When I was a kid, my family used to congregate occasionally to watch a National Geographic special on TV.  Whether it was Eskimos, Aztecs, or Ubangis, we would learn something new about places and cultures that were far from our normal realm.  They were always fascinating and well-done programs.

Obviously, things have changed at National Geographic.  A co-worker told my husband that they were running a program last night about what the world would be like if we ran out of oil, so we watched it.  In a word?  Tripe.  Balderdash. Utopian hogwash.  Political propaganda. Yeah, I know.  That’s more than a word, but I’m still ticked off that such a respected organization has descended to producing third-rate fantasy.

The program started out with us waking up one morning to find that all of the world’s oil fields had dried up overnight.  They don’t attempt to explain how or why this happened. Billions of barrels of oil just disappeared in an instant.

As the program progresses through a time-line, we see all transportation come to a screeching halt (except in South America, where good cars run on sugar cane); the world stock markets crash (and big, bad oil stockholders become suddenly penniless); a mass exodus of urban areas (people walk to warmer climates or upstate New York, where they just happen to have a cabin in the woods with a fire and some egg-laying chickens awaiting their arrival); and all of the evil American cows and pigs die, because they run out of feed.

But never fear.  This isn’t Armageddon.  It’s just a mid-course correction.  Because fifty years later (imagine the theme song from Mr. Rogers), we suddenly live in utopia.  Our skies are clear, Central Park is now an 800-acre garden that feeds New York City, and we’re all bio-diesel-driving vegetarians.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:20-25)

As always, new folks are encouraged to participate in the Word for Wednesday meme. If you’re interested, click on the WFW tab at the top of the page for details. Personally, I’d be delighted to welcome some new Christian bloggers into the mix.

I’ve been snooping around the internet a little lately, far from my normal haunts, and I came across a post on FrontpageMag about “The Christian Muslim Summit” currently playing out at the Washington National Cathedral.  The article by Faith J. H. McDonnell is titled Guess Who’s Coming to the Cathedral? and begins this way:

If you were counting on a robust offensive (or even a mild defense) from U.S. churches to stop in its tracks the incursion of Islamism in America, perhaps you should save up to pay your jizya (tax imposed on non-Muslims, dhimmis, for the right to exist). Many churches in America are neither willing nor prepared to counter the influence and infiltration of Islamism in their own congregations, let alone in the wider civil society. Rather than fear the judgment of the Almighty, these churches fear the label “Islamophobic.”

The path of political correctness is not limited to the church, of course.  It’s blatant in government and mainstream media, and came into glaring focus in the military after the Ft. Hood shooting:

His fellow students complained to the faculty about Hasan’s “anti-American propaganda,” but said a fear of appearing discriminatory against a Muslim student kept officers from filing a formal written complaint.

Society at large can be forgiven for swallowing lies they’ve been force-fed for decades, but Christians – Christians should know better.

Christians must know they are not going to be loved by everyone they meet.

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own;
but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world,
because of this the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’
If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you;
if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake,
because they do not know the One who sent Me.
(John 15:18-21)

Christians must know they are not called to make friends with the enemies of Christ, but to speak the truth with love.

What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light;
and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.
Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
(Matthew 10:27-28)

And Christians must know that embracing Islam is denying Christ.

Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men,
I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.
But whoever denies Me before men,
I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.
(Matthew 10:32-33)