Since I have just started this blog, I will be experimenting with the format as I go along. For this first Sunday I am going to take a lead from the pastors sermon this morning and talk about "false teachers".
The sermon began with comments about something we are all familiar with. If you are reading this blog then you have been on the Internet long enough that you have seen a post or two in your email offering to make you a millionaire or MORE if you will just help some poor soul in South Africa whose father is in prison and who wants to get several million dollars out of the country by depositing it into your personal account.
By now, you know that this is a scam. Its a false teacher, trying to get your money by selling you a lie. The sermon went on to make connections to the teachings of religion. I will take it a step further to connect it to politics.
There are many false teachers out there that are feeding the electorate lies. Wikipedia defines a liar as "one who tells lies." This definition would include almost everyone. If you un-knowingly spread a false statement, you are, under this definition, a liar. But I would like to suggest that there are several subdivisions of liars, some more heinous than others.
Some of the political liars are what I would call outright liars. They are the ones that KNOW what they are saying is a lie. Some of them have been sent to jail. Some of them are on the verge of being sent to jail. They are the least of my worries as they are easy to catch. The ones I fear are the ones that don't know they are lying, the misguided liars. They are harder to catch because they don't know they are lying so would not be caught in a "Lie Detector" test. They also are the most dangerous ones to our society.
I think some of our elected officials fall into this category. I don't think that our president is aware that some of his statements are untrue. I think that he is surrounded by a cadre of people, many of whom are outright liars. They feed him what they want him to know and shape his beliefs. True, his beliefs and many of his statements are misguided lies, because they came from outright liars. But, they have just as devastating an effect as outright lies would have. Perhaps, more devastating because those listening can grasp his sincerity and, thinking he has all the needed information, believe that he must be right.
The sermon today suggested that even though a false teacher might steal your money, if you keep your faith you have preserved the most valuable of your assets. The same can be said of political false teachers. For the moment, they may have the upper hand. They may usurp our US Constitution, pass illegal laws, steal our money through bad tax decisions, attempt to steal our First, Second and Tenth amendment rights and attempt to steal our democratic elections, but in the long run they will not prevail.
They will not prevail, if we hang on tightly to our beliefs in "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." These are guaranteed to us, not from our constitution, but are unalienable rights "endowed by our Creator." If "we hold these truths to be self evident" and do not let go, we will survive this current administration.
We must stand and defend our country from enemies from within. Enemies, that while not necessarily evil in intent are, just the same, evil in effect.
One of my favorite quotations is from a man that many call a Socialist. But what ever his political philosophy, he was an honest patriot of his cause. General Emiliano Zapata said, "I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees."
We must have this intensity in our drive to cure this country of the cancer that has invaded its body and threatens to make us slaves to the government.
Jim Isbell
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