Rejoice in the Lord Always!

Here is a heart-warming article about Christian prisoners singing and praying while under watch of Haitian kidnappers. Reminds me of the apostle Paul. This is proof that it is possible to choose to be joyful in the Lord always. And again, I say: "REJOICE!"

Conservative Principles in Action

After repeatedly lambasting President Bush and many of his fellow Republicans on Capital Hill for not applying conservative economic principles to "Republican" policies, perhaps there is an ounce of retraction to be spoken in their favor. That is, thanks to Scott Tibbs' posting of a tax chart, we can see that Bush's tax cuts have benefited all of us, not just the "rich" like the leftist media loves to portray. Any Robin Hood-like scheme smacks of Communism and will not work. Taking money from the rich to give to the poor will fail in the long run, mostly due in part to the innate industriousness of the rich and the innate poor money-handling of those who are poor. Face it--no one in this country is poor because of lack of opportunity. No one, except perhaps an exceptionally small percentage who are severely disabled, experienced unforseen disaster or in which their decision to stay faithfully married (for example, to a no-good cheating drunk bum) led to financial ruin. We live in the richest nation in the world; a nation in which freedom allows any one of us to seek economic improvements for our families. So let's stop the "Bush hates the rich" stuff and get to the point. Tax cuts benefit us all! Capitalism is not based on greed or envy like Communism (whose underlying motivation is to keep others from procuring more wealth than you); it is held affloat by the unseen hand that helps us all rise up together in economic prosperity.

All that just to say thank you to President Bush who cut taxes for us all, not just the rich.

Quote from Dick Soule:

"Every Christian struggles with the tug between faithfulness and the secular world. "

How true that statement is. We all are guilty of shirking the duties of faith and need to try to make Jesus more important than our own selfish wants (John 3:30) while at the same time understanding that none of us can do it perfectly without the Spirit's help (Romans 7-8). Persecution is coming and we need to know where our allegiance lies.

View back issues of Ekklesia, Soule's publication concerning the early church at this site. Mr. Soule will enrich your faith by exploring the texts of the New Testament with his extensive knowledge of the subject and his air of grace.

July 4th, 2006

Our nation's birthday, the day of our independence from Britain, is often taken for granted and used as nothing more than a day to watch a pyrotechnic show and feast on hot dogs and burgers. Yet what happened those two hundred and thirty years ago is still just as important and relevant today. We have members of our armed forces serving in countries all across the world; most notably, in Iraq. Many protest the war and are crying for our troops to return home. Why? They don't understand the need for someone to die. People want death to be shrouded in glory. A daily soldier loss from enemy combatants seems like a waste of our human capital. Yet each and every death done in the U.S. service is precious. That death is shrouded in glory.

Those servicemen are dying because they are protecting freedom. We are so blessed to have freedom. Some in our nation still cherish that freedom and want it to endure for future generations. Other nations who have not created a governmental system that operates smoothly for their people have not yet turned to freedom and many refuse to do so. With our nation's help we want to protect those individuals who so desparately need freedom in their society while at the same time protecting our ownliberties at home.

So this fourth of July, let's think about how a few patriots' thirst for freedom many years ago has led to a universal need for that freedom to all mankind.

Freedom works. Happy 4th!