When we want to make a good impression on someone, what’s one of the first things we do? Oh sure, maybe we clean the house if they’re coming over. Some people might even read up on the news of the day in order to be able to converse about current events. And if you’re on a first date, you dress up in something that is attractive. Culturally acceptable. Maybe hides your flaws and enhances your good points.

Hides your flaws. That’s what we do, all of us. Best foot forward and all that. Let’s take a look, not at ourselves (thank heavens! January 8 hasn’t given us enough time on that diet.), but at our country; a country founded on the bedrock of freedom and morals taken from Moses, himself. If I told you the truth and said the Bible some of you would check out, so we’ll just say Moses for now. Everybody likes Charlton Heston. Or did at one time.

Is there anything here and now that we dress up? Are any flaws hidden? So what is the truth these days? Who do we hear it from? Who. Do. We. Listen. To.

Let’s look at a few items that just might be wearing a new outfit to cover up something else. There are a lot of us here in the country who care very much about women. And little children. Just look at the videos on the news about immigrants and you will see how much we care. Or watch women’s marches. Yep. Lots of caring about women.

Here’s a report that you might or might not agree with. Snopes certainly doesn’t, although I can’t imagine why they’re disagreeing with their friends from WHO. Worldometers reports there are 43 million abortions world-wide annually. The World Health Organizaiton puts the figure at 56 million. The United States is party to many of them. According to CNS News, from Oct. 1, 2012 to Sept. 30, 2013, Planned Parenthood performed 327,653 abortions. Over the course of those 365 days (or 8,760 hours), that averages out to 898 abortions per day and 37 abortions per hour.
Let’s count, shall we? 1, 2, 3 – maybe #3 would’ve struggled in school so who cares, right?, 4, 5 . . . want to stop yet? Those are tiny babies we’re talking about. 6 – #6 would have had an absent father and the mother doesn’t have much money, 7 – maybe #7 was going to be a great violinist, 8 – #8 might have had a hard life. Who wants that?, 9 -perhaps #9 would have been one of those nurses who go above and beyond the call of duty, 10. I’m tired, aren’t you? Tired of . . . counting? Abortion is now the largest cause of death in the United States. Not cancer. Not heart attacks. Not guns. Not climate change. Abortion. But don’t tell us we don’t care about women and children.

Side note: The Moabites sacrificed children to their god, Molech. Baal is another god that we usually associate with the Old Testament to whom his adherents made sacrifices. “Baal or Moloch or Chemosh—the name may change, but their bloodthirsty appetite for the most acceptable offering of infants does not. We have ample and melancholy evidence on this subject from the records of antiquity. It was believed that human sacrifice to Baal held the key to prosperity.” And we wonder why God has withheld what could be amazing blessing from our land.

Who did we listen to that told us abortion was a good thing? Who dressed it up?

What else do the voices tell us? Or, perhaps more to the point, don’t tell us? What flaws are the voices hiding? My two cents? I think, my friends, that we do not in the least have a real grip of the child sex trafficking happening even among the rich and powerful. And drugs? Nancy Reagan said, “Just say no”. But we still have a problem. A very, very big problem. Even now something alarming is being revealed: Government corruption and lies. For years. There are oh so many issues I could include, but you’re getting tired of reading and I’m getting tired of writing. If we could stem the tide of some of these issues it would be great, wouldn’t it?

Are the voices telling us the truth about all of it? Are they giving bits and pieces and leaving other things out? Are they misleading? While we’d like to think our choice of information is best, frankly, I don’t know what to think anymore.

What voices are we listening to? I’d like to say God’s, but I’d be fooling myself. Click this link that shows one of those flaws, those big problems, one of those wearing – oh let’s just say new clothes like the Emperor of the old fable – and get back to me.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1080541527166894081

Movie The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. Demille, starring Charlton Heston, Released 10/5/1956; https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/planned-parenthood-we-did-327653-abortions-one-year; https://sapphirethroneministries.wordpress.com/tag/baal-or-moloch-or-chemosh-or-santa-claus/ ; Nancy Reagan’s Just Say No campaign during Ronald Reagan’s presidency; “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen.

Whenever I fault myself or someone else for giving in to anger, I think of Moses. He’s right near the top, if you’re thinking about righteous people in the history of, not one generation or even five, but in the history of time. In the history of the world! Shy? I don’t know about that, but he wasn’t a fan of public speaking. Maybe he stuttered. Maybe he was just slow in putting words together. Maybe he wasn’t very articulate. Maybe his neck got blotchy.

At any rate, he came up with excuse after excuse regarding why he shouldn’t be the one to lead Israel out of Egypt. Who could blame him? With the Ten Commandments overshadowing everything, it’s easy to forget that he killed an Egyptian guy. Actually, that guy – the guy that Moses killed and hid in the sand – was overseeing the hard labor of some Israeli men who, by this time, were slaves. That came about out of jealousy and fear a Pharaoh felt, which is a good reminder that covetousness has no place in a decent person’s character, but I digress.

By the time everyone had either experienced or witnessed the plagues, Israel had crossed the Red Sea on dry ground while God parted it in two, and Moses had gone up on the mountain and fasted 40 days, there was some water under the bridge, you know? So when he came down and saw the folks that he’d led out of Egypt – the ones he’d put his own neck on the line for, the ones God was doing all sorts of beyond amazing things for – had made a golden calf and were worshiping it – worshiping it – you might understand his distress, frustration, and anger.

So, as I was saying, I think of Moses. Who. Broke. What. God. Wrote. In. Stone. Moses slammed those commandments down so hard, they shattered. Stone shattered! He must’ve really crushed it. He was mad. Witnessing corruption will do that to a person. But think how embarrassing it would be to be the one to shatter the 10 Commandments. It makes me like him even a little more. Fortunately, God made a second set for him to give to the people, and he put it in the Ark. Safe and sound.

There’s a lot to be righteously angry about these days. If you are, you’re in good company. I mean, I didn’t even mention Jesus overturning the tables at the Temple. I hope our anger is for good and not evil. And if we’re having trouble telling one from the other, we can just read the Ten Commandments, one of which is Thou Shalt Not Covet. Oh the irony.

References: Exodus 4:10-15; Exodus 2:11-12; Exodus 32:19; Images: SnappyGoat.com

God created nations, and He loves them. In fact, we are told in Revelation about the leaves of a tree used to heal the nations. Love of country does not equal hate of another country or other people. It simply means that you love your home.

The word patriot comes from the Greek word patris, father. A patriot values his fatherland. Patriotism remembers our Founding Fathers who worked very hard to found this nation and used God’s laws as a pattern. Sacrifices were made then and have been made in all the years since. Blessings were given at its inception and continue to this day, both deserved and undeserved. For these things – wise founders, great sacrifice, and God’s blessings – we are grateful. And one thing more: I’m extremely grateful for my freedom. How about you?

The Continental Congress’ initial meeting was on September 7, 1774. It began with prayer. This nation began on its knees, and that is the way it will be preserved. As citizens, we yes, we patriots, commend the good, help fix the wrong, repent of sin, and pray for national revival. We pray for wise leaders who fear God. God intends to use rulers for good and when they reject him, the entire nation suffers. When they are righteous, the nation is blessed.

We live in a time when many of our country’s citizens are uneducated about those first citizens, the ones on whose shoulders we stand. Some debate the Constitution and its merit. It strikes me as the height of arrogance to believe that because the Founders lived over 200 years ago, they knew less than we do today; that the morals someone picks like cherries from a tree are better suited to a nation than God’s standards. “None of these perspectives acknowledges the grateful recognition of the Founding Fathers that life is a gift from God, not an affront to human desires. Reaffirming both folk wisdom and Christian orthodoxy, a healthy respect for limits, woven into the fabric of the Republic from the beginning, offers a way to recover the political and moral realism that contemporary Americans have lost.”

So this 4th of July, get on your knees in thanks, repentance, and request. Then stand up straight and true, put your hand over your heart, and pledge allegiance to the flag of your nation. It’s a good thing.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

I’ll give you a clue about the right answer in puppy training class. Our little bundle of fur, being a rescue from an Amish puppy mill, was already over 3 months old when we got him. I was glad he had a little religion already. But by the time I signed up for training, he was too old for the puppy class. We went to our first tweener class last week. It is a walk-in situation, which suits us; though why we have trouble connecting schedules when all four kids are out of the house, I can’t explain. We were the only ones who raised their hands to indicate it was our first time being there, which leads me to my clue. When the instructor asks if your puppy knows “Sit”, and you say “Yes”, the answer to the follow-up question of “How many times do you say it before your dog obeys?” is not “As many times as it takes”. You’re welcome. I live to serve.

The class begins with a get acquainted time for the dogs which consists of them nipping and growling and rolling around on the floor. Some of the sweet little things walked behind their owners’ chairs or bumped noses. Not ours. Ours was right out in the middle of things the entire time. I began to understand a bit more of how parents of kids with ADHD feel.

Then we all began our assignments. The first was for the dog to learn its name. Really? What dog doesn’t know its name? Apparently the answer to that question is “Some”. I witnessed a dog sit in front of the instructor and not turn once when she said its name. She said its name more than once, but no one called her on it. The puppy gazed off in a completely different direction as though it was composing a poem in its head.

Then we worked on “Sit”, “Down”, and some sort of follow the hand exercise. Our dog was stellar, if I do say so myself, but, after practicing at home, has decided he’s supposed to bite the hand rather than bump it with his nose. I have a feeling that will land us in the doghouse if the instructor notices during the next class. Thank goodness there are only four. One down, three to go.

There are options, of course, to continue on to the next class which is called Basic Training. I don’t suppose they’ll include a course on weapons proficiency. I’m trying to decide whether to sign up and how much more training this dog needs; but I have a feeling the answer to that question is “As many times as it takes.”

On Memorial Day we remember those who have died in our country’s battles. We remember their courage even if they were afraid. We mark their place even if their life was lost in an unidentified spot. We honor their heroism even if they were simply one of many fulfilling an assignment. Governments are duty-bound to honor those who protect it from external threats.

We hope governments are good, but sometimes they are not. The horror of a bad government, an internal threat, resisted at a terrible cost bears our consideration, for our nation now faces a loud and strong clarion call to Socialism.

History is clarity’s friend, so let’s examine a few times when people of a nation succumbed to the allure of empty government promises. A nation is rarely suddenly killed from within. No, it’s crippled bit by tempting bit.

God’s moral laws are denigrated. When we dismiss God’s law, Government’s law will take its place, and things go horribly, predictably wrong. They’ve been going so wrong, in fact, that some of our population is  now struggling to know the distinction between male and female. Such an obvious difference has become a question. There is a blindness that goes beyond sight.

It is the obligation of the church to speak up. It’s tempting to let little things slide in the interest of making ourselves approachable. But when the church is silent – no matter the reason, whether out of concern to not offend or desire for popularity or misguided belief that it should not mix it up with politics (Elijah must have missed the memo) – it will be one of the first to taste destruction.

Citizens aren’t deceived by outright lies. They are deceived by half-truths, distortions, and duplicity. They are proverbial frogs in a kettle. The water has been on a slow boil for awhile already. First their economy is crippled, making it difficult for folks to meet financial obligations. Obamacare mandate, anyone? People exchange their free independence for regulated dependence on the government. History is rewritten, monuments destroyed. Weapons are taken away in the interest of safety, thereby removing citizens’ ability to defend themselves. Then words like “fairness” or “change” are used to lure the naive into a socialist ideology. Socialism is simply Communism lite. Lite doesn’t last. It is always replaced with the real thing. Constitutions are circumvented by declaring emergency law and order. Then the country is – bingo – under communist rule. No shots fired. That comes later.

But those advocating Socialism want to help the poor. They want to make it a fair playing field. They’re benevolent, right?

Let’s look at a few Communist rulers. Pol Pot killed between 1.5 and 2 million of his own people. Anyone who had allegiance to God or anything other than the State was tortured and killed. Prisoners were made to dig trenches, then ordered to kill the person next to them where the deceased would tumble into the trench. Friends. Family members. I’ll wager hope and spirit tumbled into those trenches, too.

Or how about Romania? Ceausescu hated the church so much he destroyed their buildings. His Government did not tolerate disloyalty and neighbor turned against neighbor as a matter of survival.

Stalin killed over 20 million of his countrymen in Russia. Hitler killed around 6 million Jews and 5 million others. Mao Zedong had over 45 million Chinese people killed.

While we memorialize our soldiers this coming weekend, let’s do one more thing. Let us resolve to keep the freedom for which they died. Even if we have to fight on our own land in our own way, big or small, to do it. Because citizens of resolve are a nation’s only hope for freedom. God be with us.

Revelation 22:2; Image: http-pixabay.com-en-eagle-america-flag-bird-symbol-219679.jpg

I read something about someone who was described as an accidental icon. Wouldn’t that lend excitement to your days?!

Most of us don’t set out to be icons, but we don’t propose to live accidentally either. We have plans that we follow rather lazily or like gangbusters depending on our age, energy, and personality.

And then there are those who seem to cut a path that puts the rest of us to shame. Too often those individuals are renounced, diminished, or just plain cut out of a story that, but for their influence, would have a very different ending. We do well to read their autobiographies or, sans that, their biographies if said biographies are written by dependable authors.

Winston Churchill is a large figure in post WW II history. A recent movie about him received justifiable accolades. He was a man in power during a time in which history’s hinge would swing one way or the other. He stood strong and unyielding when giving in to political pressure would have made his life easier. He said, If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves. He was a fighter. Everyone loves a lover, but sometimes a fighter is what is needed.

A four page government memo was released today. It reveals deceit and duplicity among those who were supposed to be trustworthy and straightforward. The crimes were committed not by the many hard-working members of the DOJ and FBI. They were committed by a powerful few, and not once, but repeatedly. I suspect the path of the memo will lead to names we all know and people who believe they are untouchable. Now we wait to see if they will get away with it because of their power and connections. I hope not.

One wonders what role those of us without prominence or power play. We don’t have the influence some others do. But still we can take a page from someone we admire. After all, citizens of good character who stand straight and strong and who do whatever it is at their hand to do with honor and care are more likely to hold a nation up than bring it to its knees. We’re not just a thousand points of light. We’re a thousand steel beams, a thousand iron plates, a thousand rivets and bolts.

Iris Apfel, the accidental icon referred to at the beginning of this post has said, You have to try it. You have only one trip. You’ve got to remember that. 

Have a great day! Me? I’ll be doing my best to stand straight and strong, to do whatever is at hand to do as though I’m doing it for God, Himself, as I keep walking the path. I hope to see you on the way!

Quote: Rick Lowry in the New York Post, 12/28/17; Quote: Winston Churchill; Memo:  http://static.foxnews.com/pdf/370598711-House-Intelligence-Committee-Report-On-FISA-Abuses.pdf ; Quote: George H.W. Bush; Photos: Pexels.com; Quote: Iris Apfel

A 1988 movie, Judgement Day, imagined two travelers who come upon a town visited by Satan once every year to claim souls. It got a two and a half star rating. Then there was a 1993 movie by the same name about a guy who killed his family to hide his personal failures and wasn’t arrested until decades later due to his apparently very effective ability to hide. Three and a half stars. The 1999 movie entitled – you guessed it – Judgement Day tells the story of the earth in danger of being struck by interstellar debris, a scientist who figures out how to stop it, a religious cult who wants to stop him, and a murderer who joins an FBI agent to free the scientist and prevent millions of deaths. Back down to two and a half stars.

Besides the happy assurance that I’m not the only one who’s not that great with titles, it appears that Hollywood hasn’t had much luck with judgement day. Oh the irony.

And here we are: here being recovering from devastating natural disasters, mass killings, exposes of major news sources, ongoing revelations of deception, and a waterfall of sexual deviance. Strike that. Sexual deviance doesn’t seem to get much negative press. Make that sexual assault, abuse, harassment, and plenty of plain ol’ boorish behavior. And let’s not forget a few souls who make false allegations, usually for money. Weaponizing whatever sin is trending detracts from very real heartache and damage of the real until it loses some of its repulsiveness.* 

Just when we think we’re on our way to recovery – boom! – here comes another wave. For instance, I wrote a few words of this post a week ago, never dreaming there would be so much more to address by this date. I’m not even going to use names now because the names just keep coming. It’s like the Halloween Blizzard of ’91. By the time we get to the Judgement Seat of God, even the most nosy neighbor will hope upon hope for a mute button.

Often we think of the judgement of God Almighty as something to avoid. Thinking of His hand moving or removing to bring/allow horrific consequence isn’t something that allows for peaceful sleep or peaceful thought or peaceful anything.

But the judgement with which this world is currently overwhelmed is a good thing, I think. Of course no one wants their sins – large or small or anywhere in between – being spread all over Twitter, but it gives us all another chance to say what is wrong and what is right. It helps us remember that being politically correct is pretty crooked compared to God’s plumb line. Even in the church. Even in Academia. Even in Media. Even in Hollywood. Even in Congress. Even in politics. Even in our own lives.

We don’t often think of judgement and goodness being related, but they are. We’re not supposed to stay stuck at judgement. It’s a step – a very hard, ugly crumbling step – but a step nevertheless. And if a person can scale the riser of pride, they can reach the next step. The next beautiful, shining, solid step is repentance. Such a good thing. A freeing thing. I love repentance. If we’re willing, judgement can bring us there.* It’s like a reset on the remote. Ready . . . click.

* It is at this point I must say something that should go without saying, but must be said because righteousness is only en vogue at certain times and situations for some folks. Sexual abuse isn’t right. Nor is rape, incest, sex outside of marriage, perversion or any other misuse of something that could have been beautiful, but has been distorted. When someone pretends to be a victim, they might hurt their target, but they surely hurt true victims as a result of diminishing returns.

*Hurry now! One of these days that step will no longer be available.

Image: pexels-photo-534204.jpeg

You know how when some little speck that was floating around or, perhaps, the result of some rogue particle from something your were doing gets in your eye, it’s either irritating or killing? It suddenly takes all of your attention whether or not you have time for it. Despite the pain and distraction, all of your attention is sometimes a necessary thing, possibly even a very good thing.

As we celebrate freedom this 4th of July, there will be picnics and flags, parades and fireworks. We can celebrate because others sacrificed. Through the heroic efforts of our American forefathers, our country liberated itself from the rule of King George III and founded a nation with representation of its citizenry in government. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. I wonder if anyone’s hand was shaking when he signed that declaration? Those men, those women, those families, paid a steep price; a cost we would do well to consider.

They stood firm for what was right and true. Truth? Now there’s something that seems a bit slippery these days. The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states, We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. -That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Note those rights don’t come from government, they come from God. Government simply administers them. (So, as an aside here, things justly termed “entitlements” such as health care or even education are helpful and good to have, but to call them “rights” denigrates the true meaning of the word.)

Our nation has been on a journey for awhile now, traveling a twisting road of right and wrong, true and false. Words like justice, fair, right, tolerance, and even love have undergone a turn in the spin cycle. They’ve become twisted, ragged, and unrecognizable.

And, my fellow citizens, this nation under God finds itself at a well-worn place. We’re on the threshing floor where the grain is separated from the husks and chaff, truth from lies, if you will. Winnowing forks are tossing the mixture into the air where the chaff is blown away leaving only what is usable and good. I hope we get a little bit of something in our eye, even if it causes distraction or pain, and I hope that chaff in our eye draws our attention to the truth. I hope you and I are left on the floor rather than being swept away by the wind.

In 1861, Julia Ward Howe, after visiting a camp of the Union Army, wrote a poem. It was published in 1862. The Battle Hymn of the Republic says, in part: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored and He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat.

This Independence Day I’ll eat barbecue, display the Stars and Stripes, and celebrate along with everyone else. But I’ll also be thinking: It’s great here on the threshing floor! Look! There goes another long-held assumption into the wind! Why, yes. I do see how some were blinded by this person or by that assertion; but things are clearing up now. The chaff won’t be here forever.

Stand firm for what is right and true. You’re in good company. And look up. You never know what you’ll see next.

Declaration of Independence; Luke 3:17, Hosea 13:3; The Battle Hymn of the Republic by Julia Ward Howe, public domain; Image: Wikimedia commons; public domain 800px-Era_agrícola-(threshing_floor)