Now is the Time

All right dear friends - there will be no kernel (nor Colonel) of truth this week. It's far better than that.   This piece from the American Thinker lays out the sad and dangerous state America is now in.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/why_people_cant_face_the_truth_about_obama_.html

If you have not thought about both getting right with The Lord and procuring arms and ammunition now would be an excellent time.

Food for Thought

In military doctrine, there is something that resembles the old food pyramid, but actually pertains to cognition rather than nutrition.  Rather than illustrate the proportional intake of the various food groups recommended for sound health, the pyramid of cognitive hierarchy illustrates the relative levels of cognition necessary to make sound decisions.  The doctrinal publication puts it this way, “Commanders and staff require not only information to make these decisions, but also the knowledge and understanding that results in the wisdom essential to sound decision making.”

Think of the trouble that could be avoided if we (or our leaders) simply have wisdom.  Think of the satisfaction in always making the wise choice.  Knowing we have chosen the right option, taken the right path, or selected the most advantageous course of action.

If the optimal number of servings from each of the basic food groups to be put in our stomach each day is important, how much more important is that material we put in to our mind?   

Instead of grains and breads as found at the base of the food pyramid, the cognitive pyramid has “data” as its base.  It is interesting that both pyramids have as their foundation relatively innocuous items.  However, what should not be missed is that there is something lower than data, in fact, it is far worse than data – and that is junk food for the mind and misinformation.  Reality TV, the biased mainstream media, and liberal-secular education camps masquerading as places of higher learning will all wreck or rot the mind.  They are so unhealthy and counterproductive that they do not even have a place on the chart.  

The second level on the food pyramid is fruits and vegetables; second on the cognitive hierarchy is information.  Today we are inundated with data; the World Wide Web has tons of information.  Between blogs, banners, web pages, and pop-ups we are flooded with data and information.  The challenge each of us faces is turning the plethora of information into “useful knowledge through filtering, fusing, formatting, organizing, collating, correlating, plotting, translating, categorizing, and arranging so that it is useful for immediate application.”  

Third up on the food pyramid are meat and dairy; the cognitive pyramid’s third level is knowledge.  In the context of the cognitive hierarchy, “knowledge is information analyzed to provide meaning and value, or evaluated as to implications for the operation.”  Above knowledge is understanding -- that is, “knowledge that has been synthesized and had judgment applied to it in a specific situation to comprehend the situation’s inner relationships.”

The left talks about food deserts.  The USDA describes food deserts as, “urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.”  I do not know about food deserts, but I do know there are many folks starving for knowledge.  In fact, it's not just knowledge, they are also low on information.  Unfortunately, we have all experienced the devastation that low-information voters can produce when they are allowed to be unsupervised in a voting booth.    

The highest tier on the food pyramid is oils; on the cognitive hierarchy, it is wisdom.  Perhaps it’s more than mere coincidence that the Bible often uses oil as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  It is only the Spirit of God that can make one truly wise.  I completely understand that some people find this hard to believe, but the fact of the matter is when it comes to God; you have to believe in order to understand.  

Here’s where there’s some good news and some bad news.  The good; there is a source of knowledge that is available to everyone.  The bad; very few find it.  It’s wrapped up in a relationship with the true and living God.  The same God who humbled himself and came to earth as a man.   

King David, a warrior and man after God’s own heart prophetically penned these words, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’  God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”  Seeking God is evidence of understanding.  

King David obviously didn’t get the memo on sensitivity and political correctness.  He’s pretty clear about it, denying God’s existence makes one a fool.  

David’s son Solomon put it this way, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

There’s no better time to taste and see that the Lord is good.  Wise men still seek Him.

The Race is Fixed

The day after two radical Islamic terrorists killed fourteen people in California the New York Daily News ran a headline that proclaimed, “God’s Not Fixing This.”  One of the few times, the liberal-secular media has got something related to God right. 

It is not only my theological assessment that they are exactly right; it is my position that God is allowing, if not causing this, to happen.  I know it is hard to fathom, but God has often used ungodly nations to bring judgment on His people.  (See Ezekiel 14:4-23).  He does this in hopes that we would turn to Him.  The fact that the New York Daily News mocks those that solicited His divine favor through prayer does nothing to discredit the wisdom of seeking the true and living God.

I’m certain the writers at The Babylonian Daily News had a field day blasting Noah the boat builder.  Think about it -- it wasn’t God who built the boat.  God delivered the flood.  The boat was what God told Noah to build to escape His coming judgment.

I believe Noah, who had NO power tools, would’ve taken great exception with Obama’s “you didn’t build that” comment.  So as the floodwaters were covering the earth, the headline from The Babylonian Daily News?  Yep, you guessed it -- “God’s Not Fixing This.”  

The book of Genesis gives an account of the days of Noah:  “ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.   The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.   So the Lord said, ‘I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.’  But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

Can the New York Daily News find favor in the eyes of the Lord?  The Bible says, “faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”  It’s no surprise that the Daily News couldn’t see the utility in prayer.  Less than seven verses later the Bible commends Noah for his faith in the unseen, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.”

If the liberal-secular media is not going to call upon God, they’re probably not worried about the devil either.  The apostle Peter warned us about the devil, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith...” 

This reminds me of a joke a General in the 82^nd Airborne Division used to tell us:   “There was a US Marine and a US Army Paratrooper walking through the jungle.  All of a sudden, they realized a lion was following them.  They both immediately broke in to a run.  After about two miles the paratrooper, for apparently no reason, suddenly stopped.  He dropped his rucksack, opened it up, and removed a pair of running shoes.  The Marine became indignant.  Flabbergasted and confused he asked the paratrooper, “What the heck are you doing”?  The paratrooper responded calmly, “What does it look like – I’m putting on my running shoes.”  The Marine responded, “That’s stupid, you can’t outrun that lion!”  The paratrooper agrees, “You’re right – I can’t outrun that lion, but I can sure outrun you!”

Our nation has become morally repugnant, by any measure.  Selling baby body parts; homosexual behavior celebrated, and an inability to acknowledge -- let alone confront evil.  Jesus warned of this day.  “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.”

Dear friend, God sent his Son to fix this.  I’ll race you to the Ark of Christ.

Without a Paddle

I’ve often described the culture of a military organization as being like a river.  Once you join that organization, or dive-in, there is a culture or current that moves you along with the rest of the team.  Going with the flow, so to speak.  The better the unit and the more motivated the members, the easier it is to get swept-in and pushed along in the right direction.

America had such a cultural current.  We had a distinctly Judea-Christian outlook  When an immigrant arrived they became immersed in a distinctly American milieu.  Sure, there were ethnic enclaves and national neighborhoods, and even ghettos that were reminiscent of “The Old Country” some thirty, forty, or even one hundred years ago, but they were launching pads for the younger generation to go out from, not sanctuary cities or virtually-gated communities to keep American culture out.       

Don’t miss the effect technology plays in enabling these new “Americans” to reach-back to their previous homeland.  They can stay linguistically and culturally unassimilated through the world-wide web and satellite entertainment in such a way that they will never be anything more than a nominal American.  Push 1 if you have no intention of learning English.  

That’s not to say that the media, entertainment and technology are all negative.  There was a time when the main stream media was actually pro-American.  Someone under 30 ma have never heard a National newscast where we weren’t the bad guys – at least until Fox News.  That’s not to say they’re the answer, but at least they don’t actively seek to undermine the formerly prevailing American cultural tradition.

Believe it or not young folks, there was also a time in the past when lots of shows on the three networks (when that’s all there was) that promoted family values.  These shows depicted largely healthy families (i.e. a Mom and Dad) and promoted traditional mores and values.  Police, military and even cowboy characters were largely portrayed as good guys.   

Moses parted the Red Sea with the help of God; Obama has divided the US with the help of the liberal media and secular-progressive academia.   The unifying effect the media once had is now used to promote division and contention. 

A major new survey by the Pew Research Center of more than 35,000 Americans summarizes the changes: “The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the number of U.S. adults who do not identify with any organized religion is growing.”

Thomas Jefferson said, “Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear.”  It is understandable that people would question God’s existence nowadays.  It is hard to reason exactly what god was behind the Mali hotel incident where people were required to cite (from memory) verses of the Koran or be shot.

Why the precipitous drop in America?  “The percentage of adults (18 and older) who describe themselves as Christians has dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just seven years, from 78.4% in an equally massive Pew Research survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014.” It would be unfair to ascribe all of this to academia, the media, or Obama.  Nonetheless, something has happened since Obama has assumed the highest elected office in our land. 

 

According to the same survey, there has been a corresponding increase over the same period in the percentage of Americans who are “religiously unaffiliated – describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or ‘nothing in particular’ – it has jumped more than six points, from 16.1% to 22.8%.  The share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths also has also inched up, rising 1.2 percentage points, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Growth has been especially great among Muslims and Hindus.”

To the followers of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; take heart!    The Psalmist saw this day coming and encourages us with these words:

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.   The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”