Ain't Nothin' Free

Maybe it's my amazingly keen discernment capabilities, or more likely the fact that my age is approaching that of Moses, but I have noticed a few things happening in our country that have never happened before. And it disturbs me.

Our position in the world for one. We used to be the most powerful, respected nation on the planet. Not so much anymore. We also used to be a wholesome, clean-cut nation. Now we tend to do whatever we want WITH whom ever we want, wherever we want to. We also used to be a God-fearing nation . . . a Christian nation. And now? Well, let's hear it from our president . . .

We Are No Longer A Christian Nation - President Barack Obama

Did you watch the Democratic debate? Yeah, me neither. Even without seeing it I am amazed at Bernie Sanders, a socialist, and the percentage of backers he is getting. The latest poll shows him with nearly 25% of the crowd in his favor!

Ever hear of a man named Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn? He was a persecuted Christian convert from Russia who spoke out against socialism. Read this from an article in The Imaginative Conservative.

"Born in Russia in 1918, only months after the secular fundamentalists had swept to power in the Bolshevik Revolution, Solzhenitsyn was brainwashed by a state education system which taught him that socialism was just and that religion was the enemy of the people. Like most of his school friends, he enslaved himself to the zeitgeist, became an atheist and joined the communist party."

That's just about where we're at as a country right now. But there is still hope. Later in the article . . .

"While in prison, he resolved to expose the horrors of the Soviet system. Shortly after his release, during a period of compulsory exile in Kazakhstan, he was diagnosed with a malignant cancer in its advanced stages and was not expected to live. In the face of what appeared to be impending death, he converted to Christianity and was astonished by what he considered to be a miraculous recovery."

Here's a guy who found faith in Christ that lived under both socialism and communism, denounced both, and now here WE are as a nation, embracing that same socialism more and more. I find this amazing and saddening. It reminds me of when Joshua lead the Israelites into the promised land. God directed His people to build a monument so they wouldn't forget what God had done for them. But then . . . guess what . . . they forgot. And so have we.

The "monument" that reminded us about what God did for a people was these United States. We have forgotten whose we are as a nation and become a people who have turned to ourselves for help instead of turning to God.

Solzhenitsyn not only faced cancer and won but he also faced socialism and communism and persevered. We need to learn from men like Solzhenitsyn, not only in our politics but also in our faith lives. We need to stand up and fight instead of tolerating and acquiescing. We need to seek God above all else. He is still on His thrown. That's something we need to remember as we watch the future come at us.

It has been said that those who do not remember the past are bound to repeat it. And so we have . . . and so we shall.

"21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.” - Joshua 4:21-24

Alexsandr Solzheniysyn: The Courage To Be Christian