Sadly, we appear to have reached a state in America and the world where we deal with others of differing opinions as, “My way or the highway.”  When I was in the military my instructors and superiors often said, “There is the right way, the wrong way, and the Military way!”  Basically, they were telling us, my way or else!  I have dealt with people through the years, including some supervisors and managers in business, and people in the church who held the view, “My Way or the Highway!”  They were intolerant of any opinion, view, or direction but their own.  Serving as a pastor in churches counseling or ministering to couples I sometimes encountered situations where the impasse was so great it seemed unbridgeable.  That was because of one or both views their relationship and marriage as, “My Way or the Highway!”  I’ve watched people politically who are so adamantly entrenched in their position they cannot see that there could be any other possible way but theirs.

There is a Right Way and a Wrong Way to do anything. There is the way of stubbornness, hate, vitriol, bias, and prejudice which divides.  There is the way of tolerance (not compromise), love, soft answers, and genuine concern about what is bets and that way produces health and healing.  In America, I have listened to the Left project onto the Right everything they are and accuse those who disagree of being the epitome and embodiment of evil.  Those on the Right view those on the Left as unhinged, deranged haters of all that is good constitutionally.  That presents an impasse that is unbridgeable without Divine Intervention.  It seems that no one truly listens anymore except to fill their arsenals with ammunition sound-bites to attack with.  There is guilt on the Left and on the Right and room for movement from both sides without compromising Truth, the Constitution, and the Rule of Law.

In years past, the muck-raking and mud-slinging were largely reserved to election years.   However, since the elections of 2016 and the election of Donald Trump as president, it has been non-stop.  The intense drive to divide this nation along ethnic, gender, socio-economic status, lifestyle choice, and abortion lines has separated families, destroyed marriages, divided churches, and estranged life-long friends.  It was a simply a difference of opinion prior to 2016 but has become full-blown hate since.  This might not have escalated to the degree it has been it not for the union of strange-bedfellows and otherwise opponents uniting to Stop Trump!

Some of those actively protesting have allowed their personal animus toward the president as a person prevent them from embracing his policies or some of his policies that have been good for America.  We have come to a place where the new norm in politics is to denigrate the character of another or without factual evidence.  We have allowed the spreading of rumors, innuendo, fanned the flames of false fear, and painted those opposing our view as sons and daughters of the devil himself.  The end will not be good if we do not find a way to tone down the rhetoric, diffuse the hate, and become seekers of Truth rather than presenters of our version of the truth.

In the mid-term elections of this year, we are faced with some incredibly clear choices, in my mind, but the choices are opaque, cloudy, and murky for many.  Those on the Left have allowed the rhetoric to so fill their minds and hearts they are unwilling and possibly unable to analytically or cognitively reason and consider the facts and end of various proposals and policies being presented.  Many on the Left or those who have become disciples of various College Professors who are followers of the Alinsky mindset and Soros ambition can only see evil when they see the “R” after a candidate’s name.  To them, Republican equals a hater of women’s rights, racist, bigots, homophobes, Islamophobic, uncaring people.  They refuse to consider the benefit of the policies advanced and embraced by the Right because it is “My Way or the Highway” to them.  The only “Right Way” in their minds is “Their Way” and it is either My Way or the Highway with no compromise or consideration of facts.  Ronald Reagan once said, “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant.  It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.”  That can be a problem on both sides if we are not careful.

As a Christian, it is impossible for me to reconcile abortion for every cause with my faith.  I’m not sure I can reconcile abortion for any cause, but that is my personal issue and I do not insist that everyone agree.  A life is a life and all lives must matter because they matter to God.  God did not create racial division, man did.  We are all Human Beings and members of the Human Family.  We are from different ethnicities, have different skin pigmentation, and different cultural views and values but we are all Human Beings.

As a Christian, I cannot reconcile the attempt to force lifestyle choices on others who believe they are a direct violation of the Bible’s teachings.  If God, in the Bible, calls an act or a lifestyle an abomination, how can I embrace it?  If a person chooses to live in that manner, I leave it to them and God.  However, I cannot sit in silence when I am mandated by the federal government to not only accept it but participate in any action that would seemingly endorse it.  In that case, I must resist and ask, “Who must I obey, God or man?”  You may disagree and that is your choice.

Truth should be our objective in all matters.  We must never revert to “his truth, her truth, our truth, or their truth” but The Truth!   The truth will stand up under examination.  And once examined will resonate with any honest heart. The truth will bring liberty and freedom to any soul that will embrace it.  The truth may make us incredibly uncomfortable and require us to make amends, reject preconceived notions, and even make apologies that are painful, but The Truth can and will Make Us Free!

America was founded on the idea and understanding that our Rights come from God not government.  In 1776, every European American, except for about 2,500 Jews, identified himself or herself as a Christian.  Approximately, 98% of the colonist were Protestants and the remaining 1.9% Roman Catholics.  They recognized the providence of the Creator in our birth as a Free Nation and in our Declaration of Independence makes some amazing declarations.

In the first paragraph there is the recognition of God and in the second declared, “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.”   Equal in the eyes of God, though not equal in ability or talent, equal as Human Being with the right to pursue Life, live in Freedom and Liberty, and take the course desired in the heart to achieve happiness in life.  I fear that we have lost that!

Today, we (collectively) do not see everyone as Equal.  When professors can call for the eradication of White Men and their castration they do not see us as equal.  When the value of human life is hardly greater than zero by some, we are not all seen as equal.  When any means can be used to destroy an opponent politically we do not see ourselves as equal.  When position, power, purse, and control become the prime objective, we do not see ourselves as equal.  If we held those truths as self-evident, we would actively seek the best-good of everyone by seeking the best-good for the Republic and that would completely reshape the political landscape and virtually end the Republican and Democrat distinctions.  We will likely never see that day!  That is why I am praying for America, our leaders, and for Revival.  I long to see the fulfillment of Matthew 6, “Hallowed be Thy name, your Kingdom come, you will be done in earth as it is in heaven.”   I long for America’s healing because I know it will impact the world powerfully and positively.

The choice is before us in November.  We can pursue the path of ‘fundamental transformation’ which I believe leads to destruction or we can vote to give us hope of restoration and a return to Constitutional Government, of the people, for the people, and by the people.  I will vote NO on the Democrats because they have become the party at the national level that is anti-God in too many positions and desire agendas that destroy or transform the Republic into something other than the original intent.

God bless you and God bless America!