Charlie the Daisy

Charley the Daisy

So I read an article this afternoon about an elementary school in Southern California that had to cancel a play put on by some kindergarteners. It wasn't because of an earthquake or a terrorist threat or a power outage, but because when the play started some parents or parent ran down to the front row, blocking the view of other attendees, so that they could film their little darlings on their smart phones. Apparently these people were asked to go back to their seats so that everyone could enjoy the riveting performance, but they refused. This led to shouting and then to pushing and shoving (and I imagine some good name calling) to such a magnitude that the play had to be stopped, canceled, and the police actually had to be called in. No one was arrested though. Too bad. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in central booking when the gang member asks Mr. Sanders what he's in for. "Err, ehh, I socked a lady for blocking my shot of my son playing the raincloud in the kindergarten Spring Play. She gave me this black eye and broken nose. She was stronger than she looked." Ah for the days before video cameras. The eighties ruined everything!

Yet, it is obviously not the fault of our handy smart phones with video capability. If it were, then my wife would be exempt from consideration concerning such behavior since she uses one of the three flip phones left in world-wide circulation. People are rapidly losing their common courtesy. It has been called "common" over the years because everyone was to have it, whether Christian, Moslem, Buddhist, Atheist, Wiccan, Vegetarian, Spray Tanned … whatever. I can just picture Mrs. Smith hip-checking Mr. Brown in order to get a better angle of her darling little Charlie who narrowly secured the role of the daisy in the highly anticipated and critically acclaimed Spring Play. I mean, seriously, Charlie the daisy might be the key to his big break on Broadway. I can see it now, years later at his audition for Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, "I'm a little tea-pot short and stout, here is my handle..." "Brilliant," says the producer, "All I could see was a tea-pot with such emotion and heat. Do you know Itsy Bitsy Spider?"

It's a kindergarten play for God's sakes! What happened to the bored dad in the third row with the earpiece and little transistor radio listening to the basketball game while pretending to watch? I'm sure he was there, but right off the bat he turned off his radio to watch the shenanigans of a live Maury Povich show.

Families are the building blocks of any nation. This is especially true of a free republic such as ours. This means that marriages and parents are the core of the nation. We'll always have our share of bad politicians, but the Constitution with its separation of powers and checks and balances are designed to deal with that. What destroys a nation from within are the marriages and the parenting. Christianity once had a huge influence on both of these, but no longer. Never mind faithfulness, charity, and virtue; it has become "Get the hell out of my way, Suzie has her big line coming up, 'chirp, chirp,' and I'm not going to miss this shot!" To be fair, the leading role of the Songbird was supposed to be played by that brat Kaylee, but she got food poisoning, and her understudy, Suzie, was filling the role that night. This announcement at the beginning of the show brought a big "groan" from the audience since Kaylee, though a real brat, can really act, as she showed in her pre-K debut of "How Green Was My Boogie", but Suzie's mom was just beside herself with excitement. In fact, most think that Suzie's mom poisoned Kaylee the day before.

These are adults raising children! When there is enough of this type of thinking and behavior, it shows that Christianity has sunken to a level that fails to impact the population and that the nation is poised for destruction. PRO 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go,Even when he is old he will not depart from it.

DEU 4:9 Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.

DEU 6:6-9 And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

PSA 78:3-6 Which we have heard and known,

And our fathers have told us.

We will not conceal them from their children,

But tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord,

And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob,

And appointed a law in Israel,

Which He commanded our fathers,

That they should teach them to their children,

That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born,

That they may arise and tell them to their children,

EPH 6:1-2 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise)

What will a child obey when they see their parents swearing, pushing, and shoving other parents in the front row? "Dad said I shouldn't use the S-word, F-word, B-word, T-word, but yesterday I saw him call Mrs. Butterworth all of them in one sentence." (Yes, apparently in my mind there is a Mrs. Butterworth in this community, and she's in surprisingly good shape.) A parent who says one thing but has a vastly different conduct, does not fool anyone, not even a five year old. If we, for the most part, had a common good based on human decency and establishment morality then we could weather the storms of bad policy making by corrupt politicians and the bureaucrat administrators and by vote and popular opinion, which would be based on some good, we could always correct the wayward path of the ship that is America. Such a populace would reveal that the Christian church has an enormous influence over the nation. But sadly this is not the case and it has been steadily declining over the last several decades. This is not just my gloomy opinion, it is historical fact.

I quote from A History of Christian Thought by Justo L. Gonzalez: "Today, the traditional centers of theological and ecclesiastical activity in the North Atlantic are also undergoing radical changes. Ever since the time of Constantine, Christianity has counted on the support of the state and of the culture around it. That part of the world whose rulers and populations called themselves Christian was known as "Christendom." Now, through a process began centuries earlier, much of this is coming to an end.

        "What is true at the level of political support is also true at the more personal level. In the traditional centers of Christianity, increasing numbers feel that the old faith is no longer tenable. In Western Europe, church attendance and participation in the life of the church has dropped drastically. In the United States there is a similar drop, although not as marked nor as constant. On both sides of the Atlantic, it seems to many that a modern world-view leaves no place for Christianity - or for religion of any sort. Thus, the increasing secularization of their societies would be one of the many themes that preoccupy Western theologians." [end quote]     

Believer's must lead by word and most of all by conduct. We have this treasure in earthen vessels and we must let it shine forth like rivers of living water. That means the fruit of the Spirit or the character of Jesus Christ, which will influence everyone around us. I just hope that there are enough of us left, who truly care to glorify Christ in this world, who will influence Western culture enough so that it doesn't decline to such a depth as to have a final, big, fiery crash and explosion. 2CO 4:7-10 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

God has destroyed many nations, including Israel, because they have rejected Him. We are not a Christian nation, but we are a nation founded on Christian principles of freedom and morality. These good things have been graciously given by God, and those nations who enjoy them and honor them, enjoy long life and prosperity, but when they reject them for long enough, they always collapse from within. In essence, it is God who destroys them. EZE 25:6-7 "Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the scorn of your soul against the land of Israel, therefore, behold, I have stretched out My hand against you, and I shall give you for spoil to the nations. And I shall cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands; I shall destroy you. Thus you will know that I am the Lord."

Man begins his existence in bondage,

and rises from bondage through spiritual faith,

from spiritual faith to courage,

from courage to liberty,

from liberty to abundance,

from abundance to selfishness,

from selfishness to complacency,

from complacency to apathy,

from apathy to dependency,

from dependency back into bondage. [Clarence Manion, the dean of the Notre Dame law school from 1941-1952]

This is the cycle of civilization. The only hope of breaking this cycle is the believer who gives his attention to the Word of God.

I don't know what a T-word is. I made it up. I wonder what you thought. haha…

Love to all in Christ, your life greatly matters.

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries