Where Does This Come From?

First off, Michael Newdow is an idiot. Well, the Bible would call him a fool (Psa 14:1, 53:1 ) but I'm going to go a step further and call him an idiot. He's perfectly within his American rights to voice his opinion (like I'm doing here) but to put as much time and effort and money as he has into trying to eradicate God from the American landscape is just sad. Just look at his track record to date; how many times has he engaged in litigation and compare it to the number of court rulings he's won? (And we won't even go into the whole definition of what an "atheist" really is and how no sane person can honestly say there is no God).

And now he's hard at work to try and prevent prayer at the upcoming presidential inauguration [news article]. He doesn't want Rick Warren to open his mouth. He doesn't want Lincoln's Bible to be there. He doesn't want Obama's hand to be on it while he takes his oath. And he most certainly doesn't want Obama to utter those four nasty words "so help me God" to seal that very oath to the United States of America and her people.

I can't help but wonder what place in hell this man will hold for someone who hates God so much. Just as there are degrees of reward in heaven, so there are degrees of punishment in hell. And I can't help but think about the kind of wrath Mr. Newdow is storing up for himself by basically blaspheming God 24/7. Mr. Newdow REALLY needs our prayers because it terrifies me to the core for where he is going and what awaits him when he arrives.

But I digress. The reason for this post is to get people thinking on the same subject that I wrestle with on a regular basis. Anyone who follows the state of "true" Christianity in the U.S. knows that our nation bears very little resemblance to the country our founding fathers created. For most of these men, the Word of God was the highest form of authority and governed very much, if not a most, of what they thought and did. It drove the creation of our government with a built in set of checks and balances (because they understood the treachery of men's hearts), it created an educational system for children to teach them biblical literacy (read up on the New England Primer if you haven't) and so on, and so on.

Take a look at our society today and 99% of the public is biblically illiterate and spiritually lost. Read the news on any given day and you can't help but notice the level of debauchery we have sunk to whether you are talking about homosexuality, divorce, abuse, killing (especially what are children are doing to each other at school), abortion, euthanasia, and on and on it goes.

Then along comes a response to Mr. Newdow's latest attempt at futility. I read this morning about how an amicus brief was filed in the Newdow case, spearheaded by the Texas Attorney General. A line has been drawn in the sand to defend the constitutionality of prayer by our public servants. Praise God! And what gets me is how not just one, or ten or twenty state attorney generals signed this document, BUT ALL 50 (as well as the one representing the Virgin Islands)! What's up with that? How is it that a nation that is so far removed from God and, for the most part, could care less about Him (unless planes fly into skyscrapers or the Dow Jones plummets over a waterfall) can respond like it did today? I'd like to hear YOUR thoughts.

Granted, almost no one is standing up for the name of Jesus, but there's got to be something at work here for defending our rights to "inject religion" into the public landscape. I'm so very pleased to see how people like Mr. Newdow are in the vast minority and people still believe that God has a place in life, not just for when you're surrounded by the four walls of church and home.

I believe God is still at work among the American people. But I wonder how long His common grace will endure amidst the suffering and slow slide into secularity that we see going on every day. How longsuffering will He be? What are we Christians doing to proclaim the name of Christ through our words and deeds so that our Father in heaven may be glorified? What remnant exists that may be holding back the hand of God from earthly judgement and utter moral chaos?

Soli Deo Gloria,
Rich

Attorney General Abbott Defends Constitutionality Of Prayer During Presidential Inauguration

Amicus Brief [PDF]