'What shall I do, Lord?'
Stephen Stone, RenewAmerica President
The 2012 presidential election is like no other in our nation's history.
In view of the public record, the election features the most powerful communist in the world — Barack Hussein Obama (who, as the name betrays, also happens to be the world's most powerful exponent of Islam), someone clearly intent on dismantling our republic from top to bottom; and the most liberal Republican nominee ever, a pragmatic lawyer and "venture capitalist" with little discernible moral core — responsible as governor of Massachusetts for introducing same-sex marriage into the United States by executive edict, for introducing socialized medicine through a state healthcare plan upon which Obama modeled his monopolistic "Obamacare"; and for perpetuating the legacy of Roe v. Wade through his policies as governor, even after claiming to be pro-life — in other words, a "conservative" imposter, Mitt Romney.
If the actions and policies of both candidates are laid side by side by inquisitive voters, it's hard to tell whether either can safely be entrusted with the highest office in the nation. As Simon & Garfunkel sang in "Mrs. Robinson": "Either way you look at this you lose."
Both are incurable liberals masquerading as populists, and both have shown themselves to be shameless deceivers and manipulators of the public mind.
The first pretends to be non-ideological and Christian, contrary to his record; the second pretends to be ideological and Christian, again contrary to his record.
Neither appears to champion the moral conservative values at the heart of the so-called "culture war," upon which the very fate of Western Civilization hinges. Both have already taken serious steps to weaken the cause of preserving the God-inspired values and traditions that hold America together.
And both will continue to do so, despite the wishful thinking of naïve supporters.
What does God think?
God, of course, gives us the "freedom" to vote our conscience — but that freedom of choice is not without divine consequences. He holds us accountable for our choices, both individually and as a nation, and if we support evil at the ballot box (whether knowingly or unknowing), we can expect God to respond with His judgments.
To God, those who sustain or perpetuate evil are complicit in the result. That's one of the foundational premises of Western law.
At the same time, God is merciful, the scriptures teach, and thus doesn't require us to be sinless in order to merit his approbation.
But He does expect us to try to avoid sin with all our hearts.
Realizing that we don't need to be "perfect" — just sufficiently humble and submissive — to merit God's saving grace, we who profess to worship in Him with our lives, not just our words, cannot escape a paralleling reality: the United States of America must do much the same thing in this darkest hour of its existence, if it is to be spared God's justice.
Why would we presume otherwise, as our nation moves increasingly away from Him, and toward predictable destruction?
Do we really think He will "save" our political system, our economy, or our society while we remain pridefully "in our sins," exhibiting little or no inclination to turn our hearts to Him as a nation? If we do, we don't understand — or believe — the most basic message of scripture.
We must serve God, or we have no reliable expectation of His providence or miraculous intervention when we need it most. He will say,
Let's not be foolish enough to think we can, of ourselves, reverse the imminent dissolution of our beloved America.
The November election will do nothing — no matter who wins — to turn the tide of our demise. The stakes are too high, and the tools too puny.
God's judgments are just
If we think our vote for the "lesser of two evils" (whatever that means, since both have rejected God in their campaigns) will impress God enough to intervene and pluck our nation from apparently certain destruction, we're mistaken.
Only God can save us now, it should be obvious. Our normal "political solutions" have become so corrupted, so unrepresentative, so based in sham, no other solution is realistic, or even thinkable.
At the same time, we delude ourselves if we think God will allow our country to continue on its present course of selfish hedonism, relativism, disrespect for life, dismantling of the family, and sexual perversion without suffering the consequences. His judgments are just, and He will overrule our futile, imagined designs that exclude Him and disregard His will.
There's literally "no other way" — if scripture and history are to be believed — than His way.
"Progression" as destruction
Lest we naively think things are better than they are in America, or that the solutions to our ills are still within our grasp politically (when we've long ago squandered our political birthright as a nation through sloth, arrogance, and transgression of God's laws), consider the following partial list of things that have pushed Americans increasingly from their Creator (and vice-versa):
All this endorsed by Americans at the ballot box, and by duly-elected members of Congress.
Such unthinkable squandering of our nation's economic viability, with repayment forced upon Americans yet unborn, must be added to our nation's major sins and offenses to God. This index alone — our seemingly immeasurable borrowing — suggests we as a people have lost virtually all moral decency.
What it will take to make things "right"
Fixing our national dilemma is both simple and hard.
It's simple in the sense that the answer to all challenges is eternally the same: reliance on God — in a way He will accept, as we humbly seek His will, not our own.
But it's simultaneously hard — requiring us to be willing to set aside our "human nature" and take upon us the "divine nature," through the principles of His scriptural, saving "gospel," made efficacious by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The gospel formula for salvation — and for inviting God to change our very nature — begins and ends with humbling ourselves before Him, forsaking our sins, and resolving with all our hearts to obey His will in everything we attempt to do. As already stressed, God is merciful, and He will accept our sincerest efforts in the right direction — making up the difference if we are truly genuine and contrite in our repentance and desire.
The result is a very real "rebirth," by which our heart and soul become purified and permanently redirected, as we become "new creatures" through the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost.
If God accepts the humble sacrifice of our heart and grants us such "baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost," our duty thereafter centers in taking His Spirit as our guide in all things, and seeking to rely alone upon Jesus Christ to the full extent of our ability.
As we do so, God will tutor and refine us over time, through His Spirit, remaking us increasingly in His image.
I've just described what our nation needs most: a spiritual re-awakening across the length and breadth of our land. May each of us attain such "conversion," and teach others to do likewise.
© Stephen Stone
September 24, 2012
The 2012 presidential election is like no other in our nation's history.In view of the public record, the election features the most powerful communist in the world — Barack Hussein Obama (who, as the name betrays, also happens to be the world's most powerful exponent of Islam), someone clearly intent on dismantling our republic from top to bottom; and the most liberal Republican nominee ever, a pragmatic lawyer and "venture capitalist" with little discernible moral core — responsible as governor of Massachusetts for introducing same-sex marriage into the United States by executive edict, for introducing socialized medicine through a state healthcare plan upon which Obama modeled his monopolistic "Obamacare"; and for perpetuating the legacy of Roe v. Wade through his policies as governor, even after claiming to be pro-life — in other words, a "conservative" imposter, Mitt Romney.
If the actions and policies of both candidates are laid side by side by inquisitive voters, it's hard to tell whether either can safely be entrusted with the highest office in the nation. As Simon & Garfunkel sang in "Mrs. Robinson": "Either way you look at this you lose."
Both are incurable liberals masquerading as populists, and both have shown themselves to be shameless deceivers and manipulators of the public mind.
The first pretends to be non-ideological and Christian, contrary to his record; the second pretends to be ideological and Christian, again contrary to his record.
Neither appears to champion the moral conservative values at the heart of the so-called "culture war," upon which the very fate of Western Civilization hinges. Both have already taken serious steps to weaken the cause of preserving the God-inspired values and traditions that hold America together.
And both will continue to do so, despite the wishful thinking of naïve supporters.
What does God think?
God, of course, gives us the "freedom" to vote our conscience — but that freedom of choice is not without divine consequences. He holds us accountable for our choices, both individually and as a nation, and if we support evil at the ballot box (whether knowingly or unknowing), we can expect God to respond with His judgments.
To God, those who sustain or perpetuate evil are complicit in the result. That's one of the foundational premises of Western law.
At the same time, God is merciful, the scriptures teach, and thus doesn't require us to be sinless in order to merit his approbation.
But He does expect us to try to avoid sin with all our hearts.
Realizing that we don't need to be "perfect" — just sufficiently humble and submissive — to merit God's saving grace, we who profess to worship in Him with our lives, not just our words, cannot escape a paralleling reality: the United States of America must do much the same thing in this darkest hour of its existence, if it is to be spared God's justice.
Why would we presume otherwise, as our nation moves increasingly away from Him, and toward predictable destruction?
Do we really think He will "save" our political system, our economy, or our society while we remain pridefully "in our sins," exhibiting little or no inclination to turn our hearts to Him as a nation? If we do, we don't understand — or believe — the most basic message of scripture.We must serve God, or we have no reliable expectation of His providence or miraculous intervention when we need it most. He will say,
-
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! (Luke 13:34)
Let's not be foolish enough to think we can, of ourselves, reverse the imminent dissolution of our beloved America.
The November election will do nothing — no matter who wins — to turn the tide of our demise. The stakes are too high, and the tools too puny.
God's judgments are just
If we think our vote for the "lesser of two evils" (whatever that means, since both have rejected God in their campaigns) will impress God enough to intervene and pluck our nation from apparently certain destruction, we're mistaken.
Only God can save us now, it should be obvious. Our normal "political solutions" have become so corrupted, so unrepresentative, so based in sham, no other solution is realistic, or even thinkable.
At the same time, we delude ourselves if we think God will allow our country to continue on its present course of selfish hedonism, relativism, disrespect for life, dismantling of the family, and sexual perversion without suffering the consequences. His judgments are just, and He will overrule our futile, imagined designs that exclude Him and disregard His will.
There's literally "no other way" — if scripture and history are to be believed — than His way.
"Progression" as destruction
Lest we naively think things are better than they are in America, or that the solutions to our ills are still within our grasp politically (when we've long ago squandered our political birthright as a nation through sloth, arrogance, and transgression of God's laws), consider the following partial list of things that have pushed Americans increasingly from their Creator (and vice-versa):
- The adoption of the income tax — which effectively makes all Americans slaves to God-impersonating government, and which is the chief means of "redistributing" (effectively stealing through the police power of government) the fruit of Americans' labors and robbing them of the God-given right of property, without which all other unalienable rights have little tangible expression.
The result has been a gradual diminishing of the capacity of grassroots Americans to fight the ever-increasing encroachment of government.
- The creation and continued growth of America's governmental education system (from kindergarten through graduate school). This system of government-facilitated mind control has been called "the most efficient and widespread instrument for the propagation of atheism the world has ever seen" (Dr. A.A. Hodge).
- The spread of liberal-progressivism — premised upon the atheistic, pseudo-scientific writings of Karl Marx, whose goal was world socialism by any means possible.
- The adoption of godless evolution by nearly all of America's intellectual community (as a result of our tax-funded government school system) — and with that secularized view of our origins, unwarranted reliance on man-made science above the truths, commandments, and values of God's Word in virtually all areas of human endeavor.
The banishment of God (beginning 50 years ago) from America's public elementary and secondary schools, at a time in children's lives when they are most vulnerable to the influence of government-employed teachers, and when children need most to establish a moral foundation for life.
- The "free love" sexual revolution of the mid-1960s, which opened the floodgates to promiscuity, casual sex, cohabitation, abortion, sexually-explicit entertainment, readily-available pornography, and similar ills and vices now widely accepted as "normal" and passé.
- The nationwide legalization and dissemination of the "birth control pill" at the height of the sexual revolution — turning God-ordained human intimacy and reproduction into social and recreational sex seemingly "without consequences."
- The preposterous Supreme Court ruling normalizing and nationalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade (1973) — resulting in the killing of over 55 million unborn American babies during the past 40 years.
- The now-generally accepted banning of the Ten Commandments and public prayer from the halls of government throughout the U.S.
- The widespread business practice of staying open on Sundays (a practice quite rare fifty years ago) — in blatant disregard for the biblical injunction to "keep the Sabbath Day holy."
- The ever-expanding growth of the gay rights movement — fueled by the atheism, self-centeredness, and sexualized environment of the tax-supported government schools — causing impressionable young people to imagine they are "gay" in exponentially-growing numbers, and to turn to a life of predatory, depraved, unnatural behavior.
- The adoption of same-sex marriage in the U.S. — a trend initiated by Gov. Mitt Romney in 2004, when he ordered the issuance of marriage licenses to gay couples without authority under the Massachusetts constitution and without a mandate from the legislature or the state's Supreme Judicial Court to do so.
Arguably, Romney's unprecedented action represented the most derelict decision by an executive of government in American history, doing more damage to the moral and social fabric of our nation than anything ever enacted previously by anyone in public office.
- The supplanting of biblical Judeo-Christianity with Islamic beliefs, practices, and priorities — further weakening Americans' commitment to the principles upon which our nation was founded.
- The election of Barack Obama in 2008, ushering in an unprecedented wave of pro-Muslim policies and initiatives at the expense of Judeo-Christian traditions and institutions — as well as further expanding government's stranglehold in every direction upon Bible-believing Americans, causing some to lose confidence in the protection and providence of Almighty God.
- The recent Supreme Court ruling upholding "Obamacare" (a program patterned after Gov. Romney's socialized healthcare plan, particularly its "individual mandate") — further eroding Americans' sense that God is in charge of their health and well-being, requiring them instead to submit (under penalty of law) to a government intent on playing God with their very lives.
All this endorsed by Americans at the ballot box, and by duly-elected members of Congress.
Such unthinkable squandering of our nation's economic viability, with repayment forced upon Americans yet unborn, must be added to our nation's major sins and offenses to God. This index alone — our seemingly immeasurable borrowing — suggests we as a people have lost virtually all moral decency.
What it will take to make things "right"Fixing our national dilemma is both simple and hard.
It's simple in the sense that the answer to all challenges is eternally the same: reliance on God — in a way He will accept, as we humbly seek His will, not our own.
But it's simultaneously hard — requiring us to be willing to set aside our "human nature" and take upon us the "divine nature," through the principles of His scriptural, saving "gospel," made efficacious by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The gospel formula for salvation — and for inviting God to change our very nature — begins and ends with humbling ourselves before Him, forsaking our sins, and resolving with all our hearts to obey His will in everything we attempt to do. As already stressed, God is merciful, and He will accept our sincerest efforts in the right direction — making up the difference if we are truly genuine and contrite in our repentance and desire.
The result is a very real "rebirth," by which our heart and soul become purified and permanently redirected, as we become "new creatures" through the cleansing power of the Holy Ghost.
If God accepts the humble sacrifice of our heart and grants us such "baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost," our duty thereafter centers in taking His Spirit as our guide in all things, and seeking to rely alone upon Jesus Christ to the full extent of our ability.
As we do so, God will tutor and refine us over time, through His Spirit, remaking us increasingly in His image.
I've just described what our nation needs most: a spiritual re-awakening across the length and breadth of our land. May each of us attain such "conversion," and teach others to do likewise.
© Stephen Stone
