earthquake in New Zealand

 

My thought topic for today's editorial lesson stems from some recent news casts plus something I read that was written during the Civil War by a minister in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury. I think you'll have no trouble seeing the connection between the minister's concern and the recent news events, however I'll give you a clue - "national disasters."

I doubt that any of you are unaware of the devastation wreaked by the latest series of storms on the Southern states. I'm not sure what the latest count is regarding those killed by the storms, but the last I heard was well over 200 victims. The property damage is almost beyond belief.

Let's not forget that other nations have suffered greatly from recent events too. There were "national disasters" occurring in New Zealand and Japan that destroyed many lives and tremendous amounts of property. My niece and her family was a victim of the earthquake in New Zealand but, thanks be to God, it was only in the realm of property loss.

And, besides the recent storms, we can't forget Katrina and its effect on the gulf coast and the earthquake in Haiti. Having been in several violent storms myself (typhoons in the Pacific) I can attest to something I believe to be a commonly held epiphany by those who experience such things as violent storms and events and that is: a sudden and clear understanding of just how insignificant man is compared to God's natural world.

There are simply catastrophic happenings over which, regardless of how advanced in education and technology we've become, we find that we have absolutely no control. Events in which we humans simply can only hang on and, hopefully, ride them out. It's these "national disasters" that fall into the category of "unavoidable" and they are "unavoidable" because man has no control over them.

However, in my humble opinion, there are things in our world, in our society, that I classify as "national disasters" which are "avoidable." Which man has control over. It's this category of "national disasters" that relate to what the minister wrote in his letter to the Secretary of the Treasury. Of course the cause for his concern was the terrible events of the Civil Way wherein thousands of lives were being lost or devastated by the fighting of it. But, his concerns would hold true for all wars and other manmade catastrophes.

In my mind, these kinds of manmade catastrophes include society's descent, perhaps I should say plunge, into the abyss of government sanction of things like abortion, aberrant lifestyles, corporate greed and the prevalent sinful behavior of much of the nation's citizens. As far as I'm concerned, these also constitute "national disasters."

Here's what the minister penned in his letter: "From my heart I have felt our national shame in disowning God and not the least of our present national disasters." Yes, he was concerned that, as a nation, we had gotten so far away from God and His Principles, that we were suffering for that apostasy. His purpose for the letter was to make a suggestion that this country recognize " the Almighty God in some form on our coins."

The Secretary agreed with this suggestion by the minister and ordered that the words "In God We Trust" be placed on all of the coinage of the United States. In 1956 these words were officially designated by Congress as our National Motto. They were then ordered to be inscribed on all our monies, both paper and coin.

Now I'm not relating the "unavoidable" disasters to our spiritual slippage as a nation, even though some have tried to do just that. What I am saying is, that I feel that our nation's spiritual decline is directly related to our "avoidable" disasters. I believe, like the minister wrote in his letter, that it is to "our national shame" that we've removed ourselves so far from God's principles that we are now found in our "present national disasters."

You know what? We ought to be ashamed! And, if the minister thought our nation should be ashamed back in the 1860's, what do you think he'd say about the "national disasters" of today? I'm not sure what's beyond shame, but I believe that's where we've arrived.

I believe that the words "In God We Trust" has, in a national sense, become just hollow words. I'll even go so far as to say that, by a lot of the actions by our government, our National Motto has become a mockery. If, as a nation, and as a government, we truly trusted in God, we would not be witnessing these "present national disasters" in our country. If we, as a society, truly had "faith" in God, the behavior and sins that I mentioned earlier would be nonexistent.

I've used the word "event" several times throughout this lesson and I'd just like to make a short point regarding that word. If you look up the definition/s of it, you'll find one that means "an occurrence." That is the definition that applies to those previous usages of the word.

There is also another definition of "event" and that is, "a result." My point with these definitions - that there will come an "event, a result" of our abandonment of God. I'm afraid that much of our society will experience an "outcome" or a "result" of their departure from God that will not be pleasant. Perhaps even caused by following our government's apostasy from trusting in God's ways.

In keeping with the thought of the previous paragraph, let me close with a little poem written by Leonard H. Robbins.

                                    Be true while there yet is time,

                                    For this is the cry of a thousand souls

                                    That down to the Pit have trod.

                                    Who keeps the Truth from the people

                                    And stands in the way of God.

Ron Covey