If you are a big fan of The Office on NBC, then you probably know that Michael Scott considers autumn to be “the most contemplative of seasons”. Well, while that may or may not be true, what I do believe is that Friday is one of “the most contemplative” days of the week. Here in the great Pacific northwest there is still a couple of hours of daylight left before the sun goes down, and as the sun relentlessly continues its trajectory towards the horizon it makes me stop and reflect on how rapidly the world is changing. In just about any field that you want to name – technology, politics, economics, education, entertainment and even religion – the pace of change these days is absolutely astounding. We live at a time when we get to watch the world literally change right in front of our eyes. In the age of the Internet our attention spans have been reduced to approximately that of a squirrel, but sometimes it is good to sit back and think about the bigger picture. What does all of this change mean? Is it good? Is it bad? What kind of a future are we headed for? (Read More...)
The United States was able to defeat Nazi Germany and helped bring down the USSR, but is the U.S. government now quickly becoming just like them? Once upon a time, America was the land of the free and the home of the brave, but today the government has become an oppressive monster that is intrusively embedding itself in our lives in thousands of different ways. Today we are all viewed as potential threats to the “system” that the government has imposed, and therefore everything that we do must be watched, tracked, traced, recorded and controlled. Lip service is still given to ideals such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and freedom of movement, but all of those freedoms are rapidly dying a brutal death. To our forefathers, living the American Dream meant living as free men and women, but today it means living under deep socialist tyranny where the government takes care of us from the cradle to the grave and uses an increasingly oppressive Big Brother police state control system to guarantee our safety. (Read More...)
As the U.S. economy implodes, a lot of American families are being faced with some incredibly heartbreaking choices. Many of them piled up massive amounts of debt during the good times as they chased the American Dream, but now that hard times have arrived they find that they just can’t handle the huge mountain of debt that they have accumulated. Other Americans are looking at the crumbling economy and are trying to prioritize where to spend their money. They wonder whether they should pay off their debts or whether that money would be better spent on stocking up on necessities for the incredibly hard times that are ahead. The truth is that this article is going to raise a lot of questions but not provide a lot of answers. In the end, each person has to make their own choices. In addition, some of the viewpoints in this article are going to be controversial to many of you. It is okay if you disagree. In fact, if you find something that you disagree with, please leave a comment. This is a topic that hits home with a lot of Americans, and a lot of people have some incredibly strong opinions about paying off debt. (Read More...)
Have you ever noticed that no matter what political party is in power in America nothing really seems to change that much? Sure, a lot of the faces change and there are some small shifts in ideology here and there, but more or less the policies of the U.S. government have been remarkably consistent over the last 40 years. Have you ever wondered why that is? Well, the truth is that America’s “ruling class” has an absolute stranglehold on both political parties. You see, the little lie that we were told that “anyone can grow up and be president” simply is not true. Living the American Dream takes connections. Without the backing of the “establishment”, you simply are not going to go very far in politics. In fact, without the “establishment” you aren’t going to go very far in law, the corporate world, the media or in the highest levels of education either. Sure you might experience some success on the lower levels, but without fully becoming “connected” to the establishment to at least some degree you just are not going to advance to become one of the elite in any of those fields. (Read More...)
As housing prices have plummeted over the last several years, an increasing number of U.S. homeowners have suddenly found themselves with home loans that are much larger than what their homes are now worth. So a large number of them have opted for what is known as a “strategic default” – they have simply walked away from their homes and have let the banks take them back. Many Americans simply decided that it was not a part of their “American Dream” to pay off a loan that is for two to three times what a house is actually worth. Over the last several years, strategic defaults have enabled more than a million Americans to get out from under crippling mortgages. But now, Fannie Mae has announced a massive nationwide crackdown on strategic defaults. Fannie Mae says that it will be closely examining the mortgage data to determine who is strategically defaulting and who is not, and they are going to be “going after” those who they believe have committed strategic defaults. (Read More...)
Before you read this, please be warned that the subject matter of this article is controversial. It is going to upset a lot of people who read it. In fact, it is likely to absolutely infuriate a large number of people. Why? Well, because it asks some really hard questions. You see, most Americans prefer to see this nation as a “good” and “moral” country that God has richly blessed. And there is no denying that God did tremendously bless the United States in the past. But over the past several decades we have been relentlessly pushing God away as a society. We have indulged in an orgy of endless greed, we have made lust and sexual gratification a national pastime and we have killed over 40 million babies since abortion was legalized in 1973. Our families are fractured and our love has grown cold, and yet we continue to borrow mountains of money so that we can go buy things at the store to make ourselves feel better as we pursue “the American Dream”. The truth is that the United States is not a “good” nation anymore. In fact, we have become filled with evil and wickedness. But most Americans seem to think that there will never be any consequences for all of this evil and wickedness. In fact, most Americans seem to expect God to snap to attention whenever we decide that we need to ask Him to do something for us. Of course the rest of the time we are more than happy to totally ignore Him. As the Gulf of Mexico oil spill crisis continues to get worse, many Americans are beginning to wonder where God is in all of this. Well, is it possible that God has taken His hand of protection off of us due to all of our wickedness? Is it possible that America could actually deserve what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico right now? (Read More...)
Is freedom of speech dead in America? Well, if not, it is rapidly dying. The most recent example to illustrate this comes out of Dearborn, Michigan. On June 18th, two Christians decided that they would peacefully pass out copies of the gospel of John on a public sidewalk outside a public Arab festival in Dearborn, and within 3 minutes 8 policemen surrounded them and placed them under arrest. Remember, these Christians were on a public sidewalk and were only very quietly handing out literature. Even their cameraman was arrested for simply filming what was taking place. The cameraman was not even involved in handing out the literature. Yet the police arrested him. At least two people claim that some bystanders cried out “Allahu Akbar!” as the Christians were being led away in handcuffs. Later, the group was told that they would have to go at least five blocks away to hand out their copies of the gospel of John. Freedom of speech has always been a big part of the American Dream, but as this incident and many others like it demonstrate, freedom of speech is rapidly being destroyed in the United States. And the American people are just standing around and letting it happen. The video posted below tells the story of what just happened a few days ago in Dearborn. Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla and Negeen Mayel attended the 15th annual Dearborn Arab International Festival on June 18th with the intent of peacefully passing out copies of the gospel of John outside the festival on a public sidewalk. The festival covers 14 blocks and was free and open to the public. Qureshi and Mayal are former Muslims who have now become Christians. Wood is a former atheist. All of them are from a group called Acts 17 Apologetics. What happened to them literally minutes after they started passing out copies of the gospel of John will have your jaw on the floor…. But this is far from the only example of free speech being trampled on in America. We have all heard about the “free speech zones” which law enforcement authorities set up wherever major politicians go. Often these “free speech zones” are so small and so enclosed that they resemble little more than jail cells. Apparently Americans still have freedom of speech as long as they do it in a little cage set up by authorities. The implication of these free speech zones is that everyone outside of the cage does not have the right to exercise free speech. How sick is that? Brian and Doris Johnson were recently arrested for attempting to pass out free Bibles at the Twin Cities Pride Festival in Minnesota. The truth is that it is hard to even get police to come out to your house if it has been broken into these days, but if you try to pass out Bibles at a “pride” festival they will come down on you like rabid dogs. Michael Anthony Marcavage, founder of Repent America ministries, was recently arrested for holding signs depicting graphic images of aborted babies and preaching to people waiting in line to enter the Liberty Bell Center in downtown Philadelphia. Apparently speaking out against abortion is not “politically correct” enough to be protected. Authorities have even attempted to ban home Bible studies in some areas of the United States. That is just how bad things are getting out there. Of course we all remember the University of Florida student who cried out “Don’t taze me bro!” after he was tackled to the floor and manhandled by police simply for asking John Kerry the wrong question…. The most disgusting thing about that whole situation was when news “anchors” on some of the major networks actually applauded the tazering of that poor young student. Whether you agree with that student or any of the other examples of free speech above, the truth is that we all need to stand together to protect it. If free speech is taken away from one of us, then it is taken away from all of us. Without free speech it is very easy for a nation to turn into another Nazi Germany. In fact, a large number of nations around the globe are already headed down that path. Someday websites such as this will be shut down because they are “offensive” to someone out there. Already, the FCC is pushing for tighter speech restrictions on the Internet because they say it has become more difficult for the public to separate “the facts” from “bigotry masquerading as news”. Of course the “facts” would be whatever they consider to be “politically correct” and “bigotry” would be anything that disagrees with them. Do you see how that works? The truth is that Americans are going to continue to be pushed into free speech zones, they are going to continue to be arrested for handing out literature on public sidewalks and the government is going to continue to place tighter and tighter controls on the Internet unless we stand up and say something. Do not take freedom of speech for granted. We are rapidly losing it, and once it is gone it will be incredibly difficult to get back. (Read More...)
Most Americans have absolutely no idea, but a very dark philosophy is spreading like wildfire among the global elite. This philosophy is an obsessive belief that humanity has become a cancer that is destroying the earth. There are now large numbers of global leaders that are convinced that the exploding population of the world has become like a virus or a plague, and that it must be combated as such. In fact, it would be very difficult to understate just how obsessed many members of the global elite are with population control. The United Nations puts out position papers about it, universities have entire courses dedicated to it, radical population control advocates have been appointed to some of the highest political positions in the world, and some of the wealthiest people on the planet get together just to talk about it. Those who believe in this philosophy are constantly talking about the need for “increased access” to abortion, contraception and other “family planning” services. But even with all of their efforts, the population of the world is still expanding and those who believe in this population control philosophy are getting nervous. (Read More...)
If you are a big fan of The Office on NBC, then you probably know that Michael Scott considers autumn to be “the most contemplative of seasons”. Well, while that may or may not be true, what I do believe is that Friday is one of “the most contemplative” days of the week. Here in the great Pacific northwest there is still a couple of hours of daylight left before the sun goes down, and as the sun relentlessly continues its trajectory towards the horizon it makes me stop and reflect on how rapidly the world is changing. In just about any field that you want to name – technology, politics, economics, education, entertainment and even religion – the pace of change these days is absolutely astounding. We live at a time when we get to watch the world literally change right in front of our eyes. In the age of the Internet our attention spans have been reduced to approximately that of a squirrel, but sometimes it is good to sit back and think about the bigger picture. What does all of this change mean? Is it good? Is it bad? What kind of a future are we headed for? (Read More...)
