This is how it’s played. You choose sides. Each team grabs hold of one end of a sturdy rope that is stretched across the pig mire pond. When the judge says go, you dig your heels in the dirt and pull. The strongest team will pull the weaker team into the pig mire. That’s how it is with tug of war.

There is a mighty tug of war going on in our country today. The liberals are one end of the rope and the conservatives are on the other. The pig mire in the middle is the destruction of a political party’s agenda. This proverbial tug of war began after George Washington and continued with Lincoln and Eisenhower finally down to the Bush administration. It used to be a simple game of tug of war, where the pig mire was a pond of clear water where the losers would have a nice swim in post-election blues, but now the stake are life and death, freedom versus bondage.

Both teams are pulling with the force of invincible Clydesdales. One day the liberals move two steps forward and the conservatives move one step back. The next day the conservatives move one step forward and the liberals move two steps back. The grip is a deadlock. No one is really winning or losing. Oh there is a victory here and there, but both teams are far from the pig mire as the pull goes on.

Today the rules of the game have changed. Terrorism and third-world powers bent on destroying America have joined the game. There were a few lifted eyebrows when the third team picked up the center of the rope between the two teams. At first the American teams laughed at the third-world county’s feeble attempts to frighten the mighty teams pulling for their day in the sun. Of course, one mighty yank of the rope would pull the new third-world team into the water, leaving the other teams to continue their game. It was great sport, and why not let the little guy have some fun! But as the third-world teams gain power, it is no longer a sport. It is a deadlock fighting for supremacy. America is in danger.

Terrorists and third-world powers are dragging the mighty teams of America closer and closer to the pig mire. The pig mire is no longer election blues and lost campaigns. It is the demise of democracy as we have cherished it for over two hundred years.

The liberals see the third-world countries as a way to get into power. If they slacken their hold and give imperceptible aid to the third team, it will tire the conservative team, and they will not have strength against the liberal’s final surprise tug-to-power. After all the liberal team is strong and once in power will be able to win the terrorist and third-world powers to their way of thinking. “You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.” Every Christian knows the rules about that. The question is: Do the third-world countries know the rules? Nobody asks that question because they are in the heat of the tug.

Some moderate conservatives see the third-world team’s plight as a way to gather votes for elections, so they give imperceptible support to the third team. Of course once in power they will win their opponents over to their way of thinking, but the question remains. Do the opponents want our way of life? Do they want to pay the price we have paid for our freedom, or do they simply want the benefits of a free ride on the backs of those who have paid the price? Nobody stops to ask that question. After all, they are in the heat of the tug.

The words of the Savior in Matthew 12:24-25 puts a magnifying glass over the tug of war and becomes a grim prophesy of the future. “And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

The tug of war isn’t the only game politicians are playing and losing to the third team. Every day we watch a strategic game of tic-tack-toe in our economy. Pork barrel spending is rampant. I’ll put my “X” on this square and you can put your “O” on that square. In the real game of tic-tack-toe, if a person knows how to play the game, he can win every time. If both opponents know the strategy, no one wins. The “cat” always steals the game. In the political tic-tack-toe the cat is winning most of the games at the price of the American people.

There is another political game that is a real winner. This game of political hide-and-seek. When we were children we would wait until about dark and then we’d choose one person to count while we all hid. The person counted to one hundred, then he/she would come and look for the ones who were hidden. If the person could not find all the people, he/she would shout, “Ally Ally Ox in free.” Then everyone knew they could come home without consequence. Our leaders are crying, “Ally Ally Ox in free” to criminals. It is common for sex offenders and child porn perpetrators to walk away, leaving in their wakes innocent victims. Law-abiding citizens and victims are taking a seat behind those who break the law. Judges disregard the will of the people by deciding cases in marriage and abortion rights without considering precedence or the Constitution.

Another scripture comes to mind in dealing with this issue. Matthew 12:29-30:

“Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

The third party in the tug of war game is binding the strong man. The cat is taking the tic-tack-toe game and the game of hide-and-seek goes on and on. We have more politicians scattering our public interests abroad than we have gathering for our homeland. Our economy is being sold to the highest bidder. These games are dangerous. Who would have given Hitler a second thought before he took over half of the world? Triangle tug of war is a new game that will end in disaster. We don’t have time for kids’ games. Our political games are killing us. We need to look to the Bible and recognize that as James puts it (James 1:8), “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”

It stands to reason if America is double-minded in her political views, we will be unstable. I don’t know of a time when America has been more unstable, except for the Civil War. We are fighting an illusive enemy on foreign soil, capturing terrorists on our own shores and in nearby countries. Missiles are aimed at our shore to be tested, and nuclear weapons are in the hands of countries that would like to make war with Christians. Yet at home we fight among ourselves over moral issues and side with the criminal in security issues. We have judges ruling against our freedoms and making laws to change our way of life and our sacred traditions. Unstable? Yes! Like water in a bucket about to be poured in the pig trough.

America is the greatest country in the world, but greatness is not a static position. America remained great over the years because the people united under a common cause against the enemy. America will only remain great as long as the American leaders unite against the enemy and not become the enemy. We better get it right in this election or we will find ourselves written in history books as a nation flailing in the pig mire. (Matthew 12:25): “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand." PD

by Yevet Tenney