One Nation Under God

I want you to know I am fit to be tied. I’m riled up. I’m about to have a hissy fit. My hide is chapped. My grits are over-cooked. My righteousness is indignated because things have gone on this week that have taken me to the limits of my ability to understand.

For some reason, the presidency of Donald Trump, has taken the lid off of protocol, manners, decency, truth and doing what’s right because it’s right.

There has always been an undercurrent of disapproval for the other side within political parties, but never has that escalated to a clear and vocal movement devoted to the destruction of the American political system. This week warnings of an approaching civil war were actually spoken within the capital building. I’m not sure that’s a good idea. One side has all the guns and the other doesn’t know which bathroom to use.

Bless her heart, Maxine Watters’ public cry for verbally assaulting people because of the side of the political aisle they represent is more than trash talking. It’s instigating violence. It’s harassing. It’s profiling. It’s attacking someone because they disagree with your political position. At some point this thing will turn physical. Which is what many have said about the shooting in Maryland this week. One editor for Reuters is under fire because he immediately blamed the shooting on Trump. He apologized when he learned this was the culmination of a feud the man had had with the paper since 2012.

The Supreme Court demonstrated political bias as they supported, by a 5-4 majority, a President’s authority to enforce regulations that protect our country from people indiscriminately coming here from terroristic nations. It was a constitutional matter, not political.  The dissenting justices admitted to voting against it because to them it gave the president the right to discriminate even though it was well within the constitutional guarantees granted to the office of president. When they vote, are they not to measure their decisions against the Constitution and not base their opinion on a political agenda?

The attention given to people crossing our borders illegally has been more on the separation of families than on the laws being broken. There is no country that doesn’t control its borders and exercise the right to decide who can come in and who can’t. It’s a national security issue. Our country has long standing rules that explain how one can legally enter and what law enforcement is supposed to do if that person chooses another route. Some Congressmen are actually wanting to get rid of the laws regarding our borders or stop enforcing them. How ridiculous! Even more ridiculous was the call this week to abolish ICE—Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, as though those charged with enforcing the law are the problem. A new congressional candidate won her primary by running on this platform.

Fake news is everywhere, but it’s nothing new. It’s called propaganda. Telling people what you want them to believe to sway them to your position. But now, it seems, every newscast is so mixed with fake and real, it’s hard to tell the difference. Journalism is supposed to be about the facts, but even when they tell a story accurately you’ll hear inflection in their voices or the special meaning of words they use they intend to show bias or make you doubt the implications of the story. The media is at its lowest credibility rate ever because few can trust they are telling the truth.

California Assembly considered a new law this week that would make it unlawful for a business to engage in distributing resources, selling books, offering counseling services, or directing someone to a biblically-based model for getting help with gender confusion and homosexuality, making it illegal to advertise, offer to engage in, or do engage in sexual orientation change. Even if somebody wants out this law shuts the door to help.

Canada has made a decision that will eventually affect schools in the US. They have taken away the credentials away from a Christian Law School because its statement of beliefs violates socially acceptable practices. They will no longer certify Law School graduates because of the school’s stand against lifestyle choices among other Biblical matters.

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has resigned. Immediately, cries were heard that Trump had better not select a justice who doesn’t support abortion or the tenants of Obama Care. Instead of wanting a Justice who understands the Constitution and will serve without bias, they want a political justice.

Deu 16:19 You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.

In the Enews articles I receive each day have been message after message telling pastors to stay away from political issues, immigration issues and other matters of social concern.

That was the approach Martin Niemoller, German pastor took before he was arrested and said: First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

The world wants a silent church because silence is passive agreement. Stay within your building and don’t bring your message outside. Russia just created a law requiring the very same thing.

There is a war raging and it has two targets with one bullseye. One target is the Constitution. Even though it is considered one of the most well-established documents from which a free country can remain free, it is under attack.

Thomas Jefferson – Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction. … If it is, then we have no Constitution.

Abraham Lincoln Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.

Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice – I do not believe that the meaning of the Constitution was forever ‘fixed’ at the Philadelphia Convention … To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start.

Joe Biden – Just talk to me as a father—not what the Constitution says. What do you feel?

There is a growing sector of our society that feel the document interferes with how they want America to change. Their mission is to change the Constitution.

Proverb 22:28  Do not move the ancient boundary which your fathers have set. 

Hosea 5:10-11 The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary; on them I will pour out My wrath like water. Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, because he was determined to follow man's command. 

Hillary Clinton, during her run for president, said that Christians must be forced to change their religious views to accommodate abortions. “Far too many women are still denied critical access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth. All the laws we’ve passed don’t count for much if they’re not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice — not just on paper. Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed…”

Which brings us to the other target – the Bible. Two weeks ago, FBC, Dallas, was preparing a patriotic service for this past Sunday. They bought and placed a message on billboards around the city. They wanted everyone to know America is still a Christian nation. The kickback was so harsh, the billboard company was forced to pull the messages down.

What’s the issue: freedom of speech or not making statements that offend some within the community. All it takes is an individual or group to be offended by something then complain and everyone must change to correct that offense. One lady this week didn’t like the writing on a tee-shirt. It was pulled from the shelves. Folks, I’m offended every day by what I see and hear.

But back to the statement on the billboard in Dallas: Are we a Christian nation?

Willamette University law and history professor Steven Green, who three years ago published a book: Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding said, "From where did the idea of America's founding as a Christian nation arise? In a nutshell, it arose in the early 19th century as later generations of Americans sought to establish a national identity, one that distinguished and exemplified the founding by sanctifying the nation's origins. This is the origin of the 'Christian nation' myth."

By what I see, I’m not so sure we are today what we’ve been in the past, and I know we have fallen from what the Founders had in mind. But I am absolutely convinced that how we were established, as one nation under God, isn’t a myth.

John Adams: The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.

George Washington – It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.

Thomas Jefferson – God, who gave us life, gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?

In the Congressional Record, May, 1779, Whereas, ... too few have been sufficiently awakened to a sense of their guilt, or warmed with gratitude, or taught to amend their lives and turn from their sins, so He might turn from His wrath; and whereas, from a consciousness of what we have merited at His hands. Resolved, That it be recommended to the several States to appoint the first Thursday in May next to be a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer to Almighty God that He will grant us his grace to repent of our sins and amend our lives according to His holy word; that He will diffuse useful knowledge, extend true religion, and give us that peace of mind which the world cannot give ...

The push to de-Christianize our nation defies what the Founding Fathers intended. But today that push has extended from removing Him not only from politics but from the market place, the schools and all of society, with the ultimate attempt being to remove Him from life, creating a secular society devoid of His blessings.

In other words, the two targets: the Constitution and the Bible have a similar bullseye: God Himself.

But what does the Bible say: Ps 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…

We who have been blessed by the Lord understand what that means and want our Country blessed by that same Lord. No one wants the church to control the nation, but we want the God to whom we credit for its founding to get honored for the blessings we enjoy. We want His principles for society to govern our land. We want His best for us, instead of the evil we have permitted.

So, what can we do? We can pray.

When the boys were younger and were a bit bent out of shape because of something they had no control over, I’d tell them to draw a circle on the floor and get into it. They were ultimately responsible for only the person in that circle.

·       You can’t drive somebodyelse’s car, even though you disapprove with how they are driving.

·       You can’t sing somebodyelse’s song, even though you don’t like the style of the song they’re singing.

·       You can’t make somebodyelse’s decisions, even though you dislike the decisions they are making.

·       You can’t make the country comply with your ideals, even though you think your ideals are better than theirs.

What can you do? Draw a circle. Get in it. Then, give the person in that circle to the Lord. Doing so will take away your anxiety as He gives you His peace even in unsettling days. God, hold me tight in the midst of my concerns. Please help me be all you want me to be. Use my life for your purposes and fulfill your intentions through it. Let me represent you accurately in whatever I say or do. I want to be faithful to live faithfully and not let the world, society or politics press me into their mold. I believe You hold the future, not man, and I want to be a part of whatever you plan. Help me keep my eyes on the prizes of Your goodness, Your mercy, Your grace, Your forgiveness, Your will, Your ways, Your word, Your truth. And may I honor You without exception for all the rest of my days.

When there are disturbing things I can do nothing about, I look to the only One who can perform the impossible. I look to Him who can move on the hearts and minds of others to turn them toward His will. I look to Him who can make a way through a sea of hostility and lead us through the secular wilderness toward a great and glorious promised land.

Only He can turn the great leviathan of politics from a path of destruction to a path of deliverance.

Can I influence Donald Trump and help him make his decisions? Of course not. Can He? Absolutely. Then I will pray for Donald Trump that he might yield to the influence of Almighty God. Can I influence Congress to refuse special interests and produce laws that are best for our nation? No. Can He? Absolutely. So I will pray for Congress. Can I make Supreme Court Justices refuse political bias and rule according to the Constitution? Not at all. Can He? Absolutely. So I will pray for the Supreme Court.

What good does praying do? It invites the One who holds the answer, to accomplish His will in and through me. It gets my perspective right. It places me on the correct side of the argument. It steadies my head and hands to deal with whatever I face. And when my prayers are connected with your prayers even greater things can happen.

2Chron 7:14  If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 

The only hope for America or any nation is for its people to cry out to God. Only He can fight the invisible battle with evil pushing its agenda to disconnect us from His blessings.

Only God can bless America!