2018 In the Valley of Decision

There are not two valleys of decision, but one and we are in it now in 2018. Everywhere there is conflict and people taking positions for and against. The decision is about standards, moral, political, social, and cultural. So we have standards of behavior or not, and what will happen if we continue to see decline in public and private morals and behavior?

A TV pundit says the Vice President is nuts for thinking he hears from God. Moses heard from God, Mary, Jesus’ mother, heard from God and Paul and many others we read about.  Why can’t our Vice President?

Millions watch this program (millions refuse to watch as well) but God does not step in; millions are also being asked to take sides. Will you go with your faith and claim to be a Christian who speaks to God or will you lose your nerve and agree with the TV personality who says that it’s nuts?  That is one valley of decision.  Where you go from here depends on your response. Your future is in your mouth.

Billy Graham dies and some of the vituperative remarks about him rocked me back on my heels.  No one talks about the dead like that no matter how much they dislike him.  It is not good manners, but they called him evil names.  I was slightly amused – as several said he was a money grubber but of all the evangelists on  TV his personal finances were more wisely managed by others.  He lived well, but he also spent corporate money on the ministry itself in great detail. Newspapers tried to string him up – and lost.

The same fate has dogged critics of President Donald Trump. Of all men he is most despised by news organizations. But we notice that his critics also seem to disappear like a mist into some backwater never to be heard from again. They talk about the “Trump curse” whereby friends and supporters of Trump are ostracized by their friends, including one outspoken Jewish lawyer, Alan Dershowitz.  In the midst of all this suddenly some of the very loudest voices find themselves fired from major posts as sexual harassers.  Clearly there was no connection between Trump and the harassment charges but you could virtually line up the critics like ten pins and watch them go down.

Fake news, fake accounts, fake advertising from Russians forever after our election to produce fake polls asking for rebellion against the new president.  It goes on and on.  We learn that young people have no clue about true American history; they cannot name parts of the US Constitution which is the governing document by which we agree to live together.

The valley of decision requires us to be cautious about every single word we hear. The moment we start to mature as adults is the very moment we realize we have been lied to. For the rest of us this is a valley of decision.  The common man is being asked to take sides.  For God it is always, will you be on God’s side. That is on the side of personal morals and accountability.

The arrogant and contemptuous way they often speak about celebrities who out shine them in every way are also the people who themselves who have few credentials.  I should keep a list and see how long they last.

Cable subscribers are leaving by the thousands; I believe the figure today is 1.5 million.  So the companies raise their prices? Does this make sense? And another thousand or two decide why be harangued at so they cut the cord.  Perhaps if news organization would start reporting the news instead of trying to make the news they’d have more viewers.  Meanwhile subscribers to private TV, such as CRTV and numerous evangelists, are on the rise. If you are not paying for cable you do have some money for someone else’s broadcast.

Some Christians believe that war is optional.  It is not.  Wars are started by people who think they can win them, and of course, they can if the opposition does not fight back. Americans have a fight on their hands to get their country back to the point where a 25 year old man at the grocery store does not f-bomb everyone in line for being slow. The war is at our very door.