Happy Columbus Day

                                                                                           

Happy Columbus Day. That may seem offensive to some, but that's not my intent. I'm trying to say politically correct bias and prejudice does not end by changing the victim. Nor can there be a meeting of the minds by using nasty names for the opposition, tearing down historical figures, or any other thing being done at the moment to express outrage. I have the feeling history may be far more harsh on our day and age than we are being on someone who lived more than 500 years ago.

This morning, on FaceBook, Chelsea Clinton was quoted as saying she would not be celebrating Columbus Day because Christopher Columbus took Native Americans back to India. News to me and my history lessons were far superior to hers, I'm sure. I say that because I once applied for a job in San Antonio and had to take a math test. I groaned and said I hadn't been in math class for 25 years. The woman administering the test said I would do better than someone just out of high school. She was right. I aced the test and the kid who took it with me didn't do well at all.

It is true Columbus was trying to find India by sailing west to get east and when he arrived on our shores, he called the natives "Indians" in an effort to prove himself right. It may also be true he enslaved many of the natives he met.

 
Some of the he did things were not Christian, although his writings show he was a believer. However, that being said, Jesus plainly said that we are not to judge or we, too, will be judged. Only God knows our hearts. Never have I heard that He retired and handed the gavel to an imperfect human being. I have to wonder how we will be judged. especially the Clintons. To many in earlier centuries, slavery was not a bad thing because it is mentioned in the Bible. That's certainly not our understanding today.

Our understanding of slavery may also be flawed. What about people in bondage to drugs or alcohol? Those selling it and getting rich may have to answer for enslaving others out of pure greed, although it's very much an accepted part of society today. Then there's the abortion industry. Pharmaceutical companies, food companies, and cosmetics have put fetal material in their products without telling the pubic, turning us into cannibals without our knowledge. What will history say about that? Far worse, what will God say? He took down ancient nations because they soaked the land with blood. What will He say about us? Adrian Rogers once said if God didn't punish America, He owed Sodom and Gomorrah an apology.

Then, too, what happened in history cannot be changed. Right or wrong, there it is. Trying to make Italians feel bad about their hero doesn't fix a thing. Columbus was a product of his time, just like we are a product of our time. How will history judge our generation? Especially the Clintons. Should history ignore wrongs? No. By the same token, it should not negate the good done by the very same flawed people. We're no better, but we've been too busy pointing fingers to see there's more coming back at us than there are pointing at someone else. Focusing on the negative is one of the reasons America is so angry and depressed. Be grateful for the advances made and leave the negatives to God.

Let's face it. Nobody's perfect. When I stand before Holy God, the only thing asked of me is what did I do with Jesus? Did I acknowledge my sin, repent, and ask him to be my Savior? Christopher Columbus, Chelsea Clinton, Donald Trump, nor anyone else will come into the conversation. It's all between me and God. 

Heart problem

This morning, as I read Isaiah 26:9-10, my thoughts went to the latest tragedy that has sparked an old controversy. People are screaming for gun control. Others are saying it won't work. Isaiah 26:9 -10, tells why. "My soul yearns for You in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for You. When Your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD."

The Las Vegas shooter had so much to be grateful for. He was a successful businessman, had people who cared for him, and pretty much seemed to live the life some people envied. It seems like everyone is asking why he did such a horrible thing. All the grace that God showed him in giving him the intelligence and skill to go from the son of a bank robber to a millionaire prior to turning killer
is exactly what Isaiah 26:10 is saying. All that grace and look what happened. There's been nothing on the news about his training spiritually. Who knows what he was taught when he was a child? Righteousness must be learned. He didn't.


Yes, I know full well that the religious can be evil, too. I knew an elder in my church who killed another man in cold blood over a business dispute and said it was OK with the Lord. NOT. His actions stated loud and clear that he did not regard the majesty of the LORD. What that man claimed and what he was is known only to God. I have no right to judge his spiritual condition, but I do have the right to say that his actions were anything but Christian. The reason gun control will not work is that the problem is not with the weapon. The problem is with the heart of the person holding the weapon. I've been around guns all my life and have no fear of them because I know and trust the sanity of the ones holding them. Sane people cannot understand the actions of the mentally sick or minds deranged by a chemical. A quote that turns my blood cold every time I hear it, "The heart wants what it wants." It's usually used to excuse illicit sex, but it's appropriate for killers, too. Or anyone determined to do evil, for that matter.
Maybe how he got rich also points to a heart problem. How did he become a millionaire on a mailman's or an IRS employee's salary? Certainly saying he'd like to kill his mother points to a wicked heart.

On the news yesterday, a Congressman mentioned several weapons of mass destruction that won't be affected by gun control. He even mentioned one I never thought of: drones. Gun control won't stop the person determined to kill and destroy. It didn't stop people who burned others alive, drowned them, stabbed them, beat them-the picture is clear. Guns don't kill. People do. Someone posted this morning that over 84 million gun owners did NOT commit murder.

For all those gun control advocates, please rethink this. Both the head and the heart must be in the right place. All heart is selfish emotion. All head is cold disregard, but when the heart chooses to do evil, God gave us a mind to control those selfish hearts that wants what it wants. Regarding the majesty of the LORD is the only answer.