Happy Thanksgiving all!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

Longstreet, and the lovely and gracious Mrs. Longstreet, are off to be with family today and enjoy the annual Thanksgiving Feast with the Grands!

 

Please remember your blessings today and take the time to offer thanks to God, the source of all those blessings.

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We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Amen

–Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn
(A translation by Theodore Baker: 1851-1934)

We leave you with this note from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food,
For love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

We’ll be back in the trenches tomorrow!

 

Happy Thanksgiving all!

 

Longstreet

 

 

 

Religious Conservatives Should Leave The GOP!

Religious Conservatives Should Leave the GOP!

By J. D. Longstreet

If I have said it once, I have said it a dozen times!  The Republican Party no longer wants conservatives, especially RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES!  As if one needed proof, here comes an article by Kathleen Parker to end the discussion. The article is titled: “ Heresy and Other Truths.”  In her article, Ms. Parker says:

 

 “As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit.

 

Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

 

I’m bathing in holy water as I type.

 

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn’t soon cometh.

 

You can read the entire article at:

 

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11024437

 

This underscores the on-going battle within the Republican Party these days.  Religious conservatives are flat-out at odds with the moderates and liberals in the party and they (The moderates and liberals) want us (The conservatives, including the religious conservatives) gone.  In fact, they seem to want GOD gone from the party.

 

I am indebted to Ms. Parker for “backing up” what I have been saying for many years now.  Conservatives need to get out of the GOP and found their own political party and be done with it. When I refer to CONSERVATIVES, I, of course, mean the religious conservatives because there are very few, if any, non-religious conservatives.  You must understand that, in my opinion, the term “religious conservatives” means ALL conservatives.

 

There has been worry in recent years that the union of social and religious conservatives and the Republican Party is beginning to fray.  I beg to differ.  As far as I am concerned, it isn’t fraying. It is threadbare!  It’s OVER!  It’s long since time for conservatives, social, AND religious, to move on.

 

Look, as a social, and religious, and fiscal, and political, and every other kind of conservative, I can tell you, with no hesitation, conservatives need their own party.  We are not wanted any longer, if we ever were, in the GOP.  It is getting embarrassing for me as a staunch conservative to maintain my allegiance to a party that so obviously wishes I would LEAVE! 

 

Turning the tables on the GOP would taste very good at this point.  They know they have a snowball’s chance of winning another election without conservative support.  If we leave the party they will be forced to come to us and beg for our support in any future elections.  That’s fine by me!

 

Yes, founding a third party is going to be tough.  Yes, we may never have a Conservative Party candidate on a national ticket.  But, conservatives would be able to swing elections and you had better believe our support would be sought. That alone would give us more input into future elections than we have now.  Much more.

 

I am a conservative first and a republican second.  I am a republican because there was no conservative party, as such, to turn to. Given a choice, I would have joined the Conservative Party and never been a Republican in the first place. There are hosts of southern voters who feel the same way. I suspect there is another host of voters across the other regions of the country that feel the same way.

 

In two years we have another extremely important election coming up. If conservatives want to see any gains for conservatism in the Congress we had better get ourselves organized and ready. We cannot do that by staying in the Republican Party.

 

J. D. Longstreet

 

 

 

 

 

The Pivot Point in American History.

By J. D. Longstreet

 

When you cut through all the smoke and mirrors and hot air this election is about whether the US will continue to exist as a proud, free, nation, or drop into socialist slavery. When historians look back on this day, they will say it was the day, the point in history, which changed America.  Will America remain free, or will America retreat and surrender to the forces of socialism?  The choice is ours, America. 

 

When the great warrior leader of the Israelites, Joshua, had control handed to him upon Moses’ death, the tribes were bickering among themselves as they approached the very doorstep of the Promised Land.  Finally, Joshua had had enough!  He called them together and challenged them:  “Choose you, this day, whom you will serve!  As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord!”

 

And so it is that today, Americans are called to choose whom they will serve.  We will choose to commission certain, from among us, to have power over us. This is an awesome thing.  It is voluntary submission. But, it is how a representative republic operates. We must be certain that those we elect are not shallow, empty suits, interested in power for power’s sake.  That will defeat the purpose of our republic.  It will also place this republic in immense danger.

 

Our enemies gather today… and watch.   They pray for Americans to turn the power of this government over to those who will appease them.   Their intention is to conquer the US and they will be happy if the electorate of the US makes it much easier for them to accomplish that mission by electing weak spined, naïve, people to fill the seats of power in our government.

 

If we choose today to turn this government over to those who cannot, for whatever reason, understand this nation is at war for it’s life, then there will be a heavy price to pay.  Just as 9-11, and the two wars which followed, in my opinion, was the price we paid for electing the last democratic administration, we can expect an even heavier price for returning that element to power in the government of the US.

 

As I cast my ballot one week ago today, I thought of my family, of my wife, of my children and my grandchildren.  I was reminded that I have a responsibility to ensure, as far as it is within my power, that they have a guaranteed future as a free people. I could not do that by voting for the Democratic Party.  To vote for the freedom and security of my family I had no choice but to vote for the Republican candidates.

 

You see, I believe Americans have forgotten that for a free nation, national security comes first, above all things. Without the security of our nation, nothing else is possible. Without national security even that which has already been accomplished is in danger.  An unsecure nation can only exist at the mercy of it’s enemies. And that mercy, once extended, and accepted, becomes the chain and the shackles that enslave entire nations.    

 

I believe it was the Apostle Paul who once said:  “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of God!”  He was, of course, correct.  I am convinced this nation was created, by God, as a beacon for the people of this world.  As such we Americans are answerable to God for our actions as a nation. We are also told, by the scriptures, that God punishes those he loves.   When we act as a God fearing nation, this nation does well.  When we fail, we pay the price.  When we make the right decisions we prosper.  When we make the wrong decisions we suffer.

 

We stand at the precipice of a decision today.  Two choices are presented for us from which to choose. As agents of free will WE must make that decision. Paraphrasing the words of the ancient Israelite warrior prophet Joshua, “America, choose you, this day, whom you will serve”!  Choose wisely, America, choose wisely.

 

J. D. Longstreet

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.

A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.

By J. D. Longstreet

 

“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”.  From the Bible, Matthew 12:25.

 

The schism that slices through America today has been widening since the 19^th century.  Little by little, decade-by-decade, year-by-year it has continued to get ever wider and ever deeper.  It has nothing to do with geography.  It has nothing to do with slavery… and, yet, it has everything to do with slavery.

 

What, you say?  Didn’t we put the slavery issue to rest with a war in the 1860’s?  The truthful answer is NO, we did not. We put to rest the issue of whether or not a man could hold another man in bondage in this country. What we did not put to rest, however, is the question of whether this country’s government could hold its citizens in bondage.

 

The founders of this country intended to set up a government with very little power. They intended the government to have only the power the citizens allowed it to have. Almost instantly the power struggle began between those who wanted a strong central government and those who wanted strong states and a weak central government.  After all, it was The States that created the Federal Government… as a utility of the states.  Not the other way around.  Look it up.

 

In 1860 there were 33 states in the so-called United States of America.  I do mean “so-called” because they were anything but UNITED.  By the spring of 1861 thirteen of those states had had enough of being dictated to by a dictatorial federal government wielding powers the constitution did not grant it, so they waved goodbye and took their leave of the United States. They created a country of their own with a constitution (mostly copied from the original constitution of the US) and they became a separate country. 

 

A few Americans today actually know what caused that split. A handful of Americans understand what the ensuing war was fought about

 

A few million Americans still feel the sting of being forced, at the point of a government bayonet, to be a part of a country their ancestors had forsaken in order to set up a government in the image of the government the Founding Fathers of America had given the United States. 

 

A few million Americans who either live in, or hail from, the only portion of this country to ever be invaded, conquered, and occupied by a foreign power, understand what is happening in America today, not because we learned it in school, no… because we learned it from the stories our families have handed down from generation to generation and from our own research into what happened to a country which had, less than a hundred years before, won it’s Independence from the Mother Country.   We are scattered all over America today.  We see where America is headed… and we fear for our fellow Americans because they/we are not ready for the cost of what is about to happen to her.  None of us are.  What America is facing, in the next few years, will make the American Civil War seem like a Sunday School picnic.

 

Yes, I am referring to SLAVERY. Voluntary slavery to begin with… then involuntary slavery… when it is then too late. The socially accepted word for it these days is… SOCIALISM.

 

In just a few days Americans will go to the polls to exercise a right granted them by their states… not the federal government. The issue we will be voting for, or against, is slavery.  Whether America should stay free, or whether America should give up the freedom so many have fought, bled, and died for, and assume the yoke and chains of slavery under socialism. 

 

Make no mistake.  SOCIALISM IS SLAVERY.  Under socialism you will give up all your rights… all your freedom for security guaranteed by the Central Government.  Believe me, if you think democracy is expensive; wait ‘til you have to pay for all those FREE programs.

 

All my instincts tell me that Americans are willing to give up everything for the promise of security.  Of all things “un-American”… that is the MOST un-American. But, that is what I expect to happen on Election Day.

 

Do not expect the half of the country who stands solidly against socialism to go along, quietly, into the self inflicted slavery of this hell-spawned form of government we call socialism. 

 

If the country votes in favor of socialism, on November 4^th, all bets are off. The word “United” can be dropped from the country’s name.  The country will be torn in two.   And there will be no compromise. It cannot be healed, ever, again. Two peoples, this diametrically opposed, cannot share the same space. Only the most naive among us cannot understand where this argument over how we are to be governed will eventually wind up. Americans have been there before. More Americans died in the first American Civil War than in all the wars in which America has fought since her founding.  And today, at least half of this country is deadly in earnest about their love of freedom and are willing to sacrifice, as their forefathers did, to preserve it.

 

Yes, we are in dangerous times. Extremely dangerous. If you have not taken the time to consider, seriously, how you will vote then may we suggest you do so, and do so prayerfully.

 

J. D. Longstreet 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

The Beauty of the Scriptures is Lost. By J. D. Longstreet

The Beauty of the Scriptures is Lost!   …   By: J. D. Longstreet

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My favorite translation of the Bible is the Revised Standard… and second, the American Standard..

As a youth, in grammar school, I read the bible from cover to cover. The King James edition, I might add. I was enthralled with the beauty of the near poetical rhythm of the scripture as it flowed.

I was brought up in a church, which stressed knowledge of the scriptures. And so… I learned them. That scripture has served me well over some 65 years of life and I’m sure it will serve me until my death.

Now, having said all that, I have to tell you the new translations leave me cold. There is no beauty, there is no poetry, there is no rhythm, and there certainly is nothing to draw a reader to the pages. (Now there is the new GREEN BIBLE.)

For thirty years I made my living with the spoken, and written, word. I know a little something about words and stringing them together to create a visual image in minds of the listener or reader.

As my wife prepared the bulletins to be used in her church services, for the various Christmas services, she asked me to proof read them. I did. But as I read the scripture, which was from one of the new translations, I found myself left cold. There was no passion there… there was no life to the words on that page. I found myself interjecting words and phrases from the old King James Version of the Christmas Story. I simply could not help myself. My brain shifted gears, and before I was conscious of it, I was spouting that beautiful passage of scripture, which was burned indelibly into my consciousness as a child. There it was! The Christmas story I knew. The Christmas Story with the warmth,. The passion, the beauty, the inspiration, and yes, even something which resembles a soul.

Today, we read the modern day accounts of the events which transpired on Jesus’ birthday over 2000 and six years ago and they are, well, like reading a 6th grade student’s book report. DULL. Lifeless. Boring!

Now, I don’t recommend the King James Version of the Bible for accuracy. I DO, however, recommend it to you for a classic work of art. The Revised Standard and the American Standard are probably the most accurate translations to be found today. The Revised Standard, which I believe is now out of print, maintained some of the beauty of the old King James Version and added the accuracy.

It seems to me that the churches, which use the new translations of the scriture for their services, should consider using the King James Version for the two High Holy Days of the Christian Calendar, Easter and Christmas.

I taught myself to read as a child reading first the newspaper, and then Popular Mechanics, and then Popular Science, and then I discovered the Bible. I was hooked on reading from then on. Even then, I could see the difference between the language of the newspapers and magazines of the day as compared to the language of the old King James Version of the Bible.

I must tell you what I believe has happened. I believe the publishers of bibles have “dumbed the bible down” to around, roughly, the comprehension level of a 5th or 6th grader. In so doing, in my opinion, they have done great damage to the Christian faith, and to the literacy of the Christian community.

Now, this is all my personal opinion, mind you. If you find understanding in the modern translations of the Bible, then good for you. But, for me, reading the back of a cereal box has about as much meaning.

J. D. Longstreet

Bitter Liberals

Bitter as Gall.

by:  J. D Longstreet

 

You know, one of the things that troubles me most, these days, is the overt bitterness of the liberals/progressives/socialists among us. It runs like a sour note through a symphony. It spills over in conversations one tries to have with a liberal/socialist. It runs through their writings, too.

 

If you have visited any liberal websites, you must be struck, as I have been, with the bitterness there.  Without doubt the most profane, sour, wrathful, speech I have ever heard/read comes from liberal/socialist websites or from comments liberal/socialist leave on the websites of conservatives.

 

What’s that about?  Has the communication skills of Americans degenerated to the point that we cannot have a single civil conversation in which we disagree without become profane and heaping scornful, demeaning, language on the opposition?

 

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I can toss about the Anglo-Saxon with the best of them, but you may have noticed we make a conscious effort here to not do it at all, on this site, or hold it to an absolute minimum.

 

When I began this piece I though maybe it was just “me”, my sensitivity to profanity.  Thirty years on the airwaves, as a broadcaster, with the FCC watching your every move and you DO become extremely conscious of what you say. You must… or face humongous fines from the government.  So, I thought it was just “me”.  Then, I decided to investigate a little.  A few clicks and I learn that it isn’t just me.  It is true.

 

Matthew Sheffield over at the Washington Times has a piece on profanity on the blogs.  You’ll find it interesting.  It’s at:

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/07/profanity-greater-on-liberal-blogs/ 

 

 

Some seem to think that the Left side of the political spectrum in America is filled with anger and rage and, yes, bitterness at the world not going the way they want it to go… and it has them frustrated and feeling impotent.  Apparently, the left cannot accept that the majority of Americans are conservative, to one degree or another.  Non-acceptance of this fact doesn’t change the fact, therefore… their frustration. Facts are strange that way.

 

I have noticed, over my year, that it is almost always the weak among us who resort to profanity to attempt to lend weight to their argument.  It never works, and the fact that it doesn’t work only weakens the user’s argument further and often causes them to emote even more bitterness, which, often turns quickly into personal attacks upon the opposition. The liberal has yet to grasp that the intelligent argument will win every time.

 

In Sheffield’s article, mentioned above, it is pointed out that Liberals are 12 times more likely to use profanity in their blogs than are conservatives.  Sheffield posits that it may be a reflection of the religiosity of conservatives over liberals.  Since conservatives are more religious they tend to use less profanity in their daily lives and that, naturally, carries over into their writings on the web. 

 

That may be true. And if it is, it tells me something I have suspected for a very long time. Liberals are a very unhappy lot. Isolation from God does that to the human animal. It sours our soul. It causes us to look inward for strength that isn’t there and we find instead, aloneness, fear, and impotence which turns to frustration, anger and bitterness at the world around us.

 

It would appear, then, that liberals fear lack of control.  But, what really sets them apart is that when they have control that fear is still with them.  When they gain control their happiness is fleeting for they soon fear losing that control and their anger is re-born of that fear and, this, I have concluded, explains their frustration.  It is a frustration born of never feeling secure no matter their circumstances.  Their existence is a never-ending cycle of hypersensitivity and one emotional crisis after another. 

 

Study after study has been made over the past four decades as to why liberals are so unhappy. In his book “Gross National Happiness” Mr. Arthur Brooks puts forth his idea that conservatives seem to feel that working hard and playing by the rules will bring success. Therefore conservatives are more optimistic, feel more in control of their lives and, as a result, are happier than liberals. I think he is on to something.

 

The left side of the political spectrum, especially in America, is now the home of liberals and is a very unhappy place.  Liberals have managed to coalesce groups of victims (real and perceived), of all sorts of social and economic unfairness beneath the banner of the Democratic Party. It is our opinion that the gullibility of the liberal mind has allowed leaders, of both sexes, to take advantage of their unhappy, angry, emotional, state to re-enforce those feelings and secure their own positions of power within the leftist movement.

 

There is a very old expression: “misery loves company”… and you know the other one about “birds of a feather”, etc, etc. That’s what I see when I survey the Democratic Party. They are, quite likely, the most miserable people in America. And it is sad, really.  We live in the greatest country on the globe where opportunities abound for the optimistic individual willing to take the risk necessary for success.  The liberal left is missing out on so much.

 

J. D. Longstreet   

 

 

 

 

  

His Finger on Armageddon

His Finger on Armageddon

By: J. D. Longstreet

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On the off chance that you have not noticed… there is a religious fanatic in charge of Iran. The even more troubling problem is… he has his finger on the button, which could trigger Armageddon.

I speak, of course, of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran. I should say the “Islamic Republic” of Iran.

I find myself in the group believing Iran will have a deliverable A-Bomb much sooner than our Intelligence community has told us. I think it wise to assume that in a matter of months, Iran will have nuclear weapons. Iran already has the delivery vehicles for those Nukes. Ahmadinejad has told us the target… Israel. In a few, blinding seconds, the state of Israel will cease to exist.

Ahmadinejad apparently believes it is his duty in life to prepare the way for the 12th Imam. To understand how Ahmadinejad’s belief can be fatal for Israel, it is necessary to understand, at least a little, about what he believes. Then it will become clear.

Well, in Christianity we have the return of Christ, often referred to as the “Second Coming of Christ”. In Shi’ite Islam they have the return of the 12th Imam. Ahmadinejad has said, openly, the 12th Imam will return within two years.

As with the Second Coming of Christ the event (Return of the 12th Imam) will be associated with a number of tribulations and lots of turmoil including great death… and great destruction.
In an article over at The Telegraph.Co.Uk titled: “Will the 12th Imam cause war with Iran”? Con Coughlin says the following:

“For those unacquainted with the more obscure tenets of Islamic theology, the 12th Imam is held by devout Shi’ite Muslims to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammed who went into “occlusion” in the ninth century at the age of five and hasn’t been seen since.

The Hidden Imam, as he is also known by his followers, will only return after a period of cosmic chaos, war and bloodshed – what Christians call the Apocalypse – and then lead the world into an era of universal peace.

Rumours abound of Mr Ahmadinejad’s devotion to the 12th Imam, and last year it was reported that he had persuaded his cabinet to sign a “contract” pledging themselves to work for his return.

Another example of his messianic tendencies surfaced after 108 people were killed in an aircraft crash in Teheran. Mr Ahmadinejad praised the victims, saying: “What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow.”

We urge you to read the entire article at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/09/28/do2804.xml

Why is this suddenly so troubling? Well, frankly, with the Islamic belief in Martyrdom so prevalent, and the associated eternal bliss expected, as a result, the religious nut, in Iran, with his finger on the button, becomes a very real threat.

Besides the above, a time of political chaos will set the stage for the 12th Imam’s, or Madhi’s, return. At least, the Shi’ite Moslems believe that it will.

Remember, Ahmadinejad is the man who stated, publicly, “Israel should be wiped from the map”. This is the man who has made huge donations (in the millions of dollars) to a shrine, which is said to contain the well from which the 12th Imam is to re-emerge into the world.

It is also believed the “Mahdi” will have a deputy, something of a forerunner (remember John the Baptist), who will prepare the world for the “Mahdi’s” return. Suppose someone thought himself to be that deputy and desired to bring about the chaos needed for the Mahdi’s return and… suppose, further, the self-described deputy had nuclear weapons to assist him in his quest for chaos.

Granted, there is a whole lot of supposing going on here, but… what if???

Would it not behoove those expecting to be on the receiving end of those missiles to intercede on the side of sanity and remove Mr. Ahmadinejad’s means of inflicting his end goal of chaos and the return of the Mahdi?

One of the few things we have learned, from watching these Middle Eastern hotheads, is that when they threaten something dire, they, almost, always deliver.

You can bet that if this old, gentile, Southern American boy is considering all this… then the Israelis are WAY ahead of me.

Here is a question to think about: Does anyone believe if the Iranians were to pull off a successful nuclear attack on Israel they would stop there… or would they continue their march of conquest to Europe? Huh?

J. D. Longstreet

Filed under:

conservative+Iran+Bomb+Israel+US+Armageddon

Sarah and the South

Why I Like Miss Sarah.

 

It’s no secret that I favor Ms. Sarah Palin for the next Vice-President of the US.  Heck, I have her photo on my website.  One look at that photo and you have to marvel at how our coldest state gave us our hottest governor!

 

I ran across a column… no… let me re-state that… I went looking for the latest column by one of my favorite conservative writers the other day, Jefferson Weaver.  Jeff is a Tar Heel, a conservative Tar Heel, and one I admire a great deal.  His writings are always a joy to read because I know where he is coming from, not just philosophically, but physically, too.  He’s a hunter and fisherman, enjoys the great outdoors, and knows how to enjoy and appreciate the natural wonders of this great state we share as our home, and… Jeff is a God-fearing southern man. Plus, Jeff’s politics, and mine, seem to run parallel to each other most of the time. 

 

His latest column is all about why Jeff likes Sarah Palin.  As I mentally wolfed it down the other day, I realized we were on exactly the same beam.  We both like Sarah… and for the same reasons.  Not that that should come as a surprise to anyone, we are both conservatives… southern conservatives.

 

We have pointed you to Jeff’s column on a couple of previous occasions and I hope to continue to do so in the future.  But just for today, I’d like you to click on over to the address I’m about to give you and read what Jeff has written about why HE likes Sarah Palin.  It eloquently sums up the southern conservative’s view of Miss Sarah.  Maybe, just maybe, you will be able to understand why her entrance onto the national political stage came as a breath of fresh air to conservatives who, like me, were suffocating in the vacuum created by the l candidates the two major political parties had given us to choose from this time around. We conservatives were sick at heart.  And that is putting it mildly.

 

So, now, I’d like you to go read Jeff’s column.  You’ll find it at:

 

http://www.whiteville.com/pages/2008WEBPAGES/SEPTEMBER2008/9.22.08.mon/jweaver.html

 

Do you begin to see the depth of feeling for this woman among southern conservatives… both men AND women?  She reminds us so much of the 1800’s Southern Belle in a gorgeous hoop skirt carrying a tiny parasol to protect her complexion from the sun, quoting scripture in a slow southern drawl with sugar dripping from every syllable… while having a Navy Colt Revolver strapped to her thigh beneath that lovely gown. Yep!   We like our women smart, tough, resilient, resourceful, determined, God-fearing, and, mind you, graciously feminine with drop dead good looks!  Miss Sarah fits the mold.  (Now, please, if you think women, fitting the description I just gave you, are difficult, if not impossible, to find, then, dear reader, you haven’t lived down South!)

All kidding aside, Miss Sarah will do well here in the American South.  I fully expect her, and her running mate, to do very well in November here in North Carolina. Truthfully, I want her to win, because I want to vote for her for President in 2012!

 

J. D. Longstreet

Human Life Begins at Conception

Human Life Begins at Conception

 

We Americans have to re-evaluate the way we look upon abortion.   With an average of 1.3 million babies a year, in America alone, being denied their God given right to life as a result of abortion, surely it has scarred the very soul of this great country.

 

Kathleen Parker has written an article entitled “Pope Pelosi at the Gate, Life with the Speaker”.  In her insightful article she writes the following:   

 

“In his new book, Embryo

, Robert P. George, a professor of jurisprudence at Princeton and a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and co-author Christopher Tollefsen, associate professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, left religion behind and set out to establish the embryo’s personhood by reviewing all the major scientific works on human embryogenesis and early intrauterine development.Included was American medicine’s most prominent human embryology text,

The Developing Human, whose authors are not imprecise on the matter of life: “Human development begins at fertilization when a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoon) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to produce a single cell — a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” In other words, human life begins at conception”. (From an article by Kathleen Parker titled: “Pope Pelosi at the Gate, Life with the Speaker”.)  You’ll find it at: (From an article by Kathleen Parker titled: “Pope Pelosi at the Gate, Life with the Speaker”.)  You’ll find it at:

 

 

 

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MGRhNTY1M2VjYmIzNTQwODgxYzFhMGVlZmYyNmJmMDI=  

 

 

The argument over abortion still rages.  It has exceeded the boundaries of common sense.  Abortion is the killing of another human being.  In my opinion,  it is homicide. To attempt to choose a time, any time, after conception, to kill a child is ludicrous to the “nth” degree.  Killing is killing.  Abortion is the killing of an innocent, defenseless, human being who poses no threat to his fellow human beings.

 

I have liberal friends who ask me how I can support capital punishment and yet be so solidly against abortion?  The answer is simple.  Innocence. INNOCENCE!

 

Add to the above my belief in the tenents of the Christian faith. It is extremely difficult for me to believe that a practicing Christian can support abortion. As a result, I totally agree with the some of the bishops of the Catholic Church expressing their belief that Catholics supporting abortion should not receive communion. I must tell you that as a pastor, preacher or priest, I would be inclined to not even offer communion to a member of my parish if I knew, to a certainty, that that person supported abortion.

 

Abortion is the shedding of innocent blood. By some people’s standards that makes me a “fanatic”.  That’s fine.  I can live with that.

 

What value do we Americans place on a human life?  Not much apparently… at least, not as much as we used to.  For instance… in 1996 there were 1.37 million abortions in the US. That’s 3,700 abortions a day. We have learned that women who refer to themselves as Protestants have 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women have for 31.3%, Jewish women have for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as “Born-again/Evangelical”.  You’ll find this and much more information on who is having abortions in the United States at “The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform” at:

 

http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html

 

 I checked several sources and the average, seemingly agreed upon, for the number of abortions per year in the United States is 1.3 million.  That is year after year.  And we dare to call ourselves a “Christian” nation?

 

Can a society that kills it’s young endure… and if so…  for how long? Had we not better consider the consequences to us as a people, indeed, as humans, of what has become, at least to some degree, infanticide?

 

The “killing of innocents”, which is what abortion is, is a gruesome sign of a decadent society, an evil society. It is the murder of the unborn child, unborn children.  By allowing abortion in our nation are we not polluting the land with the blood of innocent unborn children? Can any of us, man, woman, or child, not be stained by this national abomination?

 

I had not intended to become “preachy” when writing this piece, but it is a difficult thing to remain dispassionate when speaking of taking the lives of unborn children.

 

It is my opinion that we Americans need, desperately, to step back and reevaluate our approach to abortion in this country.  The cost (never allow yourself to believe that there isn’t a cost to a nation for killing her young) will be more than we can bear.  And we are not prepared for it. Nobody is prepared.  No country is ever prepared for the punishment for supporting the continuation of an abomination on its soil.

 

Slavery is oftimes referred to as the original sin of America.  I submit to you, that as bad as slavery was, it cannot hold a candle to the evil of murdering 1.3 million unborn children every year in America.

 

There WILL be a reckoning.  There always is. Are we, as a nation, as individuals, ready to suffer the consequences of the evil we are perpetrating every day on the innocent unborn children conceived and then stripped of the right to life granted them by God?  Well, are we?

 

J. D. Longstreet

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Democrats Demote Christ!

 

I have deliberately stayed away from the latest insult to Christians by the democrats… until now.  Frankly, in my opinion, as a subscriber to the Christian faith, it is blasphemy to refer to Christ as a “community organizer”. 

 

Blasphemy is defined as: Irreverence toward something considered sacred or inviolable; The act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for any religion’s deity or deities; The act of claiming the attributes of a deity. (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blasphemy)

 

Another source defines blasphemy as:

 

1. a. A contemptuous or profane act, utterance, or writing concerning God or a sacred entity.

b. The act of claiming for oneself the attributes and rights of God.

 

2. An irreverent or impious act, attitude, or utterance in regard to something considered inviolable or sacrosanct

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/blasphemy )

 

The phrase, or “slogan”, if you will, the democrats are throwing around these days in which Christ is demoted from the position of “Son of God” to a mere “community organizer” fits,  perfectly,  the definition of blasphemy.

 

I cannot grasp the shallowness, or the insensitivity, of an organization attempting to use such a tactic to promote their candidate for President of the United States.  The use of this “slogan” has incensed the Christian community in America and has dissolved the already thin veneer of “respect” for Christianity the Obama campaign has tried so desperately to prop up almost from day one of the campaign. That veneer has dropped away now and its absence has laid bare the utter contempt the Obama campaign has for Christians in America.

 

There is now no excuse for a Christian to cast a ballot in November in favor of Mr. Obama.  None.  In fact, if I were a democrat, I would not stop, after I got off work today, until I drove to my local Board of Elections office and changed my political registration from “democrat” to something else. My faith would not allow me to be a registered democrat.

 

No, I’m no theologian, but it doesn’t take the training of a theologian to recognize an “in your face insult to God”.  And that is what this tactic is.  It is raw human arrogance. Once again, it is man trying to be like God. It is the sin that brought man down, and had Satin tossed out of heaven and damned to an eternal Hell. 

 

The Obama campaign should be aware; you cannot attack God with impunity.  To equate Obama with Jesus Christ is the height of foolishness.  The Scriptures, themselves, warn of us such people.  For Instance, this verse from the 24^th chapter of the Book of Matthew in the New Testament:

 

“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

 

Does this not sound familiar?  When reading the verse of scripture above, did your mind not bring up a mental picture of Obama? How could it not?

 

And there is another verse of scripture from the same chapter of the Book of Matthew.  It is the 24^th verse.  It reads:

 

“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew (show) great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”

 

Dare I ask what you thought of as you read that very instructive piece of scripture?  It isn’t necessary.

 

Once again, the Christian faith is under attack, and this time… by one of the two major political parties in the United States.

 

Fellow Christians, the Obama campaign has done America a great service by dropping their façade of respect for the Christian faith.  They have allowed us to see them for who they really are. It is now up to each of us to ask ourselves if we are to be true to the real Christ, the Son of God, and vote against this false prophet, or, are we going to denounce all that Christ has taught us through his life, his teachings, and yes, his death and resurrection, and vote in support of the people who demean the very name of Jesus Christ, and laugh at our faith as Christians?  That is a powerful question and it is the question a Christian cannot walk away from… for it goes to the core of who we are as Christians.  This Election Day will be a time for Christian Americans to either confess Christ, or deny Christ. The “true” Christian will know what he/she must do… and he/she will do it. 

 

One thing is certain. If Christian voters vote the way their faith teaches this November, Mr. Obama will never see the inside of the Oval Office, except as an invited guest, and then, not very often.

 

J. D. Longstreet