A Rapidly Expanding Unravelling

I keep bringing this blog back and each time I do America has unravelled more. We are seeing epochal historic events almost every day and may indeed be witnessing, first hand, the fall of the United States of America.

March of 2012

Have you noticed the unravelling? This is no joke and I'm not trying to be cute. Have you noticed the rapidly expanding unravelling of our country, our government and our society over even the last few months? I'm not talking about the unravelling circa 2011 rather acute dystopia 2012. Our spiraling downward cannot go on much longer without impact. How we will handle that impact is the more pertinent question for today. The following blog is from this past January.

America Unravelling, December of 2011

Charles Spurgeon wrote these words over a century ago, The yoke of affliction, disappointment, and excessive labor is by no means to be sought; but when the Lord lays it upon us in our youth it frequently develops a character which glorifies God and blesses the church. Come, my soul, bow thy neck; take up thy cross. It was good for thee when young, it will not harm thee now. America is heading at breakneck speed in acquiring such a yoke. We are but a shell of what we were. Where the aroma of our freedom and liberty once wafted throughout the world it is now the stench of our culture that permeates much of the globe. There should be no surprise here for when a civilization becomes so prosperous that its economy is totally dependent on what its malls can sell, its influence for good becomes depleted in proportion to the disgust that is generated. We have become a seller to the world of that which makes it vomit. Given time, all these nations would have generated their own pollution, we just accelerated the situation. It's the nature of man without God. They don't hate us because we are good, they hate us, many of them, because we once gave the appearance of it and have since, in their eyes, let them down. Where did it begin? Hugh Hefner is as good a guess as any but what difference does it make? Our television screens rage against God! Our streets are violent and we as a people have become desensitized to it. Our pulpits preach peace when there is no peace; thinking they are building faith in God, they are concealing His righteous anger. Gone almost, is the statesman, replaced by the pure politician. Government runs our lives, obsessed and drunken with power. I see no way that God will have mercy upon us as we exist today without a radical reformation. It would be ludicrous as evidenced from many examples in Scripture, that God would give us, as a nation, more time to sell our wares while profaning His name, refusing to let our children come to Him (those that we do not abort,) destroying His creation of the family and demanding that we are masters of our own fate. It doesn't matter what I, or anyone so inclined as I, might say. For they are just words. God has blinded us to a world hastening to destruction. We read the news as much as to say "Things are dangerous....over there!" We have become insulated by our entertainments. Our motto has become Red Solo Cup...Let's Have A Party. We cannot see a day past the Super Bowl and when that is over everything will be put on hold until the end of March Madness, and so on. We are to be pitied, but pitied only by those who do not know the majesty of God and His omnipotent power, for His mercy is as abundant as His judgments are strict, but only in response to repentance! There may very well be a yoke of affliction coming upon us for we have made it abundantly clear that only such a yoke can awaken us and even then, will our response be one of rending our garments and seeking God's mercy, to grow once again as a nation and church, or will we then blame God and those who did warn us? Do we really want to hear peace and safety when we are at the edge of the abyss? The same Scripture that recorded God's judgments upon nations recorded his mercies. It would behoove all of us in America to look into that Word to be informed of our creator, our benefactor, our sustainer up until now, our shepherd and the ruler of all the nations.

Tough Love

One of our United States Senators, who previously had been a defender of marriage being between one man and one woman, had recently and publicly changed his mind. The reason given was that his son informed him that he was gay. Most families in America have at least one family member in amongst aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins who proclaims themselves to be gay. The response of many in these families is what they consider 'compassion' emanating from 'love' that leads to a change of opinion on the issue of gay marriage. Going back to that United States Senator, what should have happened was this....the Senator should have been so angry at a culture whose tentacles reached within his own immediate family to take a son away from God that he doubled his efforts in defense of marriage being between one man and one woman and became even more vigilant in anything else that came between God and the people that He had blessed since their beginnings for His own reasons and to His own glory. This was not love that the Senator displayed towards his son but disdain for God. It wasn't compassion being expressed, it was arrogance. God is longsufferring towards each and every one of us but it is not to be presumed upon and He will not be mocked. The Supreme Court can issue a decision either way or in between on the gay marriage issues. God is not waiting with baited breath for our answer rather it should be us waiting to see His answers to our hesitation.

The Christian And Politics

     There are certain issues that are non-negotiable to many conservatives. Most pertain to religion and Biblical truth but some revolve around our Constitution.  Is it unreasonable to hold to non-negotiable opinions.... opinions that do not change with the fickle fleeting passions and desires of modern man? It's our belief that the God who brought this universe into being out of nothing also brought this nation into being out of an assortment of diverse and imperfect men, and that should we deny this and reject God, that this nation would then proceed on its own....and proceed into oblivion. Our beliefs will not be changed by opinion polls and we place no hope in military might without God's favor, for as the mouse can frighten the elephant so we could be routed by the seemingly most insignificant of enemies if we deny Him who has sustained us up till now. We also know that no enemy is too great, no mountain too high and no valley too deep should God will us to succeed. We would choose to lose in the political arena before we would we deny Him.....and there's the rub...we are willing to lose in this life while others are only willing to lose in the next. The following blog was written a few weeks after the 2008 general election.
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November 30, 2008

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 or 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.

They Missed Home Base

They Missed Home Base

Last June, when the following blog was written, Barack Obama's hitting streak turned into a major slump. The Republican primaries provided what our news media never does, that being a critique of this administration. The Republican base was motivated but the Republican elites played us like a fiddle and then beat us like a drum. Fast forward to November 7th and instead of searching for errors they may have made, they blamed home base they missed on their home run trot, and they continue to do so today.

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June 12, 2012

It wasn't supposed to go like this. Not only was the deck stacked but there were aces up sleeves and no rules to follow. How could it miss, for Barack Obama would appoint cabinet members and they in turn would rule, often beyond the limits of their authority, with strict adherence to Obama's wishes... and the Czars...twenty to thirty new cabinet level operatives, many of whom had no accountability to the United States Congress... and two Supreme Court seats filled through a political culture that was partying in the afterglow of a coronation? Surely the media would stay on board and the indoctrination centers (a.k.a. universities) would permit more than enough frolicking to discourage any real examination leading to legitimate protest. This President gig was to be easy! Golf a little, party a little, sign an executive order, golf some more. No, it wasn't supposed to collapse as a house of cards...but it is! It's now become apparent to many that one has to actually know something about something in order to be President of the United States. Even the Obama Girl recognizes that the emperor has no clothes. Our allies now know what they are dealing with but more importantly our enemies are fully aware that one must strike while the iron is hot. Folks, it is every bit as bad as this....and more! But Lo! What light through yonder window breaks? It's an old fashioned revival as Brother Rove's Travelling Salvation Show is offering Mitt Romney's Magical Elixir brought in by Conestoga wagon. It removes taxes, grows hair (look at Mitt's for proof,) cures the gout, builds muscles and balances bodily humors (Tea Party Bile, Social Conservative Phlegm and Choleric Libertarian Paranoia.) He guarantees that this cure-all tonic, if imbibed today, will last at least until November 6th! That's all that's needed folks for then it is back to business as usual! Take this tonic and you'll get a job! Mix it in with a liter of soda pop and you will feel free as a bird. Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies on this coming hot August night in Tampa.
God seems to have left us to our own devices for that is what we wanted...no... demanded. I used to cringe when our Pittsburgh Penguin play-by-play announcer shouted "Hallelujah Hollywood" after a goal and I do the same with Neil Diamond's lyrics in Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show for that hallowed word means praise Yahweh. Therein is our only hope and we trifle with it, ignore it, and seek our own salvation on our own terms. Guest preachers fill the Sunday morning pulpits of Meet The Press and Face The Nation. Wisdom has abandoned us, replaced by Rasmussen polls. How bleak is our future! How rudderless we have become even as a tempest of Biblical proportions builds in the East.

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The Filibuster

The following blog was written a few days after this past election. The recent filibuster in the United States Senate demonstrated the battle that is ahead in the Republican Party. Senator Rand Paul's filibuster provided the first bit of good news on the political front since three Senate Conservatives Fund supported candidates were elected to the 'upper house' this past November. Two years before that the SCF helped elect, among others, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Mike Lee who were part of the filibuster which challenged Barack Obama and actually accomplished something. Our problems cannot be solved through politics but the leaders that we choose are evidence of where we are in the area that can help us, that being a nation that turns its eyes towards God seeking mercy through repentance. The Old Guard has guarded precious little yet will fight to remain in power. Jim DeMint has left the Senate Conservatives Fund for the Heritage Foundation and these two organizations deserve our full support and prayers. Please visit them at www.senateconservativesfund.org and www.heritage.org.

November 18, 2012

A letter writer inquired of an expert on how to reduce the productivity of a fruit tree that was bearing bad fruit and causing a stench in his yard. This is from the Chicago-Tribune where Chicago is well known for producing bad fruit. The answer given was that it is very difficult to completely stop a fruit tree from bearing fruit and recommended that the writer tear down the tree and replace it with an ornamental tree that he can take pleasure in by gazing at it. Jesus used the analogy of false prophets and bad fruit trees in the seventh chapter of Matthew: "Ye shall know them by their fruits.....even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit....wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Our Congress is full of corrupt trees that bear bad fruit. In taking the experts advice we should remove the bad trees and replace them. The Republican Establishment would have us plant ornamental trees that we can gaze at for our satisfaction but they produce no fruit at all. South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is an expert on "good trees" in Congress. This past election saw three new senators....good trees....added to the Senate to go along with the five senators added in 2010, this primarily through the work of the Senate Conservatives Fund. Whether it is in the Senate or the House of Representatives we need to plant good trees and hope that we have time to see them produce good fruit. Here is an anecdote about Martin Luther that I have given before: someone once asked him what he would do if he knew for certain that Jesus would return the next day. His answer was that he would plant a tree! His intention was to show that we cannot be idle, that instead Jesus would find us working to the glory of God upon his return. Politically we are trying to get good fruit from bad trees and it is not going to happen. It takes time for a new orchard to mature so let's keep this in the proper perspective, plant the trees, or in other words elect good senators and representatives to our Congress, but not sit back and expect them to provide all the sustenance for our Republic. We have work to do in our culture, in our families, in the church and in our own lives. Support Senator DeMint at www.conservativesfund.org for he, and others, are planting an orchard that will bear good fruit should God have mercy upon us to see it mature but let's pay even more attention to our Creator who provides the soil, the sun and the water for all trees to grow.