christian conservatives

this will be my last post

2007-10-05T22:33:00.000-04:00

The time has come to shut down this blog. Family commitments and job commitments have gotten to the point where I just don't have the time to sit in front of a computer anymore. Besides all that, I just don't have that much more to say! Before I close this out, however, I want to tie up a few loose ends.

I had been posting a series of comments about the 13 steps Christian conservatives could take to transform America, and I had made it to #7. The rest of the steps are as follows:

8. Teach your children to love America and to appreciate America's Christian heritage. http://wallbuilders.com/ is an excellent resource for this purpose.
9. Teach your children to respect the sanctity of human life. Regular prayer, worship and Bible reading as a family, coupled with constant dialogue about how absolutely precious human life is from the moment of conception, is crucial for this purpose.
10. Teach your children to respect the sanctity of marriage and the traditional family. Lead by example in this area. For the last 50 years we have been teaching each generation after generation that marriages are "disposable" and that it's not important to follow God's blueprint for the ideal family. The damage to our culture has been enormous!
11. Teach your children self-reliance rooted in faith. Children who are taught to work hard, to hold themselves accountable for their actions, to accept the consequences for their actions, and to faithfully love God with their entire being will generally not grow up expecting Mommy and Daddy Government to provide them a living. When you raise up a child according to that blueprint you are raising up a good American citizen. We owe that to our fellow citizens.
12. Be on constant guard against the secular progressive agenda in your kids' school. If you send your children to a public school, they will run into secular progressivism. That's a promise. I know that because I am a veteran in the public schools. As a parent, you have the ultimate responsibility for your child's education. Teach them wisely, providing them the tools necessary to resist the secular influence. Talk to your children every day about what happened in school. If you have concerns, voice them. If your concerns are ignored, get louder. Don't be afraid to rock the boat. Turn the boat over if you have to! If your child's physical safety was being threatened you wouldn't hesitate to act. Don't be any less aggressive if your child's spiritual safety is in danger.
13. Become politically active. Many Christians are reluctant to become active in politics, and I think that's absolutely crazy! It also contradicts the Bible. Jesus didn't tell us to go into all the world to preach the Gospel......except for that dirty world of politics! We have a duty to be a light to the world, and that includes the world of politics. Does that mean we have to run for office? No. It does mean that we need to vote. It means that we must pray for our political leaders (see www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299374,00.html for interesting info). We must pray that God will give us wise leaders of good moral character, and then we must pray that God will give them guidance. We must speak the truth every time we we are faced with lies. We must be bold in our efforts to effect change in our society.

Thank you for reading my comments over the last year and a half or so. God bless each and every one of you! May this nation truly become "one nation under God." God bless America!

another classic example of the liberaliar in action

2007-09-29T23:42:00.000-04:00

rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_092807/
content/01125106.guest.html

This is worth reading in detail. It is a perfect example of how the lunatics on the left are physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually incapable of using facts, logic or reason to advance their cockamamie agenda. They have to lie because normal people would never listen to them if they ever told the truth about what they believe!

For further information, read:
http://influencepeddler.blogspot.com/2007/09/limbaugh-on-solid-ground-on-phony.html

Psalm 118 (New International Reader's Version)

2007-09-26T19:57:00.000-04:00

1 Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love continues forever.

2 Let the people of Israel say,
"His faithful love continues forever."

3 Let the priests of Aaron say,
"His faithful love continues forever."

4 Let those who have respect for the Lord say,
"His faithful love continues forever."

5 When I was in great pain, I cried out to the Lord.
He answered me and set me free.

6 The Lord is with me. I will not be afraid.
What can mere men do to me?

7 The Lord is with me. He helps me.
I will win the battle over my enemies.

8 It is better to go to the Lord for safety
than to trust in mere men.

9 It is better to go to the Lord for safety
than to trust in human leaders.

10 The nations were all around me.
But by the Lord's power I destroyed them.

11 They were around me on every side.
But by the Lord's power I destroyed them.

12 They attacked me like large numbers of bees.
But they died out as quickly as burning thorns.
By the Lord's power I destroyed them.

13 I was pushed back. I was about to be killed.
But the Lord helped me.

14 The Lord gives me strength. I sing about him.
He has saved me.

15 Shouts of joy ring out in the tents of godly people.
They praise him for his help in battle.
They shout, "The Lord's powerful right hand has done mighty things!

16 The Lord's powerful right hand has won the battle!
The Lord's powerful right hand has done mighty things!"

17 I will not die. I will live.
I will talk about what the Lord has done.

18 The Lord has really punished me.
But he didn't let me die.

19 Open the gates of the temple for me.
I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord.
Only those who do what is right can go through it.

21 Lord, I will give thanks to you, because you answered me.
You have saved me.

22 The stone the builders didn't accept
has become the most important stone of all.

23 The Lord has done it.
It is wonderful in our eyes.

24 The Lord has done it on this day.
Let us be joyful and glad in it.

25 Lord, save us.
Lord, give us success.

26 Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the temple of the Lord we bless you.

27 The Lord is God.
He has made the light of his favor shine on us.
Take branches in your hands. Join in the march on the day of the feast.
March up to the corners of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you.
You are my God, and I will honor you.
29 Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love continues forever.

having fun with those kooky liberaliars

2007-09-26T12:13:00.000-04:00

www.humanevents.com/rightangle/index.php?p=24839

This is very entertaining!

a global warming primer

2007-09-25T12:56:00.000-04:00

www.nationalcenter.org/NPA420.pdf

The National Center For Public Policy Research has published an excellent report on the whole topic of global warming. Some of the highlights of this report are as follows:

"Over long periods of time, there is no close relationship between CO2 levels and temperature."

"Humans contribute approximately 3.4 percent of annual CO2 levels" compared to 96.6 percent by nature.

"There was an explosion of life forms 550 million years ago (Cambrian Period) when CO2 levels were 18 times higher than today. During the Jurassic Period, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, CO2 levels were as much as nine times higher than today."

"Polar bear numbers increased dramatically from around 5,000 in 1950 to as many as 25,000 today, higher than any time in the 20th century." (That's for all of the public school teachers who are telling kids that polar bears are dying because their mommies and daddies drive SUV's.)

Knowledge is power. Liberaliars are counting on the majority failing to learn the truth concerning climate so that they can force feed their cockamamie Marxist agenda down our throats. Don't believe the lies!

transforming america, step 7...conclusion

2007-09-23T22:34:00.000-04:00

Blessed are the pure in heart. Jesus really upset a lot of people when He began His ministry. Jesus told the people that it wasn’t enough for us to be blameless in our actions. Our hearts and thoughts had to be pure as well. That’s a pretty radical concept! For example, in Matthew 5:21,22 Jesus states that it’s not enough to avoid murder. We must also avoid murderous anger and hatred. Verses 27-30 say that we are to avoid adultery, but we are also commanded to avoid lustful, unfaithful thoughts. Verses 42-48 say that we have to love our enemies! Jesus says that we must be free from selfishness, greed, arrogance, and hate. We must be pure in heart.

Of course we can’t purify our hearts by ourselves. We must accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and then pray for the Holy Spirit to transform us. The Spirit can and will change our hearts and purify us if we open our hearts, minds and souls to Christ.

As I looked through my Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan, reading everything God’s Word has to say about our heart, I began to notice a theme. When God says He wants us to have a pure heart, He isn’t just talking about sprucing up the old heart. God wants us to have a complete heart transplant. The Holy Spirit will give us a new heart that is responsive to God, if we are open to the transformation. Ezekiel 11:19-20 says "…I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God." Psalm 51:10-12 says, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me."

There are many examples in the Bible of just exactly what this "heart transplant" looks like. Read the account of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Zacchaeus was a very dishonest tax collector who clearly had cheated a great many people. When he heard about Jesus, though, something sparked inside him and he had to go see what Jesus was all about. Look how quickly the change came upon Zacchaeus. Jesus spoke to him, Zacchaeus spoke back, and he was instantly transformed.

Read about the two criminals who hung on crosses along side Jesus (Luke 23:32-43). Both of those criminals were guilty of the crimes they had been charged with, and they had probably been like that all of their lives. One criminal, however, looked into the face of Jesus as they were dying and received a new heart. His heart was cleansed, his sins were washed away, and Jesus said to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

How do we receive this gift of a new heart from the Holy Spirit, and how do we lead our family there? We have really already answered that question. We receive our new, pure heart when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, we believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we study God’s Word, and we pray continually that God will make us poor in spirit, mournful of our sins, meek, merciful, and righteous. The Holy Spirit will transform us over the course of our life, and He will transform our families if we allow Him to.

Blessed are the peacemakers. I was flipping through the news channels the other day and I heard one of the talking heads say that in over 4000 years of recorded world history, there have only been 300 without a major war. If that’s true (isn’t everything on the news true?) it’s a pretty sad commentary on man’s ability to live in peace and harmony. I looked in the dictionary in my Bible, and it defines "peace" as a state of calm, freedom from strife or discord, harmony in personal relationships. Not a whole lot of that going around over 4000 years is there? As I have talked to other Christians about this particular Beatitude, I have noticed a lot of disagreement about what we are commanded to do in order to be faithful to its teaching. I have heard everything from "war is a sin" to "Christians must be pacifists" to "Christian nations have an obligation to destroy ‘rogue’ nations to preserve peace". Maybe we should look to the Bible to see what God says about being peacemakers.

Philippians 4:4-7 contains the very essence of what I believe Jesus was talking about:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Let’s break that passage down so that we can understand what God means when He says, "blessed are the peacemakers".

First, the passage starts out with the word "Rejoice", and the word is repeated. Paul wrote these words in about A.D. 61 in a letter to the Christians at Philippi. Paul actually wrote this letter as he sat locked up in a Roman prison, so it may seem odd that he could say "rejoice" and mean it. As you read this passage, and indeed, if you read the entire letter, you see that Paul was positively joyful. The lesson here for us is that no matter what may be happening in your life, good or bad, Jesus Christ is with you, and that is cause for celebration. Understand that there is a big difference between "happiness" and "joy". Happiness is what the world says we should strive for, but it is so very temporary and superficial that frustration sets in when we can’t find it. Joy is very different. Joy comes from an intimate relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Joy is the deep, warm contentment we have in our soul because of God’s assurance of His love, and His promise to never leave us alone. Joy is the gift to our heart, mind and soul when we realize that God’s promise is true; namely that this world is temporary and that God has an eternal home waiting for us in heaven.

Second, the passage says that we are to be gentle. We have already talked about how important it is to be gentle and meek in the spiritual sense. Gentleness is essential as we seek God’s peace in our hearts, and as we seek to live in peace with others.

Third, the passage says to not be anxious, because the Lord is near. Think about what it would be like to not be worried about anything. Seems impossible, doesn’t it. It’s not. Psalm 7:1 says "O Lord my God, I take refuge in you; save and deliver me from all who pursue me…" Verse 10 says "My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart." God is so close to us that He can be our shield and our refuge. He is where you are. Think of the joy and peace we would have in our hearts if we could stay mindful of this fact.

Fourth, Paul tells us how we go about taking refuge in God. We pray. We pray about anything and everything. We pray with thanksgiving because God loves us with a love that we don’t deserve. We thankfully and humbly present our requests to God, "and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." The note in my Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan says, "God’s peace is different from the world’s peace. True peace is not found in positive thinking, in absence of conflict, or in good feelings. It comes from knowing that God is in control. Our citizenship in Christ’s kingdom is sure, our destiny is set, and we can have victory over sin." This simple (maybe not so simple) truth is further emphasized in John 14:27. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." That is God’s peace.

How do we become peacemakers? We become peacemakers by loving God with our entire being. We become peacemakers by loving our neighbor as much as we love ourselves and by being God’s hands and feet in this world. We become peacemakers by being poor in spirit, by mourning over our sinfulness, by being meek, gentle and humble, by thirsting after righteousness, by being pure in heart through the Holy Spirit, and by being merciful towards others.

A wonderful family activity would be to pick up a book on the life of Mother Teresa and read about her together. What a wonderful way to teach the lessons contained in the Beatitudes. Your children would actually be able to see these character traits in action.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness. This is an amazing statement in light of what the world teaches. We live in a society where politicians govern through opinion polls. Leaders run away from disapproval at every opportunity, yet Jesus said that those who are persecuted because of righteousness would be blessed. That is absolutely the polar opposite of what the world teaches!

That's also the opposite of what far too many Christians believe. I have encountered way too many Christians who believe that becoming a Christian means entering into a life free from conflict, hassles, and pain. That's not exactly the truth, is it? Let’s read Jesus’ words to His disciples in John 15:18-27 to see how it really does work.

If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their law: ‘They hated me without reason.’ When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

If we look at the Christ-like values contained in the Beatitudes, it’s easy to see why the world would hate Christians. The world values pride in self, personal independence, and the personal glory coming from achievement. Christ wants us to be poor in spirit. The world values instant gratification and the relentless pursuit of whatever feels good, no matter the cost. Christ wants us to be mournful over our bankrupt spirit. The world glorifies power, no matter how it’s achieved. The world says win at all costs, finishing second constitutes failure, and all glory to the winner. Christ says that we are to be meek and humble and self-emptying before God. The world says we should pursue happiness. Christ says we should pursue righteousness. The world says we are to conquer and overcome. Christ says we are to be merciful. The world glorifies sex, violence, avarice, deception, and depravity of every sort. Christ says we are to be pure in heart. The world promotes divisiveness, drawing lines between red states and blue states, conservatives and liberals, blacks and whites, Christians and Jews and Islamists. The world promotes this divisiveness and then, in a macabre sort of way, revels in the resulting fireworks. Christ says we are to be peacemakers. Is it any wonder there is such hatred from the world towards Christianity? Jesus takes every worldly value and turns it on its head. Jesus offers a better way to live, and the world resents it. The sad truth is that the world seeks to destroy that which it resents, and, unfortunately, Christians are at the top of the list.

Well, now we know the bad news. Is there any good news? Of course there is! Jesus says that if we follow Him, and love His Father with our entire beings, we will be blessed with an inner joy and peace that is impossible for non-believers to comprehend. This joy comes from the knowledge that Jesus has overcome death, He has cleansed us of our sins, and, no matter what happens to us in this life, our faith will be rewarded when we are made perfect in His Heavenly Kingdom. Read Hebrews 11 to see how our faith, even in the face of persecution, will be rewarded.

How does this relate to our kids? We must teach them to be strong in the face of ridicule. We must teach them, by example, that we are willing to endure ridicule and persecution for our beliefs and that God will give us the strength to endure.

You know that our kids are always looking at us, don't you? I notice it all the time. My oldest son always has his eyes on me, watching how I act and what I say, and he copies a lot of what he observes. I continually have to be on guard so that I don't say or do something that would serve as a bad example for him. He has had the opportunity to observe a couple of instances where I caught some heat for my beliefs, and I hope that I set the right example for him in those instances. We should continually pray that God would enable us to set that good example.

This is what I call Beatitudes Parenting. If every Christian parent in America would commit to practicing Beatitudes parenting, we would produce a generation of Christian conservatives that would take back this great nation from the secular progressives and the cultural Marxists. They would lead a rebirth of America that would lead to us truly becoming "one nation under God." What a blessing that would be!

the revised common lectionary with easter people

2007-09-22T22:40:00.000-04:00

http://easterpeople.blogspot.com/

daily devotion with billy graham

2007-09-22T22:38:00.000-04:00

www.billygraham.org/DailyDevotional.asp

anti-christian hate speech in hollywood

2007-09-22T22:23:00.000-04:00

www.theconservativevoice.com/article/28124.html Adios Sally!

www.theconservativevoice.com/article/28051.html Jesus To Kathy Griffin: You're Right

worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57772 Actors Tell Hollywood 'Enough Is Enough'

If you look at the above links, you will see clear-cut illustrations of the outrageous hypocrisy that is part of the liberaliar DNA.

If a person got up on stage in front of a national TV audience and uttered similarly offensive and vulgar comments about gays, blacks, women, Muslims, Democrats or any of the other categories of humans deemed "sacred" by the High Priests of Cultural Marxism, what would have been the reaction?

There are none so dishonest and hypocritical as the dishonest and hypocritical liberaliars!

the problem with clouds in the global warming hysteria

2007-09-22T22:02:00.000-04:00

http://acuf.org/issues/issue91/070907cul.asp

This is a fascinating look at the role of clouds in the debate over global warming. Please read the whole article, but here are a few quotes to chew on:

There’s a reason why one should be extremely wary of the computer models that are cited by the endless doomsday predictions of Al Gore, the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change, and all the other advocates of “global warming.”

The reason is clouds. Computer models simply cannot provide for the constant variability of clouds, so they ignore them.

In a July issue of The Economist there was an article, “Grey-Sky thinking” subtitled, “Without understanding clouds, understanding the climate is hard. And clouds are the least understood part of the atmosphere.” Since the increasingly rabid claims of Earth’s destruction from rising temperatures depend on computer modeling, how can they be regarded as accurate if they must largely exempt or deliberately manipulate the impact of clouds?

Also;

Tim Garrett, a research meteorologist at the University of Utah, with refreshing candor has said, “We really do not know what’s going on. There are so many basic unanswered questions on how they (clouds) work.” And that is never mentioned in the great “global warming” debate, one we are continuously told is “decided” and upon which there is a vast scientific “consensus.”

Also;

How wide is the computer modeling gap when it comes to predicting the weather?

TheEconomist reported that, “In a recent paper in Climate Dynamics, Mark Webb of Britain’s Hadley Centre for Climate Change and his colleagues reported that clouds account for 66% of the differences between members of one important group of models and for 85% of them in another group.” Clouds simply defy the logarithms of computer modelers.

In short, “Too much still remains unknown about the physical mechanisms that determine cloud behavior,” said The Economist.

Very interesting!

transforming america, step 7 continued.....

2007-09-22T21:40:00.000-04:00

Let's continue with our discussion of "Beatitudes Parenting."

Blessed are the meek. Here is a real misunderstood term in today’s world. Say the word "meek" and other words come immediately to mind; words like "cowardly" or "timid" or "wishy-washy" or "pacifist" or "weak". This is an excellent example of how the Beatitudes completely contradict and turn around worldly values. The dictionary in my Bible defines "meek" as humbly and gently doing God’s will.

There is a lesson there for Christians. When Jesus says we need to be meek, He means that we should be gentle and humble in our words and actions, not brash or self-promoting. Jesus wants us to be strong and outspoken about our faith (read about Peter in Acts 4) but also wants us to adopt a servant attitude (read John 13:1-20) so that we will be willing to serve God in any way that brings Him glory. He wants us to see ourselves as God sees us—sinful and in need of salvation. How could we possibly be boastful or prideful if we recognize our own sinfulness? Jesus wants us to apply His Holy Word to our lives because we know we’ll die without it. He certainly doesn’t want us to beat people over the head with the Bible in a haughty, self-righteous manner. He does, however, want us to humbly share His Good News with others. Above all else, Jesus wants us to love and worship God so completely that we will humbly follow His will for our lives, wherever that may lead.

Do you want to read about meekness personified? Read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. God sent Jesus to be the Messiah, the Savior of all who call on His name, yet He was born in a barn with a manger for a crib. When Jesus reached adulthood, he was the poorest of the poor, at least in the earthly sense. Matthew 8:20 shows that Jesus was homeless. He had no money or earthly possessions of any sort. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, He rode a donkey.

When Jesus was in the garden at Gesthemane, His soul was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Mark 14:34) because He of course knew what lay ahead of Him. Jesus knew that when He took the burden of our sins while on the cross, He would be temporarily separated from God and He was in agony. Yet He prayed, "Yet not what I will, but what you will" (verse 36). Jesus willingly carried His own cross to Golgotha and was mocked as He hung on the cross. He could have come down from the cross and exacted justice right on the spot, but He humbly allowed God’s salvation plan to be finished. Throughout His earthly life, Jesus humbly, gently, and meekly set aside His infinite power and majesty to follow through with God’s perfect plan to institute His New Covenant of salvation. Read what Paul had to say about Christ’s humility in his letter to the Philippians (chapter 2, verses 1-11):

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from His love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus; ‘Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

How do we make strong meekness a virtue of our household? Be a strong, gentle leader of your family. Speak well of others. Don’t brag or look down on others. Treat your spouse with respect and tenderness. Have high expectations for your children and hold them accountable for their actions, but discipline them with a heart of love and forgiveness. Be gentle and considerate during family disagreements. Your children will see your meekness, admire you for it and seek to emulate that quality. Adopt the servant attitude that Jesus Himself demonstrated by continually reaching out to those in need, serving them in the love of Christ.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Do you see how the Beatitudes offer us a step-by-step progression? If we recognize that we are indeed poor in spirit, and we mourn over the depth of our sinfulness, and we meekly put our lives in God’s hands and follow His will because we are all too aware of our own impotence, we must take the next step and beg God to wash those sins away. We are commanded to hunger and thirst for the Holy Spirit to transform us (and others) just as a starving man would hunger and thirst for bread and water. We must yearn for God’s goodness and righteousness, both in ourselves and in the world. We have to know that this world is so very temporary and that God has a permanent home reserved for us in heaven where righteousness will reign forever. We must strive daily and hourly and minute-by-minute to live as God has commanded with our eyes on that eternal prize. If we yearn for worldly possessions, material wealth, or earthly, vulgar excitement, we become of the world and there is no room in our hearts for righteousness.

My Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan has a wonderful chart in it showing how the book of Proverbs compares and contrasts the lifestyles of the righteous with the wicked. This makes a great tool as you seek to teach your children how to live a righteous life. Proverbs 10:24 shows that the righteous have a hopeful outlook on life, while the wicked are fearful. 12:10 says that the righteous are concerned about God’s creation. The righteous don’t desire the company of godless people (24:1,2), they care for the poor (29:7), they detest the dishonest (29:27), and they persevere against evil (24:15,16). It would be good to sit down with your children and read through Proverbs together (little bits at a time) so that they could be led to live righteous lives. Also read John 15:5-8. Jesus explains in this passage that the only way to live righteously is to continually seek closeness with God. We do that through prayer and through reading the Bible.

Blessed are the merciful. Our God is a merciful and loving God. We know that, by God’s perfect standard, there is not one righteous man on this earth. We also know that the wages of sin are death. God must punish sin, but His great love for us means that we can be forgiven of our sins. Read the account of Moses leading the Israelites to the Promised Land to see God’s mercy in action. Read the book of Jonah (it’s short). The city of Nineveh was as evil and corrupt as any city in the world, but God called Jonah to witness to the people there. After a short detour by way of the stomach of a great fish, Jonah did go to Nineveh and all 120,000 of the Ninevites repented. God showed them mercy and spared their lives. Each and every one of us sins on a daily basis, falling short of what God expects of us, yet God continues to forgive us and to give us second chances (and third and fourth and…) and to show us a level of mercy we don’t deserve.

Because of the great mercy that God has shown us, God expects us to be merciful to others. We are to clothe the poor, feed the hungry, minister to the sick and dying, and proclaim the Gospel to a dying world. We are to work to relieve suffering wherever we find it. We are to show active, working compassion that makes a difference. This is what churches are talking about when they use the word "mission". As Christians, our mission is to be Christ in this world, and we do that by being merciful.

Read Matthew 25:31-46 as Jesus talks about the Final Judgment:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

The message is clear—we serve Christ when we are mercifully serving others. That is our mission to the world.

It is vital that each and every Christian get involved in mission. This doesn’t mean that you have to sell off all of your belongings, pack up and move to a distant land on the other side of the globe. There are mission opportunities available thousands of miles away and there are mission opportunities available next door. Just prayerfully ask God to show you where you are needed.

Have you felt a great need to help in the mammoth relief effort in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita? You can donate money to any one of a number of reputable organizations to participate in that mission. You can get personally involved with an organization like Habitat for Humanity, roll up your sleeves, and help with the rebuilding.

Are you concerned about the devastating effects of the disintegration of the traditional family? Start a marriage mentoring program in your church. Become a foster parent, or a Big Brother or a Big Sister. Volunteer to help in child care and youth organizations.

Are you worried about the sanctity of life in this society, particularly the high number of abortions performed each year? Start an abortion alternatives program in your church as an outreach and ministry to pregnant women in your community. Support local adoption agencies.

Would you consider voting to be a part of mission? I would. Do you see anything resembling Christ-like work being done by any level of our government today? I don’t. Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not talking about state-sponsored religion. I’m talking about the people who work in the business of government doing their work in a way that would be pleasing to God. Christians have a responsibility in this constitutional republic God blessed us with to seek out, support, and vote for candidates who live and work according to the teachings of Jesus. This mission is absolutely crucial to the rebirth of our country.

The point is that there are literally no limits to the ways the individual Christian can participate in mission, thus fulfilling Jesus’ command to be merciful. Just ask God to give you your assignment.

Get your children involved in mission as early as possible. At our church we support a United Methodist children and youth center. Not only do they need money, but they also need supplies such as boxed cereal, paper towels, Kleenex, construction paper and glue. Children can be involved in the shopping for and delivery of these supplies so that they feel like they are donating, too. Get involved in a program where your children can visit people in a nursing home. This is so beneficial to the patients, and your children will be blessed by the experience. Buying Christmas presents for needy children, participating in canned food drives, donating clothes to Goodwill; these are all activities that your children can and should be involved in to learn to be merciful.

There is another aspect to being merciful. How often do we pass judgment on others because of the speck in their eye while ignoring the log in ours? When we cross the line from thirsting for righteousness to being self-righteous, we cease being merciful. When we are merciless in our dealings with others because of the sins we see in them, aren’t we really saying to them that they don’t deserve God’s mercy? What a horrible way to act! Teach your children from the time they can talk to use "nice words", and demonstrate to them that you use nice words, as well. It’s hard to be merciful when you’re screaming.

Teach them by example to be non-judgmental of other people. In my home, we have come to the realization that it is important to not label anyone as a "good person" or "bad person". We are all created in the image of God. If I say to my daughter that she is a bad girl because she colored a picture on the wall, I am tearing down a creation of God, I have failed to be merciful, and I have sinned. It’s far better to say to her, "Honey, you are a good girl and I love you very much, but you just made a bad decision and I am not happy about it. After you help me clean this wall I am sending you to bed early. Don’t do this again." That sounds pretty wise, doesn’t it? God says that I have to confess right here that it took several years for my wife to teach me this lesson in dealing with our kids. It seems that I have a problem with mercy and a hard head as well. That is a bad combination! My wife was patient and merciful with me, and she is far wiser than I am, so I have finally started to understand this concept. Our family life is happier as a result. The lesson here is that if we learn to be merciful to each other within the four walls of our home, we will be more merciful to others "out there."

We'll finish this topic up tomorrow.

modern liberalism--childlike emotionalism applied to adult issues

2007-09-21T23:04:00.000-04:00

townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2007/09/21/
explaining_liberal_thinking_in_a_single_column?page=1

I blogged earlier about the whole notion of liberals being mentally superior to conservatives and about how silly that notion really is. The column linked to above does a great job of explaining the liberal thought process and the simplistic, childlike qualities of that thought process. This is a very interesting column. Enjoy!

transforming america, step 7--teach your kids to follow Christ

2007-09-21T22:40:00.000-04:00

Do you have children in your home? Are you a parent? It is your God-given responsibility to lead your children to Christ. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 says;

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Those words, spoken by Moses 3400 years ago, are just as relevant today. Now more than ever our children need the power of God’s amazing love to shield them from the forces of evil. You had better believe that Satan is waging a savage battle for the hearts and minds of our children.

God had a reason for issuing that declaration (through Moses) telling the Israelites to teach the Word of God to their children.

When children learn to love God at an early age, they stand a better chance of retaining their faith throughout their lives. They in turn will be better at passing that faith on to their children and even to other people they come in contact with. Being an effective spiritual leader in your own home is crucial in accomplishing our goal of sparking a rebirth of our nation.

If we all agree that we must lead our households to Christ, the next obvious question is—How? The Bible gives us the answer. If you read the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ ministry, you will see a picture of the perfect parent. Jesus taught, molded, and "parented" His followers so that they would better understand the New Covenant of God’s saving grace. The greatest illustration of Jesus’ instruction comes from His Sermon on the Mount, and, specifically, from the Beatitudes. I believe that these seemingly contradictory words hold the key to successful parenting. In a nutshell, we must continually work to make each one of these values a part of our own character. If we strive to become living examples of these characteristics, and we demonstrate to our children how to emulate these character traits, our households will be blessed. Let’s read the Beatitudes together and we’ll look at them individually in detail. Matthew 5:1-12:

Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them, saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

The theme running through the Beatitudes is that if we conduct ourselves in a certain way, God will bless us. In other words, we don’t do these things for ourselves or for worldly approval; it’s all about God. Don’t misunderstand, however, and think that this means we can earn our way into heaven by being good. It’s clear, if you read everything that Jesus said, that the only way to have all of these characteristics is through the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart. To be truthful, we will never completely embody these character traits until that day when our Lord makes us perfect. Additionally, you will find that one Beatitude leads to the next. They don’t stand alone. You can’t pick and choose which ones you will follow. Let’s look at them one at a time.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. It all starts here. Nothing happens until we come to the realization that we are so bankrupt in our own spirituality that we must depend on an outside/external source—our Heavenly Father. John Wesley said, "It is a recognition of personal, moral, and spiritual unworthiness. Spiritually, morally, personally, socially, in every single realm that you can think of in the human life, that you’re showing you are in need of God." Our good works won’t get us to heaven. We have nothing within ourselves that is worthy of presenting to God. We need God to bless us, to save us, to make us worthy of being in His presence.

How do we teach by example this valuable lesson to our children? We teach that by giving God credit and being profoundly thankful for all that is good in our lives. If you get a promotion at work, come home, hold hands with your family and thank God for blessing you. Admit to God that you’re not worthy, but pray to Him that He will give you wisdom so that you may become worthy of that promotion. As your children begin to achieve success in sports, or music, or academics, or whatever, continually remind them that it is God who gave them the ability to succeed and that we would be nothing without a wonderful and loving God. Teach your child to pray in thanksgiving. Read with your child Psalm 118 to show them what thankfulness sounds like. If you do something wrong, use that as a teaching moment. For example, if you yell at your child unjustly, confess your mistake to that child. Tell him that you were wrong, that you have sinned, and what God’s attitude is towards sin. With your child there, pray to God for His forgiveness. You will be demonstrating that we all are sinners, we all fall short of God’s perfect standard, and we must rely on God’s wonderful grace and mercy to be saved. Read with your children the story of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet (Luke 7:36-50). You can tie this in with Romans 3:9-20 to show that no one is righteous. Tell your children that the sinful woman is us. You will be providing a wonderful illustration of how we are all poor in spirit.

Blessed are those that mourn. Once we realize that we are morally and spiritually empty without the Holy Spirit in our hearts, and that we are sinners by nature, the natural emotional response is to mourn over our bankrupt souls. This doesn’t mean that we should be sad sacks, constantly depressed, morose, or brooding. We are not commanded to sink into a never-ending depression because of the fact that we have a sinful nature. When Jesus tells us to be mournful, He is simply referring to spiritual sorrow. We are to recognize our sinfulness for what it is and we are to refrain from rationalizing it. We are to humbly beg God to wash our sins away because we are powerless to defeat sin alone.

Think about your own experiences. Do you know when you are the most vulnerable to sin? It’s when you are satisfied and forgetful of your own limitations. It’s when you say, "I’ve got it covered God. I can handle things myself." When we forget we are poor in spirit we cease to mourn over our spiritual deficiencies and we become prime targets for Satan’s grasp.

Mournfulness is a hard trait to master because it certainly goes against everything the world teaches. Self-esteem, self-gratification, do what it takes to feel good—that’s what the world teaches. How in this world do we make this trait part of our own character, let alone teach it to our children? Regular prayer time is the key. Pray by yourself and pray as a family, and make confession/repentance a normal part of that prayer time. As you pray, each member of the family should confess their sins for that day, repent, ask for God’s forgiveness, and ask for the strength and wisdom to do better. A regular prayer routine will ingrain these first two Beatitudes into all of your personalities. You can incorporate Bible reading into this routine as well. Psalm 51 is an excellent chapter to read to experience mournfulness.

We'll continue with this theme tomorrow.

the true face of today’s left liberalism: elitism coupled with neo-paganism

2007-09-21T21:31:00.000-04:00

www.caucusforamerica.com/opinion.art.php?pID=376

This is another gem from Rabbi Aryeh Spero. The man speaks the truth, and he is a national treasure!

christian parenting

2007-09-21T12:59:00.000-04:00

www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=872

the national disgrace of 28 shameful leftists

2007-09-21T11:09:00.000-04:00

www.conservative.org/pressroom/2007/070920cornyn.htm

From yesterday, Sept. 20:

Today the U.S. Senate approved by a vote of 72 – 25 (3 not voting) an amendment by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 expressing the sense of the Senate that General David H. Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force-Iraq, deserves the full support of the Senate and strongly condemn personal attacks on the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all members of the United States Armed Forces.

You can read the full text of the amendment by going to the above link. What was most interesting to me was to see the actual voting record for this amendment. 23 Democrats (I'm including Joe Lieberman in that number) joined all of the Republicans in voting for the amendment. There were 25 hard-core leftists who voted against the amendment, with 3 cowardly Democrats (including Barack Hussein Obama and Joe Biden) refusing to take a stand one way or the other.

Included in the traitorous group of 25 are Hillary Clinton and Christopher Dodd, both of whom are seeking your vote to become Commander-In-Chief of the United States Military. In light of the fact that they both voted in favor of General Petraeus' appointment, and in light of the fact that they both voted in favor of the war, I believe that this latest vote proves that neither of them are fit to serve as President. The fact that Barack Hussein Obama and Joe Biden failed to vote on this amendment proves that they aren't fit to serve as President, either.

These 28 shameful politicians refused to take a stand supporting "the honor and integrity of General Petraeus and all the members of the United States Armed Forces." This one vote tells you everything you need to know about the despicable leftists who have infected the modern Democrat Party. They have no honor or integrity themselves, therefore they are unable to recognize those qualities in anyone else. They are a disgrace and they should be repudiated in the strongest way possible.

americans trust gen. petraeus---but democrats don't

2007-09-20T10:01:00.000-04:00

http://galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28723

This is further proof that Americans and Democrats oppose each other in the war on Islamofascism. Of course, the mainstream media won't give this latest poll any coverage, but that's only because they are on the same team as the Democrats--America's Opponents. It is beyond me why any clear thinking American would ever vote Democrat!

are liberals smarter than conservatives?

2007-09-20T09:00:00.000-04:00

First, read this: http://alternet.org/story/62436/

Now, read this: http://www.slate.com/id/2173965

I'm no scientist, and I don't even play one on TV. I can't speak to the scientific authenticity of the Nature Neuroscience study that is referenced in the above two links. I can, however, speak from personal experience about what I have observed from both liberals and conservatives. Let me pose a few questions:

1. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to push for an increased minimum wage, when the research proves that a higher minimum wage reduces employment, increases poverty, and is particularly hurtful to black workers? http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/50years.htm

2. If liberals are so smart, then why do they say that abortion isn't murder, even though science has clearly proven that the unborn baby is a human life?

3. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to push for higher taxes when it is a proven fact that higher taxes increase poverty and decrease government revenue?

4. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to seek ways of destroying America's current health care system, even though people from every country in the world move heaven and earth to come to America for health care they can't receive in their own country?

5. If liberals are so smart, then why do they, from generation to generation, keep changing their minds about whether we have global warmimg or global cooling?

6. If liberals are so smart, then why do they continue to cling to Darwin, even though Darwin's theories have been repeatedly proven wrong?

7. Jimmy Carter is the "smartest" liberal I know of, yet he single-handedly wrecked our economy and tore down the U.S. Military in the space of just four short years. How is it that such a "smart" guy screwed up so horribly?

8. Ronald Reagan was a "dummie" (according to "smart" liberals) yet he fixed the economy, rebuilt the U.S. Military, defeated Communism and began a period of prosperity unmatched in the history of the U.S. And liberals say he's a "dummie?"

I think they had better rethink that "scientific" study!

christian conservatism 101

2007-09-20T08:08:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57730

This is an outstanding column by Rebecca Hagelin. I have talked about the myth of American poverty before, and Ms. Hagelin does an excellent job of summarizing the true numbers in this column. The best part of this column, however, is the larger point she made at the end.

So, if we really want to reduce poverty, America's course should be clear: Support timeless values like fidelity, hard work and personal responsibility. We must also reduce illegal immigration and increase the skill level of future legal immigrants. Remember the real answers the next time some politician says it's simply a matter of raising your taxes.

That one paragraph tells us in a nutshell the difference between secular progressive cultural Marxists and Christian conservatives. The modern leftist tells us that the solution to all of society's problems is to raise taxes in order to fund more secular progressive, big government programs. The very predictable result is that the problems get worse, not better. The Christian conservative says that most of our problems can be solved by working hard, becoming self reliant and following God's commands. The very predictable result of the Christian conservative approach is that problems get solved and people's lives improve.

Of course, the latter approach doesn't give much opportunity for liberals to grab more power for themselves. And that's the moral of the story.

God Bless America!--a Christian Call To Action

2007-09-19T09:09:00.000-04:00

An Essay From EadsHome Ministries:
We have been blessed by God to live in such a wonderful country. When America is at its worst, she is still far above all the other nations of the world. Many times I lament at what has happened to us as a country. In the past 50 years we have seen huge increases in violent crimes, drug use, teenage pregnancy, and divorce. We have also seen God taken out of our schools, our courtrooms, and our workplaces. In 1973 it became legal to murder an unborn baby out of convenience for the mom, and to protect her "rights" without any discussion of the babies' rights. The sins of our nation rise as high as the heavens. Pornography, adultery, and homosexuality have become accepted ways to express our God-given sensual desires. Rape, murder, and rage have filled our streets, and our schools. We have left the standard. We have chosen our own path. Yet in spite of all this I am still very proud to call myself an American.

America has the greatest resources on planet earth for helping those in need. We are feeding starving families in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. We free those who were once captives. We promote democracy, freedom, and peace. We restrain the use of our might by seeking not to conquer peoples, but to liberate them, help them, and support them. We have befriended Israel as she stands against a wall of opposition. We have sacrificed our own sons and daughters so that the world can know peace, prosperity, and happiness. Our Founders were led by God Almighty to accomplish the establishment of a nation unlike none ever seen before, and likely never to be seen again. In a few short years, young America stunned the world with her productivity, education, and technology, and she continues to lead the world in industry, education, technology, and prosperity.

I love Jesus for not only dying for me, but for moving in the hearts of men and women, Christian men and women, to establish this nation that I live in today. Despite all our sins, there is still hope. Our God is slow to anger and is abounding in love and faithfulness. If we will but seek Him, we can be greater than we are today. How great a privilege it is to be an American! God Bless America!!

"Enough is Enough! What if America Were a Christian Nation Again?"
by Pastor James Hughes:
It may be hard to believe, but there was a period of time before our country declared its independence when it was against the law to have any kind of religious meeting, secret or separate from the Church of England, or even to read the Bible in public. Those were considered criminal offenses.

In spite of this extreme pressure from England, the early Puritans and pilgrims read the Word of God and came to realize that things were not right in the Church or in the land. And so in the course of time our early forefathers moved here seeking freedom to worship and freedom to study the Holy Scriptures for themselves.

On July 4, 1776, 56 men representing about 3 million people signed perhaps the most revolutionary document in history: The Declaration of Independence. These men placed conviction above convenience. Some of them lost their homes, their families, their fortunes, and their lives. Although Christians have lost much ground in this nation that was largely founded by Christians, we owe it to our forefathers who sacrificed so much to establish this nation on godly principles to gain back this lost territory. Yes, our country has experienced a great social, spiritual, and cultural decline. But even now historians are coming to realize that the Bible, even more than the Constitution, founded this great nation of America.

May God help us to reclaim this great nation for His Glory—before it is everlastingly too late!

I want to begin by asking this question this morning: “Is it possible for believers [Christians] to reclaim our nation?”

(Go to http://www.eadshome.com/mm/What%20if%20America%20were%20a%20Christian%20Nation%20Again.doc to continue)

a new line of study

2007-09-19T08:27:00.000-04:00

http://easterpeople.blogspot.com/

On Easter People, we are following a new line of study. When I started that blog we began with scripture concerning the life of Jesus, then we moved on to the ministry of Paul. Now we are following the Revised Common Lectionary to cover a range of topics from all parts of the Bible.

Please visit and see for yourself!

last night's "values voters debate"

2007-09-18T11:56:00.000-04:00

worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57701

worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57685

Last night, the very first Values Voter Debate was held in Fort Lauderdale and moderated by WorldNetDaily.com Editor Joseph Farah. It wasn't covered by any major news organization and was only available online and on the SkyAngel Network.

Janet Folger, President of Faith2Action, has predicted that last night's debate will forever change presidential politics and that it signals that values voters have "moved into the driver's seat" on the political bus. See her comments in the second link above. I'm skeptical but still hopeful.

It's interesting that "Rudy McRomney" and Fred Thompson all skipped the debate. Make of that what you will. We shall see if this has any impact on the so-called second-tier candidates.

transforming america, step 6--guard your home against secularism

2007-09-17T10:43:00.000-04:00

I'm back from my trip to St. Louis--we saw the Cubs and Cardinals split two games on Saturday at beautiful Busch Stadium--so now it's back to work.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been posting my thoughts on what has to happen to transform America and to spark a spiritual rebirth of this great country. In my opinion, America is circling the drain of secular humanism, or secular progressivism, or modern liberalism, or cultural Marxism, or whatever you want to call the disease that is destroying our culture. I have identified 13 steps that those of us who call ourselves Christian conservatives need to take in order to stop the decline, and we have discussed 5 of those steps so far. Step 6 is to use God's armor to guard our homes against secularism. Ephesians 6:10-18 provides the blueprint:

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.

Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, God's Word, and prayer are the armor and weapons God has provided us with for the struggle we face. And make no mistake, we face an immense struggle to keep the forces of dark secularism--the devil's forces--out of our homes. Paul calls this "a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels." Far too many modern Christians regard this struggle as an "afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours," but the reality is quite different and more than a little frightening. The question now becomes--How do we apply what Paul tells us here to our own homes?

We need to eliminate anything that contradicts truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and God's Word from our homes, and the best place to start is with most TV programming. Notice that I didn't say to throw out the TV. We Christians, many of us anyway, have got to get past the silly notion that the TV set is evil. It's not. The TV is neither good nor evil. It is simply an appliance that can be used for great good or tremendous evil. In my home we love our Walker Texas Ranger re-runs. We love Andy Griffith and Bonanza and Gunsmoke as well. Colts games, Cubs games, Packers games, Pacers games and Notre Dame games all are welcome on the TV. On the other hand, I have almost completely banned the Disney Channel from our household. 99.9% of everything on Disnet is pure garbage, and that's a shame. It's not the Disney of our youth. Unfortunately, the Disney Corporation has made the corporate decision to become the largest purveyor of cultural Marxism that we have in America. Spend just one evening watching the trash they are peddling and you will see a very obvious effort to promote homosexuality and hedonism, and an equally obvious effort to trash traditional Christian values, the traditional family, and gender distinctions. If you let your kids watch a lot of Disney you are poisoning them, and that's a fact! The bottom line is that you have to strictly limit what your kids watch on TV.

The same reasoning applies to all forms of electronic games and computers. All of that stuff can be fun, and even educational, but only in small doses, and only if you strictly monitor content. And I hope I don't have to point out the obvious dangers of the Internet, and the need for strict parental oversight in that area.

If your kids are spending more than 1 hour a day hooked into electronic gadgetry, including the TV, that's too much. Back on June 14 I posted links to a study that showed the effects that heavy TV watching had on the political and cultural opinions of people, and it isn't pretty. Go to the archives on the right sidebar and you will find the post From 6-14-07. The numbers don't lie--if you want your child to grow up to be a secular progressive/modern leftist/liberaliar/cultural Marxist, then the best way to start is to let them watch lots and lots of unregulated TV. Then they'll be sure to avoid any influence from truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and God's Word!

I'll close here with what I said back in June at the end of the above post:

So, what's the lesson here? What's "The Big Idea?"

First, strictly limit the amount of time the TV is on in your home.

Second, strictly regulate the content of the shows that are being watched. And don't automatically assume that the "kiddie channels" are OK for the kids. The absolute worst piece of liberaliar propaganda I have ever seen, other than Al Gore's sci-fi flick, was the movie Happy Feet. I never knew that an animated movie about penguins could be so flagrantly Marxist, and so openly hostile to Christianity! (personal note from my house--We naively watched that movie last week as a family. I stopped it halfway through. We had to watch 'Rocky' and 'Rocky II', plus a good 'Walker, Texas Ranger' episode, just to clear the liberal stench from the room!)

Third, spend time reading with your kids. Read the classics. Read the Bible. Read about the Founding Fathers, and great American heroes like Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. Read the Bible. Read about Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Read about the Pilgrims. Read the Bible. You get the idea.

Fourth, pray with your kids. Pray for wisdom, strength and courage so that you can model Christian conservatism for you kids, and so that they could grow to be strong Christian conservative American citizens.

In my opinion, we are one generation away from completely losing the America of our Fathers and from seeing America circle the same liberaliar, Marxist drain that has claimed Europe. One generation! By the same token, we are only one generation away from beating back the forces of cultural Marxism or secular progressivism or liberaliarism or whatever you want to call it, and reclaiming America for the cause of Christian conservatism. The battle starts in the home with the simple act of turning off the TV.

And with never, ever watching any cartoons about penguins!

this is why i (correctly) call liberaliars "fascists"

2007-09-14T10:22:00.000-04:00

shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=MURDOCK-04-05-07

shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=MURDOCK-09-13-07

something to ponder while I'm gone

2007-09-13T10:01:00.000-04:00

http://acuf.org/issues/issue91/070909med.asp

Michael Moore--one more example of a liberaliar whose only objective is to destroy the world's finest health care system in order to gain power for himself and other liberaliars.

have a great weekend!

2007-09-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

I'm leaving town for the weekend--my annual "guy's trip" to see a ballgame in another town. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

There won't be any more posts until Monday. Have a great weekend!

cultural marxism and public education

2007-09-13T08:58:00.000-04:00

http://acuf.org/issues/issue91/070909cul.asp Free Public Education? by Renny Hartmann

This is a great article that is very illustrative of how broken America's public education system is. From the article:

Cities like Washington, DC, cost about $16,000 per student and according to the NAEP, graduate its high school student with mostly a fourth grade reading level. The average educational cost today nationally is nearly $9,000 per student.

Obviously the D.C. school system is the worst-case example, but look at the figures for the nation. $9000 per student is buying, approximately, a 50% graduation rate, and over half of the students who do manage to graduate can't read or write at the appropriate grade level. That means that our very expensive public school bureaucracy is only able to adequately educate one out of every five students they are entrusted with. That is unacceptable!

The solution lies within the Christian conservative philosophy. Treat education as a property right. You paid for it--You bought it--You own it! If you are dissatisfied with the quality of education your child is receiving, you take that $9000 and spend it elsewhere. If you wish to homeschool your children, that $9000 will pay for it.

For the first 100 years of America's history, the government stayed out of the education business. From the article:

Most mandatory public school laws are only about a century old. New Jersey’s law dates from 1874 and requires all young persons from six to sixteen to attend. California (a much younger state) passed its mandatory attendance in 1913. Therefore, the imperative for states to provide free public education is not ancient and immutable. The US Constitution itself says nothing about education. (Federal legislation regarding schools and colleges comes either through the executive for defense or interstate commerce clause.)

Prior to mandatory attendance, children still attended schools, but they were provided privately in homes or through religious organizations or community involvement. Costs were borne directly by those involved.

A return to that type of system would eliminate the influence currently wielded by the devotees of cultural Marxism over public education, and therein lies the problem. The author states that a return to the original philosophy of public education would largely eliminate "political mandates to teach no smoking, pro-condom use, no trans fats, pro-touchy feely socialism, no drugs, pro-pacifism, and every other leftist idea," and "all the nitwit legal spider’s web of what teachers can and cannot say, can and cannot teach (consider the importance of religion in history and literature), all the “politically incorrect” thoughts and actions that are now censored (true censorship because it comes from a government institution)."

All of the above, added together, equals a loss of power and diminished influence over the American culture by the radical left. Believe me when I say that they won't "go gentle into that good night!" That powerful minority of Americans who make up the ranks of cultural Marxism will fight tooth and nail to retain the power they have as a result of government-controlled schools. We the people of the all-too-often silent majority will have to stand up to them and take back that which is rightfully ours--the right to educate our kids free from government interference.

See also http://acuf.org/issues/issue91/070909gov.asp

liberaliars and the myth about american poverty

2007-09-11T10:49:00.000-04:00

Liberal Lie From Liberaliar Senator John Edwards (regarding the data released from the U.S. Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division"):

"The reality that we have two Americas was confirmed again today by new data from the Census Bureau. These statistics show what most Americans know: tens of millions of our fellow citizens are completely left out of the economic progress enjoyed by the individuals and corporations on the very top.
"With an increase in Americans without health insurance by two million to 47 million, nearly 37 million Americans still living in poverty and continued high levels of inequality, the need for fundamental change in our government is obvious.
"We simply cannot stand by while tens of millions of our fellow citizens go without the necessities of life. We need truly universal health care and a national effort to eliminate poverty. But neither of these basic steps to building One America is possible without bringing fundamental change to Washington."
According to Census Bureau data released today, the number of people without health insurance rose from 45 million in 2005 to 47 million to 2006. The number of Americans in poverty remained statistically unchanged at about 37 million. Median household income increased by 1.1 percent after inflation to $48,200.

Here are some hard numbers to add a little perspective to the rantings of the Liberaliar from Carolina:

1. Forty-three percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
2. Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
3. Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
4. The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
5. Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.
Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
6. Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
7. Eighty-nine percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

Conservative Truth: Poverty, as understood by the rest of the world, has largely been eradicated here in the U.S. That would make America the first country in history to defeat poverty. Liberaliars like Edwards don't want you to believe that because the myth of poverty enables liberaliars to expand their own personal power. The free market works, despite the maniacal rantings of dimwitted Democrats!

this is what i've been talking about!

2007-09-10T12:59:00.001-04:00

worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57540

transforming america, step 5--love, honor and serve your spouse

2007-09-09T20:24:00.000-04:00

FACT: Children of divorce are more aggressive toward their parents and teachers. They experience more depression, more learning difficulties and problems getting along with their peers. They are three times more likely to be referred for psychological help. They become sexually active earlier, they are more likely to produce children out of wedlock and they are three times as likely to divorce themselves or to never marry.

A child’s happiness is not dependent on their parent’s happiness. A child’s happiness stems from routine, having a home, two parents, friends to play with, school activities to be involved in and being able to count on those things being constant day in and day out.
(From "The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study" by Judith Wallerstein)

FACT: Adults who are aggressive towards authority, who have psychological problems, who are sexually active, and who have produced children out of wedlock are more likely to depend on government entitlement programs and less likely to regularly attend church than are happy, well-adjusted, married adults.

The longer I live, the more convinced I become that the best way to produce happy, well-adjusted, self reliant, God-loving American citizens is to instill the principles and values of Christian conservatism in them in a loving home within the traditional family. Although I do believe that homosexuality is a sin, and I oppose gay marriage, I believe with all my heart that divorce is the #1 enemy of the traditional family in America today. Here are some numbers to chew on:

1. In 1940, there were 264,000 divorces in the U.S.
2. In 1992, there were 1,215,000 divorces in the U.S.
3. Since 2000 the divorce numbers have declined slightly, but remain over 1.1 million/year.
4. Over 50% of first marriages end in divorce.
5. 60% of second marriages end in divorce.
6. 67% of all recent marriages will end in divorce.
7. 84% of African-American marriages end in divorce.
8. 40-45% of American children will spend part of their childhood living in a single parent home.
9. Less than 25% of all homes are composed of the biological unit of mother, father, and their offspring.
10. 75% of children of divorce end up going through a divorce themselves.
11. When counselors and therapists who work with with teens asked "What do you see as the major stresses/problems facing today's teenagers?"-- 72% of the respondents listed "Problems arising from parental divorce/remarriage."

Is it any wonder that America is in turmoil and that we are producing citizens who are susceptible to the seductive influence of cultural Marxism? Is it any wonder that an ever-decreasing number of American citizens have any respect at all for the traditional values and principles of this great republic?

It was Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the great Democrat Senator from New York, who famously said, "There is one unmistakable lesson in American history: A community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future — that community asks for and gets chaos... And it is richly deserved."

Do you see my point? If we are to transform America, we must first transform the family, and we do that by transforming marriage.

For me, it's real simple. If you are married, the greatest thing that you can do for your family is to love, honor and serve your spouse as much as you love, honor and serve yourself. If every single married adult in America followed that simple advice, divorce (and all of the nasty consequences of divorce) would become virtually extinct. What's more, the resulting marital harmony would influence public policy.

Did you know that most married people vote Republican, while most unmarried people (by a 2-1 margin) vote Democrat? Did you know that high school dropouts overwhelmingly vote Democrat (again, a 2-1 margin) and that the children of divorced parents are more likely to drop out of high school? Did you know that, again by a 2-1 margin, people earning less than $30,000 per year are more likely to vote Democrat, and that the children of divorced parents are more likely to earn less than children of married parents?

Those numbers are significant. Tragically, the modern Democrat Party has become the home of the radical left. The lunatic fringe of the left--the cultural Marxists--have hijacked the Democrat Party platform and they are working relentlessly to force feed their agenda to the overwhelming majority who oppose that agenda. A vote for a Democrat, no matter how well intentioned that Democrat happens to be as an individual, is ultimately a vote for a national religion of secular humanism and an American culture dominated by Marxism.

Do you want to have a positive influence on the American culture? Do you want to participate in the culture war and help defeat the forces of the radical left? Do you want to help transform America and spark a national rebirth? Love, honor and serve your spouse as much as you love, honor and serve yourself. Raise your children in a loving, happy, traditional home. Give them a routine, a safe home, two parents living together in that home, constancy in the love and support they receive in that home, and the assurance that their family won't be broken apart. Pray that God would bring that constancy to families all across America. The resulting peace, order and calm that would spread across this nation would bring about a rise in Christian conservatism that we haven't seen in decades.

For Further Information--What the Bible Says About Marriage:

1. Marriage is God's idea--Gen. 2:18-24
2. Commitment is essential to a successful marriage--Gen. 24:58-60
3. Romance is important--Song of Songs 4
4. Marriage holds times of great joy--Jer. 33:10, 11
5. Marriage creates the best environment for raising children--Malachi 2:14, 15
6. Unfaithfulness breaks the bond of trust, the foundation of all relationships--Matthew 5:32
7. Marriage is permanent--Matthew 19:6
8. Ideally, only death should dissolve a marriage--Romans 7:2, 3
9. Marriage is based on the principled practice of love, not on feelings--Eph. 5:21-33
10. Marriage is a living symbol of Christ and the church--Eph. 5:23, 32
11. Marriage is good and honorable--Hebrews 13:4

let's pause for a moment as we discuss transforming america

2007-09-08T23:12:00.000-04:00

As we have finished discussing the 4th (out of 13) step in the plan to transform America, I think that it is appropriate to pause for a moment to discuss the direction we are going in, and where we hope to end up.

I agree with Arthur S. DeMoss when he says that the transformation of America has to begin on a personal level (see christianconservatives.blogspot.com/2007/09/transforming-america-step-1-salvation.html). That's what steps 1-3 were all about.

John Adams said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

I couldn't agree more. The unalienable rights that God has blessed us with have never been less secure at any point of our history than they are right now. When John Adams made this statement in 1798, America was a freer nation because Americans were more religious and moral than we are today. Our bondage to sin and immorality has caused us to become enslaved by an increasingly amoral and power-hungry federal government. Transforming America will be an impossible task unless we become a more religious and moral people. That's how we defeat the forces of cultural Marxism, and that's what steps 1-3 are all about.

Step 4 takes personal transformation to the next logical step. Individuals who have been transformed by God's saving grace need to join together with other individuals who have undergone the same transformation in order to transform America. If it is true that, individually, letting our light shine to others will cause them to praise our Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:16), then it just makes sense that groups of Christians doing the same thing will cause the same thing with larger groups of other people. Right?

According to the Barna Group there are 324,000 Protestant churches in America, not including Roman Catholic parishes and Orthodox Jewish synagogues, with an average Sunday worship service attendance of 100 adults. That's 32,400,000 adults regularly attending church. If those 32.4 million adults all genuinely accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and if they all became studious readers of God's Word, and if they all unceasingly prayed for God to bring America back to Him, America would be transformed overnight!

As an individual, however, there is more that you (and I) can do. I believe with all my heart that the secret to lasting change here in America lies within the structure of the traditional family. I'll explain.

Those who are not yet born will serve him. Those who are born later will be told about the Lord. And they will tell people who have not yet been born that he has done what is right. (Psalm 22:30-31)

My Life Application Study Bible, in discussing those verses, says the following:

"Unborn generations are depending upon our faithfulness today. As we teach our children about the Lord, so they will teach their children and their children's children. If we fail to tell our children about the Lord, we may well be breaking the chain of God's influence in generations to come. We must view our children and all the young people we meet as God's future leaders. If we are faithful in opportunities today, we may well be affecting the future." Also;

"If we want our children to serve the Lord, they must hear about Him from us. It is not enough to rely on the church or those with more knowledge to provide all of their Christian education. We must reinforce the lessons of the Bible in our homes."

I would add that is also important to teach our children about the greatness of America, and how that greatness is rooted in our uniquely Christian heritage. We must teach our children about the Christian faith and the courage and wisdom of our Founding Fathers. We must teach our children about their rights and responsibilities as American citizens. We must regard our children as future American leaders, and we must instill in them a love for the foundational principles of this great nation.

Steps 5-12 all deal with our responsibility to inculcate the guiding principles of Christian conservatism in our children, and how carrying out that responsibility within our homes will absolutely change America for the better.

That's where we will pick up tomorrow.

in search of republicans who have the courage to go on the offensive

2007-09-08T22:48:00.000-04:00

www.caucusforamerica.com/opinion.art.php?pID=375

Rabbi Aryeh Spero makes an excellent point (as usual) in his latest column. For far too long, most Republican politicians, including Pres. Bush, have been far too reluctant to criticize Democrats. Over and over again, we see the leaders of the Democrat Party lie, cheat and steal, yet Republicans are afraid to publicly chastise them. We see the modern Democrat Party actively and openly root against our American troops in the war on terror, and provide aid and comfort to our enemies, yet the Republicans are afraid to call them what they are---Anti-American Traitors. We see each and every Democrat candidate for President espouse policies that will weaken our national security, damage our economy, increase the size and scope of federal power, destroy our nation's health care system, drive more Americans into poverty, and take away more of our basic human rights, yet the GOP says nothing.

Rabbi Spero is right. The modern Democrat Party has been hijacked by the radical left, and the radical left hates America. The radical left wants to destroy the free market and replace it with socialism. The radical left wants to separate America from her Christian heritage, and replace that heritage with progressive secular humanism. The radical left wants to destroy the traditional values and principles that America was founded on, and that we the people followed for over 200 years, and replace them with the values and principles of cultural Marxism. The vast majority of Americans oppose the radical left, yet the GOP is afraid to forcefully, aggressively speak out against them. I don't understand why.

Rabbi Spero apparently believes that Giuliani is a man who will go on the offensive and attack the nonsensical leftist agenda. I'm not convinced, and I suppose that's the only part of the column that I disagree with. I do agree, however, that America is very impatiently waiting for someone to step forward and to show the courage to speak the truth. I hope that Fred Thompson is that man, but I'm not convinced. Mike Huckabee might become that man, but he hasn't been aggressive enough as of yet. As for the rest of the GOP candidates, they have shown me nothing.

I will guarantee you one thing. If the GOP nominates someone from The Gang of Mealy-Mouths, as I call them, we will absolutely end up with Pres. Hilary Clinton, and she will probably have a Democrat majority to work with in both houses of Congress. Say hello to the United Socialist States of America!

transforming america, step 4---find a church

2007-09-07T22:02:00.000-04:00

We continue with this series on the 13 steps I believe need to be taken to transform America and return us to the blueprint of our Fathers. Steps 1-3 were to accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, to pray unceasingly, and to regularly read the Bible. Step 4 is to find a church to attend.

Before I go into details on this particular topic, I need to get a few things out of the way. You may be surprised to read some of this from a person who calls himself a Christian, but here it goes anyway. I hear some people say that they don't want to go to church because they know too many hypocrites within the four walls of the church. They know too many people who call themselves Christians on Sundays who behave shamefully Monday through Saturday. They know too many preachers/pastors/clergy/members of the cloth whose personal conduct is shameful. They say, "Why would I want to associate with people like that?" My answer to that is----I understand!

My dad is the strongest, most faithful Christian that I know on this earth. He is a good and decent man who lives his life as the perfect illustration of Christ-likeness. He served as an elder in his church for years and is looked up to by scores of people because he faithfully follows the Biblical commands to love God with his entire being and to love others as much as himself. He is the greatest man that I know.

My dad worked in the banking/savings and loan business for his entire adult life before retirement. He told me one time that he always cringed whenever a minister would walk into his office seeking a loan, because he and his bank had been cheated more times by ministers than by people of any other profession on earth. My father, as strong a Christian as there is, told me that, in his experience, ministers/preachers/clergy were some of the most dishonest people he knew because, for some odd reason, they didn't believe that the rules of society applied to them.

This same opinion was shared with me by a man who is a good friend to both my dad and to me, who is also a strong Christian, and who works in the insurance industry. This man told me once that he actually gets a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever a preacher walks into his office wanting to purchase some sort of insurance because he knows that he is about to "get cheated in the name of God."

How's that as an advertisement for Christianity?

Having said those things, it's time to answer a few questions:

1. Why is it important to find a church? Because we live in a broken and dangerous world, and we need backup. "A man alone is easy prey," said The Preacher (played by Clint Eastwood) in the movie Pale Rider. He's right. If we ride through this world alone, with no kind of Christian support, it becomes very easy for Satan to "pick us off." God gave us The Church, in part, so that we can "hold hands as we cross the street."

That's not the whole reason, of course. We are commanded to love others as much as we love ourselves, and the most effective way to do this is as a group. A group of Christians, each of whom individually possess differing amounts of time, talents and treasures to offer up for God's work, can more effectively carry out this mission than can one Christian acting alone.

Also, we must not forget that one of the primary purposes of gathering together in church is to worship and praise God. By meeting together as a group we encourage and inspire each other to worship God more completely.

2. Why should I attend church if there are other people there who aren't "good Christians?" After everything I said up above about the clergy, I say that it is still important to find a church. More importantly, the Bible says it is important. Read Luke 4:16--Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as he usually did. And he stood up to read.

Jesus was the perfect, sinless Son of God. Do you think that our Savior was ever disappointed in the actions of His fellow church-goers? Still, He went to church every Sabbath day. Kind of makes our excuses look pretty weak, doesn't it? If Jesus attended church every week, why wouldn't we follow His example?

The simple truth is that church attendance is all about focusing on God. It's also about being a living witness to others, both inside and outside the church. May God help all of us to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ!

3. Is it OK to attend any church? No! Absolutely not! When you are looking for a church, look for a church that teaches the Bible to all of its members through vibrant adult and youth Bible education programs.

The Bible is God's personal Word to us. God's Word is true and wonderful. Obedience to God's Word is the only way to achieve real happiness that means anything (see Psalm 119). All of this is true, yet there are literally thousands of churches all across America that don't teach the Bible.

I read an article once by a man named Tom Ehrich, a False Teacher of the Episcopal Church, in which he said, "Jesus took a subtle and nuanced view of the Law, embracing it in some ways and abandoning it in others, based on emerging needs." Uh, no He didn't! Jesus didn't make one single, solitary change to God's Law. Over the centuries, beginning in Moses' time, man had distorted God's Law. God gave us His Law in order to lead us to a life of practical holiness and loving service to our fellow man. By the time Jesus came to earth, man had twisted God's Law until it was unrecognizable. Jesus came to reaffirm the original perfection of God's Law. Why would we want to attend a church that denies this basic truth by teaching man-made distortions of God's Law? Answer--we wouldn't. A church that doesn't hold to the beautiful truth of God's Word is worse than worthless. It is dangerous and it is a tool of Satan used to separate us from God. Don't be deceived.

I mentioned adult and youth Bible education programs. It is vitally important that Christian family worship and pray together. A church that offers authentic, meaningful Bible education to all of its members, regardless of age, is the strong foundation needed in today's world by all families.

I have talked a lot on my blog about cultural Marxism. The main strategy of the far left to destroy the America of our Fathers is to separate we the people from our traditional values and principles. Meaningful Bible study based in the church for kids and adults will equip us to resist and overcome this leftist assault.

4. Is it necessary to become a "member" of a particular church? No. Professional preachers won't tell you that, but it's true. There isn't anything in the Bible that says we must officially "join" a specific church. There's nothing wrong with joining a church, it just isn't required.

Find a church that teaches the Bible, and that has good Bible education programs for everyone in your family. Attend regularly, and participate actively in the missions of the church. Love God with your entire being by worshipping and praising Him at all times, including every Sunday at church with other believers. Love others as much as you love yourself by serving your fellow believers inside the church and by being God's light to the world outside the church. In so doing, we fulfill Jesus' command to "....let your light shine in front of others. Then they will see the good things you do. And they will praise your Father who is in heaven."

This is how we transform America.

www.victorious.org/whygo.htm Why Christians Should Attend Church

learnthebible.org/q_a_the_importance_of_attending_church.htm The Importance of Attending Church

www.iamchap.org/church.pdf Finding a Church--- This is an outstanding "how-to" guide on finding a church to attend. I highly recommend reading it.

1 corinthians 15

2007-09-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

1 Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the good news I preached to you. You received it and have put your faith in it. 2 Because you believed the good news, you are saved. But you must hold firmly to the message I preached to you. If you don't, you have believed it for nothing.
3 What I received I passed on to you. And it is the most important of all. Here is what it is. Christ died for our sins, just as Scripture said he would. 4 He was buried. He was raised from the dead on the third day, just as Scripture said he would be. 5 He appeared to Peter. Then he appeared to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than 500 believers at the same time. Most of them are still living. But some have died. 7 He appeared to James. Then he appeared to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, he also appeared to me. I was like someone who wasn't born at the right time or in a normal way.

9 I am the least important of the apostles. I'm not even fit to be called an apostle. I tried to destroy God's church. 10 But because of God's grace I am what I am. And his grace was not wasted on me. No, I have worked harder than all the other apostles. But I didn't do the work. God's grace was with me.

11 So whether it was I or the other apostles who preached to you, that is what we preach. And that is what you believed.

12 We have preached that Christ has been raised from the dead. So how can some of you say that no one rises from the dead? 13 If no one rises from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, what we preach doesn't mean anything. Your faith doesn't mean anything either. 15 More than that, we would be lying about God. We have given witness that God raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if the dead are not raised.
16 If the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith doesn't mean anything. Your sins have not been forgiven. 18 Those who have died believing in Christ are also lost.

19 Do we have hope in Christ only for this life? Then people should pity us more than anyone else.

20 But Christ really has been raised from the dead. He is the first of all those who will rise.

21 Death came because of what a man did. Rising from the dead also comes because of what a man did. 22 Because of Adam, all people die. So because of Christ, all will be made alive.

23 But here is the order of events. Christ is the first of those who rise from the dead. When he comes back, those who belong to him will be raised. 24 Then the end will come. Christ will destroy all rule, authority and power. He will hand over the kingdom to God the Father.

25 Christ must rule until he has put all his enemies under his control. 26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. 27 Scripture says that God "has put everything under his control."—(Psalm 8:6) It says that "everything" has been put under him. But it is clear that this does not include God himself, who puts everything under Christ. 28 When he has done that, the Son also will be under God's rule. God puts everything under the Son. In that way, God will be all in all.

29 Suppose no one rises from the dead. Then what will people do who are baptized for the dead? Suppose the dead are not raised at all. Then why are people baptized for them? 30 And why would we put ourselves in danger every hour?

31 I die every day. I really mean that, brothers and sisters. Here is something you can be sure of. I take pride in what Christ Jesus our Lord has done for you through my work. 32 Did I fight wild animals in Ephesus for only human reasons? Then what have I gotten for it? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, because tomorrow we will die." —(Isaiah 22:13)

33 Don't let anyone fool you. "Bad companions make a good person bad." 34 You should come back to your senses and stop sinning. Some of you don't know anything about God. I say this to make you ashamed.

35 But someone might ask, "How are the dead raised? What kind of body will they have?" 36 How foolish! What you plant doesn't come to life unless it dies. 37 When you plant something, it isn't a completely grown plant that you put in the ground. You only plant a seed. Maybe it's wheat or something else. 38 But God gives the seed a body just as he has planned. And to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

39 All earthly creatures are not the same. People have one kind of body. Animals have another. Birds have another kind. Fish have still another.

40 There are also heavenly bodies as well as earthly bodies. Heavenly bodies have one kind of glory. Earthly bodies have another. 41 The sun has one kind of glory. The moon has another kind. The stars have still another. And one star's glory is different from that of another star.

42 It will be like that with bodies that are raised from the dead. The body that is planted does not last forever. The body that is raised from the dead lasts forever. 43 It is planted without honor. But it is raised in glory. It is planted in weakness. But it is raised in power. 44 It is planted as an earthly body. But it is raised as a spiritual body. Just as there is an earthly body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 It is written, "The first man Adam became a living person."—(Genesis 2:7) The last Adam became a spirit that gives life. 46 What is spiritual did not come first. What is earthly came first. What is spiritual came after that. 47 The first man came from the dust of the earth. The second man came from heaven.

48 Those who belong to the earth are like the one who came from the earth. And those who are spiritual are like the one who came from heaven. 49 We are like the earthly man. And we will be like the man from heaven.

50 Brothers and sisters, here is what I'm telling you. Bodies made of flesh and blood can't share in the kingdom of God. And what dies can't share in what never dies.

51 Listen! I am telling you a mystery. We will not all die. But we will all be changed. 52 That will happen in a flash, as quickly as you can wink an eye. It will happen when the last trumpet sounds. The trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised to live forever. And we will be changed.

53 Our natural bodies don't last forever. They must be dressed with what does last forever. What dies must be dressed with what does not die. 54 In fact, that is going to happen. What does not last will be dressed with what lasts forever. What dies will be dressed with what does not die. Then what is written will come true. It says, "Death has been swallowed up. It has lost the battle."—(Isaiah 25:8) 55 "Death, where is the battle you thought you were winning? Death, where is your sting?" —(Hosea 13:14) 56 The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. 57 But let us give thanks to God! He wins the battle for us because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done.

58 My dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Don't let anything move you. Always give yourselves completely to the work of the Lord. Because you belong to the Lord, you know that your work is not worthless.

deuteronomy 2

2007-09-06T10:26:00.000-04:00

1 We turned back and started out toward the desert. We went along the road that leads to the Red Sea. That's how the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

2 Then the Lord spoke to me. He said, 3 "You have made your way around this hill country long enough. So now turn north.

4 "Here are the orders I want you to give the people. Tell them, 'You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you. But be very careful. 5 Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land. You will not have even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6 Pay them with silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.' "

7 The Lord your God has blessed you in everything your hands have done. He watched over you when you traveled through that huge desert. For these 40 years the Lord your God has been with you. So you have had everything you need.

8 We went on past our relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah Valley road. It comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber. We traveled along the desert road of Moab.

9 Then the Lord said to me, "Do not attack the Moabites. Do not even make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Moab to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own."
10 The Emites used to live there. They were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were thought of as Rephaites. But the Moabites called them Emites.

12 The Horites used to live in Seir. But the people of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites to make room for themselves. Then they settled in their territory. They did just as Israel has done in the land the Lord gave them as their own.

13 The Lord said, "Now get up. Go across the Zered Valley." So we went across it.

14 Between the time we left Kadesh Barnea and the time we went across the Zered Valley, 38 years passed. By then, all of the fighting men who had been in our camp from the beginning had died. The Lord had warned them with an oath that it would happen. 15 He used his power against them until he had gotten rid of all of them. Not one was left in the camp.

16 Finally, the last of the fighting men among the people died.

17 Then the Lord spoke to me. He said, 18 "Today you must pass near the border of Moab. Moab is also called Ar.

19 "When you come to the Ammonites, do not attack them. Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land as your own. I have given it to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own."

20 That land was also thought of as a land of the Rephaites. They used to live there. But the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 The Rephaites were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed the Rephaites to make room for the Ammonites. So the Ammonites drove them out. Then they settled in the territory of the Rephaites.

22 The Lord had done the same thing for the people of Esau. They lived in Seir. He destroyed the Horites to make room for them. They drove the Horites out. So the people of Esau have lived in Seir in the territory of the Horites to this very day.

23 The Avvites lived in villages as far away as Gaza. But people came from Crete. They destroyed the Avvites. Then they settled in the territory of the Avvites.

24 The Lord said, "Start out and go across the valley of the Arnon River. I have handed Sihon over to you. He is the Amorite king of Heshbon. I have also given you his country. Begin to take it as your own. Go to war against him.

25 "This very day I will bring fear and terror on all of the nations because of you. They will hear about you. They will tremble with fear. Pain and suffering will take hold of them because of you."
26 I sent messengers from the Desert of Kedemoth. I told them to go to Sihon, the king of Heshbon. They offered him peace. They said, 27 "Let us pass through your country. We'll stay on the main road. We won't turn off it to one side or the other. 28 We'll pay you the right amount of silver for food to eat and water to drink. Just let us walk through your country. 29 The people of Esau, who live in Seir, allowed us to do that. The people of Moab, who live in Ar, also allowed us to do it. So let us walk through until we go across the Jordan River. Then we'll be able to go into the land the Lord our God is giving us."

30 But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, refused to let us walk through. The Lord your God had made his heart and spirit stubborn. The Lord wanted to hand him over to you. And that's exactly what he has done.

31 The Lord said to me, "I have begun to hand Sihon and his country over to you. So begin the battle to take his land as your own."

32 Sihon and his whole army came out to fight against us at Jahaz. 33 But the Lord our God handed him over to us. We struck him down together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all of his towns. We completely destroyed them. We killed all of the men, women and children. We didn't leave any of them alive. 35 But we took for ourselves the livestock and everything else from the towns we had captured.

36 Not a single town was too strong for us. That includes all of the towns from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon River valley all the way to Gilead. It also includes the town in the valley. The Lord our God gave us all of them.

37 And you obeyed the Lord's command. You didn't go near any part of the land of the Ammonites. That includes the land along the Jabbok River. It also includes the land around the towns that are in the hills.

transforming america, step 3--- read the Bible

2007-09-04T08:55:00.000-04:00

Charles Carroll - signer of the Declaration of Independence: "Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments." [Source: To James McHenry on November 4, 1800.]

Thomas Jefferson: "The doctrines of Jesus are simple, and tend to all the happiness of man.”

Thomas Jefferson: “God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

George Washington: “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”

The next step we must take in the rebirth of our nation is for us to become faithful, committed readers of the Holy Bible. The Bible is God’s written revelation of Himself and His will to all mankind, and it is vitally important that we spend time each day reading God’s Word. The central theme running through all 66 books of the Bible (covering approximately 1600 years of history) is salvation. The Old Testament is the historical account of the covenant God made with mankind about their salvation before Christ. The New Testament is the story of the new covenant of salvation through God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

I once heard some sobering statistics in a sermon by Billy Graham. He stated that of all of the people who say they believe the Bible is true, only 12% actually read it every day. 34% read it once a week and 42% read it occasionally. We as Christians make a tragic mistake by not spending more time reading God’s written message to us. Even though those 66 books comprising the Bible were written so many centuries ago, the message contained therein is thoroughly modern and relevant. The Bible tells us how and why we were created, what our purpose is, and what awaits us at the end of our mortal life. It is a “users manual” straight from God showing us the safest and most rewarding way to live our lives, and it is full of stories of real life men and women who we can hold up as role models.

Let’s get specific about why it’s so important to read the Bible on a daily basis. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 says;

14 But I want you to continue to follow what you have learned. Don't give up what you are sure of. You know the people you learned it from. 15 You have known the Holy Scriptures ever since you were a little child. They are able to teach you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus.
16 God has breathed life into all of Scripture. It is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. 17 By using Scripture, a man of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing.

First, it shows the importance of lifelong (“since you were a little child") study of the Scriptures. Those of us who are parents should pay special attention to this statement, because the passage goes on to say that knowing the holy Scriptures will “teach you how to be saved by believing in Christ Jesus.” That doesn’t mean that if we didn’t read the Bible as a kid that the game is over for us now. You can begin your journey today and accept God’s gift as an adult. It just means that the greatest gift you can give your child is to develop in him a love of the Scriptures.

Second, this passage says, “God has breathed life into all of Scripture”. We can be sure that everything contained in the Bible is authentic and applicable to our lives because it is God’s inspired Word. It’s not the product of fiction writers or biographers or televangelists or anyone else. It is straight from our perfect God whom we can have total faith in.

Third, the passage says that God’s Word “is useful for teaching us what is true. It is useful for correcting our mistakes. It is useful for making our lives whole again. It is useful for training us to do what is right. By using Scripture, a man of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing”. The Bible corrects us when we’re wrong, tells us how to live, and shows us how to be an example of righteousness to others. It brings us back on course when we stray. It seems to me that 21st Century America needs teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.

Finally, the passage says that we are to read the Bible because, “By using Scripture, a man of God can be completely prepared to do every good thing.” In other words, we don’t memorize Bible verses so that we can be Bible Bowl champs. We read God’s Word so that we are equipped to do Christ’s work in this world. Mark 16:15 says “…Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” Continuous prayer and daily Bible reading will help us grow in our relationship with God so that we can tell others about God’s perfect salvation through Jesus Christ. As we do that, God will go about the business of changing hearts. America desperately needs a change of heart, but that process starts with us!

I would encourage you to get started today reading the Bible so that you can find out for yourself what God has to say to you. Clearly, the Bible is a pretty hefty book, and if you start thinking about reading the whole book you’ll feel overwhelmed. I recommend the following strategy:

1. Set a regular time each day at the same time to do your reading. Make it an appointment, just like anything else on your calendar, and allow yourself 15 minutes in a quiet spot where you can concentrate.
2. Ask God to help you understand what you read. A short prayer each day before you start asking for wisdom and understanding will ensure that God’s Word will take root in your heart.
3. Start with the Gospel of John in the New Testament and read one chapter a day. John’s account focuses on the miracles and ministry of Jesus. He shows conclusively that Jesus is the Son of God and that through Jesus we can have eternal life.
4. After finishing John, read Acts and Romans in the same fashion to learn about the birth and growth of the Christian church and the beginning of Paul’s ministry. Then skip to the Book of James. It’s a very practical, clear and concise “how-to book” on Christian living. Remember, just one chapter per day.
5. If you stick to the schedule, it should take you 70 days to get to this point. I recommend that you now go to Genesis, the very beginning, and continue through the whole Old Testament. Then you can read one of the other Gospels (Matthew, Mark or Luke) and the rest of the New Testament books that you haven’t read yet. Remember that this is a life-long commitment, so don’t get overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of your “reading assignment”. Think of it the same way you do about eating. Have you ever given any thought as to the total amount of food and water you will have to consume over the course of your lifetime to sustain your life? Of course you haven’t; nobody thinks about that—that’s insane. But I’ll bet you know what you’re having for dinner tonight. Just think of your daily Bible reading as a “spiritual meal” that you’ll have once a day for the rest of your life!

One of the most diabolical tricks of Satan is that he has infiltrated the Christian Church. There are more than a few "Christian" ministers, pastors and priests who teach a false Gospel because Satan has twisted their thinking and captured their hearts. It is absolutely crucial that each and every Christian become familiar with what is truly in the Bible so that we may not be deceived. If we open the Bible and read God's words to us, God will speak to our hearts and open our minds and protect us from the false teachers. That will become more and more important as the shrill rhetoric of the false teachers intensifies.

http://easterpeople.blogspot.com/

transforming america, step 2--prayer

2007-09-02T22:34:00.000-04:00

Once we have ensured our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the next step we must take in the rebirth of our nation is to become praying Christians. Prayer is a wonderful gift from God to His children, yet, sadly, millions of Christians here and abroad haven’t accepted this gift. Think about it. God is the all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent Creator of the universe, and He desires to carry on a conversation with us! Like the most loving parent of all time, He wants us to come to Him with all of our needs, wants, fears, joys, sorrows, complaints, and thanks. God wants to carry on a never-ending, open-ended conversation with us for all eternity. How amazing is that? Why wouldn’t we want to spend our days and nights talking with our Holy Father, Friend, and Counselor?

Listen to these words from James 5:13-18---

"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

Hebrews 4:16 says---

"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

We are being invited into a never-ending dialogue with our God who will provide us with everything we will ever need!

If you’re a person who has never really had an active prayer life, don’t be nervous about starting. God will help you along. Start by sincerely telling God that you want to turn your life over to Him in prayer. Then, create a ritual for yourself by saying a short morning prayer when you wake up, a short mealtime prayer when you eat, and a short bedtime prayer.

Don’t know what to say? Try praying the scriptures. This means that you take a specific verse/passage from the Bible and thoughtfully, sincerely read that as your prayer. A great place to start is the Book of Psalms. The longest book in the Bible, Psalms is a collection of prayers, poems, and songs expressing the entire range of human emotion. Start with Psalm 136. As you prayerfully read, do so knowing that God will plant the words in your heart. As you begin to explore other parts of the Psalms, you will find that prayer becomes more and more natural as you practice more and more. As your prayer life matures, you will find yourself carrying on a continuous conversation with God. Just keep at it

The next step in a maturing prayer life is intercessory prayer, or prayer on behalf of others. This is what some Christians mean when they speak of being a "prayer warrior." You can’t show any greater love towards someone than by praying for God’s blessings upon them.

"He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; He seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord." (Psalm 113:7-9).

If we pray in faith with a humble spirit and a repentant heart, God will hear our prayers for others when we intercede on their behalf.

Do you agree with me that America needs our prayers? God’s people all across this land must prayerfully intercede on America’s behalf before God unleashes His wrath upon us. We, the citizens of the United States of America, have sinned greatly against God. We allow unborn children to be murdered and call it "choice". We celebrate pornography and perversion, and market that filth to our children. We glorify violence, and then wonder why violent crime is so prevalent. We fornicate like animals with no souls or consciences, trash our marriage vows, disrespect our spouses, treat our children as if they are disposable, and then wring our hands over the disintegration of the traditional family. We have insisted that there be no mention of God or His Son Jesus Christ in our public schools, we have allowed those same schools to drill the tenants of secular humanism into our children, and then we are completely shocked by school shootings, teenage pregnancy, teen suicide, and the like. Those of us who call ourselves Christians must become "prayer warriors" by waging a fervent campaign of prayer to turn the tide. We must plead with God to change our hearts, and cause us to look to Him and be saved. Only God can change a heart, and a change of heart is the only thing that will save us as a nation. We must pray for wisdom and discernment so that we might know God’s will. We must pray for God to claim the hearts of our children, their future spouses, and their future children and grandchildren. Satan is waging a savage war in an effort to enslave our children, and it is crucial that we ask God to clothe them in His protective armor. We must pray for our political and military leaders so that God’s will would be done through them.

Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries has suggested ten ways that we can pray for the political and military leaders of our constitutional republic:

1. Pray that they would realize their personal sinfulness and their daily need for a cleansing of their sins by Jesus.
2. Pray that they would recognize their personal inadequacy to fulfill their tasks and that they would depend upon God for knowledge, wisdom, and the courage to do what is right.
3. Pray that they would reject all counsel that violates spiritual principles, trusting God to prove them right.
4. Pray that they would resist those who would pressure them to violate their conscience.
5. Pray that they would reverse the trends of socialism and humanism in this nation, both of which deify man rather than God.
6. Pray that they would be ready to sacrifice their personal ambitions and political careers for the sake of this nation, if yielding them would be in the best interest of their country.
7. Pray that they would rely on prayer and the Word of God as the source of their daily strength, wisdom and courage.
8. Pray that they would restore dignity, honor, trustworthiness, and righteousness to the office they hold.
9. Pray that they would remember to be good examples in their conduct to the fathers, mothers, and children of this nation.
10. Pray that they would be reminded daily that they are accountable to God for the decisions they make.

Remember 1 Corinthians 1:10 and what it has to say about Christian unity, because being a prayer warrior is best done in groups. I believe that every church in the nation should mobilize teams of prayer warriors who would agree to meet together once a week for an hour of fervent prayer for our nation. If you read Genesis 18, the account of Abraham pleading with God to save the city of Sodom, you can see how effective the prayers of one righteous man are. Imagine what the results would be from concentrated prayer coming from teams of committed prayer warriors all across the country!

I recently came across a quote from the great Civil War general, Robert E. Lee, which speaks to the importance of intercessory prayer. Lee’s message is amazingly relevant 130 years later. I’ll close with that quote:

"Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray—to really pray. Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight—all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word ‘concern’ out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice."

www.billygraham.org/LFA_Article.asp?ArticleID=133

www.billygraham.org/DMag_Article.asp?ArticleID=556

transforming america, step 1--salvation

2007-09-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved. As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”[a] Jew and Gentile[b] are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[c]--- (Romans 10:9-13)

"The transformation of a nation begins on a personal level. There are millions of Americans who are religious but have never experienced a personal relationship with God."----
Arthur S. DeMoss

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Are you a Christian? Will you go to heaven when you die? How can we be sure? These are questions that a large number of really nice, polite, kind, generous, compassionate, church-going people don’t have a firm answer for. Why is that? As a Christian, I can’t think of a more important, fundamental question than whether or not I will go to heaven. I have participated in various Bible study classes and Sunday School classes over the years and I have heard lots of different answers to the above questions. See if anything on the following list sounds familiar.

1. I will go to heaven if:
2. I go to church.
3. I tithe/donate to charity.
4. I’m nice to people/I love my fellow man.
5. I believe in God.
6. I have been baptized/confirmed.
7. I live according to the teachings of the Ten Commandments.
8. I wear a WWJD bracelet and I saw Mel Gibson’s movie 3 times.

This is a real nice list of good things we can do in this life, but can we earn our way into heaven by doing all of these things? The Bible is crystal clear in answering that question. Let’s break it down step by step.

First, we must understand that God created us, He loves us, and He wants us to have peace and an abundant life. John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full". The notes in my Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan say that Jesus gives life that is abundantly rich, and, although that life is eternal, it starts immediately. Life in Christ is lived on a higher plane because of His overflowing forgiveness, love, and guidance. There is one significant problem, however.

The problem is that God created us with free will and we can choose to follow God or we can follow our own path. If we follow our own path we have fallen short of God’s perfect standard, and that is the definition of "sin". Sin creates a gap between God and us because God can’t tolerate sin in His presence. That’s why Romans 6:23 says, "the wages of sin is death". If we die and we haven’t bridged that gap created by sin, the penalty is eternal death/eternal separation from God. The Bible is very clear about how we have scored on the sin scale. Romans 3:10-11 says, "…There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." You could be the most wonderful person on the face of the earth, give all your money to the poor, and not have an enemy in the world, and you still won’t get to heaven. What is the solution?

John 3:16 gives us the answer. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." When Jesus died on the cross and then was resurrected on the third day He took with Him every sin we ever committed or ever will commit and He erased those sins from the heavenly record. Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that we may have eternal life!

What do we have to do to receive this wonderful gift? Romans 10:9-13 spells it out—"That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

The beautiful simplicity of God’s salvation plan is best illustrated for us in Luke 23:38-43— "There was a written notice above Him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
Do you want to make Jesus the Lord and Master of your life? Are you willing to confess to Jesus all of your sins and all of the ways you have fallen short of the glory of God? Your eternal salvation will not be assured unless you open the door and give your life to Jesus. If you want to take this crucial step and accept God’s gift of eternal life, I invite you to pray out loud something like this (feel free to put this in your own words):

God, I am a sinner. Please have mercy on me. I confess that I have fallen short of your perfect standard for my life so many times, and I am ashamed. Please forgive me. Father, I believe with all my heart that Jesus is Your Son. I believe that You sent Him to die on the cross and that You raised Him from the dead so that I could have eternal life. God, right here and right now I accept Your Son Jesus as the Lord of my life and my personal Savior. Please claim my heart and my soul for You so that I can spend eternity with You. Thank you God! In your Son Jesus’ holy and precious name I pray. Amen.

If you don’t feel, for whatever reason, that you could sincerely say that prayer, I invite you to sit down and read the book of John in the Bible. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will speak to you and touch your heart as you read John’s account of Jesus’ life on Earth so that you could receive this wonderful gift that God is freely offering you.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."----(Romans 3:21-26)

www.billygraham.org/SH_StepsToPeace.asp

a baker's dozen action plan for christian conservatives

2007-08-31T23:34:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 16th month of this blog. I had one very simple reason for starting this blog---I wanted to make a difference.

America, over the course of the last 50 years or so, has taken a pretty drastic wrong turn. We the people of the United States have forgotten our Christian heritage, turned our backs on God, and have begun buying into the lies of a false religion. I have called this false religion a lot of different names--liberalism, leftism, secular progressivism, secular humanism, cultural Marxism, and just plain dishonest--but it all amounts to the same thing. There is a force working within our world and within our nation that is seeking to divorce us from the commands of God, the teachings of Jesus, and the foundational principles of this great republic. This force is attempting to get us to worship the false gods of selfishness, entitlement, instant gratification, envy, pride, and status. Modern liberalism is the false religion that deifies those "gods." A great number of Americans have willingly joined this pseudo-religion, and a greater number of Americans have stayed on the sidelines and watched it happen without so much as lifting a finger. The results have been nothing short of tragic.

We have broken homes, drug abuse, violent crime, teen pregnancy, school shootings, child abuse, pornography, and a culture that gets coarser and more dangerous every day. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers today. Nearly 50 million unborn babies have been aborted since 1973. That number is almost 10 times higher than the number of people killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, and it’s higher than the combined number of deaths in all of the wars America has ever fought in. One-third of the children who are actually allowed to be born in this country are born out of wedlock. Two-thirds of all black children in this country are born out of wedlock. According to statistics provided by the Heritage Foundation, children who are born out of wedlock are seven times more likely to live in poverty and six to 30 times more likely to be seriously abused. A great number of them end up living in America's prison system. Some children just disappear. You can trace all of the above back to the failed policies and liberal lies of the left.

In my opinion, those of us who call ourselves Christian conservatives aren't doing enough to change the culture. We are ignoring Jesus' command from Matthew 5:13-16;

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven."

My Life Application Study Bible by Zondervan says that "we hide our light by being quiet when we should speak, going along with the crowd, denying the light, letting sin dim our light, not explaining our light to others, or ignoring the needs of others." That's pretty plain.

After all that I have written since June of 2006, and after all that I have read and heard over the course of my lifetime, I am convinced that there are 13 specific steps that we Christian conservatives can take to change America. If we follow those 13 steps, I believe that America would experience a Great Awakening, a transformational rebirth, that would radically change the direction of our nation for the better.

Starting tomorrow, I will write about each of these 13 steps. All 13 steps are based on the blueprint of our Fathers---America's foundational documents as written by our Founding Fathers, and the Holy Bible given to us by our Heavenly Father. In other words, this won't be my wisdom on display (as if I had any!). I hope you will join me.

lessons from the larry craig case

2007-08-31T22:10:00.000-04:00

The Larry Craig case is all over the news, and it just sickens me. As disgusting as the whole sordid affair is, however, there are lessons we can learn from it.

1. Larry Craig is not being forced to resign because he's gay. The liberal media has trumpeted that particular lie for 2 days now, and it's still as much of a lie as it was then. Larry Craig is being forced to resign by the GOP because he was arrested for trolling for sex in an airport men's room. That's a crime, by the way, that he pleaded guilty to. Many of Craig's fellow senators have known for years that he's gay. They didn't care, so long as he didn't commit any crimes. He did so he's out.

2. Isn't it interesting to compare the GOP response to lawbreakers in their midst to the response of Democrats to criminals in their ranks. If Craig was a Democrat he would just now be receiving a new, more prestigious committee assignment and his fellow Dems would be holding fundraisers for his reelection bid. Tom DeLay had it right when he said today that Republicans fire their criminals, but Democrats reelect theirs.

3. The Craig mess highlights the critical importance of electing men and women of high moral character to public office. Craig was continually reelected despite the rumors about his extra-curricular activities dating back to the 80's. The voters kept sending him back to Washington, and they should be ashamed.

deuteronomy 2

2007-08-31T11:24:00.000-04:00

1 We turned back and started out toward the desert. We went along the road that leads to the Red Sea. That's how the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.

2 Then the Lord spoke to me. He said, 3 "You have made your way around this hill country long enough. So now turn north.

4 "Here are the orders I want you to give the people. Tell them, 'You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. They will be afraid of you. But be very careful. 5 Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land. You will not have even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. 6 Pay them with silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.' "

7 The Lord your God has blessed you in everything your hands have done. He watched over you when you traveled through that huge desert. For these 40 years the Lord your God has been with you. So you have had everything you need.

8 We went on past our relatives. They are from the family line of Esau. They live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah Valley road. It comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber. We traveled along the desert road of Moab.

9 Then the Lord said to me, "Do not attack the Moabites. Do not even make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Moab to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own."

10 The Emites used to live there. They were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. 11 Like the Anakites, they too were thought of as Rephaites. But the Moabites called them Emites.

12 The Horites used to live in Seir. But the people of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites to make room for themselves. Then they settled in their territory. They did just as Israel has done in the land the Lord gave them as their own.

13 The Lord said, "Now get up. Go across the Zered Valley." So we went across it.

14 Between the time we left Kadesh Barnea and the time we went across the Zered Valley, 38 years passed. By then, all of the fighting men who had been in our camp from the beginning had died. The Lord had warned them with an oath that it would happen. 15 He used his power against them until he had gotten rid of all of them. Not one was left in the camp.

16 Finally, the last of the fighting men among the people died.

17 Then the Lord spoke to me. He said, 18 "Today you must pass near the border of Moab. Moab is also called Ar.

19 "When you come to the Ammonites, do not attack them. Do not make them angry. If you do, they will go to war against you. I will not give you any of their land as your own. I have given it to the people in the family line of Lot. I have given it to them as their own."

20 That land was also thought of as a land of the Rephaites. They used to live there. But the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. 21 The Rephaites were strong people. There were large numbers of them. They were as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed the Rephaites to make room for the Ammonites. So the Ammonites drove them out. Then they settled in the territory of the Rephaites.

22 The Lord had done the same thing for the people of Esau. They lived in Seir. He destroyed the Horites to make room for them. They drove the Horites out. So the people of Esau have lived in Seir in the territory of the Horites to this very day.

23 The Avvites lived in villages as far away as Gaza. But people came from Crete. They destroyed the Avvites. Then they settled in the territory of the Avvites.

24 The Lord said, "Start out and go across the valley of the Arnon River. I have handed Sihon over to you. He is the Amorite king of Heshbon. I have also given you his country. Begin to take it as your own. Go to war against him.

25 "This very day I will bring fear and terror on all of the nations because of you. They will hear about you. They will tremble with fear. Pain and suffering will take hold of them because of you."

26 I sent messengers from the Desert of Kedemoth. I told them to go to Sihon, the king of Heshbon. They offered him peace. They said, 27 "Let us pass through your country. We'll stay on the main road. We won't turn off it to one side or the other. 28 We'll pay you the right amount of silver for food to eat and water to drink. Just let us walk through your country. 29 The people of Esau, who live in Seir, allowed us to do that. The people of Moab, who live in Ar, also allowed us to do it. So let us walk through until we go across the Jordan River. Then we'll be able to go into the land the Lord our God is giving us."

30 But Sihon, the king of Heshbon, refused to let us walk through. The Lord your God had made his heart and spirit stubborn. The Lord wanted to hand him over to you. And that's exactly what he has done.

31 The Lord said to me, "I have begun to hand Sihon and his country over to you. So begin the battle to take his land as your own."

32 Sihon and his whole army came out to fight against us at Jahaz. 33 But the Lord our God handed him over to us. We struck him down together with his sons and his whole army. 34 At that time we took all of his towns. We completely destroyed them. We killed all of the men, women and children. We didn't leave any of them alive. 35 But we took for ourselves the livestock and everything else from the towns we had captured.

36 Not a single town was too strong for us. That includes all of the towns from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon River valley all the way to Gilead. It also includes the town in the valley. The Lord our God gave us all of them.

37 And you obeyed the Lord's command. You didn't go near any part of the land of the Ammonites. That includes the land along the Jabbok River. It also includes the land around the towns that are in the hills.

1 corinthians 14

2007-08-31T11:21:00.000-04:00

1 Follow the way of love. You should also want the gifts the Holy Spirit gives. Most of all, you should want the gift of prophecy.

2 Anyone who speaks in a language he had not known before doesn't speak to people. He speaks only to God. In fact, no one understands that person. What he says with his spirit remains a mystery. 3 But anyone who prophesies speaks to people. He says things to make them stronger, to give them hope and to comfort them. 4 Those who speak in other languages build themselves up. But those who prophesy build up the church.

5 I would like all of you to speak in other languages. But I would rather have you prophesy. Those who prophesy are more helpful than those who speak in other languages. But that is not the case if those who speak in other languages explain what they have said. Then the whole church can be built up.

6 Brothers and sisters, suppose I were to come to you and speak in other languages. What good would I be to you? None! I would need to come with new truth or knowledge, or a prophecy or a teaching.

7 Here are some examples. Certain objects make sounds. Take a flute or a harp. No one will know what the tune is unless different notes are played. 8 Also, if the trumpet call isn't clear, who will get ready for battle?

9 It's the same with you. You must speak words that people understand. If you don't, no one will know what you are saying. You will just be speaking into the air.

10 It is true that there are all kinds of languages in the world. And they all have meaning. 11 But if I don't understand what someone is saying, I am a stranger to that person. And that person is a stranger to me.

12 It's the same with you. You want to have gifts of the Spirit. So try to do your best in using gifts that build up the church.

13 For that reason, those who speak in languages they had not known before should pray that they can explain what they say. 14 If I pray in another language, my spirit prays. But my mind does not pray. 15 So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit. But I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit. But I will also sing with my mind.

16 Suppose you are praising God with your spirit. And suppose there are visitors among you who don't understand what's going on. How can they say "Amen" when you give thanks? They don't know what you are saying. 17 You might be giving thanks well enough. But the others are not being built up.

18 I thank God that I speak in other languages more than all of you do. 19 But in the church I would rather speak five words that people can understand than 10,000 words in another language. Then I would be teaching others.

20 Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. Be like babies as far as evil is concerned. But be grown up in your thinking. 21 In the Law it is written,
"Through people who speak unfamiliar languages
and through the lips of strangers
I will speak to these people.
But even then they will not listen to me." —(Isaiah 28:11,12)
That is what the Lord says.

22 So speaking in other languages is a sign for those who don't believe. It is not a sign for those who do believe. But prophecy is for believers. It is not for those who don't believe.

23 Suppose the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in other languages. And suppose visitors or unbelievers come in. Won't they say you are out of your minds? 24 But suppose unbelievers or visitors come in while everyone is prophesying. Then they will be shown by all who speak that they are sinners. They will be judged by all. 25 The secrets of their hearts will be brought out into the open. They will fall down and worship God. They will exclaim, "God is really here among you!"

26 Brothers and sisters, what should we say then? When you come together, every one of you brings something. You bring a hymn or a teaching or a word from God. You bring a message in another language or explain what was said. All of those things must be done to make the church strong.

27 No more than two or three people should speak in another language. And they should speak one at a time. Then someone must explain what was said. 28 If there is no one to explain, the speakers should keep quiet in the church. They can speak to themselves and to God.

29 Only two or three prophets are supposed to speak. Others should decide if what is being said is true. 30 What if a message from God comes to someone else who is sitting there? Then the one who is speaking should stop.

31 Those who prophesy can all take turns. In that way, everyone can be taught and be given hope. 32 Those who prophesy should control their speaking. 33 God is not a God of disorder. He is a God of peace. As in all the churches of God's people, 34 women should remain silent in the meetings. They are not allowed to speak. They must follow the lead of those who are in authority, as the Law says. 35 If they have a question about something, they should ask their own husbands at home. It is shameful for women to speak in church meetings.

36 Did the word of God begin with you? Or are you the only people it has reached? 37 Suppose some think they are prophets or have gifts of the Holy Spirit. They should agree that what I am writing to you is the Lord's command. 38 Anyone who does not recognize that will not be recognized.

39 Brothers and sisters, you should want to prophesy. And don't stop people from speaking in languages they had not known before. 40 But everything should be done in a proper and orderly way.

the liberal practice of twisting language

2007-08-29T15:43:00.001-04:00

I just saw a great example of the relentless assault on language that is being carried out by the modern left. Let me explain what I mean.

The modern leftist knows, deep within their little Marxist heart, that most Americans will never in a million years go along with their cockamamie agenda. Incidentally, that's why liberals get so rabid over judicial nominations. Unelected judges, wholly unaccountable to the people, provide the avenue for passage of the Marxist agenda. That's an agenda that would never pass legislatively!

Anyway, liberals know that, if they simply state their opinions in an honest, straightforward manner, most Americans would oppose them. What liberals do, then, is to change the meanings of words, so that they mean something else entirely. In this way, liberals are able to confuse people and to slip their agenda into being under cover of subterfuge. I'll give you two examples.

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
20070829/us_nm/usa_schools_segregation_dc

This is a Reuters news story that says that America's schools are becoming more segregated. Segregation, of course, refers to public policy which mandates separateness between the races (or any other classification of people) and we all know that segregation was outlawed decades ago. According to the story, however, segregation is back due to recent Supreme Court rulings.

This of course is a lie. Segregation has not made a comeback and the Supreme Court didn't authorize segregation. What the Supreme Court said is that a school board may not deny a student admission into their neighborhood school just because of race. You see, some school boards think it's OK to bus students across town to schools far away just to achieve some nebulous goal of "diversity." That's ridiculous, that's unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court put a stop to it.

What is happening is that white parents with the means to do so are pulling their children out of failing public schools and are choosing to home school them or to enroll them in private schools. There is nothing in the world wrong with that. What is wrong, however, is for liberals to oppose voucher programs that would provide the same opportunity for poorer minority children.

What liberals are hoping for is that, if they scream "segregation" loud enough, a majority of Americans will actually believe them and allow the horrendous social engineering programs of the left to go unchallenged.

Don't believe the lies. You can always tell when a liberal is lying. It's when their lips are moving. It is at that point that you need to tune out and to begin speaking truth back to the lie.

1 corinthians 13

2007-08-29T15:37:00.000-04:00

1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2 If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.

3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

1 corinthians 12

2007-08-29T15:33:00.000-04:00

1-3 What I want to talk about now is the various ways God's Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often mis-understood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn't know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It's different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say "Jesus be damned!" Nor would anyone be inclined to say "Jesus is Master!" without the insight of the Holy Spirit.

4-11 God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful:

wise counsel
clear understanding
simple trust
healing the sick
miraculous acts
proclamation
distinguishing between spirits
tongues
interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.

12-13 You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive.

14-18 I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.

19-24 But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair?

25-26 The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.

27-31 You are Christ's body—that's who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your "part" mean anything. You're familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his "body": apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, organizers, those who pray in tongues. But it's obvious by now, isn't it, that Christ's church is a complete Body and not a gigantic, unidimensional Part? It's not all Apostle, not all Prophet, not all Miracle Worker, not all Healer, not all Prayer in Tongues, not all Interpreter of Tongues. And yet some of you keep competing for so-called "important" parts.
But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.

deuteronomy 1

2007-08-29T15:30:00.000-04:00

1-2 These are the sermons Moses preached to all Israel when they were east of the Jordan River in the Arabah Wilderness, opposite Suph, in the vicinity of Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It takes eleven days to travel from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea following the Mount Seir route.

3-4 It was on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year when Moses addressed the People of Israel, telling them everything God had commanded him concerning them. This came after he had defeated Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who ruled from Ashtaroth in Edrei. It was east of the Jordan in the land of Moab that Moses set out to explain this Revelation.

5 He said:

6-8 Back at Horeb, God, our God, spoke to us: "You've stayed long enough at this mountain. On your way now. Get moving. Head for the Amorite hills, wherever people are living in the Arabah, the mountains, the foothills, the Negev, the seashore—the Canaanite country and the Lebanon all the way to the big river, the Euphrates. Look, I've given you this land. Now go in and take it. It's the land God promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their children after them."

9-13 At the time I told you, "I can't do this, can't carry you all by myself. God, your God, has multiplied your numbers. Why, look at you—you rival the stars in the sky! And may God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, keep it up and multiply you another thousand times, bless you just as he promised. But how can I carry, all by myself, your troubles and burdens and quarrels? So select some wise, understanding, and seasoned men from your tribes, and I will commission them as your leaders."

14 You answered me, "Good! A good solution."

15 So I went ahead and took the top men of your tribes, wise and seasoned, and made them your leaders—leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens, officials adequate for each of your tribes.

16-17 At the same time I gave orders to your judges: "Listen carefully to complaints and accusations between your fellow Israelites. Judge fairly between each person and his fellow or foreigner. Don't play favorites; treat the little and the big alike; listen carefully to each. Don't be impressed by big names. This is God's judgment you're dealing with. Hard cases you can bring to me; I'll deal with them."

18 I issued orders to you at that time regarding everything you would have to deal with.

19-21 Then we set out from Horeb and headed for the Amorite hill country, going through that huge and frightening wilderness that you've had more than an eyeful of by now—all under the command of God, our God—and finally arrived at Kadesh Barnea. There I told you, "You've made it to the Amorite hill country that God, our God, is giving us. Look, God, your God, has placed this land as a gift before you. Go ahead and take it now. God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, promised it to you. Don't be afraid. Don't lose heart."

22 But then you all came to me and said, "Let's send some men on ahead to scout out the land for us and bring back a report on the best route to take and the kinds of towns we can expect to find."

23-25 That seemed like a good idea to me, so I picked twelve men, one from each tribe. They set out, climbing through the hills. They came to the Eshcol Valley and looked it over. They took samples of the produce of the land and brought them back to us, saying, "It's a good land that God, our God, is giving us!"

26-28 But then you weren't willing to go up. You rebelled against God, your God's plain word. You complained in your tents: "God hates us. He hauled us out of Egypt in order to dump us among the Amorites—a death sentence for sure! How can we go up? We're trapped in a dead end. Our brothers took all the wind out of our sails, telling us, 'The people are bigger and stronger than we are; their cities are huge, their defenses massive—we even saw Anakite giants there!'"

29-33 I tried to relieve your fears: "Don't be terrified of them. God, your God, is leading the way; he's fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here. But now that you're here, you won't trust God, your God—this same God who goes ahead of you in your travels to scout out a place to pitch camp, a fire by night and a cloud by day to show you the way to go."

34-36 When God heard what you said, he exploded in anger. He swore, "Not a single person of this evil generation is going to get so much as a look at the good land that I promised to give to your parents. Not one—except for Caleb son of Jephunneh. He'll see it. I'll give him and his descendants the land he walked on because he was all for following God, heart and soul."

37-40 But I also got it. Because of you God's anger spilled over onto me. He said, "You aren't getting in either. Your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will go in. Build up his courage. He's the one who will claim the inheritance for Israel. And your babies of whom you said, 'They'll be grabbed for plunder,' and all these little kids who right now don't even know right from wrong—they'll get in. I'll give it to them. Yes, they'll be the new owners. But not you. Turn around and head back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea."

41 You spoke up, "We've sinned against God. We'll go up and fight, following all the orders that God, our God, has commanded." You took your weapons and dressed for battle—you thought it would be so easy going into those hills!

42 But God told me, "Tell them, 'Don't do it; don't go up to fight—I'm not with you in this. Your enemies will waste you.'"

43-46 I told you but you wouldn't listen. You rebelled at the plain word of God. You threw out your chests and strutted into the hills. And those Amorites, who had lived in those hills all their lives, swarmed all over you like a hive of bees, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah, a stinging defeat. You came back and wept in the presence of God, but he didn't pay a bit of attention to you; God didn't give you the time of day. You stayed there in Kadesh a long time, about as long as you had stayed there earlier.

being intimidated by radical islamic thugs

2007-08-28T14:02:00.000-04:00

www.caucusforamerica.com/opinion.art.php?pID=387

Brilliant! When are we as a nation going to stand up and defend our American heritage? If we don't defend it, we will lose it, and it will happen within one generation.

a global warming primer

2007-08-27T15:12:00.000-04:00

www.ncpa.org/globalwarming/GlobalWarmingPrimer.pdf

For those of you who are acually interested in the truth about global warming, this link will take you to a fantastic presentation of the facts. All of the facts are documented so that, if you wish, you can even check the accuracy of the information yourself.

since when did health care become a right?

2007-08-27T11:36:00.000-04:00

When the Founding Fathers created this great republic, they followed a simple blueprint. All men were born with certain rights--gifts from God--that no other man could take away from us. Those unalienable rights were the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue happiness. That final right was understood by our Founders to mean the right to work hard and to be self reliant and to accumulate wealth as a result of our hard work and self reliance. Government was seen as a creation of man and as being empowered by man to safeguard those God-given rights.

When the Constitution was written, it was structured in such a way that the specific powers of the national government were strictly defined. When the Bill of Rights was added, it included a safeguard that was supposed to protect us against a national government that wanted to take more power than the Constitution allowed. The 10th Amendment says:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.

In other words, our national government can only take those powers that are delegated to it, and the rest are reserved for the States and we the people. That is perhaps the most important part of the Constitution.

The Bill of Rights contains other rights that the national government can't take away from us. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, the right to bear arms--all of those rights, and others, are listed in the Bill of Rights so that the national government can't take those rights away from us.

All of the rights contained in those first ten amendments have something very important in common. The government doesn't have to take anything away from anyone else in order to protect that specific right for you. Nobody else has to give up anything for you to have your right to bear arms, for example. That goes to the very core of the meaning of the word "rights."

Now, let's look at the so-called "right" to universal health care provided by the government. There are so many problems with that concept that it is difficult to know where to start.

First of all, there is nothing in the Constitution that says health care is a right. Of course, the Constitution does say that the Bill of Rights is not intended to be interpreted to mean that we have no rights other than what is specifically listed in those amendments, but that doesn't mean that we can, or should, go about adding new "rights every day to the old ones.

If we wish to define something as a "right," the first question we are obligated to answer is, "Does anyone else have to give up one of their unalienable rights in order for me to have this new right?" With universal health care, of course, the answer is a loud "yes."

The government, you see, doesn't have any money. They never have. The government doesn't produce anything. The government doesn't create anything. The only source of revenue that the government has is "we the people." The government has been empowered to confiscate a portion of our hard-earned treasure and to spend it as they see fit.

Don't you see that, if I have the "right" to universal health care, that means exactly the same thing as saying that I have the right to reach into your pocket and to take money that I did not earn and to use your money to pay for my right to health care? What gives me the right to take from you something that you earned in order to give me something that I did not earn for myself?

Do you see the difference? Universal health care creates a new "right" that requires the government to infringe upon your right to property (pursuit of happiness) in order to provide me with this pseudo-right. I have to take from you to enjoy this "right." That's just plain wrong!

Those of you who don't see anything wrong with this thought process are completely missing the mark concerning the proper definition of the word "right." A true right--or what the Founding Fathers called an "unalienable right"--is a blessing from God. It is given to us by God and cannot be taken away from us by man. It is not given to us by man, or by man's government, by taking it away from someone else. That's called "theft" and it's immoral.

How should the health care "crisis" be solved then? Well, first of all, I don't believe that we have a health care crisis in our country. It is an indisputable fact that the majority of Americans who don't have health care are doing so by choice. How do I know this? I know it because of the experiences of the various states who have created universal health care programs at the state level (this includes Indiana). In every case, without fail, each state had to create an additional program to "educate" people about the existence of the new tax-supported programs and to "convince" the uninsured to enroll. The additional "re-education programs" have added millions of dollars to the cost of the original entitlement program. I am convinced that there is no need for universal health care.

I also know that it is a fact that anyone needing emergency medical care can walk into any emergency room in the nation and get free care. That's the law. People can get a free ambulance ride to the emergency room, as well, in case of emergency.

We solve the insurance problem by sticking with the free market. Allow people to shop across state lines for insurance. Insurance companies licensed in one state could sell to consumers in the other 49 states. Insurance plans could be tailored to the needs of the individual. Cost would go down. More people would choose to buy insurance. And it wouldn't cost the taxpayer one solitary nicklel.

That's the solution, and I don't have to steal from you to make it happen. How simple it is to trust the free market rather than creating new "rights."

why are we a shining city on a hill?

2007-08-24T17:07:00.000-04:00

I can't post a link to one of Ronald Reagan's greatest speeches without commenting on it (see previous post).

There has never, in the history of the world, been a nation that has been as rich or powerful as the United States, or which has used it's wealth and power to achieve as much good as the United States. These facts are indisputable:

1. The United States of America is the greatest nation in the history of the world.
2. The United States of America has repeatedly saved the world from totalitarianism and has repeatedly secured freedom and liberty for countless millions of people in every corner of the globe.
3. These actions by the United States have come at a great cost. Well over a million American citizens have died, giving the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of liberty here at home and abroad. Millions more have had to bear the pain of sacrificing their physical health, mental health, and the physical and mental health of their loved ones so that others could enjoy the fruits of liberty. Millions upon millions of children throughout our history have grown up without their fathers, or mothers, or brothers or sisters because those family members were killed on foreign soil defending others. There has never, in the history of the world, been a country that has sacrificed so many lives and spent so much money to defend the life, liberty and property of the world as the United States of America.
4. The United States of America is the first country in the history of the world to defeat poverty and, in the process of doing so, given the rest of the world a blueprint to accomplish the same. I have frequently said that poverty, as the world understands the term, no longer exists in America. We don't have poor people here in America anymore. Less than 5% of all Americans are unemployed. Contrary to the leftist propaganda, nobody in America has to go to bed hungry at night, or to exist with no shelter. Privately funded charities and publically funded entitlement programs, in addition to the wholesale lowering of taxes over the last 30 years, have allowed all Americans to achieve a level of wealth unprecedented in human history. The blueprint for this success? It's the free market with low taxes. That blueprint is 100% successful, compared with the 0% success rate of socialism. The rest of the world would do well to emulate us.
5. There isn't another nation on earth that is inhabited by people who are as charitable as America. We the people, separate from our military, have spent untold blood, sweat, tears and dollars to help the needy all across the globe. This unprecedented generosity is a reflection of America's Christian heritage, and it is largely ignored by the leftist intelligentsia.
6. In the words of Lord Acton of England, as quoted by Pres. Reagan, "They (the Founders) had solved with astonishing ease and unduplicated success two problems which had heretofore baffled the capacity of the most enlightened nations. They had contrived a system of federal government which prodigiously increased national power and yet respected local liberties and authorities, and they had founded it on a principle of equality without surrendering the securities of property or freedom." Never in any society has the preeminence of the individual been so firmly established and given such a priority. This unique balancing act comes from the fact that our republic was founded on the principle that our basic human rights are given to us by God, and that we the people empower government to safeguard those rights. Our rights are not bestowed upon us by government. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the secret, in a nutshell, of America's greatness.

Of course, America's history is full of imperfections. There has never been a perfect nation in the history of the world. There can be no disputing, however, unless you are afflicted with the cancer of liberalism, that America has achieved a level of greatness higher than has ever been achieved, and that we are the last best hope of man on earth.

Pres. Reagan recognized that truth and was able to articulate the truth better than anyone else in the 20th Century. We would do well to reflect on that truth, and the reasons why it's true.

we will be a city on a hill

2007-08-24T11:48:00.000-04:00

Thirty three years ago, Ronald Wilson Reagan gave this speech to the first annual Conservative Political Action Conference. The man who would later become the greatest president of the 20th Century spoke at length of our unique American heritage, about what it means to be an American, and about how America remains, and will continue to be, "the last best hope of man on earth." His words are just as important today as they were then, and maybe more so. America's leftists relentlessly beat us over the head about everything that's wrong with America and with our Christian conservative heritage, to the point that many well-intentioned Americans actually believe them. Even so, there is still a majority in this country who don't believe the lies, and who are craving principled leadership to bring America back to the guiding principles which have served as our foundation ever since 1776.

Pres. Reagan's speech should be required reading in every classroom in America. You can find it at the following link. Enjoy!

http://www.american-partisan.com/cols/reagan1974.htm

is this how we're being helped by illegal immigration?

2007-08-23T13:51:00.000-04:00

From the FBI:

CRIME STATISTICS
95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.

86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.

75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.

24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally

40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally

48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally

29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually

53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.

50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.

71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or “transport coyotes".

47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.

63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens

66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66% 98% are illegal aliens.

BIRTH STATISTICS
380,000 plus “anchor babies” were born in the U.S. in 2005 to illegal alien parents, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S. citizens.

97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayers.

66% plus of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers

Additional statistics From Independent Sources:
12 Americans (on average) are murdered each day by illegal immigrants

8 American children, on average, are sexually molested by illegal immigrants each day

sen. joe lieberman--one of the few voices of sanity in today's democrat party

2007-08-23T13:39:00.000-04:00

www.conservative.org/pressroom/2007/070820jl.htm Damascus International Airport Is A Hub For Terrorists

karl rove, elvira arellano, and the cultural marxists--teammates on the same side

2007-08-23T11:44:00.000-04:00

Elvira Arellano broke U.S. federal law in 1997 when she sneaked illegally into our country from Mexico. That makes her a felon. She was caught and deported. Arellano stayed back in Mexico for about a minute, and then she snuck back into the United States. That's another felony which, if our government chose to prosecute her, would earn her 20 years in prison.

Arellano was arrested in Chicago in 2002 by Immigration and Customs (ICE) agents. It seems that she was employed at O'Hare International Airport by a janitorial service. According to ICE, she had access to security sensitive areas in the airport. After her arrest, Arellano was actually prosecuted for illegally using someone else's Social Security number. That's Felony #3, for those of you keeping score at home.

She was allowed to serve 3 years probation and stay in this country for that time (that just blows my mind!) and then was supposed to be deported in August 2006. Guess what? Arellano sought sanctuary at the Adalberto United Methodist Church (or should I say House of Cultural Marxism?) in Chicago. This "Three Times a Felon" (my apologies to Lionel Ritchie) has lived in that church for the past year.

Last weekend, Arellano left the church to go to Los Angeles for the illegal immigration rally. She was arrested and faces deportation. By the way, she has an 8-year old son who was born here in the U.S., which makes him a "legal" U.S. citizen. Arellano wants him to stay in the U.S., even if she is deported, but she is fighting to stay. Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Luis Guttierez have sponsored legislation that will make Arellanos a permanent resident.

I didn't tell this story to criticize Durbin or Guttierez--they are hard core leftists and their actions come as no surprise. They despise the America created by our Fathers and seek to transform our nation into an America in the image of Marxism. We know all about them.

I tell this story to criticize Pres. Bush and Karl Rove. Bush's sympathies and opinions on this matter are well known. He wants to provide instant citizenship to all illegals and then invite a whole bunch more to break into our country. He has the most ignorant idea that all of these illegals will be so greatful that they will all join the GOP. He's wrong. He also has the most ignorant idea that America "needs" the illegals. He's wrong about that, as well. We don't need a brand new criminal class of 25 million people (and rising) who have no wish to assimilate into our culture and who seek to suck up as much "free" goods and services as our government will provide for them--at taxpayer expense, of course!

The Bush administration, by allowing illegal immigrants (who are felons, by the way) to openly break our laws with no fear of punishment, breeds contempt for all of our laws by all of our citizens. Pres. Bush is sowing the seeds for a culture of lawlessness which will destroy the America that we have always known, unless we the people stand up and stop him.

What does Karl Rove have to do with all of this? Here's a quote from "The Boy Genius They Call Turd Blossom" (Bush's nickname for Rove) from earlier this week:

When asked why the Bush administration wants to provide a "path to citizenship" (code for "amnesty") for illegals, Rove answered, "I don't want my 17-year-old son to have to pick tomatoes or make beds in Las Vegas."

There's nothing I could add to that. The quote stands by itself and tells you everything you need to know about the Bush/Rove mentality.

1 corinthians 11

2007-08-23T11:36:00.000-04:00

1-3 Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.

4-6 It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything.

7-12 I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us.

12-15 And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end.

16-21 Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.

21-23 Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.)

23-27 I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather.

28-29 And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut.

30-33 If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

numbers 1

2007-08-23T11:32:00.000-04:00

The truly significant portion of this chapter is found in verses 47-51. The people of Israel were given certain instructions by God. How did they respond? "The People of Israel did everything that God commanded Moses. They did it all." There's a great lesson there!

1-5 God spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai at the Tent of Meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had left Egypt. He said, "Number the congregation of the People of Israel by clans and families, writing down the names of every male. You and Aaron are to register, company by company, every man who is twenty years and older who is able to fight in the army. Pick one man from each tribe who is head of his family to help you. These are the names of the men who will help you: from Reuben: Elizur son of Shedeur 6 from Simeon: Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai 7 from Judah: Nahshon son of Amminadab 8 from Issachar: Nethanel son of Zuar 9 from Zebulun: Eliab son of Helon 10 from the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim: Elishama son of Ammihud from Manasseh: Gamaliel son of Pedahzur 11 from Benjamin: Abidan son of Gideoni 12 from Dan: Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai 13 from Asher: Pagiel son of Ocran 14 from Gad: Eliasaph son of Deuel 15 from Naphtali: Ahira son of Enan."
16 These were the men chosen from the congregation, leaders of their ancestral tribes, heads of Israel's military divisions.
17-19 Moses and Aaron took these men who had been named to help and gathered the whole congregation together on the first day of the second month. The people registered themselves in their tribes according to their ancestral families, putting down the names of those who were twenty years old and older, just as God commanded Moses. He numbered them in the Wilderness of Sinai.
20-21 The line of Reuben, Israel's firstborn: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by tribes according to their ancestral families. The tribe of Reuben numbered 46,500.
22-23 The line of Simeon: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Simeon numbered 59,300.
24-25 The line of Gad: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Gad numbered 45,650.
26-27 The line of Judah: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Judah numbered 74,600.
28-29 The line of Issachar: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Issachar numbered 54,400.
30-31 The line of Zebulun: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Zebulun numbered 57,400.
32-33 The line of Joseph: From son Ephraim the men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.
34-35 And from son Manasseh the men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Manasseh numbered 32,200.
36-37 The line of Benjamin: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Benjamin numbered 35,400.
38-39 The line of Dan: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Dan numbered 62,700.
40-41 The line of Asher: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Asher numbered 41,500.
42-43 The line of Naphtali: The men were counted off head by head, every male twenty years and older who was able to fight in the army, registered by clans and families. The tribe of Naphtali numbered 53,400.
44-46 These are the numbers of those registered by Moses and Aaron, registered with the help of the leaders of Israel, twelve men, each representing his ancestral family. The sum total of the People of Israel twenty years old and over who were able to fight in the army, counted by ancestral family, was 603,550.
47-51 The Levites, however, were not counted by their ancestral family along with the others. God had told Moses, "The tribe of Levi is an exception: Don't register them. Don't count the tribe of Levi; don't include them in the general census of the People of Israel. Instead, appoint the Levites to be in charge of The Dwelling of The Testimony—over all its furnishings and everything connected with it. Their job is to carry The Dwelling and all its furnishings, maintain it, and camp around it. When it's time to move The Dwelling, the Levites will take it down, and when it's time to set it up, the Levites will do it. Anyone else who even goes near it will be put to death.
52-53 "The rest of the People of Israel will set up their tents in companies, every man in his own camp under its own flag. But the Levites will set up camp around The Dwelling of The Testimony so that wrath will not fall on the community of Israel. The Levites are responsible for the security of The Dwelling of The Testimony."
54 The People of Israel did everything that God commanded Moses. They did it all.

an indianapolis police officer needs support, not criticism

2007-08-22T13:33:00.000-04:00

indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070822/
LOCAL18/708220484

Officer Adam Chappell of the Indianapolis Metro Police Department has been charged with misdemeanor battery after being accused of kicking and beating a prisoner who was handcuffed and laying on the ground. The incident was videotaped by IMPD cameras and you can view it if you go to the above link.

I am not a bit reluctant to say that I have great sympathy for the officer and that I support him, and I'll tell you why.

First, the video is not at all conclusive as to what the officer's actions were and what precipitated those actions. The officer made no attempt to cover up what he did; in fact, he put it into his report. Officer Chappell stated that the prisoner was resisting arrest and that he kicked and hit 2 officers as they tried to subdue him. Officer Chappell states that he kicked the subject to subdue him. There is nothing in the video that disproves Chappell's version of the story.

Second, this incident took place at Indiana Black Expo or, as I like to call it, Indianapolis' Annual Festival of Rioting, Lawlessness and Civil Unrest. For that brief period of time that Black Expo rides into town, Indianapolis turns into a modern-day Dodge City. Every year Indy sees shootings, vandalism, fighting and public drunkeness become the norm downtown. Law abiding citizens of all races are well advised to stay away from downtown Indy during Black Expo because it's quite likely you will become a statistic if enter the shooting gallery.

I say that because, several years ago, the city of Indianapolis--and by that, I mean the "progressive" Peterson administration--made the decision that actually cleaning up the violence and arresting the criminals and restoring law and order during Black Expo would be tantamount to racism. Imagine that! If we arrest people who commit crimes then we are a racist! Good grief! Only in the upside down, Puff the Magic Dragon world of liberalism could anybody actually believe anything so ignorant!

That's the environment that Officer Chappell was working in. Hundreds of blacks from all over the country were rioting in downtown Indy, and the police are hamstrung in their attempts to restore order. Do you think they get a little frustrated? Of course they do.

I'll tell you this--if the police were allowed to crack down on Black Expo, and arrest all of the criminals, and crack the heads of those who resist, then Indy would be a whole lot safer for blacks and whites.

Alas, there's not much chance of that happening with a Democrat, progressive mayor like Bart Peterson in office!

whatever happened to self reliance?

2007-08-21T15:09:00.000-04:00

miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard_pitts/story/
206731.html

This is a very interesting column from Leonard Pitts of The Miami Herald. Pitts writes of a man living in Southern California who has publicly talked about his sexual attraction to little girls. He doesn't try to hide it, either. He has never been arrested on child molestation charges and, as far as anyone knows has never touched a little girl, but he is attracted to them. The man has posted photographs online of little girls--photos that he has taken. He has posted "how-to" instructions for child molesters as to where are the best places to find children. He hangs out in the children's section of the library so that he can be around little girls.

Of course this is sickening, but the law "can't" (won't) do anything. He has broken no specific statutes so he is free to act as he wishes.

Mr. Pitts expresses the notion that this is how it's supposed to be in a "civilized" republic. We are a nation of laws, and this pedophile hasn't broken any, so we are obligated to just ignore him.

Uh....no we aren't.

Why is it that we have devolved so far as a people that we think that self defense/personal protection is solely the responsibility of the government? That was never the thinking of clear-thinking Americans before--at least, for the first 180 years or so of our existence as a nation.

I'll spell it out. YOU are responsible for self defense/personal protection. YOU are responsible for making the streets of your city/town safe. Don't sit around like some sort of invalid waiting for Mommy and Daddy Government to come to your rescue.

The good people of Santa Clarita need to buck up and get this situation under control. Citizen watch groups should be organized to keep this freak under surveillance 24/7. They should be armed with camcorders and cell phones so that they can record his every move and so the police can be called in case of emergency. They need to keep detailed notes as to his daily activities so that, in case he commits a crime, the notes can be used against him in a court of law. Posters showing his picture should be placed everywhere in town so that people recognize him on sight. The posters should be placed outside his place of employment, as well. His co-workers need to know just who they work with.

Notice that I am not advocating vigilante justice. I am not calling for a mob to drag the guy into the streets to be hanged from the highest tree. He shouldn't be touched or harmed in any way. But he absolutely should be the focus of INTENSE scrutiny, and he should never be in the presence of a child without a group of citizens being right there with him.

That's the American way. Why are we so afraid to protect that which is so precious to us?

is this what we want for education in america?

2007-08-21T12:11:00.000-04:00

townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2007/08/20/
the_nea_lists_its_goals_and_the_democratic_party_agrees

This is why it is so important to vote against leftist candidates every time we have the opportunity. The left is killing America, and we can't let them get away with it.

this is just the kind of behavior we have come to expect from the left

2007-08-21T11:28:00.000-04:00

Robert Spencer is director of Jihad Watch and author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" and "The Truth About Muhammad." You can read his bio, as well as his answers to many frequently asked questions, at http://jihadwatch.org/spencer/. He is one of the world's foremost experts on Islam.

I should make it very clear from the outset that Spencer doesn't hate Muslims. He is not a bigot. Robert Spencer simply recognizes that there are many Muslims in the world who support violent jihad against the "infidels" of the West, and who believe that the infidels must be killed. Because of that, supporters of Islamofascism and America's radical left (that's redundant, isn't it?) have made Spencer a target for harassment, intimidation, and hate.

A fatwa has been issued for Spencer. As you may or may not know, a fatwa is a legal decree in sharia law requiring any Muslim to kill Spencer if they get the opportunity. Please read the last line of the fatwa:

"May Allah rip out his spine from his back and split his brains in two, and then put them both back, and then do it over and over."

That's not real scary, is it? And the Islamofascists are people liberals want to "reason" with? Good luck on that!

Recently, Robert Spencer was invited to speak at a conference hosted by the Young America's Foundation in Washington, D.C. YAF is the leading conservative organization for high school and college-aged Americans, and there is a link to that organization's website on the right side bar. YAF was well aware that various groups have been trying to silence Spencer. One of those groups is The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). This is the same CAIR whose founders have been arrested on terrorism charges. This is the same CAIR that has leaped to the defense of every single jihadist ever arrested in the United States on terrorism charges. CAIR is nothing more than the legal arm of Islamofascism, dedicated to the spread of jihad here in America.

The day before Spencer gave his talk at the conference, a leftist Washington D.C. law firm, hired by CAIR, faxed a letter to YAF informing them that Spencer's talk would be monitored and that the law firm had been instructed by CAIR to "purse every available and appropriate legal remedy to redress any false and defamatory statements that made" at the conference."

That's pretty amazing, isn't it? An American law firm has decided that it's OK to use fascist techniques to silence those who exercise their 1st Amendment rights by speaking out about Islamofascism. CAIR says that they are a peaceful organization, yet they are willing to use the entire weight of America's legal system to beat their opponents into silent submission.

Folks, this is what we're up against. There are an awful lot of people in this country who hate America so much that they will support the Islamofascist terrorists who seek to destroy us. These "useful idiots" (as Stalin called them) on the left are more than willing to do the enemy's bidding, oblivious to the fact that they will be the first ones killed if the terrorists should succeed in defeating America.

Those of us who call ourselves Christian conservatives must continue to speak the truth in the face of all the lies marketed by the left. We must continue to be strong leaders in our families as we seek to lead them to the truth. We must exercise our rights as American citizens to defeat the candidates from the left who want to destroy the America of our Fathers. And we must pray.

This is the only way to save America.

no child left behind is destroying what's left of american public education

2007-08-19T22:22:00.000-04:00

www.theconservativevoice.com/article/27387.html

This is one of the best articles I have ever read about public education, and specifically NCLB. As a veteran of the public schools, I can tell you that NCLB is unconstitutional and it is destroying public education in this country (as if public education wasn't in bad enough shape anyway!). By the time that NCLB gets reauthorized, the federal Dept. of Education will have become the new school board for each and every school corporation in the country, with Congress and the President pulling the strings. Within 20 years, America's public schools will have moved past being just useless and will have become dangerous! The very few good public schools in this country will cease to exist.

And millions of American children will have been "left behind" as they were pulled into the morass of cultural Marxism.

2 corinthians 10

2007-08-19T22:17:00.000-04:00

1 Christ is gentle and free of pride. So I make my appeal to you. I, Paul, am the one you call shy when I am face to face with you. But when I am away from you, you call me bold. 2 I beg you that when I come I won't have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people. They think that I live the way the people of this world live.

3 I do live in the world. But I don't fight my battles the way the people of the world do. 4 The weapons I fight with are not the weapons the world uses. In fact, it is just the opposite. My weapons have the power of God to destroy the camps of the enemy.

5 I destroy every claim and every reason that keeps people from knowing God. I keep every thought under control in order to make it obey Christ. 6 Until you have obeyed completely, I will be ready to punish you every time you don't obey.

7 You are looking only at what appears on the surface of things. Suppose you are sure you belong to Christ. Then you should consider again that I belong to Christ just as much as you do.

8 Do I brag too much about the authority the Lord gave me? If I do, it's because I want to build you up, not pull you down. And I'm not ashamed of that kind of bragging.

9 Don't think that I'm trying to scare you with my letters. 10 Some say, "His letters sound important. They are powerful. But in person he doesn't seem like much. And what he says doesn't amount to anything." 11 People like that have a lot to learn. What I say in my letters when I'm away from you, I will do in my actions when I'm with you.

12 I don't dare to compare myself with those who praise themselves. I'm not that kind of person. They measure themselves by themselves. They compare themselves with themselves. When they do that, they are not wise.

13 But I won't brag more than I should. Instead, I will brag only about what I have done in the area God has given me. It is an area that reaches all the way to you. 14 I am not going too far in my bragging. I would be going too far if I hadn't come to where you live. But I did get there with the good news about Christ.

15 And I won't brag about work done by others. If I did, I would be bragging more than I should. As your faith continues to grow, I hope that my work among you will greatly increase.

16 Then I will be able to preach the good news in the areas beyond you. I don't want to brag about work already done in someone else's territory.

17 But, "The one who brags should brag about what the Lord has done."—(Jeremiah 9:24)
18 Those who praise themselves are not accepted. Those the Lord praises are accepted.

leviticus 27

2007-08-19T22:16:00.000-04:00

1 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 2 "Speak to the people of Israel. Tell them, 'Suppose someone makes a special promise to set a person apart to serve me. Here is how much it will cost to set that person free from the promise to serve.

3 " 'The cost for a male between the ages of 20 and 60 is 20 ounces of silver. It must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights that are used in the sacred tent. 4 The cost for a female of the same age is 12 ounces of silver.

5 " 'The cost for a male between the ages of five and 20 is eight ounces of silver. The cost for a female of the same age is four ounces of silver.

6 " 'The cost for a male between the ages of one month and five years is two ounces of silver. The cost for a female of the same age is one and a fourth ounces of silver.

7 " 'The cost for a male who is 60 years old or more is six ounces of silver. The cost for a female of the same age is four ounces of silver.

8 " 'But suppose the one who makes the special promise is too poor to pay the required amount. Then he must bring to the priest the person who will be set free. The priest will decide the right value for that person. It will be based on how much the one who makes the promise can afford.
9 " 'Suppose what he promised is an animal that I will accept as an offering. Then the animal that is given to me becomes holy. 10 The one who makes the promise must not trade it. He must not trade a good animal for a bad one. And he must not trade a bad animal for a good one. Suppose he chooses one animal instead of another. Then both animals become holy.

11 " 'Suppose the animal he promised is not "clean." Suppose I will not accept it as an offering. Then the animal must be brought to the priest. 12 He will decide whether it is good or bad. Its value will be what he decides it will be. 13 Suppose the owner wants to buy the animal back. Then he must add a fifth to its cost.

14 " 'Suppose a man sets his house apart as something that is holy to me. Then the priest will decide whether it is good or bad. Its value will remain what he decides it will be. 15 Suppose the man sets his house apart. And suppose later he wants to buy it back. Then he must add a fifth to its value. The house will belong to him again.

16 " 'Suppose a man sets apart a piece of his family's land to me. Then its value must be decided based on the number of seeds that are required to grow a full crop on it. That value will be 20 ounces of silver for every six bushels of barley seeds.

17 " 'Suppose he sets his field apart during the Year of Jubilee. Then the value that has been decided will not be changed. 18 But suppose he sets his field apart after the Year of Jubilee. Then the priest will decide its value based on the number of years that are left until the next Year of Jubilee. The value that was decided will be reduced.

19 " 'Suppose the man who sets his field apart wants to buy it back. Then he must add a fifth to its value. The field will belong to him again. 20 But suppose he does not buy the field back. Instead, suppose he sells it to someone else. Then he can never buy it back.

21 " 'When the field is set free in the Year of Jubilee, it will become holy. It will be like a field that is set apart to me. It will become the property of the priests.

22 " 'Suppose a man sets apart to me a field he has bought. And suppose it is not part of his family's land. 23 Then the priest will decide its value based on the number of years that are left until the Year of Jubilee. The man must pay that value on the day it is decided. The money is holy. It is set apart for me.

24 " 'In the Year of Jubilee the field will go back to the person the man bought it from. That person is the one who had owned the land before.

25 " 'Every amount of money must be weighed out in keeping with the standard weights that are used in the sacred tent.

26 " 'But no one can set apart the first male animal that is born to its mother. That animal already belongs to me. It does not matter whether it is an ox or a sheep. It belongs to me.

27 " 'Suppose it is an animal that is not "clean." Then the owner may buy it back at the value that has been decided. And he must add a fifth to its value. But suppose he does not buy it back. Then it must be sold at the value that has been decided.

28 " 'But nothing a man owns and sets apart to me can be sold or bought back. It does not matter whether it is a person or an animal or a family's land. Everything that is set apart to me is very holy to me.

29 " 'No one who is set apart in a special way to be destroyed can be bought back. He must be put to death.

30 " 'A tenth of everything the land produces belongs to me. That includes grain from the soil and fruit from the trees. It is holy. It is set apart for me. 31 Suppose a man buys back some of his tenth. Then he must add a fifth of the cost to it.

32 " 'The whole tenth of his herds and flocks will be holy. They will be set apart for me. That includes every tenth animal that its shepherd marks with his wooden staff. 33 The owner must not pick out the good animals from the bad. He must not choose one animal instead of another. But if he does, both animals become holy. They can't be bought back.' "

34 The Lord gave Moses all of those commands on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.

put your kids to work

2007-08-19T22:04:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57205

This is a great column from Pat Boone on parenting. If more parents would follow the advice in this column, our kids would be a lot better off!

will the real mitt romney please stand up, part 2

2007-08-19T21:46:00.000-04:00

http://christianconservatives.blogspot.com/2007/08/will-real-mitt-romney-please-stand-up.html

Last Thursday, I posted comments about the ever-changing positions of Mitt Romney on the abortion issue (see above link). Romney was for abortion, then he was against abortion but also against overturning Roe v. Wade, then he was staunchly pro-choice, and now he is staunchly pro-life. Got it? Oddly enough, the always evolving Kerry (oops! I mean Romney) always seemed to change his position just when he needed a different group of people to vote for him. That's pretty "nuanced," isn't it?

Romney has explained his latest "flip to the flop" by saying that it was the embryonic stem cell research issue that caused him to re-evaluate his position. Do you believe that?

Would you believe that Mitt Romney currently owns stock in two companies involved in embryonic stem cell research? So says Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily.com (http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57208).

If this is true, then it is further proof of what I said about Romney on Thursday. He is the worst kind of pandering politician. He would say anything to anybody in order to secure their vote. In short, he is John Kerry with a strong jaw. Nothing more, nothing less.

paul preaches in jeruselum--visit easter people

2007-08-18T22:01:00.000-04:00

http://easterpeople.blogspot.com/2007/08/paul-arrives-in-jeruselum.html

if a conservative had done this, he would have been fired!

2007-08-18T21:46:00.000-04:00

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2007/08/12/leering-chris-matthews-asks-female-cnbc-anchor-move-closer-camera

Have you ever noticed that, for the most part, it's the liberals that don't know how to act in public? Liberals and drunks!

Those of you who are sports fans will remember that Joe Namath embarrassed himself on Monday Night Football a few years ago when he was being interviewed by Suzy Kolber. He kept asking Kolber if he could kiss her--right there on national TV! At least Joe Willie had an excuse. He was filled to the gills with Johnnie Walker Red! I suppose that Matthews' only excuse is that he's a liberal and just doesn't know how to act in public!

marcus aurelius still makes sense today

2007-08-18T21:17:00.000-04:00

Emperor Marcus Aurelius of the Roman Empire, who served from AD 161 until his death in AD 180, once made a brilliant observation about the majority. Rush Limbaugh mentioned it on his show this week, and I'll quote it here. From El Rushbo:

Marcus Aurelius on the Majority

RUSH: Marcus Aurelius: "The object of life..." By the way, Eric from Tampa, if you're still out there and you're heading over to Middlesex University, this is a great quote to take with you, or for any kid going off to college. It's actually applicable to all of us: "The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one's self in the ranks of the insane." Now, to me, this is brilliant. Independents and moderates do precisely this. They sit around and they wait for a majority to form and then they join it, because they can feel like they're part of the majority. They wait to see what makes 'em feel best, and then they join it, and they often end up joining the ranks of the insane. You could say this about global warming opposition. The easy thing to do is to believe it. "Oh, yeah, there's all kind of global warming and it's manmade. Yeah." Get in on it because everybody will applaud you. But you're joining the ranks of the insane if you do that because you're seeking to be part of the majority, and so I just love this quote.

i have some questions for our friendly neighborhood abortionist

2007-08-18T00:05:00.000-04:00

Note--All statistics come from Planned Parenthood and the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

1. There are over 1 million abortions performed every year in the United States. 1.2% of those abortions were performed on girls under the age of 15. Simple math says that this amounts to 12,000 girls who the law defines as rape victims. Why do liberals so relentlessly obstruct the prosecution of these rapists?

2. Black women are more than 3 times as likely to have an abortion as white women. Why are liberals so intent on murdering black babies?

3. Over 16,000 babies are murdered each year after the 20th week of pregnancy (By the way, I believe that this number is way low, but that's the number reported by professional baby killers.). Why can't the modern leftist see that this is evil?

the crime of abortion

2007-08-17T23:46:00.000-04:00

www.theconservativevoice.com/article/27207.html

From the column, linked to above:

Because we as a society have lost our sense of right and wrong when it comes to abortion, we have to remind people that abortion is indeed a crime, and it is a crime in which the victim is indeed a human being — the least of our brothers and sisters, the preborn child. It is only when personhood is restored under the law to every innocent preborn child that there will be time enough to debate criminal consequences for the criminal act of abortion.

The role of the pro-life movement in America is not to say or do what is acceptable to society. Our role is to tell the truth and make people uncomfortable about legalized murder. We must not be intimidated by those who want us to argue that abortion is something other than what it is. Abortion is a dreadful criminal act.

Reminding America that abortion kills children is not a bad thing; it is the truth. And it is this truth that recognizes that the only way to end abortion is to call it by its proper name and to be prepared to secure protection for all preborn babies. That means establishing personhood so that the victimization of the most vulnerable members of the human family ends. And, please God, let that be soon.

Do you know what one of our biggest problems is, as a nation? Here in America, we have far too many Christians, and far to many Christian church leaders, who are afraid of speaking the truth in the face of evil. Abortion is an atrocity, yet too many Christians are afraid to say so. Killing a baby is the worst kind of evil, but too many Christian pastors are afraid to say so from the pulpit because they don't want to offend anyone.

Guess what? I don't care who I offend! Those of you who are regular visitors to my blog already know this. There is good in this world and there is evil, and we cannot hesitate to confront evil! The lies and hypocrisy that are so much a part of the forces of evil in this world must be exposed by people who know the truth.

Jesus told us that we are to be meek, but He never said to be timid! Meekness is power restrained. That power is restrained because we recognize our own sinfulness and we are ashamed of that sinfulness. But our shame over our broken condition must never cause us to be afraid of speaking truth and confronting deception.

Our world needs us, now more than ever, to courageously fight against sin. God will equip us for the fight, just as He equipped David in his fight against Goliath. We have nothing to be afraid of.

Every day we delay, another 3700 babies are murdered (126,000 worldwide). It's time to get busy.

liberal hypocrisy as illustrated by a very wise rabbi

2007-08-17T23:31:00.000-04:00

www.caucusforamerica.com/opinion.art.php?pID=386

As usual, Rabbi Aryeh Spero has hit the nail on the head. The devotees of cultural Marxism who have so polluted our colleges and universities, our mainstream media, and our entertainment industries are completely devoid of anything resembling courage, character or integrity. It doesn't take any courage for those on the left to continually discriminate against and persecute those of us who call ourselves Christians. We won't retaliate with violence. Heck, most of us won't even talk nasty to them in retaliation (I recognize myself as an exception to that rule)! How much courage does it take to hit a punching bag?

On the other hand, the modern leftist knows that an angry Muslim is very likely to kill you in a most horrific way if even slightly provoked. Those would be some people to step and fetch for! And of course, there's the added bonus that the angry Muslim they were bowing and scraping to hates Christians as much as the leftist, so that's nice too. Hence, a major double standard in the liberal treatment of Christians, as opposed to Muslims.

There are a lot of words to describe this, but "courageous" isn't one of them.

...and liberals are worried about a little wiretappimg?

2007-08-17T23:20:00.000-04:00

www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21831

This is an outstanding column by Mac Johnson. Liberal hypocrisy has never been so clearly illustrated!

u.s. taxpayers are going to fund islamofascism

2007-08-17T11:46:00.000-04:00

www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57119

centerforajustsociety.com/press/article_ideasinaction.asp?pr=2508

Imagine for a moment a purely hypthetical situation. Imagine that Jasper, Indiana--a small, predominantly Catholic town in southern Indiana--had decided to fund a brand new Catholic school. The new school would teach the history and traditions of Catholicism. It would teach the traditional Catholic prayers and rituals to the students. The writings and pronouncements of the various popes throughout history would be part of the curriculum. The students would be taught to respect and support the teachings of the Catholic Church.

Question: Just how loud would the screaming be from the ACLU?

Second question: But it's OK to have all of the above in New York City if you subsitute the word "Islam" for the word "Catholic?"

This school is going to draw from a radically Islamofascist mosque just a few blocks away. Why in the world would those nutty leftists in New York's government think that it's OK to provide training, at taxpayer expense, to people who hate America and who want to kill us?

Answer: Because nutty leftists hate America and want to kill us! It's just that simple.

the iowa "bounce" for huckabee

2007-08-16T13:43:00.000-04:00

www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21970

This is an interesting column about Mike Huckabee and his post-Iowa euphoria. I have no idea if he will be able to parlay this mini-jolt of momentum into something bigger and longer-lasting, but it will be fun to watch. America needs him!

Although I do like Huckabee, I can't help but disagree with him--strongly--on part of his strategy. From the column:

Asked several questions about competitors -- even Democrats such as Obama -- Huckabee said repeatedly that he’d like to give them a break. Is that naïve? Not for a guy who has managed to survive and thrive as a Republican in Arkansas.

But can that same man defeat his heavyweight primary opponents and then be tough enough to go 15 rounds with Hillary Clinton?

I told Gov. Huckabee that having grown up in Mayor Giuliani’s city rather than Huckabee’s state (and like many journalists) I expected to see some blood on the canvas before this was over.

He chuckled at that. “You always want the other guy to draw first blood,” he said. “I won’t put the other guy’s blood on the canvas first.” Can Huckabee allow the Clinton war machine to choose the time and place of battle, to draw first blood? Can any Republican? Given the temperament of the Republican leaders, we will probably find out.

I disagree. That's the strategy that almost cost Pres. Bush the 2004 election. Gov. Huckabee must be willing to confidently--with a smile on his face--illustrate the profound differences between his vision for America and the Democrat vision. He must be specific by naming names and connecting those names to quotes that illustrate the differences. For instance, Huckabee has to call out Hillary Clinton on her socialist beliefs. He must use actual quotes from her, and show America how different he is from a socialist New York senator. Huckabee must be willing to take the gloves off and show the American people why it is so dangerous to elect a Democrat to the presidency, and then he must offer specifics as to how his ideas are superior.

That kind of discussion will put "blood on the canvas." That's OK. We can't be afraid to go after the enemy and to showcase the inferiority of their ideals.

Huckabee can't be president if he's unwilling to do that.

the rise of christianity in sweden

2007-08-16T13:35:00.000-04:00

http://acuf.org/issues/issue89/070805news.asp

God's power will not be denied, even in the most secular regions on Earth. This is a great article.

a tale of two houses, and liberal hypocricy

2007-08-16T13:34:00.000-04:00

http://conservative.org/pressroom/2007/070806twohouses.htm

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then two pictures should be worth a whole Al Gore science fiction movie!

2 corinthians 9

2007-08-16T13:20:00.000-04:00

1-2 If I wrote any more on this relief offering for the poor Christians, I'd be repeating myself. I know you're on board and ready to go. I've been bragging about you all through Macedonia province, telling them, "Achaia province has been ready to go on this since last year." Your enthusiasm by now has spread to most of them.

3-5 Now I'm sending the brothers to make sure you're ready, as I said you would be, so my bragging won't turn out to be just so much hot air. If some Macedonians and I happened to drop in on you and found you weren't prepared, we'd all be pretty red-faced—you and us—for acting so sure of ourselves. So to make sure there will be no slipup, I've recruited these brothers as an advance team to get you and your promised offering all ready before I get there. I want you to have all the time you need to make this offering in your own way. I don't want anything forced or hurried at the last minute.

6-7 Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop. I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give. That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting. God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.

8-11 God can pour on the blessings in astonishing ways so that you're ready for anything and everything, more than just ready to do what needs to be done. As one psalmist puts it, He throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon. His right-living, right-giving ways never run out, never wear out.This most generous God who gives seed to the farmer that becomes bread for your meals is more than extravagant with you. He gives you something you can then give away, which grows into full-formed lives, robust in God, wealthy in every way, so that you can be generous in every way, producing with us great praise to God.

12-15 Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show your gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone. Meanwhile, moved by the extravagance of God in your lives, they'll respond by praying for you in passionate intercession for whatever you need. Thank God for this gift, his gift. No language can praise it enough!

leviticus 26

2007-08-16T13:18:00.000-04:00

1 "Don't make idols for yourselves; don't set up an image or a sacred pillar for yourselves, and don't place a carved stone in your land that you can bow down to in worship. I am God, your God.

2 "Keep my Sabbaths; treat my Sanctuary with reverence. I am God.

3-5 "If you live by my decrees and obediently keep my commandments, I will send the rains in their seasons, the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. You will thresh until the grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting time; you'll have more than enough to eat and will live safe and secure in your land.

6-10 "I'll make the country a place of peace—you'll be able to go to sleep at night without fear; I'll get rid of the wild beasts; I'll eliminate war. You'll chase out your enemies and defeat them: Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand and do away with them. I'll give you my full attention: I'll make sure you prosper, make sure you grow in numbers, and keep my covenant with you in good working order. You'll still be eating from last year's harvest when you have to clean out the barns to make room for the new crops.

11-13 "I'll set up my residence in your neighborhood; I won't avoid or shun you; I'll stroll through your streets. I'll be your God; you'll be my people. I am God, your personal God who rescued you from Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I ripped off the harness of your slavery so that you can move about freely.

14-17 "But if you refuse to obey me and won't observe my commandments, despising my decrees and holding my laws in contempt by your disobedience, making a shambles of my covenant, I'll step in and pour on the trouble: debilitating disease, high fevers, blindness, your life leaking out bit by bit. You'll plant seed but your enemies will eat the crops. I'll turn my back on you and stand by while your enemies defeat you. People who hate you will govern you. You'll run scared even when there's no one chasing you.

18-20 "And if none of this works in getting your attention, I'll discipline you seven times over for your sins. I'll break your strong pride: I'll make the skies above you like a sheet of tin and the ground under you like cast iron. No matter how hard you work, nothing will come of it: No crops out of the ground, no fruit off the trees.

21-22 "If you defy me and refuse to listen, your punishment will be seven times more than your sins: I'll set wild animals on you; they'll rob you of your children, kill your cattle, and decimate your numbers until you'll think you are living in a ghost town.

23-26 "And if even this doesn't work and you refuse my discipline and continue your defiance, then it will be my turn to defy you. I, yes I, will punish you for your sins seven times over: I'll let war loose on you, avenging your breaking of the covenant; when you huddle in your cities for protection, I'll send a deadly epidemic on you and you'll be helpless before your enemies; when I cut off your bread supply, ten women will bake bread in one oven and ration it out. You'll eat, but barely—no one will get enough.

27-35 "And if this—even this!—doesn't work and you still won't listen, still defy me, I'll have had enough and in hot anger will defy you, punishing you for your sins seven times over: famine will be so severe that you'll end up cooking and eating your sons in stews and your daughters in barbecues; I'll smash your sex-and-religion shrines and all the paraphernalia that goes with them, and then stack your corpses and the idol-corpses in the same piles—I'll abhor you; I'll turn your cities into rubble; I'll clean out your sanctuaries; I'll hold my nose at the "pleasing aroma" of your sacrifices. I'll turn your land into a lifeless moonscape—your enemies who come in to take over will be shocked at what they see. I'll scatter you all over the world and keep after you with the point of my sword in your backs. There'll be nothing left in your land, nothing going on in your cities. With you gone and dispersed in the countries of your enemies, the land, empty of you, will finally get a break and enjoy its Sabbath years. All the time it's left there empty, the land will get rest, the Sabbaths it never got when you lived there.

36-39 "As for those among you still alive, I'll give them over to fearful timidity —even the rustle of a leaf will throw them into a panic. They'll run here and there, back and forth, as if running for their lives even though no one is after them, tripping and falling over one another in total confusion. You won't stand a chance against an enemy. You'll perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will eat you up. Any who are left will slowly rot away in the enemy lands. Rot. And all because of their sins, their sins compounded by their ancestors' sins.

40-42 "On the other hand, if they confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, their treacherous betrayal, the defiance that set off my defiance that sent them off into enemy lands; if by some chance they soften their hard hearts and make amends for their sin, I'll remember my covenant with Jacob, I'll remember my covenant with Isaac, and, yes, I'll remember my covenant with Abraham. And I'll remember the land.

43-45 "The land will be empty of them and enjoy its Sabbaths while they're gone. They'll pay for their sins because they refused my laws and treated my decrees with contempt. But in spite of their behavior, while they are among their enemies I won't reject or abhor or destroy them completely. I won't break my covenant with them: I am God, their God. For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I, with all the nations watching, brought out of Egypt in order to be their God. I am God."

46 These are the decrees, laws, and instructions that God established between himself and the People of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai.

exposing liberal lies and the liberaliars who tell them is the easiest job in the world!

2007-08-16T11:58:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57184

There isn't anyone in America any better than Ann Coulter at exposing liberal dishonesty. She always documents the facts that show the lie for what it is. This column is outstanding!

will the real mitt romney please stand up

2007-08-16T11:30:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57174

1994: "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. ... I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, we should sustain and support it, and I sustain and support that law and the right of a woman to make that choice." ---Mitt Romney, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate

2002: "So when asked will I preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, I make an unequivocal answer: yes." ---Mitt Romney, Governor Massachusettes

2002: "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose, and have devoted and am dedicated to honoring my word in that regard. ... I'm not going to make any changes that would make it more difficult for a woman to make that choice herself. ...A woman should have the right to make her own choice as to whether or not to have an abortion...I have held that view consistently. ... I do not take the position of a pro-life candidate. I'm in favor of preserving and protecting a woman's right to choose." ---Mitt Romney, Governor

2007: "I never called myself pro-choice. I never allowed myself to use the word 'pro-choice,' because I didn't feel I was pro-choice. I would protect the law, I said, as it was, but I wasn't pro-choice."---Mitt Romney, GOP Presidential Candidate

2007: "My greatest mistake was when I first ran for office being deeply opposed to abortion but saying I'd support the current law, which was pro-choice and effectively a pro-choice position. That was just wrong. I never said that I was pro-choice." ---Mitt Romney, GOP Candidate Desparately Trolling For Conservative Votes

You know, I personally don't care at this point whether Mitt Romney is pro-choice or pro-life. It doesn't matter any more. The point is moot. What I care about is the fact that Mitt Romney took two diametrically-opposed positions on a very important issue well past the point of maturation in his adult life.

Personal disclosure---When I graduated from college and was in my 20's, I was staunchly pro-choice. I believed all of the conventional wisdom about abortion being a matter of choice for the woman, and "it's her body and none of my business" and "it's not a baby, it's a blob of tissue" and "pro-life people are crazy--it's just a fetus they're getting hysterical over." As I matured and actually began to study various public policy/cultural issues, I realized that I was wrong and I "evolved" (I hate that phrase!) to my present pro-life/anti-abortion position.

That's different than what Romney did. Mitt Romney was way past his 20's when he ran for the Senate. He needed votes from liberal Massachusettes voters, so he espoused pro-choice positions. Fast forward to 2007. Romney is running for President, and he needs conservatives to vote for him. Oui La! Romney is now Mr. Pro-Life!

I don't care what Romney believes. I do care that his beliefs seem to change according to who he needs votes from. Mitt Romney is nothing more than John Kerry with a strong jaw!

Prediction: If the GOP nominates Romney to run for President, the GOP will lose the conservative base. A conservative 3rd party candidate will emerge and siphon as much as 3% of the vote away from Romney. Many conservatives will simply stay home. Say hello to Pres. Clinton (or possibly Gore) with 49% of the popular vote. Congratulations GOP! How does that taste!

more about huckabee

2007-08-15T13:36:00.000-04:00

townhall.com/columnists/MaggieGallagher/
2007/08/15/huckabees_fifteen_minutes?page=1

From the article linked above:

Why isn't a fabulous campaigner like Huckabee in the first tier of candidates?

Everyone knows the answer: money. In this year's second quarter, Rudy Giuliani raised $17 million and spent $11 million; Mitt Romney raised almost $14 million and spent close to $21 million. Even McCain, his campaign in a tailspin, raised over $11 million (and spent $13 million). Huckabee? He raised $763,610 and spent $702,622.

In Iowa, Huckabee tried to turn his immense underdog status into an advantage: "I can't buy you -- I don't have the money," Huckabee told Iowa straw poll voters. Then he frowned, "I can't even rent you."

But the failure of such a talented pol to fund his campaign tells a not-so-funny tale of the great gaping hole in the center of the so-called movement of Christian conservatives into politics: They do not yet have the networks, or the structures, to finance a champion of their own.
And that explains a lot about why so many social conservatives, after contributing to so many electoral victories, still feel like the unloved stepchild of GOP politics -- beggars can't be choosers.

I don't necessarily agree with the above sentiments, but I understand them. It is true that there isn't one central organization that is channeling money and support to Christian conservative candidates, but that's not necessarily a disadvantage.

When the horrific "comprehensive immigration reform bill" came up for debate in the Senate, was there one central organization that pushed for its defeat? No. Ordinary people decided to stand up and be heard on the issue and they acted. Loudly! The Senate heard from conservatives and moderate Democrats and blacks and whites and men and women and young people and old people and even an amazing number of Hispanic-Americans who became citizens legally. In other words, the outcry cut across most political lines. Nobody organized all of that hullabaloo. Yes, conservative talk radio played a part, but a large number of the people who called and wrote to their Senators never listen to conservative talk radio. They aren't "Rush Babies" or "Ditto-Heads." Americans, and lots of them, made their voices heard and created change.

That's how Mike Huckabee will have to win the presidency. Faithful, church-going Christians will have to stand up and make their voices heard. They will have to make the decision to support Huckabee with their time, their talents, their treasures, their voices and their prayers. And they will have to vote for him in the primaries.

Let me tell you something right now. I wasn't always a Huckabee supporter. Some of his tax decisions leave me a little unimpressed, and I worry about his lack of experience in military and foreign affairs. As I ponder this situation, though, I keep coming back to a few basic truths. Huckabee is committed to the Fair Tax, and that's good for America. Huckabee is solidly committed to the sanctity of life and the preservation of the traditional family, and that's good for America. Huckabee is rock solid in his fight against the forces of cultural Marxism, and America needs a man like that in the White House. Huckabee is committed to securing America's borders as the first step in sensible immigration reform, and that's good for America. Huckabee believes that the Constitution says what it means and means what it says, and that any talk of a "living constitution" is a bunch of hogwash. He is committed to appointing federal judges who share that philosophy, and that's good for America. Huckabee is committed to free market capitalism and that is good for America. Huckabee believes in the same ideals that Pres. Reagan believed in: rugged individualism, the superiority of the "American Way" and the belief that our right to life, liberty and property come from God and can't be taken away from us by any human. That's good for America!

Please support Mike Huckabee with your prayers. We haven't had a president who is a principled conservative and who openly loves and worships God and His Son Jesus Christ since Ronald Reagan. America needs just such a man today.

today on easter people--the travels of paul

2007-08-15T13:28:00.001-04:00

http://easterpeople.blogspot.com/2007/08/pauls-travels-cont.html

let's talk about mike huckabee

2007-08-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

townhall.com/columnists/MichaelMedved/2007/08/15/
huckabee_he_could_be_the_real_deal

Mitt Romney ran away with the recently completed Iowa straw poll, and of course that made news. What didn't make as much news was the "surprising" (to some people anyway) finish of Mike Huckabee. He finished 2nd to Romney with 18% of the votes. I hope that this is the boost he needs.

I said a long time ago that Fred Thompson, if he entered the race, would make an interesting candidate. His conservative credentials are better than any of the 3 so-called front runners (Rudy McRomney) and he's more likable than any of the three. But he still hasn't announced.

I like Thompson, but there's no guarantee that he will run or, if he runs, that he will do any good. It's time for Christian conservatives--the base of the GOP--to make a decision. Mike Huckabee had a solid showing in Iowa. He polls well every time he speaks in public, because his message resonates with true Reagan conservatives. He has executive experience, and he brings an "outside-the-Beltway" mentality to the job that I think is desperately needed.

Mike Huckabee would make a good president. I don't agree with him on 100% of the issues, but I don't think that we can afford to hold out for perfection. It's time for Christian conservatives to rally around this guy.

good riddance to karl rove

2007-08-14T14:22:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57142

The MSM, and even conservative media outlets like WorldNetDaily, says that Karl Rove was "the architect" behind Pres. Bush's wins in 2000 and 2004. Nonsense! Grassroots conservatives organized and joined together to defeat a couple of Democrat candidates that we found unacceptable--Al Gore and John Kerry. Rove didn't do anything to convince conservatives that having a couple of leftist socialists elected president was a bad idea. In fact, I would say that Rove was the man responsible for nearly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in both elections.

In 2000, Bush ran against the incumbent V.P. Gore served in an administration that, in two consecutive elections, had more people vote against them than for them. This was not a popular administration! Gore himself was something of a "dork step-brother" to Bill Clinton. Same socialist policies but none of the charm or charisma. Bush should have hammered him in the election! Instead, Bush actually won fewer popular votes than the "geek!"

In 2004, the Democrats ran a man who is absolutely unelectable. Even Democrats don't like Kerry. In the debates, Bush performed as if he had money bet on a Kerry victory. He never went after Kerry on the man's obvious weaknesses. Bush played around and almost lost that election to a man whose biggest accomplishment is marrying well!

All the while, Rove/Bush said all the right things to Christian conservatives and did all the wrong things. Their actions betrayed their true contempt for grassroots conservatives. That strategy cost the GOP both houses of Congress in 2006.

Karl Rove is "The Architect?" Yes he is--the architect of two almost losses in presidential elections that should have been big wins, and the architect of the landslide GOP defeat in 2006. That's nothing to be proud of!

The good news? The GOP now has a chance for redemption, because the grassroots conservatives are begging for change. If the national GOP listens to the base (and that's not a sure thing, by any means) we will see a landslide for the Republicans in 2008. If the GOP continues to follow the Rove strategy, we'll watch Pres. Hillary Clinton taking the oath of office in January 2009, and "First Bubba" Bill Clinton trolling for dates among the interns.

leviticus 25

2007-08-14T14:16:00.000-04:00

1 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. 6 Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you—for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, 7 as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.

8 " 'Count off seven sabbaths of years—seven times seven years—so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. 9 Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. 10 Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. 11 The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended vines. 12 For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.

13 " 'In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property.

14 " 'If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. 15 You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. 16 When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of crops. 17 Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God.

18 " 'Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. 19 Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. 20 You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" 21 I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. 22 While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in.

23 " 'The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. 24 Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.

25 " 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. 26 If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, 27 he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property. 28 But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.

29 " 'If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it. 30 If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee. 31 But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.
32 " 'The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. 33 So the property of the Levites is redeemable—that is, a house sold in any town they hold—and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. 34 But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.

35 " 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. 36 Do not take interest of any kind [a] from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. 37 You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit. 38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

39 " 'If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. 40 He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of Jubilee. 41 Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. 42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. 43 Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.

44 " 'Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. 45 You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. 46 You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly.

47 " 'If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, 48 he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: 49 An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself. 50 He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. 51 If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. 52 If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. 53 He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly.

54 " 'Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, 55 for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

2 corinthians 8

2007-08-14T14:14:00.000-04:00

1 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will. 6 So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us[a]—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10 And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.

13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15 as it is written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little."[b]

16 I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative. 18 And we are sending along with him the brother who is praised by all the churches for his service to the gospel. 19 What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help. 20 We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift. 21 For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.

22 In addition, we are sending with them our brother who has often proved to us in many ways that he is zealous, and now even more so because of his great confidence in you. 23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brothers, they are representatives of the churches and an honor to Christ. 24 Therefore show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our pride in you, so that the churches can see it.

please visit easter people

2007-08-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

http://easterpeople.blogspot.com

why are liberals so dedicated to murdering babies?

2007-08-13T21:11:00.000-04:00

Look back to my post from yesterday and read the article I linked to. The national organization that all abortion doctors (professional baby killers) belong to has issued a protocol for dealing with the ban on partial birth abortion. Professional baby killers are now supposed to give a lethal injection to all unborn babies past the 20 week mark so that they are delivered dead. Then they can go ahead and throw the dead baby in the trash. I have no problem saying that, if this news doesn't horrify you, then you have no soul!

I have a few questions for the soulless ghouls in my reading audience who think all of this is OK:

1. Why is a lethal injection "cruel and unusual punishment" when it is administered to a murderer or a rapist on Death Row, but it's perfectly OK if it is a baby that is being killed?

2. By administering a "lethal" injection, the professional baby killer is acknowledging that he is killing a living, breathing human. Let's have no more talk of the unborn baby being no more than a blob of tissue.

3. Have any of you ever read what the Bible has to say about people who harm children? It's not good!

4. How in the world could a person sleep at night after performing one of these grisly procedures?

I hope that all of you will think about this as the various candidates for elective office campaign during the next year. Any candidate who doesn't recognize the sanctity of human life as one of the most vital issues facing our nation is not qualified to hold office.

there is no greater example of the depravity of liberalism than abortion

2007-08-12T20:48:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57117

One of the strategies of the modern cultural Marxist, as they seek to destroy the America of our fathers, is the deconstruction of language. Simply put, if the traditional meaning of words can be twisted and changed, to the point where they mean something else entirely, then it becomes easier to convince otherwise moral people to support immoral practices.

Abortion is a great example. The cold hard truth is that abortion is the killing of an unborn baby. Partial birth abortion is the killing of a baby that has just been born. That's the truth, and it is beyond debate. Period. End of discussion.

Of course, the modern leftist doesn't see it that way. They call abortion "the removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy," or "the termination of pregnancy and expulsion of an embryo or of a fetus that is incapable of survival." Those definitions are from the dictionary, which shows that cultural Marxism has taken complete control of our language.

I never understood why modern liberals were so relentless in their promotion of abortion. They have gone way past the point of saying that abortion is something better left between a woman and her doctor. They have "evolved" to the point where they actively promote abortion, and are seeking ways to make abortion more common. As I have read more and more about cultural Marxism, I think that I have a better handle on why the modern leftist feels this way. A society that has been desensitized to the murder of babies will be easier manipulate as the left seeks to impose their atheistic, socialist agenda on the majority.

Partial-birth abortion is a particularly grisly procedure. A living, breathing, feeling baby is delivered, at which point the doctor punches a hole in the baby's skull, sucks the brains out and collapses the skull. The dead baby is then thrown into a trash can. IS THAT WHAT CIVILIZED SOCIETIES TOLERATE AS THEY "EVOLVE?"

Well, the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court attempted to outlaw this barbaric procedure. Congress passed a federal ban on partial-birth abortion, and, after the forces of the left filed their very predictable lawsuit, the Supreme Court upheld the ban.

Guess what? As it says in the article that I linked to above, baby killing doctors are now giving lethal injections to the unborn babies before performing a partial birth abortion so that there is no possibility of a live birth. The baby is born dead before the doctor performs the procedure.

This just makes me want to throw up! The left has given up any attempt at disguising their intentions. They don't give two hoots about health care for women or anything else. They just love to kill babies! How in the world have we progressed to a point in America where these developments don't spark a national outrage?

I have much more to say about all of this, but I have a sick child and a sick wife that need my attention right now, so that's all for tonight. I guess if I was a liberal I would just kill them so that they don't inconvenience me! Thank goodness for them I am a Christian conservative!

liberalism is philosophically un-american

2007-08-11T22:17:00.000-04:00

www.caucusforamerica.com/opinion.art.php?pID=367

This is another excellent article written by Rabbi Aryeh Spero. It was originally printed in Human Events last February.

As I read the article, I was reminded of a quote I read from Mike Evans (www.beyondiraq.com);

Liberals have a difficult time seeing moral issues clearly because most of them are moral relavists. They reject absolute standards of good and evil or right and wrong. In their worldview, man is perfectable, human nature is on a path toward enlightenment, and the concept of original sin is primitive. They have fallen in love with appeasement because they do not believe in evil and thus refuse to confront it.

Truer words were never spoken.

put on God's armor

2007-08-11T22:08:00.000-04:00

Ephesians 6:10-18

10 Finally, let the Lord make you strong. Depend on his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God's armor. Then you can stand firm against the devil's evil plans. 12 Our fight is not against human beings. It is against the rulers, the authorities and the powers of this dark world. It is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly world.
13 So put on all of God's armor. Evil days will come. But you will be able to stand up to anything. And after you have done everything you can, you will still be standing.
14 So stand firm. Put the belt of truth around your waist. Put the armor of godliness on your chest. 15 Wear on your feet what will prepare you to tell the good news of peace. 16 Also, pick up the shield of faith. With it you can put out all of the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Put on the helmet of salvation. And take the sword of the Holy Spirit. The sword is God's word.
18 At all times, pray by the power of the Spirit. Pray all kinds of prayers. Be watchful, so that you can pray. Always keep on praying for all of God's people.

wisdom from roland s. martin

2007-08-11T21:30:00.000-04:00

http://featurepage.creators.com/opinion/roland-martin.html

After I posted my opinions yesterday concerning the black murder rate, I was surprised to read a newspaper column today that echoed many of the same beliefs that I stated. I was not surprised to find those opinions coming from Roland S. Martin.

I have been a fan of Martin for quite some time. My impression is that, politically, he's pretty far to the left of where I am on the political spectrum (but then, so is Pres. Bush), but that doesn't get in the way of me being a fan. Mr. Martin is a talented writer and his columns show him to be a man of rare wisdom and intellect. Rare, that is, as one looks about the landscape that is the mainstream media.

Mr. Martin recognizes the truth, and he is not afraid to speak it. Black poverty/crime/murder rates/incarceration is not the fault of white racism. As Mr. Martin so plainly states:

And let me go ahead and say: Don't bother writing me about how the white man has led brothers to commit these heinous crimes.....People make mistakes, of course. But lining three college students against a wall, putting a gun to the back of their heads and pulling the trigger has nothing to do with white folks. Racism is alive and well in America, but there isn't a white person who has ever made me sell drugs, rape a young girl or point a gun at another black person and snuff his or her life out. This is about the lack of self-respect and utter self-hatred that permeates our communities. These thugs are doing to black folks what the Ku Klux Klan could never do: continually rob us of the best and the brightest.

That's pretty plain. It's absolutely accurate as well. Does Mr. Martin have a solution to the holocaust that is going on in black neighborhoods? Yes he does.

1. Honest, hard-working blacks in these neighborhoods all across America have got to stand up against the evil in their midst and defeat it.
It's time to see black residents in Newark — and folks in Chicago, Oakland, Calif., St. Louis, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and any other predominantly black city — organize citizen patrols. Partner with the police by turning in those who are doing wrong. They should be organizing block clubs and handing out clipboards so folks can record the license plates of drug dealers — and users — who destroy the fabric of our communities. It's time to see residents end this nonsense about not snitching and collectively say, "We're telling who did it, and we don't care who is listening!"

2. Black churches and civil rights organizations all across America have to forget about the candlelight vigils and the hand wringing/navel gazing that has become all too common over the last 50 years, and they need to take concrete action.
Black churches in Newark and elsewhere that believe in the power of God should do what the Rev. James Meeks is doing in Chicago's Roseland community and put prayer teams on EVERY block in the area and pray with residents. But also, offer them drug counseling. Put your money and your actions where your God is.....Civil rights activists should forget the marches and candlelight vigils and go to Newark, call a men's meeting and tell them, "Most of the crime is being committed by men, mostly young black men. The cops can't solve this. The elected officials can't solve this. Only WE can solve this!"
Tough love must be mixed with tough talk and tough action. Enough with news conferences. Enough with spreading the blame. Black communities nationwide are in a crisis, and all we are responding with is righteous indignation. Turning your head isn't the answer. Only getting off your butt and committing yourself to action will do.

3. Black women have to rise up and demand accountability from the men in their families and their neighborhoods.
Every single mother who has had to bear the burden of raising a young black boy alone should look him in the eye and say, "I know you didn't know your daddy. I know he wasn't here. But you better not do to some other girl what he did to me! If you get her pregnant, you better get a job and raise that child to the best of your abilities!"
The active participation of a man — not a sperm donor — in the lives of these young boys is the best deterrent to the streets swallowing them up.

Government can't solve this problem. Liberal politicians can't solve this problem. Heck, there are an awful lot of liberal politicians who don't even want to solve the problem. Chaos equals power for liberal politicians. The solution to the problems facing ALL Americans is really quite simple. If we love God with our entire beings, and we rely on God and have faith in God in all situations, and we seek His guidance, and we ask Him to enable us to love others as much as we love ourselves, then God will deliver us from evil.

cultural marxism and race

2007-08-10T21:51:00.000-04:00

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708100473

WASHINGTON -- Nearly half of the nation's murder victims in 2005 were black, and the number of black men who were slain is on the rise.

A majority of the black murder victims were relatively young -- ages 17 to 29, the Justice Department said in a study released Thursday.

The department's Bureau of Justice Statistics report offers a snapshot of racial disparities among violent-crime victims. Black people represented about 13 percent of the U.S. population in 2005, the latest data available, but were the victims of 49 percent of murders and 15 percent of rapes, assaults and other nonfatal violent crimes nationwide.

Most of the black murder victims -- 93 percent -- were killed by other black people, the study found. About 85 percent of white victims were slain by other white people.

National Urban League President Marc Morial, a former mayor of New Orleans, said the trend would require changes in public education and a revival of federal summer jobs programs for economically disadvantaged young people.

"Illegal drugs, easy access to handguns, and young men who feel locked out of economic opportunity is what these statistics reflect," Morial said.

Those are the opening paragraphs of the article I linked to above. I have spent a lot of time chronicling the rise of cultural Marxism (political correctness) in America, and this article is a crystal-clear illustration of what I have been talking about.

After reading those paragraphs, it is self-evident that the author of the article (Lara Jakes Jordan of the Associated Press) has some definite opinions about the murder rate among blacks. She believes:

1. There is something "wrong" with a society that "allows" crime rates to be "bigoted." Crime rates, as a matter of "fairness," must correlate with demographics. In other words, if blacks make up 13% of American society, but constitute 43% of America's murder victims, America must be racist.

2. Gun control, legalization of drugs, and more government handouts to blacks would solve this "injustice."

Friends, this is cultural Marxism at its finest. This is also a great example of what passes for "journalism" these days. No wonder newspaper circulation is down! Ms. Jakes made absolutely no attempt to write a balanced story. She presented exactly ZERO information that would run counter to the agenda she was pushing with the story. In her world, the debate is over and the issue is settled. America is a racist nation that will never let blacks succeed, so the government (under Marxist control) must step in to achieve "justice." Implicit in that view is the notion that blacks are incapable of overcoming obstacles on their own. That's why they "need" the care offered to them on the Plantation of Political Correctness by Mommy and Daddy Socialist Government.

The silver lining here is that Ms. Jakes offers us a teachable moment with her leftist screed. Principled conservatism offers the factual counterpoint to Ms. Jakes' fable. Here are the facts (Warning: The facts I am about to present might very well make you angry. That's OK. It's good to get angry. Just understand that I will only deal in facts.).

1. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a four-term U.S. Senator, once said, “From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century Eastern seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future -- that community asks for and gets chaos.” Well, almost 70% of all black children living in the United States live in a single-parent home, and the vast majority of those homes are headed by women. In other words--there aren't any positive male role models in the vast majority of black families in America today.

2. Children who live absent from their biological fathers, on average, are far more likely to be poor, experience educational, health, emotional and psychological problems, be victims of child abuse, and engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their married, biological mother and father. The numbers are so far apart that there is no comparison. We know that people who engage in criminal behavior are more likely to be murdered than are those who stay away from crime, so it is fair to say that the single-parent family contributes to the murder rate.

3. Roughly half of all murder victims are black, and over 90% of those black murder victims were killed by fellow blacks. Less than 7% of all of those black murder victims were killed by white people.

4. The Justice Department Study showed that poor blacks were in more danger of being murdered than higher-income blacks.

5. In 1960, the American murder rate was 5 per 100,000 population. By 1970, that number had climbed to almost 8 per 100,000 population, and the number stood at 10 per 100,000 by 1975. Wasn't that the era of LBJ's Great Society? Didn't government spending on welfare programs for minorities skyrocket during that era? I don't care what the National Urban League says--more government spending is NOT the answer.

Let's put all of those facts together and draw some conclusions. As a Christian conservative, I desperately want that murder rate to come down. I want lives to be saved in all of America's neighborhoods. So---how do we solve the murder problem?

1. Black people need to settle down and stop shooting each other. That would be a positive first step.

2. Black people need to get a handle on their sexual urges, and stop the practice of producing millions of babies each year out of wedlock.

3. White people need to stop letting the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons make us feel guilty about this problem. White people aren't killing black people. Black people are killing black people.

4. ALL OF US---black, white, yellow, red, brown---need to drop to our knees and ask God to forgive us for hating our neighbor, and to change our hearts so that we would lose the urge to kill each other.

Do you wish to avoid becoming a murder victim? Do you wish to avoid having one of your children murdered? You can greatly reduce the chances of becoming a statistic if you follow some common sense advice:

1. Stay in school and graduate from high school.
2. Abstain from sex until you are married.
3. Don't get married until after you turn 21. Marriages between people younger than 21 are twice as likely to end in divorce.
4. Stay married. Don't divorce, except in cases of obvious danger. Divorce creates poverty, and poverty creates murder victims.
5. Vote for conservative politicians who will end the Great Society-type social programs. They have caused our society to crumble, they have caused poverty to become "genetic," and they have contributed to crime of all sorts. Vote for a return to self-reliance.

Our problems become a lot easier to solve when viewed in the cold light of conservative truth.

2 corinthians 7

2007-08-09T13:01:00.000-04:00

1 Dear friends, we have these promises from God. So let us make ourselves pure from everything that pollutes our bodies and spirits. Let us be completely holy. We want to honor God.

2 Make room for us in your hearts. We haven't done anything wrong to anyone. We haven't caused anyone to sin. We haven't taken advantage of anyone.

3 I don't say this to judge you. I have told you before that you have an important place in our hearts. We would live or die with you. 4 I have great faith in you. I am very proud of you. I am very happy. Even with all our troubles, my joy has no limit.

5 When I came to Macedonia, my body wasn't able to rest. I was attacked no matter where I went. I had battles on the outside and fears on the inside.

6 But God comforts those who are sad. He comforted me when Titus came. 7 I was comforted not only when he came but also by the comfort you had given him. He told me how much you longed for me. He told me about your deep sadness and concern for me. That made my joy greater than ever.

8 Even if my letter made you sad, I'm not sorry I sent it. At first I was sorry. I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while. 9 Now I am happy. I'm not happy because you were made sad. I'm happy because your sadness led you to turn away from your sins. You became sad just as God wanted you to. So you were not hurt in any way by us.

10 Godly sadness causes us to turn away from our sins and be saved. And we are certainly not sorry about that! But worldly sadness brings death.

11 Look at what that godly sadness has produced in you. You are working hard to clear yourselves. You are angry and alarmed. You are longing to see me. You are concerned. You are ready to make sure that the right thing is done. In every way you have proved that you are not guilty in that matter.

12 So even though I wrote to you, it wasn't because of the one who did the wrong. It wasn't because of the one who was hurt. Instead, I wrote you so that in the sight of God you could see for yourselves how faithful you are to us. 13 All of that cheers us up. We were also very glad to see how happy Titus was. You have all renewed his spirit. 14 I had bragged about you to him. And you have not let me down. Everything we said to you was true. In the same way, our bragging about you to Titus has also turned out to be true. 15 His love for you is even greater when he remembers that you all obeyed his teaching. You received him with fear and trembling.

16 I am glad I can have complete faith in you.

leviticus 24

2007-08-09T12:59:00.000-04:00

1-4 God spoke to Moses: "Order the People of Israel to bring you virgin olive oil for light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Aaron is in charge of keeping these lamps burning in front of the curtain that screens The Testimony in the Tent of Meeting from evening to morning continually before God. This is a perpetual decree down through the generations. Aaron is responsible for keeping the lamps burning continually on the Lampstand of pure gold before God.

5-9 "Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using about four quarts of flour to a loaf. Arrange them in two rows of six each on the Table of pure gold before God. Along each row spread pure incense, marking the bread as a memorial; it is a gift to God. Regularly, every Sabbath, this bread is to be set before God, a perpetual covenantal response from Israel. The bread then goes to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a Holy Place. It is their most holy share from the gifts to God. This is a perpetual decree."

10-12 One day the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites. A fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of God and cursed. They brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put him in custody waiting for God's will to be revealed to them.

13-16 Then God spoke to Moses: "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. Have all those who heard him place their hands on his head; then have the entire congregation stone him. Then tell the Israelites, Anyone who curses God will be held accountable; anyone who blasphemes the Name of God must be put to death. The entire congregation must stone him. It makes no difference whether he is a foreigner or a native, if he blasphemes the Name, he will be put to death.

17-22 "Anyone who hits and kills a fellow human must be put to death. Anyone who kills someone's animal must make it good—a life for a life. Anyone who injures his neighbor will get back the same as he gave: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. What he did to hurt that person will be done to him. Anyone who hits and kills an animal must make it good, but whoever hits and kills a fellow human will be put to death. And no double standards: the same rule goes for foreigners and natives. I am God, your God."

23 Moses then spoke to the People of Israel. They brought the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The People of Israel followed the orders God had given Moses.

report from the u.s. senate committee on environment and public works

2007-08-09T10:45:00.000-04:00

Ilulissat, Greenland – The July 27-29, 2007 U.S. Senate trip to Greenland to investigate fears of a glacier meltdown revealed an Arctic land where current climatic conditions are neither alarming nor linked to a rise in man-made carbon dioxide emissions, according to many of the latest peer-reviewed scientific findings. Recent research has found that Greenland has been warming since the 1880’s, but since 1955, temperature averages at Greenland stations have been colder than the period between 1881-1955. http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=175B568A-802A-23AD-4C69-9BDD978FB3CD

This is a very interesting report, and it proves conclusively that the world's scientific community is NOT UNANIMOUS in their beliefs concerning man-made global warming, and that the debate is not over. In fact, this report documents peer-reviewed research (for those of you who pay attention to that sort of thing) that shows that global warming is NOT man-made. Among the findings:

1) A 2006 study by Danish researchers from Aarhus University found that “Greenland’s glaciers have been shrinking for the past century, suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming.” (LINK)

2) A 2006 study by a team of scientists led by Petr Chylek of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Space and Remote Sensing Sciences found the rate of warming in 1920-1930 was about 50% higher than that in 1995-2005, suggesting carbon dioxide ‘could not be the cause’ of warming. (LINK)

3) An October 2005 study in the journal Science found Greenland’s higher elevation interior ice sheet growing while lower elevations ice is thinning. (LINK) & (LINK to Journal Science)

4) A February 8, 2007 peer-reviewed paper published in Science found two of Greenland’s largest glaciers have “suddenly slowed, bringing the rate of melting last year down to near the previous rate,” according to the New York Times blog (2-8-07). (LINK)

5) A July 6, 2007 study published in the journal Science about Greenland by an international team of scientists found DNA “evidence that suggests the frozen shield covering the immense island survived the Earth’s last period of global warming,” according to a Boston Globe article. (6-6-07) (LINK)

6) Climatologist Dr. Patrick Michaels of University of Virginia and the Virginia State climatologist wrote the scenario promoted by former Vice President Al Gore and others showing Greenland’s ice melting and raising sea levels by 20 feet is not supported anywhere in scientific literature, not even by the United Nations. (LINK)

7) Geologist Morten Hald, an Arctic expert at of the University of Tromso in Norway has also questioned the reliability of computer models predicting a melting Arctic. (LINK)

8) Polar expert Ivan Frolov, the head of Russia’s Science and Research Institute of Arctic and Antarctic Regions, said atmospheric temperature would have to rise much higher to make continental glaciers melt. (LINK)

9) Physicist Dr. Syun-Ichi Akasofu, the former director of both University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute and International Arctic Research Center who has twice been named one of the "1000 Most Cited Scientists," told a Congressional hearing in 2006 that highly publicized climate models showing a disappearing Arctic were nothing more than “science fiction.” (LINK)

There's much, much more contained in this Senate report, but that's a good summary.

Bottom line: Anyone who tells you that "the debate is over" and that "all scientists agree" and that the world as we know it is in danger of imminent destruction due to man-made global warming is lying to you. They are lying to you because they desperately want the American people to accept a Marxist solution to a non-existent crisis for the express purpose of destroying the federalist republic created by the Founding Fathers. Brother Gore's Travelin' Salvation Show and Goat Rodeo has nothing to do with "saving the world." It has everything to do with establishing one-world government under Marxist control. Don't believe the lies.

this tells me everything i need to know about the global warming loons

2007-08-08T19:15:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57043

If you have a theory that is true, you don't need to resort to fascist intimidation tactics to get people to believe. The truth will always win out. Just as the modern left will resort to fascism to silence the opposition.

this is where cultural marxism has taken us

2007-08-08T19:03:00.000-04:00

http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57022

The above link will take you to an account of how San Diego's lesbian fire chief mandated that all of her firemen participate in a Gay Pride parade. Four of the firemen have sued her because of the grotesque harassment they were subjected to during the parade. For the most part, the mainstream media has ignored this story.

Hypothetical question--what if the fire chief had been a heterosexual male? What if that chief had mandated that all of his firemen-and fire women-take part in a fundraiser where each one had to pose in a swimsuit to be photographed for a calendar? What would the media reaction have been?

America's modern left is the very picture of hypocrisy, dishonesty, and immorality. They should be ashamed, but unfortunately the modern left has no shame. I hope that the lawsuit results in a multi-million dollar loss for San Diego. It would be a penalty richly deserved.

dads---10 ways to make time for your children

2007-08-08T14:18:00.000-04:00

From AllProDad.com:

1. Commit to a family mealtime each day.

2. Write your children's activities into your schedule book - in ink!

3. Identify one thing on your weekly schedule you can do without and replace it with kid time.

4. Take one of your children along when you run errands.

5. Volunteer to participate in a regularly scheduled child activity, such as coaching a softball team or helping with a school activity.

6. Identify one children's show on TV that you secretly like to watch and make a point of watching it with your child.

7. Develop an interest in a hobby you and your child can enjoy together.

8. If your work requires that you travel, take one of your children along with you when your business trip can be extended into a long weekend.

9. If your work schedule is flexible, start your work day earlier so you can get home earlier in the afternoon to be with your family.

10. Leave your work, cellular phones and pagers at home when you go on family vacations and outings.