American News Commentary

Right up there in public interest and concern with the

war in Iraq, gas pump prices, a national health scheme,

and the homosexuals' push for same-sex marriage, to

name just a few of the key issues..

This week the U.S. Senate is supposedly scheduled to

end its debate and vote on the immigration reform bill

which is enthusiastically supported by Senator Ted

Kennedy and President George Bush. It is called a

"bi-partisan" bill and does, in fact, have the support of

some members of both political parties -- but the bill is

also "bi-partisan" in opposition to it from members of

both parties.

One editorial cartoon in a daily newspaper this past

weekend opined that it must be a good bill because

both parties find fault with it. And a front page headline

in a major metropolitan newspaper used these words:

legislate it." The Congress is indeed finding this issue

a difficult one by having done absolutely nothing about

immigration thus far, and while laughing at the president's

declining favorable poll ratings, Congress finds itself with

even lower approval ratings than the president, and thus

is being forced to do something, and soon.

It is doubtful that anyone would deny that the

nation's immigration system is broken and in need of

a major overhaul, and has been in that condition for

a long time. This is not Ted Kennedy's first attempt to

impose his views on a proposed solution to the problem

of illegal immigration. In 1985 he led the effort to enact

a "comprehensive" bill to deal with the estimated 3

million illegals in this country. The bill was frankly and

honestly called an "amnesty" bill. When it was signed

into law in 1986, those 3 million immigrants were made

legal. This time his "comprehensive" proposal is not

honestly labeled an "amnesty" bill, but that is what it is.

And the pool of illegals is now somewhere between 12

and 20 million. The reward offered to these lawbreakers

is permanent legal status, placing them years ahead of

the millions of law-respecting immigrants who are seeking

entry into the United States. The result of this so-called

"comprehensive" bill? A multiplied comparable result to

the 1986 bill -- but this time instead of 3 million the total

of newly legalized immigrants will be between 12 and 20

million -- and the potential for a future Mexican population

here in the United States of between 50 and 100 million is

not an a reasonable expectation. And soon.

And yes, they did express themselves very clearly on this

issue. In 1802 Alexander Hamilton responded to the efforts

of an earlier Democrat, Thomas Jefferson, who attempted

to make immigration into this new nation easier. Hamilton

wrote, "The safety of a republic depends essentially on the

(The Examination, No. 7, 1802, Alexander Hamilton)

In an attempt to solve the problem of immigration which

the founders faced, the First Congress in 1790 adopted a

naturalization statute which allowed "any free white person"

who had lived here for 2 years to be naturalized; in 1795 the

required residence time was raised to 5 years, and in 1798

to 14 years. In 1802, after the Congress rejected President

Jefferson's proposal to grant immediate citizenship to all

immigrants, the residence time period was stabilized at 5

years, and the requirements for citizenship were made much

more stringent.

It is evident that the issue is of long standing, politically..

But what are the implications from the Christian point of view?

There are already organizations and movements which are

actively seeking to give amnesty a religious connotation, and

to attach to the concept the popular label: "WWJD" -- What

Would Jesus Do? In this approach to the problem the "Christian"

position is set forth as extending an unlimited welcome to these

less fortunate persons who are seeking a new life in America,

where they can enjoy our many blessings of freedom and liberty.

Speaking of this so-called "Christian" approach to the matter,

Father James Thornton in his "Aspects of the Immigration Crisis,"

wrote: "The unadulterated balderdash that passes for Christianity

It has been pointed out in this regard that there is little, if any,

scriptural evidence that God ever intended for mankind to exist in

a "one world" situation. Indeed, in Genesis 11:9 it is recorded that

all the earth." Further, in Acts 17:26 it is recorded that God

The change in immigration statistics over the past few decades

has been tremendous. In the last 40 years the percentage of the

American population with an European heritage has dropped from

90% to 66%. Since Ted Kennedy's "Immigration Reform Act" went

into effect in 1986, 85% of the immigrants coming into this country

are from Latin America and Asia -- and predominantly from Mexico.

The attitudes of the Mexican immigrants have changed. In recent

demonstrations they have taken the stand that California and the

border states of the Southwest belong to them, and were illegally

taken from them. Polls indicate that this opinion is held by nearly

60% of Mexican immigrants in this country, and their threats to

retake their lands are being openly expressed.

Until we take steps to control our borders, this situation is only

going to get worse. This is a widely accepted position, yet nothing

is being done to correct it. Last year Congress passed and President

Bush signed into law, a provision to erect a 700 mile fence along

our borders with Mexico. At this point approximately 2 miles have

been built. The new "comprehensive" bill provides for 370 miles of

af border fence. Apparently the assumption is that no illegal would

ever attempt to sneak around the open ends of the fence.

There are many aspects of the problem. It is indeed a serious

matter. Our illegal, or "undocumented" Mexican population is

growing by something between 500,000 and 1 million each year.

The ultimate cost is tremendous. If the proposed comprehensive

bill with all of its amnesty elements should go into effect, the

cost to American taxpayers is estimated by Robert Rector of the

Heritage Foundation at $2.5 trillion. Already those illegals are

costing the I.R.S. an estimated $311 billion annually. The border

states with Mexico are being hit with annual costs in the millions

of dollars for welfare, schools and medical care.We are often

reminded of the more than 3,000 deaths among the American

military during the 4 years of the war in Iraq, yet every year more

than 2,000 murders are committed in this country by illegals. Much

is made of the labor aspect of the Mexican population, yet the

illegal immigrants represent only about 5% of the total U.S. labor

force.

and it will not be easily achieved. Some Christians have seemed

to welcome the potential influx, seeing in those millions great

opportunities for Christian witness. But there are already some

12 to 20 million here. Have adequate efforts been undertaken to

meet the challenge those millions already present? As Christians

we share an obligation to obey the directive of Jesus Christ as

expressed in the Great Commission. And as Americans we share

an obligation to carry on the work our founders began, and protect

our traditions, our culture and our Christian civilization.

This is not solely a political issue. It is an issue to be faced on the

basis of being an American and a Christian.

Thought for the day . . . every day: "We are the showcase of the

no challenge too great." - Ronald Reagan, 1974

Some not-so-good news from California, where

despite intense efforts by pro-family citizens and

groups, the State Senate voted strongly along

party lines (Democrats "for" and Republicans

"against") infamous bill SB 377 to require revisions to

be made in public school textbooks, to present

homosexual, bisexual and trans-sexual life styles

in a favorable light. The bill now goes to the Assembly

where it will probably pass, and then to the desk of

the Governor.

"Pelosi: Immigration bill will pass over my dead body."

Regardless of how strong an individual's conservative

views might be, the situation that this headline depicts

does merit some careful thought.

How soon we forget. It was just over 40 years ago,

in 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson proclaimed,

itself is crippled." Yet the so-called "religious right" is

criticized for promoting family values, and refusing to

embrace abortion, single parenthood, sexual lifestyles

and marriage arrangements outside the traditional norms

as acceptable. Syndicated columnist Star Parker offered

a reasonable summary, "Conservative Christian activism

An important birthday you may have missed. It should

be, but it isn't, one of the most observed and celebrated

annual events in Christian churches: Pentecost Sunday,

the birthday of the church. In the liturgical calendar Pentecost

Sunday occurs 50 days after Easter, and thus was this past

Sunday, May 27. This is a good opportunity to re-read one of

the most significant passages in the New Testament, Peter's

sermon on that occasion as recorded in Acts 2:14-41. The

concluding words were these, "Therefore let all the house of

whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." And Peter's

memorable effort in mass evangelism succeeded in these

terms, "...and the same day there were added unto them

For what it's worth -- In California the Gaia Napa Valley

Hotel and Spa is reported to have replaced the traditional

Gideon Bible found in hundreds of thousands of hotel rooms,

with Al Gore's book, "An Inconvenient Truth." This news story

doesn't even merit a word of comment.

--------------------------

REMINDER: After considerable shifting of email addresses,

the address for your comments (which we appreciate) is:

evangelical_viewpoint@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Affirmation of Jerry Falwell

Tolerance and accommodation: a spirit of Tolerance was not very

evident in Turkey last week when three Christians were murdered

by five Muslims who attacked them in the offices of a Christian

publishing house. As a result of the murders, a crowd estimated at

a million thronged the streets protesting the election of a Muslim as

the country's president.The nation's highest court took action to

invalidate the election.

Nor was a feeling of tolerance evident here in America when federal

law enforcement officials captured six Muslim Jihad terrorists plotting

an attack to kill American military at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

The moving force behind the legislation is an organ -
ization called"Equality California" which seems to have
a one-sided definition of tolerance -- that Christians,
beginning with children in the public schools, must
accept and embrace homosexuality as an accepted
life style. This new proposal comes on top of the
U.S.Supreme Court's ruling barring Bible reading for
religious and moral instruction in 1963.

Against this emphasis, some states have under consideration
laws which will permit Bible classes as part of the schools'
curricula. And in some school districts such programs are
already under way. This is a clear example of "tolerance"
becoming a two-way street. For example, consider the
public school system in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where
under the sponsorship of the organization, Bible in the
Schools, there are five different courses taught by 16
certified teachers in the system's middle schools and

high schools. It is reported that this year nearly 5,000
students have elected to take one or more of these for-
credit courses, through which they study the Biblical
accounts of early civilization, the teachings of Jesus
Christ, and the historical development of the early
Christian church. [The Chattanooga program may
be considered a model for this important application
of tolerance -- FYI, check on it at
www.BibleintheSchools.com.]

Tolerance has many shades of meaning.
Included in its definitions are these: "sympathy or
indulgence for beliefs or practices differing or
conflicting with one's own' ... "being tolerant of
other's beliefs, views, practices" ..."the practice
of recognizing or respecting the beliefs or practices
of others." It is clearly a "two way street" and equally
applicable to both sides of the belief or practice involved.
In current practice, however, it all-too-often becomes
a one-sided position, where the traditional, accepted
beliefs or practices are expected to conform to the so-
called "progressive" views of the Liberals.

This is no minor matter. It is extremely serious, for this
warped view of what tolerance means is directly opposite
to the principle established by our nation's founding fathers
in the Declaration of Independence that our "unalienable
rights" are given by God -- "endowed by their Creator"
are the Declaration's words. We seem to be, as a nation,
at the point of yielding to political pressure to adopt an
attitude of tolerance and accommodation to theories and
beliefs which are contrary to everything that America has
ever stood for. Ignoring and turning away from Christian
principles and the tacit encouragement of Islam . . . ignoring
of God's moral standards and the encouragement of homo -
sexuality and the destruction of the family are but two of the
ways this one-sided tolerance is attacking the foundations on

which our nation was established. The often repeated call for
a national revival or spiritual awakening seems more appro -
priate as each day goes by.

disaster." - General Douglas MacArthur

Afterthoughts . . .

bastions of knowledge,' since they're really bastions
of leftist thought."

anniversary of the founding of Jamestown in Virginia

as the first permanent English colony in North America,

followed just a few years later by the founding of the

Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. Any consideration

of the actions and intentions of those early settlers

makes it abundantly clear that these were Christian

believers whose purpose in undertaking the perilous

voyage to the new world was to claim the land for

God, and advance the spread of the Christian gospel

message.

From the records of those earliest days, and continuing

through the Colonial period, the Declaration of

Independence, the Revolutionary War and the adoption

of the Constitution of the United States, the Christian faith

of the new nation's founding fathers was always evident

in their speeches, their writings and their actions. To recall

some of those evidences of their Christian beliefs, here are

a few quotations, each of which has been carefully
researched and confirmed through two or three sources.

From John Adams, America's second President, "The

general principles upon which the Fathers achieved

independence were the general principles of Christianity ...

I will avow that I believed, and now believe, that those
general principles of Christianity are as eternal and

immutable as the existence and attributes of God."

(From a letter dated July 4, 1776)

In Benjamin Franklin's 1749 plan of education for

the public schools located in Pennsylvania, he insisted

that the schools teach "the excellency of the Christian
religion above all others, ancient or modern," and in

1787 when he helped found Benjamin Franklin

University, it was dedicated as "a nursery of
religion and learning, built on Christ, the Cornerstone."

In a speech in 1765, Patrick Henry said, "It cannot

be emphasized too clearly and too often that this nation

was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not

on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ."

And from Thomas Jefferson in 1781, "Of all systems

of morality, ancient or modern which have come under

my observation, none appears to me so pure as that of

Jesus... I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple
of the doctrines of Jesus."

In 1782, the United States Congress adopted this

resolution: "The Congress of the United States

recommends and approves the Holy Bible for

use in all schools."

This brief recollection of some of the facts surrounding

the convictions and intentions of the nation's founding

fathers with respect to the Christian faith is necessary

in view of the existence of a cabal of individuals who

are committed to distorting the facts concerning the

religious beliefs of those founders. They research

ancient records in hopes of finding here and there

a sentence where the spokesperson may have said

something critical of Christianity, unfazed by the

fact that an occasional line or sentence of that

nature is offset by pages and pages of documented

statements to the contrary.

And then along came Bob Dylan. As a somewhat

raucous folk singer he was equally as loved, respected

and enjoyed in Great Britain, Europe and Australia, for

example, as in his native America. No theological scholar

or commentator, his was a strong voice in the anti-war

movement of the mid-twentieth century. He received

every musical award which the industry can give, and

was five times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was given the title, "Spokesman for the generation."

Then in the period 1970-1980 he had a Christian con -

version experience, and publicly testified to being born
again. His songs lost some of their caustic quality, and

he issued some albums of Christian songs. In 2006 his

most recent album entered the musical charts as No. 1,

making him at age 65 the oldest living artist ever to top

the charts.

One of his greatest hit songs was "The Times They Are

a-Changin'." In one of the verses he appealed to parents;

in another to Senators and Congressmen. The final verse

included these words, almost prophetic with respect to

our day:

"The line, it is drawn, the curse it is cast
And the present now will soon be the past
The order is rapidly fading
The first one now will later be last
For the times they are a-changing.

From those early Colonial days when this nation was

clearly established on historic Judeo-Christian principles;

when its leaders made no secret of their Christian faith,

and their intent to have this nation operate with respect
for the laws of God . . . to the present day with liberal,

left-wing politicians redrawing our social and cultural

boundaries, "The times, they are indeed changing!"

Bob Dylan, in his own way, saw and felt the changes

which were taking over America, and saw the need

for a reversal, for the present to return to the past.

In theological terms he would have expressed the need
for a national revival, for a national spiritual awakening.

It is not necessary to enumerate in detail or discuss at

length the ways in which we have turned from God's

prescribed way. We know them all too well. There is

the perverted interpretation of the First Amendment with

the liberals' "Separation of church and state" . . . the

legalizing of abortion, with some 50 million babies killed

since the Supreme Court approved such mass killings . . .

sodomy, always condemned by God, is now legal by

court action . . . homosexuality, labeled by God as an

"abomination" is almost revered, and the resultant same-

sex marriages are destroying one of God's intended
purposes for His creation, resulting in the weakest family

life, the highest rate of divorce and the highest rate of solo-

parenting . . . the Bible, which an earlier U.S. Congress

formally approved and recommended for use in schools,

along with prayer and any mention of God, has been banished
from our schools . . .the Christian church has lost its message

by yielding to popular culture and rather than influencing
public opinion, is being influenced by it . . . the very national
government which was established by Godly men, to operate
under moral laws, has become corrupt as greed for wealth and
lust for political power has taken control . . . and the list goes
on and on. Bob Dylan was almost prophetic in his song, "The
times they are a-changin'."

And then there is always God's word to confront us. "If my
people ... will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways .. then will I hear from heaven,
and forgive their sin and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14,
"God's blueprint for revival.") But there is an alternative choice
. . . verse 19: "But if ye turn away and forsake my statutes which
I have set before you ... this house which I have sanctified for my
name will I cast out of my sight and will make it a proverb and a
byword among all nations ...because they forsook the Lord God
of their fathers ..."

The choice before us is clear and unmistakable. Seek God's face

and turn from our wicked ways and experience revival, and live

under His blessing on our nation . . . or continue to disobey His

laws, and experience His severe judgment and punishment.

Billy Graham, for so many years the nation's evangelical spiritual

leader, now 88, and virtually retired, this month wrote in a
published sermon in "Decision" magazine, "A former president
once said America must have a spiritual revival. However, I am
becoming more and more convinced that we are never going to
see revival across America until Christians meet certain
scriptural conditions for revival." And he added these words,
"As God looks down from heaven and sees present day
Christianity in America, He must be grieved."

Our prayer must be that of Habakkuk the prophet, "O Lord,

I have heard thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy

work ... in wrath, remember mercy." (Habakkuk 3:2) The

hymn we sing must be "Lord send a revival, and let it begin

in me." The scripture portion we must remember is II

Chronicles 7:14, where we are required by God to humble

ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked
ways. And the folk song we must never forget is "The

times they are a-changing."

Afterthoughts . . .

Here's an opportunity to do something important but
which does not require a great deal of effort. Last week
the House of Representatives voted on and passed Bill No.
HR 1592 -- the so-called "Hate Crimes Bill." While on the
surface it sounds innocuous, it does open the door to some
very dangerous precedents. It establishes "sexual" and
"gender" orientation as protected classes which means,
for example, if your minister were to preach on any of the
many scripture references to homosexuality being in God's
eyes an abomination, he could be subject to severe penalties.
In other words, in a real sense, the right of free speech, which
has always been guaranteed in our Constitution, has been taken
away. Serious? Absolutely! And now it goes to the Senate for
their vote -- and given the similar political make-up as in the
House, it will probably pass there too. But here's what you can
do and what you should do: phone your Senators in Washington
at (202) 224-3121 and tell them that you are opposed to this
bill, and that you want them to vote against it. They are in
Washington to represent you -- you have every right to tell them
how you feel about this measure.

An interesting 175 year old comment: from the New York
Spectator, August 23, 1831, "The Court of Common Pleas of
Chester county (New York) rejected a witness who declared
his disbelief in the existence of God. The presiding judge
remarked that he had not before been aware that there was
a man living who did not believe in the existence of God; that
this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court
of justice; and that he knew of no cause in a Christian country
where a witness had been permitted to testify without such
belief." The times, they are a-changing, and not for the better.

Time Magazine's most influential people; it isn't appropriate
to fail to comment on this year's list of the 100 most influential
people in the world. The first notation is concerning the omitting
of the President of the United States, normally considered the
most powerful individual in the world. And one can question
the inclusion of Rosie O'Donnell in the category, "Artists and
Entertainers" . . . or of Al Gore in the category "Scientists
and Thinkers."

Or wonder why Oprah Winfrey was not considered to be an
"Entertainer," because surely someone thinks of her in that way.
And chuckle over other omitteds: Harry Reid, Jesse Jackson,
Al Sharpton, Jimmy Carter and Donald Trump, to name a few.

But as a representative of the Christian faith -- not a single
American; only the Roman Catholic Pope, and an Anglican
Archbishop from Africa. An interesting list, but not particularly
meaningful.

New worlds for the ACLU to conquer: there recently appeared
on the Internet a listing of the preambles to the constitutions
of all 50 States. Without exception, every state acknowledged
the providence, the protection, the guidance, the blessing -- or
similar terms -- of Almighty God, occasionally being referred
to as the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. It would seem that the
ACLU could reap more financial returns from suits against the
states, than they do from their many suits against the school
boards of small towns or the Boy Scouts. But the problem