IS AMERICA STILL GOOD?

 In 1830 Alexis DeTocqueville said: "I sought the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields, in her boundless forests, in her rich mines, in her vast world commerce, in her public systems of education and institutions of higher learning. I sought for it in her democratic congress and her matchless Constitution.

But it was not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness that I understood the secret of her genius and of her power. America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, then she will also cease to be great."

I know that Glenn Beck continues to proclaim that America's citizens are good.  But to any honest outside observer, that cannot be as easily recognizable as it was to DeTocqueville.

To acquiesce to and accept without universal resistance hundreds of thousands of murders of unborn children, to acquiesce to the removal of God from our public discourse and public places, to acquiesce to a mandated definition of marriage as something abhorrent to God (His words not mine), to acquiesce to and support elected and appointed officials obviously deceitful in their claims and oaths to defend and support the principles of the Declaration of Independence as embodied and protected by the Constitution in order to receive the illicit largess their positions enable them to proffer, to acquiesce to and embrace the culture of the "prosperity gospel" rather than maintain a faithful and responsible commitment to upholding and sustaining the "biblical" foundations of our faith - upon which our nation was founded, is to guarantee that we cease to be good!

Our fall began long ago, but, as a falling body continues to accelerate, so does the slide of our nation into the abyss of godlessness, statism, and ultimately the godless imprisonment of fascism.

There are many who tout the principle of 2 Chronicles 7:14 about humbling and praying to our Great Creator for salvation, but to proclaim that as a solution without employing the principle of Micah 6:8 (paraphrase): "to live justly, love mercy and walk humbly before your God," is only to throw God's promise of mercy back in His face.  For the blessing to be given, righteousness (good) must be sought after, striven for, and to the best our abilities, practiced.

And, while I agree with Beck that many do, I fear that more do not, particularly among those we freely chose to lead and govern us.  Our government is indeed corrupt - we made it so and we must accept the responsibility!  God can save us, but He will only if we commit to the real message of 2 Chronicles 7:14: repentance.  We can go the way of Nineveh when instructed by God through Jonah, or we can go the way of the ancient nation of Israel who refused God's guidance and counsel.  Nineveh repented, survived and prospered, the nation of Israel refused to change its ways, was divided and carried in to literal captivity and slavery.

The great adversary of God makes it hard and uncomfortable to be good.  Those who strive to be so are criticized and often ostracized, persecuted and beaten down.  Such are the tactics of those who proclaim concern for the "less fortunate" while laboring for statism over freedom and dedication to goodness ["act justly (contrast with Eric Holder), love mercy (contrast with enslavement to welfare) and walk humbly before your God (contrast with  Jeremiah Wright: "G** D*** America")].

Our President bows before Kings devoted to false and unforgiving gods dedicated to the destruction of all who would follow the True God of the Bible.  For salvation, we must most humbly bow before that Great Creator of the Universe and solicit His blessings by demonstrating our devotion and commitment to His ways - the ways of goodness.

From the Aspen Grove: may this day be a good one for you, and may the Great God who loves you bless you and yours.

THE LIGHT IS EXTINGUISHED

Today I feel great sadness.

This sadness has been anticipated.  Since shortly before the 2010 election, through many months of reflection and thought, I have been unable (unwilling?) to post.  Now I understand.  My reluctance to communicate stemmed from the discouragement reflected in my last post - a discouragement founded in the fear that our great nation was lost.  Today, June 28, 2012, that fear was realized.  Today, that wonderful experiment called the United States of America ended in tragedy.  Today, the government founded on the premise that all men are created free, to be limited only by sufficient law to protect them from the deceit, fraud and violence of others, fell to the greed and avarice of power.  Today the rights of all men granted by their Creator were sacrificed and another nation enslaved.

Sadness because of what I believe are great difficulties ahead for me, my wonderful family - children, grand and great-grand children, and my beloved friends - my sisters and brothers who have labored long and diligently, in loving service, for the principles of peace, harmony and freedom.

Sadness because the sacrificed lives of my father and a step father and the service of another step father, grandfather, uncles and friends in military service to this nation (and so many thousands of their compatriots who also served and died in so many wars and conflicts) is now reduced to the meaninglessness of forgotten history and destroyed dreams.

And sadness simply because something wonderfully constructed through the wisdom and great effort of our founders and forefathers, at great risk and selfless sacrifice (recall General George Washington and the valiant patriots who soldiered with him at Valley Forge and through the battle of Trenton in rags, marching on frozen feet and empty stomachs) has today been pulled down and the remaining shell feels so empty, its greatness misunderstood and its promise abandoned.

I expect that I will vote in August and November, because to fail to resist, even in that small and likely insignificant way, this destructive take-over by the forces of totalitarian fascism would seem both cowardly and hypocritical.  But, I know - much as I crave to deny it - that it will be futile.  The Supreme Court today upheld the abomination known colloquially as "Obamacare" and thereby denied the wonderful promise of the Declaration of Independence and trampled the guarantees of those promises delineated in our Constitution.  No election will alter that decision.  In the United States of America the relationship between government and those governed has been fundamentally and irrevocably changed and freedom is lost.

Nor will any manner of election impede or restrict the control of those in power, in whichever of the three branches of government they serve - whatever their political affiliations, whatever their protestations to the contrary.  Those who now rule will continue to use all their power to retain their power.  They now have the means to crush any resistance and they will use it.  The system they set in motion has overwhelmed us, their deceit has carried the day.  Our trust in their patriotic natures and in their promises to act for the best interests of the citizenry have been betrayed.  They may rightly be labeled as traitors, but what matter - the light is extinguished.

History will record this day as one of great sadness.  This nation, once the light of the world, is lost.  And all men, under all governments, are once again condemned to the darkness of the rule of men instead of the rule of law!

From the Aspen Grove: may the Great God who loves you bless you and yours.