Thursday, July 23, 2015

America

America has traditionally been an amazing country that rose to be probably the most powerful and admired (also envied) nation in world History. (Of course, when it comes to a Multi National Empire, Britain was gigantic also)

   I read somewhere that a French sociologist came to America in 1831 on a quest to discover the secret of US greatness, (even then) He is reputed to have written that he researched her wondrous universities, hospitals, agricultural and industrial achievements and work ethic. He also spent time considering the beauty and richness of her lands and natural endowments. This sociologist was impressed by all of America’s attitudes, ethics, educational institutions and creative energies.
  
   He came to the conclusion that the thing that showed the secret of her increases and blessings most intensively, was the thundering power and impact of her preachers and the flaming righteousness of her churches. He is believed to have said that his ultimate finding was this: He realized that the key to her vast success and achievements in world shaking prominence was not in her educational opportunities, commerce, agriculture, creativity, energy, work ethic or brilliance.

   He is claimed to have said, "America is great is because America is good, if America ever ceases to be good, she will cease to be great!"
 
   Fast forward now---Here we are, midway through the second decade of the 21st Century and most thinking, questioning scholars have reached the conclusion that America’s world image is somewhat tarnished at best. Her colossal moral impact and greatness and exceptional economic power have been eroded and compromised.
 
   Even more significantly, America has lost lots of her moral clarity and foundational Biblical values to a large degree. The USA always represented (particularly since Britain’s decline after WW2) a nation that strongly stood for Judeo/Christian morals and values. This furnished her with a deep bedrock foundation that has guided her through many storms, economic, military and otherwise. Many believe it was her Christian (and Judeo) foundations that caused her exaltation to amazing world dominance in the 20th century.

   There was a point in the late 1950s and early 1960s that America had less than 5% of the world population yet had over 95% of the world’s wealth. In those days America was largely self sufficient and did not really need imports or exports, to thrive as a gigantic economic and military colossus.

   Everything was made here, and sold here and there was a mega economy, independent of what the rest of the world did.
The economy boomed, the middle class flourished and thrived, as in no other nation in history.
 
   Sadly, times have changed; there has been a seismic shift in American values, morals and foundational Spiritual compass. America once stood tall as showing True North Spiritual morality to the rest of the world. It is no accident that she and her President have been called the leader of the Free World. America stood for political freedom, economic freedom, Spiritual freedom and Moral freedom. (Amazing that the world’s favorite comic book superhero was Superman, who stood for Truth, Justice and the American Way)

   Today, many are saying that America is not the America it once was and consequently she is not as blessed as she once was.  Poor national decisions at every level have been made, also millions of individuals are doing their own thing and getting bogged in swamp lands far from the mainstream of time honored Truth. Multitudes believe she needs to embrace her former Rock Solid Spiritual Values and Ethics so she can again rise to greatness. It is interesting that over 10% of the Chinese population are now passionate evangelical Christians and many business and professional leaders are Christian. It is said that even the communist hierarchy, recognize the economic and social positives that Christians bring to China.

   Yes, America still loves her flag, the Stars and Stripes, or Old Glory. But we must realize it is not the flag that makes the people great, it is the people that made the flag great. I saw one man with at least 4 or 5 flags flying from his car, as if this was what made him a patriot. If we want the flag to mean what it once meant, we must return and become the people again that made that flag, the amazing symbol of freedom that it is.

   Remember though, the symbol of freedom is not what brings true freedom, it is through the substance, spirit, belief system and lifestyle of people that Freedom prevails, not the flag. You could put a 2015 BMW emblem on a 1962 Volkswagen beetle and it would not change what the car is. The emblems of a luxury car mean nothing. It is the cars true manufacturing and engineering standards and track record that matter; Emblems don’t make the car, the car must dictate the emblems symbolic quality and performance.

   Somebody once said you could probably do plastic surgery on a mules ears and deck him out in racing colors and he may look like a race horse but when he races against true racing thoroughbreds, his performance will expose he is a mule.

   How true, we must become the kind of people that will make our nation great, wherever we live on the globe.


   "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."--Proverbs 14:34

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

America

America has traditionally been an amazing country that rose to be probably the most powerful nation in world History. (Of course when it comes to a multi national Empire Britain was gigantic also)

   I read somewhere that a French sociologist came to America in 1831 on a quest to discover the secret of US greatness. (even back then) He is reputed to have written that he researched her wondrous universities, hospitals, agricultural and industrial achievements and work ethic. He also spent time considering the beauty and richness of her lands and natural endowments. This sociologist was impressed by all of America’s attitudes, ethics, educational institutions and creative energies.
  
   He came to the conclusion that the thing that showed the secret of her blessings most intensively was the thundering power of her preachers and the flaming righteousness of her churches. He is believed by many to have said that his ultimate finding was this: He realized that the key to her vast success and achievements in world shaking prominence was not in her educational opportunities, commerce, agriculture, creativity, energy and brilliance.

   He is claimed to have said, "America is great is because America is good, if America ever ceases to be good she will cease to be great!"
 
   Fast forward now---Here we are midway through the second decade of the 21st Century and most thinking, questioning scholars have reached the conclusion that America’s world image is tarnished at best and her colossal greatness and exceptional economic power have been eroded and compromised.
 
   Even more significantly, America has lost lots of her moral clarity and foundational Biblical values to a large degree. The USA always represented (particularly since Britain’s decline after WW2) a nation that strongly stood for Judeo/Christian morals and values. This furnished her with a deep bedrock foundation and guided her through many storms economic, military and otherwise. Many believe it was her Christian (and Judeo) foundations that caused her exaltation to amazing world dominance in the 20th century.

   There was a point in the late 1950s and early 1960s that America had less that 5% of world population yet had over 95% of the world’s wealth. In those days America was largely self sufficient and did not really need imports or exports to thrive as a gigantic economic and military colossus.

   Everything was made here and sold here and there was a mega economy independent of what the rest of the world did.
The economy boomed, the middle class flourished and thrived as in no other nation in history.
 
   Sadly, times have changed; there has been a seismic shift in American values, morals and foundational spiritual compass. The USA stood tall as showing True North Spiritual morality to the rest of the world. It is no accident that she and her President have been called the leader of the Free World. America stood for political freedom, economic freedom, Spiritual freedom and Moral freedom. (Amazing that the worlds favorite comic superhero was Superman, who stood for Truth, Justice and the American Way)

   Today, many are saying that America is not the America it once was, so consequently she is not as blessed as she once was. Many poor national decisions, at every level have been made, also millions of individuals are doing their own thing and getting bogged in swamp lands far from the mainstream of time honored Truth. America needs to embrace her former glorious Spiritual values and Beliefs and she will again rise to greatness. It is interesting that over 10% of Chinese are now passionate evangelical Christians and many business leaders are Christian. It is said that even the communist hierarchy recognize the economic and social positives that Christians bring to China.

   Yes, America still loves her flag, the Stars and Stripes, or Old Glory. But we must realize it is not the flag that makes the people great, it is the people that made the flag great. I saw one man with at least 4 or 5 flags flying from his car, as if this was what made him a patriot. If we want the flag to mean what it once meant, we must became the people again that made that flag the amazing symbol of freedom that it is. Remember though, the symbol of freedom is not what brings true freedom, it is the substance, spirit, belief system and lifestyle of freedom that prevails, not the flag. You could put a 2015 Cadillac emblem on a 1962 Volkswagen beetle and it would not change what the car is. The emblems of a luxury car mean nothing, if the cars true manufacturing and engineering standards  don’t match the emblems symbolic power, the emblem loses credibility.

   Somebody once said you could probably do plastic surgery on a mules ears and deck him out in racing colors and he may look like a race horse but when he races against true racing thoroughbreds, his performance will expose him as a mule.

   How true, we must become the kind of people that will make our nations great, wherever we live on the globe.


   "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."--Proverbs 14:34