THE WONDERER
By Rick Ashlock
I went out drifting through the capitals of tin
Where men can’t walk or freely talk and sons turn their fathers in.
I stopped outside a church house where the citizens like to sit.
They say they want the Kingdom, but they don’t want God in it.
I went out searching, looking for one good man.
A Spirit who would not bend or break, who would sit at His Father’s right hand.
Johnny Cash (1932-2003), The Wanderer
I read this excerpt from a bulletin article recently and it made me wonder:
A high school valedictorian who had the plug pulled on her microphone as she gave an address referring to Jesus Christ has filed a lawsuit against school officials, claiming that her rights to religious freedom and free speech were trampled. Brittany McComb, 18, said she was giving her June 15 commencement address to about 400 graduates of Foothill High School (Henderson, NV) and their family members when the sound was cut.
Ms. McComb said, “I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech. God’s the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my Lord and Savior.”
Evidently, Ms. McComb had presented a draft of her speech to the school who had forwarded it for approval to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU had censored her speech so that it would not include any references to God or Jesus. She received the censored version and opted to deliver the original version of the speech, at least until she was interrupted.
I wonder why some people are so offended by the mentioning of God. While they may defend their outrage by standing upon the constitutional mandates of separation of church and state, it is not constitutional provisions which generate the necessary financial support for their campaigns to end prayer in school, before football games, at graduation ceremonies, etc. Only a strong, visceral abhorrence to the mere mention of God could provide sufficient motivation for the extremes of persecution directed towards individuals, especially young people, who choose to express their faith publicly.
I also wonder why so many Christians are surprised when they hear about people being persecuted for their faith. They seem to think being an American should shield them from any restrictions on the expression of their faith. Perhaps it should, but it won’t.
America is not the Kingdom. The Kingdom is the body of believers, the followers of Christ. Even in the Kingdom, which has come, God’s will is not always done as it is in Heaven. Lesser kingdoms like the nations of Earth will never fully implement God’s will, especially when the Church has not truly done it. As long as there are divisions and acts of selfishness within the Church, we cannot hope to live in a land that will fully abide by God’s will. Even if the Church did fully comply with the will of God, earthly kingdoms probably would not.
I guess Johnny Cash will always be wandering and I’ll always be wondering.
Sunday, 6/25 Stats:
Attend...................68
Cont.......................680
Wk/avg................738
Wk/bud...............737
The Sunday school teacher asked each of her children to write a short note to a missionary to tell him they were praying for him. "The missionary," the teacher said, "is a very busy man, so tell him that he is not expected to answer the class."
When they were finished, the teacher went over the letters to see what the children had written. One little girl had written, "Dear Brother Brown, we're praying for you. We don't expect an answer."