The Heart of It All

As a nation we must move past the partisan foolishness that has so imprisoned our ability to move forward. The first debate was civil, with Mitt Romney the clear winner. The VP debate was rancorous with obnoxious sidelines from our Vice President that created a muddled victory for both candidates. Last night's debate was a solid draw by most who measure such things. I will ask the obvious question...why? Why are the American people so easily led astray? Why do we listen to deception and lies, and see what we want to see rather than the truth? We are so divided on contentious issues that we can't hear the truth because our opinions (judgments in disguise) get in the way. Abraham Lincoln once quoted Jesus in his "House Divided Speech"... "A house divided cannot stand." He wasn't kidding, and we're in it right now. Abraham Lincoln intended to give a prophetic thought for America in that speech. He believed strongly that we would not remain divided on the issue of slavery. He foresaw that we would eventually ban the evil practice and move on toward unity. But I will ask you now...will we move on from this current rift? As long as attitudes remain self-serving, as long as self-seeking people remain in office, we have little hope of our society taking the strides toward solving America's problems. We need heart changes. The church needs heart changes to be more like Christ with less fear, anger and bitterness. All of us, Christians, Muslims and every other religion, every race (we're all part of the human race as a friend puts it) need to stand as Americans, not as separate little groups. A house divided cannot stand. Hatred, anger, distrust, fear, those words that carry such venom cannot be our heritage. Only God's love, His favor, His purpose for America, can become the legacy that lasts through eternity.

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over

I laughed last night when even CBS mentioned that Mitt Romney won the first debate. Took them long enough to figure it out. Overconfidence, however, is as deadly as apathy in the political realm. Winning is a heady experience, but there are several more debates left in this last month before the election, so Romney and company must be vigilant. The healthcare crisis is going to break out on top of Obamacare one of these days- thousands of middle class Americans were notified that their "Medicare Advantage" coverage will cease to exist as of December 31, 2012. It means that the companies who used to supply such marvelous coverage can no longer do so. So we will need separate policies for prescription drugs and medical coverage. Separate usually mean more expensive, by the way. It's a recipe for disaster. The problem as I see it is this: "social conservatives" (that's evangelicals to you and me)tend to get into a snit about who's running and hand the election off to the other guy. Yep, that's right, in the last election scores of people stayed home and look where it got us! They didn't like John McCain so we got Barack Obama. Whiners, they should have voted ANYWAY. Now I get emails consistently about how bad the Mormons are. Frankly I don't care if Mitt Romney is from Mars and has antenna under his hair. If we don't get out and V.O.T.E. we will have a fiscal explosion so big that I very much think America will not survive it. So for everyone you know...kick them in the read end and tell them to get out and VOTE! Don't just hand this election over to Barack Obama!

Phone Calls, Promises, and Real Relationships

Now that I'm calmer today, I can back the truck up and maybe make some real sense. Maybe. And so far I haven't seen any black SUVs in my front yard from my last rant. That's a good thing. So let's think about a couple of things with a quieter (slightly) voice for a minute: 1.Israel is backed into a corner, surrounded by Hezbollah, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Iran (a class all by themselves). The U.S. has always been a faithful ally. Our promises and reassurances have always held a lot of weight for the leaders of Israel. Their current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is a good man who understands the dangers surrounding his nation. Inevitably being surrounded by a bunch of threatening,shrieking voices will cause action on someone's part...whether the loud mouths or the people who are surrounded. The pot will boil over, it's only a question of when and by whom. 2.I have several friends who love the Arab people. I love the Arab people. They are beautiful, smart, and an integral part of the human race. What I do not love are the temper tantrums that cause death and destruction. While in modern Christianity you find the odd man out wacko that bombs abortion clinics or a group of loon birds that picket funerals and spout hate speech, in general Christians just pray their way through difficulties without pitching a fit or killing others. Not so with our radical Muslim brothers. They seem to delight in throwing hissy fits that are intended to intimidate everyone around them from speaking their minds and hearts. I do not like bullies, how about you? True peace comes from hearts that have flushed away violence and anger. True peace comes in right relationship to Jesus Christ. True peace fills a life that focuses on what is good, true, beautiful, and loving. If our President had true peace, he would be able to stand in strength rather than apology. He would meet face to face with our allies rather than call them on the phone. Phone calls and emails are too easy to manipulate because they can't see your face. Promises made are not stable unless friendship and trust are at their foundation. Trust is earned, not bestowed. I pray that America will once again find that place where we can earn the trust of our allies, and stand firm against our enemies. "When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." Proverbs 16:7

Demagogues

In my half century of living, I have never heard a President apologize to the perpetrators of a heinous act. I have never seen a President ignore the anniversary of an attack on US soil.I have never seen a President turn his back on Israel and make up stupid excuses why he did it. This President did all of those things in one day. Anyone who fails to stand up to terrorists will draw their venom. Anyone who fails to love the people chosen by the God of Israel will suffer the consequences. Why? Because there are spiritual principles involved. The only way to kick a demon in the butt is to hit it with the Blood and authority of Jesus Christ. The only way to stop terrorists is to hit them with the power and might of leadership that gives them a bloody nose whenever they move. Strength, whether spiritual or physical is the only thing that moves evil. This President is a demagogue- that means he plays on people's emotions and prejudices. He tries to make Christians and Jews look like idiots, and Muslims look like saints. He hates America, but will use us for his purposes. He plays on the emotions of the citizens by telling them things that are twisted and untrue. To him, we are the colonialists and we should be taken down to the same level as everyone else. EXCEPT him, of course. HE should be in charge. We are evil; he thinks he is the savior of the world. He's wrong. There is only one Savior of the world, and He stands for us against the garbage perpetuated by our leadership. There will be a day of reckoning. I can hope it will be this coming November, but if not, the "shaking" is going to be extreme and hard. America, wake up. Dump this President and dump him immediately. Our future as a nation hangs in the balance.

Welcome to the United Socialist Republic of America

This morning we have awakened to an entirely new universe. It's one that promises disaster to America if we don't confront it and remove it from our vocabulary. What is it? It's the Democratic National Convention platform - you know, the one that told us last night that we all belong to the government. We are all products of the government. We aren't PEOPLE, we're automatons. Just little puppets to move at the government's whim. Add that to the deletion of any reference to God from their platform and we've got BIG trouble. When BO made the statement to a john q. citizen that "you didn't build that" earlier this year, we fluffed it off. Don't fluff it off now, America. He really believes that the government does everything and people are not worthy of notice. When Michelle sang the praises of America being able to do anything last night, she meant that the government can do anything, not the individual people. This president is all about elitism, not about "we the people." The problem with deleting God from everything is that when you remove Him from the equation, you have to replace Him with the government. Like the former Soviet Union, God was gone from their acceptable terminology. The Communist government became the god. What they said was what was allowed. It was still "religion", just an impersonal, cold, unloving form of it. Instead of a personal, loving God who sent His Son for the salvation of mankind, we now have a giant, cumbersome, fat worldly god that moves according to the lust for power, greed, and self-serving agendas. I'll take my loving God, thank you very much. And by the way, to hell with the idea that we are "products of the government." (Hell is where that idea came from, by the way). We are living, breathing, human beings who can make choices,and we choose to be free. Personally, I will not succumb to the humanistic garbage that says we are all accidental farts of nature. (Can you tell I'm hoppin' mad today?) And to help the conspiracy theorists along, why the heck has the Social Security Administration purchased 174,000 rounds of hollow point bullets? What's THAT all about? Because this big ol' fat government is so secretive (so much for the "open" promise they made in 2008), now everyone's imagination has run wild with ideas about that purchase. God gives FREEDOM. God has made us a FREE people. We will not stand idly by while this newest crop of radical liberals tries to tromp on our rights, our liberty, or our pursuit of happiness. We will vote them out of office. and we will do it with a smile on our faces.

The U.S. Troops and Afghanistan

The Disunited States of America is yet again embroiled in wars that we haven't got the stomach to finish. Many thousands of men and women were killed in WWII, but the people kept their backbones and saw it through because they knew that to do less would leave the entire world in jeopardy. What we do not realize is that situation is EXACTLY the same now! The reason that corruption runs rampant in Afghanistan (and Iraq and Syria,etc) is that their country is riddled with bribery, favors, tribal politics, and a religion that allows lies as an acceptable means of dealing with outsiders. That dynamic is as deadly as anything Hitler could have dreamed up. And whether anyone likes to hear this or not, it affects the whole world. It's affecting US RIGHT NOW! Subterfuge is a well known method of warfare- oh yes, you can plant bombs, shoot off grenades from a grenade launcher, and shoot guns, but the real danger is in sneaky underhanded ops that make people believe everything is fine. Oh, the poor people are just misunderstood. Don't rock the boat. Get everyone to back off the problem. If we just negotiate we'll be fine. You cannot negotiate with rattlesnakes and cobras. You cannot have truthful, honest conversations with people who want to destroy you and are willing to lie to your face to accomplish their goals. And because we seem to lack the family jewels to see this thing through, we will yet again back away from the fight. The 7 brave men who died in the Blackhawk helicopter incident in Afghanistan a few days ago were among the many who will have died in vain if we do not move forward into the battle with conviction. The only hope we have is God and the election. Trust God to help us. Kick the guy out who panders to the enemy, and put someone in who will stand up to him. What do you say?

The Last Line of Defense

while I generally don't have time to mess with too much blogging, I thought it important to weigh in on the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare last week. If I give Justice Roberts the benefit of the doubt, let's say that he thinks changing his mind to rule that the Obamacare mandate for health insurance as a "tax" is a good thing for the country. But there was one disturbing sentence in his opinion that bothered me: he said that it "wasn't the job of the Supreme Court to protect the American people from bad legislation." OUCH. I have to strongly disagree with that philosophy. If it isn't the judicial branch's job to protect us all, who will? The three branches of our government were founded as checks and balances- and the judicial branch is our last line of defense.If they aren't charged with stopping a bad law, then what's the point? 1. Obamacare contains within it far more than just an individual mandate. It contains extreme spending that threatens the very fabric of america. $1.6 Trillion over the next several years makes the current debt so top heavy that it threatens to knock over every portion of the economy. Unless the conservatives win this election in November, America has nowhere to go but straight downhill. 2. The threat of fines and/or jail for those who can't afford healthcare insurance is not a "tax" despite what the Supreme Court says: it's socialism. If it walks like a duck the adage says- and in whatever disguise it takes, it's still socialism- forcing people to pay a "tax" or buy an insurance policy it's all the same. Quack quack quack. We need our last line of defense:the Supreme Court of the United States. If we have lost that line, we are in serious trouble. As I mentioned earlier, perhaps Mr. Roberts thinks he did America a favor. I sincerely hope he is correct- because the fallout is going to be horrendous.