Our Only Purpose!

           This blog has had a few streams of thought throughout it. Sometimes I repeat a blog and at other times I just try to express my thoughts in a different way, with different words. I can't expect visitors to read through as if this were a book but I want to keep certain themes fresh in people's minds. So the following thoughts are not new.
           I often try to appeal to the reader's love for their children. It's too easy for us to be willing to accept the consequences in our own life for rejecting God, or in just avoiding Him, but we are making decisions for those who we love more than our own lives. America is in the process of rejecting God!  Constitutionally that is OK for we have that right. The same Constitution that was constructed by men who acknowledged God's hand upon their endeavors gives the right to reject that hand. The framers knew that man himself was weak, prone to error and subject to the lure of greed, corruption and power. They knew this not only from observing others but from observing themselves and they knew this first from reading the Bible. They knew that ministers were subject to the same temptations.
          Nearing the beginning of the 19th century, George Washington feared that we were falling away from dependence upon God and Thomas Jefferson knew that there would be difficult times ahead where some would try to circumvent our Constitution. God indeed had a plan for our country but it was, and is, not quite the same plan often mentioned today in evangelical circles. Yes, He would bless and protect us but not for our own sake and not for our own glory. Rather we were that nation, at that time in the history of the world that would accomplish His purpose through our existence. If we are now done with Him then the more glaring evidence would point to His being done with us! We are no more important than that and all the patriotic expressions, of which I also so often have relied upon, will come to nothing. When one is involved in a project and that project suddenly becomes an exercise in chaos, does not one usually stop to reaffirm the original goal?
           Our goal in America can be found in the Preamble to our Constitution: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution, for the United States of America. Please notice how some of these words were capitalized in the original document, this apparently to emphasize their importance.
           The framers looked to secure the Blessings of Liberty...even to their Posterity! This is where we are failing today! In 1992 we began in earnest to vote solely for Our Own blessings and Only for Today!  Choose to stand in front of Almighty God with your pride intact if you want, but won't you, for your children's sake, at least allow them the same blessings our Founding Fathers recognized, our great-grandparents started their lives here with and our parents used to build a secure future? And to the Christian.....the critics of Jesus Christ and His church are many. Does that surprise anyone? Have we not been forewarned? There are Christians reading this blog who suffer persecution daily. Should we not daily pray for them, humble ourselves and express thanksgiving to God by valuing these freedoms, using them for His glory, and seeking to secure them for our children?

Pulpits, the Bible and Prayer

Karl Rove & Co. planned their work and worked their plan. One by one... conservative candidates were targeted and then they were gone. The plan may have been touch and go for a while but it has worked, so far anyway, including mollifying those conservatives over what had just happened to them. Had it been Jeb Bush, Chris Christie or Mitch Daniels I could very easily vote for them, particularly since we have a Communist in the White House, but Mitt Romney is another story for we are out of the political realm now and few, none that I know of, in the media or politics, can understand this. Even Jerry Falwell was quoted as saying on Romney's first candidacy, "If he's pro-life, pro-family, I don't think he'll have any problem getting the support from evangelical Christians." My concerns began in February 2007 when Romney announced his candidacy for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination because I knew that in many ways he would be a formidable candidate. There are a few articles that come out every day on Romney's Mormonism with most of them zeroing in on issues such as polygamy, but Ross Douthat of the New York Times came closest in describing a scenario that would hurt Romney whereas President Obama would use the media in a "wave of theoretically evenhanded coverage come August and September..." on basically historical articles on Mormonism, something that would be perfectly natural on any candidate's religion. It would be a gentle reminder to Christians on what a strange religion this is. Although this will most likely happen its not the crux (literally) of the problem and would not really pose a problem for Mitt Romney. That problem would have to come from the pulpits, from Bible reading and from prayer time of Christians across America. The pulpits wouldn't even have to mention politics or America...only proclaim the glorious doctrines of Christ. Here, for anyone interested, is the real problem for the Republicans: God has blessed this nation from before its beginning and in multiple ways. There would be no United States of America, at least in anything even vaguely resembling our history, had He not had His hand upon us. There would have been no Constitution, no American Creed and no liberties as we have enjoyed. We would not have influenced this world for the better and most importantly we would not have spread this world's greatest gift from God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to every corner of this earth. The Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power." The percentage of Christians in America is today minuscule to what it had been but not so minuscule as to be impotent in influencing a close national election. As I've written before, the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints has been from its beginning, and remains so today, a direct assault on the Person of Jesus Christ. That is a direct assault on God...on the benefactor of every blessing bestowed upon us. It is not simply...not Christian, it is anti-Christian. Christians who know their faith...know this. Christians who only know their beliefs, do not necessarily know this. One can defend to the best of their abilities our Constitution, our liberties and our republican form of government, and one can see in Barack Obama a Manchurian President intent on destroying every vestige of our constitutional republic that has been a stabilizing force in this world but if we depart from the creator and sustainer of this universe, the benefactor of America's blessings and the coming righteous judge then all efforts in protecting America will be in vain. The Christian really has only one decision to make. Do we cast our vote for Mitt Romney and wish him God-speed in his campaign...or do we acknowledge that we have brought these calamities upon ourselves and trust in the omniscience and omnipotence of God to accomplish His will and pray that mercies upon us are part of that perfect will. As for me...I choose the latter. I will not vote for Mitt Romney should he gain the nomination. Should the Lord will it, I'll continue to pursue a third alternative who is now the last man standing...Ron Paul. Should he fall away, my hope would be in a revived Congress that should Barack Obama be reelected would not only hold in abeyance rule by Executive Order but seek impeachment of this president. Should Mitt Romney become our president, my hope would be, as it would be anyway, that God would have mercy on his church, strengthen it and give us one more generation to proclaim His glories throughout this land and the entire world.

Conservatism Itself Saves No One

The following blog entry was written on November 30th of 2008 and was only the fifth of what is  now over 750 blogs. We are in worse shape today than when I wrote this and farther away from Christ as a people and a nation:

I agonized for a long time over how the Christian is to deal with politics. I read books on the subject and certainly went to Scripture. I've been on both sides of the issue. Edmund Burke wrote "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." Burke was not a Christian, and I am not "good," but the concept and the logic still hold weight. Our nation is crumbling fast and most of us are the proverbial frog in the kettle. The local news from the metropolitan city that I live near started their telecast last night with three different killings among young black people. Yesterday's paper had a picture of two beautiful young children joined at the head while the surgeons were dismayed that nothing could be done for them. Every day the sufferings of people are there to remind us of the fallen condition of this world. We say that we yearn for Jesus to come back but do we? Martin Luther once said when asked what he would do if he knew that the Lord was coming back the next day, "I would plant a tree." In the final analysis, we cannot quit on this nation. If people's sufferings are to be alleviated, if we are to return to at least being a "God-fearing" nation we have to seek God's mercy and try our best to be good and responsible citizens. This blog title has the word "conservative" in it to get the attention of who it is meant for but conservatism itself will save no one! Our hope is not in princes or their military power. Christians, who have been relegated to being part of the "religious right," must remind themselves of this every day. This does not mean that we do not support a political party of ardently work for its success but it does mean that we never alter our ethical beliefs or compromises that which is our only hope, the gospel of grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We lost our moorings in this long before we lost this last election. Our churches are social gatherings with political causes meant to assuage our guilt of not knowing who we really are in Christ. Our pulpits mention Jesus every week but rarely preach His cross for they have lost faith in the power of preaching Christ and prefer to give biblical advice on how to live. I stumble into church every week to hear the atoning power of the blood of Christ and of what He has done for me and how He will keep this poor wretched sinner despite my gravitation to dally with the world. More than anything we need to pray that ministers enter their pulpits, look over the congregation and set forth to lay out the glories and majesties of Jesus Christ present in every book of the Bible. Only having done that can they begin to exegete the passages on how we are to live.

Have You Had A Taste Yet.....Redux

October 12, 2009

I'm an incurable pack rat. My wife came to me yesterday with a gray disk, about the size of a silver dollar and asked if I knew what it was. It was slightly bevelled and had little holes throughout. I had no idea what it was and she was about to throw it away. What? Wait a second! If we throw this out there will be a day, when I need a disk about the size of a silver dollar, slightly bevelled with little holes throughout. She'll never learn. Just throw the thing out and don't ask me about it! I have in my hands, well actually I'm typing but I have here in front of me a book that I bought from the National Record Mart in the winter of 1973. It's title is Reach Out, The New Living Testament (illustrated.) It was published by Tyndale and I paid $2.95 for it. It has just a little bit of commentary in it and was aimed at young adults. I showed up at church services in Vietnam when in a solemn and introspective mood but the thought of church never entered my mind in my last seven months at Fort Bragg. I started at Pitt in January of 1973. It was a heady time. I read constantly, occasionally even class textbooks  that I was supposed to be reading. I would take my latest book, purchased from that same National Record Mart on the Pitt Campus, into the bar and my friends and I would discuss philosophy or some other subject that we were interested in, until we could no longer pronounce our words. That's when my genius really came out. I remember one night particularly well. We were discussing The Teachings Of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. Here was a UCLA anthropology grad student taking lessons from a Yaqui Indian shaman on how peyote was instrumental to understanding the mysteries of life. We were absorbed in this while unaware that a couple of quarts of Budweiser did the same thing. In between this nonsense I would occasionally show up at St. Paul's Cathedral but it would be almost a decade before God opened my eyes and I could see the marval of the gospel and the majesty of His Son, but I had had a taste in 1973. Sometimes I open this book up and press the pages to my face, smelling them and imagining how that word Jesus would thrill me before I even understood. I'll read a few verses from this paraphrased translation, for it is not a true translation, and be transported back for only a moment. And a moment is all that I would want for I was  lost back then. I was in love with me and only the grace of God kept me from facing Him until a time would come when He would hold the words of the Bible up to me as a mirror where I could only see corruption. There are so many mysteries that will be explained to us when this life is done but none to me as incomprehensible as to why God opened my eyes. If you are firm in your decision to reject God, and you want a good excuse to bolster your case, just think of me. If God would redeem me, then there is no fairness in the world. And don't listen to the voice on the other shoulder that says if God would indeed forgive me, then there is also hope for you. And whatever you do...don't open His book!!!

zdravstvuj (Hello!)

A long time ago, three friends and I had packed in a 1969 Chevrolet Nova and went to see our baseball team at Three Rivers Stadium. The Pirates were losing by three or four runs in the top of the ninth and the driver wanted to leave early and beat the traffic. We were on the bridge from the Northside into Pittsburgh when The Great One, Roberto Clemente, started the bottom of the ninth inning with a single. I had the driver stop the car and ran back into the stadium to see the Pirates come back and win the game. I may have had more than my share of losing but running out that last ground ball was never an option. Someone once asked Martin Luther what he would do if he knew for sure that Jesus Christ would return the next day. His answer was that he would plant a tree. It is surely a God-given gift that mankind, particularly His people, always have something to do, something to strive for, something to hope and pray for. The Achilles Heel of America is that many of its people have felt too secure for too long. It's a common human trait and similar to how the barbarians conquered Rome. Where sports was once an obsession of mine, today it almost totally consists of opening the sports page of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as I pull into the drive-thru at McDonald's at 6 AM each  weekday morning and read the sports until my Big Breakfast and senior coffee with one cream is passed through the window to me. I can honestly say that I enjoy sports today more than when I sat in the bleachers or in front of the television set for hours on end. Surely if everyone was like me there would be no obscene $100 million dollar contracts, but admittedly there might also be no professional teams at all. Today I give the majority of that brief time to the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team. By that I mean twenty minutes here and there and an occasional playoff game. By far, Russia has the most visitors to this blog, twice as many as the next country in hits, and Russians know their hockey! Our Penguins were the favorite to win the Stanley Cup this year but are down 3 games to none to the Philadelphia Flyers. I was in an elevator the other day with  a gentleman who spoke with a heavy mountain twang. I said "Nice day today!' He responded "Good day for the fly'rs." He didn't seem to be an average hockey fan but I came back, "I root for the Penguins" to which he replied, "The fly'rs!...Good day to grow the fly'rs." Even down 3 to nothing, true Penguin fans will not give up, but on the infinitely more important things in life we cannot give up either. On the surface...America has had it. There is no longer an American Creed to unite us. It's every man for himself and every group for themselves. Our youth waste their time on Facebook, we sit glued to the television screen with offerings like Dancing With The Stars, half of us hoard money in our 401s while the other half will never see a 401, we are a violent society and have come to exchange the sure blessings of hard work for the proven false claims of Socialism where we expect the government to take care of us. We shake our heads at the constant stream of violence in the news but are oblivious to the violence saturating our entertainment as it in turn affects our youth. Most deplorable of all, we say to God "Walk a little father behind me there God. I got a reputation to uphold." Mitt Romney's campaign recently stated that it would take "some sort of act of God" to keep Romney from winning the nomination. I heard that and took heart for it certainly is a true statement, for only an act of God can awaken America! I have asked before in this blog to my international visitors (friends) that if we (America) go down..."how will you retain any freedoms at all?".  As weak as we appear, indeed as weak as we are in many ways, we have not given up as evidenced by an incredible military as honorable as any we have ever had, tens of millions of Americans who are on their knees every day petitioning God for mercies and a core in our government who have not sold out to the elites.  In our Revolutionary War, John Paul Jones captained a burning Bonhomme Richard but responded to the captain of the British  ship Serapis with..." I have not yet begun to fight." For their part, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill prodded his people with these words, "Never give in, never give in, never; never; never; never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty-never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense." My encouragement to you in Russia comes from Benjamin Franklin, one of our Founding Fathers who although he did not know Christ neither did he attack His person. He could not but acknowledge the following at our Constitutional Convention, "Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth-that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his aid?" We may be far apart, you and I, in miles but not as human beings. Pray for us in America, not only that we expel the communists in our midst and not only that we stop seeking happiness in material possessions but that we humble ourselves before Almighty God, that we seek His glory and not our own and that we might, once again, be a source of stability in a world hell-bent for destruction. And if I might pray for you it would be that the Gospel of Jesus Christ moves mightily across your land with a power that no government can stop, hinder or even delay, that you can learn from our mistakes and that through your faithfulness to Christ you can encourage us even as we hope to encourage you!!!

River Of Passion

It was in the 1960s that Madison Avenue realized that the youth of America were a potentially potent economic force with their newly established buying power. Along with all the attention given to us, for I was a Baby Boomer also, came a microphone. Some of us used it to shout pro-Ho Chi Minh slogans from atop university statues, some of us used it to attack Richard Nixon, some of us used it to announce to the world the true meaning of love, peace and happiness, and a very few used it to ask "Brother, are you saved?".  The youth never relinquished that microphone but didn't really use it again until the horror of the murderous and imperialist Bush Administration (to use their thoughts) savaged the Middle-East with war. When Barack Hussein Obama came along with no employment history to speak of, no legitimate letters of recommendation, no experience outside of community organizing and not even a birth certificate to prove eligibility for the job he was applying for, the youth came out in force to change the world. Obama received 66 percent of the 18-29 vote in 2008. More recently, Ron Paul became a favorite of young people in the republican primaries. It was in a 16th century English pub, the White Horse Inn, that a youth movement did indeed help to change the world. Located on the grounds of Cambridge University... students, Dons and travellers discussed the works of Martin Luther and out of this discussion came a passion for the hearing of the Word of God which resulted in the English Reformation. America needs a vigorous and positive contribution from its youth at this very moment in our history. It must not be birthed by the spirit of the age but by God's Holy Spirit. Getting a job cannot be the criteria. The college student of today is in a more precarious situation than any generation before them. Not the Civil War, nor World War II, nor the Cuban Missile Crisis compares to it. They are losing their republican form of government, the Constitution that kept the rule of law intact and most importantly the blessings of having God's very hand upon our nation. The original discovery that youth were an economic force has evolved into a monster feeding frenzy with the youth feeding on every materiel and social networking product thrown at them, others feeding on the youth themselves and enemies of America feeding on the vacant minds seeking anything to occupy it.  I realize that you, any young people who may be visiting this site, do not want to hear this. Possibly you are not represented by this description. You have made plans, worked hard and now it is your turn to enter the work force and carve out a niche with a prosperous future. Are you going to attempt this without God? Realize this, past generations had the benefit of living within of a God-fearing populace. Even the agnostic could graze in the fields of plenty. This is not the case today! Others have long since sprayed the DDT of secular humanism over the amber waves of grain, killing the grain it was to protect. You can join this survival of the fittest if you want, where even prosperity is soulless and void of true happiness; or you can join those who are seeking mercy from God and a renewed reverence to the one who blessed your grandparents and their parents as far back as to the arrival on this continent. Do you sometimes feel a void of passion in your life...a meaninglessness that cannot be satisfied by the picture that you paint on your Facebook page? Well, a river of passion flows right by you! Cup your hands and drink from it. Let mercy and peace pass over your palate. A President's election will give but one night of elation where the coronation of the King of Kings provided every morning and every evening with a ceaseless ardor that will make you forever thankful. If you happen to really see the trouble that we are in here in America, that very sight is from God, and He will also give the balm, supply the strength and provide the wisdom to see the joy of redemption even in the darkest hours of this world, and to plan ahead with the full trust that if it be His will it will happen and if it not be His will you would not want it to happen. Here is the only true hope and change...... "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation." 2 Corinthians 5:17