How Did We Get Here?--How Do We get Out?

We are the nation that has led the world in the development and expansion of the Internet, technology, electronics, aviation, space travel---you name it. And yes, humanitarian acts of kindness and Christian charity.

Yet, now we can't make a government website work.

We have privately given hundreds of billions of dollars to charity to help the disadvantaged---whoever they were, wherever they lived. But our country continues to borrow money---even from those who wish our demise.

Yesterday, our national debt was $17,084,351,028,385.14. It would be more today.

In fact, our debt increases $2.63 billion per day.

That is $53, 911.53 for every citizen, including those born today.

All the while, our leadership is obsessed with redefining marriage and expanding abortion and calling it equality and healthcare.

Too many of our elected leaders continue to "kick the can" down the road on these issues, hoping to avoid addressing them in any real way for fear of adversely affecting their own career.

Those of us who love our children and grandchildren, and most of us do, stand at a historic crossroad.

Current conditions are demanding that we can no longer stick our heads in the socially accepted sand, hoping this monster will somehow go away by the time we come up for air.

How in the world did we get to this place? And how do we get out?

I have the basic answers. Not because of my wisdom, but because of someone's love for the human race. I have a leather bound copy of the answers. Let's look at the Truth. It will set us free.


But first, let's take a brief look at how we got here. A few highlights:

Most people of Christian faith are fully aware that most of our Founders embraced the Christian faith. Those secularists and atheists who claim otherwise stand against history. And truth.

We remember that out of a desire for freedom, a young nation declared its independence and won a war they should have never been able to win against a premier world power.

I was born during WW II. I don't remember Pearl Harbor, but a few years after, as a little kid, I certainly remember hearing it discussed.

FDR told the nation, "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself" and our fathers and mothers and uncles and family members of that age went to war to save the world and our country from tyranny. And won the war, that some believed was impossible to win.

Tom Brokaw wrote the book that defines that generation as the "greatest."

Stalin, after the war, tried to continue the tyranny with a different face. His efforts resulted in what we came to know as the Soviet Union.

Ronald Reagan called it the "Evil Empire" and later outsmarted and out led the leadership of the "Empire," defeating it without firing a shot.

Perhaps the Vietnam War, aside from the Civil War, was the most divisive in our history. It caused people to lose faith in their country and to lose hope. It created a cynicism among many of my generation.

President Lyndon Johnson offered hope with his "Great Society," but it was a false hope.

He gave birth to "Entitlement as a lifestyle". Dependence was born in America.

Today, there are 47,637,497 Americans on food stamps. Tyranny is being built on dependence---under the guise of charity and concern.

Woodstock symbolized the setting aside of virtue and traditional biblical values, which was the foundation and fabric of this country---and those without either seized the moment.

God and the Bible was stripped from the public classroom. Secular Relativism was inserted into the vacuum, then elevated as a religious belief. Tolerance became the new "truth." The classroom became the new battlefield and "mission field" in the 1960's---it became and remains, a secular chapel of indoctrination.

And America's world ranking of education, which was once #1, has now fallen to a ranking of 21st in math skills. Our literacy among adults is 15th. Public education has been failing for some time.

This time, it did not involve borders and despots in far away places. It was a battle for the mind and soul of America's children. And America's future.

Now those children and their children are leading America. You can fill in the additional blanks.

There is, I believe, at least a glimmering awareness of the disaster we have created or allowed to be created during our time of slumber.

It's time for an awakening. Spiritually. And politically. In that order.

Leadership has always been key---in the family, the community and the nation. And certainly in the Christian church.

Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "A leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

But it was Theodore Roosevelt who perhaps best defined our times. He said, "People ask the difference between a leader and a boss. The leader leads and the boss drives."

There is an awakening to the fact that we are being driven off a moral and fiscal cliff---and it's not a made up one---by a "boss" rather than a leader in the White House, and unfortunately in Congress. Some in both parties.

I'm not going to attempt to paraphrase what Sarah Palin wrote this week, nor have I quoted from her column, but I strongly recommend you read it in conjunction with what you are reading now.

So, how do we get out of this mess?

Every politician has the answer. And they are always part, if not all of the answer.

But before even looking at human qualifications, ancient wisdom directs us to take a closer look---at the heart of those who would lead.

"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

Here are 7 things Wisdom tells us about leadership.

While the cosmetics of mankind has changed a bit over the years, the heart has not.

Deuteronomy 17 defines the profile of leadership and how to choose it.

While the first verses speak to justice and capitol punishment, verses 14 -20 profiles a criteria for choosing a leader through whom God can bless a nation.

1. (v.14) Do not follow the lead of other countries in choosing leadership.
   
2. (v.15) Do not elect a foreigner---be sure the leader is one of us.
   
3. (v.16) A true leader will not use his office to personally acquire wealth or personal gain.
   
4. (v.16-17) A true leader will not seek to direct his fellow countrymen back to the bondage of Egypt. Or in our case, England.
   
5. (v.18-19) He must be familiar and understand God's eternal laws. Our Founders did. So must today's leaders, if we are to experience God's blessing.
   
6. (v.20) He must not be an elitist.
   
7. (v.20) He will not turn to the right or the left, but will honor the laws of the land. In our case--the Constitution and our legal system. Legal integrity.

Spiritual awakening will precede political restoration.

The result? Freedom. Prosperity. Blessing.

Once we have elected that kind of leadership, we can all stand and sing together, "God Bless America."

And He will hear our request and "stand beside her and guide her, through the night with the light from above..."

Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Bold. Be Prayerful. Be Active. Be Blessed.