Happy Independence Day!

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Independence Day (July 4th) here in the United States. I will take a few days off blogging, following one of the most sporadic months of posting since I began The Seventh Sola back in 2005. I've been battling one of my famous respiratory bugs for more than three weeks now, and haven't felt like doing much.

I will be back at the keyboard next week, but will leave you with this thought to ponder over the weekend. Go and read the Declaration of Independence. Read it closely.

Next, imagine writing the Declaration out longhand and sending it to the White House in a stamped envelope. Imagine having a bunch of friends join you in signing it before you mail it.

I'll bet you'd be in the sights of Homeland Security and probably in Leavenworth before a week had gone by. Maybe even Gitmo.

Times have changed since the days of our original Patriots, haven't they?

A Third Term for Obama?

Rush Limbaugh thinks it's in the works.

And in all honesty, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. I used to think Bill Clinton had desires to be a perpetual president given his reluctance to leave, but I think there is genuine danger of it with Barack Obama. Rush's view is really worth contemplating.

And it's worth being on guard. Anything is possible with this bunch.

Let Me Get This Straight . . .

So President Obama doesn't want to "meddle" in Iran. But he's perfectly willing to meddle in Israel.

So President Obama had to be prodded into speaking out (tepidly) about the horrific events in Iran, but wasted no time in calling a coup in Honduras "illegal" and demanding that the deposed leftist president -- a Hugo Chavez clone -- be reinstated in office. Never mind that the deposed leftist president wanted to shred the country's constitution in the face of opposition by the Honduran Congress, courts and military. As Arte Johnson used to say on Laugh-In, "very very interesting."

With each passing day, I am learning more and more about President Barack Obama. And what I am learning is pretty much in keeping with what I expected all along. I posted the famous drawing of Che Guevara to do a little needling, but the more I look at it, the more I see striking similarities.

Yes, folks. Things are going to get very, very interesting around here. Just wait and see.

See What I Mean?

In my previous posts on Michael Jackson, I had referenced some of the concern I had with him being a "role model" for young children, even back in the "Thriller" days. Many parents seemed blissfully unaware or unconcerned about lyric content, not to mention the frequent crotch-grabbing and other elements of Michael's stage persona.

This linked USA Today article offers a glimpse into the upcoming extravaganza concerts that were to kick off next month in England. Here is a brief clip from that article . . .

For a splashy version of "Dirty Diana," Jackson wanted a flaming bed with a pole-dancing aerialist "playing the part of the fire," Alonzo says.

The elaborately plotted stunt: Jackson intended to be pursued around the bed by the "fire woman," and each time she touched the stage, flames in the form of fluttering crimson fabric would shoot skyward.

After she caught him, she would lash him to the bed's tall posts with gold rope and a sheet of red fabric would billow before him, illuminating his struggling silhouette.

When the sheet fell, the magic trick would be triggered — the woman would be revealed as the one ensnared, and Jackson would materialize on a stage in the center of the arena.

Pole dancing, firewomen and a burning bed. Yeah, that's real wholesome imagery for children, isn't it? I can just see the seven or eight-year-olds' questions on the way home. "Mommy, what was that woman and the pole all about? Why was the bed on fire?" Who knows what other things the show would have included if it had actually gone off.

My point in all this isn't to kick a dead man, even though I'll probably get accused of it. My point is that parents need to wake up and re-evaluate whom they allow their children to idolize.

Michael Jackson might be gone, but there will always be someone else.

Unrepentant Defiance

It's been such an eventful week. I finally felt well enough myself to return to teaching my Sunday school class. We've been in the book of Romans for the past few months. Today, my class was combined with another one for the summer months. To bring the new people up to speed, I dieseled through my introduction to the book, and then summarized Romans 1-8 in 45 minutes. In the course of summarizing Romans 1 at the beginning, a train of thought began running in my head -- so much so that I had to make a blog post about it.

When you read Romans 1, and the way it describes the complete and utter unrighteousness of fallen man, it is (or ought to be) a real eye-opener. In light of biblical truth -- completely unvarnished -- about how low mankind can fall, why are we amazed when a wicked world acts wickedly?

American Christians these days seem to do a lot of handwringing about how the culture at large responds to us. What if the Gospel were presented this way? What if Christians did this or that in trying to reach the culture? Christians are so misunderstood. If the culture only knew the truth. Why does society hate Christians so much? If we just did such and such, they'd understand and react differently to us.

Let's assume that the celebrities who passed away this week (Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Gail Storm, Billy Mays, etc) could return from the dead to testify to the eternity that awaits all of us — either with the Lord or separated from Him. What kind of difference would it make? Scripture has a few things to say about the world and its attitude. First, the Lord Himself discussed the possibility of Lazarus coming back from the dead to warn people about Hell . . .

But He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead' (Luke 16:21).

What if the world got a clear picture of the judgment that awaited its wickedness? Again, Scripture has something to say . . .

. . . and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds (Revelation 16:11).

Interesting. Instead of pleas for forgiveness, instead we get defiance and clenched fists. And that's not all. The Lord Jesus had even more to say about the world and its attitude toward the truth . . .

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.

If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE' (John 15:18, 24-25).

Sounds like the world has an attitude problem, doesn't it?

Of course, this doesn't mean that God is not still drawing men, women and children to Himself out of the midst of this God-hating culture. He most certainly is. And He does this through the "foolishness of preaching." We still have the Great Commission to carry out until He returns for His own. Some will receive the Gospel. Others will reject it. And that includes celebrities.

But let's quit being amazed when the world -- including comedians and celebrities -- mock Christians and the church. Let's stop being so flabbergasted when people reject the message, sometimes with open hostility. In the immortal words of Captain Louis Renault, let's stop being "shocked. . . shocked" when people take the precise attitude Jesus warned us they would take.

Christians aren't in this world to win popularity contests. By all means, we are to be winsome and windows to the love of Christ. But we are also to be uncompromising in the truth. And that alone will be very, very unpopular with a whole lot of people.

That's just the way it is.