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!

IS THERE A QUICK FIX FOR AMERICA?

With the HUGE number of presidential candidates trying to get our votes, they each must make promises to fix something or everything in our country.  As voters, we must try to decide who we'll give that chance to.

But Christian voters should note one thing:  God only puts the man in the White House that He chooses - and He does so through the votes of the American people.  Of course, that man cannot single-handedly fix much of anything beyond rescinding or issuing Executive Orders and policies.  Laws are made or changed by Congress - and that is sometimes a very tricky thing to get done these days.  Therefore, Christians should vote for the man they believe will honor God, while they watch God unfold His will for our country during the election.  Our hope for a quick fix will NEVER come, however, through a single (or plurality) of politicians.

So we ask: "Is there a quick fix for our country?"  The answer to that may be found in the history books.  I say there is.  But will it happen?

The moral revolution brings with it hope for a quick fix as a possibility - but not likely.  Theoretically, if the nation's moral revolution can happen as quickly as it did, then the turn-around can be just as fast.  But the direction of the moral revolution indicates that such a turn-around is not very likely. 

What's the quick fix?  A national revival - Great Awakening.  If Americans were to collectively and individually accept the Gospel as presented in the Bible - and do so quickly - the fix would be quick, indeed.  We need to forsake our sins, stop pretending there is no God, and start following Jesus Christ.  Our policies should reflect that.  Our practices should reflect that.  If we don't, America will only get worse, regardless of WHO we put in the White House.  Christian presidents only delay the inevitable.  But a Christian populace will bring about God's blessings on our nation again. 

So, the fix depends on YOU!  Will YOU turn to Jesus, repent of your sins, and start following Him, standing for His values, and encourage others around you to do the same?

And that's how it is As I See It.  I appreciate your comments, as long as they are respectful.