What, Me Worried?

Psalm 46
God the Refuge of His People
For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A Song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
Selah.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He raised His voice, the earth melted.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Selah.


My my my, aren't we in a season of turmoil! Our misbegotten financial failure is fevering markets around the world. Ho Hum.
This is what happens when Man rejects God. I've been broker than broke in my life, but whether I have a nickel or millions, God is there for me and all of His Children.
Don't worry. Be happy. Trust that no matter how much Man screws up, God is actually in charge. Those who created this mess want us all to pay for cleaning it up.
And they want to be in charge of the cleanup, if for no other reason than to stay out of prison. The scoundrels pretend to be saviors. Of course, this brings us back to Galatians:
" 7Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. 8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." Galatians 6:7,8

You don't see any sowing to the Spirit in this financial mess, do you? So guess what? That's right.
If you are a Christian, we know that your treasure is in Heaven. May God Bless you today.

Just a Few Words About Hypocrites

This may not get more comments than usual, but I think it may be read more closely. Everyone loves a hypocrite, don’t they? Or at least hearing about them getting their come-uppance? Yeah!
Hold on, Tigger.

“1“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 6:1

We all know that it is wrong to practice your righteousness before men to be noticed by them…but what constitutes “pretentious righteousness”? Making a show of your Christian giving? Press releases extolling your virtues? Practicing Mercy? Going to a church? Having a Bible? A bumpersticker? Faith?
Here’s the thing. A non-Christian may not be Spiritually discerning, but they do know that no-one can measure up to the impossible measure of Christ’s Righteousness. They can’t, and they are certain that Christians can’t either. So they must be hypocrites for pretending that they can.
But:
17For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.18So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. 19For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.”
Romans 5:17-19

When a Christian is made righteous before God, the impossible happens. And that doesn’t square those who think Christianity is all bunk.
Are there Christian hypocrites? Absolutely. We are human, we fail, and just like anyone else, we try to hide our failings. But we have the added knowledge that God is never fooled by our weak attempts to fig leaf our faults.

“1Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. 3But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. 4For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. 5Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” 1 Cor 4:1-5
If you know any Christian hypocrites, you may find some small satisfaction in the fact that God will deal with them. Show some mercy, guys.

Not Gilty

As in: not golden, not wealthy, not.
Where does most of the trouble in the world come from? The heart of man.
What does the heart of man yearn for?
Security. Love. Success.
Problem: This world is a pasteboard mockup, a false cosmos, where the security, love and success
offered are cheap knock offs of the true items.
Do you want security? It is only found with God. What God makes secure is safe through Eternity.
Love? The truest Love is that expressed by God for His Creation. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son to die for it’s redemption. That is Love.
Success?
“1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. 2Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. 3Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire.” James 5:1-3a
I will never be rich in this world. The siren call of gold leaves me cold. What I have I have through the Grace of God, and it is enough.
I am successful, success not of my own making, as I am Loved by God. THAT is Success. That is Security. And they are available to you. May God richly Bless you today.

How God Will Fix Washington

How God will fix Washington and the rest of the world comes to mind often. I am not a ‘doom and gloomer’; we read in God’s Word of a brighter future for this world, once the present dismal Gordian knot of a world system is done away with. This world we inhabit by the Grace of God will see its finest (final) days during what is called “The Millennial Kingdom”.
This post isn’t a theological dissertation, just an overview of what I believe the Bible shows us has happened, and will be happening in the future. If what I write bumps up against your theology or beliefs, please forgive.
To put it simply, this world has been being judged by God in stages since the Fall. Adam and Eve evicted from the Garden, man separated from God, from the Eden of a planet God had set for us. Here there be weeds. That’s a judgment we are still living in.
God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, made it possible for us to enter again into Eden, by being restored to fellowship with God. We (His children) are redeemed, but are in the stage where our (His) planet has not yet been fully redeemed. And we are still in sinful bodies, part of this unredeemed world.
God’s plan calls for the return of Jesus Christ physically to this earth, to set up His Millennial Kingdom, when He will rule with a rod of iron, the next stage of Judgment for this planet. This is the point where the ‘Gordian knot of a world system’ mentioned earlier is done away with. Most of the planet’s inhabitants will be joined in battle against God, and will be wiped out. This is an event often misunderstood-read Psalm 2 for a description of this battle. A small remnant of humanity will be left alive, will survive into the Kingdom Age. Zechariah chapter 14 details some of this period.
During the thousand years of Christ’s rule, Satan will be confined, and the human remnant will have the choice of accepting Christ or not, without being influenced by Satan. And there will be those who, even without that infernal influence, will reject Christ. That’s cold, man. With God Himself ruling from Jerusalem, with the evidence right before their eyes…some will still say no.
During this time we will be tasked with rebuilding the world, for Him, not against Him. The human remnant will repopulate the world-I don’t have all the answers, just questions about the status of His children during that age. I know that the ‘kings of the earth’ mentioned in Psalm 2 are the present age world rulers, and the ‘kings of the earth’ noted in Revelation 21:24 are those appointed by the King to rule beneath Him and pay tribute, ‘bring their glory’ into His presence.
“22I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.”
After 1000 years, Satan is allowed out for a short time, and he beguiles those who have rejected Christ to once more array themselves against Him. This is the final battle of Armageddon, after which not only Satan and those with him are destroyed, but the final judgment is accomplished when the Heavens and the Earth are replaced, noted in Revelation chapter 21:1- “1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”
Then, after all that the judgments will be done; His faithful flock will be with Christ in eternity.
So there you have it, a short thumbnail sketch of the future. There is so much more to discover about His Kingdom- Ezekiel, Daniel and Isaiah have much to impart to us about Christ’s return and Rule. You have opportunity now to get on the right side of History.
May God Bless you today.

I’ve fixed Washington!

I am half genius at times. Modesty demands that I stop there, but I have figured out how to fix Washington D.C., the seat of Government.

First, a few good mentions of the varied thought threads tumbling around our stratosphere:
Government IS broken. For a fairly large country, we don’t seem to get much bang for our tax buck; Two thirds of Wash (please forgive the abbreviate) is earning a living frustrating four thirds of Wash (government math is VERY facile and fluid-you can make figures do/prove anything!) from doing what it is being paid to accomplish.
Imagine a chess board. Imagine every square filled with a chess piece. Imagine the chess pieces stacked on each others shoulders so high that the very top pieces are scraping moondust. That is our broken government in inaction in Washington D.C.

Second, some of the most dangerous players in Wash are the ones who actually do get things done, often to the detriment of the country. Their allegiance is to the Wash chessboard-it’s all they know, it’s all they care about.

Third, for the 44th Presidential election in a row, earnest Politicians are declaring that they (and only they)
Will fix Washington. So call my little idea a backup plan, in case the most recent public servants somehow fail in their quest.

Here T’is:
1. Rather than taxing the peepul back to the Stone Age, I suggest a Tax on Public service.
If you want to be known as Senator Somebody….you must pay a minimum tax of $15,000,000 per year of service. And not out of the public till, either: you must use your own amassed fortune. If you can’t afford it, someone else will.
2. Anyone public servant found with his hand in the till loses the hand. Figuratively speaking, of course: we aren’t Muslim. But that servant would forfeit his entire fortune, and be tossed out of office and right into debtor’s prison, where the amount he attempted to steal would be the price of his freedom.
Note: Just by putting into practice the first two steps, we would see the end of influence peddlers, extorsio-lobbyists, “soft money”. No public servant would be willing to be ‘influenced’ if there was even a small chance that he would be caught and booted into debtor’s prison. The straight and narrow would have to be expanded for all of the honest traffic which brings me to
3. Any actual work which is necessary for the good of the country, such as maintaining the (lovely) infrastructure…will be done by private contractors, not government shovel leaners. Contractors win contracts by bid, not influence. Contractors lose bids by attempted influence, which subjects them to the same debtor’s prison. Can’t show partiality, just because they aren’t as low as public servants. Rather than expanding government to do work…cut a check and put the private sector to work. This means:
Schools? Put them up for bid. If you want to run a school, YOU pay government, government doesn’t pay you.
Health care? Up for bid.
Social Security? Up for bid.
You get the idea: there is no money to be made working FOR the government. Private sector is where the money is, where the money should stay.
4. Ambition in the heart of a politician is like a loaded gun in the hand of a monkey. Ambition must be channeled, directed into positive goals:
If a Senator or Representative can delete $150,000,000 per year of government waste, through firing layers of bureaucracy (ten times his minimum yearly tax)…he is allowed to run for a second term. If not…not.
No more lifetimes of living at the taxpayers expense, filling their pockets with tax dough. Once government gets cut down to a workable size, where goals are accomplished quickly and cheaply…maybe a third term would be allowed for a public servant. But they would have to maintain that government waste to minimum tax ratio. I don’t want to be considered unfair. The one who cuts the most waste can be President. For the next year. One term and out.

License To Ill 2008

Ah yes, the Beastie Boys of Autumn are coming back, and we should be ready.
Have you ever seen a person act inexcusably while intoxicated? That’s fancy language for:
“Have you seen drunks do stupid things?” Yes, yes, and yes to your next question.
As long as it is a social event: birthday party, holiday, big game…social drinkers are forgiven anti-social behavior, just so long as:
Nobody saw it
Nobody heard it happen
The cops don’t catch you.
You’re only guilty if caught. Isn’t that an interesting concept? Rather than being hindered by a conscience
(which, when a drunk is about his business, is bound, gagged and tossed in the truck of a car) the only rule is: don’t get caught.
Eventually, everyone sobers up; the conscience escapes the trunk and starts causing kettledrums to beat inside the head of those who have ‘drinker’s remorse’.
But this isn’t a post about alcohol consumption.
Near the end of every election we endure those charmless gremlins who steal the yard signs of opponents. “The Grems” might also key a car with the ‘wrong’ bumpersticker in a parking lot, or, as happened in 2004, shoot shotguns into campaign headquarters, slash tires on vans meant to get out the vote, physically beat those with whom they disagree politically.
Partisan pride is the excuse-it’s considered forgivable, as “both sides do it” (see my post on JABA), ‘the other side is evil incarnate, so they deserve much worse than they got.’, etc.
No, No and No.
Those who attempt to justify such behavior stain both their political party and their conscience. If your “blowing off some steam” becomes criminal, then you are guilty, whether or not someone witnesses your offense.
Don't be a partisan gremlin, and don't applaud the fools when they boast about their exploits.
For the record, I have never so much as touched an opponent’s yard sign. Or been drunk. The conscience is so much lighter when you accept responsibility for your actions, and have nothing to regret.

The Final Jesture

I have no right to be writing this post. It isn’t political, or humorous; it touches lightly on theology, but not as you might expect. A few short words about shortened life.
David Foster Wallace hanged himself the other night. I had never heard of him, had not read his acclaimed novel, “Infinite Jest”, and I have no obit, no praise for his work, no “Left us too soon.” to shake my head over.
Then why mention Wallace at all?
Affinity. A bonded humanity. Bear with me.
I guess I was affected by Wallace's suicide in part because he was younger than I am; to find life that miserable, that unbearable is sad. He was renown for his humor.
There is happy humor and unhappy humor, happy funnymen (example: Patrick F. McManus) and unhappy funnymen (Sam Kinison).
The clown’s painted smile often hides a frown.
Here’s the theology you might want to skip over: Man was created for God’s Praise, to commune with our Creator. But we live in a fallen world, where many (most) are separated from God.
That this IS a fallen world is very apparent to those humorists working out their displeasure with agile minds and acid tongues. Much of their humor is based on how rotten, how unfair the world is.
Anger turned inward will eat you up. Anger turned outward adds to the fallen state of the world; as what you sow, so shall you reap, and angry begets angry.
As I said, I have no idea about Wallace’s work. But I think we can infer that he wasn’t happy, that the world seemed wrong to him, or he wouldn’t have wanted to leave. His writing may have been joyous, humorous, without a touch of anger or bitterness. That’s the outside man seeking applause, kudos, laughter, hoping to bring peace to the inner man. The clown’s painted smile.
For the most part, I’m a happy funnyman. Because I was made to be at Peace with God nearly 30 years ago, I have no anger at being stuck in a fallen Creation. I do not vent at God, as Kinison (a former Assemblies of God minister) did until his car crash. I still have a dark side, but it would fit in a thimble with enough room left over for your thumb. Meaning that I’m human, but I’m getting over it.
I said that these would be a few short words about a shortened life. God sets the number of our days, and He decides when we've had enough. For His children, He decides when we are ready for More. It is a wonderful, joyous thing to be at Peace with God.

JABA the Nutcracker

I have a weakness which I wish were in a blind spot so that I wouldn’t keep noticing its presence in my Id.
I’m an incurable comic. I constantly think in puns and punch lines. Anyone reading FDW over the past few years has been subjected to posts dreadful in their naming:

“Putting the Ha Ha in Brouhaha”
“Who Put a Potato In Your Hat?”
“Compgencontso~”

You see how it is for me. And now JABA the Nutcracker. I ask for your forgiveness in advance, and remind you that FDW is worth the price you pay: $00.00000 per visit. If you’re time is valuable, and time is money, I’d better get to pointing towards my point.

Jaba. Not the Jabba of Hutt fame, but JABA-Just As Bad As.
We’ve heard it often through every election cycle: both sides are corrupt, both sides throw lies and mud at their opponent, neither side is right, we’re stuck.
Calm down, Jethro.
T’aint so, and t’aint funny, McGee. This is reminiscent of the Middle East Jamboree, where one nation (Israel) is considered JABA it’s close enemies, just as much a villain on the world stage as Iran or the ‘Palestinians’. T’aint funny there, either.
One of the two pictured above (um….Hobbes.) suggested that in the conflict between Georgia and Russia, both were at fault, one was JABA the other. Nope.

This is a hard nut to crack: how can someone be convinced that one candidate is in fact NOT just as bad as the other? I’m partisan. That’s not a bad word. It means my mind is made up as to whose policies and ideals more closely resemble mine. It means I have a side which I believe in, and one that I don’t, the same as most people.
There’s been so much persiflage and protestation this election that I don’t want to add to the stew. Vote for whom you want, vote against whomever you don’t, may the better team win. If, in your mind they are equal in their “Jaba-ness”…flip a coin.

World Can’t Wait!

dis·il·lu·sion v. dis·il·lu·sioned, dis·il·lu·sion·ing, dis·il·lu·sions To free or deprive of illusion.n.1. The act of disenchanting.2. The condition or fact of being disenchanted.

Matthew 24:3-4
3As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
4And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.”

Matthew 24:37-39
37“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Genesis 6:5-8
5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

As you were. Continue, please. Don’t mind me.
What was going on in the days of Noah? Nothing much-eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. Just life happening one day at a time. Business as usual. Can’t wait for the weekend.
How can that be a sign? Jesus answers His disciples query about the end of the age by reminding them of the days of Noah? Huh?
Here’s what was going on in the days of Noah. Man’s wickedness was gaining compound interest daily.
Man was getting all the more twisted, the further mankind got away from God. Soon only Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. The world was, to use a nearly improper and futile word, secular-without reverence for God.
Ever see that on TV? Notice anything when looking out your window that appears secular, that looks like a world ignoring God?

“until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
The world will lack understanding until the day the Lord returns, and they face God’s wrath. God will do this justly and fairly: no one can say that God hasn’t left the world witnesses: in nature, in His Word, in the faithful witness of His people down through the ages who have shared the Gospel, warning that sin will kill you dead but God the Father can set you free from sin through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
If this were a world without illusions, one where God is honored and revered as God…well, that world is coming, this world is passing, and Praise God for delivering His Children out of a world where both He and they are hated. As you were.

Movie Review-"Anatomy Of A Murder"

Forgive the intrusion of a non-Political post. I need a breather from all of that.
I just finished watching “Anatomy Of A Murder” starring Jimmy Stewart and Lee Remick, and it is as powerful as I’d remembered.
Otto Preminger was a masterful director, making a tight, interesting movie, based (follow me on this) on a novel, based in turn on an actual murder case in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 1952. The novelist Robert Travers was actually John D. Voelker, the defense attorney, here portrayed by Jimmy Stewart.
That is not the only weaving of reality with movie fantasy in this picture. The judge is played by Joseph Welch, a lawyer who had stood up against Joe McCarthy, the nemesis of Communists and fellow travelers and I did say that this was going to be a non-political post, so, moving on, Lee Remick was not supposed to star in the movie. Preminger had wanted Lana Turner, who supposedly went all ‘diva’ demanding costume changes which weren’t right for the character. She was booted, and Remick stepped up from a lesser role now played by Kathryn Grant, who was soon to marry Bing Crosby.
A little more weaving of reality: I’ve stayed in the Big Bay Inn, in Big Bay, Michigan. It is called the Thunder Bay Inn in the movie, owned by the murder victim; some scenes of the movie were shot in the Big Bay Inn. They sold the movie in their gift shop.
A little weaving of unreality: I love the music of Duke Ellington, who created the soundtrack for the movie; he has a cameo as “Pig-eye”, playing piano with Stewart. “Pig-eye” and his trio would never have been found in the U.P. in the 1950’s. In Preminger’s Hollywood version of the U.P., yes, but in reality, no.
Their inclusion, along with Welch’s judge, are affectations of the director Preminger. Just as off-putting was the picture of Lenin on the wall in Paul Biegler’s (Stewart’s ) law office. But I promise, no politics in this post.
George C. Scott is the legal adversary of Biegler, called up from the state capitol to take over for the county prosecutor who was overmatched. Scott is great at making you hate his character; all that he was missing was the Snidely Whiplash moustache and top hat.
If you’ve seen it, you probably like this movie. I know I’ve mentioned it here before as one of Stewarts best roles; if you haven’t seen it, look it up.

A Dangerous Ambition

Ambition, avarice, personal animosity, party opposition, and many other motives not more laudable than these, are apt to operate as well upon those who support as those who oppose the right side of a question. Were there not even these inducements to moderation, nothing could be more ill-judged than that intolerant spirit which has, at all times, characterized political parties. For in politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution.
And yet, however just these sentiments will be allowed to be, we have already sufficient indications that it will happen in this as in all former cases of great national discussion. A torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose. To judge from the conduct of the opposite parties, we shall be led to conclude that they will mutually hope to evince the justness of their opinions, and to increase the number of their converts by the loudness of their declamations and the bitterness of their invectives. An enlightened zeal for the energy and efficiency of government will be stigmatized as the offspring of a temper fond of despotic power and hostile to the principles of liberty. An over-scrupulous jealousy of danger to the rights of the people, which is more commonly the fault of the head than of the heart, will be represented as mere pretense and artifice, the stale bait for popularity at the expense of the public good. It will be forgotten, on the one hand, that jealousy is the usual concomitant of love, and that the noble enthusiasm of liberty is apt to be infected with a spirit of narrow and illiberal distrust. On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.

From The Federalist, first paper by Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton, Jay and Madison: America's first Conservative Bloggers

Live Blogging Sort Of Kinda Almost At FDW

Republican Convention 9-3-2008
Rudy Giuliani has just begun speaking. I had a light load at work, and decided to bug out early.
First I went to church; as I work nights, this was my first Wednesday night fellowship in quite a while. We had a very nice time, and now I’m listening to Giuliani, waiting for Palin. Rudy is contrasting Obama’s experience with that of McCain, Palin, and himself.
Ouch. Obama’s ears must be burning right now. I wish there were a camera on him; he must be listening to this.
*****
TV cameras are scanning the crowd, and there are a lot of happy faces out there. It’s a small thing, but the Republican Convention seems freer, more fun than the Denver shindig. Picking Sarah Palin seems to have picked up the energy in the Excel Energy Center.
*****
Rudy is hot. He mentioned that Obama has often changed positions on issues depending on the group in front of him.
Rudy: “Joe Biden…better get that vice president thing in writing.”
*****
I just noticed that Cindy McCain is holding Trig Palin. That’s a sweet picture.
*****
I’m back-had to go get coffee. Sarah Palin is speaking now, and going a great job. She doesn’t seem nervous-the more I see, the more I like, the more confident I am that John McCain picked the right Vice President.
*****
Now Palin is getting boos-not for her, but for her mention of the media which has opened up on her and her family with the mud cannon. The delegates love her, and this is a great night. I’ve seen quite a few Conventions over the years-this is a good one.
*****
I was called away for a bit, and now the Convention is ending. I’ve been watching/listening to the coverage on PBS…and during the singing of our national anthem, the PBS talking heads are dissecting the night. Our national anthem is playing, and they ignore it. Kind of sad.
*****
1983. I have someone cover the first few hours of my midnight shift so that I can go see the Statler Brothers in concert. It opens with a highlighted American flag on stage; we stand, hands on hearts, say the pledge of allegiance AND sing our national anthem before even one performer comes out. God Bless America.