In the early days of this nation - in fact, before it was a nation -- the majority of Americans were the rough equivalent of today's biblical scholars, except that our forefathers didn't spend all their time trying to disprove or undermine the Bible as is so common today.
It's getting difficult to learn anything about the Bible accurately in the secular community, and even many modern churches have distorted the Holy Writ to fit their own agendas. For example, because there are so many homosexuals and lesbians passing themselves off as clergy, their message differs distinctly from the Bible, in which God Himself condemns those who prefer their own sex.
So-called Progressives who have infiltrated the Christian Church (and the culture in general) have adapted the Bible to fit a "social gospel" that promotes class warfare and twists the Gospel message to fit their revolutionary doctrine. For example, they will explain Christmas by comparing the birth of Jesus to the homeless of today. But according to the Bible, Joseph and Mary weren't homeless, they were just unable to find accomodations because all the rooms were filled with others who had to come to Bethlehem to register for the new Roman tax.
But let's for the moment turn away from the lies and deceit. The truth is that Jesus is the human aspect of the Triune God, who temporarily surrendered His divinity to pay the ultimate price for our sins and provide redemption for us.
Jesus came in utmost humility although He was the King of kings and Lord of lords. He came not only to give us the ultimate example of how to behave, but also to buy our freedom from the penalty for our sins, by His own selfless act of sacrifice.
God-hating athiests (why such hatred, if they don't believe in him?) try to undecut the Bible at every opportunity. They'll bring up tidbits about how Christmas is derived from many pagan traditions. While we don't know the exact date of Jesus' human birth, from the evidence we can deduce that it may have been in the autumn.
Such aspersions don't really matter, though. Long ago, people chose a date on which we celebrate His birth. Over the years Christmas has been secularized, demonized, commercialized, scrutinized, and plagerized. But for Christians, it remains a time when we can focus on remembering to treat others as He wants us to treat them. We tend to speak a little gentler, behave a little more civilly, become a little more generous. We give gifts, because He gave Himself as the ultimate Gift. Hopefully, amidst all the stress and anxiety we place on ourselves, we might take at least a few moments to actually think about Him, and what He gave us through His earthly life.
Have a very Merry Christmas. Remember the real reason for the season.
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jesus. Show all posts
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 26, 2008
Looking forward, downward, upward
I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and avoided that current intolerable intolerance of all things Christian. But now we must again look forward, especially in light of a new administration about to take over the reign --uh, reins -- of government.
The Bush Administration is about to exit, with one more instance of egg on its face with the revocation of the presidential pardon of Isaac Toussie for a real estate scam among a flurry of clemency for drug dealers, counterfeiters and other criminals. Yet as of this writing, two loyal Border Patrolmen -- Ramos and Compean -- remain behind federal bars for doing their job. Not so incidentally, an article recently appeared that exposes how timid currently serving border guards have become, refusing to return fire when attacked at our southern border for fear of ending up in prison like their brethren. I had long been a supporter (and still support his views on the Middle East wars) until he began his obeisance to the Mexican government. I can support him no longer. While our southern border explodes in kidnappings, crime and violence, George Bush has been acting as though he's campaigning to move into the Mexican version of the White House.
The bailout continues to bankrupt our nation by trying to bouy up corporations that are sinking themselves (with the help of the unions, of course). More companies "just too big to fail" are begging at the federal teat (i.e., our wallets), and a report out this morning opined that by next Christmas a lot of familiar company names apparently not too big to fail may no longer be around. You can expect states to follow, and several, including our own perpetually overtaxed New York State, have already put in their applications.
On Fox News today, a scary scenario is emerging, whereby at least 19 states are ready to close courthouses for extended periods to save money . While this may not sound very important, here's the point: delaying criminal (i.e., felony) trials for extended periods is a breach of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. As Fox's own Judge Napolitano warned, it could mean localities and states being forced to set criminals free, partly in order to avoid even more costly infringement lawsuits. And should we not mention further weakening the Constitution?
The bailout and the California court (regarding Prop 8) have showed us that government no longer responds to the will of the people, and the PC police continue to run roughshod over us. Here in New York, the governor is proposing to put a high(er) tax on such items as non-diet sodas and other sugared foods. So we can't consume sweets or fats; what's next?
Besides the what-should-be-obvious fact that higher taxes only limit what poorer folks can buy, drive out those who can afford to move, and put an increasing burden on those forced to remain, it illustrates that when the people are removed from the mechanism and oversight of government, government naturally tends to increase its power over the people, and in its greed and avarice will eventually go beyond the point where it can even manage the power it grabs, to the point of utter collapse of the entire society.
If allowed to dictate which foods you can eat, what other limits to credulity will it try to stretch? In only a generation, government has severely restricted your right to use tobacco (as much as I hate the stuff, you should still have the right to abuse it if it doesn't affect others) and alcohol, has severely limited your right to defend yourself, has put an excessive tax (call it 'extortion by government') on your money if you try to take it out of the country, has heavily taxed the medical industry (which accounts for a sizeable portion of medical expenses), taxes virtually anything that does or doesn't move, continuously calls for taking more money from those who are successful (thereby limiting their willingness or ability to produce jobs for others), and has allowed a largely unregulated abortion industry to kill off millions of future workers (which also would have been known as taxpayers). Have I missed anything? Oh, yeah, the increasing marginalization and persecution of Christians who have struggled to restore some semblance of sanity and balance.
Although I have tried hard to push off the conspiracy theories I had entertained in years past, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the evidence that there is, if not a conspiracy, certainly an unsettling consensus of ideology diametrically opposed to all the good that has been produced in western culture over the past two hundred-plus years (for example; didn't George Soros -- the major contributor for leftist causes -- and others help to collapse the British pound in 1992?). Because of a Marxist/Darwinist ideology that has slowly been inculcated throughout the culture (although "culture" is becoming more of a misnomer by the day) through the media and the educational system, we have a population that cannot discern the difference between right and wrong, and cannot differentiate between good and bad except where it concerns personal selfish motives.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad tidings, especially at a time when most of us try to be upbeat. But until we pull our collective heads out of our nether regions, things are going to get worse. Much worse. And the worse things become, the louder the cry will go out for someone to 'save' us. Unfortunately, without the personal ability of discernment (which requires actually trying to understand how things work), we will continue to look for help in all the wrong places; and as the saying goes, we will get the kind of government we deserve.
I'd like to believe the incoming Obama Administration will discover quickly how wrong its campaign promises were (and they are already backtracking on many of them, to the ire of the liberals and useful idiots who elected him), but I fear there will be a lot of intentional and circumstantial missteps that are going to further divide and weaken this nation.
Frankly, though I hate to say it and don't want to see it happen, we deserve to be taken down. For decades, America has been on a slow course of national suicide, but the pace has dramatically increased in only the past few months. Our Founders instituted a government that requires the overwatch and participation of the population. Instead, we've become a populace too lazy to actually pay attention to our leaders, and only weakly and briefly protest when those leaders slowly remove our rights and impose ever-growing taxes on us. Most voters continue to pull the lever for the one who will seem to do the most for them individually, rather than collectively. Such a self-centered mindset is not in the best interest of the nation.
I now see the wisdom of the Founders original design which only allowed landowners to vote, because when parasites become the eventual majority of the electorate, chaos naturally follows. Those few who still try to argue for a return to sanity and responsbility are shouted down as 'hate-mongers' and dividers. In fact, have you ever noticed that virtually every accusation thrown at conservatives (especially Christians) is the same thing they themselves have done? It's an old and frankly juvenile ploy of blaming the good guy for the sins of the bad guy, and yet, so many folks are willing to believe the lies instead of actually checking for themselves. As Hitler once said, tell a lie often and loud enough and the people will believe anything.
We still allow the murder of more than a million children each year in this country alone by the abortion industry, and Obama indicates he will do all he can to remove the few restraints presently in place. While he claims to oppose single-sex marriage, he owes the overly-loud and increasingly violent homosexual activist segment of the culture, which has been allowed to exercise an influence greatly in excess of its numbers (even as it continues to actively recruit to its deathstyle in the schools and media). Obama will be pressed to give even more opportunity and influence to radical homosexuals who have shown little restraint or regard for that segment of society that actually reproduces.
And now that I've sown so much misery, allow me to switch into reverse.
Yesterday was Christmas. While the evidence indicates that Jesus was not born on December 25th, it is the day we celebrate His birth. Outside of a very small circle of people including His parents, the Magi, the shepherds in the fields and the prophets who foretold His coming, few realized Who that baby in a manger was, or that He would suffer beyond our understanding in order to save us from the sins resulting from that very lack of understanding. Even today, with the propagation of thousands of ministries spreading the Good News throughout the world, with increasing physical and historical evidence pointing to the truth of the Holy Bible, many still don't seek Him, nor understand why we need Him so desperately. Many people throughout history have literally thrived on ignorance, either their own, that of those around them, or (usually) both. In a world of unreasoning and increasing hatred and selfishness, I can only echo the old lament, "O Lord, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."
I am utterly convinced that if we, as individuals and as a nation, began to look to Him and returned to the word of God as our instruction manual for life, He would bring us out of this deepening mess we're diving into. Of course, as a nation we probably won't do the right thing because we keep choosing the wrong leaders and refuse to listen to sound advice. But if we each would personally repent (i.e., renounce, turn away from) our sins - and each and every one of us have sinned against God and one another - and returned His laws into our own personal code of conduct, He would save us from our enemies and our own faults. It should be obvious by now that we cannot save ourselves, because we cannot get out of our own way. Our salvation, both personal and national, must come from above.
The Bush Administration is about to exit, with one more instance of egg on its face with the revocation of the presidential pardon of Isaac Toussie for a real estate scam among a flurry of clemency for drug dealers, counterfeiters and other criminals. Yet as of this writing, two loyal Border Patrolmen -- Ramos and Compean -- remain behind federal bars for doing their job. Not so incidentally, an article recently appeared that exposes how timid currently serving border guards have become, refusing to return fire when attacked at our southern border for fear of ending up in prison like their brethren. I had long been a supporter (and still support his views on the Middle East wars) until he began his obeisance to the Mexican government. I can support him no longer. While our southern border explodes in kidnappings, crime and violence, George Bush has been acting as though he's campaigning to move into the Mexican version of the White House.
The bailout continues to bankrupt our nation by trying to bouy up corporations that are sinking themselves (with the help of the unions, of course). More companies "just too big to fail" are begging at the federal teat (i.e., our wallets), and a report out this morning opined that by next Christmas a lot of familiar company names apparently not too big to fail may no longer be around. You can expect states to follow, and several, including our own perpetually overtaxed New York State, have already put in their applications.
On Fox News today, a scary scenario is emerging, whereby at least 19 states are ready to close courthouses for extended periods to save money . While this may not sound very important, here's the point: delaying criminal (i.e., felony) trials for extended periods is a breach of the constitutional right to a speedy trial. As Fox's own Judge Napolitano warned, it could mean localities and states being forced to set criminals free, partly in order to avoid even more costly infringement lawsuits. And should we not mention further weakening the Constitution?
The bailout and the California court (regarding Prop 8) have showed us that government no longer responds to the will of the people, and the PC police continue to run roughshod over us. Here in New York, the governor is proposing to put a high(er) tax on such items as non-diet sodas and other sugared foods. So we can't consume sweets or fats; what's next?
Besides the what-should-be-obvious fact that higher taxes only limit what poorer folks can buy, drive out those who can afford to move, and put an increasing burden on those forced to remain, it illustrates that when the people are removed from the mechanism and oversight of government, government naturally tends to increase its power over the people, and in its greed and avarice will eventually go beyond the point where it can even manage the power it grabs, to the point of utter collapse of the entire society.
If allowed to dictate which foods you can eat, what other limits to credulity will it try to stretch? In only a generation, government has severely restricted your right to use tobacco (as much as I hate the stuff, you should still have the right to abuse it if it doesn't affect others) and alcohol, has severely limited your right to defend yourself, has put an excessive tax (call it 'extortion by government') on your money if you try to take it out of the country, has heavily taxed the medical industry (which accounts for a sizeable portion of medical expenses), taxes virtually anything that does or doesn't move, continuously calls for taking more money from those who are successful (thereby limiting their willingness or ability to produce jobs for others), and has allowed a largely unregulated abortion industry to kill off millions of future workers (which also would have been known as taxpayers). Have I missed anything? Oh, yeah, the increasing marginalization and persecution of Christians who have struggled to restore some semblance of sanity and balance.
Although I have tried hard to push off the conspiracy theories I had entertained in years past, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the evidence that there is, if not a conspiracy, certainly an unsettling consensus of ideology diametrically opposed to all the good that has been produced in western culture over the past two hundred-plus years (for example; didn't George Soros -- the major contributor for leftist causes -- and others help to collapse the British pound in 1992?). Because of a Marxist/Darwinist ideology that has slowly been inculcated throughout the culture (although "culture" is becoming more of a misnomer by the day) through the media and the educational system, we have a population that cannot discern the difference between right and wrong, and cannot differentiate between good and bad except where it concerns personal selfish motives.
I'm sorry to be the bearer of such bad tidings, especially at a time when most of us try to be upbeat. But until we pull our collective heads out of our nether regions, things are going to get worse. Much worse. And the worse things become, the louder the cry will go out for someone to 'save' us. Unfortunately, without the personal ability of discernment (which requires actually trying to understand how things work), we will continue to look for help in all the wrong places; and as the saying goes, we will get the kind of government we deserve.
I'd like to believe the incoming Obama Administration will discover quickly how wrong its campaign promises were (and they are already backtracking on many of them, to the ire of the liberals and useful idiots who elected him), but I fear there will be a lot of intentional and circumstantial missteps that are going to further divide and weaken this nation.
Frankly, though I hate to say it and don't want to see it happen, we deserve to be taken down. For decades, America has been on a slow course of national suicide, but the pace has dramatically increased in only the past few months. Our Founders instituted a government that requires the overwatch and participation of the population. Instead, we've become a populace too lazy to actually pay attention to our leaders, and only weakly and briefly protest when those leaders slowly remove our rights and impose ever-growing taxes on us. Most voters continue to pull the lever for the one who will seem to do the most for them individually, rather than collectively. Such a self-centered mindset is not in the best interest of the nation.
I now see the wisdom of the Founders original design which only allowed landowners to vote, because when parasites become the eventual majority of the electorate, chaos naturally follows. Those few who still try to argue for a return to sanity and responsbility are shouted down as 'hate-mongers' and dividers. In fact, have you ever noticed that virtually every accusation thrown at conservatives (especially Christians) is the same thing they themselves have done? It's an old and frankly juvenile ploy of blaming the good guy for the sins of the bad guy, and yet, so many folks are willing to believe the lies instead of actually checking for themselves. As Hitler once said, tell a lie often and loud enough and the people will believe anything.
We still allow the murder of more than a million children each year in this country alone by the abortion industry, and Obama indicates he will do all he can to remove the few restraints presently in place. While he claims to oppose single-sex marriage, he owes the overly-loud and increasingly violent homosexual activist segment of the culture, which has been allowed to exercise an influence greatly in excess of its numbers (even as it continues to actively recruit to its deathstyle in the schools and media). Obama will be pressed to give even more opportunity and influence to radical homosexuals who have shown little restraint or regard for that segment of society that actually reproduces.
And now that I've sown so much misery, allow me to switch into reverse.
Yesterday was Christmas. While the evidence indicates that Jesus was not born on December 25th, it is the day we celebrate His birth. Outside of a very small circle of people including His parents, the Magi, the shepherds in the fields and the prophets who foretold His coming, few realized Who that baby in a manger was, or that He would suffer beyond our understanding in order to save us from the sins resulting from that very lack of understanding. Even today, with the propagation of thousands of ministries spreading the Good News throughout the world, with increasing physical and historical evidence pointing to the truth of the Holy Bible, many still don't seek Him, nor understand why we need Him so desperately. Many people throughout history have literally thrived on ignorance, either their own, that of those around them, or (usually) both. In a world of unreasoning and increasing hatred and selfishness, I can only echo the old lament, "O Lord, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."
I am utterly convinced that if we, as individuals and as a nation, began to look to Him and returned to the word of God as our instruction manual for life, He would bring us out of this deepening mess we're diving into. Of course, as a nation we probably won't do the right thing because we keep choosing the wrong leaders and refuse to listen to sound advice. But if we each would personally repent (i.e., renounce, turn away from) our sins - and each and every one of us have sinned against God and one another - and returned His laws into our own personal code of conduct, He would save us from our enemies and our own faults. It should be obvious by now that we cannot save ourselves, because we cannot get out of our own way. Our salvation, both personal and national, must come from above.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Advance of the Godless, Part 2
I wasn't planning a Part 2, nor to make this a running religious commentary, but the invasion of the soul destroyers is unrelenting, insidious, and knows no boundaries. Therefore, it is the duty of the faithful to counter these attacks by way of real reason (not the distorted type the atheists claim) and truth. ("For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." -- Mark 8:38)
By now you're probably aware of the group of atheists who got permission from the governor of Washington State to erect a placard promoting their empty view of the universe and their inability to sense the human need for connection with our Creator in, of all places, the lobby of the state capitol (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,461824,00.html), next to a nativity scene and Christmas tree. Of course, these folks have a right to express their shallowness, ignorance and hypocrisy for all to see, but Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire has no obligation to allow them to directly attack Christian beliefs in conjunction with a Christian holiday, using state property to do so. Whether they like it or not, Christmas is a legal holiday and Christianity is still the predominent American religion. For the governor to sanction this hate-filled attack is either an act of moral cowardice or a sign of support for their views, which includes the following statement on one of their placards: "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens our hearts and enslaves our minds."
Obviously, they make a lot of dangerous presumptions they can't prove, but proof is never a requisite for a fool. In fact, history shows us the opposite is true, in that the United States - a nation founded by Christians on biblical principles - actually softened peoples' hearts and showed the entire world what freedom is and the success it engenders. Liberty was a vague term and an intangible concept prior to the Declaration of Independence, which pays homage to our Creator.
Apparently, these "enlightened" folks haven't learned that the entire world was engaged in savagery, slavery, decadence and ignorance until Jesus Christ, the Son of God, changed history, slowly working against the tide of darkness. They seem to ignore the fact that it has been secular governments (and misinterpretations of religious tenets) that have caused most of the hundreds of millions of deaths due to war, crime and starvation in just the past hundred years or so. Christianity was the motivating force behind modern hospitals, charities, orphanages, the Red Cross, the Reformation, the saving of Europe from the Muslim invasion, the conversion of Vikings into missionaries and of cannibals into, well, non-cannibals. The founders of most of the branches of modern science were dedicated Christians who developed or led the way for technological wonders because they were inspired by their faith (including Pasteur, Newton, Babbage, Galileo, Da Vinci, Morse, Bell and hundreds of others). For more information on the effect of Christianity on the world, read D. James Kennedy's What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
I would be surprised if this gang of aspiritual thugs had the cojones to stick their anti-God placard in front of a mosque during Ramadan, or (as Bill O'Reilly opined) in front of a black Christian church on Martin Luther King Day. Unfortunately, it appears that Caucasian, Asian or Arabic Christians are the only religious groups it is socially acceptable to openly attack.
Now there's also the promotion of a blasphemous "gay bible" in New Mexico (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82520 ), which intentionally turns Scripture on its head, impuning all that Christians, Jews, possibly Muslims and even non-religious but actually intelligent people understand as being the foundations of at least nominal faith for more than half the world's population.
A lot is said about freedom of speech in this country. While many liberals try to muzzle conservative talk radio as "hate-speech", little is said about the spittle foaming from their own mouths as they spew their venom. Liberals always seem to confuse liberty with license, while conservatives equate liberty with responsibility. The publisher of this new non-Bible is pushing trash on the public, which means that more than a few children are also going to be infected with its lies and distortions. That in itself is, or should be, a crime.
The American people, and that includes you -- must stand up against this tidal wave of hatred, ignorance and lies. If we refuse to take up the battle, this nation will continue its plummet downward. It will become a place of ignorance, persecution, fear, apathy, laziness, and violence. It will be a place you will not want to live in (and will be more difficult to live in) nor would you want your children to have to survive in it. The time is rapidly approaching when each of us will have to decide whether we want to be the steamroller, or the road.
By now you're probably aware of the group of atheists who got permission from the governor of Washington State to erect a placard promoting their empty view of the universe and their inability to sense the human need for connection with our Creator in, of all places, the lobby of the state capitol (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,461824,00.html), next to a nativity scene and Christmas tree. Of course, these folks have a right to express their shallowness, ignorance and hypocrisy for all to see, but Democrat Governor Christine Gregoire has no obligation to allow them to directly attack Christian beliefs in conjunction with a Christian holiday, using state property to do so. Whether they like it or not, Christmas is a legal holiday and Christianity is still the predominent American religion. For the governor to sanction this hate-filled attack is either an act of moral cowardice or a sign of support for their views, which includes the following statement on one of their placards: "There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens our hearts and enslaves our minds."
Obviously, they make a lot of dangerous presumptions they can't prove, but proof is never a requisite for a fool. In fact, history shows us the opposite is true, in that the United States - a nation founded by Christians on biblical principles - actually softened peoples' hearts and showed the entire world what freedom is and the success it engenders. Liberty was a vague term and an intangible concept prior to the Declaration of Independence, which pays homage to our Creator.
Apparently, these "enlightened" folks haven't learned that the entire world was engaged in savagery, slavery, decadence and ignorance until Jesus Christ, the Son of God, changed history, slowly working against the tide of darkness. They seem to ignore the fact that it has been secular governments (and misinterpretations of religious tenets) that have caused most of the hundreds of millions of deaths due to war, crime and starvation in just the past hundred years or so. Christianity was the motivating force behind modern hospitals, charities, orphanages, the Red Cross, the Reformation, the saving of Europe from the Muslim invasion, the conversion of Vikings into missionaries and of cannibals into, well, non-cannibals. The founders of most of the branches of modern science were dedicated Christians who developed or led the way for technological wonders because they were inspired by their faith (including Pasteur, Newton, Babbage, Galileo, Da Vinci, Morse, Bell and hundreds of others). For more information on the effect of Christianity on the world, read D. James Kennedy's What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
I would be surprised if this gang of aspiritual thugs had the cojones to stick their anti-God placard in front of a mosque during Ramadan, or (as Bill O'Reilly opined) in front of a black Christian church on Martin Luther King Day. Unfortunately, it appears that Caucasian, Asian or Arabic Christians are the only religious groups it is socially acceptable to openly attack.
Now there's also the promotion of a blasphemous "gay bible" in New Mexico (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=82520 ), which intentionally turns Scripture on its head, impuning all that Christians, Jews, possibly Muslims and even non-religious but actually intelligent people understand as being the foundations of at least nominal faith for more than half the world's population.
A lot is said about freedom of speech in this country. While many liberals try to muzzle conservative talk radio as "hate-speech", little is said about the spittle foaming from their own mouths as they spew their venom. Liberals always seem to confuse liberty with license, while conservatives equate liberty with responsibility. The publisher of this new non-Bible is pushing trash on the public, which means that more than a few children are also going to be infected with its lies and distortions. That in itself is, or should be, a crime.
The American people, and that includes you -- must stand up against this tidal wave of hatred, ignorance and lies. If we refuse to take up the battle, this nation will continue its plummet downward. It will become a place of ignorance, persecution, fear, apathy, laziness, and violence. It will be a place you will not want to live in (and will be more difficult to live in) nor would you want your children to have to survive in it. The time is rapidly approaching when each of us will have to decide whether we want to be the steamroller, or the road.
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