"THE SPIRIT OF AMERICA"?

"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?" (2 Corinthians 6:14-15 New King James Version)

There's an old expression we often use, especially but not exclusively in Christian religious circles, which says, "You can't rob Peter to pay Paul". Peter and Paul were two of the biggest and most significant leaders of the early Church. They were also VERY different men. Paul was originally from outside of Palestine, was a Roman citizen, and was extremely well educated. Peter was FROM Galilee in Palestine, was very "blue collar", and was very outspoken and impulsive. We know from the Book of Galatians in the New Testament that at times they greatly CLASHED.

WHY am I writing about Peter and Paul here and WHAT do they have to do with a piece about "The Spirit of America"? Well, I'm really not writing about the BIBLICAL characters, Peter and Paul here. Rather, I'm mentioning my COUSINS Peter and Paul. Both are Facebook friends of mine. Peter writes a blog. Peter (from Colorado) is retired, having previously worked as a forest ranger and a history teacher. Paul (from Pennsylvania) although past retirement age is a Certified Financial Planner. I would describe Peter as a "bleeding heart liberal" and Paul as a conservative Republican business type. They recently conducted sort of a "friendly political argument" on Facebook. I had to chuckle that two Grandchildren of Pierre E. and Marie H. Baril could be SUCH opposites politically! Peter is VERY much for President Obama. He has endorsed him on his blog, and honestly, I can't think of ANYONE who is a bigger fan of President Obama than is Peter Baril. Paul is voting for Mitt Romney and believes the reelection of President Obama would really be a terrible thing.

My own views are closer to Paul's than to Peter's. That said, I am NOT a big fan of Mitt Romney. I will not vote for Obama in the Fall. I am struggling with whether or not I will "hold my nose and vote for Mitt Romney or not". I have not made up my mind on this. Listen, I have heard all the arguments in favor of voting for Mitt Romney. I don't need to hear any more of them, thank you; so please save your writing.

On Facebook, in the midst of Peter and Paul's postings, I posted that I believe America is becoming a hedonistic and atheistic country; more every day. Peter posted, asking if I REALLY believe this and if I could write more about it. THIS is the result of his request that I write more about it. I do think Mitt Romney would make a better President than Barack Obama, and I'm a Republican. BUT, Romney would be a mediocre President, at best. America's problem IS primarily spiritual. In 2008, Michelle Obama was CORRECT when she lamented, "our souls are broken".

Our souls ARE broken. Sadly, President and Mrs. Obama have offered really NO guidance or real help in this area, and Mitt Romney offers next to nothing, in my opinion.

This is SUCH a deep and complicated matter, I suppose I could write a whole BOOK on the subject. At the very least, I could probably do four or five lengthy postings on the blog about it. Instead I am going to just "spit out" what I believe about this here.

I can be a very "gut level" person at times, and at times I can "really turn people off". This is IRONIC because at the core of my being, I'm a guy who very much wants to be LIKED and AFFIRMED! So, it's with some definite "fear and trembling" (see I Corinthians 2:1-4) that I post this, but I DO believe every word of it:

Yes, American is becoming like modern Europe: hedonistic and atheistic. We were moving in this direction with or without President Obama, but his Presidency has only accelerated this trend. Evangelical Christian scholars who carefully study demographics and popular trends have noted that Massachusetts, especially the Boston area (as well as the Montreal area in Canada, for that matter) is CULTURALLY speaking "Europe" and not "America". Some missionaries from the Bible belt who are bound for Europe actually come and live in the Boston area for awhile to prepare for the culture shock they'll face.

The most popular series of license plates in Massachusetts is the "Sprit of America" series which began being issued in the early 1990s and is still in use today. My own cars display plates with the moniker "The Spirit of America". I remember about eight years ago, a woman from San Deigo, California who came to visit her brother and his family in Natick. She was a devout evangelical Christian who attends a southern California mega church. The woman was HORRIFIED by the slogan on the Massachusetts plates,

"If THIS is the Spirit of America, then HEAVEN HELP US!!" she exclaimed. Originally from the Boston area, but having lived away for thirty years, she was agast at the smug, brash, me-first, godless attitude and atmosphere of the Boston area.

Yeah, we are embodying the current Spirit of America which is really much more like the Spirit of Belial I mentioned above...a hellish spirit of wickedness and ungodliness.

Bluntly, it seems nobody can keep their pants on anymore. People become sexually active at ridiculously young ages. They couldn't tell you who Eleanor Roosevelt was or define what a cartographer is, but they can tell you everything you want to know about sex and everything you DON'T want to know about it, too!

People can't get thorough a conversation without a few F-Bombs being thrown in. People will tell you no one has the right to tell them what to do with THEIR bodies. In Europe, the churches are EMPTY. Christianity is seen as a dusty, undesirable relic of the past. New England is rapidly moving in that direction. Granted, there's still the Bible belt, but give it another generation and Dallas will be just like Boston. Most of what is on television and movies is really not fit to watch anymore.

There's also a very European attitude that it's up to the Government to GIVE you what you need, and then some! "Personal responsibility"? What's that?!

I could go on and on about the trend toward hedonism and atheism, but as bad as that trend is, I also see some other disturbing trends in our country.

The pastor of Bread of Life Assembly of God in Westminster, MA where I attend recently preached an excellent sermon about how the church is supposed to be "salt and light" in our world. Sadly, instead, evangelical Christians have often been judgmental, and legalistic. We often (stupidly) present a very negative gospel. WE have experienced a LOVING and FORGIVING and UNDERSTANDING and all powerful Savior, who has given us life more abundantly. We've had PRECIOUS times with our Lord. Yet, we present God as petty and mean and a being who wants to ruin everyone's fun and make their lives miserable. We also present God as this angry, right-wing Republican who is CRAZY ABOUT MITT ROMNEY and who wants everybody to be just like Mitt Romney. Listen, I used to be one of the most negative and legalistic guys you would ever want to meet, AND I used to be so far to the Right that I almost made Jesse Helms look like a liberal. I'm still a Republican and fairly conservative, but I've changed quite a bit over the past twenty-five years, and I've re-thought a lot of this stuff of wrapping up our Christianity in right wing politics and the Republican party.

I can already hear critics challenging, "You've made a case that NEW ENGLAND is like Europe, but that has nothing to do with the rest of the country!"

No, it DOES. We're just ten or twenty years ahead of many of you.

Listen,

It's not false religion; the "I'm OK, You're OK" stuff that we need. That just "tickles the ears" for awhile, but has little real substance.

It's not aggressive fundamentalism with no love that we need.

It's not self-righteousness that we need.

It's not cults that we need... just LOOK at Scientology, for example.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"- THAT'S what we need.

John 3:16. That's what we need.

Jesus. Jesus is who and what we need. NOT the false Jesus that is so often presented. NOT that one. The REAL one.

Listen, when you're dying; when everything is "all washed up" so to speak- THAT'S when you realize how TRUE this is.

My father was a very accomplished person and a very proud man. He got dementia so bad that he was completely incontinent. He could not speak beyond occasionally getting out a word or two. He could not take care of himself at all. One day, I sat next to him at Charwell House Nursing Home in November of 1999, and I talked to him about Jesus. Oh, he'd been a Catholic and all that stuff; but I talked to him about having Jesus in his heart, being ready to die, being ready to go to Heaven...all that kind of stuff. My father, literally like a little child, responded and received Jesus.

A few months ago, I visited "Jack" at another nursing home...this one in Framingham. This 82-year-old was a graduate of M.I.T. He was brilliant. But he never wanted to talk about Jesus or the Gospel. Never. He was not interested. I did not push Jack at all. THAT day, he WAS interested. We talked about Jack's terminal cancer. Jack was interested. Jack wanted Jesus. I did his funeral service just three weeks later.

Listen, the answer is not Mitt Romney. And the answer is CERTAINLY not Barack Obama. The answer is not more smugness, more pride, more intellect; DEFINITELY not more humanistic independence! The answer is also NOT more religion, per se.

The ONLY hope for America is that we humble ourselves and turn to Jesus Christ as Lord, 100%. Seriously. "What would Jesus do?" needs to not be an empty slogan but a living reality.

"The Spirit of America" needs to NOT be the spirit of smugness, pride, intellect, and independence.

"The Spirit of America" needs to be THE HOLY SPIRIT.

There, I said it.

And, as my old friend David C. Milley would say, "If you still love me, say AMEN!"