Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas!

May the peace, power, and promises of God through Jesus the Christ be with you all this holiday season - and ever after!

The memorial of the birth of Christ also reminds us not merely of the joy of a newborn babe, but of the love of God. As Paul Harvey would say, "Here's the REST of the STORY..."

That story is about the profound and marvelous life of Yeshua, the tragic and seemingly unjust death of this great man, followed by his awesome ressurection to life, his appearance, and his ascension to Heaven, the anointing of his followers with his Holy Spirit, and his trustworthy promise to return.

And how deep the Father's love for us that he should give his only Son to die in our place for the unmerited privilege of living in Him, with Him, and He in us - forever!

I don't know about you, but to me that is GOOD NEWS!


Maranatha and Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Speaking Engagement...Come hear me

This Sunday I'll be speaking at Atlanta's Church of All Nations, 650 Rowland Road in Stone Mountain, GA., at 1:00pm. Come out and hear me preach the dynamic word of God and deliver God's special message to you and for you.

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

Baruch Hashem and Soli Deo Gloria!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Been Busy!

My apologies to all those who peruse the BallPointBlog from time to time. I haven't posted a thing in three weeks! Well, besides being a minister (I am bi-vocational), I work in the retail industry. Of course, one day I'd like to be full time. Please pray for me in that regard, will you? But since it is Christmas time you can imagine how busy I've been. I have tons of things to talk about and throw out to you, including a short article I am working on regarding America's covenant with God and Israel.

I know that 99% of you do not care to respond to my musings and diatribes - but that's quite OK with me! The blog was never intended to be a dialog. It is however from my heart and mind to yours!

Baruch Hashem! Soli deo Gloria! and Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Obama: Ordained of God? You Betcha!

Of course, if one believes in the doctrine of the complete sovereignty of God, as I do, it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that Barack Obama's presidency was ordained. The real question that many Christians are right now having a challenging time answering is whether or not Obama is God's choice for America. That is to say, if God were choosing the best person to right now lead America - would Obama be it?

The difficulty in that question lies in the unfolding of what we think God's will is for the nation and the people. Jim Bramlett's article in InJesus.com comes to the conclusion that Barack Obama may be a Saul - handsome, debonair, a looker, but ultimately not the king God would choose.

I take a different track. The track I take is based on the belief that God will permit evil to flourish in a godly nation in order to cause them to turn back to Him in repentence. That is to say, God will actively cause havoc to reign to bring about both His immediate and long-term purposes. I firmly believe God is an "actor" in the world today, as He was yesterday, and as He ill be at the end of the Age.

Exhibit "A" would be the nation of Israel in the Book of Judges. The "five-fold cycle" in Judges was something like this:

1. Israel forgot God's promises and turned to idolatry (forgetfulness and idolatry)
2. God gave them into the hands of their enemies (oppression)
3. They cried out to God for deliverance (outcry and promise to repent)
4. God raised up a judge to deliver them (deliverance by God)
5. When that judge died, they would return to idolatry (recidivism)

Martin Luther offered this point with regard to the raging problem of his day - militant Islam: "As a religion Islam is either a scourge sent by the devil - or worse - sent from God." In Luther's view God used Islam as a "rod" to both chasten and judge his Christian people. This is to say that God does raise up people, nations, and individuals for purposes that are not apparently good to those believers who suffer at their hands.

So it follows then that when the peace, safety, comfort, ease, and finances of God's people are disrupted - and we yet abide in and tolerate gross sin in our midst - we may most assuredly conclude that God is behind the disruption.

Whether it is...

Passive
- if you do "X" - then the dreadful consequences of doing "X" follow
If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. (Isa. 1)

or

Active
- I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things"(Isa. 45:7)
- Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD (Amos; Jer.)

I believe God raised up the Pharisees, the advocates of zeal for god's Law - so that His Son may be glorified in teaching Israel - and us - about His love and grace.

I believe God raised up and chose Herod the Great, a king committed to the transformation of Israel into a Rome of their day - a move that only incensed and stirred the Jewish people into rebellion against the Romans leading to and culminating in the Jewish War which saw the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. A fall that God had prophesied in the book of Jeremiah.

I also believe God raised up Adolf Hitler. Suffice it to say on this very sensitive subject that without the worldwide scourge of the wicked Third Reich, the conditions for the creation of the modern nation of Israel would most certainly not have existed - and thus Israel, a modern miracle - would not have been born.

Barack Obama may quite possibly have been raised up for the nation's good - in that peace and prosperity will arrive with him and the nation is blessed. Then we may know for sure that God is with him and us. Only time will tell.

But the problem with this line of thinking - and there are many who think this way - is that there are clear violations of God's moral laws in the positions that Barack Obama has either endorsed or defended. Issues related to -
- Homosexuality
- Adultery
- the sanctity of Human Life
- Murder
- Religious worship
- Idolatry

But it follows, conversely, that if the people of God, i.e., "His nation" suffer and are waylaid as a result of Obama's (or the liberal Democratic Party's) policies, practices, affections, or rule, we may rightly say that Obama was sent by God to scourge and chasten the people. It may be for our ultimate good that these sufferings will drive us to God; but of course, such things are never pleasant. It is a foreboding of bad times to come.

An additional problem confounding the matter is that we cannot say for sure what God is doing in the life of Barack Obama, the man. Is he even saved? If not, what makes anyone believe that God is with him? Do we even know if the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his pastor of 20 years, is saved? If he is not, then Obama certainly is not. We do know that Black Liberation theology is hardly Christian. It is fringe Christianity. It is Liberal Christianity. And because liberal theologians like to play footsie with so much that is not sound doctrine, I think it's fair to call into question basic issues of salvation with them, like we do with the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Mormoms. There is so much we don't know about Obama the sojourner, now President-elect.

The question for me then, isn't whether or not Obama is God's choice, the question is for what purpose has God raised him up to lead us? To heal or to scourge? To gather or to scatter?


Matt. 12:30
"He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad."


C.S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pain: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

Friday, November 28, 2008

Attack on the Covenant People...

The recent terrorist attack in Mumbai was yet another in a series of violent Satanic outbursts against humanity in general and the Covenant people of God in particular. I don't like to read too much into an article but this line caught my eye:

"Their main targets appeared to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seemed to be Indians and foreign tourists caught in the random gunfire."


Jews? Why the Jews? In India? Of all places. I didn't even realize there were Jews in India until I recalled an anti-Semitic remark a Bible college professor of mine once said to his OT theology class. "No matter where you go in this world, there are two things you can always find - an empty Coke can and a Jew." Yeah, it stunk then too.

But an article I read from a Jewish website suggests that many Jews seem to have come to some rational conlusion as to why world hatred has historically been directed against them.

At Sinai Jews were told that there is one God, [one] who makes moral demands on all of humanity. Consequently, at Sinai the Jewish nation became the target for the hatred of those whose strongest drive is to liberate mankind from the shackles of conscience and morality. At Sinai the Jewish nation was appointed to be "a light unto the nations." There are those who embrace Jews and the Jewish faith because of that light; but there are also those who want the world to be a place of spiritual darkness. They object to morality. Those would-be harbingers of darkness attack the Jews as the lightning rod for their hatred.

Now, however, I would argue that the vast majority of Americans and Britons have no idea why they are the targets of so much terrorist hatred. The roots of the relationship of Britain and America with Israel are deeply spiritual - beginning with Christ - and hence, the spirit of anti-Christ which moves like a wind through the children of destruction to do violence to both Jews and Christians. It's motive is to uproot the Jews from their land, separate America and Britian from Israel, and ultimately silence the Jewish pulse from Christianity. The ultimate point is that the Jews must go.

You see this in supercessionism, especially, (and is one of the reasons I have separated myself from Presbyterianism) in anti-semitism among some Christians - whose roots that date back to the Marcion heresy, incidentally. But I'd like to call attention to the identity of the American nation and the British nation(s). This identity is an identity of covenant relationship with Israel under God and is under attack. Unfortunately it is seldom noticed. People riot and American and British flags are burned in the streets and all folks can say is American political "policies" are to blame. American "ideology" is at fault. Yeah, right. My argument is that ideology and policy follow - at least nationally - from identity. Who you are profoundly affects what you think and believe. And who you are spiritually affects your destiny.

Very rarely does anyone point out that the relationship with Christians and their Jewish brethren is spiritual and relational before it is ideological and political. Romans 11 bears this out. The gospels bear this out. The concealed nature of this relationship is one that the enemies of God would rather not see revealed - Hitler excepting.

The Jews are our kinfolk. Period, point-blank. Our kinship to them is indissoluble. One may as well tear the Bible in two or tear the Savior from his Jewish roots before any separation can be made. (I realize most people don't think like this, but God's enemies do!)

And so it follows from the logic that America and Britain, as "Christian nations" whose relationship with modern Israel and its capital, Jerusalem - founded by the British General Sir Allenby, sealed by Britain's Balfour Agreement, recognized - alone - by America in 1948 are in a deep, profound sense related to the people of Israel. Thus the explanation for the ideological and political lockstep in favor of Jewish interests in the Middle East.

Thus the terrorists wrath. America had better wake up. It positively stinks when you've got a Covenant with God and the Prince of this World has been loosed.

Rev. 12:5-6, 14
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up to God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Religion under attack...

Most folks who've studied their history may already know that the United States of America was founded as an Enlightenment-style democratic republic. However, much greater consideration should be given to the fact that we were - and are - a covenant nation as well. A covenant means that an agreement of meaningful and solemn proportions was been made. This agreement was made with the God of Heaven and Earth. How else to explain this country's unique Christian sensibilities?

Religious symbols and mottos abound in our states. Religious ceremony and prayers initiate our Congressional sessions. Our national songs are rich with religious references. There is a church on every corner in most of our towns and cities.

America has a relationship with God - and whether anyone likes it or not - that relationship cannot be revoked without grave cost. The religious sensibility of Americans has been noted many foreign observers throughout history. Today, the Jerusalem Post reports from a poll done by the Anti-Defamtion League that a majority of Americans are feeling a sense of values attack.

And though the poll is geared to measure the level of anti-semitism involved in American's sense of who's responsible for the values attack, it is refreshing to note most Americans don't think the Jews are behind it. Of course, Hollywood is cited as a hostile player and I'm pretty sure for the next four years a Democratically dominated Washington, D.C. - whose campaigns have been financed largely by Hollywood elites - will be of little help.

We shall see...


Amos 3:1-3
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Monday, November 10, 2008

Black America: Sheep in Wolves Clothing

I didn't really want to write this, but I am compelled to address the spectacular contradiction of Black Christian allegiance to biblical truth and a liberal political worldview that I think is best illustrated by the phrase "sheep in wolves clothing".

What triggered my thoughts (and exasperation) on this issue was that fact that polls showed that in California, perhaps the most liberal state in the Union, the Proposition 8 Initiative that essentially outlawed gay "marriage" in the state, was defeated largely by African-Americans. It's true. Oh yeah, and you'll hear about the enormous funding from the Mormon church and so on, but Prop. 8 opponents (pro-gay marriage) outspent the supporters by 16 million dollars (45 mil to 29 mill), so the problem wasn't the Mormons nor was it money. The problem was that Obama's core support, African-Americans, voted in favor of the proposition 70% to 30%. Put another way, if Blacks had only voted consistently with their liberal leanings - and consistent with the leanings of their candidate of choice, Barack Obama - Proposition 8 would have gone down to a miserable defeat.

And gays would have enshrined homosexuality as the law of the land in the nation's largest state and perhaps in Florida and Arizona, who also shot down pro-gay marriage initiatives. But this didn't happen, and hence my point.

Gays everywhere publically protesting against the Mormon Church (and by implication against all biblically believing Christians), but privately they have to be miffed at African-Americans in general and the Civil Rights lobby in particular which failed to deliver their liberal votes for their principal Equal Rights issue.

But here's what I don't get. How is it that African-Americans, largely a conservative Protestant Christian people, can find in their consciences to elect to the highest office in the country a man whose policies are so diametrically opposed to what they say they value? Put another way, are Blacks politically and socially liberal - or are they not? Do we prefer the false comfort of somehow being politically liberal yet socially conservative?

Of course, it is well-known from past elections that Blacks tend to vote the Democratic slate virtually "straight-ticket". But I admit to being quite surprised that Barack Obama - a liberal's liberal - can garner near unanimous support from a people whom the polls show are largely anti-gay ("homophobic" using today's PC terminology); who attend Bible-believing churches regularly; are largely anti-abortion (though they have them disproportionately); anti-evolution in their worldview; who tend to favor lower taxes; who are the recipients of the largest middle class properity growth in recorded history from 1980 - 2005 (under mostly conservative Republican governance, btw OK?); and who favor strong law and order law initiatives. Because, because, because, fellow Christians, Barack Obama doesn't favor any of these values.

Why do we persist in voting with the side that opposes our prosperity and weal, values that come from the godly application of the promises of the Bible?

Now, the forces of darkness have agitated the gays. Protesters have hit the streets almost daily since the Tuesday defeat. And in a strategic sense they are justified in their anger at this latest "betrayal", but they have targeted the wrong group for their protests. It's not the Mormons, a publically conservative religious group that has never been friendly to homosexuals. It is African-Americans who have let them down. (Personally, I want the gay community to "call out" African-American voters. See who's on who's side.) Their protest marches should be right out in front of the offices of the California, Florida, and Arizona chapters of the NAACP and other African-American institutions (and churches) who campaigned for the same liberal ticket as they did, but who secretly shot down a centerpiece liberal Equal Rights initiaitive in the voting booth.

You can call it the "Prop 8 Effect". Or you might say the gays got "Bradleyed."

Whatever the case, the larger point is this: gays instinctively sense that liberals should stick together on values issues. After all, liberals are tolerant, right? But Black folks - largely Christians - hold conservative values that are shaped mostly by belief in the Bible, as I earlier listed. Strangely, they seem to have other ideas when they vote the liberal ticket.

One thing is apparent though. This latest Black Christian voting pattern didn't see the relationship between politics and values. That's why I call them sheep in wolves clothing.

The sad thing is I truly believe Barack "that's above my paygrade" Obama does see the relationship. As do Rev. Jeremiah Wright, James Cone, Louis Farrakhan, and many Liberation, Black Liberation, Gay Christians, and Liberal Christians. They see the relationship all too clearly. And it is they who will expand their vision for America by dismantling the conservative values African-Americans have traditionally held. Why? Because they now have a friend in the White House. How? Already, there is talk of the use of Presidential executive orders to speed agendas through. Barack is ready to "rule".

Can you say "last days apostacy"?

Remember, Hitler came to power democratically but governed through emergency decrees.

A warning to all Black Christians: Sheep don't make good wolves.

1 Kings 18:21
"And Elijah came to all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him...

...and the people answered him not a word."

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Devil his due...

This is the quote of the week.

"Give Obama his due: It is an exceptional politician who can win the support of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Kenneth Duberstein, former chief of staff to President Reagan; of William Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist and Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley, founder of modern conservatism; of Rashid Khalidi, an Israel-hater, and Edgar Bronfman, former head of the World Jewish Congress."

In two short years, Obama has managed to become all things to all men. How else to explain it? My question is this: can the center hold? Can what has bound these disparate ideologues together keep them together?

The common sense answer would be no. But it does not now appear that we are living in commonsensical times. The things that used to be "just so" are not. Up is now down and down is now up. And I'm just praying my way through!

And now Cliff May offers the enticing tidbit that this election was nothing short of a revolution. The Democratic Party holds the White House, formidable majorities in the Senate, the House, the majority of the 50 state governorships, the majority of 50 state legislatures, the news media, almost all of the entertainment media, the unions, the educational establishment, the lion's share of the philanthropic community, and increasing power over the courts.

Change indeed!

The initial losers? Evangelical Christianity, Israel, the Republican Party, conservative talk radio, free market capitalism, bipartisanship in Washington, the U.S. military, homeschoolers in California and perhaps elsewhere, "Drill Now", and anything else the Democratic Party is against.

Of course, the eventual losers will be all of us should this revolution of change not work out.

In the meantime, pray, pray, pray for our nation!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Black and Nobama

Sorry, the title is a bit misleading. Yes, I am Black and while I will pray (and have already prayed and interceded) for our President-elect, yet I cannot see how a man of God could have found it in his biblical and moral sense to have voted for a man who - for all I have read of his views on morality - opposes several important and vital biblical principles. And I apologize. This is just beyond my thinking capacity.

Now we read where churches are divided ethnically (racially?) on Obama based on the vote. Ya think?

But hey, we can talk candidly now, he's going to be the President. OK?

Pro-gay rights. Pro-abortion. Pro-LIVE BIRTH abortion (i.e., murder). A socialist democrat who intends to redistribute wealth. An anti-Israel demagogogue who wants to woo the world and yet has nothing on his resume to assure us of his capacity to vote sensibly, much less run the country sensibly.

Now, as a Black Man, I AM PROUD of him as a Black Man. I am proud of WHO HE IS but I CANNOT BE PROUD of WHAT HE STANDS FOR. Unlike the First Lady, Michelle Obama, I AM UTTERLY DISAPPOINTED IN MY COUNTRY. Have we lost our minds? Are we blind? What is our excuse? Did George Bush make us do this? Are we apostate? Why couldn't we have not - therefore - picked a Muslim, a Wiccan, an atheist, or a Shaman for president? I mean, folks, the likelihood that Barack is even Christian is very low given that Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his Liberation theology is as far from the Gospel as the Bhagavad Gita.

Think on it! What has he believed and when did he believe it? He has no language of faith. His mother had no faith in God at all. His father, well... Pastor Wright became his surrogate dad to replace the absentee bigamist Barack Obama, Sr. became. And Pastor Jeremiah Wright is from the Chicago/Detroit school of northern, political pastors. All liberation and no faith (at least not in God). A three points and a poem pulpiteer of dubious discipling ability and an outsized ego. Furthermore, and let's be clear here: any man who can preach "God-D-mn America" sermons regularly - and after 9/11 especially - without batting an eye is not saved! Okaay?

It's as if Black Christians have en masse said - to heck with the Bible - we need "one of us" in the White House. And any ol' smooth talking brotha will do. Should sound like Billy Dee Williams and be able to talk to white folks real good. And with a bit of a shoulder lean say, "Hey Putin, c'mere. Come talk to a brotha." That's our kind of President. That kind of sellout mentality to a racial "high" and historic "moment" will come back to hurt us. It's a sad reminder of how we, as a people, tend to value too much style and not enough substance. The numbers don't lie.

In this historic election of the nation’s first African American president, black voters made up 13 percent of the electorate – up from 11 percent in 2004 and 10 percent in 2000. Fully 95 percent of blacks voted for Obama. In 2004, Kerry won 88 percent of the black vote and Gore won 90 percent in 2000.

Even Saul had his thousands.

Then you read in the Root.com where some columnist suggested that anybody Black who voted for McCain is somehow vested in "self-hate". Baloney Sandwich. It's more like self preservation, sister. I want to live. And I want my family to live.

Sure, I would have loved to have seen an African-American chief executive - but under a much different banner. One with conservative gravitas and talent and charisma and faith in the God of the Bible would have done nicely! One who bleeds America and proudly sports a flag pin, who salutes the flag willingly. One whose roots are in this fine land and not a sojourner seeking the nomination to become some "Mundus Imperator". A Cincinnatus, not a Caesar. One who cherishes Edmund Burke-style human liberty, not some Marxist "from each according to his ability to each according to his need" drivel - which Marx himself apostasized from Acts 4:32. I could no more have voted for Obama than I could now begin pulling for the Tennesee Titans just because they have a Black quarterback since after all, I root for the Atlanta Falcons (who happen to have a White QB).

Obama is just not on my biblical team.

And I wonder what biblical team is brother Thomas Dexter Jakes on?

Guess I am now a Five Percenter. Hey, if the first African American president has made history, I suppose I have been officially recorded as among the five percent of African American voters who did not vote for him. So, I too have made history. We have made history. We few. We happy few. We band of brothers...

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Hail Caesar! Hail to the Chief!

Yesterday, Barack Obama was duly elected as the 44th president of the United States. We wish him well and will earnestly pray for our national chief executive. The Electoral College will certify the will of the people in December.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Spiritual Warfare

I believe in doing spiritual battle against the forces of darkness. Therefore, I am asking you - the saints of God - for your prayers in two important areas:

A) My son. He is undergoing all kinds of disciplinary challenges that we (his parents) know are not purely the fruit of his doings. We know his character. While he is rambunctious, we know he is not malicious. The out-of-nowhere suddenness of a slew of issues bespeak a spiritual "cause" to the relational and situational "effects" - if you will. We want him to be more spiritually aware and watchful, too.

B) Finances. Everybody we know is experiencing some kind of pinch over finances, so this is not an uncommon request. My request is that the Lord should combine my employment with my calling. I believe when that happens it will unlock the door of His treasure upon our lives - not always monetarily of course, but in the sense that our family will flow in His blessings and find favor in all we put our hands to.



Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, said the LORD.

Deut. 28:1-13
And it shall come to pass, if you shall listen diligently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command you this day, that the LORD your God will set you on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of the LORD your God. Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, and the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your cows, and the flocks of your sheep. Blessed shall be your basket and your store. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The LORD shall cause your enemies that rise up against you to be smitten before your face: they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing on you in your storehouses, and in all that you set your hand to; and he shall bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. The LORD shall establish you an holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD shall make you plenteous in goods, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD shall open to you his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain to your land in his season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend to many nations, and you shall not borrow. And the LORD shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if that you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do them.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

America asks for a king

This is a great article. Pretty much sums up the big picture of America, her future, and this election.

Do we really want a king? Somehow I think we do, though I am not quite sure why I think this.


1 Sam. 8:4-7


Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Race III...the Silencing of America

The Obama camp has cleverly shielded itself from pointed criticism in a number of ways. The most effective method thus far has been the handy-dandy "racism" smear. It's incredibly effective. Any labeling, criticism, or counter-position against the orthodoxy of Obamaism - or against the man himself - is "racist" speech.

Call Obama a socialist? that's racist.
Call Obama "uppity"? that's racist.
Suggest Obama is "a candidate who inspires fear" and you're associated with George Wallace.
Linking Obama to a shady executive in the Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac scandal is racist.
Accuse Obama of palling around with terrorists and that's racially tinged.
Conclude that the only way Obama could lose the election would be due to racism.
Posit that any background issues surrounding Obama are "pseudo-controversies" involving a "racial calculus" (as PBS anchorman Ray Suarez believes).

Here's an article written by a black pastor who suggests that not everything said in criticism of Obama is racist - sometimes criticism is just that, criticism.

But the bigger problem - as I see it - is in the silencing of American debate when it comes to Barack Obama. The difficulty - an ominous one - is that if only Barack and his people get to determine what is or is not racist speech, not only are their critics marginalized, they defeat legitimate criticism as well. Because who wants to wade into the thicket of policy debate and wind up tarred and feathered as some kind of David Duke? And you can expect this kind of smearing to be used as long as it is effective - that is to say, as long as Obama is president. And not only will it be used for political purposes to silence any unfavorable criticism of the policies of Obama and the Left, it can conceivably be used to socially marginalize anyone who may have misgivings about Barack Obama the man or his judgment.

Perhaps it could all backfire. It could be used so much it loses its effectiveness from overuse. Let's hope so.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Gay Wedding Field Trip...for First Graders

Ok, Ok. So this should render in bold, block lettering, the word "LIE" to the ridiculous claim that gay marriage, if legalized, will have no effect on public school children's education. Exhibit "A" to the lie is a first grader's field trip to a gay wedding in San Francisco (where else?). Why defile the innocence of the young? Why??

This is ranks way up there in the moral outrage category. But this is the "Change" America wanted, I suppose.


Matthew 18:6-7
But whoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!

The James Ossuary - a Clever Fake?

An interesting article in Time magazine examines how the owner of the James ossuary, an ancient (60 A.D.) container of the bones of the brother of Jesus, the Apostle James, came to be accused of forgery. Interesting. Not sure I liked the science vs. belief angle from the author, Nina Burleigh. The conclusion one should supposedly derive from this article is that The Faithful are the real dupes, while The Doubtful and Skeptical are vindicated in their skepticism.

As Burleigh describes it, the debate over the authenticity of these sacred items pitted scientists against believers. She writes: "The faithful - those who believe in a higher, supernatural power that leaves a material record of itself for man to literally hold and behold - must also confront and grapple with the painful presence of doubt."

The facile criticism of evangelicals hardly veils the suspicion that People of Faith somehow depend on physical evidences for their faith, and that when they don't have them the faithful become the gullible. Another problem with this line of thinking is that science is somehow devoid of such faith impulses and is by definition skeptical in the arena of belief. How sad.

But the owner of the ossuary - being tried in an Israeli court - is innocent until proven guilty, and the trial is nowhere near finished. So, this is a lot like calling the game over at halftime. We'll see.

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Obama - No friend of Israel in the Middle East

The New York Post reports that the Rev. Jesse Jackson is suggesting that the Obama administration's foreign policy will tilt against Israel in the Middle East. Is his opinion of President Barack Obama's foreign policy a preview of things to come for America and the region? I'm not sure what to think. Knowing that Jesse Jackson would like Obama's foreign policy to shift against Israel doesn't mean that it will. We'll have to wait and see. Rev. Jackson is claiming Obama as "family" so perhaps he has some insight. Or perhaps it's his wishful thinking.

But by the afternoon Jackson was already denying the report from the NY Post. Either way, Obama will have his hands full. The next flashpoint may be just now lit. An old, abandoned synagogue has been reopened just 100 meters from Temple Mount and the Al Aksa Mosque.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Apologia, etc.

So my nephew attends this Anglican/Episcopalian high school and he's taking this Bible course on New Testament. I figure that's a good thing since the Bible is the one of the pillars of Western Civilization. But then he tells me before we're heading off to church that his Bible instructors are telling him that the Bible was written by man, so therefore it has mistakes and errors in it. And I thought to myself, "Why is Western Civilization in general and America specifically, backpedaling from the onslaught of rest of the unbelieving world?" You know why? Because they're steadliy aimed at the erosion of the foundations of the social order: the Bible. And y'know who's leading the way? The so-called leaders of Chirstianity! This verse sums up the matter I suppose:

Ephesians 2:1-3
And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

The children of disobedience are not the ordinary, everyday heathen. The ordinary heathen are already under the curse of the Law. They are doing what their nature tells them to do. They obey the world, the flesh, and the Devil. The disobedient are the ones who are supposed to be on the Lord's side but who are set against the Lord's covenants. They are the people who have been taught the rudiments of godliness. They are the people who ought to know better but whose minds are set on spreading the latest flawed biblical criticism to impress their students, etc., etc.

Yeesh!

I wanted to scream when I heard my nephew tell me this. So I said to my 10th grade nephew, after gathering my composure, the next time you're in class ask your professor this:

"Professor, if the Bible is flawed because it was written by men, by your own criteria - your telling me this is a verbal opinion written by men , isn't it? How do I know you're not wrong? You're a man - they were men. And there's another thing that puzzles me, prof. The Bible claims it was written by men led of God to say what it says - but you're not claiming to be led by God in saying what you're saying. So why wouldn't I believe the Bible's testimony rather than yours? It's got 2,000 years of living, active support and use. You're quoting biblical critics from only 200 years ago, right? I do want to be on God's side, professor. What should I do?


The scholarly support for inerrant autographs is virtually substantiated. The Bible we have is solid, sound, and is everything it says about itself. Why? Because Jesus thought so, too.

Jesus frequently used the Scripture as the proof text from which He both substantiated His view, as well as refuted the improper views held by others. He relied on Scripture for what it was--the very Word of God. While it is true that Christians do not have the same Divine authority as the Son of God, and while we often overstep our authority here (unfortunately, even grossly so at times), this benefit is also extended to us. Based on Jesus' example, we can likewise build our position on the truth of Scripture, and use it as our Guide for evaluating other positions. A key aspect here, as already emphasized, is that this approach allows us to show the truth of Christian theism to unbelievers, even when using critical methods.


It is no wonder the Anglican church is having the problems it is having with the Enemy hammering continually at its gates.




Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Community Organizers register the Dallas Cowboys

Voter registration fraud alleged in Nevada. The offices of the Association of Community Oranizers for Reform Now (ACORN) have been raided by state investigators of Nevada. The allegations of voter registration fraud were made in part due to the entire starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys showing up on the registration rolls in Nevada. Looks like there is more of this type of fraud coming out of the investigation. ACORN is the activist organization that Barack Obama used to represent as an attorney in Chicago. Stanley Kurtz wrote an article that shows Obama's ties to that group - deeper than what was first thought - a group Kurtz says is as radical as Code Pink or Move On.org.



Gal.6:7
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.


You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
- Abraham Lincoln

Monday, October 6, 2008

Ein Volk! Ein Reich! Ein Jungend! Ein Fuhrer...Obama!

Frau Goebbels, the wife of the nefarious Dr. Josef Goebbels, was in love with Adolf Hitler. She was an idealist, and the Third Reich was her Millenium. There was nothing she would not do for her ubermensch, Hitler. So when it became clear in the very last days of the Reich that Hitler would commit suicide in his underground bunker, she sobbed, "My children are too good to live in a world without National Socialism." Touched by the loyalty of the Goebbels family and before he was to retire to his private quarters, Hitler granted them a private audience where the six young children sang a beautiful Fatherland lullaby to "Uncle Hitler". They were later poisoned in their beds by Frau Goebbels. This is sourced from Joachim Fest's phenomenal book, "Inside Hitler's Bunker".

The following video brought that episode to mind:




Then there's this video. I'm not sure what to make of it but that it is a youth "step" dance done with Obama as the inspiration of hope for these urban boys. But the uniforms, the camouflage pants and gold boots, complete with militant attitude and fist salutes smacks of fashion plated Hitler Jungend. The Fruit of Islam also comes to mind, as does the S1Ws - if you will permit me a humorous digression. Check it out:



But isn't this the stuff that's supposed to happen in other countries? Aren't these the activities and marks of a flawed civilization? The cult of political personality has arrived in America - ubiquitous, all-powerful, strong, yet inspiring and idealistic. Kinda like...Adolf Hitler before anyone knew what he was really up to. Are we sure, really, that we know what Obama's all about? I'm just asking.

You see, we never were taught to sing songs to or about Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington, Madison, or Teddy Roosevelt when I was in school. It was generally thought to be un-American to exalt our leaders like kings or saviors - else we'd have been fine with George III. But even if we had been asked to sing, those men deserved national acclaim even before they became presidents. Still, they were men; they merely presided over the Congress and didn't rule over them. So if change was gonna come, it would take a whole host of leaders to do it. So my question is: What's Obama done to deserve this kind of passionate belief in his ability to change things in our country? What are his change ideas? There's gotta be more to it than what we've seen and read of him. Obama is not Jesus, after all. But I fear his converts - and this nation - may be too far down the road to discern truth - even if something dastardly were found out.

But....

Matt 10:26 Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Gorbachev...back in town?

Why is it significant that Mikhail Gorbachev is back in the news? Not entirely certain, but perhaps it has something to do with the end times. I mentioned him in an earlier blog. Just noticing things, y'know?

Friday, October 3, 2008

Jackie Mason...telling it like it is...no to Obama!

A funny video from Jackie Mason decrying the Sarah Silverman video in which she states that if Barack Obama doesn't win the presidential election, she'll blame the Jews.





I can only pray and hope that America wakes up. She was not raised up by God to be like other nations. She is related to Israel by faith - and as such, she is a covenant nation. I have heard the debates, the arguments, and the rhetoric. Alea acta est.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Baseball and Apologetics, etc.

Those of you that know me well, know I enjoy baseball. And this is my favorite time of the year. Hey, what's not to like? Pennant races, pennant chases, the drama. It is like the playoffs. But go figure, the Dodgers are in the playoffs - yeah, the Dodgers. So, it's a strange year right there. Rags to riches Tampa Bay is in. That's wild. The White Sox have imploded and the Minnesota Twins have overtaken them by a half game with three games to play. One of the two teams is staying home. The Mets aren't out of it, but they're moribund. The Milwaukee Brewers, hmm. I just can't figure out the Brew Crew. They could win nine in a row and lose nine in a row at the drop of a hat. The Angels and the Red Sox are still my choices for the ALCS. As are the Cubs and the Phillies in the NLCS. I'm picking the Cubs to beat the Red Sox 4 games to 2 in the World Series.


In other baseball news, my son made the Travel Ball Select All-America Honorable Mention team. (Yay!) We're so proud of him. The "Bambino" is on the national map now, and word comes from his coach that he has been nominated for the Rawlings Defensive Player of the Year Award, too. Congrats, Nile.


Since the beginning of the school year, I have been teaching apologetics to some homeschoolers in the metro Atlanta area and - I must say it - I am very impressed! The questions I get are intuitive and reasoned. Their responses are usually correct. These are some of the brightest kids in Atlanta for whom the "ontological argument for the existence of God" is encountered without raising an eyebrow. They've more or less absorbed most of the basic arguments of the apologetic task, so it is my job to immerse them further into the more sophisticated realms of the apologist's mein. It is on to Big Bang Cosmology, William Lane Craig, and Glenn Miller!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Race II

More race questions, prejudice examinations, and bigotry analysis....and hey this is only a few strides after the starting gun.

Then there was this at an Obama rally: Blacks Against Obama!

But I feel somewhat exonerated from the self-hate charges that have been levelled against Black people who do not support Obama. Perhaps there are more of us out there. Hmmm. Anyhow, this quote just about sums me up:

Lots of Republicans harbor prejudices, too, but the survey found they weren't voting against Obama because of his race. Most Republicans wouldn't vote for any Democrat for president—white, black or brown.

AMEN.


Give me wise leadership, don't endorse the murder of infants, and lower my taxes. Be ready to fight for our nation Mr. President, and above all - always be proud of our country. OK?


Monday, September 15, 2008

African-American Christians: Race Trumps Life and Immorality

As most folks already know, Barack Obama holds a 95% lock on the favorability meter of African-Americans. (Whether or not they will show up at the polls is another thing. Traditionally, Black turnout is amazingly less than 50% of eligible voters!) The passion his candidacy has raised among all African-American demographics is very strong.

Yet and still, with 85% of all African-Americans living EAST of the Mississippi River, it is not likely their vote will affect an outcome of a state that is not already heavily Democratic and expected to vote Democrat in the November election. For example, New York, Illinois, and D.C. are rock-solid Democratic states whose urban city centers comprise the largest African-American populations anyway.

So now we read that African-American Christians are divided against their White Christian brothers and sisters over Obama. And who is leading the charge over this divide? Black Christian pastors! Amazing. What else is there to say but that this is a continued sellout of the faith? Black pastors, the last bastion of pro-life advocacy and anti-homosexuality in the Black community are jettisoning those positions as fast as Judas Iscariot's kiss and tell, thus proving that the Bible means very little to these people - and race seems to mean everything - in their abandonment of First Principles morality.

Black babies are being slaughtered at a record pace and all these people can do is stump for a politician who calls an unwanted baby "a mistake"?

The Gay Agenda is real, but these pastors seems to think they can play footsie with it and not find their Christianity completely compromised.

Well at least we can say that the end of the Civil Rights took place on our watch. If Obama is elected, which I am pessimistically predicting he will, at least the last crutch from race-based greivance mongering will be gone. We as a people will have "ascended to the mountain-top" of this world and the power of this world. A Black President.

But if Obama loses, the moral suasion of the Black Church will still have been destroyed for thirty pieces of silver and lack of wisdom.

Lord, do not forsake our people! Where is our Jeremiah?!

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Add Father Botros to Your Prayer List...

An article I read in Joel Rosenberg's blog intrigued and inspired me greatly. It is about the Coptic Christian, Father Zakaria Botros. From all accounts, he is an able Christian evangelist and apologist. Please add him to your prayer list because the work he is doing is surely the Lord's work. As any good Christian apologist will tell you, Islam to Christianity conversion is very, very difficult. But he is doing this most effectively and is almost unanswerable by Islam's best clerics.

1 Peter 3:13-16
"And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ."

Are Black people inferior? - Darwin Thought So

Charles Darwin, the naturalist upon whose shoulders evolution sits, thought Negroes were inferior to Caucasians. This is the logical outworking of a Darwinist biological outlook and worldview. And he expected that there would come a day when Whites would so dramatically distance themselves from all other "inferior species". Why is this so shocking? If evolution is true, then racism is a natural response in aiding species survival. Ray Comfort got it right - Darwin was racist!

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Over 700 pages...

Well, the Sarah Palin speech was excellent; at least the British thought so. All kidding aside, the conservative in me just gushed. As far as I am concerned, she has been, by far, the hit of the campaign season. The lady has had five kids but you'd never know it with the energy she displayed. But you know something that really got me to thinking? Amidst the number of zingers and slam dunks she chalked up against the Democratic Party ticket was the fact that while Barack Obama had written two books - he has yet to author a single piece of legislation in either of his elective capacities as a state legislator at Springfield or as a senator in Washington.

How stark. Still, his "servant of the people" credentials are received by a large segment of the electorate as if it were gospel. Over 700 pages of written material about himself and his ideas, yet not one paragraph in legislative service to his constituents. To me, that was stunning. Yet, a large portion of America wants to make him the President of the United States.


So the battle is joined. May God continue to bless America, and it is my hope that when the world observes this portion of American political process in action they will also see a robust and fair debate. No need to be halt between two opinions. God has a way of flushing His people out for righteousness sake. May the opportunity to glorify God and uplift His name come often in this campaign. We often think we're electing this person or that leader, but the Bible says something differently.

Daniel 2:20-21
"Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever: for wisdom and might are His: And He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth upkings: He giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Daniel 4:17
"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and setteth up over it the basest of men."


Soli Deo Gloria and Baruch Hashem!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

She's Keeping the Baby!

What is it with the Main Stream Media? Don't they get it? The unwed pregnancy of Sarah Palin's teenage daughter is a non-story for FIVE good reasons. As an evangelical, pro-lifer, pro-gun, pro-marriage, conservative Black minister, the I see nothing in this story to suggest that Sarah Palin is unqualified to be Vice President of the United States.

1. After all, Bristol Palin is keeping the baby. The liberal MSM cannot fathom this. Why not invoke a little Planned Parenthood action and abort this "mistake"as Obama called a paradigmatic potential pregnancy of his own daughters, right? But Sarah Palin, by virtue of having five kids, has set the example for her daughter that childbearing and by extension - child raising - is a fundamental virtue.

2. Bristol Palin and her boyriend plan to marry. The liberal MSM and the blogs cannot fathom this either. Marriage? They are aghast. Well, welcome to Mainstream America, MSM! In Mainstream America we have babies. We marry and are given in marriage. We would prefer that they were done in the proper order, as Christians ought to prefer, but should some exigency arise, we cover ourselves in Christian love. We don't run from God - we run to Him - and to the family structure He has put in place from the Garden of Eden to Bethlehem to Anytown, U.S.A.

3. The double standard is so alarmingly obvious. Doesn't the media care about being even-handed here? Cut the Palin's some slack. When the Clintons, the Carters, and even the Obamas, said, "Hands off our family!" to the media - they obeyed. And why won't the MSM or the liberal blogs touch the John Edwards "baby daddy" story? What's going on here?

4. What does this have to do with being VPOTUS? Crisis management perhaps? There is not a shred of anything political going on with this story.

5. The liberal bloggers and the MSM have terribly, terribly misunderstood the issues of LAW and GRACE on this story and on human fallenness in general. The MSM and the leftist bloggers think there's a whiff of hypocrisy in Sarah Palin's parenting because of this so-called "mistake". Christian children in a strong, Christian family shouldn't be fornicating, right? Well, let's go there. No one in their right mind - much less a Christian - would want their teenaged daughter pregnant at 18. But if the guy she was with loves her, promises to marry her, and will accept the responsibility of husband, father, and provider - so be it. Christians realize that what this young couple are doing is appealing to God's grace and mercy rather than running from it. Heh, looks to me like Mrs. Palin could enforce a shotgun wedding if she wanted to, know what I mean?.

But God's grace is applied here because in their own way, the Palin's understand the weightiness of the Law and how it's been broken. Their remedy is to acknowledge the kids's failure to abide by the law against fornication by accepting the consequences: have the baby and get married -even before they're fully prepared. Hey, if you're going to act like married folks, then get married. But you know what? God can and will bless them with a recovery - if they would but acknowledge their wrongdoing!

On the other hand, Liberals would flout the Law of God by denying there's anything morally wrong at all with fornication. Then they would compound the moral drama by aborting the baby, and thus destroying a life (tissue, they call it) rather than accept the Law's consequences. Consider this: in Islam, they would kill the young woman for this act - yet among liberals, they would kill the baby. Liberals see the Law of God as the problem and human autonomy as the standard. So since they cannot live within the Law of God, they live without it. Yet, they are exasperated that Christians even try to live within the Law of God - despite obvious human fallenness.

They are exasperated because A) they don't like the gravity of God's Law because they think sinning is much, more fun - or B) they don't like a condemning Deity over them giving them guilt-trips all day long - that's because they don't understand how amazing God's grace really is, or - C) they can't understand why anyone would not want to be like them!

Then there's the Black family that, in Solomon-like tension, tries to cut it both ways. Even the socially Christian among us accept the Law's consequences, but then we push the burden of those consequences onto the rest of the taxpayers by not requiring our sons and daughters to marry and accepting single parenthood and government social services as a matter of course. Or, chillingly, we go to the abortionists at a rate that would make Josef Mengele blush. These are facts. And as long as these remain our primary choices, the Democrats will always love Black people.

But when you understand Law and Grace - as you should if you are attending a Bible-believing church - you're not alarmed at the Palin's predicament 'cause you know it's gonna all work out - especially if you do right by God and His Word. Evangelicals and Christians in general understand this. The MSM doesn't. Liberal Bloggers don't. Black people - in the main - do not.

Yeah, I said it.


1 Corinthians 7:1-2
Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Baruch Hashem and Soli Deo Gloria!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Hussein or McCain: why Barack won't get my vote

Well, he is debonair, intelligent, and a great speaker. With what one hopes is a great and promising future ahead of him, Barack Obama accepted his party's nomination for President of the United States last night. What I sense though, above all the hoopla surrounding this "historic" occasion, is that undefinable sense that people - even within his own party - aren't sure about this guy. (He is one of us, right? Some of them seem to be saying.) Then there's the name - Barack Hussein Obama - about as unconnected to America as U Thant. We are attached to brand names. We don't change "French" Fries to "Freedom" Fries if names do not matter to us.

There's also the detached coolness of Barack, a relative newcomer, with a studied liberalism in his worldview. And maybe it's not as much about him as it is the knee-jerk liberal view that whatever it is that's negative that happens in the world, somehow, someway, America is at fault for it. And with his recent comments on missile defense, I get the strange feeling that if we got into a scrap with another country - say Russia - he might not be willing to scrap. The DNC did a masterful job in portraying Obama as a simple person - not as complex as he really is.


Nevertheless, here are the 6 Reasons Barack will not get my vote:

1. Liberal social views. God, gays, and guns, as they say. From the perspective of a Christian thinker and preacher, I cannot countenance gay "marriage" - rationally - at all. Barack doesn't support gay marriage either, but he wouldn't oppose it. (btw, the latest polls show African-Americans 95% opposed to gay marriage, too.)

2. Abortion rights. Pro-abortion people are not much separated from the thinking behind the Third Reich. As has been pointed out on this blog, founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, played an influential role in the development of the racial theories and applications used by Hitler's henchmen. The answer Obama gave at the Saddleback Church about abortion and conception being "above my paygrade" told me this man is evasive and indirect. A human heartbeat isn't that complicated.

3. Absence of place. It is perhaps not really his fault for moving around so much, but I think it deprived him of a down-home center. This little piece from George Eliot is instructive of what I'm getting at:

A human life, I think, should be well rooted in some area of native land where it may get the love of tender kinship from the earth, for the labors men go forth to, for the sounds and accents that haunt it, for whatever will give that early home a familiar unmistakable difference amidst the future widening of knowledge. The best introduction to astronomy is to think of the nightly heavens as a little lot of stars belonging to one's own homestead.

Barack is no Abe Lincoln. He isn't a frontiersman, nor city-dweller, nor suburbanite, nor country-boy. He is a journeyman. He is from someplace else. People talk of his detached or unattached self. And now I understand why. A president is the chief of the Armed Forces of this country, the top warrior, if you will. A warrior will fight for his native ground, his land, his home. I have misgivings about Barack Obama and his attachment to our native land. And even among the brothers, (i.e., Black males) he's not from "around the way". Again, it is perhaps not his fault.

4. He reminds me of Jimmy Carter. St. James Carter has become the darling of the intelligentsia and media primarily because of what he's done since he left office. But when he was president, well, it was awful for foreign policy and awful for most Americans, who mercifully turned him out after one term. And I don't think it was a stretch to say that Nixon was a far better president than St. James from Plains. And that says a lot. I'm praying Obama is one and done, as well - without doing hurt, harm, or danger to our country.

5. The deification of Obama is suspicious politically. It even has strange whiff about it - eschatologically. The weeping, crying, eye-bulging, near-hysteria from his supporters makes me wonder. Oprah crying incessant tears of rapturous joy. Of course, when I see African-Americans going for him 95% and above, I am certain something's up. How can this be? What do they see? Racial pride? Deliverance from White oppression? Reparations? A Black Moses? Lower taxes? Better schools? Nuclear disarmament? What are they seeing??

Me? I see a god-man, made that way by the people and the media. He will be the next president, no doubt, but he will never be what the people want him to be. He is entirely too complex for that. I firmly believe that we are in the Last Days. Obama is no Antichrist, but the fawning adoration over him could make him the "John the Baptist" of the Antichrist. A forerunner of the world's greatest deceiver. Perhaps this is extreme, as I am wont to put things too strongly, but after Barack the Antichrist's work will be virtually done in this part of the world.


6. So what, exactly, has Barack done? His resume is modest, though showy. But he's ridiculously short on achievement. Barack the be-er trumps Barack the do-er. Of course, he is biracial, and for the mass of Black folk, I suppose that will do. I like Jennifer Rubin's take on him:

"Barack Obama left no trail as a law professor. But if you weren’t surprised that Barack Obama got through his stint as head of Harvard’s Law Review without writing anything , weren’t surprised that he didn’t accomplish much as a community organizer and know he has no legislative achievement from his brief tenure in the Senate, you won’t be shocked to learn that he left no footprints as a lecturer at University of Chicago’s Law School. Sure, the students loved him and became “groupies” ( you couldn’t make this up, really), but the other adults noticed that he did not engage intellectually and never put his own views to the test of vigorous debate with his peers. Why this recurrent pattern of non-achievement and invisibility? For one thing, Obama never stayed in one spot very long. If you are continually looking ahead, plotting your next move you don’t have much time or incentive to devote yourself and your full energies to mastering your current job. For another, if you take a position you are likely not to please everyone. And we know that more than anything else Obama craves and thrives on adoration and has searched much of his life for acceptance. Once you voice a view, people will disagree. You won’t be a uniter and you won’t be universally loved. And finally, if you put out your views, whether in writing or verbally, you will be subject to scrutiny. People may find your logic wanting or your ideas outmoded. And then (and years later) you will be held to account for the positions you took. So it should hardly come as a surprise that Obama has left no trail. (And you can understand why he is a bit sensitive about the topic of his own accomplishments.) But with that comes a host of questions. Is he capable or just glib? Can he put words in action or stand up to hostile forces? And is he out to improve and better those around him or just self-promote? We have never had a major candidate so close to the presidency who not only lacked a record of any note, but who seemed to have made an art form of not having one. It is extraordinary and deeply troubling."


Ah, well, it is time to move on. Four and done it is. Hail, Caesar, we who about to die salute you!

Baruch Hashem and Soli Deo Gloria!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Banned! A 40mph fastball at 9 yrs old.

Well, everybody's talking about this story. The kid throws too hard for his youth league (40mph at 9 yrs. old) and his parents are suing the league because the league association won't allow the child to play anymore. Why not? He throws too hard. Well, first off there are such things as travel ball leagues where the advanced skill kids go to play. Why the parents won't put their little ace into the travel leagues is beyond me. You'd think that after the 75th strikeout they'd get bored with the non-challenge. Moreover, this is obviously a recreation league where kids go to learn the game from soup to nuts. How to hold a glove, how to field your position, how to hold a bat, etc., etc.

Do you know what this is? It's an ethical lapse on the part of the parents. Perhaps it may even be some kind of a cynical desire for cheap glory. I had to ask myself: could they really be this selfish or uninformed? Surely they know (or ought to know) of travel ball leagues where their son can face advanced and skilled hitters who just might smash a 40mph fastball over the fence. But I'm sensing they don't want to accept that challenge because they're getting an inward glee and satisfaction from the miniature glory of their son as the stud pitcher of the park striking out batter after batter of beginners. If they put him an a league everybody hits 40 mph fastballs - all that glory goes away.

Secondly, let me tell you my family has been in almost exactly the same predicament. Our son was also an overwhelming pitcher at a very young age. Wihout a doubt, from five to about nine years of age he was almost unhittable. But rather than bask in the glory of being "great", we felt it was in the best interests of both the recreation league and our son to play travel ball exclusively and "play up" for an older age group. The challenge we got was not only welcomed but it showed us his capabilities and his limitations also, plus the advanced play was much more comforting safety-wise. Nothing like a near panic attack at the sight of a wicked line drive sizzling by the ear lobe of an unsuspecting six year old, or the sympathy you feel after your son accidentally beans a kid in the helmet with a 50 mph fastball.

Which leads me to my last point: what is the big deal about his velocity? 40 mph at age nine is simply not that fast at all. Depending on the distance of mound to the plate - which for 9 yr. olds shouldn't be less than 45 feet. In my son's 8 yr. old travel league, every kid on the pitching staff threw at least 45 mph from 40 feet. Some, including Nile, threw 50+ mph. At age nine, just about everybody topped out at 50 - from 45 feet. At age 10, we've seen kids top out on a radar gun at 65 from 45 feet. Just this past year my son's team faced a kid from Paulding County, Ga., who threw 78 mph from 50 feet - at age 12 - with a nasty curve and slider! Now that's almost unhittable.

But ya know something? Things have a way of evening out as the kids grow older. Some kids grow faster than others, others grow much later. That stud pitcher fireballer at age 9 might be tomorrow's junker at 16 - or he may be a BMX bikerider and never play the game again. You never know. In a twisted way, I'm sensing this kid's parents are enjoying the glory of a highly skilled player dominating beginners and want sympathy from people and a league who think this is unethical. And that's a shame. But this, too, shall pass. Here's a baseball verse if ever there was one:

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..." Eccl. 3:1

Saul! Saul! Why persecutest thou Me?

A wonderful and amazing conversion piece appears in the Toledo Ohio Blade newspaper. It involves the fiction writer, Joe Eszterhas. Here's a guy who was committed to the dark side of life and writing about it. Remember Basic Instinct and Jagged Edge? Yeah, both gory novels that later became blockbuster movies. Well, Esterhasz is a changed man and listen to him now. A fascinating and heart warming story to the core. God is in the mix!!

"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." 1 Peter 2:9

Monday, August 25, 2008

Great Fellowship

On Saturday morning just past, I had the privilege of delivering the message to the Men's Fellowship of Fountain of Faith Missionary Baptist Church. It was a great men's ministry group. We enjoyed great fellowship, good food, and the church was warm and welcoming. The responses from my message were positive and quite encouraging. One older gentleman walked out to the parking lot to catch me before I left to encourage me to keep on keeping on and please do return. Lord willing, I hope to do just that. He said I inspired the group. Well, that statement inspired me. Thanks again!

Baruch Hashem and Soli Deo Gloria!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Obama the Lightweight?

Can't say I suspected this. But Barack Obama might have been exposed as a debating lightweight at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church last week. The Investors Business Daily is no biased report. They're into financial news and opinion. Read here for why Obama lost.

Oh, and stay tuned for my next post entitled, "Why I will not be voting for Barack Obama". Oughta be interesting since now that my mom has been turned on to my blog - and she's a big Obama supporter - so I have to represent as they say. But I promise to speak the truth in love.

Another reason I'm figuring that Obama hasn't won over the heartland is his background. He always seems to be from somewhere else. Somewhere we can place, for sure, but not somewhere we know. Through (mostly) no fault of his own, he's a journeyman. David Brooks of the New York Times agrees.

Jodi Kantor offers that though he's surely not an intellectual lightweight, at the law school where he taught for 12 years he was unwilling to put his ideas on the debating table but rather cultivated a separateness that made him hard to place ideologically - but which made it easier for him to run for office. A good article.

Sounds like a man either on a mission or with a scheme.


Baruch Hashem! Soli Deo Gloria!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Of Bernic Mac, Isaac Hayes, Skip Caray, and Solzhenitsyn

Death, Albert Camus once wrote, is philosophy's greatest problem. And it is so. Yet the Bible presents this universal problem somewhat differently, as Ezekiel 18:4 states:

"Behold all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die."

The biblical problem is instead not the universal effect called death - but rather the universal cause known as sin. But - alas - it is ultimately a sovereign God to whom we are all accountable - all of humanity - as Solomon, a wise philosopher if ever there was one, wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:7:

"Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

Well, there's nothing like the news of death to awaken us out of our Disneyland odysseys, eh? During the past week-and-a-half I've read of the deaths of Bernic Mac, Isaac Hayes, Skip Caray, and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn. What follows are the briefest of eulogies.

Bernie Mac was from a new school of Black comedians called the Kings of Comedy who'd successfully transitioned from comedy club to television and whose untimely passing was both stunning and sorrowful. I didn't get to watch his show often, but when I did he made me laugh out loud. My son and I routinely like to mimic one of his funnier sequences from "The Bernie Mac Show". His character was the voice of the post-modern dad - at odds with trying to be hip, cool, yet firm and decent, while raising 3 children. He was at his best in his unique, between-scenes monologues. I loved his comic tension and the way he said things.

"But perhaps the strongest weapon was that voice, that amalgam of thought and that delivery that could rise like a tidal wave..."

Then there is Isaac Hayes. I cannot express deeply enough how influential Isaac Hayes was in the transition of the public image of the "Black Man" in the post-civil rights 1970s. I was a little boy enamored by the "Soul Music" style when he burst upon the scene with the theme song from the movie, Shaft. The PBS documentary on WattStax now airing brings back fond memories of my youth and the music I listened to. Hayes made the Black-Male-as-entertainer a dignified, cool, thing. His rich, mellow tone in both song and spoken word was unmistakably "black male" at a time when being publicly "Black" took courage, after all, we were still "Negroes". Hey, don't laugh, Glen Campbell, John Denver, and even Hee Haw played music more often celebrated. But Hayes was Black Power without confrontation and he did his thing without a trace of shuffling and grinning. He made us sing with him and take notice.

"When you think of soul music, you think of Isaac Hayes - the expression, the sound and the creativity that goes along with it."

Skip Caray was the radio voice of the Atlanta Braves and before that the Atlanta Hawks, my hometown baseball and basketball teams. He was a quick tempered, quick quipped, smart mouth. But, boy, he was enjoyable to listen to! He made you pay attention to little things he said because it seemed he always had something impolitic - or impolite - on his mind that he was trying to say with code words. For almost all of the Braves' high moments in Atlanta, his was most often the voice you heard on radio, so he was memorable for that alone. I still say he was a better basketball play-by-play man than he was baseball. But in any case he made Atlanta folks cheer and jeer.

"He wasn’t from the neo-announcer’s school of happy talk. Skip hated the Wave and the Infield-Fly Rule and said as much at every opportunity. When he did a call-in show on WSB in the ’80s, he suffered clever callers only grudgingly and the bozos not at all. But because he was Skip, we didn’t much mind."


Finally, there is Aleksander Solzhenitsyn - a sort of Alexis de Tocqueville of our generation. A profoundly deep, incisive, spiritual, and grim human being. You would be too, if you'd been through what he'd been through - a Soviet prison camp. Fascinatingly insightful about the former Soviet Union, he was equally as precise as to the moral condition of America - the land he came to adopt as his own before the fall of the Communists. Check out this column about him from Cal Thomas, who calls him a prophet. And he may well be. This phrase alone to me stands out as profound, so brace yourselves:

"Solzhenitsyn loved America, but said he couldn't recommend it in its present state as a model for his country: "Through intense suffering our country (Russia) has now achieved a spiritual development of such intensity that the Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive."

Spiritual exhaustion! Our America? What insight...! The year was 1978.

In Pace Resquietam to each of these men that it may have been they have known the Lord Jesus before that great and glorious Day - and above all - that He know them!


Baruch Hashem and Soli Do Gloria!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

What Bible is he reading?

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the senior religious official in the Anglican church, has been exposed. How so? Well, in recent days he was called to serve as the "mediator" of the deep rift between Anglican bishops who favor ordaining homosexual priests and performing same sex marriages, etc., and those conservative bishops who do not. The Lambeth Conference, the latest in the once-a-decade meetings of Anglican bishops from around the world was supposed to be a place where these "right reverends" could iron out their differences over this matter. Things did not go well. 200 of the Bible-believing bishops did not attend out of protest. The rest were largely pro-gay or indifferent - and even they could not come to a consensus! And so the conference was largely a meeting of, well - bishops who like to meet.

The website ChurchReport.com reports that the Archbishop gave his opinion on the subject years ago. Turns out he was pro-homosexual all along. So much for mediation.

I'm no Anglican, and neither am I picking on the Anglicans, but rather I am saddened to see the fall of churches into apostasy. Ever since the ordination to the bishopric of the homosexual, V. Gene Robinson, the gates of Hell have opened up on the Anglicans. Still, for the senior prelate of their church to affirm what scripture so clearly condemns is a terrible wound that may not be healed. Perhaps it can only be removed. Episcopalians in America are reeling as a result of this attack.


"Williams described how his literal faith in the scripture's prohibitions against homosexuality began to crumble after about 1980 and that 20 years of study and prayer had led him to the "definitive conclusion" that "an active sexual relationship between two people of the same sex might therefore reflect the love of God in a way comparable to marriage ... This is how he tackled the issue in his essay The Body's Grace in 1989: "The absolute condemnation of same-sex relations of intimacy must rely either on an abstract fundamentalist deployment of a number of very ambiguous texts, or on a problematic and non-scriptural theory about natural complementarity, applied narrowly and crudely to physical differentiation without regard to psychological structures."

OT
Lev. 20:13,
"If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltness is upon them." AMBIGUITY?! WHAT AMBIGUITY!!??

NT
1 Cor. 6:9-10,
"Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." AMBIGUITY?! WHAT AMBIGUITY!!??



America is Christianity's High Noon. Shall the salt lose its savor? Who will remain standing? I believe that the movement of homosexuality into the cultural mainstream, the deterioration of the family, and the decrease in influence and spiritual quality of Christians in America are the watershed cultural moments leading to the advent of the Antichrist and the one world government.


Baruch Hashem & Soli Deo Gloria!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Tatis builds a church

As many of you know, I really enjoy baseball. But with the news of steroids, HGH, spoiled mega-millionaires, and the Braves' return to near-doormat status, there is very little of virtue and interest going on in baseball - except maybe in youth sports. But alas, here's a story from the Christian Post about Fernando Tatis' return to the game after a two-year layoff. Why'd he do it? To build a church! He generously credits the Lord's hand in making all things possible. It's not easy to come back into professional baseball - the major leagues much less - after sitting out for two years. A heart warming story.

“To me, I take it this way: it’s a blessing for me to be here,” said Tatis, who is hitting .319 with a .519 slugging percentage in 160 at-bats as of Wednesday. “God has blessed me every day just to be here in the big leagues, to be alive. That’s the way that I take it right now. And it’s amazing.”

Psalm 21:2-6
Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.


Maybe there is still virtue in the game. Enjoy!

Baruch Hashem and Soli Deo Gloria!

It had to happen...

How sad! This article from Christianity Today opened my eyes to the raggedy theology of the "name it - claim it" prosperity movement. The theology itself is a parody of scripture that opens the Bible up to wild interpretations and only in the context of wealth and the gullibility does it succeed. Like Mormonism, it is a parasite of Christianity that only has life in a pre-Christianized context, where people already know who Jesus is and who He died for, but who are deceptively open to additional non-scriptural claims about Him and His word. As a missionizing force "you can have what you say" is inevitably compromised by the very people groups under mission - themselves coming from demonic strongholds, false religions, and idolatry. What more can be said?

"There is the mentality, especially in African Initiated Churches, where the prosperity gospel is preached, that you do what you've got to do to get ahead. You rely on the powers available to you. You are hopeful that Christ will help, but when he can't come through on Sunday, you may take out a different insurance policy at night."

For further reading try Robert Bowman's book, "The Word-Faith Controversy", and D.R. McConnell's book entitled, "A Different Gospel".


Baruch Hashem and Soli Deo Gloria!