• Category Archives Current Events
  • The Supreme Court Has the Final Say

    “At the establishment of our constitutions, the judiciary bodies were supposed to be the most helpless and harmless members of the government. Experience, however, soon showed in what way they were to become the most dangerous… In truth, man is not made to be trusted for life, if secured against all liability to account.” —Thomas Jefferson, letter to Monsieur A. Coray, 1823

    I think old Tom was on to something way back in the OLD DAYS!

    English: The Supreme Court of the United State...
    English: The Supreme Court of the United States. Washington, D.C. Français : La Cour suprême des États-Unis. Washington D.C., États-Unis. ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬: Høyesterett i USA. Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    With all the power the Supremes’ have amassed for themselves it seems that they have set themselves up as the  authority on all things about life and happiness. I think I read somewhere that man was created with certain inalienable rights among them was the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

    Unless the Supremes’ have a differing opinion about what is considered your personal LIBERTY and happiness. I would think that part of being happy is having a STABLE society with agreeable societal norms established by society. Besides the government is supposed to represent the wishes of the people who empowered them in the first place not legislate away all their ideas and freedoms.

    Lately the Supreme court has decided to not bother to hear any cases of SAME-SEX marriage, which means SAME-SEX marriage is now the DEFAULT law of the land even though WE THE PEOPLE have said no many times. So now that same-sex marriage is the law of the land that means families are no longer made up of a mother and a father who have biological children, the family will now be open to court discretion  and legal construct since we took out the NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS and relegated Nature’s GOD and subjected HIM to the rules of man.

    And this is going to help build up society how? Seems to me that the courts have finally put the last nail in the coffin of civil society by disrupting the NATURAL order of things and replaced it with COURT ORDERS. THUS SAYS THE SUPREME COURT!

    Well the holy handbook of Juris Prudence states things differently. Jesus said He was the last authority when he spoke these words:

    Revelation 1:8 (AMP)
    8  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, says the Lord God, He Who is and Who was and Who is to come, the Almighty (the Ruler of all).

    So the real SUPREME ruler of all things gets the last word, the one clothed in a WHITE ROBE will be the final judge on things of life; not mortals dressed in black robes.

    And that is the way I see it! What say you?



  • A Violent Purge

    1 John 4:3 (AMP)
    3  And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, sever, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him]. This [nonconfession] is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.

    persecutedThe recent violence in Gaza has drawn attention away from the continuing extreme actions by ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Having conquered much of northern Iraq, ISIS is busy persecuting Chaldean Christians in the area. The city of Mosul, for example, has been purged of Christians, perhaps numbering 100,000. As one commentator observed, “Our worst nightmare is confirmed. Christianity in Mosul is dead, and a Christian holocaust is in our midst.” The goal of the radicals is to create an Islamic state with no room for dissenters. Christians are being forced to convert to Islam, face death, pay a fine or leave.

    What many do not know is that Islam was the driving force behind the original Jewish Holocaust that brought about WWII. Hitler was urged to purge the Jews by Islamic leaders of the day. Nazism and Islamic extremism are blood brothers.

    The battle in Israel is the same battle being waged around the world. China removes crosses from churches, Obama covers-up crosses when he gives a speech at a religious building. The ACLU and Freedom from Religion organizations are suing cities and towns across the country to remove roadside crosses. Recently there was a lawsuit to keep the ground zero cross out of the ground zero museum, where the court recently ruled that the cross could be included and indeed should be.

    Since the time of Eden Satan has waged a war against God and anything that resembles God on earth, thus this purging of Christians and Christian symbolism along with the constant attack on the Jewish people, are all symptoms of the same spirit, the spirit of the Antichrist.

     



  • Robin Williams and the Fraility of the Human Condition

    Psalm 69:1-3 (HCSB)
    1 Save me, God, for the water has risen to my neck. 2  I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no footing; I have come into deep waters, and a flood sweeps over me.

    Robin-Williams
    Robin-Williams (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    Last Monday night, the tragic announcement of actor and comedian Robin Williams’ death, apparently by suicide, shocked many of us. It was known that he struggled with severe depression, but for many of us the only encounters we have had with Robin Williams was via his portrayal of a character we have grown to love; Aladdin’s Genie, Mrs. Doubtfire, Peter Pan, or in his more serious roles as Patch Adams, or English teacher John Keating in “Dead Poets Society“, and psychologist Sean Maquire in “Goodwill Hunting“. For most of us this is the only thing we know about Robin Williams. We were not made aware of all his private struggles only those which became public knowledge. We were not invited into his everyday life and permitted only a glimpse into who Robin Williams was a a whole man.

    For most of us, celebrities like Robin Williams are one-dimensional people, summed up by the quality they’re best known for such as Williams’ zany humor. It can be hard to understand that a man who made so many others laugh could struggle with the disease of depression. But the truth is that no one is a one-dimensional person. We all have areas of beauty and of darkness in our life. The strongest of us have weaknesses, the “weakest” of us have strengths; the happiest of us can be sad, the saddest can be happy, the healthiest, sick, and the sick, healthy. All of us, if we care to admit it, have areas of darkness we hide away from public view. Many of us put on a happy face to the world even though we might be struggling with our own internal demons. When we come to the place where all hope is lost, and we can not see the light at the end of the tunnel, where do we find hope for our hopelessness? Ironically one of the treatments for depression is laughter.

    Life can throw us some pretty tough curve-balls, and heap upon us some really hard challenges, if all we have to rely on is our own intestinal fortitude we can quickly become spent and exhausted from fighting life’s bitter battles. Some may seek relief through escapism, running away from the problems of life. Some may chose to mask the pain through medication or alcohol abuse. Others knowing they are weak in themselves will seek out the help and advice of others, whether they are friends, relatives or professionals. Still others may simply try to ignore the problem hoping that by denying a problem exists it will somehow disappear. When the burdens get so bad, and there seems to be no end to the suffering, whether real or imagined, some look for a way for the bitterness to end. For some this end comes about by their own hand. This is tragic on many levels, and leaves behind a great deal of hurt and pain, along with questions and doubts by survivors who wondered what more they could have done to reach out and help the troubled soul.

    Except for the grace of God I too could find myself facing the same demons Robin Williams faced last Monday when he finally had had enough of the pain and hopelessness he was feeling. He may have even cried out to God for help and thought that God was so far removed that he either didn’t care or would not answer. Let me assure you friends that God really does care about every detail of your life. He cared enough to even sacrifice the life of his own son in order to remove the barrier that existed between us and God because of our sinful life choices. He is reaching out a hand of help and comfort to anyone who is willing to grab hold of it and trust God to lift them up out of the miry clay and the pit of despair and set their feet upon a solid rock of hope. (Psalms 40:2).

    There is no problem we face that God has not made a way for us to deal with it and to overcome it. He promises to keep us and be with us through every circumstances of life. The problem is we often do not seek God before a calamity besets us, so when we find ourselves in the midst of the crisis we are so far removed from God’s comfort we can not sense his presence when it is needed the most. God’s desire is to not see anyone perish but that all would find salvation and abundant life through his son Jesus. I beg you therefore to seek a relationship with the giver of life before you come to a place where you are seeking to take your own life. It is not too late to find that peace that passes all understanding. You too can find hope when you feel hopeless, comfort when you are comfortless, and joy when you are sorrowful.

    No matter what problems you are dealing with, we want to help you find a reason to keep living. By calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255) you’ll be connected to a skilled, trained counselor at a crisis center in your area, anytime 24/7. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

     



  • Hall of Famers

    Hebrews 11:1-2 (NKJV)
    1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.  
    33 who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
    34 quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
    35 Women received their dead raised to life again. And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
    36 Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
    37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented–
    38 of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
    39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,
    40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

     

     

    English: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Mu...
    English: National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Scan of the original photograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

    Frank Thomas choked back tears, Joe Torre apologized for leaving people out of his speech and Tony La Russa said he felt uneasy.

    Being enshrined in the Hall of Fame can have those effects, even on the greats.

    Thomas, pitchers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, and managers Bobby Cox, Torre and La Russa were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York Sunday, and all paid special tribute to their families before an adoring crowd of nearly 50,000.

    “I’m speechless. Thanks for having me in your club,” Thomas said, getting emotional as he remembered his late father. “Frank Sr., I know you’re watching. Without you, I know 100 per cent I wouldn’t be here in Cooperstown today. You always preached to me, ‘You can be someone special if you really work at it.’ I took that to heart, Pop.”

    Ever the diplomat as a manager, Torre somehow managed to assuage the most demanding of owners in George Steinbrenner, maintaining his coolness amid all the Bronx craziness while keeping all those egos in check after taking over in 1996. The result: 10 division titles, six AL pennants and four World Series triumphs in 12 years as he helped restore the luster to baseball’s most successful franchise and resurrected his own career after three firings.

    “Baseball is a game of life. It’s not perfect, but it feels like it is,” said the 74-year-old Torre, who apologized afterward for forgetting to include the Steinbrenner family in his speech. “That’s the magic of it. We are responsible for giving it the respect it deserves. Our sport is part of the American soul, and it’s ours to borrow — just for a while.”

    “If all of us who love baseball and are doing our jobs, then those who get the game from us will be as proud to be a part of it as we were. And we are. This game is a gift, and I am humbled, very humbled, to accept its greatest honor.”

    It is a wonderful feeling to be honored for your life’s work, or in this case play since baseball is after all a game. Nonetheless baseball is as American as apple pie so the saying goes.  Joe Torre in his acceptance speech expressed a deep appreciation for the game and humbly accepted the honor of being included among the elites of the game.

    Being accepted into the Baseball Hall of Fame is an honor reserved for very few of the many who have played the game before. Those who are honored in the hallowed halls of Cooperstown have shown and above average talent for the game. They have demonstrated spectacular performance on the ball field and from this day forward shall be enshrined forever among the greats of the game.

    As Joe Torre expressed in his remarks it gave him a sense of pride to pass on the game to the next generation and give them encouragement and a love of the game. He took his honor to heart.

    Being an example for others, and offering encouragement for those who come to the game after us is certainly something that should be remembered and having a Hall of Fame to honor these great men is certainly right.

    In our Christian walk we too have a record of the Hall of Famer’s found in Hebrews chapter 11. These are those who although they had obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, because God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. The list is long of all those who are listed in God’s great Hall of Fame including David, Moses, Samson, Elijah, Joshua, Rahab, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Esau. And let us not forget Joseph, Noah and Abel. The list is too long to include everyone here but you can visit God’s Hall of Fame found in the pages of scripture.

    In order to walk among baseball’s finest you must take a trip to Cooperstown and visit the Hall of Fame, but to walk among the biblical elite on God’s Wall of fame you simply have to turn to scripture.

    Like Joe Torre emoted, these men, who have played the game already, have left a legacy for others to follow. They have set an example of what can be accomplished when you are fully dedicated to the game of baseball. So too have the heroes of our faith set forth an example for others to follow. Let us follow their examples and get in the game, perhaps we too will one day find ourselves in the hall of fame.

    Hebrews 12:1 (NKJV)

    1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,



  • What’s Melting the Antartic Ice?

    First there was this headline:

    Melt of Key Antarctic Glaciers ‘Unstoppable,’ Studies Find | Climate

    According to the story sea level rise estimates are going to need to be revised upward: A portion of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet that is home to some of the fastest-flowing glaciers on the continent appears to have entered a state of retreat and melt that is “unstoppable,” two new studies have found.

    In another report we read these words of alarm: the retreat of ice in the Amundsen sea sector of West Antarctica was unstoppable, with major consequences – it will mean that sea levels will rise one metre worldwide. What’s more, its disappearance will likely trigger the collapse of the rest of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which comes with a sea level rise of between three and five metres. Such an event will displace millions of people worldwide.

    The article continues with this: there is no red button to stop this process. Reversing the climate system to what it was in the 1970s seems unlikely; we can barely get a grip on emissions that have tripled since the Kyoto protocol, which was designed to hit reduction targets. Slowing down climate warming remains a good idea, however – the Antarctic system will at least take longer to get to this point.

    Unabated climate warming of several degrees over the next century is likely to speed up the collapse of West Antarctica, but it could also trigger irreversible retreat of marine-based sectors of East Antarctica. Whether we should do something about it is simply a matter of common sense. And the time to act is now; Antarctica is not waiting for us.

    Get the whole report http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/climate-change-antarctica-glaciers-melting-global-warming-nasa

    This should make us all stop what we are doing and immediately start to cut our carbon footprints so as not cause global flooding. The problem is there is an entirely natural explanation for all this sea ice melting and it has nothing to do with “global warming.”

    BREAKING NEWS: Mantle Plumes Cause of Antarctic Glacial Melt

    A new study finds subglacial volcanoes and mantle plumes are melting Thwaites Glacier, a major river of ice that flows into Antarctica’s Pine Island Bay. Areas of the glacier that sit near geologic features thought to be volcanic are melting faster than regions farther away from plumes, said Dustin Schroeder, the study’s lead author and a geophysicist at the University of Texas at Austin.

    The melt caused by mantle plumes could lubricate the ice sheet from beneath, hastening its flow toward the sea. To understand how much the supper-heated viscous rock contributes to this flow and what that means for the future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet – glaciologists and climate scientists will have to include the new finer-grained findings in their models. Schroeder and his colleagues also plan to expand their study to other glaciers in the region.

    In other words volcanic activity beneath the ice is what is causing them to heat up and melt. So you can take a deep breath and exhale that CO2 into the atmosphere without the fear that you are causing polar bears to die and glaciers to melt.

    >



  • “Not Letting a Crisis Go to Waste” Led to a World War

    History has a way of repeating itself,

    therefore it would do us all well to learn from it.

    After World War I, Germany‘s economy suffered from depression and a devaluation of their currency.

    On January 30, 1933, Adolph Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany by promising hope and universal healthcare. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? But wait there is more.

    Less than a month later, on February 27, 1933, a crisis occurred – the Reichstag, Germany’s Capitol Building, was suspiciously set on fire.

    Hitler was quick to use this crisis as an opportunity to seize emergency powers, suspend basic rights, and accuse his political opponents of conspiracy. Not wanting to let any crisis go to waste  Hitler’s propaganda machine leveraged it for political gain.

    He ordered mass arrests followed by executions, even ordering his SS and Gestapo secret police to murder rivals, as during the Night of the Long Knives.  On the dawn of a new election in America Obama sent his IRS hit men to obstruct his political rivals.

    Hitler confiscated guns, forced old German military leaders to retire, and swayed the public with mesmerizing speeches. He was a great orator and could move a crowd with great speeches. Just speeches, just words or the soothing song of the siren of death? He spoke of great things while plotting the destruction of many lives. He came preaching peace and safety only to reign over sudden and utter destruction.

    Using diplomatic intimidation, deception, and Blitzkrieg ‘lightning’ attacks, Hitler’s National Socialist Workers’ Party proceeded to take control of:

    Austria, The Sudeten Region, Bohemia, Moravia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, France, Monaco, Greece, The Channel Island (UK), Czechoslovakia, the Baltic states, Serbia, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Finland, Croatia and more. He was leading Germany to total world dominance.

    The National Socialist Workers Party operated over 1,200 concentration camps where an estimated 4,251,500 people lost their lives. Today in America more than 1200 abortion clinics operate around the clock killing millions of innocent lives yet unborn. This is a modern-day holocaust. Lives considered not worthy to live are being snuffed out as the world  turns a blind eye.

    Church leaders who spoke out in opposition to Hitler were arrested and executed. As it was then it is still today, religious leaders who are vocal about their opposition to todays genocide are often arrested and prosecuted. We have not yet gotten to the place where those who oppose America’s holocaust are killed, that day may soon arrive.

    Something had to be done to stop this madness. Who or what was going to intervene on behalf of all the lives lost during Hitler’s bloody rampage?

    nullIn his D-Day Orders, JUNE 6, 1944, Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight Eisenhower sent nearly 100,000 Allied troops marching across Europe to defeat Hitler’s National Socialist Workers Party:

    “You are about to embark upon a great crusade… The eyes of the world are upon you.
    The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you…

    You will bring about…the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe…
    Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well-trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely…

    And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

     

    Over 160,000 troops from America, Britain, Canada, free France, Poland, and other nations landed along a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast of France.

    It was the largest amphibious invasion force in world history, supported by 5,000 ships with 195,700 navy personnel and 13,000 aircraft.

    America heard the news from a transatlantic radio-telephone hookup from Supreme Headquarters to all major press services and broadcasting networks in the U.S.

    A dramatic 10-second pause preceded it.  Colonel R. Ernest Dupuy, General Eisenhower’s public relations officer spoke:

    “This is Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force.  The text of Communique No. 1 will be released to the press and radio of the United Nations in ten seconds.”

    The seconds were counted off… “One, two, three…:”

    “Under the command of General Eisenhower,” Dupuy read slowly, “Allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing Allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France…”

    An extremely rare ringing of the Liberty Bell was heard across the country on national radio as Philadelphia Mayor Barnard Samuel tapped it with a rubber mallet and proclaimed, “Let it proclaim liberty throughout the land, and the return of liberty throughout the world.”

    In the larger cities, people flocked to cathedrals and synagogues. Across rural farmlands, they stopped what they were doing and headed to church.

    The invasion did not happen speedily, and it was not without great loss of life.  Americans were already making great sacrifices and mourning their dead, but they were about to be sent reeling with news of corpse strewn beaches a world away.

    Today, 70 years ago, the sea along the heavily fortified beaches of Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, Sword and Pointe du Hoc ran red with the blood of almost 9,000 killed or wounded. All that bloodshed led to a major turning point in World War II. The blood of those brave men who stormed those beaches that fateful day in 1944 would soon bring to end the brutal dictatorship of Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich.

    Eleven months after D-Day, the war in Europe ended with an Allied victory on May 8, 1945.

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  • VA More Concerned with Removing Religious Symbols From Chapels then Healing Vets

    See on Scoop.itEagle Views

    The Department of Veterans Affairs may be embroiled in a healthcare scandal — the severity of which led to the resignation of VA head Eric Shinseki — but pockets of the VA health system seem to be focused not on improving healthcare for veterans,…

    EagleWings‘s insight:

    With the sorry state that the VA is in they need all the prayer they can get, but once again the PC police as struck with a vengeance against Christ and his followers. Not wanting to offend the small minority who might take offense to seeing Jesus on a cross or a statue of Mary, the VA as put in place regulations that shield the small but vocal minority who may cry foul.

     

    I am really growing weary of these cry babies whining everywhere they go and complaining about religious symbols in places of worship. If you do not want to be confronted with the cross then stay out of the church and the chapel. But if you enter a church or a chapel right-minded individuals would expect to find Christ there.

     

    There are a million and one places you can go if you want to avoid any mention of Christ, but if you venture into a CHRISTIAN facility you will be presented with a CHRISTIAN MESSAGE in word and symbol. and if that offends you then do not attend such places.

     

    Why are there chapels in VA hospitals you may ask? Because many vets and families of vets like having a place to go pray to their Lord. If you are not of the Christian faith and want to have a place where you too can go to pray to your god or goddess get to work on setting up a place of your own or perhaps even ask the Chaplin nicely if he/she will allow you to use the chapel and he/she may even VOLUNTEER to cover-up any offensive  symbol, but REQUIRING Christians to remove symbols of their faith is not INCLUSIVE and COMPASSIONATE nor is it TOLERANT.

     

     

    See on www.theblaze.com

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  • Michelle Obama tells lawmakers to keep their hands off her school lunch program

    See on Scoop.itEagle Views

    First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday chided congressional Republicans for attempting to roll back her school lunch standards, calling the effort “unacceptable” and accusing lawmakers of playing politics with the health of young students.

    EagleWings‘s insight:

    If you like your lunch program you can not keep it but do not try to take away Michele’s school lunch program. Your child’s lunch can be tossed into the nearest waste bin but you better not lay a hand on Michele’s bag lunch program. If you happen to like your school lunch, and you want to keep it, you can not since Michele knows what is best for all students everywhere. Michele has become the SCHOOL LUNCH MONITOR and she is going to be checking out every child’s lunch to see if it meets her standards.

     

    Now her kids on the other hand are treated to chef prepared meals every day at the Sidwell Friends school her daughters attend. No one is going to be allowed to touch her kids meals, but yours is up for grabs.

     

    You see folks if you like something and the government thinks that you should not have it, they will make sure you can not have it and if you try to take it back you are told to keep your hands off.

     

    There is not a government program that is EVER cancelled but you can be sure that if you like your health insurance, or your child likes his or her lunch, that will be cancelled. None of the elites will have any of their stuff cancelled or confiscated, since they are a privileged class. Only the commoner among us most be told what they can or  can not have, or what their child can or can not eat. The elite will do anything they darn well please and don’t you dare try to tell them no.

     

    So shut up and eat whatever it is the government shovels out for you. And if it does not taste very good consider the source, the party in power’s mascot is after all a jackass.

     

    Now that is the way I see it what say you?

    See on www.washingtontimes.com

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  • Unions, employers square off over ObamaCare costs in collective bargaining

    See on Scoop.itEagle Views

    Disputes between unions and employers over paying for new costs associated with the Affordable Care Act are roiling labor talks nationwide.

    EagleWings‘s insight:

    In Philadelphia, disagreement over how much workers should contribute to such health-plan cost increases has stalled talks between the region’s transit system and its main union representing 5,000 workers as they try to renegotiate a contract that expired in March.

     

    Roughly 2,000 housekeepers, waiters and others at nine of 10 downtown Las Vegas casinos voted this month to go on strike June 1 if they don’t reach agreements on a series of issues, the thorniest of which involve new ACA-related cost increases, according to the Unite Here union.

     

    Flight attendants at Alaska Airlines voted down a tentative contract agreement with management in February, in part because it didn’t provide enough protection against a possible surge in ACA-related costs, union members said. They are still without a new contract.

     

    Labor experts on both sides say the law doesn’t take into account that health benefits have been negotiated by employers and unions over decades, and that rewriting plans to meet new requirements can affect wages and other labor terms. Oh boohoo. Those of us in the private sector who are non-union had health care plans we liked as well and were promised that if we liked our healthcare plan we could keep it. We couldn’t and neither can you. But we did not want it you all did.

     

    “It’s been a challenge for even some of the stronger unions to maintain the quality health plans that they have offered over the years,” said Daniel Murphy, an attorney in New York who represents employers in labor talks. Hey tell us in the non-union world that. We all know this all too well.

     

    Among the earliest supporters of the health-care law, unions have unsuccessfully tried to win concessions from the Obama administration on some issues now involved in the labor talks.

     

    Oh yes let us not forget that these very same labor unions were all in favor of Obamacare and fought to have it enacted. Now they are seeing the error of their ways and I am sure they are going to cry foul loud enough and promise to withhold enough financial support that Obama and the Dems will come through with some sort of taxpayer bailout, to cover the increased costs being imposed on them by the very party they support.

     

    What started this whole health care debate in the first place was the  legacy costs of union healthcare plans being provided by the unions, many of which operate in the public sector. State run health plans were causing state budgets to bust so the thought of Obamacare was to shift the  cost of these public sector union contracted healthcare costs to taxpayers to pay in the form of subsidies. The states would then dump their legacy costs into the OBAMACARE exchanges and avoid the costs of health care.

     

    However they were planning on the plans to be the same lavish plans they were offering their employees not these bloated  mandated care plans being forced on them by Obamacare.

     

    If you lie down with dogs you are going to get up with fleas. Let this be a lesson to all. You can not make deals with the devil and expect to come out a winner in the end.

    See on www.foxnews.com

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  • The Real Story of Noah Dispels the Myth of Environmentalism

    Romans 8:20-21 (NIV)
    20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope
    21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

    Genesis 3:17 (HCSB)
    17 And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you.

     

    How do we save the planet?

    By saving humankind from the curse of sin and death.  Not by environmentalism.

    The entire creation was cursed by Adam’s sin and as such it can not be saved until the remnants of Adam’s sin is erased from the earth.  Jesus’s birth, death and resurrection set in place the foundation for this eventual redemption of the world, but it is not complete until everything has been made subject to Jesus Christ. This will happen when he returns to set up his kingdom. The continued laboring and sweating to produce a ‘good crop’ will continue until the earth is cleansed of all unrighteousness.

    It is true that man is the reason the environment in which we live is a mess. It is sinful man who has subjected the earth to God’s curse, but it is not through environmentalism that this curse will be reversed but through the redemption of humanity. No amount of environmental efforts is able to reverse God’s curse, only by receiving God’s blessing can the curse be reversed, and that only comes through salvation in Christ.

    You see had Adam and Eve not introduced sin into the world at the beginning, but lived their life in obedience to God, the earth would be the paradise that environmentalists are always dreaming of. But since the environmental movement does not take into account God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ, their remedies are worse than the cause. They believe that if you end humanity from the earth then all will be well.

    That has been tried before and yet the problems still persist.

    Genesis 6:5-7 (GW)
    5 The LORD saw how evil humans had become on the earth. All day long their deepest thoughts were nothing but evil.
    6 The LORD was sorry that he had made humans on the earth, and he was heartbroken.
    7 So he said, “I will wipe off the face of the earth these humans that I created. I will wipe out not only humans, but also domestic animals, crawling animals, and birds. I’m sorry that I made them.”

    God who created the whole of creation looked down upon the earth and saw nothing but corruption. He saw how evil humankind had become. He saw how mortals were constantly plotting evil intentions in their hearts. And God planned to cleanse the earth of the entire human population, to end the lives of all that He created. After all He was the creator and he could do what he wanted with that creation.

    I am afraid that many today see God as this evil tyrant who is only looking for a reason to wipe us all out. And if we are not careful to fully understand the true story of Noah then we too could come away with the same picture of God. To be fair if God really wanted to end humankind all he had to do was prevent Adam and Eve from procreation and it all would have ended before it began, but that was not his overall plan, which we will see as we continue to look at the true story of Noah.

    In the latest movie adaption of the Noah story there are several huge problems. For one, its characterization of Noah is very troubling. In this movie, Noah is willing to murder three men to try to save the life of an animal that had been severely wounded. To this Hollywood Noah, animal life was far more important than human life. He didn’t really try to save the life of a young woman whom Ham tried to save. Moreover, if Noah’s daughter-in-law gave birth to a girl, Noah said, “From the moment of her birth I will cut her down.” Throughout the second half of the film, Noah is obsessed with making sure all of humanity is wiped out so that the “innocents” (read: animals) can live peacefully in a new post-flood Eden. This I am afraid is the position of many environmentalists who see HUMANS as a plight on the earth and animals as innocent victims of civilization. However when God created the earth he said that there was no one to tend to it and thus he created man to tend to the earth and take charge of it. The earth was created for man and man was not created for planet earth.

    Genesis 2:4-8 (GW)
    4 This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when the LORD God made earth and heaven.
    5 Wild bushes and plants were not on the earth yet because the LORD God hadn’t sent rain on the earth. Also, there was no one to farm the land.
    6 Instead, underground water would come up from the earth and water the entire surface of the ground.
    7 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the earth and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being.
    8 The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. That’s where he put the man whom he had formed.

    Genesis 2:15 (GW)
    15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it.

    As previously stated the entire creation has become subject to a curse because of Adam’s sin but at the same time humans are also under that same curse. Therefore to be exact the entire creation has become corrupted by the first sin of Adam. Therefore none is innocent. However that is not exactly how God saw things.

    Genesis 6:9 states that Noah “was a just man, perfect in his generation. Noah walked with God.” He was faithful to do everything God had commanded him to do (Genesis 6:22). God said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation” (Genesis 7:1). In the book of Ezekiel, Noah is identified as a righteous man and is placed in the same context as Job and Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14, 20). Peter called Noah a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). Noah also appears in the “Faith Hall of Fame” chapter—Hebrews 11:7 states, “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

    You see despite all the evil that was taking place upon the earth there was goodness represented by Noah. God called him righteous in his generation. Would God call you righteous in our generation? Could it be said of you that you were faithful to do everything God had commanded you to do?

    I thought it was important to note that scripture records the birth of Noah and states that his name meant relief.

    Genesis 5:28-29 (GW)
    28 When Lamech was 182 years old, he became the father of a son.
    29 He named him Noah [Relief], and said, “This child will bring us relief from the work and painful labor of our hands since the LORD has cursed the ground.”

     

    The people of that time knew that the earth was cursed and believed  that relief would come one day. When Noah was born he was  given the name which in Hebrew meant relief with hope that Noah would bring relief to all this toilsome labor. In a way relief did come through Noah but not exactly like we might think.

    Genesis 7:1-4 (GW)
    1 The LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ship with your whole family because I have seen that you alone are righteous among the people of today.
    2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal (a male and a female of each) and one pair of every kind of unclean animal (a male and a female).
    3 Also, take seven pairs of every kind of bird (a male and a female of each) to preserve animal life all over the earth after the flood.
    4 In seven days I will send rain to the earth for 40 days and 40 nights. I will wipe off the face of the earth every living creature that I have made.”

     

    God set out to wipe the earth clean of every living thing, animals included, with the exception of those Noah took with him on the ark. The ark was the only place of safety to be found, and had God not told Noah to build it there would have been no hope for anyone or anything. You see God was not without mercy. He was not going to completely annihilate all that he created, he had a plan of escape from his wrath, the only thing Noah had to do was listen and obey, which is exactly what he did.

    You notice the animals came to Noah for safety and he took them in. There is no mention of other people coming to Noah to be saved.

    Genesis 7:6-10 (GW)
    6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came to the earth.
    7 Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives went into the ship to escape the floodwaters.
    8 Clean and unclean animals, birds, and creatures that crawl on the ground
    9 came to Noah to go into the ship in pairs (a male and female of each) as God had commanded Noah.

    10 Seven days later the flood came on the earth.

    Genesis 7:15-16 (GW)
    15 A pair of every living, breathing animal came to Noah to go into the ship.
    16 A male and a female of every animal went in as God had commanded Noah. Then the LORD closed the door behind them.

    God shut the door and did not allow anyone or anything else on board. The time had come. Judgment day had arrived.

    Noah spent a great deal of time building this huge boat, in front of his countrymen, in plain sight, and yet only Noah and his family actually got on the boat. It had not rained prior to this and where Noah was building his boat there was no body of water so it made no sense to build this huge boat in the middle of dry land. The people of Noah’s day were oblivious to what was going on around them because they have come to believe that they were in control of their own destinies and did not have the fear of the Lord within their hearts. They had no knowledge of God’s righteousness or wrath. They had grown cold toward the things of God, that is all but Noah who God said was the only one righteous in his entire generation. Scripture gives us a deeper understanding of what happened in those days when we read:

    Matthew 24:36-39 (GW)
    36 “No one knows when that day or hour will come. Even the angels in heaven and the Son don’t know. Only the Father knows.
    37 “When the Son of Man comes again, it will be exactly like the days of Noah.
    38 In the days before the flood, people were eating, drinking, and getting married until the day that Noah went into the ship.
    39 They were not aware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes again.

    You see there is coming another judgment day from God and as in times past many will be unaware of their own impending doom. Oh there will not be a world-wide flood but there is a coming judgment. Will you be ready? Will you be found righteous and worthy to escape God’s wrath? Have you boarded the ark of salvation prepared for you by God through Jesus Christ?

    1 Peter 3:18-22 (GW)
    18 This is true because Christ suffered for our sins once. He was an innocent person, but he suffered for guilty people so that he could bring you to God. His body was put to death, but he was brought to life through his spirit.
    19 In it he also went to proclaim his victory to the spirits kept in prison.
    20 They are like those who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah when God waited patiently while Noah built the ship. In this ship a few people—eight in all—were saved by water.
    21 Baptism, which is like that water, now saves you. Baptism doesn’t save by removing dirt from the body. Rather, baptism is a request to God for a clear conscience. It saves you through Jesus Christ, who came back from death to life.
    22 Christ has gone to heaven where he has the highest place that God gives. Angels, rulers, and powers have been placed under his authority.

    But just as in Noah’s day there will be many who will not believe and even scoff at the very notion that there is a righteous God ready to mete out justice for all who live ungodly lives. In fact they will not only scoff at but actually promote godlessness through their actions and teach others to do the same. They will actually rejoice in their ungodliness as if to show that there is no God and they can do what they please. Basically history repeating itself.

    2 Peter 2:1-10 (GW)
    1 False prophets were among God’s people {in the past}, as false teachers will be among you. They will secretly bring in their own destructive teachings. They will deny the Lord, who has bought them, and they will bring themselves swift destruction.
    2 Many people will follow them in their sexual freedom and will cause others to dishonor the way of truth.
    3 In their greed they will use good-sounding arguments to exploit you. The verdict against them from long ago is still in force, and their destruction is not asleep.
    4 God didn’t spare angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, where he has secured them with chains of darkness and is holding them for judgment.
    5  God didn’t spare the ancient world either. He brought the flood on the world of ungodly people, but he protected Noah and seven other people. Noah was his messenger who told people about the kind of life that has God’s approval.
    6 God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning them to ashes. He made those cities an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them.
    7 Yet, God rescued Lot, a man who had his approval. Lot was distressed by the lifestyle of people who had no principles and lived in sexual freedom.
    8 Although he was a man who had God’s approval, he lived among the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Each day was like torture to him as he saw and heard the immoral things that people did.
    9 Since the Lord did all this, he knows how to rescue godly people when they are tested. He also knows how to hold immoral people for punishment on the day of judgment.
    10 This is especially true of those who follow their corrupt nature along the path of impure desires and who despise the Lord’s authority. These false teachers are bold and arrogant. They aren’t afraid to insult the {Lord’s} glory.

    2 Peter 2:13-19 (GW)
    13 These false teachers are stains and blemishes. They take pleasure in holding wild parties in broad daylight. They especially enjoy deceiving you while they eat with you.
    14 They’re always looking for an adulterous woman. They can’t stop looking for sin as they seduce people who aren’t sure of what they believe. Their minds are focused on their greed. They are cursed.
    15 These false teachers have left the straight path and wandered off to follow the path of Balaam, son of Beor. Balaam loved what his wrongdoing earned him.
    16 But he was convicted for his evil. A donkey, which normally can’t talk, spoke with a human voice and wouldn’t allow the prophet to continue his insanity.
    17 These false teachers are dried-up springs. They are a mist blown around by a storm. Gloomy darkness has been kept for them.
    18  They arrogantly use nonsense to seduce people by appealing to their sexual desires, especially to sexual freedom. They seduce people who have just escaped from those who live in error.
    19  They promise these people freedom, but they themselves are slaves to corruption. A person is a slave to whatever he gives in to.

    2 Peter 3:3-7 (GW)
    3 First, you must understand this: In the last days people who follow their own desires will appear. These disrespectful people will ridicule {God’s promise}
    4 by saying, “What’s happened to his promise to return? Ever since our ancestors died, everything continues as it did from the beginning of the world.”
    5  They are deliberately ignoring one fact: Because of God’s word, heaven and earth existed a long time ago. The earth {appeared} out of water and was kept alive by water.
    6 Water also flooded and destroyed that world.
    7 By God’s word, the present heaven and earth are designated to be burned. They are being kept until the day ungodly people will be judged and destroyed.

    2 Peter 3:10-13 (GW)
    10 The day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day heaven will pass away with a roaring sound. Everything that makes up the universe will burn and be destroyed. The earth and everything that people have done on it will be exposed.
    11 All these things will be destroyed in this way. So think of the kind of holy and godly lives you must live
    12 as you look forward to the day of God and eagerly wait for it to come. When that day comes, heaven will be on fire and will be destroyed. Everything that makes up the universe will burn and melt.
    13 But we look forward to what God has promised—a new heaven and a new earth—a place where everything that has God’s approval lives.

     

    You see the real story of Noah is not just about a flood and a big boat, but about righteousness and judgment. There is a God who created all this and who has a stake in how it all turns out. This same God formed the world by his say so and is the same God who flooded the earth at his command. This same God could have completely wiped out the entire course of humanity but instead chose to safe a few souls, that is 8 in all along with every living creature that lived upon the earth. He showed mercy in the midst of great destruction. He showed compassion while witnessing constant evil taking place on the earth he created, by people created in his reputation.

    God takes no delight in the punishment of the wicked, he would rather they all would come to him for salvation. He would prefer if everyone gets on board the ark of safety to avoid the coming judgment. But being God he knows not all will come to him to be saved, in fact many more will reject his offer and continue to live according to what their earthly desires dictate.

    The story of Noah should be a somber warning to all those who think God does not care about what happens here on earth. To those who think he is an absentee landowner need to think again because there is coming another flood of judgment and only those who are safely on board the ark will be saved. Are you on board? Or are you like many others poking fun at the Noah’s of today who are building arks of safety for their families while all around them are people busy doing their own thing totally unaware of an all-seeing God keeping watch over his creation? It is not too late to get on board, but one day it will be too late for the door will be closed. How long do you think you can tread water?

     

    Image.gifThis is a view from the nest. What say you?

    But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

    Along for the journey

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    This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.

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