How's your traction?

For the Bible-believing Christian, Tuesday's election brought a splash of sobriety to life in these United States. Some troubling issues (two of which I highlighted in yesterday's post):

** America is turning from God's design for marriage.
** We seem to be ho-hum about drug use.
** It appears we desire a socialist model (I deserve some of yours) as opposed to a capitalistic model (keep your mitts off mine; I'll share if you are truly in need and then whole-heartedly).
** National defense has taken a back seat to an international group hug.
** The above applies to all nations but Israel, who we have hung out to dry.
** Expect to see any restrictions to abortion loosed.
** The flavor of the Supreme Court will certainly see a change.

That's the tip of the iceberg. Each of these leads to other issues that exposes a trend in our country that moves us away from conventional morality (i.e. biblical morality*) toward a "whatever, dude!" morality. To me, this is a heartbreaking thing to see. There are two absolutely wrong attitudes to take in the wake of this election.

First, we must avoid a Kumbayah mentality. I caught some posts about how now is the time to come together as a nation. That sounds very nice, but might I ask around what? A gaping moral divide exists in our country that cannot simply be skipped across. This is not to say that I should hate those opposed to God and biblical values. By no means! Nor should I build a Christian monastery and head for the hills. We are to be salt and light in a fallen world, and the United States 2012 surely falls into that category. But being salt and light means holding God's truths high. Those will bring conviction to some and hatred from many others. As we uphold the truth, part of that is the truth of the gospel, that while man stands in stark and abject rebellion before a holy and righteous God, that same God has provided the means of man's redemption, the completed work of God the Son, Jesus Christ.

Second, and my entire reason for this post we must not despair. Certain verses rang in my ears all day yesterday.

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Paul gave this challenge, these commands, to the church in the town of Thessalonica, a high-octane, low-morality port city in Greece, a major cross-roads for the Roman empire. This was a church in the midst of tough persecution, but dwell upon what he told them:

REJOICE ALWAYS

"But...but...but..." Sorry, that won't fly. Why can I rejoice? God remains sovereign over all his creation. God's plan cannot be thwarted by man or 60 million men. Tuesday's election did not startle him. All things will work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to his purpose. Christ will come again, one day. God will set all things aright, one day. He loves me.

How do I know all these things? The Bible tells me so, and I believe it. I believe him for the Bible is God's word to us, to me. Saint, this is where the rubber meets the road. Will I trust him? Do I believe him? Satan has tried from the Garden of Eden to undermine what God has said. "Did God actually say..." He's working overtime in our day and age to portray God's word as irrelevant and outdated or unknowable and subject to diverse interpretations. Really, God's word reads pretty plainly in most parts. This one's hard to get around. Rejoice always!

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

Another one that doesn't require a Rosetta Stone to figure out. Commune always with your God. As with abiding with your wife you should communicate with her always. Sometimes you just abide together in silence in a room but you are comforted by her presence. Sometimes it's just a text to tell her you love her or need her to pick something up for you. Other times, you date her with purpose or take a long walk with her to talk and to hear her voice. It should be no different with God.

My prayer from before the election has not changed. While I think a different vote would have stemmed the demise of our nation, a president will not change our heading. If we as a people reject God, will he not give us our desire? That terrifies me. As such, my prayer unceasing has been that God would bring a heart of repentance upon our nation that we might then turn to him and be healed. There is much to pray about and for regarding our country, so pray without ceasing.

GIVE THANKS IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES

Yeah, that means Tuesday's election, too. Saint, can you grieve and give thanks that Barack Obama was elected? I've already provided a number of reasons to grieve, but give thanks?! Yes, indeed. Give thanks. "Why??" I hear you screaming. Because God will do amazing things through this election that we do not yet see.

If you knew right now that the dismantling and disintegration of the United States of America would mean that millions would come face to face with their sin and turn to salvation in Jesus Christ, would this not be better than dying with a fat wallet and an eternity in hell facing you on the other side? America has been a phenomenal political experiment proving that a nation founded upon God's principles can thrive and flourish, but if the people have come to the point of rejecting God, can we expect any less than that they will reject his principles, too? So while I do not know what God will do through Election 2012, I will thank him for it and trust him for what he will do through it.

So, sibling, are our wheels steady on the road? Do we really believe what God has said in his word? If so and especially in light of the past few days, we must rejoice, pray, and ooze thanksgiving. These are, after all, the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

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* John MacArthur gave two outstanding messages on the demise of biblical morality in our political process. You can find them here and here. From the link, you can read, listen to, or download the sermons in their entirety.

Soiling the flag

I've come to expect that when the mean streets of the Middle East get prime time coverage, I'll see an American flag in tatters and afire, torched with purpose by those who loathe the United States and everything about us.

I am no longer surprised by Americans who do not know that clothing made from the flag dishonors our national symbol, and that writing on it or dragging it in the dirt shows little regard for it. Ever since Jim Craig draped the Stars and Stripes about his shoulders, it's become the norm for athletes to inappropriately--and quite unknowingly--drape our flag about their shoulders.

It's a different thing for a sitting President to abase the flag.

Now, I understand that the Christian is commanded to pray for those in authority over him (1 Timothy 2:1-2). This should not surprise the believer because if he has drunk deep of God's word to him, he would know full well that it is only by God's hand that any comes to power (Daniel 2:21, 5:21, Romans 13:1-7, 1 Peter 2:13-14). This does not mean that the Christian must hold his tongue regarding the conduct of one's leaders. To that end, I write.

President Barack Obama has done much to tarnish the office of the President of the United States and thereby denigrate our country. It did not take long for our President to begin bowing to sovereigns around the world to include those who have little regard for civil rights or putting his feet on a desk gifted to us in 1880 by Queen Elizabeth. In pursuing a second term as our President, he continues to show little regard for the greatness of our nation and our symbols. To show what an edgy and hep individual he is, his campaign has offered these posters to festoon the walls of his supporters:

Did you hear the outcry? Did anyone even notice? Mark Steyn recognized the desecration of the flag for what it was when he wrote:

I see the Obama campaign has redesigned the American flag, and very attractive it is too. Replacing the 50 stars of a federal republic is the single “O” logo symbolizing the great gaping maw of spendaholic centralization. And where the stripes used to be are a handful of red daubs, eerily mimicking the bloody finger streaks left on the pillars of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as its staff were dragged out by a mob of savages to be tortured and killed. What better symbol could one have of American foreign policy?

Did you know that such is a desecration of the flag? From the Flag Code:

The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.

In fact, to do such within the District of Columbia is considered a misdemeanor. Wholly apart from the criminal aspect, such a brazen display shows little regard for our national heritage, and like using the Oval Office for "extracurriculars," shows a hubris and narcissism inappropriate for a town clerk much less the President of the United States. There has been enough of a ruckus that the poster has since been pulled, but how is it that the leader of the greatest nation on the planet and his minions have no concept of the value of our national treasures?

Perhaps our next President will comport himself in a manner worthy of the office he holds both in the international arena and within the comfortable borders of his own country.

The aged Lady

Ah, Madam,

What has become of you?

That was then, this is now. Yes, certainly. But the fabric of the gown you wore when you were young, the one woven of titanium, indestructible, but with a delicacy that revealed your natural beauty, is a tattered mess. You seem stooped. The years have begun to catch up.

Having just past a birthday, I cannot help but think back, and really, your birth was a miracle. Disparate colonies. What did Massachusetts have in common with Virginia beyond a tyrant king? Nothing like a common enemy to drive together a people so different.  And yet, not so different. A biblical Christianity stood as the foundation for the lives of the majority of citizens from north to south. Agrarian livelihoods dominated your young limbs, and even those in the cities--hamlets, really--had extensive ties to the country. Your people read well, read often, read much, and read broadly. Today we read very little unless it's in text shorthand.

Four score and five years into your existence, it seemed that your body would rip itself in two at the navel. The Civil War should have killed you. Consider France. A beautiful country if you look at her skin. Beneath the surface she's schizophrenic and rotted to the core. Seems to have always been that way. Every time she tries to set things right, her own self-interest ruins the day. No principle. No foundation. But, Madam, when your lower extremities began to pull away from your upper, you destroyed the disease, and quite miraculously left both your body and it's soul intact. Extraordinary.

We now stand 150 years removed from that time. For most today, the War Between the States compels our attention if a movie enacts what happened, and then only if they twist history to include vampires. The greatest tragedies and lessons from our past become a backdrop for a horror story.

Today, your atrophied muscles and fragile frame seem to be more like those of France than the strong stature with which you stood as you hurtled toward the Civil War. I believe you stand more starkly divided today than you did then. In 1860, your division was linear, along Mason and Dixon. Now your division seems total with neighboring fingers at war with one another. When we talk red and blue, there does seem to be some polarity along the coasts with moles of blue within the cities dotting the deep red of your midsection, but on the whole, your body is a checkerboard of oil and water, Hatfield and McCoy.

Today, you are racially divided. Back then, the conflict raged between white Anglos in the north and white Anglos in the south. There did not exist a racial hostility or hatred. Yes, there was prejudice and bigotry where many felt light skin superior to dark, European ancestry superior to African, but it was not so much that white hated black or black hated white. The seeds of racial hatred--sowed where?--have blossomed into a hemlock rash that has covered your body. It seems that there is a political element to this disease, too, as the lion's share of animosity seems to come from blue toward red. Go figure, considering the red fought so passionately against the blue to end slavery.

Today, you are morally divided. Some consider the killing of a baby in the womb an issue of personal liberty. "Who are you to tell me what I am to do with my body?" as though ending a life in the sanctuary of the womb were no different than getting a flower or butterfly tattoo. On another moral front, many hold to the God-given institution of marriage between one man and one woman while others suggest that the government should let any mix or multiplicity of partners be considered a marriage.

Today, you are economically divided. In all honesty, you're not, but those with the loudest microphones have convinced the masses that you are a nation of lords and serfs and that the oppression of the lords is far worse than anything seen throughout the Middle Ages. Looking at your economic situation, your people are far better off than they have ever been in history. Your people have more wealth, especially in the lower economic stratus, than has ever been known on this planet. There is not a want of food. Rare is the instance of starvation. None serve under the whip. None have hours mandated by a cruel boss that they cannot quit or cannot leave. None are manacled to the machine. And yet, the idea of unfair, unjust division between rich and poor is as rampant as racial hatred.

Today, you are spiritually divided. Despite the disagreements about the Bible (dizzying to think that some actually advocated slavery as practiced in 19th Century America as a good from the pages of Scripture), the country of the 1800's could appeal to the word of God to discern the way of righteousness. By and large, America has rejected the Bible as an authority for really anything to include spiritual things. Few read it. Fewer heed it. Few preachers, pastors and priests believe it to be the inspired, inerrant word of God. What then do they preach? And why bother? Might as well go to the lake on Sunday. And really, we are largely secular, espousing no religion or embracing a non-offensive, impotent, pick-your-god spirituality. You want to appeal to a moral authority? You'll not find an American consensus in the heavenlies.

Today, you are culturally divided. The only taboo that remains is stating that there is a taboo. No sexual boundaries remain. The only language considered profane is stating anything positive about Jesus Christ or his church. Regarding violence, the human body has been tortured, exploded, slashed, gashed, flayed, slayed, dissolved, dissected, burned, poked, prodded, maimed--you get the idea. Gone are the days when it is clearly a stuffed dummy tumbling down the cliff. No longer will the cowboy grip his chest and fall to the ground. No, we need to see the slow motion spray of blood and matter from the exit wound on his head from seven different angles. Thanks so much.  Many long for good story-telling coupled with discretion, telling more with less. Others long for more of the profane.

Today, you are constitutionally divided. I would say "politically divided," but it's not about politics, the art of compromise. It's about how your government should function. Do we follow the Constitution as the Founders intended, or do we follow the Constitution as it suits us in 2012--no, 2013--no, wait, 2014? If the latter, then you are France, and God help you. I do not believe that even the staunchest Federalist of the late 1700's could imagine the massive and horrifying tumor that would become the Federal government of the 21st century and how it would be destroying your soul. And yet, many today think it should be bigger and have greater control over our lives. Others think it should be razed and rebuilt, brick by brick, upon the very documents that gave you life at the beginning. Which is it?

So back to my opening salvo, what has become of you? And more troubling, what will become of you?

With each of these divisions, there seems to be little to no common ground upon which to stand or even grab some footing. We do not even agree upon a common enemy. Is it poverty? Is it sloth? Is it corporate America? Is it government intrusion? Is it Christian fundamentalists? Or is it Islamic fundamentalists? Is what's happening in Europe good or bad? Is it the Yankees or the Red Sox? We might hope for a common enemy, but even when we were brutally attacked, we lacked the courage to declare that enemy by name.

Your face has grown ashen and it seems that your pulse has weakened. I would love to see you stand tall again, hale and robust, full of color and the glory of a people submitted to the principles woven into your Declaration and your Constitution. Will another election matter? Will it change anything? Can such wide chasms be closed? Or will you finally tear yourself apart?

It seems you have a malignance beyond healing. We see the problem, we feel the problem, but we are powerless to stop the demise. Can anyone from Bangor to Burbank reassemble this crystalline structure shattered into 300 million pieces? It is beyond our reach.

And so I plead with the One who heals to turn your heart back to him. Only God can restore to you a richer and purer beauty than you once had.

I pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for that day.

The ramblings of a few deists

Another 4th come and gone. Fireworks. Baseball. Hot dog gorgings (in our case, grilled pizza). I hope that a sizable share of our people took a moment or two to consider what happened 236 years ago when men pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Perhaps they even step-stoned from here to there upon other events that figure so gravely upon our freedoms.


We hear of history being rewritten, and for many, the concern extends to our children. What kind of country will we leave them if they cannot know nor understand the roots of their nation? Most who fear the alteration of our national heritage worry about America's religious underpinnings being erased from our national memory.


Unfortunately, when Party A raises an issue of concern regarding the conduct of Party B, don't be surprised when Party B turns the tables and accuses Party A of being the real point of concern.


Consider the example of rewriting history. The secularists are trying to prune religion from our national tree, right? Oh, no. It's the religionists who are trying to neuter the secular cornerstones that our Founders laid. Or so says a secularist:

"This country wasn't founded on Christian principles, BTW. The founding fathers were, at the very least, agnostic. Archived letters from Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Franklin, etc all espouse a secular state. They all ridiculed what was happening in Europe. It's unfortunate how our history has been distorted to weave religion into its fabric. I'm all for freedom of religion until it encroaches on my own freedom/rights."

Ah, the threat of archived letters. Such an appeal to authority often comes from those who really haven't looked into the authority to which they are appealing. From stem to stern you'll not find a more godly man than John Adams nor a more godless man than Ben Franklin. At the same time, Mr. Franklin appealed often to the powers of Providence and its (his) affects on the affairs of men. Why would he appeal to Thomas Paine to reconsider his ardently secular writings (here)? Why else would he appeal to prayer during the Constitutional Convention (here)?

I have lived, Sir, a long time and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that "except the Lord build they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a bye word down to future age... 

...I therefore beg leave to move -- that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service.

Ah, Ben, you old dotard, you can't say stuff like that!

Apart from Ben and Tom Jefferson, no other Founder has been so indicted as being an anti-religionist as George Washington. "At best, he was a deist," you will heard cast about. His farewell address to our nation, after two amazing terms as our first president, paints a far different picture.


As he listed the pillars upon which our nation must stand, Washington declared:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness – these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, "where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice?" And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

That's pretty strong language for a guy who presumably--sort of, kind of--thinks that there's an unnameable, unknowable "deity."


Earlier in his address, Washington described the American people, the audience of his farewell address, in this manner:

With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles.

This supports the conviction that when our Founders spoke of religion, they spoke of Christianity, and when Congress was to make no law respecting an establishment of religion, that it was toward giving preference to a specific denomination that the Amendment referred.


How about ol' Thomas Jefferson, the guy who cut his Bible to pieces? Etched in marble within his memorial for all to see (and about which atheists cringe) are these writings of TJ. On the southwest wall:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We...solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states...And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour. 

On the northwest wall: 

Almighty God hath created the mind free...All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens...are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion...No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively. 

And the northeast wall:

God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan.

And to think that Memorial was erected in the middle of the last century. Consider what it would look like if it were built today and the quotes that would be included. 

A Christian nation? We were. As our nation has rejected the authority of Almighty God in its life, our Constitution and our principle documents have become increasingly meaningless. That is not how it began. Yes, quotes can be plucked out of context. You could make Reagan sound like a communist and Obama sound pro-life. Let none say, though, that our Founders were a secular lot. Based upon much of what they wrote, that's just not true.

The Story of the Star Spangled Banner

David Barton tells the story of how a lawyer penned a poem that would become our nation's anthem.

NBC

In case you missed it, NBC successfully neutered the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance during their opening segment to the U.S. Open golf tournament this past Sunday (here).  The bit had children reciting the pledge and cut-aways to patriotic images around the D.C. area where the tourney took place this year. When they cut away after "...one nation..." they returned to "...with liberty and justice for all."

When the phone calls began to swamp their switchboard, they fumbled their on-air apology by referencing an omission that may have caused some offense, but the offense was not intended. Ah. Okay.

NBC has done this with intent before (here). Really, this should surprise no one. We are a post-modern and certainly a post-Christian nation. Francis Schaeffer noted that art accurately reflected the heart of a culture or where that culture would go. Find a family on TV whose relationship to the Creator is treated with respect (maybe CBS' Bluebloods where they actually pray before they eat). It's not just our entertainment. We allowed our government to drive prayer from the public schools. What politician will be elected or professor be hired if it comes to light that Christ informs their life in all matters? God has been driven from the American public square.

Call it spiritual entropy. The beautiful package deposited on our doorstep in the late 1700's has been mashed to pieces, not by some hooligan or vagrant, but by us. Jesus Christ is not merely unwelcome, he is not tolerated.

Here's the deal. Whether NBC recognizes it or not, we are a nation under God. In fact, whether or not any nation recognizes it doesn't change the reality that every nation is under God. That is reality. I can deny it until my face turns red, white, and blue, but the God who created the universe and created my DNA created government to be his implementer of justice in the world (Romans 13). I can bow my knee today and submit to him acknowledging him as Lord of all or I will bow my knee one day future when it will be too late (Philippians 2:9-11, Matthew 25:46).

Am I surprised by what NBC did? Not really. Saddened, mostly. It breaks my heart to see my country turn its back on the God who has secured for us such freedoms and such opportunities.

It's time to take up the prayer of Daniel (Daniel 9:1-19).

The National Anthem

Here are a few rules in no particular order from someone who can't sing himself out of a wet paper bag on what to do if you get tapped to sing the National Anthem in some public forum.  I don't mean as one in the crowd (though I might jot ten rules for that at another time) but as the one standing there with the microphone.

1.  It's not about you.  Consider it a corporate prayer. You just happen to be the mouthpiece of 40 or 40,000 other folks in taking a moment to honor our country. Offend a Brit or a Canuck by singing it like your leading a crowd that's proud of its country.

2. Just sing the melody. Few songs rank as difficult to sing as our Star Spangled Banner. For those with vocal talent, it's not a big deal. That said, it's not the time to wow me with the prowess of your vocal talents.  Please, just sing the song.  No crazy tempo.  No wacky pitch changes.  If you can't figure out why, go back to number one.  Anyway, if you start singing like a woman in labor, you're going to screw up the timing of the fly-by, too.

3. Be respectful - face the flag.  I don't care who you are or how many platinum albums you have, it's an honor to be selected to represent those present. Look at it while you sing and not at your mug in the jumbo-tron. Remember the thousands of coffins that have been draped with that majestic piece of cloth so that you can do whatever it is that you do.

4. Be respectful - dress nicely.  That might strike you as quaint or "Beaver Cleaver," but you convey a lot by how you dress. Imagine you are going to meet someone important. That's a start.

5. Be respectful - be still. Walk straight to the microphone, and sing the song. No wild hand gestures are required. PLEASE, do not grab yourself! If you want something to do with your hand, try putting it over your heart. You ought not want folks looking at you anyway (see #1); you want them facing the flag and singing, too. When your done, please leave the stage, field, etc. Folks didn't come to see you anyway.

6. Practice. If you can't hit the notes, maybe you should bow out--no harm, no foul--but there is NO excuse for not knowing the words. If you have struggled with them in the past, you might even tote the lyrics on a 3 x 5 card.

7. Believe it. Did you know that there are four verses to the Star Spangled Banner? Yep. Let me encourage you, before you sing it in public, read all four verses. Understand the history behind the Anthem. If you can't support it or our nation, then please don't sing our nation's anthem just to steal a little face time or because you have an album coming out or because you were nominated for a Grammy.  Or if you're Sean Penn.

Yes, it is perhaps one of the most difficult national songs that has ever been, but what an awesome song it is. I long for the day when Americans will belt it out like the Canadians do during the Stanley Cup. We are, after all, Americans.  Let's sing it with pride.

THE STAR SPANGLED BANNER by Francis Scott Key


Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!


NOTE ADDED:  Just learned of a fifth verse penned by Oliver Wendell Holmes over his disgust with the start of the Civil War in 1861.  Don't believe it worthy of the original but I share it here as a footnote to history and since we are in the War's sesquicentennial.


When our land is illumined with liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile
The flag of the stars, and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained,
Who their birthright have gained
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave,
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

Bashing the hornet's nest: the death of a madman

"Good news for America," says General Barry McCaffery.

Color me skeptical.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm tickled that one with such a vehement hatred of human life and freedom has met justice in this life even as he now in death meets with justice in the next (Hebrews 9:27), but I do not believe that his death will stem the tide of Islamic terrorism against the Christian, Jewish, and secular world.

We hit a hornet's nest with a baseball bat and killed the queen.  Think the hornets will be happy?

Another talking head just suggested that U.S. military action in the Middle East has revolved around getting this man.  That, boys and girls, is the problem.  Kill the queen and the hornets will make another queen.  And what about the hundred and fifty other hornet's nests that surround the house and even infest the house?

Until America and especially American Muslims begin to take a stand against that breed of Islam that wants to annihilate anything outside of Islam, we'll continue focusing on a single hornet's nest and then get stung very badly from places we least expect it (U.S. Army majors, Afghani "allies", etc.).

Consider the man who pushed whatever button required pushing to remove breath from this man's lungs.  He could have a gajillion dollar book deal and movie deal.  He would get ticker tape parades.  He'd be on every talk show and news show in America and Europe.  Problem is that if that man's name ever gets out, he'll have a price on his head and will have to live a life incognito.  Why?  Because bin Laden is not the problem.

During WWII, folks understood that if you took out Hitler, you killed Nazi Germany.  Militant, Koran-reading, Koran-believing, Koran-living Islam has no such figure.  It continues to spread in Europe and the United States, in prisons and in Dearborn.  These folks will not delight in their queen being squashed.

I hope I'm wrong.

Unraveling

The National Review is neither inspired of God nor is it inerrant.  Only one place you can go to find such a writing (no, not ESPN).  NR does, however, provide some great fodder for cranial cud-chewing.

In a recent article, Rich Lowry, NR's editor, reviewed a speech* given by Charles Murray on the disintegration of two distinct classes in our nation, and to prevent it from becoming an issue of ethnicity, Murray sticks to "white America" thereby preventing any from shrugging these issues off as merely a problem for American blacks, hispanics, Portuguese, Puerto Ricans, Port-au-Princians, etc.

Two troubling highlights.  Number one, marriage.

In 1960, everyone was married — 88 percent of the upper middle class and 83 percent of the working class. In 2010, 83 percent of the upper middle class is married and only 48 percent of the working class. 

And quite naturally, fewer marriages equates directly to more out of wedlock births.

In 1960, births to single mothers in the working class were just 6 percent; now they are close to 50 percent.

While conservatives fight to keep the American understanding of marriage as being between a man (one) and a woman (one), most of America doesn't seem terribly concerned about marriage of any aberration.  Considering God created marriage before any other institution, such wholesale rejection of marriage should at least get our attention.  The fundamental fabric of a civilized people depends upon strong and stable families.  Mighty hard to build community apart from them.

The second troubling highlight from Murray's speech is the working class' rejection of God, too.

Although secularization has long been on the rise, it’s more pronounced in the working class. Among the upper middle class, 42 percent say they either don’t believe in God or don’t go to church. In the working class, it’s 61 percent. In other words, a majority of the upper middle class still has some religious commitment, while a majority of the working class does not.

Rather than leave us to grope about trying to determine the "So what?" of the statistic, Murray fills in the blank with a 19th century observation:

“The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity; but it can only suffice a people habitually correct in their actions, and would be utterly inadequate to the wants of a different nation. Change the domestic habits of the Americans, their religious devotion, and their high respect for morality, and it will not be necessary to change a single letter of the Constitution in order to vary the whole form of their government.”

Such statistics obliterate the myth that Christ is merely an opiate for the uneducated masses.  No, the cross of Jesus Christ remains the only sanctuary for those who have come to recognize the festering foulness of their sin before a holy God, and the blood of Jesus Christ as the only cleanser to remove such rank stains.

There was a time when the upper class refused to accept the foolishness of God because they felt it interfered with their revelings, their decadence.  The Reformation brought God back to man by allowing the common man access to the Bible, God's message to man.  It infected all aspects of culture and Western Civilization spread like wildfire.  When America struggled to her feet in the 18th century, the upper middle and lower classes all stood firmly on the word of God. That continued through most of the twentieth century with only halls of academia and the culturati turning back to secular paganism.

Today, with the demise of the American family and parental unwillingness to weave their values into their children and with school and culture holding sway over our children until their mid-twenties, is it any surprise that the preponderance of society has bought into the god of self?

Murray and Lowry are right.  Balancing the national budget is not the greatest crisis our nation faces.  It is a doozy (and I believe it, too, finds its troubled roots in the dissolution of the family and the distrust of God), but it pales in comparison to what's unraveling below the surface.

Time to look into the mirror and start bolstering those things each of us can bolster.  Start with God.  Move on to your family.  Perhaps we can stem the tide before our nation's nothing more than a tangled heap of knots.

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*The speech is forty-eight minutes long with forty minutes of question-and-answer to follow.

150 years of Blue & Gray

I am a Yankee.  No, I am NOT a fan of the boys in pinstripes.  I grew up in the north.  Though I've not lived in Minnesota far longer than I had lived in it, I still refer to myself as a Minnesotan when asked from whence I came.

Had you asked me ten years ago what I believed the cause of the Civil War to be, I would have answered slavery faster than you could say John Brown.  In fact, I would only have known John Brown as an epithet uttered by Denzel Washington in Remember the Titans.  Perhaps it had something to do with race.

Yes, I was Civil War ignorant.  Many would suggest I still am.

While far from a scholar, the last half-dozen years have opened my eyes to that enormous five-year scar on American history.  I can't even say that I'm widely read on the topic.  What I have seen and heard has dismantled my stereotypes.

America once again stands divided.  Many issues have us tearing at the fabric of our national foundations as we tear at one another.  No longer Blue and Gray, we are now Red and Blue (no association intended between the two pairings).  While the Blue/Gray ideological line divided us geographically North and South, no such geographical boundary divides Red and Blue (though some may argue that the coasts drift one direction and the heartland (aka "fly-over states") drift another).  At such a time as this and on the 150th anniversary, the sesquicentennial, of the Civil War, we would do well to familiarize ourselves with what Southerners refer to as the War of Northern Aggression.

Two good friends helped me to that end.  They introduced me to Jeff Shaara and his father Michael.  What his dad started with The Killer Angels, Jeff precluded with God's and Generals and concluded with The Last Full Measure.  They are historical novels.  From Killer Angels came the acclaimed film Gettysburg and from God's and Generals came the eponymous film, also widely acclaimed.  While the Shaara's write the stories in a novel format, the events are historically accurate.  The immense research for each book has given them insight into the individuals to thereby flesh them out for us in conversation and in action.  The books are riveting.

The second thing that has helped me to clear a bit of my ignorance and arrogance was Ken Burns' video documentary titled of all things The Civil War.  Burns did masterful work in research and story-telling.  The interviews with historians, especially the late Shelby Foote, are gripping.  I often wondered as I watched why I had never before seen the multitude of photographs that Burns brought to the screen.  Breathtaking.

So during this sesquicentennial, take some time to get to know the Civil War.  I recommend the Burns' documentary and the Shaara trilogy (and the Hollywood movies though long are well worth your time, too, whether you are North or South, Red or Blue).

Three needful (and short) reads

Some days I feel like Chicken Little. Some would suggest an even stronger resemblance.

The little red light on the dashboard of our country flickers with far greater regularity than it once did.  So steady is it now days that most folks ignore it thinking it's merely a problem with the light and not with the nation as a whole.

The God who is there weighs nations in his perfect balance (Jeremiah 18:1-10).  Based upon God's word, we have been tipping the scales.  The warning light is full on at all times.  Here are three prominent issues rattling under America's hood.

• Islam:  A Christian America is not incompatible with other religions, irreligion, or even atheism.  In fact when you look around the world and through history, the nations that have proven themselves most friendly toward the free exercise of one's convictions have been those with a strong biblical foundation.  If we take a look at those nations founded upon the Koran, those that hold most fervently to it have proven the most hostile toward other religions within their borders.
  
  So how does a free America deal with a group of people that shows itself increasingly antagonistic to who we are and our way of life?  It's a question our government is ignoring.  Read Andrew McCarthy's, Islam and the State of the Union.
• Christianity.  The least tolerated philosophy in the public arena today is anything associated with Judaism or Christianity.  Television, film, universities, and courtrooms across the country demean, dissect, insult, and dismiss them as though they birthed all things evil and as though they have manacled American progress.  Ironic because it is the source of our freedoms in America.  Don't think so?  Read Dennis Prager's, God and Congress.
• Life.  Amidst Sanctity of Human Life Month, Congressman Rick Santorum had the audacity (harumph!) to compare abortion to slavery.  Considering we have nobody around who has experienced either, the harumphing should be kept to a minimum.  Does the analogy fit?  Is he comparing the level and quantity of atrocity or is he comparing how one group of humans can consider another group of humans non-persons?  Read his own words in Life is a Civil Right.

Maybe the sky isn't falling, but it sure appears that the curtain is.  Stay informed.

Yankee Doodle

My bride and I watched James Cagney's Yankee Doodle Dandy last night, the biopic of American entertainer George M. Cohan. 

I wept.

My boys would say, "So what, Dad?  You weep during every film.  You wept watching The Incredibles."  Well, yeah, that's true.  Truth be told, novels do it, too.

It's not just the good telling of a good story that yanks the tears from my ducts.  It's the character who sets aside his dreams for another.  It's the group that sacrifices all for others or for some ideal.  It's love, extraordinary, difficult, pained, strained, sacrificial love.

Yankee Doodle Dandy was a great film.  If for no other reason, it's a renter to see James Cagney dance with an energy and beauty I'd seen from Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in Singing in the Rain.  Typically, folks breaking spontaneously into dance seems hokey.  When folks do it with the flare that these gents do it, it's worth the price of admission.  Cagney's dancing bits come during Cohan's stage acts, so they blend in with the storyline.  Even if they didn't, they'd be worth including.  Wow.  Here's a brief scene near the end where he does spontaneously break into a bit of tap.  His feet testify to his joy.



I was set to sobbing, though, because "they don't make movies like that anymore."  Like what?  Patriotic movies about patriotic people.  Cohan wrote plays, skits, music, and musicals that testified to the beauty that was America.  "You're a Grand Old Flag."  Heard any soaring songs lately about our nation's banner?  Lots of laments about what it's become but few to make the heart soar and the pride to swell.

Bald, unashamed patriotism.  Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

Here's another point.  Never once during any of the dance numbers did James Cagney grab his crotch.  Never once did he thrust his pelvis in mock intercourse.  He did write a song for Mary, the woman he so adored.  And when he proposed to her, he offered her, for the first time, a kiss of sweetness to seal the deal.  I only saw his tongue, though, when he spoke.  It was unnecessary for the director to convey the depth of love they felt for one another by showing them clenched in a Captain Kirk-dinner-eating kiss or disrobe into some knot of humanity achievable by Cirque de Soleil but not by any of us.  The film depicted their love through character development.  Through the eyes.  Through the dialogue.  Through the story (which is why Pixar continues to win the homerun derby).

Another point.  I saw depths of sorrow, depths of concern, depths of anger, depths of frustration, and not once did I hear anything that I couldn't type without symbols.  Not one blurp of profanity.  It wasn't needed.  My five- and seven- year olds could be in the room, and I didn't have to fear what they might hear or see.  They might not sit through the whole movie, but they could without my fearing what might be vomitted from the screen.

Can you name a movie, a movie targeted to adults, that kids could watch (if they wanted to) that wouldn't make your average parent blush?  Anyone?  Me, either.  In all honesty, it broke my heart a bit in Toy Story 3, a film targeted more toward children though a very mature (in the good sense) movie, when they included Barbie's admiration for Ken's ascot.  Over the kids' heads?  Some, not all.  Necessary to convey their attraction?  Nope.

There are thousands of movies of amazing quality (acting, cinematography, story, and sometimes song and dance) out there.  You'll not find them on ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox.  You'll not find them at the local cineplex.  You might find them in a small corner on a single shelf at your local movie rental store titled "classics" or buried as needles in haystacks among the fields upon fields of other films.  You might stumble upon a couple at your local Redbox.  You will find them en masse at Netflix if you are willing to pay the fee.  The best place I have found such gems is on Turner Classic Movies, and it's almost worth the price of cable.  I have little to commend Mr. Turner's politics, but he has created a special thing with TCM.

As I went to bed last night, I pondered the mythical land that birthed the likes of George M. Cohan, a land reflected and honored in his artistry, and a land chest-deep in sacrificial nobility when the movie commemorating him was filmed (1942). 

What a great movie.  There are still films and stories out there that tell about this legendary place called America.  It just takes a little work to find them.

1776

The Declaration of Independence in its entirety.  If you haven't read it in awhile, now's a great time to read what impelled our Founders to shake its ties with Britain (highlights, mine).  Note especially the reasons listed for the break.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

• He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
• He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
• He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
• He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
• He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
• He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
• He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
• He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
• He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
• He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
• He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
• He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
• For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
• For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
• For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
• For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
• For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
• For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
• For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
• For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
• For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
• He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
• He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
• He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
• He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
• He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.

American twilight

On my way to work every day, I pass Kirby World Academy.  In days of old it was known as the mundane Kirby Junior High School, but since becoming part of the International Baccalaureate, it's now in the business of

...develop(ing) inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

And that, in a modest nutshell, is why our nation has seen its better days.

You see, when KWA was KJHS, we did have intercultural understanding and respect.  The Brits were our allies.  They had lousy food, drab fashion, brutish sports fans, but great comedy.  They also had developed a greater respect for the rights of its citizens after a couple of thumps on the nose 200-ish years ago.  Great allies.  Do I think we should import all of Brittany into America.  NO!

The Soviets were not our allies.  They had lousy food, drab fashion, brutish female weight lifters, and no comedy.  They had zero respect for the individual citizen so we stood nose-to-nose with them for over forty years.  We were the only nation that had the cast-iron steelies and the muscle to stand up to them.  An evil foe.  A real foe.  Rocky Balboa and Ivan Drago.  Did anybody in their right mind think it would be great to import anything Soviet into America?  NO!  Okay, the Berkley professors thought it would be jiggy and a few whacks in Madison, Wisconsin, but most folks knew Stalin was no hero.

Why this "We are the World" silliness now? 

1. Why, when they remade Superman, would the director/producers have Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet, say that the man in blue tights fought for "truth, justice, and all that stuff" purposefully omitting the American way?
2. Why are we willing to allow the rabble of Mexico to pour over our borders?  Why, if there are procedures in place to become a citizen of this nation, do we not uphold those procedures for those crossing along Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, but we do so for Europeans, Africans, and Asians (and the occasional Pakistani with deep affections for Times Square)?  For the former, it's like walking into Wal-Mart.  For the latter, like walking into the White House.
3. Why is English not our national language?
4. Why do we hesitate in indicting Islam as causal behind the preponderance of barbarous attrocities committed against our people from within and without over the last thirty years?
5. Why do we cow to groups that demand we remove the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost from public life?
6. Why do our movie stars smoke cigars with men who loathe our nation, yet we still throw dollar after dollar at them to see their movies?
7. Why will our president bow to every heinous world leader that he comes across yet sticks his finger in the face of the one leader in Southwest Asia who fights for the rights of his people to live in freedom?
8. Why will we arrest a student for wearing a shirt with a flag on it during Cinco de Mayo?  (See #3 above)
9. Why does a reporter lament that the Times-Square terrorist had Islamic ties?  (See #4 above)

If I delay getting this thing posted any longer, I'll have thirty-seven reasons listed as the news continues to give me reason to shake my head.

So what's the deal?  Why the insanity?  Might I suggest the same reason that Kirby Junior High School is now Kirby World Academy. I believe that the sun has set upon our nation.

Yes, we still sing the National Anthem at ball games.  Yes, we still fly the flag.  No, I don't think our borders will change in the foreseeable future.  But for all intents and purposes, the United States is fading into the darkness.

Thomas Friedman's cogent work, "The World is Flat," put the spotlight on the globalization of economies.  Companies hold little national allegiance; they want to turn a profit.

With the liberalization of primary and secondary education, pledging allegiance has become passe'.  Few have any idea what "civics" is.  God has been expelled. 

America?  What is it?

As we move further down the calendar from when we used the Constitution as a governmental boundary, the three branches of government have oozed beyond their constitutional delineation to such a degree that they hold little resemblance to their nineteenth century predecessors.  The Supreme Court considers international law.  Our legislators tack micro laws onto other laws creating a product so enormous that the average citizen has no idea what the law itself states.  Our presidents, starting long before President Obama, have reached outside of their playground to grant themselves greater latitude with the military, the economy, and international policy.  No, this is NOT George Washington's government.  It's not even FDR's government, and he arguably did the most to raze the constitutional barricades.

I don't want to be France.  I don't want to be Mexico.  As much as I like the geography, I don't even want to be Canada.  I long for an America founded upon the rule of law given by the Creator and governed by a Constitution framed by that Law.  I long for a citizenry informed about our heritage and proud to be an American, not proud to be an American because it's the right thing to say but proud to be an American because what we are and what we stand for is so vastly different from anything there is out there in the world.

The propogation of Kirby World Academies highlights the indifference many in our nation already have toward what it meant to be an American.

Please tell me where I am wrong.  Please.  I would love to believe that the Red, White, and Blue has not become a dingy gray but every indicator seems to point toward a shop that long ago closed its doors.