Murca, Does it Have a Future?

I am neither a History major nor a Theology major.  I prefer bones, muscles, bloody wounds, spurting infectious materials. Hey, everybody is different, some of us are just more different.

I haven't written for a day or two, cause I was waiting around to see if God had anything in particular for me to talk about.  Of course I can spend a lot of time talking about nothing also.

I quit watching the news, other than local, or any political shows during the first Obama Administration. It is all just too distressing. I started stockpiling food. Which expired - OK, that is a different story.

I started wondering, how have our past leaders felt about God, Christianity, its connection to our country and so on? Of course the early leaders, were into it. I'll just give you a couple of quotes real quick here.

George Washington "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of the Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."

John Adams "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other"

I like that. The Constitution works when people are moral. We are moving to an amoral society, and so they keep wanting to make amendments to change it as morality changes. Hey, I am not talking about  giving women the vote or anything like that.

Those guys were a couple of hundred years ago, so maybe their thinking wasn't too up-to-date.
Let's skip up to the 1800s, Noah Webster. He was that dictionary guy.

Noah Webster "Education is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields. God's Word contained in the Bible has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct."

He was an educated guy, so maybe he knows what he is talking about? Still, nearly two hundred years ago.

Let us move up quite a few years to Theodore Roosevelt. Who doesn't love a Teddy, right?

Theodore Roosevelt "I believe the next half century will determine if we will advance the cause of Christian civilization or revert to the horrors of brutal paganism."

Even watching your local news, you might start thinking about brutality and the way it seems so rampant. Of course when they say news, they mean Bad News, usually.

Is Teddy still too old school? I could go on with quotes from Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush.  But then about Georgie Bush the little, it gets harder to find those quotes, and Clinton? Good luck there. I found one reference to God.

I was pretty impressed with a lot of what Obama said, things I never heard because I won't listen anymore. He talked about grace, Amazing Grace and about his Christianity.

But what does God have to say about nations who abandon Him? Isn't he more of an authority than some elected guy?

The first thing that comes to mind is Ninevah. Jonah was pretty upset that God didn't destroy them. But God said, they didn't know about the rules. Now you have taught them, so I am going to give them another chance. Jonah kind of had his nose out of joint about that for a while. He was a rebellious child, and I can relate to that.

Ninevah returned to their sinful ways and God did destroy them. They blew their chance.

Isiah prophesied about the destruction of Judah, and there you go. Want to go backwards in time. Noah, the world around him was so full of sin that God gave up and started over with Noah and his family. Israel was abandoned to the Romans.

Looking around, there is every reason to believe we are an ungrateful nation, sunk in sin of every sort. So if God abandons our country and we are conquered, well, what then?

Jesus instructed us to follow the rules of the land of our conquerors, you know that line, pay unto Caesar, that which is Caesar's.

How about the Hebrews, held by the Egyptians as slaves? They had to endure until they turned back to God and were given a pathway out (through the Red Sea)

But as Christians, we can remember that this earth is just a temporary dwelling place.  We will leave here and our future location is assured. What matters is HOW we live while we are here. Not the clothes you wear, the food you eat or the government you live under. 

Continue to pray for our country, which currently gives us much religious freedom, but remember there are many who endanger their very lives for their faith.

I will pray for you my friends, those who are sick, Jeff,  Pat,those who have lost a loved one, Leah, Those with another kind of struggle, Jennifer, Hannah, Rachel. I hope you will pray for me.