Hannibal crossing the Alps with elephants....now that was interesting for a kid to hear about in school. The Carthaginian general seemed to be kind of cool.....until it was discovered last century that Carthage sacrificed their infant children to the Canaanite god Baal Hammon. Carthage was a Phoenician colony. The word "Punic" itself....from the Punic Wars....infers Phoenicia. Jezebel was a Phoenician princess. There is some controversy on the reporting that Carthage sacrificed infants. Why? Some just can't believe that they could do such a thing. They simply refuse to except the evidence.
America in its own way sacrifices its preborn babies.....and many simply refuse to look at the evidence. Jacob clasped the heal of Esau as he followed him out of the womb. David said that God knew him even before he was in his mother's womb. Much of America actually celebrates abortion....and even more of America could not care less....yet President Trump in his concluding remarks at the latest rally described America as...."one glorious nation under God." This glorious nation ....through both acts of omission (Republicans) and commission (Democrats)....actively....purposely....and legislatively....keeps its precious children away from God and His Word.
We have collapsed every bit as much as Rome had collapsed.....and also the association of Greek city-states. Craziness is everywhere....from the airlines to fast food restaurants to road rage to schools and universities. Surveys show that this newest generation....I prefer the term iGen....have lost interest in life....they're just surviving....staying as close to home as possible.....and as far away from church as possible.
We have crossed the Rubicon....and may be tested very soon....for just before us is the mother of all perfect storms. There is only one safe harbor.....and we closed it down for lack of diversity. If we were but warned we would at least have a chance to humble ourselves....but our pulpits utterly refuse to warn. Billy Graham is gone....R. C. Sproul is gone.....there are practically no Christian bookstores left. On our last vacation....this past April.....I did what I was tempted to do for quite a while......I sat done and went through every one of the hundred plus television stations...and then I came close to weeping at seeing how strong the forces are that keep us in a stupor.
Just today.....after church....my wife and I stopped by a local nursing home to visit a friend. The nursing home was right next to an old shopping center where thirty-six years ago I just meandered into a Christian bookstore....not really knowing what they were.....we would own our own Christian bookstore a little more than a decade later. The shopping center is run down with the parking lot bumpy and very unattractive. I pulled up next to the storefront that once was filled with that beautiful Christian bookstore. It is now a coin operated laundromat. I put my flashers on and and looked over at that very same door handle that I would have grasped to pull upon back in 1982....and I thanked God for His mercies upon the least deserving of them.
The America of the late 1970s and early 1980s is gone.....replaced by something that is frightening....but many of us were shown that safe harbor back then...the directions are in our GPS......and we sail outside of it today....warning others of the approaching maelstrom.....and directing them to that safe harbor of Jesus Christ.....before the storm prevents their entering in.
America in its own way sacrifices its preborn babies.....and many simply refuse to look at the evidence. Jacob clasped the heal of Esau as he followed him out of the womb. David said that God knew him even before he was in his mother's womb. Much of America actually celebrates abortion....and even more of America could not care less....yet President Trump in his concluding remarks at the latest rally described America as...."one glorious nation under God." This glorious nation ....through both acts of omission (Republicans) and commission (Democrats)....actively....purposely....and legislatively....keeps its precious children away from God and His Word.
We have collapsed every bit as much as Rome had collapsed.....and also the association of Greek city-states. Craziness is everywhere....from the airlines to fast food restaurants to road rage to schools and universities. Surveys show that this newest generation....I prefer the term iGen....have lost interest in life....they're just surviving....staying as close to home as possible.....and as far away from church as possible.
We have crossed the Rubicon....and may be tested very soon....for just before us is the mother of all perfect storms. There is only one safe harbor.....and we closed it down for lack of diversity. If we were but warned we would at least have a chance to humble ourselves....but our pulpits utterly refuse to warn. Billy Graham is gone....R. C. Sproul is gone.....there are practically no Christian bookstores left. On our last vacation....this past April.....I did what I was tempted to do for quite a while......I sat done and went through every one of the hundred plus television stations...and then I came close to weeping at seeing how strong the forces are that keep us in a stupor.
Just today.....after church....my wife and I stopped by a local nursing home to visit a friend. The nursing home was right next to an old shopping center where thirty-six years ago I just meandered into a Christian bookstore....not really knowing what they were.....we would own our own Christian bookstore a little more than a decade later. The shopping center is run down with the parking lot bumpy and very unattractive. I pulled up next to the storefront that once was filled with that beautiful Christian bookstore. It is now a coin operated laundromat. I put my flashers on and and looked over at that very same door handle that I would have grasped to pull upon back in 1982....and I thanked God for His mercies upon the least deserving of them.
The America of the late 1970s and early 1980s is gone.....replaced by something that is frightening....but many of us were shown that safe harbor back then...the directions are in our GPS......and we sail outside of it today....warning others of the approaching maelstrom.....and directing them to that safe harbor of Jesus Christ.....before the storm prevents their entering in.
