SOTU 2015

Watching Obama give a speech is a painful experience and the State of the Union address last week was no different. I am so tired of hearing people gush about what a great orator or speaker he is. He is not. He drops his voice like a thud at the end of short, choppy sentences, and when he makes gestures, drops his left hand on the podium, which thumps the microphone in a frustratingly irritating manner.

He bounced up to the podium as he always does like Mr. Cool Guy trying to appear jovial, casual and relaxed. The problem is we are not in a jovial, casual or relaxed time in history. His attitude was Nixonian in its arrogance and defiance. His whole manner was disturbing at best.

If you were hoping to hear anything of real substance you probably came away disappointed. Obama said nothing new. It's the same old speech he's been giving for five years, same failed ideas, same false claims of a great economy, a great foreign policy, and the respect of the world. The speech was a fraud, full of contradictions, mythical statistics, and a perverted sense of what is good.

It's time to turn the page and remake America, he said. What? What has he been doing for the last six years? That's the same message he was preaching in 2008. Or is he saying it's time to turn around the train wreck we've been on for the last six years and get back to where we were? If only that were true.

It was no surprise that he touted the economy. In fairness, every president will take credit for a good economy. Remember how Clinton took credit for the 1994 Republican Revolution reforms that led to the greatest economic boom in our history? (Remember also how liberals blamed Bush for the recession that followed the economic bubble that Clinton created with Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac unsecured loans that burst as he was going out of office?)

Obama claimed that last year we had the fastest job growth since 1999. What he left out is that this recovery is the slowest recovery from a recession in American history. He also conveniently forgot to mention that there are still fewer people working today than when he took office, and the labor participation rate has dropped from 66.4% in 2009 to 62.7% today, the lowest rate since 1978, and that the net gains are in part time jobs, not full time. Ninety-two million Americans are out of work, and the number of people receiving food stamps has gone from 33 million in 2008 to 46 million today, an increase of 29%. He wants to raise the minimum wage because families can't survive on the current minimum level. They won't survive on 15 dollars an hour either if the only work they can get is part time.

Obama shamelessly took credit for the drop in oil prices and touted the success of solar and wind energy. People seem to have forgotten that in 2008 he told us to expect seven dollar a gallon gas. His policies were never designed to lower gasoline prices, but rather to cripple the energy industry. It has taken five years for him to conduct an environmental study on the XL pipeline and he still refuses to approve it, even though 70% of the country is in favor of it. He threatened to veto any bill approving it because he wants a comprehensive bill to cover other forms of energy including trains, bridges and infrastructure. Right. If you believe that I've got swamp land to sell you.

If he was really interested in helping the country he would take what he could get and work for the rest, not hold the pipeline hostage to his failed wind policies (Remember the bankrupt Solyndra?) while he destroys the coal industry. The reality is, oil has come down because of private industry research and development. Almost all of the new oil and gas deposits have been found on private land. Obama has refused to open up government lands for exploration or off shore drilling. The potential oil in ANWR in Alaska is so great it alone would make America energy independent, but it's inaccessible thanks to a government cowed by environmental nut cases.

The reality of the recovery is that it was the two stimulus packages Obama pushed through in 2009 (Remember the ones that he scared the Democrat controlled Congress into passing to prevent the entire economy from collapsing?) that have held up the recovery. The reason we are finally seeing a little light now is that the government infusion of money in failed efforts to stimulate the economy are past, the deficit has come down, and private enterprise is finally able to get back on its feet. Without the stimulus packages the recovery would have been complete four years ago.

Obama also shamelessly touted the deficit, which he has "cut" in half. What he and all his lapdog worshippers ignore is that the 590 billion dollar deficit last year was still 150 billion higher than President Bush's worst budget deficit, which Obama called "irresponsible and unpatriotic." And he's only cut in half the monstrous deficit he created. What is also lost in his view of the deficit is that the national debt is now over 18 trillion dollars, double in six years what it was when Obama took office.

Obama continued to praise obamacare, which, he said, brought health care rates to the lowest level in fifty years. The comment received no Republican applause and shouldn't have received any. The average American under obamacare will pay over $6000 a year for health insurance. Before obamacare the average American was paying under $4800.

Time and again Obama sounded like a Republican (which all liberals do when campaigning). He said the country works great when government doesn't get in their way. It's the free enterprise argument. The problem is, Obama doesn't believe it. His big government policies (Remember "You didn't build it?") have stifled the recovery and the growth of small businesses.

One of the greatest strains on the economy is illegal immigration and the porous border that Obama refuses to secure. But Obama promised to veto any immigration bill that would overturn his executive orders. He said we all need to work together to see that everyone gets a fair shot. We should not be allowed to just share in success, we should also contribute to success. In other words, redistribute the wealth by paying more taxes.

Along with this socialist idea he added universal child care, guaranteed paid sick leave, tax cuts up to $3000 per child, and equal pay for women who do equal work. He ignored the IRS scandal and how to deal with it, and the Equal Pay Act, passed in 1963 and signed by Kennedy, which already guarantees equal pay for women.

He praised military members for their service and challenged businesses to find them work, but failed to mention the reason so many servicemen and women need jobs is because he is systematically gutting the military and sending them home.

Obama said he wasn't going to make this speech a laundry list of wants, but by the time it was over he had demanded quite a few items including free community college education. He wants to pay for it by closing loopholes that give tax breaks to lobbyists and the rich. What loopholes he didn't say, but he wants to reward companies that will bring their businesses back to the U.S. from China. How he wants to reward them wasn't clear either, but the best way to start bringing them home would be to end the stifling taxes and OSHA regulations that drove them away in the first place. He talked a lot about tax reform, but made no mention of reforming the scandal ridden IRS.

Up to this point his address was pretty much what I expected; rehashing the same one-liners and spin drivel we've been hearing for the last six years. But building up to the finish it was the most galling piece of lily-livered hypocritical tripe I've ever heard. He actually defended his cowardly leadership from behind. He called it the smarter strategy of diplomacy and threatened to veto any legislation to toughen sanctions on Iran. He insisted we must give the diplomatic efforts a chance to work.

Let's see. He was unable to get Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions with his softer, gentler diplomacy, so he loosened the sanctions that were about to put Iran under in order to get them to stop work on their centrifuges. Six months was agreed upon in order to come up with a treaty. Then it was extended six months. And then it was extended six months again. In June, no doubt, there will be no agreement and it will be extended again. All the while Iran continues to work toward nuclear power while Obama in Jimmy Carterish blindness claims they have stopped.

He then criticized America's embargo of Cuba and claimed that if after fifty years a policy isn't working it's time to try something else. Well, duh! Something else should have been tightening the sanctions against Cuba, not surrendering the store to the last hold out of the Cold War.

Obama then claimed that American air strikes are turning back ISIL (He continues to use the title for ISIS that recognizes their right to claim Palestine.), and then asked Congress for authority to send troops to fight them. This is the war Obama claims to have ended. A year ago he said ISIS was the JV, and when he authorized air strikes he and Secretary of State Kerry promised there would be "no boots on the ground." Now he's asking to put boots on the ground to restart the war that Bush won and he gave away. He said it's time we stand down from our war setting while he's gearing up to start another war.

He talked about standing up to the bankrupt ideology of violent extremism, and although he did use the word "terrorism" once in the speech, he refused to link it to Islam or to mention Al Qaeda. Last year he boasted of success in Yemen, but this year never mentioned the country even though its leader was being overthrown as Obama spoke. Neither did he say anything about the Al Qaeda terrorist attack in France the week before.

Obama lectured us that we don't lead with bluster, but with firmness and resolve. Well, first of all, Putin has taken the Crimea and moved into Ukraine with a whole lot of bluster, challenging Obama's firmness and resolve and finding it to be wanting. The reality is, you need a little bluster to reassure your allies (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!), because the lack of bluster exposes your lack of firmness and resolve. Bluster worked pretty good for Reagan. It won the Cold War.

Then he turned to Climate Change. The theory that the earth is warming up has been so debunked that even Al Gore has stopped talking about it, but Obama brought it up again. All scientists believe it, he said. Really? Fourteen of the last fifteen years are the hottest on record, he said. Really? The facts used on those studies were manipulated to a pre-determined outcome, as the leaked e-mails back in 2009 proved, and the only scientists still preaching it are those being paid to. Average temperatures have actually gone down ten years in a row according to other meteorological scientists. But Obama will veto anything that challenges the "progress" he's made in battling the weather. He's not only a narcissist, he's got a God complex.

Obama claims our pillar of leadership is based on our values. Then he gave us a most mixed up explanation that had nothing to do with values. We need to use drones with the proper constraint. Why? If you're going to use them, why not send overwhelming numbers and win the war? He said we must reject Muslim stereotypes. Why? Every major terrorist attack in the world in the last twenty years has been done by Muslim terrorists. You're not going to win the War on Terror if you don't identify your enemy and send him to blazes. He failed to condemn ISIS for killing women, children, Christians, and gays. He again insisted on closing Guantanamo because "that's not who we are."

Well, who the heck are we? He praised as an accomplishment of our values system the overturning of traditional marriage by the courts in favor of gay marriage, even though the majority of Americans are against it. He held up a woman's right to choose for health care (meaning abortion on demand) as another pillar of our values. Then he said the right to vote is sacred and is denied to too many. What was he talking about? Who has been denied the vote? Democrats and their illegal immigrant stooges voted, some as many as three times in North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia in the 2012 election. Who was denied?

He finished with a rah-rah about America's greatness and in his only biblical reference in the speech decided that we are our brother's keeper. Of course, in liberalese, that means not you and me, but big government nanny state.

In defiance of the recent election in which all of his policies including obamacare were resoundly rejected by the American public, he then said he has two years left to do what he thinks best. Work with me, he said, and I'll work with you. He hasn't worked with the Republicans for the last six years. What makes anybody think he will now? He wants America to unite. Why? He's been the greatest divider the nation has seen since the Civil War. With another dividing reference to Furguson, Missouri, he wants us to let the children know that every life matters. What about the lives of the unborn? Planned Parenthood received over half a billion dollars last year from the government to continue to be the nation's largest abortion provider.

He said we've laid a new foundation of remaking America. Wait a minute. That was his plan in 2008. You mean after six years he's only laid the foundation? The only thing left for his remaking of America is its destruction.

This was the stupidest, most anti-American speech ever given by a president before Congress. It was the most arrogant, self-serving pack of lies ever foisted on America, and he ought to be impeached for it. Obama doesn't care about you. He says he wants to equalize the playing field by redistributing the wealth. Socialism, as Joe the Plumber pointed out. But Obama has increased his personal wealth over a thousand percent from a little over one million dollars in 2008 to over 13 million now. Do you think he's going to give any of his wealth to level the playing field? He's living like a king, spending over a billion dollars in travel expenses galavanting all over the world to play golf while he ignores world wide crises that need his attention.

Wake up America. If the Republicans don't stand up to Obama over the next two years we may not have a country left to stand up for. These are the times that are trying our souls. These are the times that are going to prove whether we can turn our country back to constitutional government and the God of our Forefathers, or whether we deserve the leadership we elected in 2008 and 2012 and the continued fall headlong to destruction.

Happy New Year

Well, I finished the last year writing out a message, so I decided to start the New Year with another one. I hope it will be an encouragement and a blessing to you.

Pressing On Toward the Mark


Text: Philippians 3:14

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Introduction: Throughout life we will come across milestones, specific events that can be life changing or life confirming. For example, when you accepted Christ and were saved, it was a life-changing event. You became a new creation in Christ. When you graduated from high school or college it was a life-confirming event. You had taken a big step forward in your life. Certain birthdays and anniversaries are considered to be milestones and gemstones are used to honor them. Silver marks a 25th anniversary, gold the 50th, and a diamond the 75th. Our church is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary. If you didn’t know, the 40th gemstone is a ruby.

Our theme for this year is Pressing On For Thee at Forty. The ruby seems appropriate as the blood red color reminds us of the blood Jesus shed to secure our salvation and establish the church.

Let us consider what is the mark, and what is the prize? The mark is often represented as heaven and the prize our rewards, but that idea misses the point. The mark is Jesus Christ, and the prize is salvation. So then, what does it mean to press toward Jesus Christ? Romans 8:29 says that we are predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son. If the mark is Christ, then pressing to the mark is becoming more like Christ. We need to ask ourselves as a church, after forty years, are we continually becoming more like Christ? Is your pastor leading you to be more Christ like, and are you becoming more like Christ in your daily walk?

David wrote, “I shall be satisfied when I awake with your likeness” (Psalm 17:15). If it is the destiny of every Christian when we get to heaven to be like Christ, shouldn’t we be trying as much as we can to be like Christ now? So, how do we get there? How do we press toward the mark? What are we pressing for? Let me give you some ideas.

I. Holiness (I Peter 1:16).

Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Peter quotes a command given by God in Leviticus 11:44-45 to be holy. God cannot abide sin in His presence, and if there is sin in your life the first thing you need to do is get your heart right with God. You can never be holy without a clean heart. Clean up your thoughts, words, and actions, the places you go, the people you meet, the things you do. You should make your activities acceptable to God.

You need to repent of specific sin; not just a generic “forgive me for whatever I’ve done wrong.” Search your soul, examine yourself, and confess specific sins, not to me, not to a priest, your relationship is between you and the Lord. Tell the Lord where you have failed and ask His forgiveness. When Isaiah saw God on the throne and the angels calling out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts,” he cried out, “Woe is me” (Isaiah 6:5).

He confessed that he was a man of unclean lips. What he meant by that I don’t know. Maybe he had a problem with swearing or cussing. Maybe he had a penchant for repeating off-color jokes. Maybe he was arrogant and condescending to people. It doesn’t matter what, he repented and he was cleansed. When we repent of all sin in our lives and get our hearts right with God, then we are pressing on toward holiness.

II. Purity (1 Timothy 5:22).

Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep yourself pure.

If there is any area that people everywhere have trouble with it is the idea of moral purity. Unfortunately, Christians have as much trouble with this as non-Christians. If you can find people who have kept nine of the Ten Commandments, the one they’ve likely broken is number seven, immorality.

Sex is all about us. It’s commercialized; it is on TV and movies, in novels, it’s everywhere. The way models and movie stars are fawned over for nothing more than showing off a beautiful body, you would think sex rules the world. And it probably does. The National Education Association wants to teach sex, emphasizing the gay lifestyle as being normal, to five year olds in kindergarten. That’s how wicked our society has become.

Young people will often say, “I can get involved, I know my limits, I’ll stop in time.” But they never do. They don’t know their limits. They don’t understand that when the fire of passion is ignited it’s hard to put out. Middle aged and old folks haven’t figured it out either. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). In a moment of passion you never know what you’ll do.

Paul tells us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, “and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Romans 13:14). Don’t go where sin is; don’t put yourself in a place where you will be tempted. You’re not strong enough to stand in your own strength against the “wiles of the devil.” Peter compared Satan with the king of beasts.

We lived in Africa for fourteen years. We’ve seen 500 pound male lions in the wild. A lion roaring nearby will make your hair stand up. You’ve never heard anything so ferocious. Satan as a roaring lion will devour you if you play with sin. The answer is to flee youthful lusts and keep yourself pure.

How? By following after righteousness, faith, charity, and peace (2 Timothy 2:22). Hang around with friends who call on God with pure hearts. Surround yourself with friends who will encourage you to live a pure life.

Young people, old people, all people, don’t throw away your life over moral sins. Proverbs 2:19 says that you will never reach your full potential in life if you give in to immorality.

You get your heart by pressing toward holiness; you keep your heart right by pressing toward purity.

III. Integrity (Proverbs 4:23).

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.

A person of integrity is one who is true, honest, a person of conviction, with strong moral principles. Integrity is undivided in its thoughts. That is, a person of integrity is not double-minded. He knows what is right and what is not, and he doesn’t compromise his convictions. He will always to the right thing.

I’m not a drinker. I’ve never been a drinker. When Proverbs says, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise,” I take that to mean not to be deceived by it. So I don’t imbibe. I’ve seen the affects of it on too many people who have thrown their lives away, ruined their families, even died. I had a friend who broke the Navy’s twelve hour “bottle to throttle” rule, went flying when his head was not clear, and crashed into San Diego Bay. I’ve had friends killed by drunk drivers. Some Christians will disagree with me on whether you can take it in moderation or not. That’s fine, I believe they are wrong, but this is my position and I will not compromise on it.

Back in 1986 when I was flying here at Cubi Point, the Navy base put together a package four-day tour to Hong Kong. Operations were slow and nine of us at my squadron took leave and went on the tour. The other guys went just for the nightlife. I wanted to tour the place and go shopping. One night one of the guys invited me to go with them. He said, we understand your religious position. You don’t have to drink, just come sit with us. We’d like to talk to you. I politely declined. For one thing they weren’t just drinking, they were going to topless bars. For another, if I had gone, even if I didn’t drink, my presence with them would justify in their minds that I thought it was okay for them. I wanted no part of it.

When I was in Marine Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, one weekend my platoon was the duty platoon. We weren’t allowed to go anywhere but into Quantico town, which was on the base, in order to eat. Saturday evening I went with about ten other candidates to eat. They all ordered beers and when the waitress came to me I ordered a large milk. She looked at me funny and laughed and said okay. The guy next to me said you might at least order a coke to make it look like you’re drinking with us. I said that’s exactly why I ordered milk. I don’t want anyone to think I’m drinking with you. When they all ordered another round I told the waitress, “I’ll have the usual.” It got a big laugh from everybody.

Listen, I’ve heard people say they go to bars and drink because it opens up opportunities to share the Gospel with people. Frankly, I doubt that, but the end never justifies the means. “It is never right to do wrong to get a chance to do right” (Bob Jones, Sr.).

As a person of integrity, people should be able to say about you that you are true to your word. You are dependable. You will always do what you promise, and you will always stand by what you believe.

You get your heart right by pressing toward holiness. You keep it right by pressing toward purity. You demonstrate that your heart is right by pressing toward integrity.

IV. Wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Knowledge is simply the accumulation of facts. But there are people without conscience who ignore the truth and manipulate the facts. We see that in public school textbooks that have perverted the truth about such things as the first Thanksgiving. They say the Pilgrims thanked the Indians for helping them through the winter, when in fact they invited the Indians to join them in thanking God. We see it in political correctness that denies the Christian heritage of our Founders, refusing to even allow their writings to be taught in public schools because of a perverted twisting of the concept of “separation of church and state.” We find it in Obama’s public statements about the contributions Muslims have made in the building of America. This is because there is no fear of the Lord in the lives of the people who manipulate the facts.

The fear of the Lord gives us a proper understanding of the facts, but it is wisdom that will help us make the proper application of the facts in our lives. Proverbs 2:2 tells us to listen to wisdom and apply our hearts to understanding. Wisdom will guide you in holiness, purity and integrity.

So, how do you get wisdom? You won’t get it watching TV. Not from politicians. Not from dirty movies, romance novels, or gossip magazines, and certainly not in the life of arrogant, stuck up movie stars who think they own the world because of their fame and money. No, you find wisdom in the Word of God. James 1:5 says that if you lack wisdom ask God for it. He will not scold or rebuke you for asking. He’ll give it to you if you are serious about applying it.

When you press toward wisdom it will help you maintain holiness, purity and integrity in your life.

Conclusion: We are at the start of a New Year, a time for new beginnings. For many it’s a time to put 2014 behind them and start over. For others it’s a time to build on the successes of 2014 and press on. As a church we are approaching our 40th anniversary. It is not a time to rest, but a time to press on and to determine that we will continue for another forty years as God enables us. Individually it is time for us to make a greater effort than ever before to press toward the mark of being like Christ. It doesn’t matter if you are 4, 14, 40, 54, or 74, or anywhere in between or beyond, keep on pressing on “toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”