Before I get started, let me preface my remarks with Proverbs 15:28:
"The heart of the righteous studies how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil."
I read that this morning and it stuck with me. I want to be the righteous man (or woman) who studies how to answer. I may be a "Johnny come lately" to this whole Confederate Monument Removal debate, but I wanted to speak...even if this ends up just being an exercise is writing and logical thinking for myself.
First off, I have not been following the issue closely--mainly because it makes me angry. I have been aware of it and ground my teeth, but I haven't expended as much energy on it as I might have in the past because it does no one any good for me to be irritable over something I have no control over.
At any rate, some dear friends brought the subject up after "Messiah" practice earlier this week and I shot off with something along the lines of this is being used as a "distraction from the real issues". Then I realized with almost a sense of panic that while I knew exactly what I was talking about, I could not call it up much less articulate it! (And that, my friend, is one reason I don't do YouTube rant videos. I have this wonderful ability to totally lose my brain even on subjects I am quite capable in.)
Somehow, during my Bible reading out of Proverbs this morning, it hit me, that elusive "it" that the hydraulic door in my mind had slammed shut on, leaving me stranded without the key to open the door again. Yes, it is a distraction, but it's more than just a distraction by the Left from their socialistic, Marxist, statist bent and working. It's an attempt (and often a successful attempt) to manipulate public sentiment and thinking. This is why it is so important to learn how to think. To study history...one thing which they faithfully try to rewrite and destroy, because, as one of the young men pointed out, "If we don't know our history, we are doomed to repeat it." YES and EXACTLY.
The War for Southern Independence was fought, not over slavery (irregardless of how much it may have played some political part in the war), but over the exact same principles that led the Colonies to declare their independence from Great Britain and parliament. Those principles are the SAME ONES still under attack today by the Left--the Statists.
Furthermore, the principles that the South fought for--that her forefathers in the Thirteen Colonies fought for--are based firmly on the Word of God. This is the real issue behind the anti-Confederate hate that has spilled over to the point that people with false guilt tear down statues of God-honoring men who also happened to be military geniuses.
The ungodly have, and always will, hate true law and order. Even if they are "law-abiding" citizens and for the most part prefer to live in a nation that has good laws, at their heart they still hate God and thus His law (upon which all true law and order are founded).
So yes, the tearing down of monuments makes my heart cry out. It angers me that my heroes are dishonored, my homeland abused and scarred.
But it also leaves me wondering, "How stupid can we, the people of America, be?" The liberal media (and whoever they are controlled by) have been manipulating the facts and the arguments for DECADES now. When do we shake ourselves like wet dogs and sit up and say, "I am actually going to think about these issues"? When do we, Conservatives, Christians...when do we stop letting them control the narrative?
I pray God that MY generation wakes up. That MY generation will not be weak-kneed and hand their history to the trash bins. That MY generation will be given life by the Spirit and face the opposition like David against Goliath: "Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”" (I Samuel 17:45-47)
This is not arrogance but humble reliance on God for HIS almighty justice.
My friends...the monument debate is important because history is important because TRUTH is important. It is more important than a statue...but when one removes visible reminders of truth (you know, something that may spark an interest in a passerby to look beyond what they've been told), then statues of long-dead men take on more significance.
We are at this point because past generations played the weakling. Have failed to stand firm on truth. It's a practical outworking of the theology and philosophy of the day. And while angering, it is also saddening and should cause us to turn more earnestly to the Almighty in prayer for our fellow countrymen.
Fools seek to destroy their history. Wise men seek to learn from their history. God willing, let us seek to be wise men--not only for our own good, but for His glory.
"The heart of the righteous studies how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil."
I read that this morning and it stuck with me. I want to be the righteous man (or woman) who studies how to answer. I may be a "Johnny come lately" to this whole Confederate Monument Removal debate, but I wanted to speak...even if this ends up just being an exercise is writing and logical thinking for myself.
First off, I have not been following the issue closely--mainly because it makes me angry. I have been aware of it and ground my teeth, but I haven't expended as much energy on it as I might have in the past because it does no one any good for me to be irritable over something I have no control over.
At any rate, some dear friends brought the subject up after "Messiah" practice earlier this week and I shot off with something along the lines of this is being used as a "distraction from the real issues". Then I realized with almost a sense of panic that while I knew exactly what I was talking about, I could not call it up much less articulate it! (And that, my friend, is one reason I don't do YouTube rant videos. I have this wonderful ability to totally lose my brain even on subjects I am quite capable in.)
Somehow, during my Bible reading out of Proverbs this morning, it hit me, that elusive "it" that the hydraulic door in my mind had slammed shut on, leaving me stranded without the key to open the door again. Yes, it is a distraction, but it's more than just a distraction by the Left from their socialistic, Marxist, statist bent and working. It's an attempt (and often a successful attempt) to manipulate public sentiment and thinking. This is why it is so important to learn how to think. To study history...one thing which they faithfully try to rewrite and destroy, because, as one of the young men pointed out, "If we don't know our history, we are doomed to repeat it." YES and EXACTLY.
The War for Southern Independence was fought, not over slavery (irregardless of how much it may have played some political part in the war), but over the exact same principles that led the Colonies to declare their independence from Great Britain and parliament. Those principles are the SAME ONES still under attack today by the Left--the Statists.
Furthermore, the principles that the South fought for--that her forefathers in the Thirteen Colonies fought for--are based firmly on the Word of God. This is the real issue behind the anti-Confederate hate that has spilled over to the point that people with false guilt tear down statues of God-honoring men who also happened to be military geniuses.
The ungodly have, and always will, hate true law and order. Even if they are "law-abiding" citizens and for the most part prefer to live in a nation that has good laws, at their heart they still hate God and thus His law (upon which all true law and order are founded).
So yes, the tearing down of monuments makes my heart cry out. It angers me that my heroes are dishonored, my homeland abused and scarred.
But it also leaves me wondering, "How stupid can we, the people of America, be?" The liberal media (and whoever they are controlled by) have been manipulating the facts and the arguments for DECADES now. When do we shake ourselves like wet dogs and sit up and say, "I am actually going to think about these issues"? When do we, Conservatives, Christians...when do we stop letting them control the narrative?
I pray God that MY generation wakes up. That MY generation will not be weak-kneed and hand their history to the trash bins. That MY generation will be given life by the Spirit and face the opposition like David against Goliath: "Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.”" (I Samuel 17:45-47)
This is not arrogance but humble reliance on God for HIS almighty justice.
My friends...the monument debate is important because history is important because TRUTH is important. It is more important than a statue...but when one removes visible reminders of truth (you know, something that may spark an interest in a passerby to look beyond what they've been told), then statues of long-dead men take on more significance.
We are at this point because past generations played the weakling. Have failed to stand firm on truth. It's a practical outworking of the theology and philosophy of the day. And while angering, it is also saddening and should cause us to turn more earnestly to the Almighty in prayer for our fellow countrymen.
Fools seek to destroy their history. Wise men seek to learn from their history. God willing, let us seek to be wise men--not only for our own good, but for His glory.
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