Digital Publius

• A New Ism?
  Syndicated radio talk show host and author Michael Medved, has an annoying habit of repeating, ad nauseam, that President Obama is not a socialist. Of course Mr. Medved is entitled to his opinion. However, it begs the question, if the President is not a socialist, ideologically, what is he?
  
  It is obvious Mr. Medved sees his position as something of a high road approach. I see it as cowardice. It seems, to me at least, that Medved fears being seen as an extremist more than he loves the truth.
  
  Is Mr. Obama a Pinko? A pinko” is defined in my gigantic unabridged Webster’s as; a person who holds leftist views. Well, what does “leftist views” mean Mr. Webster, oh great Shahu of words and denotations?
  
  Left:
  
  “The part of a legislative assembly, situated on the left side of the presiding officer and that is customarily assigned to members of the legislature who hold more radical and socialistic views than the rest of the members,”
  Wikipedia says:
  
  “Pinko is a derogatory term for a person regarded as sympathetic to communism, though not necessarily a Communist Party member.”
  
  Wiki goes on to relate: “The word “pinko” was coined by Time magazine in 1925 as a variant on the noun and adjective pink, which had been used along with parlor pink since the beginning of the 20th century to refer to those of leftish sympathies, usually with an implication of "effeteness". In the 1920s, for example, a Wall Street Journal editorial described supporters of the progressive politician Robert La Follette as “visionaries, ne’er do wells, parlor pinks, reds, hyphenates [Americans with divided allegiance], soft handed agriculturalists and working men who have never seen a shovel.”
  
  This makes sense when you consider that early 20th century “progressives” were obsessed with Socialism, Fascism and every other radical left leaning ideology that came down the pike. Heck W.E.B. Dubois thought Hitler and Mussolini were the cat’s pajamas until the Reich’s National Socialist Program began their final solution, mass murder unfortunately for the left, made Fascism less fashionable.
  
  They still teach that Fascism is a far right philosophy, despite the glaring lack of right wing ideology expressed by its two greatest practitioners. If you removed the names Hitler and Mussolini from much of what was said both publicly and privately, you would think you were reading the transcript of the latest Bill Moyer Sunday show featuring Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank.
  
  So maybe Mr. Obama is a Pinko, slightly socialist, but not a card carrying commie.
  
  “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.”
  Galatians 5:9
  
  The American left certainly disdains debate like the Fascists and Commies of old. In his interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier, Mr. Obama did everything but the moon walk to avoid talking about the health care bill process. Similarly, I’m fairly certain I heard Billy Jean starting up as Congressman Anthony Weiner ended his interview with Bill O’Reilly on Obamacare fall out. Watching Weiner avoid admitting that the IRS will enforce the healthcare bill, looked like Dracula evading a garlic wreath, all fangs and hissing.
  
  Actually. the O’Reilly v Weiner debate on The Factor, was like watching Abbott and Costello perform Who’s On First? I kept on waiting for Weiner to preemptively shout “First base!”
  
  America is supposed to be an open society, yet the left works tirelessly to squelch any debate. You see it played out on liberal college campuses across the country as students, often provoked by their instructors, deny invited conservative speakers the right to voice their views. Most recently displayed at the University of Ottawa, where an Ann Coulter dialog was cancelled due to rowdy students letting their fascist slips peak out from beneath their brown hems.
  
  Since liberalism on it’s own strength cannot compete in the market place of ideas, you have fellows like MSNBC's Ed Schultz calling for Congress to “equal out the audience” by bringing back the “Fairness Doctrine”. Schultz goes on to say; “Hell, if we’re gonna be socialist, lets be socialist across the board.”
  
  We have already had Air America, which failed miserably, because Americans would prefer not listening to liberal, anti-American diatribes during drive time. So leftists do what all good fascists do and remove as much of the competition from the air as possible. Liberals wait, as radio stations change formats because they are hemorrhaging money because the government forces them to air liberal talk shows that no one wants to hear. As a result, conservative talk radio eventually goes the way of the DoDo.
  
  If the President is not a socialist and he is not a Pinko, then what is he? Do we need a new name for a new “ism?” The President’s impromptu and none to private tête-à-tête with Joe the Plumber sounded like socialism to me. Forcing people to buy health insurance against their will to pay for others health insurance sounds like socialism too.
  
  The 21-year-old fresh out of school and on his first job, can opt out of the health care plan, but he still has to pay a fine enforced by the IRS to pay for the guy ensconced on his sofa playing Wii all day long. That’s not too fascist is it?
  
  If President Obama is not a socialist or a fascist, he certainly has a strong predilection for those that are. He has dinner with them, starts organizations with them. Obama hangs out with them and appoints them to his Cabinet.
  
  What people like Medved don’t get, is that in their attempt to be conciliatory when talking about the president. they do him a disservice. Why? Because by doing so, people like Medved are suggesting the President is too stupid to know that he is promoting a socialist agenda, that Mr. Obama is too dumb, too oblivious to know what he is doing.
  
  Despite the nattering denials, Congressman Dingell is too old to even care about denying this healthcare bill is about controlling people. Whether it’s the insurance companies or the common man he advocates controlling, it is, make no mistake, about control.
  
  What shall we call this new thing, controlism, governmentalism, regulatism? If President Obama is not a socialist my friends, what is he?
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• Comrade God?
  Last December I wrote an article titled “Capitalism for Dum Dums” in an attempt to shed light on the leftist’s propensity for perpetually clinging to failed economic models, particularly as it pertains to their distressing healthcare schemes. Think of this article as “Theology for Dum Dums”.
  For those of us clinging to a rational view of reality and history, not rendered pie-eyed by the intoxicating rhetoric of utopian collectivists sitting about campfires singing Puff the Magic Dragon and reeking of Patchouli Oil, we know that socialism does not work. Whether it is “The Peoples” farm and toilet paper factory, or universal healthcare, it all invariably collapses, primarily driven by a spirit fostering sluggardly behavior.
  The more adventurous leftists, the ones more likely to refer to themselves as “progressives”, hazard a go at selling socialized medicine, even socialism proper, by means of the Holy Bible. They try to accomplish this most often by quoting from the second book of the Acts of the Apostles, verse 44,45:
  “And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”
  This would appear to be a compelling argument for socialism on the surface for those inclined towards that sort of tomfoolery. Though, “ as every man had need” suggests that this was not an even distribution of resources, some obviously had less need. The problem with secular leftist Bible experts is that they do not apprehend and cannot comprehend that the Spirit driving acts like the ones depicted in Acts 2:44,45 is just that, spiritual. I like the way the great theologian Matthew Henry puts it:
  “The greatness of the event raised them above the world, and the Holy Ghost filled them with such love, as made every one to be to another as to himself, and so made all things common, not by destroying property, but doing away selfishness, and causing charity.”
  We see the behavior in Acts 2 repeated in Acts 4. Lets look at the whole thing in context:
  And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. Acts 4:31-35
  So we see these people were filled with the Holy Ghost, the very Spirit of God. Inspired by the resurrection of the Lord, these saints were convicted to lovingly act in concern for the welfare of their brothers. This was a voluntary action not an obligatory one and therein lies it’s power.
  What we see in Acts, is the ultimate manifestation of Christian fellowship, What is mine, is yours and I share it. The concept is the ultimate in “mi casa es su casa”. Socialism says what is yours is mine and I have the power to take it, an entirely different paradigm, a different spirit. In fact, the liberal who favors big government says; you can’t be trusted to do right with what you have, so we’ll do it for you.
  The goal in the Acts of the Apostles was not to bring about social or economic justice, that would nullify the Bible’s teachings on sowing and reaping taught with regularity throughout Scripture. In fact, we are given a harsh lesson in the hypocrisy of false giving in the story of Ananias and Saphira in the very first few lines of Acts chapter five immediately following the liberals celebrated “all things in common” verses.
  The Apostles were not in the habit of subsidizing those who could work but refused to, as Paul illustrated.
  “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.” II Thessalonians 3:10-15
  The fact that the first century Church was not a communal society is further illustrated in I Timothy:
  “ Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. 3:3-5
  Here we see it is the family that is foremost responsible for the welfare of its own. If families take responsibility for their own, Paul shows there will never be an unnecessary burden on the Church, or, to take it further, society on the whole. This of course still requires a spiritual component because you must have a heart for God. Paul says trust in God and His people. The progressive says trust in the state to do what is right with what it takes from you.
  If Christ and the Apostles were socialist like so many leftists purport, they were not very good ones. If Christ were to appear in Communist China or Cuba and began teaching the parable of the “Laborers in the vineyard” Matthew 20:1-16 , the “Pounds” Luke 19:11-27 or God forbid the “Ten Talents” Matthew 25:14-30 were Jesus Christ begins; “For the kingdom of heaven is as...” and goes on to share a lesson on capitalism that would make Donald Trump blush. It is safe to say that they would find themselves in a re-education camp, or even more likely up against a pitted wall before you could say Trotsky three times fast. Come to think of it, that’s exactly what happens to people in those places who teach those parables.
  You would think that socialist societies would be more welcome to the teachings of comrade Jesus. No, only the fevered mind of the most dedicated progressive liberal can perceive socialism in the Good News. This is made possible by eyes covered with the cataracts of ideology dimly focused on the teachings of the God quite often they don’t even believe in.
  What we find in socialist experiments in history, are that the results of forced and often times indiscriminate redistribution of resources, delivered into the hands of a flawed oligarchy whatever nomenclature is in vogue, leads inevitably to waste and lack.
  This is in strong contradiction to the God of the Holy Bible who is conspicuous in His blessing of those who are wise, industrious, and generous. Unlike many of the Eastern philosophies, we who follow Christ are not taught to forsake the physical, but, we are to be mindful that God is less concerned with the physical and temporal.
  Christ preached the Kingdom of God above all else and that is eternal and heavenly. He did not teach dependence upon secular government for anything, including universal healthcare in any permutation. It may not be progressive by today’s standards, but nonetheless true.
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• Liberals Make Me Sick
  In the book of Genesis, we find that after each day of creation, God looks at His work and declares it is good. Except the sixth day, after the sixth and final day of creation, God looked at His work and pronounced it “very” good.
  
  The Hebrew word translated as “very” here, is meh-ode’. When you add meh-ode’ to the Hebrew word translated as “good” (towb), “good” becomes utterly good, it implies perfection. God is saying that He created the world in a state of perfection.
  
  God created a universe of perfect order, an earth of pristine organization, filled with creatures bereft of disease, of genetic flaws. This immaculate system was shattered when Adam failed to heed the warning, that if he disobeyed God, his rebellion would lead to death, an unnatural state for man.
  
  Adam’s rebellion led to the introduction of corruption into creation. God at this point kick starts entropy. He curses His creation and everything, from this point on, begins an inevitable and irresistible march towards chaos. The once perfect system is now like a clock winding down.
  
  A clear example of the 2nd law of thermodynamics at work in the Bible would be incest. We know that Adam and Eve had a lot of children and we know that they intermarried. We do not marry within our families today because it would likely lead to unhealthy offspring, the result of shared genetic faults. That was not the case for a long time after creation, remember, initially people were physically perfect. By the time disease, the environment and sin took their toll on the gene pool, resulting in genetic mutations and defects; God outlawed and stigmatized incest with the Mosaic Law.
  
  Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin was credited with discovering and formulating the 2nd Law of thermodynamics. The 2nd law permeates the Bible. It is therefore no wonder that Lord Kelvin relates his inspiration came, when he read Psalms 102:
  
  “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:” verses 25, 26
  
  Sir William was the first scientist to be raised to the British House of Lords; it is fair to say Sir William was no hack. Lord Kelvin is also credited with establishing the state of absolute zero; hence a unit of temperature measure is named in his honor. Not too bad for a creationist.
  
  The 2nd Law simply stated:
  
  In any chemical or physical process, the entropy of the universe tends to increase. Order becomes disorderly.
  
  The 2nd law is not restricted to physics laboratories and material systems. We find entropy at work in philosophy, language, the arts, literature and even political systems. The Constitution of the United States of America was also very good. So good in fact, it didn’t take long for it to attract the attention of the agents of entropy hungry to eat away at it.
  
  I submit that liberalism, though not solitary, is by far the most voracious agent of entropy gnawing away at the American way of life. It is a most grievous malignancy and for those afflicted, definitely a disorder that attacks proper functioning of the mind.
  
  The American way of life relies heavily on a concept that social commentator Os Guinness calls the Golden Triangle. Simply, freedom requires virtue, but virtue requires faith and faith requires the first side of the triangle, freedom. I look at this concept in detail here.
  
  Liberalism attacks each side of the triangle. Virtue is a concept that liberals find appalling, preferring instead relativism with its fluid treatment of morality. Liberalism promotes a condemnation of “judgmental” moral imperatives and outdated sexual restrictions “as long as nobody gets hurt”.
  
  In the liberal’s secular world, faith in the classical sense cannot be abided, because it implies a responsibility to the Author of virtue. Liberalism demands that the Source of virtue must be eliminated from the public consciousness. This is most efficiently accomplished by downplaying the importance of Biblical faith in American society, in favor of an inclusive ecumenicalism. As they often contradict one another,by advancing the idea of all faiths being equally valid, faith is effectively nullified.
  
  When it comes to faith, we can all be wrong, but we cannot all be right.
  
  Liberals have destroyed our freedom to express faith in the virtues of our Christian heritage. To cite the obvious influence that Christianity had on our nation’s founding, or worse to promote Christian morals in a practical and personal sense, applying them to everyday life in public, for the left is to invite a most dreadful censure from the liberal media. Ask Carrie Prejean, Brit Hume, or Tim Tebow.
  
  Like nature abhors a vacuum, liberals loathe freedom. They say they love it, and fight for it, but their actions suggest they just don’t trust it in a workaday sense. At least not for the everyman. Giving rise to the death grip liberals have on crumbling notions like global warming. These manufactured issues are necessary to implement Draconian measures designed to hamstring business and the free market.
  
  All those lovely regulations and taxes they hasten to saddle corporations with, which in turn cause an increase in the prices of goods and services. If gas and cars cost more because of exotic cafe laws, fewer people can come and go with the freedom they once enjoyed. That is why the left loves public transportation; it defines when you can come and when you can go. Public transportation regulates you.
  
  We see this clearly in the liberal push for socialized healthcare in America. Liberalism is the virus that attacks freedom, virtue and faith, the anti-bodies that make for a steady republic and strong American body politic. Liberalism is a slow rot, that doesn’t happen overnight. It is brought about by a series of small compromises.
  
  Liberals are blinded by their hatred of the American way of life, a hatred fomented by the subtle and all but complete socialist overthrow of our public education system that teaches children to be ashamed of American history. That avoids at all costs teaching our youth the glories of Americas past along with our failings.
  
  So complete is liberal tunnel vision that it doesn’t matter how many horror stories come to light, like Britain’s National Health Service’s failure to avert the bloodcurdling conditions that have caused the loss of life of untold numbers of patients at Stafford hospital.
  
  Such as the sick drinking water from flower vases, patients unwashed, lying in their own filth, their families taking sheets home and washing them. Discarded needles, untended and bloody wards left uncleaned.
  
  The British papers are calling it the worst NHS hospital scandal in ten years. Ten years? The only hospitals that I can remember having issues with poor conditions ever in the US, were veteran’s hospitals, which are incidentally, not unlike the NHS in Britain, run by the government.
  
  How about Canadian Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, who fled his nation’s system to have heart surgery in America? Williams explained that his doctor advised that he shouldn’t wait to have surgery, as those who need surgery in Canada must wait their turn, Williams contends he didn’t want to be perceived as a line jumper.
  
  Danny Williams was also told that having heart surgery in his native land would require his sternum be broken. The doctor performing the surgery in Florida did so with a minimally invasive procedure entering through an incision under the arm. Williams stated:
  
  "This was my heart, my choice and my health; I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics."
  
  Williams said, "We do whatever we can to provide the best possible health care that we can in Newfoundland and Labrador. The Canadian health care system has a great reputation, but this is a very specialized piece of surgery that had to be done and I went to somebody who's doing this three or four times a day, five, six days a week."
  
  This is where the Democrats want to take us. Where will you go when you find yourself on a waiting list for heart surgery? Make no mistake, that list is coming. Where will the innovation come from that makes the surgery Danny Williams benefitted from routine in our country if we relinquish free market principles that work?
  
  You will hear Democrats defend socialized medicine as an idea that will eventually be embraced by the masses, appealing to America’s earlier forays into quasi-socialist policies, like Social Security and Medicare.
  
  I say we hold our own protest against the 2nd law of thermodynamics by throwing entropy’s liberal “change” agents out of office in November. Be aware that they don’t all have a “D” next to their names but what is the alternative?
  
  “The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But under the name of Liberalism, they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without knowing how it happened.”– Norman Thomas, noted socialist and frequent candidate for US President.
  
  Paraphrasing American poet, novelist and short story writer, Charles Buckowski; I don’t hate liberals, but I feel better when they’re not around.
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• Down From Slavery
  “Excuse my hesitation, this is the first time that I’ve had a donor call and make this kind of request, so I’m excited and want to make sure I don’t leave anything out,”
  
  Thus spake Autumn Kersey, vice president for marketing at Planned Parenthood of Idaho. What sparked so much enthusiasm in Ms. Kersey? She was reacting to a request from a donor.
  
  In reality the donor was an actor who asked Ms. Kersey specifically if his donation could go “to help a minority group … like the Black community, for example.”
  
  To wit, Ms Kersey replied; “Certainly, If you wanted to designate that your gift be used to help an African-American woman in need, then we would certainly make sure the gift as earmarked for that purpose.”
  
  “Great”, the donor/actor said, “because I really faced trouble with affirmative action, and I don’t want my kids to be disadvantaged against black kids. I just had a baby; I want to put it in his name.”
  
  “Absolutely.” responded Kersey.
  
  Prompting the caller to state, “the less black kids out there the better,”
  
  Followed by Kersey agreeing with a laugh, “understandable, understandable,” then she is recorded making the giddy statement which opens this article.
  
  Ms. Kersey was unaware that she was participating in an investigation, spearheaded by students at the University of California at Los Angeles newspaper, The Advocate, which involved calling six Planned Parenthood clinics in six states. The staff members answering donation lines were without exception, willing to take donations despite similarly racist motivations espoused by the actors.
  
  This story, which broke March of 2008, went largely unreported by the pro abortion leaning main stream media outlets, I don’t recall the students sting operation being an item on any TV news organization besides Fox. It did however prompt an embarrassed obligatory apology from Planned Parenthood.
  
  “The question of abortion confronts me in several different ways. First, although I do not profess to be a biologist, I have studied biology and know something about life from the point of view of the natural sciences. Second, I am a minister of the Gospel and, therefore, feel that abortion has a religious and moral dimension that I must consider. Third, I was born out of wedlock (and against the advice that my mother received from her doctor) and therefore abortion is a personal issue for me.”
  
  Doubtless the statement of a far right leaning conservative republican politician pandering to his base right? No, this is a quote from an article written for National Right to Life News, January of 1977, penned by no other than The Rev. Jesse Jackson. He goes on to say:
  
  “Another area that concerns me greatly, namely because I know how it has been used with regard to race, is the psycholinguistics involved in this whole issue of abortion. If something can be dehumanized through the rhetoric used to describe it, then the major battle has been won. Those advocates of taking life prior to birth do not call it killing or murder, they call it abortion. They further never talk about aborting a baby because that would imply something human. Rather they talk about aborting the fetus. Fetus sounds less than human and therefore can be justified.”
  
  “… What happens to the mind of a person, and the moral fabric of a nation, that accepts the aborting of the life of a baby without a pang of conscience? What kind of a person, and what kind of a society will we have 20 years hence if life can be taken so casually?”
  
  By 1984, whilst seeking the Staunchly pro-abortion Democratic Party’s nomination for the Presidency, Rev. Jackson’s stance on abortion had “evolved” radically, stating:
  
  “'it is not right to impose private, religious and moral positions on public policy.”
  
  This in stark contrast to his 1977 essay where Jackson stated:
  
  “If one accepts the position that life is private, and therefore you have the right to do with it as you please, one must also accept the conclusion of that logic. That was the premise of slavery. You could not protest the existence or treatment of slaves on the plantation because that was private and therefore outside of your right to be concerned.”
  
  We see that Rev. Jackson’s change from one ideological species to another was more akin to punctuated equilibrium than Darwinian gradual change over time.
  
  “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”
  James 1:8
  
  Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and the Democratic Party and progressive liberalisms patron saint of a woman’s right to abort her baby, outlined her “Negro Project” in a letter to Clarence J. Gamble of the Procter & Gamble fortune.
  
  “We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”
  
  With Blacks accounting for 12.4% of the total U.S. population while accounting for 37% of the abortions being performed in America we see just how successful Sanger’s 1939 Negro Project continues to be, contributing significantly to a negative population growth percentage, meaning the Black community in America is not reproducing at a rate sufficient to maintaining our current numbers, we are not replacing ourselves, we are regressing.
  
  The liberal kerfuffle over the Tim Tebow Super Bowl ad was typical of the anti-life agenda influencing the morality of the Democratic Party. A woman expressing gratitude for a child who was not only wanted, but proved to be exceptional, is turned into an attack on women everywhere. Shame on you Focus on the Family, your family focus blurs the line protecting a women’s rights.
  
  More disturbing, at least for the sane among us, is Planned Parenthood’s response. In an ad reaffirming Sanger’s Negro Project strategy, we find the abortion advocacy group hiring two famous black athletes to counter Focus on the Family’s one. Former Viking Sean James and Olympic medalist Al Joyner, like the pliable “colored ministers” of old, use their moderately “engaging personalities” to get the word out that it’s still a good idea to “exterminate the negro population”, so long as it is couched as a woman’s right to choose.
  
  The postbellum Black man was a creature filled with dreams, and convictions, eager to lift himself and his people up from slavery. That was “hope”. Our chains now, more carnal, more mental than physical. Have we fallen so far down from slavery that we see too often only despair in the prospect of a child?
  
  The postmodern Black man is too often eager to follow the path of expediency, particularly when it is paved with privilege and favor granted by his liberal masters. He is proffered status in the party and absolved of responsibility by waving a magic wand that makes the results of his philandering disappear.
  
  I fancy a quote from the great Booker T. Washington:
  
  “There is no power on earth that can neutralize the influence of a high, simple and useful life.”
  
  This is a simple truth that eludes Planned Parenthood, the Democratic party and all of the unfortunate souls who fill the abortion clinics plaguing our country and decimating our urban areas.
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• Immutable
  Nick Allen in Port-au-Prince, filed an article with his paper, the UK’s Telegraph, titled “Haiti earthquake: voodoo high priest claims aid monopolised by Christians”. In the article Mr. Allen interviews a Max Beauvoir, Haiti’s “supreme master” of voodoo, wherein he states:
  "The evangelicals are in control and they take everything for themselves," he claimed. "They have the advantage that they control the airport where everything is stuck. They take everything they get to their own people and that's a shame.”
  I have never been to Haiti, during this disaster, or otherwise, I can therefore not speak authoritatively. However, I find it difficult to believe that evangelicals are asking prior to ministering aid, if the needy are Christian or voodoo practitioners. My doubts driven by experience as a Christian rendering aid to the needy domestically. It is not the policy of a Christian ministry to ask an unfortunate persons religious affiliation before helping them.
  The article describes Mr Beauvoir as a 75 year old, Sorbonne-educated biochemist, who lives in a town just outside of Port-au-Prince. Upon observing the first convoy to reach his town from the World Food Programme, containing 400 sacks of rice being besieged by the towns hungry voodoo followers, Mr. Beauvoir goes on to say:
  "It is the first delivery and it took a couple of weeks fight to get that for the voodoo people,"
  Mr. Beauvoir’s complaint leads inexorably to a question I think begs to be asked, Is there a Voodoo World Outreach? If so, where then have they been? A quick google search “voodoo charities” turned up zilch, no Voodoo Without Borders to be found.
  The World Food Programme, is a United Nations organization. If Mr. Beauvoir means to intimate that evangelicals control or influence the functioning of the WFP, the notion is patently absurd, I can think of no other organization more indifferent, perhaps even contrary to Christianity than the United Nations.
  In the article Mr. Allen states:
  “At the weekend hundreds of voodoo houngans, or priests, gathered in the northern town of Gonaives to plan how to react to the earthquake that left an estimated 200,000 people dead on Jan 12.”
  Mr Beauvoir says:
  "Voodoo has been discriminated against for 200 years.
  "It was developed by our ancestors, it is a way of life. To ask us to stop would be like asking an American to stop heating hamburgers."
  Mr. Allen learns:
  “In Haitian voodoo, God is supreme and is not involved in human affairs. Believers instead worship hundreds of spirits called lwa (loa). Other beliefs include that trees have spirits.”
  Allen explains:
  “Missionaries equating voodoo with devil worship have long tried to convert the population of Haiti but the religion, a mixture of Christianity and animism, remains ingrained. Like Christianity it has one God but incorporates pagan elements such as spell casting and calling spirits.”
  The Bible makes it clear that “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” You can’t mix Christianity and voodoo they are mutually exclusive.
  “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.” James 3:10-12
  Allen quotes a Monique Henri who says she had an image of Ogu Feri , the voodoo god of metal and fire, at her home .
  "The earthquake happened because people were sinners so God was angry, because people did wrong,"
  Allen reports that voodoo ceremonies are still going on in the haitian countryside, his article says:
  “The elaborate ceremonies include secret languages, people dancing after being possessed by spirits and talismans including dried animal heads.
  In rural areas there are said to be people who practice the darker side of voodoo, summoning evil spirits. However, practitioners argue that voodoo is a force for good.”
  It never ceases to amaze me how people in need find it sensible to dictate to those offering aid, how it should be rendered. Either take it or don’t take it, have the conviction of your beliefs and refuse, or accept what’s given with thanksgiving and without complaint.
  The unchanging God of the Holy Bible who inspires those evangelicals to offer aid along with the Gospel message of salvation to the people of Haiti, had this to say to the Israelites about the fate of those who choose pagan practices:
  “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Deuteronomy 18:9-12
  The Bible makes no distinction between so called “good” or “evil” spirits. This would include pop culture psychics like Sylvia Browne and Miss Cleo or even Glenda the good witch and Harry Potter of literary fame. Whether real or fictional, good or bad, witchcraft to God is an abomination that should not be promoted or glorified.
  Well what about America? There are plenty of practitioners of bad things in America. Why isn’t God judging America? Who said he isn’t? A pastor friend of mine from the state of Louisiana, another bastion of voodoo, made an excellent point. God is judging America, we just have money enough to throw at our issues to cushion the blow.
  We find in the book of Galatians, that immutable God, has not slackened His view on witchcraft with the advent of Christ:
  “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Chapter 5 v19-21
  God makes it clear that unrepentant doers of all the works of the flesh, will not escape judgement. America is not exempt.
  It is the very immutability of God in stark contrast to the whimsical nature of man, that makes the wisdom of the founders of this nation who based our societies laws and constitution on God’s revealed Word, so very noteworthy. They knew only an immutable God can grant unalienable rights.
  Man is manifestly mutable, illustrated by the growing instability of our once great nation as we substitute our wisdom for that of the Creators. We have begun to wink at some of those works of the flesh, indeed we celebrate many of them in our films and TV shows. We promote them in or songs and we make them the subjects of the New York Times best sellers list.
  We have parades in honor of what God calls sin. We pass laws protecting aberrant behavior. We have made the passing of our sons and daughters through the fire a matter of a woman’s right to choose. We equivocate on matters we used to know were inherently wrong, because we fear seeming judgmental more than any coming judgment from God.
  My astute pastor friend from Louisiana, who also happens to be a black conservative, said something afterwards which I found at first amusing, then chilling when the ramifications hit home; he said, God is still in control and it seems, He has given us an administration bent on leaving us financially incapable of throwing money around for much longer.
  We may seek to make God as mutable as we are, but it is in fact a hapless endeavor. We can’t change God’s mind, thank God we can change ours. Here’s hoping we do before it’s too late.
  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:1-3
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• I Left My Hat In Haiti
  As a baby boomer, influenced probably to an unhealthy degree by pop culture, just about everything that I come across triggers a sort of semi-related memory or response. It may be perverse, but the first thing that popped into my head when I heard about the horrific earthquake in Haiti was the Fred Astaire and Jane Powell musical number from the film “Royal Wedding”, I left My Hat in Haiti.
  
  I know I need help, but, it is the truth. Haiti also triggers thoughts of Pirates seeking refuge on Hispaniola (the little Spain), the name given by Columbus to the Island that would later be bisected and become Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Seems in the movies pirates were always headed there.
  
  The devastation left in the wake of the earthquake that rocked the island nation should not be made light of. The death toll is staggering and expected to continue climbing. Long term suffering will likely make Katrina seem like a picnic. The swift response from the Obama administration offering aid, is laudable, not only in supplying succor to the native population, but also because of his responsibility to the 40,000 some-odd American citizens on the Island at any given time.
  
  That Haiti seems to suffer from an arguably endless plague of miseries can be little disputed. When one considers that it shares a land mass with the relatively prosperous Dominican Republic, it is a quandary why Haiti remains a perpetual mare’s nest. Unless of course Pat Robertson is right.
  
  I am sure by now you have heard of the flap caused by Pat Robertson stating Haiti is accursed due to a pact the early Haitian patriots made with the devil. Robertson’s proclamation was met with the expected derision and vitriol from the left, and a fair amount from those who say they are right-wing evangelicals.
  
  Robertson’s statement and the following uproar triggered another pop culture response, when the Sly and the Family Stone lyric “It’s the truth, that the truth, makes them so uptight,” from the song “Stand,” skulked unwarranted across my fevered brain. I spent a goodly amount of time running down the voodoo curse story and I have not found a reason to doubt its historicity.
  
  Every history of Haiti I came across mentioned that a houngan (voodoo priest) named Dutty Boukman did in fact lead a large gathering of slaves in a voodoo rite. From the Haitian bicentennial site we read:
  
  “A man named Boukman, another houngan, organized on August 14, 1791, a meeting with the slaves in the mountains of the North. This meeting took the form of a Voodoo ceremony in the Bois Caiman in the northern mountains of the island. It was raining and the sky was raging with clouds; the slaves then started confessing their resentment of their condition. A woman started dancing languorously in the crowd, taken by the spirits of the loas. With a knife in her hand, she cut the throat of a pig and distributed the blood to all the participants of the meeting who swore to kill all the whites on the island.”
  
  We find the story repeated on kreyol.com:
  
  “Among the rebellion's leaders were Boukman, a maroon and voodoo houngan (priest); Georges Biassou, who later made Toussaint (Louverture) his aide; Jean-François, who subsequently commanded forces, along with Biassou and Toussaint, under the Spanish flag; and Jeannot, the blood thirstiest of them all. These leaders sealed their compact with a voodoo ceremony conducted by Boukman in the Bois Cayman (Alligator Woods) in early August 1791. On August 22, a little more than a week after the ceremony, the uprising of their black followers began.”
  
  On the same site we find that a fellow named François Macandal, lead a six year rebellion between 1751-57 that left 6,000 dead. Macandal was himself, a boko, or voodoo sorcerer from African traditions who used his dark religion to motivate his followers.
  
  That these occurrences happened, seems to be canonical according to Hatian sources. The high dudgeon displayed by Robertson’s detractors, eager to call him a man filled with racist hatred, fail to mention that as he made the remarks, the Christian Broadcast Network had a team already on the ground in Haiti and one of it’s Operation Blessing containers on a ship at the port of Port-Au-Prince waiting to clear customs, filled with 2 million dollars worth of medical supplies as a contribution to aid in the relief effort.
  
  Comments like this one accompanying the story on breitbart.tv regarding this subject are telling:
  
  “I am a Christian and am frankly embarrassed almost every time this guy opens his mouth. He said the same thing about the tsunami in SE Asia in ‘04. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Jesus would never have uttered such stupidity. He would have been too busy trying to dig people out of the rubble and administer first aid. “Do unto others….” You know the rest.”
  
  However, Pat Robertson’s words are exactly the sort of thing we would expect to hear from Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible:
  
  “And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. “ John 8:3-12
  
  In this passage of Scripture Christ does not condemn the Law of Moses, the woman deserved to be stoned to death, just as all of us who sin deserve punishment. He did not excuse the guilt of the woman nor did He endorse the Pharisees false zeal. As Matthew Henry far more ably put it:
  
  “All who are any way called to blame the faults of others are especially concerned to look to themselves, and keep themselves pure. In this matter Christ attended to the great work about which he came into the world, that was, to bring sinners to repentance; not to destroy, but to save. He aimed to bring, not only the accused to repentance, by showing her his mercy, but the prosecutors also, by showing them their sins; they thought to ensnare him, he sought to convince and convert them.”
  
  It is important to note that Jesus’ last words to the woman were “Go, and sin no more.” This is a warning that though she received mercy that day, continuing in her sin would result in condemnation from the Father later, which is precisely what Pat Robertson was calling for when he prayed that Haiti would repent and turn from the sin of witchcraft which is the scourge of the island nation.
  
  Haiti is rife with voodoo. The official religion of Haiti is Catholicism, but it is reported that 95% of Haitians are inculcated with some measure of voodoo, believed, by them, to be compatible with Catholic belief. God, in no uncertain terms, condemns witchcraft in both the Old and New Testaments in every form.
  
  “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
  
  The last verse bears repeating. Jesus’ words are the key unlocking the mystery and fuel the loving comments Pat Robertson, offered in hope that the lost of Haiti find the Light of Truth. Jesus’ words also fuel the much maligned comments Britt Hume proffered to Tiger Woods.
  
  When you aid them, you do no favor to those in trouble if you fail to point out issues that may have caused those troubles to begin with.
  
  It’s better to tell a guy it’s not a good idea to fall asleep on train tracks than to have to follow a person around so that you are there to pull him out of the way of a train. It is the devil’s mission to convince man to reject God and then take their lives before the deceived learn the truth. With that knowledge, I am convinced; the devil left his hat in Haiti.
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• The Hysterical Hypocrites
  At this writing, the first ten items on drudgereport.com, all decry a winter season without mercy. Havoc wreaked on a “global” scale as humanity is buffeted by record low temperatures and unprecedented snowstorms. People dying, crops in danger, travel restricted, “baby, it’s cold outside.”
  
  The hysterics continue to cite global warming, or the new catch all term, “climate change”, I simply call it winter. The very term climate change promotes a sense of bemused weariness in most people. It came into use when the hysterics realized that it was becoming increasingly difficult to sell people on the idea that they needed to host fewer barbecues on vacation and eat less meat to combat the scourge of global warming, while using their neighbor’s four wheel drive SUV to extricate the hybrid they bought in an effort to do their part, from a huge snow drift.
  
  I posted an article last week from sciencedaily.com highlighting the fact that there has been a zero rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide in 150 years. As I have pointed out in earlier articles on this subject, the majority of the Co2 produced is consumed by oceans and plants and then converted to oxygen. The article points out that only about 45% of Co2 produced remains in the atmosphere.
  
  A friend on facebook who falls decidedly amongst the hysterics in this contemporary narrative, in an effort to show how wrongheaded my denial of global warming is, began to cut and paste from an article he’d read, numbers that on the surface sound impressive. He posted:
  
  “To put it in terms that you may be more familiar with, consider that carbon sinks are a discount on the 'cost' of CO2, a discount of around 57%. That means that of the around 1,000,000 metric tonnes of CO2 that Swaziland emits every year, around 430,000 stays in the atmosphere, and the rest is absorbed by forests, oceans...etc. If they industrialize and produce 2,000,000 metric tonnes of CO2, that means that 860,000 tonnes will be added to the atmosphere: The *percentage* stays the same, but an increase in CO2 is still an increase in CO2.
  
  Okay, homework: If this study is correct, and 43% of the produced CO2 remains in the atmosphere, how much of the 5,752,289,000 metric tonnes of CO2 generated by the USA in 2006 remained airborne?”
  
  My answer, who cares? 430,000 metric “tonnes”, 2 billion metric “tonnes”, it all sounds so formidable, so harrowing that we are dumping all this Co2 into the atmosphere. That is until you examine the numbers found only in the all to revealing big picture.
  
  The amount of Co2 in the atmosphere stands at 0.038% NASA.GOV says 0.01-0.1% Period.
  Co2 is still measured in parts per million of 1% of the atmosphere regardless of the hysteric’s number juggling. Again my question to the hysterics is:
  
  What are the mechanics of a trace element in our atmosphere allowing for so disastrous an effect on weather patterns?
  
  Here’s the thing, the earth's atmosphere has a mass of about five quadrillion (5x10 to the 15th power) metric tons (since I'm a Yankee I'll use tons instead of tonnes). As the numbers my hysterical facebook friend likes include the entire ecosystem, the earth has a mass of 5,973,600,000,000,000,000,000.0 metric tons.
  
  That's 5 sextillion, 973 quintillion, 600 quadrillion. A far cry from the hysteric’s insignificant 6, 7 even 10 figure numbers, no matter how you slice it. I have been accused on many occasions of using “bar napkin” mathematics when proving my points, yet my accusers never offer more substantial chalkboard work to counter my points.
  
  The Science Daily article concludes by validating my point that man’s activity has not changed the amount of Co2 in the atmosphere, so the idea of anthropogenic (man made) climate change is a joke. A joke that is about as funny as a root canal, when you consider the ramifications of the policy changes the Democrats want to and have implemented to deal with a non-existent problem.
  
  The weak apologetics offered by the left and bolstered by the mainstream media for the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit’s less than honest hacked emails, are trumped only by liberal global warming hysterics hypocrisy. No one likes a good whistleblower story more than the left. As long as it attacks big business or some other leftist cause célèbre.
  
  The Left bestows Oscars for “Erin Brokovich” and celebrates “Silkwood,” and puts “Thank You For Not Smoking” in the must see section next to “Roger and Me” and “All the President's Men,” but you have to pass copies of “Redacted”, “Valley of Elah” and “Rendition” to get to them.
  
  The CRU hackers are just criminals. Never you mind that they uncovered one of the greatest scientific scandals ever! Climate change scientists fudging the numbers doesn’t fit into the politically correct; nature good, man bad reports so popular with the left.
  
  This is the same pattern being followed by the Obama administration when it comes to securing the nation against terrorists. By constantly ignoring the big picture to advance a politically correct narrative, you place the narrative above the security of the people. The philosophy becomes more important than the Americans it is meant to serve and enlighten.
  
  The truth is, there are literally millions of Islamic terrorists hell-bent on killing anyone who disagrees with their faith. Calling them extremists, or isolated individuals doesn’t change the reality of the danger they pose to America and the rest of the world. Failing to recognize that you are in a shooting war with forces that hate you, is as stupid as forwarding the notion that man can effect climate.
  
  Both ideologies establish a pattern of liberal self deception in the case of those who are merely unwilling to think for themselves. The result being, out and out prevarication when Democrats are confronted with hard questions and down right deceit if it advances the liberal agenda.
  
  
  Someone wrote; “It is easier to believe a lie that one has heard a thousand times than to believe a fact that no one has heard before”, This is a less than comforting bromide considering todays political and philosophical struggles. The liberal media is certainly doing it’s part to make it so. We need to think!
  
  “If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.” Proverbs 29:12
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
  
• Capitalism For Dum Dums
  Is it just me, or does anyone else find it a searing irony that Neoclassical economics is most often referred to as Chicago School economics? Milton Friedman, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (1976) died three years ago. Next year will mark 40 years since his New York Times article challenging the Keynesian economic model was published. The long time University of Chicago professor must be spinning in his grave as the policies of another son of Chicago, stands ready to validate all of his worst economic nightmares.
  
  That President Obama and his cohorts are religiously Keynesian in thought is painfully obvious as John Maynard Keynes preached that large-scale deficit spending by the government, is the cure for mass unemployment. Friedman advocated for the free market and the disadvantages of government intervention and regulation, in conjunction with a careful monitoring of the money supply through the Federal Reserve (an institution he didn’t care for) were the cure for unemployment.
  
  When one considers that President Obama assured the nation that passing the Democrats Brobdingnagian stimulus spending package designed to keep unemployment below 9% has met with Blefuscudian results, as we are well above 10% unemployment and headed north, it is not too difficult to apprehend which of the two economic belief systems espoused by Keynes and Friedman has been proved correct.
  
  Democrats, you have chosen poorly for decades now. Obamacare is the newest example of you leftists really not understanding the way things work in the real world. If you have a truly good idea, it will be supported. You don’t have to bribe congressman from your own party to sell it.
  
  Democrats have been screaming now for months that the Republicans are acting as obstructionists, when you have had the numbers to do what ever you want to in both houses of congress. The Republicans could stay home.
  
  You’ve had to spend huge sums just to get your own party members to vote for your healthcare plan. Before the vote, the plan has already cost Americans billions just getting your fellow Dems to toe the line. It’s like those con-man photographers the pretty young girls who want to be models pay to take pictures of them when he signs them to his “modeling agency”. You just know that when she comes back the storefront is going to be empty. Generally the young girl ends up poorer but wiser for the experience. You folks on the liberal left never learn.
  
  Capitalism works. Socialism does not work. It was announced yesterday that Ford Motor Company has finally found a buyer for Volvo. That the company buying Volvo happens to be Chinese is no surprise to those of us who are paying attention. Even the Chinese are embracing capitalism, capitalism is saving their nation. Meanwhile; we are adopting what they are abandoning, they are abandoning it because, socialism, say it with me, dose not work!
  
  Whenever you go to a McDonalds Restaurant you can be sure that you’ll hear, “Thank You for choosing McDonalds, May I help you” If you go to renew your drivers license, you are lucky if you hear a hello if the person serving you even bothers to look up and make eye contact with you. There is nowhere else for you to go to get a drivers license, so there is very little incentive to render prompt friendly service.
  
  If this healthcare bill was such a good idea, why did the President break his promise to have it openly debated on
  C-SPAN? Why do the majority of Americans, crossing all political demographics oppose it? To pass your healthcare plan, why do you have to bribe your own party when you have an overwhelming majority? Why does the plan roll out like some kind of time released cold tablet over years, timed so that it will have the least political impact when the disastrous results unfold?
  
  This is how the left operates! Take stem cell research for example, If you are doing work with adult or umbilical stem cells there are plenty of companies in the private sector ready to toss money your way. Why? Because we have seen positive results that will prove to be lucrative in the future. Embryonic stem cells on the other hand have rendered no practical results at all–so those researchers have to seek money from the public trough while crying that those who oppose their research are anti-science and religious kooks.
  
  Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. No one that I know of would argue that the health care system doesn’t need a good once over with a damp cloth, it does, desperately. But to think that government run healthcare is the answer is utter madness. The government runs nothing efficiently! If the government allowed private industry to handle letters it wouldn’t cost 44 cents to mail one and the post office would be out of business in no time.
  
  The 2003 Medicare Drug Reform is the only government program operating at a cost lower than estimated so far and thats only because it is driven by free market forces.
  
  Here’s the really kooky thing, The most expensive healthcare you can buy here in Michigan is Blue Cross Blue Shield. As a Part of the graft paid to Senator Carl Levin, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is exempt from a proposed $10 billion annual fee on the health insurance industry. I thought it was the Republicans that were the shills for the Insurance companies.
  
  In fact Blue Cross Blue Shield make out like bandits all over the country with this bill. Well, after all, they are headquartered in Chicago. You have to take care of your own right Mr. President?
  
  Despite the lefts propaganda to the contrary, no one is refused medical care in America. If you need it you get it, whether you can pay for it or not. Healthcare should be no different than anything else in the world, the better you can afford, the better you get. It really is no different than car insurance. I have the right to get as much or as little coverage for my car as I want and can afford. With this new healthcare plan, I won’t be able to say the same about my healthcare.
  
  This is not healthcare reform, this is a government takeover forcing us all into a system that most of us don’t want. I know that Obama, Pelosi and Reid, that zany American Troika love spreading their madcap marxist ideas, calling it a holiday gift for the nation. Call your hijinks whatever you wish dum dums, I call it tyranny!
  
  “For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the Lord, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. But the liberal deviseth liberal things; and by liberal things shall he stand.” Isaiah 32:6-8
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
  
• World Without Dum Dums
  Diane Francis is a dum dum. Diane Francis, is a writer for the National Post, the USA Today of Canada. Ms. Francis authored a piece this week titled: “The Real Inconvenient Truth (The whole world needs to adopt China's one-child policy)” It begins thusly:
  “The ‘inconvenient truth’ overhanging the UN's Copenhagen conference is not that the climate is warming or cooling, but that humans are overpopulating the world.
  A planetary law, such as China's one-child policy, is the only way to reverse the disastrous global birthrate currently, which is one million births every four days.
  The world's other species, vegetation, resources, oceans, arable land, water supplies and atmosphere are being destroyed and pushed out of existence as a result of humanity's soaring reproduction rate.”
  This is mind numbingly stupid on so many levels and proof positive that the world would be much better off without dum dums like Ms. Francis. I don’t mean to suggest by that last statement, or the title of this article, that people like Ms. Francis do not have the right to exist, or should be placed in quarantine so that their epic stupidity doesn’t threaten healthy brains. Instead, I am suggesting that if we returned to teaching facts in our schools with an emphasis on problem solving based on analytical rather than emotional thinking, they would not exist. The few kooks that inevitably fall through the cracks, would be more readily recognizable to a much larger number of people.
  Lets shine the light of reason on the three ridiculous statements that Ms. Francis opens her half-baked article with.
  She compounds the already vapid reality of a world conference being held to discuss world wide climate change, a phenomenon that man has no power to control outside of science fiction novels and comic books, with the concept that the world is in danger of being overrun with people. This is patently absurd when one considers that man lives in cities, towns, villages etc., which constitute a mere 2% of the earth’s geography, including roads and highways.
  I remember reading years ago that the entire population of the earth could fit comfortably in the state of Texas. Being the type that has to see it for himself I did the math. Texas is 268,581 square miles according to texasalmanac.com, a square mile = 27,878,400 square feet, the earth's population was at 6,714,632,542 at the time of this notation. (March 2006)
  268,581 x 27'878,400= 7,487,608,550,400 divided by 6,714,632,542 = 1,115 square feet per person.
  To put this in perspective, a family of 5 like my own, could have a 5,575 square foot mansion. Much larger than our current digs. The world population neatly in Texas, with the rest of the breathtakingly fertile and verdant U.S. for farmland and not a single soul anywhere else on the surface of the earth, how does that fit into your Malthusian world view?
  “And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.” Revelation 9:13
  The Bible states that the King of the East, an enormous Asian power, will field an army of 200 Million men during the Battle of Armageddon. An incredible number until you remember that China has a population of 1.3 Billion.
  China’s one child per family policy has rendered China the most desperate nation in the history of the world. Because of the bias towards male children in their culture, there are not enough women to go around as girls are aborted in staggering numbers in favor of boys. This means millions of boys born, who will never have a wife or family of their own. They literally have nothing to lose.
  China has a suicide rate that is 2.3 times the global average, with a high percentage consisting of rural females. This is unnatural and it is wreaking havoc in Chinese society. Ms. Francis made an appearance on The Factor. With Laura Ingraham serving as guest host wherein she declared that she was a feminist. How do you enforce a policy like China’s one child rule without forcing women to have abortions? You can’t! It would mean the end of reproductive rights for women. Not a very sound feminist notion and decidedly ungodly.
  As for man destroying resources, people really do not have an appreciation for the shear immensity of the earth. I don’t care if you gave a brand new box of super straws to every living person after we move them to Texas, we couldn’t put a dent in the Great Lakes alone. Silly ideas like climate change and population control cause real suffering to befall real people.
  The policies driven by idiotic notions like anthropogenic climate change will hurt poor and needy people more than anyone else. We refuse to exploit enormous supplies of natural resources while people struggle to heat their homes. We pay higher prices for goods and services because of false and unnecessary energy shortages.
  We have this thing twisted, the greatest natural resource on earth is man. We need more people not less. The late great American economist Julian Simon debunked all of this sort of simpleminded hokum years ago. I implore you to read this brilliant article about Simon on wired.com “The Doomslayer”. Especially you liberal global warming kool-aid drinking, green blooded, tree hugging alarmist, empty headed democratic party supporting, Obama lickspittles.
  The very idea that the media has focused 15% more attention on the amorous misadventures of Tiger Woods, than the real world impacting Climategate story is appalling. The notion that the Democrats are about to shove energy policies down our throats that are going to cripple us, based on a lie, should be front page news.
  It has since come to light that Ms. Francis, herself, is the mother of two children. Given her new philosophy on population control, I wonder, if given a do over, which of her two children she would wish unborn so that she could be compliant with her earth friendly family ideas?
  To Ms Francis, I can only quote William F. Buckley, Jr. as I am wont to do on occasion:
  “I won't insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”
  Ms. Francis, Al Gore, Barack Obama and the whole liberal Democratic crackpot party are not a few fries short of a happy meal in the sense that they didn’t get all the fries they should have, they are not crazy. We the American people are the fries. And if I can mix metaphorical franchises here, in an attempt to “have it their way” the politicians are not ordering fries with their meals at all as they disregard the will of the people in this “post political” Obama administration’s approach to governing.
  Everything they plan to do is contrary to common sense, everything! Please stop and think before you nod your head in agreement because you identify with a political party or a person’s skin color. Use your head for something other than a place to try out the latest hair product, Think! If you do, by and by, we can realize a world without dum dums.
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• A Phlogiston Moment
  You may never have heard of Johann Joachim Becher; think of him as the Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. of the 17th century. Old J.J. Becher was an itinerant scientist/chemist/alchemist, who in an attempt to explain the phenomena Combustion and oxidation, theorized “that all flammable materials contain phlogiston, a substance without color, odor, taste, or mass that is liberated in burning. Once burned, the ‘dephlogisticated’ substance was held to be in its ‘true’ form, the calx.”
  In other words, it was needful to create an insubstantial substance, without color, odor, taste, or mass, to explain what was then inexplicable. J.J., the “wandering scientist” was just the guy to do it. He rode his theory to fame and fortune, having honors heaped on him, J.J. went on creating schemes that lined his pockets while he and the scientific establishment defended an idea conjured from the ether.
  Phlogiston theory, despite the work of scientists who actually followed the scientific method, stood against all challengers for almost a hundred years before it was finally disproved. There is no such thing as phlogiston.
  Somehow this speaks to the gullibility of man. Many will believe a thing, without confirmation, as long as they feel secure that the information supporting the thing, rises from a credible source. If this thing has room for them to be self righteously involved as well, like a cause, they will zealously follow. And no manner of evidence contradicting the thing will be tolerated.
  The left is particularly susceptible to zealotry of this sort, because the philosophy undergirding leftist thought is humanistic. They eliminate the creator and worship the creation. It really is a conundrum when you consider that as they worship the earth, spotted owls and call it evil to cover ourselves in the warmth provided by fur bearing critters, they raise man’s philosophy above God’s. As they praise man’s reason, they curse themselves for being men.
  Nowhere do we see this tragedy played out on the world stage with more epic clarity than in the Climategate story and the question of anthropogenic climate change. The modern day phlogiston. The mainstream media continues to zealously defend man made climate change with articles downplaying the significance of the revelations that key proponents of the theory have been less than honest when presenting their findings. That is if they mention the story at all.
  Meanwhile, like J.J. Becher before him, Al Gore and like minded climatologists, ride a crest of adulation to the bank. Fueled by a substance without color, odor, taste,mass or credible data. Buoyed by a sycophantic liberal media, sold out to a canon writ on vapor.
  I touched on the absurdity of the idea of man made climate change from a scientific perspective a year ago in my article “Brrr... This Global Warming Sure Is Cold.” and I pointed out some of the ramifications made manifest by adopting policies based on junk science in “The Empirical Has No Clothes!”. Though I could not have foreseen a smoking gun like the University of East Anglia emails materializing to blow a hole through Al Gore and the left’s Cause célèbre, It does not take prescience to presage the close minded reception they received from the true believers.
  Somehow this speaks to the naiveté of man. He will believe anything that he is made the center of. To think that man, as small as he is on this planet, could effect it in any meaningful and catastrophic way by simply living, is the very height of immature hubris. It is like the child who thinks the world ends at the tip of his own pointing finger.
  “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Genesis 8:22
  These are the simple words of the creator and they have proven to be right.
  Those who promote idiocy like man made climate change, are often the same types who will trot out tales of scientific persecution suffered by men of science at the hands of the superstitious men of religion. Accusing godly men who would worship the Creator, of being fools who stunt the growth of understanding. Yet they find no irony in having to falsify evidence as, long as it advances their secular, social and political agendas. They do not see that they’ve become what they scorned in the past. They simply make themselves a religion.
  Somehow this speaks to the arrogance of man. He is the beginning and the end, the author and the finisher, not God with His commandments. At the root of this thought is rebellion. Man does not need God, man saves his own soul as well as the planet.
  Callow man decides when life begins because he wants to do his own thing. Why shouldn’t a man marry a man? This is what propels the theory of evolution as well, the most powerful of modern day phlogiston like beliefs. Evolution, the ultimate 2 legged stool supporting liberal conviction, plain and simple rebellion!
  Just as a child will concoct lie after lie, fantasy after fantasy if it will allow him to do what he wills, man has an endless capacity to supply himself with the necessary fairy tales to justify his actions and insure that he is accountable to no one greater than himself.
  “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” II Peter 3:3-7
  So we should not marvel at the willingly ignorant, clinging to ideas like anthropogenic climate change, voting for men who declare themselves to be the “hope” of a nation and a world. We need to reach them and wake them up. We are seeing things unfold before our very eyes that God promised would happen. We need to sow and water seeds by sharing the Gospel of Christ so that the real Author and Finisher of our faith can get the increase.
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• The Voters Stupid
  It is patently absurd that we, as a nation, elected Barack Obama, President of the United States of America. We have ceased to be a nation of principles and character; degenerating into a people who elect the best talker. If you look at Barack Obama’s core beliefs, as compared to the core beliefs of the majority of voters in our country, it is mind boggling he even made it through the primaries.
  
  Nowhere is this failure of national character more pronounced and perplexing than in the American Black Community to which I belong. Many of us sit in churches, sometimes even more than twice a week and shake our heads as the Pastor describes sin overtaking our country. We nod in agreement when exhorted to shun the fleshy evils that plague our communities. Yet, when choosing political leaders, instead of applying the principles we say we believe in, time after time, we vote for the exact opposite.
  
  Everything that Barack Obama politically represents is in direct conflict with Biblical principles. Everything! Voting for Obama was an affirmation of many of the sins that cause us to shake our heads and cluck our tongues in church. Obama appears to be a loving husband and father, which is good, but the path the President is leading this nation down is abominable. The blame is not only Obama’s; I also blame Christians who say ignorant things like Believers need to separate themselves from politics. These type of Christians don’t mind being “salt” as long as they never have to leave the shaker.
  
  We need to stop letting government do what God called us to do. I am telling you right now that God is going to clean out all those grains that clog the salt shakers top; so that the willing grains behind the clogs can do what they have been called to do. Big government is the consequence of the church allowing unprincipled people to usurp the churches responsibility.
  
  As I alluded to in my last article, churches need to stop worrying about how much square footage they can add onto the building! Pastors need to stop asking “do we have enough potato salad” for the well fed church members attending the married couples retreat. We need to remember what those tithes and offerings are for. Adding more staff and an extra church outing is not how you measure growth. This is not why Christ bled and died on the cross!
  
  How about building facilities to care for the babies that could be spared from sacrifice to Molech in the abortion mills throughout your communities? Of course you’ll first have to start to call abortion the sin that it is from the pulpit. Or do a few less sermons on church prosperity. That way the innocent can enjoy the most primary of “unalienable rights,” which is life itself! So the Savior’s words; “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God,” will have real meaning for you.
  
  Obama is the most radically pro-abortion President to ever serve. If you cared Christian, or paid attention, that fact was plainly obvious from his voting record. Hey Christian, are you still waiting for him to pay your light bill? I hear my fellow black folks, who proclaim that they are Christian, say stupid things like: “You conservatives care so much about abortion, what about the children that are here and starving?”
  
  Indeed, what about them? If Pastors spent more time preaching sin, repentance from sin and the Lord’s mandate to create disciples, a dent would be made in the starving children problem. If Christians stopped going to huge mega-churches to see the latest top gospel stars and to take in the latest fashion trends and instead started ministering to the people who need help in the community alongside a local pastor who knows them --local churches would be filled on Sunday and have the resources to go along with the knowledge.
  
  Then America wouldn’t have to rely on government to feed starving children. That is how the country used to work. When it did function that way, we were not looking to the government for charity. Pastors cared more about people than building concert halls and in turn, faith grew with the actions of the church. When America worked that way, the nation didn’t have a teen pregnancy and illegitimate birth crisis.
  
  When you, a Christian, start voting for unprincipled people that don’t share your spiritual convictions, they will legislate from a humanistic perspective, that totally eliminates your core beliefs from the public square. If you can’t see the correlation between the rise in immoral behavior and the purging of God from our schools and other public institutions you are a blind fool.
  
  Take for instance, Adam Lambert on the American Music Awards? We saw America celebrating “diversity” by watching a man simulate oral sex on another man during Lambert’s performance, followed by Lambert giving a male keyboard player a rather long kiss…on a network owned by Disney no less. But hey, why not, after all last June President Obama issued a proclamation making June Gay, Lesbian, Transgender pride month. Why not vote for a man who declares that the nation should take pride in behavior the Bible calls sinful?
  
  The problem is not so much the Democratic or Republican Party it is todays Democratic and Republican Parties. The Democrats have been co-opted by socialists who hate God and His principles and the Republicans lack the character, marking the Party that ended slavery, necessary to fight Obama, Reid and Pelosi. It takes character to stand up to tyranny. And make no mistake, if the majority of Americans are against Obama care and Democrats pass it anyway, their can be no more acute example of tyranny to point to.
  
  It was a travesty that our choices in the last election consisted of Obama, a man who’s lack of experience and low character was so plainly obvious to anyone who cared to looked at him with eyes not blinded by his color, rhetoric or party affiliation. And, McCain who typifies the very spineless nature of the modern Republican party that I am humbly attempting to illustrate.
  
  The Democratic party, though racist from its inception, at least on some level, used to be pro American. Not anymore! If you are actively turning America into something completely different from the America established by the framers and the Constitution. You cannot be pro America. You are pro something completely different.
  
  The last U.S. Census showed that 76 percent of Americans Identified themselves as Christian. That of that 76 percent, a good portion are nominal Christians at best, I think is obvious by the results of our last national election. I personally believe the Bible and find it completely impossible to compartmentalize my faith when I vote. It is our fault as Christians, especially black Christians, that we put the concerns of our flesh above principle and elect unprincipled people to office.
  
  We need to stop voting parties and race and start voting our principles, I’ve said it before, I haven’t been able to figure out how to be both a Christian and a supporter of the Democratic party. Until someone can show me in the Holy Bible that voting for allegedly free healthcare and a repeal of don’t ask don’t tell is more important than voting for life, I don’t fear losing much sleep!
  
  “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.” II Chronicles 7:14
  
  This is an oft quoted scripture, it is popular because it is true. God says seek His face-You do that by praying, learning and adhering to his precepts. The world would have you believe that His face is not worth seeking when you are in the voter’s booth. When men like Obama and Kerry say that they believe one way, that they are Christians, but it does not effect their approach to policy, they are spitting in God’s face.
  
  The bottom line is, Obama may be the latest symptom indicating a problem, but as long as we buy into the specious idea that our principles shouldn’t matter in public life, every time we vote for a guy who says things like; “thats above my pay grade”, we must face the fact that our problem is us!
  
  Digital Publius.
  
  
  
• The Fruit is the Thing
  The videos at the end of this article, are quite telling, in that they both feature men who were born and raised here in America, who have embraced a radical change of ideology. I, as illustrated in my last article “The Stand”, went through no less extreme a transformation. I have heard that one of the fellows in the videos was a Jew who spent time living in Israel before converting to Islam. I know nothing of the background of the other, except that he is an Islamic convert.
  
  Aside from changes in ideology, there is another characteristic we share. An unbiased approach to the paths we have chosen to follow. Let me clarify that statement. There are many people who claim to be Christians because they grew up attending church and come from a Christian background. This does not make you a Christian. Let me repeat that. This does not make you a Christian.
  
  You are a Christian when you have first, come to grips with the fact that you are, (regardless of how good a person you think you are), in fact a wretched sinner in need of Salvation from your sin. You then actively seek out that salvation, recognizing that Jesus Christ is the Savior, you then repent, asking His forgiveness for those sins and give your life over to Him by confessing He is Lord. After you have believed in your heart that He is Savior and are born again by that belief, you are a Christian.
  
  This is what the Holy Bible prescribes, there is no legacy program in Christianity.
  
  There is, however, a church culture, I don’t mean church in the Biblical sense of the Body of Christ, I mean church as in the building and the people who go to the building. Within that culture, in some churches, there are practices that do not line up with scripture, but are practiced out of tradition and in some cases habit. This subject alone could fill several articles. Suffice to say, that when you come to the Bible without having been immersed in the culture of the worldly church, you see things from a strictly Biblical perspective. A point of view uncluttered by churchy cultural stuff!
  
  You begin to wonder why the church is more concerned with church singles ministries than with evangelizing outside the walls of the church. Why are we more zealous in raising money for a new sound system for the band and choir than for raising money for the poor widows and children? Most people who go to church have never participated in the great commission:
  
  “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:18-20
  
  This is the end of the Gospel message and our marching orders given directly by Christ, to the disciples. A personal message to all of us to have faith that Jesus has all power and that we should exercise that faith by spreading this fact to the world. Here is a clear expression of deity from Christ Himself. He says in the Gospel of John; “If ye love me, keep my commandments” Yet most of us are content to carry our flashlights into a well lit church Sunday after Sunday, without ever using them to illuminate the darkness outside.
  
  This is a perplexing thing for those of us who come to the church from outside of the church culture. It is the same thing with the Muslim. Often the most zealous jihadist are the ones who come to Islam from outside of Islam. Just as many who go to church and claim to be Christian, never open their Bibles except when instructed to go to the passage undergirding the sermon delivered by the pastor on Sunday. Most Muslims are cultural Muslims who do not have a clue as to what the Qur’an says.
  
  So, when Muslims do actually read the Qur’an, they generally become jihadis, because the Qur’an has that agenda. This is why it does not matter what race you are dealing with, or the nation you happen to be in, you have Islamic terrorism wherever there are Muslims. Filipino Muslims, Indonesian Muslims, American Muslims... If they are reading the Qur’an they will enter the struggle for Islam.
  
  This is a spiritual battle made manifest in the physical world.
  
  “And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. Genesis 17:19-21
  
  Here we see the covenant being made between God and Abraham, God promises that covenant will be established through Abraham’s soon to be born son Isaac. The Christian is the spiritual offspring of Abraham grafted into the promise God made to Abraham through our belief in Christ.
  
  “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.” Galatians 4:28
  
  The Muslims believe that God made His covenant with Abraham through Ishmael because the arabs are the descendants of Ishmael. In Genesis 17 verse 20, we see that God also blessed Ishmael for Abraham’s sake. Though Ishmael was not to be the son of promise, v21, he was still blessed and indeed the arabs sit on top of some of the worlds largest oil reserves. Just as the gentile who embraces Christ becomes a Spirit born offspring of Isaac. The non arab who embraces Islam, becomes the spiritual offspring of ishmael.
  
  Galatians chapter 4 goes on to say:
  
  v29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
  
  Ishmael was born after the flesh, in that instead of waiting for the child of promise through Sarah, Sarah & Abraham thought they could help God out by Abraham conceiving a child with Sarah’s servant Hagar, thus Ishmael. There was immediate enmity between Ishmael and Isaac, with Ishmael and Ishmael’s offspring persecuting Isaac and his Offspring. That persecution continues to this very day.
  
  Galatians 4 continues:
  
  “30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.”
  
  Hagar was the bondwoman and Sarah was the freewoman. v31 is particularly salient because as believers in Christ; we are no longer bonded to sin. These two verses also clearly state that Muslims are in spiritual bondage with the son of the bondwoman and therefore not free of the bondage of sin.
  
  After Hagar became pregnant with Ishmael, she grew to hate Sarah and because of it, the Bible says that Sarah treated her hardly. So, Hagar ran away and God stopped her, this is what the angel of the Lord told her:
  
  “And the angel of the Lord said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction. And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.” Geneisis 16: 11,12
  
  I don’t know how you can doubt that the Holy bible is the word of God when it stated thousands of years ago what could just as easily be lifted from the headlines of any newspaper across the face of the earth in regards to the practitioners of Qur’anic Islam.
  
  It is ironic that the fellow in the second video lists President Clinton’s Bosnian war amongst the “unjust wars” America wages against Islam, when we fought on Islam’s side in that one as we bombed the Christian Serbs, who in reality, were reacting to Islamic aggression.
  
  It is patently silly for those who try to make a comparison between fundamental Islamists and fundamental Christians, that they are equally dangerous. The Bible does not say proselytize with the sword. There have been tens of thousands of terrorist attacks perpetrated by those who follow the Qur’an; just since 911. The people who make such inane statements, could not name you five cases of “Christian terrorism” in the history of the world on the spot if pressed.
  
  Even if they could the Bible does not in anyway advocate terrorist actions. As Christians, when we see attacks like the Fort Hood terrorist action; or even 911, we should not hate the Muslim, we should pray for them if they still live. Christ made it clear in His Sermon on the Mount that if you hate your brother, it is the same as murdering him.
  
  The Videos:
  Street Dawa 10-16-09
  Traitors celebrating Ft Hood Shootings
  
  The Bible makes it plain that there is a time for war and a time for peace, a time to kill and a time to heal. But, there is never a time to murder. The Bible says be angry but sin not. We should seek justice-But not with the hatred that typifies our enemies as displayed in these videos. If you are seeking truth and a faith, I can think of no better criteria to judge by than these words:
  
  “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Matthew 7:16-18
  
  Hatred always bears bitter fruit.
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
• The Stand
  I am currently engaged in a conversation with a Muslim named Wael on a website called the Black Church Page, in his last post; Wael asked me to tell him how I came to be a Christian after having been born and raised a Muslim?
  
  Many of the people who read my blog Digital Publius, have asked me the same question. I have always threatened to write it out. I realized that in my witness to Wael, I had done just that in a sort of Cliffs Notes like fashion. I figured why not post it on DP as well.
  
  If you are interested in the complete dialog to this point, you can read it here. I am eCato, I was kicked off the site as Digital Publius, thats a whole other story, which is partially covered here and here. The earlier posts are more in the nature of comparing The Holy Bible with the Qur’an and me trying to establish the authority of the Bible. The earlier posts are much smaller than this one. I hope your eyes don’t glaze over.
  
  Lets begin with Wael’s last question:
  
  “Why? aren't we still getting information from those who died? from their knwoeldge that they left behind?
  
  Can you share with me how did you come to Christianity? Thanks
  
  Salam
  Wael.
  
  Yes, just as one could say that Shakespeare yet lives through his writing, metaphorically the writers of the Holy Bible and the words of Muhammad live through their works. But, the difference is, that in fact Jesus Christ is literally alive. Not only is he alive, He is the Living Word of God:
  
  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. John 1:1-4
  
  Yet, the thing that the Muslim and the Jew have in common is that they reject the light of Christ.
  
  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. v 5-14
  
  Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that was promised by God in the Old Testament and the law.
  
  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:11-15
  
  As to how I became a believer in the perfect will of God for mankind-Eternal life for those who accept the free gift of grace given to us through the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a story you may find interesting.
  
  In the late 80's through the late 90's, my two partners and I owned a chain of Comic Book Stores in the suburbs of Detroit, MI. Our second shop was in a walk down below street level space, with a used book shop on the street above it.
  
  There was a mini-series on TV at the time called The Stand, which was based on a book by Stephen King. I saw the first installment, and it intrigued me. It was a sort of pseudo end of the world story with thinly veiled religious overtones. I was something of a snob in those days who would never stoop to reading an author as popular as King, how could someone so popular be any good? Yet, the TV show fascinated me enough to inspire what I considered at the time, a rare bit of literary slumming.
  
  I went upstairs to procure a copy of The Stand from the used book shop above, only to find that I was not the only one with an idea to get acquainted with Mr. King’s novel. It seems that the TV show sparked a run on the book and they were out of it. I remember thinking, “Probably for the best.”
  
  I thanked the bookseller for her time and turned to leave, I happened to glance down. And there, on an otherwise empty shelf, lay a little book sitting at an odd angle. The book was titled, The Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsey. I had seen the book before; my father had it when I was a boy. I picked it up and read the description on the back; it too was a book about the end of the world. It also had the virtue of being priced at 25 cents, so even if it sucked-Who cared? I bought it.
  
  I took it back to my shop. The book was a scant 120 pages or so long, as it was an exceedingly slow day in the shop, I read it that afternoon. This book, to that point in my life, had made in those short 120 pages, the most logical argument for Christianity and the reality of just who Jesus Christ was that I had ever come across.
  
  Know this Wael, I was as anti-Jesus as you could get back then. No one railed against Christ, Christianity and the Holy Bible more vehemently than I. (I was also incidentally, a staunch liberal Democrat that thought Reagan was the embodiment of evil, who had finally won a presidential election in voting for Bill Clinton). With the exception of the Christian Black community in America, hating Jesus and voting democrat goes hand in hand for most liberals. And I was most liberals in those days.
  
  The Late Great Planet Earth illustrated very well the fact that literally thousands of Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled and are a part of a historical record that no seriously received historian disputes. Indeed, the Holy Bible has been the trusted companion of the most successful archeologists in the world, whether they were believers or not, because it has proven time and time again to be reliable when locating historical sites.
  
  None of these prophecies are more stunning than the portraits they paint of the coming Messiah. There are hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that deal specifically with the Messiahs first advent, that were 100 percent fulfilled in the most minute detail in the person of Jesus Christ. Amongst these prophecies were things that could not possibly be faked by someone trying to look like the Messiah. You can't control, the circumstances of your birth for example, nor can you control the actions of those you have no contact with after death. Yet, all that was foretold by several prophets of God down throughout history was fulfilled in Christ.
  
  If you believe in the concept of sin, which only a blind fool would deny exists, as illustrated in an earlier post. Who but God can eliminate sin? Let us examine this idea as God Himself points out, let us look at Abraham:
  
  And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. Genesis 22:1,2
  
  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.v 6-13
  
  Abraham had faith; he knew that God had promised him that through Isaac he would be the father of a great nation. So, since God is not a man that He should lie, Abraham had faith that even if he slew his son, God would restore him. I hate to think what the fate of man would have been if Abraham had refused and failed the test.
  
  Abraham tells his son that God would provide a lamb for a burnt offering, and He did. It was not the goat in the thicket; a goat is not a lamb. It was Abraham's faith in that coming future Lamb that saved him. This was a fore shadowing of the perfect sacrifice offered by God on our behalf. As Abraham was willing, God did. Jesus Christ is the perfect Lamb!
  
  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:14-19
  
  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form or comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bares the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53
  
  Who but those that are blinded by their own iniquity refuse to see that this can be no other than the Lord Jesus Christ? The Holy Ghost gave these Scriptures to me, for you. As I said there are hundreds of others, seek them out.
  
  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6
  
  Logically, if all the hundreds of prophecies that foretold the coming of Christ the first time were fulfilled, would not the prophecies foretelling His return likewise be true?
  
  I didn't know, but I was going to find out. My eternal soul depended on knowing. I knew what the Qur'an said about the "Book", but, as I began to research Jesus Christ in the Qur'an, in the Holy Bible and in secular histories as well. It became all too apparent that the extra Biblical criticisms the more I dug, became less and less cogent. The critical material was not evidentially based but rather driven by the conviction of simply not wanting to believe, (This is the case I believe with Islamic scholars) or just plain ignorance of demonstrable historical fact.
  
  I was married and a new father responsible for a family. A father whether Muslim or Christian is responsible for leading his family in truth. I had been to Mosques throughout my life, Now I went to church.
  
  “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17
  
  The sermons I heard in church told of a different God than the one I heard of and knew from the Qur'an and the Mosques. These sermons spoke of a God who not only said that He was merciful, he demonstrated it. A God of a truly forgiving nature, a just God who was unchanging, a God that did not give confusing abrogating revelations. A Holy God, that did not allow in heaven, what he does not allow on earth for his believers. A God who asked me to give myself to Him so that He could love me forever and see to my needs. A God who is so perfect in his love that he admonished me to pray for my enemies so that they too could know him and cease to be my enemy. The pastor preached of a God who does not just tell me I am filthy, but provided the means to make me clean. A god who loved me long before I loved Him. A God worthy of my worship and devotion. A God that wants you to know Him as well Wael!
  
  After hearing of this God, it was an easy decision. After I believed and prayed the prayer of salvation it was as if scales fell from my eyes and I was seeing the world for the very first time. When you become a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit takes residence inside of you, you really begin to feel true Godly love. You can see it in those who share your belief when they look at you and pray with you.
  
  The prayer experience is different too. It is not a ritual with the same prayers repeated over and over, how do you cultivate a relationship like that? The God of the Holy Bible says:
  
  But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. Matthew 6:7, 8
  
  The God of the Holy Bible knows us through our hearts and it is through prayer that the relationship grows stronger and stronger. We are told in scripture to pray without ceasing. How well could you get to know a friend if all he did was say the same thing to you every time you saw him.
  
  The God of the Holy Bible tells us:
  
  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God; let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:12-16
  
  We need no ritual ablutions, or carpets, or postures, or compass directions, or words. He wants us to pray from our hearts and to worship Him from our hearts.
  
  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23, 24
  
  It is a testament to the workings of God in our lives, that he used a pseudo depiction of the end of the world to lead me to the real story of the end of the world. Which then lead me to the One who could save me from that end. I have still never read The Stand or any other of Kings books.
  
  Why did I leave Islam? I left Islam, because Allah does not offer through Islam an answer, for the covering of my sins, outside of my own power, of which I have none, apart from God. Sin which cast Adam out of the garden and put man at odds with God. Muhammad said Allah may save me, The Lord Jesus Christ says that He has saved me!
  
  Digital Publius / eCato
  
  
  
  
• Ich bin ein Berliner?
  I was born in the year of our Lord, nineteen hundred and sixty-four. This year has the distinction of being the last year of the baby-boom. If I had to name the single most relevant cultural indicator driving the attitudes, tensions, emotions and arts of the years between 1946 and 1964 which defined that generation and made it the most studied, referenced and pandered to, it would have to be the Cold War.
  
  I remember watching the gripping and to a kid of 10 or 11, down right horrifying film Fail-Safe with my father on TV. My dad was always very open when we talked, I don’t recall him ever sugar coating anything for me; not even the passing of my mother.
  
  At this point in my life, my dad was it. He was the smartest, bravest most resourceful man that had ever trod the earth in shoe leather. So naturally I asked him; “Dad what would you do if we were about to be attacked by the Russians with nuclear weapons?”
  
  Sharing my fathers love for science fiction and adventure, I was expecting him to unfold a plan that insured me and my sisters safety along with as many hapless mere mortals as this giant of a man could bring with us, thus insuring the future of all mankind.
  
  You can imagine my stunned disbelief when he answered: “Nothing”
  
  Thats all he said, “Nothing”. I said: “Nothing?” to which he answered, “yep, nothing.”
  
  But what about an underground bunker? What about the fall out shelters that we’ve been taught to go to? What about duck and cover? You wouldn’t do anything? “nothing” he said, Except pray. He said; “it would be better to go in the blast, you would be vaporized so quickly you wouldn’t feel a thing. If you did survive the blast, you would have to worry about starvation, dehydration and radiation sickness and you would then wish you had died in the blast.
  
  He talked about the films he saw in the Navy after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that showed people died so quickly, that their shadows were literally burned into sidewalks and walls as they simply ceased to exist, the dark shadows absorbing the intense energy released by the bombs leaving ghostly white reminders in blackened ruins. The unfortunate survivors losing their hair, skin peeling away as they suffered from the effects of the radioactive fall-out.
  
  I never forgot that conversation. That was the day that it really hit me that being bitten by a radioactive spider would not give me cool spider powers. His stories were confirmed a few years later when in freshman World History I saw those films for myself.
  
  I remember being really freaked out for a good week or so after that, not even wanting to watch TV or listen to the radio for fear of hearing; “This is not a test of your emergency broadcast system.” Living with the specter of the bomb was a part of life, that everyone dealt with in their own way. Some people like me, simply came to grips with it. Some were blissfully ignorant, while some stayed freaked.
  
  Thank God for Dr. Strangelove which came out the same year as Fail-Safe, for bringing a little levity to the bomb. Both films came out in 1964 the aforementioned year of my birth and last year of the baby boom, how does that coincide with your sense of irony, huh?
  
  Another thing that I remember about that talk with my Dad was that he was quite fatalistic about mutually assured thermonuclear annihilation. For him it was not a case of if, but when. This was probably the default setting for most Americans his age. Korea, Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, all seemed to point to the inevitable. All that changed November 9, 1989.
  
  “Ich bin ein Berliner”
  
  I was not yet born when President Kennedy uttered those words signifying the United States of America’s solidarity and Support for the West German people 46 years ago. The forces of communism just 22 months earlier had raised the Berlin Wall, the evil monument that best symbolized the concept of the Iron Curtain separating totalitarianism and freedom.
  
  I could not envision a world where that symbol did not exist. But President Reagan could. 22 years ago, President Reagan in a speech in Berlin urged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall and echoed President Kennedy, renewing or nations commitment to Support the West German people. He didn’t just make a speech, he, along with Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher went to work in making it a reality and a couple of years later it was. Now my children don’t live with the constant dread in the recesses of their thoughts that marked my youth.
  
  I remember staring at the TV in utter disbelief as the people of a united Germany, took hammer and chisel to the task of dismantling the Berlin Wall. Gleefully celebrating every blow struck against that dark icon of tyranny. I was still trapped in liberal thinking in those days, but I had to acknowledge that the Hollywood Cowboy had delivered and I felt pride in the part America played in bringing about that historic day. Because back then, liberal or not, it was still us against them.
  
  Nine-teen years later, an American presidential hopeful makes a speech in Berlin. He talks of freedom as well, yet he avoids mentioning the leadership role that America played in securing that freedom, opting instead to go with the; "world standing as one" theme. This in spite of the fact that most of the world “stood” and watched as America acted to oppose communism.
  
  Nevertheless, the German people and the world celebrated that young man who would be President as he failed to pay homage to the winners of liberty. He did not praise his own nation or President Reagan. He did not even praise President Kennedy for his part. And the German people heaped praises on him, he will cultivate healthy relationships with our allies and return America to its place as a respected nation. He represents change.
  
  Now that Barack Obama is President, it is time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the fall of Soviet Communism. The German people are going all out. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has herself invited President Obama to join her nation in celebrating a triumph that is as much the American peoples, as it is the German’s.
  
  It has been reported that like French President Sarkozy’s invitation to visit the monuments celebrating the American troops who gave their lives in Normandy during the Second World War, Mr. Obama has decided to give the German freedom celebration a miss. I can scarcely think of a single political happening as significant as the fall of the Berlin wall for those who love freedom in the last quarter century, but it seems that it is not significant enough for the President to go himself. Secretary of State Clinton will be going in his stead.
  
  It seems that the President avoids every instance where he may be forced into giving a speech that is positive about the part that America has played in world history. He seems much more comfortable apologizing for this great nation than he does representing the people of America while accepting the gratitude most countries have for us.
  
  It could be, as I have alluded to in the past, that he rebuffs the invitations of leaders like Merkel and Sarkozy while accepting invitations from the likes of Chavez and Putin because he dislikes the fact that despite the popular leftist rhetoric, the world is shifting towards right wing leadership. No one exemplifies that more so than Merkel and Sarkozy. The White House has not yet disclosed what the President will be doing November 9th in lieu of going to Germany. Another White House concert perhaps?
  
  It is far more likely that he is more concerned with raising the hackles on Vladimir Putin’s ursine back as President Obama tries desperately to garner support from Putin for his proposed Iranian sanctions, than he is in reaching out to a staunch ally like Germany. Like Poland and Israel, I hope Germany can feel the love! Ich bin ein Berliner? I don’t think so!
  
  Digital Publius
  
  
  
  
• Noblesse Oblige
  Did you know that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated 12 times between 1937 and 1948 for the Nobel Peace Prize and never won. Let me repeat that, Mahatma Gandhi, “the strongest symbol of non-violence in the 20th century” (as stated on the Nobel website) never won the Nobel Peace Prize!
  
  in the interval, we have seen many worthy recipients of the Norwegian’s prestigious award, Dr. Martin Luther King, jr., Ralph Bunche, Henry Kissinger, Mother Theresa, Lech Walesa, Desmond TuTu, and Nelson Mandela to name a few of the more illustrious names.
  
  Then you have those who have won that fall under the “Not really?” category. Mikhail Gorbachev and Yasser Arafat yes; Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher not as such, no.
  
  Then you have the, “we get it Norway is liberal and drinks the kool-aid” winners like Jimmy Carter and Kofi Annan. Followed by the “good googly moogly” Al Gore?” Really?
  
  Some of these folks I freely confess would not have gotten my vote if my name just happened to be Thor and I had a vote to cast. But be that as it may, they all have the virtue of having done something to at least be considered. Whether that something was or was not worthy of a win is a debate that can be had at your leisure elsewhere.
  
  The comic nomination and subsequent awarding of the hitherto esteemed Nobel Peace Prize to our President Barack Obama; has plunged the Nobel committee and it’s again, once relevant award, headlong into the always unfortunate and truly sad “jumped the shark” territory. A land incidentally not far from the Isle of Misfit Toys.
  
  The nomination deadline for the Nobel Prize is February first, Mr. Obama’s Inauguration was January 20th. As the names of the nominators are sealed for some fifty years after the prize has been awarded, we will not know for some time who thought Obama should be up for the award after less than two weeks in the office of President of the United States. I will not belabor the innate silliness of the President having won the award, let us instead consider the concept of humility and humility’s close fellow, obligation.
  
  Many people came to John the Baptist thinking he was the Messiah who was soon to come. How did John deal with these people? What did he tell them? Did he allow them to remain in ignorance? Did he accept their adulation?
  
  “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.” Mark 1:4-7
  
  No, it seems John the Baptist set the people straight.
  
  How about Peter?
  
  “And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man.
  Acts 10:25,26
  
  Nope! He wouldn’t allow himself to be the one who was glorified either.
  
  Check this out:
  
  “And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:” Acts 14:8-16
  
  St. John the Baptist, Peter the Rock, Paul who God used to write a huge portion of the Bible and the Apostle Barnabas all share a couple of things in common. 1. they actually did something seemingly worthy of worship; at least to those who were to that point ignorant of the ways of God. And 2. they all humbly deflected man’s mistaken glorification of them, to the One who was truly worthy. This is what Christians do.
  
  Most of us have seen the Gamaliel Foundation video as they beseech Obama to hear their prayers and deliver them, we have seen Ashton and Demi pledge to serve Obama, not the country, but Obama. We have seen Farakhan call President Obama the messiah... As a Christian, wouldn’t you feel an obligation to make a clear and loud statement denouncing this sort of madcap behavior? Instead we see a proliferation of this sort of thing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This latest one is particularly grievous for me as a Christian and as a Black American, as Glenn Beck rightly points out, this is the Battle Hymn of the Republic a song written during the Civil War to serve as a rallying cry for the newly formed Black regiments in the Union Army, which became the favorite of all men who served in the Union fighting for freedom. It is primarily a worship song dedicated to Christ.
  Just some of the words:
  
  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored, He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword His truth is marching on.
  
  I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish`d rows of steel, 
"As ye deal with my contemners, So with you my grace shall deal;" Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel Since God is marching on.
  
  In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, 
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me: 
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, 
While God is marching on.
  
  This song reveals a deep understanding of Christian theology which ultimately lead to the abolition of slavery, and would be a good thing to teach those children as a lesson of the important driving factors that spurred arguably the most important American conflict. Those teachers who taught their perverted version of this great historical and meaningful song to those young American children, have replaced Christ with Obama! This is a bad thing to remain silent about!
  
  Leadership demands a noble obligation which includes a humble service to those you have been given charge over. The chivalrous code that undergirds that noble obligation precludes the honest and just from taking undeserved credit. One must have a strong character as a man to live up to that rather lofty expectation. Further, one must have a strong faith and a true relationship with the Christian God the President claims to worship, to be humble enough to set the misguided straight. I have not seen the President exhibit either of these qualities. I pray for him that someday he will!
  
  “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.” II Chronicles 7:14
  
  Digital Publius