Bulletin Board

         I'm going to try something new here, short posts every once in a while, kept up only for a day. The first one is a reminder of refnet.fm 24-hour Internet radio. When I was born again in the early 80s I immediately began to devour Christian literature and amassed a few hundred books over the first ten years. Only a small percentage of those books could be considered doctrinally sound but I had no way to discern what was good...nothing to compare it to. I happened across a book with a George Whitefield logo on the spine....a robed preacher holding up a Bible. After reading it I looked for other books from the same publisher, Banner Of Truth. I now knew that there was something drastically different from yesterday's Christian literature and today's. Eventually I called a man who also published books of this nature and asked him where I could go to church where I would hear this.....Gospel. I took his advice.
          All I am trying to do here is shorten your search, if you are indeed searching. Refnet.fm is a radio collection of various Christian ministries, primarily those of Ligonier Ministries and R. C. Sproul. From what I have seen of their radio schedule you cannot go wrong. Listen to a few teaching programs from R. C. Sproul and you will also know that their is something drastically different from what you may have become accustomed to. There are indeed excellent Christian books written today as their are excellent radio ministries like Sproul's Renewing Your Mind but somewhere along the line a new believer in Jesus Christ must get a grasp on what is sound Christian teaching and literature....and what is not.

Impeach

         Impeachment of President Barack Hussein Obama with a guilty verdict in a Senate trial would be more than difficult and maybe not even possible but it has to be pursued. Joe Biden as our President would.... well just the thought of it is enough to make you weep. Even just facing impeachment would quite likely send Barack Obama into an even more deliberate destructive mode towards our Constitution, our heritage and even the defense of our nation. It's gets worse. Our enemies know very well the window of opportunity they have. Impeachment proceedings might even force their hand.
         There is no truth and no law with this president. Our chief law enforcement officer mocks the very concept of law. Radicals roam the White House corridors. The President makes political appointments that end with disaster and is weakening our military and the morale of those who serve. He is a destroyer and golfs and parties while he plies his trade..
         Impeachment proceedings need to begin because there is no choice but that doesn't mean that good might not come of it. For one thing, doing that which is right is a reward in itself and the right thing is to attempt to protect our Constitution. It may just be that a trial will wake the American people up by giving them information that our media refuses to give. Barack Obama may elude conviction but with that might come a convicted American public....convicted inwardly of extreme negligence as citizens and as parents!
       
         The following is a book review from last February. It details the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. I wrote in this post, "And don't even think about impeaching Barack Obama without studying what happened with Bill Clinton...." Read it but don't let it dissuade you.

Catching Our Flag    

          It seems like two or three times a year I come across a book that I can't put down. Paul Kengor's Dupes was one of those books and Mark Levin's Liberty And Tyranny another to mention just two. Well, I came across the latest a few days ago. I somehow missed it when it came out in 2011. Congressman James E. Rogan was one of the House Managers in Bill Clinton's impeachment. He kept a daily journal during those proceedings for the purpose of getting it right if called upon to recount those days. Joseph Farah and WorldNetDaily (WND Books) called and James Rogan's testimony on this will be invaluable if impeachment proceedings are brought against this current president. The book is Catching our Flag, Behind The Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment.
          First of all, the book is extremely easy to read. The journal entries are in bold print and the author's commentary takes the reader right into the many formal and informal meetings of the House's decision to impeach and the Senate's decision to abort. Dozens of characters that we mostly know from press clippings such as Henry Hyde come alive. There are personal stories everywhere. Sonny Bono shows up. He wasn't a key player in this drama but he was a good friend of the author. I'll give you one anecdote. Both the author and Sonny Bono came from rough backgrounds and wound up in the United States House of Representatives. One day as they were in that chamber, Sonny looked around at where, as he described, Lincoln, Webster, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford served and commented to Jim Rogan, "Here you are-a guy who used to bartend on the Sunset Strip. Here I am-a guy who used to drive a meat truck on the Sunset Strip. Don't you ever look around this chamber and wonder how.... we ever got here?" Rogan responded "Sonny, I sit here all the time, look around this chamber and wonder how....you ever got here. I know how I got here....I went to law school."
         So, is this just a good book to read... a walk down memory lane if you're old enough to remember those days? No, it's more like cardiopulmonary resuscitation directions as Uncle Sam lies in the Capitol Rotunda clutching his heart. Folks, please read this book! President William Jefferson Clinton should have been convicted in impeachment and Hillary Clinton should never have been given a free pass. Read in this book of the charges that should have been brought to the impeachment trial. Read of a United States Senate that will make you want to vomit your last meal. Read about the few real American heroes that were in our Congress and read of the ones that let all of us down. This book should be read in political science classes and law schools. And don't even think about impeaching Barack Obama without studying what happened with Bill Clinton for David Axelrod probably read it and took copious notes. I'll leave you with this quote on the House's failed attempt to have a legitimate trial in the Senate: "As the record now shows, we 'tried' our case on their terms. The Senate refused to allow us to call a single live witness. There was no direct or cross-examination. This scripted procedure preordained the exoneration of President Clinton. It was no trial, in any meaningful sense of the word. Yet today, every history book and public account records that Clinton won acquittal after a Senate impeachment 'trial'."

Should God......Deem It Fitting

        The following is a short post from this past Noevember and I bring it back as a  Lord's Day
post:

        Should God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, deem it fitting to move upon our collective hearts once again... to convict us as to what we have become... to open our eyes to the ideology that has bewitched much of our nation, there would be no power on this earth that could stop it! The media could not hide nor distort what would be happening. The academics in their ivory towers could do no more than flail their arms. Hollywood would ply its trade to empty seats and celebrities of any and all spheres would be ignored.
        Left to ourselves we cannot change the direction that our nation is going. Whether it is the media or universities, legislatures or government bureaucracies, or corporations or individuals....power in the wrong hands stifles dissent, governs without accountability and generally bullies its way by using that power... to retain that power. We are dealing with an uninformed and easily distracted public. Greed and arrogance filled the void as reverence for God receded. We are reaping what we have sown. Pulpits proclaim peace when there is no peace. The cross of Christ is rarely preached. Truth is now but a variable. Our Constitution has become a liability to what we demand as rights and the Bible but a barnacle on our Ship of State.
        God has stripped us of our suit of armor but in His infinite wisdom we can now kneel and therein is our true power! And as I have written often, should He refrain from granting us mercy, it would be His will, perfect in every way, with all glory being His forever and ever!

Seaman Murphy.....Redux

         Who was it that once said "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."?
Our society and our culture has been transformed...past tense. Even many Christians are now subject to influences that go well beyond the cognitive types of learning that the history of our people was built upon. The written word has largely been supplanted by the visual with disastrous results. The fringe element of our society is vulnerable under this onslaught of images.
         We have a 19" television in our home and on those few occasions when I have to go to a Best Buy and I walk down the aisle of the large televisions I'm almost overcome by the images, the clarity and the force in front of me. My readers must surely think this naive. What planet do I live on to make a statement like this? My response is to ask them to consider the testimony of one who can still actually see the contrast of the written word from the visual.
          I spent a number of years captivated by questions on the afterlife and one book in particular was drawing me further away from God, that book being the Pulitzer Prize winning The Denial Of Death by Ernest Becker but God was about to have mercy on the least worthy of it, and He put into my hands Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell. Eventually I saw truth in the words from the pen of Isaiah, Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other."
         The following is a short story that I wrote many years ago. I incorporated into my short novel changing the names and other details to fit the story. That novel can be found at www.isaaccrockett.blogspot.com.

Seaman Murphy

         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 and in doing so would give 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" was Shane's answer. "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!" Shane ignored this and asked, "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 ...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."

Valentine's Day....."Easy To Do Justice, Very Hard To Do Right"

        

         The following is my annual Valentine's Day post since February 14th, 2010. I guess that it shows my hand on what romance is. A former pastor of mine recommended the film The Winslow Boy and my wife and I travelled over an hour to see it. In the middle of the showing the film broke. After about twenty minutes it was announced that it could not be fixed that night. Someone in the audience shouted "Well, at least tell us how it ends." I spontaneously jumped up, turned around, and shouted in response "Don't anybody say anything!" We returned the next evening to see the complete movie. The Winslow Boy is in my top five favorite films.

Easy To Do Justice, Very Hard To Do Right

         Playwrights have an advantage over novelists. The novelist can write for a thousand pages detailing the scene, the person, even the history of the age, but the playwright spends all of his  time on dialogue. I can read and enjoy a Neil Simon play almost anytime. Terence Rattigan wrote The Winslow Boy which has been turned into two films. One in 1948 starring Robert Donat and the more recent film from 1999, directed by David Mamet. The plot, based on an actual trial, is that of a young boy at a prestigious military school in England (circa 1900) who is accused of stealing some money. His father and sister set out on a seemingly impossibly task of forcing the government to withdraw the accusations against him. Enter the most famous jurist of England, Sir Robert Morton, who takes on this case to the surprise of even his loyal friends. The quote for the title of this post is from him.
         The film is a remarkable story of a father's love for his son, a sister's quest for fairness and justice in society, and a barrister's pursuit of right. It is also a love story but if you ask ten people who saw the film they might all wonder where the romance was. The boy's sister and the famous barrister are poles apart politically in an age that is seeing women take their place in society, an unlikely couple if their ever would be one. Indeed, there is no romantic dialogue, not even the holding of hands. What there is, is one or two looks given for a second and two comments at the end of the film that says it all. The trial is over as is the film. Miss Winslow and Robert Morton are parting, what would seem to be forever, but she had to make one last comment on the emotion he displayed at the verdict, for she had doubted any sincerity in this famous barrister and opposition member of Parliament. She elicited from him a parting comment on her continuing feminist activities of which he responded Pity, it's a lost cause. Her final words in the film were Oh, do you really think so Sir Robert? How little you know about women. Goodbye, I doubt that we should meet again. She may have been correct about the future of women's suffrage in England but that was not the issue on trial in this dialogue here as he parted with, Oh, do you really think so, Miss Winslow? How little you know about men.
         I have never been a fan of Valentine's Day for it seems trite. We are submerged in a culture of words and phrases such as Erich Segal's, given to Ryan O'Neill's character of Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story, Love means never having to say your sorry. It's too late to recommend The Winslow Boy for Valentine's Day but then it fell on a Sunday this year and that is another love story altogether and it would probably be better to view it without all the trappings of hearts and candy anyway.

George Washington.......Redux

        George Washington was born on February 22nd 1732 on the family plantation in the house known as Wakefield in Westmoreland County, Virginia and died December 14th, 1799.  Technically he was born February 11th (today) 1731 in what was the Old Style dating system of the Julian calendar before the Gregorian calendar was chosen two decades later where the dates were adjusted. Attendance at Christian church services were at low ebb at the time of his death and that is putting it mildly. American Christianity had  been in a steady decline for decades as the passions of freedom and liberty overwhelmed the more mundane concerns of eternal life. We were not founded as a Christian nation but neither were we founded as a deistic nation. It's important to understand the religious beliefs of our Founding Fathers to the greatest degree that we can discern it and George Washington is a good place to start. The following post is a book review from November of 2010:

George Washington 

 

        How many of our Founding Fathers were Deists? I don't know.  Deism was a popular belief system where there may be a God but he would be a very impersonal one that does not involve himself in the affairs of man, there would be no Holy Scripture for man to refer to and certainly no atonement. But what about George Washington, the Father of our Country? How do the historians weigh in on him?

         Peter A. Lillback is an historian but he is also a theologian whose 725 page tome Sacred Fire, with an additional 232 pages of appendices, came to a different conclusion than most of the secular historians. Lillback has a distinct advantage in the area of our first President's life for he knows what the gospel is. Much if not most of secular commentary on Christianity today is given from people who are incapable of understanding the Gospel in its fullest (Scriptural) sense.

           Lillback's book breaks down the issue into various areas such as the religious historical setting of the day, Washington's early life, his church and family life before and after the Revolution and his presidency, the testimony of others who knew him well and of course his connection to Masonry. One thing that you have to know about George Washington to even begin an examination of this question is his character and personality, for these traits may effect the impression others will have of his religious belief. Personal honor was everything to the man! If he was going to do anything at all in life it was display a strong character and integrity and let his observers do what they want with it. Lillback gives evidence upon evidence here on Washington's fanaticism in this area and the extreme pains he took to guard it in his life. How does this relate to the issue of his Christian belief? Deist belief is not a hazy agnosticism that one could weave in and out of. It was distinct. Lillback makes the case, and I wholeheartedly concur, that one could very well be a deist and be a churchman; but one could not be a deist, a churchman of Washington's level of involvement with orthodox Christian churches, and prize honor and integrity anywhere near the level that Washington did without being a complete fraud!

          It's not the total answer to the question but it's a beginning and all in Washington's favor for he could not have taken the vows he did, constructed the prayers, espoused the Christian causes he did, and at the same time deny the essence of Christian belief through an actual embrace of Deism! George Washington had a knowledge of the Bible and documentation proved that he read it and valued Holy Scripture from his youth to the day he died when an open Bible was beside his bed along with his Christian wife who had the hope that she would see him in heaven.

         I understand Lillback's description of Washington's intense personal peculiarities for I hold to many myself. I will not look to the left or the right of the pulpit during a worship service. I will not let any intrusions or intended aids to the preached message enter my mind for I spent my first years in the Christian faith studying "Christian cults" and aberrant theologies and know all to well how easily we fall for man's, often well-intentioned, motives!

         One of Washington's creeds was actions not words and consequently he came up short on the words as a result. This is evidence enough for someone who wants to come to the conclusion that George Washington was a Deist. I understand this situation. Washington's usage of words such as Divine Providence, which was his norm, is further evidence for some that Washington viewed God as simply a grand architect, but he also used the word God, and the vows, prayers and teachings that he was officially involved with were evangelical. Whether a young soldier, a general or President of the United States, Washington could not possibly have held to his personal convictions of honor and integrity and continued to hide his deist beliefs.

         His library was voluminous and he paid great attention to the books he bought, kept and cherished. Many Christians books are included here, as well as sermons, yet no books, of which their were many in existence, that proclaimed Deist belief. Washington relied on others to raise the children in his care and under his sphere of influence. He took great care in this area also and chose Christian teachers over some well respected teachers and professors who were known for their secular emphasis. Lillback gives us one of those biographies that searches out and tackles all the arguments against the main premise. So you'll find chapters on mundane areas of Washington's life as well as rumors that were in existence. All of these are satisfactorily answered.

         The biggest question of all in this examination of George Washington's religious belief, and it's the one question that many seem to answer even before examination, is concerning his well-publicized membership in Masonry. I had this question in the back of my mind as I read through the book, eagerly looking forward to how Lillback would handle it. I've read a fair amount on the Masons, particularly many years ago, but Lillback gave some thoughts to ponder that I had not read. The essence of his defense of Washington is this. Masonry underwent a fundamental change beginning in the late 18th century, a change that put it directly at odds with Christianity, which has remained to today. Previous to this faction coming to the fore, and according to Lillback, Masonry was attempting, in albeit a very unwise way, to advance the Christian religion with the help of Masonic characteristics of order. Before the change in Masonry, a heated debate existed as both factions fought for influence. One prominent Christian minister was recruited to Masonry for this purpose, to halt the slide into an unChristian, even anti-Christian mode. He wisely refused for none of the discerning Christian ministers of the day would have taken the path the George Washington earlier did. Washington himself was warned in a letter against the influence of the European Illuminati. His response was that he did not feel that such a precarious influence existed here in the United States, yet added that he had only been to two Masonic meetings in the past thirty years.

         George Washington's eternal soul is not dependent on the opinion of historians...either way, but it is a legitimate endeavor to see where this giant of a man and maybe the most illustrious and most influential of all our Presidents stood. After reading Lillback's book I still do not have a definite opinion on this but do acknowledge that this man who had so many qualities and abilities may indeed have been a Christian. Certainly, he was no Deist! The fact that he had weaknesses effects me only as long as it takes me to look in the mirror. The gospel cannot be compromised in any way. Works play no part in the regeneration of a person's soul. If George Washington believed that one does, in effect, work his way to salvation, it would be to his eternal demise.
         Our hope is not in America's might or its continuing display and defense of liberties and freedoms, yet many have fallen for just that fallacy! This book should only be used as an historical biography concerning the religious belief of that historical figure. George Washington may indeed have been a giant among governmental leaders of his or any day but he was a man nonetheless and my interest in his eternal salvation is surely there but ultimately no greater than of the person who checked out my apples, coffee and pickled eggs at the Giant Eagle this evening.

 

Sochi

         In theory the Olympics are a wonderful thing, putting away all tensions for two weeks to let athletes run their races and throw their shot puts, fly down the slopes on skis and move more gracefully on skates than most of us can do in tennis shoes. Thomas Jefferson once said, "The moment a person forms a theory, his imagination sees in every object only the traits which favor the theory," But governments often will not simply let the games be played.
         Chariots Of Fire is listed first on "favorite movies" in my profile and not by chance. I saw that Academy Award winning film (Best Picture) as God was moving upon my heart. I hadn't seen my sin yet but I did get a glimpse of His Glory and I wanted more! Eric Liddel was everything that I was not, particularly honorable. I didn't see a relationship that he had with God. I saw the awe he was in of God.
          I would not have watched the opening ceremonies from Sochi on the Black Sea except our son and daughter-in-law had it on while we visited. The entrance of the teams brought back a little bit of that film. I felt a chill as our team entered and thought about the plight and the pride of the Russian people as their team appeared.
          The showcase of the ceremony was a choreographed classical and ballet themed history of Russia that was beautiful even to this untrained mind. The very newest technologies transformed the floor into an optical stage that could appear as a turbulent sea at one moment and a computer's motherboard the next.
          The choreography was remarkable not only in its technical perfection but its beauty. Huge stage props floated by, each with a meaning from Russia's past. It was a spectacle of dance and classical music done to perfection apart from one miscue, that being an Olympic ring that failed to open, and that miscue was what grabbed American headlines.
          Having given these artists and performers their due let me comment on the historical theme itself. There was a 2002 film directed by Alexander Sokurov titled Russian Ark that was a precursor of sorts to this Olympic ceremony. I highly recommend this film to you and it also is listed in my profile. It also was a marvelous drama/musical adaptation of Russian history through the centuries. Filmed entirely in one non-stop film sequence, the narrator whom you never see might be at an Imperial Ball with full orchestra or listening to Peter the Great or watching Anastasia and her sisters frolic in the Winter Palace.
          Russian Ark ends, as I recall, in an indeterminate state of Russia after the Soviet Union collapsed and Gorbachev came on the scene. Vladimir Putin was President of the Russian Federation at the time but the yoke of Communism was seemingly broken.
          Putin watched from on high at the newly built Fisht Olympic Stadium that will someday host soccer games. My thought at the conclusion of the ceremony was that it was a triumphant day for him. In one respect, the world was shown what artistic gratification is in Russia, at least to many, beauty and precision. But in another respect, Communism was glorified. Stalin's era was depicted in black and blood red where the dark figures were the people toiling and moiling in an industrial age simply waiting for death, then suddenly the hues brightened as the Soviet age of Sputnik, sports and strength in every aspect of modernization gave life to the Communist state.
          How was this going to end....Putin was in attendance? What message could the producers of this artistically pleasing presentation possibly give to satisfy him? They couldn't end it as the director did in Russian Ark for much had happened since 2002. Putin's original term as president had ended but he miraculously returned and Russia was acting more and more like the old Soviet state.
         Well, that is exactly how it ended. A young girl released a bright red balloon of light that signified the passing of the Soviet era...but to what? It wasn't a submissive ending as in Russian Ark but merely a pause in Russian history. That would satisfy Vladimir Putin! Perhaps he himself choreographed the message?
         I suspect that the world interpreted it as melancholy for that was the script, the Soviet Union was no more. The Russian powers that be would see it differently.. ..the Soviet Union did indeed pass away but only to make room for something very similar and even more glorious!
                The Apostle Paul used athletic metaphors in describing the Christian life. One would be 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable." He may have been alluding to the Isthmian Games of ancient Corinth. Eric Liddell ran two notable races and won them both, one with a perishable gold medal and the other a crown of life.
   

The Future Ain't What It Used To Be........Redux

        The following post is from August of 2010::


         It was just my lot to be 18 years old in 1968, a remarkable year for 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 violence 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's forces would be not only be utterly 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 (it was actually a $3.2 billion surplus), 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 (actually Communism succeeded in securing the White House). 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 than 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 shows 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 Jesus Christ and in a linear time paradigm we are 42 years closer than we were in 1968.

 

S. O. T. U, Hangover

         The Challenger shuttle crew on that terrible day 28 years ago was an interesting mix of people. There was an African-American, a Japanese-American, a Buddhist, a Vietnam veteran, a schoolteacher and a member of the Jewish and Bahia Faiths. Surely diversity played some part in bringing together this group of very talented individuals.
         Those of us fifty years and older remember that day very well. The chaotic paths of the booster rocket smoke and water vapor plume is etched in our minds. Although most of us did not see the launch on live television we sat and watched over and over again the 73 second flight and nearly three minute fall to the ocean.
         I've meditated further on it over the years. Was the disaster conveying a message to America. The first half of the decade of the eighties was a heady time. Michael J. Fox's brash and confident conservatism in his character of Alex P. Keaton led the television show Family Ties to a number 2 rating on the Nielsen list at the time of the tragedy. It has been downhill ever since.           
         Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait a few years later and we are still in the aftermath of that war. The Clintons have been a pox on America and the fact that people still admire Bill and Hillary is a pox on our discernment.  Slowly but surely the Republican Party abandoned the heritage that Ronald Reagan left us and now a purge of Reaganites is in progress led by a motley crew of professional politicians whose idea of opposing a coup of our government is attending the State of the Union address and......frowning.  Communism wasn't defeated in 1989 or 1991, it merely moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20006!
         There is so much violence in our culture that we treat it as normal. The hedonism on television, the paganism in our 'Christian' churches and the narcissism in our addiction to social media goes undetected. If America were a human being it would be in the intensive care unit with doctors standing by helplessly as all biological functions approach cessation. And the worst of the worst? We underwent a blood transfusion where the blood shed on the cross of Calvary was replaced by a synthetic blood substitute that carries no oxygen and therefore simply takes up space.
         But then again there is good news.....the Olympics are about to start. Well, actually that's a big potential problem also but the Super Bowl is in a few days, Sunday to be exact, the Lord's Day to many but Super Bowl Sunday to most.

I Have One Follower..........Redux

The following post purposely touches on a few recurring topics in this blog. One of those topics is a la carte cable. 'Bundled' cable, as we have now, is part indoctrination (of a godless socialist society), part deprivation (of truth) and part intoxication (of violence, hedonism and triviality).

 I Have One Follower

        I was recently listening to a radio host's interview with a young singer. She mentioned in that interview that she had 1.2 million 'followers' on a social media site and I had never heard her name before. I have...one follower! The first time that I saw that I had a follower...I immediately deleted the option. Had I two followers I probably would start to panic and had I three I would probably buy a white Nehru suit and wave the jacket over people expecting them to fall over backwards. ( a la Benny Hinn)
         I made the decision quite some time ago to regularly bring back older posts instead of only writing new posts. I do not expect people to read far back into my blog and there are topics I addressed that would never be read if I did not bring them back. One example of this would be the Just Send Over The Report (1/7/14) post which is an attempt to bring attention to what our State of the Union address has become, how it should be suspended indefinitely and how conservatives in Congress should protest this upcoming address. Another example would be the Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me There post of yesterday (1/1/14). Barack Obama was given animated qualities by various Geppettos to run for president. He had lied and deceived to become our president and since bullied his own party, purged anyone who he was distrustful of, partied and golfed ad nauseam and will promenade with full pageantry in that State of the Union address under the adoring commentary of the mainstream media in yet another attempt to divert attention from his attack on our Constitution and his foreign policy blunders....if indeed they were blunders and not intentional.
          Another topic that I have come back to time and again is a la carte cable television. It was my very first post in November of 2008. Break the bondage on the American family of bundled cable where we are not only forced to support programming that has been destructive to America but subsequently taken in ourselves by the multitudinous array of drivel, violence and propaganda and it will be, in my belief, a game changer!
          I have written extensively on what is known as the establishment wing of the Republican Party.
This is part of the professional class of politicians who make the rules therefore stay in power election cycle after election cycle. Fundamentally there is little difference between John Boehner, John McCain and Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as they equally condescend to their collective constituencies. (12/25/13)
         I never had the desire to have people regularly come back to read my latest post. Rather, I want to reach new readers every day. Essentially, throughout this blog, my message has been this ....America has departed from God and judgment is not only near if we do not return to Him but already evident in chaos that rules every aspect of American life and government!
         My message about the Christian church is that there are false teachers literally everywhere and  that preaching today is anemic for lack of preaching the red blood cells on the cross at Calvary. We as individuals and America as a nation show the disastrous effects of it! (12/22/13)
        I don't know that I have ever recommended an individual church or even a denomination but I have recommended various ministries particularly R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministry www.ligonier.org, John MacArthur's Grace To You www.gty.org and the Reformed, Lutheran and Baptist men from the White Horse Inn www.whitehorseinn.org, and I have specifically tried to encourage people to go to a unique 24/7 internet radio ministry at www.refnet.org which is from Ligonier Ministries. I've said something like this before...if you go to one of these ministries and hear the gospel for the first time, and never... ever... remember the name Special Dog then I would be very happy!
        This particular post is a good example of what I try to do here. On the pretense of explaining this blog, I encouraged once again that we sit down and consider who and what is taking advantage of what has become the "tradition" of the State of the Union address. Also, a new visitor might actually consider how a la carte cable television might break the hold that the Progressive Left has on the American mind, and I reminded some that Conservatives are not going away and that the warnings from the Republican establishment that if we do not support them the Democrats will win is moot, for neither of these two entities seek America's welfare and security over their own ambitions and that the ones that do are equally disparaged by both.
         I was able to recommend some places for the Christian to go to see what they have been deprived of, and for the unbeliever to go to should God be moving upon their heart, and warned the reader that God's very literal judgment upon us is long overdue... for contrary to popular belief, America is not God's nation.... is capable of forsaking him.... and indeed already has, and is subject to punishment....up to and including dismissal....to use a familiar phrase today....as a free people!!

A Horse With No Name

The horse is made ready for the day of battle
          but the victory belongs to the Lord.

         Throughout our history the horse that we rode on, the steed that carried us on its back, heard the voice of one master and that was Jesus Christ, as fallible men, many with worldly philosophies, held the reins and tugged left or tugged right.  They, many of them once again, had the same master but knew him only as God. They had the inspiration and the perseverance, they acknowledged where it came from, who they were indebted to, and without whom they they would utterly fail, but did not know him enough to pass on the safety and security found only in him. Such is the weakness of man.
         The horse is new today. It has a rider but no master. It feels the tug on the reins but has no confidence in the one who pulls those reins. It once had a name given by God. It no longer does.
         That steed is still strong but its training has changed. Where it was once trained for war and for production it is now held prisoner in the arena for show or for occasional leisurely rides through a countryside.
         Our victories have always belonged to the Lord. This land had long ago moved out of its place and became a continent, isolated and blessed with great natural resources, majestic mountains, fruitful plains and powerful rivers and for one purpose only....to entice a people who were not wanted where they were because they knew the benefactor of everything good, proclaimed and obeyed him, and were persecuted because of it.
        The Scripture verse above is Proverbs 21:31. How can we expect victory in any endeavor when we are in the process of abandoning he whom any victory belongs? How can we expect any discernment when we give him such little time, cherishing the rest for our own entertainments? Why would we fall on our knees, why would anyone fall on their knees, when they are not aware of impending judgement?
             

Safety Training For Americans

         Parts of the safety training at my place of employment are very useful tips on how to work safely. One particular rather theatrical piece of advice hit home in more ways than one and here it is: They asked us to name the four people who we would not want to see hurt because we had a serious accident. It was a rhetorical question, for everyone would name their loved ones. There was even a page in the training aids to put their pictures so as to remind us as often as we referred to it that our individual safety affected more than just us, as it would be equally devastating to those we loved most. This comes into play also as we look out for the safety of those who work with us, as we were offered an additional aid; if we should see a co-worker in a position that compromises his safety we are to get his attention, signal the problem that he may not see, and then hold up four fingers which he would immediately recognize as the danger that he was putting his loved ones into along with himself. I liked the whole concept although it wasn't the first time that we were reminded that individual safety did not mean that pain and suffering would only be to the individual..
          I've used this same concept, concern for our loved ones, in more than a few posts over the past five years and I'm going to repeat it here in stark and graphic terms. I'm lifting up four fingers to you in this post. Please think of those four people that you love and that you would do anything for, for there's nothing that you wouldn't do for them. Or is there?
          Best case scenario? Their future will be in a country with little or no liberty or freedoms. The state will essentially run their lives. Education will be stifling instead of exhilarating, law will just be a term that Progressives abuse to stay in power and marriage will be nothing more than a politically correct tax status. In a worst case scenario, which is more likely, America will lie in ruins.
         This may sound ridiculous to you and if so you have missed the forest for the trees in the chaos that literally rules our society, our culture and our government. America's defenses are pockmarked from the pox that has eaten up our heritage, our traditions and our greatest strength that being our belief and reverence towards our Creator. A big job and money in the bank will be of no help in these situations.
           The evidence is there in the newspaper, on radio and television and in bookstores but there is something clouding our discernment and that is the extraordinary entertainments and intoxicating technology that leaves us no room for meditation let alone analyzing. We are literally at the precipice and our attention has to be focused on, not the problems but the causes, the primary cause being the deleterious representation of God that we slowly but surely fashioned in our own minds, a God who demands nothing, expects nothing, and is impotent or indifferent to cause us any real trouble even if he did.
         The safety of our loved ones is at stake. Surely that's enough to at least consider the debate raging in America primarily on the radio waves, in bookstores and from pulpits whose preachers see themselves as pilgrims on the way to the Celestial City. and not prophets of peace where there is no peace. 

55 Million......

        Two different headlines from today's Drudge Report referred to the number 55 Million.
One headline read "55 Million Abortions Since Roe." This nation that we love has legally sanctioned the taking of 55 million lives. We have a tendency of putting this in the back of our minds, as if we are telling ourselves that 'other people' did this, but when we talk about America in a descriptive sense, as the leader of the free world or as the greatest nation on this planet, then the 55 million should be included in the criteria in making these assessments.
         I referenced Erwin Lutzer in a post only a few days ago from his book When A Nation Forgets God that Nazi Germany, through its laws, had rendered Jewish people as non-persons therefore legitimizing the gas chambers. Have we not done the same thing with babies in the womb.
         The second headline from Drudge was 56 Million Watch Game in which the accompanying article reported that 55.9 million people had watched the NFC Championship game, and this on what America once reverenced as The Lord's Day! What if instead there were 55 million Americans yesterday weeping over what our nation has become, pleading with God for personal and corporate forgiveness, calling out to Him for mercies undeserved? What if 55 million Americans pledged not to vote for any candidate who did not recognize God's sovereignty in not only our lives and our nation but even the world?  What if 55 million Christians went up to their pastor after yesterday's worship service and pleaded that the cross of Christ be preached for therein is 'the power of God and the wisdom of God" as Paul proclaimed in his 1st letter to the Corinthians.
         It was also reported today that Apple's final quarter of 2013 should show as many as 55 million unit sales of its iPhone. Erwin Lutzer used the phrase "cultural streams' to describe the current and content of American life but David wrote of a different 'stream' in the 23rd Psalm:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.
thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

   

From Robert Bork To Ted Cruz

          Pittsburgh born Robert Bork was one of the finest jurists of his generation. He was an originalist in that he believed that words should be interpreted as the writer(s) of those words intended them. He was nominated by Ronald Reagan to the Supreme Court in 1987 and treated viciously in his nomination hearings by a culture that interprets other's words as it sees fit. Justice Anthony Kennedy eventually filled the empty seat on our Supreme Court. The most famous attack on Judge Bork came from Ted Kennedy and here is part of what he accused Robert Bork of in those hearings..."Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizen's doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens for whom the judiciary is...." None of this was true but it didn't matter for this was....and is....politics. As Robert Bork was enduring character assassination his wife passed Ted Kennedy in a Capitol hallway, one written account had the Senator say to her "Mrs. Bork, you must be so tired. It's a difficult time, I know. I hope you understand it's nothing personal."


       The following are portions of an earlier post and relevant to the above:
        


         Usually, when I go four or five days without a new post it's because I have been down with something and such was the case again this time. There was a blessing though, as there also usually is, in that I could just lay there and listen to most of Senator Ted Cruz's 21 hour and 19 minute speech, or filibuster if you will, to Senate seats...and to America. It was not only American history being written, it was one of the great oratorical stands in our history, a history with the likes of Patrick Henry.
         I don't know if we have time to right this ship of state. If I were to guess it would be that we do not, that our presumption upon God's longsuffering with our rebellion has long since reached its limit, for His judgments upon us have already started, the greatest being that more often than not we cannot even distinguish good from evil nor right from wrong let alone choose between the two........To those of you outside of the United States, and there are quite a few who visit this blog, you are witnessing from afar somewhat of a second American Revolution, the rebels being.... freedom and liberty loving Americans with a reverential fear of Almighty God, needing only the heat of the cauldron turned up for the dross of our past sins to rise to the top leaving us dripping in the sweat of pure humility so that we might more fully seek mercy as a nation and forgiveness as individuals. Whether we rise or fall, the hold of the Republican Establishment Class is broken and though when all is said and done that they may win here, there will someday be, should God will it, another crossing of the Delaware, and they and their political consultant class of mercenaries will lose that hold that stifles participation in our republic and fails to defend or even warn.
         The censure, ridicule and recriminations towards Senator Cruz continue but the spell is broken. The more that they lambast good men and women...the louder and clearer they make it evident to Americans that it was they themselves that failed time and again.... over decades, and that they have long since sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. They can cut the legs out from men like Ted Cruz but will see that he still towers over them on his knees, and they can belittle us from their bully pulpits but may find that Oliver Cromwell's words ring true even today "I had rather have a plain, russet-coated Captain, that knows what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that you call a Gentleman and is nothing else."




       

Israel

         I would like to expound just a little bit on a comment from yesterday's post, a post which was originally written in August of 2011. That comment on Glenn Beck about Israel was this, that he often displays "a near worship of Israel." This can often also be said about Evangelicals in general.
         Israel is an ally to the United States. Is our relationship one of complete trust? No, but this is because Israel has always been and probably always will be the number one political target in the world. They are convinced that they cannot totally depend on anyone and the Obama administration has proved them out on this. They are hated because they are Jews. If they make mistakes the mistakes are exaggerated, embellished upon and often turned into lies. When they make compromises with their enemy, which has been often, it is ignored as if it is too little and too late.
         Former Israeli Major General and former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon died yesterday after living the last eight years in a coma. Sharon was a brilliant military strategist and a strong leader of Israel's government. I pondered his physical condition many times over the past eight years. He had been expected to be returned to the office of Prime Minister again before he suffered a stroke.
         I watched a long and in-depth interview with Sharon tonight on C-SPAN and he responded to a question on his religiousness with "I am not religious.  I am a Jew." He wasn't saying that Jews are not religious but that his Jewishness was the primary descriptive of his being. This is, in essence, Israel today.
         I do believe, from Scripture, that God will move mightily and in many ways concerning Israel in the 'last' of the last days. God will bring this about....not us. We may not even be around. As a government we have to do what is right and 'right' means to hate evil and love good. Israel, as well as America, may not qualify as 'good' and the Palestinian leadership may not qualify as "evil'  but there is indeed evil over there. If we do not oppose it.....we encourage it.....and it will eventually come after us. Keeping one's promises is part of doing what is right. Our promise was to stand with Israel. Speaking truth is part of what is right and we have not done that with Israel over the past five years.
         I am and have always been a supporter of the nation of Israel. I admire its tenacity and strength. I also fear for them and I fear for their culture that they also might be in danger of falling from within, from a lack of discernment, from the lack of decisiveness, from a dalliance with hedonism. God is in control of their future as well as ours.
         Israel has more than one divide...ultra-Orthodox and secular, but overall it is not basing its existence or its protection on the hand of the God of the Torah. God has not established nor protected them thus far because of their faithfulness but because of His plan for the nations as well as His plan for them. If we support Israel because of something that does not exist, their faithfulness to God, then we are setting ourselves up for more error, egregious error. If we support Israel because it is the right thing to do then we are doing what is right in the eyes of God.

Facebook President......Redux

         Excerpts from a book soon to be released by former Obama Secretary of Defense and George W. Bush holdover Robert Gates details how, in his words, "the White House tightly controlled every aspect of national security policy and even operations." His instructions to the Pentagon were "Don't give the White House staff and [national security staff] too much information on the military options. They don't understand it and 'experts' like Samantha Power will decide when we should move militarily." He used the phrase "surprising as well as dismaying" upon hearing Barack Obama and then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admit in front of him that their opposition to the 2007 surge in Iraq was "political."
         I thought from the beginning that Barack Obama's choice of Robert Gates to continue as Secretary of Defense was a political move but never quite understood why he would accept the invitation. He should have taken more seriously the warnings on Barack Obama as he would later comment to a friend "People have no idea how much I detest this job." The book is titled Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War.
        The Senate confirmed Janet Yellen as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, a position sometimes referred to as the second most powerful person in the world.  Our economy, inflated by "phony money" as David Stockman described it, will now be led by an academic and possibly an even greater stimulus and bailout advocate. Republicans voting for Ms. Yellen were Senators Alexander, Ayotte, Burr, Chambliss, Coats, Coburn, Collins, Corker, Flake, Kirk and Murkowski.
         The following post is from February of last year and following that is a recent post on one tradition that we can do without!


Facebook President      
        
         The 44th President of the United States lives within a world of virtual reality...a SimCity that he plays at.... a Marxist in Wonderland. He has constructed an economy that is disastrous in the real world but he's not in the real world so it doesn't matter. He has armies that he can play with and Monopoly money to give away. He writes his own rules on a computer and shares his design with the news media that dutifully reports on what a wonderful country he is constructing. The template calls for enemies and a constitution but they're not real. Putin isn't real, nor is Ahmadinejad, nor is Kim Jong-Un, nor the Chinese juggernaut that almost owns us. And as for the Constitution...a Manifesto would be so much easier to build around! Budgets are no fun but taxes are because they keep the game going. You can customize your own Defense Department or Justice Department or the Supreme Court!
         There's no such thing as truth in a game like this, not even appearances, but nobody's really listening anyway, they're only looking at the colorful graphics. I'm not trying to be cute here. Even Bob Woodward sees madness in this simulated Presidency. Nothing is real in Barack Obama's world, not his time as a constitutional law professor, not as a United States Senator, nor as a candidate for President. They were merely roles that he played and is playing. And the citizenry? Half have friended Barack Obama while the rest of us are aghast at the madness of it all. Our enemies are real and they know what is going on in our government more than many if not most Americans. One last thing that is real...the One who blessed this nation, who has been longsuffering towards us and who warns us. The One who has given us all the directions that we need, not in graphics but in written words that are to be read, to be preached and to be heeded.


Just Send Over The Report


The 2014 State Of The Union Address is scheduled for Tuesday January 28th.  For the past few years I wrote a post in advance of that speech calling for Republicans to use that opportunity to protest by either refusing to applaud anything said from that throne or even better... to refuse to attend.  I hope to bring this post back regularly, should the Lord will it, over the next month. Please think ahead on this! Barack Obama, the man who is systematically and deceptively tearing this nation apart, both within and without, will once again take advantage of the State Of The Union address and, with the media concealing everything about him and revealing none of his schemes, will take over all of the main networks to give him yet another opportunity to deceive those who do not really care what he is doing as long as he fulfills his bargain and gives them what they want for themselves. The Establishment brand of Republican will grumble for the cameras but have a good time afterwards. We should suspend this speech until such time that we have a president, either Democrat, Republican or another party, who we can at least trust his/her words. Even then the pomp and circumstance of this speech should be done away with forever.

          Article II, Section 3 of our Constitution states of our President, He shall from time to time give to Congress Information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. The President is not required to appear in person and give a speech. In fact, President Thomas Jefferson refused to give this report as a speech for he considered it too close to the Speech from the Throne in the monarchical traditions.

         We are ten months past the last State of the Union address where Barack Obama was feted with applause once again but we are now openly in the midst of a coup where every day, every hour, every minute, even every second, more Americans are becoming aware of it.
         I'll give one very recent quote from a Democrat Senator on Harry Reid's new filibuster rule..."There's no reason that changing this to majority rule on appointments will create ill will.....people of good will find ways to work together here." In a way he is right. The filibuster change alone would not be enough to demand an open rebellion, but add to that a purge within the military, a consigliore in the Justice Department, disdain for allies and subservience to enemies, golfing and shooting hoops while America sinks in the muck and mire of a politicized everything, czars directing whole agencies in scripts out of Atlas Shrugged and enough lying and spying to choke uncle Joe Stalin himself.....yes, add to this filibuster cohorts in the media marching in lockstep, judges sent out to do what armies could never do, domestic military preparations to control an unwilling citizenry and bribes in the form of dispensations to the biggest lie of all....the Affordable Healthcare Act.....and it is more than enough and way past time that Republicans formally refuse to shake the hand that shreds our Constitution.

Note: Two days after this post John Boehner invited Barack Obama to give the State Of The Union Address on January 28th with these words: "....we welcome an opportunity to hear your ideas, particularly for putting Americans back to work. It's my honor to invite you to speak before a Joint Session of Congress on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 in the House Chamber of the U. S. Capitol Building."

A Song And A Hymn

O beautiful for spacious skies,
for amber waves of grain,
for purple mountain majesties
above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
and crown thy hood with brotherhood
from sea to shining sea.

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat
Across the wilderness.
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw.
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law.

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
and every gain divine.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea.

        The words and music to this consummate patriotic American song were written by Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward respectively.  The America of popular culture today challenges the meanings of nearly every line. The following is part of a post from March of 2011. Following this are words to a hymn written by John Newton. The song is temporal in importance; that of the hymn is eternal. The glory of the song will fade. The glory to He whom the hymn praises is imperishable. The words of the song could have never been written without mercies written of in the hymn extended. Tomorrow is another Lord's Day. May God awaken us out of our stupor that we might live and exist only to bring Him glory!

America, America....God Mend Thine Every Flaw        

         Not since the Civil War has America been imperiled as it is today. The national debt can never be paid down. We are so globally intertwined that even if we straightened out our own economic paths, we are handcuffed to others who have no desire to do so. China, no friend to us whatsoever, at least their civilian and military leadership, can bring us down if they want to and if their own current events go south they may implement this option. Israel is surrounded and its enemies, like a pack of wolves or shiver of sharks, need only the smell of blood to unleash another war. Russia (Putin) would sell our enemies the noose to hang us. Both China and Russia are building their militaries while we are weakening ours. Our media, in the main, hates conservative principles, our traditions and heritage to such an extent that the Marxist Bill Ayers/Saul Alinsky cabal has a veritable free rein in propagandizing a postmodern, politically correct, idol craving culture. Our borders are porous, bureaucrats legislate and privileges are now seen as rights.  The events of 9/11 even pale in comparison to the organized effort today on every level to bring us down. Yet with all these dangers, and many more, the President of this besieged nation golfs on weekends, parties at night and has shown today that he is more informed and interested in picking the winners in March Madness then any of the aforementioned problems, and other problems, any one of which can send this world into a tailspin.
         I wrote in a November 13, 2009 post titled America...The Beautiful that "We know who built this nation. They were in the pulpits, pews and courts, on farms and in the cities, under pilgrim, tricorn and coonskin caps, Civil War kepis, Cavalry hats, helmets and berets. They cooked and sewed and drove rivets when needed. They wore blue and grey, G. I. Brown, navy white, air force blue, jungle and desert camo." Heroes are born in the cauldron of trying times and we are seeing them again today........How about the Christian women who, in their limited free time, would rather read of Ruth and Orpah than watch Ellen and Oprah; Christian fathers whose children see them thanking God before every meal, faithful pastors who say you can keep the crowds, I'll preach Christ and seek the approval of the crowds of witnesses gone on before; of those teachers whose first priority is still the children; of conservatives on university campuses who are too bright to be scammed; of every country music singer that sings of God, family and country; of every retiree who did their part and now shares their wisdom; of every union member who says I'll fight for what is right and not for what isn't; of every janitor at a Tea Party who is a giant compared to the executive who would rather be on the golf course, and of our military in every mess hall and PX, behind every desk or 50mm gun-wearing private stripes or brass?
         These are only some of our heroes. This nation may not survive. Why God has not ended this experiment as of now is the real mystery but even if we do, there will be a remnant giving glory to God for past mercies given to us that we might help others.

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me...
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

T'was grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
we have already come.
Twas Grace that brought us safe thus far,
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord hash promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
then when we've first begun.

 

Terror, Thy Name Is Jesus.......Redux

        It was late 2001, possibly early 2002, and I was part of a cohort of 30 or so students pursuing a degree in Higher Education. Class time often turned into open conversation on the topic at hand. We all got along well and it was really an ideal setting for discussion. I not only cannot remember the topic of the day but I can't even remember the class for we all travelled the same curriculum. I do remember this, I stood up and gave a little soliloquy with a strong caveat. Something ominous and terrible was happening in America. There was a divide occurring that was not normal politics. I could see it creeping in and feel it smothering our heritage as a God-fearing people.....but no one else could sense my alarm. Well that feeling proved correct.
         I don't know if the word zeitgeist is the best to use here but there is a spirit of the times rising up today.... a fog... as warm vapors from the cesspools of our minds meets our calculating cold-heartedness that replaced love and respect for our fellow man. Such a spirit hates God and only dissipates when His light dispels the darkness. And that is the battle behind the world's and our nation's problems...light vs. darkness! The following post is almost four years old.

November 9, 2009

          In the late 1950s America was transfixed by the phenomenon of the Hula Hoop. It would take something on the level of the iPhone to do that today. It was a simpler time, for all we had to worry about was megaton hydrogen bomb laden ballistic missiles being sent our way. We have since lost our moorings in America and our ship of state is drifting aimlessly amongst the shoals. Our moorings were tied to belief in and dependence upon God, and we were kept safe. We are not safe today. We are at the mercy of those who have no mercy. We cannot come to consensus on how to deal with those who walk among us and want to destroy us. We are so conflicted in our own national conscience that we often cannot even punish a serial killer. Yet.... Terror, thy name is Jesus and thy weapon is truth. We will make laws to protect us from you. We will isolate those whom you send to us. We will ban your book. You have disquieted us, your words upset us. We do not recognize your holiness. You are not our king. We will not pay you homage. You are not our God for there is no God. We were your slaves but now we are free. If you desire to live here, you will do our bidding. This is not the proclamation of everyone in America, not even of the majority but it is a proclamation that is placarded in our universities, and on the marquis of our theaters. It is the lapel pin on our business suits and hoisted up on our flagpoles but it is not buoyant and those who cling to it as the ship sinks beneath the raging waves will perish. Even as Gideon needed way-tokens, I need them also. I rejoice in my weakness for I see so clearly how a man's perceived strength without God is a pitiful state to be in.

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me There

          In four weeks President Obama will appear in the hallway outside of  the House Chamber as members of our Congress and other dignitaries chat and laugh as they wait for the announcement from the Sergeant-at-Arms "Mister Speaker, the President of the United States." Barack Obama will take full advantage of the moment as he slowly walks the isle to raucous applause from the Democrat side of the isle and reserved applause from the Republican side of the isle, shaking hands stretched out to him and giving hugs. At least that is how it normally transpires at the State of the Union Address. It's my hope that this year it will be different but admittedly there's not much evidence that a rebellion is brewing.
         Donald Wolfensberger is a senior scholar of public policy at the Wilson Center, an independent research thinktank. He wrote a few years ago to begin a paper from the Congress Project,  "It is fitting to consider the relationship between the executive and legislative branches," and then focused on the "small but symbolic intersection of the president's annual State of the Union address." After mentioning as I had done in earlier posts that Thomas Jefferson refused to give the required report on the State of the Union as a speech because it "smacked too much of the monarch's Speech from the Throne' at the opening of Parliament," he added this "While I previously dismissed Jefferson's decision as an overreaction, this year, for the first time, it struck me that he may have been right. Perhaps I had been so blinded by the pageantry and entertainment value of this annual state ritual that I never clearly saw how much it diminishes Congress. It really is a vestige of  'the imperial presidency's', so derided by scholars and others in the last century." Donald Wolfensberger agrees with me in part but not in totality and certainly not for the same reasons. He's more opposed to the "stentorian proclamation of the House Sergeant-at-Arms" and the general "fawning" over the President whereas I see a far different and greater problem. Others will point to this annual event as simply being a respectful gesture to our president. I could have agreed with this for maybe this president's first or second year but there has been no respect given our Constitution, our laws or our heritage and not only is there no sign that this will change there is more than abundant evidence that we have only seen the beginning!
         How does one, I'm speaking of a member of Congress here, applaud this president, albeit reservedly, as he systematically erodes the authority of our Constitution, weakens our military and whose policies literally work against our national security while emboldening our enemies and the enemies of our allies? How does one hold in what must be the temptation to challenge the lies and the deceit that will emanate from the podium during the speech? How does one put the unmitigated disaster of Obamacare out of his mind, or Benghazi, or the cavalier attitude that puts him constantly on the golf course or courtside of a basketball game when other presidents pushed their health to the limits in far lesser emergencies, both foreign and domestic, than we have today? And then how does one dispense with the frowns after the television cameras are gone and socialize and shake the hands of those who refuse to put their country over their own political fortunes? I'm asking this here of conservatives for I know very well how the professional class of the Republican Establishment does it for they are all part of the UniParty that Professor Angelo Codevilla identifies four posts previous to this.
          How does the conservative member of Congress do this? Wild horse couldn't drag me there.