Ralph Waldo Emerson did for education what Finney did for religion in America. Emerson, as the leader of the New England Brahmans was more enamored with Hinduism than he was Christianity--in fact he thought that Christianity could be reduced to a single emotional response, an qpproach that is still bearing bitter fruit in our churches. The perfect spokesman for his point of view arrived with the emergence of the poet Walt Whitman. Whitman's opus "Song of Myself" was the foreshadowing of modern preoccupation with self and bodily processes. If religion is self-absorption with feeling, then self-absorption triumphs in sexual pleasure, personal gratification, and complete selfishness.

Finney brought the same principle to evangelism and religion. Objective truth was abandoned in terms of preoccupation with man's decisions and feelings. In Finney's revivals Emerson's ideal came close to being realized as doctrine and church structure was abandoned for personal ecstasy and irrationalism. "Truth" was no longer defined in terms of propositions that can be contradicted and examined, but in terms of the "experience" of God. How you felt about religion was far more important than what you thought.

The modern deconstruction of doctrine and truth is the result. It is interesting that the church once confessed the truth in terms of creeds and doctrines that could be understood and preached. Modern protestantism has degenerated to where the greatest evidence of the Holy Spirits work is in irrational mutterings and peepings. Go figure.

I had rather be a Muslim that lives for something than a goofy Christian who will live for nothing. But I am neither. I am a minister of the Reformed Church in the U.S. who loves the truth of the creeds and the great doctrines of the Scripture, and am proud of the privilege to confess them.

From now on, this blog will be used for various personal and creative musings. I have created several other blogs: see the links at the right. The names tell what they are about, except that "badfigs" is for those things that show the stupid and outrageous side of human nature. There is plenty of material.

Usually a coverup does more damage than the deed itself to an administration. Arnold S. at least is giving the appearance of facing his scandals with honesty and transparency. Kristol has some good advice for the Bush administration. Reality Check: "Revealing the identity of covert CIA agents is a crime under certain circumstances. But given the strict stipulations of the relevant statute, it seems unlikely that the Justice Department investigation will ever lead to a successful prosecution of the leaker or leakers. That doesn't make the political reality or the moral responsibility any less urgent. Surely the president has, as the Washington Times suggested last week, taken 'too passive a stance' toward this misdeed by one or more of his employees. Surely he should do his utmost to restore the White House's reputation for honor and integrity by calling together the dozens of more-or-less 'senior' administration officials and asking whoever spoke with Novak to come forward and explain themselves. Presumably the relevant officials--absent some remarkable explanation that's hard to conceive--should be fired, and their names given to the Justice Department. "

Fall scandal season. Ho. Hum. Kathleen Parker: Fall scandals secrete the scent of politics: "Finally, all three scandals underscore the corrupt co-dependency of politics and media. Somebody circulates an anonymous rumor; TV invites 'experts' to speculate; pundits opine, indict, condemn, spin and recycle until no one remembers or cares what did or didn't happen."

The Fool's Prayer:

The Fool's Prayer
by Edward Rowland Sill

The royal feast was done; the King
Sought out some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: 'Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!'
The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.
He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: 'O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!
'No pity, Lord, could change the heart
From red with wrong to white as wool;
The rod must heal the sin: but Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!
''Tis not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.
'These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.
'The ill-timed truth we might have kept-
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
The word we had not sense to say-
Who knows how grandly it had rung?
'Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.
'Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!'
The room was hushed; in silence rose
The king, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
'Be merciful to me, a fool!' "

The New Republic is definitely not my favorite reading, but this blurb may help explain the reaction against Rush Limbaugh and the McNabb incident. It's a more comfortable idea than conspiracy. Most things have a simpler explanation than conspiracy--we do more stupid things by stupid accident than by evil plans. [See the previous post] The New Republic Online: Easterbrook: " If fans aren't having fun--if Rush says things that make the audience squirm--this backfires on the league and on ESPN. Racial commentary may be necessary and even healthy in some aspects of life, but it is no one's idea of fun, and so antithetical to the first purpose of the NFL and of ESPN. Thus the sorts of comments that might be absolutely protected when the subject is politics might be verboten when the subject is entertainment. "

Are some of the French finally getting it? IHT Article Print Page: "The books, with titles that translate to phrases like 'France in Free Fall' or 'French Arrogance,' are merciless in their accusations of the fantasy-driven ineffectualness of French foreign policy and the extent of the country's economic breakdown."

Hey, you democratic candidates, what would you have done? fraterslibertas.com: "Given that the leaders of your own party (Clinton, Gore, Albright, etc.) agreed that Saddam was developing WMD, that his regime was a threat to world peace, and that he was flaunting UN resolutions and..."

"There is nothing more pathetic than a Christian trying to be something he is not. Or churches looking for love in all the wrong places."WORLD October 11, 2003: 'Build your own theology': "Be not conformed to the world," is the way Paul put it in Romans 12. This is a great article in World Magazine, my favorite media read after National Review. World echoes my theology better, but National Review is sooooo well written!

Watch out, Mr. Bush. You may think that this may help get judges approved that are nominated by conservative presidents, but it won't. I know you want to be gentler and kinder, but you need to know who your enemies are. Kennedy and his crowd have an agenda for America that is opposed what you say you believe in. They will never vote for that agenda. You do not want them to perceive you as the little boy on the playground who goes around saying, "Will you be my friend?" to the bullies. They will laugh at you, and your friends will no longer respect you. They will think that New England elitist Republicans will always support New England Democrats because they belong to the same club. However, the reverse never seems to happen.Kennedy To Receive Bush Public Service Award: "Former President Bush will present the award to the Massachusetts Democrat, who will join former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl as Bush Award recipients."

Did you ever think of sending this page on to a friend or relative? It is easy to do, and you may help get out the word. God bless.
I would love to hear from you. Click the link to the right and send a note!

Solomon said that the "tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." This is an example of misplaced "tender mercies," by the ignorant animal "rights" crowd. Mink eat each other after animal rights break-in: "The mink are fine when they're litter mates together, but when they're not they're quite vicious and they're cannibals," Roesler said. "They do eat each other, and that's what we're battling."

Hey! What happened to all the money that the UN received for seven years from the Oil for Food program? The thieves at the UN, led by German and French thieves, raped Iragi oil revenues, and hid the mondy, and didn't buy the food. These were the real WMD's and they need to be called to account. Mindi Beltz has the goods on the real gangsters. Do you wonder why they call Bush a cowboy? He cut off a very lucrative source of wealth to European gangsters who posed as governments. WORLD October 11, 2003: Beyond the nightly news: "Where is all the money from the UN's Oil for Food Program?"

Who pays the bill? and if it isn't paid, will good drugs be invented? The Property Rights Pill - Why It's Good Medicine: "These countries, however, do not have our constitutional freedoms, and are not based on the protection of private property rights as conceived by our country's founders. Unfortunately, they did not have James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, or Benjamin Franklin handy when they drafted their Constitutions."

One of my favorite writers, Thomas Sowell, who is brilliant and who also happens to be black, defends free speech. He shows the terrible things that have happened to black citizens because people are afraid to tell the truth. This is an important article by an important black thinker. Thomas Sowell: Racial censorship: "It is one of the sad signs of our times that a furor was created because Rush Limbaugh expressed an opinion as to why a particular quarterback seemed to him to be over-rated. In his view, it was because the powers that be in professional football were anxious to have a star quarterback who was black."

The approval of Judge Pickering by the Senate Judiciary Committee: Byron York on Charles Pickering on National Review Online:Senator Lindsey Graham: "Do you know what it must have been like in 1967 to get on the stand and testify against the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi? Do you have any idea what courage that took? Shame on you."

So, what's the flap? Robert Alt on Rush Limbaugh & ESPN on National Review Online: " In 1998, for example, an average of two million more viewers tuned in on Monday nights when at least one quarterback was black. This difference translates into millions of dollars in advertising revenues."

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has again slapped down the NEA for violating the rights of conservative teachers as a result of a suit brought by Dan Cronin of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. American Family Association - AgapePress news: "'I think first of all, it's greed -- they like the money coming in,' Cronin says. 'Secondly, they're trying to intimidate teachers.' "

"Christians persecuted? In America? Open your eyes -- it's happening right now

'Buy this book, read it, and send a copy to every politician, judge, and Supreme Court Justice you
can find.' -- Sean Hannity, FOX News

Buy it here

Persecution -- that's the name for it. Tolerance might be the highest virtue in our popular culture, but it doesn't often extend to Christians these days.

Christians are increasingly being driven from public life, denied their First Amendment rights, and even actively discriminated against for their beliefs.

In this relentless exposé of political correctness run amok, best-selling author David Limbaugh rips apart the liberal hypocrisy that condones selective mistreatment of Christians in the mainstream media, Hollywood, our schools and universities, and throughout our public life.

In Persecution you'll enter the hotly contested battle for the soul of our public schools. Here are appalling -- but true -- stories of how anti-Christian social engineers not only prohibit school prayer and forbid students from wearing Christian symbols, like a simple cross, but even expunge the real story of Christianity in America from history textbooks. Worse still, in the name of "diversity," "tolerance," "multiculturalism," and "sex education," the social engineers actively inculcate hatred of Christianity as ignorant, repressive, and offensive. Not exactly the agenda of most parents whose tax dollars support the public schools.

Looking honestly at the dominant influence of Christianity in America's colonial culture and schools, where the Bible was routinely used as a textbook, Limbaugh makes a compelling case that the education students receive today is not what the Founders would have endorsed. Indeed, they would have been outraged at what is taught -- and what the courts say -- in their name, under the pretext of the non-constitutional and woefully misunderstood phrase: "separation of church and state."

Limbaugh zeroes in on how activist judges misinterpret and misapply the Constitution to eliminate Christianity from American government and public life. He reveals a society-wide disinformation campaign that has successfully obscured, for many people, what the Constitution actually says about religious freedom. While allegedly promoting religious freedom, liberals actually suppress it.

Providing details of case after shocking case, Limbaugh demonstrates that the anti-Christian forces now controlling significant portions of our society aggressively target the slightest hint of public Christianity for discrimination, yet ardently encourage the spread of secular values -- including "alternative sexuality" and promiscuity.

Limbaugh cuts cleanly through this confusion and distortion, exploring the deeply held Christian faith of the Founding Fathers, and showing that Christianity and Judeo-Christian principles are essential -- and were recognized by the Founders as essential -- to the unique political liberties Americans enjoy.

Persecution is an indispensable tool to help Christians reclaim their right (and duty) to enter the political arena and to try to influence the course of this country. It helps every liberty-loving citizen to champion what America is supposed to be about-religious freedom.


Among the evidence presented here that those who hate Christianity are firmly in power:

How the courts and the media establishment have established the modern idea of separation of Church and state, despite the fact that it's found nowhere in the Constitution or any other founding document!

Chief Justice Rehnquist's ringing (but unsuccessful) argument proving that the Establishment Clause didn't require the public sector to be "insulated from all things which may have religious significance or origin"

How the education establishment vigorously endorses and promotes values that most Christians find repugnant -- in violation of the Constitutional protection of free exercise of religion!

Three false assumptions you have to make in order to accept the Supreme Court's argument that prayer in schools is unconstitutional

Historians at America's best universities: obsessed with sex while busy purging all mention of Christianity from our history books

The California public school that forced seventh grade students to pretend they were Muslims, pray in the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and chant "praise to Allah, Lord of Creation"

Sex education in public schools: evidence that it has promoted, not prevented, sexual promiscuity among teenagers

Six ways the media establishment has energetically promoted homosexuality as normal

How colleges and universities regularly fire (or decline to hire) Christian professors -- and even Christian sports coaches

Churches: how anti-Christian bureaucrats have targeted them using fire, safety, and zoning laws -- and even sicced the IRS on them

California's state legislature: the law it passed allowing a teenage boy to report his foster parents for a civil-rights violation if they refused to let him dress like a girl

"With passion and precision, David Limbaugh provides overwhelming evidence of discrimination against Christians in America. From the courtroom to the schoolroom to the newsroom, Persecution exposes the hypocrisy and bigotry of the secular, anti-Christian Left. Limbaugh's meticulously researched book is a devastating indictment of liberal intolerance -- and a call to arms for all true believers of religious liberty to reclaim their rightful place in the public square." -- MICHELLE MALKIN
"David Limbaugh brings a lawyer's mind and a Christian's heart to his subject. While Jesus said to expect persecution if we live for Him, that doesn't absolve the persecutors from responsibility for their hypocritical actions, especially when they claim to be the champions of tolerance, diversity, pluralism and academic freedom." -- CAL THOMAS

"At last -- some sense in the Church/State debate! In his great new book Persecution, David Limbaugh shows how liberals have undermined our Constitution and are waging undeclared war on the very people -- Americans of faith -- who have made America the beacon of freedom and justice that it is. Buy this book, read it, and send a copy to every politician, judge, and Supreme Court Justice you can find." -- SEAN HANNITY

"Often the people who clamor for tolerance are among the most intolerant people in our society. David Limbaugh documents this in his new book, Persecution -- in particular, the intolerance against Christians. This book is sorely needed in our day when the only 'acceptable' prejudice of our day is the bias against Christians." -- D. JAMES KENNEDY