The Ten Biggest Lies Propagated by our Government
I’m in Washington. D.C. this week for the National Day of Prayer and other meetings. My accommodations are directly across the street from the Supreme Court where arguments were made last week regarding the marriage debate that could have monumental ramifications in the future.
When I walk by the offices of the justices this week, and also the Capitol Building (now shrouded in scaffolding for repairs), I will pray for our leaders that “God’s truth is marching on” in this crucial American city.
Because the opposite is also a reality: We live in a time period of the proliferation of lies–major and open deception–that is affecting the lives of not only 320 million US citizens, but also billions of people around the world.
In this article I’d like to explore the ten biggest lies being propagated by our government.
It is convenient in our modern, increasingly secular world to say that all people lie. You and I lie, all politicians lie, so why should we even talk about the subject? This type of moral equivalence not only stops the conversation about lying, but it also gives the false impression that all people lie equally and that every lie is the same.
That is not true.
It’s a lie.
First, it should be mentioned that of the three worldviews now competing for supremacy around the globe–biblical faith, secularism, and Islam–only one is committed to factual integrity at all times: biblical faith. The other two brazenly believe that the end justifies the means and that lying is okay as long as the cause advances.
Thus we have Hitler, Stalin, Mao etc. as the most well-known secular political liars of the past century, and a whole rash of ayatollahs, including the current Supreme Leader of Iran, who rarely speak the truth. They believe in power–and anything that gets them there including telling falsehoods.
The biblical worldview is different. Lying makes the list of basic sins in the Ten Commandments (Commandment Nine), and is mentioned twice in the list of six things that God hates (Proverbs 6:16-19). The New Testament is replete with references of the need to speak the truth, walk in the light, and live with integrity.
Jesus himself said that he was the “truth” (John 14:6). He expects his followers to follow his example.This means that, in general, followers are Jesus are more honest than secularists and Muslims. Why? Their faith is the only one that calls them to tell the truth in all circumstances.
It’s also true that professing Christians sometimes fail. But when they do, they go against the Scriptures–they are not following their faith. Their failure requires repentance and change.
But when Muslims or progressives tells a lie to advance their cause, it’s in accord with their worldview. Lying is a means to a greater end. They do not need to repent. Their followers don’t care.
This practical qualification about lying–that Muslims and secularists are not bound by their religions as Christians are–should help you understand why some politicians lie more than others.
For example, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are examples:
- The former Senate Majority leader, joked the other day about lying on the Senate floor about Mitt Romney’s taxes so that he would lose the 2012 election.
- Ms. Pelosi told us we needed to pass Obamacare to find out what was in it (how’s that for transparency in government?).
- “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” Need I say more.
- Hillary Clinton erased 30,000 e-mails. Ditto.
All four of these politicians are committed to secular values. That means playing loose with the truth. If you want to read a good article on the non-moral equivalence of all politicians being liars, try David Limbaugh’s “All Politicians Don’t Lie Equally and Lying Does Matter.”
It’s important to vote for leaders who practice their faith in God.
Now on to the lies that we currently find in government. I should note that these lies didn’t necessarily originate with politicians, but they came up through our culture and institutions (such as higher education) and are being aided by a complicit (and very anti-faith) mainstream media.
These lies are not in any particular order except for the first two. Lie One has had the most devastating consequences in our nation, and Lie Two could do the same in the next generation
Lie One – Abortion
You will never hear a more stupid or evil statement by a politician than “I am pro-choice.” What choice are they talking about? It’s the choice to murder an innocent unborn baby simply because the mother doesn’t want it. Abortion is built on a hideous self-indulgent lie that has led to the death of over 58 million Americans. This is a genocide, an atrocity, all based on a lie.
Here’s the simple truth: Life begins at conception. Babies are babies–either in or out of the womb.
Lie Two – Same Sex Marriage
This lie could be foisted upon the nation soon by five Supreme Court justices. For five millenia human beings have understood the basic truth of human marriage between a man and a woman. Nothing else is marriage. Only men and women can “join together.” The plumbing only works that way. Any other arrangement is a colossal lie and unbelievable stupidity.
Here’s the truth of history: Marriage is God-created (Genesis 2:24)–a man and woman joining together for love, procreation and the nurture and care of children.
Lie Three – Deficit Spending
In the past two generations, the American government and people have spent themselves into a debt hell-hole. Our careless spending has destroyed many families and could soon ruin a once frugal and prudent country. Think about it: 18 trillion dollars in public debt. Ten trillion in private debt. And 128 trillion in unfunded liabilities(Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare).
A day of sober reckoning is coming if wise leaders don’t emerge and we, the people, don’t change our ways.
The plain truth: You can’t spend more than you take in. The borrower becomes the lender’s slave (Proverbs 22:7).
Lie Four – Islamic Jihad
The Islamic faith has always been violent. It grew through the centuries primarily through war and terrorism; Mohammed himself set the standard by killing thousands; The Koran contains over 100 war verses that justify Muslims killing other people simply for their refusal to convert.
We are fighting a global enemy who wants to establish a world-wide caliphate. Not all Muslims are violent, but the teachings of Islam condone terrorism and violence. So millions are–and believe they are right in doing so.
The sobering truth: Islam is a warring religion. We must defeat, not appease, Muslim terrorism.
Lie Five – The Unemployment Rate
Just one generation ago we were honest about unemployment statistics. When people lost a job and wanted to work, they were considered unemployed. But the recent recession was so severe, and the governmental policies to right it so wrong-headed, that our government no longer states the truth about jobs in America. They don’t count those who have given up looking.
Our government tells us this month that the national unemployment rate is 5.5%. That’s mis-leading.
Here’s the truth: The real unemployment rate in the USA is closer to 12%. Free people create jobs, not government spending.
Lie Six – Global Warming
Global warming, or climate change, is really a secular conspiracy to tax the Western world for income re-distribution purposes. power and control. It’s a scientific lie based on faulty temperature models, falsifying of data, and probably a desire to hasten a one world government under the banner of Saving the Planet.
The obvious truth: Temperatures have been steady, even cooling slightly, for seventeen years. There is no evidence that burning fossil fuels is impacting world temp and weather in any way.
Lie Seven – Gun Control
Every year progressives try to pass stringent gun control legislation saying that guns are the reason so many people are killed in our nation. They scream, “Guns are the problem! We need to make it harder for people to get guns! ” But consider this: the death capital of America right now is Chicago. And Chicago has some of the strongest gun control laws in the nation. So what’s the real agenda behind gun control?
I saw this truth on a bumper sticker thirty years ago in Oklahoma: When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. (Think about that.)
Lie Eight – Racism is Alive
We are constantly told that racism is still rampant in our nation–that race relations are getting worse. Agitators tell us that police officers target young blacks, that riots are taken place because of white suppression, and that no progress has been made in 150 years.
Nonsense. America is a changed nation racially. We voted twice for an African-American president. I don’t know one racist among my thousands of friends. There has been major transformation of race relations since the Civil War and Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This is the wonderful truth: America is essentially a color-blind nation. All lives matter.”
Lie Nine – The War on Women
Women have more rights, responsibilities, privileges, and access to services today than at any time in history. Period. This is a “Golden Age” of women’s rights in the Western World. Don’t believe the “War on Women” nonsense. Enjoy the blessings of your freedom and dignity.
The truth: The only war on women is in the Middle East and other Muslim countries. Let’s liberate them.
Lie Ten – Taxing the Rich will Elevate the Poor
We are so narcissistic and economically illiterate that we are starting to believe the lies of socialism and communism–that class warfare against the rich is the ticket to abundance. How’d that idea work in the Soviet Union? Cuba? Or North Korea? The 21st century Democratic Party is now a political version of Robin Hood who want take from the rich and give to the poor. There’s only one problem:
The truth is, as Margaret Thatcher once opined, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” We need liberty, not the tyranny of taxation.
I could have mentioned more, but I hope you get the point.
Seek the truth. Speak the truth. Live the truth.
And hold your government accountable for the lies that hurt us all.
The Wisdom of Friendly Accommodation
There is a spirit behind laws and most certainly behind movements. When I say “spirit” I mean other worldly beings.
This view is frowned upon in secular society which doesn’t believe in God, a personal devil, demons or angels.
But there is an abundance of evidence the world over that God exists, Satan exists, and good and bad angels exist–with their influence and attitudes felt in people lives, causes, and human laws.
The Bible says where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17). The opposite spirit–the satanic or evil spirit–is a spirit of tyranny (force or coercion).
When Indiana tried to protect religious freedom a few weeks, in exactly the same manner Congress had voted nearly unanimously over twenty years ago, what kind of spirit reared its head?
A spirit of intolerance (satanic) or a spirit of friendly accommodation (Spirit of God)?
I was very saddened by the statements and actions of many political and business leaders following Indiana’s adoption of a fair, tolerant, and thoroughly American law to protect religious liberty. A number of well-known executives vented their hatred and venom; Some political leaders, like the mayor of Seattle and the governor of my state, called for a boycott of Hoosier-land. Other protesters mobbed the streets and shouted bigotry and hatred.
And after this ugly spirit of force, condemnation, and lack of civility and fairness swept through many parts of the nation, the Indiana governor and assembly bowed to the pressure and changed their eminently fair, American law.
They caved to the spirit of hatred, force, and coercion. That was a sad day for America. The “bad spirits” won.
That does not bode well for our future.
There is a huge debate about the morality of homosexuality and same sex marriage raging in this nation. Many Jews, Muslims, Bible-believing Christians, and other folks honestly believe that homosexuality is destructive behavior and that changing the definition of marriage would hurt people, children, and society as a whole.
These people aren’t bigots. I know–because I’m one of them. They just have deeply held beliefs. They don’t demand that others agree with them. They simply love people, love God and don’t want to be forced to change their hearts and consciences.
The key word in that sentence is forced. Remember, the devil and demonic beings force. That’s the evil spirit behind many things in our world from jihadists who behead Christians to secularists who demand that florists, bakers, photographers celebrate their opinions and actions.
The Satanic spirit is one of force and intolerance.
The godly spirit was the one behind Gov. Mike Mike Pence and the Indiana Assembly who had passed a religious freedom act. They didn’t demand or force anybody to do anything.
They wanted freedom of conscience–which comes from the Spirit of the Lord.
Michael Barone and I hold opposite opinions on same sex marriage. He is in favor or it. I am opposed. But when I was readying an article on this issue, this well-known political writer came out with a column that said everything that was in my heart.
Better than I can say it.
You see, you can have an opposite or wrong take on a subject, but hold a godly view of its implementation.
Mr. Barone calls this attitude “The Wisdom of Friendly Accommodation.”
I agree.
No matter where you stand on the great moral divide of our time, I admonish you to listen to the spirit of Michael Barone which has the “echo of God” behind it.
Friday, April 3, 2015
Indiana Religious Freedom Act in Accord With Traditional American Toleration
By Michael Barone
There has been a great ruckus about Indiana’s recently passed religious freedom law. Some, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, see it as endorsing anti-gay bigotry. Democratic Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy has banned state employees from traveling to Indiana, even though Connecticut has a similar law even more favorable to claims of religious objectors. Perhaps he should ban state employees from remaining inside Connecticut.
The Indiana law is substantially identical to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, passed by Congress by a near-unanimous vote in 1993 and signed with brio by Bill Clinton. It was a response to a Supreme Court decision upholding an Oregon drug law against members of the Native American Church who had claimed their religion requires drug use.
RFRA sets up a balancing test, to be employed by courts. Government cannot enforce a statute requiring people to violate their religious convictions unless it can demonstrate a compelling interest in doing so, and proceeds to do so by the least restrictive means possible.
This is in line with longstanding American tradition. The First Amendment, ratified in 1790, guaranteed Americans the “free exercise” of religion. The Framers knew that their new republic included Quakers, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, atheists, even perhaps a few Muslims. They wanted all to be free to live — not just worship, but live — according to their beliefs.
Opponents of the Indiana law point to horrifying hypotheticals. Restaurants won’t serve gays; large corporations won’t hire them, and so on. But mass anti-gay discrimination seems extremely unlikely. What is on the opponents’ minds, apparently, are the cases where gay couples have successfully sued bakeries and florists who refuse to provide services to same-sex weddings. These litigants, they believe, should not lose.
As someone who has publicly supported same-sex marriage longer than President Obama or Hillary Clinton, I would put this in broader perspective.
My observation is that very large majorities of those on both sides of the same-sex marriage issue, and the very large number who have switched from anti- to pro- over the last decade, take the positions they do out of good motives. They believe that their views would be better for individuals, families and society.
Only handfuls base their stand on hatred of gays or hatred of those who believe in traditional or religious concepts of marriage. Most people on both sides want what they think is best for others.
The traditional American recipe for handling such differences is friendly accommodation. The large majority of Americans in the early republic, as today, did not believe in the pacifism of Quakers or the bishops of Episcopalians, the catechism of Catholicism or the rituals of Judaism. But they didn’t begrudge others their beliefs.
An acid test of American religious toleration came during World War II. Congress, at the urging of President Franklin Roosevelt, instituted a military draft in 1940. That law provided, for the first time, for exemption from active military service men who professed a religious conscientious objection to bearing arms.
Most Americans then opposed entry into World War II. They dreaded the hundreds of thousands of American deaths — more than 400,000 as it turned out — that they believed would result. But they and their elected representatives were willing to exempt from military service those who had highly unusual religious beliefs, even though others might die in their places. I should add that many conscientious objectors served as non-combatants at the risk of, and for some the loss of, their lives.
Americans continued to support exemption from military service of conscientious objectors until the military draft ended. It is inconceivable that it would not be part of any future conscription legislation. So strong is American respect for the free exercise of religion that it extends to matters of life and death.
Opponents of the Indiana law liken conscientious refusal to participate in same-sex marriages to racial discrimination. But as many black leaders and citizens will tell you, correctly, no other category of Americans have been subject to anything like slavery and segregation.
Eradicating those drastic evils required drastic legislation, yet even the civil rights laws provide some exemptions. Fair housing laws, for example, don’t cover renting out your basement apartment.
This situation is different. Society has reached a consensus on racial discrimination. It has not reached such a consensus on same-sex marriage.
The traditional American formula for handling such issues is friendly accommodation of the conscientious beliefs of others. Indiana’s RFRA is in line with this. Forcing people to violate their religious beliefs absent a compelling government interest is not.
* * * *
Exactly right.
Force is from the devil. Appreciation of conscience is from God.
You better check that “spirit” within you or behind the cause you are joining–to see if its origin is heavenly or from the pit.
That may tell you a lot about your issue as well.
Tearing Down America
It’s been an interesting week of presidential announcements. Hillary Clinton tweeted her presidential run then gaffed badly that she’s “fought women and children all her life.” Maybe that was an honest statement if you consider her views on abortion.
Marco Rubio also jumped into the race as a fresh, young, and articulate US Senator. If either he or Ted Cruz is elected to our highest office, they will make history as the nation’s first Hispanic president.
We certainly need a fresh leader for a hopeful future—not a return or carry-over from the past. In fact the next president will face a daunting assignment.
Stopping the tearing down of America.
If the present administration has succeeded at anything, it has been to greatly accelerate the tearing down of a once great nation. Now that we are heading into the seventh year of the Obama administration, and he is no longer running for office, it much easier to look at the president’s record and understand what he really meant when he said he wanted to “fundamentally change America.”
I will not judge his heart. Only God knows it. But the Bible is very clear that people are “known by their fruits.” Based on that wise axiom, what is the actual legacy of the Barack Obama presidency?
Instead of America being built up, we are in the process of being torn down. From a polling standpoint, nothing indicates this more than the steady reading that 70% of Americans believe that we are going in the wrong direction and only 30% believe we are headed the right way. This statistic has held constant for the majority of the Obama years.
Regardless of his motivation or desires, this means that Americans believe that we are being “torn down” not “built up.”
How so?
Using a preacher’s method of a three-point sermon where the words all start with the same first letter, let’s look at three critical areas of American life that the current administration is inadvertently or consciously tearing down.
Moral Tear Down
As a spiritual leader, this one is the most important to me because morality, which comes primarily from faith in God, leads to freedom or liberty which in turn brings blessing to a family, neighborhood, city of nation.
The Obama Administration has been the greatest accelerator of immorality in the history of our country, and that’s probably for two reasons: 1) Barack Obama was elected at time when powerful immoral forces in this nation were gaining momentum in the culture, and 2) Our president is primarily a secular man who pays lip service to biblical faith, but actively promotes secular values.
Now that the election gig is over, and he is free to be himself, we are witnessing a breathtaking assault on the traditional biblical values that made America unique in world history. The tearing down includes:
- The assault on children via abortion. Barack Obama is only the third president in all of American history who is pro-abortion, and the only one who radically championed late term abortions while in the Illinois Senate. Baby-killing has become passé and even applauded during the Obama years. Hillary Clinton, beholden to NARAL and Emily’s List, would do the same.
- The destruction of the five thousand year biblical covenant of marriage—the only American president to do so after he lied about changing his mind. In the Clinton roll-out video, she jumped on the same theme—which will further destroy the nuclear family in America.
- The failure of our nation’s first black president to mobilize the black community to rebuild the African-American family. This is such a tragic loss. Barack Obama could have been the man to call black dads home and encourage African American women to avoid pregnancy without marriage. Instead, he played the race card for years while black families disintegrate at mind-numbing speed.
- Opening our porous southern border for criminals, gangs, terrorists, and even unattended children simply for the sake of gaining Democratic votes. Immigration chaos is truly a moral issue that is destroying the social fabric of many cities and states.
Monetary Tear Down
The crony capitalist redistributive policies of the current Administration have soared the national debt to over eighteen TRILLION dollars, failed to create good wage jobs in a sputtering economy, and placed put a huge regulatory drag on the United States economy.
Obamacare is not only a health care disaster, but a huge noose on families, businesses, invention and innovation—and one of the most deceptive taxes ever foisted on the American people. And its enforcement agents are the hated IRS.
Barack Obama is primarily a statist who does not believe in liberty and free markets. His environmental policies torpedoed the Keystone Pipeline for no good reason and have not allowed America to become energy independent—a crucial position to hold in the 21st century. Instead, hopes of windmills and failed electric cars have put the brakes on one of our country’s most dynamic sectors—the new fossil-fuel explosion. All that’s been “renewed” in America has been our dependency on foreign oil and loss of clean coal jobs.
At best, America is treading water as we head toward a debt cliff. At worst, we are speeding toward the greatest economy collapse in the history of the world—driven by a man who little about lean budgeting, judicious use of debt and job creation.
Military Tear Down
Maybe the most glaring tear down of American society that has occurred under the Obama watch has been down-sizing and demoralizing of the United States military. Though the Bush invasion of Iraq can be argued both ways, no one can argue that when George Bush left office, Iraq was stable, our US forces were extended but strong, and the most volatile part of the world, the Middle East, was under control.
Not anymore. The Middle East is burning and in turmoil:
- Barack Obama failed to support the freedom movement in Iran in 2009. Now we are pushed around by genocidal and terror-supporting ayatollahs and are on the verge of allowing the world’s most powerful terrorist state to develop a nuclear weapon. If you were committed to ushering in Armageddon or World War III, there is no more helpful thing you could be doing right now than being taken to the cleaners by Iranian diplomats.
- With Hillary Clinton’s approval, we toppled the Gadaffi government in Libya, allowed our ambassador to be killed, and now chaos reigns in that nation.
- We said that Yemen was a “model” of our policy to reform the Middle East, and now it looks more like the Middle Ages than a stable part of the Middle East.
- Hundreds of thousands of people have died and been displaced in Syria and Iraq. By bringing our troops home too early, we released the draconian serpent of Isis to behead Christians and quickly become the new Nazis on the planet.
- We antagonized our friends (Israel) and have emboldened our enemies (Jihadists).
- Our American military is said to be at the lowest point of morale in a generation due to our feckless policies of appeasement, experimenting with sexual rights on the battle field, and telling our courageous chaplains to stop talking about God.
Morally, monetarily, and militarily the American nation is being systematically torn down. It would be easy to blame that breakdown on our leaders at the top. There’s just one problem.
We voted for them–twice.
It’s time to pray. It’s time to repent. It’s time to choose new leadership that will build up our nation, not tear it down.