THE HIDDEN *UGLY" TRUTH

Many people who rely on network or cable news think the big economic issue is the 8.2% unemployment rate.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Many months, the rate is misstated anyway, and later corrected.  That rate does not include college graduates,. 1099 workers, the underemployed, the self-employed, or those who have given up.   Here are some facts for you:

If you add the college students and those who have given up, the rate is double that, about 1 in 6.   If you count the self employed and 1099 workers such as architects. contractors, musicians, insurance agents, Realtors, many sales people, etc., that goes up to about 25%.

Then consider jobs that used to pay $12 per hour that now pay $8. People who used to work 35-40 hours now work 20-24 hours.  How about those who used to get health care who now have to pay it out of their own pockets or do without? Many small businesses have lost 25% to 75% of their business and are hurting badly.  Many businesses have closed.  22,000 architects have left the profession in the last two years.  People are taking contracts with no profit and in some cases working "under the table." In Bucks County, you can buy luxury homes for 50-60 cents to the dollar. 75% of Architects are underemployed.  In the Home Depot in Mickleton, NJ, an area where they are still building homes, the Commercial Sales dept. at Home Depot said 8 out of 10 contractors are hurting.  55% of African American men are underemployed. IT IS ALMOST THE SAME WITH RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES.  It is not a matter of three or four percentage points in the unemployment rate, trust me!

It is WORSE than the Great Depression.  Yet Canada is doing far BETTER than we are.  It is FAILED LEADERSHIP here, not Europe that is to blame! If people knew the truth, Obama would lose 75-25 (25% would vote for Mickey Mouse), As it is, even Fox does not tell the whole story.  Those of us on the front lines know the real skinny. 

P.S. And tell your liberal friends that after Route 73 in NJ was vastly improved, a whole shopping center went out of business.  Failing businesses dot the roads of our communities.  Including gas stations owned by "the greedy oil companies".  60 to 80 hour weeks and taking huge risks cannot always overcome the force of nasty economic policies.  Other than licensing, I cannot think of even ONE way government has helped our business - it simply gets in the way and obstructs good ideas with inane policies that are thought up by those with no knowledge of the real world.  And that extends to the White House.

IS DIVERSITY ALWAYS GOOD?

SOMETIMES WE HERE TERMS SUCH AS "CELEBRATE DIVERSITY " SO MUCH WE DON"T THINK ABOUT IT. It has been well said that an unexamined life is not worth living. Paul evaluated his life and we need to evaluate ours.

My wife and I started Kingdom Gospel Ministries over 27 years ago.  One of our foundation stones was (and is) reconciliation between people of different ethnicities, skin tones, ages, sexes, economic and social status, and disabilities. I believe we can safely exempt rhose things from our post today. My parents started an interethnic Sunday School when I was five and the Lord has put me in diverse situations most of my life, including by 37 years of marriage, which is also most of my life!  While many people still struggle with the full import of that, and may not share our passion for this type of ministry, I believe most would view it as an honorable pursuit.  Despite the vastly improved approval of inter-ethnic marriages, cross cultural workplaces, and to a limited extent more cross-fertilization in churches, the hard fact remains that most people live in non-diverse neighborhoods, go to non- or barely-diverse churches, and count their closest friends as those similar in appearance to themselves. Gen Y seems much less caught up in this, but overall we still have a ways to go.  With that said, I do not see any need to reevaluate any of that.

What has occurred more recently, however, is to use the "celebrate diversity" mantra to seek to blur religious and moral boundaries.  Now I belong to a ministerium.  I am one of two evangelists and most are pastors. There are Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Catholics, Baptists,  Pentecostals, Independents, etc. While there is a fair diversity of opinion, we do center our times of prayer and discussion around the heart of Christianity - the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the atonement for our sins we can have by trusting in him as Lord and Savior. Despite the collegiality (a term John Roberts used in explaining his nutty reasoning process) we enjoy, the boundaries are not coming down.  I am not about to baptize an infant or give up speaking in tongues. Those are things abundantly clear in the Bible.  We must stand for the truth, and despite the propaganda, there is only ONE set of truth.  While CONTACT is commanded, as we are to LOVE people, and while I have a client base that  includes ALL of the following, born-again Christians who try to FELLOWSHIP with non-Messianic Jews, Buddhusts, Sikhs, Hindus, nominal Christians or Secular Humanists will become quickly disillusioned.  There is NO FELLOWSHIP between light and darkness, and Christ is the ONLY light. Paul asks, "Can two walk together except they be agreed?"  Absolutely not.  That is why even business partnerships between people of the world and Christians are a bad idea.  Commonality HAS to include Christ for the Christian. All else is sinking sand.

The next big one is sexual perversion and gender confusion.  These are abominations before God. While we LOVE people, we do not JUSTIFY behavior.  While we DIALOG with those who see things differently, we never CEDE points of truth.  While we are WARM with all, and SERVE all as we serve Christ, just as Joseph and Daniel did, we do not COMPROMISE who we are or the eternal truths of God.

I understand that many students and employees are nor forced to undergo this training. Be careful not to compromise the truths of God even if it means you cannot go to a particular school or take a particular job.  Do not discard opportunity lightly. but no not let ANYTHING modify what YOU know to be the truths delivered once to the saints.  Be open in all the non-sinful areas.  Be closed to any who would mandate you accept or condone what you know to be wrong and a deal-breaker with God.  May God help you in these difficult and challenging days with this issue.