Do Not Worry (Luke 12:22-34)

Then Jesus said to his disciples:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.  Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.  Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them.  And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Consider how the lilies grow.  They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!  And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.  For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.  But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.  Sell your possessions and give to the poor.  Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Where are our hearts?  Who have we talked to, face-to-face, about Jesus?  Do we make it a priority?

In Ephesians 6:10-20 Paul describes the "whole armor of God".  Most, of course, is defensive; but there is a weapon mentioned in verse 17.  Not a ballista or catapult for long range work against masses of foemen, not a bow or javelin for medium range, not even a spear to keep people away.  Paul describes the "sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God".  The word he used was <a href="">machaira</a> (mä'-khi-rä) which is essentially a large knife for cutting up meat or a small sword for close, personal contact with the enemy.

We're supposed to get close to people to witness to them.  We're supposed to be someone they trust.  No "fishbowl evangelism".  No "catch and release".  No "long range snipers".  We're to be up so close we can smell them--and they us!

When you're that close to someone, they know who you are, how you live your life, and whether you're telling them what you believe enough to live by (or not).  It's "dangerous".  They might reject you or the message or both.  But that's why we're to "seek his kingdom" and not our own...  We're soldiers.  We're either in His army or in the enemies camp. 

The time to choose is now.

May God richly bless you and give you peace as you do His will.

Made Alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10)

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.  Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)

Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.  To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability.  Then he went on his journey.  The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.  So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.  But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  The man who had received the five talents brought the other five.  'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents.  See, I have gained five more.'

His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master's happiness!'

The man with the two talents also came.  'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'

His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master's happiness!'

Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground.  See, here is what belongs to you.'

His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant!  So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.  For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

Mr President,

I am so shocked, appalled, and angered by the news that I cannot take time for eloquence.

With illegal aliens free because of ICE indifference to run around and rape our young girls, "http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/midsouth_news/article/0,1426,MCA_1497_5615643,00.html", I cannot believe Michael Chertoff is doing even as well at DHS as Mr Brown did at FEMA during the Katrina aftermath.

How can I believe we are safe when even Sam Johnson's 3rd District in Texas is reporting nearly 100,000 KNOWN illegal aliens?  What in the name of all that is holy are you doing to protect our damned borders from foreign invasion?

They aren't all Mexican Guest Workers.  Many are from Muslim countries.  Many are from Africa.  Many are sick and infect others.  They are overloading our emergency rooms.  They are overloading our schools with students who both cannot speak English and miss three months in the winter as their families migrate south--causing the whole class to be held back to their substandard level. 

Illegal are sucking this country dry and your appointees are to blame!  Please stop appointing incompetent friends and find some people who know which end their ..... is on.  Keep firing them until you get someone who knows what to do...

It worked for Lincoln during the Civil War.  It worked for Patton during WW2.  It will work for America now.

Start with Mr. Chertoff and follow with Mr. Gonzales.  He won't enforce the border and as AG, he isn't supposed to pick and choose which Federal Laws he can ignore.  His subordinates, like Johnny Sutton, are prosecuting law enforcement officers for shooting at armed drug smugglers.  I want them investigated to see if he's getting paid by the drug cartels.  Their actions appear dangerously close to violations of US Code 18, Chapter 115.

Please build a legacy of DEFENDING the USA and not one of DESTROYING it!

Psalm 63 (NIV)

A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah.

O God, you are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
    my soul thirsts for you,
    my body longs for you,
    in a dry and weary land
    where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands.

My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

On my bed I remember you;
    I think of you through the watches of the night.

Because you are my help,
    I sing in the shadow of your wings.

My soul clings to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

They who seek my life will be destroyed;
    they will go down to the depths of the earth.

They will be given over to the sword
    and become food for jackals.

But the king will rejoice in God;
    all who swear by God's name will praise him,
    while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

IF AND ONLY IF they renounce the killing of people who disagree with them as "self-defence" to their "Religion of Peace".

Islam does not mean peace, it means submission. That is, in fact, why it is incompatible with US Citizenship. And it is exactly why they attacked us on 9/11/2001.

Sure, the USA promotes a form of religious freedom. But when was the last time you saw an American strap on a bomb and kill innocent men, women, and children just because someone in a third country drew cartoons about the US President.

Sure, Christians claim their citizenship is in Heaven first, then here; but when was the last time you saw a Christian videotape of a youth minister beheading a non-Christian?

I believe that, in the current climate--and especially in light of the savage attacks on England and Scotland this week--calling Islam a "Religion of Peace" is a dirty, filthy lie from Hell. And sadly, most Americans consider themselves too civilized to require the practitioners of Islam to meet even the same basic standards that they require for EVERYONE ELSE. We police our own--and prosecute them openly when they break the law.

It's time the so-called "moderate" Muslims either took up the "Jihad" and wrested their "Religion of Peace" back from the death cult or started admitting they agree with every rape of children (like Beslan), disemboweling of women (like Fallujah), murder of truck drivers (like Iraq), bombing of barbershops (like Afghanistan, and so on...

Transparency is a good thing. And unless "moderate" Muslims start OPENLY criticizing the violence caused by "extremists", they will be tarred by the same brush and face the same consequences.

BTW, I don't own any firearms, long knives, or even a moderately dangerous pointed stick... WHICH APPARENTLY MAKES ME A TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT TO THE ISLAMIST COWARDS.

All of the apologists for Muslims can say what they will; but it is ridiculous to call bombs attacking those who go to nightclubs (and first-responders and airport patrons) "self-defense".

It's just cold-blooded murder.

Go to http://www.noamnestypetition.com and sign the petition.

...we in America have a lot of stuff.  We're kind and generous at times; but sometimes the focus isn't on the right things...

The Rich Young Man

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone.  You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' "

"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

May God give us the wisdom to see the things in our life that are holding us down, the courage to drop them, and the strength to trust Him to meet our needs...

If you're a Christian, you have a responsibility to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-25) and wear the whole armor of God (Eph 6:10-20).  That means making sure of where we stand, doing what is right, strengthening our bodies and minds, and helping those around us.  It does not mean conforming to the current culture, "fitting-in", or the like.

Actions have consequences, words have meaning:

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing (John 9:1-25 NIV)

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."

Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath."
But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.

Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened."
The man replied, "He is a prophet."

The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man's parents. "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"

"We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."

He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"

Are you helping people or hurting them?  Are people afraid of you?  Or do they seek you when they are hurting

Alternately, are you afraid to tell others about Jesus?  I am, at times.  Not for fear of death; I'm afraid of ridicule.  You see, that's the Devil's tool in the West.  We want to be seen with the intelligentsia.  We want to avoid being identified with those polyester clad zealots who chained themselves together outside abortion clinics a few years ago.  Well, those are the only ones that CNN showed...  We want to avoid being the ones who thought Terry Schiavo deserved a chance to live...  We want to avoid being identified with wierdo; but we don't belong to this world...  Like the parents of the blind man Jesus healed, we don't want others to mock us or ostracize us...

BUT!  We need to be more like Christ and less like the Pharisees.  We must avoid breaking God's laws and use the blessings he gave us to help others.  I can't say exactly what that means in your life; but you'll be able to see with His light if you study His Word.  You can find the Bible online in a number of places.  I like "http:www.BibleGateway.com".  There are many others.  The important thing is to read it and ask Him to show you how to use what you read...

May He give you light on your path today.

Comment by "Judy T." on Polipundit.com:

Next Step –

The next step is for everyone against Amnesty is to write by SNAIL MAIL, yes I said SNAIL MAIL, and that 43 cent stamp –Write a personal letter.

Include a example of how your life has been negatively impacted by ILLEGAL aliens. The DUI accident, the crime, the lost job, whatever it is that has negatively impacted your life in the most direct manner. Tell them you are just one story of millions.

Include a provision of those ILLEGALS that you would be willing to accomodate in some way for a fast track to citizenship such as the following: military service; Durbins Korean gal with the legal parents who didn’t process papers for their 2 year old; those in country for X years who can demonstrate they paid taxes, speak English, assimilated, educated or children educated(we don’t need the 60% high school drop
outs). We must face facts that the 12 to 20 million will not all be deported – so think seriously about who you would carve out of the pack to allow an opportunity to stay

Tell your Senator to enforce the border, seal the border, build the fence first.

Tell your Senator you don’t want to hurt the US born high school drop outs with cheap immigrant labor.

Tell your Senators about that crap job you did as a teenager that taught you a work ethic and how you want your children to have the same experience – but that an illegal is cutting the neighbors grass, those or Illegals flipping the burgers, and babysitting the kids.

Tell your Senators that with Social Security already in trouble we don’t need to add more to the SS rolls who will never pay in close to what they will claim.

Tell you Senators that you want an immigration system that is FAIR to all the people in the world who want to come to the US – not just the poor of Mexico and Central America who have jumped the border.

Remind your Senator that their first responsibility is to the citizens of the US, not the 12 to 13 million illegals that Teddy was crying about yesterday.

Teddy went on and on about those Bedford illegals – did he even mention that blue collar workers of Bedford who had those jobs before the illegals showed up?

Do it this weekend — as it takes 3 weeks for the SNAIL MAIL to go through the clearing process.

BEST WISHES to all of you who continue to fight the good fight.

I thank the Lord for sustaining us.

Amen.

Neither Republicans nor Democrats care a bit about us or our troops–except how much money and power we can give them.

I’m going to devote my time to prayer about our country.

I am NOT trying to say that I’m better than any of you. In point of fact, I’m far worse than most of you (maybe all of you). I’ve taken without really giving long enough.

Now it’s time for me to start repaying my debt to those who actually serve our country.

UPDATE:  I'm Not Done!  I just can't seem to let it go...  Please pray for me...

US Code 18, Chapter 115 is very clear.
---
Section 2381. Treason

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
---
Section 2384. Seditious conspiracy

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
---

Please note that this long-standing law places limits on the freedom of speech. The Bill of Rights is not a "suicide pact".

Senators (i.e., Reid, Kennedy, Kerry, Durbin, McCain, etc.), Congressmen (i.e., Kucinich, Murtha, etc.), College Professors (i.e., Ward Churchill, Cornell West, etc.), Film-makers (i.e., Spielberg, Moore, etc.) and others have been allowed to aid and comfort our enemies in Iran, Iraq, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and elsewhere with impunity, resulting in the deaths of additional US and Coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and civilians.

Being that there are so many sharing al Qaeda's talking points, it is readily apparent that even the jury that acquitted OJ Simpson could see through this one. There IS a Seditious Conspiracy. And it has two fronts: GWoT and Immigration.

We are losing the GW0T because our President failed to use 9/11 to put the country on a "War Footing" and mobilize the great industrial strength of the USA. He and his advisers decided to use half-assed methods to solve the problem--with the result that the ADD children of the 60s and 70s got bored and changed the channel to something else.   And the Leftwits in the media gladly served up drunken Paris, ants-less Britney, foul-mouthed Rosie, and so much more.

We are losing on the Immigration front because no administration has obeyed their oath of office and actually enforced existing laws.  I don't know if it's because they are getting money from businessmen who want slave, non-union labor in their fields, factories, and kitchens.  I don't know if it's because foreign powers are paying someone.  I don't know if it's designed to secretly prop up the corruption-prone Mexican Government.  I don't know if the idiotic reasons the President says are what he really believes, in some sort of unappealing and inappropriate naivete.

I just know that granting these felons amnesty before we shut the door to other illegals is a guarantee of 100 million more before we're done.  And it's a slap in the face to everyone who followed the laws concerning Immigration, Social Security, Federal Income Tax, and Document Fraud.

We didn't press them because, like the frog in a slowly heated pan, we enjoyed the warm bath--now that we're almost cooked, we realize (too late?) that we elected leaders who were beholden to foreigners or others who don't have the same values, morals, and goals.

Still, if the House and Senate vote on it, and the President signs it, it will still become law--and with the courts prosecuting, convicting, and imprisoning Border Patrol agents who tried to do their job, we know what any appeal will get us...

Serves us right for believing "Republican" meant "Conservative", "Moral", or "Loves America"...

Serves me right for believing any politician's pre-election lies...

Jimmy Carter was the reaction to Nixon (Price controls, gas shortages, loss of Vietnam, Watergate)–and that was a real fiasco!  He never met an ally he couldn't offend.

Reagan was the attempt at correcting it all–and he made us proud to be Americans, whether or not we liked the Lee Greenwood song. But he, too compromised withe Ted Kennedy and we got Amnesty.

Then GHW Bush compromised with Ted Kennedy and we got “Read My Lips” and eight years of the Clintons doing their Socialist best to destroy America from the top.

Now Dubya seems to be a loyal Democrat. I cannot find the right words to express my distaste for a system that pitted him against a lunatic college dropout in 2000 and a treasonous gigolo on 2004. This really must have been a dhimmicrat plot.

McCain thinks he’s the new Che Guevara, when the real reason he can’t be elected is that most Americans see the guy who surrendered under that tough-guy facade. He suffered terribly in Vietnam; the psychological scars make him unfit to lead.  He also doesn't speak out against former Gitmo inmates who complain of torture (as in "they wouldn't let me watch the TV programs I wanted").

Giuliani is a Democrat. How else do you describe someone for taxpayer-funded abortion on demand, Stalinist gun control, and amnesty for illegal aliens?  Plus, he looks like a spinster librarian with those creepy glasses...  Can't he afford someone to prep him a little better?

Romney may or may not be OK; but he was elected Governor in the same state that keeps sending Kennedy and Kerry to the US Senate. I think he’s a flip-flopper.  I like most of his current views; but I can't trust him not to change when it's politically expedient.

Tancredo and Hunter are the only two who walk and talk like Conservatives; but Hunter has a bit more “gravitas” (to use a Ratherism). Fred Thompson is in the same list; but we won't know if he's a choice until much later. 

Acceptable choices have been swallowed up by the Republican Party’s “Victory Disease” (i.e., like the Japanese in the early part of WW2, the Republicans started thinking they couldn’t lose and got careless and heedless). The cardinal rule is that “you dance with the one what brung you"…

Conservatives elected Republicans–and then got left at the altar as Republicans went whoring after everyone but us.  And Pilgrim, let me tell you: That dog won't hunt.  Not any more.

It’ll be a cold day in Hell before I trust another Republican if they don’t build the thrice-damned fence before giving in to the demands of foreigners, traitors, and felons. They broke all of the other promises (remember term limits?; but if they at least build the fence I’ll know they’re still listening, if even a little.

Otherwise, they can kiss my family’s votes goodbye forever. 

Fool me once?

Shame on you. 

Fool me twice?

Shame on me.

After the bleeding is controlled (i.e., the fence is built), most Americans are reasonable enough to recognize that many of the SS Fraud Felons in this country illegally just couldn't wait behind the thousands of their home country's men, women, and children who were already in line. The law stood in the way of their financial success.

They're no more guilty of a "real" crime than the leaders of Enron, WorldCom, or anyone else who broke Federal Laws to get ahead in this dog-eat-dog world.

Why should they be forced to obey the laws now? It seems like it would be unfair. And similarly unfair and onerous for those who have been patiently waiting in line. Let's let them all pay $6500 and become US Citizens. Let's let them all file for and receive Income Tax refunds (including EIC) for the last seven years. Let's let them all, assuming they're of an age that allows it, collect SS Benefits regardless of their ability to provide legal documentation of their right to work in this country for the last 20-30 years.

In fact, why not just hand over the keys to the White House, the Congress, and the Supreme Court to anyone claiming to be a victim of our Immigration laws?

/sarcasm

This bill, and any other one that ignores felonies committed by non-citizens illegally in this country is Treason. Look it up. Google "US Code 18, Chapter 115".

And Hugh Hewitt, as much as I respect you, if you support this bill, you're a member of a Seditious Conspiracy.

Look it up.

Of course, it doesn't matter.

--The US Attorney General is a Hispanic who, even if he wasn't hanging on to his job by the skin of his teeth, is unwilling to prosecute illegals.

--The head of the Republican Party is another Hispanic with the same views.

--Powerful Republicans like Lindsey Graham address the Mexican KKK (La Raza) and lend credence to their position.

--The President is in favor of legalizing them, thinking, apparently, they're law-abiding (or at least cheap enough so that the big contributors won't mind).

I don't know whether this is some sort of brilliantly-disguised attempt to prevent a communist takeover of Mexico or treason and incompetence; but if it continues walking, quacking, and crapping like a duck, I'm not going to call it anything else.

Shame on you, Republicans!  Shame!  Shame!!  Shame!!!

You know, we could all dwell on the scary stuff that dhimmicrats like al Gore, Jeremy Rifkin, and countless others use to scare people who use illegal drugs. Asteroids, killer bees, global cooling/warming/climate change, nuclear winter, overpopulation, and any other improbable thing that strikes a neurosis somewhere.

Alternately, we could concentrate on real threats like al Qaeda (can you say Fort Dix?), Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, illegal immigration, crapulescent public education, and other things that actually can maim, kill, or send us to the poor house.

The dhimmicrats tell us that [insert scary music here] Karl Rove is trying to scare us. And then, with a straight face tell us (as if paraphrasing the Taliban's Mullah Omar) that toilet paper and deoderant cause global warming.

I tell you that people who actually believe the crap falling out of leftist mouths and into our children's ears in the schools our tax dollars fund is the scary part.

Do you know the original Conservationists were Republicans? It was a Teddy Rooseveldt thing. Look up Major Frederick Russell Burnham--scout, prospector, soldier of fortune, cattleman, conservationist, etc. You won't learn about him in American schools; but he was tremendously important figure in California History and the early conservation movement.

Instead, students learn about how to put a condom on a pickle and are taught that they are a freak accident of nature, a mere mutation or two away from a lemur or a chimpanzee. They learn all about Marilyn Monroe; but somehow miss out on the Monroe Doctrine. They learn about all of the currently "wrongs" of America and very little of the historical context.

That's scary. As they say, those who do not ignore the mistakes of history are doomed to live surrounded by those who do.

Be as much of a blessing to those around you as you can. Teach history. Teach American values. Don't surrender.