Last week I wrote “there is a great spiritual awakening occurring in America and around the world. . . but will it lead to revival and restoration in America, as a nation whose God is the LORD?”

As powerful as God’s Grace is to deliver us from sin, shame and guilt, into the joy and life of the LORD, it is yet to be seen whether Christians in America will arise in faith to Restore America to our forefathers vision of a free people under God in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

In the face of what is transpiring in our national life I am amazed, disappointed, and alarmed that our governmental and spiritual leaders have not put out a “Call” to the nation to humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. There appears to be no confidence in God to hear and deliver, in spite of His promises, and the history of God’s providential hand in the face of crisis. What are they waiting for? Or has it even occurred to them that we are in extremis?

There will be no restoration or deliverance for America from the current greed and foolishness of ungodly men without a revived and faith filled Church. There will be no revival without repentance and there can be no repentance without brokenness. God, in His Grace, is bringing America to it’s knees in order that we examine our hearts, turn from our wicked ways, and allow Christ to be LORD of our lives, our marriages, our families, and our institutions.

As Gideon went immediately to his father’s house to destroy all his idols in response to the LORD’s CALL to “deliver Israel”, so too must we be obedient to that CALL, and without delay.

Will you join me in CALLING your family, friends, pastors, and leaders to humble themselves, to come with us, in brokenness and humility before the Throne of Grace in a season of prolonged personal prayer for the nation, and for revival?

Will you believe God as did Gideon’s faith filled 300, to deliver the nation from the ungodly tyranny of the Midianites amongst us?

If you believe that the God of the Scriptures and our Forefathers can and will respond to the prayers and repentance of His people, please forward this email to as many of your friends as you can, asking them to do the same, as you begin the journey yourself.

As I stated last week, “What you believe, determines what you will do.”

How easy it is for a grand orator to let words flow melodically from his or her mouth. How easy it is to say one thing for the benefit of a particular audience, but believe another. How easy it is to say what the people want to hear, so as to camouflage the hidden evil that lurks in the orator’s mind.

How many great speakers have been vaulted in to positions of power because they were able to project into their words strong emotions of anger, happiness, sadness or national fervor? Words that captured the hearts and minds of the illiterate, naive and ignorant masses, no matter how meaningless or meaningful those words may be; words that may have multiple meanings and can be interpreted in a myriad of ways for different constituents.

And such was the highly-hyped, but unexceptional inaugural speech of now president Obama. The 20-minute speech was full of glittering generalities and rolling hyperbole….. words of nationalistic pride and words of defiance to our enemies….. words for the freedom lovers and words for the union members….. words for the believers in global warming and words for those who would devastate America by yanking, or over-taxing, the energy source that powers our economy, oil. And once again on several occasions, Obama invoked the indefinable, mystical words of “hope” and “change” that punctuated his campaign.

But let’s be specific. In the first line he said, “I stand here today HUMBLED by the task before us…..” The word “humble” was for the audience only. President Obama is anything but humble.

In the second paragraph he went on to say: “At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.”

One must ask, “what skill and what vision of those in high office?” We vehemently claim that it is the lack of skill and the lack of vision that have driven America and many Americans into financial ruin, when in fact it was and still is power-hungry and self-serving political interests that have put us where we are today. And once more we claim, maybe WE THE PEOPLE have been faithful to the ideals of our forbearers and true to the founding documents, but government on the other hand, has been anything but “faithful” and “true”. The sad truth is, government has done everything they can to tear down those ideals and those documents, with malice aforethought.

Obama talks about “….. petty grievances, false promises, recrimination and worn out dogmas of previous governments”, as if with a magic wand he will erase these maladies from the political scene. These are empty words and empty promises. Government is like an avalanche. It will keep heading towards the valley, leaving utter devastation in its wake. The American government has immense inertia and it will take an immense force to arrest its path. Only freedom-loving Americans have that power.

He says that: “….. all Americans are equal, free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” What he really means is, that government will intercede in all of our lives to make sure that all will get a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness, at everyone else’s expense. Of course there is nothing in the constitution about government assuring everyone’s happiness by government intervention. It is up the individual to pursue happiness, not the government.

In one paragraph, Obama states that; “….. we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Remaking America into what and does it need remaking? We say that Obama will do everything in his power to remake America into the distorted image that he holds in his mind, due to the long associations he has had with the likes of Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, Reverend Wright, his developer friends and the corrupt political climate of Chicago and the state of Illinois. Obama, is by word, deed and voting record, a socialist. We care not what he says, but we shudder in fear for what he has already done and will now do, with the power he wields as President of the United States.

He also says: “….. the question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works ­ whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.” FDR spoke very similar socialist words in his 1944 Inaugural Speech. Again, we ask, where is it written that finding jobs for people at a decent wage, health care ‘they’ can afford and a retirement that is dignified, is the job, duty, responsibility, or even the right of government? No where is it written! The power to do these things has been perverted by government from a single phrase in the pre-amble of the Constitution, wherein it states……. “and promote the general welfare”. And promote they have, with a vengeance, for the sole purpose of one party securing permanent power by buying off the illiterate, naive and ignorant masses of dumbed-down Americans, with taxes from the productive segment of our society. In one sentence this policy can be stated thus: “from those with the greatest capability, to those with the greatest need.” Karl Marx.

In his message to the third world, Obama said this: “And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.”

What do these grand words mean? Yes, of course the world has changed, as it grows smaller by virtue of transportation and communication. Yes, America does consume a good portion of the worlds resources, but we also have the highest production rate of any nation on Earth and our farms and fields feed a good portion of the third world. Yes, we recognize that people are suffering outside of our borders, so much so they will go to any lengths to come here and break our laws and use more of our resources, all the while making less resources available for our own citizens.

But what this phrase really means is to prepare us for the one-world-order and the dissolution of our sovereignty. It also means that Obama wants us to use up a large portion of our wealth and give it, free gratis with no strings, to other countries and dictators who refuse to use their own resources to elevate their own people. We are the most generous nation on Earth, but Obama and his minions in the U. S. Government and the United Nations tell us, it isn’t enough. We have to give more, no matter how much it hurts our economy, or our individual lives, or our living standard.

In the rest of Obama’s speech he invoked American history, our revolution, our national pride and quotes from some of our Founders. This was a blatant attempt to pander to the 59,000,000 conservatives who voted the other way. But these words belie what is in the mind and heart of Obama. He has the power and he intends to use it. He won’t use it for the ideals of our forbearers and he won’t use it for remaining true to our founding documents as a Constitutional Republic. He will use it to mold America into his distorted image. An image that was placed there by his associations with his mother, two fathers from foreign countries and his grand parents, but mostly from the associations with the likes of Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, Reverend Wright, Tony Rezko, his developer friend (now in jail) and the corrupt political climate of Chicago and the state of Illinois. That is the camouflaged treachery in Obama’s Inaugural speech.

It was freedom that built America into the most powerful, industrious, creative and generous nation on Earth. If Obama is successful in his camouflaged mission, he will take away our freedom and strip us of our power and generosity, to prepare us for entry, as a third-world country, into the one-world-order, under the thumb of the United Nations and the moneyed elite.

If you are not fearfully concerned, then your eyes are not open.

At the end of the poem, I have attached one of my favorite verses. May this bless you as it blessed me.

God moves in a mysterious way
   His wonders to perform:
He plants His footsteps upon the sea,
   And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
   Of never - failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs,
   And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
   The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
   In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
   But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence,
   He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
   Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
   But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,
   And scan His work in vain;
God is His own Interpreter,
   And He will make it plain.

This reminds me of one of my favorite verses:

Let the morning bring me word
     of Your unfailing love,
     for I have put my trust in You.
Show me the way I should go,
     for to You I lift up my soul.
Rescue me from my enemies, O LORD,
     for I hide myself in You.
Teach me to do Your will,
     for You are my God;
May Your good Spirit
     lead me on level ground.
[Psa 143:8-10 NIV]

As you look to Christ, may your spirit be lifted this Christmas season and throughout the coming year. Amen.

The key verse is in the greeting: “. . . the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.” [v1] In other words, sound doctrine leads us to proper obedience. Paul warned later in verse twelve, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” So, it appears Paul’s purpose in writing to Titus was to encourage him to encourage the Christians to be different from the norm, to rise above evil and sloth and to follow Christ.

Sidenote: Some friends are missionaries on the island and they tell me not much has changed. The people still are much the same as Paul described.

v2 – Paul claims that God gave the hope of eternal life even before He created us; “promised before the beginning of time.”

v5f – Paul left Titus on Crete to raise up leaders in every town. The criteria for an elder:

1. Blameless,
2. Husband of one wife,
   1. This is obvious, Paul is talking about divorce and faithfulness, but some people want to split hairs, claiming he means non-polygamous, to allow for those who have been unfaithful to be in positions of leadership and preaching.
3. Whose children are believers and not wild and disobedient,
4. Not overbearing,
5. Not quick tempered,
6. Not given to drunkenness,
7. Not violent,
8. Not pursuing dishonest gain,
9. Hospitable,
10. Loves what is good,
11. Self-controlled,
12. Upright,
13. Holy,
14. Disciplined,
15. Holds firmly to the trustworthy message as Paul taught,
    1. So he can encourage others by sound doctrine, and
    2. He can refute those who oppose sound doctrine.

v10f – Speaking of sound doctrine: Paul refutes those “of the circumcision group,” the Judaisers.” These were those who taught you cannot be saved without following the law. We see this today: those who want to add rules to being a Christian. But it comes down to Paul’s warning in Hebrews chapter ten, that if we add to our faith, we are trampling on the cross of Christ. Paul also refutes this false doctrine in the book of Galatians. We come to Christ by faith. It is the Holy Spirit within us leading us in obedience that causes us to do good works but we cannot add good works to our salvation.

So, Paul says they claim to know Christ but deny Him by their actions. The actions are two-fold: one the one hand, you have the Judaisers, and in the modern sense, some fundamentalists, who add works to faith for the obtaining of salvation. On the other hand you have those who are lazy and do not want to leave their life of sin. Both deny Christ by their actions and neither one is saved, whether they gave a confession of faith or not.

Titus chapter two:

Paul reinforces the importance of sound doctrine, without which error will creep into the church. In chapter three, he ends this segment with a warning to avoid foolish controversies. In every instance that he preaches on sound doctrine, he tempers with this warning. It is human nature to be carried to extremes. Thus, “sound doctrine” could be carried to the extreme of the Jewish leaders and their book of Torah, where they even define how far one can walk on a Sabbath. Sound doctrine always leads to following Christ with a pure and faithful heart but it never adds works or frivolity to our faith.

A list of things to teach (in accord with sound doctrine):

1. Teach the older men to be
   1. temperate,
   2. worthy of respect,
   3. self-controlled and
   4. sound in faith, love and endurance
2. Teach the older women to be
   1. respectable in their lifestyle,
   2. not slanderers,
   3. not addicted to much wine,
   4. teach what is good.
   5. Then they can train the younger women
3. The younger women should be taught by the older women (as opposed to male teachers) to:
   1. love their husbands and children,
   2. be self-controlled and pure,
   3. be busy at home (not busybodies travelling the globe in their SUVs),
   4. be kind,
   5. be subject to their husbands (sensitive one in these modern, feminist times).
4. Encourage the young men to be self-controlled (encourage, as opposed to teach?)
   1. Set them an example by doing what is good
   2. In teaching demonstrate
      1. integrity,
      2. seriousness,
      3. soundness of speech that cannot be condemned (as opposed to the modern practice of frivolity and pushing the envelope)
5. Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything
   1. try to please them,
   2. not talk back to them,
   3. not steal from them,
   4. demonstrate integrity and faithfulness and so make the teachings of the gospel attractive.

Sidenote: The Bible, while not promoting nor condemning slavery, recognizes the reality of it. Paul told those who were slaves, if they were able to obtain their freedom (lawfully) to pursue it (1Co 7:21). Nonetheless, regardless of status, we are all slaves of Christ and we are to act in that respect.

Here is the fundamental of what Titus was instructed to teach:
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldy passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, [who are] eager to do what is good.” [v11-14]

Titus chapter three:

Continuing the list of teachings in sound doctrine:

6. Teach the people

a. to be subject to rulers and authorities,
b. to be obedient (as opposed to being rebellious),
c. to be ready to do whatever is good (this requires keeping your eyes open as well as maintaining a pure heart),
d. to slander no one (even politicians you do not like),
e. to be peaceable and considerate,
f. to show true humility to all men (while humility is not being a milk toast or a doormat, we serve Christ first and others over ourselves).

Paul reminds us that we were once foolish and caught up in the world with all its passions, sin and hate, but God saved us, “not because of the righteous things we have done, but because of His mercy.” [v5] This reminds me of Daniels prayer: “We do not make requests of You because we are righteous, but because of Your great mercy.” [Dan 9:18] So, it is not because of us but because of God and His plan – keep that in mind. And we are reborn and renewed through the Holy Spirit, given generously to us through our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Because of this, we should hold to sound teaching, or doctrine, but not get caught up in “foolish controversies,” or “disputable matters,” as Paul says in Romans chapter fourteen. We hold to truth but we do not create division. Division is properly defined as dividing people against Christ. A divisive person is to be warned, once, then twice. The third time, have nothing to do with him. This person condemns himself and demonstrates that he is “warped and sinful.”

Philemon:

Paul asks Philemon’s permission to free his servant so that he is available to work with Paul. As we said before, the Bible is generally neutral on slavery, neither condemning nor condoning, except for specific instances. Most people understand that slavery is wrong, with few exceptions. In America, we condemn it and we stand in judgment above our predecessors with little regard or acknowledgment for the realities of the day. Slavery is real today in most the world: and those who condemn our predecessors (as if their fault were our own) fail to address the injustice around the world today.

Paul recognized that Philemon’s slave was his property. Regardless his views on the institution of slavery, he could not stand in judgment of his brother, nor could he declare his slave to be free because of his higher authority. Instead, Paul gracefully requests freedom on behalf of Onesimus. The Bible does not tell us the outcome of this request. Paul has confidence in his brother to do the right thing and it is reasonable to assume that is what happened.

With that run-through, here is what I see as the key verse to the book: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” [v6] Isn’t it true, the more we share our faith in Jesus Christ, the more we understand what God has rescued us from?

Pastor Salvation Only is very wrong. In fact, he is part of the problem. The Bible tells us clearly that man is not looking for God, as Pastor Salvation Only claims (Isa 64:7, Rom 3:11). While there are several admonitions to seek after God, the Bible tells us man may tip his hat to God while seeking his own way (Isa 58, Jer 7). Pastor Salvation Only is wrong, in that this election was not a declaration that man is looking for Jesus Christ, or looking for repentance. This election was a declaration that man is looking for a messiah, a rock star, a leader who will make them feel good about themselves, a leader who will bring change, without requiring them to change their lifestyles – or repentance.

People talk about how we live in a post-Christian era. They are wrong, in that the perception is flawed. Never in the history of America has the majority of the people been truly Christian. The difference between the founding of this nation and now is the Christian influence. Early pastors were not afraid to stand up for God’s law. In that sense, they became political. By standing up for what God requires; by standing up for a clear definition of a repentant, changed life; by standing up for a faithful walk with Jesus Christ, they became political. When Christians did not compromise Biblical principles they were influential.

In his effort to silence the Christian opposition, Lynden Johnson orchestrated the 501(C)(3) status for the churches. The churches bought into it, surrendered the Christian walk to the civil branch of government and began building more churches – now with mortgages. With mortgages, they had people to please for payment to meet and the contract with the government dictated their parameters of free speech. Slowly, and painfully, the church lost its way and lost influence in the culture. You may properly say, “we live in a post-Christian influence culture,” even while the founding documents remain Christian.

There are a group of professing Christians that call themselves “progressive,” which means liberal. They have published a book called “The Commands of Men.” The authors are anonymous, as if that lends to credibility. Currently, I am on page 88 and so far, it has been a whine against Republicans and conservatives and they have not yet presented one Bible verse in proof of their premise that the redistribution of wealth (ROW) is the responsibility of the civil government, or that ROW is a command of Christ, although this is their premise. Look for a review of this book in a future blog.

This group of progressive Christians misuse Colossians 2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends upon human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Their premise, in using this verse, is the non-ROW view is selfish, which is a violation of Christ’s commands.

Obama won the vote of more than eighty percent of the professing Christians and about sixty percent of Evangelical Christians. This was with the help of Pastor Salvation Only. He never taught them the proper interpretation of Colossians 2:8. He never taught them proper repentance leads to a changed life; that repentance mandates following Christ; that Christ instructed charity to be the role of the individual; that the early church demonstrated corporate charity and the church throughout history has upheld this example until the establishment of the 501(C)(3).

In fact, a recent poll claims 46 percent of the American voters believe it is the civil government’s responsibility to redistribute wealth. Only 42 percent believe ROW is wrong.

Pastor Salvation Only never taught his people that stealing from one person to help another is still stealing. He never taught his people it is wrong to expect from civil government to perform the role of the believing church body. Pastor Salvation Only never taught his people to study the Scriptures and transform their thinking (Rom 12:1-2, Col 2:6-10). Instead, in the name of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, he allowed them to maintain their old covetous desires, as long as their intent was to accomplish good.

The public school system is entrenched in the doctrine of ROW, from the top of the union, down through the levels of administration and teachers, down through the curriculum. And we wonder why students no longer believe in the American dream, that if you work hard, you will succeed and have a prosperous life. In masses, the student vote was overwhelmingly for the election of Obama, on his promise of “Change,” “Hope” and the redistribution of wealth.

Working hard to succeed may sound selfish by today’s mantras, but Paul warned us, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” [2Th 3:10]. Notice the word “shall,” it is a legal term meaning imperative or mandatory. Therefore, what Paul means is if a man will not work, he is not to beg off others and others are not to feed him. No, the Christian code is not heartless, there is ample text to support the role of charity to the helpless and less fortunate. But we do not steal.

If a man works hard and is successful, he can bless others. If he will not give, he is selfish and that is between him and God to judge. It is not the responsibility of the civil government, bureaucrats and the covetous to make it otherwise. Furthermore, whom a man chooses to bless is also between himself and God. It is not the responsibility of the civil government, bureaucrats and the covetous to determine what a legitimate charity is, or to redefine legitimate charity. Regardless, the fact remains, if a man is stripped of his wealth, his ability to bless others, in obedience to God, is limited.

Today is Thanksgiving Day 2008. Regardless the economic chaos and the moral turpitude that seems to overwhelm us, we still have much to be thankful for. Christ still reigns; He has given us salvation and while we are on this world, He provides for our every need. He gives us good laws to live by and He teaches us to love our brothers and sisters. God has blessed us with much.

However, for the covetous, there can be no Thanksgiving Day – because they can only see what they do not have. The majority of the people voting for Obama had the vision he will take from the undeserving and selfish rich and give relief to the needy (the voter is needy). As that lady said in the popular YouTube video, “Now I don’t have to worry about gas; I don’t have to worry about my mortgage.” So, the covetous may at least be thankful today that Obama is going to solve their worries. But they have no grounds to be thankful to God, because their hope is not in Him.

You have failed, Pastor Salvation Only, you did not teach your sheep that salvation by faith in Jesus Christ means to live in obedience to Him and that repentance involves a transformation of the mind and mandates turning away from covetousness and allegiance to the state. True repentance will lead to Thanksgiving. Not thankfulness to a false messiah but thankfulness to God Almighty.

This Thanksgiving Day 2008, I am thankful to God.

He told me a story about his eldest son, who is in college and has befriended a Muslim. One day, his son and the friend were visiting the multicultural center at the Muslim’s request. Of course, everyone in the center, working or visiting, is black. His son was the only white face to be seen.

While traveling on the elevator, the son and the Muslim were debating the presidential campaign and the son conceded McCain was the lesser of two evils. At that point, the elevator stopped and six burly black guys came aboard.

As the door closed, the Muslim asked the son, “So, you really think Obama is evil?”

The son, replied, “That is not exactly what I said.”

At that point, the elevator stopped at their intended floor and he and the Muslim were allowed to exit, life intact.

The Muslim headed toward the math tutor to seek help with a problem. As the tutor, who was also black, explained the solution, the son, who is a math brainiac, saw the tutor was making a serious mistake. So he interrupted, “I am sorry, but that is not the proper way to solve the problem and the answer is going to be wrong.” He then proceeded to demonstrate the solution.

As he was working out the problem, the tutor was watching intently. So intently, his face was less than six inches from the son’s face as he leaned over the son’s shoulder. Halfway through the problem, the son’s phone rang. He answered the phone. It was his white friend, who talks loud and his voice can be heard beyond the receiver.

“Wassup, my nigga?” greeted the friend.

Long story short, he exited the multicultural building, alive again.

We had a good laugh. Then my friend said, “But, Dean, that’s not the worst of it.” He continued with another story. A few days later, another son had a mulatto friend over to the house. He brought his computer and wanted to log on the wireless. My friend did not know the password, in fact, he did not know he had totally lost control of his sons. The son who brought the guest was not around, so my friend asked his youngest son what the password was. The son looked to the floor and mumbled.

“Excuse me, son, but I could not hear you,” said my friend.

So his son repeated louder, “Niggersomething.” (I won’t tell you what “something” is. It is not bad, but I don’t want to disclose the password.)

He looked at the mulatto guest and the guest just shrugged.

We live in a culture where we take ourselves too seriously – including our race. I remember in the sixties, we called each other “nigger.” I had several black friends; I called them “nigger” and they called me “nigger.” It was slang and it was a term of endearment. None of us considered the language offensive or hateful. We did, however, understand that others, mainly grown-ups, considered the term offensive and that might have been our catalyst for using it.

Suddenly, right about 1970, we could no longer say the “n” word and we could no longer tell Polish or Nigger jokes. After that, every ethnic and national joke was purged from our national discourse one-by-one. Except for Norwegian and Swedish jokes, we can still tell those – and that is my roots, yet I don’t mind, in fact, I enjoy it.

We live in a culture that is easily offended. Maybe, in fact, it wants to be offended. Races want to be offended, as yet proof of their ongoing oppression. Yet, blacks find no offense in using the “n” word on themselves and they find it justifiable to use slang expressions against the white.

At the core is the mistaken notion that racism can be cured externally. As if people’s attitudes can be altered by curbing their speech. Jesus said, what is in the heart will come out of the mouth (Mat 15:18). If you repress, by law, what comes out of the mouth, the only thing produced is resentment. Preventing hate speech, does not curb hate. On the contrary, it produces more, or increased, hate.

Personally, if someone does not like me, or even hates me, I would rather hear it up front than wait to get stabbed in the back. I think our culture would do better by not taking other people’s attitudes so seriously. Solomon gave us good advice. “Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you. For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.” [Ecc 7:21-22 NIV]

It is true, Solomon also said, “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” [Pro 12:18 NIV] This is good advice and it is good to encourage uplifting speech. But my point is this: we work hard to change the attitude of the speaker, when it is the attitude of the hearer that causes the greater harm. The hearer is looking for the offense; the hearer is looking to be offended to prove their victimhood, forgetting, or overlooking, that they themselves harbor hate in their heart. And, oftentimes, the hearer finds offense when the speaker meant none.

Political correctness demands sensitivity on the part of the speaker while holding no accountability on the part of the hearer. In fact, it grants the hearer absolute power over the speaker, even the power to define the speaker’s intent. We create offenses. We demand apologies and refuse to grant forgiveness and we become a nation of fools. The enemy looks upon us and sees that we are easily dividable. We make it easy for our enemies to rule over us.

To quote Solomon one more time: “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.” [Pro 19:11 NIV] We have been taught to accept the power of victimhood and we have forgotten the glory and power of forgiveness.

Today, I was mulling through some old documents, looking for an article, or some thoughts to post. I ran across a letter I wrote to the editor of the Seattle Times. It is from 1998 and is in reference to the state legislature sitting on their hands on Partial Birth Abortion.

A man’s principle goes beyond words, it goes to the core of what he is willing to fight for. It is disquieting to the Republican grassroots to watch their “leaders” melt into a sea of facilitation and administration. We have a majority party that is unwilling to lead. Is it surprising to see an ever-increasing exodus from the Party by principled people? No, it is not. And to the extent the Republican “leadership” is more concerned with self-esteem than leading, the exodus will increase exponentially.

. . .

True leadership is not making people happy. It is not facilitating discussions. It is not positioning for majorities and re-election. True leadership is standing up for what you believe and doing the right thing. For years we Republicans have stood on our soap boxes declaring what we would do, changes we would make and the leadership we would provide if the people would just elect more of us. Well, it is four years now that we have had the majority and we have squandered all our efforts “protecting” it. Without a quick and certain change in direction, I believe that Republicans will soon be out of the party.

When I was leading the Snohomish County GOP in the early nineties, the thing that got me in trouble most was my continual harping that when the party ever broke the Democratic choke-hold and we rose to power, we would have nobody to lead. Even during the years of minority leadership, the party and its leaders lacked the vision and the conviction to lead. The best they could do was fulfill their role as the loyal opposition.

People tend to think of leadership much the way they do school student offices and elections. It was largely a facade with no substance and, as such, degraded to a popularity contest. And candidates could say anything or make promises they could not keep, such as, “I promise new pop machines” or “if you vote for me all your wildest dreams will come true.” [hat's off to Napolean Dynamite]

It is a sorry commentary that many politicians are in the race for their own comfort and sense of fulfillment. But this is real and leading a civil government has life-and-death consequences. The job is not about making people feel good; it is not about ‘hope,’ at least, not a hope that comes from picking the taxpayers’ pockets; it is not about being the ‘people we have been looking for”; it is about vision.

Solomon said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [Pro 29:18 KJV] The NIV translates it, “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint.” These two versions go hand-in-hand. If vision is wisdom, then vision is knowing the law of God (Pro 1:7). If the law of God is not revealed, that is, if the civil leaders do not keep the vision of God’s law before the people, they will cast off restraint, they will be engulfed in sin and the people will perish. Paul said they “suppress the truth by their wickedness.” [Rom 1:18 NIV]. The remedy? Solomon gave the remedy in the same verse: “blessed is he who keeps the law.” God’s law, that is.

We need leaders with vision. Anything beyond that amounts only to false hopes and empty promises.

In his book, Gods, Graves and Scholars: The Story of Archaeology, C.W. Ceram describes the ancient Egyptian cult of animal worship. He reported the people maintained cemeteries for their pets, whom they considered to be deities. One ancient city even had a cemetery for pet crocodiles.

What I found most interesting was his account of the Apis bull. This bull had a white triangle marking on his forehead, and this distinguished it as sacred. People worshipped the bull and it was tended and pampered by the priests. Upon death, the bull was given a lavish funeral, complete with embalming. Then, another bull with the same markings would take his place. The Apis bull was said to be the servant of the god Ptah, whom the Egyptians honored as the creator of the world.

After reading this, I reflected upon the significance of this animal, his relationship to the god and the corresponding golden calf of the Israelites. Having lived in Egypt some four hundred plus years, the Israelites were familiar with the god Ptah – the creator, and his servant bull.

You may recall, in the biblical account of the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the people were not even as far away as the Red Sea when they turned away from God in their hearts. Did they not just recently witness such mighty miracles as the world had never seen? Did they forget how God dealt with the Egyptians? Did they forget, they were protected from harm – even when every Egyptian family lost their firstborn son? Did they think the reason the people handed their wealth to them as they left was because they were naturally attractive and likeable people? Wasn’t that a miracle – an extraordinary display of God’s generosity and love for His people? Regardless and however, they forgot the God who loved them and led them at the first sign of hardship.

As they approached the Red Sea, their reasoning focused solely upon empirical data – and it looked like they were trapped. The sea was on one side and the armies of Egypt were closing in on the other. God had led them out – He already had a plan – and that was probably the hard part: waiting on God’s plan. This is something we have difficulty with in our personal walk with God and it is a problem with people in communities, societies and nations. Nobody wants to wait upon God because we all have a better vision how the world should be and we want it that way right now.

Despite their doubt, their fears and their demands to return to slavery, God delivered them with a mighty miracle. He parted the sea, allowing Israel to walk through on dry ground and then returned to sea to its original position – on top of and drowning the entire army of Egypt. God took a powerful nation and destroyed it with plagues – and He destroyed their military in a moment because they defied the true God. Would that be enough to convince the people of Israel?

Three months later, the people witnessed the majesty of God at Mount Sinai – the lightning and thunder, the thick cloud, the smoke, the rumbling and the voice. They heard Him describe how He carried them to this place on eagles’ wings. God gave them the Ten Commandments and they heard His admonition to fully obey all these words and the warning of destruction if they refused. The people were afraid to hear His voice but they affirmed they would follow all the words of the LORD. Then Moses went up the mountain to receive further instruction from the LORD for forty days.

Sometime near the end of the forty days, the people – tired of waiting, reasoned that Moses was dead. Well, actually they said they did not know what had happened to him. The truth is, they were not willing to wait for the LORD. They thought they knew what needed to be done: to get on the road to the Promised Land – and they just needed someone or something to lead them. If they incorporated a god of their own choosing, the people would be in control of their own destiny. Moses, the servant of the Lord was missing and they cast a statue of the calf, the servant of the Egyptian creator god, to replace him.

The Bible says Aaron took the people’s gold and had an idol cast in the image of a calf. Then he said, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the LORD” – the same word used for Jehovah God. As I thought about this, it seemed they had not absolutely rejected God; they just wanted to add something to Him. They were incorporating some of the favorable aspects of the pagan idolatry they had participated in while in the foreign land. The Israelites were comfortable with the religious symbols of Egypt. Now, they were molding their image of God into something that made them feel comfortable.

If the desire of Israel was to serve God, they wanted to do so on their terms. They wanted as little pain as possible and they wanted a god they could measure. With the golden calf as their image of God, they were able to make their own way to the hope they were promised and still claim they were lead by revelation. They would not have to wait and trust – for they had a representative whom they could see; it never rebuked nor corrected – god was their positive affirmation.

Another Scripture, writing of another time, puts it this way, “Even while these people were serving the LORD, they were serving their idols.” [2Ki 17:41 NIV] They were no different than many professing Christians today – who mix pagan, new age ideology and idolatry with their Christian faith. I can picture the Israelites “church leaders” rationalizing that people who are weak, or young, in the faith need something to lift them up and bolster them – something to make their faith tangible – to give them self-esteem, or a purpose. They need the calf.

Professing Christians chase after multiple gods. Encouraged by church leaders who rely upon an empirical foundation, rather than on the laws of God and the laws of His grace. In the political realm, many Christians have allied with government programs and bureaucratic agencies to fulfill what they believe is their Christian commission. In this, they have relegated Christian and biblical charity to the state, while they organize self-esteem programs, which is idolatry – placing man equal to or higher than God.

We have made our government to be god, now, even calling it our savior and even mistaking it for our creator. Nonetheless, our welfare and entitlement systems have failed. So too, have our institutions of education, higher learning, law, justice and administration. We too, are worshipping the Apis bull – and we have a god who cannot hear us and cannot help us. We are like the Israelites of old: we would rather create our own god – or append our Christian religion – rather than obey the laws God has given us. And just like the Israelites, crying to return to their slavery, we have taken a nation founded upon freedom and liberty obtained through obedience to God, and we are becoming indentured to our multitude of regulations, expanding crime, political correctness, national debt and personal credit card debt.

God said that He alone is God and there is no other (Isa 45:5). “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” (Isa 45:22). It is time to return the true God to His rightful position of authority and once again to honor His law in our land. Jesus Christ promised that if we live in obedience to Him then we will know the truth and the truth will set us free. (Joh 8:31-32).

“Those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.” (William Penn).

The Barbasol style signs along the country road announced another fortieth birthday. A few days later, I came across a similar display at the other end of the county. “This appears to be getting rather popular,” I thought as I began to mull over in my mind this fascination with the 40th birthday.

Suddenly it dawned on me: This generation that celebrates being over the hill, is the same one that refused to trust anyone over thirty years old. Now we are grown. We are forty-something. But the “Baby Boomers” are still a generation of rebels. Think about it, excepting John Carlson, there are relatively few Harley owners under the age of fifty. Our fifty and sixty year old men are wearing pony tails and our young men are wearing earrings.

Remember, in the sixties, we revolted against authority and demanded self-gratification without responsibility. We would not stand for that male hypocrisy, either. So, we freed our women from the chains of morality – but we bound them to single-parent families, loneliness, frustration and poverty.

What few fathers our immorality has left us, the welfare state has tried to drive away – and the cost in lives is high. We do not have a standard for families anymore. Children raised in divided homes or single parent families, see little distinction of roles between mother and father. The seed society has planted has grown into weeds: We have homosexuals parading their perversion in the streets, demanding to be recognized as “family” and radical feminists demand special rights over men.

We have all but abolished morality and are horrified that education has decayed. We have abdicated responsibility and are perplexed that parents have lost their authority. Our children waste away on the streets and in the shopping malls but we resent the state’s latest efforts to manipulate their career selection.

Look at our society. We have willingly fallen into the hands of the behavior controllers and the social architects. We cannot parent – and we need civil government to parent us. We are dependent upon our encounter groups. We want pastors who will make us feel good and build our self-esteem. Our repentance and our religion is one of warm feelings and charity, not one of obedience and responsibility.

Love covers a multitude of sins – and our sins we cover. We are positive, but we are lost. People who stand for the truth are considered to be excessive and extreme. Biblical fundamentalism is decried as the agent of guilt, discontent and misery – it is negative.

What will remedy the problem? What will bring strong families to be the norm in our society again? Hosea 4:6 tells us that when we ignore God, He will ignore our children. His word is true and we have seen the fruit of our immorality, lack of repentance and the transfer of our worship to the state. We have lost a generation of our children to drugs, immorality and aimlessness.

Can we change our god back from the state to the One God, the Almighty, our Creator and Savior? That is really going to take a leap of faith because many people, including professing Christians, believe we need the civil government to help us with our dysfunctional families and dysfunctional lives.

Maybe it is time that we realize that ALL families are dysfunctional. God made us with flaws. If we were perfect, we would not need God. If we rely upon Him, we will make our families whole. Conversely, if we rebel, we will disarray accordingly. We need to build a plan to bring our families back together:

1. The Bible is clear that Godly fathers are necessary for strong, moral families. Fathers must stand up for Christ in their families and in society. Joshua said as for him and his family, “we will serve the Lord.” [Jos. 24:15].

2. We must teach our children the ways of the Lord. (Deu 4:9-10, 6:7, 11:19-20).

3. We must live in obedience to the Lord and we must teach our children to do the same. God’s law is not idle words – it is our life. (Deu 32:46-47, 1Ki 2:3, Ecc 12:13).

4. Recognizing Christ’s authority, we must get civil government out of the family business. (1Sa 1:21, 3:13, 22:14-21, 1Ki 18:17-18, Isa 60:1-3, Jer 35:12-19, Mic 6:8, Mat 28:18, 1Ti 5:3-16, Jam 1:27).

It is a sad commentary that more than half the American families are broken. Point number one is not possible in families that have been ravished by the lowered standards of society. God, however, does not call us to accomplish more than He has made us able. (Dan 3:17-18, 1Co 10:11-14, 2Co 9:8). If we repent and rely upon Him, He will carry us and give us the ability to live in obedience to Him. (Isa 26:3-4, 7, Joe 2:11, 25). God has promised to be a Father to those who walk in obedience. (2Co 6:18).

Many Christians will give lip-service to these four elements. But few have thought them through to the point they are willing to live Godly lives. We say that we serve the Lord, but do our careers come first? maybe our toys? or our leisure? Are we ready for principle number four?

Val Stevens has been traveling across the State, exposing the excesses of DSHS and the destruction that they are wreaking havoc upon our families. People are naturally incensed and many people want to do away with the department altogether. Although Rep. Stevens is a proponent of this solution, she asks her audience a poignant question: Are Christians ready to assume the responsibility for the truly needy if we are successful in getting the state out of the family and compassion business?

Consider the question well. We may be willing to settle for government intrusion if that frees us to spend our time on our careers, our toys and our leisure. We may be willing to continue to purchase the evasion of our responsibilities, through taxes. We may be willing to accept the destruction of our families and society to accomplish our personal comfort.

Or, maybe we will be willing to pick up the ball and accept God’s command to stand in the gap for the family, the poor, the needy and the children. (Pro 29:7, Eze 22:29-30, Jam 1:27). Will we spend our time, money and talent helping those who need to see the face of God? The kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Mat 11:12).