Middle Americans and Donald Trump

Nearly three years after his presidency ended, and after years of relentless pounding by the media and the political Left, Donald Trump still enjoys broad support among traditional middle Americans. Drive across the prairies and plains from Minnesota and Montana to Texas, across the Midwest and the South, and one still commonly finds Trump 2020 signs. Middle American Trump supporters are deeply patriotic, and one often finds a Trump sign mixed in among American flags across the countryside, towns, and cities. This show of support will increase now that Mr. Trump has announced his candidacy for 2024. Visiting souvenir shops or T-shirt shops in places like South Dakota or Tennessee as I have in the last year one will find numerous items supporting Mr. Trump and disparaging the current president and vice-president. A great segment of the citizens of our country continues to long for the Trump presidency.

Who are these people? Except for the populace in the dozen or so of the largest metropolitan areas, they may be a majority of Americans. They are the descendants of the silent majority of fifty years ago and the Moral Majority of forty years ago. Many of their grandparents and parents listened to Paul Harvey commentary on the radio each day, their parents and they themselves listened faithfully to Rush Limbaugh. Middle Americans are those who Barak Obama belittled for clinging to guns and religion, Hillary Clinton disparaged as “deplorables,” Joe Biden darkly criticized as “MAGA extremists.” Like their grandfathers, fathers, uncles, and brothers they often proudly served in the military. They hold a deep respect for America, its founding fathers, and the governing documents the founders left us. Many, like me, are people of deep faith, often evangelical Christians of one sort or another. And they are deeply concerned for the future of the United States. They see the unprecedented societal collapse that is now occurring with a mixture of anger and fear.

Traditional Americans know that their country is in grave peril. And they know that Donald Trump understands this. He “gets” them.

Middle Americans are at best skeptical of human-caused climate change and see a deeper agenda at work behind the “green” energy movement. They understand that the United States has tremendous energy resources and wish the country to continue to use those resources. Free-market capitalists in their disposition, they want to pay their own bills and build their own businesses, provide for their own families and save for their own dreams and do not want the continued economic drain of myriad taxes, fees, and regulations. Middle Americans know that running up trillions of dollars in debt can do nothing but destroy the prosperity we enjoy. “Entitlement” is a dirty word to them, just as “welfare” was to their parents. They are compassionate, but don’t want a welfare state. That compassion extends to valid refugee and asylum claims but they view with alarm the continued overrunning of the country by illegal immigration. They are beyond tired of charges of “racism” or some other newly invented “ism” at every turn, tired of victim mentalities and the failure to prosecute criminals, tired of the normalization of sexual perversion. Though most middle Americans do not likely understand much of the philosophic Marxism being pushed on the country by the Left, they are opposed to the various manifestations of it that they observe in government, academia, and the media.

Saul Alinsky was an influential twentieth century American Marxist, often cited as an inspiration to left-leaning politicians like Barak Obama. One of his celebrated principles in his work “Rules for Radicals” was to “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.” Few middle Americans have ever heard of Alinsky but understand that the disdain of the left for Mr. Trump is really a disdain for traditional America. Mr. Trump is the “target” that has been personalized. Those who are the most disparaging of Mr. Trump are those who hate America as it has been known.

What of Donald Trump himself? The failings and shortcomings in his personal life have been well documented in the press, even amplified. “You’re hired. You’re fired. You’re a (bleep)“ is no way to run a business, let alone the highest levels of our government. Many of his presidential appointments were excellent; some were almost puzzling and poor. His constant degradation, put downs, and feuding with those who should be his allies is concerning and ultimately counterproductive; this may be his biggest failing as a political leader. He often is simply too focused on himself rather than the interests of the country. His age is an issue – should he be elected again, he would be seventy-seven when he would assume office; the current president is a barely-walking demonstration that such advanced age is not ideal for a president.

There are likely better potential presidential nominees for middle Americans to support. Others can carry the populist and libertarian themes Mr. Trump often articulates and are certainly better able to articulate conservative policies and themes. The Republican party has a couple of governors, a few senators, and a few former Trump administration officials who would make a strong president. But if Mr. Trump does indeed secure the nomination, against any conceivable nominee of the party of the Left, most traditional middle Americans like myself will vote for Mr. Trump in a heartbeat. He gets us.

MAGA

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Ultimately, human government will fail. Those of us who are Christians are reminded in Scripture (Isaiah 9:6) that

For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

More than a better America, we long for the eternal Kingdom of the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

MARANATHA

Chickens and Babies

On recent trips to the grocery store we’ve noted that eggs and chicken have become expensive. This is from a combination of general inflation, increased commodity and feed prices, and especially a bird flu epidemic. Prices will come down when the bird flu abates, but will likely stay elevated, at least where we live. Colorado, our home, has recently enacted new legislation that will give new rights to chickens and other domestic fowl and specifies for instance that they must have minimum amounts of space. The governor’s homosexual partner is a rabid animal rights activist, and the legislature is firmly controlled by the Left, so this is not a surprise. Regulations coming into effect later specify that egg producers must provide perches, nesting spaces, scratching areas, and dust baths, and farm operations face a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation of the regulations. California has similar rules and has enacted laws specifying confinement space and area for hogs, driving up prices, and these are standards that Colorado may end up adopting, as Colorado often allows California to set the pace on legal issues. Agricultural interests are at best divided on some of these rules, noting for instance that more loosely confined hogs are prone to harming each other, as well as other problems. Regardless, reasonable people agree that needlessly harming a domestic animal is wrong, and even livestock might rightly be protected from tortuous conditions.

In Colorado, chickens have rights. Mimicking California, the state also has some of the most ghoulish abortion law on Earth. In both states, a pre-born child essentially does not exist for legal purposes. One expects that a child could survive a late-term abortion and be killed outside the womb by the abortionist or be left to die without any consequence. A woman carrying a full-term baby could be harmed, causing the death of the child, and while the assailant might be prosecuted for the crime against the woman, there is no consequence for causing the death of the child. In our society, chickens have rights; pre-born human beings have none.

One routinely witnesses the promotion of abortion by politicians and in media. We can wonder about the rationale behind this; perhaps guilt from past involvement in the practice is often the motivator. In some states, abortion is paid for at taxpayer expense, while improperly confining a chicken is fined. It is proclaimed as a good thing, a right not to be tampered with. The vast majority of abortions are for convenience, and “Eat, drink, fornicate, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” is the post-modern, existential philosophy of the day. Children, like marriage and family, are no longer considered desirable. The traditional family is no longer the norm. Child abuse is almost epidemic, and a child born into a less-than-ideal situation is more likely to be abused, neglected, or become a financial ward of the state. In some inner-city subcultures, most births are to unmarried teen mothers who themselves were born to unmarried teen mothers.

The birth of a child is a life-changing event. As a parent to two, and grandparent to one and one on the way, I am very aware of this. It is time-consuming, sometimes emotionally draining, and financially challenging, even when a child is planned, wanted, and born into a stable one-man-one-woman-for-life marriage. But surely it must be acknowledged that there is something wrong, profoundly wrong, in a society that gives legal rights to chickens but refuses to give any protections to an unborn child.

The ancient prophet Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 5:20), “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah wrote to a declining, dying society, just like ours. A society where evil was accepted, and good was disdained.

I recently saw the ultrasound photos from my daughter’s pregnancy. Just past the mid-point of the pregnancy, one can discern the tiny hands, feet, and head, and the ultrasound revealed the sex of the baby – it’s a girl! Not yet quite able to live outside the womb, she is a genetically complete human being with a beating heart, to be born in a few months, a human being reflecting the image of God. David the psalmist wrote in Psalm 139,

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

Regardless of race, sex, economic status, or the circumstances of conception and birth, a baby is a human being, created in the image of God, here in one sense by chance, yet by God’s choosing. To deny that is grievous error. To use Christian terminology, to intentionally cause the death of the unborn child is sin.

We are all born sinners, members of a race in rebellion against the Creator, but thankfully, any of us – regardless of any sins we commit – can be “justified freely by His grace” if we will but repent and believe the gospel. The apostle Paul wrote, in Romans chapter 3,

“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Music, Vacations, and Pandemics

Music is a powerful influence in both the life of an individual and of a society, and the music of a culture or subculture is a deep and profound reflection of that culture, its values, its underpinnings, and its perspectives on life. The music one listens to demonstrates to some degree who that person is. It is an expression of the soul. Further, the kind of music one listens to ultimately shapes what that person is becoming; it has a definite effect on people. We are constantly surrounded by music when we are in public places. On a recent vacation, we went to play miniature golf at a course near our hotel, and a group of workers were performing maintenance on a small restaurant building near the course. They were listening, perhaps on a local radio station, to music that was blaring, not quite deafening as we played the holes nearest to them. I am not sure of the genre, perhaps rap and hip-hop, and it was loud, certainly featuring no pleasing melody or harmony, the lyrics generally indiscernible and when occasionally understandable the words were unsavory at best. I silently wondered why one would listen to such, and what effect it might have on a person.

Often in stores, restaurants, and places of business, sometimes in public conveyances, certainly in current movies or entertainment, we are confronted by the music of the society and various subcultures. If one is fortunate, perhaps it is merely “elevator music,” perhaps banal and benign country, or “soft” rock. Less fortunately, one might be subjected to excessive volume, a driving beat and percussion, noise, and lyrics that are raunchy. Hollywood, rock, hip-hop, rap, shock radio, and a host of other pop culture obsessions, helped by mainstream media and the general secular academy, have indoctrinated recent generations to encourage depravity and distract from that which is important, worthwhile, and virtuous. Everywhere it seems we are surrounded by the music that is one of the manifestations of the self-destructive nature of morally deviant pop culture.

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When we returned home from the vacation, we went to church on the next Sunday. As a believer, it was a joy to be assembled with other believers, singing words expressing Christian doctrine, singing the gospel, singing biblical themes with joy and reverence, with music featuring pleasing sounds of melody and harmony. Singing that proclaimed the gospel, that expressed corporate worship to the Lord, that spoke “to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” Not the music of movie themes, not of a contemporary subculture, but of a profoundly different culture – the body of Christ.

During the early days of the Covid panic, we were of course unable to gather on Sunday with other Christians in church. Our church was able to go online with the Sunday services from a nearly empty auditorium, but it was not close to the same. A big part of what was lacking was the experience of reverent, orderly, joyful congregational singing. The Bible says much about the subject of music, and there are perhaps five hundred references to music in the Bible. The Creator knows that music has an effect on people’s lives. He is worshipped when the assembled church sings of who He is and what He has done for us in Christ with mindful, joyful reverence.

In Revelation 5:9, the Bible depicts a scene in heaven for us and tells us, “And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation . . .“ This is not a “new” song merely in chronology; it is “new” in kind and substance, recognizably different in nature from something else of a similar type. Different than the old songs of the earth. Just as in heaven, so it can and should be in this life. The psalmist speaks of a “new song” in, for instance, Psalm 40:3, 96:1, and 98:1, a song that reflects the direction of our heart, a song that reminds us of Who God Is and, now in this age after the cross, what He has done for us in Christ.

“And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. (Ephesians 5:18-21)”

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:16-17)”

The Pursuit of Wisdom

Nothing so characterizes post-modern American culture more than a simple lack of good sense and sound judgement. This seems to become more the case every day. It can be seen by even a casual observer of current events and trends. People lack the ability to look beyond the obvious, to look beyond the media narratives, and to critically analyze issues. Examples abound.

American society was rocked in recent months by a few media-dominating police shootings, mostly of young Black men. The result was riots and looting, denunciations of the police and even the concept of law enforcement, denunciations of the country and its historical foundations, and cries of “systemic racism.” But it is easy to see that police shootings almost invariably have one of three factors involved. In most instances, the victim has either committed a crime or is in the presence of someone who has. Secondly, often the victim is intoxicated or has taken drugs. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, the victim fails to cooperate with the police. Over and over, at least one of these factors is present.

The widely reported Minneapolis incident earlier in the summer illustrates this. A police officer harshly overused a tactic to subdue a suspect, and the horrifying video was widely reported as the officer murdering the victim. While the case has yet to work its way through the judicial system, what is known is that the suspect likely had committed a crime, he was not cooperating with the officers on scene, and he had a potentially fatal amount of fentanyl in his system. Absent even one of these three factors, he would still be alive. Race may or may not have even been a factor. A widely reported Colorado case involving the death of a young Black man has been the subject of multiple investigations over several months. There is no indication that the young man committed a crime, nor any indication of drugs. What seems obvious is that he refused to cooperate with police officers investigating a report of a crime when he happened by. He became agitated, paramedics were called and administered a sedative, and he tragically died due to the sedative. He likely would have gone on his way and would still be alive if he had simply exercised better judgement and cooperated with the police.

These and other incidents are used, ironically, as proof that law enforcement cannot be trusted and should be resisted. This blame shifting only serves to make the problem worse. Instead of riots and protests, common sense would dictate that efforts would be better directed at reminding youth of all ages and races that their actions have consequences.

The collapse of the traditional home is creating monumental problems throughout society. It is now the common pattern that a young Black person was born to an unmarried teenage mother who herself was born to an unmarried teenage mother. Statistics clearly show that this is a disaster. Children who grow up in such a situation are far more likely to have poor outcomes than children who experience growing up in traditional settings. Reasoned observation confirms this and has for decades. In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan published “The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.” At that time, 25% of blacks were born outside of wedlock, a number that Moynihan said was catastrophic to the Black community. Moynihan, who went on to hold a number of governmental positions including United States senator, wrote: “A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken homes, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any rational expectations about the future—that community asks for and gets chaos. Crime, violence, unrest, unrestrained lashing out at the whole social structure—that is not only to be expected, it is very near to inevitable.” The 25% number in 1965 was far smaller than the number today, and unfortunately not merely among Blacks.

Common sense and science confirm that one’s sex and gender are fixed and unchangeable from the moment of conception. Media and government may fawn over transgenderism, but in doing so no favor is done to the unfortunate individuals involved. Transgenderism will not buy long term fulfilment and joy. It will certainly be to the detriment of the individual’s physical health when they receive harmful hormones and experience physical mutilation. Moving a child in this direction is nothing short of child abuse.

The human-caused climate change mantra often shows a lack of reasoned thought and analysis. The whole argument in its simplest form suggests that industrial production of carbon dioxide (and to a lesser extent a few other gasses) is dooming the planet to an environmental disaster. The atmosphere contains just over 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide. While China, India, and the rest of the world continue to increase their production of gasses, the suggested solution is that the United States and Europe virtually eliminate industrial and transportation-related production of carbon dioxide. By doing this, at enormous cost, disruption to society, and environmental damage, the promise is that a few parts per million can be shaved off of atmospheric greenhouse gas levels, and this will save the planet and introduce a climate utopia. Climate has indeed modulated throughout Earth’s history due to various causes science only partially understands, even before the industrial era, and climate change has often produced positive results such as increased crop yields. This is ignored. Proofs of anthropogenic climate change are offered that often are not proofs at all when thoroughly analyzed. Yet climate change is accepted as an unquestionable axiom.

Knowledge as an accumulation of facts grows today at a rapid pace. The internet brings information and reports of events both trivial and important almost instantly. But wisdom, the ability to take information, carefully consider facts, and address life situations and needs, is in dangerously short supply. As Christians, we understand that wisdom and discernment, and common sense, comes through the Lord Jesus Christ – “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24)” – and through the written Word, the Bible – “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15)”. James 1:5 reminds us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” We must pursue wisdom, not just in matters of faith, but in the general affairs of life as well. “Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding (Proverbs 4:7).”

Scripture helps us understand that there is a great metanarrative of history and human existence, the overarching account of ultimate purpose, history, events, and circumstances. That story teaches us that God created the universe, the disaster of the Fall and sin ruined the world, God has provided for our redemption in Christ, and history will one day end in the great promised consummation of the ages, all within the sovereignty of God and for His ultimate glory and purposes. Lack of good judgement has plagued human experience since the beginning of time; it is not a phenomenon confined to any particular generation, any one social class, culture, or nation. Ultimately, for the Christian, one who has come to faith in Christ and the gospel, good judgement in life in large measure derives from biblical wisdom, observing God’s mandates to us, seeing life from God’s perspective, and responding accordingly. As citizens, we can in some measured ways confront the unwise views of people around us; it is our right and our responsibility. But our greater responsibility as Christians is to live sensibly and to confront people with the wisdom found in Christ and the Scriptures. Proverbs 9:10 tells us that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Wealth, Productivity, Riots, and Demands

The Bible has much to say about work, material wealth, and prosperity. In the Ten Commandments, God clearly affirms personal property rights. “Thou shalt not steal.” “Thou shalt not covet.” What is mine is mine and not yours; what is yours is yours and not mine. We are reminded repeatedly in Scripture of the importance of hard work and personal industry. Proverbs 14:23 tells us, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Throughout Proverbs we read of the importance of personal responsibility, work, saving and investing, providing for family, and doing so honestly. Colossians 3:23 tells us, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” Elsewhere Paul reminds, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need (Ephesians 4:28).”

My father grew up in poverty. He was born in a small town in Nebraska, the youngest of four children, and I don’t recall him talking about his childhood much. His grandfather who homesteaded land in Nebraska was from a line of ethnic Germans who had lived in Russia and eventually migrated to the United States. My grandfather was an alcoholic; he didn’t want to farm and so sold whatever land he inherited, even as other relatives became successful farmers. My grandmother had mental issues and likely suffered from schizophrenia. Dad remembered that as a child he had picked up coal along railroad tracks to burn for heat at home, and his family had lost electric service on occasion for failure to pay the bill, and was even evicted a time or two. Dad didn’t finish high school.

My mother wasn’t much better off. She grew up on a small farm in the next county north, on land that her grandfather had homesteaded after the Civil War. My parents met and married when Dad was working with a crew laying brick pavers in the streets of the town where Mom lived. They married months after Mom finished high school, and Dad worked for a short while at an armaments plant leftover from the Second World War era. The facility closed, and employment opportunities in the area were limited at best. Dad’s sister and family had moved to an area just north of Denver, and with some promise of a job from my uncle, my parents moved to that area. They secured a tiny rental home – better described as a “shack,’ of perhaps 500 square feet. The hoped-for job didn’t materialize. Dad got a job in a parking lot in downtown Denver behind a department store, where he worked when I was born. He eventually secured a position working in a warehouse where he worked for more than two decades, even as physical maladies made it difficult for him to be on his feet all day on a warehouse floor. The folks were able to buy a better house, all of 750 square feet, shortly after the birth of my brother. It wasn’t much by today’s standards, but it was theirs. Dad went to work – every day. He lived within his means. We never went hungry. Mom stayed home with us when we were small, and eventually went to work for J.C. Penney for a number of years. The family’s standard of living rose, and by the time of their deaths the folks owned their home and left an inheritance for my brother and me. We sold the little house after Dad died.

My parents inherited – nothing. They were handed – nothing. Dad and my aunt paid on an insurance policy for years so that there would be money to bury my grandmother, who they had brought to Colorado. When the area where they grew up offered limited opportunity, they moved to another area. They never collected any government assistance. They never received any charity. “Welfare” and “food stamps” were epithets, terms of derision in our house when I was growing up. They worked, saved, and lived within their means. They married, before I was born, and remained married until death. Starting from nothing, they provided a good life for themselves and for my brother and me. They made lemonade out of the circumstance of lemons they had to work with.

A few months ago I participated in a memorial service for an elderly lady. Her life story is fascinating. She was born in Silesia, then at the southeast corner of Germany, shortly before the Second World War. When the war ended, the area was annexed to Poland, and her family was given hours to simply vacate their house. With only what they could carry, they eventually made it to the western zone of occupied Germany. She met a young man coincidentally from her home region, who had been drafted into the German army. They eventually married and came to the United States. They became successful and raised a family. They too made lemonade out of lemon circumstances.

A friend of my wife’s mother has a similar story. A young girl when the war ended, her ethnic German family became refugees. They came to the United States with nothing, but took advantage of opportunity. This woman and her husband, also an ethnic German, raised a family and successfully operated a small business.

What are the common threads here? Seeking opportunity and working to overcome circumstances. Relocating to a place of greater opportunity when necessary. Willingness to work. Personal responsibility. Marriage and fidelity to marriage and family. These things produce success. None of these people viewed themselves as victims. They didn’t have time to grovel in their circumstances; they were too busy working. I don’t have confidence that my Dad ever became a Christian, and don’t know that all of the others referenced here did either. But the life pattern that they followed was rooted in Christian principles and brought them success.

I got a job the summer after my junior year in high school. It did not require any great genius, but I merely had to get up early, go to work, and do my job. I was able to return to the job, summers and on Saturdays, throughout the rest of my educational career when I was in-state and at home. My brother also worked various jobs during his youth. We both funded much of our own college expenses. We developed a work ethic that enabled both of us to have successful careers. Today, too often suburban males spend their adolescence “working with their thumbs” playing video games, watching their cellphones, or watching movies and sporting events. I have observed that the landscape crew for my HOA is staffed by Spanish-speaking adults, likely Mexican or Central American nationals. During my youth, those landscape crews were staffed by American high school or college-age youths. A summer or two, my brother had a brutally hard job for a small concrete contractor, handling large panels assembling and disassembling forms for basement and foundation pours. Today, those jobs are largely staffed by immigrants. In many inner city areas, youth are both unemployed and unemployable. They are too often the children of unmarried teenaged mothers who themselves were born to unmarried teenaged mothers and have no understanding of any sort of a work ethic. They are easy recruits for those who would incite them to riot and destroy and demand more taxpayer benefits while never actually doing what it might take to secure employment and progressing to a better life.

Wealth comes from productivity. Wealth is not created by governmental redistribution nor is it created by government fiat, by government creating money out of thin air to give away to perceived victims. American prosperity comes from the fact that Americans are the most productive people on the planet. The best form of government recognizes personal and property rights, fosters opportunity, and furthers productivity. Our system of capitalism and free enterprise does that and has done it well. But for significant portions of society, that work ethic has been lost..

Property rights are absolute and are key to developing personal prosperity and furthering prosperity in a society. I have no right to destroy the property of others or to destroy community property. Exodus 22 explains this principle under the Old Testament economy. We all have a responsibility to work and provide for ourselves and our families. My ancestors worked brutally hard – farming in the nineteenth and early twentieth century was no picnic. My Dad performed manual labor. My career has required me to perform not manual labor but intellectual tasks, and I have saved throughout my career and now have modest savings in various instruments that provide capital to companies that employ people and provide necessary goods and services. Scripture enjoins us to provide for our children, and to teach them a trade, or by extension in our era, to provide for education, to set a positive godly example, and if circumstances allow to provide capital for their use.

As Christians, we are above all called to use our means for the honor and glory of God. We are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Wealth is not to be hoarded, and we are not to find our satisfaction in amassing material wealth. We are to give. We are to consider ourselves as stewards of whatever we may possess and give of our resources in submission to the lordship of Christ.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:25-33)”

Paul wrote of our proper attitude toward “things.”

^“Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. (I Timothy 6:6-10)”

Old Books

I have an old set of the “World Book” encyclopedia. I remember that my mother bought it at a second-hand store when I was a kid. It was published just after World War II, and I have no idea why my parents bought it, probably because they could not afford a new set of encyclopedias. It was long obsolete even then, and likely neither I nor my brother ever used it much. I also have our old set of the “Funk & Wagnalls” encyclopedia. If I recall correctly, the grocery store where Mom shopped used these as a promotion, featuring a new volume every few weeks for a nominal cost. I’m missing a couple of volumes; we likely didn’t need groceries those weeks. With way too much stuff, I have considered throwing out these books. My kids will never want them.

But given recent events, I think I’ll keep these books. For reference. To pick up and read an entry here and there. To perhaps donate to an educational institution that might value them. Recent events feature people with no knowledge of history, no understanding of economics, no understanding, frankly, of much of anything, seeking to destroy and tear down the society. Burning books. Defacing monuments. Pulling down statues erected to honor people that they know nothing about. Violent anarchists and people who constitute angry mobs likely don’t spend much time reading, at least studying anything of objective truth. They are not interested in books – only in burning them, literally or figuratively. Cancel culture is a goal and a mantra.

A book published in the 1950’s “Fahrenheit 451,” describes a society intent on burning books in order to erase history (titled for the temperature at which paper burns). Even at that time, the author feared that the United States might eventually turn away from truth and true history. Destruction of books, statues, and historic sites, obliterating the remembrance of history, is anarchy leading to totalitarianism. Remembrance and respect for history, even the bad aspects of past events, is vital to a society, essential to a freedom-loving people.

My old encyclopedias are obsolete. They do not contain the most recent scientific data. They do not document more recent events, but they document facts and much real history to the point that they were published. They precede the Leftist textbooks and far-Left teaching in the educational institutions of recent decades. They record historic truths in a variety of fields that have been denied or ignored. They record much vital and important information, minus Marxist bias.

When one understands some of the information in these books, one can begin to understand why many of us believe in American exceptionalism. We come to understand that the American Revolution wasn’t fought just to make a bunch of old rich white guys richer as some today claim, and that the causes of the Civil War were complex. We come to understand that the “Noble Savage” myth is just that, a myth, and aboriginal societies were not exactly ideal. We come to understand that character, principles of personal responsibility, deferred gratification, and free-market capitalism bring prosperity to both an individual and a nation. We come to understand the progression and flow of history. We come to understand the basis of true science.

I have many hundreds of books. I’ve asked that if I should die before I move them along, at least an attempt be made to donate them to a Christian institution. I’ll add these old encyclopedias to that request.

While many of us are concerned for our nation and its fate, I am even more concerned for the fate of the church. We have an ancient Book – the Bible – that, unlike my encyclopedias, has no degree of obsolescence. It is timeless and completely true. And yet sadly it has lost its importance to much, maybe most, of the perceived faithful church. A “cancel culture” of ignorance, neglect, and denial has invaded the church.

Months ago, a seminary that once may have been the premier seminary among Bible believers featured a chapel speaker who is a graduate of that school. He is a well-known megachurch pastor in the southeast, a gifted motivational speaker, but no preacher of Scripture. He is noted for his almost disdain of the use of the Old Testament and exhorted the seminary students accordingly. Surely seminarians must be well educated in a variety of fields, able to deal with and relate to people and understanding the society in which people live, able to help people deal with the difficulties they face each day. But at the very foundation of the education a faithful pastor must be – the Bible. He must know systematic and biblical theology. And he must be able to teach and preach scripture, in its entirety, to confront people with the gospel and all of its ramifications for the lives of believers, to help them gain an understanding of scripture and develop a thoroughly Christian worldview and philosophy of life.

That is being forgotten throughout evangelicalism, to an almost stunning degree. “Cancel” the truths from scripture that might offend someone. In effect, “cancel” the gospel. Give people a more acceptable, up to date concept of Jesus. People are advised as to how to “achieve their dreams,” how to “follow their hearts.” People are given life lessons and motivational speeches, advice, formulas for success. Congregations (obsolete word, I know) are exhorted to develop a personal vision, to follow a vision, to have some sort of encounter with God. Self-esteem is big; God is “crazy about you.” God wants you to be prosperous, or successful, or feel good about yourself, or know your true self, or realize how special you are. Create your own reality through positive thinking. Unbelievers are affirmed in their sins, told that they are “awesome,” told that they are “special,” advised to, in effect, add a little Jesus to their life. Church has become a raucous rock/pop concert followed by such a “talk.” One wonders how that can even be considered a “worship service.” Is it really to be compared to hearing from God’s Word, of singing truth from the scriptures, of considering Who God is and what He has done for us in Christ? Did Jesus die to atone for our sins, or to make us feel good and make our dreams come true? Disney message, Disney music, a Disney version of Jesus. “Cancel” all of that absolutist, doctrinal stuff. Help people feel good and learn to be tolerant.

We live in a decaying and dying culture that is in desperate need of truth. Recent events remind us of that. The Gospel is essentially all that the church has. Found in both Old and New Testaments, God has given us the truth that we need both for life in this world and for eternal life. We dare not forget that. When society crumbles, people do not need anything so much as they need the timeless truth of scripture.

That puts a burden and a great responsibility on us as believers. It is not enough to hear a sound sermon and sing a few true doctrinal hymns on Sunday. We cannot merely lament decline. We may have to separate from churches that do not hold to Scripture and preach Christ instead of culture. We must become disciples and students of the Word. We must study it and read it, and we must live it so that we might relate it to the people around us.

In the Old Testament, there is an account of young Josiah coming to the throne in Judah, the southern Jewish kingdom. Israel, the northern kingdom and apostate from God, had already gone into captivity. Judah survived, sometimes apostate, sometimes knowing a time of revival. In II Kings 22, it is recorded that

Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. . . . And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Now it came to pass, in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the scribe . . . to the house of the Lord, saying: “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money which has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the doorkeepers have gathered from the people. And let them deliver it into the hand of those doing the work, who are the overseers in the house of the Lord; let them give it to those who are in the house of the Lord doing the work, to repair the damages of the house— to carpenters and builders and masons—and to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. . . ” Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. So Shaphan the scribe went to the king, bringing the king word, saying, “Your servants have gathered the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of those who do the work, who oversee the house of the Lord.” Then Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes. Then the king commanded . . . , saying, “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”

The ancient Jews forgot God. They forgot His Word. It brought calamity. When the ancient scrolls were discovered in the time of Josiah, it brought some degree of revival and postponement of ultimate judgement. It brought life and hope to another generation. As a nation, we cannot forget the truths found in the Old Books. The church dare not forget the truth found in The Old Book.

Tell your children about it,
Let your children tell their children,
And their children another generation. (Joel 1:3)

Climate Change

Human-caused climate change is real. But I don’t think that it is based on carbon emissions.

I recently picked up an old paperback world history book in my library. This book was first published in the 1940’s, and I don’t agree with the the authors evolutionary presuppositions and philosophy. I noted that in the early chapters of the book, the author wrote of the advance and retreat of glaciation during prehistoric ages and the associated effects on the early development of civilization, which is the accepted position of most historians. Such climate change would precede any possible involvement by humans.

In recorded history, we know of many climate cycles. Causes and effects can be debated. For instance, the Medieval Warm Period, roughly ninth to twelfth centuries AD, preceded the industrial era of human development, and it was followed by the Little Ice Age from about the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries AD. Seemingly, there has been a sustained period of slight, measurable warming since, with slight cooling periods included in that trend.

I recall as an elementary school student a publication used in school called “The Weekly Reader,” and I recall one memorable edition on the subject of global cooling and the possibility of a coming ice age. A search of records of “The National Geographic” and other publications from that era would reveal similar concerns, in light of the slight cooling period that began roughly mid-1940’s. In 1975, “Newsweek” published an article predicting a coming ice age. This concern was replaced a few years later, however, by concerns over global warming, as a slight warming trend began perhaps early 1970’s and continues to the present. The movie “An Inconvenient Truth” was produced in 2006, predicting all sorts of negative effects of global warming, and this helped advance the almost non-stop talk of global warming and anthropogenic climate change – climate change caused by human environmental pollution and production of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses.

A number of years ago, several municipalities in the Colorado mountains considered a lawsuit against big oil companies, contending that fossil fuels produced by these companies was going to ruin the ski industry. Since then, there have been a couple of dry winters, especially in the southern part of the state, and several winters with normal and even above average snowfall. The ski industry is expanding, the mountain towns are flourishing, and their biggest problems center on transporting skiers and snow boarders from and back to Denver, and finding enough workers to accommodate their crowds. Over the last couple of decades, many Colorado forested areas have seen areas of dying pine trees caused by beetles, leading to large forest fires; the thought is that it hasn’t been cold enough for long enough during the winters to kill the beetle larvae due to climate change. As I write this, the US mid-west and eastern areas have just emerged from record cold weather due to a “polar vortex” phenomenon blamed on polar region warming. (Too bad the “climate gods” didn’t steer that cold further west to take out some beetles.) Unusual record snowfall has this winter hit Seattle and areas in the US northwest, likely, of course, because of climate change. Immigration issues have been blamed on global warming and climate change, as the effects of climate change prompt people to migrate. Every extreme weather event, every flood or famine, even wars, are blamed on anthropogenic climate change. Elements of the progressive Left have proposed their “Green New Deal,” a socialist fantasy to radically alter the American economy, fundamentally alter our way of life, and thus save the planet. The plan includes ending air travel, stopping American fossil fuel energy use, and even banning meat consumption.

Last summer, I visited the Pawnee National Grasslands in northeastern Colorado, basically in the middle of nowhere. The countryside near this pristine area was filled with giant wind power generation towers. A later trip through prairie and farmland in eastern Colorado and western Kansas featured mile after mile of views spoiled by these giant supposedly environmentally-friendly windmills. Photovoltaic solar panels are becoming commonplace on residential rooftops and in large solar power “farms.” More and more electric vehicles are on the roads. Somewhere down the road, the fact of toxic metals in the solar panels and in batteries will become an issue, but enough investment in such supposed environmentally friendly technology will save the planet; at least that is the thought.

Humans do have a responsibility to be good stewards of our planet and our environment. I’m glad that Denver’s winter time air pollution “brown cloud” is less of an issue than in the past. I’m glad that people can play in the South Platte river in central Denver, unthinkable fifty years ago due to pollution. I bemoan the urban sprawl along the Colorado front range. Efforts to protect clean air and water, to protect sensitive environmental areas, to use technology to decrease pollution and advance the quality of life, are to be lauded and encouraged.

There is validity to the concept that sometimes small actions can cause big results in the future. Call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe that what vehicle I drive or how many miles I drive it or how much meat I consume will have the slightest impact on the future temperature of any point on earth. Nevertheless, I do believe in human-caused climate change.

Psalm 2:4 tells us, “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.” This isn’t a reference to a divine sense of humor. God holds the vain imaginings and futile efforts of sinful humanity in derision.

In the opening section of the book of Genesis, we are told of God’s creation of our universe. We find the first created humans in Eden, an idyllic environment, in a world unspoiled by any pollution or imperfection, living in perfect harmony with their environment, themselves, and with God. And then, they rebelled against God; sin came, disaster happened. They lost their previous relationship with God, and were removed from Eden. Their posterity would be born with the effects of sin as part of their nature. But it wasn’t just human nature that was changed. Their relationship with nature changed, as the effects of sin came to be reflected in the world created for man’s home. Climate change came, caused not by carbon gas emissions, but because of man’s sin and rebellion against God.

Time passed, and human sin continued. God acted against the excesses of man’s sin by sending, in effect, a catastrophic climate event to destroy debauched human society. It seems evident in reading the Genesis account that the climate before the Flood was different than the climate after the Flood.

Everywhere we look, we see the magnificence of God in creation. Biology, chemistry, astronomy, meteorology, all sciences demonstrate the perfect creation of God. The nature of water and the associated hydrology cycle involving evaporation, atmospheric circulation, condensation, and precipitation regulates climate and weather (water vapor has far more “greenhouse gas” effect than carbon dioxide). The cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide in perfect balance sustains plant and animal life. God’s grand design is everywhere evident. And yet everywhere we look, we also see the effects of the Fall, certainly in human affairs, but even in nature. Floods, droughts, wind storms, earthquakes, all express not the original intent of the Creator for man, but rather the effects of man’s sin and rebellion against God.

Again, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our planet and our environment. Technology and human genius can and should be used to advance the condition of all people on the planet. But ultimately, we need to recognize that the future of the world is in God’s hands, not the vain imaginings of atheistic humanity.

Both the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament writers speak of cataclysmic events, including climate events, at the end of the current age that will precede the coming of Christ. Events that are not merely caused by greenhouse gas pollution but rather by the outpouring of God’s judgement against man’s sin. And these writers speak of a coming age when by God’s grace the redeemed of the ages will live in a perfect environment to eternally know, love, and serve Him.