tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45559285696220638052024-03-13T21:56:45.539-05:00Marriage, Faith and Politics in America...and the two will become one flesh. Ephesians 5:31Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-9250154327679287432012-10-03T11:05:00.001-05:002012-10-03T11:05:14.538-05:00WHAT'S HOLDING YOU BACK FROM AN AWESOME MARRIAGE?<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">What do you
believe is holding back the awesome marriage you could be having? Are you sure?
Fear is usually the main culprit for us not having the marriage of our dreams or
the career we want. Some people actually have a fear of success. They fear that
if their life will be too good, then it may not last. They fear what could
happen instead of working on obtaining the results they want for their life and
marriage. <span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Timothy
1:7, “</span><span class="text">For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of
cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a
spirit] of power and of love and of calm <i>and</i> well-balanced mind
<i>and</i> discipline <i>and</i> self-control.” Amplified Bible</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"></span></span> </div>
<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" itemscope="itemscope" itemtype="http://schema.org/BlogPosting" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">In Luke 19: 1–9, we see that Zacchaeus had a goal; he
wanted desperately to see Jesus. However, a very large crowd was in his way and
being a short man he couldn't see over the crowd. Instead of him saying "Well I
can't do this", "I am too short", Zacchaeus came up with a plan. Zacchaeus made
a decision to see Jesus through the crowd. He decided no one would stop him.
Zacchaeus expected Jesus to show up by the sycamore tree. He made a plan and
followed through. He didn't allow others to dictate what he would receive from
God. He didn't allow others to dictate the outcome of his dream. We must expect
Jesus to show up in our marriage and in our bedroom. Tony & Alisa DiLorenzo
have a great podcast on Jesus in my bedroom. Yes, Jesus is in your bedroom also.
Why wouldn’t He be, God made sex for us to enjoy with each other and as a way to
bring us closer together. Access the podcast here> </span><a href="http://www.oneextraordinarymarriage.com/130-jesus-in-my-bedroom"><span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.oneextraordinarymarriage.com/130-jesus-in-my-bedroom"><span style="color: #992211;"></span></a><span style="color: #992211;"><a href="http://www.oneextraordinarymarriage.com/130-jesus-in-my-bedroom">http://www.oneextraordinarymarriage.com/130-jesus-in-my-bedroom</a></span><a href="http://www.oneextraordinarymarriage.com/130-jesus-in-my-bedroom"></a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Let's now examine our marriages. Whatever barriers you
believe are holding you back, no matter what they may be, they are only
temporary barriers or obstacles. In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells us to speak to
our mountains. Too many times we make mountains out of molehills. Is the barrier
(subject) a molehill or a mountain? Is it really worth battling with your
spouse? It could just be that the barrier is worth both of you fighting for.
Your marriage is worth fighting for! Fight with your spouse (not against them)
to win the battle. You are on the same team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">No matter what, or who, Satan puts in our way, even if
the doors seem closed, or barriers are in the way to accomplish your dream, be
like Zacchaeus! I can do everything through him who gives me strength.
Philippeans 4:13 NIV</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore
tree so he could see Jesus when he came by. Zacchaeus refused to say no. "If I
can't get past the crowd I will climb that tree to see Jesus." Jesus saw
Zacchaeus when he arrived at the tree; he looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, come
down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” Jesus wanted it to stay at
his house.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Don't let the fear of anyone or anything stop you from
obtaining the marriage God has for you. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Make a plan with God, be creative, and
aggressively pursue a relationship with Jesus and pursue the awesome marriage
God designed for you. Jesus will pass by and He will see you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus wants
to stay in your house! It is up to us to invite Him in so we can live in the
reward that He has set aside for us.</span></div>
Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-40584412593095971452012-10-03T11:02:00.003-05:002012-10-03T11:02:48.506-05:00WHAT REJECTION MEANS<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;">What does
rejection mean? Rejection keeps us at a distance from those we love, like
someone with an infectious disease. This is especially true for those of us who
are adopted. The great news is that when we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior
we are adopted into God’s family. So I am adopted twice, a double blessing so to
speak.</span></div>
<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Rejection is one of our greatest fears. Being rejected
by someone makes us feel small, insecure and unwanted. We lose our
self-confidence.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">When a husband is rejected by his bride, he feels
unwanted, unloved and unvalued. Instead of saying no, why not ask for a rain
check and set a day and time to come together again intimately? Do not let Satan
or his demons win the mind game they will play in your husband’s mind. Satan,
our enemy, uses the pain of rejection to stop you and keep you away from the
call that God has for your life. His goal is to steal, kill and destroy – your
marriage, family, finances, health, etc.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Husbands, if we are rejecting our wife’s advances, they
will feel the same as when the tables are turned on us. So, here is our homework
– 1 Corinthians 7:3-4, “<span class="text">The husband should fulfill his marital
duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><sup> </sup></span><span style="font-size: medium;">The
wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same
way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.” This
is never to take advantage of your spouse but to show your love for them and to
bring you closer together. Becoming One Flesh Ephesians 5:31, <span class="text">“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united
to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span class="text"></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Rejection and the fear of rejection did not stop Jesus!
He was determined, and persistent in his ministry. Even to the point of death on
the cross for you and me. Jesus gave us authority over Satan and his
demons.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus was moved by the Holy Spirit whether people
accepted him or not. Jesus knows all about rejection. He understands how we feel
when we’re rejected because he experienced it so powerfully and
personally.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">God cares about you! You are Loved, Valued and
Accepted. We must show our spouse how much they are loved, valued and accepted
not just by our words but also by our actions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have
drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3 God draws us to Him in the
same way we are to be drawn to our spouse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">"These people who survived the killing. Israel, out
looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!" God told them, "I've
never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! And so
now I'll start over with you and build you up again," Jeremiah 31:3 Message
Bible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Are you hurt? The best medicine is God's Love + Love
Others. We need to stop being selfish in the frame that we believe others owe us
anything. We need to learn to care about other people and then the pain will go
away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Make a Decision. Live in God's Love.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" itemprop="description articleBody" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Don't allow the rejection from a few stop you from
blessing others – especially your spouse!</span></div>
Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-83043596761753468902012-09-28T16:41:00.001-05:002012-09-30T13:18:03.246-05:00WHAT ARE YOU BELIEVING FOR IN YOUR MARRIAGE?<span class="text"><span style="font-size: large;">Hebrews 11: 1
tells us, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we
do not see.” What are you certain of? We surely are certain of the sky being
blue and the grass being green?</span></span><br />
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="text"></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: large;">Why not be
certain of having the marriage God intended? Is it the demon yelling in your
ear that your spouse will never amount to anything, that they will never
change, or that this is the best it will ever by in your marriage? You see,
Satan loves to take a picture of where your marriage is right now and tell you
that this is the pinnacle. Satan tells us to get ready because this will never
get better.</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="text"></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: large;">First and
foremost: tell Satan to take a hike! Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan” in Matthew
16:23. Jesus did not ask Peter why he said what he did. Jesus did not ask Peter
if he was having a bad day. No. Jesus spoke directly to Satan. Remember, that
we have that authority and we must exercise it daily.</span></span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="text"></span><span class="text"><span style="font-size: large;">We must use
the gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) and our
Spiritual Gifts (Ephesians 6: 10-18) to thwart Satan’s attacks. I know some
will say these gifts died with the 1</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup>st</sup></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Century Church. It does not
say that in the Bible. Either the entire Bible is true or all of it is false.
Hint: it is all true – the living Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word
of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates
even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and
attitudes of the heart.</span></span><span style="font-size: large;">”</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If you really want your marriage
to get better, here is the best way. Keep God first in our lives. By putting God first, we are seeking His will for our lives. This will help you hear the Holy Spirit
speak to you on what to do next. A counselor friend says, “Do the next right
thing.” Sounds easy but the world will try to rebuff your right thinking. Stand
strong and then keep standing.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Put your spouse second. Many
spouses put the children second by living their life through their kids. This
is not respecting the husband or loving the bride. Ephesians 5:33, “<span class="text">However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves
himself, and the wife must respect her husband.</span>” We must model
the kind of marriage we want to our children. We don’t want the world modeling
marriage for them. Satan is using inappropriate television shows and bad music to
model the wrong kind of lifestyle to our children. They must see it at home
first.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our kids come third. Yes,
third. Our role as parents is to train them up in the ways of the Lord. When
they mature, 18-22, they will leave our nest and begin their own lives. Until
then they are under our covering. But afterwards, we can become friends with
them and give them advice – when they ask or if we see them about to go over
the cliff.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Church and/or Ministry are
fourth. Yes we all have a ministry whether we want one or not. It is to tell
others of Jesus, to be the spouse God calls us to be, to model a Christian
marriage to our kids and to teach our kids about God, Jesus and the Holy
Spirit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Verbal declarations are a
great way to help set your mind on the things you are believing for. My bride and
I have some we say daily. They are below. By saying them aloud, you are telling
yourself, your mind, of what is to come. Remember Hebrews 11:1.</span></div>
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</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our Declarations:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">1. That we fulfill the call God
has placed on our lives.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">2. That our marriage is blessed
by God and we are the spouse that God designed us to be.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">3. That our finances are blessed
and we have paid off all debt. That our finances increase because God prospers
what we lay our hand to.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">4. For witty ideas and
inventions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">5. That we and our family walk in
divine health.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">6. That our children are blessed
and they marry strong Christians, have a strong Christian marriage and that our
grandchildren and great-grandchildren are strong Christians.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">God spoke the world into
existence so we must speak our great marriage into existence also. Words are
very powerful! That is why we are commanded to say with our mouth that Jesus is
Lord and not just think it in our heads. Romans 10:9-10, “<span class="text">That
if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that
God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.</span> <span class="text">For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it
is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.</span>”</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span class="text">Keep speaking
life over your marriage!</span></span>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-56567786477480216692012-03-01T17:10:00.004-06:002012-03-01T17:14:03.558-06:00Praise Him In The Storm With Hands Held High<span style="font-size: large;">A few weeks ago, the Lord told me, “Praise Me with your hands held high as Moses did in the battle with the Amalekites (Exodus 17: 8-16) praise me with your hands held high and you will win the battle.” In Ephesians 6: 10-20, Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God, the helmet of salvation, breast plate of righteousness, and feet fitted with readiness. Paul then says for us to stand firm.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">We must remember that the battle is spiritual. In vs. 18 Paul says to pray in the Spirit on all occasions. If you are not Spirit filled and flowing with the gift(s) of the Spirit, I urge you to read 1 Corinthians chapters 12 – 14. You will notice that chapter 13 is on love and is read at most weddings. It is not coincidence that God inserted a chapter on love between two chapters that deal with the fruits of the Spirit. God is love. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">If someone tries to tell you that those gifts were just for the 1</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup>st</sup></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Century church, ask them where it says that in the Bible. Then tell me because I have not been able to find it. 1 Corinthians 12: 10 states, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” This is why you and I could never give one of the gifts of the Spirit to another person. If you still do not understand how each person receives these gifts, reread vs. 10 again and then pray for God to tell you. He will.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Trying to win the battle without the gifts is like trying to swim across the Atlantic in a hurricane. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">God’s promises are always yes and amen. I am so blessed to be His child. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;">Keep the faith and fight with the gifts. Satan is already defeated! God wins!<o:p></o:p></span></div>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-30940255319909871212011-11-01T15:31:00.000-05:002011-11-01T15:31:39.986-05:00The Bible & Taxes<span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Capital Gains Taxes</span></b></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="apple-style-span">The Capital Gains Tax, which is a tax on profits, actually penalizes a person for success the more profit you make the more you have to pay (i.e., the more profit a person makes the higher tax rate they pay on that profit/windfall from an investment). However, In the Bible, the more profit you make the more you are rewarded. Both the parable of the talents (<i>Matthew</i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>25:14-30</i>) and the parable of the minas (<i>Luke 19:12-27</i>) conflict with the notion of a tax on capital gains. “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” In other words, the Bible implies that those who do well (invest) with what they have will be given more.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><b>Wages</b></span><br />
<span class="apple-style-span">The parable of the landowner and laborers (<i>Matthew 20:1-16</i>) is applicable to the employer/employee relationship and the issue of wages. The landowner hires workers at different times of the day and yet pays each worker the same amount at the end of the day. When the workers hired first complain, the landowner replies, “Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” (“things” is translated as “money” in some versions) There is an implication that the landowner had a right to determine the wages his workers received, as well as an implication that the workers could accept or reject the landowner's offer of work.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>James 5:4</i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">provides a balance in that the Lord hears the cries of the laborers who are cheated out of wages they are due.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Income Taxes</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="apple-style-span">The current income tax structure in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> mandates a higher tax rate or percentage the more a person makes. This tax system is contradicted by scripture, especially</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>Exodus 30:11-15</i>, which provided a “half a shekel” tax for everyone numbered. Verse 15 states: “The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel.” In addition, the Biblical Tithe is not applied progressively, rather it is applied equally to everyone (“And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord. . . .And concerning the tithe of the herd or the flock, of whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the Lord.”</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>Leviticus 27:30,32</i>).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Inheritance Taxes</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span class="apple-style-span">The Bible speaks to the issue of inheritance numerous times.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>Proverbs 13:22</i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">states “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children” (something that is not likely with the current Estate Tax which can take up to 55% of an estate, leaving 45% to the children; when the children pass it on to the grandchildren, up to 55% of the remaining 45% can be taken, leaving only 27% of the original that would be passed on to the “children's children”).</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>Ezekiel 46:18</i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">states that “the prince shall not take any of the people's inheritance by evicting them from their property; he shall provide an inheritance for his sons from his own property, so that none of My people may be scattered from his property.” Other scriptures that deal with inheritance are</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>Proverbs 19:14 </i><span style="color: black;">Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">but a prudent wife is from the LORD.</span>,</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>I Chronicles 28:8 </i><span style="color: black;">So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.</span>, and</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-style-span"><i>Ezra 9:12</i><span style="color: black;"> Therefore, do not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Do not seek a treaty of friendship with them at any time, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it to your children as an everlasting inheritance.</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-47959387030099381362011-08-16T13:49:00.000-05:002011-08-16T13:49:39.341-05:00RAIN DOWN<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Lord, thank you for the rain you sent to us and the rain you are sending.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The weather for the next week does not look too promising for rain or any relief from the 100 plus degree temperatures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Texas is in the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0418/Can-US-handle-historic-Texas-wildfires"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">grip of historic wildfires</span></a> that have destroyed nearly 1.8 million acres of forest and grassland in the state as well as 400 homes. The almost 8,000 fires so far this year are unprecedented.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Many will see the only hope of rain and relief from the heat to be in the form of a hurricane hitting the Texas coast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would be bad for the people of the coast but good for those of us who would be blessed with the much needed rain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe there is a greater hope.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">In 1 Kings 18:41-44, Elijah said to Ahab, “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is amazing that the only cloud visible to Ahab was the size of a man’s hand off in the distance yet Elijah told Ahab to ‘hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That had to be some rain for it to be able to stop a chariot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the kind of rain we need now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is the faith we need now!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If you have been praying for rain – don’t stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have not – start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Remember, when you pray for rain, carry your umbrella.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Show your faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pray without ceasing for God to heal our land, fill up the lakes, rivers and creeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">If you are going to pray for rain you need to carry your umbrella.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Where is your Umbrella?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where is your faith?</span><o:p></o:p></div>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-54300327656926421442011-08-16T13:44:00.001-05:002012-03-01T16:49:31.667-06:00PRAYER FOR OUR GOVERNMENT<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">God created government to protect our freedoms so we can spread the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By hearing God’s word and praying for our country, we can lead a quiet and peaceable life which will enable us to spread the gospel.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">1 Timothy 2:1-2 states: “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Satan tries to work through our governments to stop believers from spreading the gospel by either limiting or eliminating our liberties.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">How can we stop this?</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Spread the gospel</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Pray</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3. </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Vote our convictions<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Father, give us leaders after Your heart! A time like this demands strong minds, great hearts, true faith and ready hands; leaders whom the lust of office does not kill; leaders whom the spoils of office cannot buy; leaders who possess your opinions and will; leaders who have honor; leaders who will not lie; leaders who does not use false claims and promises in order to gain power, and can withstand the treacherous flatteries without winking! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Father, give us Christian leaders who are not afraid to stand up for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaders who will do the right thing when the wrong thing will benefit them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We thank You that we live in a Christian nation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Father, we thank you that we and our leaders have your supernatural wisdom and the ability to make the right decisions every time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Father, you said the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, so we thank you that you are guiding our steps and our leaders’ steps.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Father, I thank you that our leaders are strong in the power of your might and well able to do what you have called them to do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Micah 4:5 states “All the nations may walk in the name of their gods; we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord, we thank you that we walk in Your name.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Father, you are our</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> judge, our lawgiver, our king and only you can save us.” </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large;">Help us to always seek you when we enter the voting booth to elect Christian leaders and help us to encourage those who we elect.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Father I pray for our government officials to recognize Your authority and rely on You for wisdom, for our country to stand strong on the principles of our Founding Fathers, and that our leaders will make wise decisions rather than succumbing to special interest groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Father I pray Isaiah 1:26 over our leaders. You said, “I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We pray this in Jesus’ name.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Amen</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-45439006516938267062011-04-08T15:31:00.000-05:002012-10-02T16:09:13.303-05:00What Rejection Means<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">What does rejection mean?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rejection keeps us at a distance from those we love, like someone with an infectious disease.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Rejection is one of our greatest fears. Being rejected by someone makes us feel small, insecure and unwanted. We lose our self confidence<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">The Enemy used the pain of rejection to stop you and keep you away from the call that is in your life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Rejection and the fear of rejection did not stop Jesus! He was determined, and persistent in his ministry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus was moved by the Holy Spirit no if the people like him or not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus knows all about rejection. Jesus understands how we feel when we’re rejected because he experienced it so powerfully and personally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">God cares about you! You are Loved Valued, Accepted. He'll never quit loving you and never will. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 19px; line-height: 21px;">Expect love, love & more love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">"These people who survived the killing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Expect love, love, and more love!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again," Jeremiah 31:3 Message Bible<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Are you hurt? The best medicine is God's Love + Love Others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to stop being selfish in the frame that we believe others owe us anything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to learn to care about other people and then the pain will go away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Make a Decision. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Live in God's Love.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Don't allow the rejection from a few stop you from blessing others!</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-4754386499449525052011-01-20T14:40:00.005-06:002011-01-20T16:47:12.961-06:00What's Holding You Back?<h5 style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style=" font-weight:normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In Luke 19: 1–9, we see that Zacchaeus had a goal; he wanted desperately to see Jesus.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">However, a very large crowd was in his way and being a short man he couldn't see over the crowd.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Instead of him saying "Well I can't do this", "I am too short", "The Democrats or Republicans are in power", “its Bush’s fault,” Zacchaeus</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">came up with a plan.</span></span></span></strong><span style="font-weight:normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></h5> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:16.2pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus made a decision to see Jesus through the crowd.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He decided no one would stop him. No matter what, or who, Satan puts in our way, even if the doors seem closed, or barriers are in the way to accomplish your dream, be like Zacchaeus!</span></span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:16.2pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">So</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus refused to say no.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"If I can't get past the crowd I will climb that tree to see Jesus."</span></span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:16.2pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus was an unlikely person to have an encounter with Jesus because he was a tax collector, he wasn't part of the "in" crowd that seemed like they should be blessed and have success in Jesus.</span></span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:16.2pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus saw</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">when he got to the tree; he looked up and said,</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">"Zacchaeus, come down immediately.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I must stay at your house today.”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus wanted it to stay at his house.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></strong></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:16.2pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Zacchaeus expected Jesus to show up by the sycamore tree. He made a plan.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He didn't allow others to dictate what he would receive from God.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He didn't allow others to dictate the outcome of his dream.</span></span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:16.2pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;mso-line-height-alt:11.25pt"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Let's now examine our lives.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">You have a God-given dream and whatever barriers you see are only temporary obstacles.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells us to speak to our mountains.</span></span></span></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is no coincidence that the parable of the ten minas is found immediately afterwards.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In this parable, the king tells his 10 servants to put the 10 minas to work – until his return.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Don't let others inhibit your God-given dreams! Make a plan, be creative, and aggressively pursue Jesus.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He will pass by and He will see you.</span></span></span></strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><strong><span style="font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus wants to stay in your house!</span></span></span></strong></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">What are you investing in?</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Our King is coming again.</span></span><o:p></o:p></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-40848670156822655042010-12-30T11:56:00.001-06:002010-12-30T11:58:52.533-06:00America's Only Hope<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">I have seen numerous yard signs over the past few months with the inscription, “PRAYER, <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s Only Hope” 2 Chronicles 7:14.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The only problem with these signs is that they are wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Jesus Christ is <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s only hope.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">I believe the context of the yard signs was done with the most honorable intent and I commend the people responsible.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God says, “<span style="color:black">if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">There are four things God tells Solomon that <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> must do in this passage: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Humble themselves – That one is always the hardest<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Pray<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Seek God’s face<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Turn from their wicked ways</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">There are also three promises from God here:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">God will hear from heaven<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Forgive their sins<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in;text-align:justify;text-indent:-.25in; mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Heal their land</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Why wait for another year to pass to do the right things?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The New Year is here and there is no time like now to get started.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Love more, forgive more, volunteer more, give more to our church and charities, and attend church or synagogue.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">If we as American’s will only do what God tells us to do, what a paradise <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> would be.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Prayer is not <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s only hope, or the worlds only hope, Jesus Christ is.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Well, what are we waiting for?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>When Jesus returns, it will be too late.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Let’s start now!<o:p></o:p></span></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-44834776734867565682010-09-09T09:46:00.002-05:002010-09-09T09:48:44.888-05:00Obama's Make Believe Life - By Alan Caruba<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 20px; font-family:Georgia, Times, serif;font-size:13px;">I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he’s led a kind of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because at some point early on somebody or some group took a look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.<br /><br />In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry. Who else do you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? “Dreams of My Father” was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The “Audacity of Hope” followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself. There are some who think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself a “communist with a small ‘c’” was the real author.<br /><br />His political skills consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be deemed controversial. He went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature to the Senator from that state because he had the good fortune of having Mayor Daley’s formidable political machine at his disposal.<br /><br />He was in the U.S. Senate so briefly that his bid for the presidency was either an act of astonishing self-confidence or part of some greater game plan that had been determined before he first stepped foot in the Capital. How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004 keynote speaker at the Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when virtually no one had ever even heard of him before?<br /><br />He outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A charming young man, an anomaly in the state with a very small black population, he oozed “cool” in a place where agriculture was the antithesis of cool. He dazzled the locals. And he had an army of volunteers drawn to a charisma that hid any real substance.<br /><br />And then he had the great good fortune of having the Republicans select one of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob Dole. And then John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an unknown female governor from the very distant state of Alaska. It was a ticket that was reminiscent of 1984’s Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they went down to defeat.<br /><br />The mainstream political media fell in love with him. It was a schoolgirl crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews swooning then and now over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in particular, Palin, was extraordinary.<br /><br />Now, nearly a full year into his first term, all of those gilded years leading up to the White House have left him unprepared to be President. Left to his own instincts, he has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It swiftly became a joke that he could not deliver even the briefest of statements without the ever-present Tele-Prompters.<br /><br />Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to “wish away” some terrible realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention to destroy America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how swiftly Islam initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe, having gained a foothold in Spain.<br /><br />The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his campaign “world tour” were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of history and the reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad intentions.<br /><br />Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience, a cakewalk, has positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party’s hold on power in Congress because in the end it was never about the Party. It was always about his communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues.<br /><br />Obama is a man who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police officer who arrested an “obstreperous” Harvard professor-friend, but would warn Americans against “jumping to conclusions” about a mass murderer at Fort Hood who shouted “Allahu Akbar.” The absurdity of that was lost on no one. He has since compounded this by calling the Christmas bomber “an isolated extremist” only to have to admit a day or two later that he was part of an al Qaeda plot.<br /><br />He is a man who could strive to close down our detention facility at Guantanamo even though those released were known to have returned to the battlefield against America. He could even instruct his Attorney General to afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a civil trial when no one else would ever even consider such an obscenity. And he is a man who could wait three days before having anything to say about the perpetrator of yet another terrorist attack on Americans and then have to elaborate on his remarks the following day because his first statement was so lame.<br /><br />The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the Bush administration or he naively seeks to wish away the truth.<br /><br />Knock, knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the sock puppet of his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and manufactured this pathetic individual’s life.<br /><br />When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a birth certificate, this man has spent over a million dollars to deny access to his. Most other documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been sequestered from review. He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts remain hidden.<br /><br />We laugh at the ventriloquist’s dummy, but what do you do when the dummy is President of the United States of America?</span>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-72576427573445215332010-06-03T09:01:00.001-05:002010-06-03T09:03:25.530-05:00Christianity and Immigration<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Does <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Arizona</st1:state></st1:place>’s new immigration law stand up to God’s law?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Yes!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Romans 13:1-7, tells us that we are to submit to the governing authorities and that the government is to protect its citizens. God has delegated this authority to civil government for that specific purpose.<b><sup> <span class="apple-style-span">“</span></sup></b><span class="apple-style-span">For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span">For he is God's servant to do you good.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.</span>” (Romans 13:3-4).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Many who support giving amnesty to illegal immigrants misquote Leviticus as their source.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Sadly, they do not understand the facts.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Leviticus 19:33-34 says that aliens (temporary visitors) are not to be mistreated.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They are referred to as aliens because they we not living there permanently.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The word immigrant does not exist in the Hebrew language.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Aliens could remain in Judea only if they paid taxes, converted to Judaism, obeyed the Israelite laws, went to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city> each year to be counted, they could not violate any norm of Israelite law.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Those who want to live here legally should not have to adopt Christianity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They should be able to worship or not worship how they like.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>However, they should never be allowed to walk on other religions be mandating that others make unnecessary adjustments just for a different religion.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Some religions have tried to mandate that our public schools add separate water fountains for boys and girls, prayer rooms for their specific religion, and many more.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Some Christians are even voicing opposition to the <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">Arizona</st1:state></st1:place> immigration law by saying this law in not compassionate or fair.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>My question to them, “Who is it the state and federal laws are in place to protect?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Should it be those who break the law or the law abiding citizens of the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place>?”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Is it fair to law abiding citizens to live in fear of escalating violence, and to have their wallets continually skimmed to provide welfare, education and medical care to individuals who have no legal right even to be in our country?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Remember, the word illegal refers to those who do not enter the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place> legally.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">It is time for mature Christian thinking to solve this, and other, issues.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We must have a Christ minded view and not world minded view in order to resolve the issues our country has and will have in the future.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>George Washington said, “What happens when a nation stops basing its judgments on a Biblical basis? Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Ronald Reagan said, "Without God democracy will not and cannot long endure."<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Arizona</span></st1:state></st1:place><span style="font-size:14.0pt">'s Governor Jan Brewer explains that she signed this bill into law because, as governor, she has a responsibility to protect the safety and security of Arizonans. That is her Biblical job.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">Arizona is a state that has been ravaged by illegal aliens committing criminal acts and has seen a rise in almost all violent crimes; murder, burglary, illegal drugs, human trafficking for prostitution, car theft and home invasions to name a few.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:state> is now the kidnapping capital of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Not a title any city wants to bear.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>There are an estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants currently in <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:state> alone.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This is a huge strain on their budget.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Taxpayers are the ones footing many of their bills.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">For years the federal government has not lived up to its Romans 13 duty of protecting the citizens of the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>President Obama has even said that there has been a failure to act by the federal government.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That is the sole reason Governor Brewer signed SB1070 into law.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It is not the states duty to protect its citizens; it is the God-given duty of the federal government.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">The new <st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on">Arizona</st1:place></st1:state> law is very close to the federal law that has been active, but not enforced, for over 50 years.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This should not be a States Rights (Tenth Amendment) issue.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This is a federal issue.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The problem has been that the federal government has been asleep on the job so the states are acting out of necessity.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">A 2006 congressional report claims that only 10 to 30 percent of illegal aliens are ever caught -- implying that 70 to 90 percent enter the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> unnoticed.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:14.25pt"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">I oppose granting amnesty to illegal immigrants for the same reasons that we rose up twice during George W. Bush's presidency and defeated two congressional efforts to create amnesty and a path to citizenship for an estimated 12 to 20 million illegal aliens.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I believe it is simply wrong to reward citizenship to those who illegally crossed our borders without permission or overstayed their visas. Those who want to enter our borders legally should come from those waiting in line or willing to join the existing line.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-36408968647715428962010-04-22T14:13:00.000-05:002010-04-22T14:14:27.462-05:00Health Care<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The U.S. House of Representatives voted recently on a Health Care Overhaul bill. We must do everything we can to stop this awful piece of law from being funded. The American people, in poll after poll, opposed this legislation, but Congress refused to listen to us. Therefore, we need to elect a conservative Republican majority this November and defund this so called Health Care Reform Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Americans for Tax Reform and the Beacon Hill Institute have just released a study that projects ObamaCare would cost the economy around 700,000 jobs by 2019. Another study shows that 46 percent of doctors say they will stop practicing medicine if the Health Care bill passes.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The government has taken over one sixth of the American economy, and put government bureaucrats between you and your family’s health care providers. It will cost a projected $2.3 trillion over 10 years when fully implemented and dump a huge debt on the shoulders of our children and grandchildren. It creates more than 110 new agencies and bureaucracies in the federal government. It will cut $500 billion from Medicare and $170 billion from Medicare Advantage, resulting in rationed and inferior medical care for senior citizens. It will require taxpayer funding for abortions, and will even require purchasers of private plans to pay a monthly fee to pay for other people’s abortions. It contains no conscience protections for health care providers who do not want to be coerced into performing abortions.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">As a small-business owner I certainly acknowledge that our health care system needs to be tweaked. I also recognize this bill for what it is. A big government power grab that ultimately will make our national debt swell, cause taxes to go up, create a shortage of doctors and cause unemployment to go up. Government as an institution does not do many things very well. I certainly do not want to put my health into the hands of the same institution that gave us Amtrak and the Post Office. They could not even efficiently manage the swine flu vaccination. So now the Democrats want to turn over one sixth of the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> economy to them.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;line-height:18.0pt;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-size:14.0pt">True reform and the most important element of any health care reform will begin with tort reform. Tort reform, along with allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines, would help lower costs and make health insurance more available and affordable to the ten percent of our population that want health insurance and currently do not have it. President Obama and the democrat controlled Congress have raised our taxes by 500 billion dollars and are destroying the greatest health care system in the world.<span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-50248418692213972382010-04-22T14:08:00.002-05:002010-04-26T14:45:40.073-05:00Christians and Voting - A Duty<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is imperative for everyone, who is eligible, to vote. However, it is more important for Christians to do a better job of getting to the polls and voting for the best candidates. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There are currently 13,023,358 registered voters in </span></span><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Texas</span></span></st1:place></st1:state><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. Less than 17% of those registered voted in the March Primary. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">It is time to put </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Brown</span></span></st1:placename><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><st1:placetype st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">County</span></span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> on the election map for every candidate; local, district and statewide. The only way to do this is for us to vote in large numbers. My wife and I voted on Monday during early voting while on our lunch break, we were numbers 4 & 5. The polls had been open since 7AM that morning. The location to vote in </span></span><st1:placename st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Brown</span></span></st1:placename><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><st1:placetype st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">County</span></span></st1:placetype><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> is </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Adams</span></span></st1:placename><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><st1:placename st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Street</span></span></st1:placename><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><st1:placetype st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Community Center</span></span></st1:placetype></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">.</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify;line-height:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Christian voting patterns from 1992 – 2000 were dismal to say the least. There was a 40% decrease in Christians who voted. In the 2002 election, following the dramatic drop in 1992-2000, national evangelical leaders widely urged Christians to register, vote, and vote their values. The national efforts showed a 2% increase in Christian voter turnout which resulted in dramatic improvements.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We, as Christians, are to shape and transform culture. Our light is to shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to God. Christians are to be transformers of society, salt of the earth and the light of the world. God does not want us to just get saved and then sit on a pew, sing our bless me songs and not be engaged in this world. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify;line-height:normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Nationwide, approximately one-half of Christians who are eligible to vote are registered. Only one-half of registered Christians actually vote. This means only 25% of eligible Christians actually vote. If that number was increased by only 10%, Christians would be elected to virtually every office in </span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">America</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I believe it is not only our duty, but our honor to vote and to vote for Christians. Proverbs 29:2 says, “</span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.” Well then, do we want to rejoice or do we want to mourn? It is our choice.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">As citizens of earth, as well as of heaven, we cannot complain about the political leaders we have, nor the decisions they make, unless we are willing to elect men and women of integrity who support policies that restrain evil and reinforce goodness. For Christians to make a difference in this world, as salt and light, they need to be involved in the political process, both by voting and by encouraging qualified men and women to enter the vocation of politics.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="line-height: 115%; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We simply cannot escape by pointing out the imperfections of leaders.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Our calling in this world is not to wait for the perfect candidate to be placed on the ticket, but to pick our way through the thicket of flaws we find in a Genesis 3 world by walking in wisdom and voting for imperfect candidates who best reflect a biblical worldview.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Political decisions affect every aspect of our lives from taxation to issues such as stem-cell research, abortion, marriage, the family, war and economic policies. God has commanded us to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find welfare” (Jer. 29:7).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The apostle Paul writes: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Praying for the welfare of our city and for our leaders is being involved in politics. If Christians would spend more time praying to our Father in heaven with broken hearts rather than murmuring and criticizing our political leaders while failing to pray for them, we could see God transform this nation.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Christians are to be a positive, godly influence in their communities. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.25in;margin-left:0in; text-align:justify;vertical-align:baseline"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">When you walk into the voting booth, the </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">kingdom</span></span></st1:placetype><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> of </span></span><st1:placename st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">God</span></span></st1:placename></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> will not be on the ballot. However, there will be electoral choices that significantly impact the common good. And your choices are important. May you enter the voting booth and make your selections for the glory of God and the good of your fellow man.</span></span></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-75922016535229516512010-04-22T13:54:00.004-05:002010-04-26T16:12:41.475-05:00An Open Letter to Texas School Boards and Districts<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="line-height:115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Prior to 1995, a student elected as Santa Fe High School's student council chaplain delivered a prayer over the public address system before each home varsity football game. Respondents, Mormon and Catholic students or alumni and their mothers, filed a suit challenging this practice and others under the Establishment Clause of the</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="line-height:115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> First Amendment.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Since the 1994 District Court verdict that has eliminated prayer before our high school football games, there has been groundswell within the community to once again have prayer before our schools sporting events.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Santa Fe Independent School District was the defendant in the case. After the ruling, it ended its tradition of pre-game prayer.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Prayer before our football games is just as much a part of playing football as putting on the shoulder pads and helmet.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are numerous school districts that allow prayer before their football games.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">On June 19, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that amplified, student-led prayer approved by public school officials crossed the line in the separation of church and state.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The tool that shut down the effort, according to parents of several children that attended Santa Fe School District, was the school-owned public address system the Supreme Court said could not be used to broadcast a prayer.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Advocates said the prayer was meant to be a testament to their right of free speech. Even their former adversaries in court agreed.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">For too long, we as Christian have sat in our pews singing our bless me songs with our heads in the ground.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The time has come for Christians to stand and be counted.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We will no longer be bullied by those who wish to silence us.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That type of silence is censorship.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">There are several school districts across Texas that continues the time honored tradition of prayer before their football games.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I believe we must bring this tradition back.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In Daniel 6, we read where King Darius passed a law stating that prayer to God was unlawful, Daniel decided to obey God instead of the king. Verse 10 & 11 of Daniel Chapter 6, “</span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.” </span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We are going to be thrown to the lions den whether we pray in public or not, so why not be on God’s side when we are thrown to the lions instead of the side of the government?</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">I do believe that our government can work hand in hand with the church.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That is the way our Founding Fathers set up our country.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align: justify;line-height:normal"><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Stevens, J.,</span></span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">delivered the opinion of the Court, in which</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg,</span></span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">and </span></span></span><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Breyer</span></span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, JJ., joined.</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt"><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Chief</span></span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Justice</span></span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Rehnquist</span></span></em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, with whom</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Justice Scalia</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">and</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Justice Thomas</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">join, dissenting.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:11.25pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Court distorts existing precedent to conclude that the school district's student-message program is invalid on its face under the Establishment Clause. But even more disturbing than its holding is the tone of the Court's opinion; it bristles with hostility to all things religious in public life. Neither the holding nor the tone of the opinion is faithful to the meaning of the Establishment Clause, when it is recalled that George Washington himself, at the request of the very Congress which passed the Bill of Rights, proclaimed a day of "public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God." Presidential Proclamation, 1 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, p. 64 (J. Richardson ed. 1897).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span class="apple-style-span"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Santa Fe School District was allowing students to vote to see who would say the prayer at their football games.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The court said, “Through its election scheme, the District has established a governmental electoral mechanism that turns the school into a forum for religious debate. It further empowers the student body majority with the authority to subject students of minority views to constitutionally improper messages. The award of that power alone, regardless of the students' ultimate use of it, is not acceptable.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a name="FR1.23"></a></span><sup><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=99-62#FN1.23"><span style="color:windowtext;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">23</span></span></a></sup></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Like the referendum in</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Board of Regents of Univ. of Wis. System</span></span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">v.</span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><em><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Southworth</span></span></em><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, 529 U. S. ___ (2000), the election mechanism established by the District undermines the essential protection of minority viewpoints. Such a system encourages divisiveness along religious lines and threatens the imposition of coercion upon those students not desiring to participate in a religious exercise. Simply by establishing this school-related procedure, which entrusts the inherently nongovernmental subject of religion to a majoritarian vote, a constitutional violation has occurred.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><a name="FR1.24"></a></span><sup><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=99-62#FN1.24"><span style="color:windowtext;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">24</span></span></a></sup></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">No further injury is required for the policy to fail a facial challenge.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span class="apple-style-span"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></span></span></p> <p style="margin-top:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left: 0in;text-align:justify;line-height:16.5pt"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In the 1960’s we had the Holy Bible and prayer taken out of our public schools.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In 1973, we saw Roe vs. Wade become law allowing over 50 million babies to be aborted.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Just in the past few years it has become unlawful to pray at football games, for coaches to join the players and students in prayer.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Founders of the Constitution were Christians and they expected it would be so for their descendents. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They stated, “The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrine and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1947 - Everson vs. the Board of Education – Only nineteen words of Jefferson’s speech were used, those being, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.” That wall must be kept high and impregnable.” </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It was because these words were taken out of context that the Founding father’s intent was reversed. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jefferson meant, not state from church, but church from state.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Dr. William James –the Father of Modern Psychology influenced the court. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He wanted church out of state. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Dr. James stated, “There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The courts began used this tactic through the years. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1958 - Bear vs. Colmore – One of the judges got tired of hearing the statement, “separation of church and state.” </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He said, “If this court doesn’t stop talking about separation of church and state, someone will think it is part of the constitution.” </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The court continued to talk about it.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">June 25, 1962 - Engle vs. Vitale – This was the first time there was a separation of religious principles from public education. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The courts rules that there should not be prayers in school. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It was the first time we had a separation of church and state. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It was the first time that</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NO precedence</span></u></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">(where previous legal cases were cited) or historical</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><b><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">incidents were quoted</span></u></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1962-65 - The courts removed church from state through rulings on these cases:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1- </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Engle vs. Vital</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">- </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Removal of prayer from school. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The prayer before the court only mentioned God once. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The Constitution mentions God four times. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Does this make it unconstitutional?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">2- </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Murray vs. Curlett</span></u><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">– Removal of bible reading in school. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Bible study used to be required to graduate from High School.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">3- </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">June 17, 1965 </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">-</span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Abington vs. Schempp</span></u><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">– Removal of religious instruction from school. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The courts stated, “If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be, and have been psychologically harmful to the child.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In this case the courts said that only 3% of the nation professed no belief in religion or God. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That prayer was consistent with 97% of the nation, but the courts ruled for the minority. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Now, the philosophy of the 3% rules the 97%.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Our courts used to use biblical guidelines to rule on the areas of the citizens, families, schools, and the nation. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Not anymore</span></u><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">! </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Before 1962, the courts said, </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“We only allow divorce for six reasons. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">They are the six reasons God allows as written in the bible. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">God made the family (Adam’s and Noah’s) and so we have to use God’s precepts/rules to govern the family.” </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">After 1965 the courts said we were not to do so any more, because it causes psychological damage to children. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">George Washington stated, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religions principle.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1965 - Reid vs. Vanhovan – It is unconstitutional for a student to pray aloud in school.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1967 - Decab vs. Dispain – The courts took a four-line nursery rhyme used in pre-kindergarten and ruled it unconstitutional. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The courts said, “The rhyme is unconstitutional since it might cause someone to think of God.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1980 - Stone vs. Graham – The Ten Commandments were posted in a school’s hall bulletin board. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The court ruled: </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all it will be induce the school children to read, meditate upon them, and perhaps to venerate and obey the commandment; this is not a permissible objective.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">When the courts say something is unconstitutional, what they are saying is that this thing is something our founding fathers would have been opposed to and would not have allowed it! </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The court’s findings do not reflect this.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">James Madison, the Chief Architect of the Constitution, said, “We have stated the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Our country is now number one in:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <ul type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5incolor:black;"><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Violent crime</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5incolor:black;"><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Teen pregnancy</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5incolor:black;"><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Illegal drug use</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5incolor:black;"><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Divorce</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5incolor:black;"><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Abortion</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:justify;line-height:normal;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops:list .5incolor:black;"><span style="font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Illiteracy (in all the industrial world) - In 1997, seven hundred thousand students graduated from high school, who couldn’t read their diplomas.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Jeremiah 6:16 says to go back to the old paths if you want things to be back the way it should be. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Many state constitutions require people, who hold office, to believe in God, the scriptures, and understand them. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">1774 - Ben Franklin stated, “Introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity and it will change the face of the world.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Charles Finnay said, “The church must take right ground in regard to politics. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Politics are part of religion in a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">He will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If God’s people do not make it into office God’s principles do not make it into office. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">That is why Christians must be in office. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Our government has been taken over by ungodly men.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Proverbs 18:1</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">“A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires; he rages against all wise judgment.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The separation of church and state allows Christians to be a light to the world, but only in the confines of the church. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We know that the Lord wants us to be a light unto the government too. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If we want to see our children live right we must stop handing out condoms and start handing out the Word of God in schools again.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We have lost our heritage. </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">We must get Christianity back into government, our schools, and in our society!</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">God Bless,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; text-align:justify"><span style="line-height:115%;Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Steve Fryar</span></o:p></span></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4555928569622063805.post-10164565240656490232010-04-21T15:39:00.001-05:002010-04-21T15:40:39.663-05:00America's Godly Heritage<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">By: </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'times new roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">David Barton</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Revised & Condensed by Annette Nay, Ph.D.</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:center"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"> </span><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The Founding Fathers and Christianity</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Our founding fathers were brought up in schools in which their primers taught bible scriptures, morals and its teachings. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They were taught the Ten Commandments and were thoroughly versed on each one and their meaning. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">As adults, the founding fathers continued to read and learn from the bible. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Many of them were evangelical preachers. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Many of them started the American Tract Society and wrote many of their tracts. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They started the American Bible Society, The Philadelphia Bible Society, and the Christian Constitutional</span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;color:black"> </span></span><span style="color:black">Society, all of which still exist today. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It was no wonder then that they used the bible to frame the Constitution. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Patrick Henry – “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians not on religion, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">From 1690 to 1900 American’s youth learned their ABC’s with a bible scripture associated with each letter. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>First graders talked about the Ten Commandments, in class, and learned what they meant.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The founding fathers wanted government and Christianity to be in an insoluble bond.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">John Quincy Adams stated, “The highest glory of the American Revolution was this… it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">John Jay the Chief Justice and the most influential writer of the constitution stated, “<st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Providence</st1:city></st1:place> has given to our people the choice of their rulers and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers. ” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We need to elect Christians to office if we want to have righteous men making good laws to rule our country.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">In summation from George Washington’s farewell speech, speaking to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the citizens of The United States, he touched on these points: Do not let anyone claim to be a true American if they attempt to remove religion from American politics. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If they do they are not true Americans.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Our American government has lasted over 200 years. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Having a government, in any form, lasting this long is unheard of. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>For example, in the last 200 years <st1:country-region st="on">France</st1:country-region> has had seven forms of government and <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region> has had forty-eight.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Our Constitution and Its Basis</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Where did the founding fathers get their ideas for our constitution that has caused it to last so long? <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Some would have you believe that it was because of the Age of Enlightenment in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> which brought to light ideas such as: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Government should be formed to protect people’s natural rights.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Government should have limited power.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">The type of government should be accepted by all citizens.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Government has an obligation to those it governs.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Man is born free.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">Controls by a freely formed government are good.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">When government is by the consent of the governed the people, they retain their rights.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">People have the right to challenged old ways of thinking.<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list .5in">They questioned divine-right of rule.<o:p></o:p></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">They taught that people should be able to gain material well-being, social justice, and happiness in this life - not just the next (Ellis, Esler, Beers, & Hart, 1999).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">These ideas spread to American and found place in Thomas Paine’s pamphlet called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Common Sense</i>. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Some would have you think that it was Paine’s pamphlet which swayed the founding father’s minds to their incorporation in the Constitution (Ellis, Esler, Beers, & Hart, 1999). <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The fact is that there were many heated debates on the constitutional legislature’s floor over these ideas. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Such ideas were not espoused by the founding fathers until they could find a precedence in the bible for them. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then, it was only by unanimously consent spurred on by spiritual confirmation, that they accept these ideas into the constitution (Barton, 1999). <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The Bible was important to our founding fathers. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Out of fifteen thousand samples of their writings that <st1:place st="on"><st1:placetype st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename st="on">Houston</st1:placename></st1:place> professors collected, they found 3154 of those had a significant impact on our constitution. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Of those writings, they found that the bible was quoted sixteen times more than any other source. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>94% of the quotes were based on the bible, 34% came directly out of the bible, and 60% used the bible to arrive at their conclusion.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The House and the Senate would discuss what the bible said and use its ideas to make law. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The idea of three branches of government originated with John Locke in his article called<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Two Treaties of Government.</i> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The founding fathers substantiated the idea for separation of powers from Jeremiah 17:32. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They found mention of the three branches of government in Isaiah 33:22. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They found the idea of tax exemption for churches in Ezra 7:24. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>These men were students of the Bible and brought their expertise into the legislature to help them to know that to do.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:center"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;color:black">Court Rulings that lead to Religion Leaving Government</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">The Way It Used to Be</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1892 - Trinity vs. the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">US</st1:country-region></st1:place>: The Supreme Court stated, ”Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It’s impossible that it should be otherwise; and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.” This case gave 87 historical precedences to prove this statement. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It further stated that there were more, but 78 should suffice to prove the government must be based on the teachings of Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1844 – Vidal vs. Girard’s: “The purest principles of morality are to be taught. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Where are they found? <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Whosoever searches for them must go to the source for which the Christian man derives his faith… the bible.” A <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city> school’s premise was that they could teach morality with out teaching the bible. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The court ruled that they couldn’t have a school that didn’t teach the bible’s morality, as it was the source of morality.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1811 – People vs. Ruggles: “Whatever strikes at the root of Christianity tends manifestly to the dissolution of civil government.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In this case a man became profane about Jesus Christ and the bible both written and spoken. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The courts said it was blasphemy and the man was fined $500.00 and jailed for 3 months. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The court said if you’ve attacked Jesus Christ you have attacked Christianity. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If you attack Christianity, you have attacked the foundation of the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Therefore, it is an attack on the <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">How Amoral Laws Came to Being</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The founding fathers never wanted separation of church and state, yet 67% of US citizens today believe that that very idea is contained in the constitution, even though those words never appear in the constitution.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The Constitution of the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>’ first amendment says, <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Pre-drafts of this statement clarifies the founding fathers constitutional statement. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>There were twelve variations, they all mirrored the sentiments found in this one, “Congress will pass no laws making one denomination of Christians higher than another denomination.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Their intent was that they did not want in <st1:country-region st="on">America</st1:country-region> what they had in <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> where one denomination was running the nation. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They wanted God’s principles, but did not want one designated church running the nation.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1796 – Funckle vs Winemiller <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The Danbury Baptists who wanted a state church designated. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The courts stated: <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“In our form of government the Christian religion is the established religion and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1802 – Thomas Jefferson addressed those Danbury Baptist. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He said that the first amendment has erected a wall between church and state, but that wall is a one directional wall. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It keeps the government from running the church and Christian principles will always stay in government. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The <st1:placename st="on">First</st1:placename> <st1:placename st="on">National</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Church</st1:placetype> never happened and <st1:place st="on">Jefferson</st1:place>’s writing was put away until 1853. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Today, we only hear half of this statement, that is: <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the separation of church and state. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">A small number of people petitioned to separate Christian principles from government. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Studies were done to see if it could be done. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The findings of the House Judiciary committee were announced March 27, 1854. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They said that if the people, during the Revolution, or had they any suspicion of any attempt to war against Christianity that revolution would have been strangled in its cradle. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendments the universal sentiment was that Christianity should be encouraged, not any one sect.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The Founders of the Constitution were Christians and they expected it would be so for their descendents. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They stated, ”The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrine and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1947 - Everson vs. the Board of Education – Only nineteen words of <st1:place st="on">Jefferson</st1:place>’s speech were used, those being, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state.” That wall must be kept high and impregnable.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It was because these words were taken out of context that the Founding father’s intent was reversed. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:place st="on">Jefferson</st1:place> meant, not state from church, but church from state.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Dr. William James –the Father of Modern Psychology influenced the court. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He wanted church out of state. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Dr. James stated, “There is nothing so absurd but if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The courts began used this tactic through the years. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1958 - Bear vs. Colmore – One of the judges got tired of hearing the statement, “separation of church and state.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He said, “If this court doesn’t stop talking about separation of church and state, someone will think it is part of the constitution.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The court continued to talk about it.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">June 25, 1962 - Engle vs. Vitale – This was the first time there was a separation of religious principles from public education. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The courts rules that there should not be prayers in school. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the first time we had a separation of church and state. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It was the first time that<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><u>NO precedence</u></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(where previous legal cases were cited) or historical<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><u>incidents were quoted</u></b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1962-65 - The courts removed church from state through rulings on these cases:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><u>Engle vs. Vital<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></u>- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Removal of prayer from school. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The prayer before the court only mentioned God once. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The Constitution mentions God four times. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Does this make it unconstitutional?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">2- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><u>Murray</u></st1:city></st1:place><u> vs. Curlett</u><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>– Removal of bible reading in school. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Bible study used to be required to graduate from High School.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">3- <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>June 17, 1965 <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>-<u>Abington vs. Schempp</u><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>– Removal of religious instruction from school. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The courts stated, “If portions of the New Testament were read without explanation, they could be, and have been psychologically harmful to the child.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">In this case the courts said that only 3% of the nation professed no belief in religion or God. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>That prayer was consistent with 97% of the nation, but the courts ruled for the minority. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Now, the philosophy of the 3% rules the 97%.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Our courts used to use biblical guidelines to rule on the areas of the citizens, families, schools, and the nation. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><u>Not anymore</u>! <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Before 1962, the courts said, <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“We only allow divorce for six reasons. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They are the six reasons God allows as written in the bible. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>God made the family (Adam’s and Noah’s) and so we have to use God’s precepts/rules to govern the family.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>After 1965 the courts said we were not to do so any more, because it causes psychological damage to children. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>George Washington stated, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religions principle.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1965 - Reid vs. Vanhovan – It is unconstitutional for a student to pray aloud in school.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1967 - Decab vs. Dispain – The courts took a four-line nursery rhyme used in pre-kindergarten and ruled it unconstitutional. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The courts said, “The rhyme is unconstitutional since it might cause someone to think of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1980 - Stone vs. Graham – The Ten Commandments were posted in a school’s hall bulletin board. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The court ruled: <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“If the posted copies of the Ten commandments are to have any effect at all it will be induce the school children to read, meditate upon them, and perhaps to venerate and obey the commandment; this is not a permissible objective.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">When the courts say something is unconstitutional, what they are saying is that this thing is something our founding fathers would have been opposed to and would not have allowed it! <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The court’s findings do not reflect this.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">James Madison, the Chief Architect of the Constitution, said, “We have stated the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of government, far from it. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We have staked the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Our Country’s Downfall</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Since 1963, when prayer was taken out of school, unwed birth rates of 15-19 year-olds doubled. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Pregnancies for girls 10-14 went up 553% since prayer was disallowed in school. (The separation of church and state.)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Divorce rates from 1963 to 1983 were up 117%. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>For fifteen years prior 1963, divorce had been declining. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Since 1963, single families were up 140%, single families with children with children were up 160%, and unmarried couples living together went up 353%. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">From 1965, there was a sharp incline of gonorrhea in students in ages 15-19. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It incline became since the removal of religious principles from school. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Student STD’s went up 228%. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">When a people throw away their values, they reap the consequences <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Some of those consequences are crime, divorce, STD’s, unwed mothers, and unmarried couples living together. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>There are more!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">SAT scores approximate average was 970 points from 1952 to 1963. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>From 1963 to 1980 scores declined for eighteen consecutive years to drop to a low average of 890 points in 1980.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">In 1974-75 the sharp decline in SAT scores slowed with the advent of private religious schools, which allowed religion in the curriculum. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>During this time, there were 32 thousand <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> schools, which accounted for 8.5 million students. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Some say that the better scores of these students were because private schools had more money available for a better education for these students. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>This statement was investigated. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It was found that private schools had, on average, $110.00 per student, whereas public schools had $370.52 per student. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">SAT scores showed that students from the Christian private schools, on average, got 100 points higher, than the Non-Christian schooled students. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>That put the Christian schooled students back on the par where students were prior to 1963 and the separation of church and state. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It was as if no change had occurred. Whereas public schooled student scores continued to declined!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">In 1988 – the number of Academic High Achievers were as follows :<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">60.8 were from public schools<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">39.2 were from private schools – This group was 3 times larger than those from the public schools. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Remember too, that private religious schools had 1/3 less money per person and used the same curriculum as the public schools, except the private schools added religion. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Violent crimes went up 544% since religious principles were removed from schools in 1963. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Thomas Jefferson said that religion is the friend to government because it teaches morals of the heart. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>This means we are not dealing with murder, instead we deal with the religious morals which say do not hate. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When we eliminate hate there is no murder. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The commandment to not lust, stops adultery or rape.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">Our Citizen’s need Internal Values</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">John Adams stated that there was no government big enough, to make you do what’s right. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If you don’t do what’s right out of your heart, the gun has already been fired; the damage has already been done. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He further stated, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It is whole inadequate to the government of any other.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Our people need internal constraints governed by God to keep our constitution working well. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The greater number of our people are not and as a result, the constitution is not working!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Our country is now number one in:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">Violent crime<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size: 7.0pt"> </span>Teen pregnancy<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size: 7.0pt"> </span>Illegal drug use<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">Divorce<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in">Abortion<o:p></o:p></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list .5in"><span style="font-size: 7.0pt"> </span>Illiteracy (in all the industrial world) - In 1997, seven hundred thousand students graduated from high school, who couldn’t read their diplomas.<o:p></o:p></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Jeremiah 6:16 says to go back to the old paths if you want things to be back the way it should be. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Many state constitutions require people, who hold office, to believe in God, the scriptures, and understand them. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Nations are accountable to God. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The founding fathers said, “As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be punished in this. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>By an inevitable chain of cause and effect, providence punishes national sins by national calamities.” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When a nation leaves God, God deals with them immediately. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Hence, moral decay brings violent crimes, teen pregnancies, divorce, abortions, and etc. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When wicked men rule, the nation suffers.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Ben Franklin and the Constitutional Convention stated, “We need God to be our friend not our enemy.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> We need Him to be our allay not our adversary. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We need to make sure we keep God’s concurring aid. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>If a sparrow cannot fall without God’s notice, how can our nation rise without His aid?” <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He further called for regular daily prayer to keep Him close to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Thomas Jefferson, upon leaving the office of president, said, “Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot not sleep forever.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><u><span style="font-size:14.0pt;color:black">We Need Good People in High Places</span></u></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">1774 - Ben Franklin stated, “Introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity and it will change the face of the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Charles Finnay said, “ The church must take right ground in regard to politics. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Politics are part of religion in a country as this, and Christians must do their duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">If God’s people do not make it into office God’s principles do not make it into office. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>That is why Christians must be in office. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Our government has been taken over by ungodly men. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>God-fearing Christians must take it back. We must get involved! <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Do something where you can affect people’s principles. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Proverbs 18:1 <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires; he rages against all wise judgment.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">The separation of church and state allows Christians to be a light to the world, but only in the confines of the church. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We know that the Lord wants us to be a light unto the government too. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">We have lost our heritage. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>We must get Christianity back into government, our schools, and in our society!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;text-align:center;line-height:18.0pt"><b><span style="color:black">Reference</span></b><span style="color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Barton, David (1993). Video: <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><u>America</u></st1:place></st1:country-region><u>'s Godly Heritage</u>. WallBuilder Press, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Aledo</st1:city>, <st1:state st="on">Texas</st1:state></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span style="color:black">Ellis, Elisabeth; Esler, Anthony; Beers, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Burton</st1:city></st1:place>; & Hart, Diane (1999), <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><u>World History –</u><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><u><span style="color:black">Connections to Today</span></u></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black">– The Modern Era, </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color:black"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black">Prentice Hall: <st1:place st="on"><st1:state st="on">New Jersey</st1:state></st1:place>.</span></span></p>Steve Fryarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01025292504503438137noreply@blogger.com0