America we have to face the fact that we can no longer call ourselves “One Nation Under God” but rather “One Nation Under Fear”. You can argue, if you will, but our actions are speaking much louder than our voices. We will be judged by what we do, not what we say. I am so very tired of seeing the memes about God and patriotism almost being synonymous. Anybody can post a meme and walk away feeling good about being a Christian and being patriotic, all in one neat tidy package. But where is the action to back it? We have allowed politicians to highjack Christianity in this country to use it for their political platforms, which in turn make us feel we are picking one of God’s own because they can spew verbal affirmations. But we are not looking that closely at their character. We are not looking at behaviors and we are not using wisdom. We are picking people who fit our ideas of who is “Christian” while saying “I am promoting Christian beliefs”. No, what we are doing is picking a politician who will say anything to get our vote. So we should not be surprised by what they do when they get in. They show you who they are, along the way, if we pay attention. And let me tell you, Trump showed you all along who he was, yet some still picked him. And to me it says so much more about that supporter than it does about him. Christian Trump supporters picked a racist, misogynistic, vindictive, quick tempered, unbalanced one percenter to represent them and their values.

We are frightened of everything and we allow politicians to say, “Well we must protect our families and selves first”.  Our culture has gotten so judgmental that when we see others who need help, we are quick to justify why we can’t help or why we are hurting them, in doing so.

When we see a homeless person on the street, we feel irritated and say they should get a job, or we ask ourselves how do I know, if I give them anything they will not use it to get drugs or alcohol. This is our justification for ignoring the needy.

We look at mothers on assistance and food stamps and we focus on the negative and lump them all into one category of being moochers. We focus on the ones who have abused the system, rather than seeking ways to help people earn a living wage and move out of that system of repetition. And then we go further in our aim to diminish them by passing laws to drug test them. Our justification is, they do not want to work. They just want handouts and if they are on drugs, they don’t need to be getting assistance.

We look at protestors in contempt and anger. One of the foundational Constitutional rights in this country is to use your freedom of speech to speak out against tyranny and oppression. Yet, protestors are villafied and condemned as rioters because once again the focus is on the few that have alternative agendas, and not on the message of the masses who come together in unity to lift their voices.

We have a statue in our NY harbor that says give me your poor, your weary, your….. yet, now we are building a wall to keep illegals out. We are barring refugees in seeking asylum, because, well, we don’t know what terrorist we are letting in. Our justification is we have to protect our selves. Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, even goes as far as saying this is not a Biblical issue but rather a safety issue. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/christians-refugees-trump/514820/   Really? That justifies ignoring Scripture? We get to now close ourselves inward in fear rather than showing others the love of Christ by reaching out to those needing asylum?

Let me just list a few things that have been done to others out of fear in this country over its history…..

• Interment of Japanese during WWII http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation
• Wiping out of Native America and establishment of Reservations http://endgenocide.org/learn/past-genocides/native-americans/
• Destruction of African American Communities; Rosewood, Black Wall Street, etc. http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/04/8-successful-aspiring-black-communities-destroyed-white-neighbors/
• Enactment of Jim Crow Laws http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/jim-crow.html

Those are just a few and in all of those situations, good Americans went about their daily lives, believing they were necessary and o.k. I seriously wonder if we have ever been One Nation Under God when I look at history, for history will indeed tell the story, unless of course, you write the books from your viewpoint and remove truths which you don’t don’t want others to see. Does this sound familiar with our recent removal of websites by the current administration?

I have seen things in this past week unfolding at a speed which boggles my mind. Unheard of things, which I didn’t really believe would happen in our country and I will deal with some of that as it comes, with my one voice.

But what I am having the hardest part with is the people that I know, good people who I know love God, but for some reason, feel this is ok. This is necessary to keep us safe. Did God ever tell us we would be safe from everything in this world? Is serving him, contingent upon us working within our comfort zones? We have invalidated ourselves as kingdom witnesses when we put ourselves before what is right, what is just and what is Christ-like.

We have been given two commandments according to Matthew 22:34…..But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  That is it!  How are our actions showing obedience to these two commands?

We have invalidated ourselves with our silence and our fears. But if one does not have a problem with what is unfolding, to me that is a far deeper problem.

Finally wrap your heads around this… there is no comfort zone in serving God, except to be within His Will. I will not stay silent and I will do what I can to point others to him. For right now, I think we are failing on this part, as a country, if indeed we want to keep calling ourselves “One Nation Under God”.