General

I am currently in Northern Idaho visiting some of our workers who serve among Native Peoples.  One of the fruits of the destruction of American Indian culture–much of it ill-advised and unjust–was native populations living in isolation on various reservations.

That has not worked out well for them or the United States. This cultural isolation has increased poverty, alcoholism, and produced many other destructive forces.

I recently came across an article on Islam that took the perils of isolation–especially genetic isolation and inbreeding–to a much higher level.

The lesson is clear: When we do not follow God’s instructions for life, marriage, and social relationships, the consequences can be staggering (just as it will be for the acceptance of homosexual marriage).

Ponder below what fourteen centuries of “incest” may have have done to Muslim peoples.

1,400 YEARS OF IN-BREEDING

By Aaron Cantor, United States Air Force (ret) 

“During the pilot transition program with the KV-107 and C-130 with Lockheed, we found that most Saudi pilot trainees had very limited night vision, even on the brightest of moon-lit nights. Their training retention rate was minimal including maintenance personnel.”

“Some had dim memories and had to be constantly reminded of things that were told to them the day before. Needless to say, an American, British or any other western instructor gets burned out pretty quick. It actually took Muslim C-130 pilots years before they could fly in the dark safely and then would be reluctant to leave the lights of a city. “

“Islam is not only a religion, it’s a way of life all the way around. Here is another set of revealing facts about Muslim beliefs and traditions and ways of life.”

“1400 years of inbreeding.” 

“I found this to be interesting. Didn’t know whether to believe it or not. To research I went to Wikipedia, “Cousin Marriage”, and far down in the article “Genetics”, it seems there is a lot of truth here.”

“A huge Muslim problem: Inbreeding.”

“Nikolai Sennels is a Danish psychologist who has done extensive research into a little-known problem in the Muslim world: the disastrous results of Muslim inbreeding brought about by the marriage of first-cousins.”

“This practice, which has been prohibited in the Judeo-Christian tradition since the days of Moses, was sanctioned by Muhammad and has been going on now for 50 generations (1,400 years) in the Muslim world.”

“This practice of inbreeding will never go away in the Muslim world, since Muhammad is the ultimate example and authority on all matters, including marriage. The massive inbreeding in Muslim culture may well have done virtually irreversible damage to the Muslim gene pool, including extensive damage to its intelligence, sanity, and health.”

“According to Sennels, close to half of all Muslims in the world are inbred. In Pakistan, the numbers approach 70%. Even in England, more than half of Pakistani immigrants are married to their first cousins, and in Denmark the number of inbred Pakistani immigrants is around 40%.The numbers are equally devastating in other important Muslim countries: 67% in Saudi Arabia, 64% in Jordan, and Kuwait, 63% in Sudan, 60% in Iraq, and 54% in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.”

“According to the BBC, this Pakistani, Muslim-inspired inbreeding is thought to explain the probability that a British Pakistani family is more than 13 times as likely to have children with recessive genetic disorders. While Pakistanis are responsible for three percent of the births in the UK, they account for 33% of children with genetic birth defects.”

“The risks of what are called autosomal recessive disorders such as cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy is 18 times higher and the risk of death due to malformations is 10 times higher.”

“Other negative consequences of inbreeding include a 100 percent increase in the risk of still births and a 50% increase in the possibility that a child will die during labor.”

“Lowered intellectual capacity is another devastating consequence of Muslim marriage patterns. According to Sennels, research shows that children of consanguineous marriages lose 10-16 points off their IQ and that social abilities develop much slower in inbred babies.”

“The risk of having an IQ lower than 70, the official demarcation for being classified as ‘retarded,’ increases by an astonishing 400 percent among children of cousin marriages. (Similar effects were seen in the Pharaonic dynasties in ancient Egypt and in the British royal family, where inbreeding was the norm for a significant period of time.)”

“In Denmark, non-Western immigrants are more than 300 percent more likely to fail the intelligence test required for entrance into the Danish army.”

“Sennels says that ‘the ability to enjoy and produce knowledge and abstract thinking is simply lower in the Islamic world.’ He points out that the Arab world translates just 330 books every year, about 20% of what Greece alone does. In the last 1,200 years of Islam, just 100,000 books have been translated into Arabic, about what Spain does in a single year. Seven out of 10 Turks have never even read a book.”

“Sennels points out the difficulties this creates for Muslims seeking to succeed in the West. ‘A lower IQ, together with a religion that denounces critical thinking, surely makes it harder for many Muslims to have success in our high-tech knowledge societies.'”

“Only nine Muslims have ever won the Nobel Prize, and five of those were for the ‘Peace Prize.’ According to Nature magazine, Muslim countries produce just 10 percent of the world average when it comes to scientific research measured by articles per million inhabitants.”

“In Denmark, Sennels’ native country, Muslim children are grossly over represented among children with special needs. One-third of the budget for Danish schools is consumed by special education, and anywhere from 51% to 70% of retarded children with physical handicaps in Copenhagen have an immigrant background.”

“Learning ability is severely affected as well. Studies indicated that 64% of school children with Arabic parents are still illiterate after 10 years in the Danish school system. The immigrant drop-out rate in Danish high schools is twice that of the native-born.”

“Mental illness is also a product. The closer the blood relative, the higher the risk of schizophrenic illness. The increased risk of insanity may explain why more than 40% of patients in Denmark’s biggest ward for clinically insane criminals have an immigrant background.”

“The U.S. is not immune. According to Sennels, ‘One study based on 300,000 Americans shows that the majority of Muslims in the USA have a lower income, are less educated, and have worse jobs than the population as a whole.'”

“Sennels concludes: ‘There is no doubt that the wide spread tradition of first cousin marriages among Muslims has harmed the gene pool among Muslims. Because Muslims’ religious beliefs prohibit marrying non-Muslims and thus prevents them from adding fresh genetic material to their population, the genetic damage done to their gene pool since their prophet allowed first cousin marriages 1,400 years ago are most likely massive. This has produced overwhelming direct and indirect human and societal consequences.'”

“Bottom line: Islam is not simply a benign and morally equivalent alternative to the Judeo-Christian tradition. As Sennels points out, the first and biggest victims of Islam are Muslims. Simple Judeo-Christian compassion for Muslims and a common-sense desire to protect Western civilization from the ravages of Islam dictate a vigorous opposition to the spread of this dark and dangerous religion. These stark realities must be taken into account when we establish public polices dealing with immigration from Muslim countries and the building of mosques in the U.S.”

“Let’s hope the civilized West and the North Americans wake up before a blind naiveté about the reality of Islam destroys what remains of our Judeo-Christian culture and our domestic tranquility.”

Sobering words to ponder.

On one level, human governments of the world need to fight the unreasonable tenets of Islamo-Fascism or the jihadist movement.

But on another level, we need to compassionately help Muslim people escape the devastating errors of Mohammed and the Koran, and find life, health, and eternal hope through God’s truth.

The United States remains stuck in political gridlock. As I mentioned last week, this is actually better than just sailing off a fiscal cliff without the possibility of changing course. Why?

Because the essence of courage and patriotism is resisting wrong in all its forms.

However, we are stuck in this painful and embarrassing situation because President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid keep telling us they won’t negotiate with the other side.

But all good leaders negotiate. So why the tough stance?

It all boils down to the truth about lies.

It would be helpful to remind ourselves that there is a vast difference between the God of the Universe who is the epitome of truth (Psalm 108:4, John 14:6), and the god of this world–Satan–who “was a liar from the beginning and the father of lies” (John 8:44).

This is why most epic stories or films are built around the concept of good and evil, truth and falsehood. And most of us cheer and feel good when truth wins out. We were created with a desire to love and affirm truth and resist and reject error.

A society is the most civil, free, and prosperous when it embraces and lives out the truth about God, human beings, and their God-given rights and responsibilities. The genius of “America” is not found in our geography or natural resources, but in our personal, social and political commitment to “In God We Trust.”

This is another way of saying that we believe in truth–and we find that truth in God and His Word. No wonder, one of our national songs is the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” which exalts the fact that “His truth is marching on.”

We Americans believe in the goodness of truth-telling.

But there is a devil and he is very good at lying. The entire human race is fallen because he told our First Parents a lie, they believed it, and everything changed (you find that dramatic story in Genesis 3).

Thus, much of human history is the tug of war between God’s truth (redemptive) and Satan’s lies (destructive). The destiny of nations can hinge upon whether they believe the lies or seek to live out the truth.

Which brings us to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, and the current struggle between Congress and the Administration. What is becoming painfully clear is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), once touted to bring freedom and blessing to America, is based on a number of lies.

Here are my Top Ten.

1. The Affordable Care Act will make health care “affordable” to all.  But as people like me get on the exchanges and try to find policies, we are realizing that ACA makes health insurance more expensive for the majority of Americans. This is a major reason why so few are signing up and the government is actually embarrassed to report the dearth of sign-ups to date.

2. You can keep our own doctor. That was a falsehood from the beginning. Millions are set to lose their own personal care–and that includes our family– which was booted from our former coverage and doctor because of the demands of ACA.

3. You can keep your present insurance if we like. Again, countless families and individuals are finding this untrue as the regulations of ACA put some insurance companies out of business, cause employers to drop employees, and force others out of their present plans.

4. ACA will save the average family $2500 a year. On the contrary, a recent Congressional Budget Office Report (CBO – non-partisan) clarified that ACA will raise the average family’s insurance premiums  nearly $7500–which makes this a $10,000 fib.

5. Government-led health care will cover all the uninsured. This number is usually estimated at 30 million. But, now the same CBO tells us that even with ACA, probably 30 million people will still be uninsured. So why are we giving the government control over one-sixth of the American economy for no change in coverage?

6. ACA will improve health services and options. The data so far indicates exactly the opposite–that the ACA will lead to a doctor shortage (due to controls and regulations on private practice), to health care rationizing (just like in other countires with government-entrenched health care), and even the “death panels” of Sarah Palin lore. The inefficiency of government and the restraints on private medicine will lead to people die needlessly.

7. The new health care law will cost 900 billion dollars. Do government programs EVER cost what they say in the beginning? The most recent estimate is that ACA will cost three times that much–at least. And why is that so? Because when the government runs or controls commerce, then competition and personal incentives which keep costs down, are lost.

8. “You can’t change the ACA because it’s the law of the land.” This is one of the current excuses of  proponents. But it’s wrong. Human laws change all the time. They come, they go. They’re implemented, they’re altered. Prohibition was a bad law. It was chucked. Slavery was evil. It was banished. And by the way–you can’t have it both ways. The other current law of the land is the debt ceiling–a long established law that goes back to 1917. The president now wants to “change it” (increase the debt). Out of one side of his mouth he says you can’t change ACA, but out of the other side he demands it. And here’s another inconsistency: the president has already changed seventeen different implemental aspects of ACA himself. And now he bellows that Congress CAN’T change others–like delaying the individual mandate for a year?

9. “It was approved by the Supreme Court.” Yes, but the Supremes make bad decisions just like all human beings. Think Dred Scott and slavery (Dred Scott vs. Sandford – 1857) and abortion on demand (Roe v. Wade – 1973). Dred Scott was repealed because it was a terrible verdict. Roe v. Wade will also be rescinded one day due to its evil nature and convoluted reasoning. The ACA decision–thanks to John Roberts–has been soundly castigated by other members of the Court and various legal scholars.

 10. ACA is not a tax. That’s how this onerous bill was sold to the Congress and nation. Unthinking people believed it. Then John Roberts said it really was a tax. Well, that’s debatable. But here’s something that’s not: ACA subverts the Commerce Clause by forcing Americans to buy a product they don’t want. And it penalizes them for not doing so (IRS-style).

This is a small listing of the lies involved in the ACA.  Should a wise society base a major change in their health care delivery on such widespread deception?

I say no–and believe we should fight with all our might.

Here’s another truthful word from Neil Cavuto. In a TV commentary on September 19, after President Obama publicly blamed Fox News for the unpopularity of his law, Cavuto responded:

“Mr. President, Fox News isn’t what’s making Americans sick about your healthcare law. Your healthcare law is.  And excuse this departure from form. It’s time we set some things straight.”

“Mr. President, we at Fox News are not the problem. I hate to break it to you, sir. You are. Your words are. Your promises are. We didn’t sell this healthcare law. Sir, you did.

“Remember this, President Barack Obama?: ‘If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.'”

“Mr. President, tell that to tens of thousands of retirees at IBM and Time Warner and dozens of others, who’ve been dumped from their coverage and told to find their own coverage. Fox News didn’t break that news to them, Mr. President. Their companies did.”

“Fox News didn’t push more of those firms to hire part-time workers. Your healthcare law did. Fox News didn’t incentivize fast food restaurants to scale back their benefits. Your healthcare law did. Fox News didn’t make doctors want to opt out. Your healthcare law did. Fox News didn’t make insurance premiums sky rocket. Your healthcare law did. Just like Fox News didn’t grant hundreds of exemptions to companies that needed them. You did. And Fox News didn’t delay one key provision after another, including online enrollment for those small business exchanges. You did.”

“Just like it wasn’t Fox News that said we had to pass this to see what was in this. You did. Or was that Nancy Pelosi? Sometimes I’m confused. But of this I am not. Fox News didn’t re-do basic math. Sir, you did. Fox News didn’t say you can cover 30 million more Americans and not see a hit in premiums. You did. Fox News didn’t say you could throw in those with pre-existing conditions and not have to pay for it. You did. Fox News didn’t all but say you could get something for nothing. You did. Fox News didn’t come back years later and say, oh yea, we did raise some taxes. You did.”

“Here’s where you are right about Fox News, however, Mr. President. We can do math. And did. You cannot. And did not. We said it, and proved it. You didn’t. And we’re all suffering for it. Take it from the numbers guy at Fox. Numbers don’t lie. The number of Americans working part-time are nervous. The number of retirees days away from being dumped on exchanges are anxious. The number of company bosses with any news to pass along on those exchanges, but still clueless. The number of doctors who want out. The number of congressmen now opting out. No, Mr. President, none of those numbers lie.”

“But with all due respect sir, I can only conclude you do know; I know, I know you hate us at Fox. But please take a look in a mirror, and fast. You think we’re the skunk at your picnic. But that doesn’t mean we’re the ones that stink. Because that smell isn’t coming from the folks reporting on your law. Mr. President, that smell is your law.”

Very well said–and completely true.

So why won’t progressives negotiate a repealing, defunding or delaying or modifying of the Affordable Care Act? Don’t they see the problems and dangers? Do they really want what’s best for America?

Maybe some do. Only God knows. But even if motives are sincere, the truth is that this government takeover of the American health care system is bad public policy. It’s about power not compassion and will lead to economic ruin.

It’s also a house of cards. Lies always are. And once you admit it, the house collapses.

That’s why the president does not want to negotiate.

This morning Senator Ted Cruz from Texas finished the fourth longest speech in US Senate history–over 21 hours–using a filibuster-like tactic to draw attention to the problems of Obamacare. Cruz, like a majority of Americans, wants the Affordable Care Act defunded and repealed.

Why? Because it is the most destructive entitlement program in the history of the Republic which will sink the American nation into the fiscal abyss, the shackles of tyranny (think IRS), and another recession (or Depression).

Whether you agree with Ted Cruz’ tactical strategy or not, I ask you to pray for him and many other national leaders.

Mikhail Gorbachev just might be an inspiration for you.

First of all, a few thoughts on Ted Cruz. He’s a new-generation political leader of Hispanic background that you need to watch coming years. Ted is principled, smart, articulate, courageous, and just might run for president in either 2016 or 2020.

If we want “good vision” in 2020 (pun intended) keep your eyes on Ted “of the Cross” (Cruz in Spanish). We desperately need someone like him who will tell us the truth and lead the American nation back to the freedoms of godly government where faith, morality, family values, limited government, economic liberty and peace through strength reign as bedrock principles–not just a forgotten past.

There are others like him on the horizon–legislators Mike Lee (UT) and Marco Rubio (FL) come to mind, and also many conservative governors (Susanna Martinez (NM), Bobby Jindal (LA), Nicki Haley (NC), Mitch Daniels (IN), John Kasich (OH) and Scott Walker (WI)–to name a few. They all seem to be rising in stature and influence.

I believe there is a prayer correlation to their success. Here’s the Scriptural backdrop:

“The first thing I want to to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well, so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way God wants us to live. He wants not only us but everyone saved” (1 Timothy 2:1,2 – The Message).

I think the first time I prayed for a government leader was in a church service. Whoever was up front  led the congregation in praying for our president and other leaders.

Some year later, I began to pray for political leaders in small groups where we discussed some of the issues of the day and then bowed our heads to pray for our mayor, governor, president, or leaders of other countries. The group dynamic helped me remember that public figures needed our prayers.

Then I helped coordinate a large national prayer meeting in Washington, D.C. in 1980. Much of that day was spent praying for godly leadership in America. Six months later, the Reagan Revolution swept into town with many secular leaders voted out of office, and numerous others were elected to lead America in a different direction. The day of President Reagan’s inauguration, the Iranian hostages were freed–also a fruit of prayer and other factors.

So for about twenty years, I prayed for political leaders primarily when I was in a group setting, either large or small.

But I rarely did it alone in my personal quiet times.

Then God exploded 2 Timothy 2:1,2 on my heart. It teaches that:

• Prayer is the first or most important thing we can do.
• We should pray for all people on earth (verse 1).
• We should pray for political leaders including heads of nations (verse 2)
• Because good government is essential to peace and tranquility,
• And civil government and their leaders contribute to all people coming to salvation.

What an amazing intercessory promise: praying for righteous leaders and good government has a huge bearing on world evangelization.

So for the past twenty years, I’ve not just prayed for national leaders when it was convenient in large and small group settings, but have brought it into the center of my own personal prayer life.

The YWAM Prayer Diary helped me. It contains a page where you can commit to praying for different items on each of the seven days of the week. Since God said “first of all” to pray for “everyone and leaders,” I chose to use of the the first days of the week to pray specifically for local, national and world political leaders.

I believe it is one of my most important practices today. Why?

Because God says so.

To encourage you to add this practice to your own personal prayer life, let me refer to the former dictator of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev.

I saw an article a few years ago (that resurfaced this week), that reminded me that our prayers for the supreme leader of the USSR in the 70s and 80s did not go unanswered.

I started praying for Mr. Gorbachev to come to faith, and for God to use him for his purposes in the mid 1970s. In 1980, I led a team into the USSR. We spent an entire day fasting and praying for the freedom of the Soviet Union, for its people and its leaders.

Nine years later, the Iron Curtain fell and eventually half the world was liberated from the clutches of  atheistic communism. In the past thirty years, many people in China, the USSR, and other communist states have come to faith in Jesus Christ.

And Mikhail Gorbachev is crucial to that decisive historical change.

He was the architect of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring or reformation) of the Soviet communist empire. As a part of a long line of dictators that included Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, and other tyrants, Gorbachev was assumed to be a hard-line communist.

Then an article appeared in March 2008 that indicated the Mikhail Gorbachev might be a Christian.

The suspicion emerged after private citizen Gorbachev paid a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi (in Italy). Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb. His arrival in Assisi was described as “spiritual perestroika” by La Stampa, the Italian newspaper.