Do We Have A Winner?

The press is taking it upon themselves to declare that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election.  The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees them the right to publish freely.  Just because they have the right to do something, however, does not mean it is the right thing to do.    In this case, it is premature and presumptuous.  Their role is to report the results of the voting, not to decide the winner.

The Electoral College submits their votes to the U.S. Congress, which certifies the results of the election.  At that time, it will be appropriate to refer to the winners as President Elect and Vice President Elect.

If President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence concede the election, the job of the press is to report it.  Perhaps it might then be appropriate to refer to candidates as the winners.  However, Mr. Trump has the right to exhaust any and all of the legal recourse available to him.  He is not compelled to concede.  He just must follow the law and peacefully vacate his office in January 2021, if the Congress certifies that Joe Biden is the winner.

Lamp in a Corner recognizes the need to examine the conduct of this election until a resolution is reached that confirms to the American people that they can have faith that the elected government was legally elected.  However, President Trump also has a responsibility to act for the good of the country, should it become apparent that the outcome of the election will not be changed by continuing a contentious and divisive legal process in the courts.

We urge all who read this post to pray for the United States of America.

 

 

Life After Death

I was sitting on a hillside and enjoying the sunset.  I began to pray.  I do not even remember what I was praying about when the prayer began, but after a little while I just started to pray about the places where I have lived.  I was not complaining.  I was just talking to God about how I have never really found a place I could call home.  There have been a few places that I really liked, but something has always come up that made it necessary to move on.

That is the way it is in our modern world.  Mobility expands the opportunities that are available to us, but I have never really been able find a place to call home.

If we listen when we pray, sometimes God answers back.  I don’t hear a thundering voice from heaven or see a blinding flash of light.  I just get a feeling, a blessed assurance as the Holy Spirit moves me.  There on the mountainside God gave me a sense of peace, and I understood that He wanted me to know that He has a home for me.  It is a place where I will be able to know the happiness that comes from being with Him … forever.

Jesus said:

‘Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;

for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you to Myself,

that where I am, there you may be also.

And you know the way where I am going.’

Thomas said to Him, ‘Lord, we do not know where You are going,

how do we know the way?’

Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life;

no one comes to the Father but through Me.’  (John 14: 1-6 NASB) (1)

 Jesus also said:

‘I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,

and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?’

(John 11:25-26 NASB) (2)

Our bodies will die.  Then, that part of us that is not physical, our soul and spirit, will instantly be with Jesus in heaven. (2Corinthians 5:6-10) When the resurrection of our bodies happens at the Rapture, our soul and spirit will be reunited with an immortal resurrection body to remain forever with the Lord. (1Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1Corinthians 15:42-44)

Do you believe this?  If you haven’t already, believe in Jesus today.  Your true home is waiting for you.  All you have to do is enter in.

 

(1) https://biblehub.com/

(2) Ibid.

 

 

The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Campaign Issue

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a campaign issue in the U. S. general election.  If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I try to avoid inflammatory language and “loaded” wording.  Let me break from that to state the obvious for those who are unable to see it.  Whether you support President Trump or former Vice President Biden, to make the blame for the alleged mismanagement of COVID-19 pandemic an issue that will decide your vote is stupid.  In case you didn’t get that … IT IS STUPID!

The Democrats point to the ever increasing number of persons who are being infected, and to the number of lives lost, and they blame President Trump for reopening the economy.  Their answer is to mandate wearing masks and another ruinous general shutdown of our society.

The Republicans hold that, due to the president’s policy of accelerated treatment and vaccine development, treatments have improved to the point that fewer people are dying, and a vaccine is just around the corner.  They say that the Democrats are to blame for the high rates of infection and death in places like New York City and California, and that the problem would be far worse nationwide if the Democrats had been in charge.  They point to the high rates of infection where drastic shutdowns have been implemented in Europe and the United Kingdom, and they say that another general shutdown would do more harm than good.

I say that we should stop bickering amongst ourselves and work together.  The problem is bigger than petty politics.  The blame for the COVID-19 pandemic falls squarely on the Communist government of Mainland China.  Our leaders need to be working together toward leading the world in the measured response that must be taken to hold the Chinese government responsible and consequence them.

We will probably never know, conclusively, whether the Chinese Communist Party was trying to weaponize the Corona Virus and whether they released it accidentally or intentionally.  What we do know is that faulty decision making on their part inflicted a pandemic on the world.

Let's stop playing into the hands of our enemies.  Put the blame on the Chinese government where it belongs.  Let your vote be decided by your position on the many other issues that are important to America.

Albert Einstein is reported to have said, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.” And, “The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.” *  Well said.

  

* https://www.brainyquote.com/

 

 

Once We Were, Now We Are

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,  whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,  so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  (Titus 3:3-7 NASB) *

... for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.  (2Timothy 1:12 NASB) *

  

*  https://biblehub.com/

Abortion 2020

STOP!  THIS POST IS INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS ONLY.  IF YOU ARE NOT 18 YEARS OLD OR OLDER ASK FOR PERMISSION FROM YOUR PARENTS BEFORE READING THIS POST.

In American politics, abortion is the 500 pound gorilla in the corner of the room.  Politicians fear taking a public position on abortion.  No matter whether they say they are pro-choice or pro-life, they are going to make a lot of people mad at them if they tell the truth about where they stand.  Nevertheless, abortion is a deal breaker for many voters, and they want to know a candidate’s position on it.

Abortion is an emotional issue, and rational, logical, analytical reasoning does not always hold sway.  People often make up their minds based on what they feel about abortion, and not what they think, or perhaps their feelings overcome their attempts to reason their way through the issue.

Others decide where they stand on the abortion question by gathering the facts, evaluating them, and drawing a conclusion.  Rationalization is one of Freud’s ego defense mechanisms.  Perhaps I tend to rely on logical, reasoned arguments for my point of view because they provide a mechanism for defending it.  However, Albert Ellis is reported to have said that, “Introspection is the high road to neurosis.”  So, I have learned to try to avoid too much of it.

It is easy to offend or wound another person when discussing abortion, depending on their personal history and values.  I try not to hurt people with what I say.  Regardless, an election year is the time to speak out plainly and directly about abortion, before too many more people cast their ballots.

The courts have decided that the 5^th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects all persons within our borders from being, “… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law …”  The courts have ruled that illegal migrants have a right to due process.  Do they have more rights than an unborn American child?  So for me, one of the decision points about abortion is, when does an unborn child become a human being?  There is a lot of disagreement about that.

From the time that the human egg is fertilized, the unborn child has unique DNA that has never existed before and will never exist again.  When the unborn child attaches to the uterus, a pregnancy becomes viable.  Soon, the fetus will have a heartbeat and begin to react to external stimuli.  If carried to full term, a live birth usually results.  A person that is born on American soil is an American citizen by law, and their life may not be taken without due process of law.

Think it over.  When do you think an unborn child is fully human?

For me, once a pregnancy becomes viable the unborn child has a chance at life, and to take it is to kill a human life.  In my opinion, that is unconstitutional, and therefore illegal.

Another argument has to do with values and ethics.  Some people choose not to regard religious belief as logical or rational.  It is their right.  I can only speak for myself.  As a Christian, my values and ethics are governed by the Word of God.  The better modern translations of the Holy Bible render the 6^th Commandment: “You shall not murder.”  (Exodus 20:13 NASB) *  Since I regard the viable fetus as a human life, I think it violates God’s Word to take that life.  I do not have the right to force others to believe the way that I do, but I have the right to peacefully advocate for it.  One way to do that is with my vote.

Emotionally speaking, all I can ask is that you search your heart.  Explore your feelings. If you do so honestly, your conscience will tell you that abortion is just plain wrong.

I believe a woman has the right to defend herself.  If there is a high degree of probability that carrying a child to term will kill the mother, or cause her permanent bodily harm, then she has the right to protect herself.  If a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, a woman has the right to defend herself from further injury by terminating it.  Even though ending a viable pregnancy is taking a human life, I believe the mother’s right to defend herself supersedes the child’s right to life in these specific circumstances.

Some advocate that the mother may choose to end a baby’s life after live birth, or close to the time of delivery (partial birth abortion).  That is infanticide.  It is so evil that I am sickened by the very thought of it.  How far must we fall before we hit bottom?  God forgive us.

Public funding of abortions makes every citizen complicit, especially those who pay taxes.  It is forcing “people of faith” to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.  If an elected leader is not able to understand that, they have no business holding public office.  Please do not vote for someone like that.

Abortion must not be just another method of birth control.  There are many alternatives, which deserve public support.  As a Director of Social Services in a remote mountain county in the 1980’s, I personally provided adoptive services.  I know that there are waiting lists of prospective adoptive parents, especially for infant adoptions.  The family is also often a resource for children from unplanned pregnancies.  We need more and better alternative living arrangements for mothers expecting the birth of a child to be placed for adoption.  The church needs to stop judging and step up to the plate to help mothers with unplanned pregnancies.  Birth control must be made available to girls who are of legal age to consent to sex (generally 16 years old and older).  Counselling services need to be expanded to help women avoid unplanned pregnancies and access services for the child if an unplanned pregnancy occurs.

The time to decide is now.  Please vote for life, not death.

 

 

* https://biblehub.com/

The Grass is Always Greener

My grade school years were spent in South Denver.  Today, the old neighborhood is a slum.  At the time I lived there, the people in our area might best be described as working poor.  There were no shopping centers, and if you needed something you went to the Montgomery Ward or F.W. Woolworth stores on South Broadway.

There was a mom and pop drug store on the corner, about a half a block from our house.  One day I looked in the display window in the front of the store, and I saw a squirt gun.  It was the coolest squirt gun I had ever seen.  I had to have that squirt gun.  It was selling for $2.00.  I didn’t have the money to buy it.

I asked my Mom for it.  The folks were always broke.  She said, “Save your money.”  My only source of income at the time was from mowing my parents’ lawn.  They paid me 25 cents to cut it, when Dad had it and remembered to pay me.  It would take all summer to save two dollars.

I visited my grandparents, (in a small town about 60 miles from home), for a couple of weeks every summer.  When the visit was over my grandfather, or “Pop” as I called him, would give me two dollars.  It wasn’t payment for chores, but sometimes I cut their lawn or did other work like carrying in coal for “Gram’s” cooking stove.

The last time I saw Pop alive, I was looking forward to the money he gave me at the end of each visit.  I was planning on buying the water gun with it.  It was not forthcoming.  Got impatient and asked him for it.  He probably was not feeling well, because he became cross and said, “Alright, if that is all that matters to you.”  I did not know that those were the last words he would ever say to me.  I loved him, and I felt a little bad when he said them.  My guilty feelings, however, were soon overcome with joy at the prospect of finally being able to buy that squirt gun.  I was certain that it would make me invincible in all water gun fights.

That winter Pop died.  The next summer, I visited my grandmother as usual.  I was playing with an older cousin, and we were having a squirt gun fight.  He soaked me.  I couldn’t believe it.  It was not supposed to happen, now that I had my good squirt gun.

My cousin was four years older, a head taller, and a lot stronger than I was.  That was why he won.  He convinced me that it was because his water gun gave him the advantage.  It was a cheap piece of junk, but suddenly I wanted it.  He secretly coveted my really cool water gun, so he offered me to trade straight across, his water gun for mine.

I traded. Then he soaked me with the gun I traded him.  I said that I wanted my old gun back.  He just laughed at me.  He said, “A trade is a trade.”

I went home to Gram’s house and told her what happened.  She started to go for her telephone to tell my cousin’s mother to make him give me my squirt gun back.  Then, she stopped.  “No,” she said.  “Let this be a lesson to you.  Be happy with what you’ve got.  The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”

A lot of confidence (con) games work this way.  First the con man will create doubt and discontent with what you have.  Then they will convince you that they have something better to sell you.  They will get you to believe that you need it to make life better.  It is usually “ocean front property in Arizona.”

The Democrats are trying to create discontent and dissatisfaction with President Trump.  They are trying to get us to believe that what they are offering is better, and that we need it to get us out of the mess President Trump has gotten us into.  They lie, spin half-truths, and play on our greed and covetousness.  They depend on our desire to have someone take care of us, and our failure to be able to recall the abject failure of the Obama/Biden years.  They hope that we will, in our ingratitude, fail to remember the good things that President Trump has done.

Please do not make the same mistake I made when I was 10 years old.  We are better and smarter than that.  Don’t let the Democrats con you.  Reelect President Trump and Vice President Pence.  Give them Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate.  

At Calvary

At times, it seems that there are so many difficulties in life that we cannot cope with them all.  It is easy to let them obscure the blessings that we may be grateful for.

The greatest blessing that I have is that Jesus died in my place for my sins, and that he rose from the dead so that I also will rise at the appointed time.  Please celebrate with me this most wonderful blessing of all.  The old hymn (1895) , At Calvary, communicates the feeling well:

At Calvary

By William R. Newell

 

Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.

             Refrain:

            Mercy there was great, and grace was free;
            Pardon there was multiplied to me;
            There my burdened soul found liberty
            At Calvary.

 

By God’s Word at last my sin I learned;
Then I trembled at the law I’d spurned,
Till my guilty soul imploring turned
To Calvary.

 

Now I’ve giv’n to Jesus everything,
Now I gladly own Him as my King,
Now my raptured soul can only sing
Of Calvary!

 

Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan!
Oh, the grace that brought it down to man!
Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span
At Calvary!

 *  https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/At_Calvary/