We all have a desire to challenge our congregations/ students/ or whomever we work with to go deeper in their relationship with God… What does deeper look like? And how do you judge your effectiveness?

One of the most beautiful descriptions of the church is that of a family.  As we think of a growing family, with new additions on a regular basis, we know that not all members of the family have the same level of maturity, much less the same relationship with each other and their father. A wise father treats each child as an individual and seeks to help each of them reach their potential.  This can be a long and slow process and it helps when the older kids pitch in, much like in the old “one room school house” where often the older students tutored the younger ones in their school work, and where the younger children would learn as they listened to the older kids do their lessons.  The church works in much the same way in that new christians can look to their elders (spiritually speaking) to learn and grow.

So, “what does deeper look like?” is a question that changes as each individual grows and matures.  To the new convert a deeper relationship will be in learning to have a regular devotional time with God.  To someone who is older it may be learning that God is not only there for troubled times, but also in times of joy.  This relationship grows deeper as the person learns that each part of their life should be subjected to Christ’s authority and as they learn to give financially and also of their time.  This deepening of the relationship is a lifelong process as the christian learns to connect with God on deeper and deeper levels, as they grow closer and closer to Him.

As for judging effectiveness, again it’s on a case by case basis.  Sometimes with an individual (starting with one’s self) one tends to think “Will they never ‘get it’?”  And then WOW, some comment or occurrence shows that they DID get it, that they WERE paying attention and that they HAVE learned.  Working with people is not a “one size fits all” endeavor.  Each individual has their own personality and needs and their own approach to life.  Certain lessons are easy for one - but HARD for another, and vice versa.  Sometimes I find myself frustrated when someone (myself included) does “something stupid” or manifests a shallowness in their relationship with God.  But then I try to remember that it’s a learning and growing process, just like turning a first grader into a rocket scientist.  At first they may struggle with “one plus one is two.  two plus two is four.  four plus four is eight.” but as they grow and build on that first foundation they then move on to more complicated processes of mathematics and other sciences until they’ve reached the place where they can design and build extremely complicated machines or do other intricate calculations.  How did they reach that point?  By building on the basics, one day at a time.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church: “And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,  until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, [growing] into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” (Ephesians 4:11-13)  I’d say that he summed it up much better than I can. 

On Sunday I witnessed one of those quality control situations. There was a local IPSCA competition up at the local gun club. Dozens of people congregated. Dozens of guns were all over the place. Thousands of rounds of ammunition were available. Besides the usual crowd of guys there were also a number of women in attendance – some of which were fairly attractive. There was even a number of children present - including one little twerp that couldn’t have been more than 10-12 years old and had a semi-automatic handgun and multiple clips of ammunition strapped to his waist. But, contrary to what we are told to expect by the mass media and the “political gurus”- not one murder, robbery or rape took place.

This leads me to the following conclusion. Since we live in a third world country where the aforementioned quality control problems tend to abound it is quite obvious – the place was full of defective guns…

What does it mean to be relevant?
What is your church or ministry doing to stay relevant to it’s people/ community?
How do you balance being relevant without sacrificiing the message?

The space allowed for Wall posts is limited and I hit the end of my short space before I finished typing - so I’ll just post a link to this note there and answer here. Works for me, hopefully it’ll work for the folks in the group as well.

Relevant - having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand - affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion, having social relevance

OK, now that we’ve got a definition - how does it apply to me as a christian? It is my belief that through a life devoted to following Christ I can demonstrate relevance to those around me by having the answers to the questions that torment them. And not just a “pat answer” but an answer demonstrated through a life changed by God. When I go through the same trials and temptations that they do - but with demonstrably better results, that affords me the opportunity to show them what Christ could do in THEIR life - if they would but let Him.

So, what do I do to maintain relevance? I do my best Monday through Saturday to put into practice that which I teach on Sunday - so to speak. When the church is so busy with their “worship service” and their “praise service” and their “bring a friend Sunday” and other such programs and activities that they don’t take time to live out the Truth in their lives during the week, they lose relevance. They are no longer able to “have significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand” because they are so wrapped up in themselves and their programs that they forget to whom they were sent to minister in the first place.

Our ministry maintains relevance by “the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ”. I do not believe that the Apostle was referring to “full time Christian service” when he mentioned “work of ministry”, but rather he referred to the Church serving (ministering to) the world around her - thereby maintaining relevance and building up the Body through natural means.

Then He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the LORD’s presence.” At that moment, the LORD passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a soft whisper.  I Kings 19:11-12

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10

Today it is common for people to run around seeking great and miraculous signs of God.  They want an experience, something earth shaking, something bold and daring.  Now, to say that God is not capable of showing Himself in such ways is naive at best.  But so is insisting that if He does not show Himself in such ways then you’ve not been in the presence of The King.  “Be still and know that I am God” wrote the psalmist.  And often, that is what we must do.  We need to step out of our busy world and take time to be still before the Lord, to hear “the still, small voice” speaking to us. Too many times we seek for God in a desperate, busy way - when He wants us to simply be still before Him. “Be angry and do not sin; on your bed, reflect in your heart and be still.” Psalm 4:4

Do you take time to seek God’s presence?  Do you take time to listen to Him in silence?

And then we also often neglect to allow Him to be a part of our day.  We get busy doing things and forget the Apostle’s admonition to “pray without ceasing”.  When we take time to be still before the Lord we come to know that He is always at our side and even in the midst of activity He is tuned in to hear our thoughts and to prayers.

Praying is not just about getting on your knees or prostrating yourself before the Lord - although both postures have much to commend them to those who seek God’s presence.  Praying is about being in communication with our Creator, about letting Him have a place in our busy lives.  As you drive down the road or go about your daily chores you have ample opportunities to allow Him to be a part of your life.  “Pray without ceasing” is about being in touch with YOU as a person and with GOD as your source of wisdom and strength.  And too many times we do not allow Him room.  We shut ourselves up in our busy lives, keeping our thoughts and emotions to ourselves - and don’t let Him in to help us through the tough times.

A friend wrote recently about some experiences he had.  He was going through some tough and strenuous times and didn’t take time to take it to the Lord, much less to allow others to lift him up before God’s throne.  Now, I mention this not as a criticism but as an illustration.  He’s a great guy and the pastor of a church - but in the midst of stress forgot to take time to allow God in to help.  And I can identify with him because I’ve “been there, done that, got the t-shirt” so to speak.

Recently a young woman was talking with my wife.  She was feeling bad because she wasn’t having time in the morning to get onto her knees everyday like she felt she SHOULD - from the teaching she’d received in a certain religious group.  And although she was using her bus ride to talk to the Lord about her life and family and job and such, she felt guilty.  But she IS learning to practice the presence of God in her life.  Over the past few months she has been learning to “let go and let God” - and her marriage and family show the effects.  We’ve seen them go from separation on the way to divorce to a growing and maturing relationship.  Thanks to her learning to “be still and know that God is there”.  He has carried her through some tough times and has helped her to overcome difficult situations.  It has been a pleasure to see her learn to make Him part of her life and not just a morning ritual to fulfill religious preconceptions.

The presence of God.  There’s a time for worship, that’s for sure.  But the idea that only during such times are we “truly in touch with God” is false - He wants to be a part of our lives on every level. He wants us to truly “pray without ceasing” - touching base with Him all through the day and allowing Him to help us through the tough times.

Now, to learn to truly put this all in practice consistently.  That in itself tends to be a lifelong battle against my “macho” attitude of “I can do it all myself.”

A careful reading of the document shows that the very abuses laid out by the signers of the declaration are things which today’s people do not understand.  Too many have sold their freedom for “security” and when one cries “but the emperor has no clothes!” they act as though one were crazy - and blind.

232 years have passed since that fateful signing - it is time for our nation to read once more those words and to reflect upon them.  Do we still believe in these values?

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Now, 232 years later, we’re being told “It doesn’t matter that John McCain was one of the Keating Five, nor does it matter that his name is part of the McCain-Feingold or the McCain-Kennedy pieces of foul legislation, it matters only that he’s the Republican candidate and we’ve got to get behind him or lose to the Democrats.”  Uh, I beg your pardon, but since WHEN does putting a Republican into office constitute voting for freedom?  Under our latest Republican President we got “The Patriot Act” and “Department of Homeland Security” and the joy of removing our shoes in the airport and being scrutinized and humiliated by government minions when we wish to travel by air.  Yes, it’s all about “the war on terror” and “we’ve not been hit again since 2001″ but we HAVE paid - with our freedoms.  Once more our freedom is taken away “to make us safe” - thus giving victory to those who would destroy our freedom via terrorism, we’ve given them victory by surrendering our nation’s freedom in the name of “safety” - while refusing to act against those who are REAL threats as we allow non-threats to be harassed in the name of “security”.

Also, once more we are being rallied to the support of the GOP - the very group that is sponsoring the AWB Version 2 (Assault Weapons Ban) - that’s right, the very ones who are saying “you’ve GOT to get behind McCain” are the ones who are pushing for a new (and worsened) version of the failed Clinton Assault Weapons Ban.  I feel like I’m living in some “Wonderland” such as Alice fell into.  Or, worse yet, like “1984″ is coming to life twenty four years later.  We now have “double speak” as the national language, apparently.  “Conservative” now means new bans on freedom and new assaults on our resources.  The only (slight) comfort one can get is that “Liberal” is MUCH worse, sliding into the deepest recesses of Marxist/Leninist doctrine - but the so-called “Conservatives” are little better any more.

And there’s a growing rallying cry of “No MORE!” when it comes to those who would pull the wool over our eyes once more.  It will be interesting to see what transpires in November.  Interesting in the same way that seeing an out of control cruise ship come steaming into a crowded harbor and crashing through the pier is “interesting” - a sense of horror and impotence sets in as one realizes that there’s nothing one can do as the captain obliviously allows the ship to steam to its destruction - this is the feeling I get as I see the GOP once more steaming powerfully forward - in the wrong direction.

And many will say “Vote for McCain or you’re voting for Obama.” No, no matter how I vote I vote my conscience.  And if I vote for a third party it will NOT be for Obama - it will be for the candidate for whom I’m voting.  The guilt trip should be laid upon those who are responsible for drumming up support for such a leftist candidate as John McCain is.  There are good men yet in the nation, I’m sure of it.  So why are we supposed to be getting behind someone who has proven time after time that he leans farther left than many Democrats (some southern Democrats are more conservative in their values and voting than their Republican couterparts)?  Just because of a party name?  What’s in a name? A marxist by any other name smells just as bad to a freedom loving person.

Two hundred and thirty two years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence - and what have we done to our country?  Will we allow her to slide ever deeper into the socialist mire that is sucking her freedom dry?  Well, time will tell.  Many of us will NOT vote for those who drag us in that direction.  And we will NOT be to blame for the sinking of the ship.  Those who ignore our calls of “Wrong direction, wrong director!” and insist on following the pied piper of ever increasing socialization of the nation are the ones to blame.  Give us a candidate who sings the old song of freedom and liberty and you’ll see supporters crawling from the woodwork all around.  But don’t expect those who think for themselves and who refuse to get on board a ship bound for destruction just because “at least it’ll crash later than the other choice” to rally around a RINO who has proven himself to be an enemy of our nations ancient values.  To paraphrase what the man said, “Being shot down and spending years as a POW does not necessarily qualify a person to be President of the United States.”

You can only pick one rifle - hunting, self protection, plinking, fondling, drooling over… etc. You won’t have any others at home, at camp, in the car, at some member of your families home. You have to choose only one. It has to be one you have or one you are working to own/build etc. I would like to know which one it is, and why. I am leaving a little room to wiggle with the second part of the question.

With that one rifle, you get to have one pistol, same rules, no others anywhere else.

I ain’t played one of these games in a while -but always find them interesting. Shucks, right now I’ve only GOT one handgun and no funds to pick up a rifle. A lot of it has to do with your surroundings and where you live in the first place. Here? Well, here, south of the Rio Grande by a considerable distance, a 38 revolver and a 22 rifle are hard to beat. Ammo’s fairly easy to come up with (”fairly” being a relative term) since those are probably the two most common calibers.

Now, if I were up in the US - it’d be a different story. There??? Well, he threw a monkey wrench into the system with his “only two” with no wiggle room for an “omnipresent” 22 LR. How can you get along without a 22 in the US of A? Skeeter Skelton’s character, Dobie Grant, picked the good ol’ 22 LR as a “one rifle” in a similar exercise. There’s a lot to be said for a 22 rifle - it can take game up to and including black bear and elk - if you pick your shots CAREFULLY. We’re not talking about HUNTING, we’re talking about KILLING - probably with the aid of “non-sporting” methods. The object being to simply fill the pot. A 22 LR will also give you the means to obtain a more potent weapon in a “Red Dawn” type scenario in which the country’s over run by foreign “liberators” and the good ol’ boys have taken to the hills.

So, a 22 rifle and a centerfire hand gun. Picking the handgun is tough too. 38 spl/357 ammo’s almost everywhere, even in this day and age of the WonderNine bottom feeders. But there’s a lot to be said for the power of a 45 Colt in a modern sixgun like a Blackhawk or Vaquero. In fact, it would be easier to download the 45 to “cat sneeze’ levels for plinking/smallgame/etc than it is to hotrod the 38/357 to the level of power which a hot loaded 45 is capable of. In fact, you CAN’T get a 357 up to the level of power the 45 Colt is capable of in a MODERN large framed revolver.

So, choice one - 22 LR rifle and 45 Colt Ruger large frame sixgun.

On the other hand, a good centerfire rifle can be a handy thing to have. You’ve got a HUGE selection up there - I’d seriously consider the 30 WCF - probably in a 94 Winchester configuration. (Grandpa’s ol’ rifle) The 30-30 has taken every game animal on the North American continent - multiple times. It’s not “the end all” of calibers but is still capable of doing everything it ever did do - and better today than 100 years ago since we’ve more advanced choices in bullet design than folks had when it first came out. Ammo’s EVERYWHERE. No self respecting gun shop can consider itself well stocked without a good selection of 30-30 ammo and components are also easy to find and loading tools are common.

And a 22 handgun is a great game getter. You can take small game and even deer size game with carefully placed 22 LR out of a good sixgun. And with a Single Six or other switch cylinder gun you can bend the rules a bit and have two calibers in one sixgun - the 22 WRM allowing you more power for larger animals - even for defensive use against two legged varmints should the need arise. Alan Taylor’s old Single Six with one reamed chamber is another style that has merit. Carry it with one empty chamber which can then have a Mag round slipped in for targets of opportunity.

So, choice two -30-30 rifle and a 22 LR/WRM sixgun.

And then, there’s the good ol’ “common ammo” argument that’s got some good points to it. This third setup is purely hypothetical as I’ve never owned such a rifle - but the theory’s sound.

The 357 Mag out of a carbine length barrel is a fairly powerful round. It ups the ante from sixgun level power to near 30-30 levels of power. Plus, the same rifle can be used to shoot “cat sneeze loads” for small game and other low noise applications. Likewise, a good sixgun in 38/357 makes for a nifty packin’ piece for protection against most threats in the lower 48 as well as offering more “oomph” for small game shooting. So a Winchester, Browning or Rossi 38/357 caliber rifle with a good single or double action small/medium framed revolver could offer excellent service for a wide variety of applications. I’ve loaded more 38 spl than probably all other calibers combined over the years and it’s given me good service over the years. I’ve loaded less 357 (and shot even less of it) but know that it’s been used to take everything on the continent at one time or another.

So, purely hypothetical (since I don’t have them even in storage) would be a 357 rifle/sixgun combo - preferably a small frame Ruger sixgun or a Model 19 or similar S$W along with the handy Model 92 frame carbine.

Choice three - 38 spl/357 mag carbine and sixgun

Of the three? Well, the first combo is my most likely scenario for such a choice as I grew up with a 22 in hand and the 45 Colt would cover the few niches I couldn’t fill with the 22 LR. Probable choice of rifle would be the Winchester 67 as it’s accurate and the one shot capability it has makes you think before pulling the trigger. But there’s some to be said for the stock factory Ruger 10-22, albeit the magazines can be problematic over time. So I guess I named the “only two” combos in order of probability/preference should such a choice ever be made.

You’d have to get a permit from your local government in order to post a blog.  You’d be limited to the number of blogs you could have.  You’d be limited in the number of words you could print on a given topic.  You’d not be allowed to use any of that “saturday night special” language - nor any of that “sophisticated military style language”.   The right to worship God as you see fit would be regulated and perhaps limited to “one religious service a month”.  You’d have to have a license from the government to use religious language.  You’d be at the mercy of the BPSRO (Bureau of Political Speech and Religious Organizations) and any regulations they’d dream up to further hamper your freedom.  Anyone who wished to collect or sell Bibles and other religious or political books would have to jump through hoops to acquire the Federal, State and Local permits to do so - and would be subject to surprise visits to check that their paperwork was in order and all such dangerous items were properly stored and accounted for.

And the list could go on and on… how long would folks stand for it?  I fear that the time may not be to far distant when such types of authoritarian infringements might become reality.  Already many laws are in place which say that quoting the Bible is “hate speech” and one can actually be punished quite severely for doing so.  “Radicals” who dare question the furtherance of the “homosexual agenda” to not only “normalize” but actually promote as desirable the sodomite lifestyle are already coming under fire -as are those who question the advisability of promoting obviously flawed “sex education” classes in public schools or who oppose the murdering of pre-born infants.  The infringements have started - it’s probably only a matter of time before the First Amendment will be as heavily fettered as the Second.

An online opinion letter, Feb. 12, written by a man named Ken, expresses a prevailing view of people in our country. It shows how far we have moved from our Constitution and the word of God, as well as experience and common sense.
The pertinent part of the letter is as follows: “There is a nagging question, which is: what good have the tax cuts and small government, which conservatives talk about , done for the majority of Americans; like people who vote? If it has done some good, how has that good progressed to masses of homeless, significant losses in the middle class, the current housing crisis and the current economic crisis? Every citizen of every country, particularly the economic leader of the world, should be entitled to health care, education and affordable housing. That is the reason why you have a society. In order that collective resources, properly managed, can provide the best quality of life those resources can afford. Anything less is unthinkable, unethical and a disgrace. It is also anarchy and a fervent (sic) ground for groups like Al Qaeda.”

There are so many fallacies in this that we can respond to only a few. These are disastrous to all of us, including Ken and his kin. No such society can prosper or even exist indefinitely as a free people. What Ken is saying is pure socialism, diametrically opposed to our capitalistic system.

Tax cuts for those who pay taxes contribute to the well-being of all responsible citizens. They stimulate investment and production. Investments increase capital for more new housing, money for those who need loans for purchasing houses, starting businesses and a host of other things which bolster the economy. Production increases the job market, providing more jobs. Products are produced for sale to produce profits, thus building up a better life for all who are willing to prepare themselves to participate in the process. It is not giving anyone anything, but making it possible for people to take care of themselves. This, in turn, gives people self-respect, a sense of accomplishment and motivation for self-improvement and advancement. Cutting taxes does not involve giving the savings directly to those with less money, but it helps enable them to better take care of themselves and that is the proper result which benefits everyone - all of society. Those who do not get tax cuts ought to be thankful for those who do.

There is one more thing about a high percentage of those who are benefitted by tax cuts or lowering of tax rates. They are able to contribute for benefits to those who cannot work and have legitimate needs. According to statistics, Americans are the most charitable people in the world. So, Ken is very mistaken that tax cuts have not helped him and thousands of others, either directly or indirectly.

All of us who are at least age 80 have seen the beginning and progress of socialism in our country. That means government intervention in the citizens’ personal well-being and responsibilities. It has been tried in nation after nation and is always found wanting. It cannot work because it always stymies personal initiative and sense of accomplishment and engenders dependence on the government. It is a surrendering of more and more freedom for government control.

The fact is, that citizens are not entitled to any personal benefit from our government. Why are only health care, education and affordable housing listed as entitlements? Why not demand allowances for automobiles, food, clothing, utilities, household goods, entertainment, vacation time, personal hygiene items, etc?

The Bible teaches that people are to have personal property and assets of various kinds, obtained by their own initiatives and abilities. The Bible says much in both the Old and New Testaments about helping those who are truly poor and needy. Many people of great faith, in the Bible record, were wealthy and they used it for the Lord (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-37). Ananias and Sapphira sold a piece of property and lied about what part they gave to the Lord. Not giving it all was not the problem, but lying about the amount was the problem. Peter explained this in Acts 5:4. Paul says, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need” (Eph. 4: 28). The parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30) shows that God expects us to use our money for gain. Paul was speaking of those who would not work and he said, “For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thes. 3:10, in the context of 6-15).

From years of experience, it is clear that a very high percentage of those Ken calls the homeless do not have to be homeless. They have not prepared themselves to work; messed up their lives with wasted living; wasted money or some other negligence. Tax cuts have no negative effect upon them. Ken and others are very mistaken.

-Lowell E. McCoy