In time anything created by men will cease to be. Only God will remember it. Still, when we see people ignoring a heritage of great value and treating it as worthless, we still scratch our heads in amazement, unless we are the ones who cannot see the value of what we have been given. So it is that we, the American People, are allowing our heritage to rot while a third of the country cheers, a third watches in horror, and another third remains indifferent. What is most astonishing is that the people with the most to lose are most responsible for ignoring our heritage.
What are we ignoring? Our constitutional republic.
How are we losing our constitutional republic? We the People are not using our Constitution to protect each other from the people who are abusing the rights of our family, friends and neighbors.
Most nations in the world are governed as top-down systems. That is, they are run by monarchs or by a group of oligarchs. As our Declaration of Independence promised, the United States was set up as a constitutional republic with an elected leadership possessing limited powers. So it is that instead of a people serving powerful leaders, the United States once possessed leaders who served their countrymen. For a time, the United States attempted to fulfill a vision given to us by Jesus.
Luke 22:24-27 New American Standard Bible
24 And a dispute also developed among them as to which one of them was regarded as being the greatest. 25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles domineer over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ 26 But it is not this way for you; rather, the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. 27 For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
In a nation where people thought first of the welfare of their family, friends and neighbors, what happened? We had more empathy for each other. We did a better job of listening to each other. Instead of voting for politicians who promised to give us other people’s money, we voted for leaders who promised to protect us from each other.
Was this Camelot? Was it perfection on Earth? No. Men still remained imperfect and struggled to overcome their pride. And people still suffered unjustly, but it was better than anything else men have tried.
When did America experience the first great failure to make its Constitution work properly? That was probably the American Civil War. Instead of freeing their slaves, and trying to serve their family, friends, and neighbors, too many in the South tried to keep their servants as slaves.
Were the people in the South exclusively guilty of starting the civil war? No, but there is no doubt that the issue of slavery divided the South from the North. The South hated slavery being called a sin. So, when they failed to make the North complicit in the sin of slavery, they determined to secede from the Union.
We live in such a time again today. We sin, and we try to make others complicit in our sins. Even though most of us know that Jesus wants each of us to strive to be the greatest by serving our family, friends and neighbors as honorably as we can, we don’t. Even though we know Jesus calls upon us to love each other by honoring the service of others and by trying to be of service to others, we don’t. Instead, too many Americans have succumbed to the temptation of careerism.
careerism
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/careerism
noun
ca·reer·ism kə-ˈrir-ˌi-zəm
: the policy or practice of advancing one’s career often at the cost of one’s integrity
Read Luke 22:24-27 again. We know we are supposed to serve our family, friends, neighbors and even our countrymen for their sakes as much our own sake. We know almost instinctively that we are not suppose to advance ourselves at the expense of others. In fact, we are supposed to seek advancement so that we can be of more service to others.
Consider the origin of the word vocation.
vocation (n.)
early 15c., “spiritual calling,” from Old French vocacion “call, consecration; calling, profession” (13c.) or directly from Latin vocationem (nominative vocatio), literally “a calling, a being called” from vocatus “called,” past participle of vocare “to call,” which is related to vox (genitive vocis) “voice” (from PIE root *wekw- “to speak”). Sense of “one’s occupation or profession” is first attested 1550s.
https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=vocation&ref=searchbar_searchhint
All of us are supposed to seek our vocation, not just the clergy. Unfortunately, many of us now just seek jobs to earn as much as we can, and we vote for those politicians who promise to put the most money in our pockets.
It’s the Economy, Stupid — James Carville
https://politicaldictionary.com/words/its-the-economy-stupid/
When we sacrifice our integrity, we live in sin. Sin comes at a high price. When we begin to pay that price, we begin to understand we have become slaves to sin. What is the price we are paying? We have yielded to sin for the sake of our careers.
- We have not lived this life in preparation for the next life. We have put the things of this world above the things of God.
- In order to be among those The Establishment deems the best and the brightest, we signal our virtue by parroting whatever faddish belief we believe will advance our career. If our “truth” becomes the belief that small children can choose their own sex, then to avoid being canceled, we will happily parrot that “truth.”
- We fail to seek our vocation. Instead of seeking our purpose in this life, we seek worldly success. Instead of doing the work we love — what we believe God would have us do — we seek wealth and advancement, or we become lazy because we find no satisfaction in work.
- We prioritize career over service to others. So, both our personal relationships and our relationship with God suffer.
- We fail to instruct our children Godly wisdom because we have failed to seek Godly wisdom.
- We elect people to public office who promise to give us other people’s money. Because we are willing to receive bribes, we have elected incompetent and treacherous leaders who have taken bribes.
- Because we have elected incompetent and treacherous leaders, our communities and our states have become increasingly poor, disorganized, and unsafe.
- Because our leaders are taking bribes, even from foreign powers, our nation is no longer the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nation. In addition to risking enslavement by a domestic tyranny, we risk being dominated by merciless foreign powers who will enslave our children and grandchildren in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Why the picture above? There was a time when the United States military was more concerned about integrity than it was diversity, equity, and inclusion. Instead offering new recruits transgender surgery, military leaders scorned careerism and demanded professionalism.
What is professionalism? It is what soldiers who love each other give in service to the country they love. It is the service we pray that brave firefighters and policemen will give to the people we care about when they are in need.
How do we define professionalism? Instead of using the word “professionalism,” in 1962 General Douglas MacArthur spoke of: Duty, Honor, Country.
To be what Jesus would have us be, a servant to those we love, we don’t have to join the military, become a firefighter, or patrol our community as a policeman. We can do what whatever we do honorably and in service to others. We can be a good citizen.
References
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/03/23/career-vs-professionalism-the-importance-of-continuous-learning-in-the-21st-century/?sh=719334601b94
- https://www.christianpost.com/news/what-does-the-bible-say-about-a-career-.html
- https://www.crossway.org/articles/how-we-work-reveals-who-we-are/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/03/23/career-vs-professionalism-the-importance-of-continuous-learning-in-the-21st-century/?sh=719334601b94
- https://tifwe.org/the-difference-between-work-career-calling/
- https://sofrep.com/news/careerism-cronyism-malfeasance-special-warfare-center-end-special-forces-capability/
Citizen Tom 
Reblogged this on Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach.
Thanks for the reblog. Much appreciated!
Yes sir
Greetings Tom, If I may interject I believe that the Bible clearly does command as BM asks: “What nt gospels or the epistle reference advises it to be our duty as Christians to “strive for good government” The answer can be found in Romans 8. Here is a link to an outstanding series of sermons written back in the 1850s on the matter https://www.covenanter.org/reformed/2016/6/2/civil-government-an-eexposition-of-romans-xiii-1-7
Thanks!
Tom
You may be interested in the WSJ poll report today which verifies your posts on the waning of Patriotism and religious values in the USA
https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-pull-back-from-values-that-once-defined-u-s-wsj-norc-poll-finds-df8534cd
Which in my opinion, in time will also verify the foolishness of the path the USA is now on because it the path leads away from the Wisdom and Love in the Bible because our children are no longer being introduced or taught to believe in the Bible
For Example – Contemporary Definitions
Wisdom – is the capacity to have foreknowledge of something, to know the consequences (both positive and negative) of all the available course of actions, and to yield or take the options with the most advantage either for present or future implication. (google)
Patriotism Def – – love for or devotion to one’s country – (Merriam Webster)
Bible Definitions
Wisdom – Highest Gift of the Holy Spirit- Not Just Knowledge but the Perfection of Faith
(https://www.learnreligions.com/wisdom-gift-of-the-holy-spirit-
542140#:~:text=According%20to%20Catholic%20doctrine%2C%20wisdom%20is%20one%20of,gifts%20from%20God%E2%80%94who%20is%20within%20each%20of%20us.
Love- “God IS love.”
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=9375
In other words, according to the WSJ Poll, our youth pursuits of money also verify your posts about idols’.
Which, in my opinion, is the result because our youth is no longer being introduced or influenced by the Bible because their parents were never introduced, which verifies my earlier comment about the validity of the Theory of Generations.
Sad. that the contemporty path of the USA is to reject God’s Gifts of Wisdom and Love, and accept Satan’s gifts, rejected by Jesus Christ in the Bible…
Regards and goodwill blogging.
For what it is worth, I agree.
I have been waiting for years for America to come to there senses. When Obama got elected the second time, I realized that what was obvious to me was not obvious to everyone. I don’t have a complete explanation. I am not that gifted, but I been born again. That would make a big difference, I suppose.
All I know for certain is that I am supposed to point people to Jesus. That may save country, but it will save a few a souls.
Tom,
I read General Mac Arthurs s speech in 1963 from your link and was amazed at this following paragraph in his speech
“Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be. These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night:”
Amazing that 50 years later, he described what are reading and hearing daily in our present times news reports.
I was on Michigan Ave in Chicago when he gave said “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.”
In my opinion, his mantra of Duty, Honor, Country also appears to be fading away in the USA, same as are Christianity moral beliefs of our founders is fading away in the USA.
Same as recruitment of soldiers in the USA is also waning because ….
“The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training — sacrifice.”
Regards and goodwill blogging
I took the time to listen to his speech. He was an amazing orator. Because of his popularity, firing him ranked among the most difficult decisions President Truman made. That general did not stay out of politics when it involved a decision in military strategy.
To your point about major historical events shaping childhood outlooks, I often wonder how Covid tyranny and hysteria will affect children as they get older. IMHO they will either be scared, obedient sheep, begging for govt control, or complete anarchistics.
I am not certain how COVID tyranny will affect children. I suspect the reaction of their parents when people realize how much they have been fooled will have a great effect.
I would hope so, but I think kids that were in school at the time and forced to wear masks, isolate and not socialize for nearly 2 years is going to have some sort of effect on their views of authority later in life. It would be interesting to do a study on kids from harsh lockdown blues states vs free red ones.
That will probably happen. Hopefully, the results are not biased.
Thought provoking post Tom and I agree with most of what you say. I’ve felt for a long time that most people in America don’t even think about t freedom and how important it is for it to be the principle player of government, let alone value it. People think freedom is having enough money to afford the comforts of life and think if they are doing ok financially then they must be free. The are so far from the truth they don’t even recognizing it.
Fun fact: I grew up in Lexington, MA the town next to Concord shown in your photo. We also have a Minute Man statue on the battle green where the first Revolutionary War took place. Lexington, as you can imagine, is steeped in American history and every April 19th the whole town shows up for a reenactment of the battle. That town, the original birthplace of American freedom, is now a bastion of progressive liberal nonsense, filled with people who are against everything that made this country great. Go figure.
Historical reenactments don’t make patriots. We care about country because we love our family, friends, neighbors, and countrymen.
You may find this interesting. There is nothing new about patriotism being difficult.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/patriot#etymonline_v_10166
I know, I was just pointing out the irony of how far the “birthplace of liberty” has fallen. Thanks for the article link, I’ll check be sure to check it out.
The problem with a nation that values liberty above all else is that the people will lose even that because they valued liberty above all else. It’s self-refuting and incoherent to have complete freedom of ideas and religion. What happens when Marxists ideas are brought to the table? What happens when satanists want their religion to be valued? Better yet, can Christians, Muslims, and Hindus coexist? Not historically or internationally. At least McCarthy understood that not all ideas could coexist; he just happened to be very focused on commies.
I don’t disagree with your assessment, but I don’t think very many people in our country value liberty above all else. When we sin, we value getting what we want from our idols above all else.
Marxism is basically a scheme for dividing people so that they can be conquered and ruled by a relatively small, organized and dedicated group. To expedite their agenda, modern Marxists seek the greatest division possible. They are not happy just pitting the rich against the poor. They divide people into identity groups based on wealth, race, sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, creed, and so forth.
Conservative male Christians are their great enemy because they represent the order that Marxists are determined to overthrow and replace. So, they indoctrinate and encourage the members of each of the other identity groups to hate Conservative male Christians, and they organize around that hatred.
With what do Marxists promise to replace the existing order? A lie. Communist China probably comes close to what these Marxists seek, but I suspect they will turn on each other if they overthrow America. The Russian Communists did that once they overthrew Russia. Power is what the Russian Communists really wanted, and absolute totalitarian power is what American Marxists seek. That means a world filled with terror, cruelty, and mindless despair. In their pride, greed, and fear, they will not want the people to be capable of even thinking of rebellion. They will use technology to monitor every moment and every thought to stamp out every prayer.
It’s not that liberty is valued so much as it is used for the purpose of imposing heinous philosophies and pornography on everyone.
True.
Tom.
Your post brings up The Theory of Generations statement:
“. A key point, however, is that this major historical event has to occur, and has to involve the individuals in their young age (thus shaping their lives, as later experiences will tend to receive meaning from those early experiences);”……
……..
If you read this theory, in my opinion, the historical event that occurred in the USA is when government took control of managing what is or is not taught to children…………
If Interested
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_generations
As for sin, most children have never been taught the morality of what is a sin as evidenced by the news we are reading and hearing every day. In other words when we mention sin, every generation never introduced to what is sin, has no conception of what we are talking about., and when the children become parents, their children, etc. etc.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Good observation!
Thanks for the link.
Unfortunately, I believe the constitutional founding was tossed decades ago. We lost it longer ago than Most will know or admit. We are only as “free” now as those who really run our country allow us the believe we are.
I don’t disagree, but the sooner we try to recover our constitutional republic, the easier it be.
The are two aspects to the problem.
1. A Christian revival is required. Without a people who respect and honor each other’s rights, we cannot maintain a constitutional republic. Before we can save our country, we must do something more important. We must pray that our Lord will save the souls of our countrymen.
2. We have to learn how a constitutional republic works. Most people don’t understand the Constitution, and most don’t understand the duties that come with citizenship. They think that politics is strictly somebody else’s job.
While nobody was watching and holding people to account, corrupt businesspeople and politicians instituted Crony Capitalism. With the passage of time our Crony Capitalist system will look more and more like Nazism or Communism. We will have a society much like the ones George Orwell wrote about. Only our Lord can keep His church alive in such a world.
There is a danger in putting too much Hope and Trust in governments to change for the favorable. What can be hard fought and won with difficulty… Can be easily taken away and lost with a so called “free and fair” election. I myself think we are past the point in our United States of those who really run our country allowing us the true freedom that our founders put in writing and gave their blood for. Keep fighting. Keep trying. But for all intents and purposes… It’s a futile hope anymore. Live for Jesus. Raise your family. Try to influence People, not governments, for Jesus and His Kingdom. “Why so Downcast oh my soul? Put your hope in God”
If we care about our family, friends, and neighbors, we strive for good government. It is in the same departments as taking care of your family and providing charity for the poor.
Family and taking care of the poor both have numerous references in the gospels and epistles. I’m wondering where you would find “driving for good government” in them if they are on the same “department” or par? I think you’ve been misled to believe that as Christians our duty is to strive for good secular government. Truth is… We don’t have much control at all, either individually or collectively, over our government anymore. They’ve made that Crystal clear whenever someone who wants to get back to constitutional footing comes on the scene. Again, we don’t have the same country as when the founders penned the declaration and the Constitution. We lost that decades ago
But here’s a clue for you of exactly how long ago we lost our original government… question yourself this: why does the 14th amendment read like a restructuring of the relationship between the States and the Federal Government? A: because it is.
Our government was founded on the notion that everyone has the God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that government exists to protect those rights. Not Biblical? The Bible doesn’t say that we belong to God? The Bible does not say God does not want us to murder, rob, and lie about each other? The Bible does not condemn adultery and coveting what belongs to our neighbors?
Consider.
Good government poses a very difficult problem. Politics is messy. Does that relieve of the responsibilities of citizenship? No.
Does spreading the Gospel take priority? Yes, but good government makes it easier to spread the Gospel. In fact, the Apostle Paul took advantage of his Roman citizenship to spread the Gospel.
Jesus did not put us down here to live easy lives. Sin made work of any kind difficult, but in order to feed, cloth, and shelter ourselves and our families, good government is a necessity.
What about the 14th Amendment? Here is the text of the part that the Federal Government uses to throw its weight around.
The 14th Amendment is supposed to protect us from the abuse of State power. There is nothing there about private business, but that is where Congress went with that clause. Probably the only thing politicians have abused more is the interstate commerce clause. That is the kind of nonsense that we have to fight, and we may lose.
For all we know we are near the beginning of of the Great Tribulation. We are still supposed to do what we can.
Ok. Let’s try again more directly. What nt gospels or the epistle reference advises it to be our duty as Christians to “strive for good government” in the same way as taking care of our families and the poor? Direct questions deserve direct answers. Go for it
The Bible does not say anyone should be a rocket scientist, but Christians still work at NASA.
Good government is a necessity, not a luxury. Without a good government, we cannot produce respectable quantities of food, clothing, and other necessities. Hence, when people donate money for political purposes, volunteer their time for political purposes, or take a pay cut to serve in public office, that can be a respectable act of charity.
No. I don’t think you get to wiggle out that quickly. You said “striving for good government” was a Christian duty on par… “in the same department” you said… as caring for your family and the poor. That’s a General, not the Specific that being a rocket scientist would be. Just be honest and admit you misspoke or stretched the truth or just didn’t know what you were saying wasn’t scriptural. But don’t wiggle and prevaricate and equivocate as if you answered my question.
I said what I intended to say. We are social animals. We gather to worship. Israel was theocratic.
Government either assists in or interferes with everything we do. You forget that Jesus is our Priest, Prophet, and King.
The Bible is full of stories relating to government. The Bible contains stories about ordinary people interacting with government officials. The Bible contains stories of Jesus, His Apostles, and His Prophets interacting with government officials. The Bible contains the history of the Kings of Israel. The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders. When we pray, we ask for guidance. God helps us to do what is right. That includes helping our leaders to do what is right.
And as for the 14th amendment… before it, we were not citizens of a country called The United States. We were and still are citizens of our several States who collectively in the Constitution are called the united States… as in free and Independant States, united together by federation… Served, not Ruled by, the Federal Government. The 14th amendment changed that. Most people have no clue. It’s why they changed the election of senators from chosen by state legislatures ( to represent the State’s interests in Congress) to direct election by the people that dilutes further the origimal intent of the founders. The States are the members of the Federation. We are citizens of our individual States, as the original founding. Again, most people have no clue because they’ve swallowed the lies for decades. The 14th amendment changed the relationship of the States to the Federal Government from one of servant to master. We are not as originally founded.
When our forbears fought the Civil War, the victory of the North sealed the Union in blood.
The 14th Amendment was part of the solution for the problem of slavery. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the 14th Amendment was exercised very effectively until the Civil Rights Movement.
I think the States lost much of their clout with the passage of the 16th and 17th Amendments.