
President’s Day. Wow! To give you some idea of just how we, the American people revere our Presidents, past and present, we have one day a year set aside to honor them. I suppose this means that all the presidents lumped together have the same weight as one man who has a holiday to himself.
Two men hold the distinction of holidays named in their honor. Columbus Day, as the discoverer of the Americas, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated Civil Rights leader. Columbus certainly did not discover America as most history books will tell you. I personally, as a Monacan Indian think our tribes were way to open with lenient immigration laws. Just a word to the wise. Columbus should at least have the decency to share the day with the Viking, Leif (the Lucky) Eriksson, who is acknowledged by most to be the first European to set foot on American soil, though blue eyed Indians in Wisconsin and Minnesota give some claim to a yet earlier voyage.
History and time have cleaned up the image of both Columbus and King, and thus we wonder what kind of men our presidents must have been, else they would be turning over in their graves. Get me right, I hope history and time are as good to me as they have been to others.
According to former Secretary of Education, William Bennett, this day in history, February 17, 1801 our president was elected by the House of Representatives. This was needed, as a tie deadlocked the electoral college. They chose Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr, which history and time have also proved to be the wiser of the two.
You will notice I have used the phrase, “time and history”. This has been done for a reason. I think it is better than focusing on the flaws of our presidents. I do wonder why one of the members of our Holiday Hall of Fame records are sealed until such time as most, if not all of my readers will have long departed this vale of tears. Of course one of our presidents also had his records sealed. I admit to trying to find out how to do this. My life would be more comfortable if mine could be sealed.
Did you know that on this day in history in 1817 the first public gas streetlight was installed and lit in Baltimore, Maryland? The purpose of the gas street light was to shed light as people traveled along the streets. It was a good idea and caught on all over the country. Of course some people still preferred to walk in the shadows. Even today some chose the path of the shadows. Why is this?
Believe it or not, the much maligned Bible gives a clear and practical reason for this withdrawal from light.
The beauty of the Gospel of Christ is founded in truth and that truth, even truth that you may be ashamed of, can and should be used to contrast what did happen with what happened the day you met Jesus and the blood of Christ on Calvary took those things out of the way and all who truly believe are pronounced clean as a whistle. Oh yes, there is some sealing, for when Christ comes on the scene the person who believes is sealed by the Holy Spirit while awaiting the day when our bodies are transformed as the soul has been redeemed by Jesus. The redemption in Christ uses what we were and points out the power of His gift of salvation as this passage states, 1 Corinthians 6:9 "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."
The above covers about all the moral departures we read about in the papers. “Such were some of you,” means that the change wrought by Jesus changes you from a “shadow person” into a living in the light person. To God be the glory.
On the other hand the idea of sealing up the fact that you were a sinner, for want of a better word, is done for many reasons, one being a refusal to face the fact that all humans are in need of salvation. But rather than deal with spiritual reality they take the path of the shadow. Again why is this? Here is the answer Christ gave to his disciples:
John 3:19, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."
I can think of no better explanation.
Happy President’s Day.
Copyright © 2014 Larry Lilly
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