My Vision for America

A Vision of What Should Be

By: Dr. Jeff Fuller

In the spring of 1963, my mother-in-law was expecting the birth of her third child in August and I was just getting started in life, but in Birmingham, Alabama, things were heating up.  It was like a tea kettle on the hot eye of the stove: singing and sizzling; singing and sizzling.  What that tea pot was about to make was much more than people ever dreamed possible.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. organized a mass demonstration in Birmingham, Alabama against segregationist, resulting in fire hoses being unleashed on the protestors, dogs being released, and individuals being assaulted.  Yet, they continued to sing, “We Shall Overcome” and to march for the rights they so desperately sought.

Later, in that summer of 1963, Dr. King led a massive, peaceful march on Washington, D.C.  Among the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, jamming the Mall were some 200,000 white and black Americans quietly holding ground on the nations heart of government.  It was a televised, peaceful, orderly demonstration having a powerful effect on the nation.  Yet, Dr. King’s speech that day had a much more powerful punch, as he articulated beautifully what America could be and might become:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed…I have a dream…that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…So let freedom ring…From every mountainside, let freedom ring…to speed up that day when all God’s children, black and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.’”

Recently I listened with a warm heart to a minority who will be running in Montgomery County for a seat to a state level district office.  Dr. Troy Towns is a motivational speaker and political activist, owner of Bell Road Eyewear in Montgomery, and a past leader of the Montgomery TEA Party.  He spoke from his heart and did so with passion and expertise, both in the current problems facing us as a state and the need for Godly people to step up and take leadership roles in all levels of government.

Dr. Towns is presently Vice-President of the Montgomery County Alabama Minority GOP.  Montgomery County Republican Party reported in their blog (February 21, 2013) an announcement of the formation of a minority organization of the GOP party.  They wrote, “Alabama Minority GOP has as its mission to provide conservatism in the minority community, encourage educational and philanthropic initiatives and to inspire the public interest.”  He works alongside Chairman William Green, Jr. and Tijuanna Adetunji, a founding member and Secretary/Treasurer.

Instead of concentrating on the “I Have a Dream,” Dr. Towns spoke in conclusion about “I Imagine…”  His passion took hold and made me think about scripture related to vision.  He was imagining a nation much like history tells us it really is, and what she can become again, because God is giving us one more chance to get things right.

He was speaking the words of the writer of Proverbs with an intent to live them out in public office, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” (Proverbs 29:18 KJV)  Another translation says, “Without revelation people run wild, but one who keeps the law will be happy.” (Proverbs 29:18 (HCSB)

In essence what I am saying today is that we need a dream, we need to imagine. We need a vision and we need to dream it, imagine it, envision it and implement it now!  Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their nation!  Now is the time to put our best foot forward and march forward with purpose and determination!  Now is the time!  Now!

Now is the time for us to go back to the roots of this nation and join the way of the pilgrims.  They came to the wilderness in search of a new life, free from the control of a dictator and to throw aside the constraints of a tyrannical system of government.  In faith they came to this shore to proclaim themselves as a new nation…

Now is the time to return to God, to exalt Him above all others and to worship Him and Him alone.  Those Freedom Searchers established places to live and the first house built was not the courthouse or the philosophy house or the saloon or the house of ill repute; no, no and a thousand times no!  The first house erected was the House of Worship, a place where they would gather and worship the God of Heaven and Earth.  They gathered for prayer, for fellowship, for Breaking of the Bread of Life.  They knew that God had led them, so they wanted to make sure He was the center and circumference of all they did. 

You can see it now, there in the middle of other smaller structures for living and doing business, stood the House of Prayer, the place to gather for Worship with the Family of God. Every Lord’s Day they ventured to that house, they stopped work and toil for a while to spend that time seeking God’s will and favor.  They were happy, they were content, they were taken care of and they acknowledged that it was not by power or might, but by the very hand of God that they were where they were and why they were there.  Until we return to the God of life, we will have no life, none at all…

Now is the time to return to the determined days of freedom.  When those men gathered in the hot, sweaty house of government and hammered out the principles of a free nation they labored, they debated, they even argued; but most importantly of all, they prayed.

It is time government returned to the acknowledgement and proselytization of the one true and Holy God…

Now is the time for the nation to exercise her rights as a free people.  Our nation is not able to freely exercise the principles presented to us in the Bill of Rights.  We say that we have freedom of speech, freedom to bear arms, or the freedom of religion; but do we really have that right?  I am afraid it is slowly, systematically being eroded into nothing more than words. 

If we speak our convictions, there is someone bound to talk us down, belittle us, or defame us.  We are called bigots, racist, gun toting extremist.  We are told we have no right to speak such propaganda as freedom, religion, or national pride.

When we speak of God, there are those that say we cannot do that, because we will offend someone.  If we pray in the name of Jesus, someone passes a rule/law that says we cannot do that because not all believe in Jesus as the Savior.  We say “Merry Christmas” or erect a Nativity scene and the populace is stirred to indignation and revenge.  When we practice our religious beliefs in the public square, someone is bound to say that we are infringing on their rights not to practice religious beliefs.

We are accused of carrying violence out on our nation if we own guns.  We are accused of promoting tyranny if we support conservative beliefs and acts.  If we teach our children the “Golden Rule” or enact punishment for wrong doings, we are called bad parents, with a tendency to promote negative mental health on young lives.

Oh, now is the time for all those who believe right is right and wrong is wrong to stand up, speak up, and stay the ground for we will not be moved…

Now is the time to call murder what it really is: MURDER!  The wholesale abortion of babies-those living, developing babies in the womb of a mother-is murder and nothing less.  Every day 3,000 plus babies die at the hands of some person who calls themselves a doctor.  Every day the lawmaker’s trade favors to keep these slaughter house businesses around our nation alive.  Every day some woman somewhere contracts some awful condition because of this practice.  Every day some underage teenager aborts - MURDERS - her parent’s grandchild without their knowledge or consent.  Every day there is more blood, and it is on the hands of Americans…

Now is the time for America to stand up and guard the sanctity of marriage.  The Bible clearly teaches that marriage is something that exists between a man and a woman.  There is nothing else that can be said.  Yet, there are small groups (somewhere around 10% of the nation’s population) pushing to get their voice heard and their “rights” recognized.  They want their way no matter what the consequences may be or the fall-out is; they are going to try every trick in the book to get their way.  It is time that God’s people stood up and spoke up and stay their ground….

Now is the time for our children to be taught the truth about history.  We are allowing educators the freedom to purport their way of thinking on the life of these young, moldable minds; in the end we are raising a generation that is disrespectful, disengaged, and dangerously bordering on socialism. 

I am thankful we have strong, morally upright, Godly educators who are attempting to do the right thing as they teach our children.  They stand their ground as best as possible, and I wish there were many more of them.  Yet, they fight a battle to do what they do within the environment in which they have to work.  Sometimes they even have to bend to the system.  Oh, how we need to pray for these individuals who are standing for right; and pray for more like them.  In the meantime, Christians need to be heard - speak loudly, speak often and speak clearly with intelligence…

Now is the time for people to be put on notice: If you don’t work; you don’t eat.  Every aspect of the social order knows this is the fact, except the two legged creatures that roam around looking for the government to feed them, clothe them, and give them the American Dream.  It is a Biblical mandate that we have avoided and tried to hide from, but it is bigger than life in today’s time…

Now is the time for Political Correctness to be done away with; oh, my, do we ever need to do away with it.  The Word of God says that the yes means yes and the no means no.  We need to call things what they really are and quit trying to sugar coat or cover it up.  If it is sin; then call it sin!  If it is shame; then call it shame!  If it is against moral truth; then call it a violation of moral truth.  A lie is a lie is a lie; stealing is stealing; gambling is morally wrong; drugs kill; alcohol alters the mind; and the list could go on and on…

Now is the time to catch the vision of what American can be…

“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government become destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundations on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

A return to God, to true patriotism, to the way of the Pilgrims, to freedom and happiness - that is what we need.  We are a Nation - One Nation UNDER God!

 

Edited by Marie Mallory 5/23/13