Obama an Adversary of Israel

Obama an Adversary of Israel

Here's a great read on current American/Israeli relations.

His Enemies Understood What His Disciples Did Not

The chief priests and Pharisees took Jesus more seriously than his own disciples. At least it appears that way in one instance.

Jesus had been crucified and sealed in his tomb. The disciples had scattered to the four winds, evidently afraid for their lives. In spite of Jesus’ many references to his impending death, they didn’t seem to grasp that he meant what he said. He was, after all, the Messiah – the one who was to redeem Israel. How could the great Messiah be a dead Messiah?

Neither could they grasp his sometimes cryptic references to his resurrection from the dead. Early in his ministry such oblique comments as “destroy this temple and raise it up in three days” did not exactly spell out what the game plan was. Later on, as the day approached, he would call his disciples aside and tell them clearly what was about to happen. Still, they didn’t grasp it. “Far be it from you, Lord, that this should happen to you,” they said, as if the very destiny for which Christ came did not need to be fulfilled, that we would not need a Savior to conquer our worst enemy.

The irony in all this is that the chief priests and Pharisees knew exactly what Jesus was saying. After the crucifixion they approach Pilate to ask of him a favor: “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” (Matthew 27:63-64 NKJV)

It would be nice to know how they came to understand this when Jesus’ only clear references to his resurrection were to his disciples privately. Was there an informant among the disciples, a Judas-type or even Judas himself? Did the private conversations become somewhat of a public discourse?

While we might not know how they came to understand Jesus words, we do know this: that Jesus’ enemies understood what Jesus said and took it more seriously than his disciples. Could it be that the enemies of Christianity today recognize the threat that the teachings of Jesus present to their world view in ways that the followers of Jesus do not? Could it be that they see what we do not?

The Changing Demographic

Partly because of rising immigration, births to non-white parents will exceed those of white parents for the first time in 2010. Many point to this as proof that American conservativism in general and the Republican Party in particular will be echoes of the past.

Maybe so. But remember the tens of millions of immigrants that came to these shores between 1880 and 1920. On a percentage basis these immigrants represented a larger proportion of population growth than what we see today, and it drastically changed the demographic from that of earlier generations. Many of those immigrant groups brought in ideas and cultures (Socialism, Marxism from Eastern Europe, Mafia types from Southern Europe) that were contrary to the traditional culture. Many were Roman Catholic and Jewish, also contrary to the prevailing culture. They tended to organize themselves around political movements that even today many of us find out of the mainstream.

But subsequent generations of those immigrants did not necessarily march in lockstep with Mom & Dad. The prevailing culture was confident enough in the rightness of the American world view that these children and grandchildren of immigrants eventually assimilated into the larger culture. Those foreign ideas took a toll to be sure. The timeline of the rise of the original Progressive movement and its socialist cousins correspond with that 40-year period of immigration. While one might argue we’re still paying for it today, it does speak well of the power of the founding ideals that so many of us who are descendants of that wave of immigration have embraced the American culture in all its richness.

The problem as I see it is not the color of new babies. One problem is the high illegitimacy rate across all demographics. That situation invites government meddling and (call it what it is) the effective enslavement of those caught in a cycle of poverty.

Another problem would be the tacit encouragement not to assimilate. The left wants to divide us into politically convenient groups because it is easier to control voting blocks than independent thinkers. The right doesn't know how to express its ideals outside of its immediate neighborhood.

And then there is prevailing culture, which is not confident in its own history and institutions. The sad loss of the idea that the USA has a unique place in the world causes the culture to doubt itself. We’re losing our heritage and birthright because too many in this country no longer believe it is worth saving and that going back to Egypt for our ideals and guidance might not be a bad thing.

If I were to lose my job (not on the horizon, as far as I know, but worth contemplating nevertheless) and had all kinds of free time on my hands, what would I do? I think I know. I think I would volunteer to teach English as a second language. Learning English is irreplaceable if these people are to become part of the mainstream of American life. We can curse the darkness here, but who besides us could do a better job of teaching the recently arrived a skill that my own grandparents never mastered? And who better than we to model the ideals of the founders?

Arabs Hedging Their Bets Regarding Iran

This recent news story highlights the weakening American influence in the Middle East. Arabs and Iranians don’t like each other very much because of historical and ethnic reasons. Arab leaders, particularly Sunni leaders, have expressed many times their concern about potential Iranian hegemony in the Middle East.

Because America’s reliability as a check on Iranian influence is seriously in question (toothless sanctions, deadlines that come and go with no discernible difference in policy), any rational leader in the Middle East would have to look at his nation’s self-interest and find some accommodation with the Iranian regime.

This seems to be happening now. The Arab nations have begun to hedge their bets. The King of the South is taking one more step toward its destiny while the United States government preoccupies itself with domestic squabbles and dissing allies.

Another interesting analysis here:

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/can-irans-accelerating-nuclear-program-be-stopped

Don't Be Like the Gentiles

If you are male and live in the Kansas City area, you might want to check out Rod Handley’s Character that Counts ministry. I have been attending the ministry’s TGIW (Teaching God’s Infinite Wisdom) Wednesday Morning Bible studies Lee’s Summit for a number of years and cannot imagine Wednesday mornings without them.

Greg Griffin, today’s presenter, made a salient statement about something Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus tells us not to worry as the Gentiles do. “Gentiles” in this context would refer to those who would not know the God of Israel. The gentiles of the day would be worshipping false gods. Read your classical history and you know that the gods of the Greco-Roman world were capricious. Their word could not be trusted. Most were vindictive. Anyone who believed in those gods had every reason to worry.

Those who worship the true God and continue to worry are in effect acting like Gentiles because they show a distrust of the God they worship. Don’t be like the Gentiles. Our God is better than that!

The Brilliance of the Healthcare Bill: How it will reduce costs

Look at the cash flows -- reduce funding for healthcare for the elderly and increase the funding for abortions. A double win for death on both ends of life. Consider that the largest medical expenditures typically take place at birth and as we age, and you can see the absolutely brilliant way that this reduces medical expenditures. Dr. Kevorkian would be proud.

Agents from the Federal Government Destroy Crops and Equipment!

http://www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=762

On January 16, 1920 Prohibition became the law of the land. Immediately federal agents swooped down on the village of Hermann, Missouri, a town of hard-working vintners of German descent. Federal agents rooted out and burned their vines, destroyed their equipment and left the town desolate and poor a decade before the Great Depression. All of this, without one cent of compensation from the government for the taking of their property.

Talk to the descendants of those farmers today, and just below the surface you will sense what can be described as an inherited ancestral pain and institutional memory of federal power run amuck. They’ll tell stories of their families being forced to sell, for pennies on the dollar, pieces of their homesteads just to survive. They tell of equipment from their wineries and vineyards being shipped ahead of the federal agents to friendly farmers who, against the law the land, lowered such equipment into their wells.

They tell the story of one manually operated grape press, still on display in Hermann, that escaped the agents’ grasp by filling it with apples and telling the agents that it was an apple press. Today it is on display, I suppose, as a symbol of resistance against oppression and illegal takings. The owner is justifiably proud of it.

Ninety years later the town folk, many of whom are descendants of the people who suffered at the hands of the Prohibition, are eager to retell the stories. Some of those descendants have rebuilt their forefathers’ vineyards, and some have succeeded, but they wonder how vineyards in New York were allowed to remain while those in Missouri were systematically destroyed.

And ever since the victims and their descendants have remained wary of power run amuck.

Read the Atlantic Times article at the head of this article. I would not have believed it had I not visited Hermann myself.

On the Wheels of a Dream

"And when he's old enough, I will show him America. And he will ride on the wheels of a dream."

We must regain our sense of optimism, and not allow them to steal our joy. Real hope. Real dreams.

Why I Am a Pro-Choice Conservative

I believe parents and students have a right to choose their own schools.

I believe I have a right to choose my own doctor and treatments. I believe I have a right to choose my own insurance coverage.

I believe I have a right to choose how I spend the fruit of my own labor.

I believe I have a right to choose to speak out against evil even when it is politically unpopular.

I believe I have a right to choose to own a firearm or not own a firearm.

I believe I have a right to choose the the best candidates for employment or promotion regardless of their melanin or chromosomes.

I believe I can choose to speak out against phony science and bad policies and not have political figures scold me by saying that “the debate is over” or “the time for talking has ended” (aka “sit down and shut up”).

I am a pro-choice conservative, but I believe no one has the right to choose which babies live and which babies die, nor (soon coming to a clinic near you) does the government have the right to decide which adults can live and which will be allowed to die.

I am pro-choice. Deal with it.

None But There Own

“Child,” said the Lion, “I am telling you your story, not hers. No one is told any story but their own.” (Aslan in THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE HORSE AND HIS BOY, by CS Lewis)

Jesus saith unto him, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me.” (John 21:22)



The word of God teaches us about a very personal God who “cares for you”, a God who depicts himself as both Father and Friend. It speaks of a God who cared enough to send his Son to walk among us, die for us, and be resurrected for us so that we could become fellow heirs with him for all eternity.

And yet this all-loving, all-powerful God allows every one of us his valleys and his mountaintops. When in the valleys we wonder about the goodness of God, but through the valleys we must go if we are to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Yet I fear sometimes that we read too much into the blessings and cursings of others. Job’s three friends took the opportunity of his valley to instruct him in his failings. Surely, they believed, the punishment upon Job was for some egregious sin, and they were not shy in ticking off Job’s perceived character flaws. But at the end of the story, God says to Eliphaz, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me the things that are right, as my servant Job has.” (Job 42:7)

“No one is told any story but their own.” When we see them in the valley, we might think we see the punishment of God, and when we see them on the mountaintop, we might think we see the blessings of God. But we forget that God is a personal God who cares for us all on a deeply personal level. If we listen, we can hear him saying to us, “I am telling you YOUR story, not theirs. No one is told any story but their own.”

Rom 8:28-And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Simon Cowell Is Your Friend

“Who is not satisfied with himself will grow.” (Chinese Proverb)


Most reality shows could use more reality. That’s why, if I were competing on American Idol (don’t laugh!) my best friend would be Simon Cowell. He can be acerbic and biting, but one thing is certain: If he compliments a performance, you know it was earned.

A number of telling studies reveal that American students are falling behind their peers from other nations, while at the same time these same American students evaluate themselves higher than those from other nations. “In other words, they combined a lousy performance with a high sense of self-esteem,” says Nina H. Shokraii, author of “School Choice 2000: What’s Happening in the States”, in an essay called “The Self Esteem Fraud.” ( see Too Much Self Esteem Spoils Your Child)

I have to believe that public education’s emphasis the past several decades on self-esteem without regard to achievement cripples our kids’ and our nation’s future. Self-esteem without achievement is cheap self-esteem. It’s destructive instead of constructive. We do ourselves no favors when we refuse to hear unpleasant truths, and we do our children a grave disservice when we effectively lie to them about their strengths and weaknesses.

This isn’t new stuff. King Ahab, when his counterpart king from the Southern Kingdom asked if they could consult a prophet of the true God as opposed to Ahab’s sycophants, essentially said, “Yeah, there is a prophet of Yahweh here, but I hate the guy because he tells me things I don’t want to hear.” (Loosely paraphrased from I Kings 22).

Isaiah, quoting the people from his day, said, “This is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of the Lord; who say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.’ ” (Isaiah 30:9-10 NKJV)

Simon & Garfunkle, a little closer to our day, wrote, “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest”.

Isn’t it at least a little wise to listen to your friends, people who care enough to every once in a while peal back a bit of your mask and honestly tell you what you need to hear and not what will make you feel good? We do each other no favors when we let our brothers and sisters – and children -- slide blithely into mediocrity or worse when a little wise and perhaps unpleasant honesty can change that person’s path to a more fulfilling and successful life in the long run.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:6) I’m sure Simon Cowell would agree.

What Am I Missing?

Christians need to get out more. By that I mean going places we normally don’t go, like a friend’s church instead of our own.

I did that this week, and the break from group-think was refreshing.

The sermon addressed the rich young man who talked to Jesus in Matthew 19. He comes to Jesus and asks the most pertinent of pertinent questions: “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” That question is just about the most important question anyone can ask. If someone were to ask you that, how would you answer?

Jesus answers the question with both a question and a statement: “Why do you call me good?” and, “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

So, to address Jesus’ question, what is it that makes someone good? The religious teachers of the day thought they had the answer. To them it was the law that would make them righteous. Realizing this, Jesus plays off that idea. “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He then proceeded to elaborate the commandments he had in mind: The Ten Commandments.

For a long time I have understood – and still understand – that the Ten Commandments are the basis of a Godly life and have half-jokingly said that the government resists posting the Ten Commandments in public places because the government doesn’t like the competition (as in, “Thou shalt not have other gods before me”).

But somehow that rich young man understood something that it took years for me to learn – and something many of that day’s the religious leaders never learned. That understanding revealed itself in the young man’s very simple response followed by an all-revealing question. His question has been in Matthew 19 for a long time, but this week for the first time I noticed the question for what it is.

“All these things I have kept since my youth. What do I still lack?”

The rich young man admits something. He admits, “Something is still missing.” Keeping the law, as important as it is, just isn’t enough. Somehow, deep within his spirit, in spite of all the teaching from his youth to his adulthood, his spirit cried out within him that something was sill missing. The law is holy, righteous, and good. It is the perfect law of liberty. David said he loved God’s law. But somehow the young man knew it wasn’t enough, and Jesus affirmed that emptiness, that sense of missing perfection.

Give up on your quest for perfection through riches and recognition, Jesus seems to say. Do the good things that the law demands of us. Indeed, live by them. They show you the way to abundant living, and they are ordained as a way of life. But of themselves they can’t give you eternal life. Follow me. I am the way to eternal life. You can’t earn it, but I can give it.

The young man needed to go to a place he had never been before, and he left the scene in a state of sorrow. He needed to get out more. Just like me, someone who is glad I got out of my box for a week.