just muddlin' through

The Power to Tax...Legalized Larceny

2009-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation." --John Marshall

"The collection of taxes which are not absolutely required, which do not beyond reasonable doubt contribute to the public welfare, is only a species of legalized larceny. The wise and correct course to follow in taxation is not to destroy those who have already secured success, but to create conditions under which everyone will have a better chance to be successful." --President Calvin Coolidge (1873-1933)

What Really Matters

2009-03-27T07:21:00.000-07:00

“If the people in a church do not believe the first question and answer to the Heidelberg Catechism, then everything else they may say or do doesn’t matter.” --Karl Ludwig of the Hungarian Reformed Church

Q: What is thy only comfort in life and death?

A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

At the Heart of the Christian Faith

2009-03-02T08:17:00.000-08:00

"It is impossible that any ill should happen to the man who is beloved of the Lord; the most crushing calamities can only shorten his journey and hasten him to his reward. Ill to him is no ill, but only good in some mysterious form. Losses enrich him, sickness is his medicine, reproach is his honor, death is his gain. No evil, in the strict sense of the word can happen to him, for everything is overruled for good. Happy is he who is in suc a case. He is secure where other are in peril, he lives where others die." Charles Haddeon Sprugeon

Red Envelope Day

2009-02-25T07:54:00.000-08:00

During the month of March, thousands of pro-lifers from around the nation will be participating in Red Envelope Day. Why don't you join us? The idea is very simple. We will all just send Red Envelopes posted to the White House to arrive on or before the last day of the month.

We will all write a very simple message on the back of each of the envelopes:

"This envelope represents one child who died because of abortion It is empty because the life that was taken is now unable to be a part of our world"

That's it. Some folks are gathering groups together to do mass mailings. Some have had a rubber stamp made to mass-produce the message. One enterprising group has even had postcards, envelopes, and postage stamps which can be purchased.

Regardless of how you do it, just do it. And make sure your Red Envelopes arrive at the White House on or before March 31, 2009.

The address is:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Send a letter. Make a difference. Save a life. Be a part of Red Envelope Day.

Obama's Pro Death Presidency

2009-02-25T07:51:00.000-08:00

President Barack Obama has established quite a portfolio of extreme pro-abortion advocacy--already making his administration the most radical anti-life, anti-family administration in American history:

January 5, 2009 - Obama picks pro-abortion Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as the chairman of the Democratic Party.

January 6, 2009 - Obama chooses Thomas Perrelli, the lawyer who represented Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife, as the third highest attorney in the Justice Department.

January 22, 2009 - Releases statement restating support for Roe v. Wade decision that allowed virtually unlimited abortions and has resulted in at least 50 million abortions since 1973.

January 23, 2009 - Forces taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. Decison to overturn Mexico City Policy sends part of $457 million to pro-abortion organizations.

January 26, 2009 - Obama nominee for Deputy Secretary of State, James B. Steinberg, tells members of the Senate that taxpayers should be forced to fund abortions. Nominee erroneously says limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional.

January 29, 2009 - President Obama nominates extreme pro-abortion advocate David Ogden as Deputy Attorney General.

February 12, 2009 - Obama nominates pro-abortion Elena Kagan to serve as Solicitor General.

February 24, 2009 - Obama nominates Dawn Johnsen, a former NARAL attorney, as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of the Legal Counsel. Johnsen is a professor at the Indiana University School of Law, but she is also the former Legal Director for NARAL serving from 1988-1993. She has argued that any restriction that makes abortion less accessible is tantamount to “involuntary servitude” because it “requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state’s asserted interest in the life of the unborn.”

The Opposite of an Economic Bailout is........

2009-02-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

"A people ... who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything." --George Washington

Virtues Gone Mad

2009-02-12T05:58:00.000-08:00

"The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering along. Thus, some scientists care for truth, but their truth is pitiless. And thus some humanitarians care for pity, but their pity--I am sorry to say--is often untruthful." --G.K. Chesterton

A Lesson We Never Learned

2009-02-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

"If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one...." --James Madison

Unto a Thousand Generations

2009-01-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

The destruction of the Biblical Family, one man with one womand for one lifetime (with kiddies), is having a immense negative impact upon our society in a dozen different ways. The picture above is one of my wife's Uncle Billy, now in his 80s, holding my daughter's new son. This picture spans four generations (two not shown). My grandson, his mother, my wife and I and her maternal uncle. Such is the way it should be.

The promise of the Gospel is "...unto a thousand generations of those who love Me (God) and keep My commandments." Natural generation is one of the primary (not the only) means of evangelism God has given to transmit the cultural hope of the Gospel from generation to generation. I am grateful for the godly inheritance we, our children, and now our grandchildren enjoy. May our Lord grant multiple more generations to know this hope and peace.

rejecting fads

2008-12-22T13:32:00.000-08:00

“You can find all the new ideas in the old books; only there you will find them balanced, kept in their place, and sometimes contradicted and overcome by other and better ideas. The great writers did not neglect a fad because they had not thought of it, but because they had thought of it and of all the answers to it as well.” --G.K. Chesterton

Guarding the Mouth

2008-12-17T08:33:00.000-08:00

by A.W. Pink

"Do not speak evil against each other, brethren." James 4:11

That which the Scriptures forbid here, is the saying of anything, be it true or false, to the harm of another. God requires that our words should be governed by "the law of kindness" (Proverbs 31:26), and anything which would hurt or injure the reputation of another, is to be rigidly shunned. Whenever I cannot speak well of my brother or sister, I must say nothing at all. To speak evil of others, proceeds from ill will or malice--desiring that they should be made odious in the esteem of others.

It is devilish to take delight in exposing the faults of fellow-Christians, and stirring up prejudice and bitter feelings against them (Rev. 12:10). God requires that our words should agree with love--as well as with truth. Since Christians are brethren, the last thing they should be guilty of is defaming one another!

Except where the glory of God plainly requires it, and the good of that person demands it--we must refrain from all evil speaking of others. If we are duly occupied with and humbled over our own many faults--we shall have neither time nor inclination to dwell upon or publish those of others! If we properly heed the exhortation of Philippians 4:8, we shall cultivate the habit of admiring the graces in our brethren--instead of being like filthy flies, settling on their sores!

Well may we pray, "Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord! Keep watch over the door of my lips!" Psalm 141:3 --Arthur Pink

Lessons We Need to Learn

2008-12-12T05:48:00.000-08:00

"Losses, crosses, heaviness, sickness, poverty, and a thousand other ills, are of the Lord's sending, and come to us with wise design." --C.H. Spurgeon

The Importance of Observing Christmas

2008-11-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

It is in the old Christmas carols, hymns, and traditions—those which date from the Middle Ages—that we find not only what makes Christmas poetic and soothing and stately, but first and foremost what makes Christmas exciting. The exciting quality of Christmas rests on an ancient and admitted paradox. It rests upon the paradox that the power and center of the whole universe may be found in some seemingly small matter, that the stars in their courses may move like a moving wheel around the neglected outhouse of an inn. —G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected. —Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

When I think of Christmas Eves, Christmas feasts, Christmas songs, and Christmas stories, I know that they do not represent a short or transient gladness. Instead, they speak of a joy unspeakable and full of glory. God loved the world and sent His Son. Whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. That is Christmas joy. That is the Christmas spirit. —Corrie ten Boom (1892-1983)

Ten Things to Keep in Mind After the Election

2008-11-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Here's another great perspective on the recent "process" we call a national election.

Read it and remember that worldview matters, ideas have consequences, and a good (or bad) root always bears fruit.

Perry

Ten Things to Keep in Mind After the Election
by Pastor Douglas Wilson
www.dougwils.com

I write at the very beginning of election day, not knowing the outcome. These are things that we should remember regardless, and they will be applicable regardless.

1. God is still Father, Christ is still at His right hand, and the Holy Spirit is still abroad in the world, recreating that world according to the image of Christ. When the nations conspire against Him, He laughs at them.

2. The most important thing we can do for our nation, and for the world around us, is to gather for worship every Lord's Day. The privilege of voting in presidential elections comes to us every four years, while we are graced with the opportunity to take the Lord's Supper week to week. Right worship reforms the Church, and is therefore God's central instrument for remaking the world. For this reason, we must insist on worship that is in accordance with Scripture. Judgment begins with the household of God. Our generation is fatherless. In the power of the Spirit, in the name of the Son, we must therefore worship the Father.

3. The first and greatest command is to love God, and the second is to love our neighbor. When the question arises, as it will, as to who is our neighbor, a good policy is to always begin with the smallest, the least, the most defenseless. Never apologize for a crawl-over-broken-glass pro-life stance. Live in such a life-affirming way as to expect apologies from those who would redefine the lives of others (always the lives of others, isn't it?) into expendible insignificance.

4. Honor women. Honor your mother, your wife, and your daughters. We live in a culture that despises women, and which has engineered a vast machinery of propaganda designed to get them to surrender to it. If you don't know how to honor, on a day-to-day basis, the women in your life, then learn. Make it a priority.

5. Don't doubt in the dark what you knew in the light. The late Francis Schaeffer taught evangelical Christians to think like Christians as they engaged with unbelief in the public square. But a goodly number of his proteges, disciples, and name-appropriators have begun to "engage with the culture" in a way that looks more like going native than it looks like missionary work. Melancthons fall apart more rapidly than they used to. Get used to it, but don't you do it.

6. While pro-life work is at the very center of all mercy ministry, it should not be allowed to distract from the broader kind of mercy ministry that offers gospel help to those who have contributed to their own misery -- addicts, convicts, the uneducated and the unemployable. Such mercy ministry must be consistently tenderhearted and hardheaded. Sentimentalists are never able to give themselves away in the ongoing way that bleeding (but thinking) Christians must.

7. Learn something about economics. Please.

8. Cultivate a godly sense of proportion. My family, living in the UK, are encountering evangelical Christians who think that "lack of socialized medicine" is just as bad as abortion-on-demand, because in both cases people are dying. This is as wrong-headed as it is possible to get, even for evangelicals, and on two counts. In the first place, deliberate murder cannot be compared to well-intentioned negligence or incomptence. In the second place, to the extent that we do attack death-dealing incompetence -- as we must -- we must begin by attacking the species of incompetence that lets people die after many months on waiting lists because some people don't like accurate pricing mechanisms. Water won't run uphill just because you can arrange for three bishops to say "Trinitarian" or "incarnational" over it.

9. Count the cost. Freedom of expression is part of our Christian heritage, and one of the things we are fighting for is the right to that expression. We cannot lose the tree and keep the fruit of it. When the laws come, as they will, prohibiting (for example) condemnation of homosexual behavior, then count the cost. And the very next Sunday, start your sermon series on the sins of sodomy. The first message should provide the introduction, and allow the congregation to count the cost as well. They might want a heads up -- some of them might think it prudent to head over to a more docile church, one with a kennel-fed pastor. Whenever the state yanks on his lead, he always heels, and then waits expectantly for his treat. A much more sensitive and sensible ministry, don't you think?

10. Fight in the culture wars as those who gladly serve the triune God of heaven. We are not dogs fighting over a piece of meat, and we must never allow the surly or shrill attitudes of the self-righteous to creep into anything we do. We must be puritan cavaliers, and merry warriors. Fight like a regenerate D'Artagnan, and not like a thug with a Bible he stole from the motel, or a like prim and censorious Miss Grundy, she of the pursed lips. We are Christians, not wowswers.

Perspective in the Face of Defeat

2008-11-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

While Mike Huckabee's comments are certainly appropo for the recent political event we call a national election, if you substitute the word "life" for politics we see the truth of his observation is even greater that the recent "process."

The apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4, "...and be renewed in the spirit of your mind...."

Perry

"Politics is not an event but a process. We sometimes lose the events but it never gives us the right to stop being faithful to our principles that enlisted us in the process. We shall live to fight another day."
--Mike Huckabee

Post Election Thinking

2008-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

"Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, rules and reigns!" Revelation 19:6

He who once bore our sins, and carried our sorrows--is seated upon a throne of glory, and exercises all power in heaven and on earth! Thrones, principalities, and powers, bow before Him! His providence pervades and manages the whole universe, and is as minutely attentive to every part--as if there were only a single object in His view! From the tallest archangel--to the smallest ant or fly--all depend on Him for their being, their preservation, and their powers. He directs the sparrows where to build their nests, and where to find their food. He over-rules the rise and fall of nations; and bends, with an invincible power, and unerring wisdom--all events to His sovereign will! So that while many intend other outcomes--their designs all concur and coincide in the accomplishment of His holy will.

Jesus restrains with an almighty hand--the still more formidable efforts of the powers of darkness. Satan with all his hosts cannot exert their malice a hair's-breadth beyond the limits of His permission!

This omnipotent Savior is the head and husband of His believing people. How happy are those whom it is His good pleasure to bless! How safe are those whom He has engaged to protect! How honored and privileged are those to whom He is pleased to manifest Himself, and whom He enables and warrants to claim Him as their Friend and eternal potion!

Having redeemed them by His own blood--He esteems them as His treasure, His jewels; and protects them as the pupil of His eye! They shall not lack any good thing. They need not fear. His unerring eye is upon them in every situation; His ear is always open to their prayers; and His everlasting arms are under them for their sure support! On earth He guides their steps, controls their enemies, and directs all His dispensations for their spiritual good. While in heaven He is pleading their cause, preparing a glorious home for them, and communicating down to them reviving foretastes of the glory which they shall shortly enter into! --John Newton

No Political Salvation

2008-11-05T05:27:00.000-08:00

"If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments they shall be governed by the ten thousand commandments." G.K. Chesterton

Christian Political Thinking

2008-11-02T05:08:00.000-08:00

Pastor wilson thinks rightly about how Christians ought to think about voting.

Perry

No Tight Little Circles
by Pastor Douglas Wilson
http://www.dougwils.com/

In the colonial era, ministers used to preach what were called artillery sermons—messages leading up to elections in order to teach and inform the saints on their duties in the civil realm. The message today is an artillery sermon to prepare you for the election, and for what comes after, regardless of what that is.

But this exhortation is a bit more focused on the process of voting itself. First, all that we do is to be offered to God at the fundamental. Ask God to count your vote, and it does not matter who else does. Give what you do to Jesus, and let Him do with it what He wills. You should be like the small boy who surrendered his fish and bread for Jesus to multiply, and not like someone who tried to feed the multitude himself by giving everyone a crumb.

Secondly, confirm it in your heart and soul that the day after the election, God is still on His throne, and Jesus is still at His right hand. Certain things are not on the ballot, as the sovereignty of God is not. When Christians react to elections with despair and panic, they are demonstrated that their faith is in the wrong place. If the election goes badly, do not soak your hair with lighter fluid, set it off, and then run in tight, little circles. Be a Christian. If the election goes well, do not act you have just been saved. Salvation is not something that Caesar holds in his hand, whether to give or withhold.

Third, vote with a clear mind and clean heart, doing so confidently and with boldness. Stand up for the unborn. Strike at every idol. Love God, and hate sin. Stand against every throne built on a foundation of lawlessness. And return here next Lord’s Day for the real work of Reformation.

Economics in One Easy Lesson

2008-10-27T09:25:00.001-07:00

Economics, commonly known as the "dismal science," can actually be easily understood. Here are each of the basic economic philosophies explained in simple "two-cow" terms (first articulated years ago during a delightful dinner in Washington DC with Murray Rothbard):

Communalism: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.

Communism: You have two cows. The government takes them both and--from time to time--provides you with sour milk.

Fascism: You have two cows. The government takes them and sells you the milk.

Liberalism: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours it down the drain.

Socialism: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point that you must sell them both in order to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow which was a gift from your government.

Free-Market Capitalism: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

Centralized, Multi-National-Corporation-Based, Government-Subsidized, Democratic Socialism: You have two cows. You sell one, force the other to produce the milk of four cows and when it dies you write off the depreciation, hire a lobbyist, and garner a government bail-out and tax-breaks in order to purchase two new cows. Repeat.

Dealing with Reality

2008-10-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

"This poor fallen world in which we live oft appears to us as a labyrinth, a maze, a puzzle, full of unexpected surprises, deep disappointments, sudden setbacks, and paralyzing uncertainties. Yet, it is so only from our temporal perspective. With God, and for the purposes of His Kingdom and His Covenant, there are no surprises. He is Lord. And He is Lord over all. Therefore, I may freely yield my all and all, regardless of my apparent circumstances." Jan Amos Comenius

The Danger of the Federal Reserve

2008-10-23T08:25:00.001-07:00

"The central bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the Principles and form of our Constitution....Bankers are more dangerous than standing armies......(and) if the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and CORPORATIONS that will grow up around them will deprive the People of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered." Thomas Jefferson

Obama and Gun ownership

2008-10-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

ILLINOIS STATE RIFLE ASSOCIATION
Dedicated to Education, Safety Training and Support of Illinois Firearms Owners

Fellow Sportsman,

Hello, my name is Rich Pearson and I have been active in the firearm rights movement for over 40 years. For the past 15 years, I have served in the Illinois state capitol as the chief lobbyist for the Illinois State Rifle Association.

I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama’s attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone. The truth be told, in all my years in the Capitol I have never met a legislator who harbors more contempt for the law-abiding firearm owner than Barack Obama.

Although Obama claims to be an advocate for the 2nd Amendment, his voting record in the Illinois Senate paints a very different picture. While a state senator, Obama voted for a bill that would ban nearly every hunting rifle, shotgun and target rifle owned by Illinois citizens. That same bill would authorize the state police to raid homes of gun owners and forcibly confiscate banned guns. Obama supported a bill that would shut down law-abiding firearm manufacturers including Springfield Armory, Armalite, Rock River Arms and Les Baer. Obama also voted for a bill that would prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one gun per month.

Without a doubt, Barack Obama has proven himself to be an enemy of the law abiding firearm owner. At the same time, Obama has proven himself to be a friend to the hardened criminal. While a state senator, Obama voted 4 times against legislation that would allow a homeowner to use a firearm in defense of home and family.

Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a “friend” of the law-abiding gun owner? And speaking of friends, you can always tell a person by the company they keep. Obama counts among his friends the Rev. Michael Pfleger - a renegade Chicago priest who has openly called for the murder of gun shop owners and pro-gun legislators. Then there is his buddy Richard Daley, the mayor of Chicago who has declared that if it were up to him, nobody would be allowed to own a gun. And let’s not forget Obama’s pal George Soros - the guy who has pumped millions of dollars into the UN’s international effort to disarm law-abiding citizens.

Obama has shown that he is more than willing to use other people’s money to fund his campaign to take your guns away from you. While a board member of the leftist Joyce Foundation, Barack Obama wrote checks for tens of millions of dollars to extremist gun control organizations such as the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Violence Policy Center.

Does Barack Obama still sound to you like a “friend” of the law-abiding gun owner? By now, I’m sure that many of you have received mailings from an organization called “American Hunters and Shooters Association(AHSA)” talking about what a swell fellow Obama is and how he honors the 2nd Amendment and how you will never have to worry about Obama coming to take your guns. Let me make it perfectly clear - everything the AHSA says about Obama is pure hogwash. The AHSA is headed by a group of left-wing elitists who subscribe to the British view of hunting and shooting. That is, a state of affairs where hunting and shooting are reserved for the wealthy upper-crust who can afford guided hunts on exclusive private reserves. The AHSA is not your friend, never will be.

In closing, I’d like to remind you that I’m a guy who has actually gone nose to nose with Obama on gun rights issues. The Obama I know cannot even begin to identify with this nation’s outdoor traditions. The Obama I know sees you, the law abiding gun owner, as nothing but a low-class lummox who is easily swayed by the flash of a smile and a ration of rosy rhetoric. The Obama I know is a stony-faced liar who has honed his skill at getting what he wants - so long as people are willing to give it to him.

That’s the Barack Obama I know.

Sincerely,
(original signed)
Richard A. Pearson, Executive Director
Illinois State Rifle Association
420 East Locust, P.O. Box 637
Chatsworth, Ill. 60921
815-635-3198 or 815-635-3166
fax 815-635-3723
Web Site www.isra.org

Dealing with Crisis

2008-10-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

“We should never despair, our situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new exertions and proportion our efforts to the exigency of the times.” —George Washington

From Alexander Solzhenitsyn

2008-10-02T04:41:00.000-07:00

“How easy it is to live with You, O Lord. How easy to believe in You. When my spirit is overwhelmed within me, when even the keenest see no further than the night, and know not what to do tomorrow, You bestow on me the certitude that You exist and are mindful of me, that all the paths of righteousness are not barred. As I ascend into the hill of earthly glory, I turn back and gaze, astonished on the road that led me here beyond despair, where I, too, may reflect Your radiance upon mankind. All that I may yet reflect, You shall accord me, and appoint others where I shall fail.”

One Truth About Federal Bailouts

2008-09-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

“Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws.”
— Mayer Amschel Rothschild

The Work of the Holy Spirit

2008-09-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

“The Holy Spirit’s office, as defined by the Bible itself, is not to make known to us any truths which are not contained in the Bible; but to make clear to our understandings the truths which are contained in it that we might realize them experientially. The Word of God is called the sword of the Spirit. It is the instrument by which the Spirit worketh. and He worketh anew at all times and all places consistent with His Revelation. Thus, the Spirit is always provoking us toward change, growth, and the fulfillment of calling. Anything less and anything more is surely not of the Spirit.” Thomas Chalmers

Sage Observations

2008-09-18T04:59:00.000-07:00

Growing Into Christ's Image
by J.R. Miller

“We should get it settled in our minds, that the purpose of God for our life on earth, is to have us grow into Christ's image. We are not in this world merely to accomplish a certain amount of work--but to be fashioned into strength and beauty of character. If we would always remember this, we would not be perplexed so often by the mysteries of our lives. If joy is ours--it is to make us better and a greater blessing to others. If sorrow is ours--it is to purify us and bring out some line of Christ's image in us more clearly. If our hopes are disappointed--it is because God has some better things for us, than that which we so earnestly desired. If we are called to endure pain--it is because the best in us can be called out only by pain. If bereavement comes and we are left without the strong human arm we have leaned upon heretofore--it is because there are elements of strength in our life, which never could be developed unless the human supports were taken away. If our burdens are heavy--it is because we grow best under burdens. If we are wronged by others--it is to teach us better, the great lessons of patience and sweet temper. If our circumstances are uncongenial and our condition hard--it is that we may be disciplined into self-control, and may learn to be content in whatever state we are in. The Master is always teaching us new lessons, making us into the beauty of the pattern He has set for us, and preparing us for greater usefulness and better service.”

Worldviews Matter

2008-09-15T14:05:00.000-07:00

"The most practical and important thing about a man is his view of the universe. For a landlady to consider a lodger, it is important to know his income, but still more important to know his philosophy. For a general to fight an enemy, it is important to know the enemy’s numbers, but still more important to know the enemy’s philosophy . The question is not whether the theory of the cosmos affects matters, but whether, in the long run, anything else affects them." G.K. Chesterton

"As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." King Solomon

"Worldview is the most important thing that we can know about a man. Ideas have consequences. And those consequences affect everything in the practical realm as well as in the theoretical realm. Discernment of worldview is therefore the most necessary of all the tasks of wisdom." Richard Weaver

A Good Question about 9-11

2008-09-11T08:49:00.000-07:00

The Mufti's Prayer
by Dr. George Grant

Just two weeks before the brazen and horrific terrorist attacks were carried out on the Pentagon in Washington, DC and the World Trade Center in New York City, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheik Ekrima Sobri offered a chillingly prophetic prayer in the Al Aqsa Mosque:

“Allah, there is no strength but your strength. Destroy, therefore, the Zionist occupation and its helpers and its agents. Destroy the U.S. and its helpers and its agents. Destroy Britain and its helpers and its agents. Prepare those who will soon unite the Muslims of the world and march in the footsteps of Saladin. Allah, we ask you for forgiveness, forgiveness before death, and mercy and forgiveness after death. Allah, grant victory to Islam and the Muslim’s in the coming war.”

A host of questions immediately spring to mind: what did the supreme spiritual leader of Palestinian Muslims know and when did he know it? What war is he talking about? Why would he invoke such virulent hatred against the Western world? Why would he pronounce such fierce anathemas against the nations most responsible for brokering peace between his own people and the Israelis? Why would he reserve such impious enmity for the powers that had insured the transformation of Yasser Arafat from a rogue terrorist operative into a respected nationalist leader and his Palestinian Liberation Organization from a disreputable revolutionary cell into a legitimate regional government? Why would he so openly attack his land’s chief financial and political patrons?

They Signed For Us

2008-07-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

One of the surest ways to capture a people is to take away, or reconstruct, its collective memory.

It is no wonder then that the anti-christian educators who have controlled our tax funded (now government controlled) schools have worked feverishly for the last 100 years to redefine the history of this nation.

Founded by a Christian people, on the basis of a trinitarian and Biblical faith and worldview, the United States has enjoyed the fruits of our Christian forefathers for centuries. That is fading quickly and the dissolution of the family is the surest evidence of it.

I hope you enjoy this excerpt below. The full document can be downloaded at the url just below the authors introduction.

________________________________________

Almost every citizen of the United States knows about the Declaration of Independence: the greatest statement of democratic rights and principles in history.

Curious, then, is the fact that most of us freedom-blest Americans cannot name half a dozen of the fifty-six patriots who signed the Declaration in Philadelphia that eventful summer of 1776.

How many Signers can you name?

“I thought I had remembered nine,” ruefully confessed a man with a Ph.D. degree, who holds an important position with our government. “But when I checked, I found only six were right.”

The proprietor of a bookstore said she would have a hard time naming any besides George Washington and Patrick Henry. She was chagrined to learn that neither Washington or Henry signed.

Who were the Signers? The least we, their beneficiaries, can do is learn their names. The highest tribute we can pay these men is to cherish the freedom for which they risked their lives and fortunes and to defend that freedom against every threat. What sort of men were the patriots who risked a hangman’s noose? What consequences did they suffer as a result of their bold and hazardous act?

To answer these questions, and to acknowledge a debt which we, in common with our fellow Americans, owe the sturdy heroes of ’76, we have written TheySigned for Us.

Merle Sinclair
Annabel Douglas McArthur

http://www.securepubs.com/offer/index.html

Thomas McKean of Delaware paced up and down the hallway of the State House in Philadelphia that rainy Tuesday on July 2, 1776. Every few minutes he would stare up the street, hoping to see his friend and fellow delegate, Caesar Rodney, come riding up. The Continental Congress was about to cast the most momentous vote of its brief existence – whether or not to adopt the declaration that Thomas Jefferson had been feverishly writing and rewriting over the past several weeks.

Each of the 13 colonies had sent several representatives to the Congress. But each colony would cast only one vote. The delegates had agreed that the vote for independence must be unanimous for it to take effect. It looked like the fate of the declaration would be determined by the smallest colony – and the two representatives from Delaware were divided. Thomas McKean was a leader of the pro-independence movement, but his fellow delegate, George Read, was more cautious. He said a declaration of independence was premature and vowed to vote “no.”

Unless Delaware’s third delegate, Caesar Rodney, arrived in time, Delaware would be deadlocked and would be recorded as a “no vote.” That would be enough to prevent Thomas Jefferson’s declaration from being adopted unanimously.

The evening before, McKean had dispatched an urgent note to Rodney at his plantation near Dover: “Get to Philadelphia at the earliest possible moment,” it said. Although it was pouring rain when he received McKean’s entreaty, Rodney didn’t hesitate. He ordered his best horse saddled and, within 10 minutes of receiving the message, set off for Philadelphia.

He rode all night, changing horses that friends had ready for him, and arrived at the State House just moments before the Congress’s president, John Hancock, called the meeting to order. Hancock asked Benjamin Harrison of Virginia to poll the colonies.

When it was Delaware’s turn, Rodney – still wearing the mud-spattered boots and spurs he arrived in – rose to his feet and said, “As I believe the voice of my constituents and of all sensible and honest men is in favor of Independence, and my own judgment concurs, I vote for Independence!”

The motion had passed unanimously! Delegates realized what the vote meant, both for the colonies and for them personally. King George III had declared every rebel in the land a traitor. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. Nevertheless, the 56 men meeting in Philadelphia pledged “their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor” to the cause of liberty.

How many of us can name even a handful of the men who signed that momentous declaration? What do we know, really, about the men who risked their lives and everything they owned in the cause of freedom?

Because the story of the signers is so inspiring, we've arranged a special treat for you this week -- a free copy of a wonderful little book called They Signed For Us.

Half a century ago, two patriotic ladies in the Midwest wanted to help others learn more about the remarkable men who signed the Declaration of Independence. Merle Sinclair and Annabel Douglas McArthur wrote a delightful book about the events of that time, including a history of each of the signers. They called it, They Signed For Us.

At the end of today's column, you'll find a link that will take you to a copy of the book. You may read it on-line or download it and print your own copy. The file also includes a list of all of the signers and the states they represented, plus the complete text of the Declaration of Independence.

To whet your appetite a bit, here's an excerpt from They Signed For Us.

"SUDDENLY THE BIG BELL in the State House steeple pealed joyously. The appointed signal! Cheers rose from the waiting crowds.

"'Proclaim liberty throughout the land....'

"Cannons boomed, drums rolled. Church bells rang, sounding the death knell of British domination!

"News of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence spread like wildfire. Ready messengers leaped into their saddles to ride and spread the word. The Declaration had been ordered printed on a single large sheet, '45.5 x 37.5 cm.,' or approximately 18 by 15 inches. These broadsides were distributed with all possible speed, to be read in the provincial assemblies, pulpits, market places, and army camps."

The story continues:

"On July 8, the Liberty Bell summoned citizens of Philadelphia to the State House yard for a public reading of the document. Colonel John Nixon mounted a high platform and spoke the noble lines in a strong, clear voice. The crowd, now hushed, listened intently throughout.

"'...for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.'

"Patriots shouted their approval of the pronouncement of their leaders. Some of them celebrated by tearing down the King's Arm over the seat of justice in the courtroom and casting such vestiges of authority into a bonfire in the street. Processions and demonstrations lasted till midnight, when thunder and lightning sent the excited townspeople running to their homes.

"Newport, Williamsburg, Charleston - a great many cities and towns - held celebrations and patriotic observances with speeches and prayers. Dover arranged a grand turtle feast. In Savannah, jubilant citizens burned King George in effigy and conducted a mock funeral service over his grave.

"Not even a smallpox epidemic kept a great crowd from assembling in Boston. The Declaration was read from a balcony of the Massachusetts State House. At a given signal, thirteen cannons boomed across the New England shore. Bostonians celebrated with banquets and bonfires, having special reason to rejoice over their freedom from Britain and her obnoxious redcoats. According to a Boston newspaper, 'The King's Arms, and every sign that belonged to a Tory, was taken down and made a general conflagration of in King Street.'

"In New York, General Washington ordered that the Declaration be read at the head of each brigade of the army at six o'clock, the evening of July 9. The brigades were drawn up in hollow squares. Washington, mounted on his horse, took up his position within one of these squares while an aide read the broadside. Afterward, the commander in chief reported to Congress on 'the expressions and behavior of officers and men testifying their warmest approbation of it.'

"Civilians rushed to Bowling Green, where stood a life-sized equestrian statue of George III. They tore down the figure, which was made of lead, richly overlaid with gold. What fine ammunition it would make!"

And it did indeed make a lot of fine ammunition. The metal was taken to the home of Brigadier General Oliver Wolcott in Litchfield, Connecticut, where it was melted down. His wife and children, assisted by several ladies in the village, began casting bullets. Mary Ann Wolcott, the general's 11-year-old daughter, made 10,790 of them. In all, the statue was transformed into 42,088 bullets for the continental army.

It was almost a month later that the Declaration was engrossed on parchment and ready for signing by the delegates to the Continental Congress. Members gathered on August 2 for the ceremony.

The only person who had signed the Declaration on July 4 was John Hancock, a delegate from Boston who had been elected president of the Continental Congress. He wrote his signature in large, bold letters and as he did, in a reference to the near-sightedness of the British king, he declared, "There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles and may now double his reward of £500 for my head. That is my defiance."

As the delegates gathered around a desk to sign the Declaration, William Emery, one of the representatives from Rhode Island, moved as close as he could. "I was determined to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrants," he later wrote. "I placed myself beside the secretary, Charles Thomson, and eyed each closely as he affixed his name to the document. Undaunted resolution was displayed on every countenance."

Contrasting with Hancock's confident signature was the shaky scratch of Stephen Hopkins from Rhode Island. Hopkins was the second-oldest signer and suffered from palsy. As he handed the quill to the next person, he valiantly proclaimed, "My hand trembles, but my heart does not!"

As one or two delegates hung back, seemingly reluctant to add their signatures to such a momentous declaration, John Hancock encouraged them. "We must be unanimous," he said. "There must be no pulling different ways. We must all hang together."

To which Benjamin Franklin replied, "Yes, we must all hang together. Or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

Happily, none of the signers was hanged by the British. But all of them were considered traitors to the Crown. And many of them suffered terribly for the cause they so ardently supported.

When New Jersey signer Richard Stockton returned to his home after signing the Declaration, he learned that British troops were coming to arrest him. He fled to a neighbor's house with his wife and children. But a Loyalist, as supporters of the British cause were called, betrayed the family's hiding place.

Here is how Merle Sinclair and Annabel Douglas McArthur describe what happened to him: "The judge was dragged from bed and beaten, then thrown into prison. This distinguished jurist, who had worn the handsome robes of a colonial court, now shivered in a common jail, abused and all but starved.

"A shocked Congress arranged for his parole. Invalided by the harsh treatment he had received, he returned to [his home at] Morven to find his furniture and clothing burned, his fine horses stolen, and his library -- one of the finest private collections in the country -- completely destroyed. The hiding place of exquisite family silver, hastily buried, had been betrayed by a servant.

"The Stockton's were so destitute that they had to accept charity. For the judge's fortune was gone, too. He had pledged it and his life to his country. He lost both. He did not live to see the Revolution won."

John Morton, a delegate from Pennsylvania, was the first of the signers to die. His last words for his family, before his death in April 1777 (just eight months after he signed the Declaration), were, "...tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it to have been the most glorious service I ever rendered to my country."

The following month, Button Gwinnett, the commander in chief of Georgia's militia, was badly wounded in a duel with a political opponent. He died a few days later -- the second signer to die.

But by and large, the signers of the Declaration of Independence were a hardy bunch. Three of them lived until their nineties -- a remarkable accomplishment in a time when most men did not see their fiftieth birthday.

Only two of the signers were bachelors. Sixteen of them married twice. Records indicate that at least two, and perhaps as many as six, were childless. But the other 50 signers were a prolific lot, having a total of 325 children between them! William Ellerey of Rhode Island had 17 children; Roger Sherman of Connecticut had 15.

Twenty-four of the signers were lawyers and jurists, eleven were merchants, and nine were farmers or plantation owners. They were well-educated men of means. All of them had a great deal to lose when they voted to defy what was then the most powerful nation on earth.

Charles Carroll of Maryland was the longest-lived signer. He died in 1832, at the age of 95. Four years earlier he lifted the first spade of dirt for the construction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad -- an essential link in the train system that would ultimately unite the East with the West.

Fifty years after the united colonies declared their independence from Britain, plans were made for jubilant celebrations on July 4, 1826. Only three of the original signers were still alive -- Charles Carroll, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams. Here is how Sinclair and McArthur describe what occurred that day:

"In a dramatic climax that even their agile minds would not have contemplated, these two principals in the struggle for Independence left the nation awestricken and touched, by dying hours apart on the Fourth of July. Jefferson died at one o'clock in the afternoon, Adams toward evening."

Ten days earlier, Jefferson had written the mayor of Washington, expressing his regret that ill health prevented him from coming to the nation's new Capitol to join the festivities.

"I should, indeed, with peculiar delight, have met ... with the small band, the remnant of that host of worthies, who joined with us on that day, in the bold and doubtful election we were to make for our country, between the submission or the sword."

And he concluded by writing, "Let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollection of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

Obama's Top Priority

2008-07-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Obama's Top Priority
by Dr. George Grant, Pastor
Parish Presbyterian Church, Franklin, TN

Last July in Washington, DC, Barak Obama told supporters of America's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act."

The purpose of that insidious pro-abortion legislation is to "prohibit, consistent with Roe v. Wade, any interference by the government with a woman's right to choose to bear a child or to terminate a pregnancy." Thankfully, the bill has never passed muster with Congress, but its intention is obviously radical and sweeping--it is to nullify every health and safety regulation or restriction currently in place in all 50 states on the sprawling and lucrative abortion industry and on behemoth special interest groups like Planned Parenthood.

Although Obama has toned down some of the brazenness of his pro-abortion rhetoric of late--apparently in an attempt to woo disaffected Evangelicals on the campaign trail--he has not altered or diminished his promise to Planned Parenthood in any way whatsoever. Thus, he stands as the single most radical pro-abortion activist ever to run for the highest office in the land.

Learning from Davey Crockett

2008-07-03T05:02:00.001-07:00

Had we as a people learned the lesson that Davey Crockett learned we would not be facing national bankruptcy or financial collapse.

May the triune God grant us national repentance so that we may turn from our continued theft by majority vote.

Davy Crockett’s “Sockdologer”

I was one day in the lobby of the House of Representatives when a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support, rather, as I thought, because it afforded the speakers a fine opportunity for display than from the necessity of convincing anybody, for it seemed to me that everybody favored it. The Speaker was just about to put the question, when Crockett arose. Everybody expected, of course, that he was going to make one of his characteristic speeches in support of the bill. He commenced:

"Mr. Speaker,

“I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the sufferings of the living, if suffering there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for a part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living.

I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has no power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member upon this floor knows it. We have the right, as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right so to appropriate a dollar of the public money.

Some eloquent appeals have been made to us upon the ground that it is a debt due the deceased. Mr. Speaker, the deceased lived long after the close of the war; he was in office to the day of his death, and I have never heard that the Government was in arrears to him. This Government can owe no debts but for services rendered, and at a stipulated price. If it is a debt, how much is it? Has it been audited, and the amount due ascertained? If it is a debt, this is not the place to present it for payment, or to have its merits examined. If it is a debt, we owe more than we can ever hope to pay, for we owe the widow of every soldier who fought in the war of 1812 precisely the same amount.

There is a woman in my neighborhood, the widow of as gallant a man as ever shouldered a musket. He fell in battle. She is as good in every respect as this lady, and is as poor. She is earning her daily bread by her daily labor, and if I were to introduce a bill to appropriate five or ten thousand dollars for her benefit, I should be laughed at, and my bill would not get five votes in this House. There are thousands of widows in the country just such as the one I have spoken of; but we never hear of any of these large debts to them.

Sir, this is no debt. The Government did not owe it to the deceased when he was alive; it could not contract it after he died. I do not wish to be rude, but I must be plain. Every man in this House knows it is not a debt. We cannot, without the grossest corruption, appropriate this money as the payment of a debt. We have not the semblance of authority to appropriate it as a charity. Mr. Speaker, I have said we have the right to give as much money of our own as we please. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks."

He took his seat. Nobody replied. The bill was put upon its passage, and, instead of passing unanimously, as was generally supposed, and as, no doubt, it would, but for that speech, it received but few votes, and, of course, was lost.

Like many other young men, and old ones, too, for that matter, who had not thought upon the subject, I desired the passage of the bill, and felt outraged at its defeat. I determined that I would persuade my friend Crockett to move a reconsideration the next day.

Previous engagements prevented me from seeing Crockett that night, I went early to his room the next morning, and found him engaged in addressing and franking letters, a large pile of which lay upon his table.

I broke in upon him rather abruptly, by asking him what devil had possessed him to make that speech and defeat that bill yesterday. Without turning his head or looking up from his work, he replied:

"You see that I am very busy now; take a seat and cool yourself. I will be through in a few minutes, and then I will tell you all about it."

He continued his employment for about 10 minutes, and when he had finished it turned to me and said:

"Now, sir, I will answer your question. But thereby hangs a tale, and one of considerable length, to which you will have to listen."

I listened, and this is the tale which I heard:

"Several years ago, I was one evening standing on the steps of the Capitol with some other members of Congress, when our attention was attracted by a great light over in Georgetown. It was evidently a large fire. We jumped into a hack and drove over as fast as we could.

“When we got there I went to work, and I never worked as hard in my life as I did there for several hours. But, in spite of all that could be done, many houses were burned and many families made houseless, and, besides, some of them had lost all but the clothes they had on. The weather was very cold, and when I saw so many women and children suffering, I felt that something ought to be done for them, and everybody else seemed to feel the same way.

"The next morning a bill was introduced appropriating $20,000 for their relief. We put aside all other business and rushed it through as soon as it could be done. I said everybody felt as I did. That was not quite so; for, though they perhaps sympathized as deeply with the sufferers as I did, there were a few of the members who did not think we had the right to indulge our sympathy or excite our charity at the expense of anybody but ourselves.

“They opposed the bill, and upon its passage demanded the yeas and nays. There were not enough of them to sustain the call, but many of us wanted our names to appear in favor of what we considered a Praiseworthy measure, and we voted with them to sustain it. So the yeas and nays were recorded, and my name appeared on the journals in favor of the bill.

"The next summer, when it began to be time to think about the election, I concluded I would take a scout around among the boys of my district. I had no opposition there, but, as the election was some time off, I did not know what might turn up, and I thought it was best to let the boys know that I had not forgot them, and that going to Congress had not made me too proud to go to see them.

"So I put a couple of shirts and a few twists of tobacco into my saddle-bags, and put out. I had been out about a week, and had found things going very smoothly, when, riding one day in a part of my district in which I was more of a stranger than any other, I saw a man in a field plowing and coming toward the road. I gauged my gait so that we should meet as he came to the fence.

“As he came up I spoke to the man. He replied politely, but, as I thought, rather coldly, and was about turning his horse for another furrow, when I asked him if he could give me a chew of tobacco.

‘“Yes,’ said he, ‘such as we make and use in this part of the country; but it may not suit your taste, as you are probably in the habit of using better.’

"With that he pulled out of his pocket part of a twist in its natural state, and handed it to me. I took a chew, and handed it back to him. He turned to his plow, and was about to start off. I said to him: ‘Don't be in such a hurry, my friend; I want to have a little talk with you, and get better acquainted.’

"He replied, ‘I am very busy, and have but little time to talk, but if it does not take too long, I will listen to what you have to say.’ "I began: ‘Well, friend, I am one of those unfortunate beings called candidates, and---’

‘“Yes, I know you; you are Colonel Crockett. I have seen you once before, and voted for you the last time you were elected. I suppose you are out electioneering now, but you had better not waste your time or mine. I shall not vote for you again.’

“This was a sockdologer. I had been making up my mind that he was one of those churlish fellows who care for nobody but themselves, and take bluntness for independence. I had seen enough of them to know there is a way to reach them, and was satisfied that if I could get him to talk to me I would soon have him straight.

“But this was entirely a different bundle of sticks. He knew me, had voted for me before, and did not intend to do it again. Something must be the matter; I could not imagine what it was. I had heard of no complaints against me, except that some of the dandies about the village ridiculed some of the wild and foolish things that I too often say and do, and said that I was not enough of a gentleman to go to Congress. I begged him to tell me what was the matter.

‘“Well, Colonel, it is hardly worth while to waste time or words upon it. I do not see how it can be mended, but you gave a vote last winter which shows that either you have not capacity to understand the Constitution, or that you are wanting in the honesty and firmness to be guided by it. In either case you are not the man to represent me. But I beg your pardon for expressing it in that way. I did not intend to avail myself of the privilege of the constituent to speak plainly to a candidate for the purpose of insulting or wounding you. I intend by it only to say that your understanding of the Constitution is very different from mine; and I will say to you what, but for my rudeness, I should not have said, that I believe you to be honest.’

‘“Thank you for that, but you find fault with only one vote. You know the story of Henry Clay, the old huntsman and the rifle; you wouldn't break your gun for one snap.’

‘“No, nor for a dozen. As the story goes, that tack served Mr. Clay's purpose admirably, though it really had nothing to do with the case. I would not break the gun, nor would I discard an honest representative for a mistake in judgment as a mere matter of policy. But an understanding of the Constitution different from mine I cannot overlook, because the Constitution, to be worth anything, must be held sacred, and rigidly observed in all its provisions. The man who wields power and misinterprets it is the more dangerous the more honest he is.’

‘“I admit the truth of all you say, but there must be some mistake about it, for I do not remember that I gave any vote last winter upon any constitutional question.’

‘“No, Colonel, there's no mistake. Though I live here in the backwoods and seldom go from home, I take the papers from Washington and read very carefully all the proceedings of Congress. My papers say that last winter you voted for a bill to appropriate $20,000 to some sufferers by a fire in Georgetown. Is that true!’

‘“Certainly it is, and I thought that was the last vote for which anybody in the world would have found fault with.’

‘“Well, Colonel, where do you find in the Constitution any authority to give away the public money in charity?’

“Here was another sockdologer; for, when I began to think about it, I could not remember a thing in the Constitution that authorized it. I found I must take another tack, so I said:

‘“Well, my friend; I may as well own up. You have got me there. But certainly nobody will complain that a great and rich country like ours should give the insignificant sum of $20,000 to relieve its suffering women and children, particularly with a full and overflowing Treasury, and I am sure, if you had been there, you would have done just as I did.’

‘“It is not the amount, Colonel, that I complain of; it is the principle. In the first place, the Government ought to have in the Treasury no more than enough for its legitimate purposes. But that has nothing to do with the question. The power of collecting and disbursing money at pleasure is the most dangerous power that can be entrusted to man, particularly under our system of collecting revenue by a tariff, which reaches every man in the country, no matter how poor he may be, and the poorer he is the more he pays in proportion to his means. What is worse, it presses upon him without his knowledge where the weight centers, for there is not a man in the United States who can ever guess how much he pays to the Government.

‘“So you see that, while you are contributing to relieve one, you are drawing it from thousands who are even worse off than he. If you had the right to give anything, the amount was simply a matter of discretion with you, and you had as much right to give $20,000,000 as $20,000. If you have the right: to give to one, you have the right to give to all; and, as the Constitution neither defines charity nor stipulates the amount, you are at liberty to give to any and everything which you may believe, or profess to believe, is a charity, and to any amount you may think proper.

‘“You will very easily perceive what a wide door this would open for fraud and corruption and favoritism, on the one hand, and for robbing the people on the other. No, Colonel, Congress has no right to give charity. Individual members may give as much of their own money as they please, but they have no right to touch a dollar of the public money for that purpose.’”

‘“If twice as many houses had been burned in this county as in Georgetown, neither you nor any other member of Congress would have thought of appropriating a dollar for our relief.

‘“There are about two hundred and forty members of Congress. If they had shown their sympathy for the sufferers by contributing each one week's pay, it would have made over $13,000. There are plenty of wealthy men in and around Washington who could have given $20,000 without depriving themselves of even a luxury of life. The Congressmen chose to keep their own money, which, if reports be true, some of them spend not very creditably; and the people about Washington, no doubt, applauded you for relieving them from the necessity of giving by giving what was not yours to give.

‘“The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.’

“I have given you,” continued Crockett, “an imperfect account of what he said. Long before he was through, I was convinced that I had done wrong. He wound up by saying: ‘So you see, Colonel, you have violated the Constitution in what I consider a vital point. It is a precedent fraught with danger to the country, for when Congress once begins to stretch its power beyond the limits of the Constitution, there is no limit to it, and no security for the people. I have no doubt you acted honestly, but that does not make it any better, except as far as you are personally concerned, and you see that I cannot vote for you.’

“I tell you, I felt streaked. I saw if I should have opposition, and this man should go to talking, he would set others to talking, and in that district I was a gone fawn-skin. I could not answer him, and the fact is I was so fully convinced that he was right, I did not want to. But I must satisfy him, and I said to him:

‘“Well, my friend, you hit the nail upon the head when you said I had not sense enough to understand the Constitution. I intended to be guided by it, and thought I had studied it fully. I have heard many speeches in Congress about the powers of Congress, but what you have said here at your plow has got more hard, sound sense in it than all the fine speeches I ever heard.

“If I had ever taken the view of it that you have, I would have put my head into the fire before I would have given that vote, and if you will forgive me and vote for me again, if I ever vote for another unconstitutional law I wish I may be shot.”

“He laughingly replied: ‘Yes, Colonel, you have sworn to that once before, but I will trust you again upon one condition. You say that you are convinced that your vote was wrong. Your acknowledgment of it will do more good than beating you for it. If, as you go round the district, you will tell the people about this vote, and that you are satisfied it was wrong, I will not only vote for you, but will do what I can to keep down opposition, and, perhaps, I may exert some little influence in that way.’

‘“If I don't,’ said I, ‘I wish I may be shot; and to convince you that I am in earnest in what I say I will come back this way in a week or ten days, and if you will get up a gathering of the people, I will make a speech to them. Get up a barbecue, and I will pay for it.’

‘No, Colonel, we are not rich people in this section, but we have plenty of provisions to contribute for a barbecue, and some to spare for those who have none. The push of crops will be over in a few days, and we can then afford a day for a barbecue. This is Thursday; I will see to getting it up on Saturday week. Come to my house on Friday, and we will go together, and I promise you a very respectable crowd to see and hear you.’

“Well, I will be here. But one thing more before I say good-by. I must know your name.”

‘“My name is Bunce.’

“Not Horatio Bunce?”

“‘Yes.’”

“Well, Mr. Bunce, I never saw you before, though you say you have seen me, but I know you very well. I am glad that I have met you, and very proud that I may hope to have you for my friend. You must let me shake your hand before I go.”

“We shook hands and parted. It was one of the luckiest hits of my life that I met him. He mingled but little with the public, but was widely known for his remarkable intelligence and incorruptible integrity, and for a heart brimful and running over with kindness and benevolence, which showed themselves not only in words but in acts. He was the oracle of the whole country around him, and his fame had extended far beyond the circle of his immediate acquaintance. Though I had never met him before, I had heard much of him, and but for this meeting it is very likely I should have had opposition, and been beaten. One thing is very certain, no man could now stand up in that district under such a vote.

“At the appointed time I was at his house, having told our conversation to every crowd I had met, and to every man I stayed all night with, and I found that it gave the people an interest and a confidence in me stronger than I had ever seen manifested before.

“Though I was considerably fatigued when I reached his house, and, under ordinary circumstances, should have gone early to bed, I kept him up until midnight, talking about the principles and affairs of government, and got more real, true knowledge of them than I had got all my life before.

“It is not exactly pertinent to my story, but I must tell you more about him. When I saw him with his family around him, I was not surprised that he loved to stay at home. I have never in any other family seen a manifestation of so much confidence, familiarity and freedom of manner of children toward their parents mingled with such unbounded love and respect.

“He was not at the house when I arrived, but his wife received and welcomed me with all the ease and cordiality of an old friend. She told me that her husband was engaged in some out-door business, but would be in shortly. She is a woman of fine person; her face is not what the world would at first sight esteem beautiful. In a state of rest there was too much strength and character in it for that, but when she engaged in conversation, and especially when she smiled, it softened into an expression of mingled kindness, goodness, and strength that was beautiful beyond anything I have ever seen.

“Pretty soon her husband came in, and she left us and went about her household affairs. Toward night the children -- he had about seven of them -- began to drop in; some from work, some from school, and the little ones from play. They were introduced to me, and met me with the same ease and grace that marked the manner of their mother.

“Supper came on, and then was exhibited the loveliness of the family circle in all its glow. The father turned the conversation to the matters in which the children had been interested during the day, and all, from the oldest to the youngest, took part in it. They spoke to their parents with as much familiarity and confidence as if they had been friends of their own age, yet every word and every look manifested as much respect as the humblest courtier could manifest for a king; aye, more, for it was all sincere, and strengthened by love. Verily it was the Happy Family.

“I have told you Mr. Bunce converted me politically. He came nearer converting me religiously than I had ever been before. When supper was over, one of the children brought him a Bible and hymnbook. He turned to me and said:

‘“Colonel, I have for many years been in the habit of family worship night and morning. I adopt this time for it that all may be present. If I postpone it some of us get engaged in one thing and some in another, and the little ones drop off to sleep, so that it is often difficult to get all together.’

“He then opened the Bible, and read the Twenty-third Psalm, commencing: ‘The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.’ It is a beautiful composition, and his manner of reading it gave it new beauties. We then sang a hymn, and we all knelt down. He commenced his prayer ‘Our Father, who art in Heaven.’ No one who has not heard him pronounce those words can conceive how they thrilled through me, for I do not believe that they were ever pronounced by human lips as by him.

“I had heard them a thousand times from the lips of preachers of every grade and denomination, and by all sorts of professing Christians, until they had become words of course with me, but his enunciation of them gave them an import and a power of which I had never conceived. There was a grandeur of reverence, a depth of humility, a fullness of confidence and an overflowing of love, which told that his spirit was communing face to face with its God. An overwhelming feeling of awe came over me, for I felt that I was in the invisible presence of Jehovah.

“The whole prayer was grand -- grand in its simplicity, in the purity of the spirit it breathed, in its faith, its truth, and its love. I have told you he came nearer converting me religiously than I had ever been before. He did not make a very good Christian of me, as you know; but he has wrought upon my mind a conviction of the truth of Christianity, and upon my feelings a reverence for its purifying and elevating power such as I had never felt before.

“I have known and seen much of him since, for I respect him -- no, that is not the word -- I reverence and love him more than any living man, and I go to see him two or three times every year; and I will tell you, sir, if every one who professes to be a Christian lived and acted and enjoyed it as he does, the religion of Christ would take the world by storm.

“But to return to my story. The next morning we went to the barbecue, and, to my surprise, found about a thousand men there. I met a good many whom I had not known before, and they and my friend introduced me around until I had got pretty well acquainted--at least, they all knew me. In due time notice was given that I would speak to them. They gathered up around a stand that had been erected. I opened my speech by saying:

‘“Fellow-citizens -- I present myself before you today feeling like a new man. My eyes have lately been opened to truths, which ignorance or prejudice, or both, had heretofore hidden from my view. I feel that I can to-day offer you the ability to render you more valuable service than I have ever been able to render before. I am here today more for the purpose of acknowledging my error than to seek your votes. That I should make this acknowledgment is due to myself as well as to you. Whether you will vote for me is a matter for your consideration only.’

“I went on to tell them about the fire and my vote for the appropriation as I have told it to you, and then told them why I was satisfied it was wrong. I closed by saying:

‘“And now, fellow-citizens, it remains only for me to tell you that the most of the speech you have listened to with so much interest was simply a repetition of the arguments by which your neighbor, Mr. Bunce, convinced me of my error.’

“It is the best speech I ever made in my life, but he is entitled to the credit of it. And now I hope he is satisfied with his convert and that he will get up here and tell you so.”

“He came upon the stand and said:

‘“Fellow-citizens -- It affords me great pleasure to comply with the request of Colonel Crockett. I have always considered him a thoroughly honest man, and I am satisfied that he will faithfully perform all that he has promised you today.’

“He went down, and there went up from that crowd such a shout for Davy Crockett as his name never called forth before.

“I am not much given to tears, but I was taken with a choking then and felt some big drops rolling down my cheeks. And I tell you now that the remembrance of those few words spoken by such a man, and the honest, hearty shout they produced, is worth more to me than all the honors I have received and all the reputation I have ever made, or ever shall make, as a member of Congress.

“Now, sir,” concluded Crockett, “you know why I made that speech yesterday. I have had several thousand copies of it printed, and was directing them to my constituents when you came in.

“There is one thing now to which I will call your attention. You remember that I proposed to give a week's pay. There are in that House many very wealthy men -- men who think nothing of spending a week's pay, or a dozen of them, for a dinner or a wine party when they have something to accomplish by it. Some of those same men made beautiful speeches upon the great debt of gratitude which the country owed the deceased -- a debt that could not be paid by money -- and the insignificance and worthlessness of money, particularly so insignificant a sum as $10,000, when weighed against the honor of the nation.

“Yet not one of them responded to my proposition. Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it.”

The hour for the meeting of the House had by this time arrived. We walked up to the Capitol together, but I said not a word to him about moving a reconsideration. I would as soon have asked a sincere Christian to abjure his religion.

I had listened to his story with an interest which was greatly increased by his manner of telling it, for, no matter what we may say of the merits of a story, a speech, or a sermon, it is a very rare production which does not derive its interest more from the manner than the matter, as some of my readers have doubtless, like the writer, proved to their cost.

Thus concludes “Sockdologer.” If you’ve enjoyed reading this story as much we have enjoyed bringing it to you, why not share it with a friend? We’re told that the longest journey begins with a single step. Getting more people to read “Sockdologer” could be the beginning of a step back toward honoring – and obeying – the Constitution.

True Faith and Love

2008-06-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

One of the major emphases of the Bible is this: faith and love LOOK like something.

Faith and love are not mere abstract constructs with which the philosophers can play. We live in a concrete world not the world of illusion that eastern religions teach or the world of fantasy that secularists teach. Because we live in world that has cause and effect, root and fruit, and where ideas have concrete consequences faith and love look like something.

1 John 3:16 tells the Christian that faith and love looks like this, "...we know love, because Christ laid down His life for us so we ought to lay down our lives for one another."

True faith and love look like a cross. True faith and love look like voluntary sacrifice. True faith and love look like the Gospel applied in the day to day events of our lives. True faith and love are a moral imperative ("ought") that has been incarnated for us. True faith and love are the point of the Gospel. Not mere feelings, or merely emoting something, but giving visible evidence of the Gospel in our lives.

Perhaps that is why our Lord says that the ONE measure of objective judgment that any non-christian can rightfully use to judge the profession of faith of any Christian is this, "they shall know you by your love for one another."

Read the story below of one Rwandan pastor, Havugimana Israel, who "laid down his life" for others.

______________________________________

A Sure Sign That Your Religion Is Real

by Gladys Villnow
Reprinted by permission from www.wisdomsedge.com.

Every Sunday at Eden Chapel in Cambridge, England, we listen to sermons that are powerful and practical. The word of God is revered and taught without compromise. We are challenged and changed by the power of God's truth. I have always known the importance of growing spiritually, but this past Sunday, that took on a whole new meaning.

You see, we had a guest speaker from Rwanda. His name is Phocas Ngendehayo. He is the General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES). Their mission is to reach university students for Christ, who will then go out and impact their world. He brought us a message of the importance of being a disciple of Christ instead of being religious.

He explained that Rwanda has a population where 90% of the people claim to be Christians. Yet, these were the very people who were involved in the slaughter of the Tutsis. The conflicts between the two ethnic groups of Hutu and Tutsi goes back many years. However, in April 1994, this erupted into the extermination of the Tutsis group. So-called Christians and outright unbelievers gathered in groups and systematically went from village to village killing the Tutsis.

Frightened people ran to the safety of their parishes, where their pastors and priests gave them shelter. However, these men, at times, would then report them to the Hutus. The Hutus would then throw a bomb into the church and kill the entire group.

Phocas spoke of a cross that stood on a hill of all the bodies that were slaughter. Women were raped then killed, men were tortured, and pregnant women along with children were slaughtered. The irony is that the death squad would often enter villages singing Christian songs and they refused to kill on the Sabbath day, because it was the Lord's Day.

As the genocide unfolded over the next 100 days, 1,117,000 people were killed. Phocas compared it to 9-11, where 3,000 people were killed. They suffered 10,000 a day for 100 days. The tragedy of New York drew world outrage and yet the world remained silent for Rwanda. This genocide should jar our consciences to recall the six million Jews that perished in World War II. At that time, the nations vowed that it would never happen again. And yet it did.

Amid the stories of betrayal and confusion. Many pastors stood firm in their faith and hid and protected friends that were Tutsis. One such man was, Havugimana Israel. He courageously denounced the killings and begged for the violence to stop. He was a Hutu and, therefore, in no danger. But he refused to remain silent. Therefore, he also, was killed. On his tombstone the words. "He lived what he preached" are engraved in stone. And now, even though dead, he still speaks.

Phocas explained how God is allowing reconciliation to take place. However, the nation has a huge population of traumatized people who witnessed tremendous atrocities. Their scars are not physical, but real just the same. The Christians question how a God of love could have allowed such slaughter. Many are fleeing to Islam, who they now see as a religion of peace. In the midst of this, God is doing a work by raising up a Christian movement among universities students. These students want desperately to be used by God as healing agents in a land that is still in much emotional and spiritual confusion.

Phocas speaks with a radiant face and an ardent love for the Lord and his heart is filled with hope for the future. Now a new army marches through the streets of Rwanda bringing a message of life instead of death.

Religious Christianity is not only worthless but dangerous. Jesus scorned the religious and said their judgment would be worse than Sodom. False religion tears down. But a real relationship with Christ should focus us on building relationships and people – not destroying them.

On a personal note: My husband Don and I had the honor of having Phocas, his wife Jackie, and their 3 children, over for dinner in our home. He captivated us with his stories of the struggles of his countrymen. More than that, he is an example of a man on fire for God. He has sweet obedient children and a humble wife. These are servants of God that have purposed to impact the world for Christ. God is raising up a generation with the spirit of Havugimana Israel.

Consequences of the fall

2008-06-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

When man rebelled against God in the garden, one of the many consequences was that man now fled from God and sought to isolate him/herself from their Creator and one another. Blame-shifting flows from this sinful isolationism.

The "rugged individualism" of Americans (especially American males) has compounded this sinful isolationism in some significant ways. Only a recovery of Biblical and covenantal way of thinking can overcome the consequences and overthrow the effects.

The quote below illustrates one important starting of overcoming the consequences of the fall:

"Isolated, self-dependent, none of us is an authentic person, but merely an individual...Each becomes a real person only through entering into relation with other persons, through living for them & in them. There can be no man, so it has been rightly said, until there are at least two men in communication....hell is myself, cut off from others in self-centeredness." - Bp. Kallistos Ware

Obama, Clinton, and McCain Got It Wrong

2008-05-13T16:54:00.000-07:00

Economics is little understaood by both "economists" and presidential candidates. Check the meaning of the word!

Christians in the 21st century, as a group, have as little understanding about "economics" as do the two party candidates, and more importantly, think little about the consequences of ideas they have about "economics" and the fruit of those ideas..

R. J. Rushdoony did not think like the current "Demo-Publican" candidates, nor most evangelicals. This is worth the time to read...especially if you take Genesis 1:1 seriously.

__________________________________________________________________

(From Roots of Reconstruction [Vallecito, CA: Ross House Books, 1991], 641-644.)

After World War II, an American in Shanghai, the Rev. D. R. Lindberg (one of our Newsletter family) walked downtown one morning and witnessed an amazing sight. Wealthy Chinese sat on the sidewalks and even in the streets, weeping and sobbing uncontrollably. Scattered around them were large piles of paper money, in denominations up to $5,000. A government order, in view of rapidly growing inflation, had declared the bills of $5,000 and under to be invalid, and their wealth and life savings had just been abolished. They had gone from store to store, bank to bank, hoping to realize something, and they had failed. However, the money, if accepted, would have done them little good. A little later, this American paid $25 million for a new suit; exactly a week to the day later, a small dime store mouth organ for his son cost $50 million, and such was the distrust of all paper money that it took two American paper dollars to buy one Chinese silver dollar. This is inflation, the breakdown of paper money. Millionaires find themselves unable to buy a slice of bread with their millions, and, in some instances, have starved to death.

Inflation is one of the results of managed money, and managed money is the cornerstone of socialism. In fact, socialism is impossible without managed money. Managed money is the deliberate, state-controlled debasing or counterfeiting of money as the basic form of social planning. Paper money, and coins of baser metals passing in the place of silver or gold, is managed money, whereas gold and silver coinage, which constitutes real wealth, is valid money. For money is not merely a medium of exchange: it is a form of wealth, and if the medium of exchange is a controlled and counterfeit one, wealth is progressively confiscated and destroyed. As a result, the first and basic step in any socialism, in any statist confiscation of private wealth, is to require people to accept a counterfeit or debased money, a mere representation of wealth, in exchange for their very real wealth, their labor, goods, and properties. Managed money is the basic form of socialist planning. The state produces the managed money and begins to spend it for social planning. With this managed money, the state can further its welfare programs, its progressive controls and expropriations, and its total programs of planning and socialization, because, as the producer of managed money, it is the biggest buyer on the market. The state buys real wealth in the form of labor, goods, and properties and gives managed money, counterfeit wealth, in exchange. The paper value of the people’s wealth increases for a time, and prosperity seems to prevail, until the process reaches the point of increasing confiscation as the money rapidly inflates and becomes worthless.

But a runaway inflation not only destroys the creditors, the middle classes, and all with savings, it also destroys the state which permits it. It leads to a collapse of the civil government which promoted it. Previously, runaway inflation has repeatedly occurred. Will it again be the route to disaster?

Managed money, or socialism, is a parasitic economy. The state feeds on the people’s wealth, and the people eat up their own future, and their country’s future, with a debt economy and growing areas of socialization. Socialization produces temporary benefits to some, but socialization, as a parasite economy, must rob and confiscate in order to give. Instead of creating new wealth, it destroys existing wealth.

As a result of this progressive confiscation and destruction of wealth, the country begins to falter and to move towards economic collapse and catastrophe. A savage struggle for survival then begins. The socialist, interventionist, or welfare economy then faces a grim choice: who shall survive, the people or the state? Increasingly, in the modern world, the socialist answer is that the people must be sacrificed to preserve the state. To stop deficit spending and return to hard money would create a depression, which would hurt but would save both the state and the people, although at a cost, but this would involve abandoning socialism. This the state will not do, because to sacrifice socialism now means to sacrifice the state, which now sees itself as identical with socialism.

As a result, the state turns to what Wilhelm Roepke and Hans Sennholz have described as repressed inflation. Repressed inflation, according to Roepke in Economics of the Free Society, “consists fundamentally, in the fact that a government first promotes inflation but then seeks to interdict its influence on prices and rates of exchange by imposing the now familiar war-time devices of rationing and fixed prices, together with the requisite enforcement measures.” In other words, the cure for the disaster bred by the growing controls of money, men, and property is total controls! This is like saying that the cure for tuberculosis in one lung is its presence everywhere in both lungs.

Roepke noted that repressed inflation is more deadly than open inflation and “ends inevitably in chaos and paralysis.” And it is repressed inflation which we are steadily getting, as the federal government moves to control steel, copper, and aluminum prices, and to limit private spending by taxation, while continuing and increasing its own deficit spending. On May 9, 1959, Arthur Upgren, in the Minneapolis Star, stated that the U.S. would “go bust” by 1970 because of the breakdown of money. In a paper on the subject, “Why the United States Is Most Likely to Have a Financial Collapse in 1970,” Upgren offered as his answer to the pending crisis more money management. But more money management means simply more socialism. Briefly, such answers in effect declare that the only way to escape economic law is by means of the totalitarian law of the state.

This then is the course being progressively taken, more money management, which means more socialism, and thus progressive confiscation. This means chaos and disaster. It means the breakdown of money also. But, most of all, it means the end of socialism. The socialist states of the world are all parasites. As parasites, they have lived off their people first, and then off the United States. Now, as repressed inflation begins to work to gut the American social order, the socialisms of the world will collapse with this breakdown of American free enterprise. When the host body dies, the parasite also dies. The desperate attempt of socialism to survive by sacrificing its people fails to work; without outside help, socialism dies. A socialist world cannot exist.

Thoughtful men will naturally seek to protect themselves by investing in land, gold, silver, and other historic hedges against inflation, but the counter-hedges of socialism against self-protection are greater than ever before. And, while survival is important, it is not enough. Socialism is finished: it is destroying itself, and although the worst lies ahead, the certainty of socialism’s collapse is nonetheless inescapable, and it must be a basic premise of all thinking concerning the future. The central concern even now must be reconstruction, the creation of new institutions dedicated to liberty, education to that end, and the assurance that the fresh air of liberty is ahead, past the days of chaos. The wise, therefore, will recognize that the breakdown of money, socialist money, is overtaking us, and that there is no security in counterfeit currency. Before they sit weeping, like the Chinese of Shanghai, surrounded with their worthless money, they had better dedicate themselves and their wealth to the cause of liberty before it is too late. As Sennholz has pointed out, our managed money today is the poorest form of investment for the future. In the long run, an investment in liberty offers better returns.

The above was written two and a half years ago and filed away. Today, there is no reason to change a word of it.

The news accentuates our crisis. For some years now, people have profited by inflation. They are now geared to what Gary North calls “the economics of addiction.”

A news report of Saturday, August 24, 1968, is headed “Brink of Credit Disaster” (Oakland, CA, Tribune, p. 1) and states that “Over one-third of all American families are on the brink of serious financial trouble” because of heavy indebtedness. And most other Americans are also very much in debt and cannot take a real crisis. The reason is that “a consumption ethic has replaced the work ethic.”

The demand by all these people in debt will be for more easy money, more paper, in order to pay off good debts with bad money. The people have a vested interest in more inflation; their prosperity depends on it. The federal government also has a vested interest in more inflation; its power depends on it.

When over one-third of all American families face financial disaster or very serious trouble, according to the American Association of Credit Counselors, can anyone imagine an administration doing anything but inflating? Virtually all the politicians of these days seem primarily interested in power, not the future, and the road to political power is now inflation. After them, the flood.

The foundations are being destroyed. It is high time to rebuild, to rebuild on a solidly Christian foundation.

Petty Tyrannies

2008-05-08T04:17:00.001-07:00

“We do not need to get good laws to restrain bad people. We need to get good people to restrain bad laws.” G.K. Chesterton

“There is no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.” Will Rogers

“The worst thing in the world, next to anarchy, is government.” Henry Ward Beecher

“Goodness without wisdom always accomplishes evil.” Robert Heinlein

“The most terrifying words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Ronald Reagan

“If I knew that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” Henry David Thoreau

“Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely expressed for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent busybodies.” C.S. Lewis

“When you break the big laws, you do not get liberty; you do not even get anarchy. You get the small laws.” G.K. Chesterton

The Love of the LORD

2008-05-03T15:17:00.000-07:00

“To be capable of steady friendship or lasting love, is the greatest proof, not of the goodness of man, but of the existence of God.” —William Hazlitt

“Has there ever been a subject that has elicited more advice than the subject of love? And is there any wonder why? Matters of the heart have occupied talent and ingenuity of every human discipline and occupation. Here soldiers and statesmen wax as eloquent as poets and musicians. Here the muse enlivens even the coarsest and crustiest of souls.”
—Tristan Gylberd

“Love is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” —C.S. Lewis

“Love doubles our joy and halves our grief.” —Dolley Madison

2008-04-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

There are few things in life that bring the the joy of watching a daughter grow into maturity. I guess the other one is watching a son grow into maturity ! Oh yeah, realizing that your marriage has done the same is good too.

Abigail has worked diligently for 3 1/2 years to achieve the rank of Black belt and is now a trainee instructor.

It's a big deal.

And when was the last time you did anything faithfully for 3 1/2 years ?!!!?

Congrats beautiful.

love,
dad

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

2008-04-20T05:23:00.000-07:00

Let me begin by saying go see the movie!

Ben Stein's new movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" (www.expelledthemovie.com) has done several things well. He has brought the light of an expose' to reveal what many, way too many, in the academic and scientific communities have know for a long time: academic and intellectual freedom is a myth in the academy and the sciences.

Intellectual fascism rules the day and if you don't submit yourself to the prevailing rulers in these two communities you will suffer the career consequences, even to the point of losing your job, for no other reason than asking a question. "The emperor has no clothes?"

The second thing that Mr. Stein has done well is to expose the central fact in the dispute about origins: it's all about worldviews, or as Richard Weaver once wrote ideas have consequences. At the heart of the disagreement over the origin of all things is the indisputable fact that presuppositions, apriori assumptions (all of which are grounded upon and driven by one's faith) matter. If you start with a materialistic, secularistic, worldview grounded upon chance, blind "fate", or "natural selection" you may get the French Revolution, Nazi Germany, Marxism, Eugenics, or Planned Parenthood. Oh wait, we DID get those things, eh!

Thirdly he has show show that Darwinism is the ground, for many, for ignoring the God of the Bible and therefore the morality of the Ten Commandments. Morality becomes whatever (hu)man declares it to be. Like defining Jews, gypsies, and unborn babies as non persons.

Fourthly, he calls upon those in the academy and the sciences to step forward and openly oppose, and expose, the hypocrisy, hostility, and hegemony of those who control academia, the sciences, and the media or suffer the fate that Pastor Martin Niemöller spoke of when Christians failed to oppose the Nazis:

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

One thing that Mr. Stein did not do well is challenge the hegemony of definition that the secularists and atheists claim for the word "religion" (especially those like Richard Dawkins who are openly hostile to Christianity).

All men are religious because all men have a worldview, grounded upon apriori (faith) presuppositions: the atheist as well as the believer in the triune God. Religion must be understood as a synonym for worldview. While "religion" has certainly come to connote what happens within the bounds of a "church" or formal faith it also more importantly denotes the package of faith assumptions all men have regarding origins, morality, the meaning and purpose of life, etc. That is why the US Supreme Court could find that Secular Humanism is a "religion."

Dawkins, et.al., are men of faith. They have faith in the blind, irrational, purposeless, materialism of chance. They resort (as the movie abundantly demonstrates) to vitriolic ad homenim and hostile name-calling because they can't defend their religion's fruit well or don't like to be confronted by its logic and inescapable consequences.

Thank you Mr. Stein for the expose' and call to action. Thank you.

Let me end by saying, go see the movie!

AND if you live in the Franklin, TN area consider this:

Expelled in Franklin

http://kingsmeadow.com/downloads/FCS-KMSC%20Expelled.pdf

Join Franklin Classical School and the King’s Meadow Study Center on May 1 from 6:30-9:30 PM, for an evening of lively discussion and intellectual engagement as we discuss Darwinism, Intelligent Design, and the newly released film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed with some of Middle Tennessee's most capable scientists, academicians, and intellectuals.

Ben Stein’s Expelled documentary is creating an awareness of the rampant suppression of academic freedom in institutions around the world. At the same time, he is bringing to the consciousness of many Americans the raging controversy in intellectual and academic circles between Darwinism and the Intelligent Design movement.

Expelled in Franklin will provide our community a primer on Darwinism and the Intelligent Design movement as well as an historical sketch on the philosophical underpinnings of Darwinism, Darwinism’s impact on the 20th century, and a vision for how parents, students, and interested citizens can negotiate a culture saturated with Darwinism.

This event is free and open to the public. However, an RSVP must be received by April 25 with the names of those who will attend. Email your RSVP to nctse@bellsouth.net
Seating is limited.

The panel discussion primer on Darwinism and Intelligent Design will be followed by a Q&A session at Christ Community Church, 1215 Hillsboro Road in Franklin.

Nothing But the Truth

2008-04-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

"Truth: that long, clean, clear, simple, undeniable, unchallengeable, straight, and shining line, on one side of which is black and on the other of which is white." William Faulkner

"Opinion is a flitting thing
But truth, outlasts the sun;
If we cannot own them both,
Possess the oldest one."
Emily Dickinson

"All heaven and earth resound with that subtle and delicately balanced truth that the old paths are the best paths after all." J.C. Ryle

"Truth crushed to earth shall rise again;
The eternal years of God are hers."
William Cullen Bryant

"Error lives but a day. Truth is eternal." James Longstreet

"He that is warm for truth, and fearless in its defense, performs one of the duties of a good man; he strengthens his own conviction, and guards others from delusion; but steadiness of belief, and boldness of profession, are yet only part of the form of godliness." Samuel Johnson

"Truth is objective. It is consistent. It is balanced. It is both beautiful and practical. It is both good and helpful. It is accessible, knowable, and comprehendible. It is dependable, predictable, and unchangeable. Truth is believable—because it squares with the world as it is and with us as we are. Knowing the truth—and living in accord with the truth—is not just sensible and sane, it is remarkably fruitful and productive. When men discover the truth it is as if the lights suddenly come on in their minds, hearts, and lives. Progress is made. Justice is served. Hope is satisfied. Trust is established. Love is confirmed. And freedom is safeguarded. Truth is just as surely a benefit to the scientist as it is to the philosopher. It is just as critical for a physician as it is for a husband. It is just as essential in the work of the artist as it is in the work of the lawyer." Tristan Gylberd

The Strength of a Nation

2008-04-01T12:38:00.001-07:00

"The strength and glory of a land does not depend upon its wealth, its defenses, its great houses, its powerful armaments; but on the number of its gracious, serious, kind, wise, and courageous citizens." Martin Luther

Even the Nazis Couldn't Stop This Man's Love

2008-03-30T05:08:00.000-07:00

(Reprinted by permission from www.wisdomsedge.com)

As German power increased during World War II, many people were trying to leave France. Donald Caskie, however, was trying to stay.

Caskie was born in 1902 on an island off the coast of Scotland. His parents were believers and Caskie shared in their faith. Even as a child, he would climb up on a stool and "preach" to his siblings.

This childhood antic would later become a way of life. Caskie became a preacher and followed God's call to Paris, where he served as a pastor. Caskie used his position to speak out against the ideas of the Nazis. This was a dangerous subject in 1940, and Caskie knew the risk he was taking.

In June of that year, Caskie decided that he needed to escape from Paris while there was still time. He reached the British consulate in time to catch the very last ship. But then he hesitated. He didn't want to take a spot from someone else. And he knew that God had called him to minister in France. He didn't want to let the Nazis scare him off.

So Caskie stayed. Soon after he made this decision, he found out that France had surrendered to Germany. Caskie knew that things were about to become much more dangerous for him.

Things were also dangerous for British troops who had escaped from the fighting. Caskie knew that many of these troops were in the port of Marseilles. So he headed there to see if he could help them.

Caskie worked with the American Consul to help many British soldiers escape back to England. He set up the British and American Seamen's Mission, where he took in soldiers and preached the Gospel.

Caskie's faith helped him solve many difficult problems. His frequent prayer was "Dear God, you think this out for me please. I'm beaten." He believed that God gave him the wisdom and courage he needed to outsmart the Germans.

Eventually, however, the Germans caught up with his activities. One of the men who was helping the soldiers escape was actually a double agent. Caskie was arrested but released. The police warned him that he would serve two years of imprisonment if he was caught again.

A British officer came to Caskie and offered him a way to return to England. But Caskie refused. He knew God still had more work for him in France.

For two years, he preached and taught English at the University of Grenoble. He also visited prisons to serve as a chaplain to British soldiers. He brought them not only words of encouragement but also tools for escape â€“ files, scissors, small crowbars, and false papers.

Caskie was becoming worn out with the stress of his work. Yet he turned down another offer to return to England.

Not long after, Caskie was arrested. He was imprisoned and spent a long time in solitary confinement. Of this difficult time, Caskie said, "It was my knowledge of the Scriptures that saved me." He spent hours repeating the Bible passages he had committed to memory.

Caskie's knowledge of Scripture saved another man as well. Caskie spent time carving the words of Isaiah 43:1-3 on his cell wall. After Caskie was moved to a different cell, another man was held in his old one. This man was afraid of being tortured and decided to kill himself to avoid it. But when he read the verses Caskie had left behind, he turned to God for comfort instead.

Caskie was sentenced to death, but a friend intervened on his behalf and the sentence was lifted. Still, Caskie remained in prison until the end of the war.

Yet even after the war, Caskie chose to stay in France. He visited his home briefly in 1944, but he lived and ministered in Paris until 1960. He then returned to Scotland where he continued to minister until he retired in 1968. He enjoyed 15 years of retirement before his death in 1983.

Though he was retired, he continued to share about the love of Christ. A friend wrote of him, "Donald Caskie was a delightful man, well-known and loved in the city." The love he had for others stemmed from the love he had for Christ and his desire to see everyone share in that love.

Lauren Fogle

(Ed. Note: Donald Caskie wasn't the only Christian war hero. You can read more fascinating stories about Christians who changed war in the book War and Grace . Even Christians who aren't war buffs will be inspired by these incredible true stories.)

What we have lost

2008-03-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

“Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” —Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775

On Elliott Spitzer

2008-03-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him.” —Thomas Jefferson

“The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.” —Samuel Adams

Sam Adams and Tom Jefferson had it right. What one does in your “private life” does matter! Building the right kind of character begins early and must be pursued diligently for many years in order to produce the right kind of public and private character. The kind that will be faithful in marriage and on the job. The kind of character that will hate hypocrisy and not prosecute in others what it allows in themselves.

Training the habits of mind and life that produce good character and happy lives, rather than the sadness that the hypocritical character of Elliott Spitzer has brought into his family’s life, if neglected, will be at a great cost. In this case, likely the cost of a marriage, family, vocation, and respect.

One of Grandpa's "Angels"

2008-02-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

Drop Dead cute !!

2008-02-23T06:03:00.000-08:00

One Scandal of Modern Education

2008-02-14T06:39:00.000-08:00

When a man is born blind, like Bartimeaus in the Bible, he cannot know what he has never seen. When a child grows up into a culture that has dumbed him down, educationally, he cannot know what he has not learned and does not know. That is until he has been given "eyes to see."

I was given "eyes to see" about 20 years ago when I read the presentation of a now deceased Christian writer, thinker, and teacher, Dorothy Sayers. Her lecture, The Lost Tools of Learning, was presented at Oxford University in 1947. It has become the catalyst for the recovery of a philosophy and methodology known as Classical Christian education.

It seeks to restore, generationally, a mind and method that trained our founding fathers, for example, and contributed to the flowering of western civilization.

Below I have reproduced a quoted from her essay that powerfully demonstrates, in part (imho), what we have lost.

If this wets your appetite for more, email me at the perrycog2000@yahoo.com and request the complete transcript of her lecture. It is well worth the time to read.

Perry

"For we let our young men and women go out unarmed, in a day when armor was never so necessary. By teaching them all to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word. By the invention of the film and the radio, we have made certain that no aversion to reading shall secure them from the incessant battery of words, words, words. They do not know what the words mean; they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling them back; they are a prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects. We who were scandalized in 1940 when men were sent to fight armored tanks with rifles, are not scandalized when young men and women are sent into the world to fight massed propaganda with a smattering of "subjects"; and when whole classes and whole nations become hypnotized by the arts of the spell binder, we have the impudence to be astonished. We dole out lip-service to the importance of education--lip- service and, just occasionally, a little grant of money; we postpone the school-leaving age, and plan to build bigger and better schools; the teachers slave conscientiously in and out of school hours; and yet, as I believe, all this devoted effort is largely frustrated, because we have lost the tools of learning, and in their absence can only make a botched and piecemeal job of it."
Dorothy Sayers, The Lost Tools of Learning, Oxford, 1947

Behold, what the Father hath bestowed upon us

2008-02-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God."—1 John 3:1,2.

BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Consider who we were, and what we feel ourselves to be even now when corruption is powerful in us, and you will wonder at our adoption. Yet we are called "the sons of God." What a high relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it brings! What care and tenderness the son expects from his father, and what love the father feels towards the son! But all that, and more than that, we now have through Christ. As for the temporary drawback of suffering with the elder brother, this we accept as an honour: "Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not." We are content to be unknown with Him in His humiliation, for we are to be exalted with Him. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." That is easy to read, but it is not so easy to feel. How is it with your heart this morning? Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your spirit, and grace seem like a poor spark trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Fear not, it is neither your graces nor feelings on which you are to live: you must live simply by faith on Christ. With all these things against us, now—in the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we may be—now, as much in the valley as on the mountain, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God." "Ah, but," you say, "see how I am arrayed! my graces are not bright; my righteousness does not shine with apparent glory." But read the next: "It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." The Holy Spirit shall purify our minds, and divine power shall refine our bodies, then shall we see Him as He is.

Charles Spurgeon

Recovering the Evangelical church

2008-02-12T05:17:00.000-08:00

Understanding the covenantal relation that we have with God and one another will keep us from the "me and Jesus" individualism that has so affected evangelicalism.A s Chalmers observes below "...our salvation (is) in the form of a covenant..." It defines (or should) our relation with Him and "...each other...." It is a fundamental reason that we must be members of a community of covenant people. The relation God established is IN community NOT apart from it.

"OUR Father who art in heaven..." is pregnant with implications. One of which is this: we NEED each other and must not neglect one another by way of fellowship or service, or ignore the counsel of one another, be it an elder or a member (Gal. 6:1).

blessings,

Perry

"We do not often enough contemplate our salvation in the form of a covenant—yet, it is so represented in Scripture. From the beginning of God's dealings with men, covenant is set forth as the relation in which He and the people who are peculiarly His own are made to stand with each other. It is well for us to look more upon this, to dwell more on this—the very condition and state of the matter between Christians and our God—so that instead of the vague and loose and general views that take no real or practical hold of a man, we are able to precisely and distinctly understand the things which the great God of Heaven and Earth has bound Himself to do for us, and to what, on the other hand, He has bound us. Instead of this faith of ours floating before the eye of our mind in the form of a slight, shapeless, shadowy imagination, we can clearly apprehend it as an express and definite plan, both of what God is engaged by promise to do for us, and to what we are engaged by promise in return. Comprehending this covenantal overture of mercy is the means by which we may know the greatness of an amazing grace." Thomas Chalmers, 1847

Adversity

2008-02-02T06:05:00.009-08:00

"Our blessings rarely arrest our attentions. Our adversities almost always do."
Tristan Gylberd

"Does God want us to suffer? What if the answer to that question is 'yes'? The fact is, I don't think that God particularly wants us to be happy. I think He wants us to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up. You see, we are like children who think that our toys bring us all the happiness there is, and that our nursery is the whole wide world. But something has to drive us out into the world of others, and that thing is suffering. Put simply, pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. We are like blocks of stone from which the Sculptor carves a form. The blows of His chisel which hurt us so much are what make us perfect." C.S. Lewis

No More Important Lesson to Learn

2008-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

"A Christian should follow his occupation with contentment. Is your business here clogged with any difficulties and inconveniences? Contentment under those difficulties is no little part of your homage to that King who hath placed you where you are by His call." Cotton Mather (1663-1728)

Ole Ben Got It Right!

2008-01-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

“In reality there is perhaps no one of our natural Passions so hard to subdue as Pride. Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will now and then peek out and show itself.” —Benjamin Franklin

Character Matters

2008-01-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

I have heard all my adult life that a man or woman's "private life' does not matter when it comes to running for political office. The attitude seems to be "what happens in Vega...errrr, (my private life)stays there." While it may, we have "sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind" because we have ignored the counsel of men like Samuel Adams.

Perry

“If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honor of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation.” —Samuel Adams

Generational Joy

2007-12-28T05:48:00.000-08:00

I look at this picture and am wonderfully amazed. I see my son and grandson. I know, I know there are lots of folks with sons and grandsons in the same picture but this two generational view gives me much joy.

My parents are dead. My only brother has died. My wife's parents have died. Our grandparents have died and most of our aunts and uncles. Yet, we have been blessed by God to live long enoungh to see this generational "hand-off" of traditions, joy, family connectedness, and fun.

God's mercies are many and endure from generation to generation.

Proud Father-Happy Son

2007-12-26T12:05:00.001-08:00

You Light Up my Life with Your Smile

2007-12-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

Enjoyin' Snugglin'

2007-12-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a South Texas Sunset

2007-12-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Enjoying Christmas Desserts

2007-12-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a Ring Pop BEFORE Breakfast!

2007-12-26T11:42:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a New Laptop

2007-12-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a Future Cowboy Fan

2007-12-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the Hub Bub

2007-12-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

Enjoying a New Book

2007-12-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

Kim Enjoying Her Gift

2007-12-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

Everyone Enjoying Grandma's Gift

2007-12-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Grandma Enjoying Her Gift

2007-12-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn Enjoying Goofing

2007-12-26T11:11:00.000-08:00

Lydia Enjoying Her Fame

2007-12-26T11:09:00.000-08:00

Boy Enjoying His Toys

2007-12-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

Meagan Just Enjoying Life

2007-12-26T11:00:00.001-08:00

Enjoying a Nap

2007-12-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the Picture Taking

2007-12-26T10:56:00.000-08:00

My son Benjamin.

Meagan and Me Cooking Breakfast

2007-12-26T10:53:00.001-08:00

Enjoying Christmas Chocolate

2007-12-26T10:50:00.000-08:00

Enjoying the New 'Puter

2007-12-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

After Christmas Glow

2007-12-26T10:39:00.000-08:00

The smile on my youngest grandson's face reflects the joy we experienced at being with our family (one daughter excepted) during this Advent season. Enjoy some of the pictures of our joyous family times together.

Reconstructing Politics

2007-12-23T15:21:00.000-08:00

I have often heard, over the years, that what we need as a people are statesmen and not politicians. What I understand that to mean is that the American Republic, in order to survive, needs men of moral courage and and conviction. One of the elements that defines a "statesman" is found, I believe, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt.

"I do not believe that any an should ever attempt to make politics his only career. It is a dreadful misfortune for a man to grow to feel that his whole livelihood and whole happiness depend upon his staying in political office. Such a feeling prevents him from being of real service to the people while in office and always puts him under the heaviest strain of pressure to barter his convictions for the sake of holding office."

May God grant that one day the offices of our land are again filled with men with the same conviction and commitment.

Generations

2007-12-20T12:44:00.000-08:00

Here's Perry IV admiring (?) the photo of his grandpa as an infant. He seems a bit stunned at the remarkable family resemblance (or so I have been told!).

Enjoying Life

2007-12-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

It is always better to be involved in our lives rather than just exist in them. Here's one of my grandsons highly involved in enjoying life!

Thank God for photos

2007-12-12T08:18:00.001-08:00

I am thankful that I can enjoy the many photos of my children and grandchild. It amazes me that, as I grow older, the joy of them has increased. Below is my grandson Perry IV. I was named after my grandfather (Perry the first) and am Perry the second, my eldest son is Perry III, and now his youngest (of eight) and only son is Perry IV. Enjoy the little cowboy who lives near the "cowboy capital of the world" Bandera, Texas.

Political and Media Hypocrisy

2007-12-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

There really is "nothing new under the sun" as a wise man once observed long ago. So it true today.

An absence of honor, integrity, and a commitment to truth (which involves the confession of falsehood and affirmation of truth)has awful fruit in the public and political spheres. The American people, as a group, seemed to be satisfied with duplicity, hypocrisy, and "false-witness bearing" by the press and politicos, as evidenced by this excerpt from the Wall Street Journal concerning the recent brouhaha about"torture" by the CIA.

Pogo was right: "we have met the enemey and he is us!"

___________________________________________________________

“After three days of screaming headlines about the CIA destroying videotapes in 2005 of the ‘harsh’ interrogation of two terrorists, it now comes to light that in 2002 key members of Congress were fully briefed by the CIA about those interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. One member of that Congressional delegation was the future House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi... Porter Goss, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee who later served as CIA director from 2004 to 2006 is explicit about what happened in these meetings: ‘Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing. And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement.’ In all, the CIA provided Congress with some 30 briefings on waterboarding before it became a public issue... One certainly may hold as abhorrent the idea of aggressively interrogating any terrorists ever, either for fear of what they might do to our people, as John McCain does, or because one thinks this violates our values. What one may not do—at least not if one wants the system to function—is assent to such a policy in 2002 and then, when the policy is made public, put up the pretense that one is ‘shocked’ and appalled to learn of it. This is bad faith.” —The Wall Street Journal

A Reason to Enjoy Life

2007-12-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

These kind of pics are, for a grandpa, are "the icing on the cake!"

What a joy to have lived to enjoy this! and by way of photo, again and again and again.

The Truth About St. Nick

2007-12-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

From my pastor, Dr. George Grant.

St. Nicholas

The fourth century pastor who inspired the tradition of Santa Claus, may not have lived at the North Pole or traveled by reindeer and sleigh but he certainly was a paradigm of graciousness, generosity, and Christian charity. Nicholas of Myra’s great love and concern for children drew him into a crusade that ultimately resulted in protective Imperial statutes that remained in place in Byzantium for more than a thousand years.

Though little is known of his childhood, he was probably born to wealthy parents at Patara in Lycia, a Roman province of Asia Minor. As a young man noted for his piety, judiciousness, and charity, he was chosen bishop of the then rundown diocese of Myra. There he became gained renown for his personal holiness, evangelistic zeal, and pastoral compassion.

Early Byzantine histories reported that he suffered imprisonment and made a famous profession of faith during the persecution of Diocletian. He was also reputedly present at the Council of Nicaea, where he forthrightly condemned the heresy of Arianism--one story holds that he actually slapped the heretic Arius. But it was his love for and care of children that gained him his greatest renown. Though much of what we know about his charitable work on behalf of the poor, the despised, and the rejected has been distorted by legend and lore over the centuries, it is evident that he was a particular champion of the downtrodden, bestowing upon them gifts as tokens of the grace and mercy of the Gospel.

One legend tells of how citizen of Patara lost his fortune, and because he could not raise dowries for his three young daughters, he was going to give them over to prostitution. After hearing this, Nicholas took a small bag of gold and threw it through the window of the man’s house on the eve of the feast of Christ’s Nativity. The eldest girl was married with it as her dowry. He performed the same gracious service for each of the other girls on each of the succeeding nights. The three purses, portrayed in art with the saint, were thought to be the origin of the pawnbroker’s symbol of three gold balls. But they were also the inspiration for Christians to begin the habit of gift giving during each of the twelve days of Christmas--from December 25 until Epiphany on January 6.

In yet another legend, Nicholas saved several youngsters from certain death when he pulled them from a deep vat of vinegar brine--again, on the feast of the Nativity. Ever afterward, Christians remembered the day by giving one another the gift of large crisp pickles.

The popular cultural representation of St. Nicholas as Father Christmas or Santa Claus, though drawing on a number of such legends, was based primarily on a the Dutch custom of giving children presents--slipping fruits, nuts, and little toys into shoes or stockings drying along the warm hearthside--on his feast day, December 6. Throughout the rest of Europe during the middle ages, that day was marked by festively decorating homes and by a sumptuous feast that interrupted the general fasting of Advent. And in Scandanavia it was celebrated as a day of visitation, when the elders of all the remote country churches would bundle themselves in their thick furs and drive their sleighs laden with gift pastries through the snowy landscape to every home within the parish.

The transformation of St. Nicholas into Santa Claus is rooted in a number of intertwined traditions, legends, and archetypes. But perhaps more than any other sources, the advertising of soft drink manufacturer Coca Cola and the holiday cartoons of New York newspaperman Thomas Nash have profoundly shaped our perception. Coca Cola’s serving trays, signage, and print ads popularized the Nash caricature of a rotund, jolly, fur-draped, gift-laden, and unbidden visitor who pops down chimneys and distributes gifts to children all over the world.

Alas, thus stripped of his pastoral function and parish proximity, Santa has become almost fairy-like in his mythic proportions--and this day of remembrance has become little more than just one more shopping day before Christmas.

Firm Foundations

2007-11-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

“The Constitution shall never be construed... to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.” —Samuel Adams

One of the Foundations of Freedom

2007-11-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

“The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States.” —Noah Webster

Teddy was Right

2007-11-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

“It is only the warlike power of a civilized people that can give peace to the world.” —Theodore Roosevelt

Love Is Not Enough

2007-10-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Some wise words from our pastor:

During a counseling session yesterday, I reminded a friend of something he has long known, "love alone is hardly sufficient for a good marriage--only Christ and the fruits He produces in the Gospel are sufficient for such a thing." Agreeing, he in turn recalled the counsel of C.S. Lewis in his book, The Four Loves. There Lewis wrote:

"William Morris wrote a poem called Love is Enough and someone is said to have reviewed it briefly with the words 'It isn't.' To say this is not to belittle the natural loves but to indicate where their real glory lies. It is no disparagement to a garden to say that it will not fence and weed itself, nor prune its own fruit trees, nor roll and cut its own lawns. A garden is a good thing but that is not the sort of goodness it has. It will remain a garden, as distinct from a wilderness, only if someone does all these things to it."

One Price of Freedom - Remembering

2007-10-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

"Posterity — you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it."
— John Quincy Adams

Meat Not Milk

2007-10-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

If you are not familiar with the work of The Chalcedon foundation, and the late Dr. R.J. Rushdoony, you should be.

"Too many of God's people want promises and not commandments. Too many desire keys to successful living and not laws directed towards holiness. Too many are self-indulgent and refuse to embrace their Christian responsibility. We as teachers are surely to blame. Until conversion happens first in the pulpit the pews will continue the march down the wide path to destruction."

http://www.chalcedon.edu/blog/2006_11_01_archive.php#116369973818809655

Choosing your Battles

2007-10-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

“If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
—Winston Churchill

The Constitutional Limits to Tyranny

2007-10-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

“I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.’ To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer susceptible of any definition.” —Thomas Jefferson

The Course of Freedom - Truth

2007-10-08T14:25:00.000-07:00

“There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily.” —George Washington

“The man who knows the truth and has the opportunity to tell it, but who nonetheless refuses to, is among the most shameful of all creatures. God forbid that we should ever become so lax as that.” —Theodore Roosevelt

The Power of Habit

2007-10-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

“There is no vice... so contemptible; he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual...” —Thomas Jefferson

How Far We Have Fallen (Part Deux)

2007-10-02T13:08:00.001-07:00

The founding motto of Harvard (1636) stated:

“Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well,the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life (John 17:3) and therefore lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.”

My, how far our schools have fallen.

How Far We Have Fallen

2007-10-01T14:05:00.001-07:00

“Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men.” —John Adams

On Prayer

2007-09-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know the Scottish pastor, expositor, theologian, and devout lover of the Triune God, I hope this brief introduction wets your appetite for more. Dr. Jones has the soundest, most Biblical understanding of prayer I know of.

Perry

“The whole trouble with people who get into difficulties over prayer is that they start at the end instead of the beginning. You do not start with the desire for answers; you start with adoration. I think that the saints and, supremely, our Lord himself, prayed to God, primarily, not to ask for things but to assure their own hearts and to maintain their contact with God and to make certain of their contact and communion with Him. Our idea of prayer is false. We think of prayer only as guidance and requests. Now human relationships you would regard it as insulting. No, the thing the saint wants to know above everything is that all is well between his soul and the Father. There is nothing the saint delights in more than to know God as his Father. He likes to maintain the contact and communion, to assure his heart before God and in the presence of God. The saint is in this difficult world, there are temptations from the outside and the world is against us, and the saint is tried. So he goes to God immediately, not to ask this or that but just to make certain that all is well there, that the contact is unbroken and perfect, that he can assure his own heart and know all is well.” —D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones

Peace and Hope

2007-09-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have lived long enough to begin to think about my death. Young men usually don't, for a host of reasons.

In the light of the recent death of one of the fathers of a student in our school, a 31 year-old Christian young man with a four year-old son and dear Christian wife AND the recdent death of Dr. D. James Kennedy, who never knew my name but influenced my life immensely, I have been thinking about death often.

John 14:27 states: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Here's what that looks like.

May you know the peace and hope that His Spirit gives in the midst of sorrow.

Dr. D. James Kennedy wrote prior to his death:

"Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don't want them to cry. I want them to begin the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before."

Here are the words of a dear friend who, with his wife, suffered the tragic loss of their son who was at seven months gestation:

"The following is to shed light and explain what has taken place these last couple of days concerning my family.

On Wed., September 19th, Tracy and I lost our little baby boy named Zion Joseph at 30 weeks old. Zion died from being tied up by the umbilical cord in the womb. Tracy had to have a C-section operation and we have been recovering at Brookwood hospital.

We will be having grave side services for Zion this Sunday on private family land on a mountain. This is very interesting because one of the meanings of the word Zion is “mountain of praise”….

As many of you know, my family and I are very devout Christians that rest, love, trust, and hope in God’s plan, no matter how difficult it may be. The Lord has blessed us with 5 beautiful children and has done more for us then I can count or dream.

Life is very short and can be compared to nothing else. This has been very hard and my heart is broken for my son who I look forward to being with in Heaven.

Please take the time to tell your children how much you love them and or your parents!

For Christ and His Kingdom, Amen,

With many tears,

John"

Real Life

2007-09-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

I just spoke with a dear friend whose wife lost a baby they dearly wanted at seven months gestation. Reminds me of our oldest son and his dear wife who lost a child, by God's providence, two weeks before the due date. Sad, very sad.

Those who reject Biblical faith are left with a HUGH dilemma in such circumstances. How to explain such things.

We Christians (such as our dear and sad friends and our eldest son and his dear wife) have one...though not explicable to those who reject Truth: Romans 8:28.

How sad to be left to deal with real life and its sadness, with no hope, meaning, or purpose.

Proverbs 8:36.

Leadership: Control vs. Influence

2007-09-04T05:21:00.000-07:00

Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson, has some great insights about alot of things. His thoughts below, on leadership, are right on target.

Perry

Leadership: Control vs. Influence by Michael Hyatt

Leadership is about influence not control. I am not the first person to make this observation, but it is worth repeating.

I often hear leaders, particularly younger ones, complaining about their lack of control in various situations. “If only the sales department reported to me, I could consistently hit my budget,” they lament. Or, “If the production department reported to me, I would not have run out of inventory!”

What they are really saying is, “If could control these people, I could guarantee the results.” The truth is that control is an illusion. You can’t control anyone, even the people that report to you.

However, while you can’t control anyone (except perhaps yourself), you can influence nearly everyone. This is the essence of true leadership. By this definition, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King were great leaders. They had control of virtually no one, yet their influence changed the course of history.
Aspiring leaders would do well to stop focusing on control and figure out how to expand their influence. Here are four ways you can become a person of influence, no matter where you are in the organization:

1.Focus on yourself. As Gandhi famously said, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” Or as Saint Seraphim of Sarov said, “Save yourself, and you will save a thousand.” Modeling is the most powerful form of teaching known to man. If you aren’t “walking your talk,” you dramatically lessen your influence. People have a hard time following leaders who say one thing and do another.

2.Take the initiative. Whiners are passive. They sit back and complain. They focus on what others should have done rather than what they themselves could have done. Real leaders don’t have time to play the blame-game. Instead, they look for opportunities to take initiative and take action. There is always something you could be doing to influence the outcome.

3.Cast the vision. Oftentimes people don’t do what we want, because we have not invested the time to paint the vision. In my experience, people want a challenge. They want to do something significant. They are eager to help. But no one has given them a compelling vision of a new reality. If you consider yourself a leader, this is your job.

4.Appreciate the effort. At the end of the day, everyone is a volunteer. Yes, even the people who report to you. They have more options than you think. If you don’t appreciate them, someone else will. People want to give their best effort to those who notice. Time and time again, I have witnessed the power of a simple “thank you.” If this is true for those who report to you, it is even more true of those who don’t.

Yes, it would be nice if the whole world stood ready to do our bidding. But for most of us, tyranny is not an option. If we are going to make a difference, we are going to have to sharpen our leadership skills and get better at wielding our influence. Everyday is an opportunity to get better at this important skill.