Looking for Hope

The "good old days," a bygone era 

Assuming that you are more than nine years old, and unless you've had your head safely tucked under a rock, you are probably aware that the world around us has changed.

Prior to September 11, 2001 this was a much different country than it is today. Sure, we whined and complained, but we could get on a plane with little more than a ticket and boarding pass (and with a lot more luggage for a lot less price) and unlike today, retain our dignity in the process. There were millions more of us who had jobs, we could afford decent medical care, and we still had some semblance of privacy. As a nation we still had allies we could count on, and who could still count on us. While we had plenty of disagreements, for the most part the world was relatively stable, both geologically and socially. Then the world changed, and so did we; slowly at first, but now social change is happening at a more rapid pace. The Earth itself is in upheaval and society is freefalling toward chaos. That last part is no accident.

Until three years ago, we were still respected throughout the world, even (grudgingly) by our enemies, because we had a President who knew how to lead without surrendering our national dignity. But now we have a president who seemingly came from nowhere, has accelerated and exacerbated the trashing of our economy, has pushed our military to the brink of exhaustion while giving more aid and confidence to our enemies, has humiliated himself and this nation before the rest of the world, has emboldened our enemies and alientated our friends, and is redesigning this government on a neosocialist model which I believe will ultimately be the worst combination of the old Soviet Union and Huxley's Utopia. He has the attitude and arrogance of a king, with the leadership abilities of a demagogue.

Although children born within the last decade won't realize it because this is their "normal," things are dramatically diffferent today, and they are likely to get even more so in the months and years to come. We are witnessing an era marked by gross disrespect for the preborn, the very young, the elderly, and the peacefully patriotic. We are seeing continual diminishing of our right to free speech, freedom to peaceably assemble, right to dissent, right to protect ourselves, right to own and do as we wish with our own property, not to mention the right to life itself. A complicit news media distorts the truth to foster revolution. And the attacks against our freedoms have come from both sides of the aisle.

As people grasp for hope in increasingly difficult times, it is continually being pulled further away from us. One 'hand' doing the pulling are atheists.  Instead of being simply a personal choice, atheism as a movement has become more agressive, with its often nihilistic proponents initiating innumerable frivolous lawsuits against anything associated with Christianity (but oddly, virtually never against Islam).

Recently some have begun proselytizing their non-faith to the point of following the example of homosexual activists and trying to popularize it in movies, with TV sure to follow. On the other hand, our churches - the final bastion of organized hope - have been so deeply undermined that many are all-but-empty, and the preaching from many pulpits has become so radically separated from their world-changing founding document - the Holy Bible - that people are either flocking to some churches because they pander to man's weakest traits or they are running away from them because of their blatant fraudulence.

I'm undoubtedly going to ruffle feathers here, but if a church grossly violates biblical principles by redefining biblical doctrine, it should not even be called a Christian church. That applies especially to those denominations which cherry-pick the particular verses that can be twisted to a completely different meaning from their original intent, and those that ignore the Bible completely as the authoritative source of doctrine and information regarding the faith.

I know some readers are chomping at the bit to challenge me. "What do I consider as true biblical doctrine?" they're asking. My response would be that Christians should be following the Ten Commandments of the Mosaic Covenant, and the so-called "eleventh" commandment of Jesus Christ; "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40).

It must be noted, however, that the Commandments were given to make us aware of our sinfulness before God, and that each of us is flawed, violating one or more of those laws either in our body or our thoughts, all of which are accountable before Him. To God, there are no greater or lesser crimes; all offenses are punishable by death, because a perfect God cannot tolerate imperfection; and as any thinking person will admit, a little disease (sin) soon spreads and contaminates the whole body. And because we are "faulty," and cannot free ourselves from the ultimate penalty, the Father offers us a means to save us from eternal punishment. Christ Jesus came to provide that Way to escape.

Christians, by default, should be bound by the New Covenant which is symbolized by baptism in Christ, because it was His sacrifice on the cross that provides salvation for us. For those who don't believe, nothing I say will convince them. We could have endless discussions on biblical doctrine and religous philosophy, but this forum is too limited, and I'll be the first to admit I don't have all the answers. God provides an option, but each of us chooses his own path. My real concern is that many are willing to believe, yet are confused by clever wolves in pastor's clothing who twist scripture to twist minds.

Rev. Wright and Fr. Pfleger
preach marxist revolution theology

There are now, for example, so-called mainstream "churches" that are attempting to gut the concept of the Holy Trinity; for example, abandoning the concept of God the Father. As the Father image is the superior aspect of the Trinity, the attempt to minimize or remove Him from the equation is nothing less than an attempt to destroy the faith at its very foundation, and those who preach such blasphemy from the pulpit are worse than mere liars.

But this all fits in with a larger plan initiated by the communist party that has been in effect for a long time. Concerning the Church, their goals were:

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity, which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

This plan was exposed back in 1963. Look at it, and then look around you. Has it been successful or not?
As I noted earlier, we each choose our own path, even if others limit our choices. Too many of us have either remained in the dark or silent, and the enemy isn't just at the gates, they are well within the gates. Our choices are now narrowing between life or death, prosperity or poverty, peace or war, courage or cowardice. Make your decision soon, or someone else will make it for you.

Alone no more

Please pardon the delay in getting this edition out.  My step-Dad Ken Salisbury passed away earlier this week, and his passing has provided even more introspective moments than usual for me. He married my Mom a few years after I had moved in with my grandparents, and I had already been something of an outsider even to my own family.

It took me quite a while to warm up to Ken because my parents went through a bitter divorce which had long-term ramifications for me, and I suppose it was difficult for me to trust again. What I gradually learned was that there was a deep bond of love between Mom and Ken (hint to the oblivious: whirlwind romances and marriage don't automatically equate to a deep and abiding love), and I have worked to cultivate that sort of bond in my own marriage - which was a surprise itself, since my parents' divorce had convinced me against marriage until I hit forty. Over the years since we tied the knot I've learned it takes hard work, a high level of faith, a sense of humor, and a fair amount of patience and forgiveness (of myself, mostly). You'll have to ask my wife if I've succeeded.

I grew to respect Ken as I saw him stand by the family through the years and the difficulties, and the love and respect that they showed him gave me clues to what I had missed. Having an interest in history I tried to connect by getting him to open up about his wartime experiences. Other than one brief story about dealing with a German sniper during WW2 he was silent on those experiences, at least with me. That, I've found, was common from his generation, especially those who had seen a lot of action. It has probably always been that way, at least in American culture. For most soldiers who see war up close and personal, the memories are not easily forgotten, nor wanted.

I knew Ken was a man of honor and integrity, and I loved and respected him deeply despite my own emotional distance. My brothers and sisters will sorely miss him. So will I, because I know he was a unifying element of our family. But each of us rest in the faith and hope of a far richer existence for him knowing that he was a deeply committed Christian, and he and my mother - whom he had missed since her death so many years ago - are together again. The greatest blessing - although a difficult one - is that he was with family at the end, in the home of my brother and his wife instead of in a hospital or nursing home.

Faithless.  Speaking of faith; It is amazing how people who have spent their lives ignoring or mocking God are now trying to cash in on the whole "religion thing" by coming out with brand-new reinterpretations of the Holy Bible designed to cast doubt on the authenticity of the Scriptures and to simultaneously confuse those who are spiritually searching, water down the inspired word of God, and lead people into false beliefs.. Admittedly, that itself a sticky statement, because everyone naturally believes they follow the only true faith or have the correct interpretation.

Part of the problem is that most Christians never or hardly ever actually read the book that is the guide for that faith, which makes it so much easier to be confused or misled.  Bible editions that cater to homosexuals, feminists have their own obvious fan group, and now animal-lovers are pushing for an edition that panders to critterdom, leaving believers who actually have read the Bible scratching our heads, wondering what the next generation of Christians will look like. Absent a movement toward relearning scriptural roots, I'd venture to guess they won't look anything like those heroes of the faith who changed the world, all too often by allowing themselves to be sacrificed (not others, as with certain believers of another faith) in the Colosseum, burned at the stake or imprisoned unto death for their faith, or advancing the arts, sciences and institutions that made authentic Christian culture the most positive (and most maligned) force for good in human history.  But ultimately, the effort (in whatever context) belongs to each of us as we are able, and the results are up to God.

Admittedly, I'm speaking mainly about Western Christians in the Americas and what's left of them in Europe. But because Christianity is taking it on the chin in this part of the world because of a concerted drive by secular atheists and frankly, our own intellectual and spiritual laziness, it's quite possible that the next great wave of true believers will show up as the tranformational force in Africa (if it survives Islam's tendency toward forced assimilation), and China. As it did throughout Europe in the wake of the Dark Ages and the Muslim conquests, it is persecution that stirs the hearts, causes the Church to dig in its heels, and drives the gospel forward.

Cycle of death.  Under a Republican administration, recent "whistleblower" reports that The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco ,Firearms and Explosives has not only allowed but facilitated the smuggling of more than 2,500 guns into Mexico would have the potential to destroy a presidency and have heads figuratively rolling across the testimony chambers of Congress. But under the Obama "most transparent in history" malAdministration, don't hold your breath.  Incidentally, the agency, variously known as ATF, BATF, and BATFE are the same folks that helped, along with the FBI, to bring us the Waco and Ruby Ridge debacles. Their raison d'etre appears to be to hamper the exercise of the Second Amendment and needlessly duplicate some of the enforcement functions of other agencies.

Ironically, the "Project Gunrunner" so-called sting operation actually began in 2005 during George W. Bush's term (coincidentally, around the same time as US Border Patrol agents Ingnacio Ramos and Jose Compean were prosecuted and persecuted by our own Department of inJustice for wounding an illegal alien drug smugler) but it continues to steam along, racking up a body count along the way; including at least two US federal agents so far. The agency's fact sheet on the operation conveniently (and expectedly) dances around but avoids the fact that our own agents were "coaxing" US licensed gun dealers to participant in the plan to ferret out those who were aiding Mexican gun cartels in getting the firearms - reported to include .50 caliber sniper rifles - across the border to gangs who have no compunction at all over whom they are used against, or in which country. It's no surprise that the body count is rising.

Isn't it fascinating that at the same time our federal government has abandoned both its primary role as defender of our borders and the safety of the vestiginal force of agents that still put their lives on the line to guard it, it is permitting and providing very efficient firearms for the same people who are intent on pushing our southern border up against our northern border.

If truth has no agenda, then spreading falsehoods must...  There is an old saying, to the effect of, "You can tell how much power you have by the number of your enemies." If there is any truth to that old axiom, then Glenn Beck must be one powerful dude. For example, Media Matters has reportedly established a special "Get Beck" unit with a reported $10 million budget and more than 80 people specifically tasked with taking Glenn down; and it doesn't seem to matter whether the tactics are ethical, moral or legal. However, proving that even a stopped clock is right twice a day, their "Glenn Beck chart" (a takeoff on Beck's own frequent use of blackboards to illustrate his points) is pretty much spot on, and I don't see anything I disagree with on it other than a couple of minor contextual points.

But it isn't just Beck who has caused the radical Left to switch into high gear in what can only be described as an "open conspiracy" to take the US government down from the inside out and cause chaos, which would produce a leadership vacuum they would be only too eager to fill. The Left also continues to produce a generation that is less educated than their grandparents' generation (just being familiar with technology and being told you're smarter isn't really proof of greater intelligence), but filled with an inflated sense of self-esteem and generally unaware of how they've been cheated. The end product will eventually be a population of government-compliant worker drones who follow directions and won't loudly criticized government. Heads-up: Never say, "It can't happen here." It is. From the use of strategically-chosen "buzz-words", to carefully-planned schemes, a number of our fellow Americans, aided by a nondescript army of "useful idiots" who are signing away their own futures, are working overtime to discredit all the conservative bell-ringers.

Not an 'official' victim.  One of the most terrifying experiences a human can experience would be to be kidnapped, held against your will and beaten by a mob of more than a dozen men. Increase the terror factor by adding gang rape and assorted gross forms of sexual abuse - it doesn't matter what gender the victim is. Now, let's raise it up another notch; the gang of rapists are government soldiers or police tasked with protecting the public. Got the picture? Pretty damn depressing, humiliating, and angering, isn't it? So then, let's push it one step beyond: You are the victim; you finally get out, run into a hotel lobby crowded with journalists, crying out your name, what happened to you, and by whom you were victimized. Then government "minders" who work as waitresses, the manager, or simply faces in the crowd suddenly rush you, restrain and gag you and drag you out to a waiting car, only to disappear to who-knows-where. As I said; "imagine."

For one Libyan woman in her early thirties, it wasn't her imagination. Last Saturday, Iman al-Obeidi rushed into the restaurant in the Rixos hotel in Tripoli, crying out her frantic story; how she was stopped at a police checkpoint, held for two days and repeatedly raped and abused. Some of the reporters tried to protect her as  people tried to subdue her, but she was pulled away, the reporters threatened, and at least one camera was smashed by the suddenly-appearing "officials."  The "official" claim was that Iman was drunk, or mentally deranged, and that she was being whisked away to a hospital "for examination."

Is the woman merely drunk or deranged? I honestly don't know. I'm not sure anybody will ever find out for sure. I'm used to living in a country where, even if you're crazy or drunk, you generally aren't gagged to prevent you from speaking. I guess it's just a culture thing, this freedom we enjoy. But on the one hand, I wanted to call attention not just to one woman - whom I will give the benefit of doubt and believe her story until proven otherwise - but for all the thousands...millions of women (and men) who are shouted down, or gagged and dragged away by those who should be their protectors. And I don't just mean in backward, repressed foreign countries.

On the other hand, I want to call attention to this sort of horrible abuse, because it isn't only possible that it could happen right here in America, similar things may very well happen in our very near future, except for God's Providence, and a hefty dose of wake-the-hell-up for the vast majority of my brain-dead countrymen. I'm calling attention to the woman the government didn't want anyone to pay attention to because the world and the country we knew is rapidly disappearing. It is being "fundamentally transformed" into a nightmare world only a relative few envisioned, and that the rest of us only knew from enduring a depressing book or movie, and from slices of history few Americans have been taught, or that we are being subtly taught to forget.

And a little Child shall lead them

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.

Point of Exit

It appears as though the Obama malAdministration is using the VA as another test bed for its 'denial of services' brand of healthcare. According to Jim Towey, writing in the Wall Street Journal, the VA has reissued an end-of-life planning document titled, " Your Life, Your Choices." The problem is that the 53-page booklet seems little more than a clever use of psychology to convince aging and infirm veterans that their lives are no longer worth living. Curiously, even though it promotes informed choices, no faith groups or disability rights advocates were invited to contribute to the book, although the now-renamed Hemlock Society was.

So now, in addition to seeking to limit the average American's health options, the Commander-in-Chief is staging a 'soft' attack on our nation's most valiant defenders. Maybe it's just me; but nearly everything this guy puts his fingers into indicates a loathing of the country that has allowed him so much success and which has so catered to his monumental ego. At least one Marine veteran took the battle right back to those in Washington who have chosen to make the American people their personal enemies.

No longer the 'delicate flower'? Speaking of veterans, there's an insidious trend occuring in our military. For American forces, the use of women in combat has always been anathema to our fundamental Christian ethic. But the rules are being bent, if not broken, and as we are lured further and further from that foundational morality the rules that have guided and protected us are being increasingly violated. The problem is, when women are removed from their traditionally protected status (in principle if not always in fact) and needlessly injected into the horror of upfront war, they become the most vulnerable targets on the battlefield, not only in a physical sense, but a psychological and moral sense as well. And that vulnerability can be transferred to the men in the unit, either by a female soldier's psychological breakdown (and I'm not saying it doesn't happen to men) or by men putting themselves at increased risk to protect the women.

My personal opinion is that women in the military should be trained to fight if necessary, but they shouldn't be thrown into the grisly business of combat just because there aren't enough men for the mission. That is a failure of strategy, not an excuse for tactics that leave the very essential reproductive segment of society at increased physical and mental risk. Wherever we're headed as a nation, I don't think we're going to like it much when we finally arrive.

Master of the forked tongue. Well, perhaps he's not a 'master'; but he's certainly a legend in his own mind. If there's any truth in the axiom, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones," then President Obama is the last person who should be chiding Christian conservatives about "bearing false witness." But that's the exact phrase he used last Wednesday in a teleconference with liberal religious leaders, implying that Christians are lying by stating that Obamacare has abortion-friendly aspects. Even some 'Blue Dog' Democrats are expressing concern that H.R. 3200 has some provisions that try to sneak abortion funding in under the radar.

"And everyone did what was right in their own mind." The ruling body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has apparently decided that the Word of God - better known as the Holy Bible - will no longer be the foundational document for one of the largest Christian denominations in the U.S. Under a new decision, ELCA will allow the ordination of clergy that are openly homosexual -- so long as they are monogamous gays or lesbians (as though that makes a difference to God).

The problem is that without the Bible as a standard, reference and rulebook, the Christian religion means nothing because it can be changed as a society's moral climate changes. We are all fallen creatures; sinners in mind and/or body. If we believe in God, He must be an unchangeable and perfect God -- compassionate but just -- as He is presented to us in the Holy Book. Otherwise, man is left as the measure of all things (in his mind), and that is a most fickle and unreliable standard, unable to save anyone's eternal soul. It is because God is just and compassionate that He provided the only means by which we can escape our natural predeliction for damnation, in that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to pay our death penalty and provide our salvation. It is also the reason He gave us His Word, as an instruction book for how to live - personally and with each other - and as a guide for what happens when we leave this moral realm. It lays out the rules, the rewards and the punishments.

The Right Way. No matter what aspect of life you're talking about, some ways are better than others. Ray Comfort and former child star Kirk Cameron do a terrific job of showing us the best way. Who says Hollywood is all garbage? These guys prove an exception to the norm with their The Way of the Master website and videos.