Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Why I Love America.....Redux

The following blog entry from April of 2009 describes my love for this country that I was fortunate enough to be born in. America is much changed and even further removed from its heritage since then. What will people say years from now, should we even advance that long? Will they love the socialism that spreads the misery around? Will they love the government that rules every aspect of their lives? Will they love scurrying at the beck and call of some world government? Will they love an America of enclaves such as of Sharia Law to La Raza? Will they love the opportunities their children have to serve a totalitarian state? Will they love being able to buy any government automobile they want, with a loan from any government bank they want to travel to anywhere in the approved radius they want? Will they love churches with regulated sermons. Will they love the way their lives are? No, they won't. As I wrote in the following blog, Alexis de Toqueville saw America's greatness in her pulpits. What he didn't know or could not predict is that our pulpits are subject to the same ebb and flow of society, subject that is as far as God's Spirit will permit them to be. Our only hope and the source of all the love we have for this nation is God's mercy upon us, and His patience which we have stretched to the point where it may cease.


"America The Beautiful" expresses the wondrous bounty God had bestowed upon this country. "Spacious skies, amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties " surely describe this land. I appreciate the beauty of this land and also the liberty that it was built upon, but I love this country for other reasons also. When I talk about America, I'm talking about it from its beginning when small ships carried whole communities across the ocean. I love it for its diversity. We have problems but we have overcome bigger ones. We have new challenges that almost seem insurmountable but it's not the first time. We have bonded together through a concept that demanded diversity of background but became unity as Americans. I love America because of the hope it has given the world, and the stability. I can write my opinion and speak it. I can pass out books without fear of intimidation. I can oppose iniquity and protest tendencies that are too close to tyranny for comfort. I love it most of all because God has used it to spread the gospel to every corner of the world. Everywhere I go, in the workplace, in the recreation and shopping arenas, vacation spots and at preserved historical landmarks, there are Christians. I can empathize with them, enjoy their fellowship, share my needs and pray for theirs. My son will find them at college, my wife and I will work with them, and many of our representatives will govern with Christ as their head. God has raised this nation and used it mightily, this is why I love it so. I write this blog because these things are in danger. The bond is disappearing. European immigration is occurring again but this time it is an immigration of philosophy (and ideology.) Illegal immigration, sponsored by politicians for political reasons does a great disservice to the legal immigrants who continue to bolster and favor us as they become one with us. Our corporations are becoming more international than American. Our activist courts look to international law, for American law will not suffice the paradigm change they envision. Our media is failing its calling and most importantly, the faithfulness of our churches to the gospel is at low ebb. Previous to revisionist history, we were taught that Americans were a special people who could do almost anything. The Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville thought this people  special enough to travel here just to observe. He wrote "Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power..." Ignoring these problems and the historical tendency of many nations to collapse from within, is not love.

Sunday.....Christianity... National Mall

I've written on Glen Beck's Mormonism a few times. I applaud his patriotism and love of country, I just wish he would hold it at that but Glen Beck isn't the primary topic here, it is the enormous number of Christians in attendance who were on the National Mall yesterday. Most liberal sources opt for the total estimate description  of tens of thousands, while conservative and libertarian sources came in with a more accurate 300,000 plus. I broached the issue of the event with one friend who was going. He acknowledged the fact that Mormonism is not Christian but seemed to see a "bigger picture" of rescuing America from demise. We read a lot about high school students in America graduating without the proper skills for college where most of them are matriculating to. Apparently we have no problem with recognizing the failure of an entire system. Why is it that we react with indignation, as it pertains to in the topic of this blog, when confronted with the same failure in the church? Why are we so willing to defend other Christians and less inclined to defend the God of those Christians? We recognize that a plethora of schemes have been launched against our American way of life. We know they are outright deceit bought by gullible Americans who do not know their own American heritage. We preach vigilance. Apparently we place ourselves so far higher than them that we do not count ourselves susceptible to a false gospel. A false Christ is exalted in Glen Beck's prose and oratory. A false Christ is lifted up and we somehow expect God to answer our prayers concerning America? If Jesus is the only mediator between God and men, as Scripture proclaims it, and if the "Jesus" of Mormonism is not He of Scripture, which we also know to be true, who does Glen Beck then lead us to? We pass out copies of the Constitution and you had better pack a lunch if you are going to recommend more books on America's downward spiral than I do but the doctrines of the Christian faith have been torn apart even more than this nation's system of laws and are infinitely more important and demanding of an apologetic. In fact had we not given sanctuary in our churches to the barbarians of liberal theology from Europe in the 19th century, we would not be dealing with the opposition to God in our state houses today. Yesterday's event was awesome from a political perspective, sad from a Christian one; breeding hope from the former, great concern from the latter. Mr. Beck might be tempted to entertain the thought of being a prophet, for the evidence would be there with his influence and proclamations, but what would it make him if the Christ he exalts, the gospel he proclaims and the God he calls for a return to are not those of God's Word? And how would it portray the multitudes of Christians who give him their banner to carry?

Saturday.....War On Terror.....Looking For Diversity In All The Wrong Ways

There's an article in Thursday's Wall Street Journal where a little reading between the lines is necessary. Written by Gary Schmitt and Cheryl Miller, Schmitt being a "neocon" of note, it presents an odd opinion from someone on the "right." That being the need for "diversity" in the military, for soldiers come from a narrower segment of society-geographically and culturally-than ever before. they write, but that there is little constituency for bringing back the draft, in other words, they don't think they could swing it. They're worried about civil-military relationships(s). The R.O.T.C., they say, was originally meant to diversify the military and there are good reasons to believe that it (R.O.T.C.) isn't fulfilling its original purpose even though R.O.T.C. produces more graduates than the service academies. The authors say that the military has drawn down its programs in the Northeast and urban areas depriving the elites (Ivies )and the poor both of experiencing a military presence. A wider quality pool is needed to get the best minds in areas such as foreign languages and computer engineering. Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel has brought an amendment up, for a national draft, more than once. His stated reasoning is that it would be for diversity in economic status groups but his real intent is that if everyone's sons had to go to the military there would be a greater outcry against Iraqs and Afghanistans. The authors, Schmitt and Miller, want diversity, supposedly for another reason as the article states Americans hold this service in high regard-but they do so increasingly from a distance. This is a threat to our country's civic ethic of equal sacrifice. They are inferring that Americans need to know someone in the military to have a proper regard. This past week, there has been a few articles written on just who makes up the tea parties and why they have come to exist. My take on this is that it is in no small part due to the way both sides of our government often present their arguments. Rangel has a scheme and the authors of this article condescend. Elites make their plans and then plan on how to make them palatable to the public, changing the essence of the true intent in the process and the American public is fed up with this. Schmitt and Miller want a larger military (so do I) but I see "diversity" here as a ploy. America is divided on the definition of patriotism and the legitimacy of American exceptionalism. That chasm may be widening but the numbers are shifting dramatically towards defending our country from enemies without and within. If this trend continues that sought after diversity will come about by natural means. There might be more computer engineers that enter the military under Schmitt's plan but there is something to be said for a military comprised of young men and women who love this country as opposed to the government conscripting for diversity, a philosophy (diversity) that fails much more often than it succeds. A blurb of the back of this book recommendation, by Peter L. Berger, says it best, "This is a thorough, magisterial dissection of a fashioable cultural icon. The book is erudite, witty, with an undertone of passion. It should be read widely."

Friday.....America.....Pilgrim's Progress

 I don't like getting out of bed but by the time I start the car I'm ready to start the day. I sit down to a McDonald's Big Breakfast and an orange juice and read the Pittsburgh Tribune and New York Times before seven o'clock comes. Here is where the incongruence comes in. How can I so easily go through the day, planting trees so to speak, when our society has already collapsed. The violent acts reported in the newspapers have simply become filler for they are so prevalent. Life has become meaningless in our culture. I was raised in a broken home as they call it today. I know what it is like to have your father hundreds of miles away. It happens, but it is epidemic today. The economic situation will make it hard for many and the very future of America is in jeopardy. We have become a Facebook culture driven by narcissism. Our universities have become playgrounds and churches are still meeting places only we come to meet each other now rather than to meet with each other in the reverence of worship. Technology is becoming a god as we base our happiness on it's fulfillments. Race relations have been shaken as many saw hope turn into disaster. Ethics is passe and honor is an archaic term. A lot of people want to see drugs legalized and free speech monitored. Terror has become a weapon of mass destruction. I have written over 600 blogs on issues like this but I am also desensitized. My heart sinks as I read and watch the news and I'm overcome...momentarily overcome as I'm soon drawn into the trivialities of the day, only to lay on my bed at night and ponder my hypocrisies. In between, the dinnertime prayer from Valley Of Vision settles me for as the book's title prayer proclaims  Thou hast brought me to the valley of vision, where I live in the depths but see in the heights; hemmed in my mountains of sin I behold thy glory. And yet I depart again only to have the peace return when I meditate in bed on Christ and the assurance of His control over every square foot of this earth and the cosmos that surrounds it. The anomaly is that heavyheartedness is necessary for it leads one to Christ for He is the only answer to a condition that exists whether it is recognized or not, and the paradox that even amidst the tempests and shoals are mountaintops of joy and refreshment.

Monday.....Miscellaneous....A New Day.....Redux

The following blog is from April 17, 2009 and deals with the British Colonel's comment at the end of the movie Bridge on The River Kwai and pertains, in my comments here, to the mainstream media in America today. Free Speech is a mainstay to American independence and the press is the main instrument of information to the citizenry. If a government clamps down on the press as Chavez does in Venezuela, many people will find a way, but if the press, as also now happens in Venezuela, broadcasts and prints disinformation, or in our case biased information, a sizable portion of the people still will not care to find a way, for they are happy in their ignorance. Our media absolutely refuses to deal with Barack Hussein Obama in an unbiased manner. Why? In my own opinion here, it is a religious issue of which has absolutely nothing to do with Islam. Conservatism is too closely associated with Christians. I'm not talking about "political issues" at all! Rather, the conviction from the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is so strong, and the desire to avoid it so intense, that professions whose essence is inherently secular tend to be the most anti-Christian and many within them attempt to assuage their guilt by diligently searching for any evidence to disparage it . Some religions force their beliefs, others rely purely on feelings and yet others entice with the metaphysical, the supernatural and gnosticism. Only Christianity is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV) One simply cannot get too close to the flame. Islam presents no problem whatsoever to our media for it is perceived only as a way of life that is no threat at all in enticing a large number of Americans, and certainly not they themselves. The media's determination to challenge anyone and anything too closely associated to a literal interpretation of the Bible, and not receptive of a modern social gospel, or ecumenically impotent one, is abundantly evident. This disdain has blinded them to the dangers of ideologies, philosophies and religions that they themselves would reject, thus they fail to inform and warn.

April 27, 2009

There is a scene from the 1957 classic "Bridge On The River Kwai" with Sir Alec Guinness and William Holden which I would like to bring up...again. British prisoners of war were forced to build a bridge that would enable Japanese soldiers to cross a gorge by rail on their way to fighting and killing American and  British soldiers. Guinness, as Colonel Nicholson, was driven by proper military protocol to such an extreme that he lost touch with the reality of who the enemy was. His fortitude, even under torture, inspired his men to follow him blindly. Holden, as American prisoner Spears, may not have had a military career as his goal, but was not deluded by that which he did not have either. The bridge was built with great pride and  Colonel Nicholson attached a plaque to it as he stiffly walked across the wooden panels, admiring the work of the British soldier. Spears had escaped and reluctantly returned to blow up the bridge. The operation had almost gone off perfectly but Colonel Nicholson, now in total delusion, followed the detonation wires that were exposed, foiling the  surprise. Confronting Spears, his anger at this "gold bricking" undisciplined American is suddenly shattered as mortar rounds explode around him. He suddenly comes to the harsh realization that the American, and others, were sent to blow up the bridge he built. He then looks skyward and says "My God...what have I done?" I wonder if any Americans who voted for Barack Obama and saw the picture of him beaming as he grasped the hand of Hugo Chavez, question their decision? And this, a day after the Obama administration had religious symbols covered at Georgetown University while Obama spoke from the podium, and this the same day that the administration said that this was a "New Day" for relations with Cuba. No, what it is, is a "New Day" for America, one the radical Left has planned for a long time.

Friday.....America.....The Future Is Closer Than It Used To Be

It was just my lot to be 18 years old in 1968. It was a remarkable year in its disasters. President Lyndon Johnson gave his State Of The Union address on January 17th and began with Vietnam, He (the enemy) continues to hope that America's will to persevere can be broken. Well...he is wrong. He talked about the cessation of hostilities in the Middle East and prospects for peace. American's living standards were rising for a seventh straight year but violence continued to plague our cities. He addressed means in alleviating that but then cautioned this does not mean a national police force. He proposed a surtax that would only cost the American people one penny on the dollar and that tax to be repealed in two years. He concluded this short address with If ever there was a time to know the pride and excitement and the hope of being an American..it is this time. Less than a week later North Korea seized the USS Pueblo which would remain a crisis for the rest of the year. The next week would see the beginning of the Tet Offensive in Nha Trang, Vietnam. North Vietnam would be utterly, not only defeated but, destroyed in the weeks that followed, but so would the American public's will to persevere. One Viet Cong, who had summarily executed the family of a Vietnamese police officer, was caught and also summarily executed; this in front of a lens that would result in a Pulitzer Prize winning picture that would prove our inhumanity towards man in this war. One day later Richard Nixon would announce his candidacy for President. The week of  February 11th saw 543 Americans killed in Vietnam. On The 27th of that month Walter Cronkite pronounced the Tet Offensive as a draw. On March 12th, Eugene McCarthy won the New Hampshire primary and four days later Robert Kennedy entered the race. On March 31st I was standing at the counter of my favorite hangout, Ted's Variety and Dairy Store, eating a snack and watching President Lyndon Johnson's speech on the television. He pronounced the Tet Offensive a failure, but the huge loss of life, on both sides, and the emergency situation of a projected $20 billion deficit for the following year, and in the need to prove his intentions for peace, he concluded with Accordingly, I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President. Five days later Martin Luther King's lifelong quest for equality of opportunity for everyone came to an end in Memphis in an act of terrorism. The beginning of May saw Paris in flames from student riots and on June 4th Robert Kennedy was shot. Songs like Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant "inspired" the youth. Before August was over the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia was crushed and violent protests rocked the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In Mexico city, in October, hundreds were killed in student protests and riots and two weeks later the summer Olympics began in the same city and also saw protest. On November 5th Richard Nixon was elected by 500,000 votes and the unemployment rate was 3.3%.  Now it is 42 years later. Peace talks will start again soon in the Middle East. We are leaving Iraq with the promise to keep their government secure, as we did in Vietnam. Socialism succeeded in putting one of its own in our White House and top positions of our Congress. Globalist elites artfully pull the strings of  their puppets who many gullibly believe. Student protests are now citizen protests. The deficit is over a trillion dollars. Our Justice Department has lost the trust of the people and Homeland Security often seems more worried about citizens trying to help our nation that those trying to hurt it. We have placed two unqualified young judges on our Supreme Court, presidential appointees usurp the responsibilities of the Congress and there is talk of policies perilously close to a national police force. We are being torn apart as a people with government sector employees, bailout recipients and entitlement beneficiaries on one side and most everyone else on the other. We have a young president who has given us two autobiographies but no personal records. Our foreign policy has the discernment of a Neville Chamberlain in Munich and we cut military weapons systems to replace monies burned elsewhere. We have a "foot in the door" health reform that Americans will despise when they see what it is and what it has done. Our Constitution is being held hostage by political correctness. Yogi Berra was right in that the future ain't what it used to be but, Biblically speaking, the future is closer than it used to be for it proclaims a Second Coming of Christ and in a linear time paradigm, we are 42 years closer than we were in 1968.

Wednesday.....Culture.....Best Blog Called "Special Dog's Conservative Bark".....I win!!!

Has anyone ever considered compiling a list of the Best Prisons in America? What criteria would they use? One statistic might be Prisoner Satisfaction, another Sentence Completion Rate and yet another Number of Criminals Who Were on the Most Wanted List. One more could be taken from RateMyWarden.com. Forbes magazine came out with its 250 Best Colleges For our Money list, yet another attempt to feign academic respectability, and increase circulation in the process, while rewarding many colleges and universities where this criteria has supplanted actually educating its students, and doing a great disservice to schools who actually want to strengthen the mind and could care less about cable television in every dorm room. I have a little bit of experience on this topic. I went back to school at 51 years old to a Masters program in Higher Education primarily to learn more about Higher Education in America before our son matriculated to it. I completed the class curriculum and stopped short on other requirements but had I gone on to receive the degree my interest would have been in seeking a position as a college recruiter, not a high paying job but one that would have fulfilled a passion in advising young people on their future. When considering this I had given myself one requirement, that being, to work for a school that would give students a great and true education. Forbes gave 27.5% of the calculations to Student Satisfaction including 17.5% of that using ratemyprofessors.com. One category was How Happy Are You At The School, another Faculty Salaries and yet another Alumni In Who's Who, and I can't forget that indispensable statistic Alumni On Forbes Corporation Office List (only 5%?). What is this fascination we have with Best Lists? Every year our local newspaper gives us the results of their The Best Hoagie, The Best Chinese Restaurant, The Best Port-a-Johns  surveys....well maybe not that but we no longer can take the time to do our own research, we just look for someone's Top Ten List. Oblivious to those doing the Best Schools lists is what is actually being taught or pre-1968 dorm life. Notre Dame didn't make Forbes 250 Best Colleges list. Maybe they didn't provide the information. If so, good for them for ignoring this nonsense.

Tuesday.....International.....Trilateral Is Not A Football Term

David Gergen worked for four different presidents and has been in the public eye through his commentary rather consistently since then. Today, he appeared in that august weekly magazine Parade, a few pages before "questions about celebrities" and just before "ask Marylon vos Savant" and sounded very homey as if he's talking to the girls who just had a rough workout on the treadmill while watching The View. His articles starts off with Americans have been rightly frustrated by the slow, clumsy response to the Gulf oil spill by both BP and the government. There may have been a grain of truth to that but what he has done is set the reader up for his solution to a different problem that requires more government power. He says it's an inescapable conclusion, at least to him, that we need to create a command structure for disaster response modeled on the military. He then references Pearl Harbor and the effectiveness of our military to recruit the reader's trust. He wants to bring those who do battle against natural disasters into the same design, mentioning Homeland Security, FEMA, the Coast Guard and Centers For Disease Control etc., the etc. presumably meaning the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and others. Here's the problem as he sees it, laws and regulations patched together over the years have given large, often vague and confusing responsibilities to many players, the result is uncertainty and delays. He lauds President Obama's mugging of BP for $20 billion, which he describes as forcing BP to cough (the money) up. Maybe I'm missing something here but I would think the answer to Katrina and the Gulf would be "less" government control and "more" freedom to act by those with the buses, sand bags and oil booms. He then waxes "elderly wisdom" in for reasons no one fully understands, times have become more dangerous...It is also estimated that 91% of Americans now live in places with moderate-to-high risk of natural disaster or terrorist attack. He says that what we need to do first and foremost is to disentangle the messy laws and regulations that now exist, (ok....but did Sheryl Crow help him write this piece?) setting up a clear command structure for major disasters which is under Federal leadership (not so good.) Rahm "never let a serious crisis go to waste" Emanuel is reported to be leaving the White House soon, maybe he can head this new non messy command structure? He then hammers BP a couple of more times and says that we need a clone of General David Petraeus on the domestic scene to knock heads. Hmm, why the plug for the general? One more hero, Winston Churchill, is mentioned to assure us that the writer is on the right side. If someone with less camaraderie with the "global elites" of this world had written this article, and if he didn't use phrases like we must unleash them to attack a crisis with full authority I might give some more thought to the advice. As it stands, more Federal power for hurricanes, a power that might be considered useful in the political arenas, is not the answer. Turning Winston Churchill's phrase around, let's give the states the tools so they can finish their job.

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Existence Of Evil....Redux

Some analysts are saying that Israel has three days left to deal with Iran's nuclear weapons program. If the new power plant is fueled the risk of radiation exposure for the Iranian civilian population during an attack might be too great to attempt it. Ahmadinejad has strengthened his defense systems and military capabilities greatly in the past two years. An Israeli attack during the 2008 presidential campaign, if it did not go well, might have resulted in the disastrous election of Barack Obama as President of the United States! So it wasn't pursued. Barack Obama, upon his inauguration, immediately started his campaign of appeasement with a madman. Timetables and extensions of them, threats of sanctions and finally sanctions themselves followed and Israel is in a far worse situation today. The Obama presidency whose policies are ultimately dictated by political concerns is in the predicted disarray. Many opponents of Barack Obama are concerned that he has no abilities whatsoever. Falling out of favor with the public is one thing but total confusion when our national defense is concerned is another. Some commentators still talk about a second term but if a fairly capable non-leftist, non-Alinskyite challeneges, I don't even see that. His political advisers may see strong support in an Israeli attack on Iran as a way back and this would also be Hillary's hour but wisdom at a time like this is what's needed and that has only one source. Nuclear weaponry in the hands of Ahmadinejad has implications beyond Israel. They could provide terrorists with the means to attack us, either here or where our military is. The following blog is from March of 2009 and deals with the existence of evil.  By now, every American should have recognized that life, in it's entertainments and pastimes, should have been altered. Christians should certainly see that Conservative politics is only a band-aid, a salve, a tourniquet and that the infection in the wound is in our fallen nature. Israel may or may not attack Iran. Such an attack might be successful and may be "disaster." What we do know is that terror and evil in others has to be confronted, and evil in our own nature considered. Anthony Flew, of whom this blog was about, died in April of this year. He had come to belief in a God but not in the need for salvation or therefore the means that God had provided. Professor Flew was raised in a religious home and his father was a preacher. There is a great danger in belief in God if one does not consider one's original enmity towards Him.

March 29, 2009

Anthony Flew was the foremost atheist in the world....up until 2004, when he announced that he had changed his mind, there had to be a God. I just finished a book on this "change of mind." called "There Is A God, How The World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind." As of the writing of the book, he had not accepted a "personal God " but admits that the question is still open with him. It is compelling reading. I want to mention just one reason that kept him from belief in God. That issue was the existence of evil. One of the reasons Professor Flew came to theism was the dazzling and the complete interdependence of theories of physics with each other. There simply had to be a creator! Certainly, the same complete interdependence was fashioned by God in His greatest creation, man. If there is "good" there has to be "evil" or the design would be incomplete.  How would one know "love" with the absence of an alternative? How would you know "good" if there was never "bad?" Just as the universe was magnificently complete, so was God's creation of man!  The ability to "love" demanded the ability to "hate" or it would not be love. Man also has the capability to be indifferent, to neither love nor hate. Man can terrorize and take life and he can oppose terror and defend life...and he can be indifferent. The church of Laodicea was neither "cold" nor "hot" but "lukewarm" and God said He would "spit them out of my mouth." We cannot be lukewarm on terror or God's hand will surely depart and we will be consumed, both as individuals and as a nation.  There is no "evil" in heaven, nor will there be any when we are there, but we  will know what it was. We will know His love and goodness (even in a world with evil.)

Sunday.....Christianity.....Hitchens Vs Hitchens

There has been a spate of anti-God books in recent years and one of those was God Is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything written by Christopher Hitchens. A few months ago, I came across a debate on DVD between Mr. Hitchens and Reformed theologian Doug Wilson. It's the type of debate where you do not find yourself squirming in the midst of the vitriol. The two men respected each other for they recognized in each other a mind at work, even though each man considered the other's belief to be seriously flawed. Christopher Hitchens, former radical Leftist who became a strong supporter of the War in Iraq, made news last month when it was reported that he has cancer. Enter Peter Hitchens, younger brother, journalist, author and also a former rebel who had a transformation. These are brothers who never really got along, often finding themselves on the opposite sides of political issues and now on theism as Peter's new book is called The Rage Against God, How Atheism Led Me To Faith. Peter was not likable as a young man, this putting it mildly, and readily admits it. Early in the book it seemed to me  that there was something amiss in this transformation. He wrote a lot about faith but precious little of the object of the faith. Indeed, most of the book by far is about the sins of Communism and other faithless ideologies that ravaged their peoples. Much of this is a rebuttal of his brother's claims that religion causes wars. His descriptions of student life in England in the 60s and also Christians in the Soviet era, flow fast and clear. Shorter descriptions of experiences he had as a journalist in places such as Mogadishu are also vivid. Christopher went from a radical Vietnam War protester to a staunch defender of the war on terrorism. Peter went from a young boy who idolized British heroes like Churchill to an adult who feels the need and calling to tell us just how perfect they were not. In a book subtitled How Atheism Led Me To Faith the name Jesus appears in the book once, consequently George Bush's faith during his time in the White House is described as noisy religiosity. Peter's description of his conversion was cloudy by his own admittance. His love of art found him before a painting by Rogier van der Weyden called The Last Judgment. There was an epiphany as he looked at the naked bodies on the nethermost part of the painting being judged guilty. The lack of apparel was, in effect, a lack of a time period so he was now able to see himself included in that group where previously there was something about the past that excluded him today. Now it was relevant. Before he knew it, one page later to be exact, he rediscovered Christmas and tradition. That's it folks, now back to the Trotsky and his friends. The author knows English secularism very well for England is his country but misses a few things on discernment. Peter seemed to place the falling away in the 1920s and 1930s. Charles Hadddon Spurgeon was not mentioned in the book, possibly because his faith might also be noisy religiosity but Spurgeon's life and ministry were altered by the great Downgrade Controversy that was destroying the church even previous to his death in 1892. The book is an enjoyable trip through recent English history from the perspective of a rebellious young English student turned socially concerned theist but nearly, although not totally, indiscernible as to Christianity being more than just the most amenable tradition to follow. "If" Peter's conversion was a social transformation, one might wonder which brother is in a more precarious situation.

Friday.....America.......14 Generations?

There are some people who consider it very important in determining the length of a generation. In a 2006 article in Ancestry Magazine written by Don Devine, he looked at the various studies done and his determination was that the male-line generation should best be considered as 35 years. Using this figure, it would be, next year, 14 generations since Martin Luther was excommunicated, the Reformation began in full force and the Middle Ages were finally eclipsed. There are a number of ways to look at history in terms of what particular influences changed the world. Certainly, the Reformation is to be included in those for not only was Christianity effected but the arts and sciences and government benefited by the freedom of thought and expression, and the thought and expression of freedom.  As for the United States, it would be in existence, today, slightly less than seven generations. Why bring this trivia up? One of the columns in Thomas Sowell's new book, reviewed yesterday, was on the contemporaneity of the American public today; if it isn't happening right now, it's not really interesting and certainly not relevant. If you judge 27 B. C. to 476 A. D. as "some" do, to be the timeline for the Roman Empire, it's a little bit over 14 generations. My intended message here is simply this, statistically speaking, if we were to collapse as a nation today or this epoch of Western Civilization ended, it would be well within projected duration for "empires" and "cultural paradigms" but this is the furthest thing from our mind. We believe that we are exempt from collapse and will not even entertain the concept, and our enemies, within and without, play this lack of vigilance on our part very well. We only admit to the potential of decline. To make it more harrowing, some actually pursue a decline and many of us really don't care, oblivious to what empire would eventually fill the void. If we would take the time to consider the mortality of our nation that has been a beacon of hope, discern the same signs today that Romans experienced and try to visualize a world with no United States, we might then plead for mercy from the God that a new world order would catastrophically attempt to extirpate.

Thursday.....Politics.....Credibility Gap

They say it's the last down payment from the stimulus epidemic but it would be more accurate to describe it as the last snow job for votes they can pull before the elections. The $26 billion aid to states package is near being signed in the Oval Office. $10 billion dollars of it will go to saving teacher and other government jobs. The rest, $16 billion, will go to various states to pay for Medicaid thus alleviating state budgetary problems. The vote? No surprise here. The Democrats, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe voted for it, the rest of Republicans didn't. California will be the chief beneficiary. As one Senator stated, For the first time in our history, the federal government is the single largest source of revenue for the states. The illusion is that the money is paid for, but monies were shifted around. Food stamps took the biggest hit but critics say that that even that money will be restored through some innovative accounting measures. Two things are happening here that you will not get from most national news sources, Special interest groups, supporters of Democrats in the last election will be rewarded, is the first.The second is that states that have actually been fiscally accountable will pay for those who have not, Americans will pay for the mistakes of states they do not live in and irresponsibility of politicians they did not vote for. In the Academy Award honored film Funny Girl, there is a scene where Fanny Brice (Barbara Streisand) and Nicky Arnstein (Omar Sharif) are lamenting his huge gambling losses. She was taken with him from the time she met him, handsome, suave and always wearing a frilly shirt. He lost nearly everything at the tables; Even your frilly shirt she asked him? "No, not my "frilly shirt" he answered, "I'll always have that.". This Congress has gambled with the financial stability of the citizenry and is losing everything...except its frilly shirt. They retain their $174,000 salaries, pensions, health insurance, percs and self-sustaining re-election campaign power. What are the chances of Congress reigning in their own expenses? There is a growing public perception that government sector workers are taking advantage of their nearness to and utility for politicians. When the Greek debt burden nearly collapsed the country's economic system, the government, under pressure from the EU,  administered stringent economic cuts to the public sector it had over-compensated. When "our" Greece, California, nearly followed suit, our response is to take the money from other states and give it to them. The Cuban government employs roughly 90% of the entire workforce. It's a running joke there that They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work. Today's U. S. A. Today's front page reported that "the compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade to $62,998" and that gap continues to widen.

Sowell Does It Again

August 11th, 2010        

         OK, so you stumbled upon this blog in your search to find out just what is going on in America today. You know that what you are seeing everyday is not your run of the mill American political vitriolics. If you are 60 years of age or older, you know that the Cuban Missile Crisis would only be a chapter in a book of traumatic events. If you are a lot younger, you are rightfully worry about your future. Who are the culprits? Is this as serious as it appears and if it is, what can we do? What tenets of liberty did we pervert, what clues to tyranny did we miss? You sat on the sidelines too long and now want only to carry something for someone, pass the water buckets, help tug on a line, anything to help!
         Thomas Sowell, who I have written extensively on in this blog, has come out with yet another book and what it can do is defrost the front and rear windows for you to see where we are going and where we have been. Dismantling America is a collection of his writings, each one short, profound, clear and invasive. Invasive in that it prods, opens and washes out the infection of a postmodern, politically correct cultural malaise. You'll read his commentary and shake your head, continue into the book and have to stand up and take deep breathes, finish it and look in the mirror and say "Let's roll!" 
          It is Thomas Sowell's wisdom that sees through the fog but he takes advantage of the wisdom of many others along the way. An anecdote on Abraham Lincoln concerning rhetoric today is Abraham Lincoln once asked an audience how many legs a dog has, if you called the tail a leg? When the audience said "five," Lincoln corrected them, saying that the answer was four. "The fact that you called the tail a leg does not make it a leg." Sowell points out that one can be informed and uninformed, but can also be misinformed and his columns are an antidote to the last two of these.
          He completed this book with some Random Thoughts.  Here are a few of them for you:

Ronald  Reagan had a vision of America. Barack Obama has a vision of Barack Obama.

Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of "diversity" that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen-written in blood- from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the  Philippines. 

It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word. 

I am so old that I can remember a Democrat, at his inauguration as President, say of our enemies: "We dare not tempt them with weakness."

         This book is a primer of sorts but don't let that turn you away for it is also systematics in that it ties together that which the radical Left has torn asunder, that being restraint in government, freedom in economics, responsibility in culture, vigilance in politics and necessity in law.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Set Apart

Our son is athletic and soccer probably would have suited him very well but he never had the opportunity, for in this area of Pennsylvania, Sundays were for soccer practice. After leaving a Lord's Day worship service a few weeks ago we passed a little league baseball field where about nine young boys were being put through their paces by their coach. My guess is that there were one or two boys that did not go to practice that day because of their parents belief on the Lord's Day. If you are interested, two excellent secular books on the progression, or rather regression, of the American Sunday are The Peculiar Life of Sundays by Stephen Miller and Holy Day, Holiday, The American Sunday by Alexis McCrossen. You are not going to hear this topic too often in discussions. For one thing most Christians today would agree that a perfunctory observance of the day is quite enough, and if you can find someone to defend the more historical and, what I believe Biblical, definition, it would be a party pooper topic to begin with. Following the Reformation of the 16th century, the Protestant churches in the countries from continental Europe held, what I believe to be, an odd view for they often simultaneously upheld the set apartness of the day and then ignored much of that what that set apartness meant, but this is only my take on what I have read. A century later, the English and Scottish Reformed were another matter and that was passed on to the American colonies only subsequently, over the centuries, to disappear or remain in a defenseless, sometimes convoluted-sometimes legalistic, 20th century American Sunday. Anyone who knows me, knows my love and respect for R. C. Sproul. He is, once again in my opinion, the premier influence, for good, in the Christian church in America. Unless there has been a change in his doctrine, which I doubt very much, he will probably be sitting in front of the television screen watching the Pittsburgh Steelers often this fall. His belief on Sundays obviously permits this and I find myself disagreeing with a man who properly makes me look like a worm next to him. But no man, neither Luther, Calvin or Sproul will have been proven right on everything, although each and every one of them will indeed be proven faithful and correct on their proclamation of the Gospel. It is my inclination that if America ever returns to setting this one day aside for the things of the Lord, it will be after calamity and they would not even consider the doctrinal implications of what they would be doing but merely clutching to Christ only on that one day where they would have no other earthly enjoyments to distract them. Why doesn't the New Testament say very clearly Remember to keep one day for the Lord? Then again, why doesn't it say You are no longer to keep one day for the Lord? It's possibly because if it did say the former, we would turn it into legalism as was done in the Old Testament. We have remembered that the day can be turned into legalism but what we have forgotten is that the Commandment is a blessing! Gordon H. Clark, in tackling this issue in his book What Do Presbyterians Believe says concerning Legalism,  ...the faults of those who were too strict do not exonerate those who are too lax; and no one can deny that this age errs on the side of laxity. Perfectly consistent with the rest of my Christian life, I am inconsistent in my own setting apart of the Lord's Day. For the best part of 30 years I worked every fourth Lord's Day. If I chose to leave that job I would have a hard time using the electricity in my house. I don't write political blogs on this day. I bend often to the demands of compassion to the needs of others on this day. I fall short in my own belief and am no example to anyone, but the joy and the peace that even my meager efforts give sustains me. I only hope, in this blog, to generate scriptural meditation on the issue.

Thursday.....Politics.....Keepers Of The Flame

Prior to today's Senate confirmation of Elena Kagan to sit on the nation's highest court for life, and this following the swearing in of Sonia Sotomayor, I viewed Barack Obama's missing birth certificate to have its main significance in the event that a second term would be pursued, for it is almost inconceivable that we went through an entire campaign without the issue being scrutinized and I don't believe that it could happen again, not in this electric atmosphere. I also considered it a fait accompli, but that was before the onslaught of tyranny, the shredding of our Constitution and the betrayal of an oath to defend that Constitution and the United States. Should it turn out that Barack Obama was not eligible to serve as President of the United States, and that his resume was knowingly deceptive, then the installation of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayer on the Supreme Court should be made null and void, along with other Executive Orders, and the decision given to a future President whether to re-nominate and this based on whether they upheld the Constitution while on the court. I previously related the story of how I sat in a class while working for a degree in Higher Education  in 2001 (a degree I stopped short of receiving) and mentioned to all present how we were headed into a time of serious division. I tried to emphasize how this would be well beyond even the  most acrimonious divisions of the day.  The professor and my cohorts did not agree. Peggy Noonan wrote a column today, America At Risk Of Boiling Over, claiming to have had that feeling even earlier and seeing it coming into fruition today. Also today, Matthew Frank of the Witherspoon Institute wrote on the Assault on Moral Reasoning that is tearing apart our judicial system and the rule of law. The casus belli of this political conflict is not those who demand to see eligibility verification, nor is it in the multitudes opposing this administration in the plethora of arenas where the Constitution is in jeopardy. It is in those who are by-passing, usurping and deceiving their way in giving this nation away to those elites with grand designs of a New World Order and one-world government. The media bears much of the blame for failing to give Americans unbiased reporting before the embers of discontent were fanned by the winds of tyranny. It is the very subterfuge of the events of the past year and a half that causes this ripping apart of America.

Wednesday.....Culture.....E. T. the Extra-Theological

 Reports are out today on recently released classified documents where Winston Churchill ordered reports of a UFO sighting by an RAF crew be kept secret for 50 years. The main reason being that release of them at the time might cause a panic and general disbelief in religion. This would be the natural reaction for if alien life existed then the gospel would be compromised. Add to this that people, in this trivial age of entertainments, look hopefully, and often seek desperately, for verifiable proof of our being visited by aliens. When Hollywood ventures into this area, which is often, it rarely gets it right but there are two films that came close by portraying visits by aliens as something not desirable. The first was 1951's The Thing where an alien spacecraft crashed in the arctic and was discovered by a government scientific team. James Arness played the creature that emerged from the ice. Before the creature was destroyed, one scientist was thrilled with the discovery and intent on making friends only to have his offer of friendship returned with the Thing killing him. The second film was Mars Attacks from 1996 with an all-star cast. Large crowds of harmonic convergence types gathered on this, the greatest day of the world's history where man meets Martian, only to be gunned down before it was all over. Another classic film, The Day The Earth Stood Still gave a more agreeable twist. Michael Rennie was a Christ figure who comes to the Earth to stop the violence. He is killed by our military only to be resurrected by his robotic companion. The Bible gives no place, no possibility, to alien life other than the angelic realm. Any interpretation that permits extra-terrestrials uses its own biases as a foundation of interpretation. I would think that the Christian mind would automatically realize that should there be any future verification or contact with "aliens" that it would be verification and/or contact with supernatural beings, and not those who are emissaries of God. Such an event quite possibly could be the strong delusion mentioned in 2nd Thessalonians 2. Churchill was correct, to a degree, "confirmation" of life in other solar systems would harm the veracity of religion but it would do something else. It would strengthen those who discern the real importance of such a deception. It might stunt the growth of the mega-church movement  but then would probably mobilize that element of the Christian church that relies on supernatural phenomena, end-times theories and gnosticism for growth. It would cause divisions that ultimately could only clarify the gospel to many. It would be a humbling, difficult time; not something that one would look forward to experiencing. UFO sightings could also be simply diversions. If so, they certainly work but only as far as God permits them to. The best defense against getting caught up in the alien phenomena is knowledge of the narrative of Scripture for understanding this puts all UFO news in the perspective of anything but aliens visiting this planet. Although the following book recommendation does not address the issue at hand, it does deal with discernment in the church, or rather the lack of it, and its proclivity to fall for deception.