Here comes the Bribe...and the extortion

It amazes me how confident the Democratic house and Senate leaders are about the health care bill. It's almost as if they think they have inside information. And they do.

This whole system stinks right now because so much of our laws are either passed or held up NOT due to the merits of the bill, but due to the blatant corruption in Washington. There are Democrat House members and Senators who are opposed to the health care bill, or at least to certain provisions in the bill. But in the end, it is very likely that they will have a their "Aha" moment and the bad bill will instantly become one that they can vote for. And everyone knows why this is. Bribery and extortion.

Especially at a time when the President's popularity and programs are not in favor with the American people, there is no doubt that there will be no limits as to what all the president's men can offer these "doubters" to persuade them to see it the President's way.

The $300 million for Louisiana is just one of the bribes that will surely be offered to make this bill more pleasant to the other holdouts in the majority party. And it stinks. I don't understand why the press does not "press" the Congress on this issue. How are we any different than Mexico, Columbia or Russia? The only difference I see is that our bribes come from more "repectable" segments of society (lobbyists, power players in Washington, and financial backers) rather than the thugs and mafia-types that control those other corrupt countries.

And let's not forget about the extortion. You can bet that the Chicago thugs are right now letting certain members of their party know what it is going to cost them if they don't find a way to get on board with this bill. I wonder if the press will try to uncover any of that information.

What is touted as "compromise" and "reaching an agreement" is all too often nothing more than simple bribery and extortion. The power players offer perks and privileges and re-election support in exchange for votes on a bill that is full of poison. And if the bride doesn't work, then "suggestions" are made about the party possibly supporting another Democrat in the next primary (one who is more suited to the agenda being put forward).

So, after much contrived "speculation" about a particular Senator's vote, Sooprize! Sooprize!, they somehow found a way to support the very bill they had been critical of just days before.

The Prophet writes in the book of Ecclesiastes, "Extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart". Ain't that the truth. But for too many, the bribe taken is worth more to them than maintaining their wisdom and integrity.

Exodus 23:8 says, "Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth".

Any leader who will accept a bribe is automatically disqualified from being a leader. The advice given to Moses when he was selecting leaders for Israel is very fitting for us today: "...but select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes..."

And my prayer is that we can get rid of all those in leadership who do not fit this description.

The Puritans and Rev. Wright?

During this time of Thanksgiving, I want to reflect on one aspect of God's nature. Psalm 103:8 states that, "The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love". This is something we can all be grateful for. God is patient towards us. He is not easily angered or "ticked off" when we mess up. This truth applies, of course, to us as individuals. God knows that we are but dust and that we are going to fail him time and again. But during the process of cleaning us up (sanctification), He is gracious and forgiving. And this also applies to us as nation. God is slow to anger and slow to wrath.

So, what does that have to do with the Puritans or Rev. Wright? The answer is this: the Puritans and the early Christian forefathers of our nation believed that God had ordained this nation into existence. They believed that they were put on this continent by divine providence; that God had a destiny for this continent, and that they were to be the instruments that God would use to make this continent a "city on a hill", a light to the nations, and the glory of the earth.

Those early settlers, and the ones who followed them for the first 150 years did not, however, believe that America's destiny or greatness was automatic, or that it could be assumed that God would always "shed His grace on thee". They believed in the principle of COVENANT. God had chosen them to spread His glory on this land, and IF they were faithful to that mission, then God would bless, prosper and exalt this nation above the nations of the earth. BUT, if the time came when the people of this nation turned their backs on God and began to worship the idols of the nations around them, then God would remove His hand of blessing and the destruction of this nation would soon follow. They believed that they were the "new" Israel and that this land was their promised land. And just as God instructed Old Testament Israel to walk according to the covenant, so they were to do likewise. Deuteronomy 8:18-19: "Always remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors. But I assure you of this, if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshipping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed".

So, here we are today, as a nation that has, in many ways, broken the covenant. In the church and out, we are a nation of idol-worshipers and a people who have strayed FAR from the vision of the early settlers. One only has to look at the issue of abortion to find ample cause for the wrath of God to be poured out on us. Hitler killed 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, but America has killed about 50 million innocent unborn children since 1973. And the blood of each of those babies cries out against us as a nation. And many in the church are too busy playing and climbing the ladder of upward mobility to even care anymore.

So, when Rev. Wright preaches after 9-11 that America's chickens have come home to roost, the conservatives push back against that statement by touting America's credentials as the most generous and friendly nation on earth - which we are. And to be sure, the Liberation Theology espoused by Rev. Wright is in fact Christianized Marxism. But we still can't ignore the truth of what our founding fathers believed. If we, as a nation, forget God, turn our backs on Him, serve idols, worship the gods of self, prosperity, greed, etc., there will indeed come a day of reckoning for this nation. We have broken the covenant, we have sinned against His commands, and in spite of all the great things this country has done and been, we stand before a holy God with blood-stained hands.

After hurricane Katrina, Pat Robertson made statements that he later retracted. He inferred that Katrina may have been part of God's judgement on America for abortion. Of course, that statement is really politically incorrect these days. But it doesn't change the truth of the matter. I do not know if Katrina was a direct punishment from God for the abortions in America, but I know that if we do not turn from our evil ways, Katrina will look like a slap on the wrist compared to what we may have to face. America has not been favored by God for 200 years because we are innately a better species or because we are smarter than all the other nations. We have been blessed because of the Christian foundation, the Christian laws, the Christian freedoms, the Christian morals, the churches, and the Christian societies that have upheld the covenant.

The fact that Barack Obama had even the slightest chance of being elected as the President of this nation, when he made it clear how far away from Christian principles and American historical values he was, shows how far we have strayed. In 1788, Governor Samuel Johnston of North Carolina wrote: "...those who are Mahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian religion, can never be elected to office of President or other high office, unless first the people of America lay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should this unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as think as they do themselves..."

Today, if God were to call us into His court and put forth the evidence against us as a nation, I am afraid that we would have no defense.

For each day that God demonstrates His patience, His kindness, and His slowness to anger, we should be very grateful.

Psalm 103:8 "The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love".

I would hope that America would soon take the advice of Abraham Lincoln who delivered a politically incorrect address in August of 1861: "...and whereas, when our own beloved Country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous and happy, is now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him, and to pray for His mercy, -- to pray that we may be spared further punishment, though most justly deserved;...that the inestimable boon of civil and religious liberty, earned under his guidance and blessing, by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may be restored in all its original excellence..." (Abraham Lincoln -- "Proclamation of a Day of Fasting") http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/proc-3.htm

Getting Started

Today I enter the world of blogging. My goal is to share my thoughts with anyone who cares to read them, and to open up dialogue on a range of topics confronting our nation and the world we live in. Maybe there are people out there who would like to join the conversation. My hope is that this would be another place where the truth could be explored and expressed with honesty mixed with compassion. The politically correct crowd seems to believe that if you are honest about people and yourself, you are therefore not "sensitive" to the person or the situation. I believe the whole "political correctness" issue is an attempt to silence the voice of those who have moral, religious and ethical concerns about the behavior and practices of society. If they can convince us that our informed opinion of their lifestyle is not to be voiced because it is a sign of bigotry and intolerance, then they can more easily convince the world that their opinion is "normal" and "acceptable" - and that the voice of the moral, religious crowd is judgemental, intolerant, and possibly even "hate speech".

So, I will start today by encouraging anyone who reads this to go to the following link and find out about the Manhattan Declaration. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrir_4RpYOM