Courageous or a Coward? You Decide!

by Rich Farm

“But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.  For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.” ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” ~ John 15:13

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr.

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize that the above verse in Timothy is playing out before our very eyes.  All you have to do is look to the headlines and major news stations for this depressing visual.  I mean we live in the age of the selfie and Tik Tok.  Major corporations positioned themselves through this global “plandemic” to secure for themselves as much wealth as possible through forced mandates and determining which businesses were “essential” leaving the smaller mom and pop shops to suffer and even die off. We had arrogant draconian politicians setting rules even they themselves didn’t follow, save a photo op or two.  Movements sweeping the nation without any fear of restraint utterly destroying the lives and livelihoods of others through riots and burnings, while police and military simultaneously abuse their people, even when peacefully protesting as we see in Canada currently.  We’ve even had people robbed, beaten, and raped on public transit all the while other bystanders just turn a deaf ear or blind eye.  No one wants to be bothered if it is not directly affecting their little bubble.

Let’s just call these people who do nothing in the face of evil what they are, cowards.  They don’t want to be bothered by interruptions in their own life, and they sure don’t want to risk a chance of the wrath of that evil coming on them too.  I’m reminded of a very famous quote, that all evil needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing.  If we truly want to turn the tide of evil that is sweeping our nation and our global, we need to stand up.  I’m a genxer and we had a brand of clothing in those days called “No Fear”.  We need a little more of that in this day and age.  Political correctness and living in a land of lawsuits have silenced many from being able to do anything good.  We are more worried about our own image, or job, or even our life, to stand up for truth and righteousness and help those who can’t help themselves.

We have entered into an era where we are being forced to pick a side. There is no more middle ground.  This side I speak of is not of the natural either.  This is not black or white, republican or democrat, this is ultimately a choice of good versus evil.  It has been said that character is not made in times of trials but revealed.  When the fire is turned up, we begin to see who we really are inside, and what we truly believe.  Trials will end up exposing all our shortcomings and weaknesses.  The question we have to ask ourselves is, what are we going to do with that knowledge?  Are we going to allow the pressures to crush us, or will we redirect that pressure to cause us to become stronger?  Will we retreat into self-preservation mode or allow it to motivate us for the greater good?

I have wrestled with this myself over the last few years.  Am I willing to lay it all down for the sake of my family, friends, and country?  Do I have what it takes to sacrifice my life for a cause much greater than myself, when I can’t even give my time for helping a stranger in need, or even a neighbor?  Have I become too corrupted by the 2 Timothy society, or will I look to my example and King, and love my life not unto death?  Will I follow in the example of One who laid His life down for the entire human race, or will I tuck my tail between my legs when the flames get hotter and cower off in fear?  Even if we are only one of but a few who stand up for truth and righteousness, we have to remember that those of us who claim the banner of Christianity, have a mighty God fighting our battles for us.  We also must recall that it never took Him huge armies to make His people successful, as we see in the story of Gideon, whom God used with 300 men to be successful.

I do believe I have mentioned this before, courage is contagious.  It only takes a small pebble to send ripples across a lake, or a small snowball from the top of a mountain to trigger an avalanche further down.  Even if just a few show the courage needed to stand up, it could just be the catalyst needed to trigger a wave of righteous warriors.  We need to remember that each of us is valuable and an intricate piece of the project our Creator is working out in this world.   We will all add something to this fight we are in for truth and righteousness and our freedoms.  So, are we going to be courageous and go against the current of this world?  Or will we be weakened by fear and be swept away by the current?  Are we going to be self-preservationist, or be willing to give our lives—whatever that may mean—for our loved ones, strangers and country?

A Righteous Cause

by Susan Snelling

There is a righteous cause when it comes to America. The cause according to the Founding Fathers, is America. Thomas Paine said: “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Where, some say, is the king of America? I’ll tell you, friend, He reigns above.” The Founding Fathers did not look at man as the arbitrator of good and evil and what was just and unjust, but there was an authority and an absolute that transcended mere mortals. America, as it was originally intended, is a gift from the Creator to the world. And the gift of freedom so amply given in the form of the American Republic was vividly expressed in the Constitution.

Again, Thomas Paine addresses the cause of America: “Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.” The cause of America, a righteous cause, sets a standard and tone of order and freedom. With America’s purpose being that of reconciling law to liberty, a failure of America’s purpose sets the stage for anarchy instead and all sorts of evil. The Founding Fathers believed it imperative that America be successful and the Constitution protected and defended. It is the only bastion of true freedom and liberty in the world. The Founders knew that if America failed, chaos would result. There is not a government on earth that comes close to republicanism and the Founders warned against squandering it. The result is creeping tyranny. These encroachments on liberty are usually not sudden but happen slowly over time until you have something that does not resemble what the Founders intended. If only the Constitution had been safeguarded, we cry out!

Protection of the Constitution stems from a love of America in the context of the plans of the Founders and an enlightened people well-versed in freedom through knowledge of the Founding documents, and a desire to follow the principles the Founders used in forming this Republic. The principles the Founders used in forming the American government is clear through their writings, and they warned Americans to not depart from those principles because the very security of the nation depended on it. Daniel Webster summed up, in a nutshell, the crucial key to American prosperity and the antithesis to her demise when he wrote: “If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its instruction and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” John Quincy Adams agreed. He said: “In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity.”

America is not a secular nation founded on secular ideology but on the Christian principles found in the Bible. The purpose of America, which is to reconcile law to liberty, is a righteous cause. America herself is a righteous cause. It is one that can be lost. Only when men and women are virtuous can its purpose be fulfilled. Secularism does not favor the reconciliation of law to liberty. The Founder’s said that the republican form of government that they gave us is only for a moral people. America is a righteous cause, one worth fighting for but it takes a righteous people who practice virtue to preserve it.  As Patrick Henry said: “Righteousness alone can exalt [America] as a nation…Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others.”

America is a righteous cause that benefits not just Americans but the world as the nations of the earth look to that “shining city on a hill” as a beacon of hope. Would America’s light be put out or hidden by a secular generation? America, a cause worth fighting for. The Founders encouraged future generations to fight for America, if not for our Creator, and ourselves and those to come, then for those who gave their all to birth this nation. A righteous people, a virtuous people would defend the Constitution, that expression of freedom given to us by our Creator. When the righteous cry out, God answers and delivers.