Category Archives: America

by Anthony Baker | November 16, 2010 · 2:52 pm

Bumper Stickers

"The Ride"

My wife will not let me put a bumper sticker of any kind on her car. Even if she was driving a rusty Chevy Vega which desperately needed the qualities of something with adhesive properties to keep her bumper stuck to her car…no bumper stickers. Not so with my Ride. I don’t need no stinkin’ sticky things! Just staples and zip ties, thank you. Really, what I mean to say is that “The Ride” is not too good to advertize TheRecoveringLegalist.com, even though my wife thinks her car is too special. HA!

Bumper stickers are something akin to free advertisement…

…They promote whatever you want other people to know about you and what you think, or for that matter, how well your kids think. Plastered to the back of a rolling billboard, they catch the eye of total strangers who have the random chance to find themselves behind you and I in traffic, or who catch a glimpse in a parking garage. Some people, I have come to realize, are advertizing more than they know, for some bumper stickers betray a hidden (at least to the owner of the car) stupidity.

There are so many bumper stickers that scream “MORON!”

Here is one that I saw. What a profound question. Why do we kill people that kill people? Could it be that we don’t want them to killpeople again? Could it be that they deserve to die for taking an innocent child’s life? Could it be that there are those out there on parole who would love to shoot your stupid…..(calm yourself, Anthony)…..well, they would love to steal your car and leave you beside the road in a ditch, then drive away with your false advertisement on THEIR bumper.

The one that I would have to say gets me the most, maybe because I see it the most, is COEXIST. I just love all the little symbols that are used to make up the happy little plea for love and harmony. Too bad what it tells me is that the owner of the car is a blooming idiot, at the very least, or somehow an ostrich has learned how to drive with his head in the sand. The message behind the little sticker is really, “Hey you Christians! Can you quit being so narrow-minded and hateful? Don’t you know that we all just want to get along, but you keep screwing it up?” All religions are the same, you know, or that’s the idea. We are all worshipping the same god, just by a different name. All paths lead to heaven, it’s just that some choose to take a shortcut by blowing themselves to Allah in the name of Jihad…is that so wrong?

Tell that to the "C"

I like the following verse. Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy…” As Christians, we should be speaking out about the goodness and mercy of our God, not trying to seek favor with false gods by “COEXISTing” in perfect joy and mutual admiration. People in this country have the right to free speech and to freedom of religion, but if you haven’t noticed, we are in a real religious war. The “C” doesn’t like the “T” in that bumper sticker. If you’re going to put something on your bumper, make it something that points people down the narrow road, not the wide one that leads to destruction. Show your intelligence and advertize your faith…just don’t be tacky and weird about it…or then we get back into the looking-like-a-moron thing that my wife so desperately wants to avoid.

Now here's an idea for the "perfect" bumper sticker!

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Filed under America, Apologetics, Christian Living, Christian Unity, General Observations, Uncategorized, World View

Tagged as Bumper sticker, Stickers

by Anthony Baker | November 1, 2010 · 10:44 pm

Don’t Give Up On Her Yet

Some people want to say that America has seen her best days. Some want to say that God is done with America. Some want to give up hope that this nation can ever see a revival of morality and a return to its founding principles. Some Christians say that we should just abandon ship and only focus on the Ship of Zion. Well, if America is “going to h*** in a hand-basket,” then we need to do what only a people with a will can do…get out of the basket!

To be able to elect who we want to lead our country is an unbelievable privilege. Just stop and think about it. How many countries have come and gone which had a form of government which was set up to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people?” How many billions live in subjection this very moment to a dictator or tyrant, or even a king? We have been given a sacred treasure in our Constitution, one which was purchased with the lives, fortunes, and sacred honor of our founding forefathers. Are we to treat such a priceless gift with flippancy and disrespect? I hope not, but so many do.

Don’t give up on America, guys. The journey is not over. This nation is not like all of the ones which have come and gone. We are unique in our founding, our foundations, and our Founders. The United States is not like any nation before it, and there is none like it today. We have the rarest of abilities in that WE can decide who will lead us. WE can decide what laws we will accept. WE can decide the moral direction of this nation, for WE are the power and the authority to whom our leaders are accountable. God, through His providence, allowed our founding fathers to create a Constitution which spells out the divinely given rights of the people, not of kings. WE ratified our Constitution and Bill of Rights. WE elect those to whom WE give the authority to govern. WE can decide when enough is ENOUGH.

God-fearing men and women forged an uncharted, untravelled path when they chose to wade through the pain and suffering of building America. They fought for freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The took what was NOT and brought it into BEING. What is NOT right now, can BE AGAIN. All it will take is the same level of sacrifice that our forefathers were willing to give. The United States, “one nation under God,” does not have to cease to exist, or continue to decline….WE can decide right now that WE will begin again as WE did before, so help us God.

What is the answer? Revival.

The reason we need revival can be found in Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Are the righteous in authority? They could be. They should be. Otherwise the people will mourn.

Who are the ones in authority? Well, in one sense, it is people like our President, or our congressmen, senators, or judges. The context of this verse of Scripture would definitely imply that. But, again, America is different. We the people have no king or dictator. No princes rule over us. We are ruled by Law. We are self-governed. WE are in authority. So the question then is this: Are the people of the United States righteous? The answer to that has to be an unquestionable “no.” If the government, then, is of the people, and if the people are wicked, the nation will mourn, not rejoice.

Turn, therefore, oh citizens of this great land. Turn back to the paths from which you have strayed; to the paths hewn from the wilderness by honorable, moral, God-fearing men and women. Walk in those paths and follow in the footsteps of those like Washington and Lincoln. We don’t need to see every man and woman in the country turn to Christ as their Savior. Not every founding father was aborn-again Christian. However, the overwhelming majority were men and women who knew that this great nation did not come about by chance, nor simply by the strength of men, but by the Providence of a guiding Hand. Turn, therefore, back to the God that brought this nation into being, and can just as easily revive it from the dust heap of irrelevance. “WE THE PEOPLE” are in authority, so WE need to get our act together and elect men and women who will do what a righteous people demand. It can start with just a few. It can start with YOU.

O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov’d homes and the war’s desolation;
Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land
Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

(4th verse, National Anthem)

P.S. For all of you who doubt that the founding of this nation was based on the faith of Christianity, please refer to the above verse, and the comments from the Supreme Court in The Church of the Holy Trinity vs. The United States, 1892. Oh, how far we have come.

Study to Show Thyself Approved on a Survey

The results of a study just came out and there are about as many reactions as there are results. Some are very alarmed at the findings; while others couldn’t care less. Personally, I think that there are some interesting statistics from which we can learn. Go to the link at the bottom of this article and check out the findings for yourself.* You may find yourself enlightened and disturbed at the same time.

Today, in response to the survey conducted by The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, a story came out on Fox News entitled, “Survey: Many Americans Know Little About Religion.”** The part that has every one in a tizzy is the following:

“Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers, while Jews and Mormons followed with about 20 accurate responses. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers, while Catholics followed with a score of about 15.”

Should this be a shock? I mean, really, what do we as Christians expect? Since when do we teach about the dogmas of other faiths in our Sunday Schools? How often, at least in our more rural Baptist churches, do we even attempt to preach or teach the critical doctrines or our own faith? When we do, if we do, the people in the congregation start complaining that the subject matter is over their heads. I don’t advise that we spend the little time we have in church and training to go into detail about the five pillars of Islam, or even the differences between Vishnu and Krishna. But what I am saying is that Christians should at least know at least the fundamentals of the Bible and key doctrines of the faith.

As I looked over the survey results, I did find some things that I thought were interesting, if not humorous. One of those things had to do with atheists. What is it that an atheist is supposed to believe? According to atheists, the reason that they cannot trust in Christ is because they don’t believe in God. Not believing in the existence of any god is at the root of the very term “atheist” (from ἄθεος, meaning ἀ- [without]+ θεός [god]).*** Why is it then, when asked about the existence of God, 8% were “absolutely certain” He existed? What?! And get this, they even believe in heaven and hell, too (heaven = 12%; hell = 10%)! So, maybe we should give the Christians a little slack, huh? You can’t even trust an atheist to know what he believes anymore. Dang!

Another humorous finding in this survey was tucked away in the percentage numbers of “believers” within the population. To start, it was not unusual to see that nearly 80% of Americans consider themselves Christian (Protestant 51.3; Catholic 23.9; Mormon 1.7; Jehovah’s Witness 0.7; Orthodox 0.6; Other Christian 0.3), but it was funny/sad to see that both Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are becoming recognized as official Christian denominations. What is worse is when you look at the statistics, more Mormons and J.W.s believe in a personal God (91% and 82%) than even evangelical churches (79%). These cults, sadly, are looking more like Christians than the TRUE followers of Christ.

But the real point of the story is that Christians know less about their faith than the Enemies of their faith.

Paul knew way back long ago what Timothy needed to do, so he said, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). When we ONLY go to church for the fellowship and singing, or the food and good times, even when they are spiritual and up-lifting, we fail to grasp what the early church did in Acts 2:42a, “…they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine…”

The church in America is on the decline, the reason for which could be debated in volumes. But one thing is for sure, we need to know what we believe, why we believe, and in Whom we believe. Once we know these truths, then we need to defend them, preach them, and live them, “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you” the questions on a survey about your faith.

Oh! By the way…Muslims only make up .06% of the population. Why are we running in fear?

* http://religions.pewforum.org/reports#

** http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/28/survey-americans-know-little-religion/

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheist#Etymology