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?

INVERTING RIGHT AND WRONG

I know it's been quite a while since my last post.  I've been extremely busy taking care of family - vacations, projects, and many other things.  I've also been helping our church with our Vacation Bible School - by leading it.  I am Bi-vocational - at least I have another part-time job as well to supplement our income - and have also been busy during "down-times" with that.  I'm back today, taking time out of other needed things to post this.  I only hope it makes someone think about their position.  Nevertheless, things have gotten to the point that I need to "vent" on some things, and so I must post this - As I See It.

Morality in America is inverted, and it has been for quite some time.  People are posting the craziest things on Facebook, the MSM (Main Stream Media) reports from the most inverted value system I've ever seen, and our governmental leaders are more out of touch with reality than ever before.  Today, I just want to publish a bullet list of these inversions.

• A marine defends himself and others under fire by returning fire on a Muslim extremist seeking to kill them.  He is under investigation and threatened with imprisonment for firing a weapon on a military installation. He is a field grade officer charged with leading and caring for his men and women.
• A protected lion is killed and the world wants his killer caught, extradited, and punished while an entire business is thriving based on the murder, dismemberment, and sale of body parts is protected by MSM and liberal congressional representatives.
• The police are encouraged and honored for their "undercover sting operations" against organized crime mobs, drug rings, etc., while a citizen's group is denigrated as "biased" for conducting its own "undercover sting operation" revealing indisputable proof that criminal conduct is taking place daily in a taxpayer-funded business that sells baby body parts for profit.  
• Police officers who, in the line of duty, have to physically take down a criminal that will not submit are considered racist if the criminal is black and the cop is white.  
• Police officers who, in the line of duty, must use deadly force to apprehend a criminal that is black, are called "killer cops," while nothing is said in the MSM when a "cop killer" uses deadly force to resist apprehension.
• License and Liberty are now synonymous, meaning that freedom (liberty) guaranteed by the Constitution offers complete legal, social, and governmental protection to all who seek an immoral lifestyle (license) regardless of who it may offend, and that protection will include the removal of all who protest for any reason.  This is done through the IRS, FBI, MSM, SCOTUS, POTUS, HSA, BATF, and politically correct liberal professors throughout our land.  
• Criminals have guns, politicos have people with guns to protect them from criminals, and citizens may not defend themselves from neither - the criminal or the overpowering politico.

And the list goes on.  Those in favor of these inversions are also in favor of these perversions.  Our very nation's foundation, the Constitution, is threatened by the ideologies that are behind these inversions.  That, in itself, is the most dangerous of inversions today, with one exception.

• The Bible-believing Christian is now considered as dangerous to our nation as a Muslim Extremist, if not more so - a belief held by those who support the inversions mentioned above.  Why?
• Because the Bible-believer has a moral foundation not found in the immoral, godless, inverted beliefs of others.
• Because the Bible-believer will vote and stand for right and wrong, constitutionally based policies, and demand justice in the case of these inversions.  This threatens the agenda of these liberal, godless, immoral power-hungry people.
• Because the Bible-believer offers a real remedy through peaceful means as the gospel demands.  This is effective beyond the wildest imaginations of the power-hungry, immoral liberals.  Therefore, they must be ostracized, outlawed, and outcast before they actually can influence the masses under the control and sway of the liberal MSM, politicos, and educators.

Ronald Regan's Supreme Court nominee, Robert Bork, is quoted as saying, "A society deadened by a smothering network of laws while finding release in moral chaos is not likely to be either happy or stable."  He has hit the nail on the head, and explains what is happening in America today.  He also hints at the answer.

I was asked the other day what I thought was wrong with America.  I was asked by someone who is very conservative - but NOT a Bible-believer.  My answer was simple: We have removed God from the American Marketplace.  Too many people no longer trust the Bible, God, or Jesus Christ.  Instead, each does what is right in his own eyes, thinking that freedom is license to serve self at all costs.  But God says, "Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people." Proverbs 14:34 (NKJV)  If we will not acknowledge the righteousness set forth by God, we will become a nation that sins in the sight of God - and we will be come a reproach to all people.  That is why "our enemies no longer fear us and our friends no longer trust us."  We have left the God who has blessed us, and we expect Him to continue to bless us for leaving Him.  "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" (Psalms 14:1; 53:1).  

Because America has inverted its allegiance to the One True God and Savior of Mankind, America can no longer help but invert its understanding of right and wrong.  Each person will do what is right in his own eyes, having no understanding of the consequences.  Unless we return to the foundation of justice, mercy, Truth, and eternity found in the Bible, we will only drift further from sanity.  That's America As I See It.

WITHOUT CHANGE, YOU ARE PART OF THE DECLINE OF AMERICA – AND SO AM I

It is happening right in front of us.  You are watching it happen.  You may even be a part of the process.  I’m talking about the fall of a nation.  Gumby used to say, “I have found the enemy, and he is us.”  We are all willing and unwilling participants in the fall of the United States of America.  And that has been the plan for our nation for some time now.

The first part of the fall of the USA is when the nation was truly divided.  We were no longer the United States of America.  We went to war over issues that divided us.  I’m not pro-slavery in any fashion.  But I AM a patriot, and I want our nation to remain UNITED.  To remain united, we need to deal with some deeply divisive issues.  We can’t do that by disrespecting one another, ostracizing one another, or marginalizing one another.  Those things divide, they do not unite.  Disagreements can best be handled by “agreeing to disagree” and pressing forward together.

However, in a nation, it is a bit more complicated than that.  Agreeing to disagree takes a great deal of help when two parties, states, or regions of the country have world-views that are polar opposites.  It is very hard to do when two parties, states, or regions cannot even agree about what the problem is, much less the solution.  Let me give you an example.  The Christian believes that there is a God, He sent His Son to die to save man from his sin, and he rose again from the grave to return again in glory.  The Atheist, agnostic, Gnostic, alternative religion, and the humanist all disagree with this perspective.  The Christian sees the division problem as stemming from Satan, who is the spirit-leader opposing God and His plans.  All others deny Satan’s existence and so his methods as surely as they deny God and His ways.  These beliefs go to the core of those who hold them.  Agreeing to disagree does not help us move any closer to solutions agreeable to both parties.  The Christian solution is offensive to the others; and vice versa, the others offend the Christian.  Both hold their views as TRUTH.  And they are willing to die for it.  That does not bring unity.

So unity in our country needs something else.  We have a Constitution born out of compromise and conviction.  Before ratification, it was amended five times.  We call those amendments the “Bill of Rights.”  Now, our nation stands on the brink of destroying those “rights,” rejecting our Constitution.  If our nation’s highest court does so, it will pull the yarn of our nation apart, unraveling our unity by destroying our foundation, like a knitted sweater, row by row, coming apart and leaving a ball of string without form or usefulness.

And we all play a part of this destruction. We are politically correct, and so afraid to “offend anyone” except those who we have socially deemed worthy of offending (Christians, conservatives, and constitutionalists).  We are trusting our biased media to tell us the truth, allowing our ideologies to be shaped by their twisted truth rather than insisting we hear both sides before coming to conclusions.  We are voting for politicians who will promise things to benefit our pockets knowing that for every dollar they put in, they take two more as a means of providing the one for everyone.  We are easily distracted from the truth by knee-jerk reactions rather than measured analysis of crises.  We have lost our will to succeed, work hard, and thrive.  Instead, we have gotten lazy and expect others to do for us, to live off the government dole.  We hate the word “discipline.”  It means we choose what to do without: entertainments, excitements, etc.  Discipline means saying “NO” to ourselves as we choose the best over the good.  Our education policies reflect a “dumbing down” rather than a disciplined approach to learning that served our fore-fathers very well.  Our reliance on technology to do what we used to do the “old-fashioned way” will cripple us if our energy sources ever dry up.  We destroy our families by redefining marriage, aborting our children, euthanizing our parents, and legalizing drugs.  We have forgotten the heart of man and fight among ourselves over flags after a senseless, racist massacre by one man in one town, in a single church.  We are outraged over any harm done to animals while we destroy one another in bitterness, anger, and hatred or we butcher our babies in the womb for no reason at all.  When we disagree with these things, we turn a blind eye to them and go on as though they don’t happen.  But we all contribute at some point or another. 

When one side stands and declares “these things ought not to be,” the other side tries to ostracize, criticize, demoralize, belittle, denigrate and destroy them for calling them out.  Taking sides based on popularity rather than common sense only exacerbates the problem.  We are divided.  And Divided we fall!  We cannot stand unless we stand together.  Clearly, we are NOT doing that.  And so we will, as a nation, fall.  We all are watching it happen.  And we all are contributing – unless we start working together to deal with our problems as a nation, as states, as communities, and as citizens.  Let’s return to statesmanship, respect, and integrity in every aspect of our lives.  And let’s not wait until our neighbor does it.  Let us EACH choose NOW to be the time we do it ourselves.  I, Greg Yount, commit to being this kind of American.  Will you, too?

And that’s America, As I See It.  Your comments are welcome, appreciated, and invited.  

HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS VIEW “EARTH DAY”?

Earth Day: Established April 22, 1970. The Earth Day website says this:

Each year, Earth Day -- April 22 -- marks the anniversary of what many consider the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970.

The height of hippie and flower-child culture in the United States, 1970 brought the death of Jimi Hendrix, the last Beatles album, and Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water". Protest was the order of the day, but saving the planet was not the cause. War raged in Vietnam, and students nationwide increasingly opposed it.

At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. "Environment" was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. Although mainstream America remained oblivious to environmental concerns, the stage had been set for change by the publication of Rachel Carson's New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment for the modern environmental movement, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries and, up until that moment, more than any other person, Ms. Carson raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and public health.

Earth Day 1970 capitalized on the emerging consciousness, channeling the energy of the anti-war protest movement and putting environmental concerns front and center. (From the Web: http://www.earthday.org/earth-day-history-movement; 4/22/15.)

As a Christian, I see nothing in this that even begins to honor God. But is that reason to ban Christians from celebrating this national holiday that began the modern environmental movement?
To answer this question will take a bit more thought and probing questions. There are several factors that should guide the Christian.

• First, what does the Bible say about such things?
• Second, what is the movement's intent, and will Christians who participate be supporting that intent by their participation?
• Next, what is the outcome of that intent upon society, faith, and eternal things?

Now, as for the Bible's input, it really covers the entire gamut of questions the Christian should be asking. It speaks to the human responsibility of stewardship with regard to nature. It speaks to the sinful tendency of humanity to worship the creation rather than the creator. It speaks to the responsibility of the Christian to distinguish between good and evil. It speaks to the separation of the Christian from earthly or material focus for material ends alone (all things should be done for the purpose of glorifying God). The Bible speaks to the mission of Christians: making disciples of all nations. The Bible speaks to who is ultimately responsible for sustaining the universe and all that is within it.

With that in mind, the Christian should carefully weigh his/her involvement in "Earth Day" in order to take care to honor the Lord in his/her activities in such a way as to make publicly clear his/her devotion to the Lord. The statement above about the history and intent of "Earth Day" is truly about the environmental movement with no reference to the Creator. As such, it would imply a bit of a worship of the creation rather than the creator. The hippie movements were notoriously secular and protesting all things organized and "religious." Therefore, Earth Day's proponents were willing to focus on the created world with no reference to the Creator is no surprise. Participation without reference to the Creator leads others to believe that God has no part in sustaining the universe (contrary to the Scriptures) if He exists at all.

However, the strong teaching of Scripture about humanity's responsibility to care for the earth as his greatest stewardship is unquestionable. The only stewardship more important to God is the stewardship of the Gospel – given to Christians. Therefore, Christians should care for the earth, but in so doing, share the gospel. The earth is God's tool to house humanity – and humanity is God's central focus. The tool is not the most important thing to God, people are. The earth was given to us for our sustenance (food, clothing, shelter) and our enjoyment. We must, as Christians, not lose sight of this important truth. Our focus can be skewed by secular world-views here. We must resist this alteration of our focus.
The ultimate end of the secular view of "Earth Day" is devoid of Christ, unwilling to acknowledge God as God, and an emphasis on the creation rather than worshiping the Creator. Our Earth should remind us of the Loving Care of Christ, our Creator and cause us to praise Him for His infinite wisdom, imagination, provision, and perfect creative powers. Earth Day should remind us of our responsibility to care for creation as an act of worship of our Creator. We should never be caught secularizing the environmental movement!

And that's "Earth Day" As I See It. May the Lord Bless You today!