Christian and patriotic

  Today is July 4, Independence Day. It is a day to celebrate our independence from England and to celebrate our freedoms. It is a day for family, picnics, parades, fireworks, and thankfulness. As part of my July 4th celebration, I went a parade with family. It started around 10:10 and ended at 11:40. There were politicians, clowns, antique and classic cars, newer cars, businesses, different floats, a marching band playing Stars and Stripes Forever, a vehicle playing God Bless the USA, and more. There was red white and blue everywhere you looked. It was easy to get caught up in the patriotism and excitement of the day. Unfortunately due to working early tomorrow, I don't think I'll see any fireworks, but am about to eat some burgers, hot dogs, and chicken done on the grill.

 I was raised to be patriotic. I look back at years of cookouts, fireworks we did and went to see. I am an American, and it has never crossed my mind to not be patriotic. Not everyone feels that way though.

 There is a Facebook group I joined a while back called "Politics and the Christian Worldview." I have been amazed at the amount of people in the group who despise the flag, rail against patriotism and pleading to the flag as worship and idolatry. They refuse to celebrate today, and one man likened it to celebrating the Nazis. A few of them mockingly refer to the flag as the "sky cloth". It is amazing and pathetic how anti-American these professing Christians are.

 And then you have the religious sects who are non-resistant, and thus also refuse to be patriotic.

   I firmly believe you can be both Christian and patriotic. One does not cancel out the other. In fact, I believe Christians SHOULD be patriotic. No, our country is not what it should be. I am of the belief that this country was indeed founded on Christian principles, but we have drifted far from that. God has been kicked out of our schools, we murder millions of babies in the name of "choice" and women's rights. We have embraced a sexuality God calls an abomination and it is being forced on everyone in this country. Christian rights and freedoms usually lose to gay "rights", and both presidential candidates of 2016 promised to further those gay rights, just one of many reasons I could not vote for the "Republican" candidate and voted third party.

 Yes, we pay too much in taxes and we have way too much government interference in our lives. Our politicians are corrupt in both parties and most of them only care about getting re-elected, not about doing the right thing for the good of our country and citizens. We glorify sex and violence on TV and in movies which even Christians gorge themselves on.

 But yet Judeo Christian values are still at our core. We still have the freedom to worship as we please, and are a lot freer than many are across our globe. No one is cutting off our heads, torturing us, or kidnapping our kids to turn them into murderous soldiers.

 Our soil is stained with the blood of men and women who died so we could be free. I firmly believe if you live in this country and enjoy the freedoms we have, that you should be patriotic. No, you don't have to wave a flag or go to a parade, but there should be something that rises up in your heart today that makes you realize how blessed you are to live in this country. You should realize that if men and women had not fought in the wars you are so against, that you wouldn't be as free as you are. If you refuse to at least be thankful on this day and observe it in some small way, you are spitting on the graves of those who died to make you free. You are  not thankful and are ungrateful.

  Our country is not what I wish it were. I am sad God was kicked out of our schools. I am appalled Christians would elect and try to elect people like Obama, the Clintons, and Donald Trump. I grieve that gay marriage was legalized and is being forced on everyone, and even our free speech is threatened because of it. I am angered and saddened that so many people fight for and celebrate the cause of killing innocent babies in the womb. Our country grows more wicked and further from God at an alarming rate. Euthanasia and pedophilia are knocking at our doors demanding to be legalized, and liberals will eventually try to do just that.

   But yet this country has produced countless missionaries that have been sent to other countries to evangelize the lost. There is a church on almost every corner of every town and city. We do more to help others in other countries than any other country, to my knowledge.

 So on this day and others like it, wrap yourself in your anti-resistance, your anti-tax rhetoric, your bitterness, and whatever other reasons you refuse to be patriotic for, but remember this: You have no right to condemn me for being thankful and patriotic on this day, and if you are so much against patriotism and our country, then you have no right to enjoy the freedoms you take for granted and refuse to celebrate.

 And a quick side note: if you research Israel and its celebrations and feasts, God and country and patriotism were all mixes together in many of there feasts and celebrations...... just something to think about.

  It is possible to put country, politics, and patriotism above God, but it is also possible to be Christian and patriotic, and I again say I believe Christians should be patriotic.

 God bless America, and may God somehow bring our country back to what it used to be before liberals, atheists, Hollywood, and other godless people took over.

 And by the way..... my favorite superhero is Captain America.