IMPASSE MOMENTS

From My Perspective - - -

The Sunday Morning Newsmaker Programs this week featured different points of view based upon a statement by The President that there was a “Red Line” – that if crossed – would necessitate action and intervention, presumably by the United States. The reports, sounding vaguely similar to those that brought about a prolonged war in Iraq, indicate Syria has used Chemical Weapons against the Rebel Forces (actually citizens of Syria). At least two questions emerge from the reports, namely: (1) are the reports of the use of chemical weapons valid and true; and (2) are the words of the United States President valid and true, or just more rhetoric and bluster? Did the President mean what he said, and say what he means? Do his words have believable substance?

Obviously, there is now a self-imposed impasse for this nation. We have been placed in “a position or situation from which there is no escape; a road or way that has no outlet.” Congressional Republicans said Sunday that President Obama must stick with his vow to take action should Syria cross a “red line” by using chemical weapons on citizens, amid such mounting evidence, but cautioned against sending in troops. The rationale for this is: “U.S. officials said last week that the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad probably used chemical weapons twice in March…” and “…amid a two-year civil war in Syria, more than 70,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more displaced. The assessment that Syria used chemical weapons last month followed similar conclusions from Britain, France, Israel and Qatar -- key allies eager for a more aggressive response to the Syrian conflict.” One Congressman allowed on This Week: "The president has laid down the line, and it can't be a dotted line…It can't be anything other than a red line.” On Face the Nation, a Senator stated: “For America to sit on the sidelines and do nothing is a huge mistake…" Another Senator, on Meet The Press stated: “…the red line strategy has given Assad a “green light” to do almost everything up to that point -- including the use of missiles, helicopter attacks and other civilian strikes that have resulted in “atrocities on a scale that we have not seen in a long, long time.” The arguments are mostly partisan and are echoed by many.

War is both harsh and hideous. Cruelty and callousness begin to surface. There seems to be no limitation to a bent for torture and massacre. Evil begins to emerge into the light of day and people begin to cringe and recoil at the horror of it all. There is an interesting observation and action recorded in Genesis 6:5-7, “The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said: I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them." What did the Lord see that caused Him such great pain? What was the ‘red-line’ that man had crossed that brought about the resultant judgment of God upon His creation? It is summarized in the text as being “great wickedness” and “great evil.” The Message Paraphrase of verse 5 is: “God saw that human evil was out of control. People thought evil, imagined evil - evil, evil, evil from morning to night.”

We fast-forward to Matthew 24:37-39 for both insight and readiness: “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” The “red-line” of The Lord remains the same. He will not tolerate “great wickedness” or “great evil” in His Creation. In a day when both wickedness and evil are rampant – aborting millions of babies; redefining marriage and entering into a Sodom and Gomorrah mindset; ignoring God and His Standards; alternative gods and religion dominating the world’s landscape; the limiting of freedom and liberty; oppression and cruelty in the midst of nations – these and many other areas are “red-line” before a Holy and Just God. I Thessalonians 5:3 indicates: “While people are saying, Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly … and they will not escape.” What preparation have you made for that definitive “red-line” –  Impasse Moment – when the day of the Lord arrives? Consider these things with me.

TWITTERING

From My Perspective - - -

We live in a world of sound-bites and abbreviated messages. Some of these messages are understood by those oriented to social network shorthand, whereas others have to guess at meanings and intent to written words and abbreviations. There were various comments made on Twitter about and by the Boston Bombers. On Friday evening, there were two Twitters that had great import and purpose. The first pertained to the capture of the surviving bomber. On the CNN Webpage, the terse and welcomed message from the Boston Police Department states: “CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody." The second CNN report continues: “A few minutes later, a more somber tweet followed as Boston heaved a sigh of relief: "In our time of rejoicing, let us not forget the families of Martin Richard, Lingzi Ly, Krystle Campbell and Officer Sean Collier."

It is the statement of the second Twitter that should give us pause and reflection – Four people senselessly killed and almost 180 injured and some incapacitated. Many lives have been impacted and altered. The horror of the moment – just 20 seconds between blasts – has changed lives for a lifetime. However, while the Boston Bombing story was unfolding, there was also the explosion in West, Texas that killed, injured and impacted many; and the Earthquake in China where the death toll may include many thousands; as well as more shootings and deaths in Chicago; etc. We live in a world of great need and considerable pain. It seems as though terrible events are accelerating and possible relief is waning. Who is capable of summarizing these difficult times in a terse Twitter?

In an Opinion article for the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer wrote (released on Sunday, April 21) and entitled his remarks – The Language Of Terrorism. He began by stating: “Terrorism is speech - speech that gathers its audience by killing innocents as theatrically as possible. The 19th-century anarchist Paul Brousse called it "propaganda by deed." Accordingly, the Boston Marathon attack, the first successful terror bombing in the United States since 9/11, was designed for maximum effect. At the finish line, there would be not only news cameras but also hundreds of personal videos to amplify the message…” The entry includes the following thoughts: “There was much ado about President Obama’s nonuse of the word “terrorism” in his first statement to the nation after the bombing. Indeed, the very next morning, he took to the White House briefing room for no other reason than to pronounce the event an “act of terrorism.” He justified the update as a response to “what we now know.” But there had been no new information overnight. Nothing changed, except a certain trepidation about the original omission. There was no need to be so sensitive, however. The president said that terrorism is any bombing aimed at civilians. Not quite. Terrorism is any attack on civilians for a political purpose. Until you know the purpose, you can’t know if it is terrorism…Nonetheless, the president’s nonuse of the word was no big deal. Why then was he so sensitive that he came out the next morning to correct the omission? Answer: Benghazi, in which the administration had been roundly and correctly criticized for refusing to call it terrorism for so long…”

If we were to Twitter from a truly Christian perspective, what would one write? Here’s one thought – Proverbs 16:4, “The Lord works out everything for his own ends - even the wicked for a day of disaster.” Another could be Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Also, Romans 1:20, “God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse…” Part of the reason for the state of the world, and sadly the so-called “Christian Church” is summarized in I Timothy 4:1-3, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.” Sadly, we have arrived at and are living in that time. Consider these things with me.  

BLINDED BY BIAS

From My Perspective - - -

Perhaps there is a level of naiveté still present in our nation that allows one to believe there will be those who will champion fairness, accuracy and integrity in terms of news. In an Internet News source – The Slate – a Column Headline is: “Kermit Gosnell: The Alleged Mass-Murderer and the Biased Media.” The rationale of the column that despite a heinous crime having been committed, a biased media has given it little or no notice or coverage. The issue – late-term abortions; live aborted babies having their throat slit or being beheaded; as well as other gruesome acts.

The Slate Column describes the clinic protocol: “Furniture and blankets were stained with blood. Instruments were not properly sterilized. Disposable medical supplies were not disposed of; they were reused, over and over again. Medical equipment – such as the defibrillator, the EKG, the pulse oximeter, the blood pressure cuff – was generally broken; even when it worked, it wasn’t used. The emergency exit was padlocked shut. And scattered throughout, in cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bags and plastic jugs, were fetal remains. It was a baby charnel house… That's the G-rated version. One woman, according to investigators, was "left lying in place for hours after Gosnell tore her cervix and colon while trying, unsuccessfully, to extract the fetus." Another woman was sent home when she "still had fetal parts inside her." Another woman died after untrained and unlicensed aides gave her "unmonitored, unrecorded intravenous injections of Demerol." Gosnell trained those aides to commit fraud, distorting ultrasounds to make the late-term pregnancies look less far advanced. Viable babies—hundreds of them, allegedly—were decapitated with scissors…”

The Slate Column raises this proposition: “So the question, raised by pro-lifers, is this: Explain to us why Gosnell isn't a national story. Somebody else can try. I can't explain it. It's never made sense to me, how a local crime story becomes a national story. Two words regarding a powerless Cruise Ship: "Bathroom Waste." CNN ran hours of coverage and grainy video of a stranded Carnival cruise ship, a situation that inconvenienced many and killed none. How does a missing college student or an angry man in a TSA line become part of Our National Conversation? I don't know. I do know that a reporter in the bubble is less likely to be compelled by the news of an arrested abortionist….” An obvious answer is that the Media is generally liberal in terms of personal perspective and – as a result - in most of their reporting. A hoax perpetrated regarding a well-known religious television speaker results in coverage and interviews. The viewpoint that what is in the womb of a woman is merely a “fetus” rather than a person allows all too many to avoid the atrocities of abortion and the murder of the innocents.

From the Christian Perspective, there cannot be silence. A criteria and principle to be embraced is expressed in Proverbs 31:8-9, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." The New Living Translation of verse 8 is: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those who are perishing.” Another reality is in terms of what is occurring within the womb of the pregnant woman. Psalm 139:13-17 is a beautiful expression: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” The action of God is stated in Jeremiah 1:5 where the Lord stated: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Are you willing to be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves? Are you willing to confront those blinded by bias and raise the Biblical Standard regarding the right to live? Are you ready to be engaged in the effort to Save-A-Life? Consider these things with me.

THE MUZZLED MULTITUDES

From My Perspective - - -

The Culture versus the Church in terms of Moral Values and Societal Mores – and – The Culture is more vocal and “The Church” is too willing to endure and adapt. In a day when there is redefinition in areas ranging from when life begins, to those who are crossing the Borders of the nation illegally, as well as what constitutes a valid marriage are issues that have been and are before the courts of the nation. The Congress has allowed itself to become accountable to lobbyists rather than to their Constituents, and are seen as wetting a finger and holding it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing – and then – act more in accordance with the moment and event than they do with moral values and foundational principles. The Constitution, as well as Holy Scriptures, are framed and showcased as historic relics from the past – neither is being adhered to as a Compass by which a people can and should be guided.

If there is truth and validity in the words of Proverbs 14:33-34 – “Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, But what is in the heart of fools is made known. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” – Where/who are the champions of righteousness? If “sin is a reproach to any people”, why is there an acceptance and tolerance of that which is detrimental to the well-being of the nation, populace and “church”? At one time, not too many years ago, it was believed there was a “Silent Majority” in this nation who could and would impact the culture and political elections. If that was true once upon a time, it is not apparent or obvious in these times. If a Silent Majority still exists, they must have been hog-tied and muzzled somewhere along the way.

The broader picture has to do with the diversity within the religious sector of our culture and society. In I Corinthians 14:8, an important question is asked: “For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle?” There is a lot of religious programming on the Radio and Television. However, if one listens to the various presentations for a day, at the end of the day there would be confusion and conflicting thought. We are living in a day when “the trumpet makes an uncertain sound.” Which “sound” should one follow? Whose “sound” is authentic? Which “sound” represents God’s message and God’s will? If a survey was taken regarding which of the current presentations make sense, the list would vary in terms of who is a true servant and messenger for the Lord. Who, in the present day, would you believe is a true spokesman for God? Who would you be willing to follow? Into what battle would your “leader-choice” lead you? Would it be valid and authentic before God?

In a prophecy that envisions the demise of a nation and end times, there is a significant phrase that offers encouragement and hope. In Daniel 11:32 – “…but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits…” Will these people encounter opposition? Yes! Will some become martyrs? Yes! Will some lose their homes and possessions? Yes! It is interesting that the concluding statement in The Declaration of Independence states: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor.” Courageous Patriots affixed their signatures indicating a full and unwavering commitment to the cause of freedom, liberty and independence. Many men would lose their lives and fortunes but they did not shrink back.

What is a prospect for the Biblical Christian in these days of such moral and cultural erosion? It may mean experiencing that which is stated in Hebrews 11:35-38, “…others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned; they were sawn in two, were tempted, and were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth…” They did not shrink back and they were considered “worthy” by the Lord. With whom will you stand? Don’t be a part of the Muzzled Multitude! Consider these things with me? 

POLL PROMULGATION

From My Perspective - - -

It seems as though more and more legislation and political action is based upon Polls. Even though there is diversity among the Pollsters, one can select the Poll of his/her choice to promote one’s personal agenda. Furthermore, even if there is no concurring Poll to support one’s agenda, then data is often misrepresented as though there was a majority who would be in agreement. It is obvious that integrity and moral values are subservient to whims and trends rather than to truth and moral values.

A Poll released this week by Rasmussen has been mentioned in several Internet “news” websites that Headlines: “Percent of Americans Believing in the Resurrection Drops To 64% From 77% Last Easter.” The CNS release was: “A study released by the Rasmussen Reports polling firm on Good Friday found that 64% of Americans believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead. While Americans who believe in the resurrection remain in the majority, that number is down significantly when compared to a Rasmussen Poll that asked the same question, released a year ago. On April 7th, 2012 Rasmussen released a poll finding that 77% of Americans believed the resurrection of Christ to be historical fact. The difference between the two polls shows a 13 percentage point drop in the number of Americans who believe that Christ rose from the dead, since last Easter. Additionally, this year's poll found that 19% of Americans reject the central tenant of the Christian faith and do not believe that Christ was resurrected.  That's compared to only 7% who said they didn't believe that Christ rose from the dead a year ago.  A staggering 12 percentage point jump.”

Question: Should one base his/her personal belief system on data in a National Poll (with a very fractional sample – usually less than 2,000 people)? Should that alone be persuasive or the basis upon which one believes or doesn’t believe?  It is interesting that within the First Century and a short time after the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, one of the first Pollsters issued his data and conclusion. Just two indicators from the Pollster – The Apostle Paul. First, in order to establish the basic postulate, Romans 1:3-4 (NKJV), “…concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was…declared to be the Son of God with power …by the resurrection from the dead.” Second, is the sample and data that established unequivocally the fact of the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ in I Corinthians 15:1-8 (NIV), “…For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living…he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also…” The choice one has to make is (a) to believe the inspired and objective words recorded in Romans and I Corinthians, or (b) to embrace the uninspired and subjective poll based upon whim or fancy in the twenty-first century.

Part of the variance in terms of what people believe today as compared with even one year ago may have more to do with the political ideologies that are promulgated endlessly – ideology that is not always based upon valid data or fact – but is articulated dogmatically and persuasively. The other part to all of this has to do with eternity – heaven and hell issues. I always appreciate a young campus minister who faithfully spoke to as many as he could and reminding them that eternity is a long time to spend in the wrong place. If one is going to be certain of his/her eternity, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is foundational. In Romans 10:8-13 are these dynamic and basic words: “The Word is near you…the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." The bottom line is: (1) Have you believed and acted upon this truth? (2) Have you confessed with your mouth – Jesus is Lord? (3) Have you believed that God raised Him from the dead? If you haven’t, do so now – and – you will be saved. Consider these things with me.