Bible passages for Easter weekend

Romans 5:6-11

6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.







1 Peter 1:3-12
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

10Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

Christianity, the Constitution, and Capitalism

As our nation stands at the political crossroads of the 2008 election and a looming economic crisis, it is a good time to examine the bedrock principles upon which our country was founded and gather from them guidance for the future.

The three pillars which have supported our country from the beginning are Christianity, capitalism, and the Constitution, with Christianity being the center pillar that strengthened the other two.

In order to govern men (we'll use "men" in the Biblical sense of "all mankind") the political structure must be based on an understanding of the true nature of man and govern accordingly. Only the Christian faith declares the true nature of man to be fallen in sin and in need of salvation.

The structure of society, primarily the family and government, was ordained by God to curb that fallen nature through the discipline, education, and the threat and imposition of punishment, ranging from the rebuke of a loving parent to the deadly force of lawful authority.

The founding fathers were devout men of different denominations who held in common the basic precepts of the Christian faith. In declaring our independence from Britain and in the writing of our Constitution, they incorporated the truths found in Christianity to form the more perfect union. They recognized that the natural rights of all men, regardless of race or creed, were granted by God and that it was the obligation and duty of government to protect those rights.

Understanding that the government is as weak and imperfect as the men who run it, they incorporated into the Constitution the means of restraining and dividing federal power, protected the citizenry by empowering them to choose and replace their elected officials, and ensured through the Bill of Rights that they would have the means to expose and overthrow the government if it became tyrannical and broke faith with the people it governed.

Our capitalistic free-market system of economics also owes it's success to the Christian world-view.

All men inherently try to get the most they can with the least expenditure of work possible. Capitalism takes advantage of these two weaknesses, greed and sloth, to create a competition based economy that rewards hard work and diligence and punishes laziness.

People who want more "stuff" and discipline themselves to work hard and provide more or better products and services are rewarded with capital, while persons who have less or no ambition and are not willing to expend themselves in hard labor are punished with lower wages and a lower standard of living. Since a free-market capitalistic economy is not a zero-sum game, there is ample economic opportunity for everyone who is willing to do the hard work necessary to succeed. This opportunity has encouraged millions of people to leave their homeland and emigrate to the United States, bringing with them their desire to work and flourish as individuals and families.

In short, capitalism is the perfect economic system for imperfect men.

As time has gone on, however, all three pillars of our nation have been attacked and eroded by liberalism and secularism.

The family, which has been the stabilizing force throughout human history, is being attacked by the nanny-state Federal government, abortionists, and gay rights activists. As "separation of church and state" and Marxism maliciously found it's way into our government structure, the government began infringing on our God-given rights and replaced individualism and industriousness with entitlement programs and restrictions on freedom of speech, religion, and the right to bear arms.

Government regulation, excessive taxation, and environmental socialism has burdened our free-market capitalism to the point that we now are a quasi-fascist state. Hard work, diligence and achievement are punished while over half our population (that either can't or won't provide for themselves), is now supported by the minority through government hand-outs.

A society that ignores and impugns truth cannot survive indefinitely. As communist Russia collapsed of it's own immorality, so too will America collapse as it continues to replace God with State and disregard the values that made this country the greatest enterprise in freedom and liberty known to man.

Weather Channel Founder blasts Gore

Illegal alien crashes into bus, kills four school kids

The woman pictured on the left is an illegal alien that killed four school kids when her van crashed into their school bus Tuesday, Feb. 19.

She gave her name as Aliannis Morales, but the police say that is not her real name.

The accident occurred in Cottonwood, Minnesota when "Morales" ran a stop sign on her way to work. Her van crashed into the Lakeview school bus, killing four students and sending several students to area hospitals.

"Morales" had been working at Norcraft Cabinetry for a month before the crash. She told authorities through an interpreter that she is from Mexico.

Killed in the crash were two brothers, Hunter and Jesse Javens, ages 9 and 13, and Emily Olson, 9, and Reed Stevens, 12.

Why do we have illegal aliens killing American citizens on our roads and in other crimes on a daily basis?

The answer is that the US government has not enforced the laws controlling immigration into the country.

While the Bush Administration is busy putting US Border Patrol agents in jail for doing their job, thousands of illegal aliens like "Morales" cross our borders every day. Some are criminals and gang members, some are drug smugglers, while others are poor Mexicans and other nationals looking for better paying jobs.

While the legal citizens of the United States try to cope with the damage done to their communities and families by illegal aliens, Congress has been trying to give the illegal aliens amnesty in an effort to get more voters for their political parties. Senators Clinton, Obama, and McCain, all running for president, have voted in favor of amnesty for these criminals.

Another problem with our poor border control is that Islamic terrorists could come across the border by mixing in with the other aliens and pose an even greater danger to our national security.

The answer to the illegal immigration problem is simple. We need to build a fence across our southern border with Mexico, increase the number of Border patrol agents, and punish employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, like the cabinet shop owner who employed "Morales". As illegal aliens are detected by the police, they should be arrested and deported along with their families back to their country of origin.

There should also be a guest worker program instituted that would let people in other countries like Mexico register for jobs and then come to work here legally. Such a program does not need to be run by the US government. There are plenty of employment agencies that could arrange such a program and administer it without increasing the size of our already bloated Federal government.

Only by making some hard political choices are the American people going to solve this illegal immigration problem. One of those choices has to defeating liberal presidential candidates like Clinton, Obama, and McCain.

The Un-American Candidate

A lot of attention was paid to the photo on the left of Barack Obama "forgetting" to put his hand over his heart during the national anthem during a campaign event.

Not being one who looks for a conspiracy behind every fault, I didn't find it alarming and gave Mr. Obama the benefit of the doubt that he was probably nervous or distracted at the moment.

And when Mr. Obama said that he didn't wear a U.S. flag pin on his lapel because it wasn't necessary to prove one's patriotism, I again gave him the benefit of the doubt.

But I can't give him that benefit anymore.

During a campaign stop in Milwaukee his wife, Michelle Obama, said: “People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and … for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.”

Michelle Obama is only now "proud of her country"?

America is the country that advances freedom, liberty, and economic opportunity to the rest of the world.

America is the country that has freed hundreds of millions of people from Fascists, Nazis, Taliban, vicious dictators, malaria, AIDS, starvation, communism, Marxism, and slavery worldwide without asking for anything back.

America is the country that has willingly sacrificed the lives of hundreds of thousands of our best and bravest young men and women to help people of all religions, ethnic, and racial origins free themselves of tyranny without asking for anything back.

America is the country where Barack and Michelle Obama have lived the American dream. They are proof that in America "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" aren't just words on a paper but the essence of the American culture and way of life.

The Obama campaign has tried to deflect criticism of Michelle's comments with the usual political spin, but it rings hollow when you look at the track record of this couple.

The most alarming thing about this election cycle is not the lack of qualified candidates, but the willingness of the American public to support and elect people who loathe the country and the Constitution that gives them this opportunity to achieve the highest political office in the world.

The New Climate Trend: Global Cooling

A few months ago, it was quietly reported in the media that in actuality the earth had stopped warming in the late 1990's and that the earth had maintained the same temperature ever since.

Now scientists who study the cycles of solar activity are telling us that the earth is probably going to enter a cooling phase that might last for over a century.

Here's a couple of excerpts from Investors Business Daily:

Kenneth Tapping, a solar researcher and project director for Canada's National Research Council, is among those looking at the sun for evidence of an increase in sunspot activity.
Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.
Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.
This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe.

Contrary to the claims of the global warming alarmists, scientists are finding no connection between increased CO2 in the atmosphere and global warming. Here's another excerpt from the same article:

As we have noted many times, perhaps the biggest impact on the Earth's climate over time has been the sun.
For instance, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Solar Research in Germany report the sun has been burning more brightly over the last 60 years, accounting for the 1 degree Celsius increase in Earth's temperature over the last 100 years.
R. Timothy Patterson, professor of geology and director of the Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Center of Canada's Carleton University, says that "CO2 variations show little correlation with our planet's climate on long, medium and even short time scales."
Rather, he says, "I and the first-class scientists I work with are consistently finding excellent correlations between the regular fluctuations of the sun and earthly climate. This is not surprising. The sun and the stars are the ultimate source of energy on this planet."
Patterson, sharing Tapping's concern, says: "Solar scientists predict that, by 2020, the sun will be starting into its weakest Schwabe cycle of the past two centuries, likely leading to unusually cool conditions on Earth."
"Solar activity has overpowered any effect that CO2 has had before, and it most likely will again," Patterson says. "If we were to have even a medium-sized solar minimum, we could be looking at a lot more bad effects than 'global warming' would have had."

The evidence is growing that the earth's warming and cooling cycles are driven by solar activity, not by human activity such as burning fossil fuels.

Global warming activists are only using the issue of climate change to change human behavior, not to save the earth. Their goal is to suppress free-market capitalism and industry, cripple the United States economy, and grow government by introducing laws that tell us what kind of light bulbs to use, what kind of cars to drive, and how many children families should have.

Such laws and regulations not only result in less individual freedom and liberty, but also threaten the American way of life and it's culture.

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