Categories
Atheism, agnostic, evolution, etc.

Fred and Wilma’s Genes

According to some evolutionary and old-earth Christians, the so-called young earth, anti-scientific cave people, sometimes referred to as “Fred and Wilma,” discredit Christianity by believing the creation account as literally explained in the book of Genesis. For ease of reference, I’ll refer to these evolutionary apologists as Esau and Erasmus. They claim that a literal reading of Genesis’ young-earth, six-day creation account is scientifically indefensible and fuels the evolutionary biologist wing of militant atheism. Such argument suffers from both going too far and not far enough in its thinking, while at the same time selling its theological birthright for a bowl of common pottage.

Esau and Erasmus’ argument about biblical creationism does not go far enough. They suggest Christianity would appeal more to worldly rationale and defang militant atheists if only Fred and Wilma would shut-up already about a young earth. It would not, unless Christians compromised the truths of most the rest of our faith. Even without a literal biblical creation, Christianity remains unpalatable to the self-proclaimed intellectuals at the Los Angeles Times, militant atheists, and the rest of the worldly sophisticates.

The Bible repeatedly speaks of God ridiculing the wisdom of man. Paul explained to the Corinthians that if it sounded like he was out of his mind, it was because he was talking of the things of God. Elsewhere, Paul noted that while the Gospel was a stumbling block to the Jew, it was utter foolishness to the Greek. Christianity teaches that the omnipotent, infinite, omnipresent and eternal God of all that is seen and unseen, took the form of human flesh in His creation. Instead of the heraldry due the arrival of such an eternal King, he arrived as the apparent bastard son of a peasant woman in a semi-nomadic tribe somewhere in the west-Asian backwaters of the Roman Empire. To underscore the point, God was born amongst the squalor of livestock and his first visitors were sheep herders who were roughly the social equivalent of today’s garbage collectors. To further emphasize that God does not do it “our way,” he was born to a virgin. This promised deliverer grew up in obscurity. He befriended

Continue reading “Fred and Wilma’s Genes”
Categories
humor video

For lovers of vinyl … sleevefacing

Happy Monday.

Categories
politics, economy, etc. praise theology World etc.

Rights?! What Rights?!

We live in a world obsessed with personal rights.   The recent political manuverings in Washington highlight a popular worldview that everyone has extensive rights, including health care.   Many wonder, how far do personal rights extend?   However, it’s nothing new.  It’s been with us since the curse.

Yet there was One Man who lived very differently.  We read in Philippians 2:6-8 that when Christ came to our world from the Father, he set aside his rights as God to fully incarnate into humanity.  The Apostle Paul tells us that Christ, though God Himself, gave up his rights to live like, look like and be treated like God.

Imagine a king leaving the glorious and lavish environs of his palace to live among the poorest of the poor in his kingdom.  But not just for a night (as if a publicity stunt), rather for years.  Regardless of the squallor in which he lives, where he lays his head or stale bread he feasts upon, the fact remains he is still king.  Christ, the King of Kings, did just that – He left his glorious, righteous throne and laid aside his rights to live as God.

What if you were to wake up tomorrow and be summoned to court only to learn that due to enormous debt you are now a slave of your creditors – for the rest of your life!  You no longer have personal rights – where to live, what to do for a career, ownership of personal property, access to a bank account, or anything that is yours.  You are now the one that is owned.  A bit frightening isn’t it?  The prophet Isaiah foretold the Christ would not have any form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  Christ stepped in humanity not as a nobleman or into a well to do family, but as a lowly slave.  He gave up his rights to look like God.

To leave your rightful throne and live like a common slave is one thing .  To do so to sacrifice your life for wretched lost mankind is completely something different.  Scripture tells us that he humbled himself to the point of death on a cross.  The final hours of Christ leading up to the crucifixion was perhaps that most humiliating and excruciating experience anyone could ever face.  The betrayal, false trials, cruel beatings, mockings and jeerings would crush any man.  Yet Christ endured them all to rescue you and me.  He gave up his rights to be treated like God. 

What’s more amazing is that Christ gave up his these rights so that you and I would gain one of the greatest rights known to man.  In John 1:12, we read these priceless words, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

He gave up his rights so we could have the right to call heaven our eternal home. 

Thank God for the cross! 

Thank God for the empty tomb! 

Thank God he gave up his rights to rescue us.

Categories
encouragement praise Uncategorized

He’s Alive!

Thanks to Don Francisco:

The gates and doors were barred
And all the windows fastened down
I spent the night in sleeplessness
And rose at every sound
Half in hopeless sorrow
And half in fears that day
Would find the soldiers breaking through
To drag us all away

And just before the sunrise
I heard something at the wall
The gate began to rattle
And a voice began to call

Continue reading “He’s Alive!”

Categories
praise

All power, honor, and glory, forever and ever …

11Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12In a loud voice they sang:

   “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
   to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
   and honor and glory and praise!” 

 13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
   “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

Revelation 5

Categories
encouragement praise

Alive!

Must-see link: Alive!, by Max Lucado

Categories
politics, economy, etc.

Allied Abuse

While the Obama administration has been putting most of its public efforts behind promoting the federal overhaul/ownership of domestic healthcare, the affairs of the world and our place in it press on.  There appears a disturbing pattern of the current administration attempting to placate our enemies and mistreating key allies.

Mary O’Grady has an important article in the WSJ on US foreign policy toward one of our regional allies:  The U.S. vs. Honduran Democracy .  With the crumbling and strains suffered by market democracies over the past decade in this region, we should be doing everything we can to encourage Honduras to stay the course.  Trying to placate Chavez instead is a bad move.

The Obama administration has treated Britain, our closest European ally, with disrespect, see here and here  and here. 

While trying to carry through on the campaign promise to open and strengthen diplomatic ties with Iran, the Administration has taken a hard-line with Israel, our closest and perhaps only ally in the mideast. See here and here. Gary Bauer recently commented,

“What is particularly telling is that this is a president who has bowed to a Saudi king, who has repeatedly held his hand out to Iran only to have his face slapped in response and who has regularly suffered the slings and arrows of insults from Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, to name a few. For whom does he reserve his anger, toughness and vehemence? For Israel, the only reliable ally we have in the Middle East.”

The Obama administration stunned Poland, our closest East European ally, as the administration attempted to court favor with the Russians, an attempt that utterly failed.  See here . 

John Bolton’s comments on this same topic here.

While critics of the administration focus efforts on rolling back the President’s aggressive, statist domestic policies, they should keep a close eye as well on how well we’re promoting and supporting our ideological and political allies worldwide.

Categories
encouragement theology

Happy Good Friday!

The irony and twists of God … a happy day because the innocent Christ was brutally slaughtered.  By the grace of God through his blood, we are saved if we will only place our faith and our trust in him.  We celebrate the price and fact of our redemption today, our eternal purchase, and at such cost.

Excerpts from Spurgeon’s sermon The Tomb of Jesus: 

 [W]e will stand at that tomb; we will examine it, and we trust we shall hear some truth-speaking voice coming from its hollow bosom which will comfort and instruct us, so that we may say of the grave of Jesus when we go away, “It was none other than the gate of heaven”—a sacred place, deeply solemn, and sanctified by the slain body of our precious Saviour. … 

 Away, ye profane—ye souls whose life is laughter, folly, and mirth! Away, ye sordid and carnal minds who have no taste for the spiritual, no delight in the celestial. We ask not your company; we speak to God’s beloved, to the heirs of heaven, to the sanctified, the redeemed, the pure in heart—and we say to them, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Surely ye need no argument to move your feet in the direction of the holy sepulchre; but still we will use the utmost power to draw your spirit thither. Come, then, for ’tis the shrine of greatness, ’tis the resting-place of the man, the Restorer of our race, the Conqueror of death and hell. … 

  First, I would bid you stand and see the place where the Lord lay with emotions of deep sorrow. Oh cone, my beloved brother, thy Jesus once lay there. He was a murdered man, my soul, and thou the murderer.

  “Ah, you my sins, my cruel sins,
His chief tormentors were,
Each of my crimes became a nail,
And unbelief the spear.”

“Alas! and did my Saviour bleed?
And did my Sov’reign die?”

 I slew him—this right hand struck the dagger to his heart. My deeds slew Christ. Alas! I slew my best beloved; I killed him who loved me with an everlasting love. Ye eyes, why do you refuse to weep when ye see Jesus’ body mangled and torn? …

Come, view the place then, with all hallowed meditation, where the Lord lay. Spend this afternoon, my beloved brethren, in meditating upon it, and very often go to Christ’s grave, both to weep and to rejoice. Ye timid ones, do not be afraid to approach, for ’tis no vain thing to remember that timidity buried Christ. Faith would not have given him a funeral at all; faith would have kept him above ground, and would never have let him be buried; for it would have said, it would be useless to bury Christ if he were to rise. Fear buried him. Nicodemus, the night disciple, and Joseph of Arimathea, secretly, for fear of the Jews, went and buried him. Therefore, ye timid ones, ye may go too. Ready-to-halt, poor Fearing, and thou, Mrs. Despondency, and Much-afraid, go often there; let it be your favorite haunt, there build a tabernacle, there abide. And often say to your heart, when you are in distress and sorrow, “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

Complete sermon here.

Categories
theology

Is there anything more terrifying than the prospect of …

God’s judgment?

We like God’s love.  Is there anything more wonderful than it?

Polite company does not, however, talk about God’s judgment. It seems so out of touch with how nice things are.  The idea of an eternal Hell, wrath filled God, etc. is so entirely incongruous with Disney, Starbucks, and prime time entertainment.  I mean, Hell is passe. It’s also horribly uncomfortable to think about.  Kinda like thinking about the death of a child of someone you didn’t know very well.  Easier to just not think about it. 

Unfortunately, Hell is so entirely probable if God is perfect and/or the Bible is in any way true.  And if it’s a probable event and we know about it, it’s practically criminal to be silent about Hell.  Yet, silent we largely remain, myself included.

But who would go?  Certainly the unrepentant bad guys, Stalin, Hitler, and the criminals, especially those we hate the most, like people who do mean things to children. Most people can live with that idea.  But what about the idea of a much higher standard?  A standard of perfection?  The Adam and Eve standard.  They were cast from God’s presence and condemned to death for … eating an apple.  Disobeying God.  Departing from his will.  We depart from his will frequently if not continually.  When the foundation of God’s law is an affirmative and absolute standard of love, and it is, we typically live in a state of perpetual sin.

The Old Testament features a recurring pattern of God’s judging rebellion, e.g. Sodom, Gomorrah, Noah’s flood, and warning of a final judgment and eternal punishment, e.g. Isaiah 13; Dan. 12.  Some have suggested that the New Testament changes things, that somehow God is different or we know him more now that we know Jesus.  I find that sentiment most odd — that the God of the NT is somehow “new” or different or more “love” and less “wrath” than what we see in the OT — on at least two counts.  First,

Continue reading “Is there anything more terrifying than the prospect of …”
Categories
homeschooling

Cool websites

Some interesting websites, particularly for learning.

Edheads is an interactive site where you can conduct brain surgery, design a cell phone, replace a knee, and more … very cool interactive site with some real (and gross) surgery graphics.

If you have any interest in birds, Cornell has a great website All About Birds that is filled with information, pictures and birds.  If you ever wonder what a Belted Kingfisher sounds and looks like, this place is for you.

NASA’s web gallery is a great place to see the universe … or at least small portions of it.

 

The USDA is making continual efforts to popularize its new food pyramid.  The MyPyramid website has a lot of content, some of it geared for kids and most of it intended for family consumption … While the website isn’t stellar, the issue of nutrition is worth widespread attention and support given the epidemic of obesity and particularly the ever-increasing rate of childhood obesity.

Cornell also operates the best website for legal research, the Legal Information Institute.

Categories
books culture homeschooling marriage and family

Work at home moms

My wife and I recently took a well needed, long weekend vacation – without kids .  It had been many years since we took time off together.  I’ve heard of people who do this kinda stuff regularly, but don’t think I’ve actually met anyone.  The trip was instigated by a kind friend who has repeatedly encouraged us to give effort toward not growing apart.  Wise and hard-earned advise.  Without our kids, the first several hours “alone” almost seemed awkward.  It occurred to me that typically so much of our time is talking about what the kids have done, are doing, or are going to do.  We’ve done a “night out” on occasions, however, those nights are typically taken up with whatever urgent matters filled the day and talking about the kids.  Having several days alone together was really a nice change of pace and opportunity to reconnect.  We didn’t even have to use the “conversation cards” that our friend gave us.

During the course of our vacation, we both also did a lot of reading, at least compared to the snippets we typically sneak in while on family vacations.  I started reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.  He brings to life the intrigues of royal court (in a fantasy genre).  He’s an excellent story-teller and developer of characters.  (It’s by no means a homeschooling book nor appropriate for family reading as the narrative is occasionally course and explicit.)  The story places a heavy emphasis on royal families and their maneuverings.  The women of the families play key roles, particularly the queens.  Affairs of family and of state largely overlap.

At some point, not too far into the novel, it occurred to me how at all levels of the story, from the peasant to the noble, the family was the basic operating or building block of the society, which is essentially the agrarian, pre-modern society.  Family came first and nearly everything orbited around the family.  How odd in comparison to our times, where families are fractured and spread across miles and even states.  Families don’t work together very often and it’s quite atypical for a mother to actually work for her own family.  To the contrary, to the liberalized western eye, it is sometimes used as a term of condescension to refer to someone as a “house wife,” ie someone whose business is the affairs of her family.  Although it’s contrary to thousands of years of societal history, we are quite often proud when we send our wives and mothers to work for someone else, to help another person profit.  Strange times. 

This historical oddity of sending our wives and mothers to work for others is the direct result of “liberation.”  Since woman may and can compete evenly with men in commerce, we conclude that they ought to value working for others more highly than working for their own families.  That reminds me of another questionable fruit of gender liberalization – abortion and how we view birth control.  While abortion is an ongoing moral tragedy, birth control is a mixed bag.  I heard Doug Phillips say some time ago that the Bible teaches children are a blessing from the Lord and that debt is a curse to be avoided.  In our modern culture, we work to prevent such blessings while we apply for the curses!  In any event, while woman have certainly made huge advances over the past half-century in the West for the right to equal treatment under the law, we have gone further and lost at least some of what was once such a valued and proud part of womanhood — being the foundation of the family.  We should not now be surprised at the pathologies that now plague the modern family.

Categories
Atheism, agnostic, evolution, etc. culture

What is the best proof of creation?

There is an excellent article here about looking for convincing proof of creation.

There is a lot of talk about presuppositions.  When you start out with the presupposition that there is no God, then you are left with finding interpretation of the world around us as evidence of evolution.

However, when you believe that God exists and has provided us his word then the rest of creation shows us the evidence of his work.

Categories
culture theology Uncategorized

Good at Heart?

I recently saw this quote on a popular TV show:

“That man…believes that everyone is corruptible because it is in their very nature to sin.  I bring people here to prove him wrong.”  (See the entire clip here).

This quote, as expressed by the “good guy” speaks to the essence of thought in our culture: man is basically good.

The democrats in life espouse the goodness of man by believing that people will do right if they are only educated properly, given the right opportunities, etc. When we build the proper “village”, people will be good.

The republicans in life espouse the goodness of man by believing that people do right if left alone.  When we stop meddling with others, people will be good.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible says that “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).   This is further shown in the New Testament (using Old Testament quotes):

“There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together.
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.
Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,
The poison of asps is under their lips,
Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness
Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace they have not known.
There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

-Romans 3:10-18

Apart from God, we are all corrupt and worthless.  Even when we know God, we are not much better, “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8).

We are all corruptible and sinners by nature.  Thankfully, God offers to cleanse us:

“Come now, and let us reason together, says The Lord,
Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.”
-Isaiah 1:18

Since God has forgiven us, we can thank him with the Apostle Paul, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.” (Ephesians 1:7-8)

No, we are far from being good at heart.  But thanks to God that he forgives us and brings us back to him!

Categories
politics, economy, etc. Uncategorized

Contact NC Attorney General to Join Constitutional Challenge

I am told that Roy Cooper, the Attorney General of NC, will join with the other 13 states to challenge the constitutionality of the recently passed health care legislation.  I am not sure if he is sincere, but, in the event that he is, here is the contact link:

Here is my letter:

Mr. Cooper:

Please join with the other 13 states and challenge the constitutionality of the recently signed health care bill. Our rights under the constitution should revolve around freedoms that are intrinsic to individuals that do NOT infringe on the rights and liberties of others. There is no authority in the constitution for Congress to mandate that private citizens must purchase a good or service from a private company. It simply is not an option that is available to Congress. I would urge you to support your constituents by challenging this egregious encroachment on our liberties.

Now is the time to stand for liberty rather than to simply give the appearance of it. Esse Quam Videri

Categories
culture theology

Really, it’s not about you

What an uncool and unpopular sentiment.  Of course it’s about YOU.  I mean, if I heard anything as a kid, it was “Have it your way” and “You deserve a break today” and “If it doesn’t make you happy …”  The entire sentiment underpinning most marketing is that it’s all about you.  It’s an easy premise to accept.  If most people are anything like me, I find it extraordinarily easy to think of myself first.  I’m a natural at it.  Based on my tenure on this globe thus far, I think this might be the most commonly shared talent.

I used to work in a ministry where we would visit church visitors.  Part of the visit was to see where they were spiritually.  One of the key questions we would ask was, “If you were to stand before God and he were to ask, ‘Why should I let you into my Heaven?’, how would you answer?”  So many church people talked about how they tried to live their lives like Jesus. The most common answer was about how they had lived.

Those responses remind me of what Jesus foretold as recalled by Matthew in chapter 7 of his book:

21Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

God wants for us to rely upon him and what he has done for us.  Our “goodness” will spring from that faith, from trusting in Christ for our strength, and from desiring to please the God that has given us everything.  Those who try to justify themselves based on their own actions will be rejected — even called “evil.”  Again, Paul warned the Corinthians (2 Cor. 10) that all glory is to God, not man:

26Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Woe to the men and women who stand before God at judgement and try to explain how well they’ve lived their lives and what tragedy for them to hear, “away from me” …  Again, Paul explained to the Ephesians in chapter 2 of his letter, “8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.”  And to the Romans, “9That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Rom. 10)

All glory, honor, and power shall be to our lord and God forever and ever.

That is the way it is.  It’s not because God begrudges us attention, to the contrary, in the context of holiness, it’s a mystery why he has anything to do with our rebellion.  He is pure love.  As stated, as the sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, we naturally love ourselves.  The foundation of the law is to love God with all we are and to love others as we love ourselves.  Every time we fail to do that, we rebel against God.  Hah!  I am a natural-born rebel.  On rare occasions when I selflessly love through the power of Christ in me, then, I am living as God intended.  Regardless of my rebel nature in the flesh, he covers my sin in the blood sacrifice of his son … Why?  It’s unwarranted.  I don’t know why God did it.  It’s amazing grace.  It’s all about him and what he’s done for us – our creator, our redeemer, and our perfector.  All glory and honor to Jesus Christ.  It’s not about us.  Amen.

Categories
culture video

A symbol of freedom

Categories
sports

Going the Distance

I ran my first marathon this weekend.  It lived up to the billing.  After the finish, I could relate to how Pheidippides must have felt after he delivered his message to the assembly in Athens.  (Incidentally, this year is the quinviginticentennial of that first marathon.)   The first 21 miles weren’t that bad.  The last four miles were the longest miles of my life.  I think they were longer than the previous 22.  Time was agonizingly expanded and distances stretched. 

Somewhere around mile 17, I experienced one of those periods of crisp moral and emotional clarity that I’ve mentioned before. I felt the presence of God.  If my wife had been there, I might have wept at her feet out of love for her.  As it was, the elation was relatively short-lived and followed not too long thereafter by increasing amounts of profound discomfort.  When I finally reached the finish line, I eventually fell at the feet of my wife and children, however, that was because my legs were not at all interested in holding me up further.   

Those periods of clarity are really worth the trip however.  I wonder whether it’s the same clarity people experience as they face imminent death.  After the race (and a shower), we were reading CS Lewis’ The Silver Chair, and came across the following passage, which takes place after Aslan explains to the heroine Jill Pole the signs she is to observe and what she is to do in Narnia: 

  “Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters. And now, daughter of Eve, farewell -”   

On the mountain, the air and mind are clear.  How unclear it sometimes becomes in the thick and tangle of events. As James reminds us, not only must we keep sight of what we are to do, we are then to do it.  By God’s grace, we shall. 

The first marathoner ...

 

Categories
politics, economy, etc.

Yes they did!

The “pro-life Democrats” showed the depths of their convictions yesterday by voting for the largest expansion of federal funding for abortion in our nation’s history.  Of course, they were reassured by the most pro-abortion president in decades that he wouldn’t implement the abortion provisions of the law …  Even if that were a reliable promise (and I’ll hold out hope it was), how long does it last?  The law is in place for essentially a federally guaranteed right to an abortion with taxpayer money.

When Obama talked about a new period of politics, I thought he had some form of bipartisanship or Clinton-triangulation in mind.  What a joke — new period as in damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead with a hardcore, left-wing, statist agenda.  He and the Dems have greatly increased the polarity of our body politic.  These are not healthy times for our country.

Symbolically, the websites of the late William F. Buckley’s publication, National Review, responds today with this message: Service Unavailable.  Mr. Buckley and NR proudly state that their mission is to stand athwart history yelling “Stop!”  Looks like they’ve lost their voice today.  Speedy recovery!

Categories
politics, economy, etc.

Pending Healthcare Vote

Perhaps some final thoughts before the US gets what it voted for … massive expansion of federal control and authority …

The Canadian Premier’s selecting US private healthcare for his heart surgery over the socialized Canadian healthcare speaks volumes.  I’m heartened that he is unapologetic over putting his health above politics.  You have to at least admire his candor and the timing.  His obtaining care outside the Canadian system reminds me of my experience with government-run healthcare — my years in the US Army.  We suffered more than our share of broken bones and twisted bodies in the 82nd Airborne, and it was considered like winning the lottery to get referred off post for private healthcare.  Sadly, in 2007, more than a decade after I left active duty, the flagship Army medical center was roundly and properly criticized for neglecting their soldier patients (see here).  Experiencing the socialist enclave of the military was the catalyst for shedding my statist, ie liberal, leanings. 

I don’t see how the Democrats don’t pass their healthcare bill.  With such wide margins in both chambers of Congress and controlling the presidency … Unfortunately, a voter “correction” in this year’s mid-term elections and even winning the presidency and Congress back in 2012 would be very unlikely to roll back this legislation, should it pass.  It’s so very unlikely that conservatives would gain a filibuster proof Senate margin.

Regardless of whether we take the Euro-socialist plunge over the next few days and resign our children to European economic stagnation, Christ still reigns, the sun will still shine, and our God still calls us to love and serve.  Press on!

Categories
culture encouragement entertainment

Christian Horoscope

I’ve been surprised by the increasing numbers of horoscopes that friends post to their Facebook pages and FB “horoscope” application invites I’ve received.  Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised.  The daily horoscope is as fundamental a part of the American daily newspaper as is the funnies and editorial page.  I seem to recall that many papers used to list the page number of daily horoscopes on the front page.  Horoscopes are an accepted part of modern American culture.

So here’s a Christian horoscope, good for any day and any sign:  Today is a day you should shout for JOY to the Lord and worship the Lord with gladness.  Come before him with grateful hearts and enter his gates with thanksgiving.  Know that the Lord is good and his love endures forever.  Take every opportunity today to pray and to bless others with love and grace.  Look for an opportunity to serve, particularly those that wouldn’t expect that from you.  Tell somebody about Jesus today.  You don’t have a lucky number or color.  Finally, don’t be afraid to shout “God is great!”, particularly in a crowded area.  If you follow this advice and place your trust and faith in Christ, a peace that transcends understanding will be yours.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: this isn’t a “horoscope.” Bye definition a horoscope is a prediction of events based on a diagram of the stars and planets.  My forecast is not based on astrology but is based entirely on

Continue reading “Christian Horoscope”