Musings of an Old Man

Let me say at the outset, if you care to argue with things written here, feel free.  But, PLEASE go write your own blog to do so.  Thank you.

How did we get where we are.  If you will, allow this one old man to provide the perspective of one who has lived through the things discussed here.

The 1980's and part of the 1990's in America were dominated by what I call here the Social Morality Movement. The emphasis was upon such perceived moral issues as homosexuality and abortion.  Those on the left cried out, "There's more to morality than sex and its "consequences"!"  Their cry was for admission by the "right" that questions of morality more important than those being focused upon were such things as greed, materialism, corruption, rape of the planet, and ignoring the plight of the poor and needy throughout the nation and the world.  The"right" gained power and, with it, a haughty spirit perhaps that caused it to seem that they were refusing to heed the warnings of the left altogether.  The irony being that during these years, more religiously-based non-profits to aid the poor and needy throughout the nation and the world were established than during any two decades in our history.  And many of those were set up by the "right" who, according to the "left" were not listening to their insistence that morality is broader based than merely two "pet" projects. In practical action, the "right" proved to have as much concern for the plight of the poor as the left. Their only plea was, "Let's remove this responsibility from the government and allow each community to rally to their own needs.  And, in case after case, they did.  Patriotism was at an all-time high during these years as was community-based, privately-funded projects to promote the welfare of its citizenry.  I know.  I was a part of one of those free, low-fee, no-fee clinics that reached out to help hurting people without a dime of government funding.

But, since 9/11, and especially since the war that followed that horrific day, things have changed in America.  The momentary patriotism that rose to a crescendo on that fateful day quickly gave way to a sentiment that feels almost anti-American and a massive movement that I call here the Social Justice Movement (as opposed to the previously mentioned Social Morality Movement).  The hue and cry of this newest dominant approach in our society is that the ONLY moral issues that matter any more are matters regarding greed, materialism, corruption, rape of the planet, and ignoring the plight of the poor and needy throughout the world.  The same kind of condescending haughtiness that seemed to dominate much of the "right" in their power days now has transferred to the "left".  I'm not saying that the "right" is no longer mean-spirited at times.  They are.  I'm simply saying that the way it seems to work in America is that whatever philosophy happens to be in power tends to become condescendingly haughty.  And this haughtiness in the "power" camp brings out the mean-spiritedness in the "out-of-power" camp.  So, we bicker. And we've figured out how the power grid works in our nation.  It's all about the nine individuals making up our Supreme Court.  That's ultimately what EVERY presidential election is about these days.  It's not about the presidential office itself.  It stopped being about that many years ago.  It is about the Supreme Court appointments that will come from whatever  person is elected to America's "highest" office.  In most significant rulings, past and present, ONE vote by a Justice appointed by a President of the opposite party would have made ALL the difference in our history.  SO, gazillions of dollars that could be used to legitimately help the poor are, instead poured into attempting to elect one of a hundred candidates that come closest to supporting the appointment of the type of Supreme Court Justice that each American would want making THE most important decisions in our land.  

Here's the thing.  Those warnings that the powerful "right" uttered in what was probably too mean-spirited a way in the 1980's and 1990's- those warnings have and ARE coming to pass.  Fifty-five million abortions and counting- with current revelations publicly displaying for the first time in recent days the true dastardly, haughty, unfeeling (regarding the unborn) manner in which the butchery has been occurring all these years- just like the "right" attempted to warn.  A complete redefinition of marriage as mankind has recognized and defined it for millenniums.  A growing social disdain for celebrating masculinity and femininity in favor of a massive movement to merge the sexes and teach children that the blending is the "heroic" social choice.  Just like the "right" warned.  Granted, perhaps their spirit was unjustifiably haughty during their "power" years; however, that does not detract from the truth of their predictions and warnings.  We're living what they feared.

Some today are disturbed by what they call the Americanization of the church.  I, too, feel that the church has allowed itself to be molded by its culture- ON BOTH "LEFT" AND "RIGHT"!  A product of the patriotism of the 1980's and 1990's was the church's acceptance of "prosperity theology"- a dastardly teaching that could not even be preached in any third world country because, at its heart lies the belief that health and wealth await any TRUE believer.  Only in a capitalistic, financially viable nation could such a doctrine become the heart of its teaching.  So, yes. I agree the powerful "right" of those days allowed itself as a church to be molded by its culture.  However, my concern, as an old man, is what seems to me to be a haughty, condescending spirit on the now in-power "left".  Even among young believers, the rhetoric sounds a great deal like anti-American rhetoric.  Yes, our allegiance is primarily to King Jesus.  And, yes, our primary citizenry is in Kingdom living.  However, throughout Scripture, Kingdom subjects were encouraged to participate and offer positive contributions in the countries in which they found themselves.  Whether the powers-that-be were Babylon or Assyria or Persia or Rome, believers were encouraged to settle down, establish families, work hard, provide for their families, pray much- even for the leaders in power in countries engaging in things that believers found to be distasteful.

And, in these countries, they often found themselves at odds with the prevailing culture.  And, when push came to serve, they stood firm.  They would not stop praying.  They would not bow to culture's idols on either the right or the left.  And the result was lion's dens and fiery furnaces.  But, ultimately, God was in the fray with them.  And they were the victors.  Yes, they preached against greed and materialism and maltreatment of the down-and-outers of society.  But they also preached against sexual immorality, against nations behaving like stallions in heat, against following the god Molech, where infants were sacrificed for the "good" of society and against the Ashera poles (phallic symbols) which had become the chief religious symbols of societies gone sexually insane.  Their approach was balanced in ways that we haven't seen in America in a LONG time.  They called sin, SIN.  And their call to repentance was equally powerful.  And I'm not just describing Old Testament prophets here.  Jesus loved the woman at the well and the woman taken in adultery as no other man had- and because of his love, their lives were changed forever.  However, in both of those cases, Jesus did not refrain from calling sin, SIN.  "Go and sin no more." And the early church celebrated the positive transformations that occurred in people's moral and ethical lives as a result of accepting Jesus- "and such WERE some of you!"  It's not that these early believers became "perfect" overnight, but it was that they showed a willingness to call sin, SIN, confess it, develop a paradigm shift (repentance) regarding it, recognizing it for the imposter that sin is and always will be, and opening themselves up to the forgiveness and salvation that can be found only in Jesus.

Today, with the pressures of the political left dominating the "theology"- yes, "theology"- of the younger generations,  the word sin can only be uttered if referring to greed, corruption, ignoring the plight of the poor and downtrodden in this country and throughout the world.  I agree that those sins need to be acknowledged and addressed.  However, if you want to anger that generation, dare to suggest that sexual sins explicitly addressed in Scripture need to be acknowledged as sin and brought to the cross for forgiveness.  To say such things in our culture are considered callous hysterics, carried on by lunatics who are "out of touch" with the times.  Which proves my point.  "The times" are being allowed to mold and shape the theology of the church.  It happened in the 1980's and 1990's and it is happening again today.  Then it was the "right". Now it is the "left".  It is now considered Christian to be at least a bit anti-American.  Flag waving is considered passé. Respect for those who have fought and served in our military is probably at the lowest point it has been since the end of the Viet Nam conflict.  And, if you're even thinking about voting for ANYONE other than Hillary in the next election, according to this generation of believers, you need to have your head examined.  After all, the reasoning goes, IF anyone else gets into power, the Supreme Court could shift ("God forbid!" they shout) and such rulings as abortion and same-sex marriage could be reversed.

BUT, they say, the believer's interest should be in Kingdom business- not politics.  But what about when Kingdom business IS politics?  What about when Daniel, Joseph, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, and Nehemiah are placed in positions of power? What do they do? How do they act?  They serve.  They contribute to the society in which they find themselves.  They pray.  They, in fact, won't stop praying no matter Who tries to tell them to stop.  They never lose their heart for home (Zion) and when called upon to defend a worthwhile cause, they take up arms to do so (Nehemiah), but they stand firmly to help their society be a more moral, ethical nation, full of integrity.  If that calls for their railing against greed and corruption, they do it.  If it calls for speaking out against sexual immorality, they do it.  Their hearts are to call people to God and the amazing life that only He can provide.  But they know that a heart refusing to admit sin will never be open to the salvation God so graciously offers.

And therein, lies our problem. Each generation wants to define sin by its own standards.  Each side of the political spectrum does, too.  The problem is: what we need is a revival of repentance in our nation that brings our hearts to God.  We need to repent with one voice.  We need to repent of greed and corruption, and callousness toward the poor an hurting.  We need to repent of our sexual immorality, including but not limited to, our in-your-face homosexual agendas and militant transgenderism.  And when we all, with one voice, can and will cry out, "God have mercy upon us, for we have sinned!"  He will hear our cries and he will heal our land.

The irony is that the stated reasons given by such Islamic extremist movements as ISIS for desiring to destroy us is our sin.  Our greed? Yes.  Our corruption? Yes.  Our materialism.  Yes.  Our callousness toward suffering throughout the world? Yes.  But also our sexual immorality.  The way our citizenry flaunt their sexuality and not only embrace, but even evangelize regarding homosexuality and such as lifestyles to be accepted throughout the world (Remember the last Olympics, when our participants turned it into a platform to stand FOR homosexuality in Russia, not having the decency to acknowledge that perhaps each nation has a right to make its own moral/ethical decisions regarding such topics as this).  For those things, we have become the targets of Islamic extremists.  Ironically, even the 9/11 terrorists watched American porn hours before boarding the planes they used for jihad.  Sin knows no boundaries.

Our choice: will we finally, with ONE VOICE confess, repent, and beg God's forgiveness (which He is dying to give!) for ALL sin- not just the politically correct definition of sin of the current in-power regime. Or will we, instead, set ourselves up for ISIS to do the cleansing for us.  The choice is ours and the time is NOW.  Even so, come Lord Jesus!