"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy; its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." - Sir Winston Churchill

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." - Margaret Thatcher

Do you want to turn the United States problems around?  I have a suggestion:  Remember God.

We are having problems because we don't do what He says.

God is our creator.  The amazing thing about our Creator is that He cares.  He cares enough to punish us when we don't live the way He wants us to live.  He cares enough to gives a way back to Him.

For many years, through good times and bad times, the United States wandered and returned to its God.  We have wandered very far this time.  I know that God is a loving God and that He will forgive us, but we have to admit our wrong and get back.  We need to stop supporting wicked things that we know are bad for us and things that promote things that are against God and hurt our country.

When we leave our Creator, we loose our clarity.  We become morally blind and don't really know where we are going.  If we return to God, and to Jesus the one He sent for us to listen to, the blinders come off and we see the distruction that we were headed for.  Do you think that you are exempt?  Let me ask you:

1) Do you thing that God ignores it when you lie just to get your way?  Do you think that your lie will not hurt those telling the truth?  Do you think that God won't eventually defend those who are still telling the truth?

2) Do you think that being passive and ignoring evil will not eventually find its way into your life?

3) Do you think that you are better than others because you don't get as much money when you basically stole money from lenders by taking on a loan that you knew you could not pay back?

4) When you watch movies and worship people that constantly do things that God says are wrong do you think that you won't be noticed?

5) Do you even know what God expects?  When was the last time you read your Bible? 

The answer to our problems is to return to Jesus.  God, our Creator, said that He died to save us from our sin.  He paid the price for those sins that you have done and is ready to forgive you because the penalty has been paid already.  If you are a believer and you have been living in sin, return to God by confessing your sin to Him and he will forgive you.

Nothing is out of control for God.  He is drawing you back to Himself.  I beg you to return to Him before it brings us down further.

"I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious."
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Ludlow 

"The leech has two daughters: Give, Give" 
- Proverbs 31:12

 "Wealth obtained by fraud will dwindle, but whoever earns it through labor will multiply it."
- Proverbs 13:11

"The diligent hand will rule, but laziness will lead to forced labor"
- Proverbs 12:24

"a man who schemes is hated."
- Proverbs 14:17b

 "A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren,
but the sinners wealth is stored up for the righteous."
- Proverbs 13:22

"Wealth is not profitable on a day of wrath,
but righteousness rescues from death."
- Proverbs 11:4 

 

"My son, [reverently] fear the Lord and the king, and do not associate with those who are given to change [of allegiance, and are revolutionary], 
    For their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knows the punishment and ruin which both [the Lord and the king] will bring upon [the rebellious]?"

-- The Words of God to Solomon, King of Israel, Proverbs 24:21-22 (Amplified Bible)

There is a time when fighting for "Change" will get you in trouble.  It is when you are rebelling against the Lord and "the king."  God has said here that their calamity will rise suddenly and suggests that the punishment will be severe.  You would not want to be anywhere near this.

I know that we don't have person who we call "the king."  That's because in a republic, the law of the land is the king.  It is obvious that in the United States, the law of the land is our Constitution.  To make this proverb clear to us we could say,

"Don't associate with people who disrepect God and the government by attacking the constitution in the name of change.  Who knows what kind of trouble they will be in when suddently authorities come down on them."

Obviously, the "Fear of the Lord" is supreme.  If you find yourself in a government that doesn't fear the God (The one of the Bible), then, clearly, this doesn't apply as God has made it clear that we should obey God rather than men.  In other words, when the king is a rebel, the whole country is in trouble.  We know that rebel leaders of the past have been brought down suddenly such as Hitler and the recently removed leader of Iraq.

Who are the authorities?  Well, according to our constitution, "we, the people", are.  We are not rebelling to uphold the constitution.  In fact, the constitution says that it is our responsiblity to uphold it.  Instead, it is our responsiblity.

Ron Reagan Jr. obviously doesn’t know his father.  I say “know” in the present tense because I know that Ex-President Ronald Reagan is alive in heaven today.  It is a shame that Ron Reagan used his relationship as a platform to tear down his father’s work in front of God and man.  I know that God will always forgive the one who comes to Him, and I have to strongly rebuke Ron for what he said.

I am referring to an article that World Net Daily ran last month in which Ron Reagan (The president’s son) said that he didn’t believe his father would approve of Palin.  The article is here.

Fortunately, President Ronald Regan had more than one son. Michael Reagan believes that he sees his father in Palin.  I definitely agree and it is easy to explain why.

Ronald Reagan was an outspoken Christian, like Palin.  He stood up for God and the bible when it wasn’t politically expedient for him to do so.  He was a champion for life and was not afraid to face evil head on in this world.  He was one who wanted to see America restored to its position as an example to the world.  He wanted to see the government come down off of its high horse and serve the people without robbing the people of all of their resources.  He liked to talk directly to the people in spite of the media.  Sound familiar?

How do I know that Ron Jr. was up to no good?  Listen to what he was quoted as saying in regard to Palin’s belief in a God who created the world:

"It's such a profoundly anti-intellectual, anti-science stance, I don't see how you can hold high office and believe something like that."

So I thought I would share today what President Ronald Reagan actually said about God as a Creator:

“Each of us, each of you, is made in the most enduring, powerful image of Western civilization.  We’re made in the image of God the Creator” – Remarks to citizens in Hamback, Federal Republic of Germany, May 6, 1985

“How can we hope to retain our freedom through the generations if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith in our Creator?” – Remarks at a White House ceremony in observance of National Day of Prayer, May 6, 1982

“I’ve always believed that we were, each of us, put here for a reason, that there is a plan, somehow a divine plan for all of us.  I know now that whatever days are left to me belong to Him.  I also believe this blessed land was set apart in a very special way, a country created by men and women who came here not in the search of gold, but in search of God.  They would be free people, living under the law with faith in their Maker and their future.”  Remarks at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, February 4, 1982

“Two visions of the world remain locked in dispute.  The first believes all men are created equal by a loving God who has blessed us with freedom.  Abraham Lincoln spoke for us: ‘No man,’ he said, ‘is good enough to govern another without the other’s consent.’ 

The second vision believes that religion is opium for the masses.  It believes that eternal principles like truth, liberty, and democracy have no meaning beyond the whim of the state.  And Lenin spoke for them: ‘It is true, that liberty is precious,’ he said, ‘so precious that it must be rationed.’

Well, I’ll take Lincoln’s version over Lenin’s – and so will the citizens of the world if they’re given free choice.”  Remarks at a ceremony marking the annual observance of Captive Nations Week, July 19, 1983

A famous athiest question posed to believers is:

"Could God make a rock so big that he can't move it?"

This is an attempt to put the believer in a logic trap.  If the believer says "Yes", the response is then that makes God to no longer be omnipotent (all powerful) because he would have made a rock he can't overpower.  If the believer says "No", then the response is that God must not be omnipotent if he can't do this.

I want to start this by changing the question to what I believe is really being asked:

"Could God give up his omnipotence?"

I would answer: "Yes."  God could choose to stop being God.  The real question is:

"Would God give up his omnipotence?"

To this I answer: "No."  This is easy because God stays the same.  The logic problem that the athiest is overlooking is that just because a person can do something, doesn't mean that they will do it.  So, the real way to answer the "Unmovable Rock" question is to answer "Yes, but why in the world do you think He would want to do that?"  I would point out that we shouldn't assume that just because God can do anything that He would do anything.  That assumption is nothing short of absurd!  Omipotence is a description of the power that God has, it it does not describe his will.  To find out more about God's will, you can read the bible.  It is His will by which He demonstrates His great love for us.  We were sinners and it was within his power to destroy us, but He gave up his Son to great suffering take our punishment, even the punisment for an athiest.

As I was doing research for Amen Me!, I found two similar web projects underway.  One is the posting of the Dead Sea Scrolls which represents the entire old testament except Esther.  This is expected to take up to a couple of years.  The other is the posting of the Codex Sinaiticus which is a manuscript of the new testament.

They both appear to have the goal to put real, high quality images of the documents on the web for everyone to witness.

I hope that they are able to post a literal English translation next to the document for those of us who cannot read Greek and Hebrew.  It is interesting that these documents will be available to everyone in the world who can read Greek and Hebrew.  I bet there are quite a few interesting community projects that could be done with this kind of thing.  We will have to see what happens.

"There is a dangerous and entirely baseless sentiment abroad which assumes that every teaching of Christ must be binding during this age simply because Christ said it. The fact is forgotten that Christ, while living under, keeping, and applying the law of Moses, also taught the principles of His yet future kingdom, and, at the end of His ministry and in relation to His cross, He also anticipated the teachings of grace. If this three-fold division of the teachings of Christ is not recognized, there can be nothing but confusion of mind and consequent contradiction of truth."
– Lewis Sperry Chafer, Grace

There are three separate systems that Jesus taught while he was here on earth: The law from Moses, the law of the Messiah's kingdom, and the teachings of Grace.  It is very important that these three systems not be mixed and this is why:

A misunderstanding about the system God is expecting us to live by today can stop a Christian's effectiveness in the world.  We can expect that Satan would use these misunderstandings to frustrate the work of Jesus on the earth today.  Not only this, but attempting to live by an inappropriate system can lead to a frustrating life as a Christian instead of the promised abundant and victorious life (even in physical suffering.)   So, which system are we in now?

It is important to know that the system that we now live under was described in the upper room by Jesus to his disciples (John 14), and later, was explained in the doctrine of the New Testament by the disciples.  Paul was the one who was given the greatest work in this area of Bible-writing.  The system that we live under can be called:  "Grace."  The age we live in is often called the "Age of Grace."  But why would following one of the other systems have such a bad affect on Grace?

Both the law from Moses and the law of the Messiah's Kingdom are legal systems.  Grace, on the other hand, is not.  In fact, attempting to follow a legal system with Grace, corrupts the both systems (Galatians 2: 18-21).  One of the key elements of legal systems is that they condition the government’s favor on your performance (Leviticus 26).  You have to fulfill "your end of the deal."  Christianity, however, does not work like this.  Your blessing is based on Christ’s performance (Romans 8: 3, 4) .  The closest thing to "your end of the deal" is that you must believe and accept his work for you (John 6: 29).  If you attempt to do anything to secure your position with God you fall away from Grace (Galatians 5:4).

Christians can be confused by false teaching.  Some of these false teachers may not even realize that that is what they are, but even if they don’t, we are told as believers to watch out for them.  False teachers teach wrong things about Jesus; why He came and what He did.  These teachers seem like very good people and are nice on the outside.

Live by Grace and live in victory.  For more information on this read “Grace” by Lewis Sperry Chafer.

I absolutely love this gem... O'Reilly says "I'm throwin' in with Jesus because He's the only one who has an explaination about how all of this got here."  And Dawkins ridiculous reply "We working on that."  Priceless... and note that one of the main problems with people like Dawkins who demonstrate no understanding of the information problems in biology, early on in this piece when he says how we clearly understand how the tides work.  Notice that understanding how something works and even what the component parts are made of, have nothing to say on WHO put them there, who or what organized them with know-how, properly tuned, to function day after day. 

Imagine we find a complicated engine somewhere in a desert, with gasoline and lubricants, working, etc., the whole nine yards... and say "well obviously, that gear there turns and rubs against that gear over there and these parts are made merely of metal which is found in the earth and these oils are known to be in the ground as well.  Clearly when this part goes up and down, this part over here reacts and the continual sparking of this keeps this machine going until it runs out of fuel."   Dawkins would have us believe that since we know how it's working and what it's made of, the case is solved and science has proven that this engine needed no creator and no one to make sure that the oil is topped up and the gasoline filled.  Anyone who suggests a "creator" of this device is simply an enemy of science, who's clearly trying to take the "easy way out" and suggest something besides natural forces are at work.    This is complete ignorance of the information problem.  Read my lips Mr. Dawkins:  All design has a designer.   And to believe otherwise is to be an enemy of truly observed science.   One last point.... I have always found this humorous and I can't recall where I heard it:  "Atheists don't believe in God, but some people are surprised to learn that God doesn't believe in atheists either."   In other words, God tells us that even the most ardent combat soldier against Christianity (we'll use Richard Dawkins as our example), deep down knows that there is a God.  All of observed nature makes this clear.  Since all things which exist had a causation, and a cause must be greater than it's effect, we look at this universe with it's untold billions and trillions of stars and spinning galaxies, quasars, nebulae, black holes, suns and planets, and the planet earth with its beautiful and exquisite life forms, it is readily accessible information that the cause behind it all, must truly be a GOD. 

Details bore some people.  But if Christians hope to give an answer for their reasonable faith in a creator God, they need to be armed with details.  Facts which are indisputable.  And the dirty little secret is, the details are on OUR side.  I am reminded of a favorite saying of a Jewish man I used to work with... "GOD is in the details".  Enjoy!