ANTEPENULTIMATE

From My Perspective - - -

An old expression goes something like: “The more things change, the more they remain the same!” And so it appears with our nation and the political actions and appointments since Inauguration Day 2009. A Candidate and a Political Ambition promising “Change” and “Yes!, We Can!” and no more Lobbyists and business as usual approach has already proven to be false. From outcries against Billion Dollar Deficits during the previous administration to the glibness of Trillion Dollar Expenditure or “Investment” currently underway, the actions belie all the rhetoric to the contrary.

Where does this leave our nation and each citizen of our once successful nation? The February 16^th cover of Newsweek Magazine declares: “We Are All Socialists Now!” A premise of this Cover Story Article suggests: “In many ways our economy already resembles a European one. As boomers age and spending grows, we will become even more French…Whether we like it or not—or even whether many people have thought much about it or not—the numbers clearly suggest that we are headed in a more European direction. A decade ago U.S. government spending was 34.3 percent of GDP, compared with 48.2 percent in the euro zone—a roughly 14-point gap, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In 2010 U.S. spending is expected to be 39.9 percent of GDP, compared with 47.1 percent in the euro zone—a gap of less than 8 points. As entitlement spending rises over the next decade, we will become even more French…” The oxymoronic conclusion of the article states: “The Obama administration is caught in a paradox. It must borrow and spend to fix a crisis created by too much borrowing and spending. Having pumped the economy up with a stimulus, the president will have to cut the growth of entitlement spending by holding down health care and retirement costs and still invest in ways that will produce long-term growth. Obama talks of the need for smart government. To get the balance between America and France right, the new president will need all the smarts he can summon…”

Is Newsweek correct? The American Heritage Dictionary defines Socialism as: “Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy. The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.” If this definition is valid, then we are moving dangerously toward being an Antepenultimate Nation. Antepenultimate is the third syllable from the end. In other words, we are one step away from the end of this nation as a capitalist republic that has been blest greatly by the Eternal God Who has favored our nation in unusual ways.

Consider these things with me - - - While I was in the Rehab Center as a patient this past week, a young lady who brought the Mail and a Daily Newspaper asked me a poignant question: “If things are as bad as we’re being told, why has no one said we should stop where we are and as a nation Pray?” The simple answer is that we ought not to need politicians call this nation to prayer – churches and preachers should be calling their people to do that very thing – not just for a day, but on the continuum – until our nation comes to its senses and returns to a foundational principle, namely, “In God We Trust!” The more complicated answer to this young woman’s question is that we have become a pluralistic society where “God” and “Prayer” have different meanings for different people. With all the hoopla regarding Inauguration Day Prayers and who offered them, the overall impression of these so-called “Prayers” was that they became inclusive (use of Koran for name of Jehovah) to a Benediction that was a civil-rights refrain that lacked being a benign solicitation of the Divine Blessings of Almighty God upon our straying nation. In Matthew 24:44, Jesus states: “Therefore you must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” And in Revelation 18:17, “In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin…” If our nation is going to repent, the place is HERE, and the time is NOW! May God have mercy upon us!