SavedByGrace1981

Nixon was famous for giving the recipe (cynically) for GOP success: "In the primaries, run to the right. Then, in the general, move to the center" (After all, where is your "base" going to go?)

The Democrats - too - follow Nixon's advice (just in reverse). The run to the Left in primaries, then try to appear centrist in governing. Clinton, for an example, for all his hedonism, bluster, and a very liberal spouse, actually governed pretty much to the center (especially after reps gained the House in '94).

I think Obama is a disaster as POTUS, but I also think the leftist dems are being pre-mature and impatient in criticizing him. Oh, we'll eventually have ALL the things they are whining for - homosexual "marriage", single payer - the whole deal. The ship of state, after all, ALWAYS moves to the libertine end.

They just need to be patient.

Blessings!

-Ed

It might seem strange to praise God for a wheel falling off, so I'll explain. I drive the older of our two cars to work (since I work the farthest from home - 25 miles - we're trying to keep from racking up too many miles on the newer vehicle).

We live, and I work, in a very rural area - so my ride to work is over hill and dale, over some very questionable roads. There are some stretches of road where I probably drive a little too fast - but that's a topic for another time.

Anyway, my wife and I decided to take our two grand-daughters swimming on Saturday afternoon. Normally we would have taken the newer vehicle, but since it needed gas we decided to take mine. Well, just as I was pulling into the parking area at the pool, my car quit its forward momentum and made a loud clicking sound. Since the front-end had been making some noise, I assumed the CV shaft had broken.

Since we had arrived at our destination, I figured we might as well swim. In the meantime, I called AAA to get my car towed to the shop. When AAA arrived, we started to push the car into position to where the tow hook could latch onto it. All of a sudden, the AAA guy, looking at the passenger side front tire, hollered at me to STOP! When I came around to see what he was looking at, I saw the front wheel at a 45 degree angle, with the weight of the car fender resting on the tire. The wheel had completely come off.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the AAA guy was able to finally hook the car up and get it to the shop. But as I reflected on this, I thought of what might have happened had the wheel come off at a less opportune time - say, at the bottom of a hill as I'm going 65-70 MPH. It certainly wouldn't have been pretty, and it's likely I wouldn't be here to tell about it.

So I just want to testify to God's protection. He looks out for us - even when we aren't looking out for ourselves!

Also - as a PS: The shop where I took the car just called and informed me that the part that failed was still under warranty (they had worked on the car previously) so there is no charge for repair. PTL!

Blessings!

-Ed

Australia doesn't have a sub prime market,, thanks to good fiscal regulations. Unemployment hovers about 4.5%. In the last 6 months our dollar has shot to $1.10 USD and our budget deficit will be closed before 2015...

Just curious . . .

Are you guys accepting any new immigrants?

Blessings!

-Ed

One of my friends made this note (posted on FB):

"Two ways US can default:

(1) Don't pay on time - the current hubbub;

(2) Pay it back with dollars worth much, much less than the ones initially borrowed. Both houses of Congress and the President have chosen the second path - their bills aren't so different after all. High inflation is coming. Are you ready?"

"If the government borrowed 1 dollar back in 1971 (when Nixon ® took us off USD-gold convertability)... today 40 years later they'd only owe 2.5¢. That's the idea behind default by inflation. It's politically painless for our leaders but kills the buying power of your bank account. You need hedges like gold, real estate, and commodities if you want to preserve your savings."

I can't help it, but Matthew 6:19-21 comes to mind:

19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Those who are in their 50s, 60s or older will remember the "bomb shelters" of the cold war era. They were quite the rage in the late 1950s and early 1960s - especially after the Cuban Missile Crisis.

We never had one. I think my dad must have figured that - even if one were to survive the nuclear holocaust by diving into a bomb shelter, what kind of world would there be when they came out? Would it be a world in which we would want to live?

It's kind of the same way I feel about the financial collapse that is to come. Yes, it probably makes good financial sense to own gold or property, but if it is really going to be a lawless as I think it will be - how would I hold onto it against someone bigger or stronger than I?

We may or may not be in the Biblical last days (I believe we are, but no matter). In either case, I don't think God is going to forsake His own.

Blessings!

-Ed

Of course, the debt ceiling has been raised 18 times under Reagan, and 7 times under Bush. Brinksmanship like this is far more dangerous than any terrorist threat that exists.

One of the things that has gone by the wayside in the last decade or so is trust. How many times does the first party need to lie to the second party before the second party says "ENOUGH"?

Since Reagan keeps being brought into the discussion, let's look at the whole story.

In 1982, against his better judgement, Reagan made an agreement with then Democrat speaker Tip O'Neill for $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increase.

Well, even Stevie Wonder could have seen what would come next: the tax increases came right away, but mysteriously - the spending cuts never did.

Source

Maybe Lucy's taken away the football from Charlie Brown one too many times?

Blessings!

-Ed

It's a dangerous game alright. That's why it's his fault for only starting to play at the very end. The President is supposed to lead on these kinds of issues and has been unresponsive since forever, even to this day.

Waiting until now seems either extremely naive/ignorant or it looks like it was planned this way to put political pressure on Republicans. Either way our economy is about to backfire after sputtering along for the entire Obama Presidency.

....or is that how it was supposed to look while the America comes crashing down a few notches? This could be a strategy to paint Republicans as the bad guys from the leftist media.

unfortunately it's never the politicians who pay the price

How Harry Reid cause the debt ceiling debacle

Blessings!

-Ed

Call me cynical, but I wonder what this dog and pony show is covering up. I get the feeling that we the people are not being told the truth - about what I don't know. It just seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors to me.

Unfortunately that is what happens when a government "for the people" instead becomes a government "for the politicians".

Blessings!

-Ed

Yes, we have those kinds of voters here in the states, too.

I've always looked at it this way, though. I figure one-half of the "idiot" voters will vote for the other candidate, and one-half of the idiot voters will vote for my candidate

So (I hope) the idiot vote is a wash and it cancels itself out.

Blessings!

-Ed

Problem is that most of the idiots vote for who will give them the most instead of those that will do what is best for the people.

Yeah, but at least those "idiots" know (or *think* they know) enough about the issues to cast their vote accordingly. I might disagree with them, but I can't fault them for not knowing the issues.

No, the idiots I'm thinking of are the ones who will vote for candidate A because "he has nice hair"; or candidate B because "she likes dogs."

Blessings!

-Ed

Yep, these are the same kind of 18-year-olds that just voted in our last election!

They 'exist' and they walk among us.

Yes, we have those kinds of voters here in the states, too.

I've always looked at it this way, though. I figure one-half of the "idiot" voters will vote for the other candidate, and one-half of the idiot voters will vote for my candidate

So (I hope) the idiot vote is a wash and it cancels itself out.

Blessings!

-Ed

This is going to be one of those topics that cause those who are - say - under 30, to say to us who are older: "there you go again, longing for the "good ol' days".

But that said, I've always maintained that it takes more talent to write "clean" comedy. The proof of the pudding is that some of the classic TV show comedies like Carol Burnett, I Love Lucy, and the old Andy Griffith Show are STILL funny today - 50 to 60 years later. Good clean humor holds up - it is timeless.

I may be wrong, but some of the "blue" material of the comedians of today (I just realized - I cannot name any off the top of my head) won't be so funny in 50 or 60 years. It will just seem dated.

But just as an aside to the poster who mentioned the Marx Brothers - They happen to be one of my favorites, too. Especially Groucho. (I borrowed one of his movie monikers for a screen name on another forum).

But the ironic thing is - the Marx Bros. (along with Mae West and WC Fields) were considered to be "pushing the envelope" in their day. They drove the censors crazy.

But even Mae West's material wouldn't raise an eyebrow in today's jaded culture. Oh well . . .

Blessings!

-Ed

I'm all for "live and let live." But as the man said - your right to swing your fist unchallenged extends only to the point where my nose begins. Put another way, I've heard of too many instances where - once Muslims become a sizable enough population - they being to demand "special" rights which conflict with the majority.

Blessings!

-Ed

Yes, historically, Muslim communities are "peaceful" until they are large enough in numbers to begin making outrageous demands on their host community. People in the United States are very naive when it comes to Islam. One only needs to look at the history of the religion and how it has always been about bloodshed and carnage to see what is in store for us once they get large enough to challenge our laws, and force other religions to submit to them.

The irony is that Islam is being protected by people adhere to a philosphy of freedom that Islam opposes. Look at the lack of freedoms afforded to nonMuslims in Islamic nations, look at the gender aphartheid in Islam, the way women are dehumanized and treated like chattel. Look at the appalling human rights records of Islamic nations. That Syria is on the UN Human Rights Committee is laughable and tragic.

The irony is that people are protecting Islam here in the US on the grounds of the very kind of religious liberty that Islam is opposed to idealogicaly and would eradicate from this country if it ever gets the chance.

Here is a term that is a complete "turn-off" to the world in general and, interestingly enough, even to some Christians: EVIL

There is a reluctance today to ascribe "evil" to anything. To do so makes one un-enlightend - even backwards and ignorant. Being people of good-will, most Americans of Christian heritage believe that others just want the same things in life that they want. Certainly, Muslims of good will only want to be left to worship in peace. Right?

Indeed, that may be true of most American muslims. But just as there are "liberal" Christians and "fundamental" Christians - there are "moderate" Muslims and "fundamental" ones.

What does it mean to be a "fundamental" Muslum? Well, I'm certainly no expert - but I do know that "Islam" means submission. "Jihad" means holy war. Contrary to what Bush 43 declared - "Islam" is not a peaceful religion. Simply look at the radical stances and violent rhetoric of Islamic leaders around the world - from Iran, Eqypt, Africa.

Look at that former liberal "bastion" of free-thought and democracy - France. Their Muslim problem is so severe that they've found it necessary to enact laws restricing wearing the Burqa and other outward signs. Does France see a problem we don't?

But back to the concept of evil. I'll come right out and say it - I believe Islam is evil. It is "anti" Christ and anti Christian. I make no apologies for what I write.

Of course, that does not give me or any other Christian the right to harass or otherwise do harm to a person of the Islamic faith without cause. To do so would make me no better than the most radical jihadist.

Unlike Mohammed, the Founder of Christianity WAS a Man of Peace - in fact, the Prince of Peace. So, we must make it a goal to deal with Muslims peaceably. At the same time, we shouldn't be ostriches, either.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."

Matthew 10:16

Blessings!

-Ed

You are misinformed. I live in the 6th district where most people realize that if one religion/political belief has their rights taken away, it can happen to all religions and political beliefs.

During our last congressional election Lou Ann Zelenick made opposition to this center her number one issue. Her two opponents came out against her and in favor of religious freedom. Lou Ann only received 30% of the vote,,,and that was the republican primary. Most people in Murfreesboro are not opposed to the community center. You are not reading the local paper of all the rallys of Rutherford Co. citizens in favor of the 1st amendment.

The people here in district 6 are tired of people who do not live here using us to forward their agenda. Especially when it is in our neighborhoods that the anti first amendment people are setting things on fire in.

You are absolutely correct in stating the 1st Amendment guarantees religious freedom.

But do you see Islam as I do - a political movement as well as a religion? If you don't - you don't.

But if you do, then do you agree that people (and their government) have the right to voice concerns - or even place restrictions - on political movements which they perceive to be hostile?

I'm all for "live and let live." But as the man said - your right to swing your fist unchallenged extends only to the point where my nose begins. Put another way, I've heard of too many instances where - once Muslims become a sizable enough population - they being to demand "special" rights which conflict with the majority.

Blessings!

-Ed

This has the potential to be a huge can of worms.

Historically, because of the tradition of religious tolerance in this country, places of worship have been allowed to be built pretty much anywhere (allowing for local zoning laws.) If that were all there were to this, I would say Herman Cain is wrong in his opposition.

Islam however differs from most other religions in that it is as much a political movement as a religious one. Not only that, but in many aspects the political movement it represents is in direct opposition to ours.

Islam has a tradition of building mosques at sites that are meaningful - even holy - to other traditions and religions. See the "Dome of the Rock" - built at the site of the Jewish Temple Mount in Jerusalem - for an example. The proposed ground zero mosque is another one. (Why people refuse to see this is puzzling.) To the die-hard jihadists, this is the ultimate symbol of victory.

So what we have is Islamists using our tradition of religious tolerance against us. And we're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If the mosque isn't allowed to be built, a precedent has been set for other religions not being allowed to build their houses of worship due to local opposition.

It's a tough call which, sadly, I predict will come out in favor of the Muslims. And we will be one step closer to having the same religious tolerance which we see in Saudi-Arabia.

Blessings!

-Ed

We have recently moved to a large city in Texas. We have lived most of our lives in a small rural New England town. The Church we attended there was conservative theologically, small, and traditional in the sense that we would never have electronic stuff in the worship area, only the traditional hard wooden pews (no pads), and so forth.

I am having a hard time here in that our denomination here is really different, theologically it is the same, but its basically a mega-church, its got like 5000 people attending every week (we had about 125 at home) padded comfortable pews, the pastors (there are I think 5) have got one of those little headphone things on and is also projected on two screens. But its also packed unlike our old church.

Okay my problem is I don't like it. I am trying to figure out if it is just a style issue with me being an old fashioned and not liking modern styles or is it a pride issue with me? Maybe I liked being small so I stood out more? The rest of my family likes it, so this does not help me very much.

What do people think of really large Churches?

I believe churches of any size can have a place in God's Kingdom.

Perhaps it might be helpful to consider what are - or should be - our reasons for attending church. Off the top of my head, in no particular order, I can cite a few:

We're commanded to do so in Scripture (Heb. 10:25)

Meeting with and fellowship with other Christians

Hearing God's Word preached.

Being ministered to by worship and singing

Growing God's Kingdom by our service

Growing God's Kingdom by our tithes

Growing God's Kingdom by leading others to Christ

and there are many others.

All of these can happen in churches regardless of their size - so, everything else being equal I believe it just becomes a matter of preference. Some will prefer a large church, some will prefer a small one.

Now, in your case, you mentioned that you don't like it, but others in your family do. This does pose a problem in that I believe God wants families to worship together. You obviously - with much prayer - will have to come to some sort of solution.

One other thing you may be dealing with is "culture shock". Yes - both New England and Texas are "technically" both in the US, culturally they are very different. Not to paint with too broad a brush, but I suspect the church you attended in NE was more "staid" and "reserved"; while the one in Texas may be more "emotional" and demonstrative.

My suggestion is to have an open and frank discussion with your family members. If it is a "style" problem I don't think that should be overlooked or minimized. No one Christian is going to feel at home or comfortable in EVERY chuch - but that in and of itself does not mean those churches are "bad".

It's just our human nature that makes us comfortable in some venues and not others.

Blessings!

-Ed

When I think of Obama, I don't think of Job

Someone more along the lines of King Herod comes to mind. Just sayin'

Blessings!

-Ed

A 94-year-old wheelchair-bound Florida woman says a search she went through at Raleigh/Durham International Airport went too far.

Link to story

When is enough - enough?

"Citizen - your paperz, pleez. CITIZEN!"

Blessings!

-Ed

Constitution of the United States of America

Preamble

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Article. I.

Section. 1.

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

The Constitution was created for an educated moral populace with honest, moral leaders. Thus, it no longer applies in 2011 USA.

Look at the snippet posted above - it's language could not be clearer. Yet, the Supreme Court legislates every time it is in session. The Executive Branch, through its puppet agencies like the EPA, legislate and regulate things like the kinds of lightbulbs we use or the amount of water in our toilets.

Yes, the Constitution is a wonderful, ancient document. And, sadly, about as relevant to our government and our lives as the Magna Charta.

Blessings!

-Ed

Watch my car

If anyone is old enough to remember the old TV show "Candid Camera" - this is the kind of prank they used to pull (just don't do any lip reading!)

Blessings!

-Ed

I've been told that the government takes in about 200 billion per year and has 20 billion in debt obligations. Can anyone substantiate that???

If it is so, then we don't have a revenue problem at all...we have a spending problem. If the Democrats don't take that seriously, and the threat of default is the ONLY thing they will take seriously, then I say let the chips (and the dollar) fall where it may.

It's a horrible alternative to what could be done if they would only take it seriously. It is hypocritical and disingenious for the Democrats to blame Republicans for the way our debt has quadrupled under their watch, and for Obama to just now start taking negotiations seriously and then pressuring everyone about how late it is.

It will be a catastrophe if they don't come to an agreement, but a worse catastrophe if they don't come to a solution.

Congress has the power of the purse. Congress has been controlled by Republicans since the last election.

You know what? You're right.

I think the Republicans should change their tactics and just say "Mr President, you're right. How much would you like the debt ceiling raised?"

There's no problem. Nope. None at all.

Blessings!

-Ed

"In a free society, government reflects the soul of its people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our decadence. They are a reflection of it." -- Cal Thomas

You've undoubtedly heard the old wives’ tale about frogs and boiling water. If you toss a frog into boiling water, he'll immediately jump out -- but supposedly, if you increase the temperature just a bit at a time, the frog will sit comfortably in the water until he's cooked alive. Is that true? No. However, if you apply that story to the way that human beings behave, there's a lot of truth to it. The world is extraordinarily complex and human beings are remarkably adaptable; so it's entirely possible that if changes are incremental enough, people will adjust to "the way the world is" without truly examining the size of the shift that's changed their world.

In the last few decades, our country has spiraled downward into decadence in ways that are genuinely threatening the continuance of the American Dream.

1) Our legal system is broken: There's nothing just about our legal system anymore. Liberals have pushed the idea of a "living constitution," which means nothing more than implementing left-wing policies and calling it constitutional law. Every constitutional case is now decided by the number of judges who still believe in the Constitution that happen to be on the bench for the trial. Laws are no longer applied equally either. If the people running the government don't like certain laws, say against illegal immigration, they simply refuse to enforce it.

Getting beyond that, because lawyers have become a corrupt parasitic class in America, innocent people can be crushed by the cost of defending themselves in court, even if they've done nothing wrong. "Right or wrong" is now often determined by who can afford to pay lawyers or whether it's cheaper to settle than fight it out in court, as opposed to who's innocent and who's guilty. There's also a "lawsuit lottery mentality" that has led to lawsuits based not on merit, but on the chance of being paid off because it's cheaper than a settlement or the hope of getting a large, undeserved financial reward from a jury that doesn't like the rich or a corporation.

2) Unsustainable levels of spending: We have a 1.5 trillion dollar deficit, a 14 trillion dollar debt, and 100 trillion dollars in unfunded Social Security/Medicare obligations and it's entirely possible that we could lose our AAA credit rating in the next few years. Not only has this issue been discussed so often that people's eyes glaze over when you bring it up yet again, but there are nations in Western Europe, with similar financial problems, that are staving off defaulting on the money they owe only because other nations are propping them up in a way that would be unfeasible for a nation the size of the United States.

The reaction to this could better be termed a non-reaction. The American people consistently oppose specific cuts and tax increases, while the Democratic Party is clamoring for more spending and running on opposing any serious attempts to deal with the problem. It's like having a massive hole in the bottom of your boat and having half the people on the ship fighting desperately to keep anyone from patching it up.

3) Demonization of success: We live in a country where half the country pays no income tax and the unemployed get almost two years on unemployment; yet we hear an endless parade of assaults on corporations, on the rich, on anybody who has made a success out of himself. You want to find "greed" in America? Then look at the people who are complaining about "greed." Greed isn't a rich guy wanting to keep more of the money he's earned; it's someone demanding that he get an even bigger share of someone else's money.

We're told by politicians that success is created by luck or taking advantage of people. We're told that it's okay to envy people who have it better than you and that it's even okay to want to see them punished for their success. We're taught to hate people and industries who've done better than we have -- and those small impulses are justified by sliming these people as somehow getting away with paying less than their "fair share"-- even though many of them pay more taxes in a month than most people pay in a lifetime. Instead of encouraging people to copy Americans who've become successful, we're encouraged to hate those people for having more than us. There's nothing good that will come of that.

4) An utterly corrupt political class: As time has gone on, we've not only given politicians more and more power over our lives, we've made jobs in Congress ever more lucrative. Members of Congress make $174,000 a year, they can direct earmarks to their business partners, their family members can get cushy jobs as lobbyists, and after their careers are over, the companies they've taken care of often pay them millions to lobby on their behalf as a reward. On top of this, because of gerrymandering and the advantages of incumbency, a job in Congress is a lifetime job for most of these politicians.

Because politics has become such a powerful, secure, and lucrative profession, it’s drawn a class of people who care much more about having a plum job than serving the American people.

Meanwhile, as the lack of concern these politicians have for doing what's right for America has become clearer, the American people have responded with learned helplessness. The worst sort of people are elected and re-elected and their constituents have increasingly turned a blind eye to affairs, prostitution scandals, perjury, bribes, KKK memberships, and even leaving a woman to die under a bridge.

In an age where politicians have been given such unprecedented authority that they can decide what sort of light bulbs we have in our homes, tolerating the worst sort of men in power is exceedingly ill-advised.

5) Moral decay: People have probably been talking about moral decay since the first time the phrase "the good old days" was used in a conversation. So the talk about the prevalence of pornography, the over-sexualization of society to the point where children are wearing slutty Halloween costumes, the increasing acceptability of drug use, the hostility to Christianity, and the garbage on TV like Jersey Shore probably aren't going to resonate with people who haven’t already become concerned.

However, there are other numbers that aren't as easy to dismiss. Fifty one million children have been annihilated via abortion, a number comparable to the total number of human beings who were snuffed out across the planet during WWII. We also have the highest incarceration rate on planet earth -- and that's no accident. Then there's the staggering number of children being raised outside of a two parent family; 36.8% of all births in the United States are out-of-wedlock births, which is the single biggest contributing factor to the size of the prison population. Are we doing anything to try to reverse that trend? No, to the contrary, we're making the institution of marriage into even more of a joke than ever before by encouraging gay marriage. Cries of "moral decay" may not be new, but these unprecedented numbers suggest that the issue is much more serious than it has been in the past. Credit

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

1.You shall have no other gods before me.

2.You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

3.You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

4.Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

5.Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

6.You shall not murder.

7.You shall not commit adultery.

8.You shall not steal.

9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10.You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Number one, OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IS BROKEN, could be addressed in all 10 of the commandments.

Number two, UNSUSTAINABLE LEVELS OF SPENDING, is addressed in commandment 8.

Number three, DEMONIZATION OF SUCCESS, is addressed in commandment 9 and 10.

Number four, AN UTTERLY CORRUPT POLITICAL CLASS, is addressed in commandment 1 and 2.

and Number five, MORAL DECAY is pretty much addressed in all the commandments.

I'd say the epitath of the USA (along with all civilizations that ultimately reject God) was written long ago

Blessings!

-Ed

Hmm . . . treating our minds like gardens and evil thoughts and emotions like weeds.

Thanks for sharing the analogy!

Blessings!

-Ed

It's too bad that these discussions frequently turn into Dem vs. Rep, Obama vs. Bush, etc. Because the problem goes much further back than that:

In 1787, while our first 13 states adopted their new constitution, Alexander Tyler who was a Scottish History Professor at the University of Edinburgh, said this about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2000 years earlier:

“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse doe to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.”

LINK

Not to sound like a radical, but I am of the opinion we're beyond the point where elections are going to fix our problems.

[Not that we deserve it, but] God please have mercy on the USA.

Blessings!

-Ed

I like to throw a hypothetical question into the mix here:

Let's say I have a VISA credit card with a $15,000 limit. I've maxed out my VISA card - I owe them $15,000.

In addition, I have other debts totaling $30,000, so I'm in hock to the tune of $45,000

My yearly income only covers a fraction of my debt, so my debt (plus interest) gets rolled over year after year.

Now here's my question: Given the above circumstances, is raising my VISA credit limit going to solve any problems? If so, how?

Blessings!

-Ed

George had the best garden I have ever seen. Having been raised on a farm, he loved watching things grow. A large section of land behind his home had been converted into a place for vegetables and flowers. No weed survived long. From early morning until late afternoon he tended his garden faithfully. George loved God. He saw himself as a person working with God. He did not create the seed. He did not create the soil. He did not send the sunshine or the rain. But he cooperated with God in his creation. The result was a beautiful and productive garden.

Our minds are like a garden. If we want the Spirit to control our minds, we have to work with the Spirit. We have to fill our minds with good things, especially the Scripture. When the Spirit points out something that doesn’t belong in our mind, we must respond immediately. As we work with him he will do things we could never do on our own.

Is your mind focused on what the Spirit desires?

URL Source - Word Action Publishing, "Reflecting God"

I wanted to share with you all our devotional from this morning. It really touched my heart.

I like the comparison of our minds to a garden.

Blessings!

-Ed

Well, I'm not sure I agree .

Before the fall, they likely saw each other exactly as they were, sinless. There was no crud to be ashamed of.

You're correct - but I take it farther than that.

Yes, they were sinless - but they could be in no other condition because they didn't know what sin was.

That is - until they were placed in the Garden and given a command. Once they had that command, they had a choice (because God created them and us with free will). As we all know - they chose wrongly.

This for me is interesting to ponder. I've heard it preached that the Fall was a unique event in history. one that can never be repeated. (Just like Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is a one time event that cannot be repeated).

Just as it is impossible to say with certainty what Heaven is like, I believe it is impossible to imagine what life in pre-Fall Eden was like. No sin. No evil. Pure innocence. Perfect fellowship with God.

As I wrote earlier, I see innocence when I look at my two toddler grand-daughters. That is the closest analogy I can make to what Adam and Eve must have been like. But I have to admit - my grand-daughters are NOT sinless. (I've even caught the 3 year old in a lie!)

So is it a perfecty analogy? Sadly, the answer is no. Oh well . . .

Blessings!

-Ed