Is It Really a "Win?"

The United States Senate voted to end the DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) policy of banning homosexuals from serving openly in the U. S. military --- news releases on Saturday, December 18, 2010

There is likely dancing in the streets in places and a number of members of the U. S. Congress celebrating the end of the DADT ban which prevented homosexuals from serving openly in the U. S. military for a number of years. After all, it was reasoned, this was a form of discrimination of the most serious kind, and we certainly can't have that, can we?

The reality of what this means may not be revealed for a while, depending on how soon God chooses to respond fully to a nation that has given Him the traditional obscene gesture time and time again by defying His standards of ethical, moral and spiritual behavior on the part of human beings.

But eventually there will come a day in which God will deal with this country and the deadly mistakes made by its leaders, political and church, in which they have been leading our nation down a road to absolute disaster of the first magnitude!

God is fair and God is loving, but there is a time when He in effect draws a line in the sand and says, "Enough is enough!" The history of ancient Israel as given in the holy Scriptures provides shocking details as to what happens to a culture when the standards of holy conduct and relationships are totally rejected. Our leadership is presently duplicating the patterns of those leaders of Israel centuries ago. The day came when the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were both destroyed by God's judgments, this mainly due to the fact that the people and their leaders refused to heed the warnings of the prophets! God has been calling out today and giving warning, but who is seriously listening?

The sodomite/lesbian cartel has been gaining momentum and winning so-called "victories" for some time. This "victory" in regard to the military DADT policy is simply the latest.

What will be next? Certainly the recognition of "marriage" between 2 males or 2 females is a priorty -- could it be that the time will come when the U. S. Congress will pass some sort of legislation that will require all clergy, magistrates, and judges to perform "marriages" for sodomites and lesbians? Don't ever say "Never!" in such a country as the United States because this republic has again on this date, December 18, 2010, demonstrated that the truth as clearly revealed by the Creator of this mighty universe is to be regarded as nothing more than a temporary irritation and should be tossed into the garbage can as quickly as possible! Can you picture "couples" in the military of the future who are "married" -- sodomites and lesbians?

So, as asked at the beginning -- was it really a "win?" Don't be too hasty to say, "Yes!" Wait until God makes His response and then give your answer -- that is, if you are in a position to be able to do so at that time! It is very wise to remember that God will write the last chapter in human history, and adjust your lifestyle accordingly.

But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. --- Numbers 11:33

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. --- Galatians 6:7,8

Truly Sorry for “transgressions” or Just Sorry for Getting Caught?

Tiger Woods said he let his family down with transgressions he regrets "with all of my heart," and that he will deal with his personal life behind closed doors. --- news release statement on Tiger Woods’ “confession”

It is a given – very, very few people can handle power, wealth, and fame responsibly! Great is the number of persons in professional sports, political office, and the entertainment industry who have given in to raging hormones. The common denominator is an attempt to keep all indiscretions concealed and often to continue immoral activity for one main reason.

That main reason is that the individual believes he or she is the exception to the laws and standards put in place by the Creator of this universe. Those laws and standards may apply to everyone else, but not to me – I can flaunt them because of who I am! So it is said (or at least thought) by a long line of high profile people over the centuries. Defenders of these moral alley cats will make the appeal that what they do in private is none of our business and we are not to do any "judging" in regard to the issue.

Tiger Woods is the latest big name to try to get himself out of the moral quicksand pit into which he has sunk. So amid the mounting pressure that he attempted to elude, he finally has made a public “apology.” Too often it’s been a matter of not really being sorry for the alleged “transgressions” as it is that one got caught and couldn’t hide the offenses any longer. Further, if there had not been some revelation of some kind, the high profile transgressor would have continued to do what he or she had been doing all along!

Yes, forgiveness is possible – each of us is confronted at some point with the issue as to whether we will honestly confess that we are guilty of transgressions and seek the mercy of Almighty God, or try to excuse our offenses and shirk responsibility for our actions. Or worse, utter a feeble half hearted “apology” with the only regret being that we couldn’t keep our “secret life” a secret any longer!

God is extremely merciful – those who have truly repented of their sins and experienced God’s mercy and forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ know full well what it is to live in a state of peace with God. With this comes an abiding assurance of having been forgiven because the regret and following acts of repentance were for real, not merely a charade!

Time will tell as to how it is for Tiger Woods – truly sorry for the “transgressions” with genuine repentance providing clear evidence of the sorrow or simply sorry at having been caught!

Even high profile people in pro sports, government, entertainment, and corporations need Jesus Christ more than anything or anyone else on the face of this planet though most provide evidence that they don’t believe this to be true!

"…you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out. --- Numbers 32:23b

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. --- Romans 5:7-9

Requiem!

They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert. And He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. --- Psalm 106:13-15

This may be interpreted as “sour grapes” after an election, but really it is not – it is reality and the fact that about 62.5 million people have just signed our republic’s death warrant!

In an earlier post it was stated that God would either express His intentional and deliberate will in this 2008 election or His permissive will. In the latter case it means He will let the majority get what they want, but eventually there will be a very high price to be paid.

What we can expect starting in mid-January 2009:

• The greatest impending disaster brought on by President Barack Obama is the fact that he will vigorously support the ongoing destruction of unborn children and seek to remove whatever few restrictions are presently in place to protect the unborn such as the heinous partial birth “procedure.” He will likely appoint at least 2 or more Supreme Court judges who will always rule in favor of destroying the unborn. And he will appoint judges in the lower courts who will not see their responsibility as supporting the Constitution but rather to “legislate” from the bench even in defiance of the Constitution!
  
  
• What will be the kind of people with which he will be surrounded in terms of advisers, cabinet members, etc? It has been well documented that his associations in the past have often been with persons of questionable character, including one named Jeremiah Wright. God’s revelation speaks loud and clear on the matter – a person who governs must have God-fearing persons surrounding him, and in this age of the Gospel, it means specifically relying on persons who know Jesus Christ personally as Savior and Lord. It is highly unlikely that B. O. will be at all concerned about selecting such people to be a part of his administration. In a sense, having bought this election by having outspent his opponent by millions of dollars, the young president is now beholden to quite a bunch of people – obviously there will be “political” pay offs!
  
  
• We can expect an ambitious “tax and spend” policy which will be enthusiastically supported by a Democratic controlled Congress. He and they will never learn that you cannot spend your way into a state of prosperity. Further, these people will not so much as lift a finger in an effort to reduce a national debt now approaching 11 trillion dollars. As an aside, "Big John" Murtha (unfortunately my rep in Congress) was reelected and will continue to do his big "earmark" thing -- he's a champion at this -- that is, until the country goes belly up financially!
  
  
• Eventually we can expect an assault against our 2nd Amendment rights. He has already indicated his dissatisfaction with the practice in a number of states of granting licenses to persons allowing them to carry concealed and loaded handguns. In some manner or other there will be an effort launched to further restrict sale and use of firearms and sales of ammunition! The dream of some persons in this republic is the outright ban and possession of all firearms by U. S. citizens. B.O. will at some point attempt to get us moving toward that objective!
  
  
• Under his “leadership” (term used very loosely) government will continue to expand and steadily move onward toward duplicating the horror of George Orwell’s novel, “Nineteen Eighty Four” -- you know, the condition where we are all monitored by “big brother.” The dominating force is the deceptive idea that the government can take care of us from the cradle to the grave – or as put more dramatically in other terms – from the womb to the tomb!
  
  
• Obama’s military will be interesting to watch. He will be “Commander in Chief” but never has had 1 day of military experience. Will we see a mass exit or not when enlistment terms expire and officers determine whether they will stay a while longer or retire? Time will tell on this one. A poll among the military before election revealed very strong support for John McCain with the exception of blacks in the military – as expected, their support was highly in favor of B. O.
  
  
• Perhaps one of the most crucial areas of concern under the administration of Barack Obama, second only to his attitude toward unborn children is how he will support Israel or refuse to support Israel. So far, this country has had leadership which has been supportive of the country of Israel and at times has been the only country to stand with Israel in certain crises. Shenanigans at the United Nations demonstrate all too well the truth of this. It likely will not be too long until we know if our new president will be supportive of Israel or will back off and eventually abandon the Jewish state.
  
  
• Finally, what will be his faith identity and church identity while occupying the White House? God has again made plain the fact that one who is in the powerful position of governing is to be one who bears witness to his faith and relationship with God – in other words leadership that is powerful and influential begins by exhibiting a holy example in conduct and providing evidence that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – that this same God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ and is real in every day experience. Will B. O. and family identify with a church – if so, will it be nothing more than one of those “feel good” churches where the word “repentance” is avoided like the plague, and the pastors of which would never say anything that would offend someone, especially one who is president of the United States?
  

Yes, there are times in recorded history when we observe God giving the people what they wanted, and too late they discovered they wanted what was not at all good for them, and then disaster struck!

"Then you shall say to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, "Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?"' …………… But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving. --- Numbers 11:18-20, 33, 34

A Murmuring Israelite in the Wilderness!

Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?" So they said to one another, "Let us select a leader and return to Egypt." --- Numbers 14:1-4

This is a confession time -- yes, in the daily times of prayer God has a way of jolting my memory about some things which prove to be most embarrassing and humiliating!

I find it all too easy to murmur and complain -- I would be more than qualified to be an Israelite wondering about in the wilderness -- in fact, to stand at the head of the line of chronic grumblers! As you see above, this is one incident of many in which the Israelites lapsed into the murmuring mode.

Time after time, in spite of the witness they had of God's mighty miracles of deliverance and provision, they would forget and regress into what would be almost a "ritual" of complaining.

So I, too often, can quickly lapse into a pattern of complaining:

• the weather can be a frequent target -- too hot or too cold -- too much snow or ice -- and in connection with the winter, murmur about all that junk PennDOT throws on the road in winter time which results in the paint of my car getting chipped and the car often looks like it was in a hot tub of salt water -- you know, chalky white stuff all over the surface and the windows!
  
• driving -- someone is going too slow in front of me -- someone is tailgating me from behind -- someone pulls right out in front of me -- why don't people know how to drive????
  
• the deer and rabbits chew at some varieties of our flowers -- the buds on the rhododendrons are a target, so I do some grumbling about that as I try to take action to "head them off at the pass!"
  
• and on politics -- I will not even go into detail on that one, although there are comments on both the blog and the web site which relate to this subject.
  
• then there are those daily irritations, disruptions and the reality of what some describe as Murphy's Law -- lots of grist for one prone to complaining!
  

And so as I talk to the Lord on that morning walk, that's when He starts coming back at me about that grumbling pattern I get into -- He reminds me of others who have circumstances much worse to deal with than salt residue on a car in the winter time --

• there are brothers and sisters who are suffering violent persecution and even being put to death for their faith in some places in this world -- the Voice of the Martyrs is most helpful in providing information on this growing problem.
  
• there are brothers and sisters who are laboring under difficult circumstances to share the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ which I likely will never experience.
  
• there are brothers and sisters experiencing severe health problems which I have never as yet experienced -- I can still see and hear -- I can still walk -- and I have been blessed with a good measure of health.
  
• and God has provided Jean and me with a home that is mortgage free which sits on a 1.2 acre lot which He also provided shortly before retirement -- and no, it was not inherited!
  
• we have children, grandchildren and great grandchildren -- a family which God has been pleased to bless in numerous ways.
  

It often comes down to a matter of disciplining the memory -- of intentionally remembering past blessings and benefits -- sometimes when walking in the rain or when the snowflakes are falling, I attempt to remind myself that each raindrop or snowflake represents a blessing which God has mercifully granted to me and my family in times past! The reciting of the first few verses of Psalm 103 is a good cure-all for one when in the complaining mode!

Heavenly Father -- forgive me for falling into the trap of murmuring and complaining over the most trivial and petty things -- forgive my indifference to the plight of my brothers and sisters in the faith who are suffering in ways I cannot even imagine as they seek to bear witness for your Son Jesus as Savior and Lord. And forgive me for forgetting there are others who are going through trials and tribulations which I have never experienced. And forgive my failures in keeping silent when I should have spoken a word -- for inaction when there is something I was capable of doing but didn't for the advancement of your eternal Kingdom. Grant me grace and the empowerment of your Spirit to proclaim your Word faithfully and to invest my remaining time, abilities and resources wisely in the fulfillment of your call upon my life. And whatever measure of time I have left in this world -- a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months or years -- or if you should spare my life until Jesus returns, may all that I say and do be to your honor and glory through Jesus, my Savior and my Lord. Amen!

Let Us Make Us a Captain!

And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. --- Numbers 14:1-4 (KJV)

It was their greatest crisis since their liberation from bitter slavery which had extended over a few centuries in the land of ancient Egypt.

The Israelites were now in a state of panic upon hearing a negative majority report from ten of twelve men who had checked out the land which God had promised them -- a promise dating back to their ancestor, Abraham. The report which caused knees to knock and hearts to skip a beat was that the inhabitants of that land were like giants with walled and well defended cities, etc.

So a decision was made -- elect a "captain" to lead them back to Egypt! They never made it -- God's judgment in this case resulted in their wandering about in the wilderness for 40 years. Their daily "activity" primarily involved attending funerals until the whole adult generation died off with the exception of Joshua and Caleb -- the only two of the original twelve men who had given a positive report after the spy mission had been completed.

We in the United States are in the process of electing a "captain" to lead us over a period of four years.

There is no evidence that any of those persons who are seeking to be that "captain" takes even the basic commandments as given by our Creator seriously! It's much more about what "I" will do if "I" become your "captain" -- "I will (insert anything here -- the sky's the limit!) and we will reach our 'promised land!'"

UNLESS the next "captain" is resolved to personally set a God-fearing example and boldly exhort all of us citizens to set about seeking the will of Almighty God as the top priority, individually and collectively, then we can only expect to experience increased chaos and eventual collapse -- a wilderness disaster of our own making!

While the majority of U.S. citizens are indifferent to, if not adamantly opposed, to the standards established by God for a sane, sensible, peaceful, prospering and surviving culture, it is becoming more obvious as time passes that we are not exempt from those standards and laws. The eternal law of "sowing and reaping" still applies to individuals and nations!

So, to you who are seeking to be selected as our "captain" beginning on January 20, 2009, what do you say that we as a republic should do to insure future peace, tranquility and blessings from above? Our "captains" during the past decades have not been successful in helping to get us back on track and into an acceptable and favorable relationship with the Creator of this mighty universe!

If anything, the financial, ethical, moral and spiritual grave we have dug for ourselves is deeper than ever before in our history! Is there a truly God-fearing "captain" out there somewhere who will lead us out of this wretched "grave" in which we presently find ourselves rotting?

The way present "campaigning" (if it really qualifies for the term) is going, we are in about the same dilemma as were those Israelites many centuries ago who wanted a "captain" to lead them back to a life of bitter bondage!

"But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.' Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you. So you shall say to them, 'This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.'" --- Jeremiah 7:23-28