When Will The Real America Stand UP?

 

Today, as we are remembering the heroism of the first responders and the sacrifice of those who died on September 11, 2001 my thoughts are running  a gamut of interrelated related thoughts.  I have already mentioned elsewhere my thoughts on the 9/11 attacks themselves. so I will not be addressing that day in any detail.

I remember in November 2001 going to Bush International Airport in Houston to board an Air Canada flight to Calgary, Canada. I remember the bomb Squad searching the car as we entered the airport property and then waiting for the doors of the International Terminal to open and allow us in. We had to wait until the National Guard soldier were positioned throughout the terminal.

As we entered the airport I remember thinking, "I've never seen an empty airport like this but one previous time. That was in Zurich when  we arrived at 2:00 in the morning. It was me, Susan and a mouse running through the terminal. But I digress.

As I made my through the nearly empty airport I struck up a conversation with a First Sargent with his weapon in hand. We were both looking for coffee. We finally found a small place that had just opened, got our coffee and sat down to visit. I remember commenting that being in the airport under the present circumstances reminded me of when  the terrorist back in 1973 attacked the airport lobby and a man died right where I had been standing just one week earlier to the day and time.

As we talked he chucked as he showed me he ha no ammunition for his weapon and said if that happened today he'd be of little help. He said he was there as a "show" of force but not to be a force.

He asked me why we were flying so soon after the September 11th. attack. I said, my wife and I planned this trip one year ago and I was determined to set an example for my family, friends and church members that we cannot allow a handful of terrorist regardless of the scope of their crimes cause us to altar our lives. The times may not be "as usual" but I can certainly conduct myself as I always do.

I wanted everyone to know that those savage calculating animals (yes I called them savage and I called them animals) who commandeered those planes and destroyed so many lives had failed. Oh, sure they killed a lot of innocent people (that's what terrorist do) and destroyed a lot of property (again, that's what terrorists do) but they had not mortally wounded me or my country.  I celebrated the day when the head of this serpent’s was cut off.

In those days we stood tall during those sad difficult times; we stood united against Evil in those times; we showed sorrow over our fallen and compassion to those who survive; we showed resolute and determined will against our enemies; and we still press the battle to those who would destroy us from abroad.  Will we stand just as tall against todays Domestic terrorists?  

We need to make it emphatically clear that as a people we will not indeterminably tolerate or long endure those who seek to destroy our way of life. By-in-large we Americans have a high tolerance level with those who do not share our values, culture, virtues . . . our way of life. A way of life that has been built over hundreds of years a great pains, sacrifice and cost to a lot of people and that includes every and any grouping of people you wish to choose. However, that longsuffering should not be mistaken as eternal.

Clearly I am NOT talking about people and/or groups of people who peacefully assemble or even march in the streets to call attention to their cause. On of the rights we enjoy as an American is the right to speak our mind and redress our government for our causes. However, the First Amendment and the right to petition the government for redress of perceived wrongs does not permit, allow for or endorse rioting, looting beating and killing as a part of those Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Do not let the voices of tyranny convince you otherwise. 

There is not a “fine” line between protesting and rioting. No indeed, there is a broad and brilliant red line between the two. Unfortunately, Marxist insurrectionist are high-jacking the peaceful protests and turning these peaceful protesters into a mob and then inciting them to riots. 

Do not be mislead and do not be deceived those in the streets of America who are killing & maiming people; burning and looting buildings are as much terrorists as were the 9/11 terrorists.

When I see the stores burning, the people being dragged from the cars and trucks and beaten senseless and stores looted I see the faces of  Mohamed Atta Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . Abdul Aziz al Omari Hijacker  . . . . Waleed al Shehri Hijacker  . . . . Satam al Suqami Hijacker  . . . . Wail al Shehri Hijacker  . . . . Hani Hanjour Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . . Khalid al Mihdhar Hijacker . . . . Majed Moqed Hijacker . . . . Nawaf al Hazmi Hijacker . . . . Salem al Hazmi Hijacker  . . . . Ziad Samir Jarrah Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . Saeed al Ghamdi Hijacker  . . . . Ahmed al Nami Hijacker . . . . Ahmad al Haznawi Hijacker   . . . . Marwan al Shehhi Hijacker (Pilot) . . . . Mohand al Shehri Hijacker  . . . . Hamza al Ghamdi Hijacker . . . . Fayez Banihammad Hijacker . . . . Ahmed al Ghamdi Hijacker  . . . . Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Mastermind  . . . . Tawfiq bin Attash (Khallad) Potential Pilot . . . . Ramzi Binalshibh Potential Pilot . . . . Zakariya Essabar Potential Pilot/Hijacker . . . . Saeed “Jihad” al Ghamdi Potential Hijacker . . . .Mushabib al Hamlan Potential Hijacker and. . . .Ali Abdul Aziz Ali.

These are the calculating savage animals who carried out the attacks on 9/11 an d to them can be added the minions and leaders of Antifa and those who lead international BLM Organization. 

What Must I Do To Be Saved?

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be save and your house” (Acts 16:8).

My intention for this blog is that it be eclectic in nature. That is, it will cover a gambit of subjects which may or may not be related.  To some it will no doubt seem to be just a hodgepodge of rumblings. However, the title says it all . . . . . it is what’s on my mind at any given time. Some stuff is serious, some lighthearted and some nostalgic. There are tributes to friend and political opinions.  What the all have is that at some point they were on my mind and I wrote them down.

The Universal Problem: 

The universal problem of mankind and its solution, namely what the Bible calls SIN! Now hear me out. Sin is behind everything that is bad and evil in our world.  It is one of the few things that the Bible says has infected every single person who has been born of man.  

The Apostle Paul in Romans gives a long litany of sins all of which he says are the product of a sinful core in man himself. Now, my more Liberal minded friends take issue with that list depending where they fall on the sin list. They focus on their particular place on that list to the degree that they miss the underlying truth that the Apostle is declaring. He summarizes that list by saying, “All have sinned.”  Paul is not creating a pecking order for ranking our sin. He is simply casting a net to demonstrate that we are all sinners. 

People are not sinners because the commit sins. We are sinners and therefore we commit sin. Sinful actions are the product of a sinful nature. The theologian John Walvoord once said it this way: “The testimony of the Scriptures is clear that men are sinners by imputation, by nature, and by choice.”  Psalm 51:5 states that we all come into the world as sinners: “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The Apostle Paul stress the same idea in Ephesians 2:2 where he says that all people who are not in Christ are “sons of disobedience” and again in Ephesians 2:3 saying that we are all “by nature children of wrath.”

There is a Biblical truism that asks, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?”  In the Garden of Eden, before man was cast from the Garden the Scripture says that God walked with man in the cool of the evening. Then somewhere in that journey man disobeyed God and his relationship with God changed . . . they no longer walked together. The problem did not lie with God or His actions but with Adam and Eve’s (mankind) so the Prophet in Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,  And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

Let me assure you that God has gone nowhere. He is still present and He is still loving but man, including all of us, has broken our relationship with God. It is no longer that peaceful and blissful walk with Him in the pleasantness of His garden. Our sins not his action has separated us relational from God. The entirety of the Bible is about God making it possible to restore that relationship.  This is the whole idea behind Paul’s statement in Romans 5:19 were we read, “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.”

The Universal Solution:

If SIN and its resultant separation from God is mankind’s Universal problem the next question is there a universal solution to that problem. The answer is a resounding YES! And the really good news is that solution does not hang on anything that mankind or a person can do. I say fortunately because the only thing we could offer is our “good” works all of which flow from a sinful nature.  Isaiah 64:6 confirms that “we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”  

You say, wow! That’s not good news. No it is not good news but it makes the good news especially new. Here is the good news “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”(John 3:16-18)

In Titus 3:5-7 we read, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” That mercy was expressed through Jesus the Christ, God’s unique Son’s, sacrificial death and resurrection. 

So what was out of our reach because of our sinful nature is now within our reach because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Even Jesus said as the addressed the weeping sisters of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11-26-27)

So what we couldn’t do for ourselves Christ has done for us.  He has paid the price of our sinful nature. The blood of Christ, which He shed for us on the cross was enough. It was sufficient to redeem us all.  To reconcile every fallen piece of creation to Himself and restore that perfect relationship He designed from the beginning.  Once we are covered by the blood of the sinless, spotless Lamb of God we can come into the presence of Almighty God and stand before Him completely clean!  “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

So here is it clearly stated in scripture : That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9). It is important that you understand neither we or Scripture is saying that because Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world everyone will be forgiven and delivered. Not so. What we are saying is that God’s grace and Christ’s sacrificial death and glorious resurrection is sufficient so that IF everyone repents and believes (declares, “Jesus is Lord”) they will be saved. There is no deficiency it God’s provision. However, that declaration of faith must be genuine and not just convenient or superficial.  It begins in the heart (a person’s core) and is expressed in the world through the declaration that Jesus is Lord (ο Ιησούς είναι Κύριος). So that “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”  

Those who do not believe in the heart in the sacrificial death, burial and resurrection of Jesus will not confess Him as Lord will not be saved in the end.  Now understand they have not been rejected by God. Instead, they have rejected God’s offer. A gift rejected is a gift not received not a gift withheld .

The Universal Result:

Now we have seen that the Universal Problem of man is SIN and that the Universal Solution is Jesus what is the Universal Result?  The answer to that question is wrapped up in the words of Jesus to Martha and Mary, “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.”

What that means is that those who in the core of their being believe that Jesus Christ is the sinless son of God who died on a cross for their sins and rose from the grave to justify will declare him as their Lord, the one who saves them. This salvation package includes a number of elements. It includes the forgiveness of sin and a home in Heaven with God and Jesus when we die. It includes the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to life a life pleasing to and in keeping with the moral and ethical standards of Scripture. It includes inclusion in the Household of Faith, the church (a body of believes who sustain and pray for one another) and the privilege of sharing what God has done in Christ for you with those who have not claimed Him as their Lord and Savior.  Or as someone has said, “all this and heaven too.”

What this means for those who reject God’s offer is nothing special. First, they receive none of the above. God has made no provision for them. Instead, He simply borrows what He prepared for the disobedient angels, namely what we call Hell. The worst part of Hell is that the love, mercy and grace of God are not present. It is the repository of everything evil from all the ages. It is so grotesque as to be described as a place of  weeping, wailing and the gnashing of teeth; a place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies; a place of torment and thirst.  Jonathan Edwards described the plight of the sinner outside of Christ as hanging “by a slender thread, with the flames of Divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it and burn it asunder. . . . It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity.”

God’s invitation to you is “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  Jesus stated, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:27).

So how do you come to Jesus . . . . You come just as you are right now.

Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

Just as I am, and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot;
To Thee whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, though tossed about
With many a conflict, many a doubt;
Fightings within, and fears without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind;
Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because Thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Just as I am, Thy love unknown
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!

Has broken every barrier down;

"Is the press a noble profession?

"Is the press a noble profession?

The French Revolution recognized three Estates among men, The Church, The Nobility and the Common Man. The Press was not included until some British MP in a speech pointed to the press gallery in the House of Commons and declared them the "Fourth" Estate.”  These four  estates were very much in the minds of our founding fathers.  It is the Fourth Estate, "The Press" that I wish for you to consider for a moment.

I took journalism in seminary from an old Ft-Worth Star Telegram guy who taught us that the emphasis in that class was going to be on concepts like "a good news story is the unbiased telling of both sides of a story."  We learned the "who, what, when and how" rubric of reporting and story writing. We also learned that a one sided piece is an editorial or opinion and belongs on the opinion or editorial page in not the news columns.   Liberal or conservative, Christian or non-Christian true journalists report facts without personal bias.

Finding a news source that reports an unbiased, two sided story on any national event has become almost impossible. I recently urged people to do their own research the other day failing to recognize that has become virtually impossible. Research is not just searching for the stuff which you agree it includes real wrestling with the stuff that conflicts with what you want to believe.  You can do the research but finding a balanced report will require you to  burn a lot of midnight oil.

I have watched one good news source after another become nothing more that a supermarket tabloid or one sided and single minded propaganda machine. 

The Fourth Estate as we are want to call the Media has never been a purveyor of truth. They have always played fast and loose with the facts and promoted a point of view. Hence, we have the terms like "Yellow Journalism" to describe the once powerful Scripps-Howard newspapers.  They were once looked down upon by mainstream news outlets but now they are indistinguishable. However, for the most part “hard news” went in the columns and “opinions” went on the editorial page. Now, opinion is subtlety and skillfully woven within the hard news.

Owners and editors learned that the more sensationally you tell the story the more papers you sell.  Editors and reporters soon learned that weaving an opinion into a news article could sway opinion in the direction they wanted.  Codes of ethics were just something to hang on a wall.  Regardless of the risk such action might put people or even the nation it was “Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.” They have become nothing more than large "Five Cent Westerns" chasing the almighty dollar or their own political bias.

My personal moral and ethical foundation requires that I understand a half-truth as the whole lie that it is. Hence, any news media that reports only half the story is lying and attempting to promote a point of view. How they tell that "partial story" serves to lead you to arrive at a conclusion of the journalists choosing.

Personally, I would prefer a Jack Webb approach to reporting, "Just the facts ma’am, just the facts."  I'll weigh them and I'll form my own conclusion. Sadly, so many seem to believe that if its in print or on TV it must be true.  

So I'll ask you, "Is the press a noble profession and why or why not?

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Just an aside: I Googled "The Press" and up popped the following. I thought it was descriptive enough.

National Complacency Will End Badly For America

Complacency with regard to BLM (the Organization not the popular phrase) and Antifa will end in disaster.  

I'll not confuse you with a differentiation between BLM the organization and BLM the popular slogan.  Suffice it to say that the former is a Marxist group who appropriated the slogan of a group protesting criminal injustice. However, since the BLM slogan has now been highjacked I’ll not be making a distinction. Antifa is a Fascist acting Socialist group purporting to opposing fascism while espousing and practicing Nazi based actions. Both groups are destroying major cities in America through violent behavior. 

I also will not be referring to participants in these movements as “peaceful” or even “mostly peaceful” protestors. I know that media such as CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS etc are doing so. I refuse to give legitimacy to the burning of buildings; the destruction of private businesses; the beating, maiming and killing of innocent people, and; their anti-American rants.  

In the Revelation the Lord says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." (Revelation 2:5). I fear this may well be what is happening in America today. Maybe, just maybe God has said enough to the iniquity of the people of America and he is removing her from her place as one of His “most favored Nations.” 

The clearly local government sanctioned rioting, and that is what it is, has nothing to do with Donald Trump, the Republican and Democrat Parties; or justice/police reform or any other high sounding goals . . . . it is outright anarchy and a move to destroy our capitalist economy and republic form of government in favor of Marxism. It is a movement to rid the country of Christians and all vestiges of the first and second Amendments to the Constitution. 

It doesn't take long for the unimaginable to snowball into a major calamity the like of which no sane person would hope or envision. Just ask the people who lived through the First and Second World Wars; ask the men and women of the Civil War: ask anyone who went to bed one night thinking it will all work out only to discover when they awoke that Ft. Sumpter had been fired upon, that a Duke had been assassinated and that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and now their world was turned upside down.  They never saw what was coming and yet the storm enveloped the world. 

I'm going to suggest to the rioters (there are no protesters left just rioters) that if you actually think that what you are doing is accomplishing anything save your own destruction you are mistaken. We will never come around to your way of thinking and your violence will not bring us there either.  You have us too busy dealing with the crises you have created to deal with any of the honest and just complaints others may legitimately have. Those issues will have to wait until the insurrection has been down and one way or another it will eventually be put down. People are already dying because of our forbearance and a few more may die as we finally reach the pivot point.                                                

If we do not act with firmness now sooner or later someone will act in the midst of all this madness in a malignant way and it will set a fire that all the firefighters on Earth will not be able to extinguish. In every journey there is a "point of no return." BLM and Antifa have set us on a journey and we are fast approaching our own national Point of No Return.  Personally I am already there. 

I am ready for the government to do whatever it takes. Whatever it takes, and I mean "whatever it takes." to put an end to the stupidity; and end to the lying; and end to the anarchy; an end to the burning, looting and vandalism; an end to robbing me and my children of our God given rights to pursue a life of happiness.

Brother, your rights to protest, riot or whatever you call what you do, end at my nose.  You are intent on bloodying my nose but unlike the folks on the news reports folks like me punch back harder than we get punched.  From my chair it is high time to punch back as a nation.  "Surely the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood: so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife." (Proverbs 30:33) or as someone stated it plainly, "he that thrusts strongly teats to draw out milk, thrusts out butter; and he that smites greatly draws out blood; and he that stirs up anger brings forth discord." (Wycliffe Bible)

Reasonable people know all this. Even BLM and Antifa know it. But, that is the goal of both Antifa and BLM. That point of no return is the goal of both Antifa and BLM. That is precisely what BLM and Antifa know and are working toward. They want the peace disturbed; they ant jobs lost; they want people hurt and killed.  They hate this country and her good people so much that they are willing, no anxious and excited, to see her go down. They want our national collapse. There is no reasoning with them. 

Until the old snake is dead there will never be peace or unity.  The serpent's head must be severed or we will become so entangled that we may be devoured as a nation. By a strong and effective blow today we will avoid a disaster like that which Lincoln confronted.

Somehow they have swallowed to notion that out of the ashes of what they have destroyed a Phoenix will arise. Will someone one please tell them that the rise of the Phoenix is a myth.