Friday, July 3, 2026

Independence Day 2026

The results of opinion polls vary, depending on the bias of those conducting the poll. However, the findings of various recent opinion polls tend to show a decline in the numbers of our people who say that they are proud to be Americans. The polls reveal that many of our fellow citizens who are disaffected no longer believe in our country.  The majority of American Conservatives remain proud of the USA, while large numbers of Liberals and Independents and young people are not. [1] 

To paraphrase a comment by Author and Historian Victor Davis Hanson in the documentary program, The Fight of Our Lives, (Produced and Directed by Gloria Z. Greenfield): 

Just because we are not perfect, doesn’t mean we are no good at all. 

We concede that America is not perfect, and it is the duty of our citizens to work toward improving our country. However, we must understand that since the 1960’s there has been a concerted effort by the educational system, the liberal press, well-funded radical extremist groups, and power-hungry leftist politicians to convince us that our culture and our economic and political system need to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. 

Ronald Reagan is reported to have said, “The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.” 

If people take the trouble to inform themselves, they will find that on the balance scales of History the good our country has done far outweighs the bad.  Therefore, let’s celebrate America’s birthday with a mindset that she has been a force for good more than a force for evil. 

Please pray for the United States of America.  We must not become so divided that we enter into conflict with one another.  We have only to look at the tragedy of our Civil War to understand that we need to work together to carry on the continuous improvement that has happened in the USA over the last 250 years.

 

The Gettysburg Address

Delivered at Gettysburg, Pa. on Nov. 19th, 1863 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. [2]

 

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Thursday, July 2, 2026

Overcoming Temptation

Everyone has sin problems. (Romans 3:23)  It is part of the Christian life to have to deal with the struggle between our old sinful nature and the new nature we have in Christ Jesus.  If we deny it, we are only fooling ourselves. (1John 1:8-9) Usually, the Christian finds that several sins are more difficult to resist than others. 

My most difficult sins to control are lust and alcohol abuse.  There are fine lines that get crossed.  Appreciation of a woman’s beauty gives way to carnal thoughts and desires.  Having a beer or two turns into downing a sixpack.  There are others, but focusing on these two will suffice. 

What can we do when tempted?  The Holy Bible tells us how to overcome. 

“… The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.  And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!  Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.”  But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.  Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.  Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” (1Corinthians 6:13-20 ESV) [1] 

When we give way to sin it is putting our desires ahead of how God wants us to live.  That is idolatry, and idolatry is committing spiritual adultery against the God who loves us and died to pay the price for our sins – which is death. 

“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” (1Corinthians 10:12-14 ESV) [2] 

“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.  For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:16-25 ESV) [3] 

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." (James 4:7-8 ESV) [4] 

Praise the Lord.  We are nothing without Him.  Jesus said: 

 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV) [5] 

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5 ESV) [6]

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Let go and Let God

We may wonder “What’s the use?”  The more we try to do good, the more opposition we face.  We pour our lives into trying to make things better, but nothing seems to change.

 Take heart. God is in control.  The seeds we sow today can grow into a bountiful harvest tomorrow, even if we may not be around to see it.  If we let go of our striving, our Almighty God will empower us to keep us from getting tired, and He will bring about the good results we so earnestly desire.        (Psalm 46:10) 

 

“Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.”
(Isaiah 40:28-31 NLT) [1]

  

“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant.  Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.  So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.  Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith.” (Galatians 6:7-10 ESV) [2]

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