Is it Too Late for America? God help us!

Not a Rep

Not a Dem

I’m An American.

I Want my Country Back!

 

That was on a bumper sticker I saw the other day. And I thought to myself, “YEP! I agree with that one!” What has happened to our great country? Where are we headed (besides into bankruptcy)? Why are we SO divided? When did our slide downhill begin? Can we turn it around or is the snowball growing too big?

We’ve had many downhill slopes in our country’s history, but we’ve always managed to climb back to the top of the hill...sometimes quickly and other times painfully slow. Whether we will be able to return to the top again, will only be determined in time. However, I don’t believe it will be in my lifetime.

In all our country’s history we have never been more divided as we are presently, except during the devastating period during the Civil War. Listen to the liberal media and the one conservative channel for just one day to see how far apart “the sides” are. As divided as we are, this is just a symptom of our real disease….or downfall.

I truly believe that our last major and possibly fatal fall began on January 22, 1973. That was the day the Supreme Court pushed us off the cliff with its landmark decision, voting 7-2 in favor of abortion. In this case of Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court of our great land declared state laws which banned abortion illegal and unconstitutional. Since this date, over 57 MILLION babies have been murdered. 57 MILLION!!!

Most Pro-Choicers will argue that aborted babies are just blobs of tissue, not really babies. As long as “it” is not a viable fetus, it’s all right. It has been determined that a baby’s heartbeat begins just 18 days after conception. In our society a person is declared legally dead when his heart stops beating. Why are we not declared legally alive when a heart starts beating? Abortion is often used today as simply another means of birth control, frequently paid for with tax dollars.

Isaiah 49:1b (NIV) states, ”Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.” And in Jeremiah 1:5a we read, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart.” How many Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s have we killed? How many Albert Einsteins? How many babies who may have grown up to find a cure for cancer or other advancements in the medical field? 57 MILLION people murdered without a chance to live and love and laugh and give!!! 57 MILLION!!!

After this huge abortion “snowball” was pushed off the cliff, it quickly picked up more snow and momentum with all the changes in society.The sexual revolution along with The Pill had already loosened the “snow” in the 60’s. The Hollywood crowd added more with movies and television programs reflecting sexual promiscuity and homosexuality. The “anything goes as long as it feels good” mantra added more moral decay. Removing discipline from the schools and holding no one responsible for his/her actions continued to pack on more. And it doesn’t look like it’s slowing down with the continuous breakdown of the family and the acceptance of gay marriage as well as legalizing drugs.

There is a war on Christianity going on in this country. God and prayer have already been taken out of our schools. Many are wanting to take God out of our Pledge of Allegiance. These same people want to take Christ out of Christmas and celebrate Winter Solstice, calling it a Winter Holiday.

Our great country was founded on Christian principles and morality although many in the liberal media want to rewrite the history of our founding fathers. Our Constitution was written to protect religious freedom. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God.” The Continental Congress approved spending $300,000 (quite a lot of money in 1777) to buy Bibles to be distributed throughout the original colonies. In 1782 the congress not only approved the Holy Bible to be used in all schools but also recommended it. How far have we moved from the principles on which this country was founded!

As stated in Jesus’s words in Matthew 12:25 “Every kingdom divided against itself will not stand.” Does this mean we will agree on everything? Absolutely not! There will always be difference in opinions, but we must unite ourselves in standing up for what is right and just….and killing 57 million babies is not one of them. This must be stopped.

Norma McCorvey whose legal pseudonym was Jane Roe (the Roe in the Roe v. Wade decision) became an active member of the ProLife movement in 1995 and believes abortion should be made illegal. If the same lady who played a part in starting this murderous scheme has seen the truth, how much more should the rest of us. Repealing Roe v. Wade would immediately stop the downward travail of this huge snowball we have created. The trip back up the hill will probably be long and tiresome, but necessary if our country is to survive. What’s it going to take for this to happen? A miracle!

God has blessed America beyond all measure, and all honor and praise belong to Him. God is the answer, the only answer, to our reckless, downhill descent. Without Him, there is no hope, and our snowball will continue growing until it is all-encompassing. Therefore, we must obey 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven , and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” Only then can we once more become The UNITED States of America! 

Florence Beam posted by her proud son John Mark

 

 

That's Outrageous

There I stood with my arm around this feeble elderly woman with glasses.

And I prayed. Paying no attention to the fact I was at work, on the clock, I quietly asked God to bless her. Who is her? My new friend Faye. Some of you may be thinking, "That's outrageous," but is it?

Faye stumbled into the jewelry store, with a cane, a tangible symbol her life had changed forever. I was instantly drawn to her. In her late 70s . . . and one glance at her revealed she had been put through the ringer.

"This is the first day I've been out since my stroke," she candidly shared with me. "I'm embarrassed to be out looking like this."

My heart broke for her. Embarrassed? No. Courageous? That she was, and IS-- more courage in her pinky finger than most of us possess in our entire bodies.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about I assured her." What I should've said was that she's just as beautiful as ever, as His precious and beloved daughter, and that her inward beauty (1st Peter 3:3-4) far overshadowed any way her outward appearance may have been affected by her stroke. I'm sorry I didn't . . . I've since prayed that God would reveal that to her.

I was instantly touched. She wasn't letting the fact she can't quite get around as well as she once could hold her back. I told her how blessed she was that she wasn't fully paralyzed, suffering partial paralysis and did not have any speech impediments or anything of the like. She agreed.

That's where the exciting 15-minute adventure started.

"I am a believer," she proudly said. "And I know it's a miracle! I thank the good Lord every day for that. He has been so good to me."

"I can still walk. I can still talk. I can still do for my husband of 40 years."

Even the hardest of hearts would have been whittled away by her sincerity and words of gratitude. I teared up. I prayed for her for a couple of minutes off to the side of the sales floor as to not draw attention to us, but not hiding our display of faith either.

God was blessed, she was blessed and I . . . I might've felt the most blessed of all. No matter how you slice it, or dice it, my encounter with Faye was truly a treat. Moments where obedience make our Heavenly Father smile, cause someone else to smile and bring a smile to our own faces, I call tri-fold blessings! Often times we are robbed of these special moments for fear of what someone else may think. What will my boss think? What will other customers think? We rationalize-- maybe this isn't the time or the place. If it's laid on your heart-- it's ALWAYS the time and the place!

What's REALLY Outrageous!

We are called, as followers of Jesus Christ, to share His Love . . . so no acts of altruism are outrageous. . . but necessary. Many are bold. Many are inspiring. Many are admirable, but outrageous 99.9% are not. But I will tell you what it is!

The fact God would send His only Son Jesus to die for me knowing all the MANY times, and many ways, I would fail Him during my lifetime. How radical, how amazing, how OUTRAGEOUS is His love for us!?!  Any acts we perform, or rather He performs through us, are simple . . . they are small compared to what He endured for us and lengths He went to to bring us back home.

You see we scoff at how on Earth Peter could deny Him three times when we deny Him FAR more than that each and every day! He saw me addicted to porn, frequenting strip clubs, hopping into bed with women, all the naughty pictures and texts, pursuing all kinds of hedonism and perversion. He saw all the times I wouldn't honor Him and the times I would treat myself with no worth and He died for me ANYWAY! He did it anyway! I don't know about you, but I've used grace as a license to sin more than the reason to be more obedient.

That's why it's easy for me to sing songs of worship, pour out my praise and really belt out lyrics like, "Amazing Love how could it be that You my King would die for me/Amazing Love I know it's true/ It's my joy to honor You and when I belt words out like those, I do so from my soul, deep within my spirit not just from my heart or mind.

How Great Thou Art is more than just a hymn, because you pause and really think about His greatness . . . it is mind-blowing, heart-changing, you are instantly compelled to want to give Him something back! You aren't required to for Him to love you, but I know it is more appreciated than we could ever come to realize.

Jesus found you in the mud and the muck, in the backseat of that car, in that hotel room, in that stranger's bed, in the bed of that spouse (but not your spouse) and He died for you anyway! He pursued you and He loved you too much to leave you there!

God loved us too much to allow us to remain separated from His great love, so He pursued us and gave us a way back to His loving arms through Jesus. Amazing? Hardly . . . that word is terribly insufficient! The fact He STILL loves me . . . the fact He would still views me as His son . . . the fact He delights in my audience . . . the fact He would want ANYTHING to do with me, much less DIE FOR ME~ that's INCONCEIVABLE to my rational mind. Good thing God is so terribly IRRATIONAL!

You may say, "I don't deserve it." You're right-- I don't either, but it's not about our worth rather about the One who is worthy and gives us our worth. It was not bought cheaply, but it comes at no expense, completely free, to us! Receiving something so freely given that NONE of us deserve is GRACE.

And GRACE~ well, that's OUTRAGEOUS!!!