PJ's Thoughts

2010-05-25T09:16:00.001-07:00

A Preacher Speaks Out…

"Seed" and Government

A discussion of seed development of political ideals and how they have ingrained themselves positively and negatively in our society.

I have been thinking of the principle of 'seed' again. It is a regular thing with me as I have found both principles of 'seed' and 'seasons', guide much of our lives. What I have learned is that we can develop a basic strategy for our lives that can adapt with whatever season we happen to be in, based on the seeds we have planted.

I'm considering the 'seed' concept when I consider certain directions our country is being taken. This post is to share in some detail my opinions of certain events and the philosophies behind them that are directing our nation. I am greatly concerned about the thought processes and corresponding actions that are radically affecting our everyday lives.

Some of this material is from a blog post I wrote a while back. I have greatly added to it through this latest offering as I seem to be proven right in my previous conclusions. I love my nation greatly and believe wholeheartedly that I am well within my moral responsibility to make observation and present things that I think we are responsible to do.

The Earth Will be Fine…Until it Isn't

"…and put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him where there is neither Greek, nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all." Col. 3:10-11

"Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…" Rev. 21:1

Before I start, I want to be clear. The first and foremost message for the world is salvation through Jesus Christ. God is going to create a new heaven and earth and the reality we see today will one day be changed forever. There is no nationality in the spirit world. American, Canadian, French…has been replaced in God's eyes by simply 'spiritually alive' or 'spiritually dead'. Color of skin or nationality, according to the word of God, means nothing when we stand before the Lord God Jesus on that final day.

Understanding that 'eternity' is our biblical mandate as far as perspective, our strengths should be in developing and then protecting any legitimate avenue of ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end of the day, it is the eternal habitation of souls that is job one for the ambassador for Christ.

Having said that, it must be acknowledged that we are not in that next age referred to in Revelation chapter twenty one. It's not here. That means we still have things called nations, borders, and people groups. And as long as these things still exist, then there are laws and principles that will govern them and they must be understood and protected.

In this age of eternity, I am a Christian…a child of God…and I am an American.

I wave the American flag, not that of Hungary and Germany, of which I am a descendant. I am not a citizen of the world…the earth is not my mother. I have a Father…God in heaven…Who created this 'ball in the sky called earth' for a specific period of time to accomplish His eternal purpose. God Himself will destroy it at the right time…not CO2 or rain forest trees being cut down. If the Creator was wise enough to build safety systems in our bodies to fight off germs and disease, He would have placed 'safety nets' to keep the planet working as long as it needs to.

Cows farting in the fields are not going to hurt a thing except for the fool who thinks they should be taxed because of the carbon emissions leaving an animals rear end.

I have these last few months had a reawakened desire to study history and its effect on present day which has led me to post this writing. Much was review as I had taught philosophy and world view courses at a Christian high school for two years. As I have gone back to study the founding of our nation and the purpose it seems both man and Providence had in mind, I see some common threads that could explain much of the 'excitement' going on in the nation today.

As we launch out, let me suggest you look up some of the following subjects yourself. Spend a little time studying Karl Marx, communism and socialism. Find out who Saul Alinsky is, and who followed him and his beliefs concerning community organization and change. As I am going to present, their ideas are 'seeds' that are designed to produce fruit. As much as the Christian is a 'sower' of the word of God, people are 'sowers' of the ideas they have adopted and believe. Sowed seed grows into something…good fruit or bad…based of course on the type of seed.

To look at an undeveloped plant, and then based on the fact that it isn't full grown yet, conclude that nothing bad is happening, is short sided and ignorant. A seed will grow…and we are getting ourselves in a lot of trouble thinking we are safe simply because things aren't full grown. Many are labeled alarmists and fanatical when they are simply declaring what all of nature teaches…seeds grow. We have enough of history providing experience to show us exactly what these things will grow into.

I learned a long time ago, that the best way to communicate is to keep things simple. I have found this to be a general principle which I do my best to follow. Generally speaking, I believe the simpler I can make something, the more that can be an evidence of understanding. It takes tremendous thought and processing to take a subject and make it so that a first grader can understand it. Since Jesus did that, I suppose as one of His followers I should strive to be able to do the same.

So...in trying to keeping it simple...

Seeing Our Country Through the 'Seed Concept'

History acknowledges that our nation was founded by a majority of God fearing people. The chief document for governance, the Constitution, was formed out of the tenets of the Judeo-Christian faith. The desire of the majority was for us to be a nation of freedom whose fundamental strengths would include "a"...all would do their part, based on personal responsibility, and "b"...in doing so would produce great prosperity. This then would be evidence and resource to influence not just ourselves but be a source of light for the world. (It would behoove anyone to do a quick study on "Beacon Hill" in Boston and discover why it was called that.)

Freedom was to be protected that the potential residing in every person could be developed. I believe it is important to understand though that a guaranteed freedom is not the same as guaranteeing the success of the individual. Freedom does not guarantee success; it only removes certain barriers that could be in the way of personal development.

Let me present something I think would prove worthwhile to consider. If these founding principles are contained in the design of the 'seed', then a full grown product resulting from it would only produce a greater display of the design of the root system. I believe it has.

Over two hundred years after the recognized birth of our nation, there has been enough time to evaluate the 'fruit' that this country has produced. A quick glance shows us that…the world is a much better place because of the influence of America and its Judeo Christian heritage…millions upon millions experience freedom as the light of liberty we have been given to hold up by God has shed her light across the globe…our industrial might has financed wonders throughout practically every nation that exists…we have sent out more missionary and humanity effort than any nation known…

I heard a statistic lately that showed the average annual income in China was around ten thousand a year give or take…the US…around forty two thousand! To be a citizen of this land of blessing is and has been the desire of generations from all over the world.

We can see quickly just by a few examples, the power of the 'seed design' of this country and what it can grow and produce. The seed of God's blessing, and His principles have done what they were designed to do.

Philosophy Produces its Own Fruit…Marxism

Based on the following illustration, I want to bring up certain things happening as the war of ideas continues in our nation over direction and purpose…

What do you think would happen if you tried to cut a seed in pieces and shove into it material from other seeds with incompatible design and purpose? Nature itself shows that when you try to mix and match different genetics (a dog cannot lay with a cat and produce a 'dat') mutation and rejection are usually the result. You simply will not see an apple seed and orange seed lie next to each other, give each other a big smooch on the cheek, and genetically unite and produce an 'orapple' tree. It doesn't happen.

How I see this happening in our current political atmosphere...

As I suggested earlier, it would be beneficial for anyone to do just a cursory study on socialistic and communistic philosophy. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the ones that really introduced these things to the world, were an interesting bunch as were the followers of their ideas.

Keeping it simple, Marx believed that material (not God) was the foundation of all things. According to Marx, reality is summed up in material and it is the ebbing and flowing of this that synthesizes and produces our financial and worldly experience. I'm not going any further with this except to inject a quick thought...if we were to try to bring a thought process based on a godless philosophy of materialism (Marxism) and mix it with a seed that contains, chastity, piety, and recognition and personal accountability to a All Knowing, Loving, Creator (Constitution based on biblical principles), you are going to have major issues. Shake oil and water as hard as you wish, they will not mix.

The resulting 'Communist Manifesto' which these people produced, is a document of rebellion, upheaval, and call for revolution. One major flaw in its basic tenants is to suppose the business people, or ruling class, are exploiting the worker and that the workers are to unite and take over (much of today's union language and terminology comes from these perspectives)...conveniently forgetting it was those business minds and entrepreneurs that created the businesses that provided the very jobs they had. They also are willingly forgetting, or simply do not realize, they wouldn't be 'simple' workers if they had the talent, drive, determination, and education, to start a company. They see only from their limited perspective, not considering the ramifications of their desires.

The Detroit auto industry is a perfect example demonstrating the result of people demanding two dollars of benefit for every one dollar produced. The news showed last week that up to forty square miles of that city is being demolished as a result of the breakdown from both the poverty and the fact people just have moved away. (I'm from Michigan and have relatives in the industry. I have been personally involved.)

A quick note…one must accept the 'hand they were dealt'. Life is not fair. God never said it was fair. He did say though to take your hand (talents) and make more…they would not be given to you…you had to add to them yourself. If you were fruitless, you were condemned, not pitied.

This certainly sounds different than what our politicians want you to think, but I'll say this here and later repeat it…politicians have no right to bend and twist the scripture! Most have no idea what the scripture teaches yet try to quote out of it as loosely as they use His name in vain!

OK...now back to the manifesto thing...let's say they do that...they revolutionize and take over because of the so called abuses by 'management'...do they not realize (obviously not), that human nature dictates some will rise to the top and lead it. Then the unregenerate human heart, which can only be changed through the new birth in Christ, takes over and you will eventually have the same exploitation you thought you had dealt with...you still have the same problem you tried to fix...just under different names...a capitalist has a CEO...the proletariat has a union boss...and on and on it will go.

"Because workers of the world unite, it's not just a slogan anymore." Andy Stern

"Workers of the world unite…" is a slogan for Marxist revolutionaries. It is one of the most famous rallying cries from the Communist Manifesto. A variant of this statement is actually engraved on Karl Marx's gravestone.

As of this writing, the current president of the SEIU, Andy Stern, is continually being investigated for his endorsement of ruthless tactics and hidden money and political schemes. I don't know the man personally, but I use this only to illustrate that no matter the name…CEO or Union Boss…people are people and take little time in manipulating their particular system to their own benefit. It's a scam…period. And people are suckers that fall for it over and over.

Note: I do believe there was a time that something needed to be done about wages, work conditions, etc. But come on. Those days are not here anymore. I don't have training wheels on my bike anymore because I don't need them. I grew up. There is so much regulation and oversight now that the abuses businesses got away with one hundred years ago simply wouldn't be tolerated. We have enough lawyers to see to that.

The very people they say they are trying to help are being manipulated by class warfare to respond through anger and bitterness. They are pawns in the hands of people who are exploiting them worse than any CEO ever did.

A goal of ultimate socialism is the abolishment to whatever degree of personal property so that the state may be the one resource pool. There is something we gotta consider. Someone will have to run all that...yet isn't that what they wanted to get away from? I mean, if the big bad business owners/management are so bad, how do they reason the legitimacy of a "Union Boss", or whatever title they give themselves?

The full blown living examples of this political thought have shown clearly what it will produce...Russia had Lenin and Stalin...China had Mao...and we know how fair those guys were to all people sharing the wealth with everyone.

There were tens of millions of deaths at the hands of Stalin alone and his communistic ideals. Individuals sentenced to imprisonment for religious and political views that differ from their own. Both political and human histories give enough evidence to make the following general statement…

The liberty promised to 'workers of the world' is a manipulation to get simple workers to become an ignorant army that puts in place a few who rule with iron hands and no mercy.

Let me be clear on something before going further. I know that tens of millions of people have not died in America because of Barrack Obama or Nancy Pelosi, nor will they in his administration…

…but…if the ideas he espouses take root and grow, nurtured by those that would follow him, they must produce after their own kind and what is not reality today, becomes everyday life tomorrow. Just as an apple tree today looks just like one did a thousand years ago, one only needs to look at what socialism and communism have and do now look like and produce. There is no such thing as 'social experiment' with this. This is no experiment. We have already seen what these philosophies produce.

Looking at Fruit on the 'Barack Hussein Obama Tree'

"It's because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation." - Barack Obama

I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets." - Barack Obama (Dreams of My Father)

Our current president and his advisers, including the above mentioned Andy Stern, have more than just simple interest in socialistic philosophy which I have defined before as...believing the government and the state had a responsibility for the lives of the people, not necessarily the people for their own.

"If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, sounds like a duck…it's probably a duck."

The great turmoil we have been witnessing I believe is resulting from trying to genetically join two philosophies of government (socialism with communistic leanings vs. liberty and individual responsibility through capitalism) that are almost complete polar opposites of each other!

The people instinctively know this and are responding!

A point I think is important to remember is that our Constitution protects rights...IT DOESN'T GIVE THEM! It is the protector of our freedoms, not the granter. This means the protector of the Constitution, or government, is to protect us...not govern (rule over) us.

"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." Ronald Reagan

Let's remember, the founders of our nation were already free, they just annotated on the document of the Constitution what it takes to protect them.

Currently, this administration will brag that it has created jobs…much of his believing this is based on the growth of government positions. Now think this out. The government produces nothing…no goods…services…that bring a profit to itself. It's only financing comes from taking money from its citizens!

Here's a twofold punch in the gut to the prosperity of our country. When a worker comes out of the private sector to work for the government, private money and prosperity is taken which results in less total revenue for the country! You add to the government payroll while taking away its financing. You have increased government payroll and lessened its income. Logic dictates there are only two ways to fix this. Lessen the government or increase taxes on the few that pay it. That's it. And this is how you punish those you think are the problem and transfer that money to those you think have been mistreated and are less fortunate.

"I do think there is a point where you make too much money…" Barack Obama

Well, if you believe this, and just so happen to be in a position to create ways to take that wealth from who you think makes too much, that nation has a definite mess on their hands.

I believe history (not a theorist in Harvard who never held down a corporate position and generated wealth), has shown when American ingenuity is encouraged and government stays out of the way, we perform at our best. This provides for both a national prosperity and an ability to be a blessing to the world as well. It's private industry that needs to increase to prosper the nation, not government beaurocracy.

Political and Social Evolution…Preposterous

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…" Hebrews 6:19

Another radical, dangerous, and cancerous philosophy…again…my judgment is based on fruit… that is resulting in attacks on our faith deals with the Constitution of the United States. The premise of which is that the Constitution is a 'living document' that evolves and morphs to the seasons of climate in the land.

I'll be plain. This is…Stupid…STUPID…STUPID!!!!

Ask any ship captain if it's good to have an anchor that morphs to the environment it is in. Or try to anchor on a sand bar in windy conditions. Anchors are given to stay fixed that the waves of inconsistency and turmoil can be withstood. To believe our constitution needs to morph to our society is ridiculous.

One example of the extremism resulting from this ideology is the freedom of speech right being given to sexual deviant behavior allowed to parade in the streets of our greatest cities! Artists peeing on the cross or the statue of Mary is called 'free speech' and beautiful. Organizations like NAMBLA, which believe in homosexual relations with children, are given defense by legal organizations like the ACLU.

The ACLU actually defended a case where two men took a child that they had killed by shoving a gasoline drenched rag in his mouth, had sex with the dead body, threw the corpse in a river up in Maine, and was later caught. The ACLU defended NAMBLA, the organization which posts instructions including how to have sex with children and lure them into your car and even what to say to the police when caught!! (See the case of Jeffrey Curly in Cambridge, MA. if you don't believe me.) These killers admit they got their ideas from this organization and yet they have been defended using 'free speech' as their defense.

Can anyone in their right mind defend this? I mean, if you think we are evolving, and our laws of society need to change with it, this is the stuff that happens. We give free speech rights to people that believe homosexual relationships with young boys is ok.

These things result from ignoring the need for a fixed, unshakable standard that keeps us from being tossed and destroyed by dangerous philosophies and actions.

Let's go another step. What if our society decides through our 'evolution' we want to be cannibals? Do we now evolve the constitution to give us the right of free speech on what kind of barbeque sauce to use on your favorite body part? C'mon!!

The Constitution was no more designed to be 'evolutionary' than the Bible was designed to be 'evolutionary'. "Do unto others…." is as universal geographically and generationally as "We are endowed by our Creator…"

This is a major area that the bible and Christians are under attack. If evolution is an accepted philosophy, then it is imposed upon all areas and documents including the bible. The perspective of that individual or people group is placed now on all forms of their society. After this the state believes it has the authority to impose its beliefs upon it.

We see this in the idea of taking all forms of religion out of public service. That's insanely ridiculous. We should actually be revering more the benefits of a godly, moral society…especially as compared with the borderline anarchy of today's culture.

To have politicians and clergy declare that the bible does not condemn homosexuality as abhorrent shows how ingrained this is becoming. When seminaries have become the pulpit of a political party and social thought rather than a place to learn to be an ambassador of Christ, we are a world in hurt indeed.

I would just like to say again…

Hey Mr. Politician…keep your hands off the bible…outside of Christ you have no clue what you are talking about and it is not for you to quote when you feel you can gain political benefit from it!

Don't Confuse Christian Character and Responsibility…

Speak up!

A major frustration I have is that there are Christian leaders that refuse to speak out against certain philosophies of our president. Remember, the seed principle works in people as much as with nature. You can simply look at who a person has considered his/her influences and heroes and they will most likely produce those attributes in their lives.

I have heard some say that Christians are too hard on this man and we are not being 'Christian'. Some say that we are not socialistic or even in danger of becoming so based on their own living experiences in Europe…

I cannot disagree more with this rationale.

The only reason that may partially be true is that the seeds haven't had time to fully grow! I certainly agree that we are not to be compared to a European socialist state…YET! But to deny that seeds grow, creating root systems that entwine themselves with the current soil, I think is naïve at best.

The philosophies of Barak Obama, and those he has endeared himself to through leadership postings or affiliation, are fruits from seeds of thought he has embraced. Nature declares that they must produce after their own kind!

If Marx and Alinsky were Barak Obama's influences, then how can it be so wrong to call out the fruit that his tree is growing? I am no more being accusatory of him in a self exalted, non biblical judgmentalism any more than if I stood back…and based on oranges growing on a tree…label it an orange tree. The fruit speaks for itself.

And as surely as you are not being critical for saying a three inch tall oak tree will one day be sixty feet tall and have bark, and acorns…so it is not wrong to look at these philosophies and those that espouse them and say confidently what it is they are going to produce…history and current events and nations espousing them show us exactly what is in store.

Where were those that called Paul Revere judgmental and critical for sounding the alarm of what was approaching? He sounded the alarm because great harm was on its way.

The bible is full of examples where the man of God proclaimed against the destructive practices and ideas of their particular generation and leadership.

I am choosing to do a few things as I am finding my heart awakened in great concern for this nation we have been given stewardship over.

A simple Google search of 'preachers in American history' shows that even from the beginning, men of God were used to defend truth not just from the pulpit, but also in the front lines. That also is part of the 'seed' of this country. I also have stated before that even the apostle Paul took full advantage of his Roman citizenship, getting him even an audience with the emperor. Paul could not have done that, taking advantage of the system for his own benefit (which Jesus endorsed by a following personal visitation) if he was ignorant of it or believed we just hide our heads because "...ya know...the world's just gonna get worse anyway..."

There is the valid concern that a 'Man of God' could get sidetracked and leave his one main message. That is true and has happened. But if one can maintain his walk with the Spirit, he can be used to keep in the public forum principles to keep the debate balanced. Also, preachers get sidetracked in many areas. To pick the political forum as a place of great danger to losing focus on the gospel is to forget that any arena can do that.

The seed of our nation is under great attack and needs defenders of thought and faith to begin to gain knowledge first, then to get involved as the Lord leads. We must never forget that it is not President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, democrat or republican persons, but the ideology that is the issue. It is ideology and philosophy that are the battle grounds, not a person or party. They may be the defendants of such things and as such must be confronted, but nothing is gained, except on their side, by emotional ranting and personal accusation. I can vigorously argue and contend my position without having a hate for someone.

I have no doubt that most people have a genuine concern for the direction of our nation as evidence by the passion on both sides.

Knowledge is power...great power. Citizens of both heaven and earth have a responsibility to study, contemplate, pray, and based on said conclusions, present their ideas in the public forum. Our nation is really leaning in directions contrary to the seed it was designed as and to stand by and let it just go on in the name of tolerance will only continue to produce more abominations.

Take care.

Rewriting Our History, Changing Our Traditions - Glenn Beck - FOXNews.com

2010-01-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

Rewriting Our History, Changing Our Traditions - Glenn Beck - FOXNews.com

Just one more example to be read in conjunction with the last two threads. Please let all who love this country and where it came from take notice. Religious or not, the traditions and history of our country are being challenged by a group of people that would rewrite our history to invoke thought processes that are not accurate. From there, they have their own design of how to control your life the way they see it. To do this, they must invoke your anger to want change...so they twist our history and phrase things to give you impressions that are not accurate.

...and according to Michelle Obama...they already said this is exactly what they want to do!!

"...Barack knows we are going to have to make sacrifices...we are going to have to change our traditions, our history, we're going to have to move into a different place as a nation..."

Please read all the examples Glen gives of how our history and heritage, as Michelle has said, are coming under attack. I believe God is bringing all this to a for front through so many venues that we can protect the wonderful heritage and investment He has made into this country.

God bless America

PJ

Cloward, Piven and the Fundamental Transformation of America - Glenn Beck - FOXNews.com

2010-01-09T06:25:00.000-08:00

Cloward, Piven and the Fundamental Transformation of America - Glenn Beck - FOXNews.com

Another link to check out. Please read this in conjunction with the previous post. They are really one and the same.

If you have the chance, check out all of last week (Jan. 4-8, 2010) Glen Beck on Fox News. Then research yourself. Don't necessarily take for gospel what any one says in these days as we deal with politics.

Please do not make the mistake, if you are a Christian, to think these things are "unbelief", or "...speaking evil of dignitaries...". Understand it is their actions that are speaking, not our judgments. And it is true Jesus is coming back, probably sooner than later, but this does not undue our responsibility for stewardship! We have been given responsibility to pray that righteousness reign in our nation. Are we not also told we know a tree by it's fruit? A reporting of 'fruit' is in no way an indictment for or against, it's just...well... reporting fruit.

Stewardship is the principle of understanding that we have responsibility to care for what we have been entrusted in. This nation has been entrusted to us by God first, but also our founding fathers. They had a vision of liberty and justice, and through the following generations, proved generally anyway, they were right.

My son was talking to me the other day. He was saying that many in his class are admiring socialism. One of his peers brags about how much he admires Karl Marx.
I told him there really is only one thing he had to do. Take a period of time, say one to two hundred years, and compare what one philosophy produced, compared to another. Then judge.

In the two hundred years of development of the American system, we became the most prosperous nation on the planet, influenced more for the purposed of liberty and justice, and had individual prosperity as citizens that became the envy of the world. Our people were generally very learned, and were taught that right is actually right, not something relative that depended on the situational ethics of the times. We were taught that hard work, faithfulness, sacrifice, and a personal faith that held one accountable to One that was greater...paid great dividends if given the time. The greatness of our nation and the fruit speaks for itself.

Compare that to a section of time that allowed the Marxist philosophy to grow and produce its fruit. The Marxist philosophy produced Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Po Pot... Stalin alone was responsible for up to fifty million deaths through his idea of purging civilization. Millions died after we left Vietnam and Communism entered. Many murders were committed in the name of the state...teachers, business owners...education was deemed an enemy and ignorance a friend. It was believed that the educated would see socialism for what it is and try to remove it. And we know all about how great China is in the human rights department.

We have had time to watch these two differing philosophies grow and produce its own fruit. That of personal responsibility and prosperity through capitalism, yes, capitalism... and the false idea of socialism that the government has more ability to take care of it's people than the individual.

Yes, let's pray. Let's also be responsible for ourselves...our family...our nation.

PJ

Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis

2010-01-08T06:36:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis

A couple articles ago, I argued that it couldn't be possible that the current leadership in our country is so ignorant that they couldn't see that massive spending and debt would never help our current financial crisis. I proposed that the only conclusion we could come to is they must on purpose be trying to bring down our country that they can bring in their own philosophies.

This week I have come across articles and information that show this is just what is happening...it's kinda freaking me out. You have my word I had not read any of this stuff before. My conclusions at the time I wrote were the only logical ones I could come up with.

Please click on the above article from American Thinker. This article...and many others from many other sources...reveal in depth what is going on based on these things. Please read...then pray and seek heaven with all of your heart. The ability of this nation to wonderfully effect not just our own society, but that of the world through liberty and Judeo Christian principles is about to be greatly hindered.

Just google "Cloward-Piven". The philosophy of creating crisis to take advantage of is a philosophy developed by '60's radical socialist professors that are admired by the current administration and those of the democratic party in the past. President Clinton had these two at one of his celebrations. At the time Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York, called these two and their philosophy out by name as the reason for the bankrupting the city of New York.

Between these two and Saul Alinsky, we see that many of the situations in this nation seem to be tactics straight out of the textbook of radicals whose whole philosophy is to 'fundamentally change America". President Obama said this is exactly what he was going to do just days before the election.

Read on...but don't be afraid... or angry (you can't think straight when you are that emotional)...but be educated that you may pray and then vote more effectively.

PJ

Fear of Failure

2009-12-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

This latest post is actually a response to an email I received from a friend I grew up with years ago. It's been great catching up with him and he mentioned he checked out this blog. As I started to comment, I realized this could be a cool entry so...

Hey ******,

Merry Christmas to you and yours as well sir.

Thanks for checking out the stuff we are doing. I do like to write...I have written three books and working on a fourth.

The purpose of the blog is to present some ideas, the perspective from which I lean, and to instigate conversation. I am regularly frustrated when people talk out of their rear ends without really giving thought to what they believe...from either side of the aisle. I use certain wordings and phrases on purpose to generate honest discussion. I learned a long time ago to try and find out what is right, not necessarily have to be the one that is right. One way to do that is to listen to many perspectives, most of which will contain elements of truth.

I believe one of the things our country has adopted in its philosophy is the fear of failure and pain. As the founder of both profit and non profit companies and organizations, life has taught me that failure is not really failure and is not necessarily bad for me.

Failure as much as success, teaches great lessons so that you are better next time around. If you learn, you have a better product to offer...and if you're better, people will buy. The onus is now on me and my personal responsibility without anyone else to blame. And you know what...the world is not fair or equal. There will always be people better than me and worse than me. If someone has a better product, has more talent, works harder, they should win. They should make more than me. Competition makes us stronger. And I don't think they should be punished for their success. Nor should a government official who has never run a business in his life be able to place demand and take the spoils from those who do.

I too disagree with positions taken by the previous administration. I think though that many of the disagreements I would have with the left or the right stems from the political system they have locked themselves into. When a politician says "Well this is complicated..." sure it is. That is from the standpoint of the box they have put themselves in and the system by which they try to accomplish things. I believe that many of the solutions we need are found in 'out of the box thinking'...since I believe much of our problems stem from the limitations of the current system.
Many practices that have resulted in the quagmire we are in were strongly opposed by the founding fathers of our nation. Maybe an 'out of the box' thought would be go back to the basics of our founding fathers, not just in principles but in integrity and character...just a thought.

I said these things to say...even if it's a bank...let it fail. There is a disclaimer every financial institution gives...RISK! People should be doing their homework on where they invest. If they are going to be so quick to take the profits...they have to be willing to take the losses. Where do people get off cashing in dividend checks one day and yet sue the company if it doesn't profit? Companies succeed and fail all the time. The risk of reward goes with the risk of failure. And furthermore, I just can't see the logic wherein my grandchildren have to pay for the losses of people in my generation. I may seem to be overly simple...but I believe most of life's answers are just that. Simple logic.

A study of the affairs of life in any and all areas of our existence show that all things are cyclical. I am looking outside today and seeing snow pour down. Now what if I felt sorry for all those trees that must be so cold...and the poor animals...certainly we should try to build shelters and refuge centers to protect those poor unfortunate animals from such harsh conditions shouldn't we? I suppose that there would be some ultra left group that may think like that but most of us with some common sense realize its not necessary and actually could be harmful. Think of it. The natural ability to resist hardship and survive would be softened by the pampering making them more prone to be destroyed, not less.

From this perspective, we gotta stop thinking mankind is so fragile and has to be protected from all adversity. And the government is the last organization I would want to take a place of trying to run my life for the sake of them thinking they know what's best for me.

Financial institutions, no matter how large, should fail if they break good business habits. Much of the fault for these failures are rooted in government intervention and demand to help those who had no business owning houses or being given loans. We live in a society of wanting everything right now...and borrowing to get it. People feel they have a 'right' to owning a house, they have a 'right' to a new car...and when the government thinks that they have to give people these things as 'rights'....then demands financial institutions break common sense rules to do it....how can we think we wouldn't have collapse?

To use the winter illustration again...the reason it's unnecessary to built winter shelters for the animals is because we know in the design of their creation, part of the world order in which they exist has equipped them to survive in the midst of hardship. They exist in cycles of winter, summer, spring and fall. I watched squirrels store up all autumn because they instinctively knew a season of scarcity was coming i.e. winter. It happens every year...like clockwork. And they will survive just fine because they instinctively knew to store up and save.

Now if we had done the same thing while the stock market was climbing the last ten to fifteen years, instinctively knowing it could not be sustained and that there would be a correction, we would have been storing or saving, not taking up more and more credit. There are some that were wise, and they are picking things up for a dime on a dollar. I do not feel those that are wise should be punished because of the foolishness of others.

Now if a government official is going to blame capitalism and greed for our failure...then they better be able to present their own resume of 'righteousness'...and if they can't even pay their own taxes...how do they get off assassinating one persons character for things they can't even walk in...the word for that is 'hypocrisy'. The 'us verses them' mentality used over and over again in the political arena harvests an anger from one group against the other. Lawyers make their money arguing this way, and when a lawyer is a government official, they will continue to see things through that mindset. And the masses just go right along with it.

Doesn't anyone think it's just a little off when a tax cheat governing official rants about corporate greed? Can't we say the reason for cheating on taxes is to keep money...and isn't that a basic form of greed in itself?

If a politician feels he can take my money from me to give to the less fortunate, let me see if he is doing the same in his own personal giving. If a government official is going to take my taxes and give to the poor, let me see them too. That generally doesn't happen because those that create the laws know just how to get around them and not pay. So while I am being taxed out of control, they can keep theirs because they know how to get around the law...all in the name of business savvy.

The answer to these things I believe starts with personal responsibility. Take the rewards of good decisions and profit, and learn from the mistakes and don't make them again. Don't feel guilty for either one. Demand your public officials to do what they said they would do. Learn to communicate and read between lines. Don't let anyone BS you.

For example. When a politician says he is going to create jobs, that's ridiculous. It's a buzzword or phrase they think you want to hear. The fact is businesses create jobs, not the government. And if they were to create a job in the sphere of what they do...which in reality would simply be part of the increasing bureaucracy...you need to think about something...

...the government has only one way of generating income...by taking it from you!!!

I believe in taxes...the bible tells us to pay them. But we also have every right to demand accountability and responsibility. The voting booth is a great place to start.

Stay out of the cold...see ya soon.

Copenhagen vs American Nationalism

2009-11-19T09:11:00.001-08:00

Just thinking about different events happening in our country and the direction it is going. Was doing a little research about the upcoming Kyoto II meeting in Copenhagen and the more I think about it, the more it frustrates me.

As you know I like to keep things real simple. So to be oversimplified, for the sake of this post, just a few notes on what could take place in Copenhagen. There is a potential that the U.S. will be responsible, using tax payer dollars, to give money away to developing countries partly out of discipline to us because of all the so called carbon emissions and resulting global warming we are producing. You and I, the taxpayer, are going to have to pay third world developing countries as a pay back to them for our industrial success. The agreements they will come to will allow groups of nations to rally together against us so that we could have no recourse.

Now think of it. If you were the leader of a country whose GDP was the size of small town Oklahoma, and then you are told that the great America is going to fork over billions to you, what would you do? Don't you think that there might be, just maybe, and I don't mean to be judgmental and critical, slight motivation to do whatever it takes to get that money from us? Of course.

This leads me to defend a position I made in the last post. I am convinced that there is a concerted effort to weaken the United States to such a degree that it cannot stand in the way of a globalization effort to produce a one world system. I believe they believe it really is best for the world. Those who believe in this are passionate about it. Yet I believe once again, the engineers of human society and philosophy, are making the same error those before them made through the previous thousands of years. Their think tanks, and Ivy league dream sessions of social engineering forget one thing...the one variable that if one was to look at the history of our race would acknowledge and realize the futility of those dreams...

...human nature.

I want to present a couple points as to why a one world system cannot work. I believe this notion of human unity and bliss, governed of course by those that 'humbly take the role of servant leadership', is both illogical and impossible.

Think for a second. The first thing that must be broken down if you're going to accomplish this is 'nationalization'. My definition of this is the idea that individual countries have a uniqueness and specialty that belongs to them and is critical to a diverse flavor in the world. The fact that man has been here for thousands of years and this has been our way shows that individualism is in our nature. Every empire that ever tried to unify through politics or force no longer exists; or is vastly different from what it set out to be. History proves over and over it cannot be accomplished. Fundamentally I propose because it is against our nature. God created a world of diversity yet working in harmony, not simple unity.

To explain quickly, unity and harmony are not the same things. I can be a difference race than you and be in harmony. I can be the same skin color (unity) and put a bullet through your head because you looked at me wrong.

(I scoff at any one who even had the thought, in response to the last paragraph, that America is an empire that goes internationally to take over. Find me another nation that defends the poor, goes to war with the villains...then pays to have the country rebuilt and gives it back to the citizens!)

Simply put, history has shown repeatedly that it is not in man's nature to come under one mold.
Individuals are given individual gifts that celebrate not just uniqueness, but the power to bring these together in harmony with those of similar nationality and produce wonderful results.

This is not say there is no need for social leadership and guideline...law. But these laws invariably are formed and enforced to maintain the order of that particular race of society. This I believe explains why our American justice system doesn't fit those who follow say Shir ea law. Laws were developed by those of common creed and heritage. There are unwritten understandings in particular systems of law based on a commonality. Where this is absent, you logically must have confusion causing the law that to one is a blessing, to another at best a hindrance, at worse a punishable offense.

I don't think it's a crime for white people to prefer white people, black people to prefer black people, etc. Their common heritage is a strength. Now if a black wants to be with a white...great....but to force it out of the desires of the select few that want this not for the sake of peace, but their own control to produce their own vision, I believe it becomes a crime of deception and manipulation. Now our unity and harmony are no longer reflections of a human nature that wants to experience the glories of someone different. We now become the pawns being used by those whose Utopian vision is dependant on yours and mine subservience. The desire is now no longer the betterment of people, but the increase of power and influence by those who feel they can better steer the affairs of men.

Let's look at another issue...that of communication. The numbers show that 50 percent of the couples that get married will get divorced. Differences become such that for whatever the reasons, their views and opinions cannot come to a compromise and they get divorced. They end the relationship. Fundamentally I believe based on selfishness. Now that's just two people. How in God's green earth can we possibly believe that whole nations and world views will come together and live in harmony. Outside of a work of God this is absolutely impossible.

Herein lies the fundamental problem. This globalization effort is a work of man, not God. It is an effort to deify mankind. It is a global effort to get a small group of men to run the entire earth. But I'm sorry. If you cannot figure out a software program to pay your taxes on your PC, or stop cheating on your wife using public transportation on either government or peoples expense to meet your mistress, you certainly do not have the character or wherewithal to run a planet.

Going back to the Copenhagen meeting. I am infuriated at the basic lack of sense shown by our current leadership. (Yes I do pray for them by the way. Not that they would see things my way...but the right way. God's way. The fruit of which will bear witness to that which it is producing.) Our leaders are quick to point out the failure of individual success through capitalism, not realizing that the only reason we have the wealth we have to offer up to the world is from capitalism rewarding the creative and diligent!

Wealth is a gift of God. Materialism in its purist form is a glory to the Creator as we enjoy His blessings individually, and for public service. Greed and fear motivate many to criminalize possessions and take them away to give to others. Isn't it funny though that our current political leaders are men and women of great possessions and resource. They use theirs and others to get into power, just to take it away from the common person (taxes), making them guilty for having it. Hypocrite!

If you take away from us our entrepreneurial spirit based on the hope of great reward, the heart and spirit of this country will be killed. The world will be much worse off at our demise since frankly, we are the ones that have paid for a vast amount of it. How can you decry the systems of success here and then want to pillage the fruits it has produced and give them to the rest of the world. But guess what's next. It will be only a matter of time until the world is mad at us because we won't be able to produce all that it has become dependant on and then we will be reviled again! There will be global upheaval to get that cheap America to pay its bills to the global community. We'll be in their screws again.

Lord, please let our leaders see it is not our job to care what another country thinks of us, but what You think of us!

Those that do not understand our way of life will always find a way to be mad at us...so I say stop bothering about it...get over it...and let them whine all they want. The real answer will only be found in Christ anyway...so let's work on that.

Look...I don't owe Africa, India, or China a thing. I owe no apology for my country to people that chop their fellow citizens to pieces with machetes or jail people over differing political views. I won't apologize that I can drive a car with more than four seats just because the guy over there is on a camel. It doesn't matter to me if the president of some other country doesn't like that my thermostat in my house is at 74 degrees instead of 68. I hate the cold and I'll spend my money on what I want...including heat.(And we're not gonna run out either. We never have and never will. God wouldn't think of creating without providing the resources to sustain it.)

Fate, or I like to think Providence, has a hand in these things. I am not sorry one bit for the nationality of my birth, nor would I expect, say, an Iranian to apologize for his. My responsibility is to love God with all my heart, and my neighbor as myself. I am not a neighbor to a Ugandan or South African. I have my own block to deal with. I will take the blessings I have and share out of my own free will with those in need, not because a tax code forces me. To have this forced upon us is no less than stealing. When a politician takes my money and resources that I produced to give to whom they see fit is thievery.

Truth will prove itself true wherever it finds a practitioner. The commodities may be different, but the principle is the same. Here in the States, it may be houses, cars, an extra dog in the yard (I hated saying that). In another country, it may be chickens, lambs, and a bathroom with a door on it. But prosperity is the result of the same truth wherever it is found. Hard work, opportunity and faith will produce wealth any and every time.

This is what we as Americans can bring to the world. We're good at it.

I am a United States citizen that shares the world with other individual countries of enormous talent and flavor...but I am not a world citizen.

How many Peruvian Indians would know what to do with a Lear Jet...most wouldn't need it anyway...and here is where I want to make something else very clear...THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Not all nations have to have three cars in the garage. If you're living on a top of a mountain in Bolivia farming coffee, what would you do with a jet anyway? I don't get all in a tiff because I don't have farming plows and electric coffee tree clippers...how 'bout we stop thinking the guy in Bolivia is doing the same thing.

Let's celebrate the diversity each nation has to bring. We can work in harmony without being all the same in country politics. Just don't think your differences allow you to come and try to chop my head off in the name of your god.

I love America, and respect other nations. I may enjoy visiting India, but they can keep the crammed auto rickshaws to themselves...I like my Cadi.

Peace.

PJ

Fort Hood Shooting

2009-11-11T05:37:00.000-08:00

Sorry it took so long...lots of work at the church.

Just want to make a quick observation that is related to a previous post.

This latest shooting at Fort Hood has greatly hurt our country. The tragedy of having our servicemen killed on our own soil is deplorable. It is a reminder that as long as man is left unchecked by law, order, and morality, we will be constantly on watch and occasionally fail.

One of my first thoughts, as information started coming out, is why didn't any one see this coming. An observation I state over and over, concerns what I believe to be the fundamental lesson or illustration God gave concerning the course of life in His creation...the seed and it's development. I can know an apple tree long before the fruit is produced by simply looking at its leaf structure, bark, etc....eventually being able to declare "Here come apples..."

When we see a full blown 'harvest', we should not be surprised by it since signs would have started showing long before. Evidences would have started to demonstrate themselves as to what is coming. Considering this principle, are we to think that there were no evidences that this terrorist that shot our soldiers was preparing this?

I am glad to see and hear that there are those who are making observations that need to be brought up...the one I want to discuss is the issue of how political correctness potentially hindered our stopping this tragedy before it got to be too late. I believe this is an unfortunate consequence of things I talked about in my previous blog on the subject. It has already come out that there were plenty of evidences that this guy was a dangerous threat to us. Yet from our president down, there seems to be an unwritten pressure to be 'PC' and not say anything for fear of retaliation from profiling or judgement.

Let me share my own experience. I have been in nine different nations, many more than once. Ninety percent of the purpose for these trips was mission work from a Christian perspective. Now trust me...I am 'profiled'! And I don't care!

It's their country and they have a responsibility to their citizens to protect them from "...all enemies foreign and domestic..." Wait....that's our line! I didn't rant and rave about my religious freedoms or persecution, nor did I insult their leaders or make demands. It is true I believe I brought a valid message of hope and faith in God...but in the end...it is still their country! I didn't for one second expect any special treatment from their authorities. A couple times I actually was harassed. Hey, I made the decision to go to their land and try to help. If they don't want it...it's their prerogative.

And frankly, it's America's prerogative to state plainly that an ideology that promotes violence and hatred in the name of their god is not welcome here. And if you look, sound, and act like someone who may act contrary to our beliefs, you bet you should be profiled. You do it to me in your country without my complaint....why can't I expect the same courtesy. If you're doing nothing wrong, then why should it bother you. Frankly, you will gain much favor from us from showing you are peace loving. But your silence against those who carry the same religion as you yet murder through violence and hatred, and your complaint when we try to protect ourselves only gives the appearance that there is some hidden agenda.

Last night I talked to a dear friend who converted from Islam years ago, almost losing his life for his decision. I love talking to him because it helps me keep a 'wider' perspective on worldview, not just a simple '...pro west all hail America...' attitude. I want to make clear that when I refer to 'profiling', I mean this in terms of reasons for instigation. It isn't a matter of skin color I am referring too. But as in the case with the terrorist at Fort Hood, there started to be evidences that this guy had major issues.

Let me clarify even more.

Look...we have muslims that are U.S. citizens...but they are not supposed to be special citizens...homosexuals are citizens...but not special ones. Yet by our laws empowered by political correctness and special interest, we have created a class system of special rights for people groups with great potential for harm. How is it we protect the right of a curriculum to teach five year olds homosexual and aberrant behaviour, but in South Carolina a judge ruled that having a Christian symbol on a licence plate is offensive and cannot be allowed? We ban the ten commandments in school, yet in the same buildings allow muslims to display their religious practices and call it cultural education.

When are we going to have enough of this nonsense?

With all due respect Mr. President, whoever you are that is in that great office...do your job! Protect us! You know...the law abiding, generally moral citizens, that depend on a protected livelihood from our enemies as we pursue happiness in the United States of America. Let me give you a hint...

...not calling these people 'evil terrorists' is not going to stop them from being mad...they are already mad. You will not negotiate with a people that have accepted an ideology of hate toward us. Do you possibly think by offering money, some special treatment, and not calling them names, you possibly can come against indoctrination that started from the time they are infants? This seeming ignorance of basic human development is going to get us killed...no...it already has. If they have already been taught that we are liars, evil, and should be obliterated, the gates in their minds have already been set up to stop your motions from even being recognized.

I do not disagree that there should be continued attempts through policy and deed to try to change our image...I am good with that. But don't give up on protecting us while you try to accomplish this. I believe it has been said "Trust...but verify".

If there can be court judges quick on shutting down a cross on a licence plate, can you not more monitor a people group or philosophy that is quite vocal about it's intent to destroy our way of life?

There are some that would question whether a preacher should be involving himself in such political discussions. I can with a confident heart declare...absolutely! The Bible says much of stewardship, or taking care of that which has been entrusted. This nation has almost single hand idly done more to bless the world financially, spiritually, morally...and we are at a risk of having that ability taken from us by enemies foreign....and domestic.

As a believer in the Lord, entrusted with a nation of of such great capacity for service, it is my duty as a civilian of two worlds, heaven and earth, to believe for and defend what ever graces God bestows. Is not a nation of wealth and religious freedom not as powerful a tool to help the world as food, medicine, etc. Of course it is. So then I must be as responsible to care for and protect it as well.

I believe this leads to a question that must be asked. The more I have considered it, frankly the more plausible it becomes. I also believe it gives insight into the situations just discussed and how they can be. If this is even remotely accurate, it will give meaning to why all these things in our country that defy even the most common of senses, is taking place. I can't believe that our current leaders our stupid. I do not believe they haphazardly do things, though it may appear that they do. I know the question itself is wordy but please consider...

This is a question, not an accusation...not yet...

Could it be possible, that decisions on global warming (which more and more is being shown to be ridiculous and unfounded) including the potential to sign over to the UN at Copenhagen authority of our own country to use borrowed money to pay third world countries for our so called carbon emissions...to being more concerned about world opinion instead of our own interests...to allowing complete moral breakdown by the removal of the set of standards given to us by our forefathers having their roots in the Judeo-Christian heritage...that the believers in globalization, which include most of those in power in our nation today, are doing everything according to a well laid out plan to weaken the United States to a point that she can no longer maintain her strength as an individual beacon of hope to the world.?

What better way to weaken us than to declare "...we are not a Christian nation..." removing the foundation from which our moral code derives its strength and authority. To produce the only possible result, more and more anarchy. What better way to stop our influence than to bankrupt us so that now serious talk is taking place around the world as to whether the US dollar will be the primary form of currency.

The government has the audacity to claim there was a morality loss revealing capitalism as a failure and that the few CEO's that did act unethically are absolute proof of it...and what do they want to replace that with...the government whose leaders cannot even pay their taxes!!

What the heck?

Could it be, that there is a well laid out plan and strategy to weaken our nation internally, for the sake of ivy league Utopian thinking, that the world can act as one great peace loving entity with social bliss and care? That a one world united can solve the problems of humanity and bring us to our full potential.

Ladies and gentlemen, do the research. Listen to the quotes of themselves and their teachers. That is exactly what they believe. And for the sake of the whole, many would sacrifice the few.

A great question we must be asking at this time...do we believe in nationalism...that God has created culture and diversity to celebrate and show it's individual strengths and character...or are we to be molded into one great society run by those who 'humbly' take on the responsibility of controlling our everyday lives for the sake of the whole?

Do we believe that America is a great country with so much more to be proud of than to apologize for and that if we just shed the brown leaves from an overwhelming great tree we can be greater than ever. Or do we give over our sovereignty to a group of international delegates that may have no more responsibility of experience than their own countries can afford them. Look, running a trillion dollar company is whole lot different from running a million dollar one.
No offense, but an experience in the grasslands of Africa, or the jungles of Brazil, simply do not give you the wherewithal to govern so great a nation as ours, let alone the world. There is greater and less, and better and worse...no matter what your moral relativists may try to convince you of.

If this didn't instigate thought...

I'll leave with this...if there is absolutely no absolute truth, do you believe that absolutely? Hhhmmm.

PJ

New Post

2009-10-26T05:48:00.000-07:00

New Post coming. Very busy with new construction in the church.

Hope all is well.

PJ

Tragedy and Prayer

2009-10-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Just a quick observation.

I was watching our local news this morning. I think most have heard of the terrible tragedy that took place in Mont Vernon recently. Four teenagers randomly murdering a woman and maiming her daughter. The next day in school, they acted as if nothing was wrong until they were caught.

The hardness of heart, and the influences that fed such callousness, will I'm sure give more food to those who will speculate, write books, council, etc... about how this could happen...trying to stop the inevitable recurrence of such awfulness and the tragedy that will follow.

Something caught my attention as I was watching the news clip. At the end of the story, they showed a pumpkin that had written on it that the family would be in our prayers. I am sure that it is a wonderful gesture to let people know we are thinking of them...but that leads me to my one question...

Why is it acceptable to pray after a tragedy...but we will go to great lengths to stop those (including high school students that turn out to be murderers), from praying to God as they grow in society and before they go nuts. We educate our kids in the basest practices of humanity. Yet at all costs keep away from the student an acknowledgment of even the possibility of a Creator that will hold us accountable for our actions.

How is it that violent video games, movies that show people being chopped into pieces, and just your old run of the mill media that slams down the throats of our minds that sex, as much as possible and with as many as you can, needs to be acted upon.

Recently there was a teacher in California that gave a student a book that included homosexual and deviant behavior, the "f" bomb used over and over, and graphic descriptions of how to be picked up for a homosexual encounter in a public place. The parent found their child reading this, brought it to the attention of the school authorities, and nothing is being done to the teacher! The authorities say it was addressed but will not say what they did...but the teacher still has her job.

How is it our school systems feel that teachers must stop at all costs the sharing of religious beliefs...you know...those archaic forms of spirituality from which we get our laws of morality we hold true even today. Then against acknowledged law try to enforce this nonsense on the students...

Yet if you're gay... or a man that dresses up as a woman...or how about this...a teacher that praises a figure head of the North American Man Boy Love Association (our education 'czar' did this by the way)...then that is fair and needed for the "...development of our children."

(I do have a complaint against the homosexuals that try to use the bible to defend themselves...how come as a heterosexual I have to wait until I am married [a man leaving his father and mother.... not mother and mother or father and father] to have sex, and can only have one partner the rest of my life lest I commit adultery...and you guys...well...I think you get the point...I guess I need to talk to God about why I am more restricted in my behavior than those who have decided to ignore one of His most plainest of teachings...the subject of human sexuality. Homosexuals do have a right in this country to live as law abiding citizens...but please leave the bible out of it as far as defending your actions in these areas.)

Until we deal with the fundamental issue of the human heart corrupted by sin, we will continue our spiral into chaos and destruction. How can we be so surprised that a teenager, already struggling with new emotions fired by passions that have been awakened through puberty, would not want to fulfill the 'rush' so to speak they desire when we market and then approve those who practice such behavior before our eyes. How much does it cost to rent a movie now...four or five bucks? How about buying that video game that has Gatling guns blowing people into pieces...thirty or forty bucks?

We have gotten so warped in our thinking, we will actually pay to have these things before our eyes...then we wonder how these kids could perform such atrocities. Parents are pressured by society to let the kids develop...but by the way...don't even think about something as archaic and hurtful as spanking. No, just have a counseling session, appeal to their inner emotions and take a time out...yeah that's it...because it's all about the kids...we don't want to hinder their development...and the parents can just go get a prescription for some pain reliever that will deal with the inherent stress of having an out of control child who is only feeling out his inner emotions that need not be restrained. (Dewey, I hope your satisfied...)

History has shown that proper development, and healthy society, comes when the human will is restrained and focused into constructive behavior, not when allowed to run amok with wanton abandon. Discipline is our friend...and your child's.

So how about we start praying now...not after the tragedy. Let's set the standards for our children and show there is a price to pay for bad behavior. Progressive thought would of course say we don't want to inflict pain on the child's psyche...with all do respect...that's idiotic (only my opinion). You don't think there will be pain when they are fired from their job because of their laziness and lack of respect...you don't think pain will be involved when they get pregnant and the other partner either disappears completely...or is stuck paying half their earnings for eighteen years to pay for a child they may hardly see?

Wait...hold on...what am I thinking...they won't have to pay...I WILL when the government taxes me more so they can give money to these people...

It is a bald face lie to teach our children there are not painful consequences to bad behavior. (By the way, I wish I could be writing this in red ink...I know how much that would freak out our progressively based teachers looking for more of a lavender color...it's much more peaceful you know).

You can be a person of prayer without being a 'Jesus freak'. God is big enough, and without any insecurity issues, to simply be ready to listen and maybe, just maybe...answer your prayer!

I pray we will wake up as a nation...no I'll start with the guy in the mirror...that I will wake up and do all I can to raise my children properly, stand for what is right, and trust that our Saviour loves us enough to actually hear our prayer and give us our sanity back.

"I believe I received"...

Joe

Confidence

2009-09-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

I want to start this conversation declaring my admiration for President Obama and his administration. As I have watched how he handles himself, his message, and those that speak for him, I have grown to admire him (don't get nervous, I am about to make a point). I can admire principles without agreeing with the person or system applying them.

They have boldly moved ahead with breakneck speed with policies stemming from ideologies formed through lifetimes of study, familiarity, and indoctrination. He and the administration are acting out to implement their belief systems with great conviction. Yet, in all of his confidence, I do believe he is caught by surprise by the resistance of debate now finally developing...something that I am grateful for now...but frankly believe should have happened long ago.

Please take into context what I am saying. It is not making our President or anyone else out to be 'wrong', but that the discussion opened up by various perspectives brings us to what is right, not who is right.

In my last posting, I went into great detail concerning what I feel is happening in our nation concerning two opposite ideologies trying to merge together. The uprising from so many angles against the socialist policies of this administration is a natural result of the seed design of our founding fathers clashing with, and I believe will reject and abort, those of a foreign system. If you haven't had a chance to read it, please check it out. I think I bring up some powerful things to consider.

Yet for all the success I see as far as people standing up and voicing their concerns, I gotta ask myself...what took so long? How did we allow our nation to be so adversely effected in so many ways by representatives siding from both sides of the aisle? What is a democrat...a republican...an independent...? These are not philosophies alone, but people embodying and representing a thought. An ideology remains impotent without a person to defend it.

There are almost an infinite amount of variables on how this question can be answered, but I will focus on one in particular that I believe is important.

My conviction is that we must learn to tell the truth with knowledge and conviction on how we believe. At first you may feel that is an obvious need in communication but don't be so quick. I believe there have been well designed tools based on study of human nature that have been implemented to purposely shut down the general populace from entering into the discussions in the first place. One in particular I believe is worth attacking directly...

As a gun is used to shoot, and a hammer pounds nails, 'political correctness' is not designed to encourage public discourse, but to actually shut it down that those who decide what is correct, can police the discussion and steer it to get done what they alone desire. This weapon has crippled even the most prolific of writers and talkers for fear of 'offending'. It has been used to almost completely redefine the accepted meanings of principles and even introduce new terms to label then squelch the other person or people group. The genius of this is that it is shrouded in the proposal that it allows us to respect and honor the individual...I mean who would want to argue with that? (OK...ME!)

Let me be the first to take my advice and speak my truth with knowledge and conviction...

...my attitude now has become...I really don't care if you're offended. Guess what...I really don't care if you're offended that I said I don't care...my advice...grow up. By the way...any title you may throw at me...racist....anti Semite...homophobe...bigot...only makes you look the more ridiculous as you have to ignore my years of service, sometimes with great sacrifice, to humanity and all the different colors of their skin, in nine nations to bless and to serve.

I challenge all of us to not be afraid to ask both ourselves and the others we are discussing with...are we so weak in our own personal opinion of ourselves and ideologies that we cannot allow our beliefs to be scrutinized? What I believe happens more than we realize, something more devious....is the perceived threat of you or I being labeled some 'thing'...the latest one is 'racist'...which is supposed to make us feel, based on some invisible pressure, that...

"...man, I must be worse than the plague...they think I am a racist. I better stop and try to prove that I am not....what will they think?" This takes you completely off point to try to prove something you have no need...and in doing this...the strategy worked!

We need to understand that this is a tactic developed and used to manipulate you and I and keep us out of the way. Do not think though for a second that that fear has not been held over our heads to keep people silent so that agendas can pass unhindered or challenged. I am now psyched though to see a great wave of conviction rising up in the people and confronting these things that need to be more thoroughly discussed and debated.

I'm no more a racist...homophobe...anti-semite...than I was the first man on the moon...and neither are most of you. Some have believed that to throw out that label will squelch a conversation and send you reeling in second guessing and confusion...don't let someone do that to you. Our society in many ways is being influenced by a bunch of kids, only out of college a few years, thinking they can set their precedent because they sat under some tenured professors who studied radicals like Timothy Leary, Karl Marx, or Saul Alinsky. Their youthful strength misguided to think we need to change our 'evil country' into some utopia vision passed on to them by some guy who bought into the belief that their intellectual prowess is such that certainly the evil America must come down that they can do better.

Well...we are seeing first hand the policies of these radicals from the sixties passing on their beliefs to the next generation...and what have been the results? In many ways a corrupt...immoral society where personal and professional accountability is thrown away for the sake of power. Trillions of dollars in debt (thank you great grand children for paying for that beautiful park bench which will be totally rotted out by the time you are even born...you payed to stimulate an economy for a couple months but will take lifetimes to pay back))...no affirmations of right or wrong...simple logic tossed out the window...the whole time looking at their educational degrees hanging on the wall to consider their own greatness.

The fruit though of this 'greatness' is being defined in real technicolor by the destruction of our country by brain smarts that neutralize common sense and logic. Then finding someone else to blame...capitalists...Bush...those clinging to religion and guns... so that the stupor imposed by pride can continue to blind them from knowing the truth and facing reality.

And here leads me to the reason I think we can learn...then imitate..then improve...on what we have learned from this latest administration. They boldly declare their belief systems based on their convictions and passion for them. And they should do this. I do not fault them at all...I do the same thing....and this post is advocating you to do the same as well. You and I can have even more impact if we would take the time to know our subject matter, practice communicating it...and be able to stand against rebuttal. Hey that kinda sorta sounds like...wait a minute...the gospel!

Listen. You can be confident in your knowledge without being out of touch, insincere, and unsympathetic. If you feel while reading this that I am not, you're wrong. And please don't be offended...To be offended at this writing only means you are taking something out of context or are misunderstanding me. So try to understand me, not push the pre-programmed button in your head to instantly write this off because I used terms you have been unwittingly taught are off limits. You can even disagree with my premises. I will not accuse you of being racist or anything else...you just disagree.

I disagree with the president on almost all of his principle philosophies, but that doesn't make me a racist. I just believe he is wrong and can defend my position of why. I can disagree passionately and not be in hate and prejudice. Again, these are just terms thrown out to keep the debate one sided.

Those that implement these strategies earlier discussed know that the energy it takes mentally to be so worried about offending someone while in the midst of the conversation causes much stumbling. A few tries at it and most just give up trying to enter conversation and just feel they should stay out. If though we could be unhindered in our thought processes and debate, I wonder how much more would be accomplished. Different viewpoints brought together then debated, cause tremendous strength.

I have a saying. "Arguments are a great thing. They can get to what is right. The problem starts when a single individual feels they have to be the ones that are right" How many marriages could have been saved if this simple principle was followed?

Now, not everyone needs to be a public proponent of thought...this is what our elected officials are for! We vote for them to speak up for us...as if we were there personally. So study what they say and do, then expect them to perform what they say...if not...vote them out again. Our leaders are supposed to be speakers for us on these larger issues. This is the genius of our society.

Well, enough said for this time. Robyn says I work too much and need to take a break. I'll write more later on. I hope I have instigated some things and caused you to think...you can still do that in this country by the way. I always look forward to see what I was able to stir up.

2009-09-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Haven't forgotten about everybody...been very busy...next post within the week...I think we will discuss the importance of delta smelt fish survival verses human survival in California. Environmentalists I guess feel that a fish's survival is more important than people.

Should be fun.

"Seed" and Government

2009-09-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking of the principle of 'seed' again. It is a regular thing with me as I have found both principles of 'seed' and 'seasons', guide much of our lives. What I mean is that there can be a basic strategy developed for our lives that can adapt and work with whatever season we happen to be in, based on the seeds we have planted.

I'm considering the 'seed' concept when I consider the events going on in our country.

I have these last few months had a reawakened desire to study history and its effect on present day. Much was review as I had taught philosophy and world view courses at a Christian high school for two years. As I have gone back to the founding of our nation and what it was designed not just to accomplish, but how it was going to accomplish it, I see some common threads that could explain much of the 'excitement' going on in the nation today.

I learned a long time ago, that the best way to communicate is to keep things simple. I have found a general principle that the simpler I can make something, the more that is an evidence that I understand it. It takes tremendous thought and processing to take a subject and make it so that a first grader can understand it. Jesus did that, I suppose as one of His followers I should be able to do the same.

So...keeping it simple...

Basically, our nation was founded by God fearing people, whose chief document for governance was formed out of the tenets of the Judeo-Christian faith. That this was going to be a nation whose strength was that "a"...all would do their part, based on personal responsibility, and "b"...in doing so would produce great prosperity. This then would be evidence and resource to influence not just ourselves but be a source of light for the world. It would behoove anyone to do a quick study on "Beacon Hill" in Boston and why it was called that.

So if this was the design of the 'seed' known as the United States, nature itself shows that when you try to mix and match different genetics (a dog cannot lay with a cat and produce a 'dat') abomination and rejection are usually the result. This principle works whether with dogs and cats, or systems of philosophy dependant on living beings to bring them to fruition.

How I see this happening in our current political atmosphere...

It would be beneficial for anyone to do just a cursory study on socialistic thought and communism. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were an interesting bunch as were the followers of their thought.

Again to oversimplify, Marx believed that material (not God) was the foundation of all things. All reality is summed up in material and it is the ebbing and flowing of this that synthesises and produces our reality. I'm not going any further with this except to note...if we were to try to bring a thought process based on a godless philosophy of materialism and mix it with a seed that contains, chastity, piety, and recognition and personal accountability to a All Knowing, Loving, Creator, you are going to have major upheaval.

The communist manifesto is a document of rebellion, upheaval, and call for revolution. What's asinine about its basic tenant is they suppose the business people, or ruling class, are exploiting the worker and that the workers are to unite and take over...conveniently forgetting it was those business minds and entrepreneurs that created the businesses that provided the very jobs they had...class jealousy erupts and then the walls start coming down.

OK...now...let's say they do that...they revolutionize and take over...do they not realize (obviously not), that human nature dictates some will rise to the top and lead it. Then the corrupt human heart takes over and you will eventually have the same exploitation you thought you had dealt with...you still will have the same problem you tried to fix...just under different names...a capitalist has a CEO...the proletariat has a union boss)...and on and on it will go.

A goal of ultimate socialism is the abolishment of personal property that the state may be the one resource pool. Now, someone will have to run all that...yet isn't that what they wanted to get away from? The full blown living examples of this political thought have shown clearly what it will produce...Russia had Lenin and Stalin...China had Mao...and we know how fair those guys were to all people sharing the wealth with everyone.

I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets." - Barack Obama (Dreams of My Father)

"It’s because you have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation." - Barack Obama

Our current president and his advisers have more than just simple interest in socialistic philosophy which I have defined before as...believing the government and the state had a responsibility for the lives of the people, not necessarily the people for their own.

The great turmoil we have been witnessing I believe is resulting from trying to genetically join two philosophies of government that are almost complete polar opposites of each other!

The people instinctively know this and are responding!

A statement I think is important to remember is that our Constitution protects rights...IT DOESN'T GIVE THEM! It is the protector of our freedoms, not the granter. This means the protector of the Constitution, or government, is to protect us...not govern (rule over) us.

Let's remember,the founders were already free, they just annotated on the document of the Constitution what it takes to protect them.

For generations now, and in both parties, maybe coming to the head more than ever in this administration, there has been a push to leave the founding principles and replace them with new ones. The current upheaval all the way up to the latest declaration of congressman Wilson is an evidence of that. The facts are the facts. The President was lying, and on more than one point. (Again being oversimple...the push for amnesty...if they get it...will give them all access to the health care...who gets amnesty...illegal immigrants!!!)

Note: a lie is not simply the actual words used, but the conclusion those words are trying to evoke.

Now, if that's what you...the politician...really want to do...come out and say it. Then let us discuss it. What's so frustrating with all this is the time you have to take to work through the double speak just to get to the bottom of this. This actually is a great political strategy, trusting your opponent will just wear out and get tired. Some bills may be effectively spoiled, but much will go through.

It does say a lot about a proponents confidence in an idea or the real purpose of it when he feels he needs jargon and legalese to propose something that even the lawmakers themselves can't understand.

I am choosing to do a few things as I am finding my heart awakened in great concern for a nation we have been given stewardship over.

A simple google search of 'preachers in American history' shows that even from the beginning, men of God were used to defend truth not just from the pulpit, but also in the front lines. That also is part of the 'seed' of this country. I also have stated before that even the apostle Paul took full advantage of his Roman citizenship, getting him even an audience with the emperor. Paul could not have done that, taking advantage of the system for his own benefit (which Jesus endorsed by a following personal visitation) if he was ignorant of it or believed we just hide our heads because "...ya know...the world's just gonna get worse anyway..."

The seed of our nation is under great attack and needs defenders of thought and faith to begin to gain knowledge first, then to get involved as the Lord leads. We must never forget that it is not President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, democrat or republican persons, but the ideology that is the issue. It is ideology and philosophy that are the battle grounds, not a person or party. They may be the defendants of such things and as such must be confronted, but nothing is gained, except on their side, by emotional ranting and personal accusation.

I have no doubt that most parties have a genuine concern for the direction of our nation as evidence by the passion on both sides.

Knowledge is power...great power. Citizens of both heaven and earth have a responsibility to study, contemplate, pray, and based on said conclusions, present their ideas in the public forum. Our nation is really leaning in directions contrary to the seed it was designed as and to stand by and let it just go on in the name of tolerance will only continue to produce more abominations.

Take care.

Latest Political Thoughts

2009-09-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well,

Just here thinking about some conversations I have been having with some good people on face book.

I seem to be wondering aloud that this current season in our nation, and the arguments on both sides of the aisle, are actually a blessing, and is necessary for our nation to find equilibrium in this season.

I commented that we are in a crisis (that's not necessarily a bad word) that is defining or redefining our nation. We are being confronted by this administration and his counselors with the most blatant display of socialistic philosophy maybe ever. My oversimplified definition for the sake of my conversations is "... government controlling and directing the people and their livelihood verses individual empowerment through free choice and free market."

As I said before, if that is what our nation wants to vote in, well, this is where we need to go. Yet my question is, and I believe it is being answered by the great outcry we are seeing, is that this type of vision was not communicated to us(actually it was, did anyone really listen?) as clearly as should have. A 'personality' seemed to be voted in, not the philosophy hidden in deflection and rhetorical rebuttal.

As a public speaker myself, I have learned just a bit on how to talk to steer a conversation in a certain way. Many times people don't even know they are being led in such a way.

It's a wonderful gift that can do very powerful things...or very destructive things.
There are whole sciences developed to take media and direct people as desired. I can watch and see when public speakers and leaders take verbiage and 'spin' to get people to believe things when all the evidences are to the contrary. It's a weird kind of hypnotism that can get people to say and do the craziest things...at times against all rationale.

A valid question then, would be...is this lying? Even when statements are true, if constructed in such a way to leave an impression of something else, is that lying? My opinion is yes.

So, if a politician says true things, yet uses those things to lead to misleading conclusions, we have been lied to.

The only way this can not happen, or the occurrences be lessened, is to have some sort of internal protection that would not allow the temptation to be fulfilled. We can call that character, integrity, whatever. The evidences of whether someone has this is easy...paying taxes, not cheating on our wives, voting the way we say we are...

"What a man is when no one is watching, is what he really is."

The leaders of this country, which are the people, are asking our leaders to be accountable to the position we voted them into based on their communicated positions. If we find by their records they misled us, then we should voice our disdain hoping first of course that agreements can be made and the necessary adjustments. Or they should be voted out.

How can one expect to be voted in to a position and get upset when those who empowered them want a record of their progress?

It's the same as a stockholder getting upset at the CEO for not getting a return of his money. The stockholder entrusts that company and their vision and their resource to produce a profit.
That's all we are asking our politicians to do...give us the people a profit based on what you said you were going to do.

There are those that accuse the more conservative of us as hate mongering, intolerant, revolutionaries. I recently heard one guy on Keith Olberman say he thought there are republicans that want to see President Obama killed. My God in heaven, how can this stuff be gotten away with?

We don't need a revolution in this country when you have informed voters! The public square is great for the exchange of ideas, votes are cast based on conclusion, and there we go.

The demand then is on fair, multifaceted communication and debate so intelligent decisions can be made.

Now, that places a demand on society to do just that. And to be fair, I think that those who are doing the shouting because of their disgruntlement, should look in the mirror and ask themselves if they didn't prepare as much as they should, got lazy, and just let the system put in someone who didn't belong. The fault is now on the individual voter. I trust we learn from the mistake and move on.

I am a firm believer in the power of the seed, and though japanese beetles (little buggers almost at all our vegetables), try to eat away at the vine, even with bruises and harm, it doesn't change the kind of tree grown from the seed. Our nation has particular characteristics contained within the 'seed' and vision of what the United States of America were destined to be...fear of God, morality based on absolute, respect for every individual and lack of hindrance to success...by the way our constitution does not guarantee happiness and success, just the pursuit of it...

I am an optimist and believe we have a great opportunity to see again what makes our nation great.

Can't wait to hear from you.

Joe

2009-08-31T08:43:00.000-07:00

I posed a question of facebook...In an argument, how do you know who is right?

I believe that ultimately, there needs to be a standard by which to measure the 'rightness'. We know an inch is an inch because we have tape measurers that say so.

So in the forum of ideas, it only makes sense that as varied as discussion may be, they must center around known concepts of truth.

Of course the next question would be "Where do we find the ruler...the tape measure..." so to speak?

Many would offer various things...constiitution...bible...own opinions based on the moment...I'm interested to see where people go.

1st installment...Observations on Marraige

2009-08-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

Hello All,
I just had the opportunity to meet some interesting people and I thought I would tell you about it. I was out at the beach doing some praying and fasting……yea, right...
Actually, I was lying in the sun after spending the morning writing and praying in the Holy Ghost (that’s true).
As I was walking back from the beach, I passed two elderly people, each in a wheelchair looking out over the ocean. They both were in their chairs, both wearing some cute bright yellow golf hat, with some initials of something. They weren’t saying much. It just seemed they were enjoying their moment with each other. Maybe it was so beautiful here, and it is, that there was just nothing to say. While passing I said hi and we just started visiting and have simple conversation.
Why I am writing this was finding out how long they had been married…
Sixty seven years!
Think of it…getting close to ¾ a century being married to the same person.
If there is anything I have learned, if you find someone who is really successful at something, pick their brain and find out how they did it. What could these two possibly know or believe that would cause them to stay together for so long? How is it that they can be in such love with each other? Of course the guy, we will call him Bill, was pretty quiet. He was comfortable letting his wife do all the talking. (Ok...my marraige is normal so far...)We’ll call her Gladys. Yet you could see when they looked at each other, their care for each other was genuine and true.
So I asked, “If there was one thing you would say was the secret to making it…” Their answer was simple and to the point.
“Communicate…and tell the truth.”
From there we talked about how they learned to work that out between them. I shared a number of instances that I have experienced in my own marriage. And after being in the ministry and serving people almost twenty years as of this writing, some things I’ve noticed and learned myself.
They talked about meeting each other in high school and growing up through the end of the depression together. We talked about how they knew there was no other way to make it if you didn’t work together.
Survival did not allow you the luxury of selfishness.
I talked about how I’ve seen that when trials hit, how easy it is for married couples to turn on the very one who is sent to work with the other to be better. The spouses complete one another to be stronger together than apart. If we do not understand that, adversity will turn us against each other, and somehow the real enemy, whether it be finances, health, economy…gets hidden and we go after the very one that is there to make us strong.
I think that a marriage is just like all the other living creations God makes. It all starts with a seed...yet there is no way you can possibly see what is in the seed with all its glory unless you give it not just water, earth, and all the other stuff you think it needs. There is one commodity we don’t consider much but there really is one thing that can bring that seed to its greatest beauty and all that it was designed to be…even with all the other ingredients in perfect measure…
Time.
The ground and the rain and the sun can be in perfect measure, but without time, you will get nothing from the seed. And if you make judgment too early in time, you will abort before the real treasure is revealed.
We live in a culture of rush, rush, rush. We want results now and we think we are advanced for it. Bill, Gladys, and I talked about how the younger generation is trying to have everything their parents had years sooner without paying the same price and going through what it takes to have maturity and wisdom. We have microwave food that cooks a meal in a minute that took an hour just a few years ago. We don’t need to wash dishes anymore since these foods come in containers we just toss out when we are through. And we have taken the same mentality into the one thing that I believe God has given us to demonstrate the foundation of His entire kingdom…unconditional love and commitment to the end through marriage.

I asked the Lord about this one time. I mean think of it. Some men that the bible esteems very highly had more than one wife. Yes that means they were having sex with lots of different women and having lots of kids while they were at it. I mean…what does it really harm to have sex with all those people anyway. It’s just a physical act, and we’re only human anyway, and if it feels good…
I believe that what He shared in my heart is that when He established the concept of marriage, He was giving us a living demonstration of heaven and how the principle of commitment to the end governs His kingdom. Even when Adam and Eve sinned, at the very moment of confrontation with them and the serpent, He promised a Deliverer. He was the immediate answer to an eternal problem. The very creation that was a mirror of His own image had just annihilated His plan for mankind to rule the earth…and yet He immediately committed Himself to providing a Redeemer. A promise that He would stay with them till the end; and literally give His life to fulfill.
Marriage is supposed to be a demonstration to ourselves and the world that another human being, no matter what the price, is worth sticking with in all the seasons. And to those who are able to do this through the lengths of that thing we talked about earlier…time….they will taste and experience a part of heaven that is reserved only for those who allow the seed of marriage and commitment to grow to its fruition.
What will you be thinking about with your spouse of 50, 60, 70 plus years? How about all that you conquered together, and lost together. Will you be considering what you will leave on the earth or more importantly, what you will take to heaven? Gold, riches, souls…
…or the one sitting next to you in the wheelchair looking out over the waves rolling in and out, knowing you did it together. And now you get to face the last hurdle together confident it will be fine because it’s always ended fine through the years…going home together to be with the Lord.
Something to think about...
PJ
PS: I just passed this woman on the way from breakfast (this is the next day) as she was getting ready to head to the airport. I told her that I used here and her husband as a teaching example in our newsletter. Her eyes lit up and she said she would pray that someone gets blessed from her story.
This is what it is all about

Saying Hey

2009-08-29T07:07:00.000-07:00

Well, just starting a blog and will be interested to see how it goes. Recently, I have been having great discussions with friends that have produced intriguing thought over a variety of 'heady subjects' and thought it would be neat to make available these things to a broader audience.

Through the years, I have written quite a bit on various subjects, and think this may be a good forum to get some stuff out there and see what people think.

If this doesn't create much interest...there is always the delete button...

Let the games begin.
PJ