True Increase in Times of Trouble

To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us. Selah2 That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 4 Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah5 Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 6 Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psalms 67:1-7 (NKJV)

If you ever wondered where real prosperity comes from, then read this Psalm again. When God takes His hand off of things, they die. Why? God is the life of the earth.

I may not be a prophet, but a prophet doesn't have to be consulted when you wee that times are tough. I know of only one surefire way of seeing our nation begin to rise back up, and it has nothing to do with the answers we keep giving for our problems.

As a nation, we need a national revival. We need the hope that comes from Jesus. We need to be honest with oursleves and the way we live life.

When God takes second place in our lives, we loose. Jesus told a fig tree to die one day. The next day it was shriveled and dead. That might not seem like a nice thing to do. I had questioned that move for a long time, but last night I finally understood it.

That fruitless tree looked like it was full of life, but it had nothing to offer. Many people walk through life acting like they have everthing to offer. They present a front but hide their true intentions.

Many of us want to give something and add something to life. We want to know we have what it takes in life but we are hiding things in our life that make us fruitless. Maybe it is some hurt or wound given to us by someone when we were younger.

That wound has to be dealt with. God is the one who validates our lives. He gives us passion and purpose. That fruitless persona needs to be killed oof and through Jesus we have the power to do so.

At the moment, God begins to graft us into the life-sustaining vine. He takes the dead and rotted and giveit life. He prunes it and makes us fruitful.

As a nation we have to deal with our sins. We have hurts we have to deal with instead of glossing over. Until we heal, we will not have answers and we will continue to watch God's hand move away because He wants us to understand how utterly helpless we truly are.

I hope you will consider these words and look inside yourself and honestly assess your worship of God. We all need to do so, "then the earth shall yield her increase."

Where Are Our Leaders

I was reading an article last night that the UN has been funneling millions of dollars unchecked into North Korea. And people think we should keep the UN?

I would love to hear what the presidential contenders have to say about it. They would probably wash it under the rug just like all the media markets.

The UN has outlived its usefulness. I cannot understand why we would waste so much money on an organization that grants itself special favors and could care less how its funds are spent. It sounds more and more like the United States government.

Our government wastes more money than I can think about.

The candidates spend so much time talking about how they will tax this group and not that group. How about CUTTING SPENDING? If I have to cut back, then the government should have long ago cut back.

All they can think about is getting new funds and spending them. Why not cut expenses and then pay off our national debt? The Republicans have been very good at increasing spending over that last seven years. The Democrats are just as bad. Neither will admit it but they both are money vacuums more worried about funding their fake pet projects back home that will in turn fund their next campaign.

I am more than a little angry. I am wanting a leader who will lead and not barter.

I am so glad I have Jesus in my life. Without Him, we would really be in trouble. But look at these times as signs of things to come.

I am not trying to be a naysayer and doomsday prophet. But I seriously wonder if our political pandering to appease the jealous governments around the world is their way of trying to bring our success to an end.

Many foreign governments have for two centuries tried to look for chinks in our armor. Have they finally found it in the form of the Democratic appeasers and the pride-filled Republicans?

A real leader becomes a role model. People need and want it. This is a heavy responsibility, one that many times bears great dishonor while trying to do the right thing. Yes the right things and not overly trying to just be right. Setting an example in times like this will help our nation, and there is not a more powerful aspect to leadership.

If our leaders expect people to save for their futures, to care for their health, to stand in loyalty, and to embrace commitment, then they have to model it. They are the ones who need to start by truly decreasing government spending and paying off our national debt. Maybe then we could pay for affordable health care for those who need it - but not until then!

People in America imitate the behaviors of those who lead them. And when the real leaders cease to lead because they are too busy trying to become rock stars and movie stars, then the people will turn to those influences because at least they know those people are phony.

Until our leaders in Washington set high standards and actually stick to them, unlike the Republican party, their examples will continue to set our country in a spiral of uncertainty. Standards have to be attainable, this is why I harp on certain attainable goals for our nation:

• The Fair Tax to unchain our people and help those in need
• Drilling in at least one place in the possible US oil riches (without Democratic vetoes)
• Voucher programs that allow parents to have the right to put their child anywhere in a school they choose
  
• Immigration policies that will be humane to those who risked so much for the American dream while securing our borders to ensure no one else takes advantage of us
• Cut spending and pay off our national debt to get us out from under the thumbs of foreign governments who own more interest in our economy than we do (namely China)
• We need to take care of our environment with real and tangible policies
• And We need God, plain and simple

That's my soap-box this week. Thanks for reading.

2 Things

The DOW dropped almost 400 points this past Friday. Oil reached a new record high per barrel. Unemployment levels increased. People are becoming more worried and stressed about their futures.

The Democrats in Congress are coming to the rescue. They have decided to sponsor two different bills that will cause a rise in the prices at the gas pump and in home energy costs. One bill goes after those "evil" businessmen who are making money. The other is a ill-conceived bill to reduce greenhouse gases.

Go Democrats, go!

As I have said in the past, I am by no means against protecting our environment. It is our God given responsibility. I am against ideas that have not been thought through, especially during an election year when Congress is using these bills to trick and mislead their constituents.

So here again I emphasize two ideas that are better alternatives than the political junk that comes out of a Washington without a clue.

1. The FairTax. Taxes should never be used to manipulate votes and yet that is all we are hearing from politicians. One wants to tax some higher. The other wants to reduce taxes. Why not equalize the playing field and take taxes off the bargaining table and give REAL HELP to the citizens of the United States.
2. Drill in Alaska and off the coasts of the Eastern US. I know environmentalist balk at this idea. I understand the concerns. But are the concerns verified? Are they legit? Is there any evidence that shows that drilling in Alsaka will be a natural disaster? I do see that it will open up supply which according to my economics classes will help to drive down costs. I think it is called supply and demand.

I was interested in how much people pay for gas in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. One paid .12 per gallon. The other paid .42 per gallon. Why is that? Because they have their own supply. Brazil just become energy independent. Why? Because they decided to take a chance see if there was any oil off their coast.

I saw a report on one of my local news stations that even shows how Kudzu which grows at a rate of sixty feet per year can be used to produce ethanol: Kudzu Could be Key to Solving Gas Crisis

Why not pick one problem at a time and fix them. That's right, I forgot. If the problems are fixed, the politicians will not have anything to run on.

Are You Angry Enough

I am tired of oil prices growing out of reach for people. Why doesn't Washington see this? Because we are paying for their gas!

Why don't we reduce the salaries of Congress, the President, and the others? Maybe then they can feel the crush of the gasoline prices. But do they care? NO. They are too busy thinking about themselves to care about people.

My state used to average about 25 cents less than the national average. Now we are at the national average and above it in some areas.

Let's do something about it. Here is a link to a petition being carried by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

Here is the link: American Solutions

Act NOW!

The End of the World As We Know It

Could we be living in the last days as mentioned in the Bible?

"And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; 26 men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."

Luke 21:25-28 (NKJV)

And there will be signs. I think this is the most interesting part of what Jesus says. What is the dominate world theme right now? Global Warming. The verses above say that there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars. Could global warming be another precursor to the return of Jesus?

I think about this as our June temperatures in Georgia are reaching the 90s for the week. Our average temperature is almost ten degrees cooler. Now I could act in fear like most everyone else. They want to put things right as if that was the way to appease the anger of God. They want to appease God's anger their own way as if being good would focus God's attention elsewhere.

By the way, I am not saying global warming (if it is even real) is a punishment from God. I am saying that answers to things do not lay within what we can do. There is a Higher power who can make things right, and yet people are more concerned about who is the most global conscious. They fall all over themselves trying to look good, and our government officials are playing the field real well during this pivotal election season.

Yet, no one is calling for prayer. No one is heading for the churches. We do not have any political leaders with enough guts to actually call our nation to prayer. Long gone are the days of Abraham Lincoln who instilled the national day of Thanksgiving to thank God for our blessed nation.

The funny thing about this presidential election is that neither of the candidates are Christians. If they are, they have a really funny way of living out their Christian lifestyle. What a better setup for the upheaval of the United States than putting a person without any fear of God into office.

I do not fear these things, however, because my hope is strengthening with every sign of the impending return of Christ.

And there are the wars and rumors of wars. Across the world we see fighting for some unknown reason. Mostly because someone's pride refuses to let them stop.

With all these problems facing mankind, instead of turning to a loving and just God, men and women are turning from Him and blaming Him for the problems. Many will attack this just because it is easier to hate and to be intolerant of faith, all in the name of tolerance.

I watch in this scorching heat for the coming of Jesus, because never has there been such an intensity towards His coming. Instead of failing, I am excited and growing enthusiastic about the future.

Does this mean I should stop doing and being active in life? No. Laziness is never rewarded. Does this mean that I should not take care of the environment? By no means. I am just as responsible as anyone else for caring for this planet which God put us on.

Verse 28 says to look up and lift up your heads. That means to stop feeling sorry for ourselves and do something. Clean up our lifestyles and start turning our attention towards God. He is coming. Are you going to be ready?