Presidential Example for Little Tykes!

"And whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” --- Jesus speaking in Matthew 18:5-7

This issue as well as similar ones in the past which deal with the subject of politics with a bit of religious mix is highly controversial. I will not make any new friends and will likely gain a few more enemies in the process! But since I have been at this kind of thing for 50 years, I am somewhat used to the flak that is often fired in my direction.

A previous posting touched on this issue a bit over President Obama’s “beer diplomacy” as some have labeled it. But let’s back up a bit – in fact, quite a bit.

“I wanna be president when I grow up!” is a statement in times past that has been sometimes expressed by small children. God’s revelation makes it explicitly clear that teaching and example setting are demanded and are extremely critical in the shaping of the lives of the young. If this responsibility is done faithfully, then that young one will have gained an acceptable value system and should he or she become president, then he or she will be a good and very effective president!

At least a few (the numbers seem to be dwindling quite a bit) in these chaotic times of confusion would agree that setting an example is not an option so far as the office of U. S. president is concerned. But some in the past did not see it that way. And it is painfully obvious that the present occupant of the Oval Office in Washington DC doesn’t see it that way either!

A few years back school administration officials in a certain school district were shocked when it was learned that 6th and 7th graders were very much involved in the practicing of oral sex. When confronted, the little tykes were fast on the trigger with their response – “The president does it!” Bill Clinton’s example did not go unnoticed, did it? A further ramification of this is the fact that these young ones feel they can engage in sexual activity because it’s fun and it feels good, and the “president does it,” etc. So now we have a shocking stat that informs us that 1 out of every 4 teenaged girls has at least one STD (sexually transmitted disease) and some have more than one!

It is now known that John F. Kennedy engaged in musical beds during his presidency, though a sympathetic press kept it hush-hush at the time. But our young can learn some of the lurid details in their reading and quickly conclude if it’s ok for presidents, then it’s ok for me too!

George W. Bush was caught on an open mike using gutter language in conversation with Tony Blair in a meeting over in the Middle East. If his potty mouth was functioning well at that time it is very safe to assume that it worked at other times as well. For the young, if a president talks that kind of talk, then it’s a green light for them to do likewise – although it needs to be said that foul mouths among the young is rather common because they often learn it first of all from mom and/or dad!

Now in regard to the example being set by the present resident of the White House:

• Obama and family managed to make it to church on Easter. Just maybe he may make it this Christmas. Such a practice is the choice of quite a number who “profess” Christian faith but are sadly lacking when it comes to possession of the same. God has made plain what the practicing of the faith involves, including the discipline of faithful and regular worship in a public setting.
  
  
• B. O. has made it clear that promises are made to be broken. Defenders are quick to say that every politician makes promises that are not kept and B. O. is no different. Ah, but they are missing the point – and for those who are quick to jump to his defense on this issue, I ask one simple thing – show me name of book, chapter and verse in the Bible where God in no uncertain terms says it is acceptable to make promises and not keep them. In fact He does give considerable attention to the issue that when you make a vow (or promise) you better make sure you keep it! The consequences of failing to do so are most unpleasant.
  
  
• Obama's beer and tobacco usage are now known with any number of defenders saying that if he wants to indulge, let him do so without criticism. Both products have produced overwhelming evidence of extensive harm and destruction. The jury is no longer out in deliberation on these issues.
  
  The evidence is overwhelming. And the young are influenced to indulge because of two main factors – high powered advertising by greedy adults in the business who want more and more people to indulge in order to enlarge their bank accounts and high profile adults who by example nudge young folks down the path to disaster! And on the part of both groups, they couldn’t care less what happens to the young except in the case of the first group that the young spend lots of money on the packaged “poison” being sold and in the case of the latter group that the young be sure to vote the “right way” in elections when they become eligible – that is, if they live long enough!
  
  
• But most serious of all is the fact that Barack Hussein Obama has taken the lowest view of human life ever taken by a U. S. president and by strokes of his pen has expanded the carnage of the destruction of unborn children. They are as easily disposed of as yesterday’s garbage. He is on record in the past as opposing even those few efforts to try to protect the unborn in the latter weeks of pregnancy, and opposed legislation that would have required medical attention to be given to an unborn who survived an abortion attempt! Yes, once in a great while it does happen. But B. O. says in effect – “Let them die – don’t help them in any way, should they survive an abortion that is intended to terminate their lives!” Such an example will help the young to adopt a revived Nazi view of human life in the “land of the free and the home of the brave!”
  

But don’t forget – there is some very good news in midst of all this chaos – one of these days God is going to interrupt the flow of human history as we presently experience it – He is going to personally step in and take full control of this planet! Think not? Then what does it mean when God has declared in His Word, “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’" (Revelation 11:15).

You see, part of the great news concerning this event is the fact that all politicians and government leaders will be out of a job! The One designated as King of kings and Lord of lords will be in charge. For a few of us at least, it’s an exciting hope to which we look forward!

Sleep on it tonight!

And Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” --- Matthew 18:2-3

The Ultimate Low!

During the reign of the Clintons years ago this item circulated for a while – a question was asked, “What is the difference between the Clintons and the RMS Titanic?” Answer was, “The RMS Titanic ran out depths to which it could sink!”

There are almost countless ways by which human depravity is demonstrated and how low a person can descend when it comes to involvement in something that is highly offensive to a holy God Who has us under surveillance at all times.

In recent days within driving distance of the place where we live the following have been reported:

• 2 females have been charged with raping young children
  
• a male has been charged with sexual abuse of a child
  
• a man has been charged with the shotgun slaying of his estranged wife in a McDonalds parking lot
  
• a man shot his wife and then himself – they were the parents of two young children who were fortunate to be with grandparents at the time of this tragedy
  
• a 12 year-old took his shotgun and shot his father's pregnant girl friend to death while she was sleeping. He is being charged as an adult in this case, although his lawyer wants this changed so that he is charged as a juvenile. In Commonwealth of PA in a case of murder such as this a juvenile can be charged as an adult.
  
• a young female student took a picture of herself in the nude and then text messaged it to a boy who in turn shared it with a lot of other students via cell phone – it seems the administration of the school where this happened was more than a tad unsettled by this development
  

In another part of the country in a small community a 15 year-old boy and a 13 year-old girl made a video recording of their act of sexual intercourse and then shared that recording via cell phone with other students in their school. The community and school officials were in a state of shock on this one – well, hello! Guess who has been encouraging and teaching the little tykes how to do it – monkey see, monkey do, you know!

The lowest of the low, however, is when an effort is made to protect lives of unborn children and someone blocks such an effort.

It happened in the state of Illinois when legislation was proposed to do whatever necessary to preserve the life of an unborn child who should happen to survive a botched abortion – once in a great while it does happen and there are a very few persons today who can testify that they are survivors of the murderous attempt on their lives! But the effort in Illinois was stonewalled by an arrogant legislator named Barack Obama whose attitude was, “If that baby should survive the abortion intended to kill it, then let it alone – don’t touch it until it dies!”

At least one nurse has testified of the horror involved when such an occurrence took place – of witnessing a baby surviving an abortion and no person was permitted to lift so much as a finger to take some form of action which would insure that the life of that intended victim would be preserved!

Heartless? Cruel? Totally lacking in any compassion whatsoever? Without a doubt, yes, and when you see a picture or a video of the president, dare to remember that here is a person who has sunk as low as it is possible to go in regard to his attitude toward unborn children. He has put together the most pro-death administration in the history of the United States, and then has the audacity to throw out the term, “God bless the United States of America!”

It becomes more obvious as time progresses that he, his administration and the country he is attempting to lead will learn the hard way that you cannot pursue a policy that intentionally disrupts the plans of Almighty God for human life and get away with it!

It is now time that the name Clinton as used in connection with a comparison to Titanic earlier should be changed to Obama who has revealed his ability to sink to the lowest depths when it comes to defining human depravity and what it is about!

"This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." --- Daniel 5:26-28

It’s NOT the Economy, Stupid!

“It’s the economy, stupid!” was a phrase attributed to James Carville during Bill Clinton’s successful campaign for the presidency in 1992. The phrase suggested that Clinton was the superior choice over George H. W. Bush because the sitting president had not effectively addressed the economy which had gone into a recession.

Just about every pair of eyeballs has been focused on the economy in recent months and the issue has whipped up into the intensity of a Cat 5 hurricane raging in toward the U. S. coast from the Atlantic Ocean!

There are probably many who feel that the original phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid!,” which was the brainchild (term brain used carelessly here) of James Carville is applicable to our present condition in the United States.

Certainly President Obama has been attempting to make political hay out of this circumstance and it has given him an “excuse” to go flitting about the country in Air Force One as he attempts to jam his stimulus bill down our throats. Had it not been for the betrayal of 3 Republicans (Senators Snowe and Collins of Maine and Specter of Pennsylvania) it is doubtful we would have gotten bogged down in this financial quagmire which is deceptively called "stimulus!"

But to get to the point – the root problem is not the economy, which is a distraction away from the real problem that is causing us to be on the fast lane to disaster! That real problem is a terminal illness which is ethical, moral and spiritual in nature.

A brief summary:

• Deadly love focused on self, money and pleasure!
  
• Compromised truth and principles within churches claiming to be Christian in faith!
  
• Government at all levels that is riddled with contradiction and hypocrisy!
  
• Widespread practice of idolatry in a plethora of expressions!
  
• Fast spreading malignancy of sexual immorality in virtually unlimited patterns!
  
• Intense desecration of the day in which Almighty God is to be honored and worshipped!
  
• Indoctrinating our children and youth with the false and very deadly teaching that we humans have evolved over eons of time from lower life forms – there is no need for teaching the involvement of a divine Creator when it comes to origins!
  
• And worst of all – a professed “civilized nation” implementing by judicial ruling a policy which has resulted in the mutilation and murders of over 50 million unborn children since January 1973!
  

Extensive details on this issue, which makes the subject of the economy have as much impact and significance as a gnat trying to stop a loaded 18 wheeler rolling down Interstate 95 out of Washington DC, are found at Driving the Final Nails! -- use reverse feature on your web browser to come back to this place.

There will be a majority who would vehemently disagree and say, “No, it’s the economy!” And that would include most of the politicians. But that response is because they are part of one or more, maybe ALL the problems as given above!

It's NOT the economy, stupid!

A PS: I don't believe it's fair that Pennsylvania should be saddled with an Arlen Specter and a John Murtha (my rep in Congress from 12th District) and the other 49 states having never experienced this pair -- the other 49 should have them for a few years and then they would appreciate what we Pennsylvanians have to endure by way of political shenanigans!

"And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed." --- Jesus speaking in Luke 17:26-30

Letter to President Barack Hussein Obama

And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the LORD God of your father David..... --- 2 Chronicles 21:12

For years I have been sending letters to presidents and other world leaders. On a regular basis letters were sent to President Bush and President Clinton.

My first to Mr. Obama took place in November shortly after he won the election earlier in the month. My first of many is going out to him today in his capacity as the 44th president to be inaugurated in the history of our republic.

A copy of this letter is found at Letter to President Barack Hussein Obama -- use reverse of your web browser to return here.

The letter to President Bush is found at Mr. President, We Need to Get Our Own House in Order First! -- again, use reverse on web browser to return here.

A number of persons, friends and family, have said, "Why waste your time doing this -- they won't read them anyway, etc." The reasons for doing this are for another time and place!

"For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house." --- Ezekiel 3:5-9

I Like Milk, But.....!

I grew up on a farm in my younger years until I left to work for Uncle Sam for three years at the age of 19.

We had a small herd of Guernsey cows. They had a reputation of having high quality milk with high butterfat content -- sometimes the expression "golden Guernsey milk" was used by dairies in promoting their milk.

We had lots of milk to drink each day and my mother made butter. My dad drank the buttermilk -- he was the only one in the family who would!

I averaged at least a quart of milk a day and sometimes more -- especially if my mother had just taken a chocolate cake out of the oven. You will find it hard to beat this combination -- warm chocolate cake just freshly baked and cold Guernsey milk to go with it!

But my desire for a drink of cold milk is totally annihilated if I become aware that someone has dropped a few drops of arsenic into it -- it may be just as white as before and just as cold as I'd want it to be -- BUT it's the few drops of arsenic which will keep me from drinking it. The last I had heard, arsenic is not a booster to better health -- in fact, the stuff will kill you!

For decades in this country there have been persons who have been slipping a few drops of spiritual arsenic into the diets of Christians in quite a number of places.

You may ask just who these person are -- and what is the nature of this "spiritual arsenic?"

The perpetrators come from all strata within those groups claiming to be Christian. They can be theologians, seminary professors, teachers in a variety of schools, church leaders, pastors, and lay persons holding offices in a church.

This group which dispenses the spiritual arsenic has one thing in common though the nature of the arsenic dispensed may vary a bit. The common thread is a denial of something revealed in the holy Scriptures (Bible) -- God has made a lot of things plain to us such as spelling out the basic root problem of the human race, what laws apply to all human behavior and relationships, what He has done to bring healing and wholeness to sinful human beings, the performing of many miraculous acts during the history of the human race, and what He has planned for the future.

Since the Holy Spirit (the greatest Theologian in existence) authored the Scriptures and Jesus promised that this same Holy Spirit would teach us, guide us into the truth, and would show us things to come, then we can be absolutely certain of a number of things, starting with positive assurance of sins forgiven on condition of our repenting of all sin and receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our lives!

But here's the problem -- Jesus warned of what He described as "wolves in sheep's clothing" making their dreaded appearances. He also warned of false teachers and prophets coming on the scene and this would be a worsening problem as we get closer to the moment of His personal return to this world.

So now the church at large more than possibly at any time in its 2,000 year history is plagued with those who deny the authenticity of the Scriptures, deny the moral standards which God has put in place, deny the miracles He has done throughout human history, deny the existence of a personal devil and a huge host of demon spirits, deny the significance of Jesus' atonement for the entire human race, deny He was literally resurrected from the dead following His crucifixion, and deny that He is going to return to this sin ravaged planet to take charge and rule the entire world at some point in the future!

It behooves Christians more than ever to spend much time on a daily basis searching the Scriptures and seeking to be spiritually sensitive to anyone who would try to convince you that something which God has made very plain in His revealed Word is not really so -- watch out for the subtle droplets of spiritual arsenic! And when such an individual attempts to lace your spiritual diet with the poison of unbelief you can write that person off as being as phony as a three dollar bill!

By the way, I do have a three dollar bill in my collection of unusual "currency" -- it has a picture of Bill Clinton on it -- but it could just as well have the pictures of some theologians to which I have been exposed over the years -- some pastors --some teachers -- even some United Methodist bishops and also some lay persons as well!

And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand."
--- Matthew 24:4,5,11-13,23,24

But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed. By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. --- 2 Peter 2:1-3