A Divided Thought Process

A friend of my said he perceived there are two Americas. I believe that is right, but I think it goes deeper than America. There are two distinct ways of thinking among human beings. Humanity is not divided along the lines of rich and poor, black and white, Republican or Democrat, religious or not religious. The division is between followers of Jesus Christ and those who do not follow Him. Jesus even said this would happen when He said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." (Matthew 10:34-39 NASB) There are two distinct Americas. There are those who follow Jesus Christ, and there are those who don’t. The thinking is different. It is so different that those on the extremes of both sides refer to the thinking of the other as insanity.
Of course there is a whole range of manifestations of the thinking of those who are not disciples of Jesus Christ. I believe that most if not all liberal thinking comes from those who have rejected, ignored, or avoided becoming followers of Jesus Christ. There are those who deny that God even exists and who are belligerent to the very thought of a person being devoted to their God to the point that they would like to restrict anyone’s expression of his or her belief. There are those who profess even to be Christian, but they pick and choose what part of God’s revelation they want to believe based on personal criteria. There are those who believe there is a God and even believe in Jesus Christ but have been lulled into nominalism and have fallen into the same way of thinking as those who don’t even believe there is a God. Some even believe in God and Jesus Christ and profess to be His disciples, but have been so influenced by this way of thinking that every action they take reflects it.
Likewise there is a range of degrees of thinking among those who are true disciples of Jesus Christ. I believe that most truly conservative thinking has its roots in Christianity. The truest conservative is Jesus Christ Himself. His whole mission was to restore creation to God’s original ideal through His payment for the sins of individuals who turn from going their own way to going His way. One basic tenant of godly thinking is to realize that man cannot govern himself without God’s help because man was never meant to govern himself but to be governed by God. In contrast to humanist who believe that it is in their prevue to fix every ill, disciples of Jesus Christ realize that only God can truly fix an ill. Conservatives who rely on their own wits to fix ills in society, though they have a philosophy that works because it is a philosophy based on godly principles, may not personally be disciples of Jesus Christ.

Leadership

Why is leadership such a difficult issue? Many people profess to be leaders, but few, if any, really are. Some lead by charisma, but soon that wears thin, people see them for who they really are, and their popularity wanes. Some who are in leadership really have the skills and knowledge but lack the acceptance of those they lead, and they fail. Why?

It really comes down to a very simple principle. Human beings were not created to rule each other. They were created to be ruled by God. Nothing else works. When humans are ruled by God, they can get along and work together. When they aren't, they can't. Humankind has been proving that for the six thousand years since sin entered into God's creation. Adam and Eve were doing fine until they rebelled against God's leadership, then they lost everything. The entire creation has suffered from that time to this. Men have tried to rule other men and without an exception have failed. Why is there such chaos today? Because humans can't rule other humans successfully.

Fortunately there will be a solution. God will reestablish His rule among mankind. The full redemption and salvation of man will not be realized until He does. That is why Jesus will return and rule upon the earth as the King of kings. God's rule will be reestablished. Will it be a Theocracy? Yes. That is the only thing that works.

Ruler of the World

Leonardo Dicaprio's character stood on the bow of the Titanic and declared himself the "King of the world." Shortly thereafter the massive ship sank. Many have, are, and will come along seeking to be king of the world. Those who want this distinction should take care because the prince of this world wants that position for himself. God declared that the chief fallen angel, Lucifer, was the king of this world. He wants so badly to prove himself to be god. He wants to rule the world first, then the universe. The God who is the real Ruler of the Universe knows that Satan is not capable of ruling anything, much less the universe. God is allowing Satan to come to power with which he will eventually rule the world for a short period of time. He is orchestrating an intrinsic and complicated lie that will bring him to this power as the ungodly people of the world buy his lie hook, line, and sinker. When you stand back and look at it, the human race is not smart enough, even collectively, to orchestrate the thoughts and actions that are rampant and taking over more and more of society. They even think that the lie is benefitting them, but actually it is destroying them. Satan will do such a miserable job of ruling the world, or the portion of it that will go along with him, that he will thrust the world into utter chaos, proving himself incapable of leadership. It is then that Jesus Christ will return to rule the world and just in case anyone ever questions Him, he will rule it perfectly for a thousand years, proving that only God is capable of leading and ruling in the affairs of mankind.

Today's Situation Predicted

Since the creation of the world God's attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds and four-footed animals and creaping things. Therefore God gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchange the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what was against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And eve as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evilmindedness. They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:20-32)

We may already be in the pit according to this description. It is at least where we are heading. What are mere attitudes now will turn into full blown actions shortly. The ancient writer also said, "Evil men and imposters will wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived." It has been a steady progression downward from the time of Adam's sin until now.

Anybody Got A Plan?

With all the promises made in the last campaign, you would think that the current administration had a plan. But do they, or are they just flying by the seat of their pants? I believe that mankind as a whole is the unwitting, for the most part, pawn in the scheme of things. Unhuman, yes, satanic forces are controlling most of mankind, either blinding them to the truth or persuading them that somehow lies are the best way to get what they want. No human being or group of human beings are smart enough to orchestrate the spirale to the pit that we are experiencing. Does Satan and his forces have a plan? Yes. It is a simple plan - destroy. He comes as an angel of light, but he is a liar and a destroyer.

But not to fear. God has the ultimate plan, and He has the power and authority to bring His plan to fruition. All that we see going on around us is orchestrated by the prince of this world, but only so far. When it has gone far enough and Satan has proven himself to be what he is - a liar and a destoyer, then the Prince of Peace will step in complete His plan to bring peace to the earth. It will get really nasty for a while. Economic disaster, natural disasters, wars on our soil, anarchy, devestation, poverty, persecution are all on the horizon. But ultimately God's plan will be done, and His people will be victorious with Him.

Who Is God, and Why Should We Care?

Several months ago the White House not to participate in the National Day of Prayer. This was a major departure from previous administrations and seen by some, me included, to be a move away from trusting the God of "In God We Trust" and the God to Whom our founding fathers looked for guidance in formulating the United States of America. Following that snub of God Almighty have been a string of lauditory exclamations by our national leaders of the very religion that has done so much in the past decade and before to destroy our nation, continuing to be a threat.

Then our national leaders gave sanction to an Islamic day of prayer. Ala and Jehovah are not the same God. One is true and one is not. One is born out of love for mankind and one seeks to oppress mankind. One wants to build up and the other tear down. When our national leaders snub the God Who created everything we see in favor of a god who is no god, our nation has turned its back on God. The spirale to tyranny has intensified.

We have national leadership that cares more about themselves and their power than about God and the people they serve. I fully expect to see an emperor as king in our nation before long, with him dictating in every facit of our lives. For a leader who has rejected God, sold our nation down the road and states that he will impose sanctions on us that no one except him thinks is good will lead us further away from God. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their sin. One of those sins was oppression of the people. In the United States, the very ones who say they are protecting the common people are the ones who want to control every aspect of their lives, take away God-given rights, and silence all criticism. This is tyranny.

Who is God? He is the Creator of all, and the One who gave us this nation. Why should we care? If we continue to move away from God we move away from His goodness and His care. The further we move from God the closer we move to the enemy of our souls whose main objective is to destroy mankind. Our enemy loves tyranny and destruction, and we are playing right into his hands. Only God can help us. I believe the United States as a nation has crossed the line. We will suffer the consequences. There will be some tough times. The only way to be victorious is to return to God our Creator individually. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

Spiral to Tyranny

As our nation gets further away from trusting in God, and looking to Him for direction God stands back and lets it go its own direction without His guiding hand. The leadership and direction void is then filled with mere human intellect and even with sinister influences. The national leadership is degenerating into thugary, bullying, and concern only for their own power and status. Concerns for the people are expressed only when it will help those in positions of power to maintain that power. We see those in leadership, instead of representing the people who elected them, doing whatever they please but still expecting those people to pay the bill. Eventually this will further degenerate into tyranny, and a once great nation will be relegated to third-rate status at best, all because it has turned its back on the Creator and Controller of all things.

A More Perfect Union

Here is my view of the formation of the United States of America. The people who first came to the new world from England and Europe came to establish a place where they could worship God. I believe that God provide them with the land and the form of government because they were His people intent on serving and worshipping Him. Other than a true theocracy* a democratic republic is the most perfect form of government possible – “a more perfect union,” but it required that those who represent the people be totally selfless servants of the people. That is why the term “election” was born. The people selected who they though was the most “elect” according to biblical standards. Their Christianity and their devotion to God gave them the possibility of having the kind of character that would fulfill those standards. For a while the people attempted to elect the most devout believers to represent them and God blessed the nation. Was this true in every case? No. But it was true in most cases. As a matter of fact, just like with God and free will, a democracy has the possibility that non-believers would slip through to represent their people.

Herein is the problem with America today. The further we as a nation get from the standards by which a democratic republic must operate to be a good form of government, the more fraught with problems we have. People reject God and demand a humanistic secular society and He will give them their desire, but to the detriment of the nation. Our nation was at one time a Christian nation. It is no longer. As a Christian nation we had the favor of Almighty God. As a secular society we have only our collective human mentality, which falls short. If the biblical standard that all knowledge begins with an understanding and awe of God is upheld, all secular knowledge that rejects God is no knowledge at all, much less wisdom. Left to man’s own mentality and understanding human society has always deteriorated into an abyss of immorality, degradation, and destruction. The further we move from God, the lower we sink. Our wealth or military might or anything else cannot help us. There comes a point, a line that is crossed where God stands back and says, “OK, if you want to do it yourself, go ahead. I will get out of the way and let you.” Sound familiar? Then we fall flat on our face because to be “a more perfect union” we need God’s help. We simply don’t have the capabilities to do it right ourselves regardless of how “enlightened” we may become.

My World View

My world view is probably not representative of the Christian world view except in its basics. However my world view is based on the Christian world view, I believe there is a Creator God. I believe that the Bible is the authoritative word of God in that it is God’s message, written through men whom He inspired, to mankind. I believe the Bible to be inerrant in its writing, i.e. it is recording what God has said and how men have reacted to it. That does not mean that every word is true as there are some lies reported, but the reporting is true. I do not believe that just any arrangement of words is true or instructive. There is the story of the preacher who paraphrased scripture by saying, “Judas went out and hanged himself.” Then he followed that statement by another scripture that said, “Go thou and do likewise.” Obviously it is absurd to put these scriptures together to say that we should go out and hang ourselves.

My world view has caused me to come to some ideas about where we are headed as a world, as a nation, and as a society. I believe that God gave us the United States of America to be a beacon of His righteousness throughout the world.* The founding fathers were at the very least men of integrity. I am on the side that says our nation’s founding fathers were godly, Christian men who were devout in their beliefs.** Some say they set up a purely secular society. My read is that they set up a society primarily for religious freedom (not freedom from religion) and rightly integrated the church in its rightful place of supporting the government, but neither slave to it nor master. The church influenced the government to rightly do what a government was ordained by God to do according to Romans 13. A democracy, rightly administered by godly, selfless servants, was the closest thing to a perfect government that there could be in the current dispensation of God’s overall plan for the world and mankind.



*I am not using “righteousness” as some moral, “I am better than you” religious term. I interpret righteousness as “rightness” or doing things right. God being the all-knowing, just and holy God that He is knows what is right above all knowledge of mankind, thus His way is the only really right way. Our challenge is to find what He is truly telling us about what His way is.

**Some would argue that many of the founding fathers were deists or something other than Christian. I would answer that the overwhelming majority were devout, orthodox Christians. Those who were deists or some more liberal version of Christianity would today be considered right-wing religious extremists, or at least fundamentalists.

Christian World View

The Christian world view says that God is the Creator, controller, and sustainer of all things. The world was created perfectly and the defects that we see in the world around us are because of sin, original sin and personal sin. Sin is defined as rebellion against God. Most Christians believe that God has complete control of events and the flow of human history as He does throughout the entire universe. Because of sin, all of God’s creation, at least here on earth, is degraded and condemned to destruction. Death came into the creation because of Adam’s sin and eternal death of each individual is assessed based on the individual’s sin. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s ideal plan for us. He did, however, provide a way to be saved from sin and for creation to be restored to its pre-sin state. This was done through Jesus’ sacrifice of His own life on the cross, and God’s resurrection of Him from death. This being the only means of salvation given by God, there is no other pathway to God than through Jesus Christ. All other beliefs, then are not just another way to God with their own salvation, but diversions from the salvation that God has given. Religions, defined as man’s attempts to reach God, become attempts to replace God’s reaching out and providing salvation to mankind. Christians who follow this world view, and not all do, operate from this premise. One of the components of this operation is accepting the biblical scriptures as definitive and authoritative directions from God Himself through writers inspired and directed by God Himself. This becomes the standard by which all other things are evaluated.

Along with believing in the Creator God, Christians believe in Satan, who is the antithesis of God, but not an equivalent force. God is good and truth. Satan is evil and a liar. In fact his native language is lying. Mankind is caught between God and Satan. Those who go with God and His provided salvation are saved from the effects of sin. Those who go with Satan will receive a similar end.

Based on this world view, much of what I see today falls perfectly in line with the hints God has given in scripture as to what will happen in the end times. Much of the anti-God movement is orchestrated by Satan, who is the prince of this world. I believe that God will allow Satan to have more and more control and influence until he proves to all the universe that he is not capable of being God and that only God is capable of being God. Our choice is with whom we will align.

World View - God the Creator

Did the God of the Bible create everything there is, or is there some other creator out there somewhere? What difference does it make? First of all, the God of the Bible is the only One who can have such an all-encompassing effect on creation. The story of the God of the Bible is that He has always existed, is all knowing, and is all powerful. He is also an all-loving, all-caring Creator who is deeply involved in all aspects of His creation as the Bible tells us in Acts 17:28, “For in him we live, and move, and have our being…” With a world-view that has the God of the Bible as our Creator, and our Savior, Helper, Controller, etc. we know that we are a part of something much bigger. It does matter what He says and what He does. As one proponent of evolution related that he knew that the probability of the theory being correct was extremely low, but to believe in a Creator God means that he would have an obligation to that Creator God, which he did not want to do, so he chose to believe in evolution. Even this evolutionist realized that it did matter what God says.

I will somewhat dismiss the stories of every other “god” who is held out as the creator because that God is really either speaking of the God of the Bible in lesser terms, or is a lesser being that does not have the capabilities assigned to the God of the Bible.

Does a world-view that has the God of the Bible as the Creator matter? Yes. To realize that we have an obligation to our Creator, as well as to have rights assigned to us by that Creator is the basis upon which our nation was founded. Many want to rewrite history and even claim their version is true when it is they who revised it to meet their world view to exclude God. Notwithstanding, if we do accept God as our Creator, our success and happiness depends on our synchronization with Him. If we do not, then our state depends on something else, whatever that may be.

World View 2

World view affects the core of our lives. For instance, if you have the world view that the Creator God is there and He is active in our lives we are either reconciled to Him and at peace with Him, or we are at odds with Him. If we are at peace with Him the circumstances of life, especially those out of our control, can be left in His hands. We can have confidence that He will not only take care of us according to His word, but we can have confidence that if we die, He will take care of us eternally, again according to His word.

Conversely, if we have a world view that this is all there is and when we die there is nothing but oblivion, it would seem one would become obsessed with living, either to live with reckless abandoned so as to squeeze as much living as possible in the time one has here on earth, or to become obsessed with longevity leading to concerns about health and the extension of life for as long as possible. There is also the gamble of life. In the second world view one is gambling eternity on their world view and if it is wrong, they have everything to loose and nothing to gain.

World View

There are conflicting world views that are driving the world’s societies today. I would propose that the two major world views are centered around the issue of God. There are many other issues in each camp, but these seem to drive each side at a fundamental level. There is the traditional view that says there is a God, and then there is the opposing view that says there is no God. Under the first world view, there are those who say the God of the Bible is the true God who created the universe and our world, and those who say there is another god who started everything. For those who say the God of the Bible is the true God, the camps are divided over whether He is active in our world, or whether He created the world and left without any interaction in the affairs of the creation.

For those who say there is no God the ideas are diverse. The most prominent of the no-God camp say that since there is no overriding deity controlling the affairs of creation, humans must ban together and control as much of our world as possible.

To the camp that says God created the world and everything in it and is present to work with His creation in minute detail, the ultimate motive is to give God His rightful due. To those who say there is no God, the ultimate motivation is their personal happiness and the happiness of society as a whole.

Restart

A while back my blog crashed when I was trying to archive the posts. I was very busy with other things, and I was going to start on a book, so I did not put The Abercrombie View back together. Now that I have written a few letters to the editor and they have ignored them (and didn’t even have the courtesy to tell me why they didn’t print them – I thought they were rather on the nice side, but they must have ruffled too many feathers). I think it might be time for me to write some more in The Abercrombie View. I welcome your comments - that is unless they use profanity or other such absurd statements. I will be working on my first piece, discussing world views. I would welcome any ideas you might have about your world view or a world view that you oppose, or one you think should be the dominate and reigning world view. Thanks for the comments from Mr. Wilson and from Cristina. I hope you check back.