God’s Judgement On America
Delightful themes run through the Bible.
God’s love is a prominent and popular one. “God is love” is descriptive. The Scripture does not just say He loves, but that He is love.
His compassion is reassuring and comforting.
Fortunately He is depicted as longsuffering.
His mercy is interwoven with His longsuffering. Mercy speaks of Him protecting us from the bad we deserve.
The counterpoint to His mercy is His grace. Grace is Him providing the good things that we don’t deserve.
Patience and longsuffering go hand in glove.
Gentleness and kindness are indicative of Him.
These are but a few of His many admirable traits. Sometimes various traits commingled. At times only one of these attributes in involved in a situation.
There is an attribute people want to ignore or at best think because He is loving, patient, and forgiving this trait does not apply. In Scripture it stands out like Mt. Everest would on a Florida beach.
Axiom: God is just and exercises judgment.
The word “judgment” appears 496 times in the Bible and “justice” 45 times. In a judicial sense “just” appears many times.
In reaching your conclusion regarding divine retribution consider these secular testimonies.
In the Jefferson Memorial in DC are inscribed these words of the statesman, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
During the Constitutional Convention someone raised the question: “When does a nation answer to God?”
In his notes taken during the deliberation George Madison records George Mason replied, “Nations can’t be judged in the hereafter as people, so Providence punishes national sins by national calamities.”
Ever aware of this Ben Franklin concluded, “We need God to be our friend, not our adversary.”
One of several Bible evidences of God’s judgment on a rebellious nation is provided by the rhapsodic prophet Jeremiah who presided over the death of the nation summarily said, “Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins.”
In considering supernatural discipline the explanation given by the prophet is worth noting. “Your own conduct and actions have brought this upon you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces the heart!” (Jeremiah 4:18).
In an effort to ignore the possibility of divine retribution most folks just look the other way. Others angrily retort with criticism of anyone who would suggest He does. Some just deny the very existence of God. Others are inclined to comply with the spiritual antidote noted in II Chronicles 7:14: “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins (now observe this) and heal their land.”
Now consider your role in this equation.
The Value Of The Christian Culture To Atheists
Non-Christians have cause to value Christian values. Not all so called Christians live the values espoused by the one whose name the movement bares. Some are an occasional embarrassment and some are an absolute abiding disgrace. Add to that the cults who mascarade under the guise of Biblical faith but are totally fraudulent giving a bad name to the authentic.
Still there are core values by which millions contentiously seek to live. These life changing values sustain devotees and color their conduct.
There is a global shift in the world Christian population. The Christian share of sub-Saharan Africa has soared over the past century from 9 percent to 63 percent. Meanwhile the Christian population of Europe has dropped from 95 percent to 76 percent and the American decline is from 96 percent to 86 percent.
In Nigeria thousands have died in Islamist bomb attacks targeting Christians gathered for prayer. In Iran and Pakistan Christians are on death row for “apostasy,” that is defecting from Islam.
Many churches in Indonesia, the world’s most populace Muslim county, have been attacked or shut. In Egypt Muslim zealots threaten long entrenched Christian groups.
Globally Jews are suffering a similar fate.
Here in America there is little blood shed; however, there is increased encroachment on freedom of Christian speech by PC extremists which limits participation in the market place.
There are those who say America was not and is not a Christian nation and I agree. Nations, schools, and organizations aren’t Christians. Only people are. However, there will have to be a lot of books burned to deny America having been formed and governed by Christian values for years. Not nearly all Founding Fathers were Christian, but with very rare exceptions they knew Scripture and were tutored in Christian values which they incorporated in establishing the country.
It is these values and virtues that give liberty to opponents of Christianity. Atheists particularly should be thankful for that freedom. You don’t hear of any atheists in Muslim ruled countries. Guess why? You don’t hear of atheists from America going to one of those countries trying to tell them there is no Allah. Imagine the response if Mohammad were debased as Jesus often is.
Christians will defend the rights of atheists. In those countries not only are atheists not granted the liberty to disparage a person’s faith, they are denied the right to life itself.
Having a right and neglecting it is little better than not having it. This is an appeal to clergymen of all faiths, study the history of our nation and the Old and New Testament values of our nation and teach/preach on those values using Scripture to validate the truth. If ministers do not these truths will be eroded from our history and the knowledge of the roots of our origin as a nation lost. Christians and Jews alike have a lot at stake.
Though atheists and radical Muslims are poles apart on most issues they have a common desire to see our history obscured.
Son Of God – What Does It Mean?
Various disciplines have their own vocabulary. They use language peculiar to their discipline that is well understood within the circle of users. Athletes talk “sports speak,” musicians “music speak,” Geeks “computer speak.” It is only reasonable that various faith groups have their own distinct terms.
“Christian speak” as spoken by a few is perplexing. Some speak like they have a steeple in their throat or are speaking through a stained glass window.
One of the descriptive words used of Jesus is understood within the Christian community, but not outside. It is the title “Son of God.”
Children sometimes ask, “Who was Mrs. God?”
The dictionary recognized “son” to signify not only generation but association.
The apostles James and John were called “sons of thunder.” Barnabas was known as “the son of encouragement.”
Following is how the word “Son” as used in the Bible for Jesus is understood within the Christian community.
In Scripture Jesus is called “God’s only begotten Son.” The word “begotten” is a compound of two Greek words used in Scripture. One word is mono, meaning “one.” The other is genes, meaning “kind, type, or species.” Combined they are used to speak of God’s only one of a kind son. The Greek monogenees is used to mean the only one of the same nature as. In Scripture Jesus is not spoken of as a Son of God, but the Son of God.
Two different Greek words are translated “son” in Scripture.
Teknon stresses the fact of human birth. It is used of homo sapiens.
Huios emphasizes dignity and character relationship. It is used of Jesus.
This is the line of logic that leads Christians to revere Jesus as the nexus of God. The angel messenger in speaking to Joseph called Jesus Immanuel, meaning God with us. Incarnation is a word describing the process. The root “incarnate” means embodied in flesh.
As such Christians believe Jesus was God manifest as a corporeal, touchable, human being: the man/God-God/man.
Ideologically this belief separates Christians from persons who are not Christians, but it does not have to separate us in our interpersonal relationships. In all of life when our understanding of an issue differ we are given an opportunity to prove we can disagree without being disagreeable.
A summary of why Christians celebrate the birth and life of Jesus is noted in I John 4: 9, “In this the love of God is manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”
That enables persons to give the right answers to these questions raised by the brilliant Henry Van Dyke.
“Are you willing to…stoop down and consider the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old, to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough … to bear in mind what others have to bear in their hearts…? Are you willing to believe love is the strongest thing in the world — stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death — And that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?
Life In Outer Space
You don’t know what you don’t know, you know.
Scientists are constantly making new discoveries and disposing of long held theories. Discovery is an endless process. There are two recent ones with enough support to cause scientists to rethink two major concepts regarding the origin of our planet. Both of these concepts are awaiting confirmation.
New research by NASA suggests Jupiter’s moon Europa has a body of water the size of the Great Lakes just two miles below its surface. Scientists have long believed there exists below Europa’s surface a huge ocean more voluminous than all the earth’s oceans combined.
One theory regarding how our world could have been flooded in the days of Noah involves a great underground water depository
here on earth. The Scripture related to the universal flood speaks of the “fountains of the deep” being broken up.
Couple this with the envelop theory regarding the earth at one time being surrounded by water vapor similar to the water causing rings around Saturn. Add an upheaval causing the rising and collapsing surface of the earth to the surfacing of the fountains of the deep and you have a scenario for a possible global flood.
A second recent discovery comes from a group of preeminent scientists at the European Center for Nuclear Research postulates they have witnessed neutrinos traveling at 60 nanoseconds faster than light. That is 0.0025 percent faster than light. So!
The speed of light which has long been considered a constant is integral to measuring time and space. If the speed is off dating is off. If the measurement of the speed is off could it be off even more than 0.0025 percent?
Imagine this. Is it possible there was an occasion when light and time stood so still they didn’t even exist and suddenly there was light, space, and matter in an event called creation? It may not have happened that way, but there will be persons who will hop all over the concept in an attempt to disallow anything hinting of creation. For them to do it will require three scientific principles that are essential for a thing to be considered scientifically creditable.
It must be observable.
It must be demonstrable.
It must be repeatable.
Otherwise a thing is a theory.
Maybe it wasn’t that way, just maybe. However, did anyone see the origin of the universe? Has anyone demonstrated it or repeated it?
The respected response of the NASA scientists is admirable. These learned scientists had been trained in a certain way of thinking. They had long accepted Einstein’s theory regarding the speed of light. Light is the constant in dating the universe. Suddenly they were confronted with evidence disputing what they had always believed. Though their study is yet to be confirmed they didn’t disregard the new findings they admitted they would have to rethink the evidence.
These and other emerging discoveries evidence true scientists are open to new evidence. They are not intransigent refusing any evidence contrary to what they have always believed. They realize you don’t know what you don’t know, you know.
Sports In America Today
Landry, Bodwen, Osborne, Teaff, Dodd, Dooley, Dickey, Gaither, Curry, and a myriad more I knew them all, some very well. They defined college coaching greatness. Add to them a legion of unheralded other men and women who did and do more than coach X and Os.
The ranks of high school coaches I have know have among them some of society’s most influential citizens. They don’t just coach boys and girls they build men and women.
Coach Tom Landry told me that every day on high school campuses across America there is one man hundreds of students look at as something slightly less than God and they call him “coach.” That identifies how important a coach is in the lives of youth.
For six years I served as Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I spoke to numerous pro, college, and high school teams in a variety of sports.
Speaking at national conferences and retreats and athletes at the Hula Bowl for several years has allowed me to get to know some of the most outstanding big name athletes who are men and women of character. Many of them give generously of their time and resources to help young people.
Over the years I have also known some coaches and athletes who brought discredit to their role. Again some of them I have known well and know they regret their actions. Some engaged in action completely out of character for them and lament it greatly.
The good guys are big men and women in a big business: sports. While top level coaches garner enormous salaries some find their gratification not in remuneration but redemption of lives. I don’t want to disparage high salaried coaches and imply they aren’t concerned with the welfare of their athletes.
The notoriety is not as great, but the number of athletes is the same in Division One all the way to the NAIA. It is expanded in high school and organized teams outside schools.
The real value of sports is not only in the income derived from it, but the lives changed. If you want to make it merely a matter of economics, consider the number of athletes who if not involved with influential coaches would end up in prison. Some do, but more would if not for the influence of a good coach. That saves millions of dollars in court and prison costs.
The transformation of a person from a street person to a responsible citizen is of inestimable worth. This remodeling occurs in sports more than any other activity. One reason is it is one of the few areas of life where discipline is mandatory.
So many youth today come from dysfunctional homes. The only father or mother figure of character they know is the coach.
I ask one coach if most of his athletes were reared by a single parent and he said yes, the grandmother. Often the team is the only “family” the young athlete has known.
I have worked close enough with sports program recently to see the baggage many youth bring to school and the patient and often prayerful effort coaches of all disciplines make to redeem them. Any way you interpret the word “redeem” it is applicable in their case.
The arena of sports isn’t perfect, but overall it is vital to society. Judge it not at its weakest point.