I just watched Governor Chris Christie stump for GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." (September 30, 2012 airing)
"Why are you lying, Mr. President?" Christie blurted out in response to an Obama attack ad which claims that Governor Romney wants to lower taxes for the rich at the expense of everyone else. In true prosecutorial fashion, Christie then outlined all the broken promises of President Obama from 2008, including lower unemployment (even though this country is still hovering with 8.1% official unemployment, not counting those who have given up looking for work) and spending cuts and deficit reduction (Obama promised to cut $4 trillion, when in fact he has added $6 trillion to the national debt).
Some people claim that Election 2012 will be a lot like Election 1980, where the incumbent Jimmy Carter lead until the last minute, only to witness the vast majority of voters elect Reagan.
Then again, perhaps this election is more like 1976, where Romney is bumbling like Ford and Christie, as the Gipper in waiting, is prepping for his run in four years.
On another note, I fault Governor Christie for throwing fellow Republican Congressman Todd Akin under the bus. Like Governor Christie, the US Senate candidate from Missouri has overstated himself and has said stupid things.
Governor Christie ought to revisit the Reagan playbook and review the Eleventh Commandment:
"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."
If he wants to lead, Christie needs to support everyone, whether they are "Tea Party Patriots" of Decaf Latte Moderates.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
On References to Socialism and Nazism
Socialism is socialism -- there is not distinction between "Human Socialism" and "Corporate Socialism", as inevitably one group of elites will take the reigns of power and control and command in an economy.
No mixture is possible. Either we have free markets, or we have government intervention trying to control supply and demand in some way, and these interventions become more invasive.
The idea of a "third way" in economics makes as much as sense as being "kind of pregnant" or "somewhat dead" -- the "zombie notion" of a mixed system as a permanent and stable means of distribution and production is a folly.
In another way -- "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Galatians 5: 9)
Just as there is no mixing law and grace, there is no mixing free enterprise and command and control mechanisms in economics.
Either way, another term of Henry Waxman for the 33rd Congressional District means more laws, rules, and regulations which create more intervention, frustration, and stagnation.
Please visit "Waxman Watch" -- waxmanwatch.blogspot.com -- for more information
Oh, and just for laughs, on account of all these irrelevant and irreverent references to Nazism, I quote the inimitable William F. Buckley when sparring with Gore Vidal :
"Don't call me a "Nazi" you qu----r, or I'll punch you in your g--d---mn mouth!"
No mixture is possible. Either we have free markets, or we have government intervention trying to control supply and demand in some way, and these interventions become more invasive.
The idea of a "third way" in economics makes as much as sense as being "kind of pregnant" or "somewhat dead" -- the "zombie notion" of a mixed system as a permanent and stable means of distribution and production is a folly.
In another way -- "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Galatians 5: 9)
Just as there is no mixing law and grace, there is no mixing free enterprise and command and control mechanisms in economics.
Either way, another term of Henry Waxman for the 33rd Congressional District means more laws, rules, and regulations which create more intervention, frustration, and stagnation.
Please visit "Waxman Watch" -- waxmanwatch.blogspot.com -- for more information
Oh, and just for laughs, on account of all these irrelevant and irreverent references to Nazism, I quote the inimitable William F. Buckley when sparring with Gore Vidal :
"Don't call me a "Nazi" you qu----r, or I'll punch you in your g--d---mn mouth!"
Friday, September 28, 2012
Poverty is a Curse-- Find Prosperity in Christ
I do not condemn the homeless.
Yet I have also learned, and the hard way, at that, that if we do not find a home of peace within ourselves, then no matter what we do, or where we go, we will not find a home worth staying in.
Life is all about prospering on the inside, then prospering on the outside.
I believe that if we really want to help people break free of homelessness, we have to start by prospering individuals on the inside.
The Word of God prospers us!
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. " (3 John 2)
I still remember one woman whom I met outside of a grocery store.
This woman was asking people for money. I gave her a tract with the Word of God on it.
"This is better than money!" she told me. She esteemed God's Word more than food or drink.
An hour later, I walked back, going by the same store, and the same lady had two bags full of groceries with her.
Prosper on the inside, and you will indeed prosper on the outside!
Poverty is a part of the curse. Men and women in poverty can break free by faith -- believing on God the Father, that through Him all things indeed can be made ready and available for us.
When every person learns who they are in Christ, they will believe in the goodness that He wants each of us to have, and when we believe, then we can pray and receive these things.
Otherwise, giving an impoverished man wealth and food and clothing without prospering his "inside" is to invite greater misery in the future for the man who in a matter of time will be right back to where he started.
Poverty is a curse -- Prosperity is in Christ, who took the curse for us (Galatians 3: 13).
Yet I have also learned, and the hard way, at that, that if we do not find a home of peace within ourselves, then no matter what we do, or where we go, we will not find a home worth staying in.
Life is all about prospering on the inside, then prospering on the outside.
I believe that if we really want to help people break free of homelessness, we have to start by prospering individuals on the inside.
The Word of God prospers us!
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. " (3 John 2)
I still remember one woman whom I met outside of a grocery store.
This woman was asking people for money. I gave her a tract with the Word of God on it.
"This is better than money!" she told me. She esteemed God's Word more than food or drink.
An hour later, I walked back, going by the same store, and the same lady had two bags full of groceries with her.
Prosper on the inside, and you will indeed prosper on the outside!
Poverty is a part of the curse. Men and women in poverty can break free by faith -- believing on God the Father, that through Him all things indeed can be made ready and available for us.
When every person learns who they are in Christ, they will believe in the goodness that He wants each of us to have, and when we believe, then we can pray and receive these things.
Otherwise, giving an impoverished man wealth and food and clothing without prospering his "inside" is to invite greater misery in the future for the man who in a matter of time will be right back to where he started.
Poverty is a curse -- Prosperity is in Christ, who took the curse for us (Galatians 3: 13).
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Words of Grace Make People Mad -- Luke Four
"And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
"And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
"And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?" (Luke 4: 20-22)
Gracious words indeed came forth from Jesus, who came to us full of grace and truth:
"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." (John 1: 14)
The passage that Jesus read, from Isaiah 61, was filled with grace:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
"To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4: 18-19)
The Gospel to the "meek" reads the original Hebrew, not just poor in terms of money, but poor in Spirit, no longer depending on one's own efforts, one's own righteousness. This Messiah comes to heal us, to deliver us bondage, to recover us where we lack in every way -- this is Grace, man!
Yet this grace means that it comes upon those who do not merit it, earn it, or deserve it:
"23And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4: 23-27)
We do not receive grace if we trust in our efforts, in our bearing, in our possessions. We do not even grace for who we are of for what family we are born into. Being a Jew, or a Gentile, does not qualify a man for blessing before God. Here, Jesus referenced two miracles which blessed Gentiles, men and women from enemy lands. This drove the crowd in the synagogue to a fury:
"And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
"And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
'But he passing through the midst of them went his way." (Luke 4: 28-30)
Imagine a rage so intense that men and women would throw the son of a well-respected carpenter off a cliff? Insane rage, to say the least!
What would make them so mad? The Word itself testifies that God does not bless us according to our works, to our bearing, to anything that we have done. In fact, God even does good to our enemies, as He does not want one wicked man to perish (Ezekiel 33: 11).
In fact, God's grace is revealed to all men (Titus 2: 11).
This grace makes people mad, those who think or why try to deserve it. Such were the Israelites in the Old and New Testaments.
The gracious words of Jesus which nearly sent Him to his death over a cliff, save everyone who receives the same by faith!
Truth vs. Tradition
The priest touched the heater, then took up the elements, blessed them, then passed them out. This scene played out every Sunday in a rural church for many years.
The pastor told me about this scene that would take place, predictably, in our rural church a long time ago.
The rural pastor would speak forth the homily for the day, then when he was prepared to hand out the elements -- the bread and the wine -- he would touch the heater so that the machine would not rock and make noise during the final part of the mass.
When the rural pastor retired, the new pastor deviated very little from the previous routine of the previous pastor, except that he did not touch the heater.
This slight change in routine was too much for the congregation to bear.
They made quite an uproar about it after his service. The members of the church could not cope with even the most minuscule change in the service.
The power of tradition cannot be underestimated. Human beings have this intense compunction when it comes to living by a set standard, a set outline for events from one day to the next.
The power of tradition kept many of the Jews locked into place, unwilling to leave the Old Covenant for the New.
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
How many traditions do we have in our lives which Christ Jesus has come to level away in us:
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 2: 8)
Paul later explains in greater detail the superiority of the Truth to any tradition:
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
"And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Colossians 2: 9-10)
Whatever we are looking for in this life, Jesus provides all of it. How could He not, since all things do in Him have their being? (Colossians 1: 18-20)
The word "rudiments" used in Colossians 2: 8 is the same word which Paul uses to disparage the law in relation to saving faith in Christ:
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" (Galatians 4: 9)
It is no longer about our knowing Him, but rather our knowing and believing that He knows us! We are called no longer to hold on to a tradition, a set pattern which does not change, but rather we are called to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18)
The Truth is before there every was a tradition, just as the promise of faith was made to Abraham before the law was given to the Israelites (Galatians 3: 15-18).
The Truth was and is and always will be first:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
and
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 13: 8)
The pastor told me about this scene that would take place, predictably, in our rural church a long time ago.
The rural pastor would speak forth the homily for the day, then when he was prepared to hand out the elements -- the bread and the wine -- he would touch the heater so that the machine would not rock and make noise during the final part of the mass.
When the rural pastor retired, the new pastor deviated very little from the previous routine of the previous pastor, except that he did not touch the heater.
This slight change in routine was too much for the congregation to bear.
They made quite an uproar about it after his service. The members of the church could not cope with even the most minuscule change in the service.
The power of tradition cannot be underestimated. Human beings have this intense compunction when it comes to living by a set standard, a set outline for events from one day to the next.
The power of tradition kept many of the Jews locked into place, unwilling to leave the Old Covenant for the New.
"In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
How many traditions do we have in our lives which Christ Jesus has come to level away in us:
"Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 2: 8)
Paul later explains in greater detail the superiority of the Truth to any tradition:
"For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
"And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Colossians 2: 9-10)
Whatever we are looking for in this life, Jesus provides all of it. How could He not, since all things do in Him have their being? (Colossians 1: 18-20)
The word "rudiments" used in Colossians 2: 8 is the same word which Paul uses to disparage the law in relation to saving faith in Christ:
"But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?" (Galatians 4: 9)
It is no longer about our knowing Him, but rather our knowing and believing that He knows us! We are called no longer to hold on to a tradition, a set pattern which does not change, but rather we are called to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18)
The Truth is before there every was a tradition, just as the promise of faith was made to Abraham before the law was given to the Israelites (Galatians 3: 15-18).
The Truth was and is and always will be first:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
and
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 13: 8)
Pro-Choice is Pro-Life
This is a tragic world. To compound the sins of rape and incest with a forced pregnancy is too much to consider.
These matters must be decided at the most local level of government possible.
The federal government, including the Supreme Court, has no business dictating to doctors and mothers, nor does the federal government have any business stepping in to decide whether an unborn baby should live or not.
I am pro-Life. Life begins at conception. Sperm and egg form a new life as soon as one enters the other. This fraught and wonderful miracle cannot be disputed.
Yet daily life has the terrible realities of people getting hurt, and the cruel necessities which follow rape or incest or the unplanned danger to the mother cannot permit the determination to choose one or another exclusively in the power of an act of legislation.
I am pro-Choice, as well.
There is no life without choice, there is no choice without life.
God forbid I should submit the following moral line:
"Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare."
I would add "extremely" to the rare element. This extremity, though, has been repudiated by the Democratic Party, even to the removing of the same language which Keynote Speaker Bill Clinton interpolated into his Presidential campaign twenty years ago.
Pro-Choice is Pro-Life -- this should no longer be a wedge issue at the state or national level.
These matters must be decided at the most local level of government possible.
The federal government, including the Supreme Court, has no business dictating to doctors and mothers, nor does the federal government have any business stepping in to decide whether an unborn baby should live or not.
I am pro-Life. Life begins at conception. Sperm and egg form a new life as soon as one enters the other. This fraught and wonderful miracle cannot be disputed.
Yet daily life has the terrible realities of people getting hurt, and the cruel necessities which follow rape or incest or the unplanned danger to the mother cannot permit the determination to choose one or another exclusively in the power of an act of legislation.
I am pro-Choice, as well.
There is no life without choice, there is no choice without life.
God forbid I should submit the following moral line:
"Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare."
I would add "extremely" to the rare element. This extremity, though, has been repudiated by the Democratic Party, even to the removing of the same language which Keynote Speaker Bill Clinton interpolated into his Presidential campaign twenty years ago.
Pro-Choice is Pro-Life -- this should no longer be a wedge issue at the state or national level.
More Democrats Bailing on Obama
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/07/why-democrats-including-me-are-abandoning-obama/
Rob Taub is a disgruntled Democrat.
He does not like President Obama, and he feels more inclined to vote for Romney.
If he and other like-minded liberals, those who do not like Obama and would not mind if he lost in November, chose not to vote at all, then all things would turn out for the better with the Romney-Ryan camp.
The Democratic base is as alienated as every with the current Vanity-in-Chief, a politician who does not like to "campaign", who does not like to get into the nitty-gritty of politics.
Since his days as a disgruntled community organizer, Obama has been a disgruntled elitist, a progressive who believes that he is right, and therefore has not need to run his ideas by other people or even to work with others in order to accomplish anything.
The chief executive has issued one executive order after another, with little respect to show for the political process as outlined by the Constitution. This former constitutional law professor has openly criticized the United States Supreme Court, once during a state of the union speech, because they respected the integrity of the citizenry to donate money to political campaigns and causes as they saw fit.
President Obama also denigrated the Court for taking the role of striking down major legislation, as he anticipated that the Court was going to strike down his Affordable Care Act. The Court upheld the mandate as a tax by the slimmest of margins, 5-4, with Roberts seeking to maintain the counter-majoritarian independence of the Court from the rough-housing politics of the current regime and decade.
More Democrats are bailing on Obama, though, just as Republicans gave up on the Bush-GOP brand four years ago. This building disillusionment with the political process is engaging more trouble for the Establishment in both parties, just the thing to shake up the Beltway complacency of spending what this country does not have on things that we do not need.
Rob Taub is a disgruntled Democrat.
He does not like President Obama, and he feels more inclined to vote for Romney.
If he and other like-minded liberals, those who do not like Obama and would not mind if he lost in November, chose not to vote at all, then all things would turn out for the better with the Romney-Ryan camp.
The Democratic base is as alienated as every with the current Vanity-in-Chief, a politician who does not like to "campaign", who does not like to get into the nitty-gritty of politics.
Since his days as a disgruntled community organizer, Obama has been a disgruntled elitist, a progressive who believes that he is right, and therefore has not need to run his ideas by other people or even to work with others in order to accomplish anything.
The chief executive has issued one executive order after another, with little respect to show for the political process as outlined by the Constitution. This former constitutional law professor has openly criticized the United States Supreme Court, once during a state of the union speech, because they respected the integrity of the citizenry to donate money to political campaigns and causes as they saw fit.
President Obama also denigrated the Court for taking the role of striking down major legislation, as he anticipated that the Court was going to strike down his Affordable Care Act. The Court upheld the mandate as a tax by the slimmest of margins, 5-4, with Roberts seeking to maintain the counter-majoritarian independence of the Court from the rough-housing politics of the current regime and decade.
More Democrats are bailing on Obama, though, just as Republicans gave up on the Bush-GOP brand four years ago. This building disillusionment with the political process is engaging more trouble for the Establishment in both parties, just the thing to shake up the Beltway complacency of spending what this country does not have on things that we do not need.
The Law Makes Us Mad -- Christ Makes us Sound
If we are trying to live by a set of rules, it will only be a matter of time before we start to realize that we are under a curse, one which we cannot break free from, no matter how well or how hard we try to obey.
This conflicts defines much of modern drama. Individuals are trapped in one code of conduct, only to run against another code which they cannot keep, or in order to keep it, the main character must break a previous code of conduct.
The tragedy may center on the depths of what one loses when one chooses to live by one set of expectations versus another.
In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, there is a better Way:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
and then
"So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." (Acts 13: 4)
and also
"For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5: 5)
and
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5: 16-18)
The last verse is key -- led by the Spirit, we are not under law, because the leadings of the Holy Spirit bless our journey and the well-being of all whom God brings us into contact with, too.
To the degree that we attempt to earn what God so freely gives, to the degree that we trap ourselves in seeking to please men and not God (Galatians 1:10), to that degree do we find ourselves in great bondage, struggling like Paul:
"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." (Romans 7: 19-20)
and then
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7: 24)
The Way is made plain for all who believe:
"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 7: 25)
In Him we receive the sound mind that breaks us free from all bondage:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1: 7)
This conflicts defines much of modern drama. Individuals are trapped in one code of conduct, only to run against another code which they cannot keep, or in order to keep it, the main character must break a previous code of conduct.
The tragedy may center on the depths of what one loses when one chooses to live by one set of expectations versus another.
In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, there is a better Way:
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
and then
"So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." (Acts 13: 4)
and also
"For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5: 5)
and
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5: 16-18)
The last verse is key -- led by the Spirit, we are not under law, because the leadings of the Holy Spirit bless our journey and the well-being of all whom God brings us into contact with, too.
To the degree that we attempt to earn what God so freely gives, to the degree that we trap ourselves in seeking to please men and not God (Galatians 1:10), to that degree do we find ourselves in great bondage, struggling like Paul:
"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." (Romans 7: 19-20)
and then
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7: 24)
The Way is made plain for all who believe:
"I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 7: 25)
In Him we receive the sound mind that breaks us free from all bondage:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1: 7)
Rand Paul's Random Thoughts Deserve Real Scrutiny
| Rand Paul: Recruiting Libertarians |
Libertarians are the future of the GOP, according to Rand Paul, the ophthalmologist son of obstetrician Ron Paul, the libertarian avant-garde of the Republican Party who has brought more attention to the Austrian Economists and the dangerous role of inflation in our economy.
Libertarians fit more squarely with a party platform of less government. Marriage as a private matter, no more War on Drugs, ending the IRS -- the social issues are killing many promising Republican candidates along the West Coast and in the North East. Why should the Democratic Party scoop up 170 votes before the Primaries have decided the Democratic and Republican candidates for President?
The leader of the movement to "End the Fed', Dr. Ron Paul supported his upstart son to take on the GOP Establishment, winning the GOP primary in Kentucky against the Establishment pick in 2010, then cruising to a ten-point win over the Democratic Attorney General, one who aired offensive slurs for negative attack ads against the son of Paul.
Despite some early slips, including a near-horrendous interview with Rachel Maddow shortly after his primary win, Rand Paul has connected with constituents as well as members of both caucuses in the Senate. He has staunchly opposed budget deals which grow the debt instead of cut spending. He has voted many times with the Democratic opposition just to outline his disapproval with half-measures which avail nothing when it comes to cutting real spending.
Rand is leading the way for a "Right to Work" petition, as well, taking away the power of public sector unions in the federal government and throughout the several states.
His persuasion powers have accomplished more than his father's after nearly three decades in the House of Representatives.
Rand Paul for President, anyone?
Not Parents Needed, But One Parent
"Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. " (Genesis 2: 24-25)
Strange but true -- the first mention of "father" in the Bible describes a man "leaving" his father and becoming one flesh with his wife. Wife, not husband.
Yet the type and shadow provided for us is more about our unity with Christ through His life given to us through the Holy Spirit. "Eve" means "life", and "Adam" ("man") is called to join and become one with life, which is Jesus!
In frequent scriptures, the failure of earthly fathers is manifold:
"And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." (Genesis 9: 23)
Of course, Noah's victory began not with what he did, but with what God saw when he looked upon him:
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6: 8)
Grace has nothing to do with us, as it is unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor. In this respect, then, did Noah become a good father.
Abram received the call from the Lord to leave his family:
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:" (Genesis 12: 1)
Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was a bad father, in that he failed to walk by faith (Genesis 13: 10) and chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah, cities so teeming with iniquity that the Lord destroyed them, after warning Lot and his family to flee.
"30And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 33And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose." (Genesis 19: 30-33)
Unlike the two sons of Noah, the two daughters seduced their own flesh and blood into incestuously raising a new generation after Lot.
Wow -- a father who lost everything because he walked by sight, not by faith, only to endure incest that his daughters would carry on his name. The law had not yet been given, but such intercourse is unseemly, to say the least.
Abraham shares how God caused him to leave his own father:
"And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother." (Genesis 20: 13)
Here, the verb "wander" is:
תָּעָה taah
God caused Abraham to wander from his father here on earth, in the same manner that God outlined that every man would leave father and mother and become one flesh with his wife.
The Hebrew word for "wander" is composed of the three letters:
תָּ tav -- Cross
עָ ayin -- Eye
ה heh -- Grace
From the Cross, you then see God's grace, that will cause you to be a wanderer on this Earth, yet a receiver of Great Promises.
When Joseph was separate from his family, losing his mother after she gave birth to his younger brother Benjamin,then losing everyone else when his brothers betrayed him, Joseph endured untold privations and humiliations, yet he was a prosperous man because the Lord was with him (Genesis 39: 2)
When he was promoted from the prison to the palace, God graced him with honor and glory, a beautiful wife, and two blessed children:
"And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
"And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." (Genesis 41: 51-52)
"God has made me forget" -- in our growing up from childhood to manhood, we are called to detach from our old identities, from Adam dead in our trespasses, from our identity in our earthly parents. By doing so, we are fruitful to God, because then His Holy Spirit can bear fruit in our lives.
"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalm 27: 10)
Of course, one can easily read into this verse the hardships that many of us have endured as children, abandoned by parents, unsure of ourselves in the world.
Yet every verse testifies to One who was abandoned for us:
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27: 46)
So that we can rest in the Promise of Hebrews:
"For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5)
We have nothing to fear if our earthly parents abandon us, for by abiding in Christ Jesus, we receive Life and more abundantly through Him.
Another hero, or heroine rather, also identifies that great things that we are called to, which do not require that we lean on our earthly parents to get there:
"And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter." (Esther 2: 7)
God used Esther to move the King of Persia to kill the enemy of the Jews -- Haman -- and then to issue decree which would permit the Jews to defend themselves from evil hordes which Haman ordered to kill. She did not know who her parents were, but she knew that she was called to great things, and throughout the Book of Esther, it is the Lord who moves in all things that Esther, another type and shadow of our Savior, who represents us before the King to fight for us.
"Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
"And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. " (Amos 7: 14-15)
Amos, like many prophets, stepped out of the fold to preach the Truth to God's people. The high priest of Israel, Amaziah, told him to go preach elsewhere and stop troubling the people of the Northern Kingdom. He had no precedent for prophesying, but he had the word of the Lord, and that was enough.
Throughout the Old Testament, there is a lot of "Dad-Basing". What is all of this "Dad-bashing" all about? Let us look to the New Testament of the fullness of the revelation:
"And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." (Matthew 23: 9)
The goal is that we all rest and depend on God as Father, not as some imperious, imperial monarch who far and way knows of us, yet does not know us:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 15)
and
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Galatians 4: 6)
Also in Hebrews, the writer compares our earthly fathers to God the Father:
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
"For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." (Hebrews 12: 9-10)
One parent is needed, and that is God the Father, and we receive Him through the Holy Spirit, who is shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5: 5) because Jesus sent Him forth to us. Receive His protection, and let Him raise you in the Way of Life.
"And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. " (Genesis 2: 24-25)
Strange but true -- the first mention of "father" in the Bible describes a man "leaving" his father and becoming one flesh with his wife. Wife, not husband.
Yet the type and shadow provided for us is more about our unity with Christ through His life given to us through the Holy Spirit. "Eve" means "life", and "Adam" ("man") is called to join and become one with life, which is Jesus!
In frequent scriptures, the failure of earthly fathers is manifold:
"And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness." (Genesis 9: 23)
Of course, Noah's victory began not with what he did, but with what God saw when he looked upon him:
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." (Genesis 6: 8)
Grace has nothing to do with us, as it is unearned, unmerited, undeserved favor. In this respect, then, did Noah become a good father.
Abram received the call from the Lord to leave his family:
"Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:" (Genesis 12: 1)
Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was a bad father, in that he failed to walk by faith (Genesis 13: 10) and chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah, cities so teeming with iniquity that the Lord destroyed them, after warning Lot and his family to flee.
"30And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. 31And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth: 32Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father. 33And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in, and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when she arose." (Genesis 19: 30-33)
Unlike the two sons of Noah, the two daughters seduced their own flesh and blood into incestuously raising a new generation after Lot.
Wow -- a father who lost everything because he walked by sight, not by faith, only to endure incest that his daughters would carry on his name. The law had not yet been given, but such intercourse is unseemly, to say the least.
Abraham shares how God caused him to leave his own father:
"And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother." (Genesis 20: 13)
Here, the verb "wander" is:
תָּעָה taah
God caused Abraham to wander from his father here on earth, in the same manner that God outlined that every man would leave father and mother and become one flesh with his wife.
The Hebrew word for "wander" is composed of the three letters:
תָּ tav -- Cross
עָ ayin -- Eye
ה heh -- Grace
From the Cross, you then see God's grace, that will cause you to be a wanderer on this Earth, yet a receiver of Great Promises.
When Joseph was separate from his family, losing his mother after she gave birth to his younger brother Benjamin,then losing everyone else when his brothers betrayed him, Joseph endured untold privations and humiliations, yet he was a prosperous man because the Lord was with him (Genesis 39: 2)
When he was promoted from the prison to the palace, God graced him with honor and glory, a beautiful wife, and two blessed children:
"And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house.
"And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction." (Genesis 41: 51-52)
"God has made me forget" -- in our growing up from childhood to manhood, we are called to detach from our old identities, from Adam dead in our trespasses, from our identity in our earthly parents. By doing so, we are fruitful to God, because then His Holy Spirit can bear fruit in our lives.
"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up." (Psalm 27: 10)
Of course, one can easily read into this verse the hardships that many of us have endured as children, abandoned by parents, unsure of ourselves in the world.
Yet every verse testifies to One who was abandoned for us:
"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27: 46)
So that we can rest in the Promise of Hebrews:
"For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5)
We have nothing to fear if our earthly parents abandon us, for by abiding in Christ Jesus, we receive Life and more abundantly through Him.
Another hero, or heroine rather, also identifies that great things that we are called to, which do not require that we lean on our earthly parents to get there:
"And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter." (Esther 2: 7)
God used Esther to move the King of Persia to kill the enemy of the Jews -- Haman -- and then to issue decree which would permit the Jews to defend themselves from evil hordes which Haman ordered to kill. She did not know who her parents were, but she knew that she was called to great things, and throughout the Book of Esther, it is the Lord who moves in all things that Esther, another type and shadow of our Savior, who represents us before the King to fight for us.
"Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit:
"And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. " (Amos 7: 14-15)
Amos, like many prophets, stepped out of the fold to preach the Truth to God's people. The high priest of Israel, Amaziah, told him to go preach elsewhere and stop troubling the people of the Northern Kingdom. He had no precedent for prophesying, but he had the word of the Lord, and that was enough.
Throughout the Old Testament, there is a lot of "Dad-Basing". What is all of this "Dad-bashing" all about? Let us look to the New Testament of the fullness of the revelation:
"And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven." (Matthew 23: 9)
The goal is that we all rest and depend on God as Father, not as some imperious, imperial monarch who far and way knows of us, yet does not know us:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 15)
and
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." (Galatians 4: 6)
Also in Hebrews, the writer compares our earthly fathers to God the Father:
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
"For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." (Hebrews 12: 9-10)
One parent is needed, and that is God the Father, and we receive Him through the Holy Spirit, who is shed abroad in our hearts (Romans 5: 5) because Jesus sent Him forth to us. Receive His protection, and let Him raise you in the Way of Life.
Poll-Vaulting
Romney's ahead, Obama's ahead, and sometimes in the same state on the same day.
Pols are pouting or parading different polls to pull in votes. The number of polls in the past pails in compelling comparison to today's polling.
Whichever way the poll pulls for the pol, it seems that the polls and pollsters are more bipolar than ever.
Forget the polls -- focus on the policies and the politicians, then vote.
The polling frenzy in this country has reached such a pitch, it seems that someone can pretty much pull the right strings to make the poll a pal for whomever the pollsters are working for and a pill for the opposition.
Pols are pouting or parading different polls to pull in votes. The number of polls in the past pails in compelling comparison to today's polling.
Whichever way the poll pulls for the pol, it seems that the polls and pollsters are more bipolar than ever.
Forget the polls -- focus on the policies and the politicians, then vote.
The polling frenzy in this country has reached such a pitch, it seems that someone can pretty much pull the right strings to make the poll a pal for whomever the pollsters are working for and a pill for the opposition.
Sense of Sin Makes us Sensitive
I used to be the really sensitive type, convinced that people, places, and properties could make me mad.
Yet then I read about the fruits of the Spirit in a different "spirit":
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
"Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5: 22-23)
These are "fruit of the Spirit" -- they are all in one, composite "fruit", not "fruits", and they are borne out by the Spirit, not by me!
It's not my job to produce love, joy, peace, but to rest in the righteousness which I have received from Christ. The next verse explains this crucial element:
"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Galatians 5: 24)
We are His now, and thus we have no need to look at ourselves, and wonder if we are pleasing to God:
"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 6)\
So, if love, joy and peace are a supernatural byproduct of abiding in Christ, then why do Christians, like me, get angry so easily?
I believe it has to do with the fact that many of us still walk around with a sin conscience, one that still worries about offending God or doing something wrong.
Yet in Christ, we have been purged from this conscience:
"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?" (Hebrews 9: 14)
To the degree that we believe that we must think, say, or do things a certain way in order to please God or to maintain our standing before Him, then to that extent we grow easily hurt and unforgiving.
Yet what is the root of forgiveness? Paul explains:
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 32)
When you rest in the everlasting forgiveness and righteousness of God the Father, forgiving others, no longer taking offense at others, is a snap, a release that blesses you even more!
A sense of sin makes us sensitive. A sense of righteousness and grace make us strong and stable!
Yet then I read about the fruits of the Spirit in a different "spirit":
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
"Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." (Galatians 5: 22-23)
These are "fruit of the Spirit" -- they are all in one, composite "fruit", not "fruits", and they are borne out by the Spirit, not by me!
It's not my job to produce love, joy, peace, but to rest in the righteousness which I have received from Christ. The next verse explains this crucial element:
"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." (Galatians 5: 24)
We are His now, and thus we have no need to look at ourselves, and wonder if we are pleasing to God:
"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 6)\
So, if love, joy and peace are a supernatural byproduct of abiding in Christ, then why do Christians, like me, get angry so easily?
I believe it has to do with the fact that many of us still walk around with a sin conscience, one that still worries about offending God or doing something wrong.
Yet in Christ, we have been purged from this conscience:
"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?" (Hebrews 9: 14)
To the degree that we believe that we must think, say, or do things a certain way in order to please God or to maintain our standing before Him, then to that extent we grow easily hurt and unforgiving.
Yet what is the root of forgiveness? Paul explains:
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." (Ephesians 4: 32)
When you rest in the everlasting forgiveness and righteousness of God the Father, forgiving others, no longer taking offense at others, is a snap, a release that blesses you even more!
A sense of sin makes us sensitive. A sense of righteousness and grace make us strong and stable!
"He's A Weirdo!"
"Weirdo!"
That's what one of the students started chanting in a high-pitched voice just out of place in a classroom in juvenile hall.
"Weirdo!" Once again, yet this time, the probation officer conducting the group of ten adults chided them: "You guys, what's the problem. Why can you not just get your act together?"
Most of the probation staff had formed a decent relationship with the juvenile offenders, but for me as a substitute teacher, it was an upward battle every day.
I did not come to Los Padrinos every day. In fact, maybe once or twice a week I came to campus. I did not see the same students every day. In many cases, most of the students had not seen me before, and they would never see me again. This made the whole "sub" thing very difficult, indeed.
I had the glasses, the light complexion, and just about every other signal which screamed "bookwork", ""pointdexter" and "easy prey". I had to be on my guard when I was covering these classes, and sometimes probation did not help me.
I was not the typical teacher for the juvenile hall set. Most of these kids were used to minority teachers: black and Hispanic, but I was one of the few white teachers. I did not see a lot of white students end up in juvenile hall, either, although I knew that kids from every wrung of the ladder, race, wealth, culture, ended up in these halls for some crime.
I was definitely a "weirdo" to these kids, most of whom had a life very different from my own. Then again, I was also the type who had no problem throwing five kids out if the entire class tried to run me. No one got away with anything, and I had learned the importance of towing the line at all costs, no matter what.
I was a "weirdo" also because I refused to let up on some students in some classes. If they wanted to give me nothing but trouble, I found that the best I could do was give in right back to them.
I remember covering the special ed class at Los Padrinos. Most students tried to get a special ed diagnosis so that they could fight their fitness hearing. I met my fair share of weirdoes in those classes. Some students just did not fit in with the general population.
Then again, I proved to be a bigger weirdo for those kids, many of whom had no idea what to do wit themselves or with me when I came in and took charge.
The teacher I covered for in one special ed class, defined "incompetent" -- the type of teacher which wars against the merits of tenure and teacher union power. The teacher was deaf, yet felt compelled not to wear his hearing aids. A real weird, to say the least. He did nothing to make himself prepared and available for the staff whom he worked with. The students would get away with murder, and I heard all about it from the staff who had to work in that room as resource specialists with some of the students.
One student had gotten in my face early in the day, enough that I sent him out of the room. When the principal redirected the student back, he tried to brush past me without saying anything. "Oh, you know what, he's not ready yet." Then the staff shuffled the student off to another room during the first half of the day.
The students began to behave themselves somewhat better, but the lingering upset about "The Weirdo" is always ready to pounce once again. The young student who had had trouble came back into the classroom later that day. He was calmer, that was certain. Yet as the end of the day approached, the students got wily once again. Did I neglect to mention that that day was a Friday? Nothing but upset all the way was in store for me and the other substitute in the room.
The same kid finally put his head on the table, and whined: "This guy's an F----ing weirdo!"
That was the last straw for me. I had no choice but to send him out.
The students in the halls do not have a lot of freedom when it comes to dealing with whatever comes their way. That can be the downfall of ending up in the system, a tragedy for those youth especially since they do not have parents who held them accountable, the schools are afraid to, teachers are not empowered to, and everyone else has no idea what to do for them. The inconsistency of it all can make any tough teacher seem like a "Weirdo".
That's what one of the students started chanting in a high-pitched voice just out of place in a classroom in juvenile hall.
"Weirdo!" Once again, yet this time, the probation officer conducting the group of ten adults chided them: "You guys, what's the problem. Why can you not just get your act together?"
Most of the probation staff had formed a decent relationship with the juvenile offenders, but for me as a substitute teacher, it was an upward battle every day.
I did not come to Los Padrinos every day. In fact, maybe once or twice a week I came to campus. I did not see the same students every day. In many cases, most of the students had not seen me before, and they would never see me again. This made the whole "sub" thing very difficult, indeed.
I had the glasses, the light complexion, and just about every other signal which screamed "bookwork", ""pointdexter" and "easy prey". I had to be on my guard when I was covering these classes, and sometimes probation did not help me.
I was not the typical teacher for the juvenile hall set. Most of these kids were used to minority teachers: black and Hispanic, but I was one of the few white teachers. I did not see a lot of white students end up in juvenile hall, either, although I knew that kids from every wrung of the ladder, race, wealth, culture, ended up in these halls for some crime.
I was definitely a "weirdo" to these kids, most of whom had a life very different from my own. Then again, I was also the type who had no problem throwing five kids out if the entire class tried to run me. No one got away with anything, and I had learned the importance of towing the line at all costs, no matter what.
I was a "weirdo" also because I refused to let up on some students in some classes. If they wanted to give me nothing but trouble, I found that the best I could do was give in right back to them.
I remember covering the special ed class at Los Padrinos. Most students tried to get a special ed diagnosis so that they could fight their fitness hearing. I met my fair share of weirdoes in those classes. Some students just did not fit in with the general population.
Then again, I proved to be a bigger weirdo for those kids, many of whom had no idea what to do wit themselves or with me when I came in and took charge.
The teacher I covered for in one special ed class, defined "incompetent" -- the type of teacher which wars against the merits of tenure and teacher union power. The teacher was deaf, yet felt compelled not to wear his hearing aids. A real weird, to say the least. He did nothing to make himself prepared and available for the staff whom he worked with. The students would get away with murder, and I heard all about it from the staff who had to work in that room as resource specialists with some of the students.
One student had gotten in my face early in the day, enough that I sent him out of the room. When the principal redirected the student back, he tried to brush past me without saying anything. "Oh, you know what, he's not ready yet." Then the staff shuffled the student off to another room during the first half of the day.
The students began to behave themselves somewhat better, but the lingering upset about "The Weirdo" is always ready to pounce once again. The young student who had had trouble came back into the classroom later that day. He was calmer, that was certain. Yet as the end of the day approached, the students got wily once again. Did I neglect to mention that that day was a Friday? Nothing but upset all the way was in store for me and the other substitute in the room.
The same kid finally put his head on the table, and whined: "This guy's an F----ing weirdo!"
That was the last straw for me. I had no choice but to send him out.
The students in the halls do not have a lot of freedom when it comes to dealing with whatever comes their way. That can be the downfall of ending up in the system, a tragedy for those youth especially since they do not have parents who held them accountable, the schools are afraid to, teachers are not empowered to, and everyone else has no idea what to do for them. The inconsistency of it all can make any tough teacher seem like a "Weirdo".
Teaching: Not My Bag
Teaching was not my bag, after all.
I never understood why I felt so out of sorts, especially after I had achieve the first markers of "adulthood."
I moved out of the house. I moved into my own apartment. I had a job. I had the car.
Yet that was all that I had.
I felt so lost, so forlorn, so empty.
Then there was September 12, 2006. There I was sitting, at the Burger King so many streets away from home. And that was it.
I had gotten everything that I was looking for, and I felt that I was floating in nothing going nowhere.
I had it all -- and "all" was not enough. Quite a setback, so it seemed.
For a long time, I was not sure what it was that was so lacking.
I went to school every day for the next semester. At the time, was still going through all the BTSA paperwork. The trips to Cal State Long Beach were fun, since I got to get lots of free stuff, including a bunch of books about how to manage your classroom, or how to help students to let off steam after a bad day.
When I look back on all the seminars that I was attending, I could not believe how much the district was paying these people to teach us what we were supposed to learn when we were earning our credentials. Imagine all this waste. I think that teachers, so exasperated with how little they actually accomplish in their classrooms, keep attending these seminars just to give themselves a sense that they are "in control."
It certainly did not help me, that's for sure.
I had set up the rules and regulations in the classroom. I told the students what my expectations were, I outlined for them the work that they needed to do in order to get a good grade in the class. I called parents, I cajoled students, I gave them detention when they did not do their work.
At one point, I had every member of the football who was also taking French in my class after school, getting their work done. Much good it did them -- only one of them passed the class, but he was a hard working student in the first place. The other students did not care.
The teacher does much of the work in many classes, so it seems. There I was, making do with all that I had. I wanted them to succeed, so that I could have a sense of success along with them. But I have to admit, like them I just wanted to go home.
I did not like my job, I did not like all the pressure that I had to deal with, and I was teaching an elective! I was not teaching a core course that would be tested in May with those awful standardized tests. More and more, that's what education is all about.
I was testing my resolve coming to class every day. I was not happy doing what I was doing. I even enrolled in a Masters Degree program, something to undo the monotony of the 7-3 shuffle of get up,m get the class ready, get to class, get through the day, then go home.
Wow, it is amazing when I look back on all the stuff that I survived. I made it, but barely, and even then I ended up walking off the job altogether.
Teaching was not my bag, but I nearly ended up in a bag. Still, I was so lost on the inside in those days, not sure what I wanted, and not sure how to figure out what I wanted. Those days are long gone, though, when I realize that today I have and do all that I want to. I may not be making the money that I want to right now, but no longer do I have to suffer through the tortures of a damning career with demands that no one can meet.
I do not have to sit back and wonder what is going wrong in my life today! I do not look at my life and ask: "Is this all there is?"
So much is still out there, waiting to be found and received by me, but I have no worries about it. Grace and truth really do make all the difference in this life, and I am glad to know the Truth that sets me free and have the grace to live out the life that lives in me.
I never understood why I felt so out of sorts, especially after I had achieve the first markers of "adulthood."
I moved out of the house. I moved into my own apartment. I had a job. I had the car.
Yet that was all that I had.
I felt so lost, so forlorn, so empty.
Then there was September 12, 2006. There I was sitting, at the Burger King so many streets away from home. And that was it.
I had gotten everything that I was looking for, and I felt that I was floating in nothing going nowhere.
I had it all -- and "all" was not enough. Quite a setback, so it seemed.
For a long time, I was not sure what it was that was so lacking.
I went to school every day for the next semester. At the time, was still going through all the BTSA paperwork. The trips to Cal State Long Beach were fun, since I got to get lots of free stuff, including a bunch of books about how to manage your classroom, or how to help students to let off steam after a bad day.
When I look back on all the seminars that I was attending, I could not believe how much the district was paying these people to teach us what we were supposed to learn when we were earning our credentials. Imagine all this waste. I think that teachers, so exasperated with how little they actually accomplish in their classrooms, keep attending these seminars just to give themselves a sense that they are "in control."
It certainly did not help me, that's for sure.
I had set up the rules and regulations in the classroom. I told the students what my expectations were, I outlined for them the work that they needed to do in order to get a good grade in the class. I called parents, I cajoled students, I gave them detention when they did not do their work.
At one point, I had every member of the football who was also taking French in my class after school, getting their work done. Much good it did them -- only one of them passed the class, but he was a hard working student in the first place. The other students did not care.
The teacher does much of the work in many classes, so it seems. There I was, making do with all that I had. I wanted them to succeed, so that I could have a sense of success along with them. But I have to admit, like them I just wanted to go home.
I did not like my job, I did not like all the pressure that I had to deal with, and I was teaching an elective! I was not teaching a core course that would be tested in May with those awful standardized tests. More and more, that's what education is all about.
I was testing my resolve coming to class every day. I was not happy doing what I was doing. I even enrolled in a Masters Degree program, something to undo the monotony of the 7-3 shuffle of get up,m get the class ready, get to class, get through the day, then go home.
Wow, it is amazing when I look back on all the stuff that I survived. I made it, but barely, and even then I ended up walking off the job altogether.
Teaching was not my bag, but I nearly ended up in a bag. Still, I was so lost on the inside in those days, not sure what I wanted, and not sure how to figure out what I wanted. Those days are long gone, though, when I realize that today I have and do all that I want to. I may not be making the money that I want to right now, but no longer do I have to suffer through the tortures of a damning career with demands that no one can meet.
I do not have to sit back and wonder what is going wrong in my life today! I do not look at my life and ask: "Is this all there is?"
So much is still out there, waiting to be found and received by me, but I have no worries about it. Grace and truth really do make all the difference in this life, and I am glad to know the Truth that sets me free and have the grace to live out the life that lives in me.
The New GOP Platform -- The Five L's
Limited Government
Lower Taxes
Less Spending
Local Control
Libertarian
The Five L's that will help transform the Republican Party Platform.
The notion that government cannot control my money yet can control my body is a mixed message at best.
I do not condone many poor choices which people choose to engage in.
Yet the laws of society must depend only on defending the rights of others.
If a man chooses to harm his or her own body, then those individuals must accept the consequences for those decisions.
However, if a man's liberty gives way to harm another person's life or impinges on his liberty, then the state has every right and necessity to step in and stop the perversion of freedom.
Lower Taxes
Less Spending
Local Control
Libertarian
The Five L's that will help transform the Republican Party Platform.
The notion that government cannot control my money yet can control my body is a mixed message at best.
I do not condone many poor choices which people choose to engage in.
Yet the laws of society must depend only on defending the rights of others.
If a man chooses to harm his or her own body, then those individuals must accept the consequences for those decisions.
However, if a man's liberty gives way to harm another person's life or impinges on his liberty, then the state has every right and necessity to step in and stop the perversion of freedom.
Akin and Gingrich in Missouri
| Gingrich Akin -- Redemption Leading to Victory |
Former House Speaker and GOP Presidential candidate Newt
Gingrich knows something about redemption. Despite his shameful past, both
personal and political, he refused to be intimidated by moderators and media
hype, running a vocal and outspoken campaign, sharpening the GOP nominee while
landing well-placed attacks against the Mainstream Media and the President.
Gingrich is the perfect person to endorse and campaign for Missouri
Congressman Todd Akin, a becoming statesman who commands a great deal of
integrity, refusing to bow out of the race despite pressure from his own party
leaders and media elites. Unlike Gingrich, Akin simply made a mistake when
discussing the fraught and intimate details surrounding abortion, yet he
apologized for it, and is pressing ahead for the win in the “Show Me” State.
It’s too bad that of all the major power players in the
Republican Party, only Newt Gingrich has summoned up the courage not only to
stand by the embattled challenger for the senate seat in Missouri, but that he alone
has had the foresight and fierceness to challenge the Democratic party for
their extreme views on abortion, including their recent move to drop Keynote
Speaker and former President Bill Clinton’s celebrated compromise: “Safe,
legal, and rare” from the party platform.
Todd Akin deserves to win the US Senate seat. He and other
politicians are the face of the future so needed yet still so lacking in
Washington: statesmen who admit their faults, refuse to fall in line with
party, and stand up for principle.
Black Republican Celebrities -- No Kidding!
http://madamenoire.com/213740/youre-not-down-with-brother-obama-15-black-celebs-who-have-republican-tendencies/
This is the kind of reporting that we need to see more of.
They are out there, just that either the Mainstream Media does not want to report on these trends, or the actors are afraid of the negative backlash from Hollywood Elites.
Then again, the "race card" which muzzles commentators about minoritie may be the same trope that will muzzle criticism against these celebrities because they support conservative candidates and causes.
The Republican party can do a better job of reaching out to the minority vote. After four years of the first real "Black President" -- unemployment is still higher for Blacks and Hispanics. The economy has not entered into a robust recovery, and our liberties are fewer while government is still greater.
The time for a political realignment is near. The FDR legacy of minorities switching to the Democratic party is receding ever so slowly, never to return.
This is the kind of reporting that we need to see more of.
They are out there, just that either the Mainstream Media does not want to report on these trends, or the actors are afraid of the negative backlash from Hollywood Elites.
Then again, the "race card" which muzzles commentators about minoritie may be the same trope that will muzzle criticism against these celebrities because they support conservative candidates and causes.
The Republican party can do a better job of reaching out to the minority vote. After four years of the first real "Black President" -- unemployment is still higher for Blacks and Hispanics. The economy has not entered into a robust recovery, and our liberties are fewer while government is still greater.
The time for a political realignment is near. The FDR legacy of minorities switching to the Democratic party is receding ever so slowly, never to return.
"God Don't Make Junk" -- He Wants to Do More
I remember one lady in the Celebrate Recovery group that I used to attend.
She was always telling people: "God Don't Make Junk."
Just like that, yet that kind of talk did not make me feel more prized as a human being. I still felt that I was not measuring up. I was still looking at myself.
Then I read Colossians:
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Colossians 3: 1)
Why do we keep our eyes on Him? Because as He is, so are we in this world(1 John 4: 17)
Here is a list of all that God has made Jesus to be for us:
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1: 30)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and thus we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Righteousness means that before God we are fully justified, made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are not supposed to be evaluating or esteeming ourselves in any way. Our standard, our standing, is wrapped up in Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father:
"For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
"Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope." (Acts 2: 25-26)
We rest because we know and believe that He lives and reigns in us and through us and over the entire world. Nothing can beat that!
God does not make junk, but we must be born again (John 3: 3). Through His love, we become sons of God (1 John 3: 1)
Indeed, God does not make junk -- but we are called to life and that more abundantly, to be transformed into a new creation:
"For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being a new creation." (Galatians 6: 15)
In Christ we are more than "not junk" -- we are a new creation!
She was always telling people: "God Don't Make Junk."
Just like that, yet that kind of talk did not make me feel more prized as a human being. I still felt that I was not measuring up. I was still looking at myself.
Then I read Colossians:
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." (Colossians 3: 1)
Why do we keep our eyes on Him? Because as He is, so are we in this world(1 John 4: 17)
Here is a list of all that God has made Jesus to be for us:
"But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:" (1 Corinthians 1: 30)
Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and thus we are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Righteousness means that before God we are fully justified, made into a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
We are not supposed to be evaluating or esteeming ourselves in any way. Our standard, our standing, is wrapped up in Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father:
"For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
"Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope." (Acts 2: 25-26)
We rest because we know and believe that He lives and reigns in us and through us and over the entire world. Nothing can beat that!
God does not make junk, but we must be born again (John 3: 3). Through His love, we become sons of God (1 John 3: 1)
Indeed, God does not make junk -- but we are called to life and that more abundantly, to be transformed into a new creation:
"For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, what matters is being a new creation." (Galatians 6: 15)
In Christ we are more than "not junk" -- we are a new creation!
The Only Polling that Matters: Election Day!
The only polling that matters is on election day!
The polling is going up, down all around, and the inanity of it all should be enough to dissuade individual voters from giving the numbers any real truck or truth.
The only poll that matters is on -- election day.
Do not let the polling one way or another determine whether you go out and vote or not.
You and I, we cast the votes, we define the one poll that matters, on election day.
With the proliferation of news media, of electronic means for tracking public opinion, perhaps the central media outlets will have to put aside their claim to know the final tally every time.
Karl Roll just went over the more precise metrics which outline the results. He pointed out the diverse exit polling which outlined which voters went to the voting booths in the swing states Ohio and Florida.
He has also reminded viewers that Jimmy Carter was polling ahead of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Carter was an established liberal and an incumbent, much like the current president. Then as well as now, the mainstream media leans toward promoting the left leaning candidate, especially if he or she is an incumbent.
Now more than ever, voters' opinions are shifting more quickly. One media flap gives way to a gaffe from the opposition candidate. I believe that the voters in this country are more informed than during previous elections. The proliferation of media has engaged small candidates to take advantage of "word of mouth" promotion instead of spending millions of dollars. Now more than ever, a persuasive message is more important a big bank account.
Do not let the polls lie, discourage, dissuade, or render you complacent. Get the word out on the candidates and the causes you support, get to polls, and vote!
The polling is going up, down all around, and the inanity of it all should be enough to dissuade individual voters from giving the numbers any real truck or truth.
The only poll that matters is on -- election day.
Do not let the polling one way or another determine whether you go out and vote or not.
You and I, we cast the votes, we define the one poll that matters, on election day.
With the proliferation of news media, of electronic means for tracking public opinion, perhaps the central media outlets will have to put aside their claim to know the final tally every time.
Karl Roll just went over the more precise metrics which outline the results. He pointed out the diverse exit polling which outlined which voters went to the voting booths in the swing states Ohio and Florida.
He has also reminded viewers that Jimmy Carter was polling ahead of Ronald Reagan in 1980. Carter was an established liberal and an incumbent, much like the current president. Then as well as now, the mainstream media leans toward promoting the left leaning candidate, especially if he or she is an incumbent.
Now more than ever, voters' opinions are shifting more quickly. One media flap gives way to a gaffe from the opposition candidate. I believe that the voters in this country are more informed than during previous elections. The proliferation of media has engaged small candidates to take advantage of "word of mouth" promotion instead of spending millions of dollars. Now more than ever, a persuasive message is more important a big bank account.
Do not let the polls lie, discourage, dissuade, or render you complacent. Get the word out on the candidates and the causes you support, get to polls, and vote!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
"I Don't Want to Wake up in the Morning"
I loved the librarian in South Gate. She was not too old to play "Mommy" to a lost first-year teacher like me, but she was not so young that she was as clueless as I was.
An English teacher who had worked in Irvine, she hailed from Sherman Oaks, yet she was willing to drive down the five to work in South Gate.
She was not like most librarians, whom many characterize as stuffy, old, rude, ready to snap at you for talking in the library or to snipe at you for taking your time checking out materials. She was willing to work with what she had, staff and students.
Let me clarify -- I was a teacher at this school, yet even then librarians can have a real nasty streak if left unhinged.
Ms. W. was nothing like that. She cared about other people, and she cared enough to offer me some of her time.
But she was a tired woman, it seemed. On some days, she had a wizened face. She looked as pale as some of the pages in the new books in the new library with the new kids. Of course, the new school was run according to the same principles of top-down waste and fraud which dominate in public schools throughout LA Unified.
She helped me with my French class. She helped many students. She also yelled a lot, especially when students would play music on the library computers instead of working on their projects for class.
Don't get me wrong -- she was a great lady, one of the few staff members whom I trusted enough to share complaints about staff and administration.
Once, I was contending with the secretary who ran the textbook room, a clerk who was a real jerk. She was "the ice queen" to many teachers who got tired of her peevish, unpleasant attitude. The librarian told me to talk to one of the administrators, yet even I did not have the courage to tell a supervisor how much I detested the personnel working in the main office or in the storage rooms. Apparently, the librarian felt the same way. She warned me not to confront anyone in the administrative office, since all of them were new and easy to intimidate.
Still, she was the type who would throw pizza parties for the best students in the school. When only three students had done all their homework one week, I sent them to the library to complete an extra credit activity, which the librarian willingly supervised. She helped me out that day in an unprecedented way.
Toward the end of the year, events were not just winding down, the wind in the librarian's formerly buoyant sails had given out. While I was working hard typing up another lesson for the next, Ms. L. was toiling behind the counter of the library front desk. She looked exhausted. I asked what she was doing.
She surprised me by telling me that she was training her replacement. She was not getting let go, for at the time the school districts were still getting enough money to get by. She had had enough.
"This administration is so. . ." she could not think of the mot juste, perhaps too colorful and controversial for the high school crowd, but I understood exactly where she was coming from.
"I get no support here." I heard that. The administrators at that school were incompetent and ineffective, since most of them this was their first year serving as supervisors. It was quite a shock how ineffective an inexperienced administrator could be.
"I thought about moving here, but the commute is just too much, and I don't want to wake up in the morning. . ."
That phrase I had heard only intermittently on sitcoms and dramas on TV. Not wanting to wake up in the morning did not sound like a reality to me, though at the time I did not realize that I had been so used to a grey existence that I did not even notice how "unawake" I had become.
She was willing to share something very painful, very trying. She told me that she was taking advantage of this chance to leave, because as any teacher, as any certificated personnel in a public school will tell you, a professional can only get credit for so many years of service before they start losing pay for moving from one district to another. Ms W. was getting while the getting was good.
I wish that I had paid more attention to what she had to say that day. I was in the throes of the same public school woes -- no support, no headway, no way to get my head in the door expect to "think of a happy place" most of the day while going through the motions in the classroom.
"I don't want to wake up in the morning." Looking back on those days, that was exactly how I felt, but since full-time teaching was the first full-time job that I had ever had, I did not know anything beyond taking care of myself, paying the bills, getting through doing this thing called "living" -- except that I was not living.
The next week, following a heated and horrifying set of parent conferences, the principal screamed at me up and down about "a line of parents" at his door. He was in over his head, to say the least -- and a year later he would be convicted of failing to report lewd acts perpetrated by one of the teachers against a minor. He had it coming, no doubt, yet at the time, sitting in the assistant principal's office that May afternoon, the principal asked me:
"Do you like waking up in the morning?" He asked this with a sense of stern sarcasm, yet inadvertently, he had diagnosed the problem which had been plaguing me, a malaise without a name, the same nameless infamy which had been afflicting the librarian, who liked working with kids, just not working at that school.
In those days, though, I had no knowledge about working or not working as something that I wanted to do. In my mind, in those day, work was all about just doing something, just getting a job done so that you could live on your own. Except that living on my own, as I understood it, I was not really living.
And no, I did not look forward to waking up in the morning, either.
An English teacher who had worked in Irvine, she hailed from Sherman Oaks, yet she was willing to drive down the five to work in South Gate.
She was not like most librarians, whom many characterize as stuffy, old, rude, ready to snap at you for talking in the library or to snipe at you for taking your time checking out materials. She was willing to work with what she had, staff and students.
Let me clarify -- I was a teacher at this school, yet even then librarians can have a real nasty streak if left unhinged.
Ms. W. was nothing like that. She cared about other people, and she cared enough to offer me some of her time.
But she was a tired woman, it seemed. On some days, she had a wizened face. She looked as pale as some of the pages in the new books in the new library with the new kids. Of course, the new school was run according to the same principles of top-down waste and fraud which dominate in public schools throughout LA Unified.
She helped me with my French class. She helped many students. She also yelled a lot, especially when students would play music on the library computers instead of working on their projects for class.
Don't get me wrong -- she was a great lady, one of the few staff members whom I trusted enough to share complaints about staff and administration.
Once, I was contending with the secretary who ran the textbook room, a clerk who was a real jerk. She was "the ice queen" to many teachers who got tired of her peevish, unpleasant attitude. The librarian told me to talk to one of the administrators, yet even I did not have the courage to tell a supervisor how much I detested the personnel working in the main office or in the storage rooms. Apparently, the librarian felt the same way. She warned me not to confront anyone in the administrative office, since all of them were new and easy to intimidate.
Still, she was the type who would throw pizza parties for the best students in the school. When only three students had done all their homework one week, I sent them to the library to complete an extra credit activity, which the librarian willingly supervised. She helped me out that day in an unprecedented way.
Toward the end of the year, events were not just winding down, the wind in the librarian's formerly buoyant sails had given out. While I was working hard typing up another lesson for the next, Ms. L. was toiling behind the counter of the library front desk. She looked exhausted. I asked what she was doing.
She surprised me by telling me that she was training her replacement. She was not getting let go, for at the time the school districts were still getting enough money to get by. She had had enough.
"This administration is so. . ." she could not think of the mot juste, perhaps too colorful and controversial for the high school crowd, but I understood exactly where she was coming from.
"I get no support here." I heard that. The administrators at that school were incompetent and ineffective, since most of them this was their first year serving as supervisors. It was quite a shock how ineffective an inexperienced administrator could be.
"I thought about moving here, but the commute is just too much, and I don't want to wake up in the morning. . ."
That phrase I had heard only intermittently on sitcoms and dramas on TV. Not wanting to wake up in the morning did not sound like a reality to me, though at the time I did not realize that I had been so used to a grey existence that I did not even notice how "unawake" I had become.
She was willing to share something very painful, very trying. She told me that she was taking advantage of this chance to leave, because as any teacher, as any certificated personnel in a public school will tell you, a professional can only get credit for so many years of service before they start losing pay for moving from one district to another. Ms W. was getting while the getting was good.
I wish that I had paid more attention to what she had to say that day. I was in the throes of the same public school woes -- no support, no headway, no way to get my head in the door expect to "think of a happy place" most of the day while going through the motions in the classroom.
"I don't want to wake up in the morning." Looking back on those days, that was exactly how I felt, but since full-time teaching was the first full-time job that I had ever had, I did not know anything beyond taking care of myself, paying the bills, getting through doing this thing called "living" -- except that I was not living.
The next week, following a heated and horrifying set of parent conferences, the principal screamed at me up and down about "a line of parents" at his door. He was in over his head, to say the least -- and a year later he would be convicted of failing to report lewd acts perpetrated by one of the teachers against a minor. He had it coming, no doubt, yet at the time, sitting in the assistant principal's office that May afternoon, the principal asked me:
"Do you like waking up in the morning?" He asked this with a sense of stern sarcasm, yet inadvertently, he had diagnosed the problem which had been plaguing me, a malaise without a name, the same nameless infamy which had been afflicting the librarian, who liked working with kids, just not working at that school.
In those days, though, I had no knowledge about working or not working as something that I wanted to do. In my mind, in those day, work was all about just doing something, just getting a job done so that you could live on your own. Except that living on my own, as I understood it, I was not really living.
And no, I did not look forward to waking up in the morning, either.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Mr. Smith: Go to Washington! (Tom Smith for US Senate)
| Tom Smith for US Senate |
Undeterred, Mr. Smith stands up to the Establishment Party bosses, crooked politicians who want money, power, and prestige, refusing to stand up for the principles of the federal government or the best interests of the voters. Even his once esteemed mentor reveals himself to be one more politician swept up in the corruption, yet even he takes a stand at the last minute for the falsely accused Mr. Smith.
Now another Smith from Pennsylvania, this time Tom Smith of Armstrong Country, PA, is poised for an upset against Bob Casey, a pro-life Democrat who has voted against the life, liberty, and property of the very voters whom he claims to represent.
Mr. Tom Smith started out as a coal miner of no small repute, a self-made man of sorts who mortgaged his home only to expand coal operations and employee many in Armstrong Country.
In 2010, Pennsylvania rejected an incumbent Democrat-turned-Republican-returned Democrat (Arlen Specter) who claimed to be a centrist, when in truth he was an opportunist and spend-thrift politician who followed polls instead of principles. Joe Sestak stood up and defeated Specter in the primary, yet despite campaigning long and hard across the Keystone State, he did not have a ghost of a chance against Tea Party favorite Pat Toomey.
The times and circumstances are stacked against Mr. Casey, who may run as a moderate, yet like a growing number of Democratic senators in swing states, he swings with the Beltway on many issues which have created more cause for alarm instead of applause.
Tom Smith challenged incumbent Senator Bob Casey to provide a viable economic plan of his own, which Casey has yet to furnish for the voters of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Smith's Five Point Plan includes ending the frivolous lawsuits which drive up healthcare costs while driving physicians out of the profession and driving hospitals into insolvency and closure. Smith favors a flat tax rate in order to simplify the tax code and eliminate corporate loopholes. He wants to reduce spending to 20% of GDP, a measure of reduction which would put taxpayer dollars where they belong -- in the wallets of the individual and invested in the private sector, promoting expansion and job growth.
Mr. Smith three big "Repeal" measures, which should appeal to voters: ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank, and Sarbanes-Oxley, all three of which have expanded the size of the regulatory state without fixing the very problems which the laws set out to tackle. All other regulatory nightmares would fall under rigorous scrutiny of Senator Smith, to facilitate job growth without exploding waste, fraud, and bureaucracy.
Smith would eliminate the death tax and capital gains tax. Death and taxes may be a sure thing for everyone, but to be taxed for dying -- well, that's just cruel and unusual punishment. Regarding capital gains taxes, it is immoral and unnecessary to tax a man for making money on income that has already been taxed. These reforms have received widespread support before, so Mr. Smith would find very little to stifle his efforts for financial reform.
Other fiscal and legislative reforms supported by Mr. Smith include a Balanced Budget Amendment, a No Budget-No Pay provision to force Congress to pass an operating national budget on time. Ending earmarks and reducing the federal workforce through attrition also highlight Smith's reforms. For energy independence, Smith supports the XL Keystone Pipeline extension and ending the overbearing overreach of the EPA.
In contrast to the specific and engaging reforms offered by private businessman Tom Smith, US Senate Bob Casey has been an uninspiring Senator who has voted in line with the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda of tax, spend, regulate, and frustrate. He voted for the wasteful Obama Stimulus of 2009, which stimulate nothing but paybacks to political supporters. He has voted against Earmark Moratoriums, but he supported the wasteful "Cash for Clunkers". His most notorious vote, one which should provide reason enough to send Casey packing, Casey supported ObamaCare, the same legislation which pushed three hospitals to close.
On a more somber note, Bob Casey has surrendered his pro-life credentials in favor of his party, even supporting ObamaCare before the President issued an executive order to assure pro-life Democrats in the House that the legislation would maintain the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. The choice is clear for Pennsylvania voters. Casey has struck out time and again for his constituents, while Mr. Smith is ready to go to Washington with a pro-growth, limited government plan.
In a growing sign of trouble for the Casey campaign, FreedomWorks for America invested another $200,000 in Smith's campaign. Contrary to the empty cries of "Tea Party Extremism" which have fallen hollow on the Republican Candidate, Mr. Smith is continuing his drive to go to Washington and represent the people of the state of Pennsylvania, not the tax-and-spend statism of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, all of which have all but given up on legislating and leading, resorting instead to complaining and campaigning.
To the voters of Pennsylvania, send Mr. Smith to Washington! Vote for Tom Smith for US Senate!
Mitt Romney -- More Modest than Moderate
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/09/25/7_incredible_personal_stories_about_mitt_romney_that_you_may_not_know
John Hawkins led the charge against Mitt Romney for President. Romney is a generous man, not just proven by his tax records, but by his charitable works toward veterans and the disabled.
Mitt Romney was a diligent conservative in Massachusetts, vetoing eight hundred bills in the face of a tax-and-spend legislature dominated nearly four to one by the opposition.
He has campaigned for seven years, learning every step of the way, leaning ever closer for the win.
He fought past multiple challenges, even within his own party.
I wish that I had learned all of these accounts sooner.
I would have been more inclined to vote for the guy.
I cannot believe that the GOP has done such a poor job of presenting that goodness that defines much of what this man does for this family, his home state, and the country.
Romney's campaign is going to be the nail in the coffin for the mainstream media. Shame on these news outlets which can find nothing to indict except the failing off-hand flubs of a governor who has more experience leading instead of campaigning, a stark contrast to the current President, who has done nothing but campaign yet refuses to lead.
This country would be well served by Mitt Romney.
John Hawkins led the charge against Mitt Romney for President. Romney is a generous man, not just proven by his tax records, but by his charitable works toward veterans and the disabled.
Mitt Romney was a diligent conservative in Massachusetts, vetoing eight hundred bills in the face of a tax-and-spend legislature dominated nearly four to one by the opposition.
He has campaigned for seven years, learning every step of the way, leaning ever closer for the win.
He fought past multiple challenges, even within his own party.
I wish that I had learned all of these accounts sooner.
I would have been more inclined to vote for the guy.
I cannot believe that the GOP has done such a poor job of presenting that goodness that defines much of what this man does for this family, his home state, and the country.
Romney's campaign is going to be the nail in the coffin for the mainstream media. Shame on these news outlets which can find nothing to indict except the failing off-hand flubs of a governor who has more experience leading instead of campaigning, a stark contrast to the current President, who has done nothing but campaign yet refuses to lead.
This country would be well served by Mitt Romney.
Monday, September 24, 2012
John Adams: Big Government, Less Freedom
Throughout your editorial on socialized medicine in early United States history, Mr. Allen, you cite the common care which communities created for a select population dedicated to a rigorous service, from the Plymouth Colony to the present day. In each instance, veterans received this extended care. I see nothing amiss about providing for the care and comfort of our veterans, although I would prefer that this nation would stop putting our troops in harm’s way fighting unwinnable wars and engaging in unsupportable “nation building”.
In citing Forbes Magazine’s article on “An act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen”, you neglect to notice that the specific law targeted a specific population engaged in a specific purpose. Expansive legislation like “ObamaCare” wants to force everyone to enter into a market based on an outrageously erroneous interpretation of the Commerce Clause, which would invite unrestrained regulation by the federal government into every aspect of our lives. You also neglected to document whether the Marine Health service, its successive public health institutions, and today’s socialized medical programs do provide adequate health care, which in many cases is simply not the case.
Citing President John Adams as a positive precedent for federal action is a mixed affair. Though President John Adams was not a socialist, he was a Big Government nationalist who signed into law the notorious Alien and Sedition Acts. The first officious law lengthened the time required for naturalization, punishing law-abiding immigrants who supported Adam’s political opposition, headed by limited government Democrat Thomas Jefferson. The second law outlined harsh sanctions for critics of the Government by extending the definition of libel to include anything that the government considered “malicious.” Big Government inevitably leads to Little Freedom.
If you lived during the Adams administration, you would likely have ended up in jail for publishing “Ye Olde Lengthes of Randomness”. I also doubt that you would be getting free health care, although your tax dollars would be subsidizing the health care of others.
Richard Tisei for MA-6th!
| Richard Tisei: Republican for Congress in the MA-6th |
I did not have the proper packaging to send five hundred copper coins of the realm to the Commonwealth, but I am offering my two cents on Richard Tisei, the former state senator who served the Bay state with distinction for twenty-six years, then ran for lieutenant governor on 2010. He is not just a seasoned politician, but a real estate agent who understands the importance of balancing budgets in the public as well as the private sector.
At first, I could not believe what I was reading when I learned about the MA-6th race: a gay Republican running for Congress, although I prefer his appellation: “Live and Let Live Republican.”The mix seemed unlikely, uncanny, unbelievable. I am saddened that he is campaigning in a state where being “gay” is less controversial than being “Republican”, but I hope that Tisei will be the first of many brave politicians who will change that perception.
For the first time in two decades, a Republican has real and growing change of winning a House seat in the Bay State. I was thrilled when I learned that Barney Frank, of Dodd-Frank, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac infamy, was retiring. Now I have a more positive reason to root for the Bay State because bipartisan yet unashamed Republican Richard Tisei is leading the way for a limited government resurgence in the North East.
I just had to look at the legislative demographics in the Massachusetts state legislature. I cannot believe that the Massachusetts legislature is more than three to one Democratic! Even the state of California is not nearly as divided. I applaud legislators like Tisei who are not afraid to stand with the red party of limited government, individual liberty, and private enterprise in a state which is overwhelming blue.
While looking for stray coins to throw into Tisei’s surging campaign coffers, I realized that I can think of 16 TRILLION reasons why to vote for him: the national debt. The overwhelming obligations which will weigh on future generations is a disgrace, and we need men and women in government who will do something to stop the spending. The Democratic Party pushed a health insurance mandate-tax on this country, one which even US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has opposed in part.
I was especially pleased when the Gloucester Times printed a letter from a local resident who supports Obama, but will vote for Tisei. Ms. Maureen Flatley of Essex cited the ongoing corruption charges against embattled incumbent John Tierney, whose wife served a prison sentence for tax fraud related to her brothers’ illegal gambling operation. It is conceivable then that Tierney would win another term in 2010, but it now appears that he will not have “Lady Luck” on his side this time.
Other dubious distinctions of Congressman John Tierney include his refusal to part with gifts which he received while his wife’s brothers were running their gambling operation.
His voting record also suggests that he is out of the mainstream, and certainly not out for the best interests of his district, his state, or the country. Tierney voted against Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012, Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Extension, and Cut, Cap and Balance Act of 2011. He even voted against the “No More Solyndras” Act, which would protect taxpayer
dollars from being invested in wasteful green tech companies.
Yet Tierney voted for ObamaCare, the same law which was so unpopular, that native son Republican state senator Scott Brown won the US Senate seat vacated by the recently deceased Ted Kennedy in three-to-one Democratic Massachusetts. He also supported the abortive Cap and Trade bill of 2009, which would have killed millions of jobs and sent already struggling industries overseas. John Tierney is out of touch and out of date with the voters of Northwestern Massachusetts. It’s time to retire Tierney for good.(Tierney's Voting Record)
I am convinced that political candidates like Tisei are the future of the Republican Party and the better interests of the country. He is a pragmatic libertarian on social issues, an impulse which a growing number of conservatives, including fiscal hawk Rand Paul of Kentucky, are inclined to accept in order to help the GOP compete across the country.
The Bay state has lost one Congressional seat to redistricting. Why should the voters of Massachusetts suffer with nine knee-jerk partisans who support nothing but taxing and spending this country into oblivion? The nation is broke, and the liberal establishment does not want to fix it. This country’s entitlements that are leading this country into bankruptcy, but bipartisanship from Richard Tisei will help end the bickering and get Washington doing its job for the people. An independent mind and supporter of free enterprise are the order of the day, so I ask every in the 6th Congressional to vote for Richard Tisei for Congress!
Coulter's Talk On Blacks, Immigration, and Civil Rights
"We owe black people something. We have a legacy of slavery." - Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter cultivates controversy as a rule. That's all well and good.
Most people engage in name-calling and femme-baiting only because she is outspoken without being needy or catty. I applaud this columnist and author for having the guts to give her point of view on "The View", where the view of those four "commentators" is blighted with self-absorbed elitism.
However, Coulter's recent comments on the "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" cannot go unchecked. The above cited statement just defies logic and reason -- and this coming from a conservative who has taken down the race-baiting of professional panderers like IR-reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Who is "we", Ann? "White" people? How many "white" people took up arms to fight and end slavery? More than gets the recognition.
"We" do not have legacy of slavery. Black people today do not have a legacy of slavery, either. No one in this country has the right to define the hardships for any human being.
I still remember talking to one gentleman from Alabama. He was a black man, and he told me that the racism he endured in California was worse! He said so because people pretended to respect him, yet in truth they treated him with prejudicial condescension. Another lady, raised in Grenada Mississippi, told me that when she was growing up, no one ever bothered her. She never had to contend with the Ku Klux Klan or any other institutional racism.
Black economist and columnist Thomas Sowell has overseen and published numerous studies which demonstrated that persecuted minorities actually thrive notwithstanding the institutional persecution of the state. On the other hand, affirmative action and welfare subsidies actually hurt the very people whom they are intended to help.
Coulter's comments are one more example of the insulting pandering that has been foisted on a group of people. She is still miming the same "guilty conscience" of the "white people" in the Republican Party, even the GOP now more than ever boasts of more diverse candidates, causes, and public officials than even the Democratic Party!
One person born into this country does not have to be defined by the experience of previous generations, and neither should other people of any color feel obliged to feel guilty. There is no freedom there.
I am tired of politicians and pundits who talk down to black people, as if they are weak and cannot make it in this world with the faith and facts and force which God has equipped them and every other human being in the world.
I am tired of people who look at someone of color and start feeling sorry for them. They deserve more respect than pity, as does every human being in the world.
I thought that this country had finally reached the level of "post-racial" society. The same politicians who have taken advantage of "race-baiting" are just so unwilling to let go and honor every voter in this country, regardless of his color or ethnic background.
Ann Coulter cultivates controversy as a rule. That's all well and good.
Most people engage in name-calling and femme-baiting only because she is outspoken without being needy or catty. I applaud this columnist and author for having the guts to give her point of view on "The View", where the view of those four "commentators" is blighted with self-absorbed elitism.
However, Coulter's recent comments on the "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" cannot go unchecked. The above cited statement just defies logic and reason -- and this coming from a conservative who has taken down the race-baiting of professional panderers like IR-reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
Who is "we", Ann? "White" people? How many "white" people took up arms to fight and end slavery? More than gets the recognition.
"We" do not have legacy of slavery. Black people today do not have a legacy of slavery, either. No one in this country has the right to define the hardships for any human being.
I still remember talking to one gentleman from Alabama. He was a black man, and he told me that the racism he endured in California was worse! He said so because people pretended to respect him, yet in truth they treated him with prejudicial condescension. Another lady, raised in Grenada Mississippi, told me that when she was growing up, no one ever bothered her. She never had to contend with the Ku Klux Klan or any other institutional racism.
Black economist and columnist Thomas Sowell has overseen and published numerous studies which demonstrated that persecuted minorities actually thrive notwithstanding the institutional persecution of the state. On the other hand, affirmative action and welfare subsidies actually hurt the very people whom they are intended to help.
Coulter's comments are one more example of the insulting pandering that has been foisted on a group of people. She is still miming the same "guilty conscience" of the "white people" in the Republican Party, even the GOP now more than ever boasts of more diverse candidates, causes, and public officials than even the Democratic Party!
One person born into this country does not have to be defined by the experience of previous generations, and neither should other people of any color feel obliged to feel guilty. There is no freedom there.
I am tired of politicians and pundits who talk down to black people, as if they are weak and cannot make it in this world with the faith and facts and force which God has equipped them and every other human being in the world.
I am tired of people who look at someone of color and start feeling sorry for them. They deserve more respect than pity, as does every human being in the world.
I thought that this country had finally reached the level of "post-racial" society. The same politicians who have taken advantage of "race-baiting" are just so unwilling to let go and honor every voter in this country, regardless of his color or ethnic background.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
President Obama's "Do Nothing" Foreign Policy
President Barack Obama’s "do nothing" foreign policy has been a bust of from the very beginning. From his apologetic stance toward hostile Arab states to his concerted non-support of Israel, his inattention to portentous developments in Latin America to his craven policies with our European counterparts, President Obama has failed as Commander in Chief.
Obama went throughout the Muslim Middle East at the outset of his presidency, apologizing for this country’s previous lack of rapprochement with the region. In his quest to sway public opinion on global warming and the site for the 2016 Olympics, the international community resoundingly adored him then ignored him. His receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize, while arming and supporting the United States’ abortive stance in Afghanistan, rendered irrelevant the myopic political worldview of the Nobel Committee and the President’s commitment to peace.
When the President removed our defenses from the former Eastern Bloc, including Poland and the Czech Republic, he advanced an ongoing policy of accommodation with antagonistic nations, appeasing the preferences of autocratic Russia while ignoring that country’s growing alliance with the fanatical Iranian regime.
Also in 2009, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (the same head of state who declared that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth) won reelection on disputed voter tallies. Ahmadinejad claimed to reclaim the presidency by 60%, widely disputed by demonstrations and rebellions throughout the country. President Obama stood back and said nothing. His shameful non-intervention discouraged freedom fighters around the world, especially democratic activists in the Middle East.
How many domestic terrorist attacks has this country endured under Obama’s watch? Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Somalia, the Christmas Day bomber, attempted to bring down a commercial airliner over Detroit. In the Fort Hood Massacre, deranged psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on our men and women serving in this country. The safeguards protecting our forces did not properly screen and sideline this domestic terrorist. This lack of oversight is inexcusable, yet President Obama hid behind a culture of political correctness instead of heavy-handed support for our soldiers and retaliation against this nation’s internal enemies.
On another positive note, the assassinations of Osama Bin Laden and Yemeni-American terrorist-acolyte Anwar al-Awlaki have provided this country and our allies much needed respite, stemming the tide and diminishing the influence of the terrorist group which twice attacked the United States World Trade Center in a decade. However, this administration’s frayed relationship with Pakistan, complete with billions of dollars of wasted foreign aid, still defies reason.
Furthermore, the President did end major operations in Iraq as promised, but in Afghanistan the federal government is still spending two billion dollars a week on the failed mission of establishing peace and building a peaceful nation. The tribal warlords still trade opium, and the essentially corrupted Karzai regime in Kabul has emboldened our enemies and frustrated our efforts. How many empires have faltered in their vain attempts to conquer and create a sphere of influence in the region? Alexander the Great, the Romans, the Mongols, the British, the Soviets, and now the United States have all failed. Yet President Obama refuses to withdraw American troops from Afghanistan.
The Arab Spring began with the self-immolation of wronged Tunisian fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi on December 17, 2010. The CIA was caught off-guard by this sudden revolution, which spread throughout the Arab World, crippling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's grip on power, and thus crippling one semi-reliable ally in the region. Soon, dictators throughout the region were falling and fleeing, from Zine Ben Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, to Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, to the ouster and mass assassination of Libyan strongman Moammar Ghadhafi. Rather than leaving bad enough alone, President Obama instigated a no-fly zone over Libya, with no knowledge of the rebel combatants’ stance on anything beyond their growing unrest to wrest power from Ghadhafi. The United States’ brief military venture yielded mixed results in light of growing internal antagonisms, which in the past two weeks have boiled over into violent protests and unwarranted attacks on United States Embassies in Egypt and Libya. The President has done nothing to regroup or equip our foreign diplomats, now more than ever in harm’s way as radical Islamists press their power against this country’s presence in the Middle East.
South America is turning into another hostile sphere of influence, with China reaching out Brazil and Iran forming alliances with Venezuela. These diplomatic links spell nothing but trouble for the United States. How many Israeli consulates have been shut down throughout the region? How many Jewish communities are enduring persecution because of the rising Anti-Semitism permeating the continent? President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, a Communist in populist clothing, has expelled the entire Israeli diplomatic delegation from his nation. President Obama has done nothing.
President Obama has also said nothing and continues to do nothing while massive gangs entrenched in Central America and throughout Mexico terrorize Latin America with drug wars which have neutralized the police forces while exposing the rampant corruption of the political classes. The resulting waves of political destabilization and forced immigration have harmed the security on our borders. Within the US Capitol, secret forces exposed a plot between Iran and rogue Mexican cartels to assassinate Saudi officials in Washington D.C. These breaches of national security, coupled with the frequent leaks excoriated by California Senator Dianne Feinstein, all suggest that President Obama’s administration is not qualified to secure the national interests of this country.
The greatest foreign policy failure of this presidency, however, lies in the break-down between Israel and the United States, culminating in the Democratic Party’s attempt to remove God and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from their party platform. The president lectured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the proper borders of his own country, citing “land swaps” as a means for achieving peace. Contrary to the hues of disapproval from the press, Prime Minister Netanyahu properly lectured the president that he could not permit Israel to recede back to the pre-1967 borders. DespiteNetanyahu’s demands for a “red line” on Iran -- indicating that if the fanatical regime in Tehran persists in accessing nuclear capabilities, Israel will strike -- President Obama has refused to signal any support, still harping on and hoping in the failed pragmatism of talks and negotiations.
Israel remains further isolated in the Middle East, with compromising dictators replaced by radical Muslim regimes with no character of compromise nor charter of respect for the Jewish State. This nation’s armed are forces are pressed and weakened throughout the world, yet President Obama has done nothing to allay the justified concerns of our allies, putting his campaign ahead of the comity much lacking in the international community. The list of foreign policy failures all excite to one point: Obama has failed as chief executive of the United States and has not further right to remain Commander in Chief of the United States of America.
Thank You, Peggy!
| Noonan: "Time for an Intervention" |
Party leaders are streaming in, with reports suggesting that they have been thanking Noonan for cutting through the crap and demanding that the Romney machine get busy.
There is no reason why this embattled, embittered incumbent President Barack Obama should be hovering three to five points ahead of Romney in swing states like Florida or even Ohio, where Obamanomics have devastated housing, tourism, and the manufacturing industries of the Steel now turned Rust Belt.
Has anyone forgotten about ObamaCare? This outrageous mandate will foist highers taxes on six million people in this country, and they cannot find work, let along pay a higher tax for health insurance. The IRS has interpreted the legislation to push out working families, yet the same families will still be on the hook for the mandate/tax poised to bring them down.
President Obama has overseen one of the most abortive foreign policies in recent memory. Muslim attackers have wounded and killer our armed forces in this country (Fort Hood comes to mind)
Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan has pushed forward adequate budget proposals
Governor Romney, the presidential candidate, is too scripted, too dependent on the saged saws of experts.
He is gathering money, but he is not gathering support.
He is making a case, but he is not winning it.
He has run for seven years for the Presidency, apparently, yet timid to the end, he refuses to run on his record or attack the record of his opponent with any panache.
He was partly right to indicate that half the people in this country are receiving assistance from the government.
Our veterans receive benefits because they benefited this country with their service, their lives.
If people have paid into an entitlement program, then you are entitled to receive your investment back from the government. If someone is taking two to three times as much as they put into the system, then the federal government must implement reforms to put an end to this nonsense.
He is wrong to assume that it's their fault, or a pulse of venality which motives them to "take" without doing anything. This gaffe will blow over, but if Romney does not get in the game, then he might as well blow off this entire race.
Thank you, Peggy Noonan for telling it like it is!
Saturday, September 22, 2012
God as Father in the Old Testament, Through His Son in the New
I was intrigued when one preacher announced that for the Jews of Ancient Times, they did not know the LORD as Father.
In numerous references in the Prophets, though, God addresses Himself and is addressed as "Father".
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9: 6)
Here, the Fatherhood of God is manifest along with the Prince of Peace, Jesus, who is our peace (Ephesians 2: 14), because by His death, He took away our sin and brought us into reconciliation with God the Father (2 Corinthians 5: 20-21)
"Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting. " (Isaiah 63: 16)
and
"But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
"Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people." (Isaiah 64: 8-9)
Here again, God as Father occurs in connection with not remembering our iniquity. All of this foretells the adoptive work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8: 15-16)
Jeremiah also painted a kind and blessed future of Israel walking with the help of God as doting Father:
"They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. " (Jeremiah 31: 9)
The reference to the "rivers waters" speaks of the Holy Spirit, who leads us in the way we are to go:
"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
"(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) " (John 7: 38-39)
and
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5: 16-18)
Malachi, the final prophet of the Old Testament, shares the following recriminations of God the Father toward His people:
"A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? " (Malachi 1: 6)
The fear of the Lord is based on forgiveness (Psalm 130: 4), an everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9: 24) which had not yet occurred when Malachi prophesied, although Isaiah foresaw the sufferings of the Messiah on our behalf (see Isaiah 53)
"Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" (Malachi 2: 10)
Man in his own effort cannot but transgress the covenant. That is why God promised to establish a new covenant:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
God the Father is revealed to us through His Son:
"Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me." (Jon 12: 44)
See the Son, and you will see the Father.
In numerous references in the Prophets, though, God addresses Himself and is addressed as "Father".
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9: 6)
Here, the Fatherhood of God is manifest along with the Prince of Peace, Jesus, who is our peace (Ephesians 2: 14), because by His death, He took away our sin and brought us into reconciliation with God the Father (2 Corinthians 5: 20-21)
"Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting. " (Isaiah 63: 16)
and
"But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
"Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people." (Isaiah 64: 8-9)
Here again, God as Father occurs in connection with not remembering our iniquity. All of this foretells the adoptive work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer:
"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Romans 8: 15-16)
Jeremiah also painted a kind and blessed future of Israel walking with the help of God as doting Father:
"They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. " (Jeremiah 31: 9)
The reference to the "rivers waters" speaks of the Holy Spirit, who leads us in the way we are to go:
"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
"(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) " (John 7: 38-39)
and
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
"But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law." (Galatians 5: 16-18)
Malachi, the final prophet of the Old Testament, shares the following recriminations of God the Father toward His people:
"A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? " (Malachi 1: 6)
The fear of the Lord is based on forgiveness (Psalm 130: 4), an everlasting righteousness (Daniel 9: 24) which had not yet occurred when Malachi prophesied, although Isaiah foresaw the sufferings of the Messiah on our behalf (see Isaiah 53)
"Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?" (Malachi 2: 10)
Man in his own effort cannot but transgress the covenant. That is why God promised to establish a new covenant:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
"And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
"For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
God the Father is revealed to us through His Son:
"Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me." (Jon 12: 44)
See the Son, and you will see the Father.