Author: Christ Ranger

God is great!

Categories
culture praise

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Proclamation of Thanksgiving
By the President of theUnited States of America.

 The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

 I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of theUnited States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

 In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of theUnited Statesto be affixed.

 Done at the City ofWashington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of theIndependenceof the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

 By the President: Abraham Lincoln

See also, Refuting the Seven Myths of the Radical Left About Thanksgiving By Douglas W. Phillips and Elijah Brown, November 23, 2011

 

Categories
politics, economy, etc. video

Why Ron Paul keeps talking about the Federal Reserve …

and others should also:

See also: Why Not Ron Paul?

Categories
culture politics, economy, etc. praise

Our Best Days Are Ahead

As an undergraduate at Purdue in 1987, one of my Professors, Harry Targ, lectured on the Cold War.  He had just published his book Strategy of an Empire in Decline, in which he explained his belief in the moral, economic and political superiority of communism viz capitalism.  In his mind, the USA Would not long withstand the inexorable and inevitable expansion of the Soviet Union.  He was right regarding the collapse of an empire but wrong about everything else.

While Professor Targ is a run of the mill exemplar of the Marxist-Socialist bias in secondary education, he illuminates a larger point.  He was a full-time academic on the Soviet Union.  In 1986, there wasn’t serious discussion or analysis regarding the forthcoming USSR implosion.  Notwithstanding his expertise on the Soviet Union, Professor Targ didn’t see the collapse coming in a relatively few years.  None of us did.

Life works like that.  Major historical events rarely appear obvious or inevitable as they happen. They are only clear in retrospect, if ever.

In contrast to the failure to foresee the swift and surprising nature of the USSR’s collapse, there are serious red flags that Western liberal democracies in general and the USA in particular have become financially, politically, and morally unhinged.  Spending well beyond the available means is the norm not the exception for governments and families throughout the West. No leading political figure in any way advocates significant spending cutbacks.

We’re politically dysfunctional as the federal government divides fairly equally between those wedded to socialist statism and those that prefer corporate and military statism (while occasionally mouthing traditional conservatism).

Post-modernism has supplants Judeo-Christian beliefs as our moral foundation.  Regarding sex, sexuality and marriage, what had been regarded as immoral, perverse and often illegal in the 1950s, is now acceptable and often routine and laudatory.  When the highly accomplished Coach Paterno was fired for harboring a child molester on his coaching staff, thousands of students at one of our most esteemed Universities protested … not over the sexual improprieties that had occurred between Paterno’s subordinate and boys, but over the fact Paterno was fired over it.  These outraged students are some of our most gifted minds and the future of this country.

There are clouds on our national horizon.

We should however fear and fret not.  One kingdom will last forever, and it’s not our beloved USA.  The everlasting kingdom will provide perfect justice and governance.  As much as I love the USA and what we stand for, that future perfect government has not yet been established on Earth.

The future King of nations will not be delivered via an election.  He will arrive with the sound of trumpets.  Instead of water, he will baptise with fire, providing terribly perfect justice and loving grace.  Under his perfect reign, the curse will be lifted and a new world reborn.  Death will no longer sting and eternity will be a reality.  That day should be our hope for the future.  In Christ and not the works of mankind should we place our faith. Jesus Christ return and his perfect reign will endure forever.  Pray soon.  Amen.

Categories
culture politics, economy, etc. video

Would Elaine Marshall Eat the Rich?

Listening to the Occupy Wall Street crowd, I feel like I’m back in my undergraduate days, taking notes down from the lecture of yet another tenured, self-proclaimed Marxist professor.  In attempting to explain the OWS motivation, the self-proclaimed Communist website Kasama explains,

It’s not that we don’t have demands; it’s that we speak them in a different language. We speak them with our struggle. Our movement is made up of people fighting for jobs, for schools, for debt relief, equitable housing, and healthcare. We are resisting ecological destruction, imperialism, racism, patriarchy, and capitalism.

See here. The only thing missing from this traditional Communist rallying cry is resistance against deism.  In listening to the OWS crowd and trying to read what this somewhat inchoate mass puts out, it sounds just like a rehash of what the radical egalitarian, hardcore statist left-wingers have been advocating since at least 1917.  Pajamas Media has compiled a list of those endorsing and supporting OWS, and it reads as a Who’s Who of the hardcore lefties, communists, socialists, and nationalist socialists (NAZIs).  See here. Robert Laurie observes,

[A]ll of these disparate forces view capitalism and the United States as broken, deeply flawed constructs. The thing that unites them, no matter how unlikely their alliance may seem, is the idea that America needs to be undone and reconfigured as a country most citizens would scarcely recognize. As President Obama himself put it, America needs to be rebuilt ‘from the ground up.’

I was therefore surprised when I recently received an email from the North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall campaign bragging about her support for OWS. In her words and emphasis:

There are a lot of politicians trying to cozy up to Occupy Wall Street – but very few are actually hitting the streets to stand with them. That’s why I’m proud to be working for Secretary of State Elaine Marshall – someone who hasn’t just embraced the OWS protests, but has actually joined with them on the streets of Raleigh!

See Marshall OWS rally “pep talk” here. She concluded her OWS email endorsement with a request for a campaign contribution.  It’s not a good time for the USA when mainstream, southern Democrats take the stage to endorse a movement of hardcore communists and other statists.

 

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Categories
culture

Happy All Saints Day!

Not being big fans of pagan Celtic rituals, witches and goblins, or of copious consumption of cheap candy, my wife and I are always less than enthusiastic about Halloween.  We enjoy our children’s imaginations and encourage them to dress up and pretend, however, Halloween is just soo dark and gross.

In recognition of and support for the church’s past efforts to convert this pagan holiday to All Saints Day, my wife and I challenged our four children to each select a “saint” to write about today.  They each picked a famous Christian, with the youngest picking first. Several of our children wanted to select our nation’s most famous martyr, Nate Saint (1923-1956). Our five year old selected him with the first draft pick. Fitting that Saint was our first saint selected. One of the founders of Wycliffe Bible Translators, Cameron Townsend (1896-1982), was picked second. Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), the Irish girl who wanted blue eyes, but whose brown eyes allowed her to serve as a missionary in India for 55 years, was third; she saved countless girls.  In response to a letter enquiring what missionary life is like, Ms. Carmichael responded simply, “Missionary life is simply a chance to die.”  The Reformer Martin Luther (1483-1586) for whom we should celebrate October 31 each year was selected by my eldest. I hope to write soon regarding my “pick.” Following are the All Saints Day reports written by our children, ages 5, 7, 10, and 11:

Nate Saint

Nate Saint was a missionary in Ecuador who was very brave. He told the Auca indians about Jesus. Auca means “savage.” Mr. Saint had a bright yellow airplane. The Auca indians really liked him. Then one day they got mad at Nate and his friends. They killed him and his friends.

Then the Auca women invited Nate’s sister named Rachel to live with them. She told them about Jesus just like Nate had and they listened to her! They became Christians and were baptized! I think this story is sad because Nate and his friends were killed but I also think it is happy because the indians became Christians.

I think we should celebrate Saints Day instead of Halloween because Halloween was started with the Celts thinking that dead people came out of their graves on Halloween and they had to dress up as scary as they could to scare away the ghosts. Then the missionaries tried to turn it into a holiday called Saints Day to celebrate the saints and missionaries. But then people didn’t listen and started celebrating Halloween again.

Cameron Townsend

As a boy, Cameron Townsend loved to figure things out.  He was nicknamed Cam. Life was not easy.  He helped his father farm.  They were poor but well fed. They thanked God for their lives and they worked hard.

Their father read the Bible to them. They sang hymns and prayed.

In college, Cam had the opportunity to give a Bible to people in need in the Guatemalan countryside.  When he gave a Spanish language Bible to a native villager, the man said he could not read Spanish.  The man then asked if your God is so great, why can’t he speak my language?

From then on, Cameron dedicated his life to translating Bibles for people who had never had Bibles in their native languages. He also taught them how to farm and care for themselves.  The President of Mexico helped him.  Cameron started Wycliffe.

Martin Luther

One day the pope said to a bunch of people that if you dropped a coin into a bucket your sins would be forgiven. Then he said your dead relatives in purgatory will also go to heaven as soon as you dropped that coin into the bucket. Then all the people ran forward and dropped all the money they had into buckets and ran home excitedly. One of those people didn’t run home; he ran to his friend who was a Christian monk named Martin Luther and told him how he freed his relatives and how his sins were forgiven.

Martin Luther was very mad at the pope so he made a list of 95 reasons why the Catholic church was wrong to do that and nailed his list on a church on October 31. Then Luther published the reasons and told a bunch of people about it. Lots of people believed him and Luther wrote lots of books. Then the pope brought Martin Luther to court. Luther said if they showed him in the Bible where he was wrong he would burn all the books he had written. Lots of people got mad and chased him out of the court house. Then some men on horses ran out of the woods and rescued him and brought him to a old castle where he translated the Bible into German so people could learn about Jesus.

When he was 67, Luther got sick and died. Martin Luther was a saint and I think we should celebrate Saints Day instead of Halloween because Halloween was started with the Celts dressing up as bad and as nasty as they could because they thought that ghosts came out of graves and would haunt their bodies so they had to scare them away buy dressing up scary. The saints tried to change Halloween to a Christian religion but it didn’t work. In Austria people still leave bread and water out to welcome dead people back for Halloween. In Sweden they celebrate all Saints Day. There are lots of other countries like Austria that honor their dead relatives for Halloween but Sweden celebrates all Saints Day instead of bad things.

Amy Carmichael

One day, a little Irish girl who loved sweets, was sitting in a tearoom by a window eating small cakes and drinking tea.  She noticed a hungry little girl about her age looking through the window.

Amy’s memory of the girl just wouldn’t go away. She thought that God had a plan for her because she couldn’t forget that girl.  Little Amy felt very sorrow for that girl and decided to write a note saying, “When I am older, I will build a safe place for little girls.”

A long time passed and Amy loved to go on walks. She usually invited local children to her house to sing, clap, and dance and she would read them Bible stories. One morning Amy decided to visit the local Irish slums. She passed out bread and read Bible stories. She felt sad for all the sights of poverty around her. She saw a girl with blue eyes, Amy had always wanted blue eyes instead of brown. The girl was dressed in rags so Amy gave her a piece of bread. She looked so pale and was so small. A women with a shawl instead of a hat, came by a picked up the girl. The women turned and walked away. As she turned, the shawl fell from her face. Amy gasped, surprised.

The woman looked so worn and bent, but SHE was really quite young. Amy discovered this women was known as a “shawlie”. Shawlies covered their head up with shawls instead of hat because the hats cost to much. Amy felt sorrow. It wasn’t long after that visit with the “shawlie”, when she came up with an idea. She began to do a Bible study for the poor, in her own church. But many people in her church did not like that idea. They told Amy that these shawlies would come in their church with dirt, lice, and fleas. Amy did not care what other people thought about the shawlies. She would love, care, and help them like God would want her to. A couple of years passed and Amy’s work soon grew very big. She had a bigger building planned, and made so she could have singing, Bible studies, prayer, and sewing clubs in the building.

Things soon changed for Amy. Her family had to move to England. But she did not know that God had a plan for her to tell more people from different places about him. It was hard for her to leave her family and friends, but she knew God was with her and he would never leave her. When she arrived in India, she learned the Hindus worshiped idols and gods. The rich ladies wore silk but Amy chose wear white cotton like the poor. She told them about Jesus and how nice he was. She told them to burn their idols and love Jesus.

Most Hindus disliked Amy. They also disliked her God. But one girl, named Arulai, chose to like Amy. She would sneak out of her house and meet with Amy when her family didn’t know. When her family found this out, they forbade her right away to see Amy ever again.

After months, Arulia was able to get to Amy again. She quickly ran to Amy but when she got there she was very weak and sick. She slept in Amy’s bed, so sick she could hardly speak. Her father came to take here back to their house but then he found she was too weak and sick. For a long time he came and visited his daughter. Every time he came he found Amy being loving and kind and caring for his daughter. So, when Arulia was healed, her father let her stay with Amy for as long as she wanted.

Another girl, who was Hindu, decided she would like to be Christian and not tell anyone because if they knew she believed in the stuff they hated, her life could be in danger. After three years, she decided she would have to find her way to Amy’s house. At evening, she crept outside, tiptoeing across the road. Soon she saw a Christian banner in sight. “That is probably Amy’s house.” she thought to herself. She came up to the house and knocked on the door, and  Amy let her in, just like she had to the other girls who wanted to be a Christian.

Now, since most of the Hindu girls were becoming Christian, and going to Amy’s house, they locked them up in the Hindu temple and made them work instead of play. One girl’s father died and her mom was too weary to take care of her and had to send her to the temple saying, “At least you will be fed.” The girl was only five and named Preena and at the temple at night she felt very sad and cold. She was never able to go outside or see her mom. Because Preena was not loved, sometimes she hid and cried.

Finally she was able to escape and see her mother. But when her mother saw her she said, “You cannot stay here. Go back to the temple.” The Hindu priests punished her and taught her to obey. But Preena kept dreaming of being free from the temple.

Two more years were passed and Preena was still at the temple. But one day she overheard some people talking, saying there was a woman who lived nearby. Her name was Amy. She was a Christian and was helping other Christian girls to become more like Christ. She heard the people say how this lady was willing to help girls who had no good place to live. So Preena thought to herself, “I wonder if I could escape and I wonder if I escaped if Amy would help me.” So, at night, she crept through the temple, being careful not to make a sound. She tried the door, it was unlocked. So she tiptoed through the streets to find Amy’s home.

She went to the church, and found a women who would help her find the Christian lady, Amy. Being carful for danger, the two set out in search for Amy’s house. Soon they found it and Amy was sipping English tea, with a smile on her face. Her smile looked so loving that Preena felt safe, and at home. She felt so safe, she climbed right on Amy’s lap.

Amy kept this young girl and taught her about Jesus. Soon Preena loved Jesus.

A lot of other Children at the temple were rescued and safe with Amy. They soon learned all about Jesus. As Amy kept getting more and more children, there ended up being no room in the house for them to live, sleep, eat, and hide. Amy moved the children to the country. There was room there for the children to live, sleep, eat, and hide. Amy built a hospital also for the children so they could stay healthy.

Amy loved those children and saved them just like she had promised as a child.

(Based on Renee Taft Meloche, Amy Carmichael Rescuing the Children (YWAM Publ. 2004) (part of Heroes for Young Readers series).

Categories
culture marriage and family

The Sexiness of Marriage and Family

Kate Bolick created a bit of a buzz with her recent article “All the Single Ladies” published in Atlantic Magazine.  Through this long and data-filled narrative, Ms. Bolick argues the modern feminist case against traditional marriage and family roles and justification for the sexual “revolution.”  Ms. Bolick is a talented writer and thinker and interweaves her personal narrative through her polemic against traditional female roles.  In fact, the candor of her narrative keeps the reader turning the pages.  But through her candor, Ms. Bolick raises serious doubt about just how good this “modern” feminist ethics has been for women.

Ms. Bolick embodies the modern feminist lie life – pursuing self and professional fulfillment at the expense of marriage and family.  She is talented, successful, attractive.  She’s reached the top of the professional and social fields in New York City.  By any “modern” feminist standard, Ms. Bolick is accomplished.  She has more former boyfriends than she can recall.

But no love.  No family.  No children.  At no point does she attempt to persuade that her choices brought happiness or fulfillment. Doubt, not happiness, pervade her writing.

In reviewing this illuminating essay, Maggie Gallagher observes,

Who exactly are the new enemies of Eros?

Sex has been divorced from meaning. Men are not being raised to be good family men, and women are not being raised to appreciate good family men. And men are failing to become the kind of men women want. Porn is available for all as a substitute for life.

So Kate, facing a future without children or marriage, wants to celebrate singleness and to kill her youthful idealization.

“Everywhere I turn, I see couples upending existing norms and power structures,” she says, citing a friend who fell in love with her dog walker, a man 12 years younger, with whom she stayed for three years “and are best friends today.”

Well, everywhere I turn in Kate’s essay I see women doing the best they can to celebrate the best they feel they can get, and it’s unbearably sad.

The truth is celebrating singleness—i.e., celebrating “not doing something”—makes no sense. Loving is better than not loving. Choosing to love and commit to a husband or a child is a much higher ideal than choosing not to; that’s why it needs to be celebrated and idealized.

Of course, not everyone marries or becomes a mother, and of course every human life has other possibilities for meaning, and other forms of love to give.

But all of these other loves—the aunt, the grandparent, the best friend—came into being because somewhere some woman gave herself to the independence-shattering act of making a family.

See Maggie Gallagher The New Singleness

Mona Charen commented:

There is a great deal of interesting data in this piece. According to the Pew Research Center, 44 percent of Millennials and 43 percent of Gen Xers think marriage is becoming obsolete. As of 2010, women held 51.4 percent of all managerial and professional positions, compared with 26 percent in 1980. Women account for the lion’s share of bachelors and masters degrees, and make up a majority of the work force. Three quarters of the jobs lost during the recession were lost by men. “One recent study found a 40 percent increase in the number of men who are shorter than their wives.” Fully 50 percent of the adult population is single, compared with 33 percent in 1950.
…
The resulting decline of marriage has been a disaster for children, a deep disappointment to reluctantly single women and unhealthy for single men, who are less happy, shorter-lived and less wealthy than married men. The sexual revolution has left a trail of destruction in its wake, even when its victims don’t recognize the perpetrator.

See Charen, Blame the Sexual Revolution, Not Men

At about the same time Ms. Bolick was making headlines, there was another, shorter story in the news, a counter-narrative to Ms. Bolick.  This story was about traditional marriage.  It was not filled with data and in-depth analysis.  The story was about Norma and Gordon Yeager.  They were not nearly as attractive or successful as Ms. Bolick. They were from Marshalltown, Iowa.  In the eyes of the world, they were until recently entirely obscure.

Mr. Yeager had promised his wife he would never leave her.  In late October, the Yeagers were in a car accident.  Rushed to the hospital, they lay side by side in critical condition, holding hands.  Mr. Yeager died, still holding his wife’s hand, with their family around them.  Though dead, his monitor still indicated a beating heart. It was his wife’s heart picked up through their holding hands.  An hour later, she died, still holding his hand.  Mr. Yeager was 94; Mrs. Yeager was 90.  They had been married 72 years together.  The Yeager’s son said, “They just loved being together. He always said, ‘I can’t go until she does because I gotta stay here for her.’ And she would say the same thing.”

The Yeager’s testimony on marriage, love and family is compelling.  RIP

As more generations continue to eat the poisonous fruits of the “sexual revolution,” we can only hope and pray that the old becomes new again.

Categories
politics, economy, etc.

Why not Ron Paul?

“I mean, arguing over who mows Mitt Romney’s lawn … In the midst of a crisis, a sovereign debt worldwide crisis, the biggest in the history of the world, and the financial system of the world is about to collapse. We’re about to have another devaluation of … our credit rating. This is serious, and no control in the spending.  We’re going to have to get a hand on this.  We have to quit worrying over who’s mowing Mitt Romney’s yard.”  Ron Paul, Meet the Press, Oct. 23, 2011

“Mommy, turn the car.  We’re heading straight for a cliff.”

“Don’t worry, honey, we’re going to slow down some.”

The USA rapidly approaches an economic precipice and it’s much closer than we appreciate.   If so, the 2012 election is a referendum on national cliff diving.   The wreckage of great nations fill the history books, and rarely do last generations recognize the end before it’s too late.

We’re nearly 15 trillion dollars in debt, a number nearly beyond comprehension.  See debt clock here.  No nation in the history of mankind has accumulated such a deficit when compared to the worldwide purchasing power of the respective debt.  A few short years ago, our debt was nearly half of our GDP.  In 2011, at the time of this writing, our federal debt is approximately equivalent to our GDP.  See debt clock here.  Even the CBO acknowledges imminent crisis.  See here.  All levels of government spending presently consume nearly half our GDP.  See debt clock here.  We’re adding trillions of dollars of new debt every year.  How much is that?  If you counted a $1 bill every second, it would take you over 30,000 years to count the first trillion dollars. 

Newsweek’s Andrew Nagorski reports “America’s public debt could skyrocket from 44 percent of GDP before the 2008 financial crisis to 716 percent in 2080. If legislative reforms don’t expand the size of government, the CBO dials the projection back to 280 percent.”   As Mark Steyn observes in his recently published, must-read After America, that’s the difference between dead and more dead. Business Insider magazine reports that only 58 percent of Americans have a job right now; the median yearly wage in the United States is $26,261 and the average American household is carrying $75,600 in personal debt.  Including public and private debt, each American – man, woman and child – is each presently responsible for approximately $175,000 in debt.  And the figure grows. See debt clock here.  

The problem is systemic throughout the industrial nations and social-welfare states and no one is coming to our financial rescue.  Unfortunately, the US is the leader in this fiscal suicide. A leading German economist recently explained, “The alarmingly high national debt many countries now hold, as compared to gross domestic product, is by no means simply a result of fiscal countermeasures taken after the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. It is just as much a product of a policy, carried out for decades and widely accepted, of perpetually borrowing money for public budgets.”

We don’t need to slow down this economic death spiral, we need an abrupt turn-around.  Not a slight change of angle, but a U-turn.  Our current path is unsustainable.

A new tax plan alone is not good enough, even if it means giving Congress a new pipeline to take money from us in the form of a sales tax.  The problem is spending. The government of a free people should not be the largest employer, should not consume nearly half of the wealth of its people and should not burden yet unborn generations with trillions of dollars in debt.  King George III should not get the last laugh.

We used to pride ourselves in being the land of the free and the home of liberty.

Government, particularly the national government, should not be the central or primary organizing power of a free people.

Not only are we not governing ourselves as a free people, but we no longer think of America as a land of freedom.  Love of liberty no longer unifies us as a people.  Our original national motto E pluribus unum means little to many.

So … in light of what appears to me to be a substantial, imminent and self-induced fatal threat to our Republic, I don’t particularly care who mowed Mitt Romney’s yard or about archival copies of President Obama’s birth certificate.  Not surprisingly, Congressman Paul made the same points this past Sunday on Meet the Press.  (Hat tip to and video of  excellent responses to tough NBC interview available at The Corner here.)  I don’t think our primary solution is a better energy program spearheaded by the federal government.  Energy development and independence is important, but in the end, it’s another government project.  We need far less government and we need that U-turn immediately.

Only one presidential candidate has presented any policy proposals that address the scope and root of our impending financial disaster.  Dr. and Congressman Ron Paul’s “medicine” is strong and aggressive.  He promises a balanced budget within three years, ie before what would be his reelection.  It would not be easy or painless.  Ron Paul proposes:

SPENDING: Cuts $1 trillion in spending during the first year of RonPaul’s presidency, eliminating five cabinet departments (Energy, HUD, Commerce, Interior, and Education), abolishing the Transportation Security Administration and returning responsibility for security to private property owners, abolishing corporate subsidies, stopping foreign aid, ending foreign wars, and returning most other spending to 2006 levels. 

ENTITLEMENTS: Honors our promise to our seniors and veterans, while allowing young workers to opt out. Block grants Medicaid and other welfare programs to allow States the flexibility and ingenuity they need to solve their own unique problems without harming those currently relying on the programs.

CUTTING GOVERNMENT WASTE: Makes a 10% reduction in the federal workforce, slashes Congressional pay and perks, and curbs excessive federal travel. …

TAXES: Lowers the corporate tax rate to 15%, making America competitive in the global market. Allows American companies to repatriate capital without additional taxation, spurring trillions in new investment. Extends all Bush tax cuts. Abolishes the Death Tax. Ends taxes on personal savings …

REGULATION: Repeals ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and Sarbanes-Oxley. Mandates REINS-style requirements for thorough congressional review and authorization before implementing any new regulations issued by bureaucrats. President Paul will also cancel all onerous regulations previously issued by Executive Order.

MONETARY POLICY: Conducts a full audit of the Federal Reserve and implements competing currency legislation to strengthen the dollar and stabilize inflation.

Dr. Paul lists specifics, to include the numbers.  See here.  Recently, the Vision Forum gave Dr. Paul its highest grade in its analysis on how well the candidates’ proposed policies adhered to the US Constitution.  See here. 

Having delivered thousands of babies, Dr. Paul is also solidly pro-life.  See here and  here.    He is a strong advocate for homeschooling; his campaign states “no nation can remain free when the state has greater influence over the knowledge and values transmitted to children than the family does.”  See here and here.

Dr. Paul is not nearly as smooth or well-funded as Gov. Romney. Paul lacks Gov. Perry’s executive experience and made for the camera looks.  He has no trace of Mr. Cain’s bold rhetoric and infectious smile.  Dr. Paul has, however, diagnosed a terminal disease in this Republic and Dr. Paul is the only one promoting an adequate cure.  Further, he made and has spent his life’s energy publicizing this diagnoses.  Only now after the Bush-Obama fiscal conflagration do I appreciate the accuracy of what Ron Paul has been championing for years.

Categories
books

Already Compromised

“…what they don’t know is that, like the secular schools they wish to avoid, and like the majority of the great Christian institutions of higher learning of the past, many, many of the Christian schools they attend are…Already Compromised.”–Ken Ham

I recently finished reading Already Compromised by Ken Ham and Dr. Greg Hall.  Already Compromised is a follow-up title to Already Gone.  That first book disclosed poll research showing that a large percentage of children raised in conservative evangelical churches were leaving the faith and that most that leave had made up their mind to do so by high school.  The book also disclosed the surprise correlation showing that a child’s regular involvement with a Sunday school increased the risk.  See also here.  The implication was clear – we’re not doing a good job training and teaching our children.  The book was a call for churches to invest in teaching children and equip families to learn Biblical apologetics in an increasingly hostile and skeptical world.

Already Compromised takes the analysis one step further by examining the next phase of a young person’s life, college. The book analyzes a poll of 200 evangelical colleges.  The poll was again conducted by Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group.  They polled the leadership at universities and seminaries on core questions of faith and doctrine.  The leadership polled consisted of presidents, vice presidents, religion department chairs, and science department chairs.  As with Already Gone, the poll discloses some disappointing and surprising  results.

Perhaps not surprisingly, just because a college calls itself “Christian” does not mean that the school is committed to teaching all the fundamentals of the faith, particularly in the treatment of the Old Testament.  There was overwhelming support for the fundamentals of “New Testament” Christianity, ie virgin birth, Christ’s substitutionary atonement, a literal heaven and hell, the Second Coming, and the bodily Resurrection of Christ.  A large percentage of respondents however were not so committed to “Old Testament” truths, particularly in the areas of creation and the flood.  Accordingly, there was also meaningful weakness in many colleges regarding the inerrancy of scripture.

A high level take-away is to make sure you know what your colleges teach if you or your loved ones are attending an institution because they profess to be a place of Christian learning.  Beemer’s survey in Already Compromised does a good job of asking the right questions from several different perspectives to show that one has to really dig to understand what schools mean when they say they believe in the Bible.  A number of the questions show that some schools appear to engage in “newspeak.”  Buyer beware. 

One of the biggest surprises for me was in the research regarding human origins and the Book of Genesis.  One would assume that since evolutions is “Science,” as compared to the religion department, the science departments would harbor a greater percentage of skeptics regarding the creation account in Genesis and support for old earth/evolutionary theories.  Of course, one would be quite wrong.  In reviewing the survey data, Mr. Ham states, “It turns out that the science department is much more biblical in their beliefs than the religion department! … [O]nly 27 percent of people in the science department believe in nonliteral creation days.  Yet 55.6 percent of people in the religion department believe in nonliteral creation days.”  (emphasis in orig.) Schools that agree with AiG’s statement of faith are listed here.

Already Compromised is yet another call to the church to stand up, defend, and teach God’s word.  Greg Hall has an excellent chapter calling the church to apologetics arms. The books are a must read for those concerned with understanding the condition of the Church in the United States.

Categories
sports video

Kona Ironman 2011 – deja vu, but faster

Craig Alexander wins no. 3 and sets course record at 8:03:56.

The Queen of Kona Chrissie Wellington wins no. 4!

Categories
culture video

30 Minute Power Movie – Must See

Hitler.  Comfort.  Finish this sentence ….  Blue mohawk.  Holocaust.

Categories
Ministry World etc.

Prayers for Pastor Nadarkhani & the Barbarism of Iran

Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who is facing the death penalty, again refused to convert to Islam to save his life.

Nadarkhani was arrested in 2009 for the crime of apostasy because he allegedly abandoned Islam for Christianity. As a pastor, Iranian clerics believe that Nadarkhani was preaching in order to convert Muslims.

Before his last hearing Wednesday, Nadarkhani had been given three previous chances to repent, and all three times he has refused. After his final refusal Wednesday, no verdict has been announced, but many expect that he could be put to death as soon as Friday.

See Iranian Pastor Sentenced to Death: Nadarkhani Refuses to Convert

Senator Rubio’s (R, FL) statement today:

Iran’s rulers have spent over three decades terrorizing their neighbors, the entire world, and even their own people. Whether it was the violent crackdown following illegitimate elections in 2009 or the daily repression that has become routine, the Iranian people deserve America’s support.

I am deeply distressed by news accounts regarding Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who is facing imminent execution for apostasy (abandoning Islam) and failing to recant his Christian faith. Pastor Nadarkhani is 34 years old, has a wife and two young children, and is the pastor of an evangelical church in Iran.

Equally troubling are the facts that his wife was imprisoned to force him to recant, and his lawyer has been sentenced to prison and banned from practicing or teaching law. This is an unjust violation of the religious freedom that is a universal right of every human being.

According to international legal experts, the death penalty is not even codified in the Iranian Penal Code. Yet the Iranian courts claim that the writings of Islamic scholars and the “fatwas” of the Ayatollahs take precedence over the Iranian Constitution or law. Under Sharia law, the pastor can be executed after refusing three times to recant his Christian faith.

In recent years, there has been a very troubling increase in religious persecution in Iran. This is true for anti-Christian efforts, but it has also been evident in the repression of non-Shiite Muslims. While there has been some good documentation of this by a few in the media and in the human rights arena, there has unfortunately been a cowardly silence by the United Nations and most of the international community in this case and others.

Our own State Department should call for his immediate release. These are the moments when the government of this great nation must not be silent, and must be a voice for freedom for those who are defenseless.

In free and civilized societies, the freedom to practice one’s religion is a fundamental right. Once again, Iran’s government is proving to the world, and to the Iranian people, that it will spare no means to suppress their God-given right to freely express their ideas and worship.

As history has proven, countries that do not respect the rights of their citizens seldom respect the rights of their neighbors. The Iranian regime’s blatant disregard for its own citizens should raise alarms about its behavior in the region and the world should its illicit nuclear program be allowed to go on unchecked.

America’s commitment to the universal rights of man requires us to clearly speak out against their violations wherever they make occur. I urge the administration to relentlessly call for an immediate and unconditional release for Pastor Nadarkhani.

As if the West needed further evidence of the evil barbarity of the Republic of Iran or of the gross intolerance of Islamic regimes and their utter disregard for liberty (and for Christians, Jews, etc …)

Categories
Poem

The Saviour of the World

In the Kingdom are the children;
You may read it in their eyes;
All the freedom of the Kingdom
In their careless humour lies.

Very winsome are the children,
Say, whence comes it, their sweet grace?
Small the pains they take for goodness,
Scarcely know they Duty’s face.

Frail and faulty little lieges,
Yet well-pleasing to their King:
Scanty thought they take to serve Him;
Yet the chosen Offering bring;

Ours, the weary long endeavour;
Theirs, the happy entering in:

Continue reading “The Saviour of the World”
Categories
praise video

The One

Holy.  Omnipotent. Eternal.

Forever.  And always has been.  Can you imagine it?  No.  He never was not and always will be.

His knowledge has no limits.  I don’t know what that means, but do know that Scripture teaches He knew each of us by name before He laid the foundations of the Earth.  He knows each hair on our head and every one of the trillions and trillions of stars that He created.  Boundless in time and boundless in comprehension.

He is loyal and faithful, even to those that leave him.  Us.  He loved us before we loved him and after we betrayed his love.

But his love and justice are also limitless and eternal. Christ. Cross. Grace.

Amazing God.

He is mighty to save.

Categories
marriage and family politics, economy, etc.

North Carolinian’s to Vote on Gay Marriage – May 2012

RALEIGH–The North Carolina State Senate voted yesterday to concur with a bi-partisan vote in the North Carolina State House to pass a Marriage Protection Amendment recognizing marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman.  The Senate passed the Amendment 30-16, while the House vote was 75 to 42.  Passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment by both houses of the General Assembly allows the issue to go to a vote of the people on the next primary election ballot scheduled to be held May, 2012.

If a majority of North Carolina voters support the Marriage Amendment in this referendum, the language of the amendment will be permanently included in the North Carolina Constitution, and North Carolina will join thirty other states that have protected marriage in their constitutions.

“This is a great day for the people of North Carolinato be able to vote on this important issue,” said Tami Fitzgerald, Executive Director of the N.C. Values Coalition.  “The voters have waited for eight years to vote on protecting marriage, and the General Assembly has finally provided that opportunity to them.”

The floor debate in the Senate included discussion of the economic advantages the Marriage Amendment would bring toNorth Carolina.  States that have protected marriage have better business rankings than states that have not or states that have redefined marriage.  “Whether it’s Forbes magazine, the American Legislative Exchange Council, CNBC, Chief Executive Magazine or the National Chamber of Commerce, the overwhelming majority of the states in the top ten in economic performance in the country are states that protect marriage in their constitutions,” Fitzgerald said.

The Marriage Amendment will also protect private businesses by allowing them to continue to offer benefits according to their own strategic business decisions instead of government mandates.

The North Carolina Values Coalition has worked since February toward passage of the Marriage Protection Amendment and expects to play a key role in the campaign to get it passed on the next primary ballot.  Citizens interested in getting involved and supporting the NC Value Coalition’s efforts on behalf of marriage should go to NCValues.org

Categories
culture marriage and family

Choose Life from NC DMV

“Choose Life NC”

Now Available

 
Here is a quick and easy way to provide resources for women with an unplanned pregnancy: The application form for the “Choose Life” plate is available HERE for download.

 To apply for the “Choose Life” plate you must fill out the application form and return it along with the applicable fee ($25 for a regular DMV-issued “Choose Life” plate or $55 for a four-character personalized “Choose Life” plate) to the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship (CPCF) at P.O. Box 3888, Charlotte, NC 28278.

 The DMV requires a third party-in this case the CPCF-to collect the initial 300 applications and fees. Once the CPCF submits all the applications to DMV, the plates will be made and sent to applicants. After the 300 threshold has been met, new applications for the “Choose Life” plate should be directed to the DMV directly.

 This specialty license plate will cost drivers that opt to purchase the plate an extra $25 per year for the DMV issued “Choose Life” plate or an extra $55 per year for a personalized “Choose Life” plate. This fee is in addition to the regular DMV vehicle registration fee. Of the additional $25, $15 goes to the CPCF, a nonprofit group that will distribute the funds to the state’s Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs). PRCs are non-profit, pro-life organizations located around the state that provide compassionate alternatives to abortion and help for women facing unplanned pregnancies, including counseling and other free-of-charge services.
Categories
Atheism, agnostic, evolution, etc.

Questioning Beginnings

Ann Coulter on the media’s handling of evolution and politics: THE FLASH MOB METHOD OF SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

Dr. Albert Mohler reviews NPR’s recent developments concerning the dispute over human origins within the church: False Start? The Controversy Over Adam and Eve Heats Up

Dr. Georgia Purdom has started an interesting series: Does “Worldview-Neutral” Science Exist? Part One

Categories
culture politics, economy, etc.

Tax the rich more! What’s wrong a little more immorality?

Over at NRO, Peter Kirsanow suggests Today’s Questions for the President and presents the following facts:

  • The top 1 percent of income earners pay 38 percent of all federal income taxes. They earn 20 percent of all (adjusted gross) income.
  • The top 10 percent of income earners pay 70 percent of all federal income taxes. They earn 55 percent of all income.
  • The top 25 percent of all income earners pay 86 percent of all federal income taxes. They earn  67 percent of all income.
  • Approximately half of U.S. households pay no federal income taxes whatsoever

In response to President Obama’s recent suggestion that the gross budget deficits could easily be erased if more Americans were simply more willing to engage in “shared sacrifice.”  Mr. Kirsanow poses the obvious question which the feckless US press corp hasn’t, whom does the president have in mind?  Certainly not the bottom half of earners that pay effectively nothing. 

But these statistics are more than just rhetorical push back points.  In my opinion, the current distribution of burden for sustaining the federal behemoth is fundamentally immoral.  A plurality of government spending is now entitlement spending, meaning that these spending patterns reflect a massive redistribution of wealth.   We don’t all share in the burden of sustaining our civic government. 

I can hear the standard refrain already – our impoverished shouldn’t be required to pay.  Foremost, half our population isn’t impoverished, even by our “standard” of defining “poverty.”  Second, our standard for defining “poverty” is suspect, particularly by historical standards.  Most of whom we define as impoverished “suffer” air conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox.  Our “impoverished” suffer the highest rates of obesity.  Obesity is a serious health risk, perhaps the most serious modern epidemic, however, never before in history and almost nowhere in the world where true poverty is still known is “obesity” a symptom of poverty.  There are some truly poor and downtrodden in the United States, however, it’s a small fraction of those “labeled” as in “poverty” in this country.

The vast majority of Americans can and should financially contribute to our shared form of government.  It’s immoral to shift the burden onto a minority while conveying advantages without any payment to those that have the ability to pay. 

The popular sentiment, however, remains that “the rich should pay more.”  The United States is quickly becoming a land of “From each according to his ability, and to each according to his need.”  Unfortunately, too few appreciate just how fundamentally un-American and illiberal is such sentiment and how dangerous it proved to be in the 20th Century when played out in places far away.

Categories
politics, economy, etc. video World etc.

English Yobs

Just a few months ago, our family was studying the rich history of the English. We admired how the English planted worldwide highly refined views and systems of law, culture, and society.  The English system as reflected in its former colonies and former and current Commonwealth has been a blessing to millions if not billions over time.  The English belief in the rule of law, the common law, and the integrity of civil institutions has led to some of the freest and materially blessed countries in the world, to include our United States.  Our British friends are a long way from Runnymede and it’s been a dark hour in what used to be the center of an empire where the sun never set.

Are the English riots symptomatic of something fundamentally astray in the UK?  Are these the latest signs of the West unraveling?  Or are these isolated, unique occurrences?

Mark Levin believes the British riots are not an isolated aberrant event, but are instead reflective of the ongoing and accelerating collapse of the West.  See Levin: We are watching our society transform right before our eyes

Michael Youssef opines in Americans Should Learn from London, that those who sounded the warnings and tried to fix the UK’s unsustainable policies are being blamed for the violence and lawlessness – “whoever tries to bring sanity to a nation or a culture heading in the wrong direction will become the scapegoat.” The UK Socialist party readily agrees, at least that the Tory party reformers (conservatives) are to blame for the riots.  Indeed, they argue that the violent protests are a response to “Tory attacks.” The British socialists explain the nature of these supposed attacks – reductions in social welfare and overall government spending.  See here.

A Brit, Iain Murray has perhaps the most pointed and stinging critique of what gave rise to these mass acts of violence:

Most [rioters] have no jobs to go to or exams they might pass. They know no family role models, for most live in homes in which the father is unemployed, or from which he has decamped.

They are illiterate and innumerate, beyond maybe some dexterity with computer games and BlackBerries.

They are essentially wild beasts. I use that phrase advisedly, because it seems appropriate to young people bereft of the discipline that might make them employable; of the conscience that distinguishes between right and wrong.

They respond only to instinctive animal impulses — to eat and drink, have sex, seize or destroy the accessible property of others.
…
So there we have it: a large, amoral, brutalised sub-culture of young British people who lack education because they have no will to learn, and skills which might make them employable. They are too idle to accept work waitressing or doing domestic labour, which is why almost all such jobs are filled by immigrants.

They have no code of values to dissuade them from behaving anti-socially or, indeed, criminally, and small chance of being punished if they do so.

They have no sense of responsibility for themselves, far less towards others, and look to no future beyond the next meal, sexual encounter or TV football game.

They are an absolute deadweight upon society, because they contribute nothing yet cost the taxpayer billions. Liberal opinion holds they are victims, because society has failed to provide them with opportunities to develop their potential.

Most of us would say this is nonsense. Rather, they are victims of a perverted social ethos, which elevates personal freedom to an absolute, and denies the underclass the discipline — tough love — which alone might enable some of its members to escape from the swamp of dependency in which they live.

Only education — together with politicians, judges, policemen and teachers with the courage to force feral humans to obey rules the rest of us have accepted all our lives — can provide a way forward and a way out for these people.

They are products of a culture which gives them so much unconditionally that they are let off learning how to become human beings. My dogs are better behaved and subscribe to a higher code of values than the young rioters of Tottenham, Hackney, Clapham and Birmingham.

See his full critique: The Failure of the Rule of Law in Britain

In unwittingly supporting Mr. Murray, two English women explained their motivation to riot: “It was madness, good fun … . Showing the rich people we do what we want.”

As always, Jonah Goldberg in Riot Rationalization Misses the Mark, makes eminent sense in cautioning against reading too much into a riot or series of riots, since riots have been around as long as human nature.

The problem, of course, is that even if conservatives are right, there’s precious little government can do to fill the holes in such souls.

Moreover, I think we put way too much effort into intellectualizing or romanticizing mob violence. Whatever the root causes of such behavior, the simple and unavoidable truth is that looters loot because they can.
…
[T]he people tearing apart English society are simply criminals, whose villainy is not diluted by their numbers, but magnified by them.

Solution? I think Mr. Goldberg provides a valid short-term solution: “If Britain lacks prisons to hold them, build more prisons. Call it a jobs program if it helps.”

Ultimately, however, Mr. Goldberg’s suggestion is myopic.  You can never build enough prisons to restrain the vices of an immoral culture.  The disease of systemic immorality is spreading across the West.  Whether it’s a lack of respect for civil authority, rampant sexual promiscuity, normalization of perversion, a disregard for your neighbor’s property, or gross fiscal irresponsibility, the Western nations are rapidly loosing their moral bearings. Indeed, we’re rapidly becoming exemplars of Romans 1:18-32.  This should not be surprising to Christians since over the past 100 years, particularly in Europe, westerners have strayed further and further away from Biblical truth and morality.  You can build more prisons, but the answer long-term is in building more churches and training and equipping the next generation in the truths of God’s word. 

A beauty of the West, thus far at least, is that we can openly observe, comment and argue over what we’re doing incorrect and right ourselves before it’s too late.  While there is presently much going wrong with western liberalism, there’s nothing so drastic that an open, free and determined people cannot overcome.

[revised 8/15/11]

Categories
biz, legal, and professionalism culture video

Laws of Tyranny

Derived from the same worldview as the laws that sanctioned and recognized the institution of slavery, the ultimate form of tyranny.

~ Tea Party activist, author, and motivational speaker Frantz Kebreau comparing a 1662 slave law to current abortion legislation via his Facebook page, August 8

(Check out his wife’s updated pro-life clothing line at Life Rocks)

Hat Tip: Jill Stanek

Categories
culture politics, economy, etc.

Remember

Remember all those times Newsweek went out of its way to make candidate Obama look like an inexperienced empty suit by their photo selections of him?  And how the “mainstream” pubs treated him and Gov. Palin the same?  Oh yeah, forgot.  That never happened. See Andrew Cline’s The Newsweek Bachmann Cover

Remember all those times NPR went out of its way to make evolutionary zealots look bad and gave even voice to biblical Christians?  Never happened.  Never will. NPR dedicated a piece during prime drive time this morning to parroting the recent Christianity Today cover article showcasing the leading evangelical compromisers on human origins.  NPR phrased the issue as whether evangelicals were going to rely upon the authority of science or lose all intellectual credibility and stick with the authority of scripture – the classic science v. Bible false dichotomy.  The only positive in the coverage was that they did take a few seconds to talk to one Biblical evangelical, Dr. Mohler, which is more than I recall Christianity Today having done.  NPR also gave Dr. Mohler the last word and he used his soundbite well, stating “The moment you say ‘We have to abandon this theology in order to have the respect of the world,’ you end up with neither biblical orthodoxy nor the respect of the world.”

Societies that jettison God’s truths devolve into moral bankruptcy.  Systemic economic bankruptcy is typically tied directly to moral bankruptcy.  Pray we turn this mess around here and in Europe.  Interestingly, the church is thriving in the east, particularly in China and South Korea and their economies are booming.  So far, the 21st Century is foreshadowing that 2100 will be more different from 2000 than 2000 was from 1900. Like the last century, technology will continue to transform cultures and societies, but it appears a significant geo-political and economic shift is occurring.  Head West young man, so far you go east …