Thursday, January 29. 2009
1. America is a union of States, a Federation, and as a Federal Nation we are a Republic with three branches of representative government to provide a system of checks and balances. We are not a Democracy. This government is not meant to be run directly by by the people through the use of referenda. At the other extreme, we are not designed to be a government run by one person (a President or people who are serving that President) or by one Party of which he is the Head. But at the last national election, the masses seem to have gladly given one man and one Party carte blanche to run America as they see fit. They have undermined the Republic.
Thursday, January 29. 2009
2. Have Christians never heard of 666? Don’t we still expect the anti-Christ? The warnings are still in the Bible. The anti-Christ is the totalitarian State and by extension, the Man who runs it. I am not saying Mr. Obama is the anti-Christ, but the way the masses are blindly putting their faith and hope in him to "save America" explains how someone can and will become the anti-Christ someday. We do not know who he will be, so we should at least have some reticence about betting the farm on Obama. Bible believing Christians should fear Totalitarianism and be very, very wary of development in that direction. They should not be on the Big Government band wagon.
Thursday, January 29. 2009
3. Many of the folks who are supporting Obama are the same people who damned President Bush for getting us into the Iraqi by, allegedly, lying to us about Weapons of Mass Destruction. At the time, many believed the WMD might be real. It turned out they were not. That doesn’t mean Mr Bush lied, simply that he was wrong. Well, Mr Obama could be wrong about our economy (when he says how bad it is and how long this badness will continue). He is strongly warning us that unless we follow his plan to war against certain economic enemies that threaten America, we are doomed. He is calling us to action based on his own version of WMD. It could be that his reasons for action will prove wrong, too. Maybe what he is threatening us with don’t exist. He could also be wrong about what he claims to be the solution. In fact, many economists predict that the current Recession could well work itself out within a year without the Government doing anything, let alone putting us in astronomical debts for generations to come.)
We should not succumb to alarmist tactics and fear or to extortion or to acting out of guilt or out of plans for personal or future political gain. We should have back bone and refuse to be railroaded or bulldozed into possible calamitous actions, particularly those that are against Biblical Principles, let alone, common sense.
Thursday, January 29. 2009
4. We keep hearing of “terrible economic times”. Really? Many Americans have been grossly over extended in their debts, their reach far outstretching their grasp. They have bought houses and vehicles that were been grossly over priced and far bigger than needed. Many people have been greatly overpaid for what they do. If people have more than they need but do not have less than they need, that is not bad. If people have less than they want, but do not need, that is not bad either. Lenders and borrowers alike have behaved badly and now must pay the Piper. (The poem about the Pied Piper is very apropos- http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/piper/text.htm)
Thursday, January 29. 2009
5. We keep reading about the American Dream. Immigrants are willing to make great sacrifices to come here to pursue that Dream. What it is? Usually, it is defined in terms of monetary success- freedom and opportunity to make it in business and being able to own all kinds of stuff and enjoy the materialistic "good life". That is not a Christian dream. It is not what we are about. We dream of the Kingdom of God on earth and of seeing God in heaven. No Christian should be knocking him or herself out to pursue the American Dream.
If our next President wants to really help us, he should be preaching education, hard work, frugality, saving and living a simple, compassionate, healthy and responsible life. Hmmn, Pastors should be preaching the same thing. Christians should be raising their children with those ideals. We don’t need handouts or bailouts. We need new values which are really the old values. We need to stop being a hedonist, materialistic, self-indulgent people. That is the Recovery Plan that will work in the long run.
Thursday, January 29. 2009
6. We need to abhor and avoid personal debt and spend within our means. We must stop buying things that we can not afford or pay for. That is good Biblical wisdom. “There is no such thing as a free lunch” is more than an old platitude. Bills must be paid. If we claim to be Bible believing Christians, who get worked up about homosexuality and abortion on Biblical grounds, how can we fail to obey the Bible on this matter of money management? And how can we stomach and condone a Government that will not do the same? How can we give one man a blank check to our bank accounts “to bailout and save our economy”? It boggles my mind that people apparently believe the money they expect from the government is the government’s money. It is not. It is our tax money and we are accountable and responsible to God for how it is spent. We must not allow a government to take our money from us for programs we do not approve. When we do approve, we must hold government accountable for what actually happens to our money. We are being bullied and pressured and scared into handing over all we have to an ever bigger Government to do whatever it deems best. Multitudes are even glad for the opportunity to do that. They are fools! Christians should not be among them.
Thursday, January 29. 2009
7. Government was ordained by God for Law and Order, to preserve and protect citizens from crimes and threats of every kind on their lives. We pay taxes for this service, but that is all. Scripturally, Marriage, Family, Education, Religion, Business and Civil Government are separate, sovereign Spheres. They are to cooperate with each other but not usurp, interfere with or oppose each other. We must underwrite Government for the purposes God assigned to it and none other. Economically, the Bible would have us support responsible stewardship of the earth’s natural resources, private property and free market capitalism. Instead, I see Christians gladly looking to Mr Obama and Government to increasingly take control of all these Spheres. Shame on us.
We live and die under the banner of Christ the King and His Law. If Mr Obama and our Government will do the same, they have our loyalty. Not otherwise.
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