Arjay's Weblog

Look At That Beautiful Face...

Drudge Report Headline - November 21, 2008

REPORT:
 Time INC. in "contractual promise" with Angelina Jolie for "positive coverage"

If you look at her face and are able to see beyond the facade one can clearly see the image of the serpent.

"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman.
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."       Genesis 3:4-5 NIV

She's a looker alright, that Angelina Jolie. Like so many celebrities she has an outward beauty that is mesmerizing and attractive - a true American idol in every sense of the word - perfectly fit for worship. People want to look like her, to wear the same clothes, to have that charisma and that exciting lifestyle.

Christ's words in Matthew seem to fit here:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.   Matthew 23:27 KJV

And from Paul:

And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.  It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.  Their end will be what their actions deserve.   2 Corinthians 11:14-15 NIV

And along with the good looks, good works go hand-in-hand.  From the article:

In a separate 2006 negotiation with People, Ms. Jolie invited magazine editors — through her philanthropic adviser, Trevor Neilson — to bid on exclusive photos of her and her adopted Cambodian son, Maddox. But she made coverage of her charity work part of the deal.

A little more from Matthew fits well here:

So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men.  I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."  Matthew 6:2-3 NIV

As Psalm 115 states regarding idols, those who make them will be like them.

Angelina Jolie's Carefully Orchestrated Image

Hit Where It Hurts...Silver and Gold

PREFACE:  I wrote the following and e-mailed it to friends and family back on January 21, 2008.  A lot has changed since January.  The credit and housing crises have become something that the President addresses almost every morning and the impacts have been felt by nearly every American.

I love this country but it disturbs be greatly to see what is happening to her.  I post this now not to say, "I told you so.." but to simply give people something to consider.

January 21, 2008

I went to Drudge this morning and the headline read, "Good Thing It's a Holiday".  India's stock index down 7.4 percent, Hong Kong's down 5.5%, its biggest drop since the 9/11 attacks.

"Black Monday as biggest crash since 9/11 wipes off nearly $120 billion in shares"

"London panics..."

The Dow is down some 9% this year and that might not be SO bad, but  - this is January!

I want to go ahead and share something that I've considered for many years now.  It's not scientific, it's not Biblical, it's just a gut feeling I've had for probably about 10 years.

Tom Brokaw labeled the generation that fought World War II  "The Greatest Generation".   These folks built America into the sole superpower she is today.  They went off to war and into the factories and after it was over, they formed an America we are still reaping benefits from today.  Selfishness is not something they were known for.  They weren't perfect, but their lives form a stark contrast to those of their children.

Cal Thomas in a recent article referred to the Baby Boomers, those children born just after WWII as "the most-pampered generation".  These folks brought us the hippie movement, the feminist movement, a thorough rebellion against all authority - and abortion on demand.

I have thought for years that God in his providence might allow the Greatest Generation to live out their years in relative peace and prosperity.  That generation is dying off very quickly now and I know that for all of my 42 years, life in America really couldn't have been a whole lot better.  I also thought that once they were gone, God would begin to deal with the Boomers in ways that would prevent them from enjoying their "golden years", their retirement.

Well, do you know what coincides with one of the worst Januarys in memory in regards to the stock markets?  This month, January 2008, the first Boomers begin retiring.  BAM!  To quote Bono from a U2 song,  "...hit where it hurts...silver and gold".

Scripture tells us that God is allowing the wheat and the tares (weeds) to grow up together and then He will separate them at his coming.  I don't know that God has specific plans to confuse or disrupt the plans of the Boomers, but it certainly would be fitting.  Unlike me, God is merciful and he causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.  We call this grace and it is truly amazing.

I am not saying that the entire Boomer generation was corrupt for some excellent people were certainly born between 1946 and 1964, but I'm sure some pretty good folks had to walk with Israel in the wilderness for 40 years too.

We consider what Hitler's Third Reich did to some 6 million Jews horrific and yet those who stand for the rights of 50 million unborn dead can scarcely get a seat at the table at conservative political conventions.

The self-indulgent '60s and '70s culminated in a Supreme Court decision that has to date destroyed some 50 million of our fellow Americans thanks to Roe v. Wade.  As Cal Thomas states:

Abortion on demand cannot be seen in isolation from social breakdown. In 1973, near the end of the Vietnam War and the approaching resignation of President Nixon two years later, the focus on self, pleasure and convenience by Baby Boomers was at its height. Marriages easily dissolved as "no fault" divorce laws were passed; cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births were on the rise; "unwanted babies" (who were labeled "products of conception" to make it easier to deny the obvious) became an impediment to the pursuit of pleasure and material gain.

Abortion was not a cause, but a reflection of our decadence and deviancy. One does not begin to kill babies until other dominos have fallen. And once they have fallen, it becomes difficult to set them aright because to do so would require an admission of something so horrible that those responsible for this fetal holocaust would have to acknowledge their sin and repent of it. Such a thing is not a character trait of this most pampered generation.

Perhaps the generation we destroyed through abortion would have been America's greatest.  Perhaps, but we'll never know.  Maybe one of those kids held in his or her brain the cure for cancer, or AIDS, or even economic recessions.  Regardless of their potential contributions to society, all 50 million were image bearers of the Living God.  Can we mess with God's handiwork with impunity forever?

So far, and it's still early in 2008, my theory about how things play out for the Boomers is right on track.  At least in my realistic/pessimistic view, the America that lies ahead is certainly not as bright as the America that was.  When a shining city on a hill is soaked in blood, it really loses its luster.

The Cost of Roe at 35  -  by Cal Thomas
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas/2008/01/17/the_cost_of_roe_at_35

Boomers Turning 62 and Starting to Retire  [LINK EXPIRED NOW]
http://www.thebusinessledger.com/Home/Archives/CommentaryViewpoints/tabid/86/newsid415/181/Default.aspx

In fact, a woman who will be 62 on January 1, 2008, became the first person in her generation to officially file for Social Security benefits when she did so on Oct. 15 in Washington, D.C.

The Scoop'a on NOOMA

A great post here by Greg Gilbert on Rob Bell's NOOMA videos. 

In addition to being the official reviewer extraordinaire at 9Marks, Greg Gilbert is the director of research for the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and an elder at Third Avenue Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky.

The Scoop'a on NOOMA

Slate on Joel Osteen

I ran across this tonight and it's a pretty amazing indictment of Joel Osteen from a very liberal publication called Slate.

As another blogger said in reference to this article, "Since Christian leaders can't seem to speak out against an outright denial of the Gospel, rocks are going to have to speak up."

My favorite paragraph is just below.  The whole article is good:

"This is a long, long way down the road from the inscrutable, infant-damning theology of this country's Calvinist forebears - it is, rather, a just-in-time economy's vision of salvation, an eerily collapsible spiritual narcissism that downgrades the divine image into the job description for a lifestyle concierge.  Lakewood and Osteen seem to keep God so preoccupied it's a wonder He can ever find the time to stock his fridge or whip out his wallet."

I had to think a minute about the "infant-damning theology of this country's Calvinist forebears..."  Then I remembered what is written in Psalm 51:5:

"Behold I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

As Charles Spurgeon has stated in his sermon A Defense of Calvinism

"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach today, or else be false to my conscience and my God.  I cannot shape the truth;  I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine.  John Knox's gospel is my gospel.  That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again."

It would be far more profitable if Spurgeon were read aloud on Sundays at Lakewood Church.  Now that would honor Christ.  And why stop at Lakewood?  Take Spurgeon to Saddleback and Willow Creek as well!

Calvinists would hold that all infants, even covenant infants of believing parents, are totally depraved in their nature at birth.  We must by faith in Christ's work be justified and then continually sanctified, being molded into the image of Christ until we die or He returns.  This is what is so bad about Osteen and his ilk.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ means absolutely nothing to people who see themselves as basically good.  As Jesus said in Matthew 9:13:  "...for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."  If I'm a good person with a self-esteem problem, what is Jesus doing on the cross?

And more often than not, God's Spirit works like the refiner's fire does to remove impurities from metal - hardship, suffering and turmoil are quite often the true believer's lot in this world as God's hands work to remove our impurities and to shape us in the image of His Son.  Instead of "Our Best Life Now", pilgrim followers of Christ are content to wait for "His Best Life Then".  Paul and John have both told us that what God has prepared for His children is more than worth the wait and any suffering we might have in this life - and I believe them.

To people who think that God exists to grant us better parking spots or to upgrade us to first-class seating - well - they have their reward.  They needn't seek any in the world to come.

R.J.

P.S.  Spurgeon's A Defense of Calvinism is linked above.  It's a classic and well worth reading.  I don't think I've read any bad Spurgeon yet.  Spurgeon died in 1892 but his works are more alive today than 90% of what passes itself off as Christianity in America.

Pentecostalism for the Exurbs

Good stuff from Spurgeon

'Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.'      Matthew 10:32

Gracious promise!  It is a great joy to me to confess my Lord.  Whatever my faults may be, I am not ashamed of Jesus, nor do I fear to declare the doctrines of his cross.  O Lord, I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart.

Sweet is the prospect which the text sets before me!  Friends forsake and enemies exult, but the Lord does not disown his servant.  Doubtless my Lord will own me even here, and give me new tokens of his favourable regard.  But there comes a day when I must stand before the great Father.  What bliss to think that Jesus will confess me then!  He will say, 'This man truly trusted me, and was willing to be reproached for my name's sake; and therefore I acknowledge him as mine.'  The other day a great man was made a knight, and the Queen handed him a jewelled garter; but what of that?  It will be an honour above all honours for the Lord Jesus to confess us in the presence of the divine Majesty in the heavens.  Never let me be ashamed to own my Lord.  Never let me indulge a cowardly silence, or allow a faint-hearted compromise.  Shall I blush to own him who promises to own me?

Taken from the October 14 selection in the Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, by Charles H. Spurgeon.

Households To Get Coupons for Digital TV Switch

"Under the NTIA, every household would be eligible for the coupons until slightly less than $1 billion is spent.  If that doesn't go far enough, another $500,000 could be released but limited to only those people who depend on an antenna to get their TV."     Excerpt from article below

This both saddens and sickens me.  It shows how far-reaching and intrusive our federal government has become.

We've come to the place where the feds are willing to give Americans over $1 billion dollars  to ease the burden of transitioning from analog to digital TV in 2009.

I realize that the FCC controls the broadcast spectrum but, at least in my opinion, the feds have no interest whatsoever in whether or not a person has access to television, just like they shouldn't have an interest in whether or not someone has health care or a laptop computer.

I've said this before and it might help to explain this nonsense:  If television were shut down across this land for about 6 months, we would probably descend into anarchy.  Mind-numbed robots unable to obtain their entertainment fix would go stir crazy.  What would people do with all those hours?

I refer to TV as the RetardGenerator.  Too much time in front of that idiot box will mess up your head.  With the consolidation of various media empires, a handful of people can dictate what billions of people on this globe will think and how they will think it.  And it's not just the television show.  Most of the real "programming" or "re-programming" is done during the commercials.  During commercials we learn how to emulate the "beautiful" people, the "acceptable" people, the "important" people.  Far more Americans learn societal mores from TV than they do from the Bible or a church.

Think about it.  Join me in dumping television completely on February 19, 2009 - or sooner!

R.J.

P.S.  I did not consume any broadcast media this past Sunday.  I didn't think about it and I never missed it.  I didn't even use the Internet much, and that is becoming a parallel universe to television simply delivered over a different medium.  Mental retardation can be delivered over analog radio signals, copper cables, fiber optic cables, and satellites.

[Link to full story]
Households to get coupons for digital TV switch

Amusing Ourselves to Death:  Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Tomb of the (Still) Unknown Ancients

"Year after year in spring, a new crop of religious dandelions pop up in our post-Christian culture.  Like the real ones growing in my yard, they make a colorful splash that briefly captures our attention, until we realize they are only shallow-rooted weeds, not beautiful flowers planted long ago in the deep rich soil of the past, such as Easter lilies."

"In a surreal moment on "Larry King Live" earlier this week, the film's producer, James Cameron (of "Titanic" fame), told us with a straight face that we should all be thankful that we now have tangible evidence that Jesus existed.  Actually, no serious historian of biblical antiquity has ever doubted that there was a historical Jesus.   Yet it tells us a lot about the state of our culture that Mr. Cameron's remark, backed by pseudo-science, could be seriously made on national television and that the film's companion book has already shot up to No. 5 on Amazon's rankings.  We are a Jesus-haunted culture that is so historically illiterate that anything can now pass for knowledge of Jesus."

Tomb of the (Still) Unknown Ancients
by Ben Witherington III

Hollywood's 'Amazing' Glaze

In the Friday, February 23rd edition of The Wall Street Journal, there was a very interesting piece on an upcoming movie depicting the life of William Wilberforce.  Here is a short excerpt:

"It is rare that a Hollywood film takes up a subject like William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British parliamentarian who devoted nearly his entire 45-year political career to banning the British slave trade.  Alas, a lot of people watching "Amazing Grace," Michael Apted's just-released film, may get the impression - perhaps deliberately fostered by Mr. Apted - that Wilberforce was a mostly secular humanitarian whose main passion was not Christian faith but politics and social justice.  Along the way, they may also get the impression that the hymn "Amazing Grace" is no more than an uplifting piece of music that sounds especially rousing on the bagpipes."

"In fact, William Wilberforce was driven by a version of Christianity that today would be derided as "fundamentalist.""

Hollywood's 'Amazing' Glaze   -  by Charlotte Allen
from The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Page

Tears of Repentance - by Thomas Watson

There is no rowing to paradise except upon the stream of repenting tears. Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. Why are the wells of repentance stopped? Do not the sinners of the land know that they should repent? Have they no warning? Have not God's faithful messengers lifted up their voice as a trumpet and cried to them to repent? But many of these tools in the ministry have been spent and worn out upon rocky hearts. Do we think that God will always put up with our affronts?

Some bless themselves that they have a stock of knowledge, but what is knowledge good for without repentance? Learning and a bad heart is like a fair face with a cancer in the breast. Knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light the way to hell. Repentant tears may be compared to myrrh, which though it is bitter in taste, has a sweet smell and refreshes the spirit. So repentance, though it is bitter in itself, yet it is sweet in the effects. It brings inward peace.

We are to find as much bitterness in weeping for sin as ever we found sweetness in committing it. Surely David found more bitterness in repentance than ever he found comfort in Bathsheba. Tears have four qualities: they are moist, salt, hot, and bitter. It is true of repenting tears, they are hot to warm a frozen conscience; moist, to soften a hard heart; salt, to season a soul decaying in sin; bitter, to wean us from the love of the world. And I will add a fifth, they are sweet, in that they make the heart inwardly rejoice. David, who was the great weeper in Israel, was the sweet singer of Israel. The sorrows of the repentant are like the sorrows of a travailing woman: "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world". (John 16:21).

Be as speedy in your repentance as you would have God be speedy in His mercies. Many are now in hell that purposed to repent. Satan does what he can to keep men from repentance. When he sees that one begins to take up serious thoughts of reformation, he bids them wait a little longer. It is dangerous to procrastinate repentance. The longer any go on sinning, the harder they will find the work of repentance. Delay strengthens sin and hardens the heart and gives the devil fuller possession. A plant at first may be easily plucked up, but when it has spread its roots deep in the earth, a whole team cannot remove it. It is hard to remove sin when it comes to be rooted. The longer the ice freezes the harder it is to be broken. The longer a man freezes in security, the harder it will be to have his heart broken.

Presuming upon God's mercy can be eternally fatal. Many suck poison from this sweet flower. Oh, one says, "Christ has died; He has done all for me; therefore I may sit still and do nothing." Thus they suck death from the tree of life and perish by a savior. So I may say of God's mercy, it accidentally causes the ruin of many. Because of mercy, some men presume and think they may go on sinning. But should a king's clemency make his subjects rebel? The psalmist says, "there is mercy with God, that he may be feared," (Psalms 130:4) but not that we may sin. Can men expect mercy by provoking justice? God will hardly show those mercy who sin because mercy abounds. Many would rather go sleeping to hell than weeping to heaven.

A Time for Truth

Modern Reformation magazine turns 15 this year.  It is the print companion to The White Horse Inn radio and Internet broadcasts.

Last year, MR and WHI took as their subject The Romans Revolution, discussing the themes of justification and sanctification in Paul's famous letter.

This year's theme is A Time for Truth.  Our culture, which has embraced the idea that truth is relative and can be made to mean whatever we would like it to, crashes hard into the rocks of God's revealed will which is grounded not only in history but in absolute truth.  In a nation whose President claims that "Islam is a religion of peace...", many have difficulty with the seemingly intolerant and politically incorrect words of a Savior who states, "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

The abandonment of the concept of absolute truth has paralleled the demise of many mainline Protestant churches and has also led to some very strange ways of "doing church", as seen in both the megachurch and emergent church movements.  And the cancer of radical feminism which erupted and grew throughout the 60's and 70's has metastisized rapidly, affecting the church as it warped the larger culture.

The way forward through the confusion begins with an understanding of and quest for the truth, without which it is impossible to comprehend God.

R.J.

The Way Forward
by Eric Landry
Executive Editor of Modern Reformation magazine and
Pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Murrieta, California

The White Horse Inn - A Time for Truth

UPCOMING TOPICS

January 21, 2007
Has God Really Said?
On this edition of the White Horse Inn, the hosts discuss the difference between denying and distorting the truth by examining Satan's tactics in the first temptation.  What are some of the ways modern Christians distort God's revealed truth?  Tune in this week to find out!

January 28, 2007
Distracted from the Truth
How has the church adopted techniques from our consumer-oriented culture?  How does pragmatism threaten the church's mission to be prophetic in our time?  Have we been distracted from the truth?  Find out this week on the White Horse Inn.

February 4, 2007
Narcissism Gone Wild
On this edition of the White Horse Inn, the hosts discuss the rise of narcissism in contemporary culture and explore how self-centeredness has become the focus not only outside of the church but also within it.  How have self-help, self-worship, and preoccupation with self become dominant in contemporary faith and practice?  Tune in this week to find out.

February 11, 2007
Postmodernism:  Friend or Foe?
How has modernism evolved into postmodernism?  What are the characteristics of this postmodern age?  How do postmodern worldviews help and hinder the truth?  Find out on this week's edition of the White Horse Inn.

February 18, 2007
The Emergent Church Movement
What is the Emergent Church and how is it related to postmodernism?  Tune in this week as the hosts evaluate this new movement and discuss its implications for the current and future church.

The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

I ran across an excellent work in one of the recent editions of Christianity Yesterday.   It is called The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, by Philip Doddridge.

Doddridge was a prominent non-conformist minister in England who was born in 1702.

The Christianity Yesterday piece featured chapter 26 of the work and is titled "The Christian Assisted in Examining Into His Growth in Grace."

Below are a few short excerpts and links to the full work.  The link will take you to a raw text file which isn't really fancy in its appearance, but I think you'll find the material therein to be quite beneficial.

Here are a few excerpts:

"I would, therefore, endeavor to assist you in making the inquiry, whether religion be on the advance in your soul.  And here I shall warn you against some false marks of growth, and then shall endeavor to lay down others on which you may depend as more solid.  In this view I would observe, that you are not to measure your growth in grace only or chiefly by your advances in knowledge, or in zeal, or any other passionate impression of the mind, no, nor by the fervor of devotion alone;  but by the habitual determination of the will for God, and by your prevailing disposition to obey his commands, submit to his disposal, and promote the highest welfare of his cause in the earth."

"Can you, even when your natural spirits are weak and low, and you are not in any frame for the ardors and ecstacies of devotion, nevertheless find a pleasing rest, a calm repose of heart, in the thought that God is near you, and that he sees the secret sentiments of your soul..."

"How does your mind stand affected toward those who differ from you in their religious sentiments and practices?  I do not say that Christian charity will require you to think every error harmless.  It argues no want of love to a friend, in some cases, to fear lest his disorder should prove more fatal than he seems to imagine:  nay, sometimes the very tenderness of friendship may increase that apprehension.  But to hate persons because we think they are mistaken, and to aggravate every difference in judgment or practice into a fatal and damnable error that destroys all Christian communion and love, is a symptom generally much worse than the evil it condemns.  Do you love the image of Christ in a person who thinks himself obliged in conscience to profess and worship in a manner different from yourself?  Nay, farther, can you love and honor that which is truly amiable and excellent in those in whom much is defective;  in those in whom there is a mixture of bigotry and narrowness of spirit, which may lead them perhaps to slight, or even censure you?"

The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Chinese Sub Stalks U.S.S. Kitty Hawk

Not really sure how either of these events could happen.   Perhaps our military, more concerned with the roles of women or don't ask-don't tell, have left us with generals and admirals unable to git-r-done.

The one-sided military exchange program described in Bill Gertz' article is looking pretty beneficial for the Chinese.

We're already giving them all our money - why not throw in the intelligence as well. 

I wonder how much money from the sale of every high-def TV or personal computer goes directly into Chinese military coffers.   How much from darn near everything we buy here in America for that matter?  When an American consumer goes to the store, the Chinese ring the register and continue to build our demise.

Chinese Sub Stalks U.S. Aircraft Carrier

Defenses on Subs to Be Reviewed

Iran TV Broadcasts "U.S. Ship Spy Plane Footage"

Phil Johnson is Fed Up

Below is a link to an excellent post by Phil Johnson of the Pyromaniacs  blog.  Phil really hits the nail on the head with his assessment of "Emerging" ministry, especially that of Rob Bell.

Here's a quote that I agree with 100% and it's something I've believed about Bell and his "church" for some time:

"Bell's syncretized amateur yoga exercise is not Christianity by any stretch of the definition.  I'll go further:  if this is what Bell really believes, he himself is no Christian."

In my Letter to Rob Bell of Mars Hill I stated the following, and I think I am referring here to the same "sermon" Phil critiqued in his piece:

"I've rambled on a bit so I won't go into any detailed analysis of the two sermons I listened to.   The first was the one on breathing and the second was a long, drawn-out dramatization about laying down our spears.  Neither of these messages were Christian in their nature.  I believe in both sermons combined I heard the word Jesus four times.  They would work great for Oprah or Zig Ziglar or Robert Schuller, but no clear presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was made in either of them.   10,000 people got ripped off on two separate Sundays.  They thought they were going to church.  Instead, they went to Mars Hill.  I believe there is a huge difference."

The garbage Bell and others like him are putting forth is a powerful deception from the very pit of Hell.  As Phil Johnson says in his piece, this stuff is not only unbiblical, it is anti-Christian.

I've respected Phil for many years, first learning of him through his work in developing The Spurgeon Archive .   His comments about Bell, Mark Driscoll and the "Emerging" movement should be read by everyone who cares about dangerous teachings that are diametrically opposed to the teachings of Christ and of Scripture.

Below the link to Phil's column are a few links to pieces I've done on Rob Bell.

R.J.

Fed Up - by Phil Johnson

Rob Bell Preaches from Marx Gospel

With Rob Bell, You Will Thirst Again

Governor Wannabe Likes Rob Bell

Stupid Church Tricks in Grandville, Michigan

Limbaugh Interviews Bill Gertz

Bill Gertz of The Washington Times has a new book out called Enemies.   Below is a description of the book from Amazon's web site and below that is a link to a Rush Limbaugh interview with Gertz.

Below the interview link is a link to an article by Pat Buchanan, just to provide you with some numbers, showing how bad our trade deficit with the Chinese Communists really is.

I receive a whole lot of computer equipment that gets shipped to my office in Grand Rapids.  Laser printers, computers, copy machines, all manner of computer peripherals - and darn near every bit of it is made in China.  As Gertz states in the interview, the ChiComs have embraced the capitalist system for generating revenue, but they have not abandoned the Marxist-Leninist political system.

The American addiction to things electronic is fueling a military buildup in China that has probably already surpassed anything the Soviets were able to accomplish during their reign as the world's other superpower.  The demise of the Soviet Union proved to everyone that Communism as an economic system just doesn't work.

There simply has to come a day when the pendulum swings and the Chinese are left holding all the marbles - capital, knowledge and a real will to win.  America is quickly becoming another Japan - a net importer of everything it needs to survive.  If we continue to send all our production and capital to China there will come a day when we will be in the very sorry position of being completely unable to do anything about it when the real China shows its fury - the same fury that tortures, imprisons and kills people who do not abide by the Party's dictates.

I have a pessimistic streak that is only tempered by my faith, but that streak makes me able, even willing, to look into the nasty abyss we're quickly heading into as a nation.  We can still avoid it, but we have to first see it and understand it.  Right now, the vast majority of our elected representatives are asleep at the wheel.

R.J.

ENEMIES:  How America's Foes Steal our Vital Secrets - And How We Let it Happen
Book Description  (from Amazon)

"Taking advantage of gaping holes in America's defenses, terrorist organizations and enemy nations like Communist China, North Korea, Russia, and Cuba - not to mention some so-called friends - are infiltrating the U.S. Government to steal our most vital secrets and use them against us.  And most astonishing of all, our leaders are letting it happen."

"In the explosive new book Enemies, acclaimed investigative reporter Bill Gertz uncovers the truth about this grave threat to our national security and America's harrowing failures to address the danger.  Gertz's unrivaled access to the U.S. intelligence and defense communities allows him to tell the whole shocking story, based on previously unpublished classified documents and dozens of exclusive interviews with senior government and intelligence officials.  He takes us deep inside the dark world of intelligence and counterintelligence - a world filled with lies and betrayal, spies sleeping with enemy spies, and moles burrowing within the FBI, the CIA, the Pentagon, and even the White House."

Rush Limbaugh Interview with Bill Gertz

How to Bring Manufacturing Back Home - by Pat Buchanan

TV's Healing Powers

Below is a link to an excellent piece from the Friday, September 15th edition of The Wall Street Journal. 

Why go to a church that is attempting to imitate the culture?  Go right to the real stuff.  The church never could compete when she lost her vision and attempted to become less like Israel and more like Egypt.  God is calling to Himself a peculiar people, and when they've lost their peculiarness - when the salt has lost its ability to season or preserve - it's ready to be thrown out.

Matthew 5:13
"You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men."

The piece below is one of the more brilliant things I've seen in quite some time.

R.J.

TV's Healing Powers
by Philip Kevin Goff

[excerpt]
If American culture has moved toward evangelicals' practice of making the personal public, so religion has moved in the direction of the broader culture.  The way worship is conducted in growing numbers of evangelical congregations now replicates what once was confined to the TV screen.  Sitting in your living room, you may feel just as close to the pastor as you would at the 5,000-person megachurch down the street.  Unless you join one of the megachurch's cell groups, these institutions can be as impersonal as mass media.  Moreover, a visit to your local megachurch - including Starbuck's coffee, entertaining music and drama, and a short talk that seems less like a sermon than an inspiring self-help lesson - will not seem much different than a trip to the mall.