I am finding it difficult to get to sleep at nights, finally succumbing to the sandman around 3-4 am. The body is ready but the mind is still in gear. Usually if I get up and go watch TV, I can fall asleep easily. (I wonder if that means my brain stops working when I’m watching TV.)
But, I’m not writing this to talk about my sleep habits. I just want to share some thoughts with my “facebook friends” about what has been racing through this busy think tank on top of my shoulders. You may do with it what you will.
I received an email the other day from a gentleman who told me he was a providentialist, which translates to the idea that this country was founded for a reason, and by Divine providence. While I would not argue that thought, it leads to the proverbial question…why are we here? As you may know there are others who share this providentialist’s view, you may be one. It has been the focus of some media personalities who have even reminded us about the nine principles and twelve values that were used as a foundation for the establishment of this great nation. As a matter of fact, the book titled “The 5000 year leap” discusses these and then some. But these principles and values can’t be something that we just utter because they are popular or sound good. They have to be who we are. If this is not who we are, then we are just astroturf.
Where did this 9-12 concept come from? Why are we being reminded of them now? Why do we have to be reminded of them? This nation was founded on principles and values, principles and values that originated in the mind of a Creator, not in the mind of the created. History shows that mankind in general is self-serving. We can be arrogant and pompous at times. We were reminded of these qualities on 9-11. It was insulting that this great nation had been attacked by a group of people, whom we thought to be inferior in respect to their abilities to pull off such a stunt, and with our own devices to boot. We were not attacked by ICBM’s or nuclear weapons shot from thousands of miles away, but with our own airplanes in our own backyard.
If our nation was founded by Divine providence, then we are here for a purpose. God’s word reveals to us that mankind was created for a purpose, and that was for the created to worship and serve the Creator. We are not the first “nation” of people set up to do this. Other “nations” have been given the same opportunities and failed, and we now only read of their existence.
Have we failed in fulfilling our purpose? If this nation was allowed to exist for the purpose of spreading christianity and giving it a place to flourish without fear, what have we done with it? Statistics that I have seen show christianity is a floundering religion in this country, with “extremist” religions quickly gaining momentum. Is it any wonder why we are experiencing a “crisis”? We have allowed “them” to intimidate us to silence. We have allowed “them” to demoralize this nation and here we sit in the aftermath, here we sit at the crossroads. For those of you who are following the same media streams that I do, these unorthodox and damaging views are infiltrating our nations government and have been taking over while we were asleep at the wheel. If you have been following the Beck specials on Fox, he is revealing some frightening facts. Have we been too involved with our lives to take the time to stand up for what is right, hoping someone else would take care of it for us? Well, they are taking care of it and I don’t like it.
Somewhere along the line, we have got to get seriously engaged, stay engaged and get on our knees and pray for God’s help in this fight. We can not do it alone and we need to be doing it for the right reasons. We can not expect to “take this country back” and handle her the same way we have done in the past and expect be successful.
My encouragement would be for us not to be self-serving in this endeavor by having motives that only affect us, but let’s remember why we are here and why we were created as a people and as a nation. I would also encourage you to take a look at Joshua 24 and read that chapter. I’m not proposing it as prophecy for us but because it is very motivating for me. Joshua is standing before the children of Israel and he reminds them of what God has done for them and what is expected of them as they go into “the promised land”. They were encouraged to serve God and “put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt.” Then the words in verse 15 that mean so much to me… “choose you this day whom ye will serve…” “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Thank you for your time and allowing me to share just a portion of what has been on my mind. I will now humbly step down from my soapbox.
In His and your service,
Ralph
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Taking To The Streets
We conservatives and libertarians tend to keep to ourselves and have a desire to just be left alone. This thinking has usually worked well for us, but over the past years we have seen all kinds of crazy protests instigated by unions, homosexuals, ACORN... even illegal aliens have had the gall to prance through our streets demanding access to the public purse. Often these are the only voices coming through. Even setting aside the media bias, they are the only voices being raised.
Our political representatives often respond to public pressure when it does not conflict with contributor interests, and up to now, most of the pressure has been coming from those using one hand to hold a picket sign and the other to reach out to scoop up more goodies from the public trough. While most of us have been working to get money to pay our taxes, they have been whining and looking for to ways to take hold of more of this money for themselves. We have abdicated our responsibility to speak up and have left the playing field to the to the avaricious mob. We lost by default!
Does this mean that we can't get the word out? Definitely not! Sure it is one more thing to squeeze into your schedule and mine, but I have found that there is always time for things we see as most important. The issue then becomes recognizing the damage that is being done to our country and making a priority to stop it.
Now is the time... no, it is past time for us to overcome some of our natural tendencies to live quietly by ourselves. Although it's not really in our nature, we must band together and speak up, not just individually, but publicly as a body of citizens. There are enough of us to make a difference. Our problem is that we are busy working, spending time with our families, helping to make our community better and all sorts of other productive activities. Our opponents tend not to have so many of these demands on their time... they often don't have such a rough time fitting self-serving public protest into their schedules.
Tonight, was the first I took part in such a protest in close to twenty years... the last being way back in New Jersey when we gathered around an inappropriately located adult bookstore in the pouring rain... and made the front page of the Star Ledger.
About two hundred of us gathered outside our local ABC affiliate to protest the ObamaCare infomercial they were running. This was not a normal event for most of us but it was refreshing to spend the evening with many who had not been too involved in the past, but have been awaken from their slumber by the outrageous changes being inflicted upon our land.
We made new acquaintances, renewed old ones and found many people with whom we share a lot more in common than we would have ever thought. The first lesson learned was the WE ARE NOT ALONE! If you are concerned about your country, you are not alone either.
It doesn't matter if there are ten of you coming together or a thousand. There is a fellowship among those who cherish their liberty and are willing to take a stand for it. With the tea parties and patriot groups, combined with our government's encroachment on so many areas of our lives, there will be many more opportunities to make your voice heard. It's well worth working it into your busy schedule. Keep in mind that the most meaningful things we do are things that reach beyond ourselves and contribute to the greatness of our country and the welfare of our neighbors.
Originally posted at:
http://www.politicalchristian.org/wordpress/2009/06/taking-to-the-streets/
Our political representatives often respond to public pressure when it does not conflict with contributor interests, and up to now, most of the pressure has been coming from those using one hand to hold a picket sign and the other to reach out to scoop up more goodies from the public trough. While most of us have been working to get money to pay our taxes, they have been whining and looking for to ways to take hold of more of this money for themselves. We have abdicated our responsibility to speak up and have left the playing field to the to the avaricious mob. We lost by default!
Does this mean that we can't get the word out? Definitely not! Sure it is one more thing to squeeze into your schedule and mine, but I have found that there is always time for things we see as most important. The issue then becomes recognizing the damage that is being done to our country and making a priority to stop it.
Now is the time... no, it is past time for us to overcome some of our natural tendencies to live quietly by ourselves. Although it's not really in our nature, we must band together and speak up, not just individually, but publicly as a body of citizens. There are enough of us to make a difference. Our problem is that we are busy working, spending time with our families, helping to make our community better and all sorts of other productive activities. Our opponents tend not to have so many of these demands on their time... they often don't have such a rough time fitting self-serving public protest into their schedules.
Tonight, was the first I took part in such a protest in close to twenty years... the last being way back in New Jersey when we gathered around an inappropriately located adult bookstore in the pouring rain... and made the front page of the Star Ledger.
About two hundred of us gathered outside our local ABC affiliate to protest the ObamaCare infomercial they were running. This was not a normal event for most of us but it was refreshing to spend the evening with many who had not been too involved in the past, but have been awaken from their slumber by the outrageous changes being inflicted upon our land.
We made new acquaintances, renewed old ones and found many people with whom we share a lot more in common than we would have ever thought. The first lesson learned was the WE ARE NOT ALONE! If you are concerned about your country, you are not alone either.
It doesn't matter if there are ten of you coming together or a thousand. There is a fellowship among those who cherish their liberty and are willing to take a stand for it. With the tea parties and patriot groups, combined with our government's encroachment on so many areas of our lives, there will be many more opportunities to make your voice heard. It's well worth working it into your busy schedule. Keep in mind that the most meaningful things we do are things that reach beyond ourselves and contribute to the greatness of our country and the welfare of our neighbors.
Originally posted at:
http://www.politicalchristian.org/wordpress/2009/06/taking-to-the-streets/
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