Morning
Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn.
Ruth 2:2

Downcast and troubled Christian, come and glean to-day in the broad field of promise. Here are abundance of precious promises, which exactly meet thy wants. Take this one: "He will not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax." Doth not that suit thy case? A reed, helpless, insignificant, and weak, a bruised reed, out of which no music can come; weaker than weakness itself; a reed, and that reed bruised, yet, He will not break thee; but on the contrary, will restore and strengthen thee. Thou art like the smoking flax: no light, no warmth, can come from thee; but He will not quench thee; He will blow with His sweet breath of mercy till He fans thee to a flame. Wouldst thou glean another ear? "Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." What soft words! Thy heart is tender, and the Master knows it, and therefore He speaketh so gently to thee. Wilt thou not obey Him, and come to Him even now? Take another ear of corn: "Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." How canst thou fear with such a wonderful assurance as this? Thou mayest gather ten thousand such golden ears as these! "I have blotted out thy sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud thy transgressions." Or this, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Or this, "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely." Our Master's field is very rich; behold the handfuls. See, there they lie before thee, poor timid believer! Gather them up, make them thine own, for Jesus bids thee take them. Be not afraid, only believe! Grasp these sweet promises, thresh them out by meditation and feed on them with joy.

Evening
Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.
Psalm 65:11

All the year round, every hour of every day, God is richly blessing us; both when we sleep and when we wake His mercy waits upon us. The sun may leave us a legacy of darkness, but our God never ceases to shine upon His children with beams of love. Like a river, His lovingkindness is always flowing, with a fulness inexhaustible as His own nature. Like the atmosphere which constantly surrounds the earth, and is always ready to support the life of man, the benevolence of God surrounds all His creatures; in it, as in their element, they live, and move, and have their being. Yet as the sun on summer days gladdens us with beams more warm and bright than at other times, and as rivers are at certain seasons swollen by the rain, and as the atmosphere itself is sometimes fraught with more fresh, more bracing, or more balmy influences than heretofore, so is it with the mercy of God; it hath its golden hours; its days of overflow, when the Lord magnifieth His grace before the sons of men. Amongst the blessings of the nether springs, the joyous days of harvest are a special season of excessive favour. It is the glory of autumn that the ripe gifts of providence are then abundantly bestowed; it is the mellow season of realization, whereas all before was but hope and expectation. Great is the joy of harvest. Happy are the reapers who fill their arms with the liberality of heaven. The Psalmist tells us that the harvest is the crowning of the year. Surely these crowning mercies call for crowning thanksgiving! Let us render it by the inward emotions of gratitude. Let our hearts be warmed; let our spirits remember, meditate, and think upon this goodness of the Lord. Then let us praise Him with our lips, and laud and magnify His name from whose bounty all this goodness flows. Let us glorify God by yielding our gifts to His cause. A practical proof of our gratitude is a special thank-offering to the Lord of the harvest.

Welcome to jobless times that vex the jobless soul.

Welcome to the new decade of the early twenty-first century, where the future is based on hope. The hope that Christmas past will again invigorate Christmas present, or the hope that Christmas future cannot come too soon. Hope, hope everywhere and none of it changes reality, for we have no concept of reality, other than the future hopefully repeats or improves upon the past.

Japan has had a lost decade for the last couple, because their economy has developed permanent stagnation. So the country that just some twenty to thirty years ago was the business model for the world, now is just another economic player in a global community of lethargic materialism.

Europe for its part has done better than Japan, but it is sort of a unified Europe after all. But in the context of world economics, it seems that the proper concept is “Been there, done that, and got the shirt.” They seem however beginning to realize that loving one another, while better than war, still doesn’t necessarily make for a happy family.

Here in the United States we have recently made hope our God. Well if not really a god, hope in change seems to be a figment of perverse imagination, really creates nothing but more regulations, present deficits, and a future of higher taxes, coupled with either deflation or inflation.

The past is where we feel the most comfortable, so if we all hope together that past-future will evolve right before our eyes. Can I get a witness?
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Tags: innovation, Invention, jobs, Social Darwinism, Collectivist Elitists, Laissez Faire Scoundrels, Wall Street, USA, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Kauffman Foundation, God

These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us - that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right not only to tax but "to bind us in all cases whatsoever," and if being bound in that manner is not slavery, then is there not such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the expression is impious, for so unlimited a power can belong only to God. Thomas Paine – 1776

Who would have thought two short years ago that the American people would be discussing revolutions in a somewhat serious context. The two revolutions most discussed are the American Revolution of which Founding Father, Thomas Paine gave us the above quotation from his pamphlets “The Crisis Papers.” The other revolution in this country relates to the Vietnam War, the last period of critical social distress. The important reference from that era that related directly to today is, “You Don’t Need a Weatherman To Know Which Way the Wind Blows.”

Adding to the national angst is the reality of actual wars. The Iraq War is in the process of hopefully winding down to a successful nation building operation. The War in Afghanistan is quite different. Iraq was a real nation in the twentieth century definition, at least since the end of WWII. The same cannot be said for Afghanistan, which is more akin to a historic tribal region, not successfully colonized by any western culture in its history.

Under the auspices of the War on Terror and after a traditional military invasion of Iraq the United States, became involved in a counterinsurgency to root out Al Qaeda, other foreign insurgents, and quench the historic conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims.

In Iraq and Iran the Shia are the majority of the population. In Afghanistan the numbers are reversed and the Taliban are essentially the Sunni insurgents to which the United States and a number of NATO allies, through the escalation of the Obama Administration, are now attempting to develop a successful counterinsurgency nation-building exercise.
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Tags: Thomas Paine, Iraq, Afghanistan, counterinsurgency, Top Secret America, USA, God, American Revolution

Morning
He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
Genesis 39:12

In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks, whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper's prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel.

This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent's wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me to-day than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!

Evening
In their affliction they will seek Me early.
Hosea 5:15

Losses and adversities are frequently the means which the great Shepherd uses to fetch home His wandering sheep; like fierce dogs they worry the wanderers back to the fold. There is no making lions tame if they are too well fed; they must be brought down from their great strength, and their stomachs must be lowered, and then they will submit to the tamer's hand; and often have we seen the Christian rendered obedient to the Lord's will by straitness of bread and hard labour. When rich and increased in goods many professors carry their heads much too loftily, and speak exceeding boastfully. Like David, they flatter themselves, "My mountain standeth fast; I shall never be moved." When the Christian groweth wealthy, is in good repute, hath good health, and a happy family, he too often admits Mr. Carnal Security to feast at his table, and then if he be a true child of God there is a rod preparing for him. Wait awhile, and it may be you will see his substance melt away as a dream. There goes a portion of his estate--how soon the acres change hands. That debt, that dishonoured bill--how fast his losses roll in, where will they end? It is a blessed sign of divine life if when these embarrassments occur one after another he begins to be distressed about his backslidings, and betakes himself to his God. Blessed are the waves that wash the mariner upon the rock of salvation! Losses in business are often sanctified to our soul's enriching. If the chosen soul will not come to the Lord full-handed, it shall come empty. If God, in His grace, findeth no other means of making us honour Him among men, He will cast us into the deep; if we fail to honour Him on the pinnacle of riches, He will bring us into the valley of poverty. Yet faint not, heir of sorrow, when thou art thus rebuked, rather recognize the loving hand which chastens, and say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father."

This is an impossible story of how to create a new frontier of enterprise opportunities, in a land led by leaders that believe they know how to improve the unbroken, and create reality by their words and nothing else.

The tale is a brash attempt to create and Effrontery Frontier, much like the settling of the American west, which was the mechanism that provided the emphasis for prosperity and growth until approximately a century ago.

The need for the Effrontery Frontier is shown in the reality that all new jobs are really created in startup companies as we noted last week with the reference to the Kauffman Foundation Report. Sadly current enterprise and political leadership focuses upon a generation of debt driven consumption with globally produced disposable goods as the sole means of the world’s economic growth.

Through some clandestine process that was slipped by the American people, the United States decided to become the financier of this scam, as we shipped our wealth-producing infrastructure offshore. Then through environmental imperialism we sought to turn our public lands into wilderness and parklands through conscious neglect. The Effrontery Frontier will slowly bring back the wealth, building upon the industrial revolution but not subservient to it.

Some would say that the current problems began with the rise of progressivism of that same vintage, but to divorce progressivism’s birth from the death of the real frontier does a gross injustice to both endeavors; for good, the not so good, and the down right repugnant.

With the real frontier, the expanse made real opportunity, just over the horizon, whether that was just the visible skyline, or several thousand miles distant. Within that environment, a shopkeeper, the son of a shopkeeper, could become a cattle rancher, or a prospector and a miner — or the other way around. The possibilities were only limited by you and your ability to work hard and to learn from your mistakes.
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Tags: Kauffman Foundation, USA, Progressivism, Effrontery Frontier, homestead, Wallace Stegner, John Wesley Powell

Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Mark 12:17, Matthew 22:21, Luke 20:25 ESV

Many years ago I was a team leader of a small group from our church that went out Monday evenings to call on visitors from our Sunday service. As we parked outside a small apartment in north Seattle, I couldn’t help making a stupid remark about the name of the person we were about to visit. Even with my ignorance, the visit turned out to be quite productive and the young woman became an active member of the congregation.

She moved away a year or so later and within a few years she returned for a visit. Through the course of events I learned at the very instant I was making a spontaneous remark that could be considered flippant, inside her apartment things were quite serious. Her remarks were much more prayerful, which went something like: “God I would like to believe you are real, but I am having a very difficult time. If you don’t show me some sign of your reality, I have no reason now to live and before morning I fear I will use this gun to commit suicide.” At that time, we a small group of, in the larger context, complete fools rang her doorbell.

When I learned the true events of that evening not only was I humbled, but I realized in our lost and dying world just how thoughtless is much of what Christianity and the church says and does. Put in the broader context of recent world events, the problems of the recent Great Recession, were not caused by the greedy money grubbers on Wall Street, financial institutions, and real estate, they knew no better, they were just sinners sinning.

The real problem that caused the current mess, was that Christians, as individuals and in community as the church, played religious games, and sought political power, while the world, as it should be, crumbled. The church of Jesus Christ has one calling, to proclaim the Good News of the redemption of the world found in Jesus Christ alone. Instead of proclaiming the gospel, and being the leaders of the common community, the church has attempted to become so earthly relevant that its of no earthly good. Instead of being a restraining force of evil, to use the words of Revelation 3, the post modern church has become tepid.

As I was watching Glenn Beck one day last week, he and Stephen Broden, a church pastor from Texas were talking about this very subject, when Glenn interjected a comment about church leaders needing to protect their nonprofit status. It was just a few, off the cuff words, and the conversation moved on. Those nonprofit status words however have stuck with me since that time and are the founding principle for this message today. Read More...

Tags: Christianity, Glenn Beck, separation of church and state, 501(c)3 exemption, Jesus, God, sin cosmos, Natural Law, Holmes on Homes

Morning
They shall go hindmost with their standards.
Numbers 2:31

The camp of Dan brought up the rear when the armies of Israel were on the march. The Danites occupied the hindmost place, but what mattered the position, since they were as truly part of the host as were the foremost tribes; they followed the same fiery cloudy pillar, they ate of the same manna, drank of the same spiritual rock, and journeyed to the same inheritance. Come, my heart, cheer up, though last and least; it is thy privilege to be in the army, and to fare as they fare who lead the van. Some one must be hindmost in honour and esteem, some one must do menial work for Jesus, and why should not I? In a poor village, among an ignorant peasantry; or in a back street, among degraded sinners, I will work on, and "go hindmost with my standard."

The Danites occupied a very useful place. Stragglers have to be picked up upon the march, and lost property has to be gathered from the field. Fiery spirits may dash forward over untrodden paths to learn fresh truth, and win more souls to Jesus; but some of a more conservative spirit may be well engaged in reminding the church of her ancient faith, and restoring her fainting sons. Every position has its duties, and the slowly moving children of God will find their peculiar state one in which they may be eminently a blessing to the whole host.

The rear guard is a place of danger. There are foes behind us as well as before us. Attacks may come from any quarter. We read that Amalek fell upon Israel, and slew some of the hindmost of them. The experienced Christian will find much work for his weapons in aiding those poor doubting, desponding, wavering, souls, who are hindmost in faith, knowledge, and joy. These must not be left unaided, and therefore be it the business of well-taught saints to bear their standards among the hindmost. My soul, do thou tenderly watch to help the hindmost this day.

Evening
Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path.
Joel 2:8

Locusts always keep their rank, and although their number is legion, they do not crowd upon each other, so as to throw their columns into confusion. This remarkable fact in natural history shows how thoroughly the a Lord has infused the spirit of order into His universe, since the smallest animate creatures are as much controlled by it as are the rolling spheres or the seraphic messengers. It would be wise for believers to be ruled by the same influence in all their spiritual life. In their Christian graces no one virtue should usurp the sphere of another, or eat out the vitals of the rest for its own support. Affection must not smother honesty, courage must not elbow weakness out of the field, modesty must not jostle energy, and patience must not slaughter resolution. So also with our duties, one must not interfere with another; public usefulness must not injure private piety; church work must not push family worship into a corner. It is ill to offer God one duty stained with the blood of another. Each thing is beautiful in its season, but not otherwise. It was to the Pharisee that Jesus said, "This ought ye to have done, and not to have left the other undone." The same rule applies to our personal position, we must take care to know our place, take it, and keep to it. We must minister as the Spirit has given us ability, and not intrude upon our fellow servant's domain. Our Lord Jesus taught us not to covet the high places, but to be willing to be the least among the brethren. Far from us be an envious, ambitious spirit, let us feel the force of the Master's command, and do as He bids us, keeping rank with the rest of the host. To-night let us see whether we are keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace, and let our prayer be that, in all the churches of the Lord Jesus, peace and order may prevail.

Last Saturday at 2:47 in the afternoon my email inbox chimed with a “Fire Weather Watch” to be in effect from 11 AM until 11 PM Monday. What that means is that high winds are expected which can blow down trees and if those trees hit power lines they can start fires that really move across the countryside. Interestingly just two years ago on that very day, a similar storm caused three major fires in Eastern Washington. In total I received six messages from that weather service and two from another predicting the storm, until the power went out at about 3:30 Monday afternoon. It was restored at about 8:40 Tuesday morning for a total of seventeen hours and change.

There is not much you can do about the weather, you can take precautions like making sure things that might blow away – can’t, and anything in the way of a falling tree – isn’t, but for the most part you just have to let it happen. The same is not true for human activities and in context, the economic weather. If you look at such companies as Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Dell, Hewitt Packard, and a whole host of others, they have been around for approximately a generation. But what no one seems to notice is, unlike humans, these enterprises really don’t have any kids.

The statistics show that the Great Recession has cost the American economy somewhere between eight and nine million jobs. Job creation in recent months has basically hovered around an average of those required to keep even with the growth of the population. Everywhere from the president on down to the neighbors discussing the day’s activities, they are all talking about there is not enough or no work. Those with jobs are very thankful, and those without work are more and more often giving up.

A major question has been where was all the professional forecasting that this was going to happen, but more importantly now that the power has gone out of job creation, what are we going to do about it?
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Tags: Kauffman Foundation, The Forgotten Man, startup business, jobs, entrepreneurs, Keynes, tax cuts, flight money, The State of Effrontery

One score months ago the voters of America brought forth a new presidential administration on this continent. The stated goal of the election was to issue in a new age of change we can believe in. That presupposes either one of two alternatives. At that time number one was, we were having change we didn’t want to believe in, or two we didn’t want any change from our vision of what we were told was a future of human engineered eternal prosperity.

It seems in the intervening period that all change has accelerated rapidly and those changes are beyond anything we can believe in and furthermore most of the stupendous changes are only exacerbating previous problems.

For as long as I can remember American presidents have turned out worse than my predilections. My worries about George W. Bush was that he would be beholden to what we have recently publicly defined as crony capitalists to the default of other values of not only governance but also personal responsibility. So I voted for the guy twice, my public reason was we share the same initials, but the secret reason was I thought that both Al Gore and John Kerry were truly without hope for being effective leaders. But most liberal juice drinkers don’t like any reality with their cocktail, so voicing the truth really wasn’t worth the return of stressful noise.

So my more than worst fears of George W. Bush turned out to be true. Those fears manifested themselves in the financial meltdown which began in late 2007 and continues to this day. Essentially what we saw under the Bush administration was the continuance of debt financed consumption based upon real estate. Those inflated values are still highly leveraged over the current wealth of most of the folks, but that is another topic for another time.

So those twenty months ago, Barack Obama was elected president. I didn’t vote for the man, not because I am a racist, but I thought he lacked experience to handle the tough job of being president. I wasn’t all that keen on John McCain either, especially during the campaign where it seemed that his goal was to be the Republican nominee rather than getting elected. Perhaps during the campaign McCain was able to get a glimpse of future trouble and decided either he was not up to the task, or was aware that current American problems are beyond the pale of human leadership. That surely was not something that Barack Obama would ever discern.
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Tags: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, NIcholas Carr, Belshazzar, Charles Darwin, Social Darwinism, Collectivist Elitists, Laissez Faire Scoundrels, God, Romans 12:2

Morning
After that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
Peter 5:10

You have seen the arch of heaven as it spans the plain: glorious are its colours, and rare its hues. It is beautiful, but, alas, it passes away, and lo, it is not. The fair colours give way to the fleecy clouds, and the sky is no longer brilliant with the tints of heaven. It is not established. How can it be? A glorious show made up of transitory sun-beams and passing rain-drops, how can it abide? The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty, but, on the contrary, must be stablished, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no "baseless fabric of a vision," but may it be builded of material able to endure that awful fire which shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires earnest. May your whole life be so settled and established, that all the blasts of hell, and all the storms of earth shall never be able to remove you. But notice how this blessing of being "stablished in the faith" is gained. The apostle's words point us to suffering as the means employed--"After that ye have suffered awhile." It is of no use to hope that we shall be well rooted if no rough winds pass over us. Those old gnarlings on the root of the oak tree, and those strange twistings of the branches, all tell of the many storms that have swept over it, and they are also indicators of the depth into which the roots have forced their way. So the Christian is made strong, and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Shrink not then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.

Evening
Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
Joel 1:3

In this simple way, by God's grace, a living testimony for truth is always to be kept alive in the land--the beloved of the Lord are to hand down their witness for the gospel, and the covenant to their heirs, and these again to their next descendants. This is our first duty, we are to begin at the family hearth: he is a bad preacher who does not commence his ministry at home. The heathen are to be sought by all means, and the highways and hedges are to be searched, but home has a prior claim, and woe unto those who reverse the order of the Lord's arrangements. To teach our children is a personal duty; we cannot delegate it to Sunday School Teachers, or other friendly aids, these can assist us, but cannot deliver us from the sacred obligation; proxies and sponsors are wicked devices in this case: mothers and fathers must, like Abraham, command their households in the fear of God, and talk with their offspring concerning the wondrous works of the Most High. Parental teaching is a natural duty--who so fit to look to the child's well-being as those who are the authors of his actual being? To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. By a thousand plots Popery is covertly advancing in our land, and one of the most effectual means for resisting its inroads is left almost neglected, namely, the instruction of children in the faith. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honour the Lord and receive His smile.

Tags: Sarah Palin

This is the final installment of our specific Redux Rendezvous series. That means it is the seventh in the series, which this seventh month comes out on the seventh day, our twenty-seventh issue of the year. Which as far as I know means absolutely nothing. It is not so much we have run out of ways to enlarge these redux basics, but rather in a forest of stupendously changing events we keep finding amazing trees and other life that needs deeper description.

Through this series timeline our separate Monday posts have become more important as descriptions of current events that got our attention in the previous week. These articles began in late January as a Week in Review posts, but over time they have become more focused commentary rather than spun reporting.

At the same time while doing the Redux Rendezvous series we have been able to focus on broader observations on what is developing in our world that no one seems to see or understand. Contrary to the uncertainty that you read and hear in the big bad world, everything that is now happening is following natural law, or more precisely is falling apart because we humans think we know better and hence create mess after mess as the result of our own foolishness.

This week we will sort of encapsulate our remarks in the context of a Ubermenschen failure. True, the world really has no superhuman people, except in their own eyes, but our human focus is still the belief that somehow the combined wisdom of humanity can make this whole adventure function better than it historically has been able to provide.

These uber-thoughts surfaced in the early morning hours as I was musing about the mess that Michael Steele has produced by remarks, at a Republican Party fundraiser over Afghanistan being president Obama’s war. Steele said it is doomed to failure because no power has been able to create a nation there in over a thousand years.

Steele’s observations are basically in line with our comments about the lack of somewhat related historic success when it comes to fighting counterinsurgency wars. Our thoughts that Afghanistan is really Obama’s Vietnam, and in the broader context just as the president kept the Laissez-Faire Scoundrels in charge of the financial system, it seems that he also kept the Bush era neocons in charge of foreign affairs.
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Tags: Michael Steele, Afghanistan, Ubermenschen, Social Darwinism, Laissez Faire Scoundrels, Collectivist Elitists, Radical Islamists, Complacent Agnositics, Tradtional Independents, counterinsurgency, nation building

Two hundred and thirty-four years ago today, the seed of the United States of America was sown when our founders signed the Declaration of Independence. The national holiday still continues to be celebrated as the concept of individual freedom.

Those who give speeches today will phrase their remarks along two philosophical paradigms. The first is, “I am free because I can do what I want.” The other is, “I am free because I am protected from the tyranny of others.” Both of those concepts are present in the Declaration of Independence, but today we have pretty much redefined those freedom concepts in terms of selfish materialism.

As a founding principle, personal freedom was defined basically as I am free to be what I was created to be and no wrongly appropriated divine right of some foreign authority has any jurisdiction on my ability to pursue that goal. Today we have dumbed-down that concept to mean I am free to what makes me feel good about myself and I should receive external rewards to help me achieve those ends.

Those rewards might be a trophy, or pay just for showing up on a somewhat regular basis, or receiving a right to something such as healthcare, a pension, or other security, simply because I did nothing or very little to deserve those rewards. In other words, I have substituted my personal divine will, into, and over the lives of others.

However there is another underlying principle within the American Declaration that was part of the founding genre that we no longer are willing to understand. The principle came from a natural or common understanding of the human condition that resurfaced during the Reformation and that principle was and understanding of the human will to sin. Martin Luther’s most famous written work is entitled, “The Bondage of the Will.”

What we are no longer willing to believe is that the greatest freedom a human being can obtain in this life is to be free from the bondage to my own selfish desires. That is the central theme of historic Christianity. Succinctly stated, that means the sinless life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the propitiatory and justifying sacrifice that absolutely provides the freedom for me to pursue the eternal personality I was created by God to be.

In the broadest concept possible, we all seek security to the maximum extent. The external imputed righteousness of Christ gives me eternal security and in the process allows me to accept temporal security in this life on a more transient basis. In other words, I don’t need to secure my own security and future, because I know the source of my security and know He directs my future.

Over the last few weeks I have heard again in various forums that the decline in American excellence began when we took the Ten Commandments and prayer out of our schools. I have a good friend that states the school decline was just the simple result of taking the Ten Commandments and true prayer out of our churches — years earlier.

What this really means is we like to blame all the problems we face today on those bad guys, the greedy, the selfish, the exploiters, the them. Who is never blamed in the American religion is the church that has become a cloister of the Pharisees. As such, not only has that been responsible for the faux creation of a political righteousness, it has also created physical divide between the enlightened Christians in contrast with the enlightened sinful heathens.

Instead of stating, “There by the grace of God, go I.” the proper response should be, “There by the grace of God alone, can I find true freedom from my personal bondage.” That is a much different and more humble message, than, “I don’t, do this and that, because I can,” but rather, “Any ability I have to do anything other than the wickedly perverse, is nothing but a gift of God’s grace.”

On this Independence Day, this Sunday, what this means is that the focus should be on the redemption and justification found in Jesus Christ alone, and not the national debt, socialism, and a whole host of good or bad things. If the focus of Christians is on Christ alone, then God will provide the power to change the culture, just as he did during the Reformation.

That Reformation time was not without turmoil, it was truly a revolution of human understanding. The same can be said of the American revolution. The result of the American revolution was freedom from the bondage of the culture to a foreign monarch, but the more profound result was the freedom of the individual to more deeply appreciate the gift of life provided to all from the God of nature, who is the same eternal personality as the God of the Bible.

So today, most people in America will celebrate the concept to be free to do what we want to do. The really blessed will be those who understand that true freedom, is to not be in bondage to your personal desires, but rather to make your life a gift to others, by God’s grace.

Tags: Declaration of Independence, Martin Luther, Jesus, Bondage of the Will, grace, God

Morning
Sanctify them through Thy truth.
John 17:17

Sanctification begins in regeneration. The Spirit of God infuses into man that new living principle by which he becomes "a new creature" in Christ Jesus. This work, which begins in the new birth, is carried on in two ways--mortification, whereby the lusts of the flesh are subdued and kept under; and vivification, by which the life which God has put within us is made to be a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. This is carried on every day in what is called "perseverance," by which the Christian is preserved and continued in a gracious state, and is made to abound in good works unto the praise and glory of God; and it culminates or comes to perfection, in "glory," when the soul, being thoroughly purged, is caught up to dwell with holy beings at the right hand of the Majesty on high. But while the Spirit of God is thus the author of sanctification, yet there is a visible agency employed which must not be forgotten. "Sanctify them," said Jesus, "through thy truth: thy word is truth." The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God are very many. The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power. These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do of God's good pleasure. The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification. We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Do not say of any error, "It is a mere matter of opinion." No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice. Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God.

Evening
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
Psalm 24:4

Outward practical holiness is a very precious mark of grace. It is to be feared that many professors have perverted the doctrine of justification by faith in such a way as to treat good works with contempt; if so, they will receive everlasting contempt at the last great day. If our hands are not clean, let us wash them in Jesus' precious blood, and so let us lift up pure hands unto God. But "clean hands"will not suffice, unless they are connected with "a pure heart." True religion is heart-work. We may wash the outside of the cup and the platter as long as we please, but if the inward parts be filthy, we are filthy altogether in the sight of God, for our hearts are more truly ourselves than our hands are; the very life of our being lies in the inner nature, and hence the imperative need of purity within. The pure in heart shall see God, all others are but blind bats.

The man who is born for heaven "hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity." All men have their joys, by which their souls are lifted up; the worldling lifts up his soul in carnal delights, which are mere empty vanities; but the saint loves more substantial things; like Jehoshaphat, he is lifted up in the ways of the Lord. He who is content with husks, will be reckoned with the swine. Does the world satisfy thee? Then thou hast thy reward and portion in this life; make much of it, for thou shalt know no other joy.

"Nor sworn deceitfully." The saints are men of honour still. The Christian man's word is his only oath; but that is as good as twenty oaths of other men. False speaking will shut any man out of heaven, for a liar shall not enter into God's house, whatever may be his professions or doings. Reader, does the text before us condemn thee, or dost thou hope to ascend into the hill of the Lord?