Will Anyone Stand Up for Jesus?

The “dominoes” have been falling one by one for almost a year now.  First, a few confused “evangelical” leaders publicly came out in support of Donald Trump.  They were lured by Trump’s riches and/or his pseudo bravado.

Then, after the Republican Primaries began toward the end of winter, more “dominoes” continued to fall.  Also-rans – Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Ben Carson all climbed gleefully aboard the “Trump train.”  Each had their own reasons – money, fame, influence, possible future perks.

After the Spring blossomed, it became obvious that supposedly “conservative” radio and TV commentators had also fallen under Trump’s aura of self-importance – Hannity, Drudge, Breitbart, O’Reilly, and Rush - just to drop several names.  Many were looking for ratings and the boat load of money they bring.  Some were driven by a real fear of the return of the Clintons.  Others were looking for career enhancement and greater influence with their audience.

As the Primary season thinned out competitors, former “conservative” darlings like Marco Rubio also drank the “orange Kool-Aid.”

When we finally got to the Convention, with RNC thugs out in force, it was all a done deal – life-long liberal NYC Democrat Donald Trump was, unbelievably, going to bear the standard of Lincoln and Reagan!

Yet, there was one lone holdout – the “Constitutional conservative” Ted Cruz.  In a speech rivaling both Reagan and Churchill, Cruz was the lone “conscientious objector” to the RNC’s “Slouching Towards Gomorrah” (H/T Judge Robert Bork).

For all real conservatives and sincere informed Christians, Cruz remained as the leader of a movement still awaiting its firm destiny, perhaps in 2020.

Today, Cruz threw everything he worked for all his life away when he presented a worse than weak argument for his apparent endorsement of the bloviating “dear leader.”

As this is written, the rippling shock waves are still growing as they reverberate from shore to shore all across America.

The reactions from sincere conservatives, who haven’t already sold their “political souls” to the “orange elephant” of Trump’s alt-right, thuggish GOP, have been a hand-wringing mixture of anger, shock, and deep grief.

For those, like myself, who invested considerable time, resources, and reputation doing what we could to support Cruz’s vision of America, it a huuuuuuge bitter pill to swallow.

And, if Cruz thinks he has done anything to help America survive what is coming, he has managed to get himself too deeply entrenched in Washington to see real reality.

He sold his birthright for a few vague promises from someone who couldn’t pass a lie detector test if his life depended on it.

Sorry, Ted – you quit the race ten feet before the finish line!

The real question, as reflected in this piece’s title, is – Who Will Stand Up for Jesus?

That’s right.  America is facing its darkest hours morally, spiritually, politically, economically, and possibly internationally.

Only one pathway will allow America to survive – return to God, His love, and His law. 

The political system is corrupt.  The church is corrupt.  Honor, integrity, values, and self-sufficiency are all but lost now in America.

Anyone who thinks Trump can fix America’s problems has been listening to the news for the past year with their fingers in their ears!  He hasn’t got one ounce of the moral character that will be absolutely essential to fighting the growing darkness all around us.

He will feed his ego and his bank account   He will incessantly blame other for his mistakes and failures.  And, he will destroy any parts of the Constitution that get in his way (just like Barack Obama).

Now, that is making a big assumption that he will win the election.  It is far more likely that after November 8^th, Trump will go back into the bowels of Trump Tower and plan the unveiling date of his very own TV “news” network.

America will suffer through four long years of “Clinton slime” returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as rights and freedoms disappear more quickly than the evidence on Hillary’s email servers.

So who is left out there to stand for the Truth, God’s Truth applied to every facet of society and life?

For those of us who love God and love this noble experiment He lavishly blessed called America, we are coming to the realization (more quickly speeded along by Cruz’s abandonment today) that no human “savior”  is coming to rescue this land.

Now, does that mean all Christians need to hide in caves and pray for the rapture?

NO!

But, it does mean we need to see ourselves in a new light.  We are now no longer the majority philosophically and politically in America.

We are now the opposition to what far too many Americans think they want; despite the fact that they are forging the chains of their own slavery by their apathy and greed.

Yes, we are the patriotic rebellion.  We are this generation’s “Sons of Liberty” (daughters too, of course).

We must keep on standing for the Truth regardless of what our numbers appear to be.  Remember, Elijah was dejected and alone in a cave when God explained to him that there were still 7,000 faithful who hadn’t bowed the knee to Ba’al.

No one personality or celebrity defines who we are and what we stand for.  We are not a cult like the Obamanists or the Trumpists.  It is all about the message of the Truth, not the various messengers, flawed though we all are.

We stand against the flood tide of lies, evil, and darkness until none stands.

If we aren’t successful immediately, and the “opposition” turns into the “resistance”, even the “underground resistance”, then so be it.  We may have to learn a hard lesson like our brothers and sisters in places like China, North Korea, and Iran are currently living.

The bottom line is that, in this current time and place, God is calling, “Who shall I send?”

Our answer, like Isaiah’s, needs to be “Here am I.  Send me!”

Now, more than ever, with corrupted politicians and corrupted church leadership, those who truly love the Lord must stand up for His Truth.

Jesus promised that we would be hated for His Name.  So be it.

But, God also told Joshua, “Be strong and courageous!  Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

We are all about the potential for human freedom exercised throughout civil society.  If we abandon that fight now, all the world will be plunged into the darkness of oppression and tyranny.

If this is to be mankind’s last stand for breathing free air, let us be the ones to make that stand.  Let us be the ones imbibing the last drops of that precious freedom heritage so many who have gone before us bequeathed; often sacrificing everything they had to grant us this amazing gift.

Sorry you won’t be by our side when we do stand, Ted.  But, we will always thank you for taking us as far as you did.  And, we will always pray for you in wherever you end up.

For the rest of us, we’re clinging to Joshua’s parting words, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Yes, we will stand up for Jesus in America; come what may.

It’s Been 15 Years . . . What Have We Learned?

Most Americans over the age of 30 can tell you where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001.  It is a day that is burned into our individual and collective memories forever.

Me, I was hanging off the side of a mountain in the Poconos – teaching middle-school kids how to rappel off a 70 foot cliff during a retreat to a Christian camp.  I still remember what a beautiful, clear, early fall morning it was.  We had hiked up the mountain to the rappelling site and were there most of the morning.

We descended back down just before noon.  When we got to the camp’s main lodge building, starving for lunch, the camp’s director pulled me aside and told me the unbelievable tale of what was happening not that far away in New York City.

Since there was no TV or good internet at the camp, our news was spotty, mostly radio news announcements.  At that early hour, there was still plenty of confusion as to what was going on; at least for us.

I remember pulling the kids aside as a group after lunch out on the lawn and telling them as much as we knew then.  We prayed.  Some kids asked questions that we didn’t have answers for yet.

Since we knew it was some kind of terrorist act, we didn’t know how that would affect travel.  We were scheduled to go home later that day and I wondered if the interstates would be open.

But, we had no difficulties; and the bus with everyone aboard arrived safely back at the school by early evening.  When I got home and turned on the TV, I saw, for the first time, the horrendous images that the world had been watching for most of the day.

It was unbelievable.  It was like I was watching something out of a sci-fi movie – you know where a meteor or mega-earthquake destroys a large city.

But, here was reality.  The two tallest buildings in NYC; some of the tallest in the country and the world were no more.  They were just huge piles of rubble in what looked like a war zone.

As yet, most of the public didn’t know just how many bodies were buried in that massive rubble.  But, we knew it just had to be bad.

Over the next few days, the scope of the tragedy began to settle in.  Not just NYC, but the Pentagon and a field in western Pennsylvania were also part of the war zone.  Over 3000 souls were lost in just a few hours of time – the greatest single loss of American lives since Pearl Harbor.

Shortly after the vicious attack, America and Americans responded.  President Bush mobilized the military and federal law enforcement.  Citizen groups all over the country began holding memorials and prayer vigils.  American flags went up all over the place.  We even put them on our cars.  Red, white, and blue lapel ribbons became the rage.  FDNY and NYPD hats and shirts became huge sellers.

Stories of heroes and amazing tales of faith and miracles began to be reported as more and more people told of their experiences.

Americans began to demand answers.  Yes, this was a radical Islamic terrorist group that had planned and executed the attack.  Yes, this was the same group that once before tried to blow up the World Trade Center.  Yes, the leader – Osama Bin Laden – could have been captured after the first attack if President Clinton wasn’t busy fending off his multitudinous scandals.

People cheered when we went into Afghanistan to take the fight to the terrorists on their home soil.  Embedded journalists and other TV personalities gave us daily reports of how the battles were going.  It seemed like we were going to finally have the resolve to rid the world of this jihadist terror threat.

But, I knew better.  As a boy of 13, I remember seeing the images out of Munich – the guys in the dark hoods peeking around the corners of the Olympic village.  I remember Jim McKay’s somber tone when he was describing this earlier radical Islamic terrorist attack at the 1972 Olympics.  Of course, we all know how that turned out – a bunch of dead Israelis and martyrdom credence for the barbarians.

Truly, sadly, 9-11 ended up being much the same.  In the radical Islamic world, these 19 hijackers are still martyr heroes today.  And, despite the west’s sometimes best efforts, radical Islamic jihadist terrorism hasn’t been eradicated; in fact, just the opposite.

In time, American patriotism waned.  America elected the most pro-Muslim President ever in 2008; and again in 2012.  Terror attacks around the world have escalated and hundreds of thousands of innocents have died – in the name of a warped religion.

Back home in America, the left capitalized on the fear and anger over 9-11 and subsequent attacks to take away more and more of our freedoms.  Atheist radicals have equated jihadism with all religion; especially the Christian religion, and pushed an agenda to totally destroy America’s Judeo-Christian cultural institutions and mores.

Add to that, the racial fomenting done and approved by the current Administration, and what we have is a growing anti-American sentiment right here at home.  It’s now become fashionably hip to walk on the flag, burn the flag, and to protest the National Anthem.  Spoiled, rich millionaires in the NFL are the latest antagonists in this effort to destroy all that was once great about America.  These people, who live lives of privilege few of us will ever enjoy, are seeking to damage the very advantages that they, themselves have benefited greatly from.

We are empowering rogue, terrorist nations and calling it diplomacy.  We are afraid to even call the enemy by his real name – it just isn’t “politically correct.”

Our military has been weakened by drastic budget cuts, dubious leadership, and a radical social agenda that is making sexual and gender confusion the hallmark of our era.  Strong patriots and people of faith are being drubbed out of the military; replaced with spoiled, weak, personally ambitious ideologues that want to be part of the “transformation” of America into the unrecognizable.

People of the Christian faith are being jailed, sued, fined, and fired for simply practicing the same faith as that of our Founding Fathers.

The Constitution has been all by turned on its ear by a radical judiciary acting like oligarchs and a belligerent, petty President who sees himself as some kind of historical “change-agent” with no real legal constraints he must obey.  The Congress has been reduced to a group of, in the words of an old Cher song title, “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves”!

None of this bodes well for America’s future.  We cannot lead the free world, as we once did, with this immense internal rot.  The Psalmist said it rightly, “If the foundations are destroyed,What can the righteous do?”  (Psalm 11:3 NASB)

Nor can we expect to be free from future terrorist attacks.  The enemies of freedom and self-government are growing all over the world.  Jihadists are flush with cash, some of which came from our government.  The traditional, tyrannical governments are drooling over the prospects of returning to power.  New faces are coming onto the world’s nuclear stage; many of them homicidal.

Have we learned nothing from 9-11?

 Our current Presidential candidates are long on promises and short on honor and resolve.  Hillary went to the memorial today and passed out – obviously not wanting to be there (remember, it is also the 4^th anniversary of the Benghazi Battle debacle). 

Trump showed up too, acting like he has always been there for the victims and the rebuilding efforts.  Yet, when NYC rejected his design for rebuilding the World Trade Center towers in 2005, he “took his ball and went home” – doing absolutely nothing until earlier this year.  For the first time, he gave a donation to the memorial – in order to get votes for his political ambitions.  And, oh by the way, the $100,000 he gave wasn’t even his own money.  He funnels other people’s contributions to the Trump Foundation through his books and takes credit for it.  According to tax records, Trump hasn’t contributed personally to his own family foundation in 8 years.

America’s future is precarious, no matter who survives this sleazy election battle.  Both political parties have cemented their own positions of power in Congress.  The vast majority of “bought-and-paid-for” incumbents will get re-elected – further destroying the American economy and culture.  Even more radicals await judicial appointments.

People, from coast to coast are frustrated, angry, and scared; maybe more so now than right after 9-11.  But, few have any answers.  Both Trump and Hillary have their brain-challenged, gullible, “cheerleading” cult members.  The average citizen is lost in the maelstrom.

So, what do we do?

The answer is simple.  The resolve and the spiritual and political will are far more difficult.

We must return to our foundations as a nation.  Faith.  Freedom.  Self-sufficiency.  Morality.  Integrity.  Self-sacrifice.  Charity.  Courage.  These are the hallmarks of a truly great nation.

We are only a great nation when the rights of all are respected and cherished.  We are only a great nation when virtues are honored in culture; not belittled and demonized.  And, we are only a great nation when we can glory in our cultural diversity yet all laud our one national identity – you know – E Pluribus Unum.  (“Out of many, one” - for those who have suffered through public school pseudo-history indoctrination!)

None of America’s current problems is insurmountable if we have the will and drive to fix the problems.  We can return to sane reality culturally.  We can return to sane fiscal restraint.  We can rebuild our lagging, “stylish” military with the fiercest, best trained, most humane warriors on the planet.

We can have a government that works for We The People; not the other way around.

And, we can pass on a greater quality of life for generations yet unborn if it becomes important enough to us.  (Yes, we must stop killing our offspring and ghoulishly selling their body parts to the highest bidders!)

But, for all of this to happen, we must show the same dedication and courage as we saw happen on 9-11.  Just like the firefighters and police ran into the burning buildings; just like the self-sacrificing military staff worked to save their fellow Pentagon comrades; and just like the group of “citizen heroes” stormed the cockpit of Flight 93, so we must display the same fortitude and resolve to save this nation.

America has been that “shining city set on a hill.”  If we don’t want all that is America to become a flickering candle amidst a growing storm of world darkness, we must rise to the occasion like countless American heroes have done in the past and save this land from “all enemies, foreign and domestic.”