07 Tuesday May 2013
We’ve all heard the nightmares. We understand at least a fraction of the sacrifices these men and women make … and their families, but only a fraction, unless we’ve been there. But how DARE our President say he will stand with them when he routinely DISHONORS them and their service?
If this is not simply APPALLING to you, you must be dead inside!
07 Sunday Apr 2013
Posted in America, American History, Attitudes, blogsense, Community interest, Culture, Current Events, FREEDOM, God, life, Lifestyle, Musings, Opinion, People, thoughts, Uncategorized, videos
Tags
9 Harbingers, blessings, economic collapse, END TIMES, gratitude, Ground Zero, Isaiah 9: 10, Left Behind, liberty, moral-decay, prophecy, Social enmity, Tree of Hope, US Constitution, WARNING
No single human being, or even a small group of humans, could possibly be behind the chaos that is growing across the globe. Economic collapse has begun in Cyprus, Italy, Greece and other EU nations and is heading toward America. Moral decay is rampant globally. Social enmity is at its highest point as government and social leaders prompt one group (collective) against another.
Those of us with a passion for LIBERTY must find a way to unite our various positions if we are to survive. I can think of no better rallying point than the US CONSTITUTION.
Immigrants arrive at America’s shores hopeful of New Beginnings. 1843.
People across the America are angry, jealous, and greedy for more! We have more than most elsewhere, but we are still not satisfied. We want more! Some are willing to work for it, but many are not, yet they still want more! We want more, but are not satisfied when we get it. Why?
We are not satisfied because the blessing rots if we “hoard” it. Blessings are meant to be shared. For decades, American generosity covered our nation’s errors and blunders, our misguided policies & politics. But sadly, while the generosity remains to some extent, the individual attitudes corrupt the blessing. We give to gain. We give with strings attached. We give asking favors in return.
LEFT BEHIND SERIES, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
There are certain principles God established in antiquity. Perhaps the most significant is …
“Surely the Lord God does nothing,
Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7
There are many websites and videos that present various perspectives of the things that must take place at some point. None have the whole and complete picture because we are but flesh and GOD is GOD! Some things are just Common Sense. The crime of America is defiance against God, as though we are “supreme” and able to control all things. As though we control our destiny.
10th Anniversary of 9/11: The Lord’s Word in September 11th The details and explanation of these “harbingers,” or warnings can be found in Jonathan Cahn’s book, The Harbinger: The Ancient Mystery That Holds the Secret of America’s Future [Paperback]
The number of voices raised in warning is increasing. The urgency mounts with every passing day. The sin and effects of sin threaten to destroy our nation. God longs to restore our nation and our society, but we must turn away from our arrogance. We must acknowledge our limitations as humans and our need for GOD!
What about Korea? What is going on?
Just sayin …
Ground Zero fallen sycamore Interestingly, the tree fell in such a way that its branches protected Saint Paul’s Chapel of 1766, where newly sworn President Washington went immediately after his inaugural address to pray and fast that he might receive wisdom to lead the young nation. How different from the attitudes of our current President!
Old Testament prophecy fulfilled before our eyes?
“The roots of a sycamore tree at Ground Zero felled on Sept. 11, 2001, have been preserved as a memorial to the event in New York City. A local messianic rabbi believes it’s a visible fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy about God’s current judgment on America.
“Everything, according to a new book which says an obscure text from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah is an urgent wake-up call for all Americans in light of what happened on that fateful day in 2001.”
17 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in America, American, blogsense, censorship/political correctness, Character, Christianity, citizenship, Civility, conservative, FREEDOM, God, Jesus, life, Lifestyle, Opinion, Spirituality
Tags
Christian Church, church, freedom, hippie Christians, JESUS MOVEMENT, Keith Green, Larry Norman, Love Song, William Tyndale
“I repent of ever having recorded one single song and ever having performed one concert if my music, and more importantly — my life — has not provoked you into godly jealousy, or to sell out more completely to Jesus!”
Keith Green
If you were accused … of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you in a court of Law? In the 1970′s, this was a question made popular within the “Jesus Movement!” Yes, there was actually, a movement among young people in high schools and colleges that swept across the country proclaiming JESUS CHRIST is LORD. Some were even labeled “Jesus Freaks!” They looked and dressed very similar to the Hippies of the time, but there was a marked difference in their behavior. They read their Bibles often, in public, out loud. They laughed and talked about how to LOVE one another the way Jesus loves us. They created a new genre of music that incorporated Christian values and even Bible verses into the lyrics. They weren’t perfect, of course, but they tried to live what they read in the Bible.
The JESUS MOVEMENT spawned a new genre of music that was a hybrid of rock & roll sound, but with Gospel friendly lyrics.
“Another development was Jesus Music, the controversial combination of rock music and the gospel as one of the most effective (and subsequently lasting) institutions of the revival. Artists and groups such as Ron Moore, Love Song, John Fischer, Larry Norman, Randy Matthews, Agape, and the All Saved Freak Band are just a few of the performers that felt the need to communicate spiritual truths through a popular medium. Christian coffeehouses and Jesus rock festivals emerged as the music gained momentum as a popular alternative to the mainstream industry. Contemporary Christian radio shows sprang up as did magazines devoted solely to monitoring the fledgling Jesus Music scene. While many conservative church-goers lamented that Jesus Music was a spiritual compromise, these pioneers maintained that they were combating the negative influence of mainstream rock music. In an attempt to develop an apologetic for their evangelistic efforts they echoed the sentiments of reformer Martin Luther when he asked “why should the devil have all the best tunes.”
Larry Norman – Waves of Grace – [with Lyrics] from Greg Murray on Vimeo.
Perhaps the most radical idea of the JESUS MOVEMENT was that following Jesus was more than just going to church on Sundays. In fact, another thing Keith Green (and others) said often was that “going to church on Sundays doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a hamburger!” He’s right! In fact, Jesus said, ““If you love me, you will obey my commands.” (John 14:15) How do we know what Jesus/God commands? We must become well acquainted with the WORD of GOD – the Bible. This is true whether we are Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist, or 7th Day Adventist. If we WANT to serve God, if we want to be found pleasing in HIS sight, we must acquaint ourselves with who HE is. Right? Even if it’s … uncomfortable? Even if it’s not politically correct?
The JESUS MOVEMENT was also about FREEDOM. For too long, the organized Church had kept God locked up inside the building, the local brick and mortar assembly. While hippies and militant radicals protested society’s ills and the Vietnam war, the JESUS MOVEMENT broke down the walls of the established Christian church and took it to the streets. What William Tyndale did for the Bible, the JESUS MOVEMENT did for the people, for the CHURCH of Christ. It took Jesus from the closed doors of the religious, organized Church to the everyday lives of everyday people. It helped strip away the false piety and religious pretense so common among church-going people. We were given permission to be REAL, to be imperfect followers of Jesus.
“But now you know the true God. Really, it is God who knows you. So why do you turn back to those weak and useless rules you followed before? Do you want to be slaves to those things again?”
Galatians 4:9
This brings us back to the title question: If you were accused … of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you in a court of Law?
I don’t know the originator of the title question, but I first heard it from a man named Keith Green, who became a popular singer during the 1970′s until his death in a plane crash. He was 28. His life message can be seen in the title of one of his albums, “No Compromise!” – released in 1978.
“You have been under clandestine surveillance for some time now, and so the prosecution has been able to build up quite a case against you. They begin the trial by offering the judge dozens of photographs that show you attending church meetings, speaking at religious events, and participating in various prayer and worship services. After this, they present a selection of items that have been confiscated from your home: religious books that you own, worship CDs, and other Christian artifacts. Then they step up the pace by displaying your many poems, pieces of prose, and journal entries that you had lovingly written concerning your faith. Finally, in closing, the prosecution offers your Bible to the judge. This is a well-worn book with scribbles, notes, drawings, and underlings throughout, evidence, if it were needed, that you had read and re-read this sacred text many times.
“Throughout the case you have been sitting silently in fear and trembling. You know deep in your heart that with the large body of evidence that has been amassed by the prosecution you face the possibility of long imprisonment or even execution. At various times throughout the proceedings you have lost all confidence and been on the verge of standing up and denying Christ. But while this thought has plagued your mind throughout the trial, you resist the temptation and remain focused.”
READ MORE
So the question becomes what evidence ought be present to condemn me as a Christian? What is God after? How do we LIVE to please God? To answer these questions, I will simply post some verses from the Bible. YOU DECIDE!
The bottom line is, to “reflect” the One we love, Jesus, we need cultivate a relationship with Him. We must spend TIME with Him. Familiarize ourselves not only with His WORD, but with His character as revealed throughout His WORD, Old and New Covenants!
The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 Our faces, then, are not covered. We all show the Lord’s glory, and we are being changed to be like him. This change in us brings ever greater glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 CORINTHIANS 3:17-18
“If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be sufficient evidence to convict you?”
Similarly, if you were accused of being an AMERICAN, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Do you know our Founding documents: the Declaration of Independence? The Bill of Rights or the Constitution? Can you name a handful of the Signers?
Do you know America’s form of government? Democracy, you say? NO! We are a CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC!!! Do we understand the VALUES behind the CONSTITUTION? Well … is there enough evidence to convict you? American? Christian? Person of independent faith?
10 Sunday Feb 2013
Tags
abortion, clones, conformity, equality, fairness, fear, homosexuality, moral problem, NEUTRAL COLORS, politically correct, poverty in America, sexual orientation, Tolerance, true moral standard, unanimity
“The poorest Americans today live a better life
than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.”
James Q. Wilson, an American academic, political scientist, and an authority on public administration.
In today’s “fairness” political arena, there is a language that has developed. It is a PC language – politically correct. It is a despicable thing, because it limits FREEDOM in the name of “tolerance!” There is a horrible irony in the politically correct language that is supposed to reflect tolerance, it instead is bullying incarnate! It rewards agreement and punishes disagreement! It is defined by whatever position of power exists – and changes with the wind of political change. The sobering thing is that it’s a relatively new development in America. It’s virtually impossible to speak these days without “offending” someone about something, so our response is to remove the object of offense from our language whether it is Christmas, abstinence, or Islam.
We’ve been made afraid. We’ve been made afraid to speak up, to speak our mind on any number of issues we face today, if our opinion differs from those in positions of power. If we do not speak our mind, the argument SEEMS to be solved, but it really just simmers below the surface until the threat is lifted. The abortion argument is a perfect case in point. It never really went away like it was supposed to, it just went “underground” for a time.
Fear, my friends, is VERY telling!
We’re supposed to avoid talk of religion and politics, right? Why? Usually, the answer revolves around ruffling someone else’s feathers, upsetting the balance, the quiet, the calm. Right? Religion (or our personal belief system) and politics are our most personal thoughts, feelings, and ideals. We might even call them intimate.
Neither is accurate. I AM poor, for pete’s sake! But I am also rich! FAMILY makes us rich. FAITH makes us rich. WORK makes us rich. STRUGGLE makes us rich. HARDSHIP makes us rich in compassion. ACHIEVEMENT makes us rich. FAILURE makes us rich. INTEGRITY makes us rich. SELF-RELIANCE makes us rich.
In between the liberal position on the LEFT which is allegedly “fairness,” and their accusation of “hate-mongering” directed at certain people-groups, there is a wide expanse of options.
The REAL issue isn’t “fairness” or “equality,”
but the issue is unanimity, conformity, the making of clones!
Think about it.
We are told Religion is fine, but only within certain perimeters.
Fifty years ago, all children were given the tools necessary to mature into responsible, productive citizens. Children with hearing or vision impairment were put into “special” schools where they were given tools to enable them to co-exist in society. Blind children were taught Braille and perhaps the use of a cane or aid-dog. Deaf children were taught sign language and often, lip-reading. Children with other different learning disabilities or mental illness were also given skills to help them be self-sufficient. That was the goal: self-sufficiency. This was the goal for ALL schools and students, to become responsible, productive citizens.
What are the goals today? We have children even graduating from the most prestigious universities with no literacy in world or American history, with sketchy reading skills, and most importantly, with little or no ability to THINK for themselves. Percent of high school graduates who can’t read in 2012 is 19%!!! But they are encouraged to participate in the “Occupy” movement! They are taught a “state ideology” (generally, Secular Humanism, which translates politically into Socialism) from Preschool through any ivy league school you choose while simultaneously, they are taught that “independent thought” is bad. But the goal is … exactly what? When 44% of college freshman don’t make it to graduation, what does that say? With a population gravitating toward government handouts instead of jobs and the benefits inherent in work, with schools that look more like high security prisons, and with a culture that is learning to FEAR freedom, what is the goal of education, of government “social justice” programs, of unanimity?
To encourage able-bodied Americans to become unwittingly enslaved to a system that encourages deeper dependence on government programs rather than encouraging independence is outrageous! THIS is a “unanimity” problem. If I can’t afford what my neighbors have, it’s “not fair! This becomes a moral problem AND a fiscal problem.
Unanimity (conformity) is NOT liberty!
In reference to gay marriage, the Bible clearly opposes homosexuality. The fact that it is ISSUE is indication that homosexuality is NOT the norm. (Gal 5: 16-21; Genesis 19:1-13) Now, here’s the rub. We, as Christians, are COMMANDED to LOVE one another, not just those with whom we agree.
We often hear the phrase, “Hate the sin, but love the sinner!” Sadly, most Americans, believers or not, have not learned how to separate a lifestyle from a person. Matthew 7 has some very specific instruction, though, for how we should interact with one another. There is NO HATE directed at the person, only any “unholy” behavior, but is homosexuality worse than gossip? or adultery? or gluttony? Perhaps harder to conquer, but sin is sin. It is NOT for us to judge, but to love! Period!
No place in there do we see anything about government or mandates. It is not government’s job or responsibility to oversee charitable donations of substance or time & talent. “For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” (2 Thes 3:10)
No one is debating the instances of rape, incest, or medical emergency. Those are NOT the procedures in debate! As a Conservative, the promiscuity that has taken over our culture via the media blitz is maddening. Our young people can’t get away from the images and ideas of sex, even if they are inclined to try to avoid them. The tools that COULD be used to bring about so much positive change are misused by those wielding liberal, unhealthy ideas of sexuality and relationship, among other things.
CONCLUSION: Though we’re not crazy, we can, as wise humans, recognize the benefits of hardship, if we trust God. We know that God uses everything that happens (there are no accidents) for our benefit but also for the benefit of others around us. We are promised “tribulations!” (Rom 8:28)
If the CHURCH (the organized institution of all Christian & Catholic congregations) was doing its job correctly, there wouldn’t be the need for any government programs to tend the needs of the poor. Even so, the job of helping those in need falls on We-the-People, the neighbors, the community … NOT the Federal government via need-oriented programs like food stamps, welfare, and medicaid! EVERYONE has something they can contribute, some talent to share, some richness to give no matter how old or young, how rich or poor, how strong or weak. Allowing each person to contribute, allows each one the blessing of giving, as well as receiving. Though it may not always FEEL like it, work and even hardship are beneficial to our human condition!
While political correctness has made huge changes within our society, we can still – that’s WE-the-PEOPLE – can still turn our great ship of state toward a more humane greatness simply with a restoration of a solid moral code that resists PC language. Political correctness comes and goes, but true moral standards stand against the tides of political debate.
There is help available, but it’s the responsibility of each individual to grow and become responsible, productive, self-reliant, and contributing Americans!
Further reading:
09 Saturday Feb 2013
Tags
5000 Year Leap, “2016: Obama’s America”, fairness, Secular humanism, Socialism, THE FOUNDERS' BASIC PRINCIPLES of LIBERTY, unanimity, United States of America, US Constitution
Americans need to apprehend that the current administration seeks to replace our Constitution with one similar to that of South Africa. His hatred for all things traditionally “American” mixed with his burgeoning hunger for power fuel his audacity to speak and move against the Constitution that has stood firm in the United States of America for more than 235 years. Though the Election 2012 gave him a questionable victory (winning suspiciously by only 500,000 votes,) He speaks and legislates as though he won an unprecedented landslide. He fully intends to impose his will, his agenda, and his doctrine of “fairness” upon all Americans, like it or not.
Our Founders’ saw this possibility coming and wrote safety measures into the Constitution, if … IF the people of America will but take a stand. If the people of America will but use their God-given minds to grasp the TRUTH. “Fairness” is NOT fair! In fact, “fairness” is, by virtue of its definition, UN-fair and subjective, depending on the values of the one or the group establishing “fairness.”
In contrast, the Founders, enriched by diverse backgrounds, religions, and visions, wrote into the US Constitution a political foundation dependent on a moral people upon which to build a strong and healthy nation of free people. Interestingly, as we have strayed from these founding principles, so we have experienced a decline in economic and social health.
The Principles listed here are found on several other websites, but there is always room for one more. These are worth reading and pondering. We must allow this to get into us so we truly grasp the depth of understanding our Founders brought together in our Constitution. No,it isn’t the Bible, it’s isn’t Divinely written, but it is divinely inspired … because these men asked for inspiration and direction.
Without further ado, here is a list of the 28 Basic Principles of Liberty, as delineated in the 5000 Year Leap. For more info, check HERE. There is a similar list of 7 Basic Principles HERE.
THE FOUNDERS’ BASIC PRINCIPLES of LIBERTY:
Natural law is God’s law. There are certain laws which govern the entire universe, and just as Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the affairs of men which are “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.”
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who … will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man.” – Samuel Adams
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports…. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.” – George Washington
The American Founding Fathers considered the existence of the Creator as the most fundamental premise underlying all self-evident truth. They felt a person who boasted he or she was an atheist had just simply failed to apply his or her divine capacity for reason and observation.
The Founders knew that in these three ways, all mankind are theoretically treated as:
Equal before God.
Equal before the law.
Equal in their rights.
The Founders recognized that the people cannot delegate to their government any power except that which they have the lawful right to exercise themselves.
“Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.” – William Blackstone
“The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found by comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man’s felicity.” – William Blackstone
“The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legislative authority.” – Alexander Hamilton
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes … but when a long train of abuses and usurpations … evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” – Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands….”
“If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary…. [But lacking these] you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” – James Madison
John Locke reasoned that God gave the earth and everything in it to the whole human family as a gift. Therefore the land, the sea, the acorns in the forest, the deer feeding in the meadow belong to everyone “in common.” However, the moment someone takes the trouble to change something from its original state of nature, that person has added his ingenuity or labor to make that change. Herein lies the secret to the origin of “property rights.”
Prosperity depends upon a climate of wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation:
The Freedom to try.
The Freedom to buy.
The Freedom to sell.
The Freedom to fail.
“I call you to witness that I was the first member of the Congress who ventured to come out in public, as I did in January 1776, in my Thoughts on Government … in favor of a government with three branches and an independent judiciary. This pamphlet, you know, was very unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself.” – John Adams
“It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.” – James Madison
The structure of the American system is set forth in the Constitution of the United States and the only weaknesses which have appeared are those which were allowed to creep in despite the Constitution.
The Tenth Amendment is the most widely violated provision of the bill of rights. If it had been respected and enforced America would be an amazingly different country than it is today. This amendment provides:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
“Every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to be concluded [bound] by it.” – John Locke
“The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent [to perform best]. – Thomas Jefferson
“The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty is to be free from restraint and violence of others, which cannot be where there is no law.” – John Locke
“They made an early provision by law that every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty. So that the education of all ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public, in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or modern. The consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day [written in 1765]. A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare … as a comet or an earthquake.” John Adams
“To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.” – George Washington
“There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America, or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated.” Alexis de Tocqueville
“We are bound to defray expenses [of the war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them…. We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority.” – Thomas Jefferson
The Founders sensed from the very beginning that they were on a divine mission. Their great disappointment was that it didn’t all come to pass in their day, but they knew that someday it would. John Adams wrote:
“I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
America … an experiment in Self-government! Will it work? Will it be able to correct itself when the power gets our of balance? Time will tell.
I leave you, dear reader, with this speech that has gone viral! Listen carefully to this brave American. He has a lot to say!
READ MORE:
06 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in America, American History, Articles, Attitudes, blogsense, censorship/political correctness, Character, citizenship, Civility, Community interest, conservative, Current Events, Faith, FREEDOM, life, Lifestyle, Moral Character, National Security, Opinion, tea party, thoughts, Tyranny, Uncategorized, US Constritution, WE THE PEOPLE
Do Americans ever consider the innumerable sacrifices made by previous Americans to purchase the liberties so casually laid aside these days? Do we understand the concepts of pledging to one another “our Lives, our Fortunes, and our Sacred Honor?“
It is appalling to me that as a civilization, we have been manipulated to turn on one another, to question the values our parents and grandparents valued – that made America the most desired destination of NON-Americans, that made America the MOST entrepreneurial, the MOST innovative, the MOST prosperous, the MOST generous, the MOST charitable, and the MOST self-reliant. Within the time of a generation, what was once sought after – CHARACTER – is now scoffed at as “Old-fashioned.”
Is it any wonder our economy is in the tubes and failing, our society is in open decay, and our political structure is corrupt to the very roots.
Aimless wondering
Lost without a compass, most people will wonder in a circle. Many Americans have thrown aside the moral compass that guided our parents and grandparents. Problem is, nothing has taken its place. In the absence of a moral compass, these Americans wonder making moral decisions subjectively. With nothing to rest our decisions on, nothing to remind us of consequences or rewards, it is natural to wonder in circles, making no progress in spite of the political jargon.
By Steve McCann
A nation without honor is a nation without a future. Today the United States finds itself in a quagmire of ever-increasing self-doubt and foreboding. Chief among the factors that have brought America to this point has been the abandonment of a sense of what is right, just and true as it relates to the duty imposed by conscience. Honor is being abandoned and replaced by duplicity, avarice, self-aggrandizement, cowardice, and an unbridled lust for power and notoriety.
These characteristics are symptomatic of the bulk of the American governing class that has increasingly adopted, as their sacrosanct tenet, the concept that the end justifies the means. In their position atop the societal pyramid they have been devastatingly influential in undermining the morality and integrity of the citizenry. As Herbert Hoover once observed: “When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.”
As the greatest fear of the founding fathers comes to pass — an overwhelmingly powerful central government — the base nature of the human race comes increasingly to the fore. This evolutionary process, while underway for some time, has thoroughly permeated society as the nation is now reaching the tipping point.
Whether in the various state capitols or the once hallowed halls of Congress or the now tarnished grandeur of the White House, the acquisition and retention of political power by any means necessary, and the attendant access to ever larger sums of money, either borrowed, created out of whole cloth or coerced from the taxpayers, has become firmly entrenched in the nation’s political psyche. Party identity notwithstanding, in order to achieve this end, nothing is beyond the pale — be it fraud, corruption, outright lies, or immorality.
No one person on the American landscape today more epitomizes this descent into dishonor than Barack Obama. His earliest days in politics were marked with unethical and oftentimes dishonest tactics in eliminating his opposition. He has revealed an untroubled willingness to prevaricate and make up so-called facts to suit his personal agenda. He has proven himself to be untrustworthy and a man whose word is meaningless. His narcissism knows no bounds as he oversees the premeditated decline of the United States concurrent with seeking to transform the nation into his vision of a socialist state. All the while exploiting his skin color as he calculatingly divides Americans into groups which he coldly and with forethought pits against each other.
The recent re-election campaign of Barack Obama encapsulated all these traits into the strategy employed as he set out to not only personally destroy his opposition by innuendo and falsehoods but to hoodwink the American voter. Unfortunately, the voters have become receptive to these tactics as they have been conditioned over the past forty years by an education establishment — dominated by greed, self-absorption and fealty to statist ideology — to believe that government, as controlled by the American left, is the source of wealth and salvation. Adding to this indoctrination, the entertainment industry, whose primary concern is an unfettered lifestyle, has slowly but surely convinced a near majority of the people that there are no moral absolutes.
The mainstream media, also concerned with an unfettered lifestyle but more importantly with access to the politically powerful, have chosen sides and become an extension of the state propaganda machinery as well as pawns in the hands of Barack Obama and the Democrats. Many in the media, also greatly influenced by the education and entertainment establishment, have left any semblance of honor at the doorway of cronyism as they safeguard their standard of living.
Far too many in the corporate and financial sphere have cast their principles aside as they too are increasingly operating their enterprises with the end justifies the means mindset. Further, as much of the free market is effectively under the thumb of government bureaucrats and politicians, many are convinced that in order to survive and prosper they must “play the game” with Washington D.C. and financially support those who have amassed the power to destroy them. Others have willing prostituted themselves and openly become crony capitalists eerily reminiscent of the relationship between industry and the government in fascist Italy and Germany.
This debasement of honor has extended its tentacles into many religious institutions who are now preaching the gospel of big government, abortion, euthanasia, and the toleration of any lifestyle. (emphasis bbb’s) They are doing so in order to maintain some semblance of a congregation and the income derived from the same as well as groveling before the almighty monolith on the shores of the Potomac River… Read more
Have we become nation that has embraced “the Ends justify the means” mentality? What will it cost us? What has it already cost us?
03 Sunday Feb 2013
Tags
and RFK, Assissinations of JFK, cataclysmic fault in American culture, character, MLK, Roe v Wade, school prayer, Vietnam War
“Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye,
but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
Or how can you say to your brother,
‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’;
and look, a plank is in your own eye?
Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye,
and then you will see clearly to remove the speck
from your brother’s eye.”
Mt 7: 3-5
In between, “my way or the highway,” and, “live and let live,” grew a nation of diverse people with a variety of beliefs, religions, and cultures. For decades, this diverse group lived together in relative peace. When skirmishes arose, they were faced and resolved as adults.
What changed?
Several things!
The early 1960′s brought about a cataclysmic fault in American culture that set in motion a chain of events that turned America upside down.
American innocence was lost.
“The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war began in 1954 (though conflict in the region stretched back to the mid-1940s), after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War; more than half were Vietnamese civilians. By 1969, at the peak of U.S. involvement in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Growing opposition to the war in the United States led to bitter divisions among Americans, both before and after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.”
Something happened deep inside American culture in those early days of the 1960′s with Ms O’Hair’s angry rhetoric that planted seeds of rebellion that are coming to full fruition today. As an atheist, she proclaimed an unwillingness to “tolerate” the practice of prayer in schools. The rest of America remained silent, so she won and her lack of tolerance became the battle cry for the progressive “secular humanist” agenda that rules our schools today. Her unwillingness to “tolerate” viewpoints different than her own went viral and spawned today’s juvenile, intolerant society.
Thing is, we’re all Americans and each is entitled to his/her own opinion. So now,we have the various positions lashing out and name calling, fully engaged in schoolyard behavior … as adults?
One of life’s lessons that I happened to learn the hard way, is that “I am not responsible for the responses and action of others. But I AM responsible for my own actions, words and responses!” As parents, we do our best to guide our children through the maze of life’s pitfalls. We teach them to brush after meals, to wash their hands when they’re done in the bathroom and before eating, and to change their underwear everyday. We teach them to finish their homework, to wipe their feet, and to not put personal info on Facebook. But do we take the time to teach them about the feelings and opinions of others?
The grown up version of this is seen and heard everyday in our political arena. name-calling and finger pointing starts at the White House and trickles all the way down the socio-economic-political ladder to the recipients of welfare and food stamps. We’re no longer encouraged to try to understand the viewpoint of others, but rather, we’re pushed to blame the opposition for what ails us. There is no maturity, no respect for different opinions, and no acceptance of responsibility for our OWN attitudes toward others. Is this not just a fancy expression for BULLYING???
Most Americans recognize Bullying as a significant issue in our schools today, but where are the kids learning their behavior? From their PARENTS!!! Adults today may be chronologically adult, but emotionally, many are quite adolescent!
Which brings us back to that log in your eye, or, more accurately, the log in MY eye. For whatever reasons, we are prompted today to focus more on the flaws in other people, particularly those living different lifestyles, than on our own character. We live in a nation that proclaims religious liberty which means we are each free to choose our own belief system. I am not required to believe what you believe, and you don’t have to share my belief system. Rather than criticize your beliefs, your stand, or your character, it’s better, i.e. more productive if I concentrate on my own character, my own beliefs, and my own stand, and let God take care of everyone else as He cares for me! This way, we can each enjoy our personal FREEDOM!
CONCLUSION: Check the log in your own eye, and let everyone else enjoy their own life. If we want BULLYING to stop, we, as adults, must stop bullying one another.
13 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in America, Attitudes, blogsense, Character, citizenship, Community interest, Courage, Economics, Faith, FREEDOM, God, inspirational, Leadership, life, Lifestyle, Moral Character, music, Opinion, Seniors, thoughts, TRUTH
Tags
Benghazi-gate, But God, Declaration of Independence, Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. Thomas A Harris, fast-furious, freedom, I'm OK; You're OK, LAST DAYS, Osama bin Laden, President Obama, SEAL Team6, secular humanist doctrine
If you haven’t listened to the title song posted here, please do …
This is not an article on the “Last Days,” but it is a post with the intent on drawing our attention to the bizarre flip-flop of good vs bad behaviors in our American culture today. Have you noticed? Have you seen “good” deeds outlawed while “bad” behavior is rewarded? Individual citizens are arrested for having a Bible study in their home while the current administration gets away with … “Fast & Furious” (Border agent Brian Terry slain by FBI weapon in Mexican hands), SEAL Team6 (that targeted Osama Bin Laden) 30 of 38 members of that team are now dead, and “Benghazi-gate” which resulted in 4 dead Americans and unknown numbers of survivors that have disappeared. There are other evidences, but the point is clear.
But this isn’t about politics or even President Obama. It is about the American people. It is about our “evolution!” Who knows what prompted those early adventurers to leave their European homes in search of … what? FREEDOM! If I asked each reader to give a definition of FREEDOM, I’d get as many different answers as there are readers. Our Declaration of Independence declares the purpose of government is to secure for every citizen our unalienable Rights, among which are LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS.
Few would deny the human potential for good, but many deny the same humans the potential for bad. let’s clarify good and bad for the purpose of this article as good = constructive and bad = destructive.
Like the Prometheus of Aeschylus, who challenged the Olympian gods, and stole their fire to give to mankind, so our ancestors came to these shores, to bring progress, through science and Classical culture, safely away from the oligarchical pestilence of Europe. Here, ships arrive with Pilgrim settlers in Salem Harbor, 1628.
For decades now, students have been taught they are descendants of monkeys, simply another primate, with a somewhat larger brain. Some educators and scientists aren’t even convinced of that much. In the 60′s two radical physicians, Dr. Benjamin Spock and Dr. Thomas A Harris, took center stage with their work. Dr Spock encouraged permissiveness by telling parents they restricted the child’s creative potential when imposing morals. Dr. Harris confirmed this is his thesis: I’m OK; You’re OK Both of these men subscribed to a secular humanist doctrine which, basically says, “If it feels good, do it!”
What do we do, then, when we feel as Paul felt when he wrote:
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
Psychiatrists and psychologists agree … Shove those guilt feelings down. Ignore them! They’re nonsensical, old-fashioned, and not logical. Heard any of that lately? Maybe in the “contraception” debate?
The TRUTH is that “compromise” has leaked into our American culture. On the Alternatives to Marriage website, I found this information:
“increasingly more children today are living with unmarried parents:
39.7% of all births are to unmarried women (CDC, 2007). Nearly 40% of different-sex, unmarried American households include children (CPS, 2007). 41% of first births by unmarried women are born to cohabiting partners (Larry Bumpass and Hsien-Hen Lu, 2000). About two-fifths of children are expected to live in a cohabiting household at some point (Census, 2000).”
If we think there will not be “fallout” from this, we’re only kidding ourselves. And, as always, it is the children who pay the price. The really pathetic part is there is no distinction in the organized church. We, as free but corrupt humans have chosen destruction … destruction of our own lives and those of our children. We have chosen destruction of our nation’s character and the liberties our predecessors fought and died to achieve. We have squandered our “birthright!” But God … God has a better way, if we will make the necessary adjustments.
I want to leave you with a few wise words … no, not mine! I ask you only to consider them while I do the same, and make the necessary corrections.
06 Sunday Jan 2013
*Blogger’s Note: Thanks to the inept media, the American population is deluged with inaccurate information concerning the debt ceiling, and everything else. It will take a huge effort on OUR part to counter their efforts and inform the people accurately! Let us BEGIN!
Michael Sandoval via The Foundry
January 6, 2013 at 2:28 pm(0)
Even though Congress and President Obama reached a fiscal cliff deal, the fallout will continue to be felt by individuals, investors, married couples, and small businesses earning $400,000 and above (for couples, $450,000 and above).
And that does not include the impact on all workers hit by the payroll tax holiday expiration, as The Heritage Foundation’s Emily Goff pointed out before the holidays.
The fiscal cliff deal, however, does little to address the critical point of the debt problem — our nation’s spending. Instead, the deal relies on tax increases, and even increases spending by extending unemployment benefits, according to Goff.
It’s precisely that spending problem and skyrocketing debt, Goff writes, that will emerge as the next “cliff” — the looming debt limit fight likely to appear at the end of February.
Only “extra-extraordinary debt-ceiling tools,” according to The Heritage Foundation’s J.D. Foster, postponed the debt limit crisis that technically occurred on New Year’s Eve. The debt limit stands at $16.394 trillion:
Geithner’s list of extraordinary measures is missing one item that has never before been employed: prioritizing federal spending. It is the item behind the sign “Break Glass Only in Case of Emergency.”
According to Obama Administration projections, the government is expected to take in an average of $230 billion per month in 2013 while spending an average of $300 billion. Suppose the government were to reach the debt limit and exhaust the tools that Treasury acknowledges. The last emergency financial management tool Geithner could use would be to prioritize federal spending so as to allocate incoming receipts to the government’s highest priorities — what might be called real-time executive fiat budgeting or, perhaps more accurately, a forced balanced budget.
Foster provides a more detailed explanation of options available on the debt limit in this primer from early 2011 — immediately preceding the last debt limit showdown on Capitol Hill.
As the chart above demonstrates, spending, not additional tax increases and stop-gap measures, must be addressed in order to bring our debt under control. Reforming entitlement spending — primarily Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — will be the only way to bring a lasting solution. Foster, along with Heritage’s Alison Acosta Fraser, outline six entitlement reform measures designed to deal with the debt limit.
04 Friday Jan 2013
Posted in America, American History, Attitudes, blogsense, Character, citizenship, Courage, FREEDOM, Lifestyle, Moral Character, Parenting, People, WE THE PEOPLE
George Washington, First U.S. President
Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy and to demean ourselves that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Washington at Valley Forge. Lithograph by F. Heppenheimer, 1853.
“George Washington was born in January 1732 on his family’s Pope Creek estate near present-day Colonial Beach in Westmoreland County, Virginia. Washington’s ancestors were from Sulgrave, England, his grandfather having emigrated in 1657. His father was a slave-owning tobacco planter.
“Although he expressed opposition to the Stamp Act, it was the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774 that caused him to attend the First Virginia Convention, at which he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, Washington appeared at the Second Continental Congress in a military uniform, signaling that he was prepared for war with the British. He was quickly made Major General and Commander in Chief of the Continental Army.
“His war accomplishments were difficult, many, and in some cases miraculous. His return to Mount Vernon was short-lived. He attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, where he was elected president of the convention. After the ratification of the Constitution, the Electoral College elected Washington unanimously as the new-born nation’s first president. He remains the only president to have received 100 percent of the electoral votes.
“He served eight years, and retired once again to Mount Vernon, relieved to be at the place he loved. In less than three years, he had died of a throat infection. The Nation spent months in mourning him. He is interred at Mount Vernon. On the rear side of Washington’s tomb is engraved: “I am the Resurrection and the Life, sayeth the Lord. He that believeth in Me, although he were dead yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” Throughout his life, Washington was an Anglican.”
Today’s progressive historians are working to distort the truth about the amazing , but imperfect men who designed our experimental system of government. While they were not all traditional thinkers in regards to education or religion, they were men of virtue who strove to better themselves, not just financially or intellectually, but spiritually. Each of these brilliant men, understood the importance of spiritual thought. The majority of them were Christians, though not necessarily traditional Christian.
In spite of their religious differences, or maybe because of them, they valued the freedom to seek God as they saw fit, to seek the TRUTH as they needed. It was understood by these Founders that future generations of Americans would need to govern themselves in this new experiment via men and women of Character and Virtue. This is where today’s leadership fails. There are but a few men and women worthy of popular trust serving in Washington DC or state capitals. Integrity and Virtue are now laughed at by many, and certainly not encouraged on any front. We must remind ourselves that FREEDOM was GOD’s idea first!
John Armstrong, Jr. (1758-1843), Senator, Secretary of War
Nor is this spiritual admiral disease to be healed by a better education, a few a few external, transient thoughts. It requires the hand of the great Physician, the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, and belief of the truth renewing the state of the mind and disposition of the heart as well, thereby leading the soul from a sense of fear of the wrath of God, the penalty of His broken law, and helpless in itself, to flee to the merit of Jesus, the only refuge or foundation which God hath laid in His Church, and who was made sin for us (that is, a sin-offering), that all ‘believers be made the righteousness of God by Him.’
“John Armstrong, Jr. was born in 1758 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He studied law at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) but broke off his studies to fight in the Revolutionary War. After the revolution, he was a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress. Although initially offered many political positions, he declined them all to be a country gentleman farmer. He later served two separate terms as a United States Senator from New York. President James Madison chose Armstrong to be the Secretary of War. He was married to Aida Livingston, and a member of the Livingston family still operates his farm in Duchess County. He died in 1843 at his farm in Red Hook, New York, and is buried at the cemetery in Rhinebeck.”
Have we no higher ambition than to stuff our pockets, build a bigger mansion, possess more stuff? Whatever happened to RIGHT and WRONG? They’ve been turned around. RIGHT is now “old-fashioned,” “narrow-minded,” or simply odd, while perversion is encouraged, greed infects every stratus and income level of our population, and it’s “fair” to expect others to pay for my needs and wants! WRONG emanates from Washington DC, from the highest seats of power in our nation all the way to the youngest children imitating their parents or other adults. Yet if God is mentioned, he is mocked or denied.
If humankind is capable of improvement without God, we better get started on it soon before we self-destruct!
