Questions Everyone Should Be Asking

ABC radio news reported that the recession has ended and the economy is recovering. They have been sounding optimistic (NO warnings) in every report since January 21st of 2009. Prior to that, every report, even when the news was actually good, was tempered with a warning.

Is the economy improving and is the recession over?

The following facts may help determine the state of the economy.

Social Security recipents will not get an increase for the first time in 35 years this next year. Should we be thrilled that Obama is going to return $250 to each recipent to “make-up” for this? Are we lulled into believing that when Obama returns such a ‘large’ sum of our own money to us something great has happened?

The US dollar is in danger of becoming worthless. This is especially bad news for those who are retired and are depending on a 401 K. What happens to this segment of the population when the dollar no longer has value?

Unemployment has hit 10.3%. How does the end of the recession feel to these folks? Even CNBC is having difficulty with the report that the recession has ended.

Meanwhile, as Wallstreet seems to recover, we are warned that the “U.S. dollar continues to plunge, taking a large bite out of the true gains made by the surging Dow.”

Certainly there is not much on the financial front that is encouraging and nothing to indicate that Obama knows how to lead this country out of financial difficulty. We are deeper in debt than we have ever been, our money is worth less than it has ever been and the deficit is in trillions and rising.

Is there hope?

“Yes” and “no”. There is hope for those who have placed their trust in a loving God. He will provide for His children. There is no hope for those who place their trust in a government. Even without corruption, government is bloated and unable to make any sort of wise decisions. Add corruption into the mix and you get present day Washington D.C.

Thoughts May Be Punished

Obama is determined to make every liberal idealogy into a law during his hopefully brief time in office.  He will not veer from the radical left wing agenda. What Americans want does not matter. The lessons history has taught repeatedly, do not come into play. All that seems to matter to Barack Obama is getting radical left wing agenda ideology made into law. Judging from his actions, that is more important than defending the Constitution or defending freedom. 

Warning from AFA,  American Family Association.

Here’s what wrong with the “hate crimes” bill:

• It criminalizes thought. For the first time in American history, criminal penalties are being attached to thoughts, not actions. Perpetrators will receive extra punishment not for what they did but for what they were thinking when they did it.
• It endangers freedom of religion and speech. Everywhere in the world “hate crimes” laws have gone into effect, they have quickly been used to harass, intimidate, silence and punish people of faith. Your pastor could go to jail if even a tenuous link could be established between a sermon on homosexuality and some act of violence.
• It destroys the American principle of equality under the law. It creates a judicial caste system, in which some victims get more legal protection than others. It actively discriminates against heterosexuals by giving them less protection in law than victims who engage in non-normative sexual behaviors.

In a devious maneuver by Democrats, it’s attached to a Defense Appropriations bill. Our military deserves a stand-alone vote on funding.

The only people who should not be worried about what is happening are those who are above the law. (Now who would that be?) For everybody else, this is bad news.

Marvin Olasky –

Marvin Olasky is credited with being the originator of “compassionate conservatism”.  He is a former Marxist communist which gives us all hope that those in Washington who are pushing a Marxist agenda may yet realize why this pathway is a pathway of poverty and want for most Americans, not even to mention the loss of freedom as we know it.

Mr. Olasky, like many well-intentioned people, truly believed that communism offered a better life for those in poverty. Thankfully he was able to be rescued from a philosophy that leads only downward for the vast majority of people living under a communist regime.

Olasky was able to see the truth when he began to recognize and to acknowledge the working of the Holy Spirit of God in his life.

The term compassionate conservative offends me personally because it implies that conservatism is not ordinarily a compassionate way of life. My experience is that it is the only compassionate lifestyle.  In order to be liberal, a person must first be conservative.  Think about the root words of the two political doctrines are and what each means.

Show me anyone who gives liberally and I will show you a person who learned first to conserve their resources. It is something we should teach our children and live by example. Even ideas are better when they are first conserved and considered. End results need to come into focus before we share the idea or lifestyle with others.

Blogsurfer seems to be a good site for finding blogs that appeal to your interest.

“Behold, I come quickly…”

Eight times in the book of Revelation John hears the term “quickly” used.  Both the Bible and the book of the Revelation end with the words of Christ as he says….  

“Surely I come quickly.”

A friend remarked to me just the other day that every day she turns on the news and there is something new and shocking made known. If you listen to news about how quickly life is changing in the USA, your head, like mine, is probably spinning.

Jesus, in Matthew eight tells us that when the signs of the end times begin…

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Translators usually say that this description indicates that once the signs begin, they will increase in intensity quickly as a woman’s labor pains increase as the birth approaches. Having given birth three times I fully understand that the pains come quickly as the birth approaches!

In Matthew 13, Christ continues to describe the signs of the end.

For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

Not long ago I heard a Bible teacher explain that once these signs begin, they will come so quickly that the earth will not have recovered from one before the next occurs.

1st Timothy 4: 1-3 tells us:

¹Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ²Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; ³Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

Stephen Bennett  has written a book entitled, The End. I do not ordinarily mention a book I have not read, but the book is available on line and the preview caught my attention.

It seems to me that time is running out.  This age of grace seems to be coming to a close.

1 Peter 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

Glenn Beck on Mark Lloyd

PLEASE go to Glenn Beck and listen to who Mark Lloyd is and listen to the quotes from this man. It is so frightening that these people are working with Obama.

Today’s show comes on again later tonight.

Michael Moore vs Sean Hannity

Watching Michael Moore on Hannity was no less than fascinating to me. It was the closest look I have had at Moore.

He acknowledged that he is a multi-millionaire, which we already knew. He also professed to be a Christian as he is a Catholic. He claimed that he doesn’t hate capitalism, but hates what it has become.  He did not seem at all like the radical his works indicate him to be.

I would have loved to have been able to ask a few questions of Moore. Among the things I would like to know:

1.  Did you start disagreeing with capitalism before or after you accumulated your first million?

2. How can a person, who, under the protection of the first amendment,  has enjoyed monetary gain from bashing others, believe that a regime such as the one in Cuba is a better system? 

3. Do you really believe that all wars are wrong and do you truly believe that we went into Iraq in order to kill innocent Iraqis rather than hunt down the Taliban?

4. Do you really believe that Marxism will improve the lives of the poor or will it just make us all equally poor as in the former USSR & Cuba?

5. Which is more important to you – holding on to your own wealth or seeing others less fortunate become prosperous through private enterprises? If it is to see others become prosperous, as you stated, why not begin a fund for first time entrepreneurs to use to get established.

6. If you believe a liberal government has the answer to all our problems why won’t you donate your personal wealth to that government when there is a financial crisis and we are deeply in debt?

Glenn Beck Presents Challenge

Today Glenn Beck made a request. 

Regarding the personal attacks against him, Glenn asked that rather than attacking his family or his personal life please:

Spend your time telling the American people where I am wrong or spend your time telling the American people that I wasn’t wrong about…

For some time now, Glenn has been raising questions. He has broken some news stories and he has shown revealing clips from groups such as ACORN and NEA that help Americans to understand what is happening in this country.

Glenn has, since July 09, been organizing a group of ‘Watchdogs.’  Call them snitches or whatever name you like, but on school playgrounds, without the ‘tattlers’, bullies would often never be called.  In Washington DC and around this country, we have lived in a sort of never, never land until recently. We might enjoy bashing a politician now and then or engage in a political argument, but the thought that our government would be run by those who do not believe in our system and who are not happy with our constitution never, never crossed our minds. Most politicians were basically the same. We knew we could not trust any politician completely, but suddenly we are aware of just how serious it is – to not be able to trust our politicians.

If you are like me, you feel quite helpless as Washington makes decisions that will change your life and very likely endanger your future and the future of your children and grandchildren. 

Glenn Beck makes suggestions that might actually empower us to help our country. He tells of ways we might become involved. Perhaps we will be able to help end some of the corruption or help others become more aware of what is happening.

Surrender

The ladies of our church have entered into another Bible study and I would like to reiterate something I said earlier.

Nancy DeMoss is a wonderful author.  She has written Choosing Forgiveness, A Place of Quiet Rest, Lies Women Believe, Walking in the Truth, A Thirty Day Walk with God in the Psalms, Brokenness: The Heart God Revives, Surrender: The Heart God Controls, Holiness: The Heart God Purifies, and she co-authored Seeking Him.

Her book, Surrender: The Heart God Controls explores the nuances of the Greek word translated bondslave.  We are reminded that God desires that His children surrender their lives to Him in much the same way a person could willingingly become a bond slave or slave to a master in Biblical days.  It is a voluntary surrender and done because of the trustworthiness of the Master.  Many atheist, non-Christians, and agnostics are hindered from knowing the Lord because the idea of becoming a slave to another person or Person is unappealing .

In today’s world, we have been taught that one who would own another person is a tyrant and does not deserve respect, let alone worship. This is not an accurate picture of God our Father. He does ask or call us to become a doulos in our relationship to Him.  We who have done this find that God surprises us in that once a person becomes a bond slave to Christ, they experience freedom in a way not known prior to the surrender.

We are not called to doulos in order to massage the ego of God, but rather in order for Him to be able to fully protect and save us from our sin nature and from Satan throughout eternity.

Whether we make the decision to serve Christ completely in an instant or over a period of time while God has extended grace to us, the decision is life changing as well as life giving. 

Learn more about Nancy DeMoss by visiting Revive Our Hearts. Her ministry has been a blessing to many women.

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.  Proverbs 14:34

British Teen Dies From Vaccine Given in a Public School

Parents need to read the government run health care bill and learn if their children will be required to receive injections in the public schools. This will not be easy because democrats voted against placing a bill on-line seventy-two hours prior to the vote. Now why do you suppose they do not want  citizens to have a right to read a bill that affects their lives, as every bill does? So much for transparency and allowing the American people who put them in office to have a say in what is done in Washington.

They also voted against an amendment that would require members of Congress to actually read a bill in order to vote. 

Perhaps this is one aspect of government run health care – students receive vaccines while in school.

I wonder if parents are notified prior to their child receiving an injection?

When I was a child, the health department came to all public schools in the south and administered vaccinations. We received diphtheria shots, typhoid fever shots, smallpox vaccinations and polio vaccines via public schools.  My mother always knew ahead of time, I think.  At that time, this was a service that most parents appreciated. Today, however, there is not a need for this sort of thing. Parents have become fearful of the vaccines that are given, prefer to opt out of some vaccinations, and have adequate transportation so that schools need not serve as a health clinic. 

Schools have, however, held on to the right to intervene in reproductive rights. 

How has this worked out, one might ask?  The CDC reports that 39.7% of all births are out of wedlock births. That represents more than 25 percent jump from five years before with the rate doubling since 1950.

Our Nation At A Crossroads

Obama is much more easily understood and what he is now doing in this country is easily understood once you ‘hear’ this one quote from 2001.

 I think the tragedies of the civil rights movement was, because the civil rights movements became so court-focused, I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing, and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change. And, in some ways, we still suffer from that.

 On the issue of slavery, America was wrong for many years. The problem was corrected, however, by Americans. It did not take a foreign power to come in and free those who were under the bondage of slavery in this country. There was widespread discrimination after the Civil War.  Again, Americans worked together to end all legal discrimination.

Only God can change a heart. Only God can forgive sin. Certainly black Americans have much to forgive.  The suffering that we now experience is a direct result of the sin of slavery and the need of restoration. This cannot be legislated. Restoration comes through repentance, forgiveness, and faith in God.

Martin Luther King envisioned an America where a man is not judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character. This must be the goal of all Americans if we are to remain a free, prosperous people.  We must not vote for a man or woman because of skin color. Neither should we vote against a man or woman because of skin color.  We must work together to elect a person because of the content of his character.

Our country has arrived at a fork in the road to our future. This is not about black or white. This is about individual freedom and independence – the freedoms that were won for all white Americans by the Revolutionary War and for black Americans by the Civil War. We, all Americans, must begin to pray and work together to follow the path that leads to freedom and independence. Otherwise, we will all go down together. When a government takes control of the decision making and takes away the individual right to decide, everyone loses. History has taught this lesson many times. We must INSIST that our children be taught the truth concerning our history.