nation – Kingsjester's Blog

A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left. – Ecclesiastes 10:2

We have all known for sometime that this is not our fathers’ Democrat Party. Conservatives have been driven out and “Moderates” are an endangered species.

Today’s Democrats embrace a Far Left Poiltical Ideology, in which there is no room for a Supreme Being.

Don’t believe me? Remember what happened at the last Democratic National Convention?

Delegates and members of the Democratic party booed after former Gov. Ted Strickland (D-OH) discussed God and moved to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, had to ask for the Yea and Nay vote several times before declaring the motion passed.

C-SPAN cameras captured the dissatisfaction among members after the motion passed.

More information from the Associated Press:
Democrats have changed their convention platform to add a mention of God and declare that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.

The move came after criticism from Republicans.

Many in the audience booed after the convention chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, ruled that the amendments had been approved despite the fact that a large group of delegates objected.

He called for a vote three times before ruling.

The party reinstated language from the 2008 platform that said “we need a government that stands up for the hopes, values and interests of working people and gives everyone willing to work hard the chance to make the most of their God-given potential.”

The platform also now includes what advisers said was Obama’s personal views on Jerusalem.

Now that we’ve established that, there seems to be a misconception among “the Smartest People in the Room”, American Liberals, about Christian American Conservatives.

American Liberals seem to believe that because we are strong in the Faith of Our Fathers, that we are somehow gullible or less intelligent than they are.

And, this hubris reaches all the way up to the White House.

When Obama was campaigning for the presidency, he appeared in April of 2008 at a fundraiser in Pennsylvania, where he talked about and made fun of all of us “ignorant” Conservative American Christians clinging to our Bibles and guns.

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

After Obama took office, he made a point of stating several times that America was not just a Christian nation anymore.

And, while that is true to a certain extent, it is also true that the overwhelming majority, 76% of Americans still proclaim themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ. And even beyond that, 92% of Americans still believe in God.

What is amazing to me, though, is how, during this administration, American Christianity has been attacked on all fronts: militarily, culturally, and even within organized religion, itself.

From illegal immigration to abortion to homosexual “rights”, Americans who follow the teachings of Jesus Christ on these issues have been under fire by Liberals, who insist that they know more about what is in the Bible and what Christ says, or would say, about these topics, then those of us who actually read God’s Word.

Claiming to be wise, they became fools. – Romans 1:22

When you enter into a facebook “discussion” with these “new Pharisees”, and you counter their arguments on these topics with Scripture, Liberals are initially slow to respond.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, – 2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

Most Liberals will start “Googling” these topics, looking for any Scriptures that will substantiate their position.

There’s been many a time they have come back at me with Old Testament Scripture. It is then that I explain to them about the sacrifice that Christ made for us sinners, freeing Christians from Jewish Law and taking the punishment for our sins , creating a New Covenant by covering Christians through the shedding of His blood.

At that point in the “discussion”, there is a long pause, as they are trying to figure out a comeback.

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.- 1 Corinthians 2:14

This misconception, which I have been trying to explain, involves Liberals’ belief that American Christians will not fight back against them and the things they want to do in our society.

If there’s one thing during the six and a half years of anti Christian bias, which we have experienced during the Obama administration, that the Liberals should have learned, is the fact that Christian American Conservatives will fight back.

It is funny though…that when we begin fighting back, the Liberals have a tendency to label us as uncaring, mean , divisive, and intolerant.

I believe Liberals react that way because internally, they are having a kicking and screaming temper tantrum, because they cannot get their way.

This week, on October 3rd, the movie “Left Behind” starring Nicolas Cage, premieres.

Based on the immensely popular novel series of the same name, the movie tells about the rapture, an event believed by Christians to happen before a horrible period , known as the Tribulation, in which Christians will be tortured and put to death, along with millions of people worldwide, as famine, pestilence, and war spread throughout the world.

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.- 1 Thessalonians 4:17

This period will end with the glorious reappearance during which Jesus Christ will return to work and defeat the forces of evil.

I believe that this movie will do well at the box office and that Redbox will also profit well from it.

Lately, all Christian movies have done well. Recently, I and my bride rented the movie, “God is Not Dead”. We found it to be both well written and well-acted.

Thinking about America’s reaction to these Christian movies caused me to think about their reaction to Liberal-themed movies during the Bush administration, such as “Redacted”, which was a movie about the Iraq War which disparaged our Brightest and Best.

It bombed terribly because it did not reflect the feelings and values of the American public.

The point which I’ve been trying to make today is that this is still a majority Christian nation.

And, while God indeed, tells us to be meek, He also instructs us to be wise.

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.- Matthew 10:16

That is the reason why Liberals have failed to convince the majority of Americans to foreswear our traditional American Faith and Values System and our Christianity.

And, it frustrates them when they realize that we continue to hold fast to our Traditional American Faith and Values.

What they don’t understand, is that we have read the back of the Book. We know how all this ends.

Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.- Mathew 24:42-44

Until He Comes,

Veterans Day was formerly known as Armistice Day, and wasoriginally set aside as a U.S. legal holiday to honor the end of World War I, which took place on November 11, 1918. In legislation that was passed in 1938, November 11 was “dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be hereafter celebrated and known as ‘Armistice Day.'” As such, this new legal holiday honored World War I veterans.

In 1954, after World War II and the Korean War, the 83rd U.S. Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, changed the Act of 1938 by striking out the word “Armistice” and inserting the word “Veterans.” With the approval of this legislation on June 1, 1954, Nov. 11 became a day to honor American veterans of all wars.

In 1968, the Uniforms Holiday Bill created three-day weekends for federal employees by celebrating four national holidays on Mondays: Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Columbus Day. Under this bill, Veterans Day was moved to the last Monday of October. Many states did not agree with this decision and continued to celebrate the holiday on its original date. The first Veterans Day under the new law was observed with much confusion on Oct. 25, 1971.

Finally on September 20, 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a law which returned the annual observance of Veterans Day to its original date of Nov. 11, beginning in 1978. Since then, the Veterans Day holiday has been observed on Nov. 11.

In my research for today’s blog, I came across a speech that explains the significance of this day, far better than I ever could.

On Veterans Day, 1985, at Arlington Cemetery, President Ronald Reagan said the following,

…We are gathered at the National Cemetery, which provides a final resting place for the heroes who have defended our country since the Civil War. This amphitheater, this place for speeches, is more central to this cemetery than it first might seem apparent, for all we can ever do for our heroes is remember them and remember what they did — and memories are transmitted through words.

Sometime back I received in the name of our country the bodies of four marines who had died while on active duty. I said then that there is a special sadness that accompanies the death of a serviceman, for we’re never quite good enough to them-not really; we can’t be, because what they gave us is beyond our powers to repay. And so, when a serviceman dies, it’s a tear in the fabric, a break in the whole, and all we can do is remember.

It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired. But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.

…There’s always someone who is remembering for us. No matter what time of year it is or what time of day, there are always people who come to this cemetery, leave a flag or a flower or a little rock on a headstone. And they stop and bow their heads and communicate what they wished to communicate. They say, “Hello, Johnny,” or “Hello, Bob. We still think of you. You’re still with us. We never got over you, and we pray for you still, and we’ll see you again. We’ll all meet again.” In a way, they represent us, these relatives and friends, and they speak for us as they walk among the headstones and remember. It’s not so hard to summon memory, but it’s hard to recapture meaning.

And the living have a responsibility to remember the conditions that led to the wars in which our heroes died. Perhaps we can start by remembering this: that all of those who died for us and our country were, in one way or another, victims of a peace process that failed; victims of a decision to forget certain things; to forget, for instance, that the surest way to keep a peace going is to stay strong. Weakness, after all, is a temptation — it tempts the pugnacious to assert themselves — but strength is a declaration that cannot be misunderstood. Strength is a condition that declares actions have consequences. Strength is a prudent warning to the belligerent that aggression need not go unanswered.

Peace fails when we forget what we stand for. It fails when we forget that our Republic is based on firm principles, principles that have real meaning, that with them, we are the last, best hope of man on Earth; without them, we’re little more than the crust of a continent. Peace also fails when we forget to bring to the bargaining table God’s first intellectual gift to man: common sense. Common sense gives us a realistic knowledge of human beings and how they think, how they live in the world, what motivates them. Common sense tells us that man has magic in him, but also clay. Common sense can tell the difference between right and wrong. Common sense forgives error, but it always recognizes it to be error first.

We endanger the peace and confuse all issues when we obscure the truth; when we refuse to name an act for what it is; when we refuse to see the obvious and seek safety in Almighty. Peace is only maintained and won by those who have clear eyes and brave minds. Peace is imperiled when we forget to try for agreements and settlements and treaties; when we forget to hold out our hands and strive; when we forget that God gave us talents to use in securing the ends He desires. Peace fails when we forget that agreements, once made, cannot be broken without a price.

Each new day carries within it the potential for breakthroughs, for progress. Each new day bursts with possibilities. And so, hope is realistic and despair a pointless little sin. And peace fails when we forget to pray to the source of all peace and life and happiness. I think sometimes of General Matthew Ridgeway, who, the night before D-day, tossed sleepless on his cot and talked to the Lord and listened for the promise that God made to Joshua: “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

We’re surrounded today by the dead of our wars. We owe them a debt we can never repay. All we can do is remember them and what they did and why they had to be brave for us. All we can do is try to see that other young men never have to join them. Today, as never before, we must pledge to remember the things that will continue the peace. Today, as never before, we must pray for God’s help in broadening and deepening the peace we enjoy. Let us pray for freedom and justice and a more stable world. And let us make a compact today with the dead, a promise in the words for which General Ridgeway listened, “I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”

In memory of those who gave the last full measure of devotion, may our efforts to achieve lasting peace gain strength. And through whatever coincidence or accident of timing, I tell you that a week from now when I am some thousands of miles away, believe me, the memory and the importance of this day will be in the forefront of my mind and in my heart.

Thank you. God bless you all, and God bless America.

Until He Comes,

Kingsjester's Blog

Tag: nation

Of Politics and “Pharisees” [A KJ Sunday Morning Op Ed]

Veterans Day 2013