At the beginning of our shutdown experience (months ago), I kept hearing a cry in my spirit regarding America; that we need to ... WAKE UP! There was an urgency in my spirit to pray; and I did. That seems so long ago now, the shutdown. It was many narratives ago in the news cycle. Do you remember?
I woke up today at 4:00 am this morning. That was my normal waking time before; when I would drive my daughter across town, in the dark, for her to swim her early morning practice as I would work on my computer. I would take her so she could sleep another 35 minutes before her swim. We have done that for years, morning after morning... and now it seems so long ago. A memory. Do you remember your “old” routine from 5 months ago?
We have moved from narrative to narrative; consuming all our band wide with each new event stripping away at our lives. The media has done a great job saturating our minds with fear, doom, anger, even rage. We have bought into the narrative as most Americans listen more to the “news” than we read our bibles, or talk to the Lord. I mean, even most “Christians” used to go to church and for many, that was the only “feeding” they got every week.
My beautiful America is dying; we thought this shutdown was to prevent people from getting sick, but I am seeing that this virus was one of the least of our troubles right now... America is the one needing an ICU! She is being stripped of her glory and being brought to her knees.
Harder than watching my country being shredded is how many people I love (who have landed on the opposite side of the narrative) are endorsing it. Again, not a new historical concept to see a nation divided but certainly a new personal experience for most of us.
I am an old soul; I have always related more to the generation before me than my own; most likely because my parents, if still living on earth, would be 102 and 94 respectively; the age of many of your grandparents or great grandparents. I was raised with the previous generation. I didn’t just read about WWII in class, my parents lived it from opposite sides. It was a topic in my personal discussions with my parents growing up... and I listened.
My dad was a pilot dropping bombs on Hitler’s army after living through the depression and my mom was living under the bombs falling after her “re-education” in Hitler’s Youth program. She would tell me of her “fractured” family and how people were torn by the political divisions of her day. It was difficult for her to share with me many of the details of this divide as it would still bring visible pain to her while sharing.
My mom LOVED America as much, if not more than my dad, and she embraced her beautiful transition as an American citizen never leaving the safety of her shores. I grew up valuing what the flag meant because she would tell of the first-hand experience of its power. Seeing that flag on the arms of American shoulders or seeing American soldiers flying overhead brought signs of hope, freedom, and a future. That flag meant liberation and healing for her country.
I understood how people were willing to die for that flag, as my dad shared his experience as a pilot defending her. I am thankful neither of my parents is here to witness what America has become.
I am GRIEVED when I see how some (even those I know and love) are disrespecting the value of the flag or those who are devaluing the National Anthem or disparaging the pledge of allegiance, or who are endorsing the violence, and even embracing communistic symbols as expressions of freedom. Nothing new though as the ’60s had some of the same undertones going on in our nation.
I feel as though I have become that “old voice” now (and I am not very old) because it seems many of us have forgotten what being an American means.
I encourage each of you to personally have a deep conversation with someone who has fled an oppressive dictatorship. Many of them will not because it is too painful but I encourage you to find out why they left where they were to come here; the greatest land on earth. They get. Many of them more than most of us. They will help you gain an understanding of why most the world has wanted to “come to America”.
You can tell me all day long what you have read; but I remember my mom’s voice crackling and her eyes welling up as she said, “That’s enough,” as then she started to cry saying, “turn it off,” (the recorder). And we were done for that day.
Go ahead, tear down our history, even burn our beautiful flag but you will never take my love for this country from me. Toppling statues won’t stop the repeating of the evil history of tyranny. It is nothing new.
If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited. Proverbs 24:10 NCSB
Read on:
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(The following is shared. Credit given below.)
THE DAY THE POLICE WERE NO LONGER NEEDED
On August 19, 1966 - Chinese students launched a fight for social justice to fight for the rights of the oppressed in China. It was widely believed that the 'patriarchal system' in China had been created by the 1% and held down women, minorities, and the working class. The students cried out for a revolution and change, and consequentially launched the infamous Chinese Cultural Revolution.
Students put a red band around their arm to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and called for a change on old ideas that they called the FOUR OLDS. The Four Olds were: Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.
The movement was supported by the Chinese media.
Mass demonstrations and looting by the students ensued.
Statues were torn down.
Chinese architecture was destroyed.
Classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart and burned.
Temples were desecrated.
The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked.
The corpse of the 76th-generation Duke Yansheng was removed from its grave and hung from a tree.
Wealthy homes were attacked and destroyed.
Many families' long-kept genealogy books were burned to ashes.
All of history, in short, was to be removed and replaced. This was the central meaning of Cultural Revolution: That China was going to destroy every trace of its bourgeois (privileged) past and replace it with a new culture built on the principles of Maoism and Marxism.
Communist leaders like President Liu Shaoqi were taken out of power and replaced with men Mao believed were not critical of his reign.
Public leaders who were considered to be oppressive were tried by angry mobs and vigilantes.
Three days later, August 22, 1966, a central directive was issued to stop police intervention. The police were disbanded in the city and the students formed a community solution called the RED GUARD. The RED GUARDS policed the communities and punished anyone who did not agree with their ideas. Even people that supported the movement, but had bad thoughts ("wrong think") could be punished.
Though many Christians supported the movement in the beginning, they quickly became the number one target of the RED GUARDS and public trials were held to condemn them to death.
Many of those that were on board with the cause of the rebellion, in the beginning, saw that it was not really what they had signed up for, but by then it was too late. The power that the Red Guard wanted had already been given.
More people died during the cultural revolution in China than any war, famine, or natural disaster in the history of man. An estimated 20 to 30 million people were killed.
Are you listening America?
Original Post by Adam Malachi Sprual
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I have several friends who have been to Mozambique and served with Heidi Baker with her Iris Ministry for short term missions and in her ministry school. I was just made aware of this devastating situation they are in. I know many Christians today who have become weary with giving, especially to church, but I am asking you to consider sharing this need with people you know who have a heart to help others. This is such a great place to give...to the most needy on the planet who don't have a spirit of entitlement. They are desperate for help and now with these rains, their meager existence has turned bleak. Please pray for them and also consider giving to them financially. 
