Wednesday
WHOSE FAULT IS IT?
THIS WEEK'S INTRODUCTORY EDITORIAL COMMENT: In every
issue we cite quotations from our nation's Founding Fathers because these
are the men who created this new nation based upon the Judeo-Christian
principle affirmed in the the Declaration of Independence that all men are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, including life and
liberty. Their faith in, and their reliance upon, God was evident in the many
statements which are still available to us. But it was not just the Founding
Fathers who spoke of their dependence on God -- this has been a repeated
assertion by subsequent U.S. presidents -- at least until the present one, who
last year ignored the National Day of Prayer, and sponsored a celebration in
the White House of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. In the midst of the
Civil War, on March 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln set a National
Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, stating: "We have been the recipients
of the choicest bounties of Heaven ...We have grown in numbers, wealth
and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God
...Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient...
too proud to pray to the God who made us! It behooves us then to humble
ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to
pray for forgiveness." What an appropriate proposal for us, today! It recalls
for us God's words in II Chr. 7:14, where He promised that if we would humble
ourselves, pray, and turn from our wicked ways, He would hear our prayers,
forgive our sins and heal our land. It's up to us, American Christians! We
don't have an Abraham Lincoln as our president.
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WHOSE FAULT IS IT FOR WHAT HAS HAPPENED,
AND IS NOW HAPPENING TO AMERICA . . . WHY
IS IT NOT TODAY THE NATION IT WAS FOUNDED
TO BE?
Bill Haymin, a classicist and historian whose writings we appreciate, recently
wrote: "America is a dead man walking around waiting to fall down. The
fault for America's failure falls squarely on the shoulders of American
Christians (past and present)." And, he's right.
We are half-way through the Lenten season; 18 days till Easter,
and already the Liberals -- known as the "Religious Left " or sometimes
even called the "Evangelical Left (a classic oxymoron!) -- are reshaping
the traditional meaning of one of the most important events in our Christian
faith. For example, Jim Wallis, probably the principal spokesman of the
religious Liberals, has announced that he is dedicating part of his Lenten
fasting to sort of a hunger strike against government spending cuts on
some of his favorite federal programs, because such cuts would affect
the poor. Mark Tooley, president of Institute on Religion and Democracy
(IRD) responded well:"Deploying their usual language of spiritual
outrage over federal budget 'cuts,' Religious Left officials want to
refocus the Easter season away from Christ and towards their own
endless faith in Big Government."
And because on April 22, Good Friday and Earth Day coincide, in Canada
the Greening Anglican Spaces task group has developed special worship
material to merge the two observances. Their chairman, Rev. Kenneth Gray,
explained: "The reason why we think Good Friday is a good day to talk
about this is because essentially we are crucifying the earth and I think
the imagery there is quite dynamic,"
And remember the ban at various levels of government on the use of the
word "Christmas?" Now they have started similar attacks on the word
"Easter" -- example: town trustees in Munson Township, Ohio, have
abolished any reference to "Easter" in community events, and have
ordered the organizers to use the term "Spring Egg Hunt." Granted,
that is a very minor step in an ongoing program, but remember the old
saying about the camel's nose under the tent.
President Obama announced the start of his 2012 re-election campaign
this week, and will soon begin his campaign fund raising efforts with an
unprecedented goal of $2 billion, flying around the country on Air Force
One. There is a continuing theory in American politics -- if you can't earn
elected office, you can always buy it. In Mr. Obama's re-election
announcement, there was this statement, which has a double faced implication:
"This will be my final campaign, at least as a candidate." Of the two
concepts it expresses, one is encouraging: it is his last campaign; the other
implies the threat that he may have some part in future political endeavors.
But back to Mr. Haymin's assessment about Christian failures,
it is interesting -- and alarming -- that in the 2008 presidential election,
25% of American Evangelicals voted for Mr. Obama. That means that
one out of every four Evangelical believers voted for a man who had
clearly announced his intent to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, paving
the way for same-sex marriage, and who also supported the Pro-Choice
concept of killing babies through abortion -- and whose health reform plan
provides federal funding for those killings. This time around -- in the 2012
election -- we must not repeat those mistakes. Toward that end we have
continued to remind our readers of the time remaining to pray about that
election -- there are now 580 days remaining to pray for our nation and
its leaders, and for guidance in voting in the Nov. 6, 2012 Election Day.
Overshadowing news of the Japan disaster and the Middle East war
are the actions of some of those "peace loving Muslims" who have been
murdering -- even beheading -- UN workers in Pakistan, according to the
media because of a pastor in Florida burning a copy of the Quran. President
Obama, addressing the issue described the burning as "an act of extreme
intolerance and bigotry," and added, "No religion tolerates the slaughter
and beheading of innocent people." What Mr. Obama forgets or ignores
is that the slaughter and beheading of those who do not accept the Islam
religion is an ongoing practice of Islamists . . . as is the destroying of Bibles
and the burning of Christian churches -- but never once has he referred to
those acts as demonstrating "intolerance and bigotry."
As the president begins devoting time to his re-election campaign,
we canot help but note these headlines from just one page in one daily
newspaper this week: "NATO Airstrike Kills 13 Rebels in Libya . . .
Call for Yemen Power Swap . . . Hundreds killed in Ivory Coast
Massacre . . . Oman Protests Resume . . . Syria Tightens Security
. . . More Die in Riots over Koran Burning." And all those stories on
that one page do not include reports on the rioting and protests in Jordan,
Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Bahrain and Iran. Or the potential for increased
trouble in Lebanon and Palestine, aimed directly at Israel. It would seem
that things are not going well for Mr. Obama's tactics in the Middle East.
And there are so many unanswered questions which logically arise:
When will a national budget be adopted . . . must we be held hostage by
Harry Reid and the Democrat Senate that if Planned Parenthood's abortion
program is not federally funded, they will shut down the government? (And
would shutting down the government be such a terrible thing?) Will the
Obama administration accept any reduction or restraint in spending -- or
must we continue to increase our nation's indebtedness to China and other
foreign nations? Will any effort be made to utilize our own natural resources,
or must we continue to rely upon foreign sources of oil? Aside from the
moral issues which we face as Christians, there are also these economic
questions which must be faced.
May 5 is this year's National Day of Prayer, and it will be interesting
to see how our president reacts. Last year he chose not to observe the event,
choosing rather to celebrate the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a gala
celebration in the White House. He may react differently this year, because
he has already started his 2012 re-election campaign, and he will be seeking
votes from Christians.
In view of the biased media, we think "What Others Are Saying" is
a helpful way to get a grasp on current events. Here are just a few:
Pamela Geller (in Atlas Shrugs): "There is one constant in Obama's
foreign policy: he has consistently sided with our worst enemies
throughout his disastrous presidency...Why Libya? Why wasn't such
action taken when millions took to the streets in Iran? Iran has been
supporting the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the unrest in Bahrain,
Afghanistan, Iraq...Assad in Syria is much worse than, say, Mubarak
in Egypt, but Obama vows not to interfere in that vassal of Iran,
despite the slaughter of their people. And Obama supports the Muslim
Brotherhood, which is steadily taking control in Egypt. To what end?"
Barry St Clair (founder, Reach Out youth ministry): "God never
intended for us to make crowds or monolithic church structures...Today
we run the church as a business...The business makes money, and the
money builds buildings. Weâ•˙ve created an audience, not an army.╡
Skip MacLure (in Conservative Outpost): "Hillary Clinton has
been rocketing from capital to capital, braying the administrationâ•˙s
next change of course, change of mind, or the next whimsical
pronouncement of the ╢Anointed One,â•˙ arguably the least influential
person on the international scene. Notice I didnâ•˙t use the word ╢leader.'"
John Ransom (TownHall Finance Editor): "We discovered once again...
that Obama can squeeze the smallest idea into the greatest number of
words of anyone who has ever been president."
Ann Coulter (on Obama's Libya speech): " He said: 'Some nations
may be able
And finally, this classic from the "Twitter" site, @TennConserv:
"If only non-essential government services end in a government
shutdown ... why do we have them to start with?"
Good "One Liners" are often difficult to find, but here are a few . . .
domain, assures us that inflation in America is insignificant, and we are not to
worry. But we are also told by these molders of our economy that they may
have to stop printing paper currency because the cost of printing has grown
by 50% in the past 3 years. Only in Washington!
Chris Matthews, the de facto voice of the Obama administration,
in voicing his views on the need for more "civility" in political discourse,
went a bit overboard in expressing a death wish -- sounding like a threat --
for Republicans whom he feels are lacking in civility: "Iâ•˙ll tell you what,
the DNC needs to make Boehner the target of all their direct mail
fundraising right now. He should be their public enemy number one!
Theyâ•˙ve got to cut him off at his knees. Theyâ•˙ve got to knock him off!"
And citing an incident in The Godfather, Part II, where a man is disposed
of while on a fishing boat, he said "Maybe someone in the White House
might want to suggest to Boehner that a great way to work on that tan
of his, go on a fishing trip, you know what Iâ•˙m saying?" (Yes, we know.)
Before the celebration over the new unemployment number begins,
take time to remember that those "Labor Department" figures are designed
to create headlines in the Liberal media -- and these are the numbers which
don't make those headlines: the number of long term unemployed rose from
5.9 million to 6.1 million in March, meaning that those who have been out of
work 6 months or longer now represent 45.5% of the total unemployed. And
the average jobless period is now 39 weeks, up from 32 weeks just a year ago.
And, as always, there is wisdom in quotes from our Founding Fathers.
"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these
blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much
to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and
to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly;
I cannot believe it will ever come to pass." -- George Washington, 1788
"So great is my veneration for the Bible, and so strong my belief, that
when duly read and meditated on, it is of all books in the world, that
which contributes most to make men good, wise, and happy."
-- John Quincy Adams, 1811
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