Is America dying?

I don't often completely agree with Janet Folger on her commentaries, although she's definitely a passionate defender of the faith, since she always seems to imply, in so many words and perhaps in ignorance, in her pieces that the State should somehow "protect" and provide the bulwark against evil and tyranny. No! Not in a constitutional republic anyway. Instead, the people themselves exercise their due diligence, vigilance, and responsibility in keeping government at bay and thereby, by default, protect liberty. The people no longer care for that level of responsibility anymore and instead plead for government involvement in their lives. After all, when you're a dependent, what else could one expect to be the case?

However, after reading her latest commentary, My 'mission trip' to the left coast, I think she finally has seen the light. That would be that it's the individual people within a nation rather than the "nation" itself that constitute the moral rudder, the character, the laws, the order, the culture, the very makeup of that nation. I've said this myself over and over again in various forums online and when speaking with folk generally. The people, after all, are the key ingredients that determine a nation's government (it reflects the people!) and its overall destiny, subject to and bound by the Laws of God, of course.

This simple concept apparently seems to glide right over people's heads and they only can see on one side "the government," "the State," "Leviathan..." and on the other, "the people" as if they're unconnected and even hostile entities. Bullsense! Regardless of what folk say online in forums or in public, they instead are privately more likely to be petitioning government for services, subsidies, new laws (actually more restrictions on responsible freedom),....the list is endless.

Anyway, not to tangent off-topic too far, I think Folger's last few paragraphs of that piece sum up the problem quite succinctly:

We talk a lot about national repentance, but that begins with personal repentance. That's where we take a break from worrying about our nation's sins, and start with our own. 2 Chronicles 7:14 isn't just for a nation. It is for us to humble ourselves, pray, to seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.

It was suggested to me to turn off the news and just "sit in the presence of God." And I challenge you to do that with me for the rest of the week. I want the strategy that will put the enemies of life, liberty and the family on the run for a change. And I'm praying for it. But, instead of just seeking answers, and strategy, and all the stuff we want, I was advised to seek Him first. A novel idea; that's when "all theses things" are added, after all.

National revival is preceded by personal revival – and humility, repentance and prayer is what paves the way. The key to victory is "'not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord." So, if you're empty like I was after my "missions trip" and a glance at the headlines, there's one place to go to be filled, and it's not Fox News. We need the Spirit of God, His wisdom, His power and His knowledge in order to win.

Only then will we find the strength to debate the obvious that the environmentalist and Obama supporters miss: babies matter more than beavers. I don't know the strategy that will advance the cause of righteousness, but I'm asking. And I'm seeking. I hope you'll join me in seeking God, and then obeying Him. Because one thing's for sure: If we sit on the sidelines, it won't be long before we become "a criminal" for speaking out against the next court ruling that expands "marriage" licenses beyond "Party A" and "Party B" to include also "Party C," "Party D" and "Party F."

I would also like to mention and comment on Dennis Prager's latest WND piece as well, When I was a boy, America was a better place.

Even though I'm approximately ⅙ of a century younger than Mr. Prager, America was still a MUCH better place when I was a boy than it is now. In fact, most of the heavy-handed restrictions on liberty and freedom we witness so commonly today didn't materialize on a grand scale until I was long out of high school. For instance, when I was a kid, most 8ft deep and deeper swimming pools still had diving boards in the 1970s. A kid could walk around with an air gun in public and adults could do the same with real guns. Pickup trucks often had gun racks mounted on their back windshields with guns planted in them. Not a big deal. The hysterical fear phobias folk suffer from today and the litigation frenzy coupled with the heavy hand of government regulation had yet to materialize in these matters. By the way, do 8ft deep public swimming pools even exist today? Perhaps, there are some, somewhere, but I've yet to see any since I was a kid. However, I did find deep public swimming pools (complete with diving boards) while stationed in Germany in the latter 80s.

America as it used to be is already dead, obviously, but even the vestiges of freedom that people have become accustomed to enjoying, as if what exists NOW has always been the totality of freedom America possessed throughout its existence, are also deathly ill and on life-support. The prognosis doesn't look good.