Note: I interrupt my series on Discipleship—too noisy to hear God—to address disturbing changes in American life following the 2020 election. Back tomorrow with SUBSTANTIAL material.
A strange similarity exists between the physical assault of Trump’s followers on the Capitol and the black activists removing Confederate statues in the South. Both feel the need to remove symbols they feel keep them chained: the blacks in slavery, the disaffected Republicans in political defeat. In a previous blog I said blacks should prove the slave-holders wrong by getting educations and succeeding far more completely than slavers considered possible. To do that meant they accepted responsibility for their own success without looking to government handouts. Nevertheless, falling easy prey to unscrupulous politicians, who trade welfare support for votes, many blacks have become a permanent underclass. In the run-off in Georgia, Democrats rushed to recruit black voters. But as I wrote years ago, any candidate that must depend on a voting block to be elected SHOULDN’T BE! Even well-intentioned politicians, with the Power of Federal government behind them, can’t eliminate poverty in groups. In 1964 President Johnson declared unconditional war on poverty in America. Yet here we are, 57 years later, with food banks pleading for more help than the government already generously gives, to “feed the poor”. Whatever happened to the “unconditional war” to eliminate poverty in the 1960’s? Let those who think politicians have the answers carefully consider that anomaly between what they promise and deliver. Trump wanted to be as successful a statesman as he was, and will continue to be, an entrepreneur. Even Democrat Diane Feinstein admitted he could be a good President. Yet, while not discounting the legislative victories of the past quadrennial, he forfeited any claim to statesmanship when he refused to accept defeat in 2020. Even understanding that fraud could have existed in some states—Democrats are notorious for stealing elections—Richard Nixon, cheated out of the Presidency in 1960, refused to order a recount in Chicago, that hot-bed of Democratic fraud. To be a statesman, not a politician, Trump should have accepted the 2020 vote and let God, who does after all RULE the nations, take whatever remedial or punitive action he would against those who cheat to gain a temporal advantage. It’s very true that the Left always gave Trump the Shaft, not the Mine. Nevertheless, when he could have proved how wrong they were by responding with superior attitudes, acts and behaviors to their childish political tricks, he instead determined to prove them right. He continued to be a boorish street fighter. As a result, he LOST the 2020 election far more than Biden WON it. A closing thought. Removing Confederate symbols won’t change the history that created slavery. It will make iconoclasts of blacks who think that destroying the symbols makes them better people. When all it proves is that they possess a violence shown in every riot they precipitate. Indeed, a violence endemic to humanity, mindlessly destroying without a corresponding genius for creating something better. Black parents must stop prepping their children to be pro athletes, which may provide a financially lucrative career, but only for a short time. They must instead challenge their sons and daughters to be competent in the arts and sciences as even-handed historians, doctors, teachers and preachers. The successful model established by Asians coming to America should be their guide, not the failed model set by Democratic politicians who offer welfare dependency for votes to keep the financial spigot open. All this is my view, based on an understanding of the Bible. If you have a different view, what is your authority?
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NOTE: apologies for delay in developing this blog. It has been a greater challenge than expected.
What began as Elijah’s sprint to escape an angry queen continued as a multiple-marathon to elude himself. Excepting two brief occasions he stopped running only when reaching Horeb/Sinai, some 250 miles from Jezreel. There he found both refuge from the viscerally-satanic Jezebel and accusing personal discomfiture, the latter far more exhausting than the former. If the vast distance eliminated physical danger it ballooned his self-doubt. If leaving his geographic responsibility dealt no other blow to his confidence, it left him a classic manic/depressive. The manic of Carmel because God had triumphed gloriously; the depressive of Sinai because he had failed God by choosing flight from danger TO safety, not fight for God IN safety! A problem endemic to all disciples serving Jesus, the inevitable result of God’s sovereignty working through human instruments. Instead of a wave of revival in Israel with the destruction of Ahab’s minions, Elijah discovered a supine King describing God’s Glory at Carmel to an ever-more enraged queen who clamped hands over ears. Instead of excitement and courage when we lead people, tradition, spiritual sloth and personal cowardice splashes ice water. Elijah didn’t at once ask God to protect or hide him as he had previously for 3 ½ years I Kings 17. He instead surrendered to fear of a woman who wanted him dead: not for the first time, mind you, but with a direct death-sentence-letter pressed into his hands. But God would have sent him to safety or hidden him in plain sight if necessary. Like Elijah, we cringe when opposed, then shrink away, like a full-flesh body vanishing into a skeletal mockery. Instead of hearing the Spirit urge us onward and forward, our small fear grows into a shouting behemoth-coward, and we follow it out of the contest. It’s a problem endemic to all disciples in both Testaments, even then, especially now. And even when our expedients give us initial comfort, and others justifiable reasons, our conscience isn’t easily dismissed. In quiet of day, or silence of night, it continually beats on our mind a tattoo of guilt for fearing circumstances or people instead of trusting our God! It’s all part of the ongoing struggle between flesh and spirit that Paul deftly profiled in II Corinthians 4:7-14. Our spirit delights in the treasure we embrace and regrets the limited capacity of vessels of clay holding it. Indeed, the struggle Christians fail every day is our DESIRE to GLORIFY Christ in a flesh diminishing its success Romans 7:14-24. Even there, however, as Paul wrote in Romans 7:25-8:17 and II Corinthians 4:16-5:10, God’s grace compensates our frailties with his omnipotent merit. He knows he must win for us through his Spirit the battle for Christ-likeness we will always admire without rising to the excellence such admiration should inspire. End Part II Blogging is a favorite way to stay in touch and to teach God’s word. Trust all readers are safe from Covid-19. It will be finished with us when God is finished with it.
A story in the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Earthwatch section relates to discipleship. It noted that the Covid-caused decline in human activity has given scientists a chance to “detect previously hidden earthquake signals” 1/4/21. That seemed an appropriate parable of the Master’s Parable of the Thorny Soil in Matthew 13:7, 22. God called Elijah as his prophetic spokesman to a depraved majority in Israel under King Ahab and his spiteful, Baal-worshipping, Jezebel. The titanic spiritual struggle concluded on 1800 foot Mount Carmel in northwest Israel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. There God so blisteringly attacked Baal worship that a suddenly-impressed laity in attendance swooned in adoration, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!” Elijah finished the contest by ordering the execution of Baal’s 400 prophets, who had all-day-long besieged their god with cries and self-imposed bodily punishment, seeking pity and an ANSWER. All unavailingly! I Kings 18:1-46. While the assembled throng responded to God’s unleashed “shock and awe” demonstration with physical prostration and verbal shouts, wicked Jezebel responded differently, if predictably. She sent a scathing letter of doom to the prophet. “May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them” I Kings 19:2. Knowing the Queen’s colossal blood-for-blood vindictiveness, her husband’s inability to limit it and her unconditional authority to inflict it, Elijah flinched as he read his death sentence, then panicked. “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life” I Kings 19:3a. End Part I Had the beginning of a new series in mind when I read our monthly Carefree Runner and saw the enclosed humor. BTW, it’s care free only for the owners. We pay $1700 a month, plus utilities, for the privilege of living in a 1200 square foot manufactured home. May there soon be a change for us.
Consider the following quips to brighten day 5 of January, 2021.
As my dad used to say, BYE, BYE. God bless. See you tomorrow with something substantial. VH |
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