Mothers, The Glory of God’s Creations

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…over all the earth…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…” (Genesis 1:26-28, Holy Bible, KJV)

The evidence of God’s glory are far too numerous to count, the Earth a myriad of wonders and fascinations, each a testament to the power God’s love for His creations. To lay outside on a clear, dark night, and gaze up into the heavens and witness the brilliance of billions of shining stars casting their light upon us, with the realization that the light that at that moment shimmers in our eyes has traveled years, decades, even millennia to reach us, is to stand in awe at the majesty of God’s creations. Can one look out across the vastness of oceans, the depths of canyons, the height of mountains, and all of the splendors that cover the Earth and truly doubt that some loving, powerful being far greater than ourselves has given us a tiny glimpse of what heaven must be like?

God himself declared mankind as the greatest of all of His creations, given dominion over the earth and all creatures upon its face, for their nourishment, edification, and joy. God created the Earth, separating light from darkness, water from land, covering the Earth with flowers and trees, with beasts of the field and fowl of the air, finally placing man upon it, in the form of Adam. Yet as glorious as all these things were, God looked upon all He had wrought and saw His work was not complete. In the final, crowning achievement of His creation, a testament to His glory and the wisdom of His ways, God gave unto Adam an helpmeet, the woman Eve, for He saw that “it is not good that man should be alone.”

And how right he was! What would man be without woman? Without woman, man would be left to his own brutishness, devoid of the calming and nurturing influences which are the natural disposition and gifts of woman. Without woman, man would not exist, for it is she who nurtures mankind in her womb. It is she that succors the helpless child on her breast, giving each that nectar of life needed for survival. It is she that with love, patience, and long-suffering, is the primary provider of the training and development of her child, raising her children until they are ready to be out of their own, where they will find a mate of their own, continuing the infinite path laid by God, bringing children of their own into the world.

Our world today has in many ways distanced itself from the traditions of our parents and grandparents. The morality and institutions once universal among us have been replaced by a mélange of multiculturalism, which rejects the wisdom of our forefathers in favor of a more “enlightened” acceptance of all cultures as equal. In this new cultural reality, we are often told that women should shun, or at least delay, the role of mother in favor of making their mark in the business world, or in a variety of other endeavors. Yet while there is certainly greatness and accolades to be found in such endeavors, which are often a necessity, I wonder if we have lost sight of what is truly great and glorious on this Earth that God gave us.

I believe mothers have the most vital, yet least appreciated job in the world. Looking back upon my life, I know unequivocally that had it not been for the depth of my mother’s influence in my life, for the powerful lessons she taught me in the thirteen cancer-shortened years that I was blessed to be with her, I would be a much different man today. It was her sweet disposition in the face of terminal cancer, poverty, and a difficult marriage, that provided an example for me of grace in the face of painful trials. It was she who, despite never graduating high school, taught me a love of reading and a thirst for knowledge that has stayed with me throughout my life. It was she who taught me that a man can be without a penny to his name and still be rich, provided his name is unmarred by evidence of dishonesty or infidelity in word of deed. It was she who taught me the value of hard work, of sacrifice, of charity, obedience, and thrift. It was she who taught me the true measure of a man is not in the acquisition of material wealth, or worldly honors, but in how he treats the poor and downtrodden who can neither hurt nor help him. It was she that taught me that God allows us to suffer through trials, often deeply painful, not because He doesn’t love us, but because He knows that we only grow through the purifying flames of the refiner’s fire.

Just six years later, at the tender age of nineteen, I married my beautiful bride, Jennifer. We were barely more than children when we met at fourteen, and she a stunning beauty that she took my breath away. I literally stood there staring, mouth slightly open, making a fool of myself. This being shortly after the death of my mother, I was also a bit of an emotional wreck. Yet she saw something in me worthwhile, and my life has been richer for her willingness to take a chance on a young man of little worldly consequence, with not much to offer other than my devotion to her.

Nine months later I became a father, and my world would forever change. Due to a bit of chaos at the hospital, and with not a little fear, I delivered my son. What a precious, fragile creature he was! What an incredible specimen of quite strength was my wife. It was a truly humbling experience, but from that moment on I knew that my life would be dedicated to the happiness and protection of my wife, my firstborn son, and the three sons and four daughters that would follow.

Over the last twenty-one years, I have watched as my wife has worked endless hours, sacrificed so much of her labor, her sleep, her compassion and emotion, to taking care of her family. I remember my bride, not even twenty years old, as she bathed, fed, and nurtured my son. Eighteen years later I felt the icy knife of fear pierce my breast as I stood immobile, surrounded by doctors and nurses, some frantically trying to save my last child, Echo, who was blue and not breathing, even as others tended to my wife, who was struggling after a traumatic delivery. In that moment of indecision, torn between staying with my wife, or following my daughter as the doctors rushed her to the NICU while pumping oxygen into her lungs, my wife made the decision for me, screaming “Go with Echo, and don’t leave her for anything!”

God heard my frightened pleas, and both survived with no ill effects, but in that moment of uncertainty, with both lives in danger, my wife gave no thought to herself, but only to saving that precious child she’d brought into the world.

In John 15:13, our savior, Jesus Christ, declared “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Not knowing the extent of the danger to either, in that moment my wife was willing to give up her life for that of her child. That would come as no surprise to anyone who knows her, for her entire adult life has been spent in the service of her family, forming our children in her womb, providing life-sustaining nourishment, tending to their illnesses, teaching them eternal principles, educating them, and in every way tending to their needs. Though she has not been called upon to sacrifice her life for them, I have no doubt that she would. Instead, she has dedicated her life to being a wife and a mother, to raising righteous children, and to wielding her powerful influence for good on a husband who would be far less of a man without her tenderness and love.

God’s majesty is shown in all of His creations, but the crown jewel of them all is woman, whom we call wife and mother. May we take time today to show our love and appreciation for them, and thank God for such tender mercies.

Killing the Messenger: When Truth is Blasphemous

"The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those that speak it."  ~ George Orwell

"No one understood better than Stalin that the true object of propaganda is neither to convince nor even to persuade, but to produce a uniform pattern of public utterance in which the first trace of unorthodox thought immediately reveals itself as a jarring dissonance."  ~ British Historian Alan Bullock

It is truly frightening to see the level to which political correctness has infected the minds of the American people, instilling in us fear to speak out against obvious lies and insane policies lest we be labeled as a racist, sexist, bigot, homophobe, xenophobe, or some other form of menace to civil society. As a child I used to chant the retort “sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me”. However, in modern America, that is no longer true. Words, carefully crafted to obscure the truth, lead us to accept policies which are demonstrably harmful to us as individuals, families, communities, states, and as a nation.

Each day, we are treated to more and more news stories in which truth is not only ignored, but actively shunned, with those proclaiming truth castigated and hunted down with verbal pitchforks by the angry liberals of the social and media elite. Here are a few of the most recent news stories that make me wonder if our own self-imposed stupidity will be our demise:

Last month, federal judge Edward Korman ruled that girls, regardless of age, must be given unrestricted access to the “morning after” abortion pill. The FDA last week lowered the age for purchase, ruling the “Plan B” pill and its generic equivalents must be available to girls as young as fifteen, and can now be sold over the counter, just like cough drops and vitamins. Considering the fact that the age of consent in every state is between 16-18 years old, a 15-year old buying Plan B would be strong evidence of statutory rape. So why is this judge demanding, and the FDA implementing, a policy which has the inevitable consequence of hiding evidence of statutory rape? Where is the logic in treating 26-year olds as “children”, eligible to stay on mommy and daddy’s health insurance under the terms of the ObamaCare law, yet treating 15-year old girls like adults, mature enough to make a decision to take the abortion pill without parental guidance?

Likewise, few topics engender such anger and hostility, such polarization, as the topic of homosexuality and homosexual marriage. Recently Jason Collins, an NBA player at the end of a career that could only generously be called mediocre (3.6PPG career; 1.1PPG, 1.6RPG in this season), gained national notoriety when he became the first active player in one of the four major U.S. sports to announce his homosexuality. My first thought upon hearing the news was “Who cares? Why do I need to know this?” It seemed a last-ditch effort by a washed-up player to remain relevant for just a little longer.

Yet while the media breathlessly praised Collins for his “bravery”, the truth is that there was little that could be considered brave in such a revelation. Consider the consequences of such “bravery”. His decision was hailed as “epic” and “groundbreaking.” He was referred to as this generation’s Jackie Robinson. He received a call from the President of the United States lauding him for his courage, telling Collins that he was proud of him. NBA president David Stern applauded his “leadership”, and he was offered words of support from such sports and entertainment luminaries as Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Doc Rivers, Dwayne Wade, Oprah Winfrey, and others, as well as former president Bill Clinton, who called the announcement "An important moment for professional sports and in the history of the LGBT community." If accepting the accolades and approbation of the media and entertainment elite, and being lauded as a hero, are what constitute “bravery” in today’s America, I think we have set the threshold for bravery pretty low. I’m pretty sure I could not only survive, but thrive, in such a “challenging” trial of faith.

Speaking of trials and faith, while Collins was being lauded as a hero, those that stood up for traditional morality were being persecuted for their beliefs. ESPN analyst Chris Broussard was demonized after expressing his view on the Collins revelation, in which he said “I'm a Christian. I don't agree with homosexuality. I think it's a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is…If you're openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be…that's walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ." Within hours of Broussard’s comments, which reflect the views of a huge portion of the American people, there was a cacophony of calls for him to be suspended or fired. He was called a homophobe and a bigot, and accused of turning “Christian faith into a weapon of anti-gay hatred.”

How it is “anti-gay hatred” if Broussard stated his belief that ALL sex outside of marriage is sinful? His comments encompass a wide variety of sexual behavior that has nothing to do with homosexuality, such as fornication, cohabitation, and adultery. In addition to the fact that such a position is widely held not only by Christianity but every other major world religion, there is ample evidence from a variety of sociological studies to show that limiting sexual relations to the bonds of monogamous, heterosexual marriage not only has demonstrable benefits for us as individuals, but provides the best environment in which to raise healthy, well-adjusted children, who then grow up to be healthy, well-adjusted adults and citizens of the community and nation. Yet today it is considered judgmental and intolerant to believe these things.

Such anti-traditionalist, anti-Christian views are unfortunately becoming the rule instead of the exception. At New York’s Red Hook Middle School recently, under the rubric of an anti-bullying campaign, students were told they had to kiss other students of the same gender, and girls were told to pretend that they were lesbians on a date. When parents became outraged, not only did the school defend the program, it told parents the school would schedule more such activities.

At the federal level, Obama selected Mikey Weinstein to develop “religious tolerance” policies for the Pentagon. What does Weinstein think of Christians? He said that “Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation’s armed forces.” This is tolerance?

I suppose Christians should have seen this day coming, because the Bible talks about the day when evil would be called good, and good called evil (Isaiah 5:20). For me the surprise is only in the rapidity at which this has developed. We need to understand there are consequences for such developments. These behaviors are destructive to society and to us as individuals. Just because we blithely ignore the truth does not mean that the consequences won’t find us. Smoking was once thought to have health benefits, but believing that did not stop the physical damage done by smoking.

For those of us who embrace biblical Christianity and traditional morality, we must be active defenders of that faith, and of our freedom to express it publicly and privately. We can and should treat those that disagree with us with dignity and respect, even as we challenge their erroneous positions. We can, as they say, disagree without being disagreeable. But a failure to defend these principles means capitulation and defeat without a fight, and all of the damaging consequences that go with it. If we fail to fight, we should not be surprised, nor complain, when the destruction arrives on our doorstep.

An Invocation for God’s Mercy

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” ~ 2 Chronicles, 7:14 (Holy Bible, KJV)

 

At times, it seems hard to fathom that the nation that we live in today is the same nation established by the Founding Fathers, perhaps the greatest group of political minds ever assembled. These were men who changed the course of history by acknowledging, for the first time, the truth that man’s rights come not from government, but from God, unalienable by virtue of their birth. They founded this nation on Judeo-Christian principles, proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution and, though they did not all share the same religion, they all revered the teachings of Jesus Christ, and almost all accepted his divinity.

It was George Washington who taught us that religion and morality are the “indispensable supports” of our republic, without which our Constitution, said John Adams, was “wholly inadequate” to govern the people. Some have claimed our Founders were not religious men, and some even claim they rejected religion, and religious influence on government, altogether. This is absolutely false. Even those famous founders that we can point to as being arguably non-religious, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, understood the dire need for the power of religious influence in perpetuating liberty and governing a free people.

Franklin, in a letter to the French ministry, attested that "Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principals of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world." And Jefferson, whom atheists love to claim as their own, once wrote, in a letter to Benjamin Rush, that “To the corruptions of Christianity I am, indeed, opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian in the only sense in which He wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others.”

Indeed, until recent decades, most Americans acknowledged, whether religious or not, that we are a Christian nation, founded upon those principles, with allegiance to them above all others. Though we did not establish through force of government a particular religious sect above any other, we embraced Christianity as inseparably intertwined with our national character.

For those that worship Christ as their Lord and Savior, few practices are more integral to our faith than the act of kneeling in solemn prayer before our Creator, expressing gratitude for Him from which all blessings flow, appealing to His mercy for forgiveness of our sins through the atoning blood of His son, pleading for His favor in granting us those things we have need of, and imploring His patience as we seek to become more like Him in word and deed. It is an act of humility and reverence, acknowledging the debt owed for His grace.

Prayer was once seen by our leaders as vital in both public and private worship. Washington’s writings reveal a man of immense faith and prayer, who believed the hand of God had intervened many times, as an answer to fervent prayer, in securing liberty and independence for this country against a far superior British foe. The tales of miraculous and divine intervention on behalf of American forces are abundant, and though modern history books have largely stripped God and religion from the tales of yore, no scholar of history can doubt the Founders saw the guidance of Divine Providence at work in establishing this fledgling nation.

So why do we now see such hostility towards religion in general, and Christianity in particular? Why is it that prayer, once considered essential to receiving the blessings of prosperity, now evoke lawsuits, and mockery by the media and many of a certain political ideology? What happened to this nation to get us to a point where the delegates of a major political party would actually boo God at their convention? Do we no longer believe in God, or just believe that He is no longer relevant to our lives?

Some claim that religion is by its nature oppressive and judgmental, establishing strict rules of moral conduct which, by necessity, declare certain actions and behaviors as immoral, or evil. They claim that every culture and ideology is just as worthy of approbation as every other. Yet is that true? As we’ve moved farther away from abiding by, however imperfectly, the precepts of Christianity, we have paid the price in a most painful fashion. Haven forsaken Christianity in public practice, we now put armed guards in our schools to protect our children. We now have more abortions, more unwed births, more broken homes, more suffering, and more sorrow. Is this what we want for our posterity? Are we better off abandoning the Judeo-Christian ethic and embracing a multi-culturalist worldview?

Yet why is religion, and especially Christianity, so vital to our survival as a republic, one where individual liberty is cherished? British statesman Edmund Burke summarized that reason brilliantly, explaining that “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their appetites; in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”

In other words, Christianity teaches us to be good through obedience to God’s will, not out of fear of government. And the more we control our passions, the less government needs to control us through external force, which in turn promotes freedom. And what greater force has mankind seen for the refinement of man’s character, for the dispensation of the idea that we are our brother’s keeper, than the teachings of Jesus Christ? Ezra T. Benson, a tireless defender of the Constitution, who served as Secretary of Agriculture under President Eisenhower, explained the unbreakable bond between religion and liberty, saying "The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature."

So religion and morality are indispensable to maintaining a republic, and prayer is our greatest instrument in seeking the will, the wisdom, and the mercy of the Almighty. Through prayer we can receive a change of heart, which in turn refines our character, which culminates in a nation of citizens who respect and honor God, and each other.

We were once a deeply Christian nation, a nation that called on a merciful God in humble prayer to seek His blessings for us and our posterity. As a result, a benevolent empire arose, becoming the greatest force for the spread of freedom and prosperity the world has ever known. Yet in our prosperity, we became arrogant and forgetful, believing that what we have, we achieved through our own genius and power. It is a dangerous folly, and one that if not corrected will lead to the fall of this empire, to be relegated to the list of former great empires which reveled in their decadence and pride, up until the day they fell.

On Thursday, many Americans will honor and celebrate our National Day of Prayer, honoring, as our forefathers did, the Almighty God which established this nation and preserved it for more than two centuries. It is my humble prayer that each American, living in this land of promise and bounty, will once again seek the favor of God, imploring His forgiveness for our neglect, and once again place Him at the pinnacle of our thoughts, our words, and our every deed.

Americans Deserve Neither Liberty Nor Security

I have reached the conclusion that Americans have enjoyed so much freedom and prosperity for so many years that they have come to take it for granted, and not only fail to see such circumstances as unique in the history of mankind, but as commonplace. And because they assume such has always been the norm, they fail to realize that such prosperity and freedom must be nurtured, cultivated, and defended. How else can you explain the re-election of Barack Obama, who added more debt in his first three years than the first forty-one presidents combined, and more debt in four years than George W. Bush (not exactly a fiscal conservative) accumulated in eight years? How else to explain the seeming indifference to stratospheric debt levels that keep rising by more than $4 billion per day? We seem to think that America, because it has been the richest and most powerful nation in our lifetimes, will always be such.

Likewise, while the world around us seems in constant turmoil, until the attacks of 9/11 (2001, not the Benghazi attacks that we still have no answers for), Americans felt safe and secure on our homeland, buffered from the violence in Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world that fills our nightly news. But on that day we had our nose bloodied, and we felt vulnerable. Yet for the next eight years under Bush, we had no more attacks on American soil, and we once again slipped back in complacency.

Now, violent attacks are the steady diet of our news media. The Boston Marathon bombing. The ricin letters. Sandy Hook. Aurora. Virginia Tech. Columbine. The Underwear Bomber. The Shoe Bomber. The Times Square Bomber. The Giffords shooting. Suddenly we seem vulnerable again, and in that vulnerability we seek safety and security.

Former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel famously opined that government should never let a crisis go to waste. And so it hasn’t. In the aftermath of these attacks, government has stepped forward with all sorts of solutions to “bring the perpetrators to justice” and to “make sure that this doesn’t ever happen again!” Those solutions generally involve eroding individual rights and allowing government to exert greater control over our lives. But does that make us safer? No. The reality is that we live in a free and open society (unless you want to buy an incandescent light bulb…but I digress), and such freedom comes with a cost. It means that in exchange for individual liberty, we accept that some will choose to use their freedom to commit evil and harm us. Or, as President Dwight Eisenhower famously summed up the situation, "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care, and so on. The only thing lacking ... is freedom."

In the name of increased security, government commits all sorts of violations of liberty, and infringes on our rights more with each passing day. The current furor over gun control is a perfect example. Those who loathe the thought of private citizens taking up weapons to defend themselves seek to make it more difficult, and nearly impossible, for anyone other than the police or military to own weapons. They demand a ban on “assault” weapons, which are actually just semi-automatic weapons that they deem as looking too scary or “militaristic”. They call for expanded background checks, increased taxes on weapons and ammunition, and for requiring gun-owners to carry liability insurance on their weapons. There has even been legislation proposed that would allow doctors to add patient names to a list that prohibits gun ownership, without ever informing the individual or proving that they are a danger to society.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress passed with broad support, and Bush signed, a law which gave the government broad powers to investigate and detain American citizens in connection with suspected terrorist activity. We know that law enforcement agencies have for some time been intercepting our communications in search of potential threats, and now comes the revelation that the Internal Revenue Service claims that they have the legal right to read our email, based on their position that we have no expectation of privacy in that form of communication. Two and a half years ago I wrote about the Z Backscatter Van (ZBV), cutting edge monitoring technology that fits into a common delivery van. While driving through your neighborhood, it uses passive surveillance technology to look through the walls of your home, collecting data on the number of people within the home, their movements and communications, etc. It lets government watch you without ever even announcing its presence, with no need for a warrant. Originally developed for the military for use in terrorist-filled, urban warfare scenarios, it is now being purchased and used by cities and states against our own citizens. They can look into our homes without cause, the exact opposite of what the Constitution dictates.

When George W. Bush was president, liberal Democrats warned that his government would spy on its citizens, and send jack-booted thugs into our homes in the middle of the night, arresting us on false pretenses, terrorizing us in ways reminiscent of Nazi Germany. Yet by and large, these same people not only passively accepted the renewal and expansion of the PATRIOT Act, but actually defended Obama’s use of military drones among the civilian population. It wasn’t until attention was focused on them by Senator Rand Paul’s lengthy filibuster that the Obama administration, in the form of a letter to Paul by Attorney General Eric Holder, finally conceded that it did not have the authority to assassinate American citizens by drone attack (Obama will, however, continue to use drones to spy on American citizens…he just won’t light them up with Hellfire missiles).

In the world of the 24-hour news cycle, which feed us every gruesome detail of every atrocity committed in our midst, recycled several times an hour, and populating the newsfeeds of social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, we are now more aware of the dangers surrounding us than ever before. Ironically, it is this same ever-present information tsunami that overloads our brains, and feeds our fears. I’d wager that most people would be surprised to learn that, despite the horrors of Boston and Sandy Hook which we’ve been exposed to constantly, such attacks are actually on the decline. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, over the last two decades or so the firearm-related crime rate dropped from 6 victims per 1,000 residents (1994) to 1.4 victims per 1,000 residents (2009). Additionally, “Gun-related homicide is most prevalent among gangs and during the commission of felony crimes,” so the danger is actually concentrated primarily in urban areas. So why the push to disarm law-abiding citizens?

If we are to retain our liberties, we cannot fall prey to emotional responses to the commission of atrocities by evil people. We must understand that, while we can seek to minimize the damage done by such crimes, we can’t ever eliminate them completely, and it is a fool’s errand to give up freedom for the illusion of safety. In the end, we’ll not have stopped evil people from doing horrible things; we’ll only have insured that when they do, it will take longer to stop them, and we’ll just have that many more dead to mourn over. As noted by historian Henry Steele Commager, "Freedom is not a luxury that we can indulge in when at last we have security and prosperity and enlightenment; it is, rather, antecedent to all of these, for without it we can have neither security nor prosperity nor enlightenment."

Or, to borrow the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Americans have become soft and coddled, unfamiliar with the need to fight for liberty at all costs, and for holding tight to our freedoms even in the face of danger…especially in the face of danger. If such a pattern continues, we’ll have neither liberty nor security…and we won’t deserve it.