I am currently reading a book that clearly describes God’s election to salvation of His people. The book is titled, “They Thought for Themselves.” This book is about ten Jews who heard God’s call and responded to it in faith. Most of them were orthodox in background and understood all of the basics and culture of Judaism very well.
The book is written in very simple, understandable, terms. These people are ordinary people. They speak in everyday language. They are not sophisticated theologians. They are simply people who have heard the words of God; they recognized Him, and they responded.
The various members of the ten faced great opposition from other Jews who believe that Jesus is a falsehood and a pretender to the goods of God. These ten people have answered the opposition of the Jews in various ways; but always with conviction and courtesy.
One argument that was occasionally used by these Jewish Christians is the passage in Jeremiah 33:14-26. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land….” I strongly recommend that all my readers carefully read that passage in its entirety; it is quite instructive and communicative to the Jewish mind.
One of the ten received this argument from a detractor: “You say that Jesus is the Messiah, but he is well known to have said from the cross where he was crucified, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ This passage is from the 1st verse of Psalm 22. If he were truly God in the flesh, why would he have said such a thing?” The answer, of course, is that He well knew that the people standing around the cross would have clearly recognized the source of that question; and they would have understood it in the context of the rest of the Psalm, which is one of the strongest statements of faith in the Bible.
Furthermore, the Jew who had converted to the faith asked the critic a question that stopped his mouth: “Do you remember who it was who first made that statement in the 1st verse of Psalm 22? It was King David. Do you intend to tell me that David questioned his faith, too?”
In view of fierce opposition, the ten converted Jews mentioned in this book stood their ground and became repentant, faithful, followers of Jesus, the true Messiah of the Jews. This could never have happened without the elective finger of God on them.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Do NOT Cut the Defense Department Budget
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, staffed by 6 Congressmen and 6 Senators, half being Democrats and half being Republicans are tasked with cutting the federal budget by $1.5 trillion over 10 years. If they do not succeed in coming up with an acceptable compromise on this issue, automatic cuts will be imposed, amounting to $1.2 trillion. These mandatory cuts in the budget if this committee does not come up with other recommendations will include drastic cuts to the Defense Department.
The Defense Department has already taken severe cuts to their budget since the Obama administration came to power. If these new cuts take place, it is estimated by the DOD that the military will have to mothball over 60 ships, including 2 of our 11 carrier battle groups, ⅓ of our Army maneuver battalions and ⅓ of the Air Force fighter jets.
With the world situation as it is, we can ill afford to limit our country’s military fighting forces.
I would ask all my readers to contact each member of the Select Committee to vote to leave the funding of DOD as it is without any further budget cuts. The web page of the Committee is Deficit Reduction Committee. The members of the committee are listed below; and you can contact them by looking them up on Google.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Co-Chair
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Co-Chair
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
Thanks for your attention to this important matter!
The Defense Department has already taken severe cuts to their budget since the Obama administration came to power. If these new cuts take place, it is estimated by the DOD that the military will have to mothball over 60 ships, including 2 of our 11 carrier battle groups, ⅓ of our Army maneuver battalions and ⅓ of the Air Force fighter jets.
With the world situation as it is, we can ill afford to limit our country’s military fighting forces.
I would ask all my readers to contact each member of the Select Committee to vote to leave the funding of DOD as it is without any further budget cuts. The web page of the Committee is Deficit Reduction Committee. The members of the committee are listed below; and you can contact them by looking them up on Google.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Co-Chair
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Co-Chair
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
Thanks for your attention to this important matter!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Green Jobs Brown Out
The following is a quote from the Wall Street Journal 11 October 2011, page A16.
“The green jobs subsidy story gets more embarrassing by the day. Three years ago President Obama promised that by the end of the decade America would have five million green jobs, but so far some $90 billion in government spending has delivered very few.
“A new report by the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) examined a $500 million grant under the stimulus program to the Employment and Training Administration to ‘train and prepare individuals for careers in green jobs.’ So far, about $162.8 million has been spent. The program was supposed to train 125,000 workers, but only 53,000 have been trained so far, only 8,035 have found jobs, and only 1,033 were still in the job after six months.
“Overall, only 10% of participants entered employment. In the understatement of the year, IG says the program failed to ‘assist those most impacted by the recession.’
“The jobs record is even more dismal when you consider that many of the jobs classified as green aren’t even new jobs, much less green, according to a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They include positions that have been ‘relabeled as green jobs by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.’“This means that bus drivers, Environmental Protection Agency regulators, university professors teaching ecology, and even the Washington lobbyists who secure energy loan guarantees count as green employees for the purposes of government counting.
The Oversight Committee finds that even a charitable assessment of the Labor program puts the cost of each green job at $157,000.”
“The green jobs subsidy story gets more embarrassing by the day. Three years ago President Obama promised that by the end of the decade America would have five million green jobs, but so far some $90 billion in government spending has delivered very few.
“A new report by the Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General (IG) examined a $500 million grant under the stimulus program to the Employment and Training Administration to ‘train and prepare individuals for careers in green jobs.’ So far, about $162.8 million has been spent. The program was supposed to train 125,000 workers, but only 53,000 have been trained so far, only 8,035 have found jobs, and only 1,033 were still in the job after six months.
“Overall, only 10% of participants entered employment. In the understatement of the year, IG says the program failed to ‘assist those most impacted by the recession.’
“The jobs record is even more dismal when you consider that many of the jobs classified as green aren’t even new jobs, much less green, according to a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They include positions that have been ‘relabeled as green jobs by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.’“This means that bus drivers, Environmental Protection Agency regulators, university professors teaching ecology, and even the Washington lobbyists who secure energy loan guarantees count as green employees for the purposes of government counting.
The Oversight Committee finds that even a charitable assessment of the Labor program puts the cost of each green job at $157,000.”
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
John F. Kennedy on the Economy
The following is a quote from President Kennedy’s State of the Union address Jan. 14, 1963. I only wish the present Democrat in the White House could understand what President Kennedy had to say!
“America has enjoyed 22 months of uninterrupted economic recovery. But recovery is not enough. If we are to prevail in the long-run, we must expand the long-run strength of our economy. We must move along the path to a higher rate of growth and full employment.
“For this would mean tens of billions of dollars more each year in production, profits, wages, and public revenues. It would mean an end to the persistent slack, which has kept our unemployment at or above five percent for 61 out of the past 62 months—and an end to the growing pressures for such restrictive measures as the 35-hour week, which alone could increase hourly labor costs by as much as 14%, start a new wage-price spiral of inflation, and undercut our efforts to compete with other nations.
“To achieve these greater gains, one step, above all, is essential—the enactment this year of a substantial reduction and revision in Federal income taxes….[A] net reduction in tax liabilities…will increase the purchasing power of American families and business enterprises in every tax bracket, with greatest increase going to our low-income consumers. It will, in addition, encourage the initiative and risk-taking on which our free system depends—induce more investment, production, and capacity use—help provide the two million new jobs we need every year—and reinforce the American principle of additional reward for additional effort.”
“America has enjoyed 22 months of uninterrupted economic recovery. But recovery is not enough. If we are to prevail in the long-run, we must expand the long-run strength of our economy. We must move along the path to a higher rate of growth and full employment.
“For this would mean tens of billions of dollars more each year in production, profits, wages, and public revenues. It would mean an end to the persistent slack, which has kept our unemployment at or above five percent for 61 out of the past 62 months—and an end to the growing pressures for such restrictive measures as the 35-hour week, which alone could increase hourly labor costs by as much as 14%, start a new wage-price spiral of inflation, and undercut our efforts to compete with other nations.
“To achieve these greater gains, one step, above all, is essential—the enactment this year of a substantial reduction and revision in Federal income taxes….[A] net reduction in tax liabilities…will increase the purchasing power of American families and business enterprises in every tax bracket, with greatest increase going to our low-income consumers. It will, in addition, encourage the initiative and risk-taking on which our free system depends—induce more investment, production, and capacity use—help provide the two million new jobs we need every year—and reinforce the American principle of additional reward for additional effort.”
Monday, October 10, 2011
Dysfunctional Fathers
Several years ago, while Nancy and I were still with the organization, Caring Hands Pregnancy Center in southwest Denver launched a program designed to help men become better fathers. We used the 24/7 Dad Program of the National Fatherhood Initiative as the template for our outreach.
As a first step in organizing that program, we recruited a group of twelve men from a large church in the Denver area to be mentors for the younger fathers who signed up to take the course. The mentors were selected based on the fact that they were successful fathers. They had intact families, a successful first marriage, and young adult children who were healthy and productive members of society. In the early phase of the course, these men were asked to present a short talk about their own fathers. They were asked how their father participated in the raising of the children, how he treated his wife, what was his disciplinary policy regarding the children, etc. They were asked about their general evaluation of their father’s fathering activity.
To my great surprise, I found that these mentor/fathers were largely dissatisfied with the fathering functions of their own fathers. Only two out of the twelve were happy with the fathering they had received from their own fathers. The elder fathers had been neglectful, authoritarian, sometimes abusive of wife and children; and almost all of them had failed to participate with their children in the growing-up stage of the children’s lives.
Organizing this course provided me with a disappointing perception of the fathering abilities of the past generation of fathers. During that course, we all learned that there are better ways to father children. Fathering is not something that comes naturally; good fathering ability is not an instinctive quality. Fathering skills must be LEARNED!
I recommend that if any readers of this blog would like to learn how to be a better father, he should consult Fatherhood.org
As a first step in organizing that program, we recruited a group of twelve men from a large church in the Denver area to be mentors for the younger fathers who signed up to take the course. The mentors were selected based on the fact that they were successful fathers. They had intact families, a successful first marriage, and young adult children who were healthy and productive members of society. In the early phase of the course, these men were asked to present a short talk about their own fathers. They were asked how their father participated in the raising of the children, how he treated his wife, what was his disciplinary policy regarding the children, etc. They were asked about their general evaluation of their father’s fathering activity.
To my great surprise, I found that these mentor/fathers were largely dissatisfied with the fathering functions of their own fathers. Only two out of the twelve were happy with the fathering they had received from their own fathers. The elder fathers had been neglectful, authoritarian, sometimes abusive of wife and children; and almost all of them had failed to participate with their children in the growing-up stage of the children’s lives.
Organizing this course provided me with a disappointing perception of the fathering abilities of the past generation of fathers. During that course, we all learned that there are better ways to father children. Fathering is not something that comes naturally; good fathering ability is not an instinctive quality. Fathering skills must be LEARNED!
I recommend that if any readers of this blog would like to learn how to be a better father, he should consult Fatherhood.org
Monday, October 3, 2011
The Relationship of National Debt to Gross Domestic Product
It is a well-known fact of national economics that increasing amounts of national debt produce ever-decreasing levels of economic growth. click here . Please consider the following quote from a book by Hunter Lewis, “Where Keynes Went Wrong.”
“There is a diminishing return to taking on debt. In the United States, we have operated on Keynesian principles since World War II. The government has printed money. Debt levels have grown. We have not only gotten inflations and bubbles. We have also gotten less and less growth for each increment of debt.
“During the decade 1950-1959, we added $338 billion in debt, and we got 73¢ in economic growth (increase in gross domestic product) for each $1 in new debt. For the decade 1990-1999, we added $12.5 trillion in debt, but got only 31¢ of growth per dollar of debt. For the seven plus years 2000-2008 (1st quarter), we added $24.3 trillion in debt, but got only 19¢ in growth for every dollar of debt. It thus required more and more debt to generate further growth.”
As the above link points out, a study by North Carolina State University Economics Department shows that if economic policy by the government continues as it is now, by 2020, the national debt/GDP ratio will be 110%; and the annual growth rate will be -.56%!
Growing national debt produces a negative growth in GDP, just because it costs more to service the debt than the increasing input of money can produce in growth.
During the present administration and the end of the Bush era, we have seen some $870 billion used to stimulate the economy; and the annual growth of the economy is still at only about 1%/year. Now we see that President Obama wants to inject another $470 billion into the economy in his “jobs bill.” When will he ever get the clue? More deficit spending will not do the job.
“There is a diminishing return to taking on debt. In the United States, we have operated on Keynesian principles since World War II. The government has printed money. Debt levels have grown. We have not only gotten inflations and bubbles. We have also gotten less and less growth for each increment of debt.
“During the decade 1950-1959, we added $338 billion in debt, and we got 73¢ in economic growth (increase in gross domestic product) for each $1 in new debt. For the decade 1990-1999, we added $12.5 trillion in debt, but got only 31¢ of growth per dollar of debt. For the seven plus years 2000-2008 (1st quarter), we added $24.3 trillion in debt, but got only 19¢ in growth for every dollar of debt. It thus required more and more debt to generate further growth.”
As the above link points out, a study by North Carolina State University Economics Department shows that if economic policy by the government continues as it is now, by 2020, the national debt/GDP ratio will be 110%; and the annual growth rate will be -.56%!
Growing national debt produces a negative growth in GDP, just because it costs more to service the debt than the increasing input of money can produce in growth.
During the present administration and the end of the Bush era, we have seen some $870 billion used to stimulate the economy; and the annual growth of the economy is still at only about 1%/year. Now we see that President Obama wants to inject another $470 billion into the economy in his “jobs bill.” When will he ever get the clue? More deficit spending will not do the job.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
The First Step in the Road to Salvation, Foreknowledge: Romans 8:29 & 30
I have often pondered the meaning and significance of these verses; but recently, I have listened to a sermon by Alistair Begg on this subject; and I want to share a point of that sermon with you—at least, this is the part I took home with me.
The passage says that there are several steps in the final salvation of a believer: First, there is foreknowledge of the one who will be saved from his sins. Next comes predestination followed by God’s effectual calling. Next comes justification, and, finally, glorification. Below, I wish to discuss foreknowledge, because this has been a stumbling block to me. I believe that God knows who will choose Him—but, on what criteria?
God’s foreknowledge is a knowledge borne out of his ability to know the future—a strange and unknown ability to us, mere humans, who cannot even conceive of such an ability. Nevertheless, God can do it. Well, what, exactly is it that God knows? He knows what he has, in advanced, ordained. But that is not all—He also knows what we are going to choose of our own free will. THE TWO GO TOGETHER. Free will and God’s sovereignty go together in this disposition.
In discussing this situation, it is necessary to understand that there are two scenarios, which do not exist. The first is a case in which a person wants to know God, who understands the principles of His teachings, who loves Him and the things that are His; but, since he is not one of the elect, he is excluded from heaven. We must remember that Jesus said, “…whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (John 6:37) The second scenario is one in which a person is living a life of willful sin, who has no interest in Christ and no faith in God—but…because he is one of the elect , God admits him to heaven. Neither of these situations is true.
Somehow, in some mysterious way, the freewill choice of men and women and the supreme decision of God about election to his family coincide perfectly. Only those who will have the faith prescribed in the Bible will receive the eternal life that Christ promises. And…at the same time, God knows each one of us who will make that choice. It is a mystery; man’s freedom in Christ allows him to optionally go God’s way and at the same time to realize a measure of obedience to the Gospel admonitions of the Scripture. That is, to conform to God’s foreknowledge of his elected, salvational, condition.
Another important point from Mr. Begg’s sermon is that no matter what we think of or know about this so called chain or way of salvation, our own particular salvation has nothing to do with it. We are saved by believing in and having faith in the Savior—it is simply that and no more. So…I think we should not spend very much effort in understanding all the theological ins and outs of this complicated theology. Our relationship to the Savior is really all that counts in our eternal destiny.
The passage says that there are several steps in the final salvation of a believer: First, there is foreknowledge of the one who will be saved from his sins. Next comes predestination followed by God’s effectual calling. Next comes justification, and, finally, glorification. Below, I wish to discuss foreknowledge, because this has been a stumbling block to me. I believe that God knows who will choose Him—but, on what criteria?
God’s foreknowledge is a knowledge borne out of his ability to know the future—a strange and unknown ability to us, mere humans, who cannot even conceive of such an ability. Nevertheless, God can do it. Well, what, exactly is it that God knows? He knows what he has, in advanced, ordained. But that is not all—He also knows what we are going to choose of our own free will. THE TWO GO TOGETHER. Free will and God’s sovereignty go together in this disposition.
In discussing this situation, it is necessary to understand that there are two scenarios, which do not exist. The first is a case in which a person wants to know God, who understands the principles of His teachings, who loves Him and the things that are His; but, since he is not one of the elect, he is excluded from heaven. We must remember that Jesus said, “…whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (John 6:37) The second scenario is one in which a person is living a life of willful sin, who has no interest in Christ and no faith in God—but…because he is one of the elect , God admits him to heaven. Neither of these situations is true.
Somehow, in some mysterious way, the freewill choice of men and women and the supreme decision of God about election to his family coincide perfectly. Only those who will have the faith prescribed in the Bible will receive the eternal life that Christ promises. And…at the same time, God knows each one of us who will make that choice. It is a mystery; man’s freedom in Christ allows him to optionally go God’s way and at the same time to realize a measure of obedience to the Gospel admonitions of the Scripture. That is, to conform to God’s foreknowledge of his elected, salvational, condition.
Another important point from Mr. Begg’s sermon is that no matter what we think of or know about this so called chain or way of salvation, our own particular salvation has nothing to do with it. We are saved by believing in and having faith in the Savior—it is simply that and no more. So…I think we should not spend very much effort in understanding all the theological ins and outs of this complicated theology. Our relationship to the Savior is really all that counts in our eternal destiny.
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