Averting America's "Nightfall"

Years ago, when I was learning to fly, I read these words of wisdom from a highly experienced airline pilot. He was writing of the dangers of flying into inclement weather.  He said, “Remember, the weather is not what someone forecasts. The weather is what you see through the windshield.” 

            I have found this to be good, life-saving advice over the years – and, not just for aviators.  So, I also use this realistic approach in my everyday life. I try to assess reality according to what my mind’s eye can actually see through the windshield of the present moment. And here is one of those things.

            There is a simple operational principal which governs the quality of both our personal and our national relationship with God.  It is revealed in the New Testament writings of the apostle, James.   There, he said, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  Simple, right?  And, the reciprocal principal is just as simple and just as true for both an individual and a nation. It is this.  Draw away from God, and by your movement, He is drawn away from you.

            And, when this parting movement comes to our relationship with God, there are always practical consequences due to this loss of His benevolent guardianship - consequences which become ever more dire as that relational distance widens.  Consequences like those which have happened in America over the last four years.

             For example, we have become a deeply divided and greatly weakened nation – fully immersed in a dark, downward spiral which now touches every facet of our society. Our own government, now deeply infiltrated with Marxist Democrats, has purposely invited a huge daily invasion of would-be foot soldiers through our southern border to eventually help topple our society.  And, that same government is now filled with disloyal politicians, bureaucrats, and political operatives, people who detest our way of life and daily plot its end.  Indeed, they are an imminent threat to our very existence as a free and prosperous nation. 

            And, our greatest societal defense, the rule of just laws, has greatly crumbled away under their seditious hand – as has the integrity of our elections. Prices have soared as the worth of the dollar has experienced a free fall, not due to natural forces, but by the willful design of these same seditious Marxist plotters – their plan being, to break the back of our prosperity and replace it with a Marxist system which has never led to anything but impoverishment of both treasure and soul.  And, beyond all of this, our military, judicial, and educational systems have been widely corrupted by the foolishness of their “woke” and socialist agendas.

            And one cannot help but notice the unusual movement of our salivating enemies. Communist Russia, the Chinese Communist Party, the psychopathic leaderships of Iran and North Korea, the lawless and brutal drug cartels, and the now way-out-of-the-closet Marxist Democrat Party are all now being drawn together toward the same nexus point – that being, America’s societal “nightfall.”

            Certainly, this massive and relatively sudden occurrence of dark events in America begs the question, “What is driving these unnatural, and yet, seemingly well-coordinated developments?” But to arrive at a truly encompassing answer to that question, we cannot limit our search to merely the physical dimension of life.  The full explanation for these movements simply doesn’t lie entirely within this physical dimension.  It also, and mostly, lies in the metaphysical (spiritual) dimension.

            It is a grave mistake to think that these dark difficulties which have engulfed this nation are just part of the normal social and geopolitical ebb and flow of this physical world.  For too long now, the gaze of too many has been deceptively abridged and misdirected by the satanic whispers which insist that our world should be viewed as self-contained, and thus, we should simply ignore the spiritual in favor of the more purely physical view of life. 

            Nevertheless, the true human reality remains unchanged by this lie of the Darkness.  In fact, that larger spiritual dimension of life surrounds, deeply impacts, and ultimately entirely governs the physical human existence every single day. So, if we truly wish to accurately explain our existence in any given moment, we must always take into account that spiritual reality, the God who rules it, and its ongoing war between God’s light and Satan’s darkness.  And, in fact, that war between good and evil is perhaps the strongest indicator of the daily impact of the spiritual dimension as it constantly spills over into our world in a multitude of ways, including those we’ve just mentioned.

            So, indeed, for too long now, our misdirected gaze has been mistakenly fixed only on the physical realities and the human perpetrators of America’s disintegration. And certainly, those elements are hugely important.  But they are still only the downstream results of the much more fundamental cause of our woes. 

            The real headwaters of our rapid national disintegration actually swirl out of that previously mentioned widespread relational withdrawal from God.  And these resulting political and social difficulties are just those afore mentioned practical consequences such as always flow from a nation’s willful relational retreat from Him.

            The historical pages of the Bible actually hold vivid and detailed accounts of ancient Israel’s times of such estrangement from God.  And, that relational distance was always created by the same behavioral pattern.  It was their broad departure from God in the rejection of His values, His truth, and His benevolent leadings – just as both the secular and religious segments of the American populace have been widely doing for decades now.

            Thus, this self-inflicted loss of God’s protective national guardianship has now come also to us.  The beginning point of that loss is easily marked by His non-intervention in that disaster that was our 2020 presidential election.  And, the seriousness of that loss is clearly underscored by the rapid pace and great depth of our national decline ever since. 

            But it would seem that now our compassionate Heavenly Guardian may actually be offering a divine “olive branch” to the nation in the form of this incoming and vastly more enlightened federal administration.  And, the rise of this political relief would further make it seem that these last four years were actually a very well-intentioned divine object lesson.  Seemingly, they were God’s cautionary way of clearly demonstrating to the nation the harsh reality which always emerges when our hearts begin to widely depart from Him – thus precipitating the loss of His protective interventions.

            Indeed, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the last four years were actually God’s very dramatic way of helping us to avert our complete societal failure.  Certainly, as a result of these past years, we are now much more aware of what is really at stake if our growing secular arrogance and widening shallowness in the Church go unchecked.  Those continuances will only widen that distance from God’s benevolent watchcare to finally precipitate that final, national failure.      

            So, history now waits to mark its record.  And, so must we also wait to see how present generations in America will treat this dawning opportunity to widely reestablish a truly respectful relationship with our divine Guardian and, in turn, know a wonderful national healing. 

            Thankfully, we have managed to overwhelmingly elect this new and more enlightened political leadership.  But that political good fortune is, by no means, all that’s required to effect America’s rescue from the huge satanic onslaught which has beset us.  The spiritual must also be kept in play.  It is imperative that we also face up to and address that much more fundamental issue:  our national relational rift with God.  That failing – no human administration will be sufficient to save us from what is already our looming societal collapse.

            So, the big questions remain. Will we go that whole distance which an American renewal truly requires – addressing not just the physical, but the spiritual requirements as well?  Will we take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity, however brief it may be, to truly and deeply fix America, including our now widely God-estranged heart? 

            Or – Will secular America just continue to grow ever more disrespectful and arrogant in their own delusional self-sufficiency?  And, Will our widespread pretense and minimized investment of heart, mind, and well-spent energy within the present American Church simply continue to spread even further across its ranks?  

            But one thing is not at all in question.  If we choose that latter course, those “consequential events” will just continue to unfold, in spite of this opportune election, finally pushing us into the abject darkness of our own final societal disintegration? 

            So, it is existentially critical, as individuals, as the Church, and as an imminently imperiled nation, that we come once again to a deeply honest humility before The Almighty.  Indeed, it must be a level of humility which will freshly enable us to embrace, to the very depths of our soul, this immutable truth.  “Genuine and durable prosperity, whether individual or national, ever resides vastly more in God’s up-close friendship than in the delusional arrogance of our own self-sufficiency.”  

            Certainly, time will clearly tell whether or not this nation was able to widely reach that level of humility.  But in either case –history will surely be able to mark its record relatively soon. 

Take The Win

         An ECHO))) Article: 

The battle at Gettysburg was a pivotal point in the American Civil War.    And, the commanding generals of the southern forces all knew very well what was at stake.  They knew this could be a decisive battle which could decide the fate of their cause. And their shared hope was that a win at Gettysburg could bring an immediate and victorious end to the bloodshed.

One southern Brigadier General, Richard (Dick) Garnett, had been previously injured and could not walk to lead the infantry brigade which he commanded in their assault on the Union position. This meant he would have to ride his horse to lead his men in that advance – putting him in an elevated position and thus making of him a very easy target. 

So, his close friend, Brigadier General Louis Armistead, went to the commanding generals, Longstreet and Pickett, and asked each of them to order Garnett to stay behind.  Both refused, knowing that it would be a deeply felt affront to Garnett’s sense of duty and honor.

Finally, Armistead confronted Garnett, himself, and begged his friend to stay behind and not lead this charge which would mean almost certain death for him.  Calling Armistead by his nickname, "Lo,” this was Garnett’s answer to his friend.  Looking across that large open field of fire at the Union held heights, he said, “Lo – I gotta ride up there.” 

It was unthinkable to this honorable man that his brigade should advance while he remained safely at the rear. I suspect that in Garnett’s mind the peril of the battle greatly paled in comparison to the thought of betraying his own honor and self-respect.  Indeed, truly honorable men feel deeply that the betrayal of their own nobility is to leave their honor ever tarnished. And for men who travel in such admirable character circles as did Dick Garnett – that is simply unacceptable.

In a few days America will face another “Gettysburg” in this coming election.  It, too, will be a pivotal and pitched battle for the soul of this nation.  In honest, un-veneered terms, this election will, indeed, be the decisive battle in a now 100 year old war.  It is the conflict between America, a free and prosperous capitalist nation, rich in personal liberties, and the hellish darkness of a completely oppressive Marxist-Communism bent on achieving a world domination.

And, to our great embarrassment as a nation, unlike the noble Garnett, some in this present American generation are actually contemplating “just sitting this decisive battle out.”  Under the weight of their various disappointments, their intention is to opt out of even voting – choosing rather to ignore the issues of honor and devotion in the face of what is truly an existential threat to their nation.  

There is a proverb in the Bible which says this. “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance [the outlook] of his friend. [Brackets Added]   In that spirit of a brotherly intervention, may I offer this perspective on that non-participation outlook?

Do you really think it honorable not to make this “charge” in behalf of your own nobility, and the future of your children, your nation, and even the larger world?  You may have grievances. You may have been offended by one thing or another.  But surely your sophistication clarifies that reasonable people don’t put at risk a whole society to satisfy lesser grievances. 

Sometimes great gifts simply do not come in refined wrappings.  For goodness sake, can’t we just take the win of a vastly more enlightened leadership under a Trump administration and ignore those mostly irrelevant details arising around the flaws of personality – which, truth be told, we all have in abundance? Is absolute perfection across every dimension of a leader’s make-up the only standard that is acceptable?  I hope not, because I’m pretty sure the fulfillment of that standard won’t be available until Jesus returns. 

When I was a young boy, I practiced a certain flawed entertainment of my own.  I would sometimes elevate one end of a cardboard box and put a stick under it to hold it in that position.  Then I tied a string to the bottom end of the stick and sprinkled bread crumbs under the box. 

And then, I played out the string to the nearest shrub where I would hide and wait for some unsuspecting bird to venture under that box to eat those bread crumbs.  And when he did, I would jerk the string and the box would suddenly drop. And, in that instant, that unsuspecting bird was immediately and entirely stripped of his freedom to soar in the heavens which he had known all of his life.

For almost a century now, Marxists demons and dupes, wearing the face of Russian Communism, the Chinese Communist Party, and of late, the entirely Marxist conscripted Democrat Party in America, have been waiting in the dark weeds for an unsuspecting American generation to fall prey to their deadly treacheries.  It begs the question, “Are we that generation.”

If we are still casual and mostly unenlightened about the critical import of this present election, indeed, we are that generation.  If we still don’t clearly understand that this election is truly the decisive battle of that long war between the bright and broad blessings of Capitalism as opposed to the abject and oppressive darkness of Marxism – then, yeah, we definitely are that uninformed generation. 

If we still don’t see the absolute resolve, treachery, and power of the Marxist enemies of our way of life, then it is true.  We are that short-sighted generation.  And, if we are yet unaware of the deadliness of the natural alliance between the radical Islamist in Iran, the Marxist Russian Dictatorship, the Chinese Communist Party, the drug cartels, and the now way-out-of-the-closet Communist Democrat party – then, definitely, we’re that clueless generation. 

And, if we still don’t see the advanced infiltration of our Marxist enemies into our social fabric and our governmental seats of power – then all doubt is erased. We are definitely that careless American generation which will be the one to experience America’s final “nightfall.”  

And, that nightfall is, indeed, now terrifyingly close.  Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and the entire array of Democrat politicians at every level (federal, state, county, and local) and their media allies are now in lock-step.  Their aim is to bring this freedom loving nation under the permanent, iron-fisted rule of Marxism through this upcoming election.

And truly, they will not be stopped by a moody American populace in such intellectual disarray that we cannot see past the lies, the propaganda, and our own pet peeves. A populace which cannot make a solid decision to restore to this nation an enlightened governance and a firm resolve to immediately well-identify and fully best our enemies.

In this pivotal moment, the threat is absolutely imminent.  Our freedom to soar is very much at stake, right now – in this very decisive election.  Please, dear patriot, don’t sit this battle out.  You know you’re better than that.

A Terrifying Deficiency

When this election season started, I must admit, I was very concerned with the candidates, as one would expect.  And then I saw the TV interviews of those, so called, “ordinary voters” shortly after the Trump-Harris debate – and everything changed.

             And now, having seen and heard many more of those man-on-the-street type interviews since, I’m actually terrified at our prospects.  But now, it’s not as much about the candidates as what seems a multitude of small minded voters who appear clueless as to the more far-reaching and highly consequential issues which are absolutely in play in this truly existential election. 

             I know that America has some great people who have humbly dedicated their life to the pursuit of truth-based enlightenment.  And accordingly, they actually live principled lives.  They truly care about the quality of life in a world larger than their own foot print.  They daily reach for nobility of thought, words, and behavior.  And, they then employ that personal nobility to better the world – willingly accepting a gentle, daily responsibility for that larger state of well-being.

             I know those people are out there.  But, it seems there are not nearly so many as there used to be.  Yet, their counterparts appear to have multiplied exponentially somewhere along the way.  It seems we are now overrun with gullible, self-centered, short-sighted, and mentally simplistic types whose comprehension of “important” ends at the tip of their own nose. 

             And certainly, if the weight advantage of the American populace has, indeed, shifted to their ranks, then our now steeply downward national spiral is easily explained.  And, America’s imminent and irreversible “nightfall” is already a foregone conclusion. 

             Obviously, the consequences of a severely depleted national character is not something one can fix with a letter to the editor.  Indeed, I know of only one sure fix for that problem.  But, even The Almighty, before He can effect a national character renewal, requires a populace widely willing to honestly see and sorrowfully denounce their own degradation.  It begs the question, “Are we that people in this crucial moment?”  Sadly, there’s much evidence to the contrary.

The "State" of New York

How ironic this title:  The State of New York vs Donald J. Trump.  For a long time now, most of the rest of the country has been well aware of the “state” of New York,  i.e. its actual sociological condition.  And, it’s bad.  It’s really bad (Ref. Chuck Schumer, Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, and Andrew Cuomo.  If these are their best and brightest – case made.

 And, that is hugely more actual evidence than anyone has against Trump.  So obviously, Degenerated, is the real “state” that vs Trump.  And, Asleep at the Switch would seem to accurately tar the rest of our judicial system – especially A.G. Merrick Garland (the essence of the problem). 

 And, if anyone is wondering what a Marxist/Democrat government with a permanent lock on power would look like in America – you need wonder no longer.  It’s evident now in New York City.  Look there and be both enlightened and terrified by the plausible reality that it could actually happen this very election year. 

 After all, the 2020 election turned out to be a great dress-rehearsal.  And, the Dems did get a figurehead president which allowed a mostly unseen radical oligarchy to run the country off the social and economic rails.  And, it all went off with hardly a squeak from those who were empowered to do the squeaking.  So, certainly, I would suspect that the country can look for a serious attempt at that brass ring this year.

 And, if that power lock is achieved, rest assured, the January 6 style hearings will be played out on a much grander scale.  After all, we’re talking about empowered Marxism.  Even in America, it is still Marxism, the brutal parent philosophy of Communism which has left 100,000,000 dead around the world (and counting).

 “Oh, but it will be different here,” said the duped to the gullible.  It will be different, all right.  Ask Donald Trump.  He will quickly confirm the difference we can expect in coming days if we don’t do two things - get humble before God and learn a new song:  I am Principled Voter – hear me roar.

World Changers

             

Every so often the sociopolitical plates of our world are forced to undergo a tectonic shift.  And what makes it all so completely ridiculous is that this militant upheaval can invariably be traced back to a psychopathic epicenter.  From Attila to Genghis Kahn to Stalin and Hitler to the arrogant militants of today, such violent social misfits believe their will should govern the world – no matter the cost in blood or treasure.

             In the times when these radical world changers rise up from their birthplace in the underworld, the more peaceful and manageable status quo of life begins to evaporate.  And, with it goes life’s positive outlook.  And, all begins to trend downward, until finally, one more time, our world is again drowned in its own blood and starved through its deep poverty.

             In my view, we are now facing another such uprising.  But this time, the world is being assaulted by an invisible oligarchy of psychopaths.  Nevertheless, while this group of social “puppeteers” is largely unidentified in the public eye, at the end, I’m sure their impact will be every bit as deadly to the human race as before – and then some.

             But, what I cannot grasp is the insanity of it all.  Why can we never identify this pattern of recurring social apartheid – the few forcing their will upon the many – and stop allowing it?  Why do the violent, the elitists, and the social experimenters, being in the great minority, get to rule over the rest of us at the expense of everything we hold dear:  peace, safety, prosperity, and the very lives of our children. 

             And who, besides themselves, declared these social manipulators to be gods?  And, when did so many of us become so idiotic as to empower their schemes which ultimately destroy us in mass?  Yet we continue to buy in with our political, philosophical, and material support so they can? 

             Obviously, we don’t really need the dark leadership of dime-a-dozen world changers.  What we really need to invest in, what’s truly valuable, are peace-filled lives fashioned by our own thoughtful will and principled deeds.

The Cost of Rose

 

Humility – the willingness to bow. Faith – the willingness to bow before God. Love – a sense of responsibility for the well-being of others. Duty – the willingness to engage responsibility. Honor – the willingness to be accountable to the higher conscience. Honesty – the determined embrace of objective truth. Morality – a willingness to live nobly. Temperance – the willingness to confront the worth of your own desires.


The phrases written above are not precise dictionary definitions of the virtues mentioned there. They are more a practical description of the real character impacts which those virtues produce in us – and ultimately, in our world.

But lately, it seems we’ve started to believe that we can just dismiss the Godly requirement of a virtuous heart which actually produces virtuous living. It seems we’ve started to think of such character issues as just too much trouble and not really that necessary to these “digital” times. So seemingly, we feel we can do fine without that inconvenience.

 
At this point, Dr. Phil would probably ask, “Well – how’s that working for you?” And, in the sane reality which always has the last word over the rose colored one, the answer would have to be, “It’s really not.”

Merely for the lack of virtuous hearts, our national government has mutated from protective to threatening. Our Justice Department and its FBI minions have entirely lost their ethical way. Our national identity is being drained away through our southern border. And, the “home of the brave” has become filled with Covid obsessed Chicken Littles.

Due only to the absence of virtue in the heart of those who have the power to make a difference, the value of our dollar is plummeting. The price of our goods and services is skyrocketing. Our educators no longer do. Our medical system has sold its soul to the bottom line. And, our work force is out on a long, lazy, government subsidized break.

 
It is true. A devotion to virtue does have a cost, but not nearly the cost of the upheaval which results from its absence. And virtue’s paybacks are proven and priceless.

Sentiments Mistakenly Consigned to the Tempestuous Teapot

 

But, these are no tempests in a teapot

Intrusions of the Darkness

Old  Tactics - New Faces

The Puppeteers

The Wisdom of A. A. Joe

                                                                                                            

Where America Is Going 

  - And Why

O>Portal Exhibit

A 1985 Look Back

Roberson / Reagan

by

                                      The 700 Club