The turkey is not yet gone (leftovers seem to last FOREVER!), but the merchants have been in “go-gear” for weeks already. And once again we are seeing folks tiptoeing around the season, refusing to recognize the REASON for CHRISTMAS, and fearing to be politically incorrect, substituting the word “holiday” for Christmas! Quite honestly, it makes me “madder than a wet hen” that we have become such a “wimpy” nation that we can’t celebrate the birth of Jesus openly without fear of offending someone!
I thought I’d heard it all until someone at work the other day was talking about how Santas hired for the Season were no longer allowed to say “ho-ho-ho” because it might have an offensive interpretation in "street" language. Now, really! What is going on when we're censoring Santa's vocabulary in such a ridiculous way? "Ho-ho-ho, merry Christmas!" was a cheery greeting from Santa Claus long before it had any other interpretation that I'm aware of. I'm hereby re-claiming it for its originally-intended meaning.
Assuming it actually did happen, this is just the latest in an attempt to tone down the holiday season in a way that makes it almost unrecognizable from what it was when I was a kid. Back then -- w-a-y back then -- we still had Christmas pageants in school. We sang carols. I'm pretty sure we had plenty of kids from other faiths who did not celebrate Christmas, but who enjoyed the traditions as much as the rest of us. Was it insensitive? Perhaps just a bit. Is it right that we've toned it down in our schools? More than likely. But I can't help thinking that we've lost something in our desire not to offend anyone at anytime.
Why can't we celebrate all traditions in our schools and in our communities? Isn't that the perfect way to teach under-standing and tolerance of all religions and beliefs?
No one is a greater defender of the separation of church and state than I am. Nor does anyone believe more strongly that religious freedom is one of the most basic tenets of our society. Doesn't that mean that we should learn about other faiths, respect them and especially teach tolerance of them to our children? My church youth group (MYF), w-a-y back when, studied other religions. We went to services in other churches. We were taught to embrace the similarities and to understand the differences. Isn't that the real lesson our kids should be taught, rather than stripping away all mention of religion and faith in our schools? Children have such open minds and hearts. Wouldn't the world be a better place if we worried less about being politically-correct and more about instilling values and respect for others and their beliefs and traditions? Perhaps, then, there'd be fewer hate crimes based on religious differences.
This seems like the ideal season to dream of such things. And I'll do it with carols playing. I'll wish people happy holidays or merry Christmas, as appropriate. And I'll expect all the Santas whose paths I cross to bellow cheerfully, "Ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas!"
In the meantime, I wish all of you joy, the happiest of holiday seasons and, for those of you who share my faith, a very merry Christmas.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
The Church Walking with the World
The Church and the World walked far apart
On the changing shores of time,
The World was singing a giddy song,
And the Church a hymn sublime.
“Come, give me your hand,” said the merry World,
“And walk with me this way!”
But the faithful Church hid her gentle hands
And solemnly answered “Nay!
I will not give you my hand at all,
And I will not walk with you;
Your way is the way that leads to death;
Your words are all untrue.”
“Nay, walk with me but a little space,”
Said the World with a kindly air;
“The road I walk is a pleasant road,
And the sun shines always there.
Your path is thorny and rough and rude,
But mine is broad and plain;
My way is paved with flowers and dews,
And yours with tears and pain.
The sky to me is always blue,
No want, no toil I know;
The sky above you is always dark,
Your lot is a lot of woe.
There’s room enough for you and me
To travel side by side.”
Half shyly the Church approached the World
And gave him her hand of snow;
And the old World grasped it and walked along,
Saying, in accents low:
“Your dress is too simple to please my taste;
I will give you pearls to wear,
Rich velvets and silks for your graceful form,
And diamonds to deck your hair.”
The Church looked down at her plain white robes,
And then at the dazzling World,
And blushed as she saw his handsome lip
With a smile contemptuous curled.
“I will change my dress for a costlier one,”
Said the Church, with a smile of grace;
Then her pure white garments drifted away,
And the World gave, in their place,
Beautiful satins and shining silks,
Roses and gems and costly pearls;
While over her forehead her bright hair fell
Crisped in a thousand curls.
“Your house is too plain,” said the proud old World,
“I’ll build you one like mine;
With walls of marble and towers of gold,
And furniture ever so fine.”
So he built her a costly and beautiful house;
Most splendid it was to behold;
Her sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there
Gleaming in purple and gold.
Rich fairs and shows in the halls were held,
And the World and his children were there.
Laughter and music and feasts were heard
In the place that was meant for prayer.
There-were cushioned seats for the rich and the gay,
To sit in their pomp and pride;
But the poor who were clad in shabby array,
Sat meekly down outside.
“You give too much to the poor,” said the World.
“Far more than you ought to do;
If they are in need of shelter and food,
Why need it trouble you?
Go, take your money and buy rich robes,
Buy horses and carriages fine;
Buy pearls and jewels and dainty food,
Buy the rarest and costliest wine.
My children, they dote on all these things,
And if you their love would win
You must do as they do, and walk in the ways
That they are walking in.”
So the poor were turned from her door in scorn,
And she heard not the orphan’s cry;
But she drew her beautiful robes aside,
As the widows went weeping by.
Then the sons of the World and the Sons of the Church
Walked closely hand and heart,
And only the Master, who knoweth all,
Could tell the two apart.
Then the Church sat down at her ease, and said,
“I am rich and my goods increase;
I have need of nothing, or aught to do,
But to laugh, and dance, and feast.”
The sly World heard, and he laughed in his sleeve,
And mockingly said, aside:
“The Church is fallen, the beautiful Church;
And her shame is her boast and her pride.”
The angel drew near to the mercy seat,
And whispered in sighs her name;
Then the loud anthems of rapture were hushed,
And heads were covered with shame.
And a voice was heard at last by the Church
From Him who sat on the throne:
“I know thy works, and how thou hast said,
‘I am rich, and hast not known
That thou art naked, poor and blind,
And wretched before my face;’
Therefore from my presence cast I thee out,
And blot thy name from its place.”
"...you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine." Leviticus 20:26
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'
Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
by Matilda C. Edwards
Best Loved Poems (Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing, 1936), pages 345-347.
This poem was not listed among those that required reprint permission.
On the changing shores of time,
The World was singing a giddy song,
And the Church a hymn sublime.
“Come, give me your hand,” said the merry World,
“And walk with me this way!”
But the faithful Church hid her gentle hands
And solemnly answered “Nay!
I will not give you my hand at all,
And I will not walk with you;
Your way is the way that leads to death;
Your words are all untrue.”
“Nay, walk with me but a little space,”
Said the World with a kindly air;
“The road I walk is a pleasant road,
And the sun shines always there.
Your path is thorny and rough and rude,
But mine is broad and plain;
My way is paved with flowers and dews,
And yours with tears and pain.
The sky to me is always blue,
No want, no toil I know;
The sky above you is always dark,
Your lot is a lot of woe.
There’s room enough for you and me
To travel side by side.”
Half shyly the Church approached the World
And gave him her hand of snow;
And the old World grasped it and walked along,
Saying, in accents low:
“Your dress is too simple to please my taste;
I will give you pearls to wear,
Rich velvets and silks for your graceful form,
And diamonds to deck your hair.”
The Church looked down at her plain white robes,
And then at the dazzling World,
And blushed as she saw his handsome lip
With a smile contemptuous curled.
“I will change my dress for a costlier one,”
Said the Church, with a smile of grace;
Then her pure white garments drifted away,
And the World gave, in their place,
Beautiful satins and shining silks,
Roses and gems and costly pearls;
While over her forehead her bright hair fell
Crisped in a thousand curls.
“Your house is too plain,” said the proud old World,
“I’ll build you one like mine;
With walls of marble and towers of gold,
And furniture ever so fine.”
So he built her a costly and beautiful house;
Most splendid it was to behold;
Her sons and her beautiful daughters dwelt there
Gleaming in purple and gold.
Rich fairs and shows in the halls were held,
And the World and his children were there.
Laughter and music and feasts were heard
In the place that was meant for prayer.
There-were cushioned seats for the rich and the gay,
To sit in their pomp and pride;
But the poor who were clad in shabby array,
Sat meekly down outside.
“You give too much to the poor,” said the World.
“Far more than you ought to do;
If they are in need of shelter and food,
Why need it trouble you?
Go, take your money and buy rich robes,
Buy horses and carriages fine;
Buy pearls and jewels and dainty food,
Buy the rarest and costliest wine.
My children, they dote on all these things,
And if you their love would win
You must do as they do, and walk in the ways
That they are walking in.”
So the poor were turned from her door in scorn,
And she heard not the orphan’s cry;
But she drew her beautiful robes aside,
As the widows went weeping by.
Then the sons of the World and the Sons of the Church
Walked closely hand and heart,
And only the Master, who knoweth all,
Could tell the two apart.
Then the Church sat down at her ease, and said,
“I am rich and my goods increase;
I have need of nothing, or aught to do,
But to laugh, and dance, and feast.”
The sly World heard, and he laughed in his sleeve,
And mockingly said, aside:
“The Church is fallen, the beautiful Church;
And her shame is her boast and her pride.”
The angel drew near to the mercy seat,
And whispered in sighs her name;
Then the loud anthems of rapture were hushed,
And heads were covered with shame.
And a voice was heard at last by the Church
From Him who sat on the throne:
“I know thy works, and how thou hast said,
‘I am rich, and hast not known
That thou art naked, poor and blind,
And wretched before my face;’
Therefore from my presence cast I thee out,
And blot thy name from its place.”
"...you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine." Leviticus 20:26
"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'
Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18
by Matilda C. Edwards
Best Loved Poems (Garden City, NY: Garden City Publishing, 1936), pages 345-347.
This poem was not listed among those that required reprint permission.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A PSALM FOR TODAY
All together now...
Obama is the shepherd I did not want.
He leadeth me beside the still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
I am glad I am American,
I am glad that I am free.
But I wish I was a dog ...
And Obama was a tree.
Obama is the shepherd I did not want.
He leadeth me beside the still factories.
He restoreth my faith in the Republican party.
He guideth me in the path of unemployment for his party's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the bread line,
I shall fear no hunger, for his bailouts are with me.
He has anointed my income with taxes,
My expenses runneth over.
Surely, poverty and hard living will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will live in a mortgaged home forever.
I am glad I am American,
I am glad that I am free.
But I wish I was a dog ...
And Obama was a tree.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
TIME FOR SOME POLITICAL KNEE-CAPPING
The following article by Vincent Fiore is well worth sharing:
TIME FOR SOME POLITICAL KNEE-CAPPING
by Vincent Fiore - July 15, 2009 - www.RenewAmerica.com
At times, there is a real need to step outside of one's box and do something totally foreign in regard to that person's natural inclination. This applies to political parties as well.
At last count, the U.S. has two major parties. One of them, the Democratic Party, has absolute power on Capitol Hill. The party's leaders run the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. In both houses of Congress, Democrats rule with comfortable margins.
And why not? George W. Bush wasn't even in Washington yet, let alone sworn in as the nation's 43rd president before Democrats started an organized chant of hate against him. A dutifully agenda-driven media merrily chanted along, as the "selected" or "illegitimate" president awaited inauguration day to begin his term in office.
The left never let up. Even when the events of 9/11 brought a nation to its knees, Bush essentially got a three-week reprieve from the Democrats' ceaseless attacks until they savaged him anew, for inaction against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban no less.
To make matters worse, Bush continued to parrot his "new tone" refrain — which just infuriated rank and file conservatives — as if the Democratic Party hierarchy would ascend to this higher plateau of political debate.
No. We are talking about the Democratic Party, a party that is rhetorically monosyllabic. Democrat Party leaders know of no other way but to be as verbally ugly as possible to their Republicans counterparts.
Be it eight years before, during, or even, I will venture, after Bush, the left has kept and will keep a steady cadence of hate against anything other than their policies, and of those Republican politicians who would presume to stand in their way.
And these days, when a few hardy souls decide to stand up to President Obama and company, out pop the GOP's "New Republicans."
Does anyone with a few brain cells to rub together believe that the likes of Christopher Buckley, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, or that paragon of republicanism, Colin Powell, represent anything other than the elitist (read as: liberal) northeast establishment that spawned them?
These are the people who will lead the "New Republican" Party? The very people who voted for Barack Obama? I guess I'm just one of those out-of-touch conservative throwbacks that haven't gotten the news that the age of Reaganism is dead.
Well, the age of Reagan is only dead to those who wish it so. What needs to happen is, quite simply, Mr. Powell and the rest of the "New Republican" Party spokesmen need to be sent packing. There is nothing lacking with tried and true conservatism. What is lacking is a full-throated and clear-voiced messenger to articulate its platforms.
That voice may belong to Sarah Palin, or that voice could very well come from Mitt Romney. It could be someone else who has yet to rise from a beleaguered yet recovering Republican Party.
But whoever steps up and becomes the GOP standard-bearer, know this: Democrats will not "spare the rod" if you'll pardon the phrase. Every candidate the GOP fields in 2010 and 1212 will be continually savaged and treated as a virus to be in turn eliminated by the Democrats, and predictably, the liberal media as well.
The GOP might want to listen to what then-candidate Obama said at a fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 13, 2008: "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
And since Democrats have been bringing guns to political fights for years, I suggest the GOP bring not just "a" gun, but many guns.
Republicans will either grow a backbone when dealing in the blood sport of politics, or be permanently relegated to the political wilderness.
So the next time you hear some well-meaning Republican retread wax on about the need to grow the party by abandoning conservative principles for those of the left, simply show him the door.
In fact, open it for him, and let it hit'em in the rear for good measure. Surely, the last eight years have shown how serious the Democratic Party plays the game of politics. It is well past the time that the GOP turns the game around on Democrats and these well-meaning but fatuous "New Republicans" as well.
The time to do what has seemingly eluded Republicans these many years is fight, and fight to kill; politically that is. (End of Article)
SARAH....SARAH....SARAH
"Could it be that she is God's vessel for such a time as this?"\
A modern day Esther?
TIME FOR SOME POLITICAL KNEE-CAPPING
by Vincent Fiore - July 15, 2009 - www.RenewAmerica.com
At times, there is a real need to step outside of one's box and do something totally foreign in regard to that person's natural inclination. This applies to political parties as well.
At last count, the U.S. has two major parties. One of them, the Democratic Party, has absolute power on Capitol Hill. The party's leaders run the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. In both houses of Congress, Democrats rule with comfortable margins.
And why not? George W. Bush wasn't even in Washington yet, let alone sworn in as the nation's 43rd president before Democrats started an organized chant of hate against him. A dutifully agenda-driven media merrily chanted along, as the "selected" or "illegitimate" president awaited inauguration day to begin his term in office.
The left never let up. Even when the events of 9/11 brought a nation to its knees, Bush essentially got a three-week reprieve from the Democrats' ceaseless attacks until they savaged him anew, for inaction against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban no less.
To make matters worse, Bush continued to parrot his "new tone" refrain — which just infuriated rank and file conservatives — as if the Democratic Party hierarchy would ascend to this higher plateau of political debate.
No. We are talking about the Democratic Party, a party that is rhetorically monosyllabic. Democrat Party leaders know of no other way but to be as verbally ugly as possible to their Republicans counterparts.
Be it eight years before, during, or even, I will venture, after Bush, the left has kept and will keep a steady cadence of hate against anything other than their policies, and of those Republican politicians who would presume to stand in their way.
And these days, when a few hardy souls decide to stand up to President Obama and company, out pop the GOP's "New Republicans."
Does anyone with a few brain cells to rub together believe that the likes of Christopher Buckley, David Frum, Peggy Noonan, or that paragon of republicanism, Colin Powell, represent anything other than the elitist (read as: liberal) northeast establishment that spawned them?
These are the people who will lead the "New Republican" Party? The very people who voted for Barack Obama? I guess I'm just one of those out-of-touch conservative throwbacks that haven't gotten the news that the age of Reaganism is dead.
Well, the age of Reagan is only dead to those who wish it so. What needs to happen is, quite simply, Mr. Powell and the rest of the "New Republican" Party spokesmen need to be sent packing. There is nothing lacking with tried and true conservatism. What is lacking is a full-throated and clear-voiced messenger to articulate its platforms.
That voice may belong to Sarah Palin, or that voice could very well come from Mitt Romney. It could be someone else who has yet to rise from a beleaguered yet recovering Republican Party.
But whoever steps up and becomes the GOP standard-bearer, know this: Democrats will not "spare the rod" if you'll pardon the phrase. Every candidate the GOP fields in 2010 and 1212 will be continually savaged and treated as a virus to be in turn eliminated by the Democrats, and predictably, the liberal media as well.
The GOP might want to listen to what then-candidate Obama said at a fundraiser in Philadelphia on June 13, 2008: "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
And since Democrats have been bringing guns to political fights for years, I suggest the GOP bring not just "a" gun, but many guns.
Republicans will either grow a backbone when dealing in the blood sport of politics, or be permanently relegated to the political wilderness.
So the next time you hear some well-meaning Republican retread wax on about the need to grow the party by abandoning conservative principles for those of the left, simply show him the door.
In fact, open it for him, and let it hit'em in the rear for good measure. Surely, the last eight years have shown how serious the Democratic Party plays the game of politics. It is well past the time that the GOP turns the game around on Democrats and these well-meaning but fatuous "New Republicans" as well.
The time to do what has seemingly eluded Republicans these many years is fight, and fight to kill; politically that is. (End of Article)
SARAH....SARAH....SARAH
"Could it be that she is God's vessel for such a time as this?"\
A modern day Esther?
Saturday, July 4, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA.....
OUR AMERICA
Weekly devotional by Barbara Sanders
Deuteronomy 4:7 "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?"
We call her “America, the Beautiful”, land of the free and home of the brave.
1. I remember Lady Bird Johnson on her drive to “Beautify America”. She truly believed that America was a beautiful place in which to live, to bring up our children, and she wanted others to see what she saw within our great nation. She strived to have the roadways beautified, and America, as a whole, cleaned to perfection. Did she make it?
2. We are called the 'land of the free'. Our freedom is slowly but surely being eroded, and so quietly, that most of the public doesn't realize how many freedoms he or she has already lost. The government, which is to be 'by the people, for the people', has become so large, that it's mostly bigwigs working for interest groups. The individual American has gotten lost in the shuffle. We elect the representatives of the people to vote our conscience, only to have them cave into the big interest groups.
3. And, to the part about the “home of the brave”; just how brave are we? We owe a debt to those of our society who served in all the Wars for the freedom of our country. They will forever be esteemed in high regard. But, as a whole, we have lost lots of our bravery. We didn't stand up against poverty, and passed the Welfare bill. America should have been helping her own to get out of poverty, rather than making a way out of working for some.. Many needed the help at the time, but we shouldn’t be footing the bill for life.
Then, along came the adversity to school prayer; actually, it was adversity to God, Himself - let's face it! Did we open our mouths and make ourselves known? No, we kept our lips tight, and God was removed from the schools, resulting in what you now know as the fight for 'separation of church and state'. Folks, I'm here to tell you that we didn't only separate 'church and state'; we separated God from the children that we so dearly love! Many of our children will never hear the Word - many will never dart in the door of a church. Now, we have come to the point where, if you say that you 'ask God to help' you through all your problems in life, work, etc., then you have overstepped your boundaries, and are no longer fit to occupy a government job! I ask you, people, when are these atrocities going to stop, and we put GOD back in HIS place?
In one song, it speaks of "God shed His grace on thee". How long do you think that GOD is going to freely pour His Grace on a nation that has repeatedly turned their backs on Him? Does He have to give us grace of mercy? Law hasn't been made and can't be made that would put God as one disobeying LAW, if he chose fit to not display the grace and mercy that we have so long expected of Him. I believe He will certainly let grace and mercy flow freely to 'his people', but perhaps not to the nation as a whole, unless we conform our belief in ONE GOD, by returning to 'His laws' and obeying those commandments. He's a just God, but One with Whom it doesn't pay to play around.
God asked, many times, in the Bible, "How long"? To Pharaoh - 'how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?' To Moses, 'how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws'? 'How long will your people continue to provoke me?' To the people of America, He is probably saying, "How long"?
Heavenly Father, how long will You let this nation escape, unless it returns to You? Help us, as a nation, realize that only through You will we gain back that which we have lost, the respect that we once had from all nations. Help us to become truly America, the land of the free! In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Weekly devotional by Barbara Sanders
Deuteronomy 4:7 "For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?"
We call her “America, the Beautiful”, land of the free and home of the brave.
1. I remember Lady Bird Johnson on her drive to “Beautify America”. She truly believed that America was a beautiful place in which to live, to bring up our children, and she wanted others to see what she saw within our great nation. She strived to have the roadways beautified, and America, as a whole, cleaned to perfection. Did she make it?
2. We are called the 'land of the free'. Our freedom is slowly but surely being eroded, and so quietly, that most of the public doesn't realize how many freedoms he or she has already lost. The government, which is to be 'by the people, for the people', has become so large, that it's mostly bigwigs working for interest groups. The individual American has gotten lost in the shuffle. We elect the representatives of the people to vote our conscience, only to have them cave into the big interest groups.
3. And, to the part about the “home of the brave”; just how brave are we? We owe a debt to those of our society who served in all the Wars for the freedom of our country. They will forever be esteemed in high regard. But, as a whole, we have lost lots of our bravery. We didn't stand up against poverty, and passed the Welfare bill. America should have been helping her own to get out of poverty, rather than making a way out of working for some.. Many needed the help at the time, but we shouldn’t be footing the bill for life.
Then, along came the adversity to school prayer; actually, it was adversity to God, Himself - let's face it! Did we open our mouths and make ourselves known? No, we kept our lips tight, and God was removed from the schools, resulting in what you now know as the fight for 'separation of church and state'. Folks, I'm here to tell you that we didn't only separate 'church and state'; we separated God from the children that we so dearly love! Many of our children will never hear the Word - many will never dart in the door of a church. Now, we have come to the point where, if you say that you 'ask God to help' you through all your problems in life, work, etc., then you have overstepped your boundaries, and are no longer fit to occupy a government job! I ask you, people, when are these atrocities going to stop, and we put GOD back in HIS place?
In one song, it speaks of "God shed His grace on thee". How long do you think that GOD is going to freely pour His Grace on a nation that has repeatedly turned their backs on Him? Does He have to give us grace of mercy? Law hasn't been made and can't be made that would put God as one disobeying LAW, if he chose fit to not display the grace and mercy that we have so long expected of Him. I believe He will certainly let grace and mercy flow freely to 'his people', but perhaps not to the nation as a whole, unless we conform our belief in ONE GOD, by returning to 'His laws' and obeying those commandments. He's a just God, but One with Whom it doesn't pay to play around.
God asked, many times, in the Bible, "How long"? To Pharaoh - 'how long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?' To Moses, 'how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws'? 'How long will your people continue to provoke me?' To the people of America, He is probably saying, "How long"?
Heavenly Father, how long will You let this nation escape, unless it returns to You? Help us, as a nation, realize that only through You will we gain back that which we have lost, the respect that we once had from all nations. Help us to become truly America, the land of the free! In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
Friday, June 12, 2009
A TIMELY CHALLENGE
These are trying days and times for America. Only recently, our President , while speaking in Turkey in behalf of the American people, said: “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.” Sad to say, President Obama is correct! We are a country divided, with two principal nations currently trying to coexist within the same country; there are irreconcilable differences on the big questions of life. These two principal warring nations fundamentally consist of left versus right.
America’s shores once assimilated different cultures and religions into its existing “one nation under God.” Today America is a much more diverse place. The problems, however, are not census numbers and diversity, but that Christian morality has been systematically undermined in lower education, academia, media and govern-ment (particularly the U.S. Supreme Court) for several decades. The problem was never the traditional Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus – they, for the most part, are happy to live in a country founded on faith in the Judeo-Christian God in which they may live freely, enjoying the practice of their particular religions. Indeed, the basic morality of right and wrong of traditional religions is strikingly similar. The vast gulf in morality is between the far left and traditional Americans.
When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1892 observed that “this is a Christian nation”, it wasn’t that people of other religions as well as non- believers were nonexistent in America at the time. The observation could be made because people of all beliefs largely respected the Judeo- Christian system and accepted it as SOCIETY’S basis for right and wrong and moral order.
Time has proven that we cannot LEGISLATE moral order and ethical behavior. Is it not time to return to the Judeo-Christian guidelines upon which America was founded?
What better way to start than by reminding ourselves and teaching our children to live by the Ten Commandments.
Below is an easy-to-learn version of both the Old Covenant and New Covenant Commandments. They're all the same....simply worded differently.
OLD COVENANT TEN
COMMANDMENTS
1. No other Gods.
2. No idols.
3. Do not take God’s Name in vain.
4. Keep Sabbath holy.
5. Honor Parents.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not give false testimony.
10. Do not covet.
EQUIVALENT NEW
COVENANT LAWS
1. Do not love the world; worship and serve God only.
2. Do not make idols nor be full of greed.
3. Do not swear by anything, avoid hypocrisy.
4. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath Rest.
5. Obey and honor parents.
6. Do not be angry with or hate brothers or sisters.
7. Do not be filled with lust, do not divorce or marry one who is divorced.
8. Do not take from others, and be generous to those in need.
9. Do not give false testimony or speak evil against your brother.
10. Be content; do not worry.
TEACH THEM TO YOUR CHILDREN
America’s shores once assimilated different cultures and religions into its existing “one nation under God.” Today America is a much more diverse place. The problems, however, are not census numbers and diversity, but that Christian morality has been systematically undermined in lower education, academia, media and govern-ment (particularly the U.S. Supreme Court) for several decades. The problem was never the traditional Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus – they, for the most part, are happy to live in a country founded on faith in the Judeo-Christian God in which they may live freely, enjoying the practice of their particular religions. Indeed, the basic morality of right and wrong of traditional religions is strikingly similar. The vast gulf in morality is between the far left and traditional Americans.
When the U.S. Supreme Court in 1892 observed that “this is a Christian nation”, it wasn’t that people of other religions as well as non- believers were nonexistent in America at the time. The observation could be made because people of all beliefs largely respected the Judeo- Christian system and accepted it as SOCIETY’S basis for right and wrong and moral order.
Time has proven that we cannot LEGISLATE moral order and ethical behavior. Is it not time to return to the Judeo-Christian guidelines upon which America was founded?
What better way to start than by reminding ourselves and teaching our children to live by the Ten Commandments.
Below is an easy-to-learn version of both the Old Covenant and New Covenant Commandments. They're all the same....simply worded differently.
OLD COVENANT TEN
COMMANDMENTS
1. No other Gods.
2. No idols.
3. Do not take God’s Name in vain.
4. Keep Sabbath holy.
5. Honor Parents.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not give false testimony.
10. Do not covet.
EQUIVALENT NEW
COVENANT LAWS
1. Do not love the world; worship and serve God only.
2. Do not make idols nor be full of greed.
3. Do not swear by anything, avoid hypocrisy.
4. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath Rest.
5. Obey and honor parents.
6. Do not be angry with or hate brothers or sisters.
7. Do not be filled with lust, do not divorce or marry one who is divorced.
8. Do not take from others, and be generous to those in need.
9. Do not give false testimony or speak evil against your brother.
10. Be content; do not worry.
TEACH THEM TO YOUR CHILDREN
Friday, May 1, 2009
SPENDING TIME
I heard a song on the radio a few weeks ago called "100 Years," by a group named Five for Fighting. It was the tune that caught my attention at first, but the words were just as haunting. The premise of the song is that if you've only got 100 years to live, then 15 is a great age to be because you've got plenty of time—"time to buy, time to lose, time to choose." Twenty-two isn't bad either, as you're just crossing the threshold into grown-up pursuits. At 33 or so it feels like things are coming together—you have people in your life and work to do. But at 45 you're nearing the halfway mark, and time is slipping away. At 67 the sun is falling toward the horizon, and before you know it, you're 99, wondering where the time went and wishing you were 15 again, even for a moment.
When I heard that song, it brought to mind another song, a much older one. I don't mean from the sixties or seventies. I'm talking about one of the oldest songs in human history: Psalm 90. The Psalms, of course, were songs, and were to be sung by God's people in worship and reflection. Psalm 90, which is connected somehow to Moses, may be one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible.
Like the song "100 Years," Psalm 90 ponders the passing of time. The singer seems to be perplexed, troubled even, by the brevity of life. The way he figures it, we've got more like 70 years—threescore and 10—or maybe 80 if we're lucky. Whatever the number turns out to be, they pass quickly, he says, and before we know it, we've come to the end, and we wonder if our lives have counted for something, for anything. Has it all been trouble and sorrow, or will we have something to show for the years we've spent in this world?
That's a question we all ask from time to time. Not every day, probably, not even most days. But on certain days—when life slows down for a few moments, when the calendar flips from one year to another, when we blow out the candles on another birthday cake, when we hear of a celebrity who's passed away or of tens of thousands lost in a wave of disaster—we stop and think about the passing of time, about the meaning of our lives.
If we want our life to count, we have to number our days. Let's take a closer look at Psalm 90 and see what that means. As I mentioned above, Psalm 90 may be one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible. It's attributed to Moses, but we're not sure exactly what that means—if Moses actually composed it, or if it came from Moses' era, or if it was written by a later author from Moses' point of view. Whoever wrote it, and whenever he wrote it, he was thinking about the passing of time.
He could have been a young person, looking ahead to all that life held for him. He could have been an older person, looking back and wondering what his life had meant. Or, he could just as easily have been at mid-life, looking both ways at once, and wondering.
Whatever the circumstances, and whichever way he's looking, the author sees two things.
First, the eternality of God. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place through all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the Earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."
Moses certainly understood the immortality of God. Remember, he was the one who asked God his name: "When they ask me who sent me to them, what shall I tell them?" And God replied, "Tell them, I am who I am." God always was, always is, and always will be. God has no beginning or ending. God simply is. He is eternal.
To make the point, the songwriter says, verse 4, "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." Now, that verse is not some cipher for decoding the Book of Revelation; it's simply a metaphor, a feeble attempt with human words to explain that God is not affected by the passing of time. He's never late. He's never in a rush. He's never tired.
The second thing he sees is the frailty of man, the brevity of human life. "You turn men back to dust," he sings, reminding us that these bodies that we work so hard to take care of, to keep healthy, to make more attractive, will one day return to the Earth and be turned to dust. We're like people living on a flood plain, verse 5 tells us, when the waters rise we're swept away while sleeping in our beds. We're like grass, the song goes on, springing up bright and green after a midsummer night's rain, only to wither and die under the afternoon sun.
Five for Fighting isn't the first rock band to echo the thoughts of Psalm 90. Some years ago, the group Kansas sang a song called "Dust in the Wind." The words go: "I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone. All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy. Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind." A few years ago we listened to yet another song about time, this one by Hootie and the Blowfish: "Time, why you punish me? Like a wave crashing into the shore, you wash away my dreams … . Time is wasting, time is walking; time, you ain't no friend of mine."
So how do we resolve this tension between the eternality of God and the frailty of human life?
We sense that we were made for something more than this life. God has set eternity in our hearts. We want to do something that will last. Yet time so quickly catches up with us, and most of what we accomplish in this life turns to dust along with these bodies we inhabit. The castles we spend our lives building get washed away when the tidal wave called time washes over us.
How can we make sure our lives will count, not only in this life, but beyond?
The answer, says the songwriter, is to number our days—to count them, to value them. Verse 12 is the turning point in the psalm, where the song shifts from lament to hope. "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Everybody counts something. Wise people count the things that really matter.
We all go through life counting things that we think will make us happy, or significant. We measure our happiness or significance by the numbers that mean something to us. When I was a little girl, I counted paper dolls. All my friends did. We'd trade them and save up our allowance to buy more. I was happy. I was cool.
I don't know what kids count today—video game scores, or the number of A's on their report card, or the wins and losses of their team. Teenagers count the number of friends they have, the number of colleges they get into. College students count grade points and credit hours—at least I hope some of them do. Others count how many beers they can drink in a night, which somehow proves their manhood. Adults measure their happiness and success by the number of bedrooms in their house, the cars in the garage, the degrees they have, their golf score, or the yield on their investments.
Psalm 90 warns us not to go through life counting the wrong things. If you want your life to count for something, number your days. Count the days and hours and minutes; value them, make the most of them, and measure your life by what you do with them.
It seems to me that three things happen when we number our days.
First, when we number our days, we realize how few of them we really have. Most people live like they have an unlimited number of days. We expect to live long lives, and figure we have so many days we can't even count them all. But the songwriter reminds us that we have a limited number of days—70 or 80 years by his reckoning. That may sound like a lot, especially when you're only 15. But when you do the math, when you actually number the days, you find out you have something like 29,200 days if you live to be 80.
Psalm 90, like the other songs mentioned above, remind us that sooner or later, we're all going to die. And most of the time, it comes sooner than we'd like. We don't like to face that reality, but until we do, we'll never know how to make our lives count. One commentator paraphrases verse 12 this way: "Teach us to remember that we must die, in order that we might know how to live."
Second, when we number our days: we spend them more wisely.
I came across a survey from some years ago of how typical Americans spend their time. The average American adult spends about seven-and-a-half hours a day sleeping, three-and-a-half hours a day working, two hours a day watching TV, one-and-a-half hours doing housework, one hour eating, half-an-hour on recreation, half-an-hour washing and grooming, and about nine minutes thinking. That study was done about ten years ago, before the Internet and video games had become so popular, so who knows what it would reveal now. It's not unusual for a kid to spend seven, eight, or even twenty-four hours straight playing a video game. And who can count how many hours adults and teenagers spend blogging, texting or communicating via Facebook?
In that survey mentioned above, the number of minutes per day on average spent in worship or service to others was so insignificant it didn't even show up in the survey!
Most people make one of two mistakes when it comes to time. Some people, younger people especially, think they have so much time they can afford to waste some. They think they'll get to the important things later when they're done with school, when the kids are older, or when things aren't so busy at work. But then they run out of time before they get to those things. Other people think they have too little time, that they can't possibly do something significant for others or for God, so they don't even try. The thing about time, unlike money, is that we all have the very same amount to work with—24 hours a day. And we all have just enough time for the things that God would have us to do.
Third, when you number your days, you're able to offer them to God and ask him to bless them. When we spend our days without really thinking about them, we miss the opportunity to ask God's blessing on them, to consider his purposes for that hour or day or year. But when we number our days, then one by one we are able to offer them up to God, and seek his direction and blessing. And when we do that, when we offer our days to God one by one, then our days begin to add up to something, something that will stand for eternity.
The psalm ends on an upbeat note. Having faced the reality of death, and having accurately reckoned the number of days and determined to spend them wisely, the songwriter invites God's blessing on the days to come. Verse 14: "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many days as we have seen trouble."
PSALM 90
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
ONLY ONE LIFE....IT WILL SOON BE PAST.
ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST.
When I heard that song, it brought to mind another song, a much older one. I don't mean from the sixties or seventies. I'm talking about one of the oldest songs in human history: Psalm 90. The Psalms, of course, were songs, and were to be sung by God's people in worship and reflection. Psalm 90, which is connected somehow to Moses, may be one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible.
Like the song "100 Years," Psalm 90 ponders the passing of time. The singer seems to be perplexed, troubled even, by the brevity of life. The way he figures it, we've got more like 70 years—threescore and 10—or maybe 80 if we're lucky. Whatever the number turns out to be, they pass quickly, he says, and before we know it, we've come to the end, and we wonder if our lives have counted for something, for anything. Has it all been trouble and sorrow, or will we have something to show for the years we've spent in this world?
That's a question we all ask from time to time. Not every day, probably, not even most days. But on certain days—when life slows down for a few moments, when the calendar flips from one year to another, when we blow out the candles on another birthday cake, when we hear of a celebrity who's passed away or of tens of thousands lost in a wave of disaster—we stop and think about the passing of time, about the meaning of our lives.
If we want our life to count, we have to number our days. Let's take a closer look at Psalm 90 and see what that means. As I mentioned above, Psalm 90 may be one of the oldest pieces of literature in the Bible. It's attributed to Moses, but we're not sure exactly what that means—if Moses actually composed it, or if it came from Moses' era, or if it was written by a later author from Moses' point of view. Whoever wrote it, and whenever he wrote it, he was thinking about the passing of time.
He could have been a young person, looking ahead to all that life held for him. He could have been an older person, looking back and wondering what his life had meant. Or, he could just as easily have been at mid-life, looking both ways at once, and wondering.
Whatever the circumstances, and whichever way he's looking, the author sees two things.
First, the eternality of God. "Lord, you have been our dwelling place through all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the Earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."
Moses certainly understood the immortality of God. Remember, he was the one who asked God his name: "When they ask me who sent me to them, what shall I tell them?" And God replied, "Tell them, I am who I am." God always was, always is, and always will be. God has no beginning or ending. God simply is. He is eternal.
To make the point, the songwriter says, verse 4, "For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." Now, that verse is not some cipher for decoding the Book of Revelation; it's simply a metaphor, a feeble attempt with human words to explain that God is not affected by the passing of time. He's never late. He's never in a rush. He's never tired.
The second thing he sees is the frailty of man, the brevity of human life. "You turn men back to dust," he sings, reminding us that these bodies that we work so hard to take care of, to keep healthy, to make more attractive, will one day return to the Earth and be turned to dust. We're like people living on a flood plain, verse 5 tells us, when the waters rise we're swept away while sleeping in our beds. We're like grass, the song goes on, springing up bright and green after a midsummer night's rain, only to wither and die under the afternoon sun.
Five for Fighting isn't the first rock band to echo the thoughts of Psalm 90. Some years ago, the group Kansas sang a song called "Dust in the Wind." The words go: "I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone. All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy. Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind." A few years ago we listened to yet another song about time, this one by Hootie and the Blowfish: "Time, why you punish me? Like a wave crashing into the shore, you wash away my dreams … . Time is wasting, time is walking; time, you ain't no friend of mine."
So how do we resolve this tension between the eternality of God and the frailty of human life?
We sense that we were made for something more than this life. God has set eternity in our hearts. We want to do something that will last. Yet time so quickly catches up with us, and most of what we accomplish in this life turns to dust along with these bodies we inhabit. The castles we spend our lives building get washed away when the tidal wave called time washes over us.
How can we make sure our lives will count, not only in this life, but beyond?
The answer, says the songwriter, is to number our days—to count them, to value them. Verse 12 is the turning point in the psalm, where the song shifts from lament to hope. "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Everybody counts something. Wise people count the things that really matter.
We all go through life counting things that we think will make us happy, or significant. We measure our happiness or significance by the numbers that mean something to us. When I was a little girl, I counted paper dolls. All my friends did. We'd trade them and save up our allowance to buy more. I was happy. I was cool.
I don't know what kids count today—video game scores, or the number of A's on their report card, or the wins and losses of their team. Teenagers count the number of friends they have, the number of colleges they get into. College students count grade points and credit hours—at least I hope some of them do. Others count how many beers they can drink in a night, which somehow proves their manhood. Adults measure their happiness and success by the number of bedrooms in their house, the cars in the garage, the degrees they have, their golf score, or the yield on their investments.
Psalm 90 warns us not to go through life counting the wrong things. If you want your life to count for something, number your days. Count the days and hours and minutes; value them, make the most of them, and measure your life by what you do with them.
It seems to me that three things happen when we number our days.
First, when we number our days, we realize how few of them we really have. Most people live like they have an unlimited number of days. We expect to live long lives, and figure we have so many days we can't even count them all. But the songwriter reminds us that we have a limited number of days—70 or 80 years by his reckoning. That may sound like a lot, especially when you're only 15. But when you do the math, when you actually number the days, you find out you have something like 29,200 days if you live to be 80.
Psalm 90, like the other songs mentioned above, remind us that sooner or later, we're all going to die. And most of the time, it comes sooner than we'd like. We don't like to face that reality, but until we do, we'll never know how to make our lives count. One commentator paraphrases verse 12 this way: "Teach us to remember that we must die, in order that we might know how to live."
Second, when we number our days: we spend them more wisely.
I came across a survey from some years ago of how typical Americans spend their time. The average American adult spends about seven-and-a-half hours a day sleeping, three-and-a-half hours a day working, two hours a day watching TV, one-and-a-half hours doing housework, one hour eating, half-an-hour on recreation, half-an-hour washing and grooming, and about nine minutes thinking. That study was done about ten years ago, before the Internet and video games had become so popular, so who knows what it would reveal now. It's not unusual for a kid to spend seven, eight, or even twenty-four hours straight playing a video game. And who can count how many hours adults and teenagers spend blogging, texting or communicating via Facebook?
In that survey mentioned above, the number of minutes per day on average spent in worship or service to others was so insignificant it didn't even show up in the survey!
Most people make one of two mistakes when it comes to time. Some people, younger people especially, think they have so much time they can afford to waste some. They think they'll get to the important things later when they're done with school, when the kids are older, or when things aren't so busy at work. But then they run out of time before they get to those things. Other people think they have too little time, that they can't possibly do something significant for others or for God, so they don't even try. The thing about time, unlike money, is that we all have the very same amount to work with—24 hours a day. And we all have just enough time for the things that God would have us to do.
Third, when you number your days, you're able to offer them to God and ask him to bless them. When we spend our days without really thinking about them, we miss the opportunity to ask God's blessing on them, to consider his purposes for that hour or day or year. But when we number our days, then one by one we are able to offer them up to God, and seek his direction and blessing. And when we do that, when we offer our days to God one by one, then our days begin to add up to something, something that will stand for eternity.
The psalm ends on an upbeat note. Having faced the reality of death, and having accurately reckoned the number of days and determined to spend them wisely, the songwriter invites God's blessing on the days to come. Verse 14: "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many days as we have seen trouble."
PSALM 90
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
ONLY ONE LIFE....IT WILL SOON BE PAST.
ONLY WHAT'S DONE FOR CHRIST WILL LAST.
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