The Tortoise and the Hare?

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not always to the swift!
- Ecclesiastes 9:11

Probably all of us have heard the tale of the tortoise and the hare and their infamous race. The tortoise and the hare decide to have a race to settle a bet as to who is faster. Once the race begins, the hare jumps out to an uncontested lead. Looking back for his opponent, the hare decides he can take a nap since he is so far out in front of the tortoise. Well, the hare oversleeps. When he awakens, he notices that the tortoise is about to cross the finish line. The tortoise - through a steady pace and a heart of determination - has passed and beaten the hare because of  the hare's slothfulness and pride! The moral of the story is through going slowly, persevering with limited skills, and working hard while the other guy "sleeps," great victories in life can be realized! It's a great lesson for young and old alike and reminds us all that-the race is not always to the swift.

As is my habit and nature, I take a completely different "lesson" from this simple children's fable. I see things quite differently than most people do. Chalk it up to a fertile imagination, too much time on my hands, or just too much coffee in my stomach!

While thinking about the upcoming presidential race, I began to meditate upon the direction in which both parties would like to take this country in the future if they are successful in their quests. Both parties have a "platform" or a "vision" as to what they want to accomplish if given the chance to lead. Now to most of us who call ourselves Christians, these platforms seem as far apart from each other as the rabbit and the hare were in the middle of their race. One party champions "woman's rights" and "social justice" while the other party champions "job creation" and "debt reduction." Comparing the platforms side by side would indicate to the casual observer that these two parties are diametrically opposed to the other side's platform and are wanting to take the country in different directions. But as John Wayne used to say, "Not so fast there partner"!

    

Since looks can be very deceiving, a quick overview of current political history might be in order. Karl Marx in his famous book Das Capital, laid out his "platform" or "vision" for a socialistic or communistic utopian state. His "vision" entailed accomplishing the following goals:

1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all Emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a National with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution over the country.
10.  Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor   in its present form and combination of education with industrial production.

It surely doesn't take a college degree, high school diploma, or a GED to see that many of these "socialist goals" have already or have nearly been reached right here in the USA! We are constantly bombarded in the press over the immoral requirements of Obamacare and all its regulations, but have already blindly accepted as our political reality almost all of the other goals of anti-Christian political philosophy! We are further down the socialist road than we might want to acknowledge or believe.  And what makes it even more incredible is that the "conservatives" running for office not only accept this reality, but they also pledge to sustain these goals in more or less tolerable degrees. Like the tortoise "racing" down the road, these ideas keep making progress even though it is at a slower but still culturally-deadening pace. If the truth be told, both parties - and most people - accept these utopian socialist realities and goals - it's just that one party pursues them in a gentler, milder, and more tolerable form.

 

As we head into the final days of this upcoming election year, we are offered either a very potent dose of socialism or a watered-down, diluted, mild dose of socialism. Both parties are actually hawking the same thing - it's just that one is in more of a hurry to get to the finish line. If you don't believe they are headed toward the same finish line, think about the following:

• When was the last time you heard a "conservative" call for a return of Christian prayer and Bible study to the public school system? 
• When was the last time you heard a "conservative" call for the elimination of the welfare and social security systems, which take money from Peter to give to Paul?
• When was the last time a "conservative" suggested that the Bible should be the foundation of the legal and economic systems in this country? 
• When was the last time you heard a "conservative" argue that the freedom of religion was only meant for Christianity and not for the Islam, Humanism, or a host of all the other false religions that cover our nation's landscape?  

I could go on and on with the list, but it is really time for the real Christians of this land to recognize we have been complicit with the direction of this country away from the commands of God and toward the commands and dictates of autonomous man by our continued and unfettered support of mild socialism. It's time for us to repent and return to the Word of God as our ultimate standard - not only for our relationship with God, but for man's every activity under the sun - and this includes politics!
 
Ancient Israel progressed slowly away from the worship and service of the one true God - not in one gigantic leap, but through the incrementalism and seduction of idolatry and the disastrous ideas it bred! To reject God's Holy Word for our every undertaking is to reject the Kingship of Jesus Christ over all life and to have hitched a ride on the tortoise's back. We're headed in the same direction and toward the same goals as the hare. I just wonder how we can get off the tortoise's back and get back to the starting line to start all over again.

Stay Holy, My Friends!

 
 
Pastor Don