America, The Silly Nation  by Alan Caruba

As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, we will hear about our Founding Fathers, about those who fought our wars to preserve and safeguard our nation, and other men and women who contributed to the nation’s greatness.

It is good to look back, but future generations will look back as well and wonder how such a great nation became such a silly nation, the object of scorn and ridicule around the world, challenged by every gangster nation that shares the planet; attacked by Al Qaeda, threatened by North Korea, mocked by Venezuela, insulted by Iran, and sustained by the wealth of China and other lenders.

What other republic is governed by fools who voted without reading “climate” legislation whose 1,200 pages of rules and regulations will enrich a few and leave the rest scrambling to pay the light bill? That is, if the light turns on. If passed by the Senate, it will be the largest tax increase in the history of the nation. It exists to “save the planet” from a “global warming” that is not happening.

What other nation would systematically ensure that its vast resources of coal, enough to power plants to produce electricity for the next hundred or two hundred years, not be used because no new plants will be built? Fully fifty percent of our electricity comes from coal, but this nation is about to waste billions of dollars on wind and solar energy—so called “clean” energy—which accounts for about one percent.

If wind or solar was a sensible way to produce electricity, surely utilities would have invested in it long ago. It isn’t. It never will be. Only a very silly nation would shift billions of dollars to such “clean” and “renewable” energy when it was sitting on top of tons of coal.

Only a silly nation would ensure that its other vast, natural and national resource, oil, would be put off limits to all exploration and extraction in Alaska and along our vast coastlines, as well as huge reserves in the nation’s interior. Only a silly nation would do this while listening to its politicians talk about “energy independence.”

Only a silly nation would ignore the vast potential of nuclear power and use all manner of bureaucratic obstacles to drive up the cost of building plants to generate electricity.

Only a silly nation would ignore the security of its southern border as a virtual invasion of illegal aliens pours across, and take advantage of all manner of welfare programs, special education programs for their children, and free medical services. Our prisons, too, are filling up with illegal aliens.

Only a silly nation with twelve million or more of these illegal aliens in its midst would actually be looking for a way to magically make them citizens overnight while ignoring the fact that they having been taking jobs from natural born and naturalized citizens by working “off the books” and sending billions back to Mexico and points south. Amnesty would double or triple the existing population of formerly illegal aliens in America as family members joined them.

Only a silly nation would allow the teachers unions to totally control the quality of education and transfer power to Washington, D.C., away from the States and local communities where it rightfully belongs.

Only a silly nation would spend thousands of dollars per student and, at the same time, ignore the message they are sending with obscene drop-out rates. Only a silly nation would impose a one-size-fits-all system of testing on millions of students.

Only a silly nation would to allow the graduation, year after year, of students lacking the most basic math, science, reading, and other skills necessary to provide the workforce we require.

Only a silly nation would ensure that the costs of a college education were so high that graduates enter the workplace burdened by years of debt.

Only a silly nation would continue to seek negotiations with Iran whose leaders cry “Death to America” every day. Only a silly nation would elect a President who, when the desire for freedom and democracy broke out on the streets of Tehran, expressed respect for the “Supreme Leader” and outrage only after protesters had been shot to death and clubbed into submission.

Only a silly nation would permit itself to literally go broke, along with most of its States, and then vote billions more in a “stimulus” bill while, at the same time, giving billions to failed auto companies and taking government ownership. We own an insurance company as well. This is contrary to the Constitution. It is nationalization.

It was, however, a silly nation that caused the housing mortgage meltdown with government mandates that required banks and mortgage firms to lend money to people who would not normally qualify for them.

It is a silly nation that proposes to provide healthcare insurance to everyone at the same time Medicare is on the brink of bankruptcy. Nationalizing the healthcare system will kill a lot of Americans by rationing health services, but that’s what a silly nation does.

Only a silly nation would raise taxes in the midst of a major Recession verging on a Depression. The last Great Depression lasted ten years because of such foolish actions and ended only because the nation had to gear up for World War Two.

There was a time when mature people led the nation prudently and, when necessary, boldly. What we have now are petulant and indifferent children intent on personal enrichment.

What we have is a President that does not like America..

What we have is a silly nation.

Alan Caruba writes a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com and a weekly commentary at http://www.anxietycenter.com, the website of The National Anxiety Center.

© Alan Caruba, June 2009

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The Mahdi, The Irish Referendum:  bumps along the eschatological highway  by Rev Michael Bresciani

With French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling for a strong first President for the EU and Ireland making headway in the upcoming vote on the Lisbon Treaty how close is the United States of Europe, the prophesied antichrist and other eschatological road signs and what of the hype concerning the Muslim Mahdi?

The elite of this world are neither huddling in some deep underground musing through secret papers nor sitting in the seats of kings and presidents. They are those who’s King and the very kingdom he rules resides within them. They are guided by every word and edict he has manifested to them. It is little wonder that Jesus Christ said ‘…the kingdom of God is within you.’ (Lk 17:21b)

They are chosen to see the world exactly as it is and not as it imagines itself to be. In the modern vernacular they are said to hold a ‘Biblical worldview.’ In the scriptural manner they are those who can see the world even at the same time the world cannot see them, the exceptions notwithstanding. 

The writer of John’s gospel says, ‘And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.’ (Jn 1:5) Every word of their King and those spoken by his prophets and his Apostles is regarded as the light, a light that is not now nor has ever been fully recognized, much less understood by those dwelling in secularisms darkness.

It is because they trust God’s word that the query “If Christ is the answer then what are the questions’ is simply all of them.

Exordiums are the carefully crafted preambles to any decent lecture or homiletical discourse. All that follows is to establish the exordium or utilize it or to verify the principle or premise put forth. In the simplest terms I have said all of that, to say this.

Two questions that have taken center stage of late in all second coming prophecy questions is the passing of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty after which the EU will look to elect its first President and the Muslim prophesies of the seventh Imam or the Mahdi.

Objections to the treaty of Lisbon raised by the Irish are mostly based on the differences between the EU laws and the Irish Constitution. The referendum is presently floating or as some say pending on the idea that exceptions should be made in the wording of the referendum. That wording would ensure the protocols of the Irish Constitution as it pertains to the “right to life’, family and education would remain. The other deterrent to be dealt with is the wording “We, the people of Éire, Humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial…”  these words and others which proclaim that Ireland must retain adherence to the will of the Trinity are contained in the Irish Constitution.

These words can hardly be tolerated in the forming of a secularist based government and the idea of the ‘right to life’ won’t fly in the face of the EU newly mandated requirements for membership into the union. Those mandates call for every member nation to allow abortion across the board.

Whether pre-existing protocols of the Irish constitution will be given precedence over against EU law is to some a mere technical issue and will not pose a serious threat to the passage of the Treaty. Ireland’s politics is as deep and at times as acrid as Dublin’s Liffy and all but a few from the outside have a faint clue but suffice it to say that prophecy is pre-written history and that translates to the passing of the Treaty. The referendum will be voted on as early as fall of 2009.

The reasons generally cited on the surety of the treaties passage are many but the top two are without question. First is the decline of Irish youth to strict adherence to Papal authority and Catholic dogma. The second is the economic advantages to the Emerald Isle that no one in Dublin is willing to ignore.

The other distracting road sign on the trek to last day’s prophecies is the newly emerging question of the Muslim Mahdi. Care should be taken here not to blow this overrated concern out of all proportion.

Because Muslims still use beheading as a means for execution the likeness to the antichrist is easily inferred. The antichrist will use beheading to quickly depose his enemies according to scripture. (Rev 20:4) It is this practice plus the idea that the Mahdi will sign a seven year peace treaty with Israel that are among the reasons that for some he must be the antichrist.

That the antichrist may be an apostate Jew or Muslim might hold some veracity but regardless of that possibility two important factors must not be overlooked. Firstly, The Mahdi is not explicitly referred to by the Quran but it is in only one of the six books of hadith.

The second and more important reason to proceed with extreme caution concerning the Mahdi is that to offer or encourage Christians to accept this as the fulfillment of eschatological doctrine is a paradigm shift away from complete trust in the scriptures. Those who depend on the scriptures will never do this and for good reason.

The only thing worse than an improper interpretation of the scripture, is the interpolation of scripture. That is reading in meanings that are not there or removing explicit meanings that are. The Bible and specifically the book most concerned with the second coming of Christ comes with a warning. It is among the most severe warnings in the bible, to wit, “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Rev 22:18-19)

The scriptures are quite clear concerning the antichrist. His kingdom is the modern revived Roman Empire (EU) and regardless of his heritage or background he will lead the world in the last seven years before the return of Jesus Christ during the Battle of Armageddon.

He will not need to be Muslim or European but will surely be charismatic and radical. As in America where we have a president who never owned or ran a business spending trillions of dollars of taxpayer’s money and who hasn’t accomplished a single political or civil achievement of note in his life but is now at the head of the most powerful nation on earth, that antichrist will need only his personal charisma and charm is easy to understand.

As the world teeters on the precipice of chaos in politics, economics and civil upheaval it is apparent that we are more likely to call for an Elvis Presley to run the world rather than a Ronald Reagan.

France’s President Sarkozy may have hit the nail on the head in calling for a strong first choice for the first President of the EU but hold steady, the strongest one may not be the first but two or three down the line. But that’s a subject for another time.

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Move over D-Day, Flag Day and Father’s Day – Obama gives June to LBGT  by Rev Michael Bresciani

June 6 is D-Day, June 14 is Flag Day and this year we will celebrate Fathers Day on June 21. These observances have long been a deep and revered part of American culture. Lookout, here comes change.

June has traditionally been a month of honoring fathers, soldiers and patriots now thanks to the social engineering of Barack Obama we have a whole month to celebrate lesbians, bi-sexuals, gays and transgenders. In America there will be about 290 million people who will likely not be rushing out to observe this month long celebration.

Barack Obama proclaimed June as LBGT month saying he has partnered with the gay community to “Advance a wide range if initiatives.” He plans to enhance hate crimes, repeal “don’t ask – don’t tell in the military and advance the right for gays to adopt.

We can’t say we didn’t see it coming but choosing the month of June is almost a slap in the face to millions of Americans who choose to remember the fathers’ warriors and patriots who have given so much to make the country what it is. Nothing could seem more like a futile attempt to mix oil and water. This is indeed social engineering, but it is not very sociable.

The proclamation comes in the same week Evan Thomas of Newsweek made the amazing observation about Barack Obama following his speech in Cairo. On Friday June 5, 2009 Thomas said on MSNBC: “I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.”

It has become increasingly difficult for the mainstream media to deny their extreme bias for Barack Obama and almost all his policies but now they have capitulated to the place where they are bordering on his deification.

Although it doesn’t get as much coverage in the media, those who have studied eschatology or the second coming of Christ see him as just the opposite. Some are wondering if he is the dreaded antichrist or the false prophet spoken of in the book of Revelation. It may be far too soon to tell but now one belief does not seem all that extravagant compared to the other.

Perception for some can be greater than reality. Every St. Patrick’s Day throughout the world the beloved song Danny Boy is requested in gatherings of those who celebrate the Irish. In fact the song was written by Englishman, Fred E. Weatherly. Don’t try to tell that to the revelers on the day of ‘wearing the green.’ Just sing the song.

We dare not tell those who hung on the President’s speech in Cairo last week that America is not really one of the world’s great Muslim countries. Just sing the song!

Will someone eventually explain to the President that there are yet millions of Americans who think the gay lifestyle is a perfect perversion of both the laws of God and of nature? They don’t mind the freedom that gays have under the first and the fourteenth amendment to have their own lifestyle, its America, but they are not even close to helping them celebrate it, again, just sing the song.

The best minds even among the Dem’s and a few liberals have begun to see something about our President that could not be known until now. Entering the second hundred days into his administration it is slowly becoming apparent that Barack Obama isn’t playing the liberal card or the conservative card. He also is not favoring democratic agenda or the views of the beleaguered GOP. It’s not for the Christians or for the Muslims Mr. Obama speaks and shapes his policies. It is for himself.

It is the obvious attempt to consolidate power to and for him alone that makes the statement about Obama being a god made by Newsweek’s Evan Thomas a verbal gushing and sycophantic excess. It would be more honest to say that Mr. Obama is more like a chameleon who changes color to fit the background he is in rather than a god. 

Whatever works to consolidate and advance his own agenda, policies or views is the path he chooses. Can’t lose the contingent of gay votes even if it is only a minority, give them tacitly what they want but don’t tread on the huge contingent of voters who are both a majority and those who will not accept anything but marriage between one man and one woman. Reversing these positions would be a guarantee that he would be a one term President. That’s a song Mr. Obama does not want to sing.

It is hard to believe that a nation once firmly guided by laws, principles and morality is now going headlong at supersonic speed toward something known simply as ‘change.’ This song has seen many renditions in the past. It is a song sung by other nations and other systems of governance but it always failed and faded somewhere between the first stanza and the chorus. Let’s see.

Hitler called for change from a parliamentary form of government to a Reich with a quack leading the orchestra, this piece de-tuned after the world almost died listening to its dissonant strains.

In China Mao thought to sing the song of change from every ancient institution of the noble Chinese and not until almost every semblance of that world was flattened was the music silenced.

The list of great calls for change that ended in disaster, destruction and disillusionment for nations small and great is too large to be addressed here.

It has been said that when religion and culture clash, that it is culture that always comes out on top. The same principle is at work when it comes to something as nebulous, perhaps even frivolous as change. Change will not win. Eventually America will long for the principles that not only guided her but produced a steadiness and a foundation that sustained the country’s uniqueness and provided an immovable base on which to grow.

Anyone with an ounce of common sense has always stood amazed at the twisted reasoning in the liberal agenda. How liberals come to the conclusions they do is hard enough to understand but even more puzzling is the fact that they can’t seem to see the consequences of their views if carried out. They don’t see or just don’t accept that premise A, will always lead to result B, in time. They seem to lack the ability to project the results of their views into the future. It is that inability that adds definition to the term common sense. Change can be a part of common sense but it can never be a substitute for it in total.

The business of overlaying an entire month of honor for gays and lesbians on June’s three revered special days honoring warriors, patriots and fathers is a perfect picture of change for change’s sake. It reeks of callousness for American institutions and American culture and history. But maybe Mr. Obama really believes this is a Muslim or a gay leaning nation! Isn’t there someone in his cabinet or his family circle that could tell him the facts? Has change now become the substitute for truth?

Since gays are not allowed any place in real Muslim countries and here in Obama’s ‘Biggest Muslim country’ they are favored and coddled hasn’t anyone the nerve to tell him that this really makes us the biggest ‘fake’ Muslim country in the world?

Having mentioned only a few attempts in our world to put change ahead of foundation that miserably failed in the past lets look to one interesting change that will fail in the future. When the Bible speaks of the coming world leader known as the antichrist it describes a few of his personal attributes and character traits in detail. Alas, should we guess what one of them might be, you guessed it…change!

In a discourse about the world’s last leader not only is the length of time he will rule given but it is said that he will overtake the Christian believers and enforce a change of many laws, seasons and cultural observations. Some eschatologist think he may even try to change how we mark or delineate time from BC and AD to something that marks the time of his entrance into power. The bottom line is change, he will call for change and he will get it, but only for a short time. Following antichrist’s changes will be the final change from the rule of men to a blessed Theocratic rule with Christ on the earth, in Jerusalem and ruling with a rod of iron.

The Prophet Daniel says “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” (Daniel 7:25)

He is given three and a half years to work his change but after that the shape of the earth will change forever. Then we will all sing a new song entitled ‘Glory to God in the Highest.’

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Dr. Tiller: Let’s Not Make Him a Martyr  by Rev Michael Bresciani

Blame for Dr. Tiller’s murder is flying around like the sands of a Mojave dust storm most of it is hyper and unreasonable and it is begging for some legitimate balance. Is there any?

Let’s start at the top of the controversy rather than working up to it. Scott Roeder is at the moment the only suspect in the shooting of Dr. Tiller. If he is found guilty then he alone will be culpable for Dr. Tiller’s death. For those who like to say that Roe v. Wade is the law and we should live with it, the law that says only the one who pulled the trigger is guilty is a law they will have to live with as well.

In our system of law as it pertains to capital crimes unless there is a conspiracy there is no guilt by association. Conversely there is also no innocence by association. Christian leaders and conservative citizens in general have jumped at the chance to label Mr. Roeder a vigilante a monster and things far worse.

Condemning Roeder doesn’t add anything to the pro-life cause. Pro-abortionists are always quick to remind the Christians of Christ’s rule of not judging or condemning. Why add fuel to the fire by condemning Mr. Roeder, isn’t it just a matter of six of one and a half dozen of the other? Both Tiller and Roeder have one that will be their final judge and he is neither hot under the collar, biased or partial. Why don’t we leave all that to him?

The media has plenty of blame to go around but the target hit the hardest is Fox’s Bill O’Reilly. While O’Reilly may have been more vociferous than others the record shows that he concerned himself with the facts. Thousands of abortions were the facts that millions of Americans didn’t care to hear about. Is this a state of national denial or statement about national indifference? If the un-born could speak they might borrow a line from a famous Sinatra song My Way, “The record shows, we took the blows.”

I know a Christian Evangelist who got 300 emails the day after the shooting. All 300 emails said that the evangelist was guilty of the shooting along with the suspect. The difference between the loudest voices and the clearest voices is something we have obviously lost sight of.

Standing up for the protection of life at any stage from conception to death is never something to be ashamed of and in spite of Roe v. Wade or the actions of an extremist vigilante it is after all what our constitution originally promised us, as in “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”

We need not be running scared or fearing a backlash because it has never been about who’s the loudest. Life and death should never be left to popular opinion or pop culture leanings or the loudest voices. There has to be a distinct or legible guide to indicate what the limits are, this is clarity.

Those who say that Roe v. Wade is just the law and we need to live with it are almost never willing to admit that what is just the law is not always a just law. In Japan no one is afforded an arraignment and a speedy trial. In Indonesia you can be jailed for chewing gum in public. In Muslim countries you can lose a hand for stealing. Are these just laws? Does it seem unreasonable to think a law that says you might lose your life just for being conceived in America is any less just?

In Massachusetts an old blue law allowed the residents of one town to shoot the residents of the neighboring town for crossing the town line on a Sunday. Another old law in Texas allowed a defendant to use the plea of “he needed killing” as a defense in a murder case. These laws are now seen as absurd and anything but just and have long since been repealed. It is not impossible to imagine a day when society will awaken to the enlightened decision to repeal Roe v. Wade.

Setting aside the issue of loudness vs. clarity let’s move on to opinion vs. physical action. It is acceptable to hold the opinion that abortion is wrong but when physical action against an abortionist is taken, it turns out that society says that is also wrong. Here is an enigma that seems impossible and yet it is not. Both things happen to be right but that does little to change the truth that two wrongs don’t make a right. It is wrong to harm abortionists and it is equally wrong to abort.

The balanced view is that both the shooting of Dr. Tiller and the 60,000 abortions he is complicit with are equally wrong. It must be noted that even those who hold and adhere to Christ’s command not to judge; ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’ (Mt. 7:1) were never asked to suspend their judgment about what is right or wrong as in ‘Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.’ (Jn 7:24) In fact to suspend our judgment about right and wrong is warned against repeatedly throughout the scriptures.

For those with a Biblical worldview it is almost impossible not to warn people of the consequences of their actions as it pertains to the judgment that follows the end of life. It is equally impossible to trust the judgment of those who claim that they don’t know when life begins. Here we are forced to return to the question of what we think versus what we do.

We may think Mr. Tiller’s actions are wrong but as long as it is only a thought, a voice of opinion no laws have been breached. To harm him physically is a breach of the law. Let’s expand that simple principle to cover abortion if we dare.

To debate or assert that no one knows when life really begins is an argument that harms no one. When we lay hands on the un-born and end that life we are disputing about we insist there is no culpability to the laws of nature, God or man. This double standard makes fools of us all if we accept it. We need balance. Forcing death on anyone from conception to the grave offers no balance.

A blogger who posted a reply to an article I previously wrote explaining what an un-born child might say about being aborted thought I had no business deciding what they might say. He scoffed at the idea that they ever had a voice. All parents know that they are the voice of their child as they grow, why not when they are being formed? Except in the case of people who are mentally challenged I would assert that no human being alive today would verbally assent to their own death.

Modernists are far more prone to accept the philosophy of a Hollywood actor, writer or producer than an old fashioned gospel preacher. Even at that the double standard is blatantly apparent. In the 1982 smash hit The Blade Runner the film ends with lead actor Harrison Ford asking a female cyborg he’d been pursuing and trying to kill the question of what she really wanted. Her reply was “I only wanted what you wanted, to live.”  How dare we assume to know what a machine would say about life and death but cannot imagine what one of our own species would say? Is that balance and if so, in what world?

I can’t make judgments about abortionists or pro-lifers as it pertains to their future or the final judgment. The Apostle Paul said it this way, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, which both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the heart.” (1Cor 4:5) The judgment about the horrors of abortion isn’t about some future time it is now. I am convinced that if asked, every unborn child would answer at least as well as a fictitious sci-fi cyborg, “I only wanted what you wanted, to live

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Obama at Notre Dame: It’s About Lives not Opinions  by Rev Michael Bresciani

The administrators at Notre Dame had it in mind to foster tolerance and diversity with those of differing opinions. Among the graduating class a few students had Obama’s circle logo pasted on their caps leaving no doubt what was in their minds.

Outside in protest chanting, Benedict’s flock                                    No you can’t, no you can’t                                                          Inside Obama’s friends chant and mock                                          Yes we can, yes we can

Wisdoms answer notwithstanding only common sense need answer the mockery that was the appearance, the address and the awarding of an honorary degree to Barack Obama. Under the banner of bringing a new voice of liberalism to university has anyone sat down and done the math?

America’s universities are already strongly under the sway of liberalism and have been so for better than a quarter of a century. No diplomacy needed here just the facts. There has been no lack of liberal ideology in most of America’s halls of learning and real diversity would be allowing a conservative view anyplace at all. Notre Dame’s administration would have come off as far more honest if they allowed Ann Coulter to address the graduating class.

Millions of bloggers worldwide have proven that everyone has an opinion and almost 300 op-ed articles later I must agree that forming an opinion is as easy as spitting. Much harder is forming a question that will provoke someone to carefully peruse, and pensively weigh not just the views but the consequences and outcomes of specific behaviors. Here are just three such questions for Notre Dame, for Barack Obama, for America.

In his campaign Obama promised to bring a divided America together again. Not long ago as he jumped across Europe Barack Obama derided America by proclaiming that at times we had been ‘divisive.’ Only a few short weeks later he raised and created a division in Americas most prestigious Catholic University that everyone could see coming but he did nothing to stop. After lauding Father Ted Hesburgh for his 150 honorary degrees and noting that he had only one, the question for Barack Obama is simple.

Can you be proud of a degree that not only was not earned but came at the price of dividing students, a church and a nation and leaving them hurt and visibly shaken? Where is the promise of healing and unity you so glibly broadcast during your campaign? Would it be unfair to say that after campaign promises that are now seen as ‘more of the same’ that what happened yesterday May 17, 2009 is more like ‘the shame at Notre Dame?’

The second question is if the emphasis must now pass from abortion to poverty, health care and peace through diplomacy have you taken the Pelosian view that someone who is never born can’t come to poverty? Could that idea be extended to health care as in the dead have no health problems? Finally there is no need to engage friend or foe in diplomatic discourse if they have never been born. Is this how the emphasis passes from abortion to the social urgencies that are now alone accepted as politically correct?

The finally question must be this. Did you notice that in the entirety of your address to the fledglings and august administrators of Notre Dame that you never used the word ‘life’ or ‘living’ in reference to the unborn?

The only words we heard were opinion, viewpoint, the other view et al. Are you aware that throughout history when an ideology such as Marxism or Nazism became the chief interest of a people that those causes also began to disregard life? Millions of lives later can the world having barely recovered from such ideologies afford to embark again on a dark journey down this slippery slope?

And if it is truly the administrations plan to work to reduce the reasons a women gets an abortion what has your administration done to affect these changes?  As one of your first acts in office you brought FOCA to the top of your agenda thus removing any judicial intervention in the matter of abortion. States rights have been suspended on the matter and the hideousness of partial term abortions has raised its ugly head once again. What if anything have you done to convince even one woman to consider not aborting? As it pertains to the pummeling of the pro-abortion movement and the deepest sentiments of millions of Americans forget ‘yes we can’ and get down to the raw truth which is ‘yes you did.’

Prior to and during the event attended even by protestor Jane Roe of Roe v Wade and a hosts of Catholic priests and protestant ministers many arrests were made. Among those arrested was former Presidential candidate Ambassador Alan Keyes. Every voice was ignored some were silenced. One protestor carried a sign that said ‘God is Pro-life.’ In so far as this is true even God’s voice was silent on that propitious day. Don’t count on it, for here is yet one more voice.

Whether it is in willingness or out of necessity all Americans must accept the civil authority invested in the President. Others also accept the ecclesiastical authority of the Pope and yet others the authority of the administration and faculty of Notre Dame. There is yet one authority I must always revert to without apology. I can quote the words time and time again and they too raise a question at least among some who still have ‘the ears to hear.’ Here is the quote once again, parenthetical emphasis mine.

After receiving and blessing the little children that his disciples tried to shoo away Jesus said “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones (doesn’t un-born qualify as ‘little’) which believe in me, it were better for him (what would be the worse?) that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” (Mt 18:6) No tolerance here, no diversity and nothing politically correct, just an ultimatum from the ultimate authority.

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Eschatology Speaks to Progressive Liberalism: Tree Climbing in America  by Rev Michael Bresciani

There has never been a time in history when the terms Eschatology and progressive liberalism have meant more yet it is also a time when speaking rationally of either of them would first require a very specific definition for both. What are the definitions and why are they so important today?

Eschatology is the study of the last four things specifically death, judgment, heaven and hell. The study of eschatology necessarily takes in the second coming of Christ since no judgment will take place until that is accomplished.

Progressive liberalism is a neo-political term used to describe the geo-political trends in a modern world. It generally means a leaning toward larger government and less stringency in education and child rearing. A fuller definition would require pages not paragraphs.

At the outset liberalism is at a disadvantage because of another definition and it is hard to make a comparison. An “ism” is a movement, doctrine or system of belief. An “ology” is a specific body of knowledge and in general does not necessarily require anyone’s belief in it to make it true. You may believe that gravity is nothing but when you fall out of a tree it establishes itself as a law each and every time you hit the ground.

It would be fair to say that progressive liberalism is man falling or in today’s climate of PC, tolerance and diversity, jumping out of a very tall tree and eschatology is what happens when he hits the ground.

Before seeing how second coming prophecies speak to liberalism it must be noted that one of liberalisms more prominent assertions, that religion has no bearing in modern life is partly true, but that too has only to do with definitions.

The common definition for religion is that it is a “belief system.”  In fact the word religion is non-existent in the Old Testament and is used only four times in the New Testament and only once there is it given a definition. The definition James gave to religion (James 1:27) has to do with the behavior of the believer and not a system of worship. So what are we to do if even the Bible refuses to give us a proper definition?  

The simple truth is that the Bible isn’t about religion it is about revelation. Religion is something man creates to categorize, codify, actuate and perpetuate a system of belief. From the New Testament onward no such demand was made by God but a request or invitation was made to see what God had revealed to man. God has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ and that is why the Apostle Paul was able to say that Jesus was the ‘express image’ of the living God. (Heb 1:3)

Revelation and religion are as far apart as the east is from the west. One is mans feeble attempt to appease, assuage or placate God with a system of beliefs, behaviors, liturgies, ceremonies, sacraments, icons, theologies, doctrines, ethical codes et al. The other is God reaching down to man and showing who he really is and exactly what he expects of us.

The Bible says mans number one proclivity from birth to death is to sin. The second greatest proclivity although not mentioned in scripture but proven in history has got to be religion. Sadly, among the great list of sins is the sin of rejecting the revelation that God gave of himself. Religious practices are useful only as long as they are supplements rather than substitutes for the real thing. What is the real thing?

Once again we have to resort to the differences between “ologies” and “isms.” God wants us to know him, not just about him from second sources like theological positions or religious practices. He wants us to know him personally and collectively as in community or nationally. The ‘ology’ or knowing part of theology means nothing unless it is in fact personal.

When we don’t know him personally we will always hide in or live in ‘isms’ like Catholicism, Presbyterianism, Methodism and many others. An ‘ism’ is a terribly poor substitute for a real ‘ology.’ Real time Christianity can safely borrow from the meaning of the phrase “it’s not what you know, but who you know that counts.”

Don’t decide to take offense with this because you happen to be a devout Catholic or Protestant. Just ask yourself if the practice of your religion is a substitute or a supplement. The answer is yours to decide and any subsequent action taken is also entirely in your ball park.

Because eschatology includes what is known as pre-millennial prophecies (second coming of Christ) that are according to scripture pre-written history how can a mindset like neo-liberalism possibly stand against the prophetic in an effort to explain our future? Liberalism is a pathetically hopeful pipe dream by comparison.

To qualify the assertions of pre-millennial prophecies we have only to view the record of accuracy in Old Testament prophecy. In what is known as pre, mid and post exilic prophecies (captivity and subjection of Jews to Gentile Nations) the accuracy rate is one hundred percent. In prophecies of the Diaspora (dispersion of the Jews to all nations) the accuracy rate is also one hundred percent.

Messianic prophecies also have a one hundred percent accuracy rate. Some of the prophecies Christ fulfilled in the last 24 hours of his life before his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection were fulfilled against the odds of 53,000,000 to 1. There are 167 scriptural pictures of what would happen to Christ and not one of them was wrong. The final clincher is the fact that it is the same God, the same Spirit that gives us the pre-millennial prophecies.

The second coming prophecies are replete with timing, (season of) moral and geo-political conditions of the nations, the formation of a world economic and political power in the same general geographical area as the old Roman Empire (EU) and the emergence of certain key figures that engage the entire world in a new economic system.

It isn’t confirmation of the accuracy of prophecy that we need to seek here but rather it is comparison. Biblical prophecies paint an entirely different picture for our world than the purveyors and prognosticators of the new progressive liberalism that is sweeping the world and America of late. Here is a simple breakdown in layman’s terms.

Global Warming: Without doubt the threat of our planet being thrust into a worldwide drought or another ice age is absolutely zero. According to prophecy the world as we know it is transformed by the re-entrance of Christ in our history. Radical topographical changes will be made to the earth before the 1,000 year millennial Kingdom begins but they are not man made. Some eschatologists believe that it is to prepare the world to become an almost completely agrarian society. Deserts will cease to be arid and many mountains will be flattened.

Gay Agenda: The gay agenda is the second to the last signal that society has gone to the edge of its own demise. Both the Bible and history clearly have shown that any and all nations that began the trek into moral decline were at the precipice of their own final and irreversible fall. Nothing has changed in writ or history and progressive liberals can only hope you don’t know that, much less believe it. Today’s idea of education won’t pose any threat of our children finding out. God was given his walking papers long ago from the Dewey system of enlightenment. Revisionist history and a progressive slant to geo-political science take up the rear guard and that’s why some students think Prague is a town in Kentucky.

Abortion: It would seem at first that there is no way to connect the worldwide genocide that is abortion to the prophecies of the second coming of Christ. Speaking again of conditions that would prevail in society as the last days approached Christ said “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Mt 24:12)

Throughout millennia mothers birthed and raised children through times of war, famine, drought and political uncertainty with little or no money. Now in a time when western civilizations poorest and even welfare moms have thousands of times more money than ever dreamed of by women of the past the single greatest excuse for an abortion is the lack of money. In the very simplest terms Christ is saying that this is a pure unadulterated excuse wrapped in the skin of a lie. In no uncertain terms Christ said that in the last days it would be love that is missing not money!

We live in a world that spends billions of dollars to save whales, seals, wolves and endangered species of all kinds. We put limits on how many animals a hunter may kill or how many fish an angler can catch but place no limits on how many of our own unborn children we may kill.

Abortion stands alone as the most nefarious and wicked by-product of progressive liberalism. Regardless of how lawful it is to abort an unborn human being no amount of common acceptance can remove the reprehensibility, the gore and the blood guilt that it spawns. It is in truth unbridled murder under the auspices of an ideology that is not worthy of even one of its innocent victims.

The next time you hear someone say that more people have died because of religion than any other cause you might remind them of this. Not only has some perverted political ideology cost the lives of more people throughout history but in this country alone 50 million innocents have died under the banner of liberal court rulings (Roe v Wade) in less than a generation.

Nearly 115,000 abortions occur every day worldwide. In John Lennon’s 1971 hit ‘Imagine’ we are asked to imagine a world with no religions. That is all too easy as the last days approach Antichrist will handle that part of the worlds big transition into progressivism. What seems a far better thought is a world with no abortion!

Although there is much ado about Al Gores “Inconvenient Truth” for the unborn it is Darwin’s ‘convenient truth’ that is the worry. It is a delusion of biblical proportions (2Th 2:11) that convinces a modern and liberal world that God’s sweetest little souls can be sent back to where they came from marked ‘unwanted.’

Apostasy: The apostasy (falling away) of the church is what the Bible concerns itself with but when this keg of wispiness, laziness and faltering loyalty explodes it creates a lot of collateral damage. Documents regardless of how revered and the principles on which they were drawn such as the Constitution and the Bill of Rights will be damaged, disregarded and altered.

At the heart of the apostasy is a general decline in faith in the one God who created everything and the revelation of his will in the scriptures. This opens doors to falsehoods, false prophets, and idolatry. This is the last step in the decline of any nation. Pre-millennial prophecy shows that man will finally go to the heights of idolatry in the very worship of man. The Antichrist will be a well accepted leader who will draw the worldwide allegiance and worship of every inhabitant of the earth…or else, but that’s another subject. Here is what Christ says about it…

“I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” (John 5:43)

In short the pipe dream of progressivism leads to the nightmare of Armageddon and that too does not require the belief of the adherents of liberalisms brave new world. The truths in Eschatology are the hard cold ground that will meet a mistaken world on its way down from the lofty and wind shaken boughs of the highest tree that today is named progressive liberalism.

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