Craziness

                Our world is going crazy!  Terrorists in the Middle East with all their gruesome killings are not the only crazy people in our world.  I opened a news site and found several articles suggesting that we are all going crazy!  The first article is about a man who is disfiguring his own face in order to look like a Marvel villain; the second one is about a strange looking American flag flying at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona; the third article was about a court case about people meeting in a home in Dallas, Texas, to pray and worship together; the fourth one is about Barack Obama’s recent comments.

                A 37-year-old man in Venezuela wants to look like a comic-book hero so badly that he is deforming his face to do so.  His forehead has “several subnormal implants,” part of his nose has been removed, his eyes are tattooed black, and his face is tattooed red and black to match “Red Scull,” a character from Captain America.  Can we all agree that this is not sane behavior?

                As to the strange flag flown at Davis Monthan AFB:  it is one of the flags sold as “Gay Lesbian American Flags.”  It has the standard field of blue with fifty white stars, but its stripes are rainbow colors.  Brian Kolfage retired from the Air Force after being wounded severely in Iraq.  The Wounded Warrior, wrote, “Everyone is free to express their sexual preferences in the Military in any way they want, but this flag flying on a military base is in violation of Title 4 of the U.S. Code…. `Flag:  stripes and stars on:  The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be fifty stars, white in a blue field.’

                        “The flag I saw is a parody of the American Flag with 50 white stars in the union, smeared with the rainbow colors as the stripes.  The moment the flag took on the union stars is where it becomes a violation, with my understanding of the U.S. Code.”

                Kolfage first posted his story on social media and “was contacted by hundreds of active duty Airmen thanking me for being their voice.”  One particular Air Force senior non-commissioned officer wrote of the “hypocrisy and agenda-based and biased rules” used by military leaders in enforcing regulations as they “tiptoe over moral and ethical decision making in an effort to please the minority, or to not ruffle any feathers.”  The non-com officer explained that other flags cannot be flown such as a Christian or a Gadsden flag and that Christmas parties must be called “holiday” parties in order to be politically correct, but a LGBT flag can be flown.

                The Public Affairs Office of the 355^th Fighter Wing contacted Kolfage with two messages.  The first message was merely to tell him that they were “reviewing the issue;” the second message was as follows:  “The installation commander carefully considered the opinions of legal professionals and the law.  The display in question is not an altered U.S. flag; therefore, its display does not violate federal law.  No action will be taken.”

                The flag looks like our Stars and Stripes with the exception of rainbow-colored stripes but is not considered to be “an altered U.S. flag.”  How can that be?  You can see a picture of the flag here.  If you do not like the decision of the installation commander, The link to contact the 355th Fighter Wing is no longer good or you could make your thoughts known.

                The religious freedom story was about a group of Orthodox Jews winning a court case against the president of their homeowner’s association.  The Orthodox Jewish group met together in a home to pray and worship and were taken to court!  Granted, about a dozen people met in the home three times a day to pray together with twenty to thirty meeting on Friday and Saturday evenings.  When did it become illegal for us to invite people into our homes for a spiritual experience?  Apparently it has not happened – yet.  The judge ruled that the Orthodox Jews could continue to meet in the home.  

                Glenn Beck sided with the homeowners’ group, but I am concerned about members of our church meeting in homes.  Our Relief Society always meets in a home for our quarterly meetings because youth organizations are using the meetinghouse.  Granted we meet once a quarter instead of several times each week, but drastic changes could have been made by another ruling.

                How can our nation remain sane when our Fearless Leader says and does such insane things?  At our National Prayer Breakfast Barack Obama spoke about “religious extremism” and how the “`twisting and distorting’ of faith is `not unique to one group or one religion.’”  He used Christians as an example because “some Christians also had a history of justifying bad deeds with the name of Jesus.” 

                “`We see sectarian war in Syria, the murder of Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, religious war in the Central African Republic, a rising tide of anti-Semitism and hate crimes in Europe, so often perpetrated in the name of religion.’ 

                “From there, the president implored listeners not to forget the negative history that Christianity has had in light of the Crusades and Inquisition – and with America’s own past with slavery.  `And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ….  In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.’"

                        A sane Commander-in-Chief would have come down hard on those who are committing such atrocious acts in the name of Allah, such as the burning alive of the Jordan captain by ISIS.  He could have spoken about the kidnapping of young girls and the raping of women in the name of Allah.  He could have spoken  about the murders of Christians across the Middle East.  All of these terrible attacks are being done TODAY, not hundreds and thousands of years ago! 

                These are just a few of the stories in our world that show our world is now insane.  Our world has gone crazy and will continue to go down this insane path until we turn to the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is the God of this world, and He is in control.  Those who are His side of the battle with evil will be blessed while those who fight with Satan will suffer the consequences of their choice.  Each individual has a choice and will be held accountable for that choice.  May we all turn to Jesus Christ and be saved!  May God bless America!