WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING NORMAL?

There's a pretty common catch-phrase these days when people discuss change.  It goes something like. "well, that's the new normal".  In some respects, that statement works.  But in others, it's a cop out.....avoiding what is truth and what's a lie. 



This is not normal, new or otherwise.......

The world has become a much more scary place than the Roaring Twenties, or even the Fabulous Fifties ……instead we migrated to Terrifying Two-Thousands.  We have reached a place in our society where we live with drive by shootings instead of rival fist fights.  We no longer walk away from a job, angry at our employer; but rather we whip out a Uzi and shoot them.  We no longer simply divorce a spouse, we hire a hit man to eliminate them.  Our worst nightmares have become the reality in which we live.

 When I was at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa over the Memorial Day Weekend, I saw veterans  who have lived through so much.  They battled some of the greatest wars ever fought, and came home heroes.  They fought for our freedom, defending the Nation that once was “Under God.”

Today, I am not sure what we are ” under”.  It's my belief that the day the President proclaimed that we were ” no longer a Christian nation…”, we were doomed.  Back in the 20s, Islam may have existed, but it was not the faith of our Founding Fathers.  Back in the 30’s, I am sure no one could define “Muslim”. I don’t think there was ever a “school massacre in the 50’s.  Even in the 60’s and 70’s, the psychedelic generations, no one knew what a ” terrorist attack”, was all about………. In the 80’s, we did not fear for our lives every time we stepped out of our front door.  We didn’t worry about being beheaded or catching a disease that has no cure…..

Author Jessi Steele offered these thoughts on the "new normal", "I remember starting the school day with the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.  I attended Sunday School and memorized the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes and Psalm 23.  I was taught to say ” please, thank you, no ma’am and no sir.”  I bowed my head and said “grace” before every meal.  Before I went to bed, I knelt on my knees and prayed… ”  Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  If I die, before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, amen”.

Now, the Ten Commandments are no longer allowed in Government buildings because they are “offensive and violate the freedom of religion”. Whose religion??????  Not mine.  Children can not stand and say the Lord’s Prayer because ” it violates the rights of others”.  Whose rights?  Not mine. We live in world that is now more worried about the rights of others that we no longer have rights. We worry about violating other’s freedoms to the point where we have no freedom.  We are no longer a ” Nation Under God”. We replaced our Fearless attitude with that of being fearful….. 

Need anything more be said .....

I'm afraid what we've lost is our perspective.  I'm not going to suggest some direction for you to follow no more than you should me.  Because no matter if we have differences of opinion, it doesn't really matter what we think is right or wrong, but what God's word says.  It's not going to be new-normal, or what is the accepted beliefs of the day.  It will be consistent.  The same today and tomorrow, just like it was yesterday.   

There are signs all around us.  Gays, lesbians, bi-sexuals and the transgendered are now, not only to be tolerated, but accepted.  What will be next?  Sex with your mother, or father, perhaps your daughter or son.  Will predators of our little ones go unpunished because it's "new normal"  Or will sex with animals become commonplace.  As repulsive as some of that is, that's what we've become.  An overaccepted, unaccountable world.   

At the End of the Age, we shall see a very different type of individual.  "But wicked men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves". 

And the Bible says this of what man becomes...."Lovers of self, self-centered"; greedy beyond belief; "abusive, blasphemous, scoffers, disobedient to parents, unholy, ungrateful, and profane"  "Without natural affection, callous, inhuman, relentless, loose morally, uncontrolled, fierce, haters of good."   "Treacherous, betrayers, rash and inflated with self-conceit; lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements rather than lovers of God."

Say what you will.  There is a normal in our lives, but only if we remain focused on God and not the world.  Try as we might to excuse someone's behavior, God will be the final arbriter.   If you know what I mean, you'll see it, hear it, speak it and feel it.  That's what normal is....

YGG,

John
         
P.S. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God- 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5