Chuck referred to John Stott's 1967 book, Our Guilty Silence, which "made the
case that because the Gospel is 'Good News' we are under an obligation to
share it with others ... in 1967 this kind of witness ... was the last thing many
Christians wanted to do. They much preferred their comfortable worship and
cultural isolation ... This isolation didn’t require them to think too much,
especially when it came to matters of faith." And he recalls that Stott criticized
the "spirit of anti-intellectualism" that was so prevalent among Christians,
producing "zeal without knowledge which was mistaken for Christian maturity
... True Christian maturity is impossible without understanding what it is we
believe and how it applies to our lives." Colson concludes with an expression
of concern that for many, faith has become a matter of feeling in which how we feel
takes precedence over what we know, and concludes with the question: "Have we
learned from John Stott or do Christians prefer silence?"
To follow our headline, above, Dr. Foley Beach, Rector and Pastor of an Anglican
Church in Loganville, GA, after recounting some of the problems and crises we are
facing here in America, concludes with this indisputable admonition: "These are times
when we need to turn to the Lord; turn our hearts and minds to Him ... When is
the time to turn to the Lord? Now. Right now." We have placed our confidence in
government and politicians, and our national situation, as well as the international
situation, deteriorates by the day . . . almost by the hour. We concur with such widely
disparate voices as Elvis Presley and Dr. Beach -- there is nowhere to turn but to the
Lord . . . and the time is now.
The expression of "Now" in the lives of American voters, may be Election Day, Nov.
6, 2012, as of today, 454 days away . . . 454 days to pray and seek God's leading as
we go to the polls and vote to restore America to the kind of nation our Founding
Fathers planned for it to be.
A nice, neat summation of the nation's economy from the New York Times,
probably the Obama administration's strongest main-line media voice: "The economy
grew only 0.8 percent during the first half of the year. The work force is shrinking.
State and local governments are cutting back. And fiscal policy is immobilized by
partisanship, leading Standard & Poor’s to remove the United States from its list
of risk-free borrowers." How could anyone describe it better?
Last week we reported on the atheists' lawsuit to remove the steel beam "cross"
from the 9/11 museum at Ground Zero. Jay Sekulow, of American Center for Law
and Justice (ACLJ), noted that a new Rasmussen survey shows that 72% of Americans
favor including that cross in the 9/11 museum, adding that this is "further confirmation
that the American Atheists' suit against the Ground Zero cross is absurd." A
similar attack aimed at stopping the prayer rally called by Texas Governor Rick Perry
was thrown out of court, and at the rally -- attended by an estimated 30,000 people --
Gov. Perry remarked that "The First Amendment guarantees that the Government
will stay out of the Church; not the other way around." When this subject comes
up (and it apparently will be raised frequently during the upcoming presidential election)
we are always reminded of the words of the fourth longest serving Supreme Court Chief
Justice, William Rehnquist: "The 'wall of separation between church and state' is a
metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor which has proved useless as a guide
to judging. It should be frankly and explicitly abandoned."
What is called "America's Foreign Policy" is baffling, at best. A few months ago,
after some protests in a public square in Cairo -- no severe rioting or mass-killings -- the
Obama administration turned against President Mubarak, our long time friend (and Israel's),
and encouraged his ouster, paving the way for a future take-over of Egypt by the radical
Muslim Brotherhood. Then after some protests and rioting in Libya, with relatively few
killings, we led the way (using NATO as a front) to attack and try to remove President
Qaddafi. Now, after months of asserting that Syria's President Assad was a "reformer,"
and with a thousand or so killings, we have changed our view, and are seeking for him to
cease his attacks and/or step down. And now the most severe protest riots are happening
in England, raising the question: Will we seek to depose the government in Great Britain?
Meanwhile, just across our southern border in Mexico there have been between 35,000
and 40,000 killings in the past 4 years, but we have not intervened there -- rather we have
provided modern weapons for the gangs, under an Obama administration operation named
"Fast and Furious." Yes, "baffling" is a mild word for the Obama foreign policy.
Given the liberal bias of the media, never ignore "What Others Are Saying."
Thomas D. Segel (in New Media Journal): "If there was ever a time when this
country needed the combined strength of citizens who believe in supporting the
Constitution, reducing national debt, controlling unsupportable spending and
defending the security of our borders, that time is now.... At this hour only 14
percent of the population believes the country is moving in the right direction.
That is a staggering number."
Mark Steyn (author of After America): "Americans face a choice: you can
rediscover the animating principles of the American idea—of limited government,
a self-reliant citizenry, and the opportunities to exploit your talents to the fullest
-- or you can join most of the rest of the western world in terminal decline. This is
a battle for the American idea, and it's an epic one, but you can do anything you
want to do. So do it."
Joel C. Rosenberg (Communications advisor; best selling author): "America is
in trouble, morally, spiritually and financially. Yet no one seems to have any
answers. The politicians seem clueless. The media certainly doesn't have any
answers. Academia seems more out of touch than ever. Sadly, far too many
Church leaders are asleep, as well -- or too timid, or drifting off course
spiritually and theologically -- just at the time they could and should be
powerfully proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only real hope of
mankind. God hasn't failed us. We have failed God."
Skip MacLure (in Conservative Outpost): "I'm convinced that Washington,
DC, is, as we have long suspected, not in the same time line as the rest of us.
Some, like me, would tend to say that Washington is existing in another
universe altogether."
Nicole Gelinas (in New York Post): "America is supposed to be the world’s
economic and financial leader. How much more will we discredit ourselves
before President Obama does his job: lead us out of a historic crisis that is
gnawing through our growth, instead of digging us deeper?"
Jack Marshall (writing in Ethics Alarms): "The popular Democratic,
progressive, liberal and news media slur for the Republican House and its Tea
Party warriors during and after the budget ceiling debate was "terrorists,"
suggesting an analogy between the GOP insisting on major expenditure cuts in
the budget as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, and political and religious
extremists who threaten to kill people if they don't get their way. Needless to
say, it's a disgraceful, dishonest, illogical and slanderous comparison."
And there is an occasional "One Liner" . . .
"America's Credit rating survived the Great Depression, but not two years of
Obama." -- Glenn Beck
"Pakistan continues Ramadan celebration; death toll reaches 47." -- International
news story headline
And as always, there are a few random "Afterthoughts" . . .
Waiting for the other shoe to drop! Or how much bad news can we handle? On
top of the S&P downgrade of America's credit rating, we were confronted with this
headline in the Washington Post, "Geithner tells Obama he will remain as
Treasury Secretary," and the accompanying opening line: "Treasury Secretary
Timothy F. Geithner has told President Obama he plans to remain in his job
through the fall of 2012." Next, we may hear that Attorney General Eric Holder is
also staying in power.
In addition to sewing up the voting support of tiny minorities such as homosexuals
and Muslims, President Obama has now been assured that he has the support of the
Communists. While noting that he is disappointed with "some aspects" of the Obama
administration's domestic and foreign policy, Sam Webb, chairman of the Communist
Party USA, threw his support behind Obama’s re-election bid in an article last week
in People’s Weekly World, the official newspaper of the Communist Party USA.
It is increasingly difficult to understand the religious convictions of Mr. Obama.
In one comment (ABC-TV, Sept. 7, 2008) he spoke of "my Muslim faith." On other
occasions he has said "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian." He is the
first U.S. President ever to affirm to Muslim nations that we are not a Christian nation.
He has not given the National Day of Prayer any White House recognition, and has
never recognized the Christian "Holy Week" in Lent, preceding Easter, yet he celebrates
the Islam holy month of Ramadan with gala White House fetes. His official proclamation
this year included these words, "As Ramadan begins, Michelle and I would like to
send our best wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the
world. Ramadan is a festive time that is anticipated for months by Muslims
everywhere. And here in the United States, Muslim Americans share Ramadan
traditions with their neighbors, and co-workers...I wish Muslims around the world
a blessed month, and I look forward to again hosting an iftar dinner here at the
White House. Ramadan Kareem." (That is a traditional Muslim greeting.)
As comedy film actor and producer Mel Brooks used to say: "It's good to be
the king." A present day application is seen in the fact that Mr. Obama's upcoming
campaign bus tour through the Midwest "swing" states will be paid for by taxpayers,
according to the White House spokesperson. In response to the question, "So it is
being funded by taxpayers?" Press Secretary Jay Carney responded, "He's the
president of the United States." (Hey, Mel: It's also good to be the president.)
The Founding Fathers' views on the Constitution and the presidency are notable.
