DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2004�: "Former CBSNEWS anchorman Walter Cronkite believes Bush adviser Karl Rove is possibly behind the new Bin Laden tape."
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As I said, liberalism turn the mind to mush.

Reformation Day, October 31.

October 31, 1517, is an important day in the history of Christianity. The next day, Nov. 1, was celebrated in the medieval church as All Saints Day, to honor the saints.

According to the cult and superstition of times, the relics of the saints were to be reverenced and the power of God could be manifest in them. Some relics could keep disease and storms away. Some brought healing. All were capable of working miracles especially in connection with images and pictures of the saints. Crosses of all sorts and sizes and richness were everywhere and possessed power beyond imagination, even to the quenching of fires.

There was a great collection of such relics at the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and great crowds were expected to gather on All Saints Day in 1517.

The monk, Martin Luther, had been going through a transformation in his spiritual life for many months. He was distressed at the teaching of the church on the matter of indulgences. Rome taught that forgiveness of sins could be purchased with money through the instrument of an indulgence. The merit of the saints could be applied to a purchaser through the fiction of “works of supererogation,” works that the saints had performed above and beyond what was necessary for the saint’s own salvation.

In hearing the confessions of his parishioners, Martin Luther had come to understand the powerful influence of indulgences in their thinking.

Pope Leo X, in order to raise funds for the beautification and massive building program in Rome, had recently issued a new indulgence that was being offered for sale throughout Germany. A slick salesman, a Dominican monk named Tetzel, with a great show of pomp and ceremony, promised that the souls of loved ones would jump out of purgatory when money was dropped into the box. Thus, the power of the indulgence.

Luther’s holy soul was moved at the blasphemy. He had come to see that justification was by faith in Christ’s righteousness alone, and that there was no other righteousness except that of Christ which could save the soul—not the righteousness of saints, of indulgences, nor any works of his own, real or imagined.

As he put it later, under a powerful impulse Luther penned Ninety Five Statements, or Theses, against the selling of indulgences. According to the practice of the time, he fastened these to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on All Hallows Evening, October 31, offering to debate them with any scholar who would take his challenge.

This launched the greatest revival in the history of the church, the Protestant Reformation. Luther’s Theses were duplicated by the newly invented art of printing, and spread throughout Germany and Europe.

Never again would the Pope and superstition have such rule in the church, for men everywhere rediscovered their liberty and privilege of coming directly to God through Jesus Christ alone. To God be the Glory.

Oh, the irony of it all!!!

America can take heart from one thing: this Osama guy is an idiot. If your enemies are murderers, terrorists, bombers, and thieves, it is a blessing to know that they are also idiots.

So he hates George W. He wants to influence the election. So he plays into Bush's strength--the war on terror, reminding us all what we are up against. The major networks, the bulletin boards for the DNC, refused to play the pictures of the fall of the Twin Towers, for fear voters will do something that the major media would consider a disaster: relect GWB. The democratic liberals whined about Bush "Exploiting 9/11." But Osama reawakened our memory with a vengeance. Thank you, Osama.

Kedwards had already taken the bait, following the lead of their bulletin board, the NYT, and had jumped all over the "stolen" explosives. That was good for a few fractions of a percentage point for Bush. Kedward's campaign managers must be wringing their hands. That was the first punch; the second one landed with a thud--the voice of Osama, tell us all that we are scum, are going to die, because of our leaders Bush and Cheney.

Well, Mr. Osama. This is not France. It isn't even Spain. This is the U.S. of A. People don't tread on us. We remember the Maine, the Alamo, and Pearl Harbor. We also don't cotton to people telling us how to vote. Specially the likes of you. We have gone from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli. Our dead all over the world speak to us of the price of liberty and the price we are willing to pay.

In your ignorance of the core values of the United States you have assured the election of George W. Bush. Maybe you made the mistake of listening to the self-apointed effete elites of the East and West Coasts of America, but these are not the Americans that will be rooting you out of your holes. It's Middle America that you have to fear. In the last twenty-four hours Bush's numbers have gone up .7 percent to a lead of 3%.

Bush and Cheney will be back in the White House on Tuesday. Where will you be? Get a good night's sleep, for you don't many of those left. "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

God bless America.

Dead Men's Voices: "Why, they are the undecided, the non-judgmental, the 'open-minded.' They do not decide for good or for evil. They refuse to judge about such things. They follow a banner which never takes a stand."
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They wander just inside the gates of Hell, according to Dante. One of the marks of perpetual childhood is the inability to make up one's minds. It usually is the result of having no core values, and no hierarchy of values that makes decision possible.

Check out the deadmensvoices blog. Good solid stuff.

NewsMax.com: Inside Cover Story: "And he had an interesting observation for those in the press who dismiss pre-war Iraq as a major player in global terrorism, noting that prior to stopping off at Al-Qaqaa, his unit has cleaned out a terrorist training camp."
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But the main stream press, especially ABC, NBC and CBS continue to report, in spite of overwhelming evidence, that there is "no evidence," for any terrorist connection in Iraq. They, however, are perfectly willing to rush forged documents and false news reports into production. The best thing you can do to understand the news is to turn off TV and surf the web or listen to radio. The major tv networks are completely ratherized.

:: Xinhuanet - English ::: "France will be always on the side of the Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier declared Thursday."
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Ah, the French! Anti-Semitic, but so urbane about it! Any evil, any corruption, any perversion is ok, as long as you are not a cowbow. These are the people that John Kerry would give a veto over American defense. Do not be deceived by his lying commercials. It is his history in the Senate and before that shows his true colors.

Hanoi Approved of Role Played By Anti-War Vets - October 26, 2004 - The New York Sun: "The communist regime in Hanoi monitored closely and looked favorably upon the activities of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War during the period Senator Kerry served most actively as the group's spokesman and a member of its executive committee, two captured Viet Cong documents suggest."
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See the following blog. Will we elect a traitor and foreign agent as President of the United States? Have we gone mad?

Democrats file 9 suits in Florida - The Washington Times: Nation/Politics - October 27, 2004: "Democrats in Florida already are pursuing nine election-related lawsuits, accusing state election officials of conspiring to disenfranchise minority voters. "
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They were such spoiled and bad losers in 2000 that they must continue the fiction that the election was stolen from them. These are the spoiled brats of the Viet Nam era who subverted institutions, destroyed our educational system, overthrew churches and doctrine, stood the constitution on its head, raided the treasury to buy votes, made adultery and sodomy acceptable, gave us the drug culture and pornography, abortion, and lawlessness in our streets. The methods that were used to bring about the defeat of America in Viet Nam are exactly the same ones that they are using now: Kerry lied, betrayed, postured, and lied some more to subvert the America he hates in order to transform America into a socialist state under the control of the thugs, murderers, and thieves of the socialist states of the United Nations.

Unlike Richard Nixon, a flawed man but the moral superior of these, they do not care what their litigation will do to republican constitutional government; no, they are wiser and smarter than others and they would rather have America destroyed than free from their rule. They profess faith but subvert the doctrines of their churches. The only faith they truly believe is the purity of their own desires and the only security they care for is the liberty to blaspheme and to fornicate under every green tree. They are a lawless bunch that cares not for laws, for customs, for institutions, for fathers or mothers, but will trample all under their feet so long as they have power and the liberty to follow their lusts.

Pr 30:11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
Pr 30:12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Pr 30:13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

Mike S. Adams: Why Johnny's sociology professor is a Marxist:

"1. Which leader killed more Jews in the 20th century: a) Joseph Stalin or, b) Adolph Hitler?
2. Which of the following is more perplexing: a) A Jewish professor who calls herself a Marxist or, b) A black professor who calls himself a Klansman?
3. Whose idea was it to turn over Eastern Europe to Stalin after winning it from Hitler: a) Franklin Delano Roosevelt or, b) His advisor (and Soviet spy) Alger Hiss?
4. Which worldview is true: a) The Biblical perspective that human nature is flawed (to the point where utopia is impossible) or, b) The sociological perspective that we are inherently good until corrupted by society?
5. Which problem is harder for sociologists to explain: a) The logical assertion that inherently good people combine to form a 'bad' society that, in turn, corrupts previously good people or, b) The empirical fact that sociologists consistently explain around ten percent of the variance in delinquency while refusing to use the term 'free will' to explain the other 90% of the variance.
6. And (regarding question #5, part 'b') how can the team scoring one run be called the 'winner' against a team scoring nine runs?"

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Mike Adams is my favorite college professor. The above are questions you should ask your Marxist professor if you are in college.

Doctors of Death.

I mean the trial lawyers. They scour the world for victims. They launch class actions suits over exagerated and trumped up offenses, huge class actions suits against profitable corporations with deep pockets. The result: a few dollars for each of the victims, billions of dollars for the lawyers, and very often the death of an industry. No wonder the jobs go overseas.

Now they want to do it to American democracy. After the Florida election four years ago, Gore's henchmen descended upon Forida to search out victims, institute lawsuits, seeking his own advantage rather than the health of the institutions, refusing to follow the salutary example of Richard Nixon, a man more noble than he.

We are reaping the results today. If this election is close, the doctors of death will descend upon--not only Florida--but any other state that is close. They will manufacture--by their own admission--incidents of voter intimidation.

It was a lie in Florida, and it will be a lie today. But Al Gore and his henchmen could not bear to admit that they had lied about fraud in Florida. They have pretended the fraud was real--against every investigation made. They have defended the lie, allowed their rage to grow because of the lie, and campaigned in terms of the lie, and like a small boy caught in a lie, tried to divert attention from the lie by the intensity of their rage and outrage.

They are doctors of death. They pretend love of the truth and compassion for the poor, but their greed rules all. "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," Solomon wrote. If we get much more trial lawyer compassion, the nation will not survive.

They will sue democracy out of business. Self-government will be outsourced to the United Nations and world law, decided by the gangsters, thieves, and murderers that rule the member nations.

But the trial lawyers do not care. They get paid even if the patient dies.

Social Influence of Christianity vs. Islam: "Actually, the word 'peace' in the political sense (as the opposite of war) is 'suth' in Arabic, while 'salaam' means mental tranquility. True, 'salaam' and 'Islam' have the same root. So do in English the words 'mission' and 'submission,' but their meanings are different. 'Islam' means 'submission' or 'pacification.' A foreign nation is 'pacified' by Islamic war until the nation submits and thus gains 'salaam' 'mental tranquility.'"
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This is a very important article. Islam uses doublespeak just like the old Soviet Union. When the Communist said "I believe in peace," he meant "I believe in the conquest of the world by the armies of the people" because he did not believe there could be peace until communism ruled the world.

This is exactly what Islam believes. Don't believe the ideas of "peace." It would be harmless if they expected to win by the triumph of ideas, but that is not what they mean. We should welcome a dialogue and conversation, but when they start blowing up buildings our response should be swift, sure, and devastating.

A liberal rag in Britain, that I will not dignify by naming, has called for the assassination of George W. Bush, asking where is Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth when you need them.

I wouldn't fret about it. These liberal dweebs mostly sit around ringing their hands, feeling sorry for themselves, wishing other people would recognize how smart they are, and hoping someone in America will do their work for them. They are like the children Christ spoke of, sitting in the market, whining, [Mt 11:17] "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented." The immature whine because others do not dance to their tune, a tune that alone are smart enough to direct. Adults do their own dancing to their own tune. The adults slogging along in Iraq; the children are democratic candidates in America.
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On another note: the bulletin boards for the DNC, otherwise known as the major media, have got another black eye. The munitions in Iraq that fell into the hands of the insurgents, were taken away before the US soldiers got there, not because they were guarded in a careless matter. But the jig is up, the talking heads are paid liars, as all thinking men know.
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We welcome all you who come from the link at Radio Blogger. Our prejudices are in the open. This author is an American, a Christian, Reformed in theology, a sinner saved by grace. All categories operate all the time but the order depends upon the situation.

I believe that Jesus Christ is the true ruler of all the nations, but he has no vicar on the earth: just witnesses to his grace and mercy.

I believe that all men are created in the image of God and will be judged by Him at the last day. This does not mean that a Charles Manson is of equal value to a John Calvin in the history of the world. A man's value to his neighbor depends upon the choices that he makes, and Charles Manson made very bad choices. In the same way the value of nations to the world depends upon their choices, and Hitler's Germany was of far less worth to the world than Switzerland or the United States. Those who see moral equivalence in all things are viciously immoral.

From the day of the covenant God made with Noah, the magistrate is given authority by God to punish evil, not only the internal evil that would fester and destroy his own nation, but also the evil that may fester in rogue states outside his borders, vicious evil that would imperil the liberty of the whole world. Wisdom would dictate that as much as possible any action against those rogue states should be in connection with other enlightened and civilized nations, but if those nations refuse to act, any magistrate may act alone to protect his authority and the liberty and safety of his people. The operative law of God is found in the covenant with Noah, "Whoso sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."

You will not get the true benefit of this site unless you are willing to spend some time to meditate, the courage to face the truth, and the stomach for reality.

Hello again. I have had my intellectual palate cleansed by getting off the blog for a few days. Believe it or not, there are some very good things to read that you cannot find on the web.

I have been tasting the classic Personal Knowledge by Michael Polanyi. It is not light reading and I read a chapter or two at a sitting, interspersed with readings in my three volume set on the Crusades, along with other delicacies like Charles Hodge's Commentary on Second Corinthians and J. I. Good's History of the Reformed Church in the United States. It sure beats political commentary.

My son Matthew was ordained to the ministry of the Reformed Church in the U.S. this morning and installed as pastor of the joint charge of Providence Reformed Chapel of Limon, Colorado, and Blue Cliff RCUS of Karval, Colorado. It was a proud moment in my life. I have three sons in the gospel ministry, two in the RCUS and one in an independent church. I am proud of them, as well as proud of my sons who are not in the ministry, for I believe that the kingdom of God is very broad.

But the day will come in the next few years where America will once more appreciate the sacrifice and learning of faithful Christian pastors. That is not here yet, but radical Islam will not be defeated on the battle field. They will be defeated because Christ rose from the dead and His throne cannot be overthrown, but their defeat will come by weapons that are not understood by those who do not believe the Gospel.

The Apostle Paul spoke of these weapons in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."

This does not mean that weapons of warfare like stealth bombers, Apache Helicopters, and strong men are not necessary for the ultimate triumph of truth, but men will not use them or prevail if they are not motivated by a strong sense of truth and righteousness.

If the philosophy of effete and feminized and sodomite Europe prevails in the America the conflict will be lost in spite of our weapons. It is ultimately ideas that triumph, and the most blessed of these ideas, the heritage of the Christian West is the liberty of the Christian man, who under God is his own king and priest, the ruler of his own actions, and the master of the domain that God has given him, be it only a humble log cabin or a single patch of tillible land.

This liberty of the Christian man is based firmly upon the certainty that sins are forgiven by the righteousness and obedience of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. No one who attack these spiritual truths is the true friend of liberty or the friend of the free man. Any pot that does not contain this wonderful bread of life is poison to all who dine thereof. Those who mix these pots are enemies of America, the Christian faith, and every free man in Jesus Christ. They cannot win and they need to know that they cannot win. The war with radical Islam has been a long one with ups and downs for over 1400 years. This phase in the war might be a long slog [to borrow a phrase], but their defeat is certain. Christ himself declared it, "The gates of hell will not prevail."