Killing the Goose That Lays the Golden Eggs 2011 Style!

A man and his wife had the good fortune to possess a goose which laid a golden egg every day. Lucky though they were, they soon began to think they were not getting rich fast enough, and, imagining the bird must be made of gold inside, they decided to kill it. Then, they thought, they could obtain the whole store of precious metal at once; however, upon cutting the goose open, they found its innards to be like that of any other goose. --- This story is attributed to the 6th century B.C. Greek, Aesop.

If ever a fable has come true in human experience, the goose that laid the golden eggs has done so in 2011 in the republic of the United States.

Almighty God in His sovereign grace raised up our republic over 234 years ago. The nation was blessed with growth and prosperity. But there were times of painful conflicts within as well against foreign enemies. By God's grace the nation survived and was victorious over external enemies through the years. The last decisive military victory for the United States was at the end of WW II. The sole condition for the enemies was unconditional surrender. It's never been the same since 1945 in spite of being involved in conflicts even at the present time. Unfortunately as politicians have meddled more and more in military affairs we now have "rules of engagement" and we have to make sure we greatly reduce "collateral damage." The day will probably come when our military people won't be allowed to load their weapons until bullets are whizzing over their heads and/or penetrating their bodies!

Alas, I digressed a bit -- now to continue -- other things were happening as the republic grew more prosperous and powerful. Conflicts broke out at times in the work place. There were grave injustices taking place and certain industries had a strangle hold on workers. The coal industry at one point became notorious for its "company stores" and payment to miners in script instead of real money -- in effect this economic strategy held the miners and their families hostage to the company for which they worked -- a unique brand of enslavement.

The organized union movement changed the landscape and leveled the playing field over decades of time. This was very good for a while as certain abuses by companies were addressed and corrected, BUT the pendulum has moved to the very opposite position of that in which companies and their owners had all the power and full control.

We have now come to the point of outrageous union abuse which is impacting the entire nation in a most horrendous way. Powerful unions with very short-sighted leadership not only believe they can dictate and receive unreasonable wages, benefits, and retirement wealth, but they also reserve the right to determine who should hold elective office -- somehow these people feel they are superior (maybe infected with the Obama spirit) and know what is best in each election. What they really want are not public servants in office but puppets who will move according the will of the unions as they pull and manipulate the strings! It's good to have your own personal slave in the U.S. Congress, is it not -- it will mean more money in your pocket!

The root of the problem in this is that most unholy combination existing in unregenerate human nature known as selfishness and greed. This is why professional lobbying and political action committees are proving to be such a malignant curse to our nation.

The dominant attitude is "I'm first and I want the biggest slice of the pie before anyone else gets their fingers into it."

When you get a number of powerful unions and various special interest groups operating full speed with that self-centered and greedy attitude, then you have a guarantee for unprecedented disaster taking place in the future. To put it simply -- the goose that lays the golden egg daily has been executed!

For decades the idea has been that there is an endless supply of money held by companies, school districts, local and state governments, and of course, the great "Sugar Daddy" of them all -- the federal government itself! And with that view in mind a myriad of groups were unrelenting in trying to get the most of that money for their respective members and as far as each was concerned, "Let the rest of the country go to that very hot place where snowballs cannot survive!"

The goose is dead -- give it the last rites - no more golden eggs! Or to make reference to a more authoritative Source -- God has revealed that from time to time He will bring judgment on the gods that a nation has forged for itself. He gave a very dramatic demonstration of this when He brought the ancient Israelites out of Egypt at around 1400 BC. Specifically the Scripture mentions that the "gods" of Egypt were judged by the true and living God of the Israelites -- quite a calamity at that time to say the least!

The LORD will be awesome to them, for He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth; people shall worship Him, each one from his place, indeed all the shores of the nations. --- Zephaniah 2:11

And since money is a very influential and high profile "god" in the United States, it is simply a matter of time until the Creator of this mighty universe takes action and makes clear the fact that if money is your "god" you are in for a bitter disappointment of the first magnitude!

Stop and ponder a bit -- the federal government is trillions of dollars in debt -- state and local governments are for the most part deeply in debt and struggling with budgets that indicate the financial "well has run dry!" School districts which have had to contend with powerful teachers' unions and unreasonable demands also are in intense struggles over finances. The answer? Get more money! How? Raise the taxes! Ah, is that not what has been going on for years and years on a regular basis so that now the average worker has to labor for nearly 6 months of the year to pay all taxes at all levels, including those "hidden" taxes we hear nothing about?

Did you ever hear a song that was written some years ago titled, Yesterday When I Was Young and made popular by Roy Clark? Perhaps the powerful unions, lobbying groups, and special interest organizations should adopt that as their theme song -- we have now moved into the area where the final phrase of the song is becoming reality -- "The time has come for me to pay for yesterday when I was young!"

The goose is dead -- no more golden eggs!

They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; it shall never produce meal. If it should produce, aliens would swallow it up. --- Hosea 8:7

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. --- Galatians 6:7,8

Can I Really Help a Terminally Ill Patient, If I'm a Terminal Case Myself?

Feds Plan Huge Bank Bailout - Paulsen: Hundreds of billions of dollars needed to address the problem --- Internet news headline, September 19, 2008

They do it again and again – those “bail-outs” of gigantic firms that have gone belly-up financially. And now the latest announcement of the bail out of banks which as Treasurer Secretary Paulson put it – “Hundreds of billions needed to address the problem.” President Bush and various officials are scrambling to deal with the issue as the stock market took a critical nose dive. After announcements of action to continue the "bail out" operation of various companies and financial institutions the stock market took off into the wild blue yonder with a big trail of GREEN! That is, for the time being.

Now there's a question here and it’s a legitimate one – suppose you are in over your eye balls in debt and a relative is on verge of bankruptcy and comes to you for financial help, would you or more importantly, could you give the cash needed to help that relative?

Think for bit -- here’s the federal government bailing out these big businesses, one after another, and “loaning” horrendous amounts of money – how? Our country is over 9 trillion dollars in debt and the hole is being dug deeper and deeper as time passes!

Isn’t this sort of like

• A terminal cancer patient in the last hours of life trying to console and comfort another cancer patient in the same condition as suggested in the title above?
  
  
• A blind man trying to lead another blind man across an eight lane freeway in the middle of rush hour traffic?
  
  
• An alcoholic trying to help another alcoholic recover as together they drink their 3rd bottle of Jack Daniels with 2 more bottles to go?
  
  
• A person who can’t swim jumping out of a boat in water 100 feet deep and trying to rescue another person who is going down for the third time?
  

Now then, if you dare, check what the latest is in regard to our national debt at
National Debt Clock -- use reverse feature to come back to this place. But notice while you are there the fact that this debt translates into over $31,600.00 per citizen in this country. There are other items of information and links at that location.

What is not recognized by high ranking officials in business and government is that money is a most uncertain commodity. Money is also a very powerful false "god" with people and organized groups of one kind or another (banks, companies, corporations, governments at all levels, etc.) willing to do anything and everything to get their hands on huge amounts of it! In fact, money may be the false "god" that holds sway over greater numbers of people in this country and in this world than any other "god" or "goddess."

Therefore the person applying common sense coupled with a keen sensitivity to spiritual reality recognizes that the true and living God Who created this vast universe by spoken command will at a time determined by Him bring judgment on the false deities which humans have established for themselves -- and this includes the "god" of money! In fact God has made a statement to the effect that He will "famish" the "gods" of this world.

And since I'm in a rather good mood at this point in time, I'll let you hunt that statement up -- I'll even help you by giving a hint -- it's in the Old Testament! There, I've narrowed it down for you -- really, I'm a nice guy, however there are times when people just won't let me be nice!

But alas! I digress -- while the U. S. government will appear to be successful for a time in "shoring up" the finances of the country, just keep in mind that it is like trying to shore up a mine shaft with timbers riddled by termites! Or to put it another way, it's like the government flushing money down an object that is considered an absolute necessity in every home!

The righteous also shall see and fear, And shall laugh at him, saying, "Here is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness." --- Psalm 52:6, 7

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money..... --- 2 Timothy 3:1, 2a

Is the god of Pleasure Beginning to Take a Hit?

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be...... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..." --- 2 Timothy 3:1, 2a, 4b

Our republic is really in a quandary of unprecedented proportions, is it not? There are just all kinds of things happening -- an election in the making with not a single candidate addressing the real issues that directly impact the future destiny of our nation -- a "war" that is hotly discussed and debated on a daily basis -- financial crises and a national debt that continues to escalate!

But the one thing that is beginning to dominate the thinking and decision making of most U. S. citizens every day is something called gasoline and related components such as diesel fuel and heating oil.

It makes headlines in newspapers and TV news reporters are positioned beside a gas station pointing to the recent increase in gas prices (as this is being written, I bought a few gallons yesterday at $3.99 per gallon in Nanty Glo PA) and use a growing favorite expression in their vocabulary -- "pain at the pump!"

There is a scramble to explain why and who is responsible for this growing expression of greed on the part of some very influential persons somewhere -- God alone knows who they are, where they are and what they are doing. The good news is that in due time He will return upon their heads the fruit of their doings -- no one has beaten the "law of sowing and reaping" yet and none ever will!

But maybe there is another factor to consider in all this chaos -- perhaps the "god" of Pleasure is beginning to be hammered a bit! God's actions at times are directed to the "deities" a nation forms for itself.

For decades we as a nation have been on a "pedal to the metal" pace in our pursuit of pleasures of every possible kind. It would take a long amount of space and a considerable amount of time to detail them all here.

It is evident to anyone who looks a bit and listens that we are a pleasure saturated country, and are constantly attempting to devise new ways of experiencing pleasure.

One obvious tragedy in this is the well established fact that we cannot get half of our population into a place of worship on Sunday morning to even go through the motions of worshipping the God Who brought this mighty universe into existence by simple spoken commands!

Sunday, as mentioned elsewhere on my website and blog, ought to be renamed Funday -- it is a day of zealous pursuit of pleasure from border to border and shore to shore.

Interesting, is it not, that now there is much talk not only about gas prices, but what heating costs will be this winter and the ripple impact from fuel prices in terms of groceries and various consumer goods.

Could it be that those guys I see gassing up at a gas pump (tanks on 4-wheelers on a trailer towed by a gas guzzling pick-up) on Sunday mornings may be forced to revise their pleasure agenda in the future? Many other examples could be cited as people deal with costly expenses related to the pursuit of pleasure to the neglect of giving time, attention, money and worship to the living God!

Stop and think for a minute -- a lot of decisions are going to be made and a lot of plans changed due to drastically changed financial spending -- we'll spend a lot more money on our gas, our heat, our groceries -- which means leas money for our pleasure pursuits than we've been used to having. And then there is the fact that many families are up to their eyeballs in debt because they made the deadly mistake of adopting the philosophy of "instant gratification" -- just have to have those things that enhance our fun times even if we have to go deeply into debt to get them.

Something we so easily forget -- the thing about God as He begins to deal with a culture and its rebellion is that He has many methods at His disposal and can keep turning the screws tighter and tighter as time progresses!

Of course we also have an abundance of information available that if the tactics do not bring about the desired results, then eventually judgment is employed and God has done that very thing a number of times, but somehow the dominant spirit in our republic right now is that we feel we are an exception -- besides, this is a "Christian" nation, isn't it?

What will be the next "god" or "goddess" on God's hit list? Now is the perfect time to review a portion of 2 Chronicles 36 -- see how one people fared who thought they could ignore God and get away with it -- start reading at about verse 11.

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD." --- Exodus 12:12

More Power to the Feddy, But Will It Actually Work?

Washington DC - March 31, 2008 - Big news release focused on a proposal by the Bush administration to do a major "make over" of the financial regulatory system -- about the biggest thing yet since that infamous "crash" of 1929! Treasury Secretary Paulson had a 218-page plan (could you expect anything less from the federal government?) which spelled out the way the Federal Reserve will do this new "regulating." Its additional tentacles will now reach all the way down to local insurance agents and mortgage brokers!

It can very well be documented by a fully authoritative and totally reliable source -- if you are in agreement with and obedient to Almighty God, then things go rather well and blessings are experienced in great abundance. BUT if you are not in agreement with God and persist in ignoring His spiritual, moral and ethical standards for a sane, strong, stable, sensible, satisfying, serene, superior and successful cultural experience, then chaos and calamity will be the inevitable outcome!

Persons in elective or appointive positions of power and authority in the republic of the United States have yet to learn a very fundamental fact as best expressed by a man named Jeremiah who lived a long time ago and witnessed first hand what happens when a culture says a loud and very defiant "No!" to God one time too many! Listen to this:

O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. --- Jeremiah 10:23

The Federal Reserve time and again has stepped in and cut interest rates -- then the DOW rebounds a bit, but then slips back into the red. The "news" of the impending major "overhaul" will probably bring the DOW back into the green area, but for how long?

When money has become a prominent "god" in any culture, the time comes when the living God does some things which are a shocking reminder that when you embark on a course of pleasure seeking, materialistic expansion and money grabbing while at the same time you draw your moral standards out of a sewer and you don't blink an eye at the destruction of a hundred thousand of your future citizens per month, a price will always be paid! No person and no culture has ever beat the law of sowing and reaping yet and none ever will -- the law applies whether we want to acknowledge it or not -- there is always a pay day someday, for each person and each nation!

It appears that the line to the pay out window has been forming for quite some time and the question will increase in volume all the while -- "Why is God doing these things to us?"

The overhaul of the Federal Reserve and granting of more powers to that financial albatross around our republic's neck will be as effective as a doctor slapping a band aid on the finger of a terminal cancer patient, giving him an aspirin tablet and then saying, "You look fine, come back and see me tomorrow and we'll check how much you have improved!"

"The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."' And they said, "That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart." --- Jeremiah 18:7-12

Zealous to Save from Malaria, But....!!!

High level fanfare has been given to the "Nothing But Nets" campaign in the September 28, 2007 issue of the WPAUMC InterLink, biweekly publication of the W. PA Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. At the recent session of the conference in June the color orange was prominent as youth wore tee shirts of that color with the caption on the back as noted in above photo --
MALARIA KILLS

SEND A NET, SAVE A LIFE
Bishop Thomas Bickerton is to be commended for his zealous leadership in this campaign in which it has been reported that the denomination is more than half way toward its $3 million dollar goal of providing netting for families in parts of Africa where as many as 1 million children die from malaria each year. Bishop Bickerton has heavily stressed these mortality rates.

All well and good -- a worthy project in any man's language which has had an enthusiastic reponse by groups of all ages. High profile press coverage has helped immensely. Many lives will be saved in the times ahead because of this endeavor.

BUT the bishop, along with all his colleagues, is totally silent about the fact that about 1 million unborn children are brutally mutilated and murdered in this country each year. Tally at this point in time is over 48 million victims of the United States' tailor made version of "Holocaust!"

United Methodist bishops are quite notorious regarding their silence on the destruction of thousands of unborn children every week of the year. They will issue joint statements on all kind of social and moral matters ranging from the war in Iraq, gambling, the death penalty, concern for children (the born ones, that is), etc.

The bishops clearly expressed their displeasure that a practicing homosexual was denied church membership by a pastor who was attempting to counsel the man to repent of his sins. The homosexual refused to repent. But the way the bishops put it, if a guy is practicing sodomy regularly with his "lover" and wants to become a member of the United Methodist Church no pastor should stand in the way of granting that desire! Whew! It gets pretty deep sometimes, doesn't it?

One bishop told me in written communication that she agrees with the position of the UMC on abortion which is really one that gives a "green light" to abortion on demand. So for her, whatever shifting the denomination does in taking positions on issues at its General Conference gatherings, she will go along every time. The logic of this says that if the UMC delegates voted that we should all jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, then we should do so and not question the action! This is what you call "marching in lockstep, no questions to be asked!"

Fortunately, there are still a few folks around the denomination (pastors and laity) who refuse to buy in to this philosophy. They usually are not popular people and often are branded as being fanatical, narrow-minded, unloving, and even unChristian!

Alas, I digress a bit again -- if you want to see how many unborn children have been murdered since Bishop Bickerton took over as bishop in the W. PA Conference, go to A Quick Look At the United States' Massacre Tally! Scroll down a ways and you will come to mention of Bishop Bickerton. Go further to see what the number of victims has been since other bishops have been elevated to their present positions in the UMC.

Remember, we will be told that we need to do all we can to prevent malaria deaths in Africa, but not a syllable coming from those fellows and girls that make up a special group known as the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church!

How about a tee shirt with this inscription on the back for starters --
ABORTION KILLS UNBORN CHILDREN!

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?
Don't look for one in any United Methodist Church annual conference session anytime soon -- just maybe when God makes His response, as He surely will, to this abomination of slaughtering the innocents in their mothers' wombs there might be the formation of special "committees" to study the issue and then report back to the next annual conference session -- if there is one!

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, "Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the LORD!'" Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, 'The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.' For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your hurt, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, 'We are delivered to do all these abominations'?" --- Jeremiah 7:1-10

Is Your God the One Who Will Do It, OR Will Your god Be a Victim of It?

The LORD will be awesome to them, for He will reduce to nothing all the gods of the earth; people shall worship Him, each one from his place, indeed all the shores of the nations. --- Zephaniah 2:11

Thus you shall say to them: "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. When He utters His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens: and He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries." --- Jeremiah 10:11-13

"As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets, saying to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.' For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise and save us.' But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the LORD. --- Jeremiah 2:26-29

He has done it at times throughout human history and one of these days the republic of the United States will undergo a similar experience.

Cultures have only one extremely critical issue to settle and time is limited as to whether that issue is settled correctly for the citizens’ well being and ongoing survival or incorrectly with the result that disintegration and ultimate disaster takes place! That issue is simply choosing who will be the deity (or deities) that all the citizens will honor, reverence, love, and obey daily.

Will the choice be to worship and obey the living eternal God Who loved us humans so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to be the atoning sacrifice for every sin committed by every human since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for their disobedience to this God?

OR will the choice be to reject this true God and concoct a myriad of false deities as has been demonstrated by cultures down through the millennia of human history and continues at a vigorous pace in today’s world?

God has also demonstrated something most graphically. He targets His judgments not just at defiant human beings but also at the false deities they have created for themselves. What could be more explicit than this:

'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. --– Exodus 12:12

Egypt was in a bad state of affairs after this incident. The Egyptians also discovered too late that they had made some very bad choices when it came to selection of deities around which they would rally! Can’t you just picture those Egyptians desperately calling on their sun god during those 3 days in which it was so dark you could almost slice it with a knife?

Now, are you ready for this? For decades a large number of U. S. citizens have established their own peculiar brand of false deities – no, not the kind that are crafted of wood, stone, or metal but nevertheless they are still very real in the lives of millions of all ages. The living God Who put this great universe together by simple spoken commands is ignored, insulted, and blasphemed on a 24/7 basis! The day set aside in which He is to be worshipped and honored has been trashed in countless ways – Sunday should be renamed Funday in order to more accurately reflect how low we as a society have sunk in the decades following WW II!

So how will it be in your case? Is the God Who will eventually bring all the deities now prominent on U. S. soil down and crush them into dust your God Whom you seek to honor and serve with all your heart?

OR will your god (or gods – you could have accumulated quite a number of them as did the ancient Egyptians) be the helpless and defenseless victim/s of indescribable judgment of the living God and Creator of this mighty universe?

Those who have made bad choices in determining their deities will be in a very precarious position to say the least. Don’t be one of them. Make sure you are “squared away” in your relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. And that you are living each day with the blessed assurance that He indeed is Savior and Lord in your life and the One Whom you are expecting to return to rule this world forever.

Further information on this eternal issue is found at How to Become a Christian! A link at the bottom of the area will bring you back to this location.

Further information with graphic details on the many deities to which citizens of the United States are giving enthusiastic devotion is found at Popular Deities of American Culture! A link at the bottom of the area will bring you back to this location.

"And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified.” --- Daniel 5:23

"You shall have no other gods before Me. --– Exodus 20:3