Culture
The 15th of April – A New Independence Day?
The 4th of July.
We say it differently than other dates because it has a special meaning in America’s history.
The 15th of April.
Months or maybe years from now, will it be a national holiday that commemorates the re-birth of the United States in the 21st century?
April 15, 2009 will be long remembered by those those who attended the over 2,000 Tax Day Tea Parties that took place this week across the America nation. Rallies such as in New York and Atlanta, brought tens of thousands of concerned citizens. Hundreds of smaller rallies–we had forty in Washington State alone–were filled with colorful signs and patriotic chants by an energized electorate. Millions of people took a stand for real change in America.
I attended the largest rally in our state, on the steps of the capital in Olympia. The Seattle Times claimed there were five thousand people at the event, but it looked more like eight-to-ten thousand to me. On a beautifully sunny day, the gathering between the Capitol Dome and the Temple of Justice was packed with adults, youth, children, thousands of creative signs, and the thunderous praise and applause as a variety of speakers called on the various governments in our state to:
- Stop the unfettered growth of Big Government.
- End the wasteful spending spree of tax-payer money.
- Restore the God-given rights of the American people to life, liberty,and the pusuit of happiness.
- Return the nation to its God-blessed cultural moorings.
It was a day to shout, cry, send a message to law-makers, and receive great encouragement that a new American revolution has begun. As I stood among the excited throngs, something rose up within me that whispered, “This is a new day. What you’ve been praying for for many years is about to take place. Remember this moment. Seize the day. The tide has turned.”
My heart is deeply stirred with these thoughts and possibilities. For decades I’ve been concerned about America’s spiritual, moral, and more recently, economic tailspin. The past election only seemed to solidify the death grip of secular forces on American culture. Barack Obama has stated very openly that he doesn’t want America to be a “Christian nation,” and all of his policies so far have been as anti-Christ as anything this nation has ever known.
When a good friend of mine first heard Barack Obama speak at the 2004 Democratic Convention–his coming out speech as a national figure–my normally meek-mannered friend turned to me and said, “Ron. Could this man be the anti-Christ?”
I was shocked at the comment, and said I didn’t know.
I still don’t know, but I do know this: America has been under spiritual and moral attack for two generations, and the present administration is taking us further and further away from our godly and historical roots. The Bible says prphetically that “Righteousness exalts a nation. Sin is a disgrace to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). America became the most prosperous and generous nation in the history of the world because of the abundant application of biblical principles in our laws and Christian attitudes and actions in our people. As our government steers us away from biblical truth and our people forsake the ways of our Creator, some very dark clouds of judgment and chaos loom on the horizon.
In fact, the same afternoon of the Tax Day Tea Parties, the Washington State House of Representatives passed on a 62-35 vote the expansion of domestic partnership benefits to homosexual couples–effectively ratifying Homosexual Marriage in our state. Here’s how Faith & Freedom’s Gary Randall broke the sobering news:
“Washington State Legislature Approves Homosexual “Marriage” –without the name—for now. Washington State lawmakers passed SB 5688 yesterday afternoon, thus giving the homosexual activists what they want. Gov. Gregoire will sign it.
We will seek to overturn it by referendum. While the lawmakers were voting in favor of homosexual marriage in the Capitol, I and several other leaders in the faith community were meeting a few blocks away, finalizing details before filing a referendum to overturn this legislation. A more detailed press release will be forthcoming following the Governor’s signing of the bill into law.
The bill, the homosexual activists in the Legislature initially called “Every Thing But Marriage,” but dropped after we called them out on it, elevates homosexual relationships to that of traditional marriage, thus eliminating any legal difference between domestic partnerships and marriage. Their next step will be an easy one them. Litigate, correctly claiming there is no legal difference, then claim discrimination and it’s a done deal.
They will have successfully done an end-run on the State Supreme Court ruling which upheld DOMA and will have dismantled the Defense of Marriage Act. Except, we We can overturn this legislation with our referendum. Joshua once asked the people of God to, “Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house,” he proclaimed, “We will serve the Lord.” This is that kind of moment. Do you believe in homosexual marriage?
If you do not, stand with us.”
I was one of those leaders behind closed doors, praying and planning a frontal assault on this sad and destructive legislation. After seeing thousands of people stand up at the Olympia Tea Party for God, faith, government accountability and responsibility, I, too, believe that the tide is turning–and that we can win the battle for marriage in the state of Washington.
But it will take all of us, moving forward with commitment, wisdom, compassion and prayer.
The 15th of April. Our new independence day.
Please join the army to push away the clouds of darkness and bring back the bright and glorious sun of personal salvation for many, and cultural renewal for all.
Tax Day Tea Parties – April 15, 2009 – Yes You Can!
On April 15, 2009 millions of modern day patriots of our American Christian nation will do a very peaceful and Christian-like protest of the present misguided and irresponsible course of our Federal Government and many state governments.
“Change We Can Believe In” has become a “Nightmare We Can’t Tolerate”–and less than one hundred days into the present administration, a grassroots revolution is building to take back America to the economic and social principles that made her great.
It’s Tax Day Tea Party Time–and we encourage all Americans who love this nation to take part. If you can’t attend a protest rally, then make your views known at work, school, and in your communities.
The April 15 events, in hundreds of cities across America, will be reminiscent of December 16, 1773 when a handful of men dumped tea into the Boston Harbor. That one act set in motion a chain of events that birthed the most free and prosperous nation in the history of the world. That freedom is now in jeopardy.
Today, many Americans feel helpless as they watch an over-reaching government destroy our Constitution and 237 years of liberty. The first American Tea Party birthed a nation. The second American Tea Party could help save it. Just like our Founding Fathers, many Americans are deeply concerned about the direction our leaders are taking us. It’s time to say:
- NO to the growth of bigger government and the abandoning of free enterprise.
- NO to the war on the successful and the rich to pay for the government growth.
- NO to the class warfare or taking from one group to give to another.
- NO to to the destructive redistribution of wealth.
- NO to trillions of new debt to advance a fascist or socialist vision.
- NO to tax increases to pay for egregious and irresponsible spending.
- NO to bankrupting future generations of American citizens.
- NO to tax cheaters being appointed to positions of power in Washington.
- NO to irresponsible Congressional earmarks.
- NO to the White House power grab of politicizing the US Census.
- NO to ACORN as census-takers under the Department of Commerce.
- NO to open borders for illegal immigrants.
- NO to blanket amnesty for illegals, their families and their friends.
- NO to the mis-named “Free Choice Act” which is a payback to unions.
- NO to closing Guantanmo Bay and bringing terrorists to America for trial.
- NO to the new hostility and harassment of gun owners.
- NO to giving up American sovereignty to world courts.
- NO to being a puppet of the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
- NO to visions of a One World Government and currency.
- NO to destruction of American moral values and principles.
- NO to the destruction of marriage under the guise of homosexual rights.
This could be a pivotal day in the battle for America. Columnist Michelle Malkin comments:
“As unemployment soars and anger over Wall Street bailouts mounts, public outrage will seek an outlet. Populism could go in many directions — and could easily ebb when the economy revives. But if it takes shape as an anti-spending movement, it could revive conservatives much as the 1970s tax protests did.
To be sure, the protest sizes so far are a far cry from the left’s anti-globalization and anti-war demonstrations of the past decade. But they appear to have grass-roots origins. The organizer of the Kansas protest, Amanda Grosserode, calls herself a home-schooling mom who is “fed up” with the spending in Washington. She has been a member of Fair Tax Kansas City since last fall.
“My husband and I were feeling frustrated that the stimulus had passed with very little debate and no one had read it,” “I said, ‘We need to do something.’ ” She began contacting family and friends, and eventually received attention via Fair Tax Kansas City and local talk radio.
“I think the taxpayer revolt is the new counterculture,” said Grosserode. “People want to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m paying for that, I do not support that.’ “
Malkin concludes:
“Don’t wait for somebody else to move. Don’t make excuses. Don’t think you can’t pull one off because you’ve never done it before?
Yes, you can!”
I encourage you to get involved in this new American revolution. If you don’t know where to participate, go to Tax Day Tea Party.com and find the locations where rallies and meetings are taking place on April 15. There are two major rallies in the state of Washington, one in Olympia and one in Spokane. You can find the details HERE to those events.
You can also send a symbolic virtual tea bag to our president and Congressional leaders to let them know that you’re a part of the movement to change directions.
Thomas Jefferson’s famous words of July 4, 1776 are as true today as when they were written:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it..”
This is not the time to abolish, but the moment to “alter” our current national trajectory back to the wise and trusted ways of the past. That wisdom includes re-affirming our God-given unalienable rights to:
- Life – now being trampled by the most radical pro-abortion Administration in history.
- Liberty – being suffocated by out-of control spending, massive debt, and crippling regulations to the private sector,
- The pursuit of happiness – “property” – in the minds of the founders that are over-taxed and being taken away from the productive and re-distributed to others.
If you can’t attend a Tax Day Tea Party event, please pray for America, our leaders, and for those who are taking a stand.
Wednesday, April 15, could be a day that changes a nation.
Yes, you can!”
A Far Left Turn…You Can Believe In
I congratulate Barack Obama on his victory as President-elect of the United States. I’d also like to congratulate the American people on this peaceful transfer of power which has characterized our Republic for the past two hundred and thirty years. The freedom to vote and elect our own leaders is a special responsibility I hope we never take lightly. In 2008 the American people have spoken. Though I’m deeply saddened by the choice we made in this election year, I also believe in civility and respect in all of our political battles. There is no place for hate or bitterness in our social and political discourse. I commit myself to pray for our new president and support every good effort that he makes to lead America during the coming years.
I also commit myself to stand up to any efforts to turn America away from God and her historic underpinnings of faith. If our new leaders point us in destructive and God-denying directions, I will be one to speak out and resist those efforts in every appropriate way. Our new president is a gifted and talented politician, but his words and record speak loud and clear about the type of change he wants to bring to America.
Barack Obama ran on a message of Change You Can Believe In. If you can trust his words and stated positions, then these are the CHANGES that are coming:
- America will become an increasingly secular nation with greater mocking and attacks on Christianity. Obama calls himself a Christian but he is anti-Christ in many of his political policies. His ideas are doctrinaire liberalism or secularism. In this regard, he has the atheistic press firmly entrenched on his side since only 8% of them attend Church regularly as opposed to 40% of all Americans. This is a primary reason they were so vicious to Sarah Palin: She represented a young and vibrant Judeo-Christian worldview which needed to be discredited. The press saw this as a huge threat to their to their secularizing agenda. The same tactic was used with Governor Mike Huckabee during the Republican primaries. In the liberal view it’s not conservatives who are a threat to America–it is the Christian faith. Will an Obama presidency increase both the marginalization and persecution of Crhistians in America? Do we want to become a spiritually-dying secular state like many European nations, or do we want to remain “America?”
- America will become an increasingly immoral nation with the continuation of the abortion holocaust and the national triumph of gay marriage. Barack Obama told Planned Parenthood that his first act as president would be to push through the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) which would strike down most abortion restrictions in the nation. He also told Rick Warren during the Saddleback Forum that he would appoint activist judges to the Supreme Court. Since we have already killed over 45 million children since 1972, would this multiplication of the “shedding of innocent blood” bring an increase in judgment to our nation? And though Barak Obama has said that he believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, he has strongly supported the gay agenda in America which threatens to destroy the family and could lead to a mass exodus from the public schools by forcing the acceptance of the gay lifestyle on school children. The homosexual lobby has one clear objective: the complete acceptance of perversion including marriage. Will Barack Obama respect the five thousand year history of marriage, or will he pander to the gay interests at the expense of our children?
- America will become an increasingly poor nation with less wealth and higher taxes. Barack Obama does not believe in the capitalism-motivated creation of wealth and prosperity but in the re-distribution of wealth to groups that he favors. He has strong socialist leanings that will raise taxes on capital gains, personal income, and small businesses. In these difficult economic times, many are predicting that his economic prescriptions will turn a recession into a depression. Will he be flexible and pragmatic enough to abandon his liberal philosophy? If he doesn’t, will the wealth and prosperity that America has enjoyed truly become only a memory of the past?
- America will become an increasingly insecure nation with terrorism possibly coming to our shores. Barack Obama has promised to cut the military budget by 25% and bring the troops home from Iraq–regardless of security concerns or victory. He has promised to sit down with dictators without pre-conditions–and our new vice president, Joe Biden, has warned that the Obama administration, due to its inexperience, will be severely tested in the first six months. It’s also very clear that America’s enemies, including Al Qaeda, were rooting for Obama from the beginning. Will Obama’s victory embolden our enemies to bring their fight to the cities of America? For all of George Bush’s faults, the strength of his presidency was putting the enemies of America on the run and keeping us safe for the past seven years. Can Obama do the same with his inexperience and anti-military posture?
I’m not solemnly predicting any of the scenarios listed above. I’m just fearful that President Barack Obama will be who he has said he is. He talks about being a unifier–but with the 4th worst record on partisanship in the United States Senate, does being a unifier mean he will compromise some of his secular principles, or try to “unify” us all into sharing his liberal beliefs? I fear it is the latter.
I also have another concern: The almost messianic hysteria of the Obama election is incredibly scary. Did you notice the people crying and dancing in the streets? You’d think that the Messiah had returned to make everything right with the planet. Is this how they reacted when the Fuhrer of the Third Reich spoke to the masses? Are the people of America so smitten with Barack Obama’s charisma and style that they will think and do anything that he tells us to do? The next four years will answer that question.
Despite these sobering thoughts, my heart is hopeful. Just before Jesus entered the darkest moments of his life on earth, he said to his disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God–believe all in Me” (John 14:1). He knew that God was in control of history, that good would triumph over evil in the end, and that the people of God would ultimately dispel the darkness through faith in his Name. He also knew that the history of nations are like individual lives. There are “dark” chapters in which we must persevere through difficulties and problems, and there are “light” chapters where the grace and blessings of God are robust and clear.
On November 4, 2008, we may have entered a dark chapter in our nation’s history. But God is still at work. And it is our job–as the people of faith–to help turn on the lights again.