What The Apostle Paul Would Say About Common Core

.

In this day of anti-Obamacare, anti-Common Core, and anti-political party posts galore, I am glad that I really can stay above the fray. Oh, I have my political views, and I still love the country that I served, and still make an occasional political post or share a funny picture caricaturizing the other side’s views. I still care that our country represents the ideals of freedom and justice. But I have no qualm with the way of the world either. I have a dual citizenship, and I care more about the heavenly kingdom and its King, than I do the USA and her presidents, past, current, or future. I will most likely vote for the Republican candidate, whomever that ends up being, because they usually line up with my views on social justice and conservatism. But here is what I will not do:

I will not deny the political process its due. For over two-hundred years approximately half of the country has been disappointed on the second Wednesday in November. Unless Barack Obama calls out the Marines to keep from being ejected from the White House, I will peaceably claim the next victor as my president, whichever party wins the office.

I will not call an educational system “evil.” For goodness sake, people, it’s a curriculum. It is not Satan incarnate as educational programing, nor is the Devil possessing teachers because common core is implemented.  As a system, I see many things wrong. But mostly I see examples of the extreme fringe posted, not what the system represents as a whole. Like everything else man invents, it has good and bad points. But to call Common Core "evil" is to make a mockery of true evil. True evil like women forced into a slave trade; children being abused; or the use of chemical agents by a goverment on its citizenry. True evil like satanic oppression of missionaries, evil like the abuses in the Word of Faith movement that tells people dying of cancer that they don't have enough faith, or God would cure them. It's called perspective. Look it up!

I will not allow a devoted Mormon to tell me what is or is not godly. All you devotees of Glenn Beck should wake up and see that the Satan rests, not in common core, but in cultic practices and pseudo-religionists like Beck. He’s a comedian…and he is funny. But his alarmist tactics and quasi-religiosity are all a ruse, designed by the Devil to make this cult look “normal.” Be like Joseph and FLEE, from that nut-case. (Genesis 39)

I will not be straddled with anyone’s political agenda. My ONLY agenda is the proliferation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  “But Steve,” you ask, “wouldn’t the proliferation of the Gospel be easier in a free, democratic, Christian society?” Nope. Never has, never will. Two things: #1 The Gospel thrives in persecution. The church grows stronger and deeper in conviction the more oppression she faces. The church grows in false doctrine and/or complacency in the ease of contentment and safety.  #2 The USA may be a free, democratic society. But she is certainly not Christian. Hello?! If we were a Christian nation, we would not have homosexual marriage, high abortion rates, and high crime rates.

When Paul wrote “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same." (Romans 13:1-3 KJV. I put this in the King Jimmy just for you KJV Only folks) he was writing about the most oppressive, anti-Christian, ruthless government that had ever existed, the Roman Empire. 

Listen to this in the NCV: “All of you must yield to the government rulers. No one rules unless God has given him the power to rule, and no one rules now without that power from God. 2 So those who are against the government are really against what God has commanded. And they will bring punishment on themselves. 3 Those who do right do not have to fear the rulers; only those who do wrong fear them. Do you want to be unafraid of the rulers? Then do what is right, and they will praise you.” 

Paul said all of this, to all of us who claim the name of Jesus, about a tyrannical government that had him arrested for his faith, and sentenced many of his companions to death for the name of Christ. Paul wrote that statement while sitting in a Roman dungeon. and so I am content with where I am. I’m not happy about homosexual marriage, high abortion rates, and a different medical system than I’m used to. But I know one thing and know it well, Jesus is my King, and He has the final say over everything that happens…to me…to you…to Obama…and He never makes a mistake. 

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Tolerating The Intolerant; Why ESPN Is The Real PC Bully

.

This is an opinion piece I wrote for my buddy Dan at Stronger Christian. Please click through and visit his site.

Blessings,

Steve



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This week ESPN, the global sports and entertainment giant, once again showed its idiocy by firing Hank Williams, Jr. over comments he made on FoxNews. Williams compared a golf outing between President Obama and House Speaker Boehner as a similar pairing of Adolph Hitler and Benjamin Netanyahu. The idea of Hitler and a powerful Jew playing golf juxtaposed with a Democratic President and Republican leader is a bit extreme, but certainly not a fireable offence.



But this is the fate of the culture left to the devices of Political Correctness. When the pc crowd "outlawed" the use of certain words and phrases as "bad taste", we merrily went along for the sake of the victims of certain slanders. "Why," we reasoned, "WOULD someone want to hurt the feelings of that small person by calling them a midget? SHOULDN'T we call them vertically challenged?" It seemed sensible at the time. If the label "handicap" was hurtful, why wouldn't we say that they were physically challenged instead? Perhaps it was more fitting to refer to a blind person as sight challenged, and to drop the word retarded from our vocabulary in preference to mentally challenged. My point is not to say that these changes were not compassionate or eagerly received by the individuals affected, but that this opened a door that has allowed the "tolerance at all cost" crowd to gain a strong foothold in the culture. And, it seems apparent that this has become circular in its practicality, as it is becoming increasingly offence to many to be referred to as challenged.



This is in similar vein to the race designation of Black Americans, which progressed from Negro to Colored to Black, and now to African American. Many who fought for the change from Negro to Colored now find the designation Colored offensive itself. Not that I blame them. I have been called Racist (because I don't like Obama) Redneck, (Because I am from the South) a Jesus Freak (Because I am) and White. Despite the fact that I am more .......wellllll.....peachy. I think I should be called a Person of Non-Color. Come to think of it, I'm white in the winter, tan in the summer, blue when I get cold, green when I get sick, and red when I stay in the sun too long. Maybe I'm the one who should be called colored!



The real problem with all of this PC nonsense is that it has opened the door for an Über-tolerance mood in the country. It is intolerant for Hank Jr. to use the words Obama and Hitler in the same sentence. (By the way; shouldn't Netanyahu be the REAL offended person by that comment?!) But it is not intolerant of ESPN to castigate him as some Redneck Hillbilly. It is intolerant of anyone to criticize the President or his policies. You are either a racist (if you're Peachy) or an Uncle Tom (Hello Mr. Cain) if you're Black. It is inconceivable that you just disagree with the man's ideology. And the real point; It is intolerant for a Christian to be intolerant.



Unfortunately though, that is exactly who we are as Believers in Jesus Christ. I don't like it. It doesn't make me happy. But it is THE core truth that all of Christianity rides on. The doctrine is known as The Exclusivity of Christ. You see, it does not matter if Jesus was born of a virgin, or that He lived a perfect life, or that He died for sins, or that He rose from the grave, or that He ascended to Heaven, or that He sent a Helper. If Jesus is not the exclusive way to the Father, none of that matters, because I could simply find someone else to get me there. Jesus said of Himself that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He also said that no one would get to the Father EXCEPT through Him. He, therefore, is exclusive, and we, therefore, are intolerant. We are intolerant of others saying they can get you to heaven. We are intolerant of those who say there are many paths to heaven. And we are intolerant of those who say it does not matter because all good people go to heaven.



In our culture today, Political Correctness has become more than a feel-good, compassionate ride to acceptance. It is the vehicle used by the BHL's to usher in an age of tolerance, where everything is tolerated except intolerance itself. But, these folks are wolves in sheep's clothing, for they have become the ones who are the most intolerant of all. Which is to say that they have become intolerant of everything that disagrees with them. Hank Williams, Jr. may have made a bad analogy, but where has all the tolerance gone? In the end, it seems to me that ESPN is the real PC bully.

College Will Not Play Nation Anthem Due To Violent Content

.

C'mon man #6





So Goshen College has told us that they will no longer play the Nation Anthem at NCAA home games because the content is too violent. According to college president James E. Brenneman, the song is incongruent with the Mennonite philosophy of passivism, and therefore; they are switching to America the Beautiful instead.





C'mon man! part 1...

Major League baseball has long held that God Bless America could be played in lieu of the Star Spangled Banner. (Not to be confused with Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. Kate Smith's lyrics here.) So no prob with switching songs------but because it is TOO VIOLENT!?!?!?!!? Have you ever heard the last stanza of America the Beautiful?



O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!


Oh, yeah...the violent content that is so offensive to Mennonite ears??? "The rockets' red glare; the bombs bursting in air" I kid you not. Oh my lord, I need to duct tape my head before it explodes!




C'mon man! part 2

あなたが これを読み 取るこ とができな  い場合...その後アメリカ の暴力的な過去をあ りがとう！

Google translate HERE

Spiderman No More!

.
Spiderman No More!
   C'Mon Man! #3

Why can't our superheroes be left alone. Why the insistence on making our comic book marvels politically correct? When DC made Green Lantern an African American, I didn't balk. In Brightest day and darkest night has nothing to do with skin color. If a black man is wearing the green tights, I've got no beef.

When Superman renounced his US Citizenship; however, I cried foul. There was no defensible plot line except playing to the overtly anti-American overseas audience. When Captain America was no longer called Captain America in places like Japan and Germany...well...OK. The Japs and Krauts get a pass on that one! I wouldn't go see a movie called Captain Viet Cong, either.



But making Spiderman a "half-black half-Hispanic" possibly gay, neurotic, teenager is just wayyyyyyy over the top. C'mon man!? If y'all want to kill off Peter Parker and replace him with a Hispanic Pedro Gonzales, I'm fine with that. Or, a Jewish Paul Horowitz. Knock youself out! But playing to the p/c stuff to that degree is simply insulting.



I stoped reading comic books when I was about 14-15. And my son doesn't read them for several reasons (mostly because he enjoys reading novels and the fact that I can't afford them. I'd have to mortgage the parsonage to keep him comic books.) But if I/we did, rest assured it wouldn't be any of that p/c crap.



I say again: C'mon man!



No, no! C'mon, Stan! For real!?

C'mon, Man! #1

.

So, DC Comics is keeping pace with Marvel, in a, "Hey, we're not really "American" super heroes. wink. wink." public relations stunt. Marvel has dropped a portion of the title for its upcoming movie about Captain America, releasing the film under the name The First Avenger outside of the US.


Now DC says that in an upcoming Action Comic it will have Superman renounce his US Citizenship in front if the United Nations. C'mon, man! Really?!

So much for Truth, Justice, and the American way. I suppose it's now truth, justice, and the way of corruption and bureaucracy. aka the United Nations. Next I suppose he will start wearing tights colored that wimpy baby-blue of the UN helmets instead of the red and blue of Old Glory, and change the S on his pajama top to an O for Nietzsche’s Overman.

I have one question for the "artists" and PR people at Marvel and DC:
"If the people of other countries won't buy a comic book or movie ticket because the superheroes are "too American," then why on God's green earth are those self-same people fighting to get the chance to own American comic books and to see American movies? Not to mention their desperate attempts to move here.”

I remember my dad telling me how Ford, realizing that the majority of the people buying the T-bird were middle-aged white men, redesigned the car to look like a middle-aged white man's car. Then they wondered why only old women started buying them. In-other-words, don't pay so much attention to what people say...watch what they do.

So...Stan? If you and the folks over at DC keep watering down the Americanized part of our supers, don't be surprised, Mr. Lee, when the only people going to see Wonder Woman, are Taliban women in full length burqas.

President Obama's Birth Certificate

.
I am sooooooooooooo glad that the POTUS released his birth certificate.

Maybe, just maybe, it'll stop the dribble that is taking our collective eye off of the important stuff that people have put aside. Like $4 gasoline and what that will do to our fragile economy. I know it is absolutely hurting MY fragile economy! Of course, it probably won't take the fruit-loops from assuming he's not a natural born citizen. It will just convince them that he's not a natural born citizen that will use the full resources of the US Government to forge a birth certificate. So, I'm expecting a flury of new allegations. Such as...hmmm,






Why is the background and border so seamless, if this was taken from one of those bound books? As the curl would suggest!? Hmmm?!




It sure does look in good shape for a fifty year old document! Mine's only 43 years old and it's got a lot more wear.


In the “This Birth” box there are two mysterious X's above “Twin” and “Triplet.” Is it possible that the POTUS is actually twins or even triplets. No doubt his duplicitous nature makes me wonder. Perhaps it is like in The Prestige movie--twins who live one life, hiding the fact from even their wives. That could explain his "I hate war," vs. "We must send more troops;" "I am a Christian" vs. bowing and scraping in front of the Dali Lama and his fascination with all things Islam; and his ability to take multiple vacations in a single month!


What is the significance of the mysterious penciled in numbers outside of some boxes?


Why, in box 21, does the “Signature of Local Registrar” read Ukelee? Is that a NSA agent's feeble attempt at "Proving" he was born in Hawaii? Hmmmmm???? I ask you! Hmmmm? (Note to the CIA, FBI, and NSA: It is spelled “Ukulele." I'm just saying! Is all.)

And the coup de' grace: If you copy the cert, found here, into MS Paint, why does all the pertinent information appear as a washed out white spaces. HMMMMMM!



Of course, I DO BELIEVE that the man was born in Hawaii. I do believe that he is a Christian. (I DO NOT believe; however, that he is a Believer; a true, regenerate, Christ follower. But most of the population that claims "Christianity" fits in the same category)
But I ask you, what is the point of following the conspiracy theory? Seriously! He is ALREADY the POTUS. So drop the crap and start worrying about important things, like:

Why he is telling us to buy a new car, instead of authorizing more drilling.
Why we are bombing Libya instead of recalling our troops from Iraq.
Why we are spending more money than it is possible for our grandchildren to pay back.
And why we are we so divided as a nation. (Last week I was called a racist by an old friend because I disagree with his policies. This is about ideology, not race. I didn't like Bill Clinton, John Kerry, or Howard Dean and I was just right wing. Now I still don't like the same policies, and I'm a Nazi!?)



So to the right I say: Fight the real battle. The battle of ideas and ideals, and jump off the Trump Band-wagon: it's headed for a cliff.

To the left I say, wake up a smell the coffee. We cannot spend ourselves out of this mess, and it's not racist to say so!

.

Lincoln Was A Racist

.
So apparently, now Lincoln was a racist. As we get ready to celebrate our greatest president's 150 anniversary (of his inauguration) people want to look back with revisionist historical eyes and criticize.









But I know the truth.













The liberals just now figured out he was a Republican. Can you imagine that? A Republican ended slavery, won the civil war, instituted civil rights, and was in the process of reuniting the nation when he was assassinated...

wait for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




WAIT....FOR...IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






Assassinated by a Democrat!


 
Go figure.

Too Burn Or Not To Burn: The POTUS, Koran, And Mr. Magoo

.
I can't help but wonder; if a small mosque of Muslims in New Hampshire were about to burn a Bible, would the POTUS intervene, send the FBI, or otherwise interfere? The answer is no. The reason for that is that Christians would not kill Islamists for that act. However, it is interesting to me that we are cowering against threats to our service men and fellow Believers on foreign soil, from these so-called peace loving Muslims. I have heard little from the moderate Muslims on this guy's (loon or not) right to burn a book.

Now me personally, I think it is ridiculous. The whole argument. Mostly, I am ardently opposed to burning books. That is the beginning of the fall of freedom. But also, Terry Jones pastors a church of 50 people. That's half the size of mine. Why didn't the media send trucks when I threatened a Hell-Fire-&-Brimstone sermon Sunday if my Bulldogs lose to the heathen Gamecocks? Because nobody outside of my congregation cares. No one would know anything about this dude if ABC/CNN/Fox didn't give him the time of day. Now they say, "We won't cover it!" Yeah, riggggggght. And I've got some lovely ocean-front property in Tennessee you've got to see! No one would care but his 50 people had this not been sensationalized.


This is as proverbial a mole hill into mountain situation as I've ever seen. It's a book, you idol worshiping morons! If it is your word of your god Allah, then how weak he must be for his message to be so hurt by a little fire.


So a few things.

#1) Terry Jones is a grade A, certifiable loon. Just check out his rulebook for DWOC church. Please don't miss the spelling mistakes. Fife Fold Ministry? Whoa boy. And why are we going into a Holy War with this guy!?!?!?!!? (And thanks to my English Teacher wife for grammer checking my posts)

#2 Why are we (spelled: The US Government) getting our POTUS little hands dirty with another local situation? Mr. President; Sir. You cannot tell the Islamists that their rights as Americans allow them to build at Ground Zero, and tell Mr. Magoo here that he should have better judgment and be sensitive to the religious concerns of others. That's a two way street.

#3 This has ignited a firestorm, as now at least a dozen other churches plan on burning Korans Saturday. Shame on you story-mongering-yellow-belly-low-rent journalists for turning this into a potential disaster for our fighting men and women. Sometimes you just have to stop with the sensationalizing journalism, and let a non-story die its rightful death on the vine.

#4 For those of you who sympathize with Terry Jones, I've got three words for you. Westboro Baptist Church. Yep, those evil, evil, so-called Baptists from Topeka, Kansas. The American hating folks who protest Service Member's funerals? Yep. Terry Jones is affiliated with them and has rallied with them before.

Mr. Magoo, where are you? Gainesville, Florida!

Mosque To Be Built At Ground Zero

If you haven't heard, there are plans approved by New York City to allow an Islamic Center, including a Mosque, swimming pool, culinary school, and an "interfaith" gathering place to be built at Ground Zero. Whether you agree or not, the Muslims in New York have a right to build their mosque wherever the law allows. If there is no violation of building permits, codes, or other such stipulations of the law, they should be allowed to build their center. If the Muslims are denied, the law has presented a case for Jewish, Buddhist, Hindi, Satanist, Mormons, JW's, and/or Baptists from building a place of worship as well.



Of course, legalities and rights aside, there is another issue here, the issue of responsibility. I dare say that building a Mosque on or near Ground Zero is an act of considerable irresponsibility. It would amount to a Shinto Temple being built within a mile of Pearl Harbor, or a Baptist Church being raised next door to the Dome of the Rock. Although my eschatology permits me to loosely consider a rebuilt temple as something of a Baptist Church, I cannot imagine a Crusade Baptist Church being built in a Muslim country as going over too well.



Understand, this is more than a matter of poor taste. It represents a serious misunderstanding of the sentiments of most Americans toward the Muslim faith and a huge gaff in their ability to win some PR points by, having now been legally cleared, backing off. Nevertheless, this is systemic of the Islamic fundamental principle of winning at all cost.



However, whether the mosque is built or not, the most distressing part of this sad saga unfolded today (August 13 , 2010) when President Obama weighed in on the discussion. Once more, as he did by saying the Cambridge Police force acted "stupidly", and then insulting disabled Americans by claiming he should bowl for Special Olympics, he has acted utterly un-presidential. By weighing in on a subject that is best left to the local law and to local officials, he has set the agenda and embolden Muslims to forget decorum and civility, and build their mosque away from an area ripe with racial tension.



Whether these Muslims are of the radical flavor or not is completely beside the point. It was Muslim men who flew those planes into the Towers and Pentagon. It was because of Islam, correctly interpreted or not, that over 2,000 individuals died that horrible September morning. And building a center to celebrate that religion on the spot memorializing their brutal murder is an affront to Western sensibilities. Shame on these people for not recognizing this and acting according to the "peaceful" faith that they attest belongs to Islam. The law may be on their side, but according to research 69% of Americans think they shouldn't build on that site. And it's not like there isn't available real estate in Manhattan that is far enough away from Ground Zero for an Islamic Center to go unnoticed. One would think they could afford a good PR firm and some good will!

********Update************
8/14/2010 7:33 pm
The prez has backed-off Mosque comments:

Obama Extends and Revises his Remarks

So, what side is he on?
BY William Kristol

"Today in Florida President Barack Obama "backed off" (as Politico’s Carol Lee put it) his defense of the Ground Zero mosque. Obama now claims that last night he was only defending the legal rights of the organizers: "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That's what our country is about. And I think it's very important as difficult as some of these issues are that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about."

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-extends-and-revises-his-remarks


***********Update # 2**************
8/14/2010 11:41 pm
The Prez has backed-off his back-off statement of Mosque

The White House on Saturday struggled to tamp down the controversy over President Barack Obama’s statements about a mosque near Ground Zero — insisting Obama wasn’t backing off remarks Friday night where he offered support for a project that has infuriated some families whose loved ones died in the Sept. 11 attacks.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41069.html

From Here To There And Back Again

A few great quotes from great men of yesteryear. Mercer has all but abandoned these principles set forth near her beginning.




"There have appeared men in these later days who feel persecuted if they are not allowed to enter pulpits established to uphold a given set of principles, and there to overthrow the very doctrines the church is set to defend. Men who do not preach the accepted doctrines of the Baptists, have no right in Baptist pulpits, and it is no abridgement of their rights nor any persecution to keep them out. We are under no sort of obligations to furnish heretics with means to subvert the truth." ~ J.B. Gambrell, the President of Mercer University from 1893 - 1896



and;



John Wesley, founder of Methodism, who would ask his young men returning from preaching two questions. "Did anyone get saved? Did anyone get mad?" If they answered no to both he told them they were not called to preach, for "a sermon will either lead a soul to Christ or the truth will anger them."



We must return to the day where we no longer feel so threatened by political correctness or "church growth" strategies that we abandon the true message of Jesus Christ. We must know of no other, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.