My Sunday Thought for 10162016: God or Politics?

--Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi had a keen insight into social morality.  As a nation we are guilty of violating each of these seven social sins.  I'm sure each of us can put a reason for all seven, so... I'll give you my take on them and let you ponder your own.

1.  Politics without principles.  Really?  Simply take a look at the current presidential race to see the tremendous lack of principles in politics today.  It has been growing steadily as the news media has become more interested in fluff than substance, and have abandoned the basic rules of good journalism for sensationalism.

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

-- Titus 3:9

2.  Wealth without work.  Welfare should have never been a quota driven system where rewards are given to those bringing the most on board.  Welfare was supposed to be a leg up for those who needed it, not a lifestyle for the lazy capable of honest work.

Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.

-- Proverbs 12:11

3.  Pleasure without conscience.  Sex without love, pornography, unwed mothers, fathers abandoning children, multiple partners, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

-- Galatians 5:19-21

4.  Knowledge without character.  We used to have something we called "common sense."  There is nothing common about it, today.  Now you're lucky if you find any good sense.  Most people we find with any true intelligence didn't get it from our education system which has difficulty teaching the most basic subjects.  We have given up fact based learning for liberal, agenda based learning where facts are interpreted and histories are rewritten fictions.  Facts have been replaced by what the State wants you to know, everything else, truth, relies on a person thinking for themselves.  Good luck with that. 

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me: [therefore] will I change their glory into shame.

-- Hosea 4:6-7

5.  Commerce without morality.  We gave a nuclear capability to our enemy and sold out or ally.  We put the safety of our country and that of another at risk for political and economic agreement which our enemy had no intention of honoring from the onset.  We send our jobs overseas, along with our businesses, while we suffer massive unemployment here at home.  We pay through the nose for pharmaceuticals in our own country yet give them away in others.  

A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but accurate weights are his delight.

-- Proverbs 11:1

6.  Science without humanity.  We murder our own unborn babies for the advancement of science, the almighty dollar, and so many other selfish reasons.  We excuse murdering children, as though it is our right to do so.  We allow pharmaceutical companies to curry political favor and dictate our morality.  If a fetus isn't considered life until it is born, then kill it before it passes the uterine event horizon and all is legal.  When did a doctors forget to do no harm?

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

-- Proverbs 31:8-9

7.  Worship without sacrifice.  Isn't this the crumbling foundation which allows the other six to grow, unabated?  Our lack of faith, our denied hypocrisy, allows us to excuse the murder of unborn babies and approves half of our society to sit on their lazy asses and take from those of us giving honest labor.  We sit by and watch as terrorists cut five year old children in half under the guise of some sick, radical Islamic imam's, interpretation of the Qur'an.  Innocence is dying on our watch.  Innocence is being slaughtered because innocence wears the face of the wrong faith.  

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

-- Isaiah 1:17

We hand over our immortal souls to ministers and priests who are rife with more sin than many of their parishioners could even imagine.  Our clergy is more wrapped up in running a business than in saving souls.  Clergy seems too busy eating and drinking through their own 9 to 5 lives of running the business which has become church, than giving one tinker's damn about wandering the streets of the homeless and hungry.  Heaven forbid they give up their nice car, warm bed, and crystal cathedral, to actually make a difference in the lives of those truly needy and not the hypocrites darkening the doorstep of the Lord every Sunday.  We are all about putting on the great show of worship, then turning our backs on the least of us. 

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

-- Matthew 6:24

I leave you with one last thought as we approach the November elections.  If you are a person of color, this election is of utmost importance to you and your equality.  We have come a long way since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and we still have work to do.  Do not be swayed away from the path of peace by those wishing to profit from ignorance, especially those in your own house who would use their own people as a stepping stone to fame, fortune, and hypocrisy.  Our morality is under fire, our Christianity is under fire, our health is under fire, our soldiers are under fire, our retirement system is under fire, and our Constitution is under fire.  Fortunately these attacks are all coming from the same direction.  Let knowledge be your weapon of defense, and remember that God has your back.  If it flies in the face of your faith, be critical of those uttering the bullshit.  Evil is a great deceiver, and in this election evil is emboldened by the media to lie right to your face as though you are too stupid to see the forest for the trees.

"May I suggest that this upcoming Presidential election may prove to be most important in our lifetime. We really do not need another president who follows the same mistaken and broken policies that have been followed for at least the past thirty years or more. 

Our nation can no longer afford the nonsense promoted by the banking community, the so-called Federal Reserve–which is neither Federal, nor is it a reserve. It is a banking cartel which does not have the interests of this nation in mind whatsoever, but their own pockets.  

The Bible declares in a most straightforward manner that national debt is the curse of God."

-- Jerome Smith, Real Bible Study

 Editor's Note 

(re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card) 

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider another viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and then engaging in peaceful, constructive, discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning the opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we do afterward, and what we learn from the experience.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, and instructor. He is founder of the Congregation for Religious Tolerance and author/editor of the Congregation's official blog site, "The Path," which offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination.