Flag Day 2015: Dealing With an Intolerant, Disrespectful, and Egocentric Generation

911firefightersMiley Cyrus was in the news this week, once again, seeking attention through outrageous behavior, like reminiscent of an immature person trolling Political Facebook Pages.

Cyrus rose to fame on The Disney Channel as a fresh-faced, innocent pre-teen named Hanna Montana.

The show, which co-starred her dad, singer/songwriter Billy Ray Cyrus of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame, was a mega-hit among our nation’s youth. The plot concerned a ordinary girl named Miley (what a stretch, huh?) who donned a wig to become pop music sensation, Hanna Montana. The series followed all the goofy adventures which she, her brother, and her best friend, constantly found themselves getting into.

Fox News reported last week that

In Miley Cyrus’ super revealing Paper magazine cover story, the actress, who appears nude inside the mag, says she is the least judgmental person ever, yet she has some harsh words for Christian fundamentalists and her parents.

The magazine’s story on Cyrus notes that though she was raised Christian, the singer “maintains a particular contempt for fundamentalist lawmakers who rally against this sort of progressive, potentially life-saving changes [for the LGBT] community.”

The pop star told the mag, “Those people [shouldn’t] get to make our laws.”

The article touches on what Cyrus thinks of people who believe Noah’s Ark was a real vessel, “That’s f–king insane,” she told the magazine. “We’ve outgrown that fairy tale, like we’ve outgrown f–king Santa and the tooth fairy.”

She praises her parents throughout the interview, yet Cyrus slams their politics calling them “conservative-ass mother–kers.”

Last Year, she became the topic of Water Cooler Conversation across the nation for appearing on a national music awards program in a skin-tight “nude” outfit. performing a simulated sex act with 36 year old, Robin Thicke, who was married with a 3 year old child, We later found out that it was supposed to be a “dance” called “twerking”.

Think about this: a young fresh-faced, pre-teen girl, who was once marketed as the role model for young teens, with her likeness on clothes, lunch boxes, notebooks, and backpacks, in the center aisle in Walmarts around the world, has become a 20 year old, with her rear up in the air, on all fours, like she was a canine in heat, on a live television program, seen around the world,

The shock value, and outrageousness of her “performance” made her the talk of the nation and got her the attention that she craved.

Back in 2007, Radio Talk Show Host Glenn Beck, in his television show on Headline News, interviewed Billy Ray Cyrus about his daughter’s enormous popularity…and about their relationship.

“Are you at all concerned?” Beck asked the young star’s father, Billy Ray Cyrus, at the time. “I mean, the odds of Miley turning into Ron Howard — meaning sane — pretty low. Living in Los Angeles, being a child star — hello? Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, name a million others…”

Cyrus was confident that his daughter had a “great head on her shoulders” and a “great heart.” He also explained that he tries to be her “best friend,” while letting his wife act as the disciplinarian.

“I taught them how to build a good snowman, how to ride a motorcycle, how to ride a horse, how to roast a wiener properly over a fire, and a good marshmallow,” Cyrus explained. “…But discipline I always left up to the mama. She was really, really good at that. That never was — I never was really good at that.”

“This is driving me crazy…What is that from you then?” Beck interrupted. “…I don’t mean to be crass here — are you a cowardly guy?”

Looking back to that interview, after witnessing what Miley has turned into, I do believe the majority opinion is “yes”.

Billy Ray often has referred to the style of parenting which he used with Miley as laissez faire parenting.

I would just call it lazy.

Billy Ray’s, and his estranged wife’s lack of parental guidance has produced a train wreck of a young woman, along the lines of a Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan.

So, Miley…once again, you’ve gotten your wish. You are the talk of America. However, folks are not talking about you in the same manner as they used to, when you were that angelic-looking child with the beautiful voice, winning smile, and perky personality.

Now, what Americans are trying to figure out, Miley, is how you’ve degenerated into what you have become: a young woman with loose morals, rubbing her rear against an older man, while appearing in a nude-colored two piece underwear-looking outfit, in front of God and everybody.

And, now, appearing naked with a pig.

Frankly, I’m embarrassed for the pig.

But, I digress…

So, anyway, here you are…telling all of us normal Americans, living out here in the Heartland, how stupid and intolerant we are, for actually holding to Traditional American Values.

I have heard this garbage before.

This being Flag Day, please allow me to relate the following story…

Back in 2011, I got into a discussion on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website with some cheeto-munching, Mom’s basement-dwelling Lib with no home training, who proceeded to tell me that he would be proud to defecate on the American Flag.

If I could have reached through my computer monitor and throttled that useless, ungrateful spoiled brat, I would have.

That “dude” was yet another example of the useful idiots of this present generation, such as Miley, that seem to be garnering a lot of national attention for their outrageous, disrespectful…and, yes, intolerant, behavior.

Just as we have been bearing witness for the last year, through the glorification of thugs and the vilifying of our local police departments by the Obama Administration and the local “communities” which they lay their lives on the line for, every day they put on their uniforms, the effects of LBJ’s “Great Society” on American Culture and the Black Family Unit, so are we witnessing, through the egocentric behavior of this present generation, what happens when children are left to “their own devices”, instead of being raised “in the way in which they should go”.

On this special day, in which we honor the symbol of our country, a symbol which has been defended and fought for, by the self-sacrifice of generations before us, it is time for Americans to take stock of what is happening around us.

What we seem to be heading for is not simply an immoral society, but, an amoral one, whose concept of right and wrong is “Whatever Gets You Through the Night (It’s Alright. It’s Alright.)”, and whose ultimate authority is not the God of Abraham, but a Godless Central Government, whose credo is

From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. (Karl Marx)

Just as Marxism has failed wherever it has been tried before, so will it fail here.

Just as amorality and licentiousness led to the destruction of the Roman Empire, so, if unchecked, will it lead to America’s.

The galling thing is the fact that, even though American Christians remain 74% of the population, we are propagandized and suppressed in both the Old and New Media, to make it seem as if WE are the Minority, when, in fact, WE are the overwhelming Majority.

It is this New Generation of Amoral Socialists, who are in fact, just a tiny, albeit vocal, Minority of America’s population.

And, it is their intolerance, in the name of self-centered “diversity”, which reveals their true heart…every time.

So, what can an average Christian American, like you and me, do about this “Tyranny of the Minority”?

As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians, we can STAND.

However, you cannot stand without “the full armor of God”.

I have found, as have my family and friends, that the better that you are doing, in terms of your Christian Walk, the harder that you will be attacked.

10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.…- Ephesians 6:10-12

By now. you’re probably asking, “So what’s the point of all this, KJ?”

We are given free will by our Creator…will to make choices and decisions on the direction of our lives. Being human, we often don’t make the right decisions and being human, those decisions have the potential to lead us down a dark path.

Whether is in reality or strictly in the close quarters of our own consciousness, the path we choose to follow is up to us.

We still live in the greatest country on the face of the earth and we still have a responsibility to one another.

The Light or the Darkness. The choice is up to each and every one of us.

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:14 (ESV)

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

 

Catch a Falling Star: It’s Not the Years…It’s the Miley-age.

Miley CyrusWhat is it about a train wreck that captures our attention? It is the sight of something that was once sleek and beautiful, now a twisted pile of debris, that holds our gaze? Or, perhaps it’s the memory itself, that we see among the carnage.

Ever since the days of Fatty Arbuckle, our nation has held a fascination with the spectacle of a rising star being brought back down to Earth by their own reckless behavior.

Another example, before some of you were born, is the late, great Judy Garland. This wonderful entertainer could sing, dance, and act. She was remarkable, and an American Favorite from the moment she put on those ruby red slippers and followed the yellow brick road, until she left us much too soon, passing away in 1969, of a drug overdose, a victim of her own demons.

It is rather ironic, the Ms. Garland starred as the young ingenue, Esther Blodgett, in the 1954 classic movie, “A Star is Born”, with the great James Mason.

The movie is about a movie star who helps a young singer/actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

Judy Garland was an amazing performer.

I can see and hear her now, in a black dress, on a nightclub stage, with her short black hair, and those huge, expressive eyes, singing

Forget your troubles, c’mon get happy. Get ready for the Judgement day.

Sadly, there have been too many talented women, who have fallen victim to their demons.

I’m afraid, dear friends, that we are watching another talented young woman begin her own downward spiral right before our eyes: Miley Cyrus.

America first became aware of Ms. Cyrus, as a fresh-face teeny-bopper in the Disney Channel program, Hannah Montana.

Boys and girls all over the world tuned in to watch the adventures of a normal American Girl, who led a double-life as the teenage singing sensation, Hannah Montana.

Her real-life Dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame, played her Dad in the series, and also wrote the songs she sang.

Her fresh-faced innocence  shown through the glitz and glamour of her weekly TV series, to the extent that the entire country fell in love with her. Soon, Walmarts from coast to coast were carrying Hannah Montana lunch boxes, t-shirts,  school supplies, and everything else you could think of.

Once  the series was over, as she tried to grow into young adulthood, things looked strained, at best.

Even though she was growing into a beautiful young woman, Miley was still, in the eyes of America, Hannah Montana.

In the meantime, Miley Cyrus was **ahem** exploring her own sexuality **ahem**…and decided that the public needed to explore it, too.

Beginning with a pole dance at the Nickelodeon Awards, Miley let the whole world know that she did not embarrass easily, even if we were all embarrassed for her.

During this past year,Miley, with her barely-dressed appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards with Robin Thicke, during which she “twerked”, (which is a pleasant way of saying that she had “clothed sex” on stage) and then, in a music video, where she appeared, riding naked on top of a wrecking ball, and licking a sledge hammer, continued her descent into the all – consuming darkness.

Annie Lennox, of the 1980s MTV Sensation, the Eurythmics, recently wrote the following on her Facebook page;

I have to say that I’m disturbed and dismayed by the recent spate of overtly sexualised performances and videos. You know the ones I’m talking about. It seems obvious that certain record companies are peddling highly styled pornography with musical accompaniment. As if the tidal wave of sexualised imagery wasn’t already bombarding impressionable young girls enough..I believe in freedom of speech and expression, but the market forces don’t give a toss about the notion of boundaries. As long as there’s booty to make money out of, it will be bought and sold. It’s depressing to see how these performers are so eager to push this new level of low.Their assumption seems to be that misogyny- utilised and displayed through oneself is totally fine, as long as you are the one creating it. As if it’s all justified by how many millions of dollars and U tube hits you get from behaving like pimp and prostitute at the same time. It’s a glorified and monetized form of self harm.

Ms. Lennox is right. However, she did not take it far enough.

The young American girls, who idolized Hanna Montana, are now young adults,  watching Miley Cyrus’ musical hootchie-coochie show, believing that it is perfectly acceptable to act like a dog in heat in public.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Ephesians 6:12. which warns us

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Young folks have a lot to deal with, growing up nowadays. I realize that. And, Ms. Cyrus has had more pressure on her than most.

However, as the Bible also tells us 

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 ESV)

 By his own admission, Billy Ray Cyrus, as Miley was growing up, and even now, as a young adult, pictures himself as a “bud”, instead of a father.

Perhaps, her hedonistic behavior is simply a cry for attention, combined with an attempt to be “MTV-Cool” and relevant, in a desperate attempt to re-live the celebrity status she held as Hannah Montana.

Hopefully, the same forces who, in the past, have caused the lives of other talented entertainers, like Ms. Cyrus, to end in a “train wreck”, will not succeed in hers.

She has the Power, living within her, to avoid this. All she has to do…is ask.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Cost of Idolatry

American ChristianityLast night, as I was getting ready for bed, I started thinking about the heroes I had while growing up. Besides the Triune God and my Daddy, my heroes were the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Superman (George Reeves), Batman (Adam West), Roy Rogers, James West and Artemus Gordon (The Wild, Wild West), The Cartwright Family (Bonanza), Daniel Boone, and Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, and Mike Shannon of the St. Louis Cardinals.

I’ve always rooted for the Good Guy. Because I was raised in a Christian Home, by a Christian Father, I’ve also always had a deep sense of right and wrong, followed by a predilection to moral outrage, when I see a Bad Guy getting away with something.

I can remember, as a Tenerfoot Boy Scout, being out at the Fair with my Troop. A buddy of mine and I were walking through one of the pavilions, when a bunch of older thugs tried to bum some money off my friend. Now, I was in the seventh Grade, and stood about 4-foot-nuthin’, but I stood straight up and, in a loud voice, filled with moral outrage, exclaimed,

Hey, man! The kid said that he didn’t have any money!

Needless to say, I stunned the thugs, and got the attention of all the adults in the vicinity. The thugs retreated, as quickly as they could.

That being said, I was wondering…what sort of role models do the “young folks” have now?

Take the case of Miley Cyrus, the former Hannah Montana. A few short years ago, she was all the rage…a perky, young princess with the voice of an angel, appearing in her own sit-com on the Disney Channel. God had blessed her with the voice of an angel, a winning personality, and a talented Dad, Bill Ray Cyrus, who wrote all her songs for her. She quickly rose to stardom, becoming the idol of pre-teen girls from coast to coast.

As she got older, she decided to put away her clean and wholesome image, for a sexier, wilder “grown-up” image., kicked off by doing a pole dance, while performing a song at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in 2009.

Needless to say, that went over with the nation’s parents about as well as Obama speaking at the NRA.

Now, in 2013, she sports multiple tattoos, has a new fiancee every few months, and came out this last week supporting the legalization of pot.

Annette Funicello, she ain’t.

However, it is not just entertainers that are worshiped. Politicians are worshiped, also. However, none have seeming been the object of such over-the-top, slovenly boot-kissing, (I cleaned that up) hissy-fit-having worship as one Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

In 2007, On his way to his nomination as the Democratic Presidential Candidate, Obama was lauded as being downright mythical by his future Vice-President Joe Biden,

I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.

Once he became president, songs were written in his honor and taught to America schoolchildren, who were forced to sing them at school events.

Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand

To make this country strong again

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today

Equal work means equal pay

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand

To make sure everyone gets a chance

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white

All are equal in his sight

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!

Mmm, mmm, mm

Barack Hussein Obama

A Presidential Hymn?

This cult of Obama Worship has remained strong for over 5 years, providing the Kenyan Kaiser a Pharoah’s Army, if you will. In fact, they’ve even made up their own Golden Rule:

Any criticism of President Barack Hussein Obama is RAAACIIIST!

Additionally, like the Pharaohs of old, there are several American Schools named after this sitting president in states such as Pennsylvania and Maryland. In fact, this past week, we’ve learned that some fools out in the San Fernando Valley, in California, are going to name an elementary school, after First Lady Michelle Obama.

Highly unusual, to say the least.

There are those who are reading today’s post, who may think that I have “lost it” or I am “over-reacting”. They are wrong.

God’s word tells us to “flee from idolatry”.

Do you remember, either from reading in Exodus, or from the movie “The Ten Commandments”, how the people of Israel used the Gold, which they had taken with them from Egypt, to fashion a Golden Calf, which they began to worship, while Moses was up on the mountain with God?

Remember what happened?

God punished them for it. Big time.

It appears to me that, in today’s fast-moving, flighty society,  Americans tend to focus on who or what is popular, and before their eyes at that moment, telling them what they want to hear. We, just as our ancestors in the time of Christ, enjoy “having our ears tickled”, whether it be the latest fashion, the latest car, the latest celebrity, or a prevaricating politician, like Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), promising us “Hope and Change” .

God, in his word, continuously warns us about the dangers of putting our faith in “false messiahs” and also warns us that “the things of this world are fleeting”.

However, as I look at the state of our nation and its so-called “Leadership”, it appears to me that, just as all of those “stiff-necked people” in the Good Book, we still have to discover God’s Truth for ourselves…the hard way.

Until He Comes,

KJ