Yet Another Reason To Like Oklahoma

The sale of the business unit I worked for by the company which employed me resulted in our family moving from Wichita, Kansas to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2003. The driving distance between these two cities is approximately 180 miles. Prior to the move, I could not imagine a distance that small resulting in much of a culture shock. I was wrong.

I won’t elaborate on the differences which make me wish I was elsewhere. You can thank my wife for saving you from a diatribe. She became annoyed with me when it became apparent that my negativity toward our new home was transferring to our daughter. I was instructed to get my mind right so that my daughter would follow suit, resulting in the entire family being happier. If Momma's not happy, well, you get the idea.

So, I began my quest to become a more positive Sooner. I tried my best to find things which I liked about our new environs. Our house is a fantastic place to host friends and family. The summers are about the same as those in Wichita only slightly longer. This means the winters are slightly shorter. The scenery is greener and hillier. See, the Pink Floyd twelve step program is working. There’s a voice inside my head but it’s not me.

A more tangible bright spot is our tax free holidays. The State Government has the good sense to provide certain weekends where the sales tax on goods purchased is waived. The one that sticks out in my mind is the back to school tax free weekend. School supplies and clothing can be purchased sans sales tax. A boon to families with school aged children and the economy alike.

Last night, through a true stroke of luck, I found yet another tax free weekend reason to like Oklahoma. It started snowing, so we watched the 10 o’clock news to see what the weather would bring us. There it was, a gem, nestled between the cam shots of the snowy intersections and the seven day forecast.

It seems that the State Senate will be considering having a Second Amendment Weekend. That’s right folks, a weekend in August, immediately before hunting season, when rifles, shotguns, and pistols can be purchased without paying state sales tax. As good as this is, it wasn't what really made me glad to live here.

We have a DVR and I actually backed up a news story to watch it again. I couldn't believe what I saw the first time. The State Senator who is proposing this legislation is, are you ready for this, a Democrat. A Democrat proposing a tax cut while simultaneously encouraging gun sales. I nearly fell off the couch.

For as long as Channel 6 has it up, you can find the story here: http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=11744874

I guess Oklahoma Democrats are more Republican that some of the RINO's we have in Washington. It’s good to be a Sooner.

Perfure Bebê, Perfure

President Obama, through the Import Export Bank, is loaning $2 billion for offshore drilling. This is the latest installment of his flip-flopping on the subject of offshore drilling. When he was a Senator, he was against it. Then during the campaign, when gas hit $4 per gallon, he thought maybe it would be acceptable under certain conditions. Then, less than a month after he took office, he blocked plans for offshore drilling put in place at the close of the Bush administration.

Now he has decided it is acceptable again. And he is putting $2 billion dollars out as a loan to get it done.

Before I continue, please stop for a minute and let that sink in. While you are in this sinking mode, remember, we are broke. We are borrowing money from China. We didn’t have the money we sank into “Cash for Clunkers.” We won’t have the money for ObamaCare. As an aside, Newbusters came up with a great new name for ObamaCare; “Caskets for Clunkers.” A little morbid, but funny nonetheless.

We won’t have the $2 billion if the borrowers on this drilling expedition default on the loan. We will have to borrow it from someone or just print more money.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a “drill baby, drill” kind of guy. I believe we have been given the resources of this planet to use, enjoy, and share. I believe we have an obligation to obtain them and use them with care and respect. But, I do have a problem with where this drilling is going to be done.

Where would you expect $2 billion of your dollars to go in order to drill for oil? Alaska? No. Off the shores of Florida? No. South Carolina, North Carolina? No and no. Texas? No. Utah, Wyoming, Colorado? No, no, no!

Did you wonder about the title of this piece? “Perfure Bebê, Perfure” is “drill baby, drill” in Portuguese. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. Brazil is where the offshore drilling is going to be done that we are financing. That’s right. The people who had the environmental ineptness to bring us slash and burn agriculture are getting a $2 billion US loan to perform offshore drilling for oil.

As the hucksters on late night TV say, “Wait, there’s more.” Take a guess who stands to reap huge financial rewards as a result of the Brazilian oil drilling. If you guessed George Soros, it’s obvious you know your quid pro quo. George has almost a billion dollars invested in preferred stock of the Brazilian oil company, Petrobras.

George Soros, with his huge donations to the Democrats in general, and Barack Obama in particular, has done something I thought the Civil War ended. He bought an African American. But wait, there’s more! He also managed to get you and me to finance his oil deal.

I'm a What?

Let me start by telling you what I believe. I believe the Bible is the God breathed truth. As such, I believe each and every one of us are descended from the first couple, Adam and Eve. Furthermore, I believe that the population of the earth was reduced to eight people at one point; Noah, his wife, and his children and their wives. We are all descended from Noah.

Science bears witness to this, although most scientists use the findings to prove other things. Science has genetically identified “Eve.” They even called her that. When you consider the possibility for error, they came so close to matching the location indicated in the Bible where Eve came into being, it is truly amazing how well science and the Bible can support one another, if you believe in God.

There is also DNA evidence that a catastrophic event took place which reduced the population to a handful of people. Science tells us it was several hundred to several thousand people. The Bible says eight. Still, both tell us that something happened which greatly reduced the number of people we descended from.

Science tells us we are all cousins, 64th removed at most. Six degrees of separation tells us we are at most six acquaintances away from knowing everyone on the planet. The Bible tells us Jesus died a cruel, painful death and was separated from the Father in order that everyone’s sins would be placed on Him.

I try to live my life with these things in mind. Sometimes it is more difficult than others. However, I don’t think that understanding that everyone is a relative and, more importantly, is loved by God should prevent us from also saying there is a right and there is a wrong. As an example, if you are out riding around in a car and you shoot and kill a rival, I don’t care if your skin color is purple, that is wrong. You should be punished to the extent specified by law.

If there was one ray of hope I had after the last election, it was that the country could finally say that the color of one’s skin was no longer important. We would truly start judging people by the content of their character.

But now, barely six months into the present administration, the race card is being played everywhere. If I make a political poster depicting the president as the Joker, I am a racist. If I go to a town hall meeting and express my belief that taxes are too high, I am a racist. If I disagree with health care reform, I am a racist.

I can’t help but feel pained for those who have had a cross burned in their front yard or had a family member brutally lynched. It is appalling how we have trivialized the word “racist.”

Where is Robert Thorn When You Need Him?

Spoiler Alert – If you have not seen Soylent Green and don’t wish to know the ending, please watch the film before you read this blog.

My wife and I had the good fortune to hear Charlton Heston speak in person at an NRA political rally held in Wichita in the fall of 2002. This was after he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. It was a bittersweet experience. The image which will always come to my mind when I hear the name Moses was gone. It was now replaced with a frail frame of a man. Wayne LaPierre had to stand close behind him as he spoke. We assumed he stood close in order to stabilize Mr. Heston should he fall, one of the dangers of Alzheimer’s.

What struck me as he spoke was the fact that the willpower which was behind the voice that said, “Let my people go” was still there. You could see the man strain to keep his words on track, his thoughts in focus. It was obvious he would fight the disease until it inevitably won.

Unfortunately, this week, when I think of Charlton Heston, images of Moses or the speech in 2002 are not what first spring to mind. This week I see the image of Robert Thorn, his police officer character in Soylent Green. I see him being carried off screen yelling, “Soylent Green is people.”

Until now, I always considered Soylent Green a fantasy film with an underlying message of conservation. I never really thought we would reach that degree of Godless, self centered disregard for our fellow human beings. Surely not by the year 2022, the time period in which the movie is set.

My perception changed when I learned what was on page 425 of HR 3200, the Health Care Bill.

Now, I must confess, I obtained this information from what I consider reliable sources. I tried to find the bill on line and read it for myself. The odd thing is, the only “official” version I could find was a Kerouacesque version which did not have pages, but was rather one long document in which it was impossible to find page 425. Strange. Maybe I didn’t look in the right place, but I would think that something this important would be easily found for all of us to become informed.

Back to page 425. It seems that the Federal Government will require everyone on Social Security to be rounded up every five years, herded into a room, and instructed on how to end their suffering. Advising Grandma and Grandpa about the ways to commit suicide is our government’s plan for reducing health care costs.

Which brings me back to Soylent Green. To me, it is a toss up as to which scene is more poignant. The final scene where Thorn is telling everyone in earshot that Soylent Green is people stands out. The other one is where Sol Roth, the character played by Edward G. Robinson, commits suicide. His suicide is government assisted. He is put in a room where classical music is playing and he is shown images of wildlife, unavailable in the filthy, overpopulated world he lived in. Thorn forces the staff to open the blinds so he can see his friend Sol “going home.” Sol asks Thorn to seek the truth regarding Soylent Green. Thorn does so, which brings us to the conclusion of the movie.

During the suicide scene, Thorn cries for his friend. The story goes that Charlton Heston was the only one who knew that Edward G. Robinson was dying in real life and that this would be his last film. The tears of grief for his co-worker were as real as Thorn’s would have been for his friend Sol.

As I think about the approaching year 2022 and HR 3200, page 425, I can’t help but think we all should be crying over the United States of America. After we get the cry out of our system, we need to act like Robert Thorn and tell everyone in earshot tht HR 3200 is wrong and why.

Rick Warren, Islam, and the Poor

I have a confession to make. I don’t read my Bible as much as I should. What bothers me though, is how some who profess to read it a whole lot more than me seem to miss plain and simple truths the Bible has to offer.

A case in point is the fall of man. In Genesis 3:3, the woman tells the serpent that she and the man may not eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. She also says they may not touch it. A quick look back at Genesis 2:17 provides God’s actual command. According to the quote, God said nothing about touching; only eating.

Now Eve Apologists will say that the woman had extra knowledge not recorded in the text due to her and the man conversing with God directly in the garden. After all, we can not have the woman breaking the ninth commandment.

There are a couple of problems with this idea. First, attempting to make the woman seem to be in compliance with the law seems to be a waste of time. Since the law was not given until generations after the woman’s death, the sin of the ninth commandment did not apply to her. Read Romans 14:15. Additionally, their eyes were not opened when they touched the fruit. Their eyes were opened after they ate it. See Genesis 3:6,7. Finally, God didn’t ask them if they touched the fruit in Genesis 3:11; He asked if they had eaten it.

A more simple explanation is that the woman did what many of us tend to do. When we are confronted with temptation, we feel compelled to overstate the rules in an attempt to fortify our resolve not to yield to the temptation. The Satan then uses our internal fib against us to break down our resistance.

Based on the text and my observations of human nature, I believe God told them not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, period. When the woman added to the command, she moved over to the Satan’s side. The Satan does the same thing. He takes the truth, adds his own twists, and then uses the product to deceive us. In his sales pitch to the woman in Genesis 3:5,6, he encases a truth inside of lies. He tells the woman that she and the man will be “like God.” Many people who read this believe that is the lie. However, if you look on to Genesis 3:22, God says “the man has become like one of Us,….” It was the other information, such as “you shall not surely die” which were the lies. The Satan's lies also ignore the fact that God had the power to negate the man becoming like Him where the man had no such power.

This past weekend, Rick Warren spoke at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America. Rick has been both praised and condemned for doing this. My personal feeling is that, while he probably should have accepted the invitation and spoke there, his speech content should have been different.

I believe that Christians should be willing to dialogue with those who are not Christians. We have many great examples of this; Nate Saint and the apostle Paul. Going to pre-Christianity we have the example of Elijah’s meeting with the prophets of Baal. The Christian’s ultimate example, Jesus, talked to both those who did not know him and even those who opposed him.

That being said, Rick Warren did two things which I find troubling.

First, he put forth the notion that the two largest religions on the planet should work together. I think the Bible is clear in that we should treat non-Christians with respect. We should carry on dialogues with them. God is not their enemy and a Christian’s life in God should reflect this. However, it is equally clear in Romans 6:14 that, when it comes to doing God’s work, we should do that work with fellow believers and fellow believers only.

I want to be clear here so that I am not misunderstood. If I am doing a work for God and a Muslim, Jew, Atheist, or whoever joins in, I will gladly work along side that person. However, to establish an organized, joint effort goes directly against Christian teaching. I can not read the passage in Romans and come away with any other command.

Before I move to the second thing I find troubling, I feel that I should warn you that what I am about to say could be construed as harsh and insensitive. You will have to take me at my word that I loathe seeing anyone in poverty. I do what I can to change it. However, I have come to a different understanding of poverty and those who have the misfortune of experiencing it.

In encouraging the aforementioned joint effort, Mr. Warren has set a goal to wipe out, among other things, poverty.

In Matthew 26:11, Jesus says, “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.” We tend to concentrate on the last phrase of this verse. Granted, Christians need to prioritize, and our top priority should be Jesus. What we miss in this passage is a different concept. If we actually had the power to eliminate the poor and did so, we would make Jesus a liar.

The idea of us having the power to make Jesus a liar is just as preposterous as our having the ability to eliminate poverty. History bears witness to our inability to wipe out poverty. The early Christians gave all they had to the poor. So much so that the emperor, Julian, in an attempt to crush Christianity, started a state run welfare system. The idea was that the power of Rome would overshadow the Christian effort and make it irrelevant. The Roman Empire is long gone and Christianity remains. In present day America, we have been fighting a war for the last 45 years, spending billions of dollars. At last report, we are still losing the war on poverty.

This doesn’t mean that the Christian should throw in the towel and not help the poor. On the contrary, Christians should do all the more. But to think that we can eliminate poverty borders on blasphemy. We are not powerful enough to overcome the words of our Savior.

I have pondered what God’s purpose in this is. I can’t say that I have the answer, but I would like to put forth an idea for you to consider. Maybe by having us continually give to the poor without ever eliminating poverty, we are supposed to obtain some insight into what God feels as He continually gives us grace to cover our sins. I find this thought humbling and encouraging.

Unfortunately, Rick Warren has a much larger audience. I fear that not only is he being deceived, but he is contributing to the deception of others. It is my hope and prayer that he re-evaluates his position.

Mark Sanford, et al

An axiom heard in churches throughout the world was driven home with great force this week. “Don’t put your faith in any man because he will eventually fall short and disappoint you.” It was with great disappointment that I read the news regarding Mark Sanford this week. When I think of the damage this man has done to the country, to the cause of conservatism, to his family, to his wife, to his marriage, and to himself, I find it overwhelming.

As I read comments posted on the internet in response to the news, my dismay grew. The influence of the liberal news media frightened me. I could even see its mind controlling affects on conservatives who profess to be Christians. I posted a comment on one of them. This morning I woke up with the thought that what I had done was not enough. And so, I must write.

This morning when I woke and started thinking about the nature of man, I thought about the movie, The Dark Crystal. The movie is a dark fantasy directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz and starred puppets. Good is represented by a race of puppets known as the urRu while evil is represented by a race of puppets known as the Skeksis. We learn that the urRu and the Skeksis came into being when a ascendant race known as the urSkeks cracked a large crystal, causing the urSkeks to divide into the urRu and the Skeksis. When the star puppet, Jen, a Gelfling, replaces the missing shard of the crystal, the urRu and Skeksis are reunited.

It occurred to me that this closely follows my understanding of men and women. Not that one is good and the other is bad, but rather we started as one and were split into two distinct groups. My education regarding Genesis 2:18-25 started many years ago when I was first taught that Eve was created from a rib of Adam. Not from a foot bone so that man could rule over her, or from a head bone so that she could rule over him. Being taken from his side showed that they were to work together. Later, I learned that the Hebrew word, tsalah, which is translated as “rib” could and probably should be translated as “side.” I was still wrapping my head around Adam running around missing one half of his rib cage when another teacher led me to the thought of a side of beef, which is actually half of the cow. Looking back to Genesis 1:27, I have come to the belief that Adam was created as a being containing the best of both male and female. God literally split Adam into two people, Adam and Eve. Man and Woman.

I find it amazing how closely Henson and Oz follow this concept. The ending is wrong, as I believe we are ultimately completed by Christ, not rejoining with a member of the opposite sex. However, being of the married persuasion, I do feel a sense of completeness. I believe this is why Jesus used the symbolism of marriage and brides to illustrate the relationship He wants to have with the Church.

Men are interesting. Based on my own personal experiences and observation of the men I know, I have come to the conclusion that puberty has no affect on a certain portion of our brains. While we see the vast majority of our being pass from being a child to being an adult, there is one small corner which doesn’t transition. To varying degrees, men control this child. But if it were not there, how would you explain boats, hang gliders, wide screen televisions, sports heroes, that 1941 Chevy out in my garage? I believe they are all controlled outlets of that portion of us which did not grow up.

A problem arises when a man does not exercise enough or proper control of this child portion of his being. Children are great. Uncontrolled children can be a horror. It could very well be that failure to control that inner child created selfish, self-centered, spoiled brats in the form of Hitler, Hussein, Clinton, Sanford, et al.

Of course, Clinton and Sanford are forever tied via the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Sanford voted for three of the four articles of impeachment regarding Clinton. Sanford cited “moral legitimacy” as a factor in the impeachment. And now he finds himself being morally illegitimate.

This is where the news media did such an efficient job of shaping what Americans and the world think. If you ask people why Bill Clinton was impeached, chances are excellent the answer will be that he had an affair. While I find it unacceptable behavior, an affair is not an impeachable event.

What is an impeachable event, and what was one of the reasons for Bill Clinton being impeached, is lying under oath. One of the cornerstones of our judicial systems is the concept that witnesses will tell the truth during legal proceedings. As President, Bill Clinton was the chief law enforcement officer in the land. When he lied under oath, he undermined this cornerstone. In my mind, he is an uncontrolled, spoiled brat who eroded a large portion of the foundation put forth by the founders of this country.

If all Mark Sanford did was have an affair, there is no legal reason for him to leave office. I believe he should leave office. For the good of his marriage, his state, and the Republican Party, he should resign and leave public life, permanently.

On the other hand, if he broke the law and/or used the power of his office to facilitate the affair, the legislative branch of South Carolina’s government should work to remove him from office, if he does not leave voluntarily.

However, until the facts come out, we should not try this man in the public forum. Unfortunately, our news media is already shaping the minds of the American public. Please, please seine the truth out of the muck presented by the press.

In the meantime, have we handed over our children’s and grandchildren’s checkbooks to yet another man who seems to have no self control over that part of him which has not grown up? As we look at Mark Sanford and reflect on Bill Clinton, we should use these experiences to size up those we choose to lead us into the future.

American Intersection

This morning started rather strange. I awoke with a swirl of thoughts in my head and a strong impetus to write them down and share them. As this seldom happens to me, I decided to act on these thoughts and commit them to paper.

America is near an intersection. With 300 million people, it is sometimes hard to pinpoint America’s exact location. Additionally, its speed and direction as well as its rate of acceleration are just as important as its location in relation to that intersection. We, as a nation could be stopped and looking longingly down the wrong path. We could be on the wrong path, increasing in velocity as we accelerate in the wrong direction. Or we could be stopped on the wrong path as we consider changing directions in order to head back to the intersection. Regardless, it is my belief we are somehow involved with the wrong path at present.

Before I continue with my thoughts on America, I think it prudent to let the reader know my foundational beliefs which have prompted me to write. I trust that the reader will be tolerant, continuing to read after learning a little bit about the author.

I believe there is one Supreme Being who created everything and is involved in and acting upon the affairs of creation today. This Supreme Being has a personality and, since this Supreme Being created us, we can recognize personality traits which strike us as human. Sometimes we are right in this assessment and sometimes we are wrong. The Supreme Being has a name, YHWH. As near as I can determine that would be pronounced Yahweh.

Yahweh is the Supreme Being of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The ancient Hebrew scribes had such a reverence for Yahweh’s Holy Name that they would write it with a slight modification, so that if they made an error in their transcription, they would not offend Yahweh. This modification added a syllable which, after years of transcription and translation changed our pronunciation of the name to Jehovah.

I also have a great reverence of Yahweh and the Holy Name. However, I am living in Yahweh’s grace. It is my firm belief that if I unintentionally use the Holy Name in an offensive way, I will be forgiven. That being said, from this point on, I will use the name more familiar to most, God. Capitalized, I mean YHWH. Lower case god is for all the people and things we as humans attempt to make supreme beings in our lives.

Up to this point, I have avoided using a pronoun for God. It is my belief that God contains all the best of what we consider masculine and feminine traits. I base this belief on Genesis 1:27. Unfortunately, at least in American English, we are limited to “he”, “she”, and “it.” “It” would be most inappropriate. Given the remaining choice, I will reluctantly go with “He.” Please do not condemn me as whatever the 21st century term is for a male chauvinist pig.

I believe God is present in three distinct forms; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is a difficult idea to wrap one’s brain around. I have my own mental exercises which I use to comfort myself and to attempt explanations to friends. In the end, all things in life require a certain amount of faith, and this is one of them.

I believe that God is pure and holy, and, as such, can not be in the presence of the impure and unholy. I try to be “good” but, try as I might, I fall short on a regular basis. The politically incorrect name for it is sin. This sin separates us from God. For Israel, God set up an elaborate system of payments to cover the costs of sin. The payment system was set up to show how expensive and continuous sin is.

Then, God established a better system. God the Son came to live with us as Y’SHUA. Again with the transcriptions and translations we have changed our pronunciation of the name to Jesus. Jesus entered the womb of a virgin and was born as a baby. He was 100% God and 100% man; yet another concept which requires faith in order to accept. He taught those around him about the true nature of God. He performed miracles. Most importantly, he was executed. That execution once and for all paid for all of the sins of all of the people in God’s creation. In order to “seal the deal,” after three days of His human body being dead, He returned to life in that same but changed human body. He spent 40 days with his followers and then ascended into heaven. Those who believe in Him and follow Him are no longer separated from God. God the Holy Spirit lives in those believers.

My final belief relative to my thoughts on America involves Israel. Undoubtedly, Israel has made mistakes for which they have been punished. And, even though they do not believe Y’SHUA is the Messiah, I do not believe God has removed His blessing from Israel. Because of this, I believe that nations which bless Israel will be blessed and nations which curse Israel will be cursed.

Those of you who are still with me are probably wondering what on earth any of this has to do with America at an intersection. It is my hope that you are in agreement with me on my beliefs. Regardless, my thoughts on America are based on these beliefs and what follows would make little sense unless you at least knew my belief system.

When the founding fathers of America penned the Declaration of Independence, they set in motion a series of ideas which make it extremely difficult to find a sufficiently superlative adjective to describe the concept.

First, these men recognized that any government which has the power to give things to its subjects is powerful enough to take everything away from these same subjects. Additionally, it is not good for power to rest in a person or persons, persons who are human beings and, as such, can be corrupt or corrupted. Based on that recognition, they established that the rights enjoyed by the soon-to-be Americans were granted not by a government or a human person, but by their Creator. Please note it was their capital “C.” And, in reading their letters and other writings, it is clear that the Creator they were referring to was God. They also stipulated that mere humans could not remove these rights without due process. This recognition that God was the grantor of these inalienable rights to America was the first and probably most important ingredient which went into God blessing America.

The founding fathers recognized that some of the rights were destinations in and of themselves. The right to life. The right to liberty. Other rights were not the destination but the journey. The right to pursue happiness. I find it very comforting that the founding fathers did not say the right of happiness. I remember trying to drive this point home to my daughter as we watched a commercial on television. The adman said that the company would “guarantee my happiness.” I joked around with my daughter telling her I was going to drive over to the company and demand my happiness. How often we are upset that we do not have happiness and miss the opportunity to have joy which can be obtained in the pursuit of happiness.

The founding fathers came from a culture where the king was the law of the land. When kings left office through death or overthrow, the new king became the new law. Every time there was a new king, or even every time the king changed his mind, you had a whole new system of laws. This is often referred to as Rex Lex, the king is the law. The founding fathers established that the laws of the land would be more or less permanent. The laws could be changed, but only after careful thought and only by agreement of a large body of representatives of all the people. No one person or small group of people would be able to change the entire system of laws depending on their attitude at any given time. This is referred to as Lex Rex, the law is the king. Assuming that the representatives were God fearing individuals and the laws were within the bounds of God’s laws, I believe God blessed America for that.

Finally, while we have never been perfect at it, America has been a supporter of Israel. I truly believe that Harry Truman’s recognition of Israel in May of 1948 is one of the reasons America prospered so in the last half of the 20th century. God’s love for Israel can be seen in how Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, Luke 19:41-43. Only a great love can cause such pain when the object of one’s love turns away.

So now, I ask you to look at that intersection. Are we turning our national back on Israel? With 41% of the citizenry enjoying the rights and privileges of being an American without paying for it, are we attempting to replace the pursuit of happiness with government supplied happiness? Are we attempting the same thing with a push to allow non-citizens to enjoy all the rights and privileges without any of the costs? Are we allowing an ever diminishing number of people to change the laws of the land, moving from Lex Rex to Rex Lex in the process? Are we turning our back on God? Are we attempting to replace Him with other gods?

I have had the opportunity to travel abroad. What I have seen troubles me. I see a large planet jealous of America. Some want to bring us down to their level by destroying us. Others want to rise to our level by emulating what made us so great. Of the two, the latter group has captured my attention. I can envision a nation much larger than America adopting the things that made America great. I can see God blessing them for doing that. I can see a large portion of the 59% of Americans who are presently carrying the financial burden of this country moving to that new super power. If this were to come to pass, the 50 United States of America would be reduced to a third world country in a very short span of time.

And please don’t interpret this to mean that I think America should prosper and other nations shouldn’t. I believe that we should encourage all nations to follow the path which made America great. I believe that God has more than enough blessings for every person on earth. It would be silly and wrong for any nation to try and hoard the blessings. My fear is that America will lose its blessing from God.

I love this country. It has provided me with life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe we are on the wrong path. It is my prayer that we are stopped and considering going back to the intersection. It is my hope that you will join me in this prayer. And more than that, we all need to work hard at making sure America gets on the right path.