Blunt: This is The Only Real Hope for America
For the past two weeks, my wife and I have been working at Camp Wilderness Ridge in Smithville, Texas with a group of five other couples. We all labor for the Mobile Missionary Assistance Program. MMAPers are retired folks with RVs that travel around to various Christian camps and churches to work as volunteers doing construction projects and repairs.
Camp Wilderness Ridge was destroyed by a forest fire in 2011 that burned more than 34,000 acres, so there is much work to be done. Because of the fire, the RV camp sites are not exactly plush vacation spots. The destruction of the forests removed the nesting areas for birds that would normally control the vermin population, so the residents in the area are constantly battling mice.
Volunteering to work at camps may sound like fun, but at times it is both inconvenient and uncomfortable. The most difficult part is being apart from children and grandchildren back home in Iowa. When I stop to think about the dangers and discomforts experienced by missionaries in third world and hostile countries, I realize that I really have nothing to complain about. The most enjoyable aspect of the ministry is the fellowship that we enjoy with our like-minded co-workers. We are bound together by a common devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ.
The most rewarding aspect of our work here and at other camps is the knowledge that we are helping to make it possible for young people to attend a camp where they can develop a relationship with Christ. Research has shown that a majority of Christians come to a saving faith as youth and many of those are introduced to or strengthened in their Christian faith at camp. Part of the mission at Camp Wilderness Ridge is to “change the world through the leadership of real men.” From their perspective and mine this means men who are dedicated to serving Christ. This is the real hope for America and the world.
Many are waking up to the reality that Obama’s promised hope was a lie. As I wrote last week, Americans are less prosperous, less free and less secure. Hope doesn’t come from government. Welfare and income redistribution don’t provide any lasting hope. Real hope springs from faith in Christ. The virtues of good character provide a reason to hope.
People who are kind, loving, honest, peaceful, responsible, respectful, just and industrious don’t need a big government benefactor to provide for them and a police state to control them. Such people don’t need a government to exact revenge on their fellow man for being more prosperous.
One of the disadvantages (or advantages depending upon one’s perspective) of this missionary lifestyle is that it makes it difficult to keep up with the steady flow of bad news. I don’t have cable news, so I get to experience what it is like to be a low information voter. But, being profoundly concerned about the direction of our nation and the sort of future that my grandchildren will encounter, I still had to search the internet for the latest news. Thank the Lord for Clash Daily, Drudge and Breitbart! I write for Clash Daily because I am concerned and my hope is that my musings might change a few hearts and minds. I don’t want to just preach to the choir, so please share Clash Daily with your liberal friends.
Sure enough, there was more bad news this week. John Boehner has declared war on conservatives. He and Paul Ryan are pushing Obama’s budget plans: no sequester, more spending and more taxes. What a surprise! It makes a responsible person sick with grief. I have often expressed the sentiment that as a nation, we have passed the tipping point. We may be beyond the point where incremental change can stop total societal collapse. I believe that it will take a miraculous revival to save this land. We must become a country populated by people who hold to Christian values.
During this Christmas season, we must remember that Christ came into the world to bring peace. Peace will not come by way of a totalitarian regime which promises to make all mankind equal. The sort of peace that Jesus grants is lasting and independent of outward circumstances. Throughout history, evil governments have sought to silence the message of the gospel and persecuted believers. America under Obama and his hordes of Marxist friends seems to be heading that way, but Christians will remain faithful and obedient to the call of God’s kingdom. I’ve read the book. He wins.
Image: Courtesy of: https://clashdaily.com/2013/12/blunt-real-hope-america//
