Thinking right
June 2012
What can we expect over the next five months and our votes are cast? Will the election be close? Will the conservatives win or will the same old Washington, D C crowd be in control? I don’t know any more than any of you and a lot less than some of you, especially those who think they have seen and heard it all. Yet there are a few things that are seen quite apparent to me. First, there is an upwelling among the voting population that real change, of the right and proper sort, must occur. There is no doubt this will be a close election, much closer than any conservative would like to see it. The lines between capitalism and socialism are clearly drawn in the two candidates. Obama promises more government, tighter control, increased regulations and a close supervision of every citizen. If he has his way, the legal, law-abiding citizen will have no means to defend themselves while law-breakers who do not care will have the weapons and never hesitate to use them. Our economy will be rigidly controlled in Washington and even your choices in personal health care severely restricted. The United States will become bankrupt, and begin paying exorbitant taxes to the UN which will morph into a world government. Romney, on the other hand will attempt to fulfill his campaign promises to remove many of the onerous regulations put in place by the Obama Administration, keep taxes low and repeal Obamacfare[ but find it hard to work with Congress who, in all likelihood, will be much more sharply divided between the GOP and Democrats with narrow majorities.
The biggest problem Mitt Romney and the American public faces, however, is the political system itself. Because there are no term limits on legislators, some of the long term Senators and representatives have garnered power well beyond their Constitutional limits and regardless of party have banded together in a loose fraternity I call the ‘empty suits or GOB, the Grand Old Boys,” they rotate Committee assignments and Chairmanships, reach side agreements and do what is right in their eyes, not for the Country or the poor, mere voters who re-elect them term after term because the GOB Club controls entry into the senate and House of Representatives through the State party organizations and nomination processes.
Think hard and pray harder before you vote. Let’s elect men and women who will remain dedicated to the Nation, responsive to the electorate, and Fear the Lord God Almighty, seeking His wisdom and direction in every vote.
I’m Vance. And I’m thinking Right
Thinking Right
January, 2012
You’ in a Heap o’ trouble!
Each step was so small, so inconsequential, so well explained or, on occasion, ‘regretted,’ that, unless one were detached from the whole process from the beginning, unless one understood what the whole thing was in principle, what all these ‘little measures’ that no ‘patriotic German’ could resent must some day lead to, one no more saw it developing from day to day than a farmer in his field sees the corn growing. One day it is over his head. Written by a German Professor commenting upon the slow incremental actions of Hitler’s Government that lead to totalitarianism
As we come to the end of 2011 with the many events that have occurred, storms, earthquakes in strange places, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, civil disruptions across the world, deception and misleading statements at the highest levels of our government, dictators deposed and/or killed, the death of Kim Jong-il, riots across the Mideast, we can look at the quote and say, “Why didn’t I notice then what I see now?” As evangelical believers we are in a unique position to see and understand what is occurring. In Ezekiel’s Book, we are told we are watchmen on the wall, and are to report any encroachment by the enemy. When Ezekiel wrote this, invading Armies were blockading the roads and paths leading to Jerusalem, and were quietly waiting for the word to sweep in against the city; therefore Ezekiel’s words of warning were recognized and understood by the Israelites, Ezekiel’s target audience. In Matthew 24 Jesus said, “Watch for the beginnings of the birth pains, leading to a seven year period of unimaginable grief upon the earth.
Today we are looking from the tower at 2012 and see the ever-expanding, voracious Federal Government eating away at our American Way of Life, even to telling us what light bulbs we can buy, and how many fluid ounces of water we can use to flush our toilets and limiting our electrical power production, then Congress giving the President power to arrest and detain American Citizens without trial for extended periods of time.. It’s not even a week since the US Troops left Iraq and today deadly bombings rock Bagdad in a coordinated attack killing at almost 100 people and wounding over 200 to show who’s now in control of Iraq, and it’s not the democratic government we were told is taking over. Syrian Government Security forces have killed at least 160 people just before UN observers visit the country and the Islamist forces, including the Islamic Brotherhood are taking increasingly powerful positions in Egypt bringing them closer to the brink of open warfare against Western forces by the Militant Islamists.
As the representatives of our God and Savior to this earth it’s time to blow the trumpet, sound the alarm, ring the fire bell and call the celestial 911 for God’s intervention. The protective walls have been breached, our President has opened the protective gates inviting in the abominations that caused God to look away from ancient Israel: The sacrifice of our children on the altar of convenience, the disregard for the holiness of marriage as the chief cornerstone of our society and the sin that sunk Sodom to infuse our society, not just without restraint but with preferential status in our schools and medical fields. Our nation will fall to its detractors, in truth, America is no longer the Nation and we are not the people of just 25 or 30 years ago.
It is time to focus on the election of 2012, pray without ceasing, call upon every person seeking election this year to vow to rebuild our Godly walls against every invasion of godless influence not to compromise our vote and choose the ‘lesser of two evils.’ Every one of us should arm ourselves with the “Sword of the Spirit,” stand in the middle of the broken wall of protection and let the length and breadth of this nation know we are going to win this battle under the mighty hand of our Omnipotent God.
I’m Vance and I’m thinking right
Manna in the Morning
10-21-11
Thanksgiving
Psalm 109:30, “I will fervently thank the Lord with my
mouth; I will praise Him in the presence of many. For He stands at the right hand of the needy.”
I know that
Thanksgiving Day is over a month away, but we should never let a day go by in
our lives without counting our blessings from the Heavenly Father and thanking
Him for His mercy and grace. True
thanksgiving is a state of mind, it is a recognition that all we are, have or
could ever hope to accomplish in this earthly life is due to Our Heavenly
Father and His abundant gifts to us. Each
day as we open our eyes and see the sun rise on the eastern horizon we have an
abundance of God’s grace and gifts of mercy and the more we use these gifts,
the greater will be the supply. God
gives us the life sustaining oxygen with each breath we take, He provides us
with opportunities to bless the lives of others in His name. We often take for granted the fact that God
uses us to further His kingdom by preparing our hearts, teaching us from His
Word then providing openings to share our testimony to His saving love as we interact
with others every day.
Not only
should we thank God for these blessings, we should be very vocal in praising Him
for His goodness, always remembering it is His power working through us and we
have no abilities or talents apart from that with which He has endowed us. Sharing with others in our praise and
gratefulness is testimony to His grace.
Our great,
God of mercy stands ready to meet our every need, and our needs are more
frequently spiritual rather than physical’ while God can and does meet our
physical needs for housing, food, clothing and so much more, He abundantly
meets our spiritual needs for encouragement, wisdom, guidance and understanding
of His will. His promise to us is that
whatever comes into our life will be used by our Father for our ultimate good
and more than anything else, to mold, shape and conform us, using heat and
pressure if required, into the likeness of our Savior and Lord. His Lordship in our lives is as important as
His forgiveness of our sin. Our Heavenly
Father, we want to be molded like clay for Your use and glory, in Jesus’ name
we pray.
Thinking Right
September 2011
Recently I emailed some questions to an individual who is
running in the St. Petersburg City Council elections asking some questions that
I thought would give me a good indication of the candidate’s core values. I received an answer asking if there was any
City-related project or issue I wanted to discuss, but when I pressed the
question about core values to determine what the candidate really believed, I
did not get any valid responses. All Candidates
make promises and hold out lofty slogans like: neighborhood safety, code
enforcement, a cleaner city, attempts to provide repaved roads and institute a
better system of collecting recyclables.
These are all items that sound great if they don’t increase the tax load
or cost the residents more in fees and fines.
As
concerned citizens, we need to know the candidates for any local elected office
personal value system; will they make a personal commitment to uphold the
Constitution of the United States and the State of Florida? Actually we should know if they have ever
even read the Constitution, including the Constitution of Florida. What are their personal values regarding
waste in government budgets, disdain if not dismissal of Citizen Inquiries on
current issues? Is a candidate willing
to sign a declaration opposing infanticide in abortion ‘clinics? Do they read and understand God’s Word as it
relates to personal issues, will they grant all views on these moral issues the
freedom of speech currently given to extremely vocal minorities? Are they willing to show approval for Gay
Pride activities by their presence at rallies that offend the sensibilities of
ninety percent of the City’s Citizens?
Regardless
of the office sought, every election is a valid survey of Citizen concern; a low
voter turnout shows an “I don’t care” or “What can I do” attitude, every vote
for a left-of-center candidate continues to propagate our national trend toward
socialism, every voter who doesn’t know or care, but votes on good looks or
amorphous promises contributes to the problem, not seeking the answer. Every office, every election from city,
county state, even the organizations that function as regional councils for
conservation or water usage, every vote must be cast after prayerful
consideration of the candidates and their core values. If you have a difficulty discovering those
values, that may be a check in the negative column as you evaluate and rate the
candidates.
As
informed, Christian voters let’s be careful of our precious Constitutional
Rights, pray for wisdom and evaluate every candidate, every election.
I’m Vance, and I’m Thinking Right
Thinking Right
July 2011
As we celebrate July 4th, watch fireworks, have picnics and BBQ, spending time with the family, be sure to remember the reason for this celebration: The signing of the Declaration of Independence, declaring our sovereignty and freedom from the British Empire and the restrictions of King George. Quoting the ancient prophet Habakkuk, “This is why government is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.” There was great perversion in the way the British tormented, taxed and tested the patience of their North American colonies. Today, our obese, demanding, overfed Federal Government is threatening to destroy our Nation by aggressively ceding our sovereignty to the UN through treaties and agreements without Congressional approval, shrinking our ability to defend ourselves, refusing to halt illegal immigration and instituting policies that will increase inflation on a scale never before seen in the United States. Most decisions made in Washington are perverted, restricting the citizens. Let’s return to the basics of Government! Remember, the bureaucrats work for us!
First, recognize our Constitutional Republic was designed for a moral, spiritually upright people, led by morally upright representation; Weiner-tweeting is but a small sample (Pun not intended) of the degradation of morality in Washington DC. God first instituted representative government in Exodus 18 when Moses selected from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating bribes. Applying this standard to our representatives would call for the resignation of many of them; some aren’t even able to cast an intelligent, knowledgeable vote, like the Congressman who thought Guam would capsize if we put too many people on the island. Obamacare was passed before it was fully written! In Congress as a whole, God-fearing is an unfamiliar concept and every member of the Senate and House retires as millionaires and not because of their salaries. To elect the proper type of representative, the people must be knowledgeable, God-fearing and discerning voters. Inwardly transformed people (A born anew heart and mind) are necessary to transform society and government, the transformation of people begins in their spiritual recognition of God’s power and sovereignty. Next: The government significantly influences the citizen’s moral convictions and the moral fabric of our nation. The refusal of the Department of Justice to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act leads many people to say, “If the government thinks it’s OK, than so do I.” When we pay billions of dollars to support dependent children whose fathers take no responsibility, we promote the moral view that a child will be fine without both mom and dad in the home. Giving the Federal Government the control of our schools is abdicating the child-rearing responsibility out of the parents and into the nanny-state, resulting in government mandated lessons for kindergarten and first grade teaching homosexuality is normal behavior, Middle School students are encouraged to ‘experiment’ with this perversion and High School Prom drag Queens this year. We need to become a God-fearing, Biblically based people once again, erasing the past sixty years of godless progressive, liberal influence.
Finally, what can we do now? Attack both ends! Educate the voters, get the evangelical movement involved and proactive in Biblical teaching, we must return to a moral, God-fearing electorate before it is too late. In this rapidly approaching election, don’t
let the wicked restrict the righteous, it’s time to put moral virtues above party or promises, select and vote for candidates at every level who first and foremost hold to Biblical Values.
I’m Vance and I’m Thinking Right!
Thinking Right
June, 2011
What Are We Gonna Do?
Our Big
Poppa in Washington, (the Federal Government) is awash in problems and our
Anti-President is over hoisting a pint or two in Ireland and England, insulting
every nation with whom we have a vital interest. List the problems: First, Geologic and Climate problems, this
goes far beyond the global warming debate, but the storms raging across the
nation’s midsection. Joplin MO,
Minneapolis MN, Oklahoma, Texas, North Carolina, Indiana – on and on have been
hit with catastrophic storms with more to come.
Last winter’s heavy snowfall and dousing rain have swollen the rivers
causing flooding along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, all the way to the Gulf
of Mexico. 6.0 or larger earthquakes in
Iceland, Malaysia as well as quakes around the world, the Japan quake’s
devastation that will last for decades, and the resultant radioactive fallout is felt across the
Northern Hemisphere. We’re told by
astronomers the earth is about to enter the Pleiades anomaly, an energy ring,
or Photon Belt of incredible size and magnetic/force that could cause a period
of 3-5 days of unimaginable light or a similar period of total darkness,
depending upon the relationship of the earth to our sun at our entry. The earth enters this belt roughly every 13.000
years. All electronic equipment will
become non-functional. This same frying
of electronic gear is the goal of terrorists with a nuclear explosion in space
creating a gigantic Electro-Magnetic pulse.
A second
problem is impending inflation, due to the non-stop printing of paper money
with no cash or gold reserve behind it, and selling our promissory notes to the
Chinese Government. Wait until the
Chinese call the notes, own our high-speed rail lines and start collecting the
fares, leaving us to pay off our enormous Obamapromises. This inflation bubble could burst almost at
any moment, making our paper money worth less than Monopoly Money. While we can’t do anything about the earth’s
orbit, we can refuse to increase the debt limit and drastically cut
spending by the federal government, including firing the dozens of Czars that
are responsible to no Congressional oversight.
The third
crisis we face is the unrestrained influx of undocumented immigrants across our
borders. The Southwest is now a hostile
war zone in the UNITED STATES, on the north of our border, the administration
will not address this problem because the prime focus of every Politician in
Washington with rare exception, from the President down is their re-election,
not the welfare of the Nation.
So, what’s
next, one of these events or the Terrorists, increasing Federal spying on
citizens, stripping away our support for former allies, continuing to cozy up
to dictators, or any of the other problems we see and sense in our Nation that
has lost its stability in today’s world?
I’m Vance and I’m thinking Right!
Thinking Right
May, 2011
The Anti-President
You have to have a few questions about the United States of America these days. For many years all Christians have wondered about the Biblical teaching that sometime in the future an imposter, a False Christ will attempt to perpetrate a hoax on the people of the world and proclaim himself as the Messiah, the Savior of the Biblical message. Why would people follow someone who is such an anti-Christian?
We are faced with the same anomaly in the political realm here in the United States of America, a Nation who until now has been the world leader in preserving freedom, fighting repression and restrictive governments. The USA has been the only example of a Nation rising from oppressive Colonialism on the part of an European Monarchy to the greatest economic giant on the world scene, whose poorest citizens have amenities and financial stability that qualify them for government aid here, but across the rest of the world people with their resources are considered middle-class if not wealthy. The USA has been the leading force in religious freedom, sending Missionaries to proclaim freedom in Christ Jesus where only witch doctors and fear-based belief systems had flourished. The United States of America even now rushes aid to stricken areas across the world, Haiti, Japan, Indonesia and other areas where earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis and other disasters have laid waste their lands.
Then, in 2008, the American Voters elected the Anti-President. In the 3 short years he has lived in the White House, our Anti-President has said “America is exceptional, just like Greeks think Greece is exceptional or any citizen of any country thinks their country is exceptional. Mr. Obama we ARE exceptional! Our nation has its roots in the freedoms and rights guaranteed every person by our Creator God, and many Biblical passages are the foundation for our exceptionalism. Until 2009 we were known as a Christian Nation, but our Anti-President has said, America is a Muslim Nation, a Christian Nation, etc. No longer is our President acting or living any resemblance to a Christian, he is the Anti-President who claims no specific faith, but recognizes Muslim holidays, fasts, ceremonies, but ignores the time-honored tradition of proclaiming Easter and other Christian observances.
The Anti-President will not reveal his birth documents, almost as if he does not even want to be known as a natural-born citizen of the United States of America. The Anti-President has espoused financial policies that have ruined the USA’s credit worldwide, burdened our citizenry and jeopardized our dollar’s position as the world standard, a move that could result in double-digit inflation almost overnight.
OBAMA THREATENS MILITARY PAY TO PUNISH CONSERVATIVES
BUT DEMOCRAT ENTITLEMENTS WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW
BREAKING NEWS: Barack Obama threatens to stop pay for all active duty military personnel if he doesn’t get his way on ObamaCare, EPA & Planned Parenthood funding.
In what is widely being viewed as a singular political retaliation against pro-military conservatives, Barack Obama threatened to veto the bill designed to ensure our U.S. Armed Forces would receive their regular paychecks during the looming threatened Federal government “shut down.” The blog RedState rightly called it: “Barack Obama Takes Our Soldiers Hostage to a Shutdown.”
Barack Obama is playing a sinister and dangerous game, using our brave military personnel and their families as sacrificial pawns and refusing to send paychecks to the already underpaid men and women who put their lives on the line every day - just so he can use political muscle to retain his Constitution-busting ObamaCare funding.
It is high time Barack Obama and his anti-military, Black Panther & Weatherman & SDS promoting, Vietnam War protesting, Hanoi Jane idolizing buddies STOP playing politics with the lives and families of our honorable Armed Forces.
DEMAND OBAMA & ANTI-MILITARY LEFTISTS STOP PLAYING POLITICS
WITH OUR ARMED FORCES! SELECT HERE!
Thinking Right
March 2011
Boondoggles
Boondoggle: “A project funded by the federal government out of political favoritism that is of no real value to the community or the nation.” (Definition from Dictionary.com) What a perfect illustration of the proposed High Speed Rail System. One critical element in the whole concept is that it isn’t free! It is paid by tax dollars, in this case, to be levied against our children and grandchildren. To say the money is there and will go to another State is an outright lie. There is no money in the Federal bank account, and this boondoggle should be deleted from the budget! I can’t express how irritated I am at Senator Nelson, Pam Iorio and others who think this is a good idea. I’m making typo’s (Yes, the apostrophe belongs there because typo is an abbreviation for typographical.) all over because I’m so irritated. Temporary jobs for the short term to build a railroad that runs at the most 90 miles, and will never have ridership that will sustain its operating costs, using land that is better used to widen and maintain I-4. Disney already has their own railroad, don’t demand more from Florida’s taxpayers. Someone estimated we only get 80 cents back out of every tax dollar we send to Washington, well, cut the Federal tax load! I’m not sure about some of Governor Scott’s ideas, but this rejection of money for the rail system is by far and away the best, wisest and most fiscally responsible thing to do!
Now, for the Wisconsin outlaws; a bunch of supposedly responsible, upstanding teachers giving their students an example of how to act; If you don’t like it – riot! Wait until the kids do that in their classroom when they announce a unit test, simply a case of “Do as I say, not as I do.”. Then, it’s the elected representatives who refuse to vote and imperil their own re-election, what an example for the future voters of Wisconsin. As a whole, American voters want fiscal responsibility with no pain involved. We either have to drastically reduce spending all across the board or we have to raise taxes. The most logical place to cut is in entitlements. No citizen has so critically helped our nation so we have to provide homes, food, education, health care, unemployment payments for 2 years, high speed rail, etc. for them without cost. Even our Medal of Honor recipients don’t get any tax breaks for their bravery and if anyone deserves it they do.
I think it is time to suspend the Democrat Senate leadership, Cabinet Secretaries and non-Constitutional Czars by bringing charges of malfeasance and let the nation judge their motives for leading us down the path to ruin.
I’m Vance and I’m Thinking Right
Thinking Right
February 2011
One of the most arresting comments made by Mr. Obama last night in the SOTU speech was his comment on reform in Government; “And now it’s our turn. We know what it takes to compete for the jobs and industries of our time. We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world. (Applause.) We have to make America the best place on Earth to do business. We need to take responsibility for our deficit and reform our government. That’s how our people will prosper. That’s how we’ll win the future. (Applause.) And tonight, I’d like to talk about how we get there.”
Re-forming our Government is exactly what this current administration has been doing through the appointments of the Czars and Secretaries of various Departments, thus avoiding Congressional approvals. What else will he re-form? The dictionary definition of reform is to “restructure reorganize or modify,” This Presidential statement is nothing less than a warning and announcement that the current Administration is going to make drastic changes in the way our government operates. It will be a naked Executive power grab! Add this to the unconstitutional Executive Orders and America has a problem.
‘Yes, Executive Orders are unconstitutional, as they are simply interoffice memos from the “boss” of the Executive Branch to his employees. And, in precisely the same vein, “Secretarial Orders,” the new “under the radar slider” used by Mr. Obama’s department heads, are equally unconstitutional. Executive Orders and Secretarial Orders bypass the U.S. Congress, which Barack Obama no longer controls. Mr. Obama is determined to circumvent the United States Congress on issues that he cannot pursue through legislation—and, since all of his social progressive mandates are pretty much unconstitutional, he fully intends to operate as a Dictator, while he pretends to be a moderate, Constitutional, Democrat.’ (From the Daily Beast)
Some unconstitutional moves have already been made in the relationship with the United States and the United Nations. With the willing cooperation of the Secretary of State, Obama has signaled cooperating on The UN Coordinating Action on Small Arms (CASA) that decided to embark upon developing international small arms control standards (ISACS), as well as the Lost at Sea Treaty (LOST) Ceding sovereignty to the UN instead of the US Constitution in both instances.
Directives have gone to the BATFE to restrict gun sales to private parties through departmental regulations and tight supervision. Last night’s speech revealed the desire to legalize current students in educational institutions at the expense of legitimate foreign immigrants, if not by legislation, possibly through the Department of Education which, said Obama, needs additional ‘investment.’ The next twelve months will see a rapid accrual and solidification of power in the Executive branch of Government, abetted by a compliant Senate and Supreme Court to keep control with or without a national election. Remember, one-half of one-third of Government is not as significant as we would like.
I’m Vance and I’m Thinking Right
