America's best idea?

PBS has begun another Ken Burns documentary series called:  National Parks: America's Best Idea.

While I enjoy visiting the national parks, and admire the foresight that has preserved the wonders of God's creation, I still believe that America's best idea is - 

"All men are created equal, and endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

No other nation is founded on such a basic Christian principle - the sanctity of life. Yet we now battle the culture of death, promoted by those who hold the humanist worldview that currently controls our schools and our government.  The Worldview conference with Gary DeMar last weekend highlighted for me just how far our country has drifted from its Christian foundation. Ever since the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion in this nation we have been under God's judgement. Healing can only begin when Christians believe the Bible and recognize God as the giver and taker of life - just as the Declaration of Independence does.

 The "legal" justification for abortion rests on the idea that the fetus is not a person, and is therefore not protected by the Constitution.A new pro-life movement has begun. It's called Personhood, and it rests on the biblically and biologically correct idea that you are a person at the moment of conception - entitled to all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The Personhood movement seeks to amend by petition those state constitutions that allow it, to define the fetus as a "person" under the law, which would make abortion murder. 

I believe this movement has the potential to energize the pro-life movement and change the culture of death in this county. Eventually it will result in a national amendment, but change must begin from the bottom not the top. Please visit their website - http://personhoodfl.com/ - and look for further updates from the Community Issues committee. The first step is to gather enough petitions to get the Personhood amendment on the Florida ballot in 2012. Just like the Yes 2 Marriage amendment protected the sanctity of God's plan for the family, the Personhood amendment will protect the sanctity of God's gift of life.

 For you created my inmost being; 
       you knit me together in my mother's womb. Ps.139:13

Coming events

I'm convinced that one of the greatest challenges of our generation is focusing on what's important in an environment where distractions are everywhere. I've just learned that one of the most important events of the year at Westside - Gary DeMar's Worldview conference - is in conflict with (gasp) a Gator game!   That's right, the conference begins at 6pm Saturday, Sept.26. The Gators game with Kentucky has been re-scheduled by ESPN for telecast at the same time. Talk about conflicting worldviews - here's your first test. I know you know the right answer. Grab the game on your DVR, or VCR and come hear one of the country's most influential authors talk about how Christians can influence our increasingly hostile culture for Christ. Tim Tebow would be the first to tell you that there are more important things than football. This is one of them.

That same day is the Eric Yerman 5K Walk/Run at Westside Park, starting at 8am (fortunately). Proceeds benefit the effort to build a Baptist Children's home here in Gainesville - a worth cause and a good time. Registration is $20 and can be done in the lobby on Sunday or the day of the run at 7am. Plan to be there.

Finally, I'd like to offer some food for thought on the local political scene. Gainesville city elections are coming again this spring. Last spring we saw the effort to remove the Gender Identity ordinance fail. One of the prime supporters of that ordinance - Craig Lowe - is now running for mayor. If you are one who is concerned about the direction of our city, county, state and nation; it's time to start encouraging and supporting Christian candidates for public office. It may even be time to consider running yourself. The qualifying deadline in Gainesville is Jan. 29, 2010. 

Remember the words of Edmund Burke - "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."  
Those words have never been more true than they are today.

God Bless

What's the Rush?

A favorite columnist of mine is Thomas Sowell. His column yesterday is worth saving.

Listening to a Liar
Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, September 08, 2009

The most important thing about what anyone says are not the words themselves but the credibility of the person who says them. 
The words of convicted swindler Bernie Madoff were apparently quite convincing to many people who were regarded as knowledgeable and sophisticated. If you go by words, you can be led into anything. 
No doubt millions of people will be listening to the words of President Barack Obama Wednesday night when he makes a televised address to a joint session of Congress on his medical care plans. But, if they think that the words he says are what matters, they can be led into something much worse than being swindled out of their money. 

One plain fact should outweigh all the words of Barack Obama and all the impressive trappings of the setting in which he says them: He tried to rush Congress into passing a massive government takeover of the nation's medical care before the August recess-- for a program that would not take effect until 2013! 
Whatever President Obama is, he is not stupid. If the urgency to pass the medical care legislation was to deal with a problem immediately, then why postpone the date when the legislation goes into effect for years-- more specifically, until the year after the next Presidential election? 
If this is such an urgently needed program, why wait for years to put it into effect? And if the public is going to benefit from this, why not let them experience those benefits before the next Presidential election? 
If it is not urgent that the legislation goes into effect immediately, then why don't we have time to go through the normal process of holding Congressional hearings on the pros and cons, accompanied by public discussions of its innumerable provisions? What sense does it make to "hurry up and wait" on something that is literally a matter of life and death? 
If we do not believe that the President is stupid, then what do we believe? The only reasonable alternative seems to be that he wanted to get this massive government takeover of medical care passed into law before the public understood what was in it. 
Moreover, he wanted to get re-elected in 2012 before the public experienced what its actual consequences would be. 
Unfortunately, this way of doing things is all too typical of the way this administration has acted on a wide range of issues. 
Consider the "stimulus" legislation. Here the administration was successful in rushing a massive spending bill through Congress in just two days-- after which it sat on the President's desk for three days, while he was away on vacation. But, like the medical care legislation, the "stimulus" legislation takes effect slowly. 
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that it will be September 2010 before even three-quarters of the money will be spent. Some economists expect that it will not all be spent by the end of 2010. 
What was the rush to pass it, then? It was not to get that money out into the economy as fast as possible. It was to get that money-- and the power that goes with it-- into the hands of the government. Power is what politics is all about. 
The worst thing that could happen, from the standpoint of those seeking more government power over the economy, would be for the economy to begin recovering on its own while months were being spent debating the need for a "stimulus" bill. As the President's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said, you can't let a crisis "go to waste" when "it's an opportunity to do things you could not do before." 
There are lots of people in the Obama administration who want to do things that have not been done before-- and to do them before the public realizes what is happening. 
The proliferation of White House "czars" in charge of everything from financial issues to media issues is more of the same circumvention of the public and of the Constitution. Czars don't have to be confirmed by the Senate, the way Cabinet members must be, even though czars may wield more power, so you may never know what these people are like, until it is too late. 
What Barack Obama says Wednesday night is not nearly as important as what he has been doing-- and how he has been doing it.

 

 

 

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." – Edmund Burke
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." – Samuel Adams
"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." – Thomas Jefferson
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." – Thomas Jefferson 
"In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." – Ronald Reagan
"The trouble with socialism is that you finally run out of other people's money." – Margaret Thatcher
"So everyone who hears these words of Mine & acts upon them shall be like a wise man that built his house upon the rock." – Matt 7:24