UNBORN Lives Matter

Somebody tell the Democrats, since they style themselves as defenders of the weak and helpless. Vile hypocrites. Just like their opponents. Just like me.

Somebody tell that good Catholic brother, Tim Kaine. How does he justify the choice to murder? Certainly not by the TRUTH.

May God grant us repentance. Much repentance. And just a little bit of sanity and rationality, too. That would sure make a difference for ALL of the human lives that matter.

You and I were once unborn babies, too. So was Hillary. So was Tim. So were all of the Supreme Court Justices. May God have mercy on us. May all who approve of baby-murder repent and be forgiven before they die and face their Maker. May America admit the Truth and restore the rights of the most defenseless, whose Avenger is the Almighty.

America, I Weep for You: A Reflection on the Heroic Act of Kim Davis

My beloved nation, what has become of you?

Blessed nation, you now persecute Kim Davis and place her in jail. Why? Was it theft or murder? No. Was it fraud or extortion? No. Has she been jailed for attacking or slandering those who are forcing false marriage on our land (through judicial rape, it would seem), or those who turn from the natural male/female love that perpetuates our peaceful and productive existence and continually reorganizes us into biologically balanced families? No. She has caused no harm to them at all. Rather, she is jailed for refusing to deny the self-evident reality of God-created and God-defined marriage, as supported by 99.999% of all human society and all human history (regardless of race, religion, class, ethnicity or politics). She is jailed for acting according to her sincerely held beliefs when faced with new circumstances she did not expect or invite. She is unconscionably incarcerated for choosing to act according to her Christian conscience, because that conscience will not bow to a novel and immoral "law" that seeks to bind her against her will.

America, who freed the slaves, now attempts to enslave the conscience of a free people!

Kim Davis is no saint. However, imperfect as she is, Kim Davis is a modern day hero of American liberty. All freedom-loving Americans should praise her courage and imitate her steadfastness in the face of injustice. She suffers loss for the sake of freedom. Our freedom.

Like the students murdered in Tienanmen square, she has dared to defy an oppressive and overreaching government. America once praised such acts. Now it shamefully prosecutes those who are brave enough to oppose tyranny. America's founding fathers (and mothers!) would stand with Kim Davis in defiance of government coercion and oppression, were they alive today. Is their spirit alive in America today?

We hear much about "law." We hear little about genuine personal liberty.

God will judge the government of America for its defiance of His majesty. Let us pray that this nation repents and turns from its idolatry, blasphemy and stubborn refusal to accept reality as He created it.

America, I weep for you. Will you return from your insanity, or continue to pour moral acid upon yourself and your people, corroding what little remains of your decayed moral foundations?

America, I weep for you. Do you care?

Nonetheless (and all the more), I weep for you.

A Modest Proposal for Fixing America

I don't comment much on politics here, and that is by design. However, America's political system is so out of order and beyond stupid that I am now compelled to speak out. Regular programming will resume following this short announcement (unless the ongoing political situation prompts me to speak out again).

A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR FIXING AMERICA

1. Amend the Constitution to create five new political parties and require a minimum of five fully viable parties at all times. (The most liberal of these parties should be the "Blue Dogs"). 

2. Require all political candidates to have proven leadership experience in a role that brings direct benefit to society, having demonstrated a firm commitment to the Constitution, moral responsibility and accountability, and fiscal responsibility and accountability. Require a minimum percentage of politicians to be normal, non-wealthy Americans. Allow only a small percentage of politicians to be lawyers and attorneys. 

3. Immediately hold referendum elections under the five party system for all major political offices.  

4. Term limits. Ten years in politics and then you're done. 

5. Remove all Democrats and Republicans from office, disband the two parties and make it illegal for them to ever form again. Make the terms "Democrat" and "Republican" more odious than the worst profanity. 

6. Make it illegal for anyone who has ever held an official role in either of these parties to ever be involved in politics in any sense. (We might consider generously allowing them to remain in America on the condition that they donate all of their wealth to charity, get regular jobs, and act like normal citizens going forward). 

Life Chain

The kids were enthusiastic participants in the Life Chain, along with my wife and me. I explained to them - in very basic, kid-friendly terms - what abortion is, and they were both eager to take their stand against it. My daughter said it all: "I think women should be free to make choices, but not THAT choice ... That's a wrong choice." She was also amazed to learn that people don't want the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public. And she was very dismayed to learn that president Obama supports abortion. There is at least one young lady who is not going to be fooled by liberal rhetoric of the left, Lord willing.

As I stood next to a busy road holding a sign reading "Life - the first inalienable right," I felt deeply saddened about the slaughter of unborn children in my nation. I was glad to do a little something to protest this abominable injustice. But it was so little.

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The Long Journey into a House

This post is a little different. It's partly an explanation, partly a testimony, partly a devotional, and partly a political commentary. This is more personal than theological. My schedule is finally getting back to normal again, so more of the usual style posts will be coming along very soon. Thanks for your patience.

It's been quiet on this blog for the last couple of weeks, and here's why: my family has successfully purchased and moved into our first house. We wanted to do this about 5 years ago, when we lived in Kentucky, but that was at the start of the infamous "housing bubble." Home prices were skyrocketing. Then I injured my back, found myself out of work for 10 months, and ended up moving to Florida. Here, home prices were even higher. So we waited, chose (with some struggle) to be content, and found cheap rents.

This year, everything finally fell into place. I have a stable job, the bubble has exploded, home prices are at rock bottom, and the U.S. government is paying people to buy houses. While I don't agree with government intrustion in the marketplace, and I'm both horrified and disturbed by president Obama's dangerous, socialistic policies, I do think it's high time the U.S. government thieves gave something back to the common people. It would have been better if they hadn't robbed us blind in the first place, but giving some money back is a good way to start making amends. If you can't already tell, I'm firmly against the estimated 50+ percent [!!!] tax rate we pay in America. It's time for a new American Revolution, where we reclaim government OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people, rather than continuing to be ruled by a bourgeois monarchy of self-servers who are busily stuffing their pockets (and their friends' pockets) with resources that would do more good in the marketplace. I guess I'm a revolutionary at heart. But I digress . . . and this is probably the last word about politics you'll see on this blog for a long, long time. (Vote for Mike Huckabee in 2012).

Back to the house story . . . my family started looking in early February. We became well acquainted with the lowest priced 3+ bedroom houses on the market, and after looking at lots of foreclosures that should have been torn down long ago, we found a spacious house that suited us perfectly. Although it had been vacant for over a year, it was clean and dry. Some cosmetic work was needed, but there were no apparent structural issues. We would have to purchase kitchen appliances and an air conditioning system, but the price was low enough to make all of that feasible, and the bank that owned the house dropped $20,000 from the price in negotiations. We were ecstatic. We were getting a good deal. The best part was, the house was situated on a beautiful piece of property out in the country. One-acre lot, gently sloping, with wooded areas, fenced-off sections for goats, plenty of room for a garden, chickens, etc. (yes, I did say goats). It was a home-schooler's dream!

By mid-March, we had a contract and a closing date. We poured money into inspections, appraisals, surveys, water tests, appliance purchases, etc. (I even bought a door mat) - all in the sure knowledge that this would soon be our place of residence. Everything went smoothly until the day before closing. That's when the unpermitted addition was discovered. That's when the FHA financing came back to bite us. That's when we found out it was going to cost us over $15,000 to bring the addition up to local codes, per FHA rules. That's when we found out the bank selling the home wasn't willing to do ANYTHING to fix the problem (it was HSBC Bank, by the way, and I'll think twice before I ever do business with them again). The bank refused to extend our contract or negotiate the added expenses. They would not put a penny toward it. Since we stood to lose everything we had invested on the botched deal, we went to outrageous lengths to try to make it work. Eventually, we found a contractor who could do the necessary repairs at a reasonable cost and resubmitted an offer to buy the house, with the bank assuming no additional risk or cost. However, a rival buyer had now entered the picture. The rival was using the same financing, offering less money, wanted more time to close, and had more contingencies in the contract. His offer was accepted, ours was rejected, and by the end of May we knew the deal could not be saved. So we started the buying process all over again.

In the meantime, my family had begun reading through the book of James together. And in the middle of the attempted home purchase we were collectively struck by these verses:

James 4:13-16 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

We made it a point to pray throughout the process, "Lord, if it is Your will, we will move into this house." So, when the deal slipped away, we concluded that it was not God's will. In all of this, my family saw a powerful object lesson about God's sovereignty, and we were humbled by it. We were crushed, but blessedly crushed, because we saw His hand in it.

That's only the first half of the story. Although God never has to explain Himself to us, it's always comforting when we find out why He closes a door.

After more searching, we found a comparably priced house, and this one was not a foreclosure. It was significantly larger, with more bedrooms, and much closer to where I work. There were fewer repairs needed, and the seller made several of them before closing. The house is on a 1/3 acre lot, situated on a private lake, with a nice view and plenty of trees for shade.There's no room for goats, but the previous owner left us a nice chicken coop. The funny part is, we only moved 1.2 miles away from our prior residence. That's right, it took us 6 months to move one mile! It's a much better house than I ever expected, and certainly more than I deserve. I don't deserve to live in a cardboard box! I deserve outer darkness. So, my new house is a gigantic testimony to God's grace.

The front of the house is partly made of stone, which reminds me of these words:

Mark 13:1-2 As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!"

“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

Just as God's beautiful temple was cast down to the ground, so shall my house (should it last long enough) be dashed to bits before His glorious majesty! In that day, I shall literally live in Him, and He in me, in the majestically glorious Kingdom of His eternal grace and truth!

Hebrews 13:14-16 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

I thank God for the gracious, yet temporary, gift of a house to live in. I thank Him even more for the amazing gift of Himself, as the true eternal home of all who trust in Him.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Sure, the road's rough, but look where it's leading . . .

When we melt into the far horizon, then we shall know

the struggles weren't worth comparing

to the eternal weight of glory that will follow

Misapplied Mystery and "the god of our many understandings"

"My intention is not to invoke the name of Jesus, but to make this a prayer for Christians and non-Christians alike. Although I hold the Scripture to be the word of god, those Scriptures are holy to me and to Jews and Christians, but to many other faith traditions, they have their own sacred texts, and so rather than insert that and really exclude them from the prayer by doing so, I want this to be a prayer to the god of our many understandings and a prayer that all people of faith can join me in . . . let's face it, each one of us has a different understanding of god. No one of us can fully understand god or else god wouldn't be god."

-"Bishop" Gene Robinson, on his invitation to offer a prayer at the Obama Inaugural Event this Sunday (source: NPR News)

Wow, that last sentence was really great. As for the rest, what else could we expect from the first openly gay Episcopal bishop?

There are those who want to emphasize the mystery and hiddenness of God in order to deny the truth He has plainly revealed about Himself. We must be careful not to overstate either the hiddenness or the revealed-ness of God. God has made known certain things about Himself, leaving all people guilty and without excuse in their rejection of Him. Yet He has also hidden some things from those who do not believe, while unveiling them to His elect. And He has left some of His glory shrouded in a wonderful cloud of mystery, even to those who trust in Him with all of their hearts (this is where Robinson's last sentence would rightly be applied by someone who believes the Word of God). The very angels who stand in God's presence wonder at His ineffable greatness. But it is pure heresy to broadly and recklessly use the hiddenness of God to undermine the crystal clear revelation of His nature, will and acts found in nature and the Bible. The Truth constantly shouts at us through the things that have been created, undeniably proving that God is good, all-powerful, eternal and wise. With the added testimony of the Scriptures, we are faced not only with a plain account of God's essential being, but also a written statement of His eternal will - and a record of His dealings with man in history. But Robinson ignores all of this, instead using one little piece of truth in a vain attempt to sweep away volumes of revelation. This is a crime against Truth itself (or should I say Truth Himself?). It is a crime that God will judge, but it is also a judgment in itself.

The reality is, mankind's "many understandings" of God are the rotten fruit of rebelling against the one simple understanding that is as plain as the nose on our collective face. For those who seek Him, there is a further development of this simple truth, but for those who make themselves His enemies there can only be obscurity and confusion in the maze of man-centered ideas that is falsely called "wisdom."

I once heard a Biblical counselor tell someone, "Here is why you are confused: you have been told what God expects of you, and you don't want to do it. When you agree with God and begin to obey Him, your confusion will disappear." There is much true wisdom in this statement.

Robinson's thinking is sad. It is confused. It is heretical. It is nonsensical. And yet, "but for the grace of God . . ."

Let us pray.

NOTE: What is written above is an extremely loose paraphrase of Romans 1:18-25.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."