An Examination of Biblical Precepts Involved in Issues at Hand |
This Examiner may be both the July and August edition. Things have been much too busy here thus far this summer, and September will be worse. See personal.
Contents
Lust & Death
Overwhelm the System
Wal-Mart Warning
Well Said
Sowing, Reaping
Grades Go UP, Just Like That
Why I Left the US Navy
For Whom did the Bell Toll
Personal
Obadiah
Statins
Really
Letter
Mine regulator sued by Massy
No Show in the Culture Wars
Evil Angel and the age of Moral
Suicide
Usury and Cosmic Impersonalism
New Book
Lust & Death
James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (See also 2 Timothy 4:3, 2 Peter 3:3, Jude 15.)
James tells us that no man is tempted of the Lord; rather, he is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust.
Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
There are two kingdoms in this world: the kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of Light, the Kingdom of God. Since all power belongs to God, God is the One who must give the kingdom of darkness the power to retain men in its Darkness. They are kept in darkness by their own lusts.
All of the earthly powers that are against God are part of the kingdom of darkness. Those in that kingdom hate God, and work to rule apart from his laws. Psalms 1 & 2.
The Word tells us that those who hate God love death, Proverbs 8:36. The Lord lets them follow their own determination, and even encourages them in it at times: You want to be your own god, go ahead. I will give you power to kill yourself. And they do.
The verse we are building on is,
Obadiah 15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
There are a good number of like passages in Scripture, such as,
Jeremiah 50:29 Call up the archers against Babel: all ye that bend the bow, besiege it round about: let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work, and according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, even against the holy one of Israel.
Obadiah is a prophetic statement against Edom, who were the descendants of Esau.
Though this study in Obadiah was motivated by a book I received from a man in the "Christian Identity"movement, "Who is Esau-Edom", it is very applicable for today. For some time, several people urged me to join in that movement. However, after examining their theories, I found them so far departed from Scripture, I had to write a book, "Identifying Identity"hard copy only at this point. I am working to make it a downloadable in a searchable pdf.
The person said, "Here, you need to read this." I'm glad I did.
The teaching holds that the old nation of Edom is still alive and well today, only under other names. It holds also to the truth that Edom was present in Christ's day, which it was, but not as a nation. Actually, an Edomite ruled the Jews of Christ's day:
Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, the King of the Jews, was an Edomite. These descendants of Esau occupied the deserts of Southern Judea. And from the beginning of their existence they had been antagonistic to Israel. They had a habit of swooping down on Jewish settlements and making slaves of the people.
Indeed, the Edomites were such a problem they were denounced by the prophets: Amos, Joel, Obadiah, and Ezekiel. A psalmist also pointedly wrote: "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said Rase it, rase it to the foundations thereof" (Psalms 137:7).
The Edomites, however, had been conquered in the second century B.C. by the Jewish high priest and king, John Hyrcanus. Hyrcanus then forced them to be circumcised and to become Jews. Thus, Antipater was a Jew merely because his ancestors had been forced into Judaism. (Ludwig's Handbook of New Testament Rulers & Cities. Pp. 29-30. Accent Books, 1983.)
Moreover, Antipater's wife was a Nabatean Arab. Accordingly, the King of the Jews in Christ's day was an Edomite Arab.
As we proceed, remember:
First, the "nation of God" is not the US of A; it is the church of God, Acts 20:28, &c. We have no assurance that the US will not pass into history as did Babylon, who had been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, but made all the nations drunk with her wine, Jeremiah 51:7. However, we know that all of history revolves around God's people who now make up the church of God.
Second, there is no such thing as "free will" as the term is used today. Man's will from birth is in bondage to sin. Only knowing Christ can produce a "free will", John 8:32. However, we will use the term "free will" as it is commonly understood in modern theology.
Obadiah
Obadiah's message is for those (the whole world) who are against Christ and his kingdom of light. It says, "You want to do it your own way without God. Go ahead. But the same will be done to you as you do to my kingdom of light." V. 15.
V. 1, Obadiah, i.e., servant of God and of whom nothing is known, attributes his vision to the Lord.
"We have heard a rumor," or report, which was true because it was from the Lord.
The report said that an ambassador is sent among the heathen to raise an army to go against the proud nation, Edom. An ambassador is a messenger, visible or invisible.
There are several instances of God sending his messengers for the purpose of bringing about the death that sinners, both nations and people, love so much:
Proverbs 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death..
Three such examples come to mind:
1.) Judges 9:23, the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Gideon had been used by God to deliver Israel. When he died, instead of following God, Israel turned to Baalim and Baalberith.
2.) 1 Kings 22:21-23, the Lord sent a lying spirit to bring about His judgment upon Ahab.
3. ) Obadiah: The Lord sent an ambassador to raise an army to go against Edom because of Edom's pride.
1.) Abimelech was a son of Gideon & a concubine. After Gideon died, Abimelech went to the men of Shechem to convince them to make him their ruler.
The men of Shechem were inclined to do so, and provided Abimelech with the funds to hire the murder of 70 of his 71 brothers, removing all threat of competition for his power. Of the 71, only Jothan escaped. When Jothan heard that the men of Shechem had made Abimelech ruler, he went up to Mount Gerizim, and called to those men. He told them if they have treated Gideon's house right, well and good, but if not then let fire come out of Abimelech and destroy them.
In Judges 9:17-18, Jothan identifies the men as partakers with Abimelech's murder of his brothers, for they were the ones who provided the money. They were as guilty as was Abimelech, vv. 4, 5.
Observe: If we willingly give our money to help others carry out wicked desires then we also are accountable. (Taxes are extracted by force upon a captive people. Purchasing labor or products is a different story and study.)
Of course, the men of Shechem did not do right by the house of Gideon who had led them to victory for the Lord, and after delivering this message, Jothan, Abimelech's brother, fled for his life, with good reason.
Our point?
Judges 9:22 So Abimelech reigned three years over Israel. 23 But God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech, and the men of Shechem: and the men of Shechem brake their promise to Abimelech, 24 That the cruelty toward the seventy sons of Jerubbaal and their blood might come and be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which had slain them, and upon the men of Shechem, which had aided him to kill his brethren.
After three years, God sends an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. That spirit's job was to bring the blood of the 70 sons of Gideon upon Abimelech's head, and upon the head of the men of Shechem who established Abimelech.
The two parties fought. Abimelech's pride caused him to go to the next city, Thebez, to destroy it, but he lost his life there to a woman. (Just retribution: Abimelech was killed by a stone falling on his head.) God gave Abimelech the power and authority to carry out his wicked plans which lead to his death. And thus, God held these men (Shechem and Abimelech) accountable, judging them for the death of the 70 sons of Gedion. Vv. 56, 57.
In other words, their sin returned upon their own heads. God did to them as they did to others. They sought death, and found it. (Proverbs 8:36.)
God will give power to those who hate him; that is, who hate his rule over them through his law-word. Luke 19:14, we will not have this man reign over us. God allows, even helps the ungodly pursue the death they so desire. He provides enough rope, and they are the ones who hang themselves.
In 400 BC, Euripides, in his Greek play, Medea, was the first to say, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad" It has been said by many since.
Abimelech and the men of Shechem rebelled against the house of Gideon and against the Lord, Judges 8:33-35. In retribution, God sent the rebellious spirit to them to encourage even more rebellion in order to bring about the punishment for their sin. God's spirit of rebellion brought about nothing new; rebellion was already in the heart, so they willingly followed their rebellion to their own death. James 1:14, 15.
Observe: Today, God has given power to those who have rejected and are rejecting the reign of King Jesus and his law-word from over themselves. Has he not said, Ok, you love death, so I am going to make it possible for you to kill yourselves, and take your followers with you?
2.) In 1 Kings 22:21-23, the Lord sent a lying spirit to bring his judgment upon Ahab.
Ahab, King of Israel, had talked Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, into going to war with him against the king of Syria. Jehoshaphat was cautious, and wanted to hear from God through the prophets. Ahab gathered his 400 prophets together who all sang the same tune. "Go up and prosper". Ahab loved this song, but Jehoshaphat thought it a little off key, so he asked for another singer. Micaiah was brought, and told to sing the same song. He did, but it was really off key. He sang it very mockingly. The king picked it up, and asked Micaiah to sing right. Micaiah changed his tune, and told them that the purpose of the lying spirit in the 400 preachers was to encourage King Ahab to do what he set out to dofollow his heart, and be killed.
Ahab responded with "See, I told you he would not tell us what we wanted to hear. Let's not pay any attention to him." Jehoshaphat then followed Ahab as Ahab followed his heart.
Observe: The cry of the vast majority, "Christians" included, today is, "Don't say anything which might be unsettling. Don't say anything which might cause us to fear or tremble or be disquieted.' We want someone who will say something to make us feel better about ourselves; someone who will raise our self-esteem'. We want a message which will permit us to do what we feel is best, and will allow us to believe what we want to believe. We want to feel more spiritual and closer to God, and we want it in the name of the Lord." 1 Kings 22:13, Jeremiah 5:31.
Though knowing that God's says that those who hate The Truth (John 14:8, I am the truth...) love death, they desire anything but the harsh truth. So God sends to them, or them to preachers who will support their own lusts, which leads to death.
Paul warned Timothy of people, Having itching ears... That is, Speakers who tickle the ears of those who want to be tickled. The temptation of popular preachers is to furnish the latest tickle. (2 Timothy 4:3, RWP)
"We love our way. We do not think it leads to death, so leave us alone." There is a way that seemeth right... Proverbs 14:12, 16:25. God gives the "free will" to choose to follow those who have power and authority, though their way leads to death.
Ahab's mind was already made up, and he gathered people around him who would support his desires by blessing what he was already determined to do. In judgment for his wicked ways, God sent a lying spirit to encourage him in his deadly desire. He did not want the truth, but Jehoshaphat did.
But like so many of us, though Jehoshaphat heard the truth, he followed another who was committed to death. His hearing and knowing the truth did not change his actions.
Was it a personal relationship that caused Jehoshaphat to go anyway? Of course, we commonly see the word of God ignored for what we want to do, or for a personal relationship. "I don't care what God's word says, they are my friends, and I'll support or go with them right into death." Only by God's mercy was Jehoshaphat spared at this point, but he still reaped the results.
Our point is this:
1.) In Judges 9:23, it was the Lord who sent an evil spirit to encourage the already present spirit of rebellion between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, so Abimelech would be slain.
2.) In 1 Kings 22:19-23, it was the Lord who sent the lying spirit to encourage Ahab's determination to going to war against Syriah, so he would be slain.
3.) Obadiah 1, it was the Lord who sent the ambassador to gather an army, which we will consider in another article.
These men, and many others throughout history, were proud and lifted up. They hated God, and rejected the final authority of God's law-word over them. They thus loved death, so the Lord gave them the power and authority, and the encouraging spirits, to pursue the ways of death.
Observe:
FIRST: Whether professed Christians or pagans, those who refuse the Lord's authority from over them, those who want to be their own god, that is, determining for themselves right and wrong, love death. The Lord then gives these people the power or authority to kill themselves and to kill those around them who also reject God's law-word.
In Judges, 1 Kings and Obadiah, it was the Lord himself who sent the evil spirits, so the people could accomplish the death they so longed for in their hatred of God.
Fallen man desires words of death, so the Lord sends messengers of death in the form of preachers and teachers who reject the final authority of God's law. (Colossians 2:4, 1 Timothy 1:3-7, 4:1-7, 2 Peter 2:1-22, 3:16, 1 John 2:18, 26, 2 John 7, Jude 4, &c.)
Second, we see here the reason for the false spirits from God. It is to bring judgment upon those who reject God's authority.
Observe: We are certainly living in a day when, world-wide, men have knowingly and willfully turned from the way of life to the way of death. It is a day of idolatry and witchcraft among not only the pagans, but also among God's people. 1 Samuel 15:23. The natural man hates The Truth, and therefore loves death. He seeks death with all his might as he rejects the authority of The Truth from over himself. The Lord will give the natural man, "Christian" or not, what he desiresthe power, authority and determination to destroy himself.
Hosea 13:9 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself...
The "conservative" talking heads, Beck, Limbaugh, Dobbs, &c., are not calling society back to the way of life. Rather, they are offering another way of death that seems better than the "liberal" way of death.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (16:25)
There is death in the pot regardless of who cooks the pottage.
We see that there are many ways that seem right to a man, but all of those are ways of death. Admittedly, I would rather face a "conservative death" than a "liberal death".
One might say, "But look, God in his mercy spared Jehoshaphat even though he went contrary to God's word." Did he? Look at the results over in 2 Chronicles 20:35-21:4. He lost his ships and all of his sons to one very wicked son, Jehoram. Jehoshaphat paid the price for his rebellion.
Abimelech, of his own free will, followed the rebellious spirit from God to his own destruction. Ahab, of his own free will, believed the lying spirit from God to his own destruction. The nations, of their own free will, formed an army to go against Edom.
God forces no man nor nation into self-destruction. He only provided the means to do what they were already determined to do.
Observe: Are we not seeing the same today? Man wants the freedom to be his own god, able to determine for himself what is good and evil. Genesis 3:5. The Lord says, "Ok, be your own god, and do what you think is best. But be warned, the end result is death." Rejecting God's warning, he goes ahead with his supposed answers, and races down the path to his own destruction. The lying spirits abound telling proud men and women what they want to hear, so they can do their own thing.
The end thereof is the death that they love so dearly.
Answers:
1.) 1 Corinthians 4:2, renounce any and all hidden things of dishonesty. Any spirits which are contrary to the truth of God's word need to be stood against.
2.) 2 Corinthians 11:4, the "another Jesus" spirits also must be resisted, no matter how good they look or sound, vv. 13-15.
4.) 2 Corinthians 10:4, the enemy's strong holds are far and away stronger than the natural man and his wisdom. Only supernatural wisdom and strength can pull them down. James 1:5.
5.) Genesis 3:5, God does give "free will" to destroy ourselves. We must recognize that our own "free will" can be easily corrupted and led astray; it can be misdirected, and there is an abundance of spirits, teachers and preachers, to direct us in the way we think is best. Our "free will" must be brought into subjection to God's word. By a choice of our will, we must lay aside our will for his revealed will. Luke 22:42.
6.) Luke 14:26, as sinners, we need to ask the Lord to make us willing be his disciples.
Abimelech and Ahab made up their own minds as to what they wanted to do, and found the support they needed. Jehoshaphat wanted and knew the truth, but he went ahead anyway.
God gave them the encouragement, lying spirits, power and authority to pursue their own paths of death.
We who know the truth must obey the truth, or we deceive ourselves to our own destruction.
Bro Need
Jun. 06, 2010, Las Vegas Review-Journal
WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Obama's agenda: Overwhelm the system
Rahm Emanuel cynically said, "You never want a crisis to go to waste." It is now becoming clear that the crisis he was referring to is Barack Obama's presidency.
Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent. To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. economy to create systemic failure, economic crisis and social chaos thereby destroying capitalism and our country from within.
Barack Obama is my college classmate (Columbia University, class of '83). As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Obama is following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at Columbia University. They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system with government spending and entitlement demands. Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming. Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn the United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority that desperately needs government for survival ... and can be counted on to always vote for bigger government. Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
Universal health care. The health care bill had very little to do with health care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions). Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government. Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill in the middle of a depression?
Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming. It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors. Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants. They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power. The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars, bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state? Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression? Certainly not American taxpayers. But this has been Obama's plan all along. His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
Legalize 12 million illegal immigrants. Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America. But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted on to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security.
Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go? It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions). A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues). All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America. The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful. The ends justify the means.
Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers, redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama). Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition.
With the acts outlined above, Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme all devised by my Columbia University college classmate Barack Obama using the Cloward and Piven Plan.
Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee and serves on the Libertarian National Committee. http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/obama-s-agendaoverwhelm-the-system-95716764.html
Wal-Mart is the only general store around for us. Otherwise, we must drive over an hour to get to anything else. Four times so far this summer, Wal-Mart has overcharged. Here is how it works.
Something is marked at a good price on the shelf, but when you check out, the price is quite different. In one case, the price at a PA store was $1.45 on an item, and when we checked out, it rang up at $3.99. In another case, an item was marked at $1.45 in our local store, but the checkout price was $2.45. I mentioned the mis-mark to the manager. When I went back, the item was still marked at $1, and rang up at the $2.45. And it did it again, three times in a row. Another time, brand name trash bags were marked cheaper than "Great Value", so we got the brand name. At the checkout, the brand name rung up over $1 more than was marked on the shelf. I mentioned this to the same store manager, and was told that since prices change so quickly, they are not able to keep up. In other words, he justified the practice. And then a package of AAA batteriesrang up $1 more than was on the shelf.
Conclusion: It appears to be a common "bait and switch" practice. Be sure to check your register receipt, especially if the price looks good on the shelf.
Well Said
Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. Someone over there has it figured out.
"The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."
-copied, not confirmed, but true-
Sowing, Reaping
By Thomas Williamson
"Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good works. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not he weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." -Galatians 6:6-10.
This section of Paul's epistle to the Galatians is mainly about the subject of Christian stewardship, or how we use our financial resources. The word "communicate" in verse 6 refers to sharing - in this case, it is about how we share and distribute our financial giving. Depending on how we sow our money, we will reap a good harvest or a bad one.
Matthew Poole's commentary on Galatians 6:6 states that "the precept is concerning the maintenance of ministers, which is fitly expressed by the term communicate, because as the people distribute to their ministers things temporal, so the ministers distribute things spiritual. The good things here mentioned are temporal good things such as may be useful to the teacher for him to uphold himself and his family."
Matthew Henry's commentary is in agreement: "It is the duty of those who are taught in the word to support those who are appointed to teach them; for they are to communicate to them in all good things,' freely and cheerfully to contribute, of the good things with which God has blessed them."
Logically, the warning in verse 7, that we should not "mock God," applies to the way that we sow with our finances. Matthew Henry says, "This may be considered as referring to the foregoing exhortation, and so the design of it is to convince those of their sin and folly who endeavoured by any plausible pretences to excuse themselves from doing their duty in supporting their ministers: or it may be taken in a more general view, as respecting the whole business of religion, and so as designed to take men off from entertaining any vain hopes of enjoying its rewards while they live in the neglect of the duties."
The statement "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" is often interpreted to refer to the general pattern of lifestyle and sinful habits on the part of any given person. While this may be a legitimate application of the verse, the primary interpretation, based on the immediate context, must be with reference to the use of our finances. This is a part of the "burden" that Paul says all of us should bear in 6:5, and it is a part of our duty to "do good to all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith," 6: 10.
Matthew Poole says, with regard to the "sowing" in 6:8, "That man doth not suffer loss that layeth out his money, time, or strength about good things of a valuable and enduring nature ... for he `soweth to the Spirit,' and shall thereof reap eternal life and salvation: he only loseth his estate, &c., who spendeth it to gratify his lusts, and please his flesh, for all the return which he shall have, will be in poor, sensible, perishing good things, which perish with the using, and will be of no significancy to him beyond this life."
Some people are content to spend their money on the useless, perishing, material goods and creature comforts of this life, on the principle that "He that dies with the most toys, wins." But in reality, those who waste their income on materialistic things, instead of sowing and investing in the Lord's work, will be losers at the judgment seat of Christ.
As good stewards of the resources God has provided us with, we should direct as much of our money as possible into Christian giving, thus sowing the seed for an abundant harvest of souls who will receive us into everlasting habitations (Luke 16:9).
Adam Clarke's commentary suggests that when Paul mentions "flesh" and "Spirit" in 6:8, he is contrasting Judaism with its fleshly emphasis on circumcision, as opposed to Christianity with its spiritual emphasis. Thus Paul was exhorting the Galatians to direct their financial support to sound Christian teachers rather than to false teachers who promoted a return to outmoded Jewish rituals.
This principle should be applied to false and compromising religious teachers of all types. We should not support them financially. We should not sow among those who teach false doctrine, lest they use our support to reap a harvest of compromise and religious error.
In 2 John 10-11, the Apostle exhorted "the elect lady and her children," who had been providing hospitality to traveling evangelists, not to give any material support to false teachers: "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."
As we sow our financial seeds of assistance, in hopes of reaping a good harvest for eternity, it is important that we not give money to false teachers. God holds us responsible for this.
Some ecumenical evangelists, in their promotional literature, teach that we are not responsible for how we give and who we give to. They would like us to give to just anyone, and trust God for the results.
I can understand why an ecumenical evangelist, who sends his converts to the Roman Catholic Church and to apostate, liberal Protestant denominations, would try to discourage people from using any discernment in their giving. After all, if we were using discernment, we would never send any money to any evangelist who endorses false religion and yokes himself up with religious unbelievers.
We need to realize that God does indeed hold us responsible for who we support with our money. Otherwise, why would Paul warn the Galatians that if they give to the wrong kind of teachers, they will "reap corruption", as opposed to reaping "life everlasting?" Why didn't he just tell them to give to whoever they wanted to, including the false Judaizing teachers, and let God overrule and sort it all out?
Some would say that we are not supposed to judge anyone or exercise discernment in our Christian giving. However, it is absolutely necessary to make judgments and exercise discernment, if we are to decide which teachers and ministries are sowing for a harvest of "corruption" and which are sowing for a harvest of "life everlasting."
Everybody makes judgments of this nature, whether they realize it or not. If you give money to Church A and not Church B, you have made a judgment. If you give money to a panhandling wino who will use it to purchase liquor, you have made a judgment that this recipient is more worthy than a missionary or the widow of a faithful preacher.
If you criticize the Christian believer who refuses to contribute to ecumenical, compromising ministries that are reaping a harvest of corruption, then you are judging that believer. When you piously rebuke that other believer, who does not use his money the way you want him to, and tell him "It's not right to judge," you are judging, too.
Whether we like it or not, we have to make judgments as to what we are going to do with our money. We cannot help everyone, because our resources are limited. One of the basic principles of economics is that there is a scarcity of goods, and therefore there must be some mechanism for rationing scarce goods and resources among a population with infinite demands and desires.
For this reason, Paul says in Galatians 6:10 that our scarce, finite resources should be directed and targeted especially towards "them who are of the household of faith." Some people regard this as stingy and unfair, but it is a fact of life that we cannot help everybody or fully relieve everyone's real or perceived financial need.
For the same reason, Paul in 1 Timothy 5:3-16 gives detailed instructions on what widows in the church should or should not be supported financially. There are a lot of restrictions here - the widow must be at least 60 years old, she must not have any immediate family that can support her, she must be known for good works, etc.
Why didn't Paul instruct the churches to support every widow and every applicant for funds? Why didn't he tell us to "Just have faith - the Lord will provide?"
Paul was being realistic - it is impossible for any church, however large, to provide full financial assistance or handouts for everyone who might want them. For that reason, Paul warns against supporting "idle" women in I Timothy 5:13, and in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 he says to not even feed those who refuse to work.
Judgments of this nature have to be made. Not everyone, even within the membership of our churches, should be given a cash handout. Not everyone who sets himself up as a teacher or traveling missionary is worthy of support. We will only bankrupt ourselves if we try to support everybody.
Not every evangelist or radio preacher is deserving of support. Some are sowing for a harvest of life everlasting, and others are sowing for a harvest of corruption and therefore are not to be supported. We have to use discernment and try to distinguish between those who are faithful teachers of the Word, and those who are not.
Christ commanded us to use such discernment in Matthew 7:15, when He said to "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." Judgments have to be made for the purpose of distinguishing between true and false prophets.
Many well-known preachers and evangelists have changed their positions over the years. Once they warned against Catholicism and the unbelieving liberal mainline Protestants, but now they commend and promote them. Such false teachers, who compromise with the Devil, are sowing to the flesh and should be cut off from financial support. Sorry, but I will not knowingly give to any evangelist who says "the Pope is the greatest religious leader of our times."
It is true that Christ said in Luke 6:30, "Give to every man that asked? (y. thee," but this statement is found in the context of instructions on how to stay out of trouble with the brutal, dictatorial Roman authorities and their sometimes unjust exactions and demands. In no way is this teaching meant to obligate me to send money to false prophets in response to their fund-raising appeals by television or direct mail.
With regard to our giving to legitimate teachers of God's Word, Paul exhorts us in Galatians 6:9 to not be weary in well doing. Some have gotten tired of giving, because they don't see any results. But we must keep on keeping on , trusting in God for the results. Eventually we will reap the harvest and receive the reward, if we are persistent. This applies not only to Christian giving but to all other forms of service and Christian work. If we are going to persevere in the Lord's work, we must take the long view, and we must be in it for the long haul, content to lay the foundations for the future and to plant so that someone else may reap, 1 Corinthians 3:6-10.
Grades Go UP, Just Like That.
In the last two years, at least 10 law schools have deliberately changed their grading systems to make them more lenient. These include law schools like New York University and Georgetown, as well as Golden Gate University and Tulane University, which just announced the change this month. Some recruiters at law firms keep track of these changes and consider them when interviewing, and some do not.
Law schools seem to view higher grades as one way to rescue their students from the tough economic climate and perhaps more to the point, to protect their own reputations and rankings. Once able to practically guarantee gainful employment to thousands of students every year, the schools are now fielding complaints from more and more unemployed graduates, frequently drowning in student debt. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/business/22law.html?th&emc=th
Note: Everyone wants a job in an A/C environment, so they go to college. And they get one flipping burgers. Notice how many congress people are lawyers, never having worked by the sweat of their brow for a living.
The Subversion of the US Military:
by Rev. Peter Allison
When I resigned from the nuclear submarine service nearly seventeen years ago, I listed as one of my reasons irreconcilable ethical differences resulting from the Navy's acceptance of homosexuality. Such impertinence on the part of a US Naval Academy (USNA) faculty member resulted in an informal visit to my office by a senior officer of the engineering division in which I taught, who wondered whether I really wanted a statement like that forwarded to the Pentagon. The unspoken sentiment was that such a bald statement might reflect poorly on the command climate. After all, my visitor reasoned, homosexual conduct was still illegal under the new "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) rules, to which I replied, "For now."
After a short pause in which he could think of no meaningful reply, he shrugged and walked away. Just a few months earlier General Cohn Powell (then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), in a Q&A session following his address to the USNA brigade, had told a midshipman in response to his query regarding the morality of DADT, "If after those decisions are made you still find it completely unacceptable and it strikes to the heart of your moral beliefs, then I think you have to resign.'
The list of valid and cogent military reasons why homosexuality should be outlawed and those who practice it dishonorably discharged is lengthy. But all too often the only irrefutable argument against the DADT policy is relegated to a footnote, if it is even mentioned at all. As every homosexual activist knows, Scripture forbids all such activity, even mandating the death penalty for it. This prohibition applies equally to all people at all times regardless of their race, religion, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.
Rather than utilizing this most compelling argument, discussions focus on practical difficulties, preferences, or cultural attitudes. Granted, many of these issues even rise to the level of military necessity. But as valid as these concerns are, defeat is inevitable as long as the discussion is focused on them. Practical problems can be solved with enough money and effort. Those that can't be solved can always be accommodated. There is no public sentiment that can't be changed with sufficient sensitivity training and media control of the terms of the debate. Thus it should be no surprise that in a mere seventeen years, repeal of DADT in favor of open acceptance of homosexuality in the military service is well underway. The only sure and certain defense against such incremental decay is to argue from the unchangeable law of God condemning all such practices.
They have also been condemned throughout our legal history. In the Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United Colonies of North America, which the Continental Congress enacted on November 28, 1775, commanders of all ships and vessels belonging to the thirteen United Colonies were "strictly required to shew themselves a good example of honor and virtue to their men" and to "discountenance and suppress all dissolute, immoral, and disorderly practices." The article goes on to direct officers to "correct those who are guilty of the same according to the law of the sea." That could mean flogging or confinement in the brig on bread and water, or most any other punishment the captain desired, even including death. This requirement was reenacted with virtually identical language in 1956.2 Even today consensual sodomy remains an offense under Article 125 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice), punishable by court-martial with up to five years of confinement.
DADT potentially requires officers not only to ignore the law of God, but it could also require them to violate their oath of office. To prevent a naval officer from screening incoming members about their relation to the law in this matter (i.e., Article 125 of the UCMJ) is equivalent to forbidding customs agents from asking someone their citizenship at the border prior to entry. Under such a rule it would be impossible for a customs agent to keep his oath of office. Likewise, under DADT, naval officers are prohibited from keeping their sworn oath by forcing them to be purposefully ignorant of violations of the very laws they have sworn to uphold and for which they will be asked to risk their lives. Under such circumstances there are only two honorable choices: resign or disobey the unlawful order of the commander in chief.
It should be noted that if the institution requiring an unlawful action is the family or the civil magistrate, resignation is often not an option. One cannot simply resign from a family, neither is it often feasible to leave a nation. In these situations the only remaining choice is to disobey unlawful orders. But resignation from a voluntary organization is a valid option.
I have deliberately avoided a discussion of all the practical reasons (and there are many) why tolerance of the practice of homosexuality is destructive of our military readiness and the safety of our country. This is not simply because they are fully discussed in many other excellent places,3 but also because such discussions, as important as they are in some contexts, ultimately obscure the main point. Our help comes from God. Our security as a nation is from God. As Israel learned at Ai, all the military preparedness, skills, drilling, and training vital to building and maintaining a secure national defense are meaningless to a nation that is living in flagrant and willful disobedience to the commands of God. The fact that people are blinded to the reality of the military degradation resulting from such disobedience is simply one means through which God is executing His judgment.
Another Form of Subversion
To add insult to judgment, there is another channel subverting the integrity of our military personnel and ultimately its ability to defend the country from external enemiesthe transfer of the US military to the auspices of the United Nations. This has been a gradual process that has marched silently but inexorably forward since the conclusion of World War II.
The groundwork for transferring the power to make war to an alien authority was laid prior to World War II. These efforts were uncovered in 1953 by the House Committee to Investigate Tax Exempt Foundations and Comparable Organizations, through the labors of its research director, Norman Dodd, and a staff attorney, Kathryn Casey. In her investigation of the minutes of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace she discovered the trustees in 1908 discussed the question: "Is there any means known to man more effective than war, assuming you wish to alter the life of an entire people?" According to Dodd's report of Miss Casey's findings, the trustees answered their question in the negative and then in 1909 considered how the US could be involved in a war.4
While this material apparently never made it into the final committee report,5 Norman Dodd did say in the close of his report to the Reece Committee, "It seems incredible that the trustees of typically American fortune-created foundations should have permitted them to be used to finance ideas and practices incompatible with the fundamental concepts of our Constitution. Yet there seems evidence that this may have occurred."6
History records how the sentiments of the American people were pushed toward war by the sinking of the Lusitania. What the American people weren't told is that the Lusitania was carrying munitions,7 that it had been sent unescorted into an area known to be patrolled by the German U-boats, and that Germany had tried to take out full-page newspaper ads warning people that they might endanger themselves if they traveled on the ship known to be a British man-of-war.8 Although the war was advertised as the war to end all wars, a second world war was fought a few years after the senate refused to ratify the League of Nations.
Was America manipulated into a war? The details of that story are too nuanced and complex to recount here, but a quote from Admiral Beatty in US News and World Report provides an interesting summary. He said, "Prior to December 7, it was evident even to me ... that we were pushing Japan into a corner. I believed that it was the desire of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill that we get into the war, as they felt the Allies could not win without us and all our efforts to cause the Germans to declare war on us failed; the conditions we imposed upon Japanto get out of China, for examplewere so severe that we knew that nation could not accept them. We were forcing her so severely that we could have known that she would react toward the United States."9
Learning from the failed attempt to ratify the League of Nations, efforts to create a global governing entity were begun immediately. In 1942 delegates from twenty-six nations including the US met and issued a Declaration of United Nations.10 Several other meetings followed in subsequent years with the founding conference held in San Francisco between April and June, 1945.
While most of the church was fast asleep or busy preaching that the deity of the Christ, the virgin birth, and bodily resurrection were not essentials tenets of the Christian faith, the US Senate ratified the UN Charter by a vote of 89-2 in July 1945. According to Article 43 of that charter, the might of the American military was now at the beck and call of the United Nations.11
The difference this time was that the media succeeded in drumming into every American soul the overwhelming need for peace and an organization dedicated to ensuring it. There was little, if any, principled opposition. Like a naive class of government-schooled kindergarten children, the Senate listened to the deceitful promises of the UN promoters that it was virtually impossible that American troops would ever be committed to a UN military action without congressional approval. But not one of the many subsequent troop mobilizations has ever been authorized by a congressional declaration of war.
Since the 1990s American troops are now sent into war under foreign commanders, ordered to wear alien uniforms,12 and expected to enforce the military objectives of the UN, thus realizing the goal expressed in Article 43 of the UN Charter.
The ultimate goal is clearly expressed by the Department of State Publication 7277, titled Freedom From War: The United States Program for General and Complete Disarmament in a Peaceful World, as "The disbanding of all national armed forces and the prohibition of their reestablishment in any form whatsoever other than those required to preserve internal order and for contributions to a United Nations Peace Force."13 This plan was presented to the UN General Assembly by President Kennedy on September 25, 1961, and represents the policy of the United States to this day. Several people have confirmed that it has never been withdrawn.14 In that speech Kennedy committed the US to a program of "general and complete disarmament under effective international control." He went on to claim that his program "would achieve under the eyes of an international disarmament organization, a steady reduction in force, both nuclear and conventional, until it has abolished all armies and all weapons except those needed for internal order and a new United Nations Peace Force. And it starts that process now, today, even as the talks begin."15
I have no objection to fighting to defend the land from foreign invasion. But I have every objection to becoming a pawn of the United Nations in their quest for world dominance. I certainly have no interest in risking my life to meddle in the internal affairs of other nations. Thus seventeen years ago I submitted an unqualified resignation to avoid being ordered into battle under the auspices of an organization dedicated to the military neutralization of my native land or being ordered to ignore the practice of homosexuality, contrary to both the law I had sworn to uphold and the eternal unchanging law of God.
But what about helping other people win their freedom? The answer is that we can rarely give freedom to other people through military conquest. Freedom, political or otherwise, has to be won by those who have the necessary self-government to maintain it. Ultimately, freedom only flows from the gospel of Jesus Christ. The jubilee proclamation of Leviticus 25:10, affixed to our Liberty Bell, will only be realized in a land that lives in obedience to the perfect law of God. Those whose mind is set on the flesh cannot please God, only those who are led by the Spirit. The best hope of bringing freedom to any land is through the Sword of the Spirit, not the sword of Caesar.*
Peter Allison is a former nuclear submarine engineer, headmaster, college instructor, and diamond grower. He is the author of Dollar Noncents and holds 5 patents from his current engineering work for a Fortune 10 company. Peter also serves as the pastor of Crown & Covenant Church near Houston, Texas, where he lives with his wife of 24 years, their seven children, a dairy goat herd, and other associated critters.
Notes:
1. Eric Schmitt, "Military Cites Wide Range of Reasons for Its Gay Ban," New York Times, January 27, 1993, A14.
2. 10 U.S.C. § 5947 Requirement of Exemplary Conduct.
3. Colonel Ronald D. Ray, USMCR, Military Necessity and Homosexuality (Louisville, KY: First Principles, 1993).
4. This assertion comes from an interview of Norman Dodd by G. Edward Griffin. "Transcript of Norman Dodd Interview," 1982, http://supremelaw.org/authors/dodd/ interview.htm.
5. Hearings Before The Special Committee To Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations And Comparable Organizations, House Of Representatives, Eighty-Third Congress, Second Session On H. Res. 217. MAY 10, 11, 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26, JUNE 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 15, 16, 17, 18, and JULY 2 and 9, 1954.
6. THE REPORT of NORMAN DODD, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, covering his direction of the Staff of THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE of THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES to INVESTIGATE TAX EXEMPT FOUNDATIONS for the six months' period November 1, 1953April 30, 1954. May 10, 1954. Page 15.
7. "The Sinking of the Lusitania, 1915," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).
8. A copy of the only ad that made it into print in the Des Moines Register can be seen here: http://www.teachpeace.com/teachpeacemoment9.htm.
9. Vice Admiral Frank E. Beatty, "Another Version of What Started the War with Japan," US News and World Report, May 28, 1954, 48, cited at http://www.rooseveltmyth.com/docs/Communism_at_Pearl_ Harbor.html. Emphasis added.
10. John F. McManus, Changing Commands: The Betrayal of America's Military (Appleton, Wisconsin: The John Birch Society, 1995), 92.
11. Article 43 of the UN Charter required "All Members of the United Nations ... to make available to the Security Council, on its call..., armed forces, assistance, and facilities, including rights of passage, necessary for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security."
12. See Stipulation of Fact in United States v. Michael G. New, available at http://www. mikenew.com/facts.html.
13.Text available at http://dosfan.lib.uin.edu/ERC/arms/freedom_war.html
14. John F. McManus, "Arming the UN," The New American, American Opinion Publishing, Incorporated 1996. Republished at http://www.mikenew.com/arming.html.
15. Address Before the General Assembly of the United Nations, President John F. Kennedy, New York City, Sepptember 25, 1961, http://www.jfklibrary.org/historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03UnitedNations09251961.htm
Faith for all of Life, a Chalcedon Foundation publication. July/Augest, 2010, pp. 12-14. Used by permission.
The tragic story of betrayal that cost the lives of 50 million human beings.
American Free Press, 645 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 100, Washington DC. 20003
In the Memorial Day, 2009, issue they show how the many wars since 1916 have been planned and forced by the bankers for the purpose of transferring the world's wealth to themselves.
And when you consider the loss of the life of the civilians who were unavoidably caught between the combatants, the tragedy of war assumes an overwhelmingly monstrous and evil dimension. A great historian, Harry Elmer Barnes, has estimated that some 50 MILLION WHITE CHRISTIANS lost their lives in the insane fratricidal holocaust known as the second world war and the ultimate cost will be some 25 trillion dollarsassuming, of course, that the dollar itself survives... P. 1.
This does not include the 50 million other Christians butchered by Lenin and Stalin before, during and after the second world war. Lenin and Stalin did their butchering with the approval and support of the US and Great Britain.
Only a cursory understanding of the history of the "War of Northern Aggression" will show it it was the bankers who forced that war. Among other things, Lincoln's demand for his confiscatory tariffs the north placed on the south forced the south to remove from the north.
There are even Christian Hawks who believe it is very unpatriotic not to go to war in order to enrich the bankers while killing multiplied thousands of people, particularly Christians.
(I was 4½ years in the military.)
See THIS IMPORTANT WAR. In Afghanistan it includes a war on Christians. http://www.worldmag.com/articles/16885
Last year, two young ladies from the DC area contacted Jennie Chancey, ladiesagainstfeminism.com, asking if she knew someone they could intern with. She told them that her mother live within two hours, so they contacted us, and came over for a short visit, and then a longer visit, and helped Bettie cover a couch. (Soon to be an e-book.) They came again for 10 days in July, to work on pattern making. The younger one has joined with Bettie in the sewing business. See practicallyprettybydesign.com for the details, and for a new pattern soon to be added to the download directory. They will be taking more orders for custom made women's clothing.
They are home school girls, and graduated this spring, and as a graduation gift, their grandparents in TX gave them a three day stay in a very nice timeshare. Their parents then had two day passes for Colonial Williamsburg for each one in the party. Bettie and I were invited as honorary grandparents, a title we greatly enjoy.
The trip to Colonial Williamsburg was excellent. Most importantly, we met some new friends. One particularly is named Josue M. Raimundo who was with the group. He was born in the Dominican Republic of a Reformed Baptist Family. He married an American woman, and they have two godly teenage children, a boy and a girl. From what little I was able to speak with him, he is no doubt one of the sharpest pastors I have met concerning the Reformed position.
He is trained as a MD in the DR, but his teaching time became so great that he had to make a decision, and he chose pastoring. His MD allows him to get into places that just being a preacher will not permit, such as Haiti, where he met other pastors.
He has a very successful Spanish work in Arlington, VA, Iglesia Biblica De La Gracia. He made it clear to me that the Spanish community there is very hungry for Bible teaching, and he is pouring in sound Scriptural doctrine. He said he has about 200 attendance, and when he gets a few more, he will send out a satellite church. He also has a ministry in the DR through Skype. That is free video technology that works through broadband. There is a camera on a computer that will broadcast to the computer monitor on the other end. He is teaching pastoral theology to about 30 men in the DR. It was extremely encouraging to talk with him.
His address is: Josue Raimundo, 1130 Towlston Rd, Great Falls VA 22066, 703-757-0761.
It is a great encouragement to meet and hear of men such as Josue, and hear of the hunger in the Spanish community for the truth of the Gospel. I am certainly looking forward to spending more time with him, and will keep you all posted on who he is, and the work he is doing among a very needy Hispanic community.
The time in Williamsburg was certainly profitable and encouraging.
Piano
One of Bettie's sisters lives in Brazil. We visited her family in 2001, as mentioned in the Examiner back then. One of Bettie's Brazilian nephews, 22 years old, won a national piano contest, and gained two scholarships to US colleges to work on his Masters and Decorate in music. His first school is Moorehead, just south of Cincinnati, and then he hopes to go to Georgia for his second school. We must pick him up in Cincinnati, bring him home with us, and then take him back to his school by Aug 15. Cincinnati is about 8 hours from us. August will be busy.
September
September: 7, a friend, Troy Bean, is going to court against the IRS. He has the best anti-IRS lawyer in the busness, who is from Utah. We want to go to the trial in PA, and he would like to have everyone who has the time to come to the trial. The IRS has already postponed the trial several times, and he told them to get on with it, so he could get it out of the way..
September 10, we must leave for Atlanta. Bettie is going with her oldest daughter as a "nanny" for Jennie's three daughters she is taking with them on a Jane Austen tour she is leading in London. We must meet Jennie at the Atlanta airport the 12th. I plan to remain in the Georgia, Florida and Alabama area for those ten days. I plan to spend some time with the Weavers, go by and see Jeff Pollard, and the rest of the time with the Chancey grandchildren in Enterprise Alabama, until Bettie gets back. Then I pick her up in Atlanta, and come home. September will be busy.
Though I will be traveling far too much, I will have my "office" with me. Everthing is on my laptop computer.
Google is Watching You
It is common knowledge that Google tracks your every move on the web, particularly search inquiries and e mails. (I like gmail because of its every effective spam filter.) You can stop the evil doers with scroogle.org, Be cautious: scroogle.com is a porn site. Scroogle.org uses Google search, but hits your ip address. However, there is another site, Ixquick. Make http://www.ixquick.com/]your home page, and avoid Google altogether.
It is becoming common knowledge that Google keeps an everlasting record of every move made through any use of its services.
Here is another program that may help. I read of this one also in a computer magazine. If you want to keep your web use from google's prying eyes, as well as from others' prying eyes, check this web site: http://www.abine.com/index.php (http://www.googlesharing.net/)
Skype
Speaking with Josue, reminded me that I use Skype also. My daughter had to remain home one Sunday with a sick daughter, and she joined our church service through Skype. Also Josue teaches through Skype. "Got Skype?" If so, please join us for Church if you have no local assembly you can attend. If interested, we can have a teaching class through the week over Skipe. Let me know.
Poor Taste
The article by David Cloud in the last Examiner concerning Peter Ruckman was in poor taste. I should not have passed it on. My apologies. A web search for Peter Ruckman will give you more information than you want to know.
I must admit that there are probably those who consider me a heretic because I hold to the orthodox faith that was once delivered to the saints, and proclaimed from the housetops for 1800 years before it was replaced with the modern understanding of dispensations and with an escape mentality.
Moreover, I do not consider those who do not agree with the historic orthodox faith heretics, though I believe they are unorthodox.
Get Your Gun
An April 9 Associated Press news story out of Ashtabula County in Jefferson, Ohio, reported that Common Pleas Judge Alfred Mackey told the local media that citizens should arm themselves. The comment came after the judge was asked how citizens should respond to recent cuts in the local sheriff's department. "Arm themselves.... Be very careful, be vigilant, get in touch with your neighbors, because we're going to have to look after each other."
The New American, 7/5/10
Abandoned by the Lord
Judge declares US gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional
By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff. July 8, 2010.
A federal district court judge in Boston today struck down the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as a union exclusively between a man and a woman.
Judge Joseph L. Tauro ruled that the federal Defense of Marriage law violates the Constitutional right of married same-sex couples to equal protection under the law and upends the federal government's long history of allowing states to set their own marriage laws. ...
Indifferent shepherds and Christians have allowed murder (abortion) and sodomy to become accepted social behavior. The Lord is simply allowing the natural results of Christian indifference to take place.
Can we expect an election to turn things around when Christians refuse to turn things around within their areas of influence?
Sharia, Muslim, Law
Mark Steyn: The dots some don't want to connect
... You may not be interested in Islam but Islam is interested in you. Islam smells weakness at the heart of the West. The post-World War II order is dying: The European Union's decision to toss a trillion dollars to prop up a Greek economic model that guarantees terminal insolvency is merely the latest manifestation of the chronic combination of fiscal profligacy and demographic decline in the West at twilight. Islam is already the biggest supplier of new Europeans and new Canadians, and the fastest-growing demographic in the Western world....
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/-248862.html
Obama, lying to get Obamacare passed, promised that his bill was not a tax. Being challenged by the suits concerning its constitutionality, he now says it falls under congress' authority to tax.
As we pointed out previously, Obamacare is a Muslim tax on non-Muslims under Muslim law. However, there is a loophole in the bill. That is, Christian health care ministries, such as Samaritan Ministries, are also exempt from the tax. These ministries have the same liberty in health care as do the Amish from SS tax, because members pledge to help pay one another's heath care.
One can cut their heath care "insurance" to a fraction of what they might pay to an insurance company through these ministries. Check them out, and use the Lord's money wisely.
Hot, hot, hot
All along the East Coast, it has been hot and dry, even in the 100s. However, on this mountain, we have not exceeded the mid 90s. Being from Indiana, long, hot summer days in the 90s & 100s are not unusual for me, but it certainly is for here. The thing that has gotten my attention is that here in July, it sure sseems more like the end of August or September from the sound of the "bugs". Early winter??
Politically Correct
I was sure something big would take place before the mid-term elections to hinder truth from circulating. And it has started. Google, a radical left wing supporter of Obama, shut down 73,000 politically incorrect blogs under the guise of "provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Acts passed in 1998." See http://www.newswithviews.com/Barnewall/marilyn143.htm for details.
I am sure we can expect similar efforts to shut down any source that might hinder federal government's one-world agenda. Have you noticed how many links that might be critical of this administration seem to not work on the Drudgereport?
Obadiah is an easy to read, timeless little book of only 21 verses. Though it is a prophecy against the proud nation of Edom, it easily identifies every proud and lifted up nation of all history. In it we see disaster ahead for the our nation, as it wars against the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Though filled with doom and gloom against proud nations, it ends on a very high note:
21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.
God is at war against those who are at war with his kingdom. Though God empowers the kingdom of darkness to carry on that war, it is for his glory alone. We are told six times that the enemies of Lord will be subdued. (Psalms 110:1, Matthew 22:44, Mark 12:36, Luke 20:43, Acts 2:35where this message brought conviction and conversion of about three thousand souls, and Hebrews 1:13.)
Certainly, it is distressing to think about our proud nation passing into history, but our love and allegiance is to the Kingdom of God.
We have three clearly revealed instances of God sending spirits to encourage and strengthen the wicked in their wicked ways, with the intention to bring about just judgment, death.
1.) Judges 9:23, the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. Gideon had been used by God to deliver Israel. When he died, instead of following God, Israel turned to Baalim and Baalberith.
2.) 1 Kings 22:21-23, the Lord sent a lying spirit to bring about His judgment upon Ahab.
3. ) Obadiah 1, the Lord sent an ambassador to raise an army to go against Edom because of Edom's pride.
We will use the term "free will" as commonly understood in modern theology. However, there is no such thing as "free will", for man's will from birth is in bondage to sin. Christ alone produces true freedom, John 8:32.
Obadiah 1, An ambassador is sent... The Lord sent his ambassador from the Kingdom of God to the kingdom of men. His ambassador is going to carry a message and cause those to whom he is sent to do something: "Arise and go to battle" against the proud nation, Edom. The Lord God sends his recruiting agent among the heathens to raise a literal army.
There are several like instances:
In Isaiah 10:5, God exalted Assyria for the purpose of chastising his proud and disobedient people. He purposed to move Assyria against them, and Assyria was confident he was moving according to his own "free will". The Lord did the same with Babylon. In Isaiah 10:5-19, we find that God exalted Assyria for his purpose, and when Assyria became proud of his abilities, God raised up Babylon to deal with Assyria's pride.
No doubt, the US of A was exalted for a purpose; is that purpose now completed?
There is quite an amazing statement in Revelation 17:17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, speaks of the ten horns or kings which make war with the Lamb. Their refers to those who join together with the beast to accomplish their wicked desires. Thus we understand that the most wicked of men in their most wicked of dreams and projects are only fulfilling HIS will to their own destruction.
Isaiah 13:4, says the same thing. Wicked men plan their wicked, ungodly goals and desires, as they gather together for battle. Yet it is the LORD who "mustereth the host of the battle". What are their battle plans? Maybe to overthrow a nation, maybe to subdue a rebellion, maybe to war against the land (the church, Christians), maybe just to protect themselves. They conspire around their tables, hover over their maps, discuss their battle strategy, count their men and raise their taxes to finance the endeavor. But what are they doing? They are fulfilling the will of him to whom belongs all power in heaven and earth.
How does the Lord do this? By stirring up what they want to do anyway. He does not place the lust for power or money in their hearts. Rather, he sends a messenger to stir up the already present lust for power, that his purpose might be fulfilled. As the Medes prepared to move against Babylon, they would not have imagined that they were answering the call of the KING of KINGS, but they were. Isaiah 13:17.
God as the uncaused cause of everything has been true throughout history. Christ told Pilate his power was from above, John 19:11. Peter's first sermon pointed out that God the Father raised up the wicked of Christ's day, so they could accomplish what God had determined long before the earth began, Acts 2:33. When Peter told them that God would hold them accountable for their wicked activities, thousands are convicted, repent and saved. God only "uses" (for lack of a better word) what is already in the hearts of men. The lusts which are not under subjection will control us. Thus in all cases, God influences or at least allows success in areas of lust which already exist, James 4.
Consider Pharaoh, Romans 9:17. Man, in his natural state, is completely controlled by his sinful lusts, even a lust to do good that he might inherit eternal life, Matthew 7:21-23. God allows, and at time strengthens, the men to do what they are determined to do, so they might bring judgment upon themselves. They are fulfilling their lusts and enjoying it'. In some cases, however, God steps in by his grace, and shows them their condition. The Holy Spirit gains entrance and controls the lusts, so the people can serve him as vessels of honour, Ephesians 2:8, 9. Still others (a vast majority, it seems) are left in the state of happily serving their own lusts, joyfully continuing down the broad road to destruction. Very few are unhappy in their state, and they desire to be left on the road to death. But the Holy Spirit makes certain ones, the Elect, unhappy enough that they turn to Christ.
Leaving the sinner alone will allow him to happily continue down the swift road to destruction. But for his own purpose and glory, at times God sends a spirit to make sinners even more determined in their own lusts, and he at times gives them power to pursue their own lusts, e.g., Pharaoh, Abimelech and Ahab. Paul asks how we can question God because he leaves people doing what they enjoy doing, and may even strengthen them with power to joyfully obtain their lustful desires, Romans 9?
Can we complain if God decides to leave sinners doing what they are determined to do? Can we say, God, you are unrighteous for leaving that individual happy in his own sin! How arrogant, as we try to make God accountable to us. Even those pursuing their own lusts bring glory to God, Romans 9:22, 23.
Let us be concerned about our own vessel. Might we submit to the Spirit, so we can serve him with a pure heart, Philippians 3:15.
V. 1, the Lord sent his ambassador to persuade the heathen to raise an army to battle against Edom.
V. 2, Edom was a small rock dwelling nation, yet he was lifted up with pride. He felt he was something he was not. God made him small, and established his dwelling among the rocks. Yet Edom refused to realize his place in life, causing him to be despised by the other nations. Edom, because of where he dwelt, was proud that he had plenty of strength for protection, but he was not big enough to be an aggressor.
V. 3, Jehovah was outraged at Edom. Edom invaded Judea, (his brother, Jacob) and killed many in c. 738, 2 Chronicles 28:17. (McClintock & Strong's Cyclopedia.)
In 587 BC,
864. Obadiah the prophet uttered a prophecy against Edom, which shamefully gloated over the calamity of the Jews when Jerusalem was destroyed. Jeremiah and the authors of the Psalms, who wrote about the same time, also made a similar prophecy. {Jer 49:7 Eze 25:12 Ps 79:1-13 137:1-9} (Ussher, "The Annals of the World".)
Edom felt his dwelling place, Petra, was impregnable, which led to great pride. Though small in numbers, Edom was confident that he could not be defeated. Because of his location, a very small army could hold off almost any size army that would come against him. The entrance into his city was only 10 feet wide at places, with towering cliffs on both side. There were only 2 known entrances, and they ran for miles. (The city had a 2 mile circumference, which gave room for 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants.)
Because Edom was so well protected, he did things he had no business doing. Because he was so well protected, he was deceived into thinking he was something that he was not. Because he was so well protected, he felt no need for God.
V. 3, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee; If any man seem to himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself in his own imagination, Galatians 6:3. Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. James 1:22.
Both Old and New Testaments blame deception on the individual. Pride allows, even begs for, deception, and the Lord will provide deceiving spirits, preachers, teachers and civil leaders.
Pride fails to realize and take our place in God's order, vv. 2, 3, which leads to rebellion against The Truth. (Thy law is the truth, Psalms 119:142; all thy commandments are truth, v. 151.) Satan used Eve's pride to deceive her, as he said, You don't need God's word. You can be like God. You don't need his word to tell you what is right and what is wrong. It was Eve who was deceived in the transgression, 1 Timothy 2:14.
Edom, like nations and individuals, was deceived, being so well established that he felt no one could bring him down.
Observe: We are living in a nation that feels it cannot be brought down. I have no doubt that God has sent out his ambassador among the nations to make their move. It seems like the ambassador went to the Muslim and Spanish nations, saying, "Arise ye, and come into the once mighty nation that feared God. The fear of God is now gone, and it is now yours for the taking." It is a well known fact that the followers of Muhammad have desired to conquer the West. Because the West has so dramatically departed from their protection, God is giving the Muhammadans the will and power to make their conquest from the inside. God even sent for and empowered a Muslim to be president. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwhKuunp8D8&feature=player_embedded
V. 4, Edom was exalted. Petra, Edom's dwelling place, was as an eagle dwelling in the cliffs of the rock. God, through Obadiah, in no uncertain terms tells Edom that no matter how much protection he might have, he will be brought down.
Though Hosea 13:9 (O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.) was given to Israel, it is a message for all who turn from the King. As once godly nations fall, they have no excuse. Jeroboam introduced his state religion and deceived Israel to follow it, yet God said that Israel destroyed himself.
Others may influence us in our error, but only if we want to be influenced. Jehoshaphat shows us that knowing the truth without doing the truth will result in destruction.
Pride: Anything less than submission to God's word is pride. Pride prevents our submission to God's law-word which brings destruction. God help us to humble ourselves under His mighty hand that we might enjoy a blessing rather than a curse, 1 Peter 5:6.
V. 5, Obadiah speaks of the utter destruction facing Edom. Normally, robbers by night will only take until they have enough. Normally, when grapegathers gather the grapes, they leave some behind. But not so for Edom. Edom would be so totally destroyed that he would not have one person left to continue the name Edomite upon this earth.
V. 6, Edom was well hidden and confident in his hiding. But the Lord sent his army of heathens into every crack to search out Edom.
V. 7, it was Edom's friends who answered the ambassador's call to arms. Edom was deceived by those he trusted, as the ambassador moved to unite his trusted friends against him.
Vv. 7b-9, Edom prided himself in his wisdom. In the day of the Lord's judgment against sin, God turns the wise men of this world (that is, of the nations he will destroy) into fools.
Observe: the reason God confounds the wise is so destruction can come upon the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness with God.
V.10, Forever... Note the finality of Edom.
V. 11, when Babylon came against Jerusalem, Esau, instead of helping his brother, Jacob, helped his brother's enemy.
V. 12, Esau rejoiced in Jacob's overthrow. Esau spoke proudly, "Because of my location, I don't have to worry about being destroyed."
V. 13, Esau rejoiced as his brother fell into the hands of his enemies, and helped the enemies spoil his brother. "They helped the Chaldeans in his overthrow, rejoiced in his calamity, thought that, by this cooperation, they had secured themselves. ... At that first destruction of Jerusalem, Edom triumphed, Raze her! Raze her, even to the ground!' " (Pusey, Barnes' Notes.)
V. 14, Esau even slew those of Jacob, his brother, who tried to escape the destruction. Those he did not slay, he captured, and turned over to the enemy. No wonder the Lord is upset with him.
V. 15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.
The Lord's judgment is near upon Esau. Though Esau helped the Chaldeans against his brother, hoping to secure himself, he reaped the same at the hands of the Chaldeans. God's judgments fit the crimeeye for an eye....
Observe: Considering what our State Department has done to our friends as well as to our enemies, what judgment will fit the crime?
V. 16, the ungodly seek to persecute the church (Jacob-Christ). They join forces for the spoil, Proverbs 1:13, as they try to remove all vestige of God's people, with not one escaping. But God promises that the day is coming when things will be reversed. Everything the wicked sought to do to the church will be returned upon thine own head. Here lies our hope; it is in our Lord.
V. 17 actually starts a new section referring to after the time of Christ. From this point on, the passage speaks spiritually of Christ, his church and those who have stood against the church.
Possess their possessions... That is, Inherit their inheritances. According to our Lord's words, the whole world is the inheritance of the Christ through his people, Matthew 28:19, Romans 4:13. (Proverbs 13:22, the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.)
In v. 17 Obadiah gives, in a few brief words, the sum and substance of the salvation which awaits the people of the Lord in the future. This salvation is unfolded still further in what follows, and first of all in vv. 18, 19, by a fuller exposition of the thought expressed in v. 17b. (Keil-Delitizsch)
V. 17 is understood spiritually because in v. 10, Edom is cut off forever. Therefore, Edom from v. 17 on refers to all who are against the church. Here is a reference to the church and she delivered because Jacob never delivered himself. There was a short time of Jacob repossessing under the Maccabees but nothing like what is spoken of here.
Observe: The church (God's people) grows cold and indifferent to her Lord. The Lord raises up a "rod of his anger", that is, the heathen to chastise his people for their sins. The chastisement causes them to be purified and depart from their sins. They again answer their calling in Christ, and become a holy nation. The result of being a holy nation unto our Lord is the Lord again moving in behalf of his people. He again becomes their strong tower, their rock and shield, their deliverer, as he delivers them from their oppressors.
V. 18, The house of Jacob refers to the church. The fire and flame is not a reference to the people who make up Jacob. Rather, it refers to the God of Jacob. Read Hebrews 12, especially v. 29, For our God is a consuming fire.
1599 Geneva notes,
V. 18, fire... "God attributes this power to consume his enemies to his Church, which power properly belongs only to himself; Isa 10:17, De 4:24, He 12:29."
V. 19, mount... "He describes how the Church will be enlarged and have great possessions: but this is mainly accomplished under Christ, when that faithful are made heirs and lords of all things by him who is their head. "
V. 20, the Canaanites... "By the Canaanites, the Jews mean the Dutchmen, and by Zarephath, France, and by Sepharad, Spain."
V. 21, saviours... "Meaning that God will raise up in his Church those who will rule and govern for the defence of it, and for the destruction of his enemies under the Messiah, whom the Prophet here calls the Lord and head of this kingdom."
A conclusion:
1.) God's people grow cold and indifferent toward him, his word, his work as well as toward his prophets (or men, pastors, labourers, etc.)
2.) God sends his ambassador to raise an army from among the heathens. He will use them to chastize and judge his people, Hebrews 12.
3.) This chastising purifies his people. It will quickly separate the faithful from the unfaithful. Those who are only playing church will soon fall away from this chastening rod. There will be no "rapture" of his people to avoid the judgments for their indifference any more than there has been a "rapture" of his people from the Muslim and Communist countries.
4.) As the church is purified, it once again becomes a fire or flame for the Lord as they serve him and him alone with all their heart.
5.) Their Lord can step in, not as a chastening Father, but as an all powerful deliverer.
6.) He delivers them from their oppression, and they fall heir to their possessions through Christ as obedient children of the heavenly Father.
7.) He becomes a fire to their enemies. Or we should say, to his enemies. God is now their protector. He is their provider.
Summation:
First, all things work for good, either as a chastening rod to cleanse away sin and foolishness (Proverbs 20:30, 22:15) and purify his people, or to prepare them to pursue his goal for their lives.
Second, chastening separates the wheat from the chaff. God's responsibility is to see that his enemies are taken care of. Those who glorify him as God, Romans 1:21, over every area of life, can go about their God given tasks, and God will become a fire to his enemies.
V. 18. History tells us that under the Maccabees, the remnants of Israel and Judah united and subdued Esau, forcing the remaining Edomites to be circumcised, and adopt the Jewish laws, making them Jews. (Josephus, Ant. xiii 9, 1.)
V. 21, confirms, I believe, the overall message of Obadiah of the conflict of the church vs the worldMount Zion vs mount of Esau, the spirit vs the flesh (Jacob-Esau).
Obadiah ends with a high point: and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.
We are clearly told whose kingdom will win out, man's or God's. It tells us who has already won: Mt. Zion, the Lord's holy hill. We have not seen the final conclusion to the whole matter. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth now and forever more:
Revelation 19:6 And I heard like a voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of strong thunderings, saying, Halleluiah: for the Lord that God that almighty God hath reigned. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give glory to him...
Bro Need
Statins and All-Cause Mortality in High-Risk Primary Prevention
A Meta-analysis of 11 Randomized Controlled Trials Involving 65 229 Participants
Kausik K. Ray, MD, MPhil, FACC, FESC; Sreenivasa Rao Kondapally Seshasai, MD, MPhil; Sebhat Erqou, MD, MPhil, PhD; Peter Sever, PhD, FRCP, FESC; J. Wouter Jukema, MD, PhD; Ian Ford, PhD; Naveed Sattar, FRCPath
Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(12):1024-1031.
Background Statins have been shown to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality among individuals with clinical history of coronary heart disease. However, it remains uncertain whether statins have similar mortality benefit in a high-risk primary prevention setting. Notably, all systematic reviews to date included trials that in part incorporated participants with prior cardiovascular disease (CVD) at baseline. Our objective was to reliably determine if statin therapy reduces all-cause mortality among intermediate to high-risk individuals without a history of CVD.
Data Sources Trials were identified through computerized literature searches of MEDLINE and Cochrane databases (January 1970-May 2009) using terms related to statins, clinical trials, and cardiovascular end points and through bibliographies of retrieved studies.
Study Selection Prospective, randomized controlled trials of statin therapy performed in individuals free from CVD at baseline and that reported details, or could supply data, on all-cause mortality.
Data Extraction Relevant data including the number of patients randomized, mean duration of follow-up, and the number of incident deaths were obtained from the principal publication or by correspondence with the investigators.
Data Synthesis Data were combined from 11 studies and effect estimates were pooled using a random-effects model meta-analysis, with heterogeneity assessed with the I2 statistic. Data were available on 65 229 participants followed for approximately 244 000 person-years, during which 2793 deaths occurred. The use of statins in this high-risk primary prevention setting was not associated with a statistically significant reduction (risk ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.83-1.01) in the risk of all-cause mortality. There was no statistical evidence of heterogeneity among studies (I2 = 23%; 95% confidence interval, 0%-61% [P = .23]).
Conclusion: This literature-based meta-analysis did not find evidence for the benefit of statin therapy on all-cause mortality in a high-risk primary prevention set-up.
Author Affiliations: Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England (Drs Ray, Seshasai, and Erqou); Department of Cardiology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge (Dr Ray); Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Imperial College, and National Heart and Lung Institute, London, England (Dr Sever); Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands (Dr Jukema); and Department of Statistics (Dr Ford) and BHF Glasgow Cardiovascular Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine (Dr Sattar), University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland.
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/170/12/1024
Personal Conclusion: The tests showing positive benefit are done by the drug companies, not by independent tests. The drug companies have developed a chewable statin pill for kids, hoping for a large, new market. But, statin drugs are a huge rip-off perpetrated by the medical-industrial complex. Not only have statins been proved worthless in prevention, they also can have serious side-effects, e.g., muscle damage as well as arthritis, as Bettie found out some years ago.
A woman walked into the kitchen to find her Husband stalking around with a fly swatter.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Hunting Flies" He responded.
"Oh! Killing any?" She asked.
"Yep, 3 males, 2 Females," he replied.
Intrigued, she asked. "So How can you tell them apart?"
He responded, "3 were on a beer can, 2 were on the phone".
Dear Biblical Examiner:
Friends sent me your publication here. I enjoy it immensely.
I will have an excerpt from my book sent to you for consideration. I think you will find it worth while.
If you can take a look at my site: www.merletemple.com and recommend it and God, Government, and Grace in your future issue, it would help us get the word out. No $ involved, just need hits to move up, tell our story and show people my Redeemer... That they might want to meet my Redeemer.
Thank you. God bless you. Merle Temple 56447-019, Federal Prison Camp, PO 2000, Millington TN 38083
By Kris Maher, wsj, 6-23-10
Massey Energy Co. sued the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration and three of its officials Tuesday, arguing that the agency wouldn't approve ventilation practices in its mines the Massey says would have benefitted the safety and health of miners.
The company, which is being investigated by MSHA following an April Explosion that killed 29 miners at its Upper Big Branch Mine in Montcoal, W.VA., said it couldn't challenge the MSHA's ventilation-plan requirements under federal mine law. Massey said that violated its constitutional rights.
In particular, Massey said the MSHA prevented the company from using dust scrubbers in its mines that would filter out dust that is dangerous for miners to breathe. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., by six Massey subsidiaries based in West Virginia and Kentucky.
"The goal of the lawsuit is pretty simple. It's to retain some control of the ventilation plans our mines operate under," said Shand Harvey, Massey's general counsel.
Amy Louviere, an MSHA spokswoman, said the agency doesn't comment on pending litigation. The agency has said it restricted the use of scrubbers at Massey mines because the equipment wasn't cleaning the air adequately.
Massey, of Richmond, Va., has quarreled in recent months with the MSHA over ventilation issues and specifically about the use of dust scrubbers, vacuum-like pieces of equipment used to filter the air around mining equipment to reduce the amount of coal dust. Inhaling coal dust can lead to black-lung disease.
Ventilation issues are also at the heart of the civil probe the MAHA is conducting into the April 5 explosion. In that case, federal mine-safety officials say they believe high levels of methane caused the accident, though it isn't known how the gas built up or what ignited it. Mine operators use elaborate ventilation plans to flush methane from mines and spread limestone on the surface to suppress coal dust. Mr. Harvey said the suit was unrelated to the April accident.
The MSHA's administrator for coal-mine safety and health, Kevin Stricklin, who was named in the Massey suit as a defendant, previously said he believed Massey wanted to use scrubbers to enable it to increase its production rates, because scrubbers can allow a company to mine more coal without interruption.
Mr. Harvey denied the production issues spurred the lawsuit. "We didn't take this step lightly," he said. "Obviously we would prefer not to sue the agency that regulates us."
Note: The explosion was blamed on ventilation, yet the MSHA refused to let Massey install veneration upgrades because it might increase production. How wicked!!
No Show
How it is that 60% of weekly church attendees support repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell (according to a Gallup Poll from last year). The answer is simple: many pastors rarely if ever address the morality of homosexual behavior (or any other current controversial issues) from the pulpit. But we are bombarded by media with a secular worldview on everything from sexuality to the origin of life.
The Bible has quite a bit to say on these issues and others like abortion, family, and citizenship. But if pastors never take up these topics on Sunday morning, most church attendees will simply conclude the church doesn't have a position.
copied
You know the honeymoon is over when the comedians start.
The liberals are asking us to give Obama time. We agree . . . and think 25 to life would be appropriate. Jay Leno
America needs Obama-care like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask. Jay Leno
Q: Have you heard about McDonald's' new Obama Value Meal?
A: Order anything you like and the guy behind you has to pay for it. Conan O'Brien
Q: What does Barack Obama call lunch with a convicted felon?
A: A fund raiser. Jay Leno
Q: What's the difference between Obama's cabinet and a penitentiary?
A: One is filled with tax evaders, blackmailers, and threats to society. The other is for housing prisoners. David Letterman
Q: If Nancy Pelosi and Obama were on a boat in the middle of the ocean and it started to sink, who would be saved?
A: America! Jimmy Fallon
Q: What's the difference between Obama and his dog, Bo?
A: Bo has papers. Jimmy Kimmel
Q: What was the most positive result of the "Cash for Clunkers" program?
A: It took 95% of the Obama bumper stickers off the road. David Letterman
GAY RIGHTS
By Cliff Kincaid, July 20, 2010
Before he joined Democratic Rep. Barney Frank in calling for almost $1 trillion in cuts to the national defense budget, Ron Paul was one of only five Republicans in the House of Representatives voting to force open and active homosexuals into the military forces. It was another indication that President Obama's radical "progressive" agenda is moving forward, this time with the support of America's leading libertarian Republican. Paul won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington this year. ...
http://www.newswithviews.com/Kincaid/cliff438.htm
By R.J. Rushdoony
The believer lives in a world of unbelievers, and commercial credit is the order of the day. Interest is not condemned in the New Testament,1 but debt on the part of believers is to be avoided.2 However, the intrusion of Babylonian practices into the temple met with Christ's whip.3 The believer must be in the world but not of the world.4
The modern system of commercial credit is, like the Babylonian, a form of slavery. The Civil War saw the abolition of limited private slavery, involving three million people, and the imposition of slavery to the state and the furtherance of slavery to financial interests. Some people are by nature slaves, demanding total security of a master, employer, or of the state. But to impose slavery on our children is no less a sin.5
The Sabbath and Jubilee Years again are central. These were types, as was the weekly Sabbath, of the restoration of paradise and the work of Christ. Man ceases from working because he knows it is God's work of grace that saves him. All days of rest in other religions are imitations of biblical faith. No day of rest existed otherwise. Other religions, Babylonian and Pharisaic, are in essence and practice works religions. Christianity, as was true Old Testament faith, is not; hence, it rests in worship to indicate that salvation is not man's work. The rest of the land involved confidence that God's bounty would more than replenish what was lost by man's inactivity. DeTocqueville commented on the importance of the Christian Sabbath in the American republic. The decline of that day of rest has gone hand in hand with the rise of a works religion and a credit economy which mortgages man's future. The deeper significance of this external parallel is that civil slavery is the analogue of spiritual blindness and bondage. But, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek may face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." 6
The difference between the Babylonian and biblical outlooks has been cited; it remains now to develop it briefly. Economic man had high authority in Babylonian culture. War was seen in essentially economic terms and as a means to economic power. To the Babylonians of Nebuchadnezzar's day, "What mattered to them, so far as the king's victories were concerned, was not the glory of battle so much as the fact that it was a means of consolidating their economic supremacy!" 7
The roots, however, lie deeper, back into the Old Babylonian period of Hammurabi and earlier. There was a class known as tamkaru (singular tamkarum). The word tamkarum can be translated as merchant, broker, merchant banker, money-lender, and government agent.8 Fulfilling all these functions, he was an able instrument of imperial power, in that, long before any armies marched, he had bound foreign powers to himself both hand and foot. This same policy characterized Assyria, and Nahum cited as a central sin of Assyria before God that it had "multiplied merchants above the stars of heaven," 9 i.e., exercised economic slavery in one area after another. The Babylonians were money-lenders not only out of dedicated policy but with fervor, zest, and relish. One of their proverbs expresses this outlook clearly: "The giving of a loan is like making love; the returning of a loan is like having a son born." 10 They were thus a breed of proud and happy Shylocks. Their whole world of business moved in terms of credit financing, and their whole concept of social control and of imperialism rested on usury. It is not surprising that Babylon the Great, the harlot, is the type in Revelation of the one-world order which shall seduce all nations.
For biblical economy, loans are not the basis of normal operation as with Babylon, but of abnormal circumstances. As such, and definitely as such, they have their place, but they operate in terms of implicit as well as explicit restrictions. Two kinds of loans were recognized: to the believer without usury but with security, and to the unbeliever, with usury and security. But in both instances the presupposition is that something real, in goods or in money, is transferred, a tangible asset involving only the two parties to the contract. Modern banking, however, is radically different. Banks "create" money by fiat and by the unilateral action of simply recording a loan and a deposit on their books. The consequence is, not the personal and limited action of a biblical loan, but inflation, the dilution of the prior relationship of money units to total goods and services. As a result, there is a dilution of all money, and such "loans" mean an element of robbery in that they reduce the value of all other money units previously in existence. Fractional reserves and modern central banking (i.e., the Federal Reserve System) are modern applications of the old Babylonian principles and are equally conducive to the dream of empire.
Prior to the introduction of central banking, the ability to create fiat money was relatively limited, and it depended in large measure on the confidence of individuals in the local bank. Today, the instrument of control has passed to the larger units, and the Federal Reserve System, its directors and stockholders, the Treasury Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and other agencies are engaged in manipulating the money supply. In 1959, "Federal Reserve notes comprised 90% of paper money in circulation and 84% of total money in circulation." 11
Biblical law is hostile to this pyramiding of credit. It is premised on immediate responsibility, whereas the Babylonian and modern systems evade immediate responsibility. Today, the law penalizes the individual with almost unlimited liabilities, so that every kind of insurance is necessary for the individual as homeowner, driver, and parent (in the event that his child blackens a bully's eyes). On the other hand, corporate irresponsibility is fostered by limited liability laws which, over a period of time, separate property from control, ownership from management, and management from responsibility. Social irresponsibility is thus furthered, and the responsible man hamstrung. Biblical faith declares that a personal God created every fact in the universe, so that every fact is a personal fact. Impersonality is thus ruled out of the universe. As we deal with ourselves and everything under the sun, we deal also with our very personal Creator. Any attempt to introduce impersonality into the universe is to that degree an attempt to separate the universe from the government of God.12 The impersonal economics of Babylon and of today are thus anti-biblical and are attempts to substitute fiat "creations" of man for the absolute government of God. As such, they incur the wrath of God, whose advance judgment Scripture proclaims: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen... And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her... "13 In terms of this comes the summons, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."14
In conclusion, in Scripture interest was legal for loans which were not charity loans. Debt was not to be a normal thing or a way of life. Debt was an emergency, or "need," matter, not normally a consumption loan, and only a severely conservative production loans.
(R. J. Rushdoony, The Politics of Guilt and Pity, Pp. 246-253. Craig Press, 1970.)
1. Luke 7:41, 42; 19:11-27; Matt. 18:23-25; 25:14-30; Luke 16:1-13.
2. Rom. 13:8,9.
3. Matt. 21:12f; Mark. 11:15-18; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:12-17.
4. John 17:14, 15.
5. Ex. 21:16; Deut. 24:7.
6. II Chron. 7:14.
7. Albert Champdor: Babylon, (New York: J. P. Putnam's Sons, 1958), 114.
8. H. W E Saggs: The Greatness that Was Babylon, p. 287f. New York: Hawthorn, 1962.
9 Nahum 3:16.
10. Saggs, p. 290.
11. Thomas C. Cochrane, Wayne Andrews, eds.: Concise Dictionary of American History. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962), 711.
12. In 1664, Thomas Mun, in England's Treasure by Forraign Trade, espoused usury in terms of its purely impersonal values to England. This scientism and impersonalism were commended without any attempt to deal systematically with the Christian issues involved. Mun was republished in 1949 by Basil Blackwell, Oxford, and is an excellent example of good, non-theistic economic thought.
13. Rev. 18:2, 11.
14. Rev. 18:4.
Observe: Among the many points brought out above by Rushdoony, one stands out to me; that is, debt slavery. Assyria and Babylon sent their money merchants into the nations they planned to conquer. These merchants offered easy credit which the people to be conquered gladly accepted. Thus, the borrower became slave to the lenders, Proverbs 22:7. They lost their will to resist the invading armies, for they were already conquered slaves to a lender.
My first wife and I lived very frugally, quite unlike life as a single man. We always drove very well used cars that we could afford to pay for in cash. When we did purchase a house, it was small enough that we were able to make a short term loan for 6 years. Because we lived debt free, we were able to pick up and move as the Lord directed. I don't know how many folks I have encountered who wished they could change jobs or could move, but they were slaves to debt which made it impossible.
I just posted a downloadable e book that you will probably find very interesting. It is,
"The Child's History of the Fall of Jerusalem", by Mrs. A. Hallock, Published by the American Tract Society, 1809.
It is an excellent story for children, say 12 and up, but younger will be interested as it is read to them.
This book is written as a father telling a story of the fall of Jerusalem to his son and daughter, as he makes them research facts also. It obviously follows Josephus' account of the event. It covers a history of the Jew's problems with Rome and its rulers after Christ. It follows the Roman conquest of Judea one city at a time, while including a good number of Old Testament prophetic references in their proper place in the account of the war. It also gives a history of Josephus, (a priest) and his war against the Romans in protecting the cities for which he was responsible. It follows his capture and experience with the Romans.
I found it very easy and exciting to read, and full of facts concerning one of the most important events in human history, the Jewish War, and the Destruction of Jerusalem. I found that because of the way the story is presented, it is quite easy to remember the facts mentioned. It is not "boring" as one might find Josephus to be.
Mrs. Sprinkle found the 192 page booklet (in a small 4.5 x 5.5 in. format) in a used book store. Since then, she has searched the web over, and has found no other copies. I have reformatted it into a 5.5 x 8.5 in. page format (93 pgs), so two pages will fit on one 8.5 x 11 in. sheet. (47 sheets of paper.)
The graphics are not the best quality, for I did not have the originals. They are in their proper place in the text.
There are two pdf formats available for downloading:
1) two up, booklet format which will make a booklet by saddle stitching when printed on both sides. (Ideal for duplex printers, requiring 24 sheets of paper.)
2) two up, consecutive pages, as it would be if you opened a book and copied the two pages that are opened.
(Contact me about a bound, hard copy booklet, if you have no web access.)
See at http://practicallyprettydesign.com/dlg/cart/index.php?c=3