Can You Really Trust a Mudslinger?

A restaurant conversation centered at one point on the subject of the political campaigns with one person making a statement that there has never been a time when the ads have been more negative than during the weeks preceding the elections of 2010!

I told some people recently that I would like to meet and shake the hand of the person who invented the mute button on a TV remote control. I would also express deep appreciation to that person for the great contribution made through such an invention, because I use it constantly -- not only to silence the commercial ads that drag on and on and on for minutes, but especially the political ads that have come upon us like a tsunami generated by an 8.7 magnitude earthquake under the ocean!

These political ads all have a common thread -- commonly known as "mudslinging" which reveals more about character of the politician who is involved in such tactics than he or she would honestly admit. Mudslinging is the vain attempt to paint one's opponent as being the very worst person possible and totally unqualified to hold public office. The person who is doing the mudslinging portrays himself or herself as the "savior" who will transform our government into an institution controlled by the holiest of saints and will usher in an utopian era for all Americans! Literally, as they tell it, we will indeed have a heaven on earth -- so God can just stay in His Heaven because we have already set up our own and we don't need Him around. But then, haven't we in the United States made decisions in the past in one way or another that have essentially told God to mind His own business and that certain areas are off limits to Him to start with?

So the question -- can you really trust a mudslinger? The answer is quite obvious -- any person who engages in such tactics or places a stamp of approval on such ads which are promoting his/her candidacy is immediately suspect as to what kind of moral and ethical standards are being practiced in every day life. It does present a dilemma when one goes into the voting booth this year, because there are no exceptions to this bombardment of very negative ads of attack. It comes down to this -- while I would much prefer not to vote at all, yet I will exercise my right as a citizen of this republic to vote -- but I will be approaching the ballot with this thought in mind -- "Which of these is the lesser of two or three evils (or however many are running for the office). This has been the problem for decades at the state and federal levels.

Be assured that the person who has engaged in mudslinging tactics to get elected will be untrustworthy when taking office. He/she will employ lots of rhetoric to try to convince us that he/she has our best interest at heart -- yea, sure!

Is it too much to ask of a person seeking public office that they simply stress point by point what he/she will do if elected and not mention a word about the opponent, nor engaging in the mudslinging tactic of trying to convince us that the opponent is in reality a disguised Frankenstein monster? Yes, I guess it really is too much to ask, since no candidate is willing to do it!

But there is good news, folks -- the day is coming when all politicians will be removed from office -- a different Administration will be in charge, and it will be world-wide in scope. The summary is found in the concluding statement just below from the book of The Revelation which spells out clearly that God indeed does have the last word, not humans and this includes politicians!

By the way, in the meantime we can pray that God will return upon their heads the fruit of their doings (such action is Biblical) -- it will be interesting to see what happens as praying people begin to make such an appeal to the Creator of this mighty universe!

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" --- Revelation 11:15

Here, Kitty, Kitty!

Picture taken on August 18, 2010 at 6:40 AM near Smithport PA

Yes, that is what it is -- there is no way you can mistake this one for grandma's little tabby cat she keeps with her in the house! Besides, think of the size of litter box you would have to have if you kept the one in the picture in the house -- granted, it would probably make a good guard cat, if it accepted you as being friendly!

Anyway, a family in our church at Gipsy set up a trail camera and surprise, surprise, surprise, as Gomer Pyle would say -- one morning in August this fellow got his picture taken. In our area a number of people are using these special cameras with sensors in order to get pictures of game such as deer, bear, etc. Deer hunters are especially interested to see if any sizable buck deer with trophy racks are in the area.

Now it has been said that the Pennsylvania Game Commission denies that any mountain lions are in our Commonwealth. Such evidence as the above photo would bring a response something like this -- "Well, that one is just passing through!" Oh, really -- let's see now -- there are a lot of miles in any direction from this cat to a Pennsylvania border! Some of us have concluded that the PA Game Commission is about as bad politically as those guys who are supposed to represent us in Harrisburg but really do not!

It is not all that uncommon anymore to hear of denials of one kind or another. Denying the existence of a mountain lion in central Pennsylvania will not mean the end of the world is about to happen and certainly our welfare is not dramatically affected by someone supposedly in authority saying the creature ain't when in reality it indeed is!

But there are other kinds of denials that not only have an impact in time but more importantly -- for eternity! There are persons who down through history have denied the existence of God and they have had a negative influence on the lives of some people. But worse than this are those persons who claim to be clergy and in positions of pastoral leadership who deny basic truths as revealed in God's Word, the holy Scriptures!

The war has been raging for quite some time. Many of the denials have to do with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who became the sacrifice for the sins of the human race so that each one of us could be totally forgiven of every offense of which we are guilty and live in Jesus' Kingdom forever.

Some of the denials involve Jesus' miraculous birth (born of a virgin and having no human father), His sinless life, His atoning sacrifice for the sins of every human being, His literal resurrection from the dead three days after crucifixion, His ascension back to Heaven where He now sits at the right hand of God the Father, and His promised return to this world again at some point in the future to take control and rule forever!

What the deniers cannot ever explain is the miracle of change that has taken place in the lives of the few of us who have received Jesus Christ into our lives as Savior and Lord, the assurance we have each day of Jesus' presence with us, and the rock solid assurance that death simply involves our leaving this world with all its chaos behind and moving into the presence of our Lord in a perfect environment where pain, trouble, and sorrow do not exist!

Here, Kitty, Kitty! Are you real or just a figment of some camera's imagination?

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. --- 1 John 5:9-12