By Carol Cauble

Special to the Salisbury Post

Rome is burning and Nero plays his fiddle. Sound familiar? The United States is at war with terrorist groups, including radical Islamic-influenced people that are able to kill 50 people at one time — one place, one gun, one person.

As a golden-ager, I pray we are all realizing with fear and hope that we are at war while our weak government leadership tells us we are not. How much common sense do we need to see God’s handwriting on the wall?

Too long we have accepted whatever our politicians and government leadership have fed us. We seem to be too much in our own little world and comfort zone to understand what has been happening to us. Over the last eight years, our country has been slipping into a deterioration of weakness, bending and giving in to big government changes that have brought us to living like a Third World country.

Like life happenings, it came so slowly that we did not notice. It compares to when I was having hearing loss; it was so gradual, I was not noticing until my family let me know how our conversations were affected.

Through technology, we seem to have opened doors wide to all the world.  Not so in the World War II days. Like all new discoveries, it is exciting to have. Like many good intentions, technology was meant to make our lives easier, better, more convenient. Being human, not perfect like Jesus, we tend to use our God-given brain, our will and choices for what we create, versus what God creates.

Little did we know that emails would put our national security at high risk.

Working different jobs over the years, I learned new programs on the computer. With God’s help, it seemed like a great blessing. After 20 years, managing to survive challenges like we all have, retirement came and I chose not to have a computer — understanding that every household throughout the world must have a computer, for sure, plus air conditioner, smart phones, texting, etc. We are becoming victims of our government and our surroundings.

We are living in a democracy with free speech, constitutional rights, capitalism that is a gift from God and our forefathers. Today we have taken those rights for granted, because previously they were protected. These past eight years, because the process has been slow, we are losing those rights, being replaced by government abuse of these rights.

While we have been fearing our enemies — those in the Middle East and now those here at home among us — we have truly forgotten that we not only need to honor and respect God, but also fear him.

Genesis 35:5: “Then they set out, and the terror of God fell on the towns all around them so no one pursued them.”

Our current government leaders’ views seem not to be in keeping with honoring our God, our laws and rights.

Carol Cauble lives in Rowan County.