Ramblings of a Sinner

The culture in America has grown into one of gimme, gimme, gimme.  There is an entire generation that does not know an America without government programs that give away money to citizens.  A generation that sees people living solely on the hand outs from government.  The older generations that knew life before any progressive movement are all but gone.  It is a shame that not all have listened to our grandparents and great grandparents about how life was in those earlier times.  Sure life was harder, it was tough when people relied on themselves and their local community but it brought a sense of self worth and a pride in community.

This country of ours has been through some really tough times.  There was the revolution to get the country started, the subsequent wars with England and Native Americans, the Civil War, and of course the big wars of the twentieth century and now the war with radical Islam.  No every one seems to think that the government owes them a living.  This could not be further from the truth.  This country and the government formed to keep it together is the fruits of labor, the labor of many men who had a vision of a place to live where the central government did not control every aspect of the their lives.  The governments of Europe in the 1700’s were ones that had complete control of the lives of their citizens, from their religion to how much money they could keep for themselves from there labors.  All property was owned by the government and was handed out as that government saw fit.  There was no private ownership of anything unless you were the monarch ruling the country.  The founders of this country sought several things in the forming on a new nation.  Private ownership of property, the ability to keep what they worked hard for, and self rule or the foundation of government came from the people not over the people.

These ideas and principles are still alive today, just buy fewer and fewer people.  Now I have noticed that people are not remembering history the way it was taught to me when I was growing up.  It would seem that textbooks are being changed but that is another subject.  Entitlement programs were not written in to law in this country until the 1930’s but even then the programs were designed to get people back to work and make them self sufficient.  In other words they were not supposed to be permanent.  As people got back on their feet and became more self sufficient the programs were  suppose to go away.  In the 1960′s entitlement programs were expanded and a wider base of people were now entitled to handouts instead of hand ups.  What happened out of the 60′s is a generation that expects to be handed everything without having to work for it.  No longer did you have to be elderly or disabled to get Social Security and Medicare.  People are getting income assistance just because they don’t make enough money.  What ever happened to finding a better job or better yourself for a better job?  In 1996 President Clinton did try to reform the entitlement system by instituting time limits as well as monetary limits on benefits.  I guess that those limits don’t exist anymore.

Now our government is involved in business and bailouts left and right.  It is not only an Obama or Bush problem, remember Regan did it back in the 80′s but that was supposed to be a loan to be paid back.  Today we are letting the government through more and more money in to the failed automotive companies and financial institutions.  Yes if it wasn’t for the money from the federal government those businesses would be dead.  No one wants another depression. No one wants to see bread and soup lines and massive unemployment.  However the monster in the closet that we are feeding by constantly throwing money at failed businesses and trying to recreate programs that are already in place instead of fixing the system.  I remember that in the Constitution the federal government of the US is to regulate interstate commerce not recreating it.  Our law makers removed a lot of the regulations that has caused the financial mess that we are in.  I say regulate the banks and financial institutions again.  regulate the medical industry don’t feed into the current system.  Fix Medicare and Medicaid, don’t replace it.  There are constitutional ways to fix our problems.  Let the states handle the business within their borders, or make them and make the federal government stay with in its constitutional restraints, interstate and international commerce and policy issues.

If people are going to stand in line for handouts and refuse to do anything to put themselves back on their own feet then tell them NO!  We will help you help yourself but well will not support you just sitting around collecting dust watching TV.  Go to school, get a job.  Uncle Sam is not your ‘sugar daddy’ get your hands out of his pockets.

Is this one preprinted on your calendars?  It is not on mine.  What is the “Bills of Rights Day”?

In 1941 then President Roosevelt declared the 15th of December to be the “Bill of Rights Day” to signify the importance of the Bill of Rights and the protections that it gave to each and every individual in our country.  James Madison proposed the bill of rights to congress in 1789 to insure that individual and states rights were insured against a centralized federal government.  Fears of a strong centralized federal government was threatening the ratification of the new federal US Constitution and Madison felt that these ten amendments to the constitution would insure rights to the people and protection against a strong centralized government.  These amendments were designed to protect the citizens of the United States of America from any attack on individual or states rights from the federal government.  It is important to remember that in beginning of our country the founding fathers wanted to insure that a centralized government could not infringe on the rights of the citizens, this concern came from people that lived under strong centralized governments that imposed laws, taxes, and penalties on citizens without any regard for their welfare and well being.

The Bill of Rights was ratified and came into effect on December 15th, 1791.  Many do not know that there was a preamble to the Bill of Rights which I have included here.  This preamble is not generally know because it does not appear in the constitution.

”Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent starts of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.”

“expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent starts of its institution.”  This statement says a lot about the intent of the bill of rights.  It means that people did not want a government that could arbitrarily impose laws that could infringe on the rights of the people to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  We all should feel that are rights are ours and are inalienable afforded and guaranteed by our Creator.  The spirit of the Bill of Rights is that the federal government is restricted in what it can do in the name of the country and to the country, the individual is sovereign and affords authority to the government to run the day to day business of running the country and to keep the United States united.  Some feel that our country is growing away from the intent and purpose of the constitution and the fundamental ideals of our country. 

Growing movements against actions taken by Congress and the President our based on the protection against ‘misconstruction or abuse of powers’.  Their fears are real and based the preamble of the Bill of Rights.  So on December 15th and every other day of the year, think about what the Bill of Rights mean to the country and to you as a sovereign individual and act accordingly.

I am sure that I am not the only one who has noticed the growth of ‘ghost busting’ shows coming across the television today, the newest being on an animal oriented network dealing with animals and ghostly presence.  The only way that their can be the growing number can be explained is that the public wants to see them.  Simply people seem to be hungry for proof of the ‘supernatural’. 

I grew curious as to why there are so many of these shows and then it came to me.  The attendance number in churches is down but people are looking for answers to spiritual matters.  Of course there are those who don’t believe in anything other than this existence and not only do not look for spiritual answers and scoff at those that do.  Of those who want to believe in something but have not found their way to a church will look everywhere but a church.  Being a Christian lends us to believe in the spiritual life, it is a foundation of faith.  The spirit we speak of is the the immortal soul in all people and sets us apart from the rest of God’s earthly creations. The term is also used for ‘supernatural beings’.

The term supernatural applies to anything that mankind can not explain in terms understandable in terms of the laws of nature and science.  Miracles are an example of a supernatural event.  People have found a fascination in searching for the ‘supernatural’ and it is a fascination that dates back to the beginning of recorded history.  Worship of spiritual beings exists in every culture throughout the world. 

How can Christians be assured that the spiritual realm exists?  All we need to do is to turn to the Holy Bible.  First is the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Second is the existence of angels, written accounts in the Holy Bible speak of these beings that were sent by God to communicate with mankind.  Third, the return of Moses and Elijah to earth to be with Jesus at the time of the transfiguration.  Fourth is the account of the disciples watching Jesus ascend to Heaven.  I could continue on this track but I must move on.  The point is this, to believe in the promise of the reward God has made to us for our faith in Him and His plan of salvation is to believe in the supernatural.

Now the danger of doing what we are told not to do in the Bible,

Leviticus 19:26 (NKJV)    ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 (NKJV) 10    There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11    or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

Divination is the practice of attempting to contact spirits or other ‘supernatural’ phenomenon.  If God wants us to know something His has proven that He will contact us in some way.  We communicate with God in prayer and directly with Him.  The practice of going through intermediaries other than Jesus(who is God incarnate) is nothing sort of idolatry which is forbidden by God.

What are the ramifications of ‘ghost busting’?  From the perspective that everything not of God is bad and God is good then what God tells us not to do is not of God and is in fact evil.  People who believe that Jesus was in fact our Savior and God’s sacrifice for our redemption to God’s Grace go to be in God’s presence and in fact are not lurking around after they pass from this life.  Those who have not found that salvation prior to their death to not go to God, they are in fact given over to Lucifer who was cast out of Heaven for rebellion against God and given dominion in Hell and here on earth. (Revelation 12:9    So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.)  If you seek things that are bad then bad things will happen.  Possessions are an event that is documented through out time, even in the Holy Bible.  These possessions are done by demons or evil spirits and no good comes from this.  Influences from evil entities can tear families apart and irreversibly harm people.  Mental, emotional and even physical harm to people has been witnessed.  I have been witness to this myself and I strongly advise no one to voluntarily seek out these unseen entities.  All you have to do is open the door for these entities to come into your home and your life.  This is done by your actions and activities, your words, things you read or watch on television, music that you listen to and even the company you keep.  I will take a lot of flack for that last sentence but the truth is the truth and some people just can not deal with the truth that they maybe doing wrong.  All of these publicized ‘ghost hunts’ are done at night, in the dark.  It is said that God is light and light brings the truth to all questions of man.  Bad things can not hide in the light of truth but in the dark, in the shadows everything bad can hide and ambush anyone with out warning.

My friends, I strive to shine the light of truth for you all on this subject.  Hopefully most if not all will listen.  Seek God, not evil.  My warning to all is do not seek out to prove to yourselves that evil exists, we all know that it does.  Turn the light of the truth on in your life and seek the protection of that light.  I pray for all.