The Pre-Civil War America

America before the Civil War, or the War Between the States by the descendants of the Confederate party, was a country of two opinions.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States of America. Except, when he was elected the states could only loosely be called united. After the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the majority of the United States held to the tradition of their mother country: England; both allowing and promoting slavery at large, particularly among the wealthy and prominent. 

Over the course of nearly a century the once united states of America had become two political states; both holding to uncompromising convictions about the freedom and rights of men. By the time “Honest Abe” enters history these differences of morals became a division of the union.

Abe Lincoln’s presidency sparked the beginnings of a four-year war, which began in 1861 and ended with the capture of Confederate president Jefferson Davis in 1865. The pre-Civil War United States, were anything but united. A difference of opinion on a single issue had dramatic effects upon this country and instigated a war that cost the lives of over 625,000 soldiers. 

Before the Civil War, slavery was as far reaching as the home of Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson; the writer of these words:

 “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

–Thomas Jefferson (excerpt from the Declaration of Independence)

Even Jefferson, who penned what are possibly the most powerful words against slavery, had himself over 600 slaves. Regardless of his treatment of them, this goes to show how far slavery reached before the Civil War. 

It only began then, and grew exponentially during the Antebellum Period. Antebellum was a time between the War of 1812 and the Civil War; it was a time of specific growth in the cotton franchise of the southern states and the industrial manufacturing and modernization of the northern states nearly half again as populated as the south. During the later years of the Antebellum Period, somewhere around 1840, the rise of the abolitionists began. Almost as long as there has been slavery, there have been abolitionists. But only when they began to put actions behind their ideals did the movement become a wedge between two peoples. 

The Confederates would not give up their slaves because their economy was centered around slavery. The Union would not give in to slavery because of their morality, the integrity of the nation, and their conviction that all life has worth and rights. Like James Madison wrote, “…among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”. Liberty, that’s what the abolitionists wanted. Liberty for all men. 

The current state of American politics is a mock-up of our pre-disaster country. There exist two different opinions which have split our country into two political states: republican and democrat. Contrary to their titles, neither one is a party. We are a country divided. Moral conviction now holds no place in politics, and politics no longer hold a place in polite conversation. 

“We forgot we were Americans. Suddenly we were democrats and republicans.” 

–Caleb Allen

Democrats seem fixed upon bringing a moral collapse of our nation’s religious economy to rival the financial downfall of the Great Depression. Republicans seem to care about the capitalistic welfare of this 1st world country, but focus more upon tearing down the democratic party than working along with it to better the situation of our country. 

We are in a pre-Civil War country, on the brink of a devastating divide that could ruin or heal us. Unlike those ascribing to the apocalyptic demise and then, like Phoenix, resurrection of this country to renewed glory and vigor, I believe any division would be the end of this great nation.

Democracy has become socialist liberalism. Republic has become self-righteous, conservative capitalism. Neither side will admit that the other holds any manner of value. Both are susceptible to corruption and have been thus corrupted. We have forgotten that we are Americans. Suddenly we have become democrats and republicans: shells of idealistic cultures and banner holders for the coming communism of the Antichrist and his revolution. We have paved the road for a destruction to fall upon us like there has never been seen in this country. A Civil war between Hell and earth.

Where there is no vision, the people perish. When there is no longer a right choice, a good choice, or even a shadow of a godly choice, we must turn away from our reliance upon man and government for salvation. Jesus is the only incorruptible, unchanging one. It is to Him we should run and cling; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail. We are on the brink of an uncivil war. It’s time we started acting like we cared about the fate of this nation and its people and stopped this inner warfare, this segregation of opinions to once again unite as American citizens, blessed to tread the soil of the greatest nation on earth!

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

Stupid Questions (A Word on Politics)

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

–-Titus 3:9

There it is: Biblical proof that there are stupid questions, rather there are foolish questions. However, the word foolish in the original Greek is μωρός(mōros), meaning “moron”. It stems from the Greek word μυστήριον(mystērion), meaning “To shut the mouth”. In other words, the word “foolish” essentially means, “That’s stupid. Shut up.”. I apologize, obviously that’s a very harsh, but Biblically, there is such a thing as a stupid question. What is a stupid question? Well, to me, a stupid question is one that you already know the answer to. If someone asked me if I had my keys, or if I had a Sharpie, those would be stupid questions. 

For the past three years I haven’t gone a day without a Sharpie on my person, and since I got my bus key at 16, I haven’t been without it. Those are stupid questions to me because those who ask already know the answers, thus the question serves no purpose. However, that isn’t the kind of foolish questions that Paul is talking about here. A stupid question to Paul is not only one that someone already knows the answer to, but it’s one that is intentionally asked to waste the time of both parties involved.

Here is some verse context to get you into the mode of what Paul is trying to say.

This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
—Titus 3:8

Paul asks Titus, who is in Crete, to affirm constantly to the Church that they would be careful to maintain good works. In other words, Paul wants the Church at Crete to show evidence of Christ in them. The point of this verse is the last statement: “These things are good and profitable unto men.”

Then in verse nine, he is warning of distractions that would pull us away from that commission to do good works. Things like foolish questions: questions whose answers would not benefit anyone, whose asking serves only to waste the time of anyone involved, and whose purpose is to gender strife and contention. The other major thing he warns against is striving about the law: for they are unprofitable and vain.

Striving a about the law in Bible times is the equivalent of political talk today. Talk that pollutes social media with negative opinions, slams, and promotions for candidates. Talk that ensnares brothers and sisters in hostile or meaningless arguments about laws, candidates, or the moral status of our country. All of this is vain and unprofitable to any end. Sure, I’ll agree that conversing is the easiest means of solving issues between people, but the majority of these comments and conversations are not personal and serve only to gender strife and contention amongst a large group of social addicts.

My advice, if you have something specific and personal to say about what someone else believes or is intending to do with their vote, take it up with that person in a private conversation. Facebook, and Twitter, and other such large-scale social media sites are not for the purpose of starting arguments and pointless strivings about the law which serve only to waste the time of everyone involved. Much of the conversation will not change anyone’s opinion or conviction, and will certainly not help the cause of any particular candidate.

These kinds of things: stupid questions, political talk, they are unprofitable and unbiblical. They are distractions from our calling and are hurting our Christian witness. What do you think that the secular world thinks when they see Christians openly squabbling about politics on social sites? What are we doing but trying to get a rise out of someone and stir up some controversy somewhere?

I don’t believe it’s wrong to support your candidate–that does not include slamming others to promote your own–, but, if your going to flirt with politics, may it be only as far as concerns your personal convictions about candidates. Carnal opinion and fleshly desires to tear down, backstab, and create strife among the brethren should be shunned. We need to focus on our calling in Christ, doing good works for His kingdom sake and showing His love by our love for each other.

So, there is such thing as a stupid question, and personal politics are unprofitable to the kingdom. Strengthen your witness and your spiritual walk, avoid both of these things and devote your time to Christ rather than the world.

As always, thanks for reading.

–the anonymous novelist

Politics Without Penalties

Do we want a president who doesn’t believe in punishment?

Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson has recently come out and stated that he does not believe in Hell. This was no major surprise coming from Carson, who is Seventh-Day-Adventist; we already know their doctrines on this point. I’m not here to talk about religions, denominations, or politics, I’m here to talk about people: the people of the United States of America.

Among other statements on this point, Dr. Ben Carson said this: “God wouldn’t send people to Hell”. What Dr. Carson fails to see is that God is not a human, therefore He does not suffer the weakness of compassion in the face a justice, and mercy to the resilient enemies of His existence and Love. God will never stop loving the haters of the Cross, even unto eternal death. It’s not an act of hatred, condemning people to eternal torment, it is an act of justice on an eternal and infinite level.

The big question is: If Dr. Ben Carson doesn’t believe in the ultimate punishment, from the ultimate authority, for the ultimate crime, how can we expect him to punish lesser crimes? What Dr. Carson has said that he believes is that God would not condemn a person to everlasting torment after having only done evil for 80 years or so.

Obviously, we see that this man, who is well versed in scripture is turning a blind eye to the fact that the wages of sin is death. In that passage, it does not mean a physical death, but a spiritual and everlasting death. Whereas Dr. Carson says that people who die without Christ will simply be annihilated, God says otherwise.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

-Revelation 20:15 

Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

-Matthew 25:41

Those are great illustrations, but this next one blows Dr. Carson’s whole argument to worthless shreds.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died and was carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in Hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

-Luke 16:22-29

This is one of the saddest passages in the entire Bible, in my opinion. Notice how many times the word, “torment”, is used to describe Hell. Even the word “Hell”, itself is used in this passage as a literal place. You’ve heard of “Heaven is For Real”, I would like to submit that Hell is for real also, maybe even more importantly. Christ does not save people to Heaven, He saves them from their sins and the penalty for their sins: Hell.

In the passage above, we see a rich man and a beggar. The rich man did not believe in Christ and had no love in his heart for the poor, the least of these. Inasmuch as he did not regard or care for the beggar Lazarus, he did not regard or care for Christ Himself. Both the rich and the poor die, death is no respecter of persons, and the poor man gets taken up by angels to Heaven, whereas the rich man is condemned to Hell for what he did not do in his life on earth.

The rich man is not annihilated, he is able to see, (…and seeth Abraham afar off…), he is able to speak, (…And he cried, Father Abraham, have mercy on me…), and he is able to feel, (…for I am tormented in this flame…). What are the five senses that are necessary to recognize existence? Taste, touch, smell, hear, see, right? Well, you cannot taste a place, and you cannot smell location: what is left is touch, hear, and see. It is made absolutely certain that this rich man can see, hear, and feel from Hell, proving that it does exist.

Not only that, he is conscious of his former life and the fact that he has five brothers still living. Death without Christ is not annihilation, it is eternal separation in an everlasting, living torment. If death without Christ was simply annihilation, we would see less people coming to Christ than we do already. If life without Christ equals death without Him in everlasting nothingness, why would anyone who hates Christ agree to follow Him? If it’s a choice between death into nothingness, and an afterlife with a God you didn’t like anyway, why would they choose Christ?

Bottom line, humans began perfect, then broke God’s one rule and are now condemned to everlasting Hell, regardless of what we do in life whether good or evil. However, and thank God for it, Jesus Christ died for our sins. If we accept His free gift of salvation, He saves us from the penalty of our sins: death. If a person goes to Hell, it is not God who sent them there, it is their own doing.

Hell is real, and even though Dr. Ben Carson doesn’t believe that, I don’t think it will hurt our nation should he become president. But, I do think that it is Hypocritical at best to say that you don’t believe in Hell, and that you do believe in Justice and in the truth of God’s Holy, inerrant Word.

As always, thanks for reading. I want to encourage you to think for yourselves when it comes to politics and government affairs. Compare candidates opinions with the truth of Scripture because God cannot lie. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Until next time.

Facebook: @JaredAllen

Twitter: @EJaredAllen

Instagram: @ejaredallen

–the anonymous novelist

Soapbox

Once every four years I talk about politics. Now, I’m not a fan of politics by any stretch of the mind, I do not enjoy keeping up with debates and polls and things of that nature. It is not that I do not care who wins, as a citizen and voter of the United States People’s Government, I have the right and obligation to ensure by my one vote that the right person gets into office. So, I care a great deal about the fate of this country and who will lead it, I’m just not overly thrilled with the discussion, back-bitting, and slander it takes to get there.

There has been one candidate who has been pretty standup throughout the duration of the race thus far, and that is Dr. Ben Carson. Though the man has had no political experience, he has handled every question brilliantly and has found solutions to many of the problems facing our country. However, I’m not going to continue this post with Dr. Carson, because I can think of no evil to speak against him. What is a soapbox for if you can’t bash someone or something?

In contrast to Carson we have other GOP candidates who are very backhanded, under the table kind of guys. Donald Trump, (sorry Trump fans), is one of those guys. He has succeeded in making himself look like the biggest jerk currently in the election, and I say that with respect for the man himself, but a growing dislike to political side of him. Trump acts like a viper, whether it be picking a fight with news casters, Hillary Clinton, or real candidates, he sets himself up as a news target and has made it clear he will do anything get attention; bar nothing, even his hair seems like an obvious ploy to get noticed and be remembered. Think about it, what is the first thing to jump into your mind when I say: Donald Trump? Besides billions of dollars that is.

Though I believe Trump would be a very strong, very economical leader, I simply do not like his politics. But, I’m not sure which is worse, Trump’s hair, or Hillary Clinton’s computer password; as if the Clinton’s didn’t have enough problems already.

Hillary Clinton… Where to begin. She has blown the entire election for herself. Her reputation and that of her husband was already 1 strike against her, the only thing she had majorly going for her was the “woman” vote. Though they won’t admit it, people will vote for a woman on no merit whatsoever other than her gender. However, with Carly Fiorina in the race, and this email scandal, I think Hillary has even lost the “woman” vote, or at least a large portion of it.

Whether they deserve it or not, none of the other candidates are polling anywhere close to the top 3 or 4. Though I can not speak for anyone else, I pray God will put the right leader into office to take us out of this murky quagmire into which we have slid.

You can learn a lot about a person by what they say when running for office. What beliefs will they compromise, what corners will they cut, is their word sacred to them or do the spend it idly and let it fall back on itself? There have been many claims, many promises, some for good, most for evil, and many simply to win a vote or 2. George Washington was one of the only presidents to fulfill all of his campaign promises. Mainly because he made none, he was elected by unanimous vote without delivering a single speech or uttering one promise. 

I can tell you one thing, no matter what the, so called, “Supreme Court” says, they have no authority to redefine marriage, or life, or anything else. Constitutionally they have no right to make the choices they are making for our country. This is still our country. Not the Government’s, not the Supreme Court’s, it belongs to us. We need to speak out against these injustices, these transgressions of our authority. It is our duty to call out the factions and institutions that we have established, when they are out of line. So, why don’t we? 

I’ll just leave you with this, if the judicial system can remove our rights in the way that they are, and suppose that they have the authority to redefine God’s laws set into existance before the foundations of the earth was laid, then what is to prevent the highest authority in our country from doing the same or worse? I want to caution you to not so much listen to what these candidates say, but to pay close attention to who they are and how they behave. Because who they are in the race is who they will be in office. Their words may sound nice, but do they kick other candidates when they are down? Do they look for fault and exploit it? Do they defame other people in public and embarrass them to bring attention to themselves? These are not the qualities we want in a leader. 

A leader should be a gentleman. Yes I did specify gentleman because God has ordained that man lead. In history, the only times that women have taken lead of a people is when men are afraid to. Let us not fall to the place where we will bring shame upon our nation by electing a woman, someone that men are sworn to protect, become the most targeted indivual in the nation. Well, my soapbox is getting slippery, and I’m really not fond of it anyway. So, this concludes my tyraid. Be looking for another post akin to this one sometime in the next 4 years.

As always, thanks for reading. I encourage you to pray about this election, who does God want in office?

–the anonymous novelist