Daniel 3 and the American Flag

Recently, I came across the "Flag Code" for the American Flag, and was astonished to find similarities to an age-old Bible story. Before I continue, readers be advised that you may feel two things, convicted or angry. It's simply surprising that idolatry is comonplace throughout all faucets of our lifestyles.

The "Flag Code" says:

During a rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present, except those in uniform, need to stand at attention facing the flag with the hand over the heart. Anyone who is in uniform is required to raise their right hand and salute the flag.

Daniel 3 says:

Then the herald cried aloud; "To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations and languages, 'that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with the music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. . ."

There are obvious parallels here; A command, nationaly familiar music, and something to direct our worship to (other than God). The questions that need to be answered are, "have we been serving an idol? Do we serve our country or do we serve God? Yes we may be free; but should we praise our country and it's officials for that, or God? The scary thing is that this clandestine type of idol has wormed its way into christian churches themselves. It has become the backbone of the christian coalition. Politics have always existed; whether through dictatorships, democracies, republics or monarchs. They are all still politics. Nebuchadnezzar was a politician and dictator, and maybe the citizens of his nation were or were not aware of their clear idolatry. But we're outsiders viewing in. In the 400 plus years that Israel was captive in Babylon, I'm certain many laws, rules and regulations became commonplace traditions, even though we now know they were fallousies. I mean really, only three men out of hundreds of thousands of citizens (many who were captive jews) refused to pledge their alegiance to the golden statue. This should seriously make us think about who we serve. Man or God.

The Infestation of Sexual Immorality

I'm fed up! Every society in the past that has reached its pinnacle of lude, outrageous, grose, and disturbing sexual freedom has been destroyed by the Lord of the Bible. And America be ready. We, as a nation, have increasingly become desensitized to the grasp of sexual immorality; immorality as the God of the Universe sees it. The Bible is clear in Romans 1, "Therefore, God gave them up to the lusts of their hearts, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. Those who exchanged the truth for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, amen. Therefore, God gave them up to vile passions, for their women exchanged natural relations with men for what was unnatural, likewise their men exchanged natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men commiting shameful acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their sin. Therefore God gave them up to a debased mind, to do or what not to be done. . ." The ruin of our nation and our lives will be the corruption of our minds in the things of the world. The world is a whore, that God demands us to "KEEP AWAY!" That is a warning. When we see signs on a cliff, or in a construction zone, or on the beach, we know that they are life or death warnings. Too many people ignore those carefully placed signs and end their lives by falling of a cliff, getting mauled by sharks, getting crushed by falling cables. The warnings are there for us. If we take lightly the "KEEP AWAY!" warning signs, death will come knocking at our door, and very soon will take us. Parents be wise to this; fathers listen, you are the gatekeeper of your house. The blame lies with you when these infestations leak into your household. You'll be held accountable.

God or Dictator

One way or another humans will always have someone running their lives. Face it, governments are either under the law of God or under the law of one man. The problem with western societies that are increasingly heading towards secularist statism, is that they are riding the current of Judeo-Christian roots. Those roots are like a jet and governments are caught up in it's draft. What happens when we push the jet aside and try to go it alone? We inevitably will fall like a rock! Without the "Dictatorship" of God, we stand only one other option, the dictatorship of man. Because no one wants anarchy, so someone has to come from within our ranks and tell us what we can and cannot do. Otherwise we could do what ever we wanted without anyone doing anything about it. The government won't allow that, so they have to institutionalize standards based on one man's, one parties, one groups views. And it will always be the view of the largest population. So as the christian culture becomes less popular, we will begin to see the values of our societies shift from the morals of God to the standards of man.