Nuggets from Francis Chan

"God is the only Being who is good, and the standards are set by Him."

"The point of your life is to point to Him."  
Will that be the theme of my life?  
When I look at my life now or the synopsis of my years on this earth, 
is it about 
"making much out of God"?

"Jesus began speaking in parables 'so that' those who weren't genuinely listening wouldn't get it. (Luke 8)  ...He just wasn't interested in those who fake it."

"Lukewarm people love others 

but do not seek to love others as much as they love themselves.  

[They are] typically focused on those who love them in return...

[but not those with] whom conversations are awkward or uncomfortable."  

ouch.  

"Lukewarm people are thankful 

for their luxuries and comforts, 

and rarely consider trying to give as much as possible to the poor."

"Lukewarm people ask, 

'How much time should I spend praying and reading my Bible?' 

instead of 

'I wish I didn't have to go to work so I could sit and read longer.'"

"If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream.  

When we stop swimming, or actively following Him,

we automatically begin to be swept downstream.

Or... we are on a never-ending downward escalator.

In order to grow, we have to turn around and sprint up the escalator,

putting up with perturbed looks

from everyone else who is gradually moving downward."

"We are consumed with safety.  Obsessed with it actually.  [W]e've made safety our highest priority.  We've elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God's best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and the world.  ---  Would you be willing to pray this prayer? God bring me closer to You during this trip whatever it takes..."
"People who are obsessed with Jesus aren't consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else.  Obsessed people care more about God's kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain and distress."

"Joy is something we have to choose and then work for."

"Oswald Chambers said, 'Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.'  I would also add, 'Be careful not to turn others lives into the mold for your own.'  Allow God to be as creative with you as He is with each of us.  God is a Creator not a duplicator."

"[Y]ou must learn to listen to and obey God,

especially in a society where it's easy and expected

to do what is most comfortable."

"The world needs Christians who don't tolerate the complacency of their own lives."

from Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

don't read this book.

Skip the book: Presidents Who Dared by Edmund Lindop.  

Stated on page 32 about Thomas Jefferson:

"His often-quoted demand for 'a wall of separation between Church and State' later found its way into the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights."

Which made me wonder: what else will the author and publisher lie about?

Yes, these are the types of books with  blatant lies  that your children will learn from.

Pay attention.

There is no "separation of church and state" found anywhere in The Constitution of the United States.  Nor is it found in nay other governing documents.

More on this subject:  http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=123

more from Laura Bush

"The presidency is larger than the men who are in it.  The founding fathers - who in the spring of 1787 wrestled with this issue - designed it that way.  Each President's responsibility is to the office, the sole national institution that speaks for all Americans regardless of their party or class or home or age.  George always believed it was his responsibility to treat the office with great care.  Presidents are not always right but history tells us that our core values are right and that our country is good."

"George acted on principle.  He put our country first and himself last."

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.  Laura is a classy and dignified First Lady.  Pick it up.  You will enjoy her gentleness, her truthfulness, her self-control in not slandering those who were so nasty to her and her husband.  She is a refreshing woman of character.

Also, you will enjoy her account of 9-11 which we all should have at the forefront of our minds and hearts as the 10 year anniversary approaches.

(Quotes by Laura Bush from her book, Spoken from the Heart.)

"America by Heart" by Sarah Palin

Just finished reading Sarah Palin's book "America By Heart" which is a beautiful collection of her thoughts and wisdom on all the things she holds dear which are dear to me as well: Faith, Family, and Freedom.

I especially loved her chapters dedicated to our military, American Exceptionalism, entitlement versus hard work, and the one she wrote on her perspective as a mother.  I'd like to share some of her writings on the latter:

"...far from holding me back, my family is my main motivation.  It's the source of my energy as well as my optimism about America.  ...I don't balance anything.  We do it together."

"Having a family gives you a gift that you may not recognize at first.  It teaches you that the sun doesn't rise and set around you.  It's not about you.  (Regarding other family member's interests and pursuits:)  If it's important to one of us it's important to all of us.  And if it challenges one of us, it gets support from all of us."

"...it turns out that it's the quantity of time we spend ---not the quality--- that is best for our kids.  Busy parents like to comfort themselves that they can make up for not being there by occasional bursts of special activities.  But you can't just plan on being a good parent; you have to earn it."

"At home my happiness springs from very different objects; the gradual unfolding of my children's reason, the study of their dawning tempers..." ~J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur

"...elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; accelerate and animate their industry and activity; excite in the an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue.  If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives." ~John Adams to his wife, Abigail

"Families matter."

"The left wants us to believe that any grouping we choose to call a family is worthy of the name, that it doesn't matter if children are raised by two loving parents or are shipped off to virtual full-time day care, and that divorce has no effect on children's quality of life.  When it comes to raising good citizens, all 'lifestyle choices' are not equal." 

As our beloved Ronald Reagan said (I know I am repeating myself), "All great change in America begins at the dinner table."  So mommies, daddies, kids: let's change America!  Let's change the world!  Engage your family in discussion about truth, righteousness, God, freedom.  It isn't just important, it's invigorating!!

Unbroken...The Story of Olympian and P.O.W. Louie Zamperini

I just finished reading the most unbelievable story and you ought to read it, also.  I blasted through it in just a few days and was totally captivated.  Everyone should read this story.  If you are wondering if it would be appropriate to share with your children, I would save it for older high schoolers as there is some (very little language and other inappropriate things mentioned) disturbing stuff.  But, I have told my children the whole story and even showed them the videos below.  There is a shot of the P.O.W.'s in pretty emaciated conditions - basically breathing skeletons.  It didn't bother my boys, but I want to let you know about that.  

Here are some videos about the life of a true America Hero, Louie Zamperini.  The book covers all of this and so much more.  You would think there couldn't possibly be more to this life, but when you read the book you will be absolutely awestruck by what this man has endured and has become gloriously victorious over.  AMAZING.

At the tail end of the 2nd and 3rd video is a lot of loud static.  FYI.





 

http://www.louiezamperini.com/ is his website.  If you can believe it, he's still alive.

I was so overcome when I finished his story that I immediately looked up his website and wrote him the following letter.  Please get this book.  I borrowed it from the library.  It is excellent and totally inspiring.  Bless you.

Dear Louie,

I just finished reading "Unbroken" not five minutes ago.  I really don't know what to say; but desperately wanted to make contact.

I am 37 years old and pretty ignorant of WW2 history, but as I am now a home schooling mom to two precious boys, I have discovered a new hunger for learning and this book about your story has been absolutely heart-wrenching.  How glad I am for your survival and salvation, and therefore your testimony of the deep healing of Jesus.  I, too, am a Christian...healed by a marvelous God of my own devastation.  Praise the Lord!

I just want you to know that I will never forget your story.  I will share it with my children as they grow and learn and you will forever be a hero to this family.

All God's very best to you, sir.  You are absolutely wonderful, brave, resilient, a beacon of hope and courage.  Thank you for bearing your soul for this book so that many may read it and be deeply inspired.

I hope to raise brave and resilient heroes like you.  Thank you for the example you have set.

Much love and appreciation and so much gratitude for your service to this most beautiful country.  It is because of men like you that I and my family are still living a free life in the beautiful U.S.A.

God bless you,

Kori Peterson

The Five Thousand Year Leap, Principles 27-28

YAHOO!  I finally finished it!  It took me an embarrassing 13 months, but here I am entering my last post on The Five Thousand Year Leap.  One thing I did notice is that it was less necessary for me to use the dictionary in these last few chapters.  Ha!  Maybe my vocabulary understanding is expanding?
I definitely recommend this book...even if it takes months to read.  It isn't for lack of interest but simply because I wanted to take the time to fully comprehend its message and because I have a full life of books, children, and responsibilities.  None of which I regret.  This book can be purchased here.  Thanks for going through it with me.

To read this series from the beginning, go here.


Principle 27: Avoiding the Burden of Debt

Well, the title of this chapter alone is enough to send us spiraling into depression...the emotional kind, not the monetary kind; though that sorta goes with the territory, I guess.

"...when you run into debt; you give to another the power over your liberty." ~Ben Franklin

Hence, the squeeze we are starting to feel from China.

Debt causes bondage.
To whom or what are we enslaved?

• to the one we are indebted to; 
• to the fear of the risk of any change in location or profession; 
• of our own spirit - conscience and therefore against our own happiness.

The Founders saw debt as a "temporary handicap...alleviated at the earliest possible moment."  I think I'll start crying now.  IMPOSSIBLE.  So, it seems.  Though my knowledge of God proves to me that nothing is impossible with Him, but we must depend on Him. (Mt. 19:26)  Ok, I think I'll start crying again.  When will we get our heads out of our butts and start looking to God for answers?!  His presence is ridiculously obvious, yet we rationalize and deny His existence and refuse His guidance.  And aren't we so much better off because our own brilliant (note the sarcasm) ideas? NO.

The Founders "felt that the wars, economic problems, and debts of one generation should be paid for by the generation which incurred them."  ...so that the subsequent generations would be free.  But now we force our posterity into economic bondage from the moment they are born.

"When we trace the history of the national debt, we find that the policy laid down by the Founders has been followed by every generation until the present one." (p.209)

And why is that?  Because during the Great Depression government got too big for its britches and overstepped its authority and now we are paying dearly for it...or not paying.  The shackles of debt are locked on us.

Click it and weep: U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time.

Principle 28: Manifest Destiny

"The United States has a manifest destiny to be an example and a blessing to the entire human race."

We are special.  We are unique.  We are God-blessed.  And I won't ever apologize for it.  God has set us apart.  May He continue to rest His hand of grace and peace upon us, though we now find ourselves in a place where we absolutely do not deserve it.  "When we are faithless, He remains faithful." (2 Tim. 2:13)  That being said, I do sense that one day enough will be enough and justice will reign in our land.  We don 't want justice.  We want grace.  But it will only come if we surrender ourselves to the perfect will of God.

I hear the phrase "manifest destiny" often and have never known really what it meant, so I did an internet definition search and this is what came up:  the doctrine or belief prevalent in the 19th century that the U.S.  had the God-given right to expand and possess the whole of the North American continent.  This sounded a little off to me...the idea that we are to selfishly conquer ---honestly, it sounds like a lie to me.  

"It is extremely important to distinguish between a sense of mission, and the spirit of perverted chauvinism associated with the idea of 'racial superiority.'  The former is a call to exemplary leadership and service.  The latter is the arrogant presumption of a self-appointed role to conquer and rule." (p.216)

or as John Adams put it:

"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth." (emphasis added.)

Pardon me, but the Founders' intent regarding manifest destiny is a wee bit different from the propaganda of revisionists and liars that is so prevalent in our American culture today.  How important it is that we know the truth!  And how inspiring it is!  Until this present generation, America has been looked at as a nation to imitate and admire.  It has been a coveted dream by a world starved of freedom.  But now we are saturated with a generation entitlement-minded lemmings; we have a president who bows and apologizes to tyrants all over the world; a media embarrassed by American success and exceptionalism.

In conclusion:
"The Founders knew they were sailing into uncharted waters, and the knew their ship of state was entirely different from anything else on the face of the earth.  True, they had examined every kind of political operation known to man, and they had abstracted from history every lesson and precaution they could learn, but their own product was unique, bold, and filled with the promise of a better day." (p.218)

"Happily for America, happily we trust for the whole human race, they pursued a new and more noble course.  They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society." ~James Madison (emphasis added.)

So, let us never take for granted the miracle of America.  Let us not let our guard down.  Let us not sleep on the watchtower but be alert.  There are plenty who hate our freedom and there is a darker enemy behind it all who seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.  Be on you guard.  Be in prayer.  Be thankful for the rarity of freedom on the earth and that we are participants thereof. 

the result of greatly delighting in Scripture

"Praise the Lord!  Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.  His descendants will be mighty on earth;  The generation of the upright will be blessed." ~Psalm 112

When I read this today, my heart leapt!  Didn't I just say that I love, love, love God's Word!?!  ;)

And since I do, it is promised that my children will be mighty!  Hallelujah!  And so will yours if you delight in the Word of God!  We are raising a generation of world changers who will be mighty on this earth.  Start out by immersing yourself in the very Word of God!  "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." (Mt. 6:33)  First things first.

"His delight is in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates both day and night.  He will be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, whose leaf does not wither.  In all he does, he prospers." ~Ps. 1:2-3

To think that America's Founders and Constitution Framers were raised with an emphasis on God's Word.  And look at the result!  A free nation.  A generation of patriots who accomplished something no one ever had before.  Heroism, courage, integrity.  Generations that catapulted the world into innovation, creativity, and technological advances incomprehensible.
How we need a generation like this now.  Let's do it ladies.  Saturate ourselves and our children in truth, love, faith, and hope through deep Biblical understanding.

Be blessed,

"Nick of Time" by Ted Bell

We just finished reading The Nick of Time by Ted Bell.  Awesome!

Nazi submarine.
Spies.
Evil pirates.
Secret treasure.
Time travel.
Sea battles.

Meet Lord Nelson and Winston Churchill.

Inspire heroism in your kids.  Like Snow Treasure (true story of Norwegian children during Nazi occupation), it encourages us all to courage and sacrifice for the greater good.

It was a teeny bit above Si's head (he's almost 6).  But Brandon (age 7) LOVED it!  It's aim is for kids around age 10+.

Enjoy!

Reaping what we sow in relationships

I am taking this straight out of Sally Clarkson's book, The Mission of Motherhood.  It is too beneficial to not share.  If you don't have this book, order it now!  (click on the book title to order it.)  It is the BEST mom's book ever written.  I have said many times before that it entirely changed my perspective as a mom and made motherhood fulfilling and wonderful to me.  Being a mom is a woman's greatest calling!  Praise the Lord!  Now that her children are grown, Sally often says, "I have raised my own best friends!"

Beautiful.

Taken from ch. 7- "A Strong Friend"
The Relationships We Reap

Galatians 6:7 tells us plainly that we reap what we sow--and I believe this is especially true of family relationships.  If I sow affection, commitment, and encouragement into the lives of my children, chances are I will reap deep, close relationships with them that will last for a lifetime.  If I don't make our relationships a priority, I risk reaping the consequences of a broken, scattered or distant relationship.

My daughter Sarah shared with us at dinner one night that her friends who spend most of their time with their peers tend to communicate negatively about the guidance their parents want to give them.  She expertly mimicked their complaints: "My parents insist that I can't drive my car because I don't have insurance!  But it's my car!  My baby-sitting job is so close I won't get into any trouble!  It's so unfair!"

Sarah said, "Mom, I see it all of the time.   The kids who aren't close to their parents act as though their parents' rules are unreasonable and even as though their parents have no right to thell them no.  They think they should be able to make all of their own decisions."

The problem with these kids, as Sarah sees it, is not just her friends' attitude but the fact that these kids' parents haven't done what it takes to maintain a close relationship with them.  Though children are rightly told to honor their parents, it is certainly easier to honor those parents who have shown honor to their own children by doing what it takes to build a relationship.

The hunger for love, affirmation, attention, and acceptance is a deep drive that will search for fulfillment until it finds it.  A child's first attachment is meant to be with its mother, so lots of loving touches and caresses from her make a difference in the child's future intellect, emotional stability, and sense of well-being.  Time and affectionate attention from a father and significant others is crucial as well.

However, if a child's need for such attachment is not met in the home, he will tend to look for it from his peers or anywhere else he can find it.  In order to fit in with those willing to give him time, the child will tend to adapt his values and morals to whatever is required.  At the same time, a child who does not learn to make healthy attachments and maintain healthy relationships in her family may have a hard time developing intimate bonds with anyone in the future.

As a mother, I have the ability to provide the love, acceptance, and attention my children need to grow up secure and able to develop mature relationships.  I also have the opportunity to model mature love, commitment, forgiveness, accountability, grace, and encouragement for my children.  The home is an ideal environment in which children can experience the growth of mature relationship where give-and-take are learned in the context of real life.  And this ideally includes an understanding of the true power of God's love.

________________________ 

And so I am working very hard

raising my own best friends!

The Five Thousand Year Leap, Principle 26 - Family

(To read this series from the beginning, click here.)


Principle 26: Protecting the Role of the Family

The family is the foundation of a strong society.

Amen.

And yet as we look around we see the family undermined from every possible angle.  And so we must do everything to protect it.  If the family breaks down, our country breaks down.  I suggest that we are already seeing that now.  There is no doubt that the USA is not the nation of virtue, integrity, and uprightness that it once was.  With homosexuality, feminism, adultery, impurity, child-abuse, abortion running rampant, it is obvious we have all but succeeded in totally subverting the family.

"In Europe almost all the disturbances of society arise from the irregularities of domestic life.  To despise the natural bonds and legitimate pleasures of home is to contract a taste for excesses, a restlessness of heart, and fluctuating desires." -de Tocqueville (p.199)

I was watching an "innocent" children's film today.  The devaluing of the family was woven in through a character who says he wants a life of adventure; not bondage to a wife and child.  And thus is the mindset of our culture...thanks to the perverse and upside-down media (not unlike this children's movie seeking to indoctrinate at a young age the degradation of the family).
People don't "settle down," but instead feel their oats and live la vida loca because afterall that's what life's about, right?  Having fun.  No responsibility.  Remaining foolish and childish well into the middle-age years.  And not using one iota of a brainwave to think about any significant purpose in life except "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die."  Utter stupidity and a waste of a life.  Yet culture as a whole embraces it and we wonder why people don't marry until they are in their 40s and 50s (if at all), and then can't make the marriage work because they have spent so many years set in their own ways and not learning to compromise and push their selfishness aside to accommodate a spouse they are committed to "til death do us part."  Also, culture has brain-washed us into thinking that we need to enjoy the freedom of single life before we start a family.  "Live your life.  Have fun before you settle down," is the mantra.  Alluding that family life doesn't hold a candle to the free and easy life of a single person.  OR...people do want to marry but are surrounded by a culture that embraces the afore-mentioned mentality and so the wishing-to-be-married person flounders never being able to find someone like-minded.   Not to mention that saturated feminism has confused men and women of their roles so they don't know what the heck to look for in a significant other or how to be themselves.

Anyway...that seeming unnecessary tangent leads me to say that the family IS being attacked.  And it must remain a pillar if we want a successful government and nation.

"But when the American retires from the turmoil of public life to the bosom of his family, he finds in it the image of order and of peace.  There his pleasures are simple and natural, his joys are innocent and calm; and as he finds that an orderly life is the surest path to happiness..." -de Tocqueville

"I had rather be at Mount Vernon with a friend or two about me, than to be attended at the seat of government by the officers of state and the representatives of every power in Europe." -George Washington
Washington always preferred to be home with his family at Mt. Vernon than to be anywhere else or to do anything else.

Benjamin Franklin wrote that marriage is the most natural state of man in which "you are most likely to find solid happiness."

"It will be appreciated that the strength and stability of the family is of such vital importance to the culture that any action by the government to debilitate or cause dislocation in the normal trilateral structure of the family becomes, not merely a threat to the family involved, but a menace to the very foundations of society itself." (p.204) (emphasis mine)

TRILATERAL.

If you haven't see The Truth Project, I highly recommend it.  Del Tackett spends a lot of time talking about how often we see sets of 3 in nature and in relationships.

The Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Church: Christ, Leaders, Flock.
Our world (realms): physical, spiritual, social.
Primary colors: red, yellow, blue.
Atom: proton, neutron, electron.
Water: liquid, solid, gas.
Earth: core, mantle, crust.
Man: heart, brain, body.
Egg: yolk, white, shell.
Virtues: faith, hope, charity.
Time: past, present, future.

The Family: Father, Mother, Child.

It is God's design.  Don't touch it.

Schoolhouse Rock got it right.  Three is the magic number.

For the next installment, click here.

The Five Thousand Year Leap, Principles 24-25

(To read this series from the beginning, click here.)


Principle 24: Peace Through Strength

"To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual ways of preserving peace." ~George Washington

"If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for war." ~George Washington

Basically, let other nations be too afraid to pursue us in war because if they did, they would be utterly annihilated.  Pearl Harbor, anyone?  Surely a sleeping giant was awakened.  Even after 9/11...it is only the ridiculous global regulations that keep this ridiculous war on terror lasting as long as it has.  If we would be allowed to unleash our fury, this craziness would be over with quickly.

Franklin:  "The very fame of our strength and readiness would be a means of discouraging our enemies.  The way to secure peace is to be prepared for war.  They that are on their guard, and appear ready to receive their adversaries, are in much less danger of being attacked than the supine, secure and negligent."

...also: "Make yourselves sheep, and the wolves will eat you."

If you have read anything about Washington's frustration with Congress during the Revolutionary War, then you know that he battled with them over the provisions the military needed and how Congress refused to comply.  Now, we have a Congress trying to take care of national security and a President that makes cuts first to National Defense.  What?!  Granted, we need to make cuts everywhere, but I'm sure there's a few trillion that can be cut in other areas before we target our military.

The Founders were "peace-loving, but not pacifists."

Here's something that is sobering:  "The foundation for their (the Founders') security in a bustling, prosperous economy with a high standard of public morality; and they saw the necessity for a level of preparedness which discouraged attack from potential enemies by creating a rate so high that the waging of war against this nation would be an obviously unprofitable undertaking." (p.187)  We have trashed our economy, our morality is basically non-existent;  Is National Security next?



Principle 25: Avoiding Entangling Alliances

"Friendship with all...alliances with none." ~Thomas Jefferson

"...the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government." ~George Washington

I think this is true.  As we become a more global society ...able to travel to and fro throughout the earth, we begin to want foreign influence.  But we must remember that we are uniquely American and have been exceptional because of our uniqueness.  I certainly treasure the diverse traditions and people of various cultures, but we ought not to try to make our society like theirs because we are not them.  We separated ourselves out intentionally hundreds of years ago and have prospered as a result.  Now, we have so much foreign influence and so many Americans desire it that we are putting ourselves back into the bondage we once freed ourselves from.  If we were meant to be European, we ought not to ever have sought independence from England and battled to the point of great sacrifice of life in the Revolutionary War.  Yes, let's appreciate the beauty of diversity and cultures, but let's be careful to always treasure in our hearts and lives the great blessing of our beloved USA.

I had no idea that the Founders' original intent was that we would be friendly with all nations solely for the sake of having an open market, and never become involved with other countries politically.  I should've made a list from the beginning of this book regarding all the things the Founders' said we are not to do, that we have now done, and find ourselves in the nearly impossible position to back-pedal or reverse course.  So, obviously, we have become VERY politically involved with several nations.

Another one bites the dust.

I have a little bit of trouble with this idea of not allying ourselves with other countries, and yet knowing the good we must do and do it.

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17)

Take the holocaust, for example.  Sure, it didn't affect us at all.  We were never in danger. But if you have the ability to save someone from a brutal murderer, ought we to step in and do it if they are totally and utterly helpless to rescue themselves?  (Good Samaritan?)  I just don't know what to think about this.  It seems the right thing to do in the case of the holocaust was to take out the Nazi agenda and rescue the Jews and others who were suffering.  I understand that there are several oppressive regimes around the world and it would not be beneficial (or possible) to be the knight in shining armor in all of these situations...mostly for the reason that we just can't afford it without putting ourselves in an economically compromising position (which we are already in anyway).  This book suggests that in a situation where a group of people are being oppressed or denied such things as food, then we may step in and provide their needs for them, but it doesn't seem to allude that we ought to deploy our resources (military force) to make the situation right.  Still, this one stumps me.

Great!  Now, I'm gonna have to figure out what I think about this whole thing! ;)  Who has time for this?  LOL!  Seriously though, we must know why we stand where we stand and be able to defend our position solidly.  And so, I will be pursuing this in the days to come.


For the next post on this book, click here.

The Five Thousand Year Leap, Principle 23

(To read previous posts on this book, click here.)

Principle 23: Importance of an Educated Electorate

I guess it goes without saying that this is my favorite chapter.  It is one of the main reasons why I do what I do day in and day out for myself, my husband, my children, my blog, and pretty much anyone within earshot.   I want the truth known.  I want enlightenment of the truth of our nation's history.  I want the true purpose of current events, legislation and agenda known.

Don't you think it so cool that it was America that first took on the noble venture of educating the whole society?  For what purpose?  So, they would vote well and be involved in their own government.  

"Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."

~G. Washington

Now, there surely is a whole lot of emphasis in our current culture on the importance of voting.  Here's the difference between now and then:  the Founders desired for us to be educated voters and to vote well; today much of the push for voting is for the prevailing agenda of immoral culture and government-run schools.  It's a popularity vote for the one who looks best and sounds the best.  We vote for rock stars and not real leaders.  This must change.

"In the American colonies the intention was to have all children taught the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic so that they could go on to become well informed citizens through their own diligent self-study. (Emphasis mine.)  No doubt this explains why all of the American Founders were so well read, and usually from the same books, even though a number of them had received a very limited formal education.  The fundamentals were sufficient to get them started, and thereafter they became remarkably well informed in a variety of areas through self-learning.  This was the pattern followed by both Franklin and Washington." (p. 179)    

Of course, I LOVE THIS!  We just finished studying Thomas Edison. He had a whopping 3 months of school attendance and then was home schooled by his mother and a self-motivated learner.  (No joke!)  The man patented 1,093 inventions in his lifetime and had practically zero formal schooling (he was in attendance but learned nothing).  Teach our kids the basics: reading, writing, math, true history, Biblical standards of righteousness and morality, current events, and the Constitution.  And the world is their oyster!!  Give them a passion and love for learning by modeling it ourselves!

"Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."

~Socrates

I just want to throw in a couple of important pieces of advice here regarding what we fill our minds with and the minds of our children:

• Psalm 1:1 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord..."   We must not accept the counsel of the ungodly.  Choose wisely what you fill your mind with and if it is not God-honoring, then refuse it.  This includes media.
• Ecclesiastes 12:12 "And further, my son, be admonished by these.  Of making of books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh."   As my pastor put it so well in his message a few weeks ago...  Books are in abundance.  So much so that you can never read them all in your lifetime.  You only get to read so many books, choose well and don't waste your time.
• 2 Corinthians 10:5  "...casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."  If it exalts itself above God or compares itself with God, or thinks it is God---get rid of it!  Tear it down!  Throw it out!  Have NOTHING to do with it.  

A book is recommended in this chapter which I will soon purchase as we already own The New England Primer and the Blue Back Speller.  I love old school (no pun intended) school books.  (Don't forget the Bible---it is, after all, the original textbook.)  So, we will be getting the Catechism on the Constitution by Arthur J. Stansbury.   I can't wait to teach my children about the Constitution and to learn more for myself too!

"Sermons and orations by men of limited formal education reflected a flourish and style of expression which few Americans could duplicate today.  Many of these attributed their abilities to extensive reading of the Bible.  Such was the case with Abraham Lincoln.  Certainly the classical beauty of the Gettysburg Address and his many other famous speeches cannot be attributed to college training, for he had none." (p.181-182)   

Not only did Lincoln not have any college education, he had less than 1 year of schooling.  He was entirely self-educated by reading.  And he was a lawyer, politician, and arguably one of the very few best Presidents of the United States.  The boys and I attended a President's Day event at the Nixon Library this year where we heard a man give a speech about the Gettysburg Address and how it was written in the language of the Bible since that is what Lincoln was most familiar with.  Beautiful.

Daniel Webster:

"It is not to be doubted, that to the free and universal reading of the Bible, in that age, men were much indebted for right views of civil liberty.  The Bible is a book of faith, and a book of doctrine, and a book of morals, and a book of religion, of special revelations from God; but it is also a book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow-man."

Click here for the next post in this series.

The Five Thousand Year Leap, Principles 21-22

(To read this series from the beginning, click here.)

Principle 21: Strong Local Self-Government

The importance of local self-government has been diminished in our own minds, I think.  I know I tend to focus on what the federal government is doing instead of taking action in local concerns.  No more.  If we can't manage what's right around us, how will we ever manage it on a national level.  Also, not recognizing the importance of local self-government causes us to give too much power to federal government...something which the Framers never intended.  We  thus "lose the will to solve (our) own problems." (p.169)

I love that the intent is that problems be solved at the level which they originate.  Why climb the government ladder when things can be settled quietly and on our own?  We expect too much from federal government and we have, as a result, made it far bigger than its original purpose.  We are become increasingly more regulated and really don't have to think for ourselves.  But we should (think for ourselves).

Jefferson:

"Let the national government be entrusted with the defense of the nation, and its foreign and feral relations; the State governments with the civil rights, laws, police, and administration of what concerns the State generally; the counties with the local concerns of the counties, and each (township) direct the interests within itself. ...the administration of every man's farm by himself..."p.171  (Well, farmers sure don't have that kind of sovereign power anymore.  Heck!  We can't even cut down a tree on our own property without paying out the ear and getting special permission for it.)

The Constitution meant for the States to have far more power than the federal government.  My, how things have changed.

The federal govt was meant to be "small and cohesive and...inexpensive."  Err, uh, what happened?  As I watch our debt clock count upward of $14 TRILLION!!!

"Let the general government be reduced to foreign concerns only, and let our affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except as to commerce, which merchants will manage the better... ...a few plain duties to be performed by a few servants."  (Thomas Jefferson)

Principle 22: Government by Law, Not by Men

"To be governed by the whims of men is to be subject to the ever-changing capriciousness of those in power."  Translate: Dictator, Tyrant, Slave driver.  ...where "nothing is dependable. No rights are secure.  Things...are in a constant state of flux." (p.173)

"Even the best of men in authority are liable to be corrupted by passion.  ...the law is reason without passion..." (p.175)

"The American Founding Fathers... Instead of treating law as merely a code of negative restraints and prohibitions, they considered law to be a system of positive results by which they could be assured of enjoying their rights and the protection of themselves, their families, and their property." (p.175)

Obama views the Constitution as a "charter of negative liberties."  Dude!  The cup is half full because of the Constitution, not half empty!  Of course, as I've mentioned in a previous post- they would be negative liberties to him since it reigns in his ability to be the tyrant he so desperately desires to be.  Thank God for the Constitution!  Let us hold it with both hands and defend it with our very lives.  Our freedom is at stake if we turn a blind eye and remain "neutral."

Laws protect us and protect our stuff.  We need laws.  That being said, we have gone slightly (okay maybe more than just "slightly") overboard.  For goodness sake!  Who can possibly keep track of the innumerable laws that have been created out of thin air?  Legislators.  ugh.  Can't they just solve problems that actually occur instead of dreaming up problems that don't exist so they can make laws for the sake of having something to do?  In California particularly, we have regulated everything under the sun.  I just found out today that I am REQUIRED to vaccinate my child with a certain immunization whether my kid ever steps foot in a public school or not.  Who gave the government permission to tell ME what's best for MY child ...in my own home?!  Why am I mandated to do ANYTHING!?  This is a free country, right?  But the government is sliding its slimy hand into my home and demanding that I bow to their wishes for my child.  Kiss my butt!  Protect me and my stuff.  Don't tell me what to do in my own home and family.

Madison:

It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood;  ...Law is defined by rule of action; but how can that be a rule, which is little known and less fixed?"

Most of our laws are incomprehensible.  What a mess.




(For the next post in this series, click here.)

The Five Thousand Year Leap, Principles 18-20

(To view this series from the beginning, click here.)


Principle 18: Importance of a Written Constitution


By this title, it seems there shouldn't be much more said than this: if you have a good idea, write it down before you forget it.  Ok, There ya have it.  Principle 18. Done.

A few interesting facts about writing stuff down--- Americans started the whole written Constitution thing...starting with the Mayflower Compact in 1620.  Ok, so that's not a constitution, but it is a charter, an agreement and was meant to be adhered to and honored.

"Time has also proven the tremendous advantage of having a completely written document for reference purposes rather than relying upon tradition and a few scattered statutes as the fundamental law of the land." (p.159)

Principle 19: Our Government's Limited and Divine Powers 

There was fear amongst many states that a federal constitution would squash states' rights and this is why the 10 Amendments were then added.

I love how our Constitution emphasizes and makes provision for local self-government. --intended to keep the Federal Government at bay.   (And vice-versa.)  Too bad it isn't as effective as we had hoped.  The Constitution isn't to be blamed for this.  It is more the failure of politicians and judges to uphold the Constitution and for these same people to hold one another accountable.

Chew on this and hold it in your heart:  "...the people...have recourse...in case of usurpation or abuse..."(p.163)  Now's the time, folks.  Well, in all honesty, the time was long ago when we should have had our eyes wide open to the offenses of our leaders against our Constitution.  Is it too late?  Some think it is.  Many think it is.  But, I tend to think, "What can the Lord not do?" (Gen. 18:14)  As my pastor brought up last Sunday, Israel over and over rebelled against God's law and they paid severe consequences for it; but over and over they saw the error of their ways and repented, then God restored them to their land and nation.  We are on a serious downward spiral in this country.  Our exceptionalism, our blessing, our success, our ingenuity, our power, our freedom as a nation has been for no other reason than the divine gift of God upon a people initially committed to Him.  But now (and for several decades) we have denied Him, rejected Him, refused Him and the abominations we commit have defiled our land (Lev. 18:27), and will eventually lead us to our own depravity and degradation (Rom. 1:18-32).  We are already seeing the degradation ---just look at the reputation of the USA today as compared to the past.
So, what do we do about this downward spiral that seems unrecoverable?  

God said he would save Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of a few righteous...unfortunately there weren't enough righteous to save the land. (Gen. 18:16-19:17) Maybe He might save this land for the sake of the multitude of us who love Him and love this country desperately.
Here's what you and I as God's people can do:

1. Humble yourself.
2. Pray.
3. Seek Him diligently.
4. Turn away from any wickedness you have in your life.  Search your heart here for anything dishonoring to your God.

If we do this, God says He will hear us, forgive us, and heal our land.  (2 Chr. 7:14)  It's up to those of us who are His.  WE MUST PETITION HIM WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND SERIOUSLY.

If it was good enough for him,
it's good enough for us.

But, I digress... (No kidding! LOL!)

Principle 20: Majority Rule, Minority Rights

Ok, so the Framers desired unanimity and really, don't we all?  Can't we all just get along?  But, unfortunately or fortunately, we all aren't a bunch of think-alike robots.  So, they purposed to come to a general consensus and agreement, and they committed to one another to uphold the decisions of the delegation even if it wasn't an individual's personal ideal.

"...every man, by consenting with others to make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to be concluded (bound) by it." ~John Locke

Unanimity "is next (to) impossible ever to be had." ~John Locke 

A 50% +1 majority is hardly endorsable.  So, we can be thankful for the substantial 2/3 and 3/4 majority rules we have in place for legislation, veto-overrides, and the like.

As if Madison could foresee the filibusters of the present:

"The public business must in some way or other go forward.  If a pertinacious (definition: stubborn; holding firmly to an opinion or a course of action) minority can control the opinion of the majority, respecting the best mode of conducting it, the majority in order that something may be done must conform to the views of the minority; and thus the sense of the smaller number will overrule that of the greater and give a tone to the national proceedings.  Hence, tedious delays; continual negotiation and intrigue; contemptible compromises of the public good."  (The Federalist Papers, No. 22, pp. 147-148) (Emphasis mine.)

And let me close with this genius.:

"Every ethnic group in the United States was once a minority.  We are literally a nation of minorities.  ...It is the responsibility of the minorites themselves to learn the language, seek needed education, become self-sustaining, and make themselves recognized as a genuine asset to the community.  Meanwhile, those who are already well-established can help.  The United States has built a reputation of being more helpful to newcomers than any other nation.  It is a reputation worth preserving.  Once upon a time, we were all minorities." (p.167)

Amen, Skousen.  Say it!

(For the next post in this series, click here.)

The mission of every woman

(continuing on the feminism theme...)

This is my 3rd time reading through The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson.  It is an innovative work...though it really shouldn’t be.  Sally aims at restoring the true role of motherhood.  

A few little blurbs from chapter 2:

“Some parents...have children essentially for the same reason they marry--to make themselves feel good.  ...passing on a legacy of emotional neediness rather than godliness. 

Another consequence of straying from God’s plan for children is that they come to be regarded as a burden, the often-inconvenient by-products of sex.  ...they easily come to be seen as a time drain, a monetary expense, a career impediment, and a curtailer of personal freedom.

Such devaluing of children can have devastating effects on both personal and societal levels.  It leads naturally to a preoccupation with birth control, a high abortion rate, and to child abuse and neglect.

Even when lip service is paid to the value of the family, there is still the underlying assumption that only ‘real’ work -financial performance, career achievement, or some other contribution outside of the home---counts in terms of value and success.  Often, as a result, women feel confused and torn between cultural messages they hear about what is important for them to do and the eternal message God has written on their hearts.”

Obviously a delusional woman suffering through the bondage of her children.  She must be liberated by the modern feminist ideas and get with the times.   ...or not.

My introduction to Sally and my first reading of this book truly liberated me from the cultural feminist oppression that has seeped into every corner of the fabric of society.  Freed from a once-trapped mind & life convinced that having babies and caring for them myself wasn’t nearly as important as leaving them in the hands of someone else (who I barely know and doesn’t love them nearly as much as I) and going to work at a “real job.”  God’s plan is real liberation.  No woman-made (feminist) fabrication of a plan that undervalues the lives of children and moms can even begin to compare with the unique and perfect design of the ferocious, all-knowing, enormous, wise Creator of heaven, earth and every life.

Laura Ingalls-Wilder on Freedom

Laura stood stock still.  Suddenly she had a completely new thought.  The Declaration (of Independence) and the song (My Country Tis of Thee) came together in her mind and she thought, "God IS America's King."  She thought, "Americans won't obey any king on earth.  Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences.  No king bosses Pa.  He has to boss himself.  "Why," she thought, "when I'm a little older, Pa and Ma will stop telling me what to do and there isn't anyone else who has a right to give me orders.  I will have to make myself be good."  Her whole mind seemed to be lighted up by that thought.  "This is what it means to be free.  It means you have to be good.  Our father's God, Author of Liberty, the laws of nature and of nature's God endow you with the right to life and liberty.  Then you have to keep the laws of God.  For God's law is the only thing that gives you a right to be free."

~Little Town on the Prairie, "Fourth of July" chapter, by Laura Ingalls-Wilder

"Shades of Blue" by Karen Kingsbury

This is fantastic fiction.

I've never read Karen Kingsbury before and I know I will be reading more from her.

Her record of the effects of Post-Abortion Syndrome (PAS) are incredibly accurate.  I had trouble believing that she hadn't suffered through it herself.  She also was able to write about such a dark and depressing subject in a really non-depressing way.  She was thorough in regard to the effects of abortion to all  possibly involved or affected.  Amazing.

This has to be one of my very favorite books.  Read it!  Buy a few copies and give them as gifts.  This not only is a great story, but there is a deeper, more noble cause and it is that the truth of abortion must be exposed and women must find healing.  Sharing this book is a really casual, non-condemning, non-judgmental way to do it.

The Five Thousand Year Leap, principles 14-17

Ahem, I guess I should be a wee bit embarrassed that I have not posted on this book since August.  Oh well, I've been busy.   (For part 1, click here.)

Principle 14: Property rights are essential to assuring liberty.

"Land and the products of the earth were considered a gift of God which were to be cultivated, beautified, and brought under dominion."

"all property is an extension of a person's life, energy, and ingenuity." 

Work ethic is born of the desire to live, eat, and gain property.  If you work hard and well, you will reap the benefits of your hard work resulting in a home, food, and stuff.  Needs and wants are provided for by hard work.  If our right to property is not protected, then chaos would ensue and there would be no motivation to work hard and acquire anything for yourself...since it could be easily taken from you with no recourse.

"Without private 'rights' in developed or improved property, it would be perfectly lawful for a lazy, covetous neighbor to move in as soon as the improvements were completed and take possession of the fruits of his industrious neighbor.  And even the covetous neighbor would not be secure, because someone stronger than he could take it away from him."

(Sounds like Darwin's "survival of the fittest" which not surprisingly is pushed by those who also want communism.  We'd better be careful or we could be "evolved" out of existence.)
This would ultimately lead to an industrious person giving up trying altogether and cause people to live in a "hand-to-mouth" existence of just simply surviving because "the accumulation of anything would invite attack."

As we have moved into a welfare nation in the last century, we have opened the door to an entitlement and communistic mentality that the government should take care of us.  When we become dependent on the government, we are no longer motivated to provide for ourselves because anything we would work for would then be redistributed amongst the whole.  But in contrast, motivation is natural when we must work diligently to provide for ourselves and our family.

In regard to those truly in need - It has always been the way of compassionate people and the church to provide for those in need.  When the government is put in a position to be the caretakers of the needy, then the charitable people don't bother.  Not to mention that the Constitution doesn't have any provision for a welfare society.  "...the lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the government the government should not support the people." (Grover Cleveland)

"Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character." (Grover Cleveland)

Principle 15: Free Market Economy equals high level of prosperity

1. The Freedom to try.
2. The Freedom to buy.
3. The Freedom to sell.
4. The Freedom to fail. 

Hmm, now I think I know about some recent company failures that weren't allowed to fail.  And the government BAILED THEM OUT.  This was a huge mistake.  Now the government owns banks, major car manufacturers, our mortgages, and now our healthcare.  

Let's see: 

money, check. 

transportation, check. 

homes, check. 

health, check.

Would you like to give the government any more power?  Is it possible?  How much more will we allow the government to tax steal from us?

This part I thought was VERY interesting.  

"All money was to be 'coined' precious metal.  Paper 'notes' were to be 'promises to pay' in gold or silver, not legal tender as such.  States were strictly forbidden to allow debts to be paid except in terms of gold or silver." (Article 1, Section 10 of THE CONSTITUTION)

This blew my mind.  I often exchange my coins for paper dollars.  When in reality, the coin is more tangibly valuable.  Paper is paper and basically worthless.  But metal holds some value.  As the economy continues to slide, the idea that our dollar will soon be of no value becomes more of a possibility.  And it was NEVER THE FOUNDERS INTENT to exchange paper notes as we do.  The book states that this is the one thing they never were able to implement.  Too bad.  They didn't even want banks.  What a different world it would be?  Now, what was that I heard on the news last night about raising our debt ceiling...which is already at $14.3 Trillion.  Stop spending for crying out loud!!!  Somebody cut them off and tell them that money does not grow on trees...well, actually I guess it does: paper = trees.  Maybe we ought to remind Congress (and Obama while we're at it) that the Constitution says they have to pay back their debt in silver or gold.  Does Obama have that much in his pocket?  Maybe George Soros does.  Oh, never mind, he's trying to RUIN us! Glad he's a good friend of Obama's.  I wonder when we'll raise the debt ceiling next.  And I wonder how long we can keep pretending that this isn't as scary as it really is.


Principle 16: The Separation of Powers
Legislative. Executive. Judicial.

America's Constitution was the first in the world to utilize separation of powers and make a government of laws and not of men.

"...the legislature could be tyrannical if the executive did not retain some of its power to check it." (Montesquieu)

 "...there is no liberty, if the judiciary power be not separated from the legislative and executive.  Were it joined with the legislative, ...the judge would then be the legislator.  Were it joined to the executive power, the judge might behave with violence and oppression." (Montesquieu)

Hmm..."the judge would be the legislator."
Roe v. Wade.
California's Prop 8.
I think my uncle said it best when he stated, "It's not 'We the people,' it's 'we the unelected judges.'"  Things are out-of-balance, how do we fix it?  Be loud, people.  And elect leaders who will uphold the Constitution.  Require that our elected officials protect their own domain...and not let another branch encroach upon them.  Be alert and be ready for a fight.  Raise a generation of true patriots knowledgeably embracing the intentions of the Founders.  Passivity and apathy have gotten us into the trouble we are in.

The executive: "...this responsibility should be concentrated in a single person who can make decisions quickly and decisively and cannot escape either credit or blame for the consequences."  (Montesquieu)

We have the perseverance and conviction of John Adams to thank for the adoption of the idea of the separation of powers.  He pretty much stood alone in his commitment to this idea and he succeeded.  Even against opposition, unpopularity, and ridicule, Adams stood his ground and clung to his convictions, accomplishing greatness.  How easily do we cave in to the majority when we have a cause to defend?  Stand firm even if you must stand alone.  Character is bred by nothing less.

"...to see rising in America an empire of liberty, and the prospect of two or three hundred millions of freemen, without one noble or one king among them." ~John Adams

Principle 17: Checks and balances to prevent the abuse of power
As mentioned above, we are seeing a usurping of the judicial over the legislative and even over the will of the majority of the people.  Each branch should be doing what they can to defend their own turf.

"The failure to use the checks and balances effectively has allowed the judiciary to create new laws (called judicial legislation) by pretending to be merely interpreting old ones.  Failure to use the checks and balances has also allowed the President to make thousands of new laws, instead of Congress, by issuing executive orders."

Regarding other countries who have copied our Constitution but failed to implement checks and balances:

"...scores of nations claim to have copies the United States Constitution, but failed to incorporate adequate checks and balances.  In those countries, the only remedy, when elected presidents have suspended the constitution and used the army to stay in power, has been to resort to machine guns and bombs to oust the usurper.  This occurs time after time.  What the Founders wished to achieve in the Constitution of 1787 was machinery for the peaceful means of self-repair when the system went out of balance."

"repair by peaceful means...requires more patience, but the results are more certain." 

It is really cool that the Founders worked so hard to make things as peaceful as possible.  And equally fascinating to see that those who seek to subvert the Constitution are those who claim to be the "peaceful libs," yet they follow the path of tyranny which could ultimately lead to Hitleresque violence if we do not stand up and resist it while we still have the freedom to do so.

Let's see if I can get to my next post on this book before June.


(For the next post in this series, click here.)