Honor

It is truly a struggle to find a positive topic in this hour of distress for our nation and its people.

How in the world can we live the rest of our lives resting in faith that our Lord will accept us in Heaven solely through the grace of His gift of sacrifice for us, yet surrounded by the sin and depredation that our nation has embraced in its public policy and daily life? Do we not owe our Savior and Creator the duty of working to make our land as free and honorable as it once was?

Are we blameless in the debacle that is unfolding around us today?

Earthquakes, pestilence, storms, and untimely death have ever been with mankind. But what about the willful deceit that has overtaken our society? Why do we tolerate teachers who falsely claim that our nation was founded by secular men - when the plain truth is that the signers of the Declaration of Independence were devout, and many of them seminarians? How can we ignore the immorality of sexual perversion and extramarital sex that are celebrated, not just tolerated, in our culture? When business and government ally to strip us of our individual freedoms, why do we accept this sin as inevitable?

Yes, we are to live in the world without being of it. Yes, we are not measured by our works, but by our repentance for our sins and our public acceptance of Christ's sacrifice. Yes, no matter how our elected officials and the bureaucracy pervert our world, nothing can prevent our private conversations with God our our loving work to help His creation.

But are we not given our sense of honor by the very Lord we serve? Are not our actions meant to reflect with integrity our beliefs?

Does faith demand that we take action to stop the theft of our God-given freedoms by the incumbents in Congress and their conspirators in the media and business? If we are honorable, this is precisely the demand faith makes on you and me. But what action is demanded?

Well, the business leaders at West Marine have just learned from their customers when they crossed the line. But the management at Wal-Mart seems oblivious to their craven collaboration with the usurpers. In both cases, informed and concerned customers have written to confront them with their error. Writing a well-reasoned and civil objection can work, and certainly is honorable.

Should we emulate the New Black Panthers and intimidate voters at polling places with weapons? It seems the current Justice Department finds little fault with this behavior. But, somehow, it hardly seems honorable. Does it?

Shall we concoct lies about our opponents and disseminate them widely? Just this week, leftist bloggers continued their assault on former governor Palin and her family to weaken her threat to their cultural hegemony. That hardly seems honorable. But reminding people of the 40-year-old truth that Teddy Kennedy is a craven, self-serving coward is unforgivable to his admirers. Just remember, if he had merely stopped at the first house he came to in Chappaquiddick and called for help, Mary Jo Kopechne might well have survived her ride in his car.

Actually, telling the truth about President Obama, Vice-President Biden, Senator Reid, and Speaker Pelosi should make every American rise up in righteous wrath to expel them from office. And yet few of us have an appetite for that truth, and not enough of us are so outraged by their views and actions that we would take action to recover our country.

Some day, Americans will fall to their knees - not in fear of an all-powerful government - but in gratitude to our all-powerful God to thank Him for sparing us from the shame and depredations the current pack of hyenas are visiting on us. That day, God willing, will come not after armed insurrection, but after a revival of the spiritual and cultural strength that once made our nation worthy of God's love. Let us thank Him that He loves us whether worthy or not. Let us honor Him in word and deed. And let us pray that day comes soon, that we may see it with our eyes.