Apr 30, 2012

Jimmy De Young: Missionary to Jerusalem

Common Sense Commentary: Many of my readers will remember Jimmy De Young.
When I met him, he was a disk jockey, radio guy at a Tallahassee station. I didn't know it at the time but he is Nancy Reynold's sister's husband.  Nancy was one of my secretaries for several years.  Well, Jimmy got saved and surrendered to the ministry. He told me later that God had called him to be a missionary ... preacher to Jerusalem.
We were his sending church and calls me his pastor.  Jimmy quotes a conversation we had when he called and said he and family were on their way to Israel and a war had just broken out and wanted to know what I thought he should do.  Best I can remember, I asked him if God had called him there and he said yes ... so I suggested he should go on, war or no war.
Well, many of you know that he has become the most well known "missionary" in the Holy Land and has appeared on every religious broadcasting network in the U.S. and is quite famous both in the U.S. and Israel.  He had written many books and pamplets on prophecy and Israel.  Very good and worth reading. Jimmy was a very young man back when and now looks like an Old Testament prophet or an Apostle.  Neither of which he claims but he is now ministering in the U.S. much of the time and the entire family is holding the fort in Israel where they preach and witness for our Lord, Jesus Christ/Messiah. You might want to subscribe to his free newsletter or daily devotions.  Here he is, faithfully carrying God Word to many fields white unto harvest. RB

Prophecy Today Devotions
April 30, 2012

And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
For further study - Deuteronomy 30:1-10
The passage chosen for our devotional reading today is what is referred to as the "Land Covenant". Maybe in the margin of your Bible or possibly above the first verse of our reading you find, as I do in my King James Scofield Reference Bible, the title of the covenant to be the "Palestinian Covenant".
That is not the title of the covenant, the word "Palestinian" is a man-made word that is a negative word introduced to the Jewish and Christian world in the second century by a Roman Emperor who named the land of Israel, "Palestine".
The Bible never calls the land that God gave to the Jewish people, "Palestine". The land is called "Israel". There has never been a land that God called "Palestine", the Lord calls the land "Israel", Matthew 2:20-21. Please do not refer to the land of Israel as "Palestine" but by it's true Biblical name, "Israel".
By the way, there was never an Arab state of "Palestine" that must be returned to the Palestinian people. From around 1500 AD until 1917 AD the Ottoman Empire, the empire of the nation of Turkey, controlled what is today, the land of Israel. The Turks ruled this land for over 400 years.
Then, until the United Nations gave the Jews this land in 1948, as a nation called Israel, the land was under the sovereignty of the British Empire. There has never been a state, an official government, for the state of "Palestine".
The truth is our devotional reading for today promises to give the "land" to the Jewish people. This "land covenant" includes all of the land that God has promised to the Jewish people, some ten times the amount of land that the Jews now control.
The total amount of land that the Jews will receive according to this covenant will be given to the Jews during the Kingdom period when the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is ruling and reigning from his Temple in Jerusalem.
There will also be a time when the Jews will be brought back into the land of their forefathers, verse 5. The Jews will love the Lord with all of their heart, verse 6, at that time in history. This period of time in the future will be when the Lord Jesus Christ has returned to the Earth to set up His Kingdom.
Until the return of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the conflict over the ownership of the land will continue and intensify. Though God has promised the Land to the Jewish people they will return to the land of their forefathers only to be almost destroyed by their enemies. This persecution will be used by the Lord to turn the Jews to their Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Remember, seven years at least before Jesus comes back to give His Chosen people, the Jewish people, their land, our Lord will shout and call all Christians up to join Him in the heavenlies at the time of the Rapture, which could happen today.
PRAYER THOT: Thank you Lord for keeping your promises to the Jews and to me as a Christian, especially your promise to call us up to be with you forever more.

Visit our website at http:/www.prophecytoday.com


Apr 27, 2012

Noose Is Tightening on the World Bank

Common Sense Commentary:  Here is an unexpected bomb blast at the foundation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System and all such systems around the world which are coexistent under the World Bank Headquarters.  The World Bank was formed by the U.N. in 1945.  They have 187 member countries with over 100 offices worldwide.  Here lies 75% of the world's economic and political problems today.  Read the blue below.  This gentleman has immense courage and knowledge to go with it.  He is absolutely correct in what he says to the FED. This World Financial System is already controlling the world and bringing it under a single Global Government. RB

The Noose Is Tightening on the Federal Reserve Banks

The Economic Policy Journal's Robert Wenzel recently had an unexpected invitation  to speak at a luncheon at the NY Fed.  They must be more desperate than we thought to want the input of  Wenzel, whose economics are solid integrity. I would have paid dearly to have been there to see the look on  President and CEO William Dudley’s face when Wenzel stated the following at the end of his speech.  

The noose is tightening on your organization, vast amounts of money printing are now required to keep your manipulated economy afloat. It will ultimately result in huge price inflation, or, if you stop printing, another massive economic crash will occur. There is no other way out.’
Again, thank you for inviting me. You have prepared food, so I will not be rude, I will stay and eat. Let’s have one good meal here. Let’s make it a feast. Then I ask you, I plead with you, I beg you all, walk out of here with me, never to come back. It’s the moral and ethical thing to do. Nothing good goes on in this place. Let’s lock the doors and leave the building to the spiders, moths and four-legged rats.
Full speech below:
At the invitation of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, I spoke and had lunch in the bank’s Liberty Room. Below are my prepared remarks.


Thank you very much for inviting me to speak here at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Intellectual discourse is, of course, extraordinarily valuable in reaching truth. In this sense, I welcome the opportunity to discuss my views on the economy and monetary policy and how they may differ with those of you here at the Fed.
That said, I suspect my views are so different from those of you here today that my comments will be a complete failure in convincing you to do what I believe should be done, which is to close down the entire Federal Reserve System
My views, I suspect, differ from beginning to end. From the proper methodology to be used in the science of economics, to the manner in which the macro-economy functions, to the role of the Federal Reserve, and to the accomplishments of the Federal Reserve, I stand here confused as to how you see the world so differently than I do.
I simply do not understand most of the thinking that goes on here at the Fed and I do not understand how this thinking can go on when in my view it smacks up against reality.
Please allow me to begin with methodology, I hold the view developed by such great economic thinkers as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Murray Rothbard that there are no constants in the science of economics similar to those in the physical sciences.
In the science of physics, we know that ice freezes at 32 degrees. We can predict with immense accuracy exactly how far a rocket ship will travel filled with 500 gallons of fuel. There is preciseness because there are constants, which do not change and upon which equations can be constructed..
There are no such constants in the field of economics since the science of economics deals with human action, which can change at any time. If potato prices remain the same for 10 weeks, it does not mean they will be the same the following day. I defy anyone in this room to provide me with a constant in the field of economics that has the same unchanging constancy that exists in the fields of physics or chemistry.
And yet, in paper after paper here at the Federal Reserve, I see equations built as though constants do exist. It is as if one were to assume a constant relationship existed between interest rates here and in Russia and throughout the world, and create equations based on this belief and then attempt to trade based on these equations. That was tried and the result was the blow up of the fund Long Term Capital Management, a blow up that resulted in high level meetings in this very building.
It is as if traders assumed a given default rate was constant for subprime mortgage paper and traded on that belief. Only to see it blow up in their faces, as it did, again, with intense meetings being held in this very building.
Yet, the equations, assuming constants, continue to be published in papers throughout the Fed system. I scratch my head.
I also find curious the general belief in the Keynesian model of the economy that somehow results in the belief that demand drives the economy, rather than production. I look out at the world and see iPhones, iPads, microwave ovens, flat screen televisions, which suggest to me that it is production that boosts an economy. Without production of these things and millions of other items, where would we be? Yet, the Keynesians in this room will reply, “But you need demand to buy these products.” And I will reply, “Do you not believe in supply and demand? Do you not believe that products once made will adjust to a market clearing price?”
Further , I will argue that the price of the factors of production will adjust to prices at the consumer level and that thus the markets at all levels will clear. Again do you believe in supply and demand or not?
I scratch my head that somehow most of you on some academic level believe in the theory of supply and demand and how market setting prices result, but yet you deny them in your macro thinking about the economy.
You will argue with me that prices are sticky on the downside, especially labor prices and therefore that you must pump money to get the economy going. And, I will look on in amazement as your fellow Keynesian brethren in the government create an environment of sticky non-downward bending wages.
The economist Robert Murphy reports that President Herbert Hoover continually pressured businessmen to not lower wages.[1]
He quoted Hoover in a speech delivered to a group of businessmen:
In this country there has been a concerted and determined effort on the part of government and business… to prevent any reduction in wages.
He then reports that FDR actually outdid Hoover by seeking to “raise wages rates rather than merely put a floor under them.”
I ask you, with presidents actively conducting policies that attempt to defy supply and demand and prop up wages, are you really surprised that wages were sticky downward during the Great Depression?
In present day America, the government focus has changed a bit. In the new focus, the government attempts much more to prop up the unemployed by extended payments for not working. Is it really a surprise that unemployment is so high when you pay people not to work.? The 2010 Nobel Prize was awarded to economists for their studies which showed that, and I quote from the Noble press release announcing the award:
One conclusion is that more generous unemployment benefits give rise to higher unemployment and longer search times.[2]
Don’t you think it would make more sense to stop these policies which are a direct factor in causing unemployment, than to add to the mess and devalue the currency by printing more money?
I scratch my head that somehow your conclusions about unemployment are so different than mine and that you call for the printing of money to boost “demand”. A call, I add, that since the founding of the Federal Reserve has resulted in an increase of the money supply by 12,230%.
I also must scratch my head at the view that the Federal Reserve should maintain a stable price level. What is wrong with having falling prices across the economy, like we now have in the computer sector, the flat screen television sector and the cell phone sector? Why, I ask, do you want stable prices? And, oh by the way, how’s that stable price thing going for you here at the Fed?
Since the start of the Fed, prices have increased at the consumer level by 2,241% [3]. that’s not me misspeaking, I will repeat, since the start of the Fed, prices have increased at the consumer level by 2,241%.
So you then might tell me that stable prices are only a secondary goal of the Federal Reserve and that your real goal is to prevent serious declines in the economy but, since the start of the Fed, there have been 18 recessions including the Great Depression and the most recent Great Recession. These downturns have resulted in stock market crashes, tens of millions of unemployed and untold business bankruptcies.
I scratch my head and wonder how you think the Fed is any type of success when all this has occurred.
I am especially confused, since Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT), developed by Mises, Hayek and Rothbard, has warned about all these things. According to ABCT, it is central bank money printing that causes the business cycle and, again you here at the Fed have certainly done that by increasing the money supply. Can you imagine the distortions in the economy caused by the Fed by this massive money printing?
According to ABCT, if you print money those sectors where the money goes will boom, stop printing and those sectors will crash. Fed printing tends to find its way to Wall Street and other capital goods sectors first, thus it is no surprise to Austrian school economists that the crashes are most dramatic in these sectors, such as the stock market and real estate sectors. The economist Murray Rothbard in his book America’s Great Depression [4] went into painstaking detail outlining how the changes in money supply growth resulted in the Great Depression.
On a more personal level, as the recent crisis was developing here, I warned throughout the summer of 2008 of the impending crisis. On July 11, 2008 at EconomicPolicyJournal.com, I wrote[5]:
SUPER ALERT: Dramatic Slowdown In Money Supply Growth
After growing at near double digit rates for months, money growth has slowed dramatically. Annualized money growth over the last 3 months is only 5.2%. Over the last two months, there has been zero growth in the M2NSA money measure.
This is something that must be watched carefully. If such a dramatic slowdown continues, a severe recession is inevitable.
We have never seen such a dramatic change in money supply growth from a double digit climb to 5% growth. Does Bernanke have any clue as to what the hell he is doing?
On July 20, 2008, I wrote [6]:
I have previously noted that over the last two months money supply has been collapsing. M2NSA has gone from double digit growth to nearly zero growth .
A review of the credit situation appears worse. According to recent Fed data, for the 13 weeks ended June 25, bank credit (securities and loans) contracted at an annual rate of 7.9%.
There has been a minor blip up since June 25 in both credit growth and M2NSA, but the growth rates remain extremely slow.
If a dramatic turnaround in these numbers doesn’t happen within the next few weeks, we are going to have to warn of a possible Great Depression style downturn.

Yet, just weeks before these warnings from me, Chairman Bernanke, while the money supply growth was crashing, had a decidedly much more optimistic outlook, In a speech on June 9, 2008, At the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s 53rd Annual Economic Conference [7], he said:


I would like to provide a brief update on the outlook for the economy and policy, beginning with the prospects for growth. Despite the unwelcome rise in the unemployment rate that was reported last week, the recent incoming data, taken as a whole, have affected the outlook for economic activity and employment only modestly. Indeed, although activity during the current quarter is likely to be weak, the risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so. Over the remainder of 2008, the effects of monetary and fiscal stimulus, a gradual ebbing of the drag from residential construction, further progress in the repair of financial and credit markets, and still-solid demand from abroad should provide some offset to the headwinds that still face the economy.

I believe the Great Recession that followed is still fresh enough in our minds so it is not necessary to recount in detail as to whose forecast, mine or the chairman’s, was more accurate.
I am also confused by many other policy making steps here at the Federal Reserve. There have been more changes in monetary policy direction during the Bernanke era then at any other time in the modern era of the Fed. Not under Arthur Burns, not under G. William Miller, not under Paul Volcker, not under Alan Greenspan have there been so many dramatically shifting Fed monetary policy moves. Under Chairman Bernanke there have been significant changes in direction of the money supply growth FIVE different times. Thus, for me, I am not at all surprised at the current stop and go economy. The current erratic monetary policy makes it exceedingly difficult for businessmen to make any long term plans. Indeed, in my own Daily Alert on the economy [8] I find it extremely difficult to give long term advice, when in short periods I have seen three month annualized M2 money growth go from near 20% to near zero, and then in another period see it go from 25% to 6% . [9]
I am also confused by many of the monetary programs instituted by Chairman Bernanke. For example, Operation Twist.
This is not the first time an Operation Twist was tried. an Operation Twist was tried in 1961, at the start of the Kennedy Administration [10] A paper [11] was written by three Federal Reserve economists in 2004 that, in part, examined the 1960′s Operation Twist
Their conclusion (My bold):
A second well-known historical episode involving the attempted manipulation of the term structure was so-called Operation Twist. Launched in early 1961 by the incoming Kennedy Administration, Operation Twist was intended to raise short-term rates (thereby promoting capital inflows and supporting the dollar) while lowering, or at least not raising, long-term rates. (Modigliani and Sutch 1966)…. The two main actions of Operation Twist were the use of Federal Reserve open market operations and Treasury debt management operations..Operation Twist is widely viewed today as having been a failure, largely due to classic work by Modigliani and Sutch….
However, Modigliani and Sutch also noted that Operation Twist was a relatively small operation, and, indeed, that over a slightly longer period the maturity of outstanding government debt rose significantly, rather than falling…Thus, Operation Twist does not seem to provide strong evidence in either direction as to the possible effects of changes in the composition of the central bank’s balance sheet….
We believe that our findings go some way to refuting the strong hypothesis that nonstandard policy actions, including quantitative easing and targeted asset purchases, cannot be successful in a modern industrial economy. However, the effects of such policies remain quantitatively quite uncertain.
One of the authors of this 2004 paper was Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke. Thus, I have to ask, what the hell is Chairman Bernanke doing implementing such a program, since it is his paper that states it was a failure according to Modigliani, and his paper implies that a larger test would be required to determine true performance.
I ask, is the Chairman using the United States economy as a lab with Americans as the lab rats to test his intellectual curiosity about such things as Operation Twist?
Further, I am very confused by the response of Chairman Bernanke to questioning by Congressman Ron Paul. To a seemingly near off the cuff question by Congressman Paul on Federal Reserve money provided to the Watergate burglars, Chairman Bernanke contacted the Inspector General’s Office of the Federal Reserve and requested an investigation [12]. Yet, the congressman has regularly asked about the gold certificates held by the Federal Reserve [13] and whether the gold at Fort Knox backing up the certificates will be audited. Yet there have been no requests by the Chairman to the Treasury for an audit of the gold.This I find very odd. The Chairman calls for a major investigation of what can only be an historical point of interest but fails to seek out any confirmation on a point that would be of vital interest to many present day Americans.
In this very building, deep in the underground vaults, sits billions of dollars of gold, held by the Federal Reserve for foreign governments. The Federal Reserve gives regular tours of these vaults, even to school children. [14] Yet, America’s gold is off limits to seemingly everyone and has never been properly audited. Doesn’t that seem odd to you? If nothing else, does anyone at the Fed know the quality and fineness of the gold at Fort Knox?
In conclusion, it is my belief that from start to finish the Fed is a failure. I believe faulty methodology is used, I believe that the justification for the Fed, to bring price and economic stability, has never been a success. I repeat, prices since the start of the Fed have climbed by 2,241% and there have been over the same period 18 recessions. No one seems to care at the Fed about the gold supposedly backing up the gold certificates on the Fed balance sheet. The emperor has no clothes. Austrian Business cycle theorists are regularly ignored by the Fed, yet they have the best records with regard to spotting overall downturns, and further they specifically recognized the developing housing bubble. Let it not be forgotten that in 2004, two economists here at the New York Fed wrote a paper [15] denying there was a housing bubble. I responded to the paper [16] and wrote:
The faulty analysis by [these] Federal Reserve economists… may go down in financial history as the greatest forecasting error since Irving Fisher declared in 1929, just prior to the stock market crash, that stocks prices looked to be at a permanently high plateau.
Data released just yesterday, now show housing prices have crashed to 2002 levels. [17]
I will now give you more warnings about the economy.
The noose is tightening on your organization, vast amounts of money printing are now required to keep your manipulated economy afloat. It will ultimately result in huge price inflation, or, if you stop printing, another massive economic crash will occur. There is no other way out.
Again, thank you for inviting me. You have prepared food, so I will not be rude, I will stay and eat.
Let’s have one good meal here. Let’s make it a feast. Then I ask you, I plead with you, I beg you all, walk out of here with me, never to come back. It’s the moral and ethical thing to do. Nothing good goes on in this place. Let’s lock the doors and leave the building to the spiders, moths and four-legged rats.
Footnotes
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Politically-Incorrect-Guide-Depression-Guides/dp/1596980966/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335313972&sr=8-1
[2] http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2010/press.html
[3] ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt
[4] http://www.amazon.com/Americas-Great-Depression-Murray-Rothbard/dp/146793481X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335314537&sr=8-1
[5] http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2008/07/super-alert-dramatic-slowdown-in-money.html
[6] http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2008/07/alert-collapsing-credit.html
[7] http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/bernanke20080609a.htm
[8] http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/04/announcing-epj-quarterly-economic.html
[9]http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2008/07/super-alert-dramatic-slowdown-in-money.html
[10] http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2011/el2011-13.html
[11] http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2004/200448/200448pap.pdf
[12] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/03/federal-reserve-watergate-iraqi-weapons_n_1400645.html
[13] http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h41/Current/
[14] http://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/visiting.html
[15] http://fednewyork.org/research/epr/04v10n3/0412mcca.pdf
[16] http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/02/checkmate-new-york-fed-as-totally.html
[17] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/business/economy/survey-shows-us-home-prices-still-weak.html
Special thanks to the following, who helped me research and collect data for this paper: Stephen Davis, Bob English, Jon Lyons, Ash Navabi, Joseph Nelson, Nick Nero, Antony Zegers

Apr 26, 2012

How Awesome is Awesome

Common Sense Commentary: There is neither an ultimate in the extremes of God's Knowledge, Presence or Power.  Nor is there an ultimate in the size or distance of His Creation to the infinite or the finite. Nor is there an untimate in His Time, past present or future.  The present is always present... but never the same to infinity past and infinity future.  Our Creator could have made us as large as the moon or as small as an ant ... but, in an infinite universe, it would make no difference. As we are, we are too small to see just two or three miles away.  What a great God is He. RB

  We perceive ourselves as such a force in the universe.
This is an awesome animation.

Just slowly slide the bar AT THE BOTTOM to the left or right.........

Click on any object to read about it. You can also zoom in and out by moving the wheel on your mouse.Be sure to go BOTH ways on the sliding scale. This is amazing.
Click here: http://htwins.net/scale2/scale2.swf?bordercolor=white

Apr 24, 2012

Looking For God? Open The Door!

Common Sense Commentary:

"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man (human) hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him...." Rev.3:20.

"...When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth..." Jn.16:13.


The human prospect of a True and Living God, Infinite Creator, Eternal Sustainer, and Caring Saviour, must be perceived in the realm of spiritual insight, not mearly mental or emotional ... to begin to know Him.  Spiritual insight is derived first by an inner awareness of His indispensible mind, power and presence in the obviously, creative expanse of the universe and the reality of life itself.  That spiritual awareness guides us into a quiet, open hearted search for the truth of God and His will for our existence here. And that sincere search will result in God Himself opening the way, for honest seekers, into His presence through His written, and then His living Word ... Jesus Christ.  To see that "way", open your heart and your Bible to Him. RB.

"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Rom.1:20.

Apr 20, 2012

Historic Lifetime Of A Democracy

Common Sense Commentary:  



       Historic Lifetime
       Of A Democracy 

In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history
professor at the University of Edinburgh,
had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
"A democracy is always temporary in
nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
form of government. A democracy will
continue to exist up until the time that voters
discover that they can vote themselves
generous gifts from the public treasury.
From that moment on, the majority always
votes for the candidates who promise the
most benefits from the public treasury, with
the result that every democracy will finally
collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is)
 always followed by a dictatorship."

"The average age of the world's greatest
civilizations from the beginning of history,
has been about 200 years. During those
200 years, these nations always progressed
through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
The Obituary follows:

Born 1776, Died 2012
It doesn't hurt to read this several times.
A Republic is a government controlled by
laws and limited in it's powers, as is our
Constitution and Bill Of Rights.  A true
Democracy is a government controlled
by a majority vote regardless of law.  A
Republic protects minorities from the
majority vote.  A Democracy is controlled
by the emotions and desires of the majority. 
To better understand these political principles,
think of it on the smaller scale of a family,
school classroom or business.  Everyone has
an equal vote.  A family Democracy does
what the majority wants to do concerning
cleanliness, meals, school, drugs, toilet, etc. 
At school, the students' votes have equal
weight with the teacher's.  In A business,
the employees' votes are equal to the owner's
vote.
If you do not have a Bill Of Rights  and set
standard of rules for both government and
citizens, such as our Constitution, you
eventually have chaos, and a breaking up of
family, school or business....or country. That
is exactly where we are today. RB

Apr 19, 2012

Blessing Gifts: If Not Lively Are Deadly

Common Sense Commentary: And unto one person the LORD gave five talents, to another two and to another one, to each one according to his ability and went away and said I will come again in a day of reckoning ... cultivate and invest your talents til I return. Paraphraised

I speak of six external, fleshly blessings which our Creator has assigned, in varying degrees, among we human creatures.  They are Beauty, Wealth, Fame, Power, Personality, and Talent. Some of us seem to have them all and some of us seem to have none; but everyone has one or several.  But far more important than which or how many Blessing Gifts you have, is, have you cultivated yours, and how you use them for good or bad.  Not to use them for good is automatically using them for bad.  It's something like salvation.  If you do not accept it, you reject it.

Let me also mention six internal, spiritual blessings which also come from God but are more important than the external, fleshly ones, which are temporal. These six bring joy and eternal life with them but no possible negatives like the external, fleshly ones.  They are Truth, Repentance, Faith, Forgiveness, Holiness and Love which we will not deal with today.

I will first refer to the external, fleshly,blessing gift which I consider to be  least important.

BEAUTY is the most shallow, only skin deep, but is coveted to the extreme.  It attracts the wealthy, famous and powerful as well as just about every other human being. But those who desire it, pursue it to satisfy their own lust. Beauty is both bought and sold.
Within itself, beauty has no redeeming qualities such as wisdom, talent, work ethic, love, faith, hope or charity.  It comes free with the "birth package" like a nose or ear. No credit whatever to it's possessor... except grooming it ... which can also be a negative obsession.  Jesus put no emphasis on it and himself appeared to be a "common man". "He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." Isa.53:2.

WEALTH buys spare time, beauty, talent, power and friends who have a love of money.  It also attracts con-artists, thieves and moochers.  Wealth is the only one of the six external or internal blessings which can be stolen from you or taxed away. It is the only one that is external, physical substance and the only one which can buy the other five. "...Remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth...." Deut.8:18. also 2Tim.6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." ITim.6:10.  Notice that it is "the love of money", not money itself which is the root of all evil.  Also, "coveting money" is not the same as having it.  I know some poor folks who covet it more than others I know who simply use it as a convenient tool but do not love it and are generous with it.

FAME is LAME - It is the most fragile blessing of the six external, fleshly ones. It sometimes withers under the hot spotlight of adoration and examination or time, and sometimes it morphs into infamy.  It is ironic how quickly public adoration can turn
into hate or disrespect and ridicule.  It is also strange that almost everybody seemingly want to see the famous found wanting and dethroned.  To be like the rest of us, I suppose. Fame attracts lies, accusations, exposure, and disgrace like a light attracts bugs. Both Jesus and Barabbas were famous.  Jesus for his healings, miracles and moral standards and Barabbas for his insurrection, terrorism, and hate.  Yet the mass of people voted for the release of the guilty Barabbas, and for the execution of the innocent Jesus.  Isn't much different today. "And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas." Matt.27:16.

POWER corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. External, fleshly power attracts and pursues all of its physical companions, wealth, fame, beauty, personality and more power.  Sixty years in the ministry convinces me, beyond any doubt, that power, in whatever form, vocation or office, corrupts those who have it.  Not every single one but the vast majority.  It is true in Politics and Religion, in movie and athletic idols, in corporate chief and garbage collectors.  Every body knows it is true in politics but let me speak of what I know best, Religion.  Though most ministers would not admit it, great power corrupts many of the most well known.  Again, not every single one but the majority, who may have begun in humility but gained acclaim and fame and came to power .... misused it and abused it ... exposed or not.  That is even more true with politicians.  Even the best of them who had good intentions, gradually grew so concerned with re-election and a thousand perks, power, wealth and fame, that they betrayed the trust of those who elected them. "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?" Job.21:7.  David testified, "I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.  Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not...." Psm.37:35.

PERSONALITY is a blessing which both the best and the most evil people may possess.  It can be used to entertain, convince, sell, lead or mislead others.  Again, whether it is a blessing or a curse depends on how it is used ... for good or evil.  If it is misused, it can cause enormous harm to those attracted to it.  Hitler, Mussolini, Castro and even Charlie Manson used it to great harm to themselves and to many or millions of others ... especially to their own people and more especially to those who followed them. Many politicians, preachers, comedians, actors and other people have this coveted blessing gift.  Some for good but many for bad.

TALENT  and basic elements of IQ are mostly an inborn part of the birth package also. They must both, however, be cultivated and educated to be of great use. Aptitude alone is not enough.  The greatest athletes, artists, musicians and so on, who ever lived were probably never known as such, simply because of laziness, neglect, disinterest or bad parenting.  I have known many exceedingly talented and quick minded students and young athletes who never invested the time, study and practice required to bring out this ability.  Only the preparation, study, practice, training and the use of this blessing gift gives credit to the possessor of it. The seed and root were from God. The misuse of it, like all the rest, is deadly.

"For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them another five talents.  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained another two.  But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lords money.  After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoned with them.... Then he which had received one talent,
came and said, LORD.... I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there, thou hast that which is thine.  His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant.... Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then I should have received mine own with interest.... Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness ...." Matt.25:14-30.  Deadly misuse/abuse.


Apr 17, 2012

Obama Birth Certificate Disallowed in N.J. Court Case

Common Sense Commentary: "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie" 2Thess.2:11 

Obama Lawyer: Birth Certificate Irrelevant
An attorney representing Barack Obama has argued in court to prevent the long-form birth certificate image that was released by the White House nearly a year ago from being placed into evidence.
It was on April 10 at a three-hour eligibility hearing before a New Jersey administrative law judge that the argument came from Alexandra Hill.
She is legal counsel representing Obama’s re-election campaign, and argued then that New Jersey law does not require Obama to present a valid birth certificate to establish his qualifications under Article 2, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution to be on the New Jersey Democratic Party primary ballot.
Hill repeatedly explained to Judge Jeff S. Masin that, “We do not believe the president’s birth certificate is relevant to this case.”
Agreeing with Hill, Masin ruled in a written opinion the same day that New Jersey law does not require Obama to produce any proof he is eligible to be president in order to be placed on the primary ballot.  From Godfather (type) Politics
The Obvious question is, "Why would the President and his attorneys not want the infamous birth certificate offered in evidence, if it is legitimate?  One would think they would jump at the opportunity to prove it is legit to remove it as an issue of doubt. They have simply added fuel to the fire. What are they hiding?


The long term, oft repeated lie slowly adorns itself in truth clothing and is believed.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.

—Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda.


Obama's College Classmate Speaks Out
OBAMA'S COLLEGE CLASSMATE SPEAKS OUT
Untitled 143
By Wayne Allyn Root , June 6th, 2010
Barack Hussien Obama is no fool. He is not incompetent.
To the contrary, he is brilliant. He knows exactly what he's doing.
He is purposely overwhelming the U.S. Economy to create systemic failure,
Economic crisis and social chaos -- thereby destroying capitalism and
Our country from within.
Barack Hussien Obama was my college classmate
Untitled 144
( ColumbiaUniversity , class of '83).
He is a devout Muslim do not be fooled.
Look at his Czars...anti-business..anti- American.
As Glenn Beck correctly predicted from day one, Barack Hussien Obama is
Following the plan of Cloward & Piven, two professors at ColumbiaUniversity ..
They outlined a plan to socialize America by overwhelming the system
With government spending and entitlement demands.
Add up the clues below. Taken individually they're alarming.
Taken as a whole, it is a brilliant, Machiavellian game plan to turn
The United States into a socialist/Marxist state with a permanent majority
That desperately needs government for survival ... And can be counted
On to always vote for bigger government.

Why not? They have no responsibility to pay for it.
Universal health care . The health care bill had very little to do with health
Care. It had everything to do with unionizing millions of hospital and
Health care workers, as well as adding 15,000 to 20,000 new IRS agents (who will join government employee unions).
Obama doesn't care that giving free health care to 30 million Americans
Will add trillions to the national debt. What he does care about is that it cements the dependence of those 30 million voters to Democrats and big government ..
Who but a socialist revolutionary would pass this reckless spending bill
In the middle of a depression?

Cap and trade. Like health care legislation having nothing to do with
Health care, cap and trade has nothing to do with global warming.
It has everything to do with redistribution of income, government control
Of the economy and a criminal payoff to Obama's biggest contributors.
Those powerful and wealthy unions and contributors (like GE, which owns
NBC, MSNBC and CNBC) can then be counted on to support everything Obama wants.
They will kick-back hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions to Obama and the Democratic Party to keep them in power.

The bonus is that all the new taxes on Americans with bigger cars,
Bigger homes and businesses helps Obama "spread the wealth around."
Make Puerto Rico a state. Why? Who's asking for a 51st state?
Who's asking for millions of new welfare recipients and government
Entitlement addicts in the middle of a depression?
Certainly not American taxpayers.
But this has been Barack Hussien Obama's plan all along.
His goal is to add two new Democrat senators, five Democrat congressman and a million loyal Democratic voters who are dependent on big government.
Legalize 12 million illegal Mexican immigrants.
Just giving these 12 million potential new citizens free health care alone could overwhelm the system and bankrupt America .
But it adds 12 million reliable new Democrat voters who can be counted
On to support big government. Add another few trillion dollars in welfare, aid to dependent children, food stamps, free medical, education, tax credits for the poor, and eventually Social Security ..

Stimulus and bailouts. Where did all that money go?
It went to Democrat contributors, organizations (ACORN), and unions -- including billions of dollars to save or create jobs of government employees across the country. It went to save
GM and Chrysler so that their employees could keep paying union dues. It went to AIG so that Goldman Sachs could be bailed out (after giving Obama almost $1 million in contributions).
A staggering $125 billion went to teachers (thereby protecting their union dues).
All those public employees will vote loyally Democrat to protect their
bloated salaries and pensions that are bankrupting America ..

The country goes broke, future generations face a bleak future, but Obama, the Democrat Party, government, and the unions grow more powerful.
The ends justify the means.

Raise taxes on small business owners, high-income earners, and job
creators. Put the entire burden on only the top 20 percent of taxpayers,
redistribute the income, punish success, and reward those who did
nothing to deserve it (except vote for Obama).

Reagan wanted to dramatically cut taxes in order to starve the government. Barack Obama wants to dramatically raise taxes to starve his political opposition. With the acts outlined above, Barack Hussien Obama and his regime have created a vast and rapidly expanding constituency of voters dependent on big government; a vast privileged class of public employees who work for big government; and a government dedicated to destroying capitalism and installing themselves as socialist rulers by overwhelming the
system.
Add it up and you've got the perfect Marxist scheme -- all devised by
my ColumbiaUniversity college classmate Barack Hussien Obama
using the Cloward and Piven Plan ...

"Correctly attributed" says snopes!http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/overwhelm.asp

                No Christian has ever, by a slip of the tongue, said, "My Muslim faith"... as Hussein Obama claims to have done: As No Muslim has ever slipped and said, "My Christian Faith". It just is not done. RB


Apr 13, 2012

New Words And Meanings For The New Age

Common Sense Commentary: "Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see,
and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls, but they said, we will not walk therein.  Jer.6:16.

Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of diminishing producers.

QUOTE of the Year:

Gold is the money of kings, silver is the money of gentlemen, barter is the money of peasants - but debt is the money of slaves. Norm Franz, "Money and Wealth in the New Millennium"

"The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Pr.22:7.

Debt has never truly been a blessing but a misunderstood and dangerous philosophy.

The present dilemma in the U.S., and the world, is primarily due to the Keynesian theory of economics which is basically, the Central Banks, using debt or credit to bail the country out from under a depressionary threat.  That theory originated during the Great Depression and has resulted in TARP, QE1&2 and the previous and present National, State and Private DEBT: which runs into the hundreds of trillions of dollars,
not just the 16 trillion in our Gov. borrowed debt or their "Over Budget Debt".


 Credit once meant, to attribute honesty, truth or accomplishment to someone. Today it means "Debt".  Credit has morphed into Debt. Maxed out Credit is Debt. The status symbol, Credit Card, has proved to be more a curse than a blessing to most people.

In our country, our Government rewards all non-workers and punishes the workers with higher taxes to pay for it.  Work has become the four letter word and Lazy the norm.  A handie man came to our home recently, with his huge grown son, and casually said, "He's Lazy" as if that was his name.  The son, as if it was a compliment,
agreed.... "Yeah, I hate work".  He proved it.  He didn't lift a finger and bragged about it.  The whole world has turned upside down. Virgin is bad and promiscuous is good.
Work is bad and Leisure is the purpose of life.  Holding a job is dumb and living off of others is smart.  High moral standards are hypocritical, fanatic, or weird and low moral standards are celebrated by the media, movies and morons. God told Adam and Eve to "dress and keep the garden" and put muscles on them for the purpose. Jesus said, "...Men ought to work..." Lk.13:14.

There are many new words for this new era but some of them are old words corrupted into new meanings.  For instance.....

Gay once meant effervescent or happy.  Now it supposedly means "Happy Homosexual".  Whereas, statistics show guilt, venereal disease, shorter lifespans, and suicide are more common among them.

Women's Lib (liberation) reflects the free, modern, successful, business woman of the world.   Whereas, it is a staked chain separating them from a warm, close, mothering relationship with children and the security she needs in a permanent, loving husband.

A New Ride refers to a beautiful, comfortable new car with lots of pride accessories.  Whereas, after the first month, it is a stressful, monthly dread of payments, which seem to come around every week and lead to neglect of necessities, a ruined "credit" record, lost education, and the girlfriend as well.  Which effects often follow and  hinder the person the rest of their lives. I've always told young people, "There are two things you can always do. (1) Buy a car. (2) Get married.  But you can't always get an education so you can afford a car and a wife the rest of your life".

Entitlements ... have always meant,  "Income deserved by a commission or salaried worker as payment for a job well done or an award for great accomplishment." Whereas, now it means, "Free, welfare, tax money given to non-payers of taxes who claim an inability to work, including overweight, or an unwillingness to work, drug addiction, alcoholism or some other such reason".  Exactly how is that "entitled"?

Earned Income Tax Credit reflects a tax credit toward reducing the taxes of a hard working good citizen who pays taxes.  However, it now means it is taxes duly paid by those hard working tax payers, to the IRS, out of their salaries, so the people who pay no taxes may receive that money because they payed no taxes. Yes, it is called an "Earned Income Tax Credit", another bureaucratic misnomer to make it digestible to the tax payers and not an embarrissment to the recipients.

New Morality sounds like a new improved Morality.  It actually means the dumping of  traditional and Scriptural Moral Standards as unreasonable and unnecessarily restrictive for something more acceptable.... more comfortable.  It is actually the old Immorality dressed up with a toupee, sandals and a nose job. 

"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer or the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in."  Isa.58:12.


This is the challenge of Isaiah, the calling of Saints. RB