Almost three weeks ago my 92-year-old mom was found on the floor of her bathroom by neighbors who then notified us. She was conscious but very confused. We don’t know how long she was there but feel strongly it was more than twenty-four hours. She did not have her Life Alert bracelet on. Some may remember that fourteen months ago my dad passed away at the age of 97 after a brief illness.

Mom said she wanted to stay in the house so we took measures (like Life Alert) to make sure she was safe. We checked on her weekly and visited if not every week then every other week if possible. She is 90 minutes from both my brother and myself. My parents have lived in their community for 47 years and have a good network of friends and help when needed. We noticed she was a little forgetful but in this stressful world I am a bit forgetful. But this is causing my blogging to be rather erratic. We are searching for the right place in the North Dallas area to move her closer to us now. Please pray we find the right place.

She spent three days in the hospital before being released to Rehab/Nursing Home near her home. We have been there almost every day since. Turns out she has dementia and because she was at home around familiar surroundings and by herself so much we just missed the signs. But the truth is we allowed her to tell us she was fine and because it made us feel good we believed her. We could feel that things weren’t right but couldn’t put our finger on it and quite honestly didn’t want to see it.

It struck me this week that this experience with mom is not at all unlike what most Americans have been experiencing. Instinctively we know things are not right but we shove it down because they don’t want to be bombarded with all things negative. So we listen to the main stream media that tells us that things are just fine and that the traditional values we have always espoused are old fashioned and it is time to remove all mores that have held society together. We have busy lives and don’t have time to watch what the government is doing. Our pastors do the same and many feel the church should not speak on these issues. Therefore, we shove that niggling in our heart down and content ourselves that God is in control and He doesn’t expect us to steward the nation that He gave us – self-deception.

As my family has so suddenly found out self-deception is alive and well. We had to repent for not being willing to see the truth. We are now in a transition from one reality with our mother to a new and difficult reality. Not the reality that she wants and not the reality that we want.

My prayer is that as Americans we will wake up and actually see what has happened to the nation we love. Then repent and take responsibility for the lack of stewardship that we have allowed to occur. In just three weeks we have an opportunity to change the course of the nation and only we can do it. The candidates are as different as night and day and the political party platforms are also like night and day in their differences.

My pastor just completed a two-part message on how we, as Christians, should view the election and it is the exact opposite from how most of us usually pick the candidate. We tend to look at the person running for office and make our decision based on his/her persona. But my pastor said that we should start from a place of principle first. Here is his biblically based list of how to decide who to support:

1. Principles – God’s principles work in our personal lives as well as in our civic lives.
2. Policies – these are formed out of the principles.
3. Politics – that make the laws (legislative component) for the benefit of all the people.
4. Person – who is the best person to carry out all the above?

So how do we understand the principles, policies and politics of each candidate? The party platforms state their agenda for the nation. The platform is the roadmap. The platforms are very clear about the policies they propose. Most American citizens have never read the party platforms. Instead we tend to take the easy way and vote like our peers, our family and ethnic traditions etc. Just like in our school days we still have an aversion for doing our homework.

I challenge you to read these two documents. You will be surprised by what you learn. Candidates are not perfect because they are human but there is usually one candidate that will support the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We are on the cusp of losing religious liberty and once that is removed we will lose all other unalienable rights given to us by God. It is time to take the blinders off and face the unpleasant reality then step up, stand up and speak out for liberty for the sake of your children and every future generation. Without religious liberty, we have tyranny.

Go to Amazon.com and purchase Lance Wallnau’s new book, “God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J. Trump and the Unraveling of America.” It is quite revealing spiritually and presents a strategy for turning the country around.