Faith

There’s a phrase in my family that always brings a knowing smile anytime we hear it: “have you ever been to New York?” The phrase has its own back story but for our purposes today it means making judgments about a place without ever having been there. In other words, speaking without a full understanding of the topic being discussed.

It seems there’s a lot of that going around in America these days – people making judgments about places or people they know very little about. Millions of people lumped together into baskets of deplorables, for example. Value judgments that don’t rest on facts and experience, but on individual biases and prejudices.

We have a very incomplete view of America if we’ve only seen it from 40,000 feet en route from one coast to the other. A more complete understanding comes with a close-up ground-level view. When you travel by air you won’t see any “you’re now entering Nebraska” signs alerting you to the fact that you’re now in the airspace of the particular state miles below. When we travel over America and not through it, we’re not greeted by state mottos, slogans or people at the state lines and we can miss the richness and individualism that add color and understanding to the American Experience.

As hard as it is to imagine, the mainstream media that now either ignores or demeans middle America, once sent reporters into the red state heartland to take the cultural pulse of those living and working there – who were politically as well as geographically distanced from fellow citizens in blue coastal states. I fondly remember and looked forward to Charles Kuralt’s On the Road reports broadcast on CBS, and those came to mind when and Pam and I took recent road trips, first into the northwest: to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah, and then from southern California across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas before ending in Tennessee.

It was an education that brought an appreciation for those with callings and values rooted in an earlier time. We saw vast fields with fences and gates designed to protect and keep livestock in, not keep the unwelcome out as may be the case in more established and higher socio-economic neighborhoods.

No matter what day it was, we saw tractors in fields doing the work that would not wait until tomorrow.

We marveled at the seemingly endless trains that carried the necessities of life east and west to their destinations. To us.

And we saw trucks, endless streams of trucks, headed toward or away from the comfort of their own homes and families to transport the essentials of life to us. And we benefitted from the vast trucker support network of fuel, food and convenience stations selling virtually anything that could be needed. And then some.

Off the Interstates we drove through the business districts of what were once the centers of their regional communities. Buildings with architecture of a different era, some with boarded up windows and some with painted signs announcing the services still provided inside.

In each community we saw steeples, places of worship where the continuity of shared faith continues to be expressed as it has been for centuries, back to the time when people of common values joined together to form a new nation of United States.

And there were flags, lots of flags. Flags painted on buildings, flags flying on poles, flags rippling from the back of pickup trucks. Everywhere … flags … that expressed the values of people – Americans – whose viewpoints about the United States may be different from those in other regions, but who have equal standing to participate with those of different persuasions to create a blended American experience.

E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, One.

And as we drove and experienced new things, we imagined the stories they could tell. An unpainted, gray cinder block building, now abandoned, that once provided gasoline and clean windshields to travelers in northeastern New Mexico.

Weathered wooden homes and barns in Texas that have withstood decades of severe weather and now stand in disrepair as reminders of a different time. We wondered what kinds of celebrations had they witnessed when they were first built, or when the harvest exceeded expectations.

Then we walked on sacred battlefields in Tennessee, where Americans wearing both blue and gray prayed to the same Deity and died on the same blood-red soaked fields.

Can we look at our history today and make the necessary adjustments to preserve our future as United States? Can we, will we, learn before it’s too late, that the escalating tensions between Teams Blue and Red are a serious threat to those on both sides? And also to the world that will be catastrophically diminished if America’s lamp of freedom is extinguished?

Abraham Lincoln assessed the threat of his day with this warning: A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.

George Washington, in his Farewell Address delivered in 1796, saw beyond the horizon of his generation to see the dangers that threaten our generations today.

For a nation to survive, its citizens must share common values, because conflict is the inevitable consequence of unshared expectations. I believe President Lincoln was correct: we cannot survive as a house divided, And I believe President Washington accurately foresaw the problems that jeopardize our continued existence as a nation.

Either we will become all one thing or all the other. Which will it be? Our choices will determine our future.

That’s all for now, but I hope you will watch for the next blog post when I review several of the specific warnings in Washington’s Farewell Address and discuss how they are relevant to the political and constitutional divisions that are facing Americans today.

A nation separated from its roots will, like any plant, surely wither and die. That is the danger facing America today

Decades ago, extreme elements of American culture began infiltrating its mainstream institutions in an effort to separate America from its roots, and re-make it to their own liking. The goal was, and remains, to create a vastly different America than the one our founders envisioned, and in many different arenas today we see the evidence of their intentions and their successes.  Public schools usurp parental rights. Technology platforms restrict free exchange of ideas. Major corporations are hostile to cherished values. Media companies transitioned into leftist megaphones. Entertainment ceased entertaining in favor of indoctrinating. In the name of justice, injustice is imposed by the state. Government pierces the wall separating church and state, and public expressions of faith are threatened. Freedom of speech is under attack.

There are more examples, but this post focuses on the more strategic objectives underlying individual battles in what has become a War on History. America’s history is being systematically distorted, destroyed, and re-written. Why? Because the lack of historical context will prevent citizens from gaining an accurate understanding of the current issues they face. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and the lesson of history is that if we abandon our heritage, our future will be one of chaos and uncertainty.

Those who would re-make America understand that they must first destroy the history of our founding, and the progress we have made since. Their strategic objective is to erase past truths and replace them with current ideologies. The Father of Lies puts a high priority on distorting and abolishing the past. The God of the Bible puts a high premium on truth and remembering. Here are three examples.

Paul told the early church in Corinth, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Since then, believers have remembered what Jesus did for them when his body was broken and a new covenant was established. They understood that the taking of the bread and the cup is only meaningful because they are connected to the historical realities of a crucifixion and a resurrection.

Joshua was the leader of ancient Israel when it finally left its wandering, crossed the Jordan River, and entered the land of promise. He directed that a memorial of stones be erected so when future generations asked about its meaning, they would be told what the stones meant and would be reminded of God’s covenant and promise. The memorial of stones was built for the benefit and education of all future generations who would see the stones, and remember. America has its similar reminder in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Then consider Jeremiah, who lived centuries later in an Israel that had ceased to follow God’s covenant. But not all disbelieved. In the midst of a rebellious nation being carried into captivity, in the midst of horrific things happening all around him, Jeremiah remembered. “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope,” he said. Because of the Lord’s great love he would not be consumed. He remembered God’s faithfulness and knew that his compassions would never fail, but be given new every morning. He remembered, and his remembering provided him the larger and more truthful context that allowed him to declare “The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him”.

We are called by God to remember, yet we are also pulled away and enticed by the Father of Lies to forget. Like ancient Israel, America shares a heritage that comes from faith in the Creator. If we ever desert this truth and cut ourselves off from our roots, we will cease to live in the freedom of his blessing and experience the tyranny of man’s oppression instead.

We must resist the systematic de-construction of the Constitution, the rejection of its values, and the cancelling of our history. We must see a larger picture and understand the strategic objectives of those who sow the seeds for America’s destruction, and then respond wisely and engage in the battles that must be won.

On April 13, 1970 America’s Apollo 13 space capsule was about 200,000 miles from earth when mission commander James Lovell sent a message that caused the world to stop, look up, and pray. An oxygen tank explosion threatened the on-board life-support systems and the original mission was scrubbed and replaced with an unprecedented rescue operation. It was only by the prayers of millions and the extraordinary efforts of countless dedicated workers, that the three astronauts returned safely to earth after four cold, dark, long and anxious days in their crippled ship.

Apollo 13’s problem was that the support module lost its integrity. It was no longer whole but broken, and the damage done meant it could no longer accomplish what its designers intended. It would be nearly a year before the next Apollo mission would be launched and then only after a thorough review of what went wrong and all the needed corrections were made.

America today has an integrity problem. We are no longer whole but broken, and in our present condition we can no longer accomplish what our designers intended.  Without integrity there will be no trust, and on many many levels America has lost the trust of its own citizens and citizens of countries that once looked to us for hope and courage.

How did this happen? We disconnected ourselves from the life-support systems that nurtured us at our founding and strengthened us as we matured. Self-evident truths are being discarded. The unalienable rights endowed to us by our Creator are being overwritten by edicts from a government not by the people and for the people, but over the people. Like the Apollo astronauts we find ourselves in a position of grave danger.

How did we get here? We have replaced God’s wisdom with Man’s whims. Objective truth is no longer recognized. Centuries of proven and time-tested lessons are trampled in a rush to re-invent America in a foreign image. Our lawmakers pass laws yet don’t follow what they themselves have enacted. Our “leaders” lie and deceive in order to win votes, with no intention of fulfilling the promises they’ve publicly made. Honesty has taken a holiday.

There is little desire for truth if it will cause one faction or the other to lose power. Professional “spin doctors” concoct elaborate stories to persuade but, when stripped of all the cleverness, only deceit remains. News and Fake News battle daily and it is nearly impossible to distinguish which is true, since the once-trusted voices that report the news have themselves compromised their integrity and lost the trust of the people they are supposed to serve.

We were once a nation of laws, and proudly so. But look around, can that be said today when the powerful and privileged are seemingly immune from legal sanctions? When undisputed perjury at the highest levels of authority is ignored, or worse, is encouraged if it advances the desired narrative or outcome?

Washington, we have a problem. With you. You cannot continue to take an oath to support and defend the Constitution and then ignore or trample it. You cannot expect our trust when you repeatedly act with deceit. America’s life-support systems are at risk, and a course correction is desperately needed.

So, what can we do? How can we find our way back from here? There’s a formula that was once prescribed for the benefit of another nation that had lost its way: if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins, and heal their land. Those words, and that path, would be readily recognized by the founders of America; my prayer now is that America’s current rulers would seriously heed this counsel, and that you, and I, and every American, would do the same.

God bless.

This is the second half of a two-part post. Taken together these posts were written to support the Reflections presented in an earlier blog titled A Critical Crossroads.

An ancient proverb says this: “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” If we’re going to survive as a people and as a nation, our decisions must be founded on wisdom. But are they? Does the trajectory of our nation  suggest that we are headed in the right direction? Or does it seem like just a bunch of hooey?

James 3:13-18 has guidelines that are helpful in answering these questions.

“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.”

When you hear our leaders speak, ask yourself: are their actions consistent with their words and do they reflect an attitude of servant leaderships, or do they display a bitterness, arrogance and self-centered ambition. William Barclay gives four characteristics of these people:

• They are fanatical and violently hold to views that are unbalanced and without principled conviction.
• They are bitter and seek to annihilate opponents rather than persuade them.
• They are supremely selfish and more eager to win than they are to see truth prevail.
• They are arrogant and show pride only in their own knowledge rather than with humility that there might be some things they are still in need of learning.

These characteristics don’t reflect God; they are manifestations of those who have rejected God’s supremacy: the world, the flesh, and the devil. James continues with this caution: where these kinds of wisdom prevail, we will find disorder and every evil thing.

Look around, it’s not difficult to see that the order of the past is being overturned and replaced with disorder, while time-tested truths are replaced with every evil thing. Insanity is being emboldened and enthroned.

But there is another option open to us – we can choose a wisdom that is pure, considerate, full of peace and mercy, willing to yield its rights to another, undivided in mind and without hypocrisy.

Each of us must determine which characteristics we would like to have define our lives, and the life of our culture itself. In 1858 Abraham Lincoln assessed what his United States was becoming, and judged that a house so divided could not stand. Either it would become all the one thing, or all the other.

We stand in a similar place today; we cannot remain a nation so divided. We need to pause and assess our own lives, then determine if we like what we see, and whether what we see reflects the characteristics of God or of his adversaries. Mercy and a pursuit of truth? Or a deeper descent into disorder and every evil thing?

God help us to choose wisely.