BOMBSHELL: ISRAEL’S TEMPLE MOUNT MAY NOT BE UNDER MUSLIM CONTROL

Bob Cornuke is a former policeman, S.W.A.T. team member, and F.B.I. investigator.  He also has decades of archaeological experience and has authored ten books.  His latest book titled “Temple”, presents compelling evidence that the Temple Mount, currently under Muslim control is NOT the site of Solomon’s temple.  Mr. Cornuke’s evidence demonstrates that the alleged temple mount is actually the site ancient Rome used to govern the nation of Israel.  And the Wailing Wall a.k.a., Western Wall, is actually part of the protective wall Rome built to defend its administrative site.

The Temple Mount may be the most contested and potentially explosive piece on land on earth.  But if Mr. Cornuke’s evidence is correct, the temples of Solomon and Herod were in the ancient City of David, which means the site is currently under Israeli control.  So the potentially catastrophic dispute over the alleged temple mount may be for nothing, and Israel could begin rebuilding its temple at any time.

Bob Cornuke is well respected among Biblical scholars, and some of the world’s leading scholars believe his scriptural research and conclusions are correct.  Check out Mr. Cornuke’s interview on the television show “Praise the Lord”, which airs on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.  The interview begins at 1:02:20 into the program.  Mr. Cornuke’s interview is preceded by an interview with Lee Strobel, former atheist, hedonist, and editor of the Chicago Tribune’s legal section.  Please watch Mr. Strobel tell his story of conversion from a Christ hater to a follower of Christ.  For more info on Bob Cornuke, check out his website.

During another interview with Prophecy in the News, Cornuke went into detail about his research on the site of Israel’s ancient temples.  His archaeological and biblical evidence is compelling and should be of interest to all Christians, especially Americans.  Why?  Islamic leaders say Israel’s attempt to build on the Temple Mount could spark World War III, and US troops may be sent to defend Israel’s prophetic destiny regarding the Temple Mount.

If Mr. Cornuke’s research is correct, it demonstrates the serious consequences resulting from man’s worship of creation over the Creator.  In this case, Palestinian and Jewish obsession with traditional holy sites.  We should remember the apostle John’s vision of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.  During his interview on Prophecy in the News, Mr. Cornuke presents scriptural references to support his conclusions.

 

Big Banks, Drug Cartels, Money Laundering, and Anarchism

There’s a website named the Daily Paul (DP) that’s allegedly “dedicated to restoring constitutional government to the United States of America”.  The site receives a lot of traffic and promotes the ideas of Ron Paul.  After following the site for a couple weeks, I realized that many of those commenting and posting were anarchists, and most of them claimed that Ron Paul is an anarchist.  So I wrote a post titled Is Ron Paul an anarchist? I don’t think so but… 

The post received hundreds of comments, most from anarchists claiming Ron Paul as one of their own.  But the anarchist arguments seemed blatantly contradictory because Ron Paul supports limited Constitutional government while anarchists oppose all forms of government.  

Those who value representative government and the rule of law should learn more about the subversive nature of anarchism, and how it’s manifested at the highest levels of the global economy.  For example, global banks launder hundreds of billions of dollars for drug cartels, mafia organizations, and illegal arms dealers.

The anarchists at DP refer to these black markets as anarcho-capitalism, and black market participants as ancaps.  Anarchists attempt to hide the subversive, criminal nature of their ideology behind the libertarian philosophy of Ron Paul.  You can learn more about the ancap ideology by clicking on the link in the first paragraph.

During the administration of President George Bush Sr., Catherine Austin Fitts was assistant Secretary at the department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  October 19, 2006, she was interviewed on Jefferson Public Radio in Ashland Oregon.  She said “HUD is being run as a criminal enterprise….it can’t be run as a criminal enterprise unless intentionally run that way”.  This was about eighteen months before the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were part of HUD’s oversight responsibilities.

The collapse of Fannie and Freddie resulted in 6.3 Trillion dollars of toxic assets and liabilities being dumped on taxpayers.  Ms. Fitts also said “there is no government, only large defense contractors and large banks who run a government mechanism”.  She cited a Justice Department spokesman who said 500 billion to a Trillion dollars from drug cartels, is laundered through the New York Stock Exchange every year.

The following information and pictures are from Global Research.  Big American banks also launder money for drug cartels.  See this, this, this and this.  Indeed, drug dealers kept the banking system afloat during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis.

The U.S. military has openly said that it is protecting Afghani poppy fields, meanwhile, 60 Billion dollars has been lost due to waste, fraud, and abuse by defense contractors.

The cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan—a nation under the military control of US and NATO forces for more than twelve years—has risen to an all-time high, according to the 2013 Afghanistan Opium Survey released Wednesday by the United Nations.

According to the report, cultivation of poppy across the war-torn nation rose 36 per cent in 2013 and total opium production amounted to 5,500 tons, up by almost a half since 2012.

“This has never been witnessed before in the history of Afghanistan,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the outgoing leader of the Afghanistan office of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which produced the report.

The U.S. military has allowed poppy cultivation to continue in order to appease farmers and government officials involved with the drug trade who might otherwise turn against the Afghan Karzai government in Kabul.  Fueling both sides, in fact, the opium and heroin industry is both a product of the war and an essential source for continued conflict.

Public Intelligence has published a series of photographs showing American, and U.S. trained Afghan troops, patrolling poppy fields in Afghanistan. 

 

 

HSBC, the largest bank in Europe, admitted to laundering 800 million dollars for Mexican drug cartels.  HSBC also launders money for Iran and other terrorist organizations.  US Attorney General Eric Holder says some banks (like HSBC) are too big to prosecute.

JP Morgan Chase agreed to a 9 billion dollar settlement for selling fraudulent mortgage backed securities.  As a result, there will be no criminal prosecution and much of the settlement will be tax deductible, unlike average citizens who cannot deduct fines when paying taxes.  The previous link also includes discussion of HSBC’s laundering of drug money.

The world’s largest banks and the governments they effectively bribe, are operating on the anarcho-capitalist (ancap) ideology.  Check out the section on monetary policy in the pdf Knowledge Is Power.

In the section on monetary policy, you’ll find a quote from President Abraham Lincoln.  In a letter to Colonel William F. Elkins dated Nov. 21, 1864, President Lincoln said: “As a result of war, corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong it’s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until all wealth is aggregated into a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.”

We can see how prejudices have been exploited in War on Terror.  For example, Americans have good reason to despise Islamic terrorists, but those prejudices have been fueled by a treasonous alliance between US and Saudi leaders.  Two US Presidents have portrayed the Saudi government as an “ally” in the War on Terror, meanwhile, the Saudi’s fund ten thousand madrasses (schools) in Pakistan that produce graduates “perfectly prepared for a career in jihad”.

So it’s no surprise that Afghanistan’s Taliban movement originated in neighboring Pakistan, which continues to support terrorism directed at U.S. troops in Afghanistan.  During his farewell speech as President, former Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Americans about the “military industrial complex”.

If interested, there’s a couple links to my DP posts below.  Click here to view a list of all my DP posts and comments.  The following two pertain to the theme of this post.

Obama, Wall Street, and the Federal Reserve, a Fascist Regime

 Rand Paul: One Person Can Make a Difference

US TRADE SUBSIDIZES CHINA’S FORCED ABORTIONS AND TORTURE OF CHRISTIANS

The purpose of this post is to demonstrate that China’s communist government, and US leaders who’ve partnered with it, are enemies of the United States.  It’s necessary to define the Chinese government as an enemy because doing so provides a legal basis for prosecuting US leaders who’ve aided a U.S. enemy.

Under the guise of free trade, Trillions of dollars of investment capital, technology and hard assets have been transferred from the U.S. to China.  This transfer of wealth (aid) subsidizes China’s communist regime and makes the U.S. dependent on a communist regime for manufactured goods.  As a result, we send Trillions of dollars to China to buy goods, and then borrow money from China to cover annual trade deficits.  

Pat Mulloy is a member of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.  During a discussion on Chinese government investment in the U.S., Pat said trade deficits with China will result in large chunks of the U.S. economy being owned by a foreign government, and Chinese investments are not coming back to buy our goods, they’re coming back to buy America.

Mr. Mulloy continued saying, since the US gave China MFN (Most Favored Nation status) in 1979, we’ve run 3 Trillion in trade deficits with China, and it’s interesting, China has about 3 Trillion in foreign currency reserves.  Mulloy was clearly suggesting a correlation between China’s healthy cash position and US indebtedness.

It’s not plausible to conclude that the redistribution of wealth from the U.S. to China, and resulting dependence on a Communist regime, are unintended consequences.  The Wall Street Journal article titled China’s Superior Economic Model, demonstrates that many US leaders favor China’s totalitarian economic model.  During the discussion on foreign investment in the U.S., Derrick Scissors from the Heritage Foundation said U.S. land and energy reserves should be sold to China’s Communist government.

In a speech to the House of Representatives, Congressman Duke Cunningham documented the corrupt relationship between the Clinton administration and China’s communist government.  Rep. Cunningham’s primary focus was on President Clinton’s decision to cede control of the Long Beach Naval base to Cosco, a company owned by the Communist government of China.  He provided evidence of China’s threats to nuke Los Angeles, bribes to the Democrat National Committee, and Hillary Clinton’s illegal fund raising from Chinese officials.

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly accused bipartisan leaders of failing to protect America’s interests against Communist China.  I believe the hysterical focus on Russian interference in the 2016 election, is an attempt to divert attention from the potentially treasonous relationship between bipartisan leaders and Communist China.

Feb. 14, 2012,  the Congressional Executive Commission on China held a hearing on human rights abuse in China.  Rep. Smith said Americans need to become much more aware of the “systematic use of torture” in China, which is a “dictatorship” with “no due process of law”.  Geng He testified about the three day torture of her husband, Gao Zhisheng, a Christian and prominent human rights lawyer.  She said Chinese authorities burned his eyes with cigarettes and put toothpicks in his testicles.

Li Jing testified about the persecution of her family and husband, a Christian professor serving a ten year prison sentence for supporting democratic reforms.  Rep. Smith responded to her testimony saying China is holding “tens of thousands of political and religious prisoners”.

On the day of this hearing, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was in Washington DC.  In the link below, Commission Chairman Frank Wolf said the Obama administration “rolled out the diplomatic red carpet” for Vice President Xi, but refused requests to meet with Geng He and Li Jing.  Both of their husbands are Christians who peacefully advocated for government reforms.

Chairman Wolf also said China’s government has jailed many Catholic bishops and protestant pastors, and cited Chinese dissident Yu Jie who said “China is a greater threat than the Soviet Union ever was”.  Yu Jie had been tortured and said America needs a strong leader like Ronald Reagan who will stand up to the Communist dictators. 

Pastor Bob Fu also testified before the Commission.  He and his wife fled to the U.S. after being imprisoned by the Chinese government.  Pastor Fu lives in the U.S. and runs China Aid, an organization that helps Chinese dissidents.  During President Obama’s trip to China, Pastor Fu helped a group of Chinese lawyers arrange a meeting with the President.  Obama was inside the U.S. Embassy while the lawyers waited outside.  Pastor Fu was on the phone with Embassy officials who said they would get back to him, but 200 Chinese police arrested the lawyers and Obama went to the Great Wall.

In this clip, Pastor Fu recounts the previous events and said Obama’s actions emboldened the Chinese dictators.   In the same clip, Rep. Smith said Hillary Clinton “threw dissidents under the bus” in exchange for peddling US debt and global warming issues. According to Pastor Fu, human rights abuse in China is the “worst in two decades“, and Obama needs to support the persecuted, not the persecutors.  Click on cecc.gov to watch the entire hearing.

Geng He said Chinese authorities mock her and say if she goes to the White House everyday, so what, they’re confident Obama will ignore their crimes.  She also said Chinese dictators use the torture and disappearance of her husband to intimidate other Chinese human rights lawyers.  Geng He’s comments and Rep. Wolf’s reply are in the next link.  Wolf said the Obama administration has failed to defend oppressed Christians in China, Egypt, Syria and Iraq, and “the Dalai Lama should know this administration has failed him, eleven Buddhist monks and nuns have set themselves aflame”.

American citizens should be concerned about Obama’s indifference to religious freedom and China’s brutal forced abortions.  There aren’t enough wives for young Chinese men because 100 million girls have been killed by sex selection and forced abortion policies.

Pastor Fu spoke of America’s struggle to end slavery.  He said without the leadership of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, the first African American would not be in the White House today.  Dr. King said “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  If we don’t stand up for the rights of oppressed people everywhere, we risk losing our Constitutional freedoms in America.

The Nuremberg war tribunals prosecuted Nazi leaders for war crimes.  During the trials, forced abortions by the Nazi regime were found to be crimes against humanity.  China’s communist government admits to 400 million forced abortions, meanwhile, bipartisan leaders shield their Chinese counterparts from consequences for their crimes.  US leaders are complicit in crimes against humanity and should be prosecuted alongside Chinese leaders.

US media are also responsible for helping China’s dictators perpetrate crimes against humanity.  Even the “liberal” media turns a blind eye to atrocities committed by the Chinese government.  If you want to know where the bodies are buried, look behind issues that both left and right media support, i.e., the rise of China’s totalitarian regime.

Even prominent Christian leaders in America are covering up Communist China’s heinous crimes against children and Christians.  Billy Wilson is President of Oral Roberts University (ORU) in Oklahoma.  On September 13, 2014, he hosted an ORU video about China and Chinese Christians.  His pro China commentary could have been a propaganda piece put out by China’s communist government.

Mr. Wilson’s white wash of China’s brutal abortion policies, and torture of Christians, was repulsive.  He characterized the Chinese government’s persecution of Christians as a good thing because it is “purifying” the church.  I wonder how he would feel if his wife was subject to forced abortions and torture. Wilson’s support for China’s brutal policies should concern American Christians because he’s in charge of “educating” young people at ORU.

Billy Wilson’s report on China was in stark contrast to a recent interview with pastor Bob Fu.  On September 18, 2014, five days after Wilson’s report on China, Fu was interviewed on the Catholic network EWTN.  He said the Chinese government crackdown on Christians is the “worst since the cultural revolution” under Chairman Mao.

In 2012, pastor Fu testified about the torture Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng. Two years later on EWTN, he said Gao has been tortured so badly, “he cannot speak one complete sentence”.  But ORU President Billy Wilson says China’s policies are good because they’re “purifying” the church.

During a Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the new US ambassador to China, some serious issues were raised.  Senator Menendez said Taiwan needs F-16 fighter jets to counter the threat of China’s unprecedented military build up.  He also said China continues to “share sensitive ballistic missile, chemical, and nuclear weapons technology with Iran”, and China has “inaugurated a missile plant in Iran.”

Menendez concluded saying the U.S. has lost “48 billion dollars and 2 million jobs” due to Chinese intellectual property theft.  And top executives at dozens of America’s largest companies were targeted by a Chinese government cyber attack.  Senator Risch said Chinese companies are selling nuclear technology to Iran and North Korea, both state sponsors of terrorism.  Senator Webb said China is facilitating trans-shipments of weapons from North Korea to Iran, Burma, the Congo, and other oppressive regimes. 

Iran and North Korea are client states of China, which is using Iran to threaten America.  Rep. Brad Sherman said North Korea is a “severe threat to U.S. security”, and even though it’s subsidized by China, US leaders “won’t interfere with one ship of [Chinese] tennis shoes coming into our ports”.  Sherman said North Korea could “build ten [nuclear] bombs for themselves and put the eleventh on eBay”, and explained why nothing is done about China arming Iran and North Korea.

During the Reagan administration, K.T. McFarlane was Deputy Secretary of Defense.  While on Fox News, she acknowledged that China was arming Iran and North Korea and quoted China’s Defense Minister saying “in five years, militarily, China will be ready to take on all comers”.  But McFarlane said “we’ve got to be nice to them” because China holds so much US debt, and you “don’t pick a fight with your banker.”

Congressman Brad Sherman refuted the notion that China is America’s banker saying there’s no way for China to foreclose, which gives the U.S. tremendous leverage when negotiating trade deals.  But because of enormous corporate profits, US leaders “favor cowtowing to China” while ignoring North Korea and Iran’s nuclear proliferation.

On the day of the hearing into China’s human rights abuse, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta welcomed the rise of China and Vice President Xi, who described the US-China relationship as a “partnership”.  America’s “partner”, China, was prepared to join with Iran and send warships to defend the Syrian regime from a US attack.  The US/China partnership allows the respective governments to play both sides of global conflicts.  Iran, North Korea and Syria are prime examples.

The US government classifies North Korea and Iran as state sponsors of terrorism.  But China supplies Iran with chemical, ballistic and nuclear weapons, and allows trans-shipments of weapons from North Korea to Iran, which then supplies Hezbollah and Syria.   US leaders condemn the actions of Iran, Syria and North Korea, meanwhile, they turn a blind eye to the fact that these regimes could not threaten the West without Chinese support.

 In 1997, Congressman Randy Cunningham criticized President Clinton’s decision to cede authority of the Long Beach Naval base to Cosco, a Chinese State owned company, and linked Clinton’s decision to a $366,000 dollar donation to the DNC.   He cites an FBI report saying Cosco placed “spies in all their ports of call”, and said China warned Clinton’s national security adviser that U.S. interference in the Chinese-Taiwan relationship could result in a “devastating attack on Los Angeles”.

This clip contains Cunningham’s previous comments and concludes with information about China’s takeover of the Panama Canal.  Rep. Cunningham is not an eloquent speaker, but he provides documented evidence of China’s growing threat to U.S. national security.  Click here to get to the House Session with Cunningham’s speech.  Then click on “previous clip” or use this link to watch his entire speech.

A few years after his speech about Cosco, Rep. Cunningham was convicted and imprisoned for taking bribes in exchange for awarding defense contracts.  But in spite of compelling evidence demonstrating rampant waste, fraud and abuse involving military contracts, I can’t recall another politician who’s been convicted of a crime related to defense contracting.  Maybe it’s just a coincidence the Justice Department targeted Cunningham, but I can’t recall another politician who openly opposed the treasonous US-China partnership, and implicated a U.S. President. 

In the clip from his speech, Cunningham mentions China’s attempt to “bring Taipei to heel” (Taipei is the capital of Taiwan).  Fourteen years later, Senator Menendez said American F-16 fighter jets must be sold to Taiwan as a defense against China’s “unprecedented military buildup”.

First of all, China’s military buildup is possible because Trillions of dollars of US investment capital has produced fourteen years of double digit economic growth in China.  Second, China’s military buildup is generating sales for US defense contractors.  I do not believe these are unintended consequences of US-China trade policies.  In his farewell speech to the nation, President Eisenhower said the US “military industrial complex” is a grave threat to freedom.

The US-China partnership constitutes a globalized military industrial complex.  For example, CNBC reported that Afghanistan is the “Saudi Arabia of lithium”, and after the US invasion, Chinese State Owned Entities (SOE’s) have started mining in Afghanistan.  Coincidentally, China manufactures lithium batteries for their huge electronics industry.

Lithium batteries are also used in electric cars and storage batteries for solar and wind farms.  So it seems Afghanistan is our first war for “clean” energy, and American blood and treasure are subsidizing China’s booming manufacturing economy, which is powered by fossil fuels.  Much of Iraq’s oil is going to China.

As indicated by this Wall Street Journal article titled “China’s Superior Economic Model”, many US leaders prefer China’s totalitarian economic model.  China’s Vice President Xi described the US/China relationship as a “cooperative partnership“.  Partners do not compete, they work together to achieve common goals.

The fraudulent global warming agenda gives China a competitive advantage over America because China is not required to limit CO2 emissions.  So the notion that China is “competing” with the U.S. is ludicrous.  That’s like saying an NFL team exempt from all the rules is competing with the rest of the league.  For example, while China imports low cost U.S. coal to fuel its booming economy, Obama has kept his promise to bankrupt new U.S. coal plants.

On March 27, 2012, the EPA implemented emission standards that effectively ban new coal plants.  And in June 2013, Obama announced plans to limit CO2 emissions from existing coal plants.  These dictatorial actions that cripple U.S. competitiveness, are being implemented even though Obama could not get his Cap and Trade bill passed.  But even more outrageous is the fact that they’re based entirely on falsified climate data.

Climate fraud is supported by the CEO of General Electric, Jeffrey Immelt, who called for Cap and Trade as a means to subsidize GE’s green energy projects.  Then GE takes green energy technology, subsidized by U.S. taxpayers, to China.   Given the massive redistribution of wealth from America to China, bankrupting our representative government by subsidizing China’s totalitarian regime appears to be the objective.

Furthermore, if NFL teams engaged in free trade and outsourcing similar to the US, it would be comparable to trading a team’s franchise player for the competition’s water boy.  The purpose of free trade and climate fraud is to give China’s totalitarian regime a competitive advantage over America.  The solution is not requiring China to cap CO2 emissions, the solution is criminal prosecution of those perpetrating climate fraud.  Check out the book Climategate and my post on climate fraud.

While “clean” energy mandates force U.S. citizens to subsidize expensive alternatives, China has partnered with Saudi Arabia and they’re building one of the world’s largest oil refinery’s.  This partnership of fascist and communist regimes may collapse the U.S. dollar by circumventing a 1973 US/Saudi agreement to price oil in dollars.

Pricing oil in currencies other than the dollar will lead to a steep decline in demand for dollars, and consequently, a decline in demand for US debt.  This will further devalue the dollar and result in a potentially catastrophic rise of interest rates on US debt.  The partnership is between the Saudi State owned company Aramco, and Chinese State owned Sinopec, both of which own critical U.S. energy infrastructure.

Click here for info on the Saudi/China partnership.  China is also using Iran to threaten U.S. energy security.  President Obama said gasoline in America would go to $12.00 dollars per gallon if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.  Obama’s comments on Iran begin at 2min/42sec into a speech at Dayton Ohio.

April 22, 2010, an Investors Business Daily article said “despite the commitment of nearly 20 Trillion in taxpayer funds to prevent another [financial] crisis, lending has stalled or shrunk”.  But that’s only half the story.  While on CNBC, billionaire leftist George Soros said EU and US banks are the largest supplier of credit to emerging markets.

China is the largest emerging marketso bailed out US banks are financing communism while the U.S. economy is starved of capital and growth is stagnant.

The absolute numbers for big foreign banking systems’ exposure to China are as follows:

According to the Congressional Budget Office, it will cost taxpayers 8.6 Trillion to prop up US banks after the financial crisis.

In spite of the 20 Trillion dollar commitment to prop up banks and the stock market, many say the US government’s unfair treatment of big business is driving investment to emerging markets.  I guess they think bankrupting the U.S. government to subsidize socialist banks and corporations isn’t enough, we need to cut their tax rates as well.

But Republican tax guru Grover Norquist said, “corporations don’t pay taxes, they collect them from you and me…”.  Grover says corporations pass tax liabilities onto consumers by raising the price of their products.  He doesn’t mention that small businesses, which may be corporations, bear the full cost of regulation and taxation because they have limited ability to shift costs to consumers.

Charlie Rose discussed emerging markets, free trade, and globalization with Jim O’Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.  The show began with Mr. O’Neill taking credit for coining the term BRIC, which is the acronym for emerging markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China.  Goldman’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein wanted to call emerging markets led by China CRIB, but O’Neill wanted the emerging markets represented by the term BRIC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=LTbEYQ0eMIk

The invisible hand of the market became visible shortly after 13:50 into the interview.  That’s when Charlie Rose asked Jim O’Neill about the possible implosion of China’s economic bubble.  JIm said, “Some days I wake up and think, what have I created with this damn thing?  I worry about that.”  Goldman Sachs was instrumental in restructuring  trade policy to favor Communist China.

Shortly after 29:45 O’Neill said, “In order for the world to progress, we have to let some things go to other people.”  Charlie then alluded to the massive transfer of wealth from the U.S. to China and asked, “What are the political implications for all this, especially for this country which has been on top for so long?”  Jim responded, “I’d like to hear President Obama say, how do we adjust before he says how do we compete”.

Jim then referred to Obama’s economic adviser Larry Summers saying, “he understands [China’s] relative advantage in international trade.”  Free trade is designed to pick winners and losers in the global economy and Goldman Sachs picked America to lose.  Because of their influence in Washington DC, Goldman Sachs is referred to as Government Sachs.  Financial elites have achieved  regulatory capture and subverted representative government.

Some say the electronic trinkets produced in China would be too expensive if manufactured in America.  But virtual slave labor has always existed in foreign countries, and before free trade, America’s economy thrived without exploiting cheap labor abroad.  Many leaders say government should be run more like a business.  Well, multinational corporations spend billions implementing policies that PROTECT their market share and global competitiveness.  They even engage in corporate espionage to gain competitive advantages that US leaders give away via free trade.

Businesses don’t engage in anything remotely resembling free trade. Why?   Because providing competitors with capital and technology guarantees failure.   Doing so would cause shareholders to demand criminal prosecution of the Board of Directors and top officers, which is what should be done to politicians who have intentionally traded away America’s economic future.   Manufacturing is the engine of economic growth, so outsourcing manufacturing in exchange for cheap trinkets is like the Native Americans trading their sovereignty for beads and blankets.

American history teaches the concept of manifest destiny.  But how many fur traders, homesteaders and gold miners were thinking about manifest destiny when they moved West?   Few if any, they didn’t even know what the phrase meant.  Manifest destiny is the language of ruling class elites, i.e. merchant bankers and industrialists.  They moved common folk across the American West like pawns on a chess board.  Ruling class elites wanted conflict with the Indians so they could call in the cavalry and manifest their destiny.

The new frontiers for today’s ruling class are Communist China and emerging markets.  Free trade is preparing the way for the global cavalry and final phase of manifest destiny.  For all intents and purposes, US financial elites, industrialists, and their political cronies, have seceded from the Union.  They’ve allied themselves with China’s totalitarian regime and they’re engaged in economic terrorism against the United States.

Media and politicians support this treasonous alliance, and they exploit class and race divisions as part of a divide and conquer agenda.  They want divided Americans to blame each other and fight over the economic crumbs left behind by free trade and the financial crisis.  We’re all Indians now.

Wall Street has partnered up with China’s totalitarian regime and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which a Chinese political scientist says will create a “new world order” led by China and Russia.  This UK Telegraph article says Saudi Arabia offered Russia a secret oil deal that would allow them to control global oil markets.  George Soros also said China must be brought into a “new world order”, and the Chinese currency will replace the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.   This will cause the fall of the Republic and support  the rise of godless communism.

The Declaration of Independence ends with these words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor”.  The founding fathers understood the price of freedom, and if we’re going to preserve the independent Republic they fought and died for, we must be willing to make some sacrifices.

Socialist-communist advocates have been successful because they’re committed to community organizing.  Those who believe in representative government and unalienable rights must do the same.  The American Revolution could not have been successful without publications like Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense”, which helped build the ground swell of support necessary for the American Revolution.

Another interesting source is the book Godonomics, which illustrates the Biblical principles behind private property rights and market economies based on moral principles.  Pray continually that US leaders repent and submit to God, but also work to hold them accountable for their treasonous crimes.  Countless souls have been saved after being incarcerated and forced to examine their lives.  Send information from this website to your personal attorney, local Sheriff, local public prosecutor, State Attorney General, U.S. Attorney, and demand action.

The US-China partnership is one example of treasonous actions by US leaders.  Bipartisan leaders tolerate the Saudi State’s funding of a global network of Islamic extremism.  This network produces an endless supply of violent Jihadists that are killing Americans.  For some solutions, check out my post on the Boston Tea Party.

Saudi Arabia, China, and Arab Emirates Own Critical U.S. Energy Infrastructure

The Motiva oil refinery in Port Aurthur Texas is the largest processor of gasoline and diesel in the United States.  The Saudi State owned oil company, Aramco, owns fifty percent of Motiva.  A New York Times article says Saudi ownership in Motiva is “meant to ensure that Saudi Arabia will retain an important market for its crude in the United States at a time when American politicians are declaring their intention to wean the country off imported oil.”

Qatar is one of the United Arab Emirates on the Arabian Peninsula.   And the only thing the Arabian Peninsula exports more of than oil is Islamic extremism.  But the US government is allowing Qatar to purchase a liquid natural gas (LNG) facility in Port Aurthur Texas.  Like Saudi ownership in Motiva, Qatar’s share of the LNG facility will be State owned.  Also, China’s communist government  has invested nearly a billion dollars in Cheniere Energy’s LNG export facility in Louisiana.

This article about China’s investment in Louisiana, says gas produced by fracking shale reserves is one fourth the cost of gas produced from conventional reserves.  That’s why foreign governments are so interested in acquiring U.S. facilities capable of exporting LNG.

Congressman Randy Cunningham opposed the Clinton administration’s decision to cede control of a U.S. Naval Base to Cosco, a shipping company owned by China’s communist government.  During a speech to Congress, Rep. Cunningham provided evidence of China’s threats to attack Los Angeles, China’s placement of “spies” at ports controlled by Cosco, and China’s use of foreign ports to smuggle illegal immigrants and guns.

Republicans oppose U.S. government ownership of domestic industries, but they support foreign government ownership that threatens our national security.  For example, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are fascist monarchies.  Those who live under monarchies are not considered citizens with rights, they are subjects of the king.  These fascist regimes imprison their subjects if they advocate for a representative government that would secure their unalienable rights.  So it’s reasonable to conclude these fascist regimes will use their influence in the U.S. to subvert our representative government.

During a Senate hearing, Republican Jon Kyl said Saudi Arabia is the “monetary lifeblood of today’s international terrorists”.  So why allow Saudi ownership of U.S. energy infrastructure?  Doing so keeps America dependent on foreign oil, and helps the Saudi State fund a global network of Islamic extremists.

Furthermore, the U.S. doesn’t need Saudi oil because new technology has vastly increased North American reserves of gas and oil.  Obviously, bipartisan leaders only pay lip service to energy independence and national security.  

Republicans say they support free markets.  But based on the “free” market, Aramco, a Saudi State owned company owns half of America’s largest refinery, and the governments of China and Qatar are acquiring U.S. based Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) export facilities.  Apparently, foreign government ownership of U.S. industry is their definition of a free market.  The Saudis use their stake in Motiva as a market for their crude.  Is it more efficient to ship crude from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. instead of using the glut of North American oil?

The point is, free markets have nothing to do with market efficiency or freedom from government intervention.  The term “free market” is a euphemism for managed global markets that serve the strategic interests of monopolistic multinationals their political cronies, who despise the notion of sovereign representative governments and unalienable rights.  That ‘s why State owned companies, which are fronts for totalitarian regimes, are given free reign in the imaginary free market.

Bipartisan leaders allow foreign governments, that pose a threat to our representative government, to control industry critical to U.S. national security.  This could be considered as aiding the enemy, which is a crime punishable by death.

Saudi Arabia has partnered with Communist China and they’re building one of the world’s largest refinery’s in Saudi Arabia.  This partnership of communist and fascist regimes may collapse the U.S. dollar by circumventing a 1973 US/Saudi agreement to price oil in dollars.  Pricing oil in currencies other than the dollar will lead to a steep decline in global demand for dollars, and consequently, a decline in demand for US debt.  This will further devalue the dollar and result in a potentially catastrophic rise of interest rates on US debt.

Click here for info on the Saudi/China partnership.  Saudi Arabia also backing al Qaeda affiliates in Syria, who are trying to overthrow the Assad regime.  According to a UK Telegraph article, Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan offered Russia a secret oil deal to control the world’s oil markets, if Russia would stop supporting Assad.

CSPAN aired a program demonstrating oil’s critical role in U.S. national security.  The program was a “global oil supply disruption simulation” with senior military, intelligence and industry leaders playing the part of presidential cabinet members.  The simulated scenario was a disruption of oil supplies from the Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia.

Participants included former Directors of National Intelligence John Negroponte and Stephen Hadley, General Charles Hadley, Admiral Dennis Blair and former CEO of Shell Oil John Hofmeister.  They all concluded that a disruption of oil from Saudi Arabia would be catastrophic for the U.S. economy.  Unfortunately, they emphasize the the development of green energy rather than domestic fossil fuels.  Hmmm? 

President Obama clearly understands oil’s critical role in U.S. security.  During a speech in Dayton Ohio, he said the price of gasoline would go to $12.00 dollars a gallon if Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.  The following comments come at 2:42 into his speech.

“An even more immediate and direct security threat comes from our dependence on foreign oil.  The price of a barrel of oil is now one of the most dangerous weapons in the world.  Tyrants from Caracas to Tehran use it to prop up their regimes, intimidate the international community, and hold us hostage to a market that is subject to their whims.  If Iran decided to shut down the petroleum rich Strait of Hormuz tomorrow, they believe oil would skyrocket to $300 a barrel in minutes, a price that one speculator predicted would result in  $12-a-gallon gas.”

The good news is, industry experts say U.S. natural gas reserves are equivalent to 3 times the Saudi oil reserves.  T. Boone Pickens cites this information 8 minutes into a speech on the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel.  At 15:50 into the video, Pickens is asked about fracking (hydraulic fracturing).  Mr. Picken’s answer demonstrates the proven safety record of fracking for oil and natural gas.

Pickens said fracking began in 1947 and 800,000 wells have been safely fracked in the Ogallala aquifer, America’s largest water aquifer.  The new technology that has greatly increased American oil and gas reserves, is horizontal drilling.  This is the ability to drill down, turn ninety degrees, and drill long distances horizontally in multiple directions.  The reduces the oil industry’s environmental impact because fewer drilling rigs, and the subsequent wells, can access a far greater quantity of oil and gas. 

Unfortunately, the use of domestic fossil fuels are limited by allegations that manmade CO2 emissions cause global warming.  James Inhofe is the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.  Check out the following links where Senator Inhofe and climate scientists document the fraudulent peer review process behind global warming data.

Politicians who use climate fraud to restrict use of domestic fossil fuels, represent a clear and present danger to U.S. national security.  In addition to climate fraud, most political and industry leaders embrace misinformation portraying fracking as a new technology without a proven safety record.  Big oil companies may see government restrictions on fracking as a way to limit production, thus keeping upward pressure on crude oil prices.  

The following links are related articles on energy:   Cheniere Energy, An Export Company To Know and Qatar Has World In Its Sights For Power Projects.  The article on Cheniere Energy addresses opposing views regarding the export of low cost natural gas, which will drive up the cost for domestic users.  It also mentions legislation that would prevent export of natural gas produced on Federal land.

If energy independence, U.S. competitiveness, and national security are the objective, the solution is fracking domestic oil and gas reserves and limiting exports.  Unfortunately, Federal “clean” energy mandates support wind, solar and electric cars while penalizing our lowest cost domestic energy sources.  Demand the repeal of “clean” energy mandates and incentivize the production of cars that run on natural gas, which is already piped into millions of homes that could be part of a nationwide system of natural gas fueling stations.

Energy sources like wind farms, solar farms and electric cars, require large quantities of lithium for batteries that store energy.  CNBC reported that Afghanistan is the “Saudi Arabia of lithium”, and Chinese State Owned Entities (SOE’s) have started mining in Afghanistan.  Coincidentally, China is one of the largest manufacturers of lithium batteries for electric cars.  So it seems Afghanistan is our first war for “clean” energy and American blood and treasure are  subsidizing China’s booming manufacturing economy, which is powered by fossil fuels.

Many people believe the Iraq war was about oil, and for the most part it was.  But most of Iraq’s oil is going to China.  That’s because many US leaders believe China’s communist economic model is superior to America’s market economy.  Evidence of this can be found in a Wall Street Journal article titled China’s Superior Economic Model.  So the U.S. military was used to subsidize Chinese communism by securing Iraqi oil.  US political and business leaders should be prosecuted for aiding the enemy.

Clean energy mandates force the export of domestic petroleum products and keep America dependent of foreign oil.  U.S. coal exports subsidize China’s communist economic model while clean energy mandates force U.S. citizens to use expensive alternatives. Citizens should contact elected representatives and tell them them to repeal clean energy mandates.  For more on the terrorist threat posed by Saudi Arabia, check out my post on the Saudi funding of ISIS.  For more on climate fraud and “clean” energy, check out my post on Climategate.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act into law Nov. 6, 1986.  Also known as the Simpson Mazzoli Act, the law gave amnesty to approximately 3 million illegal immigrants.  Now, the U.S. has an estimated 12 million more illegal immigrants residing in the country.

Unfortunately, President Reagan’s immigration reform created an incentive for more illegal immigration.  Was it compassionate to encourage millions of men, women, and children to risk their lives to come here illegally?  Was it compassionate to encourage them to live in legal limbo once they arrived?  I don’t think so.

While being interviewed on Faith Radio, Senate Chaplin Barry Black referred to illegal immigrants as undocumented immigrants.  If an illegal immigrant steals a loaf of bread, are they just an undocumented shopper because they don’t have a receipt as proof of purchase?

Hundreds of thousands of people are currently investing a great deal of time and money while they stand in line to become legal U.S. citizens.  And yet, many Christians believe that illegal immigrants should receive amnesty and citizenship while legal immigrants willingly endure the burden of following the law.  Which includes tax laws that service an exploding 20 Trillion dollar national debt.

How many people have died crossing deserts and oceans because they hoped to receive amnesty via immigration reform?  Many for sure.  Supporters of amnesty for illegal immigrants are directly responsible for incentivizing human trafficking.   If we use the leftist rationale for gun control, we should permanently ban all amnesty for illegal immigrants because it might save the life of one child.

The compassionate response is to consistently and fairly enforce existing immigration law as a means to deter illegal immigration and the resulting human trafficking.  This would save lives and reduce the number of illegal immigrants living in legal limbo.  Repeating the 1986 reform act would only make the problem worse.

Think about it as an individual.  How many people can you take into your home before living conditions deteriorate for everyone?  There’s a limit on the national level as well.  A nation’s first responsibility is to its legal immigrants and citizens, doing otherwise undermines the rule of law and integrity of citizenship. 

A compassionate policy would eliminate the possibility of amnesty.  Then begin a long term deportation plan focusing on those who have criminal records other than being here illegally.  Next, put more resources into helping productive individuals become citizens while reducing spending on welfare for illegal immigrants.  This creates an incentive for those serious about becoming legal U.S. citizens, and provides a deterrent for illegal entry. 

The goal is not to deport 12 million illegals, the goal is to consistently enforce the law in a way that preserves the integrity of our borders, citizenship, and economy.

On January 3, 2014, Jack Martin spoke about immigration reform.  He’s Project Director for FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants.  Jack talked about the powerful and well funded groups advocating for amnesty.  They include big business, unions, ethnic groups, religious groups, and universities.

Jack explained why each group supports amnesty and said “we wouldn’t have a chance in this [amnesty] debate if not for the fact that a majority of public opinion is on our side”.  So never underestimate the power of the people. Contact your elected officials and say no to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

Citizens must actively work to repeal policies that subvert our Constitutional Republic.  Talk to your friends and like minded business associates, organize a group dedicated to influencing public officials.  We must get in the game or accept defeat.

The immigration reforms put forth by Obama, Romney, Marco Rubio, etc., are worse than President Reagan’s.  Endless policy reform is part of a  larger pattern where government fails to enforce existing laws, and then uses their failure as a pretext to implement more laws.  Immigration reform, the financial crisis, and 911 are examples of this pattern that endlessly grows government.

In the link below, Republican Don Manzullo said regulators had all the tools necessary to prevent the financial crisis.  But instead of holding government officials responsible for not enforcing existing law, Obama’s finance reform created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).  But if there are no consequences for officials who fail to enforce existing law, why would more laws (reforms) be a solution?

The same thing “happened” with 911.  During the Clinton administration, John O’Neill was Director of Counter Terrorism at the FBI.  O’Neill repeatedly warned officials about an al Qaeda attack on U.S. soil,  but they ignored his warnings so O’Neill quit the FBI and became head of security for the World Trade Center.  He was killed in the 911 attack.

PBS did a documentary about O’Neill called The Man Who Knew.  Government failed to act on intelligence that could’ve prevented 911, then used their failure as a pretext to create Homeland Security, NSA wiretapping, the TSA, and other legislation subverting the Bill of Rights.  Likewise, immigration reform is another criminal attack on U.S. sovereignty and the unalienable rights of citizens.

The Wall Street Journal editorializes in favor of illegal immigration.  Why?

By definition, multinational companies are loyal to no country, i.e., they are fundamentally opposed to national sovereignty because it limits opportunities. For example, President Reagan did not allow US multinationals to outsource manufacturing to the Soviet Union for their cheap labor.  The transfer of wealth and technology to the USSR would have subsidized communism.

Prime ministers, US Presidents, and other world leaders have said they are creating a “new world order” via globalization, which is an attack on national sovereignty.  Using immigration reform to undermine economies, borders and citizenship, is part of a global agenda to subvert the sovereignty of nation states.  This subversive agenda is demonstrated by Western leaders who flood their countries with unvetted refugees fleeing ISIS.

The following video contains clips of President George H. W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Henry Kissinger, and others, referring to a “new world order”.  Much of the video is subjective, but given the ungodly direction of our world, we should question the motives of world leaders who are working toward a new world order.

 For more info click on the pdf file Knowledge is Power.

Morals, Ethics, and the Role of Gov’t in a Capitalist Economy

Science is base on experiments.  Experiments are based on observation.  This process of drawing conclusions by observing the physical world is called empiricism.  Empirical observations are the building blocks of science.  This process also applies to moral and ethical behavior.

Morals and ethics are rooted in observing and practicing human behaviors that have proven to yield the highest quality of life for individuals and communities. The positive effects of moral behavior have been proven throughout human history.  Contrary to the theory of moral relativism, the beneficial effects of moral behavior are based on proven scientific fact, not transient perception.

Take greed for example, how many parents intentionally teach their children to practice greed within their own family?  Few, if any.  Why?  It would create a miserable family experience.  Greed is NEVER good if the objective is a just, moral society based on the rule of law.  The proven benefits of moral behavior are not relative, and their relevance does not diminish because of technology, terrorism, the passage of time, or a culture of corruption.

Four thousand years ago, the Babylonian King Hammurabi created a sophisticated code of laws governing the behavior of individuals and businesses.  The Code of Hammurabi covered such matters as false accusation, witchcraft, military service, land and business regulations, family laws, tariffs, wages, trade, loans and debts.  The main principle of the code was that “the strong shall not injure the weak.” 

Hammurabi’s code set up a social order based on the rights of the individual and backed by the supreme authority of the law.  These basic principles are found in ancient Greek democracy, the Roman Republic, and America’s founding documents, just to name a few.  So in a just, moral society, markets are not “free”, they are subject to the rule of law and subordinate to the government that enforces the law.

Free market disciples believe markets are amoral, i.e., “free” from any judgment, whether moral or immoral.  But when one considers that markets are created and run by humans, the argument that markets are amoral falls apart.  Every nation on earth has laws against fraud, theft, murder, etc., and these laws are based on moral judgments.  So the argument that man made markets are amoral is just a clever attempt to place financial elites above the law.

Google “amoral markets”, you’ll find some interesting information.  Laws against murder, theft, fraud, assault, etc., are based on universally accepted notions of morality that are not specific to any religion.  Even atheists agree to subject themselves to these fundamental notions of right and wrong.

Framers of the U.S. Constitution instituted a government based on equality before the law, not equality of income or outcome.  Equality before the law means everybody plays by the same rules.  This creates a level playing field and a competitive efficient economy based on merit, not privilege.

The role of government in a capitalist economy is similar to that of a referee in professional sports, i.e., fairly enforce the rules so the game is competitive.  If one team is allowed to step out of bounds without being penalized, the game would be rigged.  This is precisely the situation with Too Big To Fail (TBTF) banks.

President of the Kansas City Federal Reserve, Thomas Hoenig, said TBTF companies “have the availability of different rules” …. “The United States has been the most successful economy in history…because for the most part over it’s history, it has been bound by the rules of capitalism, which does in fact reward success, but also compels participants in the market to play by open rules…and [participants] are compelled to fail when they make poor decisions”.

TBTF banks are the product of a market “free” from the rules of capitalism.   Businesses must be allowed to fail if they exercise poor judgement, this is one of the basic rules of capitalism.  America’s founders wanted a market economy, not a free market, i.e., a market free from the rule of law and rules of capitalism.  George Washington would probably consider an 8.6 TRILLION bail out of Wall Street banks an act of treason.  The book Godonomics illustrates Biblical principles behind private property rights and market economies based on moral principles.

By inserting the Commerce Clause into the U.S. Constitution, the framers made market principles subordinate to the principles of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Supreme Law of the land.  But the Commerce Clause also limits government’s ability to interfere in the market activities of citizens.  In his ruling on Obamacare, Chief Justice Roberts said the “individual mandate is not a valid exercise of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause”.  But then Roberts betrayed the intent of the framers and ruled the individual mandate is a Constitutional tax.

Adam Smith’s book The Wealth of Nations is often cited by free market disciples as a justification for getting government out of business.  They want a market “free” from legal and moral Constitutional constraints, so they never mention another book by Smith titled The Theory of Moral Sentiment.  He concludes that morality plays a significant role in economic activity, and as a result, human beings do not make decisions based solely on greedy self interest.

Smith recognized the innate human quality known as enlightened self interest, i.e., the instinctual understanding that helping the less fortunate serves ones own self interest.  One example of enlightened self interest is the creation of public utilities to deliver electricity.  If left solely in private hands, poor people and small businesses could be priced out of the market.  Electricity is considered an essential service, so public utilities were created and they’ve delivered cost efficient, high quality products that serve individual and commercial interests very well.

The public utiltiy model should be applied to delivery of basic healthcare services.  Public healthcare utilities, managed by the states, could exist along side private companies and provide cost efficient services, without heavy handed mandates requiring everyone to purchase a particular product.

Most of the founding fathers believed in God and drew on the moral values of the Bible when creating our founding documents.  The principles codified in our founding documents are based on thousands of years of empirical evidence, and represent an enlightened moral view of government and the world.  Wall Street’s 650 TRILLION derivatives market is referred to as “dark money” because it’s unregulated.

The values represented by dark money are a direct attack on Judeo-Christian values codified in the Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights.  Fascist elites refuse to accept the self evident truths and moral principles of enlightened government.  So they’re using the immoral power of dark money to enslave sovereign nations and create a world governed by the principles of organized crime.

Unlike contracts traded on exchanges (NYSE, CME, CBOT), dark derivative contracts, and the risks associated with them, are hidden from controlled exchanges and regulators.  Whereas, exchange traded contracts are subject to margin calls, i.e., the trader has skin in the game.

Unregulated derivatives give financial elites leverage to extort bailouts from sovereign nations.  This leverage exists because the crash of a 650 Trillion dark market would collapse the global economy.  Propagandists call this a free market.  In reality, it’s a market free from the rule of law and rules of capitalism, which is socialism trending toward fascism. 

Propagandists on the left pretend to oppose Wall Street’s socialist agenda while advocating for more socialism.  Oops!  Maybe they didn’t get the memo, TBTF banks epitomize socialistic fascism.  Securities lawyer Lynn Stout wrote an easy to understand article about derivatives.  It explains how returning to common law regulation of derivatives may prevent another crisis.  Global banks control the derivatives market and use it to threaten nations with economic collapse if they don’t give up their sovereignty.  

Two examples are the 700 Billion TARP bailout and Dodd-Frank, Obama’s finance reform bill.  Some Congressional members were told the U.S. would be under martial law if they didn’t pass TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program). And Dodd-Frank’s Resolution Authority allows the executive branch to spend TRILLIONS on future Wall Street bailouts, without Congressional approval.  Harvard economist Jeff Miron testified before Congress and said Dodd-Frank will “institutionalize TARP” for bank holding companies.

 

To varying degrees, the U.S. economy has always been a public-private partnership.  An example that best illustrates the proper use of public-private partnerships is Thomas Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase.  But even Jefferson acknowledged he may have exceeded Constitutional limits with the Louisiana Purchase.  In spite of stretching Constitutional limits, it may have been the most successful economic development program in U.S. history.

However,  public-private partnerships should facilitate a competitive, efficient market based on merit, and not crony socialism based on privilege.  Today’s public-private partnerships almost always subsidize a global network of cronies while dumping the cost of subsidies on U.S. taxpayers.  Bipartisan leaders and CEO’s of multinationals disguise their global system of subsidized cronyism by calling it free market capitalism and free trade.

Thomas Hoenig is President of the Kansas City Federal Reserve.  Listen to his full speech where he says TBTF banks are “inconsistent with the concept of capitalism” and play by “different rules”.  Senator Brown said large companies can risk bankruptcy at the expense of society, “this is not capitalism in any sense of the word”.  Economist Joseph Stiglitz said the economy is severely distorted by large banks who privatize profits and socialize losses, “this isn’t capitalism”.

Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron said, “capitalism without failure is like religion without hell, there has to be a risk of punishment if you make mistakes, and with the banks, we didn’t do that”.

Thomas Hoenig says TBTF banks are too big to exist and should be broken up by reinstating Glass Steagall, which kept Wall Street speculation in check until it was repealed in 1999.  Click here and listen to Mr. Hoenig’s entire speech.

Neil Barofsky was the Inspector General for TARP.  Regarding the nine largest banks, he said “it didn’t matter if they were cooking the books on their balance sheets, Treasury was giving them money anyway.  In fact, if they had even larger holes on their balance sheets due to FRAUD, that would’ve been only more reason for Treasury to give them money”.

William Black was Deputy Director of the Savings and Loan Corporation during the S&L meltdown, and helped obtain 1000 criminal convictions of bankers.  He says the public cost of the 2008 financial crisis is “seventy times greater” than the S&L crisis, but in spite of compelling evidence demonstrating bank fraud, there have been few criminal prosecutions.

Click here and listen to a radio interview where Black presents evidence for prosecuting financial fraud.  Bottom line, if America is going to have a competitive, capitalist, market economy, government must equally enforce the rule of law and rules of capitalism.

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson said governments are instituted in order to secure our unalienable rights.  A capitalist economic system provides the greatest amount of freedom for individuals to exercise those rights, and government’s role is to protect those rights from all enemies foreign and domestic.

Authoritarian ideologies like Communism are a threat to our Constitutional and economic freedoms, so government must protect the U.S. economy  from authoritarian regimes.  That’s why Ronald Reagan rejected free trade and didn’t outsource America’s manufacturing base to the Soviet Union, even though labor costs were much lower under the authoritarian Communist regime.

From 1789 to 1999 the U.S. government engaged in trade protection, and as a result, the U.S. economy became the most prosperous, powerful economy in world history.  But ended Clinton implemented free trade policies, which are based on the notion there’s nothing exceptional about America, we’re just one nation among many so trade policy shouldn’t be used to protect American values.  I consider this treason.  Why?  Free trade gives brutal dictatorships like Communist China, which tortures its citizens, competitive advantage over America.

The Chinese gov’t uses strong arm tactics to force people to work for slave wages, so competing with slavery will require Americans to first become slaves.  The terms “free” market and “free” trade describe an economic model free from moral and legal Constitutional constraints.  Free trade is used to subsidize totalitarian regimes at the expense of Western representative governments.

Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, etc. whine about Obama’s progressive agenda to redistribute wealth to the poor.  And yet, they support free trade, which is the single largest redistribution of wealth in history.  They say free trade is the result of globalization, which is driven by the invisible hand of the market.  This is a lie.

First of all, the economy was global when Columbus stumbled on America in search of a new trade route to the East Indies.  When Beck and Limbaugh talk about globalization, they’re talking about government trade policies that redistribute capital and technology to emerging market countries, a.k.a., the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China).

Charlie Rose discussed free trade and globalization with Jim O’Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management.  The show began with Mr. O’Neill taking credit for coining the term BRIC.  Goldman’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein wanted to call emerging markets led by China CRIB, but O’Neill wanted the emerging markets represented by the term BRIC.

The invisible hand of the market became visible shortly after 13:50 into the interview.  That’s when Charlie Rose asked Jim O’Neill about the possibility of China’s bubble bursting.  JIm said, “Some days I wake up and think, what have I created with this damn thing?  I worry about that.”  Goldman Sachs was instrumental in restructuring trade policy to favor Communist China.

Shortly after 29min/45sec O’Neill said, “In order for the world to progress, we have to let some things go to other people.”  Charlie then alluded to the massive transfer of wealth from the U.S. to China and asked, “What are the political implications for all this, especially for this country which has been on top for so long?”  Jim responded, “I’d like to hear President Obama say, how do we adjust before he says how do we compete”.

O’Neill then referred to Obama’s economic adviser Larry Summers saying, “he understands [China’s] relative advantage in international trade.”  Free trade is designed to pick winners and losers in the global economy and Goldman Sachs picked America to lose.  Because of their influence in Washington DC, Goldman Sachs is referred to as Government Sachs.  Financial elites have achieved regulatory capture and subverted representative government.

Free trade has yielded a 600 Billion annual trade deficit with the world, 300 Billion with the Communist government of China.  Pat Mulloy is a member of the US/China Economic and Security Review Commission.  He says trade deficits will result in the Communist government of China owning large chunks of the U.S. economy, and Chinese investments are not coming back to buy our goods, they’re coming back to buy America.

Rep. Brad Sherman said the “cancerous” trade relationship with China is driven by enormous corporate power.  This is similar to what King George III and his private sector cronies were doing to the American colonies.  King George had given the British East India Company a monopoly on the tea trade, which enforced tea taxes and extracted wealth for investments in other parts of the British Empire.

After the American Revolution, corporations remained small institutions chartered at the state level for specific purposes.  By law, they could not make political contributions, could not own stock in other companies, were required to serve the public interest, and could only exist for a limited period of time.  And corporate owners were liable for losses and crimes committed by the corporation.  John D. Rockefeller led efforts to change laws requiring corporate owners to serve the public interest and be liable for losses and crimes.

President Sherman passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act as a means to curb the power of monopolistic corporations that were destroying competitive markets.  This led to the break up of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil monopoly, and in 1902, President Roosevelt used anti-trust law to break up J.P. Morgan’s banking monopoly.  This is the role government needs to play in order to maintain a competitive market economy.  Click here for a brief history of corporations in the United States of America.

This Wall Street Journal article “China’s Superior Economic Model”, demonstrates US leaders preference for China’s totalitarian model. Supporters of free trade say America must bend over for China because they own so much of our debt.  But as Rep. Sherman said, there’s no way for China to collect the debt unless U.S. leaders give it to them.  And unless we stop them, they’ll continue selling U.S. land, resources and infrastructure to China’s Communist government.

The objective is to give China’s totalitarian regime increasing control over the U.S. economy via trade policies that increase U.S. debt One example is the sale of the Long Beach Naval base to the Chinese government.  The base was one of only two deep water ports on the West coast capable of providing dry dock services to the U.S. fleet.

Free trade is literally trade protection for China’s totalitarian economic model.  The U.S. could destroy China’s totalitarian regime by imposing tariffs on Chinese imports and rebuilding U.S. manufacturing.  Trillions of dollars now going to China would stay in America and grow the domestic economy enough to pay down government debt.

In a capitalist economy based on the rule of law, trade policy should be used to protect Constitutional and economic freedoms from totalitarian ideologies.  Why?  Free trade is funding China’s unprecedented military build up.  Furthermore, Iran and North Korea are being armed and subsidized by China.  The treasonous US-China partnership enables corrupt elites to play both sides of global conflicts, which are used as a pretext to restrict the exercise of unalienable rights.  It’s a classic divide and conquer strategy.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, industrialized nations have dominated the world economy.  Why?  Because the technology, jobs, and exports generated by an industrial economy are the engine of wealth creation.  America sends Trillions to Communist China to buy their manufactured goods.  Then China uses that money to buy US debt and assets.

US-China trade policies are a back door way to bring China’s command and control economic model to America.  This is not capitalism.  It’s an imminent threat to our economic freedoms, Constitutional Republic, and the unalienable rights it guarantees.  For more info check out the pdf “Knowledge is Power”.

Stand Up For Your Rights!

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Social engineers are trying to dilute the rights specified in the original Bill of Rights by creating and feeding a sense of entitlement in the people.  This has resulted in a nebulous, ever expanding definition of rights, i.e., the right to a college education, health care, and the list goes on to include the right to never be offended.  The rights this post calls citizens to stand up for are those specified in the Bill of Rights.  It’s important to remember that the thirteen colonies refused to ratify the Constitution without the first ten amendments that codify the Bill of Rights.

Education and health care are essential components of a prosperous, moral society, but they should be provided by the people’s sense of enlightened self interest as described in the post titled Morals, Ethics, and the Role of Government in a Capitalist Economy.

This website is based on three self evident truths: 1) The Creator has endowed all people with certain unalienable rights.  2) There will always be people who want to restrict the free exercise of those rights and impose a dictatorship.  3) Divide and conquer is the primary strategy used by those seeking dictatorial rule.

This divide and conquer strategy is central to the secular, humanist, Godless agenda that is poisoning America’s culture today.  The Catholic network, EWTN, aired a documentary about the life of socialist community organizer Saul Alinsky, who in his book “Rules for Radicals”, paid tribute to Lucifer as the first radical who rebelled against God.  The documentary about Alinsky, titled “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”, illustrates how the socialist tactics of Alinsky and his followers are behind current racial divisions, radical feminism, abortion, the LGBTQ movement, and much more.

America’s left vs. right political paradigm is a prime example of divide and conquer.  Both sides lie and their respective media fan the flames of division, meanwhile, corrupt power brokers usurp the people’s right to representation. This process is clearly illustrated in the post, Obamacare, The Big Lie.

Left, right and center media each contain fragments of truth but never connect the dots.  This is a propaganda technique called compartmentalization.  It’s used to create factions that facilitate a divide and conquer agenda.  Their modus operandi is to create order out of chaos, i.e., create chaos nationally and globally then use the chaos as a pretext to implement authoritarian policies.  Possible solutions are suggested throughout this website, but I recommend starting with those presented in Fast and Furious, Guns, and Safe Schools.

The Declaration of Independence states that our rights come from the Creator, not government.  Unfortunately, today’s political leaders only pay lip service to unalienable rights while working together to establish a dictatorial regime.  In the past, bipartisan leaders acknowledged God as the source of our rights.  JFK said “our rights do not come from the generosity of government, but from the hand of God.”  Ronald Reagan encouraged Americans to “renew our faith and hope” as “we are a nation under God”.

George Washington added “so help me God” to his inaugural speech.  During Lincoln’s 760 word (second) inaugural speech, he mentioned God’s name 14 times. Thomas Jefferson said the following in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.  That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and institute new Government….”

The self evident truths described in the Declaration of Independence are based on the concept of natural law.  Like the laws of physics, natural law is established by observing the natural world.  So by observing the natural world, America’s founders concluded that all men are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights. 

In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul says we can know truth by observing the natural world.  Paul said our ungodly behavior is without excuse because the existence of God is demonstrated by creation.  Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.

The apostle Paul expands on the concept of natural law, i.e., self evident truth, in Romans 2:14-15.  Paul was talking about God’s law given to the Jews, and Gentiles who obey God’s law even though it was not given to them.  Romans 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another.

The liberty described in America’s founding documents is a moral concept, so this liberty only exists within a moral framework.  God gave humanity a moral framework in the ten commandments and teachings of Jesus Christ.  The last six commandments establish fundamental rights of the individual, which are summed up in Jesus commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.  The ten commandments provides a moral framework producing limited governments that promote liberty because individuals who subject themselves to God’s law, do not need heavy handed government to control them.

In the Bible, Romans 13 says ruling authorities (governments) are ordained by God to be a force for good.  In America’s Constitutional Republic, private citizens (we the people) are the ruling authority, and they elect public servants to represent their interests.  When our God given rights are infringed upon, it’s the citizens duty to stand up for their rights.

Even the apostle Paul took a stand for his rights as a Roman citizen.  Because Paul asserted his rights, he was able to present the gospel to governors, kings, and the Roman emperor.  Paul, a Jew, had spent years starting churches throughout the Roman empire.  When he returned to Jerusalem, which was under Roman control, he was considered a traitor by Jews who rejected Jesus Christ.  The Jews tried to kill Paul so Roman authorities intervened and arrested Paul for causing a riot.

Claudius Lysias was chief captain of the Roman army in Jerusalem.  He ordered his men to beat and interrogate Paul, but Paul asserted his rights as a Roman citizen, which dramatically changed his situation.

Acts 22: 24-30 The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman [citizen], and uncondemned?

26 When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman [citizen]. 27 Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28 And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman [citizen], and because he had bound him. 30 On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the [Jewish] chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.

Paul defended himself before the Roman authorities and Jewish council but the Jews plotted to kill Paul.  A young man warned the Roman captain of the plot to kill Paul, so the captain moved Paul from Jerusalem to Caesarea to appear before the Roman governor.

Acts 23: 22-30 So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me. 23 And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night; 24 And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor.

25 And he wrote a letter after this manner: 26 Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix sendeth greeting. 27 This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman [citizen] 28 And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council: 29 Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds. 30 And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.

Because Paul asserted his rights as a Roman citizen, he appeared before Roman governors, King Agrippa and the Roman emperor.  Every time Paul defended himself before the authorities, he was sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and advancing the kingdom of God.  Eventually, the Roman emperor beheaded Paul for sedition because he would not renounce Christ as King over all, including Caesar.

Paul spent the last two years in Rome under house arrest.  Acts 28:30-31 And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, 31 Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.  Like Paul, American citizens must stand up for their Bill of Rights, which are ordained by God to be a force for good in the world.  However, our Bill of Rights do not include equality of income or outcome, but rather, equality before the law.

Ultimately, it’s the truth that sets us free, and the truth is a person, Jesus Christ.  Only Christ can free us from the shame, guilt, fear and condemnation resulting from sin.  John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me.  John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.  If you want to experience the freedom that can only be found in Christ, check out the post Bible verses to remember.  If you do not believe that God exists, you will find convincing evidence to the contrary at science disproves evolution.

Some say the U.S. was founded on racist principles.  But our founding documents are based on Judeo-Christian principles and principles of democracy and representative government that originated in ancient Greece and Rome.  The inspirational principles expressed in our founding documents led to the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement, and women’s right to vote.  America’s founding principles are timeless, so their relevance is not diminished by the passage of time, technology, or the current culture of corruption.

In William Federer’s book titled America’s God and Country, he documents references to God in the original charters of the colonies, State Constitutions, and other historical documents.  His work proves that Christian values were an integral part of American government, and they are the moral foundation making limited government possible.  We must restore the framers intent regarding the first amendment, i.e., freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.

The Creator endowed all human beings with unalienable rights.  However, tyrannical governments can restrict the exercise of those rights, but whether slave or free, we still retain our unalienable rights.  So as stated in the Declaration of Independence, people create governments for the purpose of securing their rights.  All governments have adopted universally accepted notions of morality, i.e., they have laws prohibiting murder, theft, etc., but keeping corruption in check is an ongoing challenge.  So the role of government is to provide and enforce a moral framework that secures the unalienable rights of its citizens. 

Legitimate representative government is based on the informed consent of the governed.  But both political parties use spin, a.k.a. fraud, to misinform, divide and disenfranchise otherwise engaged citizens.  This allows a small group of lobbyists and politicians to manufacture a false consent and implement illegitimate policies harmful to America.  Then the same group of deceptive insiders blame misinformed citizens for the problems facing our nation.

Citizens are fed an endless diet of bipartisan finger pointing, whereby politicians and lobbyists are not accountable for their actions.  It’s a bipartisan scheme to subvert the rule of law by circumventing Constitutional checks and balances.  America’s founders recognized the ongoing threat of tyranny, so the Declaration of Independence establishes the right of citizens to abolish governments that fail to secure their unalienable rights.

Bipartisan leaders work together to chip away at our unalienable rights.  Republicans used national security issues to implement the Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and warrantless wiretapping.  Democrats use social and environmental issues to continually increase government control over citizens.  They’re like tag team wrestlers, so no matter which party is in power, our freedoms are slowly being eroded.  Some say you can’t fight city hall, but that notion is spread by those who want citizens to give up their rights without a fight.

We admire sports teams who fight to the very end, even if the game appears lost.  Citizens must adopt the same attitude when fighting for unalienable rights.  A never give up attitude enabled Dr. Martin Luther King and his followers to achieve victory.  The founders ended the Declaration of Independence with these words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor”.  They understood the price of freedom, and if we want to preserve the rights they fought and died for, we must make a commitment to organize and stand up for our rights.

In order to understand the challenges facing representative governments around the world, current events must be viewed in a historical context, i.e., there have always been, and always will be, corrupt elites who want to enslave the people.  And, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, industrial economies have dominated the global economy because manufacturing generates enormous wealth in the form of jobs, technology and investment.

Bipartisan leaders and their “private” sector cronies prefer dictatorship to representative government so they’ve partnered with China’s communist regime.  By moving much of America’s manufacturing base to China under the guise of free trade, US leaders are subsidizing a totalitarian economic model and selling off the U.S. economy to foreign governments.  The objective of bipartisan leaders is to create a global economy dominated by totalitarian regimes, a.k.a. globalization.  The Wall Street Journal article “China’s Superior Economic Model”, demonstrates that many US leaders favor China’s totalitarian economic model.

Presidents Bush and Obama have told college students they’re competing with Chinese workers.  But working conditions in Chinese factories are slave like, so how can Americans compete with China without first becoming slaves?  China’s Vice President Xi describes the US/China relationship as a cooperative partnership, and partners don’t compete, they work together to achieve common goals, like bringing China’s totalitarian model to America.

Fortunately, when tyranny occurs we can look to the past for encouragement.  For example, many colonists felt defeating the British Empire was an impossible task.  But before the collapse of every dictatorship, the oppressed thought it would never end, and after the collapse of every dictatorship, they wondered how it lasted as long as it did.

Media propaganda is a serious threat to the unalienable rights of citizens.  It’s used to manufacture a false consent, therefore the powers exercised by our government are unjust and illegitimate.  Without propaganda, Hitler could not have convinced German citizens to follow him into hell, and propaganda, i.e., the fraudulent left/right narrative, is more sophisticated than ever.  Left, right and center media each contain fragments of truth but never connect the dots.  This propaganda technique is called compartmentalization.  It’s used to create factions that facilitate a divide and conquer agenda.  

If citizens want to know where the tyrants have buried the bodies, i.e., the corpse of  America’s prosperous Republic, look behind issues the left-right media agree on.  A prime example is globalization and free trade.  Fareed Zakaria has a Sunday show on CNN, which most people consider leftist.  Fareed does a segment each week called “What in the World?“, which recently covered the topic of globalization.  Like right wing media, Fareed extolled the virtues of free trade and globalization, and said the Great Depression was exacerbated by the implementation of protectionist trade polices (tariffs).  But as usual, the facts about free trade and globalization don’t fit the fraudulent media narrative.

Now Obama is calling for fast track trade authority to implement a new “free” trade agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).  The following text and next two paragraph are from the previous link.  What’s wrong with fast track?  For most of the past 200 years, Congress negotiated trade policy and wrote the laws to oversee trade, as required in the Constitution’s Commerce Clause.  This power was first transferred to the Executive Office when Nixon was granted Fast Track in 1974 as part of his consolidation of presidential power.  Fast Track expired in 2007

As far as President Obama is concerned, the TPP is entering the home stretch.  All he needs now is for Congress to vote to grant him Fast Track, also known as Trade Promotion Authority, and it’s a done deal.   Fast Track would allow the President to sign the TPP before it goes to Congress.  Members of Congress would then have a short time period to hold an up or down vote and would be prohibited from making amendments.  Without Fast Track, which was used to pass NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO), it is unlikely that the TPP could be signed into law.

The Obama administration has been negotiating the TPP in secret for more than three years.  Unlike past trade agreements, the text of the TPP is classified and members of Congress have restricted access to it.  If they do read the text, they are not allowed to copy it or discuss any specifics of it.  However, more than 600 corporate advisers have direct access to the text on their computers.  The secretive negotiations creating the TPP are a threat to representative government and a usurpation of citizens rights. 

Throughout this website, you’ll find information from both sides of the media and political debate.  I’m a conservative, but getting the whole truth requires connecting the bits of truth that exist on both sides of the left/right debate.  

There’s quite a bit of information overlap in the various posts because the different topics are all related.  And repeating facts establishes a baseline of information that counters media spin.

Corrupt elites use media to divide and conquer because they know the pen and keyboard are mightier than the sword.  So the purpose of this website is to connect the dots, arm citizens with accurate information, and create a united citizenry.

Thank you for your interest in the challenges facing our nation.  Albert Einstein said “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them and do nothing”.  Stand up for your rights, i.e., use em or lose em!

THE ETHANOL DEBACLE

President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act into law in 2005.  The law mandated the creation of artificial markets for biofuels like ethanol, as well wind and solar farms.  Energy independence is the purported objective, but Senator Coburn recently said Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) may force two Oklahoma refineries to shut down.  He went on to say “we’ve got a regulation out there that’s actually going to kill our ability to provide gasoline to the country”. 

Ethanol proponents say the industry is not subsidized but the facts indicate otherwise.  Refiners are forced to blend ethanol with gasoline and have to purchase credits (RINs) if they don’t.  According to this article, RINs “operate as a flexible subsidy for biofuel producers and are paid for by U.S. refiners.”  And the refiners total cost of compliance in 2013 is 19.6 Billion dollars.

The cost of compliance is under the heading “Ethanol’s costs are the refiner’s tax”.  This cost is passed onto consumers at the pump, and it will increase if the EPA forces refiners to increase the amount of ethanol they blend.  Continental Resources is the largest independent oil company in America.  Continental’s CEO, Harold Hamm, says ethanol mandates drive up the cost of gasoline at the pump 9 cents per gallon and force the export of gasoline.  

Monroe Energy LLC, a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, anticipates spending tens of millions of dollars in the next several months to acquire credits because it does not blend its own ethanol into gasoline.  The company called the ethanol policy “absurd” because it requires more ethanol than the U.S. market can use.  But it’s more than absurd, it’s a criminal fraud like Obamacare because falsified climate data was used to justify clean energy mandates.

Federal Clean Energy mandates are just as destructive to the U.S. economy and concept of capitalism as Obamacare.  For example, our nation has a 250 year supply of coal but taxpayers are forced to subsidize wind farms.  And solar farms subsidize Communist China’s manufacturing.

Check out the post Saudi Arabia, China, and Arab Emirates Own Critical U.S. Energy Infrastructure.  Bipartisan leaders allow foreign governments to own U.S. energy infrastructure while clean energy mandates force us to export low cost fossil fuels.  And this is their idea of energy independence?  Contact your elected officials and tell them to repeal clean energy and Obamacare mandates.

Clean energy mandates are preventing energy independence by limiting use of domestic fossil fuel reserves.  In 2013, the ethanol mandate will cost refiners, and eventually consumers, 19.6 Billion dollars.  Meanwhile, the U.S. has so much cheap natural gas, domestic oil wells burn off (flare) a billion dollars worth of natgas per year.

We should use natural gas as a transportation fuel because our domestic reserves are equivalent to 3 times the Saudi oil reserves.   And natural gas is already piped into millions of American homes, which could be part of a nationwide system of fueling stations.  For more info on climate fraud check out this post on Climategate.  You’ll find links to the CEO’s of General Electric and Exxon Mobil calling for cap and trade and carbon taxes.

Thomas Jefferson


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CIVIL DISCOURSE

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CRITICAL THINKING

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GOOD CITIZENSHIP

The Declaration of Independence was drafted by Thomas Jefferson.  As a student of history and law, Jefferson drew on 3000 years of Western tradition when declaring our independence from a tyrannical king.  His knowledge of Judeo-Christian values, ancient Greek democracy, the Roman Republic, and English Magna Carta, etc., provided the foundation for the Declaration of Independence, which has inspired oppressed people around the world to strive for freedom.

Thomas Jefferson was the principal dreamer of the Founding Fathers.  A pragmatic and practical visionary, Jefferson was one of the most creative men who ever lived. He penned the thirty-five most revolutionary words in the history of the English language: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Some say the United States were founded on racism.  But the framers of the Constitution understood the contradiction of slavery, so the Preamble of the Constitution states “We the People…in order to create a more perfect Union…”  The framers knew the Union would not be perfect so they set forth principles that have inspired the world.  These same moral principles led to the right of women and former slaves to vote as full citizens.

The principles codified in our founding documents are timeless, their relevance is not diminished by technology, corrupt leadership or globalization. They’re based on self-evident truths, beginning with the recognition that unalienable rights emanate from a Creator, not men or governments instituted by men.

Governments are instituted to secure those rights and abolished when they fail to secure those rights.  Self-evident means the argument is over, the truth is self-evident.   But America’s bipartisan tyrants still seek to deny the truth, and this is the root of America’s problems today.  Freedom isn’t free, and the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, so stand up for your rights!

Alexander Hamilton was the first U.S. Treasury Secretary.  He favored a strong central government and private central bank that could issue currency and lend it to governments at interest. Thomas Jefferson opposed the Federalists and wanted a less centralized government that delegated power to states and individuals.

Jefferson also questioned whether a private central bank was constitutional and said banks are “more dangerous than standing armies”.  Jefferson’s contempt for banks was founded in his knowledge of the tyrannical monetary system enslaving Europe.  Today’s extreme consolidation of power in the Federal Reserve, Federal government and Wall Street, is Alexander Hamilton’s aristocratic vision for America in full bloom.

The Constitution does not prescribe voting as a means to check government power, it prescribes three separate but equal branches of government as a check on power.  This includes the Judicial Branch.  But the Justice Department abdicates its duty to prosecute high crimes and misdemeanors committed by elected officials, meanwhile politicians and media act as if voting is the only means to check government power.

The two party system is used to protect criminal politicians that subvert Constitutional checks and balances.  It’s a citizen’s duty to vote, but until we restore the rule of law, government will not fulfill its obligation to secure our unalienable rights.

The founders set up a government based on equality before the law, not equality of income or outcome.  Equality before the law means everybody plays by the same rules.  This is necessary for a political process and market economy based on merit, not privilege.  

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson listed the multitude of crimes committed by King George III against the colonies.  This list of grievances were the moral and legal grounds for the American Revolution.  U.S. citizens must do the same thing today, we must present our list of grievances to local attorneys, public prosecutors, Sheriff’s, State Attorneys General, and U.S. Attorneys.  Feel free to use evidence compiled in this website as the basis for your list of grievances.

The purpose of our founding documents was to create a nation of laws, not a nation of men and women whose tyrannical aspirations deprive citizens of their unalienable rights.  Thomas Paine said, if there were to be a king, it would have to be the rule of law, and if a day of celebration were to be set aside, then homage should be paid to the law, a crown set upon it to remind those gathered that “the law is king.”  Restoring the rule of law is job one if we are going to return to limited government.

The Jefferson Hour Forum was a website allegedly dedicated to promoting Jeffersonian principles.  It was a spin off of The Thomas Jefferson Hour radio show hosted by David Swenson and Jefferson scholar, Clay Jenkinson.  I wrote posts at the JH Forum under the username “epluribusunum”.  The Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum means “out of many one”, and symbolizes the coming together of many different peoples to form the United States of America.

This website (Citizens United) was started as a means to counter propaganda coming from the entire media spectrum.  Left, right and center media each contain fragments of truth but never connect the dots, this is a propaganda technique called compartmentalization.  Unfortunately, this technique is practiced on the The Thomas Jefferson Hour radio show, so I used the JH Forum to expose the propaganda and connect the dots.

June 11, 2012, I was banned from the Jefferson Hour Forum for presenting information contained in this website, and exposing The Jefferson Hour’s use of public airwaves to spread misinformation.  Imagine that, a site allegedly dedicated to promoting Jeffersonian principles, banned free speech.  The JH Forum no longer exists, and I suspect the site’s hypocritical tone was a contributing factor.

The pictures of Thomas Jefferson at the beginning of this post and the second paragraph were copied from The Thomas Jefferson Hour website.  I thank them for their contribution.

Using propaganda on the American people used to be illegal, but thanks to President Obama, the newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on the American public.

This is the definition of propaganda from Websters New Students Dictionary:  “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring a cause…”.  In this case, the cause being injured is the right of citizens to give their informed consent to government policies.

By law, broadcasters must use public airwaves to serve the public interest and their licenses can be revoked for spreading misinformation.  Citizens must pressure  broadcasters and the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to use public airwaves in a way that serves the public interest. 

When Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, many colonists thought taking on the British Empire was a futile effort that could only end in disaster.  Today, many U.S. citizens look at the tyrannical state of our nation and feel there’s nothing we can do to change things.  But this kind of fatalistic thinking only empowers the tyrants and leads to horrific outcomes like Nazi Germany.

Securing freedom and defeating tyranny requires commitment.  For example, U.S. troops put everything on the line in defense of our liberty.  We send our military all around the world to fight for freedom, so the least we can do is stand up for liberty here at home.  Doing anything less makes a mockery of the sacrifice made by our troops.

Thomas Jefferson understood the degree of commitment necessary to defeat tyranny, so he ended the Declaration of Independence with these words:

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

For more info click on the pdf file Knowledge is Power.

THE END TIMES, RAPTURE, and PDF: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

The pdf Knowledge is Power, documents methods used to corrupt nations and suggests possible solutions.  The online version returns to the beginning of the document after using a link, so it’s easier to use the links if you email the pdf to yourself.  You need Adobe Reader to open the file, click here for a free download.

The world is becoming more chaotic but do not be afraid.  Remember the encouraging words of Jesus after he promised to send the Comforter (Holy Spirit).  John 16:33 These things I (Jesus) have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Being cheerful during tribulation is only possible if you’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ overcame the world, but we must warn and educate others who fall prey to sophisticated propaganda.

However, gaining knowledge of what’s happening in our chaotic world is secondary to the spiritual knowledge described in 2 Peter 1:2-4:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Proverbs 1:7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:  but fools despise wisdom and instruction.  Psalm 2:10-12  Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth 11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 12 Kiss the Son (Christ), lest he be angry, and ye perish  from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed  are all they that put their trust in him.

Psalm 2 was written by King David.  Do today’s kings and rulers heed his instruction to be wise and serve the Lord Jesus Christ?  Certainly not, they mock God and conspire to corrupt and persecute the Body of Christ.

The consequences of ignoring King David’s advice are summarized in Revelation 6:15-17 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Check out the following episode of “Prophecy in the News”.  Host Gary Stearman interviews Terry Cook about his book “Beast Tech”.  Terry is a former criminal investigator and LA County Deputy Sheriff.  “Beast Tech” deals with the creation of a tyrannical world system controlled by technology, and relates it to the beast that deceives the world in Revelation 13.

Terry Cook doesn’t address the symbolism in Revelation, he uses his law enforcement expertise to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt”, that public and private organizations are using technology to create global tyranny.  He says this world system will be “global communism”.  Evidence of this is the selling off of America to China’s communist government.

The purpose of this website is threefold: 1) Share the good news of the Gospel.  2) Explain how the biblical beast is manifesting in the world so people aren’t deceived.  3) Offer possible solutions.

Chapter 13 in the book of Revelation says the beast will have great power to do wonders and miracles.  This power will deceive people and cause them to submit to an evil agenda where, in order to buy or sell, people will  be forced to get the “mark of the beast” on their body, and all who take the mark will be condemned.  That’s why much of this website focuses on exposing the deceptive nature of this evil world agenda.

Those with ears to hear, let them hear, NOW is the time to get right with God.  Many Christians believe they will be caught up in the air (raptured) with Christ before the tribulation described in Revelation.  The Bible clearly says the rapture of the church will occur, and some scripture suggests it may occur before the tribulation.  But the timing of the rapture is based on speculation.

What if Christians have to go through some or all of the tribulation before they’re raptured, are you spiritually prepared?  Those who believe the church will be raptured before the tribulation, need to consider the following four verses from Revelation and 1 Thessalonians.

Revelation 20:4-5 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

The first resurrection includes Christians killed for refusing the mark of the beast, so they went through most or all of the tribulation.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

In the previous verses from 1 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul says the dead in Christ will rise first, this is the first resurrection mentioned in Revelation 20:4, which includes Christians who went through the tribulation.  And Paul says the rapture of the church will occur immediately after the first resurrection, then we will all be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air.

If the church is not raptured before the tribulation, it doesn’t mean we are subject to the wrath of God.  In many ways, the Exodus of Israel from Egypt is a type and shadow of the church rapture.  Many of the plagues mentioned in Revelation occurred in Exodus, and the Israelites were spared from the plagues while the Egyptians were not.

In Exodus, Egypt is a type of the world being judged by God in Revelation, and the Israelites are a shadow of the church during the tribulation.  And the passage of Israel through the parted Red Sea is a type of rapture.

In Exodus, Moses and Aaron are also a type of God’s two witnesses in Revelation 11.  Like Moses and Aaron, the two witnesses will have power to bring plagues on the earth.  Some theologians believe Elijah represents one of the witnesses, which may be correct.  Revelation 11:6  These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.

Noah is another example of God protecting the faithful while his judgement comes on the earth.  Noah’s ark is a type of Christ, i.e., if Christians are not raptured before the tribulation, those who are in Christ will NOT be subject to God’s wrath, just as Noah and his family were spared from God’s wrath.  Christ said we may have to lay down our life for our faith, but as the apostle Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

The rapture may occur before the tribulation described in Revelation, but many Christian leaders are selling a pre-tribulation rapture as if it’s a proven fact.  The timing of the rapture is speculation, so if the rapture occurs mid or post tribulation, teaching pre-trib as fact could cause many Christians to unwittingly take the mark of the beast.  Christians might take the mark of the beast because they believe they’ll be raptured before that event occurs.

The video below is a short summary of current events demonstrating the rise of the beast in the world.  It contains clips of leaders saying they are creating a “new world order” via “globalization”.  This includes U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, George H.W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Charlie Rose, and others.  Much of the video is subjective, but given the direction of the world, we should pay attention when leaders admit they are creating a “new world order”.  Also, the video accurately describes how central banks use debt to enslave nations.

As a Christian, it’s my duty to work for a just, moral society based on the rule of law.  That’s why I created this website.  But the most important knowledge is found in the Bible, and manifested in the belief that Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah sent by God to redeem the world.  I recommend Discovering the Jewish Jesus led by Messianic Rabbi K.A. Schneider.  He follows in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul who said Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.  

Rabbi Schneider is building a Christ based bridge between these two groups, which historically, have been suspicious of one another.  And like Paul, he draws a clear line between legalistic Judaism and Christ’s gospel, which frees Christians from condemnation under the law while they press toward sanctification in Christ.  You’ll be touched by the love of Christ coming through Rabbi Schneider.

I also recommend In Touch Ministry with Dr. Charles Stanley, who exemplifies the wisdom and integrity that makes a great Christian leader.  Also, check out The Christian Worship Hour with Pastor Harold Salem.  Pastor Salem is 93 years old and still doing the Lord’s work with passion that inspires viewers.

Joyce Meyer demonstrates that we are more than conquerors in Christ who loves us.  As a young girl, Joyce was sexually molested by her father.  The pain and shame could have destroyed her life, but now she has one of the largest Christian ministries in America.

The Blessed Life led by Pastor Robert Morris, offers Biblical insights and discipleship that few ministries can match.

Dr. Tony Evans emphasizes the need to act on our faith as a means to transform our family, community, county, state, nation and world.  Amen to that!  Like Rabbi Schneider, the aforementioned ministries demonstrate God’s love for humanity.

Psalm 82: 1 God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. 2 How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. 6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. 7 But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.

All scriptures in this post are from the King James version.  Click on an individual verse for different translations.

                                      IS GOD JUDGING AMERICA?

Many Christian leaders say God is judging America.  But no nation in history has done more to spread the gospel than America.  And no nation in history has done more to bless the Jewish people and Israel.  Furthermore, its a small albeit powerful minority that’s pushing God out of the public square, advocating for abortion and gay marriage, and in general, forcing a corrupt antichrist agenda on America.

The wages of sin is death and the negative consequences of sin are evident in every nation on earth.  But all nations will be judged by God at the same time in the last day.  If God is currently judging individual nations for their sin, like Sodom and Gomorrah, they would all have ceased to exist long ago.

Also, there is a difference between God judging a nation and persecution by enemies opposed to the Body of Christ.  Because of America’s leadership in spreading the gospel of Christ, powerful antichrist forces are trying to destroy it from within by promoting corruption.

There’s a pattern emerging among those who speak curses over America and say God is judging our nation.  Invariably, they say God is judging America and blessing Israel.  And they point to abortion as a primary reason for God’s judgement of America.  But Israel’s abortion laws are among the world’s most liberal, yet they insist God is blessing Israel.

When Arab terrorists murder an Israeli child, their actions are widely condemned, and rightly so.  But Israel’s liberal abortion laws sanction the murder of more Israeli children than all Arab terrorists combined, and yet, Christian leaders never mention Israel’s mass murder of its own children.

Those predicting God’s imminent judgement of America often cite God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curse thee…    This is a form of political correctness intended to silence any criticism of Israel, whether true or not.

Those who equate any criticism of Israel to cursing Israel, ignore the fact that most of the Old Testament prophets and Jesus Christ were very critical of Israel.  They criticized Israel because they loved Israel.  Likewise, if Christians want to be a friend to Israel, we must speak the truth in love, even if that means offering constructive criticism.

Some Christian leaders  worship Israel as God instead of worshiping the God of Israel.  By portraying every action of Israel as the perfect will of God, and therefore above reproach, they place Israel above God’s law, man’s law, and the teachings of Christ.  Israel is a Jewish State but it’s also in a state of anarchy.

The conditions in America are like those in chapters 3 and 4 of the book of Acts.  At that time, Christians in Israel were not being judged by God, they were persecuted for preaching in the name of Jesus Christ.  Chapter 3 begins with Peter and John healing a man at the Temple gate.  In chapter 4, they are arrested by Jewish leaders for preaching in the name of Jesus.  Before releasing Peter and John, the chief priests commanded them not to teach in the name of Jesus.

But the apostles refused to stop preaching in Christ’s name, and in Acts 4:24-27 they praised God and referenced the prophetic words of king David: 24…Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that is in them: 25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David said, why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?

26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.  27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together [against Christ].

The words of king David are from Psalm 2:1-2.  Psalm 2 is only twelve verses long and was written 3000 years ago, but it effectively describes the actions of world leaders from Christ’s birth to the present day.

The situation in America is similar to the days of Peter and John, i.e, antichrist Gentiles and Jews are conspiring against the Body of Christ.  But antichrist forces have gotten more clever over the past 2000 years, so now they spin their persecution of Christians as God judging America.

Kelly Shackelford is president and CEO of First Liberty Institute, the largest legal firm in the nation dedicated exclusively to protecting religious freedom for all Americans.  But nearly all attacks on religious liberty are against Christians. 

Dr. Charles Stanley had Kelly speak to his congregation.  He gave the people insight into his work by laying out the cases he took on over a two week period.  It was amazing, and Kelly received a standing ovation for his hopeful message.  You won’t find a more informative and encouraging presentation, please watch it.

The apostle Paul talked about Israel’s rejection of Christ in Romans 91011, and Paul made it clear that Christians should love Israel and unbelieving Jews. For as Christ said in John 4:22 …salvation is of the Jews.

But Paul also said in Romans 11:28, As concerning the gospel, they (unbelieving Jews) are enemies for your sakes…  So beware of Christian leaders who put modern Israel on a pedestal while saying God is judging America, because as Paul said, Israel is an enemy of the gospel.

Fortunately, Zechariah 12:10 says the inhabitants of Jerusalem will one day look upon Christ whom they pierced, and mourn as for a first born and only son.  Then, Zechariah 13&14 says God will deliver his holy city from its enemies and all nations will come to worship God.  Until that day, Americans must defend Israel’s right to exist and denounce anti-Semitism, but we must not let political correctness stop us from telling the truth about enemies of Christ’s gospel.

I’m looking forward to the day when Christ returns as King and rules the world from Jerusalem.  At that time, Israel and her people will be loved and honored by all nations.  Zechariah 8:22-23 22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. 23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men out of all languages of the nations, shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, we will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

Christians should thank God for Israel and the Jewish people through whom came Jesus Christ.  The Bible, except for the book of Luke,  was written by Hebrews/Jews who are the apple of God’s eye.  Many Christians have a condescending attitude toward the failures of Israel and Judah in the Old Testament, but I don’t believe any other people could’ve done better.  So we should view the failures of God’s chosen people with mercy and empathy.  But for the grace of God….

Eventually there will be a new Jerusalem.  Revelation 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelation 3:12 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

We can love Israel without supporting its self destructive behavior, just as we can love a family member and not support their self destructive ways.

Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, politically correct Christians portray every action of Israel as the perfect will of God, and all Palestinian opposition to Israel as satanic.  But the Bible clearly teaches that no nation is perfect, not even Israel.  Revelation 11 compares Jerusalem in the last days to Sodom and Egypt, which means it is a place of depravity, deceit, and bondage.

Revelation 11 describes God’s two witnesses who bring plagues upon the earth. They are eventually killed and left in the streets of Jerusalem. Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.  It continues saying all nations would rejoice over the killing of God’s prophets, and Israel was not excluded from those that celebrate their death.

The prophet Isaiah also compares Jerusalem to Sodom.  Isaiah 3:8-9 8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory. 9 The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

And yet, many Christian leaders support Israel’s rebellion against God and encourage others to do the same. Furthermore, it is God himself who will gather the nations against Israel,  Zechariah 14:1-2 1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.

None of the vain efforts of Israel or America can save Israel, only Jesus Christ can save Israel.  Zechariah 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. Revelation 19:13-15 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

So why do many Christian leaders fight God’s plan to bring salvation to his chosen people, the nation of Israel?  They fight God while supporting Israeli behavior that the Bible compares to Sodom.  The apostle Paul and others warned us about false teachers (Judaizers) who would work within the church to corrupt the Body of Christ.

Many who idolize Israel also say God is judging America.  They’re reminiscent of Judaizers who said Gentile Christians would be condemned for not following Jewish law.  Today’s Judaizers speak curses over America in an attempt to persecute the Body of Christ.  The reality is, antichrist criminals run the US government, Wall Street, and Hollywood, and their partners, the Judaizers in the church, are using prophecy to protect the criminals.

Some say America is being judged, in part, because US leaders are pressuring Israel to divide the land promised to Abraham.  For example, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn says America was blessed because it supported the 1948 U.N. Resolution that created modern Israel.  But then he says God’s judgement (911 and the financial crisis) is coming on America because it’s pressuring Israel to give up land for peace.

This is a blatant contradiction because the U.N. partition forced Israel to give up much more land than what’s being considered in peace negotiations.  This Real Clear Politics article says: “according to a December 2013 joint Israeli-Palestinian poll, 63 percent of Israelis and 53 percent of Palestinians support the idea of two separate nations, co-existing side by side.” So why would God judge America for Israel’s decision to divide the land?

Genesis 15:18 says:  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.  Click here for a map of the land God promised to Abraham.

So the land promised to Abraham went from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq, which makes the U.N. resolution that created Israel a radical division of the promised land.  For Rabbi Cahn’s argument to be consistent, the U.N., America, Rabbi Cahn, and all Jews that supported the 1948 resolution, should’ve been cursed by God for dividing the promised land. 

Furthermore, non-Jewish Christians have been grafted into the promise of Abraham.  The apostle Paul said in Galatians 28,29:  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.  29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ is at the core of the problems facing Israel, i.e., God promised Abraham that his descendants (Israel) would be blessed, and Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that covenant promise.

So God cannot give Israel all the land promised to Abraham as long as Israel rejects the Holy One of Israel, the Messiah that will deliver them from all their enemies.  As long as Israel depends on man for security instead of their Deliverer, Jesus Christ, the best Israel can achieve is a temporary truce based on land for peace.  And the best America can do is act as an honest broker that defends Israel’s right to exist.

I’m not suggesting that American churches and society are above reproach regarding God’s judgement, but it’s important to recognize that America’s Christian heritage makes it a prime target for persecution by antichrist forces.  Regarding the church, I think the “prosperity gospel” is a gospel of covetousness, which is preparing Christians to accept the mark of the beast by emphasizing materialism.

Jesus said in Luke 12:15 …Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 

Christians should model themselves after the apostle Paul who said in Philippians 4:11-13 …I have learned, in whatsoever state I am,  therewith to be content.  12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.  13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

The Bible clearly teaches that God wants his people to prosper spiritually, physically, and financially for the purpose of blessing others and spreading the gospel. 1 Timothy 6:17,18 17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

But the New Testatment emphasizes spiritual blessings above all else.  Matthew 13:22, Jesus says, He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Paul goes even farther in 1 Timothy 6:5-12 …men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.  6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.  12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called

Proverbs 30:8,9 …give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:  9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

The Body of Christ in America should also follow the advice given in 2 Chronicles 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  But prior to this verse, God said disobedience would bring famine and pestilence on the land.  This is not happening in America, the problem is criminal leaders that are not being held accountable.

Christians say God is judging America because “we” are for abortion, removing God from schools, the gay agenda, etc., but who is “we”?  These issues are pushed by a small, powerful minority.  For example, liberal California voted to make gay marriage ILLEGAL.  But the people’s decision was overturned by a judge.  And the CEO of Goldman Sachs, arguably the most powerful investment banker in the world, is an advocate for gay marriage.

America’s business and political leaders commit crimes with impunity, if we do not hold them accountable, we’ll be forced to pay for their crimes.  US leaders prefer Communist China’s totalitarian model, so they implement policies that prosper China while making America subordinate to a godless Communist regime.

Christian churches must do five things: 1) Repent of unbelief  2) Pray  3) Have faith in God and act on that faith  4) Organize and vote, less evil is better than more evil.  5) Starting at the local level, place God fearing men and women in positions of authority.

Those saying God is judging America rarely support standing up for God in government.  I’m sure they know faith without works is dead, i.e., praying for America is not enough, we must stand up for morality in government while believing God is on our side.  Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

                                                 GOD IS LOVE!

Many people, having read parts of the Old and New Testaments, perceive God as an angry judge.  This misunderstanding results from a lack of knowledge regarding the full message of the Bible.  God hates sin because it destroys people and is the cause of all pain and sorrow.  It is sin and Satan that rob, kill and destroy, not God.  Violence in the Old Testament should be viewed as the internal human struggle between the desires of our flesh and our desire to serve God.

And the Old Testament enemies of Israel are also a metaphor representing the internal human struggle between good and evil, i.e., our carnal nature that is enmity toward God.  Christ’s death and resurrection defeated Satan, so our old carnal nature is our greatest enemy.  Likewise, Israel was and still is, its own worst enemy, which is true of all people.

James 4:1-4  1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

The prophet Isaiah had a vision of God that was not revealed to any other prophet in the Old Testament.  Isaiah 6:1-8 1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

Isaiah’s vision is key to understanding the merciful, loving, and holy nature of the God we serve.  When standing in his presence, Isaiah was overwhelmed with the holiness of God, and painfully aware of his own sinfulness.  But because Isaiah humbled himself and confessed his sin, our merciful God cleansed him and sent him to call the Israelites to repentance.  The Israelites are God’s children, and God chose the nation of Israel to bring salvation to the world.

Like any good father, God has rules that are designed to produce the best possible life for his children.  These rules, a.k.a. laws, were given to Moses in the ten commandments.  When they broke the rules, there were consequences that caused the Jews to repent and turn back to God.  When God’s children obeyed the law, they were blessed more than any nation on earth.

God’s love for the Jewish people and Israel is eternal, but He does not force anyone to love Him.  We have free will to obey God or suffer consequences for breaking His law.  In Romans 3:20,23 Paul said: 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his (God’s) sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

So as an act of perfect love, God became flesh in Jesus Christ, fulfilled the law by living a sinless life, and died to pay for all the sins of the world.  But because Israel rejected Christ, Jesus said in Matthew 23:37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

More than any other, the following two verses sum up God’s love for all the world: John 3:16,17 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Some people question the love of a God who would send his son to suffer and die a horrible death.  But as Jesus says in his own words, God the Father did not force him to die for the sins of world, he did it of his own free will because he loves us. John 10: 17,18  Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.  18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.

In the Gospel of John 1: 17-18, John said: For the law was given by Moses,  but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.  18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.  Jesus Christ came into the world to declare and demonstrate the perfect love of God.

John 15:10-14 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.  11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.  12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.  John 13:35, Jesus said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The Book of Revelation was a letter written by John to seven Christian churches on behalf of Jesus Christ.  Christ warned five of the churches to repent or suffer consequences. The church at Philadelphia, which means “brotherly love”, was not called to repent.  In 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the apostle Paul says charity, i.e. love, is the greatest gift that Christians can share with the world.

So in light of Paul’s statement and Christ’s command to love one another, it’s likely the church in Philadelphia was in good standing with Christ because of their love.  John 14:23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  1 Peter 4:8,  And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity (love) shall cover the multitude of sins.  Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.

1 John 4: 7-11,14,16,17, beautifully expresses the love that is God.  7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.  9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation (payment) for our sins.  11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.  16 And we have known (Christ) and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he (Christ) is, so are we in this world. 

Praise God!  We can stand boldly on the day of judgement.  Not because we are perfect and without sin, but because the blood of Jesus Christ covers our sin, and because Jesus Christ lives in us, we are the righteousness of God.  God is love!

The Bible as a whole, is a love story about God and his children.  And like any good parent, God chastens or disciplines his children when they go astray.  Deut 8:5  Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

Hebrews 12:7-13  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for  our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.  12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Revelations 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.  The Greek word for repent is metanoia, which means to change our mind.  We must change our mind about God and who he created us to be.  Then make a commitment to turn away from sin.  So do not turn away from God when times are tough, submit to God and resist sin, then great shall be your reward.

But remember, Christians don’t always experience suffering because God our Father is disciplining them.  In John 16:33 Jesus said we would experience tribulation:  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Discouraged Christians should remember Paul’s words in Romans 5:1-5  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;  4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:  5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

The Christian faith is unique in the world because God became flesh in Jesus Christ, and assumed the role of a humble servant who willingly took all the sins of the world on himself.  The perfect love of Christ, who washed his disciples feet and shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins, enables anyone who believes in Him to stand righteous before God.  Praise and thanks to God and our Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified, buried, resurrected, and then ascended into heaven.  He sits at the right hand of God and is our great high priest who, knowing all the temptations of the flesh, intercedes on our behalf with the most High God.  Believe in Him, receive Him, and you will be set free.

DO YOU WANT A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST?

Click here and you’ll find the Bible in hundreds of languages, both audio and text.  Scholars agree that Jesus is a real historical figure because there are thousands of ancient manuscripts verifying his existence.  But many don’t believe he’s the Son of God who performed miracles, died for the sins of the world, and was resurrected from the dead.

Many people don’t believe in hell, which is permanent separation from God without any hope for joy, pleasure, or love.  But the only way we can be condemned to hell is to refuse the pardon that’s available to everyone if they accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.  Jesus said in John 14:6 …I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.  Without the Way, there is no going, without the Truth, there is no knowing, without the Life, there is no living.  We don’t go heaven to find Jesus, we go to Jesus to find heaven.

Even a moral person will be eternally separated from God if they do not accept salvation through Jesus Christ.  There’s only one way to heaven because as Isaiah 53: 6 says:  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him (Christ) the iniquity of us all.

But give thanks to God for the good news in Hebrews 4: 14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.  15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

If you’re new to the Bible, start in the Gospel of John, the fourth book of the New Testament, which is about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  If you would rather begin with some common sense advice about living a successful life, start in Proverbs in the Old Testament.  But do not be deceived, whether you believe it or not, we will all have to stand before our Creator and give an account for our life.

All of us are guilty of sin and deserve condemnation, but God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son to pay our debt of sin by shedding his blood and dying on the cross.  And WHOSOEVER believes in Him shall receive an undeserved pardon and eternal life in heaven.

God wants you to know He loves you personally just as you are, so don’t turn down His unconditional pardon.  Revelation 3:20 says “Behold I (Christ) stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…” (to your heart).  Do you want Jesus to forgive your sins, free you from oppression, and heal your broken heart?  First, you must believe in your heart and say (Romans 10:9-10) that Jesus died for your sins and was resurrected from the dead.

Then pray a short prayer confessing your sins to God and asking him to forgive you.  Next, invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be the Lord and Savior of your life.  Making Jesus the Lord of your life means changing old sinful habits that previously governed your life.  This requires getting your thoughts, emotions, and actions in line with the will of God, which is expressed in the teachings of Christ.

The teachings of Christ are found in the first four books of the Bible’s New Testament.  These four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are called the gospels which means “good news”.  After ascending into heaven, Christ personally appeared to the apostle Paul and revealed the mystery of grace.  So it’s very important to read Paul’s letters, a.k.a. epistles, which are the books Romans through Philemon in the New Testament.

Also, get involved in a church that teaches the Bible as the inspired Word of God.  The more committed you are to following Christ, the better your life will be.  Studying and applying the Bible (God’s Word) in your life will produce benefits beyond anything you can imagine.  Psalms 107:20 He (God) sent his word, and healed them, and delivered  them from their destructions.

The Apostle Paul sums it up in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21:

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

19 God through Christ is reconciling the world unto himself, not counting their trespasses against them; and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, and since God is making his appeal through us, we encourage you on behalf of Christ that you be reconciled to God.

21 For he hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Verse 17 says we are a new creation in Christ.  This is what Jesus meant when he said we need to be born again to enter the kingdom of heaven.  So what does born again mean?  1 Corinthians 14: 45 says:  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Christ) was made a quickening spirit.  Like Adam, we’re all born with a soul and a body, but our spirit is dead because of sin brought into the world through Adam.

The soul consists of our mind, emotions, and self will.  So by inviting Christ into our heart, we have his Spirit living within us, therefore we are born again of the Spirit.  Paul puts it this way in Galatians 4:4-6 …God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons 6 And because ye are sons [and daughters], God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts

1 Corinthians 15:47,49,50,53-57 further explain being born again of the Spirit. 47 The first man (Adam) is of the earth, earthy: the second man (Christ) is the Lord from heaven. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.  50 Now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  53 For this corruptible (soul) must put on incorruption (Spirit), and this mortal (body) must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible (soul) shall have put on incorruption (Spirit), and this mortal (body) shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Those who believe Jesus Christ died for their sins and was resurrected, will one day be resurrected from the grave and given a heavenly, immortal body.

There’s some debate whether we need water baptism to be born again.  This is partly due to what happened in Luke 23: 39-43.  Two criminals were crucified alongside Jesus 39 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42 Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

In verse 41, the thief confessed his own sin and the innocence of Christ.  Then, by calling Jesus his Lord and asking to remembered in his kingdom, the thief confessed belief in Jesus as Messiah.  By saying the thief would be with him in paradise, Jesus granted him salvation without water baptism.  

However, water baptism (full emersion, not sprinkling of infants) is important because it symbolizes our union with Christ in his death and resurrection.  Being fully submerged in water symbolizes going to the grave with Christ and dying to the desires of our flesh.  Emerging from the water symbolizes our new birth in the Spirit and resurrection with Christ.

Paul sums it up in Galatians 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.  Jesus said in John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.  

       BECOMING A MATURE CHRISTIAN AND GRACE VS. WORKS

In a spiritual sense, when someone is born again, they are literally a new born baby.  There are three stages of growth to becoming a mature Christian. 1) as a new born, we need to be fed God’s word and taught Christian principles.  2) As we grow, we’re able to feed ourselves, i.e, study God’s Word ourselves and apply it in our lives.  3) A mature Christian is able to teach others and lead them to Christ. So we are chosen by God for a purpose that surpasses salvation.

Paul says in Romans 8:29  For whom he (God) did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  So God sent his Son to save us, and give us grace to become the image of Christ.  The ongoing work of conforming to Christ’s image is expressed metaphorically, i.e., being fed God’s Word and applying it in our daily lives.

In John chapter 6, Jesus performed a miracle by feeding five thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish.  The next day the crowd found Jesus, and in John 6:26-29  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.  27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.  28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

So the work of new Christians is to become mature believers conformed to the image of Christ.  This is achieved through fellowship with mature Christians and applying God’s word in their lives.  Christ explains the importance of studying God’s Word in his teaching about the bread of life.  John 6:51, 54, 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

This is hard to understand until we read John 1: 1&14 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.  So when we study and meditate on God’s Word, we are consuming Christ and he becomes incarnate in our body, soul and spirit.

We are called by God to conform ourselves to the image of Jesus Christ, and this requires work on our part.  So is our salvation dependent on our good works?  No, Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:  9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.  10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We are saved by grace through faith, period.  But, as a new creation in Christ, our purpose is to do good works.  And James said in 2:20-21  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?  21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  God imputed righteousness to Abraham because of his faith, but Abraham’s faith only became real after he acted on what God told him to do.  You can find this story in chapter 22 of Genesis.

So faith without works is dead, meaning, if you really repent, believe in your heart that Jesus is the risen Christ, and invite him to be Lord of your life, you will bear fruit in the form of good works.  But Jesus and the apostle Paul made it clear that believing in Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.  So the only work that yields salvation is believing that Christ’s sinless life, death, burial, and resurrection, fulfilled the law and paid the price for all the sins of the world.

John 6:28-29 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him (Christ) whom he hath sent.  Paul said in Galatians 2:21 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Dr. Charles Stanley’s explanation of “saving faith” verses “intellectual faith” is better than any other I’ve heard.  Whether you’re a believer or not, please listen to Dr. Stanley’s sermon on what it means to have a saving faith in Jesus Christ. 

But even the works of true believers will be judged by God.  Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15  According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.  11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  12 Now if any man build upon this foundation [with works of] gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or stubble;

13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the [judgement] day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.  14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

So, even if a believer’s works amount to nothing, he shall be saved.  However, it’s not advisable to enter the kingdom of heaven this way because we are playing with fire.  Rather, we should take the apostle Paul’s advice in Galatians 5:22-25, and let the indwelling Spirit of Christ transform our thoughts, words, and deeds.  22 …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  24 And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

But as the apostle John says in his letter to fellow Christians, we all sin.  1 John 1:7-9 …if we walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 2:1-2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation (payment) for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  Irregardless of our circumstances, we should praise God for his love, mercy and blessings.  Continuing to praise God in difficult circumstances is very important because it keeps us in the peace of God’s presence.  Psalm 22:3 says God inhabits the praises of his people.

When we stumble as Christians, it’s important to confess our sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and put the past behind us.  Paul explains this in Phillipians 3:13-14 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended [perfection]: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,  14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Phillipians 1:4-6 Always in every prayer of mine for you, making request with joy,  5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;  6 Being confident of this very thing, that he (God) which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

If your faith is weak, remember what Paul said about you in 1 Corinthians 5:21 For God hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  Psalms 112:6-8 6 the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. 7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. 8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.  Fellowship with other Christians, study and meditate on God’s Word, and your measure of faith will be strengthened.  In order to become a mature Christian bearing good fruit, Paul also emphasizes the importance of sound doctrine.  Hebrews 13: 8,9  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.  9 Be not carried about with diverse and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace

Paul’s thirteen letters, Romans through Philemon, are the standard by which doctrine was established for the Gentiles (non Jews).  If you master Paul’s teachings, you will be standing firmly on the Rock of grace in Christ Jesus.  Paul’s conversion was unique among the apostles.  He was a Pharisee, which is the equivalent of a doctorate degree in Jewish law, and he persecuted Christians until his conversion on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22).

Chapter 15 in the book of Acts describes the dispute between Paul and the other apostles who, as a qualification for salvation, were imposing Jewish law on Gentile believers.  

In Galatians 2:11-16, Paul comments on Peter’s hypocrisy regarding his behavior in the company of Gentiles verses fellow Jews.  But Peter later acknowledged and supported Paul’s revelation of the gospel of grace. 2 Peter 3:15-16  even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;  16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrestle, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Paul himself distinguished his gospel from that of the other apostles, who struggled with the transition from the old covenant (Mosaic law), to the grace that the resurrected Christ revealed directly to Paul.  He describes this in Galatians 1:11-20 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.  13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:  14 And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,  16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:  17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.  18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.  19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.  20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 

So Paul’s doctrine, which is a revelation directly from the resurrected Christ, is the foundation upon which the church is built.  Study it and be set free by God’s saving grace.  Then share it with others for as James says in 5:20…he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

In the New Testament, all references to scripture refer to parts of the Old Testament.  New Christians should focus on the first four books of the New Testament (the gospels) and Paul’s epistles.  But as Paul said to his protege Timothy, the Old Testament scriptures are an essential part of a mature Christian’s walk with God.

2 Timothy 3: 15-17,  15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Acts 8:26-39 is an example of Old Testament scripture being used to lead someone to salvation.  A high ranking Ethiopian was reading verses in the book of Isaiah that prophesied the death of Christ, 26 And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.  27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, 28 Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias (Isaiah) the prophet.

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot 30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, (Isaiah 53:7-8) He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Jesus Christ has called us to make disciples of others.  Matthew 28:19-20 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jesus wants us to make disciples who “observe all things” he commanded.  Unfortunately, most American churches focus on making converts, not disciples.  A convert is a new born Christian who lacks the spiritual knowledge and power to transform others in their circle of influence.  The lack of discipleship training greatly weakens the ability of churches to manifest the transforming power of Christ in our communities and nation.  So make a commitment to continually grow by studying God’s Word, and then make disciples of others for great shall be your reward.