A New Zealander’s Nine Steps to Save America

Sometimes an outsider can have a clear perspective on a problem that can help those living everyday in it. Trevor Loudon (I shared a video interview with him in my post here) wrote an op-ed piece to that end in The Epoch Times titled, “A New Zealander’s 9 ‘Starter Steps’ to Save America From Socialism,” outlining nine ways we can reclaim our nation from the current onslaught of Socialist tyranny.

Just what do you mean by unity?

Oftentimes, our society resembles a deeply dysfunctional marriage. “We will get along, as long as you’re like me and believe like me. Otherwise, we’re through!”  Regarding marriage, Danny Silk once said, “The two shall become one flesh, and then we spend the rest of our time arguing over which one we will become!” 

True Freedom

God’s will is exactly what you and I would always do if we knew all the facts. This is why the full knowledge of the truth leads to godliness, which is true freedom. Freedom is defined as “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.”  That’s why freedom cannot be defined as doing whatever you want. I’m not free to do whatever I want while enslaved to some corruption in my soul that holds me to lies and keeps me in bondage.

True Grace

Grace is not a declaration from God of innocence; it’s not a “get-out-of-hell free” card you wave at the pearly gates, and it’s not just unmerited favor. We have God’s unmerited favor because Christ lives in us. God empowers us with grace because we have Christ’s life. We’re saved by grace through faith because we have been placed in Christ in God. True grace is a Person.

How Public Schools Dumb Down Our Children…and Worse

Perhaps one hidden blessing of the current pandemic is that our public schools were shut down which allowed many parents to consider alternate methods of education. I personally would not let my child anywhere near a public school—at least during their formative years.

Will we follow Holy Spirit or our confirmation bias?

One of the challenges for us as followers of Jesus during this pandemic is maintaining a vibrant faith while not being able to meet in the normal way. This is why I believe God is re-training us during this season to walk from rest. (There’s no social distancing with the indwelling Holy Spirit!)  And we see the barometer for our vibrancy when we take an  honest look at the condition of our heart.

The Social Dilemma

As an quick addendum of my last post, “Free Speech versus the Thought Police,” I wanted to make you aware of the 2020 Netflix original documentary, “The Social Dilemma.” Here’s the video trailer description: “We tweet, we like, and we share— but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media? As digital platforms increasingly become a lifeline to stay connected, Silicon Valley insiders reveal how social media is reprogramming civilization by exposing what’s hiding on the other side of your screen.” 

Free speech versus the new Thought Police

It seems more and more countries around the world are pushing back on Big Tech giants Facebook and Twitter, the new Thought Police, who think they have more power to control free speech than governments. I heartily applaud Australia, India, Hungary, and Poland for standing up to these modern-day monopolistic robber barons who make huge fortunes selling our data on their “free” platforms (you’re not their customer, you’re their product!). But why isn’t the United States following suit since these self-appointed arbiters of free speech come from our very shores? Why do we continue to protect them with legislation instead (U.S. Code 230)? The whole thing is just insane to me.

True Power

Everything today is about power. But we seem to want the powerless kind—through control, clever manipulation, deceit, bullying, political factions, etc. For example, as the Time Magazine article admitted (that I talked about here), “Every attempt to interfere with the proper outcome of the election was defeated.” Democracy was saved…for one-party rule. But all of this is the opposite of God’s kind of power.

Facilitating the discovery of Truth

Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days in your life is the day you were born and the day you find out why.” Finding out why ultimately leads to discovering the truth about who we are. It’s this truth that frees us. It’s our master blueprint. And when Jesus came, He not only accurately showed us the truth about God, but also this truth about ourselves.