Monday, August 12, 2013

The Great Civil War... still Cold but a war none the less

With apologies to the author.  I tried very hard to make a reasonable link to this with enough info to inform but commending the link.  I failed.  Here is where all this good thinking comes from.  


By Laurie Sterling

Over the past several months I have written many articles on various issues of the day.  My articles have covered a vast scope of topics including: War in the Middle East, Iran, Egypt, Israel, abortion, free speech, Constitutional issues and even politics.  What never seizes to amaze me is that, the more that I write, the more predictable the reader responses become. There is clearly a dividing line, and I am convinced that the line is drawn right down the middle of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

As the Mississippi River divides the continent, there is no question that America is divided like never before.  It is almost like there are two subcontinents in the “Divided” States of America.  Few would deny that this division exists.  At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, there are really very few worldviews: the Christian, biblical worldview, the secular worldview and other religious worldviews.  For the sake of brevity, this article will focus on American worldviews, concentrating on Judeo-Christian belief systems verses secular humanist views.  I contend that these two worldviews draw the real dividing line in America, the “line in the sand,” if you will.

One group believes that Americans can govern themselves if they simply follow the Constitution.  The other group believes that the government must control everyone’s lives, even controlling their health “care” and how much soda they can drink. One group believes that they can give and take away man’s rights, while the other believes that our rights are given only by God and therefore, cannot be taken away by man.  The Declaration of Independence proclaims, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

There are many patriotic Americans who couldn’t care less about religion who are good people and support the Constitution.  This article is not about them.  I am talking about liberal, secular progressives who seem to hate Christians and all that we stand for.  I am talking about certain atheist groups (not all atheists) who go out of the their way to have crosses removed from military bases yet remain sympathetic to Islamic factions.  These folks like to pick and choose some parts of the Constitution that fit their agenda, while disregarding the parts that don’t.  Time and time again I see Christians standing for one thing and secularist progressives standing for the exact opposite.  This seems to be why Christians are so threatening to the secularists and atheists.

For example, if I write an article exposing the evils of Planned Parenthood, the Christians usually agree with me and want to share the article and get the truth out.  Secularists will usually side with Planned Parenthood and defend what is clearly reprehensible.  Many, not all, will become rude and sarcastic, sometimes even swearing.  Some seem to have forgotten what manners even are.

When I take a pro-Israel stance, Bible believing Christians will enthusiastically support and share the articles.  Predictably, secularist progressives will bash Israel and take the side of Islamic jihadists.  What is most surprising about this is that, liberals are supposed to be the ones who are “open minded” and for “women’s rights.”  It seems, however, that the only “women’s rights” that they are for is the right for a woman to murder her baby in a way that is less humane than animal euthanasia.  They don’t seem to care about the health of the women who visit these filthy, unregulated Planned Parenthood clinics.  They only care about abortion on demand or free birth control on the taxpayer’s dime.  As far as the real war on women, when they see women being oppressed in Islamic countries, they are eerily silent.

When it comes to free speech issues, secularist progressives seem to be very selective in who should have the right to speak.  They are fine with defending the rights of Muslims, atheists and any other groups desiring to bash Christians and Jews and even threaten them.  When Christians speak on any issue that they oppose, they are silenced and called racists, Islamophobes, homophobes and ignorant bubbas who don’t know any better.  They are seen as, “clinging to their Bibles and their guns,” which is actually a compliment to us Christians!

Call it what you may, “Progressives, liberals, elitists, or secular humanists,” regardless of what you call them, they all seem to be after the same agenda.  My point is that, no matter what you call it, it always seems to turn out the same.  They consistently have the same, lame talking points.  When they appear on conservative talk shows, they rudely filibuster, talk very fast and don’t let others speak.  It really seems that they have thrown their manners out the window along with any sense of morality. They believe the lie that if we just continue to “fundamentally transform America” it will be a better place, a Marxist utopia of sorts.  They don’t seem to understand that this system has failed throughout history time and time again, always ending in mass genocide.

To be fair, I have also noticed some who profess to be Christians who are rude to secularists.  I urge my brothers and sisters in Christ to rethink this approach.  I understand that it is tempting and easy to become sarcastic.  But, if we become like them, how can the world see us as set apart?  What will be different about us?  How can we be witnesses for Christ? Jesus Himself said, “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:12-13 NKJV).  I believe that we are living in the time that Jesus is speaking of in this scripture. Christians aren’t perfect and we don’t claim to be.  Still, can’t we put a little more effort into “loving our enemies?”

I commend those Christians who have been standing up for the truth and risking verbal, and who knows, maybe someday even physical persecution in America, (God knows they are suffering persecution all over the Middle East.) The Christian who boldly stand up for truth are real heroes in my book.  Sadly, however, there are too few of them.  Too many Christians are afraid to take a stand.  Some even believe that we are to be silent in the face of evil.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” Thomas Jefferson said, “Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.”  Too many Christians misunderstand the meaning of Romans 13:1.  We are not to obey tyrants and the founding fathers knew this very well.  If God wanted us to obey tyrants, why would He have sent Moses to set the captives free? We can respect the office of the President but we mustn’t lay back and allow our very freedoms to be taken away.  Our soldiers have shed their precious blood to protect our freedoms. We should never allow them be taken away for a utopian, Marxist fantasy.

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:31-34, NKJV).

So, what will it be?  Will you allow an out of control, secular progressive government to rule over you?  Or will you stand with the principles that our founding fathers believed in?  Will you give up on America in her time of need and surrender to socialism or will you stand with the Constitution and the Judeo-Christian principles that brought us God’s blessings for over two hundred years?  It’s time to draw a line in the sand.  Will you be on the side of the sheep or the goats?  It’s your decision.  As for me, I choose God’s side.

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