A Christian Nation

Leviticus 19:1-4, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy. You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the LORD your God.”

As early as the Mayflower Compact the United States was founded upon its faith in God through Christ. Those who would seek to destroy or limit religious speech or public practices of faith fail to remember that basic truth of our existence and founding. It is time that we recognize whereupon we have begun our journey.

Prayer: Father, deliver us from our failed practices of faith. Strengthen us in Your Holy service. Help us remember that You set our Nation on a course of Christian belief and Christian hope. May those who seek to destroy our Nation hear Your powerful Word Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN

Alinsky's Rules are in play again by Bolshevik Obama

From Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals:

RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon;"

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it;" CINCO (comrade-in-chief Obama), went on the attack again.

Yesterday CINCO (comrade-in-chief Obama), at the invitation of the Republicans, went to Maryland to talk (fight) with the House and Senate Republicans to prove to them and the world with cameras rolling that he is right and the Republicans are wrong. He continued his antagonistic rant against Republicans so virulently that he proved the points that have been made that he simply will not listen to anything a Republican has to say. He came to office as a ‘uniter’ by his own definition and what that really means is that he wants to unite his Bolsheviks under one banner instead of working for America. He said in the Spectacle of the Union speech that ‘we all love America.’ He lied. If he loved America he wouldn’t have made a world apology tour and he would have saluted the men and women who were murdered at Ft. Hood instead of holding his crotch. CINCO is a liar and a divider. He said to the Republicans that he heard their concerns about tort reform, defensive medicine and trade barriers among states regarding health insurance purchases and those things are in the bill. Which bill CINCO? Where is it that those elements have been included? You lie!

When you hear Demokrat strategists speak about this action by CINCO they applaud him -  they have no desire to get along with Republicans or any conservative. They are in full attack mode with CINCO at the lead. Soros and Alinsky are flying the hammer and sickle.

What does he do today?  He begins a brand new tactic and that is espousing the pilfered plank of too much spending.  He stole a plank from Scott Brown's win and now he's riding in with the hammer and sickle flying to save us reckless spenders especially since none of us is smart enough to figure out what to do since we have already shown that we cannot be trusted to interpret a healthcare bill from behind a locked door.

A Nineveh Moment

Jonah 3, “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. He ran. And God still found him. Resigned to his ministry he went to Nineveh and proclaimed God’s powerful message for repentance. Jonah’s fear of being destroyed in that great warring city came to be unfounded. The Ninevites and their king repented and dressed themselves in sack cloth and ashes as a sign that they believed God and were truly sorry for what they had done. Simply put, they believed.

Prayer: Eternal and loving God. Help us to confess, seek Your forgiveness and repent believing forever that Your Words and actions are true and in love for Your Creation. Help us Father return to Your Holy Way. In Jesus Name we pray. AMEN

Stand Up and Fight for our Nation!

Since Wednesday night we’ve been swarmed by pundits and their take on the Spectacle of the Union that CINCO (comrade-in-chief Obama) trotted out; his lies, his constant haranguing rhetoric about who’s to blame and his belief in his own messianic anointing. The American people deserve better than this empty suit. I did note however, that the American electorate so desperately wanted someone with silvery words and a willingness to step into the breach that they elected a shaped image that better reflects that of a hologram than a real leader. CINCO stood in front of Americans and denigrated us for not ‘understanding the healthcare legislation when not one senator or representative could admit that she or he had read the bills and understood them. In fact CICNO had not read the bills and when he challenged Republicans or anyone to come to his office and he would go over them line by line he didn’t keep his promise as Republicans lined up for that moment. CINCO’s behavior toward the Supreme Court was nothing less than despicable. He expects respect for his office but is unwilling to give the same respect to the Supreme Court.

Brothers and sisters of America the current president of the United States is a pretender, a liar and a communist who wants to destroy this nation. The time is growing short for action. Every member of Congress and the Senate who sees what he is attempting and are either helping in the overthrow or simply are looking out for her or his own political interests need to be voted out of office. It’s time for those who haven’t been involved in politics to rise up and take charge of this citizens' revolt against the destruction of America. Find a candidate or any issue and began swamping your senators or representative with the news that this is over. Stand up America and get involved – this is our future!

Avoid them!

2 Timothy 3:1-5, “You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them!”

Even in the time of this pastoral exhortation to Timothy we find the prophetic voice of the future calling out to us. We read: lovers of self, money, boasting, arrogant, and abusive; this behavior sounds like today. This self absorption and tyrannical behavior is brokenness with God and with our neighbor. Listen to the arrogant political speeches about a politician’s self-importance and follow the advice of Paul, “Avoid them!” In other words keep them out of your government, your schools, your businesses, your church congregations and your homes. There are strong words in this pastoral letter and it would serve us well to follow what is encouraged to Timothy. At the core of this wicked behavior is brokenness that leads to spiritual destruction. We must avoid them and it.

Prayer: Loving God You have set our lives in motion and You have given us Your pattern for holy life. Help us bring to this world a sense of right relationship with You and with one another. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN.

Spectacle of Lies

The State of the Union was a spectacle of lies. Taunting, mocking and lecturing Republicans to do what CINCO (comrade-in-chief Obama) wants. That is his philosophy of bi-partisanship. He tried to use the word ‘no’ as a tool of vindication and he took no responsibility for failure. He stated that he should have explained things better. We’ve had enough campaign speeches CINCO. What America needs and deserves is an honorable leader. You are a liar and a phony. There is no openness or transparency. Those are sheaves of lies and you know it. Two million jobs created or saved? Hardly, even the Congressional Budget Office states that there is no way to calculate that. Tax credits and incentives will not cut it. You need to cut taxes across the board and stop spending across the board. Congress needs to give back its pay raises and expense accounts.

CINCO you discredit the office of president, this nation and yourself. You are a disgrace. Your arrogant and condescending ways do nothing more than polarize this nation into factions. A lying coward that hides behind braver men and women than you’ll ever become. It’s best if you and Joe ‘Bribe-‘em’ leave office.

Shadows and hope

Hebrews 10:1, “Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach.”

Routinely I hear of those practicing the Christian faith attempting to convert the Bible, the Holy Word of God, the foretelling and incarnation of Jesus, as a recipe that we must follow for our salvation. Human history with practice like that is long and storied. There is a simple explanation and it takes the form of humans needing some ‘thing’ to worship and follow. The law or Word of God is not followed so as to gain salvation. The Holy Word of God is the guide of our faith and within its rule we are allowed to share in the limits of our understanding of God. The basic salvific fact is accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of our life and Savior of our life. Once we get that and are moved by the Holy Spirit to yield to His Lordship we will get the rest. Let’s not let the rule of faith be our recipe for salvation. Let’s live into our faith in Christ and live out what He desires for us and in His Kingdom.

Prayer: Heavenly Father thank You for today and for the gift of Your unfailing love for us – Jesus. Soften our hearts to yield to His desire for our lives. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN.

Liar-in-Chief redux

Tonight we will have the State of the Union spectacle. This person sitting in the highest office of the land delivers silvery throated rhetoric that makes my skin crawl. He epitomizes how Satan works, ‘seductively calling Eve to the forbidden fruit.’ His style is smarmy and disingenuous. You cannot believe anything that he says because as we have seen, it didn’t take more than a few days in office for him to realize that he was elected on charisma. He is an empty suit trying to be president. He is failing miserably and creating a greater gulf between voters. It must be his plan to cause civil war within our borders. He’s creating such enmity among folks that the only solution left will be for those who believe that others have more than they will be for the ‘less-thans’ to take from the ‘more-thans.’

America, please do not be fooled by this 21st century Bolshevik and the revolt that he fomenting. He wants nothing more than to turn this nation into a vassal state of the last standing communist power. His clueless approach to economics and his stable of wannabe economists and ‘money-experts’ have mangled the economy. Tonight he’s going to pull a Marie Antoinette stunt and say, ‘let them eat cake (spending freezes and tax credits).’ He’s going to tell us that he’s fighting for us. He lies. That’s the Chicago-way. With Gibbs, Jarrett and Emanuel on his close team of advisors and Plouffe now showing up to help the ‘anointed one’ campaign we can expect more spurious lies of the half-truth variety.

Remember what this liar says tonight. He does not have any interest but his own in mind. He is not a Christian, he is a socialist, and he is trying to destroy our nation.

Prayer Concerns and joys in Christ

Something we can share together.  Respond to this post with your prayer concerns or joys in Christ.  Give first names (or relationship - sibling, spouse,  parent, friend) only; joys or issues and we will take those to our prayer time in Christ.

Our prayer begins this way:  "Loving God we thank you for this day and for Your Son Jesus Christ who redeems us.  Hear our prayer...(add your prayer concern or joy)..."

Respected Leadership

Titus 1:5-9, “I left you in charge in Crete so you could complete what I left half-done. Appoint leaders in every town according to my instructions. As you select them, ask, “Is this man well-thought-of? Are his children believers? Do they respect him and stay out of trouble?” It’s important that a church leader, responsible for the affairs in God’s house, be looked up to—not pushy, not short-tempered, not a drunk, not a bully, not money-hungry. He must welcome people, be helpful, wise, fair, reverent, have a good grip on himself, and have a good grip on the Message, knowing how to use the truth to either spur people on in knowledge or stop them in their tracks if they oppose it.”

This pastoral letter to Titus is insightful. Paul speaks about the work that he left half-completed and why he appointed Titus. I wonder, if we chose our leaders throughout our land as our forbearers were instructed what condition would our society find itself in today? The standards that Paul offers in choosing leaders seems foundational and structurally sound to a moral and holy people. Why can’t we change the course of a nation and begin to choose leaders based upon these principles?

Prayer: Eternal and loving God, we thank You for this day, the day that wasn’t promised. Let us live lives and choose leaders because we are all guided by the same commands that You gave so very long ago in human time. Your love is timeless. Help us see Your authority and take Your authority to do Your holy will. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN.

Broken Covenant

This morning my wife and I were at the orthopedic surgeon’s office. While in the waiting room I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation between a husband and wife. Apparently the husband was supposed to undergo an MRI and had taken an anti-anxiety medication in advance. The office assistant had advised the couple that they would have to wait a bit. After they learned that they would have to wait, the man’s wife was trying to reason with her husband about sharing information with the medical team about his having already taken his medicine. He became nasty toward his wife and ultimately said, “Why don’t you use your brain?” He said it loud enough for anyone around to hear. She got up and walked out. He muttered, “Guess I’ll have to find a ride home.” I sat and stared at this oaf wondering why she would tolerate his antics. He just kept looking down at his phone all the while texting and griping.

The marriage covenant is very simple. You both agree to, “love, honor and cherish as long as you both shall live.” When that or any other portion of the covenant is broken the covenant that the husband and wife made with God and one another is now broken. This man needs to repair the damage that he has done to his wife. His belligerent and condescending behavior toward his wife was a despicable act. I pray God’s healing on their relationship, his repentance and for his wife’s safety and assurance.

Temptation

Matthew 4:1-4, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Satan is active in this world and life. He won’t stop until he is stopped by Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (or Parousia). As we can tell from reading from Matthew, Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days and nights. Most of us would be hungry after a one day fast (me included). Satan used Jesus’ hunger as a moment of perceived ‘weakness’ to lure Jesus into his snare and engage Him for his purposes rather than to serve God as Redeemer and Restorer. Jesus put a very quick halt to Satan’s march and gives us in this lesson an understanding of what it takes to live into God’s expectation of us, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We cannot survive merely with sustenance for the physical we are composed of a spiritual self or soul that requires spiritual food or sustenance that only comes from God through Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Loving God, You have made us in Your very image to be fed by Your very hand and desire. Feed us with Your holy will and by Your loving heart. Lead us into Your perfect Way, Jesus Christ, for it is in Jesus Name that we pray. AMEN.

Ohio golfer's scorecard confession earns accolade

“Ohio golfer's scorecard confession earns accolade
Published: 1/24/10, 4:25 PM EDT

MOUNT GILEAD, Ohio (AP) - A scorecard confession that cost an Ohio high school golfer the state championship five years ago has earned him a national sportsmanship of the decade award. Adam Van Houten (HOW'-ten) of Mount Gilead High School in north-central Ohio had finished the 2005 state high school golf championship with a seven-stroke lead when he noticed a mistake on his card. A playing partner had written down a 5 for the 10th hole instead of 6. Van Houten pointed out the mistake to officials and was disqualified because he'd already signed the card. Five years later, Van Houten's act has won him a spot on Sports Illustrated's sportsmanship of the decade list. Van Houten is now a sophomore on the golf team at George Mason University near Washington.”

Information from: News Journal, http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com//

Character is what you do when no one is watching. This young man is a credit to his family and his integrity adds a measure of respect for his athletic endeavor. Praise God for him and for Sports Illustrated for recognizing integrity.

Vengeance is Mine

Deuteronomy 32:35-36, “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; because the day of their calamity is at hand, their doom comes swiftly. Indeed the LORD will vindicate his people, have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, neither bond nor free remaining.”

One of the great challenges in life is to not take vengeance. In 1782, Pierre Ambroise Francios Choderios de Laclos wrote, “Revenge [vengeance] is a dish best served cold.” He didn’t attend to what God said that revenge [vengeance] belongs to God alone. Often we want to get even or even up the score or regain wholeness; and our method in doing so is exacting revenge [vengeance] on those who hurt us. If it is justice that we seek, then seek justice and let God serve the revenge [vengeance], else our souls will be in mortal danger.

Prayer: Father, thank You for today and for Jesus Christ who came to save us and to be our judge. Help us get into Your Way and desire for us. Let revenge and vengeance alone be Your province. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN

Current Rage

The current rage in politics is Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Why? I believe the answer to why he is the current rage is the current rage of the American electorate. Americans are angry at elected officials who choose to ignore us and not do what we asked them to do. America is not Europe. While many of our ancestors came from Europe the reason many left Europe to begin with was to get away from Europe. Some of our ancestors are from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Every one of our ancestors came here to get away from the status quo of Euro-imperialism and bigotry. The exceptions are those who came as indentured servants and slaves. America came to its being through a harsh struggle at times tearing itself apart to remake itself. But here we are in 2010 where a black man is the sitting president and the nation is angry not because the president is black but because he and the rest of the political elitists and statists have decided that we aren’t intelligent enough to know what is good for us so they are going to ram what’s good for us down our throats and we get to like it.

Guess what? The most liberal and Democrat state in the union, Massachusetts, just elected a conservative Republican as the new senator to fill the seat held by the most liberal senator on the floor. Scott Brown is every man, woman and child in this nation who seeks her or his own way through self-determination not governmental central planning in its nanniest of states. He made an interesting comment that he is the 41st vote but so is every other Senator who chooses liberty over tyranny. CINCO (comrade-in-chief-Obama) said that Scott Brown was swept into office for the same reason that he was. That’s a lie! CINCO has spent so much time believing all the god-terms associated with his candidacy and qualifications that he suddenly believes that every man, woman and child thinks as he does.

This is rage against your Chicago-style politics as usual CINCO. Get over your self-indulgent, self flattery and land the ship of state in reality. You have failed miserably in every endeavor that you and the Demokrat party have taken this Nation.

Congratulations Massachusetts for having the presence of mind and conscience to say no to this political recklessness and to show America that there is still a tree of Liberty in your hearts.

First Fruit

Leviticus 23:9-11, “The LORD spoke to Moses: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall raise the sheaf before the LORD, that you may find acceptance; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall raise it.”

What is our first fruit? It is our salary, income, receipts for services, proceeds from the sale of an item or property and it represents the pre-tax amount or gross sale. The tithe is part of the first fruit and it is one-tenth. This long ago was given to Moses by God to remind us of the source of our abundance. Some in ministry abuse the giving practice and have at heart a monument building intent. These individuals are no different from those in Jerusalem whose intent was strengthening their coffers for the purposes of riches and power. God’s intent for the first fruit offering is a reminder of the source of mercy and an honor to God. Let us remember what God has done and let us honor God by keeping this ordinance.

Prayer: Father we thank You for all that we have received in Your mercy. Forgive us we pray when we fail to remember and help us to become better stewards and more faithful in our attention to Your ordinances. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN.

Holy Days and Holy Ways

Leviticus 23:1-8, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: These are the appointed festivals of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations, my appointed festivals. Six days shall work be done; but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work: it is a Sabbath to the LORD throughout your settlements. These are the appointed festivals of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall celebrate at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, there shall be a Passover offering to the LORD, and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of unleavened bread to the LORD; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. For seven days you shall present the LORD’S offerings by fire; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations.”

After bringing the people of the House of Jacob (Israel) out of Egypt and into the wilderness God spoke to Moses to have the people set apart celebrations and remembrances of God’s acts in redemption of Israel. So holy were these times of remembrance that no work could be done. These celebrations and worship of God were held in the same regard as the Sabbath. Over time the House of Jacob would turn these days into such perfunctory performances that the worship of God was driven out replaced with ‘duty and obligation.’ What God did for Israel should have been held in the deepest of reverence and love yet the people of Israel had a way of corrupting the holiest of days into duty when what God wanted was worship and love and honor. How do we honor God today? Do we make others work so we won’t have to? Or do we set aside the Holy days of god for God worship?

Prayer: Eternal and loving God thank You for the day that wasn’t promised. Turn our thoughts, words and deeds back to you. Help us live Your expectation of us. In Jesus’ Name we pray. AMEN.

"Why I am Not a Communist" by Betrand Russell

"Why I am Not a Communist"

by Betrand Russell

"I am completely at a loss to understand how it came about that some people who are both humane and intelligent could find something to admire in the vast slave camp produced by Stalin."

In relation to any political doctrine there are two questions to be asked: (1) Are its theoretical tenets true? (2) Is its practical policy likely to increase human happiness? For my part, I think the theoretical tenets of Communism are false, and I think its practical maxims are such as to produce an immeasurable increase of human misery.

The theoretical doctrines of Communism are for the most part derived from Marx. My objections to Marx are of two sorts: one, that he was muddle-headed; and the other, that his thinking was almost entirely inspired by hatred. The doctrine of surplus value, which is supposed to demonstrate the exploitation of wage-earners under capitalism, is arrived at: (a) by surreptitiously accepting Malthus's doctrine of population, which Marx and all his disciples explicitly repudiate; (b) by applying Ricardo's theory of value to wages, but not to the prices of manufactured articles. He is entirely satisfied with the result, not because it is in accordance with the facts or because it is logically coherent, but because it is calculated to rouse fury in wage-earners. Marx's doctrine that all historical events have been motivated by class conflicts is a rash and untrue extension to world history of certain features prominent in England and France a hundred years ago. His belief that there is a cosmic force called Dialectical Materialism which governs human history independently of human volitions, is mere mythology. His theoretical errors, however, would not have mattered so much but for the fact that, like Tertullian and Carlyle, his chief desire was to see his enemies punished, and he cared little what happened to his friends in the process.

Marx's doctrine was bad enough, but the developments which it underwent under Lenin and Stalin made it much worse. Marx had taught that there would be a revolutionary transitional period following the victory of the proletariat in a civil war and that during this period the proletariat, in accordance with the usual practice after a civil war, would deprive its vanquished enemies of political power. This period was to be that of the dictatorship of the proletariat. It should not be forgotten that in Marx's prophetic vision the victory of the proletariat was to come after it had grown to be the vast majority of the population. The dictatorship of the proletariat therefore as conceived by Marx was not essentially anti-democratic. In the Russia of 1917, however, the proletariat was a small percentage of the population, the great majority being peasants. it was decreed that the Bolshevik party was the class-conscious part of the proletariat, and that a small committee of its leaders was the class-conscious part of the Bolshevik party. The dictatorship of the proletariat thus came to be the dictatorship of a small committee, and ultimately of one man - Stalin. As the sole class-conscious proletarian, Stalin condemned millions of peasants to death by starvation and millions of others to forced labour in concentration camps. He even went so far as to decree that the laws of heredity are henceforth to be different from what they used to be, and that the germ-plasm is to obey Soviet decrees but that that reactionary priest Mendel. I am completely at a loss to understand how it came about that some people who are both humane and intelligent could find something to admire in the vast slave camp produced by Stalin.

I have always disagreed with Marx. My first hostile criticism of him was published in 1896. But my objections to modern Communism go deeper than my objections to Marx. It is the abandonment of democracy that I find particularly disastrous. A minority resting its powers upon the activities of secret police is bound to be cruel, oppressive and obscurantist. The dangers of the irresponsible power cane to be generally recognized during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but those who have forgotten all that was painfully learnt during the days of absolute monarchy, and have gone back to what was worst in the middle ages under the curious delusion that they were in the vanguard of progress.

There are signs that in course of time the Russian régime will become more liberal. But, although this is possible, it is very far from certain. In the meantime, all those who value not only art and science but a sufficiency of bread and freedom from the fear that a careless word by their children to a schoolteacher may condemn them to forced labour in a Siberian wilderness, must do what lies in their power to preserve in their own countries a less servile and more prosperous manner of life.

There are those who, oppressed by the evils of Communism, are led to the conclusion that the only effective way to combat these evils is by means of a world war. I think this a mistake. At one time such a policy might have been possible, but now war has become so terrible and Communism has become so powerful that no one can tell what would be left after a world war, and whatever might be left would probably be at least as bad as present -day Communism. This forecast does not depend upon the inevitable effects of mass destruction by means of hydrogen and cobalt bombs and perhaps of ingeniously propagated plagues. The way to combat Communism is not war. What is needed in addition to such armaments as will deter Communists from attacking the West, is a diminution of the grounds for discontent in the less prosperous parts of the non-communist world. In most of the countries of Asia, there is abject poverty which the West ought to alleviate as far as it lies in its power to do so. There is also a great bitterness which was caused by the centuries of European insolent domination in Asia. This ought to be dealt with by a combination of patient tact with dramatic announcements renouncing such relics of white domination as survive in Asia. Communism is a doctrine bred of poverty, hatred and strife. Its spread can only be arrested by diminishing the area of poverty and hatred.

from Portraits from Memory published in 1956

While Russell was a philosopher and logician (aka dreamer) he was practical.  He was a socialist and I thought that reading his thoughts on a nanny/totalitarian state under the guise of socialism might be helpful.  Dr. Russell's opinions are not mine - we share intersections in thought.

Socialism/communism

I felt that it is necessary to review again the tenets of socialism/communism:

Marx described three necessary phases toward achieving his ideal state (Summarized from the communist manifesto).

Phase 1: A revolution must take place in order to overthrow the existing government. Marx emphasized the nee¬d for total destruction of the existing system in order to move on to Phase 2.

Phase 2: A dictator or elite leader (or leaders) must gain absolute control over the proletariat. During this phase, the new government exerts absolute control over the common citizen's personal choices -- including his or her education, religion, employment and even marriage. Collectivization of property and wealth must also take place.

Phase 3: Achievement of utopia. This phase has never been attained because it requires that all non-communists be destroyed in order for the Communist Party to achieve supreme equality. In a Marxist utopia, everyone would happily share property and wealth, free from the restrictions that class-based systems require. The government would control all means of production so that the one-class system would remain constant, with no possibility of any middle class citizens rising back to the top.

Marx also detailed the 10 essential tenets of communism:

• Central banking system

• Government controlled education

• Government controlled labor

• Government ownership of transportation and communication vehicles

• Government ownership of agricultural means and factories

• Total abolition of private property

• Property rights confiscation

• Heavy income tax on everyone

• Elimination of rights of inheritance

• Regional planning

Use this as a checklist with Congress, the Senate and CINCO.

Away

Hello my sisters and brothers in Christ!

I have been swamped with other duties and have not been writing.  Please forgive my interruption.  So much has happened that we must stay current.  I look forward to hearing from you in 2010.  My earnest prayer is that 2010 will be a memorable year for all the right reasons. 

May God bless you and fill you with the desire to speak your heart in Christ, in truth, and with integrity.