“Sometimes the first duty of a responsible man is a restatement of the obvious.”         –George Orwell

“Religion and good morals are the only valid foundation of public liberty and happiness.”          –Samuel Adams

What is happening?  There is so much confusion in America today.  People are disoriented regarding morality and immorality.  Weird is becoming the norm while absolutes do not exist.  People are even confused about gender.  My mercy…!
Throughout history armies have marched with a flag-bearer.  He was the one who stood in front, carried and guarded the honor of the flag.  In our history the flag bearer has been the President.  Has our flag been dropped or has it been thrown to the ground?  During battle, when the flag bearer went down immediately someone was there to pick up the flag.  Who is there now to pick up our flag?  We must ask ourselves the question, will I catch the falling flag?
I came across an article that I had filed several years ago written by Don Spradling, “Catch the falling flag.”  He raised the questions that are above.  Is our nation one that really believes “In God We Trust?  Do we now disregard our biblical tradition for being the guideposts of morality?  William Wishard states, “Dysfunction is now a style of life in America with its own music, media, dress code and philosophy?  Better reach out and catch the flag.
Read the following, “I believe in Jesus Christ as the great Helper, Comforter and Savior of humanity, and the Holy Bible as bearing to us the story of His mission, the rule of duty, the revelation of eternal life and also the conditions under which the attainments of life are possible.  No book contains more truths, or is more worthy of confidence than the Bible; none brings more joy to the sorrowing, more strength to the weak, or more stimulus to the nobly ambitious; none makes life sweeter, or death easier or less sad.”  This written by David Josiah Brewer, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.  Imagine those words coming from the current court that has stamped its approval on so many immoral ideas.
The question is how did this happen and what do we do about it?  Spradling states, “The flag of character and personal integrity is challenged by the winds of relativism, syncretism, humanism and hedonism.  Character counts.  Our nation wasn’t built by celebrities, geniuses or the wealthy.  It was built by the people for the people, because they put their trust in God.  Some better reach out and catch the falling flag of character.
What about your home?  Is it a haven of rest, a place of joy, a home where memories are created to be enjoyed throughout one’s life?  Or is it one of chaos, disruption, and distraction?  Barna states, “I’ve concluded that within the next few years America will experience one of two outcomes:  either massive spiritual revival or total moral anarchy.”  This starts with the home.
Eventually we know that truth will prevail.  But what about right now?  In whom do you trust?
(taken from Pentecostal Evangel, June 27, 1999)

“Truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter… The Lord looked and was displeased.”           –Isaiah 59:14-16

Growing up I remember often that the clouds would roll down covering the mountains.  They were hidden from view and from a distance a person would never know they were there.  However, for sure those mountains were there; they were just obscured by the clouds.  There is an old song of the church that describes the mist and then what happens “When the Mists Have Rolled Away.”

“When the mists have rolled in splendor
From the beauty of the hills,
And the sunlight falls in gladness
On the river and the rills,
We recall our Father’s promise
In the rainbow of the spray:
We shall know each other better
When the mists have rolled away.”
–Annie H. Barker

There was one experience I shall never forget.  Annie and I were driving from Springfield, MO to her place.  At Zanesville, OH we hit some of the worst fog that I’ve ever encountered.  What was normally a three hour drive turned into close to nine.  I tried and get behind a semi and follow his red lights.  If that truck had turned off and into a warehouse I would have gone right in after it.

“Oft we tread the path before us
With a weary, burdened heart;
Oft we toil amid the shadows,
And our fields are far apart:
But the Savior’s ‘Come, ye blessed,’
All our labor will repay,
When we gather in the morning
Where the mists have rolled away.”

The same is often true of life itself.  There is often fog and mists along the trail.  Heaven seems obscured by the cares of this life; it is like Paul wrote that we look through a glass darkly.  One day, yes, one day the way will be completely clear.

“We shall come with joy and gladness,
We shall gather round the throne;
Face to face with those that love us,
We shall know as we are known:
And the song of our redemption
Shall resound thro’ endless day,
When the shadows have departed,
And the mists have rolled away.”

“We shall know as we are known
Nevermore to walk alone,
In the dawning of the morning
Of that bright and happy day,
We shall know each other better,
When the mists have rolled away.”

“We are a good and moral people, and we form a nation that is the hope of mankind–quite possibly, the last hope of mankind.”         –Eric L. Haney

“The earth for us is a place to live in, where we must put up with sights, with sounds, with smells, too, by Jove!–breathe dead hippo, so to speak, and not be contaminated.”         –Joseph Conrad

It smells rotten and it jerks my jaws!  Maybe it’s that poor, underprivileged prima donna of a quarterback.  I would wonder how much of his money has he given to help?  Has he been to Baton Rouge to help the people there?  I saw where Convoy of Hope was on the scene but haven’t seen a truck from BLM.  Rebel rousers don’t show up when there is work to be done, only when there is a means to cause strife and division.  Helping people is not part of their agenda and it stinks.
Is that a dead hippo I am beginning to smell, or is it the rotting soul of America?  What in the world are we doing when we allow a few to make policy for the many?  How can we continue to make the pretense of a Christian nation (oh, that’s right our pseudo-president said that we no longer are)?  How do we go on without being contaminated?  I think Kipling had it right when he said, “We’ve go to do what we can till after the war.”  The problem is that so many do not realize that we are in a war.  The war is raging and it seems few are fighting.  There is a war against the very foundations of morality in this country.  The nonsense should be stopped, but then maybe people are becoming immune to the smell of the massive corpse.
Remove the cross and the Bible and the foundation stones of the country have been removed.  The cross represents several things.  First, the suffering, sacrifice, and death of the Savior for the sins of mankind.  Remove the cross and hope is removed.  Mock the cross and the Savior and what is left?  Second, the cross leads to the tomb which states that the act is finished.  Jesus was removed from the cross, placed in a tomb, and rose again.  That brings up a third reason; it is a reminder of the hope that is ours.  One day those who died under that cross will again tread this earth with the Savior.  The cross is important because it represents sacrifice, not decay.  So many have sacrificed, some given their all for this nation.  They died for the fellow man; they died for the future of this country.
What really stinks is those who spout their mouths, spread lies, fill their pockets and spit on the sacrifice of those gone before.  We must keep fighting the war.  We must not become contaminated by the garbage that seems to surround us.

“How long, foolish one, will you love ignorance?  How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge?”          –Proverbs 1:22 (HCSB)

“Happiness is inward, and not outward; and so, it does not depend on what we have, but on what we are.”         –Henry Van Dyke

What does it take to make you happy?  Is it a gold mine or a gold medal?  Perhaps it is having the newest phone or video games.  Let me tell you that the things of the earth will never satisfy.  Technological advances and revisionism will not, actually cannot satisfy the soul.  The great Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes noting that the things of this world will never satisfy.
Now me, I take satisfaction is a few simple things:  a piece of pie, a cup of coffee, sitting in the cool of the morning with my wife, watching the smiles on the grandkids.  True, these things are still external, but they are something that I don’t go out and seek, they are things I just enjoy.  I recall reading several journals and letters from those who traveled west.  Many of those would write that happiness was a donut (bearsign) or a good cup of coffee or when visiting a home having some jelly to put on a biscuit.  Simple, yet satisfying.
Real, true satisfaction and happiness comes from inside a person.  It is not something conjured up.  It is not something that can be purchased.  It is not something that can be lusted after.  The truth of the matter is that it is something put within the soul of man.  Paul writes, “They show that the essential requirements of the Law are written in their hearts; and their conscience [their sense of right and wrong, their moral choices] bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or perhaps defending them.”  (Romans 2:15, Amplified)
Don’t give me the cry–legalism.  God expects us to be godly–righteous.  Sure the heart can become insensitive or callous, why do you think there is such an outcry against the law that is written in their hearts?  They cannot get away from it, so they try to subdue it or challenge it or ignore it.  One of the troubles that I see today is that folk of this sort get away with it, whereas in times past they were called to task.  These unspoken responsibilities and duties written on the heart are not for a time and place but for every dispensation in life.  Violators used to be expelled from society, incarcerated, or even judged with death.
I know, I know, we cannot change the world.  However, you can make the place in which you reside a better place.  You can listen to that code written in your heart and fulfill its obligations.  Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.

“You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”         –Psalm 16:11 (HCSB)