Sunday...Christianity.....J. Vernon McGee

         J. Vernon McGee was a Presbyterian preacher whose ministry was a staple on Christian radio for many years and continues on even after his death 21 years ago! A learned man, his folksy twang is not going to draw many bank executives or socialites to his radio program but there was something very valuable in this Lawrence Welk of Evangelicals and it is evident in the longevity of the radio ministry.
         I listened in on the way to work this Sunday morning. It was a very sound sermon on the Ten Commandments in that they condemn us rather than being a blueprint for salvation. They command but they also convict in that we then realize that we need a Savior, for we have sinned, and do sin, and only the righteousness of Christ imputed to our account, through faith, and faith alone, in Him will justify us in God's eyes. 
         In the course of the sermon he brought up another point that I would like to mention here. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were compared. One being very practical and the other a visionary. Reverend McGee thought it important to say that a visionary needs a little bit of the practical, and the practical one needs a little bit of the visionary. My theology is Calvinist and Reformed. I came a long way to get here. I was Pentecostal and Fundamentalist in my early days and segued into the Reformation through Evangelicalism. I have written many times in this blog on the differences between these Christian beliefs and enjoy a healthy debate on the issues involved, but I also think that I have retained and expressed a respect for those other Christian groups evidenced by my words on men such as Pat Robertson, David Wilkerson, Jerry Falwell and James Dobson.
          Those who are dismissive of Theology and doctrine as if they are distractions from the love commanded of us in the Bible might consider that they too are theologians and very doctrinal in their beliefs. Their strong theology is one of weak theology and their strong doctrine is one of few doctrines. Echoing J. Vernon McGee, the Reformed, the strongest of the groups, in my opinion-obviously, needs some Fundamentalist in them, their strength being a willingness to cling to Christ in the face of all the world's intellectual arguments against God. We need some Pentecostalism in us where the euphoria of those first days of faith in Christ is seen every day in us, and we need some of the temporal, family-oriented, May God bless America zeal of the Evangelical.
          There was a political rally in our nation's capitol yesterday that billed itself as non-political and sanity restoring. It was a sham event meant only to assuage the anger of the public days before an election because of a near-takeover of America by Progressives and Socialists. Christians need to be vary wary of copying this false fairness doctrine in the church. The berating of those who believe that there are distinct, discernible truths is a ploy. By attacking the search for and defense of truth as divisive the opponents of truth seek to win by default. They seek to embarrass through false piety.
         There was at one time an American Creed that united a diverse populace and displayed the beauty of multiculturalism, not the deformity of multiculturalism as it is propounded today, but this Creed is under attack in political events such as yesterday's. Christians are united in something infinitely more important and that is as adopted children; redeemed through the perfect life, agonizing death and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah and now long-awaited King of Kings! The fellowship of all Christians needs neither compromise nor rallies but only the shared realization that we shall all stand before Him in white someday; garments given to us even though our fallen nature would never have deemed them valuable.

http://www.thruthebible.org/

Thursday.....Politics......It's Only One Man's Prayer?

We returned today from Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, 82 degrees by the way with people tanning and some even in the water! It was a two night spontaneous trip after a scheduled few days in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I simply wanted to drive around Delaware with my blog's bumper sticker and Christine O'Donnell's name on the back of the car, and also to pass out some small cards with the blog URL on it in the process. The purpose? I wanted to do something, however insignificant, for this courageous young lady who put her reputation on the line for what she believes. I would want to do the same for Joe Miller, Sharron Angle, Marco Rubio and a host of others whose names, hopefully, will someday push the Karl Roves out of the  limelight. Just one person with a blog, you say? No, one more person with a blog! One more voice! One more citizen who has had enough of professional politicians! I know men who are very vocal in their conservative talk, yet they will not vote on Tuesday. I'm sure that there are a number of reasons for this unfortunate phenomenon but the number one  must be the obvious; it's only one vote, they reason. I have two responses to this. The first being, once again the obvious, if enough people take that position...the opponent wins. We hear this reasoning from all candidates in the last minute of their campaigns, but it accomplishes little because the bugaboo remains...come on, it's just one vote! My second response may not be so easy to avoid. If you do not vote...your conservative opinions may be hollow. You may talk a good game but do you show up when needed? You are letting others, and your country down, and those who sacrificed greatly to give you that right. As the old idiom goes, with friends like that, who needs enemies? OK..... I vented. Let me tone it down a little bit for with some there are mitigating circumstances. One might  work very hard in a campaign and give of their money but still not show up at the polls. Another might have a history of honest and dedicated public service but still see their own vote as only one vote. I don't agree with them but do acknowledge that they indeed did show up...just not at the polling booth, a mental miscalculation. I have something else to say about this though. It's about what they are missing! When that vote now button is pushed, there is an exhilaration! One has stayed the course to the end and can look in the mirror. Win or lose, they can stand tall. Their vote has become a part of history as every vote ever cast for Abraham Lincoln...or Ronald Reagan. They will have an answer for their children when asked, Who did you vote for, Dad. Maybe most importantly of all, they will have humbled themselves by not condescending to the little people who vote while they do the more important tasks. And picture this; some day they may pick up the banner themselves and find their own name on the ballot. What might they then say, believe, even depend upon, as they find themselves encouraging others to vote? If we show up now, and if God extends His mercy upon us, they can then look back upon this election and say...It happened before...it can happen again! Do Christians say, It's only one man's prayer..so why pray? No we don't, because God hears every prayer. We know that in His wisdom His answer may be no but He beckons us to come to Him with our petitions. He determines the fate of elections and whole nations also. His answer to us here may also be no, for our dependence is truly on Him alone, but it is a great privilege and blessing to pray, and a lesser one to cast a vote for God-fearing leaders, but a privilege and blessing none the less!

Wednesday.....Culture.....Secret (Service) Agent Man

He was retired from the Secret Service and as one of their agents protected President Reagan for four years. Joseph Petro's book Standing Next To History, An Agent's Life Inside The Secret Service had been well received in 2006. Typical of the integrity that you would expect from these men, the book wasn't going to give away any secrets or information that disparages the people that he protected. I was fortunate to see him speak last night to a gathering that would have to be considered liberal leaning. It was an evening of anecdotes with a little bit of history and didn't enter into political preferences. On the historical side, Special Agent Petro, and his KGB counterpart, were the only two observers, other than the interpreter, when President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, walked away from the Geneva delegations to a quaint cabana on Lake Geneva to personally take the measure of each other. On the personal side, Petro tells of how the first thing Ronald Reagan did every morning for eight years at the Oval Office was to reach into a desk drawer, grab some peanuts and scatter them on the patio for the squirrels. The very last thing he did in that office, upon visiting it one last time prior to the transfer to George H. W. Bush, was to reach in the drawer and scatter the peanuts again. This time he bent over and left a note card on the concrete along with the nuts that read Beware, the new guy has a dog!. So it was a lighthearted talk. The Q&A did bring up partisan politics and Mr. Petro's answer was predictable. He mentioned a tee-shirt that he once had that said you elect em...we protect em. He did make one comment that I would like to explore a little bit further here. He mentioned that the extreme rhetoric of this current political season could lead to violent acts but it is much more muddled and complicated than a simple statement like that. Where does the agenda of the Progressive Left come into the equation? When can subterfuge of Socialists in the administration be questioned? Is there any venting at all allowed as one extreme voting irregularity after another is reported? How far can our military and national defense be depleted, how many judges can legislate from their bench, how many czars will assume duties of the Congress, how many taxes-world taxes-hidden taxes be levied, how many social mores deconstructed through the intellectual bullying of political correctness, how many foreign policy decisions can be based on domestic political consequences, how many investigative whitewashes by the media, how many of these things should Americans watch without speaking about them to their fellow citizens? George W. Bush was called a murderer and everyday American citizens were labelled backwoods, superstitious believers in God yet this was acceptable. Mr. Petro was correct in that these are very dangerous and troubling times. The truth will win out if it can get out but an even greater weapon is prayer....prayer for humility in that we have all added to our national disability of not functioning as, not only a free people, but a God-fearing people that naturally discerns the evils of greed, the corruptions of power and the lure of thinking too highly of ourselves and our abilities apart from God's abiding grace.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Seaman Murphy

Many will see Clint Eastwood's film Hereafter starring Matt Damon. I'll probably see it when it comes out on DVD. I don't have to see it for research now for I've seen so many of them over the years, the decades, films that explore the hereafter. Eastwood is not a director that seeks to titillate. His message in this film may give a subtle message or it may just stir thought. So many are fascinated by life after death. I searched quite a bit myself. I mentioned previously that a Pulitzer Prize winning book The Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker captivated me for a long time in the early 80s but God was about to have mercy on the least worthy of all as he put another book in my possession that would lead me in the right direction. What would happen to me after I die, where would I go, would I even exist? God is ether going to have mercy upon a person, or He will choose not to, but he has designed something that brings us into the equation. He says in Isaiah Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.


It was a warm night for Cape May, New Jersey, in late October, at 70 degrees as the sun went down. The temperature had risen to 77 at midday. John Cermak was sipping a coffee at Marie's diner when Sue Jamison rushed in looking left and right for John who was in a corner by the front window for it gave access to an outlet for his computer. Sue's frantic look eased somewhat at seeing John but John's calm turned a little frantic at seeing Sue rush in like that.

 "John, Shane Murphy is in the hospital. They say he jumped into the water from the ferry in that insane quest of his to find that ghost ship. He's lost his mind John."

John Cermak was the librarian at the Cape May library. He got to know Shane Murphy over the summer as the 22 year old spent most of his days in the stacks looking up everything from ghosts, to shipwrecks, to local and Eastern seaboard maritime history. In 1937 a merchant ship named the Kenmore had been lost in a Nor'easter along with 27 seamen and its captain Manfred von Aire. The mystery that evolved around it was that it was spotted docked at Norfolk, Virginia the following year by two ex-crewmen who had joined the navy and were stationed there. It caused a bit of a stir around Cape May after that and had been investigated by the government and insurance companies. It turned out that a sister ship, the Kenmack, was the ship spotted by the men but their were no records from the Jones Shipbuilding Company that a sister ship had ever been built and maritime records showed no such ship as the Kenmack. Some say that the whole thing was a secret government deal concerning the war that was brewing around the world. Others said that it was a ghost ship for the men who spotted it also said that they walked the decks and there was not a single crewman on board. The myth and the mystery of the Kenmore grew over the years and sure enough there were other "sightings" and the ones in recent years always came from the decks of the ferry crossing over from Cape May to Lewes, Delaware. One book on ghost ships included a chapter on the Kenmore and the Mystery Channel did a piece on it for cable television.

Shane Murphy was headed no where in particular in life. He just graduated from community college but had not even looked for a job in his major. He worked pizza delivery and rented a flat just off of the bridge where you enter Cape May and spent his free time trying to find something in the mystery of a ghost ship that would give something of substance to his life. He brought up the subject time and time again with John Cermak but the librarian was a Christian and always seemed to finish his answers with some scripture verse that mentioned man as a mortal being that would stand before Jesus Christ after death and not float around in another dimension, but that didn't stop Shane Murphy from asking more and more reference questions.

The nurse pointed to Shane's room and simply shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. The doctors had concluded that Shane had not attempted suicide and was no danger to himself as long as he stayed off of that ferry. John Cermak walked into Shane's room. It was quiet with no TV on as in most of the other rooms. The ceiling light was on but the light at Shane's bed was off and he sat their motionless, just staring straight ahead.

"Mr. Cermak!"
"Hello Shane."
"I saw the Kenmore! Not only that I walked the decks and talked to Captain von Aire...or..I talked to   someone anyway."

John didn't comment. He pulled a chair alongside Shane's bed and said "I'm listening."

Shane told the entire story without any interruption from his visitor. He had bought a round-trip ticket and boarded the 8 o'clock ferry. He usually pulled a blanket from the deck cabinets but this evening was particularly warm and he didn't need one. He almost fell asleep on the trip back but was gazing off into the inlet when suddenly the bow of a ship passed by the railing going in the opposite direction, this not more than a meter away. He stood up and tried to scream out to someone but could not. He had no idea what to do as he took a hesitant step towards the rail. The camera that he always lugged on board was in the deck chair. The ship's bridge passed slowly and the name Kenmore was written on the side. There was no lights on the ship and it was going to be gone in a few seconds. Shane had no idea what to do. He grabbed the rail as the stern of the Kenmore approached. He looked up to the bridge of the ferry, saw no one, looked back at the Kenmore about to pass...and leaped! He hit hard on the wooden deck and felt pain in his shoulder. It was quiet all of a sudden, and dark. The noise of the ferry was lessening as it slid away in the distance until it was absolutely quiet. The Kenmore moved quickly along without making any noise. It was as if it was a sailing vessel but it was a coal fed boiler ship. He stood up and took a few steps just to hear the sound of his boots on the deck calling out "Hello" but there was no answer. He saw a very dim light in the windows of the bridge that was ten feet over his head. There was a ladder up to the bridge and he reached out and touched it first, then grabbed it and climbed, rung by rung, up to the catwalk in front of the steering house. He could see nothing through the panes of glass darkened by, what he surmised to be, over 70 years of travelling through the mists of the ocean, but the dim light was still there. He walked to the port side and grabbed the handle to the door into the bridge. Turning it brought the sound of metal to metal and he gently pushed the door bringing a squeaking sound. He pushed the door without stepping inside. His heart was beating fast. There at the wheel, facing out over the bow, a man stood, with a captain's hat and long seaman's coat.

"Captain...Captain von Aire?"

"Captain von Aire?" He repeated louder.

"I've been waiting for you!" came the answer from the man without turning around.

"F..f..f..for me?"

""Yes, for you. I see the faces as she passes by and knew that someone would come to me."

"Captain. the world is waiting to meet you. You'll be the most famous person in the the world when they find out!"

"Find out what seaman Murphy?"

"That you are still alive...how did you know my name, I'm not one of your seaman?"

"I've always known your name. I would call out to you...Come to me seaman Murphy. Come and join me!"

"Where is the rest of the crew? Did they die in the storm?"

"They're all around you seaman Murphy. Can't you hear them?"

Shane heard what seemed to be faint laughter and his skin crawled. The captain had not yet turned to face Shane. He would move the wheel to the port a little and then move it to the starboard, always seeming to gaze ahead into the waters.

"Captain? Did you hear what I said? You have to stop this ship alongside the ferry to show the world that you are alive!"

At that the captain put the lock on the wheel and slowly turned as he said "Alive? Seaman Murphy, I have been dead for millennia..for eons. And now you are dead with me and will be my seaman for ever!" As he turned, his face was fully seen by Shane. It was ashen with no discerning marks to distinguish a nose or mouth...only red eyes that seemed to bore a hole into Shane's eyes. The captain gave a loud and hideous laugh "Pour me some rum seaman Murphy!" he bellowed. "You're going to be a fine seaman!" and again came the laugh.

Shane was too frightened to speak. He backed out of the bridge onto the catwalk. There was no sight of the ferry lights for it was probably back at Cape May by now. The captain shouted out again "Seaman Murphy...come to me." Shane backed away until he felt the ladder and stumbled as he descended. He ran to the rail and saw nothing except the waves that were growing higher and higher. It was cold now. It must be below freezing but it was warm when he was on the ferry. The captain's voice was now all around Shane "Seaman Murphy! You wanted to know about us! Now you do. Come to me! You're mine now!"

Shane ran to a lifeboat on the aft deck and cranked on the wheel that held it in place. Slowly, inches at a time, it lowered. Shane could hear laughter all around by now and thought that he felt a hand on his leg. He cranked and cranked until the lifeboat was bouncing on the waves. Grabbing onto the ropes, he slid down and once again hit hard on the wooden planks on the bottom of the lifeboat. He reached up and loosened the ropes until his skiff was set free. The Kenmore slowly passed and the laughter grew softer and softer until the only thing that could be heard was the crashing of the waves around the small boat. Shane had no idea what to do except wait, but the waves of a tempest that was not forecast, was brewing and endangering the lifeboat. He held onto the seats that were attached to the boat until one wave came completely over him sending him into the raging waters. He found himself crying out to the God that he so often ignored in his conversations with the man who he was now telling his story to. Many minutes had passed and Shane had trouble staying afloat in the cold waters. He was losing consciousness. As he lay as still as he could, holding his breath to stay afloat, he heard voices, yells and screams. A spotlight blinded his vision and he felt hands grabbing him before he passed out. He awoke in that room and told his story but no one was even interested. He thought of no one but John Cermak, until there he stood by the end of his bed.

Shane looked at John and said "What happened to me, Mr. Cermak?"

John spoke his first words since his "I'm listening."

"You were in the water for ten minutes Shane. They spotted you jumping into the water and stopped the ferry immediately. They rescued you in no time. You were never out of their sight."

"Then what did I experience? Was it a dream? Am I possessed?"

"I don't know and I won't speculate Shane. I will say this...you've heard me say it before..."it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement." You did not die, but will you live?"

John Cermak got up to leave but Shane said "Mr. Cermak! Don't I have to say a prayer or something? Don't I have to become a Christian right now?"

John stopped at the door, turned and said a few last words before leaving, "Shane, the next few days are going to be difficult for you. They may keep you here while you talk to a psychiatrist. I'll come back every day. I listened and didn't say a world. I listened intently. When I come back, I want you to listen intently to the story that I am going to tell you." He pointed to the book he left at the foot of Shane's bed that appeared to be a Bible. "Some reading material for you. Good-bye for now."

Thursday.....Politics.....Separation Of Church And State?

I had only read the captions from the stories on Christine O'Donnell's comments on the separation of church and state when I overheard numerous comments on the big story, then I investigated just what had happened. O'Donnell, the Republican candidate to the Senate from Delaware, was speaking  in a debate with her opponent at Widener School of Law when, in the course of that debate she asked "Where in the Constitution, is separation of church and state." There was laughter from the audience and she was severely taken to task the next day by the national media. Once again, there is a story behind the story. Law schools are very much like colleges and universities in general as they are primarily liberal institutions with a few conservative ones that look to the original intent of the authors of our founding documents on issues such as this. The laughter of the students displayed an ignorance of the phrase separation of church and state as it used today. It is a pejorative in that it is meant to purge God from the public square. It fits very nicely in the old Soviet Constitution but is eisegesis in ours. I previously wrote on Thomas Jefferson's use of the phrase and it is utterly misinterpreted as Jefferson was writing to the Danbury Baptist Association encouraging them that the state will stay out of the Church's business. The 1st Amendment begins...Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibit the free exercise thereof. Our Founding fathers were speaking about the separation of the state from the particular religious beliefs of its people. The state will not promote one denomination, nor will it discriminate against another. The usage and intent of the phrase today is not touched upon in the 1st Amendment which describes the relationship of church and state, a relationship that was to be nothing like the state church of England to its people or the persecution of those who fled England to come here. Rather, the intent is an attempt to attach an indicative to the 1st Amendment that is not there. The whole incident speaks to the general knowledge, or lack of it, of much of the public on the issues that divide us. A cursory examination is given on an issue, from sources that are easiest to find (the mainstream media,) from an already biased inclination. This election is once again being fought through television campaign ads, YouTube, Facebook, flyers in the mail, soundbites and talking points although the outrage seen in the Tea Party movement is the result of people with  first-hand experience of the consequences of an eroding constitution and usurping of its  powers by an activist judiciary, bureaucratic takeover of Congressional responsibilities, political correctness, highway robbery through taxation, a weakened national defense, threats to our national sovereignty, a desecration of marriage and a direct assault of that 1st Amendment in that a particular religion-Secularism and its atheist sponsors- is being established while Christianity is being prohibited piecemeal. In the eyes of many today, there is an epidemic in America and it is the quest to read, to investigate and  to discern, as opposed to just listen and accept. If a vaccine is not found to stop this, or a antibody to kill it, the grand design of a socialist country with Progressive ideals will cease and desist and, Huxley forbid, a pandemic might even spread around the globe.

Tuesday.....International....Chancellor of the Chubby Checker

Strikes are roiling France but the UK announced budget cuts today that has British public services twisting in the wind.  Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne declared  today is the day where Britain steps back from the brink as he announced spending and entitlements cuts that has set everyone else in both Europe and America back on its heals. The next five years may see 500,000 jobs lost. Just about every area has been cut, including the military, and the state pension age is being raised to 66, where France's riots stem from their raising the pension age from 60 to 62. Bureaucrats are being axed and the BBC is being hit. Here are some comments from voices in government and society, both in praise of and opposed to:

Today is the day that an abstract debate about spreadsheets and numbers turns into stark reality

Cuts to the funding of border controls and counter-terrorism policing risk weakening our defenses against threats to our national security.

I'm not trying to disguise that it is going to be difficult for a lot of people.

I don't think that there's any way that a Labour government would have made choices that mean that children are actually bearing more of a burden in this deficit reduction than bankers...

George Osbourne has pulled the rug from under recovery with these reckless cuts.

It's going to be a very serious three or four years ahead of us.

This is a budget to destroy 500,000 jobs in the public sector, according to the government's own estimates.

It is a Tory list of shame

The Chancellor has got the strategic direction of this spending review right.

Simply slashing jobs and opening the prison gates is not an option.

I am confident that we have the will and determination to tackle bureaucracy...

Business has been absolutely clear on this-the deficit has to be tackled no matter what and this starts the process.

The broadest shoulders still have the fattest wallets. The price from George Osbourne's day of reckoning will be paid by the economy.

It's great news that the Government is going ahead with necessary spending cuts to get the deficit under control and that politicians are finally setting out clear plans to deal with the fiscal crisis.

This is not a spending review-it's a massacre.

The comments go on and on, back and forth. Once again, the issue here goes beyond the obvious. This financial crisis round the world is real and not only for investors on Wall Street and 401Ks. Incredibly, British taxes may be raised even higher but the government had to do this first. That stiff upper lip of the British will be sorely tested. This is the price paid for fiscal irresponsibility, and short-sightedness, and it is only the beginning. We will pay the piper for the bailouts and stimulus as we are currently paying the price for letting down our guard on constitutional, cultural and ecclesiastical matters. Words from a well-known Christian hymn comes to mind:

When darkness seems to hide His face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale,
My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Never, Never, Never Quit...Redux

The following blog is from June 10th of this year but I feel it is necessary to revisit it, for the near future in America is more perilous than it has ever been before; although one would never know it while scanning the television channels.  There are difficulties ahead that may shake us to the very core, shake our beliefs and render us temporarily ineffective to act. There has to be a level of preparation but one rarely prepares for something they, not only do not see, but actively try to will away. We should consider the possibilities and go over in our minds the various ways that events may play out. Yes, we should make our plans and enjoy the multiple blessings God has given but should always remember that life is transitory, that nations rise and fall, that tyrants arise and leaders are born out of necessity but not without nourishment in the womb. Our security is that nothing can befall us without God's permission and if there is a verse to dwell on in times like these it might be Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5,6) The following blog starts off with my propensity to lose things and then, through diligent detective work, find them. In the past two days I lost my keys but found them in the yard, and I lost my cell phone charger but after exhausting all the possibilities at home determined that I must have dropped it in the parking lot at work when I set my bags down. The next morning it was still there. Yogi once said It ain't over till it's over and I would add, if you quit....it's over. November 2nd will only stop the leak. The water has yet to be bailed out of the bilge, the sails repaired and rudder freed from the moorings cast overboard in an effort to set speed records to reach the port of Progressivism.


I am very, very good at finding lost items. The reason is because I am so very proficient at losing things and thus have lots of experience. I will go to extraordinary lengths  to retrieve something I've lost. I bought an English pipe on a vacation to Europe in 1981 and promptly dropped it through an opening in front of the elevator door at work upon returning home. To this day, 29 years later, when I stand before that elevator, my lips curl up like Bill Murray's in Caddy Shack, as he ponders how to get that gopher. That pipe is probably petrified today but it doesn't matter. I recently switched cars with my son and dropped my money clip between the seat and the console, a very tight place. I retrieved it along with a metal bookmark that I had given him with a quote etched on it. The words read Never, never, never quit-Winston Churchill. One word, thrice repeated, does not sound very poetic but it does deliver the message. When utilized in the Bible, it means what it does today...extreme emphasis. I don't mean to sound trite but a saying like that needs pondering over, even meditating upon. Churchill's actual words delivered in October of 1941 were "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never, in nothing, great or small, large or petty, never give in, except to honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy". I'm not talking about never giving up on a personal goal or desired vocation. Motivational speakers abound who do that. In my opinion, one of the most tragic mistakes that we have made is our judgement that man is basically good. The effort to ban all nuclear weapons is based on this, there is elements of it in the failure to acknowledge the legitimacy of the death penalty, and it even shows up in abortion as you have the fetus that is not a person, whose continued existence depends upon genuine persons who are generally good. The same principle of good people making their own decisions is in the same-sex marriage debate. Good people should trump laws in legalizing drugs and illegal immigration. Man is good and laws are neutral therefore, man trumps laws. Why be shackled to constitutions when man can make decisions as they arise? The biggest issue of all may be in our belief that mankind is good, placed under the dominion of a God, where His goodness is suspect to begin with. In reality, man is not good. Given the proper circumstance, rewards and (lack of ) punishments, he will cause havoc, pain and suffering. Should this be the case, would it not make sense to never, never, never quit on dealing with our own weaknesses and seeking Him who can not only give us the strength but give an impetus to live, at times, as though we were good?

Sunday.....Christianity.....Solzhenitsyn Was Right

It's hard to assess what people might think upon stumbling upon this blog. My only source of advertising is the magnetic bumper stickers that I transfer from one car to another as I drive them. The message is very pessimistic as far as the world and our nation is concerned. The coming election is only a tourniquet and there may be far too much blood lost already. It is difficult to write this way and even harder to face the reality of what I believe. I want to be mistaken and that is not a very pleasant situation to be in. Shakespeare wrote uneasy lies the head that wears the crown but uneasy also lies the head that sees madmen take advantage of the gullible. Churchill probably had more peace when he wore the crown during war than when he was ridiculed for the warnings he gave on Hitler's intentions. My son and I have had a tradition during the many beach vacations that our family has taken over the years. The boardwalks always offer little corked bottles with sand or a small sailing ship or some such items inside. We would buy a couple and write a short gospel message, stick the paper inside and heave the bottles into the waves. As he got older the messages became more specific and I would add R. C. Sproul's ministry web site on the paper. It's www.ligonier.org  by the way. The last few years, yes even now, I would put my blog address on it. I am unabashedly a firm believer in God's providence and that He often uses even the most unlikely sources and undeserving people in his plans. As best as I can recall, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn tells this story of his conversion. He was a prisoner in the gulag system that he would eventually expose. He became ill and a doctor, a fellow prisoner, worked on him throughout the night. That doctor openly  talked about his Christian faith while he worked on the future Nobel Prize winner in Literature. A guard came by and warned him to stop. When Solzhenitsyn awoke in the morning he asked for the doctor but was told that he was dead, killed for his testimonies of Jesus Christ. This was the beginning of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's gift of literature to the world from the eyes of a Christian. He later wrote the following on the condition of his country...Russia.
   Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened." Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat : "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
Our national debt is the result of bailouts and stimulus packages applied with no wisdom. There are economies around the world that might survive the conditions but the world is so intertwined that unless most of them succeed they all will fail. Economic upheavals bring on revolutions in both governments and societies and there are those in high places who are primed  for this chaos to bring about a new world order that they have envisioned for quite some time. Terrorism is directed to societies that follow Robert's Rules of Order while they themselves kill wantonly knowing that they will not have to face anyone as ruthless as they are. Iran will process weapons grade uranium, if they haven't already done so, and the resulting bomb (s) will be used somewhere, sometime. China will not be submissive if their economy collapses. They will use economic blackmail and their ever increasing military power if necessary. Putin's Russia fooled Solzhenitsyn and many others. All of these problems went from the warning stage to the imminent stage since 1992. There are signs, some significant, that peoples and governments want to right their ships of state but enemies of these nations also see these changes in attitude and that forces them to act while they have the upper hand. There is only one question in all of this and that is the American people. Was the reputation that we have had as a people...hype...generated from its enormous successes, or was it real? Well, it was real but the further question is whether we still possess those traits. We are probably going to find out. We know one thing for sure. When people of many former nationalities become one people united in the common bond of liberty, and acknowledge God as their creator and benefactor, they can become an enormous force for right. Germany's Angela Merkel said yesterday that multiculturalism is a failure. It has failed us also as it tore us apart and sapped our strength. Liberty has become an entitlement rather than a reward for vigilance. We have sat in awe at the feet of those who proudly boast that there is no God. It is hard, if not impossible. to judge whether Americans bear the traits of their fathers or whether they have followed other gods. Polls cannot answer this question, only trial can. Speaking for myself, I probably do not have those traits but I have something more sure. I acknowledge that God is the source of our strength. He may, as he has done in the past, make it very evident that we must admit that we cannot sustain ourselves, and that He moves within those who acknowledge where the power comes from. All these problems, this perfect storm has come upon us because we have forgotten him. Solzhenitsyn was right on this.

Thursday.....Politics....Maggie Thatcher and Jeane Kirkpatrick Would Have Been Proud

There is an ad that I often see in the magazines where a man is fishing from a boat, with his back to the waterfalls that are fast approaching. A rather incredible thing is happening in our nation today, as it also drifts aimlessly towards a waterfall, for women have pushed the men aside, taken hold of the oars and are attempting to row the boat to shore before catastrophe strikes. Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Star Parker and Sharron Angle are just a few of the many women who have risen in defense of this nation and there are many more behind word processors, microphones and in the home. They are smart, articulate, motivated, confident and courageous as they entered the fray with the Harry Reids and Nancy Pelosis of this world. They've been mercilessly attacked, particularly by the Liberal/Progressive women who long ago jettisoned the quality of feminism in favor of robocharm. The feminist movement succeeded for those who bought into it and showed them that they can be every bit as shallow, greedy self-centered and short-sighted as we men can be. Congratulations! We can be very thankful for these Conservative women, many of whom have raised children of their own and refuse to turn them over to Karl Marx and Hillary. The criticisms of these mama grizzlies are often, at best, absurd. An example of politics in this beginning of the 21st century, can be seen in the recent controversy concerning Meg Whitman. This Liberal/Progressive element has absolutely no use for truth or ethics. There is no conscience to hold one back. Any rational observer, no matter what their political affiliation, should be able to look at this story and gasp what have we come to, that we can distort to such a extent that there is not a scintilla of ethics in the motives of those behind it trying to gain votes. The story should not even be Meg Whitman, it should be the outrageous charges, the acting and the deceit that some are capable of and the blindness of the media in failing to call it what it is.  Christine O'Donnell is another example. Hillary had her personal seances in attempting to contact the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt while in the White House, but O'Donnell admits to toying with witchcraft in her youth and she is ridiculed with the attempt to severely injure. The issue is not O'Donnell's youthful indiscretions or even Hillary's impersonation of Shirley MacLaine, the issue should be the overt attempt to destroy a person for political gain. Christine O'Donnell is being attacked because she is an average person, a normal person who has the audacity of seeking a United States Senate seat without having first knelt at the altar of corporate greed or party politics. It's reported that Maureen Dowd will attach the label "mean" on all these women in her upcoming column. There's a scene in the film School Ties which starred Brendan Fraser and Matt Damon, where the school's director found evidence that someone was cheating on an exam. Damon, who was the guilty student, and knowing that this "elite" school would not stop before finding the culprit, pointed to Fraser, an innocent student, and said "He is the cheater." This is what is happening in the onslaught of verbal attacks on these fine women. Can it get worse than this? Probably. Do we ever want to see it? No. Some of these women may not win their races but they are the better half of the Republican Party. The Declaration of Independence concludes with these words by the men who signed it; And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. That banner was about to fall but was picked up by these women and they are being assailed because of it. What are we men willing to pledge to each other or do we have to go over the waterfall before we will even consider the question?

Wednesday.....Culture.....Facebook Wednesday?

Maybe I should just change Wednesday....Culture to Wednesday....Facebook for changes seem to a weekly, even daily, item for Mark Zuckerberg's empire. To recount a little bit here, I wrote a few blogs on the Facebook phenomenon lately. I've had concerns on social networking for some time. One change that I read about only a few minutes ago is that chat conversations can no longer be deleted, for Facebook removed the delete button. Facebook users are wondering why and they are not very happy about it. The second bit of news was much bigger. Facebook and Microsoft's Bing search engine are becoming intertwined. They will share personal data which brings privacy matters into the picture but Facebook responds by saying that their users can opt out of the special service if they wish. This service will enable Bing users to see "friend's" particularly likes or dislikes on anything from "movies to restaurants." And this may just be the beginning of new services, say the partners. Microsoft has that other monolith Google in its sites, and as one analyst put it "Google, Facebook battle for future of the web." Zuckerberg chose Bing, for now, for "They are really the underdog here" and "because of that they're incentivised to go all out and innovate." In yet another piece of news, according to Fox News, "A privacy watchdog has uncovered a government memo that encourages federal agents to befriend people on a variety of social networks, to take advantage of their readiness to share--and spy on them," The narcissism, the pursuit of the trivial and the super-willingness to taste every grape dangled over the mouth is only part of the problem with this juggernaut of technological innovation in social networking. There is a tapeworm growing in this frenzy for technological gimmicks. Every gimmick is a tentacle, every hour spent on it is literally wasted when one considers that the nation's code of ethics is in critical condition. Will this one day become a cyber-bulimia where one throws up and then waits only long enough to catch a breath before devouring more? The following is but one example of the mindset of those who are drunk on invention, power and an accumulating of money, an accumulation that never seems to end. The Wall Street Journal did a piece, titled "Technology=Salvation," this past weekend on Peter Thiel after interviewing him. Thiel was an early investor in Facebook and is reported to presently own about 3% of the company. It begins with Thiel's opinion that except for the Internet and computers, technological progress today is a myth. According to the Journal, he is a macro investor along the lines of George Soros and bets on the direction of the world's markets. Herein is part of the ethics problem shared by many other professions in that "right and wrong" is an extinct animal and law is simply a rule meant to be challenged for personal gain. Life is a game. According to Mr. Thiel, the national debt is not a problem, it could even double over the next 20 years, as long as wealth is also created. It doesn't matter how much you owe for you are making good money...but circumstances change and by that time its way too late to act responsibly. Mr Thiel acknowledges this, sort of, as he describes those who lost big in the sub-prime mess as "betting...on the productivity gains to make ...debts affordable." He hit on the crux of the problem, but he promoted the cause and not a solution for he laments that there are not more companies as great as Facebook and admits that it is "dangerous" to be part of such a successful company when other areas are not succeeding. This is maybe the understatement of the year. Corporations often buy other corporations, not to improve their product, but to find themselves on top when, and if, the economy settles out. It's an untenable theorem. Facebook, and other behemoths, will come to a point where they will not be able to afford it, and when they do, their employees will suffer and those dependent upon them will be left out in the wind to dry, or, could Facebook ever be too big to fail? This is the present administration's position, throw the money at bailouts and stimulus, just tax enough to be able to pay for it, and hope that world events do not thwart the plan. One unforeseen problem... the people are not going to be taxed to pay for the megalomania dreams of superegos. The welfare of the people does not come into play with Facebook execs, only the desires of the people that they are more than happy to prescribe steroids to. Mr. Thiel was portrayed in the recent movie on Facebook, The Social Network, as the man who, as the Journal article puts it, "sets the ball rolling toward cutting out Facebook's allegedly victimized co-founder Eduardo Saverin." This was the mindset of Facebook, is the mindset of much of corporate America, and will be the week ethical link in the chain that brings the house of cards down. Throughout the article's interview, it seems that Mr. Thiel is trying to convince himself that if only we apply all our resources towards technological growth, the macro problem will be solved. He seems to hold up the innovation of Facebook as a guiding principle to what is needed in all of corporate America. He is flailing his arms in the wind and the author of the article, Holman W. Jenkins Jr., spots it as he concludes the piece with "perhaps it really does fall to some dystopian science fiction writer to tell us what such a world will be like-when nations are unravelling even as a cyber-nation called "Facebook" is becoming the most populous on the planet." It has been my contention that Facebook is an extended vacation in the maturing process of a people. It is changing, not only the way people spend their free time, but the way they think, for a linear thought process built on reading words is being supplanted by a image-centered process that only reads short summaries, for there are so many topics to be browsed.

Tuesday.....International.....A Warning From A Brit

My June 29, 2010 blog was titled The Comeback Kid and it was about the Austrian economist and Nobel Prize winner in Economics Friedrich August Hayak. I referred to a Wall Street Journal piece on Hayak and its comments that his book The Road To Serfdom was getting a new hearing. I believe that recent sales of the book, written in 1944, were last reported as 175,000. Hayak was an inspiration to both Reagan and Thatcher and a young, astute British Politician Daniel Hannan used it as the foundation for his book The New Road To Serfdom, A Letter Of Warning To America.  Hannan begins with his astonishment that Americans do not seem to see to see their country as anything special anymore, in fact they are trying to Europeanize. Well, there's nothing new with these comments but he continues and does indeed give even the most ardent critic of the radicals in power, fodder for the cannons. He says America is becoming less American even un...American as he describes us as less independent...less prosperous and less free and following the course his country had taken over the last century. He details how nations in his geographical sphere are defined by territory, language, religion and ethnicity but America has been defined by a set of ideals. He points out that administrations can change but not our enemies conception of us through those ideals and hate us of because of them. We are now losing our freedom therefore losing our essence. In a similar vein to Alexis de Tocqueville he sees our freedom to worship as the basis for our demands for other freedoms, for if we can discern for ourselves what God demands of us, we can therefore demand what a mere government can demand of us. He writes allegiance to the United States means allegiance to its foundational texts and the principles inherent therein. This is the main contention between progressives and conservatives, and as we have consistently argued, we are being fundamentally changed into an entirely new nation and those doing this, and the media who supports them, will not admit to it not permit the citizenry to be warned. None of us could have put it better than Hannon did in this Changing America into a different country will mean forsaking the most successful constitutional model in the world. It will mean abandoning the vision of your founders-a vision that has served to make your country rich and strong. It will mean betraying your ancestors and disinheriting your posterity. But alas, we seem more concerned on the strength of our local football teams' defense than our national defense. Hannon is currently part of the European Parliament and he instructs us, from first hand experience, in the differences between our Constitution and the one that we seem to want to exchange it for. He begins by describing European politicians as answering upward to those who secure their positions rather than downward as we do here where politicians answer to the people. The U. S. Constitution is 7,200 words long...the EU Constitution is 76,000 words. Ours is concerned with broad principles and theirs busies itself with such details as space exploration, the rights of disabled people and the status of asylum seekers. Our is about liberty, theirs is about power. Ours promises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, theirs the right to strike action, free health care and affordable housing. We ratified ours and they took a couple of votes, lost those, and then implemented it. Their supreme power is vested in the hands of an appointed European Commission, the equivalent to the White House and has a monopoly of the right to initiate legislation.  We, according to Hannon, see our nationhood but he writes almost no one in Europe feels a comparable sense of pan-Continental affinity. There is no public opinion; there are no European media. The author laments the loss of its greatest strength, individual allegiances. He writes that up until now, Washington was an obstacle to more of a world government but now, under Obama, has a willingness to share sovereignty on issues ranging from climate change to collaboration with the International Criminal Court. This international change in outlook has accompanied a change in the domestic arrangements of the United States; a shift toward greater central control and higher federal spending. America, in short, is becoming more European. Hannon takes us on a tour of Europe with sections titled Don't Europeanize The Economy, Don't Europeanize Health Care, Don't Europeanize Welfare, Don't Europeanize Society, Don't European Immigration and summarizes it with Don't Abandon Federalism. He exposes their jurisprudence as we try to emulate it. Throughout the book he, in effect, says "you don't want to become us!" We learn a lot from Hannon on the history of the early relationship between our two countries, and we learn how Europeans think and why they often respond as they do. Hopefully Daniel Hannon is not finished with his own education for he misses a few things that one would have to be an American to know.  Religion defines us more than he observes. The tea party phenomenon did not appear ex nihilo but was, and is, conjoined with cultural conservatism. If European and world elites only had to deal with taxation rebels, it could be done. Add the full-orbed conservative and they will never accomplish their goals. He concludes his book with this So let me close with a heartfelt imprecation, from a Briton who loves his country to Americans who still believe in theirs. Honor the genius of your founders. Respect the most sublime constitution devised by human intelligence. Keep faith with the design that has made you independent. Preserve the freedom of the nation to which, by good fortune and God's grace, you are privileged to belong.

Sunday.....Christianity.....Handle With Care

          At my first holy communion in the second grade, the custom was to receive a Bible. It was my uncle who provided me with one and I remember being somewhat disappointed for it was pocket size and very unreadable. I cannot remember why it was that I desired a regular Bible but the desire was real. In grades three through six we would attend Mass every morning and I did have a missal that was a prized possession. I liked its smell and the thin pages and was particularly impressed by the Latin that was recited from the altar and repeated by us in the pews. 

         In high school. we were given two paperback textbooks, one the Old Testament and the other the New Testament and we studied them for their literary content. I still had no concept of the Bible and no personal Bible of my own. Scan ahead to about 23 years of age where I had come out of the army and started at Pitt. My habit was to stop in the National Record Mart on Forbes Avenue in Oakland and browse their books before catching the bus home. I often came out with a purchase and one day it was a modern language paraphrase of the New Testament. I have this paperback in my hand now and can remember the feeling I had then of holding something special but not really knowing what that was.
         My first Bible was a Christmas present from my wife in 1982. I also have that Bible in front of me now. I told the story before of how she and I, as a new Christian, were on a Caribbean cruise and were forved back to our staterooms during a storm. With nothing to do, for the ship was rocking back and forth (they were much smaller in those days), I opened the drawer in the table next to the bed and there was the ubiquitous motel room Bible. Opening it up and reading from the place I had placed my finger I read from the 93rd Psalm,

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
The floods have lifted up their voice;
The floods lift up their waves.
The Lord on high is mightier
Than the noise of many waters,
Than the mighty waves of the sea.

         As a new Christian, God was gracious to give me this glimpse of His Word through an unorthodox method, one that I would not presume upon now for I no longer pick up his Word without knowing that it is not a mere book but God breathed words to his people. If you are not familiar with this, please considerer that when you pick up a Bible to read, that you hold in your hands words inspired by God. Without the movement of God's Spirit on us, they will be just words but under the power of His Spirit their meaning not only begins to become clear but they vibrate every atom of our being and every neuron involved in our thinking.
         Consider these words from Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God 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. If one wishes to remain in rebellion to God one would do well to not pick up His Word for, should God will it, it will make very clear the folly and repercussions of holding on to our own autonomy, and it will convict the conscience.
         On the other hand, if one desires to see just what is in this perceived time capsule, as I had for so many of my early years, it will be an illumination that is easy on the eyes, sweet to the pallet, exhilarating to the touch, soothing to the ears and of a pure aroma of cleanliness. It is powerful and will remain powerful even into old age. It is provision for all that we will need on this journey. It is nourishment. It is radiation to kill cancer cells and minerals to build bones. It is exercise, laughter and fulfillment. It is knowledge and understanding, intellect and emotion, humility and motivation. It is oxigen itself to the Christian life but it is kryptonite to Nietzsche's uberman. It will not only cause you to love but define love itself. Its unity will bring division. Discerning its division will bring unity to the mind. So, the next time that you pick up a Bible, please know that if you are not careful, an ax may be laid at the root of your paradigm of life.

Friday.....America.....Spontaneous Order

Former President George Bush has a book coming out later this year. He has conducted his time after leaving the White House with the same grace that he had as our president. In a speech given today in Alabama he said that many people thought that he couldn't read a book let alone write one and gave some insights on how he is doing now with these words I do not miss the limelight. I have no desire to be in the press. I have no desire to be on your TV screens. C'mom Mr. President, not even a Facebook page? Everyone has one of those! I spent this evening in Barnes And Noble going through the periodicals and books for commentary on Facebook. There were two books on the business table on building your company through a Facebook page and a number of books that referenced Facebook for one reason or another. I did pick up a book that I hope to write a review on later, and the latest issue of the Christian Research Journal (Hank Hanegraaff's magazine) offered an article by philosophy professor Doug Groothuis titled Understanding Social Media. As in most critiques, it offers a warning rather than an outright condemnation. Acknowledging that Social Media is growing explosively and are changing the way people around the globe think of friendship and community, Groothuis sites a book called The Church Of Facebook by Jesse Rice throughout the article for practical and spiritual advice. Groothuis himself had banned laptops from his classes. Rice's book, according to the author of the article, structured his book around three principles that are rather profound. They are these 1) There is a force that is capable of synchronizing a large population in very little time, thereby creating spontaneous order. 2) This spontaneous order can generate outcomes that are entirely new and unpredictable. and 3) These unpredictable outcomes require the affected population to adapt their behavior to more adequately live within the new spontaneous generated order.  Groothuis also mentions Neil Postman's writing, many years ago, on the effect that television would have on people. Marshall McLuhan and Christopher Lasch are two others who come to mind that gave strong warnings on what they saw coming on fast in our culture. In reading the three principles of Mr. Rice, five of his words and phrases jumped out at me, force, synchronizing, spontaneous order, unpredictable and adapt. There is great precision in these fifty some words of Rice. Webster's defines force as a strength or energy. We are the object of that strength and energy so it would behoove us to ask just what goal we are directed to, and would we have the ability to resist it if further changes demanded it? Just who are we being synchronized with and for what purpose?  Spontaneous order is a phrase that should make one think for a while over its implications. Does not the word spontaneous alone go against wisdom in thinking and consideration before reacting? Future changes on Facebook are unpredictable. Addictions tend to make people do what they do not want to do. If we develop an addiction to Facebook, or any other technology, are we not at the mercy of those who are constantly developing new ways to use us for their own ends? Or will we simply adapt to the culture and to philosophies since Facebook would hold so much sway over us, and would it not be nearly impossible to break away from? The problem with Facebook is not only in its triviality and in narcissism. Combine  force with its unpredictability and the potential for personal even national, catastrophe is there. Most critical commentators advise to be very careful. I tend to go a little bit further and recommend avoidance. People are quick to offer the simple and good things they can do through Facebook like staying in daily contact with their families. Is there no other way, even on the Internet, to do that? I haven't read Mr. Rice's book but the practical measures offered in the article seem to be very wise even if one stays on the "friends" network.

Monday.....Miscellaneous.....Youth

You've probably never heard of "President Max Frost." It was 1968 and America was in turmoil. Wild In The Streets was a popular movie in the youth culture. In it, rock star Max Frost was enlisted by a politician in his campaign for the Senate. Frost agreed but added to the campaign that the voting age should be dropped to fourteen. The power of the youth vote turned into a monster and Frost then ran successfully for president and proceeded to make the mandatory age for retirement 30 and sent those over 35 to "retirement homes." One line of his in the movie was What do you ask a 60 year old man-do you want your wheelchair to face the sun, or do you want it to face the other way? I was 18 at the time and probably agreed with the sentiment. The movie ended, as I recall, as Frost turned 35 all too quickly and found himself in the predicament he created. Five years after the movie, I had returned from the Army and was standing in line at a keg of beer at a college party when someone behind said of me Who's the old guy? I'm 60 now. You probably picture me as hobbling along with a nice new set of teeth waiting for Saturday night and Lawrence Welk! OK, I am a Welky but, listen to me you young whippersnappers, (yawn)...I forgot what I was going to say. Anyway...my point is that youth is fleeting. Yesterday's blog was titled In Youth We Learn. This came from a quote from a 19th century Austrian writer Marie Ebner-Eschenbach (no I wasn't there to hear it) In youth we learn, in age we understand. Common sense should tell one that being new to all discussions, having only a few years input, having little experience with discerning the authentic from the fake, and being without the advantage, yes the advantage, of making errors to not only learn from but develop a healthy habit of holding all things up to scrutiny, that one should, at the very least, have patience before throwing in one's lot with any ideology and burning bridges behind.  Even the Apostle Paul took three years in Arabia to sort out what he was learning from the Holy Spirit against what he formerly had dedicated his life to. There is a tendency to want to jump into the fray. The older son in the film Mrs. Miniver is a good example of this as he returned from college with the grandest designs for improving the world only to find out that the problems were much more involved than the spirited debate on campus would have it. Worse yet, philosophies cemented in one's mind after hearing one professor or speakers from one perspective can stifle true inquiry. I don't say this to discourage you but to motivate you even more, for the clearer understanding of an issue gives the more fulfillment in trying to propagate it later. Conversely, we can see in the recent youth movement for Barack Obama where the arguments are shallow, short and easily turn to frustration when confronted by logic and common sense. You have had some disadvantages, one being that if raised in many of our our public school systems, you missed, in your history classes, the essence of America, for those who rule curriculums today are obsessed with destroying the heroes of yesterday because they obviously feel no relationship to those who came before them. The errors, even the horrors of others in this world are often softened so as to not make American history seem something to be excessively proud of.  You went to college where the criticism of America has evolved into a professional assault. When the movers and shakers of this world found that  today's youth have money to spend they targeted you with unrelenting advertising for possessions, gadgets and styles. You won't fully see this until the lure of happiness at the end of a battery charger is more clearly shown as a never ending quest to find a new toy. I saw many of these baubles (a word that would have been used in earlier centuries) disappear into thin air in my own life but there is no returning to youth to make different decisions and I wouldn't want to anyway for God, in His mercy, has given blessings that I would not trade. You were born into an age of tumult. The chaos today often cannot be discerned because there is little foundation to compare it to and few standards in education to cast moorings upon even if one wanted to.  My advice to you is to picture yourself ten years from now, should the Lord will it, the family you will have and the responsibilities. You will look at your children as I did our son. You will watch them grow and seek to protect them from vanities and dangers, and, yes, trivialities. You are now where they will be. Your perspective will indeed change on many things and you may have regrets. You may not live in a free country and your children may be more wards of the state than perpetuators of freedom and liberty. You will either look at your generation as they gained power as one that failed...or one that showed up to meet the challenges, great as they are. You are being called upon to uphold what previous generations sacrificed greatly for. Most importantly, Christians who have gone on and now see the Lord of all creation, wait for you...and me, where all the peer pressure that assails us today will be seen as worthless.

Sunday.....Christianity.....In Youth We Learn.....

The last few blogs were written in the hope that some young people are visiting this site. If you are indeed a young person and your intellect is demanding exercise of some sort you should give the conversation at the White Horse Inn a try for this is their forte. Five hundred years ago, in a small Cambridge inn, it is said that the English Reformation began over beers and debate. Michael Horton and his cohorts have been broadcasting this radio program for over twenty years, just about all of which I and my family listened to faithfully on Sunday evenings at 8:30 on WORD 101.5 FM in Pittsburgh. I just left the radio and tonight's broadcast was on Christian youth in this culture. I think it would be worth your while to go to http://www.whitehorseinn.org/ and stream this program. As for today's blog, I have also mentioned, many times, a book that came into my life quite some time ago. John MacArthur offered it on his radio program for free, way back then, and I did not take advantage of his offer but later had second thoughts and went out and bought the book. It has been in my hands just about every day since then. The title is Valley Of Vision. It's a compilation of short Puritan prayers from authors such as Watson, Baxter, Bunyan, Watts and even 19th century English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon and is edited by Arthur Bennett. We use it for grace before dinner as I open it randomly and read the prayer that appears on the page. Tonight's prayer seemed to be particularly appropriate to my theme of the last few days which is an accentuation on the use of time we are given in this life. This book is listed below along with a book written by the White Horse Inn's guest tonight, Kendra Creasy Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary on the topic mentioned above.

O God of my delight,
Thy throne of grace
is the pleasure ground of my soul.
Here I obtain mercy in time of need,
   Here see the smile of thy reconciled face,
   Here joy pleads the name of Jesus,
   Here I sharpen the sword of the Spirit,
      annoint the shield of faith,
      put on the helmit of salvation,
      gather manna from thy Word,
      am strengthened for each conflict,
      nerved for the upward race,
      empowered to conquer every foe;
Help me to come to Christ
   as the fountainhead of descending blessings,
   as wide open a flood-gate of mercy.
I marvel at my insensate folly, that
   with such enriching favours within my reach
   I am slow to extend the hand to take them.
Have mercy upon my deadness for thy Name's sake.
Quicken me, stir me, fill me with holy zeal.
Strengthen me that I may cling to thee
   and not let go.
May thy Spirit within me draw all blessings
   from thy hand.
When I advance not, I backslide.
Let me walk humbly because of good omitted
   and evil done.
Impress on my mind the shortness of time,
   the work to be engaged in,
  the account to be rendered,
   the nearness of eternity,
   the fearful sin of despising thy Spirit.
May I never forget that
   thy eye always sees,
   thy ear always hears,
   thy recording hand always writes.
May I never give thee rest until Christ is
   the pulse of my heart;
   the spokesman of my lips,
   the lamp of my feet. 

Saturday.....War On Terror...Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country. Brother Michael's typing class 1965

Foyle's War was a popular television series in Britain beginning in 2002 and is also popular with those who watch PBS here in America. The series was built around a man, Christopher Foyle, who wanted more than anything to serve his country in Britain's military but was forced to stay at his position as a police Detective Chief Superintendent throughout the war. If you follow the series, you see that he served his country in a more valuable position where he was. America's Rosie the Riveter was more than a 1942 song and more that an icon. She existed in every women who worked in factories during WW II replacing the men who went to the service. This present War On Terror is no different in that an involved citizenry is not an option but a necessity. One only has to look to Vietnam to see how important the full support of the people is. Expanding a little bit on last night's blog on Facebook, America needs an informed citizenry and excessive time spent in anything takes away from the work that needs to be done. It is not for lack of information sources for one cannot walk away from the current events section of Barnes And Noble without seeing, face out, a half a dozen (bare minimum) excellent books on any one of a number of subjects relating to our problems today. Replace the television with radio and you cannot help but join the conversation. Replace Facebook with realclearpolitics.com and you will get the same result. I know what it is like to follow a college football team with intense passion and I know what it's like to be a Steeler fan but, for what it's worth, I barely pay attention to Pitt football anymore and I haven't seen a series of NFL football in well over a decade and don't miss a thing. This political revolution that is taking place, this convulsion at the thought of the ideology that has taken over the reigns of our government  has been primarily led by women. They homeschool their kids, and their husbands, while reading and learning on their own. They speak up at school board meetings. They are running for public office and winning. They are everything that Hillary pretends she is. They pray for their children and this is their most important function for the youth of today are under an assault such that I never experienced...and I lost that fight! It's no secret and has been repeated often that ideologies that hate America and what it has stood for know that they must get to the children first or they will have no hope. It's an exceptional youth that overcomes the hype, the candy and indeed the lies that they live within as a fish lives in water. And yet, they are out there. Many have gone into our military, others utilize college to enable them to serve God and others get a job and work with the same ethic that built this country. Difficult times are ahead for a perfect storm is brewing. It is fashionable, amongst the fashionable, to ridicule those who believe in God but it is the God ridiculed that gives the strength to the women, to the mothers, to the fathers, to young and old minds. It is God that holds back evil and God that those who ridicule will have to give account to. It is God who opened our eyes to see Him, and ourselves. It is God who overwhelms us with His love and mercy, His justice and power, His design and providence and it is God, and God alone, who will determine if America will humble itself before Him and whether we will stand or fall in the days to come.

Friday.....America.....Can I Be Your Friend

We no longer live in cities and on farms, we now live on the Internet. Those were the words of former Facebook president Sean Parker in the just released film The Social Network. Parker was one of the bad guys in this riveting film on Mark Zuckerberg's founding and building of the phenomenon.  I originally wanted to view fifty Facebook sites before writing on the topic but that was before I found out those days are in the past and one must now first request to be a friend and I probably couldn't find fifty people who want me as a friend (I refer you to my past blogs.) So I read on the topic. Most of what has been written is on security issues but there has been a lot written on the concerns of a narcissistic culture that tries to collect friends as if they were mini-fans. Groucho Marx was on target as he once told a starry-eyed Dick Cavet who proclaimed himself a "big fan," If it gets any hotter, I could use a big fan. If the film is accurate, it was the college students who first poured themselves into these lazy, pseudo friendships and now fiddle as Rome burns. Now, it seems, everyone does it, 500 million at last count. Half of the film takes place at Harvard. College students haven't changed that much since I was one. Once again, if the film is accurate, Facebook was founded on lies, arrogance, the pastimes of the elites and a predatory nature towards those, of whom I was a poster boy, who feel that the world is on hold as they sow their wild oats. The story revolves around Zuckerberg's alleged stealing the idea of Facebook from other Harvard students and the lawsuit that followed. Then Harvard President Larry Summers, of bailout and stimulus fame, is pictured as being just as observant and discerning as he was in the Obama administration.  The Social Network is a good film for law students. The audience at the showing my wife and I went to seemed to be fans of Zuckerberg and Facebook for they gave laughing approval to his sarcastic retorts and I doubt if the message of greed, power mongering and narcissism sunk in. A review in today's Wall Street Journal disagrees with my take on this shallow pastime as Joe Morgenstern simply claims to be "cautious"on Facebook  and relates the possibility that Zuckerberg may have been aware of the "deep human need for friendship at a time when physical and spiritual isolationism was on the rise." I contend that adults are simply auditing the college lifestyle through Facebook and proving that they are just as susceptible to a gimmick and a promise that the youth are, only it's not a four year gig adults are wasting time on. Time may tell whether the deep human need for human friendship pushes Facebook aside and convicts it of being friendship only with oneself. The character who Mark Zuckenbeg is accused of defrauding confronts him at the pre-trial meeting of lawyers with I'm the only friend that you had. It's more than ironic that this individual with one friend has taught the world how to develop friendships.