Who is the Antichrist? A Perspective

I could not resist posting this. In the past we discussed Adam's rib and Strong's etymology of words. This is one for the records indeed.

Antithetical Compromise?

We only have to look as far as our Constitution to know how our Founding Fathers viewed declaring one certain religion, Christianity, within our government; this possibly may have been for purely practical reasons, since it would be hard to do business with Muslims otherwise.

Case in point. The pandering called the Treaty of Tripoli, with Muslims. They, Barbary Powers, were warring against what they claimed to be the "Christian" nations (England, France, Spain, Denmark, and the United States).(1)

Lets get into the minds of the Founding Fathers trying to get a nation up and running. They were familiar with the Qur'an, I am sure. They all understood the terms jihad (a holy war, a religious duty, waged by Muslims against infidels i.e. Christians) from the Qur'an. They knew their customer's beliefs.

Surah 5:51 "O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: they are but friends and protectors to each other. And he among you that turns to them for friendship is of them."

The 1797 treaty with Tripoli was one of the many treaties in which each country officially recognized the religion of the other in an attempt to prevent further escalation of a "Holy War" between Christians and Muslims.(2)

Reading a book called "Original Intent: Courts, the Constitution, & Religion" by David Barton will shed some light called truth on the situation. Although I haven't read it yet, he is an author who is familiar to us Home Schoolers. Barton knows his history.

Was the Treaty of Tripoli effective? Apparently not, evidenced since the treaty was broken in 1801 by the Pasha of Tripoli over President Thomas Jefferson's refusal to pay the Pasha's demands for increased payments. The First Barbary War, the Battle of Derne in 1805 was an attempt to free many of Christian slaves in Barbary. Unfortunately, Jefferson, a heretical deist, and his administration then caved to the evil ones and argued that buying sailors out of slavery was a fair exchange to end the war. They agreed to pay a ransom of sixty thousand dollars for the American prisoners.

So, was Jefferson wrong in trying to make a deal with the devil? In reflection. if he saw the hostility and persecutions towards Christians around the world these days and what happened on 9/11, would he have still made the Treaty of Tripoli? Probably so, as a non-Christian (without the guiding logic of the Holy Spirit).

Incidentally, we owe the strength of our, then fledgling, U.S. Navy to Pasha of Tripoli. President Jefferson was in the process of disbanding the Navy when, in bad timing, Pasha of Tripoli declared war on the US. Glory goes to our Lord Jesus Christ.

So did the Treaty of Tripoli repudiate Christianity? Nope. In fact, while discussing the Barbary conflict with Jefferson, Adams declared:

The policy of Christendom has made cowards of all their sailors before the standard of Mahomet. It would be heroical and glorious in us to restore courage to ours.(3)

Furthermore, it was Adams who declared:

The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were. . . . the general principles of Christianity. . . . I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God; and that those principles of liberty are as unalterable as human nature.(4)

Adams' own words confirm that he rejected any notion that America was less than a Christian nation.(5)

Jefferson on the other hand....

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Endnotes:

(1) Glen Tucker, Dawn Like Thunder: The Barbary Wars and the Birth of the U. S. Navy (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1963), p. 127.
(2) Gardner W. Allen, Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1905), pp. 56.
(3) John Adams, Works, Vol. VIII, p. 407, to Thomas Jefferson on July 3, 1786.
(4) John Adams, Works, Vol. X, pp. 45-46, to Thomas Jefferson on June 28, 1813.
(5) David Barton

UPDATE: Well I have been set straight and missed quite a bit about our history. A man named William R. Bowen wrote a brilliant article on this subject called Tempest in a Treaty: Does the Treaty of Tripoli Support a Secular America?

I missed a great point that:

Article XI refers to the “government” of the United States, not the “nation.” 

and the viewpoint of religion back then meant something entirely different as so eloquently pointed out by George Mason.

Thanks for setting the record strait Mr. Bowen.

Socialism = Fail

see more Fail Blog

I am wondering what marketing demographics are they targeting? Is this racist or for teachers? Anyway, if you want to see how government controlled school system, socialized health care system, and just Socialism in general is going to look like in the future just take a look. The communist indoctrination of our youth has begun.

30,000 visitors today!

With a total of 62,258 pages viewed. Just wow.

Make Your Calling Sure

Fm: ICR July 14, 2009
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"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." (2 Peter 1:10)

Although the calling of God is solely by His grace, apart from works (2 Timothy 1:9), and although "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance" (Romans 11:29), it is quite possible for a person to believe mistakenly that he has been called, and so Peter urges each professing Christian to make sure of his calling.

In the first place, one who is truly called will love God (Romans 8:28), and such love should not be superficial, but with the whole heart and soul and mind (Matthew 22:37). One who is called should "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love" (Ephesians 4:1-2). If our lives fail such tests, we should at least "examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves" (2 Corinthians 13:5).

God's call is not only unto salvation, of course, but to a particular service for His glory. Some like Paul were "called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God" (Romans 1:1). Many in Paul's day were actually called to be slaves: "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayst be made free, use it rather. For he that is called to the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant. . . . Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God" (1 Corinthians 7:20-22, 24).

Even the apostle Paul, however, could still say (and so should we), "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). We need, first of all, to make our "calling and election sure." HMM

Prevent the Erosion of Liberty

Was Martin Luther King a terrorist? The government sure viewed him as one. He, as well as I, promote civil disobedience towards the wrongs of the government. He is/was a Patriot. We must change through peaceful, God fearing, measures.

The further away from Christianity we get, the more we erode our virtues. Then the further away, from the intent of the Constitution, our government will get. Without the blueprint of the Christian worldview principles, as a moral people, we cannot stand together as a nation on those principles. This is evidenced by our current governmental vision in moving towards Socialism then eventually to Communism. Where did we go wrong? It begins with trying to eliminate the Christian principles set up by our founding fathers. Liberty is being eroded with thunderous applause.

We the People?

Dogma of Darwinism

An interesting poll was conducted in the beginning of 2009 to see what America's average populace thinks about evolution. The results were surprising to me and very encouraging. The report about the survey stated:

According to the poll, Democrats (82%) and liberals (86%) are even more likely than Republicans (73%) and conservatives (72%) to support the academic freedom of teachers and students to discuss the “strengths and weaknesses of evolution.”

The poll also shows a dramatic 9-point increase over 2006 in the percentage of likely voters who agree that “Biology teachers should teach Darwin’s theory of evolution, but also the scientific evidence against it.” Support for that position has jumped to 78%, up from 69% in 2006. The percentage of likely voters who favor teaching only the evidence for evolution suffered a corresponding decline of 7 points, from 21% in 2006 to just over 14% this year.

“Clearly, the Darwin-only crowd is losing public support,” said Dr. John West, Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, “There seems to be a backlash against the strong-arm tactics that have been used in recent years to censor and intimidate scientists, teachers, and students who raise criticisms of Darwin.”

Here is how the Poll was conducted:

QUESTION: I am going to read you two statements about Biology teachers teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. Please tell me which statement comes closest to your own point of view—Statement A or Statement B?

Statement A: Biology teachers should teach only Darwin’s theory of evolution and the scientific evidence that supports it.

Statement B: Biology teachers should teach Darwin’s theory of evolution, but also the scientific evidence against it.

Statement A 14%
Statement B 78%
Neither 5%
Other/Not sure 2%

So apparently Atheists, which represent about one percent (1%) of the population, has influenced 14% of the population to believe their religious dogma.

Which still is an accomplishment but understandable with the backing of the media and secular scientists influence. We need to gain that 14% back so the atheistic scientific elite do not "convert" the minds of our nation.

Some States are doing the right thing. In the news, the Texas Board of Education chose science over dogma and adopted science standards improving on the old "strengths and weaknesses" language by requiring students to “critique” and examine “all sides of scientific evidence.” In addition, the Board—for the first time— specifically required high school students to “analyze and evaluate” the evidence for major evolutionary concepts such as common ancestry, natural selection, and mutations.

The new science standards mark a significant victory for scientists and educators in favor of teaching the scientific evidence for and against evolution.

All this in spite of the push, from Atheists, to declare that Intelligent Design is merely a religious doctrine. This claim is, of course, an absurd point. Even some of our founding Fathers did not believe what the Atheists are now claiming.

Jefferson did not believe that intelligent design was a religious doctrine.

In a letter to John Adams on April 11, 1823, he declared: "I hold (without appeal to revelation) that when we take a view of the Universe, in its parts general or particular, it is impossible for the human mind not to perceive and feel a conviction of design, consummate skill, and indefinite power in every atom of its composition."

By insisting that his defense of intelligent design was made “without appeal to revelation,” Jefferson clearly was arguing that the idea had a basis other than religion. What was that basis? He went on to explain:

"The movements of the heavenly bodies, so exactly held in their course by the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces, the structure of our earth itself, with its distribution of lands, waters and atmosphere, animal and vegetable bodies, examined in all their minutest particles, insects mere atoms of life, yet as perfectly organised as man or mammoth, the mineral substances, their generation and uses, it is impossible, I say, for the human mind not to believe that there is, in all this, design, cause and effect, up to an ultimate cause, a fabricator of all things from matter and motion, their preserver and regulator while permitted to exist in their present forms, and their regenerator into new and other forms."

In sum, Jefferson believed that empirical data from nature itself proved intelligent design by showing the natural world’s intricate organization from the level of plants and insects all the way up to the revolution of the planets. (Evolution News)

UPDATE: Speaking of Surveys apparently God is making a difference in the lives of the Hispanics. Hispanics are becoming more protestant, and believing that a person can earn their way to Heaven is also down. Glory to Christ.

Right Wing Extremists?

UPDATE NEWS: Earlier today, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed Assembly Bill 962. The bill now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration. No hearing date has been scheduled.

AB962, sponsored by Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-45), would make it a crime to privately transfer more than 50 rounds of ammunition per month unless you are registered as a “handgun ammunition vendor” in the Department of Justice’s database. Ammunition retailers would have to be licensed and store ammunition in such a manner that it would be inaccessible to purchasers. The bill would also require purchasers submit to fingerprinting, which would be kept in dealers’ records and subject to inspection by the Department of Justice. Lastly, mail order ammunition sales would be prohibited.

They are getting around the 2nd amendment, by not restricting the right to bear arms, but the right to bear ammunition? Give me a break.

TYRANNY!!!!

Hypocrisy or Conundrum?