Wednesday
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
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IMPORTANT NOTE
Last week, after our word of apology for missing the Jan.
13 issue date, we managed to get that issue published and
circulated on Saturday, Jan. 16. We thought it might offer
you some useful weekend reading. We are deciding how
best to use the contributions we have received, and hope
that we will soon have adequate and functioning computer
equipment. If you haven't done so recently, now would be
a very good time to forward this issue to your friends, and
urge them to subscribe -- as always, no subscription fee.
It is conceivably true that there has never before been a
more urgent need for a critical evaluation of our nation's
politics as seen from a Conservative Christian Evangelical
viewpoint. That is what you will find in ANC every issue.
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IT'S TIME TO REFLECT ON AN OLD SAYING:
"PLUS CA CHANGE, PLUS C'EST LA MEME \
CHOSE" -- "THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME"
We are all familiar with that self-contradictory saying from
French author Alphonse Karr in the mid-nineteenth century,
and we recall also the question raised in Jeremiah as to
whether the Ethiopian could change his skin color, or the
leopard change its spots.
The fact is that Obama was elected because many our
citizens accepted his promise -- some might call it a threat --
repeated again and again during his campaign, that he
intended to change America. He sharpened that promise
in a speech in the University of Missouri on Oct. 30, 2008,
just a few days before election day, with a new disclosure
of his underlying intent: "We are five days away from
fundamentally transforming the United States of America."
This new statement is not about simple change. This
is about "fundamentally transforming" our nation. The
implications are both threatening and frightening -- to alter,
or transform the fundamentals of America; the principles
upon which the Founding Fathers established this new
nation . . . the principles which for 230 years have made
us the greatest, most successful nation on earth, and the
envy of all the rest of the world.
And on today's anniversary of inauguration as president,
how has Mr. Obama fared in his promise to change, to
fundamentally transform America? One year ago he was
the leader of a liberal, left-wing concept of government
which seemed destined for a long run. Now, according to
a new CBS poll, his approval rating has dropped to 46%
from 70% in April of 2009. His disapproval rating is the
highest ever recorded by Gallup polls at the beginning of
an (elected) president's second year. The two factors
which contribute most to his low approval ratings are the
economy and healthcare. In the CBS survey conducted
earlier this month, only 41% approve his handling of the
economy, and only 36% approve his handling of the
healthcare reform issue.
Just yesterday the whole nation witnessed Obama's
weakened influence in the national political arena when
despite his last minute personal appeal to Massachusetts
voters, a virtual unknown Scott Brown handily defeated
the Kennedy and Democrat-hierarchy picked candidate
for the Senate seat of the late Teddy Kennedy. The state
had not elected a Republican Senator since 1972, and
Brown will be the only Republican among the state's 12
federal legislators. In hockey terms, Obama has achieved
a negative "hat trick" -- his personal support failed in the
November election for Governor in New Jersey, with
Republican Chris Christie winning, and in the November
gubernatorial election in Virginia, with Republican Bob
McDonnell winning. Now his influence has failed in one
of the most solid Democrat states in the nation.
What went wrong? The all-powerful united efforts of the
Administration and the Democrat control of both Houses
of Congress, have demonstrated how successful the
strategy so often used by the radical left can be -- the
creation of crises to scare the voting public into accepting
their solutions to the pending catastrophes. Pause for just
a moment and reflect on the year just passed. The Obama
plan to "transform" America has already created havoc
in our traditional capitalist, free-enterprise system by
taking over banking, auto manufacturing and next, the
healthcare industry. They have multiplied the national
debt to amounts which can only be paid off by gross
inflation which is essentially theft through taxation of the
American people.
Another crisis has been developed out of the Obama
administration's embrace of Al Gore's scientifically
discredited "global warming" theory, and are following
the "cap and trade" philosophy to kill American industry.
They have reduced our national security to a point where
individual Muslim terrorists feel confident enough to
murder a dozen military in one of our major army bases,
or attempt to blow up a passenger plane at one of our
major airports. And when Islamic terrorists face trial, they
are given all the rights of US citizens in a federal court in
an American city.
Obama has been unrelenting in his efforts to destroy
the reputation and heritage of America, declaring that we
are no longer a Christian nation . . . by apologizing for our
role in opposing aggressors through the years . . . by humbly
bowing before rulers of other nations . . . by insulting long
time allies like Great Britain, France and Israel . . . and by
capitulating in meeting after meeting with foreign leaders,
so that America is increasingly being seen as a second
rate nation, no longer worthy of respect by other nations.
The liberal affronts on the Christian faith which has always
been the strength of America are alarming and may become
disastrous. Their plan includes the repeal of DOMA, the
Defense of Marriage Act, which will then allow same-sex
"marriage" to negatively transform the God ordained plan
of marriage and the family into a politically correct,
cultural farce. They are intent on using federal funds
(taxpayer dollars) to support the abortion industry which
has already killed over 50 million babies. Through their
support of LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transvestites)
they can classify as a "hate crime" any preaching on Bible
texts condemning homosexuality.
But we should not be surprised. Obama warned us of his
plans just before the election which put him in the White
House: "We are just five days away from fundamentally
transforming America." He is doing what he warned he
would do. And he has only just begun. He has had only
one year to create crises and wreak havoc on America.
The conclusion to the saying about "change?" In
review we can conclude that the old French saying does
not apply in our present situation. There have been many
changes, and things have not remained the same. And
the American people are beginning to realize that the sort
of change Obama is creating is not for the better.
So what can we, as Christians, do in this new year?
A few issues ago we pointed out that many Christians --
nominal Protestants, Evangelicals, Roman Catholics --
and Jews -- had voted for Barack Obama. Estimates
vary, but a middle-of-the-scale estimate puts the number
of self-confessed Evangelicals at 102 million. Another
estimate indicates that probably only half of the nation's
Evangelicals are registered to vote.
In the 2008 election, Obama won with 66.8 million votes
against McCain's 58.3 million votes -- a victory margin
of 8 1/2 million votes. Do the arithmetic: we Evangelicals
can be the winning factor in any election. There will not
be a presidential election until 2012 -- but on Nov. 2 of
this year -- just 286 days from today -- there will be an
election for all of the House of Representatives, and for
about one third of the Senate. We Evangelical Christians
can affect that election . . . we can take a major step
toward reclaiming this nation for God and the Judeo-
Christian principles upon which it was founded.
On the Internet there is often a touch of humor:
this past week the news ticker was running across the
screen, as usual, and since there is no normal punctuation
in the ticker, the term "U.N. Security Council" appeared
as: UNSECURITY COUNCIL. Probably makes sense.
We have found a few new "One Liners" for you . . .
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Obama is a man of first-class intellect and first-class
temperament. But his character remains highly suspect."
(Charles Krauthammer)
"If the life of an activist holds so much discouragement
and risk, why get involved at all? Because a Christian
understanding of the world compels us to combat
injustice and promote truth." -- Chuck Colson
"Any inquiry aimed at discovering the nature of marriage
must must ultimately arrive at one of two conclusions:
Either marriage is something with an absolute nature
ordained by God and thus unchangeable, or it is an
artificial thing, created by human beings..."
(Terence P. Jeffrey)
Some random afterthoughts . . .
A quick look at some of the latest polls . . . Mr. Obama's
daily approval rating index remains in double digit negative
numbers, where it has been stuck for a few months. We
have earlier shown that Obama's approval percentage is at
46%, but his Secretary State, Hillary Clinton, last week
had an approval percentage of 58%. As for the proposed
Obamacare health reform is concerned, 56% of Americans
oppose it, and only 38% (the lowest to date) approve it.
"Others are saying": a few comments noted this week.
Historian Shelby Steele (concerning this week's Martin
Luther King day): "Some of King's chief lieutenants, like
Jesse Jackson, tolerate no dissension from their liberal
ranks now. They have abandoned King's dream, and
aligned themselves with political and social agendas
obsessed with color at the expense of character."
Dr. Mark Reynolds of Biola University: "Jerusalem gave
the world truth; Athens gave it a valid way to express that
truth. Out of this creative harmony came the classical
Christian civilizations that shaped most of the world in
which we live.”
H.L. Mencken: "A Galileo could no more be elected
president of the United States than he could be elected
Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved for men
favored by God with an extraordinary genius for swathing
the bitter facts of life in bandages of self-illusion."
Robert Ringer: "Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, and Fox
News have given libertarians and conservatives the
greatest boost in the history of television, but freedom
lovers would be foolish to sit back and rely on them
alone to do the job. Better to hope for the best for Fox
News, but be prepared for the worst - and take it upon
ourselves to continue to educate the American public,
one person at a time, on the evils of progressivism and
the sanctity of libertarian-centered conservatism and
free markets."
The Founding Fathers often spoke of the importance
of God and the Christian faith in the life of this new nation
they were forming. Their words are meaningful today.
“In circumstances as dark as these, it becomes us, as
Men and Christians, to reflect that whilst every prudent
measure should be taken to ward off the impending
judgments …at the same time all confidence must be
withheld from the means we use; and reposed only on
that God rules in the armies of Heaven, and without
His whole blessing, the best human counsels are but
foolishness." -- John Hancock, 1775
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the
liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have
removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds
of the people that these liberties are a gift from God?
That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God
is just, and that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1781.
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their
rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and
interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer
Christians for their rulers.” -- John Jay, 1816
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