The “spin” to get “in”

A recently uncovered email now proves what many Americans have long suspected and the Obama administration has vehemently denied. 

The “talking points” provided to Susan Rice that the 9/11/12 attacks on our Benghazi facilities were the result of a reaction to an anti-Islamic video were fabricated solely to insulate the president from potential blame. 

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Judicial Watch has uncovered the email between Ben Rhodes, then-White House deputy strategic communications adviser, to a dozen White House insiders, including White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and then-White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. 

The email conclusively reveals that the talking points were designed to prevent implications that the attacks were the result of Obama policy failures. As reported by The Washington Times, the email states, in part… 

“Goal: To underscore that these protests are rooted in [an] Internet video and not a broader failure or policy.

We’ve made our views on this video crystal clear. The United States government had nothing to do with it. We reject its message and its contents. We find it disgusting and reprehensible. But there is absolutely no justification at all for responding to this movie with violence. And we are working to make sure that people around the globe hear that message.”

In the email, Mr. Rhodes also advises key White House and administration officials to make sure they presented Mr. Obama as “steady and statesmanlike” whenever speaking of the crisis. 

Another “goal,” he said, in his email, was to “reinforce the president and administration’s strength and steadiness in dealing with difficult challenges,” Judicial Watch reports.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the latest email proves that the White House’s main concern in the wake of the Benghazi attack that left four Americans dead was the President’s image – more than reporting the truth.

“Now we know that Obama White House’s chief concern about the Benghazi attack was making sure that President Obama looked good,” he said in a statement.

+ + We are still demanding the truth – and an end to the lies and distortions of the Obama administration. 

Has John Kerry thrown Israel under the Bus?

Secretary of State John Kerry has once again put his foot in his mouth in blaming actions by the Israeli leadership for the breakdown of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.

As everyone on the planet knows, there is a tremendous amount of distrust between the Israelis and the Palestinians. There appears to be an equal amount of doubt that the Obama administration has the capability to broker a deal when both principle parties disagree on the starting point of negotiations.

++Israelis are demanding that Palestinians acknowledge their statehood and right to exist as a starting point, which the Palestinians refuse to do.

According to the newspaper Israel Hayom, an Israeli Strategic and Intelligence Minister addressed the unraveling peace talks by telling a group at Tel Aviv University…

“About a month ago we listened to PA President Mahmoud Abbas say he has no intention of recognizing the right of the Jewish people to a sovereign state. There are situations where one must stand firm and present this as a basic demand – full recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people. We cannot come to terms with anything else from Abbas.”

++For their part, the Palestinians demand that established borders be restored to pre-1967 boundaries, which includes a divided Jerusalem, a demand the Israelis categorically refuse.

Israeli leadership recently announced the approval of 700 new settlements to be built in East Jerusalem, in an area the Palestinians assert belongs to them.

These settlements were approved for Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, not the West Bank or other areas considered by the Palestinians to be “occupied territories.”

In response to Kerry’s allegations that Israel was largely to blame for the recent breakdown by approving those settlements, an unnamed official in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said:

“In the understandings reached prior to the talks, Israel did not commit to any limitation on construction. Therefore, the Palestinian claim that building in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital, was a violation of the understandings is contrary to the facts.

Both the American negotiating team and the Palestinians know full well that Israel made no such commitment.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu has thus far refrained from directly commenting on Kerry’s position, but said, “We are standing up for ourselves with determination and wisdom.”

++It is time to tell the world that We Stand with Israel!

Happy Passover

Let’s Pass Over the Traditions and Keep the Feast!

by Julia Glattfelt

There is one story that is a traditional tale told as part of the Passover observance.  It is a story about 4 Jewish sons and speaks about their attitudes toward religion.  The sons are named: Wise, Wicked, Simple and Young.  Young is ignorant of Israel’s traditions and culture, Simple is indifferent to the festivals, Wicked rejects everything and is disrespectful, and Wise is the observant one.  Which son are you?

I want to learn to be Wise but most the time I am Young!  I want to find what is honoring the Father (i.e. following His instructions) and weigh carefully what has been adopted by the church, whether it is from Christianity or Judaism.   I want to find the pure word so that I will not be Wicked, Simple or Young!  If it is wise to be observant, then let us begin there!  Let’s observe!  Let’s examine what is traditional and what is the bottom line.  May we all do like Wise.

TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE

It wasn’t that long ago that the traditions of the Christian church were removed from my home, and the search for the leaven-free gospel was begun.   Along with the shift to Torah-observance comes a whole bunch of traditional and cultural baggage from Judaism that isn’t necessarily a good replacement either! Just give me good doctrine!

Now that I have abandoned the pagan practices associated with Easter, it is important to understand how honoring the Resurrection of Yehsua should more properly be understood as Passover, and why, how and when to observe it.

How do we figure out when Passover is to be observed?  Why is it important to observe since Yeshua is our final Passover Lamb?  What traditions that are observed by the Jewish community are actually Biblical and what can we learn from them?  What does spring cleaning and removing the leaven from our home have to do with anything?

I understand that the ‘leaven of the Pharisees’ is most properly understood as ‘hypocrisy’ (see  http://www.bulldozerfaith.com/fear-and-leaven)  But, I also know that our brothers and sisters in Jewish families are careful to remove actual ‘leaven’ from their homes in preparation for the Feast of YHVH known as The Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover.  This ‘spring cleaning’ of leaven is a practice I have begun too.   And while I am removing the literal leaven, I am also seeking areas of hypocrisy and pride in my own life in order to remove them as well.

In the old days, bread was leavened with a sour-dough type of starter.  They didn’t go down to the local grocer for a package of yeast.  For any of you who have ever kept a ‘starter’ for baking, you know that they can last indefinitely.  The yeast continues to grow and accumulate over months and months.

This is a good picture of how sin and pride creep into our households.  We keep doing things out of habit without really thinking about it.  We need to make a reassessment of what we do and believe!  Therefore, when we toss out the old leaven, we can start over with a clean slate and a heart to observe His commands.  Just as our house is refreshed, so are we!

EIGHT DAY FEAST

Just like Sukkot and the Last Great Day is an 8 day feast in the fall, Passover and Unleavened Bread is an 8 day feast in the Spring.   According to Exodus 12, the Israelites were instructed to sacrifice the lamb on the 14th day of the first month.  Afterward, the blood of the lamb swabbed upon their door frames was a sign of their observance and obedience to the command from YHVH.  Because of the blood of the lamb, the plague sent to the Egyptians (death of the first born) passed over their homes.

It is not my intention to get into a calendar debate.  There are just too many opinions and too much information to synthesize into a compact space.  Do your own study and see what makes sense to you when you check calendars against the scriptures.  Whether you observe based on the Aviv Barley and the Sliver of the moon, Hillel II or Conjunction calendar, the most important thing is to observe the Passover.

It saddens me when an argument over the ‘right’ calendar divides us, but we must be fully convinced in our own mind and heart.  He will sort it out when He returns.  Maybe that is why He told us no one knows the day or the hour!  He expected us to be in this mess, didn’t he?

So, find a calendar, check it against scripture and ask Him to guide you into truth.  In the meantime, we do need to observe Passover!  It was a commandment to observe this event and share it with our children forever.  As a matter of fact, according to Ezekiel, we will observe Passover and Unleavened Bread in the millennial kingdom!

Eze 45:21  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall celebrate the feast of the passover, and you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days.

IS PASSOVER A DAY OR AN 8 DAY FEAST?

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what day the lamb was sacrificed, and when the week of unleavened bread begins.   It is my understanding that the 14th is the day of Passover.  That’s the day the sacrifice happened.  Passover is a ‘preparation’ day, because the Feast of Unleavened Bread begins and ends with a High Sabbath and no sacrifices would be done on that day.

The lambs are selected on the 10th of the First Month of the Year (also when Yeshua made his triumphal entry riding a young donkey).  The lambs are inspected for four days so they can be offered without blemish on the afternoon of the 14th. (Just as Yeshua was ‘inspected’ during his trial and was declared ‘without fault’ four times!)  The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th (the day following Passover) and carries through the 21st.

Over the years the term ‘Passover’ has been used to describe the entire 8 day festival (Passover and Week of Unleavened Bread).  The other confusing thing is the fact that a Hebrew ‘day’ begins at sunset (as the previous day ends) and ends at the next sunset (when the following day begins)!  It is still difficult for me to wrap my head around this difference in telling time!

Traditionally, the lamb was sacrificed at 3pm on the 14th.  The High Sabbath on the first day of the week of Unleavened Bread begins on the 15th.

WHAT IS A SEDER?

Seder means ‘order’ in Hebrew.  Traditions have evolved where the Seder meal is accompanied by the telling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt.  This is a powerful tool to teach our children the truth of the Bible!  There is no script in the scriptures for how this is to be done, so the Jewish tradition is to use a ‘haggadah.’  The haggadah (story) is shared on Passover in a particular order, with songs and other customs.

Other traditions with the Seder include special linens, dishes, food items, and 4 cups of wine.  The four small glasses of wine, symbolize redemption, freedom, release and deliverance, as experienced when the twelve tribes of Israel escaped Egypt.  Other traditions share the four wine cups as:  I will bring out, I will deliver, I will redeem, and I will take.

Often a separate and special cup of wine is set out for the arrival of Elijah!  The door is opened in anticipation of his arrival and to welcome others to share in the bread and wine.

There are even four traditional questions that are usually a part of the Seder.  They are:

“On all other nights, we do not dip even once, but on this night, we dip twice. Why?”

“On all other nights we eat bread or matzah, but on this night we eat only matzah. Why?”

“On all other nights, we eat all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat only Maror. Why?”

“On all other nights, we eat either sitting or reclining, but on this night, we eat reclining. Why?”

All of these help to tell the story of the Exodus, and establish a familiar custom that is repeated and loved.  I’m hoping that the questions will encourage you to seek and observe the answers for yourself!

Passover is regarded as the most beloved Feast of the Jewish family, and is a reminder of their heritage.  It celebrates hope and establishes lasting bonds within the family, while keeping alive the memory of YHVH’s deliverance of the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt.  This is the root of our Messianic/Hebraic understanding of this Feast as well.

WHAT IS AN AFIKOMAN?

Along with several traditional food items, the most important is the Unleavened Bread, or Matzah!  One of three pieces of Matzah that are part of the Seder meal is called the Afikoman.

AFIKOMAN : the name of a portion of matzah (unleavened bread) eaten at the conclusion of the Passover evening meal. In most traditions, early in the evening, the person conducting the seder breaks the middle of the three matzah into two pieces, putting away the larger portion, designated as afikoman, for consumption at the conclusion of the meal.  The word afikoman, of Greek origin but uncertain etymology, probably refers to the aftermeal songs.  This afikoman has become a symbolic reminder of the paschal sacrifice.

The Afikoman is usually wrapped in a linen cloth and ‘hidden’ away, which is a picture of the Messiah placed in the tomb.  The Afikomen is later ‘discovered’ by the children and the family shares the Afikomen at the conclusion of the meal.  The piercings, stripes and leaven-free appearance of the Matzah is also a reminder of Yeshua and how he was wounded for our transgressions.

WHAT IS ON A SEDER PLATE?    

In addition to the Matzah, a typical Seder plate will have the following: an unbroken lamb bone, a roasted egg, bitter horseradish herbs, a green veggie to dip in saltwater and charoset, which is made from walnuts, wine and apples. Each of these items is used in the haggadah as the story of the Exodus is recounted.

What do each of these element represent?  The following explanation is found at  (http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/sederplatesymbols.htm ).  Some information has been edited for clarity and relevance and my comments are in [brackets].

Vegetable (Karpas) – This part of the seder plate dates back to a first and second century tradition in Jerusalem that involved beginning a formal meal by dipping vegetables in salt water before eating them. Hence, at the beginning of the seder a vegetable – usually lettuce, cucumber, radish or parsley – is dipped in salt water and eaten.

—-It is sometimes said that the salt water represents the tears our ancestors shed during their years of enslavement. [The salt water could also represent the Red Sea that was parted during the Exodus.]

Shank bone (Zeroa) – The roasted shank bone of a lamb reminds us of the tenth plague in Egypt, when all firstborn Egyptians were killed. The Israelites marked the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a lamb as a signal that death should pass over them, as it is written:

Exodus 12:12: “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn – both men and animals – and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt… The blood will be a sign… on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”  The shank bone also reminds us of the sacrificial lamb that was killed and eaten during the days when the Temple stood.

—- The shank bone is sometimes called the Paschal lamb, with “paschal” meaning “He [YHVH] skipped over” the houses of Israel. [It also symbolizes the prophecy that said not a bone of the Messiah would be broken.]

Hard Boiled Egg (Baytzah) – There are two interpretations of the symbolism of the hard boiled egg. One is that it is an ancient fertility symbol [still apparent in Easter observances]. The other is that it is a symbol of mourning for the loss of the two Temples, the first of which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. and the second of which was destroyed by the Romans around 70 C.E.

—-Hard boiled eggs were traditionally the food of mourners and hence they were an appropriate symbol for the loss of these sacred sites [or to mourn the death of the Messiah].

Charoset – Haroset is a mixture that is often made of apples, nuts, wine and spices.

—-It represents the mortar the Israelites were forced to use while they built structures for their Egyptian taskmasters.

Bitter Herbs (Maror) – Because the Israelites were slaves in Egypt we eat bitter herbs to remind us of the harshness of servitude. Horseradish – either the root or a prepared paste – is most often used. A small amount of maror is usually eaten with an equal portion of charoset. It can also be made into a “Hillel Sandwich,” where maror and charoset are sandwiched between two pieces of matzah.

—– [This is also from the following verses:

Exo_12:8 ‘And they shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire – with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.]

Bitter Vegetable (Hazeret) – This piece of the seder plate also symbolizes the bitterness of slavery. Romaine lettuce is usually used, which doesn’t seem very bitter but the plant has bitter tasting roots. When hazeret is not represented on the seder plate some Jews will put a small bowl of salt water in its place.

There are some haggadah booklets that you can find to guide you through your own Seder.  I just purchased one called: Dry Bones Haggadah PDF.  Last year we used Leigh Rood Fransen’s book: “Behold the Lamb” as our guide.  It is from a Messianic/Hebrew Roots perspective and provides a lot of ideas for songs, a script, and menu planning.  It helps to take the angst out of trying to do this for the first time.  Fransen’s book provides suggestions on how to tailor the Seder meal to hold significance for you and ways to begin to establish your own family traditions.

CAN WE KEEP PASSOVER?

Passover is a commemorative event.  It was a one-time instruction to Moses and the Israelites to place blood on their door posts.  All Passover observances following were to memorialize and remind and instruct.  Another shadow-picture!

We cannot ‘keep’ Passover in a literal sense.  We are not in Jerusalem, there is no Temple and we have no Levitical Priesthood to conduct a sacrifice either!  The men of Israel were commanded to ‘go up’ to Jerusalem for three pilgrimage events: Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot.  While there, each family would sacrifice their own lambs, and the priests would pour it out some of the blood at the base of the altar.

In the absence of the Temple and Levites, there is absolutely no instruction to sacrifice lambs today!  As a matter of fact, it would be a sin to do so!

“Since we cannot ‘keep’ the feast, why do we do anything at all?”  This sounds like something Simple or Wicked would say!  Wouldn’t it be better to be Wise?

WHAT ARE THE FEASTS FOR?

Since all of the Feasts of YHVH are shadow-pictures of the Messiah (Paul calls them good things to come) we remember and observe them in order to proclaim Him and be obedient to His commandments.  There is no ‘expiration date’ on the Feasts of YHVH found in Leviticus 23.

Today we gather together with our brothers and sisters and celebrate and continue to tell our children and friends the story of the Exodus.  It tells us of our Messiah!  It is a rehearsal to prepare us for even greater things to come.  (See: http://www.bulldozerfaith.com/the-greater-exodus-not-the-rapture )

SHOULD WE PASSOVER OR PASS OVER?

Should we pass along the traditions of men, or only some of them?  Maybe our Passover will re-invent the ‘haggadah’ for our generation.  I only brushed the surface of all the symbols found in the traditions handed down through the years.  There are things to be learned from many of the traditions.  Sometimes, the customs point to Yeshua in a way that Judaism doesn’t even realize!  Seek them out yourself and find what speaks to you.  I don’t think there are any hard and fast rules on ‘how’ to remember, but we are commanded to do so!

Find a local group, or get a hold of a ‘haggadah’ so that you can do your own Seder on the 14th.  Do your spring cleaning.  Get the ‘leaven’ out of your house and embrace a week of unleavened bread.

What’s with the Unleavened Bread?

When I was Young, I spoke as a child.  That is what the questions over why we should eat Unleavened bread make me think of!  How difficult is it to have a week-long reminder of the most momentous event in history?

The important thing is to understand how Yeshua is our Passover Lamb.  Every time you reach for a wafer of unleavened bread remember His sacrifice.  It is dry.  When you eat it remember how He suffered thirst on your behalf (and mine!).   Do like Wise and take a week to ‘observe.’

In the meantime, let us observe the Feasts for they are all shadows of what is to come! (Col 2:16-17)

1Co 5:7-8 Therefore cleanse out the old leaven, so that you are a new lump, as you are unleavened. For also Messiah our Passover was offered for us. So then let us observe the festival, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of evil and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

The Spring Feasts of the Lord by Michael Rood gives a more in depth study of how the Spring Feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits) were all ‘fulfilled’ by Yeshua at His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into heaven.   The Chronological Gospels (Rood) is another fine resource that places Yeshua in context of all the Feasts of YHVH.

A message from Newt

A Case of Liberal Tolerance As the inventor one of the web’s foundational technologies, JavaScript, and the co-founder of the organization behind one of its most popular browsers, Firefox, Brendan Eich has done more than most people to promote a free society and an unrestricted exchange of ideas. But that didn’t count for much when various tech and gay rights publications reacted with outrage to his recent appointment as CEO, on the basis that he had donated $1,000 six years ago to support California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Eich had never advocated his beliefs on the issue publicly, and there was no question about his treatment of or respect for gay employees and associates at Mozilla. Yet that donation, indicating a sliver of difference with the left, was enough to force him out of his own company. He resigned yesterday. Mozilla’s executive chairwoman actually took to the company’s blog to apologize, apparently for appointing someone as chief executive who had not acceded to every tenet of social liberalism. “Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard,” she wrote, “and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves.” She’s right, they haven’t. Having spent decades preaching diversity and tolerance of different beliefs, the left now refuses to tolerate different beliefs itself. As Andrew Sullivan, a gay man himself and an advocate of same-sex marriage, points out about the Mozilla case, “What we have here is a social pressure to keep your beliefs deeply private for fear of retribution. We are enforcing another sort of closet on others. I can barely believe the fanaticism.” “If we cannot live and work alongside people with whom we deeply disagree,” he argues “we are finished as a liberal society.” The new bigotry is on the left, and as Sullivan points out, it isn’t liberal at all. It’s totalitarian. Consider that the Mozilla Corporation and those who screamed for Eich’s resignation assert that his deviation from social liberalism is not just a cause for criticism, but a disqualification for employment. They are literally arguing that his private thoughts about an issue like marriage should prevent him from holding a job. The ability to kill a man’s job, of course, is devastating. Thousands of people donated to Proposition 8 and similar efforts, and their names are listed in public databases. Are all of their jobs now at risk? How about people who have contributed to candidates supporting traditional marriage? Are all of them unfit as coworkers? (And if, by the way, having opposed same-sex marriage in 2008 is a disqualification for employment today, will the enforcers of liberal toleration be going after President Obama or Hillary Clinton as their next project?) Perhaps most outrageous of all, these people have called for Eich’s resignation, most likely, for his religious beliefs. Anti-religious bigotry is as repulsive as any other form of bigotry. Yet it is becoming more pronounced on the left all the time. Freedom of thought and religious liberty will be central issues of the next generation. Already both in government and in civil society, there are movements devoted to forcing Americans to renounce or to violate their consciences. Mozilla, along with the Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor cases before the Supreme Court, are just a few of the most recent examples. A lot rides on these cases. We can’t afford to shrink from defending our civil liberties, or we won’t have any left to defend. Your Friend, Newt

April fools speech on Tuesday

On Tuesday, President Obama took his place in the Rose Garden, wearing his best smirk, to triumphantly announce to all of America that 7.1 million people had enrolled in health insurance through ObamaCare before the March 31 “deadline” the administration has set for itself.

While the President declared that reaching this much ballyhooed number was a triumph, the inability of any credible analyst to fact-check the numbers made the big announcement ring hollow.  

Columnist Charles Krauthammer, among the most outspoken critics of the administration’s serial manipulation of ObamaCare’s numbers, said this about the President’s triumphalism…

“If it turns out that the overwhelming majority of the so-called 7.1 were people who had health insurance, liked their health insurance, were renewing their health insurance, and got kicked off their health insurance, whose lives are disrupted, premiums are raised, deductibles are raised, and lost their doctors are now among the 7.1… it’s a net negative.”

++How can anyone believe this President?

Happening Now in Congress (April 2nd, 2014)

Grassfire representatives are on Capitol Hill this morning hand-delivering more than 13,000 “Stop Obama’s Internet Giveaway” petitions to the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, Greg Walden (R-OR), and the Ranking Member Anna Eshoo (D-CA). The two lawmakers are presiding over a hearing about President Obama’s surrendering of basic function and control of the Internet to the United Nations.

That’s right. Without any consultation from Congress, Barack Hussein Obama gave away the Internet — allowing it to fall prey to regimes like Russia, North Korea, Iran and to U.N bureaucracy!

What could this mean to you

The Kingdom of God

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2014

IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLES, PAUL LEARNED GREAT LESSONS
by David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

The most significant lesson Paul learned in his anguish was that he had to turn
to the Lord and His covenant promises. He knew he could no longer trust in his
own flesh, abilities or willpower. He writes, “We had the sentence of death
in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth
the dead” (2 Corinthians 1:9).

Paul’s trial had brought him to the end of his endurance. He knew he did not
have any strength left to fight the powers of darkness so he sentenced his own
flesh to death. And God marvelously delivered him: “Who delivered us from so
great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
us” (verse 10).

How was Paul delivered? Several things were involved: First, he was a mighty
man of prayer and second, he had great confidence in the Lord. Paul knew God
would uphold His covenant promises. He could say, “Just as the Lord has
delivered me in the past, He is at work delivering me from this present trial.
From now until the day I die, I’ll be living under His delivering power.”

Like Paul, we also are allowed to endure troubled times, so that we will die to
our reliance on human ability. The Lord permits us to be crushed, made helpless
and weak, in an effort to convince us we cannot defeat the enemy by any fleshly
efforts.

As we compare our lives to Paul’s, we may be tempted to think, “I’ll
never experience the kind of deliverance this man enjoyed. He was well-educated
in the Scriptures and he received great revelations from the Lord about Jesus,
the gospel, the New Covenant.

“And Paul ministered in the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. He
single-handedly shook cities and nations. He couldn’t be killed by the devil,
even after stonings, mob attacks, three shipwrecks. God even used him to raise
the dead. This man was one of God’s most anointed servants in all of history.
He had it together spiritually.”

Not so, according to Paul. The apostle makes it clear that there was one other
important factor in his deliverance: the powerful intercession of praying
helpers. “Ye also helping together by prayer for us” (verse 11). Paul was
saying, “I’m confident God will deliver me. And you’re helping that come
to pass by praying.”

What is happening tho America?

I don’t believe that we have ever experienced times like these in our nation.  

Our federal government has surged and is out of control. The balance of power, as mandated by the Constitution, has been subverted and now dramatically tilts toward the Executive Branch, rendering the Legislative Branch crippled at best. 

The federal courts are being systematically stacked with judicial activists who believe that laws and the Constitution are pliable, subject to interpretation by today’s prevailing social influences – including foreign legal systems like Islamic Sharia. 

Our federal bureaucracies (IRS, EPA, DOJ, Treasury Department, and others) are now infested with a statist culture encouraged by a President whose political agenda outweighs any other consideration.  Washington’s lavish spending stands in stark contrast to the struggling economic status of most Americans.

As a result, government agencies operate in an unprecedented political self-interest mode, subject to the whims of overlords who take care of their own. 

++Our system has fundamentally changed!

Our core liberties are routinely challenged. Religious freedom and rights of conscience are being made subservient to the desires of radical statists – as evidenced by the outrageous “mandates” of the ObamaCare law and other federal initiatives. 

Marriage and family are being undermined by radicals who bar absolutes in any public discourse.  Marriage is being redefined into something now completely unrecognizable – a union of anything ordained by the state. 

Indoctrination of our children’s and grandchildren’s minds with philosophies and teachings that would have once been considered far outside the mainstream now begin at the pre-school level or even earlier.  

Big Brother believes it knows better than parents concerning the welfare of children. If your child’s lunch is deemed to be unacceptable by the food police, you can be charged with neglect. If a child needs therapy for unwanted sexual attractions, the state wants to control what is being said to them behind the once confidential walls of professional counselors’ offices.  

And God forbid that the medical care you provide for your child is deemed contrary to what a local, state, or federal bureaucrat believes is best. The state can then charge you with “medical abuse” and make your child a ward of the state!