Maybe the most fitting acronym I have ever come across in my business. It stands for Portugal, Italy (though could also include Ireland), Greece and Spain. What do these countries have in common?
It's very interesting to note that all of these countries have socialist governments. Those governments can't get their acts together because they promised the people a lifestyle that required no sacrifice or independent thought while the government provided all of the opportunities. The unions aren't budging, farmers aren't budging, businesses have no say and it's a complete mess. The them versus us movement has ushered in new governments around the world but what happens when you can't soak them anymore.
What hubris our government has to be able to see all of this and yet follow the same path. We are very spoiled in that the dollar is still the best of the worst. When things get scary in the world, like they have the last couple of weeks, the dollar goes up because it is still viewed as relatively safe and stable. That will not always be the case, particularly if we continue to enact the kind of policies that are coming from Obama, which aren't all that dissimilar from the ones that came from Bush Jr.
Just as a sidenote, Obama has seemed even more detached from reality lately. The State of the Union address contained just ridiculous inconsistencies. He talked about fiscal responsibility and a spending freeze yet introduced a $3.3 trillion budget that was only about 50% covered by expected revenue. The debt ceiling was raised by $1.9 trillion to $14.3 trillion thanks to a 217-212 House vote. Now, Obama didn't vote on that but you know he backed it since his budget would have violated law if it didn't pass. Every Republican in the House voted against raising it but would they have voted the same if a Republican was in the White House? I doubt it.
Obama talked about increased transparency after breaking his promise to televise the health care negotiations. He talked about working together in a bipartisan manner before chiding Republicans for stalling legislation. He ridiculed the Supreme Court for a recent decision as they sat there in front of him! People gave Joe Wilson a hard time for an ill-timed outburst but Obama should have been held in contempt for that move. This guy ain't the Messiah but the Messianic complex is in full throttle. When someone can constantly say one thing while actively doing the exact opposite, it means they are either delusional or they just think their audience is too dumb to notice. I'm not real thrilled with either of those options...nor I am thrilled with Barack.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Pat Robertson
Why?
I don't understand his incessant need to make predictions which he deems "prophecies" as he almost always claims they come from God. His latest notion that the Haitian earthquake was divine punishment for their making a deal with the devil to get out from under French oppression is a head scratcher.
Here's the problem I have. Pat no longer has credibility in the prophecy department nor should he. Here is a list of a few that have never come to pass:
•In 1980, Robertson predicted the start of World War III, telling his audience that God said the year would be full of "sorrow and bloodshed that will have no end soon, for the world is being torn apart, and my kingdom shall rise from the ruins of it." He also prophecied in the same year that the Soviet Union would invade the Middle East to seize its oil reserves.
•In 1988, Robertson claimed that God told him to run for president. He did not win the Republican primary.
•In his 1991 book The New World Order, Robertson forecast that U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller would be elected president in 1996.
•In 1998, Robertson threatened that, as punishment for flying rainbow flags during Disney World's annual Gay Days event, the city of Orlando would be struck by "earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor".
•In 2004, Robertson predicted that George W. Bush would win reelection in "a blowout". Although Bush was reelected, it was by 50.7% to 48.3% - the closest ever margin for a sitting president.
•In January 2006, Robertson forecast that the U.S. midterm elections would leave the Republican party in control of Congress. He also predicted that the Iraq war would "come to a successful conclusion" that year and U.S. troops would begin withdrawing.
•Robertson also predicted in 2006 that devastating storms and hurricanes would lash the U.S. coast. He must have thought this a particularly safe guess, but in fact no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. in that year.
Now, in the Old Testament, if you were a "prophet" and one of your "prophecies" was incorrect, you were stoned. That means dead. That's because you weren't speaking on God's behalf. Either you were trying to make yourself great by using God's name for your benefit or you were serving Satan. Two choices. Neither one is pretty.
Pat and the 700 Club do a lot of good things. His prayers seem genuine and earnest and they very well may be. I don't know his heart. What I do know is that claiming to hear directly from God and then making subsequent predictions that don't come true, does not glorify God and is a stumbling block to the ministry and to many who are desperately searching for the truth.
I don't know why Pat insists on this annual tradition...but I think it has a lot more to do with him than it does with God.
http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2012/08/20/backpedaling-and-public-christianity/
I don't understand his incessant need to make predictions which he deems "prophecies" as he almost always claims they come from God. His latest notion that the Haitian earthquake was divine punishment for their making a deal with the devil to get out from under French oppression is a head scratcher.
Here's the problem I have. Pat no longer has credibility in the prophecy department nor should he. Here is a list of a few that have never come to pass:
•In 1980, Robertson predicted the start of World War III, telling his audience that God said the year would be full of "sorrow and bloodshed that will have no end soon, for the world is being torn apart, and my kingdom shall rise from the ruins of it." He also prophecied in the same year that the Soviet Union would invade the Middle East to seize its oil reserves.
•In 1988, Robertson claimed that God told him to run for president. He did not win the Republican primary.
•In his 1991 book The New World Order, Robertson forecast that U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller would be elected president in 1996.
•In 1998, Robertson threatened that, as punishment for flying rainbow flags during Disney World's annual Gay Days event, the city of Orlando would be struck by "earthquakes, tornadoes and possibly a meteor".
•In 2004, Robertson predicted that George W. Bush would win reelection in "a blowout". Although Bush was reelected, it was by 50.7% to 48.3% - the closest ever margin for a sitting president.
•In January 2006, Robertson forecast that the U.S. midterm elections would leave the Republican party in control of Congress. He also predicted that the Iraq war would "come to a successful conclusion" that year and U.S. troops would begin withdrawing.
•Robertson also predicted in 2006 that devastating storms and hurricanes would lash the U.S. coast. He must have thought this a particularly safe guess, but in fact no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. in that year.
Now, in the Old Testament, if you were a "prophet" and one of your "prophecies" was incorrect, you were stoned. That means dead. That's because you weren't speaking on God's behalf. Either you were trying to make yourself great by using God's name for your benefit or you were serving Satan. Two choices. Neither one is pretty.
Pat and the 700 Club do a lot of good things. His prayers seem genuine and earnest and they very well may be. I don't know his heart. What I do know is that claiming to hear directly from God and then making subsequent predictions that don't come true, does not glorify God and is a stumbling block to the ministry and to many who are desperately searching for the truth.
I don't know why Pat insists on this annual tradition...but I think it has a lot more to do with him than it does with God.
http://www.bloggingtheologically.com/2012/08/20/backpedaling-and-public-christianity/
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
With All Your Heart
From "Waking the Dead"...
The heart is the connecting point, the meeting place between any two persons. The kind of deep soul intimacy we crave with God and with others can be experienced only from the heart. I know a man who took his daughter to dinner; she was surprised, delighted. For years she had been hoping he would pursue her. When they had been seated, he pulled out his Day Timer and began to review the goals he had set for her that year. “I wanted to burst into tears and run out of the restaurant,” she said. We don’t want to be someone’s project; we want to be the desire of their heart. Gerald May laments, “By worshiping efficiency, the human race has achieved the highest level of efficiency in history, but how much have we grown in love?”
We’ve done the same to our relationship with God. Christians have spent their whole lives mastering all sorts of principles, done their duty, carried on the programs of their church . . . and never known God intimately, heart to heart. The point is not an efficient life of activity—the point is intimacy with God. “You will find me,” God says, “when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). As Oswald Chambers said, “So that is what faith is—God perceived by the heart.”
What more can be said, what greater case could be made than this: to find God, you must look with all your heart. To remain present to God, you must remain present to your heart. To hear his voice, you must listen with your heart. To love him, you must love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.
The heart is the connecting point, the meeting place between any two persons. The kind of deep soul intimacy we crave with God and with others can be experienced only from the heart. I know a man who took his daughter to dinner; she was surprised, delighted. For years she had been hoping he would pursue her. When they had been seated, he pulled out his Day Timer and began to review the goals he had set for her that year. “I wanted to burst into tears and run out of the restaurant,” she said. We don’t want to be someone’s project; we want to be the desire of their heart. Gerald May laments, “By worshiping efficiency, the human race has achieved the highest level of efficiency in history, but how much have we grown in love?”
We’ve done the same to our relationship with God. Christians have spent their whole lives mastering all sorts of principles, done their duty, carried on the programs of their church . . . and never known God intimately, heart to heart. The point is not an efficient life of activity—the point is intimacy with God. “You will find me,” God says, “when you seek me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13). As Oswald Chambers said, “So that is what faith is—God perceived by the heart.”
What more can be said, what greater case could be made than this: to find God, you must look with all your heart. To remain present to God, you must remain present to your heart. To hear his voice, you must listen with your heart. To love him, you must love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Chandler Article
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100131/ap_on_re/us_rel_the_pastor_s_cancer_1
John 9:1-3: 1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
John 9:1-3: 1As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.
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