That would be great news.
Read it here.

Bogalusa, LA has an interesting problem - snakes at City hall.
What’s new with that? Well, these don’t get around on two legs.

“They’re probably just 8 or 9 inches long,” said Ellen Bailey. “But when you’re running from one, it looks like an anaconda.”

James 1:21-25
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
KJV

People who profess to be Bible believers are under a very great obligation.  That obligation is to respond to the Word of God.

We cannot simply sit under Biblical preaching and expect to be blessed.

We cannot simply read our Bibles and expect to be blessed.

What???????  You say.  Not be blessed by reading the Bible and listening to God’s Word preached?

Actually, we are not blessed by these things alone.

God’s Word demands a response.

We cannot simply hear the Word.  We must yield to the Word in our hearts and practice its precepts in our lives.

If we do not do this we are deceiving ourselves and the Word has done us no profit.

Just musing….

John 1:1-3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
KJV

Closely associated with Christ being the Word is the statement “ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” (Rev 22:13) KJV “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev 1:8 ) KJV Words are closely associated with the alphabet.   Jesus is the beginning and ending of the expression of God.   There is no pre-alpha or post-omega.    He alone is God’s perfect thought and expression of Himself.  Christ is the eternal expression of the Almighty, eternal God.    From A to Z, Jesus is such a perfect expression of God that He is indeed God in person, character, and essence.

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
KJV

Heb 1:1-3
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
KJV

This Word has appeared in human flesh.  God has presented Himself to man in the person of Christ.

This man, Christ Jesus, is to be worshiped and obeyed.

Let us bow before His majesty.

Let us worship His glory.

Let us obey His Word.

Let us believe His Gospel.

]]> http://pastoralmusings.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/jesus-the-word-of-god/feed/ pastoralmusings http://pastoralmusings.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/bible-prophecy-and-the-existence-of-god/ http://pastoralmusings.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/bible-prophecy-and-the-existence-of-god/#comments Thu, 17 Jul 2008 15:29:59 +0000 pastoralmusings http://pastoralmusings.wordpress.com/?p=303

In speaking with one about what would persuade him of the existence of God, this was said:

The right kind of prophecy would be persuasive, but I need to add a criterion to this. There are a great many prophecies in the Old Testament relating to the life of Jesus. I’ve read quite a lot of them, and I find them about as convincing as the predictions of astrology.

One of the problems common to both biblical prophecy and astology is that they will usually make very vauge and noncomittal predictions about human behavior. In the case of Jesus, a very good argument can be made that eventually, by the laws of chance, someone would have come along that fit the initial birth prophecies of the old testament. From there, it’s not too big a jump to see how such a person could then, with foresight, intentionally fulfill the prophecies with the purpose of cementing their claim, and in this way the prophecies would become self-fulfilling.

So vauge, open-ended and easily stretched prophecies are, as far as I can see, in the same category of plausibility as the horoscopes in the weekly Times. I add to this the point that the entire idea of divine prophecy is that God is meant to be giving us an authoratative reason to believe - but if that were the case, why are the prophecies so flimsy? One would expect the authorative proof of a divine creator to be… well… authoratative.

Is Biblical Prophecy Vague and Non-committal?

That is the question.

If this is so, let the one who claims that it is so present his arguments.

I would be glad to see, and critique them.

Vague, non-committal claims of ambiguity need to be bolstered by an attempt at substantiating the argument.

Personally, I am convinced that Bible prophecy is very specific.  (I plan to follow up on this in the next few weeks, Lord willing.)

Any takers?

Dear Christian Brother or Sister,

I know often times it is said by some that they do not get fed by their pastor when they go to church services.  This is indeed a great problem.  We are told that a time such as this would come.

Amos 8:11-12
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
KJV

This is a great sin on the part of those who claim to be God’s men.  God’s men should indeed be faithful in preaching the Word of God.

On the other hand, there is a measure of sin on the part of the believer who sits in service and complains about not being fed.  You see, our text tells us that those who are truly hungry for the Word of God will seek for it.  Oh, sure, they will find  it harder and harder to get.  After a while it will be almost impossible to get a good, godly, expository sermon.

Even then there is an issue that the Christian must face.  He is responsible for the feeding of his own soul.  He cannot depend on someone to spoon feed him (though I suspect that there are many who should only be fed from a sling shot).  The Christian must feed himself.  He must, of his own accord, go to the Bible and feast upon God’s Word.

God gave us His Word for this very reason.

Deut 8:3
he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
KJV

Often times we think of manhood as embodying the great physical traits of strong men such as Samson.

There’s a strength of character that is much more important for us to possess.

Man should not be all brawn and no brain.

A Biblical man should know his Bible.

You say, “well, that’s a given.”

Perhaps.

We take altogether too much for granted, though.  We often expect people to know things simply because we know them.  Everyone must learn, however.  Knowledge and wisdom do not come by osmosis.

That being said, we men must be in the know when it comes to Scripture.

It is demanded of us.

It is not commanded by God that we provide the children with name brand clothes.

It is not commanded that our wives drive the best vehicles.

It is not commanded by God that we work like a dog to attain the ever elusive American Dream.

It is required that men know God’s Word.

We must know it if we are to pass its truths down to the next generation and train them to trust God.

Ps 78:1-8
Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:  Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.  For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:  That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:  That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:  And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
KJV

Just musing…

It seems that the folks at stoptherod.net have problems with logic, or with honesty.

They refer to extreme cases of abuse (here, here) and use them as “reason” to oppose all corporal discipline of children.

Why is this either a problem with logic or with honesty?

It is a problem with logice because it is stereotyping all who discipline their children physically as wild, reckless child abusers.  It is a generalization that is unfounded.  It is not reasonable to assume that all who physically discipline their children beat them black and blue, or kill them.  The majority do not.  The majority never has.

If it is not a problem of logic, it is a problem of honesty.  If they do think clearly and logically regarding the issue, it means that they deliberately desire to portray all parents who physically discipline their children in a bad ligh.  If they are thinking logically about the issue of physical discipline it means that they WANT those who read their sites to believe that all who utilize calm, compassionate, corporal discipline are actually demented criminals who use, abuse, and ultimately kill their children.

It is not for me to determine which issue is the underlying cause of their fallacious attacks on Biblical child rearing and discipline.  I don’t know their hearts.

I do know that they have erred.

Those parents that I know who use physical discipline with their children would be the first to cry out against such an outrage as is seen in the links above.  We are calm, compassionate,  God-fearing lovers of our children.  We correct them, but do not punish them.  We discipline them, but we do not damage them.

We declare that there is hardly a punishment that is too harsh for those who beat their children black and blue, or even kill them.

We believe in balance, and we believe in obeying God in a balanced way.  Thus we discipline our children, but we also hate abuse.

I wonder what they believe at stoptherod.net ?

Exulting in God’s Creative Power And Glory

ex·ult (ĭg-zŭlt’) To rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant. Obsolete To leap upward, especially for joy. American Heritage Dictionary

Creation And Exultation

“The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Rom 1:18-21) KJV

The sin of mankind is the sin of not exulting in the Creator. The above text tells us that God’s glory, greatness, power, and worth are displayed in and to His creation. This is especially true for man. God’s making man was the crowning act of creation, and he was made for the purpose of honoring God. Man’s knowledge of God obligates him to exult in His Creator. The fact that man has turned his affections and trust elsewhere is why he is under condemnation. How sad it is that we are able to see the beauties and power of God on display, yet choose to rejoice in things of lesser beauty and worth!

Exulting In Thanksgiving

We live in an odd world today. We set aside on day out of the year to give thanks, and many people do not thank God even then. Others feel that there is no one for whom they should be thankful. The truth is that, among all of God’s creatures, man has the unique capacity to be thankful. Our text tells us that gratitude should be something we do by nature. Seeing that we receive our very breath from God should cause us to thank Him (See Matt 5:44,45;Acts 14;15-17;17:24-28). As we look around the world and behold the beauties of nature, and see God’s power on display, our enjoyment of these things should cause our hearts to overflow with songs of thanks to the Lord. It is only natural and right to thank the One who gives us joy. The Psalmist said, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” (Ps 100:1-5) KJV What a magnificent way to call a people to worship! Our thankfulness should be expressed with great joy and singing. We are to come into His presence reminding ourselves that He is our Creator and Provider. We are to come into His presence with thanksgiving and bless the very name of God. Why? Because this great and mighty Creator is good: He is ever compassionate and endures forever.

Rejoicing In God’s Creative Power

In one sense, it would seem that this is actually a redundancy. After all, we have seen that the beauties of nature point us to God and call upon us to be thankful to Him. What we must see now, however, is that the world in which we live displays the great power and the wisdom of God. For this wise power we must be grateful. As Jeremiah reflected on certain promises and prophecies that were given to him by God he expressed his joyful faith in God by saying, “Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee: Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jer 32:17-19) KJV Jeremiah states that God is great in counsel and mighty in work. Why is this so? Because the God who created the worlds cannot be less than omnipotent. God does as He pleases (Ps 115:1-3;135:5,6). This great power that is used so benevolently should cause us to stand in awe of God. The truth that God’s limitless power is lovingly expressed to His people should cause us to love Him and rejoice in Him more and more. “ The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him. The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.” (Ps 28:7,8 ) KJV

Exulting In God’s Wisdom

“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.” (Ps 104:24-33) KJV

Have you ever considered the intelligence and wisdom that were involved in the creation of this world? Have you ever thought about the fact that the same intelligence and wisdom is involved in the sustaining of this world. Every creature has its habitat for which it is fitted. The creatures of this world have food to eat, and are dependent upon God to give them this food. The exceptions to the rule of creation being provided for proves the rule. We expect to have enough food and sustenance. Why? Because God is our benevolent Creator who has consistently provided for us since the world began. God has ordained that it be thus so that He will receive the glory for His great wisdom. As we view the beauty of a small flower, the perfectness of a newborn child, the majesty of the mountains, the raging power of the rivers, and even things that are invisible to the naked eye, we see on display the wise work of God. When we contemplate the supernatural wisdom that is on display all around us we cannot but rejoice that there is such a God with such abilities to work in such a manner as He does. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” (Rom 11:33-36) KJV

Exulting In The Creator By Willful Worship

“O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” (Ps 95:1-7) KJV

Our maker is the Supreme God. He is the God of all gods. There is truly none other than He. This great God, our Maker, speaks well of us: He calls us His people, and His sheep. He kindly and lovingly cares for us. All the while He cares for us and supplies our needs, He rules all of the world. Whether it is the deep places of the earth where human eyes have never seen, or if it is the majestic mountains with all their grandeur, God holds all of these in His hands. This simply means that they are under His care and control. In the midst of such apparent busy-ness, God thinks upon you and me. That is an amazing thought. It was a thought that drove the Psalmist to much praise and adoration (See Ps 8). While the great, exalted nature of God would be cause enough for us to worship Him, we worship Him also because He condescends to notice us and care for us. Let us therefore, bow down to Him. We should willfully kneel before Him acknowledging His glorious might, wisdom, and love. At the same time, we should sing glad praises to Him, making a joyful noise. Why? We should do so because the knowledge of such a God should enrapture our souls with great delight. Let us choose to worship God our Creator.

Exultation As Whole-Hearted Trust

Our exultation in the creative power of God will often express itself as whole-hearted trust. In fact, we cannot please God without this trust. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Heb 11:6) KJV It is absolutely essential that we trust God to bless those who seek Him. If we do not trust God in this manner we shall neither receive anything from God (James 1:5-8), nor will we please God. We certainly shall not be able to face life with courage and boldness. For this reason, we are exhorted “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” (1 Peter 4:19) KJV

Exulting In God’s Benevolence

When God created the world He provided for our joy. In fact, all things that come our way in life are for our joy. “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” (1 Tim 6:17) KJV Adam was given a perfect, and amazingly wonderful garden from which he could eat of the fruit of all the trees, including the tree of life. There was only one prohibition, but please notice that there was amazing permission before the single prohibition. “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen 2:15-17) KJV Just as Adam could have enjoyed God’s benevolence by trusting His benevolent offer (and the prohibition) and partaking of all that He offered, so we, too, can enjoy God through the gifts that He gives us for that purpose.

I missed my posting this week due to many different issues going on.

You are welcome to check out the ongoing action in the comments here.

Isa 8:20
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
KJV

Spurgeon used this text to preach a sermon entitled “Search The Scriptures.”

Surely this is what we should do.

Regardless of what we read or hear, let us always search the Scriptures to determine the validity of what is presented to us.

Scripture is the only authoritative rule of faith and order for the Christian.
Let us therefor search the Scriptures.

Daniel Dennett has called evolution the “universal solvent”. Anyone who has read widely in both science and social sciences will readily understand what he means. The processes and products of evolution are present in just about every aspect of our lives. Biodiversity, for example, is both a prerequisite and product of ecvolution.  Indeed, it is said that “Nothing in life makes sense except in the light of evolution”. Yet both secular and religious leaders fail to see that evolutionary concepts are fundamental to every environmental, health and medical  issue of concern, including mental health as well as things like genetic engineering, antibiotic resistance, agriculture and breeding, medicine, epidemics, biodiversity, pollination…all of which have important implications for human economies and social systems.

We have the social sciences to thank for this, dominated for decades by secular leftists who separated out human behavior from that of all other animal species, to whom they willingly granted a genetic influence, but not so with humans. One could almost say that the controversial field of study, sociobiology, was the result of the social sciences ignoring evolution.

Evolution, in fact, provides the soundest and most stable basis for just about every progressive environmental position, and in the end for the most ethical. The common origin of all forms of life and the evolutionary relationships that have evolved into a stunning ecological complexity should compel us to place the preservation of the evolutionary process at the center of all our efforts. The preservation of these relationships and of biodiversity is arguably the highest moral consciousness and responsibility of which humans are capable. That religious leaders fail to recognize may explain why they continue to flail and flounder in addressing humanity’s dilemma.

Religious belief not only is useless in rescuing humanity and the world, but detrimental. Islam sees no contradiction in prescribing alms for its poor but assassination for non=Muslims. It is not for nothing that secularists so vigorously defend the separation of religion and state. It is not only because this is the best protection for all religions, but that the state -  having a material existence via our government structures and laws as well as its citizens - is the only entity capable of changing the human condition by changing the policies that oppress and deprive people. Let’s not get distracted by religion or personal spirituality to the point that we abjure institutional change. And let’s defer to nature and evolution, without whom the human species would not have persisted this long.

Article here.

If evolution has an answer for everything, it would have to be personally and intelligently designed evolution.  Why?  Because to give an answer there must be intelligence, and a person somewhere behind the intelligence.  Thus, the evolutionist meets a delimma.   How will he explain that?

Then the statement is made that nothing makes sense apart from evolution.  What??????????  How so?  If blind, random forces and chance brought us to where we are, there is no absolute.  If there is no absolute, there is no settled meaning.  If there is no settled meaning, there is no chance of things making much sense at all - all is relative.  What I say something may mean something different to you.  Thus we will come to the point to say “It all depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”  In other words, things will mean whatever we want them to mean, and therefore, there will be no meaning.

Then the statement that evolutionary concepts are fundamental to scientific issues is nothing less than a fallacious mistake, and possibly a bold-faced lie.  Modern science is the product of Christian theists such as Newton.

The fact of complexity works against the evolutionist.  Complexity and organization are the products of intelligence, not blind random forces and chance.  The fact that religious people have failed to affect lasting change does not necessarily testify to the invalidity of their belief system.  Christians have indeed failed.  We have miserably failed to work for social justice as we should.  At the same time, most evolutionists would not agree with Christians on many areas of social justice such as true tolerance and freedom of speech (thus those who are opposed to homosexual behavior are called ‘homophobes’, and pro-lifers are called ‘anti-abortion’, etc).  Christianity, however, provides an answer to the ills of this world.  That answer is the vicarious death of Christ for our sins, His resurrection from the dead, and His return to renovate this earth and make it new.  The Christian’s Bible told us that we would live in an age like this.  This is not an excuse for us not to fight against evil.  It is simply a fact of how things are.

Finally, we are told that humanity would not have lasted as long as it has without evolution.  As a matter of fact, evolution is the basis of many of the social evils today.  Genocide, infanticide, abortion, immorality, and amorality are all the result of the bankrupt theory of evolution.  A theory that holds some humans to be more valuable than others, some lives to be expendable, and nothing to be absolute.

Perhaps the evolutionist would like to rise to the challenge to show us HOW evolution could bring about a moral society with moral good, and social graces that will make for us a better world where all live in harmony one with another.

Just musing….

It seems that W. Christopher Epler has an incoherent argument for getting rid of the rich and bringing in socialism.

It is common biological knowledge that if “outliers” (used in a broad sense) are allowed to run amuck, that life form or, more importantly, that ecological system, is in grave danger of going extinct. Indeed, it is a near certainty that extinction will follow since the outliers are destroying any possibility of creative harmony which is the homeostasis of healthy evolution.

What’s the problem with this statement?  Two, at the least.

1.  He is attempting to apply the theory of biological evolution to society and its ills.  Biology and sociology are two distinct fields.  We cannot bridge the gap so seamlessly and easily, I dare say.

2.  He assumes that evolution is the result of creative harmony.  Evolution is actually red in tooth and claw. The theory of evolution does not speak to us of creative harmony.

It cannot, because:

a.  There is no creator in the theory of evolution

b.  The theory of evolution speaks of the survival of the fittest.  Survival of the fittest tends toward personal autonomy and a dog-eat-dog mentality.

Evolution needs magnificent harmony, balance, and energy. The ideal human society for Mother Nature would be socialism. This isn’t complicated or debatable. This is the high rationality of nature.

Said in language perhaps many would prefer, nature is functional Democracy.

I have stated before that there is no rationality to evolution because there is no absolute.  It is clearly seen here.  Epler equates democracy with socialism.  The meaning of words can mean whatever you want them to mean in the evolutionary system, I suppose.  Not so in a Christian/Theistic system.

it seems we’re in a life a death race to rid the planet of pig, pig rich people.

From the point of view of evolution, the “means” to this end is irrelevant.

So it should also be for us.

How much more incoherent could one be?  First he calls for harmony.  Next he states that it does not matter how the “pig, pig rich people” are eradicated.  You cannot have both.  They are mutually exclusive.

This is a glaring example of the incoherent thought process that is the result of the evolutionary/atheistic/agnostic belief system that is embraced by so many today.

I do not say that all atheists and agnostics speak in such careless manners.  I do say that, taken to its logical conclusion, evolutionary thought will lead to just such incoherence and even worse.

Just musing…

Read it here.

Would there be an America if there were no Christian Theists among the founding fathers?
Probably not.  After all, the Declaration of Independence opens in this manner:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Without a Creator who is eternal in nature and absolute in goodness there would be no absolutes.  Men would derive their “rights” from the assent of others.  Those rights would not be inalienable, because they would not be inherent.

Let us thank God that our forefathers were, for the most part, committed Christian Theists.  Without them we would have had a very different nation.

This is why that, today, we do have a vastly different nation.  The USA is off the course set for her by her founders.

Happy Independence Day

Just musing…