ALPHABET OF ISSUES

It is hard to hear political spin even from alleged "no-spin zones" which are anything but. I decided to use the letters of the alphabet to uncover the lies of Liberals AND Conservatives; I wanted to use a word other than "lies" but what can one use? Not all people who lie deliberately do so - often they are simply repeating what they have heard without checking it out. So for simplicity, I will just use the word and let it go at that!

A is for ABORTION - the liberals say it is a woman's "right to choose". Who ever gave the right to one person to terminate the life of another? No one except God and only to execute justice. The term "fetus" tries to marginalize preborn life. The preborn child is a distinct human being designed and built by God. To treat that child as tissue is a big-time lie. How can you separate this issues from all issues of morality, after all, if one will force taxpayers to promote and pay for murder, what would that kind of person NOT do?

B is for BUSINESS - now I am a businessman but I will not recuse myself. Liberals tend to demonize businesses while conservatives exalt them. More recently, with big business capitulating to demands by the homosexual lobby and funding pet projects, liberals are embracing big business while still demonizing small business. To demonize ANY business by lumping them all together is bigotry of the highest order! There are GREAT businesses that offer much to the consumer - goods and services unattainable in any other way. There are TERRIBLE businesses who cheat customers, change names routinely to cover up their trail, and who offer inferior goods and services. Just like people, businesses can be good or bad. To either demonize them as being "greedy" as many liberals to is absurd, but to glorify them all as conservatives often do is just as absurd.

C is for CHARITY - everyone talks about it. How people respond varies greatly. Liberals see the government as the charitable giver - statistically they give far less of their OWN money to charity or church. Just look at the tax returns of liberals running for office. It is appalling! However, it is also disingenuous for conservatives to think that the private sector can meet all charitable needs. Huge issues need huge solutions. I believe that private entities have been repeatedly proven to be many times more efficient in delivering charity, so I would support the government funding of proven private charities as opposed to hopelessly incompetent bureaucracies such as FEMA.

D is for DISCRIMINATION - it used to be exalted to be discriminating gentleman. Now, to liberals, it is anathema to make any judgments whatsoever. "Oh, he thinks he is a girl? Well, then let him use the ladies room." What an easy way for guys to lie to get their jollies! No one wants to be discriminated against when they are qualified for a job. And conservatives often deny that discrimination is still widespread. The fact is, many people are discriminated against for the wrong reasons - because of physical factors, color, or disability. However, is it wrong to discriminate against having a fraternity move in next door to you who would have parties and perhaps orgies on a regular basis? Or a house of prostitution? Or a gay clubhouse? Discrimination against these uses is a MATTER OF LAW in many zoning codes and any person has a right to peace, quiet, and the safety of their kids. Liberals are aghast at Megan's Law and at making sexual perverts be registered. Yet, is it wrong to discriminate against those who have proven they cannot be trusted around children? I don't think so, and neither does any other sane parent. If you have a house to rent and you can hear a car from a block away playing music at painful levels, and four men get out smoking reefers, is it sane to put out the welcome mat for them and destroy neighborhood peace in the blink of an eye? People discriminate based on quality all the time when choosing building materials, furniture, school districts, clothing, churches, and yes – whom they date and their spouse! You name it. To fail to discriminate in valid ways will mean the falling of everything to the lowest common denominator.

E is for EDUCATION - A whole lot of people believe education is the doorway to great success. In many cases it is. The problem is, true education is hard to find. Much of it is indoctrination, whether conservative or liberal. Learning to think is a vanishing skill. People parrot what they hear rather than analyze it thoroughly. Critical thinking is reserved for criticizing others rather than examining what you yourself believe. Education today does not make people more moral, more attuned to God, better able to distinguish good ideas from disastrous ones, or to be better neighbors and friends. In many cases it vaccinates people against God, morality, and the common good. True education is a blessing. It can come from parents, mentors, and simply living life. Many of the most successful people never went to college, and some people with the most degrees know the least about what really matters. Some scorn those who preach without a theological education, but my experience as a preacher and as one deeply involved in my faith has shown me that many with the most education are unable to stand unequivocally for scriptural truths - there is always an "on the other hand" to leave doubt. Is it any accident that denominations with the most "educated" preachers are the most spiritually dead? That said, it is imperative that people not be allowed to say whatever pops into their mind with horrific consequences. All who talk of the Lord must be schooled of the Lord. That is true education in any field.

F is for FAITH - This word used to be the byword among conservatives and a dirty word to liberals. Now liberals use it a whole lot. Faith sells. How many times have Conservatives been demagogued by so-called experts claiming this or that political leader had "faith"? I suppose everyone believes something - even atheists. However, all faith is not created equal, and sorry liberals, sincerity doesn't count. How many people gave Harold Camping credit for being sincere? Even though he was dead wrong, he had suspended his salary and put $175k of his own money in his misadventure. The fact is, all faith except that which is in Christ as the only begotten Son of God and word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit will be shown to be as useless as Harold Camping’s May 21, 2011, folly.

G is for GENDER - God made gender. In fact, he made two of them. The transgender movement is in direct rebellion to God. There aren't three of four of them. God also made gender ROLES. He made men and women to be different, and many Conservatives have joined with the liberals in blurring the distinctions and putting women over men spiritually. I have yet in fifty five years to hear even ONE woman preacher who was not in some form of rebellion against the Lord. Her words always betray her. I also have not seen a woman who rebelled against her husband's authority not fall into religious, political, or other deception. God made boundaries. When we cross them, confusion results.

H is for HATE - What an overused word! People love to say other people hate. I have found those who say that the most hate more than anyone. Actually, not all hate is bad! Did you know God hates??? See my post IS IT ALWAYS WRONG TO HATE from 2/10/10 on this blog. We are to hate sin and we are to hate the effects of sin. Hating people is left to God. He is the one who sent his son into the world because he LOVED the world. What he does to those who reject him is his affair. And we had better not be one God hates or do things he hates. Neither can we hate anyone, for man judges from the outward appearance, but God judges from the heart. We may be exalting people God had condemned and condemning people he approves of.

I is for IMMIGRATION -Liberals like the idea of open borders for many reasons. First, it gives them more votes, most of them fraudulent. Secondly, it strains the United States, and like or not, most liberals appear to want the United States to be brought down to size and be unexceptional in the world. Thirdly, the people being kiloloed and whose property is destroyed live in states that are more conservative. Who cares about them? The fact is, huge numbers of illegal immigrants ARE criminals. They are involve in drugs and violence and make up a large percentage of prisoners. EVERY country that wants to survive has to control its borders. It was easier when people came from overseas. Our nation is very generous in terms of immigration, and most conservatives I know are not againt that. Many immigrants believe in America more than the natives do. Historically, we must know that prisons were empties out in Europe to come to Georgia. and America has historically been the land of the second chance. Conservatives must not insist that everyone who comes here be untarnished. Rather, all must insist that those who come are coming to be part of a new country and assimilate and leave their old culture and ways behind. We already have so many people who don't know English or care about it and they are duplicating their cultures from abroad, many of which are at odds with what America is. That type of Balkanization has destroyed every country where it has happened. We need walls with wide gates to let in those who truly want what we have to offer. The same is true of the church. Many places take everyone regardless of what they believe and practice. The apostasy of the modern church is duplicating itself in the nation as similar policies have been followed.

J is for JUSTICE - This is a BIG one. Liberals love to talk about justice, but rarely ever practice it. Look what they did to Sarah Palin. Total hatred, mischaracterizations, lying, and the like. What would happen if the press put Obama under that level of scrutiny and opposition for even one weak? (See my 11/20/09 post COMPARE "DUMB" PALIN TO "SMART" OBAMA). For liberals, justice means letting their own go unpunished, letting the guilty free on technicalities, smashing the rights of those who disagree with them, and unjustly exalting the deeply flawed. Conservatives often deny that within many areas of the system, justice is unequal. Those with expensive lawyers get out of the same offenses others are in jail for, and sentences are often disparate. Liberals try to balance the scales the wrong way by opposing hard core punishment for hard-core criminals. The Bible says it is a curse to either let the guilty go unpunished or to punish the innocent. Can't we keep it that simple? Statistically, if one demographic commits more crimes, more should be punished. And crimes like Bernie Madoff's and identity theft can be just as destructive or more so than a mugging and must be punished more seriously. There must be a just balance and then let the chips fall where they may.

K is for KINDNESS – “Random acts of kindness” used to be the bumper sticker mantra of liberals. Conservatives believe they should be less random. Kindness out of one’s own pocket means more than empty words or telling people they gave by favoring tax hikes of which other liberals will siphon off most of the money to support themselves in some of the least efficient job positions ever created. Kindness has to be a way of life. If is genuine love and concern for everyone.

L is for LOVE – To liberals, love often is used as a synonym for sex, most of which is done outside of marriage, and where love is actually the farthest thing from the participants’ minds. Infatuation, lust, and mutual gratification are not substitutes for real love. Love offers covenant, commitment, and protection to those it is extended to. Loving churches offer that to people. A person truly in love offers that to the other. It is a lie to say one loves everyone when they don’t. Liberals don’t love Sarah Palin and Conservative don’t love Obama. Let’s be real.

M is for MOTIVATION – Here is an area where either direction goes bad. Some say that as long as good is done, the motivation does not matter. The person received their soup even if it was given in condescension or to relieve guilt. Others say the motivation is what matters even if it does no good. Dumping billions into a failing educational system is “righteous” because the intention was good. I don’t think functional illiterate would agree when they get their fiftieth rejection for a job. God cares a lot about motivation because wrong motivation will corrupt any good that is proffered.

N is for NATIVITY - Liberals believe that if there really was a Jesus, he was born by the will of man, not by the will of God, and a prophet, but not the only one, and certainly not one deserving of all our allegiance. Conservatives are divided, with some teaching the Nativity as God becoming flesh and dwelling among us to bring salvation, while others are members of religious cults who have varying ideas about him or atheists who deny him completely. The fact is in either case, Christ is not to be viewed primarily as a baby in a manger, but the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who came first in order to save us.

O is for OPPORTUNITY - Liberals like to say there is a huge divide and only a minority have real opportunity. The rest are victims. Conservatives like to say anyone can be what they want to be - if only they work hard enough. The fact is, that in this country as least, there is a whole of opportunity not being taken advantage of. There are many jobs going unfilled. If there were not attractive alternatives to working, people would be taking those jobs. However, some folks really ARE lazy - whether a college graduate moving back with Mom and Dad because they can't get EXACTLY the job they believe they are ordained for or someone whose company closed who refuses to learn needed new skills. On the other hand, some people are locked into difficult circumstances. The only company in town shut down and they have no resources to move. They have a disability or are hard to look at and no matter how hard they try they come up dry. Beyond that, you CANNOT be whatever you want to be. Only one person can be the "most valuable player" in a sport. Not everyone can get a perfect score on the college boards (they would redo the curve if too many people did well. And only one person can be President of the Untied States at a time. Opportunity has its limits, but people can usually do far more than they are.

P is for POLITICS - Liberals and Conservative love to demonize each other. I have yet to run across any candidate of any party that I totally agree with. Some who say great things take back with an explanation what they shouted from the rooftops. People who have read through this blog can see why people on both sides can get steamed. The fact is, people LIE. Conservatives used to LIE about just about every GOP President being a Christian. If you listened closely, you really wondered. Remember when Bush 43 though the mike was off and uttered an expletive? Now the liberals caught on and many who have no idea what a Christian even is since they have been demonizing them for years are now insisting that Obama is a Christian despite ample evidence to the contrary. We must not lose our integrity in p0litics. Everyone is flawed and we simply have to make the best choices, warts and all.

Q is for QUESTIONING - Liberals used to have bumper stickers saying "QUESTION AUTHORITY". Now that they control education, government, the media, and most religious institutions, they demonize anyone who does, since their guy is in power. They also refuse to let anyone question their theory du jour concerning origins. No questioning of Darwin or Hawking or the Smithsonian. No scientist no matter what his or her qualifications can question anthromorphic climate change or a host of other issues. Most of the scientists who enabled us to live in the advanced society we do today would not be admitted into a modern university to teach because of their public belief in God. Conservatives often fall into the same trap. They tell people to believe and to swallow their questions. God doesn't mind questions. We have a reasonable faith ordained by a rational God who created man in his own image. So often, the church does not ask and then answer the hard questions. Christopher Hitchens thinks he has asked some hard questions. But there are answers to ALL of them I answer the one I never in 55 years of being a Christian heard addressed in my LIFE IN THE SPIRIT blog - TWO KINDS OF ATHEISTS. It was on how Jesus could be in Nazareth and Egypt at the same time. The Lord gave me the answer in about a minute and it is so straightforward. Never dodge questioning. It is a "faith preserver".

R is for RACE - This is one issue where we may finally be seeing some consensus. There really is only one race and one skin color -it is a matter of shade more than anything. So-called racial differences are minute when considering all the genes a person is made up of. My wife is of Ghanaian descent (we believe) and I of German/Dutch. Scientists now say our genes are likely more similar to each other than either of ours would be to people of our ancestral countries. Liberals have lied that all whites and almost no blacks are racists while conservatives have lied in saying that there are only vestiges of racism left. Trust me when I say that racism is alive and well and while fewer people may be overt about it, and I believe more people are free from it, a huge number of people of ALL races still make a large number of judgments and decisions with racial considerations. It is a cancer, and America is not the only place it occurs. Inter-ethnic feuding and tribalism is world wide, and when Christianity is present, it tends to be far less. Look at Europe -- supposedly enlightened, but spiritually on life-support, "post-Christian" and with huge racial animus.

S is for SIN - Liberals hate the word. There are no sins (except disagreeing with them, of course!) Each person does what is right in their own eyes. It is judgmental to call anything "sin". Conservatives often concentrate only on the sins they do not commit. Any reading of scripture in any depth whatsoever will show that Christ hates ALL sin. We must not be proud of what we have no problem with, but concentrate on overcoming the things that trip us up. Liberals seem to love temptation. It makes life more exciting. After all, the entertainment establishment tempts people non-stop with list, excess, dissipation. They produce endless movies glorifying it. We are to FLEE temptation! Conservatives talk a better game about it, but they so often EXCUSE falling into temptation. When ministers fall, the priority is to "restore" them, usually before one knows whether they have truly repented or simply regretted getting caught. When politicians fall, "they are only human". We need to know that tempation is not sin and that there is a way to escape ALL temptation - God ALWAYS gives a way to escape, and we should never excuse failure in ourselves or others, but allow God to deal with us and change us from the inside out.

T is for TAXES - The tax system is grossly unfair. In a whole lot of ways. Many people don't pay any taxes - some are poor and some are rich, but it seems everybopdy ought to pay SOMETHING. Conservatives harp on lower rates while liberals want to soak "the rich". Problem is, almost every "reform" messes things up more. Even though the rich pay a lot in taxes, I am for them paying more - but not the way liberals want to do it. I believe that tax rates should either stay the same or reduce a bit, but the massive loopholes should be drastically reduced. I believe that charitable contributions should be unlimited as to deductability, as well as a few other uses of money that help society. However, off-shore and ingenous tax shelters need to go. If most of the rich paid the posted rates, we would be better off. However, there are not enough rich people to solve our problems. Liberals lie about how much wealth is concentrated in a few. The fact is that if EVERY billionaire in the world donated 100% of their money just toward the United States' annual deficits, the money would run out before the winner of the 2012 election took his or her oath of office! Conservatives are not totally truthful in stating that the rich will invest their money in jobs if given a tax cut. Now to some extent this is true, and revenues in real dollars go up when tax rates decrease, but so does excessive spending on themselves, some at what reasonable person could consider obscene. While this also benefits the economy by providing jobs, I cannot see how anyone can justify the wretched excess we see. The simple facts are that we must cut spending drastically and stop inefficient government programs and find a way that everyone pays fairly without favoritism. To whom much is given., much is required, but simple confiscation of wealth has failed everywhere. We must protect small business especially which provides most jobs and which has been most adversely affected by this economy. Empty busonesses are everywhere it seems, and the people who worked in them are sitting home. Predictability of taxes is critical. One of the dumbest moves of Congress was a limited time extension. that just prolongs uncertainty. No wonder these folks vote for more and more programs. They would never be able to hold a job in the "real" world!

U is for UNITY - Liberals say that we all need to get together. We need consensus. Churches should be ecumenical. We all need to agree. Conservatives may wish for that in terms of patriotism, but parse many issues so that it is hard to get two people who totally agree with each other. The explosion in denominations has largely been among theologically conservative ones while liberal churches merge since their differences are diminishing and not worth fighting for. Jesus prayed for unity, but Christians cannot be united with the world, and people of principle cannot be united with those who seek to destroy the very heart-throbs of their spirit man.

V is for VANITY - Hollywood and the popular culture is all about vanity. Billions are spent on plastic surgery. On line home pages seem to have bikini features every day. The body is exalted while the spirit is minimized. The exaltation of carnality by both liberals and conservatives is a bane to our existence. God appreciates beauty - the beauty and handsomeness of a person is often alluded to in scripture, but true beauty for a woman comes from a submissive spirit such as Sarah's and in handsomeness in true obedience for a man. Saul and Samson are among those who paid the price for being handsome without sufficient regard for God. Then, consider Jesus - "He had no form nor comeliness that we should desire him." And who in all the world is more to be desired than the Lord Jesus? Paul wasn't easy to look at either. Yet, political leaders and even ministers tend to be tall, handsome, and engaging, regardless of how much truth they tell. Our priorities must be God's priorities.

W is for WORD-FAITH - Oddly, people approach this from different directions. Many conservatives and liberals in Charismatic traditions believe that God died to make them rich. All they have to do is speak what they want and it will happen. This is a heresy of course. What many do not realize, however, is that in liberal political circles, the belief is that truth is what THEY (not God) makes it! "Situation ethics" from two generations ago allowed man to determine what was right is his own eyes. If they have faith in the idea they are promulgating, they make it absolute truth. The nasty situation today is that these folks believe that what they say is truer than the Constitution, just like aberrant Christians believe that what THEY say is truer than the Bible.

X is for XENOPHOBIA - Liberals believe the lie that all fear of what is foreign is bigotry and prejudice. Some conservatives deny these fears exists. The truth is that there is nothing wrong with being discriminating in what you accept. God warned the Israelites repeatedly about foreign gods and practices. They weaken the society. Europe tried to assimilate Islamic folks and it has been a dismal failure. It is wrong to discriminate based upon color, ethnicity, etc., but to assume that cultures are equal or compatible is foolishness. Everything has to be on a case by case basis with eyes wide open. Cultures have room for diversity, but not for goals that would mean the destruction of the others.

Y is for YOGA - Liberals love Yoga and meditation. It feeds the spiritual side while making no demands other than personal discipline. It is a lie from hell. The processes are Hindu in origin and contrary to Christ. Some theological conservatives are being drawn into neo-mysticism. We are NOT to worship God the way the heathen do. Beware of Yoga, "soaking" or any other esoteric experience. Worship God in Spirit and in truth.

Z is for ZEAL - This is a characteristic of all people who believe strongly in what they believe. Liberals are just as zealous as conservatives for what they believe and even more so at times. However, they hate the zeal of conservatives who are single-minded while they exalt their own zeal. Zeal WITH knowledge is a good thing. What I have witnessed of late, though, is a whole lot of zeal WITHOUT knowledge. That is one of the most difficult things to deal with because the person believes they are right and beyond criticism. Don't forget, the devil is as zealous as they get!

A WISH FOR AMERICA

Today we witnessed a true leader who served his country first - better than Carter, better than Clinton, better than Obama. Who? Benyamin Netanyahu. This man spoke the truth and was most impressive. I am glad Israel has him at the helm. Did you get the same feeling as I did that Netanyahu would actually serve the interests of the United States far better were he in charge here than any of our last several Presidents of both parties? Would he have sat on his hands throwing the Shah of Iran under the bus? Stopped short of Baghdad like Bush 41, almost guaranteeing the second Iraq war? Or like Clinton ignored the 1993 World Trade Center and several other terrorist attacks? Would he had pushed for TARP and not been more aggressive in vetoing Dem Congress financial miscue than Bush 43? Or like Obama being hands off while Iran went nuclear (we know what Netanyahu DID say in this case) and the middle east moved into the Iranian orb? Hardly. I hope that the Lord will have mercy on us and give us a true leader and a true patriot and intellectual like Bibi! Surely out of 300,000,000 people there is just ONE!

WHY I EMULATED JOHN KERRY

Prologue

The following piece came to one of our family’s numerous email boxes. I believe its contents show why our nation is so divided today and how it came to be.

AND HE STILL STANDS TALL...

God’s grace and peace upon this man is my prayer, and I pray that before the end of his term, people’s heart, mind, and eyes will open. There will never be another like him. May he lead and be guided in the way God would want him to lead and guide. He is not perfect and has never claimed to be. He and this whole country is in need of our prayers. It only takes a spark. NO President has ever worked this hard for our country. Many wonder, does he ever sleep?? Only God can sustain such energy, knowledge, and person. Please let us form a powerful prayer chain around our President and his family and ask God to secure it with love, protection, mercy and grace. Amen?? Will you please join in this prayer. Let's keep this going!

Lord, we pray for optimum health, mental clarity and political prosperity for President Barack Obama. We pray that what he lacks in political 'experience' you make up for with supernatural wisdom and power. We also pray that when his enemies come upon him they will stumble and fall.

That last line is similar to Rush Limbaugh’s famous line he hoped the President would fail. He was talking about the failure of implementing his agenda, but the last line above is far more troubling in a two party country particularly coming off a presidency where some people made a movie about assassinating President Bush. Contrast this piece with what I posted on November 5, 2008, right after the election called PRAY BABY, PRAY. I received positive notes from both sides of the aisle. It also included seventeen specific prayers at the end which I am not taking the time here to duplicate – they are on the post if you would like to review those.

I am writing this blog for all people of our country (and those abroad who are burdened for our welfare). No matter how you voted, you must not be either complacent or depressed. Now that Mr. Obama has been elected, it is required that we pray for kings and those in authority. God sets up and God puts down. We also know that the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord, and God can do with it what he wills. I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— or kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior... I Timothy 2:1-3a

Lord, we pray for our new President-Elect. We ask that you will protect him and shield him from those who may wish him harm. We ask that in areas where we has your heart, that you will give him the courage to prevail and to have great success. In areas where he is in rebellion against the righteousness of God, we ask that you will turn his heart to positions that are righteous in your sight. Most of all, we ask that you would bring Barack, Michelle, Malia, and Sasha to the foot of the cross so they can experience salvation from Jesus Christ. Create faith in Mr. Obama, so that he will believe the Bible, that he will believe that you died and were physically resurrected to save him from his sins, and that he will repent of any and all sins. Lord, we pray for your church so that we will intercede for him and seek to influence him for the kingdom of God.

We pray for peace. As Joe Biden prophesied, Obama is being tested very quickly. Russia waited only hours to threaten to put missiles along the Polish border. We pray that you will intervene in Putin's mind, as he is also under your control. Lord, give us a season of peace in the Middle East, and bring justice to every sphere in our country.

Lord, have mercy on our country. We have sinned greatly. We have tolerated much evil. We have tolerated abortion, witchcraft, homosexuality, filthy entertainment, corporate and individual greed, people asking their country to do for them as opposed to serving their country, people asking you to do for them as opposed to doing for you, and a failure to love our neighbor as ourselves. Lord, give us leaders who have your heart, and change the hearts of our leaders where they deviate from your standards. Cause us to be faithful citizens, involved in the public square and in the public debate, and give us courage.

Enable us to live peaceful and quiet lives free of persecution and marginalization. Cause your church to great favor and influence. Preserve our liberties - our cherished freedom of religion, freedom of the media, and freedom from tyranny. Protect us from all those from without and within who would seek to enslave or harm your people. Preserve Israel and guard her from all threats of annihilation or terrorism. Bring the Jewish people to faith in Christ. It is in the matchless name of Jesus that I pray, AMEN.

It was followed with seventeen specific prayer requests. Now I pray for the President, the Congress, the Justices, Governors, State and Local officials daily. I pray about issues, and I pray for those who are working against the righteousness of God to be removed. Numerous ones have. There are three posts from 2008 you should read in addition to this one:

November 3rd - ESAU’S BAD TRADE which includes an article by Maggie Mertens, I WILL FOLLOW HIM: Obama as My Personal Jesus.

November 9^th – THE LINK BETWEEN SPIRITUAL AND POLITICAL DECEPTION. It details the link between spiritual deception and political deception. It is real, and as a minister of the gospel, I have seen it numerous times with people on both the right and the left.

November 10^th - ROOTS OF DECEPTION which speaks for itself.

You may wish to check these posts out and consider them together with this post. No matter which side of the aisle you are on, this information is critical for understanding the great divide in our nation today.

Why I Emulated John Kerry

One of the sayings of John Kerry played endlessly on talk radio was “I actually voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it.”

In September 2003, Kerry implied that voting against wartime funding bills was equivalent to abandoning the troops. "I don't think any United States senator is going to abandon our troops and recklessly leave Iraq to whatever follows as a result of simply cutting and running,” he said. Then, in October 2003, a year after voting to support the use of force in Iraq, Kerry voted against an $87 billion supplemental funding bill for U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He did support an alternative bill that funded the $87 billion by cutting some of President Bush’s tax cuts. Kerry’s amazing statement, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it’ has a life of its own.

(Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/29/politics/main646435.shtml)

Now how did I emulate John Kerry? Well, you will have to read through a bit and you will find out.

I am a registered Democrat, though I vote PEOPLE as opposed to PARTY. I find that much of the party platform is anathema to our republic’s founding principles and the moral values of God. Yet, I believe in the common man and have some populist leanings. I identified a lot with former PA Governor Robert Casey, who was thoroughly pro-life.

With open primaries, many democrats actually helped John McCain become the candidate. He was preferred by perhaps only 3% of the party and written off, but primary victories in open primary states enabled him rise, and GOP people who loved his war story but distrusted his seemingly random “cross the aisle” antics approved of Sarah Palin, who connected with the “common” people in such a way that the mainstream media engaged in a destructive binge against the woman that was undeserved and that indicated whom they really feared. Many moral conservatives held their nose and voted for McCain only because of her more principled approach and unambiguous approach to moral issues. McCain was (and is) muddy in that area, and only one friend I have really liked the guy to any degree.

Meanwhile, a fresh young face who mesmerized the Dems in 2004 with his speech at the convention was ascending. People liked the idea of a fresh approach and someone who elicited great excitement with traditionally apathetic young voters. School children were delighted, and older African-Americans who initially were for Hillary finally were convinced. In his earlier speeches in churches, he had stumbled badly, and people were really wondering about him. Then, after a couple of victories and his move to using a teleprompter that changed embarrassing speeches into inspiring ones the snowball grew.

Oprah did her part promoting his book, and the rest is history.

I voted for Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary, preferring him to Hillary, who had been in Whitewater, tolerated a philandering husband, and seemingly been involved in the Vince Foster debacle as well. Keeping my options open for the fall, I felt that if I went with the GOP and they lost, Obama would be better than Hillary even though I had lots of doubts about him as well, having gone to see him in the famous Philadelphia rally.

Well, I don’t vote for ANYONE in a general election without intense preparation, so I engaged in a whole lot of research using a whole lot of sources. What I found out made me do what John Kerry did. I took the opposite position. “I voted for Barack Obama before I voted against him.”

Yes, I really did not like McCain at all, as anyone who reads this AVOIDING POLITICAL DECEPTION blog would know. I liked Sarah Palin, though, noting the prophecy over her in Alaska. She was involved in a sister church in Willow, Alaska, to the Living Word Community in Philadelphia where I met my wife and where we still have many friends. I found Sarah to have good instincts on foreign affairs and domestic policy, clarity on basic morality, and more qualified to be President than either McCain or Obama (as Obama started making decisions, my instincts were proven right. Read my blog post written November 20, 2009, called “COMPARE ‘DUMB’ PALIN WITH ‘SMART’ OBAMA”. It lists 25 issues that I think are beyond doubt no matter how you view either one). However, back in 2008, it was McCain vs. Obama, and with a Democratic Congress that was making disastrous financial decisions, which has destroying my business and the businesses of so many others, having a Democratic president as well would simply amplify the negative results, whether Barack or Hillary. Many people do not know (about 80% of Obama voters actually) that the Democrats have controlled the money in government since January, 2007. The entire slide has been on their watch. President Bush had little if anything to do with it.

So these are the reasons why I emulated John Kerry and voted against Obama (more than FOR McCain) after I had voted for him, and these are in no particular order:

1) At the Philadelphia Rally and endlessly thereafter, Obama claimed that Bush drove the country into a ditch. Bush was inept in defending himself, as the GOP folks always seem to think that people are more intelligent in separating fact from fiction than they really are. One can go back over seventy years, and it matters less who is President than who controls Congress. With a GOP Congress, the economy is better, no matter who the President is. With a Democrat Congress, the economy is worse, no matter who the President is. Carter – disaster. Reagan, improvement once the Dem Congress went along on some items. Bush 41 – mixed results, Congress raised taxes and Bush capitulated. Clinton – a disastrous first two years with a Dem Congress, then six years of plenty after the Republican Revolution of 1994. With a correctional blip in 2000, the first six years of GW Bush with a GOP Congress were fine. With the Dem Congress quintupling the deficit shortly after coming in 2007, disaster predictably struck, and with no threatened vetoes after January 2009, the destruction of the economy went viral, with a deeply flawed health care bill brought in through many questionable, corrupt, and heavy-handed maneuvers.

2) The personal associations of Barack Obama were gaining traction. He was found to by lying on many fronts. His 20 years with Rev. Wright were not superficial, and in fact, he embraced liberation theology in a church where Islamic sympathies and virulent anti-Semitism were also deep. He lied about unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayars, who through linguistic analysis, was shown to have been the actual author if his best-selling book. He kicked off his campaign in the man’s house, and it turned out that the word “terrorist” was not considered appropriate for Mr. Obama to use referring to anyone anymore.

3) Barack’s mentoring by communist Frank Marshall Davis and Obama’s own teaching of Saul Alinksi’s “Rules for Radicals” indicated that he might well be the Manchurian Candidate. Alinski’s book was written for folks to use to transform America into a socialist country, and was in fact dedicated to Satan himself, whom Alinski admired for his successful rebellion:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins -- or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer.

4) Mr. Obama began to echo the mantras of Oprah’s New Age Guru, Eckhart Tolle. The Berlin speech repeatedly used mantras of this cultist who believes he is a successor to Jesus Christ. Obama’s campaign was filled with similar imagery and many people are applying messianic characteristics to the man. It is linked to Kingdom Now theology, an apostasy that is totally at odds with New Testament teaching. We all know that Oprah has consistently railed against those who insist their way is the only way, and has never promoted Christians but has been hostile to Biblical Christianity. Recently, the Obamas appeared on her show talking about praying a lot – an irony indeed and likely the suggestion of the White House “evangelical consultant”.

5) Stephen Mansfield of the New York Times wrote a book entitled “The Faith of Barack Obama”, a very friendly tome endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a bastion source of the theologically liberal. In this book, Mr. Obama made it clear he was not a Christian in the sense of being born again or knowing Christ personally. Rather he made statements indicating his faith was NOT like that and he expressed doubts about the veracity of the Bible. Clearly grossly insufficient information to convict him of being a true Christian. Rather, when he came to Trinity U.C.C., he said he found vindication for what he ALREADY believed! His trouble with scripture was memorialized in a video where he mocked portions of the Old Testament. He seemed to have the spirit of his mother, who was an atheist. In fact, 70% of atheists support Obama, and atheists usually know who is a Christian and who is not. The fact that he went to a church where the denomination has ordained homosexuals since the 1970’s (a predominantly white denomination) and where homosexuals openly served was ample proof he was not going to be one who would stand for any moral Biblical principles whatsoever. I still have no comprehension how anyone who knows Jesus Christ could excuse the murder of innocent people. After all, Proverbs 17:15 says, ACQUITTING THE GUILTY AND CONDEMING THE INNOCENT – THE LORD DETESTS THEM BOTH. We ended up with a man who has excused illegal immigration, appointed justices at all levels who are friends of the guilty, and who aggressively forces taxpayers to pay of innocent preborn life to be killed – the quintessential innocents.

6) Compounding this was the fact that whenever Mr. Obama spoke about the Quran, he spoke about it reverently. While his father was a Muslim, and he went to a Muslim school in Indonesia, more telling were several things that came to light – first he talked about “his Muslim faith” TWICE. I cannot imagine anyone making THAT slip. Would I say “My Jewish Faith” by mistake? It is simply not credible. Further, Alan Root, his roommate at Columbia University, said he was a “devout Muslim”. He ought to know. Since becoming President, Mr. Obama told the Egyptian Foreign Minister he was a Muslim, he is on video in Turkey implying he was a Muslim, and he has defended Muslims and Muslim sensibilities worldwide while refusing to speak against Muslim persecution of Christians anywhere (even Rifqa Barry in Ohio), encouraging Muslim-inspired revolutions against moderates such as Mubarek, and toting the Islamic philosophy and antipathy toward Israel at every juncture. In fact TODAY he called for Israel to give up ALL the land captured during the 1967 war when Israel was attacked by several Arab states. No wonder that at one point according to the Jerusalem Post 90% of Jews in Israel thought Obama was against them. I’d love to see the poll tonight. Christians have historically been friends of Israel. Obama and his leftist advisors, and his religious background have all coalesced to seek the destruction of God’s chosen people. It is the Spirit of Haman, and how ANY true Christian could tolerate this mess is beyond me. Yet a person who would totally agree with the opening piece we referenced, STILL HE STANDS TALL, defended this travesty to me this very afternoon! That is what happens when people are brainwashed and refuse to listen to anyone who disagrees with them. The fact that Obama rarely goes to church, and when he does, it is to a Jeremiah Wright style church, has kept the atheists firmly in his corner. He welcomes Muslims into the White House regularly and makes a big deal about Ramadan, going further than the misdeeds of President G. W. Bush in that area. Meanwhile, he has shown antipathy to true Christians everywhere, endorsing the NSA positions trying to force-feed secular humanism and evolutionary thought into the young with no chance for competing theories in the marketplace of ideas. This is straight out of leftist practice – controlling thought, forcing conformity, and seeking to totally secularize society. In the campaign, his notorious phrase told me all I needed to know – “People are clinging to their guns and religion”.

7) Professional hypnotists began to wonder how this new fresh face could be so successful, and found that he wove in subtle fashion twenty-six different techniques used by master hypnotists. I noticed that people who were supporting the man became cultic in their loyalty, refusing to listen to any facts or reason, and who seemingly painted their own aspirations on a blank canvas. Mr. Obama obtained an evangelical consultant, and he began to drop words that misled some naïve Christians into thinking he could be one of them. These people who ignored all the clear signs began to exhibit six sure signs of a cult.

• BLIND FAITH!
• UNQUESTIONING LOYALTY TO PEOPLE OTHER THAN CHRIST!
• DISMISSAL OUT OF HAND OF ALL CONCERNS!
• STRANGE INTERPRETATIONS OF SCRIPTURE NOT IN ACCORDANCE WITH SOUND DOCTRINE
• EXTREME PRIDE IN ONESELF!
• INABILITY TO BE APPROPRIATE IN COMMUNICATIONS!

8) The President gathered to himself far left ministers such as Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo. I had subscribed to SOJOURNERS, Wallis’ mag, for years and saw him evolve from a socially conscious Christian into a leftist who followed their lead and their beat instead of Christ’s, and of course, Campolo’s sympathies to homosexuality were anathema to Biblical Christians. This shell game fooled no one, and by some counts 90% of Christians oppose Obama because of his radical policies that are against the scriptures at every turn – the most liberal senator regarding late term abortion, partial birth abortion, normalizing homosexuality, a lack of support for Bill Clinton’s Defense of Marriage Act, and favoring and since appointing Justices to courts of all levels including the Supreme Court who are absolutely hostile to Christianity and traditional morality. Obama’s messianic illusions were simply further proof of a man with no respect for the only Messiah that there ever was.

9) The lies about who was responsible for the collapse of the economy, his radical heritage and connections caused the intelligent to probe deeper. Well-documented research showed the impact of Emil Jones, Jr. in Chicago, and Obama’s baptism into the Chicago Way. Legislation was steered to create achievements in artificial fashion, while voting “present” on more controversial issues was intended to blunt future criticism.

10) This masking extended deep into his past. His sealing of all his records – his birth certificate, his school records, everything, and the paucity of people who seemed to know anything about him created a vacuum that the curious wanted to see filled. Newspapers including The African Standard had boasted of a Kenyan being elected to the United States Senate in 2004. Of course, there is no natural-born requirement for that position and many others. After all, the recently disgraced Arnold Schwarzenegger became the Republican “governator” of California though born in Austria. I read papers world wide, including those from Africa, Israel, China, and Russia. After the election, a paper in Tanzania asked the question – if the Americans could elect a President born in Kenya, why couldn’t Tanzania elect someone from another African country. Early on, the Obama campaign had posted a C.O.L.B. which is a record, but not the original one, and it turned out to be a forgery. This started Philip Berg and many others to file lawsuit after lawsuit. Close to half of Americans had significant doubts he was born in Hawaii. After all, his relatives named two different hospitals, his paternal grandmother said on tape that she witnessed his birth in Kenya, and there was no doctor listed. An ex-official from Hawaii said it was common knowledge there was no birth certificate. Later on, people who claimed to have known him since birth were proven to be lying, his own wife called Kenya his native home, and his half-sister said he was adopted by his stepfather when he went to Indonesia. Donald Trump, about as brash as they come, tweaked Obama enough so that as he had the intelligence to go in and get Osama Bin Laden, he released what he claimed was his long form birth certificate”. (Read Frank Peretti’s novel, “The Prophet”, which saw a decade earlier how the media manipulates what people believe.) The supposed birth certificate was released and then the Bin Laden story overwhelmed it. Within hours, graphics experts unveiled all the obvious clues that it was effect, as one who uses graphics and who can change the clothes someone is wearing, it was clear – Obama is still lying and has much to hide about his past.

11) One of Obama‘s professors at Occidental, a neo-Marxist, spoke the code of silence and revealed that Obama was an old-style Marxist who had not yet fully evolved into more contemporary versions. Everything done since becoming President has verified that opinion – redistribution of wealth, control of information, exploiting differences between people have been Obama’s mode of operation since the beginning. These are the identical policies which ruined numerous Africa countries including the disastrous experiment with socialism in Tanzania.

12) The mainstream press is basically leftist at its core, with variations in intensity, but general alienation from most Americans. They are not religious, and have antipathy towards the “guns and religion” crowd, just as Obama does. Further, they try to engender hatred towards Bible-believers, and characterize people as “right-wing extremists” but NEVER “left wing extremists”. They gave Obama a free ride, and except for Fox and the Internet a lot of people were fooled. Enough at least to get him the nomination, though he was sinking fast as Hillary closed in fast at the end. They covered up massive voter fraud, the racist policies of the Attorney General, Eric Holder, and the pro-Amnesty position with open borders that Obama favors to try to obtain a permanent voting block to cement his power with no regard for the fact that no nation with that policy has ever survived.

13) What probably cemented the deal was the race card. My wife and I lead a non-profit which has been around since 1985, founded to bring reconciliation among people of different ethnicities, economic positions, and cultures. I, like many, wanted to see a minority President, preferably Black, who had the interests of the country at heart and who could be a unifying force at this time. In order to pull this off, the Obama Candidacy had to be seen as historic. That theme became a mantra, even though Black historians just as Leroy Vaughn had shown that there were at least four, and probably five, Presidents BEFORE Obama who were more Black than Obama. You see, many people do not know that Kenya is in East Africa toward the north, and consists of both Blacks and Arabs. One of my best friends is a pastor in Kenya who prays for Muslims. Black historians here have established that Obama’s father was 7/8 Arab and only 1/8 Black. That means that if Obama’s mother was 100% Caucasian, Obama is only 6.25% or 1/16 Black, below the threshold to even be considered Black. The other five were at least 1/8 and in one case 1/2 Black. Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Harding, Coolidge. Look at woodcuts of political cartoons from the mid-1800’s – “The Mulatto President”, Abraham Africanus I, and so forth. Jefferson did almost as good a job at hiding his heritage as Obama has. And of course, the situation with Sally Hemmings may have had different overtones from those presented in the popular miniseries. With Lincoln being one of our very best Presidents, the novelty of an Obama would never have caused so many Black church folk to set aside every moral check to support him. The narrative of the left is that America has always been a racist country, and that Obama was like a Messiah to bring it out. The facts are that yes, there have always been racists, and still are, but there have also always been people of good will. Many argued against slavery during the Constitutional debates. The Abolitionist Movement was largely white, and there was a lot of intermarriage. After the Civil War, there were numerous Blacks in Congress. Ironically, institutionalized racism came to the fore with the widespread acceptance of Darwinism, which placed Blacks down the evolutionary chain. The ORIGINAL title of Darwin’s tome was “On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”. We are still living with the illustration of apes to men with Blacks in the middle and the left is totally invested in Darwin because they refuse to honor the God who made them. The fact that Obama is FULLY INVESTED in this horrific and racist theory is totally consistent with the fact that Arabs still believe Blacks to be inferior and enslave them to this very day. In fact, that is why Southern Sudan is emerging as a new nation on July 1.

14) The extreme racial division that Obama’s presidency had brought has set our country back. An integrated church in Conshohocken was blown apart by Obama activists opposing the simple moral teachings of his Black pastor which went against Obama policies. In other churches, blatantly partisan prayers based on raw emotion threatened all who disagreed. That is a sure sign the Holy Spirit has no involvement with this President and his “divide and conquer” mentality. Marriages have been put under extreme strain, with people demonizing each other. By their fruit you shall know them, and the fruit has been bitter.

15) When the car crisis came, dealers who were friendly to Obama kept their businesses. Dealers who were conservative lost their dealerships. One not far from here had been in business 60 years and had their franchise forcibly removed by Obama the “Chicago Way”. The incredibly flawed and unsustainable health care bill has resulted in companies being given waivers – over 1,000 so far, many to companies in Nancy Pelosi’s territory. Again, unconstitutional authority.

16) Stimulus money was given to unions and to help keep state workers, not those in the private sector who pay for those state workers. It was a slush fund like no other. In fact, it has well been said, that the principles on how to collapse an economy taught by leftists at Columbia have been perfectly executed by Barack Obama.

So that, my friends, is just part of why I voted for Barack Obama before I voted against him. Since that election, I can not honestly think of even ONE of his decisions that I agree with. From betraying Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Israel to pandering beyond measure to extreme corruption, it is worse than ANYONE had prophesied. That is unprecedented. I agreed with some of the things Bill Clinton did. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 and the Defense of Marriage Act come to mind. I urge those of you who may have voted for Mr. Obama in the 2008 election and Congresspersons who enable his agenda, to get back your marbles, put on your thinking caps, and outright reject this man, who more than any other since Jimmy Carter, has done great damage to the country that is our home. I pray daily for his salvation, and also for his removal if he will not repent and begin to do what is pleasing in the sight of our God.