A Vision for America?

Has it occurred to you that progress, as the secular culture likes to define it, often leads to the dilution of individual freedom? There was a time, and it wasn’t too long ago, when the innocent citizen was besieged by endless images of some utopian metropolis, new, shiny and functional where monorails glided far above the orderly streets on a mission to deliver its passengers to sleek towers of commerce that mounted up like spires into the comforting heavens.

This place was the endgame of the social engineer. Through the power of technology coupled with governmental support, individual man would become a willing cog in some great humanist wheel. Slums and garbage and inequities of all kinds would vanish; individual man would be spared disease, war and pain and finally the eternal problems of life would all be banished from existence: Finally, a story with a happy ending.

The trouble with this picture is that it is a fairy tale. The laws of nature cannot conform to this constricted vision concocted from the minds of mere mortals. Achieving a utopian order would require enormous coercion and resistance would inevitably lead to the same wars that nations and their people have experienced in the past.

The present day social idealist, though, is determined to finally get it right, even though that might mean forcing the common man to march in lockstep to the vision. Wasn’t this the very same picture we remember from black and white newsreels: Images of fearsome soldiers parading in impressive precision before leaders such as Stalin, Hitler, Mao and their henchmen? Wasn’t the last Great War fought to stop the spread of this maniacal tyranny that threatened countries built upon the principle of individual freedom and well being?

The Fascist and Communist movements rose up in the twentieth century to install a new order and build a new man. But both of these forces, conceived by human intellect as propositions for constructing a better life for all, ended in rubble and ruin with tens of millions of ordinary citizen lying dead in unmarked graves.

The American proposition was built on the enduring principle of individual freedom. In the beginning, when the new nation was defining its form of government, the founders looked back over the vast canvas of history to determine what would work best to protect those “certain unalienable rights…of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness….” The new government would be instituted to protect those individual freedoms and so it was stated in the preamble to the Constitution: “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

For the utopian visionary the operative word will always be “enforce”. We will use the inherent power of government to enforce Justice as we chose to define it. We will enforce domestic Tranquility by silencing all opposition to our way. We will defend ourselves against those we consider our common enemies, both domestic and foreign. We will enforce the Welfare of some by using our power to take from others. And in the end, we will use the power of government to elevate our own stature and power and wealth.

Sometimes it feels that these very same social visionaries are already hard at work in the halls of government. Who will protect the rights of the ordinary citizen? Who will answer the call to honor and sacrifice? Who will blow the trumpet call to warn the people of this great danger? Who?

The Sweet Power of Music

Somewhere it says that man is “made a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned…with glory and honor.” If this be the case, then it is no wonder that man needs “the sweet sounds of music” to calm his troubled soul. How sterile and desolate life would seems without music. In the Book of Job we hear that music was present at the creation: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?...On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

The absence of music suggests a void, a godless place where “the man that hath no music in himself, nor is not mov’d with concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; the motions of his spirit are dull as night, and his affections dark as Erebus. Let no such man be trusted.”

But Shakespeare also says that music transforms all of nature into an all inclusive symphony that notes the harmonious presence of God if only we have ears to hear. Even wild animals respond: “For do but note a wild and wanton herd, or race of youthful and unhandled colts, fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud, which is the hot condition of their blood; if they but hear perchance a trumpet sound, or any air of music touch their ears, you shall perceive them make a mutual stand, their savage eyes turn’d to modest gaze by the sweet power of music.”

It is hard not to conclude that music on at least one level opens the heart to a deeply submerged memory of the original state of harmony that existed between God and the creature He loved above everything else. It is as if music lifts the heart up into the company of angels choiring in heaven. Holy music speaks to us about the presence of God in all dimensions of creation, both at the beginning and even now at this very moment.

Johann Sebastian Bach said this: "The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul. If heed is not paid to this, it is not true music but a diabolical bawling and twanging."

So be still, and with Shakespeare “let the sounds of music creep in (your) ears. Soft stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony.”

We Surround Them

On March 13 I happened to turn on Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News. I rarely see it, as I am usually at my desk in New York City at that hour in the afternoon. But yesterday, I was travelling and so TV was an option. Glenn Beck, for those who do not know him, is a passionate radio and TV commentator who is deeply concerned about the dangerous drift going on in America today.

Unlike many of the pundit class, Glenn has focused on the corrupt elite in government, in finance and in the media, all of whom have been selling out the country of Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln for what amounts to personal gain. To Glenn Beck, these corrupt Masters of the Universe have become the new Axis of Evil. Their lust for power, and the money they use to buy it, is insatiable and they will not stop until they have succeeded in their perverse quest to preside over the smoking ruins of what was once was The United States of America.

Beck has inaugurated a movement called “We Surround Them” (www.the912project.com). He believes that this home grown Axis of Evil can be defeated, but it will be the people of American who must arise from their acceptance of the status quo to take back what has always been the most precious gift of all: our freedom. It is freedom that is being squandered by our runaway federal government. It is freedom that has been stolen by Bernie Madoff and the arrogant elites on Wall Street. And it is freedom that has been turned upside down by a compliant press that has abrogated its authentic responsibility in order to promote the ascension to power of what appears to be a misguided and inexperienced leader.

Glenn Beck has become a modern day Jeremiah. Jeremiah is the Old Testament prophet appointed by God to warn ancient Jerusalem that their corruption would bring a terrible end to everything they once loved. Speaking to the rulers of the day, Jeremiah says: “Hear this you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear:…Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds… their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. Should I not punish them for this? Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this? A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”

Has the country that placed “In God We Trust” on its coins departed to a place where the elite now say implicitly that “there is no God” and that they, with all their earthly power, have become like gods themselves, prophesying falsely to the people? Have these false prophets declared that they are a law unto themselves and that they will take the people wherever they choose, whatever the cost? And have they become blind and deaf in their own swill of corruption and cannot stop destroying what was once good and strong and beautiful?

Stand up Mr. Beck! Stand up people of this great land! Because we do surround them!

March Madness

In the spring of every year, hundreds, if not thousands, of enthusiastic hikers take their first steps on a 2,178 mile journey on the Appalachian Trail. Months of preparation have led to this moment. They have read books, bought equipment, packed food and talked to others who have come before them. They have diligently studied every aspect of the journey to come, and now they stand under the stone portal as they prepare to ascend Springer Mountain, the true starting point of the trail.

Yet no amount of study can prepare them for what lies ahead. Nature is beautiful and alluring and very hard. Hikers can expect sore knees, turned ankles, persistent thirst, lonely nights and lingering doubts. They will be slowed by blizzards in the Smokies, startled by lightning strikes in Virginia, exhausted by searing summer heat in Pennsylvania, drenched by chilling downpours in New Hampshire, and tested by everything in Maine.

But, as they walk the trail and become hardened by its challenges, hikers will experience a change of heart and mind. With time and miles, a veteran slowly emerges; the novice at Springer becomes the confident and knowledgeable Thru-Hiker who will keep on striving to achieve victory over every large and small adversity. The postcard landscape of the armchair hiker has given way to a more profound understanding. What began as toil and trouble has become something akin to joy.

The seasoned hiker overcomes through endurance and perseverance. In this respect, he is like the faithful pilgrim. Both are on a long journey; both must endure hardships; both are tested at every turn. And both keep pushing on to the goal, knowing that there is a prize to be won: “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)

The Second Garden

The movie The Passion of the Christ opens in the depth of night. A full moon hangs ominously in the sky, creating a supernatural light of dark blue streaked with silver. The place is the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus is the man fervently praying. Quietly, a shadowy figure emerges from the background looking on with a cool curiosity. Jesus has already begun to suffer and some of his words are preserved in the four gospels, but many words are not recorded and so we can only imagine what Jesus was saying.

The words of the psalmist, beginning with “Save me, O God,” could easily reflect the words that Jesus uttered alone in that garden: “I am worn out calling for help…Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head…My eyes fail.”(Psalm 69)

Jesus knows what is in store for him; he knows why he came to earth and he knows that the shadowy figure wants him to give in to temptation by escaping from what is about to happen. Satan would appeal to Jesus’ human nature, and as we learned from the encounter in that first garden, Eden, mankind was tragically susceptible to the serpent’s subtle powers of persuasion. Jesus is reenacting the first encounter where mankind failed so miserable. This is a redo and Jesus ultimately triumphs by crushing the serpent under his foot. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.