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Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category

Antichrist and the EPA: Your Tax Dollars at Work

Posted in Politics, Roman Catholicism, tagged , , on February 2, 2015| 2 Comments »

Gina McCarthy at the Vatican

Environmental Pretection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy listens to reporters’ questions during a meeting with the media in the U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See residence in Rome, Friday, Jan. 30, 2015. The Obama administration is seeking to hitch its climate change message onto that of the ever-popular Pope Francis, whose upcoming environmental encyclical has drawn more speculation than any papal document in recent memory. The head of the Environmental Pretection Agency met Friday with senior Vatican officials who helped draft the document, which is expected to be released in June or July. (Alessandra Tarantino, AP/AP)

For the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), it is not enough oppress Americans with the mere authority of the US federal government.  No, it had to go and up the ante by teaming up with the papal Antichrist.

According to an article from the Associated Press,

Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy met with Vatican officials working to draft Pope Francis’ climate change encyclical on Friday, applauding The Holy See for engaging Catholics on the issue.

The article continues,

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters that her aim in visiting was to show the Vatican how aligned President Barack Obama and Francis are on climate change.

The UN globalists have been pushing the bogus man-made climate change meme for twenty years.  Of course, during that time, they’ve changed their story.  First, it was global warming.  When that was exposed as a sham, they simply repackaged their hooey as climate change.  Now that the ultimate globalist has joined their crusade against cheap, plentiful energy, economic prosperity and freedom, politicians are quick to seek the blessing of Antichrist to provide cover for them to do what they wanted to do in the first place.

This and other trips to the Vatican by high US government officials raises the question, whatever happened to the separation of church and state?  Apparently, it depends on what church one is talking about.  God help the municipality caught with a copy of the ten Commandments on public property.  As one of the plagues of Egypt, the ACLU will be quick to descend upon them with its team of high-powered lawyers all for the purpose of ensuring that never again will the good citizens of said community have their consciences pricked by exposure to the law of God.   On the other hand, making a pilgrimage to the Vatican to kiss the pope’s ring raises nary an eyebrow.

Of course, pilgrimages to the Vatican are not the only way the Obama administration cooperates with the Roman Catholic Church-State.  According to an article in the Hill, when in Rome,

McCarthy met with [Vatican] officials to discuss working with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and nongovernmental organizations to put a spotlight on the need for action on climate change, according to a readout of the meeting from EPA.

Not that it is any surprise given the Roman Catholic Church-State’s long-running hatred of, and war against, capitalism, but the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been pressing the EPA to get on board with legislation to limit carbon emissions.  For example, in his 2014 letter to Gina McCarthy, the Most Reverend Thomas G. Wenski of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development wrote,

As bishops and people of faith, we do not speak as experts on carbon pollution or on the technical remedies to address climate change.  We are pastors in a faith tradition that teaches, as Pope Francis recently stated, “Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.

The best evidence indicates that power plants are the largest stationary source or carbon emissions in the United States, and a major contributor to climate change.  Power plants have often been located near low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.  Air pollution from these plants contributes to respiratory problems, especially in the young and the elderly.

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What’s in a Pronoun?

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

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Matt.12:37).

Pronouns.  They don’t look like much.  Small words, one or two syllables.  In general, they’re not very noticeable.  Most of us don’t think twice about the pronouns we use.  And yet despite their generally unimpressive appearance, the pronouns we use are freighted with meaning.

Take one example from the New Testament.  In the Greek text, the masculine pronoun “he” is consistently used to refer to the Holy Spirit.  This is surprising, for in Greek, the word for spirit, “pneuma, ” is grammatically neuter.  This would lead us to expect the Greek to use a neuter pronoun when referring to spirit.  But the fact that the New Testament writers never refer to the Holy Spirit as an “it” but always as a “he” is strong evidence that the Holy Spirit is a person, not a force.

A more modern example is the current battle over the third person English pronoun.  Historically, English has used “he” to refer to a generic individual in the third person.  But in recent times this has changed.

Take for instance the following sentence found in a training manual I’m reading for work,

In a 401(k) arrangement, an employees election to defer compensation into the plan has a direct effect on his or her current compensation:  the employee is giving up a right to receive a portion of his or her current cash compensation in exchange for a plan contribution to be made for his or her benefit in the form of an elective deferral (emphasis added).

The manual from which this quote is taken is has about 800 pages, and nearly every single one of them contains a clunker of a sentence like the one above.  Every single time the text requires a singular generic pronoun, the author and editor have elected to use him or her.  It is painful to read.

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On the Sad Death of Joshua Alcorn

Posted in Politics, tagged on January 5, 2015| 1 Comment »

In the early morning hours of December 28, 2014, 17 year old Joshua Alcorn stepped in front of an oncoming semi on I-71, ending his life. In general, suicides do not receive extensive news coverage. But this suicide has received significant media attention, not only locally here in Cincinnati where the suicide took place, but also nationally and even internationally. This suicide is newsworthy in a way others are not due to the reason the young man gave for taking his own life. In a suicide note published on his Tumblr account, Joshua Alcorn indicated his suicide was the result of the rejection he felt from being a transgender. In his words, “I felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body.”

In watching the news coverage of this story over the past week, it has become clear that the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community intends to use the sad death of this confused young man to further their political agenda. And the media is obediently doing its part to help them out. From the reports this author has watched and read, the media narrative has coalesced around four main ideas,

  • To identify as transgender is perfectly normal and should be regarded as such be all.
  • As a result of its failure to unconditionally accept the transgendered lifestyle, society bears a general responsibility for Joshua Alcorn’s death.
  • Particular responsibility for Joshua’s death attaches to his parents and to their narrow minded brand of Christianity.
  • No responsibility whatsoever can properly be assigned to Joshua for his depression and suicide.

In the light of Scripture, all four propositions are false. But given the full-court press put on by the gay rights community over the past 40 years to normalize LGBT lifestyles, and given the success they have had at enacting that agenda, many who may not agree with their program have been shamed or intimidated into silence. A Biblical response is needed.

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The Decline and Fall of the Hebrew Republic – Part 1

Posted in Politics, Scripturalism on December 27, 2014| 2 Comments »

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end? (Jer. 5:3)

It’s long been popular to compare the obvious decline of American society over the past 100 years to that of the Roman empire. Perhaps some of this owes to the influence of Edward Gibbon’s famous Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Some purport to draw lessons from the Roman experience that can be applied in our day. Some will spot similarities between events in the Roman empire and those of contemporary times, and drawing from these likenesses the idea that America is in terminal, inevitable decline. Others of a more optimistic point of view hope to drawn lessons from the Roman example on how to stop or even reverse the decline.

But long before Rome famously declined and fell, for that matter, long before the city of Rome was even founded, two other kingdoms passed through experienced their own decline and fall. I speak of Israel and Judah. The books of Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and the prophets could rightfully be called The History of the Decline and Fall of the Hebrew Republic. In them, we read how a nation originally founded as a constitutional republic, first devolved into a monarchy, next split into two separate kingdoms, and then following independent, centuries long glide paths of decline finally met their ruin.

If we want to examine the decline of American society, it is to these examples, rather than that of Rome, to which we should turn our attention. The experience of Israel and Judah are much more helpful in assessing out current condition as a nation than Rome ever could be, chiefly because we do not have to speculate as to why things happened as they did. Unlike even the best histories of Rome, the Scriptural record provides us not only a perfectly accurate account of the key events in the history of Israel, but also an infallible commentary on why these events occurred as they did. Let us now turn to God’s inspired history to see what lessons we may draw about the condition of the United States at the beginning of the 21st century.

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Don’t Wanna Be an Evangelical Idiot

Posted in Politics, tagged on August 11, 2014| 1 Comment »

In her recent column Ebola Doc’s Condition Downgraded to ‘Idiotic’, right wing warrior princess Ann Coulter managed to pen what is perhaps the most virulent anti-Christian column from ever seen by this author. The target of her vitriol is Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted the deadly Ebola virus while serving as a medical missionary in Liberia. Huffs Coulter,

I wonder how the Ebola doctor feels now that his humanitarian trip has cost a Christian charity much more than any services he rendered.

What was the point?

Whatever good Dr. Kent Brantly did in Liberia has now been overwhelmed by the more than $2 million already paid by the Christian charities Samaritan’s Purse and SIM USA just to fly him and his nurse home in separate Gulfstream jets, specially equipped with medical tents, and to care for them at one of America’s premier hospitals.

So far as this author is aware, Dr. Brantley and his nurse have volunteered for this service and are supported by missionary organizations who agreed to send and support them. This is not a man on the public dole, he is a Christian using his gifts to carry out, not some merely humanitarian mission, but the Great Commission of Christ. Who is Ann Coulter to object to the volunteer work of a Christian missionary? Dr. Brantly, SIM and Samaritan’s purse have asked nothing from her and do not answer to her. I have known one missionary family affiliated with SIM. They served in difficult conditions in Africa to bring both clean water and the Gospel of Christ to those who desperately needed both. Were they wasting their time? In the mind of Coulter, apparently so.

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Same-Sex Fascism

Posted in Economics, Politics on June 2, 2014| 2 Comments »

Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?

– Matthew 20:15

According to this article from the Aquila Report, Colorado baker Jack Phillips has been ordered by the state civil rights commission to, ” ‘stop discriminating against gay people,’ document any customers he refuses to serve, provide ‘anti-discrimination training’ for his staff, and report quarterly for two years.” What was it Phillips did to merit such a rebuke? As the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, he refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. Although homosexual rights advocates constantly harangue the nation about the need for tolerance and diversity, the true colors of this unbiblical, satanic movement at clearly seen in this and other cases. And those colors are brown. As in brown shirt. As in fascist.

In a capitalist society, ownership and use go hand in hand. A capitalist would answer the above question in Jesus parable with a resounding “yes.” But the essence of fascism is the separation of ownership and use. In a fascist system, the means of production remain in private hands, so you can own your own bakery, but the use of it is dictated by Der Führer, Il Duce or the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, all of whom would answer the question at the top of this post in the negative.

As one may suspect, the case in Colorado is not isolated. Elaine Huguenin, a Christian photographer from New Mexico, has run afoul of that state’s anti-discrimination laws as a result of her refusal to photograph a same-sex marriage.

Another troubling aspect of both cases is that the defense offered up by these Christian business owners appears to be weak an ineffective. In both cases, the Christians are relying on free speech arguments when what they should be doing is challenging the whole notion that government, be it local, state, or federal, has any authority to dictate the terms under which a business owner deals with the public. To do so would be to lay the axe to the root of one of the greatest threats to freedom in this country.


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An Invite to Antichrist

Posted in Politics, Roman Catholicism on March 17, 2014| 7 Comments »

During the 1960 presidential campaign John F. Kennedy’s Catholicism was a big deal to American voters. It was thought by many that a Roman Catholic president would have divided loyalties, that he would attempt to do what Jesus said could not be done: serve two masters. In this case, the Constitution and the pope. This was such an issue that Kennedy felt compelled to give a speech on this topic to a group of Protestant ministers in Houston, in which he stated his belief that the separation of church and state was absolute. Referring to this speech during the 2012 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Rick Santorum said he almost threw up when he first read the speech and that Kennedy had thrown, “his faith under the bus.”

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Louis Brandeis, Insight from 1928

Posted in Politics on August 10, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This evening I happened across a quote from Louis Brandeis’ 1928 dissent in the Olmstead case. It was very well written and prompted me to read further. Not being a legal scholar, I’d heard of the Olmstead case, but didn’t know much in the way of detail about it. So I googled it and did a little reading.

It turns out that the case was about a bootlegger Roy Olmstead – these were the days of prohibition – who was arrested and convicted largely on evidence gained by federal agents wiretapping his phones – yes, they were already old pros at this sort of thing as far back as 1920s – and appealed his conviction by claiming that his Fourth and Fifth Amendments rights were violated by the wiretapping.

If you’re wondering how the case turned out, the short answer is that Olmstead lost the case and his conviction was upheld. In writing the dissent, Judge Brandeis proved himself not only a defender of liberty, but also a man possessed of no little insight. Consider this,

“Subtler and more far-reaching means of invading privacy have become available to the government. Discovery and invention have made it possible for the government, by means far more effective than stretching upon the rack, to obtain disclosure in court of what is whispered in the closet. Moreover, ‘in the application of a Constitution, our contemplation cannot be only of what has been, but of what may be.’ The progress of science in furnishing the government with means of espionage is not likely to stop with wire tapping. Ways may someday be developed by which the government, without removing papers from secret drawers, can reproduce them in court, and by which it will be enabled to expose to a jury the most intimate occurrences of the home. Advances in the psychic and related sciences may bring means of exploring unexpressed beliefs, thoughts and emotions.”

Is that insight, or what? After observing the daily, Constitution shredding enormities committed by the NSA, the TSA and the rest of the agency alphabet soup of government agencies, I feel a tip of the cap is due the good judge for his impressive call. If only he were not so right.

 


 

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No Creature Hidden From His Sight

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized on July 8, 2013| 3 Comments »

And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and naked to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. –

Heb.4:13

Several passages in Scripture speak of God’s omnipresence and his omniscience. At least some of them do so in the context of God’s judgment. The above passage is one such. Another is Jeremiah 23:24, which reads, ” ‘Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord.” Not only does God see all things and know all things, but as our omnipotent creator he has the right and power to judge all things. These three attributes of God – his omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence – are both a cause for men to fear, and, for the Christian at least, a cause of great comfort. King David, who was given the choice of punishment at the hands of his enemies or at the hands of God, expressed no doubt which he preferred, “Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man” (2Sam. 24:14).

And because omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence are attributes of the true God, it should come as no surprise that false Gods, those who seek to imitate and usurp his rightful authority, seek to claim them for themselves. One such false god, one such idol, is the state. The state or ruler deified is hardly something new. Many ancient nations revered their leaders as gods. The pharaohs claimed to be gods. The degenerate Roman Caesars held likewise. The pope claims to rule in the place of God, and some zealous Romanists have even addressed the pope as God. In more recent times, German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel famously referred to the state as, “God walking on earth.” Economist Ludwig Von Mises coined, or at least made popular, the term “statolatry” to describe this flawed view of government.

I mention these things, because I can’t help but see the rise of the modern surveillance state as the outworking of Hegel’s deluded notions about government. If the state truly is God walking on earth, then it follows that any limits placed on its ability to see, hear, know and act are not only an affront to the government, but even rise to the level of blasphemy. This is essentially the message of the Obama administration, which when confronted about its unconstitutional, immoral spying, retorts that we should all just get over it already and trust them, doubting nothing. It’s all for our own good, don’t you see? Absolutely nothing should be hidden from the sight of federal snoops. If you’re not doing something wrong, you have nothing to worry about, or so goes the argument.

What is equally bad, or perhaps even worse, is the reaction of mainstream pundits both left and right. Not only do they fail to rebuke an out-of-control federal government for its many breeches of the Fourth Amendment, but they actually seem to go out of their way to provide intellectual cover for these activities. One example comes to mind from Fox News. In discussing the revelation that the USPS images every piece of mail passing through the postal system, and that there is no limit to how long these images are stored, commentator Charles Krauthammer dismissed any concerns with a rhetorical waive of the hand by noting that hardly anyone sends letters anymore. Nothing to see here folks, move along… I mean, thank goodness our emails, texts messages, internet searches and phone conversations are safe from the government snoops, otherwise we’d have nowhere to turn for privacy.

Despite what the ACLU would have us believe, Christianity is not the enemy of personal liberty, but the best friend it ever had. The whole idea of limited government has its roots in the Bible. This can be seen from many passages in the Old and New Testaments, from Samuel’s warnings to Israel about the behavior of future Israelite kings to the strict limitations placed on government by Paul in Romans 13. Bob Dylan made a good point in his song “You Gotta Serve Somebody,” for serve we all must. Americans can either repent and serve the Lord in freedom, or continue on their current path enslaved to the state. I’d like to think we’d make the right choice, but I’m not terribly optimistic.

 

 



 

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A Greek Tragedy

Posted in Economics, Politics on February 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

You can’t get very far into the financial news without coming across a story about the European financial crisis. Riots here, bailouts there. Bureaucrats and politicians running hither yon. One day we’re told everything’s solved, nothing to see here. The next day the end of the world draweth nigh. It’s all very entertaining in a perverse sort of way.

But apart from the repetitious, bipolar financial news out of Europe, one thing does stand out about the crisis: the countries at the epicenter of the mess, Greece and Italy. Both these nations are ridiculously indebted as a result of reckless government spending and appear headed toward economic perdition. In other words, they’re really not any different than the rest of the western world, just getting there first.

But these aren’t just any nations. This isn’t Bulgaria we’re talking about. No, as secular scholars will tell you, Greece and Rome were the very cradle of Western civilization. If the West began with Greece and Rome, there’s a good chance it just might end there as well.

 

 

 

 

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