I’ve heard many well meaning preachers and Christians reciting the often overused, incredibly asinine, phrase that professes that we will “Take America back!”

Take it back, how irksome. We are the ones who gave it away and now we are angry with those who stepped in to fill the gap. Americans left God a hundred years ago. Christians left God a hundred years ago. We denied what Scripture said about caring for widows, orphans and the handicapped, and let the government handle it while we were busy acquiring more “stuff” in our selfish pursuit of happiness.. We denied Gods commands to love one another and began coveting one another’s houses, cars, and wives. Our media, newspapers, magazines, TV and internet are dedicated to promoting all the things that King Solomon(Ecclesiastes) warned us was chasing after the wind. We’ve dedicated our lives chasing after useless crap that we cant afford, because we didn’t listen to what God said. Not only didn’t we listen, we flaunt it in front of Gods face. We pray to Him to give us more, more poison that destroyed our families, more stuff to make others envious and keep the covetousness race going. We spend billions in research to make us live longer so we can worship ourselves just a little longer and make our sexual experiences even more pleasurable to ourselves. We did this.

Now we have a government that is a mirror reflection of our greedy, coveting, self worshipping little selves and we cry “foul!” What nerve! Of course American morality is on the decline, Christians are the ones who left the vacuum. Did we think a government like ours could survive without Godly, vigilant, men and women serving those around us? Our founding fathers built this country predicated on  Biblical principals being exercised not eulogized.

So what do we do? Go back to being men and women of God. Serve others not yourself. Intentionally combat the new culture of pride and covetousness with empathy and humility. Read your Bible and learn what separates you from this world. Not just talk about God like He is Santa Claus, but give like you are. Christianity once wasn’t even a blip on a radar screen but it took over the world by truly following Jesus. We will never honor Gods will by huddling together watching Fox news, listening to talk radio or lamenting our government. Our hope is in our Savior and he needs boots on the ground, our boots. Not hiding boots or complaining boots, He needs compassionate, kind, selfless, God honoring boots. That’s how Christianity spread in the first place. Ask any of the disciples how moral the government was for them. It slaughtered them, but they would not, could not, turn back. Are we the people with that resolve? Can we deny cheap materialism and live without the things others have? Can we live FOR something rather than just against something? Homosexuality isn’t our greatest enemy, we are. If we don’t step up and live like Jesus told us, it is a sin on us and many generations to follow. Its our sin and the sin of our parents, not the government, Supreme Court, or any radical left wing group. Not even Islam. When Christians become worldly, the world follows. When Christians worship and honor God, the world follows.

I can say that I’ve made some difficult adjustments and it isn’t always easy. Jesus is my Savior and I will do what He says. It all boils down to this, are we true followers or just social followers? Which are you friend?

Absurd you say, how could evolution have anything to do with marriage? Let me tell you friends, worldwide people are rejoicing in the evolving of homo erectus! We have a Supreme court in our own country that claims that we have found new species of human beings that need special protection at the expense of the pre-existing humans. Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transexuals and Queers have been discovered to be a legitimate unique sub species. This odd group that defy any evolutionary logic(survival of the fittest and the deviation in reproduction patterns for the good of the species), have become the newest discovery from the “Thought Police” . We all know the” Thought Police Research Group” as the uncontested law givers that require no evidence whatsoever for their rulings. As a subsidiary of “People Enforcing Religious Vilification” (PERV), we have learned that God actually is responsible for this species and Christians have been oppressing them for millennia. That ancient book that the ignorant Christians read is just an effort to eradicate these rare flowery species who just want to be loved. Until PERV sanctions any other “Discoveries”  at the PERV Institute, these should be adequate to enforce “Cooperation” with all people now considered purveyors of hate speech. We may have more “Preferential” species forthcoming based on cash flow issues.

Silly you say, but isn’t it frightening how quickly sin has become a protected class? Would any of you have thought in your wildest nightmare that people could “Identify” with any sex they wanted and we have to obey them? They cant even figure out what sex they are and we have to cater to individuals with a psychiatric disorder.

So what does that archaic book that the Christians follow say?

Genesis 5:2 : He created them male and female and He blessed them and called them human.

Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female

Maybe God didn’t know what PERV knows. God made male and female, no other protected human species. Perhaps God even meant what He said in Romans 1:22-32

” Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over to sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised Amen.

Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their woman exchanged their natural relations for unnatural ones. in the same way men abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with men, and received within themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy murder, strife, deceit and malice.. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless and ruthless. Although they know Gods righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”

That seems pretty clear to me. Was there anything ambiguous about that? PERV doesn’t like it and is seeking to outlaw and belittle any mention of these words. Christians don’t get to pick what we believe, we don’t get to change Gods Word, and we are now hated by the newest species on earth. They are in the textbooks already anyway. Stand strong friends. don’t give up now, the fight has barely started.

I find it interesting that God decided that it isn’t good for man to be alone. He wasn’t alone, of course, but he didn’t have a suitable partner. Still, why is alone a bad thing? Could there be a reason that Adam felt alone, after all, the other creatures He created either weren’t alone or didn’t mind? I enjoy the solitude of a quiet walk or some nice reading time too, but it doesn’t seem like I belong here sometimes. Like I don’t fit in this picture.

I would like to suggest that people were made to feel alone intentionally. It seems to be a universal condition in our world today, we don’t like feeling alone, yet most would say they are. The irony is that we all go through periods of loneliness, regardless of how many people are around us. Think of the sins that are committed to avoid loneliness. Credit card sins, homosexual sins, cheating sins, lying sins, coveting and more than we ought to be able to think of in a sitting. So if sinning is the perceived cure for loneliness, why did God put that in us?

It doesn’t seem that anywhere in the Bible or society that any man could produce the cure for loneliness. It isn’t for the lack of trying, read Ecclesiastes written by King Solomon some time. The King denied himself nothing and was left wanting. Chasing after the wind he said. He had everything we could dream of at his disposal and in the end, nothing outside of God would satisfy him. Perhaps that is the key. We know that we don’t belong here and there is something more for us. Loneliness is like a homing device that doesn’t let us be satisfied with where we are and we know there is satisfaction somewhere, a greater purpose, we just need to seek it out. Christians know that the Bible is the word of God and is therefore the “treasure map” to the Savior. If we follow what it says we get warmer,and if we follow sin, the path gets colder. While we may make some pretty bad errors along the path, Jesus forgives missteps,  but not trying at all seems to really aggravate Him. If we aren’t trying, we aren’t teachable. If we think we have found a different way, it always ends badly. Stick to the map!

Without that feeling of loneliness, we wouldn’t know that there is more out there. We would be complacent to not seek God at all. Yet we all know that something is missing from our lives even though we cant always put our finger on it. It can be quite unsettling. While I don’t like feeling out of place, I’ve learned that if I read Gods word and study about what He’s trying to say to me, I feel like I fit the purpose that I was made for. Not perfectly, but enough to know that I’m headed in the right direction.

I still don’t like that odd,nobody understands, sort of lonely, but if I understand that the longing is Him calling me towards home, I guess I’m pretty thankful for it. I think God really knew what He was doing and I am humbly grateful that He cared enough to give this humble shoeshine boy a desire for more than the world has to offer. I don’t belong here friends, and neither do you. Lets head for home!

Today we see many people dancing in the streets, celebrating a world changing victory. They are celebrating a death. A death of critical thought. Reason has been martyred at the hands of feelings. Homosexuals are now free to march to the mosque of their choice and demand that the cleric perform the a wedding ceremony in the name of Allah! Funny, the rule applies to them, but you never hear it that way. Hmmm?  The very people who demand to feel accepted, have mercilessly fought logic and the Christian way of life, and won. Christians feelings don’t count and calling them horrible names is the “in” thing anyway. The LGBT folks really don’t offer the same acceptance that they demand. People weren’t denied love, they wont wake up in the morning in any differently than they woke today. Biology hasn’t changed, the crippling social penalties haven’t changed, statistical and historical facts haven’t changed and the God Christians follow has NOT changed His mind.  It isn’t the homosexual relationship that has changed, its that they can now legally bully Christians into accepting their sin as legitimate. Yes, they’ve won the governments sanction to attack the only people group that don’t want to hurt anyone. Those followers of Jesus that began these United States, gave dissenters the right to speak freely, but now that structure has been outlawed. The people who have a mandate from God to spread the love of God can now be stopped. Sued into silence seems to be the tool of choice.  Homosexuals have judicially found a way to block themselves from learning of a better way, the opportunity to turn back from sin and receive free forgiveness. You see the funeral they are celebrating is the death of that opportunity. We are forced to accept sin as normal. Today the sin is homosexual deviancy, but what will it be tomorrow?  Polygamy? Bestiality? Pedophilia? Sex slaves and human trafficking? Well, why not? Closed minded? The door has been opened to preference rights, so how can one person dictate to another what preference is acceptable? After all, who do you think you are, God? America wouldn’t accept what God said, even if He wrote a book.

Oh friends, even if you are celebrating today, you will soon be trampled under foot by the same monster you let loose. You should have thought this through. Now we are all in a horrible mess because you thought you could force people into accepting you. The LGBT folks that accepted you, have just used you. You weren’t clever, you were just a tool and now you’ve alienated the only people who really do love you. There is no true joy in sin, it never satisfies, and always demands more. All sin is like that, not just sexual. Greed, lust, pride, sin is sin. There is never peace. It will consume you just as it consumed those people on TV. Their anger will never be satisfied, they will demand more. Critical thought will have no place, as the thought police move in.

The only true love that exists is from God. Our sin, all sin, blocks us from receiving that love. We all want to be really loved but we accept such cheap temporal tokens as love and block out the real thing. Friends please reconsider your position. God wants to forgive you and accept you. Its absolutely free and it cant be bought at any price. What you have wont last and you will be alone and bitter. Christians are a whole bunch of very flawed people who accept Gods love on His terms. It isn’t always easy, but its true. We’d sure like you to join us, but I should warn you, we don’t have parades. Smile, and before my legal right to say it is gone, Jesus loves you!

Sometimes I’m struck by how little impact I have in our world. I hear preachers hype up the idea of Christians changing the world for Christ, yet I look around me and I just don’t see it. I don’t think I’ve had much of an impact at all. I know that my part is to do the work and leave the results to God. I can do that, but sometimes I look in my rearview mirror and it seems that nothing has changed. Not for the better anyway. The best of my efforts has yielded very little. I had a conversation with a close relative who claims to be a Christian recently and the beliefs she doggedly held to were as worldly as any anti-Christian atheist. It was just crushing to have someone that close espouse the lame “You cant believe what the Bible says” and “Those rules were for then and we’re more modern now” lines of a militant atheist. Or what about ” God just wants us to be happy so we can do whatever makes us happy.”  Entirely nonsensical statements from people who should know better. Its just brutal to hear such nonsense from someone close. If I cant even save my own, how can I save anyone else? I know, its Jesus that saves, but I think you get my drift. People say stupid things on television all the time and we’ve grown accustomed to that, but when I see so many friends and relatives believe the lies that the media and world offer. I cant help looking around and feeling quite lonely. I’m not bashful about my faith at all, and try to help at every opportunity, but no one has made a positive turn. None are closer to Jesus. Its like the Beatles song,”All the Lonely People.” Friends that is a depressing bit of realism.

If anyone tells you that being a real Christian is easy, they’re lying to you. Fake is easy. The burden of knowing the truth is finding out how much is untrue. Yes we can give our burdens to Jesus, but just seeing how messed up things are is tough to reason out. I suppose it gives me a great deal more empathy for Lot in Sodom. Everything around him was being taken over violently by sin and he and his family were isolated. I wonder how his day went, his interactions with relatives and former friends that he saw choose the popular “Latest” lie? What did he think about? Even though God brought him and most of his family out alive, Lots life was still plagued by trouble. Its a tough thing to watch and reason out. He seemingly made no positive difference.

I will always trust God and Jesus for my salvation and I will always be their humble servant. I trust that they know what they’re doing even though it looks really bad to me. I don’t know if I’m making any difference at all, but He is my master and I will serve Him. Its His show, not mine. I hope my bit of melancholy and spiritual doldrums fall under grace as well. Let me say to my fellow believers, I don’t think its wrong to get down about things, but its wrong to stay down.  Maybe offering a bit of encouragement to those who have helped you along your walk would be a fine thing too.

Until then friends,

” I look at all the lonely people, I look at all the lonely people, Elenore Rigby, Died in the church and was buried alone with her name, Nobody came, Father Mackenzie, Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from her grave, No one was saved, All the lonely people, where do they all come from?, All the lonely people, where do they all belong?”

Have you ever been around a group of old men when the subject of wounds and scars comes up? The stories are quite animated  and soon they’re rolling up their sleeves and pantlegs showing some nasty scars and laughing loudly at how they acquired them. Men love telling those stories. The welder shows some nasty burns, the machinists has some nasty cuts, and the carpenter is missing a finger. Generally the scars are from making some brief bad judgment. Motorcycles, bicycles, ski’s, you name it, we’ve crashed them and have the stories and marks to prove it. The pain was bad but we wouldn’t trade the scars for anything. Doctors were rarely consulted and we still survived. Old bodies have a lot of experience and the scars to show they’ve lived. worked, and played hard. Those old bodies are proudly beat up.

The most uncomfortable person in the room is the poor fellow with no scars,no stories, an unlived life. This chap played it safe and never risked anything or got hurt. He chose protecting himself as the greatest priority, whether from selfishness or cowardice. He probably didn’t want to get his shoes scuffed up and likely lived a comfortable soft life.

I wonder if we were to view the other part of ourselves, our spirit. If we were telling old man stories with Jesus, what would our souls look like? The part that only God can see. Do we have scars from serving him? Did we take crazy risks while others just stood by? Those ways we tried to serve Him and got burned. The times that either we messed up or someone took advantage of us. The scars of someone lashing back at us for standing up for Jesus. The burns from being used by a fake Christian. Stitches from being tore up over the martyrs  getting beheaded in Africa and the Middle East. The scrapes from our own mistakes, our attempts and bungles. The smashed hands from being made to feel small when we cant answer someone’s hard questions.

Or would we be more like the chap who played it safe. The fellow that has an unwounded soul. The untested soul that risked nothing and avoided any danger. No stories to tell.  The awkwardness from the silence from you and only Jesus able to show His wounds that He got from giving it all.

A tombstone shows a beginning date, a dash, and the end date. Everyone reading this is in the dash, the living part. Are you wasting the dash chasing more junk for the house, our bodies or the garage? Living solely for your personal comfort and gratification. Or are you getting out there taking risks and getting scars and stitches? Its risky to follow Jesus and Scripture tells us that the world will hate us. A true follower will get plenty of spiritual scars, but I want to tell Jesus all about my scars and why my spirit is so beaten up. My eyes tear up imagining Him telling me about His scars and wounds, and how He was all in for me too. I don’t want to be silent.

Go ding up your spirit friends. Take those risks and survive those wounds. We really aren’t here long anyway. Don’t let Jesus see that you weren’t all in for Him.

Many of us remember that on September 11, 2001, an American flag was almost impossible to find. Everyone was sold out. Americans, regardless of political party, race, religion, or world view, used the Stars and Stripes as a symbol of not only patriotism, but solidarity. We had taken a hit, but we were walking tall with our chests puffed out. For a glimmer of time, we were strong again. Walmart, had increased flag sales from 6400 to 116,000 that day. Without even knowing who the enemy was, instantly flags lined the streets and nearly all vehicles had a flag sticker somewhere on it.

My how the times have changed. In a mere 14 years after September 11,2001, the flags are gone. They are rare to find on homes and even rarer on businesses. Flag sales have dropped from  $51.7 million in 2001 to a mere $4million today. Even now, 94% of all flags are made over seas and mostly in China.

Why the drop? The religion of political correctness. It is an insidious disease that has taken over our country without any pushback. We don’t want to offend anyone. There is no greater offense in America today than to offend someone, no matter how irrational the perception of the offense may be. Businesses are afraid of losing business to a vocal minority group, or even worse, a protest in front of their store.

Most of remember starting our school day with our right hand on our heart saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Of all the tasks we didn’t want to do in our school day, no one ever grumbled about the Pledge in front of our flag. Now it has become optional and the students can pick and choose which words they’d like to use. Is this the students idea? No, its the teachers and administrators that are the indoctrinators of political correctness. The University of California at Irvine even banned the flag from the campus. Was it those wild, out of control students? Nope, it was the faculty and professors. They stated that the flag was offensive and oppressive. Meanwhile anti-Semitism is on the rise in our colleges.That seems to be a contradiction of values to me. I guess political correctness zealots have their hypocrites too. They sure do love our American funding though.

Considering all of the above, its little wonder that the Gadsden ” Don’t Tread on Me ” flag is gaining a resurgence. It has become attached to the Tea Party and Liberatarian Party and many Americans who feel that we are in a country that has lost its way. The idea of using this flag as a symbol to remind us of our foundational values, has drawn the ire of political correctness police and has been banned in many places as well. The irony of this is that the Gadsden flag predates our familiar 13 star flag and was inspired by Benjamin Franklin. I guess they wont be teaching about Ben Franklin in public school anymore.

So friends, today we honor those who gave their lives to defend our once great country. Lets use the American flag to continue to honor them, and lets pray and honor those that have been left behind. If you have a place to put an American flag, please do it. If you decide to use the Gadsden flag, well, that’s ok with me too. Honor, friends.

We have holidays to honor our mothers, fathers and even grandparents, but none to honor the most courageous parent, the mother and father that puts their child up for adoption. In America, not counting foster care, 136,000 mothers and fathers put their babies up for adoption annually. There is a sort of sad stigma attached to birth parents and I believe that is a horrible injustice. We live in a time that abortion has become a right and there are chemicals available to eliminate a pregnancy for any reason, but these women stick it out and give their child a chance instead of taking the easy out. That is something I admire friends.

The reasons to offer up a child are many. Financial conditions, age of the mother, perhaps addictions or even simply bad timing or judgment are often the motivation. The conditions that led to that choice shouldn’t overshadow the priceless gift that these folks have given the child and another family. I cant even imagine how difficult it must be, to go through the whole 9 months of giving life, and allowing someone else the opportunity to give your child a better chance in life. That is incredibly selfless. What a noble end in a complicated situation.

Do those children ever turn out well? Steve Jobs and Dave Thomas did just fine. So did Eleanor Roosevelt, Faith Hill and Nelson Mandela. Want more? How about Leo Tolstoy, Edgar Allen Poe, Nat King Cole, John Hancock and even Bill Clinton and Moses. All had different circumstances, some tragic and complicated, but all were given a chance to succeed.

I don’t know how many birth parents, men and women, will read this, but I want you to know that I admire you for the decision you made. You didn’t take the easy out. You gave your son or daughter a chance for a better life. I hope that Christians will stand up to honor these folks, the unsung heroes.

When we read through the Old Testament, one thing stands out, people keep turning their back on God. Its like watching the same disaster movie with different characters for 8000 years. After a while, we know the plot and we know how its going to end. Its hard to imagine how they could have God play such an active roll in their lives and turn their back on Him or even forget about Him. Often God even sent prophets to warn them of the doom before them, but they were too stubborn to listen and often killed the prophets so they wouldn’t have to hear the judgment of their complicity in sin. Inevitably God raises up a foreign leader to rise up against His chosen people and they’re destroyed until they repent. This just keeps going on, over and over and they just didn’t get it. What is wrong with them?

Still, if we do a bit of reflection, the Christian church of today isn’t much different. Just as the Jews allowed the worship of God to become a hollow inconvenience, so have we. Statistically, the overwhelming majority of Americans believe in God, at least in theory, but our country is racing away from Him. We are back to worshipping idols again. How is this possible? The American reliance on God has become empty lip service. Sin has become a viable personal decision and calling something sin is the greatest sin. Even the name of God or Jesus is being banned from the public forum.

So again we see His people turning from Him and many believe that God will discipline us yet again. Perhaps our Babylonian captivity isn’t too far into the future. Its as hard for us to imagine, as it was for the Jews thousands of years ago. Would God really allow His people to be crushed so cruelly? Everything in the Bible is there for a reason and there is a lot of history to show us that He would. Our debauchery isn’t something new and although we do have new technology to promote it, its the same old deadly sins rearing their ugly head. Just new idols.

We must remember that even though the world seems to be going crazy around us, God is in control. God wasn’t surprised  by Babylon or taken off guard by Egypt. Neither is God fretting over Islam. Islam isn’t making progress by its own merits, the power isn’t in those leaders. Perhaps God is no longer constraining another Middle East dragon to, once again, discipline His people. I believe God is in control. This isn’t the way He wants it, He just wants His people to return to Him and misery is the only thing that seems to work. We are a stiff-necked arrogant people.

Christians often look at the times we’re in and think that Jesus must be coming soon. Perhaps He is, but why aren’t His people acting like it? Many are sure that they will escape the horrors to come because the rapture is near. If we really believed that, would we be so busy with things that really don’t matter? All that garbage that you’re wasting your life to acquire, wont even survive if He comes back tomorrow. So you’ve then wasted your life for nothing. Cheap idols that stole your life. Reconsider your priorities. Is it God or mindless acquisition of garbage that pushes God away from us? You have to choose. Lets make our heavenly Father our passion before we follow the stereotype.

Lets not become one of those dreaded sequels. We can change how this ends. Seek God with humility and a driven passion. What idols insulate you from God? Are the powers of those idols so intoxicating, that getting rid of them will leave a void in you? What would your friends says if you tossed away your useless idols? What would you do with all that time, read about your Savior?  What if people called you names for not following the greed and sensuality of the world? God wants so much more for us than cheap trinkets.

We aren’t any different from the Jews in Scripture, just different people at a different time. The struggles are the same. Lets not follow the same path, friends. Lets stop the sequel today.

I met my favorite preacher 8 1/2 years ago. My Aunt Carol had read an ad in the Milwaukee Sentinel from a fellow selling Bernese Mountain Dog puppies and passed it on to me. I had been looking for one for quite a while without much success, so I was elated to find 13 bouncing playful puppies wrestling in the gentleman’s basement. What a sight! More happiness in one room than you can imagine! Then came the daunting process of narrowing it down to one puppy. I started with the smallest who happened to be sitting on my shoe. I had wanted a really large one so the runt didn’t stand much of a chance. I picked her up and played with her a bit, noting her pretty eyes. Happy, but still a runt. I went through all 13 of them. The fellow would bring me one for inspection and as soon as I set them down, they were off to play with the others. Except for the runt. She never left my side. After I had visited with all the little bundles of fur, it was just her and I sitting there. She gave me one of those looks that was easy to read. It was” I choose you.” Well, could you argue with that face?

So Lucy picked me to be her person, her choice, and we’ve had 8 1/2 joyous years so far. I know that Bernese Mountains dogs only live, on average, 6 years so I’m thankful for every day we are together.

Why is she my favorite Preacher? Lucy has to trust me. She doesn’t have to understand all the things that are going on around her, she just has to look to me to know what to do. Even when she needs to get a shot at the vet, she trusts me over the pain. Her eyes are glued on me. Lucy doesn’t need to worry about bad weather, how much money we have, politics or if the car will start. She doesn’t want a new collar or more toys to play with, all she wants is to be with me.

There is little doubt that the Christian Church is going through the beginning stages of an unprecedented persecution. We are seeing Christians targeted for inhumane slaughter throughout the world. Our Holy book is banned in 52 countries. The political elite in our own country are outlawing the very same foundation, and its people, that our country is built on. Even our fellow Americans have turned on us. Within 3 generations our country has become unrecognizable and irrational. Failing to recognize and ignore these facts won’t save you or your family.

So what hope is there in all that doom and gloom? When we don’t understand all the craziness around us, we need to focus on our Master. We have a King that we can trust and He knows what to do. I chose him and He accepted me.

Lucy didn’t just have to choose me, she studied me and we had to learn how to communicate. Now we don’t really even have to speak, we know each others body language. To be most effective we have to study our King as well. He loves us when we disobey, but disobedience hurts the connection. We MUST keep our eyes on our Savior, we MUST study our Savior if we can stand for Jesus through the inevitable trials to come. There is only eternal hope in Jesus. There is no hope in what  you see around you. Nothing you can attain on your own even matters. All that matters is your bond with Jesus to get you through the anarchy to come.

Choose Him instead of running off to play with the others. Its the only hope you have friends.