Part 3-of-3 (Scroll down for previous)
So what’s it going to be—a noble or compromised legacy? In my view, the answer is both. Yes, many of our nation’s founders were skilled at God-speak, but practiced in enlightened principles of occult Illuminism. Religious syncretism is evidenced by the cacophony of arcane symbols found throughout our nation’s capitol.
Notwithstanding, there remains cause for the two words (Laus Deo, or “Praise be to God!”) on the aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument: A survivor of Nazism and communism, Dr. Balint Vazonyi came to the U.S. from Hungary following the 1956 uprising. Vazonyi identified four points of the American compass—namely, rule of law, individual rights, guaranteed property, and American identity. America’s noble heritage in Christ is reflected in such Bible-based foundational principles.
Religious freedom, rule of law, free trade, and private property took form among early predominantly Christian settlements of the East Coast of North America—namely, at St. Augustine (1565¬), Plymouth (1620), Jamestown (1607), and Savannah (1733). Furthermore, our nation’s Christian legacy finds expression in the first colonial grant made to Sir Walter Raleigh (1584); the first charter of Virginia, granted by King James I (1606); subsequent Virginia charters (1609 and 1611); and various ones granted to the other colonies.
Evidence of America’s Noble Heritage
Be sure there’s good, bad, and ugly among us (and within each of us, I might add). No matter, God remains actively engaged in the affairs of men. It’s really not about the atheist, religionist, deist, Unitarian, occultist, nominal Christian, or even the “wretched man that I am.” It’s all about God Almighty.
For good reason, God is expressly mentioned in most all state constitutions, mottoes, and seals; Christ’s words are chiseled on our national monuments; and the Ten Commandments are engraved in stone in our Supreme Court.
Seeded by early settlers, our nation’s biblical grounding bore extraordinary fruit throughout America’s early revivals and awakenings. In their wake, Francis Scott Key gave us our national anthem (adopted 3 March 1931). The second verse of The Star-spangled Banner proclaims: “May the heaven-rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’”
Even our currency bears witness to America’s trust in God, as does the folded flag with stars uppermost. In fact, each fold in our nation’s flag-folding ceremony represents aspects of America’s noble heritage—e.g., the second fold pays tribute to belief in eternal life; the eleventh fold glorifies the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the twelfth is in tribute to Christianity.
The 1954 amendment to Francis Bellany’s 1892 version of our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance also targets religious transcendence as America’s most powerful resource, whether in times of peace or while at war. Forget political correctness. On two occasions, the Supreme Court has declared our Pledge of Allegiance “under God” as soundly constitutional. Even an ACLU Handbook admits that the pledge is not objectionable simply because it contains a reference to God.
Conclusion
A nation that permits what God does not—i.e., abortion, pornography, promiscuity, adultery, homosexuality, materialism—does not rightly merit the label, “a Christian nation.” However, as Abraham discovered, the Just Judge of the whole earth is willing to withhold His wrath for the sake of fifty, forty-five, thirty, twenty, even ten righteous men.
Maybe America fails to qualify as “a Christian nation.” Perhaps many of her founding fathers were less than noble. But there is no doubt that, at her inception, she was seeded by Christians and grounded in Holy Scripture.
So, then, we can rightly pray, “God bless America!” History shows that it is His pleasure to do just that.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Awakenings Among the Lost
Part 2-of-3
Great Awakenings invite the presence of God, often to an entire nation. The result is renewal—not only spiritually, but also in law, government, and literature. Be sure America’s Great Awakening took on much grander proportions than the Enlightenment, said to have guided many of America’s founding fathers.
• The First Great Awakening (c. 1730–1755ff).
Early on, tens of thousands of colonists came to hear George Whitefield preach and, as a result, experienced “new birth.” In 1775 alone, more than three thousand religious organizations took root in the colonies. Moreover, higher education flourished in the wake of spiritual renewal. Of nine colonial colleges in America, most sprang from awakenings—namely, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers Universities and Dartmouth College. Perhaps for this reason Webster defines “awakening” as “an act or moment of becoming suddenly aware of something.”
When Jonathan Edwards from North Hampton, Massachusetts, preached his fiery sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” his congregation fell under conviction and, then, cried out for mercy. The impact of sudden awareness so profoundly transformed the entire nation that “even hardened skeptics could not deny it.”
• The Second Great Awakening (c. 1790–1840)
Five-time Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry (1736-1799) once remarked, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly nor too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Ignited by the preaching of Presbyterian James McGready in Logan County, Kentucky, this second renewal left a legacy of many established Christian churches while, at the same time, it ushered in social reform.
America’s history clearly demonstrates that the best impulses for social reform come on the heels of spiritual awakenings. Historians concur that the anti-slavery movement in America was mainly a part of the reform movement generated by the Second Great Awakening. This rings true of movements for prison reform, child labor laws, women’s rights, inner-city missions, and many more.
• The Third Great Awakening (late 1850s to the 1900s)
The Third Great Awakening started with a 48-year-old businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier, who in July 1857 began work as an urban missionary for the North Dutch Reformed Church. Within six months ten thousand gathered daily for prayer throughout New York. Historian J. Edwin Orr wrote that “the influence of the awakening was felt everywhere in the nation. It first captured great cities, but it also spread through every town and village and country hamlet. It swamped schools and colleges.”
What impressed observers (the press even!) was little preaching, but much prayer. As people gathered, they remained largely silent while maintaining an overarching attitude of worship. It was reported that each week the number of conversions soon reached an astounding fifty thousand.
In summary, the first Great Awakening started with Jonathan Edwards who had a humble desire for God to revive his Christian congregation. The Second was ignited by James McGready, burdened for the restoration of the Christian church at large, and the Third by Jeremiah Lanphier in order to pray for national and spiritual renewal. All three awakenings left the indelible stamp of Christianity on these United States of America.
Some credit Benjamin Franklin as the most influential American to invent the type of society America would become, but I disagree. More so than any other revival, or natural influence, the Second Great Awakening exerted a lasting impact on American society.
Next: Our Nation's Foundational Quandary
Great Awakenings invite the presence of God, often to an entire nation. The result is renewal—not only spiritually, but also in law, government, and literature. Be sure America’s Great Awakening took on much grander proportions than the Enlightenment, said to have guided many of America’s founding fathers.
• The First Great Awakening (c. 1730–1755ff).
Early on, tens of thousands of colonists came to hear George Whitefield preach and, as a result, experienced “new birth.” In 1775 alone, more than three thousand religious organizations took root in the colonies. Moreover, higher education flourished in the wake of spiritual renewal. Of nine colonial colleges in America, most sprang from awakenings—namely, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Rutgers Universities and Dartmouth College. Perhaps for this reason Webster defines “awakening” as “an act or moment of becoming suddenly aware of something.”
When Jonathan Edwards from North Hampton, Massachusetts, preached his fiery sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” his congregation fell under conviction and, then, cried out for mercy. The impact of sudden awareness so profoundly transformed the entire nation that “even hardened skeptics could not deny it.”
• The Second Great Awakening (c. 1790–1840)
Five-time Governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry (1736-1799) once remarked, "It cannot be emphasized too strongly nor too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Ignited by the preaching of Presbyterian James McGready in Logan County, Kentucky, this second renewal left a legacy of many established Christian churches while, at the same time, it ushered in social reform.
America’s history clearly demonstrates that the best impulses for social reform come on the heels of spiritual awakenings. Historians concur that the anti-slavery movement in America was mainly a part of the reform movement generated by the Second Great Awakening. This rings true of movements for prison reform, child labor laws, women’s rights, inner-city missions, and many more.
• The Third Great Awakening (late 1850s to the 1900s)
The Third Great Awakening started with a 48-year-old businessman, Jeremiah Lanphier, who in July 1857 began work as an urban missionary for the North Dutch Reformed Church. Within six months ten thousand gathered daily for prayer throughout New York. Historian J. Edwin Orr wrote that “the influence of the awakening was felt everywhere in the nation. It first captured great cities, but it also spread through every town and village and country hamlet. It swamped schools and colleges.”
What impressed observers (the press even!) was little preaching, but much prayer. As people gathered, they remained largely silent while maintaining an overarching attitude of worship. It was reported that each week the number of conversions soon reached an astounding fifty thousand.
In summary, the first Great Awakening started with Jonathan Edwards who had a humble desire for God to revive his Christian congregation. The Second was ignited by James McGready, burdened for the restoration of the Christian church at large, and the Third by Jeremiah Lanphier in order to pray for national and spiritual renewal. All three awakenings left the indelible stamp of Christianity on these United States of America.
Some credit Benjamin Franklin as the most influential American to invent the type of society America would become, but I disagree. More so than any other revival, or natural influence, the Second Great Awakening exerted a lasting impact on American society.
Next: Our Nation's Foundational Quandary
Monday, November 30, 2009
OUR NATION'S HERITAGE
Part 1-of-3
Noble or Compromised?
A much revered minister once asked this question of Billy Graham's daughter: "Anne, what do you believe God expects from us?" A "preacher's kid," Anne raced through her cache of answers—He expects us to pray without ceasing, witness, tithe, read the Bible, and honor the Ten Commandments.
It was then the pastor-teacher countered with a surprising answer. What does God expect? He expects us to fail. Anne was astonished, but further thought convinced her. Apart from divine enablement, we "cannot keep ourselves an hour clean." All have sinned; all fall short. Yet we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. God’s expectation is failure, and we deliver! But that’s not the end of it.
Thankfully, as believers, we receive abounding grace—albeit with consequences for our wrongdoings. This the fourth son of Aaron, Eli, learned well. A judge and high priest in Israel, he was a good and pure man; however, in raising his sons Hophni and Phinehas, Eli failed to toe the line. After all three died inglorious deaths, Phinehas’ wife delivered a son, whom she called Ichabod—that is, “Where is the glory?” Because of Eli’s grievous shortcomings, the presence of God (His glory) departed Israel when, on Eli’s watch, the ark was taken captive.
Seemingly, the ark of God’s presence among us has likewise been taken captive. It’s as if Ichabod marks our nation’s tattered portal. The good news is no matter how wayward His children, God always has a remnant of faithful believers through whom divine blessings flow. For this very purpose, God chose the patriarch Abraham to usher his descendants into a saving covenant relationship with Himself so that, through them, He would bring salvation and blessings to the entire world.
Despite Israel’s rebellious ways, God stirred revival—first within Jacob’s household, then through Asa, Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah. Christian writers (Tertullian, Irenaeus, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others) testified of comparable renewal within the early church. Surely God’s work did not cease on distant shores of what has come to be known as the Holy Land.
Revivals Among Believers
Despite grievous failings of nation-states, God graciously stirs revivals and awakenings—revivals to embolden His church; awakenings to “seek and save the lost.” The “Quietism” movement was to France what Savonarola was to Italy and George Fox, John Bunyan, and John Wesley were to England. Through ministries of Lorenzo Dow and Peter Cartwright, the Holy Spirit visited and re-visited America’s shores from “sea to shining sea.”
God released grace through evangelist-theologians (Charles G. Finney), charismatics (Elder Jacob Knapp), Christian writers (Dr. A. J. Gordon and D.L. Moody of old New England Puritan stock), and itinerary preachers (as A. B. Earle who, in fifty years, traveled 325,000 miles throughout the United States and Canada).
The famous Quaker who founded Pennsylvania (William Penn), Bible scholars (Dr. Adam Clarke), missionaries to the Natives (David Brainerd), Congregational preachers (Edward Payson of New England), and music ministers (hymn writer Philip Paul Bliss) all carried the baton of revival in the early years of America’s history.
Next: Awakenings Among the Lost
Noble or Compromised?
A much revered minister once asked this question of Billy Graham's daughter: "Anne, what do you believe God expects from us?" A "preacher's kid," Anne raced through her cache of answers—He expects us to pray without ceasing, witness, tithe, read the Bible, and honor the Ten Commandments.
It was then the pastor-teacher countered with a surprising answer. What does God expect? He expects us to fail. Anne was astonished, but further thought convinced her. Apart from divine enablement, we "cannot keep ourselves an hour clean." All have sinned; all fall short. Yet we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. God’s expectation is failure, and we deliver! But that’s not the end of it.
Thankfully, as believers, we receive abounding grace—albeit with consequences for our wrongdoings. This the fourth son of Aaron, Eli, learned well. A judge and high priest in Israel, he was a good and pure man; however, in raising his sons Hophni and Phinehas, Eli failed to toe the line. After all three died inglorious deaths, Phinehas’ wife delivered a son, whom she called Ichabod—that is, “Where is the glory?” Because of Eli’s grievous shortcomings, the presence of God (His glory) departed Israel when, on Eli’s watch, the ark was taken captive.
Seemingly, the ark of God’s presence among us has likewise been taken captive. It’s as if Ichabod marks our nation’s tattered portal. The good news is no matter how wayward His children, God always has a remnant of faithful believers through whom divine blessings flow. For this very purpose, God chose the patriarch Abraham to usher his descendants into a saving covenant relationship with Himself so that, through them, He would bring salvation and blessings to the entire world.
Despite Israel’s rebellious ways, God stirred revival—first within Jacob’s household, then through Asa, Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah. Christian writers (Tertullian, Irenaeus, Theophilus of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and others) testified of comparable renewal within the early church. Surely God’s work did not cease on distant shores of what has come to be known as the Holy Land.
Revivals Among Believers
Despite grievous failings of nation-states, God graciously stirs revivals and awakenings—revivals to embolden His church; awakenings to “seek and save the lost.” The “Quietism” movement was to France what Savonarola was to Italy and George Fox, John Bunyan, and John Wesley were to England. Through ministries of Lorenzo Dow and Peter Cartwright, the Holy Spirit visited and re-visited America’s shores from “sea to shining sea.”
God released grace through evangelist-theologians (Charles G. Finney), charismatics (Elder Jacob Knapp), Christian writers (Dr. A. J. Gordon and D.L. Moody of old New England Puritan stock), and itinerary preachers (as A. B. Earle who, in fifty years, traveled 325,000 miles throughout the United States and Canada).
The famous Quaker who founded Pennsylvania (William Penn), Bible scholars (Dr. Adam Clarke), missionaries to the Natives (David Brainerd), Congregational preachers (Edward Payson of New England), and music ministers (hymn writer Philip Paul Bliss) all carried the baton of revival in the early years of America’s history.
Next: Awakenings Among the Lost
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Let the sparks fly!
Part 3-of-3 (Scroll down for parts 1 & 2)
Collectivist Thought Control or Free-thinking Individualism?
According to Pew survey results, Americans have upended concern over moral values for economic issues that draw increasingly higher ratings in modern media. This, of course, provides all the more reason for conservative, faith-based publications, blogs, and talk-radio programs to recover and then run with our nation’s biblically-based moral compass.
What author-attorney James Hirsen refers to as op-ed “crockumentaries” function as dandy rein aids to advance and guide competing causes of liberalism, secularism, and partisanship. Fact is, reporters, writers, and others in the media vote overwhelmingly for liberal Democrats; and a substantial majority are “pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-separation of church and state, pro-feminism, pro-affirmative action, and supportive of gay rights” (Eric Alterman, What Liberal Media: The Truth about Bias and the News, 21).
This is well and good. It’s still America after all, but ponder this: Politician-industrialist Cecil John Rhodes reasoned that “the press owns the minds of the people.” Similarly, journalist, playwright, and essayist Arthur S. Miller referenced “a pervasive system of thought control” in the United States—this, by “employment of the mass media” coupled with “the system of public education.” Both, he added, tell people “what to think about.” Miller understood how the mainstream media—inclusive of publishing, entertainment, reporting—own people’s minds and direct their thinking.
I agree that the voice of honest conviction must not be silenced—and that it should be countered. The Bible likens this process to iron sharpening iron. When the politically-correct, collectivist mindset encounters what Scripture calls “the mind of Christ,” sparks fly; and the latter garners stones (of contention) or converts, as the case may be. Either way, the public is well served.
Let the Sparks Fly!
Until and unless the mainstream media cleans up its act and rethinks the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” public opinion will continue to plummet even beyond its current lowest level in more than twenty years of Pew Research surveys. Moreover, perception of media bias and independence will not only match, but surpass previous lows.
When articulating unwavering devotion to the ultimate plumb line of truth expounded line upon line, precept upon precept in the Holy Bible, I willingly duck flying rotten tomatoes. Agree with me or not, I invite you to hold back the tomatoes and imagine with me a super structure constructed without use of any benchmark level. What results is a cartoonish blob of ill-chosen, misfit building materials—not the integrated, skillfully rendered master design intended.
Let’s take this analogy a step further: Lack of any proven standard for truth reasonably results in folks pursuing what’s right in their own eyes. Given ever-evolving, self-centric values—propelled in part by the mainstream media—populist trends, complacency, apathy, mediocrity, dependency, anarchy, and control-by-force are inevitable. All belie the master design forged by godly forefathers.
My personal mandate is to “buy the truth and sell it not.” Accordingly, my job is not to insist that others think as I do. (Who was it that said “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”?) Rather I purpose to challenge the liberal, secular status quo with biblical perspective that, when rightly applied, has proved itself incontrovertibly worthy throughout the millennia.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by God’s Word. A person of faith, I base opinions expressed in my books and articles on that very Word. This I do as authentically, honorably, and objectively as my human limitations and bias allow.
A radio co-host, I speak my mind as freely, honestly, and honorably as I know how. For me, to dismiss Truth for expediency, or ratings, is beyond mere sell out. It’s a travesty.
So then, let the sparks fly!
Collectivist Thought Control or Free-thinking Individualism?
According to Pew survey results, Americans have upended concern over moral values for economic issues that draw increasingly higher ratings in modern media. This, of course, provides all the more reason for conservative, faith-based publications, blogs, and talk-radio programs to recover and then run with our nation’s biblically-based moral compass.
What author-attorney James Hirsen refers to as op-ed “crockumentaries” function as dandy rein aids to advance and guide competing causes of liberalism, secularism, and partisanship. Fact is, reporters, writers, and others in the media vote overwhelmingly for liberal Democrats; and a substantial majority are “pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-separation of church and state, pro-feminism, pro-affirmative action, and supportive of gay rights” (Eric Alterman, What Liberal Media: The Truth about Bias and the News, 21).
This is well and good. It’s still America after all, but ponder this: Politician-industrialist Cecil John Rhodes reasoned that “the press owns the minds of the people.” Similarly, journalist, playwright, and essayist Arthur S. Miller referenced “a pervasive system of thought control” in the United States—this, by “employment of the mass media” coupled with “the system of public education.” Both, he added, tell people “what to think about.” Miller understood how the mainstream media—inclusive of publishing, entertainment, reporting—own people’s minds and direct their thinking.
I agree that the voice of honest conviction must not be silenced—and that it should be countered. The Bible likens this process to iron sharpening iron. When the politically-correct, collectivist mindset encounters what Scripture calls “the mind of Christ,” sparks fly; and the latter garners stones (of contention) or converts, as the case may be. Either way, the public is well served.
Let the Sparks Fly!
Until and unless the mainstream media cleans up its act and rethinks the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” public opinion will continue to plummet even beyond its current lowest level in more than twenty years of Pew Research surveys. Moreover, perception of media bias and independence will not only match, but surpass previous lows.
When articulating unwavering devotion to the ultimate plumb line of truth expounded line upon line, precept upon precept in the Holy Bible, I willingly duck flying rotten tomatoes. Agree with me or not, I invite you to hold back the tomatoes and imagine with me a super structure constructed without use of any benchmark level. What results is a cartoonish blob of ill-chosen, misfit building materials—not the integrated, skillfully rendered master design intended.
Let’s take this analogy a step further: Lack of any proven standard for truth reasonably results in folks pursuing what’s right in their own eyes. Given ever-evolving, self-centric values—propelled in part by the mainstream media—populist trends, complacency, apathy, mediocrity, dependency, anarchy, and control-by-force are inevitable. All belie the master design forged by godly forefathers.
My personal mandate is to “buy the truth and sell it not.” Accordingly, my job is not to insist that others think as I do. (Who was it that said “a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still”?) Rather I purpose to challenge the liberal, secular status quo with biblical perspective that, when rightly applied, has proved itself incontrovertibly worthy throughout the millennia.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by God’s Word. A person of faith, I base opinions expressed in my books and articles on that very Word. This I do as authentically, honorably, and objectively as my human limitations and bias allow.
A radio co-host, I speak my mind as freely, honestly, and honorably as I know how. For me, to dismiss Truth for expediency, or ratings, is beyond mere sell out. It’s a travesty.
So then, let the sparks fly!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Riding the Air Waves of Radio
Part 2-of-3 (scroll down for part 1)
While not every voice (conservative, moderate, or liberal) is to my liking, freedom of speech remains the American way. Known for his scathing, right-wing analyses, Michael Savage stands out among the most controversial of radio talk-show hosts. In fact, Britain numbers him with twenty-two fellows deemed so extreme and intolerant that all are banned from even entering Britain.
This is the same Britain that welcomes Muslims who are among the most embittered in the western world—this, according to the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project. Only 32% of British Muslims tolerate Jews, and a 2009 Gallup poll reveals that these have zero tolerance toward homosexual acts.
“Selective tolerance” characterizes our side of the pond as well. Speaker Nancy Pelosi reports that House leaders will aggressively pursue legislation to reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine,” which in the name of “fairness” stifles controversial commentary and thereby tramples First-Amendment, free-speech principles. Threat of random warnings and investigations threaten to discourage broadcasters from airing anything that FCC bureaucrats might deem "unbalanced" (like “America, love it or leave it”?).
Dot-Com Journalism
In light of long-term disparagement of the press’ performance at multiple levels, the Internet is fast becoming a primary source for news-junkies in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Clearly, the Internet stands alone as a veritable treasure trove of information for just about every subject imaginable, and the burgeoning "blogosphere" is the up-and-coming primary source of instant news available worldwide to all who access it.
Non-discriminate Internet surfing promises to arm the gullible with a laughable arsenal of so-called knowledge, to be sure; however, on the upside, the Internet has given voice to unprecedented stockpiles of data and commentary well structured by the Wonder Wheel and colorfully enhanced by Sky Map (both compliments of Google).
Cyberspace offers provocative alternatives and nuances to views upheld by the Michael Moores and Michael Savages of this world. Through the blogosphere, the otherwise “silenced voice” of well-reasoned, oftentimes politically-incorrect ideology is heard; and pundits hold public servants to higher levels of authenticity and accountability because of it.
Next: "Collectivist Thought Control" (Part 3)
While not every voice (conservative, moderate, or liberal) is to my liking, freedom of speech remains the American way. Known for his scathing, right-wing analyses, Michael Savage stands out among the most controversial of radio talk-show hosts. In fact, Britain numbers him with twenty-two fellows deemed so extreme and intolerant that all are banned from even entering Britain.
This is the same Britain that welcomes Muslims who are among the most embittered in the western world—this, according to the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project. Only 32% of British Muslims tolerate Jews, and a 2009 Gallup poll reveals that these have zero tolerance toward homosexual acts.
“Selective tolerance” characterizes our side of the pond as well. Speaker Nancy Pelosi reports that House leaders will aggressively pursue legislation to reinstate the "Fairness Doctrine,” which in the name of “fairness” stifles controversial commentary and thereby tramples First-Amendment, free-speech principles. Threat of random warnings and investigations threaten to discourage broadcasters from airing anything that FCC bureaucrats might deem "unbalanced" (like “America, love it or leave it”?).
Dot-Com Journalism
In light of long-term disparagement of the press’ performance at multiple levels, the Internet is fast becoming a primary source for news-junkies in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Clearly, the Internet stands alone as a veritable treasure trove of information for just about every subject imaginable, and the burgeoning "blogosphere" is the up-and-coming primary source of instant news available worldwide to all who access it.
Non-discriminate Internet surfing promises to arm the gullible with a laughable arsenal of so-called knowledge, to be sure; however, on the upside, the Internet has given voice to unprecedented stockpiles of data and commentary well structured by the Wonder Wheel and colorfully enhanced by Sky Map (both compliments of Google).
Cyberspace offers provocative alternatives and nuances to views upheld by the Michael Moores and Michael Savages of this world. Through the blogosphere, the otherwise “silenced voice” of well-reasoned, oftentimes politically-incorrect ideology is heard; and pundits hold public servants to higher levels of authenticity and accountability because of it.
Next: "Collectivist Thought Control" (Part 3)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Chic Cheap Journalism and Faux-News
News Mags and "Crockumentaries"
Part 1-of-3
In recent years, “truth, justice, and the American way” have suffered deadly blows, as has the mainstream media. Today, nearly three-quarters of Pew survey respondents perceive news organizations to be unacceptably biased and overly influenced by the powerful.
Speaking of whom, Michael Moore has done it again. Time magazine celebrates his new movie (Capitalism: A Love Story) as Moore’s "magnum opus." Throngs of movie-viewers concur.
In a recent interview aired on CNN, Larry King characterized Moore as a propagandist, yes, but in the good sense of that term. Through good propaganda, Moore promises to anger some and (in his own words) to offer hope to others that, yes, we can turn around “the sick and twisted mess made by the last president.” BTW, a wag of the finger for former President Clinton presumes to render Moore’s purportedly nonpartisan political assessment as, uh, “fair and balanced”?
Still, I give it to him. When Moore defined market capitalism at its best, I agreed wholeheartedly. Then, Moore detailed how greed and self-interest have so skewed the ideal that it’s hardly recognizable anymore. Again, I was with him. But he lost me when, instead of righting a good system, he jumped the popular band wagon to denigrate what arguably represents the triumph of America’s historically unique, whole scale economic prosperity. Based on respect for rule of law, individual effort, and fair dealing, the free market allows ordinary people (like Moore, for example) to profit from their own talents and abilities.
Let’s see if I have it right. The system Moore trashes is the very one that initiated Moore (and King, I might add) into the ranks of America’s unconscionably wealthy minority; moreover, it’s a system America falls far short of modeling in its finest sense. Even so, rather than set a good system back on track, Moore would summarily throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water in exchange for what? An egalitarian super-status for the mass proletariat reflected in the State. Last I looked, this is naked Marxism.
It’s no wonder Republicans have been highly critical of the media’s performance—case in point, Moore on CNN. But since 2007, Democrats now show double-digit growth in their criticism of it. While just one-third of Democrats complain that the media is too down on America, this reflects a sizeable ten-point increase over just two short years.
News Magazines and “Crockumentaries”
At its core, propaganda provides information to influence others into a specific mindset and/or attitude. Self-serving selectivity of supporting data resonates nicely with any political agenda of choice. For this reason, propaganda is the darling of partisan politicking regardless of its leaning. Rather than inspire rational assessment, it tends rather to elicit emotional responses to targeted information, conveniently skewed to suit the desired outcome. What King calls “good propaganda” is success at raising important issues, and doing it well.
That said, student texts for my college course on Propaganda Analysis did not include the Communist Manifesto, as one might expect. Instead, for their liberal usage of propaganda devises, Newsweek and Time magazines were selected. As students, our task was to discriminate between solid news (“just the facts, ma’am”) and sloppy, one-sided bias (“sick and twisted mess made by the last president”).
In the realm of propaganda, opportunistic use of revisionism seals the deal, so that history unnecessarily repeats itself. “Never again” or “we won’t forget” rhetoric is swallowed up in mantras of change, hope, and “yes-we-can” speak on one side of the aisle—“mission accomplished,” “read my lips,” and “I’m no crook” on the other.
How quickly I learned that independent and/or God-centric mindedness relegates one to the ranks of a vast right-wing conspiracy, a sort of “mob” or ranting fringe group that warrants little or no credence. Apparently, this brand of propaganda isn’t the “good” type.
Next: "Riding the Air Waves of Radio"
Part 1-of-3
In recent years, “truth, justice, and the American way” have suffered deadly blows, as has the mainstream media. Today, nearly three-quarters of Pew survey respondents perceive news organizations to be unacceptably biased and overly influenced by the powerful.
Speaking of whom, Michael Moore has done it again. Time magazine celebrates his new movie (Capitalism: A Love Story) as Moore’s "magnum opus." Throngs of movie-viewers concur.
In a recent interview aired on CNN, Larry King characterized Moore as a propagandist, yes, but in the good sense of that term. Through good propaganda, Moore promises to anger some and (in his own words) to offer hope to others that, yes, we can turn around “the sick and twisted mess made by the last president.” BTW, a wag of the finger for former President Clinton presumes to render Moore’s purportedly nonpartisan political assessment as, uh, “fair and balanced”?
Still, I give it to him. When Moore defined market capitalism at its best, I agreed wholeheartedly. Then, Moore detailed how greed and self-interest have so skewed the ideal that it’s hardly recognizable anymore. Again, I was with him. But he lost me when, instead of righting a good system, he jumped the popular band wagon to denigrate what arguably represents the triumph of America’s historically unique, whole scale economic prosperity. Based on respect for rule of law, individual effort, and fair dealing, the free market allows ordinary people (like Moore, for example) to profit from their own talents and abilities.
Let’s see if I have it right. The system Moore trashes is the very one that initiated Moore (and King, I might add) into the ranks of America’s unconscionably wealthy minority; moreover, it’s a system America falls far short of modeling in its finest sense. Even so, rather than set a good system back on track, Moore would summarily throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water in exchange for what? An egalitarian super-status for the mass proletariat reflected in the State. Last I looked, this is naked Marxism.
It’s no wonder Republicans have been highly critical of the media’s performance—case in point, Moore on CNN. But since 2007, Democrats now show double-digit growth in their criticism of it. While just one-third of Democrats complain that the media is too down on America, this reflects a sizeable ten-point increase over just two short years.
News Magazines and “Crockumentaries”
At its core, propaganda provides information to influence others into a specific mindset and/or attitude. Self-serving selectivity of supporting data resonates nicely with any political agenda of choice. For this reason, propaganda is the darling of partisan politicking regardless of its leaning. Rather than inspire rational assessment, it tends rather to elicit emotional responses to targeted information, conveniently skewed to suit the desired outcome. What King calls “good propaganda” is success at raising important issues, and doing it well.
That said, student texts for my college course on Propaganda Analysis did not include the Communist Manifesto, as one might expect. Instead, for their liberal usage of propaganda devises, Newsweek and Time magazines were selected. As students, our task was to discriminate between solid news (“just the facts, ma’am”) and sloppy, one-sided bias (“sick and twisted mess made by the last president”).
In the realm of propaganda, opportunistic use of revisionism seals the deal, so that history unnecessarily repeats itself. “Never again” or “we won’t forget” rhetoric is swallowed up in mantras of change, hope, and “yes-we-can” speak on one side of the aisle—“mission accomplished,” “read my lips,” and “I’m no crook” on the other.
How quickly I learned that independent and/or God-centric mindedness relegates one to the ranks of a vast right-wing conspiracy, a sort of “mob” or ranting fringe group that warrants little or no credence. Apparently, this brand of propaganda isn’t the “good” type.
Next: "Riding the Air Waves of Radio"
Monday, September 14, 2009
Postmodern Morality
Part 3-of-3 (Scroll down for parts 1 & 2)
Through the revolving door of evolving values, childlike immoderation typically trumps mature moral moderation. Accordingly, today’s Olympic-class consumers all too often indulge in what they cannot afford—even if they have to beg, whine, steal, borrow or lie to get what they want. The perpetual child is “worth it” after all; and convenience, comfort and emotion drive the childlike masses.
Lying today is big business. On the heels of indulgence come web sites that provide tips for how to beat a polygraph or fabricate an alibi. A new survey by CareerBuilder.com reveals that over half of hiring managers admit to having caught a lie on a candidate’s application for employment (but just five percent of workers admit to fibbing on their résumés).
This Dot-Com’s vice president of human resources, Rosemary Haefner observes rightly that “catching a lie on a résumé raises a red flag about a candidate’s overall ethics.” The same holds true for students who plagiarize assignments. Crediting self for another’s efforts likewise introduces the leaven of deception. Not only is the offending student robbed of an important educational experience, but he also grasps credit from another whose time, effort and genius warrant due recognition.
Abraham Lincoln once noted, “What is morally wrong can never be politically right.” However, in the contemporary view of things, Lincoln’s maxim is perceived as archaic, old-fashioned and out of touch. Take, for example, the partisan tradition of mud-slinging. The political volley of name-calling not only hits below the belt; this contemporary practice serves also to uncover a culture gone awry.
To characterize all liberals as godless, bleeding-heart, pinko-communists and conservatives as intolerant, extremist right-wing ignoramuses hardly flatters the American ideal of one nation, indivisible under God, and offering liberty and justice to all.
A Little Leaven Leavens the Lump
By definition, leaven is an agent that causes a cook’s batter to rise when baked. By means of fermentation, leaven (yeast) gradually modifies and expands the dough. Metaphorically, leaven symbolizes sin or false doctrine. When mixed with the doctrine of God, a little leaven corrupts largely. Jesus shared the Parable of the Leaven to show how something small becomes something big.
The biblical principle finds expression in Lithuanian poet Czeslaw Milosz’s depiction of a tree of falsehood, grown from a small grain of truth. To “let one’s lie be even more logical than the truth itself” may well attract the weary traveler to find repose in it. Nonetheless, Lenin warned that “a lie told often enough becomes the truth” when bereft of a “grand meta-narrative” (big picture).
Bypassing accountability to God, self-serving “truth” morphs into nothing more than a social or personal construction; and reality dissolves into paltry bits and pieces. Societal permissiveness and partisan politics surely contribute, but America’s ills stem more from absence of the love of truth, lack of which is certain to yield what the Bible fingers as “unfruitful works of darkness.”
In the end, everyone pays for lies; and no one is the better for them.
Through the revolving door of evolving values, childlike immoderation typically trumps mature moral moderation. Accordingly, today’s Olympic-class consumers all too often indulge in what they cannot afford—even if they have to beg, whine, steal, borrow or lie to get what they want. The perpetual child is “worth it” after all; and convenience, comfort and emotion drive the childlike masses.
Lying today is big business. On the heels of indulgence come web sites that provide tips for how to beat a polygraph or fabricate an alibi. A new survey by CareerBuilder.com reveals that over half of hiring managers admit to having caught a lie on a candidate’s application for employment (but just five percent of workers admit to fibbing on their résumés).
This Dot-Com’s vice president of human resources, Rosemary Haefner observes rightly that “catching a lie on a résumé raises a red flag about a candidate’s overall ethics.” The same holds true for students who plagiarize assignments. Crediting self for another’s efforts likewise introduces the leaven of deception. Not only is the offending student robbed of an important educational experience, but he also grasps credit from another whose time, effort and genius warrant due recognition.
Abraham Lincoln once noted, “What is morally wrong can never be politically right.” However, in the contemporary view of things, Lincoln’s maxim is perceived as archaic, old-fashioned and out of touch. Take, for example, the partisan tradition of mud-slinging. The political volley of name-calling not only hits below the belt; this contemporary practice serves also to uncover a culture gone awry.
To characterize all liberals as godless, bleeding-heart, pinko-communists and conservatives as intolerant, extremist right-wing ignoramuses hardly flatters the American ideal of one nation, indivisible under God, and offering liberty and justice to all.
A Little Leaven Leavens the Lump
By definition, leaven is an agent that causes a cook’s batter to rise when baked. By means of fermentation, leaven (yeast) gradually modifies and expands the dough. Metaphorically, leaven symbolizes sin or false doctrine. When mixed with the doctrine of God, a little leaven corrupts largely. Jesus shared the Parable of the Leaven to show how something small becomes something big.
The biblical principle finds expression in Lithuanian poet Czeslaw Milosz’s depiction of a tree of falsehood, grown from a small grain of truth. To “let one’s lie be even more logical than the truth itself” may well attract the weary traveler to find repose in it. Nonetheless, Lenin warned that “a lie told often enough becomes the truth” when bereft of a “grand meta-narrative” (big picture).
Bypassing accountability to God, self-serving “truth” morphs into nothing more than a social or personal construction; and reality dissolves into paltry bits and pieces. Societal permissiveness and partisan politics surely contribute, but America’s ills stem more from absence of the love of truth, lack of which is certain to yield what the Bible fingers as “unfruitful works of darkness.”
In the end, everyone pays for lies; and no one is the better for them.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
So, then, who's to say?
Part 2-of-3
(Scroll down for Part 1)
Though the prevailing secular worldview elevates no moral code as superior over another, it’s downright trendy to single out and then castigate traditional morality for applying a “spurious moral compass.” This, of course, begs the question: How then is any moral distinction right or wrong if all are deemed spurious?
Consider Michael Galster. He threatened to expose a Health Management Association within the Arkansas penal system for harvesting from inmates blood that was tainted with hepatitis C and the HIV virus. Allegedly with full knowledge of prison authorities, the blood was shipped to several foreign countries, Canada included.
It is no accident, observes Dr. Rossiter, “that the greatest political system in human history was founded by devout Christians on the assumption that its citizens would live by Judeo-Christian ideals”—i.e., the Golden Rule—but there appears to be a new sheriff in town whose mandate is to leave no good deed unpunished!
For recipients of the contaminated blood and their loved ones, Galster’s moral distinction was far from spurious. What he wouldn’t want done to himself or his loved ones, he refused to do to others. For Galster’s truthfulness, however, he received no kudos, no pats on the back. Instead, he was fired and denied renewal of his orthopedic contract in the Cummins State Prison.
Pardonable Deception
Given the Lord’s very essence as “the Truth,” He hates “a lying tongue.” Even so, to protect their child from a murderous king, the loving parents of Moses engaged in a clear act of deception when, for three months, they hid him. In the end, an entire nation escaped bondage because of it!
Yet another deceiver, Rahab hid spies sent by Joshua prior to the siege of Jericho, thus earning her a spot in the biblical Hall-of-Fame. In both cases, morality is rightly relative to the situation and even opportunistic, though not in unscrupulous or unprincipled ways.
The ancient Greek tragedian, Sophocles, conceded that lying is not honorable; but “speaking dishonorably is pardonable when the truth entails tremendous ruin.” For example, if a knife-toting rapist-pedophile crashed into my home demanding access to my 12-year-old daughter, I would suffer no guilt for deliberately misdirecting him with a lie. Nor should a soldier suffer shame for withholding military intelligence from enemy interrogators whose intent is to inflict widespread harm.
On a lighter level, should a wife ask if her pants make her look fat, the husband does well to think twice before he answers! Most agree that a creative response is in order—e.g., “Honey, you look great to me no matter what you wear.” While arguably situational, relative and opportunistic, the response is true enough; and no one gets hurt by it.
A Nation of Liars
A leading public educator and founding father, Noah Webster recognized Christian faith as foundation for our nation’s public life—this, for good reason. Alongside divine enablement, “human instincts can be controlled only where the constraints of individual conscience are adequate, cultural morality supports their control and society’s laws deter their criminal expression” (Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., M.D., The Liberal Mind).
As a former first-grade teacher, later an administrator, I read this to mean that love of truth can and should be nurtured by carefully designed and well-communicated rules. When reasonable rules are enforced with kindness and consistency, classmates enjoy the good fruit of an emotionally safe and stable setting. Consequently, students naturally are drawn to truth, the love for which is nourished by experience and nurtured by good example.
For some, this description conjures up the unpleasant visual of a stern, spinster schoolmarm whose weapon in hand is a solid, stiff ruler poised to crack knuckles. This, of course, is far from the ideal, as is the permissive model that indulges carelessness. After all, when carelessness is given full reign, a culture rots from within. Samuel Johnson reminds us that “it is more from carelessness about truth than from intentionally lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.”
Next: Postmodern Morality
(Scroll down for Part 1)
Though the prevailing secular worldview elevates no moral code as superior over another, it’s downright trendy to single out and then castigate traditional morality for applying a “spurious moral compass.” This, of course, begs the question: How then is any moral distinction right or wrong if all are deemed spurious?
Consider Michael Galster. He threatened to expose a Health Management Association within the Arkansas penal system for harvesting from inmates blood that was tainted with hepatitis C and the HIV virus. Allegedly with full knowledge of prison authorities, the blood was shipped to several foreign countries, Canada included.
It is no accident, observes Dr. Rossiter, “that the greatest political system in human history was founded by devout Christians on the assumption that its citizens would live by Judeo-Christian ideals”—i.e., the Golden Rule—but there appears to be a new sheriff in town whose mandate is to leave no good deed unpunished!
For recipients of the contaminated blood and their loved ones, Galster’s moral distinction was far from spurious. What he wouldn’t want done to himself or his loved ones, he refused to do to others. For Galster’s truthfulness, however, he received no kudos, no pats on the back. Instead, he was fired and denied renewal of his orthopedic contract in the Cummins State Prison.
Pardonable Deception
Given the Lord’s very essence as “the Truth,” He hates “a lying tongue.” Even so, to protect their child from a murderous king, the loving parents of Moses engaged in a clear act of deception when, for three months, they hid him. In the end, an entire nation escaped bondage because of it!
Yet another deceiver, Rahab hid spies sent by Joshua prior to the siege of Jericho, thus earning her a spot in the biblical Hall-of-Fame. In both cases, morality is rightly relative to the situation and even opportunistic, though not in unscrupulous or unprincipled ways.
The ancient Greek tragedian, Sophocles, conceded that lying is not honorable; but “speaking dishonorably is pardonable when the truth entails tremendous ruin.” For example, if a knife-toting rapist-pedophile crashed into my home demanding access to my 12-year-old daughter, I would suffer no guilt for deliberately misdirecting him with a lie. Nor should a soldier suffer shame for withholding military intelligence from enemy interrogators whose intent is to inflict widespread harm.
On a lighter level, should a wife ask if her pants make her look fat, the husband does well to think twice before he answers! Most agree that a creative response is in order—e.g., “Honey, you look great to me no matter what you wear.” While arguably situational, relative and opportunistic, the response is true enough; and no one gets hurt by it.
A Nation of Liars
A leading public educator and founding father, Noah Webster recognized Christian faith as foundation for our nation’s public life—this, for good reason. Alongside divine enablement, “human instincts can be controlled only where the constraints of individual conscience are adequate, cultural morality supports their control and society’s laws deter their criminal expression” (Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., M.D., The Liberal Mind).
As a former first-grade teacher, later an administrator, I read this to mean that love of truth can and should be nurtured by carefully designed and well-communicated rules. When reasonable rules are enforced with kindness and consistency, classmates enjoy the good fruit of an emotionally safe and stable setting. Consequently, students naturally are drawn to truth, the love for which is nourished by experience and nurtured by good example.
For some, this description conjures up the unpleasant visual of a stern, spinster schoolmarm whose weapon in hand is a solid, stiff ruler poised to crack knuckles. This, of course, is far from the ideal, as is the permissive model that indulges carelessness. After all, when carelessness is given full reign, a culture rots from within. Samuel Johnson reminds us that “it is more from carelessness about truth than from intentionally lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.”
Next: Postmodern Morality
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!
Part 1-of-3
It may well be that “the devil is the father of lies,” but in the words of Josh Billings, “he neglected to patent the idea, and the business now suffers from competition.” Whereas in years past the lesson of Pinocchio spoke volumes to children who feared being found in falsity, deception by design has become today what Edmund Burke describes as “a perennial spring.”
Case in point: In the 1998 movie LIAR, LIAR Jim Carrey portrayed an attorney whose son wishes that he would stop his habitually lying. When the boy’s wish comes true, the “perennial spring” of lies dries up; but havoc ensues. Fact is attorneys are not lone liars. Politicians, students, business partners, mates, lovers, junkies, employees, employers, polygamists, attorneys, retailers, religious opportunists, masters of espionage, scam artists and crooks are honing to perfection the art of deception.
With hardly a bat of the eye, spouses lie to assuage their mates, and kids lie to escape discipline. Lawyers lie to whitewash clients, and criminals lie to escape justice. Speeders lie to avert tickets, and politicians lie to win elections. Parishioners lie to escape duty, and ministers lie to appear holy.
Falsehood: Its Twists and Turns
In the biblical sense, morality speaks to sexual chastity, honor, integrity and truthfulness. Granted, some falsehoods (oral or written) are unintentional—e.g., a misspoken word. On the other hand, some exploitatively promote self-interest. There’s the “little white lie” and out-and-out falsehood, birthed from whom the Bible characterizes as the “Father of Lies, a murderer from the beginning.”
Lies can be active (speaking untruth) or passive (failing to disclose full truth). They introduce logical contradictions or specious fallacies. If for entertainment purposes alone, some folks intentionally exaggerate or mislead. Others go beyond cleverness and trickery to defraud, unfairly discriminate or counterfeit.
The R-rated Imperative
So prevalent is the practice of falsehood that onlookers everywhere snickered when some years back the leader of the free world was caught in a tangled web of lies with respect to his sexual immorality. Many, if not most dismissed as inconsequential the memorable finger-in-the-face, bald-faced lie planted on them. The subject matter alone demands deception, they reasoned.
Moralists disagree; however, before mounting the proverbial high horse, these do well to recall that indicting an administration on the basis of lies, shredded documents, moral impropriety, abused power, laundered money, obstructed justice and the like is tricky business.
New York Times bestselling author Edward Klein described a standard, five-fold strategy employed within the White House: lie, deny, parse, stonewall and then go on the offense. We’ve all seen it in action—if truth be told, on both sides of the aisle. For every so-called liberal at fault, there is a conservative or moderate equally ensnared in wrong doing—and visa versa, of course.
Next: “So, then, who’s to say?”
It may well be that “the devil is the father of lies,” but in the words of Josh Billings, “he neglected to patent the idea, and the business now suffers from competition.” Whereas in years past the lesson of Pinocchio spoke volumes to children who feared being found in falsity, deception by design has become today what Edmund Burke describes as “a perennial spring.”
Case in point: In the 1998 movie LIAR, LIAR Jim Carrey portrayed an attorney whose son wishes that he would stop his habitually lying. When the boy’s wish comes true, the “perennial spring” of lies dries up; but havoc ensues. Fact is attorneys are not lone liars. Politicians, students, business partners, mates, lovers, junkies, employees, employers, polygamists, attorneys, retailers, religious opportunists, masters of espionage, scam artists and crooks are honing to perfection the art of deception.
With hardly a bat of the eye, spouses lie to assuage their mates, and kids lie to escape discipline. Lawyers lie to whitewash clients, and criminals lie to escape justice. Speeders lie to avert tickets, and politicians lie to win elections. Parishioners lie to escape duty, and ministers lie to appear holy.
Falsehood: Its Twists and Turns
In the biblical sense, morality speaks to sexual chastity, honor, integrity and truthfulness. Granted, some falsehoods (oral or written) are unintentional—e.g., a misspoken word. On the other hand, some exploitatively promote self-interest. There’s the “little white lie” and out-and-out falsehood, birthed from whom the Bible characterizes as the “Father of Lies, a murderer from the beginning.”
Lies can be active (speaking untruth) or passive (failing to disclose full truth). They introduce logical contradictions or specious fallacies. If for entertainment purposes alone, some folks intentionally exaggerate or mislead. Others go beyond cleverness and trickery to defraud, unfairly discriminate or counterfeit.
The R-rated Imperative
So prevalent is the practice of falsehood that onlookers everywhere snickered when some years back the leader of the free world was caught in a tangled web of lies with respect to his sexual immorality. Many, if not most dismissed as inconsequential the memorable finger-in-the-face, bald-faced lie planted on them. The subject matter alone demands deception, they reasoned.
Moralists disagree; however, before mounting the proverbial high horse, these do well to recall that indicting an administration on the basis of lies, shredded documents, moral impropriety, abused power, laundered money, obstructed justice and the like is tricky business.
New York Times bestselling author Edward Klein described a standard, five-fold strategy employed within the White House: lie, deny, parse, stonewall and then go on the offense. We’ve all seen it in action—if truth be told, on both sides of the aisle. For every so-called liberal at fault, there is a conservative or moderate equally ensnared in wrong doing—and visa versa, of course.
Next: “So, then, who’s to say?”
Monday, August 17, 2009
TECHNOLOGY AND NEW AGE SPIRITUALITY
Her Highness, Technology
Part 3-of-3
Serving as medium for an emerging world-wide, super-brain trust, cyberspace is breeding what Teilhard de Chardin dubbed the noosphere—i.e., cosmic consciousness. Proponents look to a mass planetary shift from the age of Pisces to that of Aquarius, distinguished by group- or cosmic- consciousness.
Having triumphed over matter—first, the geosphere (inanimate matter); then, the biosphere (biological life)—the duly enlightened and highly evolved look to planetary transformation marked by emergence of a new, superior species called homonoeticus.
Enter, one of the Bible’s most broadly-known futuristic phrases, “mark of the beast.” In these end-times, thusly illumined initiates will be required to receive such a mark—specifically, a “stamp” or “brand” attesting to ownership and subservience. Precursors to that mark include RFID technology using tattoos, implanted microchips and the like.
The Greek word for “mark” can also be rendered “an etching” or “a scrawling.” It’s possible to use non-invasive, high-frequency laser techniques to etch a barcode below the skin—even unbeknownst to its bearer while in an MRI machine, for instance. This barcode could be read remotely by microwave readers and used to track and then record every transaction of its unwitting bearer.
Technology and “the Good Death”
No wonder the death industry enjoys high profile, big-money organizational clout. Under the United Nations’ concept of sustainable development, the human population must be reduced, simple as that. So then, scientists cannibalize babies to make them into medicine. Others sell baby parts in the name of science; still others eliminate the unwanted by means of baby pesticides.
And why not? Belief in any postmortem consequences in heaven or hell has been relegated to obsolescence, and trendy naturalistic thought effectively eliminates human accountability to God. Rather than live circumspectly in the fear and admonition of God, transhumans actively prepare to become posthuman. To this end, they avail themselves of every current option for self-enhancement.
Because modern man has proclaimed himself the measure of all things, it is his presumed birthright to live “the good life” as he sees fit and, at its close, to choose “the good death”—whether by suicide, euthanasia, or as an expected outcome of some chosen lifestyle—with no regard for his Creator.
Many hope in the science of cryopreservation. Stored in liquid nitrogen (cryostasis), member patients of the Cryonics Institute expect to emerge whole, revived and rejuvenated to a greatly extended life span free from disease and the aging process—also, free from dependence on God Himself.
The Ultimate Techno-Augmented Arrogance
Autonomous souls naturally reason: "Perhaps man is not the end product of God's work. Perhaps man is the by-product of the process which will create God" (Michael Breazeale, 04/19/2009).
Clearly, techno-augmented arrogance knows no bounds. Once cosmic lemmings leap that slippery slope to out-and-out blasphemy, Her Highness Technology will have succeeded in turning “a revolution all her own”; and it won’t be pretty.
Part 3-of-3
Serving as medium for an emerging world-wide, super-brain trust, cyberspace is breeding what Teilhard de Chardin dubbed the noosphere—i.e., cosmic consciousness. Proponents look to a mass planetary shift from the age of Pisces to that of Aquarius, distinguished by group- or cosmic- consciousness.
Having triumphed over matter—first, the geosphere (inanimate matter); then, the biosphere (biological life)—the duly enlightened and highly evolved look to planetary transformation marked by emergence of a new, superior species called homonoeticus.
Enter, one of the Bible’s most broadly-known futuristic phrases, “mark of the beast.” In these end-times, thusly illumined initiates will be required to receive such a mark—specifically, a “stamp” or “brand” attesting to ownership and subservience. Precursors to that mark include RFID technology using tattoos, implanted microchips and the like.
The Greek word for “mark” can also be rendered “an etching” or “a scrawling.” It’s possible to use non-invasive, high-frequency laser techniques to etch a barcode below the skin—even unbeknownst to its bearer while in an MRI machine, for instance. This barcode could be read remotely by microwave readers and used to track and then record every transaction of its unwitting bearer.
Technology and “the Good Death”
No wonder the death industry enjoys high profile, big-money organizational clout. Under the United Nations’ concept of sustainable development, the human population must be reduced, simple as that. So then, scientists cannibalize babies to make them into medicine. Others sell baby parts in the name of science; still others eliminate the unwanted by means of baby pesticides.
And why not? Belief in any postmortem consequences in heaven or hell has been relegated to obsolescence, and trendy naturalistic thought effectively eliminates human accountability to God. Rather than live circumspectly in the fear and admonition of God, transhumans actively prepare to become posthuman. To this end, they avail themselves of every current option for self-enhancement.
Because modern man has proclaimed himself the measure of all things, it is his presumed birthright to live “the good life” as he sees fit and, at its close, to choose “the good death”—whether by suicide, euthanasia, or as an expected outcome of some chosen lifestyle—with no regard for his Creator.
Many hope in the science of cryopreservation. Stored in liquid nitrogen (cryostasis), member patients of the Cryonics Institute expect to emerge whole, revived and rejuvenated to a greatly extended life span free from disease and the aging process—also, free from dependence on God Himself.
The Ultimate Techno-Augmented Arrogance
Autonomous souls naturally reason: "Perhaps man is not the end product of God's work. Perhaps man is the by-product of the process which will create God" (Michael Breazeale, 04/19/2009).
Clearly, techno-augmented arrogance knows no bounds. Once cosmic lemmings leap that slippery slope to out-and-out blasphemy, Her Highness Technology will have succeeded in turning “a revolution all her own”; and it won’t be pretty.
Friday, July 24, 2009
TECHNOLOGY, THE SERVANT
Part 2-of-3
Good news: The Great Commission to take the Gospel to the four corners of earth rides the swelling wave of information technologies, which have advanced greatly since the science of communication and control (specifically, cybernetics) first emerged. That communication channels between distant locations are both flexible and direct serves well this noble cause.
Yet another example, Maria Lancaster is one profoundly blessed by technological know how. Her own adorable little girl, Elisha, was adopted as an embryo, having been frozen for four years. Thanks to modern technology, Elisha’s two little cells were flown Fed Ex across the country, then thawed before being transferred (at eight cells) to the waiting mother’s womb.
As Executive Director of Embryo Adoption Services of Cedar Park (Bothell, Washington), Lancaster offers the remarkable solution of “snowflake babies” for couples without contraindications to pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, but experiencing infertility problems nonetheless. Healthy children have been born from embryos frozen for more than twelve years; and through vitro fertilization (IVF), thousands of couples have been able to conceive and thereby establish loving families.
Surely, embryo adoption is great news for the nearly one-in-four couples who cannot conceive, as well as for hundreds of thousands of remaining human embryos who, following successful fertility treatments, are destroyed, used in research, held in freezers or sold for profit.
Technology, the Master
On the other hand, whom the Bible labels as “the ultimate murderer from the beginning” will opportunistically and increasingly lasso techno-knowledge for incredible evil.
Apparently, Her Highness Technology purposes to one-up even the Creator Himself. The race is on to create smarter-than-human intelligence—and to introduce mind-reading capabilities, implications for which are staggering. Argento also imagines a new breed of intentionally dumbed-down humanoids willing to work twenty hours a day without "comp time" or sick days.”
With this in view, RNAi is a system within living cells that helps to control which genes are active and how active they are. Applying RNA interference (RNAi) to produce human designer babies is worlds apart from silencing genes for decorative pigmentation in petunia plants, but an intriguing frontier nonetheless.
Perhaps the most commonly mentioned techno-vation is Artificial Intelligence, but there are others—e.g., direct brain-computer interfaces, biological augmentation of the brain, genetic engineering, ultra-high-resolution scans of the brain, followed by computer emulation. Technologies as these are fast approaching tipping-point sophistication.
Presently, the world community is well conditioned to submit to Her Highness Technology. At the consumer level, transportable technology has become a virtual human appendage. Be it in the car, while in line at the check-out counter, or even in a public bathroom stall, there is no escape from the cell phone. Arguably, what was intended to serve instead has become a master.
Good news: The Great Commission to take the Gospel to the four corners of earth rides the swelling wave of information technologies, which have advanced greatly since the science of communication and control (specifically, cybernetics) first emerged. That communication channels between distant locations are both flexible and direct serves well this noble cause.
Yet another example, Maria Lancaster is one profoundly blessed by technological know how. Her own adorable little girl, Elisha, was adopted as an embryo, having been frozen for four years. Thanks to modern technology, Elisha’s two little cells were flown Fed Ex across the country, then thawed before being transferred (at eight cells) to the waiting mother’s womb.
As Executive Director of Embryo Adoption Services of Cedar Park (Bothell, Washington), Lancaster offers the remarkable solution of “snowflake babies” for couples without contraindications to pregnancy, childbirth and parenting, but experiencing infertility problems nonetheless. Healthy children have been born from embryos frozen for more than twelve years; and through vitro fertilization (IVF), thousands of couples have been able to conceive and thereby establish loving families.
Surely, embryo adoption is great news for the nearly one-in-four couples who cannot conceive, as well as for hundreds of thousands of remaining human embryos who, following successful fertility treatments, are destroyed, used in research, held in freezers or sold for profit.
Technology, the Master
On the other hand, whom the Bible labels as “the ultimate murderer from the beginning” will opportunistically and increasingly lasso techno-knowledge for incredible evil.
Apparently, Her Highness Technology purposes to one-up even the Creator Himself. The race is on to create smarter-than-human intelligence—and to introduce mind-reading capabilities, implications for which are staggering. Argento also imagines a new breed of intentionally dumbed-down humanoids willing to work twenty hours a day without "comp time" or sick days.”
With this in view, RNAi is a system within living cells that helps to control which genes are active and how active they are. Applying RNA interference (RNAi) to produce human designer babies is worlds apart from silencing genes for decorative pigmentation in petunia plants, but an intriguing frontier nonetheless.
Perhaps the most commonly mentioned techno-vation is Artificial Intelligence, but there are others—e.g., direct brain-computer interfaces, biological augmentation of the brain, genetic engineering, ultra-high-resolution scans of the brain, followed by computer emulation. Technologies as these are fast approaching tipping-point sophistication.
Presently, the world community is well conditioned to submit to Her Highness Technology. At the consumer level, transportable technology has become a virtual human appendage. Be it in the car, while in line at the check-out counter, or even in a public bathroom stall, there is no escape from the cell phone. Arguably, what was intended to serve instead has become a master.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Her Highness Technology
Part 1of3
Classic Sci-Fi thrillers from the 1950s and 1960s feature special effects that portray colliding universes, UFOs, aliens, body snatchers and, yes, zombies. Though not especially convincing, and sometimes downright hokey, what now is perceived as retro-technology once captured the fancy of diehard movie buffs every where.
Today, even the most skeptical are riveted to (and mesmerized by) astounding special effects that command the silver screen. Beyond the frivolous, albeit powerful realm of cinematography, techno-genius uniquely shapes 21st-century global economics, governance, culture, morality and even spirituality.
Our Techno-Future
Radical information technologies that feature “quantum computing” and cutting-edge biotech advancements serve to reshape the marketplace, redistribute wealth and restructure society at large. As breast milk to a baby, technology breakthroughs nourish the burgeoning vision for a cyber-connected, one-world community.
Founder of the International Center for Technology Assessment, Andrew Kimbrell labels this would-be reality a “technotopia”; moreover, respected scholar O. B. Hardison likens faith in silicone devices to religious fervor transcending any mundane thrill of employing talking cars and functioning robots.
What’s not to like? The techno-god of our future promises efficient, renewable solar and/or electromagnetic energy; quantum teleportation; nano- and replicator- technologies (growing new cells for the cure); protective force fields; and emerging robotics. Spiritually, it holds promise for embracing self-god and, eventually, immortality.
To this end, cosmic educators, progressives, futurists and globalists target the world’s youth and then coach them in fanciful utopian ideologies most likely to be propelled and sustained by modern technology.
Techno-explosion Minus Bible Truth
Centuries before Christ, the prophet Daniel characterized a knowledge-infused “time of the end” with spot on precision: Then, global power brokers will function as “kings without kingdoms” over regions of the world “divided for gain.” Eventually, these regions will be linked under totalitarian global governance. With a dictatorial Prime Minister at the helm, the feckless dream of planetary utopianism is destined to play out as the mother of all nightmares.
The apostle Paul likewise warned that, despite influx of knowledge, end-time world citizens will bypass truth for deception. A seemingly endless abyss of information will ultimately crowd out authentic doctrinal formation. Already, broadly held esoteric belief systems are united by a compelling global agenda touting Earth worship, sustainability, collectivism and illuminism.
Techno-fascism
"Among the best investigative journalists money can't buy” and host of sillyConValley.net, Rob Argento of Hampstead, North Carolina characterizes this rising phenomenon as techno-fascism. As consultant and/or staff writer, the former technical communications specialist for Valley heavyweights—e.g., Microsoft, Oracle, Xerox and VeriSign—produced technical documents that elucidated "bleeding-edge" technologies ranging from human-computer interfaces to exotic e-commerce and bioinformatics.
Argento knows what he’s talking about when he describes Silicon Valley as a culture and state of mind. In his own words, “The Valley had set out to change the world. But by the dawn of the new millennium, it was the world that had changed the Valley.”
“Maybe it was all that Y2K ballyhoo; maybe it was the Dot Com Dot Bomb. Or maybe it was Bin Laden's Magic Carpet ride through the Twin Towers making them appear to collapse just like a computer-controlled demolition,” he adds. “More likely, though, it was simply a steadily rising sense that Her Highness Technology, unfurling faster than any single human mind could possibly track, was gradually turning a revolution all her own.”
Arguably, no generation has been more entertained or more connected than ours. On the down side, prophetic scripture instructs that the world dictator-to-come will “play god” and exercise extraordinary power, signs and lying wonders. As never before, these will be rendered possible by deceptive techno-savvy—i.e., generating arbitrary scenes by a holographic volumetric display.
Accordingly, human aspirations and values are fast deferring to ruthless cravings for technocratic dominance, status, wealth and accompanying power. There’s no turning back from participatory technology (virtual reality), digital television and cash, robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence—their benefits and their trappings.
Next week: "Technology the Servant"
Classic Sci-Fi thrillers from the 1950s and 1960s feature special effects that portray colliding universes, UFOs, aliens, body snatchers and, yes, zombies. Though not especially convincing, and sometimes downright hokey, what now is perceived as retro-technology once captured the fancy of diehard movie buffs every where.
Today, even the most skeptical are riveted to (and mesmerized by) astounding special effects that command the silver screen. Beyond the frivolous, albeit powerful realm of cinematography, techno-genius uniquely shapes 21st-century global economics, governance, culture, morality and even spirituality.
Our Techno-Future
Radical information technologies that feature “quantum computing” and cutting-edge biotech advancements serve to reshape the marketplace, redistribute wealth and restructure society at large. As breast milk to a baby, technology breakthroughs nourish the burgeoning vision for a cyber-connected, one-world community.
Founder of the International Center for Technology Assessment, Andrew Kimbrell labels this would-be reality a “technotopia”; moreover, respected scholar O. B. Hardison likens faith in silicone devices to religious fervor transcending any mundane thrill of employing talking cars and functioning robots.
What’s not to like? The techno-god of our future promises efficient, renewable solar and/or electromagnetic energy; quantum teleportation; nano- and replicator- technologies (growing new cells for the cure); protective force fields; and emerging robotics. Spiritually, it holds promise for embracing self-god and, eventually, immortality.
To this end, cosmic educators, progressives, futurists and globalists target the world’s youth and then coach them in fanciful utopian ideologies most likely to be propelled and sustained by modern technology.
Techno-explosion Minus Bible Truth
Centuries before Christ, the prophet Daniel characterized a knowledge-infused “time of the end” with spot on precision: Then, global power brokers will function as “kings without kingdoms” over regions of the world “divided for gain.” Eventually, these regions will be linked under totalitarian global governance. With a dictatorial Prime Minister at the helm, the feckless dream of planetary utopianism is destined to play out as the mother of all nightmares.
The apostle Paul likewise warned that, despite influx of knowledge, end-time world citizens will bypass truth for deception. A seemingly endless abyss of information will ultimately crowd out authentic doctrinal formation. Already, broadly held esoteric belief systems are united by a compelling global agenda touting Earth worship, sustainability, collectivism and illuminism.
Techno-fascism
"Among the best investigative journalists money can't buy” and host of sillyConValley.net, Rob Argento of Hampstead, North Carolina characterizes this rising phenomenon as techno-fascism. As consultant and/or staff writer, the former technical communications specialist for Valley heavyweights—e.g., Microsoft, Oracle, Xerox and VeriSign—produced technical documents that elucidated "bleeding-edge" technologies ranging from human-computer interfaces to exotic e-commerce and bioinformatics.
Argento knows what he’s talking about when he describes Silicon Valley as a culture and state of mind. In his own words, “The Valley had set out to change the world. But by the dawn of the new millennium, it was the world that had changed the Valley.”
“Maybe it was all that Y2K ballyhoo; maybe it was the Dot Com Dot Bomb. Or maybe it was Bin Laden's Magic Carpet ride through the Twin Towers making them appear to collapse just like a computer-controlled demolition,” he adds. “More likely, though, it was simply a steadily rising sense that Her Highness Technology, unfurling faster than any single human mind could possibly track, was gradually turning a revolution all her own.”
Arguably, no generation has been more entertained or more connected than ours. On the down side, prophetic scripture instructs that the world dictator-to-come will “play god” and exercise extraordinary power, signs and lying wonders. As never before, these will be rendered possible by deceptive techno-savvy—i.e., generating arbitrary scenes by a holographic volumetric display.
Accordingly, human aspirations and values are fast deferring to ruthless cravings for technocratic dominance, status, wealth and accompanying power. There’s no turning back from participatory technology (virtual reality), digital television and cash, robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence—their benefits and their trappings.
Next week: "Technology the Servant"
Friday, July 10, 2009
Where's the Hope?
Part 3of3
Strategic Lunacy
Senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal editorial page Stephen Moore explains: Politicians invariably create and then respond to crises by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs.
The downward spiral repeats itself until productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.
The more incompetent one is in business, the more handouts the politicians bestow. That's precisely the justification for subsidies doled out to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses and auto companies.
Even so, President Obama is on record as regretting that Supreme Court decisions have not been radical enough to order redistribution of wealth. Problem is, when profits, wealth and creativity are denigrated, they start to disappear, leaving everyone the poorer (Phyllis Schlafly Report, December 2008).
Throughout life’s journey, each must carry his own backpack or burden. Excessively heavy ones are rightfully shared; however, as a rule, the industrious (not sluggards, nor shysters) are deemed “worthy of their hire.” That is to say, these are blessed with the fruit of their own labors (Galatians 6:5; Romans 15:1; 1 Timothy 5:18).
The Asian Century
For many, a new administration refreshes hope for desired change in pursuit of a better America. However, many in the media have begun referring to the 21st century as the Asian Century—this, because of the predicted growing power in Asia. With it comes Eastern mysticism.
When merged with the conciliatory gospel of the West, neo-pantheistic syncretism debases our culture, work ethic, private property and free enterprise. To the contrary, the exercise of sound biblical principles—hard work as unto the Lord, discretionary spending, earth stewardship and cheerful generosity—is certain to sustain free society propelled by biblical ethic.
Where’s the Hope?
If cross-cultural iniquity abounds at all levels of society, as surely it does, the question remains: Where’s hope to be found when cynicism, paranoia, fear, mistrust, blame, greed and spiritual deception dominate?
The answer’s surely not to be found in global politics, economics or religious systems. Instead, “Messenger of Hope” David Bryant has issued a joyful manifesto on the supremacy of God’s son through which he emphasizes these four goals: proclaim a comprehensive vision of Christ’s supremacy, awaken hope focused on this larger vision, empower then mobilize leaders, and equip other “Messengers of Hope” to follow suit.
Herein lays our hope as Americans: an uncontrollable spiritual brush fire that ultimately yields the triumph of God’s global charge, not man’s counterfeit of it. By awakening to an unfolding revelation of God’s glory, believers will experience fresh winds of passion, mission and—yes—hope that can’t be quelled no matter the prevailing circumstances.
Strategic Lunacy
Senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal editorial page Stephen Moore explains: Politicians invariably create and then respond to crises by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs.
The downward spiral repeats itself until productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism.
The more incompetent one is in business, the more handouts the politicians bestow. That's precisely the justification for subsidies doled out to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks, Wall Street investment houses and auto companies.
Even so, President Obama is on record as regretting that Supreme Court decisions have not been radical enough to order redistribution of wealth. Problem is, when profits, wealth and creativity are denigrated, they start to disappear, leaving everyone the poorer (Phyllis Schlafly Report, December 2008).
Throughout life’s journey, each must carry his own backpack or burden. Excessively heavy ones are rightfully shared; however, as a rule, the industrious (not sluggards, nor shysters) are deemed “worthy of their hire.” That is to say, these are blessed with the fruit of their own labors (Galatians 6:5; Romans 15:1; 1 Timothy 5:18).
The Asian Century
For many, a new administration refreshes hope for desired change in pursuit of a better America. However, many in the media have begun referring to the 21st century as the Asian Century—this, because of the predicted growing power in Asia. With it comes Eastern mysticism.
When merged with the conciliatory gospel of the West, neo-pantheistic syncretism debases our culture, work ethic, private property and free enterprise. To the contrary, the exercise of sound biblical principles—hard work as unto the Lord, discretionary spending, earth stewardship and cheerful generosity—is certain to sustain free society propelled by biblical ethic.
Where’s the Hope?
If cross-cultural iniquity abounds at all levels of society, as surely it does, the question remains: Where’s hope to be found when cynicism, paranoia, fear, mistrust, blame, greed and spiritual deception dominate?
The answer’s surely not to be found in global politics, economics or religious systems. Instead, “Messenger of Hope” David Bryant has issued a joyful manifesto on the supremacy of God’s son through which he emphasizes these four goals: proclaim a comprehensive vision of Christ’s supremacy, awaken hope focused on this larger vision, empower then mobilize leaders, and equip other “Messengers of Hope” to follow suit.
Herein lays our hope as Americans: an uncontrollable spiritual brush fire that ultimately yields the triumph of God’s global charge, not man’s counterfeit of it. By awakening to an unfolding revelation of God’s glory, believers will experience fresh winds of passion, mission and—yes—hope that can’t be quelled no matter the prevailing circumstances.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Ethnos (Race) v. Ethnos (Race)
Part 2of3
(See Part 1 below)
One cannot discount inspiration derived from the Obama story. That said, on more than one occasion, even African-American Pastor Clenard Childress has spoken out against the President.
In having “prevailed against the system,” Obama broke a long-standing glass ceiling. Thus, he rendered as moot the racially-propelled, now outmoded “blame game” that for decades had served only to fragment American society (World, 6 December 2008).
Or did he? It has been alleged that Obama’s autobiography Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is “obsessed with race and race conflict.” Portraying U.S. history as a consistent tale of oppression, Obama stews about injustices he never personally experienced.
Such rhetoric serves only to further fragment society with festering mistrust and unstoppable blame. Thankfully, God is “no respecter of persons.” Hope for color- and culture-blind unity characterizes the kingdom of God in which neither male nor female, bond nor free takes precedence (Acts 10:34; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
Atlas Shrugged
Having grown up under Communism in Soviet Russia, author Ayn Rand gained insights into the destructiveness of socialism. Her classic novel, Atlas Shrugged, describes economic carnage caused by big government run amok. Although Rand foresaw our making the same politically expedient mistakes, America’s politicians remain hell bent on committing the very acts of economic lunacy that Rand parodied in 1957.
As America goes, so goes the world; and—make no mistake—President Obama’s 83-page Blueprint for Change calls for vast expansion of federal government. From the perspective of Georgia Congressman Paul Broun, the Blueprint is an obvious call for socialism.
Unfortunately, “none are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free” (Goethe). There is liberty for the captive only where the spirit of the Lord is. Truth is what sets us free (Isaiah 61:1; John 8:32).
Rights-based Liberalism
An up-and-coming global force, President Obama has expressed strong commitment to the U.N. and its various sovereignty-compromising programs—specifically, the U.N. Millennium Development Goals 2000. Embraced by 191 U.N. Member States, eight targeted goals serve developing countries and empower women.
Be sure, formal world federalism is well linked to rights-based liberalism. Over just a few years, Americans will be required to ante up hundreds of billions of dollars that will do precious little to improve the plight of the world’s poor. Instead, their taxes will serve only to strengthen the U.N. and enrich corrupt foreign dictators.
Though we have the poor with us always, God will not forsake nor see His seed begging for bread. This is a certain hope (Matthew 26:11; Psalms 37:25).
(See Part 1 below)
One cannot discount inspiration derived from the Obama story. That said, on more than one occasion, even African-American Pastor Clenard Childress has spoken out against the President.
In having “prevailed against the system,” Obama broke a long-standing glass ceiling. Thus, he rendered as moot the racially-propelled, now outmoded “blame game” that for decades had served only to fragment American society (World, 6 December 2008).
Or did he? It has been alleged that Obama’s autobiography Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance is “obsessed with race and race conflict.” Portraying U.S. history as a consistent tale of oppression, Obama stews about injustices he never personally experienced.
Such rhetoric serves only to further fragment society with festering mistrust and unstoppable blame. Thankfully, God is “no respecter of persons.” Hope for color- and culture-blind unity characterizes the kingdom of God in which neither male nor female, bond nor free takes precedence (Acts 10:34; 1 Corinthians 12:13).
Atlas Shrugged
Having grown up under Communism in Soviet Russia, author Ayn Rand gained insights into the destructiveness of socialism. Her classic novel, Atlas Shrugged, describes economic carnage caused by big government run amok. Although Rand foresaw our making the same politically expedient mistakes, America’s politicians remain hell bent on committing the very acts of economic lunacy that Rand parodied in 1957.
As America goes, so goes the world; and—make no mistake—President Obama’s 83-page Blueprint for Change calls for vast expansion of federal government. From the perspective of Georgia Congressman Paul Broun, the Blueprint is an obvious call for socialism.
Unfortunately, “none are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free” (Goethe). There is liberty for the captive only where the spirit of the Lord is. Truth is what sets us free (Isaiah 61:1; John 8:32).
Rights-based Liberalism
An up-and-coming global force, President Obama has expressed strong commitment to the U.N. and its various sovereignty-compromising programs—specifically, the U.N. Millennium Development Goals 2000. Embraced by 191 U.N. Member States, eight targeted goals serve developing countries and empower women.
Be sure, formal world federalism is well linked to rights-based liberalism. Over just a few years, Americans will be required to ante up hundreds of billions of dollars that will do precious little to improve the plight of the world’s poor. Instead, their taxes will serve only to strengthen the U.N. and enrich corrupt foreign dictators.
Though we have the poor with us always, God will not forsake nor see His seed begging for bread. This is a certain hope (Matthew 26:11; Psalms 37:25).
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sign of the Times: First the Bad News
Jesus told His disciples that the close of the age would be distinguished by signs, one of which is “abounding iniquity.” Arguably, childlike innocence is more a relic of the past than it is the norm. For good reason folks seldom leave keys in unattended cars, or bedroom windows wide open while sleeping.
Sadly, it would take eight Vietnams to fill as many graves as have been packed by Americans killed by fellow citizens. Crime originates from every rung of society. Daily, misdeeds of powerful politicians and self-serving corporate executives demonstrate our “losing the sense of shame that once accompanied the act of theft, private or public” (Lawrence W. Reed, “Ideas on Liberty,” THE FREEMAN 2008).
Although cynicism abounds, understandably so, those who hope in the Lord remain “of good courage” and “strengthened in heart” (Psalms 31:24).
Most Maligned Mandates
Perhaps more than ever “the wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men” (Ps. 12:8, NIV). Ask Swedish Pastor Ake Green, sentenced to a month in prison for “disrespecting” homosexuals. While preaching the Bible landed the good pastor in the slammer, Milk landed an Oscar for screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
Evidently, progressive Americans embrace what God most hates—namely, wicked imaginations, pride and hands that shed innocent blood (Proverbs 6:16ff). Hence, all the while African-Americans are fighting the high toll of abortion on their own communities (aptly labeled Black Genocide) President Obama emerges as “the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.”
Especially with respect to issues of life and traditional marriage, there is “a growing paranoia about evangelical influence in American politics. The academic and journalistic left used to dismiss followers of Jesus as boobs. Now some see [them] as diabolical; … and what once was laughed at may soon be legislated against” (Marvin Olasky, World, Sept 2008).
For these, hope is found in the surety that where sin abounds, God’s grace super abounds (Romans 5:20).
Wars and Rumors Thereof
Bible prophecy has been proven accurate: More wars have been fought in the last 200 years than in all of the preceding 1700 years combined. It has been asserted that prior to 9-11, the Iranian regime was responsible, if only indirectly, for the murder of more Americans than any other country or organization in the world.
Fact is Iran remains our principle enemy in the Middle East. Not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but rather Khomeini’s successor Ali Khamenei bears the title of “Supreme Leader.” It is he demanding “DEATH TO AMERICA” and the Lesser Satan, Israel (Former White House National Security advisor, Michael Ledeen, The Iranian Time Bomb).
Global tensions are not restricted to the plight of Palestine or God-sanctioned Israeli entitlement. Amidst a devastating gas dispute, Russia recently cut off all gas supplies to Europe—this, without warning—and thereby demonstrated Moscow’s confrontational posture toward the West. With Russia behind him, Chavez is likely to fill the vacuum left by Fidel Castro. Loss of Latin America to Moscow-backed Chavez is a growing threat.
Adding insult to injury, terrorist cells continue to grow worldwide in some forty nations. Within the week of its occurrence, Golda Meir’s former body guard Juval Aviv accurately predicted the London subway bombing. As President and CEO of an international corporate intelligence and investigations firm based in New York, he now foresees an imminent terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Calamitous threats as these contribute to widespread anxiety, but Bible believers experience “peace that passes understanding.” Theirs is “a better hope” than what the world has to offer (Philippians 4:7; Hebrews 7:19).
Next week: Ethnos (Race) v. Ethnos (Race)
Sadly, it would take eight Vietnams to fill as many graves as have been packed by Americans killed by fellow citizens. Crime originates from every rung of society. Daily, misdeeds of powerful politicians and self-serving corporate executives demonstrate our “losing the sense of shame that once accompanied the act of theft, private or public” (Lawrence W. Reed, “Ideas on Liberty,” THE FREEMAN 2008).
Although cynicism abounds, understandably so, those who hope in the Lord remain “of good courage” and “strengthened in heart” (Psalms 31:24).
Most Maligned Mandates
Perhaps more than ever “the wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men” (Ps. 12:8, NIV). Ask Swedish Pastor Ake Green, sentenced to a month in prison for “disrespecting” homosexuals. While preaching the Bible landed the good pastor in the slammer, Milk landed an Oscar for screenwriter Dustin Lance Black.
Evidently, progressive Americans embrace what God most hates—namely, wicked imaginations, pride and hands that shed innocent blood (Proverbs 6:16ff). Hence, all the while African-Americans are fighting the high toll of abortion on their own communities (aptly labeled Black Genocide) President Obama emerges as “the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.”
Especially with respect to issues of life and traditional marriage, there is “a growing paranoia about evangelical influence in American politics. The academic and journalistic left used to dismiss followers of Jesus as boobs. Now some see [them] as diabolical; … and what once was laughed at may soon be legislated against” (Marvin Olasky, World, Sept 2008).
For these, hope is found in the surety that where sin abounds, God’s grace super abounds (Romans 5:20).
Wars and Rumors Thereof
Bible prophecy has been proven accurate: More wars have been fought in the last 200 years than in all of the preceding 1700 years combined. It has been asserted that prior to 9-11, the Iranian regime was responsible, if only indirectly, for the murder of more Americans than any other country or organization in the world.
Fact is Iran remains our principle enemy in the Middle East. Not President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but rather Khomeini’s successor Ali Khamenei bears the title of “Supreme Leader.” It is he demanding “DEATH TO AMERICA” and the Lesser Satan, Israel (Former White House National Security advisor, Michael Ledeen, The Iranian Time Bomb).
Global tensions are not restricted to the plight of Palestine or God-sanctioned Israeli entitlement. Amidst a devastating gas dispute, Russia recently cut off all gas supplies to Europe—this, without warning—and thereby demonstrated Moscow’s confrontational posture toward the West. With Russia behind him, Chavez is likely to fill the vacuum left by Fidel Castro. Loss of Latin America to Moscow-backed Chavez is a growing threat.
Adding insult to injury, terrorist cells continue to grow worldwide in some forty nations. Within the week of its occurrence, Golda Meir’s former body guard Juval Aviv accurately predicted the London subway bombing. As President and CEO of an international corporate intelligence and investigations firm based in New York, he now foresees an imminent terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
Calamitous threats as these contribute to widespread anxiety, but Bible believers experience “peace that passes understanding.” Theirs is “a better hope” than what the world has to offer (Philippians 4:7; Hebrews 7:19).
Next week: Ethnos (Race) v. Ethnos (Race)
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Where's the Hope in 2009?
Signs of the Times: Sacred Secrets, Angels and Demons
Part 6 of 7
Last-day theology is a major theme throughout the Bible’s poetic books, major- and minor- prophets, Pauline- and general- epistles, the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. The Bible answers humanity’s age-abiding question, “What does the future hold?” And today vigilant believers witness the wrap-up of human history as signaled by economic and political upheavals, a series of armed conflicts, intensified natural disasters, increasing immorality, religious deception and persecution. Despite manifest hostility toward them, the faithful are called and destined to be diligent “keepers of our Lord’s goods.”
“Faithful Keepers of His Goods” (Matthew 24:47)
Some such “keepers” are unlikely fellows. Take, for example, Palestinian Yusef Hassan. In January 2009, Jonathan Hunt told his remarkable story on Fox news with Bill Hemmer.
It goes like this: In December 1987 the first intifada (uprising) began. At the tender age of ten, Hassan believed this to be his destiny. Heir apparent to his father—an associate of the Muslim Brotherhood and founder of HAMAS—Hassan participated in the Islamic Youth Movement and served as president of the Islamic Student Union.
Eventually, Hassan turned against HAMAS when he witnessed its membership torture and kill their own. That his “heroes” placed so little value on human life shattered Hassan’s faith until his secret, side-by-side study of the Bible with the Qu’ran resulted in Hassan’s conversion to evangelical Christianity. Although a death sentence followed Hassan to America, he nonetheless applied for political asylum, was baptized in the Pacific Ocean and joined fellow believers in “keeping the Lord’s goods.” Weapons of Hassan’s warfare are no longer of the carnal variety.
“His Goods” or Counterfeits?
Author Dan Brown has his own take on matters of “keeping faith,” torture and death—inflicted by the fearful, power-hungry Christian church in his scenario. With that in mind, come May 2009, Brown’s best-selling novel Angels and Demons will take to the big screen. Its predecessor, the Da Vinci Code, likewise featured Tom Hanks, whose expert styling under directorship of Ron Howard put legs to “the biggest selling adult hardback fiction book of all time.”
Admittedly, Brown’s novel is a clever, smart, riddle-filled thriller. While its plot formula is predictable, suspenseful cliff hangers beg resolution that, more often than not, lends an element of surprise. Herein is the problem: Although Brown’s work is fiction, it’s packaged and served up as historically and theologically intact nonfiction. Only to discerning viewers do the ancient signs, symbols, code names and mystic elements belie its presumed-to-be “Christian” facade. Less astute fans are likely to find their core convictions challenged while themselves becoming entangled in a dark web of esoteric delusion.
In Angels and Demons, a theo-physicist is perceived as an oxymoron; and deified science is destined to demote all gods to the inglorious status of false idols. Since Brown portrays loss of generic faith as more consequential than its fundamental nature, religious lies are justified to preserve any semblance of conviction, whether with merit or not. By example, the singular “religious experience” of protagonist Robert Langdon is characterized as “a perfect moment of glorious rapture” when a beautiful seductress (a yoga master no less!) slips off her robe to bed him.
Similarly, in the Da Vinci Code, Christ’s spiritual enlightenment allegedly results from sexual union with Mary Magdalene. Fruitful sex purportedly perpetuates royal bloodlines—his (Judah) and hers (Benjamin). Be sure, Professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University Paul L. Maier soundly debunks such poppycock. Indeed, there exists no record of Mary’s Jewish tribal affiliation, nor do members of the Tribe of Benjamin have rightful claim to royal blood.
A “Keeper” or “Counterfeiter”?
Unlike Palestinian Yusef Hassan, once converted to Christ, those portrayed as “keepers” in Brown’s worldview are religious secret societies—namely, the Priory of Sion (Da Vinci Code) and illumined scientists (Angels and Demons). All undermine the Christian faith; many inflict gruesome torture and commit multiple acts of murder in the name of “truth.”
On Good Morning America, Charlie Gibson asked Brown: “If you had written [your novel] as a non-fiction book, how would it have been different?” Brown’s response: It wouldn’t. He explained further that he began his research as a skeptic; but following numerous trips to Europe and about two years of research, he became “a believer”—but in what?
In Brown’s world, the deity of Jesus Christ and inspiration of Scripture are shams. Jesus was a mere mortal, not God. When He died, his wife Mary Magdalene was pregnant with his only child, a daughter named Sarah. Keepers of this alleged “truth” are either fictitious or counterfeit. Either way, historical documentation is no where to be found.
Despite his unorthodoxy, Brown claims to be a Christian, yet distinguishes himself from those who accept “the Bible as absolute historical fact.” A self-proclaimed “student of many religions” following his own path of enlightenment, Brown obsesses on ancient occult mysteries. Go figure why Emerging Church leader Brian McClaren dismisses Brown’s plunge into the arcane as “no more damaging than the popular Left Behind novels.”
Innocent Fun or Blasphemy?
In Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2004), Darrell L. Bock insists that The Code is “not a mere work of fiction dressed in the clothes of quasi nonfiction.” Instead, he explains, “It reflects an effort to represent and, in some cases, rewrite history with a selective use of ancient evidence.” The same applies to Angels and Demons.
So compelling is Brown’s work that many a Christian has toppled under the weight of his bogus claim to absolute accuracy respecting “all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals.” Not long ago, Time Magazine named Brown one of the World's 100 Most Influential People. So, then, we have a highly influential writer of “fictional” novels that meld revisionist history with “hidden secrets” the author himself believes to be true. Brown’s is a brilliant formula for heresy.
Accordingly, Brown’s characters advance lessons that stray far from sound historical evidence and canonized text of Scripture. In Brown’s world, faith in “man’s inherent goodness,” iconology and sacred symbols embody truth; sometimes lying is good and praying to “every god one can think of” makes sense. To Brown, cosmic symmetry speaks to karma (cause and effect); yin/yang (horror and hope). Hence, he offsets grotesque scenes of bodily mutilation and debauchery with mindless hope in “Christian” orthodoxy that reeks of obsolescence.
True to popular culture, Brown exposes those presumed to be devout as frauds and hypocrites who, through force and terror, hide essential facts for self-interest. On the other hand, Brown’s skewed history shows Satanists to be educated, enlightened (albeit lawless) men who rightfully oppose Church brutality.
Controversy or No?
On his official web page, Brown says he can't imagine why his writing might be considered controversial. Yet the most “authoritative figure” in the Da Vinci Code claims that our Bible “was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda to solidify their own power base.” As a result, “almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” Not least of which: the deity of Christ.
To the contrary, the apostle Paul, whose epistles predate the Gospels, called Jesus “Lord through whom all things came”; “the image of the invisible God” and “creator of all things.” Furthermore, in his seminal work, Early Christian Doctrines, Dr. Kelly affirms that “the all but universal Christian conviction in the preceding centuries to Nicaea had been that Jesus Christ was divine as well as human.”
Fact is, the Emperor Constantine did not “fix” the Canon of Scripture, nor was Jesus’ divinity determined by vote at Nicaea. Parchments dating prior to AD 325 and fragments of John’s Gospel dating around AD 130 indicate no such embellishment (Nicky Gumbel, Alpha International). Composed of key Christian leaders of the time, the Nicaea Council actually confirmed longstanding belief in Christ’s divinity by an overwhelming vote of 316 to two.
Applying the rule of direct- or indirect- apostolicity, the four gospels and thirteen letters of Paul were placed on the same footing as the Old Testament between AD 170 and AD 220—about one hundred years before Constantine was born!
Where’s the Hope?
If zealous keepers of dark, alternative “truths” (i.e., matriarchal paganism and deified science) and spiritual deception characterize 2009, as surely they do, the question remains: “Where’s hope to be found”?
Truth be told, the church has been under attack for over two millennia, but by the grace of God has prevailed and will triumph. While deceit gives form to a wayward world system united by a clandestine agenda of occult globalism and a central theme of universality, Bible believers are “begotten to a lively hope laid up for them in heaven.” In this, they take heart: “Other foundation can no man lay,” for the “foundation of God stands sure.” Despite confusing winds of deceptive doctrine at odds with “the more sure Word,” the Old Covenant book of Job assures the faithful that security and hope remain life’s steadfast companions.
Part 6 of 7
Last-day theology is a major theme throughout the Bible’s poetic books, major- and minor- prophets, Pauline- and general- epistles, the Gospels and the Book of Revelation. The Bible answers humanity’s age-abiding question, “What does the future hold?” And today vigilant believers witness the wrap-up of human history as signaled by economic and political upheavals, a series of armed conflicts, intensified natural disasters, increasing immorality, religious deception and persecution. Despite manifest hostility toward them, the faithful are called and destined to be diligent “keepers of our Lord’s goods.”
“Faithful Keepers of His Goods” (Matthew 24:47)
Some such “keepers” are unlikely fellows. Take, for example, Palestinian Yusef Hassan. In January 2009, Jonathan Hunt told his remarkable story on Fox news with Bill Hemmer.
It goes like this: In December 1987 the first intifada (uprising) began. At the tender age of ten, Hassan believed this to be his destiny. Heir apparent to his father—an associate of the Muslim Brotherhood and founder of HAMAS—Hassan participated in the Islamic Youth Movement and served as president of the Islamic Student Union.
Eventually, Hassan turned against HAMAS when he witnessed its membership torture and kill their own. That his “heroes” placed so little value on human life shattered Hassan’s faith until his secret, side-by-side study of the Bible with the Qu’ran resulted in Hassan’s conversion to evangelical Christianity. Although a death sentence followed Hassan to America, he nonetheless applied for political asylum, was baptized in the Pacific Ocean and joined fellow believers in “keeping the Lord’s goods.” Weapons of Hassan’s warfare are no longer of the carnal variety.
“His Goods” or Counterfeits?
Author Dan Brown has his own take on matters of “keeping faith,” torture and death—inflicted by the fearful, power-hungry Christian church in his scenario. With that in mind, come May 2009, Brown’s best-selling novel Angels and Demons will take to the big screen. Its predecessor, the Da Vinci Code, likewise featured Tom Hanks, whose expert styling under directorship of Ron Howard put legs to “the biggest selling adult hardback fiction book of all time.”
Admittedly, Brown’s novel is a clever, smart, riddle-filled thriller. While its plot formula is predictable, suspenseful cliff hangers beg resolution that, more often than not, lends an element of surprise. Herein is the problem: Although Brown’s work is fiction, it’s packaged and served up as historically and theologically intact nonfiction. Only to discerning viewers do the ancient signs, symbols, code names and mystic elements belie its presumed-to-be “Christian” facade. Less astute fans are likely to find their core convictions challenged while themselves becoming entangled in a dark web of esoteric delusion.
In Angels and Demons, a theo-physicist is perceived as an oxymoron; and deified science is destined to demote all gods to the inglorious status of false idols. Since Brown portrays loss of generic faith as more consequential than its fundamental nature, religious lies are justified to preserve any semblance of conviction, whether with merit or not. By example, the singular “religious experience” of protagonist Robert Langdon is characterized as “a perfect moment of glorious rapture” when a beautiful seductress (a yoga master no less!) slips off her robe to bed him.
Similarly, in the Da Vinci Code, Christ’s spiritual enlightenment allegedly results from sexual union with Mary Magdalene. Fruitful sex purportedly perpetuates royal bloodlines—his (Judah) and hers (Benjamin). Be sure, Professor of ancient history at Western Michigan University Paul L. Maier soundly debunks such poppycock. Indeed, there exists no record of Mary’s Jewish tribal affiliation, nor do members of the Tribe of Benjamin have rightful claim to royal blood.
A “Keeper” or “Counterfeiter”?
Unlike Palestinian Yusef Hassan, once converted to Christ, those portrayed as “keepers” in Brown’s worldview are religious secret societies—namely, the Priory of Sion (Da Vinci Code) and illumined scientists (Angels and Demons). All undermine the Christian faith; many inflict gruesome torture and commit multiple acts of murder in the name of “truth.”
On Good Morning America, Charlie Gibson asked Brown: “If you had written [your novel] as a non-fiction book, how would it have been different?” Brown’s response: It wouldn’t. He explained further that he began his research as a skeptic; but following numerous trips to Europe and about two years of research, he became “a believer”—but in what?
In Brown’s world, the deity of Jesus Christ and inspiration of Scripture are shams. Jesus was a mere mortal, not God. When He died, his wife Mary Magdalene was pregnant with his only child, a daughter named Sarah. Keepers of this alleged “truth” are either fictitious or counterfeit. Either way, historical documentation is no where to be found.
Despite his unorthodoxy, Brown claims to be a Christian, yet distinguishes himself from those who accept “the Bible as absolute historical fact.” A self-proclaimed “student of many religions” following his own path of enlightenment, Brown obsesses on ancient occult mysteries. Go figure why Emerging Church leader Brian McClaren dismisses Brown’s plunge into the arcane as “no more damaging than the popular Left Behind novels.”
Innocent Fun or Blasphemy?
In Breaking the Da Vinci Code (Nashville: Nelson Books, 2004), Darrell L. Bock insists that The Code is “not a mere work of fiction dressed in the clothes of quasi nonfiction.” Instead, he explains, “It reflects an effort to represent and, in some cases, rewrite history with a selective use of ancient evidence.” The same applies to Angels and Demons.
So compelling is Brown’s work that many a Christian has toppled under the weight of his bogus claim to absolute accuracy respecting “all descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents and secret rituals.” Not long ago, Time Magazine named Brown one of the World's 100 Most Influential People. So, then, we have a highly influential writer of “fictional” novels that meld revisionist history with “hidden secrets” the author himself believes to be true. Brown’s is a brilliant formula for heresy.
Accordingly, Brown’s characters advance lessons that stray far from sound historical evidence and canonized text of Scripture. In Brown’s world, faith in “man’s inherent goodness,” iconology and sacred symbols embody truth; sometimes lying is good and praying to “every god one can think of” makes sense. To Brown, cosmic symmetry speaks to karma (cause and effect); yin/yang (horror and hope). Hence, he offsets grotesque scenes of bodily mutilation and debauchery with mindless hope in “Christian” orthodoxy that reeks of obsolescence.
True to popular culture, Brown exposes those presumed to be devout as frauds and hypocrites who, through force and terror, hide essential facts for self-interest. On the other hand, Brown’s skewed history shows Satanists to be educated, enlightened (albeit lawless) men who rightfully oppose Church brutality.
Controversy or No?
On his official web page, Brown says he can't imagine why his writing might be considered controversial. Yet the most “authoritative figure” in the Da Vinci Code claims that our Bible “was compiled and edited by men who possessed a political agenda to solidify their own power base.” As a result, “almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false.” Not least of which: the deity of Christ.
To the contrary, the apostle Paul, whose epistles predate the Gospels, called Jesus “Lord through whom all things came”; “the image of the invisible God” and “creator of all things.” Furthermore, in his seminal work, Early Christian Doctrines, Dr. Kelly affirms that “the all but universal Christian conviction in the preceding centuries to Nicaea had been that Jesus Christ was divine as well as human.”
Fact is, the Emperor Constantine did not “fix” the Canon of Scripture, nor was Jesus’ divinity determined by vote at Nicaea. Parchments dating prior to AD 325 and fragments of John’s Gospel dating around AD 130 indicate no such embellishment (Nicky Gumbel, Alpha International). Composed of key Christian leaders of the time, the Nicaea Council actually confirmed longstanding belief in Christ’s divinity by an overwhelming vote of 316 to two.
Applying the rule of direct- or indirect- apostolicity, the four gospels and thirteen letters of Paul were placed on the same footing as the Old Testament between AD 170 and AD 220—about one hundred years before Constantine was born!
Where’s the Hope?
If zealous keepers of dark, alternative “truths” (i.e., matriarchal paganism and deified science) and spiritual deception characterize 2009, as surely they do, the question remains: “Where’s hope to be found”?
Truth be told, the church has been under attack for over two millennia, but by the grace of God has prevailed and will triumph. While deceit gives form to a wayward world system united by a clandestine agenda of occult globalism and a central theme of universality, Bible believers are “begotten to a lively hope laid up for them in heaven.” In this, they take heart: “Other foundation can no man lay,” for the “foundation of God stands sure.” Despite confusing winds of deceptive doctrine at odds with “the more sure Word,” the Old Covenant book of Job assures the faithful that security and hope remain life’s steadfast companions.
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