DARKNESS CANNOT VANQUISH LIGHT

For some time now, I've been thinking about, and concerned about, the darkness that seems to be creeping across this country of ours. I think we all feel it, sense it, and often believe we actually see it. We see it on our TV screens, read about it in our newspaper, see it in our movies (if we dare go to a movie anymore). We see it in the behavior of the teenagers and young adults that inhabit the malls and streets of the cities.

Most recently, we are seeing a trend toward the darker, seamier side of life in America, in the person of one of our presidential candidates, Barack Hussein Obama. This man has for many years been in the company of highly questionable individuals. He has consorted with a self-confessed and unrepentant terrorist, a man who committed the same crime for which Timothy McVeigh was executed- that of bombing a public building. Yet, this particular terrorist is walking free, boasts of his accomplishment, and seemingly fears no retribution. In fact, he and his accomplice/wife have moved on and are now "respected" college professors, according to one Googled account. One has to wonder under whose protection they exist.

There are many other things about Mr. Obama that I find questionable, if not downright scary, but it's not my intention to go into those things right here and now. What I am most concerned about is the identity and power source of whatever machine has put him where he is today - on the presidential election ticket of the United States. My parents would absolutely not believe it, and my grandparents would probably go into cardiac arrest.

Let me say right here, don't even bother waving the race card at me, because that dog won't hunt. Mr. Obama could be snow white and I would feel no differently about him. That's not even the issue, but his politics and his highly questionable background most definitely are. I think it's very interesting to note that if he were to apply for a job as a Secret Service agent, he would not be accepted. He could never be a presidential bodyguard. With his background, he could not pass the security check, not by a long shot, and yet he's running for president. It's evident that someone with a great deal of power wants him at the helm of this nation. Who? Why?

As I said, there is a darkness creeping across this land, and its name is Islam. If someone, somewhere, is funding Mr. Obama, and putting the right people in place to pave the way for him, I think we have to look no further than the Islamic powers. They have stated their intention to possess this land, and getting Mr. Obama in the White House will be a major coup. He says he is not a Muslim. I cannot judge him on that point, only God can do that. However, we can all see and judge his behavior toward the Muslims, and it seems to me that he is extremely cozy with them. I have not seen or heard anything that would make me think he would offer them any resistance at all. Having family members who are Muslims doesn't help much, either.

Now, about that spreading darkness. I sat in my church services last Sunday, and listened to my pastor's sermon. Some folks do listen in church, and would be able to tell whether their pastor was a radical, rabid, snot-flyin', anti-American racist. It wouldn't take twenty years to arrive at the conclusion, either.

The sermon was thoughtful, well-prepared and nicely delivered, as always. It was taken from Matthew, the fifth chapter, which admonishes Christians to be "the light of the world". The pastor spoke of our responsibility to take light into the world, to spread light, to illuminate the dark places. Somewhere along the way, a notion began to take shape in my mind, an idea about darkness versus light.

Darkness, you see, is a nothing. A neuter. A non-existent thing in and of itself. Darkness only exists where light does not. I once had the experience of being deep in Carlsbad Cavern, and our guide turned off the lights momentarily. The darkness was so thick, so black, you could almost feel it and taste it. I found it difficult to breathe, as though the darkness was suffocating me. Then he turned on one small lamp, and the darkness went away, instantly. It could only return if the guide turned that lamp off, and he did not. Instead, he turned on more lights, and even more on the trail ahead of us, and the darkness was cast out.

Darkness cannot impose itself on light. Just as cold is simply the absence of heat, so darkness is simply the absence of light. Darkness has no power over light, but light has total power over darkness.

This brings me to my point. If it is true that a darkness is spreading across this land, it is only because we are allowing the light to recede. This scripture has perhaps never been more relevant than it is right now:

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Matt. 5:14-16.

We are the light of the world? That's a pretty tall order, and it's getting taller day by day. The darkness is standing at our borders, ready to rush in when our light goes out. It will rush in, and it will suffocate us.

The leaders of that dark, oppressive, misguided belief system hate us, and want to see us dead, wiped away, exterminated, eliminated. They claim to be a "religion of peace" but their actions say otherwise. While we are allowing them to build their mosques in our suburbs, they are burning churches and slaughtering Christians by the numbers. They explain this by saying it's a "radical fringe" that does these things, but they do nothing to stop it. I would be very impressed if they arrested some of those radicals and held them accountable for their actions, but they do not.

Can you imagine the outrage, the screaming and posturing that would be exhibited if some lunatic here burned down a mosque? Imagine if some thugs killed a Muslim on his way to prayers. Never mind that our judicial system would convict the thugs of a hate crime and would punish them accordingly. That would not be enough to satisfy them, and the cries of protest would be heard around the world.

I'm no expert on Islam, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do know that it's a male-dominated system, in which women have little or no value and are subject to the whims of the men. Non-Muslims are considered "infidels", which is even worse than being a woman, and in fact, Muslim men are honored to have the opportunity to slay an infidel, thus buying themselves a higher place in paradise. This explains the suicide bombers.

This blind, hateful animosity toward non-Muslims is part of the darkness. It is not all of it, but it is a very dangerous part of it. Our only defense is light, the light of God and His plan for our salvation. We must let that light shine, not only our one little lamp, but we must continue to turn the light on ahead of us, to light the trail that goes beyond. We do this by teaching and thoroughly training our children, making sure that they are children of God. We do it through missions, by following Christ's commission to "go therefore into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature". We do it by witnessing to our friends and neighbors, not only by direct verbal witness but by leading a life that will point them to God. We do this so that when time turns our light out, all the lights around us will be so bright that it will be scarcely noticed. That's the only thing that will keep the darkness at bay.

The Muslims are deeply indoctrinated in their beliefs, from babyhood. They are very serious. Make no mistake. If we let the light of God go out in this country, the darkness of Islam will overrun us just as quickly as your bedroom goes dark when you turn off the lamp. It likely won't happen in my lifetime, since I'm already older than dirt, but it could happen in my children's lifetime, and my grandchildren almost certainly will see it. Are we ready for that?