Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem

It was with great sadness but no surprise when President Obama's speech given at the UN contained such strong anti-Israeli sentiment. As one of my friends put it -"I have never heard such anti-Isreali sentiment come from an American president." Scripture, the ultimate standard for all of life and living regardless of the opinions of men, states that we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, not be a part of those who would seek to destroy it. It seems as though our president wants us to join in with those who hate the Jews and the nation of Israel. It seems as though he wants us to be among those who promote the enemies of Israel regardless of the Word of God stating that those who bless Israel, He will bless, and, those who curse Israel, He will curse. Of course, there are those who do not accept the Word of God as the final authority for all things that pertain to life and living and, therefore, would disagree with that statement of promise made to Abraham.

I am proud to be an American. I am glad that I do not agree in any way, shape or form with a president with such anti-semitic and anti-christian views. I am thankful and extremely humbled to be a Christian for I know I did nothing to deserve my salvation in Christ. As one who believes the Word of God and studies it, two specific passages come to mind. The first is Proverbs 6:16, 17 - "These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked imaginations, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that sows discord among the brethren." When I think of our president, I am grieved to say that I only see seven things that he fulfills in this scripture and am reminded that God resists the proud. The second passage had to do with the UN and there seeming resentment and hatred for the nation of Israel. These men (along with our president) and their plans which are anti-christian in nature reminded me of Psalm 2 which says "Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder and cast their cords away from us!' He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury . . . He shall break them like a rod of iron and shall shatter them like earthenware." Psalm 2:1-5,9

I believe things are going to get very rough. Persecution of the nation of Israel and believers in Christ will intensify as we will in this anti-christian society. But God's response? He laughs at the plans of proud men and holds them in derision. All the so-called mighty men of the earth, including our president, are nothing compared to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. They may have their day, but in the end the Lord will deal with them in much more severe judgement than they can mete out and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

My friend, if you don't know this Jesus, my prayer for you is that you might realize your sinfulness, recognize that He (Christ) who knew no sin, took your sin upon Himself, died on the cross for you, was buried, but rose again so that you might have life and have it more abundantly, humble yourself and surrender your life to Christ, the only hope, and receive forgiveness for your sin and the gift of eternal life in Christ. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Won't you humbly turn to Christ today? I pray that you will!

May God have mercy on us, upon believers in Christ, and upon the nation of Israel!

Health Care - Education - The Home

Many Americans have been speaking up and continue to speak out against the Obama health care plan which is socialistic to the core. We must keep fighting for our freedom if we plan to keep it. Now we are discovering another battle which must be fought with the same fervor - the battle for the minds of our children. The educational philosophy of humanism teaches a concept of no absolute truth of relative values and ideals. Our children are viewed as the property of the state and are to be educated for the purposes of the state. The idea of our President going before our children in the school setting and teaching them of their responsibilities to the government and the Obama pledge is a scary thing indeed. It is pledging allegiance to King Obama. I am reminded of what our forefathers said when asked to pledge allegiance to the King of England at the time of the Revolutionary War - they said "We have no king, but King Jesus" The easiest way to take control of a nation is through the education of children. If they are indoctrinated with the ideas of socialism, we will become a socialistic state - it is only a matter of time. It is the responsibility of the home to educate young people, not the state. But the teaching that we have had in our public schools for the past 80 or more years is that it is the governments responsibility to educate our children. Back in the late 1600's Massachusetts had an "Old Deluder Law" which said the purpose of education in public schools was to teach children to read the Bible so they would not be deceived by the old deluder, Satan. Schools taught students character, integrity, the value of hard, honest work, a respect for God, country, and people's property. Today, we indoctrinate with the socially acceptable, politically correct humanistic philosophy which denies the existence of God, seeks to destroy moral values, teaches that man was nothing more than a higher form of animal, and is of use only as they can profit the state. Such education is an abomination. May I encourage you to put your student in a school where truth and moral absolutes are taught. We did that with our first 4 children, sending them through Christian Heriatage Academy, and are now homeschooling our 5th. If you do send your child to a school that will be showing the President's message on September 8, may I encourage you to keep your child home on that day in protest of the socialistic propaganda that will be spread in the minds of our children that day. We must accept our God-given responsibility to raise our children and care for our families. If we don't, we will be forfeiting not only our liberty, but the liberty of our children in years to come.

Health Care Reform Bill

President Obama and others are trying to push through once again, as with the hate-crimes bill being attached to a defense spending bill, a health care reform bill with a hidden agenda. That hidden agenda - to make all Americans - regardless of their beliefs and opinions, to support the funding of the murder of the unborn child (commonly called abortions) with our federal tax dollars and private insurance programs. Planned Parenthood and other abortion-mill operators will be termed as "essential health care providers" under this new plan. This is in fulfillment of the Obama campaign promise to Planned Parenthood and others that he would mandate funding for "reproductive services" (i.e. abortion) if elected President. This legislation will require you and me to pay for abortions regardless of our convictions, beliefs, and opinions. It will require businesses who have taken a stand against abortion to provide for their employees abortion coverage even if it violates the owner's beliefs. And what will happen to Christian doctors and nurses, or even non-Christian health care professionals, who oppose participating in Obamacare? Will they lose their licenses to practice? What will happen in the health care industry to those who choose because of their convictions to not participate in or support abortions? You see, a fundamental, God given right to property is being violated. James Madison wrote that "Conscience was the most sacred of all property." The purpose of government is to protect our property, not violate it. So many times we view property as that which is external, such as houses, lands, cars, etc. But Madison wrote that a man has a property in his opinions, his ideals, his beliefs, his convictions. Only to the degree that civil government is willing to protect our internal property of conscience will it be effective in protecting our external property. If government ignores our internal property then they will believe that our external property belongs to them also. That is why we have the teaching that government grants us our liberty. That is a lie! It is not the government who grants us liberty, but God alone. The purpose of government is to protect that God-given liberty. That is one thing that distinguishes our country from others, the concept of the source of liberty and the ensuing purpose of government!

Hate Crimes -Defense Bill

Obama politics is sweeping the Congress. Senator Reid attaching the Hates Crimes Legislation to a Defense Spending Bill is the only way that it might be accepted. And the pressure is now on those who want to support our troops to pass this tainted bill or seem like they're not supporting our troops. Pretty clever. Contact your Senator and encourage him to vote this bill down, not because of the defense portion, but because of the portion of the bill that is totally unrelated to the defense of our country.

National health care system, potential approval of Sotamayor, hate crimes legislation, control of the economy (which keeps getting worse because of their control), development of the bi-czar system of government (who are these guys answerable to anyway - not we the people but me - the Obama), these things are eating away at the freedoms of our country like a fast-spreading cancer. Stand up, speak up, and when the opportunity comes for us to vote again (which cannot be soon enough), vote these people out of office. They are taking away our liberties and we cannot let them do that!

Was This Nation founded On Biblical Principles?

There has been much debate in Oklahoma recently, as I am sure in our nation because of some of the comments made especially by our president that America is not a nation founded on Biblical principles, that it is not a Christian nation.

The student of real, not revisionist history, who goes back and does their due diligence, however, cannot deny the influence of Christianity in America and the fact that we are a Christian nation founded on Biblical principles. Though we deny it today, the facts still remain, clear for all to see, if they will but look.

For instance, take the speech of Benjamin Franklin on June 28th at the Constitution Convention in Philadelphia. The convention was at an impasse with much disagreement taking place, when Franklin, who by the way had been greatly influenced by a pastor in Boston by the name of Cotton Mather, rose and in his speech said:

"I have lived, sir, a long time; and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little partial, local interests, our projects will be confounded and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future ages. And, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war, or conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move:

That hereafter prayers, imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service."

Sounds to me like Franklin thought they should trust God and seek His aid in the establishment of this nation! Oh by the way, there are hundreds of other such speeches, documents and recordings just like this. May I encourage you to do research and see. Have a great day!

The Importance of Voluntary Exchange

One of the things which has been emphasized in our Declaration of Independence and protected in our Constitution is the blessing of voluntary exchange. It is a blessing to be able to make choices as to whom I will exchange with, what will exhcange for, when I wish to make a voluntary exchange, and for how much I am willing to enter into voluntary exchange for. It's what makes our economy work. Ultimately, people are willing to exchange goods, services or monies in order to exchange with others for things which they feel will give them greater benefit or satisfaction. People, because of their self-conscious nature where they are aware of what their needs are, learn to make choices that will best benefit them. Governments part in this type of system is to protect a person's right to exchange with others in a free marketplace so others will not steal from them or deceive them. It is a wonderful system - it works.

However, we must be careful that government stays in a protection mode and not begin to take a control mode. Whenever this has happened historically, it has proved to be harmful to the private sector. Whether it has been to control wages - which has created unemployment, or control the flow of money - which has caused inflation, government intervention into the economy has proved harmful to the economy by limiting the choices that are available to people who are capable of making their own choices in the marketplace. There is the danger of making wrong choices, but it is the people who are personally responsible for the choices they make and not the government's place to bail them out of their troubles. We learn much quicker when we are confronted with the consequences of wrong choices than when we are bailed out of them. If I am truly looking out for my needs and the needs of my family, I will quickly learn from the mistakes I make and learn to remedy them. I don't need big brother government to help me out at this point.

And that is one of the concerns that I have concerning a national health care program - I believe that it takes away the fundamental right of the pursuit of happiness by limiting my choice of health care provider. I must learn to live within my means, to save, to invest, to look ahead and plan for the future. I want the choice of selecting the doctor I want to treat me, to go to the hospital I wish to be treated at, to take the medication that I feel is best for me after consulting with my personal physician and deciding what is best for me and my family. But the more government intervenes into the health care system the fewer choices I will have and the lower the quality of healthcare I will be able to receive. national healthcare provision is not working in other countries, why do we think it will work here. It sounds very good, very humanitarian, but at the bottom line it takes away more of my resources and limits my choices, thus limiting my freedom. I believe to the degree we would rid ourselves of government regulation in the medical field (that's regulation and provision - not protection) the more competitive the medical field would become - and the result? Better quality care at more affordable costs, new and better ways of treating various illnesses, more personable treatment of patients (if doctors are chosen based on their performance and treatment of their patients, I bet things would improve). Can this work? Absolutely, a free people, given the opportunity to make their own choices, always seem to make things better!

The Best Protector of Liberty

Interesting events during the past week. As President Obama held a reception honoring gay rights activism a representative from the state of Oklahoma spoke out against the degenerating morals of America and said that the loss of biblical values in America was the cause of our troubles. We have embraced lifestyles and values which directly contradict the teaching of scripture and, as a result, are subject to the wrath of God upon our nation. Is that really true? Is abortion and euthenasia wrong? Is promoting and accepting the gay lifestyle in America wrong? Is promoting divorce and infidelity in marriage wrong? Have we really come into a time when God is judging America? I think that I would agree with Sally Kern in saying yes! But some would say, "How is God judging America?" Well, we could point to the threat and reality of terrorism even on our own American soil as a sign of judgement. We could sight the increase and intensity of violence in America. But I think it is much more than that - God in dealing with the children of Israel who had been rebellious against Him merely let them have their own way. God gave them what they wanted but sent leanness into their souls. God speaks in Romans 1 of people who constantly suppress (cover up, hold down) the truth that He gives them up to a depraved mind and degrading passions, letting them have their own way knowing that it will bring them to destruction. Sometimes that's what I seem to be observing in America - people thinking that they know more than God, getting their own way, and then suffering the consequences of it, but still not turning to God.

Cotton Mather, pastor of the Old North Church in Boston, graduate of Harvard at age 18, and considered to be the most intelligent man in New England of his time wrote in his epoch work 'Magnalia Christi Amercana" that in America "religion begat prosperity and the daugther devoured the mother." How true! It seems that we have forgotten the author of liberty - the Lord God Jehovah.

It is God who is the author of liberty, not government. Even our forefathers stated so in our very Declaration of Independence. But how do we protect the liberty which comes to us from God. For if we do not protect our liberty, we will lose our liberty. Ronald Reagan said that if we fail to recognize that we are one nation under God, then we will become a nation gone under.

Let's listen to John Adams, our 2nd President:

June 21, 1776 - " Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitiution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure, than they have it now, they may change their rulers and their form of government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty."

Diary, July 26, 1796 - "The Christian Religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of Wisdom, Virtue, Equity, and Humantiy."

Letter to Jefferson June 28, 1813 - "Now I will avow, that I then believe, that those general Principles of Christianity, are as eternal and immutable, as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of Liberty, are as unalterable as human nature and our terrestrial, mundane system."

Letter to Jefferson December 25, 1813 - "I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen."

How about cousin, Samuel Adams, the Father of the American Revolution in his writing on the "Rights of Colonists" 1772 - "The right to freedom being the gift of the Almighty... The rights of colonists as Christians. . . may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institution of the Great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly and written and promulgated in the New Testament."

Adams again - "He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his country who tries to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man. . . The sum of all is, if we would most truly enjoy this gift of Heaven, let us become a virtuous people."

Virtue, moral excellence, righteousness in our own lives is the greatest protector of liberties as we live in obedience to the principles of liberty outlined in the Bible, God's Word. May we return this day to the liberty we have in Christ and not be entangled again with the bondage of our own ways.