Church Sign

It is wise to follow the One who knows the way.

Sunday's Message for 10/24/10 - The Righteous Will Prevail

The first reading from the Old Testament is from (Sirach 35:12-14,16-18)
God doesn't play favorites, but He knows our hearts, and hears the prayers of those who love and humbly respect Him....and His judgement. 

The LORD is a God of justice, who knows no favorites. Though not unduly partial toward the weak, yet He hears the cry of the oppressed. The Lord is not deaf to the wail of the orphan, nor to the widow when she pours out her complaint. The one who serves God willingly is heard; his petition reaches the heavens. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal, nor will it withdraw till the Most High responds, judges justly and affirms the right, and the Lord will not delay.

The second reading is from a letter from St. Paul to Timothy  (2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18)

Against all odds, trust that the righteous, and their mission will prevail.

Beloved:

I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.  From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for His appearance.

At my first defense no one appeared on my behalf, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the proclamation might be completed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to His heavenly kingdom.

To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen.

The gospel according to (Luke 18:9-14)
Which is more righteous...pride or humility?

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of humanity -- greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’

But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.'

I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

Translating political speak - Is the War On Terror the main cause of our debt?

DOES OUR NATIONAL DEBT AFFECT OUR NATIONAL SECURITY?

Sure, and the Republicans were in charge when that devastating day of  Sept. 11th happened. However, this was not the first time our country's people and interests around the world had been attacked by radical Islamic jihadists (is that specific enough?).  We all know there are some moderate Muslims. 

When Pres. Clinton was serving back in the '90's, he had a weak response in dealing with this threat when Al Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center for the first time in '93, not to mention the other U.S. embassy bombings around the world, and the U.S.S. Cole attack in Yemen, just to name a few. So Pres. Bush ended up going on offense after 9/11 with the subsequent war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, by taking the fight to them. Debate will continue as to whether or not this policy was a good idea or not.  Time will tell. 

No doubt, this has been a huge cost in blood and treasure, but those servicemen and women who did pay the ultimate price for protecting us, need not to have died in vain.  How can you put a price tag on our own national security?  Taking the fight to them on their turf, routing out the bad guys and advancing freedom around the world, comes at a huge cost.  Many believe it is a necessary expense, for our own safety and security.  Some have a different opinion on this and have said our presence over there just increases Muslim anger towards us and helps them recruit even more radicals.  However, others believe a "cut and run" strategy, or giving them a timetable for our departure makes us look weak.  We've invested this much so far, so why not plan to finish the job?  If we call it quits, will that improve our safety?  Will it change our image?  Will the rest of the world, and even the radical's opinion of us improve once we leave?  Don't we have to make them realize their murderous actions against us will not stand?  Our cause is righteous.  Taking out the radical leadership, all while winning over the hearts and minds of the good people who want peace, will and should prevail.

As we all know, this mission comes at a price.  Our struggling economy and our ever increasing national debt is affecting this effort. Even Hillary, as Secretary of State, has said we are so indebted to the Chinese and other nations, it is interfering with our government's national security and affecting the tools we use to negotiate with other nations. We are at the mercy of those we are indebted to. This is not a good position to be in!  All the more reason that we need to get our debt under control, before it controls us!  The clock is ticking.  Tough choices and sacrifices will have to be made.  Are you ready?

Translating political speak - Who actually ran our economy into the ditch?

WHICH POLITICAL PARTY WAS ACTUALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR RUNNIG OUR ECONOMY  INTO THE DITCH?

Most of us realize it was the rise in gas prices back in '07-'08 that put a great strain on many American's household budgets.  Then, foreclosures started piling up and the housing bubble burst.  It's been documented that it was Pres. Bush and other Republicans in Congress who raised the red flag and warned of the looming housing bubble that was about to happen. Yet it was the Dems who denied there was a problem (Barney Frank and Chris Dodd), and voted down any attempts to prevent it. They probably thought it was just the GOP's attempt to ruin or discredit one of their wonderful and benevolent programs, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  They needed to protect those at Fannie and Freddie too. 

There's still disagreement on who caused that housing bubble in the first place. It depends on which side of the aisle you're on. The GOP blamed the Dems which promoted the loosening of the bank's lending standards with the passing of the CRA.  Regular folks also got carried away with the easy credit that was available to them at that time too.  Buying second homes, flipping homes, and using up every bit of equity they had, was partly to blame also. 

The Dems blamed Wall St., who bought those mortgages and sold them worldwide as investments. But, how did Wall St. end up with a bunch of "toxic assets" in the first place? Was it like a game of Hot Potato for them, where they had to pass off those investment instruments of "bundled" bad assets mixed in with some good ones, to the next person (or group)? Unfortunately, they reacted in an unfavorable manner by trying to make lemonade out of lemons, (or making the most out of a bad situation). But wasn't it all due to the coercive government mandates on the mortgage bankers with the CRA (ala Clinton) in the first place?  Those government mandates for easy credit interfered with the private mortgage lending market.  So, who started driving our economy into the ditch?  Was it the ones who came up with these unrealistic government policies that ended up having a devastating "trickle down" effect, which ended up being felt not just here, but around the world too? You make the call on that one!

Recently Pres. Clinton has been bragging about how he left office with a budget surplus, but it was not because of his fiscal responsibility! However, he did actually moderate and move to the center after the Republicans eventually won back the majority and took control of Congress during his tenure. It was thanks to that Republican majority.  They are the ones who gave Clinton that budget surplus bragging right, but you may notice, he won't give the GOP credit for it.

Hopefully, the GOP will gain the majority in Congress this time around. They will be the ones who will once again have to make the hard choices (and get the blame from the left for the cuts that will have to be made) in order to get our fiscal house back in order, after the largest expansion of government has taken place since Obama took office. The truly scary part is, they are predicting Obama will not moderate and move to the center, like Clinton did, once the Republicans get the Congress back. But the GOP will have to play the role of the strict, "just say NO" common sense parents who will have to deal with the Dems, who are like a group of teenagers who wanted it all, but now have maxed out their credit cards, and don't have the money to pay for it, or don't even know how to "earn" it (see tax revenue history post)!

We must find the proper balance of when, and when not, it is necessary for government to get involved with the private sector. Their regulating can either help, hinder or even wreak havoc with our economy. Smart, common sense people are needed in government to make these important decisions, because it can have either a wonderful or a devastating effect on all of us....and yes, even the whole world.

Be ready to continue to make some sacrifices.  It needs to be done, but in the end, we should be better off for it in the long run.  And take the credit card away from those Democrats, before their own fiscal policies drive us into the ditch again!

Translating political speak - Taxing the Rich

TAXES - DO THEY HELP OR HURT JOB CREATION?
WILL THEY INCREASE OR REDUCE THE DEFICIT?

The Dems are banking on the idea that raising taxes on the top 2% will produce "X" amount of dollars of revenue for the government.  I don't know how they come up with these "fuzzy math" numbers.  Taxes are based on profit margins/income.  But how can they predict what a company's profit will be, especially in these questionable times?  That's why I call it fuzzy math.  It's similar to the numbers the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) used in the healthcare debate.  They are only predictions, about as reliable as a weatherman's predictions! 

Well here's a history lesson which has proven that overly burdensome taxation on the so-called "rich" has quite the opposite effect on government revenue. The paradox is....that increasing taxation on businesses has decreased expected revenues for the government. Even a Democrat, New York's Governor Patterson, admitted this happened in his own state when they raised taxes on businesses there. It forced many businesses to leave and relocate to more business-friendly states...and yes, unfortunately, some even moved their operations overseas, in order to remain viable. Also, unrealistic demands from labor unions have been known to sometimes force businesses to make cut backs, such as reducing their workforce (lay-offs or firings), using non-union workers or outsourcing jobs. We don't want that, right? The workers demands are pricing themselves right out of a job!

So, history has proven several times over in the past that increasing taxes on businesses equals less revenue for the Federal government. Instead, wouldn't it be better to lessen their tax burden, to where government revenues, over time, will actually increase!

This is known as the Laffer curve, named for Dr. Arthur Laffer, economist and professor who advised Pres. Ford and Reagan. Business owners, who are the ones taking the risks, that were able to keep more of their profits, more often than not, used it to reinvest in their companies, using it to expand, thus hiring and producing more.  Everyone benefitted from that "trickle down effect".  The Dems may characterize this as going back to the old way of doing things.  Sometimes, getting back to the basics, which have been proven to have worked in the past, is not such a bad thing, is it?!  Learn from history!

Translating political speak - "Transforming America"

Pres. Obama said during his 2008 presidential campaign that "we live in the greatest country in the world....now, help me transform it".  Hope And Change! Yes We Can!

WHAT DOES "TRANSFORMING AMERICA" REALLY MEAN?

The transformation we've seen over the last couple of years involved the rare steps that were taken in the form of government intervention in order to save our economy, which included monetary bailouts of private companies, and stimulus money used in an attempt to save or create jobs, and jump start the economy. Included in with all of this was the largest expansion of, and/or creation of more new government regulations and programs, such as healthcare reform.

Liberal/progressives see all this as a good thing. But these moves are also seen by many others, as a government take over of the banking, auto and healthcare industries. These are major changes to our country, and are quite opposite of how capitalism is supposed to work. Letting companies be allowed to either succeed or fail, weeds out the bad and allows the best to survive. The market is allowed to self-adjust, even bottom out as needed in order to reset itself. Capitalism is NOT a one size fits all, equally distributive "social justice" notion, where your personal investment of time, expense, experience and effort doesn't matter. It does! It fosters the best and brightest of ideas and innovation that are successful....and the fittest survive. Capitalism is a "game" of winners and losers. Even if you're one of the losers, you still have the chance to try again. This is unlike Marxist/socialism. That is the type of "game" that provides everyone with a trophy, no matter if, or how they performed. Sooner or later, however, they will eventually run out of trophies to give out, because there are no wealth producers left in the game anymore to pay for all those trophies. Capitalism, may seem unfair to some, but there's no dispute that this economic system has provided so many individuals the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty....or even the middle class!

The passage of healthcare reform will impact 1/6th of our nation's economy. Also, claims were made that more departments would be needed to service and enforce these new programs. The proponents of this plan claim it would be "deficit neutral" because paying for these costly programs would be accomplished by bleeding the taxpayers dry, taking it mainly from those "rich fat cats". They've not been shy about stating their distaste for them. But isn't this what makes America exceptional? That is, that an average person, given the right circumstances and effort, can have the ability to reach true wealth and prosperity here. Liberals and progressives seem to want to punish those that have become successful in reaching those dreams. They incite class warfare and envy. We were warned back in 2008 of their "Spread the wealth around" mentality. Not all of us listened, or seemed to care about what this "transformational change" really meant. "Yes We Can" take from the successful risk takers, and give it to the less fortunate. Sounds noble, but isn't that what charities are for? No, they want the government to mandate burdensome taxation on the achievers, in order to create more costly government entitlement programs. Thus, their well-deserved nickname "Tax and Spend" Democrats.

They also claim they want to improve the economy and create jobs, but wouldn't their ideology actually hurt the true job creators? Doesn't their government "help" just result in more people becoming dependent on the government? Isn't being self-reliant and having the ability to provide for yourself and your family, give you more control and satisfaction? Many do not want to be "transformed" into a country that is dependent on government hand outs AND bureaucrats who have control over how it's spread around. Some will argue, people are happy with their Social Security and Medicare benefits. The difference is, these people paid into these programs with their own hard-earned money. It was not given to them, at the expense of others.

Sunday Message for 10/17/10 - Keep God On Your Side

The first reading from the Old Testament (Exodus 17:8-13)
Praying to God with a little help from your friends!

In those days, Amalek came and waged war against Israel.  Moses, therefore, said to Joshua, "Pick out certain men, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."
So Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle after Moses had climbed to the top of the hill with Aaron and Hur.
As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight.
Moses’hands, however, grew tired; so they put a rock in place for him to sit on. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady till sunset.
And Joshua mowed down Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

The second reading is from the New Testament (2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:2)
Our Christian mission is to spread the Good News, using the power of the Word!

Beloved:

Remain faithful to what you have learned and believed, because you know from whom you learned it, and that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are capable of giving you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching.

The gospel from (Luke 18:1-8)
Pray frequently, because as the old (non-Biblical) saying goes "The squeaky wheel gets the grease!"

Jesus told His disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.
He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being.  And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.'
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says.  Will not God then secure the rights of His chosen ones who call out to Him day and night? Will He be slow to answer them? I tell you, He will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?"