in light of His coming

President Obama is telling you and me that the nation cannot wait any longer for health care reform.  He cites skyrocketing costs and warns that if reforms—his reforms are not put in place pronto; you and I will be poorer for it.

What he doesn't tell us is that he wants to put the government in charge.  Thus, health care becomes another big, over bloated, uncaring bureaucracy which will decide how you, me, and our loved ones are going to be treated—or not treated as the case may be.  For an example of this bureaucratic jungle that’s in store if the president gets his way, please see http://www.dovestar.net/2009-07-07.htm .  This is a piece I wrote in 1993 during the debating of the Clinton health care proposal. This piece is presented as it was written then, so that you can see that the proposal hasn't really changed; they’re just trying to sneak it in the back door while nobody's looking.

However, amid all the debate over the nation’s medical health care system, there is another health care need that is being ignored. Like the nation’s medical health, this health care need has been showing symptoms of decay for years.  And if we continue to ignore the warning signs, we do so at our own peril.

What I’m talking about is the state of our nation’s moral health, which is in shambles.  Our prisons are growing faster than we can build new ones.  Within days of the posting of this piece, a cemetery in suburban Chicago was desecrated, allegedly by some of the employees who wanted to resell some of the plots and pocket the money.  An attractive young sports reporterette cannot even walk around nude in her own hotel room without someone taping her every move, apparently through the keyhole.  Young people are passing around naked pictures of themselves via the Internet, which never loses that stuff and the nightmares never go away. Advertise a nude picture of a celebrity and you’ll get more hits than the Mafia. We've killed over 50 million of our fellow citizens through abortion and few bat an eye.

Jesus Christ has become a swear word and Barack Obama is apparently the anointed Messiah.  At least that’s what some of his followers will tell you.  Homosexuals have come out of the closet and are demanding the rules be changed and they be allowed to marry one another and that the church be forced to comply.  Young women are attacked, some in their own homes, and it has become frightening to walk alone in some areas of town.

Cheating has become an epidemic.  Students cheat to get better grades and thus advance in their academic careers.  Financiers cheat and bilk their customers out of millions.

Meanwhile, Americans idolize Michael Jackson as though he were some kind of god despite the doubts and questions as to his moral character.  His death nearly brought down the Internet and several media outlets ran nonstop coverage over who would get the kids and the hundreds of millions of dollars that he left behind.

He was the King of Pop.  But if the King of Pop didn't bow his knee to the King of Kings, what did that get him?

Since June 25, 1962 when the Supreme Court removed prayer from the public school classroom, America has sunk down a long sinkhole as the systematic removal of God from the public square began.  How many students were killed in a public school by gunshots before June 25, 1962?  Zero. The Ten Commandments came off the wall in 1980, because in the Supreme Court’s own words, students might read them, meditate on them, and observe them, which was not an approved secular objective.

The year following the removal of school prayer, SAT scores plummeted and they haven’t recovered since.  Officials are now noticing that young people lack skills in math and science, this as we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the lunar landing.  We need these skills in order to compete in a global economy and they are seriously lacking.

America used to be the land of opportunity.  Millions of jobs have gone overseas because greedy executives have discovered that they can pocket more profit by paying somebody in India or the Philippines, etc. a small fraction of what they pay an American, and laugh all the way to the bank.  The fact that Americans are out of work is no concern of theirs.

The mortgage industry should hide its collective heads in shame.  They have put more debt on the backs of people who can ill afford it, and even if they could, when their jobs are exported and they are out of work, the piper comes to collect or toss them on the street.  True, they might have signed the contract, but didn’t understand the fine print, and when times turned worse, they lost.  Some of these mortgages were highly inflated and the interest rates obscene.  But, making a buck is now the standard and the public be damned.

Since 1973, we have aborted more than 50 million people due to the Roe v Wade decision of the Supreme Court.  Could one of those aborted babies been the one with the skills to have kept us from our present economic doldrums?  We’ll never know.  But one thing is certain: had these 50 million plus babies been born and grew into productive citizens, they would have fueled this economic engine and we might not be in the spot we’re in today.

Elections have been for sale to the highest bidder.  Some suggest that in certain parts of the country even the dead can vote. While we are sanctimonious over the honesty of other countries’ elections, ours are fast becoming a sham.

You might ask, Where is the Church?  Many churches have fallen right in line with the “new” morality and seek to entertain rather than preach the Gospel given her by Jesus.  Many “big time” pastors want the Church to find a cure for AIDS, etc. and are driving her away from her divinely appointed mission.  Many churches are just scared to speak out because they might lose their 501-C-3 non-profit status.  And some that do speak out are ridiculed as intolerant and bigoted.  Others are just ignored as irrelevant.

Sooner or later we are going to have to come to grips with the fact that this life doesn’t last forever, and when it’s over the One Who lasts forever is going to demand an accounting.  The time to bend the knee to Him isn’t tomorrow.  It’s now.  If you fell short, and the Bible says we all have, Jesus Christ paid the price for you on the Cross and when you come to Him and ask Him to save you; He will not only save you but begin a transformation of your life that puts you in step with Him.  Plus He has a mansion for you in heaven that neither Fannie Mae nor Freddie Mac can take from you because it doesn’t come with a mortgage.

When God was tossed out of the public square on His Ear, His moral law went with Him.  In the interim, we’ve had to replace that with something.  And the something has been the not-so-almighty dollar.  We do what makes a buck today and to heck with the other person.  If he is adversely affected, it’s his tough luck.  There was a time in this country that you could leave your house unlocked and be gone for a week and your neighbors would watch the place so that your belongings were safe.  These days, you dare not leave your house to go across the street.  You might get robbed—or worse.

Fortunately there are still some good people in this country.  They come in all races, genders, sizes, and temperaments. They fear God and revere His commandments and know that His way is the way to go.  But many of them remain silent.

When are Americans going to put God back in His rightful place and His moral law with Him?  We had better be on our knees to ask God to save us from ourselves and fix this mess before it’s too late.  Remember, Rome fell from within.  The last straw for Rome was the acceptance of homosexuality, which God considers an abomination.  His standards need to be ours. This is what the Founding Fathers gave us and we are tearing it limb from limb.  We need a national revival.  Let’s get back to doing things God’s way.  That works.  He will save us from ourselves.  He promised to do so.  And unlike an American politician, you can take God’s promises to the bank.