Category: Education

2020 Election.

I would like to see a survey of how Christians have voted in this election. How many voted Republican and how many voted Democrat, and why in each case?

In 1990, 85% of American adults identified themselves as Christian. That figure dropped to 70.6% in 2004. What’s the % now here in 2020?  Where will it be in ten or twenty years?

“American Christianity is undergoing a “post-Christian Reformation”— and rather than providing leadership and faithfulness in an age of moral decline, members of the majority of the nation’s major Christian groups are rapidly leaving biblical foundations behind and exchanging traditional theological beliefs for the culture’s secular values.” So says this article at:  https://www.arizonachristian.edu/blog/2020/10/06/us-christians-embrace-secularism-in-post-christian-america/

“The  American Worldview Inventory 2020 concluded that “belief in absolute moral truth rooted in God’s word is rapidly eroding among all American adults, whether churched or unchurched, within every political segment, and within every age group. Only 43% of those surveyed who identify as born-again Christians still embrace absolute truth.”  https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2020/june/new-survey-shows-most-americans-and-many-who-identify-as-christians-no-longer-believe-in-absolute-truth

Add to this decline the effects of Covid-19 instituting social distancing on our churches, so people willingly stayed home. Some churches closed, and the rest suffered from the lower attendance. Yes, it seems we have willingly fallen away from The Biblical Truth succumbing to relative truth. “If it feels good … “

Leaning Left or Right

Our country is looking like that Tower of Pisa. Looking at it from one direction it’s leaning right, and from the other direction, it’s leaning to the left. It could fall. The foundation has been disrupted. Such is the condition of the US of A. We must, we must dig in and restore our foundation as one country, under God. The first amendment informs us:

 “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The foundations of those freedoms have come under attack. And, regardless of your view, left or right. unless we do something together for restoring these inherent freedoms the country will fall.

More of soon to be published novel

Ah, I’ve been editing, adding to and deleting some from a Novel soon to be published. And this hit me as relevant to life today.

“Continuing Sam adds, “Throughout our entire human existence mankind has had to learn to adapt to the climate of this earth or get sucked into the evilness of fire, lightning, volcanoes, tornadoes and other weather conditions. Overall, mankind has done an impressive job of it too, and you’ll go home tonight to a thermostat-controlled temperature.

Now when I hear of a tornado or hurricane terrifying thousands, I sarcastically say, Adam, you turned the world upside down.” Sam pauses and then asks, “Are these aspects of nature here to remind us just as that rainbow is a reminder?”

“You didn’t ask for it, but here’s some more.”

“We’ve come a long way in understanding how things work, but when we get into the spiritual nature of things our spiritual leaders go round and round in circles disagreeing with each other causing divisions within the church letting the secular scientists win as they agree among themselves that nothing caused everything, and if we’d get rid of our cars and trucks, we’d eliminate the warming.”

Sam pauses looking at each and, “Francinea, have I bored you?”

“Ah …No. Not at all.”

“I’ve been discussing goodness and evil. Just as this earth and atmosphere have mostly good beneficial features for us, there’s the evil side too. We’re the same with mostly good features guiding us, but then there’s that other side erupting throwing insults and balls of fire at others. We don’t hear that inner voice instructing us, as we’re so busy listening to all the other voices.”

Sam is talking to the Boy Scouts.

“You pledge that you will … do your duty to God. What duty do you have to God? Duty is a word that means you are expected or required to do something as an obligation. You are obligated to someone for something, perhaps because something was done to or for you and you owe that one something in return. Now, it’s expected of you. You are required to do something.  No second-guessing. No questions asked. You’ve been informed as to what is required, so you do it as a duty.

“But what did God do for you that you owe the Almighty something in return?  You’re living, you’ve got life inside your body. God gave you the ability to choose, to reason, to imagine. You have a body to navigate around this world. God has done it all for You. He created this marvelous universe and put you here in this particular spot where you can breathe and learn to live abundantly enjoying the benefits of a sun rising every day, with animals to enjoy and feed on, water to drink. And in these waters fish to catch and eat. You have others to talk and fellowship with, and on and on.

“God has done this for you, so what do you have to give as a . . . duty . . . in return for this life you’ve been given? God has also sacrificed His only Son for you. So how do you repay Him for that?  You choose to live the way God wants you to live; no lying, no stealing, no cheating, none of that wanting what your neighbor has. And, yes, there’s usually an and. And, you want to tell others about this gift.

“On your honor, you will do that, right? It is your duty to God to live that way.

Boy Scout Oath.

Samuel is talking to the scout troop.

“You pledge that you will … do your duty to God. What duty do you have to God? Duty is a word that means you are expected or required to do something as an obligation. You are obligated to someone for something, perhaps because something was done to or for you and you owe that one something in return. Now, it’s expected of you. You are required to do something.  No second-guessing. No questions asked. You’ve been informed as to what is required, so you do it as a duty.

“But what did God do for you that you owe the Almighty something in return?  You’re living, you’ve got life inside your body. God gave you the ability to choose, to reason, to imagine. You have a body to navigate around this world. God has done it all for You. He created this marvelous universe and put you here in this particular spot where you can breathe and learn to live abundantly enjoying the benefits of a sun rising every day, with animals to enjoy and feed on, water to drink. And in these waters fish to catch and eat. You have others to talk and fellowship with, and on and on.

“God has done this for you, so what do you have to give as a . . . duty . . . in return for this life you’ve been given? God has also sacrificed His only Son for you. So how do you repay Him for that?  You choose to live the way God wants you to live; no lying, no stealing, no cheating, none of that wanting what your neighbor has. And, yes, there’s usually an and. You want to tell others about this gift.

A bit of History

Aw, reading the news this morning about the riots and uprisings across the country, a personal event came to mind. It was 1963 and I had just got my release from the Army. I wanted to go to Atlanta, where my older brother was, and I could get back to finish college. On the way there in a VW, I stopped near Birmingham, AL to play golf. After the round, and back on the city streets, I noticed I was being followed by a pick-up with 3 or 4 guys in the back. It scared me, and I kept going. Why were they following me so close? Here I was a Chicago kid with an Illinois license plate in a southern city during the days when many northerners went south to counter the southern civil rights against Black racist agenda.

Apparently, those white Alabama kids thought I was one of those Yankees supporting the Black uprisings in the south. No, I was just a guy wanting to get on with his life after 3 years in the Army. After getting settled in Atlanta, enrolling at Georgia State College, I got a job with an Auto manufacturer. There I was, working alongside other guys about my age. During lunch breaks, I felt alone as the others would not associate with me, a Yankee with an easily detected Chicago accent. After 3 months, I was told I had to join the union. I quit. Outta there and back to school.
Racial unrest has always been a problem in the US ever since the slave trade of Africa brought thousands of black over black slaves to work the cotton fields of the south. Muslims also enslaved Africans and sold them to Americans. In my Chicago High School, we had a few African Americans sitting next to me in English or History classes and on the baseball team.

In the army, we were just Army guys regardless of skin color. Two and a half years of racial harmony living peacefully together in defense of our Country. Why can’t we do that now?

The BIG difference between the ’60s riots and now is the technology of 24/7 news to get our attention, the internet, computers, and everyone voicing opinions of their hurts and injustice 24/7. Yes, economic injustice is the basis of it all, using the few unjust actions of the police, which the media highlights in delight.
Come on folks, let’s call it quits and return to ‘love one another as you’d like to be loved’ and accepted. You know, I don’t even like to use the words White or Black or Brown to describe our differences. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve through Noah. Having been dispersed after the tower fiasco to different parts of this earth and after thousands of years of living in the sun-drenched south that original sun-tan became embedded in their DNA and passed on to the kiddies. That’s all for now. Time for me to relax and thank God for this day.

Smelling a rat.

I don’t know about you, but I smell a rat.

Let’s back-up a few years to 2009 when the H1N1 flu, or swine flu, which supposedly came from pigs, was estimated to have caused about 284,000 deaths. Some studies estimated the actual number of cases including asymptomatic and mild cases could be 700 million to 1.4 billion people. Compare all that to the current pandemic, this virus that we’ve been told came from bats and started in China. The swine flu perhaps had its first identified case diagnosed in Mexico. In 2009-10, the world was not locked-down, businesses, stores, and restaurants closed, but because of this new virus, yes, we’ve all, the entire world has been put under control.

No, it can’t be just because Covid-19 expanded from China. Something else is going on, something major has changed, and it’s not our CDC, nor is it WHO. Both organizations were operating then. Technology has just become faster and more convenient. The world has not been in a major war. Here in the US, political control has only switched parties, and other nations have not had major changes. Our federal debt is beyond managed control, and a coming depression has been forecast.

What am I missing?

Since 2009, the number of books written and warning us about the end times has increased since 2009. But come on, our human race has been inflicted with viruses, plagues, pestilences, and wars since our fall into sin, and warnings of the coming judgment.have prevailed too. But is this one, the real end time plague?

 We won’t know until it happens, will we? So keep your face-mask handy.

And on a personal note, get and read “Just a Matter of Time: Until the End of Time” available at Banes and Noble. It may enlighten you as to what’s possibly in store down the future road technologically and politically.

Interesting Title: Montesquieu New World Island

Considering the political this year addressing this virus that’s infected the world, this novel was published in 2012 which forecasts political interventions into modern day life. Will this lead to that Brave New World?

“Mark is a farmer and inventor living the good life with his wife Susan of 33 years. While building up the interest in their Halloween Festival on the farm, Mark gets disenchanted, then obsessed, and desires to leave all the comforts behind to follow a desire for freedom. After experiencing a peace that passes understanding, an unsuspected surprise disturbs their tranquility forcing them to form new plans. The progressive idealists believe that the human spirit can be tamed by bureaucratic decree, and are slowly changing equal opportunities into equal results. The federal government has grown beyond its intentional usefulness of protection of our rights to intrusion into those rights, spending money not yet appropriated as if the citizenry were an endless mine. We, the silent generation were mistaken as we thought the boom could never end, treating the national debt as embalming juices preventing deadly decay.”

Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Montesquieu-World-Island-Arnold-Kropp/dp/1480291218/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1588617423&sr=8-2