How to have a happy new year
December 22, 2008
As I prepare to leave my desk later this week for a brief vacation, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. But more than just wishing, I offer a few practical suggestions for making that wish come true.
On a personal level, you know what to do in these difficult times. Keep your loved ones close to you, even if they are not geographically close. Make sure you call them every weekend and check on their well-being, exchange prayer requests, and offer support and encouragement. I've found that caring for others' well-being considerably enriches your own life.
Hard times teach us to live frugally: avoid buying what you can easily make, specially food. It's fun to experiment. Items we never or rarely buy but always make include soup, lemonade, iced tea, juices of all kinds, bread, pizza and granola. You can make all these things with a few cents' worth of ingredients. Grow what you can in your yard; check the markdown bin at the grocery store daily; visit yard sales. Do these things and you'll be amazed how well your budget will stretch.
Don't fret about the government, yet keep a watchful eye on their mischief. Pray for them. Of course we deserve better, but we are unlikely to see a return to honest, constitutional government until we're really willing to fight for it. And most people are not willing. In any case, change doesn't begin in Washington DC; it begins in your home. Make sure your home life is as pleasant and organized as possible, with plenty of time for rest, joy and love. Thus make it a haven for your family and for others too.
One of the great disappointments of our world is the state of the church. Many church leaders seem to be distracted by over-inflated egos, pointless rituals and hierarchies, and a lack of humility and purpose. Have they forgotten the message and example of Jesus as they glorify themselves rather than Him? Some don't even seem to know Him as their personal Savior. And yet we still expect the church to fulfill its correct role? How can it do so when it is often lost and confused? We need to pray for the church. Meanwhile, feel free to ignore their shortcomings and keep close to God anyway.
Let me end with the opening lines of a famous poem by Minnie Louise Harkins which was quoted by Britain's King George VI in his Christmas Day broadcast of 1939:
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.'
And he replied,
'Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way!'
May 2009 be a wonderful year for you. It can be, and I hope it will be. God bless you.
__________________________
Does anything matter?
December 15, 2008
Here's a question to consider the week before Christmas: does anything matter?
The whole premise of conservative beliefs – and for that matter, the Christian faith, is that, yes, things matter. The constitution matters. Laws matter. The order of society matters. And above all, it matters that Jesus came and lived among us to show us how to live, and died a sacrificial death to atone for our sins and was resurrected. That uniquely matters.
The whole premise of the 1960s counter-culture, which we are still living out today and which received a new lease of life on November 4, and of Gramscian Marxism as a whole, is that nothing matters, there are no values, everything is relative and that John Lennon's “Imagine” should be the world's universal theme:
Imagine there's no Heaven, It's easy if you try. No hell below us, above us only sky. Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace. Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world.
What Lennon was proposing was basic Cultural Marxism. It sounds a great deal like Barack Obama's intentions for America. He no longer attends church, partly because his “church” is not really a church, but an embarrassing hotbed of rabid anti-Americanism and partly because, according to an aide “the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners.” Their faith experience? Does that sound like a man who walks in the fear of God? Then he proposes a one-world government, of which he, of course, would be the leader. Imagine that. Imagine pulling out of Iraq on the brink of victory. Imagine leaving Israel to destruction without coming to her aid. Imagine spreading the wealth around. Imagine, in Karl Marx's words “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
We've almost arrived at John Lennon's dream. So do you care? Does anything matter anymore? Does America matter? These are difficult questions, and I promise the answers are even harder. Would you care for some more questions to ponder?
Does it matter that Obama's birth certificate has been sealed by the (Republican) Governor of Hawaii so that nobody sees it? Does it matter that a lawyer at Mrs. Obama's former law firm probably wrote the judge's opinion in Berg vs Obama and faxed it to him minutes before he signed it? Does it matter that generations yet unborn have been buried under a mountain of debt because a corrupt politician (Bill Clinton) pressured banks to make loans to unreliable people who were unable to repay them? Does it matter that a growing percentage of the dumbed-down populace can no longer distinguish right from wrong? Does it matter that this great nation seems to be utterly devoid of honest leadership?
And finally, does it matter that America appears to have just elected as president with extensive powers a man who appears to be dangerous, demented, deceptive and delusional as well as a determined Marxist and a narcissist, most of whose associates are hateful, anti-American or crooked?
If nothing matters, then we have nothing to be concerned about. But if things do matter, we need to be aware of what is happening. And if things matter to us, you can be sure that they matter a great deal more to God. Let me quote selectively from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, (Chapter 15, Verses 13-25):
"If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. But He did not raise Him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet."
In other words, if everything we believe matters isn't real, and really doesn't matter, then, by parallel projection, Obama and his wicked minions will succeed in destroying both America and Israel. But for those of us to whom things do matter, and to whom God is a very real presence in our lives and not merely a “faith experience”, we cannot relax but we can be prayerful. We could make a start by recalling these verses from Psalm 5:
“Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction. Their throat is an open grave; with their tongue they speak deceit. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins, for they have rebelled against You. But let all who take refuge in You be glad; let them ever sing for joy ... For surely, O Lord, You bless the righteous; You surround them with Your favor as with a shield." (Psalm 5: 9-12)
If you're still not sure whether things matter, please take a few days to reflect, but please, not too many. Thanks be to God.
__________________________
Lessons from Georgia
December 3, 2008
Republican Saxby Chambliss won a convincing victory in Georgia's Senate race runoff beating his opponent by 57.4% to 42.6%. That's not a specially unusual result for a solidly Republican state like Georgia. But when you look more carefully at the results, there are several lessons to be learned.
First of all, in the simplest terms, Mr. Chambliss ran as a solid Republican with conservative principles. He didn't try to water down his message. He even had Sarah Palin out on the hustings with him, and she's certainly not afraid to speak her mind. Above all, Mr. Chambliss didn't try to be almost-a-Democrat. He was rewarded with the solid confidence of the people.
Secondly, on November 4, Senator Chambliss won, but only by 49.8% to 46.8%, an insufficient victory under Georgia's election rules. Are people already regretting the result of the November 4 election? We suspect that is possible.
Thirdly, Georgia has returned to its normal voting pattern. So what happened on November 4 to drastically change that pattern? Let's look in more detail.
Georgia elections are largely decided by the four counties that make up Atlanta. Two are Republican and two are Democrat. The two Republican counties, Cobb and Gwinnett, were solid for Mr. Chambliss in both elections, though even more so on December 2. Senator Chambliss won 64 percent of the vote in Cobb County, compared to 53 percent on November 4. In Gwinnett County, he won 62 percent of the vote, compared to 53 percent last month. Yet actual turnout was lower. Democrats simply did not show up to vote in anything like the numbers they did last month. Is that a hint of the fourth and final lesson?
To find the fourth and most important lesson, you have to look at the two Democrat strongholds of DeKalb and Fulton, which make up the black areas of Atlanta. In DeKalb County, 233,727 people voted for the Democrat on November 4. Four weeks later, that number shrank to 138,850. Almost 95,000 Democrats in one county failed to vote. In next door Fulton County, the contrast was even greater: 134,075 Democrats voted on December 2, but 249,201 voted on November 4. More than 115,000 of them stayed home. So in two counties, a very small geographical area in suburban Atlanta, over 210,000 Democrats failed to vote in the second election.
Can this astonishing difference simply be the Obama factor? Might one be tempted to think a second thought? Did the 210,000 extra voters ever exist in the first place?
It was only after Bill Clinton left office that many people began to realize what had been going on previously. The planes stopped crashing. People stopped mysteriously jumping out of buildings. Remember? To paraphrase Sherlock Holmes, you may only realize that the dog did not bark when he starts barking again.
In this case, where Obama and his thugs simply didn't bother to commit vote fraud and allow fictional people to vote, the result was that 210,000 Democrats in just two counties disappeared. Put simply, in those two counties, 43.5% of Democrat voters on November 4 didn't show up on December 2.
If that pattern was repeated around the country, and we're pretty sure it was, then vote fraud was even more massive than we might have realized. Without it, undoubtedly, John McCain would be forming his Cabinet today.
But let's not look back; let's look forward. If we do nothing to prevent it, free elections in America are over. The race will always go to the Democrats. Their underworld methods are far superior to those of a naïve Republican Party. It's up to you and me to raise the issue and keep on doing so. More is at stake than just elections. As Jesus said: “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10)
If Mr. Obama acts to stop this vote fraud, he will surely be doing a service to the nation. But if he fails to stop the vote fraud, as we feel sure he will, he will be punished at the Ballot Box and from above. Deuteronomy 25:15-16 states clearly: “You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.”
__________________________
Steve
Myers © 2008 |
Scripture of the Day
Weather forecasts
World News: Editor's choice
Editorials and Other Commentary
American Minute with Bill Federer:
