Satan lives

 

Satan does have power and people usually "scoff" at the possibility that he even exists. Many people believe in God, but will not believe that Satan is a real being who torments, deceives and leads people away from God. We caught a glimpse as to how he works when we see him lying to Adam and Eve in the garden and when he temps Jesus in the wilderness. His purpose is to align as many people with him to spend eternity with him and his followers. He is, and has been, in competition with God trying to gain power over creation. It is just not politically correct these days to believe in the little red man with horns and a tail that rules over "Hades" or Hell. But as we see the effects in people's lives and the devolution of society, he is real and he tells lies and brings the proposition to everyone he contacts that they should not believe God, but instead fall down and worship him and he will reward you. His reward is separation from the God of Creation and an eternity of torment with Satan.

 

Jim Killebrew



Morality in society

 

When you look at society-at-large in whatever culture you care to choose, and whatever time period you decide to explore, you will find that the collective society is always deciding morality on the basis of the situation in which they are experiencing.  We see that in our own society with the changing of moral behavior to fit what is fashionable in our most glamorous idols.  We heard Clark Gable utter the famous words, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."  A collective gasp rose throughout the land at the sound of the word "damn" in a movie theater.  The immorality of it was heralded from Hollywood to Bancroft.  Within a few short years, however, there really was not, and still isn't,  any definition to describe the pornography we now see on public television and movies in our current society.  We simply exclaim, "My, how times have changed!"  Even our courts hide behind the First Amendment, "We can't describe pornography, but we know it when we see it."  Consequently, anything goes.

 

Even in the early days of the nation of Israel long after they had obtained the Ten Commandments from God it is clearly seen in Scripture by reading through the Book of Judges that the people repeatedly "did what was right in their own eyes."  And each time they did it was to their own peril; they brought down the judgment of God upon their heads.  By the time Samuel had appeared on the scene, the people demanded a king so they could have a monarch form of government.  God told Samuel to listen to the people and their desire to have a monarch and to be sure the people had not rejected Samuel, rather God said, "...they have rejected me as their king."  (1 Samuel 8:7)

 

As communities, societies and cultures take on the form of self-governance, monarchy, totalitarianism, theocratic forms of rule, or even democracy the inevitable slide is toward a secular society that establishes the rules of justice and the laws to be obeyed based on a continuum of consensus to that of edict.  The mores of each individual and collectively begin to dictate the cooperative rule to maintain survival against the elements.  But it is never static; it is always dynamic with ever changing rules usually in response to some issue or event. 

 

We have witnessed that even in our own society which began on a foundation of "truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  (United States Declaration of Independence)  What started as a belief of being "created" by "their Creator" has been transformed into a secular society that constantly pushes for the separation of the Creator from the government.

 

Secularism and humanism proponents are ever-changing, constantly moving toward a consensus or synthesis that tries to reach  consonance, or equilibrium to reconcile the disconnect between their belief systems and reality; trying to reconcile their opinions with past knowledge and traditions with current changed practices or new beliefs.  To preserve personal safety people must reach a point of agreement acceptable by all in the community, state or nation.  It usually means some will give up their principles, traditions, actions and even ethical standards by which they lived in the past.  Accepting a secular form of governance allows general acceptance of a set of rules by which all will live.  This almost always creates another form of cognitive dissonance within the mind of the Christian.

 

I wonder if that is not the dilemma our nation faces today?  We have a nation where perhaps the majority of people believe in God, at least by some measure.  Yet we have all but discarded Christian principles in favor of a secular form of government that through the years of growth and maturity has become powerful and strong.  It has developed into a form of government that is believed to be "We the People" yet it has become a government with men and women holding powerful offices for limitless terms, building for themselves spheres of personal power and great wealth.  Their will prevails through the laws, regulations, taxing powers and bestowed favors.  Oftentimes they exempt themselves from the adverse effect of the laws they pass for others.  They secure for themselves special interest groups who surround them with protection and favors allowing them to write special "riders" to major legislative laws that provide special favors to the special interests that favor the individual lawmaker.  It is simply another by-product of the secular form of government.

 

In our own government, as well as others throughout history, we eventually embrace the secularism and humanism to dilute God's Absolute Truth to a form of "situational ethics."  To control the larger population the ideas of secularism must be infused throughout the citizens of the "collective."  This has been done in our culture and society through the mandated public education system, higher education and through the dissemination of employment in both the public and private sectors.  Social justice issues are brought to the fore as "humanistic" efforts that reinforce the pervasive learning through the educational systems in the communities by "standardization" of curriculum and texts.  Those who resist the influence of a growing, powerful government are ostracized by those who have "bought" into the system.  Media is rewarded for partnering with the powerful figures in government and reap plentiful rewards of associations and privilege and celebrity positions in society for supporting those powerful lawmakers.  The cycle of dependency permeates those whose livelihood is sustained by the "entitlements" endowed by those who "represent" them.  The entitlement is purposely kept at subsistence levels to ensure dependency but at the same time not build motivation and strength to leave the dependency model.                   

 

Secular society measures morality against the social mores accepted by society-at-large; Christians measure morality against the Standards established by the God of the universe.  It always comes back to our individual choices.  The Christian should never totally depend on the government to sustain their livelihood.  The government may be sustained for many more years; or it could end abruptly.  For the Christian it is their belief in the God of Creation and His plan of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that sustains, not the dependency model of government.  We must remember it is God Who is the Righteous Judge in the long run, not a society.

 

Jim Killebrew

 



God and the atheist

 



I think it may have been St. Augustine who said in essence, as an unbeliever you do not believe God exists; as a believer I believe He does exist and everything He says is Truth. What if when you die I am right and you are wrong? It will make a tremendous difference to you in the way you lived your life. You will face judgment and sentencing from the God of the Universe. If when I die and you are right, it won't really make any difference to me, I will be dead. How willing are you to take that chance?

Going a step further, when a person believes in God, how is it not possible to also believe He has tirelessly communicated with us to reveal His plan of salvation?  If a person believes in God and even believes on a cursory level the writings in the Bible, how would it be possible not to believe that God worked through His Son Jesus to reconcile the world to Himself through the sacrifice of shedding His blood on the cross to provide the means for salvation to all who believe? 

To stand firm in disbelief in the face of all evidence God has offered is a stubbornness rooted in ignorance,  grown into foolishness and finished in futility.

Jim Killebrew  

Budget philosophy

Listening to the President the other day talking about our economy and his ideas of the budget and comparing it to the Paul Ryan budget proposal, it seems evident there are two different philosophies at play regarding how a budget should be formulated and implemented.

The Administration makes no mistake about clearly wanting to drive the US economy into a European-style socialist welfare state. Redistribution and equalization of wealth by taxing more and more of the "wealthy" wage earners, business owners and corporations will drive the government to grow at exponential rates, while at the same time stifle the growth of the private sector of business . As the rate of government grows at greater speeds it will take more agencies to be created with more policies and regulations to implement more and more programs. The case in point is what we are experiencing right now on the eve of the health care services known as Obamacare. The outcome of that venture will surely lead to a single point of service for health delivery that will be overseen by the government.

The Paul Ryan budget proposal by contrast, is based on the reduction of the huge debt looming over our collective heads projecting well into the next two generations. The Ryan budget significantly pays down that debt over the next ten years as well as deliver a balanced budget to actually reduce the spending. It is based on pro-growth, market-style free enterprise practices with a fairness in the taxing revisions leading to lower taxes for everyone and with the more wealthy Americans paying a higher rate. It also proposes about a three and one-half growth during the ten-year period. The Ryan proposal also presupposes the appeal of the Obamacare plan.

The question I have is what makes the European-style socialist welfare system so attractive that so many of the more liberal Americans and the Administration wants to move in that direction? When the world media allows a glimpse into the inner workings of the countries like Spain and Greece, we have seen nothing as positive as the American free enterprise system. In fact, we are witnessing the destruction of those economies; they are going bankrupt, credit ratings falling, value of the monetary systems plummeting, joblessness increasing, the ranks of the poor increasing and people even rioting in the streets due to the austerity measures that must be taken because these governments have run out of money.

Would someone who really knows the details of the economy systems explain why the President wants to fundamentally change the free market system of growth practiced in the United States since the beginning in favor of the European model?

Jim Killebrew



Economy Chicago style

 

This was sent to me by my brother-in-law; I wonder what they say about doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. It seems Chicago, and Illinois, has proven over the years that the policies being espoused by our current national Administration is not really the best way to go.

 

There are more people on Welfare in Illinois than there are people working.

 

Chicago pays the highest wages to teachers than anywhere else in the U.S. averaging $110,000/year.

 

Their pensions average 80-90% of their income. You can't blame that on republicans because there aren't any.

 

Wow, are Illinois and Chicago great or what?

 

Be sure to read till the end. I've never heard it explained better.

 

Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago?

 

Body count: In the last six months 292 killed (murdered) in Chicago.

 

221 killed in Iraq AND Chicago has one of the strictest gun laws in the entire US.

 

Here's the Chicago chain of command:

 

President: Barack Hussein Obama

 Senator: Dick Durbin

 House Representative: Jesse Jackson Jr.

 Governor: Pat Quinn

 House leader: Mike Madigan

 Atty. Gen.: Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike)

 Mayor: Rahm Emanuel

 The leadership in Illinois - all Democrats.

 

Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago . Of course, they're all blaming each other.

 Can't blame Republicans; there aren't any!

 

Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.

 

State pension fund $78 Billion in debt, worst in country.

 

Cook County ( Chicago ) sales tax 10.25% highest in country.

 

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois. And he is going to 'fix' Washington politics for us???

 

George Ryan is no longer Governor, he is in the big house. Of course he was replaced by Rob Blajegovitch who is...that's right, also in the big house. And Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. resigned a couple of weeks ago. That is because he is fighting being sent to...that's right, the big house.

 

The Land of Lincoln, where our governors make our license plates.

 

But you know what?

 

As long as they keep providing entitlements to the population of Chicago, nothing is going to change, except the state will go broke before the country does.

 

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian."