They’ll Be Dead by Morning (What Difference Will it Make?)

Tags

Christianity, faith, freedom, Kim Jong Un, martyrdom, modern-day martyrs, North Korea, persecution, playboy, the persecuted churches

**Warning: This post may make you feel bad.

**Warning: That feeling may be appropriate.

There are moments in life that feel like a swift slap in the face.

No one courts that.

No one wants to feel that pain.

But, if it’s a slap that rearranges your priorities to align with God’s heart,
then you will thank God even for that bracing offense.

I received that slap today
when I read the Washington Times news item that Kim Jong-un

has ordered the execution of 33 Christians

reported to have been part of planting over 500 underground churches in North Korea.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/6/kim-jong-un-calls-execution-33-christians/

I imagined thirty-three of my Christian friends executed for leading people to Christ, facilitating worship, praying, or offering praise to God.

I would be horrified, sad, and angry

devastated

but I would also know that God has the last word on their lives not Kim Jong-un or the evil power behind him.

Still, I would want their deaths to motivate the church of Christ.

I would want their deaths to galvanize other believers to put feet to their own faith,

To fuel their passion for Christ,

To remember to pray for those who suffer,

To spread God’s word with more zeal, persistence, and creativity than ever before.

While we in the West argue over worship styles,

sleep in when there’s a visiting preacher,

bemoan having to endure a boring prayer request or off-key soloist,

serve up the pastor’s sermon over lunch,

or sit home and judge the church unworthy of our attendance altogether

there are other brothers and sisters

gasping their way to every precious moment

when they can gather, in hiding, with other precious believers

and hear a whispered message from God,

bathe in the reading of His word,

and pray with passion and tears for strength to endure

and the courage to continue speaking the truth under threat of death.

God placed us all where we are.
He assigned us to our stations.
There is no guilt in being born in the land of the free as opposed to a country under harsh rule.

But there is guilt if we use our freedom to indulge our petty preferences,

to pad our comfort,

to drift through this dark world basking in our own light

rather than using it

to serve those who waste away in prison cells wondering if they’ve been forgotten

or their families left to struggle alone with hunger, fear, and lonliness,

or those serving the Lord in dark, dark places who need our prayers for their protection, deliverance, courage, and strength.

This blog is just a bunch of words. It costs me absolutely nothing to write. I am free here to say whatever I want without fear that it will cost me or my loved ones their lives.

But the words I speak on my knees have the power to move forces in the heavenly realm

and make a difference for those who know the names and faces of those 33 facing execution,

to comfort those who know their touch, their dreams, the plans they had for this life that will end any minute now

and to strengthen those who pick up the bloody batons these 33 will be forced to release

and continue to build the kingdom of Christ in lands where the enemy of God rules.

Worship will be different for me this week, with the report of 33 gunshots bouncing around the inner chamber of my soul

reminding me that we aren’t home yet.

***This article is reblogged from “Deeper with Jesus in Rhode Island” Thank you!

Kim Jong Un Channels Hugh Hefner Whilst Executing Christians [Video]

North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong Un seems to be acting like a regular playboy these days, according to recent press coverage. The very young dictator, who is 31-years-old, was seen cavorting around with a group of blushing female pilots during a series of drills at a North Korean air strip – practically reenacting a scene from the popular TV series The Girls Next Door, which featured “Hef” and his Playboy Bunny girlfriends. Although Jong Un almost channels an odd version of Hugh Hefner during the event, outside of that fun-loving image stands a man who plans on executing a group of 33 Christians, suspected of “no good”.

On Friday, North Korea’s Workers party released a few choice pictures to Korean Central News Agency. These very cheerful photos show Jong Un smiling, laughing, and happily posing alongside a gang of seemingly smitten female pilots at an air force based. The imagery harkens back to a time of Hugh Hefner, sitting in his mansion, surrounded by admiring women, looking on in awe of his success and manhood. The 1940’s style uniforms worn by the North Korean ladies certainly helped to round out the strangeness of the scene. More HERE

I wonder how many American churches will even pray …

Will you pray?

Jesus said, “I told you these things so that you can have peace in me. In this world you will have trouble, but be brave! I have defeated the world.”
John 16:33 (NCV)

Confirmed: U.S. Chief Facilitator of Christian Persecution

Tags

Africa, American Church, call to prayer, Christian Persecution, Christianity, church, conviction, devotion, islam, Jihad, martyrs, middle-east, suffering, Syria, torture

Will YOU pray?

Confirmed:
U.S. Chief Facilitator of Christian Persecution
Special Bulletin

By Raymond Ibrahim

Prominent indicators confirm that the U.S. is the chief facilitator of the persecution of Christians around the world today.

According to the recently released 2014 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted, Syria is the third worst nation in the world in which to be Christian, Iraq is fourth, Afghanistan fifth, and Libya 13th. All four countries receive the strongest designation, “extreme persecution” (other designations are “severe,” “moderate,” and “sparse” persecution).

Aside from being so closely and harshly ranked, these four nations have something else in common: heavy U.S. involvement. Three-Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya-were “liberated” thanks to U.S. forces, while in the fourth, Syria, the U.S. is actively sponsoring “freedom fighters” against the regime, many of whom would be better labeled “terrorists.”

The Syrian situation alone indicts U.S. foreign policy. According to Reuters:

“Open Doors, a non-denominational group supporting persecuted Christians worldwide, said on Wednesday it had documented 2,123 “martyr” killings, compared with 1,201 in 2012. There were 1,213 such deaths in Syria alone last year, it said. “This is a very minimal count based on what has been reported in the media and we can confirm,” said Frans Veerman, head of research for Open Doors. Estimates by other Christian groups put the annual figure as high as 8,000.”

Read More

Will you pray?

Restoring The Republic

Tags

America, constitutional republic, Crises = Opportunity, democracy, freedom isn't free, individual freedom, kingdom of God, liberty, passivity of Americans, Republic, revelations, theocracy, What can we do about it?, Where are we headed?, Where should we be headed?

MorningStar Prophetic Bulletin #83
February 6, 2014
Rick Joyner

America is not the kingdom of God, and it is definitely not the New Jerusalem. Even so, many nations have been called by God for special purposes. After years of studying American history and the founding of our Republic, His hand in our founding became clear to me. America has a purpose in preparing the way for His coming kingdom.

The kingdom of God will not be a democracy, but a kingdom. It will be built on many of the freedoms that are foundational to America’s strength and accomplishments. People were created to be free, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The coming kingdom will be the world’s Jubilee. Like the biblical year of Jubilee in which all debts will be cancelled and all inheritances restored, this will happen for all mankind.

In Isaiah 40 we see that we prepare the way for the Lord by building a highway. America is part of that highway. While other nations have a part in this too, my primary calling is to my own nation. With the crisis America is in now, I am focusing on its part although the same principles can apply to others. Though America has had many great crises that have threatened our existence, they have all resulted in a great advance toward our ultimate purpose. The present crises can do the same. As we are engaged in building our part of this highway, the favor and blessings of God have been upon us, and it is His way to save the best for last. We must not give up on our country now. We can be sure that God has not.

Crises = Opportunity

For many years we have been saying that each year would be more challenging than the last. I don’t think we have been wrong yet. What can we expect for 2014? It will be even more challenging too, but that does not mean it will not be a great year. Keeping in mind that victories don’t come without battles, and no great victories without great battles, this is the year we can expect some breakthroughs and a turning. Now is the time to see these crises/opportunities and prepare for them.

2013 gave us shocking revelations, unprecedented in American history, of the government’s use of the IRS to intimidate and control political opposition, domestic spying by the NSA, and the building of an apparatus that could be used for totalitarian control even beyond the imagination of the authors of 1984 and Animal Farm. The year ended with ObamaCare collapsing, the Administration reeling, stock markets soaring, and the politically incorrect Duck Dynasty rising in popularity far past the President or any other politician. We can learn much from these signs.

Not everyone who stood up for Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty agreed with him. However, there was a rising agreement that he had the right to say what he thinks without being penalized. Repulsion to political correctness is on the rise as well as a refreshing embracing of anyone with clear speech and the courage to say what they actually think. This is certainly a good sign.

The revelations of our government’s domestic spying apparatus should have caused the greatest outrage of Americans. The relative passivity of Americans about this is troubling. However, there are also signs that people are waking up to this threat as well.

As the saying goes, “If you do not change your direction, you will end up where you are headed.” Therefore, we will look at these and other major revelations that are illuminating ultimate issues with serious consequences. We will do this using a slightly modified version of The Three Great Questions:

Where are we headed?

Where should we be headed?

What can we do about it?

Continue reading HERE

What Can You and I DO?

Tags

Afghanistan War Vets, help, Iraq War Vets, veterans, Veterans Crisis Hotline, WE THE PEOPLE

While we hope and pray our politicians will wake up and fulfill the promises made to our returning Veterans, too many are dying in the wait. Too many spend their days on the phone trying to get help to no avail.

I am OUTRAGED! I hope I am not alone. So … I ask you:

WHAT CAN WE DO???

How can we help?

Bottom line, We, the people are responsible for these heroic men and women! It is OUR way of life they have served to preserve. It is OUR future they have fought to protect while politicians squander it away for their our short-sighted gain.

Many Vets I listen to just want JOBS! We all know this administration is deliberately KILLING jobs making it harder and harder for these struggling Vets to find gainful employment. So I repeat …

WHAT CAN WE DO???

How can we help?

PLEASE … let’s discuss it here and come up with a plan! Surely, we can do SOMETHING!!!

NEW Facebook page: WE CAN HELP VETS Stop by and LIKE us!!!

Follow the Matrix of Liberty

Tags

America, character, Christianity, education, faith, Forefathers' Monument, Founders, freedom, justice, LAW, liberty, Matrix of Liberty, mercy, morality, Pilrims, Separatists, tyranny, youth

Matrix of Liberty: The Founders’ Monument

or
Where Do We Go From Here?

Unknown or unacknowledged by many, our forefathers erected a “Matrix of Liberty” for the purpose of documentation. It documents the road map they followed to win and establish LIBERTY in AMERICA. The monument has been there for decades, built with government funds, in the off chance We, the People would lose our way and allow the government to assume tyrannical power. Oops! Good thing, right? Yet, it is ignored.

Below, the matrix is explained. Each of the granite figures carries meanings like pieces of a puzzle. I have outlined each figure below, but the video completes the explanation. Please watch and be amazed!!!

FAITH
Meet FAITH! She is paramount! She is pointing upward toward the God of the Bible. FAITH in God is what brought the first Pilgrims, or Separatists, to Plymouth. Not the sour, pious stiffness we were told in school, but a LIVE FAITH that carried them through persecution and hardship as they broke free from tyranny.

MORLITY
Morality is internal liberty, and starts in the HEART of the individual. As we pursue our God in faith, He teaches us true fairness via internal morality of heart.

EVANGELIST
EVANGELISTS preach the message that transforms the heart. TRUE Freedom and Morality are products of FAITH in GOD and His Promises, the BIBLE, studied and taught to every person.

LAW
A MORAL SYSTEM translated from God’s Law into civil law, balanced by MERCY and JUSTICE, with Equality under the LAW for each individual.

EDUCATION
A Woman training her young children (YOUTH) according to heart-held principles and an honorable character, preparing the next generation to carry forward the “Matrix of Liberty!”

LIBERTY
LIBERTY is the result of following the “Matrix of Liberty!” LIBERTY is seated in Victory. He is holding the broken chains of the manacle of tyranny attached to his leg. He has slain the Lion Tyrant, yet bears the marks as a remembrance on his shoulder. Liberty has his foot on the chest of Tyranny, holding it down by following God’s principles only – no bloodshed! Strength based on Morality, overcoming evil with Goodness!

So much of what we were taught in school, and even more of what our children are being taught in school today is simply untrue based on historical documents still in existence. Notably, the first Bibles printed in the United States were funded by CONGRESS in 1782 for the use of our SCHOOLS – First public school law!!! Bibles were used in schools starting in 1647 through 1963 (which I remember!)

LEARN MORE … PLEASE WATCH VIDEO!!!!!

So … where do we go from here, America? Toward FAITH or TYRANNY?

Related reading: The Forefathers’ Monument Explained – VERY COOL!

♫ I Want to Know What Love Is ♫

Tags

character, character of God, difficulty, emptiness, faith, faithfulness, God, goodness, help, hurt, loss, love, Love of God, people, promises, promises of GOD

We are surrounded by promises, in America, and most of them never had any intention of being fulfilled! Politicians say exactly what they think we want to hear, not because they actually believe it, but simply to earn our trust and our vote. Broken promises have been in the news lately with the “If you like your plan and your Doctor, you can keep them!” lie. The President and his adherents knew from the beginning that was a lie, yet they intentionally repeated it for months.

Contrary to the multitude of unfulfilled promises of politicians, GOD fulfills promises everyday. The Bible is filled with wonderful & lofty promises that, frankly, are incredibly hard to believe. Yet, any one of us can challenge GOD’S faithfulness by apprehending any promise in faith.

At the top of the page is a promise: All things are possible with God. (Matthew 19:26)

Believe that? I mean do you believe it in your LIFE, or just with your head? There is a difference!

There are many, many more!

Pick a promise! Choose one that fits a difficult circumstance in your life. Pick it & believe it! Each & every promise issues from the loving heart of God. Every one! But that’s not the cool part! The cool part is that GOD has spoken each promise to ME and to YOU … as individuals! When GOD says, “Don’t be afraid, for I AM with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I AM your GOD! I will comfort you! Yes, I will help you! And I will uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness!” (Isaiah 41:10) GOD is talking to me, but HE is also talking to you. All we have to do … is actively BELIEVE! Can you do that? I can …if I remember who GOD is. If I remember He designed Creation, all its moving parts (not the parts mankind has corrupted, but the wondrous ways Laws of Nature,) and brought it into being with a Word! Ha!

In spite of GOD’S vastness, or maybe because if it, GOD has set His unfathomable love on us, and we see that in His promises. All his promises flow from that love and are evidenced in His unspeakable GOODNESS!

The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ, and through Christ we say yes to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20

LOVE. It’s our deepest, most urgent need. It’s a requirement for life. Every single human shares this basic need, yet in spite of the volumes written on the topic, a vast array of poems and songs written on the subject, few of us have a clear handle of exactly what Love is.

We often hear “Life is a journey” these days, and I suggest that Love is our destination and our source. We taste it on clear sunny days. We smell it in a gentle spring shower. We hear it in the laughter of children, and we get a glimpse in the touch of a loved one. Never a banquet, only a sample, enough to compel us onward … and a Promise.

Love is not weak, easy, or shallow. Love always … always multiplies. The deepest Love is a promise, a unity of hearts, goals, and future hope.

11 I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.
12 Then you will call my name. You will come to me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
13 You will search for me. And when you search for me with all your heart, you will find me!
14 I will let you find me,” says the Lord. “And I will bring you back from your captivity. Jeremiah 29:11-14

As humans, we typically look for the easy route, the path of lest resistance. But the richness of God’s Love takes us always into the deep water without a life jacket, not to drown us, as some suppose, but to empower us to fly higher, dive deeper, push harder, to continue on when there are no landmarks we recognize to take GOD’s love to each and every person. God’s love soothes and inspires. His love never changes … NEVER! Still, it doesn’t always feel like a warm blanket either, but Love is always … always ultimately drawing us to Him: our Source and our Goal, the Beginning and the End. One taste just isn’t enough, but how do we get there?

This song as always been a prayer to me. I’m asking God to show me what Love is … and I know He will answer. Care to take the plunge with me? It’s a little scary, but … is it safe? “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” ~ C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

♫ I Want to Know What Love is ♫

I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I’m older
Aaaah woah-ah-aah

Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder

In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
Can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-ooh

I’m gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me, oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I’ve got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me

In my life there’s been heartache and pain
I don’t know if I can face it again
I can’t stop now, I’ve traveled so far
To change this lonely life

I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me

Let’s talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I’m feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let’s talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah

GOD is love! He is in the business of LOVE … for the Love of GOD!

Historic Presidency – Historic People

Tags

"In God We Trust", 2016, “2016: Obama’s America”, Benghazi, citizenship, Common Core, deception, Dinesh D'Souza, failure, fema-camps, foreign born, freedom, Hillary Clinton, IRS, Keystone Pipeline, militia, NDAA, NSA, obama, One nation under God, police state, survival, tyranny, US Constitution

Corey James wrote “Quit trashing Obama’s accomplishments. He has done more than any other President before him. He has an impressive list of accomplishments:

• First President to apply for college aid as a foreign student, then deny he was a foreigner.
• First President to have a social security number belonging to another man, from a state he has never lived in.
• First President to preside over a cut to the credit-rating of the United States.
• First President to violate the War Powers Act.
• First President to be held in contempt of court for illegally obstructing oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.
• First President to require all Americans to purchase a product from a third party.
• First President to spend a trillion dollars on “shovel-ready” jobs when there was no such thing as “shovel-ready” jobs.* * * *
• First President to abrogate bankruptcy law to turn over control of companies to his union supporters.
• First President to by-pass Congress and implement the Dream Act through executive fiat.
• First President to order a secret amnesty program that stopped the deportation of illegal immigrants across the U.S. including those with criminal convictions.
• First President to demand a company hand-over $20 billion to one of his political appointees.
• First President to tell a CEO of a major corporation (Chrysler) to resign.
• First President to terminate America’s ability to put a man in space.
• First President to cancel the National Day of Prayer and to say that America is no longer a Christian nation.
• First President to have a law signed by an auto-pen without being present.
• First President to arbitrarily declare an existing law unconstitutional and refuse to enforce it.
• First President to threaten insurance companies if they publicly spoke out on the reasons for their rate increases.
• First President to tell a major manufacturing company in which state it is allowed to locate a factory.
• First President to file lawsuits against the states he swore an oath to protect (AZ, WI, OH, IN).
• First President to withdraw an existing coal permit that had been properly issued years ago.
• First President to actively try to bankrupt an American industry (coal).
• First President to fire an inspector general of AmeriCorps for catching one of his friends in a corruption case.
• First President to appoint 45 czars to replace elected officials in his office.
• First President to surround himself with radical left wing anarchists.
• First President to golf 73 separate times in his first two and a half years in office, 102 to date.
• First President to hide his medical, educational and travel records.
• First President to win a Nobel Peace Prize for doing NOTHING to earn it.
• First President to go on multiple “global apology tours” and concurrent “insult our friends” tours.
• First President to go on 17 lavish vacations, including date nights and Wednesday evening White House parties for his friends paid for by the taxpayers.
• First President to have 22 personal servants (taxpayer funded) for his wife.
• First President to keep a dog trainer on retainer for $102,000 a year at taxpayer expense.* * * *
• First President to fly in a personal trainer from Chicago at least once a week at taxpayer expense.* * * *
• First President to repeat the Holy Quran & tell us the early morning call of the Azan (Islamic call to worship) is the most beautiful sound on earth.
• First President to tell the military men and women that they should pay for their own private insurance because they “volunteered to go to war and knew the consequences.”
• Then he was the First President to tell the members of the military that THEY were UNPATRIOTIC for balking at the last suggestion.* * * *
• First President to side with a foreign nation over one of the American 50 states (Mexico vs. Arizona).

How is Obama’s “Hope and Change” working out for you?”

I believe Obama should be arrested and impeached for only a few of his “Great Accomplishments.” For being best President in many of his Democratic followers eyes… I feel this Great Nation in being misled in an immorally direction away from what it was originally founded on. I pray for the safety and promising future for our children. I pray our children do not become as greedy, ungrateful, anti-christian and un-patriotic as I see our current leaders leading their lives.

I commend you for reading all of this. And, I hope it has empowered you with knowledge and opened your eyes more.

Thank you,
Daniel S. Hudson
— feeling patriotic.

♫ That’s Why I Pray ♫

Tags

America's Psychosis, bullying, call to prayer, faith, forgiveness, God, kindness, mass shootings, mental illness, prayer, second amendment

Oh oh oh oh, oh oh, yeah

Man on the TV’s gone insane, everybody’s just laughing
People ‘cross the world holding on
The earth caved in, the ocean came down crashing
My neighbor lost his house ’cause he can’t find a job
Don’t you dare pledge allegiance, don’t you dare speak of God
Speak of God
Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!

Obamanomics Kills Jobs as GOP Dithers

“If it weren’t for a shamelessly dishonest, hyper-protective liberal media, the American people would know, unanimously and without doubt, that Obamanomics is killing American jobs. There is no silver lining in the December jobs numbers.

Experts and analysts were expecting this latest jobs report, released Friday, to show 200,000 new payroll jobs in December, but there were only 74,000, which is 37 percent of the goal. Not 90 percent, not 80, not 70, not even 50 percent. Just 37 percent.

If these abominable numbers had occurred under George W. Bush’s watch, the GOP would have had hell to pay for decades. But liberal presidents always get a pass in the form of wildly far-fetched excuses and rationalizations for their failed policies.

Attentive minds, however, will not be fooled. As the liberal media live by the dishonest rationalization, so they must die by it, as well. With the help of sympathetic economists, they have been whitewashing Obama’s perennially anemic economy as being in “recovery” for 52 months now.” Read MORE

♫ “That’s Why I Pray” ♫

Now I’m begging for forgiveness
I wanna make a difference even in the smallest way
I’m only one person, but I can feel it working
I believe in better days
That’s why I pray

Some stupid video posted as a joke, somebody’s life gets ruined
Out of everything we can create
Where is the cure to keep the sick from losing
Babies having babies ’cause their parents are always gone
Somehow we have forgotten how to make a house a home
How to make a house a home
Oh! Oh! Yeah! Yeah!

Seems “bullying” is in the news every week as either a teen commits suicide or a politician uses “bullying” language in reference to an opponent or opposition party. If “bullying” is defined as someone acting loudly arrogant and overbearing, then many in the headlines fall into that category. Problem is, we, as adults, are teaching our kids how to bully and when to bully, and it starts in the White House! Until we, as adults, remember we are all Americans & we all have a voice, our kids will pay the price for our bigotry.

Moral Intelligence and Public School Bullying

“On December 4, 2013 Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.5-million member American Federation of Teachers (AFT), spoke on C-Span about bullying, particularly of gay students. Ms. Weingarten said, with surprise in her voice, that she doesn’t understand why gay students are still bullied in public schools, because in 2013, “It’s cool to be gay.” She also said she is gay, and now speaks about it openly.

As a psychotherapist, I tell clients that being surprised by another person’s behavior often results from erroneous assumptions about the person, usually because you see them as you want them to be rather than as they are. As Ms. Weingarten talked about the love that not only dares speak its name but never shuts its yap, I imagined how it would sound if a heterosexual male schoolteacher said, “The way I do sex is cool.” Read MORE

♫ “That’s Why I Pray” ♫

I’m begging for forgiveness, I wanna make a difference
Even in the smallest way
I’m only one person, but I can feel it working
I believe in better days
That’s why I pray, yeah
That’s why I pray, yeah

These demons from my past haunt me every night
And I just can’t get through it
If I could forget them on my own, I’ll let go and just move on
But heaven knows I am only human

Politicians have chosen to make firearms an issue in place of the more controversial issue of Mental illness. In doing so, they totally miss the point in an attempt to distract the public and give a semblance of “taking action!” We, as Americans, must demand better! Our streets are littered with people … human beings who have lost their way by means of mental illness, not to be confused with substance abuse!

Mass Shootings: America’s Psychosis

After every mass shooting, I write a variant of the same column. Perhaps I’ll republish this one when the next attack happens.

The increase in mass shootings over the course of the past several decades is not imaginary. In 2000, The New York Times analyzed 100 mass shootings between 1949 and 1999 and found that 73 of them had happened since 1990. Since 2000, according to Mother Jones magazine, there have been 33 more, including the recent massacre at the Navy Yard. The majority of the killers have untreated mental illness. Read MORE

♫ “That’s Why I Pray” ♫

And that’s why I pray, yeah yeah
That’s why I pray, I pray, I pray, I pray

Yes I’m begging for forgiveness (I’m begging for forgiveness)
I just wanna make a difference (Just wanna make a difference)
I believe (I believe) in better days
That’s why I pray

Music & Lyrics(in italics) by BIG & RICH

Please PRAY, now more than ever …

for this nation,

for our fellow Americans,

for our leaders – both elected and otherwise.

♫ Born Free ♫

Tags

Be for Work, Born Free, choices, freedom, job's report 2014, jobs, NO JOBS, Obama fail, opportunity, Use it or lose it, work

AMERICA is unique, not so much for her FREEDOM, but for her Source of Freedom (GOD) and what that Freedom has come to mean culturally i.e. OPPORTUNITY to WORK. There are other nations, other societies, that experience some degree of freedom, some even seem more FREE than America. So, what’s the big deal? What makes American Freedom different … EXCEPTIONAL?

Find another civilization in history that has …

• drawn the number of immigrants the USA has in the past century and enabled them to improve their lives.
• produced as much increase and improvement across the board – technologically, scientifically, agriculturally, humanitarian-ly, and even spiritually.
• allowed virtually complete mobility physically between states and economically from min wage to billionaire to those willing to push through the obstacles

Recent policies have diminished the OPPORTUNITY for work … for self-improvement. Increased taxes and regulations punish small business success, and “NO STRINGS handout” availability reduces the incentive toward WORK! In the process, however, our freedoms are exchanged and lost.

Your Freedom is yours to do with as you please. You can use it to build or to destroy. You can use it to give or to take. You can use it to find happiness or misery. You can use it to help others or help yourself. Your Freedom is yours to do with as you please. Use it or lose it!

Be for Work

By Mona Charen · Jan. 10, 2014

“John F. Kennedy broke some sort of record for stating the obvious when he noted that “life isn’t fair.” More evidence for the unfairness of the nation’s evaluations of presidents emerged in a recent Washington Post poll showing that, five years after he returned to Texas, George W. Bush is still blamed by 50 percent of Americans for the current state of the economy. Only 38 percent hold President Barack Obama responsible. The lesson for future presidents appears to be: You may be one of the greatest humanitarians in the history of the world (as Herbert Hoover arguably was, and as was Bush in some ways), but if you’re in office when a financial crisis hits, the public will blame you forever.

The press and academia have provided explanations and justifications for the economy’s sluggishness during the past five years – rationalizations that tend to exonerate Obama for the fact that, for example, annual growth remains very low by historical standards, and the labor force participation rate has dropped every year since 2009. It is now at the lowest level since 1978. We’ve been assured that the aging of baby boomers accounts for the high numbers leaving the labor force. But as Michael Strain notes in National Affairs, the labor force participation rate for the ages 25-54 cohort has hardly recovered at all since 2009 – though the recession officially ended in June of that year.

The Obama administration frequently cites economists who argue that recoveries from financial crisis-induced recessions are slower than those from other recessions. Economic historians Michael Bordo of Rutgers University and Joseph Haubrich of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland have produced data for recessions going back to 1882 and find that recoveries from past financial crises were more than four times stronger than this recovery has been.

Obama has proclaimed, one loses count of how many times, a pivot to jobs. Apparently, that theme is passe. He’s now pivoting to inequality. Any more pivots and he’ll be doing a pirouette.” Read more HERE

♫ Somewhere in the Middle ♫

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affliction, challenge, Darkness, depression, difficulties, DO SOMETHING!, hardship, Jesus, test

Walking on Giants

by Bill Yount

In Charleston, South Carolina, a little boy about four years old walked over, looked up at me and said, “You are little!” I said to the pastor standing beside me, “What did he say?” The pastor said, “It sounds like he said, “You are little!” It made the boy feel good since he was so short. But it humbled me. It made me think.

We should look at our biggest giant or mountain and say, “You are little! You are little compared to the God inside of me!” It will humble any mountain or giant to fall. What mountain or giant will the Lord raise you up to stand on top of this coming year? What stormy seas will He cause you to walk on?

On the sea of Galilee, famous for storms, I asked the Lord a question. “Lord, are we near the place where Peter got out of the boat and walked on the raging sea before he fell?” The Lord answered me. “What do you mean Peter fell? This is the sea where Peter walked!” As though He didn’t remember Peter falling. Peter sank but he walked on water. The eleven sat in the boat living in regret. The terror of that storm paralyzed them. They missed that once in a lifetime opportunity. Sinking is better than sitting. When life is over we won’t regret taking a risk for God and sinking. We will regret sitting. And God won’t remember us sinking.