Persistence in Prayer (via Christianity Speak Out)

Matthew 15:21-28 tells us of a woman seeking Jesus out, that he might heal her daughter of demon possession. Often, a study of the passage focuses on Jesus’ words to this desperate mother. However, there is also a wonderful lesson on persistence and earnestness in prayer, wherein the Canaanite woman…

]]> http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/2012/05/mark-nickels-on-persistence-in-prayer/feed/ 0 http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/2012/05/the-first-blood-sacrifice/ http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/2012/05/the-first-blood-sacrifice/#comments Tue, 08 May 2012 01:49:37 +0000 lynnibug http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/?p=2760 Have you ever wondered where the idea of blood sacrifice for atonement came from?

I must admit that was one thing I could never really wrap my mind around, but it did not concern me enough to go looking for an answer. I understood the concept and how the sacrificial system of the old testament was replaced when God made the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, His Son, to atone for our sin, but none of that explained how the sacrifice of animals was introduced.

A few days ago I had one of those AHA! moments, when something I had read in my bible many times before, took on the status of “golden nugget” as a deeper meaning surfaced. I am always amazed as my study of scripture continues to reveal deeper and deeper layers of understanding. With this new “golden nugget” came a revelation that Jesus was NOT the first blood sacrifice God made on behalf of mankind.

When we discuss the subject of blood sacrifice we tend to focus on the sacrifices the children of Israel made to God. The blood sacrifice of Issac God demanded to test the faith of Abraham, the ram God provided asthe substitution, the paschal lambs whose blood sacrifice protected the Hebrew slaves as the angel of death took the firstborn of Egypt, and the many blood sacrifices made upon the altar of the original Temple of Solomon and the second Temple that was destroyed in 70 AD.

To find the first mention blood sacrifice, we must go all the way back to Genesis.

Genesis 3:21 (NKJV)
^“Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.”

Genesis 3:21 (KJV)
^” Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”

Genesis 3:21 (NLT)
^“And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.”

The scripture does not jump right out and call it a blood sacrifice, but up until this point in Genesis, no blood had been shed. The animals lived in harmony, Adam and Eve were provided for without meat and had no need of clothing, and God alone provided for and met the needs of every living creature. It was not until they disobeyed that they realized they were naked.

Genesis 3:7-11 (NKJV) ^” Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”"

In the harsh world outside the garden, Adam and Eve would need clothing to protect them from the elements and the environment. Fig leaves were not going to cut it, so God, in His infinite mercy, made a blood sacrifice and covered them in clothing made of animal skins. He literally covered their sin, their nakedness and shame, with a blood sacrifice. It was a supreme act of love. God took the life of living beings that He created and loved, to meet the needs of man whom He loved more.

And so the first blood sacrifice was made on behalf of Adam and Eve as they were cast out from the Garden. Was God disappointed? You bet He was! Was He going to punish them? BIG TIME! Did he leave them or forsake them? Did He stop loving them? Not for a single moment!

The blood sacrifices that God made on our behalf make a statement about the unconditional and unchanging love God has for us. The animal sacrifices the people made to God should have been a reminder of His love, even an act of returning His love, but sadly it became for most a requirement to meet, born of religious doctrine, peer pressure, and fear. The blood sacrifice carried no weight when it was not brought to God out of love.

And so God’s chosen people began their epic journey through history. If they would not make the correct choices to be an example to the rest of the world of how blessed they were living under God’s love and protection, by loving Him with all their hearts, their minds and their strength, and loving their neighbors as they loved themselves, then God would accomplish His purpose through and for them in another way.

They would be raised up time and again, and time and again they would bow down to the idols of the world around them. They would be taken captive, be persecuted and fall victim to hideous atrocities, they would be murdered in great numbers, they would be scattered to all ends of the earth, but the promise that always loomed large was the promise they would be restored to the land given to their forefathers. This was for their growth, and also for their pruning. When redemption finally came, most would not recognize it. God would send His Son, first to His chosen people, and then to all mankind to teach them the ways of the Living God.

Finally, He would make another blood sacrifice that would extend the blessings promised to His chosen, to all people who called upon Him in truth, and He would wait patiently for a remnant of the children of Israel to understand the meaning of the blood sacrifice and return to Him forever.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

Summit Church to Close After 131 Years

By ROWENA PLETT

“Oct. 10 will be a sad day for the remaining parishioners who have faithfully attended Summit United Methodist Church of rural Florence all of their lives. The final worship service will be conducted at 10 a.m. by the Rev. David Ragland of Peabody.  Located in Summit Township, the Summit church began as a United Brethren Church. It subsequently became part of the United Brethren Evangelical Church and then the United Methodist Church.

Early records have been lost, and the congregation’s numbers have dwindled considerably as families moved away and the children of those who stayed did likewise. A look at the register on the wall reveals an attendance of nine people this past Sunday and an average of 14 during the past year. Loyal members dug deep into their pockets to keep the church going, but it finally became too much. “We can’t afford to pay the bills anymore,” LaVonne Ammeter said.

Ragland has been ministering to the church congregation for more than four years. He is planning to give a sermon titled, “One Last Time,” based on Jesus’ last meeting with his disciples. He will talk about the church’s closing but will emphasize that the church of Christ continues to march on. “This church has fulfilled the purpose God called it to,” he will tell parishioners.”

Will something like that be written about your church or mine a few years from now?  The truth is that many small churches have been struggling for more than a few years and are losing rather than gaining ground. I think we can all agree that God deserves our first fruits, but if we are anything like the “average church goers” in the US, most of us fall short of the biblical tithe by 6% to 7%. What would we actually have to give up, to give 1%, 2%, or 3% more? Considering all that God has given us, would it really be that tough for us to find say $15 a week more for Him?

I know some of you can’t do that, and that is OK, I don’t want to make anyone feel singled out that is already struggling to get by, but I also know some of you could pretty easily come up with another $15, $20, $25 a week or more.  In fact, I figured out that by making lunches to take to work instead of buying frozen dinners to microwave, I am able to save $15 a week, and at the same time eat healthier and better tasting food. That means $15 a week that was doing little more than making me fatter can go to God’s work.

If we all did a few little things like eat out less often, read a book instead of going out to a movie, skip the $3.50 Starbucks latte, buy the store brand instead of the name brand product… we could easily give a few dollars more and get our church finances back on track, and our vision for the future of of our ministries with it. Vibrant, financially healthy churches grow while those cutting programs and staff to pay the bills, not so much.

If we do not change, if we do not act on what the Lord has taught us about living in simplicity so that we can be more extravagant in our generosity, the article about the final days of our churches will likely end much like that of Summit United Methodist Church.

“The church will probably stand empty and unused in the immediate future, but no doubt, it will continue to bring back warm memories to those who graced its doors.”

Is that a legacy we are willing to accept?  If not then we need to step up to the plate and GIVE!

In the Old Testament accounts of the relationship between God and the children of Israel we find that God’s wrath is unleashed when His children test Him.

Psalm 78:18 -22(NKJV)
“And they tested God in their heart By asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the rock, So that the waters gushed out, And the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?” Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; So a fire was kindled against Jacob, And anger also came up against Israel, Because they did not believe in God, And did not trust in His salvation.”

Only one verse have I found where God invites us to test Him,

Malachi 3:10 (NKJV)
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

 

My prayer is that we are becoming a church that WILL test God in this. That we will bring all of the tithes into the storehouse, that we will not only meet all of our commitments and obligations, but that we will be worthy and generous representatives of the Kingdom of heaven in our community, that we will change lives as we fulfill the great commission and that God will pour out on us such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it!

Give generously, it matters.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

What is it that God has truly called us to do?  For me, when looking back it seems to make more sense… my personal history, my personal search, and God lifting me up and out at the perfect moment to serve His purpose and reveal the call.  Yes, He saved me, and even after I committed my life to Him, he allowed me to sit on the bench for a dozen or so years while He prepared me to become an ever growing disciple and begin to better understand the call He was placing upon me.

Before I knew Jesus, my life was a mess because of things I had chosen without His guidance.  After I knew Jesus, as I sat on the sidelines waiting for the call, I experienced a new way of having my life turned into a mess.  This time it was due to circumstance and the actions of another.  For a long time I struggled with the conflict of honoring God by remaining in a dysfunctional marriage, or abandoning that marriage, which had become abusive.  Had it not been for a perfect combination of unpleasant events, I would not have been ready when God nudged me toward the call.  It was time for Him to rescue me and put me back in the game, His game His way.

So how did the call happen?

I opened my mouth and God spoke.  What I mean is I found myself saying yes to things that were not my “normal thing”.  I told everyone that I was petrified of children…I ended up working every Sunday with the children.  I said yes to the Cuba/Florida covenant (now known as Methodists United in prayer) thinking it was just a little “attend and report” kind of job, but the Lord made known the call by placing a heavy burden on my heart for the Cuban people, so I committed myself to that ministry and I thought that that would be “IT”.  I had found my niche in Gods plan.  He even sent me to Cuba in 2003, and then… at the church in Santiago de Cuba, Pedro Castillo asked for my prayer request, and I (thinking this was going to be about Cuba) asked for a clearer vision of the call on my life.

God’s response was clear, yet very unsettling.  I was not expecting to hear His still small voice, but I did, and He said to me,

“I am coming for My Church, not My Churches.  You have work to do!”

In response to an audible word from God, you would expect a variety of pious or emotional responses , but my mind just raced, “Huh?  You want me to WHAT ???”  Then, after a time, it sunk in and became clearer as I encountered the people He placed upon my path.  I was to return my attention to my own people and begin to foster a unity between two great fragments of the body of Christ.  That was the call He had for me, but I would learn as I continued to grow in Christ, that the call continues to grow as we grow.

Is it a coincidence that at that time in my life I was studying Paul’s letters?  I don’t think so.  God was showing me that Jewish believers and Jewish non-believers are having the same disagreements in modern times that they had back in ancient times.  The more I spoke with Jewish believers in positions of leadership, the more I realized that this is an area of concern that they are well aware of.  Many within the believing Jewish community have come to the understanding that they must strive to unify with the Christian community in order to strengthen the body of Christ. And so, for the moment, I had my confirmation and purpose.

At times I wondered, “Why me Lord?”  Later, upon deeper reflection, I began to connect with the answers.  As a Jew, I had struggled for many years with uncertainty and guilt over betraying my heritage and family by believing in Christ.  As a Jew, I also longed to see more of my people hear the Truth and accept their Messiah.  As a seeker, I had searched in all the wrong places for God.  As a victim of abuse I had learned what it is to have no control over your situation and to put all of your trust in God.  As a member of a Methodist church rather than a Messianic congregation, I had experienced first-hand that the church is not teaching anti-antisemitism, but rather love for the chosen people of God.  As a member of the Emmaus Community, I discovered that there is fertile, neutral ground on which to build unity between Christian and Jew, not only by participation in the 3 day weekends, but by cultivating long term relationships within integrated reunion groups. Now I can see, from the vantage point of the years on that path, that God had a much larger plan.  One that I could not, at that time, comprehend.  The call has morphed far beyond unification and understanding between Christian and Jew.

Last night as I watched a National Geographic special on the Hasidic community, a new layer of understanding was revealed to me.  As the Hasidic mission was described as an embracing and reconciling of all mankind to God, of living as an example of the love of God, a new brighter light in me was kindled.  The call on my life to facilitate unity had expanded to a broader realm, bridging the gap between young and old, rich and poor, free and imprisoned, my American perspective and a third world perspective, and beyond.  I realized that I had envisioned my own ability to reach out to a disjointed and dysfunctional world through a lens of human limitations, rather than through the God lens of limitless possibilities.

And so I found myself in deep reflection about where the call had taken me thus far.

I thought back on the birthing of One Month of Wisdom and Wisdom Blog, and then forward to some new ministry opportunities that were recently offered for my prayerful consideration, and again, I was just amazed!  All of the past circumstances, events, and cares revealed yet again how God has used every moment of my life, pleasant or unpleasant, to prepare me for the call he has placed upon me.  He has made me uniquely qualified, He has places me where He needs me to be, He continues to lead me every step of the way, and He has placed another new adventure in my path that I know I must undertake, though I have no clue what it will become.  I do know this…

The call and the adventure are one and the same!

Blessings & Adventure

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

with the goal of packaging 10,000 nutritious meals for distribution to some of the world’s most vulnerable people.  What an amazing experience it was!  Stop Hunger Now has developed a process of bringing raw materials and volunteers together to accomplish the “moving of the mountain” of hunger in a way that energizes a spirit of service among the participants.

In the weeks leading up to the big day we promoted the event in our neighborhood and raised the necessary funds to pay for the food we would be packaging.  We had hoped to have about 50 volunteers for the event.  When we gathered in the fellowship hall at Forest Hills United Methodist Church just before 10:00 am, we had over 100 volunteers!  Groups had come from Temple Terrace UMC, Lake Magdalene UMC, First UMC of Lutz, Saint Timothy Catholic Church, Lake Carroll Baptist Church, Oak Grove UMC, and neighbors from all around us.

Robert Samuels, the Stop Hunger Now program manager for Orlando, FL instructed us in forming teams to perform the necessary steps and we went to work.  It was like a perfectly orchestrated symphony of human effort striving toward a goal that was larger than life.

“Stop Hunger Now provides meals to support school feeding programs in schools and orphanages around the world.

This is a pivotal step because children in impoverished areas are often sent to school if they will be fed.  The education they receive is the turning point at which many negative factors such as infant mortality, disease, and gender inequality are impacted and communities can begin to heal themselves.”

Now here is something that doesn’t happen often…  About 40 minutes into the project, our pastor asked that some of the people who were working please take a break so that everyone who came could have an opportunity to participate!  After about an hour and a half we had packaged a total of 10,040 meals, and everyone was talking about when we might be able to do this again.

Our Stop Hunger Now event was a great success in every imaginable way!

It was fun and engaging, and it infused a new level of unifying energy into our church.  It was a corporate experience of being the hands and feet of Christ together, evidence that when the Church comes together with a unifying purpose, much prayer, and a willingness to pitch in, we can speak to that mountain and it will move!

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

This video stands as a shining example of leadership in a world gone insane over so called political correctness and tolerance.

  If we hide our heads in the sand thinking “it could never happen in America”, we are deluding ourselves and our complacency will cause this land of opportunity to become a nation enslaved.

Wake up and listen!

]]> http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/2012/03/act-for-america-founder-speaks-out/feed/ 0 http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/2012/02/a-gift-of-music/ http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/2012/02/a-gift-of-music/#comments Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:08:40 +0000 lynnibug http://onemonthofwisdom.com/wisdomblog/?p=2607 Today I was pleasantly surprised with a gift of music in a most unusual place.

I had gone for a haircut and pedicure at Hair Perfections as I do like clockwork every 5 weeks, but today was different.  As I was walking from Yvette’s  nail station over to Carols station I saw a young girl walking toward the door with a giant purple hard shell case.  As she opened the door I had to ask, “Is that a cello?”  Tegan quickly answered “yes”.

After a quick trip to the shampoo bowl, I settled into the chair in a plastic cape.  Carol dropped a bag of Fritos in my lap and fired up the clippers as the usual salon chatter continued… it seems  Tegan  was playing a recital that afternoon, and we all asked if she would play.  I never expected she would, but she was all fired up.  She just pulled out the cello, sat down on a chair and began to play.

It was a beautiful gift of music that this charming 15 year old girl shared with us.

Carol just froze with her clippers in the air, a little hair may have even floated into the frito bag, but we didn’t care!  We all turned toward Tegan and listened as this gifted teen closed her eyes and revealed the beauty of her soul with a spine tingling performance right there in the salon.

I wish I had a recording of this!

It was so unexpected, so passionate, and so warm, I just had to share.  Mark my words, this girl is one to watch.  I let her know she would be getting her first blog review.  What I did not say, is that someday when she is a famous musician known all over the world, I will be saying I knew her when, and pointing back to this blog post as my proof.

It just made me feel right with the world!  I had come into the salon feeling the stress of  a family matter I had taken a pretty harsh stand on, and it was as if God Himself had reached out with a gift to soothe my soul.

Thank you Tegan, for a beautiful gift of music!

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

The reason for this is that many who profess to be Christian do not reflect the true meaning of the word.  If you have followed my blog for any time at all, you know that I am not fond of denominations or any other kind of label we put on a group of people because people are individuals, and will align themselves with the doctrine of a group to different degrees, anywhere from cool,  to tepid,  to red hot fanatical.

The question “What is a Christian?” for me, first requires an exploration of the meaning of the word “Christian” and an assessment of  whether or not the doctrine is aligned with the meaning of the word.

In a sense, I am seeking to define what a Christian should be based on a pure definition.  So let’s look at the root word “Christ” and the suffix “ian”. Christ, according to the bible, is the Son of God who willingly came to join us in the flesh to reveal to us a living and loving God, and to be sacrificed  on our behalf.  The suffix”ian” or “an” indicates that someone or something belongs to a certain group. Thus, an Indian would be a resident of or someone who was born in India, a Faustian philosophy is one promoted by the character Faust, or one that reflects what Faust believed.  A Christian, then,  is a believer in or a follower of Christ, and a Christian philosophy would reflect what Christ believed.  More simply put, to be a Christian is to strive to be like Christ.  To be like Christ, we must first come to know Him.

Stop and think for a moment about the people you know.  We have acquaintances – people we know a little bit about, friends – people we know more about, family – people we have known all or most of our lives, spouses – people we are very intimate with.  The church is filled with the same degrees of relationship with Christ.  To some He is just an acquaintance, to others a friend,  but to succeed as Christians in becoming the bride of Christ as described in scripture, we will need to achieve a wide spread level of intimacy with Christ.

I recently studied a book by Richard Stearns titled “The Hole in Our Gospel“, which explores what Christ called the Church to be and do, and how the Church has fallen far short of that mark.  If we want to call ourselves Christians, the Truth is we need to raise the bar back up to where Christ set it.  If we are to achieve a level of intimacy with Him, it will be done His way, not ours.

¹ In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.  ³ Then God said, “Let there be light”; and  there was light.  Genesis 1:1-3 (NKJV)

There was nothing but darkness until God called light into being.  Thus creation began, and the earth, and everything on it and in it, belonged to God, and still does.  He entrusted it to us, with instructions from Christ.

³⁵ Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”  ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment.  ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 22:35-40 (NKJV)

If we profess to be Christian, like Christ, then we must acknowledge that all that we possess, in Christ’s reality belongs to God. He has entrusted us with it and called us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  When you love someone, you share what you have with them… you desire them to be happy, healthy, comfortable, and to have opportunities to be blessed and to share their blessings with others.

God created the world with such abundance there is enough for everyone to have it all, but the stewards entrusted with the greatest abundance seem to have a problem with distributing that wealth and investing it in the children of God who were unfortunately born into a less fortunate circumstance.  The distribution of wealth worldwide is becoming ever more disproportionate, and Christians who are at the upper end of the spectrum have fallen into the ways of the world rather than following Christ.

According to PrisonPlanet.com, “Figures for mid-2010 indicate that 24.2 million adults are above the threshold for dollar millionaires. While they make up less than 1% of the global adult population, they own more than a third of global household wealth. More specifically, individuals with wealth above USD 50 million are estimated to number 81,000 worldwide.”

I found more interesting statistics at www.pastorrickypowell.com.

• Only one-third to one-half of U.S. church members financially support their churches.

• Christians worldwide had personal income totaling more than $16 trillion in 2007 but gave only 2 percent, or $370 billion, to Christian causes.

• Overall, only 3 to 5 percent of those who donate money to a church tithe (give 10 percent of) their incomes.

• Giving by North American churchgoers was higher during the Great Depression (3.3 percent of per capita income in 1933) than it was after a half-century of unprecedented prosperity (2.5 percent in 2004).

• Incomes have gone up nine to 10 times in the last 20 years while giving has gone down about 50 percent.

Based on those statistics, it is clear that those calling themselves Christians have taken the blessings of Christ for granted and sorely neglected His teachings.  They have taken what belongs to God and treated it as if it were theirs.  They hold on tightly to what they have, bottling up the abundance that would flow if only they would let go and allow God to fulfill His word.

“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.   Malachi 3:10 (NKJV)

Don’t get me wrong, this is not just about money.  It is about offering to Christ your time, your talent, and your treasure.  If those professing to be Christian were more Christ like, channeling their God given gifts, talents, and abundance, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and fight injustice, we would call down the mountain moving power of God and transform the world as Christ called us to do.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

We cannot continue to call ourselves Christian while conforming to the world, and expect the world to come seeking God in our church.  We must first step out in faith, enter into an intimate relationship with Christ to become like Christ.  When we, as the body of Christ, lead by His example, then the  world will understand what it means to be Christian.

I watched an amazing video documentary the other day about the hopes, dreams, and reality of youth and young adults in Cuba. It was an eye opening presentation of a generation that longs for the very freedoms we are allowing to slip away.  As I watched, I could not help but compare their passion for freedom in a rigid political system, to our alarming trend towards allowing, or even worse encouraging a more socialist posture.

In Cuba, “jobs” are government jobs, the pay is not enough to live on, and the rations the government supplies each month, last for only 2 weeks.  Young married couples must often live with relatives due to a shortage of housing, and for them, simple privacy is a rare luxury.  Promising students study hard to earn advanced degrees, and even with the skills and knowledge they have worked so hard to acquire, they have no hope that it will secure them a brighter future.  Only loyalty to the revolution offers one a chance at material success.

But young Cubans are no longer buying into the excuses the aging regime makes for their circumstances.  They have hopes and dreams of a better life, and they believe that Cuba has the resources to build a better future, if only they had the freedom to use them.  Sadly, those who speak out are subjected to censorship, beatings, and all manner of restrictions that will make an example of them, and deter others from being so bold.

If only our young people understood the value of the freedom we have enjoyed in this country.

If only they understood that there are decisions the government should not have the power to make for us. I find it terrifying that our government continues to become more and more like the regime we have opposed with economic sanctions since the Castro regime came to power.

Our middle class is disappearing as unemployment devastates once financially stable families.  Public assistance has become a quagmire of red tape for those who never needed it in the past.  Healthcare is already being rationed to those who cannot afford comprehensive health insurance.  More and more families have to rely on food stamps or charities distributing food, and the number of homeless grows larger each day.

The answer to all of these problems is certainly not more government intervention.  We need only look 90 miles south of Florida to see that governmental control and distribution of resources does not benefit all citizens equally.  In this country the current administration will always place the blame squarely on the previous administration, just as in Cuba, whatever is not working is blamed on the embargo.

So what has happened in the US that transformed us from a culture where hard work resulted in economic security, to a culture where nearly 17% of the population relies on the government to feed, cloth, and in some cases house them, while countless others desperately need, but do not qualify for assistance?  We can place the blame on many programs and policies, but what I see at the root of them all is corruption in our political system, and a huge shift in values, and if you really think about it, the corruption is indeed the result of that shift in values.

In the name of tolerance and freedom of a small minority, we have allowed references to God to be legislated out of public view.

By removing His Holy Presence in our schools, public events and government buildings, we have given that ground to the enemy and the enemy has rejoiced and flourished.  Politicians routinely abuse the power entrusted to them and bow down to the desires of lobbyists whose influence will keep them in office.   Public service has become the most self-serving occupation in the land.  The public, largely unaware of just how deep the corruption runs, demands change, lending their support and giving their vote to the most eloquent speaker making promises they have no power to keep.  Once elected, regardless of their job performance, they will reap the benefits of a tax supported gravy train for the rest of their lives.

The picture that emerges is one of a two tiered welfare state.  On one side, politicians, even those who lose voter confidence after only one term, receive huge sums of public assistance for life, with no need to go through the humiliating process of re-qualifying every few months, and on the other, common people whose jobs have been lost, struggle through a mass of red tape to qualify for meager benefits that keep them trapped well below the poverty line.

In the middle ground are workers whose real incomes continue to shrink as the economy devastates their buying power.  Earning too much to qualify for the great American giveaway, and too little to get ahead of their debt, their tax dollars supporting both tiers of the welfare state, they have become resentful with good reason.  Hard work can no longer be counted upon to result in economic security.

The stark reality of the situation can easily be understood when we examine the plight of a single mother of three,  attempting to give her children a better life by learning a profession and working hard.  She is forced by the system to quit her job at the first realization of success because she no longer qualifies for her children’s healthcare benefits, yet does not earn enough to pay a healthcare provider for those services.  The bottom line is her family is better off if she does not work.

We need look only as far as Cuba to see where our current path will take us.  This beautiful tropical paradise filled with a resilient and hopeful people, became a culture where a handful have much and the masses have little to nothing, where infrastructure has crumbled, opportunity is non-existent, and young people dream of living somewhere, anywhere else.  Their revolution was a forcible takeover, ours is a willing, and ignorant, relinquishment of our freedom.  The results have alarming similarities.  There is much we can learn from the grandchildren of the Cuban revolution.

I urge you to view this documentary and others like it.  I urge you to educate yourself about how people in other countries really live and what they must do to survive.  Many wise men and women have said that history repeats itself, and so I urge you to consider the true value of freedom lost, and prayerfully consider the actions of our current leadership and the candidates who compete to become our future leaders.

It is not too late to reclaim this land and transform it so that God will again bless America.  We need to begin by electing leaders that serve God and are trustworthy stewards of what He and the public have entrusted them with.  We are precariously balanced upon a dangerous precipice, and this country is in great need of change.  We must be wary of the change that seeks to control us, and fight for the change that will empower us with opportunity to achieve our dreams.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

from RALPH WALDO EMERSON, Ode Sung in the Town Hall

For He that worketh high and wise, Nor pauses in his plan, Will take the sun out of the skies Ere freedom out of man.