Civil War Redux: Coda

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Lincoln ended his First Inaugural with words that always move me, deeply.  Move me most, knowing
that those whom Lincoln addressed arrogantly refused to hear and heed his words.

"Conservative" ideology has filled many Christians' hearts with fear and hatred toward their brothers;
which is always satan's purpose in his "doctrines of demons" (I Timothy 4:1).  The words I'd most wish
today's deceived "conservatives" would hear, and heed:

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained
it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every
battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will
yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better
angels of our nature."

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Civil War Redux II

                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                              

Tony Horwitz' Spying on the South also quotes Lincoln's advice to Southerners in his 1861 First Inaugural:

“Before entering on so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, would it not be wise
to ascertain precisely why we do it ?  Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility
that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence ?”  (p. 397)

I hope Lincoln's words would resonate deeply with Americans today . . . much deeper, hopefully, than they did
with Southerners of 1861.

Arrogant haters of authority always embrace unreality: they must always assert what our current rulers call
"alternative facts," must always avow like they do that "Truth is not truth."  In this they manifest that they
are "sons of the devil" (as Jesus called them in John 8:44).  Like satan, those who deny God's Primacy must
needs deny God's creation, and His Rule, of all that exists.

Deluded "Christian conservatives" who follow these liars should discern that rejection of reality is rejection
of the One Who created it.  Discern most of all that these liars reject the One through Whom " . . . all things
came into being . . . and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being" (John 1:3).  That
the liars reject Him Who said " . . . I AM . . . The Truth . . ." (John 14:6)

It is no accident that climate-change skeptics, holocaust-deniers, white-supremacists, and the conspiracy-
minded flock to the ranks of "conservatives," who embrace unreality . . . that is, unTruth.  It is no accident
that the Great Leader they revere is distinguished above all else by his arrogance and his lies.

Too many who call themselves "Christians" also join in lock-step with that Great Leader: join in fearing and
hating the "deep state" he claims opposes him, join in despising the "elites" (middle-class people of ability
who excell by education and hard work) who oppose him, join him in hating and fearing the "liberals" who
oppose him.  Join him, indeed, in fearing and hating everyone who opposes any of his delusions.

"Conservative Christians" have proof, of course, that the current Leader's enemies are their enemies.  Aren't
Christians, after all, the real target of the supposed "War on Christmas" ?  Haven't we seen Christians perse-
cuted by that city-council telling a baker he could not refuse to make a cake for a gay wedding ?  Isn't every
judge's decision not predicated on "conservative" ideology a threat to Christians' religious freedom ?

Lincoln's advice should still be heeded by all those so enmired in unreality that they (like their Great Leader)
wish for a "new Civil War."  Today's "conservatives," like those of 1861, should step out of their partisan mind-
set long enough to consider rationally the " . . . possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no
real existence ?"

Amen