Author: jason sherman

One of the treats of being a grandmother is listening to my grandchildren talk about the world God created for us.  The awe with which they share each and every facet of His Creation never ceases to amaze me.

“Look Grandma! Look at the sunset.  It is orange today!  There is a bird in the sky.  Grandma, where is the moon?  I can’t find it.  Is it hiding?  There is a horse, Grandma.”  As I try to keep up, the conversation continues to change.  All of a sudden I hear, “There it is!  There it is, Grandma!” 
Continue reading “Lessons In The Clouds”

“Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

 

Some time back, the Encyclopedia Britannica announced that after 244 years of publishing, they were now ceasing the printing of books.  From now on digital editions are all that will be available.  Indeed, the times are changing, and since I won’t live long enough to get used to all this, I am beginning to wonder if there is any reason to bother trying.

One of the big changes I see today is children who seem to be unable or unwilling to grow up.  I am reminded of Peter Pan.  J. M. Barrie created this mischievous young boy who could fly, but could never grow up.  Peter Pan would spend his never-ending childhood having adventures on the island of Neverland.  This was a fairy tale, but today it has become a reality.

It is ironic the same society that expects little kids to adapt to a structured classroom by the time they are three, expects so little from teenagers.  We seem to over-protect and insulate our teens from every possible learning experience.  Of course, do we really know what is dangerous?  Should you let your child ride a bike to school, or strap her into a car for the trip?  Is one really safer than the other?  Which child is more at risk, the sedentary one who sets back eating chips, playing video games and getting fat, or the one riding a bike without a helmet?

Although we all know of glowing exceptions, by and large most kids simply don’t grow up until their hair starts to grey.  Adolescence, which used to indicate a child under sixteen, has been redefined to extend well into the 20s and 30s.  Real maturity seems to be coming later and later, if it comes at all.  Modern culture says it is wrong to expect a teenager to grow up, accept responsibility, and start being an asset rather than a liability.  People used to have large families because children were an asset.  Today, we feel we can’t handle but two or three because children are a liability, and all too often they may be a permanent liability.  In 2011, almost a fifth of males between 25 and 34 still lived with their parents.  Well over half of those were non-financial contributors to the home.  The average age of video game players has now risen to 30 years old. The number of men in their early 40s who have never married has risen fourfold.

Now, let me ask you, would you expect anyone to be good at their calling if they only learned from textbooks and never actually obtained any practical experience?  Is that the kind of doctor you would like to have?  What if they never had to answer for their mistakes in the real world?  Would this be a real learning experience for the medical student?  Would the work lose its meaning and relevance if we were always disengaged from the real world?  Yet, this is how we build teenagers today.  We have insulated them from work, responsibilities, and consequences.  We have delayed their development and have made it almost impossible for them to grow up.

There was a time when most kids had a job.  They worked on the farm, delivered papers, or established a business mowing lawns.  Many worked full time in the summer and continued to work part time during the school year. At the same time many college students had to work to pay their tuition. But, several decades back we decided that teens ought to concentrate on academics, not labor.  Learning was to take place from books alone and not augmented by real life experience.  Thus we made education or sports the only way they could meaningfully demonstrate their competencies. No wonder they have difficulty establishing a sense of their own individuality.  When I was in college, the university acted as somewhat of a parental figure, particularly regarding sex, alcohol, and accepting responsibility. Modern institutions have apparently decided that students are mature enough to make up their own minds. Yet, at the same time, they assume the students are not mature enough to handle discomforting speech, which must be regulated and confined to “free speech zones.”   Apparently, college kids raised by modern parents are strong enough to handle alcohol and pre-marital sex, but are so brittle they will break if confronted with ideas they don’t like.

Many kids of past generations learned about the real world through their work.  From a young age they could learn the problems of the real world from their employers.  They had responsibilities. Most teenagers don’t work today, and many that are employed, do not work in an adult world with adult expectations.  Employers have found it necessary to create a modified workplace for the few teens who do work.  The workplaces are designed so young people can function well even if they are spaced-out, bored, and not really interested in assuming real responsibility or accomplishing anything. These jobs are catered to adapt to the sorry employee.  You end up learning you can get through your shift by utilizing only a fraction of your untapped abilities.

You might assume that even if they are not mastering the principles of work, at least they are learning about finances; no not really.  Parents may be at home contemplating how they are going to make the mortgage payment, but usually the kids are spending their money on electronic gadgets or downloading some new tunes. In reality, they don’t have any of the responsibilities they’re going to have as adults.  The day of young people contributing to the family, buying their own school clothes, and paying their own way to college is over.

And yet we wonder why it’s taking so long for them to mature. Some say it is because their brains have not fully developed and their hormones are out of control.  Parents like to hear this because it gets them off the hook; it’s biological, not our fault.  But, I suspect modern parenting styles may be contributing to their brains being this way. Parents of my day knew how to adjust your brains and hormones at the same time.  Usually, this was accomplished in the woodshed, rather than the psychiatrist office.  You see, without painful real-life experiences, young people will never learn to recognize real consequences and real rewards.  It may surprise you, but I believe kids need stress and challenges.  I am not speaking of over-whelming pressure, but just enough so they learn the consequences of taking risks.  If we don’t give teens enough ways to take productive risks, they will default into taking foolish, unproductive, and dangerous risks.  They are natural thrill seekers, and they will find that thrill somewhere.  I recently read that the average college senior is in touch with their parents more than 13 times a week. You might think that is a wonderful display of their deep love and desire to stay in touch.  Actually, it was usually because they needed help.  They needed money, or help completing their college work, or they needed Mom and Dad to remind them to wear a coat if it’s cold or to check the oil in their cars.  Good grief!

 

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6

 

Let’s take another look at this verse.  It appears to say if you train a child to go down the right path, when he is older, even if he strays, like a fish returning to the place of his birth, he will naturally default back to the original path.  The trouble with this classic interpretation is that it doesn’t always work.  Some young people don’t rebel; others do indeed rebel and return to the straight and narrow, but some rebel and choose to never return.  Since the Bible is the infallible Word of God, there must be something wrong with our interpretation.  A better understanding begins with an appreciation of the Hebrew language.

Let’s first consider the words “train up.”  The Hebrew word chanak means “to dedicate, consecrate, clearly define, to throttle, or to narrow.” It’s used only four times in the Old Testament, three times in reference to dedicating a completed building and only once of a child.  So, to train up means to clearly define the narrow pathway to be taken and then dedicate, encourage, govern and consecrate yourself into accomplishing that mission.  You see how this would relate to a building or a child?  A similar term relates to the training of a horse. This image pictures a horse’s bridle, which subdues the horse for the purpose of directing its natural energies without breaking its spirit. Horses want to run because God gave them the desire to do so.  A wise, caring rider uses the bit and the reins to help the horse achieve its purpose safely and effectively.

“Training up” calls for a relationship in which parent and child dedicate themselves to a shared purpose. The parent finds ways to encourage behavior that works for the family while satisfying the child’s unique needs. It involves guiding, throttling, defining, and training the wild spirit in order to give it purpose and direction.   The wise parent using inspiration instead of coercion, discovers the child’s unique abilities and then encourages the behavior necessary for proper development.

Next, let’s look at the word “child.”  This word generally refers to an adolescent.  It might be considered to be a young teenager or youth.  Though it can refer to a younger child, the most common object of the term is a young man. The verse is focused on how parents are to raise their adolescent children. This is a youth group verse, not a nursery verse!  Although there are numerous verses dealing with how to discipline and teach the very young child, this verse is talking about a specific form of training not designed for a very young child.  In other words, the implication is that the child must be old enough to comprehend the training.  The building must be completed to a point where it is ready for dedication.

Next, let’s look at the term “in the way he should go.”  The Hebrew is quite simply “in accordance with the proper way.”  First, we must accept the true nature of man.  Modern psychology teaches us that man is born good.  However, the Bible teaches we are born with a sin nature. Without a relationship with Jesus Christ, child rearing can be nothing more than child management or behavior modification.  This is all the world has to offer because it starts from the wrong premise.  This leads to a multitude of false conclusions. This is evidenced by a world that is full of children who never learned their boundaries, who refused to respect and obey their parents, and who have gone and done as they pleased. They weren’t trained to be responsible, so there is no reason to expect them to live responsible and godly as adults.

As parents establish boundaries, it communicates care, concern, and love.  Those who don’t take the time to discipline shouldn’t be surprised when their children grow into rebellious, irresponsible, uncontrollable teenagers.  Discipline is not one-size-fits-all, rather it requires us to study our children and learn how they respond and what motivates them.  Discipline is never fun for either the parent or the child, but, rendered properly, can lead to a level of understanding and maturity that rarely can be accomplished in other ways.

 

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

Hebrews 12:11

 

Now, we understand the deeper meaning of the ancient Proverb.  It simply means to train them for life.  People obviously have differing gifts, talents, and callings.  For example, if you are a member of the royal family you receive special training.   A race horse or a seeing-eye dog receives special training.  This is what our kids need.  But, you say I don’t know if my child is going to be a scientist or a garbage collector.  But, it doesn’t really matter.  We train our children in the way to live their life; for any way in which he is to spend his life.  Regardless of the occupation he may later follow, it is necessary to prepare him for it in his early years because that is when habits formed which will greatly influence his manhood.

Now, let’s put it all together:  You make a child do what he ought to do–so, he can become what he ought to be–so, by default, he will learn to choose to do what he ought to do.  We make children obey because it is a command of God, it is for their safety and benefit, it is for the benefit of society, and it is a picture of God and His children.  We train our children to expose, strengthen, and encourage their personal needs and created purpose.  I was taught to obey.  I was also taught the consequences of crossing the boundaries.  But, I was also trained in certain disciplines that I still retain to this day.  I even held on to most of them before I became a Christian.  For example, the concept of hard work, being dependable, keeping your word, being on time, being respectful to ladies, being respectful to elders, and obeying the law.  I was taught to do what I ought to do–so, I could become the man I ought to be–so, by default, I would learn to choose to do what I ought to do.

Again, I gladly acknowledge the exceptions, but many young people today are not what they ought to be.  Many have no sense of character.  Many are not what they ought to be because they have never been taught to do what they ought to do.  At school we shouldn’t have to spend a lot of time teaching them it is wrong to cheat, steal, lie, or do less than their best.  We shouldn’t have to teach them how to dress or to be respectful to adults.  We should be able to train them to be what they ought to be, but we can’t because many parents have not taught them to do what they ought to do.  Many children seem to have never heard the word “no”!  Again, the concept:  You make a child do what he ought to do-so, he can become what he ought to be-so, by default, as he grows up he will learn to choose to do what he ought to do.  This is one of the reasons we have so many rules and regulations today.  We have to constantly be told what to do because we have never learned to be what we ought to be.

“When he is old, he will not depart” is a warning, not a promise.  This is not a promise to parents who raise their children properly that God will negate the child’s free will and make them do right.  It is a warning to parents who allow their adolescents to grow up without guidance, who raise them to go their own way.  When you let a child do what he wants most likely he will grow up to be a self-willed adult incapable of change.  This verse is meant to be a warning about the bad results of permissive parenting, of failing to set boundaries and giving guidance to adolescents. It is a warning to parents as their children enter the adolescent years, not to let them go their own way and do their own thing. We are not only born sinful, we were also born foolish.  We have the tendency to make the wrong choices.  This is one of the reasons so many young adults make so many foolish decisions.  They were never trained, instructed, and disciplined by their parents to walk in the ways of God.

I remember once reading of a mother of three, rowdy, preschoolers being asked if she would still have three children if she had it to do over again. She immediately answered, “Sure . . . just not these three.”  Though at times you may wish you could trade in your child for a model with less maintenance, the reality is that your child is a unique gift from God. In His sovereign wisdom, God has entrusted you with the life of another person, one that is usually a lot like yourself.  However, with the blessing of children comes the high and heavy responsibility of being a parent. It is not for the squeamish, the selfish, or the foolish. Parenting is the task of a lifetime, and it carries with it great risks, but also eternal rewards.  Christian parents do not simply raise their children; they try to raise them right.

One of the things causing our civilization to unravel is the ever increasing population of untrained children. This trend is growing because many untrained children from few years back are now parents themselves and are cultivating the same parenting styles applied to them; and the dominos continue to fall.

Now, let’s put it all together one more time:  You make a child do what he ought to do–so, he can become what he ought to be–so, by default, he will learn to choose to do what he ought to do.

Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry forty years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries.

When you hold your baby in your arms for the first time, you know you have something special. He is a unique individual created by our Lord. Our God knew your child even while he was in the womb. This child is an individual unlike any other. The DNA in his cells, the prints on his fingers, and the very essence of his personality are his and his alone. Continue reading “A School With Heart”

I laid on the bed with tears running down my cheeks.  I listened intently, appalled by what I was hearing on the news.  I could not believe it.  All I could think of was my babies, all nineteen of them.  My husband and I are getting older, and we have had a wonderful life, but I am afraid for what the future holds for my children and grandchildren.  My heart was heavy with grief. Continue reading “Our Only Hope”

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“For the leaders of this people cause them to err, and they that are led of them are destroyed.”  Isaiah 9:16

“Therefore My people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge;  and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.”  Isaiah 5:13

 “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”  Proverbs 29:2

A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague. —Cicero

Recently several liberal politicians were asked to explain the difference in their political position and the position of a socialist.  They either could not or would not answer the question.

First, a socialist will embrace certain classes, races, or groups as a collective; but seldom concern themselves with individuals or non-socialist groups. Second, they believe that all inequalities must be removed, and all people must be made equal.  By that, we do not mean equal opportunity but equal outcome.   Of course, they do believe a chosen few should be more equal than others.  For a socialist, the overriding concern is always promoting socialism; so rules and regulation mean different things for different people.  Fidel Castro may have been the leader of a Communist revolution against the evil “rich people” in Cuba, but he’s worth 900 million dollars today.  Go figure!  Third, they believe if government is wealthy, big, and powerful enough it can solve all problems.  Fourth, since common people cannot be trusted with personal or corporate power they favor government control (or ownership) of the economy’s basic industries. Fifth, they seek to establish a cradle-to-grave dependence on government, thus insuring the people will demand the continual advancement of their socialist agenda.

I suppose every generation complains about how the new generation is messing everything up.  But, it must be obvious to all, but the most historically challenged, that America has fallen from the position she held just a few years ago.  Sadly, the destruction of our nation has not been the result of a foreign power, but has been caused by liberal stupidity.  I suppose some might argue it has also been hastened through the sinister planning of those seeking our destruction.  Either way, our destruction was not particularly difficult.  The foolish socialist mind is easily duped.

Socialism, which was despised by Americans in the past, has suddenly become extremely popular.  This has been caused in part by our socialist oriented educational system.  Modern Americans know very little about the sordid past of the socialist agenda.  Yet, to be honest, socialism also seems to fit in perfectly with our modern way of surface thinking.  To the casual observer, socialism is like a miracle drug that appears to fix everything that is wrong.  Socialism is “nice” and “fair.”  Socialism makes you feel good about helping people who “deserve it” by taking things away from those selfish people that “have so much.”

Until recently, the transition occurred so slowly many failed to recognize what was happening.  After all, there has never been a large Socialist party in the United States.  That is true, but in reality a large socialist party has not been needed because so many members of the Democrat and Republican parties have aligned themselves with the radical socialist agenda.  When it comes to taking control of individuals and businesses, instituting more welfare programs, and increasing the size and reach of government, modern liberal politicians and hard core socialists are difficult to distinguish.

Socialism May be Good For Government, But it is Bad For The Country.

I can easily concede that if I want to assure myself a comfortable and powerful place in government, giving away other people’s money is a good way to do it.  I can offer “free” money (welfare), “free” food (food stamps and free meals at school), “free” money (unemployment and disability), “free” medical care (Obamacare), “free” housing (public housing and housing assistance), “free” phones, and even “free” contraception.  Giving away free stuff can be fun, but even a simpleton knows there is really no such thing as free stuff.  Someone has to pick up the check.  Of course, as long as that someone is someone else most folks don’t seem to mind.  Joining the flat-butt society and accepting money your neighbors had to work for is a great socialist past-time.  Yet, free stuff can really get expensive.  It will end up costing you your ambition, your achievement, and your liberty.

The Wall Street Journal found in 2011, 49 percent of Americans lived in a household where at least one member of the family received a government benefit.  That puts our nation at a tipping point as almost half of all taxpayers pay no income tax and nearly half of all Americans receive some form of direct government support. The official poverty rate hovers between 12 and 15 percent, the same place it was back in the late 1960’s in spite of a 927 billion dollar means-tested welfare spending budget.  Is it just me, or is something wrong with this picture?

There are some who will acknowledge that socialism has not worked in other countries, but they assure us it will work in America. They contend that we are different from the rest of the world and with our ingenuity we can make it work.  Yet, it has already been tried in America.  Let’s see what happens when the Federal government decides it is best for you to be helpless, hopeless, clueless, churchless, desperate, despondent, and dependent.

What Socialism Did for the Native American.

 The native people living in America were a proud, brave, self-reliant people until they were conquered by the United States.  We all know they were handily defeated by our military, but few realize their greater decimation came from our politicians. They were herded onto reservations and promised perpetual care from a benevolent government. We would give them free food so there would be no need for hunting (you will no longer need your weapons).  We awarded them free land which was first confiscated from them.  We also offered them free medical care, free clothing, free schooling, and free money. They’d never again have to provide for themselves. This sounds like a great deal, but it was not.  The American Indians paid a huge price for those “free” things.

These proud, independent, self-sustaining people lost their ambition to excel and improve their station in life.  Even with the racial persecution they endured, they could have learned (as some did) to excel in the new America, but they were destroyed by the crushing hopelessness of the welfare state.  The result has been generations living in poverty and misery, dying of alcoholism, suicide, and disease.  By “providing for them,” the government took away the Native Americans’ ability and will to provide for themselves.

The American Indian has been a victim of American socialism longer than any other group.  Let’s see what it has done for them.  Of all the ethnic groups in our country, the American Indians have the highest rate of school drop outs, the highest rate of child mortality, the highest rate of suicide, the highest rate of teenage pregnancy.  Furthermore, their life expectancy of 55 years is most likely lower than it was before the Europeans brought “civilization” to the new world.

Changing the name of the Washington Redskins may be the politically correct thing to do, but it was an experiment in American socialism that was the most offensive thing we have done to this proud and noble people.

What Socialism Did for the African American.

 Can you imagine black unemployment being at 4%?  Those days did exist, but to find it you will have to go back to the time when racial discrimination and segregation were openly practiced.  Isn’t it amazing that in a day when half the black people didn’t finish high school their chance to earn a living to support their family was actually higher than it is today?  Today, in a less segregated America, the African American unemployment rate is about three times higher than it was back then.  Furthermore, if you happen to be wondering where the highest unemployment rates are, you only need to look at our most socialistic cities (Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington, etc.).

 In 1964, Republicans were responsible for passing the Civil Rights Act.  This act was intended to provide all people, regardless of race or sex, an equal access to all public facilities.  The act also banned unequal voter requirements insuring all the right to vote. Although, in my opinion, the act was hastily and foolishly written thus insuring some of the problems we are facing today, it still could have been a valuable piece of legislation.  Could have been!  Unfortunately, our government had a more insidious plan.

The Civil Rights Act did not improve black employment opportunities, as gains in up-scale career fields actually decreased after the act was passed.  The Civil Rights Act did help address some needed inequalities; but the biggest thing it accomplished was to give the federal government unprecedented power over every business in the country. Suddenly, hiring practices, employee policies, and customer service procedures came under strict federal scrutiny. This resulted in a massive violation of the rights of private property and contract.

The second socialist blow also came in 1964 as Democrat Lyndon Johnson began his presidential campaign with the theme of a “Great Society.”  Johnson’s socialist agenda won popular support while assuring the decline of American civilization, especially for blacks.  What few realized at the time was the “Great Society” was never intended to create a better America.  It was intended to enable government to take more from us, polarize us to prevent our uniting, and to have us look to an all-powerful government for everything.  Although a few elements of the program may have proven beneficial, in general Blacks didn’t need the Great Society, but government needed those programs to enslave them to their system.  The Master whose good pleasure must supply our most basic needs still lives in the unapproachable big white house with the big columns.

Of course the white working class was forced to finance the programs, but the system was cruelest to blacks who were stripped of dignity, not by evil white plantation owners, but by the federal masters in Washington.  The amount of taxpayer money spent on welfare programs and aid to individuals between 1965 and 1970 was the largest transfer of wealth in history. But it had no appreciable effect, as the poverty rate did not decrease as intended. This was a staggering and expensive failure that bore terrible consequences.  Programs that had been created to “help” not only encouraged unemployment, but it led to an explosion of out-of-wedlock births. Back in 1963 the rate of black illegitimacy was 23 percent, today it nears 70 percent. It is interesting that even during the days of slavery, when marriage was often prohibited; most black children lived with a biological mother and father. During Reconstruction and up until the 1940s, 80% of black children lived in two-parent families. Today, more than 70% of black children are born to single women. With modern welfare programs it is often financially advantageous for many to live outside the bounds of a traditional family.

But, it didn’t stop there.  Later, as programs were expanded to give hand-outs to men, the unemployment rate began to rise, and with the idleness of unemployment came a rise in crime and drug use. Homicide rates climbed 122 percent between 1963 and 1980 and the number of black men arrested between 1966 and 1970 skyrocketed 866 percent.  Suddenly, it was no longer a shame to accept free money; however the free stuff came at a terrible price. Today, the notion that welfare is a “right” has trapped millions in government dependency.

The poverty rate in the black community had been slowly but steadily declining, but suddenly in 1968 when most of the new welfare programs were fully implemented, the progress stopped and has not fallen any further since.  Families were destroyed as the welfare programs expanded and created under the Great Society made an income producing husband or father no longer necessary.  The welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery and the harshest racism couldn’t do, it destroyed the black family.

What are we to learn from this? Although we can all applaud the progress African-Americans have made over these past few decades, this was accomplished in spite of government programs not because of them.  The politicians who imposed their foolish and short-sighted social and economic visions, long ago sabotaged the basic building blocks of a long lasting prosperity and contentment in the black community.

What Socialism is Doing to Middle Class White Americans.

 And now the same socialist do-gooders that brought devastation to Native American and African American families, are now proud to offer the same misery to middle class White Americans.  Surely, you see the parallel?  Now it is the White man’s turn to become dependent.  We see the trend already beginning to materialize.  More and more our foundations are being wiped away as all Americans are becoming mere slaves to a group of socialist politicians and government employees who “take care” of us throughout our lives.

What Can We Expect for the Future?

 Socialist will continue their attacks upon the church, the family, our morality, and our educational system.  They will also continue to destroy our self-reliance, competitiveness, and sense of community.  We must also be prepared for:

A Slowing Economy.  Socialism strangles economic growth by penalizing success and rewarding failure. When you take from the producers in a society to give it to the non-producers, you quite naturally reduce the number of productive people. This leads to a never-ending cycle. Soon the economy will slow down, and even more people will request assistance.  Eventually, our country will not be able to produce enough tax revenue to sustain itself.

Less Freedom of Speech and Descent: Socialism requires protection, intimidation, and darkness to survive. It cannot survive honest, informed debate.  We will see the term “hate speech” being applied more frequently in the future.  Old words and terms will receive new definitions.  President Ronald Reagan once said, “How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.”

An Increasingly Tyrannical Government: The more socialism you have, the less freedom you will have. Any segment of society that is not tightly controlled will naturally move towards individuality and freedom. So, socialism requires a massive growing centralized bureaucracy that will protect us from ourselves (and protect it from us).  The institution of government is ordained of God and is needed for an orderly society.  However, I am against tyranny.  As government becomes more socialist, by default it will become more oppressive and tyrannical.

A More Divided America: Socialism is all about turning people against each other. It has to be. After all, if you believe in controlling people’s lives, the people who don’t wish to be controlled need to be vilified. There must always be a “victim” class.  Should one class manage to pull themselves up in spite of government attempts to hold them back (many hard working African-Americans), then a new victim class must be created (illegal immigration).  After all, if everyone is responsible for himself, what need is there for the socialist? Ultimately, those who depend on government for their livelihood and those government loots to pay them will grow to despise each other.

America has been uniquely and providentially blessed.  Imagine the benefit of having the generation that produced the insight and wisdom of our Founding Fathers.  These mortal men, with God’s grace, devised a Constitution that has brought us unparalleled freedom and prosperity.  Our natural resources are without parallel:  not just rich and productive land, but vast resources of iron, coal and oil under the ground. We didn’t put them there; we were just blessed by God to dwell in this land of wealth.  We have had the opportunity to share our wealth with people around the world. We still feed and protect much of the world’s population. Can you name a nation that has been blessed more in these past 250 years?

As we celebrate another birthday for our nation may we reflect on the fact that most of us enjoy freedoms we have not risked our lives to establish, protect, or preserve. Yet, by the simple providence of birth we have been bequeathed an incredible legacy.  But, this legacy is under vicious attack.  May we be willing to ask the hard questions about the direction our country is taking and work to preserve American liberty for future generations.

Dr. Worthington has been in the ministry forty years and serves as President of Pathway Ministries.