THE UN-CIVIL WAR

America is in a war.  It's getting rather un-civil these days.  Perhaps the fight isn't as uncivil as the things for which we fight.  This is a spiritual war, to be sure.  And it is all about the "right" (not freedom) to be uncivil.  For instance, the rights being demanded on one side alone are wicked - and deadly.  Abortion.  Euthanasia.  Cop-killing.  Rape.  Etc.

I know, you say the last two are not what people are fighting for.  But is that really the case?  Aren't people, by using these methods and demanding impunity for them, fighting for the right to practice them toward whomever they choose at the moment?  Right now, it's in vogue to kill cops and rape conservative women.  Muslims demand to be able to rape any non-Muslim woman they choose.  Yes, this is all pretty uncivil. 

But to make matters worse, protections are being stripped away.  The death of Justice Antonin Scalia, America's staunchest advocate for constructionist interpretation of the Constitution, removed a huge pillar of protection in the fabric of American government.  Rumors of foul play surround his death - and for good reason.  The timing, the actions taken since his death, and the political goals of his adversaries have converged to tell a story that deserves investigation, yet receives cover-up.  If he was murdered, the un-civil war has reached new heights (or lows).  Protections at the nation's highest court are lost as the balance of the justices swings decidedly left in his absence.  Accountability toward those who will use any means of thuggery to advance their agendas (as opposed to legal, above board means) disappears.  And the un-civil war rages on. 

It might seem like this battle is lost.  Indeed, insofar as life on earth is concerned, it may be.  But that doesn't mean Christians should give up.  Our prayers for revival have been answered.  It is not going to happen.  However, that doesn't mean our friends and neighbors won't turn to Christ, won't be saved, and won't die hopelessly like the rest of America.  It does mean that the battle will be costlier toward Christians.  Rather than simply being marginalized, we will be attacked.  We won't just be ostracized, we will be persecuted.  Eventually, we will be hunted for extermination as in the Middle East and Africa today. But, we don't fear those who can kill the body - we fear the one who can kill the body AND the soul!  For those who don't know, that's God!  We fear God. 

The un-civil life America has chosen will be our nation's doom - and that is God's declaration, not mine.  It might not be popular, but it is powerful - because God is all-powerful.  Unbelief doesn't make it go away or stop it from happening.  God has already declared the condition of the end, and America is making that happen - even as we slide further from civilization into an uncivil society.  God said, "Sin is a reproach to any nation."  Our land won't heal because the only hope of healing comes from God - and we have rejected that course of action.  Rather than move toward civility, we move toward un-civility.  And the war to do so rages - with all forces arrayed against all who would oppose that move. 

Christians, our answer is not in our government.  It lies with our God.  Our hope is not in revival, but in the resurrection.  Earthly life will not get better.  But Eternal life will.  We must look forward, and live above our circumstances until the day of redemption arrives.  It will come.  The author of our faith - Jesus Christ - will also finish it in His perfect time.  Until that day, let us stand up and serve Him today!

AMERICA: RECOGNIZE YOUR REAL ENEMY

As I sit down to write this blog post, I do so with great trepidation.  Why?  Because our country is so divided right now.  I hope to shed some light on why, but I want to say up front that I am very well aware that I have friends who have politically, theologically, and/or are racially different from me - and I value my friends - even in spite of any differences we may have.  With our hypersensitivities, we are insulted these days way too easily.  We don't take an honest look at things and discuss them in such a way that we value our friendships more than our personal perspectives.  

I also know that my little readership is likely not going to share my blog post too far.  Fortunately, that means that few people I DON'T know will enter the discussion; and unfortunately, few will likely benefit from it (if any benefit may be forthcoming).  But for those who care,  I will proceed.

Our nation's problems, at the deepest level, come from a worldview divide.  That divide is deep.  Our solutions are dependent upon our worldview, and when our solutions collide, it is directly related to our worldview collision.  Unfortunately for our nation, we have splintered into far too may differing worldviews to find an acceptable middle ground - or means of arriving at solutions to our modern-day national struggles. Sometimes, the worldviews are so opposite there is no compromise possible.  How we got to this point is a history lesson, and would take too long for me to put that into this post.

THEOLOGICAL WORLDVIEWS

At the core of everyone's worldview is his theology.  In our day of individualism, theological worldviews are becoming many and widely variant.  There's no way to address them all, so I'll lump a few together in my discussion of them.

There are, as I see it, the following theological worldviews:  Theism, Atheism, Mysticism, and naturalism.  Within each of these three worldviews come a myriad of variants.  For instance, Christianity and Islam are both theistic, but widely different.  Christianity itself has differing worldviews.  Evangelicals take the Bible pretty literally.  Liberal denominations are often more in line with secular humanism couched in Christian terminology.  Buddhism and Hinduism may be similar mystical worldviews, yet the afterlife concepts can vary widely.  Native American animalists are part of the naturalistic worldview that depends on nature, but many secular humanists hold worldview ideas regarding the animal aspects of humanity.   Atheism varies only somewhat, and for the purposes of this discussion (I'm not being dogmatic about it), includes gnostic and agnostics as well. 

We cannot claim that America is a people of any of these worldviews predominantly.  We do not hold a national theological worldview.  That directly affects the solutions we propose and the ones we will accept.  It also means that the political process of finding the acceptable compromises we need to face our challenges takes longer than we have because those challenges are changing too quickly.  Before we've solved the first, a second and possibly third has become urgent.

POLITICAL WORLDVIEWS

Our nation is also divided politically - and I don't mean Democrat vs. Republican vs. Independent.  We also have Constitutionalists, Tea Party, and rapidly becoming a significant portion of our country's population - Muslims (who believe that their theology should be law of the land - Sharia Law).  It has always been tough trying to solve the political problems of our day when we were purely a two-party nation.  But, try as we might, we are becoming more fragmented than that.  The variety of theological differences is working out into a variety of political differences - so much so that we cannot compromise.  No faithful Muslim would ever compromise in the first place; patiently endure something else while working for national Sharia, they may do.  Constitutionalists are diametrically opposed to liberals regarding the 1st and 2nd Amendments - while some liberals want the entire Constitution abolished.  We also have Socialists, Communists, and fascists among our population.  The upheaval is huge, and unity seems so very far away.

HISTORY VS. CONTEMPORARY

It hasn't always been this way.  Our nation was founded at a time when Christianity was so prevalent that the Judeo-Christian ethic of right and wrong was nearly universal.  The ten commandments were seen as beneficial for any society - especially one that was just taking off.  When the issue of slavery became a national conversation, coupled with expansion, our nation soon found herself in war.  During the reconstruction years and into the industrial era of our country, a second Great Awakening occurred, and whatever slide from committed Christianity we may have faced during the early to mid-1800's was becoming increasingly either evangelical Christian or secular.  The drive for money soon grew until the bubble burst during the Great Depression.  Then our nation began to see that materialism is not as important as survival.  Uniting our nation was the Second World War.  America - military as well as civilian - went to battle together against common enemies.  Our neighbors became essential to national and global survival.  If a person didn't fight overseas, they worked to manufacture equipment for those who did.  The whole country entered the fight.  Never since have we fought as a nation.  

Now we fight by sending our military while we try to remain self-centered back home.  Now, we have those in power trying to remove any conversation of a God from the public square - especially evangelical conversation: Bibles, Jesus, heaven, hell.  Our nation is trying to turn on its Christians.  The Judeo-Christian ethic is giving way to the new morality - eroticism and liberalism.  The battle for predominance is in full swing here in the USA.  But there is one more battle taking over our land - Sharia Law.  Sharia Law is opposed to the Judeo-Christian ethic, and encourages overthrow at all costs - violent when possible, more subtle approaches when it is not.  The Sharia-proponent considers all non-Sharia proponents to be "infidels" who are targeted for extermination.  That puts the humanist, mystic, atheist, or theist (non-Muslim) at odds with Sharia.  Unfortunately for America, the subtlety of Sharia-proponents includes lies that they really want peace.  The liberals and too many Constitutionalists find their world-views working against them.  The other theists (Christians, Jews, etc.) all differ in their solutions.  Therefore, the only thing left is the continued Shia advancement - via violent or other means.  Until our nation faces our enemies together, we cannot win.  But America must come together.  We must first acknowledge our enemies.  If we continue to battle over just WHO our enemies are, we render ourselves incapable of defending ourselves. 

America, we may not agree on much - but can we at least agree that those who support and seek to advance Sharia Law are our enemies?  They have declared WE are theirs!  And they have said they wish to kill us.  If we don't acknowledge this, all that is left is for us to lay down to be slaughtered.  When we agree on who our enemies are, then we will be able to identify them if they are foreign OR domestic - and defeat them.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I know my readers likely know I am a Christian - an evangelical Christian.  I have learned first-hand that these issues have a root far deeper than mere religion or politics.  That root is called "Sin" in the Bible.  Sin comes in many forms.  A simple definition of sin is "that which is against the nature or will of God."  Mankind is born sinful - we naturally do and think that which is against the nature or will of God.  Mankind, according to the Bible, must be born again by faith in Jesus Christ.  The person who puts their trust in Christ will find their wants changing from doing what our feelings or cravings push us to do to doing what our Lord wants us to do.  We who experience that change of desire are experiencing the new life that comes through Jesus Christ.  Our works/deeds don't save us; Jesus does.  

When our nation - filled with states, communities, families, and individuals - once again has enough people who have experienced that new life through Jesus Christ, we will once again become unified theologically and more unified politically (there will always be some disagreement about solutions to problems in a country).  We will have made a choice to reject Islam.  We will recognize that our real enemy is really sin - in all its forms: theological, political, and social.  We will again be one nation.

Will YOU accept Jesus Christ as YOUR Savior over YOUR sin today?

WHEN FEAR AND FAITH CAN COEXIST

Today, I'm writing because my heart is very heavy for our nation.  Fear and faith usually do not co-exist, but in a sense, they are both present in my heart right now.  I fear for the future of our nation if our current course is not diverted and reversed.  I have faith that, should Americans decide to turn from this current course, our future will be brighter than ever.  Outside of the Bible, I cannot comprehend what is happening to our nation - or why.  But within the pages of the Bible likes not only a plausible, but completely rational explanation.  The Bible even explains why our nation - and our world - will not awaken to even examine the explanation it gives.

Our nation is a Constitutional Republic.  However, the forces of liberalism are beginning to rise through academia and politics to the point of revolution - overturning our Constitutional republic into something more like a democratic socialism - which is really anarchy and cannot withstand the hypocrisy of such an arrangement.  

Fueling this coming revolution is a devaluing of life: first the unborn, next the elderly, next those in authority.  The French Revolution and the bloodthirsty mindset that accompanied and enabled it comes to mind.  We are not far from that.  It is more than political choices.  It is a silencing of opposition while at the same time, throwing all caution to the gallows.  Mindless, illogical approaches to everything in order to satisfy the selfish lusts and evil characters are the order of the day.  Anyone or anything that would even cause pause to think is considered an assault on progress.  But it is a progress toward self-destruction.

There was a recent episode on Animal Planet of the show called "Monsters Inside Me" where a young boy (7 or 8 years old) was consumed by a brain-eating amoeba.  The amoeba entered through the nasal passages, and went straight to the brain, consuming the cells one by one.  Ninety-eight percent of patients infected by this amoeba die.  Why?  Because the body's natural defenses are not allowed to cross the "blood-brain barrier."  Natural defenses of reason, logic, compassion, and discussion are not allowed to cross the "politically correct" barrier in our society, allowing the parasitic liberal ideology to consume our country one young person at a time until the entire student body is devastated and unable to cope.  Soon, there's nothing left but death in its wake.

Our nation survived this before.  In the 1960's & 70's, the liberal movement rose to a clamor, but was suppressed by those in authority.  With that failure, the movement simply went underground.  Now, those in authority ARE those who failed in the 60's and 70's.  So when the liberal academics instigate a new generation of people to rise up, the authorities encourage it rather than stand against it.  

We, who see what is happening, must take a stand with our children or we have little hope in the future.  Our stand is truly the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have to return to the Bible.  The hope of mankind is a hope that gives us peace on earth, and the assurance that Divine Judgment has already been passed, whereby our sins were laid on Jesus at the Cross of Calvary.  Our hope is that we who follow Christ, will not fear death, but live in faithful, courageous obedience to Christ in a time when the flesh is ruling the world.  Our hope is that, when our bodies are allowed to perish, our souls will live forever with our Savior who promised such to us.  Our stand is not a war of guns, but a war of the spirit.  Our weapons are not bullets, they are Truth and Righteousness.  Our shield is faith, and our Swords are Scripture.  Great is the Faithfulness of the Lord.  Our nation is facing the turmoil and devastation that naturally results when the Living God of Heaven is denied so violently.  His glorious nation has turned her backs on Him, and He on her.  Let us fall prostrate again at the feet of Christ in humble repentance, and again submit ourselves to His ways, and we will be lifted out of this chaos into peace and hope!

Yes, As I See It, Fear and Faith CAN coexist in a single heart.  Let's all start to fear our future unless our Faith becomes our present!

OREGON SCHOOL SHOOTING REVEALS AMERICA'S DEEPEST NEED

Umpqua Community College alumnus Donice Smith (L) is embraced after she said one of her former teachers was shot dead, near the site of a mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, October 1, 2015. STEVE DIPAOLA/REUTERS

fROM THE wEB:  http://www.newsweek.com/active-shooter-reported-umpqua-community-college-oregon-378758 

I don't usually write a blog post, but yesterday's news is quite troubling for our nation, and I just can't keep quiet.  Look at all the pain, broken hearts, death, and destruction.  It all started long before that young hate-filled young man got a gun and went to the school.  But, like a volcanic eruption, everything poured out yesterday.  The details only show us the problem - if we'll look at it honestly.

Our president and many liberals are quick to declare an answer to these things - gun control.  Conservatives respond saying that's not the answer.  While it isn't the answer, the real answer is something that neither side is saying.  There IS an answer!  And this particular shooting reveals it as the news of what happened comes out.

Before I get to that answer, let me explain what happened (as I understand it).  The gunman came in and asked "Christians" to stand.  Those who did were killed!  That should tell us quite a bit.  There are a lot of people saying that this guy had a heart consumed with hate!  And that hate was and is directed toward Christians!  Yesterday's events reveal the hate in our hearts toward Christ and His followers.

That hate is EVIL.  Evil is the antithesis to Christianity.  What we need in this country is to return to Christianity.  We need to stop being atheistic, and start acknowledging the God of the Universe.  We need to stop being secular, and start being truthful.  We need to stop being arrogantly anti-Christian, and start examining the Bible for its truth again.  We need to stop avoiding prayer, and start spending time praying.  We need God in our hearts, not evil!  We need a love that runs deeper than anything WE can conjure on our own.  We need grace, not guns.  

Sin is destructive

I'm all for self-defense and the 2nd Amendment.  But if we, as a society, would embrace Christian values more and secular values less, there would be fewer people running around angry, hate-filled, and hurting.  Sin is destructive.  Sin filled the gunman's heart.  Sin fills the hearts of all who deny God, Jesus Christ, and the Bible.  Sin makes fools of man.  "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' "  (Psalm 14:1).  But the Bible also says that secularism (trusting in our OWN hearts) is sin (Proverbs 28:26).  The Bible teaches us to trust in God - that means to follow Him, seek Him, obey Him, and want what He wants for us.  We can't do this on our own - life, that is.  We can't turn our country back to the "good ole USA" on our own.  We need God's grace and help.  How can that happen if we won't even acknowledge that He is the answer or that HE even exists?

Our nation is plagued by selfishness  

That is sin as well.  We want sex when, where, and however we want it, and no one better say anything to the contrary.  We want infanticide to be a right.  We want to kill our cops, embrace our enemies, and treat our defenders as national enemy #1 when they leave the military.  We are a long way from being "one nation under God."  

Main Stream Media Hates Christians

Hating Christians is NOT being reported by the Main Stream Media.  They want guns gone, but they don't want knees bent, hearts changed, or God honored here in our nation.  They, and their elitist crowd of intellectual, power-broker cohorts, want a country where Christianity is destroyed.  They want all mention of God removed from the public eye.  They want kids taught in schools of secular thought.  They want parents removed from the process so these kids aren't "infected" with Christian truth.  Then we are flabbergasted that such children could possibly not know right from wrong and do such violent things.  Gun control isn't the answer - these kids can make bombs (just ask the teachers and administrators in Texas who thought that's what a kid had done!).

We NEED Christ

When our nation returns to Christ, we will find far fewer of these and similar crimes across our land.  Christ died to clean our hearts of sin.  When we share that truth with others, their hearts can be cleaned of the sin they hold. The ability to deal with sin will be renewed when that happens, because with the return to Christ, we'll understand what sin does to a person, and we'll work to stop it in them before it grows so great they explode in a wave of violence, death, and destruction such as happened yesterday.  Loving one another will be the norm, not defensiveness and hatred.  Hope and trust are found in the Lord, not in politics.  Where the Lord is, peace is.  Not in secularism and selfish humanism.  

The answer is something for all of us - individually - to consider.  "Will I follow the God of the Bible and trust His Son, Jesus Christ, to lead MY life?"  When enough of us say "YES" to that question, and begin to do it, the tide will turn in our nation.  Everything will change for the better.  Everything!  God will once again bless the USA!  He promises to do so in the Bible!

And that's the answer, As I See It.

I welcome your respectful comments.  Please share this and pass it on!

THE ABORTION DEBATE: ELITIST VS. EQUALITY

Let's be clear, and let's be honest about this issue.  It's really about life and death, not about choice.  Why do I say that?  Because the "choice" is whether to kill the baby or let it live.  And, by the way, if it's a fetus and not a baby, then, well, let's put it this way, if it's not a baby, you're not pregnant!

I know the pro-choice group is trying to frame the argument in such a way as to get the world to have compassion on the mother.  The problem is that there's either the elitist mother - who gets to "choose" whether to "want the baby" ("be willing" to endure the pregnancy to term), or to "terminate the pregnancy" (kill the baby).  That's really all the choice there is.  There is no other.  Period.  

Therefore, the mother is the elite one, getting to live her life for herself while murdering her growing baby, or there is equality in the sight of the law, whereby the right to life applies to everyone.  Period.  When the humanity of the baby comes into the argument, suddenly the elitist attitude of the pro-choice promoters becomes apparent.  After all, why are women the elite, getting to life freely, while their babies are butchered, not getting to live at all?

Who should ever have the right to kill another?  The State - in the case of rendering justice to criminals.   We call that capital punishment.  But no one else.  These babies did nothing wrong, nothing against society.  Too often, it's the indiscretion of the mother (and a guy somewhere) that brought this baby into being.  If anything, that indiscretion should mandate the babe be born alive and she pay for her indiscretion by caring for someone other than herself for about 18 or so years.  She certainly should not be "off the hook" for her indiscretion and allowed to do another wrong - murder.  Two wrongs don't make a right.  

But not all pregnancies are the result of indiscretions, that's for sure.  There is only one other reason, however, to allow an abortion.  I've heard all the arguments:  financial hardship, drug abuse, rape, incest, or "for the life of the mother."  Some of these are well-framed into heart-tugging stories.  The strongest are the latter three - rape, incest, or "the life of the mother".  These are rare, however.  And in the case of rape or incest, is murder the answer?  Again, two wrongs don't make a right.  In the last, the life of the mother, the choice of who lives, mom or baby, can be tough.  There are plenty of arguments on either side, neither of which may be morally superior to the other in any way.  Tough call.  I'd have to make that one on a case-by-case basis.

But my argument today, in this blog, is more about the unfettered "right" to abortion - to choice - our country seems bent on.  It is an unfettered right to kill a baby, any baby, for any reason, at any point in the pregnancy, simply because the elitist mother no longer wants it.  That's murder, however you parse the morality.  A life is taken by another.  This should not be legal under any circumstance.  It's legalized murder.  

I haven't even  gone to the Biblical basis for my arguments.  I simply appeal to the clear, universal understanding that murder is wrong in any society.  It was wrong for Hitler, and the world stopped him.  It's wrong for America, and those who oppose it do well to get the law changed, and stop those who practice or promote it.  

The arguments for equality are this:  Baby and mother are both lives.  Both deserve to live.  Pro-life means just that.  It's not complicated.  It's not a war on women.  It's not chauvinism.  It's equality.  And that word is a politically correct term these days.  Pro-Life is, therefore, politically correct.  Murder is ALWAYS wrong, and it is elitist to think otherwise!

And that's the abortion argument AS I SEE IT.  Your comments are always welcome - as long as you can be respectful.