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Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Our “Benefactors”

Posted in Politics, tagged on January 14, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Cologne

Over 100 women and girls claimed they were sexually assaulted in the main square of Cologne, Germany during New Year’s Eve festivities.  For the most part, the attackers were reported to have been North African or Middle Eastern in appearance and likely refugees.      

When Jesus rebuked his disciples for arguing about who was the greatest, he made a brilliant contrast between the sort of leadership approved by the world and the sort that finds favor with the world.

 

All the world, it seems, loves a dictator. As Christ put it, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors’ ” (Luke 22:25). The Greek word translated “benefactors” is euergetes, which just so happened to be a title taken by many kings in antiquity. For example, a third century BC king of Egypt went by the name Ptolemy III Euergetes. Not believing in the Christian principle of doing his good works in private, apparently he wanted everyone to know what a great guy he was.

It seems to me that we have many such individuals in politics today. Not that they take the title “benefactor,” but when you consider their words and their actions, they make it clear that they are eager to be seen in this light.

I was prompted to think about this while considering the mass sexual assaults carried out in Cologne, Germany on New Year’s Eve. Ever eager to play the champions of humanitarianism, German chancellor Angela Merkel and others in her government went out of their way to welcome large numbers of middle-eastern refugees to the country, only to find out that some of them hold a decidedly unchristian view of women

These “benefactors” seem to have boundless compassion on peoples of other nations, all the while holding their own citizens in contempt. For not only have the German people been subjected to the most outrageous sort of criminality, but they are forced to pay for the privilege as well. All those refugees, you see, they come at a cost. And that cost is born by the German taxpayers. As the website of Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior explains,

If the asylum application is accepted, persons granted asylum status and those granted refugee status receive a temporary residence permit and are given the same status as Germans within the social insurance system. They are entitled to social welfare, child benefits, child-raising benefits, integration allowances and language courses as well as other forms of integration assistance.

This sort of thing has the sounds compassionate, but in truth it represents nothing more than the German government stealing money from pockets of its own citizens and giving the loot to foreign refugees, some of whom have utter contempt for the hands that are forced to feed them.

True charity, Christian charity, involves the voluntary giving of one’s own things to another in the name of Christ. Government “charity” means using the power of the state to take one man’s property and transfer it to someone else. It’s what the Bible calls theft. And individuals who hold government office are prohibited from engaging in theft in just the same way as are private citizens.

But hey, running a government “charity’ scam has its upside. After all, if you manage to get really good at it, everyone will call you “benefactor.”

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Antichrist on the Border

Posted in Economics, Immigration, Politics, Roman Catholicism, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on December 20, 2015| 2 Comments »

 

Pope Francis_Unholy MixNot content with parading around the nation’s capital, New York City and Philadelphia, Pope Francis I, the current occupant of the office of Antichrist, has big plans for the U.S. Mexican border. According to a recent report,

The Vatican has announced the program for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Mexico, which will include a visit to the U.S.-Mexican border with the celebration of a “cross-border” Mass.

The focus of the pope’s border visit, which is to take place during his February 12-17 tour of Mexico, will be to press for immigration reform, which is code for flooding the U.S. with taxpayer subsidized third-world Roman Catholics. According to a statement by El Paso Bishop Mark J. Seitz,

During Mass, Pope Francis will undoubtedly call attention to many realities that are lived on both sides of our U.S.-Mexico border, particularly the plight of so many migrants and refugees fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries, in search of better lives for themselves and their children.

As the Breitbart article notes, the pope’s visit will take place, “just as voters are heading to the polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire, where immigration policy is a major issue.” The timing of the papal visit almost certainly is no coincidence. Rome has long sought to turn the U.S. into a majority Roman Catholic country. To date, its efforts have failed, as the Roman Catholic population of America is about 65 million in a nation of over 300 million. But with a virtually bottomless supply of potential immigrants from Latin America at its disposal, the Church hopes to finally realize its goal of a majority Roman Catholic America. What are American Evangelicals to make of this latest push by Antichrist?

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Common Sense Tyranny

Posted in Politics, tagged on December 12, 2015| Leave a Comment »

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This has been a rather eventful week in the news. Of particular interest is the ongoing attempt by President Obama and others of his ilk to spin the recent shootings in San Bernardino to advance both the police state at home and the warfare state abroad.

Within hours of the outrage, Obama was on television reiterating his attack on the Second Amendment rights of Americans to own and use firearms. He called for “common sense” gun laws that would prohibit those on the federal governments “no fly list” from purchasing a gun.

During his 12/6 White House Address to the Nation, Obama repeated the call saying, “To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on the no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semi-automatic weapon? This is a matter of national security.” This is simply amazing. You see, the argument against Obama’s proposal is so simple and basic that even a Harvard-trained Constitutional lawyer should be able to understand it. The no-fly list itself is the problem. No one seems to understand how a person gets on it, and having one’s name removed can require a lawsuit. As Time reports,

The problem lies with the terrorist watch lists themselves, which are both secret and routinely updated without the typical due process given to those who are accused of breaking the law, such as court proceedings. Without a trial, the government can add anyone to watch lists who it believes may be a threat to national security – and exactly how the government defines such a threat isn’t even public knowledge.

“The government doesn’t release its criteria,” says Elizabeth Goitein, a co-director of the Liberty & National Security Program at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. “It’s really a black box.”

Due process is the bane of tyrants and a shield to the people. Remove it and the rule of law dies. Does Obama understand this? Of course he does. Common sense tells you he simply has no regard for the Constitution.

Worth noting too is that while American citizens are constantly harangued about the alleged common sense need for them to sacrifice their Constitutional liberties for security, the shoe is never put on the other foot. Federal officials from the president on down never stop to consider that their aggressive foreign policy of empire building and preventive war may be a major reason for the jihadist attacks on the US. Not only does Obama show no interest in understanding the simple “common sense” notion that killing people and occupying their countries creates resentment among the population, some of whom become militants, but every time an attack occurs he and others engage in a perverse contest to see who can promise to invade the more nations than the other guy.

Americans in general don’t like to think about foreign policy. Most people have a hard time seeing how events on the other side of the globe have any effect on their day to day lives. But if we can take one lesson from 9/11, it is that our foreign policy has very practical consequences here at home. There is a close connection between the policies our federal government pursues abroad and the laws Americans live under in the course of the everyday lives. The constant unconstitutional surveillance carried out by federal agencies such as the NSA and attacks by the president on Second Amendment are just two examples of the evil fruit of the aggressive and immoral foreign policy carried out by the federal government in the name of the American people. The time is now to put a stop to it. What could possibly be the argument against ending the wars? After all, it’s just common sense.


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There Ought to be a Law…

Posted in Politics, tagged on December 4, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Obama_san-bernardino-shooting

Barak Obama calls for new “common sense” gun laws in the wake of the shootings in San Bernardino, 12/2/15.

 

It is, I believe, a chronic disease of the political class, this boring and predicable clamor for new laws, “to ensure this sort of thing never happens again!” every time a disaster or tragedy strikes. Really, it’s almost like a twisted sort of reflex arc.

The latest example of this is President Obama, who, showing himself a true devotee of Winston Churchill’s maxim “never let a good crisis go to waste,” could be found calling for more “common sense” gun laws almost before the echoes of the shootings in San Bernardino had died away.

In this case, “common sense” was defined by Obama as passing a law to prevent those on the “No Fly List” from owning fire arms. This sounds reasonable enough, until you realize that getting on the “No Fly List” requires no due process – the federal government can arbitrarily put you on it, no explanation needed – and having your name removed can be almost impossible. What kind of man considers it “common sense” to deny Second Amendment rights to an American citizen already the victim of a lawless federal government Star Chamber? Methinks he shows the heart of a tyrant. .

But beyond the issue of due process, as important as this topic is, there’s another problem with crying “there ought to be a law” every time something bad happens: the idea of the regulatory state itself.

There are two basic approaches to dealing with crime: crime punishment and crime prevention. The Biblical and historic American approach is that of crime punishment. According to the apostle Paul, the job of the civil magistrate is, “to execute wrath on him who practices evil.” Note well, Paul does not say it is the place of the magistrate to regulate everyone in the hope of preventing a crimes, but to punish those who actually commit them.

In like manner, the law of Moses is set up to address how to handle cases where a violation of the law has occurred, not to prevent it from happening. For example, Deuteronomy 19:5 provides direction on how to deal with the case of a man who accidently kills his neighbor while chopping wood. In the event the head slips from a man’s ax and, “strikes his neighbor so that he dies,” the Bible indicates that he should flee to a city of refuge, so that he is not killed by the dead man’s avengers.

But while the Bible is very specific on how to handle a case of this sort, it makes no provision for an Israelite Department of Ax Inspection whose job was to harass farmers and level fines on them if their tools were not up to government standards.

To all the busybodies, regulators, snoops and scolds among us, the answer is, no, there ought not to be a new law. No now. Not ever. We’re already choking on the ones you’ve passed. And as for Obama, we can only hope he would change his tired old tune.  But I wouldn’t count on it.


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ISIS, America’s Ally

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized, tagged , on November 29, 2015| 4 Comments »

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ISIS fighters

 

As the war in Syria heats up and greater attention is focused on events there, a disturbing fact has come to light from several credible sources. The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), rather than being a foe of the United States and the West, is actually their agent, acting to carry out the West’s stated agenda of ousting Syria’s leader, Bashar al-Assad.

Ron Paul talked about the alliance between ISIS and the US in a recent video posted on his YouTube channel titled Does ISIS Exist?. A transcript of this video can be read here. At about the 1:38 mark in the video Paul comments,

But the question is raised, Where did ISIS come from? And there are so many questions: how did it pop up, and gained so much favor and have financing putting out magazines and you know where do they get their weapons and it’s pretty easy to put some of these pieces together and find out that they probably were working to some degrees with some of the people in the West like the United States and maybe some others and got some advantages rather than it being a spontaneous small group of people that all of the sudden took over a large swath of land in Syria and in Iraq. That is probably not true.

As supporting evidence for US involvement with ISIS, Paul’s co-host Daniel McAdams paraphrases a report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which calls for the establishment of a, “Salafist [Sunni extremist] principality…in eastern Syria,” which is exactly what ISIS is. Paul gives the reason why he believes the US has elected this course of action, explaining,

I think their [the US government] goal probably was to use ISIS to do our battles, because we are the ones who declared war against Assad, to go in there and get rid of Assad and then they think this is a cheap way. We don’t have to put boots on the ground, we get them to do the fighting and American people will think they are fighting radical Islam and will win the victory, will have this victory in a short period of time, but that’s where things go wrong, because no victory arrives.

And not only does no victory arrive, but to horror of the US foreign policy establishment, Vladimir Putin has involved Russia in the war in support of Syria’s government, the very government they are attempting to oust.

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The Syrian Refugee Crisis

Posted in Politics, tagged , , on November 22, 2015| 5 Comments »

Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees

 

The uproar surrounding how to deal with the waves of Syrian refugees surging through Europe and the US reached a new high this past week, with several governors and Republican presidential candidates pushing back on President Obama’s refugee resettlement plan. While opinions on how to handle this situation run hot, what generally is not well understood is what caused the crisis in the first place. It is well worth asking, why is it that so many people just now have decided to flee an ancient nation dating back to the time of the Old Testament?

Regime Change Blowback

Since the end of WWII, the US federal government has engaged in what amounts to a high-stakes, global game of thrones, overthrowing regimes its views as hostile to perceived US interests and installing compliant puppet rulers who will go along with the State Department/CIA program. In short, the US has acted less like a republic and more like a global empire, which indeed it has become. And, as was the case with its imperial predecessors, imperial Washington sees nothing wrong with this high-handed policy. It’s just business as usual.

Bashar Assad

Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria

 

The situation in Syria is just one of the more recent examples of this long-standing policy. Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, the US has supported the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group attempting to overthrow the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. According to an article the New York Times, “Under the administration’s division of labor, the State Department is in charge of supplying nonlethal aid, while the C.I.A. runs a covert program to arm and train the Syrian rebels.”

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The Federal Reserve: Our “Benefactor”

Posted in Economics, Politics, tagged , on November 20, 2015| 2 Comments »

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Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen

Reading the comments of Janet Yellen and other Federal Reserve officials this past week brought to mind the words Jesus used to rebuke his disciples when they argued about who was t he greatest, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors” (Luke 22:25). “Benefactors” translates the Greek word “euergetes,” a title adopted by many kings in the ancient Greek speaking world. To be known as a Euergetes was a way for the king to boast, letting all the world know what a charitable fellow he truly was.

 

But Christ did not leave it at that. In addition to telling his disciples what not to do, he also provided positive instruction about how those in positions of authority ought to behave, telling them, “he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves” (Luke 22:26). It is this passage that serves as the basis for the idea of government as a servant of the people.

I bring up Janet Yellen and the Federal Reserve, because by their comments this week in opposition to a bill (H. R. 3189) before Congress, they once again they showed they think of themselves as “Benefactors” and lords rather than servants of the people. Established in 1913, the Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States, and as the issuer of the US dollar, world’s reserve currency, it is among the most powerful institutions in the world. But despite the fact that its decisions affect the lives of every single American citizen, not to mention pretty much every person on the planet, the Federal Reserve conducts its business behind a veil of secrecy. H. R. 3189 would pull back the curtain on the Fed, allowing Congress and the American people better information on how the Fed goes about its business. Naturally, Yellen and others are appalled at the thought.

When asked to comment on the bill, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker huffed that its provision to audit the Fed amounted a, “mechanism for high-frequency harassment.” In a letter to House Speaker Paul Ryan and Democratic Leader Nancy Peolsi, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen complained that the legislation requiring greater transparency from the Fed, “would severely damage the U.S. economy were it to become law.” In what amounts to something like comic relief, Yellen continued in the same letter by commenting that, had the bill’s provisions been law in 2008 during the financial crisis, “inflation would be even further below the FOMC’s [Federal Open Market Committee, the body of Federal Reserve governors tasked with setting interest rates] 2 percent objective. Indeed, a recent study by Federal Reserve economists suggests that…inflation would now be running somewhat below zero, if the FOMC had not taken the actins it did.” In other words, Yellen is complaining that had the Fed been held accountable by the provisions in H. R. 3189, she and her colleagues would be unable to destroy the value of your hard earned dollars as fast as what they are now doing. In fact, were this bill to become law, your money may well gain in value, as this is what Yellen means when she says, “inflation would now be running somewhat below zero.” Horrors! H. R. 3189 would stop the crony capitalists at the Fed from ripping off the rubes in fly over country. At all costs such madness must be stopped!

The Eccles Building, main office of the Federal Reserve located in Washington D.C.

 

In evaluating these comments it is worth noting what the Fed actually is, a private cartel of the bankers, by the bankers and for the bankers. The Fed does not have and never has had the best interests of the American people in mind. It’s overriding purpose is and always has been doing what is right by the private member banks that own it. The fact that it was given its charter in 1913 by an act of Congress means that it represents the merger of state and corporate powers, which is the very definition of fascism. Simply put, the Fed, far from being and exemplar of constitutional capitalism, represents instead monetary fascism. In light of this, it is not surprising that then Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke moved heaven and earth to bail out the banks-too-big-to-fail [n.b. in capitalism there is no such thing as too-big-to-fail; individuals and institutions reap what they sow] during the 2008 financial crisis.

The behavior of the Federal Reserve over the past 100 years – its secrecy, favoritism and cronyism – is a perfect example of the sort of unaccountable power and arrogance that is characteristic of the “rulers of the Gentiles” Christ spoke about. The Fed has lorded it over the people of the United States for over one hundred years and impoverished all of us in the process. It’s high time to audit the Fed. Then end it.


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Isolationist: The Neo-Conservatives’ Favorite Swear Word

Posted in Politics, Scripturalism, tagged on November 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio at the Republican debate, November 10, 2015.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio at the Republican debate, November 10, 2015.

There is no bigger swear word in the neo-conservative vocabulary than “isolationist,” and Marco Rubio showed his true neo-con colors by employing it against Rand Paul during Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate. Said Rubio of Paul, “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist; I’m not.” When a neo-conservative uses the “I” word, his intention is not to have a discussion, but to smear his opponent’s foreign policy views as beyond acceptable and shut down the debate.

In truth, the term “isolationist” is simply a caricature of the historic foreign policy of the United States: non-interventionism. As proof, consider the following statements on foreign policy from the founding fathers;

  • “Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none” (Thomas Jefferson).
  • “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible” (George Washington)
  • “Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her [America’s] heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own” (John Quincy Adams).

To put it another way, the foreign policy of the United States originally was based on Christ’s Golden Rule, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). From the response Ron Paul received in South Carolina four years ago, apparently Jesus would not be welcomed in today’s Republican party.

But a neo-conservative of Rubio’s ilk isn’t happy unless the US is bombing, strafing or droning some hapless third world country, all the while uttering self-congratulatory platitudes about the world’s need for a strong America. But neo-conservative boilerplate aside, is it too much to ask Rubio and other militarists to provide even one coherent reason why, after 14 years, US forces are still in Afghanistan? Can he give us even a single coherent purpose behind America’s current attempt to overthrow the government of Syria? Why is it he wants to increase Pentagon funding at a time when US defense outlays are greater than those of the next ten biggest military spenders combined?

The United States is going bankrupt, in part due to the out of out of control militarism espoused by neo-conservatives such as Senator Rubio. He would do well to stop with the name calling and consider what the Bible, the only source of knowledge about foreign policy, has to say on the subject.


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May God Have Mercy on the West

Posted in Economics, Politics, Roman Catholicism, tagged , , , , , , , on October 26, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Zambia“God have mercy on the currency,” read the headline. Curious, I followed the link to an article about the president of Zambia calling for a national day of prayer and fasting to address country’s currency crisis. It turns out that Zambia’s national currency, the Kwacha, has fallen by 45% against the US dollar in 2015, causing Zambians a host of economic difficulty. It is eminently Christian and sensible to call on the Lord in times of trouble The Bible is filled with promises that God will deliver his people if they call upon his name. Typical is Ps. 50:15 which reads, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me. And because it is eminently Christian and sensible to call on the Lord in times of trouble, no Western president or prime minister would ever think of doing it. “We’ve got this,” they say, “no divine help needed.”

Such was not always the case. During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln called for a national day of prayer and fasting. But that sort of thing doesn’t fly anymore. In the aftermath of the greatest national disaster of my lifetime – I’m speaking here about the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C. – George Bush encouraged Americans to go to Disney World. What’s worse, he participated in a blasphemous ecumenical prayer service at the National Cathedral in Washington which featured, among others, a female Episcopal bishop, a Rabbi, a Muslim cleric and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church-State. Far from being an example of turning to God, this service was a double-minded affront to the Lord Christ Jesus. And because it was double-minded, those who participated had no reason to think they would receive God’s blessing or assistance. The failure of the Global War on Terror stands as a stark testimony to this principle.

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Evangelical Insiders, Outside the Will of God (Part 2)

Posted in Politics, tagged , , on October 12, 2015| 2 Comments »

To promote a woman to bear rule, superiority, dominion or empire above any realm, nation or city is repugnant to nature, contumely to God, a thin most contrarious to His revealed will and approved ordinance, and finally it is the subversion of good order, of all equity and justice.

– John Knox, The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women

Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina

Last week we looked a World Magazine
survey of “evangelical insiders” conducted to determine their views on the Republican presidential candidates for the upcoming 2016 election. Of the 91 respondents, the first place winner was Florida Senator Marco Rubio. Carly Fiorina polled well, coming in, “as the most popular second-choice candidate.” Given the ecumenical world-view that has come to dominate much of the American Evangelical church, it is unsurprising, but still disappointing, to see so many Evangelicals approve candidates no Christian should support

In the case of Marco Rubio, the issue is his Roman Catholicism. Because the Constitution requires a that president swear to, “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” and because this oath conflicts with the obligation a Roman Catholic has to obey the pope, it is improper for an Evangelical – for that matter, it is improper for anyone who holds dear the Constitution – to support a Romanist for president. And yet steeped as they are in several decades of neo-evangelicalism, these “evangelical insiders” see no problem with promoting a son of Rome, who openly admits, “I craved, literally, the Most Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, the sacramental point of contact between the Catholic and the liturgy of heaven.” Rubio, as have many Roman Catholic candidates over the years, has stated that he follows the pope on matters of faith and morals but not on political or economic issues. He may well be sincere in what he says, but Rome offers its teaching as a packaged deal. Roman Catholics are not free to follow the Church’s teaching on faith and morals while rejecting what it says on economics and politics. That the popes currently allow Roman Catholic politicians the freedom to stray from the Church’s teaching should be seen as the Church’s concession to the fact that its power is not at this time absolute as is was in the middle ages. Should Rome again attain to the position of power it held prior to the Reformation – and this is, in fact, its long-term goal – you can be assured that when the pope says “jump,” Roman Catholic magistrates will have but one response: how high?

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