Author: SPARKS FROM THE ANVIL OF LIFE

A publication of Tikkun International, Tents of Mercy & Revive Israel, July 2010   Vol 19, No 7

WHY LIBERALS HAVE TURNED AGAINST ISRAEL

By Daniel C. Juster, Director
How I Would Define Liberals

In the last 30 years many onetime liberal supporters have turned against Israel.

To understand liberals, we should have some idea of their belief system.

Liberals are usually distinguished from socialists. The latter believe that the government should own the means of production; that is, public ownership.

Liberals generally believe that there should be a much more even distribution of the productive wealth of a private market place.

In addition, liberals believe in a much greater evenness in distribution of the wealth of the society. A large government sector is needed to attain greater economic justice for all.

There can be disparities between wealthy and modest individuals, but neither the historic nor present extremes.

Liberals traditionally believe in a broadly defined understanding of human rights: civil rights, women’s rights, free speech rights and more.

Today this is expanded to include sexual orientation rights, homosexual rights and abortion rights.

Conservatives would argue that they also believe in legislation to protect many of these rights. However, conservatives want to err much more on the side of individual liberty, privacy, small government and personal responsibility.

They reject large-scale government redistribution and believe that real competition and freedom will eventually bring greater justice.

The Loss of Belief in God Among Liberals

In past times, both liberals and conservatives professed belief in God and His moral values (Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy).

Evangelicals were great supporters of Roosevelt and were very oriented to the Democratic Party until the abortion issue in the 1970s.

The Democratic Party was the party of the majority of Evangelicals. The Democrats also held sway with the majority of Catholics and Jews.

However, since the Vietnam War, there has been a shift in liberalism toward a more radical leftist view. Such non-historically rooted developments include a virulent secularism, relativism, the questioning of free speech if it violates political correctness (branded sometimes as hate speech), homosexual rights, abortion rights, and a great skepticism concerning American power.

America is seen as the problem in the world rather than the solution. We must not think that the liberalism of today is the same as that of Harry Truman. It is quite different. Often times the old liberalism had a strong religious base.

I believe that the main reason why liberalism (at least in its more leftist perspective), is such a problem is due to its malignant secular relativism.

“The Daily Kos” and “Move On” are two organizations with web sites that represent the new radical secular left. Such folks have succeeded in infiltrating into the culture formation leadership roles in our society (media, journalism, and academia).

While there are some Christians who support their positions, Christian liberals are not in the forefront of leadership in our society. So how does this play out?

Secular Liberalism is Cowardly

Recently, Paul Berman, a journalist professor at Johns Hopkins University has written an important book, The Flight of the Intellectuals.

The intellectual class is, in general, a liberal class. Berman catalogues the developments of the last 20 years.

It is quite stunning. In the early 90s the intellectuals were standing with Salman Rushdie, the author of the novel, The Satanic Verses which offended conservative Islamic leaders. A fatwa was put out, encouraging faithful Muslims to kill him. Intellectuals of all stripes spoke out strongly in his defense.

In the years following, liberal intellectuals have become more and more silent in the face of the greatest Muslim atrocities and other human rights violations.

Compare their loud responses to the recent Israeli defense of the Gaza blockade and the killing of 9 out of a mob that sought to murder the Israeli naval commandos.

A voice is raised for Darfur, but with much less intensity. Where are the recent street protests?

Compared to Iran and its terrible atrocities after its elections, Israel is much more vilified.

What of the sinking by North Korea of the South Korean naval ship where many died? There was no significant outcry.

There is no sustained protest led by the liberal intellectuals over the awesome oppression of women in the Muslim world.

Berman sees this as a self-betrayal of the feminist movement as well. This is all well catalogued in a recent Wall Street Journal article (June 8) by Bret Stephens.

How can this be explained? Berman shows a progressive decline in criticism of Muslim behavior and a greater and greater willingness to accommodate it.

Why? Because terrorism itself has succeeded in intimidating much of Western society, including liberals.

They have been cowed into silence by the threat of potential attacks against them should they criticize the Islamic agenda.

Their secular relativism robs them of courage to stand up against what is clearly wrong.

I believe they are affected by a subconscious desire to appease the Muslims in the hope that they will eventually calm down and leave the rest of us alone.

Appeasement is in, courage and opposition is out. It is a massive cultural Stockholm syndrome where the captive identifies with the oppressor, or in this case, the potential oppressor.

Appeasement is part of fallen human nature. The idea of sacrificing Israel so that they – the Muslims – will leave us alone may underlie much of the liberal response.

Jamie Glasov’s book, United in Hate, also asserts a psychology of self-hatred among some in the left that leads to hatred of our society.

This hatred promotes identification with any who hate the United States and the capitalist West.

Israel – who, in this context, is seen as a colonial power – is included among those to be hated.

It was quite revealing recently to watch CNN shortly after the Gaza blockade conflict. They showed a video taken by the Israeli Navy.

The Israelis land on the ship and are surrounded by a mob that beats them with iron bars and clubs and throws one overboard.

The video is really quite clear! Yet the commentator says that the video is grainy and unclear and one cannot really make out what is happening.

Wow! Why would he say that? Was it to appear neutral?

However, a reporter is to report facts! This was said in the face of very clear empirical fact.

Courage and the Fear of God

The best philosophers noted that a society of courage requires the fear of God.

In order to protect the morality and liberty of a nation, belief in God and His values needs to be at a level where individuals are willing if necessary, to give their life in sacrifice should the national good require it.

A willingness to make such a sacrifice is based on the understanding that there is reward after death.

However, as the great apostle Paul stated it “if in this life we only have hope” we are most miserable, (1 Corinthians 15:19).

During the Vietnam War many chanted, “Hell no, I won’t go,” and “Make love, not war.”

These protesters were portrayed as idealists. While this may have been true of a few, the majority were simply self-indulged baby boomers.

Thankfully many became Christians through the Jesus movement. Many, however, did not and some lead the leftist liberals today.

The ideas in these books and the referenced article are very persuasive. These writings give credibility to the statement in the book of Revelation that the cowardly will be lost: “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

The cowardly are willing to do terrible things and accommodate terrible things to save their own skins. This was clearly the case in Nazi Germany and continental Europe as a whole.

Anti-Semitism and Injustice

Certainly one cannot understand the disproportionate and terribly unjust criticism of Israel without the element of Anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is a huge and growing phenomenon today.

The Arab radicals are steeped in Nazi caricatures of Jews. They read Hitler with appreciation and frequently cite passages from the Koran that predict the final destruction of the Jews at their hands.

The liberal intellectuals choose to be relatively quiet about this and instead vilify Israel for “provoking” the Arabs.

Somehow Israel, in the midst of hostile Muslim nations, the only nation that practices human rights in the region, is said to be the real evil.

That Iran has a base in South Lebanon through Hezbollah and in the south in Gaza through Hamas … well, that can be overlooked; that Iran is carrying out its plans to destroy Israel, that is not to be protested.

The End of this Age

I am not an alarmist. However, it is hard not to believe that we are entering into frightfully prophetic days as predicted in the Bible, perhaps the end of this Age.

Then again, we are called to have courage and to believe that such days will be the greatest days in history for those with faith and courage. These are the days of a great harvest from the nations and the final salvation of Israel.

By Daniel Juster

http://www.tikkunministries.org/newsletters/dj-jul10.asp

• I am one of those who do not believe the national debt is a national blessing… it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country.
  
  • Andrew Jackson, Letter to L. H. Coleman of Warrenton, N.C., 29 April 1824
    
• The world is governed by very different personages from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes.
  
  • Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in his novel Coningsby, or the New Generation (1844), Chapter XV
    
• Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.
  
  • Woodrow Wilson, The New Freedom (1913), Doubleday, pp. 13-14
    
• From the days of Spartacus-Weishaupt to those of Karl Marx, and down to Trotsky (Russia), Bela Kun (Hungary), Rosa Luxembourg (Germany), and Emma Goldman (United States), this world-wide conspiracy for the overthrow of civilization and for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development, of envious malevolence, and impossible equality, has been steadily growing.
  

  It played, as a modern writer, Mrs. Webster, has so ably shown, a definitely recognizable part in the tragedy of the French Revolution.
  

  It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the Nineteenth Century; and now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their heads and have become practically the undisputed masters of that enormous empire.
  

  • Winston Churchill, “Zionism versus Bolshevism“, Illustrated Sunday Herald (London), February 8, 1920, pg. 5. Note that Churchill wrote this before the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were thoroughly discredited. (Mrs. Webster is Nesta Helen Webster.)
    
• The people must be helped to think naturally about money. They must be told what it is, and what makes it money, and what are the possible tricks of the present system, which put nations and peoples under control of the few.
  
  • Henry Ford, My Life and Work, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1922, p. 179
    
• Excerpts from Rep. Louis T. McFadden‘s speech on the floor of the House of Representatives, June 10, 1932:
  

  “Mr. Chairman, we have in this country one of the most corrupt institutions the world has ever known. I refer to the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal reserve banks. The Federal Reserve Board, a Government board, has cheated the Government of the United States and the people of the United States out of enough money to pay the national debt. The depredations and the iniquities of the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve banks acting together have cost this country enough money to pay the national debt several times over. …
  

  Some people think the Federal reserve banks are United States Government institutions. They are not Government institutions. They are private credit monopolies which prey upon the people of the United States for the benefit of themselves and their foreign customers, foreign and domestic speculators and swindlers, and rich and predatory money lenders. …
  

  Those 12 private credit monopolies were deceitfully and disloyally foisted upon this country by bankers who came here from Europe and who repaid us for our hospitality by undermining our American institutions. Those bankers took money out of this country to finance Japan in a war against Russia. They created a reign of terror in Russia with our money in order to help that war along. They instigated the separate peace between Germany and Russia and thus drove a wedge between the Allies in the World War. …
  

  Every effort has been made by the Federal Reserve Board to conceal its power but the truth is the Federal Reserve Board has usurped the Government of the United States. …
  

  Mr. Chairman, when the Federal reserve act was passed the people of the United States did not perceive that a world system was being set up here which would make the savings of an American school-teacher available to a narcotic-drug vendor in Macao. They did not perceive that the United States was to be lowered to the position of a coolie country which has nothing but raw materials and heavy goods for export. That Russia was destined to supply man power and that this country was to supply financial power to an international superstate–a superstate controlled by International bankers and international industrialists acting together to enslave the world for their own pleasure.”
  

  • Congressional Record, 72nd Congress, 1st session, June 10, 1932; Vol. 72, pp. 12595-12603. McFadden served as Chairman of the United States House Committee on Banking and Currency 1920 to 1931.
    
• The present Federal Reserve System is a flagrant case of the Government’s conferring a special privilege upon bankers.
  

  The Government hands to the banks its credit, at virtually no cost to the banks, to be loaned out by the bankers for their own private profit.
  

  Still worse, however, is the fact that it gives the bankers practically complete control of the amount of money that shall be in circulation.
  

  Not one dollar of these Federal Reserve notes gets into circulation without being borrowed into circulation and without someone paying interest to some bank to keep it circulating.
  

  Our present money system is a debt money system. Before a dollar can circulate, a debt must be created. Such a system assumes that you can borrow yourself out of debt.
  

  • Willis A. Overholser, A short review and analysis of the history of money in the United States, with an introduction to the current money problem (1936), p. 56
    
• It must not be felt that these heads of the world’s chief central banks were themselves substantive powers in world finance. They were not. Rather, they were the technicians and agents of the dominant investment bankers of their own countries, who had raised them up and were perfectly capable of throwing them down. The substantive financial powers of the world were in the hands of these investments bankers (also called ‘international’ or ‘merchant’ bankers) who remained largely behind the scenes in their own unincorporated private banks. These formed a system of international cooperation and national dominance which was more private, more powerful, and more secret than that of their agents in the central banks.
  
  • Professor Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time (1966), pp. 326-327
    
• The drive of the Rockefellers and their allies is to create a one-world government combining super capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control… Do I mean conspiracy? Yes, I do. I am convinced there is such a plot, international in scope, generations old in planning, and incredibly evil in intent.
  
  • Congressman Larry MacDonald, killed in the Korean Airlines 747 that was shot down by the Soviets. Introduction to The Rockefeller File (1976) by Gary Allen
    

  http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conspiracy
  

Winston-Salem 60.0º Fair

Nation/World News

BP, U.S. blasted for ignoring aid offers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: July 2, 2010

NEW ORLEANS

Many fishing boats signed up to skim oil sit idle in marinas. Some captains and deckhands say they have been waiting around for instructions while drawing checks from BP of more than $1,000 a day per vessel. Thousands of offers to help clean beaches and wetlands have gone unanswered.

BP and the Obama administration faced mounting complaints yesterday that they are ignoring foreign offers of badly needed equipment and making poor use of the fishing boats and volunteers available to help clean up what may now be the biggest spill ever in the Gulf of Mexico.

Based on some government estimates, more than 140 million gallons of crude have now spewed from the bottom of the sea since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, eclipsing the 1979-80 disaster off Mexico that had long stood as the worst in the Gulf.

In recent days and weeks, for reasons that BP has never explained, many fishing boats hired for the cleanup mostly have been waiting around. At the same time, there is mounting frustration over the time that the government has taken to approve offers of help from foreign countries and international organizations.

The Coast Guard said that there have been 107 offers of help from 44 nations, ranging from technical advice to skimmer boats and booms. But many of those offers are weeks old, and only a small number have been accepted, with the vast majority still under review, according to a list kept by the State Department.

A report prepared by investigators from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., detailed a case in which the Dutch government on April 30 offered to provide four oil skimmers that collectively could process more than 6 million gallons of oily water a day. It took seven weeks for the U.S. to approve the offer.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday scorned the idea that “somehow it took the command 70 days to accept international help.”

“That is a myth,” he declared, “that has been debunked literally hundreds of times.”

A BP spokesman declined to comment.

Newly retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man for the response effort, bristled at some of the accusations in Issa’s report.

“I think we’ve been pretty transparent throughout this,” Allen said at the White House. He disputed any suggestion that there aren’t enough skimmers being put on the water, saying that the spill area is so big that there are bound to be areas with no vessels.

Some government estimates put the amount of oil spilled at 160 million gallons. That calculation was arrived at by using the rate of 2.5 million gallons a day all the way back to the oil-rig explosion. The Associated Press, relying on scientists who advised the government on flow rate, bases its estimates on a lower rate of 2.1 million gallons a day up until June 3, when a cut to the well pipe increased flow.

By either estimate, the disaster would eclipse the 140 million gallons that the Ixtoc disaster spilled in the Gulf more than 20 years ago, and rank it as the biggest offshore oil spill during peacetime. The biggest spill in history happened in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, when Iraqi forces opened valves at a terminal and dumped about 336 million gallons of oil.

The total in the Gulf disaster is significant because BP is likely to be fined per gallon spilled. Also, scientists say that an accurate figure is needed to calculate how much oil may be hidden below the surface, doing damage to the deep-sea environment.

“It’s a mind-boggling number, any way you cut it,” said Ed Overton, a professor of environmental studies at Louisiana State University. “It’ll be well beyond Ixtoc by the time it’s finished.”

In other developments, the House passed the first major bill related to the explosion, voting to allow families of the killed and injured workers to be compensated far more generously than current law allows.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

A Gulf Record

• BP spill: 140.6 million gallons or more.

• Previous Gulf record: 140 million gallons off Mexico’s coast from 1979 to 1980.

• Largest oil spill: Iraqi forces opened valves at a terminal and dumped as much as 336 million gallons of oil during the first Persian Gulf War in 1991.

July 2, 2010

Urgent Alert

Dear Friends:

This is an urgent alert.

You need to know about what may be one of the gravest, most insidious threats to religious freedom I’ve seen in my lifetime: What may be an attempt, at the very highest levels of government, to RE-DEFINE the very meaning of religious freedom, from “free exercise” to merely private worship.

If what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech at Georgetown University reflects a new direction in government policy, then mark my words, our religious liberties are in peril.

Please, click on the link below to see my “Two Minute Warning” video commentary at the Manhattan Declaration website to see exactly what I’m talking about.

Study carefully the play on words; words matter.

I urge you: Watch this video, share it with friends.

Blog about it. Write a letter to the editor of your newspaper – point out what is going on. It’s time to expose this outrageous and dangerous assault on religious freedom.

We cannot be asleep at our posts while we still have the freedom to speak out.

Chuck Colson

It is men and women like this who keep our nation free!!!

Meet Colonel Jim Harding:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918 (amended by an act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting a Second Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Third Award of the Silver Star to Major James C. Harding (AFSN: 0-57979), United States Air Force, for gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as an A-1 Tactical Fighter Pilot of the 1st Special Operations Squadron, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, in action in Southeast Asia on 2 June 1972. On that date, Major Harding flew as flight leader on an extremely hazardous and complex search and rescue mission to recover an American crew member in the heavily fortified Red River Valley. While providing protective escort for the vulnerable rescue helicopter, Major Harding deliberately and repeatedly exposed his slow-moving aircraft to intense anti-aircraft fire, counterattacked hostile gun positions, and intercepted and attacked a hostile aircraft forcing it to depart the area. His actions were vital in allowing the rescue helicopter to effect a safe and successful recovery of the downed crew member. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Major Harding has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

General Orders: Headquarters, Pacific Air Forces, Special Order GB-32 (January 10, 1973)

Action Date: 2-Jun-72

Service: Air Force

Rank: Major

Company: 1st Special Operations Squadron

Division: Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand

July 4, 1776, may have been the day the Declaration of Independence was signed. But it took seven years of war to win that independence—proving once again that “freedom isn’t free.”

One of the more striking characteristics of radical Islam is its oppressive, totalitarian nature.

Throughout history, the spread of this evil ideology has brought with it death, slavery, suffering and oppression—not the “peace” and “tolerance” its adherents claim.

Non-Muslims and Muslims have suffered under the boot heel of this ideology.

• For instance, countless Muslim women around the world today suffer as second-class citizens under sharia law.
  
• Non-Muslims in Islamic countries face persecution, intimidation, even torture and death.
  
• Non-Muslims in countries like France fear to go near “no go zones,” Muslim enclaves where even law enforcement officers dare not tread.
  

In April, ACT! for America announced the launch of a new joint project entitled Veteran Defenders of America (VDA).

Since then, hundreds of veterans nationwide have signed up to be part of this grassroots movement whose motto is “the eyes and ears of freedom.”

Are you a veteran? Do you have a family member who is a veteran? Then please visit http://www.veterandefenders.org today to find out more about the mission and objectives of this organization.

On June 15th, over 270 people jammed a meeting room in the Nashville, Tennessee, area to attend an event co-hosted by the Middle Tennessee chapter of ACT! for America and Veteran Defenders of America.

Keynoting the event were Erick Stakelbeck, an international CBN news correspondent/expert on radical Islam, and Colonel Jim Harding, the 19th most decorated soldier in United States military history.

Attendees heard a summary of the threat arrayed against us—and how they as veterans can do something about the threat.

VDA plans for the future include training programs in homeland security, emergency preparations, and the threat of Islamist organizations located here in America linked directly to the worldwide Muslim Brotherhood.

VDA is already building a grassroots leadership infrastructure of veterans and for veterans. To find out how you can get involved, visit http://www.veterandefenders.org.

Because veterans understand, better than most, that freedom isn’t free.
Please log on to:

Veteran Defenders of America…

because “freedom isn’t free”

ACT for America

P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591
www.actforamerica.org

Listen to some of Obama’s quotes:

“Whatever we once were, we’re no longer a Christian nation.”

“America does not presume to know what is best for everyone”

“As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam.”

“In America, there’s a failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world.”

“The United States is still working through some of our own darker periods in our history.”

“Too often, the United States has not pursued and sustained engagement with our neighbors.”

“The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made.”

“So let me be clear: no system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other.” (Why don’t you tell that to your friends in the Islamic nations of the world Obama?)

“We need to internalize this idea of excellence. Not many folks spend a lot of time trying to be excellent.”

“Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace.”

“Our country still struggles with the legacies of slavery and segregation, the past treatment of Native Americans.” (and yet America still surpasses any place else in the world where people can have equal opportunities, regardless of race, color, or creed… that’s why we have so many people wanting to come here)

“The point I was making was not that my grandmother harbors any racial animosity. She doesn’t. But she is a typical white person….”

“My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect.” (who attacked who on 9/11?)

“national security. It is a rallying cry for our enemies.” (So is that why we leave our southern most border wide open, to make our enemies feel better?)

“I would like to think that with my election and the early decisions that we’ve made, that you’re starting to see some restoration of America’s standing in the world.” (As far as I can tell the only arrogance and condescension that I hear these days, is coming out of your mouth, Obama.)

“The Holy Koran tells us, “O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.” (…and that you must convert to Islam or be killed – read your history Obama—and then look at the world today, it’s not Catholic nuns who are going around blowing themselves up!)

“While the United States has done much to promote peace and prosperity in the hemisphere, we have at times been disengaged, and at times we sought to dictate our terms.”

“The danger I think is when the United States or any country thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture” (… again look around you Obama, and see who it is in the world today who is trying to impose their belief system on the world… it is the Muslim nations.)

“So I read the book to help me understand what it is that makes white people so afraid, their demons, the way ideas get twisted around. It helps me understand how people learn to hate.” (Do you mean ‘Hate’ like Jeremiah Wright, where you went to church for 20 years?)

“…I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.” (So is this your excuse for infanticide and abortion?)

“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” (Hey folks, he’s talking about them ‘crazy right-winged Christians’ here; and no we are NOT against immigrants, just the illegal immigrants, who break the law… and while we are on the subject, where is your Birth Certificate Obama?)

“America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.” (How dumb a statement is that! Again it isn’t the Christians who are intolerant of other faiths, it is Islam… try taking Bibles into Saudi Arabia!)

“You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin,” Obama said. “Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we’re talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won’t wear that pin on my chest. (I suppose he is talking here about why he wouldn’t wear a flag pin… is that also why you refused to salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance?)

“Unfortunately, faced with an uncertain threat, our government made a series of hasty decisions. I believe that many of these decisions were motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people. But I also believe that all too often our government made decisions based on fear rather than foresight; that all too often our government trimmed facts and evidence to fit ideological predispositions.” (Yeah, like the decision to ignore our U.S. Constitution and invoke Executive Orders that violate our Constitutional rights… which began under former President George W. Bush, and is today being continued under Obama.)

1st U.S. President

“While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers, we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of religion. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian.”
_{—The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343.}

John Adams

2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
_{—Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.}

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
_{–Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.}

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.”
_{–Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.}

Thomas Jefferson

3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.”
_{—Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.}

“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.”
_{—The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.}

John Hancock

1st Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. … Continue steadfast and, with a proper sense of your dependence on God, nobly defend those rights which heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.”
_{—History of the United States of America, Vol. II, p. 229.}

Benjamin Franklin
Signer of the Declaration of Independence and Unites States Constitution

“Here is my Creed. I believe in one God, the Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped.

That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion, and I regard them as you do in whatever sect I meet with them.

As to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the system of morals and his religion, as he left them to us, is the best the world ever saw, or is likely to see;

But I apprehend it has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his divinity; though it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the truth with less trouble. I see no harm, however, in its being believed, if that belief has the good consequence, as probably it has, of making his doctrines more respected and more observed; especially as I do not perceive, that the Supreme takes it amiss, by distinguishing the unbelievers in his government of the world with any peculiar marks of his displeasure.”
_{–Benjamin Franklin wrote this in a letter to Ezra Stiles, President of Yale University on March 9, 1790.}

http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=8755

Why it’s the greatest nation in human history

“America is – is no longer, uh, what it could be – what it, it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.”
– Barack Obama to a 7-year-old girl asking why he wanted to be president, Elkhart, Indiana, Aug. 6, 2008

Whether Barack Obama is apologizing about America to a 7-year-old child or to European and Muslim world leaders, after 18 months as president there is no longer any doubt about which direction he’s taking America: Down.

• “Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail.”
  – President Barack Obama in Cairo, Egypt, June 3, 2009
  
• “Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower.” – President Obama at close of two-day nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C., April 13, 2010
  
• “[The world] cannot depend as much on the U.S. as it did in the past.”
  – U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to the BBC, June 25, 2010
  

By every objective measure, it’s clear that President Obama and those surrounding and guiding him are firmly committed to ending, once and for all, America’s economic, military and moral leadership in the world.

However, the problem with that is that history proves the only thing that has prevented the world from plunging into utter darkness and tyranny has been America’s leadership, strength, courage, generosity and legendary liberty – in short, its exceptionalism.

“‘AMERICA THE EXCEPTIONAL’ is the antidote to Obama and his vision of a dependant, enfeebled, American socialist utopia,” said David Kupelian, managing editor of WorldNetDaily and Whistleblower. “It transports readers to the real America – the nation they loved as a child, the ‘shining city on a hill’ our founders gave us and the Pilgrims dreamed about and courageously pursued.”

Out of the thousands of years of suffering and oppression that comprise human history, a light burns brightly for just a couple of hundred years.

The American experiment: a revolutionary idea that the common man can be free, master of his own government, so long as he himself is ruled by God.

For a short time this brilliant young country dazzles all the world and all of history, not just with its power and productivity and progress, but with its goodness.

No question about it. For two centuries America has been the leader of the free world and inspiration to the unfree world. It has sent its soldiers to fight and die in foreign lands to protect the innocent, it has led the world in science, technology, manufacturing, agriculture, business and philanthropy – but above all, it has been a beacon of liberty. But that beacon today is under withering assault.

“Despite the attempted socialist transformation of our nation under Obama,” said Kupelian, “in November Americans have a chance, perhaps our last chance, to restore America’s exceptionalism and to reconnect with her original, transcendent purpose.”

“If you want to re-experience the real America,” he concluded, “and be refreshed and strengthened for the battles ahead, you must read this very special and inspiring issue.”

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A number of years ago, I started receiving revelations regarding a insidious attack from an old enemy; an enemy with a smile on the outside but hatred on the inside. Eventually the revelation became a prophecy and I spoke it out a number of times. I spoke of Russia and even mentioned ‘citizens’ gaining access to the secrets of the USA. People laughed at this, informing me that the cold war era was over, but I knew that something was wrong.

As a prophet I began praying about this and every day I would call to God for America’s protection. Then a few months ago, I had a vision and the words spoken to me were, “The hand of the betrayer is on the table.” In the vision I was in the White House, and I shared the little that I knew with all of you. A few days before the revelation from the news media of the espionage by Russian agents, who had become American citizens, God sent me into a time of isolation to pray. I knew something was going to happen. He is protecting this great land of HIS. Here is an excerpt from one of the prophecies that I received in Nashville, Tennessee in 2005:

“I will pinpoint Russia… I will pull their pants down and show their nakedness to the world. For they have played with this nation. They have played with this nation and they have said we will bring to shame this nation…I will expose Russia. And men, citizens of this nation that have acted the whore I will bring them out… exposing corruption, and America shall rid itself of leeches that take and they give nothing back: Citizens who are not citizens but enemies of this nation. The United Nations has housed Judas. And now I have taken Judas out and I’m revealing the lie… And then there will be one political upheaval after the other.”

Tomorrow night I will share in a few minutes what God had shown me and also how President Obama will be challenged to face some very difficult decisions.  You will see how God is protecting our nation in spite of the fact that millions of Americans sit glued to political entertainment, while every law of the land being passed and proposed is tainted, influenced, molded and stuffed full of “spending” for things a nation cannot afford.

The media is the most powerful weapon of the 21st century, but it has been so corrupted by the political machines and used to promote all kinds of ungodly sewer. God will make this change and I, as a prophet, will do everything in my power to speak His word through this same media (specifically the Internet). Our audience is growing and the interest in what God has to say is increasing at a rapid rate.

Stand with me and join me as we pray under the guidance of his prophetic word.

KIM CLEMENT

Prior to the American Revolution, the only English Bibles in the colonies were imported either from Europe or England. Publication of the Bible was regulated by the British government, and required a special license. Robert Aitken’s Bible was the first known English-language Bible to be printed in America, and also the only Bible to receive Congressional approval. Aitken’s Bible, sometimes referred to as “The Bible of the Revolution,” is one of the rarest books in the world, with few copies still in existence today.

History of the Aitken Bible

On January 21, 1781, Robert Aitken presented a “memorial” [petition] to Congress offering to print “a neat Edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools.” This is the text of that memorial:

To the Honourable The Congress
of the United States of America
The Memorial of Robert Aitken
of the City of Philadelphia, Printer

Humbly Sheweth

That in every well regulated Government in Christendom The Sacred Books of the Old and New Testament, commonly called the Holy Bible, are printed and published under the Authority of the Sovereign Powers, in order to prevent the fatal confusion that would arise, and the alarming Injuries the Christian Faith might suffer from the Spurious and erroneous Editions of Divine Revelation. That your Memorialist has no doubt but this work is an Object worthy the attention of the Congress of the United States of America, who will not neglect spiritual security, while they are virtuously contending for temporal blessings. Under this persuasion your Memorialist begs leave to, inform your Honours That he both begun and made considerable progress in a neat Edition of the Holy Scriptures for the use of schools, But being cautious of suffering his copy of the Bible to Issue forth without the sanction of Congress, Humbly prays that your Honours would take this important matter into serious consideration & would be pleased to appoint one Member or Members of your Honourable Body to inspect his work so that the same may be published under the Authority of Congress. And further, your Memorialist prays, that he may be commissioned or otherwise appointed & Authorized to print and vend Editions of, the Sacred Scriptures, in such manner and form as may best suit the wants and demands of the good people of these States, provided the same be in all things perfectly consonant to the Scriptures as heretofore Established and received amongst us.

After appointing a committee to study the project, Congress acted on September 12, 1782, by “highly approv[ing of] the pious and laudable undertaking of Mr. Aitken.” The endorsement by Congress was printed in the Aitken Bible:

What are some statistics on children when prayer was taken out of school?

In 1963, Madalyn Murray O’Hair won a lawsuit against the Baltimore School System, which voted in her favor 8-1 to ban school prayer and label it “unconstitutional”. Though not all prayer was immediately banned from schools at that time, through a process of time, almost all school prayer is banned today.

Young People

1. For 15 years before 1963 pregnancies in girls ages 15 through 19 years had been no more than 15 per thousand After 1963 pregnancies increased 187% in the next 15 years.
   
2. For younger girls, ages 10 to 14 years, pregnancies since 1963 are up 553%.
   
3. Before 1963 sexually transmitted diseases among students were 400 per 100,000. Since 1963, they were up 226% in the next 12 years.
   

The Family

1. Before 1963 divorce rates had been declining for 15 years. After 1963 divorces increased 300% each year for the next 15 years.
   
2. Since 1963 unmarried people living together is up 353%
   
3. Since 1963 single parent families are up 140%.
   
4. Since 1963 single parent families with children are up 160%.
   

Education

1. The educational standard of measure has been the SAT scores. SAT scores had been steady for many years before 1963. From 1963 they rapidly declined for 18 consecutive years, even though the same test has been used since 1941.
   
2. In 1974-75 the rate of decline of the SAT scores decreased, even though they continued to decline. That was when there was an explosion of private religious schools. There were only 1000 Christian schools in 1965. Between 1974 to 1984 they increased to 32,000.
   

   a. That could have an impact if the private schools had higher SAT scores. In checking with the SAT Board it was found that indeed the SAT scores for private schools were nearly 100 points higher than public schools.
   b. In fact the scores were at the point where the public schools had been before their decline started in 1963 when prayer and Bible reading/ instruction was removed from the schools.
   c. The scores in the public schools were still declining.
   

3. Of the nation’s top academic scholars, three times as many come from private religious schools, which operate on one-third the funds as do the public schools.
   

The Nation

1. Since 1963 violent crime has increased 544%.
   
2. Illegal drugs have become an enormous & uncontrollable problem.
   
3. The nation has been deprived of an estimated 50 million citizens through legal abortions just since 1973.