The Apostasy of America

   Sounds harsh, doesn't it?  I mean.. to many.. America is the be-all and
end-all of life.  To many.. it is where to be.  To many.. it is the epitome
of lands to arrive at.  But is it?  Is it really the blessed land of God that
so many claim it to be?  Is it truly a land flowing with milk and honey?
   The United States is an interesting title.  For although this country
seemingly was once united, it sure isn't today.  It can take years to pass a
single law that the Bible clearly states to be a good law... all because
people all have their own interpretation of the definition of "good".  Many
people have fought.. not for what is truly good.. but for what they want to
be good.. and, as a result, have cheapened our nation extremely.
   But wait a minute.  If our nation is truly cheapened.. why do we have such
a high earning wage as compared to most nations?  It's simply because we take
advantage of the willingness of other countries to produce for less than we
do, and then exalt our own products' worth so high that we sell them for
inordinately increasing prices, all attempting to fill our pockets with loot
-- otherwise known as "the american dream".
   That's right.  America.. as a Capitalistic Democracy.. has enjoyed padding
its pockets with wealth.  Oh I'm not about to say that everyone in its
borders is well off, but the average individual has many many luxuries that
people in centuries gone by simply did not even know could exist.  As a
nation.. we all seem so very very rich.  But are we?  Are we truly as rich as
it seems?
   Let's go back..  Way back... back to the founding of our nation.. back to
the discovery of this 'new world'.. back to when people saw this new world as
a true promised land that offered dreams of something people didn't have in
their old lands -- a chance to make a fair life for one self, and to live in
equity.
   As you probably know, our country has long been dubbed "The land of equal
opportunity".  We have, in our Constitution, sought to remove all types of
bigotry and false standards of judgement.. so that everyone, whether young or
old, woman or man, black or white, or anything in between, could know the
blessings of being free to find one's own life and livelihood as one chooses.
This has been the goal and aim of our country -- to stamp out any sort of
unlawful discrimination against a person, so that he, or she, could have a
full opportunity to play his hand, and prosper.
   But.. way back when our nation was founded.. many.. and I mean nearly
*all* of our nations founders, believed in something that has been taken out
of.. even extracted, dismissed, and now ostracized from real fairness -- the
notion that God, Himself, is the One who wants, and entitles man to that
fairness.  Most of our founding fathers were active members of their
churches.. and were well acquainted with God's desires for equity.  There's
just one problem.  God never told them to build this nation.
   That's right.  And though you may find this more than slightly audacious
to state, it's still true.  You wanna know how I know?  It's actually quite
simple, even the truth surrounding it has been stifled for centuries.
   Allow me to explain.
   You see.. back.. way way back.. at the *true* beginning of mankind... not
some evolution of cosmic sludge that appears by some random accident.. but
the demonstratedly intricately wise creation of man from dust.. by a being
more powerful than we could even begin to measure.. we had our heads on
straight.  We knew.. that God was our creator.. for He was with us.  First we
did not exist.. then we did.. and God was smiling at us when we took our
first breath.  He was smiling.. because.. to Him.. we were His 'good'
creation.  We were part of all the good He had made.  And God doesn't make
mistakes.
   But as most of you probably know well.. mankind didn't stay good.  Mankind
chose.. rather than to listen to God.. to listen to himself.  Mankind made
himself the god of his own destiny.. and chose to leave behind the God of his
creation.  This is where sin was born into our race.  This is where every
single one of our nation's.. and world's problems stem from -- the desire to
refuse God His due, and take what He wants for Himself as our own.
   For centuries.. millenia even.. man has stumbled with this problem.  It
has shown its ugly head in such enjoyable acts as greed, lust, avarice, and
all other sorts of inward selfishness... all taking away from the cohesive
whole that God has wanted mankind to be.  And likewise.. for millenia..
mankind has tried to solve the problem.  Mankind has developed education
strategies... medication disbursements... and newly faceted structurizations
of government... all in the attempts to get back what we lost -- a sense of
peace inside.
   We war... we kill.. we take.. we covet and destroy.. all in the name of
charity.  All in the name of satisfying our own lusts and desires.. to make
ourselves more at peace.  But does it really work?
   Take a look at our nation.  This.. supposedly God-sent nation.. supposedly
God-*BUILT* nation.. is loaded down with so much crime today, that there just
isn't enough space to house all our criminals..... That is.. without finding
some hidden second Australia to place them in.  Our nation is loaded with
adults.. and even little children.. who murder, steal, and even rape.. all
for their own selfish pleasures.  Our women are forsaking their womanhood to
enjoy sex with one another.  Our men are forsaking their manhood in the same
way.  People all over this supposedly "blessed" nation are all dying
inside... so much, in fact, that they are running away into any and all
pleasure they can get their hands on -- ANYTHING to dull their dying heart's
cry for attention.. for peace..  ANYTHING to numb the pain... Anything.. that
is.. but God.  Oh many may take up religion as a source of stability... but
so many religions.. even claiming to follow the one true Jesus.. are only
country clubs or self-affliction establishments... where you either simply
chat about the same old things week after week.. as they run drier and
drier... or you club yourself silly for miniscule or even unavoidable
humanness... or you rule over those weaker than yourself.. exercising a form
of religious tyranny where you are the despot.  Religion means nothing..
unless it is founded in what is true.
   But what *about* what is true?  Isn't that what our nation is supposed to
be a shining example of?  Isn't this what our "blessed" government is
supposed to testify of in all its dealings?  Or is 'Washington' truly full of
cheats, liars, and many who simply want to rule and have their pocketbooks
full for arguing pointlessly all day?  Why is this so?
   It's actually... again.. very simple.  It's all about.. yup.. God.
   Ok.. so you wanna call me a religious maniac..?  go for it.  You wanna
call me some misled idiot?  It's your opinion against God's.  Who's gonna
win?
   And that's the answer.  It's all in our nation's desire to forsake the One
who blesses with rain.. with sunshine.. with air.. with food.. with the very
forces in nature.. from gravity to the strong nuclear force (which nobody has
ever explained to me just where the energy comes from that creates such
forces).  God, alone.. is the one who deserves to rule.  God, alone.. is the
only Person truly fit to rule.
   But what about Israel.. didn't they have kings?  Yes.. God's people ran
after having a king to be.. you guessed it.. *LIKE* everyone else.  God's own
chosen people wanted a physical human to rule over them.. rather than God,
Himself.  And God didn't like it... but He allowed it to happen.  And what
occurred?  Israel wobbled about.. running in petty skirmishes and all out
wars for centuries.. being displaced from their homeland in exile.. and
finally evicted shortly after Christ's death.  It wasn't until very very
recently that they finally gained God's prophetic promise that they would
return home after being scattered to the four winds.
   But the issue isn't just wanting a king.  It's wanting any sort of
government that rules in a way against God's desires.
   So, what about Democracy.  Isn't this the ultimate in rulership?  Isn't
this how God wants mankind to live?  Hogwash!  Democracies only work by
majority rule.  And when the majority is wrong, bad legislation gets signed
into place.. and bad people end up in government.  Don't think that the
popular thing to do is always the right one.  God knew this.. and never
wanted man to rule himself merely by what those in places of popularity
deemed to be valid and true.  God knows that people with influence can sway
popularity quite powerfully.  And in a Capitalistic society, the people with
the most influence are the people with the most dough.  And since the love of
money is the root of all sorts of evil.. those who have the most dough are
way more than often people who rule by it.. and use its influence to shape
others' choices... it's natural that a Capitalistic Democracy will tend to
run towards.. you guessed it.. EVIL!
   But what about this word 'evil'?  Who is right to define it?  I think the
only way to define it is to get to know what is good.. and assume evil is its
antithesis.  And Who is the source of all good?  You guessed it.. God!  But
with so many evildoing preachers out there, it becomes more than easy to
dismiss that the One True God truly exists.... that "God" is merely who you
make Him to be.. and that nobody really knows Him well at all.. *IF* at all.
   But this is going too far.  Yes.. many many preachers and priests have
ascended to God's throne and seated themselves unrighteously beside God..
and, in the process, poisoned many people's opinions about who God truly is.
This doesn't mean that God doesn't exist.. or that God is not all good or all
righteous... It simply means that those who let others rule over them have
allowed such rulership (both ecclesiastical and governmental) to ascend to
places of authority they had no place being in.  And you know why?  It's all
due to laziness.
   That's right... laziness.  People have all deferred to their pastors and
priests and rulers.. and assumed that they all know what they're doing or
talking about... and rather than read the Bible and get to know God for
themselves, they simply take the words of those in authority as law.. and
hope God will bless their meager blind-sheepishness and grant them Heaven.
   But God hates those who refuse to take up diligence.  Oh don't get me
wrong.. He does have a valid love for them too.. enough to send Jesus to die
for every one of them.. and everyone else.  But.. God hates it when people
don't take serious enough their one chance at life.. their one chance to find
eternity.. and spend it all on fruitless pursuits and empty living.
   I was scorned all throughout my growing up.. because of my intensity at
school... because I was so diligent and gifted.  This got so bad that I was
applauded for my first mistake in Spanish (about a month plus into the
class).  Now how do you think this action by the majority of my class was
felt by me, the minority?  I wanted to excell.. I knew it was right to
excell.. I knew it was not only expected, but a good thing to excell.. but..
the majority in my class.. INCLUDING the teacher.. all hated me cuz I was so
diligent at it... enough to be a whopping 300 points above everyone else at
the end of the semester.
   Should I simply have bowed to the majority and realized I was in the wrong
for being so excited about learning and doing well?  Was this really right
for the majority to cheer me for making a tiny goofup?
   Was it right?
   That's the thing.  I think most of you (or I hope most of you) who read
this will realize how wrong it was for the majority to act like it did... but
it did it.  But.. it was the popular thing to do.. since my diligence showed
up their laziness, including that of the teacher.  I did my studying.. I
learned how to speak Spanish well.. but.. the rest of the class was too lazy
to do it.  The rest of the class couldn't handle it... so they jumped down my
throat for doing my best.  Is this truly what people in a nation of fairness
and equity should be allowed to do?  The teacher didn't even rebuke them.
She seemed to enjoy it even.  This 'leader' of students demonstrated to them
that it was perfectly fine to jump down the throat of anyone who got in their
way of enjoying life.  And that's what happens in all of our government
today.
   Yup.. that's exactly it.  Our government is so caught up in the
intricacies of pleasing one another.. and pleasing its citizens.. that it has
lost sight of what is truly right and wrong.  It prefers situational ethics
to righteousness.  It prefers what will please its citizens for a moment,
than what will provide for them for eternity.  Why?  Because it's not
diligent.
   That's right.  Oh don't get me wrong.. I know that people in government
can spend countless hours arguing against one another.. trying to get the
right bill passed... but.. how can you tell what is the right bill without a
true standard of what is right?  Can you truly do this with just situational
ethics?
   Ok.. so.. the big gun.. what about the Bible?  The Bible is truly *THE*
most inspired book on the planet.... but it is not God's Word.. it is not
perfect.  It is only as good as the willingness of the people who read it to
follow what it truly says.  When you see what it says, and you say in your
heart, "God *couldn't* mean that!  It *HURTS* too much to do that!"  you've
missed the point.  And thousands upon thousands of Biblical scholars (as they
are so-called) all miss what the Bible is truly saying.. all because they
argue down what Jesus wants in place.
   You see.. The Gospel was never meant to *fit* into society.. unless
everyone chose to believe it.  And that's not going to happen.  The Gospel
strikes at the core of the problem... in our hearts.  The Gospel speaks of
the only way to find life -- to lose it.  And I don't mean physical death,
necessarily.  That's not what Jesus was saying when He told us we needed to
take up our own cross.  Jesus was saying that.. in order to truly follow Him,
we'd need to abandon everything else.. and let Him be our all in all.  It is
actually *JESUS* who is God's Word.. not the Bible... and when preachers go
around pretending they can carry something as big as God's Word in their
hands.. they delude themselves, and cheapen what, or rather WHO God's Word
truly is.. and what He's like.  They end up in a form of self-deification..
running up the flag on their own churches, rather than on God's heart.  THIS
is why so many clergy have fallen into sexual sin... or a big part of it
anyway.  THIS is why so many clergy have ravaged their congregations rather
than fed them.  It's all because, like Lucifer, himself.. they have been
seeking to be 'like God'... rather than bowing down like Jesus, and living
out a crucified life -- living out a life that loves its enemies... rather
than follows its leaders to kill them.  God wants us trusting in *HIM*.. not
the power of our swords and nukes and bombs.. to bring us peace and freedom.
   Freedom.  Now *there's* a powerful word.  Everyone loves it.  Everyone
seeks after being free to do what they feel is good.  But.. wait a minute.
If everyone is allowed to choose their own definition of what is good, aren't
we just going to end up with a lot of people fighting over it?  Isn't that
what's happening now?
   Freedom, as our world knows it, only brings a certain measure of success
in life.  It cannot and never shall *BEGIN* to compare with the freedom that
God gives to those who trust Him and live out a loving inter-relating
relationship with Him.. daring to sacrificially give to one another, and
trusting that God shall repay them, and even bless them anti-entropically for
their efforts.
   That's another thing.. How can this country of ours expect to survive with
all the wear and tear of the entropy of man on it?  We may have gotten more
and more technological, but it's hardly true that we've gotten more humane.
It took years to pass a partial-birth-abortion ban.. when God says in the
Bible that if two men fought and harmed a pregnant lady.. and her baby died,
then life for life was the just action... not merely saying that all that was
in her was some ball of fetal protoplasm, but that it was a totally living
being.. unable to live without its mother as yet.  We don't want God's
desires.. because they're not convenient... and because they don't allow
ourselves to create our own definition of good.  They put us in a room with
no exit (like Jean Paul Sartre's Hell).. and people don't like it.  The only
exit from truth is to abandon morality and say immorality is righteous.
   Which is *JUST* what our nation has done.  Rather than loving God and
following Jesus.. living totally for God's wishes and trusting in Him to
totally provide for us.. we have trusted in our own granaries.. our own
might.. our own computers.. and our own business sense.. all hoping that
*they* will provide what God hasn't.  But we're too stubborn to realize that
God hasn't provided for us in our heart of hearts (where our needs and wants
and desires come from) because we keep telling Him where to go.  We're too
adamant on giving one another 'freedom' to do what we want, rather than take
the proper 'responsibility' to live rightly.  We're too afraid that if we
truly *do* live for God.. and His ways.. that He'll take away all that
matters.. and we'll be left sobbing in a heap of goo.. as He tyrannically
runs off with our fun.
   But God is not a tyrant.  God is the epitome of Love.  God is totally and
without exception a perfect example of love.  But love doesn't love evil.
Love *HATES* evil.  Love wants to save everyone from the effects of evil..
but the only way this will happen is if each and *EVERY* one of us forsakes
evil.. with our own *freedom* or ability to choose to listen to God, and take
Him at His Word.  It is only by trusting in God's perfect love that we find
His grace... or unmerited favor to provide.. and literally open the windows
of Heaven to pour out blessings upon those who trust Him... blessings that
any enemy cannot stop.  Blessings that.. though our enemy take advantage of
our own benevolence, God will reward us even more.
   Yet God's grace is both precious and.. yes.. free!  It is unearnable..
but He doesn't *want* us to earn it.  He wants to show us how much He loves
us all.. that He plays no favorites.. and that He wants us all to accept His
deliverance from the death inside us... from our dead spirits... *WITHOUT*
price to us!  There's one catch... His grace, though unearnable.. *requires*
trust.  And if we truly trust Him, this world is going to hate us for it.
This is the natural act of an inwardly dead person to someone who's alive --
hatred.  To truly despise that person who is blessed of God.. rather than
humbly ask for what he or she has found.
   How do you receive that grace?  You accept that you need it for one.  You
accept the truth that you need to be saved from your inward, selfish self.
You accept the truth that you naturally don't want God.. and with that.. that
you naturally hate what is good, and prefer selfish exploits of evil... and
you ask Him to deliver you *from* this life of death.
   *THAT'S* what Jesus died for... to deliver us from the selfishness in our
hearts and minds.. and to turn us into people who live totally for what is
good.. and leave all unrighteous and untruthful things behind.  But to do so
requires real *DEATH* to our old way of living.  It requires total surrender
to the only one who can cleanse us from our old selfishness.. and make us
totally new.
   But why aren't believers all as loving as they could be?  Simply put..
freedom of choice.  Just because a person believes is the Son of God He
claimed to be in no way guarantees that they'll continue following Him from
that first confession of faith.  It is always up to each individual person..
to.. with every decision.. and every thought.. choose to love God, rather
than seek his own temporary pleasure.  And many simply.. out of lack of
diligence.. and out of trusting their pastors' words rather than finding out
who God is on their own.. end up having grandkid faith.. which is a faith
that won't save us from the destruction that's going to come.
   Don't think that just cuz so many people claim to be Christians that they
are going to end up in Heaven.  Don't think that real Christianity is easy.
To think that a lifestyle that saves you from eternal pain, and brings you
into eternal bliss, is going to be easy.  To think that is to discredit the
God who made our world.  God will strengthen all who keep calling on Him.. as
long as they are willing to hear what He says.. something many many pastors
even simply aren't willing to do.
   And not only pastors... but lawyers.. teachers.. you name it.  All walks
of life are filled with those who claim to love God.. but who deny Him in
their actions.  This is a big reason criminals are so seldom rehabilitated..
cuz so many law enforcement agencies only punish according to the act as
defined in a lawbook.. and not according to God's will and God's heart for
the criminal.  These agencies of justice totally miss out on the power of
God's will to transform the heart of the criminal.. to address the hidden
flowings/issues of the heart, and bring them into alignment with what is
truly good.. as defined by the source of good, Himself.
   But what about punishment?  It's interesting.. but.. the New Testament
says nothing about punishing those who don't believe Jesus is God's Son.
Paul tells us not to, in fact.  He says to leave that punishment up to God,
Himself... and to only discipline those *IN* the church.  And how do we
discipline them?  And when?
   Nobody knows the answer to this one.  Or nobody wants to know it.  It's
really simple.  We bring that person face to face with God's will and heart..
by confronting them in *their* heart with what they've done.  And if that
person.. after being confronted by the one he's wronged, won't apologize, then
he, OR SHE, must be confronted before 2 or three.  If he *STILL* won't
apologize and turn from such action.. then it is brought before the whole
church.. (not just the leaders), and he, or she, is confronted there.  And if
such a person has become so reprobate as to not turn from his wrong.. though
confronted in the presence of everyone he holds dear as brethren, then we
have only to kick him out of the fellowship, and shake him off unto satan to
deal with until he repents, or ends up forgotten.
   Jesus told us to do it this way.. but nobody does it.. because everyone
wants to make excuses for one another's wrongdoing... or because the church
is so confused about what is right and wrong that they don't stand behind the
person who has been wronged.. giving him the courage to stand up to the
wrongdoer.  Without that courage.. and with all this laxness.. our churches
have all but grown stone cold.. and are hardly filled with the vitality of
spirit that only God provides.
   Our nation is falling apart... from the inside out.  And no amount of
drugs or education is going to fix what is innate to the heart of every
person.  The *ONLY* way to fix a spiritual problem is through spiritual
means.. at The Cross.  The only way to find meaning and truth is to lay it
all on the line and give up everything to get it.  It's worth investing in..
and it can save not just a nation.. but a world full of hope-dying
individuals.. and give them meaning.  It is only by trust in our Creator..
and not leaving Him behind in the dust.. that we can hope that our lives can
be truly worthwhile.. and count for something truly lasting.
   Theocracy is the only ocracy that works.  Majority rule won't.
Dictatorship won't.  Capitalism won't.  Communism won't.  Only a true
Theocracy, based on loving God and loving our neighbor can truly bring peace
to this world.
   Jesus said, "Peace I leave you.. My peace I give to you.. not as the world
gives...."  If you want peace.. you gotta start fixing the problem where it
starts.. at the heart.  Only Jesus can fix a broken heart.  No other man has
that power.. and no government of men ever will.  It's all about giving it
all up for Jesus.. and daring to say, "I will live for Your definition of
what is right.. since you are God's perfect Son, and your words are without
error."
   Without that devotion... Without that surrender... Without that total
giving up of all we hold dear.. we will never find peace.. and never know
real truth.  War won't change the heart.. only Jesus can.  Freedom to do what
we want won't compare to the freedom that comes from living in the
inescapable room of morality.  The former may tantalize.. but it will never
fulfill.