To Be or Not to Be

    I thought I'd share some word play that has been floating around in my brain lately.  It has to do with some forms of the verb, "to be".  This verb is one of those verbs which is incredibly irregular in its various forms.
    First there is the third person, present tense form:  is.  We have been bombarded with stories about ISIS, or ISIL.  Recently, it was reported that the ultimate goal of this organization is to become IS....an Islamic State which is global.  This is not a new thought.  For over a thousand years, there have been those who had the goal of a global IS, and some of them had a certain level of success in reaching that goal.  There was a time when parts of Europe were under the control of Islamists.  So on the one hand, we have a dangerous group of jihadists who are loyal to Allah and depend on the Koran for their doctrine.
    Second, there is the first person, present form:  am.  In the book of Exodus, we have God telling Moses that when people ask who sent him to lead them out of Egypt that he should tell them that I AM had sent him.  A whole series of Bible studies could be done on the use of the term "I AM" throughout the Old and New Testaments.  Jesus himself uses the phrase over and over.  "I am the light of the world."  "I am the way."  And the list goes on.  Both Jews and Christians will point to their God as being the I AM.
    I know that in the end....and I really mean the ultimate end.....AM is going to prevail over IS.  I find it significant that AM is a first person pronoun, while IS is a mere third person pronoun.  I do think, however, there will be times in history when IS will seem to prevail.  Those times will occur when people wander away from AM.  And I think we may be living through one of those times.  I also think that the success of IS may just be the factor that wakes up the world and leads them back to the great I AM.
    I also find it interesting that America begins with AM.  I know that when our country began, its founders understood the importance of being a nation under God, who endowed people with inalienable rights (although some would argue to the contrary).  What disturbs me is that there are forces within our country that are devoted to getting God out of public life in America.  It also disturbs me that these forces also dare NOT attack the religion of Islam.  It seems to be a protected religion in the USA, while Christianity in particular is under attack.  It makes me wonder if we may not always be America, and may indeed be transformed into becoming ISerica.......or the Islamic State of America.
    We certainly have an administration that does not seem to recognize the threat of IS.  I believe that if we want to remain AMerica as it was founded, we need to get to the polls and bring about many changes in leadership.  We also need to return to the pews, devote ourselves to I AM, and pray for His guidance and help.  Heaven forbid that America moves into the past tense forms of "to be", which would indeed mean that we were "not to be".