Letters to the Editor
From our weekly issue dated December 02, 2009
(Editor’s Note: Views and commentary, including statements made as fact, are strictly those of the letter-writers.)
Typed, double-spaced letters are considered for publication. Hand-written letters that are double-spaced and legible also can be considered. “Thank you” submissions are not accepted as letters.
We need more Daniels
From Derwyn Cugley
Cave Junction
The greatest government devised by man is a representative democracy. It was forged in America as a democratic republic approximately 233 years ago. The benefits of America’s democracy that have accrued to the world are too many to recount, and the world owes America a debt of gratitude it will never repay.
But for democracies to function successfully, they require a certain level of morality from their citizenry. We were above the required level of morality for some 200 years. As a result, America became the greatest nation in history. By no means perfect — but great.
However, in recent years as a nation we have fallen well below the minimum level, and our contemporary government is a reflection of the moral bankruptcy of its citizens. Washington, D.C. reflects the character of America, and it does not make a lot of us proud.
Like the prophet Daniel, we in America have sinned; we have rebelled and departed from God’s precepts. Even many of our churches are spiritually bankrupt. Their candles are about to flicker out. Yet, many of us wonder why America is coming unglued before our very eyes. Could it be that America with all its advantages, opportunities, prosperity and freedom has become like a basket of summer fruit ready for divine judgment?
Daily I listen to the decisions of our government -- including Democrats, Republicans, and independents -- and as a result of the actions of our courts, Congress and the administration, I just want to cry. Where have truth, common sense, morality, honor and nobility gone? How low our nation has sunk from its former days of greatness.
We have, during the past 40 or 50 years, progressively tossed out the unchanging moral principles of God’s Word, many of which our founders built into our Constitution, and all the while we thought we could get away with it. We can’t. God cannot be mocked. As with individuals, what a nation sows, it also reaps. We have sown to the wind; we are beginning to reap the whirlwind.
My down-deep feeling is that, like an airplane that has crossed more than half an ocean and cannot turn around, we have passed the point of no return as a nation and judgment is coming.
Our national problems cannot simply be reduced to the label of Democrat or Republican, the far right or the far left, the conservative or liberal. It’s not about the ideologies of men: It is about morality, right and wrong, good and evil. America’s problem is with us -- all of us. Our national sin and rejection of God’s timeless truths has brought us to this low place.
America today desperately needs more confessing, professing Daniels. That’s us, all of us.
The prophet Daniel is set forth as one of the Godliest men in the Bible. Nothing negative is ever said of his life. Yet as he prayed to God on behalf of his very sinful nation, he included himself in his petition.
Believers should ask the Lord to help them regain their lost love for Him, and when He does, become a Daniel for America.
Unbelievers can believe that Jesus is the Christ, their Lord and Redeemer. I suggest that they confess their sin and ask Him to make them His. When He does then they too can become a Daniel for America.
It’s our personal decision if we contribute to the rise and restoration of America, or to its further decline and eventual fall. However one chooses, our benevolent king will return. Maybe soon. And so we pray, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus,” (Revelation 22:20).
Food From Friends
From Robert Cornett
Cave Junction
Just as the Dorcas gang members were about to pass out food to the needy at the SDA Community Service Center at 265 S. Old Stage Road on Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 1 p.m. there was a knock on the back door.
Boy Scouts had arrived with 1,779 pounds of non-perishable food -- and as we would discover when we weighed everything, some cash too.
This, along with the 181 pounds of food donated by a young woman on Nov. 18, totaled almost 2,000 pounds. Great!
We were almost overwhelmed, but we can still say this simple prayer in His name, He, who has redeemed us, “The Lord bless thee and keep thee” Numbers 6:24... to the Boy Scouts and all those involved, and, oh yes, there was at least one young woman unloading the food. We love her too.
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