Yesterday’s vote by the Boy Scouts National Council to admit openly gay scouts is another example of liberals gaining positions of power while others went about the day to day operation of helping boys. The decision comes after 61 percent of leaders, parents and members polled nixed the idea with only 34 percent supporting it.
This is standard operating procedure for progressives… to insinuate themselves into leadership positions and inflict their will on the rest of the population. Being ordered about by the elites is, somehow, the antithesis of what America is all about… or at least used to be about.
Many parents have declared their unwillingness to have their sons participate in the scouting program that had been a bastion of clean living American values. However, those in charge of the organization now believe they have been called upon to change this. It seems that these people are now considering homosexual behavior to be part of the clean living code. It also seems that the implied sexual activity is acceptable to them where they may not want they scouts to be similarly involved with their own daughters.
A group of influential pastors and ministers recently met with Vice President Joe Biden at the White House where the Vice President called on them to use their influence to help pass President Barack Obama’s new gun control measures. Of course, these measures include the outlawing of all semi-automatic rifles, outlawing high-capacity magazines, and establishing a government-mandated national gun registration policy, which is subtly identified as “Universal Background Checks.” These measures were recently defeated in the US Senate, so now the White House is calling on the clergy to help sell this gun grab to America’s churches.
Here is how Breitbart.com covers the story: “Vice President Joe Biden wants pastors, rabbis and nuns to tell their flocks that enacting gun control is the moral thing to do. But another vote may have to wait until Congress wraps up work on an immigration overhaul.
“Biden met for two-and-a-half hours Monday with more than a dozen leaders from various faith communities –Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh, to name a few. Both Biden and the faith leaders encouraged each other not to give up on what has been an arduous and thus far fruitless effort by Biden and President Barack Obama to pass new gun laws in the wake of December’s schoolhouse shooting in Connecticut.
This past weekend, Virginia Republicans made a historical choice in selecting E.W. Jackson as their candidate to run for Lieutenant Governor this fall. For those not familiar with politics in the Old Dominion, this is something critics would say is most unusual. But then, as they say, no one ever erected a statue to critics.
To those people, the fact that Jackson is a former Marine and graduate of Harvard Law School, is overshadowed by the fact that he is a black man. They got all excited when Doug Wilder was elected Governor… he, himself said it was the time when “hell froze over”. But, when such a man is nominated by Republicans, the move is viewed with cynicism and his racial credentials are questioned.
Words are inadequate to describe the tragedy in Moore, OK. People lost their homes, their businesses and, worst of all, their children. A lot could be said that is just speculation, but there are some observations that come to mind.
The first is that the people of that area are in need of our sincere prayers, not just a quick “bless the people in Oklahoma”. Prayer is still the most powerful resource we have. We have seen that there are some things we cannot control… some things not even the government cannot protect us from.
The second thing is something we heard from a national commentator a week or so back. News pictures from just after the tornado tore through the town, people came out of their storm cellars and pitched in to find rescue the trapped and injured. There were no police or firemen, no National Guardsmen. They could not get there. This is not to diminish the value of those fine public servants who take their oaths seriously, but they cannot be everywhere.
There’s an elephant in the living room. Only it isn’t an elephant, and it isn’t in the living room. It’s a golden calf, and it’s in our baptismal font and our pulpit and our sanctuary and our Sunday School class and our Bible study group and everywhere else we worship and serve God, because, truth be told, it’s in our hearts.
To put it bluntly: We, the church of Jesus Christ, have an idol.
It’s called ministry.
Ministry?
Yes, ministry: busying ourselves with the things of God. Granted, ministry seems very un-idol-like. But then, subtlety is the hallmark of seductive sins. It has been the devil’s most effective stratagem since the beginning of time: Get the sin to seem no sin. Better, get it to seem like service to God. Better still, get it to be service to God. Sins don’t get more subtle than that, nor does idolatry seem like idolatry when we’re busy doing things God instructed us to do. It seems like true Christianity, like pure and undefiled religion.
Obama’s liberation theology preaching pastor, Jeremiah Wright is well known for his comment that “America’s chickens are coming home to roost”. Scandals of all sorts are popping up around the District of Columbia quicker than the “bimbo eruptions” of the Clinton administration. It could well be that Barack Hussein Obama’s chickens are coming home to roost.
Proverbs 28:13 tells us, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” We have seen all sorts of dereliction of presidential responsibilities. We have seen members of his administration – including cabinet members – acting against the best interests of the American people for years. Then we have seen them lie about it to cover their actions and nefarious motives. It’s hard to keep up with all the scandals without a scorecard.
The deaths of four Americans in Bengahzi, Libya is the big one that started it off. It is obvious to anyone who has been paying attention that we can have no confidence at all in anything we are told by the regime. Those of us who have not been blinded by the president’s brilliance have known all along that what we were told and what was going on were two entirely different things. Now, what was known by some is being laid bare for all to see.
Just days after Barack Hussein Obama warned freshly minted graduates that they should ignore the voices telling them tyranny was just around the corner… we turned the corner. The IRS admitted to using extra scrutiny when analyzing tea party and patriot groups and holding up their applications for non-profit status. Of course the regime expected kudos for being “open” about this discovery of illegal behavior on the part of the most brutal collection agency in the world.
As with so many stories coming from this prevaricating president, we are finding there is so much more to the story than the formerly main stream media is telling us. The first reports were about the tea party and patriots, but it wasn’t long before the focus was expanded to groups promoting the constitution and limited government. Basically they put non-profit status applications on the slow track and took the opportunity to dig into all sorts of information for which they had neither legitimate use, nor right to collect.
By now, this is old news. Then we are given the song and dance about how it was just some low level employees who ran amok. Lois Lerner, who runs the department that approves these applications, wanted us to believe she just found out and reported it immediately. The reality is that IRS bigwigs knew this was going on as far back as 2010.
[Editor's note: Much of today's column may be controversial. However, as we have seen many events in recent years that cause us to wonder what is happening to our country, many of us have had ideas that we were not getting the full story. I would suggest that if even a portion of this speculation has a basis in reality, we have some real problems.]
The title of today’s column, “There Is A Conspiracy,” is a direct quote from Ezekiel 22:25. In this passage, God instructed Ezekiel to blow the whistle on the conspiracy of Israel’s prophets to deny people truth, to devour people’s souls, to defraud people’s substance, and to destroy people’s lives. I dare say this conspiracy is still alive and well today. Many pastors and religious leaders in 2013 America are as guilty of Ezekiel’s charges as were Israel’s ancient prophets.
However, use the word “conspiracy” today and even most Christians will roll their eyes in disbelief. And, of course, the mainstream media is so paranoid of the word conspiracy that one has to speculate that the reason for this aversion to objectively dealing with the subject is simply due to the fact that they are among the co-conspirators.
But once in awhile, someone in the media has the guts to broach the subject of conspiracy. My friends at TruthAlliance.net recently covered a report written by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine. Taibbi begins his report saying, “Conspiracy theorists of the world, believers in the hidden hands of the Rothschilds and the Masons and the Illuminati, we skeptics owe you an apology. You were right. The players may be a little different, but your basic premise is correct: The world is a rigged game. We found this out in recent months, when a series of related corruption stories spilled out of the financial sector, suggesting the world’s largest banks may be fixing the prices of, well, just about everything.”
I guess it’s human nature to sit around and complain about how bad things are. It certainly is easier than getting up off the couch and doing something about a problem. It is less risky to fuss and fume than to join the battle. This is why we hear the all-to-common refrain, “somebody ought to do something about…” whatever the problem being discussed is.
How often have each of us seen something going on and commented “why doesn’t somebody say something?” or “why doesn’t somebody do something?” We Americans have become accustomed to letting someone else take care of our problems. That’s why we have the government, some would say, but as Dr. Phil would say, “How’s that workin’ out for you?”
I’m reminded of a routine by the late comedian, Stanley Myron Handelman, where he talked about standing in line at a butcher shop with a lady in front of him who ordered some meat and had someone cut in front of her and take her order. When she tried to get back in line, she was pushed to the ground. Handelman’s resonse: “I was getting madder by the minute”.
The lady who contributed credibility to the McCain campaign gave a stem winder of a speech at the recent NRA convention. As with all true conservatives, she proved to be multi-dimensional as she spoke of much more than Second Amendment issues. She went right to the core of who we are as Americans.
And who are we? Are we driven by emotional appeals of the left that result in turning over more control of our lives to those more interested in their own power than our well being? Will we be willing to recognize that hard cases make bad laws? If we haven’t learned that this doesn’t work from the past years, we just haven’t been paying attention.
So, give a listen to the wisdom of this lady who gives the controllers all the respect they deserve and provides us all with a fine example to emulate.
It is good to see young people willing to take a stand for the things they believe in… even though there may be a price to pay for exhibiting this courage. This video came about when a teacher gave them a assignment where they were to write about something they believed, and it could not involve God. Quite correctly they knew this was not right and looked at what they could do. They are to be commended for their dedication to their faith.
As inspiring as their efforts are, they are a sign of our failure to be the salt and light in our communities. When my generation was in school, we said the pledge to the flag, read the Bible and said the Lord’s prayer every morning. One by one, these links to our past and reality have been taken away. Coincidentally, every measure of societal decay have increased exponentially in that same time period.
Christians talked among themselves about how wrong some of these changes were. Some pastors even preached a sermon or two about moral decay, but that was about it. Nobody did anything.
For those who have not seen or heard about Glenn Beck’s NRA speech, this is something worth watching. Not everyone likes him… mostly those who have not really heard him… but have heard what people have had to say about him. He has made some enemies, but so does anyone who reveals truth that people do not want told.
Listen to his speech. His heart is right, lets give him a chance.
Not since 1775 has a central government in America attempted to disarm its citizens in the way that President Barack Obama and Senator Dianne Feinstein did recently. King George III attempted to disarm the colonists on April 19, 1775, and that attempt ignited America’s War for Independence. Leading the charge to resist the banning and confiscation of their firearms were colonial pastors such as Jonas Clark. Back then, America’s pastors had a thorough comprehension of the Biblical principles of liberty, including the right to keep and bear arms. They taught their congregations these sacred principles with such zeal and persuasion that the attempt by those British troops to march on Lexington and Concord and seize the colonists’ guns was met with the now famous “shot heard ’round the world.” Ever since that historic event, the people’s right to bear arms has been held sacred by the vast majority of Americans–Christian or otherwise. The right to bear arms was understood to be, not just a right, but a God-ordained duty, a long time before it was ever enshrined in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.
The recent attempt by Barack Obama and Dianne Feinstein to ban semi-automatic rifles, limit magazine capacity, and create universal background checks and gun registration was as close to what old King George attempted to do as this nation has ever seen. Fortunately, public outcry against this egregious gun grab was so unmistakably loud and clear that these gun control bills failed to pass even the Democrat-controlled Senate. Thank God for every person and group around the country that rose up to defeat this piece of modern-day tyranny.
However, if you think that Obama and Feinstein are going to abandon their attempt to outlaw and confiscate your guns, you are sadly mistaken. They will not stop. But the good news is neither will we!
Reading over some recent news stories I have to seriously wonder about the mental stability and capacity of some of the people making decisions for our country and our families. What is frightening is that when these people speak, the believe, or at least seem to believe, that they are making sense. Then we have the people who blindly follow and accept anything the left does that they believe will get them more free stuff from the government.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz thought she had a sympathetic ear when she told Piers Morgan that ”It is irresponsible and un-American, quite frankly, for my Republican colleagues in Congress to be jumping on this immediately as a political opportunity.”
I’m not sure how it is un-American to attempt to learn the details of an administration failure that led to the deaths of an ambassador and three patriots assigned to protect him. This statement is revealing in a number of ways, but most importantly, is shows the leftist mindset that everything is political… patriotism and love of family have no place in their thinking.
All Jay Carney could say was, “Benghazi happened a long time ago”, prior to engaging in the usual administration song and dance of deceit and obfuscation. Unfortunately this is pretty much the attitude of the whole Obama regime. They are experts at dodging uncomfortable questions, counting on new crises to come along to distract the public from their multitude of failures, both foreign and domestic.
It frustrates them that people keep bringing up the disaster in Libya. Information keeps trickling out despite administration efforts to delay and deny as members of the opposing delegation in congress insist on asking impertinent question. When lies don’t work, delays are attempted. When delays don’t work, it appears that the next step is intimidation of those who know what really happened. It’s the Chicago way.
Now that I have your attention, permit me to explain.
There’s an ongoing debate in Reformed and Evangelical circles regarding the mission of the church. That’s good, because the Body of Christ needs to be clear on what the Head expects the hands and feet to be doing.
But the way one frames the question can greatly affect the answer. So we need to make sure we’re rightly framing the question.
Lesbian activist Masha Gessen tells the truth about the motives behind the drive for gay marriage. The reaction of the audience reveals much of the LGBT accepts the concept of the destruction of the marriage, and the traditional family. Ms Gessen, though completely off base in her thinking, is refreshing in her honesty. She is honest about her homosexuality. She is honest about her goals.
There have been cries for US involvement to do something as Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad crossed some sort of imaginary “red line” by using chemical weapons on his own people. Now, it is generally understood that al-Assad is a bad dude. So for the low information citizens, it may be a logical assumption that the US needs to do something about it. The problem is that there is much that is not understood by the bleeding hearts and the “neocons”.
The first problem is that the proposed solution is to put more American soldiers in harms way to protect the lives of these rebel “freedom fighters”. Given our financial situation, the fact that our military finds itself stretched thin in far too many country’s and conflicts around the world, and the far too frequent use of “reserves”. This is endangering the effectiveness of this finest force in the world.
Those promoting involvement do not take into account the far greater cost in military personnel. Are we really ready to sacrifice more of of fine young men and women to put this mad man into exile or in the ground? Adding to this cost are the number of children growing up without a parent or a young wives without their husbands? One has to wonder where the anti-war protesters from W’s presidency or from the 60s have gone to. They seem to have evaporated since the Democrats have seized control of the White House.
Pelicans are kind of odd looking birds. The first thing one notices is their size. They are huge. One wonders if they can actually fly, especially when one sees their awkward movements when they are on the ground or perched atop a post along some dock. Then there is that ridiculously large throat that they use for scooping up fish out of the water.
That is the place where all the laughable characteristics fall away… when they are on the hunt for their daily food. Gliding just above the waves these birds are almost majestic with their eight foot wing span and effortless motion. This is their element… the air above the water teaming with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Pelicans are natural predators that live off the fish of the sea. They are good at it and it is what they were designed to be.
We can learn a great deal from the pelicans. When they are doing what they were designed for, they are graceful and effective. When are not, it’s easy to question if they are good for anything. Often, when we are not fulfilling our purpose in life, it’s easy to wonder if we are good for anything. As we think about it, all this is doing is showing us that we may well have another calling in life.
Ronald Reagan understood ObamaKare better than most people in congress today. He knew socialized medicine was bad medicine. Perhaps that ship has sailed for the moment, but he knew the dangers of putting health care in the hands of government bureaucrats.
The wisdom of this man, while proven effective in most any area he addressed, has been ridiculed by those leading our land down the road to destruction, and ignored by many in his own party. These are unworthy of claiming his heritage. We are seeing the truth in his prophetic voice.
Spending a few days on one of the Florida Keys, it is easy to find oneself operating on island time. Island time is an approach to life that lets the rest of the world go by as you enjoy whatever it is you are doing at the time. It can be sitting on the beach, strolling down an avenue featuring all sorts of interesting shops or enjoying seafood at a waterfront restaurant. Often you can go for hours and have no concept of what the time is… or even care.
It’s great therapy for us task oriented, type A personalities. We can get ourselves so wound up tight with schedules and commitments that we are constantly chasing after the urgent and neglecting the important things in life. We often know there are more important things we should be doing, but they have to wait until this project or that activity are completed… then other non-priorities intrude to keep us from what we believe we really should be doing.
Sometimes just sitting on the beach helps put things into perspective. How many things in our lives that we believe just have to be done, don’t really matter at all. Getting away from the pressure and demands helps keep things in perspective.
[Editors note: this article was first published in 2009. Since then we have revived it from time to time as the message is still applicable and one we have to keep in mind when hear the politically correct propaganda coming from our progressive government.]
Worshiping at the altar of diversity as advocated by the politically correct elites serves their purposes well, but what does it do for the rest of us? Does it help us unite to solve common problems, or does it split us into multiple camps where all we can see is our competing interests? If it is the latter, should we be viewing this politically correct article of faith as simply a well meaning error, or as a sinister attack on our country’s ability to function and lead the world?
Pursuing identity politics, that is, looking at each person as a member of some small, but downtrodden group rather than as an individual, serves to promote isolation from the rest of society and focus our attention on our differences rather than our similarities. It keeps us fragmented and distracted. We face many challenges in our country today. We need to pull together, but all we hear from our government is divisive rhetoric that keeps us at each others throats. The poor are told their plight is the fault of the rich. Union members are told corporate greed keeps them from getting what they want. One racial group thinks they are being held down by another. While the other group sees their opportunities given to less qualified workers based strictly on skin color.
The left, through the Democratic party has successfully balkanized America so many people see themselves first as members of some sort of aggrieved group that needs help in redressing some real or imagined wrong. One must give them credit for forging this disparate group, with often competing interests into a coalition that keeps many of them in office… even though few of the grievances are ever resolved.
In II Samuel 19 there is the story about an often-overlooked man by the name of Barzillai. He was a Gileadite who helped save King David’s life. The Scripture says of him: “He was a very great man.” Today, I’m going to tell you about a very great man. In fact, I’m going to talk about several great men.
I am reminded of these men, because tomorrow I have the distinct honor of speaking at a giant freedom rally on Lexington Green, Massachusetts, on the occasion of the 238th anniversary of the famous Battle of Lexington and Concord. If you live within driving distance, please come and join us. Oath Keepers founder, Stewart Rhodes, will also be speaking at this event. I believe the rally begins at 2pm local time.
In truth, April 19, 1775, should be regarded as important a date to Americans as July 4, 1776. It’s a shame that we don’t celebrate it as enthusiastically as we do Independence Day. It’s even more shameful that many Americans don’t even remember what happened on this day back in 1775. For the record, historians call this day, “Patriot’s Day.” More specifically, it was the day that the shot heard ’round the world was fired. It was the day America’s War for Independence began.
Go out to a movie. Check out Home Run at a theater near you. It is a story about a talented ball player one the verge of throwing his career and life away… and redemption. The film shows that failure isn’t final and, even if everything seems to be falling apart around you, there is an answer.
It’s about baseball, but it’s not for the little kiddies. For those who see no way out, you can see a way out.
What’s going on in Boston? What’s going on in our country? I make no pretense of being able to supply an answer to all the questions surrounding the investigation into the Boston bombing. The confusion coming out of the entire law enforcement community and their governing masters raises as much concern as the tragic event itself.
I understand those searching for answers have a tremendous amount of information to sift through and hundreds of people to interview. There is also the pressure from the press and public to come up with answers… answers that they think they have when any little tidbit of information filters its way through the bureaucratic morass that typifies our world.
I also understand that when you are tracking down the bad guys, you can’t let them know everything that is going on. Yet we live in a world where all but the low information voters have a healthy distrust of anything coming from the government and media. This situation calls for a higher degree of honesty and transparency than we are used to seeing.
President Obama proposes to cure this putative ill and impose liberal-progressive social justice by limiting the amount of savings that citizens may keep in tax-deferred savings accounts. Liberal-progressive social justice, of course, has always meant that citizens should be equally poor and therefore unable to escape from the regulatory power of collectivized government.
Needless to say, once established, the power to limit personal savings will eventually be extended to all economic levels of society.
Forbes Magazine staff writer Robert Lenzner opines on the president’s latest socialistic attack.
Whoever set off the explosions at the finish line of the Boston Marathon intended to strike fear in the hearts, not only of Bostonians, but of Americans all over the country. They want us to wonder where they will strike next. Will it be at the local mall, a commuter train, a ball game?
This would be an entirely appropriate reaction… if we were sheep. However, many of us refuse to be sheep. We refuse to quietly accept the fact that our fellow citizens being maimed and killed by those who would destroy us. Of course, it is appropriate to mourn the loss of life and the harm done to people just out enjoying the race. Looking at the pictures of the those who perished is just too sad for words. However, we cannot live in this state. If we do, we add so many more to the number of victims.
At this point, we can pull back even more into our cocoons of personal safety… which really represent no safety at all. I spoke to a lady today who saw some of the images on TV and doesn’t want to watch news anymore. This head in the sand thinking leads to the epidemic of low information voters sweeping the country. It means people can be told and sold any bill of goods and they don’t have any idea what happened, or what will happen to them.
The famed 19th Century revivalist and major contributor to America’s “Second Great Awakening,” Charles Finney, said the following: “If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.” I believe Finney was absolutely correct.
Notice that Finney believed there was a direct correlation between the kind of legislation passed in Congress and the kind of preaching taking place in the pulpits of America’s churches. He also believed that the pulpits of the country were responsible for corruption in government. Again, I agree.
America’s biggest threat does not come from abortionists, gay rights activists, pornographers, or drug dealers. Neither does our biggest threat come from North Korea, Iran, Syria, Iraq, or Afghanistan. America’s biggest threat comes from our nation’s pulpits.
It’s hard to believe we have a two party system in our country any more. Sixteen Republican Senators went over to the dark side and joined the Democrats in shooting down the filibuster of Harry Reid’s unconstitutional gun control legislation. Some of them are ones who call themselves conservatives. Others have shown us many times over that did not have the capacity to stand firm when the going got tough. We had high hopes for some of these people who were more than happy to have the support of the real grass roots conservatives as they defeated honest Democrat opponents.
As Democrats, they are honest in that they admit to their progressive tendencies… definitely not regarding their plans to enslave their fellow Americans. It is bad enough that we have a President whose speaking of the truth is purely accidental, but then we have people we elected to oppose his destructive agenda, roll over into the position of accomplices to his deceptive schemes, what are we to do?
The Dems must be laughing themselves silly that a little pressure and a little propaganda would turn the opposition into spineless jelly fish unworthy of the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan. We elect the Republicans to take us in a different direction than the progressive Democrats. Then we find they facilitate the very assaults on our rights we put them in office to stop.
With the Easter message fresh on my mind, I am again reminded of what the Jewish leaders said to Pilate when they tried to coerce him to crucify Jesus. They said, “We have no king but Caesar.” Remember, these were the Jewish Pharisees, scribes, elders, priests, and high priests. They prided themselves in being scholars of the Torah. They believed themselves to be the sole interpreters of the Mosaic Law. Yet, the very First Commandment of the Decalogue handed down to Moses is, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” But in order to stay in the good graces of the Roman government, they emphatically proclaimed that they recognized no king but Caesar.
Remember, Caesar insisted that everyone recognize him to be, not only king, but God. To be loyal to Rome, one had to acknowledge the deity of Caesar. One could worship any other god that one wanted to, as long as Caesar was acknowledged as Sovereign. Historians famously say that there were as many gods in Rome as people. Rome prided itself in being religiously pluralistic and tolerant. First Century Christians were not persecuted because they worshipped Jesus; they were persecuted because they refused to worship Caesar; they refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of Caesar. It was for this reason that early Christians were fed to lions and made sport of in the amphitheaters.
In their desire to use the Roman government to advance their own agenda (crucifying Christ and later His disciples and apostles), the Jewish leaders were quite willing to acknowledge the deity and sovereignty of Caesar–even though doing so was a blatant violation of the First Commandment given by Jehovah to Moses. Is it a little more than interesting that after conducting a secret, illegal trial of Jesus and blaspheming God in declaring Caesar king that they immediately afterward sat down to observe the Passover? No wonder Jesus called them “Hypocrites.”
“What does all of this have to do with modern America?” you ask. Everything!
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