In God We Trust?

[Sandra]

In my lifetime America's motto has gone from "In God We Trust," to "God Who?"

In God We Trust?

 By Jim O'Neill  Monday, January 24, 2011

“You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You, 
Because he trusts in You. 
Trust in the Lord forever, 
For in Yah, the Lord, 
is everlasting strength.”­Isaiah 26:3,4 NKJV

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”  ­Proverbs 16:25 NKJV  

“Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are of God?” ­Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826)

In God we trust?  Not hardly­not as a nation; not anymore.  In my lifetime America’s motto has gone from “In God We Trust,” to “God Who?”  I’m here to tell you that that’s one hellacious cultural shift to go through in such a relatively short period of time.  What happened?

First, a little back-story.  The other day I was reading a well-written article on the various Far Left plots threatening America.  After I finished reading the article, I realized that among the several remedies offered to help extract ourselves from our present difficulties, turning to God wasn’t one of them­prayer wasn’t mentioned at all.  In fact, God wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the article.  Sadly, that’s to be expected.

It struck me that the absence of any mention of God was not remarkable in any way.  That, in fact, I had come to take the absence of any mention of God in a “serious” discussion as a given.  To see or hear any mention of God in a “credible” political/cultural discourse anymore, is rare to the point of nonexistence.

I’m not saying that God needs to be included in all, or even most, political discussions, but there should not be any reason to exclude mention of God either.  Can you imagine the wording of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence­with their references to the Creator and Divine Providence­in a modern secularist document?

“In God We Trust” was adopted as the official motto of the United States in the 1950s, and it started to appear on our paper currency in 1957 (although it had appeared on our metal coinage since the 1860s).  While it may have been the case as late as the early 1960s, American culture hasn’t trusted in God for some time, and “we the people” need to return to our spiritual roots as soon as possible, and with vigor.  (Link)

We need to re-examine and re-embrace Christianity

Because America was founded on Judeo/Christian principles, that is where we should look­in particular, we need to re-examine and re-embrace Christianity, and it is there that this article will focus.

Why have we drifted so far from our spiritual heritage?  Once you’ve taken a look at the centuries of unremitting atheistic left-wing attacks on Christianity­both from within and without­the answer is obvious. 
The ploys that the atheists (in particular Far Left atheists, and most obsessively, Far Left homosexual atheists) have used to undermine, ridicule, and diminish the influence of Christianity are manifold, clever, and ruthless­they run the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Ridicule, misinterpret, and downplay the Holy Bible

A favorite gambit of theirs is to ridicule, misinterpret, and downplay the Holy Bible­including writing their own versions of it.  For example, the following “scripture” is from a recent bible whose writers endorse “peace, justice, dignity, and rights for all” (social justice)­and of course, sustainable development.  (Link)

“Meanwhile Rocky was still sitting in the courtyard. A woman came up to him and said: ‘Haven’t I seen you with Jesus, the hero from Galilee?’ Rocky shook his head and said: ‘I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!’”  Matthew 26:69-70

Rocky?  Jesus wept. 

Favorite ploy is to spread myths and lies about Christianity

Moving on.  Another favorite ploy is to spread myths and lies about Christianity­the number of myths/lies is so vast that it would take a sizable book just to enumerate them, let alone dispel them.  For starters, I might mention that Galileo (1564-1642) was not persecuted by stupid Christian “flat-earthers,” because he was so logical and scientific.

The book that got Galileo Galilei into trouble was his “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems”­a book that championed the heliocentric (i.e. sun-centered) theories of Nicolaus Copernicus, (who had been urged to publish his theories by Catholic Bishop Guise and Cardinal Schonberg).  The prevailing scientific model of the day held that the earth was the center of the universe, not the sun.  This was not because of some Christian anthropocentric prejudice, but because of the almost universally accepted (in Europe) theories of Ptolemy (circa 90-168 AD).  (Link)

The whole Galileo hoopla was in essence an academic disagreement dressed in the ecclesiastical clothes of the intelligentsia of the day.  In truth, although many Christians held to the commonly accepted views of Ptolemy, many others backed the heliocentric theories of Copernicus.  The charged atmosphere surrounding heliocentrism at the time, was caused by rancorous academic debate, not unscientific superstition.  In fact, Christianity is largely responsible­a good case can be made that it is exclusively responsible­for the fact that science exists at all.  (Link)

As Richard Stark notes, “Not only were science and religion compatible, they were inseparable­the rise of science was achieved by deeply religious Christian scholars. ”  (Link)

Christianity is always emitting various questing, growing, hopeful seeds of promise.  As Thomas Cahill observes, the Christian view of the world “as a healing mystery, fraught with divine messages­could never have risen out of Greco-Roman civilization, threaded with the profound pessimism of the ancients and their Platonic suspicion of the body as unholy and the world devoid of meaning.”  (Link)

Contractive, bleak, self-centered inanity of atheism

As opposed to the contractive, bleak, self-centered inanity of atheism, Christianity offers a life-affirming, expansive, God-centered world-view. 

One example of the contractive influence of atheism­one could say a stellar example­can be found in America’s space program, or lack thereof.  NASA under Progressive control has gone from a “To boldly go where no one has gone before” attitude, to their new motto of “There’s No Place Like Home.”  Go get ‘em “Dorothy.”  (Link) 

Unlike atheists, who are limited (contracted) to a mere scientific viewpoint, Christians have the elevated vantage point of a more inclusive world-view­one that is not nearly so provincial and limited as the material reductionist one.  The Christian view allows for, indeed encourages, an expansive, pro-active outlook.

As Dinesh D’Souza puts it, “Christians believe that reality is much bigger, and that there are ways of apprehending reality that go beyond rational syllogisms and scientific experiments.  What looks like anti-intellectualism on the part of Christians is actually a protest against reductive materialism’s truncated view of reality.”  (Link)

This is as good a time as any to mention that the concept of “separation of church and state” is often misrepresented as being in the US Constitution, when nothing of the sort exists.  The phrase comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote, and was in reference to his refusal to let one particular Christian denomination become the officially sanctioned “state religion” of America.  (Link)

Perhaps, like Jefferson, we too should take an oath before God to bear “eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man”­including atheistic secular humanism.  (Link)

D’Souza also observes that, “This is not a time for Christians to turn the other cheek.  Rather it is a time to drive the money changers out of the Temple.  The atheists no longer want to be tolerated.  They want to monopolize the public square and to expel Christians from it.  ...They want to discredit the factual claims of religion, and they want to convince the rest of society that Christianity is not only mistaken but also evil.”  (Link).”

Other whoppers that the Far Left have foisted onto “we the people,” (and the world at large), is that Hitler was a Christian, the Holocaust was Christian inspired, and that Pope Pius XII aided and abetted the Nazis.  All of those “facts” are lies, made up out of whole cloth.  (Link)  (Link) 

Recently Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) compared the Republicans to the Nazis, which seeing as the Nazis were a Far Left collectivist effort (Socialist Worker’s Party?  Hello?), is tantamount to the Left saying that the Right isn’t right (i.e. they’re wrong) because they are more to the left than the Left.  This no doubt makes sense to liberals, though I’ve given up trying to figure out their Byzantine mental constructs.  (Link)  and (Link)

Orwellian filter of America’s “Ministry of Truth” aka “the main stream media”

Far Left atheists are finding it harder to fob off their lies on “we the people” now that ever-increasing numbers of us are bypassing the Orwellian filter of America’s “Ministry of Truth” (aka “the main stream media”).  The truth will set us free.  (Link)

Leaving aside the question of atheistic attacks from without for now, let’s take a quick glance at the insidious influence of the atheist’s attacks on Christianity from within.  As damaging as the Far Left attacks on Christianity from the outside have been, they have not been as damaging as the attacks from inside. 

Perhaps the most damaging attack on the Roman Catholic church, the world’s largest Christian denomination, has been the infiltration of its ecclesiastical hierarchy by homosexuals.  The fact that homosexual priests have been preying on young men and boys who have come to them for spiritual guidance and advice is an abomination that surely warrants hell for those responsible.

(A brief aside.  Although I believe in hell, I don’t buy into eternal damnation.  I do not believe that a God that is Love metes out eternal punishment to His immortal “children” for being mentally and spiritually sick, and like the Prodigal Son, gone astray in a “far country.”  I believe that such people in fact punish themselves, via a sort of karmic magnetism.  That is, those who live rotten lives in this realm condemn themselves to punishment in the next go-round.  Although it may not be eternal damnation, no doubt it can seem like an eternity.  The Bible warns us of the “what goes around comes around” nature of things:  “As you have done, it shall be done to you.  Your deeds shall return on your own head, ” and “God cannot be mocked.  A man reaps what he sows.”  I’m not proselytizing here­I’m merely sharing my viewpoint in case it may be of interest to someone.  I am NOT saying that my position in this regard is the correct one for anyone else­only that it works for me, for now). 

My heart goes out to the vast majority of Catholic priests, who are decent, good people­indeed sometimes even saintly­who have been tarred with the same brush used on their despicable brethren. 

Paul Likoudis, a devout Catholic reporter, writes in his book “Amchurch Comes Out” that “the evidence is now irrefutable that an influential and very powerful coterie within the Catholic Church­well embedded and well protected by the Roman Catholic hierarchy and their peers in the police, the courts, legislatures and the media­is successfully advancing a sexual liberation agenda that will not end until every social stigma attached to any sexual activity, no matter how bizarre, has been erased.”  (Link)

By “Amchurch” Likoudis means the American Catholic Church.  Putting aside the subject of homosexuals in the priesthood for the moment, it is worth noting how the Far Left’s agenda jives with a homosexual/lesbian agenda.  I believe that “we the people” would be shocked to learn of the pervasive extent of homosexuality/lesbianism in America’s “halls of power.”  (Link)

Likoudis concludes that the homosexual cabal within the Catholic Church “will [in the end] be on the losing side of history, but the damage they will have wrought will be enormous.”

What about the various Protestant denominations, how are they faring?  Well they too have their own difficulties with homosexuals and lesbians, of course, but the Protestants have other issues as well.  One of them is called the National Council of Churches (NCC). 

“Front Page” editor Jacob Laskin writes, “Founded in 1950, [the] NCC has…remained faithful to the legacy of its forerunner, the Communist front-group known as the Federal Council of Churches.  ..Adhering to what is described as “liberation theology”­that is, Marxist ideology disguised as Christianity­the NCC lays claim to a membership of 36 Protestant, Anglican, and Orthodox Christian denominations, and some 50 million members in over 140,000 congregations.”  (Link)

You should also be cognizant of the NCC’s Geneva-based parent group, the leftist World Council of Churches (WCC).  All in all­whatever the Christian denomination­I think it’s safe to say that “the fox is in the hen-house.”  Bruce Walker labels the collection of various “foxes” under the umbrella term “Sinisterism.”  (Link)

(The word “sinister” springs from the Latin root word for “left.”  I like the term “Sinisterism,” it’s much more descriptive than the bland word “collectivism,” (which is rather tame sounding­like you’re discussing a Rotary Club get-together or something), and also avoids unwieldy verbal constructs such as “Islamofascist/Marxism”).  (Link)

The problems that Christianity has faced, and is facing, are of course much greater than the few examples that I’ve mentioned in this article.  Like America itself, Christianity in America is in desperate need of “heavenly help.”

We should pray for ourselves, Christianity, and America.  I have found that there’s all the difference in the world between “fervent effective prayer,” and begging.  The former draws you closer to God, while the latter pushes you away.  Hint:  God does not suffer from ADD, or hearing loss (“God created ears.  Do you think he can’t hear?”) 

I have also found that there are three important components to effective prayer.  The first, as Jesus told us, is to clear our mind of all thoughts of anger, revenge, and the like (if only for the period of prayer), the second is to believe, and the third part is to be thankful.  All three parts are essential elements of effective prayer. 
In his book “The Marketing of Evil” David Kupelian gives a great description of an effective method of prayer:  “As pastors often say, prayer isn’t always talking to God.  It’s often better just to listen.  ...If you notice envious thoughts, just observe them­honestly, sincerely, without escaping or trying to change them or making excuses for them or justifying them or getting upset over them.  Just see what God shows you about yourself, with poise and dignity, and quietly, wordlessly, cry inwardly to Him for help.  He will”  (In addition, I would stress an “atmosphere” of forgiveness [for myself and others], thanksgiving, and belief).  (Link)

Paul tells us that “in everything give thanks.”  (Note, Paul says “in everything,” not “for everything”­there’s a huge difference).  Why should we be grateful?  Because, as Christians, Paul tells us, we should “rejoice always,” and because in supplicative prayer we consider what we’re praying for to be a “done deal.”  We have faith.  We believe.  (The subjects of “belief,” and aligning with God’s Will, are very important ones, but I can’t delve into them at present without going far afield from this article’s main theme).  (Link) 

The Far Left atheists have greatly shaken the “tree of faith” 

The Far Left atheists have greatly shaken the “tree of faith”­which may turn out to be not such a bad thing.  By shaking the tree of faith, hopefully much of the “rotten fruit” will drop out.  I have no desire to “turn back the clock”­such a thing is undesirable, even if it were possible.  But surely we can work toward eliminating the worst excesses of atheistic secular humanism, and rediscovering and reinvigorating the many blessings to be found in Christianity.

Recently it was reported that China is on the fast track to becoming the world’s largest Christian nation.  Do you think that it’s a coincidence that China is on its way to being both the world’s preeminent power, and its largest Christian country?  This should come as no surprise, as Christianity is a natural fit for a vibrant, growing nation.  After all, the teachings of the iconoclast Jesus were, and are, revolutionary.  He was no lover of the status quo.  Jesus DID things; CHANGED things; He was extremely pro-active.  He shook up the establishment, ridiculed the Power Elites of His day, and yes, performed miracles.  (Link)   (Link) 

Are “we the people” just going to let it all slip through our fingers, and forfeit our children’s birthright, for “a mess of potage?”  (Link)

“We the people” might want to take Paul’s advice and “take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand”­or we might want to start learning to speak Chinese.  Maybe we can do both, maybe there’s room in this world for more than one great Christian nation. 
 
Laus Deo.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/32442