Preface
I don’t usually believe that “the Universe” or “God” or “Karma” cares one way or another about me or about what’s going on. And I’m not real sure what I feel about prophecy, Biblical, secular or the kind with the Neon ‘Sign’ of the blinking palm or eye. But coincidence gets my attention. And when those miscellaneous bits of the ‘universe’ bombard me one after another, even I sit up and take note.
Well, that just happened. And it was kind of spooky, strange, weird and noteworthy.
The result is this pre-dawn compulsion to write this and title it “Why The Civil War?” My MAC was even very slow to load and forced me to realize that there would be a Part I and had to be a Part II. Just another coincidence or should I be listening? I don’t know but here we go:
The Donald J. Trump Years of The Civil War
Part I
Eight years ago, a lifelong friend of mine from Oklahoma shocked me when I realized that this exceedingly intelligent young girl who I had known growing up had morphed from an enthusiastic Kennedy-For-President-sign-hanging Catholic visionary to this woman in her 60’s who was a conservative practitioner of Messianic Judaism and feared the dangers for Democracy of an Obama victory.
I had naively suggested that we should combine to form a ‘grass-roots’ movement to show solidarity for the entire United States by combining the Liberal with the Conservative. She balked at this idea and said, “Don’t you realize that this is a Civil War?”
No I hadn’t.
And yes, she was right, as the years ahead would prove.
To me, the first shot or the ‘Fort Sumter-Moment’ was when Senator Mitch McConnell (Republican from Kentucky and Senate Majority Leader) gathered his fellow Republicans together shortly after Inauguration 2008 and vowed to refuse to cooperate with anything that came from an Obama White House. The obstructionist legislatures stood firm and did absolutely nothing for eight long years. The business of running the government of the United States stopped because one little man from Kentucky disliked one liberal man from where? Kenya? Chicago? Hawaii? Did we ever see that ‘real Birth Certificate?’
They had separated themselves from THE UNITED States of America to become The Divided States of America. The Union had once again been dissolved and it was indeed brother vs brother. Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated on March 4, 1861 and it had taken a little over a month for the Civil War to begin on April 12, 1861. McConnell had started this second Civil War in less than one day after Barack Obama became the 44th President of The United States.
We started by no longer listening or talking to one another in the Senate and in The House. And the country soon began to follow the example of our leaders in Washington. We stopped listening and we started YELLING.
THEY were wrong and WE were right.
But who were “THEY” and who were “WE?”
Are the Conservative right? Or is it the Liberals? And which group is wrong? The Liberals or the Conservatives?
How can one group love America and the other group also love America? Doesn’t one group have to hate America? Isn’t one group EVIL and one group good?
Where are the EASY ANSWERS? I WANT EASY ANSWERS!
Well, of course, we all want easy answers and obvious answers and we want those answers to coincide with OUR BELIEFS and prove that the OTHER SIDE is WRONG! JUST DEAD WRONG!
But is this merely a case of what people have observed for centuries that history does indeed repeat itself? Or is it a bit more complicated?
And there is one of my favorite quotes which I spout at every opportunity:
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”` ~George Santayana
Or perhaps it would be more accurate if we listen to our own, Mark Twain, who famously said on the matter:
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”
To make a direct correlation between the 1861 Civil War and the 2008 Civil War would be both ludicrous and pointless. They didn’t repeat themselves but they do rhyme!
I think the best place to start is with SOUTH which rhymes with MOUTH, which we seem to have way too much of now days. And that means we got TROUBLE! Right here in Washington D. C. which rhymes with TEA and that is a great place to start for ME.
The Tea Party Movement began following Barack Obama’s first presidential inauguration (in January 2009) when his administration announced plans to give financial aid to bankrupt homeowners. The Tea Party was the most conservative Republicans who were against tax-payer money going to help home owners.
The Tea Party attempted to refrain from advocating for social issues such as abortion and leaders wanted to maintain their eye on limited government and economic issues. But slowly the religious right who were already members of The Tea Party began to exert more control and championing of moral issues became a greater focus of the group.
The Tea Party at the beginning of the first term of Barack Obama was barely recognizable during the last days of his first four-year term. They had become a religious more than an economic movement.
In politics, one can always reason with the other side, one can negotiate with the opposition and one can ultimately come together for the good of the entire country and compromise. However, how can a person of faith compromise their beliefs? There is NO COMPROMISE in religion! And for the first time a political party was also an unyielding religious group who refused to talk, listen or negotiate. They were right on all moral issues and the other side was wrong and evil. The Civil War became much less civil, Obama was demonized and the rift between the Conservatives and the Liberals seemed impossible to bridge.
So a LARGE part of this rift is now religious. But most of the people in The United States are Christian. Yes, there are minorities of Muslims, Jews and other religions but the vast majority are Christian. Even in the Senate and The House, one can count religions other than Christian on one hand. So, where is the big difference. The difference may be in the two camps of Christians: Evangelical and Non-Evangelical.
A recent New York Times article by Nickolas Kristof (the link is below) http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/23/opinion/sunday/pastor-am-i-a-christian.html?_r=0 goes a long way in helping us to understand the depth of this chasm between Evangelical Christians and the non-Evangelical Christian community. in interviewing the prominent evangelical pastor Tim Keller Kristof asks whether one needs to believe in every Christian tenet in order to be a Christian, particularly the resurrection of Christ as well as his Virgin Birth.
“Jesus’ teaching was not the main point of his mission. He came to save people through his death for sin and his resurrection. So his important ethical teaching only makes sense when you don’t separate it from these historic doctrines.”
So, for the Evangelical Christian, the most important aspect of religion is that you must be accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior. It is a Three Step Process that you MUST go through :
- Step One: Read the Bible and Understand that this gift of forgiveness and eternal life cannot be yours unless you willingly accept it. God requires an individual response from you.
- Step Two: Realize, Repent, Request and Receive Realize that you have sinned against God.
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
Repent of your sins.
“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19) Request God to save you through Jesus Christ.
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13) Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
“Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12) - Step Three: Say the Prayer of Salvation Lord, I stand before you a sinner. I believe you died on the cross for my sin. I believe God raised you from the dead. I am asking you to come into my heart and save me. I accept you into my heart as my personal Savior. Thank you Lord for saving me-Amen “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
And Bingo: You are saved and will go to Heaven.
Thank you for coming to McChurch, Next Customer, Please.
To the Evangelical, it is a numbers game. The more you bring to Christ and convince them to go through the three easy steps, well, God does like to WIN. (So, if we could only get the Glengarry leads!)
The Conclusion in Part II
View From The Hill 