Now you may have gotten here before me and for that, I will offer my congratulations. It wasn’t that I wasn’t trying to get here but it was more that I kept holding out that I would never have to get to this place. My hope was that reality and logic would prevail. That people would see the error of their ways and that their way was the wrong way. However, in the final analysis, the dye was cast and ignorance prevailed.
I don’t want this to be a politically charged post. Yet, what happens in the political arena affects every part of our lives. Let me repeat that it “affects every part of our lives”. Our religious freedoms are being subjected to more and more governmental oversight and control than we have ever seen in this country. Using the phrase “a slippery slope” should help to make my point. We are getting closer and closer to a point when our freedom to worship and even the One we worship is going to be controlled by those who do not know God. They need salvation and our prayers for that salvation and also for Godly wisdom to lead this nation. I know that all seems to be in short supply right now not only in Washington, DC but in many states and cities throughout this country.
I have to admit I just don’t get what some people think and do. It doesn’t make sense to me. I listen to supposed experts or leaders who should know things I don’t, but I listen to find myself perplexed at what they say. Unfortunately, just because you say you are an expert or a leader does not make you one. Control is only possible if it is granted to another. I choose not to grant control to someone and something based upon their supposed authority. I’m not talking about insurrection or defiance of authority. I am however saying that the authority must be within the context of its legitimate existence.
What I have noticed over the past year is that personal freedoms, which are what the nation is founded upon, are now no longer valid for the sake of the whole. That may sound odd but if you think about it, it is so clear to see. As I read today, and so can you, there are bills going through Congress that will take away many of the rights we have today. This is not about one or two but it is about the big picture.
Elaine told me this morning of a friend's Facebook post. The person said that their county here in Florida was dropping the mask mandate. However, it noted that stores could still require them if they wished. You get the idea “no shirt, no shoes, no mask, no service”. Well, then they noted that they had the right not to spend their money in that store. If you extrapolate that out where one freedom ends another begins. That’s right, it begins it does not end.
It would be my desire that everyone and everything would just calm down. Most people, now I know that might not be as easy to see, are smart enough to do the right thing. Now don’t listen to Washington, DC, or some states and cities, because they will tell you they are smarter than you. They are not and they have proved it time and again.
I have learned a lot about life, and I know this, I have made mistakes and learned from them. I have been taught the right way and the wrong way of doing things. I have used the common sense God gave me to get through this life and enjoy it to the fullest. I know not to put myself, my wife, my family, my friends in harm's way. I know what precautions to take as I travel through life. I know how and where to go to enjoy life. Do I need to be told in arbitrary ways what I can and cannot do? As a citizen of these United States, the answer is no.
Will that be true in the days that will be coming? I am not certain and I have every reason to be suspicious and even concerned. "The thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." The words of Edmund Burke are as true today as they were over 200 years ago. Stated as to the political matters of the day as it can even today. It also finds its truth in the church. As Christians, we must do and say what is Biblically right.
Remember God’s words to Joshua from the Lord in Joshua 1 and later. “Be strong and courageous”. We need to heed the words of God in our lives and be strong and courageous. Mix them with the reminder from Edmund Burke that ‘The thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Ephesians 6:10-18 is where you will find the whole armor of God. Read it every morning and put on the armor for the battles you will face that day. Then do again the next day, the next, and the next...until Jesus comes back or the Lord takes you home, either way, you win.
A thought to ponder,
Elbert Nasworthy
