I have noticed over the last forty years that people; especially the younger generation are not taught how to think for themselves. Some readers will view this as a slam on young people, but I want to say, "It is not." Young people do as they have been taught. My point is; most of the school systems in America no longer teach critical thinking as part of their curriculum, therefore there is a short list of deep thinkers in this generation. Our country began getting into serious trouble when the focus of our educational facilities changed from creating critical thinkers to teaching our children how to input information into an electronic apparatus that does the thinking for them. As a result of this teaching method we have seen the children's test achievement scores sink so low school systems have had to lower their graduation requirements or they would have very few people graduating from their institutions. Since most of today's teachers were taught by this new methodology; they themselves don't have a clue how to fix the system they were trained in; so a few years ago the masterminds behind public school education came up with a brilliant plan; instead of refocusing on teaching the students how to think for themselves; they lowered the standards of achievement required to pass from one grade to the next so it would appear the children graduating from our present day schools are doing so in greater numbers and are smarter than people were a few years ago. This is a false impression that is having a devastating effect upon our society. While today's students know how to push buttons on a electronic device to get an answer to appear on a digital readout; when they have to use their mind without the aid of an electronic device they become confused because that kind of thinking is outside their normal thought patterns. Colleges and universities have been hit hard by this system transformation as well. As a result of the poor education the college bound student receives at the lower levels, they, too, have had to lower the college entrance requirements accordingly; and university officials tell us it is hard to find qualified students to fill their classrooms. I can believe that. And what was once the greatest land of educational opportunity in the world has been reduced to mediocrity and is losing ground in quality of education to what was once considered third world countries. 

 

As a result of lower education requirements just about everything this country manufactures today should be classified as slip shod at best. The old timers who took pride in the quality of their products would be ashamed of the quality of products lining store shelves today. I myself have thought many times, "This is nothing but junk and not worth the powder and lead it would take to blow it to hell." The sad truth is, a few years ago these kinds of slip shod products would not have been allowed on store shelves. The store owner would have been embarassed to display them, but today they are common place and in almost every store. This level of mediocrity our country has fallen to has been accepted by the present generation as the best we can do. And the country that once produced the best of everything is now scorned by the very same countries we once laughed at and called their products 'cheap junk'. Sad as it may be; as a result of this shift in educational requirements this country is now living on yesterday's dreams of what made it great; and the world knows it. That's why they no longer fear the nation that was once revered by all as the greatest nation on earth. Where has our respect gone? We've put a price tag on it and exported it overseas along with the technology that is being used to break our economy. We the people are at fault because we keep electing people to public office who have or will sell themselves and their power to the highest bidder. And why does the general populace keep allowing this to happen? Because people have pretty much quit thinking for themselves and when a person or a country no longer knows how to think things through; the every day pressures of life beats them down. History is full of names of great countries that have slipped into oblivion because they stopped doing the things that made them great. Are we on a collision course with destiny? I believe we are if we don't get things turned around and once again begin to teach our young people how to think, and how to solve problems instead of dodging issues hoping they will go away. When a person or a country becomes more interested in numbers than they are in quality; they are in trouble. Mediocrity can never replace quality and when it does we have what we have today. When people are not taught how to think and solve problems, they cheat everyone by lowering the standards of quality to make it appear we are gaining instead of losing ground. When people are not taught how to think; they learn how to blame the system, or those who oppose them in an effort to cover their lack of abilities. If this type of thing is allowed to go on for very long it becomes accepted as the norm; and what was once normal becomes abnormal; and what is not normal loses touch with reality and passes away into the abyss of history.

 

[Psalms 33:12] says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Some sixty years ago this country began to get away from the One who made it great, and who sustained it by His power. He not only set the standard for our living, but He set the standard for our educational facilities, our work ethics, and our ability to respond in emergency situations. Instead of making excuses we learned to make do with what we had at hand. But, as we began to withdraw from Him; our way of life began a downward course of travel. And we have now reached the point on the slippery slope of our downhill descent that there is no chance for us to get off of it if we do not "Repent and turn away from our slothfulness and our wickedness; and once again make God the Lord of our nation and our lives." What once was the light of the world has become the nation of darkness that sets the standard for wickedness around the world. And whether we realize it or not; the eyes of the whole world are upon the great whore who abandoned her master to follow her lover Deceit. While she commits fornication with lust and greed; the world waits for the darling of the world to be brought to her knees where she can be bound and her life taken from her. Our God tells us, "Pride goes before a great fall."  And this nations pride in its wickedness has replaced our once great humility that gladdened the heart of our God who now like an earthly father must sit by and watch helplessly as his rebellious daughter who has abandoned His love and instruction learns the harsh realities of life's lessons He once protected her from. OTBP

If you are one of the fortunate people who are serving the Lord and have not gotten yourself into debt; consider yourself extremely blessed and wise. That is not the case for the majority of the 84% of Americans who call themselves Christian. Brothers and sisters have you ever really given any thought concerning why God blesses His children? You know God has a reason for doing everything He does. He doesn't do things because He has nothing else to do. God blesses His children for a reason; and it isn't just so we can spend His provisions upon our lust and live in the costliest houses or drive the fanciest cars and wear designer clothes. Sure God wants us to look good and be comfortable, and He doesn't want us living on the street corners of life begging bread from His enemy or eating the worlds left overs out of dumpsters; but neither do we have to dress like kings to let the world know that God has blessed us. And especially not if it means we are spending money we don't have to purchase those items. There is a scripture in the proverbs that tells us, "The borrower is subject to the lender."  [Proverbs 22:7b] Or in other words, Solomon tells us a person in debt isn't any longer their own man until they have paid their debt to the lender. From the time we borrow until the debt is paid off; that lender has a claim on a portion of our life and income; and if we don't pay him what he is owed; he can stake a claim on what we own and take possession of it. That's the law! And if we owe more than one creditor; we have more than one person taking away a part of our paycheck; and the more debt we have to pay off, the less we have for our own personal use. God made us to be free men. The only person we are to be in debt to is the Lord. And every person on the face of this earth owes the Lord a debt they can never pay; it can only be forgiven. And as you well know earthly lenders are not as forgiving of our debts as the Lord is. They want what is due them on the date due; and if it isn't paid by that date they add interest and penalties to it and take yet more of our paycheck. However, when we are born again, God gives us an opportunity to start over no matter what shape our life is in. And if we will do things His way He will teach us how to live free of debt, overcome the sin in our life, and rise above every situation that has a claim on our life. God's desire is for all of His children to be free men. People who are happy, healthy and whole; free to serve Him with their whole heart. He wants us so because "Debt is a cancer that is consuming the body of Christ." Because of our ignorance of God's Word and we are a self seeking people; the church of Jesus Christ is as full of this debt cancer as any person in the world. The church is the instrument God brought into the world to be a shining example of His power and love to the lost and dying that they might see how truly blessed the body of Christ is and want to be a partaker of their blessings. But because the church is as sick and as broke as those who don't know Him; God's glory and magnificence is not being reflected into the world. And Satan uses the poor state of the church to point out to the unbeliever that the majority of them are living better than those persons who say they serve God. The sad truth is; the devil is right. In most cases the world does live better than the church; they are healthier because they exercise more, they are more aggressive in their pursuit of happiness, and they are more prosperous. Jesus made the statement in the "Parable of the Unjust Steward" in [Luke 16:8] in comparing the people of the world with the children of God, "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."

 

I have often wondered if the church knows why God blesses us. And by the way, we are all blessed whether we know it or not. We may not think so because we have spent more than our allotted blessing, but we are blessed. The Christian gets into debt and trouble when they try to live like the rich man down the block and spend more than they have coming in. Our income is our allotted blessing. And when we have more money going out than coming in, we are in debt. The person who goes into debt is promising to pay for something based upon future earnings that may or may not be there when they get there. And when they get there and the money isn't there as they hoped it would be; they then realize they have a problem. The problem was birthed when they began living on presumption and not God's Word. I know a lot of people think it is impossible to live debt free because of the cost of everything. But when a person thinks that way they are believing the lies of Satan and eliminating God from the equation. The devil is the author of the world's financial system and it is not designed to bless; it is designed to take away from us the blessings of God. But if we will follow God's plan and do as He instructs us in His Word, pay our tithes, and give gifts and offerings to whom He directs us; He will take what we give and multiply it to not only to meet the needs of other people, but our needs as well. It is when we are in debt and don't have the money to pay our tithes and give gifts and offerings that we end up keeping back what God would have used to bless us. God cannot bless what we do not give.

 

Christian are supposed to be smart enough to realize that God's intentions are for His children to take of what He has blessed us with to further His kingdom upon the earth. If He did not intend for us to further His kingdom on the earth; He would not have commanded us to pay tithes to the local church and to give gifts and offerings to help those people whose needs are greater than our own. People don't realize this but when we don't pay tithes to the local church and give gifts like we are suppose to that the person God wanted to bless with the money we should have given won't receive the blessing God intended for them to receive. And do people not realize that we are accountable to God for the care of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. The Christian thinks small and has a tendency only to think locally, but God thinks globally. He sees the needs of those people on the other side of the world just as clearly as He sees our needs. Man has a tendency to only be concerned with the needs in his own household, but God has the needs of every person on the earth on His mind. And if the church doesn't look out for those people who live a half a world away; who is going to? The devil? No. He's the one trying to kill them. God's children are the one's who are supposed to help God save them by giving a portion of what He has given to us to bless them so they too might have the opportunity to come to know Christ as their Savior.

 

Brothers and sisters, God uses what the Christian gives to the needy not only to meet their need but to introduce Himself to that person and the Holy Spirit can then minister to that person creating a desire in their heart to learn more about the loving God of the Christian. But if the Christian has nothing to give to the needy because they spent more than they should have trying to keep up with their rich neighbor; the Holy Spirit has nothing to work with and that person is being cheated out of an opportunity to meet the Lord because we didn't pay our tithes and give our offerings as the Lord has commanded. It is easy for a hungry person to turn a person off when their empty belly is speaking louder to them than the words of the preacher, but when that physical hunger has been satisfied with food given in the name of Jesus Christ; that person is more open to trying to understand why a perfect stranger would help them expecting nothing in return. OTBP