Happy Birthday America

William Bradford
Great Puritan Leader in America

July 4 is the 234Th birthday of the founding of America. There is little argument with the notion that the USA is the greatest country ever established in the history of the world. Not only is it the strongest financially and militarily but it has usually been the most ethical, moral and free.

This is not always the case, of course. Our history of slavery parallels that of most nations so we did not rise above all of the evil habits and practices that were common at the time of our establishment in 1776. Failure to live up to the ideals set out in our Declaration of Independence has cost us dearly in the pain, suffering and losses forced on so many through slavery and Jim Crow Laws. Add that to the loss of some 620,000 Americans in the Civil War and the failure to make right choices about freedom of everyone was a huge mistake.

It is very difficult for people in power to easily give that power up. Despite the fact that many of the men who led the fight against Great Britain with such clarity could not live up to their professed beliefs for slaves and women. I have been a Christian for many years and see that same flaw in myself and many others. We claim to love God and others but too often find it difficult to carry out our good intentions.

How does the Bible lead individuals, governments and churches to rise above the cultural mandates in which we live? Everyone two to three thousand years ago with almost no exceptions believed that slavery was normal, reasonable and advisable. But the Bible admonished Believers to love God with a whole heart and our neighbor as ourselves. Such a command makes slavery very difficult for Christians and churches to support. One would be schizophrenic to do so. St. Paul added to that a command for slave owners to treat slaves as brothers not chattel. This lays the axe to slave owning period.

The Apostles did not usually get involved in politics but they wrote things in the the Bible under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that would crush hatred, slavery, domestic and sexual abuse. Our nation celebrates over 230 years of doing good while we were doing well because so much of the history, habits and founding documents came from Christian people and from the Bible.

The Revolutionary War came on the heels of the First Great Awakening and its preaching the word of God to masses of people in the Colonies. When they read the Bible about being created in the image of God, it became immediately apparent that all citizens were created to rule. Thus, King George did not reign because of "The Divine Rights of Kings" but because of selfishness and power. The Revolution was a normal result.

Can we return to those days?

Atheists and Pornography

Porn or Prayer in the Bedroom?

Why would atheists hate Christians and our God so much that they would attack us and the Father with millions of dollars of advertising? Why would they go so far as to try to get men addicted to pornography to keep them from reading the Bible? Do they not know that porn is exploiting women, girls and boys? Do they not realize the damage it does to marriages and family life?

They do not seem to care about the damage their hate filled campaigns cause people. They are deeply dedicated to stopping the growth and influence of Christianity. They will not allow anything to stand in their way, even the abuse of women and children and the destruction of marriages.

I get regular notices about the writings of a Pastor and Theologian from Sweden by the name of K.A. Johnson. He writes about social, cultural and spiritual issues in Scandinavia and Europe. Pornography is used by most males in Europe. A Danish Pastor friend has asked me to teach him how to liberate men from its devastating hold. Both at the Life Way Counseling Centers and Sweeten Life Systems training ministry we have learned how to help men strengthen their commitment to god and family by kicking the porn habit.

The next time I go to Denmark we will continue our conversations and plan ways to train Christian Counselors and Pastors in the healing arts. (Go to my web page and download Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty.) Peder Poulsen, one of my former students in Denmark has a family counseling center where he ministers God's truth, love and liberation to hundreds of people.

The Finnish Humanist Society started an aggressive, expensive campaign last year in England and Europe to attack God and Christians. Now they have stepped up the hate filled approach to give away porn to men in exchange for Bibles.

Why would they do this? Why porn? Why in exchange for a Bible? Is porn the antithesis of faith in God and will it kill the desire to rad the Bible/ Is the Bible that dangerous to Atheism and Secular Humanism? Will inhaling porn kill a man's desire to love his God. Will it pull men from church and serving others?

The answers must be a resounding "YES!"

If I thought long and hard for a good reason to warn men to avoid pornography I would never have come up with this. If atheists or secular humanists are willing to spend multiplied millions to wean men and women from God by giving away something, they must believe it has potency to change the hearts, souls and minds of the consumers. P&G does not run advertisements that do not work and neither will the Atheist/Humanists. They strongly believe that by giving porn to men and women free they will draw them away from God and family life. Talk about faith in something, they have it in spades!

What do you think? Am I off base on this? Are the Finnish Humanists benign in their activities or are they fully aware of what they are doing?

You can join the conversation!

C.S. Lewis on Jesus

The radical conversion from atheism to Christianity of C.S. Lewis is one of the great testimonies of the last century. His writings about faith are not only brilliant they have helped millions of Christians defend themselves against pseudo intellectual arguments against the divinity of Jesus.

In a much-cited passage from Mere Christianity, Lewis challenged the increasingly popular view that Jesus, although a great moral teacher, was not God. He argued that Jesus made several implicit claims to divinity, which would logically exclude this:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Lewis 1952, p. 43)

Why Do People Get AIDS?

An article in the CBS News Online tells us why so many people come down with AIDS. In an amazing story it relates that over 40,000 "women of the night" are headed for South Africa to sell themselves for money to the visiting soccer fans coming for the World Cup.

I cannot imagine going to a prostitute in any country but a man would have to be either insane of drunk to take such a chance in a place ravaged by AIDS. But this is what CBS says is happening. I always knew soccer fans were a bit off but this proves how out of control they are.

Henry Africa, 49, drives a taxi in Cape Town and, aside from the usual airport pickups and winery tours, he also operates the "Bright Red Tour," which he expects to be a hit among soccer fans. For the equivalent of 500 dollars, he'll shuttle customers from strip bar to strip bar all night and even bring them over to a safe-sex practicing prostitute, a relevant selling point in a country where one in five adults are estimated to be HIV positive.

The terms "Safe Sex" and South Africa just do not go together.

A Judge Tries to Stop Prayer

Many years ago an enterprising farmer packed up various seeds and shoots of plants to bring with him to America. He wanted a beautiful garden, I assume, as well as one that was filled with health as well as beauty. When deciding what to bring on his trip he chose one of the most beautiful and healthy plants known to man, the dandelion.

What makes dandelion removal from lawns so difficult? Well, dandelions (see picture for identification) enjoy the best of both worlds. Above-ground, their seeds ride the wind currents, poised to drop into the slightest opening in your lawn to propagate the species. Meanwhile, below-ground, they strike down a taproot up to 10" long. Pulling the taproot as a means of dandelion removal is problematic. Thick but brittle, the taproot easily fractures -- and any fraction of the taproot that remains in the ground will regenerate.

I always liked the dandelion. It was a fascinating flower and I loved to pick one when it was blooming and blow the fragile, frail little petals off into the wind to see how far they would float in the air. As far as I could see, all kids loved dandelions but a lot of adults hated them.

I never could figure out why people hated dandelions. they were harmless unlike poison ivy and poison oak. They wouldn't make the cattle sick or stink up the neighborhood. They were, as I said, beautiful and so hardy. But many adults decided they were weeds and conspired with the chemical industry to kill them off.

One thing about the dandelion, no matter how hard people tried to kill them they grew and spread all over the country. I suppose so many kids were like me. they too loved to blow their heads off when their folks or other adults were not looking. And, the wind cooperated with the dandelion's deep desire to reproduce. The results are everywhere apparent. Bright, beautiful, yellow dandelions as far as the eye can see, especially in play grounds.

The dandelion is a great metaphor for the good news of Jesus Christ. The love, healing and eternal life gained through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a beautiful flower that brings health, peace and beauty into the world. It never does any harm. Life with Jesus is always good and loving. Yet many people try to stamp it out.

There are several atheist and agnostic groups today that are aggressively attempting to force religion and specifically Christianity, out of the public eye. They will fail, of course, but it is still a bit irritating to see. They might as well try to eliminate dandelions.

An ancient Prophet once said of such efforts "The seed of the church is the blood of the martyrs." A martyr's blood is sacred but the testimony of a martyr can never be extinguished. The wind of the Holy Spirit blows wherever it wills and the hate of atheists cannot extinguish the love and power of the good news.

When hateful anti Christians attempt to "pull faith up by the roots" parts of our testimony breaks off and reproduces. It is almost impossible to get to the root of a dandelion and remove it.

The harder they blow their hot air the more the good news is spread throughout the world. Millions of people come to Christ every year. More people respond to the wooing of the Holy Spirit with newly opened eyes than give up eternal life for the arrogance of disbelief.

Every time you see a dandelion remind yourself to thank God for the gospel and share it with someone to pass it on.

We at Sweeten Life Systems is energetically involved in equipping Christians to share the good news with love, sensitivity and boldness. Your prayer and financial support for SLS will enable us to expand the Kingdom of God even more. See our web page for more information.