General

I was surprised and even stunned that a significant number of people of faith–including some close friends–voted for Barack Obama in 2008 for president of the United States.

It’s understandable that many agnostics and atheists voted for the former Illinois Senator. In the past five or six presidential contests people with a secular worldview, by margins of 70-80%, have voted for the Democratic or more liberal nominee. By the same percentages, people with traditional values or faith in God voted Republican or for the nominee who was more conservative in his positions.

But in 2008, many believers crossed the divide and voted for Barack Obama–despite the clear evidence that he opposed everything they hold dear.  In October of that year, I’d written a pre-election piece entitled, “One Hundred Reasons Why I Will Not Vote for Barack Obama.” It seemed pretty straightforward. Obama was anti-Christian on moral issues, anti-freedom on economic issues, pro-Big Government, and weak on national defense.

Another election article analyzed the other side of the ticket–Senator John McCain. Though he was not my first choice for president, he was a war hero, pro-free enterprise, and generally conservative on important issues. However, in that piece I said there was one pre-eminent reason why we should vote for John McCain: He would appoint strict constructionist judges to the US Supreme Court.

Monday was the day that’s Obama’s election came back to haunt those who voted for him–and all of the United States of America. He made his second Supreme Court pick.

Meet Solicitor General Elena Kagan–a liberal attorney with no judicial experience who will likely become the next Supreme Court Justice of the United States. Elena Kagan is fifty. She may serve in that position for the next thirty-to-forty years. If confirmed she would be the youngest judge on the court and cast her influence for decades. She is certainly not constructionist. She’s a legal activist who is anti-military and pro “disadvantaged groups.” That means she believes in the rule of “men” not the rule of “law.”

Elections do have consequences.

Former Attorney General Ed Meese, a former Attorney General under Ronald Reagan released the following statement regarding the nomination of Elena Kagan:

“First and foremost, any nominee to a lifetime appointment to the United States Supreme Court must demonstrate a thorough fidelity to apply the Constitution as it was written, rather than as they would like to re-write it. Given Solicitor General Kagan’s complete lack of judicial experience, and, for that matter, very limited litigation experience, Senators must not be rushed in their deliberative process. Because they have no prior judicial opinions to look to, Senators must conduct a more searching inquiry to determine if Kagan will decide cases based upon what is required by the Constitution as it is actually written, or whether she will rule based upon her own policy preferences.

Though Ms. Kagan has not written extensively on the role of a judge, the little she has written is troubling. In a law review article, she expressed agreement with the idea that the Court primarily exists to look out for the “despised and disadvantaged.” The problem with this view—which sounds remarkably similar to President Obama’s frequent appeals to judges ruling on grounds other than law–is that it allows judges to favor whichever particular client they view as “despised and disadvantaged.” The judiciary is not to favor any one particular group, but to secure justice equally for all through impartial application of the Constitution and laws. Senators should vigorously question Ms. Kagan about such statements to determine whether she is truly committed to the rule of law. Nothing less should be expected from anyone appointed to a life-tenured position as one of the final arbiters of justice in our country.

The American people agree. According to a national post-election 2008 survey of 800 actual voters, the polling company, inc. found that 70% of respondents preferred that judges not base their decisions on personal views and feelings. And according to the latest Quinnipiac University Poll by a 16 point margin more Americans believe the Supreme Court should only consider the original intentions of the authors of the Constitution instead of considering changing times and current realities. And finally, the latest Gallup poll shows that more Americans “would prefer a new Supreme Court justice who makes the court more conservative (42%) over one who would make the Court more liberal (27%).” Let’s hope the Senate gives the American people what they want.”

During the past week in which I was in meetings in the capital regarding the National Day of Prayer, I spent some time with Tony Perkins, the principled and articulate spokesman of the Family Research Council. He’s another voice of sanity that I trust. Here’s his view of Elena Kagan:

“She has the least amount of experience of any nominee in the last three decades. Her judicial experience is zero, as is her real-world experience, having spent most of her career in academia or working as a Democratic Party insider. She did serve on an advisory committee for Goldman Sachs during the financial meltdown of 2007!

Her tenure as Dean of Harvard Law School is marked by kicking the military off campus during the height of the Iraq War, a move that even Ruth Bader Ginsburg ruled was wrong-headed. Ms. Kagan’s incredibly hostile view of the military suggests she is out of touch with mainstream sensibilities and obedience to the rule of law.

Recently, in her brief tenure as Solicitor General, she argued that the federal government has the power, under campaign finance laws, to ban certain books and pamphlets. Responding to this argument of Ms. Kagan, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, ‘As a free-floating test for First Amendment coverage, that (proposition) is startling and dangerous.'”

Now she’s about to be elevated to the highest court on the land–all because some of us voted for the wrong president.

Even if you’re not a John McCain fan, let’s back up for a moment and imagine an America where John McCain was president.  If that had happened, here are a few differences we might expect to have seen:

• There would not have been a trillion dollar stimulus package. President McCain wouldn’t have thrown many federal dollars at America’s financial woes. There would have been no earmarks. John McCain has never voted for an earmark is his lengthy Senate career.
• Taxes would be lowered to deal with the recession and the Bush tax cuts would remain in place. This certainly would have positively affected the job market and unemployment. It wouldn’t be stuck at 10-17%.
• The Federal Government would not own General Motors and would not be expanding at breakneck speed. “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” would not be in jeopardy and the siege on the family and traditional marriage would be held at bay.

But most importantly, if John McCain had been elected president in 2008 we would already have one new constructionist judge on the US Supreme Court instead of liberal activist Sonia Sodomayor.  And Monday, President McCain would have nominated another.

When confirmed, that nominee would have effectively blocked any semblance of judicial tyranny and even provided the deciding vote that could overturn the infamous Roe v. Wade decision. In the coming years, millions of innocent children would be saved from the cruelty and injustice of abortion. 

That is, if people of faith had voted for John McCain. Instead we have Barack Obama and now Elena Kagan.

Elections have consequences. In this case, very tragic ones indeed.

I’m in Washington, D.C. this week for the National Day of Prayer and other events. This morning I took our sixteen year son, Jason, on a stroll through the US Capitol Building explaining some of the political issues that our nation faces.

It takes a great deal of discernment to navigate today’s political landscape. The mainstream media is not doing its job of asking hard questions and playing devil’s advocate as was once its calling. Many media elites are in bed with the liberal-progressive agenda and simply print the party line.

One of the most consequential and confusing subjects of our time is the relationship of Wall Street–big banks and financial institutions–to Washington D.C.  For years we have been led to believe that it is Republicans who support Big Finance and Democrats champion unions and the people.

That’s not been true for years. Conservative Republicans are pro-small-and-big business because they believe in liberty in economics–which also includes the freedom to fail. They were opposed to bailing out the big financial institutions. It is only a handful of Republicans and most of the Democratic Party that have formed an “economic axis of evil” with the Government and Wall Street. The Democrats want control. The Wall Street bankers want security.

This unholy tryst between Wall Street and the Democrats is the real force behind the current discussions on regulatory reform. The liberal media want you to believe that the Obama administration wants to “protect us all” from the greedy predators on Wall Street who are in collusion with the Republicans. We are told that Republicans are “bad” because they’re against reform.

Don’t believe it for a minute. The opposite is true. Barack Obama and the Democrats want increasing control over their Wall Street clientele. Their Wall Street mistresses agree to the arrangement for security purposes–just like any good prostitute to her pimp.

Read the facts below from the Heritage Foundation. Don’t be naive. Be discerning. Jason and I are learning too–and praying for wisdom for our leaders and our people. These are days in which the “mystery of iniquity” is greatly at work.–RB

The Heritage Foundation Morning Bell – 4-23-10

Speaking to an audience of big business and big labor executives (including Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, Bank of America’s Bruce Thompson and SEIU’s Andy Stern) at New York’s Cooper Union, President Barack Obama noted “the furious efforts of industry lobbyists to shape” the financial regulation bill “to their special interests.” Obama then admitted, “I am sure that many of those lobbyists work for some of you. But I am here today because I want to urge you to join us, instead of fighting us in this effort.” Obama should have saved his breath. Wall Street and big labor lobbyists have already joined forces to make sure the current Senate legislation has become a Wall Street Bailout Bill.

Big labor’s ties to this White House are already well documented. Less known is just how close Obama administration interests align with the big firms that benefit most from the TARP bailout. The Washington Examiner reports that at Goldman Sachs, the nation’s largest investment bank, four of the five in-house lobbyists were Democratic Capitol Hill staffers — the remaining one gave $1,000 to Hillary Clinton last election. And USA Today notes that Goldman Sachs alone has given nearly $900,000 since January 2009 to congressional candidates, with 69% of that cash lining Democrat pockets. Finally, then-candidate Obama collected almost $1 million from Goldman executives and employees in 2008, more than the combined Goldman haul of every Republican running for president, Senate and the House.

So what have Wall Street lobbyists bought with their campaign cash and high priced lobbyists? A bill that gives permanent TARP-like authority to Washington regulators, thus enshrining Washington as a permanent bailout machine. Specifically, the bill:

Creates a protected class of too big to fail firms. Section 113 of the bill establishes a “Financial Stability Oversight Council,” charged with identifying firms that would “pose a threat to the financial security of the United States” if they encounter “material financial distress.” While these firms would be subject to enhanced regulation, such a designation would also signal to the marketplace that these firms are too important to be allowed to fail and, perversely, allow them to take on undue risk.

Creates permanent bailout authority. Section 204 of the bill authorizes the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to “make available … funds for the orderly liquidation of [a] covered financial institution.” Although no funds could be provided to compensate a firm’s shareholders, the firm’s other creditors would be eligible for a cash bailout. The situation is much like the bailout AIG in 2008, in which the largest beneficiaries were not stockholders but rather other creditors, such as Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.

Provides for seizure of private property without meaningful judicial review. The bill, in Section 203(b), authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to order the seizure of any financial firm that he finds is “in danger of default” and whose failure would have “serious adverse effects on financial stability.” This determination would be virtually irreversible in court.

Establishes a $50 billion fund to pay for bailouts. Funding for bailouts is to come from a $50 billion “Orderly Resolution Fund” created within the U.S. Treasury in Section 210(n)(1), funded by taxes on financial firms. However, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the ultimate cost of bank taxes will fall on the customers, employees and investors of each firm.

Opens a “line of credit” to the Treasury for additional government funding. Under Section 210(n)(9), the FDIC is effectively granted a line of credit to the Treasury Department that is secured by the value of failing firms in its control, providing another taxpayer financial support.

Authorizes regulators to guarantee the debt of solvent banks. Bailout authority is not limited to debt of failing institutions. Under Section 1155, the FDIC is authorized to guarantee the debt of “solvent depository institutions” if regulators declare that a liquidity crisis (“event”) exists.

Imposes one-size-fits-all reform in derivative markets. Derivatives are already increasingly being traded on clearinghouses thanks to private efforts coordinated by the New York Fed. But the Senate bill would require virtually all derivative contracts to be settled through a clearinghouse rather than directly between the parties. Applying such ill-designed blanket regulation would make financial derivatives more costly, more difficult to customize, and, consequently, less widely used—which would increase overall risk in the economy.

According to Rasmussen Reports, 64% of Americans are not confident that policymakers in Washington know what they’re doing with regards to Wall Street. They have every reason to be concerned. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) tells National Review: “From the beginning, I’ve thought that the deal Goldman Sachs got via Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner on their bad bets through AIG kind of stunk. They got $13 billion from AIG last year.” DeFazio doesn’t seem to realize that the bill Obama is pushing would empower Secretary Geithner to repeat the AIG bailout ad infinitum. No need to ever go back to Congress for a new TARP. The Senate bill is a permanent TARP. Which is exactly what Goldman Sachs and the rest of their Wall Street lobbyists wanted all along.

“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also heaven. Now this, ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain, Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:27-29).

I shared last week a sense of prophetic urgency that the world, as we have known it for generations, is about to change. Judgment hangs heavily over the United States of America and the world as a whole. Though the spring of the year has brought a growing stock market and a few encouraging signs of a turn-a-round, the voices I trust are warning that it is a “lull before the storm.” A time of major change is coming because:

• We have a non-revived and largely unengaged Church that God ultimately holds responsible for our national sins.
• There is blatant immorality, family breakdown and increased abortions in the land.
• Government tyranny and control continues to grow and expand, and
• Unsustainable budgets and deficits, for the first time in our history, could bring everything down in a very short space of time.

We shouldn’t be paranoid or live in fear. But we should be ready.

This was Jesus’ emphasis in Mark 13 when he talked about the Last Days. After mentioning all the difficulties that believers would face, and signs and wonders in the heavens, he concluded his message by twice telling his followers:

“You must always be ready” (Mark 13:35).

“Be ready!” (Mark 13:37).

In today’s blog I’d like to help you get ready for the coming season of upheaval by remembering some of the lessons of Y2K.  Some people laugh at the Y2K scare–that for weeks and months preceding January 1, 2000 people were worried that faulty computer programming could cause great havoc around the world. They boast that Y2K came and went and we didn’t skip a beat.

Well, I’m glad the doomsayers were wrong, but I also used that concern to ready my heart and family for what could have happened. We got ready– we prepared. When it was a false alarm, we thanked God for his mercy (and hard-working computer programmers!) but also  were grateful for a season of prayer and preparation that greatly helped us gaze beyond the status quo. I knew then there would come a day when many of those preparations would pay off.

That day is coming. Are you ready?

Here’s what I learned from Y2K. I hope you find it helpful, and will pass it along to others.

Get out of debt.

The 2007 popping of the real estate and personal credit bubbles were a wake-up call to many, but I fear that too few are taking long-term steps necessary to prepare for the bigger ones to come. One of the major reasons for uncertainty in our world is that we are reaping what we’ve sown. We have lived beyond our means, and have become slaves to debt-laden living.

During the nineties our family worked very hard to become debt-free. It was an important lesson to learn after years of careless compromise. It is very important for you and your family to say no to all consumer debt spending, work to pay off your mortgage, or sell your home and move into a rental. In the coming crash, those with unsustainable debt-loads will pay the greatest price.

Simplify your life–including storing some basic essentials.

Y2K taught me to think the unthinkable: What would I do if normal income was no longer there? How would we eat and live–even if just for a short time? How could I provide for my family? These questions led me to getting some chickens (we currently have 24 hens laying about 18 eggs a day) and planting a garden (including many berries and three fruit trees). They are a great fallback for difficult times.

I also prepared a “depression budget” just in case.  What were the absolute essentials? How would I pay for them? This exercise in thinking was very helpful. If and when the dollar fails and the government defaults on its debt, it’s important to have a plan to both survive and thrive. This includes storing a little extra each week for that unanticipated disaster. The experts tell you to do this for earthquakes or hurricanes. Shouldn’t we do the same for man-made disasters?

Be careful of your involvement in the Stock Market

Those I am reading believe the stock market will do well this year, but sooner than later will crash once again as it did in 2007. If you lost 40% of your value then, there will be more to lose this time. I would advise you to broaden your investments to include tangibles like precious metals and land. Our family is working on some real estate plans because I learned from a godly mentor named Larry Dullum that “the only investment I trust is the kind I can walk on.”  It’s true that stocks have generally risen over time. That may not be true in the coming years.

Deepen your prayer life–including fasting.

One of the most encouraging signs of God being at work is the many ways his people are being called to prayer. Prayer houses are springing up all over the place; 24/7 prayer watches are becoming common; and many individuals are being led by God to go deeper and get to know him more intimately in the place of prayer. Since prayer is a pre-cursor of revival, it appears that God is setting the stage for great harvest during the hard times. This is always his way. He leads us to pray, then draws more people to their need for him through trials and tribulations.

I have developed a small prayer “house” on our property that I’ve greatly enjoyed for seeking God. At another location we’re working on a 24/7 Prayer Room where people can come to pour out their hearts to their Creator–including fasting. Are you hearing him draw you into deeper and fervent prayer? The place of real triumph in the coming era will be on our faces and knees. Good preparation for heaven.

Develop a storehouse where you can give to the needs of others.

Part of our storage of food and goods is meant to be used to meet the needs of others. Joseph heard from God and stored food for seven years to provide for a nation. I encourage you to use your pantry not just for yourself–but to position you and your family to be the heart and hands of Jesus during the days that lie ahead. Our family already enjoys giving eggs and bread stuffs away to those in need. You can’t be a Good Samaritan if you have no resources. Don’t just plan to survive–but prepare to be God’s gift of provision for others.

Join a small group for accountability and support.

The movement toward small groups for fellowship and accountability is a vital trend in the Western Church. In the coming world of change, it is our love and encouragement of others that will make a major difference in many lives. The days of Lone Ranger Christianity and being self sufficient behind our white picket fence are mercifully coming to a close. We were created for community–and if God has to use hard times to get us where he wants us–then so be it.

Cooperate with him by linking yourself to other families and singles where you can regularly share faith, love, provision, prayer, and outreach with each other. This is the message of the Book of Hebrews, sent to a suffering people to encourage them to grow in Christ (Hebrews 13). Hard times will demand that we lean on one another.

Be filled with joy!  Suffering is for our good.

We must not look at the coming “shaking” through the eyes of doom and gloom. Meditate in the book of Philippians and join Paul in saying, “Rejoice always! Again I say rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). The Apostle penned these words in a rock cave (I’ve visited it in Rome) during a time of great suffering and death in the Early Church. He himself was about to be executed for his faith and Jerusalem was near destruction. But Paul saw the dark clouds through the silver lining of God’s mercy and grace. Our wealth and easy lifestyles have not helped our faith and devotion. Suffering will.

Boldly share your faith–it’s harvest time!

This is not a time to worry and turn inward. The coming havoc will lead to the greatest global harvest of people in the history of the world. This is the time to be a contagious and on-fire believer who is filled with the Holy Spirit and loving on people in every circumstance. Has your humdrum life and daily routine dulled you to the friends that are perishing around you? Now is the time to wake up and talk about Jesus–everywhere–in the stores, in the streets, in your neighborhood and around the world.

Persevere through suffering and pain–even martyrdom if necessary.

We must even be willing to die for our faith. A few years ago this seemed unthinkable in the Western world, but with tyrannical governments growing in many nations and the devil knowing that his time is short, it would not be surprising to see a great increase in persecution of believers–including some being killed for their faith.

Todd Johnson points out in his new Atlas of Global Christianity that at a steady rate over the last twenty  centuries, and in all 238 countries, seventy million Christians have been martyred (killed, executed, murdered) for Christ. Our turn may be coming. It’s both a high price and a privilege. Have you thought through the possibility of being faithful to Jesus “even unto death?” (Revelation 2:10).

Center your life in Jesus’ love and grace.

The greatest happening of the coming years will be the growth of the Kingdom of God and the outpouring of his grace into many lives. Are you living in his grace and goodness everyday? Are you madly in love with Him and committed to be his follower through thick and thin? If your life is not completely centered in faithful obedience to his will, this may be the final opportunity to give him his proper place in your life. He is the Lord of heaven and earth (Revelation 16:19). All the coming difficulties are meant to prepare us for a certain and unshakable future where Jesus is Lord and his Kingdom is coming.

Y2K got me thinking about these things ten years ago. It helped me to learn to rest in Jesus’ love and care, and to center my life in his unshakable Kingdom.

Are you ready?

Everything is about to change. Let it begin with you today.