The Real American Heroes

In my previous post, I shared how we can support and honor our troops by sending care packages to them. It is important to let our troops know that, despite what the media says, there are still many good folks back home who care and realize that they are the real American heroes. While Democratic congresswoman, Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas was drafting a 1600-word congressional resolution proclaiming Michael Jackson as a global hero, Republican representative Peter King of New York lambasted the celebrity-worshiping media circus in a YouTube video (as reported by Michelle Malkin):

"All we hear about is Michael Jackson. Let’s knock out the psychobabble. He was a pervert … and to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country? … I just think we’re too politically correct. No one wants to stand up and say, ‘We don’t need Michael Jackson!’ He died, he had some talent, but fine, there are people dying every day. There are men and women dying every day in Afghanistan, let’s give them the credit they deserve."

If these real heroes are to be remembered, it will be up to us. Due to lack of media coverage, family members are forced to go to emails, twitter and other internet resources to get the word out. Unless it is a story which portrays our military in a negative light, our major networks (with the exception of Fox) and most major newspapers simply aren’t interested.

Read the entire Real Heroes article.

Care Packages for our Troops

I’m a little late with this follow-up to the Troop-a-thon on June 25, organized by our friends at Move America Forward, but we’re pleased to announce that almost $700,000 was raised for our troops, including over $55,000 by several teams of bloggers, with whom we were proud to participate. We’d like to issue a special “Thank You” to all those who donated. At the time of this writing, the 8 hour Troop-a-thon broadcast, which took place at the Ronald Reagon Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, is available at the Troop-a-thon website.

Thanks again for supporting our troops.

Are Checklists Extreme?

A few weeks ago, while in a class on the Holiness of God, we came to the question of how to approach this holy God. I would like to briefly comment on a particular aspect of the dialogue, the portion when our conversation turned to Hebrews 4:16, where we’re encouraged to boldly come before God’s throne. I believe the biggest reservation that many of us have is with the word "boldly". How can a sinner be bold before the face of our holy and majestic God?

We must first interpret this passage in the context of the two previous verses, in which we see that we do not approach the throne based upon our own merit, but that of our High Priest, Jesus the Christ. Thus, "boldly" does not mean recklessly or brazenly, but humbly and with confidence in the work of Christ. Under the old covenant, the people of Israel could not approach God directly. Only the high priest could come into the Holy of Holies, and then only once a year to make an atoning sacrifice to "cover" the sins of the people. Under the new covenant, Jesus, our ultimate High Priest, has atoned for our sins once for all (Heb 9:11-15), the veil has been torn (Mt 27:50-51), and we have free access to God.

Next, according to the Scriptures, even though we have free access to God, there are still some conditions which can obstruct our communication with Him. This brings us to one of the points of this article. During our group discussion, I pointed out that harboring unconfessed sin or disobedience (Jn 15:7), not asking in faith (Mk 11:23), asking with wrong motives (Ja 4:3) or for things contrary to the will of God (Jn 14:13-14, 1Jn 5:14-15), being inconsiderate of your family (1Pe 3:7) or several other conditions can hinder our prayers to God.

Another person then stated that we should avoid the "extreme" of approaching God with "a checklist". Now, we should avoid checklists in the sense of external obedience only, which is what I believe my friend was saying. We must however, not become so guarded against accusations of legalism that we avoid them altogether. When God doesn’t appear to be hearing our prayers, it could be that the timing isn’t right, or that he has something much better in mind for us, however, I see nothing extreme in taking a spiritual inventory (or checklist) in an attempt to determine other possible reasons such as mentioned above. In fact, the Bible not only exhorts us to petition God to examine us (Ps 139:23-24), we are also to examine ourselves (1Co 11:28-32).

In another instance, I just read a quote from a well-known pastor at a national conference a few weeks ago. In a speech on Christians’ need to "repent of religion", he stated that for religious people, Christianity becomes more of a "checklist of duties and behaviors", such as small group involvement, volunteering, taking a mission trip, and reading the Bible. In this case once again, these checklists and religious activities are inherently good. It is a hypocritical superficial focus, along with wrongful attitudes and motivations driving the activities that should be avoided.

Independence Day 2009

For last year's Independence Day, I wrote about one of the liberal media's "Blame America First" articles. This particular article called upon us to offer a prayer for forgiveness of what he perceived to be our greatest sins, such as electing George W Bush as president, retaliating against those who murdered thousands of our citizens at the World Trade Center etc. This year, I'd like to feature an article which also calls for us to seek forgiveness of our sins, but for very different reasons. This excellent article, entitled The Nations 233rd Birthday - A Call for Repentance is written by Jane Chastain, a Southern California-based broadcaster, author and political commentator. She also includes a sample prayer which we encourage everyone to read along with her article.

Unlike the liberal's list of sins, Ms Chastain, a Christian, encourages us to repent of real sins which are in conflict with the will of the true God. Liberals however, tend to define sin as anything in disagreement with the god of political correctness, or a god who is an extension of their own views. In reply to a question of "What do you consider a sin?", then presidential candidate B Hussein Obama replied, "Anything that goes against my true nature". I sometimes wonder if Mr Obama prays to himself, asking himself to forgive himself for not being true to himself.

Read the entire Independence Day 2009 article.

Fascination with Celebrities

In the past week or so, we’ve witnessed the death of several celebrities such as Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and even pitchman Billy Mays. First and foremost, we need to remember that these were real people with real families that we need to keep in our prayers. Many celebrities, despite their fame and fortune, tend to be very sad and lonely individuals, usually a far cry from their public images.

It’s very interesting, and revealing to watch the reactions to these events from various sources within our modern society. The so-called “mainstream” media virtually ignored the others in preference to Mr Jackson, since he was arguably the most popular and bizarre. Not including commercials, each major network typically broadcasts 22 minutes of what they call “news” during their nightly newscasts. The Media Resource Center reported that, on Friday evening (the next day after Mr Jackson’s death), ABC devoted all but 1:03 to Mr Jackson. NBC gave us 1:22 of other news while Katie Couric over at CBS managed to squeeze in 34 seconds for a total of 2:59 vs 63:01 devoted to Mr Jackson. "OK, right after this station break, we'll bring you an exclusive interview with a man who once petted a dog that was owned by a person who lived in the same town as one of Michael's third-cousins, and how this encounter changed his life."

Read the entire Fascination with Celebrities article including what drives our obsession with the rich and famous.

How to Approach a Bible Study

During a recent Sunday School class, a lovely lady made the comment that when we study the Bible, we should do so with no presuppositions, disregard the interpretations by others, and rely entirely on the Holy Spirit for our understanding. Now, this lady has a high view of the Scriptures and is very orthodox in her beliefs, but having encountered many liberals who take a similar stance in their attempt to validate whatever meaning is convenient to justify their agenda at the time, I jumped in with both feet. I immediately pointed out that presuppositional neutrality was a myth, and that we ignored the interpretations of the saints throughout history at our own peril.

So, which of us was correct in our assertions? After much prayer and contemplation over the past few days, I’ve come to the conclusion that, according to our respective intentions, we both were. Discussions in class are usually time-limited, so we often don’t adequately explain our intended meaning. I’m convinced that she was referring to the initial phase of study where we read the Scriptures and attempt to observe and interpret the author’s intended meaning. On the other hand, I was referring to the entire process of Bible study. I think we can clarify the issue with a brief overview on how to approach studying the Bible.

Read the entire Approaching Bible Study article, including discussions on Presuppositions, Bible Study Methods, Church Traditions, and Resolving Disputes.

Compromising Our Principles

President B Hussein Obama recently completed his second international apologizing tour. This time he covered most of the Islamic countries. Am I missing something here? Aren't we the ones who were attacked? Has anyone heard even one Muslim ruler apologize to us? In his trip to Latin America, he sat quietly listening to dictator after dictator bash America, then when it came his turn to speak, rather than defending America by pointing out the many sacrifices that we've made for other countries, he thanked them that they didn’t blame him personally. BHO is perfectly happy with foreign dictators hurling insult after insult on America as long as they continue to praise him publicly. He has gotten so obvious that the foreign media is questioning, “Why does he hate America so much?”

Just as Obama regularly throws his friends, relatives and country under the bus for the sake of his own popularity, many “professing” Christians also throw God under the bus for the sake of perceived popularity with others. We’re afraid that if we stick to our beliefs and principles, people won’t like us as well, or will even subject us to ridicule. We sometimes compromise our morals and ethics in order to be more popular.

As we’ve seen, when Obama ignores the principles and traditions which made our country great in order to enhance his own ego, his actions have a much different effect on other international leaders than intended. Instead of garnering admiration, our nation loses respect and he is merely seen as a useful pawn in their agenda to destroy us. Likewise, when a Christian compromises his or her principles, rather than causing people to like and respect us (and our faith), this action produces an opposite effect. We merely confirm the presuppositions of those around us that think, “I knew they weren’t really a Christian. Look at the way they’re acting. If Christians aren’t any different from others, why should I become one?”

Many well-meaning Christians misinterpret 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (Paul becoming like those to whom he was attempting to preach the Gospel) as a license to act according to the unbeliever’s standards in order to reach them. We must follow the example of Jesus, who sought out and associated with the worst of sinners, but never compromised His integrity or standards, watered down His message, or participated in their sins. We must yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit in order to maintain our principles and win others to Christ. We must seek to please God rather than men.

Honor Their Service - Troopathon 2009

In our country, we've come to the point where we call evil good and good evil (Is 5:20). While many far left groups such as Code Pink, the ACLU and our current administration and their Department of Homeland Security are busy protecting the "rights" of Muslim terrorists, they often vilify our troops who are attempting to protect us from the real extremists.

Fortunately, we have many good organizations within our country who are working hard in support of our troops. On of the most active is Move America Forward, who on June 25th, will be holding their 2nd annual “Troop-a-thon” with the theme “Honor their Service.” This cutting edge live webcast event will bring together talk radio hosts, megastars of film and television, musical guests, journalists, military and Gold-star families, pro-troop groups and many more. The goal of this charity fundraiser is to send the largest ever shipment of care packages to our brave men and women of the armed forces serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

We are encouraging our readers to sponsor care packages (donations are tax deductible) for the troops and each one includes a personalized message and items that our troops have requested that make their life a little easier while they are far from home, such as sun-screen, Gatorade, deodorant, coffee, cookies and much more. Please click on the "Honor Their Service" banner above for more information.

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