UNI Blog - From the Washington Bureau

There aren’t many communities in the country where fireworks displays aren’t a big part of the July Fourth celebration of American freedom.  Those increasingly more creative displays in the sky probably originated in China about 2000 years ago.  No one knows for sure how they were discovered.  But a prevalent legend in China is that a cook working in a field happened to mix charcoal, saltpeter and sulphur together and saw the first faint semblance of fireworks.

Of course the process was improved upon over the centuries until we have the sophisticated displays we have today. The western world most likely got it’s first look at fireworks when Marco Polo brought fireworks back from China in the 13th century.  Other accounts claim the  crusaders brought fireworks to Europe when they returned from their journeys.  At first, the black powder was used for military purposes.  And that’s where we tie in to fireworks and our Fourth of July celebrations. We come together in celebration of American freedom.  Do you recall the words in the Star Spangled Banner, “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.”

In defending our freedom rockets, bombs and other forms of explosives have been a major part of war.  The smooth bore cannon first appeared in the early 14th century in Europe.  So when the fireworks go off, we can be overtaken by their beauty in the night sky.  But we can also remember that the same propellant sent deadly projectiles of different sorts back and forwards in the battles to keep America free.  And the bombs and bullets killed many  Americans who have allowed our independence to continue to this day.

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Barna believes there are seven major faith groups that comprise most of America.  He describes each in great detail in his new book, “The Seven Faith Tribes”.  He says there’s one group that is especially significant.  He says Casual Christians comprise a huge majority of the nation.  Two out of three adults are Casual Christians, he claims. Barna says, “This particular tribe is comprised of significant proportions of minimally active born again Christians and moderately active but theologically Nominal Christians. If a catalyst were added to this mix to deepen this tribe’s integration of faith and lifestyle, or even to simply create a more extensive sense of community and purpose within the tribe, unprecedented changes could occur.”

Barna found Casual Christians are driven by a desire for a pleasant and peaceful
existence. While another group, Captive Christians, are focused on upholding the absolute moral and spiritual truths that they glean from the Bible.  Captive Christians are sold out to Jesus Christ and are willing to suffer inconvenience, ridicule or even hardship to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

What do you think?  Could Casual Christians be those described by
Jesus in Revelation 3 verse 16?  “So then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth,”  or would that
be a misinterpretation of that verse?  Do Captive Christians need to develop
strategies to draw Casual Christians into a deep faith in Christ?  Could
that be the place to reap the greatest harvest of soul’s for Christ?  Could
that lead to a miraculous national revival?

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I’m referring to the document that launched our nation.  Permit me to share with you part of the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right and their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security”.

What more can I say?

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Finding a solution on the best way to reform healthcare in the U.S. remains an elusive task on Capitol Hill. On “Fox News Sunday,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that President Obama remains open to discussing several ideas, including possibly taxing some health benefits, but would rather steer away from that option. She said, taxing health benefits is a way to discourage employers from offering coverage. Sebelius said, “The bottom line is the President will not sign a bill that’s not paid for,” adding that whatever comes out of Congress cannot add anything to the deficit.

On the same program, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that Democrats are trying to destroy the best healthcare system in the world and take over one-sixteenth of the nation’s economy. The Kentucky Republican charged Democrats with wanting to pay for reform on the backs of senior citizens through cutting Medicare and raising taxes. McConnell said that the republican alternative would be to change the tax code to allow individuals buying their own health coverage to be able to deduct their premiums from their taxes the same as corporations do. He stressed that other ways to reform the system would be to target prevention and wellness; and, “do something about medical malpractice junk lawsuits,” which he said, drive up the costs.

The House passed a version of healthcare reform Monday, but it will be much harder to pass anything that has the government getting more involved in healthcare in this Senate.

Is this good or bad? Isn’t it kind of hard to know, because so few details have been spelled out. In the meantime, do you sense Americans are getting more nervous about fuzzy changes to a system that many feel is still the best on earth.

This is Carl Ramsey and that’s Another View of the News.

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The President said we need an energy bill that will, “end our addiction to foreign oil, addressing the global climate crisis, and creating millions of new jobs that can’t be shipped overseas.” The President believes we can achieve his goal of generating 25% of our energy from renewable sources by 2025, but even government figures raise questions about whether he is overstating the legislation’s impact.

The highly respected Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis of a democratic energy bill that is working it’s way through the House of Representatives says that it would collect $5.7 trillion in tax revenue between 2012 and 2035, even after allowing for inflation. Heritage analysists found that, by 2035, legislation would also: raise electricity rates 90% after adjusting for inflation; raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 58%; raise residential natural gas prices by 55%; and raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,241.

Heritage also predicts that increasing energy prices will increase the cost of making products. They’ll become more expensive. Business will pass the higher costs of operating onto the consumer, which will be reflected in the higher prices that we pay for products. Doesn’t all this lead to the conclusion that this is a far more complicated issue than most of us imagined. Would slowing down the process and providing open debate on the issue help or only make it harder to know who to believe?

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Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee told the 2009 Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference,  “Wall Street did not melt down because it was a money problem. It melted down because there was a moral problem, and it’s high time we address that what really is breaking this country is not a lack of money. It’s a lack of morality, and without  righteousness and character our nation will perish.”

Huckabee compared the role of a politician to that of a pastor and said it’s important for such leaders not to amass power themselves, but to empower the people they are leading. “We are creating an entire nation in which people are increasingly turning to a new god — the god of government — to do for us what we ought to be doing for ourselves, starting with raising our kids, taking care of our families and protecting and preserving life and the institutions of this great nation,” Huckabee said.

Isn’t he right?  For instance, when our children walk into a public school they are taught that the universe is an accidental creation of some sort, not a design by a creator God.  They are taught just the opposite of what the Bible says is proper sexual conduct for the unmarried.  The founders of this nation were either Christians or men who respected a Creator.  That’s why we have inalienable rights, which means they come from a higher power and are not of human origin.  Unfortunately, in our natural state we humans are in rebellion against the Creator and thus ignore his moral guidelines.  Isn’t that quite a risk, because what we’re really doing saying to God, “Hey, I’m a lot smarter than you!”

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Southern Baptists opened their annual meeting Tuesday with calls to turn around plummeting baptism rates. Researchers warned that the nation’s largest protestant body could lose half its size by mid-century. “I really do believe that we need revival in the Southern Baptist Convention,” said SBC president, Johnny Hunt, a pastor from Woodstock, GA. He went on to say, “I believe we need revival in the hearts of our leaders, starting with your president.”

With one eye focused on a new vision for the future, the denomination nonetheless kept one eye on past battles. It had an overwhelming vote to break ties with a gay-friendly church in Fort Worth, Texas. The decision to expel Broadway Baptist Church came with no discussion from the more than 8,000 Baptists attending the meeting in Louisville, KY.

What got more attention was a new report from the denomination’s Lifeway Research, which concluded that SBC membership could drop by close to 50 percent by 2050 if it doesn’t do more to reverse its image as an aging and mostly white religious body. “We’re aging,” Hunt acknowledged in his presidential address. “One of the reasons - and it is a true reason - is we need to really join with our brothers of ethnicity in this convention.”

Morris Chapman, the president of the SBC executive committee, said that reliance on the Bible, rather than a particular statement, is the answer to the SBC’s challenges. “The Southern Baptist Convention is not too big to fail,” he said. Chapman went on to say, “It is possible that our focus could become more blurred and our faith could become weak. No committee, no president, no agency, no institution and no executive director can renew our strength - no program and no report can revive our soul.”

This is Carl Ramsey and that’s Another View of the News.

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Former crown prince Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran, says he’s in contact with clerics and security officials in Iran.  Riot police have been using tear gas to break up a rally in Tehran.  Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has banned protests, which has led to street violence. The former crown prince Pahlavi says some senior security officials are now considering their options, including a high ranking revolutionary guard. Pahlavi also claims his sources tell him that more protesters have died than has been reported.

An American who travels in Iran says the big question is whether Iran’s security forces follow orders or fragment and switch sides to join their fellow citizens. He said the regime’s security apparatus is not a unified entity — and each of its constituent parts has different responsibilities as well as different allegiances.  He concludes that it is difficult to predict how these mercenaries will operate when their “enemies” are unarmed citizens supported by respectable national leaders. This observer says Iran’s leaders may not be able to count on their foot soldiers. But even if some security forces rebel, would they be overwhelmed by forces that are loyal to the current regime.

The Middle East continues to be a hotbed of controversy and tension, just as the Bible predicts.  But whether it will continue to ferment for a long while or the bible prophecies comes true soon, is of no concern to us.  We must work constantly as though tomorrow was the last day on earth for our acquaintances. As a little song I like says, we are all just a heartbeat from heaven, or in the case of those who have rejected Jesus aren’t they just a heartbeat from hell?

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Two new tracking polls show that President Obama’s popularity is falling.  The Rasmussen Report’s Daily Presidential Tracking Poll, unveiled Sunday, finds only 32% of voters in the U.S. now say that they strongly approve of the way the President is performing his job.  The same survey finds that 34% strongly disapprove of the way he’s handling the most powerful job in the world.

The Gallup Poll comes up with similar findings - that the President’s support is eroding; but, that more than half of Americans in both surveys still support the President.

But why is there this growing disenchantment?  Can you think of any reasons why voters would be turning against the President?  Well, first of all, every President enjoys a little bit of a honeymoon - as they say - and then their popularity starts to decrease a little bit. That is what this could be.

Other polls have shown that there is great concern about how much money the government has borrowed. Some families are worried that this will leave their children and grandchildren in a sad state financially.  Could the speed at which the President is introducing his agenda be part of the problem? Could it be overwhelming many Americans?  Also, there is a lack of detail in most of his proposals. That could be leaving Americans nervous about expensive programs and what they will really do.

These could be some of the reasons; then again, these reason may be way off base. But there is something that is driving his numbers down, and if the President is willing to learn what it is and how he can correct it, he may see those numbers stabilize or even go up again.  As Christians we can pray that if he isn’t already turning to God for help and wisdom, that he will do so soon.  And aren’t we supposed to be praying for him and other leaders, whether we voted for him or them, or not?

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Most Sci-fi fans would most likely tick off several names, Captain Kirk of the original Star Trek TV series and later a series of movies.  His successor, Captain Picard from the “Star Trek:  Next Generation Series” would be a favorite, surely. What draws us to such characters? They’re daring, brave and always come out on top in the end, no matter how close they came to defeat or death.  Most are rather handsome actors, too.

But when you come back to reality, if you look around, you’ll find plenty of real life heroes and heroines in your life.  Hopefully, your mom and dad are those kinds of people.  I was blessed with parents who lifted themselves out of dismal upbringings to be outstanding parents and individuals.  Maybe it’s another relative.  Maybe it’s someone who has befriended you.  Perhaps it’s the pastor or some other person in your church.

One of my great heroes in life was a master sergeant I served under for several months in the Army.  He was a tremendous leader and problem solver.  When we see those people we need to let them know how much they mean to us.  You have to approach each one in an appropriate way, but don’t keep it to yourself.  We never know how much a word of appreciation means to someone who deserves it.

Then of course, there is the ultimate real life hero.  Just think of the wonder of the night sky, hinting at all the galaxies that stretch out unfathomable distances.  Then you realize that the super hero of all time was the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who took on the form of his creation, was crucified and rose from the dead, all to make a way for we rebellious humans to be forgiven by the Creator of the universe.

This is Carl Ramsey and that’s Another View of the News.

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