The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
- Psalm 23 (KJV)
On this morning's Sunday Morning Coming Down blog I want to talk about God, country and the American Spirit. I do so because many of us of faith are very troubled about where we as a nation are headed and ask the question why is what we witness around us happening to us? We can easily be frightened, question and face internal turmoil at such times and I want to try as best I can to show why we should never let such things overwhelm us if we truly believe through faith in the Holy Trinity. We must understand clearly that God is always in charge. Sometimes He wants to teach us a lesson and sometimes He lets us fail as well as win, but through it all there is a lesson for us which, if recognized and discerned, will never be troubling in the end. If we truly believe in our Lord and Savior all will end well for those of us who believe in His promise of Eternity and freedom from death regardless of what we face here on earth.
So, why do I use the passage above which we who were raised up in the church know and call the Twenty-third Psalm? Well, I do so because it is likely known as well as the Lord's Prayer and, like that wonderful prayer, it can give us great strength through its message of hope and commitment. And herein comes the tie to the American Spirit, which is a hopefulness and "can do" attitude which drives us forward with determination, not fear. It goes back to Colonial days. The Colonists came to America looking for freedom from the bondage that they had found in the Old Country where the few had everything and the many were dealt little. They saw the new America as a place where they could improve and grow and openly practice their faith as they believed, but they also knew that to be successful, faith in God had to accompany their hard work and industriousness. And as the Colonies grew and became more prosperous, the Crown became greedy and wanted more and more of their labor applied to needs of the Crown and the American Spirit fully kicked in to want freedom under God in those very Colonies. Hence, the beginning of the fervor for independence began to rise. One need only look at the Declaration of Independence to see the importance of God in what they were doing and from the beginning of the United States of America forward into the mid-twentieth century that power was retained by America's people. So, what happened along the way to change that and how did we Americans allow that to take place? That is where our direction now turns.
Remember, through all time God has given us free will and with that free will we make our own choices, be they good or bad, and we must live by the consequences. Also remember that while God made us in His image and over time gave us help to maintain our goodness, including our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, our guidance counselor within us, He also allowed and does to this very day give the Fallen One, Satan, the ability to run his course throughout the world to lure the good to the bad. Consider it be a very test of our willingness to stick with our Lord through thick and thin. Many being mortal and weak, sometimes being easily detracted from what should be done, thereby allow themselves to falter and fail and allow Satan to sink his clutches in and control them. Sadly, that has taken place in our very own government. And since we have allowed this to happen either by our actions or inaction, it was our choice and our decision and, in the end we have no one to blame but ourselves. Yet, however, we still can recover if we decide to follow the True Way to Salvation but time is indeed running short to do so and only time will tell.
This later developing trend resulted in so many Americans believing they can get something for nothing, egged on by self-serving politicians who use our fears and our weaknesses to feed on our worst elements to advance themselves and this has been going on for generations. Godless Socialism, a repeatedly failed means of governance that always turns ultimately into tyranny reared its ugly head in the latter nineteenth century and grounded itself in America in the early twentieth-century. The saddest part about it is that it has never been the majority, not even today, yet it is outspoken and ruthless in going about getting its way and when good people remain silent and don't want to get involved, God turns us loose to live in what we have created. Christians and other God-fearing and freedom loving Americans must stand up for what we believe or watch it rapidly peel away, never to be returned. Under such conditions God, country, and the American Spirit will continue the full descent into pure tyranny where, in the end, all Americans save the few at the top of the corrupt system will become nothing but slaves of the State. And God will shed a tear knowing that His great earthly experiment in free and godly self-governance bites the dust to Satan in his big last stand before Christ returns to finally purge the earth from evil, once and for all. So, which side do we take, my friends, goodness, light and eternal life or evil, darkness and eternal death? If we make the wrong choice or no choice at all, this will be the final chapter of life as we know it on not only this nation but the entire world. And all the promise of the Twenty-third Psalm will no longer show the cup running over but instead become dry as a bone, never to be flowing again. Ponder that as we decide which vision of the future we hold. Yes, it is just that important.
Dear Lord, We praise you for your wisdom and love for us and we ask you to help us reconnect with you and reinstate our commitment to you and the goodness and light while we still can. We can't do it alone, but with you we can do anything that you want us to do. And we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, Amen.
- Psalm 23 (KJV)
On this morning's Sunday Morning Coming Down blog I want to talk about God, country and the American Spirit. I do so because many of us of faith are very troubled about where we as a nation are headed and ask the question why is what we witness around us happening to us? We can easily be frightened, question and face internal turmoil at such times and I want to try as best I can to show why we should never let such things overwhelm us if we truly believe through faith in the Holy Trinity. We must understand clearly that God is always in charge. Sometimes He wants to teach us a lesson and sometimes He lets us fail as well as win, but through it all there is a lesson for us which, if recognized and discerned, will never be troubling in the end. If we truly believe in our Lord and Savior all will end well for those of us who believe in His promise of Eternity and freedom from death regardless of what we face here on earth.
So, why do I use the passage above which we who were raised up in the church know and call the Twenty-third Psalm? Well, I do so because it is likely known as well as the Lord's Prayer and, like that wonderful prayer, it can give us great strength through its message of hope and commitment. And herein comes the tie to the American Spirit, which is a hopefulness and "can do" attitude which drives us forward with determination, not fear. It goes back to Colonial days. The Colonists came to America looking for freedom from the bondage that they had found in the Old Country where the few had everything and the many were dealt little. They saw the new America as a place where they could improve and grow and openly practice their faith as they believed, but they also knew that to be successful, faith in God had to accompany their hard work and industriousness. And as the Colonies grew and became more prosperous, the Crown became greedy and wanted more and more of their labor applied to needs of the Crown and the American Spirit fully kicked in to want freedom under God in those very Colonies. Hence, the beginning of the fervor for independence began to rise. One need only look at the Declaration of Independence to see the importance of God in what they were doing and from the beginning of the United States of America forward into the mid-twentieth century that power was retained by America's people. So, what happened along the way to change that and how did we Americans allow that to take place? That is where our direction now turns.
Remember, through all time God has given us free will and with that free will we make our own choices, be they good or bad, and we must live by the consequences. Also remember that while God made us in His image and over time gave us help to maintain our goodness, including our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, our guidance counselor within us, He also allowed and does to this very day give the Fallen One, Satan, the ability to run his course throughout the world to lure the good to the bad. Consider it be a very test of our willingness to stick with our Lord through thick and thin. Many being mortal and weak, sometimes being easily detracted from what should be done, thereby allow themselves to falter and fail and allow Satan to sink his clutches in and control them. Sadly, that has taken place in our very own government. And since we have allowed this to happen either by our actions or inaction, it was our choice and our decision and, in the end we have no one to blame but ourselves. Yet, however, we still can recover if we decide to follow the True Way to Salvation but time is indeed running short to do so and only time will tell.
This later developing trend resulted in so many Americans believing they can get something for nothing, egged on by self-serving politicians who use our fears and our weaknesses to feed on our worst elements to advance themselves and this has been going on for generations. Godless Socialism, a repeatedly failed means of governance that always turns ultimately into tyranny reared its ugly head in the latter nineteenth century and grounded itself in America in the early twentieth-century. The saddest part about it is that it has never been the majority, not even today, yet it is outspoken and ruthless in going about getting its way and when good people remain silent and don't want to get involved, God turns us loose to live in what we have created. Christians and other God-fearing and freedom loving Americans must stand up for what we believe or watch it rapidly peel away, never to be returned. Under such conditions God, country, and the American Spirit will continue the full descent into pure tyranny where, in the end, all Americans save the few at the top of the corrupt system will become nothing but slaves of the State. And God will shed a tear knowing that His great earthly experiment in free and godly self-governance bites the dust to Satan in his big last stand before Christ returns to finally purge the earth from evil, once and for all. So, which side do we take, my friends, goodness, light and eternal life or evil, darkness and eternal death? If we make the wrong choice or no choice at all, this will be the final chapter of life as we know it on not only this nation but the entire world. And all the promise of the Twenty-third Psalm will no longer show the cup running over but instead become dry as a bone, never to be flowing again. Ponder that as we decide which vision of the future we hold. Yes, it is just that important.
Dear Lord, We praise you for your wisdom and love for us and we ask you to help us reconnect with you and reinstate our commitment to you and the goodness and light while we still can. We can't do it alone, but with you we can do anything that you want us to do. And we ask in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Savior, Amen.
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