If you are paying attention to life and events around our nation and world, it is clear, something is coming. Something uncomfortable … unpleasant … uninvited. Are you prepared?
I am not necessarily talking about stockpiling food & water, although there is no harm in that type of preparation. I’m more concerned with a general attitude.
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, “I am a mighty man.”
Some might have heard of the new film in theaters at the writing of this, War Room. This is the preparation I speak of. This is the greatest weapon believers have against the riding tide of selfishness and lawlessness.
Prayer. I am not talking about “bless me” prayers, but prayer that is violent against all that stands against our God and Creator. (Eph 6:10-20, Matt 11:12) We have been silent and ineffectual long enough! There is a time to turn the other cheek, but now is the time to take a stand, as unpopular or politically incorrect as it may be. It is God we should be concerned with pleasing, not man.
As we approach a turning point election, I challenge all people of faith to pray against the surge of evil that challenges traditional Biblical values in our nation and work diligently together to stem the attack on our families, our faith, and our freedoms, for the sake of our children and the children of the nations!
By Greg Richards
Why did it take until 100 years after the Civil War, until 1964, to pass a Civil Rights Act? Because the Democratic Party would not take its boot off the neck of the black man until Martin Luther King made the black vote a political force. Dedicated to being in power above all else, the Democrats had to make a U-turn on their race policy in the 1960s and join the Republicans in passing the Civil Rights Act because they realized that after the black vote was counted, they were not going to win any more national elections without it.
But there was a problem. How was the Democratic Party going to overcome its deplorable record on race? It was the party of slavery, segregation, lynching, and the Klan.
What to do now? Get back in front of history with comprehensive rather than palliative welfare — the Great Society. The Democratic Party would become the friend of the black community by giving it things it wasn’t asking for, but were hard to resist.
But there is a big problem with comprehensive welfare: it destroys the role of men in the community and this was disproportionately true of the black community. There is nothing worse than taking away a person’s mission in life, making that person unnecessary and thus unwanted. That is evil. And today we see the results of that evil.
Single mothers can cope, but the family as a force in the community cannot flourish without men as a responsible presence. Without men, there is nobody to show boys how to behave, have someone to look up to and emulate, to set them straight when they go off the path, to show them how to be men. This has been true of every civilization in history.
But over the last 50 years, the Democratic Party wiped out the black family by wiping out the role of black men in order to stay in power. The black family had withstood 250 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow, but was destroyed by 50 years of Liberalism. In 1960, the illegitimacy rate in the black community was 30%. Now it is 78%. And as Star Parker has pointed out, there is nothing unique about blacks. Whites are now where blacks were in 1960 and are on the same path.
What is the result of this devastation? There are now two Americas — Welfare America and Enterprise America.
The Democratic Party is the party of Welfare America and the Republican Party is the part of Enterprise America. Enterprise America is that part of America that is hands-on in its affairs. That does not mean the top managers of big business, which either out of necessity or out of temperament, in many cases cozy up to Big Government. There is also the billionaire effect, where billionaires, unaware of the wellspring of their own success, do not preach what they practice and support Welfare America for reasons of social standing.
Let’s compare the cultural attributes of Enterprise America and Welfare America.
Popular approval of Congress has reached an all time low as Americans reel under the vast scope of myriad scandals and lies perpetrated by this Administration. Yes! We have seen corruption before. Yes, we’ve been lied to before. Yes, we’ve even seen huge character flaws in our leaders before, but never … NEVER to the depth and scope to which we’re seeing today.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Why? What has changed? What has happened to allow or facilitate such widespread corruption?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Will a building stand if its foundation is compromised?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Will a traveler reach his destination without first plotting his course & naming his destination?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Can a nation long survive which has shredded its moral compass and floats aimlessly on sentimentalism?
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Perhaps innocently, perhaps with vile intent, social mores held firm throughout global civilizations over thousands of years, have suddenly (over the past few decades) come into question. GOD was declared dead April 8, 1966, and since that time, little by little, the once universal boundaries of Right & Wrong, have blurred. What was once, not more than generation ago, accepted behavior, has become “Old-fashioned” and “intolerant.”
Funny thing is, GOD is no place defined in our Founding documents, and the early Framers each held different personal beliefs. They intentionally kept all reference to GOD ambiguous so various individual beliefs might be adapted and accepted.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
The point is CHARACTER.
The point is GOALS … self-improvement … serving others.
The point is standing for something bigger than yourself.
The point is growing in personal integrity and service to the community… by choice, rather than by mandate.
The point … is standing firm on some defined principles that are other aware.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Without a firm foundation to stand on, the tides of political correctness too easily blow us around until we find ourselves … surrounded by Corruption. Like so many of our political leaders, bought and sold to the highest bidder, we, too, succumb to the popular trends and thoughts, victims of popular opinion.
How did we get here? We allowed it by our own compromise.
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Take a stand for GOODNESS
Take a stand for KINDNESS
Take a stand for TRUTH
Take a stand for COMPASSION
Take a stand for your Neighbor, for the Homeless, for the mentally infirmed … to be personally involved!
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Find something bigger than yourself worth STANDING FOR, worth giving your life’s passion to support, worth working toward and Take a Stand.
“We must stop acting like children.
We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings,
which are like winds that toss us around from place to place.” Eph 4:14 CEV
♫ Like a Rock ♫
Words and music by Bob Seger
Stood there boldly
Sweatin’ in the sun
Felt like a million
Felt like number one
The height of summer
I’d never felt that strong
Like a rock
I was eighteen
Didn’t have a care
Working for peanuts
Not a dime to spare
But I was lean and
Solid everywhere
Like a rock
My hands were steady
My eyes were clear and bright
My walk had purpose
My steps were quick and light
And I held firmly
To what I felt was right
Like a rock
Like a rock, I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock
And I stood arrow straight
Unencumbered by the weight
Of all these hustlers and their schemes
I stood proud, I stood tall
High above it all
I still believed in my dreams
Twenty years now
Where’d they go?
Twenty years
I don’t know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they’ve gone
And sometimes late at night
When I’m bathed in the firelight
The moon comes callin’ a ghostly white
And I recall
I Recall …
Like a rock. standin’ arrow straight
Like a rock, chargin’ from the gate
Like a rock, carryin’ the weight
Like a rock
Like a rock, the sun upon my skin
Like a rock, hard against the wind
Like a rock, I see myself again
Like a rock
FUTURE MEMORIES float around us,
Waiting for us to grab hold;
Waiting for choices to be decided,
Waiting for definition.
But there’s a catch, as there always is,
Consequences strung through each choice,
Baggage surrounding each future memory,
Unseen, unheard, and often untold.
Each day is a canvas left to conquer;
Colors are chosen, but there is no order,
It’s up to me to choose the object,
And bring order to the colored chaos.
But there’s a catch, as there always is,
Consequences strung through each choice,
What is the price for each future memory,
Unseen, unheard, and often untold.
What is the Framework and where are the boundaries?
What defines my life’s direction?
What are the goals, the prizes, the treasures
That define the goal of my life.
There’s a catch, as there always is,
Consequences strung through each choice,
Out of death comes life; and out of pain, there’s joy,
And FREEDOM in borne of TRUTH.
Run toward the TRUTH, the love of God among us,
The birds of the air or the lilies that bloom,
They don’t worry, or strive, or fret;
They just Run toward the TRUTH of GOD’s LOVE.
Not long ago, I remember a discussion that posed this song, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, as our National Anthem. It’s a powerful lyric with a musical score that understands the lyrics. But what does it mean?
It means … America is a nation of individuals. Each of these men and women had their own stories, their own reasons to take a stand, and their own aspirations. None were professional soldiers. None were trained in the art of “building a new nation.” The only thing they had in common was a desire to live FREE, unencumbered by government restrictions and regulations, guided only by what was “RIGHT.” They’d had enough of a tyrant – the King – ruling over them and making decisions for them… for their own good. When the king decided to disarm them, telling them he (the government) would keep them safe and take care of them, they knew better. They’d seen how the King “took care of the people” before, and they knew there had to be a better way to live. They knew!
Now, flash forward 236 years and our government today is copying the same legislative pattern Britain’s King George III followed all these years ago. We have been lulled into complacency by the power-grabbing elite of both parties, and in the process we have compromised our values, our morals, and now, we stand for NOTHING!
If only we could remember that our neighbor is just like us. We are all the same in our basic needs. Even the major religions all believe the same basic moral values and strive to improve both the individual and the culture by helping each other. If only we could remember what it feels like to do the “RIGHT” thing instead of the most profitable thing. If only we could remember the things our gramma taught us …
If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.
You have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak.
Be nice to the stranger, because you may find yourself in a strange place sometime in need of help.
And so on …
There is a TRUTH that supersedes all other thought. There is a Law that is universal, fair and honest. There is a morality that governs LIFE. It is God’s Law of Love.
This is NOT a requirement to be a CHRISTIAN, but simply a point of contact, a guideline, measurement stick. Each of the major religions hold to the same basic MORAL tenets, even if other aspects differ. Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity all respect LIFE. Even Islam respects life, although they define it differently. The point is … KINDNESS, RESPECT, HONESTY, CIVILITY, INTEGRITY … there is no LAW against any of these, nor any other society that abhors any of these things. They were once vaunted here, in the United States of America, a mere generation ago. Many remember … Can we not recapture these VALUES to put VALUE back into our daily discourse with one another? Hatred is such an ugly thing! Even uglier on the streets and in the homes of … US!
God’s Law of Love is the ultimate fulfillment of Biblical law, including the Ten Commandments, as it fulfills the intent of such laws. “All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14). Through Christ’s salvation and His Law of Love, Christians are released from the Mosaic laws in the Old Testament and are no longer bound by them. Instead, they are held to a higher law—Christ’s Law of Love, which should guide all our interactions with others. It is from this place that real liberty springs!
Only WE can change America. It’s not up to the government, or Big Business, or Walmart, or the oil companies. It’s up to US… you and me. We must decide. We MUST choose … Liberty of die!
EVERY VETERAN’S DAY, I stand with millions of Americans in debt to all Patriots who have gone before us in service to our great nation. Though I am a Vet, I served in time of peace, and dared to wear the same uniform as those brave souls who faced cunning and ruthless enemies. It is a debt I cannot repay, but it is a debt for which I am and grateful. I only wish more, particularly young people, had a better grasp of the ugliness of oppression experienced in other parts of our world. Maybe then, their appreciation of the liberties we yet enjoy would be greater.
Washington at Valley Forge. Lithograph by F. Heppenheimer, 1853.
THIS VETERAN’S DAY, there is a dark shadow looming overhead as our President continues to stonewall and dodge the questions of the American people concerning the Benghazi fiasco. CIA Directer Gen Petraeus resigned this week to avoid inquiry. Gen Ham of AFRICOM was “fired” after refusing to obey the order to “Stand down!” There is a general PURGE as President Obama removes record numbers of senior military officials. There are several websites collecting signatures on petitions, but I selected the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ). Please take a minute and stand on our enduring Oath to “Support & Defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic … ” Do this in memory of our fallen comrades. Do this to honor the memory of all who have served and given their all for their nation. And Pray …
This post is addressed to believers in Jesus Christ. The best of us have been contaminated by the sinfulness in our society. This is not a condemnation of others, but a gentle rebuke of myself and any who have ears to hear. If we want God to heal our land, quiet the hatred and violence, heal our families, we must repent of our sinfulness, our compromise, our choice to look the other way when our children do wrong. If we want God to heal our land … we must decide how badly we want … or need him to heal us, and we must decide what it is worth to us. We must also decide if we, as the American people, are able to heal and restore our land on our own. If not, the price is clear. Are we willing to pay it? Are we willing to clean up our act, our mouths, our attitudes for the sake of a restored America? Or have we become addicted to our stuff, our loose ways, our bad mouths, and our loneliness, the fear that rules our lives?
Perhaps the single most frustrating thing to me about this entire election season is the moral compromise within the Christian Church. First, I want to define for my purposes here, the Christian Church to be every faith, protestant, Catholic, or other, that believes in the divinity of Jesus Christ as the way to a victorious, contented life here and a heavenly life after. This includes, also, those who believe this way but are not involved with any particular denomination of local assembly.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Not too many Americans would deny that our land is in great need of “healing.” But what price must be exacted to obtain the longed for healing? Is it turning back the clock to the “dark ages?”
They knew, yet they let the battle rage for hours while Marines awaited the green light. They knew, and they let Americans die … WHY? So YOU might think al-Qaeda wasn’t involved, so the President would look good. So, how’s that workin’ for you, Mr President?
I hear many Americans complain about the lying in DC, but is there TRUTH in our lives? I read about sex scandals because, of course, sex sells, but is our sex life pure? Celebrities are famous not only for their entertainment but for their common misuse and abuse of “recreational” drugs and alcohol. They make the news with their carousing, but what about you and me? Are our lives so pure and without “sin” that we are qualified to cast the first stone?
The horrific incident in Benghazi fills the blogosphere, and is beginning to appear in the mainstream media. Outrage over this affair is seen on Twitter and Facebook as more information filters out to us. As I read through one of the articles today, tears overwhelmed me. Righteous indignation over the administration’s apparent (perhaps deliberate) withholding of help from those under fire burned within me, and I wept.
My tears turned to prayers for the families of those lost, but quickly evolved into prayers for us … You and me sitting comfortably and allowing the character of people in this nation to waste away, expecting nothing above animal behavior. Oh, our expectations have been slowly eroded over decades even as we once were outraged by smoking or women in slacks. We have grown accustomed to immorality. Every TV programs flouts sexual exploits with multiple, rotating partners. While cigarette smoking has been minimized, language has devolved.
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 2 Chron 7; 14
We have a decision to make November 6, that involves so much more than who will set up housekeeping in the White house. Our behavior will cost us, one way or another. I used to teach my kids that “Righteousness brings blessing, but disobedience to God requires a price.” No! It doesn’t require that every American believe in God, or submit to His ways! No! It doesn’t require us to “give up” that secret vice we want no one to know about. It simply requires us to be honest with ourselves. How can we expect our leaders to govern in integrity if we don’t require it in ourselves? How can we ask our leaders to represent us in Truth, if we cannot discern the truth from fiction?
We must decide if we want our society to be a caring and compassionate society that respects one another even when we disagree, or if we will forego our individual freedoms for some illusion of communal security.
We must decide if we are ready to toss the Golden Rule and insist on the lowest Common Denominator in morality,as well as education.
We must decide if the development of a woman’s brain is more important than the availability of free contraception and abortion.
We must decide if mankind is no different than animals, or can we learn from our mistakes and pursue a virtuous life that bears its own rewards? Do we stay where we’re comfortable, even though it’s killing us, or strive to improve our lot for ourselves and our progeny?
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice,
and that you may cling to Him,
for He is your life and the length of your days;
and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers,
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
N.Korea threatens “physical response” to U.S. moves
OLD NEWS: About a year ago, Americans were battered by news and threats of an eminent confrontation with North Korea, remember? The networks, cable, and talk shows analyzed and over-analyzed the situation up one side and down the other. War was coming … they were sure. The sky was falling, they were convinced and they told us repeatedly until the issue just faded into news oblivion.
Paranoia strikes deep,
Into your heart it will creep.
It happens when you’re always afraid,
Step out of line, and the man come to take you away.
Fear of Islamic Militant Attacks in Nigeria Spreads to Lagos
EVERYDAY NEWS: “The fear of attacks by Islamic militants in Nigeria is spreading south to the commercial capital, Lagos, where city buses are being checked for bombs. A group that says it is fighting for a separate Islamic state is thought responsible for a series of attacks across the north.
“Bomb attacks and ambushes in the northern city of Maiduguri have indefinitely closed the university there and led to an exodus of civilians, some of whom are newly unemployed motorbike taxi drivers after all motorbikes were banned in Maiduguri because Islamic militants were using them to throw bombs.
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
Mark Twain
Obama: No guarantee for Social Security checks
TODAY’S NEWS: “It was a striking thing today to see the President of the United States say that he cannot guarantee the 27 million Social Security checks that are due to be mailed on August 3rd.”
Striking, indeed! Words cannot express the outrage, the frustration, the offense perpetrated by the President’s remarks. This is a bold face LIE!
A BOLD-FACE LIE!
One of many lies oozing from the White House these days. To intentionally terrify our Seniors by intimating insufficient funds for their Social Security checks is beyond reprehensible! The many thousands of Seniors who rely on those checks to pay their everyday living expenses need to be assured THEIR money is safe and will be in the mail as its usual time regardless of a deal on the budget/debt ceiling. Confusion breeds fear, and truth dispels it. Simple as that!
“This debt limit increase is his [President Obama’s] problem,” Rep. Boehner said. “And I think it’s time for him to lead by putting his plan on the table something that the Congress can pass.” AMEN!
FEAR is terror. Terrorists breed terror! Are you following my thinking? Where is Homeland Security? I have a complaint!
Are WE THE PEOPLE getting tired of this yet? Had enough lies, yet? Had enough manipulation of the masses yet? How ’bout that Executive Order today taking away the 2nd Amendment rights of those living along the border. First the stimulus money pays for the whole “GUNRUNNER” scheme which then backfires, so now ya, let’s disarm the American people so they can’t protect themselves. Sure! That makes sense! Let those drug cartels and Islamic terrorists freely come and go. No need for borders, right?
“We must build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
More and more it seems this administration, and the powers that be behind him, intends nothing good for America. That’s a very hard thing to fathom, but the evidence is mounting. Martin Luther King, Jr. understood fear. He understood the power of fear. Today, WE THE PEOPLE are challenged by fear all around us. The America we have known is quickly falling into corruption beyond anything we have seen before.
WE THE PEOPLE …
must remember who we are and our noble heritage.
WE THE PEOPLE …
must remember what we have known, what we have seen, what we have loved about America.
WE THE PEOPLE …
must remember how we were thrust into this “War on Terror!” We must remember 9/11 and the unity that ensued!
WE THE PEOPLE …
must resolve to do our part to reclaim America and restore her liberties, for all law-abiding Americans!
“And though George W. Bush somehow retained his composure in that Florida classroom — the weight of history settling on his shoulders, a copy of The Pet Goat in his hands — what the children remember most is how his face turned red.
“Deep red. Angry red. Not a face for reading gentle morality tales with moon-faced second-graders at Sarasota’s Emma E. Booker Elementary School.” READ MORE
Aphorisms are those things we remember! Things “Gramma” used to say. Strong, true, and concise, aphorisms contain bits of wisdom, wit or information in a small package. Synonyms include proverb, adage, and maxim.
Poor Richard’s Almanac (Remember, the one started by Benjamin Franklin) became noted for, among other things, its stellar content of a few! Drive thy business; let it not drive thee.
Generally, aphorisms are useful in conversation, but also as “guiding lights” through life’s winding journey. We all know some of these if we’ve been around at all. Politicians, religious speakers, and teachers use them frequently.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Listed below is but a wee sampling for your perusal, edification, and enjoyment!
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. Albert Einstein
I am a foolish man that does stupid things, not a stupid man that does foolish things. Jonathan Troy
Applause is the spur of noble minds, the end and aim of weak ones. Charles Caleb Colton
Every dogma must have its day. H. G. Wells
Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the universe together. Carl Zwanzig
Would you live with ease, Do what you ought, and not what you please. Poor Richard’s Almanac
For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the sheltered will never know. Unknown
There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full. Henry Kissinger
No man e’er was glorious, who was not laborious. Poor Richard’s Almanac
I hope you’ve enjoyed a romp through an aphorism playground. Do you have a personal favorite to share?
Read more …
600 Proverbs (Aphorisms) from Poor Richard’s Almanac
blogsense-by-barb 