It has yet to be determined what happened to “Big Tex”, the iconic greeter of guests to the Texas State Fair. Personally, I think someone applied too much sunscreen to his face and it caught fire. Things like this happen when we don’t read the product use directions closely. Every time we think we’re having fun somebody does something stupid, then someone gets hurts and the party’s over. A simple fun product like “silly string” is very dangerous after reading the warnings on the can. “Highly flammable” and “Could cause irritations to skin and eyes” and “Should not be used in enclosed areas”, that means inside the house, should convince you to put it back on the shelf before taking it home for your child’s birthday party. I think the whole idea is, burning candles and the lack of fresh air don’t mix with evaporating petroleum products no matter how much fun you’re having. Sunscreen is supposed to keep you from burning!
I have a hard time ignoring the history of the world and watching the blissful citizens of this country repeating the same devastating blunders that have brought other nations to ruin. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” We have heard it over and over again, but we don’t believe it. Douglas McArthur said, “History fails to report a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has either been a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to the ultimate national disaster.” Sin is a nation’s shame. Lying, business dishonesty, pleasure-seeking, murder, rape, fraud, drunkenness, abortion, drug addiction, robbery, lust, selfishness, greed, homosexuality, pornography, gambling and such fill our newspapers and airwaves. Things like this can’t be ignored hoping they’ll go away. Peter Marshall once said, “By our tolerance of some wrongs, we have come close to being intolerant of the right.” I’m afraid we’ve surpassed that prediction as there are those who are pressing hard to muzzle the moral teachings of the Bible and those who herald it to the remnant of the faithful. In his “Farewell Address” George Washington stated, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensible support. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor and subvert these great pillars of human happiness – these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.” He went on to say, “…both reason and experience forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” He doesn’t sound like a supporter of “separation of church and state” to me.
[Daniel 5] King Belshazzar was giving a big party in the palace for a thousand of his nobles and drinking wine with them. He ordered that the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar, his father, had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, be brought in so they could drink from them. While the plunder of the temple was being desecrated, God’s judgment and wrath fell upon Belshazzar. A hand appeared and wrote God’s judgment on the wall for all to see. In the story no one could interpret the writing except one, Daniel, whom everyone said was a man with “the spirit of the gods”. Daniel reminded the king how his father fell from the throne and said, “…you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled yourself, though you knew all this.” Then Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall. Our days are numbered without God’s grace.
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