SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Can you feel the blood rising already?

Here's another weigh-in on this serious subject that is under adjudication by our high court.  In an effort to be brief about a complex subject, could we consider three areas?

FICKLE. TWEAK. LOVE.


FICKLE.
The Supremes are asked to build law around something so new the paint hasn't dried.  Marriage between a man and woman has been the pillar of society for 4,000 years.  Just as recently as 1996, Bill Clinton and Democrats passed legislation called DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) which upheld traditional marriage.

Now magically, we are 17 years down the road from DOMA and things are tumped upside down.  We have new clarity; we're evolved and tolerant.  But consider that there are 1,100 federal laws dealing with marriage now that a capricious ruling could complicate.

TWEAK.
A friend of mine posed a good question.  Do the people with the red/pink "equal sign" (see above) want marriage, or just the perks the institution affords?  Civil unions already exist that could be reworked to assure better equality of benefits.  But would that really scratch the itch?  Perhaps not.  Do same-sex couples want to be considered "married" in the sense they haven't done anything wrong and are equally entitled to rewrite mores?  Now the water gets deep and choppy.

Marriage already had an inventor and the Inventor built humanity on that plan. People don't get to rewrite a concept from on high.  Rewriting would make them equal to the Divine...and Lord knows, that's been tried.  Marriage remains His plan for the ages and both a picture of what His fidelity looks like, and a launchpad for the next generation.  A man gives himself up for his wife just like Jesus gave himself up for the church.  The woman respects her husband as the church respects her Head.  (Personally speaking, marriage has been His best tool to tweak my selfishness.)  All that brings glory to His power and points to God's larger plan.

 We "get" that not everyone in a secular society buys into such a model.  Some believe the Bible and some don't. However, now the image of God is under attack like never before with tsunami waves that would shake the pillars of civilization.  And this latest wave hurls people into one of two camps.  Either you are kind and loving and trying to do as Jesus said ("love one another")...or you are a hater-bigot.

Is there room for the lover of God's word?  Homosexuality is mentioned seven times in Scripture, all unfavorably.  What shall we do with that?

LOVE.
If you have children, you may be familiar with loving through hard times of unacceptable behavior.  Yes, the Scripture calls for loving others, but not to the exclusion of the other things He says.  Scripture also sets out guidelines for those who would "come, follow Me".  He calls us to actually love people enough to plead with them when they are asking for God's wrath.  Isaiah says "Your sinful acts have alienated you from God."

In Scripture, if I am busy tolerating behavior that is sure to earn punishment, then I may gain the applause of men...but I haven't loved my brother well.  A Christian can tolerate ungodly behavior that is another man's choice, but they certainly don't promote it.

There is a wide place to camp where people can know we love them, while not endorsing their behavior.  Have you not heard the present participle verb in Romans 1:18?  "God's wrath IS (continually) BEING REVEALED from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness."  It truly is spitting in the wind to ask for God's wrath.  If we love our neighbor, we want them on that bus when it pulls out of the station for the coming kingdom.  You can't love them and help them be excluded from the kingdom at the same time.

So at day's end...

We know FICKLE men change, but God doesn't change.  Isn't DOMA a great example?  Once everyone wanted to support it, now everyone is jumping off that bandwagon.  Did you ever tell your kids "if everyone jumps off the cliff...will you?"  All the more reason to hang tightly to words that never change.  Should we call "good" what God has not called "good"?  He actually says "Woe to them who call evil good".

TWEAK the benefits?  Yes, we can "even" things up.  We can decree that partners have better survivors' benefits and figure out how the states can reciprocally acknowledge civil unions.

But MARRIAGE belongs to God.  He folds marriage into the implementation of His greater plan, which is one continuous blueprint.  So who is bodacious enough to tweak HIS plan?  That can't end well.

And LOVE.  What is love?  Are we not called to love God first?

And if we love anything more than God, isn't that forming an idol?  Self-rule is an idol (when self determines what is "just" and "fair").  Loving one of God's tenets to the exclusion of them all is an idol (picking which you live by and which you ignore).  Nobody makes a golden calf anymore, but idols are made everyday.

We should remember God doesn't have tenets such as "go along to get along"...or..."do what you like as long as you don't hurt anyone".  His tenets call us to choose Who(m) we serve.

And does it hurt to see people go their own way?  You bet it hurts.  The Book says the road is narrow and one day all will give an account.

So take courage and speak the truth in love.

CYPRUS

It's a done deal.  Cyprus has been "saved" from bankruptcy.  Poof!

Cyprus is the size of Vermont.  Forbes calls it "smidgen-sized" in their ARTICLE:
Cyprus Bailout-Everything You Need to Know Before the Opening Bell.  

If Cyprus represents only .2% of the European Union's monetary worth...then what's the big deal?

It's a big deal because we worry that Cyprus is the first domino.

Cypriots are furious because of yesterday's deal.  The European partners agreed to bail out Cyprus if Cyprus puts skin in the game.  So the agreement was to seize money from large depositer's bank accounts.

Well, it's just from the rich.  It doesn't matter.  They can afford it.

Listen, America.  This is such a picture book for us.  Government with dipping rights is a force to be reckoned with.  What if YOU waked up to find as much as 40% of your assets gone?  The cutoff was $130k.  Below that amount and your money was put into a "good" bank; above that, you go into a "bad" bank...where depositors and bond-holders may recover little or none of their money.

Sadly, Cyprus' problem is not just their bailout through seized assets.  What caused the problem in the first place?  Why are they in that hole?  Why isn't THAT problem being addressed?

If Europe passes all those utopian work weeks/benefits (on the assumption that people are entitled), then are the people entitled to feel the results?  Is there REALLY such a lack of understanding of basic economic feasibility?  Or are they petulant children?  We all get it that everyone shuffles their feet while no one wants to end up with the check.  But someone at the table gets the short stick.

So take careful watch, America.  When our government (and unions) demand unrealistic regulations and bargains, who is at the head of our table?  The states?  If California can't pay the ridiculous things they've agreed upon, then who gets the check?  Arkansas has a balanced budget law which has kept us out of the red.  Shall we pay for California?  Is responsible stewardship repaid by bankrolling a spendthrift?  Does anyone side with a trust fund kid who has run through "Daddy's money"?  No.  No one.

Grow up, Cyprus.  Grow up, Europe.  Grow up, America.

HOLY GROUND

Last night there was a pinprick of light on earth that surely was seen from heaven.  It was a flame that joined the heavenly chorus...praise that we are told goes on night and day there.

This room was full of smoke and a light show and your chest felt the rumbling.  That's similar to how Isaiah described the temple worship in Chapter Six of his book.  But the place last night was not a temple.  It was the Drury University basketball arena in Springfield, MO.  

And it was a Chris Tomlin concert.

The stars onstage (Chris Tomlin and Keri Jobe) were just the choir directors as the audience sang at the top of their lungs for the entire two hours.  (See singers on right.) 

The songs were a blend of new ones from Chris' "Burning Lights" CD, plus the oldie-but-goodies "How Great is Our God", "Indescribable", and "I Will Rise". 

And at the end, the two young 'uns (who are 31 and 40) joined voices in the hymn "Crown Him With Many Crowns", followed by Keri Jobe singing "Revelation Song"  LINK.  Who could ask for anything more?

Whatever hurt or brokenness or discouragement that walked into that arena...lost its sting as the people applauded and magnified the Most High God.

The Lord says He inhabits the praise of His people, so surely He was on that holy ground in a Missouri basketball arena.

Last month, Chris Tomlin and Keri Jobe both attended the Grammys.  He said that many of the winners or presenters came to the mic and spoke of "music's greatest night".  CT said that with all due respect, they haven't seen anything yet.  There's a time coming when the Grammys will pale at the sound of the heavenly host surrounding the throne of God.

Revelation 19 paints a picture of that worship scene.  It says there is the voice of a vast throng like the roar of many waters and the loud crashes of thunder.  And they are all shouting "Hallelujah!  For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful reigns!"

Meanwhile, a Chris Tomlin concert will do.

P.S.  Here's a LINK to one of his new songs called "White Flag".  It was recorded in January at the Passion Conference in Atlanta which drew 60,000 college students. 

HARDTOSWALLOW

Our leadership in the White House makes bold statements that cover fifty shades of the truth.  They're as bold as a burglar in daylight.  If you tap dance on all possible positions, then on the outside chance someone ever DOES call you on something, there would still be cover to run under.

Take sequestration.  The White House finally admitted BHO and Jack Lew cooked it up.  How many positions has he maintained until then?  Every position.  "I wrote it."  "I didn't write it."  The Republicans did it."  "Congress wrote 'em."  And now two days ago... "sequestration is dumb."  LINK

Then there was the presidential debate.  Can you remember back in October when BHO made sport of concerns that Romney had about the military cuts that would come from the sequester?  BHO flatly stated "there won't BE sequestration"...and everyone was flabbergasted.  The statement sounded like he was on the launch pad for an offensive against his own plan.  How do you debate against "pathological"?

Well, sequestration DID pass and now the military brass calls it alarming.  Yes, the cuts that weren't going to pass, have passed...the ones he didn't write but did.

BHO is no Adele, but this parody of "Skyfall" is pretty funny.  LINK

At the end of February in a radio address, BHO let fly with a greatly detailed doom list...then had to be followed nine days later by a takeback speech that said "This is not going to be an apocalpse, I think, as some people have said."  REALLY?  What people were saying such tripe?

Yessiree.  Before the cuts,

***he scared the poor old White House janitors.  Then that misfire was taken back in this link.

***he gave illegal immigrants "get out of jail free" cards.  First the White House said it was a couple hundred or so.  Then we found out it was 2,000 and plans for 3,000 more.

***he cancelled deployment for the U.S.S. Harry Truman.

You tell me which bully ordered those punishing things before the cuts were even a reality?   Homeland Secretary Napolitano says she didn't order the immigrants released and didn't know who did.  Finally they found a fall guy and he retired "early".  That showed him.  Secretary Napolitano joins Secretary Holder ("I didn't know about Fast and Furious") and Secretary Clinton ("I didn't know about Benghazi").

When the dust settles on those budget cuts, it will have very little effect on the main problem (entitlements)...but will slash the military.  Even his own out-going Defense Secretary Panetta said that would be disastrous.  And in the months ahead when BHO's economic policies implode, the boogeyman will be sequestration.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law.  And Bill Clinton has held the trophy for "Most Tortured Truth" for his unique story-telling (and in particular, his use of the word "is").  But now we have seen even his smooth tongue surpassed.

BHO may be saying now that he's not a dictator, but he IS the king...King of Elasticized Accuracy.

HILLARY

Our Secretary of State said goodbye last week to the Council on Foreign Relations with her four years done.  Before we promote Ms. Clinton to her next gig @1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, might we look back?

Maybe you caught the 20/20 interview when Hillary and the President practically held hands.  Pretty lovey dovey for a pair who have enough dirt on one another to curl your hair.

The interesting thing about Hillary is that her promoted persona is one of smart power in an independent woman.  Yet there she sat, yielding to the guy next to her who four years ago took her place from her...just like she does with Bill, who historically takes her place and gives it to an outside woman.

Is Hillary hard working?  Yes.  She put her time in logging a kazillion frequent flyer miles.  But going places doesn't necessarily mean she was effective after she got there.  What things did Hillary accomplish that would mark her tenure?  Were there treaties signed or evidences of a "Clinton doctrine" which made a difference in the world?

1.  America's perception in the world was one of the things that the President talked about when he ran in 2008.  Concerned that no one liked us overseas...and that we were bullies with a superiority complex...Hillary served the President as a representative of the global bowing/scraping tour.  We then managed to stiff allies and lean heavily into the Muslim world.  Did that "doctrine" work?  Has the world's perception of the United States improved?  Has the Muslim perception of us improved?

One pesky little fact is that there have been eight embassy bombings since Hillary took over.  All Muslim extremists.

2.  No human could be expected to untangle the Middle East hostility.  That's a job for the Prince of Peace.  But has there been ANY progress in that theatre?  In a word, NO.  In two words, Arab Spring.

The tectonic plates shifted in the Arab world as Yemen, Libya, Egypt and Tunisia threw off their yokes...while they protested in Bahrain, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Sudan. When Hillary came to office, Mubarek and Kadafi were in.  Now we've helped them go without any good placeholders behind them.  No one would have voted these guys in for Benevolent Grandpa of the Year, but at least their country was not seething and the Brotherhood was not in charge.  There has been much upheaval during Hillary's watch.

We chose NOT to align with Iranians in the streets who begged for help democratizing, but Hillary made nice with Syrian President Assad and tried to flatter him into a ceasefire.  Then when it was obvious that wouldn't happen, in the spring of 2012 Hillary asked that we help arm the rebels; she was turned down.  Now as the slaughter numbers have gone from 7,500 to 60,000...a "coalition of the willing" (unanimous agreement by Secretary State, Defense, Joint Chiefs, CIA) asked again to arm the rebels.  "Nope" said the President.  So much for Hillary's influence.

3.  Of all the Arab Spring countries, Egypt was our best bet for influencing for good.  We had an "in" because Hillary's assistant was a Muslim woman whose family is involved in the Muslim Brotherhood/Sisterhood and that put Hillary up close and personal with the new leadership in Egypt.

How has that worked for us?  Twenty nine died over the weekend in new rioting in Tahrir Square.  Egypt is messy and less promising.  Our hope is not in Morsi (the hoped-for connection), but in the Egyptian army.

4.  When we got Hillary, we also got her global agenda to promote gay rights and abortion through the use of United States aid money. LINK There used to be a saying "that won't play well in Peoria".  Well, the progressive worldview didn't play well in Muslim countries, either.  Enter Benghazi.

If the State Department placed a gay Ambassador in a Muslim country, it was naive to think they would "like" him enough to overlook his lifestyle...or recognize that lifestyle as a human right.  When the four Americans died, the State Department had an ad on a .gov site which advertised for jobs @the Libyan Embassy...saying "staff positions, prefer gay couple".  Egad.

What made them think that would work?

5.  Benghazi.  Here's the thing.  To say it was mismanaged would be a profound understatement.  In the end, when Hillary testified, she answered no essential questions.  Taking a key from Eric Holder ("I didn't know about Fast and Furious")...Hillary says she didn't know about the key August 15th cable begging for security.  But as Thomas Sowell writes, she DID shout the loudest at the hearing.  What a dramatic misdirect.  Yesterday the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs Chairman both expressed surprise that Hillary had not seen the cable plea.  LINK   Yes, Madame Secretary, it does make a difference to Americans.  We wonder why you were not on the phone to Secretary Panetta/General Dempsey that night.  Those were your men.

So you have the head of the State Department who bungles the job and takes full responsibility and gets wildly lauded.  What is wrong with that picture?  It would seem so unlikely to land on your feet after such a State Department disaster as Benghazi.  But Clintons have a knack for landing on their feet.

To return to an earlier question which would seem reasonable for marking her report card...what Clinton doctrine might have gained ground for us?  What accomplishments might she be known for?

Most would agree that her best efforts did not see fruition.  The Arab Spring was a bet on the wrong horse.  But on the global scale, her effort to promote unrighteousness fulfilled what Muslims say about us.  What irony.  And it stirred the pot rather than making the Dale Carnegie goal of making friends and influencing people.

SPENDTHRIFT

You have a Visa or Master card, right?

And if you got in trouble with it and owed more than you could pay...would you think running it up farther would solve your debt?  How about floating a bank loan to pay interest ONLY...would that be helpful?

What if Visa says you've reached your credit limit.  Would you say "we're blowing through that number, Jack.  And you're a cold-hearted one to try and limit me.  And insensitive, too, since my card supports my family."

Here's Realville.  If the country continues to spend and drown in debt, we all go down.  Then where will the poor be?

For the last four years, our spending has begged for a twelve-step program.  Ignoring the Constitutional REQUIREMENT to provide a budget, and ignoring their own Debt Commission recommendations...this administration made no effort to be responsible, while they SAID "we must reduce the deficit".  At any time they could have done that.

From one George to another (Washington to Bush) the Federal Public Debt accumulated $10.6 TRILLION; now four years later it is $16.4 TRILLION.  These numbers are exponential.  Can we agree this cannot continue?

Our government drives a dollar wagon through the country, throwing billions off the back.  Besides checking off the Democratic wish list (electric cars, high speed train, wind farms, etc.) has it worked?  My dollars are buying less and less.

Of course without any budget numbers on a page, there was no accountability.  And when anyone suggested we spend less, the administration repeated "we don't have a spending problem" and "we should tax the rich".

And the people cheered as though the problem was solved.

Still, the thought leadership continues to "put all chips on the billion dollar dumps".  At what point does our willingness to cut slack for "the worst economy since the Depression" expire?

In 2013, we've ALL ponyied up more taxes (and the new Obamacare taxes haven't even kicked in yet) so NOW can we cut spending?

 Sorry, no.  Although they SAID "tax now and we'll cut later"...they switched the bait and declared "we can't possibly cut spending on the backs of the poor".  You could drive a truck through that cotton candy righteousness.

Please let us know.  Are we all chronic teenagers with our money management...or just low-information citizens who haven't connected dots?  The state is putting us in a vulnerable/slavish debt position.  And debt management seems like such a no-brainer!

Fiscal good health is the only way we go into the future with the ability to bless others.

EVIL ROOTS

Newtown was unspeakable evil against defenseless children.  It demands a response.  Will it be an assault gun ban?.  Of course, we tried that for a ten year period back in the 90's, and everyone agreed the numbers didn't show any effects.  

There's a sport these days to bully the gun; it's easy to pick on an inanimate piece of metal.   On the other hand, other root causes have a loud voice.  Hollywood talks back.  Money talks back, too, on behalf of video games and the mental health/pill industry.  There's not much press about a violent psychotic drug reaction being a possibility for the shooter's rage.  That would seem worth probing.

When we see nothing done and legislators saying "it's complicated"...we feel like a dog chasing its tail. Of course it's complicated.  But what if the answer were simple?  What if we all just valued God's words regarding these roots of evil:

EXPOSURE TO VIOLENCE.  "I will be careful to live a blameless life...I will set no worthless thing before my eyes."  Psalm 101:2,3  "Everything is lawful, but not everything is beneficial." 1Corinthians 10:23

DISSOLUTION OF THE FAMILY.  "Each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband."  Ephesians 5:33   Why?  "We are members of His body...for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh...the mystery is great, but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church."  Ephesians 5:30-32  Marriage is a picture of Christ and His church, whom He loves and serves and never leaves.

DECAYING MORALITY.  "Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death.  But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit."  Galatians 6:8

MENTAL ILLNESS.  "Through all that they suffered, He suffered too...in His love and mercy He protected them; He lifted them up and carried them..."  Isaiah 63:9

APATHY.  "God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons.  He's set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating."  Colossians 1:13,14

DESENSITIZATION.  "Be gentle with one another, sensitive...forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave."  Ephesians 4:32

LACK OF SOCIAL CONTACT.  "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another; and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  Hebrews 10:25

POP CULTURE.  "But do you call that a free life?  What did you get out of it?  Nothing you're proud of now.  Where did it get you?  A dead end."  Romans 6:21

UNEARNED FAME.  "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of Your truth, we wait eagerly for You; for Your name and Your renown are the desire of our souls."  Isaiah 26:8

God records three instances where He allows the taking of a life:  

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (Genesis 9:6 and Romans 13:4)

JUSTIFIABLE WAR (Genesis 14)

SELF DEFENSE (Exodus 22:2)

Exodus 22:2 says "If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him."  Our legal system read that and translated it "justifiable homicide".  We have been given the right to protect ourselves by God, and then the Constitution gives us the right to bear arms in that defense.  

Most gun owners would be willing to tweak loopholes to be reasonable.  They just know that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem...so they shouldn't bear the full weight of the solution.