This Pilgrim's Progress

Gnostic America

I highly recommend to my friends and readers the current issure of "Modern Reformation" magazine. It explores the topic of  of religion in America, and how society and evangelicalism have move increasingly to a  Gnosticism based on individual religiosity and experience.

Check it out at: http://www.modernreformation.org/

"In the Wilderness"

Well, politics have been kind of disappointing these past 6 months. The best hope we conservatives had, Romney, seemed to lack the steam or passion to win the hearts and minds of the republican base.  The other "conservative" candidates managed to confuse the issue of political conservative values with religious conservative values. So we had the Christian right voting for a social liberal like Huckabee!!

Now were stuck with McCain, the epitome of a "Rhino" Senator as the party's candidate. The only good thing I can say about him is that he at least wouldn't quit on the war against Islamic fascism or quit on our troops who've given so much to protect our country.

And I don't even want to get started on Obama!!  He seems to combine the worst aspects of Bill Clinton and Jimma Carter with an extreme amount of total ignorance and naivete concerning world affairs.

So, we conservatives are on the "long trek" to the  political wilderness to regroup and re-energize ourselves to do battle for the values that have made our country great. But we need to not linger out there too long, but get back in the fight and take back the party from the Nelson Rockefeller- country-club-social-liberals that have crept back into control of the party.

We've got some good up and coming conservatives out there, so we need to be in the fight and helping them get to the leadership positions where they are so desparately needed.

And we need to be in prayer for our country, that God will stay his hand of judgement, and that the Holy Spirit wll work in our society to turn it away from the paganism it seems so intent on.

Should Christians Vote for Mormons?

John Mark Reynolds of Biola's Torrey Institute has a great column on this issue:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/05/should_christians_vote_for_mor.html

From what I've seen and heard so far, I think Mitt Romney is probably the best candidate for the Republican nomination. He's a successful businessman, a successful politician, and his stands on the issues align pretty well with us conservatives.  I also like Hunter and Tancredo, but I don't think they have a snowball's chance in hades against any of the possible democratic candidates.  Liberals like to harp on his change on many issues to the conservative side, but in my mind that's not a problem. Running in Massachusetts, he probably couldn't win as a conservative, so he had to position himself as a moderate. I think he's smart enough to know that the only way a Republican is going to win the Presidency is by standing on a firmly conservative platform.

More on Libby

In case you've been in a cave the last 6 months, check out Byron York's article:

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NDY1MGY0Mjk1OGVjNmM2YzIxNjdiYjBhZmZiOTM4NmU=

The WSJ agrees with me that Libby should get a Presidential pardon:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009753

I'm still here!!

Gosh, I didn't realize it's been 2 months since I last posted an entry. A lot is happening in my life, and blogging kind of fell through the cracks!  Not that I usually have anything great to say!

Politics has gotten really nasty since the Dems took control of Congress.  Some observations:

The conviction of Scooter Libby is a real travesty of justice. Here we are throwing a faithful public servant into prison for doing nothing! If the White House doesn't pardon this man, then my recent doubts about Bush's character will be confirmed.

What's your bet on the Hillary vs. Obama contest for the Dem. nomination?? Hillary has the tenacity of a pit bull, but Mr. Barack Hussein Obama is a very ambitious man.  Plus Hillary has old Bill to deal with, talk about an Albatross around your neck!! (for you non-homeschooled people, that's a "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" reference).  Some pundits claim the Clinton's are masters of politics and a real force to reckon with. Problem with that idea is that we now have a very good handle on who and what the Clinton's are politically and morally speaking.  I have to admit though, o'le Hillary can come off sounding like a conservative on some issues (i.e. border security).

Meanwhile, for Values Conservatives, there's not a huge selection of Republican candidates to choose from. Romney looks like the only dependable choice. Hunter would be good if he had a chance, which of course he doesn't. Giuliani would be a disaster. 

The "Surge" seems to be working, if the leftists in Congress give it enough time to succeed! Although, I am a bit skeptical about the Iraqi government's will to put aside sectarianism and put their country's interests ahead of other conflicting interests. Time will tell.

Governator

I heard the Arnold-the-Governator's speech last night on the way home. He is sure sounding more like a Democrat every day! Basically he wants to spend our taxes on education and the health system, two areas where big-government has shown itself particulary inept at managing efficiently or even competently.  We spend more money per capita in this state for education and we get the worst result than any other state or country in the world!!!

The "Big-Government" Republicans in Congress also look to be spending more of our money with the Democrat's help!!

Prager Koran Controversy

Dennis Prager, conservative radio talk host and commentator, wrote a column last week where he suggested that Representative-elect Keith Ellison's desire to take the oath of office using the the Koran instead of the Bible "undermines American civilization", and that he shouldn't be allowed to do so.  There are two things I want to say about this "teacup tempest":

1) Prager is being attacked and labeled a bigot and racist for his column. That's patently unfair, if anyone listens to Dennis on the radio for 10 minutes or reads his writings, you will know without a doubt that he is not a bigot, and I don't believe he has a hateful bone in his body. Unfortunately, postmodern leftists do not counter ideas with other ideas, rather they resort to ad-hominem attacks in a attempt to discredit their opponents idea's by discrediting and besmirching the character and integrity of their opponent. Dennis doesn't use ad-hominem arguments, in fact he has stated several times that his position has nothing to do with Islam or the Koran, but rather protecting what he sees as  traditional American culture.

2) I disagree with Dennis Prager on his position. The only reason people swear upon the Bible for the oath of office or the witness oath in our court system is to demonstrate the sincerity of their oath. Unfortunately, politicians have violated their oaths of office by incredible acts of dishonesty and greed, and many witnesses have lied under oath.  As a Christian I'm a bit uncomfortable with requiring everybody to swear on the Bible. If they are not devout Christians, what purpose does using the Bible serve?? During most of our history America has been a "Christian" culture with most people believing in and practicing the their faith and belief in what the Bible teaches. This is no longer true, America is not a "Christian" culture, far from it!!  It makes more sense for devout believers of other religions to use whatever book or even object serves for them as a demonstration of the sincerity of their oath. For atheists it makes no sense to have them swear on the Bible, since we can hardly think that they hold the word of God in any semblance of regard other than a piece of literature. Furthermore, if you examine the scriptures carefully, you'll will find that "swearing on something" is not regarded as a righteous act because so many have abused their oaths.  Rather we are to let our yeses be yes and our no's  be no (Matthew 5:33-37).  Tradition is a very poor reason to use the Bible for a secular ceremony (Mark 7:6-13). If those using it for ceremonial purposes don't believe in it's truths, then it is even sacrilegious to do so. Some people seek to use the Bible for their own purposes without believing it's teachings (John 5:30-46),  or that it is the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).

So, I think there's more reasons to NOT use the Bible for oaths of office than there are arguments in favor of it. In fact, if we truly believe in the Word's Holiness we should seek to ban it's use in civic oaths of any type.

Democracy At Work

Well the Republican party suffered a pretty resounding defeat in yesterday's elections.  I guess the Dem's will try to claim some sort of mandate from that, but that's to be expected.

Some observations:

The Republican party lost the election rather than the Democrats winning it.  The party failed to pay attention to its base, Conservatives with Traditional Values. They also failed to rule when they had the chance. The democrats won't be as shy about advancing their agenda!!

The northeastern liberal republican candidates took a heavy hit. Democrat candidates who won ran as conservatives!!

When Republicans lose an election they blame themselves. When Democrats lose they blame everybody else.  At least we will be somewhat spared the machinations of the 500 some lawyers the DNC had lined up to fight close races!!

It will be interesting to see if the Democrats will be united, or if the gulf between Lieberman conservatives and Dean leftists will finally split them irretrievably.

Rumsfeld just stepped down as Secretary of Defense.  Why is Bush firing him now?? Doesn't make any sense to me at all!!

God is sovereign, and the destiny of nations is in His hands. Pray for our nation! Pray that God will suspend his judgement, and that the Holy Spirit will move in our country to restore us to righteousness.

"Jon Carry"

I've refrained from commenting on politics lately because frankly it is quite a circus these days. If the outcome wasn't so deadly serious, some of this stuff would be funny.

Well, it's good to see that our service-people in Iraq have a great sense of humor in spite of immediate circumstances. The picture is from Little Green Footballs via Hugh Hewitt.

Get out and Vote!!

The left, politicos and old-media, are desperately trying to get Christian conservatives to sit this election out.  Marvin Olasky has a good essay about it this week in "World"  (http://www.worldmag.com/articles/12353) .  They know the only way to take the majority rule away from the Republican party is to convince the  religious-conservative base of the party to stay home.  Thankfully the President and the party are both trying to rally the support of Christian conservatives.  But even if they didn't, every Christian needs to realize how important their participation is in the election. The founding fathers of this country knew our democracy would only succeed if Christians were part of the process. Both Adams and Jefferson acknowledged this in their writings. And today, our democracy will only succeed if Christians get off their duffs and perform their civic duty of voting the dictates of their conscience.