AVOIDING POLITICAL DECEPTION

MARTIN LUTHER KING

2012-01-15T22:41:00.000-05:00

Monday is the national holiday to honor the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It took many years for the holiday to be fully accepted, but it now seems to me that it has been denuded of any of its power. It seems that picking up trash and other community service has replaced the drive for complete justice.

Now we know that great strides have been made in the years since his death, but the work is hardly complete. People are still not judged strictly on the basis of their character. While some areas of life have become more integrated, the fact is that just one day before the holiday - Sunday - most Black people were in churches that are predominantly Black, and most white people were in churches that are predominantly white. Even in churches with a mixture of people, there is often a disparity in the level of intimacy among the different groups. The majority of people still like to be around what they are comfortable with and are slow to broaden their horizons or be totally without bias in their evaluations of people.

I encourage you this day to make a special effort to speak out for a breaking down of the remaining walls. When you hear someone say something insensitive, racist, or hateful, challenge them, and present the love of Christ.

To me, this day is not about honoring an individual. I have found many of the celebrations to be idolatrous, elevating a man beyond where any man should be elevated or ascribing to him theological persuasions which he had long rejected. It is also not the time to lay out all the flaws or inconsistencies of the man. Few of us would look good under a high-powered microscope. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Rather, inspired by the struggles of many to confront evil, let us be willing to pay the price to confront evil as well. It is not simply racism. It is abortion, it is homosexuality, it is corruption, it is the unconstitutional grabs of power, it is calling right wrong and wrong right. How many would risk a dirty look let alone time in jail? The early Christians had that type of commitment. I believe it will take that level of commitment now as we live in an evil day where men and women and inventing new forms of evil every day. Are you willing to pay the price? Jesus was, and he has asked us to as well. Let us be resolved to be mouthpieces for our Lord among this evil generation. We may not have a holiday named after us, but we will receive a "well done" from the Lord which we can celebrate forever.

THE PROSPECT OF PROSPERITY

2012-01-05T22:31:00.006-05:00

We have people at the highest levels of government, the educational system, the entertainment industry, the big business world, and the media who have TIRELESSLY dedicated their time, their energy, and their resources to making us total rebels against God. “Prophets” of God have been declaring 2012 to be “the year of “recovery”, that prosperity will return, and so on and so forth – I am sure you have heard them. I hope they are right because our area of commerce has suffered more than any and no one I have spoken to has a whole lot of hope it will come back anytime soon. Yet NONE of the “prophets” I have heard have addressed even ONE of the many injustices that start before birth and don’t even end at death, of which the list below is just a portion - I am sure many of you could think of more:

1. Injustice to the unborn – abortion by pill, procedure, and partial birth atrocities.

2. Injustice to children – broken homes, foul TV, rampant profanity, gratuitous sex and violence, Godless schools who seek to indoctrinate with the values of an activist secular humanist minority. Protecting sexual predators and attacking any group such as the Boy Scouts who seeks to separate homosexuals from young boys, even though 65% of homosexuals are initiated by older men.

3. Injustice to teens – promoting free sex, encouraging gender confusion, removing parents from pregnancy knowledge and decisions, false teaching on the scriptures and science, undermine confidence in the Bible, but no such scrutiny of any of the devil's many books, glorification of evil, endless “music” written in Hell itself to desensitize the minds of our youth.

4. Injustice to college students – no guidance on what pleases God, free sex, pagan education and destructive anti-Christian and political indoctrination teaching conformance with the world system with extreme pressure. It produced a generation largely unable to think critically and come to the knowledge of the truth, instead believing the big lies told by those who catered to fleshly desires. They are puffed up in their minds rejecting righteousness.

5. Injustice to young adults – pushing living together, foul media, and poor values. Making divorce, which God hates, no bug thing. Making marriage something out of their world. Stressing being true to one’s fallen self as opposed to being true to God. Even forcing soldiers who are risking life and limb to live and work in intimate conditions with open homosexuals.

6. Injustice to adults – exploitation in the workplaces, pastors not preaching the true gospel of repentance from dead works but a feel good message devoid of the conviction of the Holy Spirit, often captive to one political persuasion or another. Those with equal efforts and gifts get vastly different results.

7. Injustice to the poor – not providing equal core services, enforced attendance at failing schools and removal of opportunities for students to do better, such as happened in the District of Columbia. Instead, making people dependent on meager payments that simply perpetuate poverty. Policies that discourage businesses from providing jobs here in America. Churches with leaders who mine poor communities for money and instead of establishing storehouses to provide food for the poor, live in extreme affluence themselves.

8. Injustice to Seniors – people ion power have robbed social security, given it to people who never paid in even one cent, made laws that are encouraging live-in relationships, and tilting the health care system against them with what in practice have proven in other countries to be “death panels”, with the state determining who will l live and who will die. In the United Kingdom, I would be considered too old for many heart procedures. God forbid that happen here!

9. Injustice to the dead – taxing yet again (and very heavily at that) those who want to leave what they have earned to their children and grandchildren.

God help us! A tidal wave of judgment is indeed coming unless the people repent. Peter noted how people said, ‘It will be as it always was’, but God destroyed what we believe to be over one billion people in the days of Noah, saving only 8. Today, with hundreds of millions “saved”, is there any doubt God will treat the world of this day in a more favorable fashion? God changes not! His standards of holiness are no lower today than they were then. Remember, in the days of Noah there were no wars, people were getting married, and there is no record of homosexuality or ethnic conflict. This was before Babel, and everyone spoke one language. When loyalty to personalities and ideas that bring catharsis are put in subservience to the counsel of God, I believe things will change. Until then, our world has received exactly what it has deserved – actually less than it has deserved due to the grace and mercy of God so far. But if one doubts that God will indeed pour out his wrath, that person does not believe the clear true prophecy of the Word of God. Only through repentance and faith toward God can we avoid his wrath. That is why Jesus came and died. It will not come through human action, no matter how well-intentioned. What is prophesied must agree with the Word!

FORBIDDEN

2011-12-19T21:55:00.001-05:00

Many companies have forbidden people to use that word "Christmas". They insist on "holidays" - strange, since the origin of the word is from the middle English for "Holy Day"! Many use the word Christmas with no idea that it is holy, and most who smugly use "holidays" likely think they are evading the dreaded "J-word" - Jesus. Speaking of the "J-word", I find all the criticism of Tim Tebow a bit disingenuous since the Boston papers seemed to relish the idea that more than Tebow was defeated. Ah, hypocrisy.

Which brings me to the demise of the North Korean leader. Here is a man who was a mass murderer, who treated Christians about the same way Hitler treated the Jews, who has saved his people, and turned the "Pearl of the Orient" into a rathole. Yet, if you listen to the MSM, you would think he were Winston Churchill. With that in mind, can anyone doubt that the biggest obstacle to success in the 2012 election is not a less-than-perfect GOP candidate, but the deification of one Barack Obama, who was never vetted by the MSM, and who despite oceans of evidence, is still not being shown for who he is.

The GOP continues to believe they can "get their message out" without touching the man who is the master of the big lie. Have you heard ANY GOP candidate defend G.W. Bush against the vitriol heaped on him by Obama and his cronies? I haven't. Yet history shows very low unemployment, major gains for minorities, much construction of affordable housing, major aid to Africa, and decline deficits during his first six years in office. It is only when Obama and the rest of the Dems were elected in 2006 to control both houses that the wheels started coming off in 2007/ Obama voted for the policies that brought the housing debacle. He voted for profligate spending that made the deficits soar. He also was part of the cadre that kept ANY budget from being passed so Bush could not veto it.

These are facts than most Americans don't know. It is not that they think Obama is a paragon of truth, it is because the G.W/ never defended himself and the GOP has never defended him. Unless they are willing to tell the truth and endure a scaling press, I am afraid that it might be a disappointing election because I talk to a lot of people, and an amazing number of people believe Obama because unless they tune in to some erudite commentators outside the MSM, they never hear the truth. The truth shall set you free, not negative ads. Encourage your favorite candidate to get some backbone and attack what is rather than other contenders. The squabbles are disheartening, and those with no realistic chance should pack up and leave - Paul, for real. A horrifically naive man I could NEVER vote for. Huntsman. Santorum.
And after Iowa, the also rans. And then encourage those who want HIllary to run against Obama. Now wouldn't that be interesting?

IT DOESN'T STOP WITH PENN STATE

2011-11-13T00:27:00.006-05:00

We all have been saddened about the failures of many people at Penn State - the failure of McCreary to try to stop Sandusky from raping that boy. The failure of administrators to take decisive action. The failure of Coach Paterno in remaining friends with Sandusky after hearing about what he did.

However, I am most dismayed at the wholesale condemnation of so many people who are not the slightest offended by so much else. Ex-PSU President Spanier was a huge supporter of "Gay Rights". When a Chancellor at the University of Nebraska he pressured faculty members to put pink triangles on their doors. Colleges have been promoting homosexuality for some time now. Galations 6 says that we reap what we sow. Perverted sex is all the rage and now there is condemnation because it was a coach and a young boy? Many if not most homosexuals started the very same way - between an innocent boy and a homosexual man.

Unmentioned in all the media I have seen is that Sandusky is a homosexual, and since homosexuals are created after birth and not before, what Sandusky did is not at all uncommon. Where he did it, and the especially egregious nature of harming those he publicly committed to help is less common. However, 90% of this mess is between people who know each other. Often Mentors, Coaches, or even family members. In fact a group called NAMBLA advocated man-boy relationships and NAMBLA is endorsed by at least one (and reportedly more than one) Senator in Washington. Philadelphia government was at war for years with the Boy Scouts because they stood against having homosexuals as scout leaders in the VERY SAME SITUATIONS as Sandusky was in! Have you seen even ONE OTHER PERSON mention this? It is gross hypocrisy. Over 250 CHURCHES in Pennsylvania alone are self-described gay-friendly, which means they welcome people engaged in perversion and in many cases the SAME acts committed by Sandusky. God help us.

We have a President who actively supports the murder of approximately one million infants in their mothers' wombs. He also supports homosexuality, even in the military where the potential of abuse by those in power over others is enormous. And just last week was overheard saying to French President Sarkozy what any person with sense has known for a long time - that he can't stand Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu. After all, he has been working against the most persecuted people in history by standing idly by while Iran, which has openly stated their intention to annihilate Israel, builds Nuclear weapons, supporting the change in an Egyptian government that had been friendly to Israel, and by pushing an agenda that has thrown millions of Americans into poverty, unemployment, and despair while he enjoys the hedonistic lifestyle often associated with dictators.

I am all for cleaning house wherever the chips may fall. I only hope that the hypocrites out there will see that as bad as that sorry situation was at Penn State, the same and similar perversions are being advocated by people in power - people in Washington, people in state houses, and yes, even people in the pulpits. We need a wholesale housecleaning in America. and I hope that the people will wake up and not let what has been tolerated in silence continue any longer.

You know, all acknowledged that Joe Pa did notify the people above him. Governor Corbett has said he followed his responsibility under the law. The refrain has been that he did not do enough. That he tolerated a wicked man. Are YOU tolerating wickedness in your City Hall or Township Building? Are you supporting people with your vote who are advocating homosexuality and who are seeking to silence speaking out the truths of God? Are you supporting a man who advocates abortions even while the child is coming out of the mother's womb??? Are you tolerating policies that are putting the Jew at risk yet once again? Where is your "Never again"?

If you are silent, you may one day find that -- just like Joe Pa after 46 years of faithful coaching - YOU will be held accountable for your silence or assumed complicit attitude toward evil. Many still hold ordinary Germans responsible for what the Nazis did. In Matthew, Jesus condemned ministers who cast out demons and healed the sick thinking that was enough because they did not relieve suffering. How we treat our fellow man is MORE important to Christ that just about anything else. We must never make the same mistakes Joe Pa made or the Germans made. We must pray hard for wicked people to be put out of office (I do that daily and numerous ones are now gone, but some still remain) and follow that with our votes, our public speaking, and taking the hard stands that all true followers of Christ must take. May God bless you so you will not one day experience what Joe Pa is feeling right now.

RAISING CAIN

2011-11-08T00:32:00.003-05:00

Funny how the media (Politico stems from the Washington Post) has now published many dozens of stories on anonymous allegations made against Herman Cain, Have you seen one on Barack Obama's admitted snorting of cocaine? About the proven bogus long form birth certificate? About the alleged affair with Valerie Jarrett? About the accusations of homosexual sex with Larry Sinclair? About the accusations of a Chicago pastor that Obama was involved in the murder of three gay men from his church, one of whom he is alleged to have been sexually involved with? All far more serious accusations than those against Cain. You have likely seen all of those stories elsewhere, but not Politico. John Edwards and his mistress? Not Politico. Yet, a thinly sourced story with obvious political motivation gets all the ink. It is gross hypocrisy. It is gross dishonesty. It reeks.

Responsible journalism does not accuse without some facts, and does not fail to print because of political loyalties. If Politico had treated Cain the same as Obama, they could claim they required more proof than was available, not simply strong accusations. Yet they were grossly insistent. They protect Obama and seek to undress Cain. The accusations against Obama are mountains compared to Cain
s molehills. Yet the double standard is the order of the day.

What happened when Juanita Broderick, Paula Jones, and Kathleeen Wiley made their accusations? Politico ignored them all. Despite being willing to go public and face scrutiny. Despite some physical evidence and Clinton's sordid sexual history.

If the press were fair for one week, the current exceedingly corrupt and destructive administration would have to resign in disgrace. What stuns me is that a significant minority of Americans still believe these guys despite their dismal track record.

Now if Cain really is guilty, it does matter. However, one of his nameless accusers said it was not overly sexual. Yikes - that is weak. What impressed me is that Cain never claimed to be perfect or a Messiah. In fact he sang Amazing Grace at a gathering which has the words "a wretch like me". If all of our sins were exposed to the world, I doubt any of us could function. Since the matters were closed years ago regardless of the merit of the claims (if any), it seems we ought to treat them as closed as well.

That courtesy was done for President Obama despite smoke from many directions and NO settlements. If you want to unearth Cain, unearth his opponent and there would be no contest.

ADDENDUM:
Now that we have a face attached to some of the allegations, we find the person made the same claim with her next employer. We also see obvious ties to David Axelrod who did the same mess TWICE in Illinois to get Obama elected. Where are hard-digging journalists when you need them??? Be prepared for a dirty campaign no matter who the candidate is and remember how this reflects on those who use such tactics - it is the clearest statement of who they REALLY are away from all the public pronouncements and piety.

WHO IN 2012?

2011-10-16T20:14:00.007-04:00

We have lived through almost three years of divisiveness, class warfare, mocking speeches, and a war on business - ESPECIALLY small business. So many people are dispirited. They have seen their dreams go up in smoke, with winners and losers being picked. They have seen obscene money go to corporate, union, and environmentalist friends of those in power and an endless parade of obstructionist government agencies with more and more power and more and more money with minimal tangible benefits for the trillions that have been spent. Some might disagree with me, but if we really HAD helped people in real need and the economy had improved with those trillions, I would have accepted it. However, all of that has been spent and we are MUCH WORSE OFF. We are resembling more and more Marxist countries with rich power-hungry people at the top with no use for God putting more and more people in poverty and making them totally dependent on the whims of the state. The rich supporting the regime claim they want to pay even higher taxes while they are cheapskates in actually giving to the churches and charities who are ten times more efficient than the government and in the case of Warren Buffet, a hypocrite who is about a billion dollars behind in paying his own taxes. Warren, pay what you owe and give the rest to some group whose administrative costs are no more than 20%, not the government's multiple of that. The very wild personal spending and hedonistic lifestyle by the White House - especially in a deep recession - is further spit in the eye.

I was talking with a good brother last night and we went down the list of candidates on the GOP side. While we agreed Obama had to go, neither of us were satisfied with the proposed replacements from the Republicans.

There was absolutely no argument that Paul, Johnson, and Huntsman were totally unacceptable. Neither of us was keen about how Michelle Bachman made a mountain out of the Texas STD shots. Her demeanor just does not seem right for the job. Neither of us likes Romney - he seems to flip and not have the core beliefs that weather political storms and is a member of certifiable cult, the Mormon Church. Who wants a Mormon in charge? We discussed some of the lesser known baggage of the Mormons. We know that all "righteousness" derived from human efforts is a filthy rag to God. We agreed that we would vote for him only as a last resort. While we also understand that very few Presidents have been true born-again Christians, and that despite Obama's poltical posturing as a "Christian", there is absolutely zero evidence to back that up. He seems to mix atheism, Marxism, and Islam in a lethal cocktail that stands in practical terms against almost every single Biblical principle known to man.

So how about Herman Cain? We both like him a lot. We love having an American black man run against the culturally European Obama. The man is fun to listen to. But is he flexible enough to work through the American political process? And is the 9-9-9 plan really revenue neutral? I want to believe the man, but no mathematics I have applied shows that remotely to be the case. People and their employers combined pay over 15% for social security and medicare. The tax rate for the wealthiest Americans is over 30% + the social security and medicare on the first 100,000 or so of earnings. It simply does not add up. And a consumption tax, even with exemptions discourages consumption which drives the economy. Adding a federal tax is dicey - they tend to go up F-A-S-T. If he starts to flex and modify, I would love to see him win. If not, we could end up with different problems and someone new to blame.

So let's see - Rick Perry. Both of us had high hopes. The Day of Prayer. His testimony. But then his dreadful debate performances and his absurd views of immigration. If he won, we would both vote for him as having fewer objectionable policies, but could he win a general election? He doesn't seem to have the personality for the fight like Chris Christie has, though I was most disappointed Christie jumped on Romney's bandwagon SO-O-O-O quickly. Christie belongs in New Jersey for now, so I am glad he did not run this time.

Santorum. Ah, yes. I probably agree with him more on moral issues, foreign policy, and Compassionate Conservatism than anyone else. Yet, he lost Pennsylvania to Bob Casey, Jr. and has little traction in the polls. I think he still has too hard a personal edge. My friend said he was too emotional for the job. I'm keeping him on my short list, but my hopes aren't high.

Lastly, Newt. By far the most knowledgeable. By far the smartest. By far the only one who has proven he can work with non-Southern Democrats. Probably the most adept at foreign policy as well. Plus he is not so ego involved that he would be threatened by top drawer people in his circle. He understands Health Care better than anyone I have heard. But oh, his past personal life. I could forgive it all if he simply came up repentant. A redeemed man is a terrible thing to waste. My friend didn't think he had a chance. Yet, I really like him, If I knew he was saved, I would be in his corner. As it is, still on my short list - after all, his Dem opponent is a man who admitted he snorted cocaine and whose policies seem to be those of someone high on something other than common sense - perhaps high on himself or more charitably his ideology. Then of course, Hillary may decide to challenge him - a more likely scenario now more than ever, but that is a WHOLE different story.

Yet, I still dream of a man in shining armor. Who is he, or WHERE is he?
Stay tuned.

A TALE OF TWO KINGDOMS

2011-09-06T21:08:00.001-04:00

Christ came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and we do likewise. The kingdom of God is the government of God, and being in the Kingdom of God - an invisible Kingdom that cannot be touched - means to live in accordance with the power of Christ indwelling us and enabling us to follow his word and his pattern, This kingdom is here, and we need to let people know that submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ is the way his kingdom operates. The righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit come as we recognize God's authority in our lives and live HIS values as opposed to our own.

What is uncanny these days is how some Christians are confusing this kingdom not made with hands with the earthly kingdom being established by enemies of God - humanists, atheists, and nominal religionists. The earthy kingdom we see being established now is at odds in EVERY particular with the Kingdom of God. There is a glorification of man, a utopian ideal that is markedly similar to all those that preceded it. You see, Satan, has had his kingdom since Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The characteristics of his kingdom are violence, blasphemy, and hatred of God. THEY TAKE DIFFERENT FORMS over the course of history, but the driving influences and the results are eerily identical.

There are some today who talk about peace and social justice. They prophesy to me that we are entering a time of great peace, and that Obama is God's servant to do this. They teach that there will be great justice and the rich will be taken down and the poor lifted up. They quote Isaiah and Zephaniah while completely ignoring the rest of the Bible, including the prophecies of the great falling away that ushers in the end and the establishment of a brutal world system based upon HIGH IDEALS of peace and brotherhood and a breaking down of walls among all religions!

The facts are that man is impotent when it comes to brings peace and justice of any kind. The goals MAY sound similar to the uninformed, but without CHRIST AT THE CENTER, it is not simply doomed to fail, it is doomed to be a monstrosity of epic proportions. We have already seen this in the economic sphere with huge damage done by tyrannical people who have done much evil while filling their own coffers. The Christian purveyors of this deception of a worldly kingdom mirroring God's ideals ignore abortion. They go soft on homosexuality. They use bad language that the world uses. They do not rail against the immorality of Hollywood. They join the haters of Christ in condemning thoughtful Christians who see and feel the intense evil of our times. They see those who hold to Christ's view of the creation in Genesis as backward. They hate people who are pursuing true righteousness based upon what the Bible actually DOES say. They try to intimidate those who know this is a rerun of Satan's use of Lenin. Mao, and all the others. They utterly despise Glenn Beck and others who would warn the nation of the intense evil in the inner circle in the White House. People who admire godless atheism, Mao, et. al. You don't have to be a Christian to see. You simply have to have open eyes and not sublimate the obvious.

To be a friend of the world is to be the enemy of God. It does not simply end with being opposed to those who mock God, who are profane, immoral, unjust, and incredibly totalitarian in their style. It extends to corruption in some corporations, labor unions, and yes - even CHURCHES and evangelistic organizations who preach heresy and alliances with the workers of iniquity, where leaders lie with people they are not married to and who rob the people of God and live in insane luxury while perverting the Word of God daily.

There are Libertarians who say you can do anything you want and it is none of our business. They conveniently ignore how coarse our culture has become and the epidemic of rootless children and adults. The destruction of a culture IS our business. People like Ron Paul are so isolationist they believe no one in another part of the world is worth dying for to secure their safety and freedom. Where is "there is no greater love than that a man lay down his life for his friends"? Weren't the Iraqi's worth saving from Saddam's rape rooms? The Kuwaiti's from their terror? The Jews from Hitler?

My friends, CHRIST'S KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD. IF IT WERE, HIS SERVANTS WOULD BE FIGHTING. We have a HEAVENLY kingdom. It will not be established by Democrats or Republicans. For real not by people who mock the Bible and despise lovers of God, Never by those who are not saved and who hate those who are. The reason Christ came is to save us and put us in HIS kingdom. An everlasting kingdom. A kingdom without deals in smoke-filled rooms. A kingdom without voter fraud. A kingdom without class warfare. A kingdom without envy, A kingdom without pride. A kingdom where no one has too much or too little. And a kingdom free of the tyranny of evil men and women.

I steadfastly refuse to be part of any movement that seeks to substitute the ideas of man for the ideas of God; the noble and high-sounding ideals of humanism instead of the Gospel truth of the depravity of man; the artificial ecumenical religion with no power for good instead of a community of people separated from the value system of the world who operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit together. The Bible is full of prophecy concerning those who will in essence try to reestablish another Babel where man tries by his own efforts to reach the sky. We have seen time and time again the tens of millions of people killed by so-called idealists who decided to eliminate all who got in their way.

We are living in a time when there is barbaric language coming out - the union thugs taking of eliminating Tea Party folks using vile and violent language at a Labor Day Event just yesterday. Lesders vowing to work with a President whom they perceive shares their vision and goals. We want to believe he is not part of all that, but based upon sitting twenty years in a sham church in Chicago that had much the same agenda without saying ANYTHING against it until MONTHS after Wright's hateful sermons were broadcast, I believe he hates those opposed to this agenda JUST AS MUCH as those vile speakers. He certainly has funded them and advocated their agendas in terms of laws to remove freedom and force people to give against their will to these organizations which are fiercely loyal to him and who seek to strike down all opposition.

How can any thinking person not see a redeux in progress of the tyranny of the past? How can anyone assume good from prescient evil? I have not seen even ONE decision made since January 20, 2009, that is in the best interests of our nation. Have you?

I am praying hard each day against the precipitous decline of the United States, and ask that God will remove ALL unjust leaders from the White House to the Capitol to the Supreme Court; that God will reverse this slide into decadence with Satan's hoards in Hollywood and the corrupt media, and that the people will turn and seek God's face. We don't deserve it, but God had compassion on Nineveh. In fact, he even had compassion on Sodom and Gomorrah - he would have withheld judgment for the sake of ONLY TEN RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE! I believe we have more than ten righteous! Don't you? If we don't, we had better go where Abraham feared to go and ask God to save the United Stated even if there are only five righteous people.

We not only need to promote the KINGDOM OF GOD, but we must oppose the kingdom of Satan so that our nation can survive and so that our children and our children's children can live in freedom and in a less corrupt society. As people submit to the Kingdom of God, things will get better. However, we must always remember, that the only true peace and justice will come when Jesus Christ returns. Even so come, Lord Jesus!

CHARACTERISTICS OF A CULTIST

2011-08-04T13:17:00.005-04:00

I believe from the Lord that the following are characteristics of those who are unnaturally connected with people who practice deception, whether accidentally or on purpose.

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

We saw these with the Campingites who followed Harold Camping despite almost laughable assumptions and math. There was absolutely nothing in the Bible to support what he taught about the coming of Christ, and everything to oppose it. We have seen this with various fringe movements such as Word Faith where the whole body of scripture and the history of God’s dealings with the church are ignored for a narrow-focus self-serving interpretation. They often mock “Fundamentalists” or others who use the scripture as the litmus test for their teachings. The fact that they uniformly live in EXTREME wealth and pay their non-family workers little is in total disregard to the Book of Acts. Christ showed in his actions that we are not to prefer physical family over the family of God in terms of ministry. Our family consists of those who DO the will of God. The facts that (1) the answer to EVERYTHING is giving THEM money and (2) that they run extremely non-transparent financial operations, are extremely obvious red lights to those not linked to these personalities in ungodly ways and who know and understand the heart of God.

The similarities between religious and secular deception are amazing. We see it with the Obamaites who believe everything he says as though he were a prophet of God despite the plain facts that much of it is dead against scripture and who ignore the mountain of substantiated information about his hard Marxist upbringing and worldview during his college years, the very corrupt nature of his rise to power, the overt pushing of Islam and the subjugation and lack of defense of true Christianity worldwide, his association and appointment of some of the most dangerous radicals in American history to positions of power, unaccountable uses of finances taken from people who can ill afford it, avid pro-abortion and pro-homosexual policies, restriction of debate in matters of science, and repeated provable lies that are cold and calculated and easily rebutted by anyone with more than an ounce of knowledge.

Both religious and secular cultists respect personality more than truth, and listen to self-serving boosters in their respective media who have a track record of deception and unsubstantiated claims. Word-Faith media make wild claims and cross-boosting of each other, and all factual substantiation is eschewed. Thoughtful and sincere critics are demonized. With the secular media, they deeply share a leftist worldview which is anti-Christian, against the Biblical work/reward ethics taught by Christ, and which sees no moral absolutes or any problem with lying, as the ends they are after justify any means they may think up. Any look at history shows the evil in this line of thinking that results in the destruction of the middle class with even more gaps between rich and poor, less freedom, and persecution of true Christians who are thorns in their sides. From Tanzania on, countries that followed the exact pattern Obama is following have had severe slides into the abyss that are very hard to recover from. Satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. His sons and daughters do the same. From Camping to Word-Faith preachers to Obama, the common thread is the ignorance of their followers. They are largely illiterate Biblically, easily manipulated emotionally, and receptive to the impartation of deception into their spirits. They value personality more than objective truth. The only cure is deliverance by God himself, because they have unwittingly become tools of Satan to assist in the agendas of those who are not centered on the work of spreading the true and Biblical Kingdom of God on this earth, but who promote empty counterfeits.

PREACHING, PRACTISING, YOU GET IT

2011-08-01T12:06:00.012-04:00

The following was attributed to Donald Trump. I am no Trump fan, and generally find him obnoxious and a predator businessman who goes bankrupt to avoid paying people, and he has been all over the map on Obamacare, but even the "rocks" cry out and sometimes get it right. I would that more people would have the guts to cut through the beltway lingo and simply tell the truth...

Let me get this straight...
We're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan
we are FORCED to purchase and FINED if we don't
which covers at least ten million more people
without adding a SINGLE NEW DOCTOR but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents
written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it,
passed by a Congress that DIDN'T READ it but who exempted themselves from it
and signed by a President who smokes
with funding administered by a treasury secretary who didn't pay his taxes,
for which we'll be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect,
by a government which has already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare,
all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese
and financed by a country that is BROKE!
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG???

We surely know that answer – and the proposed debt ceiling deal this past weekend would take 10 years to “save” MUCH LESS than what we are overspending in just one year! And even then is is BACKLOADED! It is too little, too late. The GOP should have defunded ANY expense for ObamaCare until 2013 as well as all new EPA funding, the National Endowment for the Arts, etc. Obama won the game of chicken. It was an entirely phony crisis, and we are in a worse one if this thing is implemented, because the CAUSE for the problem was ignored and no one will think we are serious. Our creditor nations have already said as much. Anyone familiar with government funding knows that agencies ask for absurd amounts they could never spend effectively knowing the amounts will get reduced and then they scream about “cuts” when they STILL have more than is needed! It ia a total scam. The current crop of Dems and Establishment Republicans have to go in 2012. These guys are 100 times worse than King George III of England. It isn’t about party, it is about principle.

FOOTNOTE –
Dr. Regina Benjamin has a BMI over 30 which is in the obese Category. Over 40 is morbidly obese. Your writer here has a BMI of 28.8 – 6’-3”, 230 lbs. I would have to lose a staggering 31 pounds to get out of “overweight” to the "normal" range which maxes out at a 24.9. I would have to GAIN 10 pounds (yech) to be at the BOTTOM end of Dr. Benjamin’s category. Since your lovable writer here is already too fat to be surgeon general (even if I were a doctor), what does that say about someone who really IS obese? The lowest I ever was was 20.6 when in college and walking everywhere and when a bachelor not eating much and I looked like a stringbean and have the pictures to prove it. Who makes up these charts anyhow? Skinny people I am sure!

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

2011-07-14T10:23:00.012-04:00

I was in a coffee house several months ago where the moderator made a comment that was born purely of racism. The group broke up, and the host venue went out of business. I didn't say much because God did so with HIS actions. However, something happened yesterday, and I want to show a linkage here.

My wife's cousin died of cancer a week ago Sunday. He was a Vietnam Vet who was a point man who risked his life many times but escaped unharmed. She was very fond of him because he saved her life when she ran into trouble in the ocean when a child. The funeral is tomorrow, as a specialty Army casket had to be prepared. I went to a local flower shop to see about ordering floral baskets to be sent from our family and from my brother-in-law's family. I received the prices, saw the pictures, and asked how far they delivered. They said - "everywhere". I said, "In Philadelphia, near Penn?" (the University of Pennsylvania for those of you from other parts of the country). She said "No problem". Just let her know by this morning and they would be in the church by 8 am tomorrow. I told her I wanted my wife to pick the colors. So my wife went to the shop later the same day and talked to the same person. She showed her no book and was distinctly less interested than she had been with me. She said they didn't deliver to that area (though we hadn't discussed that, my wife happened to use identical terminology the same location "near Penn"). Pure racism (my wife is Black but I am not). Anyone can have a policy of how far they will go to deliver - but we were given two opposite policies on THE SAME DAY. In 2011. Are you surprised? I'm not. It happens to a lot of people more frequently than any would care to admit. The mantra of many on the right is to focus on Black racism - "We've moved on, why can't they?"

Well, my wife ordered flowers from Center City, and you can be sure I will send a copy of this post to that local flower shop. I'm sure they will say they wait on Black customers - they probably do. However, they treated my wife differently from how they treated me. That is racism.

Now to that coffeehouse. It had a very liberal slant. The comment made was that no one should criticize Obama for ANYTHING because he was Black and needed their support. (We will ignore for the moment that Obama is actually 50% Caucasian, 43.75% Arab, and only 6.25% African Negro - unlike many of bi-racial or tri-racial heritage, Tiger Woods coming to mind, Obama identifies as Black and people have bought that - "if you say you are Jew, you are one" thinking. Based upon his performance, if I were Black, I would have been slower to take ownership or at least have relinquished it - he really has performed like a wacky left wing white guy, not like a Black leader who makes life better for all and who regards the Lord as integral with the struggle. After all, Abraham Lincoln was half-black, so we already have had an exemplary "Black" president - some would say our GREATEST president, and we had four other Presidents with mixed heritage according to Black historians. What you don't know CAN hurt you! Since all people are the same COLOR, and it is difference in merely in shade, all racial animus is really irrational anyway.)

Many people of all colors had rapidly learned that "Hope and Change" had resulted in almost every decision being anti-Christian, anti-American, and anti-Israel (and Poland, and Czechoslovakia and...). While many were ill-informed on who was primarily responsible for the terrible economy (refer to my prior post "DEBT") others had gotten the word. It has gotten worse since then - now fully 55% of Black males do NOT have full time employment. That is staggering. When you consider that the U-3 unemployment figure of over 9% and the U-6 unemployment figure of about 18% do NOT include the self-employed and the army of 1099 people - realtors, insurance agents, many construction workers, and others, the number is about 25% unemployed or underemployed. The rate for Black men is over DOUBLE! If you believe the statistics, the wealth of many in the Black middle class was centered in real estate, and we all know what happened to home prices. Self-interest alone should make Blacks more than anyone cry out for drastic change from this counterfeit "Hope and Change". However, racism will cause people to place more loyalty in skin color than in common sense. Just like that flower shop willing to lose money to disrespect someone because of the color of their skin.

DEBT

2011-07-14T10:09:00.003-04:00

I marvel at the placid nature of most Republicans! George Bush NEVER defended himself. Like many in the gentry, they believed that the people could tell truth from error. Many other Republicans have taken the same approach, and the lies keep coming and more and more people think they must be true. Now the media will not expose the lies - they are partners in them! Every opportunity must be taken to debunk the mythology! In the video, "How Obama Got Elected", about 75% to 80% of the people polled who voted for Obama had basic facts wrong - NOT political or arguable issues - FACTS! They thought Palin made the boners Biden or Obama made, they thought the GOP controlled Congress up until the 2008 election, etc., etc. If enough of these folks knew the truth, perhaps the election would have gone differently.

Yesterday on Sean Hannity's radio show, someone kept hammering that Bush increased the debt 6 trillion dollars, so why blame Obama for his spending? Sean really did not address this in a good way. FACTS: The national debt actually increased 6.2 trillion dollars while Prez Bush was in office, BUT, in the first six years with a GOP Congress, it increased 2.9 trillion, or fewer than 500 billion per year. AND it was decreasing! That is too high a figure and the decrease wasn't fast enough (though much faster than is now being proposed) so the "bums" got kicked out in the 2006 election. However, when Nancy Pelosi grabbed the reins, they increased the deficit for 3.4 trillion in only TWO years! 3 1/2 times the deficit! A much larger deficit in TWO years than the previous SIX and it continued under Obama. How many people know this? These are not political numbers, they are actual published FACTS!

Where criticism of Bush is merited is the following:

1) He should have vetoed EVERY spending bill from Pelosi and gone directly to the American people and fought for it instead of figuring, "well, Elections Have Consequences". They DO, but Democrats fight every minute they are out of power. Politics is a fight, and if you don't want to fight, don't get involved! In fairness to Bush, the Senate used continuing resolutions to avoid having a budget pass for 2009. They STILL have not passed a budget. The new House passed one, but the Senate wants to continue the overspending.

2) Bush should have defended himself - his silence was a major political gaffe. He STILL is quiet though Bill Clinton is not shy about saying what he thinks.

3( Bush proclaimed Islam a "religion of peace", flying in the face of History and what EVERY Christian in a Muslim country knows. His spiritual weakness paved the way for even more embraces of Islam by the current President.

Debt beyond the ability to repay is WRONG. It MUST be gotten under control. When circumstances make life more difficult, restructuring is needed. We need to press, press, press, and not leave it to others who have the ruination of our nation as their goal.

SHIFTING SAND

2011-07-06T10:40:00.008-04:00

For far too long, Christians have been pushed farther and farther back from the demarcation line between good and evil. We still look at people hoping Christ will make a radical transformation, but at the same time seem immune to the fact we are stepping backwards in accordance with the agenda of Satan.

The secular humanists and radical activists know the effectiveness of this strategy. They work 24/7 moving that line in their favor and against the truth of God. When it came to mainstreaming homosexuality, they did it incrementally. They started by including homosexual humor on TV - much of it demogatory, but intended to getting us to include the concept in our lexicon of ideas. Then they increased acceptance little by little. I was sitting with my wife the other day, and there was nothing on, so I put on THE NEWLYWED GAME for a minute. They were asking a man about his husband! It was pathetic! My wife could not believe it, but was soon convinced. CLICK. Step by step they have moved the line to such as extent that in a Comcast news article yesterday, they said those who believed homosexuality was an abomination were 'white supremacists'! The case was a boy dressed like a provocative girl in heels in high school who aggressively went after other boys. He ended up executed by a classmate. No one excuses violence, of course, but in the world system, the clash of cultures inevitably leads to it to some degree or other. After all, it was just two days ago that we saw fireworks celebrating a violent revolution against the British. They had done some nasty things to us Americans, but it all pales next to the moves to create an upside-down America where all wrong is right and all right is wrong. I am not forming a militia, but as an evangelist I am like Paul Revere warning that the Satanists are coming! All those who oppose the gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord, the only true God, and author of all things good ARE children of the devil wheter they be Muslim, Atheist, Buddhist, Agnostic, Bahai, WHATEVER. It is not enlightenment of any kind - it is a move of GREAT DARKNESS, and it must be opposed with every fiber of our being. Jesus said that the Father put everything in his, and only Christ can reveal the Father to ANYONE. NO ONE can know the Father unless he comes through Jesus Christ.

It is to the point where if you disagree with these folks you are painted with all the hatred they can muster. Of course I put up one of my trademark posts on Comcast, but I didn't see even ONE other. Maybe by now... The terms of the debate are being changed daily and Christians are acquiesing.

We need to push back all these lines the OTHER way - the lines on abortion, homosexuality, decency in the media, integrity of politicians. Back in the early seventies before Roe v. Wade, abortion was a hot debate topic. Christians, by and large, insisted that ALL abortion be illegal in EVERY situation. That is the position of Michell Bachmann, and there are real reasons to hold that position. However, at the time 90% of the nation did not hold to that. They believed there should be some exceptions, such as for rape and incest and the life (and in some cases the health) of the mother. Christian pundits made it an all or nothing and they lost the debate. They allowed others to falsely claim that these exceptions were in fact the rule, though at the time they were perhaps 3% of abortions or fewer. The all-or-nothing approach has resulted in millions of deaths of preborn babies. While most Americans still disapprove of abortion on demand, Christians have failed to make a sufficient national political case, move that line, and control the debate.

In terms of homosexuality, pastors and politicans have back-peddled to where they refuse to call it the abomination God does. They emphasize BEHAVIOR instead of ORIENTATION, even though God says the EFFEMINITE cannot enter the Kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9-10). It is rare to hear the truth, and those that venture to say it are often those with other issues, such as hate and vengeance. We are not talking about STONING people here - w3e are talking about loving people but giving NO ROOM to the devil. We are talking about REFUSING to vote for people who advocate athe practice and coddle practitioners with obtrusive laws to shut up truth-tellers. Did you know that if ALL Christians voted against people supporting the homosexual agenda we would not have a Dem Senate and a President HOSTILE to Biblical Christianity? Unfortunately, many still vote based upon emotion and catch phrases instead of obvious truth and policy positions that come from their own mouths.

The problem it that the church is lily-livered when it comes to standing for truth. My radiobroker told me 90% of EVANGELICAL churches did not want to be have PUBLIC gospel ministries proclaiming the need for salvation to save people from hell. About 90% of Christian schools accept the philosophy of evolution that has exacerbated racism, economic Darwinism, and reduced confidence in the Word of God. If you don't believe the Presamble and the foundation, why would you believe the rest? And so they compromise, compromise, compromise. No wonder many Christian college professors now OPENLY espouse universalism.

So I exhort you today to REFUSE to let others frame the debate. Do not support compromise. Do not patronize those who do. Jesus warned us that in the last days, MANY would come showing healings, deliverances, etc., but we didn't know them and condemned them to hell. This is serious business. MANY are being misled. MANY are prophesying lies and error. MANY are preaching a watered-down gospel with no threshold of salvation that includes Godly sorrow, repentance, and a surrending of the authority to run our life to the Lord Jesus Christ.

The fact is that preaching that Gospel is still powerful, and we must do it faithfully. As we are in the public square, we must all stand for what God stands for, and support those who do likewise, and work for the defeat of those who do not.

UPSIDE DOWN

2011-06-13T19:40:00.003-04:00

About fifty years ago, the concept of "situational ethics" came to the forefront. We were told that you just could not always follow absolute truth, but tailor one's response to the situation. One favorite example was the lying done to protect the Jews from the Nazi's during World War II. Of course, as we all know, everyone started making exceptions for themselves in any and every situation, and the slippery slope was set in heavy-duty motion. There would be circumstances where sex without marriage was OK, killing the unborn under certain very limited circumstances was OK, curing was acceptable if it were "relevant" and endless other compromises were justified from soup to nuts. Before long, the exceptions became the rule. The sexual revolution, the mindless violence of riots and student uprisings, and all manner of evil came from men and women deciding their situations were "the exceptions". The devil laughed as degradation occurred and accelerated. Nothing new. People doing what was right in their OWN eyes (not God's). Satan had a lot of practice with this and this time he shot a bullseye.

We were told that you could not ram "your truth" down people's throats even when presented with restraint and love. That there were many "truths" and each person had to pick their own. Of course, that is absurd, as those who work in technical fields can tell you, truth is very narrow and very elusive. Most paths fail and fail miserably. Any old way usually fails. Getting to a destination is impossible with only the slightest deviation of route. Of course, that gave way to everyone having to accept the "truth" as determined arbitrarily by the educational and philosophical elites. Changing "truth", often absurd "truth" has become the order of the day as well as merciless persecution of any and all who believe in the original truth - the truth of God and of his Scriptures. NO matter how well you present it, how reasoned the arguments, it is all off the table. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."

Diversity took center stage. We needed to be tolerant of other ways of looking at life, of sexual gender variations, or the equality of ideas. Now, of course, the deviate "truth" is the only "truth", and anyone who believes in traditional moral values as taught by God and which are the ONLY ones with a successful track record is told they are wrong and cannot state their views nor contend for them. Despite the fact that "gay marriages" in the Netherlands last about 18 months and are not the slightest equivalent, college freshmen are shown gay porn to "sensitize" them while those contending for the faith are given failing grades even if writing brilliantly about why they believe as they do. God's morality is the ONLY intellectually and experientially viable alternative, but people stick their fingers in their ears and refuse to listen.

Big science dictated that it was wrong for Bible believers to teach Genesis. It was too narrow. So they substituted ever changing and totally disproven hare-brained ideas of molecules-to-man evolution and commanded that all believe it and NEVER question it or risk not passing or being accepted in graduate school or being able to teach. It is far worse than ANY closed scientific inquiry in ancient history. It is pure tyranny and based upon their own half-baked religious ideas and a rather arbitrary and specious evaluation of the evidence.

The list goes on... All Democrats are compassionate - even though they donate FAR LESS to the poor OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKET than those "hateful conservatives". All liberals are smart, even though they seem to get just about everything wrong all the time. Now we find that electric cars over their life cycle put out far more CO2 than regular cars when you consider the manufacturing, running, AND junking of them. Conservatives are stupid, especially the women - you need to read my post "Compare 'Dumb' Palin to 'Smart' Obama" from November of 2009 and you will see that the exact OPPOSITE is true. I am told "green" buildings cost little more to build - reality? About 30% to 40% more. EPA Lead Paint Rule - they estimate $38 per job. Reality? About 6% to 13% of the job - perhaps $7,000 on a typical ren0vation - all for an issue that was 99% solved years ago.

Obamacare? Saving money? Hardly. Through the roof costs and the elderly withheld care by the death panels they used to mock.

9% unemployment? Hardly. The U-6 rate is about 18% when you include first time job-seekers out of college, and people who have given up. There is a higher percentage of long-term unemployed that during the Great Depression. And they NEVER count 1099 workers and the self-employed. It is about 25%. Almost 55% of black men are now without full-time employment. You would think that would make Obama dead in the water. Yet he still blames Bush, though the Dems controlled the money in Congress THROUGHOUT the ENTIRE downturn! Satan is alive and well lying every day through the Old Left Media. If these media outlets told the truth for ONE WEEK, Obama would lose to Donald Duck. Tyranny loves company and the lies are an epidemic. 2 million new jobs in the private sector? Try a loss of 1.2 million. 119 businesses making counters have gone out of business the last two years. Those that remain are limping along. The WAR against small business is unprecedented and the Satan-controlled media refuse to do even one story about it. Instead, they assign ten reporters to say it is raining.

The Bible says that Satan comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. We are seeing first hand in the good old US of A what it is like to experience the work of Satan. It is all around us and people are suffering horribly. 1 out of 10 homes is empty, and if the foreclosures were all sold, it would be far worse. People are not spending money because the make-it-up-as-they-go crowd has zero understanding how a business plan works. Businesses that want to hire believe they cannot because of an impending tax hit that would be catastrophic. They do not want their business to be buried Obama's Free Market Cemetery. Lifetimes of work and sacrifice and contributing to establish churches and ministry to the poor are disappearing every hour.

UNFORTUNATELY, IT DOESN'T END THERE. The church has frequently been just about as narrow and stupid. Refusing to stand on the authority of the thoroughly vetted Bible, they also make it up as they go along. They forbid the mention of sin. They put women over men and celebrate it. They talk enbdlessly about generational curses instead of personal responsibility. They put on choreographed performances instead of body ministry as commanded in I Corinthians 14. They celebrate secular psychiatry as the way to go. Instead of believing that "you cannot serve God and mammon" they say you serve God by serving mammon! Money is celebrated and those who live modestly and who give generously are marginalized. They even have sexual paraphernalia sites to "help" Christian marriages. They make Jesus Christ our servant rather than our Lord. We are told to decree and God is to dutifully follow our arrogant instructions. We are kings, bestowed with all manner of authority (and from my observation, ALL who say and do these things ignore or openly flout the clearest dictates of the Bible). Don't think God will give authority to folks like that. We are given the impression that we "got him" - we can "hold him to his word" - we outfoxed him all right! And the beat goes on.

Always look beyond what is said to WHY it is said. Always hold people to God's standards, calling out hypocrisy, and NEVER compromise with evil. Satan is the father of all lies, and he is good at it. He is the master manipulator, and if we are smart, we will call him out on it and warn all we know so they do not end up in the pit with him. Satan wants to bring people down - he does not care how. If like Anthony Weiner, he does that; if like Jim Bakker, he does that; if like Bernie Madoff, he does that. and if illicit sex, money, or all the other typical vices don't work, as they often do not with a true Christian, he simply flatters them and surrounds them with admirers, and their insufferable pride often makes the fall more complete and without recovery than those traditional vices. Let those who think they stand take heed lest they fall.

ALPHABET OF ISSUES

2011-05-29T20:26:00.005-04:00

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

2011-05-20T14:35:00.004-04:00

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

2011-05-19T13:41:00.007-04:00

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.

AMAZING

2011-04-22T18:37:00.004-04:00

I am always amazed at how the press cannot be objective anymore but simply support their various points of view. This is not really new, as I witnessed as a 10 year old fabrications by a reporter of an incident I witnessed because I was involved in it. Frank Peretti's book THE PROPHET is one of my very favorites - it simply tells it like it is from story selection, to viewpoint, to placement within a broadcast or at which time of day to emphasize or diminish its effect. My sister was friends with a reporter with the New York Times who finally quit because he could no longer abide being told what slant to put on his writing.

Here are some articles that it would seem any real Newshound would go for, but alas, all they usually do it parrot unsatisfying positions by those who want the status quo:

1) Why did Barack Obama not wear his gold wedding ring or watch during 2010 Ramadan? Muslims are not allowed to wear GOLD jewelry that month. He said it was in for repairs. Now my wife's diamond ring sometimes needed repair, but a wedding band??? It really does matter since (1) the President claimed to be a Christian though his own words to author Stephen Mansfield in "The Faith of Barack Obama" appeared to say his understanding of what a Christian is does not match anyone else's that I know, (2) Every statement about Islam has been wildly complementary such as the call to prayer being "the most beautiful sound on earth" to the "Holy Quran" while he jokes about the Bible, refuses to intervene where Christians have been persecuted and butchered by Muslims, and regularly consults with Muslims, and (3) he has trashed Israel on every occasion he can losing the confidence of the vast majority of Israeli's. (And Yes, you Eagleeyes, I read Snopes (a left leaning supposed truth site) whose explanations defending the Prez were wholly illogical and lacking cand0r).

2) Why has Barack Obama sealed his birth certificates in two countries as well as ALL his academic records going back to Kindergarten? No matter what one believes, it is simply abnormal behavior. When one's own Grandmother says he was born in Kenya, when headlines in African papers declare he was born there (while running for Senate when it was no issue), and whose own WIFE said his native Kenya, whose COLB was so clearly a fraud (I work in graphics and could see the doctoring myself shown a close-up), the bug lie continues vilifying everyone who dares ask the most basic question about it. Why NOT a full scale investigation into it, since by his own words and actions, the President has shown the utmost disdain for our nation and has favored almost every other nation over us (except for our allies) and his inability to balance a checkbook within a trillion and a half dollars makes any sane soul wonder if he flunked math and economics many times over.

3) Why doesn't the press challenge Obama's characterization of Paul Ryan's budget as radical be challenged by the utter radical nature of spending 75% more money than one has?

4) Why not ask how come Black unemployment is up 50% under Barack's watch despite all the hundreds of billions spent. People rich and poor are WORSE off with his spending. Who wanta to have their income confiscated when in fact the spending has decimated small business, the engine of jobs, and made it WORSE?

I believe the answer is that reporters were raised in the same leftwing universities that Obama has found refuge in while the majority of the nation's adults have rejected his purely political agenda that would not flex with hard economic times. They received "A's" for parroting back ideas proffered by looney left professors. They get the same reinforcement from left wing media sources such as the NYT, Huffington Post, MSNBC, much of CNN, and all the other media slaves to all things liberal.

If Americans would STOP buying left-wing papers, stop watching CNN and MSNBC and the networks, boycott left wing and morally depraved Hollywood and Big Entertainment, these folks would be defunded and lose power. It is not only Planned Parenthood, the NEA, and other enemies of decency who must be defunded by government, citizens must defund the enablers.

As long as people love the Ed Asner's and Michael Moore's of the world, nothing will change.

When they say enough is enough, it will be enough to bring change.

DEFENSE OF NOT-REALLY-MARRIAGE

2011-02-23T21:45:00.004-05:00

Well, after two years of laying the groundwork for it, Obama has now finally pulled the rug out today from those decent God-fearing Americans who actually are observant enough to know which of the three possible sexual combinations is the one human beings are designed for. Man-man? No. Woman, Woman? No. Man, Woman? Yea! You got it. It works. I know!

Marriage by definition is the paring of opposites in every area when marriage is mentioned, whether humans,, electronics, computers, plumbing, you name it. The paring of like parts simply doesn't work. It is a farce and does violence to the language. It also does violence to God.

Jack Hayford wrote that sexual sin IS worse than other sins. It is sin against the body. Heterosexual non-ordained sex is sin.
Homosexual sex is ALWAYS an abomination. It is the ultimate rejection of your creator by perverting whom he lade you to be.

I have spoken before government on why we do not need the euphemistically names HUMAN RIGHTS ORDINANCE. These assume people are guilty unless proven innocent, and ignore the freedom of religion. Narrow exemptions are given to churches, but churches weren't the ones promised freedom of religion... PEOPLE were. The PRez likes to use Freedom of Worship instead. Like they have in China or Saudi Arabia I suppose.

I was advised b a government official that they do not want to pass these laws, but the pressure is immense from activists and those who disagree are either ignorant of the efforts or too lazy to show up (again and again, unfortunately as these folks are on a mission to wear you out and that strategy often works). We need to fight the desire to control thought and faith with egregious lawsuits intended to keep those without seared consciences from engaging in business or free speech.

If you care about marriage, you will besiege Congress with letters. After all, 85% of Senators and a lot of Representatives voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, and Bill Clinton to his credit signed it. If this law falls, all states will have to recognize these perverted parodies of marriage from states such as Massachusetts.

Like so much else from Washington, this is yet another assault on liberty and righteousness. Put a naiil in the political coffins of those who persist in these ways and pray daily for repentance. The church itself is largely tolerant of this mess, and is making itself irrelevant. Will you take a stand to support God's institution of marriage and not let it be perverted by those who hate the commandments of God and who crave for all to affirm their sin? I sure hope so!

THE STATE OF THE UNION

2011-01-24T20:54:00.002-05:00

Tuesday, January 25th is the annual STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS given by the President. These often seem more like campaign speeches than sober evaluations, so I am writing my own address here. The voice of the opposition follows, called THE STATE OF THE CHURCH. After hearing the one before Congress on Tuesday, please post here your thoughts on WHICH ONE IN YOUR OPINION comes closer to a true evaluation of where our country is…

Ladies and Gentlemen, I come before you today to give you the State of the Union, an annual report as it were, to review our successes AND our failures and to give a pathway for our future progress.

I am delighted that many people – perhaps most of the American people care deeply about freedom. They care about financial stability, and they care about having a safe and stable world. However, they seem to care more about IDOL and DWTS and the NFL, so their concerns generally do not make a change because they underestimate the evil that a whole lot of people are up to – evil to remove freedom, destroy the country, and make the American dream into a nightmare worthy of a disaster movie.

While some throw themselves wholly into rejuvenating our nation and calling it to repentance, many readily accept what they are told, wanting to appear reasonable while accepting the most outrageous hypotheses. As in the days of the civil war, we are a nation deeply divided, with even members of the same family fighting each other tooth and nail over the most basic issues. Some simply agree not to talk about politics or religion, and the powers that be will gladly take that, thank you. The Germans were silent and look how that facilitated statism and unspeakable atrocities. We are halfway there.

One upholds the right to life and considers killing pre-born babies murder (imagine that), while the other sees no problem with killing life that is unwanted, inconvenient, or perhaps physically or mentally flawed to some degree.

One wants to provide the medical care needed to keep older citizens alive as long as possible while the other sees it as a waste and believes we should cut off care and let them die so that the money can be spent on those less tied to their guns and religion.

One believes people are essentially good, and wants individuals to be responsible for their own actions, to work hard, and to have the freedom to form an enterprise with little interference from the government, while the other believes most people are too stupid to run their own life, but need a nanny state to assist them – at a major cost of money and freedom, of course. Not to mention whoever has tried that has failed or is moving rapidly toward failure.

One believes that people should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character, while the other believes people with some skin tones deserve more rights than others, people who deviate from the design of the human body by working that which God condemns should be celebrated and given special rights no one else has, and that in general those who achieve through hard work should not receive anything more than those who either choose not to extend themselves by getting out on cold mornings and working their fingers to the bone or who simply decide to live off of government largesse.

Much of the problem is that the regime still does not control ALL the media. While the networks and most of cable does the government's bidding, and all inconvenient stories and probes are killed, just as in Frank Peretti's novel THE PROPHET (what a precient book - buy a copy) there still are some lone voices out there as well as that evil Internet. It has been proposed that a single password be issued to each citizen. This will cover blogs, articles, websites, banking, and medical access. We will know what each person is thinking, saying, doing, spending, voting, and all - JUST LIKE GOD! Further, this will insure that medical care is given only to those who support the current version of government, with the rest to die off and some believe the nation will be unified once again. It will - unified to serve evil.

My fellow countrymen, we went through the Great Depression. What should have been over in a couple of years took much longer because of excessive government interference, and in fact it took a war to bring us out over a decade later. We are making all the same mistakes again because FDR is an icon, and if at first we don’t succeed, our nation tries, tries, and tries again the same failed policies.

We also saw the rise of Hitler and Mussolini. However, we believe they made up the account of Neville Chamberlain. If in fact he would just have negotiated and talked longer, history would have been different and we all would have been in the Soviet orbit - a virtual utopia. With Iranian and North Korean leaders spewing hate and using Nazi-like techniques, we will try Neville’s approach again, but better this time. Nothing beats failure but a try.

We have instituted a new policy whereby those who looked to us for help will have to fend for themselves. Poland, Czechoslovakia, and most importantly Israel have been feeding at our trough. The Poles and Czechs should be sucked back into the Soviet Orbit, and Israel should have their land divided so that the West Bank and Gaza can be joined. It will make attacks on Israel even easier, and to right the scales, we have cut back sales of military hardware to them - brilliant, huh?

We live in a post Christian era, and we must understand that Muslims have contributed so much to the world. They love peace, they love culture, and they will love us when we allow them to do whatever they wish. Therefore, they will have full access to our schools and universities, but Christian and Jewish thought is inappropriate and will be denied. We have already rewritten most of the history books to teach our upside down world. We have instructed there to be no tolerance for evil creationism or any challenge to the very convenient green agenda.

Further, we will ask you, the Congress, to remove the twenty-second amendment so that the greatest President ever can be President for life. What could be more fitting for The One? Don't faint! Get her some water!

COUNTERPOINT BY THE OPPOSITION:
THE STATE OF THE CHURCH

I must say that if the church were healthy, we would have at least that going for us, but in many ways, the State of the Church mirrors the State of the Union.

Just as the Constitution has been gathering dust and is ignored, so is the Bible not given the respect it deserves. More and more people who claim to be born again and know God openly disrespect the Word of God.

With many single Christians, it is not WHETHER to have sex on a date, it is how many dates to go on BEFORE having sex. With married Christians, so-called CHRISTIAN websites advocate many practices of the world, INCLUDING adulterous fantasies.

Many pastors of supposedly sound churches go to seminaries where professors either do not believe the word of God means what it says or are even actually atheists. One of those is on City Line Avenue yet its doors are still open and people flock there. They are hardly unique. MOST Christian colleges now teach the flawed philosophy of evolution instead of true science that proclaims the truths of God. Sites run by supposed Christians such as BioLogos actually oppose the authority of the Bible on every turn. They start by trying to deconstruct Genesis, but just like Satan, continue right on through every doctrine of eternal significance.

Christians are deeply divided as well – some believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the church throughout the ages while others blaspheme the Holy Spirit by calling his gifts demonic, just as first century religious people accused Jesus Christ of having a demon.

One any given Sunday, the vast majority of white people are in churches that are almost entirely white, the overwhelming majority of blacks and Asians are in churches that almost entirely mirror their own ethnicity.

There is more talk about getting wealthy (to give to the Lord of course) than helping the poor, the widow, and the orphan.

There are rules about everything that doesn’t matter, while just about every command of Christ is ignored. Who prays without ceasing? Who preaches the gospel of salvation? Who sings in the Spirit? Which of the older devote themselves to teaching the younger?
Where are people learning how to defend their faith and how to give an answer to everyone who asks about the hope that is in them? Where are people who count their possessions as not their own? Where are Christian Schools that teach grace rather than justification by keeping their petty rules? Where are churches that teach the Bible as true history, true archaeology, true science, true everything instead of “stories” we can learn from? Where is there worship where everybody worships and not just a half-dozen people on the platform amped way up to sound as loud as a few hundred voices? Where is holiness? Where is sound Bible teaching instead of feel-good messages that are forgotten instead of compelling souls to lay at the altar in tears?

I know some of you my good friends are the exceptions. You really do love God and try to obey him in everything. But you are too few. You need to disciple people to be like you. Our church is in sad shape, and so is our nation. The gates of Hell will not prevail against the church, but America is missing from the Book of Revelation. Is this the end of our nation? The warning signs are ample. Keep in mind that all the judgments of God are conditional. We were condemned, and now we are saved. Our nation can be saved. But if the State of the Union is going to be improved, the church will need to lead the way. We will need to bring the message of Christ first to the people in the churches, then the people in the schools, then the people in the universities and government. Christ gave us a spiritual kingdom. It is more powerful kingdom than the worldly kingdoms that run on raw power, deceit, and corruption. Read the end of the Book. We win!

THE CONSTITUTION MATTERS IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE

2010-10-03T20:14:00.004-04:00

Many political leaders today are ignoring the Constitution. They largely don't know it, understand it, or follow it. They are their own authority, and they do what is right in their own eyes. The problem is, it is not limited to people in government - it is just as widespread in the church. The spiritual Constitution given to us by God is the Bible, and people are cherry-picking the Bible just as those in the world cherry-pick the Constitution. The results are dismally similar. You see, written Constitutions are well thought out. They have checks and balances. They are not subject to the emotions of the moment or a particular situation. They are written to have a yardstick for all situations. The Bible was also not written in the heat of the moment. Unlike the U.S. Constitution, which though it is an inspiring document it is not the work of God, the Bible was dictated by the Holy Spirit and is inspired of God. The U.S. Constitution was not infallible, and in fact it has been amended 27 times. Oddly, in terms of prohibition of alcohol, it was changed to prohibit it and then to allow it again! The 26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18 was approved in fewer than 4 months from when it was proposed, while not surprisingly, the 27th Amendment took 203 years from the time it was proposed until it was passed! Why do I say unsurprisingly? Because it prohibited pay raises for Congresspersons from taking affect until the NEXT Congress! Follow the money!

In contrast, the word of the Lord endures forever. God changes not, though by the disdain many Christians have for portions of the Bible, in their minds God changes about as often as do politicians on their positions on issues before the election. A pastor told me he had to leave the seminary of his denomination because most of his professors did not believe in the infallibility of the Word of God. I was actually at a wedding reception, which rented a function room at that same seminary, and shared that with someone at the table. Though my wife was kicking me under the table, the young lady nodded and said her pastor husband told her his experience was the same. The difference is that my friend LEFT the seminary and went elsewhere. This ladies husband was still there. How can ANYONE put themselves under the spiritual instruction of those who do not trust totally in the foundation document of our faith? It is not simply the material presented in class – it is the spiritual impartation done. I know that I sure could never put myself under someone like that. Yet people put themselves under the authority of pastors and churches that deviate from the word of God – sometimes large and sometimes small, but why tolerate ANY deviation? Did Jesus? Did Paul? Did Peter? Did John?

So what is substituted for our foundation document? In the terms of the Constitution, it is the whim of the moment, the latest politically correct notion, or a law that those in power have enough votes to pass. Of course, that is tyranny and it sets in motion a vast decrease in rights, consistency, and the rule of law. You see, all valid laws have to be consistent with the Constitution - that is the authority. What has happened is that advocates for this or that go judge shopping and seek to get someone to say the Constitutions deals with something it plainly does not mention or that it means the opposite of its plain meaning to any rational person.

In terms of the church, it is much the same. The ideas of man are exalted above the ideas of God. People shop for pastors or other spiritual leaders who will tell them that the Bible doesn't mean what it says so they run their lives the way they want to instead of the way God wants to.

I was at a Christian rap concert (believe it or not) and a lady rapper from Delaware was rapping away. As musicians often do between pieces, they pontificate. She was sharing her experience of how God was speaking great things to her. It went something like this - "I was sitting up in bed thinking about it, being careful not to wake up my boyfriend...." One and done. Problem is, most people would never assume making such a comment would go unchallenged so they do not say what they are doing. Rather, they never challenge evil. They let people in their church live together, be homosexual, you name it, all in the name of tolerance and spreading God's love. My wife was ministering to a woman physically abused. Do you know how many wives of pastors protect violent men in the pulpit? They need to be exposed! The Bible says not to show partiality in these matters. If the elder sins, he must be rebuked. Yet the wanderings of pastors are covered up and if found out there is a rush to restoration instead of dealing with the core causes. Churches would not dream of turning the souls of sinners over to Satan as Paul did in order that the cleansing of God could come into their lives. I was speaking to a pastor who said confronting people coming to his church who lived together was the hardest part of his job. Hey, pastoring is more than pulpit time - it takes using the crook to keep the sheep from falling down the canyon and it takes confronting wolves and bears to protect the sheep, even to the extent of fighting them bare-knuckled as David did. Yet some leaders would view that askance as it might get some mud on the tires of their shiny Mercedes parked in their reserved parking space.

In a social work class at a Pennsylvania Christian college, students were queried on how they would deal with a pregnant unmarried teenager - only 2 or 3 in that class took the anti-abortion position that is consistent with the word of God. This wasn’t Penn State – it was a so-called Christian college. Tons of women preachers now call themselves pastors, bishops, and even apostles despite the repeated and universal prohibition of that in scripture. Women twist the law of God more than Sonya Sotomayor and the rest of the liberal Supreme Court justices to find rationalization to fulfill their dreams. And the beat goes on. Many churches, despite the fact that man-made rules are of NO value against fleshly indulgence, have lists of man-made rules that are about as lengthy as Tolstoy's lengthy tome, "War and Peace". The Bible prohibits vain repetitions, and while some Protestant love to apply that to Hail Mary's, they sing the same chorus about 50 times until they are in a hypnotic state and accept anything the leader says regardless of its absurdity.

My friends, we have to be governed by the Word of God as it is plainly written. Very little of the Bible is hard to understand. The vast majority is pretty simple. "In six days, God created the heavens and the earth..." Just to be sure there was no misunderstanding about how long a day is, Christ wrote with his own finger on the stone tablets given to Moses that we needed to rest the seventh day because God made the earth in six days and rested the seventh. Yet people will get almost violent with you talking about the gap theory, day-age theory, and theistic evolution, all of which have absurd consequences and were dreamed up because more confidence was held in the ideas of man than in the words of God. They are no more rational than those who find a right of privacy or a ban on Christianity in the Constitution. Those words must have been written in the margins in invisible ink!

What concepts have you found by making the invisible ink in the margins of your Bible visible? That homosexuality is one of the designs of God? That all roads lead to heaven? That Christ's sacrifice will save everybody, even those who have rejected him? That being "slain in the spirit" is a normative or even desirable Christian experience? That you have classes to teach people how to speak in tongues? That modesty does not include spending a lot on our appearance, with lots of gold, braided hair, and expensive clothes? That the pastor is elevated to rock star status instead of having functioning elders and a Body of Christ where every member is valued and participates in every gathering? That prosperity is guaranteed in the atonement and that poor Christians are faithless Christians? Or even that physical healing is guaranteed in the atonement despite the context of all the proof-texts which indicates spiritual healing and the testimony of the Holy Spirit that God did not heal Paul, Timothy, or Trophemus, all of whom were certainly atoned for?

My friends, politicians repeat the same untruths so often, many people believe the lies. Tell a lie often enough and almost everyone will believe it. This post is not particularly political, but I have to mention to make the point that it is like the endless lie that President Obama and his friends have told that he inherited an economic situation caused by President Bush. The recession/depression situation was caused by the irresponsible acts of the Democratic Congress that took office in January of 2007 and their quintupling of the deficit, the more than doubling of unemployment, and nutty policies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that triggered the meltdown. Up until they got their way, as CONGRESS holds the purse strings, things were humming along just fine, thank you! I freely tell people that the last six years of Clinton were good economically as were the first six years of Bush. What we had were twelve years of a GOP Congress. When Congress does not spend inordinate amounts of money and controls government power, the people prosper.

Go back to 1932 – you will see a direct prosperity linkage with who controls Congress. Our nation’s darkest days over the last one hundred years were the four times so-called Progressives were in control – the economic mess under Woodrow Wilson (in many ways worse than the Great Depression, though not as long), under FDR, whose policies greatly lengthened the Depression, under Jimmy Carter, whose almost fatal blow was partially recovered from under Reagan who was limited by a Democratic Congress, and now under Obama, whose grossly irresponsible spending and government control has made everyone poorer and put the poorest in even greater misery.

The church has followed suit - there is much discussion about the state of the church today. The fact is, you can attribute most of it to the folks who are now running churches and ministries. They are on TV spouting feel-good messages and appealing to the flesh every which way they can. They decry fundamentalists and even accept comparisons of moral people to the Taliban. They allow homosexuals to not only be their organists but to remain in the church without repentance. Women out of order in prohibited roles are in increasing abundance teaching strange doctrines and undermining God’s order for society. Some denominations are finding it rare to even have a male or straight pastor anymore. Men consumed with their own greed invent new ways by the day to extract money to pay not for spreading the gospel of Christ, but for lavish lifestyles to advance their own little kingdoms. Worship is often about worshipping self and coming to catharsis after a tough week instead of giving GOD a sacrifice of praise and true and unhurried spiritual worship. Instead of developing a culture of giving and generosity, where no one has too much and no one has too little, but where there is also no compulsion, Pastors are putting congregations under bondage with high-pressure tithing and giving schemes using the money not for advancing the gospel or for the poor, but in too many cases for other purposes including the building of monuments, paying salaries far beyond the "double honor: due those who labor among us, and buying expensive toys. I know one place that does this - two top line Mercedes and a 7 series BMW while many in the church have to take SEPTA or hock a ride to get to church to give after being harangued about it. God help us! We can’t say we weren’t warned. Two books of the Bible deal almost exclusively with false teachers. See if you can find them (hint – they are near the end, just as we are!)

How about things closer to home? Praying without ceasing. Studying to show ourselves approved unto God. Being God's witnesses. Making disciples of all nations. I talk to lots of people. Many Christians do not even have time each day dedicated to God. Did you know that God has an infinite amount of things to tell you? That will not happen if prayer is limited to grace before meals and a mumbled farewell to God as we fall asleep. We MUST give attention to what the Word commands us to do. If we do not, our Christian community will slide into irrelevancy just as the United States is by forsaking our founding document, our authority, the source of truth that protects us. It is not too late. Many are speaking up about the prescient evil of runaway government that seeks to take the place of God and conscience in people's lives. Others are disgusted with the state of organized Christianity and seek to return to true Biblical Christianity pure and simple. Both are worthy pursuits.

Our Constitution was written with the idea that America could only work when people had a moral compass and were not depending on a government to bring righteousness. Without a Godly populace ruled by the Word of God, the Constitution would really not work. Our founders ASSUMED that people would be ruled inwardly by the Bible. Today, very few are. Instead, an amazing number of Christians are welcoming extreme government intrusion because they believe it will bring righteousness and better economic results. They are just as foolish as those in the New Testament who put confidence in the law instead of grace. My friends, if government could really help us, the God-ordained Old Testament system would have saved us. It did not, and modern governments cannot either. Utopian governments are running out of money. More people are poorer now than for many years. The future looks bleak. Unless we have a resurgence of faith and vigilance against the political tyranny that Satan now has most of the world under, we too will slide into irrelevancy. Are we willing to be ruled by God and his unchanging Word? It starts one person at a time.

We have a new covenant. We have a better way. It is called the Kingdom of God. Do a study and find out all that Christ says about his Kingdom. For a start, you may wish to check what our Statement of Faith says about the kingdom at www.kingdomgospelministies.org. Are you dissatisfied with the status quo? More importantly, are you with me in seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and being governed by his word alone?

WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?

2010-09-13T23:30:00.007-04:00

I have been amazed about all the people who say Obama is a Christian. I have seen practically endless dogmatic assertions of that by mainstream newspersons, by bloggers, and even by ordinary folks. People in the news media who are continually antagonistic to the gospel, who host documentaries disputing the truths of Christ and the Bible, who dismiss “Christian fundamentalists” as extreme and as dangerous as the Taliban all of a sudden are experts on defining what a Christian is.

True Christians such as myself often run into people who say they are Christians. It is sort of a default answer. George Barna did a poll that indicated about 9 out 10 people who claimed to be a Christian could not define it in any scripturally accurate terms. Born-again Christians routinely probe to find out if a person is truly “saved”, why would Barack Obama be given a pass? Particularly, one might add, when it is considered perfectly acceptable for Muslims to lie about it if it otherwise advances their faith.

So why is Obama called a Christian? Many say because he says he is. However, many think you have to be a Christian to be President of the United States so the rule is to make people think you are one. When you get to the Biblical definitions and requirements, you will find that the vast majority of United States Presidents do not fit the bill. They may go to churches, but as for believing the covenants, the prophets, in the diety of Christ, having repented for their sins, and having declared Jesus Christ as their Lord, many fall out of consideration. Just like most people who take on the moniker.

Many Christians loved Reagan, but his “testimony” was so general, it would have been a good example of the old saw, “if you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” I have to admit I was touched by Jimmy Carter’s touching testimony about being born again and about the Holy Spirit in his seminal interview with Bill Moyers. I know die-hard Republicans who voted for him. We later found out in his book that he could not see Muslims and non-Messianic Jews as lost, contradicting Jesus Christ himself, who taught that NO ONE comes to the Father except through Christ, and that God CANNOT be your Father if you reject the Son. Others talk about George W. Bush’s walk with Billy Graham. Yet, W was a member of Skull and Bones (The Order of Death) along with John Kerry and over 1,000 other members of the “Elite” or Illuminati that includes big time CEO’s captains of industry and media moguls. The pagan proclivities of the elites are well known, and Eisenhower, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton. and W as well as Colin Powell and Henry Kissinger also donned red, black, and silver robes to participate in the Bohemian Grove Cremation of Care Ceremony, where the image of a 40 foot high owl known the Great Owl of Bohemia is set up for worship, and an effigy of a human they call Dull Care is sacrificed to it.

TIME magazine has documented that Barack Obama carries “charms,” including an image of Hanuman (or Bajrang Bali, the monkey god) that is revered highly by the largest pagan religion in the world, Hinduism. We know about Mary Todd Lincoln’s séances in the White House, Nancy Reagan’s practice of astrology in the White House, Hillary's channeling of Eleanor Roosevelt, and not to be outdone, Michelle Obama’s live-in mother, Marian Robinson, practices Santerian rituals (Voodoo) in the White House.

Doesn’t anyone find it strange that Presidents don’t follow the example of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in refusing to worship pagan images? Does anyone think that any Christian, no matter how weak, would be carrying images of foreign gods? Are you credulous enough to believe that a Christian would “slip” and talk about “my Muslim faith”? It defies our own experience. It defies logic. It defies truth.

Further, Mr. Obama told Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Aboul Gheit that he was still a Muslim and favorable to and loyal to the Muslim agenda and that he would deal with Israel after his domestic agenda was in place. True Christians and Jews have long been allies, and Christians believe the promises made to Abraham in Genesis 12 in terms of blessing and not cursing the Jew. Fewer than 10% of Jews think Obama is in their corner vs. an overwhelming percentage for George W. Bush. That does not make W a Christian, but it sure calls into question Obama’s Christianity since he has favored Islam, which hates Jews, at every turn. Obama has sent similar signals when he spoke in Turkey – you can see the video yourself online.

Now it is true that Obama has also said he is a Christian, but when pressed for details, it appears to be the opposite. In Stephen Mansfield’s book, “The Faith of Barack Obama”, not a hit piece, but endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Obama says he found “vindication” for what he already believed when he went to Trinity. He finds the Bible far-fetched” (while exalting the “Holy Quran”), says his experience was not the normal in terms of turning to Christ as a savior. Rather, it reads like someone who really believes nothing but perhaps some symbolisms rather than the heart of the matter. By all Biblical criteria, he is not a Christian in the Biblical sense, and to say otherwise is counterproductive and foolish. Obama had early Muslim training, but his parents had both been atheists. His schooling from the days of Frank Marshall Davis to Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard was decidedly left and decidedly not related to Christianity at all. Few people who have heard Jeremiah Wright, who claims to be an ex-Muslim, but who is awfully friendly toward it, believe he preaches a remotely Christian message. I remember my mother in law confronted him when he spoke at a church in Germantown. She was appalled at his message. Obama spent twenty years at a church (not too frequently either) that damned the nation, ordained homosexuals since the 1970’s and that otherwise did just about everything opposite to the Bible. Wright preaches hate and liberation theology and gave a Muslim, Louis Farrakhan, his highest honor. When you read Farrakhan’s speech below, you are likely reading much of Wright’s own theology and apparently Obama’s theology as well. It is not as rare as one would hope. Obama is not alone in fashioning his private interpretations. So many people of all stations in life belong to the Masons and other groups that deny that Jesus Christ is the ONLY BEGOTTEN son of God. Christian Colleges are being taken over by universalists who believe that all will be saved in the end. It is totally contrary to the Bible and the faith delivered once to the saints. I believe if you listen to Muslim minister Louis Farrakhan, you can see how a person who believes NONE of the essentials of the Christian faith can claim to be one, and those similarly deceived will shout and holler and applaud – this comes from the days of the unholy alliance between Pat Robertson and Sun Myung Moon and the Million Family March:

I am a Christian. Did you hear me? Farrakhan said, I am a Christian. I am a Jew. I am a Muslim. I am Pentecostal. I am of the Church of God in Christ. I am a Jehovah's Witness. I am a Mason. I am a Shriner. I'm all of that and then some, because I refuse to let things limit me as to who I really am, and you should not allow that, either.
When I say I am a Christian, I delight in the cross. It means a lot to me. The cross is not a symbol of wood with a horizontal and a vertical bar; the cross is a symbol of the dual nature of the human being. He has a horizontal nature, which is animalistic. He has an upright nature, which is vertical. The cross represents our struggle to overcome the horizontal and grow into the vertical.
The Star of David is two equilateral triangles, one pointing up, one pointing down. Six sides, six angles. The Bible says, Count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. But the man is God's man, and the beast is also under the same number, because the beast is a man that has fallen down, and the God-man is a man that is looking up and gets instructions from above. And the fallen man is he who gets his guidance from the lower extremities. We follow our sexual appetite. We follow our lust for material things, for power.

The crescent represents equality. The star represents justice. The sun represents freedom. That flag is up above our heads, and the God who created that -- He doesn't let the sun shine on white people and miss black people. Does He? He doesn't let the rain fall on the Native American and not fall on other members of the human family. God is just, and he's no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter what your color is, what your race is, with God it is righteousness that He is after.

So if that is YOUR definition of a Christian, you fit it. If you accept God’s definition of a Christian, but have not accepted the atonement of the shed blood of Christ to cover your sins, you are the furthest thing from one. A Christian has to come Christ's way and be devoted to Christ. Christians are known for their fruit. Christians are righteous. Christians are just. Christians have self-control, Christians have faith, Christians live holy, Christians promote morality, Christians defend the persecuted. Christians reward the productive, Christians are incredibly generous, Christians are charitable, expecting nothing in return, and most important of all, Christians love and adore Christ to the exclusion of all others. Today IS the accepted day of salvation. Hearken to the voice of God today! Join the family of faith!
"For God so loved he world, that he have his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him should be saved."

GROUND ZERO (expanded version)

2010-09-11T22:24:00.008-04:00

Today marks nine years since 9/11. What I see today is a yet uncompleted rebuild. What I see is a lot of self-doubt. What I see is promotion of Islam. Politicians bend over backwards to say we are not at war with Islam. Bush said it. Obama says it. Almost every talk radio host, conservative or liberal, says it. It that statement true? Is the vast majority of Islam a peaceful religion that is being hijacked by some radicals? If we are not at war with Islam, should we be? It seems to me that Islam has declared war on the west. It's goal is without dispute world domination. So-called moderate after so-called moderate, including the primary funder for the acquisition of the site, Hisham Elzanaty, either funds terrorism or receives funds from terrorists, and differ only in means, not the end goal.

There is no dominantly Muslim country in the world that is fair to Christians. Muslims routinely desecrate Bibles, crosses, and people. They want to build am Islamic political beachhead near Ground Zero as a sign of victory and as a jumping off point to further intimidate the west, and historically illiterate people are bending over trying to equate this with building a church that is apolitical and is simply a place to worship God. Some argue that the structure proposed is not a mosque. Actually, despite the original terminology of GROUND ZERO MOSQUE by the Imam, they are right. It is a rabat, or a "connector". These have been built in Islam starting in the days of Mohammed. They were intrinsically tied to ghazvas, or raids. These raids were DESIGNED, in the words of Amir Taheri, "to terrorize the infidels, convince them that their civilization was doomed, and force them to submit to Islamic rule." Taheri also notes that "after each ghazva, the Prophet ordered the creation of a rabat - or a point of contact at the heart of the infidel territory raided. The rabat consisted of an area for prayer, a section for the raiers to eat and rest and failities to train and prepare for future razzias. Later Muslim rulers used the tactic of ghazva to conquer territory in the Persian and Byzantine empires. After each raid. they built a rabat to prepare for the next razzia. It is no coincidence that Islamists routinely use the term ghazva to describe the 9/11 attacks against New York and Washington. The terrorists who carried out the attacks are referred to as ghazis or shahids(martyrs)." So the apologists for the "mosque" ignore that what happened is in mainstream Islam and part of a pattern going back over 1,300 years. Of course, they also ignore the fact that the only church destroyed at Ground Zero, St. Nicholas, has NEVER been rebuilt due to red tape.

When I was younger people said the only way the US would be defeated would be from within. Europe has been collapsing from within for years. Well, the United States now has a Trojan Horse President in full lockstep with Islamic goals, and conflicted idiots apologizing to their sworn enemies. Achmadinijad is mocking the sanctions, which are useless, and the administration is sitting on its hands because in its heart it WANTS Iran to be strong and America weak. There is NO other credible explanation. Someone proposed a few years ago that Mecca and Medina should have been leveled by bombs. This sounds like lunacy to a world bent on and resigned to the notion that evil will remain and where there is no strong demarcation of right and wrong. However, while political considerations seem to preclude making such an bold move possible, unless the one who did it was willing to forego reelection, it is true that since Islam is place-centric and has no living Savior, it would have sent it into demise. The time to have done that would have been right after 9/11 as direct retaliation for ALL the attacks that had happened for years - the first WTC, the USS Cole, Lebanon, etc. It is because of a religion, not a country. It would have been fully justified though more controversial than HIroshima, but it would have changed history and it was arguably the duty of government to have done that. When you have an enemy, you strike to the heart of it, and building sites are at the heart of Islam. It would have saved countless lives and demoralizaed an arrogant and totalitarian political/religious system that has caused untold agony around the world.

Of course that did not happen, and now Islam has marched more through intimidation of the west more quickly than anyone would have dreamed. Is freedom ever worth defending by ANY means necessary? Regardless of your ideas or politics, can anyone anywhere show me how any nation or any people is BETTER because of Islam having been there? Provoking ideas to be sure. What do you think? What is your strategy for freedom to remain? Or do you believe a one world government under Islam is inevitable?

TO TOLERATE OR NOT

2010-09-11T21:50:00.005-04:00

TOLERATION is the word of the day. The President says it. Newscasters say it. Church leaders say it. Problem is, they all seem to say it to Americans, who are probably the most tolerant people already on earth, and not to those to whom INTOLERANCE including harsh brutality is a way of life! It is tiring to be preached to by people who themselves have little tolerance. The President is extremely intolerant of those who disagree with him. Liberal Church leaders are very intolerant of those who believe the authority of the Word of God an the Diety of Christ. Newspapers are totally intolerant of real Christians and real moral positions. They need to preach to themselves! It would also do them well to preach to Islamic countries where there has NEVER been any tolerance worthy of the name.

If people want to condemn burning the Quran, which from what I have read of it is incoherent and not the least comparable to the time-tested and life-tested Bible, they should condemn burning the Bible and condemn the daily assaults against the Bible in college and school classrooms EVERY DAY. The Prez has mocked the Bible while talking about the HOLY Quran. If you read it, you will find it is anything but. However, since the Prez is obviously a functional Muslim at minimum, that figures. Worse, the Quran feeds subversion and inspires evil because it is evil! True Christians know that the angel that came to Mohammed was a Demon, just as the one that went to Joseph Smith. We are talking about the doctrine of Demons that we are supposed to tolerate.

No I have never burned a Quran or any other book for that matter, though I do pray daiiy against the demonic influence of Islam worldwide. Talk to ex-Muslims if you have any doubt about how evil that religion is. Despite lip service to Christ, it is an anti-Christ system of ideas that has caused untold heartache since its founding.

Is toleration a quality God admires? First let us see what the word really means. As with most words, there are shades of meaning. The first is to be willing allow something to happen or exist. The second is to withstand the unpleasant effects of something. When you go to toleration, you get the specific religious connotation. It is the official acceptance by a government of religious beliefs and practices different from those it upholds.

Since the United States government does not uphold any religious beliefs, it really does not apply to us. However, it DOES apply to Muslim Countries, as the concept of fairness is imbedded in that, and there is no fairness in Islam and Islam is as much a political system as it is a religion. It is totalitarian at its heart.

Let's look at Romans 2:3-5 (New International Version)
3So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

We need to be mighty grateful that God has shown US tolerance. He could have just wiped us out, but he has not. He has taken so much effort to bring us to him. KINDNESS leads to repentance. Many Muslims are coming to Christ - they know we are Christians by our love. We were not given the sword. We are to be people of peace. Paul ad Peter and John confronted those of other faiths and tried to win them, but they NEVER attacked them orm ocked them. That is on a personal level.

When we go to a government level, it is different. Israel was not to tolerate evil and those who served other Gods. Governments do not bear the sword in vain, and their job is to maintain the safety of their citizens. They cannot tolerate or capitulate to evil or to blackmail as the Imam propagated just this week. America will not survive unless we say - control your people - if not they will pay the consequences. We are going to do what is right. God will support the righteous. To surrender to sinners only invites more distress and is historically indefensible. The governments of nations and the churches have a different responsibility from individuals. Individuals cannot tolerate sin and evil in their own lives- governments and churches cannot tolerate wickedness in their midst and must bear the sword as needed to please God.

Habakkuk 1:3 - Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

Habakkuk 1:13 - Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Revelation 2:2 - I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

Revelation 2:6
But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Our nation has tolerated so much evil, we could collapse as a nation in our lifetime. The church has tolerated so much evil and so much false doctrine that it has gone through precipitous decline an is largely irrelevant. I talk to a lot of people. Many have found it very hard to find a church that actually functions in a New Testament fashion with pure motives and Biblical authority without compromise. hey are VERY FEW and VERY FAR between.

All ideas are not equal. What people believe does matter.

We need to tolerate people as God does until the judgment but be intolerant to any ideas or practices that are alien to the Kingdom of God. God himself will bring intense judgment on all this at the end, but we must keep ourselves pure and keep the church pure. Change in the world comes through victory and conquest - that is the nature of things, for better or worse. That ihow God ULTIMATELY will rule the world. He is negotiating now, but man will largely remain at emnity and war with God, and GOd will wield the big stick. That is how Nazism was put down. That is how slavery was abolished. That is how Saddam was put down. Government moves against evil are supported by God. God is not a Neville Chamberlain. God is not politically correct, and just a "loving" sap, but rather is a loving but jJUST God that wants to see righteousness in the earth and will waste BILLIONS of people in order to bring that about. So tolerate people and seek to win them, but do not cry when the unrepentant are utterly destroyed by the fire out of the mouth of God.

WORLD WAR 3

2010-09-01T20:28:00.003-04:00

I rarely ever use the words of others on this blog - I believe this is the second time. But before we get to that, a few words are in order. As the peace process is going on in Washington, what is ignored is that per a middle east poll shows that large majority of Palestinians do not believe in the right of Israel o exist as a Jewish state, peace agreement or not. How can talks progress with such a basic issue? ..a cursory examination of after-school children's programs on Israeli and Arab television shows that, in general, Israelis are educating for peace and coexistence, while the Arabs are educating for conflict.

A program titled "Tomorrow's Pioneers" broadcast on a popular Hamas-controlled television station recently made waves after its beloved Mickey Mouse-like host was shown being "martyred" by Israelis. His replacement, a fuzzy bee character, said he desired to massacre the Jews for killing the mouse, and encouraged his young audience to aspire to the same violent hatred.

Meanwhile, the Israeli version of Sesame Street that airs every afternoon on Israeli television features Jewish and Arab characters living side by side in peace and harmony. The underlying theme in Sesame Street and other Israeli children's programs is that while Israel is being forced to fight, it must not hate the Arabs, as it ultimately desires to coexist with them.

In Washington, Mr. Obama is doing the same thing - ignoring the FACT of Islamic terrorism in dealing with Islam. It is a tragicomedy of epic proportions.

US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave in July. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today - the result of inaction or inadequate action by President of BOTH parties, and why we need to finally wake up and see reality as it is, PERIOD.

AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!

That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been 'Get Out of Bed!' In fact, the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran . This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency the attack on this sovereign U. S. Embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years

.America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism.

America 's military had been decimated and down sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East . America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued.

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden down with over 25 00 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

.Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait , and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid

Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rheine-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed

.The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie , Scotland in 1988, killing 259.The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America . In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley , Virginia

The following month, February 1993 , a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York City . Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.

A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran , Saudi Arabia . It destroys the Khobar Towers , a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania . These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000 , when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America . How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep.

In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high official in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.

I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough. America needs to 'Get out of Bed' and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said '... it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.' This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.

THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE (not!!!)

2010-08-27T21:40:00.004-04:00

US Tax Dollars for Restoring Mosques worldwide.
Kizimkazi Mosque in Tanzania.
The ribbon was cut this past April.
Amr Ebn El Asa Mosque Cairo, erected to celebrate the defeat of
Christianity in Egypt. – named for the conqueror.

Teaching Abstinence.
Oh no!
The government removed funding.
It was too religious. Even though it worked.
Homosexuality, auto-eroticism, Porn appreciation –
Now that merits a government grant!

Manger scenes, Ten Commandments.
Inscriptions on courthouses – including the Supreme Court.
Oh no!
God, rarely, Jesus, never.
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE THEY CRY.
WHAT IS BEHIND THAT CRY?

The President supports a Mosque near Ground Zero.
Against the wishes of 88% of the American People if you believe AOL.
Separation of Church and State? Hardly.
Just depends on which religion and which state.
Oh Yes!
US Tax Dollars to send Imam Faisal Abdul Raul around the world to collect his money?.
Try getting Washington to underwrite your church’s stewardship campaign.

I don’t listen to what the Imam says here.
I llisten to what he says THERE!
What he wrote in his book
Here we know it as
“What is Right with Islam is what’s right with America”
There it is titled
“The Call from the WTC Rubble - Islamic Da’Wah from the Heart of America”

HINT: Da’Wah means to “invite” or to convert or revert people to Islam.
It is not about celebrating all faiths. Ask the people in Cordoba.
They say it is a cultural center. Cordoba.
As in Cordoba, Spain, not a Chrysler Cordoba.
At that time Christians and Jews were regularly murdered and enslaved.
Berber General Tarik Ibn Zayad conquered Cordoba in 711.
Immediately the Church of Saint Vincent was replaced with the Great Mosque of Cordoba.

What else does he say?
Is this enough?
The United States was an accessory to the attacks of 9/11.
Sharia law is superior to constitutional law.
The opening day will be September 11, 2011.
The press silent
Mayor Blumberg a cheerleader.
The President supportive.

Are you really for the separation of Church and State?

Appendix:

Have you wondered about the RIGHT to build a Mosque?
Read some zoning codes and see how hard it is to build any place of worship anyplace.
It was not permitted in New York City at that spot.
EVERYTHING was waived.
St. Nicholas Green Orthodox Church was flattened by the south tower.
Nine years later it remains unbuilt.
Red Tape.
Bureaucracy.
This Mosque decision was a decision against all logic done by people who felt guilty - about something.
Guilty people make some really dumb decisions.
What is Barack Obama feeling guilty about?

JOURNALISM (not!)

2010-08-27T21:39:00.001-04:00

GRAVIATAS – never uttered before, ne’r offered since.
Fifty people saying the same word the same hour.
A hundred reporters writing the same word on unnetworked computers.
What are the odds?
No odds – can you say “Jour-no-list”.
Propaganda not journalism.
The bane of our day.

Where are the days when journalists broke new ground?
Truly investigative reporting that went behind the scenes?
Did those days ever exist?
In the 1800’s the papers were really rough on folks.
No kid gloves.
No political correctness.
Just people saying what they truly believed – for better or worse.

Like Matlock pulling the proverbial rabbit out of a hat.
Bringing justice when the case against his client seemed so easy.
It takes thinking outside the box.
It takes, well, just thinking.
Not the easy way, like students plagiarizing their paper or dissertation.
Not the easier way, like rotating the same words found on Journo-List.
But the relentless pursuit of truth. As Jesus said, few there be that find it.

I found out early about so-called journalism.
It was 1959 and we were racing soapboxes on Charlotte Road.
A bully jumped on back and quick steering gave him his due.
Before the ambulance came, the Reporter from the Courier News was there.
I looked in the paper the next day.
She wrote the boy was riding a bike and hit a tree.
People write what they want to write, Not inconvenient truths.

Does anyone honestly think that if our media were primarily honest that
The scoundrels in office would be able to operate with impunity?
I think not.
They would run for the hills.
No, actually, they never would have been elected in the first place.
Journalism?
In a coma. Wake up – Please?

MY HOPE FOR REAL CHANGE

2010-08-01T23:33:00.010-04:00

Some people are putting a lot of hope in the midterm elections this November. They have seen the poisonous possibilities of having one party control all of government, particularly a very activist party. They believe there will be a groundswell rebellion against unpopular policies being put through in Congress that the President has signed - policies which are deemed detrimental to the health of the country. I expect the Dems will lose seats in both houses, perhaps even enough to lose control of one house. However, even if BOTH houses were to change hands, any repeals or major policy shifts would simply be vetoed by the President, and unless the GOP had 2/3 majorities in both houses, those vetoes could not be overturned. Further, the Obama Administration has been doing end runs around even the DEMOCRAT Congress, simply using unconstitutional powers of Executive Fiat, and any impeachment attempt would fail without 2/3 majorities. The prospects are dimmed even more by any lame duck Congress which would go on steroids to pass Cap and Trade, Card check, and other hugely unpopular bills. These could not be undone until 2012, and the damage will have been done by then, not to mention that even if the Dems were in the minority come January 2011, they would filibuster and fight tooth and nail on everything and not be pansies like the "gentlemanly GOP" craving "bipartisanship".

No, my friends, while I will do what I can to slow down the express train taking our nation down the tracks to the financial and moral abyss, I have no false or unrealistic hopes. The educational system and the media are firmly in the hands of Satan, as are most churches. Most views of eschatology predict a huge economic meltdown, a hero-centered religious system at enmity with Christianity, and a total abolition of freedom in the very end times. While many people through out history believed the world was about to end in their lifetimes, it did not, and if people had not made the sacrifices for freedom that they did, history would have been even more bleak than it has been. When Hitler was ascending, my Dad was in seminary; some refused to see the dentist or anything, believing it was all a waste, as the world would shortly end. I am glad America finally did rise up to defeat the Nazi's. I am German/Dutch ethnically, but would sure not have to be speaking German or following the worst leadership and ideology that Germany has ever produced. We are now facing the greatest challenge to our nation since the civil war, and I am in full support of people rising to the occasion to resist the great evil perpetrated by extremely evil forces that over overwhelmed government, education, entertainment, and the media.

That said, my hope for REAL change comes from my faith in Jesus Christ, and though he can use politics, politics without Christ will fall far short. We have been through this too many times before. Only that which is done WITH Christ will last. I believe that if our nation got on its knees and was serious about dealing with the prescient evil, the Cass Sunstein's, Van Jones's, Elena Kagan's, the hypocritical Congress and activist judges, and even the Barack Obama's of the world would run and hide – not from us, but from God himself. God has wrought complete change in our nation before, and he can do it now. A change in personnel alone is not now nor will it ever be the answer – even if we were to get thoroughly Christian leadership.

You know, many people argue whether our Constitution was meant to be an icon or a living document. A living document is no Constitution at all, because it means whatever tyrants want it to mean. That is why dictators who are at least honest about their intent suspend the constitution and elections. The same is true in matters of faith – opinions trump convictions and there is no fixed standard. All of that is quicksand and is devised by people who want to play God rather than submit to authority and order. Well, I am an originalist, believing that we follow the Constitution, and where there are issues, we AMEND the Constitution through a well-thought out process, not simply ignore it. However, I believe more than simply that the Constitution should be followed. I believe the premises for a free society that made the Founders write the Constitution as they did are just as important. These include

1) That man must be self-governing to have a successful republic - law enforcement is on the individual level and is largely self-enforcement. If people do not govern themselves and their own propensities to sin, it will take a tyranny to rein them in.

2) That people will govern themselves according to the Bible and God’s standards. If there are multiple standards, conflicting standards, or no standards, a republic will fail.

3) That people must make informed decisions. If the people are ignorant of the issues, they will vote amiss. Our electorate today is woefully ignorant and readily manipulated. A free press is needed to help educate them. As long as the media is a cheerleader for one point of view, people will parrot those points of view and not make informed decisions based upon truth.

4) That voters will have a stake in the country. While land ownership is no longer a requirement, we now have millions of voters who have zero understanding of civics, know nothing of history, and millions more who cannot even speak English or know what they are voting for. Such voters are easily manipulated and will vote perceived self-interest and not vote for what is best for the country.

The biggest challenges we face, though, result from two premises that were NOT included in the Constitution as originally written. The first is that while the debate over slavery was hot and heavy, slavery was NOT abolished in the original Constitution. Can you imagine how our nation's history and the current deep divide could have been so different if only the words from the DECLARATION that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL really meant "ALL MEN" from the very beginning? The second was that while GOD and PROVIDENCE were dominant concepts in the founding documents, JESUS CHRIST was largely absent. There was not unanimity of belief, but the Christian founders seemed content to omit Christ in favor of simply "GOD" in much of the debate, and actually the word "GOD" appears nowhere in the Constitution. While many stated and believed that Jesus Christ and personal piety were key to the nation's success, Christians did not foresee a time when Jesus Christ would not be in the minds of the American people. Fewer than 30% of Americans even belonged to a church in the period leading up tot he Civil War, the spiritual weakness of America almost led to our extinction. We are in a similar time now, where Biblical Christianity is in deep decline. I am an Evangelist, and most people will not abide sound doctrine. The name of Jesus Christ should have been integral to our nation's founding. It was not. You CANNOT know the Father without knowing Jesus. Our first President, George Washington, walked about "The Great Architect" (hint: he didn't know me!), Providence, the God of Armies, the Divine Author of the blessed Religion and so on. He went to church about once per month, and would not go when they served communion, because he viewed communion as an ostentatious religious display. While he was a very great man, he was obviously not intimate with Christ nor did he follow specific commands given to Christians. Perhaps the biggest clue that he did not view belief in Christ as essential was that he chose a Deist, John Adams as his Vice President. John Adams became our second President. Our Third President, Thomas Jefferson, edited out of the Bible the miracles and the deity of Jesus Christ. They call it The Jefferson Bible. Despite their enlightened ideas about government, we had cracks from the very beginning years of our nation. Interestingly, Yale had gone apostate BEFORE our nation was founded. Princeton, which was orthodox Christian, was derided in the 1700's as "Princeton Bible School". Harvard became Unitarian early in the 19th century. A quantum change in our educational institutions is needed for real change. We need GOD to do it, because they are beyond the reach of political action. The educational establishment was Jesus' greatest enemy during his tenure here on earth, and the same is true today. The Scribes and Pharisees today love to lecture about why the Bible does not mean what it says and they proceed to kill politically and educationally all who dare follow Christ with an uncompromised heart. Even so-called Christian institutions often have fallen to universalism and mock people who believe the same words in Genesis that Jesus believed. And Jesus was there and the Creator of the World! We have to remember that John Edwards talked about "sinners in the hands of an angry God" because the people of the 1700's were in fact sinners in the hands of an angry God. What encourages me is that our nation was mightily blessed DESPITE the cracks in our foundation. The church has been blessed despite so many areas where it falls so short. What discourages me is that those cracks are ever larger with ignorant leaders trying to blow up the remaining lynchpins of our nation and the church.

Most Americans believe our nation is in decline, and that is certainly true. We need more than a favorable election to help, even a wildly favorable one. We need to reverse the decline of our nation and the departing by both major parties from our founding principles. More than that, we need to know that only a mighty move of God will make real change. Entertainment, the media and education need to be redeemed as well as the government. Unless as a nation we submit to Christ and let him change us as a people, we will always fall far short, and eventually die as a people. My hope is built on nothing less than JESUS' blood and righteousness! Where is YOUR hope today? Do you trust in political leaders to change everything? They NEVER have before. While positive change is welcome, I want nothing less than a spiritual revolution in our nation. I am not satisfied with small, incremental improvements.

I pray earnestly every day for our nation and its leaders. I pray for those of both parties who have operated against the Lord to leave office if they will not change. God has put several out through scandal, decisions not to run again, and even through death. There are quite a few more on my list and I am sure that list is rather incomplete. I want our nation to survive. I want it cleansed of leadership that has been against God and godly principles. I want it to be far better than it was even at our founding. However, all of our prayers are also needed for our nation to repent from its addictions to vile entertainment, profanity, porn, materialism, selfishness, and easy powerless, non-convicting Christianity. We need quantum change on the spiritual level, as does EVERY nation on this earth. Join me in praying for our nation and ALL nations. I pray for every nation regularly. Will you join me in regular prayer for America and the world and for the well being of God's people everywhere? I certainly hope you will.

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

2010-07-25T22:56:00.005-04:00

In the Kingdom known simply and affectionately as "The States", certainly not a United Kingdom, but one where 35% of the people would vote for the disgraced Elliot Spitzer or the unknown Alvin Greene form South Carolina for President were he on the ballot with a "D" after his name. The fact is, Jay Leno proved we have college professors so ignorant of history one thought American was founded in 1922! Other people think Winston Churchill fought in the American Revolution. So many people are taking Gender Studies, Sexual Awareness, The Art and Science of Om Meditation, Yoga and apparently even Sharia Law if Elena Kagan finally has her way, instead of United States History, Civics, Melting Pot Dynamics, Human Dignity, The Beginning of Life, Constitutional Principles, and Common Sense 101. They parrot back what the wicked people tell them is the truth, because the wicked people give out pieces of paper which help them get more money and get people to tell them how smart they are. They say they will remember the truth when they get out, but they usually don't. I don't think anyone is advocating a literacy test for voters, but maybe they should. It would not be racially discriminatory. Many folks from Harvard and probably half the Senate and House couldn't pass an 8th grade level exam. Maybe even the Emperor himself. Yet, these folks are the inmates running the asylum. Does it make sense for people who don't know anything about anything to call the shots?

In our little Kingdom here, a kingdom certainly no better than any other, and a kingdom responsible for every single one of the world's problems even though most of the good in the world came because of the kingdom's intervention in War-prone Europe, generous foreign aid to rebuild nations and missionary/educational activity around the globe, it has come to light that people are beginning to wonder about the Emperor's New Clothes.

We were told the Emperor was the smartest emperor ever to live, but the handlers hid all his records and all his grades, even from Kindergarten. Now kindergarten records are really important, because everything we know we learned in Kindergarten. I still remember my graduation - I was the "YOUR" in "PLAY WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT"! His grandmother said he was born in another kingdom, and the leaders of that kingdom agreed and there were even articles about it in the papers of that kingdom and even on NPR in the kingdom. But he said "NO!" and his courtiers laughed at anyone who asked him to produce the same piece of paper with the gold seal that all the other citizens had to produce to play Little League, get a passport, or a whole lot of things less important than being Emperor. The emperor paid lots of gold to his lawyers to keep fighting from showing that innocent little piece of paper. And even those who were criticizing the emperor were afraid to say anything more about it. Don't you wonder what it says? Don't you want to know if his grandmother was lying, the East Africa Times was lying, the African Standard was lying, the Kenyan officials were lying, the records official in Hawaii was lying or if they were telling the truth and HE was lying?

The emperor said a thousand times that King George Bush messed up the entire world, even though the Democrats took over Congress in 2007 and promptly devastated Fannie and Freddie (thank you Barney and Chris) and tripled the highest budget deficit from the $161 million maximum under the GOP. When the Emperor took control, he tripled it again and stuck out his tongue. The people in the Assembly knew the people were mad at them, but they decided to spend every last penny before they were voted out, and the emperor gladly made all of that law. All the newspapers in the kingdom ignored all that and repeated every lie told by the Emperor. It seemed he was on the big screen every single day. The people wondered whether the media were the REAL ditto-heads. People started thinking back to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon who raised taxes through the roof, but the media laughed at them and told them to get over it. But the people were worried about a divided kingdom like what happened with Rehoboam. They saw maps divided into Red and Blue and even purple where the allegiances were unsure. E Pluribus Unum or E Pluribus Pluribus? They knew that smart people from the Red spots were not admitted to the big, elite universities in the Blue spots. The blue people reserved those spots for people who would repeat endlessly all the qualities of the emperor's invisible clothes.

The blue people put up posters of the Emperor and kept talking about how smooth he was. How articulate. They scrubbed from the Internet just about any speeches he gave without the teleprompter where one would think he had a speech impediment (though if you can find the interview with Rick Warren, you can see for yourself). The people kept listening in secret to citizens who were telling them the truth, even though the papers said that every single person who didn't like what the emperor was doing was either stupid, evil, or in it for the money. The people could see the emperor had no clothes, and that is what these people on the radio were saying, so they figured the radio people were smarter than the people at the papers.

The citizens were told that there would be a time of peace between the races though the Emperor talked about his own grandmother in racist terms and tried to divide people by race at just about every opportunity. When the Panthers brought billy clubs to voting booths, the emperor's right hand man said, "Goodie, Goodie!" And people who had loved each other drew apart in distrust and hostility - class warfare they call it. Some people supported the emperor because his skin looked like theirs even though his spirit was alien to theirs. They set aside their Holy Book that told them it was wrong to kill babies and then even make the citizens of the kingdom pay for murder! King George had never allowed that! They said people should not judge people by the color of their skin but they were so glad the Emperor looked like them that they ignored everything he said but they found they were changing inside to be just like him. They practically worshipped the emperor and the emperor was happy about that. The citizens knew it was wrong to support perverted things, but the emperor ordered that all the children learn about perversion and how to do it. They saw that the emperor refused to speak up when people who believed like they did who lived other places were being put in prison and killed. They wondered how long it would be before he tried it in the kingdom. All he had to do was text the right people - - those who worshiped him. The citizens saw that he took from some people to give to other people. And they saw rich people around the emperor not pay their taxes but put in jail the poor people who couldn't pay theirs. And they saw that he wanted everyone to think alike whether they wanted to or not.

The older people in the kingdom were really worried. The emperor signed papers which would mean there was less money for their care. When they did this across the sea, they started killing old people against their will. The emperor laughed that off, but put in charge someone who said he wanted to do just that. The media ignored it but a lot of people who watched the Nuevo De La Fox channel knew. And they were frightened. Just how far would this emperor go - the one with no clothes? He had talked about sending men to close down that channel and anyone else who did not keep telling him how great his invisible clothes were. The citizens were very frightened.

And so it went. The emperor took the piggy bank of the kingdom and dumped it out and gave it all to his friends. Then he committed identity theft and opened up credit cards at General Motors National Bank, Healthcare Credit Union, and several branches of the Stimulus Savings Bank EVEN THOUGH we called and said he is NOT authorized to borrow trillions in our name. But the Goldman's of the world and others who contributed so heavily to him put their fingers on their noses and said to the people, :"Nah, Nah, Nah Nah Nah"

The people were getting nervous. They saw the emperor of the most powerful kingdom bow down to little emperor's everywhere. He blamed the kingdom for all that was wrong in the world. They saw creepy people coming in and out of the big house with the fountains where the emperor lived. People who had bombed kingdom buildings. People who got on boats in the Great Sea far away to try to bring down a Little Kingdom that had the nerve to be free in the midst of people filled with rage and hate against them. People came in and out who were known to hate. People who wanted to change the kingdom into something else entirely - something that had never worked anywhere! It seemed the emperor was working for every single enemy of the kingdom and the people kept trying to remember ANYTHING the emperor had done that they agreed with.

So all but that do or die 35% knew the emperor was naked and that his media mirror was lying to him. They kept saying it, but their cries fell on deaf ears. The reporters said, "If we say that he has clothes on, he does! Truth is what WE make it."

Some people in the southwest portion of the kingdom noticed that a whole lot of people were streaming over the border into the kingdom. Some were poor just looking for work, but there were also mean folks smuggling people and drugs. The people made a law to help stop this. The Emperor and his officials ran to those people and told them to forget it. The Emperor needed more votes and for sure all those grateful people would vote for him and proclaim from dawn to dusk how beautiful the emperor's clothes were. He was hoping enough millions would come in to balance out all those patriotic citizens who knew he was naked.

So how will this end, which is unfortunately not a fairy tale, but the present reality? We will see together.

My friends, it is critical that we pray for our country and expose the truth to our friends. I made a prayer list of those of BOTH parties who are working against our Kingdom here in America, which is still a model of how other kingdoms want to operate. I am asking God that they resign, get caught up in scandal, or get defeated the next time they are up for election. It is amazing how many are now out! There are more to go! Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Lindsay Graham, Chuck Rangel, Barbara Boxer, Barney Frank, Dick Lugar, Susan Collins, and many others. Republicans AND Democrats. Given the extreme moral evils being pressed by the emperor and looting the treasury, there have to be 2/3 of both houses firmly against this evil - a veto proof majority, not just "control". Control is not enough with the emperor's veto and we cannot wait until 2012. Be informed, and do not doubt your eyes and what the Spirit tells you. We are in deeply troubled times where truth is mocked and lies are repeated ad nauseum. I do not trust in horses or chariots, donkeys or elephants, but in the Lord God. I do not believe he is quite finished with America yet, but perhaps he is if we do not repent of OUR sins, insist on righteous laws and fair enforcement, put race and all prejudice behind us and ask GOD to deliver us. Despite the prescient evil that abounds in the government, the media, and the entertainment industry, and yes EVEN THE CHURCH, God is bigger than all that, and the lesson from the Book of Revelation and from history is that God can and does turn around the most hopeless situations. Let's cooperate with him and be pure so he will hear our prayers!

THE VERY HIGH COST OF IGNORANCE

2010-04-02T23:29:00.003-04:00

DESPITE CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY, we live in an era where ignorance is king. While more people than ever are going to college and there are more media outlets than one could reasonably count, ignorance of the important issues of life is growing like a malignant cancer. While some are more informed than ever, the sheer ignorance of what is going on today is troubling, as an uninformed electorate is so easily manipulated. They are like the PC owners in that famous Apple Superbowl ad who walk ignorantly over the cliff playing follow the leader (and we Apple fanatics still shake our heads as Microsoft's latest attempt to make Windows more "Mac-like" is still years behind the curve).

People do not know the slightest about the Constitution, an even a Georgia Congressmen just said he did not think it was important. This is the very same guy who objected to 5,000 Marines going to Guam because he thought the extra weight might make the island tip over and capsize! This is 2010, my friends, and we are being led by those in Washington who are even MORE ignorant than that - for starters:

1) They believe that you can save money by spending money like a drunken sailor.
2) Despite all experience to the contrary, including the entire basis for "faith-based initiatives" they continue to claim the government can do it CHEAPER than the private sector.
3) They believe they can ridicule the American people without consequence.
4) They believe a young teen can decide issues of life and death of a baby growing within her but that 26 years olds are too infantile to buy their own health insurance.
5) They believe that students must be indoctrinated and not educated. Teachers must pass an ideological test and students must never question the drivel they are taught by actually engaging in CRITICAL THINKING or questioning arbitrary and unproven dogma.
6) They believe that perversion must be celebrated but that married people should receive a tax penalty - what nerve to actually engage in the most stabilizing institution in society and promote it!

I could go on and on and on (but you already know that!)

Let's just look at these half-dozen

1) A penny saved is a penny earned. While targeted investment can save money in the long run, to start over 100 new government agencies for the health care debacle alone is hardly a way to save money. Fraud and waste are pillaried with regularity, but where is the most waste and fraud? How about government-run anything? The National Health Service in England has the second highest number of employees of any entity in the world! (The railroad in India is the highest). And England is much smaller population wise than the United States. I am an architect, and government projects cost much more - there are endless meaningless requirements which ad ZERO to the end product, but that is just the way government does it. I have done many SEPTA projects. I could tell you things that would make you cry, and they are FAR from the least efficient. If you want to save money, you don't spend money. If you want to cut costs, you use the most efficient delivery system possible, not the most expensive.

2) Does anyone really think the government can do it cheaper? A recently publicized survey shows that government employees earn up to $40,000 or even more than those in the private sector in salary and benefits for similar job descriptions. The government unions are protected by the administration, so that won't change, and that is grossly UNDERSTATED. I work with government a lot - come 4:30 or 5pm - out the door. They believe it is a crime to work one extra minute. In private companies, it is hard not to work extra hours if you want to keep your job. Competition has a way of weeding out the inefficient. Government has a way of stifling innovation and reducing everyone to the lowest possible denominator - just look at the UN or government worldwide - it is a universal truth. When people can't be fired, their productivity drops precipitously.
Look at Medicare - Doctors are being starved and the allowances are pitiful - yet medicare insurance is not cheap and supplements are needed - and that is BEFORE a half billion in cuts! Cutting fraud and waste while signing an unread bill that is chalk-full of fraud in waste! And a significant number of Americans actually believe in Utopia! The very high cost of ignorance! Churches delivered aid in Haiti at a fraction of the cost of government. Yet people want the government to help the poor? And the government wants to reduce the tax benefits of giving to charity. How many government programs to reduce poverty have reduced poverty? More people are sliding into poverty than any time in recent memory. Why do we still believe the merchants of compassion whose policies simply make more people miserable? The very high cost of ignorance!

3) The President told people to get in each other's faces and press the cause. Well I am! Of course, he only meant the statists. Notice how the President just attacked those who have exposed the facts his friends in the mainstream media routinely hide? The President and his henchmen believe they can ridicule the American people without consequence. It is dangerous to ridicule people telling the truth. King George learned that 234 years ago.

4) Fanatics defend "the right to choose", but only in terms of killing preborn infants or a child deciding he is really a homosexual. Of course there should be no right to choose health care, the school your child attends, the worldview your child is taught, or the thoughts you can think and express. Six year olds are deemed mature enough to understand sexual intercourse, but healthy twenty-six year olds are considered too dumb to buy health insurance if they want it (the price of a car payment for many). No wonder they raised the age when kids could be on their parents' policy. The Obamatons are hoping these kids won't see the bill and have to adjust their lifestyle accordingly.

5) Government Schools spend over double many private schools and yet children have fewer academic skills than ever. Where private schools cost the same, the class sizes are half and the facilities swank. The Prez sends his own daughters to such a Quaker School. Yet when these same schools are willing to take in poor children in Washington DC for LESS than is being spent on failed schools, that is cut off by government. They would rather poor children fail! The students who actually learn anything are far more likely to vote against them because they are much less easily manipulated. Employers are requiring a college degree simply to get a person with same reasoning ability you used to get from a high school graduate. They made the SAT easier so more students would get better scores. Now, advanced degrees are required because of the lack of meaningful content in far too many undergraduate programs. Students are taught about transgender issues and encouraged to live immorally, but perish the thought that there is classic learning on how to evaluate competing ideas on their merits.

6) Marriage and heterosexuality are under heavy attack. Teachers and others are given impunity in recruiting vulnerable young people into lives of degradation, but advocating normal, healthy sexual enjoyment within the covenant of marriage is "hateful". The fact that historically this is folly an incurs God's judgment is of course ignored by these purveyors of ignorance.
Government is pressed to sped huge amounts on AIDS, far more per person than on heart disease, even though the spread of AIDS is very largely preventable with behavior modification! These people do not want to change their behavior. By the way, has anyone noticed Prez Obama has actually CUT the AIDS funding to Africa that was a hallmark of the Bush Arministration?
It is ALL about power. The people are simply props, just like at those health car events- the programs that could help them are YEARS away. If there is so much compassion, why didn't Obama tell his big funder George Soros to pay for these folks to get the help they needed? It is because "the party that cares" could really care less.

We could go on and on. It takes time to overcome ignorance. It takes discomfort to spread the message. Why not obey the President and ":get in people's faces" and press for truth? That is what I and many others are doing. Ignorance must be replaced with reality thinking based upon facts and right motives! If we fail to press our case, the other side will continue to do so, and yet another country will bite the dust.

IS IT ALWAYS WRONG TO HATE?

2010-02-10T22:01:00.007-05:00

The answer may not be as obvious as you might think at first glance. I live near a church and keep seeing a “No-Hate Zone” sign. The church is part of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) denomination that recently voted to adopt an embracing attitude toward homosexuality.

Recent cases in Maryland and other locales label as "hate" any position that disagrees with those of an interest group! One case involves a group called P-FOX that includes a lifeline to those who have homosexual leanings they have conflicts with. The advocates for homosexuality consider it "hate" to say someone can become heterosexual! Of course, those who recruit people into homosexuality are not "hating" heterosexuality! It is intellectually and morally vacant, but these folks believe that they have political power behind them, so they are becoming bolder each day.

What is it about the word "hate" that generates so many knee-jerk reactions? Are they justified? Let's mix religion and politics today, since people love to be against hate and since religious people are considered hateful by homosexual activists and others.

The word "HATE" appears 128 times in the Bible, and in many cases we are commanded to hate. God himself hates. Sometimes God commends hatred. Much of what we may hate and what God hates are being celebrated by churches such as the one with the “No-Hate Zone” sign. One can sound so right and be so wrong.

WHAT/WHEN WE ARE TO HATE

Exodus 18:21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

Psalm 36:2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin.

Psalm 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Psalm 97:10 Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

Amos 5:15 Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.

Romans 12:9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

THE IMPLIED RIGHT AND OBLIGATION TO HATE

Psalm 101:3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.

Psalm 119:104 I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:113 [ s Samekh ] I hate double-minded men, but I love your law.

Psalm 119:128 And because I consider all your precepts right, I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:163 I hate and abhor falsehood but I love your law.

Psalm 139:21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?

Proverbs 8:13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

Proverbs 13:5 The righteous hate what is false, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace.

Proverbs 15:27 A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live.

Proverbs 28:16 A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment, but he who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long life.

Ecclesiastes 3:8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ezekiel 35:6 Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I will give you over to bloodshed and it will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.

WHAT/WHEN GOD HATES

Deuteronomy 12:31 You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Deuteronomy 16:22 And do not erect a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.

Psalm 5:5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.

Psalm 11:5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.

Proverbs 6:16-19 16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

Isaiah 1:14 Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

Isaiah 61:8 For I, the LORD, love justice; I hate robbery and iniquity. In my faithfulness I will reward them and make an everlasting covenant with them.

Jeremiah 44:4 Again and again I sent my servants the prophets, who said, 'Do not do this detestable thing that I hate!'

Hosea 9:15 Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.

Zechariah 8:17 "Do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this," declares the LORD.

Malachi 1:2-4 2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. "But you ask, 'How have you loved us?' "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" the LORD says. "Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals."

Quoted in Romans 9:13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

Malachi 2:16 "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

Speaking of Jesus…
Hebrews 1:9 "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."

Revelation 2:6 But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

If you look up detestable, there are many more. According to Bill Gates dictionary in Microsoft Word,
Detestable (adj) – causing or deserving intense dislike.
Hatred (n) – a feeling of intense dislike, anger, hostility of animosity.
Same thing.

Leviticus 18:22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Deuteronomy 22:5 A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.

Deuteronomy 23:18 You must not bring the earnings of a female prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of the LORD your God to pay any vow, because the LORD your God detests them both.

Luke 16:15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

Titus 1:16 They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good.

1 Peter 4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry.

And of course, the people who accept and even glorify perversions of all kinds are acting opposite to God's laws.

Leviticus 18:23 Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.

Leviticus 20:12 If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.

Romans 1:27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

Jude 1:7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

So it is not wrong to hate -if you HATE what GOD hates. On the other hand, be sure to LOVE what GOD loves. And be sure to never hate when you should love! Never hate your neighbor. Never hate the alien. Never hate because of ethnicity. Never hate because someone has outshined you! Never hate because you disagree! Never hate people! Walk that narrow line!

God bless!

200,000 isn't always 200,000

2010-01-17T01:24:00.011-05:00

One can't help but be touched by the massive death toll in Haiti - 200,000 seems to be the latest estimate. The human suffering is hardly even imaginable. No matter what we have seen with the tsunamis, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, floods, fire, and all, this one seems far more brutal. The media really seems to have been genuinely touched - Anderson Cooper among them.

However, this compassion and being touched by tragedy seems to be very selective. These folks don't even give a second thought to the million babies slaughtered in the United States every year by abortion - while none of the ways abortions happen are less than appalling, some are so violent that you would think reasonable people would recoil in alarm. This is FIVE Haiti's every year to the most defenseless little ones. Who could not be touched by the number of CHILDREN affected in Haiti? Why is there no groundswell here when these million deaths are ALL preventable? If we could have stopped the earthquake, we would have Yet we have a President, Congress, and Judicial System that refuse to intervene in the death of these little ones in the womb and who actually fight tooth and nail against those who wish to ensure their survival! Appalling.

There seems to be precious little sympathy as well for the children who through indoctrination experiment with perverted sexual activities, scarred for life. There is not even a shaking of the head of all the extremely occult and violent movies and video games coming out of Hollywood as a never ending stream, cursing God, defaming Jesus Christ, and glorifying violent, immoral, and sick behaviors.

There are also few tears shed for the massive economic violence done to so many Americans. The war against small business, against the elderly, and against workers is amazing. Unemployment figures of 10% are over double just two years ago, but those numbers are very deceptive. Millions have taken pay cuts, have had hours cut back, or have given up looking for work. Minorities have been the most affected with unemployment rates 50% higher and fewer assets to fall back on. Where is the outcry? Many small business persons are making a fraction of what they used to, and these huge losses show up on no statistics, only tumbling tax revenues. Probably 30% of Americans have been negatively affected in terms of income. Yet, like drunken sailors, the folks in Washington are seeking to further destabilize America financially with reckless spending and unprecedented corruption and favoritism. What started in earnest in 2007 has accelerated greatly since with one party controlling the executive AND legislative branches. Many have been weeping over how far they have fallen. Houses are in jeopardy, and lifestyles of the past are becoming a distant memory. It is hard enough to have an "act of God" take away your home as happened so tragically to so many millions in Haiti, New Orleans, along the MIssouri River in the upper midwest, in Andhra Pradesh in India, Bangladesh, and so many other places. It is arguably harder to deal with when many MORE millions of these tragic losses are at the hand of your own government leaders who are supposed to be advocating the GENERAL welfare, but who are committed instead to the welfare of those partisan hacks who meet in the dirty backrooms where political sin and corruption are rampant.

It is right to be sad and to weep for ALL human tragedy. Haiti is bringing tears to many, and rightly so. Perhaps Monday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, would be a day to weep for all the tragedies surrounding slavery including that in our own land, where families were torn asunder, people were removed from their homes and placed as property with no rights and who were fortunate not to die during the voyage as perhaps up to half did. The loss of human dignity and potential has still not be totally healed as social injustice stubbornly refuses to be banished forever, even in the church. We must never get hardened to human tragedy and we must never get to the point where suffering is routine. When we have mourned, then we can celebrate the progress we have made. When we have considered how far we have fallen short of the mark, we can renew our efforts to treat everyone with the evenness that Christ did.

Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead, but he still cried over him. Doubtless with massive aid from the United States and other countries, Haiti will come back, thogh it will take many years. In the meantime, contribute to reputable agencies, pray for those being looked for, and don't be afraid to weep for them and for all other victims of natural disasters and man-made physical, spiritual, and economic disasters.

We must not make pronouncements tying human suffering into all manner of things as one prominent Christian spokesman has. If that were the case, American would have been vaporized for all the evil we have committed against the Lord. Remember that Jesus rebuked those trying to blame a young man for his sickness. It is for the glory of God, and God will get his glory in Haiti before this is all over. Let us look with compassion on the suffering and seek to renew our efforts to bring them the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ. None of us deserves the Lord! It is only by his mercy that we stand at all. God bless you!

HEROES OR VILLAINS?

2009-12-13T17:18:00.003-05:00

So many famous and influential people let us down - many do deeds so dastardly we are stunned to find out little we really know about them. Tiger Woods is just the latest. He will not be the last. What can we learn from it?

Heroes are those we look up to.
We magnify their positives.
We minimize their negatives.
We see gifts in them we wish we had.
A ready smile.
A winning personality.
The ability to throw or hit a ball.
The masterful way with words
To have people eating out of their hands.

When they fall
We forget the positives.
We are glad we are not like them after all.
Their sordid private lives.
Their seeming ungratefulness for all the favor and love.
The sudden putting into perspective of how things that
Seemed so important then now mean nothing at all.
The deck is empty, their place of prominence forgotten.
We do not turn the TV on to see them with eager anticipation.
We wait for someone else to believe in.

Villains are those we love to hate.
We ignore any redeeming greatness.
We magnify their smallest faults.
We see evil in them we dare not do.
Not because we are more righteous,
But because we are afraid of the consequences.
Their willingness to take foolish risks
Their devil-may-care attitude.
We know it leads to destruction but we love to watch.

When they are defeated, we have catharsis.
The evil is over, the men in the white hats win.
But we are not changed.
Only when we realize we are the villains
Can we become heroes.
Only when we see the qualities of greatness
That God has wrought in us
Can we be people, just people,
Who can change the world.

PRAYING FOR OUR LEADERS

2009-11-28T14:27:00.012-05:00

We are commanded to pray for our leaders. That does not mean we pray our politics. It was comical when Frank Rizzo ran against Thatcher Longstreth close to forty years ago. People were praying in opposite directions, both convinced they were right. The same is true today. There are people who believe that President Barack Obama is a fulfillment of prophecy to bring peace to the world and they pray against all his critics and refuse to even consider that there could be any flaws in his ideology or policy. There are others who oppose practically everything he has done and stop just short of praying something bad would happen to him. We need to pray God's way, not in the flesh, but in the Spirit.

Those of you who read me know that I believe there is only one set of truth. That is why denominations are intrinsically flawed. They teach opposite points of view that are simply not compatible. How can you be unified with someone who believes he opposite? You can't. The same is true of politics. Policies are either right or wrong. Protecting the pre-born and believing in abortion are inherently incompatible. Believing in God's design for marriage and promoting homosexuality are inherently incompatible. So are issues such as loyalty, proper and improper political alliances, economic systems, and freedom. You may wish to reference www.THEMANHATTANDECLARATION.ORG for three basic issues many Christians have agreed on. There are other issues that involve methodology where the Bible is not definitive. On those people can differ. However, most issues have Biblical roots, and it behooves all Christians to study to show themselves approved unto God.

I want to accomplish two things with this post - first, to summarize what prayers for political leaders are found in the Bible, and second, qualifications that apply to political leaders.

Most familiar is the prayer that we are commanded to do in the public assembly. From I Timothy 2, "1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time." This prayer is essentially for our leaders to leave us alone so we can serve our God, but salvation is included as well. God wants EVERYONE saved. He is no willing that ANY should perish. I believe we should earnestly pray for the salvation of our leaders, and I do that. We must require the same degree of proof of faith we would require of anyone. All too many politicians in our country cynically drop "Christianeze" phrases to get votes and though they do nothing in accordance with the will of God, they get a pass. Don't be fooled. Most Americans aren't in relationship to Christ, and the same applies to leaders.

We must also pray for leaders regardless of party. Some who are Dems are enthusiastic about praying for their man but refused to pray for his predecessor and in fact slandered him at every opportunity. Those in the GOP have done much the same thing. This commandment supersedes political positions. Obviously, where positions are clearly at odds with God, prayer should go along those lines as well. We are never asked to park our convictions at the door - we must simply be sure be pray in accordance with the will of God.

There are many more prayers for leaders in the Bible, some of which may surprise you. Read Exodus 8 and 9 and see how many times the Pharoah asked Moses to pray specific things for him and how Moses responded. Check out Judges 16 and see how God answered Samson's prayer which resulted in the death of ALL the Philistine leaders.

Read I Kings 13 to see how King Jeroboam asked for prayer , "?Then the king said to the man of God, 'Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.' So the man of God interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as it was before." We are to include in our prayers what the king requests we pray for, as long as it is in the will of God.

In 2 Kings 19, Hezekiah prayed against the Assyrian King and his underlings who blasphemed God, and Isaiah prophesied against wicked ruler. It is thoroughly Biblical to pray against oppression and those who mock and afflict the people of God. Many prayed against Hitler, and God heard their cry.

We learn from I Chronicles 5:19-21 that we can pray for victory in war. God hears the cries of those with a righteous cause. If the cause is just, God is indeed on our side.

In 2 Chronicles chapters 6 and 7, we learn that if we have repented of our sin and evil, we can expect God to reverse the misfortune in our land. Keep in mind, though, that this promise was given to a theocracy, not a secular country. Nonetheless, as the Lord extended he life of Nineveh because the king repented at the teaching of Jonah, even pagan leaders who repent and heed the word of the Lord can bring blessing to their countries.

2 Chronicles 33:18 says, "The other events of Manasseh's reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the seers spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, are written in the annals of the kings of Israel." There are people with prophetic ministry to political leaders. May God help them to prophesy the truth, and not simply "prophelie" what they know the leader wants to hear. We need men of God who will step up to the plate and tell the truth without counting the personal cost it will surely exact from them.

We have the right to pray for favor from the king, as Nehemiah did. God can bring great results even from a person not inclined to do anything for God's people. We also see that with Esther and Xerxes. God sometimes puts one who represents the interests of the people of God into a position of influence, Esther asked the people to fast for her, and it behooves those who are in the court of the king to rely upon God for favor and power, and not trust in their own cleverness.

And should the worst happen, and our country ever get taken over by another, heed the word of God to the Jews in exile in Jeremiah 29:7, "Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

Many know that there have been and are yet to come times when Christians are on the run. Obedience to authorities is no longer an option, as we simply try to escape the evil. Luke 21:35-37 says, "35For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man." Jesus himself prays for our protection from the evil one in John 17:14-16, "14I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it."

In Acts 12, the church prayed for Peter, who was in jail and slated for certain death. God does not ask us to simply acquiesce to evil - we must pray for mercy and for his deliverance to those ensnared by evil people. In situations where he wants us to testify as Stephen, Paul, and others have done to the point of death, he will so lead us, but that should not be our first assumption. In Ephesians 6, we are told we are not wrestling with flesh and blood, but principalities and powers and rules of the darkness of this world. It sounds to me like some pretty aggressive prayer is called for in terms of the evil propagated by earthly powers. 2 Thessalonians 3:2 gives us the right to pray against evil men, "And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. 3But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one."

In Philippians 4, we are commanded to pray for our anxieties. Many of our anxieties revolve around the Middle East, the economy, etc. We need to pray for these things in detail regularly.

Now second, let's briefly look at qualifications for political leadership. Many know that I Timothy 3 and other passages call for the leaders of the church to be above reproach, temperate, sensible, dignified, hospitable, not dependent on alcohol, not greedy or two faced. While those who have read Romans 13 know that political leaders are ministers of God, it amazes me that they do not consider their qualifications in the same light. While we cannot insist that our leaders are all Christians, and in fact relatively few have been, we can insist that they submit to God because without God, there is no accountability. The ballot box voting events are spread too far apart. Without submission to God, we will have tyranny, and a quick survey of modern history is ample proof of the incredible scope of evil that can be wrought by atheistic or purely secular leaders in very short periods of time. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Amin are past examples. Leaders in North Korea, Iran, and Venezuela and similar men bear close watching, as they have the same characteristics of their evil forebears.

We also have to include in that group those who believe the doctrines of Demons, especially those who are militant such as Islamic fundamentalists, radical Hindus in Nepal and parts of India, violent Buddhists in Sri Lanka, and nominal Christians or cultists who cavort with them or seek to suppress the true gospel single-handedly. Demonic religions and their sympathizers seek to crush authentic Christian witness. We must be careful never to elect any leader who either belongs to one of these groups or who is deliberately or even unwittingly carrying out their agenda. Satan is the father of all lies, and he works in every country to bring forth his anti-Christ Agenda. We must know how to pray, how to vote, and how to do battle in the spirit world. All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. So many today are fatalistic about evil. I'm so glad our forebears were not so fatalistic. The freedoms we enjoy today are here because God honored people who spoke up for truth and who put their own bodies on the line for it. That is why we have this country, and more importantly, that is why we have the Bible and that is why we have the true way of salvation preserved to this day. We must preserve these for future generations regardless of the cost. Amen? Amen.

COMPARE "DUMB" PALIN TO "SMART" OBAMA

2009-11-20T13:31:00.010-05:00

A pundit said 71% of people will not buy Palin's book. Most people don't buy ANY book. However, If 29% do buy it, she will be rich enough to counter Obama's 750 billion slush fund euphemistically called a "stimulus" package that is for PURELY political purposes. 14% of it has been spent primarily on Acorn, Unions, and for all manner of political purposes and has done nothing for business but instead has raised the deficit. Unemployment is rising while clueless Congress spends like a drunken sailor.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that Sarah Palin did not escape criticism here, though the actions of McCain, Obama, and Biden called for more opposition in my view. My criticism was on strategy and other issues that perhaps in retrospect were more McCain's restraints on her than her own idea, though I believe she pulled far too many punches. The jury is out until we can evaluate what she does without any restraints.

Some brain-dead folks like to bash Palin, but can anyone honestly think she wouldn't have been better than Obama has been so far had McCain won and had a heart attack on February 1?

1) She wouldn't have banned the term "War on Terror"
2) She wouldn't have alienated our best ally in the middle east from a 70% confidence rating in Israel to a 4% one.
3) She wouldn't have shown disdain for the Czechs and Poles by leaving them exposed to the awakening Russian bear.
4) She wouldn't have passed a $750 billion slush fund to be used for political favors.
5) She wouldn't have talked down our economy to throw it into depression (mammoth income reductions among the self-employed who can't get unemployment compensation and those who have given up finding work are NOT included in the 10% unemployment rate).
6) She wouldn't have started a war against small businesses.
7) She wouldn't have signed a phony "hate" crimes bill criminalizing free speech about deviant behaviors.
8) She wouldn't be giving the 9/11 mastermind the rights of a US Citizen.
9) She wouldn't have funded the corrupt Acorn.
10) She would have proposed reforms in health care that actually helped people rather than hurt them or create "death panels" where government ends up deciding who lives and who dies.
11) She wouldn't have produced videos of children lying about their parents having to sell their home to pay for a broken leg when they are already covered by S-Chip.
12) She wouldn't have nut-case radicals in the White House advising her who are admitted Maoists and Communists.
13) She wouldn't be criticizing Christians while exalting Islam.
14) She would have found a church in 10 months in office and actually gone to it and listened to the minister.
15) She would have taken in a stray dog instead of an exotic one worth the price of a small car.
16) She wouldn't take Todd on million dollar dates to NYC.
17) She would have reduced the deer-car accident rate by thinning the deer population.
18) She would have put the water back on to save the farmers in central California
19) Soldiers would be proud to call her Commander(ess)-in-Chief.
20) She wouldn't be ceding US sovereignty to the incompetent UN .
21) Instead of "Hopenhagen", she would be resisting a one-world government (she is not clueless about the Book of Revelation).
22) She would propose more drilling for oil and clean-coal technology instead of shooting ourselves in the foot with European style energy prices.
23) She would have thrown a stronger first pitch at the baseball game.
24) She would have included the other party in her legislative initiatives.
and
25) We would still have Saturns and Pontiacs.

And of course, the brain-dead media would have criticized all of he above.

The really dumb folks are the ones who idolize the man who has failed in all of the above and who is grossly unqualified
by experience AND lack of proven natural-born citizenship for office. Sarah knows her limitations, but those are far fewer than those of the man the press protects with such zeal to the destruction of America. Great leaders don't micro-manage - they pick people to run each sector and that is what Palin or any experienced executive would have done.

WHAT GENIUS, WHAT JUDGMENT

2009-09-26T22:37:00.007-04:00

I’m not sure what makes me madder – the idiot lines uttered by John McCain who is as totally unpredictable as Joe Biden or the ingenious new ways Barack Obama has found to express hate of the country he is leading (does ANYONE believe it is HIS country? His mouth proves the “birthers” right. So while I held my nose voting for McCain in the general election after voting for Obama in the primary, and while I find a lot of Republicans almost as clueless as Democrats, the fact is that Mr. Obama won by waging a brilliant campaign unimpeded by any serious vetting by the mainstream media. I DID pay attention to those vetting him, and they turned out to be eerily prophetic and right on the mark. His cohorts, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid show how far down leadership has gone in the Congress. The GOP lost their way, but what is going on now is Twilight Zone material. We need to see from where we have fallen, be vigilant, make our voices heard, and cry out to God for mercy every day to give our nation another chance. We have sinned greatly - the judgment we are living through is even less that we deserve. So here is the genius that has led to the precipitous decline of our nation in mere months…

1) Teach Saul Alinsky, stay with Rev. Wright for two decades, launch your career with Bil Ayres, keep other radicals in hiding, and then criticize anyone who can put two and two together!

2) Encourage crossover in primaries to be sure the weakest possible GOP candidate is selected (McCain).

3) When unable to foresee the Palin wild-card selection, simply get an army of lawyers and media friends to tirelessly search and destroy and file meaningless “ethics violations” to frustrate her and keep the eyes off Obama’s multitudinous panoply of corrupt relationships in Chicago.

4) Refuse to show the birth certificate to test the people on the Constitution. Win this by using the Alinsky tactic of ridiculing the true assertions of the opposition, and from then on do what you feel like, Constitution or not. After all, who is going to impeach him? Pelosi? Ha, Ha, Ha.

5) Push really hard really fast for all the big money programs to cement power and loyalty to stay in office forever. Use the excuse of the economy, though the real reason it tanked as badly as it did was because Obama down-talked it ten times per week and people didn’t realize the motivation was power.

6) Accuse every cogent commentator and citizen of being radical while lying about the health care bill at every opportunity. Never debate specifics. Call them Nazis and thugs. Then rent real thugs from Unions and ACORN and pay them to adore your plans and keep out thinking citizens who can see through you. Tell the Town Hallers and Teabaggers to shut up but ignore the violent G-20 protestors.

7) Ridicule those who knew about the Death Panels in Waiting. Then quickly reinstate Clinton’s death manual to the VA.

8) Be absurdly optimistic on what things cost, and then make 2 trillion dollar corrections on late Friday when nobody cares as they change their clothes to party in Sodom and get high in Gomorrah.

9) Take over car companies and hope people don’t remember what happened to Britain when they did that. (And after blaming high health care and pension costs for their problems, take them over, pay-off your union financiers with stock they never earned, and shift their costs to the government – smooth!)

10) Buy into every looney idea such as anthrocentric global climate change but be sure to reward George Soros with $2 billion so he can drill in the Atlantic Ocean to benefit Brazil.

11) Scream about greedy corporate folks, but waste money at on unprecedented scale on yourself, on planes for political hacks and even on planes to take pictures of your empty plane and the Statue of Liberty, on big labor, on Wall Street, and everybody else except those who really need it.

12) Lie to Black folks about being Black when in fact you are more Arab than Black and ironically less Black than Abraham Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson. Hold none of the values most Blacks and especially most Black born-again Christians espouse, but appeal to racial pride and keep criticizing your opponents knowing the GOP is generally inept in defending itself or articulating any competing vision that resonates and is relevant to the everyday life of people. Offer NOTHING in exchange for votes other than some patronage positions, some empty rhetoric, and a larger government that may produce more jobs, albeit one that will rob from middle class Blacks who struggled mighty hard to get there. Avoid EVER speaking about the millions of Blacks who went into poverty under your insane policies that hurt the working man, factory worker, and small business employee worse than anyone.

13) Tell people you love your country even though you won’t wear a flag and love to fudge the pledge of allegiance. Then criticize your country to our enemies, violate the pledge of allegiance, and EXALT our arch-enemies. Drop cryptic lines that you are a Christian, bur don’t go to church, support God’s chosen people, or give even the faintest lip-service to the National Day of Prayer or anything Christian. Appoint “Czars” who are arch-enemies of the cross who want to remove all vestiges of Christian values that have somehow remained and indoctrinate kindergarteners how to be gay and demonize parents who still have some traditional values held by most people around the world. While at it, have advisors that believe in putting something in the water to sterilize people and appoint lawyers so animals can sue people. Listen to wackos who think old people are expendable and not worth paying to keep so people who are sexual idiots and get Aids can use that money instead even though there is no cure. Instead of giving even the traditional lip-service to Christianity that Clinton, Bush, and just about all his predecessors did, pontificate at every opportunity including lavish dinners in the White House for radical Muslims that Islam is the bastion of peace and progress in the world even though 90% of the persecution of Christians is either at the direction of or tolerated by the mullahs and practically no discovery of value has emanated from the Islamic World. Trash our best friend Israel, being silent while Ziggy B. proposes shooting down Israeli jets if they defend their country by taking out Iranian nukes, and then bask in the praise of Chavez, Castro, Mugabe, and Achmadinijad and of course captive brainwashed school children in Burlington, New Jersey, and who knows how many other places where they weren’t caught. That school was plastered with Obama posters promoting him just like the personality cult in Turkmenistan as they sang worshipful ditties to their new Lord, Barack Obama.

In short, as a former leftist, I know all the tricks, but you don’t need that background. 96% of Israelis per the Jerusalem Post have no confidence Obama will help them (and that was BEFORE the UN Speech). The majority of Americans don’t want his fingerprints on healthcare (where are the shouts of KEEP YOUR LAWS OFF MY BODY when you need them???) I know Obama is an empty shirt. I know many of the clueless ones who still support him are the useful idiots in his neo-fascist Statist dreams. I know he is a pathological liar, deceiver, homosexual-sympathizer (if not an actual participant), and New Age cultist in the mold of Eckhart Tolle and Oprah, but he is falling fast, because unlike folks at Harvard who major in subjects such as sexual minority studies and Advanced Marxism 501, enough Americans know history and can add and multiply and know who is telling them the truth and who are the selfish egotistical liars - lying incompetent, ignorant and dishonest hypocrites who think they are superior to Joe the Plumber Americans who, despite their issues and shortcomings, intuitively know 10x as much about the things that really matter.

It is time for a New American Revolution. Both parties have failed us. The authorization is in the Declaration of Independence. Our grievances are greater than the ones two hundred thirty seven years ago. Total change has to come, and the oppressors in office have to go. Ask God to do it – he is the one who helped the Jews against all odds even when they didn’t have any Second Amendment back then. The weapons of our warfare are NOT carnal and they are not physical – rather they are mighty in the Holy Spirit!

HEEDING THE FOREIGN PRESS ON HEALTH CARE

2009-08-27T23:07:00.015-04:00

I like to see what other countries are saying about us. Remember during the campaign how Mr. Obama kept saying the rest of the world did not respect us because of the Bush policies and he would change all that? Well, some things have changed, but overall. they are not for the good.

88% of Israeli Jews believed President Goerge W. Bush was pro-Israel. According to the Jerusalem post, Obama now has sunk from a high of 31% last spring when everyone was trying to give him the benefit of any doubts to a current FOUR PER CENT. That means that a whopping 96% of Jews in Israel do not think Obama is pro-Israel. I say it is obvious from the disastrously uneven Cairo speech to Obama's attempts to muscle Benyamin Netanyahu while coddling Hamas. Yet most Americans do not understand the massive problem we now have with one of our very best allies, Israel.

One MILLION patients have been suffering in the United Kingdom. From giving birth in toilet rooms to long waiting lists turning readily treatable diseases into terminal ones to abusive "Nurse Ratchet" style cold, insensitive care, the problems are legion and they are now telling the world because he good old USA is seeking to emulate their broken system. They have the National Health Service, the world's third largest employer, and a different scandal is coming out every day. A population explosion of immigrant children is straining the system, lots of people are denied care, those who do get care are getting poor care, and Americans are leaving the country because of much higher taxes. Today detail has come out on the appalling conditions in the UK that patients in the United States would never tolerate. Most nations with socialized medicine have found it unwieldy and are seeking reform.

Why would our nation seek to ruin a system in favor of a failed model? It is all about POWER and government control seeking to dominate our lives. It is fascist in nature if you get into it. Other nations are quaking, because if we destroy our system, which is the end result of these policies and the stated goals of Obama (when in front of friendly audiences) and his honcho advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel, there will be no place to go to pay for decent care. If you like to read Nazi literature to learn what not to do, you will enjoy Emmanuel's book HEALTHCARE GUARANTEED whose ideas are reminiscent of Hitler's - READ this book, and you will learn why a key Obama adviser on Healthcare thinks the big problem is that Doctors are following the Hippocratic oath instead of doing "what is best for society". "Reverend" Wright; Bill Ayres; Bernadette Dorne; Khalid Abdul Muhammad; Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel. These are the people who Barack Obama has looked to for over two decades. His policies are consistent with their take on the world and mirror their goals. Are his views of America and the world in the slightest consistent with yours?

Where will new drugs come from? The US is by far the leading source of new methods. With no profit, there will be no progress. This is pure left politics - it has nothing really to do with Healthcare. It is about centralizing power and bringing down American exceptionalism - making us just like the rest of the world and turning our back on the birthright we have been given, because before his Presidency, we actually honored God to some degree in America, and to the extent we did, he blessed us. Now there is far more praise for Islam and no praise for Christ or Christianity.

Now, it isn't just the UK. It is all over the world. How about Russia? Check out Dr. Boris A. Rozenfeld, Head of the Laboratory for Long-Term Development of the Social and Cultural Sphere at the Center for Demography and Human Ecology, Institute for Economic Forecasting, Russian Academy of Sciences. Look what he says is the problem with healthcare in Russia.

The crisis in Russia's health care system has continued for a number of years. Despite the large number of hospitals and a huge army of medical doctors, they been unable to provide people with an acceptable level of health care services. This is mainly due to a continued lack of funds, medical and technical equipment and supplies, and, finally, to the ineffective organization of health care delivery services. As a result, the quality of services and their accessibility remains quite low.

The recent economic crisis did not create the crisis in the health care system, but it did exacerbate it. The lag in health care in Russia has accumulated over many years. The health care system was distorted by a perception of it as a set of social services that may be provided in greater or smaller amounts in response to certain circumstances, but not linked to the real state of health in the population.

All previous attempts to reform Russia's health care system may be seen as various tactical approaches that did not affect the principal problems or the overall strategy in the field. Many of Russia's health care problems have been rooted in the accepted political model of state-paternalistic social system development. From this approach follows an inattentive government attitude to the problems of health care, a reliance on primitive investment in extensive growth of health care delivery facilities, manpower, and other resources and supplies, and a lack of attention to the quality of care or its effectiveness in improving people's health. One of the characteristics of the Soviet period was the complete absence of incentives for improvement of services in all kinds of medical institutions.

The paternalistic approach manifested itself in the slogan, "The State cares for the health of its citizens," which in many ways defined the very character of medical service organizations across the country, as well as people's attitudes toward this sphere of policy. According to such an approach, every person is under the umbrella of the State and its medical facilities, which undertake entire responsibility for his or her health. In this way, a health care system was created which found itself fully dependent on the state and its governing bodies.

Of course, any state should bear some responsibility for the health of its citizens. But the ideological interpretation of such a principle and the propagandistic character of it in the former USSR led to the development of priorities such that quantitative measures and indices were considered most important. Indices such as volumes of services provided were considered sufficient indicators of growing state activity in public health protection and care.

Paternalism had many different features. This included an irresponsible attitude adopted by many people toward their health combined with consumption regardless of cost. But the consumer was also deprived of his right to complain about services rendered (often touted as "higher than established norms"), and he delegated fully to the state his right to defining consumption limits and needs in individual health care. The state took into its hands all manner of decision-making in the field, together with all methods of evaluating the effectiveness of state actions and their results.

When changes in the health of the population occurred at times, the health care system did not react properly. Excessive reliance on ideology led to goal distortion and emphasis on activities that did not correspond to the medical problems at hand, the level of national socio-economic development, medical capabilities, or public demand.

Why on earth would we try to be more like Russia, when they tried it and failed? No statist solution such as that being advised to Mr. Obama by Pelosi, Frank, Dr. Emmanuel and others works. To try something that has never been tried before is one thing. To be trying what always fails and in the process bringing down that which works over 3/4 of the time is insane. I'm glad 85% of Americans now believe that, but we have some very stubborn leaders who could care less about the citizens. Ironically, under the single payer system which is Obama's admitted end-game, Teddy Kennedy would have died long ago. He would have been a victim of his own health care "reform". Oh, I forgot - our Legislators voted not to be covered, but to retain their Cadillac plans. What hypocrisy!

China is in the midst of reforming their system - they are running a PILOT program which included the changes. Makes a lot of sense, huh, particularly since the health care bill is for changes to be effective four years from now. It is the number one rule of business - try it on a small scale before committing the whole bank to something. But then, Mr. Obama never ran anything, not even a lemonade stand. The Bible warns about giving authority to a novice. We are bearing the bitter fruit of giving authority far beyond the constitution to a man who doesn't even regard it enough to simply produce his birth certificate.

The USA Press is largely corrupted and essentially a cheerleader for every whim of Mr. Obama. Read the press in places like Russia, China, the UK, Israel, and elsewhere who are not yet under his thumb if you want the news that is suppressed in the USA. And do it before the Obama goons filter the Internet and Radio to turn 90% favorable media into 100%. Mom, why can't we be like China and Venezuela? Save the "pretty please".

ELEPHANTS OR DONKEYS?

2009-08-23T00:49:00.005-04:00

A lot of Christian put their hope in party or politicians. Many white Christians have trusted the GOP to stand for the right to life, for traditional moral values, lower taxes, a capitalist economy, and for maintaining certain constitutional freedoms. Many minority and white "progressive" Christians have trusted the Democrats to stand for general fairness, for worker rights, for less intervention on the world stage, and for what they perceive as a fairer distribution of wealth.

Has ANY of this trust been well-placed? I'll let the record speak for itself. We are going through a mind-blowing time when the GOP self-destructed with absurd contradictions and the Democrats are selling the country out both here and abroad. What is a serious Christian to do?

For the longest time, many Christians eschewed politics. They saw it as dirty and irrelevant to Christians seeking to live holy and win the world for Christ. Many Christians were not registered to vote. Politics was simply a dirty word. Then change came. First, shortly after he civil war, in the African American community, huge voting drives occurred, 90% of Blacks in the south voted, and obstacles were removed and Blacks were placed into office. Then a pushback occurred with various games at the polls, violence from the Klan, Jim Crow, and massive disenfranchisement. These gains laid in a comatose state until the 1950's and 1960's when voter activism was reignited.

Meanwhile, in the majority community, while the mainstream Christians voted, many in the more Fundamental churches did not. They saw politics as hopelessly corrupt and not productive, preferring to wait for Jesus to take them away from this mess. Coming into the sixties, they were disturbed by the final ban of official prayer and Bible reading in the public schools, though at the time of those decisions, only about half of schools were still honoring God that way. I was in school out west in the 1950’s and they did not have prayer and Bible reading in the schools. In fact, at least 40% of America's schools did not. Yet to make it a federal mandate went a step further, and many say they trace the fall of our culture to that decision.

The truth be known, God had not bee honored for years. In the 1950’s, there was the epitome of Christianity without the power – platitudes, but not life changing power. In the 1920’s there was loose living and materiality. Many forget that when television first came on the scene, vile content came early and often. That is why the decency rules were made – to solve a problem. Seminaries were going theologically liberal, and the Bible was mocked in many quarters. Harvard went Unitarian in the early 1800’s and Yale was considered hopeless spiritually even as our nation was founded. Princeton was derogatively called “Princeton Bible School” because of the sound preachers who went across the grain.

There was a reason Jonathan Edwards in themed 1700’s preached his famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – the people were wicked and in need of a savior. If you back another hundered years, it was actually a crime to preach “The Gospel of Jesus Christ” in Virginia! Pastors who tried were put in jail. “Churchianity was the order of the day. What made true Christianity not only legal, but also preferred, what removed children from 14-hour-a-day sweatshops, and what freed the slaves and emancipated women was the moving of God through people who affected the political system and the status quo in a positive manner.

Yet Christians in the 1960’s were convinced Christ was coming soon, believed a simplistic version of American History when things simply were going downhill from bad to worse, and all this was just another sign of the end. The truth of the cycles in American History that mirrored her spirituality was largely a lost truth. There was quite a bit of fatalism - remember "The Red Menace" and other prescient warnings of the time? There was a similar film shown in our church. The world slowly turned Red, country by country. America was he last to fall, with the whole world against her. (Hmmm - maybe I'll watch that again if I can find it!) We were waiting for Jesus to rapture us out of his mess.

Meanwhile, God was a Republican. After all, Little Rock was integrated because of Ike's action, the civil rights legislation of 1964 was passed because of Republican votes, with the most virulent racists being Democrats. Bull Connor, Lester Maddox - dogs and fire hoses - all wielded by Democrats. One could feel pretty good about being a Republican and not at all feel guilty about sitting in all-white churches because after all, we were doing good by everyone, and after all, didn't Black people really prefer worshipping by themselves anyway? I remember my mother saying that southern whites were good folks. They simply had this thing about race. My mom knew the Word well, but somehow that inconvenient truth in the book of James escaped her – the passage that dealt with partiality, and that if you transgressed in one area, you transgressed in all. So even if you avoided adultery and all those other nasty sins, if you were partial, you were guilty of all of it. And of course, northern whites had almost as many issues themselves. I am thankful my mom was loyal first to Jesus, because as she worked in the welfare department and interacted with our neighbors (we lived in a very integrated neighborhood in Plainfield, NJ), we came to the point she could hear God tell her not to fight him when I decided I wanted to marry a Black woman. It is only God, not politically correct education that changes anyone, Southerner or Northerner.

So I lived among Black people most of my life, saw an interracial family that lived across the street, belonged to an integrated boys organization, and went to a highly integrated an diverse high school, but as the cliché goes, 11am on Sundays is the most segregated hour in America. I remember the rehearsed response that was to be given to any Black person visiting the church - "Wouldn't you feel more comfortable" with a list of good Black churches right at hand. That bothered me a lot and I have done my best to avoid purposefully segregated churches since. Problem is - most still essentially ARE SEGREGATED. White churches by their flavor, music, etc. generally attract only minorities who actually prefer the more laid back style, with the minority of the churches (often Pentecostal) who do wear their emotions on their sleeves tending to have more diversity, even while their speech is often the least sensitive or politically correct. Black churches talk a lot about diversity and all, but the worship style, open political discourse, and "we-them" thinking often enforce segregation just about as much in practical terms as those rehearsed condescending speeches did.

Lyndon Johnson was elected in a landslide and the "Great Society was born". The observers remained observers. What brought change to the most conservative Christians in the majority community was the emergence of Roe v. Wade in the early 1970's. All of a sudden Christians saw a major change coming which attacked life itself. In the lead-up to that fateful and constitutionally flawed decision, Christians voted for Nixon even with misgivings about his other positions. This was the cause celebre in the conservative churches. All manner of Christian-based political organizations were formed and a whole lot of Christians became involved in the movement. Unfortunately, though minorities said they shared in opposing abortion, a coaliion was not forthcoming. The minority community was still prioritizing "social justice" issues that the white community saw as either being solved already or else going too far "in the other direction". If each could have supported the other, a voting block that would forever have to be dealt with would have been formed. Instead, white churches were for the most part content to be white churches and Black churches were content to be Black churches and so it is to this day, the eternal rhetoric about diversity and coming together notwithstanding.

Whites were enthralled when Reagan was elected. Though he never made more than perfunctory comments about God, not uttering the magic "born again” phrase, he did believe in his country. "God and Country". 1 1/2 out of 2 ain't bad. He seemed to have no racial agenda, and by and large, once the missteps of the Carter years worked there way out of the system, everybody prospered more. The Christians saw a lot of growth numerically, and were determined not to slip back. Unfortunately, Reagan, like so many Republicans, took a gentlemanly approach to politics. He was bamboozled and appointed two poor Supreme Court Nominees. He also had a Vice President with whom he shared little in common. Nonetheless, despite withering criticism from some quarters, a small but influential number of very intellectual and prospering Blacks were also drawn to his message, and at last there were people who regardless of color stood for life, moral standards, hard work, and a gentle leadership here while being tough abroad. From then on, divisions became more political than racial in many quarters. It wasn’t the color of your skin, but the color of your politics – Red or Blue. However, as the 17% of Blacks who voted against Bill Clinton dropped to only 5% who voted against Barack Obama,, rightfully or wrongfully, too many people saw Red as white and Blue as Black, though that was not nearly that simple.

From Roe v. Wade on, though, Republicans knew what to say to white Christians to get their vote, but they seldom followed through with the social agenda in any powerful way. While to his credit, Bush did what he could to put some roadblocks in the way of unbridled abortion, and built on Bill Clinton’s Defense of Marriage Act, the GOP Congress elected in 1994 fell far short of its potential to put a firewall against the encroaching gross immorality that was building in the country. While gaining ever larger numbers of Black Conservatives because of unprecedented high level appointments of Blacks to positions with high international exposure instead of the traditional backwater domestic agenda jobs that were the grist of Democratic appointments, a dogged "race-neutral" posture developed that caused many conservatives to openly admire Blacks who agreed with their agenda, and it also appealed to Black business people who had come up the hard way and seen success. Nonetheless, because Republicans are generally inept at politics as opposed to the well-oiled Democratic machine, and because most of the media belittled them like the proverbial bully, they failed to connect with the masses. Much of this had nothing to do with policy, but perception. The most sweeping economic progress for Blacks came in the 1950's and the 1980's, and in the late 1990’s when Clinton went fiscally conservative with the GOP Congress, but with much slippage now due to high unemployment. High unemployment has hurt many Blacks worst than whites because of lower assets and reserves, so it is no picnic right now. Simply put, more conservative fiscal policy benefits Blacks because of the number of jobs and general business expansion.

So, Elephants and Donkeys. Which first? We'll flip a coin. Heads it is! Elephants have the biggest heads by far, so we'll start there.

Republicans have a long history, and by their very name, exalt the idea of a REPUBLIC. A republic is not a democracy per se, but an entity based upon having leaders that are chosen for their integrity and willingness to make decisions consistent with the founders written ideas codified in our Constitution and the thinking behind them. The idea of a pure democracy is pooh-poohed, since mob rule is not productive, and people can be stirred up to lean one way based upon the flimsiest of arguments. Remember the crowds that were so artfully manipulated in Bible days? Or in the 2,000 years since for that matter? A look at the crowd in Libya celebrating the Lockerbe bomber or the much larger assemblies in Palestine celebrating the collapse of the Twin Towers as seen in the movie OBSESSION show how crowds can get ginned up. The wildly fluctuating polls in our own country show the ease with which the masses can be manipulated. Almost as extreme as the change in public opinion during Passion Week. The Electoral College was formed precisely because of the finicky nature of public opinion. Representative democracy is meant to even out those hills and valleys, and Republican leaders by and large do what they think best and get either praise or condemnation for it. They are not driven by polls, and do little to defend themselves when attacked.

Lincoln freed he slaves, 90% of southern Blacks voted after the civil war, and Black and White Republicans had their blood shed because of this rapid progress. While the gains of reconstruction were short -lived, Blacks were loyal to the Republicans until FDR. Truman cemented the switchover by integrating the Federal Service. While Ike acted on Little Rock and the GOP provided the votes needed for the Civil Rights bill while openly racist southern Democrats opposed it, by and large Blacks voted Blue. Many do not know that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican until Kennedy, historically a fairly reluctant man on civil rights, helped King out. Actually, Ike received 40 of the Black vote in 1956, a number never to be repeated. Later on, Clinton managed 83% and 84% in his elections, meaning only one out of six Blacks did not vote Blue. The number dropped to 1 in 20 in 2008, where many voted based upon race to finally have an openly minority president (we actually had several others, who were not open about it).

In the case of President Bush, he was stalwart on the Iraq war, but bent on other issues, which gained him no blue votes, but huge losses in his own Party. McCain learned nothing from that, and tried to be more flexible on his beliefs, which gave him tepid support at best and a lost election despite a massive experience advantage. I couldn’t stand the guy. Obama was much more likable, but a Presidential Election should be more than a popularity contest. The obvious friction between his "soft democrat" style and Palin's more traditional Republican "black and white" way of looking at things will likely be the fodder of some new book to come.

So even though McCain was selected by Democrats in many quarters during the primaries, and anointed by so many as one who would move the Party left a bit, the sad fact for the GOP was that even Colin Powell, whose politics were a pretty close mirror to McCain’s, abandoned him for Barack Obama. Liberal Republicans keep trying to get the party to drop its opposition to abortion and deviant “marriage”, but that is insane. Most Americans oppose both. Those in favor or who believe no one can effectively deal with those issues vote Democratic. Why would anyone vote for a Democrat wannabe? And where would those whose belief is Biblical and not simply political go? They would sit on their hands or go third party.

Meanwhile, though the party has high loyalty by small business, which feels the brunt of wasteful spending and useless regulation more than anyone, the party is perceived as the pawn of BIIG business. Ironically, BIG business has actually worked hard to mirror government goals and profits the most from government programs. The recent money given to banks was gladly accepted, some to be used within days to buy other banks, as PNC did. If banks were in such trouble, who would want another one?

To be sure, tax policy was seen to benefit the rich. Well, there is no denying it did. While it is true that the rich pay the preponderance of taxes, mot people do not see why those over one million should get any breaks. Actually, it was the GOP tax cuts that took so many off the tax rolls that they built a coalition against them. Why would people envy themselves anything if someone else is paying for it? The GOP has never figured out how to build up small business while keeping everyone invested in the system and no real or perceived favoritism to the rich. God says we are not to show favoritism to the rich OR the poor, but simply be fair. While many believe the rich are paying more than their fair share, it is uneven. Perhaps if they all paid according to the rates it would be one thing, but a trip to Bermuda or other havens will show that the rich are resourceful in greatly reducing their tax burden. The people most effected right now, and where the opposition is trying to milk the most whether in raising or eliminating the social security cap or outright tax increases are the small business people. They provide the most jobs and are the backbone of so many local communities. They have felt current policies more than anyone and flock to the GOP simply to survive.

So often, the GOP has not been forceful. Bush let himself get trashed daily and kept the “bully pulpit” in mothballs. When making statements, too many GOP people still trust the media not to edit what they say to make hem look like fools. Time and time again they are not politically smart. They are often their own worst enemy

Are the Donkey’s any better? Well, I am a Donkey – officially that is. Back in 1970 it was practically unheard of for any college kid with half a brain to register GOP. We were taking over buildings, protesting the war, and in general looking for a better and more just society. Democrats have always been inspirational on that score. Mario Cuomo’s soaring rhetoric. Barack Obama’s 2004 speech. However, is anyone better because of Cuomo’s speech? Was it more than words? Words are what Democrats like – “just” sounding words, “fairness” sounding words, “hope” sounding words, They seek to control speech to filter out what they find offensive. Is the motive bad? No, of course not. It I GOOD! Words do hurt. Insensitivity does matter. I cringe when I hear what some folks say. I strive to be sensitive and caring and race neutral in what comes out of my mouth. Do words actually mean someone is right, though? Of course not! Some of the most racist insensitive people I know are the most hair-trigger about anything they perceive as not politically correct. A change of heart in the most important, and all the words in the world without action men nothing. When it comes to action, Democrats, like Republicans, have taken unpopular stands and suffered for them. They have stuck their neck out and unselfishly tried to make the world a better place.

I certainly was one who voluntarily served my country in VISTA seeking to give people a voice and to stand up for the poor and disenfranchised. I was a conscientious objector and did not and still do not believe that Christians should be fighting in wars. I was trained by the Quaker Project in non-violent passive resistance. I worked in the most liberal atmospheres imaginable, while still be stalwart about LIFE, about MORALITY, and about all the rest of the social issues. The liberals who worked with me sometimes looked at me askance, but the people I served loved me. It was great to hear a rather nationalistic young lady tell me, “I forgot you were white!” The fact is, what was perceived was that I was doing what I was doing from my heart, not for any ulterior motive. I was serving Christ by serving the people, and was sharing some of the skills God had given to me to supplement the skills God had given to the people so all could advance.

For a while, there was some tolerance for people like me in the Democratic Party. People like me were “Caseycrats”, in the mold of Pennsylvania’s late governor Bob Casey – popular then, despised by the current leadership now because he did not tow the line on issues of conscience where he let his faith govern. While Carter seemed not totally satisfying on the issues, he did claim to be born again, and a whole lot of people, even my Republican family, voted for him, figuring any born again person would do right in the end. Carter rapidly proved himself unsuited to the job – with the disaster in Iran sapping his strength, and extremely poor judgment in selecting people to surround him resulting in him changing drastically in office. Eventually, he wrote in his book that Jesus was no longer the only way, and today he is one of Israel’s worst enemies in the irresponsible things he says. One now wonders how our country survived his presidency. Carter was put out on a rail, and from then on, the Democratic base became far more openly left. With that, came the dogmatic “holier than thou” attitudes of sixties radicals. Hey, I felt that way! We honestly believed that other people simply did not get it and that our ideas were superior in every way. We actually very often WERE right, but the pride of those days continued when the agenda went south.

I mean, who could argue with peace, justice, and brotherhood? Particularly if you were also a “Jesus Freak”? As Christians, we eschewed drugs, promiscuity, and the other sinful behaviors which eventually captivated so many from that generation who are now in charge. Radical environmentalism, non-biblical variants of feminism, and eventually homosexuality became mantras of a movement that lost touch with the significant numbers of Christians that were part of it (except the compromisers who now take their cue from it instead of from God) and became openly hostile to the sensibilities of many never in that movement. That brought some serious consequences to bear.

Historically, Democrats like to think of themselves as the party of the people. They want their leaders to be responsive to polls. That leads to a lot of discontinuities. It is a trap to follow popular opinion when there is far more to leadership than popular opinion. Democrats feel uncomfortable about waging war, though they often found themselves doing so, often with less than satisfactory results. Hesitation greatly increased WWII casualties, and a certain naiveté about the nature of evil continues to this day.

Like all parties, they respond to lobbyists, which often work at odds to public opinion. There is huge influence by Big Labor, particularly with the Card Check legislation, Planned Parenthood, Trial Lawyers who often keep the lion’s share of any settlements, and more recently, Wall Street, who is creative about finding opportunities to profit. When you combine this with extremely wealthy backers such as George Soros and Hollywood Elites, a fawning media, control of the educational system, cutting off debate, AND the aforementioned self-righteousness that places their ideas as supreme and other ideas as unworthy, trouble brews.

This confluence brought about the so-called “Stimulus” bill that was largely payback of political favors that most people oppose. Then the Health Care “Reform” which was trotted out quickly and with huge flaws and unfundable mandates. Again the people were opposed, just as they are to Card Check. However, the superiority complex at work in the Party is making them tone deaf to the people, which is never a good idea before an election year. It is probable that the Democrats will tank in 2010 if they do not relent on an agenda that is not the agenda of the people. If in fact they go back to the drawing board and act in ways more in line with their heritage, they could enjoy a long stay in power.

After all, the vote in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was left in its permissive and even advocacy-based attitude toward ordaining homosexuals. People are leaving in droves, just as hey did the Episcopal Church. The ivory tower attitude of the left is out of touch and really damaging to the church and the country.

There is a pride that refuses to learn. After all, The UK coddled labor until they were brought to their knees with ill-considered strikes. The government took over the car companies, which quickly became non-competitive and a joke in terms of their cars’ lack of reliability. Big government lead to stifled enterprise and initiative, and a bloated National Health Service, the world’s THIRD largest employer in a country far smaller than our own, has brought cries of reform. Yet Democratic leadership thinks they can do better than the UK and every other country that has tried Socialistic ideas. Even the Russian media is mocking us for trying a bondage that took them decades to free themselves from. Tanzania is trying to recover from a disastrous socialistic experiment.

It is on the cultural issues that the lines are most drawn in the modern Democrat party. The big backers generally are either hostile to anything Christian, whether is comes to funding obscene art by the NEA, open religious expression. right to life, the rights of parents to raise their children according to the dictates of their conscience, the exaltation of heterosexual marriage, following traditional morality, having the right to work without joining a union, having their children educated without being proselytized by those insisting evolution and man-made global warming are indisputable facts when in fact the opposite is the case, slimy TV and movies with crass profanity and hatred of people of faith, and those who want a fair media that does not interpret everything from one point of view and ignore all evil from their own side. While many Democrats may believe all these things, in practice they refuse to take a stand or demand their party recognize them. They give their votes without asking ANYTHING in return. If someone doesn't listen to me, I don't vote for them!

I was driving by Gary Barbera's dealership, which like many others had lots of "clunkers" on the sidewalk with tons of signs.
This really bothered me. People got $3,500 for vehicle getting only TWO miles per gallon more than what they were buying.
These vehicles had acid poured in their engines and were hopelessly defaced. It looked chilling. I have printed out the so called Death Manual instituted by Clinton with the VA, withdrawn by Bush, and now reinstated by Obama. Before you dismiss Sarah Palin's mocked-at comments, READ this thing. When you look at bills in Congress, you have to look at the total perspective of the sponsor to see where it will take us, since endless regulations and interpretations use the bill simply as a starting point. Dr. Emmanuel, who is a close adviser, is deeply into who lives and dies and prioritizing life. I am a German, and I don't need an interpretation on this. Social engineering is back - it starts with abortion and moves to Euthanasia and other places I really don't want to look, but HAVE to.

Beyond that, we need to look at smaller venues before committing to changes in the larger one. When one looks at the most troubled large cities, the one thing they hold in common is long-term single party rule - in this case Democrat. They have massive problems and corruption, and there is little hope there. While the GOP had its share of corrupt regimes in the past. those machines are almost entirely gone. When one looks at the current corruption in Washington and in the biggest support groups, it certainly gives one pause - faithful in little, faithful in much. If not faithful with little, keep the much from them!

So where do we go? Obviously, neither party has all the answers, and they never will. That is what the Kingdom of God is about. Sinful people corrupt any party or any system. That said, we need to earnestly review the platforms of each party and the character of each candidate as we select those who we feel can BEST approximate the ideals we would like to see in our nation.

It always troubles me when I hear party loyalists demonize each other. I also troubles me to hear messianic pronouncements on individuals who hold positions that are in absolute enmity with God and his word. I have heard these pronouncements from both GOP and Dem folks, and that is not helpful. Only Christ is the Messiah, and anyone who works against the principles of the kingdom of God should be seen exactly for what they are – a worker of iniquity. We honor those who lead us per Romans 13 and other Biblical mandates, but disagreement with the person in power is no reason to make movies about his assassination as they did with the vile movie on George W. Bush, or the caricatures made of Barack Obama. We should be better people than that.

We should make our arguments in civil discourse, and most of all know that every four years, the parties come around saying what they will change, but the rhetoric may as well have been recorded from the last election, because the problems never seem to go away. Incremental change for the better is always to be celebrated, but remember that Christ would not have had to come and die for us if any political party could bring us salvation. Let us put our primary effort into God’s kingdom and not be deceived by the wiles of the devil, whether spoken through Elephants or Donkeys.

LONG COMMENT!

2009-05-10T18:51:00.005-04:00

NOTE LONG COMMENT RECEIVED!
Post was combined with later expanded one with similar topic.

NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER R.I.P.

2009-05-07T19:37:00.003-04:00

You know, many folks like to talk about the "Good Old Days". Like the 1600's. Intolerance was rampant. Religious persecution was here in America. The dead Church of England was the state church in Virginia back then. It was illegal to preach "the gospel of Jesus Christ". You could get put in JAIL for it. Jonathan Edwards used very graphic terms about Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God DECADES before the Revolutionary War. That means there some pretty bad sinners around in the 1700's. Only 1 out of 6 Americans went to church when our nation was founded. The first United States failed (read your history). They finally got it sort of right in 1787. Thank GOD for the largely Christian principles that made it into those founding documents. Even then, there was no freedom of religion - it came later courtesy of James Madison's tireless efforts as part of the Bill of Rights. Our second President, john Adams, was a deist and did not believe that Jesus was God. Our third President, Thomas Jefferson, made his own version of the Bible since he did not believe much of God's original. We had child labor, exploited women, slaves, and a many other evils. Our nation was a backwater in the world. The judgment of God came in the civil war, and it was horrific.

But then God moved and a church growth movement and missions movement that changed the world came into being. The United States became a world power. We stumbled with greed and excess in the 1920's, convinced by the staged Scopes Trial that we needed to jettison much of the Bible. We went through a gruesome Great Depression that was ended not by the New Deal, which cost a tiny fraction of 1% of the current "stimulus" bill, but by a horrific World War. The 1950's brought ersatz religion - with the National Day of Prayer legislation by Truman and putting "Under God" in the pledge, the 60's a Sexual Revolution, and the 70's the Charismatic renewal that changed a lot of people for a while, but a significant portion of which unfortunately turned inward and self-serving, with a gospel of money and self-fulfillment displacing the real gospel of sacrifice and service for our fellow man. Our country has had a LOT of challenges. The 80's and since have seen precipitous drops in personal morality, public morality, and the like. It seems like every appointee in the new administration was dishonest about their taxes. Few people cared.

It is now 2009. The party with a large number of atheists who have fought every possible public display of Christianity is now in power. The President, who has never made an credible confession of faith (read THE FAITH OF BARACK OBAMA by Stephen Mansfield and endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu if you want to know what his "faith" really is), says that we may have been a Christian nation at one time, but no more. He has urged Christians to be more inclusive in their faith. Just like him and his friends! Hawaii will celebrate ISLAM DAY on September 24, 2009. The bill recognizes what it calls "the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions" that Islam and the Islamic world have made. Sounds like someone taped Mr. Obama in Turkey gushing over Islam and made a bill of it. It passed overwhelmingly. Only ONE lone lawmaker brought up "separation of church and state". Trust me, the only separation any of these folks care about is separating out and dishonoring CHRIST. Astrology - great. New Age - of course. Islam - are OK for sure. Forgotten is the fact that Islam and in fact all other religions are backward and counterproductive for mankind. What scientific advancements came from Islam? Zero. Zip. Nada. It is repressive and violent, and has NO interest in being one of many religions. It wants to be the ONLY game in town. MOST persecution of Christians comes from Islam. Check out the countries where it is worst - North Korea being a notable exception.

Mr. Obama is on his own mission to destroy Christianity which has been in the crosshairs of radicals ever since Christ was born. Why would anyone expect him to encourage the nation to pray? He would be inviting opposition to his diabolical schemes. So, while the National Day of Prayer may be a celebration by the faithful on the order of size of the "tea parties", I say we don't cede this country and our freedoms to Mr. Obama. Let us storm heaven with specific prayers, not just today on the "National Day of Prayer", but one, two, or three times a day. Believe me, the GOP is stumbling over themselves in retreat. Arlen simply jumped ship altogether. It is not as though the GOP is "God's Own Party". While on paper it has taken some positions close to the heart of God, such as opposing abortion, advocating educational choice so parents can pass their faith on to their children, calling evil what it is and fighting it, and maintaining as much personal freedom as possible, it has in practice not been a clear-cut as God wanted in terms of solving ethnic and economic issues in God's ways. Of course the Democrats have been sticking it in God's face for some time now. They opposed Kennedy on the Civil Rights Act, they oppose treating everyone based upon fairness, but want some people to be more equal that others, they oppose the Right to Life, the Right to Work, and just about any other right except of course the right to shamefully abuse the human body through perverted uses of organs clearly designed to do other things, the right to denigrate Christianity publicly, specifically, and incessantly, the right to display filthy images, the right to force parents out of the picture so the state can indoctrinate their children as Lenin did, the right to screen out any scientists who don't mindlessly and against all data subscribe to the theory du jour, whether macro evolution, anthrocentric global warming, or any other convenient lie, and of course the right to exalt terrorists and demean law-abiding citizens and in general call right wrong and wrong right.

Here are my prayers. Make your own list - but stick to it!

1) Lord Jesus, I pray for President Obama to believe that you are indeed the Christ, the son of the living God, the only way to salvation, and that he would be convicted of his sin, repent of his sin, and become a new man in Christ Jesus.
2) Remove from the president all Messianic assumption, all totalitarian dreams, all lying and hypocrisy, and his hatred of true Christianity. Turn him as you turned Saul into Paul. Cause Barack Obama to champion doing everything possible to save the lives of the preborn, to turn people from sexual looseness and perversion to mutual heterosexual monogamy, to keep Islam from getting a stronghold in our nation, to have the will and the moral clarity to fight evil and protect the good, to allow freedom of all kinds, to reign in government and wasteful spending, and to encourage all toward righteousness.
3) Lord, I pray that we would have peace. Despite poor decisions, despite giving aid and comfort to our enemies, despite seeking to reduce our capability to defend ourselves, I pray that you would protect our nation. We do not trust in horses, we trust in the name of the Lord our God. Save our nation for the sake of the remnant.
4) Lord, I pray that all attempts to subvert our country, to remove its sovereignty, to make us like post-Christian European socialist economies would fail.
5) Lord, reverse the schemes to centralize power by favoring the banks in order to control the money and information systems, increasing IRS enforcement four fold, and developing a national security force larger than the military. This historically is the blueprint to dictatorship, and was used by totalitarians in the past. Lord, we see the writing on the wall. Change the president from this course of evil that sets up precisely the economic system to be used by the Anti-Christ.
6) Lord, may attempts to make our Health Care system one modeled after Europe where there is rationing, exclusions of people over certain ages, and in general central control over what should be a personal freedom, come to the same inglorious end as HillaryCare.
7) Lord, preserve the freedom of your church. Preserve the freedom to speak our minds. Defeat all the myriad plans to restrict free speech and almost all the other rights in the "Bill of Rights", to seek to control thought. Defeat all plans to make education monolithic and tear down the system that is at war with faith and at war with truth and at war with all things good.
8) Lord, may every false and proud way in our nation be defeated by you. Make us into a people you can work with and be pleased with.
9) Lord, may Barack Obama make a proclamation not for a National Day of Prayer, but for the people of this country to go to God every day in the name of Jesus Christ to beseech him for mercy and guidance so that our nation would be righteous. May Mr. Obama also then obey everything you tell him to do.

In Jesus Name.

HYSTERICAL HYPOCRISY

2009-05-07T15:07:00.005-04:00

One cannot help but be struck by the rapid speed at which states through either activist judges or through legislatures are jumping on the "gay 'marriage'" bandwagon. It was only ten years ago that Vermont stunned the nation by legalizing civil unions between homosexuals. Now, to be in favor of civil unions, as so many evangelical leaders are advocating, is considered neanderthal, hateful, and homophobic. One has to hand it to the atheistic left - they know how to move the chains.

Carrie Prejean, Miss California, was the runner-up for Miss USA because of her rather tentative endorsement of marriage being between a man and a woman (and may I say that she was TEN times more beautiful than the woman they gave it to). It is too bad when she was contemplating what to say, and she said she had prayed she wouldn't be asked that question, that she didn't simply plan to say, "I am going to agree with Barack Obama and the fine citizens of California whom I represent and say that I believe marriage is between a man and a woman." Christians have to be smarter and more media savvy. You have to make it hard too edit what you said into something else entirely. Nothing a Christian says will be treated fairly. No Christian, even one that did some modeling I'm sure she regrets now, will be given any space at all.

Now we all know that Barack Obama is not against gay "marriage". Perez Hilton certainly knows - he isn't attacking Barack Obama even once - he is attacking Carrie Prejean. Just look at the facts. Obama is doing everything he can to bring it about through executive orders, support of legislation, and his judicial nominees. He is simply posturing his public position so that he can seem like the reasonable man reluctantly supporting "what the people want" because that is what a President is supposed to do, isn't it? The President, like most graduates of American "elite" universities, may not know absolutely anything about the Bible, the history of Western civilization, the sordid history of Islam, or the mind of a terrorist, but he DOES know politics. Carrie should have flushed him out of the closet, but she was speaking on the defensive.

Prophets of God do not speak on the defensive. They are not mumbling words trying to sound more like Arlen Specter or Colin Powell than as one standing firm and unwavering for righteousness. Look in the Bible - they are bold. They are strong. They do not weigh the political consequences of what they say. They just say it and let God support them. If God doesn't support them by saving their necks, they let the sword kill them. Jesus did not talk about the leaders killing the prophets because he was making up a story to prove a point. He was talking HISTORY. And so it continued... Jesus and most of his apostles died because of their message being rejected, So did Stephen and a long line of martyrs that continues to this day in North Korea and other repositories of pure evil.

My friends, do not support civil unions. Do not support homosexuality in any way whatsoever. It is an abomination to God. It leads to gay adoption, it leads to normalization of the perverse. It defies any reasonable observation of human anatomy. It is believing a BIG lie. We do not judge homosexuals - God does. We do not persecute them - we seek to reach them with the good news, and many have responded by confessing all there sin including homosexuality and have been saved and delivered. However, we must never call good what God has condemned. We cannot move to the left as the left moves the chains. We must stand for righteousness period. Otherwise, things will never change, and this scourge on our land will not be lifted, but wax worse and worse. We must show the world that we believe God rather than man on EVERY issue. No man is our enemy - Christ died for them all.

POLITICAL COOPERATION FOR CHRISTIANS (Introductory Course 101)

2009-04-29T22:57:00.006-04:00

Does politics affect our witness? Is it best to be apolitical? Can Christians with polar political positions do the work of the kingdom together? Let's take a closer look.

For quite some time, many Christians never bothered to vote. They saw politics as a dirty business (you don't need glasses to see that they were right), they believed that nothing would really accomplish the goals of the kingdom of God in this temporal frame. Sl they concentrated on singing "I'll Fly Away" and songs of golden streets and a whole different life. Meanwhile, those in politics were changing the country from one in which God was acknowledged and some moral standards were in place, albeit even the 1950's were far from idyllic, to one in which Christians are the scum of the earth and whatever is the opposite of what the Bible teaches is the thing to do. Stung by the thought of "losing" the country they never possessed, they joined the Moral Majority and other organizations. This was a misnomer, of course, since by that time the majority of Americans were sleeping together before marriage, the Lord's name was taken in vain with impunity, and most young people tried marijuana or other drugs at least once.

The Amish and some others still kept out of the system, but many Christians were determined to make a difference,. This happened on both the right and the left. Parallel with Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Rod Parsley and others were Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Tony Campolo, and Tom Skinner. The latter three told Christians to join the system and be sabateurs, with ideallism breaking the chains of racism and inequality and making us citizens of the world.

Unfortunately, both movements were rapidly corrupted. On the right, the line against abortion and homosexuality was well guarded, but the fight against racism was not on the main agenda until relatively recently. Standard conservative positions on economics and gun rights became just about as sacrosant as being pro-life. The Christian Voters' Guide somehow made the "Christian" vote the GOP vote. While to be sure the Bible teaches capitalism in at least an idealized form, with God rewarding the hard worker with the most and taking away from the unproductive, there is also a strong emphasis on systemic injustice and castigating the insensitive rich. The Bible says that injustice is part of why the poor have so much fallow ground. One could only imagine how our country would have been different had this movement decried shameless conspicuous consumption and worked hard for racial equality as well as holding the line on abortion, homosexuality, sex education, etc. A coalition of white and black and Hispanic evangelicals, Catholics, and conservative Jews would have been hard to beat.

As it was, people were shouting for prayer in the schools. I prayed in school. In fact, there was a prayer meeting before school across the street in a Christian couple's home (great idea, but the way - have a home near EVERY high school in your church open to students to pray.) It was a Godsend in high school. People tell me that;'s when American started going down the tubes - the day Madelyn Murray O'Hare won in court. Well, we did school prayer in Horsham for 4 years. 2 hours once a month. We prayed for the coaches, the teachers, the administration, the students, the teams, the transportation. the curriculum, the book-choosing committees, everything. We have NINE churches and probably 35 was the most we had. More often 8 to 12.
Where were all the people wanting prayer in schools? M.I.A. Despite that, the school had fewer issues, was at the forefront of banning interstate travel to get girls abortion, and having a classroom open for lunchtime Bible Study. There was a community gospel concert (the school district next door didn't want their gospel chorus singing about Jesus), the school plays were decent (another neighboring school district had a gay play which attracted national pickets). There was prayer before basketball games. There was prayer in the name of Jesus at the basketball banquets, Even one of the vilest coaches who loved to use the "F-word" on his players got saved. That was with a tiny remnant. Imagine what could have happened if we had 100 parents interceding in our district AND the neighborhood districts. FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD!

People complain about the neighbors. Do they actually PRAY for their neighbors? Do they check on them, help them, and show the love of Jesus to them? They complain about the culture. Do they go were people hang out and share the love of Jesus and the gospel of Christ? Do they work out the issues with their spouse instead of divorcing just like the world. Others idolized their country. I love my country, but my citizenship is in heaven, and I have more in common with a minister in Tanzania I have been emailing than I do with my next door neighbor in Horsham, PA.

Being prosperity centered, just about as materialistic as the world (10% for God, 90% for me), and in many ways indistinguishable from the world except for a cleaner mouth, slightly better TV and movie habits, and pro-life and anti-homosexual, there is simply a lot to be desired. Many still have racial antagonisms - I STILL here them in 2009. They often have little sympathy for those on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. They will give charity, but never enough to solve the problem. PRAISE GOD for those who work to train and actually help people improve their lives, but to most it is simply "work hard", that's how I did it. Good enough for me is good enough for you.

The Christian left did no better. I was a member of the Christian left, so I have first hand experience. I was a subscriber to Sojourners, had friends who took over buildings in the 1960's, and who held candles marching for peace. What was different was that we were all Pentecostals and of course avidly pro-life. Homosexuality was despised by both right and left then, but the Vietnam War was the major issue. While I detested the way it was run, I really felt for the Vietnamese. I detested those who jumped on the anti-war bandwagon saying horrible things like these people weren't worth dying for. Of course they were worth dying for! But fighting a war had to be to actually win. Playing not to lose never works. Further, I believed that war was for non-Christians to fight, as Christians historically were pacifistic. I went to be a Conscientious Objector, but after my number wasn't called, i dropped the appeal as it was moot.

I generally thought most Christians were boobs when it came to politics, and the endemic racism present at the time by so many Christians and support for the status quo simply reinforced it. I had become a VISTA volunteer, been trained in passive resistance techniques by the Quaker Project, and dedicated many years to working in the North Philadelphia Community near Zion Baptist Church. I was greatly accepted by the community because I accepted the community and treated it as my own. One of my fondest memories was tutoring a girl from Deliverance Evangelistic Church who was a Temple student and extremely proud of her black heritage. She had little use or respect for whites and liked to talk about it. One night, she was going through her thing, and stopped. She became a bit irritated at herself, saying "I forgot you were white." It was one of the highest compliments I have received. Isn't that the way it should be going both directions? I noted that most other liberals said all the right things while on the job there, but the true nature came to the fore when with their own. The repeated hypocrisy of people pretending to be one with the people while maintaining a separate identify made an impact. Either we are one or we aren't.

Politics did not seem to make much difference to the human spirit. I admired so much about the black community, and from then on, almost everyone I dated was black. After I started dating Verileah, who is now my wife (whom I was concerned was too conservative), we went together to the "radical discipleship" conference at Messiah College. It was there that I met the core of the Christian left. I did not like what I saw. It was so different from my college experience and my work in North Philadelphia. I remember being in a seminar about righting a certain wrong. Most of the diagnosis was inarguably correct. However, it was all about how the participants were going to change the world. Most of the techniques seemed similar to the worldly left. Someone used the "s-word". Others didn't go there, but weren't exactly speaking in tongues either. These were some hard folks. I remember volunteering the fact that the Holy Spirit was more concerned about justice than they were and we had to move at the direction of the Holy Spirit instead of exercising reflexive worldly techniques. I'm glad I got out of the room alive. That was the last of that.

SInce then, Sojourners has taken their cues from the secular left. Tony Campolo wants Christians to take a different tack with homosexuality, and Tom Skinner is in heaven. Periodically I check them out, but there is no driving force of the Holy Spirit, and they are oh so quiet about core moral issues. They are trying so hard to please their non-Christian peers. Not a plan.

SO, DOES THAT MEAN WE SHOULD BE APOLITICAL? No really. After all I do write this blog and stick it in your email every so often. I avidly follow politics. I am longing for Christians to band together to make for an effective political force. It has happened in other countries, even though the movements there tend to become corrupted as well. I have no confidence in the two major parties today. The Democrat party is monolithic. Pro-abortion, pro-homosexual, naive on foreign relations, immigration, and corruption. It is funny how they always accuse Republicans of being monolithic. They aren't. They have quirky people like John McCain whom NO ONE I knew actually trusted. They have people like Arlen Specter, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snow (or should I say had in the case of Arlen Specter), who was apologizing for their party almost as much as Barack Obama has been apologizing for America. The Hampton set is embarrassed about the pro-life stand of the white evangelical base. McCain's campaign manager and his own daughter are jumping into the pro-homosexual arena. While no one wants to pay excess taxes, somehow the tax cuts weren't as egalitarian as one would have hoped for. I'm not advocating supporting Obama's mad spending and draconian tax increases which have to follow, but there is a balance here.

Whether Christians can impact either party enough to make it the party of choice is an open question. The GOP is a lot closer, but it often treats the Christians as lepers as well. As valid a point as many talk radio hosts make, and believe me, much news would be forever buried without them due to the fawning left-wing media that is totally biased and journalistically dishonest, I don't know one who is an unequivocal evangelical Christian. I don't know one who stands for the absolute authority of the Bible and who rejects the Evolutionary Agenda and the creeping universalistic thinking transforming evangelical educational institutions into me-too colleges hostile to Bible-believers. Bob Casey on the Dem side is still Pro-Life, but it is more personal and the subject of a much needed moral crusade. Joe Lieberman is decent on the war effort, but wrong on most else.

I'd love a third party, that is uncompromising and that takes the Bible as its authority and not the issues or the major parties, but they never win. The GOP was a third party in 1860, and won, but that was about it. Talk to Teddy Roosevelt about he Bull Moose Party. He'll tell you. We will simply have to do our best to be prophets to each party and vote for the people who best exemplify out values.

That brings us to the crux of the matter. Christians differ. Some believe Obama is the anti-Christ while others stop just short of him being the Messiah. Both can't be right. It is nuts! For too long, Christians have been the biggest proponents of relativism. They formed denominations so they would stop killing each other, but going to the church of your choice is hardly Biblical. We are supposed to have pure doctrine based upon the Bible and not tradition. Baptizing babies and adults can't both be right. Speaking in tongues can't be both of the devil and of God. Evolution and Genesis can't both be true. Christians haven't judged themselves properly, so they are not prepared to judge the world.

I believe that as we concentrate on the unity of the Body of Jesus Christ, and seek to come into unity on doctrine (see my post on my Life in the Spirit blog for a post on doctrine) and unity on practices which Paul taught, we will have the authority that comes from a disciplined, together force. Right now we are fragmented, so of course Christians go the gamut from absurd to crazy in their political beliefs. It ISN'T all right simply to be sincere about what you believe. If two things conflict, one is RIGHT and the other is WRONG. Let's drop the WRONG and hold to the right.

Is anyone honest enough to do this with politics? Can we sit down and go through the party platforms? Can be x-out everything the GOP and the Democrats say that is unequivocally wrong and move on? Can we take what is unequivocally right and embrace it together? Can we take the grayer areas and list the differences of approach and allow each to follow his or her conscience in those areas? It can be a kinder and gentler arena of ideas. But it isn't yet. People are screaming their allegiances. They are assassinating the character of those who disagree. They are calling them vicious names and saying they are unspiritual. Is there really any difference from racists and leftist ideologues? If there isn't, why should anyone listen?

I say we need to work together based upon FIRST ALLEGIANCE to the kingdom of God. I do not underestimate the difficulty of that because I am close to several people who believe the polar opposite of what I do and who refuse meaningful dialogue. I believe that demons are oppressing many who are in intransigent states and who demean others mercilessly. When I see anyone who gets all their news some the same slanted sources, who refuse to consider other points of view (Yikes, even God wrote FOUR gospels to give us different perspectives on the news of Jesus.) When I see Christians captive to ANY narrow political philosophy, or if their loyalty to any person approaches the level of devotion to a cult leader, my antennae go WAY up. That is a shame, because even GOD said, "Come, let us reason together". What do you say? If you disagree with me on anything? Post your thoughts in a reasonable fashion and let's dialogue. God bless you.

REAL TORTURE AND TORMENT

2009-04-17T21:57:00.010-04:00

This week, the Obama administration released the details of the torture techniques used during the Bush years. To any WW2 vet tortured in Japan, or later vets in North Korea or Hanoi, they might emit a story of what "real" torture is. To those who were deprived of food and medical attention, severely beaten and not given medical attention, to those who had electrical wires attached to their genitals, medically supervised water boarding or sleep deprivation to a handful of the most hardened terrorists must seem like tame fare. For a wake-up call, read Richard Wurmbrand's book, "Tortured for Christ". Now THAT is torture. Or try the Christians in Eritrea who are placed in metal shipping containers to try to get them to recant or the formerly Muslim children who accept Christ and have unspeakable things done to them. Perhaps consider Thai children sold into prostitution to be abused by Japanese, European, or American men. Or simply read Isaiah 51:23, "I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, 'Fall prostrate that we may walk over you.' And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked over.'"

Oddly enough, fully 50% of the intelligence we have on Al Qaeda came from those interrogations, and no further major terrorist attacks have happened on American soil. To stop using those techniques is any administration's prerogative, but telling your enemies what you won't do as well as giving them the blueprint for what proved to be effective techniques to use on captured people that they could try on captured Americans is the sign of a rank amateur with zero understanding of terrorism, which Obama has confirmed many times in his first 100 days. He is an ideologue with no moral compass except himself.

For all the outrage on water boarding (and did you know that 3 Al Qaeda terrorists were waterboarded while 10,000 American soldiers were to prepare THEM for possibly being a POW), the REAL attitude about torture in this administration is chilling. One of Obama's first acts was to put his considerable weight behind the torture of innocent, preborn infants. He has repeated supported not only death, but also the smashing of the skull of a baby and the gory details, which are truly unspeakable violence. Homosexuality itself between men is an inherently violent act, an assault on the human body. As you read this, Obama is in Trinidad and Tobago glad-handing hard left leaders like himself with no compunction about torture - Chavez and Castro. He is more at home with them than with loyal Americans who simply speak their mind. Obama has called for a domestic security force larger than the military that is reminiscent of Nazi Germany's youth movement. There are also concentration camps erected in this country from before his administration but which now seem more ominous with each passing day. Can't you just see the need to put these "right wing extremists" in these camps for their own good, with editorial ascent in the NY Times, the Washington Post, and on CNN?

The Bible describes the torment that Lot felt in Sodom with all the wickedness around him, and Christians are tormented by the open evil all around them that is now OFFICIALLY government policy - homosexual perversion is exalted and all those who oppose are now EXTREMISTS. Those opposing the horrible torture and murder of abortion are now EXTREMISTS. Those opposed to a wholesale destruction of the economy with unsustainable spending (the fact it is hugely wasteful makes it even worse), are now EXTREMISTS. Those wanting their constitutional right to bear arms, which is in the Constitution to help prevent an oppressive government from remaining in power, are now EXTREMISTS. The Patriots of the American Revolution were all EXTREMISTS, I suppose. No armed citizenry has ever lost their freedom. The plan of hard leftists such as Obama is to DISARM the citizenry so in later phases of their plan they have no opposition. This is the long executed plan elsewhere, and the media conveniently ignores the fact that Obama TAUGHT Saul Alinski's "Rules for Radicals" on how to take over. His campaign mirrored that book (Mark Levin did a masterful job precept upon precept). Now THAT is what extremism is truly all about.

His crony Janet Napolitano issued her hatchet job to seek to marginalize the moral people of principle whom he really wishes to ultimately destroy. Does anyone really doubt Obama's true intent? He sat under leftists Jeremiah Wright for two decades and has been close friends with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayres and others. Wright and Ayes had the same middle name - "Hate". Obama disparaged the economy at every opportunity, resulting in catastrophic results. He now disparages his own country at every opportunity while giving the true tyrants a free ride. His radical policies when enacted would easily result in the total collapse of the economy - which is what the game plan WANTS and NEEDS! American HAS to fail for his plans to succeed! It is no big mystery!

Why can't people connect the dots? It is all right there in front of them. Obama refuses to produce one shred of proof he is even qualified to be President by hiding his birth certificate. That means that the Constitution is no longer the ruling document. He was a very corrupt Chicago politician. He supports the corrupt ACORN. He supports corrupt Unions. He supports corrupt foreign leaders. He treats Israel with hostility and her enemies with compassion - all part of the upside down world of the modern secularist. Obama pressed the limits by voting for infanticide more than once. He is more Arab than Black, holding more of their harsh values than the conservative social morality of Black Americans, and yet seeks to play the race card when convenient. He says he is a Christian when everything he has done to date is the OPPOSITE of everything Godly there is. He seems far more at ease in the Muslim community than the Christian community, and is trying to get a lot more Muslims into the government while making every effort to ensure that no true Christian has any political power. He is mindlessly reversing everything George Bush did as a reflex action, not through thoughtful deliberation. He never ran any business, yet he wants to run and control every aspect of everyone's life. It is like a college kid being put in charge of a big corporation without any real-world experience. Only this time, he has surrounded himself with the same kinds of people who are hopelessly inept and impractical as well as similarly corrupt. (Why is it that those wanting to tax everyone else rarely pay their own taxes?)

Back to torture and torment. Is it always wrong? No! Read the Bible. A time is coming when all those who reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ will be tormented in hell forever. God's penalty for unrepentant terrorists is not to give them a lawyer. It is to cast them into a lake of burning fire. In fact, the penalty is the same for murderers, rapists, and greedy people - sinners of all types. I wonder what sinners will say when they enter God's torture chamber?

Romans 13 teaches us that the government does not bear the sword in vain. They are God's ministers. What our government did is well within Biblical parameters. Death was Biblically justified for all of them. The job of the President is to protect the citizens of his country. We are decidedly less safe now than we were last week because of this blunder, and our soldiers are likewise less safe.

Torture has never really been repudiated. The thing is, people tortured Christ. They still try. The same people who call us extreme in the media and the movies blaspheme God at every single opportunity. They secretly relish it when radical Muslims torture Christians. My friends, there is a spirit of hate that has been loosed against the church and against all decent people who maintain any moral principles derived from the Bible. It is coming from the very top. The tragedy is that without Christian support, this regime would never have been elected and could not be doing the things it is now. Many Christians are totally ill informed and form their opinions based upon information given by people who pummel Christians and Christianity day after day. Why should they be the slightest trusted? The Bible prophesies that people will turn against their own families, and in fact will turn in fellow Christians. Jesus said in Matthew 24:10, "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other." I have been disheartened by the Christians who uncritically accept everything Obama says and does and who ATTACK believers who are sticking with the truth. This passage applies not only to the fall of Jerusalem, but has unfortunately happened since and will continue to happen. If we wish to end this nightmare, we must stand united against the expanded slaughter of the preborn, against perversion of all kinds, against injustice, against calling good evil and evil good, and against a departure from everything right and decent.

Obama said we are no longer a Christian country - he is right in that we don't act like it, but he is very wrong in that the legal foundations of our country are Christian. He has made himself a god, because he views his opinions as superior to God’s, and has placed his own ideas above God’s. Not a plan. To the extent we depart from God as a country will be the extent we are tortured. The flames will be hotter for Americans because to whom much is given, much is required. Won't you pray and preach and work to assure that the least possible number of people is tortured in hell forever? And while you are at it, pray for us as the church to survive the torment of living among evil people who think only evil continually. We can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us.

ARE THE ATHEISTS RIGHT?

2009-04-12T00:40:00.008-04:00

It is Easter, the ultimate day of defeat for Atheists. The devil, who for real is no atheist since he used to live with God, was defeated on the cross. Yet he gets quite a few folks to believe what he knows is false - that there is no God. In that sense of course, all atheists are wrong, but that doesn't mean they are wrong about EVERYTHING. If you peruse the websites of atheist organizations (and since we are in a war of the ages we had better know what our enemies are up to), you will sometimes see fear of Christians taking dominion in government. Is this fear well-grounded, or is it simply the ranting of people who believe they are marginalized already in a "Christian" country? You might be interested to also know that some atheists are not particularly concerned. The disunity they have seen makes them believe there really isn't much to fear. I know many who talk much of "ruling and reigning". It might surprise you to know that I am probably MORE scared about that than many of the atheists are.

You see, Christians have not done a particularly good job of ruling and reigning. We have failed to keep our own houses in order. Even in the New Testament church, Gnosticism and all manner of other perversions quickly entered the church. Anti-Christs abounded. Even the Apostle John said that "many" Anti-Christs have gone out from among THEM. When Constantine supposedly converted and persecution stopped, so did ardor and fidelity to the scriptures. Much compromise ensued.

When the church did have political power, it became as corrupt as the worldly powers had been. Truth became in short supply as power corrupted and absolute power corrupted absolutely.

In Europe, religious persecution by those taking serious stands for scripture was almost an intolerant as that by the statist churches. In America, the Puritans and others were merciless in their rulership and reigning. Can anyone imagine where we would be today if the Native Americans had been treated consistently with fairness and respect and if slavery were not permitted? The church has not done well against injustice and greed over history.

In more recent times, Christian leadership could not be readily distinguished from the GOP on specific political goals not strictly tied to scriptural mandates. Mega-churches and televangelist ministries appeared to have the same material goals as the world. Hardly the Saboteurs of the Kingdom Tom Skinner used to preach about.

We as Christians cannot agree on even the most basic scriptural principles. Even though God wrote on tablets of stone with his own finger that the rule of the Sabbath was based upon a six-day creation, most Christian colleges deny that truth and consider it irrelevant. No wonder Evangelicals are jettisoning key Christian doctrines and distinctives faster than the lower stages of that North Korean rocket.

Even though abortion is killing life that God created for his pleasure, I hear Christians call that a "symptom" and vote for people determined to expand abortions, force taxpayers to pay for them, and even try to force doctors who believe they are immoral to perform them.

Two major pastor figures in American, first Joel Osteen, and now Rick Warren, tell Larry King the unbelievable. Joel seven times refused to stand for the requirement that salvation is through Christ alone. Larry kept asking because he could not believe it. Jews are not dumb about what Christians believe. He was flabbergasted. Then, just a few days ago, Rick Warren said he wasn't campaigning against gay marriage and had apologized to his homosexual friends for supporting Prop 8 in California. What on earth? The videos proved he was totally inconsistent in what he said. Seems like these two are more into crossing the aisle than the disappointing John McCain was. Except crossing the aisle in opposing the counsel of God is far more devastating than a Democrat agreeing with a Republican or vice versa. Many aisles are meant to be crossed and then eliminated. Aisles of "race", caste, economics, denomination, etc. are in that category. However, aisles of principles and basic moral values cannot be crossed without losing our Christian identity. Christians are not called to simply rule and reign. They are called to rule and reign WITH CHRIST. Unless Christ and ALL he stands for is in our party platform, the results we can expect will be more than disappointing.

I read this quote at a coffeehouse this afternoon from Martin Luther...
"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefields besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point."

We cannot compromise with the devil. Do you know why? The Devil NEVER compromises. He sticks to HIS plan. If you think you are compromising with the devil, you are in reality selling out to him and losing EVERYTHING. Back in the 60's, I minored in sociology. In one of my courses on urban power structures, we learned that the power of a community is only proven through confrontation. People may THINK they have power, but the only measurement comes when it is tested. The same is true with the NCAA Basketball tournament. I filled out a bracket like millions of others, but only in the playing of the games was the champion determined - and it wasn't the overall no. 1 seed - just as often is the case. You simply do not know the power of God unless you are tested, and no matter how much you win in life, it matters little once you lose.

People who have fought hard and learned lessons through the crucible of life make the best leaders. Often they are the "little people" behind the scenes who pray hard, work hard, and who learn from their mistakes. These are the ones who are truly qualified to rule and reign. However, just like the world, the church often promotes the tallest, the handsomest, the best spoken, and the most successful-looking to do the ruling and reigning. Often money, power, or sex (or even all three) is their undoing, as we have repeatedly witnessed over the years. I have no confidence in these folks changing the world for the better if they are put in charge. Neither am I confident in the bold "prophets" who declare all manner of things to folks that are not the least based upon the word of God. Deviance from sound doctrine, even when there is moral purity, can be even more dangerous than the Elmer Gantry types. It seems so spiritual, but can we have men or women ruling our nation who are their own authority and who believe what comes out of their mouths is equivalent to the constitution of the church, the Holy Bible?

Saying all that, I say this. God has said that we will rule and reign with Christ, and frankly, I believe him. Just as Christ was the stone that the builders rejected who ended up being the chief cornerstone, so do I prophecy to you that those whom the world has forgotten and despised, but who are precious in the sight of God, people of singular integrity and purpose, people who pray without ceasing and who put the Word of God above all human ideologies, will change the world through there witness and their testimony. Paul was a short man whom people called "unimpressive". He couldn't "preach" and he put people to sleep - even having at least one fall out of a window. Yet God raised him up to change the world. Stephen was relegated to "waiting on tables" by the then haughty disciples, yet he accomplished more than most of them in standing firm for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many of God’s choicest servants were not regarded by those in authority, but God is the one who has appointed them.

I have ZERO confidence in changing the world with the current crop of wealthy and worldly Christians who layer their own ideas on the gospel and who in some cases side with die-hard enemies of the cross. If that were all we had, I would agree with those atheists who have no fear of Christians changing anything and who treat them as the gang who couldn't shoot straight. However, if leaders are chosen the way God has ordained they be chosen, and if it is a BODY leadership as opposed to individual ego-centric ministry, then all those atheists who fear Christians should be afraid, VERY afraid. The world would change. The bars would go out of business as they did in Wales in the early 1900's. Prostitution and drug abuse would be distant memories of an unfortunate past. Homosexuality would not be something to be proud of, and abortion would be rare. Filthy reading material would no longer be on students' reading lists. PG-13 and R movies would die at the box office because people would not be so tolerant of spending their money to pay people to profane the name of the precious Lord Jesus. Scientists would be free to proclaim the creation of God instead of the failed ideas of men.

Atheists hate the idea of a truly righteous country. Are they right in that fear? It all depends on whether we fulfill our scriptural mandate or simply proceed with "spiritual" business as usual.