Honor and Respect

In every area our culture has undergone a downward spiral since I was a child in the 1960's. But one obvious decline that we can do something about is the lack of respect and honor where respect and honor is due.

Civility begins with the heart. If the heart is turned to God, then we can begin to show respect for our fellow man and give honor where honor is due, even though it's not easy to follow these instructions in I Peter 2:13-17:

"Submit yourselves to every regulation of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king, as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by Him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

"For so is the will of God, that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

"Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Respect the king."

One simple way to incorporate this is to refuse to pass along tacky and blatantly disrespectful emails. Note that God does not say, "respect the king (i.e., President) if you agree with him." I think about who the apostles had as kings and governors (godless Romans, some of whom wanted to exterminate all Christians) and I realize that this command goes way deeper than mere respect for a man; if we can't learn to respect the authorities that God has placed here on Earth, how can we respect the authority of the One who created the entire universe?

A slight change in direction

When I first began this blog almost two years ago, my intention was to present America's founding documents (Declaration of Independence, Constitution) one phrase at a time in order to remind myself (and any of you who actually read this thing) of what our nation was founded upon.

Since that time I have undergone a transformation even as many who have awakened to the real prospect of living under the tyranny of the Marxist elite. In addition to the formation of the Young Patriots Fife and Drum Corps, which continues to perform in our community and beyond as a visual and musical reminder of our Founding, I agreed to be secretary of our county Republican Party. It's a lot more fun to dress up in Revolutionary War era clothing and march with the kids and play my fife, but on a practical level I feel like I can do some small part to "get out the vote" for conservative candidates.

I have also come to terms with the fact that I can't, by myself, "save" the country. This evil is too big for me, so I have given it over to the One who is and always has been in charge. I'll continue to do my small part in the areas where God has given me talents (music, sewing, typing) and pray that each and every person will do the same.

May God continue to bless our nation, and may our nation turn back to Him before it's too late.

The source of all chaos

What do Cloward-Piven, radical feminism, Islam, political correctness, humanism, "science" of global warming and evolution, and the twisted notion of "separation of church and state" have in common?

All seek to dismantle and eventually destroy faith in the One True God, the structure of the traditional family, and a stable and moral society governed by the rule of law.

Who is the architect of this chaos and destruction? The same one who has been actively destroying God's creation since the beginning: Satan. And wicked people doing his bidding sometimes even give him credit, as Saul Alinsky did in his dedication to Rules for Radicals. (Most of the time, however, they deny the devil's existence or that they would be in service to anyone.)

We have to know our enemy, or as the Bible puts it, not "be ignorant of his devices" so he doesn't "get an advantage over us" (II Corinthians 2:11). If we try to keep our head in the sand and pretend there is no active evil in the world focused on our destruction, we will not survive.

"Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith..." (I Peter 5:8-9) "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." (James 5:7)

The evil in this world sometimes appears insurmountable. It is too big for one person alone, but nothing is too big for the LORD, the Most High GOD. "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." (James 5:8)