BHO's Last SOTU

So Obama has given his final SOTU address. It's a good thing. I'm not much into fiction except for westerns, and Obama could never fill the role of a hero in one of those. The best part of the speech was in the beginning when he said it would be a short one. Then he proceeded to talk for 59 excruciating minutes. Short, huh?

It was the same kind of blather we've learned to expect from him over the last seven years. All fluff, no substance. An empty suit trying once again to convince us of the legacy he wants us to remember, a legacy that exists only in the fantasy minds of Obama and his most ardent worshippers.

You would think after hearing him speak that America is enjoying the greatest economy in our history, that we are strong, and have world-wide respect. You would think everything in the world is hunky dory and that the only threat to Obama's peaceful world is the Republican Party.

The speech was as incredible for Obama's chutzpa as it was for his straight faced lies. He cut the deficit by three-quarters. Yeah, after he raised it by three hundred percent. He's created 14 million jobs, more than anybody ever and cut the unemployment rate in half. Yeah, and more people are out of work and a third more are on food stamps now than when he took office. How does that work? The national debt has grown from 10 to 18.8 trillion dollars. How does that happen in the world's greatest economy?

Unbelievably he took credit for falling gasoline prices even though he has done everything possible to prevent it from happening. Remember in 2009 he told us to get ready for seven dollars a gallon. Now after canceling the XL pipeline and every effort of oil companies to drill off shore and on federal lands he's taking the credit for the oil glut.
Then he scolded all global warming skeptics with the same old worn out "everybody in the world is on his side" argument. He again bragged about great progress in green energy. Of course, he forgot to mention all the failed green energy companies like Solyndra.

He touted the great treatment our veterans get from the VA. Was he joking? Nearly 300 vets died last year in Arizona alone because they couldn't get care in time from totally inept VA hospitals, and to date not one person has been held accountable. Not one!

He rebuked the country for saying bad things about Muslims and putting bacon on the doors of mosques, but not once mentioned the persecution of Christians by Muslims all around the world. His only comment on ISIS was that they are no threat to the United States. Then he had the effrontery to extoll his nuclear deal with Iran while saying nothing of the ten American sailors they were holding hostage. Talk about hubris.

In Obama's fantasy world we would all be bowing down at his feet, the savior of the world. In the real world we need to be thinking about how we can fix the fiasco he has created, not only at home, but world wide. What is so inconceivable looking back at the last seven years is how the American people could have been so stupid to have elected him at all.

Voices of the Past

I often find myself wondering in my studies of history what the voice of someone might have sounded like. It’s easy for us now since the age of the phonograph began and recordings have been made to hear the tone of people’s voices in the last hundred years. But what about before?

They say Abraham Lincoln had a rather high-pitched squeaky voice. I would love to have heard Patrick Henry thundering, “Give me liberty or give me death.” I think the most pleasing voice of all will probably be that of Jesus, and although we can’t hear him now, I imagine someday in heaven His voice will be the sweetest music to the ear ever heard.

Last Friday, January 8, was the 60th anniversary of the death of the five martyrs in Ecuador, Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian and Pete Fleming. In their cases there are still people alive who had heard them speak and may remember their voices.

January 8 is a special date for me as it was on this day in 1967 that I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior. When I was younger I used to think I somehow had a connection with the martyrs because of the date. The story became closer to me when my cousins, Jim and Sharon Smith began to work with Nate’s sister, Rachel, in the jungle in Ecuador. I’ve seen video of Rachel in interviews and heard the dedication in her voice and the determination in her soul to carry on the work her brother had envisioned with the Waorani people in Ecuador. But I’ve never heard a recording of her brother or the other men. Until today.

Here is a recording of Jim Elliot preaching a message in 1951. I was surprised by what I heard. It seems to me his voice sounds like a much older man than 24. It is a powerful voice, tenacious and purposeful in its delivery. There is no temerity or lack of confidence in his delivery. Rather there is urgency and a quickness to pack as much into the time he had available as possible. His passion is evident as he eloquently unfolds the implications of the Gospel.

It’s a good message, forty minutes worthy of our hearing. If you can get on youtube do yourself a favor and look it up.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=aaplw&p=youtube+jim+elliot+missionary

This is the kind of preaching America needs to hear today.