News Flash: You can think for yourself!

I was working away this morning doing my normal daily routine and this thought hit me: "When did people stop thinking for themselves?"

The thought was strong enough that I stopped what I was doing and just sat there, thinking about it.

If you read much of what I write there is usually an underlying frustration that motivates me to put it down on digital paper. The question, "When did people stop thinking for themselves?" illuminates one of those unspoken frustrations.

God gave every man and woman a brain, intelligence, common sense, reason, imagination, the ability to think, certain skills and passions, along with memory so it can be stored. Throw in a conscience as well and you've got a powerful package at your disposal. He expects you to use them to educate yourself and formulate your own opinions and draw your own conclusions.

Before I go on, the Bible clearly says that man should not 'lean on his own understanding', but trust the Word of the Lord and to gather around him wise counselors as well. That's a given. But...

God never intended for man to become reliant on other people's opinions but to formulate his own.

God intended man to think!!!

When I read history, the great men and women were thinkers. They were, quite often, monumentally imperfect people, but they were thinkers. They would gather information and then think on it. They formed their conclusions with the best information they had at the time and then drew up the courage to act.

So what's so different about them and you?

You have the same inventory available to you. Your problems may or may not be as big as theirs, but they're big to you. God has supplied you everything you need. And, you can think for yourself. For what it's worth: In the name of the Lord, you have permission to think!

What set this off was an article I read referencing one of the latest "Christian stars", basically a popular conference speaker who's written another book that everyone is gaga over. These 'stars' come and go depending, it seems, on the promotion of their latest works. Forgive me for how this sounds, but, I listen to them and for the most part all they did was take time to listen, be observant and to think. I do not hear anything close to the 'seven thunders' when they speak. For the most part it's common sense, both natural and spiritual.

But... then you listen to one of the talking heads on TV, or talk radio, or read a news article or an editorial, etc., all done by people that actually get paid to think, and you ask yourself, "When did these people stop thinking for themselves and just regurgitate the latest talking points written by someone else who stopping thinking for himself as well?

The Bible clearly states that teachers are important, but that, in the end, the only Teacher we really need is the Holy Spirit. God is calling for each and every person, with His help, to think for themselves. I can offer one good reason for this: when each of us stands before God to give an account of our lives we can't blame anyone for anything. We can't say, "He told me" or "He made me", or "I paid $100 to hear him so I trusted what he said", and so on. Whatever you conclude is yours; you own it. And, He'll hold you accountable for it.

That's why Jesus said, "Be careful who you listen to."

I want to encourage you, if you don't already, to learn how to 'think' for yourself. Obviously this means that you'll take the time to read reliable, trusted, tested information and listen to reliable, trusted and tested people. You'll gather the information and then you'll THINK on it and draw your OWN conclusions.

When you do, you own them, you're responsible for them, and any consequences from them land on you. Can you handle that? It doesn't take much courage to think, or even to express what you think. But it does take courage to act upon your conclusions and accept responsibility for them.

One last thing: if you decide to be an actual thinker, you'll be amazed at how people begin to act around you.

Thinkers frighten some people, and they gain respect from others. It's quite a mixed bag. You really get to know who your friends are when you start thinking for yourself.

Give it a shot. And, then subject your conclusions to wise people who will help you stay on track.

Only a fool thinks he's the smartest person in the room.

How much damage can one man do?

Obama said the he was the one that we'd all been waiting for. We needed to wait a bit longer.

Obama inherited some difficult financial problems but he told everyone he knew how to solve them. Apparently his idea was to spend more than all the previous Presidents combined (trillions), and give multiplied billions to companies run by contributors that didn't have a prayer of success. In his mind, that's OK.

It didn't work, and our country and the world's financial future is bankrupt. Literally. Many nations of the world want to replace the dollar as the reserve currency. Most people don't know how devastating that would be to our economy.

From the beginning, his design has been to strip us down until we're 'equal' with the rest of the world. He doesn't believe that we are an exceptional nation with exceptional people. But he does believe that we don't deserve all the riches we've worked so hard for. He's going to take it and give it all away. He must fancy himself some sort of Robin Hood in reverse.

He told us he would restore respect for America. In his mind, bowing to leaders of nations and apologizing was his way to doing it. Then he put the screws to foreign banks, forcing them to reveal American bank accounts, assuming they were all trying to hide something. That didn't work out well. Time after time he has humiliated world leaders, our allies, on our soil and theirs. And he's turned his back on them as well.

Obama and his ilk rammed his health care plan down the throats of the American people, and did it in such an underhanded, foolhardy way, that it's hard to imagine he ever cared about health care. It's much easier to believe it's about controlling one sixth of our economy and having an information gold mine on the American people.

Obama quickly made it known that he had no love for the Constitution. We've seen how deeply he believes that. Obama decided all by himself that the Justice Department will not enforce the laws he doesn't like. Instead they will purposefully, and continually, break the law. In the past few days he's made certain that US citizens can be detained, indefinitely, with no formal charges, one of the things our Founders came here to make certain would not happen.

Obama has made it clear that he does not believe this is a Christian nation. In fact, it's quite apparent he has no love for the God of the Bible, or His people, both Christian and Jew.

He certainly has no love for the unborn, the halfway born or even the born. How can any man be that cold blooded?

He's said over and over that he will circumvent Congress and he's doing just that. His argument is that if Congress won't do what he wants he'll just do it anyway, which is exactly why the Founders made it difficult to get anything done; they knew that 'government', and certain evil men, have an insatiable appetite for power. They made certain it was difficult, exactly because of men like President Obama.

He's decided that homosexual behavior is good for the military. All it's going to do is systematically create a flood of men and women, especially leaders, leave the service. Most military people are people of honor and will not be party to teaching their troops about the virtues of homosexual perversion.

In addition, he's decided to dictate how other nations treat homosexuals and is purposefully making America a safe haven for them. He's literally promoting the immigration of homosexuals!

Apparently Obama thinks it's good for preschoolers, too.

Today he's announced that he's decided to slash the military. He's reducing troops and slashing budgets. The Pentagon plans to cut 27,000 soldiers and 20,000 Marines by 2015 to save about $6 billion in 2015 and 2016. In today's world, $6 billion is a pittance, but 47,000 troops aren't. When millions are out or work, what do you do with the ten's of thousands leaving the military through cuts, along with those who can't stand what Obama's doing to it.

Bill Clinton thought we could fight wars with technology. Notice that he didn't say 'win' wars. We've already seen how silly that is. You cannot win wars without boots on the ground. Give Iraq a little time and see how it goes when all the boots are gone. What a waste of life and treasure. Same with Afghanistan.

His people crow about Obama's use of drones. With a drone he can let a soldier fly the thing remotely, from a joy stick, thousands of miles away, and be completely detached from the reality of killing children, women, innocent civilians and some token terrorists. They serve a role, but you'd have to be a complete idiot to believe you can win a war with just drones and technology. One EMP, or a series of EMP's can turn modern warfare, and civilization as well, practically back to the stone age. What's the backup to that?

Politicians don't win wars, warriors win wars. Reducing warriors is a neon sign to our enemies that we do not have the resolve to protect ourselves and our friends. It will be a rude awakening when it dawns on them that you cannot replace trained and seasoned warriors as quickly as you can a computer controlled drone.

If this man, and those who advise him, don't scare you you need to take a reality check. Your liberties are not just threatened, you have lost them. And he's just getting started.

Don't fall asleep and figure he'll be out of here in a few months. He can do even more damage in the days ahead. God forbid we give him another four years.

Have you ever seen a son destroy everything his father built? Whether it was out of spite or pure ignorance, the end result is the same.

May God honor the blood of our forefathers.

A little explanation...

I posted an entry a few days ago stating that I haven't been 'happy' for a long time. Some people liked it and others completely misunderstood it. Let me try again.

When you walk with God, and you ask to see what He sees, and to feel what He feels, one can be overwhelmed with sorrow. Jesus Himself was described as "a man of sorrows" so it seems fitting that His people would be also.

I live in a nation where my God-given right to pursue 'happiness' is stated in the Declaration of Independence, but it does not guarantee that I will be 'happy'. The intent of our Founders was to provide a nation where everyone had the freedom to pursue their life's vision. Even so, that freedom is but a shadow of what God has provided to each person through Jesus Christ.

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This next year...

God designed times and seasons for man, not for Himself. Time doesn't exist for God, and He is not ruled by time; He is timeless. To God, the only time that exists is the right time.

Like many good things, however, time can become a tyrant. God desires to teach us how we can tame the time tyrant and make time work for us. His desire is that we live and walk as Jesus did, where time does not rule us, but we surrender to His timing.

Each day seems to present time pressures that can create stress and anxiety within us. Jesus warned us about this and exhorted us to deal with today and let tomorrow take care of itself. He wasn't saying we shouldn't plan, per se, but not to trust in our plans or let our plans rule us. We are to walk as Jesus did.

Satan, on the other hand, does everything he can to use time against us...

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Considering the past year...

One might ask, "Are you better off today than you were a year ago?" I don't mean that as a political question. I'm asking about you, the person. How have your experiences this past year shaped and affected you? We all choose how we respond to whatever, or whomever, comes our way. Our responses often determine the rest of the journey. Each event is like a stone that starts rolling: at first we can shape where the stone will go, but, once it has momentum, and depending on incline, weight and speed, it will go where it's going to go and stop where it's going to stop.

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