Tuesday
NEWS ALERT: THE CHRISTIAN CAUSE
NEWS ALERT: THE CHRISTIAN CAUSE
IN AMERICA FACES SERIOUS PROBLEMS
UNDER THIS ADMINISTRATION
We could have -- and probably should have --
expected what is happening. Summed up in a few
words, Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel addressed
this message to the President and the Congress this
week: "This is morally wrong." And he applied
that fact to so many things the Obama White House
and the Democrat controlled Congress are doing.
We have often cited statements from our nation's
founding fathers concerning the Christian principles
upon which this nation was established. The founding
fathers felt very strongly about what was morally
right The present administration's failed campaign
promises of a higher level of ethics and "transparency"
(the current "in" word for full and honest disclosure)
brings to mind a concept involving truth and what is
morally right, as advocated by Thomas Jefferson in
a letter he wrote in 1875: "It is of great importance
to set a resolution, not to be broken, never to
tell an untruth ... he who permits himself to tell
a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second
time and a third time, till at length it becomes
habitual; he tells lies without intending to do it,
and truths without the world's believing him."
Thomas Jefferson was mainly concerned about the
new national government he was helping to create.
His words may have had a personal application,
expressing as they do the message of the ninth
Commandment -- "Thou shalt not bear false
witness" -- or more simply: You shall not lie.
But primarily his was a message for the new
government of the United States of America. In
today's situation he would have advocated that
the government should do what is morally right.
What the government is proposing is, in Matt
Stavaer's words, "Morally Wrong." But we could
well have expected what is happening. President
Obama has kept his word. What his administration is
doing was always part of his campaign platform --
that he would take a strong anti-family position,
prohibiting any ban on same-sex marriages, even by
repealing existing law which accomplishes that, And
that he would oppose any amendment to the US
constitution to protect the traditional concept of
marriage between a man and a woman as set forth
in the Bible, and would support the efforts of the
homosexuals to dictate American social and cultural
policy. That he would establish new laws to encourage
abortions and resist any attacks on the infamous Roe
v. Wade decision (ignoring the fact that since that
decision some 50 million babies have been killed in
our country). We have already seen that his first
major accomplishment in office has been to advocate,
even demand that Congress pass his "stimulus bill"
with its strong restrictions on churches and religious
schools and colleges. Meantime, his Democrat
controlling leaders of Congress (Pelosi and Reid)
are working to bring back into being the previously
removed so-called "fairness doctrine" with its
ultimate goal of silencing Conservative voices on
radio and television.
And those are just a few of Matt Staver's "morally
wrong" actions by this new president which now
appear to be changing (that was his word) the
division in this country from being one of Republicans
vs. Democrats to one of Christians vs. anti-Christians.
This kind of "change" -- unprecedented in the history
of this nation -- is not what we really wanted, but it is
apparently what we are going to get.
The news headlines this past week, and all the
top stories in all the media, focused on the president's
"Stimulus Plan." One headline caught our eye: "Do
you find the stimulus stimulating?" To the
extent that the "stimulus plan" focuses on financial
matters, it is out of our area of expertise which is
more involved with evangelical Christian issues. For
example, one review which we read estimated that
the combined national deficit thus created is greater
than the total world gross domestic product - GDP.
Thus we are seriously concerned over the direction
in which President Obama seems to be taking the
nation. And we are not alone in that concern. The
Rasmussen Daily Reports reflect the same concern
on a national basis. This week their polling showed
that following Congressional passage of the "stimulus
bill," consumer confidence fell to a new record low,
"the third time in February that the daily Consumer
Index has fallen to a record low." The president's
approval rating has also continued to slide, with 36%
of the nation’s voters now Strongly Approve of the
way that he is performing in his role as President. At
the same time 26% of voters Strongly Disapprove,
to give him a Presidential Approval Index rating of
+10. That Approval Index rating is the lowest yet
for the new President.
And even the "elite media" is speaking up. It
has always been abundantly clear that the mainstream
media have had a love affair with Barack Obama
during the campaign and transition, but the honeymoon
may soon be over. Thus the trade publication,
Advertising Age, predicts that the media will inevitably
begin taking a more critical look at the new president,
saying "All political infatuations must come to an
end — and already you can begin to see the
media straining mightily to assert its ‘objectivity..’”
The article notes that even the New York Times and
the Los Angeles Times, both strongly supportive of
Obama during his campaign, are noting trouble in the
closing days of the transition period. Overseas, the
London Daily Mail carried these comments, "The
new President may not be tested and held to
account as he should be. Brilliant though he may
be - and we really don't know one way or the
other - he is undoubtedly very inexperienced.
Would people be wise to go on judging Mr.
Obama by the quality of his oratory rather than
the efficacy of his deeds? Oratory can be uplifting,
as Winston Churchill proved at various junctures
during the last war, but America needs effective
policies not pretty words." So it can be said that
interesting days are ahead.
As believing Christians we should not be surprised
at what is happening from a religious standpoint. Our
president was born into and raised in an environment
based on the Islamic faith. His Christian experience
consisted of more than 20 years sitting under the
ministry of a pastor whose rant that brought him fame
was "Not G_d Bless America . . . it's G_d Damn
America." Does this mean we should not pray for
our president? Of course not. We have urged from
the first that we should pray for God to give President
Obama wisdom to deal with the problems we face.
And from a founding father on money: "Paper
money has had the effect in your state that it will
ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest,
and open the door to every species of fraud and
injustice." -- George Washington, in a letter to
Rhode Island, 1787
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
Don't you just love "one liners?" - Group # 3:
"Goodbye, America! It Was Fun While It Lasted."
-- Ann Coulter
"When Tim Geithner stepped to the microphone, \
he totally bombed in his debut." -- Investors
Business Daily
"The Geithner flop is just the latest in a string of
mini-disasters by the new administration, which
is learning every day that campaigning is a lot
easier than actually governing." -- Gary Bauer
"This bank-plan blunder could be another nail in
his coffin. Apparently, Tim Geithner is not yet
ready for prime time." -- Investors Business Daily
"What they did is over-promise and under-deliver"
-- Thomas Barrack, CEO, Colony Capital
And just one more: in last week's issue of TIME
Magazine "In Box" letters, from Nancy Martin in
North Carolina: "Give me a break! Tax evasion
is criminal. If any one of us did what Tim Geithner
did we would be in jail."
The Anglicans are in the news again: It was
announced this past week that the General Synod
of the Church of England has approved a resolution
calling for greater efforts to convert non-Christians.
Supporters of the resolution said that the church has
moved too far toward political correctness. The Rev.
Nezlin Sterling, a member of the New Testament
Assembly, urged Anglicans to think of every non-
Christian as a "potential convert." But Stephen
Lowe, the bishop of Hulme, said that some of the
supporters of the resolution had engaged in
"evangelistic rants" and did not have experience
with a "multi-faith, multi-ethnic society." It has
taken some 2000 years for them to understand the
"Great Commission" of Jesus Christ.
And on the world scene: Dr. Carl Moeller,
President and CEO of Open Doors USA, reported
that for the seventh consecutive year, North Korea
ranked number one on Open Doors annual World
Watch List for 2009. After North Korea in the top
ten rankings spots, in order, are Saudi Arabia, Iran,
Afghanistan, Somalia, Maldives, Yemen, Laos,
Eritrea and Uzbekistan. The World Watch List ranks
countries by the intensity of the persecution of
Christians who openly demonstrate their faith.
This past week we observed the 200th anniversary
of the birth of two men: Abraham Lincoln and Charles
Darwin.. Both men shaped history, and great attention
has been given - and rightfully so - to the nation-saving
work of Lincoln. But Darwin, with his promulgation
of the theory of evolution has presented us with one
of our greatest challenge both as an intellectual and
a religious issue. The teaching of evolution as a
supposed scientific fact remains a major concern for
in the nation's schools. Even the Vatican seems to
have moved into the evolution camp, in a statement
this past week that Darwin's theory of evolution fits
in with Christianity despite its conflicts with the Bible's
account. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the
Pontifical Council for Culture, said last week that
evolution's role could be traced back to St. Augustine
and St.. Thomas Aquinas. The Vatican will hold a
conference next month to mark the 150th anniversary
of the publication of Darwin's "Origin of the Species."
The announcement said intelligent design would not
be on the agenda, seeming to put to rest the widely
held speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might officially
endorse the principle of intelligent design.
How about this from one of the nation's current
best selling authors, even if the book has one of the
longest titles ever: "There is a good chance that
anything that goes wrong is going to be George
Bush's fault, and everything that goes right is
going to be credited to Barack Obama. Heads,
Obama wins. Tails, George Bush loses." -- from
Bernard Goldberg, author of "A Slobbering Love
Affair; the True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid
Romance Between Barack Obama and the
Mainstream Media."
Long book titles seem to be proliferating -- here is
a new one one by an author we greatly respect, Ray
Comfort: "You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, but
You Can't Make Him Think."
A thought to remember: The framers of the US
Constitution used only 4 pages to write the entire
document. The "Stimulation Bill" which has just been
consummated, uses 1,071 pages.
And from a founding father: "The multiplication
of public offices, increase of expense beyond
income, growth and entailment of a public debt,
are indications soliciting the employment of the
pruning knife." -- Thomas Jefferson, 1821
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