Christian Data Resources

We all agree that the massacre in Manchester was horrible–killing at least 22 people.  All liberal and conservative politicians and news media agree that it was an evil, barbaric terrorist attack.  It somehow seems even worse that women and especially children were targeted, and even one 8-year-old was killed.  What could be worse?

Well, we target and kill one million innocent unborn children each year through legalized abortion.  The 8-year-old in Manchester got to live eight more years than any of these children.  I’ve always thought of abortion as evil and barbaric, but not until now did I consider that we may call it terrorism–due to its violence.

I voted for President Trump, but if he broke the law and/or is involved in a cover-up, I hope that this is surfaced (quickly), and that he faces the just consequences.  Although at this point, I see no evidence of his involvement in a Russia / election scandal, it does make me nervous that former national security adviser Michael Flynn is invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and refusing to hand over documents subpoenaed by the Senate Intelligence Committee.  I believe that whenever a person refuses to testify, he has something to hide.  If not, he would boldly stand and testify against the accusations.  And, this does bring back memories of Watergate.  If Trump were to fire the special prosecutor, that would certainly seem Nixon-like.

When President Trump visited the Western Wall, the media reported on how written “wishes” are placed in the wall.  I thought that was odd terminology, so I googled it.  Indeed, I get more hits when I search for “Western Wall wishes” than I do when I search for “Western Wall prayers.”  A wish is just a desire, but a prayer is adoration, confession, and thanksgiving to God, then asking Him for our needs.  I thought that those orthodox Jews at the Western wall, swaying back and forth, were actually praying, but maybe they’re just wishing.

The wrong way:  “I wish I would get this thing.”

The right way:  “God, I love you (Jude 1:21).  You are the omnipotent creator (Revelation 4:11), and I’m so grateful that you sent your Son to die for my sins (John 3:16).  I confess my specific sins to you … (1 John 1:9).  I thank you (specifically) for the blessings that you have given me this very day…(Colossians 4:2)  I ask that you would grant me this thing (Philippians 4:6), and the power and the will to use if for your glory (2 Corinthians 4:15).”

I don’t understand why everyone is so happy about President Trump making a $110 billion deal to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia.  They say it should boost our economy and create new jobs, but I think there’s only one thing about this deal that we know for sure:  Some of these weapons are guaranteed to someday end up in our enemies’ hands.  Some way or another, the Saudis will get the weapons, then ISIS will change things around, new terrorist factions will be created, and some of these terrorists will end up with some of the Saudi’s weapons.  Then our own weapons will once again be used against us.

Lessons from The Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis:

Chapter 1: 

– Demons can read humans’ minds, but not what God says to them.  A demon said, “I saw a train of thought in his mind…. One can never quite overhear what He says to them.”

– We should not dwell so much on sensory perceptions.

– Beware of falling from grace (losing temporal fellowship with God).  “…hundreds of these adult converts have been reclaimed after a brief sojourn in the Enemy’s camp and are now with us.”

– Beware of the unpardonable sin (losing eternal fellowship with God).  “…you can finally secure his soul, he will then be yours forever.”

– Satan’s only potential power over us is in this life, not the hereafter.  “If he dies now, you lose him.  If he survives the war, there is always hope.”  i.e., Satan can always “hope” to use unbelievers and wayward Christians for his purposes in this life, but not so in the afterlife.

– Satan’s desire is to destroy any real biblical truth that one may have built up.  “…unravelling their souls from Heaven…”

– God wants us to freely choose to love and obey him–not just to be robots.  “Desiring their freedom, He therefore refuses to carry them, by their mere affections and habits, to any of the goals which He sets before them.”

Chapter 2: 

Don’t be a “churchman”–impressed with buildings and liturgy.

– We are all capable of deception and craftiness.  “…a human saying things with the express purpose of offending and yet having a grievance when offence is taken.”

Chapter 3: 

– The demons promote domestic hatred through simple daily annoyances and irritations.

– Is there some sort of family relationship among demons–uncle, nephew, etc.?

Chapter 4: 

– The demons promote prayer as “the parrot-like nature of his prayers in childhood; supplication only; clever and lazy.  Bodily position in prayer makes a difference–Whatever our bodies do affects our souls.  We should pray to God as He knows Himself to be; not as what we think He is.  We should pray with real nakedness of the soul.  Pray to glorify God.

Chapter 5: 

– We should divert attention from ourselves to values and causes which we believe to be higher than the self.  “…suffering is an essential part of what He calls Redemption.”  Self-sacrifice is a key to the Christian life.

Chapter 6: 

– We should be concerned with what we do, not with what will happen to us.  We should fill our minds with virtue, not worry.

– Religion can be a Christian’s downfall.  “Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours–and the more ‘religious’… the more securely ours.”

Chapter 7: 

– Use everything to glorify God.

– Satan understands that discouragement tends to make us lose our fervor, and we get overly carried away with emotional highs.  On undulation:  “… to be in time means to change…the repeated return to a level from which they repeatedly fall back, a series of troughs and peaks…  He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs–to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish.  It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be.  Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are those which please Him best…  He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their stumbles.”

– Satan is no match for our perseverance of faith.  “Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy’s will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.”

Chapter 8: 

– How we handle the troughs reveals what we truly believe.

Chapter 9: 

– Recognize life’s troughs–undulation–as temporary.

Chapter 10: 

– We have a tendency to fool others (adapt to each group), as well as ourselves.

– Satan recognizes the power of laughter, joy, fun, jokes, and flippancy.

– Demons hate music.

Chapter 11: 

– We should laugh from joy, not from flippancy.

– Satan recognizes our short attention spans.  “You can make him do nothing at all for long periods.  You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room (TV!).”  “…I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked.”

– Satan would like to separate us from God.  “The only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy.”  It’s interesting that, in biblical terms, separation means death.

Chapter 12: 

– Small sins–habits (e.g., idleness, foolishness)–separate us from God.

– Satan realizes how we tend to be very shallow, and how we submit to peer pressure, and he uses these vices to his advantage.  “… read a book he really enjoyed, because he enjoyed it and not in order to make clever remarks about it to his new friends.”  “…truly and disinterstedly enjoys any one thing in the world, for its own sake, and without caring two-pence what others say about it.”

Chapter 13: 

– We should do what we enjoy, the ultimate of which should be glorifying God, without regard to what others think about it.

– Satan knows how susceptible we are to pride, and how we’re even proud of being humble.  “‘By jove!  I’m being humble’, and almost immediately pride–pride at his own humility–will appear.”  “…keep the man concerned with himself…”  “…design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.”

Chapter 14: 

– Be truly humble, and selfless, and don’t think about your own value.

– Satan would like to deceive us about the importance of the relationship of this current life to eternity.  “For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity.”

Chapter 15: 

– We should live in the present–which is closest to eternity, and forget the past and future.

– Church attendance should be all about learning Bible doctrine and edification.  “What He wants of the layman in church is an attitude which may, indeed, be critical in the sense of rejecting what is false or unhelpful, but which is wholly uncritical in the sense that it does not appraise–does not waste time in thinking about what it rejects, but lays itself open in uncommenting, humble receptivity to any nourishment that is going.”

Chapter 16: 

– We should find a good church, stay there, and not be judgmental.

Chapter 17: 

– We should reject vanity.

– Satan knows how vulnerable we are to be in competition about anything, even with unbelievers.  This can destroy the effectiveness of our spiritual gifts.  “‘To be’ means ‘to be in competition’.”

Chapter 18: 

– We should honor true love (not competition) in marriage and family.

Chapter 19: 

– Love pursues another’s well-being.

Chapter 20: 

Choose a mate based upon spiritual compatibility–not upon sexual taste.

– We tend to resent claims on our own time.  Disruptions anger us because we regard time as our own, and feel that it is being stolen.  Satan plays on “the sense of ownership,” when we fail in our stewardship for God.   “…the God on whom I have a claim for my distinguished services and whom I exploit from the pulpit–the God I have done a corner in.”

Chapter 21: 

– We tend to deny ownership when it’s convenient for us.

Chapter 22: 

– The indwelling Holy Spirit fends off demons.

Chapter 23: 

– We believe in Christ, because He is true.

Chapter 24: 

– We believe Christianity because it’s true–not because of disbelief in all other faiths.

– We tend to desire change, and we desire change to be pleasurable.  Demons twist this into seeking novelty. “The humans live in time, and experience reality successively.”  “He wants men…to ask very simple questions:  is it righteous?  Is it prudent?  Is it possible?  Now if we can keep men asking ‘Is it in accordance with the general movement of our time?  Is it progressive or reactionary?  Is this the way that History is going?’ they will neglect the relevant questions.”  “For the descriptive adjective ‘unchanged’ we have substituted the emotional adjective ‘stagnant’.”

Chapter 25: 

– Our faith should be immutable.

– Satan wants to manipulate our emotional and sexual desires to his advantage over time.  He is patient. “… courtship is the time for sowing those seeds which will grow up ten years later into domestic hatred.”  “… that the girl does not always notice just how unselfish he is being.”

Chapter 26: 

– Love your spouse unselfishly.

– Satan attempts to dissuade us from prayer.  “If the thing he prays for doesn’t happen, then that is one more proof that petitionary prayers don’t work; if it does happen, he will, of course, be able to see some of the physical cause which led up to it, and ‘therefore it would have happened anyway’, and thus a granted prayer becomes just as good a proof as a denied one that prayers are ineffective.”

– Satan attempts to dissuade us from prayer, and any other biblical action, by encouraging us to believe in deism, and by warping the doctrine of predestination.  “If you tried to explain to him that men’s prayers today are one of the innumerable coordinates with which the Enemy harmonizes the weather of tomorrow, he would reply that then the Enemy always knew men were going to make those prayers and, if so, they did not pray freely but were predestined to do so.  And he would add that the weather on a given day can be traced back through its causes to the original creation of matter itself…”

– Satan attempts to dissuade us any biblical action, by warping the doctrine of free will.  “…the total problem of adapting the whole spiritual universe to the whole corporeal universe; that creation in its entirety operates at every point of space and time, or rather that their kind of consciousness forces them to encounter the whole, self-consistent creative act as a series of successive events.  Why that creative act leaves room for their free will is the problem of problems, the secret behind the Enemy’s nonsense about ‘Love’.  How it does so is no problem at all; for the Enemy does not foresee the humans making their free contributions in a future, but sees them doing so in His unbounded Now.”

– Satan attempts to preoccupy us with arguments about the establishment of the canon of Scripture rather than its contents.  On reading books:  “…the one question he never asks is whether it is true.  He asks who influenced the ancient writer, and how far the statement is consistent with what he said in other books, and what phase in the writer’s development or in the general history of thought, it illustrates, and how it affected later writers, and how often it has been misunderstood (specially by the learned man’s own colleagues) and what the general course of criticism on it has been for the last ten years, and what is the ‘present state of the question’.”

Chapter 27: 

– We need to view prayer from an eternal perspective.

– We need to focus on heavenly rewards–not earthly ones (money).  “Prosperity knits a man to the World.”  “… being really at home in earth, which is just what we want.”  “…attachment to the earth.”  “The long, dull, monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather.  You see, it is so hard for those creatures to persevere.”

Chapter 28: 

– We need to attach to Heaven (the eternal), not to the earth (temporal).

– We need to view despair itself as a sin.  “…Despair is a greater sin than any of the sins which provoke it.”

Chapter 29: 

– We need to have courage and avoid despair.

Chapter 30: 

– Reality is what’s spiritual, not just what’s physical.

– Satan attempts to make us focus on the physical world and prevent us from focusing on the spiritual world.  “…all his doubts became, in the twinkling of an eye, ridiculous…”  “He had no faintest conception till that very hour of how (spirits and angels) would look, and even doubted their existence.  But when he saw them he knew that he had always known them and realized what part each one of them had played at many an hour in his life when he had supposed himself alone, so that now he could say to them, one by one, not ‘Who are you?’ but ‘So it was you all the time.’  All that they were and said at this meeting woke memories.  The dim consciousness of friends about him which had haunted his solitudes from infancy was now at last explained; that central music in every pure experience which had always just evaded memory was now at last recovered.”  “…a man who hears that his true beloved whom he has loved all his life and whom he had believed to be dead is alive and even now at his door.  He is caught up into that world where pain and pleasure take on transfinite values and all our arithmetic is dismayed.”

Chapter 31: 

– We need to realize that angels (/ guardian angels) help us.

– Satan warps the purpose of government.  In Screwtape’s “toast,” he twists the meaning of democracy into something like Communism; changing “the freedom for individuals to demonstrate our inequalities,” to “all men are indeed equal, and not really individuals.”

– On big and little sins, and thorough and halfway repentance:  There is often much subtlety and deceit accompanying and compromising our so-called repentance.  “It is in some ways more troublesome to track and swat an evasive wasp than to shoot, at close range, a wild elephant.  But the elephant is more troublesome if you miss.”

– Satan discourages education.  He wants us to remain ignorant.  “The basic principle of the new education is to be that dunces and idlers must not be made to feel inferior to intelligent and industrious pupils.  That would be ‘undemocratic’.  These differences between the pupils–for they are obviously and nakedly individual differences–must be disguised.  This can be done on various levels.  At universities, examinations must be framed so that nearly all the students get good marks.  Entrance examinations must be framed so that all, or nearly all, citizens can go to universities, whether they have any power (or wish) to profit by higher education or not.”  “…all education (will become) state education.”

Serving in Congress was intended to be an honor–not a career.  The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.  Here are some suggestions on how to enforce this (some from Warren Buffett):

1. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women should be voided effective immediately.  The American people did not make these contracts–Congress made them for themselves.

2) Limit members of Congress to 12 years in office.

3) Pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.

4) Do not allow Congress to vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay should rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5) Members of Congress should equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

6) Members of Congress should lose their current health care system and participate in the same health care system as the American people.

7) All pensions for members of Congress should be taken away.  They can purchase their own retirement plan just like all Americans do.

8) Force members of Congress to participate in Social Security, like the American people.

9) Move all funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately.

10) Ensure that all money in the Social Security system can be used for no other purpose than Social Security.

11) Make lobbying illegal.

There is currently a debate as to how to treat and categorize Muslims.  Some argue for the rights of peace-seeking Muslims, while others tend to equate any followers of the Quran with the jihadists.  Geert Wilders is a Dutch politician who is quite concerned about Islam, and he has offered the following observations:

– The Quran is of ultimate importance to Islam, and it calls for hatred, violence, submission, murder, and terrorism.  Islam strives for violent jihad against non-Muslims–especially Israel and the West, following the example of the warlord Mohammed.  Since the Quran applies to all Muslims, there cannot really be a moderate Islamist.

– Although Islam is considered to be a religion, it is much more than that.  It is also a political ideology with rigid rules for every aspect of society and individuals.  Islam means ‘submission,’ and it seems much more compatible with the totalitarian ideology of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than with freedom and democracy.

– Islam is taking over Europe.  There are over 50 million Muslims in Europe, out of a total population of about 800 million.  The population of many European cities is already one-quarter Muslim.  Some studies suggest that 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim in ten years.

We know that there are many Muslims who follow the Quran religiously, and Islam’s goal is to rule the world, by violent take-over.  Of course, there many moderate Muslims, just like there are many moderate Christians–ignorant of what their Holy Book says.  However, as with any movement, the extremists become the activists, and the complacent become the followers.

The fact remains that the United States is not far behind Europe.  Although there is a wide range of estimates, some suggest that there are currently some 7 million Muslims in America.  What’s true for Europe now will be true for the United States in just a few years.  Islam is succeeding in its goal to rule the world.

Here’s the biblical definition of “agape” love–the kind of love that God has for us:  A mental attitude that causes us to want to pursue the welfare of others, with no bitterness or ill will for any sacrifices we might need to make in this endeavor.

We occasionally see amusing articles about how children define love.  Some are cute, and others are touching, but children rarely understand “agape” love.  Let’s check some of their definitions:

– “Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.”

This is a cute image, but it’s probably not reflective of “agape” love.  It’s more of an emotional attachment.

– “When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.”

– “Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.”

Like most people, these kids got “agape” love confused the sexual love.

– “Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.”

– “Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.”

– “When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore.  So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.”

These are more indicative of “agape” love, including the idea of giving and sacrificing.

– A child’s next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.  Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.  When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

This one is touching as well as biblical.  The boy wanted the best for his neighbor, and he unselfishly sacrificed his time for him.

1) We are in the eternal plan of God for salvation from the lake of fire.
2) We are redeemed from the slave market of sin.
3) We are reconciled to God’s absolute righteousness.  We have been adjusted to the very character of God as the standard by which we are to live.
4) God is propitiated toward the Christian’s moral guilt.  He is satisfied that the penalty of death has been paid in our behalf.
5) We have been forgiven all of our trespasses–past, present, and future.  That forgiveness is constantly made operational in time by our confession of our known sins.
6) The power of the flesh (the sin nature) has been neutralized.  We are no longer under its domination, unless we choose to be.
8) We have experienced regeneration so that now we are again spiritually alive.
9) We have been adopted into God’s family with full adult privileges.  None of the good things of God are kept from us.
10) We are acceptable to God for entrance into heaven.
11) We are justified with absolute righteousness of Christ imputed to us.
12) We are made near to God where once we were far off and estranged.
13) We have been delivered from the power of darkness.  The satanic world has no control over us, unless we play games with it.
14) We have been transferred into God’s kingdom from the kingdom of Satan.
15) We have been placed on the sure foundation of Jesus Christ in our relationship to God.
16) The Christian is a love gift from God the Father to God the Son.
17) We have experienced the spiritual circumcision of the flesh in Christ, separated from its control and power.
18) We have been appointed priests unto God.
19) We are part of a special category of saved humanity–the Church, the body of Christ.
20) We possess heavenly citizenship.
21) We are members of God’s royal family and of the household of God.
22) We are in fellowship of the unity of the saints.
23) We are in a new partnership in Christ.  Believers are in Christ, and Christ is in us.
24) We are given direct access to the God’s throne of grace in prayer.
25) We are within the much more care of God the father.
26) We are God the Father’s inheritance.
27) God the Father is the inheritance of the saints.
28) We are light in the Lord God.
29) We are personally united to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
30) We are the recipient of the ministries and the power of the Holy Spirit.
31) We are going to be glorified in the future in heaven.
32) We are complete in Christ, so we are positionally perfect.
33) We possess every spiritual grace blessing of God.
34) All sins have been by the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross–past, present, and future sins.
35) We are the recipient of eternal life.
36) All spiritual callouses have been removed from the facets of the soul at the point of salvation.

COL-176, 18:00

– Abortion – It’s wrong, and one of the worst things a society can do, tolerate, and encourage.  Although there’s no nice way to say it, it’s murder.  Worse yet, it’s the murder of innocent unborn children, and often for convenience.  The Bible says that it’s wrong, and common sense tells us that it’s wrong.  If we think otherwise, we’re only fooling ourselves.  What value is there in murdering each other?  See:  Is Abortion Wrong?

– Animal rights – Treat animals kindly, but remember that they’re just animals.  God gave them to us for our benefit.  See:  Genesis 1:26-31.

– Affirmative action – Nobody should be given preference due to their race, gender, or age.  In trying to enforce this policy, affirmative action programs have just made it worse by giving preference to other targeted groups.

– Alcohol – It’s fine in moderation, but it’s wrong to get drunk.  The trouble is, how do we know where to draw the line?  At what point, on our way to intoxication, are we intoxicated already?  Just before a person reaches the illegal level of Blood Alcohol Concentration, isn’t he already impaired to some degree?

– Capital punishment – It’s necessary, and it’s Biblical.  See:  Is Killing Ever Right?

– Civil rights – In order to maintain our freedom, we need to ensure that nobody’s civil rights are violated.  Americans should rejoice in the advancement of civil rights during the last half of the 20th century.

– Climate change – It goes back and forth, but remember:  God has been successfully maintaining it for quite some time now.  See:  Genesis 1:26-31.

– Conservatives – Their social policies are right on from a biblical perspective.  Unfortunately, their spending habits aren’t much different than those of liberals.

– Democrats – Even if their hearts are in the right place, they want to fix things using my money.  Ronald Reagan said, “The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

– Drug legalization – We should legalize marijuana, and stop spending billions of dollars on our failed drug policies to fight it.  Tax it, and use the money to fight more serious drugs like cocaine and meth.  Meanwhile, our federal policy contradicts the policies of many states.

– Environment – God gave us a thriving environment.  We should take care of it, and not abuse it.  See:  Genesis 1:26-31.

– Eternal Life – It’s real, and we must believe in Jesus Christ in order to spend it with God.  See:  John 3:16, Galatians 2:16-21.

– Gambling – It’s fun, but I’m afraid that it’s destroying the lower-middle class.

– Genetic engineering – It’s God’s business, not ours.

– Government spending – Governments should not decide what to spend money on and then “how to pay for it.”  Instead, they should count the money they have to decide how much they can spend.

– Grace – Free gifts from God.

– Hate crimes – The crime is equally horrible, no matter what the motivation.  And, “hate” is too difficult to define.  Isn’t every crime a hate crime?

– Gays and Lesbians – Homosexuality is wrong.  The Bible seems to be more adamant about this sin than any other.  See:  Romans 1:26-32.

– God – God is real, and we need Him back in our country.  I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn’t, than to live my life as if there isn’t, and die to find out there is.

– Immigration – Each nation should maintain its own policy, and strictly enforce it.

– Jesus Christ – Christ is God’s Son, and only through him do we attain eternal life.

– Law – We need to remember that we’re governed by the rule of law.  ‘Illegal’ is illegal no matter what the lawyers think.

– Liberals – Their compassion is probably sincere, but misplaced.  If they’re so concerned about helping the oppressed, how can they condone the mass killing of unborn children?

– Middle East – It will not see peace until Christ returns.

– Minorities – Just being a minority does not make you noble or victimized, and does not entitle you to anything.

– Money – I believe the money I make belongs to me and my family–not the government, or some congressman’s notion of who needs it more.  Redistribution of wealth is stealing.  I don’t hate the rich. I don’t pity the poor.  And, I’m glad that “In God We Trust” is written on my money.

– Murder – See “Abortion” above.

– Nuclear weapons – Use ’em if you got ’em.  In wars like Iraq and Afghanistan, I would rather that we used tactical nuclear weapons than to send a single soldier onto the battlefield.

– Parenting – It doesn’t take a village to raise a child:  It takes two parents.

– Pets – Treat them kindly, but remember that they’re just animals.

– Police – The police have the right to pull you over if you’re breaking the law, regardless of what color you are.  I also think that there are plenty of bad and corrupt policemen that need to be removed.

– Political corruption – Set strict term limits, and outlaw lobbyists.

– Politics – A corrupt profession.  If you succeed, taxes go up.  If you fail, taxes go up.  If you disgrace yourself, you can write a book.

– Pornography – It’s a sin, in violation of Matthew 5:27-30.  Lust is equated to adultery, and this is easier now than at any time in history.  We can easily use our sinful eyes to view pornography on the Internet.

– Prayer – Everyone has a right to pray to his God when and where they want to.  Prayer to the God of the Bible really works.

– Racism – It’s wrong, but it’s also wrong to claim racism just to avoid honest criticism.  I want to know exactly which church it is where Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton preach, where they get their money, and why they are always part of the problem and not the solution?

– Republicans – Their fiscal policy is well-founded, but it doesn’t make sense when they spend money the same as the Democrats.

– School Prayer – I’m for it, and I still pray in every school that I enter.

– Smoking – It’s wrong, but we should have sympathy for those who have been duped (or peer-pressured) into the habit.

– Socialism – It kills societies.  Ronald Reagan identified it like this:  “Government’s view of the economy…: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.”  Reagan also said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are:  ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.'”  And:  “The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.”

– Solicitation – I don’t like solicitors:  who come to my door; who stand in the intersections trying to guilt me into making donations to their cause; or, who prey upon the elderly.  Being a free American, I’ll what to do with my money, and I’ll give it as I see fit, free of external pressure.

– Tort reform – Punitive damages (after medical costs) should be limited to one million dollars.

– Suicide – It’s wrong.  It’s simply the murder of one’s self.

– Taxes – They’re too high, at all levels, from the school board to the federal government.

– United Nations – It should be abolished.  God instituted nations to govern mankind.

– Voting – It’s a right that all citizens should cherish, and it makes a difference.  Many elections are won by just a few votes, especially where only a couple thousand people vote in a city of 100,000.

– War – We shouldn’t enter a war without the intent to win.  Then, on those rare occasions when we do commit our soldiers to the cause, win the war–quickly and decisively.  Don’t just end the war, withdraw, downsize, etc.  Win the war, no matter what other nations might think of us.  We stopped winning wars with World War II.

– The Welfare State – Dr. Adrian Rogers said, “You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.  What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.  The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.  When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.  You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”