A Nation Divided … Part 2

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amorality, chaos, compromise, constitution, courage, freedom, generosity, greed, honor, Intergity, kindness, lawlessness, moral compromise, moral gulf, rebellion, selfishness

A Nation divided against itself cannot stand …

Integrity. I hear a lot of banter around the political candidates concerning integrity. Who has it? Who fakes it? Why is integrity important?

Americans are angry and dissatisfied with the way business is done these days in Washington DC, and rightly so. We’ve been lied to and in many cases, deliberately misled. We are pandered to and patronized and treated like ignorant children by those high and mighty supposed “public servants.” But… what do we really want?

Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.

Uh oh! I see the problem. Do you?

A Nation divided against itself cannot stand …

We say we want integrity, but how can we have integrity without moral principles? If morality is subjective, how can integrity exist?

I don’t want to be subject to your morality, and you don’t want to be measured by my morality. We are at an impasse.

Divisions have always existed in civilizations. Rich/poor, tall/short, young/old, etc. and divisions are not necessarily a bad thing. But the division (singular) we are witnessing in America (and elsewhere,) goes much deeper.

Our Founders referred to “unalienable rights endowed by our Creator,” but it is not politically correct to “force” someone’s ambiguous concept of deity on a society. What Creator? God? Which god? So again, we are at an impasse. If we deny that our rights are endowed by our Creator, where did they come from?

There has been a deliberate hammering over the last few decades, yes decades, maybe longer, the driving of a wedge between people, between ideologies. It is not between rich and poor. It is not between Democrats and Republicans. It is not between races. It is not between the various religions. It is much simpler, much deeper, and much more sobering. It has been happening slowly throughout my lifetime. Look around at how values have changed. Americans once sought virtue, moral strength, character. Now, we seek comfort, leisure, and material gain.

When asked whether the “state of moral values in the country as a whole is getting better or worse,” 72 percent said that they believe that the paradigm is worsening, while, in contrast, just 22 percent said that it is improving. More HERE!

On one side of this moral gulf is chaos, greed, selfishness, lawlessness, rebellion. On the other is structure, kindness, generosity, courage, honor, lawfulness, and … Integrity.

Do you remember when then President Bill Clinton was caught with his pants down? America collectively gasped. “How dare he … in the White House, too!” Noise was made about his indecency, but with the help of our all-but-state-run-press, we came to accept it and moved on. Just one example of our moral compromise.

“What we are seeing in our politics is the predictable result of what occurs when institutions, philosophies and faiths that once united us have either died or have been so co-opted by other considerations that when they’re most needed they lack the power to come to our rescue.” More HERE!

A house divided … moral compromise

Will we watch America crumble because of our selfishness?

The media has its “champions,” the Democrat party backs Hillary, but who does the Republican party back? Logically, it should back the leader, but if that is repugnant to them, they ought to back #2. Why don’t they? Could it be because the party doesn’t like Cruz’s conservative values, and they don’t believe Trump is a conservative at all.

I suggest this indecision is authored and fed by the media pushing THEIR choices on us. People, we are in deep doo doo, and sinking fast into the pools of our our ignorance and willful blindness. Our leaders are simply a reflection of our own indecision. We cannot have both freedom and amorality. We must choose or Hillary will win … and may God help us!

A Nation divided against itself cannot stand …

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UNDETECTED, a Novel

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fiction, morality, pariotism, rebellion, revolution, secrecy, undetected

CHAPTER 1

“Ugh! Close, but not close enough,” Gram whispered only to herself. Where did that rascal go?” Her sharp green eyes scanned the tree tops until they locked on a thick fork in the tree. “Ah! I see! You made it home this time, squirrelly. Don’t count on it next time!”

Dressed in her favorite comfy cammies, Gram headed back through the forest to her shabby lean-to. Her two rescue dogs ran on before her. Inside, she hung her bow and arrow satchel on one of the hooks by the door, poured a cup of water, and made herself comfortable in one of the rockers on the porch. Her partner, Roy, crafted the chairs, and many other tools, from local trees. She sighed with appreciation as she welcomed the moment’s quiet.

Soon she would join the rest of the family at the main tabernacle for supper, but for now, she enjoyed the peace and quiet of the forest with the dogs, Alpha & Beta.

The lean-to wasn’t much, just a few split logs put together like the old Lincoln logs she played with as a girl, but made to look shabby and desserted. It sufficed as shelter, after all, what more does an older couple need but a bed, a toilet, a fireplace to ward off the evening chill, and a porch with rockers? A camouflage net hung from the trees surrounding the tiny cabin, and an unseen root cellar formed a sort of foundation and emergency shelter.

Years ago, the family had put their money together to purchase this parcel of land in eastern Tennessee, southwest of Knoxville. They had discovered a system of tunnels through the property, and the men amended them to suit their needs by blocking a few and reinforcing others. Each of Gram’s three children and their families had a home nearby. They had everything they needed. They lived simply, but happily, taking care of each other. They lived their own lives freely, and gathered daily for the evening meal to give thanks to their Creator for their love for one another, His protection, and His guidance.

Government had gone crazy in the last decade, and many chose to “disappear” into the wilderness to avoid the ever-watchful eyes of Big Brother. George Orwell’s 1984 might have been published in 1949, but it came to pass with the shift away from traditional American values toward the dawn of the 21st millennium.

“The yams are looking good! I wasn’t sure they were getting enough water,” gram said to the attentive dogs.

Her “garden” took much of her time everyday, such as it was. Not a large garden or a proper one with defined borders and rows, but random root vegetables to feed her and her family along with the meat they could still hunt or the fish from the nearby river. While mornings were spent in the garden, her afternoons were spent with her grandchildren, teaching the lessons of Freedom.

Before the Revolution2 started, gram was a teacher, so it was only natural that her heart was wrapped in the stories and tradition of early America, when God was still central in the culture. This is what she eagerly, lovingly wove into the lessons she gave her grandchildren as they gathered around her for “school.”

The men were off with the local militia for weeks at a time, but they had been back just last week to fill the family in on the news from the war. The patriots were standing strong, as their predecessors had at America’s beginning while the tyrannical government stretched its claws deeper into the private lives of its citizens. In the last month, they said, the tide seemed to be turning in our favor. More and more citizens were feeling the pinch of government infringement. Laws and regulations in conflict with the American Constitution were piled on the backs of the people until they nearly suffocated Freedom.

The dogs broke her reverie as they barked toward a woody grove. “What’s out there, girls? Dinner?” She chuckled softly, but the barking grew more intense, and the dogs trotted to investigate. Gram ducked inside to grab her shotgun as the girls reappeared with a young boy. He looked about 10, but scrawny and dirty.

“Where’d you come from, boy?” she asked with just a tinge of annoyance in her voice. The boy didn’t respond.

“Come here, boy.” She set her shotgun down beside her and motioned him closer. “You’re a mess, child! Where’s your family? Where do you live? Come, child, I just want to help.”

“Big brother went to war.”

“What about your family, child, your parents?”

“They’re gone, ma’am. Long time gone.” He looked down as if the carpet of leaves might somehow contain them.

“Well, never mind that now. Come sit here with me a bit and let’s get acquainted proper like. You can call me Gram – everyone else does!What’s your name?” She smiled. “You hungry, child?” She stepped inside and returned with an apple which she proffered to him.

…………….. to be continued

Comments? Suggestions?

The Violent Seize It by Force

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aspiration, crossroad, definace, difficulties, energy, Founders, hope, personal struggle, perspiration, rebellion, SALVATION, temptations, trials

“And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time,
the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault,
and violent men seize it by force, as a precious prize; a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion.”
Matthew 11:12 AMP

There are many puzzles in our daily walk, both as a Christ-follower and as an American. The verse quoted above has long been one of those puzzles because it seems to be contradictory to the overall message of the Gospel of Love. We get glimpses of the true sentiment from time to time … the righteous indignation of Jesus (Mt 21: 12-13) as he overturned the tables of the money changers in the Temple because they had turned the “place of prayer & worship” into a mercantile or the righteous indignation of Paul as he chastised the slave girl (Acts 16: 16- 40) following him. It’s not a popular topic of either teaching or conversation.

I. The CONFLICT: As human beings, our tendency is to most highly value only that which we work to earn or possess. In Philippians, we’re told to “work out our own salvation.” (Philippians 2:12-13 Later, in the same book, we’re told to “press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.” (Phil 3: 14)

SALVATION is free … It is the Gift of God. (Romans 6:23) The moment we ask, salvation is ours, BUT … it is a daily calling which we have to put on each day. It’s like buying a new, warm woolen coat. It is ours, but for it to accomplish its purpose, it must be put on. So salvation must be put on, must be wrestled with on a daily basis because it does NOT come naturally. Even when we believe, even when our motivation is love … our minds and bodies want to do their own thing. We are asked to fight for it, and take it by force, sometimes, as though someone else wants our new woolen coat. We have the coat, and no one really can take it from us, but we can lay it down and walk away without enjoying its warmth and comfort.

Our Founders prayed for God to help them build a nation that would endure.

Our nation is at a vital crossroad, and the people of America must make the choice. Either we will resign ourselves to live out our lives in the compromised civilization that we see around us, and settle for the life of dependency and lack, OR we can put on our warm, woolen coat of salvation, accept that God’s ways are better, are SUPERIOR to our ways,admit our error, and walk into the abundance God always has for His people. Do we wish to bow to those in government or to the King of Kings? Do we bow to the government of men or the government of God? God’s ways are more difficult, for sure, and sometimes more uncomfortable, but ultimately much better and healthier! We choose not just for ourselves, but for our children, our grandchildren and for our nation.

I’m not sure that’s the best way to explain it, but … Maybe John Bunyan did a better job in his amazing book, Pilgrims Progress (highly recommended book):

” Then the Interpreter took him, and led him up towards the door of the palace; and behold, at the door stood a great company of men, as desirous to go in, but durst not. There also sat a man at a little distance from the door, at a table-side, with a book and his inkhorn before him, to take the names of them that should enter therein; he saw also that in the doorway stood many men in armor to keep it, being resolved to do to the men that would enter, what hurt and mischief they could.

“Now was Christian somewhat in amaze. At last, when every man started back for fear of the armed men, Christian saw a man of a very stout countenance come up to the man that sat there to write, saying, “Set down my name, sir;” the which when he had done, he saw the man draw his sword, and put a helmet on his head, and rush towards the door upon the armed men, who laid upon him with deadly force; but the man, not at all discouraged, fell to cutting and hacking most fiercely. So after he had received and given many wounds to those that attempted to keep him out, Matt. 11:12; Acts 14:22; he cut his way through them all, and pressed forward into the palace; at which there was a pleasant voice heard from those that were within, even of those that walked upon the top of the palace, saying,

“Come in, come in,
Eternal glory thou shalt win.”

So he went in, and was clothed with such garments as they. Then Christian smiled, and said, I think verily I know the meaning of this.

Now, said Christian, let me go hence…”

II. APPLICATION: Again, I say … Nothing worth having comes easy. None of us learned to walk without falling down a few times. None of us learned to love without having our hearts broken a time or two. None of us learned to stand alone on God’s grace without failing miserably AND being hurt a few times.

“To this end I labor, struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me!” (Col 1: 24-29 NCV)

Salvation, like Liberty, is an individual accomplishment. I can’t accomplish yours, and you can’t accomplish mine. All we can do for one another is facilitate the decision and encourage each other along the way.

Jacob wrestled with the Angel of God and would not let him go without a blessing. Genesis 32:24-28

As we walk out our salvation, we walk into greater and greater Liberty. We free ourselves from the dictates of men and focus on what pleases God. We learn to revel … to play inside God’s abounding love for us, free from worrying about what others might think of us. We know that as long as we walk inside God’s grace, whatever happens is blessed, ordered of God, and ultimately permitted GOOD for us. However, we must all realize, too, that while there are plenty of peaceful and restful times, there are also numerous “battles” we must walk through to make forward progress. We cannot stand still long, so we must choose to push ahead, upward or fall backward. The way is ready, but we must walk it.

III. CONCLUSION: God does not implant His character into our lives as the weaver might set in gold or silver threads. He does not automatically remove and replace our ugly, sinful traits with holy ones. It is through our personal struggle, each of us must work our way through temptations, trials and difficulties toward our upward goals. The help of God is given in cooperation with our aspiration, perspiration and energy. While God is at work in us, we are to work out our own salvation. The struggle is between our human nature and the implanted nature of God simultaneously occupying the same space! Our base human nature, when left unchecked produces the culture we’re looking at in the news – perverted, selfish, and violent, but the Holy Spirit within us will build into us the Character of Christ, if we permit Him. IF we permit Him. Will we? This is America’s only hope. It is OUR only hope, but it is more than enough!

*Online version of Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyon