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Being " Politically
Correct " is not being correct at all |
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Military Won't Take Graham at Faith Value
Almost nine years after 9-11, the Pentagon is the site of a
new attack--this time on religious freedom. After a few days
of speculation, the military advanced its policy of
political correctness
to bar Rev. Franklin Graham,
son of the evangelist Billy Graham, from speaking at the
Pentagon's National Day of Prayer event. Apparently an
outside group had complained about Graham's statements about
Islam and the evil perpetrated under its banner. Their
concerns were fueled by his unapologetic view that only
Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
As
political correctness envelops the nation under this
administration's watchful eye, Christianity is being tossed
from the public square. Military spokesman Col. Tom Collins
tried to defend the decision by saying, "We're an
all-inclusive military." But to be "inclusive," as the
Pentagon defines it, is to exclude Christianity.
Contrary to what Col. Collins says, this has nothing to do
with tolerance and everything to do with the military's new
hostility toward the Gospel. Franklin Graham is a man of
courage and integrity whose biblical beliefs should not
preclude him from sharing the message of Jesus Christ.
Under President Obama, we're witnessing the First Amendment,
designed to protect the religious exercise of Americans,
retooled into a sword designed to sever America's ties with
orthodox Christianity. As believers, we cannot sit idly by
and watch our freedoms be swept away. When I was disinvited
from a prayer luncheon at Andrews Air Force base, it was
because I made comments supporting the law banning gays from
the military. Some dismissed that as a result of my
involvement in public policy. Rev. Graham, whose ministry
has served to the physical and spiritual needs of millions
of people (including Muslims!) around the globe, was making
some key distinctions between Christianity and the religion
that flew radicals into the Pentagon.
So
to those Christian leaders who say they want to avoid the
controversy of political issues and "just preach the
Gospel," wake up! It's the Gospel that's at the heart of the
controversy--and the freedom to preach it that's at stake!
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The
Crucifixion of Brit Hume
By J. Matt Barber
January 11, 2010 |
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During the Roman
Empire's secularist era those who acknowledged the deity of Christ were
frequently fed to the lions to entertain -- for lack of a better word --
the "progressive" elites of the day. There's little doubt that if many
of today's secular-"progressives" (more accurately: "moonbat liberals")
had their way, Caesar Obama would call out the lions once again.
Nothing makes the
left lose its collective noodle like an open proclamation of Christian
faith. You don't see it when Muslims proselytize in government schools;
the ACLU doesn't sue when Wiccans share their witchy ways; militant
"gay" activists don't picket Buddhist temples with bullhorns while
inhabitants grasp at Zen. No, there's something about Christianity that
just drives 'em nuts. Always has. Always will.
Case in point:
Recently, on two separate occasions, Fox News veteran Brit Hume both
publicly pronounced his own faith in Jesus Christ and boldly suggested
that Tiger Woods might find "forgiveness and redemption" for his serial
philandering should he "turn to the Christian faith."
Hume first offered
Tiger the advice on "Fox News Sunday" and then reiterated his sage,
though decidedly non-PC council on "The O'Reilly Factor" the following
night. When asked by host Bill O'Reilly what kind of response he'd
received for his comments, Hume replied, in part: "It's always been a
puzzling thing to me. The Bible even speaks of it. You speak the name
Jesus Christ... and all hell breaks loose."
Yes indeed.
After Hume made his
comments, and as if on cue (Lord forgive them for not knowing what they
do or why they do it) liberals went apoplectic. Here's a small sampling:
As reported by
CNSNews.com: "Tom Shales, media critic for the Washington Post , in a
Tuesday column, demanded that Hume apologize and called his Christian
remarks 'even only a few days into January, as one of the most
ridiculous of the year.'"
MSNBC's reliably
raspy Keith Olbermann accused Hume of attempting "to threaten Tiger
Woods into converting to Christianity" and demanded that his Fox News
ratings superior "keep religious advocacy out of public life" (back in
the closet, Brit old boy).
Olblubberman then
compared Hume to a terrorist, suggesting that "the worst example" of
this kind of "proselytizing" are "jihadists." Finally, he betrayed the
left's typical anti-Christian bigotry, suggesting that Jesus may have
been a homosexual and wondering aloud: "WWJDIHS: What would Jesus do if
he's straight?"
While the
mainstream media's rage was clumsily managed (or masked), unbridled hate
boiled over in the left-wing blogosphere.
On the sexual
anarchist site, "JoeMyGod," poster "QScribe" suggested that Brit Hume's
deceased son had been "gay" and viciously accused Hume of being
responsible for the young man's suicide: "Brit Hume still hasn't
'repented' for trashing his gay son and driving him to suicide. When I
want moral guidance from a pig like that, I'll be sure to ask. Until
then, he really ought to STFU." (Hume has publicly shared that his son's
heartbreaking suicide played a large role in his acceptance of Christ.)
The next commenter
went so far as to cruelly imply that Hume had sexually molested his own
child and further mocked the tragic suicide, writing: "Dead victims
don't tell on their molesters."
Commenting on the
Huffington Post, "Kandaher" bypassed Hume altogether and aimed his
vitriol directly at his Creator: "anyone (sic) watched 'The passion of
Christ'? I thoruhgly (sic) enjoyed it. Nothing like watching this bloke
getting beaten up! He deserved what he got and more!"
You get the idea.
Now, in the
interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I very much enjoy
watching liberals go goofy when the light of truth pierces that shadowy
void called moral relativism. When the left's religion of choice --
secular-humanism -- is challenged through exposure to the gospel
message, they almost universally and instinctively react with such
visceral, knee-jerk spasms. You can set your clock to it.
But believe it or
not, there's actually something rather delightful about such hateful
lashing about. These poor souls -- to be pitied and prayed for -- fail
to realize that, manifest within their own unwittingly bizarre behavior,
is certain affirmation of the very words of Christ on the subject.
Jesus addressed
this peculiar and deeply spiritual phenomenon on more than one occasion
over two thousand years ago. In John 15:18-20 (NIV), for instance, He
reminds His followers: "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it
hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its
own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out
of the world. That is why the world hates you."
Now, I'm real sorry
that most "progressives" and other non-believers feel that Christianity
is deficiently "tolerant" or "inclusive" of various man-made religions
and lifestyle choices. But it's just not our call. Christ Himself
reveals over and again that the pathway to heaven is a very narrow one,
requiring membership in a rather "exclusive" club -- a club wherein
belief in Him and repentance from sin are the only membership
requirements.
Christ said: "I am
the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me." (John 14:6). Note that, rather conspicuously, He did not
say: "...No one comes to the Father except through me, the Buddha,
Muhammad, Ganesh, and -- on Tuesdays -- L. Ron Hubbard."
But lest you have
any doubt, consider John 3:36, which warns every man, woman and child on
earth -- past, present and future: "Whoever believes in the Son [Jesus]
has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for
God's wrath remains on him."
So, Brit Hume had
it right, didn't he? I mean, it is kind of an all or nothing
proposition, isn't it?
As my favorite
author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis famously pointed out in his
blockbuster book "Mere Christianity," Christ could only have been one of
three things: A lunatic, a liar, or -- as Jesus oft claimed and as
billions have believed -- the sovereign Lord and Creator of the
universe.
Noted Lewis:
"A man who was
merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great
moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on a level with the man
who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell.
You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God;
or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you
can spit at Him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and
call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense
about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us.
He did not intend to. -- C.S. Lewis
So, what does this
all mean? Well, and please take this in the spirit (little 's')
intended: Brit Hume's woolly, wily, wandering critics really ought to
just un-knot their knickers; mudra, mantra or something; and seriously
reflect upon the man's words and heart.
Perhaps they should
-- being all "tolerant," "diverse" and whatnot -- consider, if only for
a moment, the very Spirit (big 'S') from which came those words and was
formed that heart.
In the meantime, to
Mr. Hume: "Well done good and faithful servant." |
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This past
Thursday 13 American Soldiers were killed and another 30 wounded
at a horrific mass shooting at US Army installation, Ft Hood
Texas. As I watched in horror and then anger I recalled my two
years of final service in the Army as a
Battalion
Commander at Ft Hood, 2002-2004.
My wife and two daughters were stunned at the incident having
lived on the post in family housing.
A military installation, whether it is Army, Navy, Air Force,
Marine, or Coast Guard, is supposed to be a safe sanctuary for
our Warriors and their families. It is intended to provide a
home whereby our “Band of Brothers and Sisters” can find solace
and bond beyond just the foxhole but as family units.
A military installation is supposed to be a place where our
Warriors train for war, to serve and protect our Nation.
On Thursday, 5 November 2009 Ft Hood became a part of the
battlefield in the war against Islamic totalitarianism and
state
sponsored terrorism.
There may be those who feel threatened by my words and would
even recommend they not be uttered. To those individuals I say
step aside because now is not the time for cowardice. Our
Country has become so paralyzed by
political correctness
that we have allowed a vile and determined enemy to breach what
should be the safest place in America, an Army post.
We have become so politically correct that our media is more
concerned about the stress of the shooter, Major Nidal Malik
Hasan. The misplaced benevolence intending to portray him as a
victim is despicable. The fact that there are some who have now
created an entire new classification called; “pre-virtual
vicarious
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” is
unconscionable.
This is not a “man caused disaster”. It is what it is, an
Islamic jihadist attack.
We have seen this before in 2003 when a SGT Hasan of the
101st
Airborne Division (Air
Assault) threw
hand grenades and opened
fire into his
Commanding Officer’s tent
in
Kuwait. We have seen the foiled
attempt of Albanian Muslims who sought to attack
Ft Dix, NJ.
Recently we saw a young convert to Islam named Carlos Bledsoe
travel to
Yemen, receive terrorist training, and return to
gun down two US Soldiers at a
Little Rock, Arkansas
Army recruiting station. We thwarted another Islamic terrorist
plot in
North Carolina
which had US Marine Corps Base, Quantico as a target.
What have we done with all these prevalent trends? Nothing..
What we see are recalcitrant leaders who are refusing to
confront the issue, Islamic terrorist infiltration into America,
and possibly further into our Armed Services. Instead we have a
multiculturalism and diversity syndrome on steroids.
Major Hasan should have never been transferred to Ft Hood,
matter of fact he should have been Chaptered from the Army. His
previous statements, poor evaluation reports, and the fact that
the FBI
had him under investigation for jihadist website posting should
have been proof positive.
However, what we have is a typical liberal approach to find a
victim, not the 13 and 30 Soldiers and Civilian, but rather the
poor shooter. A shooter who we are told was a great American,
who loved the Army and serving his Nation and the Council on
American Islamic Relations (CAIR) stating that his actions had
nothing to do with religious belief.
We know that Major Hasan deliberately planned this episode; he
did give away his possessions. He stood atop a table in the
confined space of the Soldier Readiness Center shouting “Allahu
Akhbar”, same chant as the 9-11 terrorists and those we fight
against overseas in the
Iraq and
Afghanistan
theaters of operation.
No one in leadership seems willing to sound the alarm for the
American
people; they are therefore complicit in any future
attacks. Our Congress should suspend the insidious action to
vote on a preposterous and unconstitutional healthcare bill and
resolve the issue of “protecting the American people”.
The recent incidents in Dearborn Michigan, Boston Massachusetts,
Dallas Texas, and Chicago Illinois should bear witness to the
fact that we have an
Islamic terrorism issue
in America. And don’t have CAIR call me and try to issue a
vanilla press statement; they are an illegitimate terrorist
associated organization which should be disbanded.
We have
Saudi Arabia funding close to
80% of the mosques in the United States , one right here in
South Florida, Pompano Beach . Are we building churches and
synagogues in Saudi Arabia ? Are “Kaffirs” and “Infidels”
allowed travel to
Mecca
?
So much for peaceful coexistence.
Saudi Arabia is sponsoring radical
Imams who enter into our
prisons and convert young men into a virulent Wahabbist
ideology….one resulting in four individuals wanting to destroy
synagogues in New York with plastic explosives. Thank God the
explosives were dummy. They are sponsoring textbooks which
present Islamic centric
revisionist history in
our schools.
We must recognize that there is an urgent need to separate the
theo-political radical Islamic ideology out of our American
society. We must begin to demand surveillance of suspected Imams
and mosques that are spreading hate and preaching the overthrow
of our Constitutional Republic……that speech is not protected
under First
Amendment, it is sedition and if done by an
American treason.
There should not be some 30 Islamic terrorist training camps in
America that has nothing to do with First Amendment, Freedom of
Religion. The Saudis are not our friends and any American
political figure who believes such is delusional.
When tolerance becomes a one way street it certainly leads to
cultural suicide. We are on that street. Liberals cannot be
trusted to defend our Republic, because their sympathies
obviously lie with their perceived victim, Major Nidal Malik
Hasan.
I make no apologies for these words, and anyone angered by them,
please, go to Ft Hood and look into the eyes of the real
victims. The tragedy at Ft Hood Texas did not have to happen.
Consider now the feelings of those there and on every military
installation in the world. Consider the feelings of the Warriors
deployed into combat zones who now are concerned that their
loved ones at home are in a combat zone.
Ft Hood suffered an Islamic jihadist attack, stop the denial,
and realize a simple point.
The reality of your enemy must become your own.
Steadfast and Loyal,
Lieutenant Colonel
Allen B West (US Army, Ret) |
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Are These
The Actions Of A President Who Loves His Country?
By Doug Patton
November 30, 2009
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| I have grown
weary of pretending that Barack Obama has anything but disdain for the
United States of America. So let us ask the question on all of our
minds: Are the actions of this president those of a man committed to
what is best for his country?
With small business,
the engine of our economy, on the ropes, Obama and his myrmidons in
Congress are trying to ram through a health care reform bill that will,
in the words of Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, bring about our "fiscal ruin."
Is this the action of a president committed to doing what is best for
his country?
Obama
continues to push his "Cap and Trade" legislation, with all the taxes,
fees, energy price increases and restrictions on freedom that inevitably
accompany it, on the strength of junk science that is being discredited
every day. A growing number of reputable scientists are expressing doubt
that global warming even exists, and recently a hacker or a
whistleblower made public thousands of insider e-mails showing that
climate change advocates know the whole thing is a scam. Yet the
president intends to go to the Copenhagen climate conference and pretend
that none of this ever happened. Is this the action of a president
committed to doing what is best for his country?
So preoccupied
with his domestic agenda is this president, that an urgent request for
more troops from Gen. Stanley McChrystal, his hand-picked commander in
Afghanistan, has been collecting dust on his desk in the Oval Office
since August. It is now almost December. Gen. McChrystal has said that
anything less than 40,000 troops will guarantee failure, so naturally
Obama will send fewer than that. Is this the action of a president
committed to doing what is best for his country?
Obama was
quick to jump to conclusions when Harvard Professor Henry Gates was
arrested breaking into his own house. Although he admitted that he
didn't have all the facts, the president nonetheless proclaimed that the
police "acted stupidly." Yet when an Islamist fanatic in our own armed
forces murdered 13 innocent people at Fort Hood, Texas, in an obvious
act of terror, we were told by our president not to jump to conclusions.
Is this the action of a president committed to doing what is best for
his country?
The president
and his attorney general, Eric Holder, have decided that Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, along with his fellow terrorists, will
get a trial in civilian court in New York City, with all the rights
afforded American citizens under the U.S. Constitution. This outrageous
decision even caused some in the generally uncritical media to question
its wisdom, whereupon both Obama and Holder immediately poisoned the
jury pool by pronouncing the defendants "guilty" and promising that they
will be executed. Is this the action of a president committed to doing
what is best for his country?
And finally,
there is the tale of Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Hertas,
three Navy SEALs who should be receiving commendations from their
commander in chief, but who, sadly, will instead receive court-martials.
The charge? They gave the most wanted terrorist in all of Iraq a boo-boo
on his lip! That's right. The man responsible for murdering four
American contractors in March of 2004, mutilating and burning their
bodies, dragging them through the streets of Fallujah and hanging what
was left of them from a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world
press to dutifully photograph, was finally captured by these three brave
Navy SEALs. But in the course of subduing him, apparently he got slugged
in the mouth. Do you care? I know I don't. But apparently our
politically correct military does, from the commander in chief on down.
Obama pardoned a turkey last week, but heroes he court-martials.
For
the last time, I ask you, is this the action of a president committed to
doing what is best for his country? |
| Will it take something worse than 9/11 for
our liberal politicians and the American public to wake up? |
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A man, whose family
was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large
industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true
Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.
'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return
of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those
who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just
sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us,
and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family
lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies
destroyed my factories.'
We are told
again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the
religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to
live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is
entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel
better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of fanatics rampaging
across the globe in the name of Islam.
The fact is that
the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics
who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars
worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or
tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire
continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead,
murder, or honor-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after
mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging
of rape victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their
young to kill and to become suicide bombers.
The hard,
quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,'
is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in
peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of
about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China’s
huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to
kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average
Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist.
Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an
orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million
Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.
And who can
forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that
the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?
History lessons
are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason,
we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:
Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their
silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak
up, because like my friend from Germany, they will awaken one day and
find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have
begun. Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans,
Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and
many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up
until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay
attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our
way of life. |
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