General

Bill Clinton declared in 1992, “It’s the economy, stupid!”

Charles Krauthammer said last week “It’s the ideology, stupid!” (“The Case Against Reelection”–a MUST READ).

Both are correct. Bad ideology produces poor economic results.

By picking Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has created a Economic Dream Team with a good ideology to run against the president this fall.

Paul Ryan was a bold and brilliant choice.

Here’s why.

I admit that U.S. Representative Paul Ryan was always in my top tier of vice presidential picks. The list was long because there are many outstanding conservative governors in the nation right now (Christy, Daniels, Jindal, O’Donnell, Kasich, Walker, Martinez, Haley etc.) and also other high caliber leaders (such Condoleezza Rice and David Petraeus) who possess laudable strengths.

But in choosing Ryan over over two other more low-key Midwesterners—Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty—Romney boldly chose a running mate with strong conservative credentials (American Conservative Union rating: 93 percent) and one who could energize the conservative grassroots. 

He is also, at forty-two years old, America’s clearest, bravest economic thinker.

As the author of the Republican alternative budget known as the “Path to Prosperity” (Ryan Plan), the seven-time Wisconsin lawmaker became a media sensation and a much-sought-after speaker for fellow Republicans running for office. Shortly after release of his plan in March, he became the vice presidential prospect with the most media coverage, according to HighBeam Research. Its polling showed Ryan besting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, 27 percent to 23.5 percent in terms of media attention.

Arizona Rep. and GOP Senate hopeful Jeff Flake was ecstatic about the Ryan pick, as he tweeted supporters: “Wow! What a powerhouse economic team! It drips of gravitas.  Can’t wait for the fall elections.”

I met Paul Ryan last year during a National Association of Evangelicals meeting in Washington, D.C. He spoke to our group of fifty leaders about his faith, the economic problems facing this nation, and the necessary solutions to solve them. I was deeply impressed, and after talking with him for a while, left the room thinking to myself “This guy would make a great president.”

Apparently Mitt Romney thought so too. His stated first priority in choosing a running mate was whether the individual was fit to be president of the United States.

Paul Ryan? Home run. Since this was Romney’s first choice in revealing what kind of president he will be, we can be increasingly confident about a Romney administration. Compare that to Barack Obama’s first choice of Joe Biden, a gaffe-prone, plagarist who tows the union line and usually takes the wrong position on significant issues (like the “Surge” in Iraq).

Obama chose poorly. It should have been an omen of things to come.

So why is Paul Ryan a great pick for vice president?

1. He was Human Events’ Conservative of the Year in 2011–making him the most genuine and articulate voice for Judeo-Christian values in the United States. American conservatism is the political philosophy of biblical faith that recognizes God as the source of human rights, the need for faith and morality as the pillars of a free society, and promotes individual responsibility and accountability, free enterprise and limited government as crucial expressions of liberty. In choosing Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney assured the nation that he can be a Reaganesque leader who will champion conservative principles. That makes the fall election a stark contrast between a Judeo-Christian conservative ticket and a secular progressive liberal one. America must choose one of two destinies: to renew the genius of “America” or go the way of Europe (think Greece and other European nations).

2. He’s the brightest economic bulb in the room. Democrats seem to pride themselves in choosing “smart” leaders (which they say applies to Barack Obama, and in the 90s, Bill Clinton). In this case, the R’s have them beat hands down. No one with an open mind who has ever heard Paul Ryan talk about national economics believes there is anybody in the country who understands it better than he does. In fact, Ryan rose to his current hero status as an economic statesman when he clearly up-staged President Obama during a White House meeting on health care. It took him only six minutes to take apart Obamacare with facts, figures, and perspective that clearly agitated the president in 2009. You can watch the action here.

3. He’s young and energetic, focusing on a future that can brim with hope if we have the guts to create it. Paul Ryan really is “Hope and Change” after four years of decline. Barack Obama fooled the youthful electorate of America in 2008 with his charisma and empty promises. Paul Ryan is physically fit (only 6-8% body fat), would be one of our youngest vice presidents, and will provide a graphic visual image of the difference between two parties. I’ve got a great campaign sign for the new Romney-Ryan team. Simply display a photo of senior-citizen, white-haired Joe Biden with the Obama campaign theme “Forward!” and contrast it with the young, energetic Ryan. Paul Ryan and his vision are truly the way forward in American politics. The Obama-Biden ticket is really “Forward Off the Cliff.” It reminds me of General Custer crying “Forward!” when his unsuspecting troops entered Little Big Horn.

4. Paul Ryan also brings an attractive bi-partisan spirit to the national election. He’s been elected seven times from a Democrat-leaning district in the mostly-blue state of Wisconsin. In 2008, Barack Obama won the district with nearly 54%. But Paul Ryan won his election with nearly 65% of the total. That means that a significant number of Democrats voted for him. Because of Ryan’s humility, brilliance and common-sense approach, he is greatly liked and respected by both sides of the aisle in Congress. He’s the only Congressional leades to put together a major bi-partisan Medicare Reform bill with Democratic Senator Ron Widen of Oregon. In the Obama age of class and party warfare, Ryan’s willingness to work with others is a breath of fresh air.

5. Though is a Catholic, Paul Ryan is considered the leading choice of evangelicals in the nation. This would have been unthinkable fifty years ago. But believers in America have come to realize that people of all denominations can have a strong Judeo-Christian worldview regardless of their church affiliation. This also applies to Mitt Romney in 2012. Though Mormonism is outside the Christian mainstream, the LDS worldview of faith, morality, freedom, and limited civil government is in sharp contrast to the growth of immorality and big government which is encouraged by the secular political left. Paul Ryan can be a great spokesman for spiritual and moral renewal.

6. Both Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney are exemplary family men. Ryan and  his wife Janna have three young children that are being raised in his original hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin (Ryan owns no home or apartment in D.C., but sleeps on a couch in his office, then catches the first plane back to Wisconsin on weekends to be with his family). Mitt and Ann Romney have five grown sons and eighteen grandchildren. While the Democratic Party will now, for the first time, endorse the re-definition of marriage in the 2012 Democratic Party Platform, the Republicans will renew their commitment to true marriage and family, and demonstrate its beauty through both the Romney and Ryan clans.

7. Paul Ryan is the ONLY leader in America willing to take the political fallout of offering a credible plan to reign in entitlements. No other politican has had either the guts or the foresight to do so. What is the Obama Administration’s plan for runaway entitlement spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare payments etc.): Nothing. Zero. The Obama economic plan is simply tax and spend and the future be damned. The choice of Paul Ryan as VP shows that Mitt Romney is willing to take head-on America’s fiscal crisis and find some necessary solutions. Ryan’s Plan is not perfect–but he had the courage to start the conversation that needs to be completed. Many politicians are wimps that make empty promises to the masses. Paul Ryan is a courageous leader who is taking on the fairy-tale myth of endless entitlements and bringing us back to reality.

When I was in the country of Mongolia this summer, I lamented the lack of good roads and infrastructure and said to my national hosts: “You need to hire the brightest minds in the country, pay them the highest wage, and ask them to fix the roads! It needs to be your ‘Manhattan Project’ to allow your country to prosper in the 21st century.”

Mitt Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan as VP shows that he understands that America’s “Manhatten Project” for this time period in our nation is runaway deficits and spending. He chose the very best to tackle that problem when he picked Paul Ryan.

In fact, the Republican ticket this year gives the nation a clear choice to lead us into the future. Mitt Romney is recognized as one of the nation’s premier businessmen who understands how to create jobs and lead the economy back to growth. Paul Ryan is renowned for having the best ideas on how to curb out-of-control spending.

Romney: Job creator Ryan: Debt reducer. That’s a powerful combination.

It won’t be easy, but America’s Economic Dream Team will offer their services to America on November 6 in the 2012 presidential election. Steve Moore of the Wall St. Journal says: “With Mr. Ryan on the ticket, there will be little doubt that in 2012 Republicans are the party of hope and change, while Democrats have become the policy reactionaries touting a message of fear and the status quo.”

I hope we choose wisely.

create jobs and another who understands the need to cut entitlements.

I’m in the last few days of an extensive trip to Asia. This morning I’m writing from a third floor apartment in the heart of Ulaanbaatar–the capital city of Mongolia.

If you’re having trouble picturing where Mongolia is located, think of China to the south and Russia to the north with Mongolia sandwiched in between. I’m actually only a couple hundred miles from the Russian border and Lake Baikal–the world’s biggest freshwater lake that contains one-quarter of the earth’s fresh water supplies.

Everything is big in this part of the world. Big sky; Biggest population in China; Largest land mass in Russia. Today I’m surrounded by rising apartment buildings and commercial structures, exploding across the landscape of a city that didn’t exist one hundred years ago.

Mongolia is on the front lines of change in the world. How do you change a nation from a land of poor nomads to the highest GDP on earth?

A Bit of History

I first came to this fascinating land in 1997, invited by my former pastor and his wife, Steve and Donna Watkins,  who were part of the first wave of Christian missionaries who came to serve in this land after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

What I found in 1997 was five cities that the Russians had created to help control the population after both the Bolshevik Revolution of the 1920s and the dividing up of the spoils of World War II in the late forties. In 1921, the Russians armed the Mongols to kick out the Chinese–their historic enemies. After the Second World War, China absorbed two-thirds of the Mongolian population into its borders–now nearly six million people in what is now called Inner Mongolia.

The rest of the Mongol population–now three million people–were left to Russian influences in the north. When I was in school, the nation was called Outer Mongolia. Today, Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar contains nearly half of the country’s population, a quarter live in the other cities, and a quarter live in the “countryside” where they still dwell in gers and herd sheep, goats, cattle, and horses.

When I first set foot in UB in 1997 (Mongol shorthand for Ulaanbaatar), the streets were empty of cars, the only colors were the paint of the Russian buildings, and taxis were dirt cheap and plentiful.

The people were very poor. At that time the average Mongol made $20 a month.

Actually, it’s amazing that Mongolia even existed in 1997. In 1904, some European journalists visited the nation and concluded that Mongolia would cease to exist  in twenty years.” Why? Because at that time they were extremely destitute, a Buddhist nation, and 40% of the Buddhist monks were homosexuals with rampant venereal diseases stalking the land and birthrates plummeting.

Then the Russians swooped in, destroyed most of the Buddhist temples, dismantled the monasteries, and created the first Mongol cities. They also installed communism as the new religion.

Due to that latter fact, when I arrived  in the late nineties, I often spoke against what the communists had done. Atrocities had been committed. But one day a Mongol pastor pulled me aside and told me that my perspective was too narrow. He believed that God had used the Russians to bring the people into cities and civilization where they could hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

It’s hard to evangelize a nation of nomads.

So I humbled myself, did so more homework, and continued to serve in this nation that seemed to be rising from the dead.

Mongolia is going through vast changes as are many other developing nations around the world. How do you change a nation? Here are some of my observations.

Encourage Liberty

The first thing that changed in Mongolia was a birth of freedom–in government, economics, religion, family life and many other areas. It has not been an easy road, and for years the governing powers swung back and forth between the upstart “Democrats” and the “Reformed Communists.” But over twenty years now, the forces of freedom are becoming more and more established.

The current leaders of the nation are “Democrats.” Just last month, the people once again held elections and more freedom-loving people were elected to guide Mongolia into the future. There are many pitfalls ahead–and nations can always return to bondage. But Mongolia stands a chance of becoming a long-standing free and thriving nation.

Last week we transported two hundred kids to a camp in the mountains–a beautiful place called Shonkhor–a camp to which we had brought a team in 1997. The roads are so bad that you have to travel the final 10 kilometers by military truck, which nearly got stuck in the mud and swells. I told the kids that this final leg to the camp was a “10K Indiana Jones ride times ten for free!”

Fifteen years ago we were not able to share the Gospel openly at Shonkhor because the communists still controlled the facilities. In 2012, the general over all the camps welcomed me profusely and gladly took our money (!) to hold a totally open camp. We preached the Good News and young people gave their lives to Christ.

What a difference freedom makes.

Support Free Enterprise

Mongolia was very backward only thirty years ago. When freedom came, people began to start businesses and large corporations began to form. As in all entrepreneurial exercises, especially when you have no experience or history, there have been many false starts and steps forward and backward.

But twenty years into liberty, Mongolia is a changing nation. The colorful signs of free enterprise are everywhere and shops and malls and businesses have burst forth across the country. Today, many Mongols can rise out of poverty to live a prosperous life. Some are being left behind, but there is still hope to raise the entire nation out of economic misery into the blessings of freedom.

I have many friends here, who in the 1990s, had no water, heat, apartment, a refrigerator, or even the basics that we take for granted in the developed nations. That has now changed for many of them. It is unbelievable  how many apartments are being built and how many cars now clog the streets (another problem they need to solve ).

Right outside my apartment window sits a huge crane where another modern apartment building is going up. I think “cranes” are the greatest landmark in Ulaanbaatar right now! They are everywhere because a backward nation is moving into modern life.

Mongolia’s GDP in 2010 was an exceptional 6.4 percent. In 2011 it astonishingly rose to 17.3 percent and in the first quarter of 2012, it still stood at 16.7 percent–one of the highest in the world. Mining companies are now thriving in the nation where vast amounts of resources have always existed but were never used for the people. The couple I’m staying with have a daughter who will be given a piece of land by the government (which happens for all newborns here). They will use the land to build a summer house.

Mongolia could become a thriving industrial nation in the 21st century. Free enterprise can raise many boats in a nation that allows it to flourish.

The Growth of the Church

I know I’m biased, but the greatest engine of change in Mongolia is people coming into a living relationship with Christ which expands their faith, hope, love and character. In 1980 there were no followers of Jesus in the nation. Zero. Today, there are nearly 150,000 (five percent of the population) in hundreds of churches.

I spoke in the largest church in Mongolia last Sunday on the Fourth Wave of Missions–the great tsunami of love that God is bringing to the world. The Mongolians shouted out at the end of the message, “We are the Fourth Wave.” It was a beautiful sight.

The next week we took hundreds of kids to camp. Days later, a team left from the church to do missions work in the western side of the nation. The Mongolian Church has set a goal to grow to 10% of the population by 2020. After that, we are encouraging them to raise their vision to one-third of the population by 2050.

South Korea did it–and so can Mongolia.

Much of the growth is simply answered prayer. The Mongolians are a praying people. As I write, a group from the church is spending hours praying at a Korean retreat center. In 2012 the Mongol churches have committed to 24/7 prayer for the nation for the entire year. God will not disappoint them.

And they are catching a vision to share their faith in other nations. At our various events we hosted believers from other Central Asian countries including a team of fourteen from Inner Mongolia. They realize this is the first time in history they are a part of the global mission force. At the present time, Mongolia is in the top ten worldwide of missionary sending nations per capita. The Mongol Church is growing its world vision.

The followers of Christ are also doing a number of things that are crucial to changing a nation:

• They have a solid vision for discipleship. People are not just “saved” and left on their own to figure it out. In many churches they have good structures of follow-up, cell groups, and personal discipleship that help new believers grow in their faith.
• Family life is becoming more Christ-centered as they learn to apply the teachings of Jesus to every area–marriage, raising children, and ministering to extended families. Many people in Mongolia are alcoholics (left-over baggage from the communist era). Through the Church, people are finding freedom in Christ as family members point the way out of bondage.
• Most of the Mongol churches have experienced the power of the Holy Spirit which has created vibrant and culturally relevant worship forms, gifts of healing and other miracles, and a trust in God’s power. In many cases, the missionaries did not bring this emphasis to Mongolia. But the Holy Spirit did. A nation filled with shamans and demonic powers needed the power of God to overcome them. He is giving it in abundance.
• For the first time in their history, Mongol believers are learning to take their faith into all the arenas of life: government, education, business, the media, the arts and sports, and science and technology. They are understanding that the principles and ways of God bring blessing to all of life. For example, when you run a business with Christ-like integrity, honesty, and service, then that business can flourish more than one filled with corruption and greed. I know Mongol believers in sports, business, and industry that are rising to “disciple the nation.” This is one of the great hopes for Mongolia’s future.

I leave Mongolia in a few days, but I am excited about what lies ahead. Many people still live in poverty and despair compared to other nations on earth. The road before them will not be easy.

But nations can be changed when freedom comes through the Good News of Jesus.

Please pray for Mongolia to rise to greatness in Christ. And work to see the same results in the nation where God has placed you.

We live in a time of dense moral fog.  I spoke to a group of pastors yesterday about the need to preserve marriage in the state of Washington. Our legislature recently crammed down the throat of the WA electorate a bill that legalizes homosexual marriage.

We, the people, will challenge it in a fall referendum.

Re-define marriage?  That’s like re-defining “gravity.” Gravity is what it is. No word games can change its reality. Consequently, no re-definition can alter the fact that only a man and a woman can “join together” in marriage. It’s physically impossible to do otherwise. Marriage was designed by God to discourage immorality and provide nurture and care for children conceived via the union.

If you’d told me thirty years ago that the definition of marriage would be up for grabs in my lifetime, I would have said that you were crazy.

But that’s what we are–twisted, crazy, upside down. Our back-slidden Judeo-Christian culture has perilously lost its moorings–even over something as basic as marriage.

That’s not all. Now we have another crazy idea: we want Uncle Sam to pay for our sexual sin.

Let me introduce you to Sandra Fluke.

You’ve probably heard of her by now–the cute, sassy, “reproductive rights activist” and Georgetown University law student who was paraded before a Congressional Committee last week. She became an instant liberal media sensation by pleading for government paid contraception for those who are “hooking up” in between law classes at Georgetown.

First of all, let’s examine the politics behind Ms. Fluke’s appearance. According to anybody with a brain, it’s obvious that Sandra Fluke’s sob story was engineered by the Obama White House and its secular allies. They desperately needed to take attention away from the mountains of debt, miserable economy and rising gas prices that might cause Barack Obama to become a one-term president.

So somebody got creative. Enter Saul Alinsky Tactics 101:  Create a diversion so people are distracted from reality. George Stephanopoulos brings up the nobody-is-talking-about-it subject of contraception for fifteen distracting minutes in a Republican presidential debate; The press lulls Rick Santorum and other candidates into commenting–and viola!–all of a sudden there is a Republican “War on Women” and we must re-elect the president to make sure none of them die (or miss their pills…you get the idea).

Then, a slick pivot was made from creating a campaign issue for the president to changing God-given rights to government-proscribed rights. Of course, this started with Obamacare–which basically turned America on its head by saying that we all have a right to health care–and that the federal government will mandate it for us. That means force it on us whether we like it or not–and by the way–that health care will include free condoms and abortafacients (morning after pills that kill newly conceived babies).

Of course, your religious objections don’t matter.  We’re all secularists now (actually, that’s the progressive goal, the changing of the American worldview), so shut up and pay your taxes. For the past couple of months, and until the Obamacare mandate is struck down by the Supreme Court later this year, the Catholic Church and others have been fighting this historic denial of God-given religious freedoms.

Enter Sandra Fluke, the third distraction in this trinity of craziness. Not only did she take attention off the economy, and bury the truth about religious liberty, but she invented a new right of free condoms or pills for all (especially “poor” law students who are struggling). You could hear the orchestra of violins playing in the back of the Congressional chambers.

I’ve added some humor to this column to help you through it, but I’m deadly serious about how mind-numbingly twisted our American set of rights and values have become.

Ms. Fluke–President Obama–the Democratic Party–and the mainstream media–are demanding that we subsidize peoples’ personal sexual sins. Can you believe it?  Are we insane?

Yes–a portion of us are morally mad at this point in our history. It is up to the rest of us to expose this cloud of darkness and cast it from the shores of our beloved Republic.

I want to include a significant excerpt from Family Research Council on the Sandra Fluke affair. It was published on March 8, 2012:

“President Obama needed a diversion–and thanks to Sandra Fluke, he got one. Ever since her testimony about the hardships of buying $9 birth control, this Georgetown law student has become the contraception mandate’s standard bearer. After some unfortunate comments from Rush Limbaugh, the debate has shifted away from religious liberty to Ms. Fluke’s hurt feelings. It’s been convenient controversy for the White House, which may have been at its most vulnerable point in the last three years when it decided that the pursuit of sex is more important than the protection of conscience rights. Once backed into a corner by members from both parties, the Left finally found a victim to rally around–and the media has been all too happy to oblige.”

“But these distractions, as helpful as they may have been to the President’s cause, won’t last forever. At its core, this shows the administration’s pattern of trampling on religious freedom in its pursuit of a ‘fundamentally changed’ America. What Sandra Fluke has done, in part, is draw attention back to the dangers of ObamaCare, which threatens not only our physical health but our moral well-being. Essentially, the President is demanding that religious people sacrifice their beliefs to benefit someone else’s libido.”

Through this mandate, he suggests that unlimited sexual license is more important than faith. As Cathy Ruse explained, ‘Ms. Fluke’s crusade for reproductive justice is simply a demand that a Catholic institution pay for drugs that make it possible for her to have sex without getting pregnant… That doesn’t mean she has to have less sex’ Cathy points out, ‘only that she has to take financial responsibility for it herself.'”

“What’s so unreasonable about that? Intimacy, after all, is a choice. And God may have given us the right to make that choice, but He never gave us the right to force others to pay for it. That’s like asking people to ‘pay for [their] neighbor’s taxi rides because he likes to get drunk,’ Dr. Bob Moeller said. Like drinking, overeating, or smoking, promiscuity is an optional lifestyle habit–not a basic human need.”

“What liberals are advocating is essentially a sexual welfare program, where birth control and abortion drugs are the handout. As far as they’re concerned, people are as entitled to intimacy as they are to food and water. Unfortunately, that ideology comes not just at our expense but at society’s. FRC’s own research shows that the more people engage in sexual relations before marriage, the more harm it does to marriage. With each encounter, the risk of divorce–and all of its social consequences–goes up. So asking unmarried students to practice abstinence is not a life-threatening proposition, it’s life-affirming!”

As I contemplate the moral confusion of our era, the words of our wise and most beloved president, who also served during a morally decadent time, come to mind.

Abraham Lincoln, commenting on the evil of slavery, said these truthful words: No man has a right to do wrong. We can add to it in 2012: and have the audacity to ask the government to pay for it.

Let’s clear the moral fog that is confusing and hurting our nation and seek for moral renewal in our nation. That includes praying for people like Sandra Fluke and electing new leaders who will work to promote our God-given rights and responsibilities–not subsidize our sins.