Commentary

Latest Talking Point: Pro-Life, or just Pro-Birth?

“If you are really pro-life you must be ready to care for those spared from abortion from ‘the womb to the tomb.’ Otherwise, you’re pro-birth, not pro-life.”

What an ignorant position. Yet these are the new talking points from liberal Christians regarding America  after Roe v. Wade.  Most of us, they say, are just “pro-birth,” not “pro-life.”

The abortion rate in America is high because of sin and self. The vast majority of women getting an abortion are not married;  most of those are likely women are living at or near poverty levels and are receiving streams of welfare benefits.  Those who are married and seek an abortion usually do so because of selfish ambition (timing or finances).

Let me stop right there and say this: Jesus is able to totally forgive a woman for her abortion. I have plenty of friends who had abortions and have since repented of their decision. In the eyes of God, it’s over and done with.

So let’s say a woman decides against abortion and chooses adoption instead. When adoption is employed in such cases of pregnancy, the child is virtually guaranteed a life outside of poverty and welfare. In other words, adoption breaks the chain of poverty because the adopting parents are qualified to adopt, in-part, because of a decent financial situation.  However, the liberal Christian contends that if the mother decides to keep her baby then we as a society must roll up our sleeves and be ready to aid in the heavy lifting of raising that child to adulthood and ensuring their success.

Other than government programs involving welfare, I really don’t know what these people are suggesting. Once the child hits 18, I’m guessing these do-gooders envision further government/charitable social programs that promote “equitable outcomes” (free college, free rent, free food, job training, and more welfare bucks). Giveaway and handouts generally produce slothful behavior and a further entitlement mentality.

This is not compassion, it’s communism. And it will certainly not break the chains of poverty, but only exacerbate them. In fact, I contend the leftist politicians prefer this plan as it safeguards a reliable voting block. In fact, destination abortion states are basically going to further this cycle.

If churches were to get involved in this effort, I would say the best thing you could do is provide mentors and discipleship teams to grow these individuals up into solid men and women of God who are following their God-given calling. Many, many churches already do this. Certainly, I’ve seen some fruit in this over the years with young men I’ve spent time with. However, my mission is not to aid and abet those in poverty with handouts. I hope you agree.

By the way, on a side note, I know it’s nearly impossible for liberal Christians to believe this, but people really do climb out of poverty all this time. Most do it by getting married, sharing the expenses of a household, shunning welfare, working hard, getting good advice, and playing by the rules. Even people in minority groups progress to the next rung. Happens all the time.

In fact, I personally contend (again, personally) it’s easier to get out of poverty and into the middle class than it is to advance from the middle class to the upper (immense wealth that can be passed from one generation to the next). Those who make that big leap must: have a skill or talent that has proven to be a great source of income, work round the clock, manage their money extremely well, take risks, and rebound from the valleys they encounter along the way. Yes, there are some lucky folks who life’s lottery (sports stars and Silicon Valley stock options included), but even these lottery winners have to manage their finances well to be certifiable upper crust. Liberals would say the deck is stacked against minorities in making this leap, but I would counter by saying most (99 percent?) white people who try make the leap fall short.

As for me and my house: I’ve done what I can do: I co-founded an adoption advocacy group back-in-the-day (Brian’s Kids) that aided in over 400 children getting out of foster care and into adoptive families. The poverty cycle was broken for those kids (now adults). My wife and I also adopted three kids. They are all doing fine (and vote conservative too, I might add). One even decided to break the chain for a young woman who gave birth after years filled with drugs and homelessness. Now my little granddaughter has a chance to advance without government welfare and in an environment filled with the love of Jesus.

Pro-life. All the more possible without Roe.

 

 

 

Roe v Wade Overturned: Thank You, God, for President Trump

This is monumental.

The Supreme Court has voted 6-3 to overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, its precedents that declared there was a right to abortion in the United States.

“The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives,” said the syllabus of the decision released today by the court.

The majority opinion, as expected, was written by Justice Samuel Alito. He was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote a separate opinion that was “concurring in the judgment.” Thomas and Kavanaugh also wrote concurring opinions in addition to joining Alito in his decision.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett were appointed to the Court by Donald J. Trump.

Thank You, Lord God Almighty. And if for no other reason, Donald Trump became President for this moment in history. 

Pump Pain: Don’t Blame Big Oil, Blame Big Government

Blaming the oil companies for these outlandish gasoline and diesel prices is absurd.

If you want to point a finger, look to the U.S. Government, currently headed by a gaggle of leftist rebels who loath Big Oil, affordable fuel, and the American Dream.

The most recent example of this came from the lips of President Biden, who sneered at thoughtful comments made by the CEO of Chevron.

In a letter to the President, Michael Wirth, the Chevron’s chairman of the Board and CEO, noted that “your Administration has largely sought to criticize, and at times vilify, our industry. These actions are not beneficial to meeting the challenges we face and are not what the American people deserve.”

Asked for his reaction, Biden sneered at reporters: “He’s mildly sensitive. I didn’t know they’d get their feelings hurt that quickly.”

Then Biden seemed to fuse two separate issues: refining capacity and oil production.

“Look, we need more refining capacity. This idea that they don’t have oil to drill and to bring up is simply not true. This piece of the Republicans talking about, ‘Biden shut down fields’ — wrong.  There are 9,000 of them, okay? So they — we ought to be able to work something out whereby they’re able to increase refining capacity and still not give up on transitioning to renewable energy.  They’re both within the realm of possibility,” Biden said.

Biden’s stock response regarding the “9,000 leases” is totally misleading because it suggests that oil companies can just put a drill in the ground and suck up the oil waiting below.

First, not all leases are productive, some prove to be bone dry, others have oil but it is out of the reach of current technology. Second, establishing a working oil well takes considerable time and bureaucratic effort.  Third, starting from its opening days the Biden administration has virtually shut the door on the  production of natural gas and oil.  On Day One, the President signed an executive order to impose a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leasing activity in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR); withdrew offshore areas in Arctic waters and the Bering Sea from oil and gas drilling; and revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.

Days later, the administration acted to indefinitely pause all new oil and gas lease sales on federal lands and offshore waters, immediately restricting the industry’s opportunities to explore and invest in new areas.

Then there is the refinery issue. In a letter this month to oil refiners Biden ripped the industry for “price gouging.” Such a bogus claim works well given that most people have no clue what a refinery is or does.

There are 129 oil refineries in the U.S. and only about 700 refineries in the entire world. Many foreign oil companies build their refineries here (the largest U.S. refinery, in Port Arthur, Texas, is owned by Saudi Aramco). U.S. based refineries are the most efficient in the world and able to process more types of oil than most other refineries.

When Donald Trump was touting America as a net energy exporter, he was telling the truth. Trump reduced regulation, opened opportunities,  and the industry flourished with loads of solid jobs and lower prices at the pump. The U.S. has built this incredible energy infrastructure mostly through private investment. Unlike other countries where the energy sector is generally state-owned, the U.S. has a competitive oil-and-gas industry that prizes efficiency and production. Obviously profit is required to keep this industry sound. If the government owned these operations is would be a financial and production disaster.

Additionally, because of government red-tape, spurred in large measure by draconian environmental policies, a new refinery has not been constructed in the U.S. since the Marathon’s facility in Garyville, Louisiana came online in 1977 (the last refinery built with significant downstream unit capacity). Even if the green light was given to build a new plant today, an oil refiner would need to ensure a decades long capital commitment before it could offer a return to it’s shareholders, all while environmentalist policies would be pushing for the “end to Big Oil.”

 

Are You on the Right Path to the Real God?

  • “There are many paths to God.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that.

If you mean there are many ways in which some of us come to know the true Lord of the Universe, you’re correct.  My path was via witnessing three terrible, fatal, accidents when I was ten. In a state of fear, I asked God to reveal Himself to me. He did, ten years later, after I waded through a path filled with a lot of mud, dung, and steep terrain. I have another friend who was a Muslim Sheik who came to know the true God when Jesus appeared to him in a vision and said, “Follow me.” This path was supernatural. My friend is now a Christian pastor in the Middle East.

If you mean a path that includes worshipping mother earth, reincarnation, universalism, Islam, or Christian denominations that don’t teach Biblical truth, you’re heading the wrong way.  Not to be offensive, but those are not proper paths to God.

Jesus said, “I am the way, truth, and life. No one comes to my Father except through me.”

Either Jesus was a liar, lunatic, or he was who he said he was: the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the “Son of Man,” the Savior, who has the power to forgive, restore, and eternally save from hell.

The Bible provides the roadmap to the true God (recall, the Bible is the most corroborated historical book on the planet).

One of the earliest articles of faith was set forth in Deuteronomy 6:4-7:  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” This is known to Jews as the “shema,” and is the foundation of all the commandments of God. It establishes the unity of God, the supremacy of God, and the priority of serving God.

Another is found in  1 Corinthians 15:1-4. “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”  This article of faith declares the bare essentials for saving faith in Christ.

And there’s one more important truth that will determine if your really on the sole path: Jesus is returning.

In Matthew 24:36-44 Jesus declares (referring to himself), “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father…Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come…So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”

If we place our faith in Him, trusting His death on the cross to pay for our sins, we will be forgiven and receive the promise of eternal life in heaven. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Faith alone in the finished work of Christ on the cross is the only true path to eternal life! “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

There is only one true path to God, and therefore to Heaven.

Are you on the right path?

Illegal Immigration and the Push for a New Racial Majority

This post  is not meant to foment racism, nor is it meant to divide us in any way, shape, or form. For those of you who know me you obviously are aware that within my immediate family three of us are white, three non-white. When you stretch that out to my extended family (son and daughters in law, grandkids, etc,) there are four white and ten non-white.  The diversity within my family is an awesome representation of the love and creative work of God.

However, in America there are activists, influencers, and politicians on the left who despise the white race (and the various ethnic groups within that category). These people are violently angry at that race for slavery, privilege, and economic and political dominance. Their hope and dream is to get even and punish the white race. Some refer to it as “equity.”

I will not return their hatred with hatred. I will continue to love all people, just as God loves me. However, their plans will no doubt bring about destructive clashes in America, and perhaps worse.

This is a part of the plan.  As President Abraham Lincoln famously said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

And a purposeful process of division is underway.

By the way, I have podcast version of this post, hope you’ll check it out.

Currently whites make up 61.6 percent of the population. That will soon change (I’ll share the stats in a moment) thanks to illegal (and legal) immigration. The democrat party envisions the current demographic shift as a ticket to unfettered power.

Because economic requirements for immigrating into the U.S. have been washed away (unlike in most developed countries) the newcomers are receiving government handouts.  Such welfare usually guarantees votes for the party handing the goodies out. So, once these people become citizens they vote democrat.

Because of immigration, both legal and illegal, and differing fertility rates among the relevant groups, we’re nearing a time when white people will soon no longer make up the electoral majority in the regions they currently dominate. Losing their majority status, in turn, is understood as meaning that the days of white privilege and political dominance is now numbered.

The latest statistics project that the nation will become “minority white” in 2045. During that year, whites will comprise 49.7 percent of the population in contrast to 24.6 percent for Hispanics, 13.1 percent for blacks, 7.9 percent for Asians, and 3.8 percent for multiracial populations.

By the way, isn’t it curious that the black population will be 13 percent? It’s been that way for decades because of  aggressive efforts by the left to push abortion on that group. Given Critical Race Theory indoctrination,  professional sports, Hollywood, and the commercials we see on the video platforms, this 13 percent statistic is unbelievable to Gen Z and X.

You see, the leaders of the left are actually the biggest racists of all. They kill black babies, keep schools in black neighborhoods underperforming, and allow gang violence to kill even more. They see blacks as a voting block and minorities-at-large as a meal ticket to power and riches.

It’s sickening.

This is also why Kamala Harris doesn’t visit the border. The democrats don’t give a damn–and never will. They could give a rip.

Actually the rip they believe in is spelled R.I.P.

They want the American ethos of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness buried.

American Founding Father John Adams said this: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

You see, friends, this America is an experiment never before performed in the history of the world. It’s intended that when we err, we repent and make corrections. It’s much like the faith so many of us have Jesus as Lord. When I screw up, I admit my sin, get on my knees, repent, and try life again.

What this country needs more than ever is a spiritual revival; one in which millions turn to Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Once a soul surrenders to Jesus, amazing changes are to take place; changes that allow all to love one another.