General

“You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. You rulers govern for the bribes you can get.” (Micah 3:10,11).

We have a new day of infamy in American history: December 24, 2009.

In one of the most corrupt and brazen exercises in American history, an out-of-touch United States Senate led by Harry Reid voted to kill the “American experiment in liberty” by laying the initial foundations for socialized medicine in our once free nation.

The noose of liberal tyranny has been greatly tightened. I am stunned, shocked, appalled, angry and weep for my country. All the blood, sweat and tears that our ancestors shed over our “great experiment in liberty” is now being suffocated by greedy, power-hungry and anti-democratic forces who flipped off the will of the people and acted like a political lynch mob.

The US Senate healthcare debate and vote was nothing less than tyrannical:

• Numerous senators were bribed with hundreds of millions of dollars. Mary Landrieu’s cash for cloture is now being called the “Louisianna Purchase.” John McCain labeled traitorous Ben Nelson’s bribe the “Cornhusker Kickback.”
• Long standing Senate rules were scorned and “deliberation” was thrown out the window of a fast-moving train that didn’t care what lay in its tracks.
• All the polls of the populace screamed out by 52% to 63% margins that  “We don’t want this bill!” The Democratic Party (is that an oxymoron?) said “To h___ with you! We know what’s best.”

America once stood for the people’s sovereignty under God guaranteeing “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Little now remains on these three pillars of the republic.

Life was eliminated in 1972 when we legalized abortion on demand. Since that time we’ve callously murdered 45 million Americans.

Liberty was put on life support with the infamous Senate vote. Tyranny could now replace it as America’s future.

Instead of the Pursuit of Happiness (building wealth and holding private property), we’re about to inherit a massive re-distribution of wealth with Big Government oversight. Our new Progressive Masters will now tell us how much happiness we can pursue. We are theirs–mere pawns of a ballooning state that has taken the place of God and doesn’t care what its subjects think.

America is being lynched. The question is: Will we and our children be able to throw off the noose?

Some will say I’m being too harsh, or extreme.  After all it’s just a piece of health care legislation. But something in my gut tells me it’s much bigger than that. We’re in grave danger. Consider this:

The United States has been slowly moving toward government tyranny since FDR in the 1930s. For America’s first 150 years we were a Christian-based nation–a free people with less than 10% government control of the people’s affairs (the economy). That’s why millions came here from other nations–to enjoy the fruits of freedom–the degree of which no other nation had every experienced.

But Roosevelt’s New Deal and subsequent Great Society initiatives began to steadily grow the power of government in the past century so that today–before the December 24th vote–the federal government’s involvement in the economy and lives of people was about 30%. That’s bad from a standpoint of American history–but still decent when you compare us with other (non-free) nations.

The passage of national health care changes all that. By setting in motion an ultimate government takeover of medicine, the federal government’s control of American life will reach nearly 50%. If Cap and Trade goes through (or the new EPA standards on carbon emissions), it will add another 10%.  Bank and regulatory reform will also add another 10%,. If there is not an astounding political revolution in 2010 to reverse these legislative nightmares, then Barack Obama will have succeeded in a jaw-dropping liberal takeover of America with the Federal Government controlling 70% of  our lives.

70 percent. That’s the USSR, not the USA. 

Do you know why early Americans thought 10% taxation and regulation was enough? They got their cues from America’s founding textbook–the Bible. In 1 Samuel 8:10-22, God warned the Hebrews that if they rejected God and his ways, then tyranny in the form of a human king would rise up and take ten percent of their livelihood. Here are his sobering words:

“This is what the king who will reign over you will do: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. 12 Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. 16 Your menservants and maidservants and the best of your cattle [a] and donkeys he will take for his own use. 17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day.” 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles” (emphasis mine).

In God’s mind, ten percent or more of government control is excessive, oppressive, dangerous, and in a word–tyranny. For most of our history we shared that freedom-loving perspective.

The passage of Obamacare is a major tipping point. With 50% of America life now in jeopardy, we are barely breathing as a free nation. Not a fire was shot. No treaty was ratified.  Rather, sixty unwise and greedy senators, following the leadership of the House and US president, drove the death knell into a once great and free society. Why did they do it?

They did it for power. They did it for control. They didn’t do it for God, liberty, or the people (as some think or say). That’s why the whole process was rushed, done behind closed doors, and corrupted. Has there ever been a worse major piece of legislation passed in the history of the United States?

To answer that question, it’s interesting to compare liberty and tyranny in the form of two historic bills.

• The “Homestead Act” of 1862 is widely considered one of the greatest “freedom” bills in the history of our Republic. It was a beautifully crafted two page bill that encouraged God-fearing, hard-working, self-reliant American families to homestead and develop 160 acres of land in the untamed American west. It was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.
• On the other hand, the health care bill dubbed The “Affordable Health Choices Act” of 2009 is a poorly written 2000+ page monstrosity.  Grover Norquist of  Americans for Tax Reform notes that the House version contains the following words: “Tax” 87 times, “Taxable” 62 times, “Excise tax” 10 times, “Taxes” 15 times, “Fee” 59 times, “Penalty” 113 times, “Require” 118 times, “Must” 58 times, and “Shall” 3,424 times. He laments “It’s not exactly the language of liberty, is it?” President Obama wants to sign it.

Two beautiful pages of empowerment versus 2000 mind-numbing pages of control. Lincoln or Obama. Which America do you want? Which president do you trust?

Even the Seattle Times said candidly in a December 23 editorial titled “Now’s Not the Time for Health-Care Reform,” that “We don’t like the cost of it, and especially not right now. It has been a difficult year, following a scary year. Next year will be a difficult year. To us–and to the American people, if polls tell the true story–the top issue is the economy. We wish Congress would focus on that for the moment and set this expensive health care package aside.”

Amen.

A Wall Street Journal Op Ed on December 21, 2009 went even further:

“The tragedy is that Mr. Obama inherited a consensus that the health-care status quo needs serious reform, and a popular President might have crafted a durable compromise that blended the best ideas from both parties. A more honest and more thoughtful approach might have even done some good. But as Mr. Obama suggested, the Democratic old guard sees this plan as the culmination of 20th-century liberalism.”

“So instead we have this vast expansion of federal control. Never in our memory has so unpopular a bill been on the verge of passing Congress, never has social and economic legislation of this magnitude been forced through on a purely partisan vote, and never has a party exhibited more sheer political willfulness that is reckless even for Washington or had more warning about the consequences of its actions.”

“These 60 Democrats are creating a future of epic increases in spending, taxes and command-and-control regulation, in which bureaucracy trumps innovation and transfer payments are more important than private investment and individual decisions. In short, the Obama Democrats have chosen change nobody believes in—outside of themselves—and when it passes America will be paying for it for decades to come.”

Amen and amen.

And Joseph Sobran writing in the World Net Daily on December 11, 2009 spoke with the greatest foresight:

“Soon, if the enemies of freedom and the proponents of government command-and-control economies have their way, this is what you can expect:
 
You will be told what medical procedures you can have and which you can’t have: The government will soon be a middleman between you and your doctor. Even your hard-earned money, if you have any, will be useless in persuading doctors in this country to treat you.

The financial system will collapse: This will, as it always has in the past, make the government more powerful – prompting emergency powers and possibly even martial law.

Criminals and terrorists will have free reign to victimize you: While government officials are protected from the ensuing anarchy, you will be on your own to deal with the mess they have created.

Does this sound like an implausible nightmare scenario to you? Or can you already discern which way the wind is blowing? Is the end of freedom as we have known it inevitable?

Yes, unless we get off the road we are on – and fast. The history of the world shows that freedom is fragile and fleeting. Most Americans take it for granted. Previous generations have made most of the major sacrifices necessary for birthing it and maintaining it. This one has not done the heavy lifting. But that’s about to change.

Either we prepare to lay it all on the line – risking our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor – or we will be remembered as the generation that exchanged liberty for chains.”

Amen, amen, and amen.

Thankfully, the battle is not over. After Christmas, the Senate and House health care bills will have to be reconciled–which will not be easy. But the bribes will be ready, and the power brokers may once again turn deaf ears to the American people who elected them.

We must rise up as free men and women and cast off the noose of tyranny in our generation. As Thomas Jefferson rightly stated: “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” We need to fight in fervent prayers to God (this is a spiritual battle at its roots), through public opinion in our neighborhoods and townhalls, and at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012.

I suggest we take our marching orders from the fifth stanza America’s national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key wrote these memorable words:

 

“And thus may it be when free men shall stand.

Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation.

Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land

Praise the power that blessed and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must when our cause it is just.

And this be our motto–In God is our trust!

O say does that star spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

 

Maybe we should start singing verse five at every sporting and in every classroom in America. With God’s help, it can become our future if we pray, act, vote, and believe.

 

 

 

As we pray and await Harry Reid’s Christmas Eve massacre by the US government to gobble up health care in the United States (we need to keep praying for one Senate hero to stand up for freedom), I think it’s important to see where they’re taking us.

In the following article, Charles Krauthammer has it right that the enemies of freedom have changed strategies. The waters of change have been flowing for a while, but the ascendancy of Barack Obama has opened the floodgates. Don’t look for brown coats, Red coats, or even smiley faced fascists to take away our liberties. There’s a new bully on the block and he’s wearing a green jacket.

Charles Krauthammer is a syndicated columnist who is one of the clearest political thinkers of our time. Read his analysis and be forewarned. These agents of change just might be coming to a neighborhood near you.

 

By Charles Krauthammer

In the 1970s and early ’80s, having seized control of the U.N. apparatus (by power of numbers), Third World countries decided to cash in. OPEC was pulling off the greatest wealth transfer from rich to poor in history. Why not them? So in grand U.N. declarations and conferences, they began calling for a “New International Economic Order.” The NIEO’s essential demand was simple: to transfer fantastic chunks of wealth from the industrialized West to the Third World.

On what grounds? In the name of equality — wealth redistribution via global socialism — with a dose of post-colonial reparations thrown in.

The idea of essentially taxing hard-working citizens of the democracies in order to fill the treasuries of Third World kleptocracies went nowhere, thanks mainly to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher (and the debt crisis of the early ’80s). They put a stake through the enterprise.

But such dreams never die. The raid on the Western treasuries is on again, but today with a new rationale to fit current ideological fashion. With socialism dead, the gigantic heist is now proposed as a sacred service of the newest religion: environmentalism.

One of the major goals of the Copenhagen climate summit is another NIEO shakedown: the transfer of hundreds of billions from the industrial West to the Third World to save the planet by, for example, planting green industries in the tristes tropiques.

Politically it’s an idea of genius, engaging at once every left-wing erogenous zone: rich man’s guilt, post-colonial guilt, environmental guilt. But the idea of shaking down the industrial democracies in the name of the environment thrives not just in the refined internationalist precincts of Copenhagen. It thrives on the national scale too.

On the day Copenhagen opened, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claimed jurisdiction over the regulation of carbon emissions by declaring them an “endangerment” to human health.

Since we operate an overwhelmingly carbon-based economy, the EPA will be regulating practically everything. No institution that emits more than 250 tons of CO2 a year will fall outside EPA control. This means over a million building complexes, hospitals, plants, schools, businesses and similar enterprises. (The EPA proposes regulating emissions only above 25,000 tons, but it has no such authority.) Not since the creation of the Internal Revenue Service has a federal agency been given more intrusive power over every aspect of economic life.

This naked assertion of vast executive power in the name of the environment is the perfect fulfillment of the prediction of Czech President (and economist) Vaclav Klaus that environmentalism is becoming the new socialism, i.e., the totemic ideal in the name of which government seizes the commanding heights of the economy and society.

Socialism having failed so spectacularly, the left was adrift until it struck upon a brilliant gambit: metamorphosis from red to green. The cultural elites went straight from the memorial service for socialism to the altar of the environment. The objective is the same: highly centralized power given to the best and the brightest, the new class of experts, managers and technocrats. This time, however, the alleged justification is not abolishing oppression and inequality but saving the planet.

Not everyone is pleased with the coming New Carbon-Free International Order. When the Obama administration signaled (in a gesture to Copenhagen) a U.S. commitment to major cuts in carbon emissions, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb wrote the president protesting that he lacks the authority to do so unilaterally. That requires congressional concurrence by legislation or treaty.

With the Senate blocking President Obama’s cap-and-trade carbon legislation, the EPA coup d’etat served as the administration’s loud response to Webb: The hell we can’t. With this EPA “endangerment” finding, we can do as we wish with carbon. Either the Senate passes cap-and-trade, or the EPA will impose even more draconian measures: all cap, no trade.

Forget for a moment the economic effects of severe carbon chastity. There’s the matter of constitutional decency. If you want to revolutionize society — as will drastic carbon regulation and taxation in an energy economy that is 85 percent carbon-based — you do it through Congress reflecting popular will. Not by administrative fiat of EPA bureaucrats.

Congress should not just resist this executive overreaching, but trump it: Amend existing clean air laws and restore their original intent by excluding CO2 from EPA control and reserving that power for Congress and future legislation.

Do it now. Do it soon. Because Big Brother isn’t lurking in CIA cloak. He’s knocking on your door, smiling under an EPA cap.

From Ron Boehme, Director of Youth With A Mission US Renewal

Like millions of people who look to you as the number one golfer in the world, I’ve been stunned by the events of the past few weeks. The SUV accident doesn’t make sense to any thinking person and your first explanation was lame and awkward. Avoiding the police regarding the car crash was the next red flag. Then the revelations of adulterous affairs and finally an apology for “transgressions” blew the lid off your personal and family life.  

The Tiger Woods mystique is now severely shattered and, I must say, you are are acting like someone who’s been caught red-handed, but doesn’t know what to do.

I’m  greatly disappointed in you as a sports figure that many young people admire and look up to. I’ve also been praying for you and your family–and it is out of those prayers that I offer some advice that I hope will be a blessing to you, Elin, your kids, and others who read it.  I hope these thoughts somehow find their way to your home in Florida. If they don’t make in a printed form,  I pray they will be revealed to you by the One who holds each of our futures in the palm of His hand.

Tiger–I’m certainly not able to give you advice about golf. But as a faithful husband and father of thirty-three years,  I can give some advice about life. To put it simply, you must apply to your spiritual and moral life what you’ve learned as a golfer. If you don’t, all the money and trophies you earn won’t mean a hill of beans.

The world has seen your incredible discipline–the laser-beam, focused concentration. We’ve been amazed at your will to win and  the self-control you exercise to reach the lofty goal of being the best golfer in the world.

Using your God-given talents with a high degree of focus, will, concentration, and skill, we’ve watched you win many majors. Your first Masters at Augusta was a beauty–a 12 stroke victory at the age of 21– a work of perfection. We’ll never forget your tearful embrace of your dad at its conclusion. Your last US Open was the stuff of legend–as you limped around the course on a painful knee that afterwards required surgery.

But none of those majors or any of the British Opens of PGA titles compare to the most important major of your life that you are now facing. That major has to do with your character, family, and relationship to your Creator. We want to win the most important major of your life–the Tournament of Life. Your human existence and future in eternity are more than a game–they are for keeps. Play them well and you are blessed. Play them poorly and you could be cursed forever.

Using some golfing imagery with which you are familiar, I submit some thoughts to you on how you can now get back up and win the game of life. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Survey the Hole

In many golfing tournaments we’ve watched you carefully walk around the tee looking out over the hole and analyzing the correct approach to take. That’s what you need to do with your life right now. You need to carefully look at what you’ve done, what it means, and what you need to do to get it back on track.

As you gaze at the “Hole of your Life,” it’s fair to say that there’s some green fairway in front of indicating that you’ve accomplished some good things in your 34 years. But what has also become apparent is that you’ve hooked some balls into the water on the left, and sliced some balls into the sand traps on the right. You’re actually in big trouble on this hole, you can’t take a mulligan, and a very bad score just might ruin your entire tournament.

Only one course of action will save you. Honesty. Yes, simple honesty. We all learned that lesson in kindergarten with the memorable chorus which went, “”H-O-N-E-S-T-Y no matter what the consequences be, is the very best P-O-L-I-C-Y.” It was true then when life was simple. It is even more true now when yours has become extremely complex.

Coverup was your first mistake two weeks ago. You weren’t honest. Your handlers gave you bad advice.  You dug yourself a hole that is presently swallowing you. If you want to move forward and leave this nightmare behind, you need to have the guts, passion, and focus to be honest about your life. Tell the world what really happened the night of the crash. What precipitated the accident? How have you failed your wife and family? What has been the extent of your extramarital affairs? Has there been one, three, ten or fifty? Is there anything else the world needs to know about the real Tiger Woods?

You don’t need to go into painful details–just the overall facts flowing from a humble heart. You’ve just experienced the truth of the first half of Proverbs 28:13 that  says “He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper.” If you are honest and humble, you will soon learn to appreciate the second half of that wise proverb, “But he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain compassion.”

Then step to the tee and take the next big swing.

2. Drive the Ball

Many of us have marveled at the awesome drives you’ve crushed at many a tournament with a one or two wood. The drive you need to hit now is the biggest of your life and will take the greatest effort. No irons or woods will do. In this one, you need to crush your own pride and submit your very disciplined will to the Creator of us all–the God of the universe. You not only need to be honest about your sins, you need to repent of those sins before your Maker and ask him to forgive you.

It’s time for you and all the rest of us to stop hiding behind the meaningless phrase that “I’m not perfect.” Everyone already knows that. The God who made you knows it in complete detail. But your humanness or fallenness is not an excuse to live an evil, reprobate life. You are responsible for your actions, you messed up big time, and it’s time to turn around and ask forgiveness of all those you’ve sinned against.

Start with God–I’ve never heard you talk about him in an interview. I don’t think you know him well–but He knows you intimately and you’ve hurt him the most by your selfish behavior. Confess your sins to Him. Then confess to your wife, your children, and any others you have harmed by your actions. I once made list of every sin I ever remembered committing–then followed through with asking people’s forgiveness for each one of them. That exercise set me free to live a joyful and holy life. Acts 3:19 says, “Now turn from your sins and turn to God, so you can be cleansed of your sins. Then wonderful times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord.” 

Crush your pride, Tiger, with a mighty swing of repentance. That will put you within striking range of your next important shot.

3. Chip to the Green

You’re so good at this in golf, but have been very bad at it in life. Chip shots need to be precise with perfect aim at their desired destination. Tiger, the only person who has the power to forgive and transform your life is Jesus Christ. Not Mohammed, Confucius, Buddha or Mother Earth. There’s only one empty tomb–and its his–Jesus. You’ve used his name in swearing many times–now you need to use it to receive the gift of his salvation.  Acts 4:12 rightly says, “There is salvation in no one else. There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.”

Tiger, Jesus died on a cross in your place to save you from the many sins you’ve committed. He did that for us all. Believe in God’s love and forgiveness through Jesus and you will be saved, forgiven, and become a new person. It’s happened to millions of us, It can happen to you.

Want to change your present circumstances? Want to silence the tabloids and paparazzi? “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Give them nothing to write about except a forgiven, changed, godly life. Then use your incredible gift of perfectionism to “perfect holiness in the fear of God” (Hebrews 12:14). Biblical perfection is the maturity of a righteous and good life.

So make that precise chip shot of faith in Christ, and then…

4. Hole the Putt

The final shot is also something you’re good at–for birdies or eagles. In the game of life, this shot applies to making the commitment, through the power of Christ’s Spirit within you, to be faithful to your wife and a good dad to your beautiful children. You can do it, Tiger. It doesn’t matter how long the putt is or how tricky the green. In the same way you study grass contours and softness or hardness, study your wife and family and learn how to serve them in unselfish fidelity and love. God will show you how to act, and help you line it up perfectly.

I’m one grateful man who married a wonderful woman, produced six great kids, and together have maintained a completely faithful marriage for over three decades. Many of us are doing it because Jesus gives us the power and the grace. You can do it too. Not because you’re Tiger Woods. But because you, too, can become a child of God that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).

Tiger, you can be an overcomer of some very bad choices and ugly public gossip by honing your skills in the Tournament of Life. This is the most important major of your life. Through honesty, repentance, faith, and fidelity you can show the world the traits of a true champion.

If you do these things, then you’ll ultimately receive the only trophy that matters–the crown of eternal life. And your Heavenly Father will also give you a big hug and proudly exclaim, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.”