by Arthur Bennett. It's been a blessing to the church especially considering its content, Puritan prayers, in this shallow age. Here is another offering from that book that I hope you will purchase for your own edification, for although it has daily humbled me it has also given me great hope in the One who first moved its authors:

Lord God Almighty,

I asked not to be enrolled amongst the earthly
great and rich,
but to be numbered with the spiritually blessed.
Make it my present, supreme, persevering concern
to obtain those blessings which are
spiritual in their nature,
eternal in their continuance,
satisfying in their possession.
Preserve me from a false estimate of the whole
or a part of my character;
May I pay regard to
my principles as well as my conduct,
my motives as well as my actions.
Help me
Never to mistake the excitement of my passions
for the renewing of the Holy Spirit,
never to judge my religion by occasional
impressions and impulses, but by my
constant and prevailing disposition.
May my heart be right with thee,
and my life as becometh the gospel.
May I maintain a supreme regard to another
and better world,
and feel and confess myself a stranger
and a pilgrim here.
Afford me all the direction, defense, support,
and consolation my journey hence requires,
and grant me a mind stayed upon thee.
Give me large abundance of the supply of
the Spirit of Jesus,
that I may be prepared for every duty,
love thee in all my mercies,
submit to thee in every trial,
trust thee when walking in darkness,
have peace in thee amidst life's changes.
Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief
and uncertainties.

Gird Your Loins

So what gives here? I tuned into the Sean Hannity radio program on the way home from work today and he was in the middle of an interview. I didn't immediately recognize the voice of who he was talking to. The topics were Congress, the economy and Iran and the speaker spoke intelligently with calm assurance. Could this be Rick Perry I wondered, the same man who answered questions in the most recent debate as if every word out of his mouth costs $10,000 so he was going to cram as many talking points in as possible? Some might say that this change that I perceived would be due to a friendly interviewer and I'm sure that there would be truth in that but the opposite of a friendly interviewer is not necessarily a neutral, albeit hard, interviewer, for what these Republican candidates faced were questions from men whose sole intent was to embarrass the candidate in some way, shape or form. How absurd is this whole campaign so far! We have an incumbent president who without the benefit of Marxists and globalists who both mentored and used him his entire adult life would not be qualified to head a company of 100 people let alone the United States of America.  None of this is ever remotely researched or questioned by a grotesquely obscurantist liberal media. Stop the presses! As I'm writing this, Rick Perry is being interviewed again, this time by Roger Hedgecock on XM Radio. Again he sounds like a rational, intelligent American!  Here is the conundrum. How do you approach an American public whose thinking capacity has been dumbed down to such an extent that it cannot discern good from evil, the genuine from the counterfeit. Can the American man remodel his house? You betcha. Can he work in industry or business? You betcha. Can he listen to a politician and navigate the shoals of spin meant to lead him as if he had a ring in his nose? Not on your life. Can the American woman enter the workplace and perform as well as the men. Absolutely. Can she tune into some daytime television talk show and carry on the conversation on any number of complex topics later on with friends? Yes. Can she watch the CBS Evening News and discern any bias at all in a broadcast that should have the word Democrat in the title? Not on your life. Can the college student earn multiple degrees? Certainly. Can he/she identify the campus predator seeking legions of students solely for his ulterior motives? It's not likely.  The political gurus know this. The Axelrods have it very easy for all they have to do is throw money and promises around and the carp will come to the surface with open mouths. The Karl Roves have to follow a different plan. Their intent is to latch on to a relatively small number of hot button issues that the conservative can chant. Giggles, cheers and a few boos were from the audience in the debate that I watched that was more like a Miss America contest than eight candidates vying to take the helm of a ship of state already listing in a tempest in uncharted waters. We are living in a time where the clarion call should be "all hands on deck" and "man your battle stations," but we can't tear ourselves away from the dayroom and watching grown men, making millions of dollars, as they play with balls of various sizes and shapes. The typical liberal American is in far worse shape than the conservative for he has been duped by both Marxists and globalists and therefore doesn't really espouse anything, rather he is identified in what opposes. There is a shakedown in process and everything that the liberal claims to love is being taken away, but to pay attention to the warnings would lead to a humbling before Almighty God and this is not acceptable. The conservative thinks that a republican White House and Congress will solve the problem. It won't. We are too far gone. This blog won't convince enough people to fill a house. The only hope in my efforts or even in the efforts of legitimate columnists such as Thomas Sowell, Michele Malkin, Pat Buchanan and many others would be in retrospect, something to look back upon as chaos envelops us, something to research as to why disaster courted us and we acquiesced so easily. Gird your loins folks for unless we humble ourselves before our Creator, Brunhilde will take the stage with her final aria.....and the fat lady will sing.

Debate Coverage...Sort Of

Well, I tuned in to the debate tonight, the first time I have done so, and...well the following might not be exactly verbatim but it's kind of how I saw it:

Pelley:       Governor Perry. What would you do if a nuclear weapon came up missing in Pakistan?
Perry:        Let me just say that we are winning in Afghanistan.
Pelley:       That was the previous question to Governor Romney.
Perry:        Oh...I wouldn't give a penny to Red China.
Pelley:       That was two questions ago. Time is up. Thank you Governor.
Garrett:     Congressman Paul. How would you deal with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
Paul:          Have we ever tried sending him flowers?
Santorum:  Excuse me. Excuse me!  I just want to say that I totally disagree with Congressman Paul.
Garrett:     Governor Huntsman: Would it ever be the right thing to do to bomb Iran?
Huntsman: You know, I sat next to a sailor on the flight in and we have the finest navy in the world.
Garrett:      Oookaaay. And what about Iran?
Huntsman:  What about it?
Garrett:      Would it ever be the right thing to do to bomb Iran?
Huntsman:  Let me just say that I used to live in a shack in Iran... I know Iran.
Garrett:      And...?
Huntsman:  And what?
Pelley:        Speaker Gingrich. Would you ever use the fiendish, horrid, un-American torture of waterboarding?
Gingrich:     Waterboarding isn't torture.
Pelley:         Yes it is! Yes it is! Yes it is!!!
Garrett:       Governor Romney. You're really a handsome man.
Romney:     Thank you and I sincerely hope that Putin doesn't think that I'm just another pretty face.
Pelley:         Mr. Cain. What hands-on experience do you have with nuclear weaponry?
Cain:           Hands-on.....as the CEO of Godfather's Pizza? None.
Pelley:         Thank-you sir.
Pelley:         Congresswoman Bachmann: I notice that you have your hair pinned back tonight. Have you ever
                   used a washer board while doing your laundry?
Bachmann:   Excuse me!
Pelley:         Thank you Congresswoman.
Bachmann:  Excuse me again. I have sixty seconds to talk!
Pelley:         That was sixty seconds.
Bachmann:  Two words?  Sixty seconds?
Pelley:         We're playing by the rules tonight shorty!
Garrett:        Speaker Gingrich. Some people say that you will say anything conservatives want to hear?
Gingrich:      I'd bomb Iran, stop abortion, nominate Joe the Plumber for the Supreme Court and add Ronald
                   Reagan's name to the Pledge of Allegiance.
Garrett:       Thank-you sir.
Santorum:    Hey, Hey, Hey. What about me over here?
Pelley:         Senator Santorum. How would you handle the situation in Syria?
Santorum:   Well, I would..
Pelley:         Thank you Senator. Times up. Governor Romney. Who is going to be your Vice President?
Cain:           What kind of question is that?
Pelley:         I'll rephrase it. Governor Romney. Is your Vice President on the stage tonight?
Romney:      Let me just say that I'd be honored to have any of the 300 millions Americans as my V.P..
Huntsman:   Hey! I'm down here in Siberia you know!
Perry:          Did I ever tell you the one about the elephant who forgot where he put his trunk?
Pelley:         That's all the time we have for tonight. Thank you gentleman, shorty...and the black guy to the left of
                   Presi...I mean Governor Romney.

The most difficult thing about watching this was in seeing South Carolina Senator Jim Demint watching from the audience.

What Seest In Me Lord?

What seest in me Lord,
what makest Thou stay thy hand,
why dost thou give Thy ear to a clanging symbol,
why give light to a worm?

My years pass ere so quickly
and I will never be able to pay,
for even a day in the joy in knowing you,
for a moment of the touch of your hand.

Your blessings have covered me as a flood
and I drown in your mercy,
seeing my life before me
only to be told to turn my gaze towards Thee.

"All of grace" he said
and I understood,
and the first days...wonderful as they were,
are eclipsed.

You made me meek
when I desired power,
and humbled me,
wherein is Thy given strength.

Wisdom is thy breath
and fellowship thy gift,
for souls regenerated
is our meat and drink.

Those gone before,
the memory of whom I treasure,
call out to me
"press on."

Those coming alongside, youthful and budding,
are but reflections of my beginning.
Nurture them through my failings and clip the wings
that were made, not to fly, but cover their faces in your presence.

This world waits for your return,
your creatures for your rule.
Surely you look to that day also.
Come Lord Jesus!