THE STATE OF THE UNION

Tuesday, January 25th is the annual STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS given by the President. These often seem more like campaign speeches than sober evaluations, so I am writing my own address here. The voice of the opposition follows, called THE STATE OF THE CHURCH. After hearing the one before Congress on Tuesday, please post here your thoughts on WHICH ONE IN YOUR OPINION comes closer to a true evaluation of where our country is…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I come before you today to give you the State of the Union, an annual report as it were, to review our successes AND our failures and to give a pathway for our future progress.

I am delighted that many people – perhaps most of the American people care deeply about freedom. They care about financial stability, and they care about having a safe and stable world. However, they seem to care more about IDOL and DWTS and the NFL, so their concerns generally do not make a change because they underestimate the evil that a whole lot of people are up to – evil to remove freedom, destroy the country, and make the American dream into a nightmare worthy of a disaster movie.

While some throw themselves wholly into rejuvenating our nation and calling it to repentance, many readily accept what they are told, wanting to appear reasonable while accepting the most outrageous hypotheses. As in the days of the civil war, we are a nation deeply divided, with even members of the same family fighting each other tooth and nail over the most basic issues. Some simply agree not to talk about politics or religion, and the powers that be will gladly take that, thank you. The Germans were silent and look how that facilitated statism and unspeakable atrocities. We are halfway there.

One upholds the right to life and considers killing pre-born babies murder (imagine that), while the other sees no problem with killing life that is unwanted, inconvenient, or perhaps physically or mentally flawed to some degree.

One wants to provide the medical care needed to keep older citizens alive as long as possible while the other sees it as a waste and believes we should cut off care and let them die so that the money can be spent on those less tied to their guns and religion.

One believes people are essentially good, and wants individuals to be responsible for their own actions, to work hard, and to have the freedom to form an enterprise with little interference from the government, while the other believes most people are too stupid to run their own life, but need a nanny state to assist them – at a major cost of money and freedom, of course. Not to mention whoever has tried that has failed or is moving rapidly toward failure.

One believes that people should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, while the other believes people with some skin tones deserve more rights than others, people who deviate from the design of the human body by working that which God condemns should be celebrated and given special rights no one else has, and that in general those who achieve through hard work should not receive anything more than those who either choose not to extend themselves by getting out on cold mornings and working their fingers to the bone or who simply decide to live off of government largesse.

Much of the problem is that the regime still does not control ALL the media. While the networks and most of cable does the government's bidding, and all inconvenient stories and probes are killed, just as in Frank Peretti's novel THE PROPHET (what a precient book - buy a copy) there still are some lone voices out there as well as that evil Internet. It has been proposed that a single password be issued to each citizen. This will cover blogs, articles, websites, banking, and medical access. We will know what each person is thinking, saying, doing, spending, voting, and all - JUST LIKE GOD! Further, this will insure that medical care is given only to those who support the current version of government, with the rest to die off and some believe the nation will be unified once again. It will - unified to serve evil.

My fellow countrymen, we went through the Great Depression. What should have been over in a couple of years took much longer because of excessive government interference, and in fact it took a war to bring us out over a decade later. We are making all the same mistakes again because FDR is an icon, and if at first we don’t succeed, our nation tries, tries, and tries again the same failed policies.

We also saw the rise of Hitler and Mussolini. However, we believe they made up the account of Neville Chamberlain. If in fact he would just have negotiated and talked longer, history would have been different and we all would have been in the Soviet orbit - a virtual utopia. With Iranian and North Korean leaders spewing hate and using Nazi-like techniques, we will try Neville’s approach again, but better this time. Nothing beats failure but a try.

We have instituted a new policy whereby those who looked to us for help will have to fend for themselves. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and most importantly Israel have been feeding at our trough. The Poles and Czechs should be sucked back into the Soviet Orbit, and Israel should have their land divided so that the West Bank and Gaza can be joined. It will make attacks on Israel even easier, and to right the scales, we have cut back sales of military hardware to them - brilliant, huh?

We live in a post Christian era, and we must understand that Muslims have contributed so much to the world. They love peace, they love culture, and they will love us when we allow them to do whatever they wish. Therefore, they will have full access to our schools and universities, but Christian and Jewish thought is inappropriate and will be denied. We have already rewritten most of the history books to teach our upside down world. We have instructed there to be no tolerance for evil creationism or any challenge to the very convenient green agenda.

Further, we will ask you, the Congress, to remove the twenty-second amendment so that the greatest President ever can be President for life. What could be more fitting for The One? Don't faint! Get her some water!


COUNTERPOINT BY THE OPPOSITION:
THE STATE OF THE CHURCH

I must say that if the church were healthy, we would have at least that going for us, but in many ways, the State of the Church mirrors the State of the Union.

Just as the Constitution has been gathering dust and is ignored, so is the Bible not given the respect it deserves. More and more people who claim to be born again and know God openly disrespect the Word of God.

With many single Christians, it is not WHETHER to have sex on a date, it is how many dates to go on BEFORE having sex. With married Christians, so-called CHRISTIAN websites advocate many practices of the world, INCLUDING adulterous fantasies.

Many pastors of supposedly sound churches go to seminaries where professors either do not believe the word of God means what it says or are even actually atheists. One of those is on City Line Avenue yet its doors are still open and people flock there. They are hardly unique. MOST Christian colleges now teach the flawed philosophy of evolution instead of true science that proclaims the truths of God. Sites run by supposed Christians such as BioLogos actually oppose the authority of the Bible on every turn. They start by trying to deconstruct Genesis, but just like Satan, continue right on through every doctrine of eternal significance.

Christians are deeply divided as well – some believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the church throughout the ages while others blaspheme the Holy Spirit by calling his gifts demonic, just as first century religious people accused Jesus Christ of having a demon.

One any given Sunday, the vast majority of white people are in churches that are almost entirely white, the overwhelming majority of blacks and Asians are in churches that almost entirely mirror their own ethnicity.

There is more talk about getting wealthy (to give to the Lord of course) than helping the poor, the widow, and the orphan.

There are rules about everything that doesn’t matter, while just about every command of Christ is ignored. Who prays without ceasing? Who preaches the gospel of salvation? Who sings in the Spirit? Which of the older devote themselves to teaching the younger?
Where are people learning how to defend their faith and how to give an answer to everyone who asks about the hope that is in them? Where are people who count their possessions as not their own? Where are Christian Schools that teach grace rather than justification by keeping their petty rules? Where are churches that teach the Bible as true history, true archaeology, true science, true everything instead of “stories” we can learn from? Where is there worship where everybody worships and not just a half-dozen people on the platform amped way up to sound as loud as a few hundred voices? Where is holiness? Where is sound Bible teaching instead of feel-good messages that are forgotten instead of compelling souls to lay at the altar in tears?

I know some of you my good friends are the exceptions. You really do love God and try to obey him in everything. But you are too few. You need to disciple people to be like you. Our church is in sad shape, and so is our nation. The gates of Hell will not prevail against the church, but America is missing from the Book of Revelation. Is this the end of our nation? The warning signs are ample. Keep in mind that all the judgments of God are conditional. We were condemned, and now we are saved. Our nation can be saved. But if the State of the Union is going to be improved, the church will need to lead the way. We will need to bring the message of Christ first to the people in the churches, then the people in the schools, then the people in the universities and government. Christ gave us a spiritual kingdom. It is more powerful kingdom than the worldly kingdoms that run on raw power, deceit, and corruption. Read the end of the Book. We win!