Election 2012: Change Tracks Or Wreck The Train?

The future of our country may very well pivot on the election in November.  Many believe if we don’t change course a derailment is imminent and a train wreck is unavoidable.  We have but few options to avoid catastrophe.  

If you are a tax payer, you owe the federal government $1 million.  Our government has squandered the wealth of our nation as the national debt approaches $16 Trillion.  It feels like we are bobbing our way down the river toward socialism and perhaps even dictatorship.  Our first president, George Washington, demonstrated his humility by refusing the title of ‘king’.  Barack Obama may not have the title, but he certainly acts as if he is a king ruling over his subjects rather than a president answering to his people.

The economic survival of our nation is at risk.  Unemployment and foreclosure of homes has sent many families into a state of economic desperation.  Hope is like a ship drifting out to sea and the change we’ve experienced is nothing like those American voters envisioned when they cast their votes for Obama in 2008.

Absurdities abound!  The American government has been spending like a middle school teen armed with mom’s credit card in the world’s largest mall. Our juvenile acting congressmen have failed to balance the budget for three consecutive years.  All the talk of cutting spending goes in one American ear and out the other because sensible Americans realize that spending cannot be cut without a budget.

The U.S. economy looks like a train wreck.  Americans are worried, they are very worried.  Friday’s check is buying less and less.  Our government must borrow money to pay interest on the money they’ve already borrowed.  Surely, Americans will go to the polls in November screaming for the insanity to stop.  The message of ‘hope and change’ is the right message but Americans are weary of hearing cheap talk from egotistical politicians.  Americas want the real deal.

 

How often have you heard, “I voted for Obama last time but…”?  This year’s election will differ from the election of 2008 in that Democrats won't be able to play the race card in November: 'You are a racist if you don't vote for our guy".  If whites couldn't find reason to vote against Obama in 2008, there is plenty of reason to vote against him in 2012, and race has nothing to do with it. Of course, the election will swing on the economy.  Predictably, Obama will continue to blame any other living soul for this nation’s poor economic performance while denying that he and his administration now must claim ownership of this economy. Unfortunately, the Republicans seem to be running on a simple platform slogan of ‘Beat Obama’ and their economic plan to save the economy provides little substance revealing a dangerous attitude that says, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there, let’s just win the election first.”

The college kids were disillusioned by the thrill of making history when they voted for the first black president.  They bought into the idea that the wounds of racism in the U.S. would be healed by the young ‘messianic’ politician from Chicago.  Four years later, those young men and women have graduated from college, they have their degree but they’ve gone home to live with mom and dad because they can’t get a job.

 

They now see anything but a messiah.  They see a president who shoved his healthcare plan down the throats of unwilling Americans.  They see a president who, unlike Reagan, sees big government as a solution rather than a problem.  Many previous supporters will choose to vote against a president who has overseen the theft of economic security from future generations.  This young generation now sees The Great American dream setting like a sun about to dip below the horizon leaving a dark emptiness American’s are unfamiliar with.

Former supporters are beginning to see a vote for Obama as a vote to continue our slippery slide toward socialism and irresponsible government.  If they were motivated by hope in 2008, they will surely be motivated by fear in 2012.  They are asking themselves “Can this country survive another four year term of Obama’s smoke-filled, backroom politics?”  In less than four years, the Obama generation has morphed into the debt generation and those who are awake and alert think it is unfair that they are being forced to carry that pile of rocks on their back.

America is in desperate need of a great president, but this country needs more than that.  Many would question if America is in serious decline.  Are we witnessing the demise of a nation blessed with wealth and power and influence as no other country has been blessed in all of history? Is the great American experiment in democracy about to end….in failure? 

 

A serious student of world history will observe that countries and empires have come and gone throughout the ages.  No empire exists indefinitely.  Eternality belongs to God alone?  The fall of this great country cannot be avoided, but it can be delayed. 

Our problems are not just economical.  Our government is faltering in corruption and dishonesty.  Our society seems to be imploding right before our very eyes.  The influential cultural icons that have tremendous influence on our youth are unabashedly shaking their fist in the face of God and blasphemously denying his existence and even promoting a spirit of anti-Christ.  It is as if we have discovered that Christ will carry a great load of patience and long-suffering so we are now piling on to see just how much he can carry.

We can only label some of the things we are observing as nothing less than demonic.  The murder of 50 million unborn, the shocking incidents of cannibalism and a rural population losing their minds on meth are signs of societal implosion.  We have become a nation of zombies, hypnotized by our technological toys.  We are fleeing the doors of the church and avoiding the relationship we might have with God, a relationship purchased by the blood of his only begotten Son. 

Is there a judgment coming?  Of course there is.  Many believe that the economic failure and social implosion is indeed God’s judgment on a nation that has turned its face from him.  A holy and just God ceases to be God if he allows a defiant people to push him into a canyon of disbelief.   What can we do?  Options are limited.  We must either; humble ourselves, seek the face of God and repent of our sins or God must be true to his nature and bring his judgment on a nation that no longer has a fearful respect for The Almighty.

2 Chronicles 7:14   “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

The Danger of Defying God: Is God Judging America?

‘Woe’ is a little three letter word filled with meaning and emotion. It means to ‘curse’ or to ‘damn’. It is the assignment of justice. The emotion behind the word may be anger, but it is also used with much sorrow. Think of those who were watching as the twin towers fell on 9/11. Their gasps and cries expressed shock and dismay. They were overwhelmed with sorrow at the loss of life within the towers as they crumbled to earth. Sorrow was finally followed by anger toward a cowardly enemy. This is the emotion Isaiah feels as he repeats this little word several times in chapter 5.

1. Greed for Material Things. “WOE to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land. The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing: ‘Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.” (Isa. 5:8-9) God is declaring a judgment on the Jewish people because materialism had become their idol. They worshiped things rather than the Creator.

There are parallels between ancient Israel and modern America that cannot be ignored. We have become a very materialistic society. The accumulation of wealth has become our idol. We willingly sacrifice our families and our health at the altar of materialism.

Our houses have become desolate. Millions of homeowners have been foreclosed on in the last several years despite President Obama’s $75 billion plan to save homes. Our community (Columbus, Georgia) has many “fine mansions left without occupants.”

Because of their disobedience and betrayal God brought famine into the land.

2. Lust for Drunken Pleasure. “WOE to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine.” (Isa. 5:11) God punished a society that had decided to replace worship of God with a lust for pleasure. We run after alcoholic beverages and various drugs to help relieve the pain and boredom in our lives. We pursue our own desires and have “no regard for the deeds of the Lord, no respect for the work of his hands.” (Isa. 5:12) These are cheap substitutes for the true Healer.

“There is a balm in Gilead
To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead
To heal the broken soul.” (African-American Spiritual)

The true God is patient and longsuffering but he cannot tolerate such disrespect indefinitely. So, God removed the restraints upon the Babylonians and they came into the land of Israel and carried them off into exile. “Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; their men of rank will die of hunger and their masses will be parched with thirst.” (Isa. 5:13)

It is not hard to imagine thirst and lack of water in this part of the country. Florida, Alabama and Georgia have been raging a water war for over 20 years. Lake Lanier is a huge lake north of Atlanta that serves the city and those inhabitants that live south along the Chattahoochee River. There are approximately 5 million people who draw from the lake before its waters reach my area. It is very difficult to determine how to divvy the water fairly. Complicating the matter is the fact that Georgia has suffered drought conditions over the last several years. Few Americans have ever felt real thirst and hunger and they feel very comfortable that these elements will always be available in abundance.

Has American society outdone all others in its ability and willingness to seek pleasure and ignore God? If God released the Babylonians upon the Jews because of their defiance will God not also release judgments upon Americans if we don’t repent and turn back to God? There is no ‘teacher’s pet’ in this formula. God’s justice will not allow him to judge sin in one culture and ignore it in another.

3. Sin of Defiance. “WOE to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes.” (Isa. 5:18) A cart rope was made of unbelievably strong material. Its purpose was to attach a loaded cart to a beast of burden. The people of Israel were like mules pulling a cartload of iniquity behind them. They loved their sin and expended a great amount of effort to drag it about wherever they went.

They said, “Let God hurry, let him hasten his work so we may see it. Let it approach, let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come, so we may know it.” (Isa. 5:19) These people were defiant in their disobedience. They shook their fists in the face of God and challenged him to bring the judgment he promised. They said, “This is our sin. We love it more than we love you. What will you do about it?”

They were behaving as the Roman soldiers did when they spit upon Jesus and mocked him as he dragged his cross to Golgotha. “The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” (Luke 23:36-37) No good can ever come from mocking God. “It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them” (Deuteronomy 32:35)

Our God, provoked to anger, is terrible in his wrath!

God forgive us for our arrogance. We sing, “God Bless America” and then assume that he will regardless of our own actions. We no longer hide our sinfulness and we have no shame for our evil ways.

Recently, a 56 year old man, scantily dressed in women’s underwear, boarded a passenger jet from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Phoenix, Arizona. When he arrived in Phoenix he was escorted away. It was astonishing that this man would pull such a stunt but the attitude he revealed was beyond belief. He had no shame. He was not hiding his face from the cameras. He was proud to have his picture made and wanted all to see.
We have become “haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning”. (Romans 1:30) We foolishly shake our fist in the face of God. We dare him to prove himself by reacting to our challenge.

Christians must sound a warning as Isaiah did, “They have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Lord’s anger burns against his people.” (Isa. 5:25-26)

It sounds dark and hopeless but it is not. There is a solution to the dilemma in which we find ourselves. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.